Elder Kwok is a blast to serve with, we are just loving it here. We tract, and meet a ton of people and its way fun. We found two great people to teach this week by tracting. One is a single guy in his 50s that has a smoking problem, but he was great, so we contacted him as he was getting out of his car, and he pushed us away, and you could just see that he was struggling, so we offer to help him, and then ask if we could come back and offer some service, he smiled at that and asked for our number, so we gave it to him. and said our goodbyes. then off to the next door, then after no answer at the door, we see him come back out, and he tells us he knew they were not home but he needed time to think if he wanted to talk to us. And then he pulls out a Finding Faith in Christ pass along car that was given to him in 2004, It was stained from seeing a ton of cig. smoke, but no tears in it at all, he said he keeps it on his fridge to remind him that he has a savior that loves him, and well he invites us inside, and we had a great lesson with him, he has a strong spirit and he is fighting off a whole lot, the only thing that beats him is the smoking. Then we met another guy and answered his million questions and taught him about the restoration on the front steps of his porch, we couldn't go inside he had a little daughter running around ready for bath! So tracting paid off well for the week. Now the second source of finding this week was contacting downtown, which is always fun. there are a ton of people down there! And well we taught a few people down there too, so there was a homeless guy sitting there drinking a beer, and well he said I could say his name. David. So David is there drinking, and we come over and ask how he is doing, he answers us in his bad language, and Elder kwok in his pure innocent English says you shouldn't say those words, and David apologizes, so we talk and ask hi if he is ready to fix his life, and he is taken back by the question and thinks and says i am not sure... So we tell him, David we are just guides, we cant do anything more then just help you, and teach you, you have to be ready to fix your life and come closer to Jesus Christ's teachings. he says I am not sure I am ready, so as we are about to close our conversation another man comes up and says hi to the three of us, he is a little cleaner. So we say hi back, then he turns to Elder Kwok, and says, Elder Kwok, i tell you what, I got a deal, we leave Elder Allen here to talk to David, and you go over there and talk to me, I see fear come into my companion's eyes, so I ask the man, where over there is and I see it is a bench a little bit down the road, so I answer for poor Elder Kwok, and give this man permission to take my companion. However as they leave I switch side of David, so I could keep an eye on them because the fear in my companions eyes have me worried, but as I see them talking and Elder Kwok come to ease I continue to talk to David, about his dinking and how it was bad, so Elder kwok can teach this other man, needs to say, we are not meeting with David again, but Elder kwok taught this humble man who truly our Father in Heaven prepared for Elder Kwok to teach. The guys mother is from Hong Kong. We have an appointment to meet with him this week. Now our third way of finding, at 8-9 now this late at night we run into families putting their kids to bed while tracting, so we tried downtown, but that was a bad idea, as there were people heading to clubs and not nice to us, so we went by the river, and we find people fishing, so we contact them and we have had many teaching chances there, one was this Asian guy, who was way nice. he was actually a former, we taught a little about the purpose of the Book of Mormon and going to church and how they will help him. He committed to come to church in two weeks and also gave us his number. To top that off he gave us 4 nice size fish that were still alive to take home, and a lot of mushrooms, from the market. So as it was time to go in we went in and gutted out fish after our nightly planning. It was fun for all four of us to work together cleaning these fish! Guts were everywhere.
I know that Elder Kwok and I are here for a reason and sent here by God. I am so grateful to be my Lords servant. I know that the message we share is true. And it can help with the trials we face in our daily life. i love you all so much and hope you have a great week, because elder Kwok and I are having the time of our lives.
Your, son, brother, grandson, friend.
Elder Derek A. Allen
Monday, June 6, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
This is an email I received from a ward member from Elder Allen's mission. I loved it and thought I should share it with you all on his block. Thank you so much Brother Archer for sharing!
HI there,
My name is Neil Archer I am a member in the Bracebridge ward where your son is currently serving. My son turned 9 not long ago and had an reptile party to celebrate it. You son was invited and I snapped a few pictures. You can be proud of your missionary. He is serving honourably here in Muskoka. I am rather fond of having him around and will miss him when he leaves. We sang I know my Redeemer lives on the Easter sunday with my brother whom is a less active. It was just uplifting. Lot of wet eyes in the building that morning. It has been a privilage to have him around and hope when he is finished serving he will come and visit.
Kindest regards,
Bro. Neil Archer
HI there,
My name is Neil Archer I am a member in the Bracebridge ward where your son is currently serving. My son turned 9 not long ago and had an reptile party to celebrate it. You son was invited and I snapped a few pictures. You can be proud of your missionary. He is serving honourably here in Muskoka. I am rather fond of having him around and will miss him when he leaves. We sang I know my Redeemer lives on the Easter sunday with my brother whom is a less active. It was just uplifting. Lot of wet eyes in the building that morning. It has been a privilage to have him around and hope when he is finished serving he will come and visit.
Kindest regards,
Bro. Neil Archer
Monday, May 2, 2011
The First Epistle of the Elders to the Dead Letter Writers
Chapter 1
In the beginning was the mailbox and the mailbox was void of letters.
2 And the missionaries said, "Let the box be filled," and the box was not filled.
3 And the missionaries beheld the continuing void and were not pleased.
4 And lo, it was the first day of the week and there was no mail delivered, but this was good.
5 But on the second day was the mail delivered; yet the box remained empty.
6 Yea, even from the second day unto the seventh was the mail delivered.
7 Even so, the box retained its void.
8 And yea, great mists of darkness spread forth from the void and enshrouded the missionaries. Yea, and did bring much sadness to their otherwise cheery days.
9 Even the long hours of fruitless tracting, being attacked by the fowls of the air, and being pursued by the beasts of the field were not as disheartening as the lack of blessed objects known as letters.
10 Yet they persisted.
Chapter 2
And, Lo, on the second day of the second week the mists still encircled the mailbox.
2 And on the third day, from within the depths of the void was a single postcard.
3 And this postcard put forth a ray of light that pierced the darkness and overcame the mists.
4 And the missionaries were well pleased, and there was much rejoicing.
5 But alas, their exclamations of joy were in vain. For the postcard was for someone else.
6 But if their joy was so exceedingly great over someone else's mail, how great would be their joy at partaking of their own mail?
Chapter 3
But some will say, A letter. A letter. We have already written a letter. We have no need to write any more leters.
2 Know ye not that there are more days than one, and more events than one in a day? Why think ye that these events need not be reported?
3 Yea, and ye need not worry that your letters will go unanswered.
4 But you should say, I will go and write the letter that a missionary requests. For I know that he giveth no requests except he be prepared to speedily respond.
5 And we give unto you the parable of the self-addressed envelopes.
6 When the missionary departed into the far off land he gave a certain number of self addressed stamped envelopes to his friends.
7 Unto one he gave five, unto another he give two, and unto the third he gave one.
8 And while he was gone, he that was given the five envelopes wrote five letters, thenin his zeal wrote five letters more.
9 The same with him that had two envelopes; He wrote two letters and then two letters more.
10 But he that was given the one self-addressed envelope became slothful and careless. And he lost the envelope, even that which he was given.
11 And when the missionary came home he went unto his friends. And he that had written ten letters was warmly greeted.
12 The same with him that had written four letters.
13 But he that had written none at all was given nothing more than a fishy, wimp-like handshake.
Chapter 4
And the missionary said unto his friend; lovest thou me?
2 And the friend said, of course I love thee. Then the missionary said, fill my mailbox.
3 He saith a second time, friend, lovest thou me? And the friend said thou knowest that I love thee. He then said, fill my mailbox.
4 He then spake a third time saying, lovest thou me? And the friend said, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
5 Then the missionary said, stuff my mailbox.
6 And the vision is become unto all as the words of a letter that is sealed in the envelope that men deliver to one who is not serving a mission saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is not mine.
7 And the letter is delivered to him that is serving a mission saying, read this I pray thee; and he saith, why sure.
8 Therefore you should proceed to do a marvelous work for a missionary, even a marvelous work and a wonder by writing a letter.
written by THE MISSIONARIES OF THE TEXAS SAN ANTONIO MISSION
In the beginning was the mailbox and the mailbox was void of letters.
2 And the missionaries said, "Let the box be filled," and the box was not filled.
3 And the missionaries beheld the continuing void and were not pleased.
4 And lo, it was the first day of the week and there was no mail delivered, but this was good.
5 But on the second day was the mail delivered; yet the box remained empty.
6 Yea, even from the second day unto the seventh was the mail delivered.
7 Even so, the box retained its void.
8 And yea, great mists of darkness spread forth from the void and enshrouded the missionaries. Yea, and did bring much sadness to their otherwise cheery days.
9 Even the long hours of fruitless tracting, being attacked by the fowls of the air, and being pursued by the beasts of the field were not as disheartening as the lack of blessed objects known as letters.
10 Yet they persisted.
Chapter 2
And, Lo, on the second day of the second week the mists still encircled the mailbox.
2 And on the third day, from within the depths of the void was a single postcard.
3 And this postcard put forth a ray of light that pierced the darkness and overcame the mists.
4 And the missionaries were well pleased, and there was much rejoicing.
5 But alas, their exclamations of joy were in vain. For the postcard was for someone else.
6 But if their joy was so exceedingly great over someone else's mail, how great would be their joy at partaking of their own mail?
Chapter 3
But some will say, A letter. A letter. We have already written a letter. We have no need to write any more leters.
2 Know ye not that there are more days than one, and more events than one in a day? Why think ye that these events need not be reported?
3 Yea, and ye need not worry that your letters will go unanswered.
4 But you should say, I will go and write the letter that a missionary requests. For I know that he giveth no requests except he be prepared to speedily respond.
5 And we give unto you the parable of the self-addressed envelopes.
6 When the missionary departed into the far off land he gave a certain number of self addressed stamped envelopes to his friends.
7 Unto one he gave five, unto another he give two, and unto the third he gave one.
8 And while he was gone, he that was given the five envelopes wrote five letters, thenin his zeal wrote five letters more.
9 The same with him that had two envelopes; He wrote two letters and then two letters more.
10 But he that was given the one self-addressed envelope became slothful and careless. And he lost the envelope, even that which he was given.
11 And when the missionary came home he went unto his friends. And he that had written ten letters was warmly greeted.
12 The same with him that had written four letters.
13 But he that had written none at all was given nothing more than a fishy, wimp-like handshake.
Chapter 4
And the missionary said unto his friend; lovest thou me?
2 And the friend said, of course I love thee. Then the missionary said, fill my mailbox.
3 He saith a second time, friend, lovest thou me? And the friend said thou knowest that I love thee. He then said, fill my mailbox.
4 He then spake a third time saying, lovest thou me? And the friend said, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
5 Then the missionary said, stuff my mailbox.
6 And the vision is become unto all as the words of a letter that is sealed in the envelope that men deliver to one who is not serving a mission saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is not mine.
7 And the letter is delivered to him that is serving a mission saying, read this I pray thee; and he saith, why sure.
8 Therefore you should proceed to do a marvelous work for a missionary, even a marvelous work and a wonder by writing a letter.
written by THE MISSIONARIES OF THE TEXAS SAN ANTONIO MISSION
Monday, February 7, 2011
The week of Elder Allen
Well unlike the rest of you we had a warm week! It was nice I was sweating! Now you will think I am crazy when I say it was -1, you just get used to the -30 plus wind chill and well it gets to -1 and you are all warm! We had a slow week, most of it was spent in Sudbury! I hate driving down there, now hate is a very strong road, but the 4 hour drive is not just long, but on a narrow windy road that has Moose, that like to jump in front of you, and kill! Haha, or at least that is what everyone tells us, calling us crazy for leaving at 5, the time it gets dark to drive down there. It is really hard plus because there is no home for the 250 Ks down there, but one gas station halfway there! So if you got to go, which happens, you put on you boots grab some TP and walk your way into the woods, except this time I had to grab a flashlight out of our winter survivor kit! Then when you get there you are just tired and want to go to bed, so you do! This time all the beds were full, it was Zone Conference! And Elder Allen was apostate, he forgot his razor in Timmins, and is too cheap to go buy a new one so he goes unshaven to Zone Conference, plus I knew I was going down to Sudbury so I held off on my laundry to save 10 bucks, saying that I have enough clothes to last me two weeks without doing laundry, but my two weeks were up and I had to wear a way dirty white shirt to Zone conference, then to top it off we were asked to write a two min, talk on a Christlike attribute for Zone Conference, then right before we headed down They said they wanted them written on paper, eh I thought, I don't have the time I will write it in my mind, which I did, except in Zone Conference we were asked to pass our papers in! Ugh, my heart dropped it felt like High School all over again, the days of the Math teacher asking us to turn in our Math homework, except this time I think I was the only one who didn't pass my homework in! The Assistants found me after Zone Conference to ask me where mine was and I smiled and said, "Not here, I will have to fax it to you." Wow i guess somethings never change, one day Elder Allen will be responsible. So it would have been responsible of me to have written it after Zone Conference, but it was next to impossible, with Elder Rumsey around. To top it off Elder Rumsey and I were going on exchanges the next day, However the next morning I had to use the washroom, and while taking care of business I wrote down my feelings and went upstairs to fax it away to the mission office! The exchange went great, Elder Rumsey and I are really just best of friends and I hope to be able to serve with him someday. The the time came to leave for Timmins, and as we left I noticed we were out of gas! So we had to get gas, which took some time! Then we were on the road and as we hit the nothingness of the 144, it started to snow of course! This poor little Texas driver had no idea what to do, so he just kept driving, and hoping it would let up, the road came to a point of where it was all white and all i could see was the yellow lines peeping through the snow! Perfect I thought, as snow jast came a racing towards me, I am going to die in this blasted snow! However a quick prayer in my heart helped me to press forward, then the snow let up a little, so it was easy to see, the white snow and, the snow started to get of the yellow lines, so I drove in the middle of the road, because then I knew I was on the road, and there was no one else on the highway so I had no worry of getting hit, drove this way for the majority of our ride home, then as we got really close to home the snow picked up again, but this time we were close to home and so all was well, well I am proud to say we made it home safe, at 10:30 Sat night, and were really glad to hit the hay! Fast Sunday was really good we had like 60 people in Sacrament meeting, which is way better then our norm of 45, If only all 200 members would come, that would be nice.
Well that was the week of Elder Allen, hope you enjoyed it, maybe I will have more next week! Until then take care and God Bless! i love you yall and take care.
Love,
Elder Derek Allen
Well that was the week of Elder Allen, hope you enjoyed it, maybe I will have more next week! Until then take care and God Bless! i love you yall and take care.
Love,
Elder Derek Allen
Monday, January 31, 2011
Another Freezing Week
Wow, it is now the coldest time of the winter! And of course I am as far North as we go here in the Canada Toronto West Mission. We also have a very large area, in which some areas you have to take a train to get to, others you have to jump on a plane. However Elder Stacey and I will not be getting on the polar bear express or on a plane, as far as I know, however there was another town two hours north of us we did go visit this week! It was a great trip that turned out well. We went to a town called kapuskasing, were there were 11 less active families! Most of which were part member families! It was fun talking to them, most of them want us to come back and teach the rest of their families. Hopefully we will get some more kilometers so we can! It has been really cold so we taught a lot of members, and had a few hours of finding, but over all it was way fun! Hope all is well for everyone else!
Love,
Elder Derek Allen
Love,
Elder Derek Allen
Monday, January 24, 2011
A great Week in Timmins
Wow Timmins is starting to grow and i am not sure if I am ready! The Lord's work is now moving forward and we are teaching a whole lot of (9) fun people. We met this group of young friends who thought we were just crazy for being out knocking on doors at -40, they they hurried us inside, and we had a good talk. they gave us a great compliment saying they have talked to missionaries before, but they seemed like they were just throwing stuff at them, and how they like how we actually talked to them! We are meeting with all three of them this week on Saturday! Elder Stacey is doing good, he is a little shy at times, but is becoming more bold all ready! He listens and is not afraid to try new things. I really think that is all Timmins needs is a little bit of a spin, so we thought of how we can do this and stay warm at the same time. Sense it is like -40 up here right now! Well here in Timmins there are a lot of members, but few people who come to church. A lot of the people that don't come to church are in a part member family! So we have created a drop by binder of part member and former investigators and we do just that all day. Drop by a bunch of people, then of course to meet someone new we knock on the door to the right. We started that just on Saturday and we ended up gaining four new investigators. It is coming mostly from the extra effort of talking to everyone we see as we are dropping by. Its as if the Lord knows we are going to be by this house at this time and puts someone there. Well on Saturday I finally gave up and called Sister Carroll about my hemorrhoids that were not getting better, so i went to the hospital, a thing I hate doing, because it is a waste of finding, so i prayed about if I should go and asked Elder Stacey for a blessing, but the prompting came loud and clear, that I needed to be going to the hospital. So we went to the ER and in the waiting room we see a inactive member who we have been trying to get in contact with. He married a non member and has two non member kids! So we talked in the little time we had, just friendly chit chat, then he got called in, and I felt like hitting myself in the face for not setting up an appointment, so i prayed for a second chance. I was then called in, and was places in a room and on the other side of the curtain was this non active member. So while waiting for the doctor I started talking to him about his scripture reading and prayers. He said he needs to to better, so we talked about why its so important to read your scriptures and to pray everyday, and I asked, "Will you do it this week?" he replied, "yes, yes I will" Then I followed up with to see when we can come over and visit with his whole family and he loved the Idea and we are going over this week to meet his whole family! The Lord really does lead this work. The doctors appointment was pretty pointless for me, he just gave me meds that I already had and sent me on my way but I was able to talk to someone that I needed to talk to. Ok so a funny story now, we were dropping by someone that was investigatoing the church 4 years ago, we didnt think they lived there anymore, but decided to try anyways. Our knock was answered by this native woman who rushed us into her house, as Elder Stacey was trying to take off his boots, she hollered at us to not be scared and sit in the living room. Now being way confused, she then sayed I need you here now, for Satan is in my home right now! Then went on to tell us how her daughter and her boyfriend were fornicating in her house and how she was kicking them out because it was a bad thing to do! i then saw a poor little baby and a toddler who where kids of these two adults getting kicked out of the house. My heart then became sad. I asked the daughter if we could help in anywhay and she said my mother would not like it all if oyu helped me! Knowing now we were in a bad situation I knew we had to get out but this woman would not let us out. my poor companion looked freaked out. Especially when the woman called the cops to get her daughter and boyfriend out of her house. In my mind I am thinking great now the cops are going to show up and we are stuck in this crazy house! So we kindly told the lady we had to go, hoping there would be tender mercy to let us free of this mess, however she replied no you are going to sit down and read me something from the bible! So we sat down and read the last chapter in proverbs! Hahaha, sorry I shouldn't laugh! Anyways the cop shows up and he says we can leave and we are thankful, but however this woman would not let us go, finally she was loosing it and we took the chance to give her a pass-along card and slide out the door! Pretty crazy, eh! My studies are going great I feel though, I am learning my purpose as a missionary and ready to do anything the Lord has for me to do. Well thank you for your time in reading this, I love you and have a great week!
Elder Derek Allen
Elder Derek Allen
Monday, December 13, 2010
Moving North - - -
To:
momof6boys@ymail.com
Well Elder Omer and I had a great last week together. We had another person baptized. Can, he also got the Aaronic Priesthood. We did a lot of Chinese tracting, and found a lot of new investigators. So due to the fact Elder Allen knows no Chinese he is getting the boot to way up North to Timmins the most north area of the mission! So I will probably freeze. We went to Niagara Falls last week so my stay here wasn't in vain I got a picture of the falls. Plus I made Chinese friends. I decided I hate goodbyes too. Told a recent convert I was leaving and had to hear her cry, its so sad you make such great friends and then off you go. I miss the Tas so much and I am going to miss Sue too. They are such good friends and I will probably write them often. I got a great package from my mother! And I have been reading the books she sent me, they are a good read I read during my spare time. 30 min at meals and then an hour at night. I should almost be done with the first book today or if not after my long trip up north. Sad thing is now I have to drive again. And I don't think president listened to me when I asked not to drive in the winter! oh so up in timmens I am going to be follow up training. So that should be way fun.... Maybe there I can send pictures so that will be exciting you will be able to see pictures again. As for packages and stuff just send them to mission office for now. I don't know the address for my new home. All I know is its going to take 12 hours to drive there!
Well tell next time.
Elder Allen
P.S, sorry for my horrible skills at writing back to people i have been busy but I woke up early to pack this morning so I can write everyone back today! i love you all look forward to hearing from you
momof6boys@ymail.com
Well Elder Omer and I had a great last week together. We had another person baptized. Can, he also got the Aaronic Priesthood. We did a lot of Chinese tracting, and found a lot of new investigators. So due to the fact Elder Allen knows no Chinese he is getting the boot to way up North to Timmins the most north area of the mission! So I will probably freeze. We went to Niagara Falls last week so my stay here wasn't in vain I got a picture of the falls. Plus I made Chinese friends. I decided I hate goodbyes too. Told a recent convert I was leaving and had to hear her cry, its so sad you make such great friends and then off you go. I miss the Tas so much and I am going to miss Sue too. They are such good friends and I will probably write them often. I got a great package from my mother! And I have been reading the books she sent me, they are a good read I read during my spare time. 30 min at meals and then an hour at night. I should almost be done with the first book today or if not after my long trip up north. Sad thing is now I have to drive again. And I don't think president listened to me when I asked not to drive in the winter! oh so up in timmens I am going to be follow up training. So that should be way fun.... Maybe there I can send pictures so that will be exciting you will be able to see pictures again. As for packages and stuff just send them to mission office for now. I don't know the address for my new home. All I know is its going to take 12 hours to drive there!
Well tell next time.
Elder Allen
P.S, sorry for my horrible skills at writing back to people i have been busy but I woke up early to pack this morning so I can write everyone back today! i love you all look forward to hearing from you
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