Nøte: from Denise (mom): It has been quite a while since I have posted Elder Allen's news on his blog. My apologies. Much has happened in our Family, as well as with Kevin, over the last couple months. The following entries are arranged in the order as they happened...so be sure to read the end first and work your way up! Also - I have tried not to edit Kevin's writing - which is very difficult for a professional teacher! He has limited time to email....so editing is not a priority!! :o) We will be able to speak with Kevin tomorrow on the telephone and we are really looking forward to that experience. What a great Mother's Day gift! Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers....and mothers who will some day be....!
May 3, 2010
Things a pretty well here. same old same old. I realized mothers day is this sunday not next, so i have to figure out how that is going to work, but im excited to talk to you all. Kim got a new dog?!?!?! already...arg. apparently she didnt read my request a few weeks back about waiting to get a dog till i come home.....lame, i want to play with Blondie. i want to see pics.
The work is going, we had a baptism last weekend, a kid named Jean. I’ll try to put some of the pics on dropshots if i have time. we could have another potential baptism soon too.
(Spiritual moment….) I’ve been reading Talmages book about the story and philosophy of Mormonism, its really good. so far its talked about all the persecution our church went thru in its roots and I’m currently reading about the political persecution.
Zone conference was good, im understanding more portugues every conference, which is cool. haha
We made spegetti today with garlic bread. it was yummy!
April 28, 2010
Sounds like stake conference was good, we had zone conference yesterday, and its usually always difficult to pay attention for hours on end, but it was good and i got stuff out of it.
Sounds like things are settling down abit at home after the last few shake ups. i have had a question the past two weeks. I know that we carry our intelligences and memories into the after life when we die. would it be the same for animals, star for instance. will she be there when we return to greet us and remember us? ive been trying to find a forsure answer for that. (I have since sent Kevin a couple articles from the Ensign on the subject….and scripture references to support a religious view of animals.)
(Funniest moment….) Today, i was helping a member clear his ward of weeds and such (big huge weeds), and we accidently agitated a bee hive, of course they decided not to attack my companion or the member, instead, they decided to deal me a sting to the neck and to the ankle. they hurt sooo much, but after about 15 minutes i was fine. it reminded me of that time when dad was mowing the lawn and i was following behind him and i got attack by the bees. (This is a memory from our home in Blacksburg, VA.)
(I asked about their daily study time….) I have been studying alot of things, like signs of the second coming, and anything that i think of during the days. Its for twoish hours, first alone, then second with my companion.
We actually had zone conference yesterday, it was good. interviews are friday. then we have next week and the week after is transfers. i am pretty positive that i will be transfered, but anything can happen, so we will see. i completely forgot about phone call, that makes me really happy. i will let u know about the call when i find out if im staying or not. u could probably just call the cell phones that we use, since u guys have the plan and it would be charged from your side. so I’ll let u know when the time comes.
April 22, 2010
Im doing better here, after last weeks letter. Its still hard to know that when i go home, star wont be there, but i guess its better, in ways, to be out here when she decided to go home. So things are for the most part back to normal for me. its still hard that i wont see star when i come home, and i never will have a chance to say good bye to her. She was such a good dog and idk if any other dog will ever be able to measure up to her. i do plan on getting another dog later in my life, but obviously i cant now. I would like you guys not to get a new dog till i atleast come home, cause i want the dog to know me, and i dont want to come home a stranger to a new one. but since im not at home, i dont have as much of a vote anymore, so do what u like. just wanted to put my opinion out there.
Also, do dogs retain their memories like we do when we die? will star remember us and greet us when we die? i havent found a for sure answer for that question and its been on my mind all week. Oh well, life moves on. Working helps get the mind off of things. So thats been helpful. Not much else is new here, just trying to get investigators into church so we can baptize them.
i deal with allegries a bit here, but its just normal stuff, nothing too bad. (I asked about cooking….) Yes, we have been buying chicken nuggets and little things like that that are quick to heat up when we are hungry.
(Funniest moment…) Yesterday, we had a huge ward activity since its some holiday, and they were playing some techno music - american of course haha - and i was singing outloud to it. One of the ward members attempted to ``Translate`` one of the songs into portugues and it was hillarious. haha it obviously wasnt a correct translation, but what he came up with was funny.
Well, like i mentioned in the questions we had a huge ward activity. It included soccer, basketball, volleyball, BBQ, and other activities. It was alot of fun, Purcell and I killed in the sports. haha We showed them how Americans play soccer and such. haha it really helped me get thru the star experience, which i have gotten thru about 85% of it. It will linger in me for awhile since i never got to see or feel the missing presence of her till i go home. so i dont think that will fully be settled till im home.
Love you all. Be strong, smile, and everything will be okay. Im trying to do that here.
April 14, 2010
Well, as hard as it is i guess its just kinda difficult to adjust to a culture shock, esp when the average person is not as well off as the average person at home. But i´ll get over it more as my portugues skills get better. They are still slowly coming, but it should be more noticeable since my skills are more wide spread then a few months ago. Well, its also getting cold in Conquista. I never thought i would be freezing at nights sometimes. ``winter`` - dont know if its actually winter yet- here in conquista is similar to vegas, where it gets cold and windy at night and then is still chilly windy during the day, but the sun warms up things abit. My companion is wearing sweatshirts everyday. haha He reminds us of Mr. Rogers and his sweaters. haha its funny. Im enjoying the more chillier weather. so i just hope we dont get sick soon. eek.
Well, i have been studying alot about the signs of the second coming. There is a member here with the Mormon Doctine by McConkie in english and i have been using that to study the scriptures lately. im learning alot about what to be looking out for in the future.
(At this point I – Denise – realized that Kevin was online at the same time as I was reading the above email to his dad. My email brought news that Star – our dog of 11 years had passed away earlier that morning. Kevin and I were able to email back and forth as I shared details and answered questions. The following entry are answers to my questions for the week.)
My new companion is from Reddlands, cali. He has a few months left, same time as Cook. He is helping me with portugues, like everyone has been. Hes really cool and we get along really well, so far, so we will see how this transfer goes.
(Regarding the daily work…) we do street contacts everyday, and when we go to lunch we ask for referrals. So a bit of both. We have a Ward Mission Leader and he is pretty helpful.
(Funniest moment…) Today, my comp decided to see if one of our outlets has power, since the wires are sticking out. He touched them together and POP, out went the power. so we are without power for now. I wouldnt say that is the funniest thing, but its probably one of them. He’s pretty crazy so we have had a handle ful of moments so far. (…and the mother responds with a sigh…..fortunately - all they had to do was reset the breaker in order to regain power.)
(Spiritual moment…) Well, i guess today might be it. we will see. (regarding Star)
April 7, 2010
Everything (clothing/shoes) is holding up well, just my two belts from Missionary mall are about to break, so i could use a new belt. Whether i buy it here or u send one, ill do whatever.
Elder Hernandez and i worked hard up till the weekend, teaching and such. Then conference came around. All of our investigators were out of town, so we will show them a talk or two online. They didnt have a room for english so i only got to hear it in portugues. So i didnt really understand any of the talks. I did have a few spiritual moments though. During Monsons talk in the priesthood session, he talked about a missionary whose family wouldnt write him. Monson told him to just write everyweek anyways and they would write back. Monson then found out later that the missionaries family did start responding and they eventually got baptized and sealed together. I felt the spirit bear testimony the importance of the family and how essential it is for families to be sealed together for all time and eternity, in the right church with the right authority. Also, another thing that was interesting was hearing Elder Scott and Elder Anderson giving their talks in Portugues. It was recorded earlier and instead of having a translator they played over them speaking. It was really fascinating, even though i didnt really get the message though. I love conference and i cant wait to hear it in english, or read it.
Then yesterday night, Hernandez and i went to the Bus station since he was being transfered to Salvador. I am staying in Ala (ward) Brasil and i received my new companion today at 5am ish. i had to spend the night at the ZLs and one of our ZLs was being transfered to a new city. My new companions name is Elder Purcell. He is samoian, but is from Reddings, California. I am a junior once again, but it will be fun.
March 31, 2010
Not sure what i will be doing for the holiday, minus conference, yet but i will see. We get to watch conference at the stake center. Sessions are at 1pm then 5pm here. Not too bad. Im excited for it. My first real legit conference in the field. Hopefully i can understand enough to get something out of it, but im sure i will either way.
This past week has been pretty crazy. We ran into this guy on the street and he started asking us Tons of questions. We went back to his house and pretty much taught the 3 lessons with him since he had so many questions. He then introduced us to his family, and we are currently teaching them too. Hernandez and i are pretty sure they will be baptised soon. Hopefully i stay one more transfer here, so i can baptise them. Also, i want to actually experiance winter and Conquista is the coolest place in the mission. Im tired of Sweating! haha.
I am doing my best to let the Lord mold me into what he wants, its just hard not knowing what method he will be using. but im doing what i can, and i hope i become an awesome person by the time my time is up.
We were given this investigator that was waiting almost 2 years to be baptized. His 18th b-day was yesterday and so was his baptism. He was so excited and so were we. It took him 3 tries to be successfully baptized, haha. Then we comfirmed him that night.
Its been good getting experiance as senior. I do the planning, some of the talking with members and such (not all since i still suck at talking), and im in charge for the most part. Hernandez isnt taking advantage of it though, he is helping me out alot. So, its a ``controlled`` senior setting. Hopefully it will help me out next week when i findout what will happen to me next transfer.
Well, thats the news in my life. It sounds like life is getting fun at home. I am glad im not there to help dad out in his `projects´ haha. those are allways a joy. haha well, do what u need to to be happy, and im always praying for you all. Love Ya
March 23, 2010
the past days have been a bit of a doosy. We had zone conference monday, which lasted literally all day. i was understanding things though during the day, which was a first. i was able to take things out of the trainings and take notes and such. Thats a good sign that my portugues is coming along. we had interviews that night and president decided to transfer cook out and switch him with the other district leader in our zone, elder hernandez. he was actually one of the trainers when i came into the field and i know him pretty well. Though hes gonna work me hard on portugues these next two weeks when real transfers happen. so it will be an interesting two weeks with probably some struggles from trying to detact myself some more from depending on english and getting used to portugues. I pray i can do it faithfully and grow how the lord needs me to grow. Yesterday, we did the transfers. It took all day just about because of headaches with the bus transportation, but it eventually got done. Its really weird feeling, getting a new companion all of a sudden, but it was a needed thing to be done.
I wish i could of been there for your talk (Dad), but thanks for sharing a part of it with me. It reminds me of us gathering in front of the tv during conferences as a family and me struggling to stay awake. Before the mission, conference was just another thing. it didnt have a great meaning to me, but since being on the mission and being a bit more distant from church athorities and such, ive have grown an appreciation for conferences, the ensign - or liahona - and other such guidence we have in life. I am definetly excited for conference thats coming up real soon. i just hope i can understand it haha. either way it will be good.
Kim got a car!?!?!?! no, she did not tell me this. luckyy, but good. you dont have to worry about driving her around anymore, which is kinda funny to think about since she is almost 23 and didnt have a car. But thats good now. I definetly understand her wanting to avoid parking problems and stuff like that. I guess thats just a new driver mentalitly. Plus she is my sister, we do think alike in ways. haha
You can share anything with me. I like getting the articles, stories, etc etc. Anything is fine with me.
I do go to the bread store. I dont go to the meat market or fruit stores cause i dont really trust the meat here and i dont know how to buy fruits, haha. My diet has gotten a bit better outside of lunches. I eat more then cookies. I have found Cheetos, doritos, breads, and other random things i get when it looks good. Also they have Pastel shops. Pastel is pastry in portugues, but its not really deserts. Here, they have chicken, or cheese and ham in them. they are really good.
I only recieved the package with the portugues book and the Nathan Brazil book. What was the reason behind sending that book? im curious. Also, what else was in that package, it has more written on the description, but whatever it was, i think it was taken out, since the package had been opened. I guess by customs or something. idk. I havent gotten the package with the ensign in it. (It appears that the “less than honest postal workers” opened the package and replaced the original contents with some random book. Kinda makes ya nervous about sending packages!!)
Serving from 8/09-11
