Week 72- Thanksgiving and Birthday

Friends and Family,

This week was great. We met a couple great people at the beginning of the week. It was nice. We then had Thanksgiving dinner at one of the families house in our ward. They invited another family. It was a lot of fun. We played card games and ate a ton of food. It was super good and a relaxing time. 

Saturday was my birthday! It was awesome. We went to the temple in Baton Rouge. It was nice being back in my old area. The Spirit was very strong in the temple, and I could feel the difference when we left. I loved it. The Spirit really does manifest itself when you are doing the right thing.

Afterwards, we went to Red Robbin for dinner. Yummm! Haha. Then I opened a couple birthday packages. Thanks y'all for your love! I hope y'all have a good week. 

Another cool experience. We were biking to an appointment yesterday, and all of a sudden, Elder Goodsell's pedal broke, and we had to stop. We weren't to far from the apartment, and it was getting late, but Elder Goodsell insisted we just walk to the people we were going to see. As we were walking, we met a lady who was trying to fix her car. She asked for our help, but after we helped, she tried pulling out and the brakes weren't working. She hit it into park and it stopped, then we just help her push it back into neutral and push the car back into the spot. She was so thankful, and we could tell she was very stressed, but our help relieved her burden. If Elder Goodsells bike didn't brake, we may have never been there to help her. And I've learned to trust your companions inspiration. It was a good week.

-Elder Chandler Allen

The sisters broke into our apartment and decorated a little bit for my birthday. They left us a huge bag full of lemons that some members gave them from the Slaughter branch. We are going to make lemonade with them.

Week 71- Happy Families

Friends and Family,

This week was pretty good. It started out tough. It seemed like there were some distraction which made it hard to get the work done. But by Saturday, we just humbled ourselves, prayed for help, and we had a great day. We were lead to a new investigator, who already has a personal relationship with Christ. It was awesome! He is very open to us coming back. We will go back tomorrow. It will be great. His name is Terry.

We had a good day yesterday as well. We had lunch with one family, and they had their extended family there as well. It was really fun and nice to spend time with them and feel the love and joy of being together as a family. I'm glad we had some good families in the ward.

We also visited Emmit yesterday and had a Spiritual lesson with him again. He wants to live in the Celestial Kingdom with God again, and we shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, which tells us how we can do that. It was awesome! He wants to be baptized and feel the Holy Ghost constantly in his life. Go has lead us back to him continually. He is such a nice guy.

It was a good week. When we sacrifice and are obedient, God brings blessings.

Love y'all! Happy Thanksgiving. I'm grateful for the people I'm able to serve out here, my supportive family, friends, and for the things I've learned out here. It's been hard, but my burdens are made easy when I turn to Christ. So most of all, Christ and His redeeming love.

-Elder Chandler Allen

The youth were awesome and surprised us with a bunch of uplifting letters. They're awesome. Just about made our day yesterday.

Week 70- Gift of Revelation

Friends and Family,

This week turned out good. There were a lot of little neat miracles. Recently, I was counseled to strive to develop the Spiritual Gifts God has given me. Two of them that stick out to me are the gift of prophecy and of revelation. Ammon and his brothers were blessed with it as missionaries, along with many others all throughout scripture. As I've studied it and prayed about it, I feel that God is helping me develop it. Twice this last week, just as we were about to head in at night, we felt like there was still something we had to do. We ended up visiting this one investigator named Emmitt who we just couldn't get ahold of, until the nights we tried him again. We saw him twice this week. One of the times, he told us a cool story. He said missionaries from Baton Rouge saw him before the flood, but he was flooded out and had to stay with his sister in our area, and lost contact with the missionaries. He was supposed to get a Book of Mormon from them. One day, our appts fell through, and we prayed to know where to go to tract, and we knocked on his sisters door and talked with him. I know God wanted him to have a Book of Mormon. We keep being lead to people that have had contact with the church before. God's giving them another chance.

We also got to help out with a Veteran's Day ceremony, which was pretty neat. It was at a vets cemetary. The Spirit could be felt there, and the place was very nice. It was a good time to remember those that served us. I'm grateful for those, especially in my family, that served their countries. 

It's been great to see these miracles. I know if we continually rely on the Lord to help guide us, we will accept many great things.

Love y'all!

-Elder Chandler Allen

Elder Allen, Elder Goodsell, Sister Hyer, Sister Cornia, Sister Henrie, Sister Belnap

Week 69- The Restored Gospel Is True

Friends and Family,

This week has been alright. Things slowed down. Investigators stopped progressing and we had to drop Joe. We will try back with him later though. Micheal is doing really good though. We are having some great discussions with him. He wants to really KNOW Christ, so he is doing what he needs to to get to know Him. His faith strengthens my testimony.

Lately, we have been hearing a lot of different opinions and beliefs. At times, it challenges my testimony and beliefs. with that, I have the opportunity to strengthen my testimony and search for/confirm the truth. Elder Bednar said once that we should continually pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. As I have read that and Our Heritage, which discusses the early restored church history, my testimony has been strengthened, and I know this is Christ's church restored to the Earth. 

It was a pretty good week. The time change is kinda throwing us off a little, but it's ok. Haha. 

Love y'all, Elder Chandler Allen

Week 68- The Spirit Is Bursting In Zachary

Friends and Family,

This was probably the best week yet in Zachary. We were low on miles this month, so we had to bike, but it ended up being one of the best ideas because we were able to meet so many more people that way. I think we will continue doing it even if we have miles. It was awesome.

One really neat thing is that every time we pray and pick a street to tract, we always have a feeling of success, whether or not we meet people. But recently God is even leading us to people. We have found 2 LA's that way, and a couple other potential investigators. I think we even found a former investigator. It's so awesome! And the lessons we are having with people are very Spiritual. My favorite question to ask recently has been, When in your life did you come to know God. Any experience they share brings the Spirit. They do it in the Book of Mormon to. Prophets stir up in remembrance the mercies and miracles of God. It's working great. I see the Spirit working on their hearts. We just need to find a better way to follow up with them.

Brother Landry texted us and told us he had fasted and prayed, and sadly he said he feels like he should go back to his old church. The thing is that he knows Joseph Smith was a true prophet. He felt the Spirit watching the restoration video. He just doesn't understand how that connects to knowing the church is true. I hope we meet back up with him soon to share that with him.

Joe is doing well. He wants all of his kids to be taught as well so he is having us refer them to the missionaries where they live.

Halloween was fun! We spent it with the Bishop's family. They're awesome and so nice. Carved pumpkins, ate pizza and carmel apples, and played a game. It was awesome!

And good news! Me and Elder Goodsell are staying together for another transfer here in Zachary. That's three for ya. Haha. It's rare, but I'm really happy about it. Things were just picking up here, and me and Elder Goodsell have great comp unity. He's awesome. We are great friends.

Love y'all! Hope y'all have a great week as well!

-Elder Chandler Allen