Its Beginning to Look a lot Like the Exact Opposite of Christmas

Hey Everyone!!

How are yall doing? This past week was the fastest week so far which is both a blessing and also I remember almost nothing that happened this week so that is unfortunate. But I think it was pretty good.

Monday (December 10th, 2018)

Wow! What a fun day. And also what a blessing that I didnt die. (Dont worry Mom, I said I didnt die.) :) We had a good P-Day. We played soccer at the stake center which was way fun because I am getting better at soccer. I am still getting whopped every time but its all good. Im so red and sunburned they didnt even see my embarrassment. After that we did normal things like buy food and walking. But the really exciting thing happened after we finished everything on P-Day. Elder Inacio and Elder Rico are teaching a family and they planned to go visit them Monday night. We didnt have any specific plans so they asked if we wanted to come and help with the lesson. We said sure and so the four of us went together. We were teaching them and talking to them and doing normal great missionary things when someone outside started yelling. Turns out it was one of the older daughters who was yelling at an ex boyfriend. Then it started to turn ugly. We didnt know this but she started saying that there was going to be another man who would beat him up and it was right at that moment that the four of us emerged from the house to try to help keep things calm. The dude lost it. He started yelling and cursing us telling us all sorts of things that I do not think Jesus would say. To be honest it was pretty spooky. We left the house as fast as we could because we knew it would only get worse and as we were walking home two of the daughters came running after us. They told us that they couldnt stay in that house anymore because they guy threatened to kick them out. So we tried to find a place for them to stay for the night. We waited at the chapel for 2 hours that night only to find out that everything calmed down. And everything tuned out fine. I dont share this story to scare anyone or anything like that, I share this story to show that it is so so true that God is in the details of our lives. When we were leaving the house, it would have been really easy to only send two of us to the familys house. It would have been normal, but all four of us went. To be honest this was a miracle because I dont even want to imagine what would have happened if only two of us had been there . The man might have though that it would be a lot easier to beat us up or hurt us but, because we were in 4 we were protected completely . The Lord will ALWAYS protect us when we are trying to do what is right.

Tuesday (December 11th, 2018)

Today was really really boring compared to yesterday which is such a blessing. We did splits again today and I am staying in Areal for today and tomorrow with Elder dos Anjos. (Elder of the Angels). It was pretty cool to work with him today because he arrived on the mission when I did. No one was senior companion and no one was junior companion. Like the last time I went on a split in Areal it was pretty slow. It was pretty hard that neither one of us knew the area very well. But we found some pretty good people that I think they can teach. It was a good experience.

Wednesday (December 12th, 2018)

I stayed in Areal again today and we taught a really awesome recently baptised family and they will be such a force in the church for years to come. That small experience really taught me the difference between teaching people and converting people. We can teach everyone, but we also have to convert them. They have to be able to feel the love that the Savior has for them. They have to be willing to make changes in their life that are hard but will be worth it for all eternity. They have to be willing to sacrifice everything that they have to gain everything that the Father hath. The question for you and me and everyone is, how converted are we?

Thursday (December 13th, 2018)

I got back in my area today and it was good normal Obelisco, just the way I like it. This was the part of the week that went by super fast and I hope you will forgive me but I remember nothing that happened Thursday or Friday, but I hope that since I wrote a novel for Monday you will forgive my short term memory loss.

Friday (December 14th, 2018)

 *Explanation above 

Saturday (December 15th, 2018)

Today was the Christmas activity in the ward and it was so awesome. It was so great to hear us all singing hymns together and feeling the Christmas spirit while it was 90 degrees. But it really was great. Every group in the ward put together a little presentation. Relief Society, Priesthood, Young Women, Young Men, and even the Missionaries. To be completely honest, I forgot about it and so did everyone else, so we sang the mission song. Unfortunately I still have not memorized the mission song so that was a great choice. It went well...for everyone else ;) I love Christmas

Sunday (December 16th, 2018)

Today we had some missionaries from a different city stay with us because we are all going to a Christmas Conference on Tuesday so they came up early and stayed with us. (Wow that last phrase makes me sound like I am a dad, have 3 kids and am celebrating Christmas with my cousins) Both of these guys passed in Obelisco so we went with them to visit some of the people that they had taught. It was really good because he showed us some people that I didnt know were baptised or that I didnt know even existed (sorry). But it was fun to see everyone so excited to see these awesome missionaries again.

Random Thoughts:

• It has reached 85 degrees every day here for the past week.
• I found out that Pelotas is in the top 3 most humid cities in the world so that is great. Even more humid than the Amazon rain forest.
• You know those cartoons where they people wipe their forehead and then a whole bunch of water falls off their hand. I did that today. It is real.
• The scriptures are so powerful and can lift you up when you are feeling down or stressed.

I am so excited that it is almost Christmas!!! I hope you are all having the time of your lives and that you are nice for Santa. But just remember that your life is possible because a boy was born this time of year more than 2000 years ago. 

I love you all and Merry Christmas!!

Love,

Elder Allen