Buntis na ako...ulit!!!!!!! (I'm pregnant...again!) hehe



At "train the trainers" meeting.  These are all my batchmates! 6 of us
that came in at the same time are all training together!
I just love them.  They're great missionaries!

 Oct 29, 2012

 You complained about my titles mom...how was this one for you?! did you freak out a little bit?1 hahaha
Well, I'm pregnant again...that's what we call when you're going to be training again!!! haha
what a crazy but fantastic week!!!
So wednesday night, Sis. Perina and I decided to go to bed a little early...10:15 instead of 10:30....so we did.....after we had just climbed into bed...we got a phone call. It was our zone leaders. I answered the phone and the first thing he said was "Sister Allen?!" "Opo"" "Sister Allen!!!! Congratulations!!!! Ikay ay magiging Nanay ulit!!!! Yay!" Which means Sister Allen, congratulations, you are going to be a mom again!!  haha So when we train we're called a Mom or Dad (Nanay or Tatay) and our trainee is called our anak or (child). Anyways....I thought it was a joke...nope. He told me to be in Urdaneta 11:00 friday...so....needless to say, I had a hard time sleeping that night. haha. That's the first time that's happened....2 times in a row...training. ano ba iyon?!?! But...it's okay...of course, it will be another challenge, but a great experience. I'm a little nervous because we have 19 elders coming friday...but only 3 sisters. My choices are 1 Samoan (but she's from america), 1 Pakistani, or 1 Filipina. Well....I'm a little scared...I'm hoping I get the Filipina! :) HAHA
Thursday- we had a successful baptism of Bro Emil Patubo. He is the Nephew of Bro & Sis. Orenia...probably one of my very favorite families here in carmen ward. they're like my real family, I love them! They actually remind me of Kari & Michael a little bit...its funny! Anyways, we were soo excited. Bro Emil is 21 years old. He is the person who we first met and he gave up his smoking and drinking the next day. The spirit was soo strong when we taught him that first time. Anyways, he used to smoke 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day, and drink...or get drunk every night. He immediately gave it all up. And he had 1 time that he slipped up in 2 months...he is so incredible, his testimony is so strong already. It makes a huge difference becaues he lives with the Orenia family now, and he see's the difference in their lives, so he sees the gospel in action, when you actually live it. He's really excited to serve a mission in 1 year.

So we also had a jersey done this week...we had them sew one for us...its pretty sweet. The front has the Utah Jazz logo but instead of utah jazz it says carmen zion. It's pretty cool...its navy blue...and white so I can wear it to the byu games. haha :) they wanted red...but Sis. Palmer and I convinced them into blue...cuz we said we can't wear it if its red when we go home. hahaa :) Anyways, next week I'll send a photo, we haven't yet taken a picture of it.

Yesterday I spoke in sacrament meeting and gave my talk. Oh my goodness I just cried and cried...I shared from Alma 5 about singing a song of redeeming love, and have you seen his image in your countenance and had a mighty change of heart. and if you have...can you do so now?! Oh my goodness I cried soo much...it was like a farewell address. I just look at each of them, and I just have such great love for each of them. I will truly miss them soo much. I know this transfer is going to be the hardest...i think of my entire mission. Well...friday....friday is the day I will be transferring. Look foward to some great adventure stories next week.

Well, I love you all and pray for you always. I especially am praying for my county, and the elections. Vote...all of you...vote! haha
This week....I have learned that life is full of trails and tests. It's not just about IF we endure, but HOW we endure.
Love you


THANK YOU ROSALES...I LOVE YOU ALL!

  




   

Weekly Letter

 Oct 21, 2012

So this week....what a great one...of course!
We have now started week 12 of the training program. What an amazing last 12 weeks it has been! I don't want it to end, and lets just say the training program is not just for the trainee, but I feel as if I have grown soo much more too with this program. It's been great...I am starting to get a little sad as I'm realizing my time is coming to a close here in Carmen, and I will soon be in a new area, with new people, and new surroundings...I'm just praying they have an "SM Mall" or at least some kind of wilderness...because my first area was...lets just say....challening. and now I'm a little spoiled having SM within walking distance here. haha It's okay...it's like they say "I'll go where you want me to go". It's true, I know wherever I go next, is from God. So...I'm excited...wherever it is, and however challenging it may be :)

So this week...tears started streaming down my face again...with joy...Yep..I know, I think I say that in just about every email I send home now. haha At least I'm not cryin cause I'm sad...but happy. Because.....after 8 months, the RS sisters are finally working! We were walking in Salvacion (part of our area) and we saw Sis. Nancy Uminga & Sis. Blesslyn Gabertan....and we stopped and said hi to them. Well...we asked them a common question here in the pines, and that is "saan ba kayo pupunta?" or Where are you going? haha and they said they were doing their visiting teaching, visitng their assignment...YES YES YES!!! Ah I was soooooo happy, they are so diligent....and they're soo sweet, and THEY...not the missionaries...are going to change peoples' lives. They are the ones who will change Carmen ward for good. I am soo excited you have no idea. This sunday, we trained the newly called RS Visitng teaching coordinator & supervisor- so....they know what's expected of them, and how to do their calling. Also....we have order now to everything...we read from the handbook of instruction...I made forms for them that they can follow, we listed everything out clearly and gave them set dates of when their reporting needs to be given to the RS pres....ah...it feels soo good to have some kind of organization here now :) haha

It was soo funny....so we've started joggin every day...some days we go about 3 or 4 miles...which is really good....it feels great. Anyways....the other day we woke up and we were running....actually no...we were walking cuz we had like no energy hahaha anyways....so our bishop here, Bishop Caoayan is like a marathon runner, which is so rare here in the filipines. Anyways, he saw us....and he wants us to jog too like him...and we were walking but then we got scared and Sis. Perina yelled "Ah, Bishop...Run" so we automatically started running so it looked like we were great...then we thought he turned the corner after saying hi to us, so we stopped and walked again. Then we hear this giant laugh from behind us...it was soo funny. We heard it and turned to him, and then we started running again. He just kept laughing. It was really funny. It's the simple things in life, right? I thought it was hialrious.

So far in our "CR" in our aparment I have no found Cockroaches, Frogs, Ants, Spiders....but wait...this week, I was greeted by almost like a praying mantis...don't know if that's what it is...It just gets better and better...I wonder what else I will find in there before I get transferred. haha

We had one Less active come to church this week that the sisters before I was here started visitng...its been 10 months now....he finally came...2 weeks in a row now! We were soo excited...their hearts are sooo hard in this area...as in...soo hard. But...it's okay, as long as eventually they come back...and stay.

Anyways, lots of great miracles this week.
Sorry I'm out of time, but I love you all
xoxoxo


Ratan....a very sour fruit



Another Week

October 15, 2012
What a great week! I cannot believe that we're on week 4 now of 6 for this transfer. Meaning, I am close to transferring, this Nov 2 I will be transferring...well I guess I don't technically know for sure, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna happen.
I received a huge letter from Amber...she started it in July...thanks Amber! I loved it....I was soaking it up last night when I was reading...laughing to myself...haha :)
Well I have to say when I was watching the saturday conference I couldn't help but wonder if Shawn was watching, cuz Pres Monson even said his one regret or the thing that he wished he would have done was stick with the piano....hopefully you choose to do that...all of you! Even now, here in the mission field, I have used that skill soo much, and I'm not even the best at playing.  Imagine if you were actually really good at it, you would use it soo much and be so beneficial to the mission! seriously! So...stick with it!
This week, as I watched General Conference, I just cried like a baby, the spirit was so strong. haha It was really embarrassing...but...it's okay, when the heart overflows...it overflows through tears in the eyes, right?! :) that's what I keep tellin myself anyways.
This week I have had a lot of great spiritual experiences and a lot things that have reminded me about why we are here. What is our purpose. Why is it hard sometimes in life? Why do even the best of people and most righteous have bad things happen to them. It is because God loves us. Yesterday, as we watched general conference I just as in...so embarrassing, I was literally crying as Pres Holland speaks.  He always gives the best talks (for me anyways :) PS  if you have time look up safety for the soul 2009 by Jeffery R Holland) anyways, as I listened to him talk about the original apostles that Jesus called and Peter, and his question. "do you love me more than all of this?" He said we need to be disciples, and we need to be them forever. This is the work of the Lord; and that is to change the world. tears came streaming down because I know it's easy to be a disciple of Christ when you're a full time missionary...it's what you do, day in and day out. It's harder to live in the world, work, care for your children, be a good spouse and parent, manage activities, magnify your calling, and find balance and life, that truly is the hardest part. I am so sheltered now; and I really realize that. I realize that my responsibility, as is each and every one of our responsibilities is to be a disciple of Christ. automatically the scripture 3 Ne 5:13 popped into my head as he was saying that. It says something like "Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to delcare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life." Well...that is me. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. That is every one of us. When we were baptized, we literally covenanted with God to always be his representative and always remember in him. All of us are disciples of Christ. It is up to us to magnify our responbility and act like a TRUE disciple of Christ by living the Gospel. Like Elder Holland said; we can't go back, and we can't give up. Our father in heaven expects our loyalty and our love. I thought about myself personally reuturning home, and standing before the judgment bar of God. I more than anything don't want him to say to me "Kimberly, I know I have given many commandments while you were on earth, but you couldn't even keep my first commandment, which is to love me?" I can't even imagine the guilt that would come to me, if I couldn't tell him that I followed that, that I loved him. I was soo struck by this message of Elder Holland...I decided to use it in a lesson last night. haha Cabatic Family. They were baptized a year ago. For the last 4 months, they've gone inactive in the church. Sister is now gambling and smoking again, they don't come to church anymore because Sister was offended by one of the members. I can't even tell you how many times we've taught them about the reasons for going to church, and it's not for the others, but for God. Well...I have been stuck, I seriously have not known what to teach them. Well, we had a lesson planned about about service to teach them, but when I got there it just didn't feel right. I started asking Brother if he knew that God loved him, and what has happened in his life to help him feel that. What tender mercies or blessings has God given him? Then the Mosiah 2: 20-24 popped into my head. Yeah...I knew it was pretty bold...but it's okay haha as long as I get my message through :) Anyways, so we shared that, luckily somehow sis perina got the memo that I changed lessons on her haha and she's great, so she expounded about the verses. Then we talked about how we are soo eternally indebted to God for all that he has given us. I then asked him. Bro Cabatic, Do you love God? He automatically said of course I do. Then I asked again...Do you really love god? Then what are you doing in your life to show him that? Well, tears started to fill his eyes, and he said he knows he's not doing anything right now to show that. It was a really great experience...yeah I know...normally that would be on the border line of rude...but...I was prompted- as clear as ever- and good thing Sis. Perina and I listened, because Brother Cabatic is starting to wake up again.
I love this Gospel. I am so grateful to be a Disciple of Jesus Christ, as should we all. I am so grateful for his trust in me here in Carmen. And I am so grateful that not just for 18 months of my life I will be a Disciple, but for my entire life.
I love you all, sorry this email is like a sermon...but that's what I wanted to share this week. The work is the same....lots of new things to be grateful for every day.
I love you all again....
xoxoxoxo

This Week...What A Great One!

Oct 8, 2012
Well, another week has passed by. I apologize ulti that you didn't receive the email from last week, I seriously don't know what happened. and of course, my time was up, so I didn't see it till today that it didn't send. I'm sorry :( That stinks....well at least you get 2 letters today!
This week was great! we now have Christmas lights at the front of our house, they're beautiful! They also sing...so I get to go to bed to the sound of Christmas songs every night. hahaha It's cool...maybe by december I"ll be sick of Christmas......hmmm...on second thought...nope...not gonna happen :)
We had Zone Interviews this week, it went well, of course. haha I just love Pres and Sis. Monahan, he is soo inspired it's ridiculous, every time I leave a meeting I just am pumped and ready to go out to work now. I don't know what's going to happen to me this transfer. I love the people here, and of course don't want to transfer...but Pres did mention I've been here for a really long time. Sis. Palmer came out with tears down her face, I just remembered my first interview after my first 2 weeks here too...oh my how hard that interview was, how much I wanted to go home. I am so glad that we're in the same house, Sis. Palmer is awesome, she's adjusting great! She told me of a batch mate who thinks she's going to go home, she's asked president to go home now. Tears started to roll down my face as I told Sis. Palmer "No, she can't do that. She hasn't even given the mission a chance"....and then I realized...I sooo badly wanted to go home when I first got here too....then I started to cry as I realized how now...I don't want to leave. For the first time I really realized that now...I am used to life here, it's as if the only way I've known how to live my entire life. It's so easy now...but before...it was soo hard. It's funny how the Lord works in all of us if we let him. He really does help us through even the most insignificant trails.
The RS broadcast was great, I cried....it is soo true, we are never alone, and we do have trails for our benefit; even though when you're in the midst of it, sometimes it's hard to realize that. I know it's true.
Tears started  rolling down my face too as I listened to the soundtrack that Sis. Shattuck sent, please thank her for me! I thought about all my little nieces and nephews, and how some day, they will serve a  mission too...and that day isn't too far off, time goes by really fast. They need to prepare themselves now so that they'll be ready for that "some day" that is quickly approaching.
So, this morning we woke up super early and went out to play a little :) haha We went to Bro & Sis. Hernandez, Bro and Sis. Orenia & Pres & Sis. Fajardo's farms! We got to ride a kuliglig :) and then we got to ride a carabao! haha It was awesome....they are like family now seriously, I will miss all of them! The farm areas here are soo beautiful! :) You can probably tell...hopefully the pictures sent to you...that I was freakin out on the carabao! haha He was nice though at least :)
This week, we actually got the RS visiting teaching assignments passed out, I was soooo happy, especially after the touching story that Pres Eyring shared about that at RS conference. I'm excited for this next weekend, we'll get to watch the general conf broadcast. I still can't believe about them changing the ages for mission..thats exciting :)
Sorry, this emails pretty short too, but it's been another great week. I'll try next time to make the email a little longer
haha
love you all
thanks for eveything, and i hope you had a great experiene at conference...i'm excited to watch it this week...who knows maybe i'll make sausage, eggs and toast....like our tradition...it won't be the same as dad's though :)
xoxo
Love, Sis Allen

Yep...I was freakin out...just a little :)

or should I say WE were freakin out...just a little :)

Last Weeks E-mail

Oct 1, 2012
This week, well, I'm running short on time so I'll be short, simple and to the point :) This week was National Family Week here in the Philippines. So all of the members in all of the Philippines all celebrated. They read part in church about families too and as I was listening I couldn't help but count my blessings for my family. I only hope that one day I can be half as great a parent as mine. Seriously, I do not know what I did to deserve such great parents. It seems every thing they listed that families should do; my parents did it. I know that the gospel really does bless families.

When friday rolled around- I still didn't know what I was going to do because we were lacking in referrals and new investigators for this week. I seriously prayed and asked for help because I really didn't know where to go or who to ask or what to do. Anyways, just another testament that God really does answer our prayers. By the end of the day he had answered my prayer by some miracle we had 2 referrals and 2 new investigators. It never ceases to amaze me that even if it's the slightest thing that we ask for, if its according to his will, and we are patient and obedient, he will answer.

Yesterday was sunday- we went to church at 9am, and we didn't leave the chapel till 8pm. haha it was a long day, but it was really great. We met with our newly called RS president who is just awesome, and since sadly, we know the sisters better than they do, where the live, their needs, and the less actives- and they've never had a vt program so they don't know what its supposed to be like...anyways we helped them, and we set up 4 different supervisors- each companion is to visit 3 sisters- I know its asking a lot...but kaya nila iyan. Anyways, I left the church, and even though Sis. Perina said her head hurt, and so did mine...I still had a really rewarding feeling- we're trying our best, and we're making a difference in Carmen ward- because honestly the work they do if they can learn how to work together as a relief society will have a far greater impact than what the 2 or 4 of us misisonaries can do. Their is strength in numbers- and I know this ward is capable of doing so much good, I',m excited to see the plan in action.

well thats all for this week,
love you