Sept 23 2013

hey everyone not a whole lot has happened since i wrote you on wednesdaybut a few great things did happen. On saturday night we ran in to an old investigator and she has deciced that her and her family (3 kids) are ready to hear the evangelio (gospel) once again. it's amazing to see the lords hand in my life and the life of those we teach. we invited them to come to church with us and to our surprise they said YES! i was so happy.  so last night (sunday) we taught her family most of the first lesson. they have a lot of questions and we need to take it slow so that we know they are ready to recieve the evangelio. it was an amazing feeling being able to understand most of their questions and being able to reply to most of them as well. I know that it was possible because the spirit of the lord was there and he put the words that i needed to say into my mouth. it's amazing the things the lord will do when you are worthy. I feel like i'm learning the lanugage more and more each day. And i have almost finished the book of mormon for the first time in my life! I can't believe that i have never read it before. i wonder how i could have been so ignoraent and not have read it. for my language study i have been reading the book of mormon in spanish and that has really been helping my spanish too. it's crazy how much the lord is willing to bless you once you buckle down and start to do the things he asked. well that's all for this week. love you guys.

Sept 18, 2013

Sept 18,

hey everyone so the reason why i'm writting so late is because our day of prepartion got changed to wednesday because of a hurrincane that hit on monday. no damage was done to our area or even tampico the city. other then lost of rain we are all good. our front room in our house leeks water all of the ground and when we woke up monday morning there was probally a foot of water on the ground. but before i could get a picture elder marin had it all cleaned up. he is so good about keeping the house clean and he is really teaching me a lot. my spanish is coming faster then i thought. i feel like i can really understand what's going on in lessons now and i feel like i can somewhat communicate with the people of mexico sin (without) (sorry my spanish is kicking in and my zone leader told me that is a good sign.) looking at my compaion for help.

so we had Israel's baptism and i have pictures. it was amazing. in 6 weeks i have my first baptism. and we taught him all the lessons. my zone leader said that rarely happens here in mexico so i feel good. yesterday i was sick and my compaion wouldn't let me leave the house. i was dying to go out and teach but he said that it's better to be safe and wait for you to be healthy then go out in the rain and get even more sick. but that is pretty much it for this week. so here are the pictures. 

1.  is the water in the streets on monday

2.  is me and elder marin in the back of truck while we were on our way to clean  the font for the baptism.

3.  is me cleaning the font.

4. is the water in the font after we spent 2 hours cleaning it.

5. is me Israel and elder Marin at Israel's baptism.

6. is me at McDonalds

Sept 15, 2013

Sept 15

hey mom im ok our day for preparation has changed to Wednesday just for this week because of the hurricane. don't worry im ok and we have all the nescitities we need in case it hits. so far it hasn't. love you talk to you Wednesday.

Sept 9, 2013

Sept. 9

hola toda la gente de mi ciudad natal (home town),

how is every one and how is the weather? it has rained here nonstop for 4 days. it's crazy the sewers are over flowing and we really have to hide when a car passes by because if we don't we could get really sick. well this week a lot happened. on thursday we went to the insitute building aquí (here) (i am losing english words and replacing them with spanish words without even thinking about it. that's a good thing right?) anyway at the in tampico and we learned from the president of the mission and the assistance. it was a really good expericence for me and i'm glad i had the oportunidad. and then on friday we went on exchanges again and this time i was with Elder Johns he is the zone leader and he is from seattle. he wouldn't let me speak in english unless i really didn't know the word in spanish. that really helped me because that boosted my confindence and i was able to realize how much spanish i really do know and understand. yesterday we were in the ward mission meeting and two things happened. i was able to understand and i was able to answer a few questions. i felt great. it was like i was walking on clouds all day. and on thursday i had an interview with the mission president. don't worry i'm still worthy to be here. he just wanted to see how i was doiñg and how español is coming. and he said that i'm right where i need to be. so that helped me alot. on the 14th of sept. we have a baptism i'm so excited his name is israel. im pretty sure i have already told you about him. well that's all and i'm happy to have all of you as my friends and family.

hasta luego 

My testimony in Spanish:

ok aquí es mí testimonio en español.

Se que esta iglesia es verdadera. se que el libro de mormón es verdadero. Jesucristo sufrió por nuestros pecados. se que fuimos enviados a este mundo con un propósito. este es una poco parte de mí testimonio. en el nombre de Jesucristo amén.

Sept 2, 2013

hey everyone i'm doing much better this week and i'm glad that you have prayed for me. this week we went on exchanges again and for lunch we didn't have tortillas and it's like i forgot how to eat it was crazy. so your rememember the investigator that i told you about (the one who prayed to prove us wrong but couldn't) yeah we haven't taught him yet. the first time we went to go teach him he couldn't because the rain so so hard that he had to go to work and clear the streets of water. the second time we went to go visit him wasn't there. so we are going to try again this week and i hope and pray that we get to teach him. do you remember our investigator Israel? well he is getting baptized on the 14th of sept im so excited my first baptism. we found a new family of investigators to teach and we are plannin on teaching them tomorrow night. i'm so happy. my spanish is coming along. not as fast as i want it to but it sure is coming. each day i can talk more and more. and understand a little bit more. durring our companionship study my trainer as me teach him diffrent lessons in spanish. he says i do a really good job and he wonders why i don't talk more. and i told him it's because i don't understand what they are saying. so he is going to try and translate all that he can for me. it wont be much olny because he doesn't know much but i know that it will be enough. i love you all and cant wait to hear from you next week.

con amor

Elder Allsup