March 26, 2012

Well, I’m not being transferred, so that’s nice, I’m staying here with my same companion and that’s good because we get along and everything. So yes I’m happy we will be getting another 6 weeks together. I am officially the oldest in my zone though, so that’s really weird, but that’s what we get for having a zone way out in the middle of nowhere.

About the ankle, it turns out that they want me to go to a physical therapy type thing, 10 sessions of it and if that works YEAH, if not they have more tests to run. they said that 9 out of 10 people get it fixed by doing this therapy thing, but he said that those 9 out of 10 people get this within the first 6 months of the accident, and because I have been walking on it for a year and a half, he is hoping that it will work, but if not, I don’t know, he has some other plans of exams and what not.

We had interviews this past week, and that was fun, it’s always fun talking with President because he seems to be more down to earth with us lately. And plus, Elder Pliler is an assistant and he was my companion so I love seeing him. He is a great guy and that was a fun time with him in Renaico. 

We don’t really have any set investigators so this past cambio has been just about contacting. But there is a boyfriend of a girl here that visits every other weekend and we teach him on the Sundays that he is here. He is great and I think we will put a baptismal date with him soon, because he listens and is really nice, we just want to make sure that he understands it all and will do it for the gospel not for the girl.

We are also making a huge push to receive more references from the members here because the contacting isn’t working for us, and statistically we baptism way more of the references that we receive then the contacts we do. President Swenson said like 1.3 of every 1000 contacts is a baptism, bit 1 of every 20 references are baptized so we are making a huge push. But that all depends on the members here as well because we can bug and be all nice and everything but if they don’t feel like it we won’t get anything.

So I’m hoping that the PT type thing can start this week, but other than that I don’t know what’s going to happen this week. OH GENERAL CONFERENCE!!! Man I’m excited for that!!! Best weekend ever! 

Ps I found this video from the church website, sooooo pumped!!!

http://mormonchannel.org/video?v=1498281577001

It’s so weird, before the mission I would only get pumped like this if there was a BYU football game or a brave’s baseball game, but General Conference on the mission is sooo much fun. I sure hope we have an English room!

Happy birthday to dad and grandpa, sorry I missed them, but hey I will be home next time to tell you in person!!

Love you all

Elder Kyle Allen

March 19, 2012

So we find out what happens this Saturday with transfers, and I’m very unsure, depends on what the doctor tells me tomorrow really, because if I need to get off it then I might be going to the office, if I’m fine I might stay here because me and my companion are getting along great.

So this last week we had a surprise conference in Los Angeles and that took up our entire Wednesday. We had to drop all plans and go, which was tough because we actually had a meeting but we have it this week so we are ok. We received a reference from a member of a recent wife that isn’t a member but her husband is, and she actually listens so we are super excited about that, we actually might baptize in Gorbea, first time in 6 months apparently, so that would be awesome.

Tomorrow I have the doctor and on Wednesday we have interviews with president, our whole zone so that will be nice. I will be able to talk to him about what I find out tomorrow and we can get this whole ankle thing planned and figured out, for once. 

I got a package last week; it was that one that told me Happy St. Patrick’s Day, that was awesome, thank you so much, I loved it

Tomorrow I hit 7months until I come home, that’s a crazy thought, I have been out a while and am one of the old guys here in the mission. 

I’m sorry this is lacking know I miss you all and love you all so much

Elder Kyle Allen

March 13, 2012

So I received a package from the Newsoms, thank them very much for that. It was great to get good candy. 

Tomorrow we have to go to Los Angeles to see the doctors from Santiago

We had an intercambio this last week with the zone leaders and I went to Pitrufquen so that was fun

I had my medical exams this last week, I’m not going to lie, it’s so weird getting an ultrasound with another guy in the room, the dimmed lights, blue goo, and laying on that bed, just weird, ha-ha.

We have been very discouraged because we have not been able to find anyone to teach, but this last week we found a family (mom and daughter actually) that seem really great, we are hoping that they won’t mind a message and for us to teach them.

We went to the beach on Monday, but it rained the whole time so I didn’t take any pictures, it reminded me of home a lot which was hard but yah, other than that it was interesting. The whole zone played soccer in the rain on the beach and I just stood in the rain and watched because of my ankle

Speaking of the ankle, I have had a feeling like people think that I’m crying wolf because the accident was almost a year and a half ago and it shouldn’t hurt, and with the news that someone FINALLY found something wrong just gives me the feeling of closure. That I haven’t been crazy and just whining this whole time, but it was real and I need to do something to fix this, not just wait and with time it will stop hurting. I don’t know if surgery is needed but I’m not sure if it’s an urgent thing or not, I need to talk to a doctor to find that out and that’s what I will be doing tomorrow.

We are having a big focus in the mission to work with the members and not focus as much on the contacting, so we are trying to leave with members more, get more references, all that. I know one thing is for sure, I’m going to help the missionaries when I get home because I have realized while being here that they need lots of help and with good members in your sector things just work better

So yah that’s for the family, just so you know, love you so so much

Elder Kyle Allen

March 5, 2012

So this past week it rained every day, it seriously feels like Oregon here because it just rains and is very cold, and it’s still summer, I’m kind of scared of what will happen during winter.

I had a doctor’s appointment for my ankle last week and I have to get an x ray and an MRI this Wednesday because my ankle still hurts to walk and touch so there is something wrong and I want to know what it is because it is so annoying and frustrating.

So someone on the radio in the south of Chile said that Mormons are of the devil so no one wants to talk to us and it’s really annoying and tough to work because no one will open the door and talk to us. We are trying a new thing this week, walking around with my DVD of the Mormon messages and a 3liter of Coke and saying "hey we have coke and want to share a 5 minute video of Jesus with you and your family, how about it?" original right? yah we are that awesome, hopefully it works.

So yes, we have been looking for 2 weeks and have no one, it’s a very hard sector, contacting has not been working, and the members here just don’t give references because they haven’t been best friends with other missionaries so yah we have been having our work cut out for us here. It’s very tough and if it weren’t for my new companion it would be another tough week if you know what I mean, he is always trying to do things in a fun way and laugh so I’m really thankful for him because I’m really struggling a bit right now.

We had 2 possible investigators that we were really excited to visit but on Saturday they said they wanted nothing to do with us so that was really hard on us and we took that pretty hard. That was the first time that we had both taken the rejection personal, because we are used to rejection and all, but it hurt more than usual and in a different way, I don’t know it’s hard to explain.

Happy birthday to the aunts (Marcie and Denise) that had the fun trip to Oregon, glad you were able to surprise everyone.

I got an email from Erik Fonnesbeck (my old roommate at BYU) he is in Romania and is doing great, he hopes to end without training, I can now relate to that feeling, at one point I wanted to train but now I’m back to the I don’t want to feeling. but he gets home in September for school so he´s happy with the progress that we both have made, ha-ha.

I think next week we are planning on going to the beach as a zone so I’m looking forward to that, as long as it’s not raining because bad weather at the beach isn’t that much fun

I hope that you are all doing good, know I love you all so very much and I really do miss you all, wish I could be there!

Elder Kyle Allen

February 27, 2012

So this is welcome from Gorbea.  I had a transfer last week.  I am going to answer all moms questions and expand on a few just for you all because I think that it is going to be my whole letter anyway so thanks mom for the good questions

Tell me about the house/apartment that you live in?  bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen,  

Well it’s a house, and it has 2 stories so that’s a first for me, but it’s very small, one bed, one bath, and I don’t know if you can call it a kitchen but it is a sink and a fridge

Are you walking or on bikes?

all walking, and it’s a very spacious sector so we walk a lot and it’s crazy

Someone to cook for you?  Laundry?

we only have lunch 4 days of the week so we get a little more money to cook for ourselves, and there is someone that we pay to wash our clothing yes!

What is the town like?

it’s very very spacious, so it may look bigger in space but it’s very small, still a town.

What is the weather like?  

very cold and rainy, it’s like Oregon, ha-ha

What about the ward?

very small and very inactive, we are trying to do lots of reactivating but we don’t know much about the sector so it’s very hard

Your companion?  

He is from Columbia, lives in the Bogota south mission so if that is Aaron’s mission he says that his family will take him in like family because I am his family right now. He has 8 months in the mission and is district leader; we are co-companions so that’s fun. I’m the oldest in the mission in my zone, that’s weird, and we are in the smallest zone in the mission. There are only 5 companionships and we are in the middle of nowhere pretty much, ha-ha. So yah, oh and my companion only has one more week than me in the sector so we both don’t know where anything is, and we both have never been in the south before so we get lost a lot, ha-ha

Grocery stores?  Fast food places?

Yes, but they are small grocery stores, and there are more fast food type places but fast food doesn’t exist here in Chile like it does in the states. So there are a lot of junk food places here.

What type of place are you in to write this letter? 

I’m in a cyber as they call them, it’s like a small building with lots of computers all hooked up to the same internet so that’s why it always stinks, ha-ha

I bought myself a satchel bag to work in instead of my backpack because it’s easier to keep dry and I am obligated to carry less so I’m learning to be more dependent on my scriptures searching skills and less on notes I’ve taken in different note books of good scriptures. I needed more extra money for my bus rides to Temuco, because it cost me like 25-30$ to make the change in sector because I went from one end to the other, so yah that was my fun spending

About the pictures, that is my new companion, and ask Andrew what the sign we are holding says, it’s pretty funny because we tried to get that church in the background on purpose, ha-ha

Know that I love you all so very much, and that I am doing better, just trying my hardest to get work on being a great servant to the Lord. 

Elder Kyle Allen