Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

This week was great except for I don´t remember anything that happened--hah--it´s so easy for everything to kind of blend into one big ball.

 

Hey--I finally got a computer to work to send some pictures--they downloaded reeeeeally slow so here are only a few--I´ve got a bunch!

          I hope you are all have a great Christmas season bundled around the fire with Christmas trees and all---here in Brasil everyone is sweating and there´s only fires to cook some delicious meat--churrascaria--we cooked the meat yesterday after church at a member´s home and then our church clothes smelt like campfire---I LOVE THAT SMELL---it made me feel like I was fishing in the Uintahs or in the ampitheater or on a camping trip with the scouts or something---it was a good memory moment!

 

         This week---not a single one of our families came to church again---HOW CAN YOU BE BAPTIZED IF YOU DON´T COME TO CHURCH?? How can your testimony improve if you don´t come to church? For those of you that think church is boring, say a prayer, ask for a change of attitude and realize that there has never been a boring three hours of church in the history of the church as long as the sacrament is present and you partake worthily. You are there at church to 1) Take the sacrament 2) Help, strengthen and support others 3) Be edified and strengthened yourself through the Spirit and the words and examples of others 4) Strengthen the great ward family that your are a part of (or branch that is)! 

         This week Elder Santos and Elder Correia batized a 73 year old woman named Carmosina and her daughter--}Sonia!! I am pretty good friends with the both of them and had the great opportunity to share with them how the Holy Ghost works and that they are greatly blessed to be baptized and receive the Gift of Fire and congratulated them for their great achievement. We even bought them a delicious box of chocolates!! 

        Before the baptism I cleaned the font and the upstairs of the church with a boatload of water, soap and a broom in my barefeet and my church clothes--it was a blast and I was sweating a bunch! 

         Ahh--what--the owner of the store says that we have to leave--okay I guess we´re going to another computer store. Tchau. Love you.

Week 2 in Araguaina!!

We need to have 85-100 people in church every week to build a new church--the place that we are meeting in now is an old meat shop and is pretty old and dirty and not very condusive to the Spirit BUT---the Spirit is still there and it is still the same church--the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SAINTS!! This week was a bit disheartening because we had a LOUSY 49 people show up to church--well really it´s a blessing to have even 49 but it was just a bit frustrating because last week we had close to 70 and also 7 of our 8 investigators that planned on coming to church said--Oh I´ll just go next week--when we showed up at their door---LAME. Follow through with your commitments people.

FUNNIES!!: This week we had a zone meeting in Imperatriz--about three and a half hours by bus--whenever we go to Imperatriz we wake up at 1 am and hurry of to the bus station to make it to Imperatriz by 7:00!! Last time on our trip back from Imperatriz we released that Elder Santos---he´s our awesome District Leader--had bought tickets for 11 am instead of 11 pm so we slept at the bus station on the dirty concrete floor---we were laughing forever and it was a great time---we lost more than half a day that we could have been studying and teaching in Araquaina but I thought that it was awesome that we all just laughed it off and ate the crackers and cheese and slept there at the Rodovíaria. The second time we came back from Imperatriz we rode in a van where they jammed 19 people inside--it was the sweatiest and one of the most uncomfortable rides of my life but IT WAS A BLAST AT THE SAME TIME--seriously it was fun--we practiced English and Portuguese and ya---I love Brazil---everyone here is just like--WHATEVES---they throw their garbage wherever, there isn´t a single straight or smooth street--but it´s awesome. The people of Brazil here in Araquaina are usually very kind and the drunk people like talking with us too!! This one drunk guy thought that my blue eyes and blonde hair were pretty cool and so I pretended to rip my eye out and asked him if he wanted to trade--he thought that was pretty funny--we left them with a pamphlet--you can share the gospel with everyone--JUST PICTURE THEM IN WHITE CLOTHES, HAIR CUT, SOBER, ETC. but at the same time teach the elect before the swine! 

STUDY TIME!!: This week I have been reading in 2 Néfi only in Portuguese and I have been amazed at how much I´ve been able to UNDERSTAND---the gift of tongues is a great gift from God---I definitely don´t have even close to the same social and testifying skills in Portuguese as I do in English but I think that being grateful for what I´ve already been given will help my abilities to speak improve more--I can´t wait to speak this language fluently!! The Book of Mormon truly is a book of God--reading the words of Isaías in a different language also has helped me to understand Isaiah better--study time this week was great---REMEMBER TO START AND FINISH YOUR STUDY TIME WITH A PRAYER--AND USE A PEN AND PENCIL!! 

 

I loved the tithing stories of everyone, the humility, the smarts and the ukulele stories with cousins and all. I hope your foot gets better mom. Playing the piano every Sunday is fun! 

Love you all lots. I tried to get these blasted pictures to download again but nothing happened--I´ll try harder next time. Tuesday--is Christmas and I think that I will skype you all around 11 am or noon---YOUR TIME--BUT we will see!!

Well, gotta go. Love you all, thanks for your example and prayers I will keep praying for you and for our entire family as well--keep strengthing those around you that need more faith in Christ. He lives. 

Tchau!

Christmas Devotional in Portuguese!

President Henry B. Eyering started to welcome us to the Christmas Devotional in English and then his voice was taken away and the Portuguese begin--I stuck my hand out in the air and was like--noooooo--hah! It was hard to understand because they speak quick and use vocabulary that I don´t quite know and so I didn´t really feel the message like I wanted to but--oh well--it was good to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir again--they always bring the Spirit!! This week I played the piano for the PRIMARY PROGRAM IN SACRAMENT MEETING! It was super fun and the kids there are crazy. I also have a lot of pictures that I want to send but don´t have enough time. Sorry--it costs money to print the e-mails out here and ya--basically I still don´t know how to use my e-mail time correctly I guess without breaking missionary rules--we only have a limited time and I like to read what you all wrote and never seem to have enough time to write a bunch of the fun things that are happening. We are going to the church to practice the piano with some of the members--that is if we can get a key. Ha--funny story this week--a lady said--Hello. I said--Hello, I´m Elder Allen and then she said: Sweating? But I though that she said Sweating--like that was her name and so I said: It´s nice to meet you Sister Sweating--hah (all of this was in Portuguese of course--sorry the quotation marks don´t work on this computer and so I hope that story made some sense :))  Love you all--I will send letters for Christmas--I hope they get there in TIIIME! Brasil is awesome and we never have enough time--so much to do--but it is great--keep up the good work in Provo. Love you.

 

--Elder Allen

Greggs Mission Home address

Hello everyone, this is Greggs mother. Here is Greggs address if you want to write him a letter.Thanks for your prayers and support!

Missao Brasil Teresina

Elder Gregg Allen

Rua Tersandro Paz, N 2129, Salas 105-108, Centro

Teresina, PL 64001-380

Brazil

Araquaina, Tocantins!!!

President Siedschlag must not like me because he sent me on a 15 hour bus ride to the furthest out part of the mission!!!---Araquaina, Tocantins!!! No, just kidding--I think.......he likes me??? The President and his wife were awesome! We ate delicious food---THEIR HOUSE WAS SOOOO COOL and the training in Teresina was awesome. I gave a big hug to all of my MTC buddies and my new companion is Elder Rodrigues from the Northern part of Brasil--were all the cowboys are from!! His family has several horses but he doesn´t have a crazy cowboy accent or anything--speaks like a regular Brazilian!! The bus ride was super fun--we saw a ton of favelas--super small homes--getto living--really poor---we are soo blessed. We fasted as a companionship along the way and talked with several people about the GREAT GOSPEL! I´ve already seen a giant turtle, this crazy armadillo lookin´ animal, a pet parrot, lizards, etc.--it´s definitely more of the Brazil I pictured here in Tocantins than in the giant concrete city of São Paulo! This week we went to church--the branch--about 60 people came!! The priesthood and the church has been here for about one year. Before that the scriptures and a few other things were here for a few months and some of the good saints met together and read and things one with another but for only having the church for a year these people are amazing. Things are really pretty getto compared to what you all are used to in the United States but there is still plenty to go around!! I get eaten ALIVE EVERY NIGHT!! by the mosquitos here. I have to be really careful with the water and buy bottled water and filters and all these kinds of things---it sure takes a while. I am excited to get to work here. We were a bit lost the first three days--this is our 4th day here!! I bore my testimony in Portugues for the Branch!! I played the piano for all three meetings of church--that was like the first thing all of the Brasilians asked---Oh look an American--HEY DO YOU PLAY THE PIANO!!?? They even had us come back Sunday night so that I could play three songs for the choir--preparing Christmas music! My companion knows the scriptures---super well!! We had a family home evening night last night with like 4 families and it was awesome--we talked a little bit about becoming more like the Savior--3 Nephi 27:27 and 12:48. Thanks for all the cool pictures Amber--I spent so much time ready other e-mails and looking at pictures that I still haven´t read your e-mail--I will later---IT WAS AWESOME TO HEAR YOUR VOICE!! I know that you are working miracles there. OHHHH--I totally forgot---CONGRATULATIONS WILLY AND JENNY. Okay--so I think that I heard right---Willy is going to North Carolina speaking Spanish and Jenny to the Dominican Republic speaking English!!!  No, just kidding--I probably switched the languages--but ya---NC for Willy--right? Or was it another state close to that--what is the name of the mission again? You both will be awesome missionaries--I encourage you to do two things---forget about where you´re going, the language, etc. and know scriptures, know where to find the scriptures for each lesson in Preach My Gospel and then go and practice teaching the lessons to your dog, snake, cat, piano, ugly brother, etc.---It helps a ton--but that´s just my advice.

Well since I read two weeks worth of e-mails I didn´t write as much--sorry. Things are going good but I really want them to go as great as possible--keep praying for me and the people here in Araquaina--I KNOW THAT PRAYER CAN WORK MIRACLES. LOVE YOU ALL!

Oh at the President´s house I had a blast with the AP´s--they are super cool and I got to play the piano for our testimony meeting with all of the new missionaries and the President, his wife and AP´s---it was really fun. Portuguese is awesome and the people of Brazil are super nice and love to joke around! I´ll talk to you all later.

--Elder Allen

LAST WEEK AT THE MTC!!

I'm sorry but I have to go right now--this will be short---I gave a Book of Mormon to a woman that works here and set up a time to meet with her. I took my friend, Elder Lucas Pinto Guerdes from the Rangers Soccer team and his companion Elder Guerdes and we met with two of the women working here and shared the first vision--the Spirit was there--I was able to understand about 80%---it was really good---the sisters wanted to know where they could go to church and promised to read 3 Nephi Capitulo onze!! Right now--our last p-day I'm going with my companion over to Mr. Cheney's to eat all of those cookies that you paid for me to get Mother---PARTY!!--Thanks a bunch--those cookies--are soooooo delicious. Sorry, I didn't have a chance to read anyone's e-mail yet but I will later on--don't worry. Our last visit to the MTC was fantastic. Proselyting--our first "official" proselyting was on Monday for about two and a half hours--the coolest part was after we walked up this super tall hill and I started walking really fast so that we could catch up to a young boy that was walking his dog--it looked like a black lab to me. His name was Leonardo and probably was only 9 or 10--about your age James! We talked to him about his life, his awesome dog--which indeed was a lab--and he had a super awesome name for it--but I don't remember what it was. Anyways--sorry this is bad English--going fast--we told him about the WARS in the BOM because as we all know little boys love war and being a hero and working hard, being tough, etc. We told him to take the book home and read it with his mother and we also gave him a pamphlet! I told him that I have five younger brothers and that we love to read the BOM every day and that I know that it can help him to learn about Jesus Christ and return to live with God. I have a lot of others stories---OH--especially when we meet William on the street AGAIN. Things don't happen by coincidence. Brothers!!---make sure you read the BOM every day so that what I told Leonardo can really be true!! Oh and we met a guy that didn't believe in Christ, God, nothing. Then when we asked him if we could give him a Bible or a Book of Mormon he said that he had already read it---HAH! Yea right. A lot of Brasilians here like to pull that card. I told him--Oh really! Okay, well then you already know that Jesus Christ visited the America's and we ended up sharing a message, bearing testimony and giving him a BOM anyways and he was reading it when we left so---we'll see. PLANT THE SEED! LOVE YOU ALL! I will try to send some letters by Mr. Cheney's--mother you can discontinue Mr. Cheney's now that I'm leaving---make sure you go online and discontinue--otherwise they will automatically charge you. Talk to you later. The church is true. Don't be afraid to listen to the Spirit--write the promptings down and then before you go to bed--look and see if you accomplished them all!! Today was the last time at the Sao Paulo temple---IT WAS AWESOME!! I learned a lot about the symbolism and had a great conversation with Heavenly Father in the Celestial Room. Remember Prayer is when you talk to God and his response is Revelation---we literally converse with God---keep praying and look at what is most important. Don't forget to have fun, smile and enjoy life--help others do more than just endure---be joyful!! Tchau familia!! Thanks for the love and letters---they strengthen me soo much. Love you all!

Life is AWESOME when you get to go outside and talk with people about the gospel. The feeling after giving a Book of Mormon away is unreal---you have all felt this feeling after sharing the gospel with someone. One of the most disheartening feelings as well is when you know that you didn't do your best--you didn't say what you felt you should say (aka: inspiration---revelation through the Holy Ghost). Pray with real intent--this is how we communicate with God and then he will converse back with you through an amazing member of the Godhead--the one that gives you your testimony as well as the knowledge you need---REVELATION! It is amazing to think that if someone were to see Christ and then deny him later Christ has great mercy on them is willing to forgive---IF THEY LITERALLY SEE CHRIST! BUT, if a person denies the clear, perfect knowledge that the Holy Ghost brings then they cannot receive forgiveness so easily. This does not mean that if you don't follow through with a prompting you are doomed--no---I encourage you to go and search to know why this is so--go and see, in the scriptures, what God says about the Holy Ghost. I know I have said this before in my life but many people seem to always say--I am so grateful for God, our Heavenly Father and His Marvelous Son, the Lamb, Jesus Christ---BUT---often times we forget the Holy Ghost. I love the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, the Spirit, your best friend---along with Jesus Christ and God. A lot of people always say---oh missionaries always talk all preachy and spiritually but it's NOT TRUE---the rest of the world simple speaks--DULLY, CARNALLY AND TEMPORALLY. You can have spiritual experiences that are meaningful to you when you open your mouth---that is all that is required--open your mouth. I'm so grateful that my mother opens her mouth. Every day she tells us of some experience she had speaking with a mother on a baseball team of Luke's, or telling us that she loves and cares about us, or telling us of an experience she had with the Spirit at the grocery store. My mother is humble and knows that she loved because she loves others immensely. I remember as a kid when I was sick or being rude to brothers or having problems with practicing the piano or whatever it was mother knew what to say! Thank you mother for your conviction most of ALL. Every times I get a doubt in my head that says--oh just end the conversation with this person right now--you don't need to talk about the gospel now or every time that even another missionary (maybe even your companion) says--hey let's go I am grateful to have the opportunity to develop the same kind of conviction to say--hold on a second--we need to talk with this personal about the gospel--share something, bear a testimony and ask for an address and/or give a Book of Mormon and then we can leave. Thank you mother for your conviction--your example--waking up and studying the gospel, praying with real intent--you always receive answers to your prayers. Thanks for teaching me, Amber, Nathan, Spencer, Rachel, James, Luke and Hyrum! We love you and I know that I want more than anything to live with all of you in the Celestial Kingdom and go to the CELESTIAL Bear Lake, CELESTIAL Lake Powell, CELESTIAL church, etc. We need to always share the great message of the gospel with others and never miss an opportunity to open our mouths and just as someone. Every member is a missionary right??--YES! So, there is nothing wrong with standing next to a person in the bread aisle of a grocery store for a few seconds and saying--hello! How are you? Do you live around here? Oh, I love this kind of bread! I am a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and I love the gospel and just have to ask--are you a member of the church? If they say yes then say---AWESOME! If they say no--then say---really---why not???---Let me share with you why I like the gospel--share a simple example and promise them that there life can be happier and have direction through the gospel and then get their address: Phone number and physical address so that the MISSIONARIES can meet with them. Elder Larsen and I had a great experience giving out a BOM today---p-day and Elder R.M. Acosta of the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke and I wish I could share more but my 30 minutes is over. I love missionary work--nothing more rewarding or exciting--the days in the MTC are sometimes long and a bit discouraging but every time you get to forget it all and go out on the street and share what you've been learning---it makes you LOVE THE DAYS IN THE MTC. I love you all---thanks for the prayers. Tell the Ward hello and the family.

CTM and talking to people about the gospel right next to the CTM!

First of all----WAY TO GO!!---on the hunt! When I first opened the e-mail I was like--I hate you Nathan--but in a joking way--ya know. That is seriously awesome--did Spencer go with you guys. Both of those put my tiny two point to shame. Did you have just the two tags--right? I usually take pictures of the e-mails and then read them later but Mother has been very good at sending hard copies of a lot of things too and I just barely got those at the Mission Ties office but haven't read the hard copy or the e-mails yet. So are you making jerky, steaks--ah well you proly already told me that in your e-mails. THAT IS SO AWESOME! I'm really glad to be here in Brasil but that is something that I wish I could have seen--SAVE THE ANTLERS! Dad's deer was bigger right?

 

Mother: I'm sorry I didn't respond to your questions very well. I only get mission tie letters every Wednesday but in the past even when you've sent things through mission ties on a Monday I've gotten them by Wednesday so it is super quick. I did also get your letter with all of the envelopes, Amber's AWESOME, hilarious letter full of quarters and advice from her and Sister Folsom and also the great paper about being a consecrated missionary--thanks Amber. Amber's letter went from Poland to USA to Brasil though so that is proly why I got it a month later then when Amber wrote it. Rishi has sent me a few letters though and they have gotten here in only 3-4 days sometimes so I'm not sure--maybe just the luck of the week or if you send it on a Monday or a weekend.

 

Today is week six and so it is now technically legal to try and talk to people about the gospel on the streets. Almost everyone that walks, has a store, or lives within a mile or two radius of the CTM already knows to just drop their head and keeps walking when two white Americans try to say: Good Afternoon. We failed for like 45 minutes going around saying hi to people, being friendly, and trying to understand what they were saying but did not give out any words of wisdom or talk about the gospel. Pray for me to be better at street contacts, sitting down at the Federal Police Station or in the lunchroom with nonmember workers is so much easier, and it's quite--easy to understand what they're saying. Please pray for me to be more bold and to have the gift of tongues--to be able to understand the people--especially on the street. I am now praying daily for the people that live around the MTC to not think that we are a bunch of tourists or here to play games. We're here to share the gospel and even though they've seen missionaries almost every day for 20 to 30 years they need to rethink things and be willing to listen. I know I can't get frusterated BUT--we were outside walking around the MTC for an hour and only gave out one pamphlet to a man named Oswaldo--he wouldn't let us take his address but he did tell us a few jokes--that we couldn't really understand--we just laughed anyways--hah--hopefully they were clean, missionary appropriate jokes--HAH. There were a couple times were I felt that I should just ask someone if they knew about the gospel but then someone else would walk by or someone would say something that I didn't understand and so I would just say hello and keep walking---LAME---I feel that I've been really confident so far--but I failed a few times this afternoon. It will definitely be great when I can have a Brasilian companion that knows how to do the small, QUICK, talk on the street a little bit better than I do--but that doesn't mean that I can't be good enough to do it now--gotta get better.

 

This week Elder Larsen and I have been teaching some great lessons to our CTM investigators Ana and William--our Portuguese seems to be great with the basic gospel terms, asking for commitments, etc. but we definitely need more street Portuguese. Keep praying for me to be more bold and be able to open my mouth, especially with those around the CTM.

 

Michael Morris from the SVU b-ball team is here.

 The temple was good again this morning. We over over half way! then to Teresina!

 

Love you all and thanks for all the great letters and prayers--tell the family hello.

 

I hope the cruise went well--I CAN'T BELIEVE OCTOBER IS OVER---have a fun Halloween.

Love you all.

 

--Elder Allen (Thanks Amber for the e-mail--I am going to read it now!)

MTC and more awesomeness!

Hello everyone--time is going fast! I've been praying hard this week to be able to talk more with the cafeteria workers since they are non-members. I know like half of their names and try to have little small talk with them all the time but usually they are in such a hurry to go here or there that they can't talk for more than 10 seconds. I was soooo pumped to see that Messias (Basically--Messiah--in English--ya I know--crazy name right--like Jesus--in Spanish!) was sitting eating lunch at a table for his break. Our district sat next to him and I sat right across from him and we had a GREAT conversation--he is definitely one of the golden cafeteria workers--he has the light of Christ in him--and I am praying even harder to be able to sit with him again! I want to give him a Joseph Smith pamphlet later on--this week!

 

Well, Jeff Grigg from the SVU b-ball team left this week and so I gave him a big hug and got a picture and all! I also got some good pictures with some of my Brasilian buddies/Elders I should say! Michael Morris, also from the SVU basketball team arrived today and I jumped him from behind! Him and I were great friends and I'm excited to be here with him for the next 5 weeks! Mother--tell Brother and Sister Ventura, Morgan and Megan that I gave Ryan Nielson a big hug this last week and we rode right across from each other on the bus to the temple this morning--they'll know who I'm talking about. He's a great missionary and is going to Victoria!

 

Everything seems to just be blended into one big month here and it's hard to remember everything that we've done. This week we had a fast and testimony meeting and it was great. At the end of the meeting President Degn (the President of the MTC gave us a priesthood blessing--it was a great experience). It reminded me of when grandpa Henderson gave us a blessing at, I think it was James' baptism. All I remember is that Nathan was like--what? Is that even legal to give a blessing without putting your hands on their head--I remember it being a special blessing though and grandpa got choked up a bit--talking about his desires for us to achieve what the Lord wanted.

 

Our new roommates, one Brasilian and one Chilean are super awesome and we like to talk about soccer a bit and then the gospel and Portuguese the rest of the time.

 

This week I was able to play the piano in church and I played a couple of my favorite hymns: Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd and The Day Dawn is Breaking! I also gave our district lesson for like 20 minutes--I spoke on faith and in order to listen to the Spirit we must exercise faith, be obedient and pure. I feel that there needs to be a lot more purity for this work to be more successful. My advice for this week would definitely be to look at your words, thoughts, intentions and your purity, look for examples of purity in the scriptures and the great examples around you. If you don't feel right saying it in front of your mother or Christ then just don't say it. Remember that we are all representatives of Christ, not just those of us that are serving full time.

 

My comp. is hilarious and injury-prooooone!! First week--he threw out his back. Second--smashed his head on a wall and Third: Sprained his ankle and has been going around on crutches for six days--at least we get to ride the ELEVATOR!!

 

I know that God lives and that recognizing his Hand in your life is very important. If you haven't got a patriarchal blessing yet and you feel that you are ready I encourage you to go and get one, pray to know what to do and then just do it and SMILE, HAVE FUN, but also remember to know when to be serious and work. I am very grateful for the Savior and for the people here at the MTC. Thanks for the pictures, letters, smiles, etc. I love you Mother, Dad, Amber, Nathan, Spencer, Rachel, James, Luke and Hyrum--keep playing sports, read the Book of Mormon everyday and work hard--HAVE NO REGRETS in what you do but when you do mess up don't beat yourself up--just learn and then become even better. GOOD BETTER BEST NEVER LET IT REST TILL GOOD BECOMES BETTER AND BETTER BECOMES BEST! Love Grandma and Grandpa Allen :) Well 30 minutes are up--sorry--not as fast at thinking and typing as Amber even though I'm proly a faster typer than her--hah just kidding Amber. I mean Sister Allen. Love you all. Keep praying fervently and preparing yourself and those around you for the amazing second coming of Christ. Talk to you later :) :)

 

---Elder Gregg Benjamin Allen

Gregg is in BRASIL (Weeks 1-3)

WEEK 3

Hey!!! If you see the Leandro's tell them that I love Sao Paulo! People are way nice, they drive like within inches of each other---CRAZY DRIVERS---and everyone knows how to work it seems. There are so many people that are grateful for their jobs here. I try to practice my portuguese--especially with those that cook food here becuase most of them are Catolico and so I have to get to know them so that I can give them a Book of Mormon before I leave! We went to the Police Station to register on the records of Brasil so that we are official with the government and all and I kept trying to talk to people. The MTC rule is that the first few weeks since your Portuguese is not amazing you can talk with people and be friendly but no proselyting for right now--unless of course someone asks you about the gospel----SO---I always try to get to know them and then talk about where I'm from and what I'm doing--and talk about the gospel in the end anyways!! The first guy I got a good conversation with was from Finland--I didn't think he looked Brasilian but I figured that if he's in Brasil then he ought to speak Portuguese so I wipped out a Portuguese phrase and he was like--"What? can you repeat that?" I was like---HEY I SPEAK ENGLISH! We talked for probably a good twenty minutes about his job and the church and the Book of Mormon--he had already read like 3/4 of it but seemed to have some doubts. I was able to share a small testimony that in order to know the truth of the Book it is often from feelings and comfort and peace over time. He was a really great guy and it was awesome to talk with him and I hope that he will go find his BOM and read it again because it seemed that he had kind of given up on knowing whether it was true or not. You can't receive an answer or direction in anything unless you pray with sincerity every day and excersice some faith.

The next guy was from Sao Paulo and so I finally got to speak Portuguese! It is really easy to talk about Flamengo and Gremio and Sao Paulo FC and high school and all of the getting to know you stuff with the Brasilian missionaries in the CTM but out in the real world it is a bit harder--he knew some english to though so that helped. We probably spoke 60 percent Portuguese and 40 English. I got his contact info and he sounded pretty interested in the church--I'm going to give it to the Sao Paulo North missionaries--there are six, or maybe five, missions in Sao Paulo by the way--it's HUGE! The first thing this Brasilian asked me was whether we were allowed to drink alcohol or not--he was 24 years old and worked for a pretty nice company here in Sao Paulo and was going to school at the same time. He told me a bit about his family and it was very fun---sharing the gospel with others is so much fun--even more when the are willing to at least listen and especially when they are interested. Sometimes in Utah there aren't many opportunities to share the gospel but have faith and make a committment to the Lord to accomplish something--SET A GOAL--I know that when you write things down and look at them often and REALLY PRAY, sincerely pray to do God's will that you will achieve much more than if you just keep things in your mind and think about them every now and again. Don't be scared to let your conversations at school and work turn toward the gospel--practice not being scared to share the gospel--one of my favorite scriptures in high school was Romans 1:16 at least I'm pretty sure that is where it's at---be not ashamed of the gospel. What are we on earth for? Play sports for BYU, go camping with cousins, watch Clone Wars??--Sure all of those things are fun and have their place but we are God's because he has given us the gospel and so remember--you are a missionary. You guys are all great examples but sometimes you have to do a bit more than BEING by SHARING and then you can BECOME even more like Christ. I know that Christ is our Savior and that we are all beggars to Him--it's so wonderful that he showed us how to live, how to die and how to live again. I remember when I was younger especially 12-17 that I would feel impressed (usually that means the Spirit) to say hello to an elderly person in the ward or to go visit someone at their home but would be afraid to do because I didn't want people to say oh--you're trying to be a goody goody or look like I was trying to be something special and I would worry about how others would feel, etc. Forget all that--there is something that affects us all from doing what the Spirit whispers--whether bad things from Satan or good things that he turns bad. My advice for this week would be--Sunday morning--wake up--pray to God to know your standing before him--look at your past--can you honestly carry a loving conversation with anyone, ANYONE in the world--those around you, in your ward, etc.? If you can't then pray for Christ like love and go talk to that, those, person(s) and tell them--hey I want you to know that I haven't always had the kindest thoughts about you but I want you to know that I am grateful for.....find something they do that it good.....and then pray to have Charity from there on out. Once you are clear with all men on earth and in good standing with your fellow men--you will develop Charity and your life will be more joyous and wonderful. Second, look at your past, is there someone you need to ask forgiveness from? Is there some thing--even super small that you could repent of? Often times we don't remember all of the small things that have happened in the past--ask for forgiveness from God--over everything--even the things you don't remember--make amends and then reflect on you past week and take a list of committments to sacrament meeting--things you could do better on that you did not do great on the week before. As you take the sacrament pray HARD to be able to listen to the Spirit the same way Nefi did, the same way President Monson does--really do it--be bold and ask God for faith. Faith is amazing and it can change everything. When ever a doubt comes to your mind--fight it and then do everything that the Spirit prompts you to do--follow up on those good thoughts you have, those impressions, talk with Pedro on the soccer team about why you love your family--because you know that families can be forever, give a pass-a-long card to the guy you buy chicken feed from, etc. If you can listen to the Spirit every time then it will come more often and soon you will be able to hear it more and more and more!

Well I'm out of time--God lives and if you can just simply have faith then you will be able to leave your comfort zone and DO MORE! I am so grateful to be a missionary it is amazing. Read the Book of Mormon every day--just one page AT LEAST!

Love you all and thanks so much for your prayers and letters and thinking about me--it MEANS SO MUCH TO ME! Thanks--and pray for the people in Teresina and for my faith and ability to listen to the Spirit to GROW. We must grow every day! Love you all! Tchau.

WEEK 2

Nathan--you scored 2 goals and won?? Nice--that is awesome--I have to admit that I am suprised at how many goals you are scoring this year--take that same kind of attitude into the high school season!

 

I wrote a letter to you all but our p-day is Wednesday and so we can't really send anything besides on Wednesday's and last week's p-day went by super fast and we were getting use to everything and just didn't get to send it but--that letter explains a lot so hopefully you get it. I didn't get a chance to read all of your e-mails and this computer kicks me off after 30 minutes, we can't print them off and I can't get my camera to focus in well enough on it to take a picture so I don't know what to do--but it's all good--at least I get to read some of them! I'll have to figure out something.

 

Mother--I did not receive Amber's letter--did you send it to Teresina or Sao Paulo. Also what did you think of the cool story in the GA airport?--You did get that letter right?

 

The CTM/MTC here in Brasil is a lot different than the one in Provo but it is awesome! This week our CTM President Degn shared an awesome devotional speech. The keyboard here is weird and I have no time so forget all the bad punctuation and all--HAH!  He spoke of the Savior's atonement and how we can do better at repenting by reviewing the things we have done wrong in the middle of the week and then again on Saturday evening and go and take the sacrament with a resolve to do better on Sunday--it was a great talk! He then shared his testimony by playing a medley of three songs on the piano for us. He is an amazing piano player and the Spirit was TANGIBLE!

 

The food here is great! We get to go out of p-day around in a super small radius--up and down a few streets and stuff--I try to speak Portuguese but I still need a lot more practice to carry on a good sentence. The prices are really high though because people know that there are rich Americans close by and stuff!

 

This week we continued to teach our practice investigator--Ana! She likes to fall asleep during our lessons and so we always have to get her to read scriptures and ask here questions. A big part of missionary work is asking good questions and being patient. You can never get discouraged--after all it took the Mueller's three years to get baptized and they are amazing members of the church so don't ever give up on anyone.

 

I'm glad the cruise is looking nice! Thanks for signing up for the mission ties thing--I think that it will work better--I just really don't know what to do with the whole letter thing--we are super crammed for time.

 

The Sao Paulo temple is in the middle of the city! There is a lot of wood on the interior--it is very pretty. Elder Adams--told us some awesome stories on how President Hinckley aquired some land for the building of temples and things.

 

We sing hymns in Portuguese every week--I love singing in a different language--it is awesome!

 

Have a fun trip mom and dad! That stinks--about Taysom Hill--I'm glad they beat Utah State though. I still need to get better at organizing my time while doing e-mail--my mind is just all over the place and I want to read what you guys have to say but don't want to break the time limit rule either.

 

God lives, this is His church and families are forever. I love you Amber, Nathan, Spencer, Rachel, James, Luke and Hyrum! See you all!

 

Elder Gregg Benjamin Allen!

 WEEK 1!!!

Our prepartion day at the CTM (it's backwards--if you didn't know) in Portuguese is on Wednesday! I've been here for one week and I feel like my Portuguese is coming along pretty good. There is one guy in our district that loves eating meals with Brasileros and learning the language every second of the day like I do. He is not my companion but he was called as our District Leader so I'm glad that we are good friends because I try to tell him that he has to make a rules or set goals that our whole district has English fasts every day for as long as the rest of the district is willing to do and stuff like that. It is important to still speak some English though--I realized--because we need to have our personalities, time to laugh and the ability to get to know each other--but I do wish that we would speak Portuguese more often because we would learn it faster BUT--it's all working out just fine--our district is super awesome! My companion is Elder Cliff Larsen from Steubenville, Ohio--he was a swimmer in high school and loves to share his testimony--he can always just share a testimony right on the spot. I am working to have more love and patience--especially with Americanos--hah--there just seems to be too many people in this world that complain about the smallest things and don't know how to work a full day--but then again we all have weaknesses and I know that there are days when I didn't complete my chores when I was younger and forgot to do homework and all that--so be patient and love those around you--truly care about them and look for things that you can do better--look at it as a puzzle--and things will go much better. Prayer and fasting has also helped a lot. We were able to fast last week--LEARN TO FAST PEOPLE--Nathan always says that this is the least obeyed law and it is totally true--I can't believe how many missionaries I heard say: "Oh man I'm hungry, this is gonna be hard" and all this junk. Be strong and trust in the Lord--the first law of the kingdom is obedience--obedience brings so much joy and when we learn to obey with exactness our lives go much better. I need to work on being more obedient as much as any one else though. I can't believe I've been here for one week! I've learned a lot of Portuguese--tried--really tried--to give a full first lesson and challenge an investigator to baptism this last week all in Portuguese--my goal is to beat Elder Acosta with all the Portuguese skills--don't worry--it's a good competitive race! It was pretty hard though to find the words I wanted--creativity and the Spirit and remembrance always kicks in though. The Sao Paulo temple this morning was sooooooo awesome--I loved it. Nathan, Spencer, James, Luke: I loved the BYU story--I will write a letter though to answer your questions--they give us literally no time to write things. Hyrum--I'm glad you had fun with dad at the campout. I love you guys a lot. Mom thanks for your prayers--I've been blessed with so much confidence and the Spirit has been with me. Dad--you have no idea how much it means to me that you sent that letter to Rishi thanks a TON! Well--I'm out of time and I didn't tell you about half the things I wanted to but set goals and have no regrets at the end of the day. Thanks for praying and fasting for me--I love you and pray for you guys all the time--keep praying for me please. Love you all--Brasil is awesome! Tchau--bye!