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!