October 26th, 2015 -- Weekly Update

Hey everyone!

Finally the weather has been lightening up this last week; now it feels like a nice September back at home. There was a hurricane that came by from the south of Mexico, but we only saw a little bit of it when it hit during the night. That just cleared out all of the smog and makes it SO pretty being able to see the mountains all around.

Now for some spiritual stuff... We tought two less active families recently with similar dificulties. Both have a lack of strong family unity, have difficult financial situations, struggle with the word of wisdom, don't go to church nor have fathers with the Melkesidec Priesthood. The difference is that the Mom of one of them is very strong in the church and is super willing to help in any way, even if it means dragging him to church. The kids get along a little better too, but the huge factor is the Mom. When we came by both of them and had to be very direct about the changes they had to make, the family with a less active Mom did not commit to coming to church, even after what I felt were very strong testimonies. The other family accepted the changes they have to make and DID come to church! The Dad is now taking classes with the branch presidency to prepare to receive the Melkesidec Priesthood. What a critical difference it is to have a strong spouse.

Not sure where else to put this, but our Evengelical church leader friend recently told us there will be a chance we won't be able to teach the bible class due to the fact he got 'bumped' becuase of a double booking. We'll see if he can figure anything out for us to teach. To be continued...

Braz update: He still hasn't come to church due to some unexpected family trips with those who haven't been in touch for a long time, which is bitter sweet. The last time we visited him to read a bit more from the Book of Mormon, he expressed doubts about baptism he had from previous religious experiences. As missionaries in this mission, we are supposed to really evaluate if one can progress or not based on their willingness to accept what they are taught. That's shown through their actions, like going to church. But Braz has recently told us about us lacing the pack of gum because he has almost completely stopped smoking. We teach him on occasion while he thinks over this decision for a couple of more days. I just want him to get baptized so bad.

For the invitation this week, I want to ask you to write a letter to your Mom or (if applicable) your spouse, telling her how thankful you are for her. They really do make a HUGE difference in our lives and I think the last general conference has highlighted that. Thanks for everything Mom. Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

 A sure sign that Elder Allgaier is learning the Spanish language is the deterioration of his English spelling! : )

Braz and I

Before the storm (Hurricane Patricia)

After the storm 

Weekly Update -- October 19th, 2015

Hello everyone,

Fun birthday last week, thanks again for all of your wishes and emails! We celebrated by doing a lot of walking, visiting our investigator to give some big scriptures, only to find out she wasn't there. Luckily, everything else went pretty smoothly. Our American friends from the Central of Faith here gave me a piece of cake for us, which we enjoyed Thursday morning. Thursday night, we ate grande compechanas from our favorite place.

The next day, we went to the offices to get 25 Books of Mormon for our Bible class we will be teaching on 'Mormonism' and beliefs of our church in the class of the same American friend that gave us the cake. While we were there, a package was also there from my family, including an awesome music tie from Kristyn!! Fun trip to the offices where we got to meet a few of the secretaries.

I seriously feel like I was writing yesterday so sorry for the lack of stories this week. We have been working very closely with the members to get less active members to the stake center for a class to prepare them for the Melkezidek priesthood that they will be able to get this November in stake conference. Of the ten from the stake that were there, one of them is from our area who said the class went very well. Success!

I invite you all to read the entire introduction of the Book of Mormon this week, everything before the first chapter of first Nephi. It has a lot of good stuff about what it really is and I still learn things everytime we read it with investigators. Love you all, have a good week!

-Elder Allgaier

Birthday dinner!

Elder Mendoza eating birthday dinner

Got my birthday package!! 

Weekly Update -- October 14th, 2015

Hello everyone!

First of all, thanks everyone for sending very kind birthday emails, it makes me feel very loved and close to all of you. Also thank you for your prayers and help while I am serving. It is very humbling. I was actually able to celebrate in a way this morning by going to the temple! Always amazing there and especially today because I was able to see Elder Berryhill and some other missionaries who I've been able to know and become friends with over there. We also got a large print Bible and Triple for our investigator with bad vision who told us she was going to change her religion anyways, which we're giving to her tomorrow.

Braz update: He is officially two days smoke free as of this past Monday! We went over to give him a pack of gum because I've heard smokers love that kind of stuff. He also took the chance to express his gratitude for us missionaries for helping him change his live. It's just what we do, but it's really great to be able to have such an impact on someone's life.

I swear the weeks are going by like days now, but I HAVE been counting my "miles for Jonathan" this month and a have a total of 151,362 steps and my pace is 2 ft every step. I don't want to do the math, but there you go Allgaiers! I want to invite you to sing a hymn in a time when you usually wouldn't this week, like when you first wake up or eating or in the car. I've experienced great feelings passing time on the bus with a hymnbook to entertain me. Love you all, thank you so much for your prayers!

-Elder Allgaier

E. Casiano at the temple

New companion Elder Mendoza

The temple

getting a message from the DL (District Leader) Elder Long

taking a last picture at the house with E Berryhill with a 3 sec timer

taking last picture with a 10 sec timer

Please help with birthday greetings!

Feliz Cumpleanos!

Elder Allgaier's birthday will be next week! Please email him a quick note to say hi or wish him a happy birthday by his next preparation/email day (Monday, October 12th) so he will get it in time.  If you don't know his email address, email me (his mom) at tallgaier@me.com and I will give it to you.

Thanks, everyone, for helping make this birthday special even though Elder Allgaier is 1,000+ miles away!

PS--Don't forget to read his update from earlier today!

Update from October 5th, 2015

Hello everyone!

What a great weekend with General Conference with the three new apostles called and yes, we DID have investigators!!! I am super excited because we can progress again with the five people that came. Antonio came alone on a crutch because of his bad leg and Guadalupe came with one of her daughters and two of her grandsons. When we went back to Guadalupe's house for a quick in between session visit, she asked us to get a Bible for her to read with bigger letters. I told her we could, but there would be a few small differences because she has a Catholic version. She promptly replied, 'well I'm going to be changing my religion anyways so if it's your Bible it's ok.' My companion almost forgot what he was writing when we heard that because of her confidence in the reply. Awesome lady. Real quick shout our to Elder Jaden Hawes who leaves soon for his mission if I've heard correctly and Elder Jamie Melby who received his call as well. God speed my friends.

Last week Elder Berryhill left after five changes here, 30 weeks in Salinas Victoria A. Elder Mendoza is my new companion from the great Salt Lake City! Despite being sick his first two days, he has been a hard working companion with me.

Some of my favorite General Conference talks from this past weekend were Elder Nelson's on the importance of his wife, especially during that difficult time after a heart operation. I noticed a theme of the importance of strong women in the church this past weekend and I really liked it. We see a skew of balance in the assistance between men and women here and they women take the win. It's really true how important they are for everyone, their strength and companionship. I also loved Elder Bednar's talk on the importance of organization of Christ's church and the Sundayschool general president's talk (sorry I can't remember his name). I want to re-extend his invitation to ponderize a scripture every week. I have one, but I want you to send me your scripture and ask for mine. Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

September 28th, 2015 --Weekly Update

Hello everyone,

It seems that there is a pretty close balance in everything on the mission. Everytime there is a stretch of time where it's stressful and seems like there are no fruits of success, something amazing happens. Or when you have a lot of completed goals, a tragedy happens. Maybe it's the Lord keeping me humble, but it has kept me more focused on the work until it is completely finished.

This past Friday, we went into a relatively new part of our area called San Isidro which has a huge Catholic church at the entrance to strike fear into the hearts of LDS missionaries. Nevertheless, Elder Berryhill and I go there to contact during slow days in the Terrenos, which is a 30 minute walk over (by the way I AM doing the miles for Jonathan this year, you all better watch out). This particular day we only had to say, 'have you talked to missionaries like us before?' for them to say 'now isn't a good time.' Not really what we asked, but it's a great way to judge whether or not they are prepared to listen to our message. One lady named Guadalupe and her daughter of about 30 years old sat down and talked about their tough experiences and beliefs of the Bible with us for about an hour! So amazing how prepared they were for us talking about repentance, humility, different themes in Matthew, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, etc. At the end they even asked if we could teach them how to pray and how we baptize. Kids included, they are about 7 and we're super excited to see how they progress.

The balance was when we got home that night and the first person we visited had a few neighbor kids over playing around. Not common at all, but they seemed to having fun, so I didn't pay much attention until they told us why they were there. The kids of about 7, 10 and 13 years old had just lost both of their parents in a horrible car accident and they wouldn't be told until the next morning. We shared our testimony to them about the importance and comfort that comes from the Book of Mormon in tragic times like these.

But please keep a positive mind, they have good friends with the family we were visiting and everything has a bigger purpose. Plus, this week is general conference!! I love listening to general conference talks, so I want to invite you to send me your favorite talk from this weekend. I have been told and tried it for myself, thus gaining a testimony, of having a question going into general conference and having it answered pretty specifically. Try it this weekend and it will be answered. Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

Me, studying with my favorite hat

Elder Berryhill walking on the way to San Isidro

after a wall we jumped to get back to the Terrenos from San Isidro

September 21st, 2015 -- Weekly Update

Hellos everyone!

I want to take a minute to tell you all about a super awesome investigator we found last week. His name is Braz and he has quite the story that he told us through our last two visits. Braz got into some early trouble and was sent to Juvi as a kid, maybe 8 years old or so. He later escaped and got a job as a truck driver at the age of 16 and finished after 59 years! After just a few years working, he decided to go back home and see his family again, only to find out both of his parents had passed away. On top of that, some other neighbors were upset that he didn't serve his whole sentence for what he had been sent to Juvi. They taunted him to the point where Braz bought a firearm, put it in a bag and offered it to the same people who were taunting him. He said, 'if you want to go through what I had to, the guilt and shame of what I did, go ahead and do it'. That boldness made them stop the taunting and they all went along their own ways. Braz continued to live in a forgiving manner, but developed up a bad smoking habit that he started when he was 8. At the worst time, he smoked three packs a day. When we visited him yesterday to address the Word of Wisdom, he said he was down to a pack a week. We set a plan for him to only smoke 3/4 of a pack this week and continue quitting. Braz is a super funny guy and recognizes that this is important. He also explained to us that he really enjoyes when we come to visit him because he feels good both during and after the visit. Braz lives pretty much alone on the pension of his truck driving job and after four heart attacks, he might not have too much longer to live. This is another reason to be a missionary.

I want to invite you to read Alma 30 (in the Book of Mormon) about the curse of Korihor and compare it with the miracle in Matthew 8 when Jesus healed the Lepor. It shows how we should always humble ourselves to the will of the Lord, something Elder Berryhill and I talked about when he was reading it in Jesus the Christ. Humble yourselves and trust in the Lord and miracles will come! Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier