Weekly Update -- December 28th, 2015

Hello everyone,

Kind of a crazy week with the Christmas festivities from the Regios (people from Monterrey) and from the mission. However, despite the difficulties, we had TWO investigators at church!!! WHOOO!! That is the biggest payoff to a week of mission work for me. One of them was an investigator, named Anahi, who had come two times before, but this times she brought her Mom named Juany. I was given the opportunity to teach the class on how we should pray to our Heavenly Father and Juany felt the Spirit in the class strong enough to share her personal testimony and experiences of prayers being ansered as well.

As far as Christmas stuff goes, we had a mission party where half of the mission came to our stake center to do some skits, have some dinner, chat and get a neat giftbag that President McCarthur and his wife were so nice to give us. Fun time to see so many missionaries together apart from changes, especially the new missionaries. We had a district Christmas party at our zone leaders' house where one of the Elders had been sent some Christmas money to use strictly on food. Weather (spell check that please Mom :)) or not his parents knew, it was enough to feed the entire district a ham, mashed potato, soda, tuna caseroll and meatball dinner. We accomplished what their wish was: eat well. At the same party we did a gift exchange which was super fun with the reactions us Elders give at the 100 peso (6 USD) maximum gifts we receive. Elder Lopez and I also got bikes!! Super happy about that because it gives us exercise and saves the mission money. Thanks Mom for the Christmas money to make it possible!

Of course the part of the week I was most excited for was the skype call home. Even though there were some techincal difficulties, it was the highlight of the week to hear and see them again. They say I speak English like a Mexican now... Anyways, before New Year's hits, I'll make the invitation to make yourselves a list of goals or personal traits you would like to improve on this year. I want to read the Book of Mormon and Jesus the Christ and become fluent in Spanish this year. What do you think? Love you all, happy New Year!

-Elder Allgaier

Weekly Update -- December 22nd, 2015

Due to computer problems, Elder Allgaier wasn't able to send out his update until today. Happy reading! 


Hello everyone,

Fun week seeing a lot of people getting preparations up for Christmas. Oh, I'm staying in Salinas Victoria another seven weeks (long change due to the timing for those going home by airplane) which will permit me to work more with a few investigators with a lot of promise we found these past couple of weeks. One of the families we found of six people was after Elder Lopez and I were waiting for the bus to go back to our house when he turned to me and asked if we had contacted the house right on the other side of the road. I said we hadn't and we decided to knock on the door. They ended up having a lot of good questions about prophets, the life of Christ, some of our beliefs and where the church was. Over the next couple of visits they have been keeping commitments as well like reading the Book of Mormon, praying, reading the pamphlets, even marking them! Those are the kind of things that we, as missionaries LOVE! That is just one family of a few other scattered investigators we have to work with this change so far. I'm excited.

Of course, Christmas is this week and I am SUPER excited to skype with my family this Friday! One of my friends recently emailed me and said Christmas was a little less magical as we get older. It is so gratifying when I'm able to serve others in this season because it really is about celebrating the life of Christ. He who served others more than any other person who ever lived or will live. I want to invite you to find a little service opportunity to really feel the Christmas Spirit. I would love to hear what you have done to do so. I know that you will feel a greater sense of joy apart from giving and receiving gifts. Love you all! (Pictures coming next week)

-- 

-Elder Allgaier

Weekly Update -- December 14th, 2015

Hello everyone,

Elder Lopez and I had a fantastic week where we saw a lot of miracles. I think difference was when we had divisions this past Tuesday with our district leader Elder Long and a returned missionary who served in Las Vegas. A few small things we changed was praying with the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood stated in the prayer. Also, using representatives of Jesus Christ in place of Missionaries.

The biggest thing, however, that made this week so successful was starting the 40 day fast of anything we could think of in our current actions that wouldn't invite the Spirit to testify of our words. We each wrote down our own lists and ended together the 24 hour fast with a prayer and asked Heavenly Father how many of His children He had prepared for us to be baptized this week. This is how I really believe prayer is meant to be a communication between Him and His children. We received an answer of one for this past week when we prayed on Wednesday which meant someone already had to have been to church a few times. I realized that our neighbor, Juan, had already been to church with past missionaires and was also going through some trials with learning English, trials with his family as well as with his job. After realizing he could be baptized this week if we were inspired to do so, we did EVERYTHING within our power to make it possible, which is when Elder Lopez and I really understood faith on a much more profound level. Peter said even the demons believe in Jesus and the Son of God, but the difference between belief and faith is similar to the difference between knowledge and wisdom (there's a T.S. Eliot quote that I really like similar to this concept). We talked to Juan right then and answered a question he had about a chapter in the Book of Mormon and felt the Spirit very strong. We were inspired to put the baptismal date for the 11th, just two days later and he accepted! After his fair share of trials and a guiding hand from us, we were able to have a baptism just as planned two days later. One of the most special lessons I've learned on my mission so far.

Tonight we find out if one of us is leaving Salinas Victoria and I'm thinking I'll have a 50 50 chance of taking on a new area. I've really learned a lot here and a lot with Elder Lopez and my companion. As an invitation, I would like to recommend studying on the topic of faith and answering the question that I will also try to answer better this week. How can we exercise faith in Jesus Christ? A few chapters can be James chapter 3 and Alma 32. Feel free to use the footnotes. Also, why did Jesus Christ say that Peter had little faith. Thanks for everything, love you all!

-Elder Allgaier 

BAPTISM!!

A future missionary and recent convert in our branch -- Lupita.

Zone Conference

Weekly Update -- December 7th, 2015

Hello everyone,

Kind of a tough week, but I made it to Pday and was able to talk it out with some great Elders. One big part of serving a mission for me is building mental muscles. Just like with physical muscles, your mental muscles go through exercise, working out how to solve problems, deal with stress, talk to a wide variety of people and building a huge pool of doctrinal information that the Spirit can pull from at the exact moment you need it when someone asks you a tough question. It definately exhausts your brain, which is why I need eight hours of sleep every night. But, I believe that one of the reasons the Church chooses younger members to be missionaries is to build the testimonies, because this is the truth. All of the answers are there, one just has to need it, needs to be pushed a bit to be strengthened. Just know that the Church is awesome.

More frequently, we have been going to lessons with a recent convert of about eight months named Lupita. Super strong in her testimony and doesn't have a lot of fear of bearing her personal testimony in front of strangers. She wants to serve a mission as well and I'm pretty confident she will be a pretty good one. We have talked to her recently about getting her patriarchal blessing and a temple recommend apart from getting her mission papers in. Also, this last Sunday, Arturo came to the Gospel Principles class and bore his testimony at the end to the three investigators that were there about how happy he has become in these last few months after being baptized without even being asked. He fully takes on his new responsibility as a Melchizedek Priesthood holder with scripture study, activity in the church, missionary work and personal dignity. It's so rewarding to see the progress of converts' testimonies.

The new church video for Christmas came out and I invite you to watch it if you haven't already and then share it with a friend. The Church is putting a big emphasis on referrals this year to help us missionaries out. I like to think about how we can find more people like Lupita and Arturo, but who are just waiting for someone to give them a little push start. One thing I read about in a talk named 'the consecrated missionary' (or something like that) is that this work is changing lives, changing the world. If we want to have a result like that, there has to be a price. 

Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

me with a machete

after we made the elote stand

(Oops! I missed these few pictures from last week.  Sorry!)

Weekly Update -- November 30th, 2015

Hello everyone!

Super exciting week ending with pday today when all four Elders in the Salinas Victoria branch decided to take a field trip to the city of Monterrey. So much fun! We went to a pet shop where they had dogs, fish, exotic birds, monkeys, snakes, sloths, turtles and even an albino crocodile! We spent the 35 pesos to be able to take some pictures and see the more exotic animals upstairs. Then we ended the trip with some good ole' compechanas.

Earlier, a recent convert of about 4 months named Ana expressed that she wanted to build an elote stand to earn some money to visit her family due to the fact that she really doesn't have any income despite being a single parent with three kids apart from collecting plastic bottles. We took advantage of the opportunity to help her build it in the back wall of her house facing the street this past Saturday. Elder Lopez was a carpinter before the mission for some time and a less active member who lives two doors down is a contractor for his living. We all helped out taking out the back wall and building a more solid one w

ith an opening window for her to sell elotes. It took all afternoon, but it was the most rewarding activity we had done all week, plus it was some good experience for me to get to practice some home improvement methods.

Stake conference was this past weekend as well and I found myself noticing a lot of familiar faces and realizing I had been in the same stake since coming to the field. Coming up on 9 months in the mission! It's crazy to think about how many people I've been blessed to get to know and the impact they've had on my life as well as my impact on theirs. At the end of the conference, Arturo and Oveth, a couple of ex-less-active members were ordained to be Elders and recieved the Melchizedek Priesthood (did I finally spell it right?). When we went to teach Arturo how to give blessings of confort for Elder Lopez's nail punctured foot from the service with Ana, he was beaming from excitement. It makes me so happy to see him like that.

As I'm coming up on 9 months, I think it's appropriate to address the youth (to any who might come across this). I made the decision to go on a mission in Primary, I even remember telling a classmate in 3rd grade that I was going to serve a mission when I was older, not really knowing the depth of the decision. It made the day, when the decision finally had to become solid, so much easier because my plans were already made. Make a solid decision now whether you want to serve a mission or not. It will bless you in the long run. To include everyone else, everyone can read D&C section 4, the rally for all missionaries. Thanks for everything and happy birthday Ele!

-Elder Allgaier

Weekly Update -- November 23rd, 2015

Hello everyone! Last week, I mentioned we just got short changed and when we were trying to figure out why, Elder Lopez asked the assistants who told him 'The President just kind of walked in and decided to do short changes.' Even with a curve ball like that, we had an amazing week! Apart from a few less active families coming (one for the first time since moving here about a year ago) we had an investigator come!!! It was so exciting and during the gospel principles class, Elder Lopez gave a great lesson on faith, somehow using handcuffs as an object lesson. Everyone liked it, being a little more active than the usual read and discuss style. Waiting in the office for changes (notice the Christmas decorations) My first picture with Elder Lopez! First sweater day in the middle of November!!  We also had the chance to do a service project in the area of Hidalgo, which also happens to be an international hotspot for mountain climbing. We spent the morning cleaning up the house of prayer for the branch that meets there with the President and his wife and another senior couple missionaries, Elder and Hermana Page. Still one of my favorite parts of the mission, service projects. I put myself in charge of cleaning up the spider webs before being the pile collector after others had swept among other things. Another Elder Gale had found a Christmas CD and put it on while we were cleaning being that nobody celebrates Thanksgiving here, so there's not really a stopper between November and putting up Christmas decorations. People are getting into the Christmas spirit, even in the offices! Today, for pday, the zone went to the activity and everyone chipped in to buy a LOT of eggs and drinks and the Hna's were super nice by taking command of that and making the Elders super happy. Don't worry we all offered a hand when they would let us, but they cooked that brunch pretty much between the four of themselves. Zone activity Before getting into the Christmas Spirit, still being Thanksgiving season in the States, I want to invite you to have a little talk with someone close to you and express why you are thankful for them. Also, some little things you are thankful for to get you through the day. I am personally thankful for the other missionaries who help me a TON destressing when we're able to get together. Also, for the chance I have right now to be able to share the gospel with everyone and anyone as a full-time missionary. I'm thankful for my family and all of the support they give me during this time. As well for the Atonement that we can ALWAYS become better people and not have to worry about mistakes we have made in the past as long as we look to the future. Love you all. Also... Happy early birthday Mom!! -Elder Allgaier   The mission president's blog: http://monterreywest.weebly.com/presidente-y-hermana-mcarthur.html (you should be able to find a picture of the service we did in Hidalgo soon)

Weekly Update -- November 16th, 2015

Hello everyone,

First of all, while we were just in here writing for this week, Elder Mendoza received a phone call from the Asistants saying that we are getting a companion change TODAY as soon as pday is over. So my new companion is going to be Elder Lopez. Too bad because I was expecting to be with Elder Mendoza until just before Christmas and he introduced me to some cool spanish music and herbal tea that made this last sick week much easier. In any case, I'm excited for Elder Lopez!

Yesterday was one of the most rewarding Sundays in a long time when a recent less active, Arturo, was ordained a Priest and received the Aaronic priesthood! He is really into studying the gospel doctrine in the manuals and even motivated his wife to come to church for the first time since I've been in Salinas Victoria. She learned about eternal temple marriage and realized she wasn't sealed to Arturo. She seems very excited to put that on her list of things to do after her husband receives the Melchesidek Priesthood in two weeks!

Side note, I received a letter from the Urbana ward primary filled with letters thanking me for being a missionary! Thank you so much to all who helped putting that together, it made me very happy! I really wanted to send a picture, but I'm having camera problems right now so maybe I'll pose one when they pass. Thank you so much Primary!!

This past week, both Elder Mendoza and I have been a little sick with the 'gripa' which can be interpreted to anything from the common cold to a missing limb. With that difficulty, it was very hard to focus in teaching and have the Spirit with us, giving me a strengthened testimony of how important it is to convert by the Spirit! I love the scripture D&C 42:14 ("And the Spirit shall be given unto you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach.") for this experience and want to invite you all to read it. I also like remembering the ponderize challenge and if you don't already have a scripture for this week, feel free to take this one! Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

Weekly Update -- November 9th, 2015

 Hello everyone!

 For p-day today, the missionaries in our district had an activity in the branch building here in Salinas Victoria and we had a huge pile of chicken nuggets and fries from a meateria (directly translated, more like a meat shop) for $2 american dollars a person. Awesome. Nice relaxing pday which was well needed.

Sometimes, this area can be pretty tough getting people to take a bus ride to come to our church when they have barely enough money to buy food for their family, apart from the fact that we are having trouble finding what the mission calls 'escogidos' or people who have been prepared for us to receive the message we have about the Plan of Salvation or the Restoration. Also, the branch assistence is very variant from week to week, making it difficult for those who come to have consistent friends in the church. Last Wednesday, we took the advice of our district leader, Elder Long, and contacted the whole day. We had a new best numbers of my whole mission day, but still, nobody came to church. I receive a lot of comfort in knowing that my purpose as a missionary is to share the gospel, not to have control of others' agency.

 Defining success really helps me focus on what is important and search harder for those who are prepared to accept the message we have. I want to invite you to take a step back sometime this week and define what success is in your personal life. I've heard it from a leader before when he said 'it can be hard to see all of the opportunities of a forest when you are standing in front of a single tree' meaning to find opportunities for success, we might have to look in other places or gain a bigger perspective. I hope this will be edifying. Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

Zone pictures -- Salinas Victoria

District?

Weekly Update -- November 2nd, 2015

Hello everyone!

This past Wednesday, we had the awesome opportunity to have Elder Piper, of the Quorum of the Seventy,  come visit the mission and give a talk with the President and both of their wives. He also happened to serve in the Monterrey mission as a young man, obviously agreeing with us saying that this is the best mission in the world. Super uplifting experience hearing from all of them, but I especially liked how Elder Piper used his 90 minutes or so taking questions from missionaries and answering each one of them with such knowledge, maybe a 20 minute answer with examples and a role play for each one. Some of them were 'how can we better unify the visions of Ward and mission?' or 'how can we better view the fruits of our labors even if our numerical goals are being completed?' Amazing man and my testimony of revelation and the general authorities has been strengthened.

Recently, we haven't been having a lot of success with investigators in terms of asistence to church, which is hard sometimes. But, we have been having a lot of success with less-active members. Yesterday, there were four less-actives attending, three who were there for the first time in years! The one who had been there before was Arturo, who drove us to church in his bus he drives for his work; pretty fun way to get to church. He is preparing for the Melchizedek Priesthood along with three others in the branch. Arturo is really excited about that and asked us just last night how he could get a copy of the Liahona to have something to read when he's taking breaks from his bus routes. It's really rewarding being able to see him turn from having next to no interest in the church to getting excited about it again.

Yesterday we gave out two different Liahonas to Arturo and two of the same copy, but one in English the other in Spanish to our taxi neighbor to learn English better. The different sections for kids and adults really helps one learn a language better. Anyways, I want to invite you to read one of those articles in the next copy that comes out or the most recent that you received, it makes for great study material. Thanks for all of your prayers, love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

... really the only picture I took this week holding a chicken we put on top of our neighbor member's dog

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

September 14th, 2015 -- Weekly Update

Hello everyone!

It has been very rewarding this past week, despite a couple of tough experiences. We took on a couple of divisions or splits, one with the Zone leader, Elder Lofgreen and the other with the district leader where I stayed with his companion, Elder Chan. Elder Lofgreen lives closer to the city which was super fun for me, talking to some interesting people. The last lesson was very interesting when he told me we were going to teach a Jehovah's witness who had trouble with accepting the Book of Mormon as more scripture. Going in, I didn't have much to go off of, but we just bore testimony and at one point he asked for MY take. I said that all we wanted him to do was to pray to see if what we had taught him was true and if the Boom of Mormon is true with a sincere heart. Pretty simple, but very direct. I'm pretty sure we all felt the Spirit pretty strong then. He took that in for a minute and Elder Lofgreen followed with his bit and asked him to be baptized. Then he asked him "And hermano Bernie, how long have you been a member of the Church?" To which Bernie answered, "56 years." I didn't even have to look at the camera, now out of the hiding place of Elder Lofgreen's bag and into his hand pointed at me for me to throw down my pamphlet in embarassment. They had both punked me pretty good. 25 minutes worth of teaching and it was a prank they played on me. Still, we all felt the Spirit and Bernie has actually had some time without going to church, so it was good for all of us, even if it was embarrasing for me, they were nice about it.

Yesterday, all of Mexico got to see the dedication of the Mexico city temple with President Eyring and Brother Holland among others speaking. Super great experience and I was even able to see some of the members from Escobedo! My favorite part was probably when we meshed with the choir singing "The Spirit of God"

Contacting one day, we were heading back to our house when someone from a house shouted to us "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" In english, in a perfect accent. Turns out, there is a North Carolinian here who leads a church just minutes from our house who also teaches a Bible class. After some talking he told us that he had met some other missionaries and really like what we do and even invited us to teach a class on our beliefs and give a Book of Mormon to all of his students! What an awesome opportunity and we're asking President if we can actually do it in October/November.

I finished reading a short talk by Gene R. Cook called "The Missionary Purification" and have felt that I should invite you all to read it as well. It talks about obedience as a missionary, but I'm sure that anybody can get a lot out of it as I have. As we become more and more obedient to the rules our leaders have set for us through inspiration and care, we can have the Holy Ghost with us more fully. This gift is so precious to me as someone who relies on inspiration in all that I do. Love you all!

-Elder Allgaier

September 7th, 2015 -- Weekly Update

Hello everyone!

I feel like recently I haven't been sharing the good parts about the people here, which is tough when you are seeing the side where a lot of the pressure is put on them and I have probably been a little small in my perspective. Really, they are a general good people, Friday night when our bus passed for the second time without stopping to get us home on time, a couple of guys had stopped a little bit away and called us over for a free 20 minute ride to our house. They weren't investigators or anything, just lived across the street from one of the members and saw us on occasion. When we tried to pay them, they told us to just keep them in our prayers. Nice guys. I failed to be able to see that they have their beliefs as well as I and just because it is my calling to talk to them and try to share with them my testimony, it is not my calling to get frustrated or discouraged when they continue in their own faith.

Before we left for the area to try to catch the bus, we had an hour or so to wait because we had taught all of our lessons and were just wanting to do some more contacting. We found a local cancha or soccer court and some kids were playing again. Some of them knew me when I came last time and started calling me 'Lewandowski' probably because it was the only other German fútbol name they know and it was easier than 'Allgaier'. We played for a bit until it was time to go and we talked a bit about who we are as missionaries and invited them to church. They asked when we could come back to play again and we told them about our real purpose, also that if they all came to church, we could play all day. Not sure if President McCarthur would like that, but a few of them actually said they would come and accepted what we do as something really cool. We have cards this week with the address and time of the church so they can actually come, but wow, fútbol is awesome. With the 15 kids that were there, if just 5 of them came with their parents and even just two continued to be baptized, how cool would that be to say that it started with Elder Berryhill and I playing fútbol with them.

So for the invitation this week, play a game of fútbol... Just kidding, that's extra credit and I will give you a Mexican high five if you actually do it when I get back. I want to extend the invitation to watch a few videos on Mormon.org or mormon channel on youtube about how to strengthen the family at home, escpecially with the relationship between Parents and Kids. Happy 6 months!! Love you all!

Siento que no he estado compartiendo los partes buenos sobre la gente aquí, que es difícil cuando vea el lado donde mucho de la presión esta sobre ellos y tal vez, he tenido un perspectivo pequeño. La verdad, son personas buenas en general. En la noche de Viernes cuando nuestro camión pasó para la segunda vez sin pararse y no pudimos llegar a la casa en tiempo, unos hombres han parado un poco más adelante y nos llamaron para un ride gratis de 20 minutos a la casa. No fueron investigadores, solamente viven en frente de un miembro y nos vean en ocasión. Cuando tratamos a pagarles, nos dijeron a orar para ellos. Hombres amables. Yo fallé a poder ver que tienen sus creencias tal como yo, y solo porque es mi llamamiento a hablar con ellos y tratar a compartir mi testimonio, no es mi llamamiento a llegar a ser frustrado ni desalentado cuando siguen en su propia fe.

Antes de salir el area a tratar a tomar el camión, tuvimos una hora mas o menos para esperar porque hemos cumplido todos de nuestras lecciones y solo queríamos hacer mas contactos. Encontramos una cancha local y unos niños estaban jugando otra vez. Algunos de ellos me conocieron de la ultima vez y me empezaron a llamar 'Lewandowski' tal vez porque fue el único nombre de fútbol que conocen y mucho mas fácil que 'Allgaier'. Jugamos por un rato hasta fue tiempo para irnos y hablamos un poco sobre quien somos nosotros como misionarios y les invitamos a la iglesia. Nos preguntaron cuando podremos regresar para jugar, y les dijimos de nuestro propósito principal, también que si todos de ellos vengan a la iglesia, podamos jugar todo el día. No soy seguro si Presidente McCarthur le gustaría eso, pero unos dijeron que iban a venir y nos aceptaron que hacemos como algo cheedo. Tenemos tarjetas esta semana con la dirección y tiempo de la iglesia que puedan venir actualmente. Pero, hijole, fútbol es maravilloso. Con los 15 niños que estaban allí, si solo 5 vengan con sus padres y solo dos sigan a ser bautizados, que cheedo sería a decir que lo empezó con Elder Berryhill y yo jugar fútbol con ellos.

Entonces para la invitación esta semana, juegue un partido de fúbol... Estoy bromiendo, es crédíto extra y le haré cinco alto mexicano cuando regrese. Quiero invitarles a ver unos videos en Mormon.org/spa o canal mormon en youtube sobre como fortalecer la familia al hogar, especialmente con la relación entra los Padres y Hijos. ¡¡Feliz 6 meses!! ¡Les quiero!

-Elder Allgaier