Ashley's Mission Email #28

Adventure Time!

Transfer news.... duh duh duh!

So yesterday at around 4pm I got a call from President. Getting a call from President is really nerve racking on transfer day. He told me that the Lord has been preparing me and that although it´s a bit early in my mission he´s calling me as an hermana lider (sister training leader) in Villa Mella. I would tell you where that was on a map so you could see it, but I have no idea. Apparently it’s not too far from here? But yeah...he said my comp will be Hna Mapa and that we´ll have a training meeting next week and that was all. I was a little shaky after that. Then this morning I called Hna Mapa to work out details for the transfer tomorrow and she tells me that we will be opening a new area of the mission so we will live in the apartment with the 4 other hermanas from the zone until we find an apartment in our new area. So normal me would be freaking out a little right now and I am deep down but the Lord works miracles and I really feel at peace with what´s to come. It’s all an adventure right? Prayers would be really appreciated though. 

Hermana Garcia will be staying here and teaching the area to her new trainer!

So other events of the week…I translated my patriarchal blessing into Spanish. Today is el dia de Duerte. (they celebrate EVERY holiday you can imagine here. There’s a holiday literally every other week.) We found a new investigator who is perfect! She asked us if there was a way that she could preach the gospel as a missionary like us because God has given her so much that she wants to give it back.

Well that’s about all for now. Thank you so much for your prayers and letters and everything.

Love

Hermana Allen

This weeks pics!

Thanks Steele family for the package! I loved it! 

(If you look closely you can see my nice shoe tan line...)

     This is con con. The Dominicans serve it to those they respect. You just add a little salt and yeah!

                                      Pancakes in a mug that grew a little more than normal.

More fotos del templo!

Ashley's Mission Email #27

Hey!

So we had our temple trip this martes and it was fantastic. We got there super early so we got to eat some breakfast at the CCM and I found Hermana Larson! (Brother Larson´s niece). She is so cute and it was so good to meet her! I forgot to get her email though. And unfortunately she is going to the Mision Oeste. If you could get the email for me I would love to email her.

 

The temple was amazing though. I learned tons, but mostly just felt completely overwhelmed with the love that Heavenly Father has for me and all of us. I felt like I will never really be able to be grateful enough for all the great things I have been given. So in the mean time I´ll try to be as grateful as I can be by living as righteously as I can live. The gospel and the plan that Heavenly Father has for us is worth more than anything we can imagine.

I haven’t talked too much lately about stuff you only see in the DR so here goes...

dead cats and dogs in the streets. We saw a cat the other day that looked like it was in the middle of an anatomy lab dissection. Gross.

Some things just seem normal now, like people sweeping the gutters with brooms after it rains so that all the water drains. And motor cycles with more people than should be able to fit on it.

I really do love serving here. I am SOOOOOOOO blessed. Thank you everyone for all your support!

Love

Hermana Allen!

Yay pictures again!

Look Who I Found!

                            On our temple trip I saw Brother Larson's niece, Hermana Larson.

                                                                    Hermana Garcia

Santo Domingo Temple Trip

Hermana Garcia and me.

Seeing Hermana Given again.

Ashley's Mission Email #26

Temple Trip!

So tomorrow we get to go to the temple!!! Yay! And I got the names you sent, so I can’t wait to do family names for the first time!

But that means we have a half day pday today so I´ll make this quick.

It’s been a great week! Ups and downs as usual. It’s rained a little more this week which makes it nice and humid. Yay, love the humidity. Not really but I´ll take it over walking in snow. 

I had a few days this week when we were walking and I just thought...wow I’m in the Dominican Republic, speaking Spanish and meeting all these amazing people and sharing the Gospel and it just makes me so happy. It’s really, really hard sometimes but I’m so grateful for this experience. 

Hope you guys are all doing well! I’d love to hear from you :)

Love,

Hermana Allen

PS. The computor gave my memory card a virus, so sorry that I haven’t had pictures....hopefully soon!

Ashley's Mission Email #25

2015!

So New Years Eve in the DR is a new experience! These people sure know how to party. At about 9:30 we went up on the roof to watch some fireworks and eat some cookies we made. We did our little countdown at 10:30 but we still didn´t get much sleep. The real fireworks didn´t start until 11 or so and didn´t stop until about 1:30. And there were people screeming and blasting music and setting off the fireworks from the roof. Crazy stuff. 

Anyway...this week Hermana Altagracia (a new investigator) came to church! She lives really close so we walked by to pick her up. When we were en camino a guy on the street that she knew asked if she was going to church. She said yes. He was like, ¨you´re a mormon?¨ She waited for a minute and then was like... si! It was really cute and one of those small miracles that made me smile.

We also had another new investigator tell us at the end of the lesson that at first she didn´t want to let us in, but something told her that she should just give it a try. So we taught her and her family. It´s amazing how the Spirit works with us.

Oh and sorry I still don’t have pics, I don’t know what’s going on with my memory card but it’s not letting me send fotos individually. I’ll start using my other one and see what happens. 

Well I hope you have all set New Year’s goals and that they include something in the area of missionary work. Hint hint. My biggest goal for 2015 is to become more like Christ.



Well I love you.
Love
Hermana Allen