George peach ice cream!!!!

 

Fresh Georgia peach Ice cream it was incredible  

Well, it has been the hottest, most sweatiest week in a long time! But I loved it!!! (at least looking back on it....in the moment it was getting pretty nasty... so much sweat...) Something I've had to learn is just to accept that I'm going to sweat whether I like it or not so just embrace it!

some photos first! It has probably been the most hot and humid week of the entire year and of course that is the week when we are out tracting the most....

 

Someone let us borrow there telescope as long as we put it together! It's super nice!

 

 

 

 

My spirits are high! P-day always wipes away everything that was hard so that you only remember the good stuff, just to prepare you for the week to come, it's amazing! We had a lot of success and a ton of miracles this past week! 



First off we were driving around this neighborhood in search for Hispanics, after awhile you can kinda learn what a Hispanic house looks like, and after a longer while you can even smell them out... it's not a bad smell, it hard to explain, it has this musk about it... it's weird.. Anyways it also helps to see Hispanic kids playing out side and that is what we saw! So we said a quick prayer and went to go contact the house, but we saw the guy walk out side and get into his car about to leave, so we were feeling a little awkward about going up the house now because the guy living there was in the car about leave, but as missionaries that is kinda what we signed up for I guess, being awkward... so we approached his car and when he saw us he turned off the car got out and invited us in the house! His name is Cristian Guzman and he is Honduran, my favorite type of Hispanic! It turns out that he was being taught by missionaries a while back, but moved and changed phones so he didn't have our number and we didn't have his, he was lost and we found him! We are pretty excited about him!



BJ is super ready to be baptized! His planned date is on the 9th of July so not this Saturday, but the next! We are stoked for it! He is so ready! We officially have taught him every lesson since yesterday! Oh man he's just awesome!

Life is still amazing! I'm going to finish this thing strong! I had a sweet experience this morning that helped build my testimony on eternal families, I won't go into to much detail, but I was reading one of the new pamphlets about temples and family that the church recently put out and it brought a lot of peace, I know that God cares about your desires for your family and he wants us all to live together forever! It was a good experience to say the least!

Much Love,

Elder Raleigh Allen 





Some oldies I finally got a hold of!

Vietnam!

 

My boy Anderson!

 

 

 

Your average 2016 missionary.....

More from the painting service! 

 

 

 

Happy Father's Day!

Transfers are only good for one reason!

 

One more reason!

 

Happy Fathers Day!!!

https://www.lds.org/blog/all-the-reasons-we-love-dad?cid=HP_FR_17-6-2016_dOCS_fBLOG_xLIDyL2-1_



 

That video goes out to all the  father figures in my life!! Thank you for who you are and who've you made me become! I love and always will love you for it! 

Oh I'm also finally taller than one of my companions!



My new comps. name is Elder Gardner and he is super chill! He is from Oregon, not really sure what city, but somewhere on the coast and the border of Washington! It has been quite the adjustment because he is nothing like my last comp. but still just as good!

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

#TractingInTheRain

This whole week has kinda been an adjustment. At first there was a lot of stress because this is a giant area and I'm still learning how to get around, we also had a couple of solid people cancel on us (for good reasons) at the last second, both times we had members with us... kinda embarrassing... But as I looked back on the week, we saw so many miracles that, at the time, I hadn't realized had happened! It is so important to trust in God, this is his work and he is in control! That is something I already knew, but it was emphasized a lot this past week! Also Nelson came to church and stayed for all 3 hours even though the last class is in English! We also had a bomb lesson with him on Friday! That was probably the only solid lesson this week with a member because the rest fell through...  

 



 Goodbye to President and Sister Cottle... :'(

We saw president and sister Cottle for the last time this week :'( I'm really going to miss them a bunch! President Cottle is included when is said "all the father figures in my life", he has truely helped and changed me into the person I am today! So if I come home and you see a difference, thank him, and God of course!

 

Life is good! Still LIVING THE DREAM! 

I love you guys a bunch! 

Elder Allen



Service for the week!  

 

 

 

 



Trailer Park finds!

I realize that this isn't the best picture as a missionary because obedience to God is how we find true happiness, but think off it as breaking the rules of the world, not the laws, but the rules...think about it.... deep huh.

Sometimes you gotta find the fun in tracting!



Finishing in Columbus



Our reactions to transfer calls..... :(

It's official, my last transfer will be spent here in Columbus!!! I'm super stoked about that, but I'm bummed because elder Marshall is leaving... I'm going to miss that guy much!!! We've had such a good time, we worked hard, and we saw so many miracles! Definitely one of the fastest transfers in my life!

This past week was especially fast! We were so busy running from place to place! I don't even think we tracted once!! Woot! I LOVE THOSE WEEKS! We had a lot of great lessons too! We taught BJ about temples and temple work because we talked about baptisms for the dead last Sunday and he looked super confused we felt like we should explain that as soon as possible! haha! It was an incredible lesson! Once we started talking about how once he got baptized that he could go do it for his family, he did something I never thought he would do, he broke down into tears and told us about his grandfather who had pretty much raised him, but never got baptized.  I may have even started getting some water in my eyes as well..... We had to move back his baptismal date to the 9th of July, but he is soooo ready!

More service!!!

sorry not the longest letter of all times, but I do love you!

Elder Allen

 

Oh also I've been really studying my Patriarchal Blessing by praying first, reading, and then writing what comes to my head in a journal, you should try it some time it really opens your eyes to who you were, who you are, and who God sees you becoming! 

Early Fathers day shout out!!! Plus the sign has my name on it!

 



Service at the food bank!

 

Sunday night selfie...

 

Hey Hey Hey!!!!

One last tracting selfie!!!

Santa Maria meet El Libro De Mormon!!!

Just a quick update on BJ. He finally got work off and came to church and he loved it! BJ has this ability to make these crazy analogies that relate the gospel to normal things (mostly cars) and when he begins these analogies me and elder Marshall get kinda scared/embarrassed because we have no idea where is going with them and we usually have a member with us and we don't want the member to think that BJ is some weird guy, but by the end of the analogy, not only does it make sense, but if you think about them, they can get super deep.... BJ never fails to amaze us with his philosophies... haha! He was giving more input during the elders quorum class than any of the actual members haha! He's probably my favorite person.

It's the last week of this transfer!!! It's gone by super fast!!! I also don't have a lot of time to email today.... But it was yet another week full of miracles and fun! Elder Marshall is a stud!





Another Car Selfie....

Our meeting with Goeffry was pretty fun to be honest! He is this guy who loves the missionaries, but he doesn't progress at all and he also isn't all there, so we'll visit him with a couple other companionships just to brighten his day a little! It's more of a service type deal, but he makes it fun by asking us some super random questions and having interesting thoughts about bible passages. He also got up and sang us a song. We had a prayer circle. he is super baptist. I love it. Y'all just need to come to the south sometime and then you'll get the real baptist experience! 

In other good news Celia is currently trying to get her Sundays off so that she can come to church!! She is super interested and has this super big desire to find the truth! She'll find it I just don't know when! Like almost every Hispanic her family is very much rooted in the catholic church, but she is not shy to carry a Book of Mormon around the house! She is awesome!  

 

Also it turns out that Atlanta is getting a MLS team, so... I was a fan before everyone else was... just so you know that...



Sunday afternoon tracting in the heat and humidity, it's a struggle....

 

Our fabulous district!!!

 

I love y'all!!

 

Elder Raleigh Allen





My Boy Goeffry

 

We visit him as more of a service type deal, because he's super lonely and loves talking to us, but he's not really all there... We don't do it too often, but when we do it is always a good time!



The new member of the Columbus Spanish household!!!





Fruit Ninja!!!!





and more from the museum!