March 13, 2017

The senior sisters are so great! We love them!
Left to right: Sister Hatch , my wonderful comp Sis. Nogueira, y'all know me , and Sister Greene!
They really take care of ya

Our district.
Our district leader made us "be a little BOuLDer" rocks to remember to BE BOLD. It was cool.

Kennith !!!!! He is a recent convert in Pontiac. He has been through a LOT! But is soooo wonderful. He cracks me up. I had heard sooo much about him, so it was great to finally meet him while in Pontiac. He's just a ray of sunshine !

Pontiac is such a fun town!!!! One of my dearest friends, Sister Metcalf served here & had to go home for health reasons. It was sooooo hard for me when she left. So it was a HUGE TEMDER MERCY being here for a day, cause it's like she was right there with me. ❤❤❤

I've ALWAYS wanted to legitlly visit a prison. So far, this is the closest I've gotten...
the PONTIAC PRISON. It has the the WORST of WORSTS in the WHOLE state.
We taught a lady who works there, and interesting just listening to
her crazy stories. One day I'll go inside to visit people :)

Real Japanese sushi made by yours truly & my companion!!!! #tuna&salmon

Sister Meldrum is from Japan, and she taught us how to make REAL sushi. She gave us these house slippers to wear inside. It was cool! An authentic Japanese experience ...
she's so awesome cause she bought all the ingredients & taught us how and that's what we had for dinner. And even got to take some home. Sister Meldrum is so nice !

¡Exchange with the Joliet Hermana's !!!!!! I got to be an Hermana for a day,
such a tender merc ! I've actually been an hermana ALL transfer with Sister Nogueira. I didn't realize how good my Spanish actually was til now. When I was set apart I was promised to have the gift of tongues on my mission. And I was pretty sure it wasn't gonna be a language, since I got called English. But you never know ..... and so my whole mission I've been trying to figure out what the Lord intended for me by that. And I've seen that I've been able to really relate to others super well by connecting to them through my personal experiences and the ability to place myself in their shoes. Even though I'm still not anywhere near fluent in Spanish I have had many many many times on my mission where I've had the opportunity to talk to those who only speak Spanish and they've understood me.... which is a MIRACLE cause most times I don't even know what I'm saying. I just let the lord work through me, through the Spirit. And now even though I have a LONG way to go with learning Spanish I have come even farther thanks to the help of my wonderful companion. I had a goal to be able to pray in Spanish by the end of the transfer. It's not even over yet, and I can successfully pray in Spanish. My vocab is limited but I CAN DO IT. I AM SOOOO HAPPY!!!!! I know the lord blesses us with soooo many talents. We just gotta work at it. We gotta reap. We gotta do our part. Talents don't just grow on trees.
I am very grateful for the gift of tounges the lord has given me. And I'm excited to keep figuring out what those other talents are.

District lunch ...an authentic Chicago style place!
It was delicious. I finally found MY CORNDOGS ❤ It was a great
reunion 😂 savannah would understand ! #corndogsforlife

Have I mentioned how much I REALLY LOVE ILLINOIS??????😻😻😻😻
Aren't these skies magnificent ??????'I don't know how Heavenly Father does it. I'm just so grateful for the beauty he's blessed us with! If you EVER question if God loves you .... LOOK OUTSIDE. It's beautiful ❤❤❤❤ And if it's snowing..... just close your eyes and pretend you're on a beach and you'll feel the same thing! 😂 The corn will be coming back soon. I'm gonna miss these wide open spaces 🎶 🌽

Sister Sarah Smith ( in the ward) made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (they're even healthy!) this week for dinner at their house. And it was a crazy miracle because I had been thinking about that kind of cookie for a week or so. I really wanted some and BOOM. She's seriously the best. She's one of the most amazing people I've EVER met! I really love her. She's a kindred spirit. I love that Heavenly Father knows EXACTLY WHO we need to help us through this mortal journey. Sister Smith is an angel in my life ! Their whole family is a tender mercy.

And the skies were super pretty that night. Seriously , I am just soooo overwhelmed by the Love of God in my life ❤
When people say they don't believe God exists ..... or they doubt I say, "you ARENT looking hard enough. OPEN your eyes. Everything we have is because of him. He does exist. He's in EVERYTHING. He loves you!"

Beautiful !!!! Fearless!!!

TOFU TRIO ATTACKS MISSIONARIES 🤢 

A lady we taught about the Book of Mormon and restoration of the church told us later (when we called to confirm our lesson), "no, if you come over it isn't to convince me your church is true.  I know it's NOT.   I WILL convince YOU that my church is true. I don't feel good about the Book of Mormon. It's of Satan." Wow. This made me sad cause I KNOW the Book of Mormon and church IS SOOOO  true. It's sad when ppl bash it and reject it. Again if nothin else it has made my testimony stronger. 

We were at the library this week and my companion was working on "my plan"...a program missionaries do their last transfer.  I was trying to be productive with missionary things, and realized an elderly man next to me.  I was thinking how I could talk to him about the gospel. I pulled out my wide variety of mints (Jaja. You know you're a missionary when....) and said,  " hey, would you like a mint?" And BOOM...it worked. He talked for a LONG time about his hobby of going to wildlife parks and photographing. It was really intense haha. But it was cool. I related his hobby back to the gospel about how Heavenly Father loves us a lot because of all the beauty. And how cool it is that this guy is using the talents God has given him. He actually knows a LOT of Mormons. He's had a lot of experience with them from jobs or school  or just in passing. 

It was extra Cool to see his guy has had YEARS of Mormons in his path, and I got to be another part in that. Y'all,,,,, sharing the gospel doesn't have to be soooo complicated. It isn't. We make it complicated. It's as simple as just listening. He wasn't interested in hearing more about the gospel but he said he really appreciated me sharing info with him and simply talking. And it all started with sharing a mint. 😂As we were leaving the library he said ..."thanks Alloweta."  I was dying.  A lot of people struggle with my name so I usually always relate my name to the song so ppl get it. The song is "Allowetta, alla Allawetta" or something like that. But sometimes it just confuses people more haha. 

There was a spider in our apartment...a baby thing. My companion told me to get rid of it. I don't have a problem killing or touching spiders, so people usually ask me to get rid of them .😂 Instead of getting rid of it by killing it, I actually ...Ate a spider! Sister Nogueira told everyone we met. "Well it's good protein right ?"😂😂

TOFU TRIO ATTACKS MISSIONARIES 

I must really need to learn something from eating tofu. I am not even a picky eater, but tofu is something I CANNOT stand. 

Last Sunday night : ate extra super spicy tofu!!!! 

Last Monday night : ate miso soup with extra tofu 

Last night: Tofu spaghetti ..., really how much  more spaghetti and tofu can a missionary eat ? Spaghetti and tofu are probably my 2 least favorite things on this planet. Trial of my faith...? 😂😂😂 

Weekly quote : 

"Be like a herfer and face adversity head on. Don't let adversity define you.   Just face it."- Bishop Fisher 

I was asked to give a talk yesterday about missionary preparation.  I could've talked the entire sacrament meeting (only had 10 min) haha. It is my favorite topic, of course! Afterwards a member came told me he's from Austin too & then went on to talk about this AMAZING BBQ place that's the closest thing to Rudy's and he wants to take us missionaries there soon. I won't say no to that! Smirk 😏 .

Temple attendance : 

"worthiness is an indicator of our desires...of our obedience."

STORAL OF THE MORY... go to the temple!!!! DON'T let ANYTHING hold you back from going!!!!! 

Miracles :

• Made sushi 
• Awkward  moment laughing turned into awesome inspiration to laugh to gain member trust 

We were teaching members a new plan at a dinner appointment. 

There's a new mission plan called the "area plan" for everyone in Canada and the people U. S.  And there's 4 Points to it. 

1- live the gospel of Jesus Christ 

2- missionary work 

3- help take care of poor and needy 

4- do temple / family history work 

Being me, I accidentally slipped & said, "feed poor and needy" while we were eating dinner with a member. We all died laughing for a good solid 5 -10 minutes. The member who is always so serious started laughing too and said, " Wow you two are fun. We will have to have you over again." I cannot even tell you how HUGE it is that I totally butchered the plan. That member  was telling us how missionaries before totally ruined their relationship with the members. Laughter helps people build trust. I'm soooo grateful it went a good way instead of way  south haha. 

• Less active bore testimony after 15 years!!!!! He & wife recently had a baby and it's changed their ENTIRE perspective on life. It was so cool to hear him bear his testimony. 

Sister Nogueira and  I have a tradition for the last few Mondays... we go to Chick-fil-a.  Because we have become "regulars", we have made a friend of one of the workers, name Carol. She is so wonderful!  She seriously is gonna be baptized one day. She has kids who live in Utah, has been to Temple Square in SLC.  At district meeting some elders were telling that they have been going to Chick- fil-a and  have met a lady named Carol and have been working on her. We all got super exited. Today when we went there we saw a  fun little family from our ward who bought our lunch which was so nice  We sat by them and were talking. Then Carol came by and the Sister Anderson is from a place in Utah close to where Carol's kids live. It was soooo great because we got to know Carol a lot better. 

It was funny cause today Carol even said,"hello. I knew you came but I couldn't remember what day." So she was expecting us. Haha. 

• We participated in New Beginnings.  The young women  told us we are so pumped up and fired for the opportunity to share the gospel...  They said it makes them exited to share the gospel and they wanna do it more. I'm happy to know I've made a difference 

The church is true! 

Your Texan Chicagoan 

Hermana Karigan Allowitz