November 30, 2009

[Allen in his favorite pose]
Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a blah week. Nothing too exciting happened at all. Yeah I received a new companion but other than that, nothing. We are planning to have a baptism this next Sunday so that should be cool. Hopefully we can get more this transfer.

Yesterday was the primary program. It was so cute. There was a group of 7-8 year old girls that sang the baptism song in English and I was so happy. I am assuming that the primary in the United States had the same theme. Families are forever. There are like 15 to 20 primary kids. Yeah, that’s a lot down here. And a majority of them are under the age of 8 so a lot of them were running around and it was just funny.

[Allen singing in the rain]
And yesterday, it rained. But it didn’t just rain. It rained cats, dogs, rats, mosquitoes, you name it. Basically, in my area, we had a mass baptism. Chiste. But seriously, it rained a ton. So we couldn’t do much outside because there wasn’t anyone in the street. It was kind of frustrating. But hey, you win some, you lose some. Everyday can’t be a great day to find investigators. That’s why you have to play what you have been dealt. This week I know we are going to have a lot of success sacando fechas and such. I think we can get one or two fechas this week. Who knows.

[Allen in the rain]
I don’t have much to say this week because it is only the first week of the transfer. I don’t have any stories of people wanting to kill us or anything. Wow. This week was lame. We have a lot of new investigators and references. That’s a good thing. The members here are really trying to help us out because people are hard to find here. But there is a reason we walk every street everyday. We pass by every street everyday to make sure we didn’t miss anyone. I figure it’s a good thing. I am excited for our new investigators because when we taught the first lesson to them, they felt the spirit and wanted us to come back. That’s exciting. That’s all I have for updates.

Now for what I studied that everyone else should study. And I mean study! I was reading in Alma chapter 5. And I know everyone now is thinking yeah yeah it’s a really good chapter and such. BUT NO! It is an AWESOME chapter. If you ever want to be a better member of the church, read this chapter. It basically tells you how to be the best member you can be. It puts you through your own bishops interview with yourself. It asks if you are living your life so that the can dwell with you and if you can be an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I must say that I have a lot of things to change if I want to be the best member possible for the church. There is no in-between. You are either a member who is working for the good of the church, with or without a calling, or you are not a member at all. That sounded kind of harsh. Is there another way to put it? If there is, then just take it how you take it.

[Allen standing in front of his house]
Tomorrow is DECEMBER!!!! YAHOO!!! My pench (house) and I are going to buy a Christmas tree today and decorate it. I’ll send my Christmas card just like everyone else does. Except mine will be done on paint, haha. I sent some pictures to my parents and hopefully they will attach it to this letter for all to see. They are of the rain storm and of the house I live in. I’ll put more on when I get better slash cooler pictures.

Thank you to Mom, Sara, Marcos, Dan, Abuelita, and Grandma and Grandpa Packard for writing. Oh and Britney. I appreciate hearing from people like yourselves. The words of encouragement really do help me. I may be in the land of my fathers but I am far from my father lol. Anyway, I’ll send this so everyone can get it when they wake up. I love you all and pray for every single one of you, in one massive phrase. Bless everyone I know. Haha, chiste pero, yeah. Until next week, We are losquetemueven.

Elder Pickett