Wedding and Baptism :)

Hola Familia!
This week was super awesome. I had two really cool and kind of funny
experiences. First of all we had our wedding on Friday and it was so
awesome. Their whole family was there and the church was all decorated
and her dress was beautiful and the cake was amazing and they danced
and they got married and it really just was the best night ever. The
next morning we had all of their baptisms and we also baptized another
man named Jairo who is super awesome, in total we baptized four people
and we were really happy. The best part about all of it was though the
next morning in church when they all got confirmed. All of their
blessings were super specific and I know that this family and Jairo
are going to be strong members of the church and are going to bring
others to the knowledge of the gospel through their example. We have
really seen the hand of the Lord this week with everything that was
going on. We started out this month with nothing, nobody had a
baptismal date and no one was coming to church but we just prayed
really hard and had a lot of faith and in the end we baptized some
really awesome people. I will forever have a testimony that miracles
happen. This is the first family that our ward has baptized in over a
year. I am so humbled to be one of the missionaries that got to be a
part of this wonderful experience. The other experience that I had was
super funny. We were in an activity in our ward and this guy in charge
wanted to do a language exhibition because his son speaks English and
French and I speak English and my companion speaks French and English.
So we are in front of our whole ward and I start speaking English with
him and my companion was translating everything into Spanish. Then it
was her turn to speak French and we realized we had no one to
translate from French to Spanish and so the guy in charge stands up
and says, " And Hermana Allphin is going to translate from French to
Spanish." I was just thinking in my head, wait I don't speak French??
But it was really funny because I could actually understand a lot of
and I was able to translate and no one even knew that I didn't speak
French..... haha the things that happen on a mission. That is all I got
this week, I hope you enjoy the pictures. Talk to you all next week .
Love you!
Love,
Hermana Allphin

Baptism :)

The Wedding Planner

Hola Familia!
Wow this week was a crazy one! Lots of people to find an lots of
things to plan. So we had transfers on Monday and thankfully I didn’t
have a transfer. I am still in Internacional with my companion. I was
super happy that I get to finish her training. The work was kind of
slow this week and we didn’t find as many people as we wanted to but
this week is going to be better.  I am so excited for this upcoming
week though. We had a little change of plans for the wedding of
Antonio and Karina. They are now going to get married and baptized
this Friday! There was one point in my life that I thought it would be
fun to be a wedding planner but really I think it would just be a lot
of stress. They are going to get married at 6, baptized at 7 and there
reception is at 8!! It is going to be a big night but we are hoping to
have four baptisms so that should be super awesome. It is a lot of
work to coordinate a wedding but I love this family so much and they
are so prepared to accept the gospel. They have had other missionaries
visit them before and they didn’t want to get baptized but the husband
told me of a really cool experience he had. He said that before he
didn’t believe in Joseph Smith, he didn’t think the church was true
and he and his family had a lot of problems…. Then he read the Book of
Mormon. He told me that his whole life changed from starting to read
that book and he made the decision to get baptized and married, but he
didn’t tell anyone about his decision because they were having
financial problems and he didn’t want to do it. He told us that he
just kept reading and that he knew it was what he needed to do and
then shortly after we showed up on his door step. They came to church
that week without hesitation and accepted a baptismal and marriage
date the same day. This family has accepted the word of wisdom is
attending church with their three kids and they read the Book of
Mormon and pray together as a family every night. They are going to be
strong members of the church and one day they will get sealed in the
temple! I feel so humbled that I have had the experience to teach this
wonderful family because they have really taught me what it means to
put your trust in God and do what he wants you to do. This week is
going to be stressful because we have a lot to do but it is going to
be such a wonderful experience to watch this family get baptized with
their kids. I love being a missionary! I get a front row seat to watch
the atonement change people’s lives  I love you all, wish me luck!
Love,
Hermana Allphin

Trust in the Lord

Hola Familia!
Okay this week was literally so great! The best week in my mission so
far. So first of all we went to someone´s lot in the middle
of the jungle for p-day. We went with our whole zone with some members
and while the members started cooking lunch we decided to go exploring
in the Jungle. We are all like climbing through all of these trees and
jumping over logs and little rivers and my zone leader was in front
cutting a pathway with a machete… it was super funny. We stopped for a
second to take a break and we were all talking and we looked down and
our feet and legs were covered in ants. Everyone just started
screaming and we started running back through the jungle as fast as we
could. Just picture 10 white missionaries running and screaming
through the jungle…. It was really hilarious. After that we ate
chicken and yucca on palm tree leaves…. With our hands. No plates,
just leaves haha it was super funny. So this week we were working
super hard to find new people and have people come to church. The last
couple of weeks we have only had a couple of people in church and it
is super hard. We went to all of our lessons with members and we did
divisions and we got lots of good references. When we came to church
we had 12 people in church! We were so happy and excited. So
heavenly father knew that  I couldn´t live without a mom so he sent me
a mom here in Iquitos. Her name is Hna. Lulù and she does everything
for us missionaries. She cooks and washes the clothes for the Elders
and she does anything we need her to do. She took care of me when I
was sick with Dengue. She is amazing and she introduced me to her
brother and his wife and they are not members and they came to church
. We went and visited them after church and they told us that
they want to have more unity in their family and live the way that God
wants them to live. It was such and awesome lesson and they are going
to get baptized and married Their wedding is the 24th of this month
and they are getting baptized. My companion and I were super
excited…. I have no idea how to plan a wedding in two weeks but I am
going to learn! We have some really awesome families right now that
are progressing and attending church and I have really been able to
see how much the Lord has been helping us. This area is difficult but
we have been working hard and the Lord is leading us and guiding us in
everything we do. I am so grateful to be here on his errand to bring
these wonderful families to the knowledge of the gospel. It is the
greatest opportunity I have ever been given.  Just pray that we can
get everything organized for this wedding. I love you all, have an
awesome week!
Love,
Your favorite jungle missionary

Miracles Happen

Hola Familia!
Wow this week was super crazy. I don't even know why but it was just
like a whirlwind. My companion and I worked really hard this week to
find new people and new families and we did everything we could. We
found this one guy and his family that were super awesome. We were
walking in the street on our way to an appointment and this guy was
sitting outside his house fixing his Moto and he was like "Elders! Hi
how's it going?" I was kind of laughing because everyone here calls us
elders but I was like well at least he knows who the missionaries are.
We started talking to him and he told us that he is a seaman and had
lived in the United States for twelve years. He told me that in every
state he had lived in ( he has lived in like ten different states) he
has seen the missionaries pass by and they always stopped to talk to
him. He told me that he had seen a lot of chapels but never went in.
He continued to tell us that he was home now from work and living with
his family here in Peru. I was super excited and we went back to teach
him a few days later with his wife. We taught them the restoration and
they accepted all of it really quickly. His wife came to church with
us yesterday which was way awesome and they are really excited to keep
learning more. He wasn't able to come to church because his job is
demanding and he works a lot but we are going to keep praying for a
miracle that he can come to church with us next week so that they can
get married and baptized. We met a lot of really awesome people this
week and we are working super hard to find others who are ready to
accept the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We found a man with
his family the other day and he had a broken neck and he told us that
he was drunk one night and fell off his roof. We taught him and his
wife about repentance and how through Jesus Christ everyone can change
their lives. He was so attentive and told us to come back the next
day. We taught him the restoration the next lesson and again he was
super attentive and really listening. The next lesson we were going to
teach the word of wisdom and I was really interested to see how he was
going to take it because I knew he had an alcohol problem. After we
taught the lesson I asked him if he would live the word of wisdom. He
said, "Hermana I didn´t know that this was a commandment of God. But
now that I know I am going to live it. You told me that I could change
and I know this is going to help me change." I was so happy to hear
him say that.  He also accepted baptism. The only hard thing is that
he lives in a little town on the river where there are no missionaries
and no church houses and he is going to go back there in a couple
weeks. I hope that one day he will come in contact with the
missionaries again somehow if he doesn't have time to get baptized
before he leaves. The mission is really hard but I get the chance to
have unique experiences every day and I know the Lord is preparing
people here for me to teach. It has been a hard couple of weeks but we
are pushing through it and doing our best. Miracles happen; that I
know. I love you!
Love,
Hermana Allphin

Sitting in my house dying of Dengue fever.... that disgusting red
stuff is the medicine that I had to take and really.... it is so
gross!

Milagros baptism with her two little sisters :)

Another week of being sick!

Hola Familia!
Okay so this week was super unexciting again because I was still
recovering from being sick so I was in my house for a couple of days
this week. Being sick really is no fun. The good news is that Milagros
got baptized…. Again this week. She is super awesome and I hope that
she keeps going to church. We worked really hard this week to find new
people but we really didn’t find a ton. The work has been kind of slow
in our area for the last couple weeks but I have faith that this week
is going to be much better. We were teaching a family last night that
we have been teaching for a while and the dad told me that he has a
testimony of the Book of Mormon and the mom told me that she knows
that the church is true. We invited them to baptism and they both said
that they wanted to but when we put a baptismal date they were both
like…. No way that is way too soon we want to wait. We were a little
bit bummed about that but we are going to keep working with them and
hopefully they can have a change of heart. So I am really excited
because today for P-day we are going to Quistococha which is the
jungle zoo type thing with this really cool fake beach. We go to
Quistococha one time every transfer and its super awesome and we play
volleyball on the beach and there are lots of cool animals. The last
time we went to Quistococha I ate Suri… for those of you who don’t
know what Suri is, it’s this big fat slug that lives in the guava
trees. They go and pick it off the tree and then you eat it. I picked
up this huge fat worm that was squirming around and I thought I was
going to die. Me and two other sisters ate it at the same time and all
the elders were like screaming and chanting and it was really funny.
First you have to bite off the body from the head, eat the body while
it is moving in your mouth and then eat the head separate. Honestly it
didn’t taste super bad but the texture of having a moving worm in my
mouth was not super fun. I don’t think that I am going to eat Suri
again today but I am going to make my companion do it because it is a
mission tradition and she is new  Well that is all I got for you this
week, this coming week should be more exciting because I am not going
to be in my house sick. Have an awesome week; I love you all so much!
Love,
Hermana Allphin

Just another week....

Hola Familia!

 So I really dont have that much to write about this week because not a ton happened but I will do my best. We worked really hard this week and tried to find a lot of new people and we are finding a few but we still need a lot more. Our biggest problem still is getting people to come to church, it really is like pulling teeth every week. This area is a little bit difficult but we are working with the members and we are starting to find some awesome people.

We had Milagros baptism this week which was super awesome but I had to go to the doctor in the middle of the baptism because I was sick so that was kind of a bummer and then the next night my district leader called me and told me that she didnt say her full name when she got baptized and confirmed so she has  to get baptized again next Saturday......but its whatever everything is fine.

This week should be a good week if I can get feeling better so that I can work a little bit better..... being sick as a missionary is the most boring thing of my life! To all the future missionaries out there, don´t get sick, it really is no fun.

Well that is all I have for you this week, hopefully I will have something exciting to write about next week but until then, que les vaya muy bien! I love you!

Love
Hermana Allphin

Our Two Investigators Named Miracle!

Hola Familia!
Wow this week was a little bit crazy I´m not going to lie! But I have
two really cool stories to tell you. So we have two investigators and
they are both named Milagros which means Miracles in Spanish…. And it
is kind of ironic because they both have been miracles for us. So our
first Milagros got baptized on Saturday and she is absolutely amazing.
She is the easiest investigator that I have ever had. She is 20 and
she has the cutest little baby named Tiago. Her two little sisters
have been coming to church with her the last two weeks and their names
are Ana and Luisa and they always sit in our lessons with her. We went
to their house on Tuesday night and their mom was there and she was
like “Hermanas! Ana and Luisa want to get baptized this Saturday as
well! Can they?” Usually we have big problems with parents with kids
who want to get baptized but the mom signed their permission slips and
the dad didn’t have a problem with it and so we ended up having 3
baptisms yesterday instead of just one! Really it was so special and
now we are teaching their parents and we hope they are going to get
baptized in February so that the whole family can be members!
Okay so we also had another really cool experience with our other
investigator named Milagros. Her entire family is less-active and she
is the only one who is not baptized and she is 15. We have been
working with her for a couple weeks and she always says, “No I don´t
want to get baptized because I´m scared and I don´t want to make the
commitment and I don´t even know if it is true.” We finally convinced
her to have a pre-baptismal interview with our district leader and
when she went into the interview I told him that she hadn’t accepted a
baptismal date yet. 15 minutes later when she came out of her
interview she told me that she wanted to get baptized on Saturday! I
wasn’t really sure what happened but I was really grateful. That night
my district leader called me and told me the story. He asked her if
she knew Joseph Smith was a true prophet and she said yes. He then
asked her if she believed that Thomas S. Monson was our prophet today
and she said that she didn’t know who that was because we hadn’t
taught that to her yet. He then pulled out a picture of Thomas S.
Monson and she started to shake. She was like “I have never felt this
way in my life. I don´t know how to describe it but I know he is a
prophet of God. I feel like I am looking at Jesus Christ!” I was so
blown away when I heard that. The next day we went and visited her and
she told me that she was excited for her baptism and that she didn’t
have doubts anymore. I asked her if she had read her Book of Mormon
and prayed about it and she paused for a second and then said, “Yes I
have read a little bit of the book and prayed…. And I know that it is
true. I can feel something when I read it and I don´t know how to
explain it but I know it is true and I know the church is true as
well.” Honestly it was such a miracle. We have seen the hand of the
Lord so much this week as we have been working and I am excited for
her baptism on Saturday and I can´t wait to find more people this
week. Missionary work is the best! It definitely is extremely hard
sometimes but completely and totally worth it. There is nowhere else
in the world that I would rather be than here in Iquitos. Thank you
for all of your prayers and your support, I really appreciate it. I
will talk to you all next week! Love you!
Hermana Allphin

P-day in my area