Feb 25, 2013

Okay, lots of news this week in the mission! Sounds like you guys already found out but they are splitting our mission up! So it´s going to be in July, the Mission Posadas Misiones, which is where I started the mission! It´s so cool to hear that! Santo Tomé will also be apart of that mission, so my first two areas are going to be apart of the Posadas Mission. Pretty exciting to see what will happen!! So yesterday we had 8 people in church and we´re SUPER excited. Guillermo and Viviana are doing great. It´s funny because they both have 40 years and it´s literally like teaching you mom and dad but if you didn´t have kids and weren´t married. But we love them so much. They also love us a lot, and they actually gave us a t-shirt each, and we are doing all the paperwork for them to get married in 2 weeks!! They are so prepared, and we are super excited. We also found an awesome family this week, the family Vallejos. A family of 4 that are all so prepared, and went to church the first week we found them, AND they sang the hymns in church. They always say that if they sing the hymns they´re golden! It was really cool finding them, because the first time we went by, we felt to talk to them, they were all outside, and they told us "Hundreds of missionaries have passed by, and we ALWAYS just reject them, but for some reason we decided to let you guys in, and now we really feel the difference that you guys have in our lives, and the difference in what we feel when you are in our house teaching us". Oh and that´s another thing, they actually let us in the house! Very very few times have people actually let us teach in their house. We always just teach outside, so that´s a huge plus! haha so we´ll see. If you could all please pray for Guillermo and Viviana, the Family Vallejos, and Lucia and Gustavo, and Facundo Oritiz. They are the people who attended church and we are really blessed right now to have so many people to teach. IT´s been over a year since this area has had so many people in church, and we´re working our butts off for the Zone and for our area. Also, something really cool, is we actually completed the goal for this month in baptisms for the first time since october that the zone Resistencia has completed the goal!! Wooo Hoo!!! So we´re super excited about that, and so is President and The Assistants. But thanks for everything, I hope all is going well. I´m super excited to hear about where Tean is going!!! Thanks for everything have a great week, love you all!

 

2/18/2013

Hey Everyone! Also, this week I found out that at the end of this year, there will be 50 new missions in the world, and at the end of this year it will be the first time in church history that there will be the same number of Sister missionaries as Elders!! Isn´t that amazing! We are literally seeing the signs of hte second coming, coming to pass!!!! Also, there will be another MTC in Mexico that will hold 3000 missionaries! And by the end of this year, there will be 1400 missionaries hitting the mission field every single week!!! Woah!!! Literally the Armies of Helaman!!! Thanks for all the prayers!

 

Hey Everyone!!
Pretty calm week, nothing crazy, but last night was really cool, because today we had our Zone Leader meeting, and today Presidente invited the District Leaders too, so Elder Ben Adams actually came in last night because they are in areas really far from Resistencia, so they actually came to our pension last night to sleep in our pension to not have to travel at 1 in the morning! It was so much fun talking about home, and how the families are, and talking about the area, because he´s in the area that I started it, and said that everyone is doing well. Something really crazy I heard though is that one of my converts, (Roberto age 15) actually passed away 2 months ago in the river next to that area as he was fishing... So that was really sad for me, and I hope you can all pray for the family Gonzalves so that they can be comforted and have some help. It made me really sad to hear, so please pray for them. The meeting today was really awesome. I learned a lot, and we were able to get a lot of good instructions from President, and It was awesome to be able to see all my friends and all the awesome Elders that i´ve made life long relationships with. I can´t believe Tean is getting his call!!! I CAN´T WAIT TO HEAR IT!!!!!!!!!!! I´m so excited!! It sounds like everyone is doing great! I love you all, thank you for your prayers, we are doing our best here!!

I´m loving being a zone leader, it´s so fun being able to help other elders, and to be able to learn so much from them and everything. I also love doing divisions, (that´s when we switch companions and we switch areas for a few days) because I get to know other elders and get to know a lot of other areas, so it´s a ton of fun. But most of all, I love being able to do the baptismal interviews, because I get to see the people that are ready to get baptized, and they get to tell me about their conversion, and i´m constantly reminded of how strong the Holy Ghost can testify of the church, and I love being able to see how much the Gosple changes people. Even though we´re living so strictly the gospel, our testimony is tested constantly, which takes its toll. This week I was able to do 5 baptismal interviews, and they honestly make me so happy, and I absolutely love it. I hope everyoen is doing well, I love you all, thanks for everything! have a great week, and remember to study the scriptures and to always APPLY what you learn.

 

Elder Quynton Allsup

Resistencia, Chaco

La Gran Misión Argentina Resistencia

Feb 11, 2013

Hey Everyone!

This week was really great, but pretty tiring as well. It´s awesome being here in Resistencia because I´m getting to know a TON of people, and i´m able to travel A TON. Every single week I´m traveling to other areas, doing divisions with the other elders and all that, which is a ton of fun, and i´m really enjoying it. This week I met 2 families that have family in Eagle Mountain, and in Delta! Maybe you can ask Dahl if he knows a family Falcón in Eagle Mountain that´s from Argentina? The guy is from Argentina, the wife is from utah. And there is a kid here that was actually born in Delta, but he obviously lives here. He´s 19 and about to go on a mission, but his parents were in Utah, visiting and touring, and he was actually born in Delta utah, which is pretty funny. Such a small world I can´t beleive it.

Oh and mom, I made the list for all the future missionaries, so i´ll try to make copies and send them to you as fast as I can, you should have them in the next few weeks, i´ll let you know. I love it here, because now every time someone in our zone has a baptism, we go to do the baptismal interviews for the people, and this week I was able to do 5 baptismal interviews for people, and it´s the coolest experience ever to interview someone that has changed so much, and to be able to feel the spirit tell you that they´re ready to make a big covenant in their lives. This week I traveled about 2 hours away from my area, and we did divisions with some elders and it was so much fun. I was with an elder that´s from Chile, and we had a blast, because Elder Martinsen was his companion too for 3 transfers, and it was funny telling all the stories and stuff about him. But other than that. I´m doing great, not a whole lot different! I´m getting a lot more used to being a zone leader, which i´m loving every single day to be able to talk with other elders and be able to help them with what they need. This last saturday we did Divisions with the Asistents to the President, so I was able ot roll around in the mission truck for a day, which was awesome. The asistents are the only ones with cars in the mission, so it´s an opportunity that not all elders get! Haha but that was a lot of fun. Somethign cool I found out about my companion this week is that His grandpa actually worked on the SR-71 Blackbird, and was actually the pilot of the 747 that took the space shuttle up to the skies! He also was able to fly in the SR-71 too, which is pretty awesome. The SR-71 is the fastest plane to ever be built (Or at least it WAS, i´m not sure about now) so that´s pretty fun to talk about all that with him.

This week I learned something really cool from my mission president, which was that he told us that what people call "luck" isn´t really luck at all, it´s a principle of our preparedness, and the arrival of the opportunity. When we are prepared, and the opportunity arrives, we have "luck" or success. In the scriptures we are promised the opportunity from our Heavenly Father. But if we aren´t prepared, we are going to miss the opportunity, and the "so called luck" doens´t come. It was something that really hit me hard, becuase Dad has always taught me this, but I never fully understood, until the spirit was able to teach me completely and I was able to learn what dad was telling me my whole life. So I hope everyone is prepared, so that when the opportunity of success comes, we can take advantage to the full affect. This is a principle for any point of our lives. In the gospel, in our jobs, and in our families, and even with Teaching opportunities with our families, friends, and the rest of the people. I hope everyone is able to put it into practice, and be prepared for our opportunities that our Heavenly Father gives us! I love you all, thanks so much for all hte support and prayers, and love. Have a wonderful week!

Feb 4, 2013

Photo 1: Me and my new companion Elder Pusey!

Photo 2: Me and Elder Pusey with a few of the Elders from our Zona!

Photo 3: Albertina, Maria, Evelyn, Little Ruth,and Me the night I left Santo Tomé

Photo 4: Ruth Eating the Tacos we made, first time they had ever tried them

Photo5: Me and Ruth making the sugar cookies the night I left

Photo 6: Same as Number 5

Photo 7: A member invited us over to do an "Asado" or BBQ Argentine Style!

 

 

Hey Everyone! I sent some pictures so I hope you like them! This week has been really great. I´ve been settling in a lot to my new position and things like that. This morning we cleaned the apartment for like 3 1/2 hours, and organized everything, so I´m super excited about that! On Saturday I got to do my very first baptismal interview! Because as Zone Leaders we have to go around to our Zone when the Elders have baptisms, and perform the baptismal interviews to makesure the people are ready and things,so that was a really cool experience.

Me and Elder Pusey are getting along great,and making a lot of really good changes in the zone, and we´re already seeing a lot of really good success, for example, yesterday in our zonewe had a total of 29 people in church,in attendance, which the zone hasn´t seen for a few months now! So we´re super excited about that!

We are eating really well too. This ward is the biggest, most organized ward in the mission, so we have meals every single day minus our P-day! Our studies aredoing really well too, i´m learning a ton from my companion. Our schedule right now is pretty cool. We wake up at 7 am, and until 8:30 we are exercising, eating breakfast and showering andgettingready,then at 8:30 we have personal study time, 9:30 we have a half our for some practices and to get ready for our lessons, and at 10 we leave to go work for 2 hours until 12 when we go eat for an hour. at 1:30 we areback in the pension doing our compañionship study until 2:30, then wehave a half our of language study,and a half hour to shower and get ready again because we sweat so much. Then from 3:30 to 9:30 we are out teaching and working, and from 9:30 to 10 we plan our day for tomorrow,then from 10 - 11 we call all the Elders in the zone to see how their days wentand to get ready for bed. So for all of you that wanted toknow, that´s my life for right now! Our schedule will change in March,and i´ll let you know how it is from there! Here they give us 900 Pesos, wich would equal out to be just under 200$ american dollars,so we don´t have a whole lot, but we manage really well if you´re smart and don´t waste your money.

All the pictures are great!! That´s so crazy Tean is an Elder!! Congrats Tean! And Sawyer looks awesome playing basketball! I can´t believe how everyone is growing up! And the pictures of the baptisms! How cool is that! Thanks for telling Emma that, i´m so proud of her and Judson!! My convert Maria Loved the book you guys sent for her! She was excstatic that you guys would do that from so far away!

That´s really cool about the High Councelman´s talk,sounds like it was pretty powerful and moving! All the pictures are great, and sounds like everyone is doing awesome! Thanks for sending the pictures,I hopeeveryone is doing really well. I´m staying really excited and cheerful to try and help all the other Elders to always be exciting and fun andthings like that, and so far it seems to be working. Plus my mission president got back this last saturday from the States, because his wife recovered fully from herstroke,and so i´m really really excited about that. He´s such an awesome guy. I love hima lot, and now i´m even more excited because i´m here in Resistencia and i´ll see him every few days, whereas before I would only see him once every 3 or 4 months.

Something I learned this week for everyoen to be able to put into practice, is when things go wrong, or when things don´t turn out how you´d like, or whatever other problem, just move on! You can´t change it! The only thing you can do is LEARN FROM IT and move on! You don´t need to be mad, or discouraged, or angry, or upset. Just let it go, learn from it, and know you can leave it behind. Sometimes here in the mission baptisms don´t work out, or people don´t come to church,or whatever, and Iwould get discouraged, oreven a little upset with some of the people, and sometimes I felt like I needed to feel bad to be able to get better, but that´s not true. Just be happy, move on, and do your best next time. That is what the Lord expects from us! So be happy everyone! I loveyou all, thanks for everything! And have a wonderful day! (P.S. if you are whining about the cold, just imagine you´re here with me, today on the computer it says "112°, Feels like 118°" So just enjoy bundling up, it´s fun! haha, Love you all, thanks for everything!

 

Pictures

First picture: Aldana Kigental, she´s 8, right after she came out of hte water

Second picture: Raul Almiron, He´s 9, right after he came out of the water

Third Picture: Me, Julio Elizalde, Celia she´s 28, Albertina, she´s the 63 year old Brazilian lady, my compaion and the two kids.

Fourth Picture: Celia coming out of the water, I baptized her

Fifth Picture: Albertina coming out of hte water, I baptized her too

Sixth Picture: Me and Elder Rogers at Macdonalds the past week in Resistencia!!

Seventh is of me and some of the member kids playing around a little bit infront of a really cool view

Pictures from 1/21/2013

 

 Pictures from 12/31/2012

 

Jan 28, 2013

Hey Everyone!!! What a CRAZY week i´ve had!! I´ve got so much to tell you that I don´t even know where to start!! First of all, just to recap from last week. I´ve been running about 2 miles every single morning without stopping, and without it being a super hard thing for me, which is a really cool accomplishment for me, because i´ve never actually just ran in my life, cross country or anything, so that´s really cool for me. I feel a lot better when I run, and i´ve actually learned to really enjoy it. Also i´ve been making some amazing omelettes with the summer sausage you sent me in my package, which are seriously super good. I´m putting cheese and green onions and some other spices, plus that sausage. I am learning to make some really good things, and i´m excited to have even more time when I get home to be able to excel even more in cooking. I really do have a passion for it, that i´ve never actually fully understood until the mission, with one of my companions, adn I realized it´s actually a really big hobby I have. So that is another fruit from serving the mission! you find out your true passions! I also made a peanut butter and vanilla and banana shake, which is super good too. All my companions have been asking me to make one for them haha.

But First of all, to start off the week, on Tuesday we made Tacos for Maria, Evelyn, Ruth, and Albertina in Maria´s new house that we helped her move into, and we also made sugar cookies with the recipe from grandma and we had them cut out all the cookies with the cookie cutter and everything and they absolutely loved the cookies, but most of all the tacos! She actually made a mexican salsa too, which was absolutely delicious!! But that night, I recieved a phone call from the asistents to the President, and they told me I needed to Travel to Resistencia, which is the main city in our mission, the actual mission headquarters to put it that way, and they told me that I was going to be a zone leader of the biggest zone in the whole mission, the zone: Resistencia. This zone has a ton of compañionships, and it´s actually the zone of the Asistents and of the secretaries of the mission! So right now i´m a Zone Leader of all of them, plus a ton of other companionships, with like 8 districts or somethign like that, i´m still learning all of that! I am so so excited, and I couldn´t believe it when they called me! My entire world has changed completely, in pretty much every single aspect! I went from being as far away in the mission as we possibly can be, because I was right next to Brazil, to being in the mission headquarters, smack dab in the middle of hte mission. I went from not seeing another Elder for 2-3 weeks, to seeing other elders pretty much every single day. I went from a tiny little branch of 45 people, to a full organized ward of about 80-90 people attending, which is actually the best, most organized ward in the whole mission. I went from a young, pretty different, pretty lazy ecuador companion, to a new companion that is from Denver Colorado, who wants to work, and get things done. His name is Elder Pusey. He´s the first Elder I got to know in the mission, we served together in my very first area, my very first divisions were with him, and we get along great, and we´re doing great things now in the zone. My old pension was pretty small, and didn´t have air, and was extremely humid and hot, and this pension is big, spacious, and has air! Pretty much my whole world has changed, and i´m loving it! Here it´s a big city, and the work is completely different, so i´m excited to get to work in a different way with a lot of members. The ward also gives us lunch every single day, whereas in my other area I was lucky to eat with a member 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes less! Wow, so much is different. But it was really hard to say goodbye to my converts. Really really hard. I actually got a little teary eyed when I had to leave Ruth and Maria and Evelyn. THey called me when I was still with them, so I was able to tell them that I was leaving, and Evelyn turned to Ruth and said, "Ruth, Elder Allsup has to leave, and I don´t know if we´ll even see him again, or at least for a really long time" and she got a little teary eyed, and she ran up to me and gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek haha. But really it was like leaving my family. To be honest I don´t know how i didn´t break down crying. Probably for the shock that I had, of knowing everything was going to change! But luckily I got all the goodbyes away, and I was able to say goodbye to all the rest of the families the next morning, and all the other converts, which was hard, because they all said some really really cool things to me. I absolutely love those people, and I can´t wait to return and see them again.

But another cool thing, is my MTC companion Elder Rogers was just in this area in Resistencia, so I was able to see him again! I actually found something out about our zone. The areas around Resistencia, the ones that are "right next to President for a reason" are because a few of the areas are for the "problem" Elders. So that´s going to be a challenge, that I´m really excited to be able ot help them. IT´s cool because every single night we call each of the Elders to check up on the day and how everything went, and i´ve just been SUPER excited and really cool to each of them, and I can already tell a difference in how they treat us, and how we´re gaining their trust, and how they are actually working better, so i´ve got a good goal to be able to change our attitude as a district, and we´re going to be the example of the whole mission, and we´re going to be the highest baptizing zone in the mission, and the most obedient and everything. I know we can do it, and I know if I do my part, the Lord will help me with my goals, and we´re going to change the zone around, and be the examples for th ewhole mission. It´s cool because the zone Resistencia is so big, and it´s where all the other zones look for guidance. Because if our zone doesn´t do well, and we´re the zone of the President´s Asistents and secretaries, then they aren´t going to be super excited to do well, so we´ve got a pretty big load. But i´m super excited to be able to do it! Plus I found another amazing thing out. Elder Adams, from the ward, Ben Adams, he´s actually a District leader in Miguel Lanús 2! My first area, the area where I was born!! So he´s goign to meet all my converts there and all the wonderful people I was able to teach and serve! What a crazy transfer this will be! I wrote him a letter to congratulate him and give him some excitement so that´s going to be aweosme to hear from him. Every single month, in our mission we have a mission councel for all the Zone Leaders, and it was actually today, and we get to see all the other zone leaders from the mission, which is so much fun, and super spiritual and really amazing to get all the insight directly from President. Plus Elder Rogers is actually the Zone Leader of the zone right next to us! So we were Zone Leaders in the MTC together, and now we´re both Zone Leaders in the field, to Zones right next to eachother! Haha I can´t believe all these miracles! It´s so awesome. It´s awesome to see Presidente on a weekly basis now too, whereas before I saw him every 3 months or even more sometimes. OH and Plus, Presidente Heyman and his wife are returning to the mission! I think I told you, but 2 months ago, my mission president´s wife had a stroke, and they both had to go to the states in their home there, in Arizona, but now they´re going to return this week, which is a miracle, because they weren´t supposed to come back because her condition was so severe, so we´re all SO excited for that, and I love him so much, and I´m so excited to see him every few days now!! Ah I wish I could tell you all how excited I am, and how amazing all these things are!! I have so much more to tell you, and I´ll try to write more next week, and send a ton of pictures. I´ve got a lot of pictures to send of all these things, so that´ll be good for next week. But htank you all for your prayers, sorry for all the writing errors in this letter, i´m writing as fast as I can and as quick, so if something doésn´t make sense, have dad use his spanglish skills to correct. Haha, But I love you all!! Thank you all so much for everything, for the prayers, and please keep including me. I´m pretty humbled by this calling, and i´m super excited! I love you all, sounds like everything is great! I¨m going to send another email answering all the questions from last week to make it easier on me, so i´ll send this one right now. I love you all!!!