Greetings from Oakley, California!

February 2, 2015

Whats up everybody from Oakley California!!

This new area is great! Completely opposite from San Francisco. Everybody owns a car. The people here are more conservative. There is space between between the houses. the roads are wider, the buildings shorter, and the people don't spit at you when you try to talk about God :) lol It's great.

And my companion is awesome! Elder Mahe from Tonga is a beast. He's a professional rugby player. (first companion that could beat me up ;) haha) His catch phrase is - "you're never going to know, unless you try it". 

Haha ...this phrase is awesome, because I think that;'s the central message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You never know unless you try it. I love when people try to fight with us, because all we have to say is - you never know, unless you try it.

You will never know if God is there unless you believe in Him, and pray. You will never know if the Gospel can help you, unless you believe in it, and try it out for yourself. 

I hope everyone has a great week!!

Elder Allison

Transferring to Oakley California

January 26, 2015

Hi everybody!! Not a lot of time this week.. (again.. i know) Big news this week.. im getting transferred! :( I'm leaving for Oakley CA tomorrow morning. Goodbye San Francisco, I'm going to miss the Sunset ward. My new companion is going to be Elder Mahe, from tonga! 

                                                           These are my friends :)

I'm leaving the Sunset Ward, and Elder Kaufusi is coming in to replace me. So I left him a note. I'm sad to leave the people we were working with here. I love them so much! (not as much as you mom). But its okay. I know that it's not about me. I'm excited to go teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to God's children in Oakley. 

I hope you all have a great week!

Love Elder Allison

Be like Vlad

December 29, 2014

Hey everybody!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas!!:)  Christmas was great out here in San Francisco! Didnt feel like Christmas though with no snow.. bummer.

So we are working with someone who is investigating the church out here; his name is Vlad. Hes cool, hes from St. Petersburg Russia! Weve been meeting with Vlad one on one during the week, and hes been coming to church on sundays... except he has a really hard time getting there on time... Church starts at 9:00am, and he usually doesnt show up til 12:00... 

So, on saturday night we talked to Vlad. And make one hundred percent sure - that Vlad knew that church starts at nine, and he said he was going to be there at nine. 

Sunday. 9:00 - nothing... 10:00 - nothing.. 11:00 - nothing... 12:00 - text from Vlad "hey guys im here.."

Face Palm. Church is done and gets over at 12:00 lol

So we go upstairs and meet Vlad by the doors, and start talking to him. It just so happens tho, that the Chinese services start at 12:00, so we asked Vlad, "hey would you like to go to the Chinese sacrament?" and hes like "yeah that sounds great"

So we ended up sitting through the Chinese services with a Russian man. It was great though, because there were some other English speakers there, so they broke out the translation equipment, and we got an interpreter for the back row. 

The meeting was great! Very spiritual. I love sitting in on classes and meetings in the different language programs here in San Francisco. 

But the miracle of the day, was that Vlad sent us a text after church. And said "thank you. it was very inspirational, and gave me energy to recover... your spirituality makes miracles... I promise not to be late to meetings anymore." haha I won't quote the whole text, because there was some confidential stuff in there. In this church, we know that when we exercise faith in Jesus Christ, we receive spiritual witnesses that what were doing is something good, and when that spirit touches the heart - hearts are changed. And we want to become more like the Savior.

We haven't asked Vlad yet to give up some of the worldly things hes doing, in order to better follow Jesus Christ. But he told us on his own that he wants to stop those things, so he can draw closer to God. 

Even if you don't want to at first, we know that when we do good - we feel good. That feeling provokes a change for the good within us. Then we feel like doing more good. We have a snowball effect of goodness - and a momentum of goodness. And we want to be good. 

On the flip side. If you do bad, you feel bad, and want to be bad. If you do nothing. You feel nothing. Your agency is wasted. 

Vlad is doing good. Hes making righteous choices that are adding to his spiritual momentum. He is having a "change of heart" and is slowly becoming a "new creature in Christ"

Have a great week everyone!! Be like Vlad:)

Elder Allison

October 13, 2014

Hey everybody. Not a lot of time today. Just writing so you know I’m still alive :) 

Just a quick thought this week. I’ve been thinking a lot about light - or our lack of it. A condition of being born into a fallen world is spiritual darkness. The darkness that comes because we are born into sin. Not Adam and eve's sin, or our parent's sins, but our own. It’s okay though because none of us are perfect. 

We all go up and down and back and forth and not always uphill like we want, but when we find ourselves in the dark, we need to find our way back to the light. And the way to the light is to find the light switch. We can’t see it - we can’t hear it - we don't always know where it is. It takes faith - and hard work. We need to run our hands along the wall until we can feel it.

We can’t receive light by just working hard though. We also need to believe hard. And then - with our belief and our faith and our good works - the switch is on. But it’s not on the wall, it’s in our hearts. Your switch is on, you’re standing in the light! Yay! It’s so warm and bright and beautiful! 

Were either on or were off - standing in light or in the darkness. God loves you. But please know that when we’re standing in darkness God is not with us. Because God is light.

If you are in the darkness right now. Accept the Savior's invitation - "[come] unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that i may heal you." (3Nephi9:13)

Everyone have a great week!!

Elder Allison

October 7, 2014

Hey all! What a great week.

I love, love, love general conference! I hope everyone who’s reading this got an opportunity to watch the conference. The messages this year were so inspiring, and so applicable to our daily lives. I would especially recommend the Saturday sessions. They were amazing. 

So we talked to a man the other day on the bus. We’ll call him Ron. Ron was so nice. We had a great conversation with him and set up a time to meet. He’s not really interested in living the gospel of Jesus Christ, but he was willing to sit down and talk with us. So we had our meeting with him in the park the other day. 

It was good. The phone number he gave us was an actual working number, and he actually showed up to our meeting place lol. Our first 15 minutes with Ron was amazing. He shared with us basically his life story, and about why he believes in Jesus Christ. The spirit of the lord was very strong. 

Unfortunately the spirit of the lord was driven out, and we left our meeting sorrowful, rejected, and I’ll be honest I was pretty frustrated. Ron’s objective in meeting with us was not to learn more about the Mormon religion, come closer to Jesus Christ, or even have a conversation about Jesus Christ. His whole objective was to try to discredit and disprove Joseph Smith and his character and status as a prophet of god. 

We know that not everyone believes that Joseph Smith was a true prophet called of god. 

If you talk to missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, please, do not expect them to convince you that Joseph Smith was a prophet, that Jesus is the savior, or that the church is true. Yes, this is our message. But you cannot take our word for it - and you shouldn't. We are not perfect. 

I love the analogy from this past conference. - If you want to know Jesus Christ's character and ministry, would you ask Judas Iscariot?

One of my favorite parts about the gospel, is that we know that god is not silent. He speaks to prophets, he speaks to our leaders, and he speaks to us - if we are seeking him with real intent.  

If we want to know answers to questions about god, then we have to ask God. Not men. Your friends will tell you what you want to hear, your enemies will tell you lies, but only god can tell you the absolute truth. 

Fortunately god has given us an easy way to know whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not. He’s given us the Book of Mormon.

"We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.)"

"Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah."  (Introduction to the Book of Mormon)

Sorry. I’ll step down from off my missionary soap box now. 

Everybody go see the Meet the Mormons movie that’s coming out! All the missionaries got to watch it, and it is awesome!!

Okay bye love you!!

September 22, 2014

Hey all. I hope everyone had a great week! Because ours was pretty good. 

I’m kind of sad though, because Tuesday is transfers, and Elder Rhees is being transferred. I remember 12 weeks ago when he was born into the mission; and I’ve had the privilege of watching him grow and learn and develop as a missionary - being his trainer and first companion. But now it’s time for Elder Rhees to leave the nest and fly to perform miracles in other parts of the lord’s vineyard. Lol

Here’s a picture of the tenacious trio on our way to Oakland. Elder Cowley and me, and Elder Rhees the beast in the back seat. Except he’s leaving, so it’s just Elder Cowley and me now. 

 Also check out this picture a past companion sent me! This is why the oaklanders call the temple "the glow in the dark church" A while ago the church decided to turn the lights off at night, and they got phone calls from the local airports asking them to turn it back on, because the planes flying into the bay area use the temple as some kind of landing reference point. Lol

 "Elder Rhees take the picture!"

'Open your eyes!'

"The suns too bright, just take it!"

At one point or another in our lives, we come to a point where our faces look like this. We live in a fallen world this is true - full of pain of loved ones lost and gone - pain of death and sin - If you, or someone you know has a face like this, then remember our brother Jesus Christ - and his loving atonement. Have faith in Him, and repent. 

"And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain! Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy." (Alma 36:19-21)

Have a great week! I love you!

Elder Allison

September 16, 2014

Hey everybody! Quick story this week

So we were standing at this bus stop in downtown San Francisco, and this woman came over and sat down on the bench next to us. She looked a little dirty, and she was carrying this dirty bag. And she was shaking a little bit, like she was on drugs, or realllllly stressed out. It’s pretty common to see people like this, especially in the area we were in. 

She looked over and saw our missionary name tags, and she said "hey, can I ask you a religious question" and of course were like - absolutely, hey do you want to be baptized? LOL, just kidding. Were like - "yeah what’s your question" and she said - "is it a sin to commit suicide?" 

I said "wow that’s a great question" and i looked at my companions and said "what do you think guys?" - We didn’t know what to say, it was really awkward - because the bus we were waiting for goes up to the golden gate bridge. But we had the spirit, so we looked at the woman, her name was Erica, and said "what do you think Erica? Is it a sin to take your own life?" 

We had an awesome quick conversation about the gospel. It was so good, the spirit touched her strongly. She got up off the bench and picked up her bag, and said "you guys have inspired me - I’m going to go and take back all these things I stole." and then she walked away. 

It was so crazy. I was scared - for her life. But then when she told us she was going to turn her life around, I was so relieved. And the best part was, we didn’t really say much. The Holy Ghost told her everything she needed to hear. She looked like she was in a tough place, but I know God loves her and has a perfect plan for her. 

It’s so true. Faith in Jesus Christ leads to repentance, and change for the good.

Have a great week everyone! If you feel like jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge, then be like Erica. Take back all those things you stole, give Jesus all your sins. And you’ll feel better.

Love you guys

Elder Allison