It's a record for the longest letter yet!!!

Hey there!,

Sorry that was so short last week, i was tired and me and my companion just wanted to sleep. This week was pretty fun. So Sunday was my companion’s birthday so we had a surprise party for him at a member’s house, and we made peach cobbler, which was really good.  

Yesterday we went to this place called Santa Lucia. It’s this old castle type place in the center of the city up on a hill; it has a cool view of the city. And afterwards we went to this tie shop up in the north part of the city. If you buy 24 or more ties then they have this deal where the ties cost about $1.20 each. So i got 18 ties for about 22 bucks. They are all brightly colored ones; i now have almost 40 ties. My companion has more than 50. 

Right now we are not really teaching many investigators, we have 2 but one has problems with the word of wisdom, and the other needs to get married. We are working with quite a few less actives right now. I wasn’t able to write my letter yesterday because we didn’t get back to our house until almost 6, and at 7 on p-day we have to go out and work. 

We have changes this Sunday so we are a little anxious for that, i think I’m gonna stay here in this sector but we will see. We found a house in our sector that we might be able to rent, we are gonna call about it today. It will be real nice if we can get it cause then we won’t have to walk so far in order to get to our sector.

Oh and with Elder Bednars talk, i liked how it was kinda a wakeup call to all priesthood holders to complete their responsibilities better. As a missionary, when they don’t do simple stuff like hometeaching, I’ve seen the results, and sometimes it’s not good. Almost nobody hear does their hometeaching, so we pretty much do most of it ourselves by going around and visiting the members as often as we can. 

Our ward is supposed to have a talent show this week, were gonna see how well that goes. Anyways i hope this was a little longer, i actually don’t have a planner because the mission office forgot to order more, otherwise i would write in that. 

That’s cool that Josh got to go to Angels Camp to shoot, and yea, that’s about what i got my first tournament. And I’m glad that Momo enjoyed her birthday and is doing well. Oh yea, and i got my package last Tuesday, thanks so much for it, and the shoes fit perfectly.

Love you all so much
Elder Allison

Short as usual...

Hey so i told Chloe in my email last week, i did feel the earthquake but there wasn’t any damage here.  

So we got some interesting news, we are supposed to find a new pension by the end of this change, which means by the end of next week. President said that he wants us living in our ward boundaries, so we have to find a new house now.

This week was ok, my birthday was pretty fun, some members had a surprise party for me. I’ll send some pictures next week.

That’s really great to hear about roger, I’ll keep praying for him.

My favorite talk from conference was Elder Bednar’s from priesthood session. I’ll write more next week

Love you all,

Elder Allison

Earthquake!

Hey what’s up,

So yea there was an earthquake here last night. Me and my companion were sitting on a bench in a park and all of a sudden everything started shaking, cars were shaking, streetlamps, it lasted for like 30-40 seconds. but no one was killed or injured, at least that i know of.

Yea i can’t believe it’s my birthday on Wednesday. I got my pants yesterday, they are pretty nice. That’s awesome that you got a calling, it would be nice to get a break from mine sometimes.

I can’t wait till it gets colder here. Right now I’ve got some kind of sinus infection. It sucks. Our only investigator won’t be getting baptized for a while now, so now we are able to focus more on some less actives that we have been working with.

Anyways, i didn’t get moms letter yet, oh well, but I’ll write you all more later.

Love you all

Elder Allison

(This was posted on the Santiago East Mission blog)

Dear Parents and Families,

You will hear reports that Chile experienced a 7.2 magnitude earthquake today, Sunday, March 25, 2012. We certainly felt the quake in the Santiago East Mission, but we suffered no damage, and we are all safe and protected here. Today's quake was near Maule which is approximately 130 miles South of Santiago. We are grateful for your consistent prayers and for your love and support. We are thankful for the opportunity we have to serve here in this beautiful country, with our Missionary Angels, and we love the Chilean people very much.

Our missionaries are prepared for this type of occurrence, and we know that when we are prepared, we need not fear (D&C 38:30). As many of you know, we completed a mission tour last month. President Laycock and I visited every single apartment in our mission. We prayed with every companionship in their apartment, and we asked for a blessing of safety to be upon each apartment. We requested and confirmed that every missionary update and/or prepare their 36 hour kit. Also, during the last two weeks, we updated and delivered a copy of our mission emergency plan to each missionary. Our missionaries are prepared. They are brave and strong and capable in every way. We love them dearly, and will continue to serve beside them as we strive to do the Lord's work in the Lord's way.

We will continue to pray for those who live South of our Mission who may be affected, and we will update you as we learn more.

Con amor,

Presidente y Hermana Laycock