1/16/23: New Area... Trinidad

 Long email but probably the most interesting weeks yet:


Transfer came and they were pretty wild for me. For Christmas all the missionaries in the Beni department went to a city called Trinidad and the whole time I felt like I'd be back for some reason.  I had been I Guyaramerin for a while so I assumed I'd be going back to Santa Cruz. I was shocked however when the news came that I was going to Trinidad for my mext transfer! I could not have been more excited.

It was still hard to say goodbye to my friends in Guayaramerin. I feel of all my áreas up until now, I've connected the best to the people there. Had so.e sweet yeah hard goodbyes. One was with the family of Hermana Claribel. We helped her grandaughter get baptized and helped her set goals to go to the temple. We visited for the last time and thank me and my comp for helping her family. That meant a lot to me because the night before I read a promise in my Patriartical blessing that said that is I worked diligently I would make a difference in the live of those I served. I was reflecting and praying to k ow if my efforts really had made a difference in Guayaramerin, and to hear hermana Claribel express gratitude to me and my comp made me feel I had made an impact. Missionary work is sometime very difficult but also very rewarding. 
 
Also had a special Noche de hogar with my pensionista and her family. We also help them set goal to make it to the temple so they can do baptism and sealings. Here in Beni, its pretty difficult to make it to the temple. The economic situation and distance make it tough. But they all seem determined to make it, so please be praying for la famila Chyanna.

My new area is crazy. Although we its still in the Beni providence, I still had to fly to get here. It was interesting to travel alone especially after so much time with a companion always by my side. Almost missed the flight, but after all was said and done I made it to Trinidad in one. My new area is called Moxos and it's the only branch here in the stake of Trnidad. There's 5 wards and our branch and the stake is still growing tremendously. The area has parts I  the main city of Trinidad but those all belong to the sisters. Like my last area in Guayaramerin, there a tropical climate but is more like a swamp-jungle terrane. There thousands of mosquitos though and that's kind of the main struggle. They eat a lot of alligator and kapibaras here and once again the only public transport is by motorcycle. 

The best part is all the areas are baptizing constantly. All the missionaries in the while zone have an amazing focus on baptism and there plenty to do. We had a baptism ourselves on Saturday for an hermana named Carmen Paz. She a true convert and has a strong testimony. The baptism was interesting however. We pay a cistern to come and fill the font because there's no water here. They didn't fill it up all the way however and the water was really low. We could immerse Carmen completely in the water and after about 4 trys we gave up. We prayed and consulted the branch president and decided we had to do it again the next day. So we spent the afternoon filling up bucket with the one working sink in the church and carrying then to fill the font up a bit more. The next morning though we tried the baptism again and we were able to immerse her completely. The Spirit was a lot stronger after the baptism and then I knew the Lord accept our efforts. It's interesting how ordinances must be done in a precise way but when done correctly the Spirit of the promise seals the covenant. 

Other stuff that went down was and awesome concilio where we set great goals for the whole mission. On the way to Concilio we stopped in Cochabamba for 2 hours so that was coll yo see mountains again. Seen tons of wildlife from kapibara and alligator and parrots. 

We got a lot coming up here in Trinidad and I'm excited. But that's all for now.

Elder Allen




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