11/30/20: stuffed

 We pounded this week. Food. Work. Teaching. You name it, we definetly pounded it. 

Thanksgiving was so fun and uplifting! It was awesome to see everyone happy and with family and enjoying the season! We see a lot of people in their lowest moments but it was great to see people laughing and sharing what they are grateful for! We got to share President Russell M Nelson's message with everyone too so that was fun!

So a quick run down of thanksgiving. We had 4 dinners. It was great. My ability to pound down whatever insane amount of food presented to me has definitely expanded since last thanksgiving. We didnt eat a single piece of Turkey or stuffing... but we had our fill of tamales, pozole, flan, arroz con leche, salsa, and all that good stuff. 

We had an awesome little morning warm up meal thing with a man named Alejo. He had a bunch of his friends over as well and so we taught him and all of them over a nice bowl of pozole outside in the good November air.

We had another dinner with a family we just met and started teaching and we met their whole extended family and then immediately afterward went to a recent converts house, Roberto Gonzalez... who is actually the funniest person I have ever met... and talked to his whole family as well... he has 5 daughters. Who each put a separate full plate of food down for us to try.

We then visited some members and they all gave us more food... which kinda added up to dinner 4.

Updates on our friends: 

Manuel- he came to our little outdoor session of church we had in the park with some of the group members! He really liked it. He also didnt start any doctrine based fights so that was cool!

Brisseda- she is actually a member who I got to meet this week. She is the mom of baby triplets... 2 other sons... and she also owns her own sweet treat business... she is kinda the coolest person I have ever met. She had a friend over, Maritza, and we talked with her a lot about some things she was going through. We offered to say a prayer with her and after I finished praying I looked up and saw that she was just sobbing. She told us that she hadnt prayed since she was a little kid and that she had forgot that it was an option. We hugged her for a really long time. 

I am so thankful for this community that we serve. Everyone here is very tightly knit and it truly feels like a community. I have seen so many people go put of their way to serve and support others this week. My companion, members here in the group, people we are teaching... Dinuba truly is a great little place and I am loving and learning from every second

Lots of love

Hermana Allen 

1. Church outside! Special shout out to the giant group of dudes in the background that are cooking carne asada. They are there every week without fail. So are we!

2. Some good Zucchini bread that i asked for from our District Leader... everytime he calls he asks if there is anything he can do for us. I said yes. I really want Zucchini bread. Also we went on exchanges so the sister with me is Hermana Myers! She is super cuteand just got out of training!

3. No explanation needed