Elder Russell Allphin: There's Always Money In The Banana Stand

Dear Nuclear family,

What be buzzin' (reference to Molly’s bee costume for Halloween-- the photo with her sticking out her tongue was just about the funniest thing ever). How goes it? Man it was great to hear from you guys. Glad to hear everything has been great.

Yes, it was a bit jittery for me at the beginning of this week with that senor comp thing and all but with a ton of prayer (from you guys too) and humility on my part, I made it through and, oo-de-lolly, was it grand. My comp, Elder Inman, has got a ton of newbie fire in him and loves the work. We figured out some good plans, really worked our butts off this week, and had lots of success—30 new people to teach! It was great. We found a lot of families to teach out of those 30. It really was, like it says in one of my favorite scriptures (1 Nephi 1:20) a "tender mercy" of the Lord that we had such a great week! And we can only hope to have another one just like it if not better. Yeah, it’s a little weird to have the senior comp position but it’s not too much of a change, me and ol' Elder Timmy Inman are just working hard.

It rained the other day here and we live by a canal so there’s always a ton of frogs that hide out there. We were contacting an old investigator the day it rained and, as we were waiting by the front gate of the house, we saw this frog hop to the front of the door, just waiting. Some guy came out, very peeved, and said (in a not too terribly friendly manner) that the person we are looking for had moved and to stop “molesting” him (note: the verb in Spanish that means "to annoy" is "molestar"... how ‘bout that fun fact). We really weren't paying much attention at all to him because we were looking at the frog that was waiting by his door. Pretty soon it hopped into his house while he was busy telling us off. We just grinned very broadly, bid our farewells, and he went back inside and slammed the door. He didn’t even notice the frog, ha! We just about died laughing afterwards. A scripture we find in Exodus (Exodus8:3-4) just about describes this uncanny event perfectly. Other than that, nothin’ much to report, we just worked so hard this week; I feel so good now and a lot more confident. Huzzah! Now on to the questions:

Tell us more about your companion.

Yes, my comp is from Cali and played football. He kinda reminds me of Jordan Esteban. He went to the Coachella music festival in 2010 (I about passed out when he said that) and he saw Muse and all those great bands. We have a lot of music similarities. He’s a great kid, hard worker, very focused. Tyler Glenn from the Neon Trees was in his stake. Just a good kid, that Elder Timmy Inman.

How does the whole cyber thing work? Are they nice places? Are there many around? Do many people have computers in their homes?

You go to the cyber, ask for a computer, and are charged by like the half hour. When you’re done you pay up. They vary. This one is about one of the nicest ones I’ve been to. Some of them are really sketchy and full of noisy, dirty kids. And yeah there about 2 or 3 in every quadrant. And yeah, a lot of people have computers. Its jacked up because a lot of people live in just tiny, puny, living conditions and are very poor yet they manage to have the newest thing from Dell—sound system and everything—priorities peeps!

How is it going with investigators?

Great! 30 people! We found a family of 9 the other day in San Lorenzo, for example, and they are very nice and humble. They are called the Familia Peares. We’re going back to teach them this Tuesday.

What’s the size of your area?

Pretty big. About the size of Lindon I would say.

Who do we thank for feeding you these days?

We ate some amazing pizza at the Familia Gastelos the other day (finally something that’s not fish and onions) and we had some tasty Milanesa at the Familia Reynosa’s house the other day. The good peeps here are always feeding us.

Well that’s about it. I’ve got to go fill out some 24 month convert sheet so when Elder Viñas comes to visit us in November he won’t smack the back of my head. But family, thank you so much: For your prayers, fasts, everything. I’m so grateful for all of that. I could feel them throughout the week. Prayer helped a lot this week. I know when we pray that real miracles will happen: Our burdens will be lightened and it’ll truly be all good. It’s gonna be a great week this week, I can feel it (for you guys and me).

Well, I’m gonna turn a year this week. That’s about the weirdest thing ever. I’m gonna find some way to celebrate it as should you guys. This is cause for a celebration, of course. I love you so much. Have a great week. I love you guys. It´s all good!

Con Amor,