Allison In Between

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was a very interesting week. Right after I emailed last week....our car started to die.....It was really bad timing....but when is it ever good timing. So we took it in and luckily President gave us permission to get dropped off by the Elders. After our first appointment we walked to our next one and it was great walking. Our area is so huge so we already knew it would be hard getting everywhere we needed to go.

The next day we had the temple at 6:30 in the morning....and its like 25 minutes away....so we got a ride. The temple was amazing. I always love going to the temple because we get to be in the temple and because we get to see the other sisters. The temple just makes me smile and I always feel better afterwards. This day was one of the best in the mission. We asked President Maynes to drop us off down town. On the way we talked about the English class that we will be organizing and teaching here. When he dropped us off...it was like getting dropped off as little kids at school. We talked to so many people that day. We didn't realize how heavy our bags were. We found some great people to teach that day. Heavenly Father really leads us to people who need the gospel and helps us avoid the rain. We would get on someones porch and start to teach and it would begin to rain. We would then say the closing prayer ...and it stopped. We were so blessed this day. I felt like a missionary and we were so happy all day long. We also ate some great food....they have some great Mexican food down town. We walked a lot that day and luckily got a ride home. We were trying to find a ride for the next morning to district meeting, but so many people don't have cars or they have a car and they work.

The next day we had to have the Elders get us again :) We were really worried about another day with out the car because we had so many people we needed to see. We got a ride to district meeting and it was fantastic. We took the bus the first time. I won't lie it took a while to get to down town (we went there because it dramatically increases the chances of finding people who speak Spanish). We got down there and the third house we knocked on was Alex. Alex is super cool. He is 19 and has a phobia of leaving his house. He hasn't really let a lot in the past 2 years. He wants so badly to get over this anxiety. Hopefully we will teach him again today. While we were teaching on the porch...it started to hail....luckily we were teaching. It was raining really hard...and of course we wouldn't have anything for the rain. We had to leave the appointment eventually so we decided to walk. We got soaked so fast. The street we were on apparently floods a lot. We ending up walking in water almost up to our knees. It would not stop raining (Colorado keeps stealing Texas's rain). Luckily some nice ladies let us into a school where we waiting out some of the rain and the flooding. We got some good pictures. One of the ladies gave us a ride to a members house. She then took us home and we got a car!

Here is the account from Hermana Coughlen which is way better than mine:

So our trusty car Jonas (or Jonah in English) died Tuesday morning. What are two little Spanish speaking missionaries supposed to do in an area so big with no car! I'll tell you what we do... we walk and take the bus! The work must go on :) We didn't have a lot of success Tuesday because we had to go to the mechanic and we spent our day in Aurora which is more suburb-y and harder to walk around since there aren't many Hispanics and all the members and people we visit live so far apart. Wednesday we got dropped off in downtown (we call the suburbs around Denver downtown since there is no residential in the real DT) by President and Sister Maynes. They looked at us with puzzled faces when we answered their question to "how are you going to get home?" with smiling faces "we will ask a member... or take the bus... or walk!" We hoofed it all day with what seemed like 20lb bags and got a great missionary tan. We talked with everyone on the streets which was really fun because usually we are in a car and can't do that. We got home dog tired... but then had to move the furniture for the carpet cleaners that we coming the next day! All we wanted to do was crash but we had to move my 1974 teachers desk which may be made from led into the kitchen and stack another desk, boxes, chairs and a fan on top! Breakfast next morning was exciting as I climbed the tower of Babel to get to our cereal. We took the bus into downtown that Thursday morning prep-ed for another day of walking and talking. It started out well, but you have heard the Denver stories, storms that seem to spawn from the clear blue sky! Out of nowhere a rail-ice-marble sized hail storm was in full vengeance against all the citizens of Denver! We tried to seek refuge under a porch (where we talked to the owner for a good time) but knew that we had to move on. A member didn't live too far away so we decided it wasn't a bad idea to book it for their apartment. Well, we were obviously not expecting for the historic streets and ancient drainage system to fail us so quickly because soon enough we were wading through knee high water in the middle of the crowned streets!! We found it more then entertaining and were very happy that neither of us chose to wear white that day ;) We were welcomed into a school by some lovely middle aged office ladies who yelled at us from their window to come in. We camped out there for an hour or so. We watched as the street turned into a river and soccer balls, large pieces of wood, trash cans and shoes floated town the street! A few cars stalled because the water too... that is bad new bears because the engine is most likely a goner! One of the lovely middle aged office ladies gave us a ride to Monica Ruiseco's house where we received a dry shirt and a warm dinner of chicken tacos and watermelon water. Excellent way to finish the night. She gave us a ride home which was much appreciated. We got home to our wet carpet and furniture-less apartment. We moved the beds... goodnight.

We have a car now. A little Corolla (Gold) which beeps at everything! If the seat belt is undone for more than 3 seconds, if the door is left open for more then 5 or if the doors get locked before the doors are closed. We call him our little whinny old man. He needs a name soon. Suggestions?

So what should we name our car....post on my blog and vote...Sam please send me the results :)

We still managed to teach 30 lessons this week! The work is going great here. We loved walking! I got to go to primary yesterday we some of our investigators. I loved it. We got to sing and eat cake! They announced me as a special guest and were so happy to sing I hope they call me on a mission lol. I was so glad I was there. Those kids have such great testimonies.

Today we are going shopping, and I hope I find something! I am super excited about my birthday and am still trying to figure out how to make it special! I know it will be special. We are praying for miracles here. We see the Lord's hand a lot. I know that He loves us more than we know. I hope you all know that I appreciate every prayer and every letter.

I love you all,

Hermana Spencer