Terra -- 3 Months In!!!

Brother Blackham has a Bell helmet! Did you design this one Dad? :]
(and Scott's answer is "No," but he's working on redesigning this very helmet).

The subject tells no lie. Tomorrow I am three months into my mission. So no, I haven't gotten past the "counting up/down the days" stage, but I'm getting there.

This email is going to be short. But happy. :]  Because I have found happiness this week. We were with a member driving in Downtown Cincinnati after we had an appointment there (with a girl from South Africa, I might add. Woohoo diversity!) and it was just such a beautiful place! The buildings were beautiful! The sky was beautiful! The cars were beautiful! The people were beautiful! And it just hit me, THE WORLD IS BEAUTIFUL! Life is beautiful! My life is beautiful!!!! Being a missionary is beautiful!! Now, I can't go as far to say that I am a beautiful missionary, but I can say that it IS beautiful BEING a missionary!! And even though I've been having a hard time recognizing this, and probably still will from time to time, I'm thankful for Heavenly Father and His way of allowing me to experience the beauty of the earth. (Makes me think of "Little Women" when they're singing "For the Beauty of the Earth" at Meg's wedding. It still bothers me that they didn't wait 10 years to film the second half of the movie, and use Kirsten Dunst when she was older. The other girl just doesn't do the job right.) But anyways, life is beautiful and we should all enjoy it. Heavenly Father has presented us with a plan of HAPPINESS and we need to accept it to really enjoy it. 

We went to downtown Cincinnati again this week. It's a lot like San Francisco!!!

I wanted to add a little blurb from a talk that I read this week. It's by Elder James B. Martino. This talk is called "All Things Work Together For Good." At the beginning he told:

"When I was young I looked forward to the spring of the year. As the weather warmed, I was ready for baseball to begin. Like most young boys, I would wish that I could become a great baseball player. I am reminded of a story about a very young boy with similar dreams. With the desire to become the next mighty ballplayer, he decided to go outside and practice. He held the baseball in one hand and the bat in the other, and he threw the ball into the air. With a wish to hit the ball as far as he could, he took a great swing, but the ball fell to the ground without even touching the wood of the bat. Not to be denied, he went at it again. As he was about to throw the ball in the air, his determination grew as the thought of a powerful hit came into his mind. But alas, the results were the same. The ball lay on the ground. But as any good ballplayer knows, you have three strikes before you are out. He concentrated even more, threw the ball in the air, and gave the mightiest swing he had ever attempted. As the ball again fell to the ground, the tears began to swell in his eyes. Then all of a sudden a great smile appeared, and he said, “What a pitcher!” "

What a perspective change!!! And so fast! What an example this is to me. 
I'm going to be like this little boy.

Cool building!

I wanted to add and tell Grandpa Southwick that I ate at a Roy Roger's restaurant this week! (It was renamed Roney's...but it was still Roy Rogers). I don't know who that is, but as soon as I stepped inside and saw all the pictures, I knew Grandpa would know who he was. :] 

My favorite FAVORITE car.

So, this is my short email. Find happiness. Don't go looking for it where you aren't. Find it where you already are. Otherwise, you won't find it! And you'll be unhappy! A lesson I have learned the hard way, but luckily in a short amount of time. Thank you to EVERYONE. I love everything that everybody writes, it all helps immensely. 

I love you!

Love, 

Sister Allen

This is how I often feel.  BUT NOT TODAY!
TODAY I DECIDED TO BE HAPPY!