September 19, 2017

This week has been pretty good. Lots of little miracles.

On Wednesday we had ESL which is always pretty fun. Elder Dolinars companion hit his 2 years and went home, so Dolinar was with us for a night. He is the District Leader so it worked out perfect. We got Danica interviewed and she passed for baptism. We also got to have Work Burgers. Brother Work makes the best burgers. Every Wednesday he makes them for us, he goes to Costco and picks up some fresh meat and then we BBQ it. I look forward to that every week. 

Thursday was a pretty average day nothing too crazy happened, lots of weekly planning. But on Friday we had a lot of good things happen. To start it off we had Garden service with Bob and John except Bob wasn't there because his brother died so he was up in Edmonton at a funeral so it was just John telling us what to do. This time we were spreading bark chips on a path through the garden. It was really cool, we got to see the new missionaries who came out a week ago who came into our zone. They seem pretty cool. We were working and talking to John and John said, "I sure do like being with you guys." I said, "Yeah its really fun working out here in the garden with you, we should totally go get some frostys together sometime at Wendys." He then said, "That would be really fun, in fact I will take you to the best shake place in Calgary!" So we set up a time that night to go out for shakes at Peters. 

After we worked at the gardens we made some stop-bys and then had dinner at the Redekop's home. They invited a couple that is their next door neighbors, they were maybe in their 70's. The husband was from Australia and his wife was from Canada. We talked a lot about Australia and how my Dad went on a mission like us to Australia when he was my age. After we had dinner his wife pulled out an Australian dessert called Pavlova, boy it was good. They claimed that it didn't have any calories in it. But there was lots of whipping cream on top so it had to have had some calories in it. 

After dinner we called John and he came and picked us up at our apartment and we headed to Peters. He paid for the shakes, we told him that we would but he insisted that he pay. The shakes were really good and it was kinda funny because it was just a bit out of our zone.. We were almost to down town Calgary. It was good though, we talked quite a bit about his work and just random stuff. We got to our apartment and before we left I asked him I said, "John, you have had a lot of questions about us and the church and what we do as missionaries is answer those questions that you have and teach you about our church." I said, "That doesn't mean that you have to come to church or you have to get baptized but is that something that you would like to do? And kinda paused for a second and he said,  "Yes I would like that." So we will be teaching him the first discussion either Saturday or Sunday. I am super excited, he is a great guy. 

On Saturday we did some help moving for a lady named Karen. After that we went to have interviews with President Miles. President and Sister Miles said that this is the happiest that they have seen me. I have defiantly been happy we have been having so much success lately it has been so great. In the interview President Miles told me that he doesn't want me to burn out on him. He made me promise that I wouldn't. It was pretty funny that he would say that because I feel that I am a long ways from going home. I have a lot of time before I will burn out. After interviews we helped at the food drive I will have to send some pictures of that too. I will do better at sending pictures.  

We had a Baptism! Danica was baptized. Elder Darrow and I gave the talks, I talked on baptism and Elder Darrow talked on the Holy Ghost. I think that I felt the Spirit more at this baptism then what I have ever felt at any other baptism it was amazing. 

We had dinner at the Burnett's home. She is a member and her husband is a non-member but a really good guy. After we ate we found out that he grows his own hot peppers in his backyard. He grows all the super super hot peppers. He is growing Carolina Reapers which we didn't get to try. I did get to try a little bit of a dried Carolina Reaper in Lethbridge and it was hot I can't even imagine trying it not dried, it is the second hottest pepper in the world. He did have the third hottest pepper in the world though which is called the Trinidad Scorpion. He cut a couple of little pieces off of the pepper for Elder Darrow and I. We put it in our mouths and started chewing. Elder Darrow chewed it up and swallowed it. I chewed it up and it felt like my head was going to explode so I spit it out. The heat was so crazy though. Elder Darrow ate half a carton of ice cream, and I had a couple glasses of milk. It was so hot I would get a mouth full of milk and just let it sit in my mouth for maybe 7 seconds and then I had to swallow it and get some more cold milk in my mouth. The heat finally went away after maybe 10 minutes. We have a video of it, I will send it to you when I get a chance. At Church on Sunday Sister Burnett broke down in tears to us and told us how much it means to her that we visit her and her family. She said, "You have no idea the impact that has on us."

When we got home that night we realized that we left our dinner calendars in the truck. Elder Darrow has had a cold and so I told him that I would go out and get them so that we could confirm dinner for that night. So I put on my runners and my hoody and headed to the truck. I decided that I would take the long way to the truck so that I could get a little run in that night. It ended up being about a mile. I got to the truck and got the dinner calendars and headed back. When I was waiting for the elevators to come down a guy came up to me and asked me if I was out on a run and I said, "Yep I was."  He said, "Man you are my motivation, I used to run but I haven't for a long time." I told him that I run everyday and he was pretty blown away. I asked him if he wanted to run Monday morning with us and he said that he would. So we got down stairs and he was there at a little after 6:30 waiting for us. He is from Libia and came over to Canada when he was 18 for school. He is now 28. So for the past couple of mornings we have been running with him. He is pretty out of shape which is too bad because I like to get a good run in but maybe we will have the opportunity of teaching him in the near future. 

On Sunday I had to speak in one of the wards. I still don't like getting up in front of people but I feel that it has for sure gotten a ton easier. I can see a change in myself and I think that it has been a big change. Elder Darrow and I were talking last night. We were talking about a couple of scriptures and trying to figure out some questions that we have had. Elder Darrow said, "I can't even believe that I am talking about the scriptures, back home I didn't even read them." I had to agree with him, it is crazy, back home I thought that the scriptures were definitely true but I didn't have a real desire to read and to study them. Being out here has definitely developed a desire in me to read, study, and ponder them to learn more about the scriptures.

Well this is some of the highlights of what has been going on up here in Canada I hope and pray that you are all doing well. I love you guys and hope that you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Allred

Elder Darrow 

September 12, 2017

This week has been awesome, it's pretty crazy to hear of all the crazy things happening in the world, with all the fires in Canada and the U.S, the earthquakes, and the big hurricanes. I am always forgetting that I am actually in a different country... 

Well we were able to finish up the lessons with Danica and she is going to be getting interviewed on Wednesday. Her baptism is going to be on Saturday and they have asked Elder Darrow and I to give talks at the baptism. I will be giving a talk on baptism, and Elder Darrow will be giving one on the spirit. We have been told that there are going to be some non-members from the family there, and the missionaries in our zone will be trying to get their investigators to the baptism as well. It is going to be a great experience.

We have been able to teach Aaron a few times this week, one of them was on the temple grounds of the Calgary Temple. He was able to go into the waiting room with Brother Hamilton, who is a temple worker, and was able to talk to him. He gave him a cool binder with a lot of information in it about temples it was pretty neat. 

At the beginning of this week we taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and what was cool was that he realized that he was already starting to live the Gospel before he even knew what it was. He had exercised his faith and because he exercised his faith he had experiences that helped him come to know that it is true. And because he knew that it was true he has been repenting or changing his life to follow our Savior Jesus Christ. He has made some big changes in his life. He has been 2 weeks without coffee and 1 week without smokes. He is wanting to go 2 weeks without any smokes to know that he is done and that he isn't going to pick up another smoke. In 2 weeks he is going to be baptized.

Something that kinda hit me while we were teaching Aaron was that he said, "I like to pray, it makes me feel good." It hit me because it made me think what we all think about praying. It was cool to hear a person who hasn't said a prayer since he was around the age of 14, start praying and then feel good every time he prays, and to pray a lot because of how it makes him feel. 

For the past couple of days I have been thinking about one of the 10 commandments, to not take the Lord's name in vain. When we read that we instantly think to not swear by using the Lords name. When we were teaching Aaron about this Brother Spackman pointed something cool out. He said, "If we aren't doing what Christ would have us do while representing him we are taking his name in vain." When you think about it when we are baptized we enter into a covenant with God to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, keep His commandments, and serve Him to the end. So in a way we who have been baptized are representatives of Jesus Christ and His church. And it just makes me think if we aren't becoming like Christ and doing the things that he would do, we are taking his name in vain which is a pretty scary thought. Since non of us are perfect and are not like Christ because of the natural man that is in us we have been given the Gospel to have the opportunity to constantly repent and to become better and better. A famous scripture that talks about this is Mosiah 3:19 which says, "for the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Elder Bednar talks about this verse and how bad men can become good, and good men can become better. I like how it says to follow the promptings of the Spirit because as we listen to those promptings which are good we will be led to become better and better people. 

This week we had a corn bust in both the Tuscany and Rockyview Wards. There were quite a few non-members that came to the ward parties. We talked to all of them, it's pretty strange to go up to someone you have no idea who is and talk to them, something that I would definitely not do back home. We invited Bob, a guy that we work at a garden with to come and to invite his family. He ended up coming and brought his daughter and son-in-law and their family to the corn bust. We were talking to his son-in-law, his name is Chris about the gardens and how nice they were and he said, "Man I sure wish that I had someone that would come and help me with my yard." We immediately offered to help. He was pretty shocked, he is a pretty well off guy. He is from Germany, and speaks english very well. We ended up going and helping him out. He is a really nice guy, we will have to go and help him out again. 

This week we might be able to pick up 3 new investigators, one for sure. He was referred to us by the Elders who are in Stathmore he seems super solid. I will have to let you know how that goes.

Elder Darrow and I gave each other hair cuts, they actually aren't that bad, they actually look pretty good I think, haha. I will have to send you some pictures, I have been slacking on that. 

Well that is pretty much it for this week, hope you are all doing well! Love you guys

Love, Elder Allred

September 5, 2017

This week has been really awesome. With school starting up again everyone is back from vacationing in the states. Today is actually the first day of school for all these Canadians. 

This last week has been pretty good we have been able to get into quite a few homes with the people that we are working with and invite them to the corn bust on Wednesday. The corn bust is where there is all you can eat corn on the cob, and it's Taber Corn, everyone up here thinks that the Taber Corn is the best of the best. So whenever we tell someone that, they just have to come. We are expecting to have a lot of non-members show up to the ward party so it will be interesting to see. 

For the past few weeks it has been smoky off and on here in Calgary from the British Columbia fires. It was really bad on Saturday, it was so smoky that you could feel it in your eyes. The sun was super red, I will have to send some pictures of it to you. 

But the highlight for this week was Aaron at Sacrament Meeting during fast and testimony meeting. Aaron bore his testimony at church, he went up there with his scriptures and told them of his story growing up, about the teacher Mr. Runno, and how he would teach the class about Adam and Eve and then in the next class teach them about the Big Bang. He also talked about his conversion story and how he had become a knower and not just a believer. He then told them, if I look a little shaky up here it is because I have gone without coffee for 6 days. Everyone laughed and then he pulled out an empty cigarette box and told everyone that he smoked his last one this morning and he is going to stop because he now knows that there is a higher power that he can rely on. In Gospel Principles we talked a lot about sealings and more on prayer. He bore his testimony to us all again. Something that was really crazy was that he payed fast offerings, he heard that's what we do and so he did it, and keep in mind at this point we had only taught him the first lesson. After the two church meetings we had another lesson with him and we put him on date for the 23 of September, and this will be a goal that he is going to shoot for and that will give him extra motivation to quit smoking. Today marks the 3rd day that he hasn't smoked. He has been smoking since he was 14 years old, he is now 47, it is pretty impressive that he has cold turkeyed it after all those years.

If all goes well, Danica will be baptized on the 16th and Aaron on the 23rd. 

I am really loving the mission. I am a bit tired right now because we got Adam, who is 17 in one of the wards, to invite a bunch of his high school basketball buddies to come and play ball with us today. I have been so excited that I had a hard time falling asleep last night. Adam's dad is one of the coaches at the Bowness High School, and he told him to get a few of the Varsity ball players to play. I can't wait it's going to be so much fun. 

Well I love you guys and hope that you are all doing well!

Love, Elder Allred 

August 29, 2017

This week has been amazing! The craziest things have happened this week. I will give just some of the highlights.

On Wednesday Elder Darrow and I got to teach at the ESL class that is at the church by the Calgary Temple, it was the first time that I have had the opportunity to do that. So now every Wednesday I get to go right by the temple to teach a ton of people from all of the world English. It really makes me think as simply as I can or else I have another word to explain to them, it's a lot harder then what you would think but it is super fun. 

On Thursday we got to go out on splits with our ward mission leader, Brother Melchin, who was a former 70 and every time we go with him he blows our minds while driving to appointments. Just when I think that I know a good amount, he starts talking and makes me realize that I only know a small portion of everything that there is to know. He is a great guy I sure learn a lot from him. 

Sunday was really great. It all started with Ward Council for the Rocky View Ward at 7:30 a.m. We went to Sacrament Meeting and Danica and Aaron came to church which was neat. By the way Danica's baptismal date is on September 16. After Sacrament Meeting we went to gospel principles and Aaron came in with us. He told us of what his Dad and Grandpa thought about, I guess you could say their part of what has gone down in history. He told Elder Darrow and I on Wednesday at Brother Works, when we had Work Burgers. But he told us all again in gospel principles class, his story goes like this, and I will try to make it as identical as he said. He said that we all lived on a planet with God and the planet was getting over populated so God put us on Earth to get rid of us then a few years pass and so God told Jesus to go and check on us and he found out that we were robbing, raping and pillaging. He tried to have us make peace with one another and the people ended up killing him and then through some kind of evolution he was able to resurrect himself from the dead, he was resurrected in three days. And after being resurrected, through some kind of communication was able to get in contact with God and told him to get me out of here. He then loaded up on the mother ship and hasn't been back since.

We were able to teach him a little bit about the Plan of Salvation with Brother Melchin and the guy he lives with in the ward named Brother Spackman, they are both pretty knowledgeable in the gospel. It ended up being pretty neat, Brother Melchin turned to Elder Darrow and I and asked is there anything else that you might add? I thought that it had all been covered really well and at first I didn't really know what to say, but I then thought that we should talk a little bit about prayer and so we pulled up a scripture, which happened to be one of the famous scriptures that we as missionaries use which is in the 10th chapter in Moroni, and talked about how as we pray we can receive and get an answer to any of our questions. Aaron when he heard this started telling us of an experience that he had. He said guys I think that this is true he went on to tell us that he has been reading and studying the Book of Mormon and that he has seen a change within him. At this point he was really starting to tear up. He went on to say when I first met Brian Spackman I swore like you wouldn't believe and now I don't have a problem, and not just with that, I have been able to feel better about myself and the only thing that I have been doing differently is going to church and reading the scriptures. He has read the Book of Mormon twice and is on his third time through it and is now cross referencing it with the Bible. He has to be the most solid investigator. Brother Melchin then talked about a verse in the 7th chapter in Moroni which says, "But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God". At this point he was really tearing up. I think that I told you that he has been investigating and researching the big foot people for something like 20 years (5 of them with Brian Spackman) and is all about the evidence. This was just another piece of evidence. 

He then had to tell us of another experience that he had. (He told us it in more detail yesterday when we taught him about the restoration). Last week he stopped at a truck stop to use the restroom. Before he walked in he looked out his truck window and looked up in the sky and said, buddy do you have any time? I have been hearing from everyone that this stuff is true and I just want to hear it from you. He walked in and there was a big line and he had to use a stall. He had a very strong feeling that he had to use a certain stall and it was being used by someone who was taking some time, probably making it really stinky in there, but every time a stall would open up he would let someone go in front of him because of the feeling he had of using this particular stall. He must have let 2-3 people go in front of him before the stall that he wanted opened up, but it finally did and he walked in and sat down and started doing his stuff, he looked up at the stall and there was a scripture written on it. The scripture was in Matt. 21:32, he didn't have any scriptures on him and on Sunday, in the gospel principals class he asked Elder Darrow if he would look it up because he never had the chance. So Elder Darrow looked it up and that scripture says, For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him. Brother Melchin interpreted it for him and told him that the verse he saw was telling him that he needed to repent and be baptized. This was the biggest piece of evidence for him. Something else that was interesting was that Sister Mcload just happened to be buying something at the truck stop and he went up and talked to her. He thinks that she was there so that he knew that it wasn't just a dream that he had. And yesterday he told us that he went into that same stall that he used just the week before, that had the scripture written on it, and when he went in there the scripture was gone, it was like it had never been written on the stall. 

I really love to hear people's conversion stories, everyone's is different but all so personal and special. Everyone even the people that grow up in the church have some kind of a conversion story. This week has really blown me away to hear of Aaron's conversion story. Aaron is a great guy, very smart, very down to business, and doing things right, and I really love the guy. 

When we went to teach him about the restoration yesterday, we walked in and he said, guys I have quit my coffee, I stopped this morning and have substituted it with hot chocolate. I still have my smokes but have really been cutting down on them. I want to learn more about the Addiction Recovery Program and also want to know what the correct order of prayer is. Aaron is sweet I love it when people actually try to know the truth. As we were teaching him he said, guys I really think that the Book of Mormon is true and then he paused for a couple seconds and said in a very bold voice, no guys I KNOW that the Book of Mormon is true. We taught him how to pray yesterday and will be talking to him on Wednesday about the recovery program and maybe even a little about priesthood blessings and the strength that he can receive through receiving a priesthood blessing. 

I love this gospel and how through it people really can and do change. 

Something funny also happened Saturday night. I had to have been at least 90 percent asleep because I was there but not there at the same time. I got up in the night being really thirsty and what I usually do is just walk through the dark, get one, and then walk back and get into bed. So I got up and started walking towards the door and I ran into something. I thought wow this is weird I could have sworn that this walkway was clear, and so I started walking to the right and ran into another thing I thought to myself this is really weird why would someone have put a couch in the middle of the path to get to the door. I thought oh well I will just have to climb over it and everything will be all good. So I stepped up on it and was trying to stand up to walk over it but I couldn't find my balance but that wasn't going to stop me and so I just kept trying to get over this couch, and all of a sudden something hit my leg and something said what, and that's what woke me up completely because what was happening was that I was climbing on Elder Darrows bed at like 3 in the morning. And then I said what the heck, that confused Elder Darrow because I wasn't the one who should be saying that it was him. I was super embarrassed and said, sorry man I was half asleep I thought that I was crawling over a couch. It was so funny.

We had dinner with one of the members in our ward and after we always share a spiritual message. After the message I just felt I should ask him some questions about his life, he did seem a little down so I was asking him about going back to school as a teacher and just a bunch of random questions and it was kinda weird at first but after a few questions he told us about an ulcer that he had and how he was going to go back to get it checked out again. His wife then turned to him and asked him, "Hunny since the Elders are here they might as well give you a blessing." He was a little hesitant in getting one but he said, "Well it wont hurt to get one." and so he asked Elder Chen to anoint and Elder Darrow to give the blessing, which just so happened to be his first one! I held the white handbook for him. A few days later which happened to be Sunday he came up to us and said, "Guys the ulcer is gone." He wasn't even eating the foods that he was supposed to eat for it to feel better and it was gone. I have been seeing crazy things happen like this all the time and you know it just can't be coincidences time after time. There really are miracles just like there have been from the beginning of time. 

Well That was this week, I would have to say it has been the best week so far. I am really having a fun time out here. I hope that you all are doing well, I love you all! 

Love, Elder Allred 

August 22, 2017

Well this has been another great week! I feel that it all started with the Sergo Juice that we had on Tuesday. There are a few families from Haiti and one of them always has us over for dinner, and they make some good food. Sergo, the dad, always has his little mixture of juice for us and he calls it Sergo Juice it's so funny, but oh so good. It makes me think of the juice mixtures that Grandpa Allred always made back home, I can't quite remember exactly what he called it maybe kicka poy joey juice or something like that. 

On Wednesday we had a zone conference that lasted for 8 hours... To tell you the truth I like zone conference, I just wish that they weren't so long. I thought that my butt hurt going on road trips but that was nothing compared to this. It was good though there is always good things talked about during them. One of the main focuses during the zone conference is the question that we sometimes ask ourselves, what would Christ do? I feel that it is an important question for all of us as missionaries to be constantly asking ourselves because we are representatives of Him and His church. But are we not all missionaries and representatives of Him and His church? I really feel that as we ask ourselves, what would Christ do? that we will find that we will change to become more and more Christlike and less of the natural man which is in us. That night we were in our apartment at 9 and since we have a gym in our apartment's basement we have been working out in the morning and at night in the times that we are supposed to be in. We were heading down the elevator to work out at 9 and I was super pumped to go work out. I jumped a little and the elevator stopped in between a couple of floors and the door opened maybe a fourth of the way (I never thought that that would stop an elevator). I was like oh crap and I thought that we were going to get out fairly quickly that it was maybe jammed or something but no.. We called the people out of the elevator and they said that they would send someone right away and it wasn't until 2 hours later that we got out. I was so bumbed I will never do that again. I guess sometimes we just have to learn from our own mistakes. 

On Thursday we had lunch with one of the members in the ward who calls himself the White Puerto Rican Jew. He is really cool, and super funny, but is one of those guys that is like Donald Trump. Kind of the same personality I think. I asked him why he calls himself the White Puerto Rican Jew and he just says because people hate Puerto Ricans and people hate Jews and I am white so why not be both of them. He drives limos around for people and knows a ton of popular people because of that. He knows a guy that owns the WWE (something about wrestling) He's got all the hook ups. We also got to play some softball with the Elder's Quorum in the Tuscany ward. I got a few home runs off of it and Elder Darrow was like unstoppable he is so good. Just being with them we got 2 referrals.

On Friday we went to a garden service with a guy and lately Bob a non-member, has been inviting his friend to come and help us with it and he has been asking us a ton of questions so we are going to hopefully start teaching him soon. We also had dinner with the Somerfelts in Siksika's parents house and the branch president who was in my first area, President Somerfelt was there with his family so it was sure good to see them again. 

On Saturday nothing too much happened we knocked on a ton of doors off of the three lists but other then that nothing too exciting. 

On Sunday we had our 6+ hours of church which can get really draining... But it was really good at the same time. We had dinner with a guy from the Tuscany Ward who knew the Horrocks from Roosevelt, the one who has the big roping arena that I had been to. He had also been to my companion's home town which was really weird. We then had a lesson with Danica and taught her the word of wisdom, so she is pretty much done with all the lessons now and she will be getting baptized very soon, probably in the next couple of weeks or so. 

On Monday we had our district meeting, my companion and I snuck out for a few seconds to grab a couple pictures of the eclipse but nothing really showed up too much. It was noticeably darker out though. I will have to send some pictures of what it was like up here. 

Today we emailed a bit and then headed over to Fusion, a really expensive sushi and Asian food place which is alright. My favorite thing there is the spicy crap roll. But I'm not so much of a fan of that kind of food. 

Well that's pretty much it. The mission is going great, I am loving it! Have a good week love you all!

Love, Elder Allred 

August 15, 2017

Calgary West Zone

This week has been crazy we have been so much busier having to cover another ward, it is crazy.

The thing that bothers me the most being out here and it makes me really frustrated is when people say that they have anxiety and they can't do something. There is a guy in the ward that we just recently took over that loves us missionaries and takes us out to lunch every week and has us share a spiritual message with him. He tells us how much he is blessed and receives miracles when we come over and all this and has a pretty strong testimony about the church but he is inactive and I don't understand why. He says that he has an anxiety with crowds but he takes us to Costco for lunch and talks to everybody where there are tons of people. I am pretty sick and tired of this anxiety stuff, I feel that we all have our discomforts and we just have to figure out how to get past them. I feel that in a lot of situations this anxiety stuff shouldn't be an excuse but I don't know maybe I'm wrong. But I do know that because of the Atonement we can get past anything some people just don't get it or just don't want to get it and it's super sad. 

But to end on a positive note the work is going great and I feel that I have the best companion in the world right now. We have been riding our bikes a ton to street contact and burn calories but one of the bikes broke while we were riding in the rain and so we are going to have to try and find another one somewhere or call the mission office and see if they can get us one. 

Just lately which has been really cool in a couple of our dinner appointments I have had the opportunity of sharing a spiritual message with them. Not that we don't share something every time but these were pretty cool. I love when you have something that you are going to share with them and then flipping through the scriptures you think or turn to something that you feel you should share with them. And after sharing it with them they say thank you that was actually an answer to my prayer or I was actually praying this morning for an answer about that. It's pretty crazy how the spirit works, we can be asking for an answer and get it, or they can get their answer through us as we are in tune with the Spirit.

Yesterday we were tracting and this has been the most successful tracting experience that I have ever had. It was so cool we ended up knocking on maybe 10 doors and there was only 1 that said no, not interested, and closed the door. There were 3 that we had a really good conversation with and the others weren't home. The first guy that we talked to, his name is Ed, is 85 years old and has just recently lost his wife. At the beginning he wasn't interested but we got talking before he closed the door on us and broke the ice and I ended up giving him our number and a plan of salvation pamphlet which he was flipping through and reading while we were talking to him, it was pretty cool. He said that we could come back and teach him. 

The second person that we talked to was this guy that had his door open and it smelled like indian food. The man who came to the door was a short little pudgy guy, I asked him if he was making some food and he looked at me like what are you freakin talking about, so I said are you from India and he said, yes I am why do you want to know? Then I told him how much I liked Indian food we talked to him for at least 30 minutes, it was so funny. We were hoping that we were going to be able to teach him the lessons but he told us no, I already know about your religion and then he went on about how all religions have something good about them. And I think that I somewhat believe him that a lot of religions have some good about them but what I like about this church is that we have the fullness of the gospel. The people may not always be the best, but Christ's gospel is. 

The third person was a lady from South America, and it was Elder Darrow's turn to knock and he gave the whole shpeel about how we are missionaries and how we do free service and all and she said that she wasn't interested and as she was closing the door I said, boy you have some nice plants growing out here in the front of your house. And she opened up the door and then had to show us her whole yard, the front and the back, it was pretty impressive, it made me think of what mom will be like when we are all moved out and the missionaries stop by haha. She also cuts hair so we are going to go over there to get our haircuts and talk to her and see what happens.

Well I sure do love you guys and I am having a blast out here with my new companion Elder Darrow. I hope that you all have a good week, and I look forward to the time that I can see you all again. Keep up all the good work!

Love, Elder Allred 

August 8, 2017 Training Elder Darrow

This week has been pretty crazy! I haven't had so many ties to home ever and I never thought that I would have as many as what I just had this week. It all started when I walked in the chapel by the mission home to pick up the guy that I was training and saw Sister Hawkins there. We were able to talk a little after the meeting and get a picture. She ended up going South somewhere but I am hoping that I will be able to serve around her sometime. I hadn't seen her forever. My new companion is Elder Darrow, and he is from Alaska, who lived maybe 30 min. from the Hawkins which was pretty nuts. He played baseball at a junior college down in Arizona for a year before he came out here. I told him where I was from and he said no way do you know Bailey Johnson, just so happens to be his girlfriend, and I said I think so, I never talked to her but I remember seeing her at school. She was really good friends with Rachel Miles. He also went to one of my friend's wedding. I am so glad that I got the companion that I have now, I was really worried that I was going to get someone that I was going to have a hard time getting along with but we are having a blast together. I really think that this may be the best transfer. 

This week has been super busy sending home Elder Bunch and picking up Elder Darrow. Picking up the new ward has also been pretty crazy, just trying to know everyone and everything. We meet so many people it's so hard to remember names. The work is going good we have had appointments after appointments. Lately we have been helping this Korean couple and we have only had the chance to share a spiritual message with him. He has been super busy with work and making his man cave, but he said that he was going to have us over for dinner after we get the flooring put in which won't take long at all and then we will start teaching him the lessons. Our other investigators have been gone for the long weekend and wont be back till this week. 

It is finally starting to cool off just a little bit it has been so hot. I have a few pictures that I want to send home but I need to get a SD card reader pretty funny that I still haven't gotten one and I have been out for a little over a year. So I will hopefully get it and send you some pictures a little later today. I love you all and hope you all have a great week!

Love, Elder Allred

Sister/Cousin Jenny Hawkins

Elder Darrow

Elder Bunch