January 30, 2017

Dinner with Wayne Burton and his family.  His wife is Chinese and made us an authentic Chinese dinner.

My week has been really good. The Fox family that we have been working with have continued to progress, they have made it to 100% of the sacrament meetings and are going to classes as well now. Finola is on date to be baptized and they have met with the bishop twice now and hopefully they can get married by the time we have her baptism set on March 25, but I am sure that they will, they are so solid. 

That night we also had dinner with a family in the ward, they fed us poutine and wings, it was good. We had a good visit with them and had some laughs. I found a scripture that I had read that morning that I felt would be good for them before we went in. I shared it and we were talking about it. We were on exchanges so Elder Cox (my grandpa in the mission)was with me in my area and he asked a good inspired question that went right along with the scripture. It made them think back on their lives and they were tearing up, and I could tell that the spirit was really strong. I know that I read that scripture that morning so that it could be given to them that night. It is really neat to see people and how strong their testimonies are. 

Yesterday at church, I was afraid that I was going to get called up to speak because there was a possibility of the speakers getting done early. There were two sisters that were giving their farewell talks, one spoke for maybe 10 min. which left 25 min for the other one. I was getting nervous so I thought that I better think of something quick. I had my thoughts turn to when I was in the MTC and all the missionaries had what they call the "green fire". We are all really excited to just get out there and find people and we think that we are going to have baptisms like crazy and then when we get out in the field and we find out that it is a lot slower then what we expected. And because of this it is hard to hold onto that "greeny fire" and want to work our guts out. I likened that to when we were in heaven before we came to this earth, I am sure that we had a kind of greeny fire, that we were going to come down here to earth, and we thought that we would know exactly what we needed and had to do in order to get back. But when we get here to earth we might find that it is a lot harder then what we thought. So just like we need to hold onto that greeny fire here in the mission even though there are going to be rough times we need to hold onto what we need to, in order to make it back, and also what we need to do in order to keep that greeny fire. Then I was just going to talk about how we need to have our testimonies strong and live the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was prepared but thank goodness that last sister talked for 25 min. 

Well sorry I have to go but I hope that you all have a good week, I sure miss you all! 

Love, your son and big bro 

January 23, 2017

My ankle is doing a whole lot better, it has been 5 weeks tomorrow since I sprained it. It is still a little swollen but I can really see the progress from week to week. I have been doing lots of exercises to get it back into shape and so that it will gain back the muscle that was torn. 

This week has been a busy one, we had zone conference again that took up a ton of the day. We were with President and sister Miles since 9 in the morning to 3:30 in the afternoon. Talk about hard to not fall asleep and try to pay attention. I learned a whole lot and took a ton of notes. 

So last week was really busy, I don't know if you remember me talking about Finola, who we picked up as an investigator. The dad is a less active and has had a drinking problem. His girlfriend is a non member. She is so solid, we taught the first lesson with our President and it went really well. Since then we have gone through the first 3 lessons and read chapter 3 out of the Book Of Mormon. She has read the intro and the witnesses up to chapter 3. They have gone to church 2 times now and I am sure that they are going to be getting married soon so that she can get baptized. They have had both of their cars impounded and when they went to church and as they have been reading the book of Mormon they have some how been able to get one of their cars out. It is crazy how we are blessed as we do what is right, and it is even more crazy when they can see that they are being blessed and how they tell us about it. I really believe that this is one of the greatest joys while serving a mission when you can see them, and not only see them but see them some time in the future being sealed as a family. They tell us that every time that we go to their house they can feel something different and they feel good, it is awesome. We got Levon going to church ball and he is getting to know the ward. They went to just sacrament last week and this week they went to both sacrament and classes. We went with him around from class to class, and it was cool to see that he was participating and giving good answers it was nuts. I am really getting close to these guys and can't wait to visit with them again. Well this is just a little of what has happened this week. 

Love your son, Elder Allred   

Chinook in the sunset

Elder Dolinar from Pleasant Grove Utah

January 16, 2017

This has been a very crazy week. It all started with President Miles coming on visits with us Wednesday night. We couldn't find any new investigators like he wanted us to until the night before he came with us. We got a referral from one of the zone leaders in Cardston and we went and visited them that night. The family we could tell was solid. The dad was around 25 years old and he was a less active who has gotten into drinking and he just wants to change his life for his son. His girlfriend is a non-member, and so solid. So we had a good visit with them, found out that the dad was related to someone that I knew from Siksika, and we scheduled them for the next night with President Miles. The lesson went really well and she asked a whole lot of good questions. We met with them again just a couple of days later on Friday and we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and then committed her to baptism and she said that she would get baptized! I am so excited now all that needs to happen is for her to get married. They had just recently gotten their car taken away so we got one of the members in the ward to get them a ride to church. It was great, one of our ward mission leaders stood up in priesthood and bragged us up on how we were some exceptional missionaries. I think that this place is going to boom, the member's trust I can tell is really kicking in. My companion and I also got to speak at two baptisms from a couple of the sister's in the district, it was pretty intense but ended up being really good. There were investigator's there and we were told that they really liked it. 

Lethbridge Zone

I met a girl who was named Kiara spelled the same way too. She is a little girl Arika's age. They invited us over because she was waking up with bad dreams and they wanted us to bless the house but we didn't really know about how to do that so we gave them blessings and told them that we would have the Bishop come over and see what he thinks should be done. It was pretty cool, I could feel the spirit pretty strong. They gave us some dessert that was pretty good that his wife made. I got down to the last bite and got a, maybe a fourth of an egg shell in my mouth. I couldn't really figure out what it was for the longest time. I just kept crunching and crunching. I finally decided to see what it was so I pulled out a piece of it and found out what it was. Then I spent the rest of the time that I was there just pulling them out when they weren't looking. So I would have to say that was the funny part of my week.

There have been some harder things that have been going on because of this place booming. I can tell that the adversary is out there and he has been doing everything he can to slow us down. This week I have been healing from an ankle injury, I've had a cold, we have gotten a parking ticket for parking in a back ally that nobody has ever gotten a parking ticket in. And just some other little things. 

But my ankle is feeling a ton better and I am very excited for this next week, sorry I would email more but I have run out of time. I love you all and hope that you all have a good week. -Elder Allred

January 9, 2017 Lethbridge, Elder Dolinar

I AM STILL ALIVE!! no blood clots I am sure haha

I am really liking Lethbridge. I got a stinkin cold just a couple of days ago, so I am trying to get better from that. It has been snowing off and on for the past few days that I have been here. I hate being in a town that consists of 89,074 people when I am used to only having 12,305 in Strathmore. I am trying my hardest to get down the grid system. They go by streets and avenues, really confusing. My new companion is Elder Dolinar, and so far I am really liking him. I think that he just might be my favorite companion so far on the mission. He is willing to work hard and to be obedient. I really think that because of that we are going to accomplish a whole lot more in this area. 

This morning we saw an old lady scraping her sidewalk (come to find out she is 89 years old), because it had snowed last night. I asked Elder Dolinar if we should go and help her, and he said, "You choose" and so I said, "Yeah I think that we better," and so we turned around and parked on the side of the road. I hopped out and asked her if she needed any help. She then said, "You are stopping to help me scrape my sidewalk?" And then I said, "Yes, I saw you shoveling and couldn't pass you by without helping you." She then said, "I am sorry but I don't have any money to pay you for this", and I said, "Don't worry I will just do it for you, I don't need any money." So she handed me the shovel and I started scraping. It was about -20 C but there wasn't any wind so it didn't feel cold which was good. She was talking to us as we scraped her driveway and told us "I can't believe that you are doing this. I have never had anyone do a thing like this for me." It was pretty cool. She asked if my companion was my husband, that was pretty funny. We then talked to her a little bit about our church and how we were missionaries. It was too bad that she wasn't interested, but I know that we planted a seed and when it snows again we are going to go and shovel her sidewalk again and hopefully by then she will want to here about the gospel. 

My ankle is doing a whole lot better, my shin is not leaving big old holes anymore when I push on it. I am walking on it and it doesn't hurt and I can jog on it and it doesn't hurt. I am planning on not jogging though for at least another week or two just so that it can completely heal. It is still a little swollen around the ankle but it is looking and feeling a ton better then what it was last week.

President Miles called us and told us that he was wanting to go with us to our lessons Wednesday night and so that is going to be pretty exciting. I don't know the area at all, and Elder Dolinar has been here for only one transfer, and couldn't work that much because his companion was about to go home and was all trunked out. So it is almost like we have purged a new area, and it is pretty hard. President Miles wants us to find some new investigators to teach with him, and we are trying and I hope that we can get some stuff scheduled for that night. I will have to let you know how it goes. He randomly goes on visits with missionaries and I have been hoping that this day would never come haha but I guess that it has. 

We cover two wards, and the one Bishop we live with. I don't know if I am going to like him, he is a mister know it all and I get the feeling that he could care less about us. He is about 28 years old maybe, and he loves the pile missionaries. But the other Bishop I think I might like more. One of the Ward Mission Leaders is way cool though. He is all about missionary work and is going to do anything in order to make things happen. I am really going to like him. Well that is a little bit about my week, I hope that you all had a good week and I will look forward to hearing from you all. Love you guys -Elder Allred 

January 2, 2017

Hello mom, I know that you are worried about my ankle so I went and saw Dr. Payne the doctor in our ward and he said that it is really looking good and that it has made some great improvements since the last time that I saw him. He said that the swelling has gone down a ton and that I shouldn't be worried about the blood clots. He was also pretty surprised that I was walking on it and it didn't hurt that was a good sign. He also said that I was wrapping it too tight, but other then that he was afraid that it was going to heal up real good. So please don't stress, it is harmful to the body, and makes you age faster haha. I will keep you updated as much as I can though, love you lots and hope that you have a great week! Tell the family that I love them all, and miss them a ton! 

Love your son {soon to be ballin hard again (in hopefully 3-4 weeks in order to not re-injure it)}  -Elder Allred 

I also forgot to tell you that Dr. Payne said the swelling above my ankle is normal and that it will go away. 

January 4, 2017
I am still walking on it and it is doing better still. I am getting transferred to Lethbridge tomorrow, so I will probably email you on Monday have a good week
Love, Elder Allred

January 2, 2017

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 

Sister Lemay gave me an ankle brace so when I get back to playing ball I can use it. My ankle is still a bit swollen after 3 weeks, but the pain has gone down a ton. What is a little disturbing is that the swelling has moved up into my calf and my shin. When I push on it on my shin it leaves a hole in my leg. I have been told to elevate it to get rid of it, but any other ideas to get it to go away? I am starting to walk on it slowly and I believe in about a week I will be able to get rid of my crutches for good. I really am beginning to hate them.  Thank you so much for the pictures it looks like you have been having a ton of fun! 

Sorry, I just this morning sent off the letter to you and the Mansfield's but I am sending it in the airmail so hopefully it will send to you guys a little faster then what it usually does. I also am just about finished putting a box together to send home to you guys. 

I believe that I am going to be getting transferred because Elder Fisher has gotten a training call, so I am pretty sure that I will be moving on which is sad I really like Strathmore, but I am sure that I will have fun in my areas to come. 

I was at the branch yesterday in Siksika and one of the families that was at the branch had a ton of their family over for New Years. One of the families that was there visiting had a little girl that didn't have enough room to sit with her family and there was one seat next to me because Elder Fisher was up helping bless the sacrament, and so I had her sit by me. It was pretty cool because It made me think of sitting with one of my sisters back home. Her mom came up to me after the sacrament was over and told me of these arnica pills that dissolve under your tongue that will help my ankle heal a lot faster. It isn't that much so I am going to get some and see if it works. Love ya -Elder Allred 

December 26, 2016

I was playing basketball last week and jumped up to get a rebound.  When I came down I landed on the Bishop's foot and rolled my ankle.  I went to the doctor.  Nothing is broken it is just sprained really bad.  I am supposed to stay off of it for six weeks.  I have to use crutches all of the time.  The first thing we do when we get home is soak my foot in a bucket of ice water.  Elder Fisher has been very supportive, he has helped me out a lot and has done most of the work around our apartment.  I am very grateful to have him.  Right after my injury happened the Bishop gave me a blessing and told me that my foot would heal and go back to normal and that I would be able to play basketball again.  So I know everything will be all right, don't worry.

I am so glad that I got to face time you off of face book, I miss you all so much and was amazed at how you all are the same people, even Arika even though she has started talking all of a sudden. It is weird to not be able to talk to you for 6 months at a time. But it was nice, I wish that I could do it more often.

We are going to have a big party with the zone today.
Love, Trevor

December 19, 2016

My week was pretty good. We got to meet with Josh, the crazy guy, and also Sondra. We picked up a new investigator named Yovon Shaw. She really wants to be baptised but her husband is an Atheist. It is too bad but I have heard that he is a really nice guy. Yovon knows everything, she has been going to church for a while now. All that she wants right now is to make sure that her kids keep getting their testimony's stronger. We had a lesson with her and she is going to start having family home evening with her kids and hopefully that will touch the husband and he will realize that there really is a God and that our church is true. 

Last night we got to have dinner with Sister Lemay, she cooked us up a huge Christmas dinner, and her daughter was there and she gave us each a tie. She also brought with her a few presents that you and the Angus Family sent for her to give to me. What a surprise! I had quite the experience at her house while I was there. Her husband I believe has passed on so her husband's sister was there. She has got to be like 400 pounds no joke, and I am not trying to be rude. Sister Lemay isn't that big but she is also a little larger. We all got seated around the table and had just said the prayer and I heard a little noise and looked up at Sister Lamay. The chair that she was on was starting to collapse! The one leg broke and then the other. It looked like it was happening slowly but it really went fast. Thank goodness she wasn't hurt. She got up and said, "that stupid chair." I was trying so hard not to laugh, and you all know me, when I get laughing at something I just can't stop. But I managed not to laugh, but my lips were sure twitching, from me holding it in. Elder Fisher said that it wasn't noticeable. Wow it was so hard holding that in. And then I went the rest of the dinner wondering if her bigger sister-in-law was going to have the same problem. If she did I have no idea if I would have been able to hold it in. I am glad that she invited us over though she is such a sweet lady, I am definitely going to have to remember her so when I come back to visit the mission I can visit her. 

Calgary West, North and Confederation Park Zones

Just a little something that I thought was cool was that I lost my wallet the other day and didn't know where it was. I looked everywhere and I had to have it because it had my money, temple recommend, and all of those other cards that would be horrible if lost. I spent maybe 20 minutes looking for it and couldn't find it. I finally decided to pray to ask to know where to look that it might be. Right after I had said the prayer I knew exactly where it was. I am very thankful for all of the little miracles, and seeing just some of how much God really does care about us. 

Well I hope that you are having a good day, and I miss you all a ton! Love Elder Allred