March 27, 2017

Last time I was going to tell you a bit about one of our investigators that we have just recently picked up a few weeks ago. I will just fill you in on all that I can so that you all aren't confused. Kealee is a Chinese lady that came over to Canada from China about 4 years ago for schooling. Her boyfriend, Rob Broadhead served a mission a while ago and got home and fell away pretty hard. He has been inactive for about 8 years and when he had a little baby girl it really humbled him, and made him want to change so that his daughter can look up to him. He has just stopped smoking weed and drinking about 2 1/2 weeks ago and we have been running with him every other day early in the morning. He really knows a lot, and has wanted us to teach Kealee, but wanted us to take things really slow because he didn't know how ready she was. Before we had our first lesson we gave Kealee the pamphlet so that she could read it over. We got to her house to teach her the first lesson and found out that she had read the whole pamphlet, which is crazy because I haven't even heard of someone actually doing that. It was kind of funny because right when we were about to start she had to get a notebook and pen so that she could take notes, I don't know what they do to people in China, but they study hard. We taught her the restoration and she had a TON of questions that we answered, we were there for I think at least 2 1/2 hours. Since she had been coming to church we thought that we would give her a Gospel Principles Book and teachings of some of our prophets. We also gave her the Plan of Salvation pamphlet so that she could read that. It was crazy how ready she was to be taught. We got out of the appointment a little late because of it. It was around 10 at night when we were walking out to the car, we had to cross the street, and when we were crossing it we heard a scream that sounded like someone was gonna die right while I was calling the Zl's back because we missed there call during the appointment. They answered and right when they did there was another really loud scream coming from one of the houses. I said Elder Cox did you hear that? And he said yes I did what going on? I figured we were fine so I told him jokingly that I think we are going to die it was pretty funny until we saw a lady jump off of her balcony and started walking towards us.. I had no idea what to think then. She probably got 20-30 feet from her house when a dude ran around the house and knelt down on his knees and she just started punching him and he was taking it. We were in the car by this time, and just watching what was going on. After a few hits to the face he got up tried to give her a hug and then he ran off and she went inside. That was really weird, probably about the weirdest thing I have seen so far. But we got back safe which was good. 

After a few days had passed we went to Kealee's house for the second lesson. She had also read the Plan of Salvation pamphlet, as well as what is her favorite one gospel principles, and a little bit out of the Book of Mormon. Since she had read it we asked her what she had learned and she practically taught us the lesson, she skipped the spirit world but other then that she knew it all. From her being from China she has had high expectations from us as teachers, she thinks that we know it all. It is really funny when she tells Rob to be quiet so that we can teach her. As we were teaching her the Plan she kept on saying wow this is so powerful, this is unbelievable, and so on. She started asking about the spirit world and how there are both good and bad spirits that are around us. Rob told us that people from China are a very superstitious people. So we briefly skimmed over that and told her that as she does the things that she is supposed to that she will be protected and she will be safe. She really liked the lesson, and we told her that we haven't taught anyone that has been so interested and wanting to know about Christ's Church. After we said that she is wanting us to get her a certificate for her so that she can put it on the wall telling that she was the best student. And she said it has to be stamped. We got the idea of making one, one of our members has some really fancy printers that are worth probably close to $80,000 for all of it. We will have him make it. Before we left we gave her the third lesson which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

So after a few days we met with her again. She had still not failed at reading the pamphlet. She read the whole thing again before we got there. We talked a whole lot about faith and repentance which took up the whole time, so we are going to have to finish that lesson on the next setting. Right before we left we found out that they were going to be getting married by the bishop on Sunday the 26 and wanted us to be there and be witnesses. We were so surprised. So Yesterday they were married and are currently not living in sin anymore haha. Right now they haven't missed a day at church since they have been coming back. We are hoping that she can get baptized soon, and she wants her husband to do it for her, but we were talking to the bishop and the bishop says that he will have to interview him, and that he may not be worthy so that stinks. But if not one of us will do it and then in a year he will be worthy and they can get sealed in the temple. 

Finola missed last week at church because of sick kids but she made it yesterday and Lee and her are coming back together and I bet that they get married soon. They are also feeding us today, they are going to make indian tacos. I am so pumped for that. We also picked up 3 new investigators this week, everything seems to be going well. I love you all! 

Love, Elder Allred

This is what our Ward Mission Leader can do just by making dots. He is Wayne Burton's father-in-law. 

March 20, 2017

This week has been another great week. 

We had a lesson with Lee and Finola, that went really well except for we didn't get to pick up her two daughters as investigators because they went with there Grandma that day so I am sure the next lesson we have with them we will pick them up. Since they weren't there we decided to talk about any questions that she might have and then read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon because she had been slacking since Lee had been gone for a little while. That went really well, I just hope that she can get more into the Book of Mormon then what she already is. 

We had a call from an older woman who had a daughter that she had adopted. She was a less active and the daughter had been coming to church for a while. The eight year old daughter named Isabella was going to turn 9 on there date to be baptized so we were supposed to go through the lessons with her but the mom said that the missionaries before us had gone through the lessons already. So we had our zone leaders interview her since Elder Dolinar is the District leader. She passed but our zone leader who interviewed her said that she didn't know too much. We are going to go through the lessons with her again for the new member lessons and make sure that she knows everything. We talked to President Miles about this and he gave us the go. She was baptized on Saturday and its kinda funny because she counted as a new investigator and a baptism. Pres. Miles said, "Elders those are the ones you pray for." There were 2 baptisms that day and we got Finola to one of them and then Kealee to the other one. Never had that happen before so that was pretty neat. 

We were supposed to have a lesson with Kealee today but it got pre-poned, kinda like how lessons get post-poned, but this lesson happened earlier because she is so happy and excited to be taught we moved it and taught her yesterday. We had taught her the first lesson the restoration and she really liked it. She is from China and I think that over there they take everything a whole lot more serious then what we do. We have given her two Book of Mormon, one in mandarine and the other in english. We have also given her a gospel principles book, the restoration pamphlet and the plan of salvation pamphlet. Sorry I am rushed for time but I will tell you what happened and has been happening next time. 

Kealee's boyfriend Rob who served a mission and then fell away was smoking weed and drinking just a couple months ago, and has stopped because of his little baby girl. We went on a run with him this morning through the coolees. We woke up at 6 and ran till 8 up and down hills to a river and back it was pretty fun. He is a good guy I really like the gospel and how we can change and become better no matter what we have done. And it is all through the Atonement. Sorry I have to go but I will tell you more next week. Have fun Love you all 

Love, Elder Allred 

March 13, 2017

This week has been pretty great. To start it off we had dinner with Rob Browdhead and his girlfriend which went very well. She is a non-member that we have been trying to get into, and she had a ton of questions for us and what we do as missionaries, I can tell that she is going to be super solid. We are actually going to be teaching her the first discussion tonight. I am very excited. We gave her a Manderine Book Of Mormon on Sunday and she had already started reading it! We asked her how she has liked it so far, and she said that it is really good, she really likes it. She is from China and came over here when she was a little girl. I believe that the rest of her family is in China but not totally sure on that one. In China I guess that they are all raised up not knowing anything about Jesus Christ. She is taking it really well, I can tell that she can feel something different, that is good. 

We also had an appointment with the Lee and Finola, for some reason Lee has been sticking around for a few days, he said that he was just visiting their little boy but I am hoping that they are getting back together. We taught them about missionary work and service in the church. I haven't gotten to those lessons too much in the mission but we taught it very well probably one of the best lessons so far. I really think that it is a great lesson when the investigator is speaking as much or even more during the lesson. When we were talking about missionary work she brought up a friend that has gone less active that was trying to get her to come to church a while ago and also her sister that is 17. I bet we will start teaching and getting in with these people. I have really gotten to have a really good friendship with these guys.

On Friday we had a dinner with a part member family. The mom and the daughter are members and have been going to church very regularly, but the dad for some reason isn't a member. We started talking about college basketball and about how all the teams were doing. Then we started talking about RC Helicopters and planes, he is pretty big into them. We talked for a long time, and then it got shifted to family history, and I found out that I was related to his wife through Redick Allred. We had a great time. The cool thing was that it was our stake conference this Sunday, and I am not sure if he came to that but he did go to the adult session and he came up and said hi to us and shook our hands. Kinda crazy but pretty amazing at the same time. It will be interesting to know what happens. 

We also got to meet with a family that same night. But we first met with them a couple nights before. They are the Quinonoez Family, when we showed up the first time it was pretty awkward. He is from Mexico but has pretty good english. You could tell he didn't want us there and was trying to make it as awkward as possible. But we got a return appointment for Friday night, we talked with them for a good 2 hours. It was nuts, but now I can tell that they are comfortable with us and we asked them if they would want to got through the lessons again with us, and they said yes. So we will be picking the Dad and his daughter, and also his son up as new investigators in a couple of weeks. 

For the past little while I have been with Elder Dolinar I have been sleep talking quite a bit. A couple of nights ago I was asleep and Elder Dolinar was getting into bed and turned off the lights and I said what the fetch just happened?(in a mad/confused voice) Elder Dolinar was thinking to himself and was like I was climbing up into my bed what's wrong with that? Then I said the lights! He said I turned them off, and I said a delayed oh.. He asked me if I was awake and I said yeah, then he said I am going to ask you about this in the morning to see if you remember, and I said okay. Some of the things that I have been saying are pretty funny, but I think is the first time that I have had a conversation with him. 

This is just a little of what has been happening this week, I am very excited for the week to come. Love you all Keep working hard.

Love, Elder Trevor Allred 

Hey sorry that I didn't update you on my ankle. I know that you are probably worrying about it. To tell you the truth it is doing just fine, I am pretty much all back to normal. I just need to get the muscle built up as much as possible around it so that it is just as strong if not stronger then what it was before. Thank you for praying for me, I know that prayer has helped me and my injury out a whole lot. I like grandpa's advice that he gave me, to seek ye first the kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you. I know that this is true and I am trying as best I can to seek the kingdom of God and do what he would have me do, and I know that he will bless me for it. I hope that you all have a great week and I look forward to emailing you guys next week. Keep up the good work! 

Love, Your son Elder Allred  

March 6, 2017

My ankle is doing pretty good, still a little bigger then my right ankle, but it is doing great. I am making sure that when I play with the zone that I put my ankle brace on that the Lemay's gave me. 

This week has been pretty awesome! To start it out Lee and Finola I think I told you separated because Lee went out drinking after he had been doing so good. Finola is still going 100% of the time to church and really wants to get baptized, the only problem is that Lee and her still have a little chance of getting back together, and if she was baptized then they would have to get married if they were to get baptized and so we are going to be putting that off for a little bit longer to see what they can work out. We found out that Finola has a few kids from a previous relationship, there are two daughters, one is 10 so we will be picking her up as a new investigator, and the other one is 7 so we will teach her too so that when she is 8 she will already know what she is getting into. 

On Saturday we got to go vaccinate cows! Elder Cox who is one of my zone leaders knew this guy that he had done cows with before. He is a non-member that I think is going to start getting the lessons soon. His wife is a less active but has been starting to come to church. Wow was it weird to be in the corral with cows after 8 months, and be pushing them up the shoot. I have never had so much fun doing cows. It is kind of like how sometimes on this earth we experience some hard times and some trials that we might not want to go through, after we have been having it so easy, and it isn't until we go through them that w

Yesterday at the first ward, Park Meadows one of our investigators, the one that cut my hair came up to me and Dolinar after sacrament and started tearing up as she talked to us and she said guys I am really thinking that I want to be baptized. I knew that she had wanted to but she has had a couple of hold ups. Her dad is very anti and will most likely disown her if she does. Her sister is LDS and is very strong in the church but has gotten disowned a few times which is really sad. Her husband is a non-member and is telling her that he is going to start to go to church so hopefully he will have his heart softened and we will be able to start teaching him too. She is such a sweat lady, I have really gotten to love her and Finola because of the drive that they have in learning more and wanting to be faithful and follow the Savior. They have really been an example to me, because I know that I can always try harder to do what is right, and to become more Christlike. 

In the Second Ward Dolinar and I were asked to help pass the sacrament, we have done it quite a few times because of the lack of youth in the ward, but this time was pretty crazy. We were passing the bread around and I saw one of the counselors just looking at the crowd and he had a pretty bad black eye form playing squash, so I was just kinda giggling on the inside and then when I looked around I saw Brother Oler who had just recently shaved off his mountain man beard and just has a little go tee right now.. but the funny part about it was that he has the biggest baby face if you know what I mean, and it is just hilarious to look at. After that I knew that I was going to start laughing if I didn't look away and so I looked a few rows behind him and there was this dude that was staring me down that had the worst sunburned face that I think that I had ever seen, It looked like his face was literally on fire. I didn't know what to do so I just looked at the floor and thought about the atonement, and that was the only way I could keep myself from laughing, thank goodness I didn't.  

Well this is just a little bit of what has been going on here this past week, I hope you all have a good week and I love you all!! 

Love, Elder Allred

February 27, 2017

This week has been a bit crazy, it all started on Tuesday when we got a call from the mission office, and they told us that this person named Tammy Kroetsch from Cardston needed a blessing and so we headed for the hospital and when we were going in we found one of the people that we ran into last week when we went to the hospital who wanted us to teach him. He had his name removed and is wanting to come back. So we scheduled an appointment with him for the next day and then had a guy named Tim Hamilton, who we have been reading the BOM with take us up to the place that we could find this Tammy. When we got up there we found out that she had overdosed, we didn't know if she did it on purpose or not but she wanted a blessing. I didn't have my oil, but Elder Dolinar did and when he opened it he found that it had somehow leaked. Tammy's husband who had just been baptized and didn't have the priesthood, for some reason had a bottle of oil. He said that the missionaries gave it to him. So we delivered the blessing and then called the Cardston Elders, one of them being Elder Wilgar the one that I played ball with a ton in my last area, and told him how it went. It was pretty funny because Wilgar told us that Tammys husband asked for it, and said that he really needed it, he didn't know why but he felt very strongly that he would need it, and it was before she overdosed. That was so cool to me when he told us about that, just one of these little miracles that are so cool when you witness them. I know that he was inspired and that he acted on the prompting that he had, something that I am sure that we could do better. A lot of times we feel the prompting but a lot of the time we don't act on it. 
So on Wednesday we scheduled an appointment with one of the members in the ward who had been a convert. He just happened to have one of his non-member friends there and so we talked with them for a while and shared a couple of scriptures, and asked if she would let us "practice" the lessons on her and she said yes so hopefully in the near future we will be able to start teaching her. She is from another church but she is pretty open so that is good. We met with the guy at the hospital and gave him a BOM and scheduled another appointment with him. We also met with Finola, and Levon wasn't there and she said guys sorry but I have some bad news Levon went out drinking again. Levon is a less active who hadn't drunk since we started teaching them. She was really sad, and she said that no matter what happens between her and Lee she will keep coming to church and continue with the lessons. She said that if it wasn't that she was so far in this she would tell us to not come back. My mind was blown. Because if I was in that situation I would not even want to see anyone. I can tell that her testimony in this gospel is very strong and it is a miracle just because of how solid she is. I weighed myself at a member's house at dinner that night and found that I weight 199.8 So I haven't broken that 200 yet but pretty close now haha. 
Thursday was pretty cool as well. We met with Rob Broadhead who served a mission and then fell away and found a Chinese and has a little girl now and is coming back. His girlfriend is a non-member and we are going to start teaching her and I bet that she is going to be solid. Later that day we had dinner with an older family and got talking about how they used to have missionaries stay with them in their house. I then remembered that Eric Domgard had served in my mission and asked them if they knew him and they didn't think so but they had some pictures of some of the missionaries. So I looked through them and found a few pictures of him! I couldn't believe it.

February 20, 2017

I don't know if I mentioned it but, I had to eat African food last week, it was crazy they were eating it with their hands, they would scoop it up with bread. The Mom's name was Margret and she came from Africa a few years ago and has been baptized for a little over a year. They made this pot of meat that had cinnamon sticks in it and it had the strongest smell ever. It didn't seem that it should have been edible, but once it was in my mouth it was all right. My Companion, Elder Dolinar was sure having a hard time getting it down, I am sure that the family couldn't tell but I could. I was laughing on the inside, which is pretty bad haha. We also met with them a few days ago and their daughter who is around 27 years old was showing us pictures of what they wore in Africa on google and when we looked it was just a bunch of nudes. One of our Bishops was there and you should have seen his face it was so funny. Me and my companion were just laughing the whole time. We hope to start teaching her the discussions and picking her up as a new investigator soon. 

The members really like me and Elder Dolinar. We have been getting so much food from them, I have only spent 90 dollars this month on food, so that means that I have saved 110. I love serving in the south, tons more LDS people and a whole lot more investigators as well. Sorry again that I haven't send those pictures for so long... I will do better with that. Always remember that I love ya and love hearing about you. Don't worry too much about me I know that I will be safe. I have been learning a lot on faith these past few weeks. The more that I have studied it the more I realize how much we need to feed it by acting. There is a great video on Lds.org about the people carrying the ark of the covenant and the lord promised them that they would walk over on dry ground but when they got there they realized the the river was still full of water, and it wasn't until they acted and got there feet wet that the river parted. I think that this is a great example of faith and what faith is. Well I have to go. I hope and pray that you all get feeling better. Miss ya tons. 

-Love, Elder Allred 

February 13, 2017

This week has been great! I have had quite a bit of fun. A few of our lessons with investigators canceled, which was too bad but other then that it has been pretty good. We had to give talks yesterday in the Legacy Ward. We had the ward mission leader, Brother Bender talk first and then a lady that just recently had been called as a ward missionary. She took a long time so Elder Dolinar and I had to cut our 10 minute talks down to 5 minutes. It was pretty scary but it is all good now. I really still get scared being in front of that pulpit, but I think that I am getting better at it. I got a hair cut from one of our investigators this morning. My hair I swear was about as long as it has ever been. In Strathmore It was getting long and so when we were on exchanges for that last time I was there Elder Sondrup, the one that I was with cut my hair. It was pretty funny because I was his first victim. He somewhat balded me in the back. We just had him go around the sides and not mess with the top. He cut a spot a little short and then tried to blend it in with it's surroundings, which resulted in a bigger bald spot. I will send you some pictures of it. 

February 6, 2017

This week has been one of the best weeks on my mission so far, so many good things have happened it is crazy. It is hard to sometimes stay focused on what is really important and that is what I am doing right now. I have really been worried about keeping my basketball skills and not getting fat (199 pounds now), and it has been hard since I have had a rolled ankle and I couldn't do anything for 6 weeks, I am glad that it is healed now. Grandpa Allred sent me a letter a while ago and it gave me some motivation. He shared a scripture, I can't remember what it was but it said something along the lines of seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added unto you. It really made me focus more on my mission, knowing that as I do that everything else will be taken care of. So I prayed, telling God that I was here for him and that I am turning myself over to him, and I would do anything that he wants me to do. The lessons that we have been teaching have been going a whole lot more smooth and I can tell that the spirit is with us more. We picked up a young family on Wednesday, so two investigators. We taught them the Restoration and then yesterday we read two chapters out of the Book of Mormon. They aren't supper solid but I think that they very well could be. 

Saturday was pretty slow for us, we didn't have very much planned, so we contacted some of the referrals that we have been getting. We have gotten almost 20 referrals of people, it's crazy. I really think that the members down here really like us. But anyway, we stopped by some of them and we had about an hour before we had to run by the Family History Center and before we had to be in our house. So Elder Dolinar suggested that we stop by one of the new move-ins, and I agreed. He asked me to say a prayer to know which one we should stop by, there were about 5 of them. So I prayed and I asked Heavenly Father to know which of these names we should got visit and to show us which one would need us to visit them most. After I had said the prayer I looked at the names and immediately the name Rose popped out, It looked bigger then the other names to me for a split second, and the other names looked blurry. I didn't know what what going on but I told Elder Dolinar that we needed to stop by Rose. So we headed over there and rang her doorbell. (there were three women in the house, there was the mom who was in her 80's and then her two daughters. Rose was the older daughter.) The younger daughter came down and opened the door. I asked, is this Rose and she said no this isn't but she said that she was here. She had a horrible migraine, and she said come in. So we came in and she led us up her stairs. They were all having a movie night together, and she said Rose the Elders came to give you a blessing. I was really confused because we hadn't said anything except for if Rose was there. I said we were just coming to see how you were doing, but we could sure give you a blessing if you would like. The daughter that opened the door said how did you know that Rose was here, because she apparently lives in Raymond. So we told her how she was a name that said that she was a new move in and we prayed to know what house to visit and this one was our answer. Rose started tearing up, and she told us that she had been having some really bad back pain and that she is also a smoker and really wants to stop. So we went out to the car and Dolinar got some oil. She had him anoint and then me seal it. It was really cool. It is so cool to see the spirit touch peoples lives to the point that they cry. It is a feeling that is hard to describe, but a feeling that is so real. And it's crazy because when you feel it, it is so undeniable. The lady with the migraine said that since we were here she would like a blessing too. She has been struggling with a migraine for a month. So elder Dolinar gave her a blessing and after it she said that she knew exactly what was going to happen and that she knew that it wasn't going to go away right away but that everything would turn out just fine.  This week has really been a testimony builder for me just confirming to me again how great prayer is and how much we really can be led as long as we reach out. It has also been a great testimony builder showing me how great the priesthood is, and what can come of them as we have faith. I know that this church is in fact true, I have always know that it is, its just that I know now more then I have ever before.

Love you guys, your son Elder Trevor Vern Allred