May 22, 2017

This is a licence plate that Elder Dolinar found in Coaldale. 

This past week was great! Carol-Lee came to church when she said that she was going to be gone. It surprised us both because she hasn't been the best at coming to church. We met with her this last week and talked about Joseph Smith and the Mormons a little bit more. It was great that she was able to come to church because the speaker did a really good job on talking about what repentance was and why it is needed for everyone. And the other speaker talked about hope and a story that had happened to him a few years ago. I will have to tell you about it. 

So he started off by telling everyone about his life story. He was born and raised in panama until he was about 4-5 years old and then moved to Mexico because of the wars that were going on during that time. There was still a lot of violence there and not very good jobs and so his family decided that they were going to set off to cross the border into the United States. He then went on to tell us that they left in the night with a guy that was going to lead them into the States. There was a border patrol car that ended up driving pretty close to where they were and they were all hiding behind a bush and he said that he could remember that his mom kept telling him to be quiet but the 5 year old kid that he was wasn't quiet and they were caught. They were taken to a big building where after some time they got to come into the States, and after that he grew up in Los Angeles. He grew up there and then moved to Canada and found his wife. He said that he liked taking martial arts but it was getting too expensive for him to do it and to have his son in it too and so he dropped out. There was this one time that he and his wife were going to see one of his performances and he found a pair of socks on the ground, and how his son had a habit of talking off his socks and throwing them on the ground and losing them, he said socks sure can get expensive that way it was pretty funny. He told us that he picked up the socks folded them and put them into the hoody of his son's jacket. After the competition was over his 8 year old son was crossing the road and got hit by a car, he ran over to his son and his son said sorry dad I got hit by a car as he was laying on the ground. His dad said I know son. An ambulance came and took him into the ER and shortly after the Bishop came. The guy that was giving the talk said that he didn't want to give the blessing because he didn't want to say anything that was what he wanted and not what the Lord wanted and so the Bishop gave his son a blessing. After a while the Doctor came out and said its crazy but your son doesn't have even a scratch on him. He could have been seriously injured but the socks that were in his hood cushioned the back of his head. I think that is pretty cool just with the feelings that we sometimes get that are from our Heavenly Father that help us through our lifetime here on earth. 

This past Friday we got to brand like all day with a non-member it was really fun. We branded maybe around 70 calves. It was really annoying, some of the people that he had there to help him didn't know what they were doing. They brought about 5-7 of their horses and it took them forever to get them up into the corral. Elder Cox and I had to help them on foot to get them into the corral. After we finally got them in they had like all of their horses in trying to separate them. It was discouraging. So we kinda let them do their own thing in the corral while Shah, Cox, and I were separating them. One of the guys helping out wanted to run all the calves through the shoot to get them used to going through or something dumb like that. Thank goodness he gave up after he got one calf through. But even though we had a couple guys that were goof balls we still had a fun time. 

Yesterday we helped a family build some of their fence that was broken. We dug five 3 foot deep holes with shovels for the posts and then screwed up the boards. That was fun as well but I got a bit sunburned from not being outside without a long sleeve shirt and being white going out in the sun. I will hopefully be nice and brown in a couple of days. 

In a couple of hours we are going to be doing some more branding so I will have to tell you how everything goes next week. 

All of our investigators are doing a lot better this week thank you for all your prayers. Sorry I gotta go I will tell you about them later. Have a good week I love you all. 

Love, Elder Allred

May 8, 2017

S. Smith S. Zimmerman E. Waulquist E. Cox E. Walker E. Giffing E. Wilgar E. Allred

This week was a good one, on Wednesday we went to the Cardston Temple, it is a pretty old temple it was really big and really cool. I got some pictures that I will show you. I love being able to be in the celestial room and pray I really feel like that is the closest that we can get to our Father in heaven.

On Friday we had park meadows break the fast and Carol-Lee and her husband came. I had never seen her husband until then and I had a really good conversation with him. He loves to fish, so we talked a bit about that. This time they had a few people make up a band for it. They had a full drum set and 3 electric guitars playing and singing some old 80's music, wow were they good. They even sounded like the actual singers. I think that a lot of the members in the ward probably thought that it was a little inappropriate but they were doing it in the gym and it was a clean music so I thought that it was the best thing ever. I should have recorded it but I had the camara in the car which was a bummer I will have to try and get a recording of it from someone in the ward.  

We talked to Rob last night for about 3-4 hours, it was crazy but it was good because we pretty much just listened to him to whole time and he solved out all his problems. I think that he might start coming to church again. 

We have been getting so much food it is crazy. We have the Yamboas in our ward who got baptized a year ago and have been less active since. Every time that we go over they have to feed us a full meal, even if it is before or after our dinner appointment. Larant who is the black guy does the same thing and we met with them a few times this week. This Sunday was fast Sunday and Elder Shah and I ate so much that it felt like our throat was filled up. They just keep making us eat more and more. I swear I have never had so many eggs and parts of the cow, a lot more than what I ever thought I would. 

Elder Shah and I have been running this whole transfer and I have been getting into better shape. The sad thing is that I haven't really lost any weight. We have been averaging 2-3 miles every morning but for last Friday and Saturday we ran for a little more then 5 miles. So hopefully it will change something for the better.

I am excited to talk to you all on Mother's Day it is crazy that it is already that time. I honestly can't wait. Transfers are this Thursday and I really really hope that I don't get transferred but we will see I may be in a new area. I will also be emailing you sometime during the week to figure out when I will be face timing home. Sorry this email is short I will have to tell you everything then. Have a good week! I love you all! 

Love, Elder Allred  

May 1, 2017

This week has been a really good one. It has had high points and it has also had some low points. I sometimes feel that it is a constant wave through the mission where there will be something good happen and then there will be something not so good happen. But I feel that no matter what happens I am learning and growing through it all. 

I can't believe that I am already 19, I feel like I should still be 17. I am now 10 months out which is crazy! The times sure are going fast. I was reading in Jacob 7:26 around the time I was about to have my birthday and a line in that verse caught my eye, when It said that, "also our lives passed away like as it were unto us a dream". When I read that I thought wow I really need to make sure that I am doing the right thing because before I know it, it could be too late. And I thought that the best thing that I could do is come to know the Savior more in my life. I found another scripture that is in Jacob 1 6-8 talking about how they knew of Christ. And they knew of Christ because they believed in him, and because they believed in him they came unto him. 

This week we found out that both of our baptismal dates were not going to work. Carol-Lee for some reason isn't making it to church which is really weird and so we are going to have to put it off until June. Keely is still really solid and is walking to church every Sunday even when it is snowing. It is a shame that nobody in the ward has enough love to stop and pick her up, we talked to the Bishop about it. Rob had been meeting with him because of past transgressions and he doesn't feel like the bishop cares or loves him very much and so he has completely stopped coming to church because of it. I know that this isn't totally Bishop's fault even though it is very discouraging. We tried telling Rob that even though it may seem like he doesn't love you he was called of God to be a Bishop and that it might just be the way he acts, but unfortunately it didn't change anything. Its too bad, it's crazy how hard the adversary will work on people. 

We have had some pretty cool miracles through a couple of the members though. This past week our WML who is such a sweet guy, he is so on the ball. He had a neighbor who had been suffering from cancer who died a few days ago and his wife came up to Sister Bender and told her that she would like to join our church. She said that she had been wanting to but it was just hard to do anything with her husband so sick. My mouth dropped when Sister Bender told us that. Yesterday at church we also had a younger guy maybe in his mid 20's come up to us at church and told us that he has been dating this girl that had been taking lessons before and would maybe like us to start teaching her again. Those were a couple of great miracles that I have had this week. And I am excited to see what comes from them. 

So for the past few weeks we have been doing what is called the spring fling, which is a point system and every companionship has to get so many points per week and if we do we get to go to the temple. We got points based on member lessons, investigator lessons, people to church, studies, service, and street/tracting. Our mission has been a little low as a whole, our zone was good, which was pretty cool.  Since our mission was low we weren't supposed to go but Pres. Miles already made plans and so our mission will be going. They are splitting the mission into two pieces the North and the South. I am in the South so I will be going to the Cardston temple. I am pretty excited because I have never been to it and I hear that it is pretty neat. I will have to send you all some pictures, we are going tomorrow. 

That sure was scary to hear about the experience that Derick had. I can't help but think of how much we need to have the spirit with us to guide us through these dangerous times in our lives, both physical and spiritual. 

I love you all and am looking forward to face timing you on Mothers day, have a great week!! 

Love, Elder Allred  

April 24, 2017

Part of my 1st Zone at Zone Conference

This has been another great week, I think that this week has been probably the fastest week that I have had on the mission, it seems like I just had p-day. 

We now have 2 people on date right now and I think that we can get 2 more on date before too long. One of the ladies that is on date is in her late 50's to early 60's and she told us to come and teach her more about baptism and so the morning of I read all that I could on it just to be all prepared up. When we got there she asked us a question about her catholic baptism and was wondering if it would be canceled out since she was wanting to be baptized in the Mormon church. And so we told her about the restoration again and how the priesthood was restored as well as the authority to baptize. She then asked so my baptism didn't count? And I just straight up told her I guess you could say that, but it was cool because Elder Shah told her even though it didn't count it still showed your commitment to the Lord and your willingness to follow him. I really thought that was a good point. After that she said when are transfers? So we told her that it was around May 11 and she then said when do you usually do baptisms, and we told her usually on Saturdays and so she put herself on date for May 9th and she said that she wanted me to baptize her, I was so shocked I have never had someone put themselves on date before and neither has my companion who has been out for 21 months. All that she has to do is come to church and quit her coffee and she will be good. This was definitely the highlight of my week. The other one that is on date is Keely Broadhead, who is the most solid investigator that I have ever heard of or seen. We had one of the members in the ward make a special certificate for her and we all signed it. Shah, Dolinar, and me, she said that this certificate looks better then her college ones. I will have to get a picture with them, and have Keely hold it then I will send it to you all, it is pretty funny.

April 17, 2017

This week seems to have gone by pretty fast. 

We got to go and do cows with Rod, one of Elder Cox's non-members that he knew that was just out-side of our zone. That was really fun all that we did was move them to another field. Since we were there we helped him get about 4 cows up the shoot. One of them had to have a calf pulled, and the other three just had to be milked out a little bit because the calves couldn't suck them. He fed us all lunch which was some pizza that they bought and popped into the oven. They asked us if we needed a glass of water and I was one of them that said yes. I got a nice full cup of water, I was so thirsty. When I was looking into the cup about to take a sip I saw a little black something that was floating on the top of my water. I thought, "Oh it's just a floaty" and so I pulled it out and that was when I realized that it was a mouse turd.. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to offend the family and so I said a prayer in my heart and drank it.. Sorry Mom if this freaks you out, don't have any bad dreams. I am still alive and not sick and so I know that my prayer was answered haha. 

Finola is getting kicked out of her house but the house that she has looked for and is applying for is still in our ward and so we hope that that is the house she will end up getting. Lee her boyfriend is back with her now, I didn't think that it would be possible that they could be together still but they are. I guess we will see what happens to them this week. 

We were able to get Keely on date for baptism on May 6th. She has been wanting her husband to baptize her but he will not be able to for the next 6th month because of past transgressions. But she said that it doesn't really matter and that she wants her water to be clean. She said I don't want someone dirty getting into my water. When she said that we all laughed, It's crazy how smart and solid she is. I am really looking forward to the next lesson with her, it is always good. 

Today we went to Running on Stone which reminded me of Fantasy Canyon and Goblin Valley a bit. It was really fun, we went as a zone, we left this morning at 8 and went down to almost Montana and made it back around 12:30.

April 10, 2017

This week I can't tell if it has gone by fast or has gone by slow just because of all that we have been doing during the week. Probably the highlight of this past week was when we got to eat dinner at a black dude's house. His name is Larant. He had fed me two other times in the area and he can really cook. I love the guy. So I was really pumped when I found out that he was going to feed us again. I have my new companion, Elder Shah who is a pretty sweet guy, and I was telling him that he was about to have the best meal he has ever had. We got there and he had cooked noodles, like the KD noodles. I thought to myself that isn't too bad I mean not as good as the other times but I am sure that it will still be good. He had chunks of what looked like beef chunks in it. I later came to find out after I had dished them up on my plate that only a few were beef chunks the rest were these round pieces of meat and then also flat pieces. I took a bite of the flatter piece of meat and it just didn't taste good at all. When I was chewing it it turned into a kind of paste or something like that. I asked him and said, "Larent so a what part of the cow is this?" He then said it is some beef chunks and some kidneys and also some liver. My belly just turned over.. I didn't know how I was going to eat it. The liver was okay still pretty nasty though, the beef chunks were really good, but the kidneys where so hard to get down. It was horrible because I had only one beef chunk, a couple pieces of liver and then the rest were all kidneys. I had maybe 6-7 kidneys on my plate. Man that was about the hardest meal I have ever had. 

Lee and Finola are still struggling with their relationship. Things would be really good just if Lee could stop his drinking addiction.  We took Lee running on I think Wednesday morning and it was funny because we had a lesson with them the night before and he was just passed out the whole time. When we took him for the run he was really out of it. He was still a little loopy, but it was fun running with him. He was so out of shape, and he stunk pretty bad because of drinking so much. I don't know why some people get addicted to that stuff it is gross. Elder Shah ran track in California and out of the state he took 8th place in the 400. Lee wanted to race him up a hill he really thought that he could beat him, so I ran to the top of this big hill and then signaled for them to come up. Elder Shah just crushed him. Lee about passed out, it was kinda funny. I was hoping that that would get him to stop drinking but since then he has just been drinking more. It is really sad how drugs and alcohol can tear families apart. Keely and Rob are still as solid as ever. Yesterday it was snowing a little bit, nothing stuck but it was snowing on our way to church and we saw Keely pushing her little baby down the sidewalk going to church since they don't have a car. The gospel principles teacher was gone and so I had to teach it on the spot which was kinda crazy. Keely doesn't like to pray and so for a little bit of a joke I called on her to say the closing prayer, and her face went kinda white it was so funny she laughed about it after. I think that she will be getting baptized in the next couple of weeks. 

Since Elder Shah has been with me we have been running with Rob Broached every other day and when we don't run with him we will go run. We run about 2-3 miles every morning except for Sunday, and today because we played squash with a couple of guys from the ward. I thought that I would be dropping weight but I weighed myself Friday and with my little jacket on I weigh 200. 

We have been contacting a lot of the new move-ins which consist of new move-ins but mostly it is people who have fallen off the charts because they don't want to be contacted, so a lot of them are really grumpy. Elder Shah, since he has come from California has lived a bit of a rough life growing up with the two gangs around him all the time. He has been in quite a few fights and he isn't scared of anything. He won't let anyone get the better piece of him it's awesome, it makes me laugh every time when someone try's facing up to him. 

Well I have to go, thank you for the emails, you all should try to send some more pictures. I miss seeing you guys. It sure is cool that mom is in Denmark. Love you all and have an awesome week! 

-Love E Allred