March 20, 2018

Cookies the Sisters Made

Chocolate Loonies and Toonies!

Norm's Famous Cream Sodas

The baptismal font. It got backed up with sewer the other day good thing they got it cleaned up for Shannon and Kyra's baptism on Saturday. 

The Sidewalk We Cleared

On Wednesday we got up, I was super tired and so was Elder Kretschmann. But we got up and got ready for the day. It was Shauna Parker's birthday today and she wanted us to make her some cookies because the Elders last year had made her some. So we got Sister Fonda and Sister Miners to make us some cookies because of our lack of confidence in baking. We picked up the cookies from them in the morning and dropped them off at Shauna's later that night. When the sisters gave us the cookies they also gave us a card to write on, which was pretty cool because we were able to write her a nice note. We also got to meet her non-member boy friend he was a nice guy. Norm who actually isn't a member that we spend a bit of time with is going in for eye puncturing treatment on Thursday and he wanted a blessing, while we were over there he made us his famous cream sodas. We also helped him prune his Apple tree in the back. Other than that we had dinner with the lady who owns our place, she was pretty cool as well but other then that we just made a bunch of contacts. 

On Thursday we had to call for board updates, after that we had weekly planning. One of the great things that we got to plan for was Shannon and Kyra's baptism! We had dinner with Brother Stubbs that night and planned for it. After dinner we had a lesson with Shannon and Kyra on family history with Brother Halladay, who is the family history consultant. Shannon really enjoyed it and they are both excited to find names for when they go to the temple on the 14th of April. That night we asked them who they wanted to baptize them. Shannon is going to have the bishop baptize her and have Brother Stubbs do the confirmation. Kyra has asked me to baptize her and then have Elder Kretschmann do the confirmation for her. We are getting really excited for them, it's been neat to see them progress. 

We had zone conference on Friday and it took place in Taber so we had to drive 124 kilometers which was about and hour and a half to zone conference. It started at 9am and got done at 4pm. I really liked it, it's just rough having to sit there for soo long. But after that we drove home and had dinner. We then made some stop bys and tracked. That night we went on exchanges. I stayed in my area and Elder Wolfe came with me. 

Saturday was a pretty eventful day. We stopped by Pearl and Norm's house again, it had snowed and it was really warm so the snow was pretty wet and heavy. We shoveled their driveway and then went in and talked to them. Norm made us his famous cream sodas again. Pearl made us her fa famous onion soup. After that we had a very good and spiritual lesson with them. After visiting them we borrowed their snow shovels and helped their neighbor out with her sidewalk.

 After that we did some district finding and found 3 potentials who we have return appointments with that will actually be on Wednesday so that will be fun. We helped a guy move, we had a lesson with Shannon and Kyra, got some A1 pizza for dinner and then went to the father and son activity which was a nerf gun war. 

Sunday was pretty normal, we had church, our dinner appointment got changed to a lunch appointment. We had enchiladas! They were soo good I miss eating mexican food.. it is so scarce up here. After that we had our studies and had another lesson with Shannon and Kyra. We then did some stop bys. 

We did a lot of driving on Monday. At 9 we went and chopped cucumbers for the schools around town. After that we headed home and got changed and headed to Brooks for district meeting. By the time we got home it was 4. we did a little study, went to dinner, and then got into one of our potential investigator's house. His name is Jerry. He is an old guy that used to be a captain of a ship. He has diabetes and has only one leg but he is a cool guy. We talked a little about the Book of Mormon with him. We got his number and he said to call him back and we'll set something up. 

Well this is some of the highlights from this week. I hope that you all are doing well, keep up the good work! 

Love, Elder Allred 

March 13, 2018

Hey Fam!

This week was pretty great! Lots of fun things happened this week. 

On Wednesday we had a lesson with Shauna Parker, we did some contacting though our area book and tracked into Marcel, he was busy at the time so we set up an appointment for Thursday. We also had another lesson with Kyra and Shannon. We taught them the restoration of Christ's gospel. They are really doing well. 

On Thursday we officially got our smart phones!! They have been so nice to have. LDS tools is such a blessing as well as the maps on the phone as well. It makes missionary work so much easier. After we got our phones we had an appointment with Daniel, who we stopped by a few days ago, she is potential investigator. She said that we could stop by anytime during the afternoon while her kids were at school. We were both pretty pumped to see her. We also tracked into a guy on Wednesday, to our surprise he was excited for us to come back and teach him. To make a long story short they both ended up being busy and we were unable to meet with them. I am hoping that we will be able to meet soon that would be super sweet.

On Friday we did some service at the food bank and then came back and studied. After our studies we decided to go and contact people. The day started out really warm and then it just got super windy and cold. It was pretty funny because all the snow that had melted was freezing and it was sooo slippery outside, it was nuts. While walking around there was a guy that was walking back to his car who said, "hail satan" and then said, "just kidding." He then said as he was getting back in his car that he used to be Mormon. We didn't get to talk to him very long because he had to go. A few min later he drove by again. And yelled to us walk to the A 1 pizza place and I will get you a couple slices on me. We were pretty surprised but we headed over there and by the time we got there he was already gone for another pizza delivery so we got a couple pieces and ate them while we waited for him to come back. We had a nice visit with him and found out that he was a member but he said that he was no longer. He was a pretty sweet guy we are going to stop by to see him this week. He lives with his mom but he wasn't on the records.

On Saturday we headed out to Bow Island, we had a lesson fall through but we did get to do some service for Dave and Mariette. We helped them clean up a few bushes around their house. After we did that we had dinner with them. After dinner we taught them the plan of salvation. I think that it was accepted well, I just wish that they would come to church, we have been trying almost everything. I asked them if they would be able to make it for 9:30 and they said well that's right in the middle of us feeding our chickens. I told them that we would come extra early and help them feed them and then we could go to church. Dave sat there for a bit and said, "Ya know I think im gonna pass I don't really want to get up that early."  I guess  that all we can really do sometimes is invite. I have learned to make my success in the invitation and not to focus on what the outcome might be. 

On Sunday we had church, then had lunch with a member, drove home and had dinner with the Hubers. After that we had a lesson with Shannon and Kyra. In this lesson we taught them the Plan of Salvation. It was really nice to have the Plan of Salvation chips for a visual, Kyra and Shannon really liked them. They even took pictures of it on their phones. They had fun putting it all together and then teaching us what each step meant it was pretty cool. As we were leaving Shannon told us that the 24th is a solid date so it should be good as long as they can stop drinking coffee they're good!  

On Monday we chopped up some cucumbers did more stop bys and more contacting. We had dinner with the Sloans they are a pretty sweet family. We borrowed some tennis racquets from them so we could play some tennis today it should be super fun. It's still a little cold and there's still snow on the ground so we are going to do something with the volleyball net and make it work. 

Well this is a little run down of my week I sure do love you all keep working hard! I can't wait to see you all again! 

Love, Elder Allred

March 6, 2018

Hey fam!

This week has been one of the greatest weeks. To start off I finally got a new companion so I am no longer three leggin it with some other missionaries. My new companion is Elder Kretschmann, he is from Germany. Something that's pretty cool about him is that he is the 3rd or 4th oldest I can't remember but he has 9 siblings! And whats even crazier is that each one of them knows a different instrument. Its pretty funny thinking about it, the only thing that they are missing is a drummer but other then that they have it all haha. 

We have been meeting with Shannon a lot lately. We had one more commandment to teach Kyra and then they were both going to be good for Baptism. We prayed in our companion study for a date that we could maybe present to her and we came up with the date of March 24. Her original date was May 24. We went over to her house on Friday for dinner and so that she could meet the new elder. After dinner we had a lesson teaching them the last commandment. After teaching them we told them that was all of the lessons that we teach before baptism. We basically told them that we prayed about it and said that we felt that they could be more then ready for March 24 for baptism. Shannon to our surprise said sure that works for me, I just don't know if Kyra will be ready. Shannon really wants Kyra to know what she is promising before she jumps into anything. We told her that we will meet 2-3 times a week if we have to and we will review with Kyra the lessons. Shannon said okay sure that will be great we will shoot for that! So for the next couple of weeks we are going to review the lessons with Kyra. Shannon also has to stop her coffee and stop smoking her electric cigarette, but I believe that they will be ready for the 24th. We've also gotten a ton of referrals from members so that is going to be fun contacting them all. 

This week we also had stake conference which was pretty sweet. There was a member from the area 70 that was there as well as President and Sister Miles. The conference was great, definitely one of the best ones that I have been to. Shannon and Kyra came and had the opportunity of meeting both President and Sister Miles as well as the area 70. 

Well I hope that you are all doing well I sure do love you guys! Keep workin hard!

Love, Elder Allred 

February 27, 2018

Zone

Hey Fam! 

This week is transfers so I will be getting a companion. For most of this Transfer I have been a loner. I've been going to my wards with a member for most of this month and it's been weird not having a missionary companion, so it will be great to get a new one. I always thought that a three leg would be super weird and awkward but it was actually really fun, we had a blast. 

Right now I am with Elder Grider because his companion went up to Calgary today. He will be flying home tomorrow.  Kyra and Shannon  are still doing well and progressing. They should be getting baptized in the next couple of weeks so that will be super cool. We had a pretty great district meeting with Shannon yesterday. I was really hoping that we would be able to teach Shannon's mom, maybe we will this week though.  

Well I'm sorry for the shortness of this letter. Keep up all the good work, I sure do love you guys

Love, Elder Allred 

February 20, 2018

Hey Fam!

This week has been really great we have been super busy covering 3 wards, it's been a little hectic but overall it's been great. We have really been trying to meet with our investigators as often as we can and I think that it has really helped them progress and to keep what we are teaching them on their mind. Well here are just a few things that we did this week. 

We taught a few of the other Elder's investigators too this week. Guy, he's pretty funny and a great guy. Frank, who is probably the most solid right now for them, and Tori. 

Kyra and Shannon are still doing great, we only have a couple more things to teach them out of the commandments so Kyra has almost been taught everything. During our lesson on Wednesday night we were talking about baptism and confirmation. At the end of the lesson I asked them if they were getting excited to be baptized, Kyra of course was super excited and really can't wait to be baptized. Shannon said that she was getting more and more excited as well as time went on. I told them that's really neat and whats really cool is that right after you are baptized the next day after being interviewed you can go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead. Shannon has a family genealogy book already put together which is super cool. We are going to get her introduced to family history in the next lesson. At the end of the lesson She said, "Ya know I have been thinking and I think that we may have to move the date to get baptized a little earlier." She is wanting to be able to go to the ward temple trip that's on April 14th. 

We met with Dave and Marriet they are doing alright. We introduced them to our bishop which was pretty good. He and his wife are going to stop by some time and visit with them. I think that if they can get some friends in the ward it will be really great. This time we were helping them burn some piles that they had. We cooked hot dogs and we taught them how to make smores it was pretty fun. 

I also got a call from the mission office telling me that my schedule for when I get home changed. Instead of getting home on July 4th I will be getting home on June 27th. I guess I will be making it for Travis' Birthday after all! 

Sorry it's kinda short it's getting hard to focus on writing emails. But I do hope you all are doing great I sure do love you guys!! 

Love, Elder Allred 

February 13, 2018

Hey fam!

This week has been nuts, sooo much happened this week. It's been great. Happy Valentines day!! 

On Wednesday we got to meet with Shannon and Kyra, we originally had planned to teach them about Prophets and the 10 commandments but we ended up just going over Prophets. It was a great lesson. We also dropped a mirror off to my old apartment that we accidentally stole. Patty, the manager, was sad that we were leaving. She said, "So idk who i'm going to get to shovel the walks now?" We volunteered since it was snowing, that the next day we would stop by and push the walks for her. 

On Thursday we had a lesson with Frank, one of 5th ward's investigators. We taught him about the plan it went very well. He is pretty solid and I could see him getting baptized fairly soon. We got board updates from the districts since Elder Harrara is the district leader for the one district and I'm the one for the other. After that we got some lunch and headed over to push some snow for Patty. There wasn't a whole lot of snow to push but we pushed the sidewalk around the building and in between the cars. Just after we had finished and were heading back into the building we heard an old woman yelling at us for help. She had slipped and fallen in the snow and couldn't get back up. We ran over there and Elder Wiwichar on one arm and myself on the other lifted her up out of the snow, she was so grateful. She asked us if Patty was paying us for pushing snow and we told he nope we were just coming to push it for her. She couldn't believe that 3 young guys would do a thing like that. We even scraped off her car and shoveled around it and stuff. We gave her a card and told her if she needed help with anything to just call us. It was pretty great, I love helping people that are in a bind.

On Friday we helped out the food bank as usual. I was able to wear my pants this time because Shannon patched the big hole for me. It was a bummer though because I was pulling my pants up by the belt loop and the bottom part of it ripped and I now have another hole. I was hoping they would last till the end without buying another pair, we'll see. At this point I am trying not to buy anything that I am going to have to take home, my bags are pretty full. We did quite a few stop buys. We also had a lesson with Guy, one of 5th wards other investigators. The lesson went pretty well. 

On Saturday we had breakfast with Bishop Mclung out in Bow Island and then headed to Dave and Mariet's to help them. They ended up having to run into Medicine Hat to pick up some parts but we did end up having a really good lesson with them. They haven't been reading the Book of Mormon or coming to church. I felt prompted to share a scripture out of the New Testament with them and asked them a pretty deep question and it was pretty intense you could really feel it in the lesson the spirit was really strong it was great. I think for now we are just going to read the Book of Mormon with them when we go over there so that they can feel the spirit and the greatness from it. 

On Sunday I went on splits with Brother Sloan, who is on the high council. He had to give a talk out in Bow Island so I went with him to church. So that was fun it was a long drive but it was fun to go out there again for church. After I got back with my companions we ate lunch and then had a lesson/board game night with Tori 5th's other investigator. It was pretty fun. We then had dinner and another lesson with Shannon and Kyra and taught them the 10 commandments. Shannon said that was the most fun she had had talking about the 10 commandments so that was pretty cool.

On Monday we had service at Church hill, we were cutting up cucumbers again and it was pretty neat they had the news people there interviewing some of the people and we were in the background cutting up the cucumbers for the kids at various schools around the city. 

Well thats some of the highlights of this week I hope that you all have a great week to come. Love you guys!!!

Love, Elder Allred