So if you were to ask me if I listened to Lady Gaga, MC-ed a variety show of sorts, and danced onstage in front of hundreds of people this week, the answer would be yes!
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Now you might be thinking, "Well, Sister Allred, those don't really sound like missionary things to be doing!" To this thought, I would reply, "Yes, I think you are right!" Let me explain.
Last week, we got a text from our Zone Leaders asking us to block out Friday and Saturday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm for a service project. We almost had a conniption because that is two whole days!! But we went through the week with that big ole' service project waiting. As it got closer, we learned that we would be helping with a convention in a Disney hotel for people with Prader Willie Syndrome and their families. People with this disorder don't have a trigger for when they are full, so they are constantly hungry. They will go to great lengths to get any food they can because their bodies tell them they are starving. Most of them also have other mental and physical handicaps. So we all show up Friday morning, get our t-shirts, and assemble to find out what we are doing. The first volunteers they asked for were dancers. Me and Sister Jackson knew that was our calling, and so we ran up to do it and met Miss/Sister Sally, the dance teacher. We then realized with horror that dancing is against the mission rules, so we excused ourselves to run and ask President Berry if it was ok (we got approval, don't worry!). We then commenced to learn a dance and teach it to every group of people who came through from 9:00-4:00!!!! Me and Sister Jackson, as you might imagine, were perfect for the job. We were busting with energy.......... until day 2. Haha we have never been so tired in our whole lives! Plus, part of our rotation was playing a name game with everyone, so we knew just about everyone's name in the convention. In the morning of the first day, Sister Thornton (one of the ladies in charge) asked us all to do an hour-long entertainment session for the kids. We nodded and thought that Elder Patten (one of our zone leaders) was in charge, so we went on our merry way. Halfway through the day, Sister Thornton stopped me and Sister Jackson to ask how the show was coming. It was then that we were given the script and shown the props. When our time came, we happily lead all the missionaries in singing, dancing, story-telling, you name it. I am sure you can picture it. Haha me and Sister Jackson laughed all night that these two newbie sisters just got put in charge of everything. And that wasn't all!!! The dance we taught to all the people was to be performed for all the families in a big show at the end, with the members of the board on the stage. Last minute, someone decided it would be a great idea to have me and Sister Jackson be up there too, because we had taught the dance to everyone with Sister Sally. So there we were, hopping around to Phillip Phillips and Jason Mraz in front of a huge ballroom of people. Bless our hearts. Sister Allred and Sister Jackson to the rescue, with their [almost] bottomless fountain of energy! Haha what a time. It was, however, really hard to come back to missionary work after listening to such worldly music and stuff. We didn't like it at all, and we hope that coming home isn't like that! We decided that even though it was a good time, normal missionary work is so much better. :)
So now lets talk about how awesome this week was!!! Following some advice from our District Leader, me and Sister Jackson planned out some times a week in advance to tract in specific areas. One of these was a park in my old area, Olympia (which is in our boundaries). It was amazing to see how almost every single person we talked to was prepared in that time in some way or another. Because we made our plans in advance, the Lord could put the prepared where we would be. That was awesome, and we got some really good referrals for English missionaries there.
Wednesday night, me and Sister Jackson had the opportunity to do a service project at Chick-Fil-A. We supervised this booth thing that the church sponsored for the "week of the family" for a few hours. We got to meet the mayor of Ocoee and some Florida Senator, which was pretty cool I guess. It was fun to be there and talk to people.
Thursday, we had this awesome experience!!! I was very stressed all day, because our meeting got out an hour late and we were consequently late to all of our appointments. Our last one of the night was with a part-member family, the A's. We had figured that they all had been taught all the lessons and the daughters who were not baptized were only missing the permission of their father to be baptized (Brother A is their step-father). We hadn't had time to plan in the morning because of meetings and appointments, so we didn't know what to teach them and were 20 minutes late without our cell phone (we had forgotten it at the house). We decided last minute and after a prayer to teach the Restoration again. We pulled up to their complex and couldn't get in. No one was coming in, and I was frustrated and tired from a stressful day. Something snapped and I was so angry and upset. I felt not a bit of the Spirit, and I didn't care because I was so upset. We finally got in and I was not ok and not wanting to teach a lesson feeling that way. We went up and started to teach. Well, I tried to but couldn't. I knew I couldn't because I didn't have the Spirit with me. Sister Jackson started talking about Joseph Smith and the first vision. It came out that Yari and Amalia (the non-member daughters) hadn't thought about baptism before, and Yari was confused because she didn't know whether to join her mom's church or her dad's. Sister Jackson told her about Joseph Smith who had the same problems. During this I was praying for forgiveness and hoping that I could still do my part in the lesson. It was a great lesson and the Spirit was so, so, so very strong. They committed to pray (they did and felt the spirit - we asked them yesterday!). This was the painful lesson I learned, however: If I don't act like a missionary 100% of the time, then I do not deserve and cannot expect the Spirit when I need it. The lesson was good, but I was not able to feel the joy that Sister Jackson did because I knew I wasn't qualified at that time. It was a costly lesson, but a good one to learn! I want to do that my whole life too. To live always ready for the Spirit.
I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Love, Sister Allred
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