We are celebrities in Orlando!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!  It has been the best week ever!

Let's talk about this week.  It was so great.  K. got baptized yesterday!!! it was right after our stake conference, so there were like 70 people at her baptism, which was AWESOME.  She was so excited and a little nervous, but it went great and everyone felt the Spirit.  Plus, her mom brought a friend who isn't a member! Hopefully we will start teaching her soon.  I asked K. after how she felt, and she smiled so big, thought for a bit, and said, "Maravillosa!"  She said that she felt a peace and happiness that was stronger than she ever had before.  Their family is so happy, and we are happy for them. :)  The young women love her and she is already so accepted in the ward.  It was fun to have E. there too - he isn't the new one anymore!  Great stuff.

Also, our investigator C. is doing great.  I cannot believe the faith of their family.  In a few short months, they have quit jobs, quit smoking, established good habits, and really turned their lives around to be more centered on the Savior. But we need your help!  The only thing that could keep C. from his baptism date on the 9th is his divorce.  We are all praying for a miracle this week - that his 'wife' will respond to their messages so she can sign the papers and C. and S. can get married.  Please pray with us for her heart to be softened so C. can finally be baptized.  He is facing some trials because that's what Satan does best, but I trust that he will be strong and carry through.  I love their family so much.

The conference with Elder Nelson was SO GREAT.  Haha we are celebrities or something here in Orlando because we had Elder Nelson Saturday morning, Sister McConkie from the YW general presidency Saturday night, Elder Nelson again on Sunday, and we are having a meeting with the Ward Councils and Elder L. Tom Perry this Saturday, along with some of the presidency of the seventy.  WHAT IS LIFE?  We love it! :)  Elder Nelson talked about a lot of things, and it was so great and powerful to receive his Apostolic witness and blessing.  After, me and Sister Day decided to invite him to K's baptism because we thought he would be in our chapel for the conference.  He then invited us to come sit with them at lunch!!  Haha there were three companionships there..... and we all were so scared! But it was cool.  He is a very loving, smart, and powerful man.

Our investigator R. came to a relief society activity at the chapel this week.  She really liked it and it was great to get her in the chapel because she works on Sundays now.  It was the best!!!!

We had a great activity this week because our ward mission leader, Hermano Lopez, is the best.  We brought C., S, and L to a members house with some other families who are new/returning to the ward, and we had a great time talking together and eating and introducing ourselves.  I was filled with such love in that house looking around at all these families who I have been with for so long and who let me into their hearts.  I haven't had a moment when I have thought, "Ok, this is why I was called to Orlando!"  but I did in that house.  I knew that I am here for these people.  The members, the investigators, the less-active members in Windy Ridge.  I love them and they have made such an influence on my life and they have seen me grow so much.  I love it here.  I love it so much.  It surely isn't easy, but the ups make up for the downs. :)  I love you all too!  Have the best week! Thanks for the letters!

Love, Hermana Kara Allred

Home Sweet American Fork

Hello Family!

A couple fun/random notes.  We decorate our planners here every transfer, usually with pictures we cut out from the Ensign (.... haha, classic missionary).  This transfer, I proudly taped a picture of my missionary hero from Denver Colorado on the back.   I will send a picture.  I love to show people and tell them about my dad and his mission.  Thanks, Dad.  I love you.

Second note, we received three referrals from a member this week...... who found these referrals out tracting.  All by himself.  Just knocking doors and telling people about the gospel.  Haha to each their own, I suppose!

This week has been awesome!  Tuesday we had our transfer meeting, and all the trainers got together first for a meeting.  They brought in the new missionaries, and we knew that there were only 2 Hermanas, but we didn't know who spoke Spanish and who didn't.  Later in the meeting, Hermana Fisi (the other Spanish trainer) leaned over to me and pointed out the two she thought were the Hermanas.  I looked at them and said, "Wait, I know her!  I am like 90% sure she is from American Fork!"  And then I knew we were going to be together!  Haha lo and behold, my new companion is Hermana Aleen Day from good ole' American Fork Utah.  Haha she graduated the year before me, and we both recognized each other but I don't think we officially met or anything.  She did marching band and was actually one of the girls that was lifeflighted from the bus crash.  I love her so much!!!  She teaches very powerfully and with the Spirit (even in Spanish) and has a lot of faith and good ideas.  I am excited to get to work with her still and see what the Lord will help us with these next few transfers.

Let's just give a little example here of the faith that Sister Day has to pull down miracles from heaven.  Her first day we had a few teaching appointments that fell through, so we were trying to find a potential investigator in this complex instead.  We talked to an older man who was taking his trash out, and he told us we could go inside to talk to his wife.  We then met A. from Puerto Rico, and talked all about Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, all of that.  Haha I am not sure that I have actually been able to go inside and teach a lesson to someone who wants to meet with the Spanish missionaries, so it was such a miracle!  We are trying to work hard, be better teachers, speak Spanish together, and keep on top of everything.  It is pretty exciting!

Speaking of exciting.  Big things are happening here in the Orlando region!  Elder Nelson (.... yes, THE Elder Nelson) is coming for our mission conference on Saturday.  We get to listen to him all morning and meet him before the meeting!!!  Best day ever.  Also, rumor has it that Elder Perry is coming for our stake conference the week after.  Haha me and Sister Day are going to try and convince Elder Nelson to stay for K's baptism...... that would be the coolest!

Right, the baptism!  For technical reasons, we decided to move the baptism to next week.  So I don't have pictures/the story yet, but K is still as ready as can be and excited for Sunday.  We are too!!  I love her and her amazing, faith-filled family.

I have been loving LOVING the ward lately.  I have been here for enough time that I really feel like they are my family.  Plus, finally my personality comes through, even in Spanish.  We laugh and tell stories and talk about missionary work and their lives and Spanish and it is the best.  We had lunch with the Bishop and his wife yesterday, and the Bishop was talking about the difference he has noticed in the ward since the Hermanas came.  He said that the spirit in the ward changed, and that all the young women are so excited to go on missions.  I love to be here and be part of this essential work.  SIsters are no more important than Elders, but there are different things that each of us can do.  I am grateful to bring that new spirit to the wards where I serve.  

The people here are amazing.  I was sitting in sacrament meeting thinking about all the people I love here and my heart was full.  I love getting to talk to so many people and see a tiny glimpse into their lives.  Missionary work is super hard, but it is also the best.  Spanish is super hard, but it is also the best.  :)  The gospel is the best!!!!  I am glad to be a part of this.  Thanks for always being there for me.  I know it is true!

(So we can be learning from Preach my Gospel every time we do the dishes!)

Love, Hermana Allred

Seasons Come and Seasons .....Stay!

It was a great week this week!  K. is doing AWESOME.  We had a scare that we would have to postpone the baptism to get permission from her dad, but we actually don't have a way to get into contact with him so it proceeds as planned!  We are very excited for her to partake of all these wonderful blessings on Sunday! :)  She has such a strong testimony and is so simply ready to take this step. She loves to learn more and wants to do everything right.  I love contrasting her to E.  The same servants are called in the field to labor, no matter the harvest!  They both needed saving just the same - if it's a 14-year old girl from Honduras or a 64-year old Supreme Court Judge.  The Lord loves and needs them all. :)

Me and Sister Jackson have just loved being together.  We got our transfer call this week and we were anticipating not staying together, but we were surprised to find that I was the one staying!  You should probably start calling me Old-Woman-Windy. ;)  And I am training again!  Anxiety always strikes around this time, so I have been pretty nervous, but it is another great adventure I get to have.  Hopefully she can learn Spanish fast! ;)

I love the ward members here.  They are so awesome and take such good care of us.  They feed us (a TON of food), come out with us, give our investigators rides, let us into their homes, and let us into their hearts too.  I love meeting so many awesome people!

I have told Grammy and Poppy's conversion story twice again this week.  I always feel the spirit when I tell it, and I think the people do too.  I love telling them that story of patience, and how grateful I am for all the people who kept trying.  Small things like that affect real people, like me.  I still love to think about that and share it with others.

So yes, I am using facebook!  Turns out we just deactivated our old ones to start a new missionary one.  (don't worry, I get my old one back when I get home)  That is great, because it is not as distracting.  We haven't been doing too much yet, but I am excited to see what it will do for the work.

Mission time never ceases to amaze me.  I feel like all of a sudden I am old and it is passing fast.  I don't want it to pass so fast!  I feel like I still have so much to learn and do.  I just hope to be able to give myself enough to the Lord to have Him shape me into what I should be!  I love getting your letters from home.  Me and Sister Jackson laugh out loud every week reading them and seeing the weekly drawings.... haha.

I am excited to tell you next week about my new companion and the baptism!!!  I hope you all have the best week ever!

Love, Hermana Allred

New Year's Reflections

It has been another awesome week in balmy Florida!  The weather here is awesome, with the exception of Friday, which was freezing (..... granted, "freezing" is all relative). Everyone is still riding the holidays wave, and it helps people be in a good mood and listen to us.  All in all, things are going great!

I hope your New Year's was awesome! Me and Sister Jackson moved our clocks forward and celebrated at 10 with some make-shift confetti and glasses and little blower things sent from one of Sister Jackson's friends.  It was..... exciting?  Haha it was really funny, and then we just went to sleep because we were exhausted.  Happy New Year!

On the topic, me and Sister Jackson are just the greatest of friends.  I didn't really believe people when they said that your companions would turn into some of your best friends, but they were right!  We have had so much fun together and seen a lot of blessings as we have worked to be better missionaries.

We had some awesome miracles this week!  We have a zone goal to baptize 14 people in the month of January, and to reach that we all committed at the last Zone Training Meeting to have an extra baptism date per companionship for January by the end of December.  At the time, me and Sister Jackson had one - C.  We thought that we could have two more by the end of the month with N. and her daughter.  In the next couple of weeks, we changed C's date to February and N. dropped us.  Me and Sister Jackson didn't know what to do!  Our investigators were pretty sketchy, and we had tried to set dates with them unsuccessfully before.  However, one of our investigators surprised us last Sunday (the last one of the month) by coming to sacrament meeting and agreeing to a baptismal date on January 26th   We were stoked!! But we thought for sure we were maxed out then and we couldn't get another date to meet the goal.  On Sunday, we got a call from an awesome lady in our ward named Hermana C.  She excitedly told us that her 14-year old daughter, K., had just moved in with her from Honduras (we have been waiting for this for almost a month now).  We set up an appointment for the next day, and when we got there we taught her the first lesson.  She is incredibly spiritual, doesn't speak a lick of English (we asked her if she knew what 'awesome' was, and she had no idea), and could not be more ready for baptism.  She is being baptized on the 19th (and we might move it sooner).  It was a miracle, and we set that date on December 30th.  It was amazing to see the Lord's hand helping us reach our zone goal!

Speaking of K., she is just the best!!!!  She has so much faith.  We asked her why she wanted to be baptized, and she said the thing she was most excited for was to have more faith.  She loves the Book of Mormon and it is so great to see their little family growing together in this exciting time (her mom is so excited).  She also has a little sister named E. who is a riot. K. knows no English and her mom knows very very little, but E. is 4 and has picked up a bit in school.  We always make a big deal about it when she speaks in English, and so sometimes in the middle of dinner or a lesson she will say "Today tomorrow!"  or  "Jingle Bell!"  to get a reaction out of us in her cute little accent.  Haha it is hilarious.

I have been thinking a lot about a mission and the things I have learned. I have been taught a lot about who I am and who I want to be.  When you see so many families with so many problems in so many different walks of life, you really do realize what is important.  Having a strong and worthy Priesthood holder in the house is important.  Having a home that is clean enough and calm enough that the Spirit can dwell there is important.  Having a strong marriage is important.  Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy is important.  Being clean and worthy is important. Reading the Book of Mormon is important.  Living the Word of Wisdom is important. Magnifying your calling is important.  Loving others is important.  Living always as a disciple of Christ is important.  All of these are things I already know and everyone who has grown in the gospel already knows, but I can think of a whole collections of experiences, individuals, and stories that strengthen my resolve to live each one.  God really has given us a plan that, if we follow it exactly, guides us to true happiness forever.  I want to always remember the importance of these things so I don't lose that true Happiness in the thick of thin things.  Even though it is the refiner's fire, I love being in an atmosphere that helps me to learn what is really important.

I love you all so much!!  Thanks for holding down the fort there in Utah for me.  I will continue to enjoy the paradisaical weather and swaying palm trees here. :)  Until next week!

Love, Hermana Allred