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
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