The Lord Giveth

Here we are, at the end of another week in Orlando.  It was an interesting week!  We are really having an interesting time trying to adjust to the new area and find new investigators - it worked last time, so it will probably work this time if you could pray for us to find more people to teach! Thank you thank you in advance.

R. who was scheduled to get baptized last Saturday, is currently missing in action.  We think he is still on his trip in Miami.  Please pray for us to find him so he can be baptized!!

Saturday was especially awesome because I was able to go to the temple with the other missionaries who are leaving in December.  I was companions for the morning with Sister LaForce, who is serving in the English ward where we are at.  It was so, so awesome.  I loved to be in the temple and feel such peace.  I was able to receive revelation for some questions I had.  I felt so uplifted and so happy.  At the end, we all had a chance to sit in the Celestial Room and, well, account to the Lord for what we have done with His time.  This has always been the scariest thought to me!!!  But as I was sitting in the room, praying, I was so happy.  I was so at peace.  I still have some good weeks to give, but as I accounted to the Lord, I could tell that He was happy and proud of me.  I have been anything but a perfect missionary, and I continue to learn and re-learn lessons about being better, but I knew that that was ok.  It was an incredibly spiritual experience, and put a wonderful tone on the day.  Plus, on the way home they gave us permission to stop for lunch, so I took Sister LaForce to my favorite place in Orlando - the taqueria on Oakridge (Windy Ridge area)!!!  It was awesome and it reminded me of the good old days with Sisters Campos, Jackson, and Day. :)

I have such a strong testimony of obedience.

I also have such a strong testimony of the redeeming power of Jesus Christ, our Savior.  What a blessing that is.

This week we were blessed to find and teach several new people!  Recently they instructed us to teach the first lesson to English people that we find before passing them off to their respective missionaries.  We were able to find 5 different families/individuals in the last week or so that fit in that category, and it is so great to be able to start them off on a strong foot.  It is also nice to be a blessing to other missionaries as we have been passing off these wonderful people.  I love being a missionary!

On the other hand, it has been especially difficult this week for us to find investigators that we can teach.  We have tried so hard to follow the Spirit, talk to everyone, and go one more step even when we are tired, but we haven't seen fruits in our investigator pool yet!  I guess it is a good thing to once again realize that the Lord is in charge - He gives, He takes away, and He tries our faith and dedication to Him.  Hopefully we will be seeing some awesome fruit this coming week!

One blessing was teaching Re.  We were able to teach him briefly yesterday - he had already read the Restoration pamphlet that we left him, and he is excited to come to church with us this Sunday!  We at least have one new person to be working with, and what a blessing that really is!

Mission life is so good.  We had an awesome Zone Conference this week in the which I felt the Spirit a lot.  I love President and Sister Berry, I love the prophets, I love you all, and I love the Savior Jesus Christ. :)

Have the best Thanksgiving ever!!!!


Love, Sister Allred

Hermana Allred with President and Sister Berry

Sister Conger

Hermana Fisi

The beautiful Orlando temple and a beautiful missionary!

"I'm not dead yet!"

It has been a great week! I start this email with a movie reference.

You know that part in Monte Python and the Holy Grail where the guy is
like, "Bring out yer dead!" And this one man takes out this old guy
who keeps protesting, "I'm not dead yet!" That is how I feel. And let
me tell you why.

This week, we had a Zone Training Meeting that was awesome. I always
love those. At the end, they invited all the missionaries departing at
the end of the transfer to give their testimonies. I was like, "Hello,
this isn't even my last ZTM! I still have over a month!" But alas, I
gave it anyway.

A few days later, I got a letter from the mission office that I threw
in my bag and forgot about until the next morning. When I opened it, i
realized with horror that it was my travel plans!! Already! I am
getting home at like, 10:45 a.m.. I was in shock. Last time I checked, I
still have quite a bit of time here in the field!

Also, the big "last temple trip" has already been scheduled and
announced -- for this Saturday. What?!

FLORIDA ORLANDO MISSION: I AM NOT DEAD YET!!

Haha.

In the meantime, old deathbed Sister Allred is still working Semoran!
In between a doctor's appointment and an MRI for some hearing loss
that Hna Hernandez is having, we had some great experiences!

One was with a recent convert of Sister Jackson and Sister Marsh in
the ward named Brother V. He is so so awesome, but has been feeling
really lonely lately and going through a hard time. I had been
thinking earlier in the week of what I could do to have the Spirit
more in lessons, and one of the ideas I found was to have a more
focused Personal Study. The day of Brother V's lesson, I had a very
investigator-oriented study and felt the Spirit. Brother V was not
originally in the plans, so I didn't get to study for him in the
morning. However, we set up the appointment and decided to teach about
the Savior and the atonement. We felt the Spirit incredibly strong as
we testified of the Atonement and our Friend Jesus Christ. I know that
it was because I had a focused study, even though it wasn't
specifically for the lesson! So awesome.

We found a super prepared family last night! We were trying to find
some old investigators, and on our way out of the neighborhood we
pulled over to chase down a guy we felt we should talk to. We set a
return appointment with him and his wife for today! On our way back to
our car, we decided to just randomly knock on the door of the
next-door neighbor of the former we were trying to visit. J opened
the door, and we ended up teaching him, his wife C, C's
mom R, and their friend A the Restoration. It was awesome!!!
They are looking for a church and seemed interested in being baptized!
It was so cool to teach the whole family. The English Elders will be
teaching them again Friday! The Lord blesses us when we follow His
Spirit - that I know!

This week, I grew in my testimony of the Savior yet again. On Sunday,
I just woke up extremely anxious and depressed and panicked. It was
one of the worst mornings of my whole mission. I didn't know what to
do, so I opened up your letters. Mom, I really loved what you shared
with me about answers to prayers and feeling the Spirit in the play.
It helped me a lot.  I also was able to find a lot of comfort in the
Book of Mormon and the Sacrament. It really was a healing balm to my
soul.  I have been thinking a lot about justice and mercy this week.
Haha I was actually thinking about Jean Valjean and Javer. They both
are confronted with a situation in which mercy is given. Jean Valjean
accepts the mercy and changes forever. Javer is so caught up in the
justice that he takes his own life. Sometimes, I get too focused on
the justice aspect of the Gospel. Not only does that make it easy to
judge, but it makes it easy to get down on myself. I had a clear
thought during the sacrament. It was, "You have forgotten Me." I
really had. I had forgotten that Jesus is merciful. I had forgotten
all of the instances in my life where I have felt of His love and
mercy. Let's not forget who Jesus really is.

I know that He lives. I know that He forgives. I want to keep being
more like him every day.

I love you!

Hermana Allred

Happy!

Mom, Dad, Tyler, Brandon, Bryson, Alyssa, Ethan, and Ashlyn:

Haha just so you know, I have already received a report on the Savior of the World play from Marissa. I heard you did great!  My family, the thespians. :)  Who knew?

It has been an AWESOME week as usual.  The transfer has started off with a bang!!

Remember J and E?  Your prayers worked! We finally got to meet with them again and set a baptismal date for the 13th of December.  They are so great and it was such a spiritual lesson.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation and I was reminded of the gratitude I have for my Savior and the role He plays in my personal plan.

Also, this last week we did Cockroach-house cleaning, part II.  It was awesome and totally gross, as usual!  But here is the cool thing: last time we were there, we had been referred there to do the cleaning for M, who was taking care of her grandkids.  This time, J, M's daughter, was there!  We helped her and talked to her.  She has just gotten out of a tricky situation, and said that she wanted to get into church and start over again.  We happily set an appointment and came back Friday.  She was so happy to hear the message, said that she had known there was something more than just the Bible, and was answering in the affirmative before we could even finish asking her if she would be baptized onDecember 13th.  She is so so great!!!!!  She wants to be a disciple her whole life, and baptism is just the catalyst that she needs to get her there.

So after all of this awesome success, we had a crazy multi-stake conference yesterday!!  They created a new stake in Orlando, the Lake Mary stake.  It was so exciting to be such a real-life part of Church growth.  I felt proud to have contributed a few souls to the army of the Lord here in Orlando.  We are not part of the new stake here in Semoran, but we are becoming a ward in a few months!  Also, our stake boundaries were altered, as well as our ward boundaries.  I don't know if you remember the street Oakridge that I was always on in Windy Ridge, but now it is a part of our ward! Taqueria, Keren, and all!  :)  (Keren is the one who got baptized in January)  I am so excited to be with some of my old friends again!  Also, the division changed big time between us and the Elders.  Instead of a North/South divide, it became an East/West divide.  This is just fine, but J, E, and Jo all live on the West side of our divide.... and we are the East missionaries now.  All of the Elder's investigators were on our side too, so we basically did an investigator swap!  This is a cool opportunity to start again again, and I am excited to work with a new batch of people while still being able to see Jo, J, E, J, etc.  Crazy stuff!  I have faith in our Church leaders, and I know that for whatever reason this is what the people here needed.

We did find two new investigators this last week that we get to keep!  J and A are from Honduras and Guatemala.  We had a very spiritual lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they said they would be baptized when they felt ready.  They are so, so awesome and I am excited to keep working with them.

So I have a testimony this week that I want to share.  It is one that I have shared before, but I would like to reiterate it.  I have a testimony that the Lord blesses us when we try.  When we have a goal, but aren't sure how to accomplish it, so then we just come up with our best idea and try it.  Then the Lord blesses us immensely with the change and Spirit we wanted, just for doing our best.  I have seen it in trying to do genealogy work.  I have seen it in preparing for conference.  I have seen it in serving a mission.  And this week, I saw it again!  I have a goal to really strengthen my testimony specifically on our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I heard the talk in the Women's Conference about memorizing the Living Christ, and I thought, "Oh, that's cool!  I will do that when I get home."  And then didn't think about it more.  Until mom wrote me about it!  And then, during sacrament meeting last Sunday, the thought came to me to do it now.  So I did!  I wasn't sure how to strengthen my testimony in Christ exactly, but I figured that was a good place to start.  So every night after planning, I have tried to memorize a paragraph.  I will recite it to myself and do my best to remember it and ponder it.  This week, me and Sister Hernandez were in a house to say a prayer and we both felt strongly that we needed to leave.  We did after the prayer, but the scary feeling stayed with us.  We prayed, but it was still there.  I recited what I had memorized from the Living Christ on my bike and while we were waiting at the crosswalk.  The powerful words helped my fear go away.  In our lessons, from the simple act of trying to memorize, I feel a deep gratitude and love for my Savior as I testify of Him.  Our lessons have been more powerful and more Spiritual.  My testimony is getting deeper and more real, and my love for Him is growing.  It is such a miracle.  Do it!  I know He will bless you.

I love being a missionary.  I love working at my weaknesses.  I love President Berry.  I love being a member of the Church.  The more I think, the more I get excited for life - all of it.  There is so much work to do, and I am ready!!!


I love you all.


I know that Jesus is real.  He is the living Christ.  He talks and loves and helps and guides.  He knows where I am and what I am doing.  He really did live the perfect life to give us a perfect example.  I know He is at the head of this work.

What a blessing. :)

Love, Sister Allred

So Profound an Influence

Transfers are this week! .... And nothing is changing for this
Hermana! Looks like I will be finishing out my mission in good old
Semoran with Hermana Hernandez. :)

This week was awesome! I love being a missionary! I have loved
rediscovering a positive attitude , hard work, patience, and charity.
Haha but really. How easy is it to be happy when everything is  going
well? Really easy! It is the true test of a positive attitude to stay
happy in spite of challenges. I am not perfect yet, but I am getting
better at it!

I love reflecting on my mission. I still have many lessons to learn,
but every day basically I discovering gems in my soul that have been
refined through dozens and dozens of normal, every-day experiences as
a missionary.

Something that has been fascinating me lately is how little I actually
knew as a new missionary. They give you a couple weeks of training,
the White Handbook, PMG, and a few DVDs and send you out! I knew so
little bout the daily grit of missionary life. Yet I knew so much
about what being a missionary really meant - sometimes I think I got
it more then than I do now! The Lord doesn't require us to be really
well-versed or an expert. He just asks for a willing heart and an
obedient Spirit. If we do our best to learn and obey, we WILL become
who he wants us to become.

I am really grateful that i have tried my best to do that. I have
changed. I have seen missionaries who have gone through their whole
missions unchanged. That makes me sad. The mission can be a beautiful
chrysalis for change if we obey and give it our all.

Our investigators are.... Falling off the face of the planet. Please
pray for us to be able to get into contact with the ones who are ready
to change and progress.

Wow, we are getting better at teaching on the spot! I feel like a
better missionary than before; like I am filling my purpose better.

Especially pray for J! He needs to be baptized on the 6th of
December, but we have to be able to talk to him first!

I am determined to know my Savior better. In the last few days, that
has been a blessing to learn more about Him. Life just keeps getting
better!

Hmm, what else.... Oh! Halloween was fun. We had a ward trunk-or-treat
on Wednesday, all the ward members loved our Mormon.org card costume.
:) we taught some lessons on the 31st, which was good! We found a
member who wants to come back to church! He is awesome.  I got your
package and of course loved it. Those pumpkin spice Oreos are to die
for, and the jewel jelly beans were awesome. And, of course, the
leaves and pictures. :) I love you, mom!!

You are all the best. Have the best week ever!

Hermana Allred

Happy Halloween!

The life size pass along card!