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