06/29/2009

Oi Família

Things are going well. This week has been a lot of finding and teaching, not a whole lot of new things happened. We did manage to teach Isais and he accepted the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. The only problem is that he has very little time to go to church. We will be working with him on that. I found out that some our other investigators were excited to come to church, it’s just that their lives currently aren’t ready. We should be preparing them by this next week with an invitation and everything. I am very excited to be working here. The members are amazing people who love the missionaries. I have become good friends with Max our ward mission leader and Bruno who is a ward missionary. They are constantly helping us and we have a fun time with them. The area is full of trees and hills. Almost like Jenipapo and Macaxiera was only with more forest. The winds here are very nice and it really helps on hot days. The only thing we experience now is rain, rain and more rain.., yay.

They had their São João parties again here. That was a good time because the fires were out again and you guessed it more corn to eat. I enjoyed seeing the dances that they have here. It always seems like the celebration times makes the mission so much easier to do. People are always so happy to hear the messages.

My new comp is Elder Farias. He has 10 months on the mission and is ready to be a sênior already. I am excited to see him go up next transfer. We had a good laugh the other day my comp probably sleep walks and I talk in my sleep. I woke up and he was gone from his bed I thought he had gone to the bathroom because of his stomach ache. So I went back to sleep. Well I got to asking him about that and he had no idea what I was talking about. That and I frequently scream and things in my sleep which adds more funny stories to his last about companions. Haha.

The cart will be about 30 or 40 reis. I am thinking about 20 to 25 dollars, if I am not mistaken about the money exchange. If the dollar got up again I think it will be the half rule again.

I am glad to hear about the week and traveling. That will be so nice to do with you guys when I get home. I have looked at how much time I have. It seems my time is running out to really work. I think I can definitely see some things that I want to do yet on the mission but events need to happen this next transfer in order for those goals to happen. Or else I am out of time. So we shall see what happens. I think I am going through the whole missionary thing when we realize how short our time really is. It’s like I am just starting to really understand the mission and now I am almost home. But that is life I suppose. I have to just relax a little and have a good time.

So I am sending Tyler’s letter this week. I am hoping I can get it out at least. There isn’t a postal service station here so I am going to have to go to Carramagibe to do that.

I love you all thank you so much for everything you do for me and all the examples you have given me. I see how much I have learned and how many standards I received from you my family and realize that I am doing so well on the mission and through these tough times because of the family I had. Thanks for that. I love you all I hope your week will be a good one. I will pray for your safety and everything this week as you travel.

I love you. Love Elder Allred

06/22/2009 Letter

Hey familia. So I did something just now that was sad. I got all of your e-mails and read them all and usually save them. But I wasn’t thinking I think I was getting into a thought process again and I purged everything I has. I about lost it. I am sorry for that.

My week was very good. It is sort like this on the mission. We work and baptize and then have to start all over again. Hopefully with the new mission focus on monthly baptisms and finding new investigators everyday this will never happen. We are finding many people to teach but when it comes to commitments and time they have very little time to do so or if they are underage many times their parents won’t accept the invitation for them to be baptized. So it sort of takes results away from the work. I think it will be ok though. It is amazing we work and do all that we can and then the lord surprises us with a few people who are ready to go and had already been prepared by the lord. And our goal will be full because the lord will see to it. It always happens like that. I have seen it so many times and can see that the Lord requires us to do what is required of us and the rest is his handwork. We had a time last transfer with this. Imagine we had knocked on doors and had taught people until we were nearly exhausted and then the Lord blessed us with a few people who wanted to e baptized. I think that could be said for anything. The lord requires us to do all we can and use our own intelligence and our own reasoning first. We try to work it out as we would do it. Then what ever is faulting the lord will complete some way. That way we also learn what we can do better for next time. I like very much the story of Nephi. The Lord told him to go he did three times and they tried using their own way and used their own resources. The Lord than provided his own way and they achieved their goal. Funny how simple a concept it is. No wonder with faith with can move mountains and we can do anything. So I guess what I am saying is keep going in life and do things and think what more you can do. As Elder Soares said to us we need to sue the brain Heavenly Father gave to us. We need to think it out and act then the Lord picks up the pieces and finishes the rest. So the rest of the month we are going to do this. We have many Families ready to hear the gospel message. With more prayer and faith and works it will be a great month.

Well I have really enjoyed reading your letters. I am glad to know that we have a new family next to us. I hope I can meet them when I get back. I hope maybe that it will become a good missionary opportunity for you. I see that the youth there in South Dakota are really good missionaries. Its fun to see. Here is a lot easier to get references from the youth than from the adults. But I have been very fortunate to be in areas that the wards give references. I see that we have many here in Barra that care about the work. It is amazing we want 10 references a week and they will give them to us without problems. It makes the work so much better with people to contact. I love it. It’s good to see that happening there. I already have a plan to be a reference giving member when I get home. Hopefully I will have lots of opportunities to give them out. I guess the only new things are that I saw some of the recent converts I baptized already participate well in their callings. It makes me really happy to see someone acting in their testimonies and grow in their capacities. I have one who will go on a mission here very soon. I couldn’t imagine how happy that would make me. It will be an exciting time. He will invite me to the temple with him. I can’t wait. Well I love you all. I hope things continue to go well. Megan try not to get too rundown continue getting some sleep. Tyler, I hope your finger gets better. We’ll be getting caught up on all the things I missed when I get home. Mom and Dad I will be praying for your trips to go well.

Love you all
Love Elder Allred

06/15/2009 Letter

Hey familia,
So I did something just now that was sad. I got all of your e-mails and read them all and usually save them but I wasn’t thinking. I think I was getting into a thought process again and I purged everything I had. I about lost it. I am sorry for that.

My week was very good. It is sort like this on the mission. We work and baptize and then have to start all over again. Hopefully with the mission focusing on monthly baptisms and finding new investigators everyday this will never happen. We are finding many people to teach but when it comes to commitments and time they have very hard time. If they are underage, many times their parents won’t accept the invitation for them to be baptized. So it sort of takes results away from the work. I think it will be ok though. It is amazing we work and do all that we can and then the Lord surprises us with a few people who are ready to go and have already been prepared by the Lord. Our goal will be full because the Lord will see to it. It always happens like that. I have seen it so many times and can see that the Lord wants us to do what is required of us and the rest is his handwork. We had a time last transfer with this. Imagine, we had knocked on doors and had taught people until we were nearly exhausted and then the Lord blessed us with a few people who wanted to be baptized. I think that could be said for anything. The Lord requires us to do all we can and use our own intelligence and our own reasoning first. We try to work it out as we would do it. Then whatever is faulting, the Lord will complete it some way. That way we also learn what we can do better for next time. I like very much the story of Nephi. The Lord told him to go. He did three times and they tried using their own way and used their own resources. The Lord then provided his own way and they achieved their goal. Funny how simple a concept it is. No wonder with faith we can move mountains and can do anything. So I guess what I am saying is keep going in life and do things and think what more you can do. As Elder Soares said to us, we need to use the brain Heavenly Father gave to us. We need to think it out and act, then the Lord picks up the pieces and finishes the rest. So the rest of the month we are going to do this. We have many families ready to hear the gospel message. With more prayer and faith and works it will be a great month.

Well I have really enjoyed reading your letters. I am glad to know that we have a new family next to us. I hope I can meet them when I get back. I hope maybe that it will become a good missionary opportunity for you. I see that the youth there in South Dakota are really good missionaries. Its fun to see. Here its a lot easier to get references from the youth than from the adults. But I have been very fortunate to be in areas that the wards give references. I see that we have many here in Barra that care about the work. It is amazing, we want 10 references a week and they will give them to us without problems. It makes the work so much better with people to contact. I love it. It’s good to see that happening there. I already have a plan to be a reference giving member when I get home. Hopefully I will have lots of opportunities to give them out. I guess the only new things are that I saw some of the recent converts I baptized already participate well in their callings. It makes me really happy to see someone acting in their testimonies and grow in their capacities. I have one who will go on a mission here very soon. I couldn’t imagine how happy that would make me. It will be an exciting time. He will invite me to the temple with him. I can’t wait. Well I love you all. I hope things continue to go well. Megan try not to get too rundown continue getting some sleep. Tyler, hope your finger gets better. We’ll be getting caught up on all the things I missed when I get home. Mom and Dad I will be praying for your trips to go well.
Love you all
Love Elder Allred

06/08/2009 Letter

Hey familia…
Well things are going well. I am really enjoying the Brazilian weather; it rains and then gets sunny for a day and then rains. That is winter for you I guess. Well this week was a bit of a surprise I wasn’t transferred and neither was my companion. So we used that day for a day of service and helped our recent convert Olivia and her son move to another apartment. It was a lot of fun and we had a great missionary opportunity with her nephew who helped us. Even today we had a good chat with him about the missionary experience. With time he will have the opportunity to learn more about the gospel. I think the greatest part of the experience was taking apart a dresser and then rebuilding the sucker. Imagine a full dresser complete with four doors two levels and the bottom part is all doors. It was huge and I thought we would never get it built in time for our appointments. Luckily we were able to manage and it went just fine. Yeah, I am looking forward to doing that like never again. But I guess it was good practice for the future things I will have to do. My comp came down with a cold on Friday that was so bad he had to stay in the house. It was a long Friday but I helped him the best I could. I learned never to mix ramen noodles with cheese soup – that is gross. I had been really hoping to teach that day and the Lord blessed me with a lesson. I had been in my studying and there was a knock at the door. A member and her companion of another church had stopped by to do their missionary work. I think they weren’t expecting to see a full time missionary there. So I was able to teach about the restoration and offered to pass by their home later to explain more. Sad part was she said it was better she make a visit to the church herself and then we would see about a visit. But it was a blessing and I enjoyed the promptness of such an answer to my short prayer.

It has been a good week though despite some of the set backs and I have come out a little stronger. I came down with the cold today. Luckily though I have had this type of cold at least three or four times already during the mission and my body seems to be more immune to it each time. The last time I had it was in December and I managed to work the whole day. At least it is P-day and I can relax and get over it before I have to work again.

I have read a recent talk about testimonies. I have been very impressed with this talk and feel I should improve on my testimony. I see that all the knowledge in the world can’t compare to that of what a testimony gives. A testimony comes from the spirit and the spirit is what really teaches and gives us knowledge. We ourselves don’t have power to testify to ourselves that something is true. It all comes from the Holy Spirit that God sends, who testifies of all truth. When we receive that Holy Spirit we receive knowledge and thus we can testify and need this to help others receive their own testimony. It is through our testimonies that others can see the truth. When we testify, the Spirit then will touch their hearts. When a testimony is present the Spirit is present; then he can touch the hearts of men. I will be working this last 8 months on what? I will be working to grow and build first my faith. (Ether 12:6) then I will work also on my testimony so that I can have the Spirit with me always. As mentioned in (D&C 60:2) we have a gift and we need to use it always. Testify what we know to be true through the Holy Spirit of Promise and I promise you that the truth will grow in us we will grow in what we know because the spirit will increase our knowledge through our personal study. We then will grow in faith and strengthen our testimonies of the truth. Others will begin to recognize the light we have. I invite you all to share your testimony at least ounce daily with a loved one, a friend, an acquaintance, or even a complete stranger.

I miss all of you. I hope this week will be a great week for you all. Tyler get better. Mom and Dad, I am glad you are doing well. I am glad the pics and letter got there safely. I am happy that you are all happy. Megan, have fun with the cool job you have. Their family is really cool. Say hi to them for me!!! Also say hi to the Whitlock’s for me I got their packet of letters and will respond soon.. I love you all. Talk to you soon
Elder Allred

06/01/2009

Hey Familia,

Well I really enjoyed the letters this week. It was good to hear about your travels and the fun you had. Megan I am glad you had fun on your date and I know that folks up around that area are really dependable so I didn’t even have any big brother feelings at all. Just that I am excited you got on your first real date. Tyler I am proud that you are able to drive for so long in the car and things. That is really cool. I know you are probably a lot better of a pilot than I ever was when it came to driving. Mom and Dad I am glad you made it home safe and that the roads were good. It sounds like you saw some good country out on the mountains I am really excited to see it when I get home. So this week was a special week. We had three baptisms. A woman named Angelita who is partially deaf and can speak very little and her two sons. Their father had already past but the ward told us that he was a member already who fell away. It was interesting that these past 2 weeks we have been teaching them and the Lord blessed us with a unique ability to communicate. I was really wishing I had taken the sign language course you both recommended I take with you. Now I have a huge desire to learn that when I get home. Her two boys were baptized on Friday. Get this she wasn’t baptized on Friday because of an appointment with the hospital about getting a hearing device. When Sunday came I still had faith that the next Saturday she would be baptized and in our weekly meeting told the Bishop and counsel to wait and plan for next Friday. We left early to begin getting people and helping people to church. We arrived to our happiness to find her and her two boys ready to go in the van that the church has to get them. (They live in a village called Cucurana). She explained to my comp that she wanted baptism immediately and as that the District Leaders offered to do the interviews that day I called the Bishop and told him we wanted the baptism that day. He had his doubts but agreed at the end. We arrived in time to begin classes and the Bishop came up to me and my comp with a big grin on his face. He said you two wouldn’t mind giving talks today would you? Well as a missionary we accept the call to serve and help but the gravity of the situation also guaranteed a surety of our response. Our answer was yes and we had 2 classes to prepare. The topic was on missionary work and I was glad to talk mainly about our duties as members for references and using our gifts in furthering the Kingdom of God. (See D&C 60:2) I will save the talk and probably use it sometime in my life and in other wards. I need to modify it a little.

In other respects of the work it went well. As a last week of the month and a last week for the transfer I felt a little less than normal in working. We had plenty of activities and things that got a little away from actually proselyting. Thursday, Elder Suares of the seventy talked to us. I really enjoy the simplicity that they use in explaining the gospel. He talked a lot about goals and believe me I’ve made a few this week. I was really impressed and will be working to change those things. I see I have a lot more to change before I come home and a lot more to do. Only problem is I have short time in which to do it. Well dad I guess as far as plans when I come home , because we are really asked to have an idea about 6 months away from leaving , I have thought about a few things that I will expound upon more this August. I have a desire to begin work or at least find a job within 1 week of getting home. I need to begin saving my money for college and other dreams I have. As far as what I want to do I think it will be in a business or science area. I have a desire to develop many skills in many areas especially in my ability to memorize. I do know I have a desire to learn Genealogy and help out with things at home a lot more than I was doing. I want to do some trips with you guys and all the outdoor stuff I miss doing. Of course I am going to try to make a trip out to Colorado. hehe… But these are just ideas I know I will be fasting and praying a lot when I get home though for what I need to do. I just have one thing that is positive and that is college because of what I was told one time. But that is about it, I think president will have some advice for me when I make 6 months. Usually, he gives advice like that about when we should have our ideas in place. And then the big interview at the end will be asking exactly what we are going to do. I just hope I will have an idea when I am back.

Well I Love you all. You know you are a special group of people to me. I am not sure what transfers will bring but lets see what happens. Haha… have a great week and a great Day. Thanks you for your letters.
Love Elder Allred

05/25/2009

Hey familia…

Well I am having a great week. We had our miracle this last week. Pedro’s mom was baptized. She was really struggling with an answer but it was a great thing to see. The Lord works in ways we cant even imagine I think He was waiting to see her faith and our faith. When she had decided to be baptized it was right after we had finished fasting. That was a trial of faith for us. I think also she had been praying for an answer and got it as I had previously explained. It all went well. I was the distraction for Pedro because his mom wanted to surprise him. So we told him the DL´s were coming to inspect my work and interview my comp. I told him I needed him to help out with an activity and teaching. I went to teach (he being the 2nd assistant of the missionary program) and we were able to talk about the missionary work. It was funny I got a call from the DL´s saying we couldn’t go to the church because his mom was on her way. So taking that for actuality I went with Pedro to the apartment he lives in which is the same building as us. Well we went to he and his mom’s apartment to talk about the work and activities but his mom was still there. She was all dressed up and ready to go to her baptism. He asked her where she was going. She said a birthday party she was called to down the road. Yeah that went well. Luckily nothing was suspected but they gave me a hard time about it afterwards. We got Pedro into the chapel just before the baptism was about to happen and told him we needed him to do a baptism for us. He had been wanting to participate in his first baptism for along time so as he waited for the investigator to be baptized. They called her name and she came to meet him in the font. It was a really emotional time for the ward and for them both. I know it was a long time coming for them both and for all of her friends. But that was how the baptism went.

We are working more and more in the village of Cucurana. We already have 3 marked for this next Friday. I am excited to be working with them this week. Transfers will be next week. I can’t believe that it flew by so fast. Before I know it I will only have 6 transfers left and then I’ll be in real trouble. We are going to have a conference this Thursday with the area president. He will be talking to us about some new thing to focus on and probably give us some new tips on how to perfect our missions. I find it interesting how effective the mission turns once we have an apostle or area authority come to talk. I think sometimes the mission gets so normal to us that we need a new way of looking at things. It’s a great thing to have these conferences. I always feel much more focused and in tune to my responsibilities when we have them.

I have been studying about our battle with the enemy lately. I have really enjoyed this subject because it gets me to look at the things I need to work on to not fall into problems. I did a self evaluation in chapter 6 of Preach my gospel. You study the attributes of Jesus Christ and then do a survey based on 1-5 points. This survey helped me see the points the enemy uses to get to me. I liked it so much I will do this survey at least every other transfer to see if I can get my point range higher and improve those things.

How are things going for you all? How is Wyoming and our Grandparents and family? I hope that you are all enjoying summer. I have been enjoying it immensely this last year and 4 months. Lol… Hey so I miss haircuts. I have been cutting my hair with a number 5 on the clippers for this whole time. I am looking forward to the good haircuts I got back home. Today we got a hair cut for the conference. And yeah they told me I am going bald. I think they just give a bad time. The president allowed us to go to the beach at 5:30 in the morning just to take pictures. I will have some more pics to send of me here in about a month. Well I hope all is well I love you all. Talk to you soon.
Love Elder Allred

05/18/2009

Hey familia…

Life is good we had a very good week and made a lot of progress in our areas. We have been receiving many references from the members because of the may different activities they do. I have really enjoyed the ward here and really see the love they have. We had planned an activity with the ward missionaries but that sort of bombed and then the baptism we had planned was rescheduled by one of the members. We discovered this person to be influencing the person to constantly change the date of her own baptism because this person wanted to be there and didn’t want to make the sacrifices of their own time to go so they influenced our candidate to keep changing. Needless to say we had a conference with the leadership and they will make sure it doesn’t happen again. We had a good baptism. We decided to go in suits and I used the idea of our old ward to play the Small and Simple Things DVD during the meeting after the baptism remembering that it made the meeting that much better and the spirit was the much sweeter. It was a good baptism and she is very happy now she was confirmed this Sunday and I could see the happiness that she had.

The activity on Friday was held in three places again. I was in Barra this time my comp in Cucurana. My comp said there were at least 32 people there and 22 were nonmembers. We contacted many this week already but can to do more. One of them were a woman and her two children. The woman is deficient in hearing and speaking but it was a good lesson and she understood us even through it all. She and her two children came to church this past sunday and I could tell they were really happy. We didn’t even have an idea that they were relatives of a member friend of ours. It was a miracle.

Speaking of miracles. On Saturday we had accessed the situation of our areas mission. The member missionaries weren’t able to come because of a birthday party that went on the day before and many were tired. We had hoped to really help Cucurana but it didn’t happen. So we did a fast. Our purpose was fasting for the area and for our opportunities o increase in finding more baptisms. I ended my fast at noon when church ended and my comp a little while after. Anyway we were waiting for our bishop to get our signature for a baptism form and he was in an meeting of a mother of a recent convert who until now hasn’t been baptized. She has been taught and is a good friend of ours and lives under us in our apartments. She has been very difficult in getting to baptize but the bishop called us. She had been crying and told us that that morning she had heard a voice calling to her. This voice gave her good feelings. She came in to church feeling very warm and the moment she stepped in to church she felt very welcome there. She ahs been attending for almost 3 months now. She has been praying for her answer and finally got it during the gospel principals class. Ether 12:6 was read about faith. She has decided to be baptized this Saturday. I will be praying much for her she is truly one who needs the gospel and who accepts Jesus Christ as our savior.

I am will write a letter to Grandpa. I will be praying for him and thinking of him. I know I will be worried until I hear more about. If anything else happens please call the office and let them know. I would be very grateful for that. I know it is natural for me to be worried for those I love. I was worried last week when everyone had been sick. Just like I was last year when dad was having anxiety attacks. I know I am get worried about these things because I am far away. I know also I am here for a purpose and you guys want me to stay focused as I know Grandpa wants me to. So I will but I will be thinking much about the welfare of my family this week.. Its sort of uncontrollable.

Well Megan congratulations on your graduation, I was there by heart and love. Tyler keep up the good work on scouting you will never forget those moments in your life. Mom and Dad you guys taught us how to be good and how to be valiant. I learned most of my best things from you. I love you all I hope all is well. I will be praying for all of you this week. I know you are all being blessed for your hard work. In your callings and for your love of the lord. Megan good job in standing up for your convictions in saying the benediction.. I am proud of the example my family shows for the church.  I love you again.
Elder Allred

05/11/2009

Hey familia.
The phone call was very awesome. I think that it was a little difficult to talk in English again but I really enjoyed hearing all of your voices again and knowing that I will see you all again will make it that much better. Thanks for the patience you all had with me and have with me even today. I know one form of love is patience. 1 Corinthians 13 really shows that every attribute of Jesus Christ is some form of love. I am trying to implement them in my life. I see that you all have grown also. I know that with the changes even the ones that separate us for a little while like this mission has gives us the best changes necessary to grow and receive the higher blessings of our Father in Heaven. I recognize that in all of you and know that you are all growing in this experience with me.

Well I guess what p-day today was a bunch of traveling around. we tried waiting for the rest of the zone to get to a spot for lunch and kind of ate up the p-day. but then we relaxed and that was ok. I tried sending this e-mail sooner but the e-mail was down in many places and there was very little I could do. I know next week will be better.
I would very much like to talk when I get home. I will have a ton of stories to tell when I get home. I think a life time of stories. Also I think I would very much like to just chill out with you all when i get home. But that is another 9 months and I wont let those thoughts get to my work.. lol… just the plane ride home!!!! so anyways I guess I could share a dream I had. I had a dream about the mountains back home last night. I had a dream I went to Yellowstone with you all that was a lot of fun. It was all in Portuguese but was a lot of fun. I woke up and cleaned the house and left. Well this week we are getting ready to baptize. We want to baptize about 3 of our investigators and with faith we will be able to help them.

I saw that Hunter is getting married I got the letter form grandma and grandpa today. congratulate him for me.  I hope all will go well with the graduation this week I know all will be fine. I love each of you and cant wait to see you again here in 9 months.. I pray for each night. there exists no other family that I would rather be with for time and all eternity than with all of you.
love you all..
Elder Allred

05/04/2009

Well I am way excited to for this Sunday. I will really enjoy the opportunity to talk to all of you once again. So this week was really good. I had the opportunity to see our activities go through and see things happen as they should. We did a division and my companion stayed here in Barra with the group leader of the apartments. I went a little bit into the country and did a division with the bishop in the country folks group. We had 13 people there at the activity that weren’t members. Think of what a great activity that was. I really enjoyed the talk on families by the bishop and luckily had some pamphlets about the Proclamation to the World to hand out to people. It was overall a very good experience. They didn’t have any games planned so I went out of my shyness and did the world’s biggest zoo game. It was a really good time; when I get home I will have to play that game with all of you.

We got back to the other group in just enough time to see them finish. It was a good turnout and now we have many people that we can begin teaching out in the country.  We are also working on getting some people active again in the church. Sometimes the reasons they left are so small that it just takes a little diplomacy and friendship to get them back and to enjoy the full blessings again of their baptisms. We met a man who has had some really rough times in his life. We invited him and he told us he didn’t have good clothes to come to church., my comp just looked at him and said you only need to have yourself there because the Lord accepts you for who you are. He said “he would go for the Lord.” He was there Sunday and to our great joy he participated well and talked to the bishop and the stake president. We are going to attempt to get two members married. Based on some money issues they can’t get married but we will try to see what we can do to help them.

We are trying also to get a family married in Cucurana. She has been investigating the church for 2 weeks now but we haven’t gotten a hold of her boyfriend. Being that they have to be married before baptism we will try this next week to get a hold of him. He already has great interest in knowing the church but has to work a lot.

So I have learned a little more this week about miracles. If we just work, even if we don’t have success for a while, the miracles come because we are being obedient and we are showing our desire. Things just happen that when looking back it doesn’t seem possible. But it isn’t us that provide miracles it is the Lord and we are simply doing his will which provides the opportunities and opens the door for a miracles to happen. I will explain more about this miracle later in another letter.

Well my companion is from Sao Paulo just to explain a little about him. I’ve seen some of his pics already they are pretty wild. I don’t think I will attempt any clown pictures. The ward is getting more amore excited as we implement more and more of the thoughts given to us. It is a great opportunity to work with him but challenging for me because now I need to do some instructing on some things in the mission.

Megan thanks for the letter I would greatly enjoy a DVD or something to feel apart of your graduation. It is really sad for me that I can’t be there but at the same time I am glad I am doing something worth the while. I love you.

Hey just don’t get sick anymore alright. I don’t want you guys getting Pig Flu or whatever they call it in the U.S. That doesn’t sound like a lot of fun to me. Well Mom and Dad I can’t wait to talk to you this weekend. I love you all and hope things are going well and will go well this week. I am praying for you and thinking of you. Looking forward to your phone call. Love
Elder Allred

04/27/2009 Letter

Hey familia. como via. eu esou muito bem..
So Tuesday morning hits. I am all excited to prepare for transfers and then the phone rings.  It’s Elder Rodriguez from Vitoria which was my late comps home town and his family was to be sealed at the temple that day. They had no way of calling him to be there at the temple. It was my first sealing that I got to see in my life. I greatly appreciated the opportunity to see him, his brothers, sisters and mother and father (who passed away) get sealed in the temple. It was a great experience and a great way to end the transfer. He was transferred to Jão Boratão and has already sent in his papers. I am excited to see where he will go. I received a companheiro with 2 months on the mission. He was just trained this last transfer. I am excited to use some of my knowledge to help out with any worries but I am also learning a lot from him as well as I always do from all my comps. He is from Jason’s mission in São Paulo but hasn’t met him before. I have already met many missionaries from there who say that he is a really great missionary. It’s cool to have a comp from the same mission as my cousin. Anyways it was funny to hear him talk about his past jobs. He was a clown once and worked a lot with people, so he knows a lot about exciting people and using his gifts to help the members. We are now beginning an activity to bring references to us. The ward will split in 3 parts and each group will be responsible for activities within themselves. This will give them the opportunity to focus on their districts and we can go in during activities and get references and meet less-actives. It is a great idea that has been a long time coming in the ward. It appears they were just waiting for the right missionary to get them excited. My comp is really exciting and I like to do new things so the ward will really help us with their program and we can begin truly working hard in this area. My ultimate goal is leaving this area knowing future missionaries will be able to get lots of references. It’s quite a jump this last week from what we had the last transfer.

I am still learning lots about leadership and bringing the Light of Christ to others. I have been reading in D&C 130 about the Light of Christ and how we need to help others. If you go to 3rd Nephi 12:15-16 you will find a great scripture of what we as members should be doing. I love it.

We are working a lot with couples here trying to get them married. It will be a good work to do I am excited to help them and their families. We are focusing more this transfer in the mission on families. The president wants us to focus more on getting whole families to accept the gospel rather than just a few. This will greatly help us to grow in our teaching and our relationships with others.

Megan you can’t graduate this year sorry. Looks like you are going to be in until I get home I will write Rebby to keep you there if I have to. hahahaha…

I am glad to hear about the exciting adventures you all are having there in the branch it makes me that more excited to begin helping once I finish my mission service. It sounds like the branch is being very blessed and it is all because of obedience and love. You are such a choice family to me and thanks for being such a great example for me in what I need to do to be happier on the mission. Seems like there is always something we need to work on. I recognize a few things I could do better. But this is what the mission is all about. I am working and the Lord shows me what to strengthen. Then I go to work again.

I hope the package arrives here in a little bit; she is sending it or will send it but it will get there. I love you all; I will be praying for you and keeping you in my thoughts. Megan still can’t graduate. haha…. Love you all talk to you soon.
Love always
Elder Allred