Para La Familia Allred

hola mis seres queridos! this week was crazy... but awesome and it flew by so fast! the days really are starting to feel like weeks and the weeks like days its the weirdest thing in the world, but the mission is awesome!

first and foremost i want to wish my dear mother a happy birthday! dont you think i forgot di i was talking to elder wilcox about it on saturday! i ate my package candy to celebrate it was a good time. i love you mother and i look up to you in more ways than you know. youre my idol and i strive everyday in the mission to develop the love that you have for others! hope it was awesome!

happy birthday to col dawg too! i think elder passey sent our package with some cool stuff in it for you including my most prized possession... the reffing jacket! best jacket ever take care of it. love you homie have a way good birthday. big 16! take good care of carl too i miss him ;(

this week we had one of the coolest experiences that ive had on my mission to this point. it all started on thursday and hopefully i can remember everything.... we were using the ward list to look for this inactive family and we knocked a random door in the middle of nowhere to ask. a 20 year old kid named eduardo came out with his little daughter. he didnt know where they lived but he was pretty nice and we asked if we could share something with him. he was reluctant but after a little bit of pushing he agreed to let us show a 3 min video about families. we entered and met his girlfriend that he lives with and she pretty much gave us the cold shoulder. after talking he told us he was baptized when he was 8 but moved out a couple years ago with his gf and hadnt been to church in a long time. it was obvious he wasnt really living the way he should be but it was a good lesson and they liked the video. we left and he followed us out the door to go visit his friend.

flash forward two days to saturday, we¨re looking for this same family! a car drives by us and wants to talk with us so we go over and they say theyre family with this eduardo and that on thursday right after we had left he had been in a terrible car crash. they told us to visit him so we went and he was in his bed and his whole family was there and theyre all member of the church. his gf that didnt give us the time of day before gladly welcomed us and brought us to his room where we talked privately for about 40 min. he was beat up but really no broken bones or anything too bad. we gave him a priesthood blessing and he told us the story. 

he had left in his car on thursday and couldnt stop thinking about the video. after about an hour driving he fell asleep at the wheel and crossed over right at a truck. about 2 seconds before impact he said that ¨christ¨woke him up and the video and his family flashed through his mind and all he could think was one, im going to die, and two i wish i wouldve done more to create a better family. nobody knows how but he exited through the windshield as the truck went over the mazda and completely destroyed it before it was hit by two other cars. he went unconscious until 3 hours before we came on saturday to see him where he told us he is going to turn his whole life around and do everything he can to have an eternal family. 

we went back to teach them yesterday and his girlfriend liset told us she would be baptized. tonight we have a family home evening with them and all their family to talk about marriage and it is gonna be so awesome! im gonna attach a picture of the car. ive never seen anything like it and not be the result of a dead person. its crazy. the guy is walking!

on sunday morning at like 4 am we got a call from an investigator named santiago that had a dream about christ coming ot the americas and he knows the church is true.. but isnt married with his gf either. but anyway he called and was like ¨brother... i was reading in 3rd nephi 6 and i wanted to know where the people of nephi were¨after explaining to him where the nephites were i asked him if he knew what time it was. he told me he knew but he had an individual devotional everynight at this time. i hung up and we just laughed for like 10 min it was so funny!

we had conference for all the dl´s in the mish on friday and i saw some friends for the first time in a long time it was so cool and super spiritually uplifing! ill put in the pic i got with elder frampton.

i want to end with a scripture and analogy. alma 30:24 we read that korihor is arguing that the rules and regulations of the church are putting the people in captivity, not freeing them. presidente ezra taft benson tells a story of when he was flying a kite and he asked his dad what holds the kite up? his dad responded the string.. and he said no thats what keeps it down... so his dad said well then cut the string! so he cut it and the kite fell to the ground. 

the commandments are for our own good. they dont hold us down, they let us fly higher. i realize that more than ever and i know i know nothing compared to my father in heaven. everyone of us needs to recognize the eternal truth of obedience with exactness. its what brings miracles into our lives and ive seen it on my mission.

i love you all so much and hope youre good! i pray for all of you and i feel the prayers and thoughts for me every day! choose the right, be obedient and enjoy this wonderful life!:)

-elder allred - chilean street raptor

I May be a Jumper

so i got changed from the hills of rodelillo valparaiso to a tiny ward in the country of viña del mar called las maravillas....im going to miss elder passey and my old area, valparaiso has my heart, but youre not going to believe who my new comp is... elder wilcox! my comp from the mtc! hes has been here the whole time since we arrived in chile, and now were comps again. really our ward is struggling a little bit, but we set some high goals and i know through pure diligence and obedience that we are going to work miracles here!

the keyboard im using is seriously a finger workout so this may be short, every key feels like it was hot glued a couple years back! but anyway were here and in the first 3 days we put 3 baptism dates. the problem is nobody came to church. but one little girl from a part family named anais is probably going to be baptized next sunday anyway. she wanted to wait a year and a half for her cousin to come home from the mission.. but we cut that real fast. shes adorable i hope it happens. speaking of baptism ELI IS ALMOST 8 YEARS OLD?! i seriously cant even believe that thats crazy! i miss the whole burr family and i want to wish ash and ad a happy 10 year anniversary. your family is crazy, but i love them all and miss you guys!

yesterday we had lunch with a convert who is a chef. his name is miguel and he decided that he wanted to try to kill us. it was the most food i have seen in all my time in chile. really if im being honest chilean food is just kind of sub par. completos are great, but other than that its pretty much chicken and rice or potatoes every day. but this guy gave us two of the biggest and best tasting hamburgers with homeade french fries that ive ever had! then after there was like the chocolate fountain that he had with fruit and cake. i thought i was going to die he jsut kept bringing more and more food!

if we dont improve this ward soon it is probably turning into a branch. president put me as district leader here and even though i feel nervous about it all i know that im here for a reason. the lord qualifies people for their tasks! only through obedience is it possible though. there was a lot of chuecoism here when i arrived. a lot of disobedient missionaries but together with our zone leaders i think that we are going to turn it around. we pretty have been contacting all day for like 4 days straight to find new investigators and thats probably how it will be this week too. i know it will pay off though. the biggest sacrifice today will be the biggest blessing tomorrow -elder passey

i hope that someday i find a donkey to ride like elder lee. puro oro elder bien hecho. mi sueño es lograr 8 segundos un dia sobre el asno. 

enjoy the warm winter everyone!! :) you all are beacons of light for generations to come! let your light so shine. loveeee yoouuuuuu guyyyyssss chauuuuuuu

-elder allred - chilean street raptor

my last pic from valpo, and my face when joseph grennys package arrived :)

La Vida

i cant believe another 6 weeks has gone by and that its time for changes again. this wednesday we will find out what is happening but with the miracles that elder passey and i have seen these 6 weeks in valparaiso and the fun weve had, i would love another change here! ive grown to love everything about this place in such a short time and i hope im not leaving despite the fact that i am dying from the fleas and the hills.

this week was so awesome. we were eating completos for once (chilean dinner) with this less active couple on wednesday night and we decided to watch a video about the temples with them. ive seen this video like 1000 times but this time it was so different. the spirit just filled the room so much and when we talked about it after everybody was crying! the guy is a rapper (check him out on soundcloud and subscribe below- apocalipsis acustica) and was a convert to the church like 2 years ago. theyve suffered setback after setback and have not been to the temple together. after this lesson they promised us they would make it to the temple this year and now theyve both got interviews to have callings. 

on tuesday we had interchanges and i stayed in our ward with elder nash our zone leader. his dad is marcus b. nash of the seventy and he lived in peru for four years. hes such a stud and i really just watched him like discern the thoughts of people like 4 times. hes a spiritual giant and i decided to set some goals that day to seek the gift of discernment every single day. it was a great interchange.

we held the baptisms for alexander and danitza labbe yesterday ending the change with 4 baptisms!! it was the best day of my mission so far, and giovanni our convert gave a talk on baptism too! these kids are crazy and drove me up a wall almost every day, but i love them and their family and ill never forget the times that weve had!

my testimony was really strengthened this week. every day as i read verse by verse from the book of mormon in spanish and english i realize the truth it contains. it can be a guide for our lives if we believe in it and trust the answers that we receive. personal revelation is vital for every single person. i promise as everyone devotes themselves more fully to that book that they will gain more knowledge, and stronger faith. i love the book of mormon, i love the mission, i love the church. and i know that they are all true.

-elder allred - chilean street raptor

photos: baptism of danitza and alexander, 18 clothes clips on my face (i won/so painful), and a completo run with giovanni with funny vulgar language on the sign

The Hills Have Eyes

i dont know what my subject has to do with my week but i thought itd be clever and that movie was weird. what the heck is up with the world?! gas is 1.60?! old man tom brady is still winning super bowls?! did america take a step back a few years or what? also if steph wins MVP im throwing my own little party, and im inviting everybody in valpo.

the flea war continues. we seem to be at a steelmate. steelmate right? i dont know sorry hank i failed you... nothing we do works. its become something that we just have to live with. the battles go on but theyre like the orcs on the 2nd lord of the rings... there are just too many. we need gandolf. we know we need a cleaner apt, but its tough stuff. many moons have we spent asking ourselves how mothers always keep houses clean...

last monday night elder passey and i got back and we were so tired because we were running around all day for p day because a bunch of stuff happened!! but we got back and i hit the bed as fast as i could and started having some weird dreams... at one point i sat up in the middle of the night and saw just a huge spider on the wall in front of my bed and it climbed down the wall super fast and went under my bed. so i was like ELDER WAKE UP and i was like how big are the spider here in chile? he told me were not too big but i was still so scared so i jumped out of bed and turned on the lights to look! there was no spider in the room, but i was tripping so hard... we didnt even remember it had happened until the next night.

we met a lot of gay people this week. we seriously taught like 3 different gay guys and it was super interesting to see their opinions on god. one of them is a member inactive, but he believes very strongly in the gospel. as we questioned him to figure out how strong his testimony was he finally admitted to us that he liked sinning too much to give it up. it was powerful. were gonna keep visiting him and he says hes going to come to church.

this week was a little bit disappointing but super good and super fun. lately if weve been getting down we dont stay there for too long. we had a couple of baptismal dates fall, but we had our crazy family come to church! not the alcoholic, he doesnt want to talk with us... but this crazy lady that was baptized when she was 8 and hardly remembers anthing has been making her kids go to church and talk with us ever since we found them, but this was awesome! they have been opening up way more to us, and they want to be baptized now! we think it will be this sunday. one of them is 12, her name is danitza, adn she is nocturnal. no im serious this family is like off the deep end weird. but i love them. yeah shes nocturnal and doesnt ever want to do anything but jplay games on her computer or phone, her brother is alexander, hes 14, super flaite (ghetto chilean), and has a lot of problems with the law of chastity. weve been talking with them  a lot and its amazing how much theyve changed. they want to keep all of the commandments and theyve really opened up. i really do love them. 

i love something elder passey told me this week, he said the lord always looks on the heart. you can run all around and contact a lot of doors but really if all youre doing on the inside is thinking about the bad soda and butter sandwich youre going to have when you get back to the pension, youre not really being diligent. i feel 100 percent diligent in the time that i have been with elder passey and that is why i think that we are seeing miracles here. lots of time we dont see miracles because were not willing to go where miracles happen! weve consecrated ourselves 100 percent to this work and i know the lord will bless us if we keep it up. 

if im being honest life back home is starting to feel like a dream but i know it will be the opposite in a short few months, im trying my very best to live in the present and enjoy every second i have in this great city with these people that i love, sharing the truest thing that has ever existed.

love you all. 

-elder allred - chilean street raptor

pics: bus ride mirror selfie and a pic with alexander in church wehn the lesson started getting boring