Tuesday, August 16, 2016

It's Like a Mouthful of Joy


Ive been impressed with about a million different thoughts and feelings as my time has winded down. its pretty much impossible and also completely illogical to try to explain what ive felt, seen, experienced, and become in two years as a servant of the Lord so i wont attempt it. but ill try to throw out as many thoughts as i can in these 15-20 min that i have to write what will be my last letter to home as a missionary of the Lord`s church...



yesterday they gave me ten minutes in sacrament meeting to bear my testimony for my last sunday in teh ward. a quote came to my mind that i know came from the spirit. considering the fact that i read it on the wall of my sixth grade classroom in Mr. Hodson`s class years ago, im almost positive i couldnt have just randomly thought of it in that moment. "if you want something that you`ve never had, you`ve got to do something that you`ve never done." a basketball player cannot become his very best unless he changes habitual training, an experienced chef will never learn new recipes unless he tests them and tries himself, we cannot become heirs of our fathers` kingdom without having passed throught the trial. these have been the two hardest, most difficult years of my life... they`ve also been the most rewarding, joy filled years ive ever had. and i no i never could have become what i am today without these experiences that ive passed through.



its kind of interesting how sometimes when you put your hands on the plow and start moving forward you look back after a while and realize how far youve come. if you check your progress every 30 seconds you`ll probably get a little desperate and feel like the work just isnt coming along how you hoped. for 24 months ive tried my very very hardest to keep moving forward with the plow and NEVER look back. at certain moments ive been blessed to realized how much progress ive made but i never wanted to stop and admire anything until the work was finished. well the work is not finished but my time here in Chile is and i couldnt be happier with how blessed ive been. i think the big question every missionary has by the end of his time is - did i do everything i could have? its a question ive been asking for a few days and the Lord has blessed me with the assurance that he is pleased with me. theres no greater feeling. the same words have been ringing in my head for the last few days:



His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithfulservant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.



today, tuesday, wednesday, adn thursday will be my last days here in Serena. On friday elder frampton is taking a bus to come here and we`ll be spending the day together in coquimbo visiting our homies. in the morning we have breakfast with my old bishop, lunch is in a peruvian restaurant of a member from e framptons old ward, and at night were having an asado with my boy Alexis and then at midnight hes taking us to the bus station to head to viña. i arrive saturday morning and at about 12 in the afternoon will head to santiago to witness two sealings of waht has been the greatest blessing of my mission. see a family convert themselves to the gospel and change absolutely EVERYTHING they had ever known or had before. theres no words to describe how i will feel to participate in those two sealings. i love them so much. i love everyone here so much. this country is my second home and ill miss it a whole lot.

Sunday will be my last interview with President. Monday i head out to visit everyone in viña, quilpue, and valparaiso with elder mcelhaney, and tuesday morning we head to the temple and then to the airport in the afternoon.



i cant believe its coming to an end. haha i seriously cant it doesnt really fit in my brain. the one thing i do know is that i will cherish these last few days. all i want is to finish strong...!



like i said the mission has changed me forever. ill never be the same. im still Wyatt. but i understand so much more now and thats made all of the difference. i know where my life needs to go. all of the other things are simply tangents on the way, but i know whats most important.



ill finish with my testimony that i know without a sliver of doubt in my mind that this church is true. it really is something way more divine and beautiful than we realize. if we could comprehend the magnitude of the decisions we make it wouldnt be so hard. but thats not the point. im grateful the Lord lets us make mistakes and lets us see our own weaknesses. his plan is perfect. get to know it better. try to understand why he allows things to happen. ask him. i know he answers, i know he lives. his Son died for us, and theres nothing more important in the world than this knowledge! not even Pokemon Go.



my mission has been the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. i love this work.



see you guys next wednesday in SLC. somebody bring me panda express cause ya boi`s got some mad cravings.



Chow mein with orange chicken and sweetfire chicken breast.



-Elder Allred - chilean street raptor signing off...



photos- the last soccer game with the young mens.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

The Hospital


this week was crazy. but i loved it. whenever there are lots of things going on at once it sort of eliminates any distractions that i could have from the work. so it wasnt horrible that this week our house turned into a hospital.



almost everyone in the zone this week got sick at some point from food, flu, or some other problem. theres a sector in the zone called Vicuña that about two hours away from Serena in the middle of nowhere. well one of the missionaries who was training his comp called us on monday and had been going through really bad back and rib pain for a few days. he had already had to go back to his house one time to get knee surgery and so on tuesday they came here, we took them to the hospital and then for 5 days they stayed at our house so that he could rest and see if it went away. well it didnt, but for 4 of the 5 days i went out and worked with his comp Elder Larson and did his training for a little, while my comp stayed home with the other elder since my comp has had some knee and foot pain. i was chill with it because the last thing i wanted is to be locked in a house doing nothing for my last days on teh mish.



everything was going really well with elder larson, in fact we found a couple of really really good new investigators, until we went to lunch one day and they served us seafood. ive honestly come to like most types of seafood and i can eat anything they give me... but elder larson wasnt so lucky. he stomached it all, but when we went to the house to drop some stuff off he barfed clams, piuri, shellfish, and rice all over. its chill we cleaned it up and everything and he felt better, alright lets go out ot work. so we go out and 10  min later same thing. but in the street in front of everyone.



hah so we went back and then had to go meet up with my comp who was coming back from vicuña because they had to go get some stuff. e larson didnt make it. again in the street in front of everyone hahaha. good times. but yeah i finally got with my comp and we went out to work. sadly the other missionary got transfered to viña because he needs to go to a physical therapist and there isnt one in vicuña. but we had a good week with our pals in the house.



on wednesday i believe with elder larson we went to a store to buy a coke to take home before finishing the night and in the store we realized that the owner was looking at the book of mormon we put on the counter. so we started talking with him and turns out his son was a missionary 20 years ago but was the only member in teh family, but that he had a lot of doubts recently about the bible and religion. so we talked with him, left him with the BOM and when we went back another day he had tons of questions! too many. but they all were centered on the apostasy and so when we talk about the restoration it started to make more and more sense to him it was incredible. he smokes like a train but were gonna help the guy find the truth and start making changes in his life! mario´s the name, baptisms´ his fate.



we also have a few new ecuadorian friends that came to church and are investigating now! the big cafeteria that they´ve turned into their ecuadorian hotel is a gold mine. there are lots of members, but tons of people that have never heard of Christ in their life. its a little bit harder to teach them, but there will be a lot of success. we had a FHE with them last night and played some fun games, sang hymns, and very basic lesson on prayer. 



Cha Cha, our Chinese convert that moved here from Hong Kong is doing well. he has a lot of doubts though and feels like his GF that introduced him to teh church, but now doesnt come is dodging him. we´ve been trying to help the poor guy gain a testimony and understnad whats going on here. he seriously speaks zero spanish and i can hardly understand his english. but tonight a member invited us and him to eat canadian burgers that he makes that are amazing and were gonna share the plan of salvation with cha cha. its such a different experience teaching people without christian backrounds, but its been really cool to learn more about other cultures.



Unfortunately Carlos has let his doubts overcome his faith. he wasnt baptized this week and now isnt sure if he wants to keep investigating. he stopped reading the BOM and started to listen to friends from other churches that think were a cult. im 100% positive he felt the spirit when we read the experience of Joseph Smith this week in JSH, but hes allowing other voices to convince him taht what hes felt and experienced with us is all in his mind. the devil is pretty good and making people reject light after having seen it plainly and clearly. were not giving up on him yet but its gonna take a lot.



well this is the second to last email that i will write as a missionary. im not throwin in the towel quite yet, but i have little time left to share this gospel with my brothers and sisters in Chile. i love them, and ive felt overwhelming joy to see them advance in the plan of happiness, but ive also felt unsupressable sadness when they reject what they´ve received. the Lord knows the timing of everything so i shouldnt doubt in him.



i love this gospel and this work. see ya next time for the last premier of the Chilean Street Raptor.





-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor





photo- a selfie with Cha Cha

Jews and Gentiles Alike


The month of August has rolled around and i still feel the same. i cant believe im coming up on 2 years since i left on what has been the greatest adventure of my life, and what will eternally be one of the most impactful decisions ive ever made. i love being a missionary. i love the Lord´s work. and i love watching lives change as they come unto Christ, more than anyone else´s my own.



i really forced myself to focus this week and the Lord helped me a whole lot. P days are always hard. these last 3 mondays have been difficult. but through powerful prayer and sincere desires to continue to preach the gospel ive witnessed that ive been blessed with the strength to work hard and to bear my testimony to everyone. 



this morning i started looking through my photos to see which photos i can print out and give to people. its crazy to think how many people have changed my life and how many experiences ive had with them. its almost unimaginable to think about the mercy that ive received as a servant in the Lord´s church. sometimes when i get down and think that things arent happening how they should, or maybe i didnt fulfill what i needed to do, i remember that its not about me. it was never my mission. maybe God allowed me to pass through these experiences but it was never about me. im grateful because i know that everything taht has happened has gone just the way it needed to and just how the Lord planned because ive been obedient.



the day before my final interview in Viña which will be on sunday the 21st, i have my ticket bought to head down to Santiago and witness two sealings. Jacob and Romina, and Raul and Maria Elena from teh Castillo family that was baptized a little over a year ago now have everything ready to be sealed for time and all eternity. undoubtedly it will be the most incredible way to cap off the best two years of my life. ive seen promises fulfillled time and time again. its amazing how God prepares teh way for everything.



Carlos our venezuelan investigator came to church yesterday. its been a complete miracle to see his progress. the day before teaching the law of chastity he broke up with his girlfriend (who is not bad looking) and was much more prepared to understand the commandment and why its important for his future. he feels more weight on his conscience now and wants to be baptized this sunday. if he can give up cigarrettes before then were on! hes a stud.



on saturday as we contacted in another companionships sector to help them find more investigators we sat down in a park with a 19 year old kid listening to Queen. after singing along to the last parts of Bohemian Rhapsody we casually transitioned into a topic about the 12 tribes of Israel. haha it was so cool. hes of Jewish descent, and literally has traced his line back to find out that he came from the levite tribe! it was cool we started explaining the restoration and since he became a christian 3 years ago he was able to understand and feel the spirit really strongly and accepted to be baptized! this week we´ll start teaching him.



i feel a love for all the people we are teaching. if it werent for my family and friends that i love to death and who are there waiting for me id spend the rest of my life here helping these people. 



 And now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come forth, and be written unto the Gentiles, and sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of our seed.



i know ive been called to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those that are willing to accept the message in their lives. 



thanks for your prayers and thoughts. i know this is the truth.



-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor



photo- E Garcia was bored....




The Week


im gonna be short and sweet today. ill be honest p days are becoming my least favorite days of the week because they´re the hardest to focus. but its chill i aint worried. 



this week was different. its like i was working hard and everything, but the days went by slower. now that the week is over it feels like it flew by... idk its strange. maybe thats just how its gonna be. we worked our butts off though so i dont have anything to worry about.



this week we put a different baptismal date almost every single day. we worked hard with existing investigators and found some new ones that are good. interestingly enough all of them or foreigners. seriously almost everyone were teaching is from ecuador, colombia, or venezuela. theyre all sick.



carlos is still going strong. tonight were teaching the word of wisdom. pray for him. if he can get over this and the law of chastity he´s golden for his baptism. sadly none of the other investigators that we were teaching came to church this week after all of them had committed saturday at night! its seriously tough to motivate people to go ot church. but we saw lots of miracles this week so im not complaining at all. we found lots of good people.



my comp is crazy. haha sometimes i just look at him and start laughing hes super funny. hes like a little kid. he loves like little toys and playing with other kids, but when it comes to the gospel hes the smartest comp ive had. im learning something new everyday from him seriously. we get along really well even though hes a little immature and he teaches like a boss.



on tuesday we had our zone conference. we made everyone french toast in the morning and if we achieve our zone goal were gonna call Pres to do a Serena VS Coquimbo soccer match. that´ll be sweet.



also this week we taught a convert from Hong Kong that was baptized 3 months ago in China! haha he speaks zero spanish, and it was pretty hard to understand his english. he was involved in a shipwreck and the doctors said he´d never walk again, also he didnt understnad anything they said to him so he got really angry. then one nurse started helping him a lot and telling him in english about hope and faith in God. when a miracle occurred and he regained strength to walk he became really good friends witht the nurse who is a member, and when he went back to china started taking the lessons and was baptized. well his family basically disowned him so he came back here and is now dating the member here haha. he´s a boss. were gonna keep helping him little by little because before his baptism he practically didnt know who God was, and had never heard of Christ.



we have no money so were gonna buy a pound of flour to make pancakes for breakfast and dinner every day this week. pray for us.



love you guys.



-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor



heres a pic of our zone.


The Last Melon


this week marked the last beginning of a change that i will have as a missionary. its really weird to think about. the truth is i dont really like thinking about it all that much. but i know that ive got six weeks to continue refining myself and become that consecrated soldier that the Lord would like me to be. 



my last companion is named Elder Garcia. he´s from northern Peru and ill be training him as a new ZL this change. hes a funny guy. little bit different than me but he´s an incredible teacher and knows the scriptures really well. hes a really good artist and is super out going haha its pretty funny sometimes. but we´ve gotten along well our first week together and im pumped to put in the work with him this change and take out the trash in our sector. i just want to give it all before i end and honestly theres lots of time to make some impacts in the zone and in our sector.



on wednesday we headed to changes on the bus. it was a good bus ride with all the homies we had a good time even though it was long! in fact since my comp is a new ZL and Elder Framptons new comp as well we stayed in viña on thursday and went on divisions with Elder Gould going around the zones in viña repairing houses and moving things around haha it was pretty fun. at night we bought popeyes and had a party in my old office pension with the boys. 



friday we had mission council and reported our numbers for the month of june. it was a super good conference. they gave all of teh missionaries that were in their last council a chance to bear their testimony. im not gonna lie i balled in front of about 35 missionaries. but im grateful for all the opportunities ive had on teh mission to learn from others and participate in conferences like this. i realized taht every assignment, companion, and sector ive had were never rewards or gifts for baptizing or doing something as a missionary, rather opportunities that the Lord gave to me to learn from other people. the greatest being President Díaz. 

President didnt want us traveling at night cause we were exhausted so we convinced him to get a game of soccer in against teh office on saturday morning before boarding teh bus to head back up to the north. haha it was pretty sweet.



yesterday we had a problem with some sisters in our zone. haha it was ridiculous. a new sister got here on wednesday and the next day a door accidentally locked in their home with all of her suitcases and clothes inside of it. she literally did not have otehr clothes to wear, so yesterday we went over there with a bunch of keys we had in our house. probably 30. not one of them worked. so we called this brother from their ward and he tried a bunch of different things to get it open, nothing. we were there 3 hours. 3 HOURS IN THE SISTERS HOME. and then my comp opens this closet and while he´s looking at their books he goes and waht about these keys? the first one we tried opened up the flipping closet. haha ridiculous.



Carlos our venezuelan investigator came to church with us yesterday! even though when we got there he excused himself to go smoke a few cigs, the importnat thing is that he came! haha baby steps. hes a stud. tonight he wants to buy us pizza and then we´ll share the plan of salvation. :)



love you guys hope you have a swell week. ill be honest its weird having my friends get home, but when i get to work its like i forget about it all. i know the Lord will give me the strength to be able to focus and give all of my attention to His work. he never gives commandments that cannot be fulfilled "for there is no respect of persons with God." Romans 2:11



-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor



photos: getting mexican food after changes meeting with the Gould´s, and the bus ride from the north.

Monday, July 11, 2016

The Roller Coaster Effect

wow. this was one of the craziest weeks of my entire mission. its also been a couple of extremely hard days...

let me start off by saying that i 100% love the mission, i love the Lord, and i know that everything good and bad that happens is part of his plan and that if i continue to excersize faith everything will be for my own good. with that being said trials are still challenging. if they werent it would defeat the purpose of passing through hard times. they´re supposed to be that way even if one achieves a knowledge of our Heavenly Father´s plan. however it does help to put things in perspective and know how to climb out.

this week we had a miracle. last sunday an investigator named Susan showed up. her name is not susan but were gonna leave it at that to keep it confidential. shes really rich, lives on the beachside in an incredible department, and yet received us with full intent to learn and progress in the gospel. she came to church because of a very long story, basically becuase she met a couple of ecuatorians in santiago, invited them to her house in La Serena, and they because to preach the gospel to her during their 2 days here. when we arrived her house last week she was really prepared. she had already fasted and donated a fast offering, and quickly gained a testimony of the book of mormon. we taught every day for about 2 hours to finish all of the teaching this week because she wanted to be baptized on sunday and had all of teh church attendences.

we seriously grew to love this lady a lot in such a short time. she was chosen, and every lesson progressed so much. she read the whole book of 1 nephi in just a few days. committed her friends to go to church and her baptism shortly after talking about missionary work, and was even excited to get a calling in the church as soon as possible. she received multiple answers that she was following what God wanted her to do. shes 60 and since she was 16 she had smoked, and five months ago at the age of 60 randomly decided to quit. as soon as we taught the word of wisdom, law of chastity, and tithing she fully accepted all of the commandments. however saturday in her baptismal interview, when she didnt pass becuase of something that had happened over 40 years ago something went wrong. when we called sunday morning to verify if she was coming to church she explained that she had decided not ot move forward and that she took the intervi3ew as a sign that its not for her.

for a long time even after sacrament meeting had begun we stayed on teh phone with her and just bore testimony. its easy to look back after the fact and see the things that you could have done better.. and thats whats hard. i know that it is her decision and she decided to not make the right choice and have another interview with someone older to help her repent. but its been hard to get it off my mind. its really really sad to see someone progress, see the light, and then reject it. we wont give up on her, but its gonna be hard from here on out.

we found a few other good investigators this week even though we put a lot of time into helping susan. one of them is a venezuelan that is a boss. he´ll progress fast this week i think.

im happy. we played beach soccer last monday and ate sandwiches on the coast. we taught a lot. worked a lot, and im know im giving my 100%. sometimes i wish things went differently but i dont doubt that the Lord knows best and im doing what he wants me to be doing. i love this work.

on wednesday we have changes. i think elder giustozzi is gonna get moved. ill miss him. hes been one of my best comps and we get along better than any other ive had on my mish. we drink lots of mate, play lots of soccer, and almost never walk in silence. hes a stud. we´ll see what happens on wednesday. this week i find out who my last comp will be.

love you guys and i know that this is the Lord´s church. im completely dedicated to give it all this last change of the best two years of my life.

 23 Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life.
2 Nephi 2:23

-Elder Allred - Chilean street raptor



Tuesday, July 5, 2016

God Bless America


I dont have much time to write today because we talked with President he approved a 4th of july activity as a zone on the beach baby!!! were gonna take a volleyball, soccerball, and some sandwiches to spend a few hours playing. however my comp and i have also planned a little presentation on how teh americas are a choice land, and the impact that the independance, and constitution of the U.S. had on the Restoration. its gonna be sweet.

this week was chill. i went on exchanges with an uruguayan and a chilean and got a lot of good work done. were working really hard to fix some things taht are going on the zone and even though we had a lot of success in June were off to a semi slow start in July. Its like a train that never stops moving. you always have to be finding new people while working with the ones taht are progressing the most.

Sadly we are gonna drop our colombian friend Fabian. he started to progress, he was reading, praying, and starting to gain momentum again. then last week he slept in for church and yesterday when we went by he answered the door drunk at 930 in the morning. were gonna give him a break for awhile, but he simply hasnt showed the faith for us to keep passing by. its not easy cause ive come to love guy so much.. we saw a lot of potencial in him cause hes so nice and social with everyone, but he lets his weaknesses get teh best of him. 

felipe and Alda are going to the Civil registry today to get their marriage date! we fasted with them over the weekend taht they can get one for this week so all we can do now is hope and pray that it happens. they´re still convinced to do it even though they´re going to lose a lot of money that they recieve from teh government for studies! if they get a date this week their baptism will be on sunday!!

shout out to Al, happy birthday man. 25 years old. how weird to think that time has flown by so fast. you´re like kind of an adult now and everything right? nah man i love and hope you enjoyed the oreo ice cream with graham cracker crust, a tradition that began with yours truly. its chill though im willing to share. Happy birthday love you.

 80 And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.
-D&C 101:80

Remember the price of freedom my fellow American comrades. I love America.

love you guys have a good week, sorry i still cant send pics. i have a lot of good ones im waiting to send but flipping chilean internet cafes are full of viruses.

¡CHAO!

-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor
I fixed it guys.

1. oscar´s baptism (dont worry my face doesnt look like that anymore)
2. My colombian hair stylest. 
3. what happens on exchanges with uruguayans.
4. FHE with my ecuatorian homies



 

Monday, June 20, 2016

The Comeback Kid

Captains Log,
Star Date: 20-June-2016

We´ve begun to see mild signs of movement in the right eyebrow, lower lip, and right nostril. All muscles and ligaments in the top lip towards the right corner have recuperated. Smiles have been made, laughter has been shared. We´ve stationed more troops on the bottom lip and hope to be able to frown as well in the days to come. All forms of movement in the face have improved.

--

No but really im getting a lot better. im about two weeks ahead of where they thought i would be. in fact i feel almost normal now. just minor details that will go away im sure within this or the next week. The mission presidents wife wont let me stop going to the physical therapist... its kind of funny because teh first few sessions all they do is tell you how well youre improving and encourage you, and then once i didnt go for three days and came back all of the sudden they realize im getting better really really fast and since we pay by session suddenly they stop telling me how well im doing haha.

enough with the face. seriously im fine. other than the physical therapy miracle there were also a handful of missionary work miracles for us this week! including a special trip that i got to make to coquimbo on saturday with permission from President Díaz to see the baptism of an old investigator and friend of mine..... OSCAR GOT BAPTIZED! haha the old man finally did it! a year ago when i was in coquimbo i had hope that he would make it someday, but after i left i didnt think i would ever witness it! however the elders in coquimbo called me during the week and told me about it and i called President to ask him. i ended up giving a talk in the service and i was flooded with emotions as i saw so many people i love in coquimbo. Seriously love that place. the bishop was pretty emotional as well. hes spent a good time trying to help his dad take the step of faith. Congrats oscar.

we found two new student investigators this week knocking doors. both occasions was unplanned and very timely. its amazing to see how the Lord puts us where we neeed to be exactly in the moment when someone else is praying or needing a blessing in their lives. its not a coincidence. thats what ive learned. everything happens for a reason.

felipe and alda have their marriage date but are passing through some trials. its gonna take a leap of faith for them to get married on july 1 and baptized on the 3rd. apparently if felipe gets married right now he will inherit his fathers debt... i dont know why buts thats how it works.. we had a family home evening in the house of a member last night, played uno with them, and shared about faith in preparation for our lesson with them on wednesday. i know if they decide to keep the commandments it cant go wrong for them even when it seems like it well. Satan is pretty cunning in his ways of tempting people to make logical decisions instead of good decisions.

were also working a lot with a colombian investigator named fabian that is addicted to alcohol. such a nice guy, its just hard for him to keep his committments. we´ll see if he turns it around this week and if he doesnt theres not much more we can do. theres so many foreigners in serena its kind of cool. we´re also doing a family home evening with like 20 more or less active ecuadorians every sunday night. theyre natives from the jungle too so spanish isnt even their first language! its pretty fun. they serve us good cinnamon tea and empanadas so its chill.

well even though i received an extremely tragic phone call last night with the news on the nba championship from a couple missionary in Viña, im still pulling for the states on Tuesday. i need everyone to turn into soccer fans for a week and act like they care cause i do! im with an argintinian companion who could not be more confident that its not even gonna be close... but i know the boys will surprise everyone with the W!

its been an emotional week all in all. we´re working so hard we really are.. and the zone is having a lot of success. i guess its just that going back to coquimbo and everything made me start thinking about a lot of things. its not going to be easy to leave everything behind after giving everything to the work.
i love these people and i love the gospel and i know theres nothing more important in the world. dont ever give up on anyone. i went back and looked in my journal and remembered all of the disappointment i felt when oscar decided last minute not to get baptized. things happen, people change, and God can always mold his children into different people if they allow him.

Love you guys have an awesome week.

-Elder Allred

I Can't Move My Face

I´d say this was one of the more unexpected and interesting weeks that ive had on my mission so far...

let me just start off by saying that its true, i cant move my face. well just the right half of it. on wednesday my comp and i headed to lunch and in the middle of lunch with this family we´re really tight with i realized taht my comp, the family, and the two other missionaries in our ward were all giving me weird looks when i laughed... and then i started to realized that i couldnt blink my right eye, and that my mouth only moved on the left side, so when i laughed my mouth was like on my cheek.. (ill send a good photo). i guess when your face gets paralyzed the first thing you do is laugh, and then you think holy crap am i having a stroke or what?
well i waited until thursday morning and it still hadnt gone away so i called Hna Díaz and she told me to go to the hospital where a nice colombian nurse told me that i have Bells Palsy, or as chileans often call it La Boca Chueca. i always made fun of chileans because after drinking tea or something they would always cover their mouth before going outside because they said theyd get the boca chueca. i guess it was karma! no but in reality its a virus and they dont know how it happens. but the good thing is that it goes away.

These last few days i was supposed to be on complete rest to get rid of all stress, but President gave us permission to go out for appointments. so we just started calling a bunch of people to set appts. however i have been to two physical therapy sessions to get my face massaged, (and one time my back without my shirt on what?) and do some facial excercises. yes my excersizes literally consist of me trying to smile, close my eye, and breath through my right nostril. but im gonna tell Hna Díaz that the phyical therapy really is not necesary. i can do all of the excersizes on my own without somebody standing over my shoulder telling me that the corner of my mouth moved a little bit more than the 200 other times i did it while looking in the mirror. if you wanna know what it feels like to be a handicap in rehab, just get the bells palsy virus.

its been good in some aspects. on friday we found a super good family and gained a lot of confidence with them because at teh beginning of the lesson my comp made a joke and i couldnt stop laughing because everyone else was laughing at my face. its a good fam.

really im fine. it goes away in 1-2 months they told me, and today marks the end of my mandatory rest issued by Hna Diaz. so were gonna get back to normal work finally! it wasnt easy being in the house during the day.. i seriosuly went crazy. it was the first time in my whole mission that i wasnt able to go work because of sickness or other issues... like paralysis.

Felipe and Alda are trying to get a marriage date and were thinking of going out to this place in teh boondocks to marry them legally so that they can get baptized. theyre awesome!

love you guys, dont worry about me too much. have awesome week!

-Elder Allred - Chilean Version of Two Face

Monday, June 6, 2016

Cruisin North


flip i dont even know where to begin... why the flip do i even say flip? its so flippin stupid.

well im back in the north baby!!! but this time on the other side of the bay of my true love Coquimbo. im in La Serena as a ZL to finish my last two changes with E. Giustozzi my studly argentinian comp! i really wanted to train but basically President just told me there werent enough ZL to replace those that left and he needed me to go back up to the North. its chill im super happy to be up here and we have a sweet zone. its beautiful here!

transfer week was crazy as usual and even crazier this time because we didnt sleep sunday through wednesday, had transfers wednesday night, got back to serena at 3 AM, gathered everything from the zone that needed to go to viña on thursday, and then that same night at 12 left to viña for mission council. after a full day in viña with pouring rain on friday we got back on the bus at got home at like 2. Im exhausted. its been so fun though. i love my comp hes super tight and hes gotta a little more than a year so hes ready to work really hard!

weve been taking the trash out these last 2 days. we did a million contacts, found some really good future investigators, adn even though we havent taught much and we dont have tons of investigators im having so much fun just doing normal missionary work all day! seriosuly i missed it so much. im grateful for the love i developed to just teach adn have progressing investigators. our investigators felipe and alda came to church for teh first time on sunday and even though their 3 year old was running all over place being a clown, and tugging on the bishops pants, they had a good experience. felipe said hes gonna start coming every week! they´re a young couple, only 23 years old but theyre way cool. were working with them for a marriage and baptism date soon!

before leaving viña i got to see Jacob and Romina and talk with them outside teh office for about an hour. their sealing date is teh 9th of July, and same with Maria Elena and Raul the parents of jacob!!! im so happy for them its undescribable. theyre amazing and have such strong testimonies its so cool! im just hoping taht i can still go to their sealing.. President told me i could, but now that im so far north i doubt ill be able to which is kind of a bummer.. but we´ll see.

Im here, im healthy, and ready to just go all out in my last area. this area is really cool. the members are awesome it kind of reminds of a ward in the states cause its in the center of Serena. its really weird going from a tiny branch to a big ward. but theyre kindof a sleeping giant. everyone is really good but they sort of need to all go in the right direction to start to see some baptisms here. its been awhile.

love you guys so much. keep me updated on Steph and the boys. Good stuff.

-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor

fotos - with jacob and romina, and my comp and i after our soccer game today with the zone.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Un Salto en Forestal Alto

Well im exhausted... and my body hurts... but im pushing to finish this letter and get up to our sector to work. we had a super intense soccer game this morning that included a few elbows and an occasional body check. things get crazy sometimes when you put north american football players on a small soccer court against fragile latinos.

im doing good though. honestly its been a huge help and relief to be able to play soccer every week. i feel like it takes out all of the frustration, and disappointment and you just forget about it all for a little while. its helped me to have more energy to keep going even work hard even though we dont have as much time in our sector to work as i would like. This week especially is going to be rough preparing for changes. a million things to go buy and prepare for changes and mission council, and a lot of presentations to make too. We`ll probably be late in the office every night considering that it will be the first and only time i help my comp do it all. its chill though, we have a good time.

if everythign goes well this week, were also going to have a baptism on saturday! Catalina wants to do it and we`ve been working really hard to help her...the only thing that would hold her back is the support from her family or if she decides to go to her soccer game on sunday instead of following through with it. Shes committed to do it though and ive got the faith that we can help her understand better so that she can make the decision with confidence!

other than that we`ve been working with a sweet family (the Reppeto`s) we found a week ago and theyre progressing really well. were gonna help them with a service project his weekend and hopefully help them feel comfortable to go to church as a family... the only reason they arent getting ready for baptism is because theyve lived together 26 years... and theyre still not married! common theme. But its been sweet because the branch has come alive and we`re leaving with the members to do visits every day! we had 3 less actives show up to church last week for the first time in years which was awesome! its crazy how much of a difference the gospel can make in somebodys life. it really shows in their lifestyle and happiness.

ive been downloading talks from byu devotionals this week and heard a few awesome ones. then yesterday it occurred to me to search for talks from Grandpa Rex... so i did and i downloaded one from the archives named Lift up Thine Eyes: Miracles Big and Small... its a talk that Rex did together with Nana. I had never known that they did that. Way cool! first thing that comes on is a story about alex asking if santa was real to Di haha! super wierd... i wrote down a lot of the things that they said in the talk and i loved it, but htere was something that really called my attention.. a story from Rex on his mission.

He told how his first change in the mission as he taught the restoration he began to have doubts about if he actually knew, or if anyone actually knew that it had happened... he began to worry about it which drove him to study Moroni`s promise and actually put it to test again for himself and eventually he felt in strongly in a lesson he was teaching that yes, joseph smith had actually seen God and Christ, received the priesthood, and restored the church of Christ..
it was amazing for me cause i felt such a profound identification with what had happened with my Grandpa in his mission, to what had happened to me in mine. the same way... i was struggling my first few months. i began asking myself if what i was preaching actually had roots in me and if i knew it was true. so i prayed hard, i wanted another confirmation. then i remember very very clearly that one day we did a contact in the street and i did something i had never done, i recited the first vision from memory in the street. and it was then that i felt an impressively strong and undoubtable feeling of the spirit take over my body and tell me that i did indeed know that it happened! it was good to remember that moment and appreciate the answers to prayers ive received countless times.

this is my last week in the office, and im pumped to continue the journey. ive got two changes starting next wednesday to leave it all out on the field... literally the mission field. and im 110% committed to do it. ive got a busy last week int eh office which will be good, i pray almost every minute of every day that i can finish here with a baptism in the branch, and if its not the Lord`s will i know it`ll be better anyway. 

keep on keepin on fellers. If its been awhile since youve received a spiritual renovation the book of mormon is true, put it to test. and even if it hasnt, do it again. our testimonies are the most important things we possess. 

Love all of you knuckleheads.

Somebody please tell Hilary Clinton to stop sending me campaign ads to my mission email and that ill get around to my donation when i get back.

-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Poof

bueno amigos mios. It really sucked seeing you guys on Sunday....
hah.. haha.. sorry im just kidding. It was good. i was telling Di though that it felt weirder than all of the other calls ive done up to this point. I really enjoyed it though. you guys all look good. especially Col with his luscious locks!

ill be straight up honest... this change has been harder than the others.. its my last change in the office and even though ive been living it up and we have so much fun im just really really ready to have two changes outside working full time in the normal field. it gives you a different type of satisfaction working all day and just getting home after having given testimony ALL DAY. obviously i know what i do is important and that we help other missionaries be able to do what they do, but its gotten to the point where i feel like i have too much time to think about things. all i want to do is finish my mission as strong as i can and do exactly what the Lord expects of me and nothing less! im still working hard but sometimes i get off topic especially when the other two secretaries are dying as well and wont ever leave the office. we really do have a good time though i love elder staton and elder ammirati. Good guys.

President and the assistants went to interviews today and wont be back till friday but yesterday they surprised me with a birthday party in the office that included Dr Pepper, lunch, and a big huge Lucuma cake. if you dont know what lucuma is you`re missing out. its this deluctable celestial fruit that i will dearly miss. it was really good though. Hermana Dìaz got me a big package filled with more dr pepper, root beer, chocolate, and other candies. Theyre the best i love the office. Also this morning Elder staton, Ammirati, and my comp elder rogerson told me we were playing basketball at 630 at the church. which is normal, but what i didnt expect is cinnamon french toast in the office for breakfast haha! ive been treated well here. today these other two missionaries Elder ROjo(its funny because im elder todorojo) and Santa Ana are in Viña and theyre gonna take me out to lunch for mexican food, so the plans arent looking bad! I cant believe im 20 man... what the heck.

news from our sector - Catalina came to the conference and is getting baptized this saturday!!! were so pumped, it will be the first baptism in this sector since August of last year. Her family is going to attend and all of her soccer teammates as well. We also had a sweet lesson this week... we went with a sister from our ward and taught about the ten commandment adn the word of wisdom and while we were teaching Catalinaàs aunt and 8 year old cousin were there. her little cousin is almost always there when we teach, his name is augustin and hes our homie. what we didnt know is that he has some issues. at the end of the lesson we sang a himn and gave the closing prayer and before leaving asked if we could do anything else for them... Catalina`s aunt looked at us with a tear in her eye and told us that her son has problems with violence and always hurts other people, but that lately hes been better about it and she thinks its cause hes been hearing the lessons. she asked if we could start teaching him as well and if she could take him to church on sundays! we were like heck yeah you can take him to church. hes 8 years old right? chiste chiste. it was cool though.

we also had another investigator come to stake conference named Herminia. we have been teaching her son and daughter in law but she committed to come and came through and the other two didnt so that was a miracle! shes 86 years old and took the bus like 20 min to get to the stake center. dedication lets go! she`ll have a baptismal date this week.

Well, its been another awesome week. I love this work, i love the gospel, and theres nothing more gratifying than living it every day and sharing with everyone. 

Love you fam.

-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor



photos: heres a pic of the squad, and my lucuma birthday cake.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

The Goods

I pulled a hammy... im struggling here it really hurts. Just kidding i dont think i pulled it, but it hurts really bad. we had an intense soccer game this morning and we were gonna lose so president kicked it up like 14 gears and we pulled off the victory. The guy is one of the most competitive people ive ever met.. haha seriously he`ll do anything to win. It says in the missionary manual that we shouldnt keep score but he loves winning to much. its like an addiction... haha we play well together though so its a good time.

other than soccer and some good old office training we`ve had a decently smooth week. Everything is coming along well, my comp learns really fast and is better and most things than me. He has a lot more patience to be methodical with his work thats for sure. Sometimes i just want things to be right fast. its a weakness ive been able to see pretty clearly lately...

its actually made me ponder about something else a lot too. I feel like at the beginning of my mission i had zero talent, couldnt speak, didnt know how to teach, no idea about how the mission worked, and my testimony was below average. But if there is one thing i was forced to do it was to trust in the Lord 100%.. because there was no other option and i completely depended on him... Now id say i speak teh language pretty well, i feel the spirit when i teach and testify, and a lot of confidence in almost everything i do. which isnt bad at all.. but maybe its maybe me trust a little bit less in God and a little bit more in my own abilities... ive been working on it a lot, and studying it too. I think it happens to every missionary to a certain extent, but i wanna do everyhting i can to turn it around!

this week we saw some miracles in our sector. were working hard everyday to get out to our sector on time and its gonna well most days, but theres still room to improve a lot. on monday we found Luisa again, the investigator that had a dream about us helping her, and we taught about the restoration with a member from our ward! it was super powerful and we figured out that shes no longer living with Antonio her ex boyfriend/melchezidic(i butchered that) priesthood holder! she accepted a baptismal date and is ready to come to church tomorrow with us!!! lesss goooo!

Also we had an incredible experience last night with Catalina and the Calderon family. pretty much every time ive taught those guys its been with a different person. Twice on exchanges, once with elder ammirati and the elders quorum president, and this time with Elder Rogerson and our ward mission leader. So what happens is everytime Catalina`s dad feels the need to explain that he has problems with smoking and that he doesnt want to be pressured to do anything yet but that he wants his daughter to be baptized. but this time after doing it, he confessed to us in the lesson that he feels the same spirit in his home for the first time since teh elders came ten years ago in concepcion and they were baptized! he says he feels like the messages we share are directed towards him and not towards his daughter, and after my companion testified that its not because we planned it that way, rather that the spirit always helps us to feel what we need to change, the spirit just filled room so strong you could almost touch it! it was awesome, and even though he doesnt feel reaady to go to church, hes recognizing the spirit again, as well as his wife. Having your only son tell you hes gay when hes 14 is not easy. Nor is it easy having marriage problems with an unstable job and still trying to take care of your family. The gospel is the only thing that will save the Calderon family. I love those guys i hope they can keep progressing and the Catalina can lead teh way by being baptized.

i read a scripture this week that i wanted to share from 3 nephi 6:15 --  15 Now the cause of this iniquity of the people was this—Satan had great power, unto the stirring up of the people to do all manner of iniquity, and to the puffing them up with pride, tempting them to seek for power, and authority, and riches, and the vain things of the world.

satan takes gifts and blessing from God, and offers us the cheap worldy form of it. God gives us spiritual power, authority, and riches, and too often theyre rejected for something far less valuable. the trick is resisting the temptation to fall for the cheap substitute. 

I love you guys and i have everyone in my prayers. thanks for the support. The truth is i cant believe the clock is winding down. I still feel like i should be a young new greenie missionary. But i know that ill remember this time for the rest of my life and longer! Its setting the stage for everything taht comes after. I love the Gospel, these people, and my Savior. 

Cuidaos.

-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor

Midnight selfie in the office with Elder Ammirati passed out. Late night view of our sector in the hills of Viña. 

sorry i still dont have a pic with my new comp. but we figured out his full name at birth it was - Kostyantyn Oleksandrovych Dovzhenko.
What a guy. Capo.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

Black Suits and Blue Ties

well after 7 days of no sleep and a long process of preparing everything for transfers and mission council, im still alive! im so tired though guys, so tired. last night i hit the pillow and it felt like i blinked my eyes and i was up again without feeling any different. its been so much fun though and it was an incredible week!

first off my new comp among his many nicknames is known as "the most interesting missionary in the world". We also call him Ryan Reynolds sometimes, and the Ukranian Hammer. Hes a boss. His name is Elder Rogerson, but his official name when he was born was Constantine Alexandervich Dovjenko. Hahaha. Sick right? he was found in a Ukranian manufacturing plant and adopted by his parents that he now has. He`s live in over 20 countries and is the most diverse person ive ever met. what a guy! just when i feel like im getting to know the guy, I DONT KNOW ANYTHING. were gonna finish these six weeks and im gonna look back and realized i know less about Elder Rogerson than i did at the beginning when i met him. The MOST interesting. really though im happy hes my comp and hes doing a really good job in the office. he learns really fast and loves the Lord. 

We havent even gone up to our sector this week, ill stay one more change here in forestal alto, but regardless, its been a fantastic time. we welcomed the new couple missionaries, the Gould`s who are working with us in teh office. theyre tight. on Monday we had teh last dinner for those going home which was amazing and i said goodbye to a lot of good friends, and two of my best companions, Elder Swindler from Coquimbo, and Elder Larsen from the office. Really good group of missionaries. On Tuesday we got up at about 4 after having gone to bed at about 2, and headed to santiago. We welcomed the new missionaries with a presentation we had to come up with in about 15 min, but it turned out well, and then we had tuesday and wednesday to be with them in the mission home and do a lot of stuff, all accompanied by amazing food by Hermana Dìaz. it was solid!

Thursday was our only day to prepare everything in teh office and all of the stuff for mission council on friday! we got it done pretty late again and thursday night me and elder rogerson picked up elder frampton, and elder horton from the bus terminal to stay with us for the night. it was a good time, and of course we got our traditional màte in!

Were starting to cool things down and this next week should be a normal week. Catalina didnt come to church last week becasue it was raining, so and the Relief society president just didnt pass by her house to get her liek we had planned out. Frustrating stuff. Its all cool though. This week shes coming and shes gonna keep progressing. We had an amazing lesson with our Elders quorum president that went with us last week and he got in and just starting talking about soccer and chilean stuff with the dad, then he got the mom involved too and really helped us to open the family up and share with us. theyre gonna progress i know it!!! 

Jacob from the Castillo family emailed me this week and told me that hes been going through the temple classes with his wife he got married to about a year ago... AND IN AUGUST THEY`RE GETTING SEALED!!!!! I LOVE THEM SO MUCH! i was so pumped to hear about it, im gonna do everything i can to talk President in to letting me go for it!!! theyve come so far, and im so happy for them. the gospel is the key to happiness, never been more sure of it in my life. spiritual barriers and limits can be broken when we start trying to make good actions, become good habits. I know God and Christ live. this is they`re church. i love the mission, ive never been happier, nor felt the spirit so strong in my life as when i see somebody in the process of conversion. and are led to believe the holy scriptures, yea, the prophecies of the holy prophets, which are written, which leadeth them to faith on the Lord, and unto repentance, which faith and repentance bringeth a change of heart unto them—Helaman 15:7... 

ive felt a change of heart in multiple ways and i dont ever want it to end. Have a great week yall, love you.

-Elder Allred - chilean street raptor

proselyting in the storm, and eating out at ruby tuesdays. First time ive had free refills in a year and 7 months.