Hey Guys it's Me

hey guys its me elder allred. this week was super good, and super disappointing. funny how that seems to be the case a lot of the days on the mission. our baptism with matias fell through. we knew he didnt feel ready. hes now set to be baptized on the 11th of january. im praying it all works out, id be lying if i said im not a little bit discouraged that i dont have a single baptism.

on monday my comp got the bullet taken out of his back. it was cool.. but kind of sucky. we went to viña at 9 am to change his visa and we pretty much ran around viña figuring that out until 4 when he had his surgery, but it didnt start till five and then he had to do a bunch of paperwork after. i was pretty exhausted. we didnt leave viña until 830 at night.

on christmas eve we woke up with 0 appointments to eat dinner. this is the only day of the year that we can schedule something with members to eat. by the afternoon we had 3 different dinners scheduled. we ate one dinner with a less active, one with a member family, and one with our investigator angelica! my stomach did not agree with our decision. i thought i was going to explode when we went back to the pension. it was awesome though. however christmas day angelica called us and said she cant meet with us anymore because its causing problems in her family... its sad because she was progressing really well and reading the book of mormon.

on tuesday i started reading the book of mormon in english and el libro de mormon at the same time. im marking all of the things that are translated differently and after three chapters in 1 nephi my brain hurts. its pretty fun though. im gonna complete it by the end of march and write down in a little notepad all of the corrections and someday theyll make the new translation and ill be telling my kids that im the reason they changed something. nah im kidding.. but really its interesting how many errors in translation there are.

i love my mission. my comp may be hard to get along with, the rules may be super strict, and maybe im a little sick of flea infested dogs licking my fingers everywhere i walk, but i love the gospel and i love serving. ive been preparing my whole life for this, ill reflect and remember it for eternity, but ive only got 2 years to live it. as this new change rolls around im going to strive to enjoy the mission more and have a little more fun. but im also going ot work even harder. these people need what we have to share. everybody does.

i know the church is true and i know that this is the plan we need to follow to be eternally happy.

-elder allred

dont be alarmed by our beer mugs or anything. just a typical christmas gift from members here in chile. he was dead serious when he gave us them. i made pancakes on christmas day. usually my comp just drinks water for breakfast, so for him it was a christmas miracle.

also a pic of the pellet from his back

and our district

and my present from angelica our non existant investigator

MERRY CHRISTMAS YA FILTHY ANIMALS

i seriously cant think of anything that happened this week  it went by so fast. bueno i guess ill just start off by saying that im going to be having my first baptism this sunday! im pumped, this kid named matias is the son of a recent convert and hes been to church a couple times but never wanted to listen to the missionaries or nothing. but this week we were talking with his mom and we just asked him if we could share a scripture with him. well we ended up talking for like 40 min and by the end he had committed to be baptized! it was sweet. now we just gotta wake the dang kid up every sunday for church. he sleeps in till like 2 every day... but this sunday we pretty much just banged on his door until he woke up. ill break into his house if i have to next week.

danny didnt come to church, y eliana tampoco. and like 6 other investigators we had hoped for. we had mission conference for christmas this wednesday though, and they are changing a bunch of stuff. pretty much the only stat we are going to be keeping is how many people come to church. number of lessons and what not doesnt matter anymore.. just this. so there is giong to be a lot more enfasis on purely getting people to go to church. im excited for it though, its a good change. other than that the conference was super good, fun, and really spiritually uplifting. 

today we are in viña because in 2 hours my comp goes in to surgery to get the pellet removed from his back! im hoping that we can go this one restaurant called el guaton! theres a famous chilean burger in the restaurant thats apparently gonna blow my mind. im stoked. and starving.

i had my last interchange with elder armistead on friday. it was sad, but solid. president told him hes leaving the area for the last change. elder armitstead and alonzo were super good role models for me and im really happy i had the chance to learn all that i did from them! this is the last week of the change, and of my training woohoo! id be lying if i said i wasnt dying to end my training. its been good, but im getting a little tired of being the kid. we¨ll see what happens.. but i think im goi9ng to stay in my area. just an impression. 

in interchanges i really came to the realization of the lack of humility that ive displayed with elder ramirez. ive been so focused on being patient with him that i havent tried to genuinely see the good in him, all ive done is bear throught the afflictions and hope that its all going to be okay. elder armitstead helped me to think of some things that i can do to help us have more unity in our companionship regardless of our differences in our thinking. we are complete opposites, but that doesnt mean he doesnt do things well that i suck at. im praying for the ability to end this change well with my trainer and that i can learn more from him than i have recently. 

the mission is weird and time is weird. in some way i cant believe im coming up on four months, but then i think about how long its been since ive seen my family and it seems like forever. the only thing ive learned that i can do is stay busy. when im busy and working the day and the week flies by and thats really the key to it all. before i know it im going to want time to slow down. 

on sunday we werent planning on going to the christmas devotional in the stake center but at the last minute we decided to invite this one investigator the we found in interchanges with elder armitstead. she came and she loved it! it was a  super fun devotional with lots of christmas music. 

thats about all i can remember for now... i know that so much more happened... but cant think and its like 349323 degress in this gameroom. have a good week. feliz navidad. and choose the right. love you all. thanks for the letter, emails, packets, and prayers!

-Elder Allred - chilean street raptor

The Mish is Seco

woah this week flew by. it was a solid week. the mish was fun and rewarding this week. we got into a lot of new houses, and taught a LOT of inactives!! now we just need to get people to church, because honestly that has proved to be the hardest thing for me in my first two months here. nobody can motivate themself to get up for church at ten. its super frustrating, but i guess that just means that im not helping them see the blessings well enough or letting the spirit teach them. thats something ive learned over the past couple weeks... i spent awhile trying to come up with the perfect questions and explanations of things, and while that is important and i should always try to improve the way i teach, whats more important is that i try to focus on them and listen to what the spirit wants them to feel and hear. the lord works with unlearned, humble servants, better than with an eloquent and prideful missionary.

with that being said i had the hardest day of my life i think on tuesday. i dont know what got in to me.. but it was bad. i spent the whole day just so sad and unable to shake thoughts of home, friends, and a million other things. it was the most mentally frustrating thing ever. i got home tuesday night and i just prayed my heart out. i wanted to be happy, and i wanted to work hard. the answer i got was exactly what i needed. i had forgotten for a few days the concept of forgetting about myself. i know i wont be happy if i cant do that. but if i can, ill be happier than ever before. because ive felt that happiness of only worrying about others a few days this week. hopefully i can maintain it becuase the mish is a lot easier and funner that way. i guess ill just have to burn all the pictures of my family. nah broma. also on tuesday i 100 percent am positive that i saw the gordito bald waiter from mama chus, so that didnt help all that much.

eliana accepted a baptismal date for the 28th.. but then got scared and said she needed more time. she is reading and praying and believes that book of mormon is true but hasnt recieved an answer. danny didnt come to church becuase his best friend (who borrowed his car last week when it got stolen and is a member) her ex husband committed suicide saturday night so he went to be with her. yeah hopefully nobody dies or robs cars this week. 

after two and a half months of visiting inactives in this ward ive come to a conclusion that im sure all other missionaries before me in chile realized... 85 percent of people that are not in the church anymore, are not in the church because they got offended. its seriously unbelievable. there are always going to be the people that never had a testimony and dont want to keep the commandments. but really the majority have told us they know the book of mormon is true, they know this is the correct church, but they cant come back becasue of other people. its sad, but at the same time ridiculous. we end up teaching agency like every lesson because they dont seem to understand that that concept applies to all people. 

my testimony of the sacrifice of christ and really my true identity as a child of god has increased dramatically recently. its interesting how as i learn more about the eternal scheme and plan of god i understand just how much sense it makes and more than anything feel in my heart of the validity. ive been reading jesus the christ and its super cool to see how the savior[s role plays a part in our everyday lives. i love this church and i know that its the only church in the world that really is the church of christ. not because its a good [church[ but becuase it teaches the gospel of jesus christ and more than anything it has the authority to do it! love you all. keep the commandments. dont get offended. have a good christmas.

feliz navidad.

-elder allred - chilean street raptor

El es La Dadiva

hola y feliz navidad a todos. its a little bit different listening to christmas music and seeing all of the decorations when its 90 degrees outside. but the good thing is im recieving packages and letter and theres no better christmas than that. just kidding yeah there is.. celebrating the birth and life our savior. my faith in jesus christ has increased radically in 4 months and i dont think id trade the knowledge and testimony and faith building experiences ive had for anything. and before the mission id hear missionaries say that and id be like come on theres lots of things youd trade for knowledge.. an audi, three billion dollars, watching steve yell at the tv during a byu football game..etc. but no really i  would not trade anything for it. im so glad for the plan of salvation and all of my family that i know i can be with forever!

for starters on tuesday we spent all day filling out police papers and going to the hospital to figure out what theyre gonna do with my comps back. finally they decided theyre gonna take the bullet out but now we have to wait till they figure out when its gonna be to go back and do it.

did i already tell the story of danny getting his car stolen? danny is my favorite investigator. hes a stud and he wants to be baptized and it would make an awesome story considering how we found him... but it seems like satan is focusing a lot on him. after his car got stolen hes been to depressed to meet with us and his grandma told us that he started smoking again. he didnt show up to church but we still have faith we can turn things around for him. its gonna work out it has to.

i cant remember anything that happened crap... oh shout out to eli and tate best nephews ever. i love you guys thanks so much for your halloween candy that was so nice of you guys! remember tate youre awesome. and eli your star wars stickers were sweet!

lol.. okay so yesterday the first counselor randomly signed us up for our ward choir that is going to be singing at a stake fireside. we didnt mind, but little did we know it was going to turn into a tryout. after like 30 min of trying to sing hark the herald angels sing, the choir director in our ward lost all patience. she went crazy and walked in between everyone as we sang and people who sounded bad she made leave! it was so intense ive never been so scared. haha but the bishops wife, young womens leader, young mens leader, and my comp got selected to leave. it was so crazy and so unexpected.

que mas que mas que mas.... okay yesterday we started walking with our second counselor in the ward after lunch to visit old investigators. he 23 married, served in uruguay, speaks english, and yeah hes just awesome. but we visited this old lady and she didnt want to open the gate. she says ive already read the book of mormon its not true and i dont want to talk. finally after like 3 min she opened the gate and shook our hands. then she didnt want us to go in her house becasue shes meeting with jehovahs witnesses right now. finally after like 5 more min she agreed to let us share a scripture from the bible in her house. so yeah we got in and shared the restoration of the gospel and the book of mormon. by the end she was crying and said that she was giong to pray about it because she never had and if she recieved an answer shed be baptized. so yeah it was cool. problem is shes got issues with her legs and our church is on the top of mount everest so its gonna be hard to get her to church but weve got faith.

this week was solid and i learned a ton not only about the gospel and missionary work but really about myself and all the flaws i have. the mission is much more mentally  challenging to me than the physical or social part. im working hard to improve my brain though and i think im getting better at controlling my thoughts. i hope everyone remembers what the real gift of christmas is and has a good end of the year. im doing everything i can here, dont worry about me. choose the right. chau!

-Elder Allred - Chilean Street Raptor

pics: my merry christmas hat, and a selfie with our mission president in the police station

My Comp Got Shot

its been a long a really kinda sucky p day so im a tad bit flustered. i already wrote this whole thing a couple hours ago and then internet went out so weve been running around a lot and now i have like 10 min to email.

despite the frustration the random fact from chile lives on- some guys like to build little trains with wheels and put an air compressed horn and oven to roast peanuts and when they walk around with their train they blow this whistle and people comeout of their houses to buy peanuts. the peanut train. its great.

my comp got shot on friday. by a bb gun. we were walking up this hill by the church and these two flaites walked by us and pointed a gun at me.. so i put my hands up and just about crapped my pants. but then they started laughing and i realized it was just a bb gun so we walked past them. but then they turned around and shot my comp in the back and now he has a bb in his back. we have to go to the hospital every day and waste SO MUCH TIME until they take it out either on wednesday or in like two weeks. im praying its on wednesday.

on tuesday we had interchanges with elder goulding our new zl and future male cheerleader for byu. hey stop judging. no really hes a great guy and i learned a lot of cool things from him.

on friday i stayed in my zone on interchanges with a brazilian elder, elder silva, while my comp spent the night in the hospital with another dl. we had a good time though. friday night we were trying to sort out the whole situation and elder silva and i were like 30 min away from the apt in my area. and it was like 10 o clock already. well my area is a little sketchy at night and we both had a pretty uneasy feeling walking back. like 2 min into walking some guy in a collectivo pulled up and offered us a ride. turns out he was a member and knew that we were elders and that we shouldnt be out at night. it was a miracle... that never happens.

i caught a bad case of fleas... yeah i wake up every morning with more bites and one night this week i woke up with all of my left foot just swollen because it had been hanging out of the blankets. lol i didnt really fall back asleep. fleas suck and really i dont know how to avoid them. theyre like mosquitos but more sneaky.

our inv. danny had a crazy weekend. saturday night we were talking with him and he committed to live the word of wisdom, start living the law of chastity, and he was going to think about a baptismal date. hes such a stud. however, the devil is good and saturday night he loaned his car to a friend. well sunday morning when he got up to come to church his friend called and his car got stolen. he didnt come to church and his friend is a member and is the one that got him interested. were hoping ot find him and talk to him today. fetching car thiefs man. theyll get ya.

this week was crazy, fun, sad, crazy, and i cant really remember anything else that happened even though i know so much more happened. oh well. be good. dont smoke. or live with someone when youre not married. its not gonna make you happy, that much is clear. bueno.. all of the commandments are pretty clear. and when you pass through tough times sometimes its not because youre doing something wrong, but the lord wants to make you stronger and add some resistence because he knows you can handle it. nothing is put upon our shoulders that we cant sustain. loove you alllllllllll. chau.

 

-elder allred -chilean street raptor

 

my camera is not working. but here is a photo of a tarantula we found.