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

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

 

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

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.

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

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.