Thanksgiving and goodbyes

Dear Family,

 

So this has been a crazy long week, but it has been a good week.  I don't even know where to start.  Last Tuesday after I wrote you we got a call from president cook asking sister bean to train again.  Poor sister bean, she has been super stressed out this entire week.  It doesn't seem real that I'm not going to be her companion.  Transfer meeting is today and I'm going to be going to a new area.  I don't know where yet and I't is making me really sad because I do love la Costa, but I'm sure I'll love where ever I go.  I'm sure I'll love my new companion too. 

 

President knows that Sister Bean and I don't want to be separated.  He came to our ward on Sunday and after Sacrament meeting we were talking and he looked at me and said, "So do you know where you're going?"  I love president cook because he is the sweetest guy, but it is also very clear that he thinks he is hilarious!  I said "No president I do don't."  and then he pulled me in and said, you will learn just as much from your new companion as you did from sister bean.  It was sort of comforting to know that he knew I was concerned about leaving her. 

 

It was embarrassing to have president and his wife there that particular Sunday.  We were at the door greeting people when sister bean realized she forgot her "revelation book."   It's really just a notebook that she doodles in and writes down the spiritual thoughts she has during church depending on how good the lesson is.  Regardless it's hard to get through church without it and so we rushed back to the apartment.  We walked back into the chapel after sacrament just in time to hear the bishopric member say, "We would also like to acknowledge the presence of President and sister Cook."  The ONE time we are late, it the ONE time they come to our ward.  Also were had already been at church form 2 hours!  Anyway, it was pretty funny. 

 

I've been going around giving my goodbyes to everyone.  It has been a really nice experience, because I know that must of the people in this area will probably forget me, but at I do know that I've at least helped a few people.  That has been really nice.  We went to sister Hakensen's Sunday and Monday.  Monday was one of the sweetest experiences.  I don't know if I told you about her but she is a 79 year old Egyptian lady.  She is so sweet and has had a hard life.  Monday we sat and helped hook up her printer and show her how to sign into her email.  Then when we saw she had 2600 email we showed her how to delete them all.  She began to cry and said, "Sometimes I sit at the computer all day and can't understand anything.  I got to bed disappointed.  I knew God would send me someone to help me."  Mom it reminded me of when you said some of your favorite memories were when you just said a prayer with an old lady.  I honestly think I will remember this experience for a really long time.  I'm going to miss her. 

 

We had Thanksgiving with a nonmember.  It was actually wonderful. Especially because through some sort of confusing finagling that I don't really understand our district leader and his companion got to come to dinner too.  It was really nice because it almost felt like having thanksgiving with family.  It was also pretty funny when the dad wanted to show everyone a funny YouTube video.  He pulled it up on the TV and started blasting it.  Only a few people at the house understood why all the missionaries were standing awkwardly in the kitchen really interested in looking at their shoes.  Oh good times!

 

Well I love you and hope everyone is doing well.

 

Love Sister Allred

It worked!!!

Our brilliant friend Jeff read my post last night and told me how to fix the pictures in word problem! YAY! Thanks Jeff! And it was so easy too!Here are pictures Sister Allred send to us October 25th.

Sister Allred's first zone!

All the fun things the boys sent! She loved getting this package!

Journal from Liz

YAY For pictures! I hope she sends more soon! I wonder if we can hire one of the paparazzi down there to follow her around...

A post by Deborah

I have to say, I am now in love with the California, Carlsbad Mission. Well I'm in love with the members in La Costa at least. Once a month since Tressa....ehem, I mean Sister Allred has been in the field I have received a picture text from members there. They never fail to make me jump out of my seat and do a happy dance! I am loving the people! It means so much to us and is such a good idea! So, for your viewing pleasure and because I can not figure out how to get the pictures she emailed in a word document posted, here is life on Planet Tressa according to various iPhones:

I just love this face!

It's been a week already?

Dear family,

It was awesome getting all of your emails.  I absolutely love all of them.  Before I forget, Congratulations Rachel!!  I hear your ACT score was awesome! That is so cool.  Sorry I didn't write much last week.  We were cleaning the apartment and getting ready for exchanges.  It was a really crazy day.  (We talked to the senior sister who does the apartment checks and she said our apartment was 100 time better then when the elders where there.  Yeah us, but really its probably because we took the random junk off the walls and got rid of 3 of the 5 desks.)

We did exchanges from Tuesday to Friday, which I don't think has ever been done before in our mission and we were really confused about.  I have a lot of mixed feelings about the exchanges.  First I think because our focus was on contacting it was really good to have a longer exchange although both sister bean and I think it would have been fine to just have 3 days instead of 4.  Sister bean went to temecula and I stayed in La Costa, which I was a little bit worried about because I felt like mommy was leaving for a few days and I was in charge. 

I think I did an okay job but I'm really grateful for the exchange because it taught me a bunch of lessons I didn't think I was going to learn.  During the exchange I really felt like our area just began to crumble and I was barely holding it together.  I learned that I know how to be a really good missionary, I just need to trust my instincts and the spirit, and not throw out everything I've learned and know out the window because my companion says otherwise.

I know that there were things I could have definitely done better and I'm frustrated because I think at times I was getting prompting to say and do things but I didn't because I was to concerned about what sister heath would say.  Because of this exchange I learned not to be worried about that.  My first loyalties are to the Lord.  Ah!  why does that have to be such a hard lesson for me to learn.  I am proud to say that I did follow some promptings during that meeting and I was able to save our relationship with that investigator.  

It was a really interesting experience because everyday during personal study experiences from the past day would come to me and I would clearly see what I needed to do better and how I could improve when the next situation arose.  I really feel like it was private tutoring form the spirit.  I don't think I would have learned these things if sister Bean had stayed with me the entire transfer, so I really am grateful for this exchange.  Poor sister bean, she came back from a great exchange and had to do some damage control in our area.  It was a rough exchange but a good one...  I just read in her letter to the president that she wants me to train, so I can really solidify who I am as a missionary.  That idea scares the be-gee-bees our of me but I actually think it would help.  I think I'll just trust the Lord on how he wants me to grow. 

I'm spending thanksgiving at a members house and hopefully we are going to have a second thanksgiving at an investigator the encinitas elders want to pass off to us.   I hope that happens.  I'm trying to think about how you can make your thanksgiving more special...  Oh gosh I don't know.  I'm sorry.  Honestly I've barley given thanksgiving a second thought.  It seems impossible that it is thins week. 

Well I hope that your week goes well.  I love you all a ton. 

love Sister Allred

This was a crazy week!

Dear Family,

 

Usually I start kind of wanting to check my email around Sunday, but I can brush the thought aside and focus on what I'm doing that day, but this week I started wanting to check my email on Sunday and I really really wanted to.  Like super badly, so I'm really excited to hear from everyone. 

 

This was a really cool week.  We have been working with a less active girl who is coming back to church and over the past month we have just been amazed at the change in her countenance.  She was always a happy girl but as we are meeting with her we are just seeing the burden of sin just lifting from her shoulders.  It is awesome.  I it is such a testimony to me that the atonement is very real and very powerful.  Now that I think about it I feel like it really has been this testimony building week all around. 

 

We were able to go to a baptism in sister Beans old area and that was amazing, and right before that we met with a family that was baptized just a little while before we got to the area.  They are doing so good and they are really making wonderful changes in their lives.  I love seeing the gospel effect people. 

 

It has been a bit of a challenging week.  we invited an old woman to be baptized last week and she said no not at her age.  Then as we were meeting with her this week she said she had prayed about it and we can still come over but she really feels like God is happy with the beliefs that she has.  I really didn't know what to say but we are still planning on going over and visiting her still.  Also we have had to officially drop the family we had committed to baptism.  We have had 0 contact for a while now and one of the members who was friends with the family told us that baptism is causing contention in the home, so we are going to back off for a while.  Hopefully we will be able to at least meet with the dad again. 

 

we also have been meeting with a woman who has mental disabilities, and she wants to get baptized.  We have been going back and forth on whether or not she needs to get baptized and for the most part the direction from the bishop and the mission president has been that we should try and decide, which just seems like a really weighty decision. Anyway her mother who is a member had to go to the hospital right before church on Sunday because of an emergency.  We went to visit this really sweet lady yesterday and as we talked about her daughter, I could just seem how worried she was about Miriam.  This woman really believes in the blessings of the temple and wants that so badly for her daughter.  Didn't have any definite answers on whether Miriam could get baptized, but we talked about eternal families and I think that gave a lot of comfort.  I am so grateful for this gospel I know that it is so powerful, and it's true. 

 

Our big news is that we are going on exchanges this week.  We had some exchanges set up earlier this transfer but those were cancelled which was a really good thing.  But I'm not sure how I feel about these exchanges.  We got a call on Wednesday night from the zone leaders telling us we were going on a 4 day exchange.  Our exchanges are from today at 4:30 to Friday at 4:30.  Sister Bean and I really do not know what to think about it.  The zone leaders say that its a new thing President cook is trying out, and we are supposed to focus on our contacting but it really seems like we are missing something.  Our contact numbers are low, but our lessons and new investigator numbers are really high.  I'm just kind of confused and don't know what to think about it.  On the one hand I'm excited to get to know Sister Heath, because she seems really sweet, and I'm excited to work on my contacting.  I feel like I will really learn a lot.  I know I need to be looking at this exchange as a blessing, and most times I do, but then I start thinking how it feels like this exchange is a punishment and I'm going to be away from sister bean for 4 days which really stinks because it is almost guaranteed that one of us will be transferred on the 29th.  I just don't know.  I'll let you know how it goes. 

 

Well I love you all and I miss you. 

 

love,

 

Sister Allred

 

P.S. mom I'm trying to send the picture but I've been having some problems.  I'll work on it today. 

This has been the longest week ever!

Dear family,

 

As you can tell from the subject this has been the longest week ever!!!  It hasn't really been a bad week but it is crazy that the temple was only a week ago. 

 

So the good news is we picked up 2 new investigators.  That is really exciting.  They are both from part member families from the ward, and one of them expressed a strong desire to get baptized but she as word of wisdom issues and then the other didn't say much but her husband pulled us aside and told us that she is going through the trial of her life right now, but if she gets through this she will get baptised.  Our one concern is that her family always hovers around her that then she just relies on them to say things.  Oh we also invited one of our investigators to get baptized and she said, "No I don't think i need to at my age."  then because she is about 90 years old she started talking about her friends memorial service.  We need to work with her some more. 

 

It's been super rainy this week and its starting to get cold; which makes morning exercise and contact walking in the evening not all that fun.  Actually I feel a bit like a wimp because it is still really good weather.  It's just cold compared to what it usually is.  Oh well.

 

Yesterday we had zone conference and I can absolutely say, I love zone conference!!  It is like the coolest thing ever.  Okay, actually I think pretty much anything with President and sister Cook is the coolest thing ever!!  they are so smart and loving it is just wonderful.  Also the training that the assistants and the zone leaders gave were really good to.  BY far my favorite part was what sister bean calls "speculation hour with President Cook"  Apparently at the beginning of each conference he gets out the scriptures and we read a chapter he wants to read and then he expounds on the doctrine that is in there.  We focused on Moses 6 this time, and all through it I felt so grateful and happy that I am a missionary.  I knew that this is gods work.  It gets to be speculation hour when president gets really into it and then starts pulling out interesting facts and tidbits which could be true, but are also just really cool. 

 

This time president started talking about what a word was in the adamic language. I started thinking, well I thought the adamic language was lost and corrupted which apparently others were to because one elder raised his hand and asked, "President how do you know this?"  President cook looked at the elder and said, 'Revelation!"  Then sister cook got up and said he reads a lot.  President cook looked at his wife and then looked around the room and said, "I didn't say it was my revelation."  I love president cook he is so much fun. 

 

I think we are going to have a really good week this week.  We have a ton of appointments set up and Sister Bean was invited to a baptism of one of her past investigators.  We are really excited about that.  We still haven't met with the family that has a bap date coming up and they have stopped returning our phone calls.  I hope that things work out and we can at least meet with them again. 

 

Anyway, I loved reading all of your emails.  I miss you so much.  I've been thinking a lot about my testimony this week and I can absolutely say that I have a testimony of the restored gospel.  I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he sacrificed everything so that we could have a chance to be happy.  I also know that we get that happiness through the gospel.  I'm grateful that the Lord called me to this work.  I'm grateful that He trusted me enough and is blessing me everyday.  The gospel really is home. 

 

I hope you all have a good week.  We have apartment checks and district activity so I'll try to get letters out this week, but we'll see what happens.  I love you

 

Sister Allred.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Dear Family,

 

It has been a crazy P-day, which is why I'm righting so late.  Once every 2 transfers we get to go to the temple.  We got up this morning and went to the the 9 am session at the San Diego.  OH MY GOSH!! it is such a pretty temple.  One of our most wonderful members took us and she works at the temple so she took us through one of the sealing rooms and it was just so pretty.  I loved it.  I love going to the temple.  I walked out just feeling so good and thankful.  I know that the work that I'm doing is directed by our Heavenly Father.  He knows our lives and he directs us so we can return to him. 

 

Yesterday was Halloween, and it was a bit of a slow day for us.  We had dinner with a couple of families from our ward before they all went out trick or treating but we basically had to snarf our food because it wasn't quite done when we got there and our mission president told us that we had to be in our apartment by 6pm.  We spent the night in the apartment and that was nice-  Elder Edwards got released from being an assistant last transfer and came to our zone so we all know him.  It was his birthday, so the zone leaders spent most of the night trying to coordinate a conference call so the whole zone could sing him happy birthday.  After a lot of trial and error we got the whole zone on the phone and then we called Elder Edwards.  He and his companion didn' pick up the phone.  It was the worst timing ever, but we sang to the voice message anyway, mostly I think because the zone leaders didn't want to go through that again. 

 

It's been a good week.  We have been able to meet with a ton of less actives we were trying to get a hold of and we are seeing a lot of really good progress with them.  That is really exciting.  Also they are part member families and we may start teaching their nonmember significant others pretty soon.  We are still working with the Alikhani Family, but not being able to meet regularly has been difficult.  I hope that things will pick up as it gets closer to their baptism. 

 

We went to zone leader council on Friday.  That was an awesome experience although I did feel like I got invited to this exclusive club that I will never be a member of.  That's okay we got some amazing training from the assistants and president cook that I really think was inspired.  I love the way the lord works because he works in such simple but significant ways.  The biggest part of the training was when the assistants gave us a calender and wanted to plan out everything that we need to do for our investigators with a baptismal date to get the ready to be baptized.  It was so simple, but the small things that they told us to do I think will really help.  Now we have to go out and teach the rest of the missionaries and that makes me a little nervous.

 

I have exchanges tomorrow.  I'm super nervous because I don't really like the idea of leaving sister Bean, even for a day, but on the other hand I am so excited to meet and learn from other amazing sisters.  It will definitely be a crazy experience. 

 

I think that is is for this week.  I love you all and hopefully I'll have time to write some more letters today. 

 

Love Sister Allred