BAPTISM!!!

Well this week has been an incredibly long week.  I can barely remember last Tuesday.  Its seems like it was forever ago but it was still a really great week.  Dani's baptism was great.  Because it was on a Tuesday all the activity day girls and the youth came.  It was a highly attended baptism.  It was great.  Dani was baptized by her father in law.  They flew from Utah for one day- just so they could be there.  Dani was a little nervous and I'm not sure if she was super thrilled that there were a ton of people there, but at least we didn't make her talk so she should count her blessings. 

Absolutely my favorite part of the baptism was watching Dani's family.  After the baptism Dani's father in law came up piratically in tears- thanking us.  I just wanted to give him a hug.  And then as we were leaving Mike, Dani's husband, came up and just thanked us so much.  You could see that he was so happy.  He could see his eternal family coming together. Both sister Christensen and I felt super awkward when people thanked us or told us god job, but we loved seeing how happy they were as a family.  I think there is nothing like a baptism to make me realize how very little I do as a missionary.  I go and I teach an adequate lesson, and then the spirit does the rest. Then the investigators only make the commitments if they are ready.  Missionaries have such a tiny role in the conversion process.  It is all Heavenly Father and his child. 

Anyway we are just thrilled that we had a baptism last week, and more exciting news- we have a baptism coming up next Monday.  I know, it is super fast.  The investigator, that we picked up last week is getting baptized next Monday.  I'm in a bit of a daze because things are happening super fast.  We asked him to pray about baptism and then in our lesson on Saturday he brought it up himself.  He told us that he had prayed and that he wanted to be baptized.  Sister Christensen and I were thinking maybe 2 weeks- give him time to actually get all the lessons (we were only half way through plan of salvation with him)  He suggested his birthday on April 12.  Then the member we brought with us kind of took over and said that was too long and he should get baptized on April 2 with the Elders investigator.  So, there we go.  We talked to Jeremy later about it and he was absolutely fine with the date.  He is so excited and I know that the gospel is going to help him.  YEAH!!  This week we are planning on meeting with him every day to get ready for baptism. I kind of feel bad for him because its like a cram session, but Jeremy is super excited about it. 

The baptism accidentally got announced on Sunday, which kind of made me cringe.  You are not supposed to announce a baptism until after the baptismal interview, but the word got out and it was announced over the pulpit.  At that point we hadn't even gotten through any of the commandments like law of chastity of word of wisdom.  We taught those last night and he took it well.  Jeremy is really really prepared. 

On a less spiritual note I would like to proudly announce that I have been a big girl this week and eaten a lot of food that I don't like.  Two families have fed me fish.  I ate it and it wasn't that bad.  And then we had a sister in our ward give us breakfast and she served us eggs Benedict.  I really can say that I hate eggs.  The fish was fine- the eggs were disgusting but I ate it all anyway.  And I did it with a smile. I just want people to understand that this is a really big deal!  Oh also I have a sneaking suspicion that I have an allergy or something to avocado.  I've been getting occasional stomach aches which is unusual.  But in the past 3 weeks I've had supper bad ones.  Like roll up and moan stomach aches and they both happened after I had large amounts of  Guacamole.  I'm not sure but I think it's is no good for me. 

Hmmm.  What else happened this week.  I forgot my planner and so I can't really remember all that well.  So we have a secret investigator.  We know that we are teaching her, but she doesn't know.  We teach the sweetest little Filipino lady in our ward.  She was my first appointment here in vista.  We were preparing her for the temple but now there isn't too much of a point of teaching her except for her cousin.  She has the funniest cousin ever named soli.  She would come to over whenever we ate ate Sister Crawfords on Friday.  One of those dinners we pretty boldly asked if she wanted to take the lessons and she said no.  She was pretty certain about that.  Well ever since then we have had to move our weekly appointment with sister crawford to Friday which is Soli's day off.  Soli has come to every single appointment. She knows we are teaching and that we will try and get soli into the lessons.  And she always contributes.  She is like our secret investigator.  We are a little confused but I absolutely love soli and if nothing else just love to talk to her.  It is the cutest picture of two old little Filipino women talking and laughing together.  Adorable. 

We have transfers on Saturday.  We are pretty sure that Sister Christensen and I are staying together.  It is going to be a small transfer and I don't think a lot of sisters are going to be transferred.  I am pretty bummed because one of my FAVORITE elders in our district is going home, don't tell his companion.  I don't know what it is in the mission but there is a group of elders who will not tell us when they are going home.  The elder who is going home is training and his greenie has no idea.  I would be so mad if my trainer did that.  Oh well, to each his own. 

Well I love you so much.  I miss everyone back at home.  The church is true.

Love Sister Allred

Baptisim! (March 20th)

Dear Family,

 

We have a baptism today!!  I am so excited.  I feel like I have been with Dani the entire time,  (okay- except for 2 lessons when they first started teaching her)  I am just so excited about today.  On the other hand it is kind of a bummer because after Dani's baptism we don't have anybody to teach in the family ward. 

 

This week has been a roller coaster week.  We dropped 4 of our investigators.  2 of them never really were progressing all that well, but two of them were AMAZING.  The only problem is that they have incredibly stressed busy schedules and can't ever meet.  They both have stopped returning our phone calls too.  It was absolutely heart breaking dropping one of them because I knew how much the gospel would help her in her life if she would only put the Lord first.  That isn't happening right now and we need to move on.  We dropped her in Saturday and then I cried.  Sister Christensen was super inspired and cheered me up.  Then we went to a lesson with Dani and then Sister Christensen cried.  It was a weepy day. 

 

On Wednesday we dropped the two investigators that have never really been progressing.  But it was a really cool experience. I was sad about dropping one investigator and I was so nervous about what we were going to say.  They had been having missionaries over for 2 years and had never been dropped.  They also had signed up to feed us after the lesson-  we were expecting a bit of an awkward dinner.  Anyway we had been praying a lot about what to say and right when we got in the lesson I felt a really strong impression on what we should say.  That doesn't happen to me a lot.  I really believe that the spirit guides me the most in our study and so when we teach a lesson it is already inspired- but we got that revelation through studying the scriptures in that morning.  It wasn't the cases in this lesson.  Even though we had prepared I felt like we didn't know what to say.  But as I sat down I knew what he needed to hear.  I truly felt like I was speaking as a true and authorize representative of the Lord....we still had to drop him.  But instead of being just awful we had a really great feeling in the room and good dinner afterwards.  That was really nice. 

 

We were pretty bummed though afterwards because the panic hit us that there was no one to teach anymore.  so the day kind of ended on a sour note.  That night our district leader had called us and I was telling him that we had a pretty rough day because we had dropped a good chunk of our investigators.  He mentioned that he had a good day yesterday because they had picked up some new investigators.  That's when I felt pretty foolish because I remembered that morning.  I said, "Well yeah.  I guess we picked up a new investigator this morning."  In my depressed haze I forgot about Jermey.  He is a referral that we got from the Spanish sisters.  We taught him for the first time on Wednesday and it went pretty good.  He has had a pretty rough life and the gospel would so help him in his life.  Since Wednesday we have seen him 3 other times (church, YSA FHE, and another lesson) and we are so excited about him now.  I think that he is going to do awesome.  I had the thought yesterday that the lord traded us 4 non-progressing investigators for 1 progressing.  I actually feel like that was a good trade. 

 

 Other fun things about the week-  we taught one of Sister Christensen's childhood friends.  Her name was Laura, and she came out to San Diego.  President said that because she was a nonmember we could see her.  We taught the restoration to Laura and her boyfriend.  It was a really great lesson and I really wanted to teach them again.  To bad they went back t Virginia the next day. 

 

Well I need to go.  I'm not sure if I will be able to write a letter today because of the baptism and we have clean checks tomorrow.  It is a pretty crazy day. 

 

I love you all so much.  The church is true!

 

Love Sister Allred.

What I am grateful for...

Dear Family,

 

This has been a service week, and let me tell you I am burnt out.  Ha!  Ever since Sister Christensen and I were put together we have been struggling to get the ward to let  us into their homes so we can provide service.  Then all of a sudden we had people asking for a lot of help.  We felt like we couldn't say no and were actually pretty excited about helping.  Almost everyday this week we have been helping someone.  It has been great, but whenever you take significant chunks out of your proselyting time we realize how much we love the actual missionary work of teaching and finding.  I know that the Lord has blessed us to because by some miracle we were able to reach our goal of 21 lessons taught.  We worked hard for that but I also know that it only happened because the Lord was blessing us. 

 

Wednesday was a crazy day full of lessons.  My favorite was with Melissa, a less active in our Family ward.  she has not come to church in a very long time but she always lets us come in even though we feel like we don't ever get very far.  Wednesday we stopped by and started teaching the restoration.  we didn't get very far before she completely opened up and started talking to us about some deep concerns she had about her family.  We had a really good conversation and we know that the spirit was helping us to address her needs, even though the promptings that we were having were very basic.  We knew she needed to read and to pray and come to church.  But also she needed to recognizee the blessings and the help that the Lord has given her specifically.  I think that gratitude is a way to develop our faith in Christ that is often over looked. When we recognize our blessings we realize that we are not left alone and defenseless, and yet in my prayers at least I easily forget how the lord has blessed me. 

 

Actually we had a training about that yesterday in District meeting.  We need to recognize the miracles that happen even when we are going through hard times.  Our district leader Elder Goulding had us think of the worst thing that happened that week and then think of the blessings that came from that.  Well I knew immediately the worst thing that had happened.  On Thursday we had a lesson with out recent convert and her returning less active husband.  It has been a rocky little while because we have been trying to focus on how to help the husband.  He is stressed and confused and does not have a testimony of the restored gospel.  As we were having our lesson, we kept getting side tracked by his questions and his doubts.  We were just running around in circles.  I knew we weren't going about it the right way but nothing else was coming.  Then his mom made a comment that just made him super frustrated and he shouted a bit and then walked out of the house.  Is was awkward and heartbreaking.  I really care about this family but am lost on how to help the husband because he is not ready to change.  Yesterday as we were looking for the blessings I figured out the miracle that came from that disaster lesson.  Suddenly, Sister Christensen and i knew exactly what direction we need to take to help the family.  we need to focus on our recent convert and help strengthen her.  When I'm writing this I don't want it to sound like we are just giving up on her husband, but before we struggled to even figure out what to say to him, it was a total stupor of thought.  After that lesson both sister Christensen and I felt like our answer was not to worry about him,  He is not ready yet and that the Lord will take care of him.  I need to focus in his wife, who really does need that spiritual nourishment. It was not a fun lesson, but I'm grateful for the answer that I got to prayer.

 

Oh!  we also had a lesson with our 1 investigator in the YSA ward.  We were worried about her because we didn't have a lot of contact with her the past couple of weeks.  But we had a wonderful lesson with her and she is progressing!  She even recognized the difference between meeting with us and not seeing us.  Really it isn't us- its the message that we are sharing.  I am so excited for her!  Yeah!

 

On Saturday we had a first lesson with a Laotian family. Oh GOSH!  The Spanish sisters that we live with contacted a family from Laos and they don't speak a lot of English but their son just died and were interested in learning more.  We got the referral and they were able to find someone in the stake that speaks Laotian.  we scheduled an appointment and came in with our interpreter, brother Elton.  As we sat down I realized how completely unprepared I was...  They really didn't speak a lot of English at all, and I surprisingly enough don't speak any Laotian.  They have a Buddhist background and I realized very quickly that I have no idea how to teach someone who does not have a christian foundation.  Crazy!!  Anyway-despite the struggling and floundering I think we had a good lesson.  We talked about the saviors power to heal. Of course they didn't know who the savior was or really who God is, but they did understand that the message that we are sharing is a message of comfort and peace.  Not matter anyone personal background those are principles that everyone needs and wants in their life.  Pray for me-  this is going to be an experience. 

 

Well I love you,  I hope everything is going well. 

 

Love,

 

Sister Allred

 

p.s.  I got my package yesterday of Envelopes!  it was great.  I thought it was pretty funny and I loved them. Thanks!