So familia, not too much time today, but I will try and give you a thorough update. I emailed you guys last week, then had pday. Marcus did come and Max Wardell/Tienvieri came to basketball. I stunk up the court, but I won my last game, it was so fun. I would just shoot three’s, Marcus would get the rebound and just place it in the hoop, that man is giant! Then we went out to dinner at Applebee’s with the first ward, it was lots of fun. The 76ers game was on, and they got stomped on. Then we went to the Tienvieri’s for family home evening, which was hilarious. We taught about faith, and then their 8 or 9 year old daughter who is way cool, taught us how to get a date. 4 easy steps: #1 find a girl you like, #2 tell her a joke, #3 ask if she likes you, #4 schedule a date! Apparently it’s fool proof, I can’t wait to get home and try it :) Then Elder Slezack came to my area of exchanges, we stayed up having “girl talk” and then passed out aka fell asleep.
So March 2 marked 3 months! 1/8th of my mission down, seems so big, and yet so small lol! We then went shopping because we actually got money into our accounts. I got a 2 disc Handel collection at Walmart for $2, it made me a very happy boy! Went home and we both felt kinda nasty, but after a can of pears and a 5 minute nap we got out and went to see an investigator who never showed up. So we went out to find some referrals and had a couple quality gospel conversations while we talked about our zombie emergency plans. The 5 people I would have with me in case of a zombie-apocalypse are definitely #1 my future wife, #2 Jesus, #3 Dad, #4 Opimus Prime and #5 I think was Chuck Norris, or superman, I can’t really remember… clearly I put lots of thought into it :) then we went on an adventure up this really big hill to get a good view of Denver. We found out the field we went through was a mud hole, so my tires got coated. We took them to a car wash and power washed the heck outta my bike, it was very fun! Talked to a couple more referrals, and had dinner with a non-member; his wife who is a member wasn’t home. It turned out to be really good, and fun, etc.
Wednesday was interviews. I love President Ely so much, it’s not even funny. He’s so great and is just hilarious. We were just talking and I shook his hand and he just started wrestling me and we played this knock each other over game, so random and so funny. Interviews were great, Zone leader and AP (assistant to the president) trainings were good, they were about goals and what not. President Ely’s comment to me was to make sure I take time to “sharpen my saw.” Which was really good advice.
So then we went around doing our thing, some no show appointments. Then we went over to have our game day with a family. We played Simpsons Life. It was so fun! They were watching a part member family’s 3 year old, so while we were playing I was playing “fetch” with him and a pass along card, that was fun! And Simpsons Life is so much cooler than normal Life (the board game). We saw Marcus. Brother Bowerman took us to an awesome Mexican food place that gave me enough food for 8 people or so! It was so good! Then we went to an investigator lesson that went soooo well, with a woman named Tina Hill, she is awesome. The spirit was really really strong.
Thursday was district meeting. I had a training on faces and attitudes. It went really well. I ended up taking like 30 minutes, but we had a great discussion. In the end it ended up being a heart with a symbol for baptism in the middle, it was very funny. Then we went to an investigator lesson, she had missed it earlier. She’s reading the Book of Mormon and is in 2 Nephi or something, which is so cool! She believe in many of the same things we do, and is going to pray about Joseph smith. She says she believes the Book of Mormon to be true because it teaches such good things and principles, and she loves it! It makes me very happy! Then we went next door to a potential investigator who we probably won’t be visiting again for a while. He used to be in really big bands and was on all sorts of labels, so that was cool to talk about at least. We had dinner with our ward mission leader and we acted out the story of Ammon, with his 6 kids, 11 years old and younger. It was so fun, but crazy.
Friday, not a lot happened. We did service at the food bank, where I tried to roll around on a barrel… it kind of worked, but now I have a bruised butt. Had weekly planning and then Elder Hiatt had a District Leader Conference at the stake center, so I wound up drawing Mormon graffiti on the chalkboard, it ended up pretty cool.
Saturday, we had some really good appointments. One of our lessons ended up being about horses, and we ended up having a really good gospel conversation about some of the principles and things we could learn. We road up many hills that day. My legs… are like… huge! When I flex them they feel like pillars of golden amazingness. The rest of me, well… I still have my 6ish pack, it’s just slightly dusted over with some fluff – the members love to feed us, it’s no good. After fast Sunday they were like, here’s like ½ a chicken to eat! It was so good though. I wash everyone in our ward wasn’t very good cooks – life would be easier (I wouldn’t be worried about getting fat). Saturday night we were visiting the Dachtlers, and Sister Dachtler was having contractions, so we decided we’d talk about cars. She then decided she was really going into labor and asked us to give her a blessing. It was really cool, and I was like my sister is going to be doing this soon. So it was really special. I got to give her the blessing, and everything happened, I was prompted to say some pretty cool things that definitely didn’t come from me about the baby, and it was really cool to be a part of it.
Sunday morning, early meetings once again. Then church was good. Choir was good, nothing big happening. Then Sister Dachtler had her baby at 2:45 that afternoon. We had lunch at a member’s, it was so good! More appointments, and ended up at the Stiefvaters that night where we used to live. We talked about their move, they’re going to Virginia so he can go to Marine Officer training. I decided if I ever went into the military I would be a H.A.L.O jumper or high altitude, low opening - behind enemy lines, except you have to go through torture training, and I think that would just be awful. But yea, that was about it.
It was a good week, a good week to be a missionary, ups and downs as usual, but I’m still glad to be here. I love you all! “The soul would have no rainbows, if the eyes had no tears” an Indian saying I really like.
Anyway, that’s about it. I love you all! Until next week!!!
Elder Allred
XOXOOXX
Monday, March 8, 2010
March 1, 2010
Sorry again for the delay... yet another crazy week here in Provo.
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So what’s going on, today/this week has been interesting; good, bad and interesting. So last Monday was good, we went over to the Tinvieri’s house and hung out with them, that was really fun.
Tuesday we had district meeting with our zone, and some guy came to talk to us about deep doctrine stuff that blew my mind. It made sense, but in a way I’d never thought about it, and it kind of made me uneasy about my station in life, but I’m at ease with the world now. Then lunch. Then we went and met with Donna and supported her at AA. Later we had an interesting run in with some girls who were drunk and on drugs. Then we had dinner with our 2nd counselor, and then I forget… I forgot my journal today.
Wednesday I was on exchanges with Elder Walker in the 3rd ward, most of the day we spent tracting with flyers for a musical night the 3rd ward was putting on. We saw some cool families, but no investigators. Then we ate dinner with the Dashazer family whose dad was in an induced coma to help fight off cancer. We taught about the atonement, which I think helped them. Brother Dashazer then passed away on Saturday.
Thursday we practiced for the music night, and then I went over to the first ward’s house and stayed with a very sick Elder Bryan. Elder Hiatt and Slezack went out and covered 1st and 2nd for the day because Slezack had been inside for like 2 days already, and I was sleepy so I got to sleep! And then we wrote songs about the birds and the bees and had a very “loud time” – go back and read that conference talk about loud boys, that’s a very common point of reference out here.
Friday we did service and had weekly planning. We had dinner with the Hamblins, who are way awesome. Then the music night which only members showed up to :( It was good though. Our district sang I believe in Christ, in a 3 part harmony, never having practiced and it sounded great!
Saturday we helped Brother Hamblin “trick out” aka work on his town house, we ripped cabinents off the kitchen walls and ate lunch with them. Then we went to an investigator appointment that turned out to be a no show. We went home, got our bikes and biked to an appointment with a less active member that went really well. We had dinner with the Hamblins again, he made some mean burgers, they were awesome! Then went home, because it was nasty outside.
Sunday, we didn’t have early morning meetings! So instead of getting up my body decided to sleep in, I felt bad, but at least I was more awake for church. Then choir, lunch and nap. Then we went over to see Marcus for the first time in so long. He had a list of questions for us, #1 why is there only 1 church #2 what is the Book of Mormon #3 why should I get baptized again #4 what is the Holy Ghost #5 why are the Catholics so powerful, and what are they all about. After our discussion Marcus told us he didn’t like some of the Catholic ideas/practices too much. We wound up having a really good lesson. He refers to me as “Philly”, it’s funny. He’s coming to play bball on p-day with us today, I can’t wait for him to show us how it’s done. Anyway, then it started snowing really hard and we biked across town with our eyes closed, not fun. I was covered in mud, head to foot… I forgot my camera cord today. Then we had several appointments that night in the freezing cold.
Today hasn’t been too great so far, but I’m hanging in there.
I love you all! The church is true! I am officially a “Book of Mormon nerd”… I love that book so much! Bye bye!
Elder Allred
Sorry this email was a little dry/boring, I'll try to do better next week!
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