Dear Family,
So, I decided I miss summer camp. We've been seeing a lot of families with a ton of kids and i just want to stay and hang out with them. YCAMP was the bomb, and i hope it's going well, even with the 100 degree weather+humidity, i can only imagine what camp is like this summer.
also the following questions:
when does Aaron Murphy get home, isn't it this month?
Micheal gets home next month?
did Brent Stevenson turn in his mission papers yet?
Where is Dan Mallon in the state of CO?
Sam King is the man b/c he wrote me a letter.
How is Randy doing is he still at BYUI?
So Yes, this past week has been very long and very interesting. We had interviews with our Mission President, he said I'm probably moving, but there's a small chance I might stay. Then we went and did lots of stuff.....and i decided that if I ever get a dog I will name it Loki after Thayne Steifvater (the marine, who's parent's we're staying at, who's house we did stay at) 's dog loki, who is the tightest dog ever, i sent home pics a while ago of it.... also, I'm having trouble deleting pics off my camera b/c I'm not sure what i already sent home.
District Meeting on Wednesday was really fun, we were talking about football and someone said... "shoulder helmet" i forget who, but it was hilarious. That day it poured buckets, luckily we had made it inside. though the rain made it a very unproductive day.
Thursday was busy again, on again off again rain, I've biked so much in the rain! blah.
Friday we worked at the food bank, talked to one of the guys there about live sound and dj-ing.
then after that we helped a lady in our area move a gigantic treadmill, she was a friend of a local ward member. and in there house, she and her fiance are huge hunters, they have like every animal mounted, it was insane cool. they had a red-stage from new Zealand and like all this nuts stuff. they go to Africa on hunts and what not, it was tight. then we went to see Kim E who is doing awesome, and weekly planned our faces off.
Saturday was busy, we went to see an investigator who wasn't progressing, and i really wanted to read Rev. 3:16 to her, but i thought that being spewed might be a little harsh for her...so whatever.... then we went and worked with two of our ward members on action plans to keep moving forward/get over things/ be awesome, and that was really cool. After that we kinda floated around town getting everything ready for Sunday!
Sunday was aight, kinda boring, had a lot of cancellations...but it was good. Overall a very uneventful week lol. However, yesterday i did get a call from Donna! That was exciting, we'll see what happens with her, We're going over to see her on Tuesday, so hopefully we can help her progress again before I have to take off.
This week I've also been thinking a lot about my purpose as a missionary (there is a section about it in Preach My Gospel, the missionary guide). But the whole reason we're out here, and telling the world is because Jesus Christ is our Savior. The Buck starts and stops with Him. We watched “The Testaments” and it amazes me to know all that Jesus has done and continues to do for us. We don't have to go through this life alone, ever, He is always there to help us.
So everyone have a good week.
Transfers are next Monday so we'll see what happens.
Much Love
Elder Jonathan Allred
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
July 6, 2010
Dear Family,
It actually feels like a while since I've written to you, though it's only been 8 days. Well, a lot has happened this week, so hopefully i get all the juicy details in.
So Monday was pday, pretty boring, i don't even remember what we did.
we saw lots of other people having fun, but i guess that's just one of the things we deal with. we had dinner with our ward mission leader at his house, and with our bishop, it was tight. talked a lot about the world cup and who was up and what not.
oh yea, pday we went to buffalo wild wings with like.......8 or 10 missionaries total?
we at like 270 wings at their all you can eat wings day, it was tight.
and we got to see part of the brazil stomping chile process it was tight.
germany and spain play today, I'm gonna say that germany stomps, they've won every game and score 4 goals in most (no i haven't watched any of those).
Dobronsky loves soccer so i've gotten into it, it's way tight. I finally understand how you can be offsides in soccer....weird.
But Tuesday, not too much happened, looking for people to teach etc. We've been helping a sister in our ward with some problems that arose due to her trying to help some people have living arrangements, and we didn't know what to tell her other than have faith, pray hard. And that's exactly what worked. long story short she just got put of full disability which is what is gonna cover + her costs for what drama came up, so that was really cool. Then we went with Brother Carroll and Kim E to the stake center to get her fitted for baptisimal clothes, that was way awesome. Dinner with a young family who had seen Toy Story 3 and said it was awesome. Then an appointment bailed on us and we just popped in on some people.
Wednesday! District meeting in the morning, it was good. I think we did a review, yea we did. and it was good, i had a sick chicken analogy, ps: i found out that analogies are my thing. Then we had a great training from the sisters in our district. my fave part was a story about these turkeys in a meeting learning how to fly, and they did it and were pros...and then the meeting ended and they all walked home.
i think we can apply it to a lot of things in our lives, including church, and FHE and lots of things. when we learn things that are going to help us, PUT THEM TO WORK, act on it. that's something I've been doing is acting, my whole life I've been a HUGE PROCRASTINATOR. and now I've found that preparation, planning, and constant effort is much easier in the long run, than late nights and high stress.
IF ONLY I HAD LISTENED TO MY PARENTS! ugh, i said it that's right. i never claimed to be perfect. But yea. Then after DM, we went to see a referral new investigator that came to church last Sunday, we’ll call her D and her 2 daughters. We got to teach them a huge first lesson all about Jesus, cuz the daughters barely knew who he was. About Mary being his mother and everything. We taught a really good restoration part and then committed them to baptism! it was really exciting.
They were set for the 17th, however, they didn't make it to church this week so we might do it the night of the 18th if everything else works out amazingly...which it probably won't, but that's ok, i just won't be here (hopefully) after then...so oh well.
After that we had a few stops on our way to the stake center to get everything set up for the baptism! We filled the font according to the directions......which we found out later weren't exactly correct....set up the room, tv, etc. Our dinner came and brought us food there so that was cool. Then, i got my “just desserts” after making us late for church for 19 years. It was like 7 mins before the start of the baptism and like no one was there...even KIM wasn't there....so i was really stressed. But then like 2 mins before it was supposed to start everyone showed up which was good...but i made a vow to myself that i would never be late again...on purpose. Then we had the baptism and it was really awesome. Kim got baptized twice because....the font water wasn't high enough...so her elbow poked out the first time, but the 2nd, everything went well. Whew. We showed a short restoration video during the changing time and it was awesome. WE then drained everything cleaned up and went home.
Thursday...i don't really remember what we did.......we did a lot of finding. Then we had dinner with the Tienvieri's which was awesome.
Friday the food bank was closed so we did weekly planning in the morning, and extra cleaning b/c the stiefvater's son, thayne, who we used to live with, the marine in virginia now, was visiting. then we went out for some visits, and came home for a large party in which i got a migraine : (.
Saturday though, woke up and still hurt, but whatever. We saw a ton of people. Stopped by our other kim investigator and found out that she hadn't read or prayed, so instead of teaching her a full lesson, we just tried to impress the importance of both upon her and left. Saw D, but she had people over for teh 4th of july weekend.
Lots more people......then Saw the Maxwells who are doing awesome. She is having a boy, though it's not going to be named Jonathan :’( oh well.
Then Sunday...oh Sunday. Well it was the 4th of July which to missionaries means nothing. Church was awesome. A really old less active brother who we saw like once came to church, and walked up to me with his thick Spanish accent and goes "so, we meet again" and i just died laughing. After church, took a lunch nap. Then went out biking....and long story short i died...just kidding. I wrecked big time though and got a huge chunk taken out of my hand. so we road to a members house and i got patched up. left our bikes there to get picked up by some other missionaries and walked to dinner. after dinner we were pretty put out about all the fun going on around us, and the fact that we didn't get to watch fireworks. so we were walking and i just looked up and i was like "God, just let it rain" and 5 steps later it started pouring....and hailing...and we got soaked and hit and it wasn't fun.
But i learned to only pray for what you want, and not to pray out of vengeance. lol.
so we got a very wet and hurt ride home.
Then yesterday we heard that the library was closed (which was false) and so we didn't email. We hiked "table top" mountain, and got lots of prickly things in our socks and shoes. We saw deer and coyotes....i'll send pics.
but that's about it.
it's awesome being apart of other people's lives for good.
much love family
i ran out of time so i don't think i can send pictures...but i love you!
peace.
J
PS. Totally forgot
Elder Dobronsky performed teh baptism, and i got to confirm her on sunday.
we had no mic...so i did it straight up, and like no one heard it, but it was an amazing experience, it was super powerful!
love you all
much love
J
It actually feels like a while since I've written to you, though it's only been 8 days. Well, a lot has happened this week, so hopefully i get all the juicy details in.
So Monday was pday, pretty boring, i don't even remember what we did.
we saw lots of other people having fun, but i guess that's just one of the things we deal with. we had dinner with our ward mission leader at his house, and with our bishop, it was tight. talked a lot about the world cup and who was up and what not.
oh yea, pday we went to buffalo wild wings with like.......8 or 10 missionaries total?
we at like 270 wings at their all you can eat wings day, it was tight.
and we got to see part of the brazil stomping chile process it was tight.
germany and spain play today, I'm gonna say that germany stomps, they've won every game and score 4 goals in most (no i haven't watched any of those).
Dobronsky loves soccer so i've gotten into it, it's way tight. I finally understand how you can be offsides in soccer....weird.
But Tuesday, not too much happened, looking for people to teach etc. We've been helping a sister in our ward with some problems that arose due to her trying to help some people have living arrangements, and we didn't know what to tell her other than have faith, pray hard. And that's exactly what worked. long story short she just got put of full disability which is what is gonna cover + her costs for what drama came up, so that was really cool. Then we went with Brother Carroll and Kim E to the stake center to get her fitted for baptisimal clothes, that was way awesome. Dinner with a young family who had seen Toy Story 3 and said it was awesome. Then an appointment bailed on us and we just popped in on some people.
Wednesday! District meeting in the morning, it was good. I think we did a review, yea we did. and it was good, i had a sick chicken analogy, ps: i found out that analogies are my thing. Then we had a great training from the sisters in our district. my fave part was a story about these turkeys in a meeting learning how to fly, and they did it and were pros...and then the meeting ended and they all walked home.
i think we can apply it to a lot of things in our lives, including church, and FHE and lots of things. when we learn things that are going to help us, PUT THEM TO WORK, act on it. that's something I've been doing is acting, my whole life I've been a HUGE PROCRASTINATOR. and now I've found that preparation, planning, and constant effort is much easier in the long run, than late nights and high stress.
IF ONLY I HAD LISTENED TO MY PARENTS! ugh, i said it that's right. i never claimed to be perfect. But yea. Then after DM, we went to see a referral new investigator that came to church last Sunday, we’ll call her D and her 2 daughters. We got to teach them a huge first lesson all about Jesus, cuz the daughters barely knew who he was. About Mary being his mother and everything. We taught a really good restoration part and then committed them to baptism! it was really exciting.
They were set for the 17th, however, they didn't make it to church this week so we might do it the night of the 18th if everything else works out amazingly...which it probably won't, but that's ok, i just won't be here (hopefully) after then...so oh well.
After that we had a few stops on our way to the stake center to get everything set up for the baptism! We filled the font according to the directions......which we found out later weren't exactly correct....set up the room, tv, etc. Our dinner came and brought us food there so that was cool. Then, i got my “just desserts” after making us late for church for 19 years. It was like 7 mins before the start of the baptism and like no one was there...even KIM wasn't there....so i was really stressed. But then like 2 mins before it was supposed to start everyone showed up which was good...but i made a vow to myself that i would never be late again...on purpose. Then we had the baptism and it was really awesome. Kim got baptized twice because....the font water wasn't high enough...so her elbow poked out the first time, but the 2nd, everything went well. Whew. We showed a short restoration video during the changing time and it was awesome. WE then drained everything cleaned up and went home.
Thursday...i don't really remember what we did.......we did a lot of finding. Then we had dinner with the Tienvieri's which was awesome.
Friday the food bank was closed so we did weekly planning in the morning, and extra cleaning b/c the stiefvater's son, thayne, who we used to live with, the marine in virginia now, was visiting. then we went out for some visits, and came home for a large party in which i got a migraine : (.
Saturday though, woke up and still hurt, but whatever. We saw a ton of people. Stopped by our other kim investigator and found out that she hadn't read or prayed, so instead of teaching her a full lesson, we just tried to impress the importance of both upon her and left. Saw D, but she had people over for teh 4th of july weekend.
Lots more people......then Saw the Maxwells who are doing awesome. She is having a boy, though it's not going to be named Jonathan :’( oh well.
Then Sunday...oh Sunday. Well it was the 4th of July which to missionaries means nothing. Church was awesome. A really old less active brother who we saw like once came to church, and walked up to me with his thick Spanish accent and goes "so, we meet again" and i just died laughing. After church, took a lunch nap. Then went out biking....and long story short i died...just kidding. I wrecked big time though and got a huge chunk taken out of my hand. so we road to a members house and i got patched up. left our bikes there to get picked up by some other missionaries and walked to dinner. after dinner we were pretty put out about all the fun going on around us, and the fact that we didn't get to watch fireworks. so we were walking and i just looked up and i was like "God, just let it rain" and 5 steps later it started pouring....and hailing...and we got soaked and hit and it wasn't fun.
But i learned to only pray for what you want, and not to pray out of vengeance. lol.
so we got a very wet and hurt ride home.
Then yesterday we heard that the library was closed (which was false) and so we didn't email. We hiked "table top" mountain, and got lots of prickly things in our socks and shoes. We saw deer and coyotes....i'll send pics.
but that's about it.
it's awesome being apart of other people's lives for good.
much love family
i ran out of time so i don't think i can send pictures...but i love you!
peace.
J
PS. Totally forgot
Elder Dobronsky performed teh baptism, and i got to confirm her on sunday.
we had no mic...so i did it straight up, and like no one heard it, but it was an amazing experience, it was super powerful!
love you all
much love
J
June 28, 2010
DISCLAIMER:
this is going to be a lot of whining and complaining (everyone has hard weeks)
Lately, i've been pretty fed up with others around me (not my companion) who blatanly breaks rules, doesn't care, doesn't work, and then complains about how bad his area is/lack of work. i'm sick of people disrespecting other peoples property and space and being extremely inconsiderate.
anyways, last monday we played frisbee golf.
tuesday we had lunch with our stake president, our investigator ditched our lesson. our dinner never called us back. it was like 90 degrees and then we met with our investigator, Kim E, and went home.
Wednesday was our day to fast. our district had a fast for finding people. we took 4 days for the whole district and today was our day, so we went around and found 3 new investigators which was a miracle. finding one a week would be a miracle and we got 3 in one day. i was extremely humbled and grateful. we barely made it to dinner very hungry and dehydrated and then they fed us too much. it was good.
Thursday we met with someone who needs to get his butt in gear. then we met with more with the same story. then we saw Kim and went over word of wisdom, tithing, chastity and sabbath day. dinner with the rankins who are awesome. lesson with the meadows. it was 100 degrees that day. literally.
Friday we did service at the food bank. Weekly planned. went to texas roadhouse for dinner. saw kim. then home.
saturday service for a first ward member in the morning. Kim M that we had set for baptismal date flaked again. we saw Kim E, taught some more about the commandments right before a thunderstorm. went to dinner with two older ladies in the ward to a pizza place. went to a missionary open house farewell. then home.
sunday was church. 2 of our new investigators were at church. i think one of them felt completely overwhelmed and awkward...great..then lunch. Then b/c of logistics we couldn't bike so sister stiefvater drove us to an appointment where we set up a plan to help this lady stop smoking. then we helped her hook up her wii, i cut a hole in the back of her entertainment center for her to put the chords through, it was a very nice hole. then dinner with family....awkward. then we went to see another family which was just... ugh.
so it was a fantastic week. (sarcasm)
transfers are in 21 days.
we'll see what happens.
Alma is awesome. (Book of Mormon reference)
“Jesus the Christ” is a very good book.
The church is real, it's got the authority, it's legitimate.
Elder Allred
this is going to be a lot of whining and complaining (everyone has hard weeks)
Lately, i've been pretty fed up with others around me (not my companion) who blatanly breaks rules, doesn't care, doesn't work, and then complains about how bad his area is/lack of work. i'm sick of people disrespecting other peoples property and space and being extremely inconsiderate.
anyways, last monday we played frisbee golf.
tuesday we had lunch with our stake president, our investigator ditched our lesson. our dinner never called us back. it was like 90 degrees and then we met with our investigator, Kim E, and went home.
Wednesday was our day to fast. our district had a fast for finding people. we took 4 days for the whole district and today was our day, so we went around and found 3 new investigators which was a miracle. finding one a week would be a miracle and we got 3 in one day. i was extremely humbled and grateful. we barely made it to dinner very hungry and dehydrated and then they fed us too much. it was good.
Thursday we met with someone who needs to get his butt in gear. then we met with more with the same story. then we saw Kim and went over word of wisdom, tithing, chastity and sabbath day. dinner with the rankins who are awesome. lesson with the meadows. it was 100 degrees that day. literally.
Friday we did service at the food bank. Weekly planned. went to texas roadhouse for dinner. saw kim. then home.
saturday service for a first ward member in the morning. Kim M that we had set for baptismal date flaked again. we saw Kim E, taught some more about the commandments right before a thunderstorm. went to dinner with two older ladies in the ward to a pizza place. went to a missionary open house farewell. then home.
sunday was church. 2 of our new investigators were at church. i think one of them felt completely overwhelmed and awkward...great..then lunch. Then b/c of logistics we couldn't bike so sister stiefvater drove us to an appointment where we set up a plan to help this lady stop smoking. then we helped her hook up her wii, i cut a hole in the back of her entertainment center for her to put the chords through, it was a very nice hole. then dinner with family....awkward. then we went to see another family which was just... ugh.
so it was a fantastic week. (sarcasm)
transfers are in 21 days.
we'll see what happens.
Alma is awesome. (Book of Mormon reference)
“Jesus the Christ” is a very good book.
The church is real, it's got the authority, it's legitimate.
Elder Allred
June 21, 2010
Alrighty, so one of the missionaries in my district got a cd that said B.B. on it from someone, and we were like what is this? So we put it in the car and Beastie Boys, “license to ill” starts playing and we were all like...YAY!!!!! wait... NOOOOOOO!!!!! it was funny, i hadn't heard that cd since i was in lik 8 th grade, but yea, we then proceeded to take it out lol. no good missionary music.
So this week, I've been doing a ton better on my journalizing, however, not too much happened. so let's get down to it.
So Last Tuesday was Zone conference with our new format of conference, which i won't go into b/c it would take too long. But as part of it, we do a review of the last ZC. Elder Dobronsky and I got called on to teach part of the review and president said we did a really good job. However, after an 8 hour meeting on the way home i got a killer headache which killed our night, though our only appointment cancelled on us, dang cancellations.
So Wednesday I read Alma 4-5 for studies. So good. Alma had 2 really important jobs, he was the Prophet and the President. However, he figured out that he couldn't do both...so what did he chose...Prophet. and then he went on a mission, o yea. Had District meeting, it was good. Almost got in a fight...not really, but it wasn't good. We got home from district meeting, dropped off my first ward, and we parked in front of our house...long story short, some very inconsiderate guy decided to tell us we couldn't park in front of the house cuz he had to tow something, and then once he saw we were "Mormon missionaries" he said yea you guys definitely have to leave. when we explained to him that we lived there, he promptly answered, no you don't. At which point, i got kinda fed up with it. The one thing that I've learned is most important to me is my word. Don't call me a liar. It was at that point when i went over and typed in the garage code and then started walking over to explain to him just how much i lived there that he realized he had made a mistake and grumbled, Mormons don't live there, as he walked away.
Funny thing about it, he didn't even live next door, he was just some jerk dumb friend who wanted to be a punk. Just gotta follow the example of Christ and be patient and love everyone, easier said than done, but still, important. So, after that we had to fix a flat bike tire, no fun. And rode to an appointment with another Kim M, who we've been meeting with for a while. We discussed the line of authority that Jesus set up when he was on the earth and what happened to it when all the apostles died. Boom, line broken. So we then asked her what she remembered about Joseph Smith and the restoration, and why it was important. Then it seemed to finally sink in how important that the church's authority came from God. Then we committed her to baptism!! It was way exciting. We used a lot of the things we learned in ZC the day before, and it was awesome. The spirit was really there, which is just another testament to me that the message we share is true.
Then we met with a less active sister who's coming out of a really...well rough...stage of life. She gave some great reasoning for why we should be allowed to go out of the mission to go hiking lol. it was hilarious. She was like...first of all, God made the mountains, you have to go see them. Second, didn't moses like go to some mountains? and Noah or something? and we were like....yea, something like that lol. It was awesome. Went to visit another sister and had a good talk about trials and struggles and stuff and why God let's bad things happen...it's a pretty deep question/answer.
Thursday we got to meet with Kim E again and teach the Plan of Salvation. It ended up taking a really long time because she had so many questions about people who hadn't heard the gospel or things like that. She's great and still really excited to get baptized.
Friday we did a ton of service. WE did the standard food bank work which was fun. Then we went and we painted this house. Slezak and i got put on the roof which was like a 60 degree angle down...both of our ankles killed the next morning, it was really hard and rough, but the dad couldn't do it, or the kids, so we just got it done.
Our dinner cancelled so we had ramen and then it was like thunderstorming/threatening, so we just stuck around the area and did what we could.
Saturday...was ok. Had a lot of epiphanies throughout the day about, who i want to be/what i have the opportunity to represent, being a missionary is a great privilege.
So, 5/6 appointments for Saturday cancelled by 11AM...not cool. Dobronsky had another flat so we went to the bike shop to do some trouble shooting and get it fixed. We saw a guy from the band "5 Finger Death Punch" buy a bike, that was cool. The rest of the night was pretty bland.
Sunday was good church, and the rest of the day, very uneventful also. However, the church is God's RESTORED CHURCH on the earth. The same authority and organization that Jesus Christ himself set up with apostles prophets bishops and so forth. It's the biggest blessing we have in this life. Life sometimes is hard, it's like walking in a room full of priceless antiques, except it's in the dark. We have to get out of the room, but we also have to pay for anything we break....quite the dilemma. The gospel gives us light so that we can see the way out, it's hard, but we can do it.
Keep going family friends and everyone.
it's worth it.
Have a good week.
Elder Jonathan Allred
So this week, I've been doing a ton better on my journalizing, however, not too much happened. so let's get down to it.
So Last Tuesday was Zone conference with our new format of conference, which i won't go into b/c it would take too long. But as part of it, we do a review of the last ZC. Elder Dobronsky and I got called on to teach part of the review and president said we did a really good job. However, after an 8 hour meeting on the way home i got a killer headache which killed our night, though our only appointment cancelled on us, dang cancellations.
So Wednesday I read Alma 4-5 for studies. So good. Alma had 2 really important jobs, he was the Prophet and the President. However, he figured out that he couldn't do both...so what did he chose...Prophet. and then he went on a mission, o yea. Had District meeting, it was good. Almost got in a fight...not really, but it wasn't good. We got home from district meeting, dropped off my first ward, and we parked in front of our house...long story short, some very inconsiderate guy decided to tell us we couldn't park in front of the house cuz he had to tow something, and then once he saw we were "Mormon missionaries" he said yea you guys definitely have to leave. when we explained to him that we lived there, he promptly answered, no you don't. At which point, i got kinda fed up with it. The one thing that I've learned is most important to me is my word. Don't call me a liar. It was at that point when i went over and typed in the garage code and then started walking over to explain to him just how much i lived there that he realized he had made a mistake and grumbled, Mormons don't live there, as he walked away.
Funny thing about it, he didn't even live next door, he was just some jerk dumb friend who wanted to be a punk. Just gotta follow the example of Christ and be patient and love everyone, easier said than done, but still, important. So, after that we had to fix a flat bike tire, no fun. And rode to an appointment with another Kim M, who we've been meeting with for a while. We discussed the line of authority that Jesus set up when he was on the earth and what happened to it when all the apostles died. Boom, line broken. So we then asked her what she remembered about Joseph Smith and the restoration, and why it was important. Then it seemed to finally sink in how important that the church's authority came from God. Then we committed her to baptism!! It was way exciting. We used a lot of the things we learned in ZC the day before, and it was awesome. The spirit was really there, which is just another testament to me that the message we share is true.
Then we met with a less active sister who's coming out of a really...well rough...stage of life. She gave some great reasoning for why we should be allowed to go out of the mission to go hiking lol. it was hilarious. She was like...first of all, God made the mountains, you have to go see them. Second, didn't moses like go to some mountains? and Noah or something? and we were like....yea, something like that lol. It was awesome. Went to visit another sister and had a good talk about trials and struggles and stuff and why God let's bad things happen...it's a pretty deep question/answer.
Thursday we got to meet with Kim E again and teach the Plan of Salvation. It ended up taking a really long time because she had so many questions about people who hadn't heard the gospel or things like that. She's great and still really excited to get baptized.
Friday we did a ton of service. WE did the standard food bank work which was fun. Then we went and we painted this house. Slezak and i got put on the roof which was like a 60 degree angle down...both of our ankles killed the next morning, it was really hard and rough, but the dad couldn't do it, or the kids, so we just got it done.
Our dinner cancelled so we had ramen and then it was like thunderstorming/threatening, so we just stuck around the area and did what we could.
Saturday...was ok. Had a lot of epiphanies throughout the day about, who i want to be/what i have the opportunity to represent, being a missionary is a great privilege.
So, 5/6 appointments for Saturday cancelled by 11AM...not cool. Dobronsky had another flat so we went to the bike shop to do some trouble shooting and get it fixed. We saw a guy from the band "5 Finger Death Punch" buy a bike, that was cool. The rest of the night was pretty bland.
Sunday was good church, and the rest of the day, very uneventful also. However, the church is God's RESTORED CHURCH on the earth. The same authority and organization that Jesus Christ himself set up with apostles prophets bishops and so forth. It's the biggest blessing we have in this life. Life sometimes is hard, it's like walking in a room full of priceless antiques, except it's in the dark. We have to get out of the room, but we also have to pay for anything we break....quite the dilemma. The gospel gives us light so that we can see the way out, it's hard, but we can do it.
Keep going family friends and everyone.
it's worth it.
Have a good week.
Elder Jonathan Allred
June 14, 2010
Dearest Family,
So, this week....has been another week, lots of life happening, so let's get down to it.
So last pday was a transfer pday, so we said goodbye to Elder Crawford from first ward :( who was only here for 6 weeks. Elder Slezak is training a greenie (brand new missionary) who wouldn't get here till tuesday so we spent the day in a tri-panionship and just chilled/were bored all day.
Tuesday began the week of rain. I almost felt like i was back home in the 610 cuz of all the rain we've had. Tuesday, nothing really big happened, but after dinner we went out with one of the ward missionaries to a couple of appointments that went....oh, that was tonight..... and got rained on. But it was good.
Wednesday was district meeting with new missionaries in 1st 3rd and Standley Lake wards, Elder Dobronsky and I were the only companionship to stay together, though this will probably be my last transfer here, even though that's what i thought last transfer, so we'll see what God wants me to do. But district meeting was really good, we went over all the trainings from last Zone Conference (a zone is just a bunch of missionaries in one area, the next step up geographically in organization from a district) and we have next zone conference....tomorrow June 15th, so that should be cool. After District meeting we went over to some church members who were moving's house, to help paint so they could get everything ready for the house to go on the market. Then we went over to a sister in our ward's house and raked some mowed grass/weed wacked. So it was a good afternoon of physical labor/service, though the sun was brutal. At night we helped one of the brothers in our ward (congregation) prepare a talk on families, and how we believe that families can be together forever. We talked a lot about how we need to strengthen our families here through family night and prayer and scripture reading. One of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon Mosiah chapter 1, when it talks about what Mosiah taught his sons, and how if they hadn't had the scriptures there would have been no way for them to remember all of the things that had happened to their ancestors and yea, it's a great section.
Oh, and the BEST part of the week was that night we got a referral from first ward, that had been sent to them for someone in our area. Kim E, she had had the first lesson and been to church. So Thursday we called her and set up a time to meet her in the afternoon. Thursday i think it was it started raining, which was yuck. We tried to see people but it was really hard to get around on bikes in the nastiness...but it definitely reminded me of PA. WE got drenched caught on a straight away with no trees right before dinner. So we got Brother Stiefvater to pick us up and good thing we were having dinner with them, so we changed and got dry, and ate green chili, which was like melt your mouth off hot. Then we got to see the Maxwells after dinner, she finds out what gender of child she is having this friday, which is extremely exciting. Oh, and we saw Kim. We got to know her, and went on a walk. Talked about her life and some moving logistics. She met with the missionaries about 5 years ago and decided she wasn't interested. But she ran into the missionaries down in Denver a while ago and started meeting with them, however she was just about to move here to Arvada. So we talked about the Book of Mormon how it helps us in life, about the Restoration and asked her if she would be baptized. She said yes! So we have a baptism happening on June 23rd as of now. We're really excited.
Friday stared out with service at the food bank. It was really funny because i had already said my goodbyes, thinking that i was leaving. But i was like...hey, still here, and everyone who works there was happy to see me, that was good.
Afterwards, our phone broke. SO we had to drive to the mission office in north glenn to trade it out, and then take it to the Verizon store to transfer contacts. As soon as we got in the store, it was just like utter destruction outside. All these dark clouds rolled in across the mountains, and it started pouring. About 5 minutes later, the hail started.....I've seen hail in montana, but we don't really get it back home. Hail is nuts, it looked like someone was shooting the ground with a shotgun, all the water was like splashing up like waist high...and everyone in the store just got like dead silent and looked outside. it was like...what. then all the sudden you hear a million phone conversations happen about, cover the car, just the windows, get your siblings inside, etc. it was nuts. Needless to say we waited, and then when we got a "lull", during which the greenie got smacked in the face with a marble sized hail, we ran to the car, where it sounded like a machine gun was shooting the roof....it was so tight. Drove home for weekly planning. Had dinner with our EQ president (Elders Quorum). We then met with Kim after and had an official first lesson. She's way awesome, and has a sincere testimony about the gospel, and a real desire to find truth, it's awesome. After we walked to one of the families in our wards house, where all the kids were leaving for the summer....got pics...which i will try and send...and said our goodbyes.
Saturday was terrible.....most of the day got rained out. So we ran a couple errands with sister Stiefvater and planned and did what we could. I got 3 goat head thorns in my tire which popped my tube at about 6 PM, so First ward and their truck rescued us.
Sunday was good, more rain, church, and we saw a couple of church members. Kim came to church and loved it. The family atmosphere where everyone knows each other, the fact that kids come, and the spirit that was there really touched her.
Overall, it was a week of wet-goodness. When life gives you lemons, throw them away and go get a rootbeer....except D-bron doesn't like rootbeer..which is like blasphamy (not really, but it seems like it is!)
But, yea. I'm grateful that I can take the time to let you all know what's going on. My "mission" has been the best experience of my life, and i only see it getting better.
Take care.
Keep it up.
Until next week.
E. Jonathan Allred
So, this week....has been another week, lots of life happening, so let's get down to it.
So last pday was a transfer pday, so we said goodbye to Elder Crawford from first ward :( who was only here for 6 weeks. Elder Slezak is training a greenie (brand new missionary) who wouldn't get here till tuesday so we spent the day in a tri-panionship and just chilled/were bored all day.
Tuesday began the week of rain. I almost felt like i was back home in the 610 cuz of all the rain we've had. Tuesday, nothing really big happened, but after dinner we went out with one of the ward missionaries to a couple of appointments that went....oh, that was tonight..... and got rained on. But it was good.
Wednesday was district meeting with new missionaries in 1st 3rd and Standley Lake wards, Elder Dobronsky and I were the only companionship to stay together, though this will probably be my last transfer here, even though that's what i thought last transfer, so we'll see what God wants me to do. But district meeting was really good, we went over all the trainings from last Zone Conference (a zone is just a bunch of missionaries in one area, the next step up geographically in organization from a district) and we have next zone conference....tomorrow June 15th, so that should be cool. After District meeting we went over to some church members who were moving's house, to help paint so they could get everything ready for the house to go on the market. Then we went over to a sister in our ward's house and raked some mowed grass/weed wacked. So it was a good afternoon of physical labor/service, though the sun was brutal. At night we helped one of the brothers in our ward (congregation) prepare a talk on families, and how we believe that families can be together forever. We talked a lot about how we need to strengthen our families here through family night and prayer and scripture reading. One of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon Mosiah chapter 1, when it talks about what Mosiah taught his sons, and how if they hadn't had the scriptures there would have been no way for them to remember all of the things that had happened to their ancestors and yea, it's a great section.
Oh, and the BEST part of the week was that night we got a referral from first ward, that had been sent to them for someone in our area. Kim E, she had had the first lesson and been to church. So Thursday we called her and set up a time to meet her in the afternoon. Thursday i think it was it started raining, which was yuck. We tried to see people but it was really hard to get around on bikes in the nastiness...but it definitely reminded me of PA. WE got drenched caught on a straight away with no trees right before dinner. So we got Brother Stiefvater to pick us up and good thing we were having dinner with them, so we changed and got dry, and ate green chili, which was like melt your mouth off hot. Then we got to see the Maxwells after dinner, she finds out what gender of child she is having this friday, which is extremely exciting. Oh, and we saw Kim. We got to know her, and went on a walk. Talked about her life and some moving logistics. She met with the missionaries about 5 years ago and decided she wasn't interested. But she ran into the missionaries down in Denver a while ago and started meeting with them, however she was just about to move here to Arvada. So we talked about the Book of Mormon how it helps us in life, about the Restoration and asked her if she would be baptized. She said yes! So we have a baptism happening on June 23rd as of now. We're really excited.
Friday stared out with service at the food bank. It was really funny because i had already said my goodbyes, thinking that i was leaving. But i was like...hey, still here, and everyone who works there was happy to see me, that was good.
Afterwards, our phone broke. SO we had to drive to the mission office in north glenn to trade it out, and then take it to the Verizon store to transfer contacts. As soon as we got in the store, it was just like utter destruction outside. All these dark clouds rolled in across the mountains, and it started pouring. About 5 minutes later, the hail started.....I've seen hail in montana, but we don't really get it back home. Hail is nuts, it looked like someone was shooting the ground with a shotgun, all the water was like splashing up like waist high...and everyone in the store just got like dead silent and looked outside. it was like...what. then all the sudden you hear a million phone conversations happen about, cover the car, just the windows, get your siblings inside, etc. it was nuts. Needless to say we waited, and then when we got a "lull", during which the greenie got smacked in the face with a marble sized hail, we ran to the car, where it sounded like a machine gun was shooting the roof....it was so tight. Drove home for weekly planning. Had dinner with our EQ president (Elders Quorum). We then met with Kim after and had an official first lesson. She's way awesome, and has a sincere testimony about the gospel, and a real desire to find truth, it's awesome. After we walked to one of the families in our wards house, where all the kids were leaving for the summer....got pics...which i will try and send...and said our goodbyes.
Saturday was terrible.....most of the day got rained out. So we ran a couple errands with sister Stiefvater and planned and did what we could. I got 3 goat head thorns in my tire which popped my tube at about 6 PM, so First ward and their truck rescued us.
Sunday was good, more rain, church, and we saw a couple of church members. Kim came to church and loved it. The family atmosphere where everyone knows each other, the fact that kids come, and the spirit that was there really touched her.
Overall, it was a week of wet-goodness. When life gives you lemons, throw them away and go get a rootbeer....except D-bron doesn't like rootbeer..which is like blasphamy (not really, but it seems like it is!)
But, yea. I'm grateful that I can take the time to let you all know what's going on. My "mission" has been the best experience of my life, and i only see it getting better.
Take care.
Keep it up.
Until next week.
E. Jonathan Allred
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