February 19, 2011

Dear Everyone,

So, this past week has been the fastest week of my mission
the most fun
the most tiring
the most sleep deprived
and probably the best.

My new companion is elder Blumell, from Alberta Calgary Canada, he's super awesome. He's been out 20 months and we're working super well together.

So let's go through this week

Monday we got all my junk to my new place which is super big and nice
the new district leader from louisville crashed at out place b/c his greenie wasn't in yet.

So tuesday morning we went to drop him at the trainers meeting and hung out with a couple other zone leaders in presidents office just having fun. Helped out the office missionaries with some stuff. I made sister widenhouse (sr missionary) a 5 inch tall "snowman of gratitude"...it's now in the mission office freezer. We watched all the greenies come in and their trainers, that was fun to be on the other side. After the trainers meeting, we headed to the institute for 2 member missionary lessons and an investigator lesson. Then we had to bounce to dinner in boulder and get to a stake meeting we had that night.

Wednesday was good, we ended up subbing for a BOM institute class b/c the teacher was out...so we did that first thing in the morning. Had lunch at the institute and read mormon "jot and tittle'' trivia questions. After we had a really good lesson with one of the YSAs who's kinda hit a bump. Stopped by some potentials and had another member missionary lesson. It's really weird teaching like 18-25 year old girls lessons.....yea, just so you know. And interacting with them on a social fun level....it's weird. Not bad, just i'm used to family wards so yea. Then we had to run to the library and email some stuff to preisdent and do paperwork. More lessons. Dinner. Then we had another invesitgator lesson with P who's getting baptized in like.....5 hours. He's a stud, he's so on the ball it's not even funny. So, we finished that lesson, went to institute for all the ysas on Eternal Marraige...it was fun :D.

Thursday we had a 9am member lesson. Then I taught my first district meeting here, which was really good, probably the best one i've done (preping with the spirit is the way to go). We talked about prayer, what it really is and how to help people understand the importance of it. Then we bounced to taco bell Ate lunch. Then we had to run to the other district meeting...it was good. Helped at the mission office. Then drove back to boulder. We have a 2009 Chevy Malibu....v6....me likey. We had another lesson, talked to some people and then did dinner with the Rincons from the louisville ward.

Friday morning was crazy busy and we got to the institute just intime for "power lunch" where we get free food and read a conference talk with all the ysas. (young single adults) Had 2 lessons. THen went to bead for life, where we volunteer helping out with whatever pretty much. Had dinner with the Rices in louisville, they're awesome. Then jetted to a baptisimal interview. Had to drive other missionaries around. and then collapsed at home.

Being a zone leader you get to deal with a lot of administrative stuff, more than i thought. We have zone conference coming up next week, district meetings, dealing with mission drama, reporting numbers all the time, making preparations to stay alive, and then whenever we can find the time, maybe sleep at night. I'm seriously just exhausted, but it's a good exhaustion. I've been super up beat and positive b/c i feel like there's things to do and i'm doing them. I may not want to, but i'm seeing progress in myself and in our work and it's super tight. Elder Blumell and I get along really well and are having so much fun and working super hard.

So life is good.
Transitions are hard
Change is hard

But...
it's worth it
You just gotta suck it up, hold on and go forward.
So I'll send baptism pictures next time
but i love you all

HE LIVES!
HE LOVES US!

my challenge to each one of you is to think about what prayer really is, who your talking to, and make sure that you listen for answers. Then don't "pray" but TALK to your Father in Heaven. He will answer.
I've been doing that this past week and it's been incredible the guidance I get.
So
Take care
love you all
Elder Allred

February 14, 2011

Dear Familia

This week was crazy

so

monday was pday

tuesday was....sick day?

wednesday i don't know

thursday i was on exchanges on CU campus and saw KF from high school

friday we went to the temple all day and did a session with President Ely and like a million missionaries and I got to see the Carrols

Saturday we started packing and doing things

Sunday we said goodbye to everyone in the ward and there was an audible groan and what the heck when they found out both of us are leaving.

Monday, I now leave to go be a Zone Leader on CU campus.
Not very happy, i love the people in Louisville more than I knew I could love one place. I like my new comp Elder Blumell and the area will be cool...but i really don't want to leave

Congrats to isaac and olivia
i'm so proud of you both

take care
i may be back later today
not sure
i don't really know what's going on
much love
J

-------

Later (7:30 PM)

Dear Familia,
i am settling in to my new home, have everything out of my old one
have shipped elder martinez off to scotts bluff and chimney rock nebraska
got all my new elders in the zone
am currently debriefing my new DL (district leader) in training
and am super busy and tired already....guess this is what life is going to be like from now on

however
the thing i need to let you guys know is

MY PDAY WILL NOW BE ON SATURDAYS (for the most part)
there may be a little emailing happening on mondays, but saturday is the day i'll be able to do pday stuff....

so keep that in mind!

I love you all so so so much
sorry for the brief email
love you each
take care
Elder Allred
Zone leader?

------------

The teaching arsenal

some goodbyes:

February 7, 2011

dear family.
sorry this update is going to be short again,
i realized that whichever letter I write first, to you or President Ely, is always longer and the other is shorter.
this week i needed the longer one to go to him, so i hope you can survive off of this brief update...

I'm super happy.
this week was a week of a lot of personal growth, diligence, commitment, goal setting, and being really really ridiculously busy...i mean good looking...i mean...
yea

So Monday was pday, we played volleyball, basketball, and indoor baseball (w/tennis ball) in the stake center gym.
1 Bloody Nose to a youth
1 Flying bat straight into the ceiling from a giant Tongan
and a partridge in a pear tree.

The whole week we had sub zero temperatures...that was fun.
Tuesday we had a lot of snow, and a lot to do
I gave another baptismal interview to a sister who was extremely prepared, it was a very spiritual experience to see some of the miraculous changes that occur in people's lives.

Wednesday we starting teaching the brother of one of the sisters in our ward. He's super awesome and funny, they're both from England, and it was really cool to expose him to religion, and a relationship with God that was very personal and open. He was raised in a situation that was extremely controlled and had religion forced on him, which was no good. He's now reading the Book of Mormon, and praying, and feeling good. You can visibly see the change in his face and eyes when we meet with him now.

I also hit 14 months on the mission and can count the rest on my fingers.....scary.
I went on exchanges with the Lafayette ward that night, which was super good.

Thursday we worked in their area and had a lot of fun being safe driving in the snow. District meeting was good and before, Elder Howell, Keeler, Kautai, and I all ate 50 chicken nuggets each.
It wasn't a good idea.
But i am now officially a man.

friday was good
saturday was good

sunday i bore my testimony and lots of things happened.

but i gotta go
anyways
i love you
byebyeybeybyeybe
"be still and know that I am"
think about it
<3
J

January 31, 2011

Dearest familia

i know that my letters have been getting shorter, but i've heard that that happens as a missionary gets out longer. it feels like there's less and less time between emails and that you know everything.

However, here's an update
it's snowing. our windshield was covered in ice this morning :( !
we've got a couple new investigators who are awesome.
Elder Martinez and I are doing great and having a great time together, finding and teaching. the baptizing will be coming soon.

Let's see I went on exchanges this week and held up signs for a free copy of the Book of Mormon.

We gave out 3 and got 1 return appointment. E. martinez and i went to the hospital to help out with their chaplaincy program and saw some cute little babies like 3 minutes fresh. ate dinner at a sweet italian place with a lot of loud drunk people.

yea

it was a good week.

I love being a missionary.
It's so hard. But it's so awesome.

The days fly by, so do the weeks. let's just say i'll be home tomorrow ok?
not really.
but
yea
I really have learned a lot about charity, love, and diligence this week.
too much to explain, and my fingers hurt, they're not in typing shape
anyways
some pictures for now
much love
J

-------------

my first time getting pulled over! with my whole district in the car....in the church parking lot!...
good thing the cop was a member just trying to play with us lol :D
he then told our mission president that his car had been registered as stolen...
president ely didn't think that was funny.

January 24, 2011

Dearest familia,

so highlights real

this week was super good and i'm doing super well

Monday we had a good missionary lesson with a family and a lesson with 2 of our investigators who have a very interesting concern....it's that they don't actually care if God exists or not or what he cares about....yea that's what i said lol.

Tuesday.....we got to email! horray! then we went out to lunch with one of the sisters in our ward to the 3 margaritas which i love. do you know what horchata is? randy slaugh will know. SO GOOD! then we did a lot of stuff, had a really good dinner....and i don't remember, but we killed it that day (good thing).

Wednesday we had interviews with our mission president. It was my first interviews as a district leader, so i got to meet with each missionary in the district, they're all doing super well. I'm very lucky to have good missionaries. We also got to role play talking with people on a deeper level...hard to explain...but it was good. My interview with president went super well, i love that man. After we had another good member missionary lesson and got to meet her referral for us. Then we went and got 2 more referrals from a family who just moved into the ward. At this time is was snowing super hard and we went home to meet a member who was going to take me to a dr appointment. However, after 40 mins on the road and having passed 3 accidents not being able to see...we turned around after rescheduling.
So, Elder Martinez and I tried to go to walmart and pick up my medication...but 287 was completely stopped b/c cars were sliding down backwards....however, since i'm awesome, we did it no problem lol. pretty much everything was cancelled and our night died...so that was it lol

Thursday we had district meeting which went well........tried to see a lot of ppl but got skunked...

Friday we did a sweet awesome job of weekly planning and got out and saw a lot of people.....built a little pool you know

Saturday we totally scored and had like 6 legit lessons, it was tight. We also got to go to the baptism of this 18 year old girl that i interviewed. that was probably one of the weirdest experiences of my life. i was like freaking out, cuz the door was open, but we were like alone in this room so i was like...ahhh. during the interview i was probably more nervous than her...o well

Sunday was good, super sleepy, but that's how it works. ended the week out well

sorry not very meaty...but that's it.
much love to you all
have a good one
thanks for all your prayers and everything

Elder Allred

January 18, 2011

Dear family,

I want to start with my sincere thanks and gratitude to each one of you for your thoughts and prayers on my behalf this past week.

Elder Martinez and I are having a fantastic time working for the Lord and this past week was super busy with lots of meetings.

Monday you guys know about.

Tuesday was my first official leadership training meeting where all the District leaders, Zone leaders, and trainers for the south half of the mission got together and learned stuff. I was assigned one of the 3 trainings and I think it went pretty well, though it was intimidating teaching the people who "raised me" on the mission. I got to talk about why our first impressions are so important with people and how we begin the "teaching process". When it all boils down, we are teaching people, not lessons. They need to know that. We're not missionaries to have more people in our church, or convert people, or any of that. We are missionaries to help people understand who God is, their relationship with Him, what they need to do in this life to be happy, not only now, but after this life. It's a wonderful blessing to be a part of such soul searching aspects of so many people's lives. After the super long 7-8ish hour meeting, got back to my area and snagged Elder Martinez for dinner with the Jones who I used to live with. We had some awesome Asian chicken curry or something cool. It was pretty bomb. Then we were wondering what would be the most effective use of our time and we decided to go and see a potential that Elder Rodriguez and I had contacted before Christmas. We went over and he was home! We got to talk to him and his fiance and had a great talk. They both said they wanted to read the Book of Mormon.

Wednesday I Had the first of many doctor appointments to come to get me back on track with some medical issues. got to go down to the "ghetto" aka Aurora Colorado to go to the drs, it was fun. Then, when we got home, Elder Martinez was really sick and ended up falling asleep (which was good for him) for several hours. So, I decided to use that time productively and took a little nap myself. I think that I'm learning very quickly (and E. Martinez is too) that leadership means more responsibility and less sleep. But, when he woke up he did feel better and we were able to go to dinner with an awesome family in the ward and had some really good broccoli cheese soup stuff. (notice a lot of my update is about the kinds of food i'm eating? #1 it's because i want mom to know that i eat more food than PB and J and corn dogs now, and #2 cuz i like food and I'm getting fat now that i have a car). anyways, after that we helped some other missionaries in their ward to visit some people and ended the night out that way.

Thursday was dr ap #2. over in brighton. We got back and ate lunch super quick and headed out to district meeting. We talked about revelation and how important it is in our lives and especially how essential it is to missionary work. We discussed finding and a program that the ZLs had outlined that I decided to implement in the district. What it is, is a bold invitation to invite others to come unto Christ. When we look at the blessings that knowing of the restoration in our lives has given us, it's hard to imagine where we would be without it. We know there are many who don't know of Christ and are searching for it. The Lord is preparing these people now (see Alma 16:16) and they are looking for the light that we have (a city that is set on a hill). These people see the light and desire it, we can't hide it, people know that we're different, but the way we act, talk, converse, pretty much everything. Those people are the ones that God is preparing. So our invitation to all of the dinner appointments we've had has been, will you share the blessings that you have received, put your faith in God that He has someone prepared for you to find, and invite someone in the next 7 days to meet with us and take the missionary lessons. It's a very bold and straightforward commitment that requires a lot of faith and work. However, in our Zone we've seen success in this invitation and I know that there is more to come. After district meeting we had to drive everyone home and made some stops before dinner. I don't really remember what we did the rest of the day...so yea.

Friday we did weekly planning once again....seems like it happens every week lol.
We had a good lesson with a sister and her brother who just moved in with her.
I also had the privileged/trunky experience of picking up one of the members in our district and his companion who was going home early (like 2 weeks) for school. I did get a cool pair of Dragon sunglasses from him though :D>.

Saturday we had a ton of appointments. We talked with the W family about how Small and Simple things bring about great things, and how the small and simple decisions in our lives now will determine our future. We had a lesson......with a guy....yea, it wasn’t so great... Then dinner was good....chicken. And we had another good lesson with DS about faith and it was sweet. Elder Martinez is an awesome missionary and i think the best thing about training is seeing the improvement in their teaching skills and how they listen to the spirit to help people in what they really need.

Sunday was once again a day of church and meetings. Don't really remember anything other than that.......yea. We had burritos and deep fried oreos for dinner.
it was so good.

Anyways, life is awesome again, it's all ups and downs and i'm working to push through the downs. But thank you all so much again for all you do for me. I couldn't do it without you.

And an invitation this week.
Think about all the blessings you have because you know about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. And if you love it, share it. Also, get familiar with this website it's awesome and it's a great tool to introduce people to our beliefs and what they are.

So
take care
work hard
play hard
and love lots

love you all
Elder Jonathan Allred

January 10, 2011

so this past week was a rough one.
I got my greenie on tuesday morning. Elder Juan Martinez from Springville for 3 years....from Chiuaua, Mexico.
he's cool. mechanic. learning english.
i got sick thursday
sick through saturday.
so i sent him out with one of the zone leaders while the other one stayed with me.
sun (last) night we had a youth fireside.
love you all
J