FW: TRANSFERS!!!!

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred [mailto:ryan.allred@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2010 11:59 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: TRANSFERS!!!!

 

Well....

           I'm getting transfered.  The zone leaders called this morning to let me know President Pendleton is shipping me out of Gridley tommorow.  Yup, I was pretty shocked!  Elder Solomon and I had so much going for us and I really felt that we would be together for at least another transfer, maybe even three or four.  But I guess they are kicking me out because I am being transferred to Rexburg, California!! I mean Idaho. I'm pretty excited because I hear they are amazing people there and lot's of missionary work to do.

           So I don't have too much time before I have to head off to my new area but I want you all to know for sure that I love you!!  Even if I am really awkward when I get home because I might be.  This is all kinda wierd for me! 

           This week has been amazing though.  Cynthia Miller has changed so much.  4 months ago when we first started visiting her family she told me she would never join the Mormon church.  This week we went to her home and invited her to be baptized.  She said no but we just let her think about it for about a minute and then she said that was the wrong choice and she did need to be baptized.  She is planning on the first week of December.  We also started teaching a girl named Brittani who was living with a family in our ward for a while and coming to church all of the time.  Now we have started teaching her and she also has set a goal to be baptized the first week of December.  We are going to have  a white Christmas!!  It was cool because I was trying to commit her to baptism but I couldn't becuase she just kept saying yes before I could ask the question.  Both of them are very excited and ready for new things.   Also, Susan still looks good for the 27th of this months and that is such a miracle.  She has had to work hard but she see's the hand of the Lord in her life all of the time now.

      Life is good.  God is good.  And love is the answer!  Have a great day everyone and I'll see you soon.

           Elder One Last Time Allred
--
Hurrah For Israel!!!

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November 1, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 12:13 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: "I did not touch him or sit on his knee, yet Jesus is real to me."

 

Well hello there!

        My subject line comes from a Primary song that has really been on my mind over the past few weeks and has been something I have felt we all should think about.  I have never touched the Savior in this life, nor have I had the opportunity to physically sit on his knee, yet, in all sincerity, Jesus is real to me.   I have heard His voice, and I know His word.  It is more clearly spoken in the Book of Mormon than in any other book and I love it!  It has been really exciting for me to hear of all of the great experiences the Lyman 3rd ward is having with reading their Book of Mormon challenge and I am happy to report that my experience has been equally as rewarding.   Yesterday as I sat thumbing through it's pages I had a short conversation in my mind and i asked myself why I loved it so much.  As I opened to random pages I realized that I recognized every story that it opened to and I have read it enough times I ought to be bored with it.  But I told myself (don't think I'm weird for talking to myself, it was more of just thoughts to myself)  that the real reason that I love it so much is because of the power it has to invite the Spirit and the power that spirit has to change lives.  I then opened to Alma 14 and spent the next few minutes warming myself with the Spirit.  It happens every time and it is real.  I have been blessed to have Elder Solomon as my companion this transfer because of the love we share for the Book of Mormon, it has been awesome!

       So guess what!   Susan set a goal to be baptized Thanksgiving weekend.  She still has a lot of dots to connect in her mind but she has taken the step of faith the set the goal and we are confident her testimony will be there in time.  Things have gotten so busy for us over the past two wee this week is going to be twice as busy.  On Saturday we had our car all set up to put it in the Trunk-or-treating party and we filled it full of candy given to us from the ward members.  However at the last minute we got a call to help a family move in so we were stuck with a trunk load of candy!  That's no good for me.  So we spent our Halloween visiting people we are either teaching or trying to teach and doing some treat-or-tricking, you know, the opposite of trick-or-treating.  And they loved it so a lot for them are letting us come back to teach them this week! Does anybody want some candy though, we still have way too much? 

      We had a really cool experience with the Sannar family this week.  A few weeks ago we had felt impressed to stop by their house and ask if we could help them with their missionary work.  Well it turns out they are a gold mine because sister Sannar has only been a member for three years and Brother Sannar just returned to activity.  After visiting for fifteen minutes we had three of their friends to visit and a dinner appointment with them so they could have their friends over to meet us.  Well, not only was the dinner excellent, but we met a really cool kid.  We had a great talk with him, Elder Solomon did most of the work and and it worked out great.  At the end Brother Sannar invited him to take the missionary lessons but he was uneasy.  So we decided to share the scripture we had prepared and then let him choose.  Well the scripture we had chosen was the same one that had gotten Brother Sannar back into the church and he shared a powerful testimony.  The spirit was so strong it was impossible not to feel it.  Then at the end Brother Sannar invited him again.  This time he turned us down and immediately the spirit let him know that was not the right decision.  It was interesting to watch his face as he knew he should have accepted but still turned us down.  But now he knows what the spirit is and how it speaks to us so next time.....  We had a lot of fun, and this week we are going again to teach another one of their friends.  Members work miracles in missionary work.

     Life is good.  Thank you Kristie for the great emails, it is amazing to be in this life even when it is hard isn't it?  Thanks for your positive example. And thanks Sarah for not talking about me coming home soon.  Jennifer, that is bad news, but i don't know who you are talking about, and I am sure you are doing fine in AP!  Keep it up.  Sheresa, have you learned how to unicycle?

    (Kevin wrote:  This paragraph is responding to a question from me because the letter from his mission president shows him finishing his mission on November 8^th, but he doesn’t fly out until the 9^th).  Dad, I think between the eighth and the ninth I am in a place called the spirit world.  You can read about it in Alma 40 if you want.  But basically it is a place between life and judgment where i hope to rest peacefully.  Actually I will probably not sleep at all because I will be with all the missionaries that came out with me.  I should email nest week too if i have time, plan on it.

    I love you all and Hope life is well! 

Elder Ryan J Allred

--
Hurrah For Israel!!!

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October 25, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred

Sent: Monday, October 25, 2010 12:27 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: I know my Savior loves me!

 

Hot Dog!

         So recently Brother Hamblin came into our apartment while I was sorting through some things and he started chastising me for having pictures of "Beautiful Women" on my desk.  But what he didn't know was that they were pictures of my four beautiful sisters!!  Boy I am sure blessed to have all of the wonderful family and friends that I do.

          This week was a lot of fun, unfortunately you may have to read my journal to get the full effect.  But probably my favorite part of the week was being able to participate in the Tickled-Pink breast cancer walk with the community.  We only got this one picture from it but the photographer was our Bishop's wife so hopefully we will be on the front page of the newspaper or something.  So we spent Saturday morning spending time with everyone in the community and went on a two mile with some of the people we are teaching.  It was a lot of fun because everyone wanted a picture with the Elders and their pink shirts, even those that are not members of the church.  We got to talk to some really neat people along the walk and hopefully they will start meeting with the Elders in their areas.

         Other than that, boy life is going well.   Susan has been sick this week but with a combined effort from the ward we hope to see her at church next week.  John is still progressing well and reading a little from the Book of Mormon every day even with his reading problems.  The Faria's, Lampross's, and Bishop's, and Smith's are all making soo much progress we are getting close to passing them off to just their home teachers.  The ward is doing well to go out and love people.  Isn't that really all we need?  WE heard a talk in church yesterday focused on "TPLOC" or the pure love of Christ.  That is what works miracles in this world and makes any form of missionary work successful.  I am glad to hear that you are doing the same thing in Rexburg by sending out the priests.  It's all just one more way to show that love.

           The one who has done the most this week though is Jeff.  We met with him almost every day this week to read and pray with him.  Then, unexpectedly, his mother passed away this Thursday and he has had a lot of need for the Lord.  We can sure tell though that he has been helped by seen and unseen hands as he has faced this trial and I know that Book of Mormon has helped a lot.  We walked over to pick him up for church yesterday and he was sitting there all ready to go.  He is doing his part and we can tell the Lord is doing the rest.

            Yup, well  I'm out of time again.  Hurrah for Dad getting the new job!  That will be a little different won't it.  And thanks Mother for the good letters and stamps and labels, I'm trying to get them all sent out.  Scott + Lorinda + Saryn, you guys are amazing. We loved the Pez toys, once we figured out who they were from.  Ill probably just keep them forever.  Jennifer, good idea, I'll have to look into it.  If you find one, grab it for me to use please.
           Everybody!  Please just remember how much your Heavenly Father loves you.  Last night as we taught a couple of families who are really struggling I got to feel His love for them.  That is one of the perks of being a missionary.  And I know HE loves all of us so never give up.  I love you all, have a great week.

Elder Ryan J Allred
--
Hurrah For Israel!!!

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October 18, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 11:41 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: How Rare a Possesion!

 

Hey!

      I am pretty excited this week and I just wanted to make sure you all knew that!  I'll get to all of the cool things that happened this week in a bit but first I wanted to see how everyone is doing on your Book of Mormon reading.  I had started reading with the primary kids to read the whole thing in 90 days but then this last week changed everything.  We were challenged by our mission President in zone conference to read the entire Book of Mormon before next zone conference in January but with a special twist.  He gave each of us a new copy and the assignment to mark every name referring to the Saviour in one color, then every time he is talking in another color.  Wow, that is soo cool.  I haven't gotten very far yet but already I just love flipping back through the pages I have already cdone and seeing how much The Book of Mormon testifies of Christ.  I love it. My entire life I have loved it and considered it one of my most prized possessions mostly because of how I feel as I read it.  In the introduction Joseph Smith testified that if we live live by it's precepts it will bring us closer to God than any other book.  That's why I love it, that is how I am coming to know my Saviour and that is why I am so excited to read the Book of Mormon this way.  So I probably won't finish with the rest of you because I had to start over but Keep Going.

     This week was sweet though.  Elder Solomon and I are trying to Flood Gridley with the Book of Mormon and we are feeling the Spirit direct us often especially as we head to lessons.  I got the package this week with Book's with Dad's, Mom's and Kristie's testimonies in them.  THank you soo much.  It will mean a lot to me to be able to share those with others.  But probably the best part of the week was at church yesterday.  At first we thought it was going to be one of those weeks where noone shows up but we decided to wait in the foyer untill the sacrement just in case someone showed up late because we were expecting at least four people.  Well, guess what, no one came so we went in and had the sacrament.  But then, we went back out to check again and Susan had come!!!  So we brought her in with us and Sister Hamblin called her over to sit with her.  

      This ward doesn't normally have a class for investigators but I didn't feel comfortable sending her to the other classes yet.  Actually she was going to leave after the first hour but she had felt the spirit and the love of the ward so she stayed and we put together an impromptu class for her.  While Elder Solomon and I where out finding more people to come to it Susan talked with the Hamblins and told that that she didn't know the Speakers but everything they said about the church just felt good to her!  Then our class was just overflowing with the spirit as it turned in to a testimony meeeting with some othe recent converts we had brought in.  Awesome, just Awesome!  SHe loved it and stayed for relief society.  She is doing soo well to take steps on her own and we can fell the Lord's love for her often.

      Well I wish I had more time to tell you more, but just know that I love you all.  I believe that this is Christ's church and as the prophets have testified He is closer to you and this work than you can ever imagine.  We see his hand sweep the streets before us to prepare the way.  Just last night we were led to a young couple home who needed us right then and we happened to knock on their door.  The Saviour lives!  I have heard his voice, and I know his word!  IT is open to all of us within the Book of Mormon.  Read it!

    Love YA!
Elder Ryan J Allred

--
Hurrah For Israel!!!

 

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FW:

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, October 11, 2010 11:33 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject:

 

Dear Family,

          How is everyone doing this week?   It sounds like it is still vacation time in Idaho, I hope you are all having fun.  I am having a  hard time deciding what I want to be for Halloween this year so if'n anyone has any ideas let me know.  I think we might get to use our car in the trunk-or-treat this year and pass out free church material because a lot of non-members from the community should be there.

         This week was not as busy as we had hoped it would be but every lesson that we did have was awesome.  The ones I liked the most were with Sisiter Smith and her non-mamber husband who came to church yesterday for the first time.  And also the Muzzy family who we sarted teaching last week let us come over for another great visit.  Jenny, we found out, knows half of the ward already so it was easy to find her a good friend to go to the lessons with us.

         Later in the week we got a referal from Brother Dewsnup but he wasn't sure exactly where they lived.  So we started knocking doors on the street he sent us to and at the first house they let us right in with out asking any qeustions.  It turned out to be the right house and they are a sweet family.  As we sat talking at the table a fly was buzzing around and the mom said she was getting sick of it.  So I made a swipe for it but missed.  However everyone else thought I had caught it so they said they would come to church on sunday.  Unfortunately that whole honesty thing got in the way and they didn't come to church, yet.

         So I got an amazing Birthday present from Scott, Lorinda, and Saryn So we sent a picture of us with it.  Thank  you guys!

              Well we have a busy day planned for today but I hope you have a great week.  I love you all and I pray for you often.

Love YA!

Elder Ryan J Allred
--
Hurrah For Israel!!!

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September 27, 2010

FYI:  Ryan will be home on November 9^th and he will speak in sacrament meeting on November 28^th.

 

Kevin

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2010 11:10 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: I feel like a Greenie!

 

           Is it bad that I still feel like a brand new missionary?  Because sometimes it seems as if I have only been out for a few months and it always seems like I have soo much still to learn and do.  I did just find out for sure that I will be getting a brand new missionary tomorrow so I won't find out who it is until I go down to Yuba when he flies in.  So I am really excited, this should be fun!   Since Elder Lee is flying home tomorrow I get to spend the night with the other missionaries and luckily they are going to be able to come into my ward to work tonight because we have some pretty exciting lessons with some new investigators planned for this evening.

          We were really nervous for Susan this week because we haven't seen her since our lesson last Sunday.  We tried calling her all of the time and stopping by her house but it was as if she had moved away.  Yesterday I decided to try to call her one last time before church and just as I reached in my pocket to call her she called us!  Luckily she had just gone out of town but we should be able to start meeting with her again. 
            We started teaching two new families this week that are getting close to going to the temple soon.  Then we also met Bill who thought he might have already been baptized but we had the Bishop check on it and he hasn't yet so we are going to start teaching him and getting him back to church so he can hopefully be baptized in a month or so.

            I will let you know more next week about my new companion and every thing, this week is going to be a lot of fun, we have all things going for us.  Romans 8:31  I hope life is well for all of you as well and that you all enjoy conference.  I know I sure will.  I love you all!

   Elder Ryan J Allred.
--
Hurrah For Israel!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

September 20, 2010

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 11:55 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: I smile because you are my family; I laugh because there is nothing you can do about it!

 

Hello!

        Things have really starting to pick up again over the past week.  Our ward has felt the excitement of missionary work and they are spreading the love throughout the whole town.  This week the ward leaders invited two additional less-active families have us in their home weekly to help them prepare for the temple.  In such a small community with soo many members our main focus has been working with less-active members but we are certain that they will have many in their circle of friends to bring back with them.  We finally got enough of the families that we are teaching close enough that it prompted the bishopric to start a temple-prep class and get them going to the temple soon!  I sure miss going to the temple.

         The Faria's continue to make great strides as they are taking the lessons.  Even with health challenges they make sure to make it to church every week at least for the sacrament.  Speaking of, Elder Lee and I got to bless the Sacrament this past Sunday and that was a lot of fun.  That was my first time as a missionary and I had forgotten how neat it was.  It is great to take part in that ordinance every week but it has a lot more meaning when you are saying the prayers.  The only thing that was sad about it was that Susan wasn't able to make it.

       Susan is our most progressing investigator who we started teaching about three weeks ago after we talked to her while she was walking her dogs.  We taught her twice this week and took her on a tour of the Church building.  She is such a kind lady but she is really shy and does not like the idea of going to a new church, but she has felt the spirit and I'm pretty sure she knows she needs it.  She called us after church and we were able to go over and visit with her for a little while.  It was really cool to see the Holy Ghost work with her with out our help as we just sat and listened to her explain her situation.  Eventually, without any of our advice, a light came into her eyes and she came to the conclusion that she needed to at least come to the first hour of church next week and then eventually work her way into it.  All we had to do after that was share our testimonies with her and assure her that she had just received an answer to prayer!  It's that simple!  Then I shared with her how the Lord had been very involved in directing us to her that day we found her and that she had in fact been an answer to my prayer and...I think she'll be alright next week.

        Yup!  As far as miracles this week, we had some great Crab for dinner on Saturday.  And it sounds like we are trying to read the Book of Mormon in 90 days so I better get started so I can catch up.  Won't that be a miracle!  Every time anyone reads the Book of Mormon, regardless of how many times they have previously read it, their testimony grows and the have the spirit in more abundance in their lives.  And I am alright to promise that because it was already said by a prophet! :)

          Well I love you guys!  Don't get too stressed out now that school has started again, but stay busy.  Have a great week!

Elder Ryan J Allred

       

--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

 

 

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FW: Three Weeks! I only have three more weeks!!!

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, September 13, 2010 11:54 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: Three Weeks! I only have three more weeks!!!

 

Hello Friends!!

              Can you believe it?  We only have three more weeks until general conference in October!!  I am pretty much more excited for this than anything; it is to missionaries like the Super Bowl is to the rest of Americans, only conference is a whole lot better.  I have been listening to the talks from six months ago over the past week and I am soo grateful for them.  I feel with each one as if Heavenly Father were speaking to me and I am becoming more and more familiar with his voice.  I hope you are all getting ready!

               I'm feeling a lot better this week physically but we did have some pretty big disappointments.  We got a call on Tuesday from the Kelley family asking us to come and help them move the following day. :(  They are still in Gridley but they now live a block outside of our ward boundaries so they will now be taught by the other Elders.  It is actually a lot better situation for Cynthia and the two kids because they are in a more positive environment and they are very close to the church, but we sure are going to miss teaching them.  Then we got a call the next day from Savina who asked to stop taking the lessons because she was afraid of what her family would think, and we have had a tough time contacting a lot of the other people we are teaching.

                On the other hand, we have had some wonderful things happen especially with the ward members.  Throughout my mission the majoriy of the people I have taught have come from tracting and street contacting but when I came to Gridley I felt very strongly that our success would come as we utilized the members in the area.  So with the help of Brother Hamblin we have been working to organize activities such as cottage meetings and ward parties and use them as ways to find people to teach.  Then this past Thursday we had a wonderful experience with many of the ward members.  We had quite a few people meet at at the church then we divided them up into companionships and sent them out to visit and love some of the people we were teaching.  I went out with Brother Dewsnup to teach Vick who is a lot of fun to teach.  He is really smart though and so we have to pull him back on track quite a bit but the Spirit is there and it is sure working with him.  At the end we all met back at the churcha nd everyone was excited and giving each other high fives because everyone had some success.  It was awesome!  That night, with all of their help, just about every family that we are teaching was visited and invited to church.  From now on the ward has decided to try it once a month.

                 Last week we picked up a new investigator named Susan who we had met while she was walking her dogs.  She was really hesitant to let us come visit with her but finally agreed to meet us at a school.  Well she got scared and didn't show up but the next day we happened to tract into her and she let us teach her in her home.  Our third lesson was this week and it was just a follow-up visit to see how her reading in the Book of Mormon was going but it turned into something amazing.  As we talked with her she wondered how she would recieve her answer to prayer so we were able to help her recognize times in her past where she has felt the spirit.  Then as we left we assigned her the first 12 verses in 2 Nephi:31 to read before we take her on a chaple tour this week.   We also challenged her to stop after each verse and ask herself what God was trying to tell her.  We decided to practice with her using the sixth verse and as she read it the spirit bore witness to her that it was true.  We asked her how she felt and she could just describe it as joy.  The verse taked about baptism so, seeing that she was recognizing the spirit, we challenged her to be baptized.  She accepted but is still unsure so we haven't set a date yet.  She is very shy so this whole week we will spend helping her to meet members so she will be comfortable at church.  I am really excited for her and I think she it excited too.

                  Yup, that's about it for this week.  I guess Jordan is home now, WELCOME HOME.  I hope you all have a great week and I will write again next week.

Love YA!

Elder Ryan J Allred

--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

Sep 6, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, September 06, 2010 12:21 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: My family is AMAZING!!!!

 

Dear everyone!

        Thank you so so much!  You are my favorite and I am so excited to live forever with you!  I think that Heavenly Father, in His perfect love, recognized exactly the type of people I needed to support and lift me throughout my mortal experience.  This morning was pretty hard on me but then I came to email and BANG, instant encouragement from the most wonderful people in the world and life is good again.  I love you all!

         Oh my Goodness!!   Miracles, Miracles, Miracles!  You are probably all sick and tired of me talking about miracles all of the time but I can't help it, they just keep coming.   This week I was pretty sick for most of it but somehow we were still blessed beyond what we deserved.  My favorite thing about this week was just the oppurtunity that I had to feel the spirit soo frequently, because it did come, very powerfully at times.   One of my favorite days was this past wednesday when we had to stay in our apartment untill three because I was sick but we had a lessson scheduled with the Faria's and we decided to just take a DVD to watch with them.  We watched "Finding Faith in Christ" ad as many of you know it has a way of inviting the spirit more than any other movie i have ever seen.   I just feel soo good every time we see it, it makes me just want to love everyone perfectly and always be happy!   The Faria's felt the same way.  As a matter of fact tears flowed freely throughout the movie as we all enjoyed feeling Heavenly Fathers love together and realizing that no matter what we go through in this life we can find joy in our faith.  The Faria's are a great example to me because of all that they face at this time.  They have been members of the church for a while now and they have set a goal to go to the temple but because of some health problems they are having a hard time.  They are doing it though and after feeling the Spirit as strong as we did that day they recommited themselves and they came to church this week despite physical obstacles.

          After that Brother Hamblin, who we live with and who is our Ward Mission Leader, spent the evening making visits with us.   We sit in soo many meetings as missionaries that it is really fun to see the friuts of them as we actually go our with the members to love those that need it.  With his assistance we were able to make it into the homes of two less-active families who we had been trying with for months.   Now we have appointments to begin teaching them this week.   At about eight o'clock he dropped us off so we could grab our bikes and have about an hour to contact people.  We decided to try by a referal named Hiedi that Brother Jensen had given us over a month ago but we had been unable to contact her.  Well, you guessed it, she was home and we are going to start teaching her later on this week!  We feel really good about her especially because she has met with missionaries in the past and even had a baptismal date so she is already pretty close.

          We're just getting started here.   So we tracted into a minister from the Seventh Day Adventist church and he accepted to take the missionary lessons because he has a lot of LDS friends.  His name is Vick and he is such a nice guy, we are teaching a lot of people from the Adventist church and Vick is their leader.   So we taught hima  lesson on Monday and then we came back on thursday with Brother Forrest who is his nieghbor.  We had a great lessons and we learned a lot from him as well.  I am excited because he really doesn't know anything about the Book of Mormon and I know that can influence him in a lot of good ways now that he is at least reading it.  After that Brother Forrest came with us to teacha man named Antonio.  He is the father of a young man we have been teaching but he has not been interested in the past.  The last time we were in his home though we invited him to meet with us and he agreed to have one meeting.  The only problem is that his english is only about as good as my spanish, poco.  So we took one of our trusty DVD's and switched it to spanish and let it do all of the talking.   It was a lot of fun because the whole family was there along with us, Brother Forrest, and Sarah Forrest who is twelve.  They started by ensuring that all of us had plenty to eat during the movie and we all had a lot of fun despite the language barrier.  At the end we asked Sarah to offer the closing prayer and I have never heard a more sincere prayer in my life.  I know the family felt it too as she prayed for us and for them because afterward they agreed to meet with the spanich Elders!! Allright!

          Then Saturday was one of the funnest days of my mission.  I was on exchanges with Elder Booth in his area and we had both had pretty slow week so we decided we were going to tear it up!  Well is didn't quite work out like we planned because I woke up still feeling pretty sweet but it worked out pretty good.  We started out by doing service for an older lady who they had tracted into earlier.  Actually Elder booth did service but I had fun watching him.  :)  Then we taught her a lesson which was realy cool because in the past she has only let them do service but we taught her all about the relief socitey and now she wants to join!  Then we rode around town talking to people and looking for service to do.  We came accross a family moving so we helped them for a few hours.  Yesterday theywent back for a BBQ with that family and they will start teaching them later this week. 

        Yup we had a fun day all day long but the best was in the evening for out lesson with  Megan.  I think I told you about her a while ago in one of my emails.  She is the young lady who Elder Adams and I had tracted into and she started crying when we knocked on the door and told us she was an inactive member and she was ready to come back.  Remember?  Well anyway she has been active ever since and she is Loving it!  So we went to teach her but she had invited one of her non-member friends to come and sit in on the lesson.  His name is Billy and we found out that he had met with missionaries in the past but hadto stop when he went off to school. We had sucha spirit filled lesson with them and at the end we turned to Billy and invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ by being baptised on October 16.  The Spirit was palpable especially when he sad yes!  We all paused to enjoy the feelings that were with us and then to set some goals to prepare and he is sooo excited!

           Life is good and my testimony continues to grow in soo many ways.  Keep it up everyone and enjoy this wonderful Journey.  I love you All!!

     Have a great week!

    Elder Ryan J Allred
--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

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August 30, 2010

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, August 30, 2010 12:09 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: "He who is a master of himself is a true man." -Sister Moss

 

Hello dear family and friends,

             Alright!  I hope you enjoy the picture that is attached because we sure enjoyed taking it.  We got to go to the Fair on the free day and talk to people and we had some neat experiences including talking to Flo.  Pretty much nothing else happens in Gridley during the week of the fair and yet it is probably the smallest fair I have ever been to.  But the people are friendly and there is a positive spirit as the whole town gets together to party.  It was a lot of fun.

             Well I have felt very strongly throughout this past week the need to share with you all the testimony that I ponder frequently as a missionary.  It seems that not a week goes by that we are not challenged in some way or another about either our belief in God or in the Book of Mormon and I have noticed a distinct difference in the feelings that I have as those conversations take place.  This past week as we met with a man in front of Safeway who had obviously studied anti-Mormon literature I had the wonderful opportunity to feel the Spirit's voice confirm to me the feelings I have already experienced in the past.  It taught me again that spiritual things are to be discerned by the spirit and that no mater how logical man's ideas may seem, they are of no worth to us if they contradict the will of the Lord.   I felt the sweet feelings witnessing to me again that Heavenly Father does in reality continue to love us in this day as much as he did in biblical times.   I felt my love for the Book of Mormon and the testimonies within it increase, and I received the assurance that the current course of action that I am taking is where Heavenly Father wants me to be.

               I hope you all have felt the power of the priesthood recently in your lives and if you have not I challenge to seek it soon.  When we use the priesthood we literally use the power of God to bless our lives and those around us.  I love the feeling of being touched by the Spirit and it comes to me most often as I am fulfilling my priesthood duties in one way or another.  Recently I have felt it's influence direct even the thoughts that I have had in pronouncing a blessing upon those with physical needs.  It is a wonderful thing and we can be assured that our Father is willing to bless us with it.  I know that the priesthood can heal both physical and spiritual wounds and that it can comfort each of us.  Last Friday we had the chance to watch a movie in which Joseph Smith takes part in using the priesthood to heal many of the saints as they were forced from city to city in the early days of the church.  As we watched he was able to use their faith in order to command that they be healed instantly.  This was not something new because the Savior himself had done the same thing 2000 thousand years ago and as we study in Mormon chapter 9 it is something that will continue for as long as we have faith.   I am a witness of this also and I pray that each of you will experience it's blessings especially through the Sacrament each week.

                    Our week was a lot slower because of the fair (we had 14 lessons cancel on us) but we still have a lot going for us this week.  We found ourselves laughing histerically so many times this week, sometimes there is nothing else to do.  I appreciate your prayers because sometimes that is all I have to lift me and it sure blesses those we teach as well.  The ward is also doing an excellent job of supporting us but they could also use your prayers this week.  You may have heard of the Bishop that was shot yesterday in church in California.   His parents and siblings are in our ward and your faith can do a lot for that family.  Isn't the Gospel just soo amazing!   Pure religion is taking care of those in need and that is exactly what we each covenant at baptism and that is what helps us feel the pure love of the Saviour in our life.

                    Keep it up all of you!  I am reminded often of the blessings I have from Scott and Jason who are great examples and Kristie, Jennifer, Sheresa, and Sarah who love and support me.  This is really what we are trying to give to others by inviting them to be baptized so that they also can have these blessings.  It is a good life.  Thank you all!!  I love you and hope that you have a great week.

    Love ya!

Elder Ryan J Allred

--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

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August 16, 2010

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2010 11:51 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject:

 

Hello There!!

                 Alright, I guess we will start with explaining the picture that hopefully will be attached.  I hope at least some of you can guess who we are with.  Last night we were invited to a baptism for the great granddaughter of Elder L. Tom Perry of the quorum of the 12 Apostles.  It was pretty sweet especially because we were sitting on the front row two feet in front of him.  Actually that was pretty akward because I didn't want him to think I was staring at him the whole time but there really wasn't anywhere else to look.  He gave a great talk on the holy ghost proving to us that powerful messages can be delivered in 3-5 minutes. 

                The Hamblins brought their non-member relatives with them to meet him and see the baptism.  They have been staying in the home with us for a few days now and we have become close friends with them.  The first morning that we met them they were all really excited to meet full-time missionaries and we talked for hours.  After the first few hours we had already taught them all about the plan of salvation and the Book of Mormon just by answering their questions and reading from the scriptures with them.  After that first morning we left them a childrens copy of the Book of Mormon and he had read the whole thing within the first 24 hours.  It makes it pretty nice when you live with your investigators. :)

               The Kelley family is doing pretty good but they could sure use a lot of prayers.  Cynthia, Maria, and Matthew all really want to be baptised next month but the husband is not very interested and won't let them come to church yet.  Without coming to church it will be impossible for them to be ready for baptism so we are really praying hard for them.   They had a busy week with th ward and they are still excited.  On Tuesday we taught them a lesson, wednesday they all went to mutual to play mud-football, thursday Maria went with the young womens to Marine World, Friday the came to the ward party, and Saturday they went to Sun Splash Waterpark with the young men and young women.   They are pretty much already part of the ward, they  just need our prayers right now.

               So life is good.  We had a lot of cool stuff happening with some of the other people we are teaching. And today is transfer day and i will be staying here for at least a little longer.

              I hope you all have a great week.

Love ya!!

Elder Ryan J Allred

--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

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August 23, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred

Sent: Monday, August 23, 2010 12:10 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: "Our faith is in Jesus Christ and is not dependant upon outcomes."

 

Hello There!

          For those of you who have been on missions before, you know that one of the hardest parts is waiting in the foyer for your investigators before church starts.  Sundays are soo stressful!  But there are two different things that can happen every Sunday:  either someone comes and it is the happiest day of the week, or they don't and you basically want to cry all during sacrament meeting because you know if they could just be there they would know it was true.  Yesterday was one of those frustrating days as we waited for the Kelley family and they didn't make it.  It was hard because this week had been soo good for them.  They have received answers to prayers and they know that they need to be baptised and they are doing everything else right except we can't seem to get them to church.   Keep Praying for them, I'm sure they will some along and be ready for baptism very soon.

         We sure have been blessed out it here as far as having a lot of people to work with.  We recently started teaching a new part member family that seems as if they are going to jump right back into the church.  They fed us twice this last week so we could teach them and hopefully we will get to help them paint their home this week.   And earlier this week elder Lee and I stopped to play baseball with a little girl and her father who we found is a son of and active member.  After we played with them for a little while they invited us over for dinner.  There we met the little girls mother and we invited them all to take the lessons and come to church.  On Saturday we taught them the first lesson and committed them to baptism and so hopefully they will be coming to church soon.

         We did a lot of walking this week for tracting since all of the city streets have been done.  It gives us a good opportunity to talk and laugh and falling into ditches.  Or maybe I put that in the wrong order, I think we were walking and talking then I fell into the ditch and that was when Elder Lee laughed.  Actually we were trying to get a soccer ball we found in a muddy ditch and we were going to lower Elder Lee down when I lost my footing and found myself at the bottom of the ditch.  But hey, we got the ball and we were so far out in the country that no one saw it happen, right?  Elder Lee and I are having a lot of fun.  Last week when we met with Elder Perry told us we needed to get at least two more lessons this week than we did last week, so we did but I haven't figured out how I am supposed to report back to him because we are not allowed to write general authorities.  And unfortunately Dad, I didn't have a chance to meet any other important people this week.  Unless you count Dave Lampross who is our new investigator this week, ya we'll count him.
         So I guess we have a couple of very important things coming up this week!  Or the next (Im not really sure because I haven't been invited yet.)   If I remember correctly Jason is having a birthday this week and Sheresa is getting married the next!!  Happy birthday Jason and congradulations to you Sheresa!  I hope you have a great life together.  What and exciting week for the whole famiy.  But in case I mixed those two up and it is Sheresa who is turning really old this week.  HAPPY 15TH BIRTHDAY SHERESA on the 25TH!!  I hope you have a wonderfull day and a big party and lots and lots of ice-cream!! Good luck!

 

            Well I love you all, remember to always put your trust in Jesus Christ regardless of any situation and even if you are lonely at times, you will be happy.   I have had some neat experiances this week with the wonderful power of the priesthood; it is real, it is a blessing to us, and through it we can find victories over all of our trials.  You all are doing so good!  Keep it up and continue to find joy in the Journey.  Be sure to send me some pictures from the parties this week.  Love YA!

Elder Ryan J Allred
--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

August 9, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred

Sent: Monday, August 09, 2010 12:11 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: John 6:69 "We believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God."

 

Aloha!

              It seems that the world just gets smaller and smaller every week.  This past Thursday we had stopped to take lunch at small hamburger stand and we decided to go around and invite everyone that was eating there to a chapel tour that we were giving the next day.  We would start by sitting down in with a group and talking to them about their day or their family or something like that then asking if they had ever been in an LDS chapel before.  Most were very friendly but not very interested.  At one particular table I sat next to a mother and her two daughters, and it wasn't until after I had finished my little spill that they told me that they were already members of they church. (Rule number one for members: When you see a missionary, remember that you look just like everyone else so introduce yourself as brother or sister so and so and tell them which ward you are from, before they try to baptize you )  So we had a nice little talk with them and found out the oldest of the daughters had just graduated from BYU-I and that she knew Brother and Sister Palmer very well.  A few years ago they had an older brother who had lived with them for a while who I think came to our ward while he was there.  I think his name was Boe or something.  Anyway it was fun to talk to them even though they didn't come to our chapel tour.

              Cynthia and her two children came to the chapel tour though!!   We decided to use the Book of Mormon and the fourth article of faith as our theme throughout the building and it was amazing.  At each stop we had a copy of the Book of Mormon opened to Alma chapter 7 with different verses highlighted in different spots going from verse 10 to verse 16.  That allowed us to flow perfectly into committing them to be baptised while we finished up in the chapel.   They have a lot more to learn and do but they have accepted the invitation to be baptised on the 18 of September.  We are pretty excited as you can probably guess but we are going to need a lot of help from the ward members in order the get them involved.

               That is why we were happy to find that we were given a  new ward mission leader yesterday at church.  His name is Brother Hamblin and he is a really nice guy who basically knows everyone in this town.  And the best thing is that we live with him!!   Things continue to look up for as I have found always happens when you are on the Lord's side.

        Well that's about it for this week.  Have a lot of fun with whatever you are doing.

 Love Ya!

Elder Ryan Jay Allred
--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

August 2, 2010

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, August 02, 2010 11:46 AM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: 2 Kings 6:16-Fear not, for they thet be with us are more than they that be with them.

 

Hello!

           I was thinking about putting the scripture from 2 kings chapter two about the children making fun of the prophet because he is bald in honor of Dad, but believe it or not I think my hairline is receding so I might need to save it for later.  :)  But I have enjoyed learning from the Old Testament in church because we don't have much time to study it on our own.

           Before I get too far I wanted to thank everyone for your prayers.  Mom reminded me in a letter this week of all of the people praying for the quality of the work in my areas and I want you to know that your prayers are being answers and that they are very much needed.  So many times on my mission I have wondered why we have had so many people to teach even when it feel like we are very inadequate.  Now I know that it is because of all of your faithful prayers.   Thank you soo much, you are literally working miracles.

           One of those miracles happened on Saturday while we were on exchanges with our new district leader.  I was able to go into his area with Elder Adams and we had an awesome day!  As we were winding down preparing to go home we decided that we had time for one more visit out in the country.  Unfortunately that family wasn't home so Elder Adams tried to find someone else that we could could visit out there.  We decided to knock at Megan's house because she was on one of our potential investigator sheets and see if she would be interested.  As soon as she opened the door and saw that it was us she started crying and she invited us to start teaching her right there.  We found out that she had been baptized when she was eight but had since then fallen away form the gospel but she was very prepared to begin her journey back.  We visited with her and invited her to begin by praying about the Book of Mormon.  Sh offered a very sincere prayer before we left and received a witness from the Spirit that she should take the missionary lessons and do what she could to get work off on Sundays.  That was last Saturday and since then the missionaries have taught her four or five times and she was able to get work off and come to church yesterday!!  It's too bad I won't be able to keep teaching her but I am excited for who she will become.

           We have had a lot of miracles in our own area as well including an unexpected visit with Cynthia's husband.  James had originally been against having his family meet with us but when we showed up for one of our lessons this week no one was home except him.   We asked if he would like us to help him unload his truck and he was happy to put us to work.  We spent about 15 minutes unloading furniture, then about 45 minutes teaching him a lesson.  It was definitely what we had been praying for because at the end he told us to be sure to come back because he had a lot more questions for us.

            Then yesterday after church we rode out to visit a potential investigator who let us in to teach her about the Book of Mormon.  We found out that she is good friends with two other people that we are teaching and they want to start taking the lessons together.  Plus she is pretty sure that her whole family would like to come to church with her.  The three friend that we have taught separately up until now are Derrick, Savina, and now Salina.  I hope they will build off of each other and good things will happen.

         Well that's about it for this week.  Jeff, Derrick and the Nichols came to church yesterday and they all seems to enjoy it. 

Oh, are the girls still working at Krupp?   I guess that might be over by now but I haven't even heard whether or not they liked it there.  I hope they had fun and I hope you have fun on the trek this week, those who are going.

       Keep it up everyone, I love you!

Have a great week,

Elder Ryan J Allred

--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

July 19, 2010

 

 

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, July 19, 2010 12:08 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: HEAVEN-A continuation of the ideal home.

 

Hey Everyone!!

                   First before I forget, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!!   I hope you all get to have a fun Pioneer Day celebration together.  We are preparing for a great stake activity in which we hope to find at least a couple new families to start teaching.  It's really weird but I found that even clear out here in Gridley the whole stake gets together every year to celebrate Sarah's birthday together. ;) It should be a great party especially if we can get everyone to bring a friend or two.  So thanks for having a birthday Sarah, it will give us a good chance to teach people about the restored church.

                   So we had an unexpected pleasure last night when we got to a fireside by Michael Kennedy.  He was the first of Joseph Smith's direct descendants to receive the Priesthood.  He has since then been given the commission to gather all of the Prophet's descendants back into the church.  It was neat to here how he has had to struggle through a lot of myths and false accusations to find accurate information in order to mend ties between his family and the church.  But despite a lot of anti-mormon heritage he has gained a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is helping a lot of others with their testimonies as well.  Something that he taught us was that everyone that joins the church on this earth has specific people preparing and helping them from the other side of the veil.   He said that the First Presidency of the Church wouldn't even allow him to start teaching his living relatives until he had completed the temple work of all those who had passed on.   So it was great to hear his testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith and I too have gained a strong assurance that he was called of God to bring back all that had been lost in the Apostasy.

                    We met a really cool guy named Chase at McDonald's this week.  He invited us out to his ranch and we got to teach him a little about our beliefs.   He was humble and willing to learn and we found out that many of his ancestors have been active members of the church.  See?  They are pulling for him on the other side!  And I think he will also become a strong follower of Christ as he continues to learn about the atonement and the priesthood.  There sure are people everywhere prepared to lay down everything to follow the saviour, even in McDonald's.

                    An interesting experience we had this week was with a less-active member who we have recently started to teach.  He has gone through a lot of humbling situations that have compelled him to meet with us again.  Throughout our lesson this past Friday he explained to us everything that had gone wrong in his life and everything he wanted his life to be.  He had kept the commandments for a while but has slowly drifted away from his testimony.  Now he wants the peace and joy that he has felt before but he recognizes the difficult road ahead.  During my mission I have seen many of God's children stuck in the same rut and during that lesson I was reminded of Heleman 5:12.  I have learned that happiness does not depend on circumstances but rather on whether or not we build our foundations on Christ.  This man was able to make it to church yesterday and I hope he will be one of the ones that makes the full commitment to rebuild his foundation.   A lot of people never make that step because it involves completely tearing out your old foundation and starting over.  But those who begin the process have wonderful rewards.

                   We invited Derek to be baptized this week and although he doesnt' feel ready yet, I feel he will be soon.  Earlier on in the week we had taught him about the Book of Mormon and had him pray with us to know if it was true.  He is sincere and the Spirit is working with him.  I love being back on a bike out in the middle of nowhere!!  We meet so many awesome people out here.   The Hamlins who we live with are great people and all of the ward members have been great so far.  It is always hard to leave an area where you know everyone at church and come to a new place where you know absolutely no one.  I can't wait until I know more of the people, that's when it really starts to get fun!

                    Keep it up everyone!  Work hard to create a heaven on earth and live life as fits a true follower of Jesus Christ.  Miracles will continue, they always will.

Love ya!

Elder Ryan J Allred
 P.s.   The First picture is of The great Elder Lee and I this morning. and the second is me and well me I guess.
--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

July 5, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 12:46 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject:

 

5 July 2010

Here we go!!!!

            Probably one of the hardest part of being a missionary comes around once every six weeks. I found out that I am going to Gridley tomorrow!! I am pretty excited but it is going to be really hard to leave Auburn. My new companion is going to be Elder Lee and I have no idea where he is from yet so I guess you値l just have to wait until next week. This is going to be great!!

            Wow, I actually feel really good this morning! Ben took us running out in Foresthill down one of his favorite trails earlier today. I was surprised but I was able to make it all five miles without stopping. Not bad for an old man like me. It is going to be hard to leave all of the wonderful people I have met out here like Ben and Chandra. There are just soo many wonderful people in this world, I can only pray my heart can be big enough to let love them all as much as I love all of you and the rest that I have met in California.

            We had a great week but I have a lot to do today so I値l just let you all know that I am alive and well! I hope it is the same for you. Have a great week!!

Love YA!!

Elder Allred

--
HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

 

July 12, 2010

From: Ryan Jay Allred
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2010 1:02 PM
To: Allred, Kevin
Subject: I like to ride my bicycle!

 

Surprise!

            Just when I thought life couldn't get any better, President goes and sends me to a bike area!!  I am pretty excited, I was getting sick of the car after a year.  I actually feel like a real missionary again!  I love having all of the members of the church honking and waving and then those that aren't fans yelling at us, it just feels good. 

             But, before I get into telling you about my new area and stuff there is a story I had better tell you before Dad gets too worried.  So last week right after I found out I was getting transferred Elder Groberg and I started driving around town as fast as we could so I could say good-bye to all of those wonderful Auburn people.  As we were driving we past a car with its hood up on the side of the road with little kids running all around it.  Unfortunately neither of us know anything about cars so we couldn't help them out very much but we figured that the least we could do was buy them some water bottles so they wouldn't get dehydrated.  And that is why, as Dad noticed, we went into the liquor store.  It was the only thing around!  So no, my card was not stolen; we were just getting water.  :)

             But Gridley has been amazing!  Everyday it is over 100 degrees outside!  It is a really small town that is famous for the fruit that is produces so I shouldn't have any problem getting fruit for my smoothies.  And because it is such a small town everyone is extremely friendly.  Our bishop is fairly young and he is excited about sharing the gospel.  I'm glad to here that even in Rexburg the call to spread the gospel is increasing.  I still feel really strongly that the best way to help anyone want tot share the gospel is to strengthen their personal understanding and testimony of the gospel.

             One of the things I felt I should focus on in this new area is finding new investigators mostly through the members of the ward.  That is hard for me because I love tracting and talking to people on the streets and finding people that way.  But already I have seen miracles happen out here because of the amazing members.  On Tuesday of this week we tracted into a really nice young family that accepted to have us come back to teach them on Friday.   I didn't know anyone in the ward yet so I just started calling anyone I could to get someone to go with us.  Brother Wakefield accepted the invitation with a lot of enthusiasm because he is in the High Council and the Elders usually don't know to call him.  But when we showed up to the lesson on Friday no one was home.  We spent about 15 minutes trying other investigators in the area and then we asked if Brother Wakefield had any friends who would be interested in a short 20 minute lesson where we could help them feel the spirit.  He decided to give one of his friends a try even though he had sen missionaries over to his home only weeks ago and they were turned down.  But this time because he went over with us his friend Jeff accepted the 20 minute lesson and has decided to take the lessons!!  Members have such  magic touch.  And that is only one of probably four very similar experiences we have had this week.  Including the Hamblins who we live with who we asked to invite one of their neighbors to dinner.  Now the Spanish Elders are teaching their next door neighbors.

            My companion is Elder Lee from Arizona!  He is full blood Navajo and is a pretty cool kid.  He goes home in a few months and we are ready to o some great work here.

           So life is good and I hope it is for you too!!

Keep it up!

Love Ya!

Elder Allred

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HURRAH FOR ISRAEL!!!

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