Two emails today!  The first was hurried because they were low on time.  They found more time and he sent a second.  He was also able to get his camera to communicate with the computer so we have a few pictures form the MTC.

Email #1

So I figured out my problem with the pictures.  The lock was on, but this week I ended up on a computer without any place to put in the flash drive so hopefully next week I have a computer that is better for this.  I sure hope so, I have over 30 pictures to share.  I`m really glad everything is going well at home, It`s going great here.  We`ve talked to a ton of people and have a ton of lessons set up.

Elder Mondragon is great, we work hard, it`s really hot, it`s really humid so I sweat all day.  We walk 5 or 6 miles and then every morning we run 3 to 4 miles too so I`m getting pretty tired.

I`ve learned a lot about buying food.  first that it`s important to always have a snack ready if you cant get a meal. second that it`s not good to cook your eggs on the sidewalk nor freeze them in the fridge. Third that beans and rice are ridiculously cheap.  and fourth that people here serve really good food and I`m not sick yet.

So more about my companion.  He is from Mexico.  umm he works hard, and likes to be pretty obedient.  I don`t know.   If you want anything else it would probably be better to ask specific quetsoins

So the people do serve good food.  I`m not sick at all yet, and I`m drinking tons of water because I`m always sweating.  My biggest complaint about the food is that we eat breakfast at 7 or 7 30 and then eat at 2 or 2 30 and then again the next morning.  It is sooo long inbetween meals, but I guess I`ll adapt.

We do get to watch conference live.  it starts at 11 local time but 10 mdt.  It`s cool to think that we are watching it together but I have to have the voice over.  We have lots of investigators coming to watch too.

Sorry we don`t have as much time to write today, we had a busy p day.  But the grocery stores are pretty similar.  Different sections and stuff, but they do just have stuff sitting out more, meats, bread...you know it`s not packaged until you take it to the counter.  But it`s all really good.

So I am in the city and stake Madero.  In the ward Miguel Hidalgo.  WE live on 13 de Enero (13 of January) all the way next to the factory PEMEX kinda in the north east of the neighborhood.  We are just one block north east of the chapel.  All the way at the end of the street and on the left side.

I don`t really have any specifics on investigators.  We have about 10 or 15 investigators that are all about at the same point right now.  We are going to start teaching actual lessons this week so we`ll see how many of them are actually interested.  I`ve learned a ton about teaching the gospel and that it is very importan tsometimes to just
stop arguing and testify.  My companion has a really hard time with that, but we`re figuring it out.

I want to invite you to talk to somebody this week about the gospel. It`s really not that hard you just talk to them.  It`s probably way easier for you guys because it`s in english.  I wish I had been more involved in the work before I came.  It`s really the memebers that do the work, the missionaries just teach.  Please be like the members in
this ward and have inactives that you want to help and nonmembers to help teach.  It really doesn`t matter where they live they have a system to get references around and it works great.

I know that Christ is our Saviour and the God is our loving Heavenly Father.  We have the potential to be like Him if we are obedient and make the covenants that He has comanded.  I know that this is His church and that we will be blessed by living it.

I love you guys.  Keep doing the things you should and you will be blessed.

Love, Elder Brady Allred

Email #2

​So since my compainion didn´t get the chance to email earlier, we are emailing again and since I didn´t get a full hour I am on the computer again for just a few minutes.  And I am uploading photos for you guys.

I just remembered to write about the smell here.  So it´s hot, humid and then there´s a smell.  It´s only occasional. and I finally figured out what it is.  It´s the sewers.  They are just rivers that run along side the road, open for the whole world to smell.  Only on some roads but it is the worst smell I have ever experienced in my life, and you do not know the deffinition of the word stinky until you have smelled this for at least 10 minutes total in your life.  It almost makes me throw up every time and my companion just laughs at me, but trust me it is horrible.

The ward has about 100 active members, at least that´s about how many I think there were at church yesterday.  They´re pretty good and they want to work with us and we want to work with them.  The bishop is pretty great, he doesn´t talk much.  We went to ward council last week and it was pretty alright.  We´re going again this week.  The people are really open to talk about religion here, but most of them are pretty stubourn about their beliefs that God is God and that all religions are bad, and then they group all religions like the catholic church.  But it really does feel good to testify to them aobut the gospel.  Sometimes you see the spirit change them right there, other times they completely reject it.  It´s hard to watch them reject it.  But it´s amazing to see them change dramatically right before your eyes.

One inactive member was talking to us and wouldn´t let us get any ground (agian with my companion getting a little bit into fighting mode) and I stopped him and bore testimony.  He changed right there in front of us.  He softened up a lot, and even though my companion had no faith that he would come to church yesterday, I knew he would come and he did come and had a pretty good time.

I hope that I have more stories like this next week, but like I said we are still figuring out who is here because there haven´t been any missionaries here for 6 weeks so it´s like starting a new area.  I think we´ll have a great week this week we have some really promising investigators, so I´ll let you know what happens.

I have already learned so much from Elder Mondragon he is a great trainer, definately hand picked by God to train me.  He thinks in a way that I can understand so well and learn so well and fast.  He has decided that I am really smart and so tells me everything he knows, because he knows I can handle it.

What´s really funny is that I am our navigator.  Me with not even 1 week out of the MTC am the one who gets us around.  I know most of the streets already and if it weren´t for me my companion would have us on the wrong end of the Ward before we realize we are lost.  So I´m really glad that I have a good sense of direction.

I hope everything goes well this week. You guys can all be examples to other people at school, they all need it and can learn a lot from you.

I love you.

Love Elder Brady Allred

We received an email from the mission home today.  It had a couple of pictures of Brady and the other missionaries from his mission.  They are standing in front of the Tampico Temple.

A surprise email that we received on Wednesday the 21st of August.

So I´m getting there on the humidity.  It´s still pretty warm so I´m getting used to it.  My companion is really nice.  His name is Elder Mondragon (I know that´s pretty cool).  It sounds like he used to be a little disobedient, he said he had some companions that had an affect on him, but he got some help and is now really obedient and hard
working.  I´ve talked to several people in the street and even a few in the airport, so that is pretty cool.  It´s kinda hard to understand some of the people here and that makes it hard to share things with them, but I´m sure it will get better fast.  The people are so nice and they love to talk to us in the street, so we have a lot of contacts and a lot of people comited to come sunday so we´ll see how many of them show up.

We are in an area where there have not been any missonaries for 6 weeks and it sounds like their missionary work has ground to a hault, but we´ll get it going again.  Elder Mondragon says that before January (when he goes home) he wants to get 20 more baptisms to reach 100.  I told him we´d do it, but apparently 15 would be a record and so would 20, so I guess we´ll be record holders.

I´m am really glad to be out of the MTC and I really like my new companion a whole lot better than my old companion.  WE ACUTALLY STUDIED THIS MORNING!!!  It was great.  I´m glad I am finally in the work.

So today we went to the store to buy stuff, because we had NO FOOD in the house.  Thank goodness I bought somebread last night from someone on the road for 10 pesos (55 cents).  I guess it was probable an impresson to buy it because I would have not eaten until today around noon.  But now I have food so don´t worry, and the members are feeding us too.

So a bit of a miracle today with the food.  We got it, and get out into the street walking to the bus route (I say bus route be cause the bus stop is where ever there are people).  It is so hot here that my plastic bags melted!!! My eggs fell and broke and then a few seconds later my soap and cereal.  So we picked it up smiling, of course, and
a guy brought us some new bags. So we get all of that and are still smiling.  And we finish walking to the bus route and a taxi pulled up, with two guys in it instead of one.  THe passenger was a member and payed for our ride (Or maybe it was because the two were just friends it was free, I really dont know)  So we got air conditioning, didn´t have to walk, and didn´t have to wait.  And we have the cab driver´s number for if we ever need a ride again.  So I guess that´s why we need to endure our affliciotns well.

I´m loving the work out here, it is way better than the MTC.  I love working with my compainion I think we´re going to do great.  I love you guys and am so glad we are sealled together for eternity, so I´m trying to share this with others.  Thank you for your prayers and your support.

I am in the district/stake MAdero, Ward/area Hidalgo.  We don´t know what the address is to our house, but we do know where it is.  So just have grandma or anyone send things to the mission house address and they´ll get it to us.

I love you guys. 

A short message we received the day he left the MTC in Mexico City and arrived in the mission field in Tampico.

Hey, I made it here to the mission home safley.  It was like a 45 minute flight, so that was pretty great.  Security is a lot easier here.  The mission president is really young.  It is ridiculously humid though.  All of the windows have condensation on them.  It´s not all that hot, just humid so far.  There should be a 50$ charge on the card because I had to pay for my second suitcase.  I dont find out who my trainer is until tomorrow, we are going to do some big group training and get to know all of the trainers.  I think I get to email again this week, but I guess we´ll find out soon enough.  I love you guys, keep doing the stuff you should and you will always be blessed.
Tell grandpa allred I met Elder Ramero in the MTC

Here is his email from September 15th.

I´m glad all of you think it is going really fast.  Because I agree. The first about 5 days were really slow but since then it still feels like it is only the first week.  The food is great here.  But I like the food at home better.  I am always really hungry at meal times so I eat really fast, and at least the food tastes good when I am really hungry.  If I were eating as often here as I do at home then I don´t think I would like it nearly as much.  (and the tortillas are all corn tortillas so that kinda throws it off).

I´m going to be honest.  Most of the time I love it here, but I guess that makes sense since I am an AP student.  We are in classes 10 hours a day and studying 4 more, so it´s pretty much what I´m good at.  I can finally speak almost anything I need to for the lessons, and can almost understand everything.  I give all the thanks to God, because I really have not done enough studying to learn as much as I have.  I am so glad that I have read the scriptures enough and paid attention in seminary, because I know the scriptures way better than any of the
other missionaries in my zone (only 33 other people).  They always ask me where certain scriptures are and regardless of the fact that the scriptures are in spanish I can tell them the chapter and then within seconds find the verse that they are looking for.

I can´t believ Elder Ballard came on sunday because on Sunday we had a devotional broadcast from Provo, with Elder Ballard!!!  He talked to us about our goal/purpose as missionaries.  We are are to bring Light and Joy through the Gospel to the world, much more than just bring the gospel to the world.We have also had devotionals with elder christofferson and with Elder Cook.  Which wer both pretty good too.  (BTW just about every Tuesday and Sunday there is a broadcast on LDS.org that is a missionary broadcast to the MTC´s, if you guys would like you could watch those, there pretty good, and I bet there even better without a voiceover translation).

Apparently Tuesday was my birthday.  I was talking to some Americans at dinner and when I wasn´t looking every one in my zone got up to put their trays away.  When I got up and put mine away I came around the corner they all started singing "happy birthday" at the top of their lungs.  They were mad that I was talking to Americans instead of them so they were trying to embarass me.  It was hilarious.  Half the MTC thinks that my birthday was on Tuesday.

I´ve seen a ton of people from Riverton, but the only names that I remember right now are Elder Wolfley (arrived on Tuesday), Elder Smart, Sister Jones, Elder Moody, and Elder Jones (from Copper Hills) and elder Neddo (and yes Jakon he has recovered from his appendix) It´s pretty great to see them and know that I already speak more
spanish than they will in 3 months, I guess that´s why I am considered a Latino in my Zone.

A few of our teachers yelled at us for always being late and always talking the other day.  They said "We know which ones of you are actually here to serve a mission" and then they looked right at me. Later one of them stopped me and said "thank you for loving Christ." I really don´t want to follow Christ to show anyone else what I am doing, but I guess when you follow Christ other people will always be watching you so you need to be dilligent in doing what´s right.

So I leave Monday.  I will be flying to Tampico with 12 other missionaries, about half Latino and half American.  But the bad news is that we leave at 2:00.  Morning or afternoon?  In the Morning.  I really do not want to get up that early.  Our flight is at 6:20.  I am only allowed 123 lbs (50 for my two bags and 23 for my carry on)  I think I can do that but it does cost $850 for my second bag.  Ok so that´s in pesos (but the symbol is the same) it´s only about 50 dollars in cash so I´ll have to pay for that, but I´ll be reimbersed.
 
I am ready to get out into the feild and really start working.  I feel so ready to share the great message of the Gospel with people who are looking for it.  I love you guys and know that God is with me and with you, helping us with our trials and blessing our good choices.  I love you. 

After seeing that his P-Day was on Thursday, we expected to hear from him a few days later.  Little did we know that his email he sent on Monday. counted as his letter for the week.  It made for a long week and a half waiting to hear from him again.  We received this on Thursday, September 8th.

I can´t believe how fast I learned the language.  I still have a very hard time reading, I´m prettty slow and say a lot of the words wrong, but I´m getting there.  I could just about understand everyone except for a few people after just a few days.  But I think its about 1% because I am faster of myself, 5% because other people are slower, and
the other 200% is God.  I actually think I learn more at night while I am sleeping than I do all day.  It´s incredible the spirit here.  I do now think that I am advanced.  Some of the other people speak spanish and english both pretty fluently so that is more helpful than the dictionary they gave me most of the time.  (By the way dad, Spanish English and Mandarine are three of the top ten, and maybe even the top 5 hardest languages, so if you could look up where dutch is on that list that would be great)

So about the airport.  I got there and could not find anybody holding a sign for me, and so I wandered a bit until a guy told me to just stand still and watch for somebody.  Eventually I sat down (45 minutes after landing, 20 minutes after waiting) and called somebody.  They said, ¨who?¨and so they sent somebody to get me.  They both had thick accents and then the other two missionaries we picked up both had accents that were really strong too so I was really nervous.  But then the next day (cuz most of the natives get there tuesdays) my companion Elder Estrada came.  He is really loving and nice, but he always wants to use my stuff (razor, water bottle, deoderant) and then when I say no he guilt trips me with ¨what would Christ do?¨ I really don´t know, so these things I don´t share, but don´t worrry I do share pens and other non-sanitary items.

I am the branch pianist, and so I had to sing a solo the other day too after Hermana Wood (the other native speaker in our group)  did, because apparently all Americans are good singers (at least compared to most of the tone deaf mexicans). 

Today we went to the temple in fact we just got back.  It´s a good thing I remember pretty well what the endowment is like in English, because a ton of the words are so different in spanish.  (BTW the videos are the same, just with a spanish voice instead, so I could read lips in English too.)

If I had known last monday that it was the only time to write I would have written more, I don´t know what, but I would have.  I miss you guys but I´ve found that when I am really imersed in the work I actually do not miss you as much, but I love you more.  Every night in my journal I write "I love my family, I love God and I love His work" I pray for you and can´t wait to see you when I get home.

I can´t think of anything else to write so I guess I´ll look for your emails next week, and can´t wait to write you again.  

We received this email on August 29th.  It is the day that we dropped him off at the airport and sent him off to Mexico.  He was confident that everything would work out.  It did.

I made it safely without any problems, at least until the airport.  I hated the landing because there was a lot of turbulence since we were flying right over the mountains.  The MTC or CCM wasn´t expecting me so I had to be called to be picked up.  Some of the people I can understand, especially when they slow down, but some of the people here I cannot understand at all.  So far I have everything I need.  My P-day is on thursdays so that is when I´ll be sending email.  Thank you for all that you have done.  I love you guys and will pray for you every day.  keep doing the things that God would have you do.  I love you all.

We set up this blog for those who are interested in following Brady on his mission to Tampico Mexico.  Check back weekly as you post what we receive from Brady in his emails and letters.