This week I focused a whole bunch on Faith in Jesus Christ.  I realized that even though I believe in Him and I know that He is my savior, I think that I have been forgetting to have more faith in Him while I have been working.  I think that I have been trying to do it all myself.  I had more trust in my work than in His.  So this week I changed that perspective a little bit more.  I worked hard to believe that He is working around and through me to be able to save His children.  Sometimes it is just hard to trust. Should I really talk to that person?  Was that the spirit or me?  But what I have definitely learned in these last few weeks is that if you just go for it and trust that it is always an inspiration from God, then it usually will be.  Joseph Smith said that if we follow the first impression always then 9 times out of 10 we will be right.  So I have been working on my reaction rate, trying to be a first responder.  But sometimes I don't do it.  Sometimes the natural man wins.  That always stinks, but I'm getting there.  I think that it is like a muscle.  The more that you try to use it the stronger it gets.  And the mission is the best time to exercise the muscles of faith, obedience and revelation.  I hope to go home really buff. hahaha

I've decided that Tanner Isbell and my companion are pretty much the same person just with different stories and lives.  But they are about the same in their attitudes, way of thinking, and more than anything in their way of talking.  Elder Johnson is progressing a lot and I am learning a lot by working with him.  It's a pretty great time most of the time.

The good news this week is that a brother called Gonzalo is going to get baptized on Saturday.  Wednesday we are going to have his baptismal interview to make sure that everything is ready and then on Saturday we should have a baptism.  In a few more weeks his kids should get baptized too.  Their names are Antonio and Ivone.  They finally went  to church yesterday and we are going to put a baptismal date this week so that they can start to progress more.  It is a really great family and we are excited for what it is going to bring in the close future.

We are going to keep looking for a lot of new people to teach.  We have to have a lot of faith to really be able to find people to teach.  I guess that I am going to have to try to just swing to be able to get it all right.  It's like baseball.  Just swing.  And later you can worry about getting it right.

We also had the zone leader conference this week.  It was pretty great and we got to hear from President Ramirez.  I learned a lot there.  What I really liked was when we talked about D&C 121:41-45.  Really it is important that we be that kind of leader.  We have to be patient and loving.  We can't force the other people around us to do what we want.  Really Christ is the kind of leader that is described in those verses.  We have to love the people that we serve, and make sure that they know it. Like President Monson says, it's not enough to just assume that they know that we love them, we have to tell them so.  So I am going to try to do that more and I invite each of you to do the same in your callings and in your relationships with others.  Really the patience is one of the most important things to show that love.  Charity is long suffering (or patient).

I love the Book of Mormon and everything that it teaches.  Really most of their problems that they had could have been a lot easier to solve if the people had love one for another, or if they would us the principles taught in the Family Proclamation,  la fe, de la oración, del arrepentimiento, del perdón, del respeto, del amor, de la compasión, del trabajo y de las actividades recreativas edificantes.  Those are really important and I know that whatever problems we have they can be solved by using those principles.

Faith and repentance always work together.  When we increase one we have to increase the other.  They are really like the two sides of a penny.  When you grab one you grab both.  If you only grab one side and don't move the other then you will never be able to pick the penny up.  So I invite each of you to look into your lives and see the ways that you can increase your faith and repent more.  It will really make a difference in your life and everything will be so much easier.  I lived it this week.

Thank you all for your prayers.  I honestly did feel that constant help.  Please keep praying for me,   It is a true testimony of prayer to have received all of that help this week.

I love you all and thank you so much for your help and support.  Have a great week this week and don't forget to read your scriptures every day.

Love,

Elder Allred