LAST ONE!

Jaime and Daniela are going to tell us a baptismal date tomorrow, it's kinda sad that I won't be here for their baptism, but they are really prepared now. We have overcome all of their questions together and they continually tell us that they are going to be grateful forever to us.  I sure hope he is a bishop someday, it's very possible.

We finally found Vanessa yesterday and talked to her again, she is willing to continue learning and progressing.  She isn't ready for baptism yet but she should be there soon.

Georgina and Eduardo are taking their time on getting married, but we put a baptismal date with Kevin this week so that he can start progressing again.

Just about everything else was just normal.  We had some great experiences with some of the lessons but nothing overly noteworthy (I'll tell you about the rest of it next week!)

I might just give away a suitcase to a young man that is preparnig for a mission. If everything fits in one then I am going to give it away. Don´t be mad....

Thank you all for your support and your love. I think we've all grown a lot in these last two years. In 2 days it'll have been two years!  I know more now than I knew before that this is the truth. Christ does direct this church personally and He is my friend.  There is peace in Christ (dyc 19:23)  I know that God and Christ did appear to Joseph Smith and that he did translate the Book of Mormon. President Nelson is a prophet of  God. I also know him and I have no doubt that he is prophet. The Holy Ghost can and does convert people and brings them to Christ. There is a power stronger than death, illness, and contention. It is the priesthood that opens the power to heavenly help, help that can come thanks to the Atonement of our Savior.  This means everything to me now!

I love you!  I"ll see you on Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Elder Brady Allred

This week was crazy.

Tuesday we had splits with the zone leaders. It was crazy! we had to go to the mission offices for materials. We got there and President Robisnon came out and said, "Do you guys want to go eat in my house? we have sandwiches and ice cream! come on."  Well we had a lot of materials that we didn't want to take in the bus and it was ice cream so we called to cancel the food (the sister was relieved btw) and went and ate a great American type lunch. The creamy potato soup was incredible! 

So any way we ate and then went to our area. President said do you want a ride and we said great! free rides all the way from the offices to the area. And then he said that there was a hook. oh no, he got us hooked, real good.  He said we love you a lot and when you love someone a lot then you expect a lot from them... "where is he going with this"... he said that we should be like a combine, we should pass through a lot of people and leave the ones that don't want to progress behind and just keep the few precious grains of wheat.  He asked us to contact 10 people per missionary per day! that's a ton more than what we do.

So I have started contacting more, I'm not perfect but I'm contacting more, and I can say that you feel a lot better about yourself when you get home at night when you can contact more, you feel successful about yourself and you feel happy and at peace, knowing that you did everything that you could that day to invite others to come unto Christ.

Our baptism this weekend is going to fall through. Vanessa got nervous and now she kinda disappeared. We´ll have to see but we don't know what happened exactly, hopefully she can find the answers that she needs soon!

Daniela and Jaime are progressing great I hope to be able to put a baptismal date this week and hopefully I might just be able to see their baptism before I go, hopefully.

I love you all so much hope you all have a great week! Two more weeks and i will see you in the airport. I think that it'd be alright if just you guys were there and then we can see grandparents later.

That´s a lot of stuff!  Sorry.

I love you and I know that we are an eternal family!

Elder Brady Allred

We finally moved this week and so our day and our week have been really crazy, that's why I'm writing a little bit latter this week! We couldn't find a place to write, but we found one. But my letter will be short.

We moved Friday, and now we are saving a lot of money in buses, that we don´t have to take on a daily basis anymore! 

We also had interviews with President on Wednesday and he taught us about the Sacrament and the importance of helping the investigators to understand its importance, and to make it more important in our lives. It was a good lesson that should help me all of my life, and I'll have to keep applying it to the investigators for a few more weeks. It was good stuff. And his wife made some good Lasagna.

Vanessa went to church and we are planning on following through with her baptism on the 25th, she knows everything.  She destroyed the class of Gospel Principles yesterday. She knew every single answer. It was kinda funny.  She just has to keep her priorities straight and keep reading the Book of Mormon and everything will be great.

Daniela and Jaime also went to church yesterday for the first time. Their fellowshipper Arturo is doing a great job of taking care of them, every two or three days they go to visit them and they are going to do a mini family night together today.  They didn't invite us, but I guess that can also be considered a good thing too. They aren't going to have to depend on us after their baptism!  They still don't want to commit to a baptismal date, but I think that soon they will. They are great and we have answered a lot of their very difficult and deep questions, and now we are trying to help them to answer their own questions on their own.

Noelia is doing alright, but we have found some problems with the word of wisdom that she has to get over. We'll be there to help her.

I love you all and I'm excited to continue working these last three weeks!  I love each of you and I know that the church is true, and that Jesus Christ does direct this church.  I have seen too many things, and experienced too much to deny it. The Book of Mormon is true, without a doubt it is. I love Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father and I know that they are always there to help me!  Pray and they will give you peace. There is peace in Christ.

I love you

Elder Brady Allred

Some days time just seems to fly by, other days it just goes so slow!  I am super excited and super nervous for what is to come. 2:01! Get an appointment with President King for that same day so that he can release me, too.  Not that I don't want to be a missionary anymore, but that's what we're supposed to do!!

Well everything fell apart this week for the 25th, we'll see what we have to do. Work, I guess that's always the answer.  Work and pray. We do need a few miracles, soon.

We did find a great guy yesterday and right now we are going to go with him and give him the Book of  Mormon.  He has the whole Bible just about memorized. literally. He has a few years since an accident left him paralyzed from the mid back down and he has dedicated the last few years to reading the Bible. But he seems willing to accept our ideas as well, and at least he'll read the Book of Mormon

Yesterday a brother brought a friend called Isaac to church.  Well in Sunday school he started talking about how Christ was a sinner, and that in the oldest french bible it talks about his teenage years etc etc. A bunch of crazy... well garbage.  The ward mission leader (the teacher as well and an ex missionary) told him to read the Book of Mormon and then we'll see whose right.  He has the homework to look for all of the mistakes in the Book of Mormon.  He said that he likes to read so we'll see soon

We also had a great appointment with Daniela and Jaime. We decided to take a fellowshipper with us for the first time with them, and we took Arturo. That was one of the best ideas I've ever received as revelation.  It gave Jaime the confidence to ask his big questions. Polygamy, Blacks and the Priesthood, and some crazy idea about women and their process of baptism and something to do with the bishop.  CRAZY QUESTION!  Our laughter at the absurdity of that idea answered their question that that kind of thing does not happen. And we patiently explained about polygamy and blacks and the priesthood. It was great and they finally seem more receptive to think about baptism and to go to church.  It's great that we could get that one off their chest.

Nobody else went to church yesterday! Super sad. Hopefully some good things can happen this week and we are going to have to give it everything that I've got.  Sometimes, almost always, I am super tired. I'm pushing through, in 4 weeks I can sleep.

I love you a lot and thank you for all of your help and support! It has helped me to keep focused and has definitely made the difference.

Elder Brady Allred

So yes, we did have two baptisms this week.  It was rough cuz we had to drain the font 2 and a half times, with buckets!! That is great!! My back hurts a bit more this week.  We moved a lot of water.

So my companion is just about identical with my first trainer, Elder Mondragon.  He kinda picks and chooses the rules that he should and shouldn't keep.   They both use the strange sentence "you have to know the difference between the law and the spirit of the law".  So I guess I have to work on that a little bit,and worry more about the people while still being obedient. It is seeming to be a very difficult lesson for me to learn. But very interesting to note that both times that God gave me one of these companions I was only with him for 6 weeks.  So we decided that he will work on his obedience, and I will work on my people skills and relating more to them and getting down their level, because he is an expert in that.  He gets down to their level and talks to them like a normal Mexican, the only problem is that sometimes that "normal Mexican vocabulary" is not the best "representative of Jesus Christ vocabulary".... so we are a work in progress.  But aren't we all??

So we did put a ton of baptismal dates this week, just that 3 of them fell through when the people didn't go to church. We are going to spend this week helping the people to want to go to church. My companion is an expert in persuading people to do the things that they need to do, and I have the scriptures to back him up. Actually like Elder Mondragon, he loves to use bible scriptures, and I use Book of Mormon scriptures so that is a great compliment. I guess we are doing that right.

This week all of the youth in the whole mission went on a FSY camp. It's like youth conference or trek and EFY all together in one. It was a great spiritual experience for all of them, and they all shared their testimonies in church yesterday. They sure came back changed and all of them want to go on missions now, so I guess it was a successful activity.  It brought back a lot of memories of EFY and youth conferences.  They are just memories now for me. But take advantage of those activities, they are worth every moment and dollar.  Take good notes too, and take them on your mission. You'll want them while you are there.

I also learned that it is not a good idea to have baptisms the same week as the giant youth activity that is in Monterrey. Everybody is busy and nobody comes to the baptism. So next time this activity comes by (in 4 years) I will make sure not to baptize that week. Or one week before or one week after.  We had to wait both times for a priesthood holder to arrive so that we could have 2 witnesses (I baptized, and my companion and the other brother were witnesses).  I also realized that we need to confirm and re-confirm the talks, prayers, and just about everything. So I can do better in that too!! So many things that I never learned and now I am trying to learn them right at the end, it's like cramming for the final exam.

We have several new people in our teaching circle.  Noelia accepted a baptismal date, so did Vanesa and so did Elizabeth. But they didn't make it to church. They are still on track to get baptized on the 25th of August.  Beatriz had her date for the 18th, but we are going to have to move it back because she didn't go to church. And Luis Alberto and Maura are hiding from us it seems, so we will have to see how to keep helping them.

We worked a lot and learned a lot but there weren't really any super outstanding moments to comment on. Just a lot of character building, and work. I will keep working and I will try to take more care of my back too!!  5 weeks and I will be home!!!  

Thank you for everything and we will see you soon!! I am in this to the end!!

Elder Allred

I got changed to Victoria again!!! No I am just kidding. I am still here in Valle Verde. But they did send my companion to Victoria. I am pretty jealous. They gave me Elder Araujo as my companion. He is THAT MISSIONARY. Yep the ONE everybody knows about.  But he wants to work hard, and he baptizes a lot. So I am pretty excited to have a great successful transfer. We already decided that if we have problems then we are both going to take care of them so that we can just work hard.

I am really excited. This morning when I woke up it felt like Christmas eve.  But I am still here to work hard. We have the goal to baptize 7 in August. It is going to be a ton of work but we do have a ton of people that have a ton of potential. The people that we find this week can still get baptized in August so we have to find a lot.

Well tomorrow Susan gets baptized. We moved it so that her dad can go to the baptism.  Her grandma and cousins and aunt came from Coahuila to go to the baptism they are all members there, just not all active.

Georgy gets baptized on Saturday. He is very excited. His family will go to the baptism but they are not ready yet. Kevin needs to pay a bit more attention in the lessons, we'll change our style. And Georgina and Eduardo have to get married, and it should take 5-8 weeks (that's very sad news, but it's not in their control, or at least they don't think it is.)

We also put a baptismal date with Luis Alberto and with Maura on Saturday they were going to come to church yesterday but they didn't make it. We still have to see why. They said that they are looking for a true church, because all of the other churches don't seem to be true.  Score! That's our message.  We put a date for the 18th of August. they have to go on Sunday, and they have to be reading their Book of Mormon. But we sure hope that they will make it.

Noelia came to church on Sunday with her 5 yr old granddaughter. She is somebody that we contacted when she was drinking her cauguama.  She had some family problems and so we talked to her a bit and then Saturday we went back and shared a bit about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  She went to church and said that she is going to come back. It was great and we hope to put a baptismal date soon with her as well.

We have a few appointments today. Two of them with Families!!  This area is really prepared to baptize and it is time to get down to work.  We still have to move.  We just need the federal commission of light to come out and change a wire so that we can move. 3-5 days. or 3 weeks.  Patience is a virtue but this is a long time waiting.  I just want to live in the area. But, it's alright we will get there. 

I am really excited. Everybody thinks that I am "dying" (that's what they call it when you get "trunky" which is what you call it when it's almost time to go home and pack your trunk)  But I don't think so. I am going to have the best six weeks of my mission right here and now. I am prepared to give it everything that I can.  Keep praying for me! I am excited to see you soon.  I sure am excited for the appointment with the chiropractor, that's for sure. Keep praying for me. I love you and I know that this is the true church, that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that God lives and is in the details of our lives.  Jesus Christ is my Savior and He does direct this work. They will tell us the secrets and mysteries, and everything that we need to know to have success in this life.  I love you

Elder Brady Allred

Sorry if it's a little short today. Transfers.

Well we had another good week this week. We had interviews with the mission president.  It was the most straightforward and frank interview I have ever had.  Pretty much I can say that I came out knowing that I have to do more than I have been doing. That's not to say that I haven't been working, but I realized that I can work more, and focus more. So I have been working on that now and I guess I'll keep it up for another 7 weeks and then for the rest of my life.  It was a very inspiring and inspirational interview and I learned a lot about the power of a leader to be able to help the people that are under his charge.  And I can say that he is also doing a very effective job in following up on the commitments that I made.

Well the highlight this week was when we went to the primary activity on Wednesday. We took 2 less active families and their daughters that aren't baptized.  One of the families was Carmen and Susan and her little sister Kenia.  She has a car so she helped us take the other family which is the family of Delia and Emily and her older sister Juanita.  The good thing was that once the families were there they started to interact with the other sisters (after some pushing and shoving from our part) and it seems that Delia seems to have remembered some old friendships that she had had several years ago.  The Bishop said that they are not going to let them get away again.

So Carmen and her husband are looking at getting married so that means that her husband could then be baptized. And Susan decided that she does want to get baptized, we just have to find them home to be able to put a baptismal date with Susan. But we are finally starting to get her confidence so that she talks to us.  She is just about as shy as I was as a child. But we are getting there.  Her dad is supporting her in her decision to get baptized.  Hopefully we will have success with that family.

And Georgina, Georgy, and Kevin also have some good news.  Eduardo, the dad, came to church with them last Sunday, and I guess it awoke something inside of him and now he is listening to us very well with a lot of questions. They are looking at getting married and as soon as the can. It looks like they will get that process moving.  Hopefully before September gets here they will be married. I sure hope so.  Georgy is reading and looking for an answer for if the Book of Mormon is true so that he can know if the church is true.  He stayed yesterday for Preisthood meeting and the whole Elder's quorum talked to HIM and answered HIS questions and bore testimony to him (and the other brother that the sisters brought) that the church is true and about the power of the priesthood and why they felt the spirit when we talked to them the first time. It was really cool and I can honestly say that it was the most inspiring, united, spiritual, and uplifting third hour class that I have ever been to. Everybody talked, everybody bore testimony, everybody was uplifted by the experience. And I am pretty sure that Georgy might have gotten his answer there.  They were all talking to him after it finished and everybody wants to accompany us to visit him. It was incredible. I just wish that his parents had stayed for the third hour :( maybe next week.

We worked one day just knocking doors all day looking for people to teach in a neighborhood here.  We had had very little success and only a few people had kinda accepted us.  We were running out of time and said a prayer (and believe me when I say that we had already prayed like 5 times while working) and contacted the last person that we had time to contact. Her mom is a member, and she looks very willing to progress.  We go tomorrow with Perla to see how well it goes for us. I sure hope that she progresses.  It reminded me of Elder Uchtdorf's talk Fourth Floor, Last Door.  I hope that it worked for us as well.

We have a few other people that we have started teaching. Maria Isabel Accepted a baptismal date, and says she is going to read the Book of Mormon. She still hasn't read, but we hope that she can start to take more importance for the Book of Mormon and our message so that she can also start to progress a little more.,

It's a very exciting work, and I sure hope that the month of August is a great success and every month that follows. I love you all and thank you for your support. The Church is true and Christ does direct it personally.

Elder Brady Allred

We met President and Sister Robinson this week. He is very tall. She is very white.  But they are very funny and very excited.  They told us how they met, and got married, and a bunch of stuff about their family. They have like 26 grandkids that are all less than 12 or 13 years old.  They also told us a little about their MTC experience. They had all 15 Apostles for 3 days! and they had a sacrament meeting with the 15 as well. Imagine that! watch the Prophet, his counselors, and then the Quorum of the 12 all take the sacrament! pretty stinking cool.  I'll admit that I might be just a little jealous. They said that they only had one speaker. President Nelson. He talked about our fore-ordination to all serve in the mission together at the same time (that's what President Robinson and Sister Robinson told us).  It was pretty great to get to know them.

Georgina, Georgy and Kevin are doing well.  Georgy and Kevin are on track for the 28th. We found a hiccup with Georgina. She's not married and she has to get her voting card to be able to do that (Mexican ID system). It's going to take a while because the voting just finished. Within about a month or 2 she can work on getting another one.  They read the Book of Mormon and felt peace while they read it. That's good.  Eduardo, the husband, actually went to church yesterday.  I couldn't believe it. I guess continually inviting him worked, haha. We'll see if he wants to learn from us too. They seemed a little uncomfortable yesterday but I think that they liked it too.

BTW yesterday I heard a very interesting 15 minute talk about the temple garments in Sacrament Meeting. First time I take people to church in the new ward and they talk about our special clothing that "all of the members use".  And who knows what the investigators thought about that.  The other two talks were good about Baptisms for the dead and family history work, and then about temple marriage and the blessings of the temple.  All in all it was a pretty alright sacrament meeting.

We are also trying to work a bit more with Susan and Carmen. Carmen is a member that is in reactivation. and Susan wants to get baptized at some point. But we are just struggling with getting her confidence so that she can talk to us. She's almost 10 years old, but she might just be as shy as I was as a boy. We might just have to paint our faces or something. We'll see.  But the husband, Jesus, is going to change his work soon and then he will listen to us and go to church! yes!

We have a few other good people that we have found and we'll see if they progress. Many are contacted but few are baptized.  I'm still working on my charity :) that's a tough attribute sometimes.

This week we are going to move into another house. Finally.

I'm excited for these few weeks that I have left. I am really enjoying this area and the work in general. I just hope it never ends (even though I know that it will very soon) I am certainly taking advantage of every moment.

I know that this work is true and that the most important thing that we can learn to understand is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I learn so much about that blessed Sacrifice every single day and I know that God is teaching me in His own way, and so fast.   Everyday is just a flood of learning.  I love the Book of Mormon and know that it is very true.  God can and will help us overcome our weaknesses if we want to let Him.  I love this work.!!

I love you 

Elder Brady Allred

I'll just say that politics in Mexico are VERY different from American politics.  They still use pencil and paper to vote.  It was pretty crazy to see and it only increases my love for the US political processes and for our freedoms that we do have.  I think that the political party Morena won the presidency, that would make Lopez Obrador the president but I'm not sure.  He's supposedly going to change everything if he gets in. We'll see.

It's also very crazy that all government officials at all levels run for political office at the same time every six years.  I like the random but still predictable voting system that we use in the US much more.

This week we tried to use the priesthood more to bless people and their houses and to just help them in any way that we could.  It was incredible to see how exhausting it was to use the power of God.  It does seem to take some energy to be able to use the priesthood but we did see changes in the lives of the people we met and we know that they did feel peace.

We decided on Thursday to try contacting in a different way. We decided to present ourselves as Representatives of Jesus Christ and ask them to let us go in to share a message and leave a blessing on the home. We practiced in the morning and decided that we were going to put an appointment at 6 pm on Saturday.  We got everything ready.  So we go out to work after eating (Thursday we plan for the coming week all morning) and we start with a prayer. go and contact a house and the first people let us in, felt the spirit, accepted the appointment for Saturday.  Then guess what! They were actually there on Saturday when we went.  They told us about their lives a little bit. Georgy the 19 year old son said that he has been asking himself if there is a true church. the Mom, Georgina, is looking for how to help her children. Kevin the 10 year old is willing to follow his mom.  Eduardo the husband is a little bit more closed, but he's willing to let us go to his house.  If his family starts to change and to do everything that we invited them to do I'm sure he will follow.  We put a baptismal date after talking about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. July 28th. They accepted.  We even took a member to the lesson, and her testimony about receiving guidance from the Holy Ghost was like the cherry on top.  I'm pretty sure it was my most "by the book experience" that I've ever had and I feel certain that his family will progress and be baptized July 28th. I'm very excited about them!

Wednesday last week we had a reunion to say good bye to President Ramirez and his family. And tomorrow we are going to meet President Robinson. It's very exciting.  I'm pretty sure that we won't see too many changes in my short time.  But who knows. President Nelson changed everything as soon as he could (it was 100% by revelation not just his own ideas).

We are working a lot and we are almost into the new house, supposedly tomorrow we will be able to move in. Hopefully.  We are finally figuring out the ward for the food everyday, and we are going to start eating separate from the Sisters, which has it's pros and cons.  

We also had a very successful ward missionary activity. It was the first activity since the ward was reformed a month ago. It was very good and the unity is starting to grow in the ward. Hopefully the church attendance will also grow soon. We are the smallest ward in attendance in the stake right now even though the estimated attendance from the changes says that we should be the biggest.  We're working on it.  It's a very good ward and I think that it will be in the top 3 favorites.

I'm enjoying a lot my time here and loving being district leader, it's a lot calmer.  I'm doing alright with my shoulder, but the pain comes and goes.  Through the Atonement of Christ I can receive the help that I need to be able to continue. I felt that it was one of the themes yesterday in our testimony meetings.  The first few testimonies did make me feel the spirit, and then it kinda went away with all of the "thankomonies".  There were a few very powerful testimonies from a few ex missionaries that did make the difference. There are some very impressive people in this ward.

I love you all very much and hope you have a great week!  Thank you for all of your prayers, they do make such a difference.

Elder Brady Allred

This week was another week of miracles and a lot of great experiences.

On Friday we were starting to work and I stopped to contact a house.  The sister came out and when we started to contact her she invited us in.  Her name is Reina. She said that her son is a member and that he works for the church maintenance.  She has talked to the missionaries several times, but something tells me that this time was different.

We got to know her a bit, and it appears that she has been very hurt by the actions of others.  Her mom and dad, her siblings, and now most of her sons, ignore her, and don't invite her to participate.  It just so happened that she was home alone that day and it appears that she was reflecting on that when we got there. 

We told her that we were going to help her understand why we are the true church and how that affects here in being able to find the peace through us.  We proceeded to talk about the restoration.  The spirit was very strong,  We asked her what she felt.  She said that she felt like she didn't have any problems, and that everything is all right.  She said that it was just because she was able to say what she was feeling.

I asked, "Do you REALLY think that a 19 year old and a 20 year old can help you to feel that peace?" She said, "Yes." and so I told her no. We told her that it is the spirit testifying that it is the truth and that she can feel that because we have the authority to help her find peace, and that after baptism she can have that peace her whole life.  And she accepted a baptismal date for July 21st.  The spirit was very strong. And she prayed and is going to be looking for an answer the next few days.

We also found a house. I sent pictures.

The ward members are great here. We are still getting to know them and we are figuring out who lives on our side of the ward.

Sorry that the letter is kinda short.  Somebody was helping me figure out my problems.

We also found a family this week. We contacted them one day and they asked where the church was and told us that they had felt something that made them want to go. We went back another day (we weren't able to put an appointment the first time) and found them again.  They said that they wanted to go to church and that even though the husband Alfredo doesn't really like churches that he felt something and wants to go to figure out a little bit more about what he felt. He wasn't there the second time but his wife invited us to go yesterday to their house to talk to them.  They weren't able to go to church yesterday but we hope that next week they will be able to go. Julia and her son Alfredo accepted a baptismal date for July 28th as well.

Thank you all for your prayers and all of your support and fasting.  I am excited to stay 10 more weeks in the Lord's Vineyard and I am excited to see the miracles that He will work through us.

I love you and thank you for your help.

Elder Brady Allred

I think that I could easily say that this week was the best week of my mission!!!  We had so many miracles and great spiritual experiences, and I learned a lot.

So my district started out at 12 missionaries, or 6 companionships. That was the whole zone!!! so the whole week we had to make 5 phone calls every night to give good follow up to the missionaries.  Then we came up with a cool plan so that they could give follow up one to another. The companionship of sisters called the other sisters. and the two companionships of Elders talked, and then one of both the sisters and the elders would call us to give us the information from both companionships. It did make it a lot easier. And then they finally (on Saturday) decided to cut the district in half.  So now we are just 6 Missionaries.

Us, the sisters from Valle Verde 1 (that´s the other side of our ward), they are Sister Quispe (from Peru) and Sister Velez (from Michoacan, Mexico). They are both relatively new, but are helping us out quite a bit with the meals with the members, and in helping us know about all of the meetings in the church.  We also have the Elders from Miramar 1 (that's part of Del Valle  where I was mixed with a little bit more of Miramar). They are Elder Weintz (from Copper Hills, he is Nathan and Jarom's friend that was going to come to Tampico) and Elder McLean (a greenie from Canada, he is in for some heat).

We are excited to work with each of them and get to know them better.

We had a baptism in the ward on Saturday. Wednesday in the morning I did the baptismal interview and then they asked me to baptize Carmen Angelica.  It was a great experience.  It was a unique moment. I had a remarkable spiritual experience while baptizing her. honestly when she was in the water I did feel the Power of the Atonement flow through me into her and I felt it fill her until she was clean. It was a remarkable experience, and I know that it was the Power of Godliness in action (D&C 84:19-20)

We honestly have no active members on our side of the ward.  We asked for the member lists and the bishopric gave them to us on Wednesday. Thursday we were working and we decided to pull out the lists and see if there was anybody nearby. We found two families on the list and went to look for the one.  They are the only family of active members on our side of the ward!!!  You can call it luck, but it was God inspiring us and directing us without us realizing it. We are going to be working with that family quite a bit and we hope to live in the same neighborhood as they do.

We still don't have a house, but like I said we are looking at that neighborhood. It's a ton of buildings that are very new and the rent is very cheap. It's convenient and there are about 1300 departments there and a ton of families to contact. We hope that somebody will answer their phone soon so that we can look at and rent soon!

Our area book (all of the records in the area, ex-investigators, members, recent converts, and all that jazz)  is 5 pages, and then the member list.  2 recent converts (3 pages) and 1 investigator (Susan the daughter of a less active...she's 9) and half a page of future potential investigators.  Usually its about two-two inch binders of area book!! so we are starting off from scratch. hahaha.

That means that nobody in our area has ever really been taught by, and most of them have rarely seen missionaries in the area. It's a completely new area!!! We are just contacting a ton right now. 

It has been remarkable to see the spirit guiding us to talk to people. I have felt so many impressions this week to talk to certain people, and those people have almost always accepted.  We have gotten to the corner and turned around and gone back to talk to people that we felt impressed to contact and they accept us.  I felt like this week I was finally able to submit myself more to the Lord's will and just let him drive. On Saturday we found 6 people in less than half an hour. In 4 contacts!!  Friday we found 7 new investigators and I thought that was a record, then Saturday we found 9!!

Susan (the 9 year old daughter of the less active sister)  is very serious. In that it is impossible to get her to smile, and very difficult to help her want to talk.  We are going to be trying very dynamic lessons cuz the sisters said that it was the only way that they could get her to start opening up. We'll see what we can do.

Yesterday was a crazy and incredible experience. It was one of the weirdest but most incredible moments of God taking control of the situation.  We have church at 12 so we left the house at 11 (it took over 40 minutes to get there)  while in the bus I contacted the guy next to me and when I went to write down his address I realized that I didn't have my agenda.  That stunk.  So I did get the address written down on a little piece of paper that I had.  When we got off the bus I told my companion that I had forgotten my agenda. Guess what!  He did too. So we started thinking about what appointments we had and we remembered all 4, but we didn't remember the address of the 4th, Guillermo and Yamilet (one of the miraculous couples from Saturday, because we had contacted them in the street and they gave us their address to look for).  So church got out and we went to eat. We had to fix lunch with the sister before we could eat it. So at 6pm we set out to hit all of the appointments (5:00, 5:30, 6:00, and 6:30)  We found the first three houses very quickly and we changed one of the appointments because they were busy, the other one wasn't home and the third one wanted to give us the pamphlet back, but we persuaded her to keep it because she hadn't prayed to know if it was true. And we went looking for the 4th one.  We stopped to prayed after a small attempt to remember which street it was,and told God that if He wanted us to find them then He would have to show us a miracle. If not then we were there to do what He needed us to do. So we went wandering and we never found the house. We decided to talk to a less active sister that we had talked to the other day.  Well, we got there right after they got home and we met her husband. We decided to teach the restoration to him (he is catholic)  it was a very spiritual lesson and we did our best to help him see how the restoration helps him. We felt the spirit very strongly, but at the end he decided not to follow our message.  What I do know is that we were supposed to go with HIM!!  Maybe in a few years he will accept, or who knows, but we HAD to go there yesterday at that very hour, minutes after they had gotten home.

When we got home we had several messages, one of them was from Guillermo. He asked to move the appointment for another day, way before the time that we had had the appointment.  What I decided is that if we had had the agendas or the phone we never would have gone looking for the less active sister and we never would have taught Raul (her husband). Who knows why God wanted us to go there so bad, but I know that we did the right thing.

It has been a great week. I have been living the country song "Live Like you are Dying".  Really I am giving it my all every day for just in case I can´t keep going the next day.  I think I am going to stay for a while right now, at least the rest of this transfer I hope, and very likely the rest of the 11 weeks. But I will always have to do what God wants.  I will keep taking care of myself. Pray for my shoulders too.  I love you all and thank you all for your support. I am not suffering. I am really enjoying myself right now. This is the true joy that God had promised me in the blessings that I have received.  I will go and do the things which the Lord is commanding me for He will not give any commandments unto us His children unless it is for our good and He will always prepare the way.

I love you

Elder Brady Allred

Sorry but I don't have a ton of time today so it's going to be a short letter.

We had changes and I got changed to Valle Verde, Bosque (that's Green Valley Ward, in Forest Stake).  I am here with Elder Franc, (pronounced France...? who know's why.  I'll let you know next week) He has a little less than a year in the mission and I am excited to work with him, learn from him and teach him.  I am also District Leader now which is honestly a great relief from the fast paced and heavy work of zone leader. I have some sisters and some elders in my district but I have heard so many different names and areas about who they are that I will find out tomorrow.

We also had a "surprise" stake conference this week in Ampliacion (I say surprise cuz the cat got out of the bag a few months ago and everybody already knew).  They dissolved the stake.  And they also dissolved another stake in Altamira (that's just a little north of Tampico). So from 5 stakes they made 3. And from 32 wards and branches they made 17. So that´s why the changes were today and yesterday we were all figuring out what is going on with our areas, it's all just mixed up and it's a little rough.

Our area does not have a house yet and we have to find one, so pray and everything so that we can find a good house that is within the right limits for renting in our area. We have a house right now but it is way too far away from our area for convenience, so we are going to be looking hard (that reminds me we still don't even know how to get to our area from here, but we'll figure that out right now)

My back is doing just a little bit better. We started looking at my shoulder a little bit too because it turns out that I have tendinitis there. We are working on getting all of that better so that I will be able to keep going.  We'll see how I feel in a week or two. I feel confident that God will guide me to make the right decision.  I believe that I will feel better for next week and I will be taking good care of myself.  I also bought new shoes and a better implant for my shoe (professional and official grade and height) so that should help my back out a bit more.  I have been praying a lot and I am very thankful for your prayers. I know that God will put the right path before me and that I will make the right decision in the right moment so that God can do with me as He seeth fit. This is His work and He guides it, we are just instruments in His hands.

I love you and hope you can feel the peace and confidence I do feel in these moments (there are moments of discouragement, but I do overcome them). I love you and thank you all for your expressions of faith and love, and your counsels.

Elder Brady Allred

This week was a very interesting week this week. We worked a ton and found several people that seemed to be very interested.  We have tried a ton to put baptismal dates and to invite people to church. For one reason or another we have'´t been able to put baptismal dates with anybody, and nobody went to church yesterday!  We went running around for over an hour yesterday in the morning to find the people that said they were going to go to church, but they didn't want to, they stayed asleep, or who knows where they were.

I'm watching the devotional right now, and it is really great!!! I cant believe how great the idea of gathering Israel is.  It's very inspiring.

On Monday we were working until 8:50 and we were on our way home, and my companion stopped at a house to contact. I didn't even think that anybody lived there. It was the second floor of a business, and so I had never thought to talk there. But out came a young man of 23.  He said his name was Brandon, and since it was so loud on the main street he invited us in.  We met his wife, Yesenia, shared a small message and got to know them a bit and then put another appointment and finished with a prayer, and we got home right on time.  That was a sign to me that it was meant to be.  We talked to them the other day in the appointment and it was good. They actually had a lot of questions about the churches today and how to know which one is right.  We answered those questions and we gave them a Book of Mormon.  They have been reading a bit and it looks like they are enjoying it,  They couldn't go to church for Brandon's work and we hope that the next week they can.

My companion also found a new investigator called Karen the other day in divisions.  She needs a lot of help and we gave blessings to her children and we hope that they can get better from the illnesses so that they can lighten her burden a bit.  She has been really stressed and is just separating from her last couple.  She was going to go to church too but she disappeared yesterday.

Gonzalo and I found a new investigator, and old friend of Gonzalo, called Daniel (we were in splits)  He is very catholic but we talked well about why Joseph Smith and tried to take away his misconception of Polygamy (it's the hardest rumor to get rid of)  He like the message and he really doesn't like the Catholic church all that much, and less the other churches, but our message seemed to call his attention. We'll see how it goes on Friday when we go back with him.

Sandra and Ivan are doing alright. They have a lot of problems with money and we are trying to get them to go to the Self Reliance groups but they have been really busy. They are way too busy with work and trying to reconnect the electricity in their home. It's rough to be able to help them. They want to do the right things but they are struggling for the money. They could use some prayers.

This is His work and He directs it personally.  President Nelson is a Prophet (the devotional was incredible!  I just finished listening to it).  Follow all of His counsels and the Lord will bless you more than you can imagine.  This is the true church and God is working out His will for each of us.  I love you.

Elder Allred

First the travel plans that you are all waiting to get.  I turned in a paper this week that tells the mission where I am going to return to and all that jazz.September 3rd is official now.

So this week we had splits with the President's assistants, guess who I went with.  Elder Tyler Crum.  I must say that he has matured a ton in the mission. Still the same personality but a much different person than he was for all of those years that we have known him.  It was great to see and work with him for a day.  I'll send you the picture some other day when the computer wants to work with me.

Well this week we tried to find a ton of new people to teach.  It is sometimes very frustrating to talk to new people, cuz I just feel like they don't understand me. I don't get how they can understand all of the cliche christian empty wordiness, but then when we explain the stuff so simply and with the spirit, they just say "It's all the same." or "They teach that in my church too." or "I already accepted Christ in my heart."  We explain the Godhead and then they say, yep it's all the same person.  So we explain it again, and they still don't get us.  It is a very big test of patience, and diligence.

So to finish the letter I'd like to mention the miracles that we saw in Fernanda's and Vanessa's baptism.  It was Saturday and let me just say that there was no water in the whole city (Madero), nor in Tampico. So we were a little bit nervous about filling the baptismal font.  We went at about 4:45, and the baptism was at 6.  Well the water came out (the first miracle), but slow. So we started moving buckets from 2 other faucets.  So the font got just full enough so that the two little girls could squat down and be baptized and then the city ran out of water. It was about 2 and a half feet of water, maybe a little more.  So that is the first part.  During all of that we called the bishop to get a ride for Vanesa and Fernanda and their Grandma.  His car broke down. So we called Venancio a recent convert who has a car to go for them. He wasn't sure exactly how to get there but he was going to try.  Then Carlos (The girls´ brother) called to tell us that they had a ride with an aunt. so we cancelled with Venancio. Then the brother called again cuz the aunt's car broke down. And now we called Venancio again. And so he went to pick them up.  All of that happened in about 20 minutes. At the same time we were checking for white clothes that supposedly were the right size for Carlos, cuz he was going to baptize them.  What they hadn't told us was that the pants that we had gotten for Carlos were too small. And we didn't find that out until about 6:20 when he got there.  (the girls got there at about 6:10) so Elder Barragan and Elder Hoffman, the other Elders from the ward went and got Elder Barragan's pants cuz they should have been the right size.  (the closet in the church was closed that had clothes and only the Bishop who happened to be on the youth stake camp had the keys) so they got back and guess what.  The pants were still to small. So elder Barragan got to baptize the little girls.  And just so you know when I went to get a mop after the baptism to dry up the floor, that was when the water turned itself back on!!!  30 seconds after the baptism, while they were changing clothes. so the whole thing finally got going about 6:50 and it was over at 7:15 or 7:30. It was crazy but we pulled it off by the skin or our teeth. Thank you for all of your prayers, cuz without those we never would have been able to do it.

God loves to teach us lessons, but sometimes it hurts a lot to learn them.  Whether it is patience, diligence, charity, faith, humility (that is one of the most painful), or even virtue they are not easy lessons to learn. I've also come to realize that the more that I understand my agency the more I want to be better. sometimes when I study agency I finish feeling like everything is my fault, but when I study and learn about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, that is when I see that I have, can and will progress beyond what I can now see.  He opens the window to a greater today, and a brilliant tomorrow.  When we look unto him in every thought, then we can have peace.  We have to realize that alone we can do nothing, but with Christ and His loving, patient help, we can become more.  Come unto Christ and be perfected in Him, is one of my favorite invitations.  This life is not so much about just making choices, and then taking a tally of the good and bad things that we do. It's more of a measure of what we become.  Every choice makes us more like Christ, or less like Him, but through faith in Him and true, sincere repentance we can overcome our mistakes to become like Him.  He came down to be among us and be like us, so that we can go back to Him and our Father and live among them and be like them!  That is the good news of the gospel. 

Thank you for all of your help and support, it's great to have you all there helping me.  I'm trying not to count down too much.  I'm finally starting to figure out how to do missionary work, and it's still full of ups and downs.  Have a great week. I love you all

Love,

Elder Brady Allred

Well we went to the temple again. It was a great experience and really I found a lot of answers this time.  Last time I went without questions in mind and came out with nothing specific. This time I went with some questions and the Lord taught me in His house. It was a very incredible experience. I definitely don't know everything but I sure do learn a lot every time.  And it's great to know that the Lord does want to answer our questions when we go looking.

Really my experience in the temple helped me to understand the Atonement better.  I had some question about Nephi's vision and why they used some of the weird wording phrases there.  I have read it about 6 or 7 times in the last 2 weeks trying to understand it and then today I asked the Lord to explain it to me...and now I understand it.  Like Elder Holland said there are some of those marvelous moments when you feel the rush of revelation.  It all makes sense now.  I know that Christ came to help us go back. He came down to be like us so that we can return and be like Him.  It is such a beautiful doctrine and like Joseph Smith said it is the simplest doctrine that we have as a church.  Wouldn't that be the doctrine that we should all learn in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants?  Always focus on the doctrine of Christ, with the center in the Atonement!!!  I learned that today, and I will make sure to apply it.

We have decided to give everybody that we were teaching some time to decide. Nobody wants to get baptized very much, so we are going to take a step back and work with some other people a bit more, and we are only going to go with Blanca and Florencio every once in a while so that they can progress at their pace. It's kinda sad but in a few months they should be all ready to get baptized.  It's incredible that we fight so much for people to go to church and then some of the people that go to church don't want to get baptized.  There are a lot of steps on the path and we have to augment our faith to overcome the big steps on the path.  I guess that if it were easy everybody would do it.

So we have had to find some new people to teach.  We found Sandra and Ivan.  They are a very great couple and they have 3 kids.  Axel, Lia and Jesus.  One of their kids is old enough to get baptized as well.  They accepted an appointment the other day when we contacted them in their house. They are Catholic but inactive, and they say that they are always willing to listen to the other churches but yesterday when we went again they said that it is the first time that they've let someone in. They had some great questions about the plan of salvation and we are trying to answer all of their questions.  They are very sincere and we hope that they are going to progress quickly. Just another couple that has to get married :) but they seem to be willing to do it! We will see very soon.

We also have been talking to Rene. He is a man of about 35 years of age, but he is about 3.5 feet tall. He has a lot of problems with his mom and a lot of weird experiences in his past, we'll see how much we can help him, it's rough when they can't read. But he is definitely willing, so we are too!!!

Fernanda and Vanessa are ready for their baptism on Saturday. They already passed the interview and they are excited for the baptism.  It was really easy to help them get ready and they were definitely a gift from heaven. I am so grateful that we found them when we did.  It has been great to watch them progress.

We went to seminary again with Ivon!! Another great experience in Ether 12!!  I love the book of Ether.

We'll keep going. I'm excited to continue in this great work. It is without a doubt the work of the Lord. I love you all and hope you have a great week this week. Good luck on the last week of school. I love you all!!!

 

Elder Brady Allred