Prophets and Such

HIIIIIIIIIIII

My wife got a lot hotter again this week. I kid you not it rained for 5 days straight. And not Utah rain... Brazil Rain. Real rain. Good thing ive been praying for more patience and i managed to keep a smile on my face. Mostly. It was an awesome week. Honestly besides my baptism falling, and my comp flooding our apt, the worst part of my week was when i say that Jimmer passed Tav on the all time 3 pointers list... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! TAV!!!

I spent a good part of that morning mourning. It including some crying, a small ceremony, and a burnt offering. Rest in peace Tav. We´ll (I´ll) miss you.

Like i said ive been praying for patience recently. Also that i can just worry about me. Ive learned its not important what your comp or what Adam Lewis is doing in Chile, all that matters is what Alex Allred is doing in Passo Fundo. This is helping me. Im just worrying about working my BUTT off through the hard times, and trying to keep a smile on while i feel myself grow. As Dad put it, the mission is a gut check.

I had an awesome experience Saturday... I was fasting. (with my comp eating in front of me all day) and it was raining... hard. Until our english class at 4 not a single appointment had held up... We had walked.. a lot. But i kept a good attitude, and i kept going. After english, we went to Felipe. I have been super worried about him, for some time. (lots of reasons) But we showed up there and started talking. About 15 minutes of chat i got a feeling that i needed to cut it of and share a message. I started talking about my reading in Apocalipse (Revelation, i LOVE Revelation, finished it with my guide. Wow.) And a phrase that repeatedly comes up, THOSE THAT OVERCOME, and then, with a different promise attached each time. I bore testimony of this, and then receieved the strongest prompting to ask how he was doing with Cigarro. (smoking) I already knew the answer. I knew it the minute we said the beginning prayer. He´s struggling with a few things... but we were able to have a good chat, and he promised me he would speak with Bishop. Discernment... is real.

We then began to walk back, in ridiculous rain. And my comp likes to lose his umbrella, so we shared mine. And got soaked. After our next apt fell through, and the next, my comp wanted to go home. Now. As we were walking back I knew i was not going to be able to sleep that night if we got home at 730 with stuff still to do... I stopped, and told him it wasnt happening. We began to walk, and i began to pray that something good would happen and my comp wouldnt be pissed at me. Something good happened. We went to a house i had written off after the 6th time trying to reach them. We taught a first lesson that didnt feel like they got it... Until the end, when we talked about the holy ghost, and he shared that not long ago two rapazes (youths) walked into the hospital, and gave his sick wife a blesing. He described to us the feeling of peace he felt after, that everything would work out. I smiled a little. The Lord blesses perserverance.

Last night was another good one. We had TWO family nights!! The first was with Diesa and Sonya and gang. It was great. Diesa at the end, asked me for a blessing. Some idiot used his priesthood authority and said some very naughty things to her (i fear for his soul...) and basically, she was a little shooken up. I didnt know what to say... but wow. For the first time giving a blesing i REALLY felt like they were not my words.. But i finished, and she simply said, flawless. I know it was exaclty what she needed. Haha as custom the rest of the family decided hey i want a blessing too! So... i ended up giving one to each person. People are really using up my p-hood energy poitns... (i am such a nerd) But then we had to book it over to the Henz´s to have one with them and my baptism this week-Liana. Unfortunately Nize could not come, her pops shut us down. Wont let her get baptzied. Liana is quetsionable as well. We will be doing some parent talking this week... Not my favorite activity. But i pray all will go well cause they are excited and ready!! The FN was good though and we ate cake and pepsi after that! My personal favorites...

Im good. Im happy. I got a LITTLE frustrated yesterday cleaning up an inch of water in our apt after my comp left the sink spout (we hand wash clothes here...) going.... and flooded our apt... but other than that i was mostly smiles. The work is progressing here, slowly but surely. And i am continually glad to be in this city/ward that I love. I am SO stoked for General Conference, and then our mission conference in April with Elder Christofferson!! Apostle! POW!

I LOVE ALL OF YOU MORE THAN HOT TOMALES AND DR. PEPPER! THE CHURCH IS TRUE!

Hello

Hellooooo

English is literally becoming difficult to speak. I have gone from an almost entirely American zone to the opposite. It´s good though its really improving my Portuguese. Today has been a bit of a weird day, and it isn´t helping me that the person on my left is looking at pornography, and the person on my right is my comp skyping with his girlfriend... Needless to say my eyes are getting good practice at staring straight ahead.

This week I went on my 5th division to Erechim... Haha God really doesn´t want me and Harker to separate. That being said we did so to get our baptismal interview done. I was very glad to hear after a long day (we literally walked probably 2 hours, Erechim is huge, to find a house that we never found, and got incredibly lost... Harker is a dummy. So then after chastising him i began to clap doors to ask if there was a bus that could take us back to centro... It was getting very late. Frustrating.) but yeah I was glad to get the call and hear that the interview went great everything is set and she chose me to baptize her!! But... as us missionaries know nothing EVER goes right the first time of a baptism.. as was the case as we waited and waited for two hours at the church, but Rose never showed up. Oh how i am learning patience...

But there were some good things that happened in the week... (I am realizing I am a very pessimistic person, thanks pops) One of those things was a lesson we had with Michael. We had a conference with President last week where we talked about the importance of planning. I took what he said to heart, and realized that with Michael we had gotten lazy. We´d already taught him everything, so were just going there, chatting it up, and sharing a short message. Expecting him to have the change of heart we were hoping for. But after this, we sat down, and we planned a lesson. We planned to talk about 3 nephi 27. I walked out after busting with the spirit. Telling my comp how awesome that was, and how the time just seemed to fly. We taught with the spirit, we asked questions, we were prepared. And because of this, the lesson went awesome. They in turn had lots of questions, they felt the spirit, and because of this we made progress. Unfortunately he did not come to church (again) but i´m excited to go back. We also had an awesome lesson with Dirceu, Sonya, and Diesa. Where we talked about Lehi´s dream, and i highlighted when it wasn´t sufficient for only him to eat the fruit. He wanted his whole family to eat too! Everyone laughed and Dirceu tried not to smile. After, he left, and we stayed a little talking and drinking chimarrão. I love chimarrão.

Two things in my study this week. I want to tell you about I think my favorite talk ever, that i read at least once a week. "What have you done with my name?" By Mervyn B. Arnold. Wyatt, that is your next family home evening lesson. It talks about obedience and why we have the rules that we have. I use it in my teaching all the time and I can´t read it enough. I´m so proud to carry two names on my plaque- the name of my father and the name of my Savior. The other thing i loved this week is the book of JAMES! Especially James 2... I don't know about others but i get EXHAUSTED reading the Bible listening to crap about Faith... Great, faith... what else? FINALLY someone comes in and lays down the law!! These idiot evangelics are completely ignoring the Book of James every time they tell me that their Faith is sufficient. I love James. And Mervyn B. Arnold.

I spent a lot of time in the hospital this week... My good friend Douglas was checked in there after he about killed himself with Weed and Alcohol. I want to help this kid so bad... He´s not a progressing investigator, but I am the only person in this city that can help him change his life.. Its a little bit of a difficult decision. Because counseling is not what i was ordained to do. But speaking of, this hospital has about 50 big bloody crosses of Jesus in there... And it drives me INSANE. I hate crosses, so bad. Too bad they are everywhere here... Oh well, i have a funny story from my other hospital visits. So this lady asked us if we could come in a blessing, so we were like sure. Only problem.. We finish the blessing, and the lady next to her says I want a blessing too! So i look at my comp and were like well we cant refuse a blessing... So we give her one too! No more than 5 seconds after we had a room of probably 12 ladies shrieking Me next! Me next! I have a lot of faith in the church!! Hahaha.. So long story short we ended up giving about 10 blessings... And then got taken upstairs to give one more. Frankly it was a little bit ridiculous, and I don´t like giving blessings to people that dont understand the meaning... But it makes for a funny story. And now if i ever have financial problems i have a new job.... Blessings! Who wants blessings?? 10 bucks a blessing!!

Other good news of the week are the two girls we picked up from Dani... Pretty much they rock, one of them (Liana) accepted a baptismal date last night, (April 2nd) and we are going to invite the other very soon. I love members that help. What I dont love is the fact that public restrooms dont exist here... I was trying to explain to my comp yesterday that in the U.S. if your about to die, you just run into the nearest convenience store or market... and use it. It was a unfathomable concept to him. I´m learning more and more how different our cultures are. Our latest debate topic is whether the two kiss on the cheek thing is weird... The answer is yes.

I love you all. GO BYU. Go Obama. I love warring with crazy Lybians... Not.



--

Elder Alex Allred
Terra de Gaúcho Tchê

Caixa Postal 13008

91010-971 Porto Alegre-RS

Brasil

Hello People

Hiiii.

I won´t lie. I am tired. I needed a P day. Not so much physically, all though that too... We spent all day Sunday walked back and forth in the hottest day of the year, didnt get into a single door. Real difficult. But i think more mentally, im starting to feel a lot of weight on my shoulders. There is just so much more for me to do, to plan, and to teach. Its been a challenge, but i know that it is through these experiences that make us stronger. And i am grateful for everything that my mission has given me. we had some good success this week. (2 baptisms) but also a lot of frustrationg. One thing i hate is when people prevent other people from being baptized. People that want to. And we currently have 4 people with this problem.

I was a little nervous all yesterday... Why? Because of the Big Italian dude you can see in my picture. His wife and little daughter want to be baptized. But he comes from a long line of Italian Catholics and has a heart as hard as Korhihor. So pretty much all week we have been planning a baptismal invite with him, and i came up with the idea to show a clip that i have. It is of a girl that gets convinced to do drugs, then drink, then cut, finally gets a gun to kill herself, but then sees that savior, and starts to run. But those same people stop her, push her down, hit her, but she keeps trying, and finally reaches the hand of the savior. We bore strong testimony that baptism is how we can reach the hand of the savior, and the best environment for his two daughters is in the church. He still wont allow them to be baptized, but we had a good chat with the mom after he left and I wont give up on them.

In good news for mommy i slimmed down... A lot. I know because 4 different people asked me if i had lost weight this week. That´s how long ive been in this area.... But not sure if you can tell my face is a LOT thinner. So thats good. Not so good is my new LZ. We are feuding a little bit... Maybe its my pride but when someone comes into MY area, and then wants to do things THEIR way, i get a little frustrated. Not a big deal, but we´ve got some chatting to do this week. Other than that i dont have a whole lot to say.. Im tired, which means im working my butt off. We´re starting to see blessings though, we found 2 really good new investigators that came to church this week. We taught them both yesterday and re sheduled for Friday. If they prayed i want to mark a date with both of them.

I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. I know that families can one day return to his presense and be together forever. Im so grateful for this. i love my family. My portugese is getting a lot better, and im learning how to work harder. Pray for me, and Japanese people.


--

Elder Alex Allred
Terra de Gaúcho Tchê

Caixa Postal 13008

91010-971 Porto Alegre-RS

Brasil

*Sorry I missed Al's Letter Last Week*

E Aí Pessoal. Beleza?

I am here with the Lynnster for the last time. Yes we finally did manage to separate. He will take off to Porto Alegre early tomorrow morning along with pretty much the rest of our zone. I am happy to still be here, where as I observed this week we have the most CREATIVE homeless people in the world.. My personal favorites- The guy that twirls a baton on fire in front of a red light. The guy that stands in the middle of a busy rode and pretends to direct cars into spots they were already going to, and then asks for ten bucks. And always our friend we always pass on our way home that watches the cars for the people playing soccer. What would this beautiful city do without these guys...

It was a good week. I have been studying a lot about the Abrahamic Covenant this week, and I was does this mean to people from other churches?? It would be empty.. I love the things that complete the gospel in our church. The things that make sense, and truly provide us with the PLENITUDE of the Gospel. I´m so glad to be a part of this Priesthood, and so glad Colin was able to join the club as well. Welcome my brother. Grateful for my Temple President grandparents that literally do not have a lost sheep in the fold. That´s incredible. I have yet to see a complete family here. Congrats Nana, you raised incredible Children. Children that married ex missionaries in the temple, who taught their kids right.

Another thing I am grateful for is Wealth. No its not wrong to say, I passed the `ghettos` for the first time this week. Not sure if I´ve ever told but here you will see not see a dumpster here without someone digging through it. The ghettos are where all these people live, and when i say they live in trash im speaking literally. It is heart breaking. I can´t help but to think what chance do these kids have... I was given every opportunity to succeed.

Also not sure if i´ve talked about Iracema. She is 68 and talks more than Bishop Hawkes. Only unlike Bishop Hawkes she will flat out interrupt you.. again, and again, and again. But she is a very nice lady and we were glad to baptize her this weekend. The interview took to hours to complete (it was complete chaos) and she interrupted the Bishop at least 10 times as he gave his talk at her baptism but we got it done!! Hallelujah!

I had my first snake incident this week... And it was not fun. Her name is Camille, and she is a solid 9.5... I will tell Adam/Britten a little bit more about it and just say this. Girls are wily temptresses from Satan and I don´t like them. Just my mom.

To end i will tell you about a big problem we are having. Here in Brasil people REALLY like to find faults in other people... And unfortunately wards here can be very weak. I have probably talked to 20 people this week that have gone completely inactive because of a person that they dont like. Bishops are so essential, but unfortunately lots of them like to get excommunicated here. We are now starting a huge program to try to get people to do home teaching. Every day i talk to someone that tells me no one visits them, and it doesnt matter if they go to church cause no one cares or talks to them. I want to tell them to grow up, but its kind of true. There are 3 GIANT families here that dominate the ward, and if your not in one of them, your pretty much just ignored. Its been a real patience builder to say the least...

So yeah, Home teaching is important. But anyways, that was my week. I love you all. I hope you all are enjoying life and remembering the things that are most important. This church is true, we have a living prophet. Happy Birthday Colin, and Grandpa Rex. I thought of both of you yesterday.

--

Elder Alex Allred

Caixa Postal 13008

91010-971 Porto Alegre-RS

Brasil

Hello

Hi people. Still here in Passo Fundo.

Sooo it was the first week without Lynn. I'm not going to lie i was starting to get pretty annoyed with Lynn, but i am already missing that guy. Life without him is VERY different. My new comp´s name is Elder W. Silva, and I am killing him. For you people that have never served a mission that means he is on his last transfer. This is not fun... He is cool, he has a strong testimony, he´s just not one of those go-get-it missionaries. This has made me grow up REALLY FAST. I am now the one talking on the cell phone, planning our day, dragging him around, and unfortunately, doing all the teaching. Yesterday was a little better and today i think i will say something like hey, i cant be the only one talking... But honestly life is good still. Marchetti is still here, which is a huge help, i like my companion and am not sick of the area (yet) and the work continues to press forward. A little bit slower... but it continues.

In some sad news I would like to report that i have single-handedly witnessed the destruction of the Gilmar and Selete family. It has been so interesting (in a sad way) to watch people who catch a glimmer of the gospel, and improve, and then lose it, and fall apart. I spent Saturday night trying to divide fight between every member of the family. Including a very ugly scene where Vitoria told her dad if you hit me you´ll be sorry... Which only made him madder. It makes me so sad, they are so miserable. We taught about King Benjamin begging his people to keep the commandments, with the PROMISE that if they do they will prosper in every aspect, spiritually and materially. That family needs the gospel so desperately, unfortunately drugs, alcohol, and screaming at each other fills up too much of their time. Keep them in your prayers.

This week has been the week of CARNAVÁL. Yikes. If you want to see iniquity come to Brasil in the beginning of March. It is disgusting, and i am in a place right now where Carnavál is very weak. But here in Brasil they do a thing called Accompamento. Where all of the youth basically go on a camping trip thingy. From what the Brasilians here say it can be very powerful and a testimony builder. So we spent a lot of the week trying to get some of our youthful investigators to go. We got three of them! So that was good, but missed on our main target. A 14 year old named Barbara, who told us she wanted to be baptized, but now is trying to avoid us at all costs. I know her dad is very anti-mormon... Go figure. her grandmother hates me with a passion, cause we tried to visit her 3 nights in a row. On the last she spent a good 5 minutes yelling at me. I think I´ll go back again tonight, just to pay Grandma a visit... good times.

Speaking of grandma´s... here they like to yell at their grandchildren. If i haven´t voice it before, I like my grandma. A lot. And she looks like she´s 50.

Lastly, My Sunday...was a little annoying, So like half the ward was at this Accompamento right? And pretty much.. No one planned ANYTHING. So i was already a little bugged when were 20 minutes late and still hadn't started, but then when we finally did start.. No one had a lesson. So I let the Elders quorum Pres fidget for about 5 minutes before It got really uncomfortable, and then finally offered to teach. I felt a little bad, cause i was in a bad mood.. and i burned some people a little. No one was participating, and I was a little harsh. It didn't help my frustration when they asked me to teach Gospel Principles next, or when they said they didn't have anything ready for the sacrament, and if I could take care of that... Needless to say I walked out of church that day slightly annoyed. But its all good cause i´m on the Lord´s time not mine. Good thing.

Mostly I love this gospel. A mission is easily the hardest thing I´ve ever done but I feel myself growing each and every day. I love my family and friends so very much, and I want to thank anyone who is reading this right now cause you probably made a real impact in my life. Peace people.
--

Elder Alex Allred
Terra de Gaúcho Tchê

Caixa Postal 13008

91010-971 Porto Alegre-RS

Brasil