Week 37 Marugame: よし！

よし！

hello everyone,

it has been yet another week as a fulL time servant of the lOrd. this week was definitely a fun one which started with an intense game of monopoly last pday with jheff and my companion. the business deals

were way intense and the logical falicies were flying left and right but in the end after a 3 hour game of enterprise, eVen though I had a major business agrEement fall through wiTh my companion which led to

him merging companies with jHeff and combining against me, i landed the big break when They both landed on my $1100 Hotel. and the industry victory was mine! but feelings were pretty hard and i'm not going to lie pride was a little bit of an issue for me as i prOved to everyone that i was the monopoly master, so it might be a good idea if we don't play that again. hahaha.

this week we also went to a filipino feast! it was way crazy but so fUn! there was just a big table with tons of pork and rice and shriMp and squid and fish and lots of othEr things that I didn't know what

they were and we prayed and then just very literally dug in. no forks no knifes no noThing, by means of bare Hands and fingers we shovelEd that food right into our mouths and it was Nuts! the food was way delicious but there were a couple of Filipinas who were totally trying to hit on us the whole timE and it was way awkward bEcause of coure our only resonse to attempts of flirting is with how much we love being a missionary where our only focus is the gospel and how much we love christ. but it was way gooD because we ended up before leaving giving everybody there pass along cards and inviting them to learn More. there are so manY filipinos here in marugame that i bet that we could get a filipino branch started here if we focused it right. well the work is progressing and my love of god and my Savior is only increasing. i can't express how much i love this gospel. it explodes within me as we teacH and serve. sacrifice yourself for god. love one another. and rEad the book of mormon and pray daily. the church is true! let's sharE it with the world! i love you all so much! i hope your week is stuPendous.

elder allred

We Actually Finished a Game of Monopoly

Our Filipino Feast

We made burgers again. We did it right this time!

Week 36 Marugame: Sakura! 🌸

my beloved friends and family,

this week was suPer nuts! we it was definitely all over the place, but

the foR sure highlight of the week was that our Investigator jesus

accepted the commItment to be baptized!!! it was way awesome! we have

been having the coolest experiences learning with him as we have gone

through the discussions and we have found some of the coolest things

and felt some of the strongest spiritual coNfirmations as we have

shared sCriptures with him from the book of mormon. it has been so

cool he will say something or ask a question and time and time again

the perfect scripture to share will come to our mind sometimes even

before we really know if the scripture rEally relates and every time

without fail it has been the perfect passage to answer his question or

ease his concern. it has been amazing seeing the spirit truly teach

through us as we have taught him. but this week during our lesson we

asked him straight up if he believes that the book of mormon is the

word of god. and he thought about it for a minute and finally answered

with a smile on his face saying that he feels like he truly does

believe. so then after taking him through the domino effect of faith

in the book of mormon he told us that he believes that joseph smith

was a prOphet and that this is truly christ's restored church on the

earth. and so we arrived at the epitome of the moment that every

missionary prays for every day to have with an investigator, so with

the spirit exploding within us we looked him in the eye and invited

him to follow christ and be baptized. i am so excited for him i can't

even explain i can't wait for his baptism. it was truly an incredible

experience. me and elder anderson pretty much Floated home. it is so

good, man i love this gospel so much!

also this sunday, like we couldn't be Proud of our investigator jesus

enough, he brought a friend to church! we got to teach him the

restoration with jesus and it just turned into an awesome experience

where we were teaching and jesus' friend, katsuhiro san, was asking

questions and jheff was testifying, and jesus was expounding and

relating the doctrine to him and it was just this sweet lesson of

awesomeness. in the end katsuhiro san seemed dEcently interested in

learning more and promised us that he would come back to church

another week. it was definitely an incredible easter sunday and I am

so grateful that because of our savior jesus christ we have hope for a

world At the right hand of God crowned with righteousness and

blessings and happiness from on high, and we have power to overcome

every trial and temptation that could ever be put in our path. and my

heart is full of joy because he lived, died, and lives again so that

we too Can live again and receive eternal happiness and life. i know

that my redeemer lives! i hope that all of you had or are now having

an amazing Easter sabbath. i love you all and hope that you have the

week to end all weeks.

この福音が大すきです！

アルレッド長老

The Church is True!!

Happy Easter!

Sakura

That sign says "Stop, you are not permitted to drive your car here"

Week 35 Marugame: ごちそうさまでした

こんにちは皆さん！

general conference wAs most definitely a feast! i have never been so

empowered and uplifted by a general conference in these my many years

as a Creature on this earth. and what made it even better is that we

were able to have our investigator jesus chaparro come to all 10 hours

of general Conference! it was insanE! i think that my first time I sat

through all 10 hours of general conference was in the mtc. and here he

is as an investigator Powering through to the end like a champion! he

didn't even fall asleep once! i am so proud of him words can't even

describe! we talked with him afterwards and discussed how he felt

during it all and he talked about feeling Tingling in his heart and

all over several times throughout the conference and also that it was

cool how sometimes he would have talks touch him in ways where he

would learn things that weren't even the things that were technically

being said at the time. why is he not baptized!? i am literally so

amazed by Him. we are planning to really help him accept the call to

baptism at our next appoIntment which will be this wednesday. i am so

excited! he has truly taught me what it means to teach by the Spirit.

i can't even tell you how many times we have been teaching him and

scriptures will pop into me and my companion's mind and we will go to

them before we are even sure if they relate to what we are teaching,

and then it is the very exact thing that he needed to hear, or it is

the perfect answer to a question that he had just had. this gospel is

so real and the spirit is So powerful that it is unbelieveable.

actually it is not unbelieveable it is 100% believeable and that is

what we are trying to show each and every person that we teach. this

gospel is perfect and it is orgAnized and directed by a perfect being

even jesus christ. and the book of mormon is so true, and the prophet

joseph smith was so divinely Chosen, and the savior jesus christ and

his teachings aRe so amazing that it makes this gospel unImaginably

believeable. and i am grateful with all of my heart for the blessing

and miracle that it has been in my life to have the knowledge and

testimony that i do of this restored gospel of my savior jesus christ.

i love him with all oF my heart and desIre above all else to serve and

follow him. i know that he lives and that this path is the only path

to everlasting joy and happiness. the Church is true. i am so grateful

for all of you and love and miss you all so much.

have a great Easter week!

elder allred

Raising the Title of Liberty on my Etch-A-Sketch

Hanging out with Jeff

There are some pretty giant slides in Japan

This is how I am eating all of my toast from here on out

Week 34 Marugame: The Gospel Rocks!

my family, my friends, お元気ですか？

this last week was full of all sorts of fun stuff! we Have been

meeting with that investigator which i talked abOut last time and she

is doing way good. she has been pretty much glowing with the spirit

the last couple times that we have taught her. and something really

awesome that she said the other day was that she was sad because she

feels like she is at a spiritual standstill and she can't figure out

why. we talked to her about how that is because she has arrived at the

Next step in her prOgression which is baptism. she is totally wanting

to be baptized but she is just struggling to overcome smoking. but

each time we meet with her her desire to follow the savior increases

and her problems with facing her addiction decreases. it is incRedible

the change and the pattern that follows that true and lasting

conversion. as we learn more and more about The lord jesus christ and

our faith in Him increases little by little, the temptations of the

adversarY have lesser and lesser power over us and we are empowered

and strengthened more and more by the infinite power of christ's

atonement. and it is all because of that principle of where your

Foundation is built. it is helaman 5:12 and i think it is that verse

that explains the powerful And lasting change that takes place in a

person who is Truly converted to the gospel of christ. and it makes

perfect sense because if you go back one verse before that we see that

as we focus more on christ and as we trust more in christ we are

actually leaving our sins beHind and starting a new lifE founded on

chRist and built upon christ.

the gospel is so cool and i love it so much! like no joke, every

morning while we Are studying the book of mormon i aNnoy my companion

probably so much because the whole time we are studying i am just

finding so many things that i haD never realized before thaT i am

constantly wHooping and wowing and blowing mY mind with hidden

symbolism and deeper meanings to stories and scriptures that i have

read so many times in my life. i truly love the book of Mormon. im not

going to lie before my mission i would say it more as a jOke, but now

i can honestly say that the book of mormon is my favorite book. i feel

a power as i read it that is indescribable. the impact that my morning

study of that book has on the rest of my day is profound. as a

missionary I would use the word exhort and say That I would exhort all

of you if you are not already doing so to make time each day to

prayerfully study that inspired book. it is the word of god and i can

promise you that the effect that doing so will Have on your life will

fill your life and soul with immeasurable amounts of joy. they may not

be immediate but i promise that they will come. and that is a

missionary promise. so go and do and watch as the lord does wonders in

your life Even as i have seen done in mine. i love you all so much!

and i hope foR the best of weeks for all of y'all!

また来週！

elder allred

Scripture Power

sweet sweet 日本🇯🇵

Boy Band Album Cover

Our First Gig

Week 33 Marugame: Marugame Miracles

what a week!

this week was so awesome! it was packed full of miracles and tender

mercies of the lord. the one i want to talk about though is the one

that happened with our proGressing investigator fujiwara shimai. so

two weeks ago she sent us a text in the middle of the night that just

said '助けて' which means 'help me' ever since then we have had very

little contact with her but we had just been sending her tOns of texts

of encouragement with scriptures attached to them. every once in a

while she would text back and just say that she was alright she just

needed time to overcome what she was facing, so we just kept sending

love and support and scriptures. she hadn't been able to come to

church for a while and we were getting really worrieD. but yesterday

it all came together. all day we had been fasting for her and her

safety physically as well as spiritually. our evening sacrament

meeting was starting and she still hadn't shown up. we were feeling

pretty down, but we got started with the meeting. the meeting had just

started when fujiwara shimai walked in. she sat down and was greeted

very warmly by our ward mission leader. as i watched her as the

meeting got going i saw a feeling of relief and peace on her face and

i also saw her wiping away tears. i was overcome with joy and started

to tear up myself. i was so happy to see her bacK in the church

building feeling the spirit. we finished the sacrameNt meeting and

then went and talked with her. we told her how happy we were to see

her. she then told us what had happened these last couple weeks. so

two weeks ago she was at work and her bOss gave her all of the day's

till to keep safe until they could deposit it. she said she can't

fully remember how but somehow she lost all of the money which was

about $1,100 she was so scared to tell her boss what happened and when

she finally did, her boss yelled at her and told her that she was

going senile and that it was because she was meeting with the mormons

and she basically just made her feel Worthless. she started to get so

overwhelmed and so stressed that she tried to open her mouth and speak

and no words would come out. she had gone completely mute. that is

when she texted us saying 助けて she said that she prayed and prayed for

help with her job and with her voice. the next day she decided to go

to the slots praying so that She could get the money back for her

boss. she started with almost nothing and ended up winning half of

what she lost. from there she went to the boat races and won the other

Half of what she owed there. she said that she knew that she wasn't

supposed to be gambling but that she felt like god was helping her.

she went back to her boss with all of the money that she had won and

paid back the money that was lost. but afterwards she still couldn't

speak. she trIed going to the doctor's but it was really hard for her

to explain what was going on because she had to write it all down. she

prayed so hard for just some form of comfort in all of these trials,

and then that same day she received a letter in the mail. it was from

a famous racer that she had written a while back who had been really

busy but decided to write her back. it was amazing! and then after 3

days of not being able to speak she slipped out of her bed in a weird

way that had never happened before and when she hit the ground she

said 'いたい！' which is like 'ouch!' She was so shocked to hear her own

voice again, and she suddenly started to receive back her voice. she

knew that her prayers had been answered. she told us that the whole

time all of these crazy trials were happening she was desperately

searching to receive words of encouragement, but she didn't find it

with her family, or her friends, or her coworkers, or even from

herself. but she said that the only words that came to her and

comforted her when she needed it were the words of the Scriptures that

we had been sending her. we then gave her a picture of christ with a

note and a scripture written on the back of it and she took it and

read it and just cried. she thanked us so much through the tears and

we told her how much we care about Her. we all cried. we planned to

start meeting again for lessons and we were all just overflowing with

joy. wow what a miracle. i know that god is conscious of each and

Every one of us. and that he knows us by name. i know that when we are

going through hard times in our lives that as soon as we turn to him

and allow him into our lives and trust him, then we will see miracles

as his loving hands shape us out of our trials into the Everlasting

joy of his love. i love my god and savior so very much. the amount of

gratitude that i have towards my heavenly father for the blessing that

it is that i have the knowledge of this gospel in my life is beyond

what words can describe. i know he lives. thank you all for your love

and support and i hoPe that you all have an amazing week.

愛しています！

アルレッド長老

We journeyed unto the mountains to pray

my boy fuumiya kun graduated

We participated in an a cappella choir and breathed spiritual fire in lyrical 

form