Monday, October 30, 2017

Week 63 Sennan: ハロウィンパーティー

hello,
ハピハロウィン!(happy halloween) this week haS flown by and we were able to have some great experiences along the way. This week we had the ward halloween paRty and man, it was a blast. we were able to get around 50 kids there with about 80 people in total. it was crazy. mE and elder wieland came decked out in our costumes dressed up as disco rollerskaters. we also had a piñata and we got to hold it! it was super inteNse! some of these little kids had some mad baseball skills and they weren't swinginG any toy stick, they had a think wooden rod That tHey were using to hit the piñata and it was our job to make hitting the piñata a challenge as we stood very clearly in their blood circle. it wasn't long before a kid took a good swing and missEd hitting me square iN the chest, and then another older kid reeled up and Smashed my companions hip. we are bOth okay and only came out with Minor contusions and small amounts of internal blEeding. we took it for the lord.

also this week we had another lessOn with fujita and murakami saN where we talked about the book of mormon. it was awesomE how as we testified and taught about the importance of the book of mormon, they started to have a desire to read it morE and more. and when fujita san said that it was hard to understand, murakami san came in and started acting like a member expressing to her that as we just read little by little our understanding with grow and we will be able to feel the power that comes from the book. it was awesome to see one of our inVestigators basically testify to the other one as we taught them both a lesson. they arE definitely progressing quickly and i know that as they begin Reading the book of mormon that theY will understand the truthfulness of this gospel and they will be more willing to follow christ and be baptized int his name. i love the book of mormon so much and i am so grateful that we are blesseD to have it so that we may come to more fully know christ and recognize his voice and know so much about how we can return to his presence and live happily with our families forever. i love this gospel so much and the peace it brings to my heart and mind. thank you all so much for supporting me while i Am out on my mission. i love You all and miss you tons!

愛しています!
elder allred


pictures and videos of the halloween party will come shortly…


Week 62 Sennan: 雨 雨、降れ 降れ

hey guys,
this week was incredibly rainy. it rained every day and then to finish off the week we had a super typhoon. it was epic. i have never seen so much water being dumped from the sky in my life. homes were being evacuated and safe houses were prepared all over town. it was super intense but we are all right. we actually confused a lot of people when we were knocking on their doors and inviting people to church and our english class. everyone was like, "just go home, don't you know there is a typhoon" we would just always say, "yeah, i know right, it is crazy" (as water is literally dumping on our heads) "... so, have you ever been to church before?..."

we were able to see some good things with our investigators too. we had a lesson with the family that we have been teaching and her christian friend and it went pretty good. we were really feeling the spirit really strong as we talked about how christ brings us so much hope in times of trouble. we asked them if they would follow christ and receive of his hope, and the mother said, "no, my family is buddhist i can't become christian." but then her friend came in and talked about how great christ is and encouraged her to keep praying and seeking for truth. it was awesome and then we offered them book of mormons (which they had previously declined) and this time they both accepted them and her christian friend was way excited about it telling us that she was definitely going to read it. we also finally got called by our investigator with a baptismal date shingo kun, after having not been able to contact him all week. he told us that now that his tests are over he will be able to start coming to church again and will start praying and reading the book of mormon. we are excited to meet with him this tuesday. then we also had a member bring a friend to church. we sat next to him and watched the ward primary program together. it was the most adorable, funny, and spiritually powerful thing i have ever seen as all the little kids testified and sang. the man was way touched and he wants to meet and learn more! i love primary programs and member missionary work! they are the absolute best!

well it was a great week and me and elder wieland survived the transfers this last week so we are together for another transfer here in sennan. it is the dream. i love all of you and hope that you have a great week!


elder allred


Ward service project!
One of the members drew me and Elder Wieland into Japanese comic book
characters.


Week 61 Sennan: Talent Dendo

hey everyone,
this week was great! we Started out the week with having one of our investigators named shingo kun accept a baptismal date! we are so excited to work with him in preparing for his daTe which is right now december 2nd. then we had A mission conference with one of the area 70 who came to talk to us and decide whether we were ready to start on-line proselyting. we passed! it seems like there is going to be a lot of changes in the mission coming up that will Really change the way we work quite a biT. but the message and the doctrine is still the same perfect gospel of Christ.

he talked to us Of the importance of using our talents to find people to teach aNd to strengthen members so me and elder wieland tried some new things. i brought my japanese flute and started offering to play
songs for people as we streeted and housed. elder wieland drew portraits for people in front of the train station. it was a lot of fun and turned out to be really effectiVe we found a guy named jesse who is from hawaii out herE for woRk. he had a great lesSon with him and he is now reAding the book of mormon and coming to church this
sunday. we have definiTely recognized the lord's hand in placing hIs elect sons and daughters in our path. Our only job is to open our mouth and talk to as many people as we caN each day. i know that there are prepared people out there who are Searching for this truth and need to know Who their savior Is. i love this opportunity That we have eacH day to go out and just talk to People about something i love and my savior jesus christ who i lovE with all my heart. i am sO grateful for this Privilege it is to serve. i Love you all so much. have a fantastic wEek.


elder allred
we had a family reunion the other day at the mission conference. 3
generations of missionaries. (wieland chōrō (my son/trainee), me, and
wheeler chōrō (my dad/trainer))
 Me and Wieland Choro at the Shinto Shrine
We spent P-Day with Shin Chan who is an Eikaiwa (English) student.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Week 60 Sennan: Coach Allred

もしもし、こちらは宣教師のオールレッド長老!
this week was incredible! so many crazy things happened, we had an amazing teaR filled lesson with onE of our investigators, i won a ping pong match, we saw some Aliens, we had a booth at a festival, all you can eat sushi, we got a job, and we watched general conference! we were Definitely blessed this week with some great experiences. The job part was especially funny. recently we have been trying to brainstorm different ways to find new people to teach since all of our Housing and streeting has yielded little to no results so far. so we went to the town gym to seE if maybe setting up a sports activity would be effective. we went and asked about the times and cost to rent Out the Basketball gym and the front desk guy suddenly asks us if we have any experience playing basketball. We tOld him yes and next he asKed us if we want a job. we told him that we are vOlunteers but can volunteer there if he needs help. he told us that they have been looking for coaches to teach junior high students how to play basketball at their saturday practices. he had us go up to the gym and try out the court. i miraculously drained a three after having not played basketball since the mtc and he was super impressed. he immediately told us that we had the job and that we would just need to come for an hour on saturdays for this month to help out. we told him that we would do it for Free and he was way happy. so now me and my coMpanion are vOluteering at the gym as basketball coaches. i Really hope that it turns into an opportunity to have Meaningful interactions with others and help them see the light of christ.

also this week we had a fantastic lesson with fujita san one of Our investigators. her little brother's baby passed away this last week and she has beeN really sad. we made her a letter and brought candy and have been trying to lift her up but she is pretty torn. we had an opportunity to teach her last week and felt to teach her the plan of salvation. as we got to the End of the lesson and testified that we will be able to see our loVed ones again, she started to question saying things like why is it so unfair that her little brother's baby will never havE a chance to live through life and choose Right or wrong? we opened up the book of mormon and shared with her moroni 8:10-12 which talks about infants that die before having the opportunitY to choose right or wrong will be saved in the kingdom of god. she started to cry as we read the scripture together and told us how she started to think that there was no god when the baby died, but now felt comforted reading this part from the book of mormon. we testified of the love of god and how we can be with our families again eternally in perfect joy and happiness. the spirit was really strong and we really felt what it means to be the lord's servants comforting his beloveD children and showing them the way home. i know that our father in heaven knows each and every one of us personally and has a plan for us. i know that though sometimes we can't see the big picture, our trials and challenges will be for our good and that if we just hold out faithful to the end we shall be "received into heaven, that thereby [we] may dwell with god in a state of never-ending happiness." (mosiah 2:41) i love this gospel and i am so grateful for the Amazing words of the prophets that we were able to hear this conference weekend. like always thank you so much for all of your love and support. i love you all so much. I hope that You have the week of weeks.

がんばりましょう!

elder allred
P-Day Activities

Conveyor Belt Sushi
Some "Aliens" we found in an abandoned bunker
Recreating an old picture


Elder Weiland was doing free sketches as away to meet people.  This was our sign.

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Week 59 Sennan: いいね

man what a week,
it was full of meetings and craziness But was definitely a good week. mE and wieland chōrō have been working hard, but are Still not able to find any new strong investigators. we have however been working with quite a few less actives who have recently started coming bAck to church. they are way cool and their testimony seems to be sparking back to life. one of them got up during fast sunday yesterday and bore aN amazing testimony about how he Couldn't go to sleep the other night because he was Thinking so much about whether the church is true. he prayed and had an incredible experience and has built so much faIth. i was so happy as he bore his testimony. his name is itsuku and he is such a great guy. it has been such a privilege teaching him and being apart oF his conversIon process. the other less active that we are working with loves music, so we started a music activity that he can come to and help out. he seems to really Enjoy it and has been coming to church every week lately. he is going to help us become professional opera singers so that when we come home we can wow all our family and friends. i'm pretty stokeD.

this week we also saw some cool miracles. one of them was while we were working in a place way out in the outskirts of our area. we were trying to vIsit some less actives that lived out there but no body was home. so as we were going place to place wieland chōrō  stops and says, "let's knock oN this house, there is a soccer ball in their front yard so i want to talk to them." we rang the intercom and a woman picked up. we introduced ourselves and she told us that she was busy. we quickly said some things about our Eikaiwa class and put our
flyers in her mailbox. then about 5 minutes later as we were still in that neighborhood a woman Comes running down the street towards us with the flyers in her hand. she ended up being way interested in english class and also possibly in learning about the gospel too. it was way cool that her House was the only one we knocked on as we traveled down that street, and i was so proud of my companion for following his soccer ball pRompting. it has been a great week and hopefully the next one is even better. we are still looking for new Investigators but i feel like we are going to start finding lots of prepared people real soon. i hope that you all have an excellent week and that conference was amazing! i am so excited to watch it next week! i'm getting butterflieS just thinking about iT!

皆さん 郅筏皮い蓼梗

elder allred

We went to Nara Temple on P-day
Looking for those less active
Trainer, Trainee, Training Meeting
Zone Conference


Week 58 Sennan: Principal Lamoni

this week was so fast!
it was full Of all sorts of miracles, hard rejections, and adventures. elder wieland and i found a family that we had an oPportunity to teach this last week, and it went so well. we taught about the importance of following christ and the mother was so into it. she said that the gospel life was exactly what she wanted for her kids and her family and felt like she wanted to find a way to pay it back to christ for doing what he did for us. we talked about how we pay it back to christ when we listen to his teachings, learn of him and then follow his path. the lEsson went way good and she even told us that she thinks that she want to become a mormon! they are pretty much the most golden family ever. we are so excited to work more with them and their awesome kids more in the future and help them follow christ be being baptized and keeping his commandmeNts.

also this week we decided to be a little more bold. so we went to the local high schools and set up appointments with the principles where we could offer volunteer work as well as our free english class as a
tutoring program for the school. as we sat in one of the principle's office it was so intense. this guY was like the typical stereotype scary high school principle who wOuld bring down his wrath on any disobedient student. we had changed into japanese style shoes so that we coUld walk on his ornate flooring and sit on his leather couches across a coffee table that had tea on it that was brought out by his assistant. it was like we weRe big business men sitting down to make a big corporate deal with the big Man himself. what made it even crazier is that i was talking to this guy in japanese, looking at that situation in retrospect i can't even believe that about a year ago i wasn't even able to fully say what my name is in japanese withOut messing up, and now here i am. it was like we were ammon standing before king lamoni offering to be his servants by teaching his people free english. i was so ready to make this school the best english speaking school in japan. and then when he asked where we are so that he can thank us for this great accomplishment we woUld be out in the  parking lot polishing his car. but alas, in then end he thanked us for our willingness to serve and told us that he would give us a call and leT us know whether or not they could use our Help. nothing too crazy ended up happening, but we definitely left those meetings feeling bolder and more willing and confident to talk to everyone and anyone
about who we are and who we represent. i know that when we open our mouths to share the gospel or to serve and strengthen others and invite them to come unto christ that he will be right there to back us up. i have felt his prescence so close since becoming a missionary, it is truly incredible. i am so happy to be a missionary and servant of god.

i love you all so much and hope you have a great week!
バイバイ!

elder allred

We had an interesting activity with one of the members and ended up looking like this...
We went to the Beach to play frisbee last P-day and it was beautiful!