Week 23 Tottori: Fast Offerings

hello everyone!

this week was crazy! first i must confess i had not paid fast

offeRings on my mission thus far due to how complicated it is in japan

and we just have been failing to get the branch president to help us.

but last monday we paid them! on the way to the post office to send

them in it was raining so hard and mighty thunderings did ring

throughout all the land, but we finished paying our fast offerings and

when we stepped out of the building yEa, the rains did stop and the

thunderings did cease and the sun did break forth out of the clouds

and did shed forth her warmth upon all the earth. and the beauty

thereof was exceedingly great. it was like a message from heaven that

we definitely have been needing to pay our fast offerings. i will for

sure from here on out. however later that day I realized that I had

left my iPad at the post office, and when we went back it was gone.

and i was freaked out because i had a lot of important things on it

that i hadn't backEd up yet.

but the Next day we went to a mission conference and i saw miracles

along the way. first was i got my ipad back! someone had returned it

to the post office after attempting to open it a quite a few Times and

got it disabled for a while. but i got it back so it's all good! at

the mission conference it was so awesome! elder whiting from the area

70 taught tons of great things about receiving revelation through the

spirit, and progressing towarDs becoming a better missionary. my

favorite thing that I learned from the devotional was that, we should

be progressing and making changes to be better all the time, as soon

as we stop progressing and becoming more like christ, satan wins. also

he tAught if you want to see miracles first you have to get out of the

boat. these things have been reaffirmed in my mInd time and time

again. the truly amazing thing about this gospel is that it is

centered on christ and us progressing each day to become more and more

like christ. he is truly, as the scriptures say, the way. it is only

through him that we make it back to our father in heaven, so let us

make steps down that path everyday. i love my savior with all of my

heart. so many times on my mission already i have been lifted up and

given more strength than i know would ever be possible without him. in

the language, in the rejection, and in my own feelings of

discouragement. he has rescued me time and time again and i am nothing

but indebted to him. i will declare his word and abide in his love. i

am so greatful for this unbelieveable opportunity to labor with the

Lord in his vineyard. because i've seen how much he loves his

children, and i am amazed beyond belief that he would trust me with

the gathering of his precious sheep. i love my mission, and i love all

of You for your support and love. i hope that your week is すばらしい！and

that each day we can make a step towards christ no matter where we are

on that path.

頑張りましょう！

アルレッド長老

It snowed in Totorri!

Angels

My smile is super crooked because half my face was numb.

Week 22 Tottori: Group Stuff

こんにちはみなさん！

i hope that youR first week of 2017 was a great one! mine sure was!

this wEek we did tons of finding trying to deepen our pool of

investigators. this included hours and hours of housing, stopping

everyone we Passed, and an hour and a half bike ridE deep into the

ceNter of the 田舎. but though it was definitely a trying effort to

press on we did it and we found some awesome new investigators. two of

which came to church which is more investigators this branch has seen

at church at once in a long Time! the members were losing their minds!

they were so good though as they went up for fast and testimony

meeting And bore their testimoNies for these people they had never

met. the spirit was so strong and our investigators Could definitely

feel it. their namEs were iwatake san and fujinawa san. they were so

cool and both saId that they would try to come next week so we are

just So excited!

also this week i learned that in the far reaches of tottori (that

Place that took an hour and a half to bike to) us white americans aRe

only a thing of ledgend. i swear, the people were looking at us like

we were a exOtic creature that was hopelessly lost in their little

village, but little do they know that they are actually the ones who

are lost and we were here to bring them back to the fold. at one point

a Group of seven or so kids saw us and started fReaking out, they ran

out into the strEet and jumped and yelled, "herro" and "hao aah you?"

i turned and waved back at them and they all started cheering! it was

hilariouS! half the time i was a monster the other half i was matt

damon. i love the inaka so much! we finally found our less active that

we went there to visit and he was Sick and couldn't walk. we testified

of the healing power of the atonement and that through faith he could

walk again. he told us that he wasn't worthy of faith and

unfortunately despite our attempts to explain to hIm that no one is

beyond the reach of the redeeming love of the savior he would not

change his mind. we gave him alma 32 to read as a commitment then made

the long jOurney home. it was an interesting week for sure. but look

forward to the many more that we will have this year in dedicated

service to our lord. i hope that you all have the bestest of weeks

this Next week. i love you all so much!

mata ne!

elder allred

My companion sat on a camel on p-day

We took senior pics down at the Inaka

Pose

Week 21 Tottori: I've Got a Goal to Set More Goals

明けましておめでとうございます！

i can't believe that it is already 2017! that is so nuts! the weeks are flying by, i can hardly keep up with what day it is. like really, me and my companion went to bed saturday nIght and then woke up and went to church in the morning and we didn't even realize that it was new years until the ward memBers started coming up to us and saying "happi nu yia" in broken english! but it was a great day to start off the new year indeed. we made pizza (or as clOse as japan can get to pizza) at a members house and taught a very powerful lesson about setting goals and the book of mormon. before the mission i hated setting goals. i felt like writing down goals just stressed me out and that i could just manage everything that i wanted to do in my head. bUt since coming out on a mission i have realized how truly valuable goals are. in pmg it says, "i am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set Goals in our life and learn how to master the tecHniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached buT a small part of our full potential. when one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life." man i wish that i would have understood how useful goals really are before my mission! i could've leArned so much more in school and aCcomplished so much more in my personal passions. set goaLs and love them! i know that as we set goals, especially goals of spirituAlity and of doing the work of christ, we will see impRovement and progression beyond what we thought was possIble. we will make a greater difference in the strength of the spirit in our own lives and we will become a much brighter example and tool in the hands of our lord. i love you all so very much and i hope that this year becomes the New best year of your livEs! leT us all press on in the work of the lord!

elder allred

here are the fun things that have happened this week!

Harvesting mushrooms for a less active member.

Dinner at the Ogawa's house

The largest POND in Japan

Week 20 Tottori: メリークリスマス！

merry christmas!!!

i love this time of year and i love this holiday! unfortunately Pretty

much nobody celebrates christmas in japan, it isn't even a holiday

really because everyone still has work. but that didn't stop us fRom

wishing everybody we saw a merry christmas and trying to give them the

present of their eternal salvation! christmas morning i really prAyed

to father in heaven that investigators would come to church, but when

church came around none of our investigators had shown up, but then

out of know where a guy we had never seen before came into the church

speaking english! we asked him where he was from and he told us

vietnam. he told us that his name was "ka" and that he was going to be

in japan for a year studYing mechanical engineering. he came to church

because his girlfriend is christian and told him that they Couldn't

get married until he becOmes christian too. so then he told us, "so i

want to be christian but I don't want to believe in god, i think

christ will be okay with that." yeah... we have a little bit of work

to do, but he is so willing to do aNything that we asked him to do so

i really think that he will come around and truly come to know thaT

christ is his savior and god is his heavenly father who loves and

cares for him. then after we taught him the fIrst lessoN he asked us

if it was alright if we could meet everyday to stUdy the gospel. he's

pretty much pure gold! so that was our christmas miracle. i truly am

so grateful for a savior and father in heaven that loves and cAres for

each and every one of us and who always hears our prayers, and who

blesses us at unexpected times and in unexpected ways so that we might

feel the pure joy of his gospel. christ was born and he lived and died

for us. and he Lives. and he gave us a gift that is bigger than we can

imagine, and aLthough we might not be able to return gifts to him like

gold, francensece, and mhurr (however those are spelled) we can give

him the gift of our broken hearts and contrite spirits being devoted

to follow him and to serve and love his sheep. because whenever we do

something for another one of god's children we are trulY doing that

thing for christ (matthew 25:40). i love you all so much! i hope that

your days are merry and bright and that all your christmases are

white.

elder allred

Merry Christmas!

This is the mountain of Goodies that the members gave us for Christmas

Then there is my おしい Christmas breakfast

We went caroling as a Zone and taught everyone who stopped to listen it was magical!

Week 19 Tottori: It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas!

konnichiwa minasan!

this week was senior week for me in my training, which essentially

means i get to pretend to be the senior companion for a week while

having a trainee's speaking ability. as you can imagine it was really

fun. but as hard as leading all of the planning, teaching, appointment

setting, and reporting things that we have going on is, the most

daunting task i had to accomplish this week was being in charge of the

phone. the phone is scary for two reasons. one, to text we have to use

kanJi (the complicated japanese characters that look like this 脱藩),

and two, people talk at inhuman speeds and it's impossible to fake

like you get what's gOing on on the phone. so mix all that with an

inexperienced trainee and instead of saying that my companion's bike

broke and he was so sad he cried, i accidentally told a member that mY

companion's bike broke and he was so sad that he died. and she was

like "what? is thaT why you answered the phone this week?" it was

rough.

but despite the uncoordinated planning meetings and awkward teaching

appOintments that happened this week we saw a huge miracle! this

saTurday we went with a bunch of our english class students and made

soba noodles. one of our english students brought his friend yuji with

him. we talked to yuji about churcH and he was really interested. he

told us that his hobby was studying the bible, and wE were like...

this guy is a staight 金人 (kinjin). we invited him to church and he

came yesterday! our ward members fellowshiped him so super well and we

taught him about the restoration. we asked him if he read a little and

prayed about the book of mormon and got an answer if he Would be

baptized. and he said, "of course!" we are so stoked! we found out

that he had been to church meetings before so he could pOssibly be

baptized this year! this is the miracle that we have been looking for.

i have felt the love of our savior so strong the last few days and

know that through him and his infinite atonement all things are

possible! i know that as soon as we accept that his woRk needs to be

done in his way and start completely relying on the spirit as our

guide and put full trust in him, then we will receive strength beyond

our own and miracles will flow into our Lives. he lives and supports

everyone who comes unto him and establishes their founDation upon his

rock. i love being a missionary and i love you all! i hope that you

all have the merriest of christmases and the happiest of new years!

メーリクリスマス！

愛しています！

アルレッド長老

Here is our Soba making experience!

All Done!

Week 18 Tottori: A Christmas Miracle!

hello my beloved family and friends,

this last week i saw a christmas miracle. it was our branch christmas party this last saturday and we were preparing most of the day. earlier in the day we were doing our weekly planning meeting. during that planning meeting we were trying to figure out who we could visit this coming week. we stumbled upon the record of a family of old investigators who were Just straight golden. we talked about visiting but realized that the family all only spake sign language. we talked to the branch president about them and he said that the member that used to translate the lessOns for the missionaries Had unfortunately gone less active. regardless, we decided that maybe we would try to visit them later this week if we could figure out where they lived. 

well the Night came and the christmas party sTarted. and the only people tHere was me and my companion and about 6 other members. i was pRetty bummed that no one showed up and during a vidEo that they were showing at the very bEginning i decided to say a prayer. i prayed that people would show up and that our christmaS party would be filled with the people that we had been invIting throughout the week. after my prayer and the video was over, makabe shimai, one of our investigators showed up! it was eXcelent! shortly after her, Two less active members came with their families. then one of our english class students showed up, then a couple people who we had never even met came walking in. then out of nowhere a huge family came walking into the church building, and i about passed out, it was the Entire family that we had been planning for earlier that day! there were eight of them or so and they all came to participate in our christmas activity. i was so amazed because we could not remember inviting them at all. i mean we had just learned that they even existed that morning! it was a christmas miracle. we struggled to communicate with them to much  because they were speaking sign language the whole time, but it turns out that one of our members spoke sign language and was able to communicatE with them! we got to know the family really well and are now planning on visiting them sometime this week. and i even learned out to say ありがとございます in japanese sign language! it was unbelievable! the church was packed and we had so much fun. the less active members were laughing and talking with members. one of our investigators found out that she works with another one of the members. and our english class student was asking all about christ! it was definitely a christmas miracle! christ is at the head of this work, i know that none of these miracles would have happened without his divine help. if we just rely on him he will work wonders amoNg us. i know that this church is true and that jesus christ lived and died for us 2000 years ago, and i know that he was ressurected and lives today and watches over his children and is immediately their for any one of his children if they but seek him. i love you all so much and i wish you all a very merry christmas!

i love christmas so much!

elder allred

Merry Christmas!

We busted out the Elder Santa costume!

Week 17 Tottori: Rain Rain

happy holidays! it is finally the christmas season and i am stoked out of my mInd! even here in japan people are puTting up treeS and there are lighTs going up all over the town. now i just need to let them know that witHout them rEalizing it they are celebrating the birth of jesus christ, then i can tell theM all about whO that is. this week was super rainy! and i learned very thoroughly that it is imposSible to keep your pants dry during a japanese rain. yesterday i wore 2 "water proof" pants over the Top of my slacks and evaded puddles on my bike like they were the plague and still when I got back to the apartment and got out of my rain gear, lo and behold the pants thereof were exceedingly wet. and Wet pants make for a sad missiOnary because i have to get those things dry cleaned, i can't just throw them in the wash! #missionaryproblems but amidst this dowNpour of struggles the lorD gavE me and my companion gReat light this last week. we Found a couple of people who really seem like they are going to be golden investigators. and also one of the less actives that we have been trying to get to church for the longest time, ogUra kyodai, finaLly came! i was so happy to see him aT sacrament meeting i almost faInted for fullness of joy. i love that guy so Much! also this wEek another bright light for us was the "light the world" christmas video. we have been sharing it with everyOne and it has made such a difference in the response to our contacts. it is unreal how strongly you can feel the spirit as you watch it. and also the videography skills on it are incredible. so iF you haven't seen it, it is Totally worth the time to go look it up on mormon.org. man i am so excited for cHristmas! i can't imagine a better thing to bE doing during the celebratorY season of the birth of christ than to be sharing the light of his everlasting love. he lived and died for us and we arE so blessed to have this knowledge in our lives, let's shAre it with the entire world! i love my savior jesus christ and i feel his love. i hope that you all feel it too this wonderful christmas season. you all Rock so much! love you all, elder allred

Happy Holidays!

Zone P-Day