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Well, I lost my agenda this week, so I don´t really know what to write haha. I always forget what happens during the week. You could say I was a little depressed when it happened... it has all the numbers of our investigators and appointments and stuff. Luckily I made sure Hna. Nelson wrote down all the appointments we made during the week. little miracles.

I spent most of my time making a dropbox account today, so this letter will be super short. IT WILL BE WORTH IT. next week I´m going to try to download a video or two. GET READY. your mind is about to be blown. haha. just kidding. but you can see a little bit of what my life is like here in action.

We are working really hard as a companionship to REACTIVATE this ward. All of them. well, maybe just a fair percentage of them haha. We have to teach them all the missionary lessons, they have to come to church twice, and they have to have an interview with the bishop. We are so close with a lot of the members, and we are finding less actives every day. God leads us to people who haven´t been to church in over 20 years, and they barely even remember they are members haha. One of my friends who is serving in chile said a while ago about this problem we have down here in south america: apparently there was a time in Chile where they baptized a million people, and now there are a million less actives. So guess who gets to reactivate them all. WE DO. And it´s incredible. Saving a soul that has already been baptized is the same as helping someone get baptized. 

people always have weird excuses for not going to church here. this week had a few gems

1-- "it´s raining" yeah.. it is. you´ve lived here your whole life, and all of a sudden rain is going to kill you on the block walk to the chapel? nope. braid your hair, and let´s go.

2-- "i´m president of my potatoe club and we have meetings on sundays" yeah... um.. I really don´t have an answer to that. 

3-- "I have to wash clothes" uggghhh... so many inactives would be saved if they had a washing machine. 

4-- "I have to go plant seeds en el campo" once again, UGHHH. Come to church for just one hour, then plant your seeds if you really can´t do it another day. I want to shove Dia De Reposo down their throats, but i refrain. I just love them and encourage them to come to church so they can go to heaven. haha. 

Brittany Trost and Elder Iman-- I GOT YOUR LETTERS thank you thank you. I´ll write you back in my next giant envelope of letters I send home. 

Everyone-- enjoy halloween for me! I have ward council that night and I´m a missionary, so um... I´ll just be filling out paperwork and maybe I´ll eat a little candy. They celebrate it here by going to the cemetary or something... I don´t like the sound of it. Cemetaries freak me out.

Well, my time is up. I LOVE YOU ALL. be good. go to church. eat a hamburger.

Love, Hermana Allred

1-- rainy season from our roof

2-- view from the bishop´s house. they put Wiky´s (their 4 year old son) bike on the roof cuz he was being disobedient. he´s pretty mad.

3-- RAINY day. Elder lehman gave me his giant rain jacket cuz it was POURING and i didn´t think it was going to rain that day. big mistake

4-- ward sicuani missionaries in the rain

1-- sister harbertson (mission president´s wife). the president was in interviews

2-- we´re trying to get really on top of the area book, and that means we plan until about 10:15 every night... it´s a little exhausting, and not my favorite, but it´s going to help the next hermanas so much.

3-- karen being a diva

4-- banana hands

I am in love with my mission

Can we just take a second to recognize how awesome God is? not going to lie, my first 3 transfers were REALLY hard. Not that the work was hard, it was just that my companion and I did not get along hardly at ALL and we had to work SO hard every day to just be able to be in the same room. Somehow we were still able to teach and get thing done, but wow... now that I have my soul mate companion, I realize how ineffective we were that whole time. 120 days,.... not that I was counting.

I love my companion so much sometimes I just want to cry. She is so incredibly great. She pushes me to improve, work out, remember to pray in every moment, love everyone, not waste time with people who don´t listen to our message, and AHHHH! I love her. I got past a very long test of patience, and now I have her... I am so incredibly grateful. I could go on forever, but I´ll save that for my journal haha. 

We started teaching a guy named Rodolfo. He´s the baker at my favorite bakery. GUESS WHAT! I told him I went to culinary school, and he said he wants us to come bake with him every once and a while. um... okay! I´m so down. his family is so cute. he has two little girls, and he is the nicest person I´ve ever met. Also, he makes bread, so that helps a little haha. (mom, dad, and sisters... you all know how obsessed I am with bread.) He´s going to teach me how to make peruvian paneton (I think it´s fruitcake. not sure they eat it at christmas)

My comp said the other day during personal study that she was really excited to die.. haha. I just busted up and said "me too". I really am not scared of it at all. As long as i have a current temple recommend, I´m good to go. 

I gave up my English Scriptures this week cuz i hit my 6 month mark. whooot!!! I´m buying myself a cake today to celebrate and letting the elders have some too. I can´t eat a whole cake. I´m learning spanish so much faster. I know way more than I thought I did. I just used to always revert to english cuz it´s easier. NOPE! I can read in spanish!!!! 

We finally got a new shower with HOT water. IT´s a miracle. instead of 5 mintue dreaded showers, we take our time. about 20 mintues each. 

I ran for the first time since the MTC today... that´s all I´m going to say about that. It´s a lot harder when there are rabid dogs chasing you. or easier... not sure.

I MISS THE TEMPLE SO MUCH! Do not take it for granted. It is the most incredible place on earth, because it is not even of the earth. ITS HEAVEN! please everyone go a lot for me. 

I have been having nightmares a lot lately that I give up and go home... every time I wake up crying. there is nothing else I would rather be doing right now. I am so sad I only have a year left (exactly one year from today). WHAT the heck am I supposed to do in the real world where I´m not supposed to share the gospel with everyone I walk past? i´m going to be so awkward when I get home. 

Well, I love you all. BE GOOD! Go to the temple. Eat a hamburger for me. i want one... and cafe rio.

love, Hermana Allred

1-- my lovely companion

2-- karen (the pensionista´s daughter) and I after her parade.

3-- sister training leaders came to go on splits with us

4-- Our pensionista (Margarita) and her daughter

1-- My best friend and I under the watertower on the roof

2-- Peruvian tradition. "queremos que muerda la torta!" cake in the face.

3-- Karen´s Birthday party

1-- spider we found in our room. it bites according to Margarita. i killed it so fast. 

2-- aftermath

3-- The two best friends that anyone could have

Saben que? PUEDO HACER TODOS LAS COSAS CON DIOS! :) Inbox x

I forgot to tell you all how AMAZING CONFERENCE WAS! I even got to listen in english. I only got to watch with video the sunday sessions. But at least I understood everything!

So training has been a million times better than I thought. My sweet trainee Hermana Nelson is such a hard worker. SUCH a huge change from my last companionship. (I promised myself I wouldn´t expound on that... let´s just say 3 transfers is a LONG time with someone you don´t get along with) I feel so much more effective as a teacher and a missionary with her. She tries so hard to speak the language and participates ALWAYS. I am so blessed. This is the first companionship of two Gringas in a very very long time. and I think we´re the first Gringas EVER to train. It´s really hard sometimes because I don´t understand the culture and Hna. Inga would always have to explain things, but I understand almost everything now and I can teach all the lessons with confidence. I truly feel like God has blessed me and prepared me for this. She is teaching me WAY more than I am teaching her. We are so similar. Things we have in common.

1-- our parents are divorced

2-- we play violin

3-- we kind of play piano, but not really

4-- we worked at athletic stores in utah (she´s from Arizona, but went to BYU for 3 years). She worked at 26.5 and I worked at Park´s. WE talk aobut 3.5 all the time haha (rick, jennie, you know what I´m talking about)

5-- We like hiking

6-- welike all the same music, and she was smart enough to actually bring music haha. I dropped the ball on that one. 

7-- We hate onions and mystery peruvian meat, and love Mate and mangos. BEST FRIENDS INSTANTLY haha. 

This companionship was seriously put together by God. I am so much happier now than I ever was in my first 3 transfers. WE GET ALONG! and Hna. Flor had some guys redo the bathroom, and it´s beautiful and clean now. So life is good. 

A lot of new investigators and less actives are popping up and I have a feeling our hard work this transfer will give us a LOT of success between now and January 1st (I´m most likely getting transferred then) 

I have started studying the scriptures at the bottom of the hymns and WHOOSH. I LOVE Abide with me tis eventide. IT gives the song so much more meaning if you read the scriptures that go along with it. The story of Emmaus road really impacts me. That Jesus can be RIGHT THERE, but they didn´t recognize him until he was gone. IT´s like the gospel. IT´s RIGHT THERE, but so many people just don´t see it for what it is. THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST!!! Do you guys understand what I am saying to you? Jesus Christ literally RUNS his church through his prophets. If that didn´t pierce your soul and make you want to sing HALLELUJAH through the streets, read it again and think about it until you feel that way. 

Can I just tell all of you my testimony real quick? of course I can. It´s my email haha.

I know without a doubt that God listens to our prayers. I know if we do all we can to work our hardest in our missions God will give us the EXACT words in the EXACT moment we need them. I have a firm testimony of families. I KNOW that there is more after this life, and depending our works in this life, we can be together forever. I have such a good feeling aobut my future. I don´t worry even a little bit about what is in store for me, because I know no matter what, IF I AM FAITHFUL, I will be able to make it through whatever life throws at me. 

I love every single one of you. I am so happy in this work. I LOVE THE SCRIPTURES. I love prayer. I love my mission president. KEEP ON TRUCKIN´. 

Love, Hermana Allred

1-- we REALLY like Mate but dont´like drinking it in the kitchen. so we bring all it upstairs, and end up having a huge stash of mugs on the table. our Pensionista always yells at us.

2-- my favorite pants with fur inside. I sleep warm. only about $5

3-- cerrillo family. We are reactivating them all :) They are so sweet. 

1-- Miriam Barrientos (less active) and ANOTHER little lamb. It pooped on me...

2-- Karin (the pensionista´s daughter) and I in a motokar

3-- Hna. Rasmussen and I. FIRST TIME seeing each other in 4 months. She is now companions with my trainer. 

4-- My mission mom (trainer), My MTC companion, Me, and my mission Daughter Hermana Nelson

1-- Jose Corrales with his cats

2-- SIX MONTHS on the 24th. Isn´t that nuts? also, I have a "daughter" (mission daughter haha)

3-- The pit of despair I almost fall into every time we teach this family. Also, RIGHT AFTER this picture, this lamb pooped on my lap. 

ohhhh funny joke. wait.. you´re serious?

Ohkay so I don´t have much time, cuz I have been writing the president and reading emails, buuutttt I do have news.

Sunday as I was getting ready to leave for conference, the mission president called. I thought it was our zone leader, but nope. ahhh.. He said "I have a question for you. well, more of I´m letting you know something. I am calling you to train a new missionary this transfer" 

I instantly started crying because I feel so inadequate. I´m terrified, but I am praying and fasting that somehow I will be able to do it. We go to Cuzco on Wednesday for a training and we´ll meet our new companions. 

I´m staying in Sicuani to train until at least December 30th, so I´m going to REALLY get to know Sicuani. I´ve been here a little over 3 months, and by december 30th it´ll be 6 months... that´s a third of my mission. It´s going to be sooo hard to leave this area. I love the people so much and just want to stay with them forever to keep them in their path. But if I work hard to make sure they KNOW HOW to endure, I don´t have to worry. 

Maria Cruz said something so powerful in our Family Night on Sunday. "In conference I learned that when we make a decision, we need to stick to it. I am going to endure to the end, with the support of the missionaries and the ward. I can´t wait for my family to be sealed so we can be together forever." 

Yeah I cried. I am so in love with this family. I GET TO SPEND CHRISTMAS WITH THEM!!! and thanksgiving... oh wait. we don´t have that. I think the Gringos are going to get together to celebrate though haha. It´s gunna be great. I miss american food. and holidays. It´s fine. I´m not trunky! I love peru.

As for all of you, I LOVE YOU ALL! 

(these are all out of order. sorry.)

picture 1 this is how the gringos watched conference. Window´s media player. NOT the same

picture 2 Teaching English with Elder Lehman. I really don´t actually like teaching english. like... at all. It stresses me out.

picture 3 zone jersey. I have 3 so far. ALL from SIcuani haha. They´re only like 5 bucks here.

picture 4 zone jersey.

1-- david and goliath (E. Lehman and Luis Cruz)

2-- Surprising the Bishop at his house on his birthday

3-- same as 3

4-- Bishop´s daughter, Hna. Inga, Bishop´s sister, and Me