sweating in the jungle. ew

1&2-- I just realized you couldn´t see batman in that picture. These ones are better.

Dearest people in my life. This week was a good one. We had 0 for all of our numbers this week. EVERY number haha. But, as I learned in my first transfer, as long as we are helping the other hermanas, it doesn´t matter what our numbers are. 

Quillabamba (key-uh-bomb-uh) was as hot as ever. I got to work with Hna. Ugarte, Irvine, and Rasmussen. It was so nice to speak english for a little bit. (i´m the only gringo in the house. 5 latinas) I love those girls so much, and I learned so much from them. The mission is hard, especially the first couple transfers, and I´m glad I got to be there to help. 

We also get to go to the doctor a lot for a girl that has bronchitis or soemthing. They still dont´know what it is, so we´ll be going more this week. We know that hospital way too well. 

I´ve been studying the bible like a mad woman lately. I started in Ephesians last  sunday, and I read all the way to the end of revelations. I skipped around a lot because it doesn´t really matter what order you read it in. I found so many scriptures for the work of salvation. Motivation for less actives, missionaries, families that have problems. I am learning a lot about how to respect people God has called. I have been having a really hard time with that, but God continues to teach me more every day. I love him for that. 

I love my mission, and I´m sorry I don´t tell you guys more stories. I feel like so much happens, and pday is always so rushed. SORRY. 

I´ll try to write a better email next week.

Love, Hermana Allred

1-- Hna Ugarte and I

2-- my lovely companion. I love her so much. 

3-- Hna. Irvine working out with a batman figurine as motivation.

1-- Hermana Rasmussen and I (the new one, not my MTC companion) they look alike, no?

2-- all the hermanas in Quillabamba branch

3-- my sweet companion and hna. Rasmussen

4-- the terminal in Quillabamba. this is how we roll on back to Cusco

1-- My sweetheart batman OBSESSED Hna. Irvine. We are in the same group (we both go home in October)

2-- Birthday dinner with Sister Morales at CHILI´S!!!

3-- Playin skip bo with my comp. We got stuck with 4 1´s for a good 10 mintues. Have I mentioned that I love her SO much?

4-- leftover NY steak and potatoes and skip bo. First steak in a year. I LOVE CUSCO

1-- Addict

2-- Del Rio and a bunch of other hermanas came to go to Machu Picchu, and Del Rio was telling one of her classic stories to everyone haha. I missed her lil mexican face. 

3-- Hna. Quezada´s cinderella shoes. haha. 

Pascua y semana Santa

well, this week was full of work. I loved every minute of it. I go home in exactly 6 months, and I was thinking... I need to make the most of it. I have 6 months left, and the rest of my life to think about what I did with it. Soooo I`m kicking myself into gear to have absolutely no regrets when I go home.

We had a record number of lessons this week, and we have 5 new investigators, who are ALL from part member families. We are working really well together, and we`re starting to get more involved with the members, not just less actives. We made a goal to know where every member lives, and so far, we`ve seen a lot of miracles come from it. references who are ready to be baptized already--- that never happens. Members are the key to success, so all you members, HELP THE MISSIONARIES. invite them to your house for a Family Night and invite a less active, or non member friend. Just get involved. we can`t do anything without the members. 

We didn`t have to leave our sector even once this week. MIRACLE. I did go on splits with my granddaughter (hermana nelson is training her... sooo she`s my granddaughter of the mission). She is so sweet, and has so much excitement for this work. It`s so fun to see the new missionaries work. They are so excited! I hope that doesn`t wear off. 

I am working harder than I have in a long time, which helps me stay distracted, and not get homesick. 

funny story:

we were thinking about moving to live with a member family, so we asked our landlord how long the contract is for, and he said 1 year, and seemed kinda startled. we decided we like having 3 hot showers and a big kitchen, so we`re not moving. but The next day, he ordered us 2 pizzas, and bought plants for the patio. Then asked us if everything was okay. He does not want us to leave haha. I mean, we are the best renters he`s ever going to have, haha. But seriously, he loves us. in a not weird way. 

Then someone tried to break into the apartment, so he had someone come change all the locks and reinforce them. I`m not scared because I don`t really have anything that he could steal that I care about that much. Just my scriptures and my pictures from the mission. I thought I`d use it as a teaching opportunity, so I put a sticky note on the landlord`s door that says "1 thesalonians 5:2.... GET READY!" (that`s the scripture that says The lord will come as a thief in the night.) haha. We just gave him a bible the other day, so I`m sure he`ll get a good laugh. 

ONE YEAR in the mission. can you believe that? I was in portland for 9 months, but that felt like an eternity. It`s going by so fast. 6 months left. can`t belive it. 

1-- we tracted in matching llama sweaters. 

2-- wall of pictures. I need more. 

3-- I forgot to take my 9 month picture, so here it is. 1 year... I`m WAY overdue haha. That is a frozen peruvian ding dong in my hand. 

4-- Easter morning, I accidentally knocked down a ceramic thing of Jesus and a sheep. all the hermanas in the house made dumb jokes about how he`ll be resurrected... nope. it`s a statue. It`s pretty broken. 

That one time I will NEVER eat cheese dip again

Last pday, I bought a jar of El Paso cheese dip, all the way from the UNITED states. it was expensive, but I wanted it, so I bought it. (i´m working on that character flaw).

I ate half of it, then put it in my food drawer, and left on a trip for 2 days. We worked in our sector for a day, ate in a few investigators houses. I wasn´t hungry, but when we got home, I remembered I still had cheese dip waiting in my lil drawer next to my endless supply of popcorn kernels. Opened that sucker up, and ate a few chips before going to bed. 

Happy as a clam, went to bed. 

Then, oh my word, my body woke me up 4 hours later, and spit that cheese dip right back out the way it came. I had no idea why. I was thinking "oh maybe it was that weird drink that guy gave us without a name, or the chicken-type thing from that lady..." I spent the next day throwing up my entire stomach, and feeling like dying. 

When I finally felt good enough to eat chips and cheese dip, you know what I did? I went to eat cheese dip. Opened that sucker up, and what did I see? MOLD! that´s what I saw. Do you know what is in cheese? milk. Do you know what goes bad really fast if you don´t put it in the fridge? MILK! I straight up ate moldy cheese on a chip. And I almost did it a second time. 

Of all the things that could make me sick in PERU, I got sick from expensive american cheese dip. I´m adding that to the list of things I can´t eat because I got sick once. Bananas, cheese dip. please... please don´t ever make me sick from steak, bacon, or nutella. It´s all I have left!

anyways, I´m pretty sure I could have talked about more missionary things in this letter, but my stomach still hates me and it´s all I can think about. 

I get to be in a trio with hna. Nelson today because her companion is going to lima for her papers. WHOOOOT! I love having her in my zone. 

Dad, I heard dust in the wind in a taxi and thought of you. It wasn´t the Kansas version, but I still smiled and remembered how much mom hated that song. WE ARE NOT DUST! haha. 

I love you all and am happy that there´s a YOU (every one of you)

Love love love, HErmana Allred

1-- Fountain on Av. del Sol

2-- same fountain

3-- Dad... this is how much pistascios cost here. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MONEY THAT IS??? I´ll eat them when I get home. 

4-- another night in the hospital. still beautiful.

1-- The pension´s house/hostal in Ollantaytambo, and some random lil cat that probably has fleas. 

2-- the view of the ruins from the patio

3-- spiderweb close up

1-- Awkward family photo on the coolest couches in peru. 

2-- another awkward selfie. I just liked the light, and my comp was busy in the background taking pictures of leaves and cats. 

3-- my hilarious mexican friend who also lived in Arizona and went to MOUNTAIN VIEW HIGH SCHOOL! the arizona one. 

1-- this one is for Isaac Pratte

2-- PERU. go ahead. frame it. 

3-- my poor comp stresed out hugging her stress book. She had to stay inside while I threw up cheese dip.

I will never be a nurse.

well, as you can obviously see in the pictures, I spent a lot of time in the hospital this week. Hna. Macahuachi is a missionary that was serving in Ecuador, but had to get surgery, so she came back home to get surgery and recover. We had to take care of her until she got released. She is now released (super hard for her), so we got to leave for a while to get stuff done. like shower.... and change our clothes haha.

We have been so busy taking care of her, that we had NO time to get anything done. literally none. We taught zero lessons, and were crutches for a number of days. (she´s too short to use the crutches from the office) I have learned so many valuable lessons of how to be a mom, and have real charity. One night she was sooo sick from the altitude. She called my name and just help my hand between hers and cried. It was 2 AM, but it didn´t matter. she said "don´t leave me" so i didn´t. I stayed there for 2 hours until she fell asleep. 

To any parent out there that has a severely handicapped child, a child with cancer or other types of diseases, or a spouse with the same problems, I truly 100% give my respect to you. It is hard. It´s hard to watch someone suffer and not be able to do anything. It´s hard to sleep in a hospital while nurses are running around poking people with needles (remember how EVERY time a needle comes close to me, I faint?). It´s hard to not have time to do anything for yourself. So to you parents who lovingly and selfishly take care of your family, thank you. You are stronger than you know. 

Luckily, my companion and Hna. Macahuachi got to watch conference in the hospital with the Assistant´s laptop while I escaped to watch it in English in the stake center. I don´t know why, but the first hour of the first session was switching inbetween Quechua, portuguese, and spanish. I didn´t get a lot out of that hour. It finally switched to English, and all the gringo missionaries cheered. I LOVE CONFERENCE. I heard so many things I needed. 

I don´t know why but when Elder... I forgot who it was... But he was talking about his wife and how she said "When I marry, it will be with a faithful return missionary." It hit me so hard. I WILL marry with a faithful return missionary. I will not settle for less. I understand when medical things get in the way of finishing, but there´s a big difference between choosing not to go/finish, and not being able to go/finish. I know what life can be like, and missions change boys into men and teach them so many valuable life skills. I know missions are not for everyone, but they are for me, and they are for the person I will marry. I love every single exhausting difficult moment of my mission. It has changed me. I am never going to go back to my old standards ever again. 

I love where I am. I am not going back. 

LOVE YOU ALL more than you know. 

Love, Hermana Allred

1-- Chopping off my awkward melt.

2-- surprise! it´s short now. 

3-- me, hna thompson (my daughter´s last companion), my daughter, and my daughter´s daughter. I am a grandma!!! haha. 

4-- Eating at PINKBERRY! (we have one of those now.) Nutella and coconut cone. I about died. 

1-- The baby section of the hospital. 

2-- Waiting with Hna. Macahuachi (I know... it´s almost impossible to even THINK her last name) to get surgery.

3-- our home for 4 days.

4-- the incredible view from our 7th floor "suite" 

1-- all ready to get her knee cut open.

2-- holy cusco. It is beautiful here. if you look closely, you can see cristo blanco. 

3-- our beds. better than the air mats we ususally sleep on. 

4-- the elders brought us breakfast. SO MUCH BREAD

1-- Norelly from Sicuani! The zone leader´s pension´s daughter. (did you follow me?) We loved her and she always came with us to visit people. We didn´t get to say goodbye to her either. We saw her walking out of the english conference classroom.

2-- take out for DAYS. 

3-- once again, Can´t get over the view

4-- Sacsayhuaman on the left, cristo blanco on the right.

5-- she got altitude sickness really bad, so they put her in an oxygen tube while she watched animal planet haha.