This is the last one.

I`m only a week away from seeing you wonderful people. I had a giant letter written out to send today, but I left it on my desk, so Ì`ll try to remember it all. 

I have spent a lot of time this week thinking back on my mission. It was hard. It`s still hard. I struggle every day with my weaknesses. But when I read old journal entries, I recognize the change that has happened in me. I am not the same person I was, and I don`t plan on ever going back. 

In August 2012 I decided to change my life. I worked hard to get a temple recommend, and in October 2012 when the age change came, my answer was clear. I had to serve the Lord for 18 months to pay back all the huge mistakes I made. I felt like Alma the Younger after his conversion when he KNEW he had to share what he felt with the Lamanites. I put in my papers, and December 5th 2012, my call arrived, but I had to wait to open it because I was in Hawaii (que triste haha). 

"Sister Allred. You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Peru Cusco Mission"

I cried. I knew it was where I needed to be. I prepared, stressed about clothes, and in April I was off. The MTC was one of my favorite memories. I felt the spirit so strongly every day, and learned how to act on the impressions I recieved. I made friends I will never forget about, and I really solidified my testimony.

I won`t bore you with all my experiences on the mission, that`s why I have a blog. But I can say now more than ever, I needed my mission. I don`t know if any of the people I pushed along the path of conversion will stay there. I don`t know if I even made that much of a difference statistically, but that doesn`t matter, because I loved the crap out of the people I served. I love them all SO much and I want to see them in heaven, so I need to live my life in a way that I will end up there when I die. I cannot go home and think my job is done. I will keep paying back the Lord until the day I die (and even then I`ll keep working haha). 

I know that missions are not for everyone, but it was for me. I never once have regretted my decision to serve. Being here has been the greatest blessing, and now coming home and seeing my family and friends again will be the rain at the end of a very very long drought. 

There`s a song on my USB about before, during, and the end of the mission. the last verse says:

"The hardest thing I`ve ever loved to do, is getting on this plane and coming home to you. In a million ways completely torn apart as a land so far away still owns my heart. in the most sincere prayer I`ve ever prayed, i thanked my God for each and every day, for the blessing of the (wo)man I`ve come to be, as I walk up and kiss my momma`s cheek."

I never ever thought this day would come, but it`s here, and I am so full. So happy, yet sad to leave. I have a week left to give everything I have, and I fully plan on doing so.

I will see you all very soon. 

Love, Hermana Allred

It´s been a good life

The quote I am living by from now on is "what if Jesus had slacked the last two weeks of his life?" I have been trying my absolute hardest to give everything I have to my mission. I was thinking back on all the experiences I´ve had, and my mission has been absolutely incredible. No one else has served MY mission. And I will never serve it again, so I have to give it everything.

I am so happy here. It´s hard to think that anything after this will compare. 

sorry there´s not many pictures. I didn´t really think about it haha.

love, Hermana Allred

oh yeah. I didn´t get to watch conference this week cuz it´s elections here in Peru. We have to wait until Saturday and Sunday. 

1-- last time getting money out for the month haha. It only looks like a lot cuz it´s 20s and 10s... it´s mostly rent and food money. 

2-- this lil dragonfly looked dead. it would not move. so I took a picture

3-- 3 bugs all in a row. 

One wonder down, 6 to go

1-- I didn`t know what to do with my arms. 

2-- ´Murica. thanks Elder Bentson for providing the flag

3-- our whole group

Oh darling family and friends. I do believe I live in the greatest mission in the world. I HAVE MACHU PICCHU IN MY MISSION! and they let us go there before we go home. It was hands down the most amazing thing I`ve ever seen. Obviously... it`s a wonder of the world. pictures don`t do it justice, and words can`t describe it. I`m so exhausted and can`t remember what even happened this week, but just know I`m working harder than ever and I`m trying to make every last second count.

I`ve learned so much this week. First, God loves me so much. Dieter F. Uchdorf is an inspired man of God, and when I watched the Women`s conference on a little computer screen in the Stake Presidency`s office, I cried. I felt God`s love for me. UNCONDITIONAL love that just keeps coming no matter how often I close him off. 

And that is why I am here. I feel the love God has for every person I teach the minute I walk into their homes. Even the ones that treat us like trash. I see them for what they could be, not what they are in that moment. 

I feel the importance of temples more than ever this week. Luckily I will get to go to lots of temples very soon. I cannot wait. This past year and a half has turned me into more of the person God wants me to be. Nothing and NO ONE will ever make me doubt my testimony. 

I know for certain that God lives. Jesus lives. Joseph Smith was the means of bringing Christ`s church back to this earth. The priesthood is REAL and it changes everything. Without it, we have nothing.

I am so grateful for every moment of my mission. For every one of you. For my dear mission president. 

Thank you thank you thank you

Hermana Allred

1-- Hna. Wahlen and I escaped from the group to meditate for a minute. Not joking.

2-- sorry so many pictures are of the back of my head. I like the view better than my face. 

3-- there`s a rock that supposedly has "special energies". bull. I felt nothing. 

1-- Hna. Wahlen is a dancer too. We get each other.

2-- we had to sneak to a quiet part of the mountain to take this picture. apparently jumping isn`t allowed at Machu Picchu. oops.

3-- and another

4-- we are the 2 best friends that anyone could meet. 

1-- The sisters of our group. AKA the best group to ever go to MAchu Picchu

2-- STank facin it when my Zone Leader tries to ruin my pictures.

3-- lazy llama on the lawn

2-- We were trying to make a video of me in my obnoxious accent that comes from various different accents, but it was accidentally a picture. One day you`ll see the video.

3-- ridin` the train

4-- in the lil pueblo of Machu Picchu. A 20 minute bus ride away from the ruins

lamelo

Well, once again, I´m still applying for college, soooo not a lot to say.

I´m doing really really well. I´m so happy. funny things that happened this week:

1-- a little girl was talking to her little brother through the window of her apartment, and we tried to give the little boy some apples a member had given us and he said "sorry miss. I don´t want your apples." then her sister yelled at us "waiiiiitttt!!!!!!! I´m coming. don´t leave." she ran down the stairs to us and said "miss, can I have those apples?" and we gave them to her. she gave us a hug and a kiss on the cheek and ran upstairs. So cute.

2-- I got bit by a dog. Everyone says "it´s not a mission in south america if you don´t get bit by a dog." well, it happened. luckily the dog didn´t have many teeth so I´m okay.

3-- We taught the 2nd coming in Primary this week and my comp said "no one knows when Jesus will come again." to which Denise (the girl who only brought an empanada to church the other week) said "yes we do. Friday." and her little friend Francine said "It really could be friday, saturday, or sunday, because they´re all free days." I died laughing. So watch out guys. Jesus is coming this friday.

4-- we went to buy stuff at our regular store on saturday, and we bought a lot of junk. the store guy (I hate english) said "is this for the whole week?" and I said "um... no. just tomorrow." hahahahaha. I´m so lucky I haven´t gained weight here. 

All our less actives and investigators we were working with seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth, sooo we´ve been finding a lot of new less actives, andwe´re trying to find new investigators. Puno is a hard sector, but I´m trying to stay positive. I know if I keep working hard it will all be worth it. 

Love, Hermana Allred

1-- I got the high score. obviously not many gringos play this game...

2-- lil miss hansen and I with the Puma

3-- most of our zone. the number of gringos has increased drastically

1-- llacsa and I

2-- matti loves wearing my glasses cuz I told him he looks handsome.

3-- FHE with Otilia and the lil minions

4-- I was going to study in the other room on my blanket, and I had a bunch of stuff in my hands (including a dunkin donuts donut that our pensionista´s husband brought us from lima) and i dropped my donut. I still ate it. 

1-- a storm´s a brewin´

2-- .

gremlin

It´s been a fun week. Lots of rainy days and laughs with the best companion in the world. I´m applying to college right now, so I don´t have a lot of time to write. So hopefully the pictures make up for it.

I really have been getting a lot closer to the savior this week. Prayers and priesthood blessings have played a huge part. I am still so happy to be here. Letters from sisters are the best kind of letters... I love you guys. 

Have an incredible week :) the whole lot of ya. 

love, HErmana Allred

1-- The pensionista of Los Incas, her daughter and lil miss Hansen

2-- saying goodbye to Hna. Hunter. miss that girl. the house is so different without her.

3-- I got all depressed and cut and dyed my hair. jk. I would never do that.

4-- I´m not really crying. don´t worry.

1-- hna. hunter left all her 4th of July stuff here so I put it all on. MURICA

2-- we taught lessons by candlelight because the power went out. it went surprisingly well. 

3-- eating ice cream while there´s snow on the ground. it´s whatever.

4-- Matty. I LOVE HIM. he´s the 1st counselor´s son. we ran into him at a less active´s barber shop. 

1-- this neighborhood was voted number one for percentage of drunks.... 80%. but the sky was beautiful. and no one mamed me. 

2-- classy straight razor hair cut

3-- drawing a dino on a member´s house with a chalk rock

4-- spiderman and batman motos

Amazing week, difficult day

Transfers are today. I´m staying here. I was really hoping I would get to stay here, and I am. I wish I could just stay here forever.

Hermana Hunter got transferred to Puerto Maldonado! The jungle. I´m happy I´m not there. I hate the heat. But she´s from Cali, so she´ll be fine. 

We changed Nilda´s date to the 20th cuz she went out of town for the weekend. They´re still amazing.

Today isn´t my favorite, so I´m just gunna buy ice cream and go do something that doesn´t give me time to think. 

love, Hermana Allred

Slug bug, what color?

1-- Nighttime mate. creeper comp picture.

this email is going to be all over the place. I apologize in advance.

Kelsey-- Peruvians LOVE Koreans haha. SO MUCH. If only you saw the posters on their walls. I don`t konw what boys over flowers is, but they love it. 

This week, I realized how much attitude really does have an effect on a missionary. If I choose to hate my ward and sector, I will hate it and be miserable. If I choose to love my ward and help it grow, and love the people even if they slam the door in our faces and call us devil worshipers, then I will wake up every day HAPPY and excited to work because I chose to be here, and God gives me reasons every day to love it. 

I`m crying... what the heck??? I love my mission so much and God has been so good to me lately. I do not want this to end. 

I had a really humbling companionship inventory this week. I got upset about something Hna. Llacsa said to me, so I just didn`t say anything, and prayed. Obviously I seemed upset, because when I left the room to talk about it calmly, she was crying. I just hugged her and she said "I love you so much. I look up to you and I`m so glad you`re my companion. I have learned so much with you. Thank you for being my companion. I`m sorry if I hurt you." I was humbled to the dust. I have never had a companion do that. When I`m upset, it usually turns into a big thing and we lose a whole day of effectiveness. She taught me so much from that simple conversation. We cried and hugged, and that day, a family agreed to be baptized. Satan is a sneaky lil nugget, but we will defeat that lil jerk. 

We have had no money all week because I spent too much grocery money on Trix and pizza bread the first week of the month... We were praying to somehow have food for dinner and breakfast (we already paid the lady who makes us lunch), and God answered our prayers. Every single house we went to for 4 days straight gave us something to eat or drink. Coca Cola, snacks, hot chocolate, pizza, bread and mate, etc. It amazes me how much God is watching out for his missionaries. He loves us so much, and never lets us go without. 

I have learned to love a lot of foods I hated before. Including: Tomatoes, avocados, raw broccoli, cauliflower, celery, sweet potatoes, rice, chicken, and boiled eggs. It`s amazing what changes when you`re forced to eat something enough times. haha. 

I almost got kissed on the cheek by a handsome young man outside the hospital. My natural reflex of "NO SORRY WE CAN`T, here`s a handshake" helped me out. My comp just laughed at me. 

This sunday we were about to head to primary to teach, and I asked Denise "did you bring your scriptures?" and I proceeded to open her bag... I looked in and said "Denise. you only brought an empanada." to which she replied "It`s my refreshment." haha I want a kid just like her. I would take an empanada to church too if I were a kid and not a missionary.

We were waiting in the bishopric`s office for ward council (consejo de barrio in spanish) and one of the little old guys in our ward, Hno. Quispe, came dancing into the room singing "Consejo, consejo, consejo, consejo!" haha. I love seeing the ward get excited about this work. Things are slowly changing, and I love it. LIttle old guys dancing of excitement for a meeting is something that never happened when I got here. The ward is changing, and I love it.

Nilda and Paul are the best. They fed us pizza and hot chocolate. she accepted to be baptized on the 13th, and Paul is going to do it. they want to be sealed forever and ever, and that melts my heart. They are such a strong family, and an example for everyone. 

I am so in love with my mission, it kills me. Every day I wake up happy. I go to bed happy. I know I am doing the Lord`s will, and that is what truly makes a person happy. He will take care of me when I get home, so I just worry about Puno while I`m in Puno, and I`ll worry about home when I`m home. 

These last few weeks have been my favorites. The rainy season started, which has made for some hilarious memories under an umbrella. I love everything about where I am. 

I started taking pictures of all the oldschool bugs in puno (there are tons) most of them are yellow, but occasionally a different one pops in. 

oops. last email

1-- random house with rock steps

2-- orange bug

3-- panai and a bug

4-- the cemetery

this email 

1-- curled my hair with makeup brushes and pencils. it worked.

2-- Mayor elections

3-- typical view here in puno

4-- selling flowers on the street. they`re for the dead.