Keilee Alldredge

Keilee Alldredge

Friday, July 29, 2016

I'm a momma!! 😜 January 11, 2016




Dear family and friends,

In the deep woods of mid Oregon, the mist shadowed the ground like a
blanket covering a sleeping child. All was silent, except for the
trees whispering their tales of olden days. The grey light of early
morning was barely upon the world when the rays of the morning sun
burst through mysterious mist. It was the morning of transfers.

For our mission, transfer calls are on the Friday  and Saturday
before. Friday calls are for if you are in leadership, Saturday of you
are a common missionary. Sis Sands is so amazing, and so we all joked
that she would be transferred down to the Eugene area as an STL. So I
figured we would get a call Friday night.

There we were, planning for the next day, on the floor of our
apartment. And then, a call. Guess who? You're right, it was
President! Sis Sands is an STL in Santa Clara. Then my turn. I am
asked to be a follow up trainer for a new missionary!!! So really, I'm
not a mom, but a step mom...hehe. Sis Broadhead is her name and she
came out last transfer, and so I will be finishing training with her.
I am so excited and nervous and happy!!!! There is so much I am going
to learn from her, and I can't wait to see what she can teach me.

That night, I prayed a lot to know how I can do this. I mean, we are
both so new to missionary work ( or maybe she is just stellar) that I
feel like this will be a huge learning curve for both of us. But as I
prayed, I felt like Heavenly Father knew my potential. I felt His love
for me and I knew that all would be alright. As long as I am doing my
best, then we cannot fail. I truly want to be able to have the spirit
with me always and be able to have the courage to follow His
promptings. I have prayed so long and hard to become better, and in
many ways, these are answers to prayers.

Sorry for the longer email! But to finish up, we had many lessons
this past week. I am so grateful for the Spirit and for the power that
He has. The Holy Ghost should be our best traveling companion in this
life, our best friend. He has shared so many hidden treasures of
knowledge; the scriptures make more sense to me because of His help.
He has testified of truth to others, my companion to me. His constant
help and guidance is what gives me the confidence to move forward.

Always strive to have Him there by you.

Love you all! My companion won't be here till after 5, so I won't have
a picture of us together till next week. We are going to conquer the
world! 😎

Love,

Sis Alldredge

"Let's get a can of corn for dinner!" Said no one ever. January 4, 2016





Dear family and friends,

This week, like last, we did lots of finding.

New Year's was super fun. It was a beautiful day, nice and warm and
many people were out. We had district meeting like usual and went to
Mo's for lunch. It was delish! They have the best fish around! 😄
We then went to a member's home and watched the Best Two Years! It was
so funny to watch, especially as missionaries. It is a great movie!!!!

I started driving! First day driving home from dinner, I hit a
raccoon!! Ahh! I didn't mean to! So now my nickname is Keilee the Coon
Killer....then, on Sunday, church was cancelled because all the roads
were iced over.  Of course we didn't know that until we got to church. So
we were sliding all over the road. But we are okay, protected by the
Lord.

We had a few lessons this week with less actives. But one of the most
spiritual lessons was with a recent convert. She wishes to start the
addiction recovery program to overcome some problems. But was we
started, the spirit was so strong, and Sis Sands and I both bore
powerful testimonies of the Atonement. It's amazing to feel the spirit
bear witness of what we say to be true, to ourselves and to those we
teach.

A member took us out to lunch and then to the lighthouse. It was a
wonderful time, I took many pictures. It was a cold day! As for the
subject heading, I told Sis Sands that I wanted to get healthy stuff
today, like a can of corn. Haha, then she said that. She is so
awesome. I'm going to miss her so much.

Sheena is still progressing, but we will have to move her date back.
But that is okay. She is trying so hard to change. Please pray for
her. Pray also for Carmella, she is going through some hard times as
well.

Sorry if this email doesn't make sense- we are at a zone activity
having a nerf gun war. It's super awesome! I love being on a mission!

Love you all! Transfers are coming up! I will have a new companion by
next week! It's super exciting!


Sis Alldredge






Is that the Sun? Oh no, its just a reflection from Arizona.... December 28, 2015






Dear friends and Family,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I can't believe that 2015 is almost over. Its been such an amazing year! I am so lucky to be here on a mission and to share the gospel. I couldn't ask for a better opportunity to grow. :) 

Today the sun came out. It was so blindingly bright that I wished it was raining again. I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back home....

Christmas was wonderful! The day was beautiful, we saw a double rainbow over the ocean. Talking with my family was great. Actually, I think they got more of a hoot out of it because they saw how me and my companion interact with each other. We had a great time spending the day with members, eating food, and talking. We went over to a members and watched Polar Express (we get to watch a movie for Christmas and New Year). It made me feel like I was home as we watched the movie, eating popcorn and hot chocolate and singing along to the songs. 

This week has been really slow. We have tried to contact many people, but most are out of town or don't live there anymore or aren't interested. Funny story, our GPS lead us into this back road near a forest that grows out in the middle of nowhere in Newport. It gets really dark here. As soon as it hits 4:30, lights out. As we drove on this road, out of the darkness loomed these two signs: Do not Enter. We ended up on the wrong side of the road! It ended up that the person we wanted  to contact that their house doesn't exist! That happens quite often...sigh. Oh the joys of missionary work! 

On Sunday, we had a lesson with Sheena. We taught her the Plan of Salvation. As we taught about our life here on earth we taught her about the Law of Chastity and the Word of Wisdom. She accepted it really well. She will have to make slight changes in her life, but don't we all? I am so proud of Sheena and the progress she has made! She tries everyday to read from the Book of Mormon. She truly wants to become better, to feel peace in her life and to improve her children's lives as well. 

Carmella has been doing wonderful! The ward banded together this Christmas and gave her and her family a gift card. She was so grateful for the gift, as her family had been struggling this year. Truly an answer to prayers! 

These past few days had been a bit rough. Because of the calling I have as a missionary, the Holy Ghost speaks differently to me. Its been hard to recognize and follow the promptings of the Spirit. Much of the skills I had before my mission are gone. Much like making a cake, if the batter is wrong, you have to start from scratch to make a better cake. Heavenly Father is bringing me down, for its the only way I can grow upwards. I have so much to learn. I don't even know all that I will learn in the coming year. But this week, I will strive to be more diligent, to open my mouth, for it shall be filled. I will not worry, for I Trust in Heavenly Father. He will not lead me astray.

I invite all of you to be more diligent. Read the Scriptures. Pray. They are so simple, but we need them! God has something he wishes to tell you: Try to listen. Write down the goals you have for the coming year and the goals he has for you this coming year. I promise that as you do so prayerfully, humbly, He will direct you for good.


I love you all!
Sis. Alldredge

Newport is floating out to sea!! (Said in a Nemo voice) December 21, 2015

Dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas! Man, time flies fast! It's crazy how long I've been
out on my mission. It feels like yesterday that I came out and started
this grand adventure!

So some great things happened this week.

Exchanges happened on Tuesday! I was with Sis Allen. We went up to
Siletz, a small village out by Toledo. It has members, but it takes
about 30 mins to go to church, so there is only one active family out
there. We met with them and then visited Sis Curran, an older woman
who has many struggles lately. You could tell that our visit really
uplifted her. We showed her the video : Why We Need A Savior. I
testified to her of the Atonement of the Savior and how we can rely on
Him. It was great!

It rained so much on Thursday that roads started to slide off the
ground!! Basically like frosting off a cake! Ahh! We were stranded for
like 2 days.....

We had specialized training on Friday! I had my interview with
President Russell.  I talked about my investigators that we are
teaching and he chuckled a bit. He then explained: you know, your
whole countenance changes when you talk about them. It made me so
happy to talk about them and to feel such a deep love for the people
we are teaching. President also said that he can see me training.
Haha...yeah. We shall see. Oh dear..😉

We found a new investigator! Well, actually, she is a former who we
found again. Her name is Paula, she has many questions about the
priesthood and the Book of Mormon. She is reluctant to join a church
because of past experiences. But she loves talking with us and having
us over.

Please pray for Sheena. She has been having medical issues lately, and
we hadn't been able to meet with her lately. But she is still
wonderful and loves to learn more about the gospel.

I am finding more and more that God hears and answers prayers. There
have been so many people that we have met who have prayed to God for
help and we show up. It's amazing. I am so grateful for the Holy
Ghost. There are many people here who have suffered much. And the Holy
Ghost is so important because he leads and guides us to help us be
safe.

Today, I have found that as we focus more on others and less on
ourselves, we forget ourselves. I have such a deep love for the people
we meet. God truly is there. He knows us and knows what we need. Have
faith in Him. Believe that he is and that He knows you. Mosiah 4:9 "Believe in God; blieve that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

I love you all so much! Thank you for your prayers!
Sis Alldredge





"I just wanna chop 'em up and fry 'em!" December 14, 2015

             
Hello dear friends and family!!

This week on Saturday was our ward Christmas party!!! 🎉 🎁 🎄 The missionaries were in charge of it, and it was super-duper fun! The theme for the party was an Old Fashioned Country Christmas. We had a devotional where stories were read from the pioneers and we missionaries sang The First Noel. I have discovered that I can sing. Just as an alto. Haha, it's just easier to hit the lower notes for me. 

We then had chili! And baked potatoes ( where the quote comes from in the subject heading)!! And cornbread! It was super good! I had to be a bit careful with the more spicey stuff, but Elder Opper and Sister Sands judged all the chili. It ended up that the winners were the people who help us out the most in our missionary efforts. So there ya go. Serve the missionaries. (Haha, jk, but really though. Imagine the blessings!😉)

We had ZTM on Friday, we drove up to Corvallis Thursday night. Thursday was super crazy, we had so many lessons that day! We met Vivian, who was a referral from a ward member. She has had such a rough life, and she is so sweet and amazing. When we met with her, I felt such a deep love and respect for her, I started to cry. And all we did was listen. It was such a testimony builder for me of the love of God.

It happened to be that she is a member!! 😎 So we might visit with her more to get her back on track. 

Earlier this week we were going to see a woman by the name of Ruth. We figured that if she didn't open her door, we were going to drop her. But low and behold! She was home! So we taught a lesson with her. 

I finally realized that it's my job to invite others to be baptized. Not my companion. Me. So on Sunday, we had a lesson with Sheena. She wasn't able to come to church because of being sick. We had a great lesson, it flowed so well! The Spirit was so strong! Near the end, I invited her to be baptized, and she said yes! She decided to set the goal for January 16th! She is so amazing! I love her so much!

The weather has been crazy! One day the wind hit 35mph! 😦 Today, the sun was out, and the temp went up to about 60. You gotta love the weather on the coast!

This coming week on Friday we will have interviews with President Russell! 😄

I love you all and enjoy your letters! 

Sis Alldredge 


My First Baptism! December 7, 2015

Dear family and friends,

First off, people are super awesome. 😃 Remember the woman with the
castle for a house? Well, she got Sis. Sands and I fancy journals. They
are so cool! Mine is a drawing journal, It's the gold one, I inserted
pictures of it. Also, members have us help them decorate their trees
which is so wonderful to do. Since it doesn't snow, it doesn't feel
like Christmas, but it's nice to decorate and get into that spirit of
Christmas. :)

Now to the heart of my email (hahaha, President Russell always says that):

MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!! 😃
Oh it was awesome! Carmella was just glowing the whole time. And when
she was confirmed on Sunday, she just seemed so clean, so whole and
complete. I guess that is what the gospel does for people, it helps
renew and enlighten their lives for the better. Brother Hanna, a
member in the ward, baptised her and Elder Opper confirmed her. The
Spirit testified to me multiple times of the truthfulness of the
gospel and that this is the right step for Carmella.

Another awesome thing is that an investigator, Sheena, came to church!
She even brought her two kids, so we had three investigators at
church! Oh, it was a great day! Sheena loved it, and she loves
learning about the gospel! 😃 She's improved so much.

I played the piano at the baptism. So my talent is out....and a member
asked me to play the piano this Saturday for our  Christmas party. And
Bishop found out about me knowing how to play the violin, so I might
play it during caroling if it's not raining. Haha, and I thought I was
going to get away with not playing. Haha, jk. I have found that
playing  relieves stress and Heavenly Father has helped me remember
how to play....ha, I'm still not perfect though. ;)

I love all the letters I have been getting! I feel your prayers all
the time, and the spirit is so strong out here, leading us about to do
the work of the Lord!

Love you bunches! Stay warm!

Sis Alldredge