Growth and Joy. December 26, 2016

I am so blessed! Amazing things are coming our way and it is such a
blessing to be a missionary. :)

On Tuesday we had a zone conference. We went down to Medford, and we
had a wonderful Christ centered meeting! We were taught about the
priesthood, the pre Earth life, the fall, and the Atonement. It was so
powerful! Leading up to it, we had to prepare a 15-20 min talk
centered on 'Christ, and coming to know him in your heart...'. Then
President called on a few and they talked for 2 mins about what they
learned. Sis Dobbins got called on and she talked about how the Savior
is a shepherd, not a sheepherder. A sheepherder stays behind the
sheep, while a shepherd leads them. Overall, it was an amazing and
spiritual meeting! If you want, I can send a copy of mine to you.

We had a lesson with an investigator named Aredelia! She is so
prepared! We were planning on teaching her the whole Restoration
lesson, but the Spirit directed us to just teach her about God and
prayer. It's hard to explain the feeling. One minute you are ready to
teach, but as you go, your thoughts go a different way. It's such a
testimony to me that God loves and knows all His children and that I
can trust in Him to lead me to know how to help them the best. Another
cool thing, as we went caroling, we went to her house, and afterword
an elder we serve with said he's knocked on that door three times, and
it never opened. Until we knocked. Isn't that amazing?

Christmas was such a blessed day. I LOVED being able to partake of the
sacrament. As I sat there, I realized that I was able to partake
because of the the Savior! Because he was born, we can celebrate! We
can have joy! We can progress!!!

As I called my family on Christmas, I realized how much I have
changed. But it is a glorious thing! I have become such a better me,
and though I may pass through trials and heartaches, I know in whom I
can trust, it is Jesus Christ. He is my rock and my redeemer, and I
will be forever grateful for the priceless gift God has given us-
Jesus Christ.

Merry Christmas. December 19, 2016

Sisters Alldredge and Dobbins- December in Oregon. 

The miracles are just flowing forth! Every day we have had an amazing
miracle, literally we are being lead to so many prepared people! Let
me just tell you about a few:

We got in the car, then we felt like we should walk and meet people
that live around us. As we walked, I felt that we should cross the
street and meet a family we had contacted in the past. We went to
their house, they were remodeling their home. So we turned around, and
started walking back. A guy was walking towards us. His name is Frank!
He actually is a former investigator, and we had a wonderful
conversation with him about the Book of Mormon. At the beginning, he
was kind of against reading it, but by the end he wanted a copy, to
'experiment' on the word. So cool!

We went out contacting and tried to meet three former investigators
and all of them were busy. So we were like: well, might as well knock
on a neighboring door! And they let us inside!!! We met a woman named
Shelia and shared the Light the World video with her, and taught her
the Restoration of the gospel! It was amazing!

We met a guy yesterday that was around our age who had some sick
dreads. We shared the Light the World video with him and while it was
playing he said "YEAH! That is what I'm talking about!!" After the
video: "Mormons are the perfect example of Christlike service. Y'all
have it down to a T! " Hahaha. True hippie. We had a really good
conversation with him and encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon.
He was excited!

Last miracle: we went to contact a less active member, but she had moved. But
we met a woman named Aredelia. She is so happy and so open and
prepared for the gospel! We shared the video with her, and we found
out that her mom is a member. We shared the Book of Mormon with her
and we have a lesson with her tonight! She is totally going to get
baptized!

I spoke in church yesterday on the birth of Jesus Christ. It was so
cool to be able to speak. I just love talking about the Savior!

So many miracles! I have been so blessed this week! Sis Dobbins is so
AMAZING! And I just love her so much! We are being so blessed by God
and truly He is leading us to those who are prepared and willing to
receive the gospel.

This Christmas season please remember to look towards the brightest
star- Jesus Christ. He will be your friend, your guide, and the best
helper in all the world.

14 months!!!! And transfers!! December 12, 2016

Wow! What a week! Transfers are today and sadly, Sister Jones is
leaving! She is going up north to Santa Clara and I am staying here!
My companion is Sister Dobbins, and she is from Mesa, Arizona. She's
pretty boss!

This past week I hit my 14 month mark! It's super crazy! I'm really old! 🏼

This past week we had tons of meetings, with MLC and then teaching
ZTM. We taught the zone about the Restoration of the gospel, and we
got super excited about it and the zone was excited to teach it to
people! Now that I know so much more about the Restoration and the
Apostasy, I'm praying that it will be easier to teach it to help
people understand.

We met with Joe. We knocked on the door and he said "I only got 10
mins." "Sweet. We can do that!" We we're confidant in the things we
just learned and we came and sat down. We taught him about Christ, the
Apostasy and the Restoration. We had him read the account of Joseph
Smith's First Vision. The feeling in the room changed, and I said: What
do you think about that? "Its powerful." The feeling you have right
now is the spirit. And the spirit teaches truth. So now that you know
that this is true, will you be baptized? "Yes!"

It was wonderful! There are MANY hurdles that we have to get over with
him, but when we brought up the issues to our Bishop, he said: "Now
sisters. This is a wonderful opportunity to see God's hand. Miracles
will happen. It will take lots of prayers and fasting, but we will see
miracles!"

Love you all! Thank you so much for the letters!

Also, on our way up to MLC we were driving over the Pass and met the
glorious white beauty of SNOW!!!!

 

Huge Burritos and Nativities. December 5, 2016

This week has been awesome! So many cool things have happened!
Transfer calls are happening at the end of next week. Sister Jones and I
think we are staying together, which will be great because Christmas
is just around the corner! 

Some fun things that happened:
First off after district meeting on Friday we went to Casa Amiga, a
Mexican restaurant. They have a challenge there. If you can eat a 6
lb. burrito, then it will be free. And so, 7 elders and Sister Hernadez
(she just had a 4 lb) decided that they would try to eat it all. And
so the eating contest began!! The fastest someone ate a burrito before
ate it in 10 mins. And so the elders just went at it.  Oh, it was
so crazy! After about 10-15 mins they started to slow, after 30 mins
they got red in the face and finally some got purple! It was crazy!
Elder Criddle ate the most with only 1.5 lbs. of burrito left. We all
laughed saying it was probably because he's a farm boy from Wyoming.
And we went up to pay, only to find out that someone had paid for us!!
 We were shocked! But we were also super grateful for that person's
kindness and generosity.

 I was happy with my three tacos. 

On Friday we had a stake wide event called the Nativity Festival. It
is advertised by the city,  so lots of people came! It was crazy how
busy we were! They also had a Life of Christ room where they turned
the font into an empty tomb. And the spirit was so strong in that
room, many people were crying when they left. It was a great even to
be part of!

We also went tracting in a nice part of town and found some train
tracks! We took some pictures! Also, there are these huge clumps of
green up in the trees, I always thought they were moss clumps. Turns out
that they are mistletoe! It's a parasite that like to attach
themselves to oak trees. So how's that for holiday cheer?


We built a fort with the mattresses left over from when the sisters
stayed at our apartment. Hehe. It was fun!

Okay, now on to the spiritual!
We met a high school age kid named Harrison this week. We shared the
Light the World video, and he loved it! He told us how he got baptized
a few years ago in a Catholic faith, and he loves anything to do with
Christ. We shared a little bit about the Restoration and set up a
lesson! He's pretty cool.

We went out in the boonies and contacted a few people out there. We
saw a man outside and we went up to talk with him. His name is Joe. He
has met with missionaries before in the past, and after sharing Light
the World with him, he said that he was open to us coming back to
teach him. I invited him to be baptized and he said Yes! We are SO
excited to teach him this week.

Our area has slowed way down since when I first got here, and we are
working so hard everyday to find new people. But the work is slow, but
that's no excuse! -So we keep on keeping on!

The Christmas devotional was an awesome experience. I loved hearing
about the reason for Christmas. It helped remind me that Christ was
born to Atone. He is the reason for the season!! We are so blessed to
have a Savior who made it possible for us to overcome all things in
this life and give us a hope in the world to come. I offer a challenge
to all of you: pray to feel the spirit of Christmas and share the
message of peace with someone the Holy Ghost prompts you to talk to.

And Their Hearts Were Swollen with Joy. November 28, 2016

Still a cat magnet. 

This week has been weird and slow, but fast too! Again, weird.

Last Monday we met with a woman named Erika. We helped her decorate in
her home (putting up pictures) then we showed her a video. She was
crying at the end and she asked us all these questions. We taught her
how to pray and about the Godhead. We also helped her the best we
could. We have a lesson set up with her later tonight.

Thanksgiving was so awesome! We had two dinners planned and we ate at
a part member home and at the Sams, recent converts. Adrienne's dad
was there too, and he is part Native American. He is covered in
tattoos and he told us all their meanings based on his beliefs. It was
really cool. We ate so much food! But it was so good! And we got to
play games too. :)

We had interviews on Friday, and it was really crazy. Lots of bad
things happened last transfer that our mission president just found
out about. And so missionaries were being pulled aside the whole time
to have a talk with President. It was a little awkward for us new
missionaries in the zone. But when I had my interview we had a good
talk.  It was very sacred and touching for me to talk with
President. I always enjoy talking with him. I think I am beginning to
see my progress, though it does take time to do, it will happen.

Scripture is from 3 Nephi 4:33. In this chapter all of the Nephites
were gather together to protect themselves from the Gadianton robbers.
And when the armies of the robbers came into view, all of the Nephites
"fell to the earth, and did left their cries to the Lord their God,
that he would spare them..." and they were "prepared to meet them,
yea, in the strength of the Lord they did receive them." And after
many battles, they were saved and delivered from their enemies. And
they did offer many prayers of thanks and praise to God.

I think many times we face Gadianton robbers, and we are afraid to
face them. But I know that as we pray for help, that God will deliver
us. But we should also offer gratitude to our Lord for his help, for
without Him we are nothing. And he is so merciful towards us, to help
us. And I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father, for hearing my prayers
and helping me to become better and allowing me to see miracles.

With Sister Jones

Adventures. November 21, 2016

At Daisie's Baptism.

Sum up of the week: we killed two spiders in our apartment, the
sisters in our zone had their apartment flood, and we had a baptism!
Bring on the blessings!

We had many miracles of finding this week. One day we went tracting
and knocked on a door. No one answered, so we started to leave. Then a
car pulled up. "Hi. Oh, I already meet with the Jehovah Witnesses."
Me:" Would you like to hear what we say?"  She shrugged. "Sure" she

let us in. She told us of her life and cried a lot. We listened
mostly, but then shared a little bit of The Restoration. She is so
great! Her name is Monique. ;)

The sisters were moving out of their apartment and as they walked into
the new one, it had completely flooded!!  So they are staying with
us in our tiny cottage.  it's super fun!!

We had a baptism on Saturday! Her name is Daisie, and she is 9, and
her mom is returning to church. We had a great time with her. I am so
grateful for the blessings of baptism!

We also had specialized training in Medford this week. President
taught us about developing the faith to find. We have seen so many
miracles this week, truly, people are being lead to us or we are being
lead to them. I am planning on studying more about finding and
developing more of that faith. We are going to achieve great things!

Hope y'all have a great Thanksgiving! 

J-Dog and A-Line here to Stay. November 14, 2016

Wow! This week has been fantastic! I love Grants Pass! The Ward is
just fantastic and great and the people we are teaching are wonderful.
:)

We have a family that just got baptized. The mom is Adrianne, and she
is married to Bill. They have two adorable kids and they just love the
gospel. We are having a good time meeting with them and they signed up
a lot to have us over for dinner. So we will be great friends by the
end. I love them so much! We are going to eat Thanksgiving dinner at
their house, so I'm excited for that too!

We are teaching a 12 year old boy about the church. His name is Noah,
and he has purple hair! Haha. Oregonians. He's on date to be baptized
on December 3, so it's fantastic! He loves the church! None of his
family are members, but they are supportive of his decision.

We are also teaching a young girl named Dasie. Her mom is a returning
member, and Dasie is getting baptized on Saturday! She is great too!

This weekend our tire pressure was way low (from 35 psi to 19...) and
after church on Sunday the elders went out to fill up the tire
again...and it was flat. So they put the spare on it and we got a new
tire today. ;)

We had a few people drop us this week. And our area Book is very
disorganized. So a lot of our time is spent finding, but we are
teaching a lot too! It's so wonderful!

Also, we live in an adorable cottage with a thousand leaves. It's so
cute! And Sister Jones is just amazing!