MALIGAYANG PASKO!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

So this past week has been a long and hard and super fun week!!  I now can say that I have adjusted to the Vargas area i think.  I mostly know my way around, and I know most of the people...  ok most by their faces, not names yet;)  But it is becoming fun to work again because I mostly know whats going on now, so thats good!!!  

So now that I am here at the computer shop I literally can't think of anything super crazy or different that happened this week!! Its so pathetic:)  But we did a whole lot of walking through the bukid and teaching our investigators and less actives.  

We had a bunch of workers this past week from the YSA's and they are a ton of fun to work with!  Also we now know where a ton of less actives houses are because they literally know everyone in Vargas, so thats good!!  We even got to go on splits yesterday because we had so many workers!!  So of course I was able to lead all the lessons and tell everyone what to do:) jk jk they told me where to go cuz I don't know yet, but anyways, I'm almost there:)

Well sorry for just about the lamest email ever!! I completely blanked when I started typing!

But no worries next week I will have a ton of stories to tell... when I SKYPE!!!

Oh man I'm so PUMPED!!!!
I love you all and I wish you a merry christmas from the other side of the world!!

Where there is no snow, yes its the Philippines:)

I love you all!! And I am so thankful for you!!

I hope you all get everything you ever wanted:):)

HO HO HO See ya next week;)

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

(Added Kyle's letter to Nyla with some great news that made us proud, and reality check of how much he is missing Christmas and home right now.)

MOM!!!

Actually apparently the leaders in my ward, the Vargas ward are very excited about having me here.  Because the missionary work here has been pretty lame for the past while.  And they had a meeting with President Clark and apparently they told him thank you for sending Elder Alldredge to our ward, he is so excited to work here, and has been a great help!  

So my district leader told me all that, and he heard it from our zone leaders who were also in the meeting with president Clark. So that was awesome!!! So now I have to be like one of the favorite missionaries!!  BOO YAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, I didn't get a November ensign yet its kinda sad!!

I'll see what i can do about the present for elder Canoy.  I literally have no Christmas songs to listen to so its the saddest thing ever!!!

I will skype around 10 here in the morning on monday, so i think 8:00 at night back in Utah.

Thanks for everything!!! I love you!!!! 

Have a merry Christmas!!! I'm so sad I can't be there with you...

Its kinda depressing not gonna lie.  But its ok i guess we have a mission Christmas party on Saturday so that will be fun!

LOVE YA!!!

Elder Alldredge

My little package.  (We had sent a box with many gifts in October on a slow boat, but it has still not been delivered.  I think he thought this was all he was getting, so he was excited to hear more was on the way!  Hopefully it will come before Christmas.)

Shortcut through the bukid to save time!

Right before the cow chased me down, he was ANGRY!!

Fish drying on a roof.  Yes, they gave us a bag of them and yes we fried and ate them :) (They weren't that good tho, but don't tell my comp I said that :)

Ward Missionaries

Splits with ward missionaries

Splits do the dab

HELLO HELLO HELLO!!!!

So this week nothing really big happened... Except for I got TRANSFERRED!!!!!  It was seriously the weirdest thing ever and no one especially me was expecting it!!  So we were listening to our Zone Leader read off the different assignments, and then he said "Sister Rubin you are assigned in LaPaz!! I was shocked and everyone was shocked!  So then my assignment is to serve in the Vargas Ward of Santa Ignacia Zone!!  So that night we went to LaPaz, said my goodbyes to everyone, and packed up and left Thursday morning.  And let me tell you transferring is not fun in the packing and traveling aspect of it!  With 3 suitcases in a jeepnee, and trikes hahaha its pretty hard:)  But we finally made it to Vargas!!

My new companions name is Elder Canoy.  He is a really good Elder, he works hard, even though he has been sick.  And also he is the shortest missionary in the Angeles mission:)  I promise mom, you would tower over him;)  He is from Cebu, and he has 3 sisters. 

So first off, the mountainous/bukid area of Vargas is sobrang Maganda!!!  Just looking at the rice fields and hills and stuff, is sweet!!  We have literally walked all over, around, and through Vargas, and it is a huge area, because there is so much Bukid.  So the bad thing about Vargas is the missionaries before me didn't work often.  They literally left us 1 investigator and thats about it!!  Talk about pathetic huh?!?! :)  But we have already added at least 4 more solid investigators in 3 days, so we are DOING WORK:)  

The Vargas ward is killer!! My first day my companion brought me around to the different houses of members and less actives, and holy its crazy!! There is so many very strong families here in Vargas!!  Also the Vargas ward has so many RM's!  In Lapaz we literally only had 2 RM's so we have over 20 maybe close to 30 RM's.  At church on Sunday there were 169 people at church, so that is a huge jump from LaPaz.  Also I played the piano for sacrament meeting, and priesthood, and bore my testimony in sacrament meeting, of course.  So I met so many new people and they are all so nice and willing to help the missionaries!  Our bishop is only 34 years old and he is a total stud.  He helps us, talks to us, gives us referrals, feeds us dinner, he does it all!!  

So Vargas is a great place!! I'm excited to actually get the work going here!

Have a great week!  Have fun with Breanna back home:)  

Keep a smile on your face this week, kaya mo!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!! Thanks for all you do!! Thanks for the prayers and emails!! 

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

Kyle's new area - Vargas in the Santa Ignacia Zone

Elder Canoy and Kyle in front of Bishops's house

Inside their house in Vargas

Vargas house

Bedroom

Elder Zuchilli, Sister Tukia, Elder Alldredge

KUMUSTA LAHAT?!?!?

Well I am now officially a regular missionary, not training anymore BOO YAA!!  We dropped off Elder Lastierre this morning with the other departing missionaries, so now I am with my Zone Leader, Elder Garcia and Elder Dela Cruz in a tri-some until Thursday.  It wasn’t too bad seeing my companion go because he was so very excited, so I was mainly just excited for him.  But I will miss him cuz he has taught me so much, and is such a good Elder.  But I am excited to see who my new companion is so we can continue the work in LaPaz!!

The Gudoy twins are still doing so good, and we are teaching them every other night, they are getting excited for their baptism!  We had Family Home Evening last night as Sister Caliboso’s house and this time I gave the object lesson and then we had more games with the lipstick to the face if you lose, of courseJ It seriously is the funniest thing ever!! But the twins were super involved in the game and they have a lot of fun with the members, so that’s awesome!!  We found the Gudoy twins on exchanges with Elder Eppich.  We talked about how much progress they have made and it is crazy to see!! They have changed so much and are way happier.  The first lesson with them, one of them walked out of.  And the other didn't listen well. I didn't give them much of a chance to progress, and now look at them!! THis is the work of the Lord, the feelings that come from the spirit, and the truth from the BoM!!! Its the best thing ever!!

Yesterday at church we had the very longest Sacrament meeting I have ever been to!!  It started at 9:00 and ended at 10:40!!!  So because it was the last Fast Sunday of the year, and Elder Lastierre and Eppich’s last Sunday in the Lapaz Branch, everybody had to get up and share a story.  One of our less actives got up and went through the whole story about us teacher her and her family and even referred to us as the puti & itim missionaries or the white and black missionaries…J  And that she would never forget us.  I’m not sure how appropriate that was, but Oh man it was hilarious!!!

Also yesterday after church a sister from Mabalacat came and visited Elder Eppich before he left, and she had referrals for me in Lapaz!!  It is a family of 10!!!  Oh man you have no idea how excited I was and am to teach this family!  I met the 18 year old and he is a super cool kid, plus he was born on March 30^th 1998!! That’s what I’m talking about;)  So anyways, this sister really believes that this family has been prepared by the Lord for this message, and the mom of the family has asked to be taught by the missionaries, so I hope and pray that it will work out!!

I am gaining a lot of confidence in the language even tho I am still not very good;)  I have just come to the point where if I don’t know how to say something in Tagalog, I’ll just talk as much as I can in Tagalog and the rest in English, and most of the time when I do that, people know what I am talking about!!  But it is definitely still hard to understand and be in a conversation, but its coming!

Today Elder Garcia told us about a big change in the Tarlac Zone, and it is the best thing ever!!  He and President Clark came up with a bunch of ideas for us to magnify as the Tarlac Zone, and I am so excited for it!! The goal is to by February to have weekly baptisms for every companionships! Meaning 11 companionships, and 44 baptisms in one month!  It seems a little crazy but I believe it can happen!!!  I'm PUMPED for it all!

Have a great week!! Please make the best out every situation, it is always the way to go!!!

Also remember always, keep a smile on your face:)  

LOVE YA'LL!!!

Elder Alldredge

District Pic

Home Evening games

Home Evening object lession

Elder Alldredge

FAM!!!

This week has been a great week with a highlight of MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!  Ronald and Romel were baptized on Saturday and confirmed on Sunday.  Oh man, they are so cool!  I was able to baptize both of them, and I did it in Tagalog!!  On Saturday morning Elder Lastierre told me that it would be cool if I did it in Tagalog, so I memorized it and did it without messing up…Thankfully;)  They really fit right in with the YSA’s in our branch so it is perfect! 

The Gudoy twins are progressing and they have helped us to find and teach their cousins!  Rosemary and  Katrina, the Gudoy’s cousins, are doing super good also.  Katrina is really like perfect for the church!!  Holy she is amazing!  She came to church and the baptism, she is already past 1^st Nephi 17 in less than a week, and her testimony is growing a TON!!!  The only problem is that she is not married so if we can get her going on that then she will be ready!  Also she has a daughter who’s name is Karen, and she is literally my favorite sister I have met!!  She is so funny, and always smiling, its hilarious!  Also she is 2 years old;)  And every time we go over there she runs up to me, says ELDER!  And sticks out her little hand and shakes every ones hand that is there.   Also she cannot say her k’s so one time she was showing us a picture of herself and then we asked “sino ito?”  (who is this?)  And she would say “ATU” even though its supposed to be ako for (me/I)  and it is so hilarious!! 

So while all of you were feasting away with Thanksgiving;)   I spent Thanksgiving night teaching and luckily the Gudoy’s fed us spaghetti!!! So it was a glorious Thanksgiving!!

It has been raining and it got a little bit less hot lately, and basically everyone here is freaking out saying how cold it is!!  Because its going into winter here in the Philippines.   It is so funny, because they literally have no clue about the cold! 

Last Monday night we had Family Home Evening at the church.  Me and Elder Lastierre planned it and invited the YSA’s and youth.  It was seriously so much fun!  After an object lesson from Elder Lastierre, we played games, and let me tell you Filipinos are hilarious to watch when they play gamesJ  So their favorite thing about these games is when the person who messes up gets lipstick drawn on their face.  They all freak out and die laughing everytime, its so funny!!!  So yes I may have had lipstick drawn on my face a few times;)

Well this week was so fun!  It was good to finally see a baptism come out of 2 great guys!!  

Make sure to have a great week, keep smiling, keep sharing the gospel, keep serving, keep doing good!!

Also NEVER SUPPRESS A GENEROUS THOUGHT!!! this is probs my favorite quote.

LOVE YA'LL!!!!

Elder Alldredge

Elder Lastierre, Romel, Ronald, Elder Alldredge

Romel and Ronald's Baptism!

Home evening with the YSA's

Baptism group

Cool guys getting baptized!

Baptismal service

Cutting down coconuts

Enjoying the fruit of their labors!

3 Zone Conference

Zone Elder's Choir?

Zone Conference meal

Kumusta?!?!?

Yo this week has been sobrang mabuti!! We were really able to focus on our investigators that are progressing and help them out.  Ronald DeGuzman and Romel Lorenzo passed their Baptismal Interviews! So they will be baptized this coming Saturday, oh man we are so PUMPED!! They are also so excited, everyday they tell me how many days until the Baptism, so the countdown is on:)  They have come so far and they really are so ready to be baptized!  

Mary Fey and Mary Joyce, the twins, are progressing and are doing so good!  They went to the stake young women's activity on friday and they apparently had the time of their lives!  So they are usually so shy, and hardly ever speak, so getting them to go was an accomplishment.  Then they brought their non-member cousin Rose Mary (hahaha I just realized, that's a lot of mary;)  Anyways well they had so much fun at the activity, and according to the young women, they were crazy and the life of the party!  So major major improvements!! It really is so good to see them gain so many friends in the church, and to be happy while they are here.  Also we are now teaching Rose Mary as well, so BOO YAA!!!

This week we had 90 members at church and we had 7 investigators, NEW RECORD!!! Again!!  So we got to 7 because of Loui Bernan.  This guy is the funniest guy I have ever met!  He is a little bit off, but just as nice as you can get. And he came to church even though we haven't taught him yet!!  Also he is the one who stopped us to introduce himself, right before he sang at the Friday night LaPaz town party thing.  That was hilarious!!! So obviously we usually don't really go near there, but since one of our investigators was singing in it, we went to watch and compliment him.  And it was one of the funniest things that I have ever seen!  He got into it so much, and he was actually pretty good!  But hopefully he is accepting when we teach him!! 

We had my very first Zone Conference and that was such a fun and inspiring day!!  I got to see my MTC friends, and talk to them at lunch.  Which btw was sobrang MASARAP!! It's always nice to be cooked for:)  So we had a bunch of workshops from the AP's, the STL's, and President and Sister Clark.  They talked a lot about setting our expectations high, higher than now to improve and become better missionaries.  I loved every minute of the conference and I was so sad when it was over.  President Clark is such an inspired man and he has big things planned for our mission, and I'm pumped to be a part of it!!

I also went on exchanges with Elder Eppich this week, and it was super fun to be with an American for a day!  Also this week I ate a RAT!!! It was spicy and I didn't enjoy it, but i did it!! So thats what matters:)  

Well thanks for all the emails!! I love you all!

Have a fantastic week! Smile lots:)

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

Rat!  That's disgusting

Young single adults

On our way to Victoria for a baptismal interview with Brother Pogz

Cleaning up the outside of our house with some YSA's YO!!!

More cleanup

This week has been a long week, but still a good week!   We had no workers for 3 days in the afternoon so we couldn’t teach most all of our investigators and appointments, because they are mostly all sisters.  So we walked and walked and walked and walkedJ   One time we walked out way in the bukid to the Gagar family which was maybe 3 miles each way!!! But we ended up not being able to teach anyways, because again we didn’t have priesthood so we couldn’t teach just sisters…  But walking through the trees, dirt paths, and bukid was sobrang maganda!!  Meaning everything was beautiful!  This was more of the Philippines that I expected when I opened up my call, not really what LaPaz looks like.  The wooden bamboo houses in the trees and everything like that, so it was super cool to see that, finally!!!

Our investigators are progressing so well and we had 6 of them at church!!!!!  Oh my you have no idea how happy we were to see them all at church!!  So Ronald and Romel are still doing so good, and they are now just preparing for baptism.  They both told me they are so excited to become a member and to be baptized.  They love all the friends that the church has provided, which is like the best thing ever!!  Everyone needs a friend in the church to stay strong, and they have about 10-15 YSA’s to help them out!! 

Also Mary Joyce and Mary Fey the twins are doing awesome as well!  They came to church again and are reading and praying every day.  We watched the First Vision 15 minute version with them in Tagalog, that was a cool experience.  But the Tagalog version just doesn’t compare to English, even the Filipinos admit it is not as good as it is in English.  That was on their birthday, so they fed us also!!!  They had some rice cake thing with a whole lot of pansit.  So Elder Lastierre kept telling them oh, pansit is Elder Alldredge’s favorite thing ever!!! Pansit is like small noodles mixed with vegetables, and it is pretty good but for sure not my favorite.  But because my kasama said it was I had to show them I liked it so I just kept eating…  And eating…  I ended after my 5^th plate and they thought it was pretty hilarious that I liked it so much.  So I guess I did my part in making them feel good about their cooking;)

We also have two new solid investigators this week.  One of them is Revson Gomez, and we found him OYMing(Open Your Mouth)and he has already been taught all the lessons but for some reason he didn’t get baptized. So he already knows basically everything that we teach him!  It’s the best!!! Also Bernie, one of the YSA’s that work with us a lot gave us a referral which was his cousin.  And she is so good, so willing to listen and learn so hopefully she keeps up the good work!!

I am doing ok on the language even though there are no big improvements that I can see, it is ok because I know it will come!!!

Well thanks for all the emails!!  Have a great HAPPY WEEK!!!  

LOVE Y’ALL!!!  

Elder Alldredge

Zone activity - Dodge ball

Out in the Bukid!  Boo Yah!

The twins birthday party!

The Philippines!

Family and Friends!!!

Kumusta Lahat?!?  This week was a great week and I learned a ton!! I also hit my 3 month mark… CRAZY!!! So our investigators that we have are doing good, even though we don’t have very many. 

But Ronald and Romel are doing so good!  So they had a Word of Wisdom problem right?  They smoked and drank coffee and tea.  But as of today they are about 10 days without any of it!!  This is amazing to me!  I really know that prayers work, we pray for them every day several times, because these two really will be amazing members of the church, and hopefully missionaries in the coming yearsJ  Yesterday they texted us and told us that their mom and grandma are so happy because they have stopped smoking!  They also promised to finish what they have started, which means they have their eyes set on baptism, which is SO GOOD!!!

Also the twins Mary Fey and Mary Joyce Gudoy are doing amazing as well!!  They are reading the Book of Mormon, praying, and they even came to Sacrament meeting on Sunday!  We were so excited to see them at church it’s not even funny.  They are so shy so we knew this would be the hardest thing for them, and they said next week they would go to all 3 hours of church, so they are doing great!!

We also met a guy from France who is staying here for 3 weeks with his Filipino wife.  He spoke little English so we did our best to communicate with him.  We tried to teach him lesson one but he kept saying in his broken English that it is impossible for him to believe in God.  But his wife was very kind and accepted the BoM and said she would read it, so that was cool!  Also is was super sweet to hear them talk in French to each other!! 

Also November 1^st was absolutely insane, there was so many people because we live near the cemetery.  We even had a lock down at 6:00 because so many people would be outside, and you never know what could happen so we were in our house by 6.  

So every night I have been having Missionary Dreams!!  And sometimes I talk in my sleep while teaching or talking to someone in my dream.  One night Elder Lastierre woke me up because I was sitting up in bed and I had said Salamat Po!! And Ingat Po!! Which means thank you and take care…  And I said it very loud so it woke my companion up.  He told me about what happened and we were dying for like 10 minutes at like 2:00 in the morning, it was hilarious:)  #MISSIONARY MODE

Well LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!

Thanks for the emails, and have a fantastic week!!!

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

Hello from the other side... of the world!!!

This week has been a big growing week for me, I feel like I have learned more from my personal study and my companion than any other week.  I was able to give the workshop in District Meeting so I did some extra study to prepare.  I am getting the hang of this missionary thing and this week I start taking the lead in planning along with the lessons as well.  More responsibilities for me because I am officially over halfway through my training!!  Transfer announcements were exciting even though nothing happened to me of course.

This week Ronald and Romel continued to progress.  But we taught the Word of Wisdom and this is their problem.  We are trying to encourage them everyday, and we have the YSA's texting them every morning reminding them to obey the WoW  and they are improving but hopefully this week they stop all together!!

We taught Brian and Lener in the car wash last night and we committed them to be baptized, and they accepted.  So the problem with Filipinos is that they will commit just to make you feel good, or they will commit and hide, because they don't want to tell you straight up that they really don't want to be baptized.  But I really hope that these two will follow through!  I feel like they are kind of the bad boys in town, but they are super nice to us, so thats cool:) 

I went on exchanges with Elder Eppich this week and it was fun to be with an American for a day.  He goes home next transfer along with my companion, so he had lots of advice for me to soak up.  We had so much success in finding that day!  We had 10 new investigators, and we had 38 OYM's.  Which were both my highest in my mission so far.  I know numbers don't mean a thing(Best Two Years;);), but I enjoyed the success of that!

At church on Sunday the Primary President came up to me and said " You are American so you should know the tune of this Primary song, will you sing it for the Primary kids?"  Hahahaha it was pretty hilarious:)  But I went in and sang "Search, Ponder, and Pray" to the Primary kids.  Also last week we caught spiders and they fought... to the death!  So the big spiders here are harmless to humans and they don't bite hardly ever so I see people playing with them all the time.  So we had our own Spider Fight:) 

Oh and this morning we woke up early to go play volleyball at the church with the YSA's.  So the volleyball in the MTC was so good, but the volleyball here is literally the worst.  It is still hilarious to watch, and every once in a while I would get a good set to spike.  But most of the time everyone is just laughing because no one can hit the ball:) 

Thanks again for all of your letters, I LOVE THEM!!!

Missionary work is hard but fun!  

Have a fantastic week!!!

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

Cool truck we found!

The District

More cool sunsets

I like this house!

Little chick!

Yes I did eat it all!

Way to embrace the culture!  Yuck

Magandang Araw Po!!!

This week was another crazy week in the Philippines!  First off, right after I finished emailing last week, we were waiting for a Jeepnee to pick us up and take us home, but there were absolutely no Jeepnee's going through at that time, so we were standing on the side of the road, in the rain for 1 1/2 hours!!  Finally we decided to call the Office Elders to come rescue us and luckily they were fairly close so they came and picked us up.  So you know how I said the road road overflowed and there was a lot of water.  Well that was nothing!  On our way back through the water was probably 2 feet deep in certain places and it was literally a river going straight across the road!!  They had to open up the dam because there is so much water so all the water goes straight to LaPaz:)  We thought we were going to float away, seriously that was pretty scary!  But we finally made it through and decided that we should not sleep at our house just in case it floods, so we slept in Tarlac at the AP's house.

After another night back home the next wave of the Typhoon was going to hit, so we were evacuated out of LaPaz for safety precautions, again...  But this time it was for 2 days!!  So we slept at the Zone Leaders house.  I went on splits one day with the Zone Leaders and one day with the AP's.  And apparently I am the first trainee to go on splits with the AP's in our mission so that's also super cool!  So after the two days we got to come back to LaPaz to still find a flood.  LaPaz is literally the worst flooding city in our mission, which is crazy cuz there are some pretty bad ones. Also even up till now there is still a flood on the far side of the road, so we can't teach 2 of our investigators.  So as you can tell we haven't had much time to work in LaPaz so this week we are really trying to push to get back on track!

This week Ronald and Romel came to church, and they said they really enjoyed it and would for sure be coming back again next Sunday!!  It helps to also have really good young single adults that are their close friends as well.  Also this morning we played basketball at the church with the Zaragoza Elder's and a bunch of the YSA's.  It was super fun, even though we were all drenched with sweat at 6:30 in the morning;)  There is the Philippines for ya...;)

We also taught a lady in only candle light this past week.  It was seriously the coolest/weirdest thing ever!  I couldn't even read the verse out of my Aklat ni Mormon because it was so dark.  We sat in a circle around the candle, it was pretty legit!  One of the ladies we taught this week recorded our lesson on her phone, secretly she thought.  She was very hard to teach because she had lots of comebacks and questions.  But I hope she shows her pastor that recording because I know that all of what we said about the gospel is true, and it always will be!  We also saw two guys handcuffed get taken to the police station, so that was interesting:)

Transfer day is this week!  Nothing will most likely happen to me, but our zone will change a lot because there is quite a few departing missionaries.  My first transfer in the field is basically over... Halfway done with training!! BOO YAA!!!

Well have a great week!!  Thanks for all the letters! Don't forget to smile this week:):):)

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

Splits with the AP's

Flooded 7-11 in LaPaz

Flooded streets after the Typhoon

More flooding

Out with the AP's

Washing clothes