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