Hello and Happy MONDAY:)

This week has been a rock solid week, and a super busy week!! Me and my companion are really trying to help our investigators and to find new ones this week. This was our goal this week, to find more people to teach, and help come unto Christ. And it really worked!! We OYM'd a bunch or in other words we introduced ourselves to a TON of people, and we were able to find 10 New Investigators to teach this week!! So it was a huge success, and now we are working help them pray about the things we taught them, so hopefully more progression in their testimony happens this week!!  

We had a new record again for church attendance at 55!! BOO YAA:)  We are trying to help the members get more excited about church, so we are holding Family Home Evening at Members houses and then inviting Investigators, Less Actives and whoever can come.  It was a really good time last week, and we probably had almost 20 people there.  

Also on Sunday I gave a Talk in Sacrament meeting for the first time in my whole mission!! It was about the simple basic things that we are always reminded to do, but sometimes we still forget to do them!  I also taught the Gospel Essentials class for all of the Investigators and Recent Converts, and then in Sacrament Meeting I played the piano.  So as you can tell, the missionaries in the Maria Aurora branch are relied on very heavily to help the branch out. But it is super fun and the members are awesome!!  Also it helps my Tagalog out a lot when I have to use it so much, so there is another perk to it;)

Last P-day I went to the BIGGEST TREE IN ASIA!!! The Balete tree, and lets just say it was a big tree:)  We were able to go inside it and take some pics so it was fun!!  So there is lots of super cool things to do on P-day here in Maria Aurora, so hopefully I'll have some cool things like this every week:)  

And I saw another American... he was a Caribou:) hahaha it is a famous caribou, because it is like the only white one ever!! I'll send you a pic of it next week.

It has rained a bunch here in Maria Aurora and apparently it is like that just about every week, because we are near to the ocean.  But don't worry mom I still have my umbrella;);););)

Its been a great week here in Maria Aurora, I hope ya'll had a good one too!!

Thanks for the all the emails!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!! 

Elder Alldredge

The Balete Tree!  The biggest tree in Asia!

Balete tree

Inside the Balete tree

Balete tree

Millennium Tree

Elder Alldredge and Elder Dolotina

FHE in Maria Aurora!

KUMUSTA SA INYO LAHAT!??!?!?

So this week has been a pretty normal week and not much happened...  Except that I was transferred, to MARIA AURORA, BALER!!!!! Like what in the world?? I never ever thought that I would get assigned here, it seriously is SO BEAUTIFUL here!!! Everything is so green and there are a bunch of mountains and rivers, its awesome! I have yet to go to see the beach, maybe next P-day hopefully:) 

So on Wednesday I learned that I would be transferred so I was able to say my goodbyes to the members and investigators in Vargas.  Oh man I learned so much in that area, and it was such a good time with some amazing people there!! But the ward in Vargas usually had around 170-180 members at church, and now here in Maria Aurora on Sunday we had a HUGE 53!!! And I'm not kidding about the huge, because this was the biggest church attendance they have had in many months.  So lets just say I will be playing a lot bigger role to help the branch function on Sundays especially.

But the members here are so nice, and I am so excited to serve here!!  Also the members here are very supportive of the missionaries, which is so great!  My first day here we had a one day mission, and over 20 people came and we went on splits and visited a bunch of less actives and other members.  We had good success which is why the church attendance was high on Sunday.  But we are going to keep that number going up!!! That's the goal:)

My companions name is Elder Dolotina and he is a super awesome hard working Elder!! He is 25 years old and he is from Antique, Iloilo, Philippines.  I am his follow up trainer and I am so pumped to do some WORK here in Maria Aurora!!!

One awesome thing that happened was we got OYM'd by a lady, in other words, a lady came up to us and straight up asked "can I have that book from your church?" So of course we were so pumped to give her one, and hopefully this week she will keep that desire to learn more about the church!!

So anyways its been an AWESOME week!!!

I am so excited for this area, and with my new companion!!

Thanks for all the emails and the prayers:)

Have a great week, and SMILE ALWAYS!! Its just more fun that way:)

LOVE YA'LL!!!

Elder Alldredge

The Madriaga Family!!

Joanne Jennifer Catherine and Rowela

Workers in Maria Aurora - meeting for splits I think

Elder Dolotina and Elder Alldredge

On splits finding people to invite to church

Great member missionaries!

Baler apartment!

Maria Aurora, Baler

Splits with members!

Apartment on 2nd floor

Magandang Araw sa Inyo!!!

So this week has been a fantastic week!  With a highlight of General Conference!!!  One thing I really noticed is how much love Thomas S. Monson received from almost every single speaker!  This truly testified to me again that he really is a Prophet of God!! He needs our prayers because he is the Living Prophet of the Earth today!  And his talks were so Powerful!!!  I loved his first talk and the focus on charity, love, and kindness to others, something that I definitely am working on!! 

But my very favorite talk was Ronald A Rasband.  This talk hit me like a BRICK WALL!!! So apparently I have lots of work to do in becoming better at listening to the promptings of the Spirit!  So now that is my goal, to become a First Prompting Responder to the Spirit!!

One of our Investigators, Princess Bacaro, is really doing well and she is preparing for her baptismal interview this weekend.  She is only 9 years old, but she reads every day and has such sincere prayers!!  She went to General Conference and she said that is was super cool!  Even though it was in English, so idk how much she understood;)  But she enjoyed it anyways!!

So I just realized I haven't really told anything weird about the Philippines in a while, so my bad!;)  I have just gotten used to most everything here, so I don't notice things very much anymore, but i'll work on that so you can hear some of the things that happen here.  But one quick thing is that I get called Joe all the time!!! its cuz i'm white:)  But usually these people don't really want to talk after that say that:) I have tried OYMing them many times, haha its hilarious!! They get very scared, hahaha!!!

So my favorite 2 quotes from General Conference 

1. "Come as we are, but don't plan to stay as we are" -Elder Holland

2. "Our progress is the Lord's work" -Elder Eyring

I just noticed they are both about improving. Something that is needed literally everyday of our life!!! We must be progressing or we are moving back!! But I love that this is what the Lord wants for us as well, and he is willing to help us do it!

So its been a good week, as you can tell I LOVE GENERAL CONFERENCE:)

Have a great week!!! Thanks for all the emails!

LOVE Y'ALL!!

Elder Alldredge

KUMUSTA FAM?!?!?

So this week has been an UNFORGETTABLE AWESOME WEEK!!!  So many fun things happened, and it was so much fun!  

So first off the biggest and most important thing that happened is that Joanne and Jennifer were BAPTIZED on Saturday!!! They really have changed and are rock solid in the church!  They have a bunch of really active friends in the church so they are in good hands:)  But the baptism was so special!! They were so nervous for some reason before the baptism, but after they couldn't stop smiling, it was AMAZING!!!

Also this past week was my 19th Birthday!!!  And let me tell you, right here in Vargas is the place to celebrate a birthday:)  We had a Family Home Evening at one of the members house and they invited basically all the YSA's and fun people:)  I gave the object lesson and then afterwards we had a BOODLE FIGHT!!!  It seriously was so much fun!! The people here go crazy when there is a bunch of food in front of them and no utensils to use;)  But anyways, my birthday was a good time, and Thank you for all the Birthday Wishes!!!

We had Zone Conference on Friday and it was so inspiring and I really have so much to work on... its not even funny:) but I'm so thankful for the ideas and encouragement to improve and become a more consecrated missionary.  That is our theme this year as a mission, Consecration.  So President talked about becoming a Consecrated Mission, and the miracles that could happen if we did it, but of course it starts in the companionship.  So that was a great boost to continue to become better!!!

Also we are reading the Book of Mormon as a mission.  We started back in January but I finished a little while ago, and it really was such an amazing experience!! We marked all about Jesus Christ.  His attributes, and any references to Jesus Christ.  And it is amazing, this book really is another testament of Jesus Christ!!!  And I LOVE THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!  So this is something maybe you can try, marking all about Jesus, it is a for sure testimony builder!!!

Also my favorite quote from President Clark at Zone Conference was "Don't expect to change in great ways if you are not willing to do great things."  SO GOOD RIGHT???  

So as you can tell this week was pretty AWESOME!!!

Sorry for capitalizing so many words;)  hahah i was a little excited:)

Thanks for all the emails!!! 

LOVE YOU!!! 

And keep smiling:)

Elder Alldredge

Jennifer & Joanne's Baptism

Birthday games for Kyle!

Party time!

Boodle Fight ready!

Boodle Fight!

Kabahay Baptisms!

Great YSA Support for Jennifer and Joanne!

Magandang araw sa inyo lahat!!!

This week has been a great week!  Our investigators are doing well as we had 4 at church on Sunday! But there  was a little let down because 3 different ones that said they would go to church didn't come, so hopefully next week!!! 

But Joanne and Jennifer have been progressing so well, and we have been teaching them a lot, and helping them to be ready for their interview last saturday, and they passed their baptismal interviews!!!  So they will be baptized on Saturday!! This is so exciting, because they are so ready and are pumped for saturday!  

I was also able to baptize a little girl in our ward this week, Hannah Grande.  She is such a funny little 8 year old girl, that I used to teach sometimes when we had all of Vargas to ourselves.  So she knows me and not the other Elders very well, so I got to baptize her!!

We had Family Home Evening at the Bermudez home last monday, and they were sealed in the temple on Wednesday!!!  They were so excited to finally be sealed because they waited the 1 year after their baptism for this!  They have two little kids Jaylord and Ashley and they are the funniest kids ever, they always scream "ELDER ALLDREDGE!!!"  Whenever we pass by their house, that always makes my day:)  But anyways they were all smiles after they got back on Wednesday from the Temple, and this is what the Gospel can do!! It helps families to become Eternal Families!!! And where in the world could you find something more happy than that?? It amazes me, and I am so thankful for it!!

We played basketball this morning with some members in our ward, and it is so much fun, just laughing the whole entire time:) hahah I guess thats just the Filipino way!!!

One quote I heard this week that I love!

"The busy man makes a way to serve, while the non-busy man makes excuses not to."  

Just some food for thought that has really stuck with me this past week!!

Well I love you all!!!

Have a fantastic week! 

Keep smiling:):):):):):):):):)

LOVE, Elder Alldredge

Baptism of Hanna Grande

Hanna Grande - 8 years old

Dinner & FHE at the Bermudez home

Shirt and bag from Baguio.  Brother Barcelonia gave them to Kyle in honor of his Mom and her mission in Bagiou

Hello to everyone!!!

Especially to my brand new baby niece BROOKLYN!!!  AND NOW I'M AN UNCLE:) Now that's just plain awesome!!! haha She is ADORABLE!!

Ok as you can tell i'm just a little bit pumped;) 

So this week has been a pretty awesome week!  We had Ward Conference here in Vargas and we had the very most members at church by far, 232!!! BOO YAA!!!  That was super cool to see, so many members, so hopefully they will keep that up and keep coming to church!!!  We also had a huge lunch after ward conference at Bishop's house with so much food! And you probably guessed it... it was RICE:) hahaha always!!  But they had a bunch of different "ulam" or "food you put on rice," is the english form of that:)

This past week we had interviews with President, at our house!! So you'd better believe that our house was shining when they came;)  We were so ready to impress them with our house, and it WORKED!!! hahahah:)  Interviews with President are seriously the BEST!! I learned so much and realized so many things that I can do to improve as a missionary!

We had another man in our ward pass away this past week, so we had another funeral service on Sunday.  They are seriously so spiritual with all the hymns sang, and the testimonies born.  Especially about the Plan of Salvation and how Families can be Together Forever, it was a neat experience!

So it was St. Patricks day on Friday in America right??  Well here literally no one has any clue about what it is... So I tried to explain it to a bunch of Filipinos in Tagalog and it totally didn't work at all:)  They all thought it was the weirdest and most pointless holiday ever!  And I might have to agree with them;)  But its fun, and a different day, so that makes it awesome!!!  But anyways what my kabahay got out of it was just pinching, hahahaa:) basically no matter what, even if they do have green;) 

So I hope ya'll had an amazing week!! 

And have one again next week, with lots of smiles:)

LOVE YA'LL!!!

Elder Alldredge

Home visits and interviews with President & Sister Clark

Sister Clark sent this to us this morning to show that he still has his Christmas tree up!

Kumusta sa Inyong Lahat!!!

This week has been a roller coaster of a week!  Lots of super encouraging things happened like Ward Council, and the willingness and anxiousness of the ward to help us out.  And also some struggles with investigators and less actives and stuff.  But HEY its all good!!  I have some plans for this next week to hopefully really improve our area, so we will see how that goes:)

Yesterday after Ward Council we went to one of our investigators, Nanay Ingasalo, and we had such a cool experience!!  So nanay had a stroke like 5 years ago, and she has a really hard time walking and she basically never leaves the house, so that is really sad.  But we brought some members to her house and we shared to her with her husband.(he is a very active member)  So all along nanay has told us that she is not able to leave the house. But while we were just talking before the lesson nanay said "I really want to go to the church" then we asked "what church?" she said "the Mormons..."  So now we know that there is a desire to go and we are working out in finding a way to get her there.  Apparently one of the members has a wheelchair that no one is using so hopefully we can use that and just come and pick her up and take her to church!!!! So then we shared and the Spirit was so strong, and it was so cool to be able to just testify to her that it was the Spirit that was there, letting us all know that this is the truth.  AAHHH It was SO AWESOME!!!

I realized this past week that fans are literally my best friend.  I dont think that I could live without them here in the Philippines;)  We had a brown out this past week, meaning no water or electricity for most of one day, and let me tell you, studies were rough that day:)  Hahaha but we had electricity by night time, so we didn't have to go candle style... yet;)

Joanne and Jennifer are still progressing and doing very well! They have gone to church 4 times now and are doing so good!! Their baptism is coming right up!! APRIL 1ST!!! BOO YAA!!! They are very excited, and we are doing our best to help them be ready.

We have gone jogging and played some basketball this week in the mornings, and it is the best!!  My kabahay is good at basketball so we have some really fun games:)  

Have a fantastic week!!  Keep smiling:)

Thanks for the emails and prayers!!

LOVE Y'ALL!!

Elder Alldredge

Rice drying on the road.  This happens quite a bit :)

Basketball early in the morning :)