Whoa what a week!!

Dear family;
Wag Wan, that is Jamaican for what’s up brother. Dad thanks for the incites from stake conference, what you all were is so true and what we are placing an emphasis on that as well only finding through the Less Active’s and Part Member families. A new map hum let’s wait on that one and I will check on the pins that we have. Love you so much dad your such a great example to me and help me to push and be a better person, I am so grateful for all the hard work you made me do it has been a great blessing as a missionary, you taught me a lot and I thank you for that. Have a great week, good luck with your studies!
Ah wow! I don’t even know where to start from this last week, it has been one of the craziest weeks ever as a missionary and some of the experiences we had I will never forget. I hope that’s a good thing.... We met a lot of great people and have had some very spiritual experiences with some less active members and some part-member families and new investigators, also some very strange and sad experiences. There was a mom and son we were teaching, that the elders before us found and were teaching, that just don’t get it, she said she knows the Book of Mormon is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet, but yet she wants to return to her old church that rejects those very things that she has come to know to be true. I was shocked and stunned, the only thing I knew to do was to boldly declare the truth and tell her the consequences of those actions. I will be forever lost and confused with people when they feel the truth and see it and understand it but neglect to allow it to change their lives. I feel this is the thing keeping people from becoming 'rooted' in the gospel as Alma teaches the Apostates the Zoramites, that it is not because the word or seed is not good but because they neglected to just do the simple things to nourish it. On a happier note we met some less actives and part members that no one had been able to contact for a long time and both of them are amazing, but it is going to take a great deal of effort from us and them to receive that which they truly want. The mom who did not join the church but allowed her son to join, then stopped him from going because she got into some anti church rubbish. We sat and talked and it was amazing, I felt the spirit so strong as we just testified of the most simple of truths and how we must believe, we must show faith. Elder Foong gave a great example to her and how in life a lot of people are just coasting along and letting life make them what it wants to make of them, but to achieve and gain greater heights we must go above and beyond what we are expected to do. These people are the ones that receive that eternal reward and can be there and help them right now, today.
So that was that and it was a great week. Sunday at church was amazing, so many good talks and lessons, I really learned a lot and then coming to the afternoon we had a teach with this lady from Ghana and her friend, they were going to teach us how to make fu fu with peanut soup. Wow it was nuts, the story must be told in person and have witness there because it was insane. This lady was a mad women, we sat down in her place and she said the food was ready and we said we wanted to bless it and the was the start of all the craziness, she jumped up and started shouting and praying all crazy and then about 5 min later I prayed and the food was brought in, she was telling us how to eat it and treating us like babies, and her friend told her to stop and it was crazy, a few of the people didn’t speak good English so we didn’t know what was happening, then I used the wrong hand twice to put the fu fu in and she yelled at me and I tried not to laugh and she not trying to hurt me bit my fingers so I wouldn’t do it again. At this point we were all laughing and the member was cracking up too, so we finished the food and got out in a hurry. We found out that the lady was a little drunk and what not but wow it was crazy and funny and a lifelong lasting experience. Anyway on a different note ''Worse than a quitter is the one who is afraid to begin'' We all must begin each day with a positive attitude and look for the light in a day that might have some darkness and especially in a world filled with darkness. As we find the light, then we must be that light to others, just like a yawn is contagious, so is joy and happiness! That is what this gospel is all about, understanding that the atonement is the greatest act of love and makes us make right decisions so we are full of joy and happiness. This can only come from the fullness of truth, which has so lovingly been restored by our Father in Heaven with so many witnesses for us to feel and read and see. Test it, try it, prove it, God does not lie:) I love this work his work and it is becoming a part of me, I know it is true now more than ever and this is only due to the small things day after day. I love you all, thanks for all the support and love and kindness, you all are the best Mom, dad, Kyle and Ashlee, Heather and the kids! I love you, always remember that! Have a great week and do something to lighten the load of another this week!!

Much Love
Elder Garren Allred