hey hey fam.

Well this week has been super busy crazy but good. :) We were able to visit a lot of members this week which was sooo good and much needed! I love good members and how they help uplift me! So never hesitate to invite the missionaries over to share a message with the family!! And always keep praying for opportunities to share the gospel and if you feel prompted, refer them to the missionaries!!!! :) 

Guess what, I've been out 8 months.. woot woot. Anyways this past week we got to go to the Kenmore and Enoggera area near the city and go on tradeoffs with the sisters there! It was really fun! I went with sister Pangilinan from the Philipines and she is awesome! I sure love getting to know all these different sisters!

Also we have p-day on Thursday next week because we get to go to the temple!!!!!!!!! I ammm sooooooo exxxxcccciteeeedddd!!!!! its been ages since I have been.. and its much needed right now! :D ahhh I just love them temple! yall don't know how lucky we are to live in Utah so close to the temple that we can go all the time! take advantage of it! Nothing is more rewarding or uplifting than spending time in the house of the Lord!

Well I love youuu! sooo much! and I hope you have the best week ever! and the best way to do that is to be a missionary! :D

Sorry this is soo short and doesn't have much info..but I will try to type faster next week because this time limit goes too fast. :) hahah

LOVE YOUU!!!!!!!

love, Sister Alldredge

By the Ocean

Breanna, Sister Pangilinan, Sister Enero, Sister Bowen, Sister James

Stuffed Koala from some little museum

Sea cow - tastes like steak! :-)

Wooh another crazy week! ahahahaha but time just seems to fly!! We are already to week 4 in the transfer! so crazy!! We have been driving around picking sisters up from the airport, dropping them off at the mission tour, taking them to the airport, picking up new sisters... its all been real busy! haha we figured out that one day I was driving for over 4 hours and over 10 for the whole week. it was a lot. I was completely exhausted by the end of the week but its all good! what a blessing it is to have sunday and to be able to partake of the sacrament and get that boost for the next week! :)

But this past week we were soo blessed to have Elder Haleck and his wife come for mission tour. It was such a great uplifting experience! I received heaps of revelation and being and learning for him and from president Henderson was so good! and at the end they were doing this question and answer thing, and this sister stood up and asked through tears, "what does it feel like and what do you do when your stake president releases you as a missionary?" oh man. that just got me. The mission is hard. it is soo hard but even thinking about leaving and not being able to wear the badge or be with my companion anymore was such a difficult and sad thing to think about. I don't not want to leave!!!! and so I am very grateful I have quite a lot of time left because even though the mission is hard, it is sooo worth it!! I can't even describe it, it is just something you have to experience. But when she said that, I looked at my mission president and him and his wife both teared up because they are going home so soon. I will be soo sad to see them go but I am excited for the new mission president and his wife and to hear their ideas and revelation that they have that will lift this mission to greater heights!!

also to answer moms question.. it is still pretty hot here but for meetings like mission tour we have to wear cardigans and the elders have to wear suits. :)

we also found out that elder Andersen of the 12 apostles and elder robbins are coming to our mission in may!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! soooo pumped!!!!!

im so sorry that this email is all over the place.. today has been a crazy day because we had short interviews with president this morning and they came and inspected our flat and also our time to email is so limited.. hahaah so sad, but all goods. :) LOVE YOU FAMILY!!!!

love, sister Alldredge

The District

Birthday & Valentines cards from home

Chasing the kangaroos!

Trade offs with her old companion and her new golden.

Sister Enero with Breanna Birthday cake!

Birthday presents from home

Hanging out by the lake reading on P-Day

Sister Kunz - MTC Companion

Sister Yee

Sister Enero, Sister James, Sister Alldredge

Valentines Roses

Hello family! :) I hope you have all had a great week and that you are enjoying the cold weather now that its February! Hopefully it will start getting warmer there for yall. :) I remember the last couple years around February time was when me, joci and Jake were shoveling the snow off the roof so we could "tan" in the 50 degree weather. hahahah good times! :)

But guess what.. I'm not longer a teenager... woot woot! the big 2-0. :) haha it doesn't really feel like my birthday though, but all goods! :) It has been fun to have sister enero's birthday yesterday and mine today! I sure do love her and man, I don't know what I would do without her right now! This area has been pretty tough and so it has been such a blessing to be able to always have fun and to find the good with Sister Enero! She is very good at that!! But if you have any suggestions of how we can help strengthen and unify our ward here and help them to have a desire to share the gospel, we would LOVE to hear some ideas! There are some amazing people in the ward but it has been tough! :) Don't you just love the grind?! Uhh I love it! :D

I don't have too much to tell about this past week but we were able to go on tradeoffs because the sisters are down from cairns for mission tour, so that was fun! Sister Enero went with Sister Cashman and I went with Sister Evans, a new golden who is the best teacher I have ever seen. I learned soo much from her! So that's one thing that I love about being an STL, you get to learn so much from others and get to meet more people!

One miracle that we did have this week.... We were following up with a investigator and when we went to knock on her door, we looked inside and saw pictures of the prophet and church things all over the walls, we were like, "what the?.. does a member live here?" Then when she opened the door, she was like, "ahhh the angels are here!!!! " And then she told us how she is a "dry Mormon", has been going to church for like 20 years and knows its all true but just hasn't ever been baptized. So she is pretty golden! And so is her son who also wants to be baptized but just didn't get baptized before because the bishop wouldn't let him because he didn't know enough so we are very excited to work with them and to help her make the changes in her life that she so badly wants to do!

But I am so grateful for all of you! And Thanks for the birthday wishes and the presents! I loved them! :D haha It was so fun to open them this morning! But please please please continue to pray for me, we are in need of it right now! :) But don't worry, I am still so happy and finding so much joy in this work! And I just love being a missionary! But man, it is hard. hard hard work. So you just got to keep pushing through the grind so we can be refined!!! And how worth it that is! :)

I love you so much, and I love my savior!! Have a great week!

love, Sister Alldredge

ps. im so sorry but I left my camera reader thing at home so I can't send you pics today. :( sorry! im so sad that you don't get to see me on my birthday but I will send you the pics next week! LOOOVE YOUUUU!!

Kumusta? Hey Hey guess what month it is?! FEB! (everyone in Australia just says feb) That means its my birthday month! wooooh a whole month all about me.. hahah jokes! But Something that is super cool is that sister enero's birthday is on the 7th of feb so we are going to party together. :)

But this past week was awesome! I have learned so much already and man, north pine is soo different from cairns. Like for example... there are so many white people. I miss all my black friends! haah they are soo much nicer and funner to talk to. haha But this past week we decided to go door knocking and the first door we knocked on, we had an awesome lesson! This lady was soo prepared to hear about the gospel and she was telling us about her life experiences and so we were feeling really good as we left her house but literally every other house we went to we got slammed. haha Literally I have never faced so much rejection in my mission! This one house this guy seemed super friendly at first and after he said he wasn't interested we asked if he knew anyone that may be going through a tough time and might need some help, and then he told us that he would take us to court. we were like what the? ahaha and then literally every door after that, all of these grumpy old men were soo rude! But I was so grateful for the tender mercy we had at the first house because if we wouldn't have had that, I would have probably been crying by the time we knocked all of those houses but we were just making each other laugh through the pain. hahah Those are some of the best moments that I can remember on the mission, is when we decided to have fun while finding because happiness is most definitely a choice! And that is why I looove sister enero. She is soo happy and has helped me be a lot more positive and happy this transfer!

Also this one is for the little girls... I saw my first koala last week when I was on my run in the morning! It was up in the tree sleeping and it was so cute! I wish I would have had my camera to take a picture because I know how much you want to see all of the cool animals that are here, so I will do my best to get one! :)

Also, this is most likely the time we will be emailing every week just so yall know. :) I sure love to see emails from everyone when I get on the computer rather than right as I am about to get off. hahaha but no worries! :)

So next week is mission tour!!! Elder Haleck is coming and it will be so good! I am so excited! This past week we also had a leadership training thing with all of the sister training leaders and zone leaders and so I got to see Sister Yee, Sister Bauman, and Sister Kunz! OH HAPPY DAY! I have missed sister yee soooo much and I almost started crying when I saw her! haha But that will be fun because I will get to see her more this transfer before she leaves because she is a sister training leader as well. So that's good news! :)

But I love you all sooo much! And I hope you have a great week and that I will be able to hear from you soon! LOVE YOUUUUUU!!!!

love, Sister Alldredge

ps. I got your package last week and I had to put it somewhere that I won't see it so I don't open it before my birthday :) ahahah but thanks soo much!!! I can't wait to see what is inside!

pics.

1. challenge for the day last week, take a pic with someone you give a book of Mormon to :)

2. sis enero eating octopus... tastes like rubber

3. aunty dezzy, paula, and may on vacation in Brisbane! BEST DAY EVER when I got to see them!

Hello family!!!!! soooo I know I told you I was going to email you on Tuesday but we just found out that we are no longer having pdays on Tuesdays at all because there are no more transfer meetings! so now they are just telling us where we are going and sending us there through public transport or whateves.

but in saying that..... you will never believe where I am right now..... sadly I am back in Brisbane. :( waahhhhh. im so sad. but I am excited to be in NORTH PINE! and I am also a STL (sister training leader) uhhhhh scaryyy. I feel so inadequate. haha but I am back in the same zone where my old area used to be! so I live in Kallangur now which is in the Brisbane north zone. But i am also the STL to the whole northern zone which means everyone in Cairns!!! wooh! so i will get to call and talk to them weekly or even more than that and make sure sister cashman is doing a good job in Cairns! :) But I am very excited to be here but man, it was soo hard to leave cairns. But my new companion is named Sister Enero from the Philippines. She is seriously the sweetest and happiest person ever so I am sooo excited to be her comp! I love her already!

But anyways... my last week in cairns was soooo great!!!! Geoffrey was baptized on Wednesday and it was such a good baptism! I played the piano for the opening and closing and the musical number and i also gave a talk, so i was a little stressed out but it was so good! He was so happy! And then he was confirmed on sunday, he was late for church so I was getting a little antsy but he came! and so i got to see him receive the holy ghost right before I gave my good bye testimony.. and you can imagine how that went! haha But it was sooo good! What a great way to end my stay in Cairns!

But i know this is real short but i don't have much time today... and don't worry, it was my fault that i wasn't able to tell you that i am emailing today instead of tomorrow so i hope you hear from you next week! LOVE YOUUUU!!! and please pray for me.... im gonna need help! :) and any suggestions with being a sister training leader and how i can help the sisters in the region would be much appreciated! :)

love, Sister Alldredge

ps. Happy Australia Day Tomorrow!!!!

Geoffrey's Baptism!

Leaving beautiful Cairns! :(

Hello Brisbane!

New Comp Sister Enero from the Phillipines!

Talofa family! first off, KAYLEE HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!! WOOOOOOH 22!!!! my little girl is growing up. :,) hahah But i hope you have a great week and have a great birthday! I know I will have a great time on your birthday because we have the training video thing from Elder Oaks, Elder Bednar and Elder Anderson. I am so pumped! Woot Woot. 

But anyways... This week was AMAZING. Sooooo many miracles and guess what... you wont believe it........... I AM HAVING MY FIRST BAPTISM THIS WEEK ON WEDNESDAY!!!! I am sooo excited! So It is geoffrey that is getting baptized and what happened was 2 weeks ago, we had tried to commit him to being baptized on Jan 23rd because he is more than ready but he was really sure about commiting to a date even though he really wanted to get baptized. So we talked to our Branch President because they are pretty good friends and asked him to talk to him because we werent sure what else to do. Then after church, President came up to me and said," guess what, Geoffrey is getting baptized on Wednesday." and I was like, uhhh what wait?! And so then he told me he had pulled him in his office after church and commited him to being baptized this wednesday, jan 20th! talk about the best 7 month mark present ever! hahah ;) I am sooo pumped! So i will let you know how that all goes! :) 

Also we find out this saturday about transfers.... :( pretty much i've already started writing goodbye cards to everyone and i have been taking pictures with all the families I love because I want to be prepared when I do get the call to go back down to brissy. But i have already cried just thinking about leaving cairns.. hahahahah But that also means that we wont have pday until next tuesday, the 26th....on AUSTRALIA DAY!!!! So everyone celebrate! woooh! :D

Sorry this email is going to be kind of short.. today we got permission to go on an early hike in the botanical gardens here in cairns as a district, so we went at 6:30, then came back did our studies, went shopping, had lunch as a district and went bowling. It was so fun! haha And I did get 101 in one of the games :) so take that kyle! haha (hey kyle, remember that one game that you got like 30?....) hahahahah jokes! But it was really fun!

Also quick heads up, President Henderson changed some of the rules and so I will only be able to email for an hour now so you probably wont get very detailed emails sometimes but i will do my best!

LOVE YOU!!!!!! AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!

love, Sister Alldredge

Sooo.. my comp made me a crown...

Early morning hike in the bush

After the hike in the misty rain

Beautiful rainbow!

Cairns shirts

Bowling with Cairns District

Which way? SAME WAY! Also I hope you had a great birthday mom!!!!! sure love you! wooooh. this past week was great! We saw soo many miracles! And i have learned a lot! Dont you just love the grind that we all get to go through? Its the best! 

I really like to reflect on the conference talks from this past conference, but one that has really stuck with me is the one from Elder Lawrence.. i think... the one called, "What Lack I Yet?" I have really been thinking about that, especially this past transfer. Every day we can ask our selves that, and as we are humble and sincere and are worthy of the spirit, we are always told something that we can work on. I also loved the thought that we should pray and ask for what are strengths are. That is something that I really have seemed to struggle with, knowing what I am doing well at. Especially if the day doesn't go as planned, or if we didn't teach as many lessons as we wanted to. Sister Cashman has really helped me to not be so hard on myself, which i am still working on and struggling at. This past week I was trying so hard to be positive and happy but I told sister Cashman that I felt like I must not beThis holiday/summer season has been tough and slower. and even though I want to see all of these amazing miracles happen, I have to be patient and realize that everything happens in the Lord's time and that everyone has their agency. All we can do is do our best and follow the spirit. President Henderson is very much about exact obedience and becoming a consecrated missionary and I am striving so hard to be that! But man, that can be hard. :) As we ask ourselves at the end of each day, "What lack I yet?" Or "Have I done the will of the Father today?" we can learn from our mistakes and become better through the atonement. 

But anyways... this past week was soooooo hot. One day it was 40 degrees celcius plus the humidity and muggyness. I thought I was going to die. hahaha but dont worry mom, i am wearing lots of sunscreen! :) We have been really working hard and now that the holidays are almost over, more people are home and so we have been teaching more, which is really good! 

One miracle we saw this week was when we were able to get a member to come with us. We went to visit this 11 year old girl that we haadn't seen in awhile and her uncle was there as well! He was from the Torres Strait Islands and was very interested in our religion. We taught him the restoration and we were able to send a return appointment! Wooooh! Then we went to follow up with a potential that we had (18 year old aboriginal girl that loves anything and everything to do with america. ahhaaha) and she wasn't at home, but her friend was! So we taught her and she was very interested as well, so we set up a return appointment! YEAHH! I love new investigators! So that was a miralce that we saw that day! 

Also we were sooooo close to setting a baptism date with Geoffrey. He wants to be baptized so bad but wont commit to a date, so its been kind of a struggle... But i felt impressed to say for January 23rd, and when we asked him he was really thinking and was nodding his head but then said he would have to pray about it. We think there must be something he isn't telling us because he seems soooo ready to be baptized!! But please pray for him! I know it is possible for him to be baptized next saturday!!!!!! 

But i love you all! And hope you have a great week!!!!! 

love, Sister Alldredge

Beware of crocs!

How about some Sea Cow?

New Member Michelle and her dogs

New Years Celebration

Sight Seeing

Sight Seeing with Aunt Paula!