Sister Madison Allred Mission Blog

Hello everyone!

So, the official name of the town I am in is Snoqualmie Falls, and I am also covering part of Fall City and two streets from both Carnation and North Bend. It is a cute little place out here in the Pacific Northwest, and it is wonderful! Fall City is pretty rural, and all of the homes have a lot of space. The part of Snoqualmie that we cover is suburbs that have all been recently developed. The members here are great, and I think I am most impressed by our Ward Mission Leader- Brother Hammer. He is incredible and a fantastic example of a member who is truly converted and loves missionary work. He is incredibly on top of it. He reminds me of Bishop Chan from my last Area. Brother Hammer has this gift for getting down to business, assigning responsibilities and gets work done!

 I am enjoying being with Sister Sim. She is a diligent Sister Missionary and very pleasant to be around. She has such a fun and outgoing personality! She is also super beautiful, and so I openly call her my Korean Princess. It just fits, from how she dresses to her mannerisms. She just seems like she is straight out of a story-book! It is also really nice because she is open to all of my ideas, and supports me in my decisions. Turns out while Sister Sim was born in Seol, Korea, she moved to UT when she was 13 and went to Timpview, and then BYU! Also, she knows my sister Hailey! Small world! Sister Sim is just great and all of the members love her, and the members really trust the missionaries here. It is a wonderful place to be!

This last week has been great. We met with an investigator this week named Bruce, who has over 300 strawberry plants in pots in his front yard! He is very passionate about his composting, and he needed some help. So we went over with a guy in the Ward named Paul Bateman. Paul has his mission call to Japan and will be leaving on Dec. 3rd for the MTC, and while he is still here he has been a great help. It turned out that Bruce needed some heavy-lifting done for his compost, so Paul and Bruce went to work while Sister Sim and I weeded some plants. This is where the funny story comes in. You know, I never thought that I was a city-girl or a country-girl. I feel like I have just been an even blend of both. Well.... actually as I am writing this, I am having a flash-back to my first summer in Nauvoo and being in shock with how small of a town it was. Ok, I take it back. I am a city-girl, but I haven't been afraid of getting dirty, hard-work, or just the outdoors in general. Well, Sister Sim works hard, but the concept of getting dirt on your hands was a new concept for poor Sister Sim. She was so afraid of weeding the pots! It was hilarious! She was close to tears because she was afraid of the itty-bitty bugs in the gardening pots, and while she was squealing I was trying to not burst out in laughter while I was trying to talk her through it. It was a bonding moment for both of us I think!

My primary purpose these next few weeks is to put my investigators first! We have a goal of having daily contact with our investigators. The daily contact will come mostly through us with lessons or stopping by, and on days when it would just be too much we are having the fellow-shipper of our investigators follow-up with them. So far it has turned out really well! We have had a lot more lessons, and we are building trust with our investigators.

One of our new investigators this week's name is Sarah. I think this story is just evidence of the Lord putting us where we are needed!  Sarah is just a doll. She is going through so much, and is incredibly strong. We came over after she saw her son at school. Her son is mentally disabled, and she loves to support him with coaching his basketball team and helping out with his swimming class. He was still in school so I could not meet him, but as soon as Sarah saw my tag her face light up! She saw that I knew American Sign Language, and got really excited. She has been trying to teach him to help him communicate, and now *poof* I am here! Ta daaa! So I am really looking forward to teaching her son ASL, and continuing to teach her the Gospel. We shared part of the Restoration with her, and her homework for next time is to study the rest of the pamphlet and we will talk about it next time!!

The Area here is truly just gorgeous. I am going to try to attach pictures from this last week when Sister Sim and I went to Snoqualmie Falls, and then from this morning. This morning, Sister Sim and I went with Sister Bateman (Paul's Mom) on a 2 hour hike to Rattlesnake Ridge. It was beautiful!! I love being here in the forest. Our surroundings are just like the Sierra's, but with a ton of moss growing everywhere (that whole notion of moss only growing on the north side of the trees is nonsense!) and a bunch of green ferns for the undergrowth.

I love it here, and I am having a great time! I hope you all have a great week!!