Gloria

Still loving Poughkeepsie! This week has been kind of crazy. We had a ton of changes in our zone with this last transfer. So everyone has been adjusting to their new areas and new companions. For the last twelve weeks we've had another companionship of elders in the ward that I serve in. They both stayed to do another six weeks as companions in this area, and we also got two Spanish speaking sisters in the area. With the sisters coming in they needed an apartment, so Elder Burton and Elder L'Esperance moved in with us and the sisters took their old apartment. It's been fun to have them living with us. We've also had a couple decently warm days this week. The last two weeks were frigid, and the other day I didn't even have to wear a jacket. It's giving me spring fever! That means baseball season is around the corner again. My favorite time of the year. Two big things coming up this next week. Tomorrow we are going down to Manhattan for a meeting at the temple. We're going to have two general authorities visiting our mission and giving us some training. Elder Allen and Elder Evans. I'm not really sure what their exact callings are, but they are basically at the head of missionary work in the entire church. They work very closely with Elder Bednar to oversee the church's missionary efforts worldwide. I'm very excited. This meeting should be a very uplifting experience. We had a Mission Leadership Conference with President Morgan, his assistants, and all of the other zone leaders in Scarsdale on Saturday in preparation for this meeting. I learned a lot there, and I'm sure I'll learn even more tomorrow. The other exciting thing coming up is on Saturday. One of our investigators, Gloria, will be getting baptized! She's been meeting with missionaries for a long time and has been attending our ward almost every Sunday for about a year now. She's already integrated into the ward really well and has been so prepared to make this commitment. I've seen miracle after miracle as my companions and I have taught her over the past three months. I'm so happy that she's finally ready to do it. The cool thing is that Saturday is also her birthday. That will be such a special day for her! Other than that everything is great here. I'm glad that I get to stay a little longer! Hope you're all doing well. Love you!!

~Elder Allred 

4 More Cycles:)

This week is transfers again! Good news is that I'm staying in Poughkeepsie! I have at least six more weeks in this amazing place. Each cycle goes faster than the one before it. I only have four more chances to say that. Elder Kroff will be flying home tomorrow. Crazy! I always said that when Elder Kroff went home that's when my mission would really fly right to the end. I didn't think that would sneak up on me so fast. Having four cycles left is kind of the point that makes you one of the "old" guys in the mission haha. All of the sisters that flew out in my group are finishing their 18 months and going home as well. If I was a sister missionary, I would be on an airplane tomorrow. I'm so glad that's not the case. I don't feel like a year and a half is quite long enough. I still have some more serving to do. Good thing I have six months left! Well that's the only big news from this week. Other than that everything is going well. The work in our area is still moving along well. Joe is still doing great. He was going to bless the sacrament on Sunday, but our ward didn't meet because the roads were icy. This Sunday he will probably be able to do that. We had a Family Home Evening with him at a members house on Monday, the Ashworths. The Ashworths are an awesome family in the ward from England. They've been awesome at friendshipping and being with him through his transition into Mormonism. We will have to give some of our investigators to the sisters when they get here on Friday, but it will be good. It will allow us to have some more time to find good people and focus more on some of the people that we haven't been able to. We've seriously been so busy that we just haven't had time to meet with some people. So it will be good to have more missionaries to visit more people. Anyway, that's about all I've got this week. Sorry this is kind of a short email. Have a great week everyone. Love you!

~Elder Allred 

Priesthood

Hello family! Life is great! This week has been wonderful. We had another snow storm on Monday, so we were stuck at home all day again. The town that we live in, Hyde Park, is about a twenty minute drive north of the city of Poughkeepsie. Poughkeepsie is where most of the people we visit live, and it would't make sense to walk down to Poughkeepsie. It would just take too long. So when we get snowed in we end up staying in Hyde Park and shoveling snow all day. There is a member who lives in Hyde Park, just a couple streets down from where we live. She's a single lady, so we go and help her shovel her driveway. Then we just look for opportunities to help random people. It's good to have those service opportunities and do the Lord's work in a little bit of a different way than we normally do. Sunday was awesome. Joe got ordained to the office of a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood! I'm so happy that he is continuing to progress in the gospel. Hopefully one day I will be there with him when he goes to the temple for the first time. We met with him yesterday, and he told us that now that he holds the Priesthood he feels even more responsible to do the right things. He said he didn't know how to explain it, but he sort of feels older now. I totally know what he means. While we were talking to him yesterday I realized something that I don't often think about. We are in a church of about 15 million members in a world of about 7 billion people. Let's just say that half of those members are male.And a little more than half of those males are over the age of twelve. That would mean that 3.5 million people in the world are capable of holding the Priesthood. And then think that not all of those men are worthy or have even received the Priesthood yet. I don't know how accurate this statistic is, but my guess is that there is somewhere around two million people in the world who are worthy Priesthood holders. Two million. In a world of 7 billion people. That's crazy. Like I said, I don't know if my guess is anywhere close. The point is that the number of worthy Priesthood holders compared to the number of inhabitants of the earth is so incredibly small. Joe is now one of those very few whom the Lord has trusted to hold His Priesthood power. I am one of those few. So many good people that I am closely associated with are some of those very few men that hold the true authority of God. It's amazing. Joe is so right. Holding the Priesthood is a big responsibility. To hold the only true authority of God on the entire earth. It makes me very grateful and humbled that the Lord has chosen me. Well, that's the big insight from me this week. Life is great! Working hard and having a lot of success. Today has been great. We visited the home of Franklin D Roosevelt this morning. It's in Hyde Park about five minutes from where we live. Now we're just eating at Cracker Barrel. It's always been one of my favorite places to eat. And of course since its a country themed restaurant I'm listening to a Tim McGraw song right now. Tender mercies! I love you all. Hope you're doing well! Have a great week, and Happy Valentines Day!! 

Elder Allred 

Joe's Baptism

** A bit of commentary from Mom here... we sent  Elder Allred some money to get a new suit yesterday. It was great that he found such a good deal on the one from Goodwill, but we felt like he needed one more in his line of work. A member in Poughkeepsie could get him 60% off at JC Penney, so he got this one. Hopefully between the two he can get through the next 6 months. Yes, that's right. Just 6 months!!! 1 general conference, 1 Skype.  6 Fast Sundays. Mom is also happy to see that he seems to be keeping his little apartment nice and clean. Ah, I love this guy so much!! ** 

Dear Family~ 

The highlight of this week was definitely Joe's baptism on Saturday. Thanks to the amazing leaders in the Poughkeepsie 2nd Ward, the service went perfectly. Easily the smoothest baptismal service that I've been to. I could go on and on about how every little detail of the baptism was perfect, but I don't have enough time to do that. I'll just highlight a few things that really made the day special. The first was right after Joe was baptized. Right after he came up out of the water, they closed the doors that separated the font from the  people watching the baptism. Joe turned right to me and just gave me a hug. That man is my brother. There is just something special and indescribable about the bond between brothers. It's something that I can't really explain. I gained a brother as I stood with Joe in that font. I look forward to an eternity of that brotherhood with him. That was the first thing. The next thing was that I loved the words that Bishop Berardi said as he took a few minutes to welcome Joe into the ward. One of the things that he highlighted is that wherever Joe goes in the world he has a family in the Church. He openly acknowledged that Joe is a college student who will only be in Poughkeepsie for another two or three years and assured him that he has a family in the ward here. He went on to say that no matter where life takes him, if he will plug himself into a ward or branch unit in the church he will have support and love and family. So true. I've learned that as I've served in four different wards in the mission now who have all taken me in as one of their own. Bishop's words about the church family really struck me, and I know they struck a few others in the room as well. The last thing that hit me at Joe's baptism was when he bore his testimony at the end of the service. It was just so powerful and so inviting of the Spirit. He started by thanking the missionaries. He said that he's very grateful for what we do and that he admires our dedication. He also said that he prays for us every single night. It's interesting because we always pray for the people that we teach, but you never think that they might be praying for you, too. It also hit me that the influence that we can have on another person's life is often more than we even realize. He bore a  beautiful testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith and said that there is no way he could deny that he was a prophet of God. He called this gospel the truest thing in his whole life. The most powerful part of his testimony was when he told us how he gained  a witness of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. He said that one day he had been reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. He picked his copy of the book up and held it to his chest. He described just feeling this exciting rush of emotion. When he put it down and picked up just a regular book he didn't feel it anymore. Then he picked up the Book of Mormon again and felt the exact same rush that he felt before. He recognized that as an undeniable communication of the Holy Ghost. That had to be such a powerful experience for him. It's interesting how God communicates to all of us in different ways, and we all feel the Spirit in different ways. I've never felt anything like what Joe was describing, but my testimony of the Book of Mormon came just as his did. It was a manifestation of the Holy Ghost as a result of sincere reading and prayer. I am continually impressed by how much Joe has been prepared to receive the Gospel and how well he has received it. I'm filled with gratitude for the Lord placing Joe into my life. He's had a bigger impact on me that he will probably ever know. I secretly hope that he will move to Utah one day so that I can be more closely associated with him. I'm just so happy that I made the decision to serve a mission. If I hadn't chosen to do it, I never would have had such powerful experiences like these. By the end of the week I'll have less than six months left to be a full time missionary. I can't believe it's coming so close to the end. It makes me happy, sad, excited and several other emotions all at the same time. I look forward to more amazing experiences like these over the course of the next six months. I love you all. Thank you for everything that you do for me. Have a wonderful week!!