Sandy Hook

Well, we have had a great week! On Saturday, we got to go to a baptismal service at the chapel in Newtown. That's where my ward meets, and it's the only baptismal font in the area. There were four baptisms, and they were all converts through the Spanish program. There's a little Spanish branch in Danbury (which is about 10 minutes from where I live), and it's brand new. They just got their building in March. The spirit at that service was amazing! It reminded me of the commitment that I made to our Father in Heaven when I got baptized, and seeing the joy on all four of their faces made me so happy. The whole thing was done in Spanish, so I couldn't understand very much of it. Luckily my zone leader sat next to me and translated for me a little bit. Elder Kroff played a musical number on the piano. He's super good with music. He can play piano, violin, and guitar. He can probably play other instruments too that I just don't know about.  Missionary work is awesome! Remember how last week I talked about consecration. I have strengthened my testimony of it so much this week! As we put forth the effort to be consecrated, we saw blessings from the Lord because of it. We tracted in Sandy Hook on Saturday, and we found three different houses that said we could come back. We also found two others on Monday and Tuesday. It's super cool to see the blessings from the Lord when we put our part into it. We'll be teaching J.S. for the first time on Thursday. I'm so excited for that! I can't wait to meet him and help him see what the gospel has to offer him. We went to Costco today for groceries. No better place for shopping, but I was sad to see that there weren't any pretzel rolls. We all pitched in and bought a Costco card, which went under my name since I'll probably be in the area longer than anyone else. When we checked out we had lunch there and I threw away the receipt. Whoops. They had to call a supervisor to work out letting us go without it. As soon as he came over, he took one look at us, and said we were good, and walked away. I don't know if he knew we were missionaries or not, but we could tell he trusted that we were honest. Haha the advantages to wearing white shirts and ties! Sorry this is kind of a short e-mail, but thank you for all the love and support. Remember that through the power of the Atonement, we can overcome anything and become better! God loves each and every one of us. I love you all so much! Hope you have a good week! 

Love, 

Elder Allred