Fix-It- Fluffy and the Frozen GPS

Hey everyone! For starters I need to apologize to you all. I don't think I've written a letter for like over two weeks now. I'm trying. I promise! Haha. I've just been so busy. Training Elder Savage has been going pretty well. He's a good kid. He has a strong desire to serve the Lord and to work hard. That work ethic is something very valuable that you don't always find in everyone. The new position as trainer definitely has its stresses though. This is one of the hardest positions I think I'll ever have in my entire life. I feel like I am still the new guy and have so much to learn. Now I have the responsibility of knowing everything about the area and teaching Elder Savage everything. I don't want to let him down. He will forever remember that his trainer was Elder Allred, and I don't want him to wish that I would have been a better companion. I spend a lot of time wondering if I am doing a good job. If I am being the influence on him that the Lord wants me to be. You know me. I like things to work out. When things don't go the way I they should or everything isn't perfect, I feel inclined to fix it, and it creates a little stress. Most of all I just don't like to let anyone down. Needless to say, I am spending a lot of time on my knees, praying for help. The Lord has done a mighty fine job of being there for me so far. He's helped make sure that everything will work out one way or another. A great example of that is something that has been going on all week. Last week our GPS started to freak out on us. It started freezing up and we had to fight with it to get it to pick up a signal and get us where we need to go. This tool is essential to have in Connecticut for a couple of reasons. One is that there are so many trees everywhere that you can't just look at Mt. Nebo to tell you which way is north, south, east or west. The other is that roads aren't laid out like they are in Utah. There is no grid system and none of the roads are numbered. They all have different names and you don't know where things are compared to where you are. So my point is that you need a GPS to tell you where to turn. Even though this has been a difficult thing to deal with, we haven't missed a single appointment. Every single time we get lost, the GPS starts working or I magically remember how to get around roads I've been on before (That's the Holy Ghost working!). So that's a pretty good example of how God has helped things run smoothly. Now our GPS is totally frozen and hasn't changed for like three days. So we're getting a new one on Friday. Things are going pretty well. The work is still doing well. D should be getting baptized soon. His Mom just bought him a quad with his name embroidered on it, and he's been at church every week for the last month or so. 

Even though I'm stressed a lot I'm getting through it. My district leader, Elder Flouzek, lives in the same apartment as me and has been such a good help to me! He only has about three months left and has had many of the same experiences I am having now, so he knows really well how to help me. I'm excited for the holidays! It should be a lot of fun. I assure you I will be taken very good care of. We're being fed for Thanksgiving tomorrow and Sister Arend is having us over for my birthday on Friday. Thank you so much for the packages and letters. They mean a lot to me! I hope you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving. Everyone give everyone a hug from me and two for Riken lol. Love you all. Have a fantastic week. In the spirit of the season, don't forget to thank the Lord for all that we have been blessed with. Love you! 

Elder Allred 

iPad

Wow this week has flown by so fast that I'm still trying to convince myself that it even happened. The biggest news is that I've been training Elder Savage. It's such a great experience for me. It's teaching me so much but at the same time, it's one of the more stressful things I've ever done in my  life. It's hard to have to remember everything that's going on in the Newtown area and set up Elder Savage to be the best missionary that he can be. That's a lot of responsibility! It has been good though. Elder Savage is one of the happiest people I've ever met. He's also one of the loudest lol. Let's just say that the dude likes to talk. And you all know how quiet  and soft spoken I am. There have been a few times at dinner appointments where I maybe have said like ten words, because he just rambles on and doesn't give me a moment of silence to speak. It's been wonderful though. We're teaching pretty well together and still have some good things going on with investigators. We met with D on the second day that Elder Savage got here. D is still progressing really well, and he and his Mom were at church again on Sunday. One of his concerns a few weeks ago was that he didn't want to stay for all three hours of church, but now he's been to the whole thing twice. He has been in with the Deacon's quorum, which is awesome. Brother Arend is the teacher for that class and Beau Arend is in there, too, so they're doing a great job welcoming him into the group (in case you didn't know, the Arends are easily my favorite family in the ward). We only have a few more things to teach D before he can be baptized! The whole situation with him and his Mom is just a miracle. To see him choosing this path for himself is so cool. Even better is that his Mom is back in church now. She was on the "Do Not Contact" list for the missionaries here for like twenty years.That's how against going to church she was, but miraculously she's back now! We're meeting with K again tonight at a member's house for another lesson. I'm glad she's still meeting with us. Everyone needs the gospel in their lives, but especially her. She's at a fork in the road right now. If she chooses the gospel, her life will be happier and brighter than she could ever imagine. If she chooses the other road, she'll be setting herself up for a very tough life. Anyway, that's about it for investigators. J.S. hasn't answered any of our calls or texts for close to a month now. We're praying that things are okay for him and that we'll get back in contact soon. Another pretty crazy thing that happened this week is that every missionary in the mission now has an iPad! We're only the ninth mission in the world to receive this technology to work with. We got them last Friday, and have been using them since. We're converting our area book, our daily planners, and everything that we need to know about the area onto the iPads. Seriously, did you guys ever think that I would be using an iPad and getting on facebook as a missionary? I know I sure didn't. It just goes to show that the Lord's plans are much bigger than ours. With this new technology, we will be able to reach just about everyone in the entire world! Which wouldn't be possible through just door to door tracting alone. I feel so blessed and amazed to be one of the missionaries that's trusted to be a part of  pioneering this era of missionary work . One day we will look back on this time and I will be able to say that I was one of the first missionaries to start using this. It's so exciting! Please keep liking and sharing my posts. I really want for the messages to reach as many people as possible. Other than that, I'm still just kicking. Every day goes by faster than the last. I can't even believe it. Being a missionary is the greatest thing that I have ever done for my life. I hope that you're all getting excited for the holidays. We're going to be having Thanksgiving dinner with the Knibbe family in the ward, which will be great. The day after, the Arends are having us over for my birthday!! That will be a bunch of fun. Then, before you know it, it will be Christmas and I'll get to see all of your faces on Skype!! I love you all so much. Have a fantastic week, and remember that God is real and that He loves you!!!

Love, 

Elder Allred 

Training a Savage;)

Pretty crazy week! We got big news last Wednesday night. President Morgan called us just as we were finishing our planning session. Elder Kroff answered, and President told him he wanted to talk to me. I had no idea what this was gonna be about. He asked me how I was doing and I told him I was doing well. His reply was this: " Well enough to train a new missionary?" Wow! So for  a week now I've known that I would be training a new missionary. It's pretty crazy because I just barely finished training myself. So, today we had our transfer meeting, and I met my new companion. Fresh out of the MTC yesterday. His name is Elder Savage and he's from Michigan. I've only known him for about three hours at this point, but I can already tell he's going to be awesome. He's a really happy guy, and he's just ready to go to work! He's actually waiting here on a visa so he can go to India! Hopefully I'll get to finish training him before he leaves. Man, I feel like I just have so much to learn. It feels like yesterday that I had my first day in the mission field. My time with Elder Kroff feels like it went by in the blink of an eye. I enjoyed having him as a companion so much. He taught me a lot, and we just got along so well. He has been transferred to New Rochelle, which is just above the Bronx. It is super sad to see him go, but I'm also really excited for him. He's been in Newtown for his whole mission, which is just over eight months now. So the change will be good for him. I just can't believe how fast the time is flying on my mission. I know that it will only start going faster now. I'm going to be way busier now and have a lot more responsibility. I'm excited for what lies ahead. Things here in Newtown are still going really well. We still meet with D. and his Mom every week. They actually came to church and stayed for all three hours. That was exciting! I wouldn't be surprised if D. gets baptized in the coming weeks. We meet with K. pretty much regularly as well. She's doing pretty well. The biggest thing right now is that she works on Sundays, so that's been kinda tough. Things are good though. I'm so glad that I get to stay here two cycles, so I should be here for Christmas. Speaking of that, we got our first snow yesterday!It only snowed for like an hour and now it's all melted, but winter is fast approaching here. The temperature is dropping fast! Well, I hope all is well at home. Exciting things lay ahead for me here. Have a great week everyone. I love you, I love you, I love you!! 

Elder Allred

End of Training

I cannot believe how fast the time flies. It doesn't feel like I've been a missionary for three months already. And the crazy part is, it's only going by faster and faster. Next Wednesday is transfer meeting, which means that I have already been out for almost two cycles. That also means that I will be done being trained. 12 weeks in the mission field has gone by in the blink of an eye. On Saturday we will know who is leaving the area and who's staying. If I had to guess I would think that I will be staying in Newtown. Elder Kroff has been here for six cycles now, which is about eight months, so there's a very good chance that he will be getting moved to another area. It will be sad when we're no longer companions. I have loved working with him so much, and he has taught me so much. I'm a little nervous, because when he leaves, that means I will be the one who should know the area the best. When I get a new companion, he will be relying on me to know what's going on and the best ways to use our time. That's intimidating, because I feel like I'm still the new guy. Haha. But I'm also excited, because that means I will have no other option but to fully rely on the Lord to help me. With guidance from Him, I will be able to keep the success that we've had here. So next Wednesday I'll let you know what is going on and if I'm staying. This last week has been pretty exciting. I'm now a fully fledged Facebook using missionary. As you have all been able to tell by my posts. I'm so excited that we have this opportunity. And by next week or the week after, we will all be getting iPads to work with. Pretty exciting! I never expected to be carrying around an iPad as a missionary. That just tells you how much the work is changing and evolving into something new. It's so cool that I am a part of it! One day I will be able to tell my children that I was one of the first missionaries to start using the internet as a tool in spreading the Gospel. We're still working with our three main investigators. K had an awesome week! She has recently been praying a lot more, and we can see progression for the first time in a while. There's a very noticeable light shining in her as she comes closer to Christ. Hopefully she will continue to progress and be ready for baptism by the first of the year. We also started meeting with a new lady from Ghana. She has lived in the states for about ten years. She is a super nice and humble person. She lives in New Jersey but works here. She is working as kind of a caretaker for older people and spends 24 hours a day in their homes. Once a month she goes back home for a week to be with her two teenage sons. It will be interesting to see how it works out since she doesn't technically live in our area, but spends more time here than she does at home. Hopefully soon she will be able to find more permanent full time work so she can stay home and be taught by the missionaries there. For now, we're planning on meeting with her next week when she comes back. All in all things are good here. I'm so happy to be doing the Lord's work. There are ups and downs for sure. I don't want you all to be worried about me, because I know that you are (especially you, Mom). I have my homesick days just like anyone else, but I am able to deal with that very well. As I turn to the Lord in prayer I find instant comfort and relief. Like I've said before, this is the hardest thing I've ever done. It's hard to be away from all of you and all of the things that I love about home. However, it's also the most rewarding thing I've ever done. There is no other place that I would rather be than in the full time service of the Lord. I absolutely love what I do. There's not a day that goes by that I don't smile atleast once and count my blessings. I hope that you all do the same. I love you all so much! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Your love stretches every single mile from Utah to Connecticut. Have a great week. I love you!!

Elder Allred