Discipleship

Picture from Joe's Baptism

Hola Familia!

My Spanish is getting pretty good huh? Just kidding. I still can't really speak Spanish, but I think it's getting a little bit better every week. I said the orar (prayer) in a Spanish lesson last night, and it was easily the best prayer that I've said. It seemed to flow really well, and everything that I wanted to say came out smoothly. It was awesome. The lesson was with a part member family, the Santos. Mom and dad are members of the church but haven't been active for a few years. They have three adorable kids that haven't been baptized. Their mom doesn't want to force them into being baptized and has left the decision up to them. The two daughters are 8 and 10, and the son is 7. Since their parents don't go to church their primary teacher has been picking them up faithfully every week. They love going to church and are super involved in the primary. So the whole time I've been here we've been trying to help those two daughters commit to a date for baptism. They're so smart and are more than ready to take the big step. Well last night we had that primary teacher go to the lesson with us. She's actually moving out of the ward this summer and wants to see the girls be baptized before she leaves. The Spirit in the lesson was incredibly strong, and I just felt so good. As we talked to them about baptism again they seemed closer to committing than they ever have yet. They still wouldn't commit to a date last night, but they said they would think and pray about it this week and tell us the date when we come over next week. I love them so much. I've realized lately even more how important charity is in doing the Lord's work. It's amazing what pure love for the people can do. That's why the Savior was so powerful during His earthly ministry. He had absolute perfect charity for the people. We should look to Him as our exemplar in everything that we do. Another thing I've been thinking about lately is discipleship. It's something that Elder Allen and Elder Evans talked to us about when they visited our mission a few weeks ago. As my mission draws closer to its end I've found myself pondering on what kind of a servant I will be when I am no longer privileged to literally wear the Savior's name on a name tag on my chest. I've worried that as a return missionary I won't feel nearly as productive or effective as I do now. When the general authorities spoke to us about discipleship it opened my eyes to a whole new concept that I hadn't been considering. Discipleship begins the day we are baptized and make our first covenant to serve the Lord. It continues as we grow. My responsibility to be a disciple of Christ has lasted through high school and college and now continues on my mission. Why would it end when I get released as a full time missionary? Any member of the church anywhere (missionary or not) has a sacred responsibility to be a disciple. It gives me comfort to know that I will continue to serve Him. In my callings in the church, as a husband and father one day. I will be a disciple of Christ. Even in the classroom and the work field I will be a disciple of Christ. In the social world I will be a disciple of Christ. I can be a disciple everywhere. I love that. I've been thinking about it a lot. Elder Evans said something in our meeting that I loved. He said that our missions are the time that we've been given to prepare to be return missionaries. As I become a disciple in the mission field, I am preparing myself to be a disciple in my return missionary years. This principle of discipleship has changed my entire life. It's given me the perspective that I need that I didn't have before. I could talk all day about what I've been learning these past few weeks, but I think I'll leave it at that. This gospel is amazing. My mission is amazing. And all of you are amazing! I love you all so much. Have a fantastic week!

Still working on Spanish

Hey family!

This week has been great! We've seen a lot of success with the Spanish people lately. The English work has been a little bit down. Since Joe and Gloria got baptized we haven't really had any progressing investigators in our English teaching pool. So we've been knocking a lot of doors with whatever extra time we have. We have some good potentials that have come from that effort, but nobody too solid yet. I do love the Spanish people. We met with a little Mexican family for the second item the other night, and they are just so awesome. It's a young couple named Oscar and Kristina, and they have a cute little five year old daughter named Katie. Elder Wagner and I found them tracting a few weeks ago. At the time they had just lost almost everything they owned due to a fire in their apartment building. They are are so humble and just have a wonderful spirit about them. I wish I could communicate with them. It's kind of frustrating sometimes to just have to sit in lessons and say nothing. I'm trying to learn a little bit, but I still can't really say much. I've gotten pretty good at saying prayers in Spanish, so I've been able to do that a little bit. I only really started practicing my Spanish about three weeks ago. I wish I would have started when I first came to this area. I bet I would be able to talk a little bit by now. Now I'll probably get transferred soon and I won't have too much ability by the time I leave. Oh well. I'm still so grateful that the Lord had allowed me to serve here with the wonderful Spanish people. We had a zone conference yesterday, which was awesome! Zone conference happens once every three or four months. It's a meeting where several zones get together and receive training from President Morgan, his assistants, and some other speakers. This time we got to hear from President Checketts. He is the Stake President of the Yorktown Stake. That was the first stake that I served in when I was in Newtown, so it was cool to see him again. He's a great leader and an exemplary priesthood man. He talked to us about being all the way focused on the mission and fully dedicating your time and effort to serving the Lord. He shared with us some stories from the mission he served in Los Angeles as a young man. I'm always amazed at how much people treasure times from their missions. Great men and women who have done so much good in their lives consider their missions their greatest accomplishments. I remember when I was at the MTC and Richard G Scott spoke to us in a devotional about how every good thing in his life is a direct result of the mission he served as a young man. This is an apostle, and he considers his mission the greatest service he has ever given. It's so awesome. A full time mission is a very special thing, and I'm so grateful that I have the opportunity to serve one. Well there's not too much else from this week. Everything is great. Just trying to enjoy every moment of the time I have left! I love you all, and have a wonderful week!

-Elder Allred

5 Months to Go!!

Hello family! Wasn't it just barely Wednesday? This week was so packed with different things that it all just went by in a big blur without me even knowing what day of the week it was. My weeks are falling off the calendar faster than I can keep up with them. I hope the time is flying for you the way it is for me. If it were up to me I would crank the speed setting down a notch or two. My fear is that my last five months will feel more like five weeks. When talking about missionaries wanting to  extend the time in their mission, I've heard President Morgan say this, "You shouldn't be asking for more time. What you should be asking for is more service." That hit me. I shoulndn't be wanting more months in my mission. What I should be wanting is more opportunities to serve in the five months that I have left. I like that perspective. Anyway, it was a wonderful week! We started with a mission conference that was held on Thursday down in the chapel at the temple. We woke up extra early to catch a seven o clock train down to Manhattan. The conference was great! Two general authorities, Elder David Evans and Elder Stephen Allen, came to teach and train us. They are both spiritual powerhouses. Elder Evans is currently serving as the executive director of the missionary department, and Elder Allen is the managing director of the missionary department. They are at the very top of missionary work in our church. They work very closely with Elder Bednar and Elder Nelson to direct the missionary efforts worldwide. I felt super lucky to have the opportunity to have some time with them. I'll remember that meeting for years and years to come. The topic of their training had to do with online proselyting. After using online proselyting for a couple years now, the church has evaluated how it has been used and is ready for a "reset". They talked to us about ways we can more effectively use the internet in our proselyting efforts. So for the next few months we will be retraining and relearning how to use our iPads, Facebook and the other online proselyting tools that we've been given. I think this will be a wonderful time to learn and grow and progress the Lord's work further in our mission. Very uplifting and edifying meeting. The next highlight was on Saturday. Another one of our investigators, Gloria, got baptized! I'm so happy for her. She has been taking lessons with missionaries for well over a year and attending church every Sunday for several months. Our other recent convert, Joe, congratulated her and told her he thought she was already a member. There were a few other members that thought that too. It's true. She's so well integrated into the ward now, you would have thought she had already been baptized. I'm grateful that she finally made the decision to be baptized! There are so many people that are happy for her as well. Many missionaries before me worked so hard to help her progress in the gospel. There were five or six RM's skyping in to watch the baptism. It's amazing to be part of this great work. As you work to help your investigators progress, you can be assured that the missionaries after you and the members of the ward continue to take care of them. I feel blessed that I was chosen as one of the missionaries to be in this area when she finally became a member of the church. She's awesome, and I look forward to another lifelong sister in the gospel. The final highlight of the week was on Sunday. Joe received the priesthood a few weeks ago. He's a priest, which means he has the authority to bless the sacrament. He was finally able to do that for the first time on Sunday, and it was such a sweet experience for me to be there in church to see that moment in his progression in the church. I was nearly moved to tears as I watched him break the bread. I was reminded of the first time I blessed the sacrament a few years ago when I was sixteen. Now I was watching him begin the wonderful journey that I've had as a priesthood holder in the church. One day he will be a Melchizedek priesthood holder and bless the lives of his family and members of his ward as he serves as a priesthood holding man. He's just such a good person. I'm grateful that he is my friend. Being a missionary is amazing. It's difficult but so worth it. Opportunities like the ones I have described today are some of the most beautiful moments that I'll ever have in my life. I love you all. Hope you have a wonderful week!

~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!! 

Espanol es facil Elder

Don't worry, I'm alive!! I'm sure that most of you heard about the storm and were pretty worried. There was a ton of hype and people made a really big deal out of the whole thing. As it turned out, the storm missed my area by quite a distance. It ended up coming through to the east of where I am, and we only got probably two or three inches. I'm glad that we were prepared, though, and I'm grateful that we have President Morgan and Sister Morgan to watch after us. If conditions would have gotten too bad we would have been well prepared. The funny thing about it was that they were expecting a foot and a half to two feet in my area. That's a lot of snow, but I feel like we've had snow like that in Utah, and people don't freak out like they did here. New York City kind of shut down from what I've heard. A lot of the subway lines weren't even running. New York schools are kind of ridiculous too. They use any excuse they can to call it a snow day. Days that we wouldn't even question going in Utah they just shut down here. Other than the storm there hasn't been too much exciting news from this past week. We're looking forward to Joe's baptism on Saturday! He is so awesome. It's really cool to be teaching someone that's my age. I think he and I will be good friends for a long time. I secretly hope he ends up moving to Utah somehow. I do have one funny story from the week. I told you before that my area is kind of an interesting one, because we cover all of the Spanish and English work in the ward. The other night we went out to teach a lesson, and we had our ward mission leader with us. He doesn't really speak much English, and the lesson we were teaching was in Spanish. On the drive down I was practicing some of the Spanish phrases that I was memorizing to use in the lesson. Hermano Zhunio noticed that I was trying to learn, and he and Elder Wagner were talking about it a little bit. He started talking to me and told me "Espanol es facil Elder". To which I replied, "Gracias, Hermano." I thought that he was complimenting my Spanish and telling me that I was learning well. Turns out what he said was "Spanish is easy Elder". And I said, "Thanks, Brother". Haha! I'm trying to learn a little bit, but I'm really not very good at Spanish. It was really funny! Anyway, that's pretty much it this week. I hope you're all doing well. I love you!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! 

It's officially 2015, the year I come home! I can't even believe it. I have no clue where the time has gone. When I think about the end of my mission, my emotions are all over the place. I'm so excited to be home with all of you again. But it makes me sad to think that this amazing experience will come to an end. So I try my hardest just to not think about it! Not the easiest thing to do haha. So much happened in 2014. It was an amazing year. I don't know how I'll top it this year. I'm off to a good start though. I am absolutely loving my area and the people we're teaching. Quick update on our investigators. Joe Starnes is doing really well. He's home in DC for the Christmas break, and we were able to have a Skype lesson with him the other day. He told us that he knows he wants to be baptized. He's having a tough time right now though, because his family isn't very supportive. They think that he's just getting baptized for his girlfriend. He's really genuine though. He told us the other day that he wants to do this for himself and that even if they didn't stay together he knows he would still want to keep coming to church. He's always really good to read his scriptures and to pray, and he really wants to do the right thing. Super cool guy. I'm excited about him. Duff Smith is doing well. He told us this week that he wants to be baptized too. He hasn't set a date yet, because he wants to tell his family first. I really like Duff. Most of our visits begin with me and him and talking about football for about 15 minutes. I love being able to connect with people that way. He said that he's going to be rebuilding some of his barns in the spring. I'm hoping I will still be here so that I can help him. I miss working with my hands. Our other main investigators are Gloria and Erica. Erica just moved down to Queens this last week. So we're Skyping with her right now and trying to set her up with the missionaries down there. Gloria is also moving soon but she'll probably stay here in Poughkeepsie. So we'll be able to continue working with her. The work is going really well. And we're blessed with a lot of great people to work with.The big news from this week is that Elder Romo is leaving today. We'll be dropping him off at the mission home this afternoon, and he will fly back to Utah tomorrow morning. Our time together was super short. I'm grateful that he was my companion. I learned a lot from him in just a few weeks, and I'm sad that he's leaving. He's a good dude, and I will miss him. I'm excited for him, though. He starts school at BYU on Monday. Pretty crazy! I won't get a new companion yet. So I will spend the next few days with the other missionaries in the ward, Elder Burton and Elder L'Esperance. I will find out on Saturday who my new companion will be. Then transfers are on Wednesday and he will come to Poughkeepsie. I can't believe the cycle is already almost over. I think I say it every time, but this was the fastest cycle yet. Only five more to go after this one. They will go by way too fast I think. Things are going really well. I love it here. I hope that I get to stay for a while. It was good to see all of you on Christmas for Skype. Looking forward to Mothers' Day! I hope you all have a happy new year and that this year is even better than the last. I love you. I miss you. I hope you have an awesome week. Thanks for all that you do to support me! 

Love,
Elder Allred

Pictures!

ELDER ALLRED in MILLBROOK, NY

I'll probably keep this email a little short today. That way I will have some time to email some of you back individually. Everything in Poughkeepsie is wonderful. We are having a lot of success, and our teaching pool is great. One of our main investigators is a 20 year old guy named Joe. He's from Washington DC but is currently attending Marist College in Poughkeepsie. He was introduced to the church when he met his girlfriend who is also attending Marist and just happens to be Mormon! So she brought him to church, and now we're teaching him. He's really cool, and he's taking the lessons really well. It's kind of cool to be teaching someone my age. I can relate to him much better than a lot of the other investigators that I've taught. This past Friday we had our mission Christmas devotional. I love that program! It's the only time of year when the whole mission gets to come together, which is about 260 missionaries these days. It's fun to see all of your mission buddies who are serving in different areas. It's been kind of hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit this year. It might just be because we haven't had much snow yet. I'm not really sure why. It doesn't really bother me though. I really think I"m just more focused on the missionary work that I'm doing and less on the holiday. I'm sure I'll get into it more this week! This is the last week of the Book of Mormon challenge! For those of you who are reading along with me, I'm going to make a few changes to the schedule so that I can finish on Christmas Eve. So tomorrow I'm going to read Ether chapter 13. Friday I will read Ether 14-15. Saturday I will read Moroni 1-2. Sunday Moroni 3-6.. Monday Moroni 7. Tuesday Moroni 8-9. Wednesday Moroni 10. I hope that schedule makes sense. Maybe someone could post this altered schedule on the Facebook group so everyone who is reading can follow if they'd like to. The Book of Mormon challenge has been incredible! I'll wait to share my thoughts next week as we finish it out. The challenge has had a huge impact on me though. Well, like I said, this email is a little bit shorter. I'm hoping to be able to email most of you back. I love you all so much! Can't wait to see you on Skype next week!!

~Elder Allred