8-15-11

Family,

Well it's mondey again!

HOLY CRAP TACEY IS A BEAST! She is getting so big that is so weird! She is so cute!

The Davis family is doing well, unfortunately our ward hasn't been able to raise enough money to fly them all home so they will be driving back probably this week is the plan so far. Please pray for them!

We set a baptismal date with Nick Pike (14) for the 28th of August. He said he had a hard week this last week, it was a good test for him though! He said he was having doubts etc and then finally came to the conclusion that it was true and that he needs to get baptized. We're really happy for him and we're working closely with him.

This week was a little slower than the past has been. It seems that a lot of the investigators we had have dropped us. But we did find someone new! Her name is Amber. We met her at the door and gave her a Book of Mormon. When we came back three days later she had read the whole testimony of Joseph Smith, the intro, tesmionies of the 8 and 3 and she's up to 1nephi chapter 8! She is great! Her boyfriend doesn't want to take any of the lessons but she is willing and I believe he is to, to get married so that she can be baptized. We have only had one lesson with her, so hopefully it will continue to go well.

Not much else to talk about this week! I love you all and hope all is well. Remember that it is upon the Rock of the Redeemer, which is Christ, that if a man builds upon he cannot fall.

-Elder Conner Allred

8-8-11

Hey Fam,

This week was kind of a glum one for our ward.
http://www.necn.com/searchNECN/search/v/43507257/hubbardston-teen-killed-in-minnesota-car-crash.htm

Daniel Davis was killed in this accident. We go to their house every tuesday to eat -- he will be missed. We actually took one last photo of the family before they left. The voice you hear on the video on the phone is our bishop, Bishop Nally. Everything has been a little hectic, of course, but the the rest of the family although injured is doing better.

Apart from the tragedy, this week was a good week. We made progress with Nick and yesterday we had 4 less-active members stand up and bare their testimonies! HOW COOL! One of them is the little sister of German Valdez (22) who just returned home from his mission and helps us out a lot. Maria is 17 and lives the life of every other 17 year old, so it's hard to be a latter-day saint. But she got up and bore her testimony about missionary work. It was so neat, made us feel like the Lord has worked through us. Maria has been doing a great job at helping her friends come to church and present the gospel to them.

I'm trying to think of what else has been going on this week! haha, It's been a good week, I know it has, but I just can't think! My brain is fried from studying spanish. I Constantly write down words that I don't know and try to translate from english to spanish in my brain. Last night I had a dream and in my DREAM I said something and can't remember what it was so I'm going insane trying to remember what I wanted to translate hahaha. I am a little OCD when it comes to translation. Maybe I'll go into translation when I get home.

Do the JWs still stop by? That will be a blast when I get home.

Love you!
Elder conner Allred

8-1-11

Hey fam!

I'll have to think of a good business name for Adam. haha. I love the choices that you have given already haha.

This week we went back to the Myler's home and took out some drywall. We were going to put up more, but then decided that if we put up the drywall, we would have a harder time doing the electrical, and since the drywall that was up was really old we decided to just take it all down and start fresh. It was worth it. It's been a really cool experience being able to help brother Myler out with his house -- I'm learning a lot of useful stuff. I learned how to make a three way switch work this week, too. (The switch that can be turned on and off from two different sites.)

I saw the "dentist" a few days ago. Joy Payne's sister is in town from Dubai and she is a dentist. So she took a look because I said one of my molars was hurting when I eat sweets. She said there is definitely a small cavity forming but I should be ok. Other than that she was really impressed with how clean I have kept my mouth -- she said she wouldn't have guessed that I haven't seen a dentist in 2 years! So that's good! haha.

I don't remember if I told you about the lesson we had with Sonia or not but we had a great lesson about the worth of a soul and the repentance process. (I think some of the family members needed a refresher.) She felt the spirit strongly and she enjoyed it very much.

Nick is one of the young men that we have been teaching that I believe I told you about -- he has a baptismal date for the 14th of August! He's awesome and very excited. He lives with his uncle's wife's mom; but he just calls her grandma. She may be accepting to the message as well, we have another lesson with them today to find out.

We went to the temple this week! (of course, I forgot to bring my camera to the library -- I'll send pictures later this week.) We watched Rosa Hernandez get her endowment and it was so awesome! I learned a lot of new things that I haven't realized before and altogether it was a touching experience. It was great to go to the temple again, and on top of that, to see some of the "fruits of my labors" as President Evans put it. I wish there was more I could tell you about what I learned, but we'll have to wait until I'm home haha. I did receive an answer to a prayer though. I asked to know if my work had been accepted and in the Celestial Room I opened up the scriptures and this is what I found.

Doctrine and Covenants 73
For verily, thus saith the Lord, it is expedient in me that they should continue preaching the gospel, and in exhortation to the churches in the regions round about, until conference...Now I give no more unto you at this time. Gird up your loins and be sober. Even so. Amen.

It's clear. So I'll continue.

I love you all and miss you. Gird up your loins and be sober!

Elder Conner Allred

7-25-11

Hey Mom,

I just found out that my leave of absence was accepted. THAT WAS A RELIEF haha. So I'll work on the University stuff next time we're in the library. I don't have much time to type right now because I was going through my UofU stuff. Weird that I have to do this, I don't like it! haha.

We had cake at church yesterday, I totally forgot why, too haha. So yes, we did celebrate Pioneer Day! This Saturday we will be going to the temple and I can't wait! It's going to be a great experience. Rosa will be receiving her endowment. The weather has been REALLY HOT. Today has cooled off quite a bit though.

We had a great Sunday with a new investigator there! Maria Valdez is one of our young women and she brought her friend Sonya over to dinner the other night -- we had a great lesson and talked a lot about forgiveness, Joseph Smith etc. She decided to come to church, and did! So that went fantastically. Hopefully she liked it. I was praying so hard for her.

I'm still reading Rough Stone Rolling, what a great book. I absolutely love it.

I'm sorry this one is so short, not much more time! I love you!!

-Elder Conner Allred

7-18-11

Thanks for the kudos on the photos. That's the home where we live! We're really roughin' it, aren't we?

This week I made a really funny connection with some of the mannerisms Elder Horton has to Chris, they're somewhat alike and it's funny to see that.

It's interesting you talked about that missionary who's dad died while he was serving. Elder Horton and I were talking about that and what we would do if a loved one passed away while we only have 5 months left. I think I would actually stay, to be honest. I think you would want me to finish strong. I don't see what coming home and crying would do to help the rest of the family, the loved one that died, or the people I could have helped. I'll expect that from my son when he is serving.

This week we taught Kaylyn again and it went well. She brought a friend along who is not very interested so that made it tough to stay on topic, but it was a great opportunity for fellowship. We definitely had fun! The Stokes family hosted dinner for us. The Stokes (the family we live with) were both seminary teachers at one point, so they do very well with the youth.

We taught Enrique again! He was delighted to tell us about how he didn't drink at all last week, that was really cool especially since we haven't taught him the Word of Wisdom. We brought along the Stokes' son-in-law, Anthony. He's from El Salvador so it was awesome. he served his mission in Uruguay about 2 years ago, so he did a great job. It was nice to have a native with us that has such a great testimony, it really helped Enrique feel more comfortable I think.

We worked with a less-active woman in our ward this week named Joy Payne. She's so cool! She is from Zimbabwe and her husband is from Panama. They have two kids, one of which we are trying to baptize, Tfadzwa (Tuh-fadz-wuh.) Joy was in the hospital last week and then hospitalized again the week that just passed. She always has a smile on though. We hung out with her at the hospital for a couple of hours and gave her a blessing. She left the next day!

We worked on our ward mission leader's home this week as well. Brother and Sister Myler are both from the east coast and both served in Spain! Bro. Myler is fairly young at 24 and teaches 4th grade. He's very well rounded and level headed. He is very good at construction etc. so he is adding 3 rooms and a master Bdr plus bath to the other side of his house! We went over and helped install dry-wall. He wants it done in the next 5 years, so it's not a huge rush but he's at least doing enough to get it done in that time frame. He works on it daily. I told him I wanted to learn how to wire a house so he said "well then, lets do it!" So I learned a little bit about wiring, it was really neat. Heck, maybe I can work with Adam when I get home.

Not much else to report this week. I love you all very much.

July 11, 2011

Hey Mom!

Go to your Mormon.org profile and see if there are any messages? I know that it requires a photo. Just make sure you have filled everything in. Mine only took a week.
You should at least call the Pehrson's or something. I love that man. He's like a 3rd father to me.

Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling is an amazing book. It's amazing to see how Joseph grows from this young, and quite frankly, stupid farm boy to the amazing Prophet that we hold in such high standards. I think it's even better to see that side of him because it shows how illiterate he really was at his age and there's no way he could have written the Book of Mormon. I'm already half-way through chapter 4 "A New Bible" and it's really a great chapter. The first one was kind of long to get through when it was talking about Joseph Sr's parents and Lucy's, but it has been getting better and better. I feel like I can relate to Joseph a lot. I love the story of Martin Harris when he loses the pages, he sits down and hits himself in the temples saying "Oh, I have lost my soul! I have lost my soul!" I don't know why but it just wrenches my heart -- but then D&C 3 comes and the Lord comforts them telling them that He is merciful.

Richard Bushman, I'm not sure. I might have given the D70 to Shane haha. I'll let Elder Walkenhorst know.

That's awesome to hear about Adam's jeep! haha. What a coincidence.

Well it's my first actual week out here and it went pretty well. We had two whole lessons in spanish. One with a peruvian man named Enrique and the other with a less-active family from Ecuador. Enrique seemed a little rough around the edges but is surprisingly kind and invited us to come back! I'm pretty excited to teach him -- I think this will be perfect if the less-active family comes back as well as he will have someone to relate to.

The less-active family is the Majors family. Nadia, the mother, married a white guy a few years after she got here and it apparently ended terribly -- he was a jerk I guess. She works for $12 70 hours/week. That is crazy. I made more money than that. I don't understand how I was running through all my money whereas Nadia can raise her 2 children on her income, pay for a car, pay for a home, pay for food... it really gives me perspective on the whole thing.

Had a great day at church yesterday, we taught elders quorum about eternal families. It was a really great discussion to have and to get to know each of the elders a little bit more. I also met the Bishop, Bishop Nally who is a wonderful man. He's very soft-spoken and he has a good sense of humor. Phew! haha.

We are teaching a girl named Kaylyn Parker! She was being taught by the missionaries in the town next to us (can't remember the name) but she lives in our area, so they passed her on and she is great. She loves the church and wants to be baptized. We're not sure, though, what might be holding her up. So with our next appointment we'll see how we can help her make this decision. I really hope she decides to do it... it will bless her life more than she can imagine.

The change to Boston is ok. It is definitely different, but I'll live. I've been reflecting on the past two years and I'm just trying to stay motivated and stay excited. I want to end well and know that I've done if not THE best, the best that I can right now, from now on. I am not a perfect missionary, nor a perfect person. But I hope that what I have done is at least acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.

I love you very much. I hope all is well. Keep praying for me! I need it!
Elder Conner Allred

7-5-2011

Hey Madre, 7-5-2011

It's very different here in the Boston mission! Just FYI, my P-Days apparently ARE on Mondays, but if we have a transfer meeting, they change to Wednesday. A little confusing, I know.

My area is Gardner Massachusetts. We live in an extension from a members mansion! It's a really nice place and the laundry is free! The Members are Brother and Sister Stokes. They are really great people -- Brother Stokes is a software engineer of some type but works mainly with Government Computer Security. We mainly stay in Leominster (Lemon-stir) and Fitchburg and we live in Lunenberg. So far I have met one peruvian man... :S. Our ward is completely english-speaking except for two families, and one of them basically refused to speak to me in spanish when I tried, so -- scratch that one! It's a little frustrating but I'll deal.

Our first appointment we had we had at a members home, my companion (Elder Horton, who is awesome!) asked me how often I taught spanish in CT, my response was simply "I think this is actually my first time doing an english lesson." So it's quite different here. If someone wants to come to church that speaks spanish, we have to translate everything!

p.s. Elder Horton is from Utah (forgot which part) and he entered the MTC also on Dec. 9th. So we've both been out 18 almost 19 months.

I got up and bore my testimony at church so that people would recognize me when I'm walking around. I think it also helps ease the awkwardness of a first impression to get up and show people my personality etc. The members are really nice people and have been very welcoming.

Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to Boston for the 4th of July fireworks! It was really neat! It was very different because we were told not to wear proselyting clothes and the crowd definitely wasn't either haha. I'm sure it's something that I wouldn't have even dared to ask permission to go to from President Pehrson haha. It was really a cool place though. We saw a lot of cool shopping centers and enjoyed the sights, there are some really cool street performers as well!. We got to Boston about 10am and got home about 1am! It started by getting to the church where we had to pick up the chains in the parking lot to get under them! The cars BARELY made it under. We walked over to the subway and hopped on to get into Harvard Square. We went shopping a little bit and got hungry so we headed over to China Town where we ate at a neat little Chinese rest. that only charged me $1.50 for a canned soda! What a deal!

After lunch we went to a really neat street of which I don't remember the name that had a ton of shopping centers (Chanel, Nike, you name it.) I bought some pins from a place called Johnny Cupcakes. It's a T-Shirt store that is set up like a bakery but when you open the fridges and stuff it's plates of shirts. We also found a used-book store where I found, for a great deal of more than 50% off, Joseph Smith: A Rough Stone Rolling -- I had to buy it! So I did.

We headed over to the river after shopping and got our places with some ward members near the edge and waited 4 hours for the fireworks. It was a loooooooong wait. But it was worth it.

I think that's about it for the update today. I love you and miss you. Hopefully I can keep using my spanish out here, but it seems that resistance is futile.

I'm going to include pictures from New London, our apartment, and the fireworks show.

Love you! -Elder Conner Allred

Conner David Allred to me
show details 11:48 AM (3 hours ago)




Mom, also -- Elder Walkenhorst wants to buy my D70. Could you send that out? The body, charger, battery, and CF card should all be in the box. He has a lens that I sold him already. Just send it to my old NL apartment addressed to him. Thank you!!