2/22/10 pix

Here are some pix of a bday party for a ward family's little girl and the view from Conner's front porch. That store is a liquor store which makes for some interesting traffic out front. The upper right pic is a view of east hartford.

2-16-10

The flight was great, unfortunately I was sitting next to missionaries the whole time though so it wasn't that great of a chance to proselyte while on the plane. I have been having a really great time here but the spanish is much harder to understand than I expected. The Puerto Ricans speak so fast and cut off a lot of their words that it is difficult to understand. We used to have an investigator that was a spaniard though, but unfortunately he dropped us.

My companion is Elder Urrutia -- He's a native but he lived in Texas most of his life so his english is fantastic as well. He is a great help! I am doing my best to constantly speak Spanish and hopefully I'll get fluent quickly.

Our address is:
Elder Conner Allred
Connecticut Hartford Mission
288 Park Street Apartment 2W
Hartford, CT 06106

We are right in the middle of Hartford and it is GHETTO. We live right in the middle of the city -- the city is mainly made up of Puerto Ricans and other hispanics and some blacks. I think I have seen one white person in the last week -- it's crazy. I never thought that the culture here would be so hispanic!

We live in a 4some, Elder Burbidge from Salt Lake, Elder Barney from Salt Lake, and Elder Urrutia and me. Elder Barney is hilarious. He always lectures Elder Urrutia and always always always says his name after every sentence. I'll take a video sometime and send it, he cracks me up. The other day he was telling Elder Urrutia how to change the toilet paper roll... "Urrutia! Look at this, How am I supposed to get the toilet paper if it's not on the roll, Urrutia? Watch, Urrutia. Now I put this on the roll and it just slides off, Urrutia... Convenient, right, Urrutia?" Haha, he's so strange. Our apartment is quite small and the people above and below us are usually smoking, drinking, and listening to music called "Reggatone;" it's hispanic rap. So we have a lot of sound and stuff going on constantly, there are always sirens going past our window and there's a package (liquor) store accross the street, so the street is littered with bottles. As dirty as it sounds, I absolutely love it.

The people are very humble, I met this family -- Jose, Christina, and their 2 year old daughter Melody -- we went to their house to have dinner, as they were baptized just a week ago, and she served us some food from Peru (a lot of people are preuvian too). When I saw the plate I thought. "Yeah, that plate looks like about enough to serve 8 of us." But then I realized that that was ONE serving. She had plates for ALL of us. It was crazy! They are a really great family, and Melody is hilarious. I will send a picture home she drew while we were sharing a message with the family. She was reaching in my suit pocket stealing all my pens and paper and drew with all of them. She's really funny. She's 2 years old and she understands spanish better than I do, as well... Not too fair.

We also went on exchanges, my district leader is in Windsor and is english speaking so I went with him and he took me to an area that is a little bit better than hartford but not by much. The family we went to was black and they were all pentecostal... The whole hour and a half they just wanted to bible bash -- luckily between Elder Furness and I, we had answers for all of the things they threw at us. But at the end, they wanted to say the prayer and it was the scariest thing I have ever been a part of. We held hands in a circle and they all chant, while one person says it, they chant things like "Jesus, Lord, Jesus!" and "Hallelujah Lord, Jesus!" and they sometimes recite the prayer as the person is saying it, he said things like "please, Lord WATCH OVER these men as they JOURNEY. Bless these CURSED boys." That same guy also pointed out Galatians 1:8 to us -- he basically said we are accursed.... Let it be, for the good I'm doing, if that is evil -- I'd rather be evil. haha, good times. It was an interesting day. I'll have to copy down my journal entry from that day and send you the entirety. Anyway -- I will send a few pictures with this e-mail, I didn't get a ton while traveling cause we didn't have a ton of time, but I'll send what I have. Love you.

Conner in CT safe and sound

I heard from Conner's mission "mom" today and he is in Ct safe and sound. He is in a group of 4 elders... 2 spanish speakers (conners companionship) and 2 english speakers.
Conner's comp, elder Urruita, is from TX but his parents immigrated from Mexico so he is fluent in spanish. Conner lives right down town and his new address is:

Elder Conner Allred
288 Park St. Apt. 2W
Hartford, CT 06106

Dec 23, 2009

Hey everyone!

It's my second P-Day here in the MTC and it's going to be a LONG one! Usually on p-days we go to the temple and spend the day there and then come back and start class again at 6, but today the temple is closed for cleaning so we have 11 hours to kill. It'll give me some time to freshen up my spanish though haha. This week we had a devotional and Elder Neil L. Anderson came to speak. Thanks to my parents I was lucky enough to meet him. I was a little scared! I was sitting in class at about 10 am and there's this big announcement in our building that said "Is Elder Conner Allred available?" And so I called up to the front desk and they said "the mission president needs to see you tonight at 6:30." AHHHHH! What the?! Well I found out that Elder Anderson wanted to meet me and so my companion and I got to meet him! It was really great! After we said hello and got some pictures the meeting had already started so we walked out the doors, center stage, 2000 missionaries staring at my comp, me, and Elder Anderson and the MTC staff sat my companion and me with the Anderson family!

This week has been a fantastic week; we have been having a lot of fun (not too much though). I'm starting to get a hang of things and the spanish is coming along really well. We have an "espanol day" coming up where we can only speak spanish, I wasn't too excited about that idea at first, but I'm sure with enough prayer and practice I'll be able to make it the whole day without speaking english.

Anyway, the MTC is great and the people are awesome! Hope all is well at home!
-Love Elder Conner Allred

December 16, 2009

Hi all,
To anyone who wants to write me my address is:
Conner David Allred
MTC Mailbox # 178
CT-HAR 0208
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Writing thru "www.dearelder.com" is also great.

The MTC is great! and I have done a lot here. The classes are super long but I am really enjoying it. I am doing my laundry right now and it's pretty slow here at the moment cause we got here early. Spanish is coming along great, I'm really enjoying the language. I'll write more later or next week when I can think of something. Later
-Love
Elder Conner Allred

Dec 12, 2009

Hola Familia!
The MTC is great, it's super fun and I'm really beginning to connect with my district. I hope I show them they are lucky to be here, as some people that wish to, cannot serve. Mi companero es...is great. We drive each other a little crazy. I'm learning how to pray (orar). It is insane how quickly the language is coming. Some of the older elders said that my spanish is amazing for only three days here. Ha..this elder is singing "lean on me" while I'm writing this and now others are joining in! Anyway, it feels good when people look to me for help with the language. It is hilarious I find myself saying little spanish phrases that I have learned automatically to the other elders.
Love,
Elder Conner Allred

Letter from Provo MTC Presidency‏
From: Missionary Training Center (mtcInfoDesk@mtc.byu.edu)
Sent: Wed 12/09/09 9:31 PM
To: davida@crengland.com; hiyafellas@hotmail.com

Dear family of Conner David Allred,

We are pleased to inform you that your missionary has been safely checked in at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. We thank you for supporting your missionary and know that your family will be blessed as a result.

Your missionary's mailing address while at the MTC is:
Conner David Allred
MTC Mailbox # 178
CT-HAR 0208
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Please note the following items:

1. Your missionary's service began today. Please do not arrange or request visits with your missionary, including meetings at the temple or in proximity to the MTC.

2. All missionary mail must come through the US Mail or commercial delivery services. Hand delivered items will NOT be accepted. Do not send pizzas, fast foods, ice-cream, or any items that will spoil if they are not refrigerated within 24 hours. Missionaries are not called out of class to receive packages, nor do they have access to a refrigerator.

3. Communicate with your missionary weekly through letters sent to the above address or through the email account that the missionary will set up within the first two weeks. This account is to be used by immediate family only. Telephone calls for missionaries cannot be accepted. Your missionary will correspond with you on his/her first preparation day.

4. Families and friends should not plan to visit missionaries departing to their field of labor at the airport or MTC.

Should you need to communicate with the MTC call 801-422-2602. Do not reply to this email.

Sincerely,

Provo MTC Presidency