Elder Joseph (JD) Allred: Africa...Here I Come!

Elder Allred and his group, Elders Gray, Buxton, and Peterson, began their marathon trip to Africa at 4:00 a.m. on March 18, when they left the MTC for the Salt Lake City airport. Their 36 hour flight includes stops in Washington, D.C. and Brussels, Belgium and 12 hours of layover time. He should arrive in Africa on Tuesday, March 19, around 7:30 p.m. Arizona time.

JD woke me (mom) up a little after 6:00 a.m. for a quick call before boarding the plane for Washington, D.C. It was so good to hear his voice and he sounded so grown up when he said, "Hello, Mom. It's Elder Allred." He called again after landing in D.C. and we got to talk for about an hour. We mainly talked about things that he didn't have time to tell us in his letters:

Food: it was great the first two weeks but by the last day he was very tired of it (I'm sure once he gets to Africa he will wish he was eating MTC food)
Sickness: he got his Valentine's package and ate a few things; woke up the next morning feeling sick but thought he was just dehydrated; felt worse the next day (Saturday) but the medical center was closed; by Monday his eyes were stuck shut and he had a sore throat; he's still struggling with a cough; "Now that I'm out of this mosh-pit of germs, hopefully I'll get rid of this cough!"
Language: harder than expected but he can pray and bear his testimony in French
P-day: district went to the temple at 7:00 a.m.; they had personal time when they got back until about 5:15 to get letters written, laundry done, and just hang out
Devotionals were his favorite - Elder Ballard talked at one of them
Typical day in the MTC: most of the day was spent in class; they had about 1 1/2 hrs. of study time and 50 min. of gym; they had 1/2 hr. for each meal; he had to get up early in order to get a shower because there were so many elders at the MTC; they didn't get to check their mail until 9:30 each night

Before he hung up, he bore his testimony in French. Although I couldn't understand the words, I could feel they spirit. It was awesome to hear him speaking a different language after such a short time away from home. When we asked about his feelings, he said he was nervous about the language but confident in his knowledge of the gospel.

Thanks to Deena Gray for the pictures