Life in the New Area

Well two weeks has come and gone and here we are again.  Well a lot has happened these past few weeks so I guess I’ll start from the beginning.  There wasn't really anything exciting that happened the
first few days.

On Sunday we had the District conference of Benin Cotonou.  It was pretty awesome seeing all the members from around Benin and a lot of old friends from my first area.  We also had a member of the seventy there, Elder Vincent.  It was awesome.  I couldn't hear much of his talk because I sat in the very back but what I did hear was good.  Sunday afternoon we had an appointment with a new investigator. We got to his house and it turned out that it was a church... the appointment started out really well and then the guy’s pastor came and got in and after that it ended with a lot of yelling; them praying that Satan would leave us and they tried to "save" us. Lol… probably my most interesting appointment since I've been on the mission.

Last Monday we had a zone activity and we went to Ganvié.  Ganvié is a city that is built on top of the lake that is on the outside of Cotonou. It was pretty awesome. The city is pretty huge, something I thought was cool was they have people that sit on their boats and go around the city selling things. It’s awesome, and there were some kids on a boat that were on their way to school, I think the kids were maybe 8 years old and they were in a boat just chugging along. They also have a mosque built on the water that was pretty cool. All in all fun trip but I left my Oakleys at the city on the lake so ya oh well!

Finally the work in our area is really starting to improve, and it’s all because of an amazing member in our area.  She translates for all the people who can’t speak French. She is introducing us to her friends. Anything that you can do to help the missionaries she does. It is truly a blessing having her in our area to help us.  Most of our progressing investigators live on her street! We found a lot of new people this last week that seem like they will progress.  This new area is hard but I’m thankful for the opportunity.

I’m thankful for the help of your prayers. I love you and miss you. Have an amazing week!

All my love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

"Ganvié is a lake village in Benin, lying in Lake Nokoué, near Cotonou. With a population of around 20,000 people, it is probably the largest lake village in Africa and as such is very popular with tourists." (from Wikipedia)

Pictures from Google images:

1st Transfer

Hello from Menontin!! Well I'm sure you can imagine the craziness of my life the past few days.

After getting off the plane Monday of last week and getting my stuff I was met by President Weed. After that President and Sister Weed took me to my old apartment and President Weed told me that I was being transferred to Menontin. He said they would come and get me on Wednesday, so I went back to my old area to sleep there until Wednesday.

Tuesday I woke up, studied and packed almost all morning, I wasn't quiet finished but I had been packing for a little while so I decided to rest and then Elder Kent came running into our room and said the office missionaries are coming in 30 minutes to get you!  They got there in 10.  So after rushing to get everything else packed and ready to go I got in the truck and said goodbye to my first area after staying there for 6 1/2 months!

I arrived in my new sector and put my stuff down and went straight to work!  This area is one of the oldest in Benin. My MTC teacher taught people from this area but it’s good.  We don’t have a lot of progressing investigators so we are working on that. There are also a lot of inactive so we work a lot with them.

Things here are good. I’m adjusted back to Africa, feels like I never left!  It’s nice to be back in the swing of things.  I hope all is well!  I love and miss you so much!

Avec amour,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Home...

This week was an interesting one as Elder Allred came home for a few days. He had to testify in a trial and so the court ordered him home. We picked him up at the airport around 10:45 p.m. on Oct. 1 and the first thing I noticed is how skinny he was. He's lost 40 lbs. since he left but it looks good on him. We went and got something to eat because of course he was hungry. Afterwards we talked until around 3:30 a.m. The next afternoon we went through the temple with his sister as she got her endowments. She is getting married later this month. It was really good to have him here for that.  He brought home all of the souvenirs that he has bought so far so it was like Christmas. He grandpa came and stayed with us so Elder Allred would have a companion with him at all times. He testified on Oct. 4 and then left to spend a day with his dad. He flew back to Africa on Oct. 6 - his eighth month mark. He his supposed to be transferred as soon as he returns so we will know more next week. It was great to have him home but bittersweet at the same time knowing that we had to say goodbye again.

This represents the family unit

Nativity - my favorite

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil