Week of Parties

Well it’s crazy to think that Christmas came and is now gone, only one more to go! haha Anyway well this past week wasn't really very exciting.

Tuesday we had our Missionary Christmas party which was pretty great. It’s so awesome getting together with all the other missionaries in our mission.  We also had our Branch Christmas party which was pretty interesting. The youth did an interesting dance thing and then everyone danced together. At the end we got fed so much food it was awesome!

Christmas was really weird here. It just didn't feel the same without the cold and family, but it was still good getting to talk to everyone.

The rest of this week went by pretty slow because we are still having problems filling up our days because people are still working like crazy so that they can have great parties for New Year’s!

On Saturday we went to an activity at the beach and that was awesome. I took some sweet pictures of me haha!

Sunday I taught the lesson for the young women and it went pretty well. That was a nice change because the same people teach the each lesson each week so it was nice.

All and all it was a pretty easy week not much new. I hope you have a great week I love you!

Avec amour,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Busy Time of Year

Wow another week has come and gone can you believe it!  Well this week really wasn't super exciting!

So this week I learned something new about Africa and that is: when Christmas time/New Years comes people become really busy working so that they can have a really nice party for their friends and family, so therefore they become very busy and don't want to talk to the missionaries.  So that sentence basically describes my past week.  Everyday our appointments didn't go through because people were working and didn't have time to talk with us.

To top it off I got a little sick this week so we hardly did anything this week.

Things in my area are interesting right now, we don't have a lot of investigators but we are starting to meet new people so I hope they will come through.

Well there is some interesting news for this week and that's Elder Gnenenon is being transferred!  He is becoming a zone leader and I will be working with someone from Madagascar....I don't know how to spell his name but I'll let you know next week!

Other than that things are pretty normal. I'm excited about Christmas and getting to talk to you!  Ok well have a great week!  I love you!

All my love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II
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I Know This is the Work of God on the Earth!

Well another week has come and gone and here we are again!  This week went by super fast which is always a good thing!

This week we had 2 baptisms!  Salomé and Rebecca!  Salomé is a mother of 4 kids and is divorced so she has seen her fair share of difficulties in her life. Since the first time I taught her I could always feel something special about her.  The best thing about Salomé is here love for Jesus Christ.  She loves him so much and she wants to do all she can to follow his commandments!  Every time we taught her the spirit was so strong.  Rebecca likes primary a lot but I think that's because her cousins are there but she wanted to be baptized too.  All and all it was a pretty special day for her and her daughter it was great.

Also on Saturday I got to say goodbye to two of my good friends Elder Poll and Layton they finished there missions and went home! I can't believe how fast the time is going!  I'm thankful for the people that Heavenly Father has prepared. I know this is the work of God on the earth!

I love you and miss you!  Have a great week!

All my love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Finding People to Teach

Well another week has come and gone.  This past week went by pretty fast but not really much happened.

So life in the new area has been pretty good for the most part but now we are starting to have a little problem.  As the time goes on myself and Gnenenon have noticed that we don't have a whole lot of people to teach, so now the oh so familiar feeling of needing to find new people is back.  The problem with our
area is there are a lot of Muslims on one half of it so we stay away from that area but we are going to start so pray for us. We need as much help as we can to find the people who Heavenly Father has prepared for us. I have faith that we will but it will take a little bit of work.

Myself and Gnenenon have a good teaching style. I really can feel the spirit when we teach. It's pretty awesome.  We have a baptism this week so I'm excited about that. It should be a good week.

Today we went to a party and it was awesome.  The missionaries who are going home bought a pig and we cooked it up. It was awesome and I got to see a lot of friends so it was pretty awesome!

Well I hope you have a good week. I love you and miss you!

All my love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

New Area

Well another week has come and gone.  This past week went by super fast. It was a pretty busy one.  All week I was preparing for my transfer.  One member that I only knew for a little over a month made me a huge dinner for leaving. It was awesome!  One of my investigators bought me a six pack of coke so that was nice.  Thursday I said goodbye to my second area without much difficultly.

I arrived in my new area and I was pretty tired but we went straight to work.  I found out that most of the converts live in my area and they are all active. On my second day in the sector we had a meeting at the church and I found out that the church is an hour away from our apartment so that was a nice walk.

Saturday we had a baptism. When we arrived there was a funeral going on and it turned out that it was somebody who I knew from my first area.  It was pretty sad. He had gotten sick with an infection but they couldn't help him because of the health care here. He had been suffering for a while.  I don’t know what it is about funerals but I always seem to feel the spirit a little better than usual.  I felt that he was a lot happier and in a way better place.

Our baptism went well but he didn't come to church on Sunday so I'm not really sure about that.  All and all the first week was good.  I love you and miss you!

All my love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

From Sister Semken:

"Elder Allred was in the bureau renewing his Visa today.  Since it is Thanksgiving I thought it would be fun to take these Elders picture and send it to all the Mothers.  We really enjoy Elder Allred he is the best missionary."

Elders: Gray, Allred, Montross, Hawkins, Mary, Sister Semken,
Kimzey, Ravelojoana, Ouonnebo and in the back Elder Ta

Transferred...Again

Hellllloooo!

Well today I have something interesting to say..."Elder Allred thank you for your service given in Menontin.  You are transferred to Avitro and will be working with Elder Gnenenon."

Well there’s the big news from this week, I’m getting transferred!  Avitro is a sector still in Benin but it’s on the other side of Cotonou.  Elder Gnenenon is from the Ivory Coast, so he is my first companion from there and he is also my first only French speaking companion since I was with Elder Boto.

Elder Ne-Kindinga asked me if I was sad to be leaving Menontin and I am a little bit but I was only here for 6 weeks so I’m sad to be leaving but at the same time no.  I feel like I left this area better than I came to it in.  I learned so much about myself while I was here and what kind of missionary I want to be for the rest of my mission.

The other exciting thing from this week was Elder Méjean got transferred to Menontin also but I’ll only get to live with him for 1 week.

Other than that there hasn’t been much of anything else that was to exciting.  We had a good week.  Things are good. I miss you and love you!

Avec amour,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

PS:  I forgot to write this last week but my apartment won the cleanest apartment again so I got a free lunch. It was awesome!