District Leader

Heelllllllllooooooooo!
Well another week has passed!  It just gets crazier and crazier how fast the weeks go by!  I feel like Monday comes, goes and then comes right back again like it never left!

Anyway this week was a little difficult!  Elder Florion and I had a little bit of trouble filling up our time, a lot of our appointments said they would be there and then we would get there and they weren't home. People here aren't always sincere so it gets hard sometimes with that.  The nice thing is that with the lessons we did teach I know for a fact that they were powerful.

Olivier is still doing really well!  The problem is he still hasn't come to church!  But he promised that he would come this week!  The awesome thing from this week was this, we are at Olivier’s house and we had started talking about the plan of salvation with him.  So the plan of salvation answers 3 major questions and one of them is where were we before this life, so Olivier says to us "So this week I sat down with a pastor and I asked him the question, where were we before this life.....we talked for about 2 hours and he couldn't answer my question...." I was like dang!  He is so awesome! I really love Olivier, he does everything that we ask him to do....except come to church but that will happen soon!

The overall problem in our area is people don’t come to church but we are trying hard and praying hard!  Please continue your efforts in praying for our investigators.....I thank you for your efforts!

Oh and the other new news from this week is I have been called as District leader!  I’m excited for the opportunity to serve others!  All and all things are good!  I love you and miss you!

Avec amour,
Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Behold He Is Alive! Haha!

Helllooooooo!

Well it seems like the weeks go faster and faster!  So this week wasn't extremely exciting!  There weren't a lot of things that really happened.  A few weeks ago our sector was made bigger, so lately we have been working in the new part of our sector to try and find some new people there.

Right now we are starting to work with the inactive in the new area; most of the converts are pretty old and need some support to return to church again.  All is going well over there.

So the big news from this week is our investigator Olivier.  He hasn't come to church yet but dang he is solid.  We have had two really awesome lessons with him.  The last visit we had left him with a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read and he read the whole thing and understood it perfectly!  The awesome part from the lesson is that he is taking it upon himself to find out if the Book of Mormon is really true.  So he says to me "Elder Allred....every time you come here you better leave me some scriptures to read!"  I was like....why doesn't everyone say that to me!  This week we are going to start talking about the Plan of Salvation so I left him with some chapters in the book of Mormon that will help him understand that better!  In his family there are six people so we are really working hard with him!

All I ask for this week is to pray for Olivier so that he will know the truth of the Book of Mormon! And really that was it from this week!  I hope all is well!  Thank you for your love and support!  I love you and miss you!

Avec amour,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Finally some pictures!!! I asked him to tell me was in the pictures but all I got was that the first one was from their Easter Monday soccer game that they played today.

Easter Monday soccer game

Dang This Week Was Good!

Helllllloooooooooooooo

Well this week flew by!  I can’t believe how fast things are going! This week was a very productive week! This week I focused on trying to find some new people to teach and start letting go of the old investigators. Like I told you last week the missionaries who were here before me taught the same people for 6 months.

The first people we focused on were the contacts that were given to us by members.  One of the recent converts in the ward gave us her aunt. Her name is Bernadette.  She is a really sweet older lady, but she respects our engagements that we give. This week we are hoping that she will come to church.

The other person we are focusing on is a guy named Olivier.  He is really searching for the truth.  When he talked to one of his friends who is a member he felt like he was being sincere with him and now he is super interested in our message!

The other people we are working with are too new to tell but we are doing our best!  I’m really growing to love my companion. This week I focused on working on the things that we could do better.  It went really well.  I really feel like the spirit is with us all the time.

Dang this week was good. The work is advancing.  All is good. I love you and miss you!

Avec amour,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

New Area

Helllllllllooooooooo!

Well as always another week has come and gone and here we are again!  All and all this week was pretty good!

So I'm not really sure where to begin, the week started out pretty tough.  So the past couple days my companion has been showing me around the new area and introducing me to all of our investigators.  So the thing about this area is that they have had the same investigators for 6 months!  And that's all good and well but I've noticed that a lot of the investigators up aren't progressing very well.

So this week we started looking for new people, talking to more people, calling the contacts that we have recieved....basically all that we can do to find new people to help our sector!  It's been going pretty good for the first couple weeks.  The thing that I have noticed about Togo is the people are a lot nicer, so it makes it a lot easier to talk to people. The problem is a lot of people here don't receive educations so they can't speak French and if they do, most people can't always read French!  Anyway, the search is going well, I think we have found some people that will progress!

Training has been a great experience so far.  It's been really awesome teaching him all that I know!  I remember the times when I was with my trainer, they were some of my favorite times from the mission so I want my companion to think like that!

The other reason that this week was tough was tough is a lot of people in our sector do not respect our appointments but we always have back up plans so that helps.

The good news from this week is my sector is being realined so I will now have more members in my area! I'm hoping this will help us out in our search for new investigators!  All and all things are good!  I'm loving life!  I miss you and love you!

With love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Bonjour From Togo

Bonjour!

Well another week has come and gone and now I’m in a whole new country!  This week was pretty good!  The week started out pretty bad in Benin!  Like last week Benin was still having power problem!  So I didn't have much power for my last week in Benin!  Also because of the power problems our water pump became broken.....so I also had no running water, all and all it was very difficult!

It was also hard saying goodbye to everyone in Benin!  Converts, friends, I really came to know Benin really well, definitely could call the place my second home!

So Friday morning I woke up and was on my way to Togo!  I arrived at my new apartment at 7 o'clock that night!  My new companion’s name is Elder Florion and like I said last week he is from Tahiti!  He is really lovable, it seems like everyone in the area loves the guy!

I really like Togo a lot already!  Power, water, and the people here are amazing!  The Togolese are very nice people!  I can really feel their love when I’m around them!  The only problem that we have is that we don’t have a lot of progressing investigators.  So now it’s time to get to work!

All and all things are good!  I’m loving life!  I miss you and love you!

With Love,
Elder Joseph D. Allred II

Togo Flag

I’M GOING TO TOGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helllllooooo!

Well this week was pretty crazy!  So all and all the week was pretty bittersweet!  So the week started out pretty normal!  Our schedule wasn't always full but we worked hard!

Wednesday I got to attend my first African marriage!  It was pretty interesting!  The building it was in was terrible, usually the government buildings are pretty nice but this one was terrible!  No air conditioning and no fans and the power was out so all and all it was pretty hot!  Everything went well. We went to the party afterwards and I drank so much coke!  It was pretty awesome though!

Then week was pretty normal again until Friday night. The power went out and stayed out for 24 hours....it was horrible!  Me and Landeen slept outside and a cockroach ran across my arm......I woke up, screamed a little, then killed it!

Saturday morning was the baptism of our couple!  It was really awesome seeing them finally be baptized. My phrase now is I can leave Avotrou happy! Which is actually funny because I'm being transferred!  I’M GOING TO TOGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited!

My new area is called Be-Kpota! I’m going to be finishing the training on a Tahitian missionary!  I'm excited for this new experience and I’m also thankful for my time here! All and all things are good, power is still going out a lot and we have no water but all will work out!
Until next week from Togo!  I love you and miss you!

With Love,

Elder Joseph D. Allred II