Baltic Mission Youth Conference

The Baltic Mission Youth Conference was held in Estonia from July 4-9.  The participants came from Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.  The venue is a place called Mustjõe Kõrtsitalu (Black River Hotel/Tavern Farm).  There was a farm here at one time a few centuries ago, and it has been restored in the style that was used then. It was NOT restored in a style that caters to people who desire comfort or luxury. If you want an authentic old world experience, this is the place.  It does have electricity and indoor plumbing to accommodate guests.  Just wait until you see the bedrooms.  The food is purely Baltic with lots of bread, cheese, onion butter, cold meats, porridge, potatoes, soups and stews.  What wasn't eaten today, will find itself in the soup tomorrow, you can count on that.  There is sour cream to go in it as well.  I learned that this was typical food in their own homes.  No highly processed food here.  It's all cooked fresh everyday.  The vegetable soup was the best I have ever tasted in my life. What was in it?  I don't ask.

The conference was very similar, in some respects to those run in the U.S..  We were invited to participate and teach a seminary class each day.  The youth were divided into three groups and they would rotate through the three seminary classes.  We were also asked to give a workshop on sharing the gospel.  These are things that we were happy to do, but between three different languages, the rhythm and flow of delivery can be somewhat halting as we would have to pause at times for translation or mental processing from English to native tongue and back to English (which most of the youth can speak).  This made it a formidable task to teach in the manner to which we were accustomed.  As I write this, my feelings are tender, as I remember how when English words would fail me, the Spirit knew every language.  And that was how we communicated.  On one occasion, an adult adviser (from Belarus) came up to me.  He thanked me, hugged me and told me he loved me.  He is a Russian speaker, but he knew enough English to tell me that.  These people are hungry and anxious for the gospel and the Lord is brooding over this land.  I foresee great things happening because of the youth (most are 1st or 2nd generation) that are catching the vision of who they are and their place in the growth of the church within their countries.  I count myself so privileged to be a witness of it.

Water dipper

Traditional hut

Inside the hut, looking up

A smoke sauna and shower

View of the lawns from the roof

Small pond with a view

Estonian hot tub

Upstairs banquet room in the lodge

Ancient swing

Outside ancient faucet

Upside down trees for fence posts

Fence line with woven pickets

Another kind of fence

Inside the lodge for a lesson

Marriage Altar

Two-story hut

Our bathroom, shower was in the hall

Our bed.  Like sleeping in a coffin.

The rest of the bedroom

Sister Allred preparing for a lesson

Just a Small Comparison

These pictures show the difference between night and day here.

Outside our apartment at 4:30 AM

Outside our apartment at 10:30 PM

One Adventure After Another

Thursday, June 16

We finished at the MTC on Wednesday with training from CES.  We finished some last minute chores and then went to the temple for some quiet time.  Thursday was a free day to get ready for our flight on Friday.  We packed bags and weighed them several times.  We were pretty close to the limit on some of them.  We checked out and went to Salt Lake and met Zachary.  While we there, Joseph and his family drove into town on their way to a family reunion in Idaho, so we got to visit with them one last time.

Friday, June 17

Zachary dropped us off at the airport and we made our way through all the checks and x-rays.  We arrived in Chicago just after lunchtime with four hours to kill.  So we walked slowly through the terminal a few times, had lunch and stood in line.  Since this was an international flight, the Feds had dogs to sniff everyone as they boarded.  Since I had been in a suit all day, I think the dog passed out after sniffing me.  We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany about 7:15 AM on Saturday morning.  See how green it is there?  So beautiful.

Frankfurt from the air

Saturday, June 17

After deplaning, we had to get our passports stamped to enter the "EU", European Union.  After a 90 minute wait, we were on a flight to Riga, Latvia.  The sky was overcast all day and we really couldn't see anything but clouds since we passing over Ireland earlier in the day.  At about noon, we arrived in Riga and found the missionaries waiting for us.

Riga Airport

The Assistants took us to the mission office for a few minutes (our mission president was in Lithuania for meetings and couldn't meet us there).  The CES Area Director was there to greet us and to drive us to Tallinn in the car we are to use.  I heard that the drive was lovely with green and lush scenery.  I kinda checked out as I hadn't slept since leaving Salt Lake the day before.  It rained most of the day and when we arrived at our apartment, the zone leader had our keys, we could not open the door (it has three locks on it), and we only two keys.  They called the landlady and she was 90 minutes away, so we all went for lunch.  Afterwards, we met the landlady and she gave us the third key that opened it up.  We slept well that night.

Sunday, June 18

The elders came by and they showed us how to get to the church.

Tallinn Chapel

Inside the Chapel

 It's a small building, but has everything you'd need, just a smaller size or number.  The branch here is comprised of Estonian and Russian speakers, so there is constant translation going on during the meetings.  We wore a receiver while a sister missionary translated.  Kinda cool.  When a Russian speaker spoke, we had a Russian elder translate.  We had the usual meetings, all in Estonian with some help from the missionaries.  I have to admit, the jet-lag was in full force and it was hard to not drift off somewhere.  We had the elders with us to show us the way back.  All of Europe is so old, the roads look like they were made from cow trails and footpaths.  The roads just don't go east-west, north-south.  They can go in every direction you can imagine and change direction suddenly.  If you miss your turn, you can't just turn at the next intersection and find your way back, you may have to go a ways further before you get another place to turn, so you must know where you are going before you start.  A great metaphor for life.

The Rest of the Week

This is the Highlight reel:

• tripped circuit breaker, no electricity all night
• parking ticket
• getting lost more times that one can count on one hand
• Had first YSA FHE at our apartment.  Fun!
• Set off security alarm at the church (who knew?)
• Broke three pieces of furniture
• Performed service/picking up trash
• rode a bus
• Hosting the patriarch while he is here giving blessings (more on that later)
• visited Old Town and had pancakes

It's been a fun and adventurous week, full of wonder and amazement.  Who needs a cruise, when you live where the cruise ships come every day?  This is the life!

Sunday, June 12

It's Official

Being fed at the MTC

What a difference a week makes.  You've all heard about being fed with a firehose.  We have lived through it!  There were 108 senior missionaries (most of whom were couples), and we had a fantastic week of instruction in Preach My Gospel (PMG).  Our very young instructors (all are RMs) were very good and very knowledgeable.  In spite of our many years of church service, this was something we have never experienced before. It has left us optimistic and excited for the work before us.  For those of you who are awaiting your turn to come here or will come sometime down the road, I must warn you of two very important things:  #1. Our challenging regimen consists of sitting and eating, repeated 3 times a day.  You may very well gain weight here if you are not careful. and #2. In case you didn't know, I'll break it to you - every hallway, every classroom, every anything here is populated by angels from the unseen world who will suddenly spring upon you and fill your eyes with tears, leaving you temporarily blinded.  The spirit is so strong and so prevalent here.  We were here maybe 30 minutes on Monday and we were all together for an introduction to the MTC, and we were singing an opening hymn, "Called to Serve".  I love this song and I always sing it with gusto.  First verse down.  Check.  Second verse down.  Ummm.  Well.  The full meaning of the words of the chorus came rushing suddenly to my eyelids.  Game over.  This was but a small indication of what was to come over the course of the week.

Estonia, here we come!

As you see, we have taken the obligatory picture all new missionaries must take while at the MTC.  We can barely reach Estonia on the map.  We are so excited to go and serve the people there.  It will be a grand adventure and it just so happens that we're just the sort of people who enjoy adventures.

On Tuesday we had a special fireside with Elder Bednar and his wife.  This was a really great meeting as it was transmitted to all MTCs throughout the world.  

Elder and Sister Bednar

He talked about how Christ blessed others, one-by-one and that we should remember that there is "one" and maybe many "ones" in the world that we are being sent to find and invite to Christ.  He also debuted a song that he wrote (the lyrics) and had Paul Cardall put to music.  He had 5 children sing it with a huge chorus of MTC missionaries behind them.  It was a stellar event.  You will be pleased to know that it will appear in the July issue of the New Era.

Yesterday we went to Brigham City to visit my baby brother Kevin.  We had lunch at the Idle Isle Cafe.  I had the turkey dinner (think Thanksgiving).  We had a great time catching up on what he's doing these days.  We also had a chance to visit the new Brigham City Temple and the Box Elder Tabernacle.  This was really great.  We really like this place.

With Kevin in front of his house

Brigham City Temple

Box Elder Tabernacle

On our way back, we shopped for cold weather clothes.  We ended up with down filled jackets, boots, socks, scarves and thermals.  The best part was that Michael, Brittany and the little ones met us at the Outlet stores and saw to it that we were well taken care of.  And to top it all off, it was all heavily discounted since it is now summer.

Sister Allred's cute boots, etc.

Elder Allred's bargains

But wait, there's more.  When we returned to Provo, we had a dinner date with the Thackers (Sierra and her parents).  Of course we talked about Caleb a lot and had a great time together while eating at Gurus.

Sierra in the middle

Bryce, Shelly & Sierra

We have 3 more training days here (for CES) and then we depart on Friday morning, the 17th.  Hurrah for Israel!

Allred's: Never slow to the food table.

 Thursday, June 2

We decided to have a family dinner/goodbye party with all our kids still living in Arizona.  It was great fun to have many of our grandchildren together as well as their parents.

Averee, Liesl & Brynlee

Some of our Grandchildren

On top of that, Brynlee's birthday was just around the corner and so celebrated that as well.  After dinner, we had some time to sit in a circle and share our feelings.  It was a wonderful time spent together, reminiscing about things we have all enjoyed as a family.  At about 8:00 PM, we had a couple of the YW in the ward come over and watch the little ones while the rest of us met with Pres. Toone for the setting apart.  It was a sweet occasion as promised blessings were given.  We said our goodbyes while it rained (tears, that is), and headed home one last time.  

Sister and Elder Allred with Pres. Toone

Friday, June 3

Departure Day

Will it all fit?

Here's the view of the house in the early morning as I am trying to figure out if the luggage will fit in the car.  It was rather snug, but it all fit.

One of the things we did before we left was to visit as many of our family as we could in their homes.  It was really nice to have that one-on-one time with them.  We decided to rearrange our straight-shot up to Provo by taking the scenic route and visit some of our other loved ones.  Our first stop was with my brother Gary and his wife Margie who live in Pine.  

Margie and Gary

Wow, what cool things they have done to their property.  It's like an oasis.  We picked up the trail and headed to Snowflake to see my Aunt Edyth Jackson.  She is dear to me as she was the closest to my father when they were little.  

Nancy and Aunt Edyth

She lives next door to her daughter, Nancy Titus, and we had a great time together.  Thanks for the doughnuts.  Back on the road again, we headed North, all the way to Cortez, CO to see another brother, Darren and his family.  After his dogs got a whiff of us and thought we looked like hors d'oeuvres, we all went out to eat and

Darren (center), Kate and family

had good time visiting about the beautiful mountains and lakes in the area.  We said our goodbyes and struck out for Monticello, UT,  where we stayed the night.  We must have gotten the last available room in town.  It was packed there.

The famous Monticello Inn

Saturday, June 4

The Last Leg

The wind blew all night.  I woke up at 3:35 AM and couldn't sleep after driving all day.  Why?  Probably the wind.  I managed to get a couple more hours of sleep, but felt kinda groggy and mopey-eyed.  We packed up and headed over to see the Monticello temple.  Then I saw it.  The reason for my ill-tempered sleep.  Apparently, it has been so hot in Monticello lately, that they brought in these giant fans to cool the place down.  Unbelievable!

Monticello Air-Conditioning

Monticello Temple

We stopped by the temple and walked around it.  The entire south side is planted with lilac bushes.  The scent was heavenly.  They also had planted pansies everywhere.  Here are a few shots of the loveliness.

My beautiful Pansies

No trip through central Utah is complete without driving through the red rock country.  It's an exotic place with beautiful rock formations.  Just like this formation called "Wilson Arch".

Wilson Arch

At Bear Country with Zachary and Marissa

We made it to Springville and visited with Michael and his family of rambunctious kids.  We ended up in West Valley with Zachary and Marissa and they hosted us in their "newish" home.

Sunday, June 4

We went to church with Zachary and Marissa and then made a quick trip to Temple Square and heard an organ recital and got a personalized tour of the Arnold Friberg exhibit with the original paintings printed in the Book of Mormon.  We had dinner at Michael's in Springville, where he and his lovely bride Brittany, cooked us a most delicious dinner.  Then we had some fun taking some pictures with the kiddos.

Maverick, Hazel and Elijah

They love their little sister

I know, I know.  I just posted a few days ago, but we are soon entering single digits.  I think I know now what it feels like as a fluid reaches the small exit of a funnel.  Things begin to really start to spin wildly . . . like my brain is, wondering if we are remembering everything.

This week is full of last minute things to do.  We get to have one more shot for Hepatitis and then we'll be done.  We also get to move most of the stuff we have in our temporary housing back to our old house for 18 months of storage.  Does moving ever end?  We know we'll be moving again when we return, so I guess that we should just get used to it.

                                       Allred moving day.  Estonia or Bust!

I posted this last time, but it's our last time to do so.  In case anyone was wondering, we speak here locally on May 29th at 11:00 AM at the Mesa East Stake Center, 2228 E. Brown Rd, Mesa, AZ 85213.  For those unable to attend, there is a "Family" social/say your goodbyes to be hosted by the Porter family that evening at 6:30 PM, come and go.  Their house is at 623 N. Yale in Mesa.  We would love to see you all before we leave.

P.S.  If anyone is interested in having your email on our mailing list, please drop us a line, a note, a memo, a message or a carrier pigeon and we will add you.

That's right.  Just 22 more days until we enter the MTC in Provo on June 6th.  We're just a bit anxious, can you tell?  

Now that the countdown is getting serious, we are really trying to have everything in order.  The past few weeks have been filled with shopping, shopping and yet, more shopping - The three things I love most . . . said no man ever.  So, I let MaryAnn do it.  She has found some excellent bargains and has saved us many hundreds of dollars.  It turns out that my clothing needs were a lot more costly that hers.  She may have more "outfits" than I do, but my two "outfits" [new suits] were not cheap.  But we're not done yet.  We get to buy winter coats, and all the necessary accessories,  when we arrive in Tallinn.  

MaryAnn and I preparing lunch for the Elders.

In case anyone was wondering, we speak here locally on May 29th at 11:00 AM at the Mesa East Stake Center, 2228 E. Brown Rd, Mesa, AZ 85213.  For those unable to attend, there is a "Family" social/say your goodbyes to be hosted by the Porter family that evening at 6:30 PM, come and go.  Their house is at 623 N. Yale in Mesa.  We would love to see you all before we leave.