Covington Trials

After spending some time in the mission home, it was now time to leave for the Ohio Mission. Allan traveled by train to Chicago and then took a short flight to Columbus where the Ohio Mission home and headquarters was located. He met with his mission president, E. Garrett Barlow and received his first assignment. He was called to serve in one of the most southern areas in the mission, Covington, Kentucky. Allan would take a 2 hour bus ride south from Columbus just south of Cincinnati and across the Ohio River on the historical Roebling Suspension Bridge to Covington.

At the time, Covington was in it's economic heyday with close to 60,000 people and a part of the greater Cincinnati area. Allan remembers meeting his trainer, a short elder who was full of energy and a hard worker. But, that would last only 2 weeks. His next companion would be one of his most trying experiences on his mission. In his own words Allan remembers "Then I got another companion, and that companion was probably the laziest missionary in the mission field. We didn't do anything of any consequence at all. And many things that were not very good.

"We filled up our time with a lot of crazy things like sleeping in, playing cards and walking around, going to the movie theaters, and walking around town. We spent a lot of time, just sitting around the apartment wasting our time. And I was so frustrated and didn't know what to do."

"Well, the word got back to the mission president. I don't know if it was because I complained to someone or the zone leaders or somebody else complained or that we weren't doing anything. Then the mission president made a change. But this was after nine months of this guy. Or maybe it wasn't that long-but it seemed like it was that long. It was difficult, and I got transferred and he got transferred back to the mission office and eventually went home early. But I got then moved to Akron, Ohio. Actually it was more in the suburbs of Akron and to a great guy who was very strict in keeping the mission rules and trying to do the right things. And so I was being retrained, and after several month of living less than the kind of life you should, it was a difficult retraining process. But a necessary one."