My Man! Yo, My Main Man!

Sorry you guys didn't get an email yesterday. I know you look forward to Wednesdays! Haha. Our P-day got changed to Thursday this week, because we had a big zone conference yesterday. The meeting was great! Do you remember at the beginning of my mission when I talked about consecration? The principle of consecrating ourselves to the Lord's work is pretty much the core of everything that President Morgan does with this mission. He came out with this concept in July, right before I arrived into the mission field. When I first got here in August, I  could just feel that the bar had been raised in New York New York North. As missionaries strived for consecration we saw huge blessings and so much success. The fall was an exciting time when everyone was focused on this. President Morgan expressed yesterday that he feels we have kind of strayed off of the path of consecration in the last few months. In the excitement of Facebook and trying to figure out how to best use our iPads, we have given a lot less time  and energy to consecration. I can definitely feel that I have lost focus since those first couple months in the mission field. The winter found me spending most of my efforts on figuring out how to use Facebook as a missionary tool as well as working through the struggles of being a trainer. I didn't spend much time even thinking about consecration, much less putting into practice the ways of a consecrated lifestyle. So, zone conference was awesome. We got to hear President and Sister Morgan speak! Along with the AP's and a few other missionaries. It was a great motivation for me to refocus and begin again with doing all that I can to submit my will to God's will and and give Him my whole self. I learned a lot yesterday and got a lot of ideas about what I can do to get back into it. I'm excited to see what will happen now that the whole mission will be back on track and back on the road to consecration! We've had some pretty good success in the work this week. A, the less active guy from Jamaica, came to church! We left the apartment early Sunday morning so that we could go over and pick him up. He has glaucoma, so it's hard for him to see. With the ice on the sidewalks, he is worried about walking to the bus stop alone, so we offered to walk with him. It was great! He's a good guy. It's still really hard for me to understand what he's saying sometimes, but I'm getting there. I love working with the people here. It kind of gives me a different perspective as to how the gospel can bless the lives of people. Everyone here comes from a much different background than I do, and it's strengthening my testimony that the gospel is for everyone. The gospel principles and all the doctrine is the exact same. But the way that the gospel effects you is different for every single person. I have to tell you guys about a funny guy that we keep seeing on the streets. Of course, there are plenty of homeless people around here begging for money. This one guy, though, seems to like to just hang out really close to the McDonald's by our apartment. He never asks us for money, but every time we walk past him, he just says "My man! Yo, my main man!" Haha he'll say that a few times until we're gone. I used to just think it was weird, but now I look forward to seeing My Main Man! The other day, Elder Hansen gave him a dollar, and he got so excited. He just started going crazy, "My man, my man, my man, my man! My main man!!" It was awesome! We also got to go to a Spanish dinner appointment this week. It was a great experience for me, for a couple of reasons. First is that we were with Elder Romo and Hausenfluck. Those guys were in my first zone in Yorktown, and now I'm in the same zone as them again. It is so cool to be able to hang out with some of my already established missionary friends. The next reason this experience was great for me is that not a single word of English was spoken. I didn't understand anything that was said. The cool part was that I just knew that the scriptures that were read ou of the Santa Biblia and the words that were spoken were true. The Spirit testifies truth to us sometimes and works in ways that are just unexplainable. It's amazing. Elder Hansen and I are getting along so well! He and I are just so similar in pretty much everything that we do. He's even my first companion that is a country music fan. Things are just going really well. I can't believe that this cycle is halfway over already. I'm afraid that Elder Hansen might leave in three weeks, because getting along this well with a companion is just too good to be true. We'll see! For now, I'll just have to enjoy it while it lasts. Have a great week everyone! Thanks for everything that you do for me. Love you guys!!!
~Elder Allred