The Bronx is awesome! I live in a decent apartment that's really close to the Bronx Zoo. I have a pretty good view of the skyline from my living room, so that's pretty cool. We cover the Morris Park area. I don't think it's really the stereotypical atmosphere that everyone thinks about when they hear about the Bronx. I imagine there probably are some pretty sketchy parts close to here, but where I'm at just isn't one of them. There are a few project buildings in the area, but not a whole bunch. There is actually a pretty good amount of actual houses here too. They're fairly small and really close together, but they're houses nonetheless. And I didn't expect to see any of those. The people have been generally pretty friendly so far. I don't know if we've just been lucky and run into more friendly people than normal in the last few days or if that's how it always is. Either way, the friendliness is another thing I didn't expect. Our schedule is fantastic. We don't have dinner appointments, so we just work until like eight o' clock and go home to have dinner. I'm usually in bed somewhere between like 9:30 and 10. I love my sleep! We live like a block and a half from Planet Fitness, so we wake up early to go there. I have to work off the twenty pounds that I gained in Newtown! Haha. I think I should be able to do that pretty easily. I don't eat nearly as much food anymore. Plus I do a lot of walking. We do ride buses quite a bit too though. The ward here is definitely not too well established. There was probably like sixty people at church on Sunday. The sacrament was blessed by Elder Hansen and an older guy. Then me, a deacon and the Elders' Quorum President passed. There are found companionships of elders in this ward and one set of sisters. They definitely need the missionaries to keep things in order. It's good though. It will give me a perspective that I haven't ever gotten to see before, and it will show me what the gospel can mean to all different kinds of people. My companion is Elder Hansen from Logan, Utah. He's such a good dude. He's super smart and he has a good way of thinking about the best way to do things. He's been in this area for a little over four months now. He actually just finished training someone too. He and I are very similar, and so far we've agreed on basically everything. I think we are going to work really well together! I expected to be teaching a lot more people when I got to the city, but it's about the same as Newtown in that aspect. The first night I was here, we went over to a member's house named Sister Murray. She has a little baby that's about eight months old, and he is super cute. Her husband is not a member, so he's one of our investigators. He's a super cool guy named Michael. I'm not sure where he's from but his accent sounds Jamaican. I'm probably off on that guess. People here are from pretty much everywhere. There's no way for a white guy from Utah to be able to tell where everyone is from. We also taught this guy named Alvin, who is a less active. He for sure is from Jamaica. It was so hard to understand him. He has a super thick accent. He just really mixes his words and mumbles a lot. He makes entire sentences sound like one long word, mon. He really did say mon...a lot. It's the real deal. Haha it was tough, but I'm sure I'll be able to understand him better the more I visit with him. About three or four weeks ago, Elder Hansen baptized this lady named Barbara, so we should hopefully be working with her soon. She has some kind of personal issue going on and won't tell us what it is. So, it's tough, but hopefully she will let us meet with her soon. I think I told you guys last week, but one of my new zone leaders down here is Elder Taylor from Salt Lake. He's my mission "grandpa". He was Elder Kroff's trainer, so we already had that cool connection going on. He was way excited to have me in the zone. He even set up a companion split with me yesterday. That's where missionaries switch companions for the day to work with other people and in other areas. It was awesome to spend some time with him. We were both pretty excited to talk about Newtown with each other and have a lot in common with each other on missionary experiences. So that was a super cool day. There are actually quite a few people in the Olmstead zone that used to be up in the Yorktown zone with me. So, it's a lot of fun to work with some of my old friends. Wow, time flies. I can't believe I hit my six month mark this week! It is seriously so crazy!! The work is great here. I'm excited to see what else the Bronx has in store for me. I feel relieved, because I was super sad about leaving Newtown, but I have found that I am just loving it here. I definitely miss the old ward, but this new adventure is exciting! I just truly am blessed you guys. I can see God's hand in my life so much more clearly that I ever have before. He truly is refining me and changing me into the man he wants me to be a year and a half from now. He's giving me this experience to prepare me for the rest of my life and eternity. It is amazing. Anyway, thank you guys again for all of your love and support. I hope you have a fantastic week. I love you so much!!!
~Elder Allred
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