April 23

Hey everyone~

I'm a little bit later than usual today. I hope you guys didn't think I forgot about you! I hope you all had a happy Easter! I know I sure did. Our speakers on Sunday were Elder and Sister Brown from Rexburg, Idaho. They've been serving here in the Olmstead 2nd Ward for about eighteen months. They were called here for ward support and to work in the Manhattan temple. They'll be going back home to Rexburg next week. They have contributed a lot to this ward and will definitely be missed. I've really come to love those guys a lot since being here in the Bronx. Before my mission I didn't think we would work with senior couples at all, but we actually do quite a bit of work with them. This week has been really good. On Monday, all of the missionaries in Manhattan and the Bronx got together and had a meeting. President Morgan gave a specialty training on setting goals and having faith. It's always good to have big meetings like that. It really helps motivate me to be a better missionary and to work harder. The last couple of days since then have been awesome. Elder Rydalch and I have been working extra hard and trying to find people to teach. I can feel the power that is there as we are both exercising our faith more. I don't know if I said it in my last email or not, but things have been a little down lately. The work has just been really slow, and we've been struggling to find consistent people to teach. In my three months here, we haven't really had anyone other than Theresita that has progressed, and we only worked with her for a couple of weeks. The whole time I was in Newtown we always taught Declan and Kim. So, to go from that to nobody at all is a little rough. Like I said though, we're working hard and trying. We've talked to a lot more people lately and some have even showed some promising potential. Hopefully things will pick up soon! Other than that, things are good. I'm having so much fun with Elder Rydalch and our roommates. We can all sit and talk for hours with each other. There haven't been too many times in my life that I've laughed as much as I do now. It's awesome! Probably my favorite thing that we all like doing together is sing country music. I miss it so much! I hear it in the gym every once in a while though. They played an Eli Young Band song this morning. We all loved the Yankees game last week. It was seriously incredible. That was probably the fastest three hours of my entire life. I could have sat in that stadium forever. I can't wait until we can all go to a game together next summer! The only bummer was that I didn't get to see Jeter play :/ There is another Wednesday afternoon game scheduled against Tampa Bay in July. I'm gonna give it awhile, but I'll be asking President Morgan if I can go to that one too. Hopefully he'll feel generous enough to let me go to two in one year. I just really want to see Jeter play in Yankee Stadium so bad before he retires. We'll see what happens. Well, we get shot calls on Saturday night. That's where we find out where we will be serving for next cycle. I can't believe it's already that time again! I think I say it every six weeks, but it's so true that each one goes by faster than the last. It's kinda scary how fast it goes actually. Hopefully Elder Rydalch and I both stay. We're pretty sure Elder Sorenson will be going somewhere else and Elder Kohli will be staying. Next cycle is Elder Kohli's last one, so I really hope I get to keep serving around him before he goes back home to Ogden. He and I have become really good friends in the last five weeks, even though he's a Braves fan. I guess we can still get along. Haha. Anyway, I'm doing really well. I'm happy, I'm healthy, and it's almost summer! Nothing to complain about. I hope you are all doing well too. You should all know that a good amount of the reason I'm still out here is because of you. Because I know that God is watching over you and sending extra blessings your way. That might be a selfish reason, but it's one of mine. There are definitely other reasons, but you guys are a big one. I miss you all so much. I wish I could be with you, bit I know that the day we are all reunited will be indescribably joyful because of the difficult time that it has been to be apart. Thank you all for everything that you do for me and for the love and support. I'm sorry for how bad I've been at writing letters. I'm trying to do better. Just know that you're in my thoughts and prayers every day. I love you, I love you, I love you!!!

~Elder Allred