Puh-kip-see

 Sister Kovac, whose Mom is a friend of Elder Allred's Mom

Sister Torres, who is Elder Allred's cousin Kylie's  BFF since they were teeny little girls:) 

Big week! So as most of you probably know... today is another transfer day. I'll just cut right to the news. I'm being transferred out of Harlem! President Morgan called me at about 9:45 Saturday night and told me that I would need to pack my bags. He also informed me that I would be released as a district leader and that he is calling me to be a zone leader. So I will be going to Poughkeepsie, NY, to be a zone leader with Elder Romo. A mixture of emotions filled me after I got that news. I'll explain a few. Sadness: I love Harlem so much! As you can tell from the emails that I've sent since coming here, I've had some incredible experiences and really feel like I've fulfilled my missionary purpose here. The people I've met are incredible. It was so hard to say goodbye to them over the past few days. Just so many amazing people. Members in the ward that I really look up to. Investigators. Other missionaries. Little pieces of my heart are scattered all throughout Harlem. Excitement: change is always exciting! I know that there are new opportunities to learn and progress just waiting for me in Poughkeepsie. It will be kinda nice to be out of the fast paced and tiring lifestyle of the city. I love it here, but it has for sure made me tired. I could use a slow down, and I'm excited to get back into a taste of the quiet country life. Nervousness: being a zone leader is a huge responsibility. I will be expected to train and help a lot more missionaries now. The effect that a zone leader has on his missionaries is incredible. I will need to learn to lead by example and love. I know that I am capable. That's why the Lord is calling me to do it. It will be a challenge though, and there will be a lot on my shoulders. I let my weaknesses scare me a little bit too much sometimes. Anyway, these are just a few of the feelings that I've had over the weekend. There are several more! It's just been so crazy and busy! Packing up your whole life and moving on a three day notice leaves you with a lot to do in a little amount of time. I will miss Harlem so much! This place will always be a special and sacred place to me. Some other news is that my roommate/zone leader, Elder Smith, was called to serve as an assistant to President Morgan. He and I are really good friends. We came to Harlem together and have lived in the same apartment for almost six months. I'm excited to have him leading the mission, and I will be able to continue working closely with him since I will be serving as a zone leader. Zone leaders have pretty frequent contact with the assistants. I'm ready for what is ahead in the next part of my mission! I know that I will see miracles in Poughkeepsie! Elder Romo is a great guy too. I've know him since the beginning of my mission. We were in the same zone when I started in Newtown and again in the same zone when I went down to the Bronx. Really good friend of mine. So I'm excited to see the work that we will be able to do together. Anyway, life is great! I love the mission so much! It's really scary how fast it is slipping through my fingers now, but I'm just trying not to think about it and continue serving the Lord the best I can. I hope you all have  a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the Cowboys lay down a good beating on Philly! I love you!!!! 

~Elder Allred 

Brrrr!!

Hey everyone! We've had an awesome week here in Harlem! The Sisters that serve in the YSA Ward had two baptisms! One on Saturday and one on Sunday morning. So many amazing things happen here, and I get to be a first hand witness to it all. I love it! When a convert gets baptized, they are usually interviewed by the district leader or a zone leader. In special cases they are interviewed by the mission president. I had the opportunity to interview both of these people, and it was such a cool experience for me. Elder Raine and I are doing pretty well. I've been a little frustrated the past couple of weeks. After Rafael, Kristina and Noel and got baptized we were left with no progressing investigators. So for the past couple weeks we've been working extra hard and trying like crazy to find new people to teach. I've been kind of a bum about it and Elder Raine has heard my complaining all of this week. I had an experience on Sunday that was very humbling for me though. Rafael and Kristina haven't been able to come to church since Rafael's baptism. This week they showed up early and worked on family history before church started! Then they stayed for the meetings. The whole sacrament meeting was about temples and gospel principles class was about temples and family history. It was so cool. Just the perfect day for them to keep them excited and progressing in the gospel. I say that this experience was humbling because it made me realize something very important. I've been so worried about not having any investigators preparing for baptism that I wasn't acknowledging the blessings that God has given to us. I wasn't even thinking about how amazing Rafael, Kristina and Noel are and how we are still fully engaged in the work of bringing people to Christ as we prepare them to go to the temple. It was a bit of a wake up for me. I still wish we had atleast one solid investigator, but my perspective is different now as I'm trying to take each day with an "attitude of gratitude" rather than one of complaint and negativism. One more cool thing from Sunday was from Bishop Kelly. In case I hadn't mentioned it before, I look up to that man so much. I've learned some amazing lessons from watching his humble service as the bishop in Harlem. Not a very easy position to hold. He takes it so humbly though, and the and the people here trust him so much. I hope that when I come back home and have callings in the church, I will be able to serve half as well as I've watched Bishop Kelly serve here. Anyway, after the two speakers were done in sacrament meeting, Bishop Kelly took the last ten minutes or so and said a few words. He talked about the temple and how important it is for all of us. He spoke specifically to recommend holders, those who are currently unworthy or don't hold a recommend, recent converts, and young people preparing to enter the temple. So pretty much everyone, but he wanted to make sure everybody felt included. What he said was really powerful. He posed a question, "What do you need to do in order to prepare for the temple?" I loved his answer. He said that in order for all of us to prepare to enter the temple (whether we currently hold a recommend or not) we need to learn about, understand, and apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Loved it!  If we feel the effects the Atonement can have on us, we will feel clean and worthy enough to enter into the house of the Lord. I'm grateful that Bishop Kelly said that. It was definitely an inspired message for the saints in Harlem, including me, to hear. Well, that's about it this week. Saturday night is shot calls! So I will find out if I'm staying in Harlem or leaving. I've been here for quite a while so I imagine I will be getting transferred. I"ll be happy either way. I love Harlem so much! I could stay here for the rest of my mission and be perfectly happy. Change is always good and exciting though. We'll see! I'll let you know next Wednesday. Well I hope you are all happy and well! Love you! 

~Elder Allred

Riken and the Plan of Salvation (November 12 email)

Hello family!

We had zone conference yesterday, which was awesome! President and Sister Morgan focused all of their messages toward the Savior. Sister Morgan's talk invited us to ponder how well we "Know the Shepherd". So throughout the holiday season we will be thinking about Christ and studying a lot about His life! We naturally kind of do that more around Christmastime anyway, but I think this year there will be even more of an emphasis on it. I have a feeling this holiday season is going to be really special. It's my final one as a missionary, and it's also President and Sister Morgan's final one. They will return home to Sandy, UT about a month and a half before my mission comes to an end. Anyway, I'm excited for the season. By next Saturday, I will find out where I will be spending my birthday, Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. There's a pretty good chance it won't be in Harlem, because I've already been here for four cycles, and and I've been with Elder Raine for three of those four. We'll see what happens! I did have one really cool experience teaching this week. Elder Raine and I were over at Rafael and Kristina's on Monday night. After someone gets baptized, they need to be taught all of the lessons over again to review and make sure they have a basic understanding of it all. So, we're teaching them about the Plan of Salvation, which is usually one of the more difficult lessons to teach, but this time it was really easy and going really well. Right when we were just about to start talking about what happens during our life here on Earth, Rafael noticed that the background on my iPad was a picture of Riken. He pointed it out right in the middle of the lesson and said that he was a cute kid. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to talk about Riken for a minute and to show him off a little bit, like I always do haha. So I showed them a couple of pictures and talked about how much I love the little guy. You might initially think that took us off track a little but and distracted us from the lesson. In reality, it did the opposite! I was able to talk about how Riken is just beginning to grow and learn. To learn how to use his body. To learn how to talk and walk and run. To learn how to be funny and express his emotions. To learn how things work in the world. I related that to all of our experiences here on earth. Just like Riken is growing, learning, and progressing, so are all of we as we live in this part of our Heavenly Father's plan. It was perfect! Never thought I would be able to talk about Riken (Which is something I do a lot) and teach a missionary lesson at the same time. It was really cool. One of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I've ever taught on my mission. Anyway, life is good! The mission is great! Love you guys!!

~Elder Allred

Happy Halloween from Harlem

I found some funny Halloween stuff when I went on a split with one of the elders in my district yesterday! 

Hello family! 

Everything is good here in Harlem! The cold weather is just around the corner, and I'm starting to feel it already. On Sunday it got pretty chilly, and I actually busted out my winter jacket and my scarf. The last couple days haven't been too bad though. I'm sure we'll see snow before the next transfer at the end of November. The work is going pretty well. Rafael, Noel and Kristina are all doing well. We're working with all of them to try to get them to the temple soon. Noel and Rafael still need to get the priesthood before they can go. One step at a time! We're working with a guy named William. Elder Raine and I contacted him a couple of weeks ago, and we've taught him a few times. He's pretty active in another local Christian church, so he hasn't been able to come to church yet. Hopefully soon! We're also teaching a Jamaican couple named Lindsay and Annette tonight. They're awesome. I don't know if I've mentioned their names in any of my emails before. About three months ago they lost their eight year old son to cancer. We actually met Annette through another Jamaican lady that we contacted on the street right after Elder Raine got here. This little family has been in my prayers pretty frequently for a while now. We've been trying to set up a time that we could come over and teach them, but it just hasn't worked out yet. Hopefully all will go well tonight! Other than that, there's only really one announcement from this week. On Sunday we found out that our Ward Mission Leader, Brandon, got called into the Bishopric of the Harlem Spanish Ward, so he got released from his calling and will no longer be serving with us. I was pretty down all day Sunday after finding out about that. I have learned so much in my time serving with Brandon.  He's just so dedicated to serving the Lord, and he's been incredibly helpful in our efforts. We also lost our Elders Quorum President this week, because he got called to serve on the High Council. He has also done a lot to help us in the work. It's sad to see these good men go. I've learned a lot from both of them. After a lot of thinking, though, I've come to the realization that they have been called to serve in other callings for a reason. The work of the Lord is always moving forward, and sometimes that means that people who have blessed a lot of lives in a certain calling need to move on to bless the lives of others in a different calling and capacity. My only worry is that they'll take Bishop Kelly away from us next haha. The good ones always go fast. Anyway, I'm grateful for the examples of the faithful brothers and sisters that I've been able to serve with in each ward that I've been in. I've learned so much from so many humble examples of Christlike service. I hope that one day when I return from my mission and serve in different callings in the church, I can serve with the same kind of love and devotion as some of these good people that I've mentioned. I'd like to end this week by highlighting something in my Book of Mormon reading. This week we were reading about the end of Alma the Younger's time in Alma Chapters 36-42. Right before he died, he talked one on one with each one of his sons and gave them personal counsel to remember after he was gone. I started thinking about how much I've learned from my father and about how the things he taught me growing up prepared me to go out on my own. I'm so grateful for that. Then I started thinking about how one day, I might have sons to teach and prepare. What do I need to do now in order to have a positive influence on them like Alma had on his sons? Or like my Dad has had on me? God places all of us in the families that we need to be in in this life. We are to support each other and prepare each other for the challenges that we will each individually face in life. I'm grateful that God chose to place me in a family with all of you. Each person who is reading this email right now has played  a major role in my life and has had more impact than you probably realize. Thank you for everything that you have done and continue to do for me. I love you with all of my heart!