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