One More Cycle in Harlem :)

I'm staying in Harlem!! I was gonna save that bit of news for the end, but I'm too excited and too impatient to type it out haha. I don't know how to explain how much I love it here. I love the area. I love the ward. Mostly, I just love the people we are teaching. We got the transfer call on Saturday morning just before we headed out for General Conference. The other exciting part about it is that Elder Raine is staying as well. I've never had a companion for three cycles, and I'm excited that I get to do that with him. He's a great kid and has nothing but good desires. Training a new missionary is always accompanied by a headache or two, but for the most part we've gotten along really well and have done some really good work here. We never really argue about anything or get contentious at all, which is saying a lot since we have spent twenty four hours a day within sight and hearing of each other for three months now. He has learned so much and changed a lot since he first came out. I was also really excited to find out that our roommates are both staying for another cycle as well. Elder Smith and I came into the area at the same time in June, and we have become really good friends since then. By the end of this cycle we will have lived and worked together for almost six months. He's a great example to me and has taught me a lot about being a good missionary. General Conference was amazing!! As I have watched it as a missionary it has been so much different than ever before. Growing up I didn't really pay that much attention to it, but now I just eat it up. I'm sad I only get to watch one more time as a full time missionary. I loved President Monson's talk about following in the path of Jesus Christ and walking as He would walk. A simple testimony of the Savior provided powerfully from our beloved prophet. There is no doubt in my mind that he and the other leaders of this church have been called of God to teach us and be examples to us. So many of the talks this weekend were just so good, and I loved every minute of it. I also liked how a few people spoke in their native tongue. And the choirs from Tooele, G-ville, and Stansbury were incredible! I'm sure some of you knew some of the people who got the opportunity to sing. So cool!! The thing that hit me hardest this conference wasn't in the talks or the music. It was in the closing prayer of the Saturday morning session. The person who was praying mentioned the missionaries. What was cool is that he didn't pray for the missionaries. Everyone does that. He prayed for our "parents, grandparents and families". I thought of all of you and the sacrifices you have made having a son, brother, a cousin, a nephew, an uncle, and a friend serving in New York. I know this isn't easy on you guys. So I was so full of gratitude for that prayer in your behalf. The last highlight of the week is this new movie called Meet the Mormons. I'm sure you've all heard of it. It seems like it's been somewhat big in the media. Well, the mission is going to be watching it! So I get to see it on Friday morning at the temple with all of the other missionaries in the city. I'm excited to see it and see what kind of a positive image it will put into the eyes of the world of our faith. Well that's about it for now. I love the mission. I see miracles every single day, and I've never been closer to the Savior in my entire life. I have a little joke with the missionaries in my zone. Half of us are Spanish speaking and half are English. I've picked up a few Spanish words but definitely not enough to hold a conversation. I like to throw in some Spanglish sometimes, and so I often say to everyone "Dios is real". It usually gets a little chuckle. It's a true statement though. God is real. He's there. I know it. He knows each of us personally, and He loves us. I love you all so much. Thanks for everything you do. Have a great week! 

~Elder Allred

WHAT!!??? A Yankees game:)!!

Hey everyone, 

Things are good! I feel like this week went by faster than any other of my whole mission yet. It's already been a week and a half since the wedding and General Conference. Time goes too fast. Before we know it, summer will be upon us, and then I will be a year from coming home. Before my mission, everyone said it would go by fast. I believed them, but I didn't realize just how fast it really would be. It reminds me of that song by Kenny Chesney, "Don't Blink". If I blink, I might just miss something cool. Just thinking of that song reminded me of something. Our apartment right now consists of me, Elder Rydalch, and Elder Kohli, all country boys from small town Utah. Our other roommate is Elder Sorenson from Vegas, so he's a bit of a black sheep here. Anyway, the three of us have been on a huge singing kick lately. It's so great to have good friends. The mission buddies will be some of my best friends for the rest of my life. I think every day this week we've had ourselves a little jam session in the apartment remembering all of our favorite country songs. It's awesome! We even got the Vegas boy to sing a little bit of T-Swift with us haha. I just want to listen to music so bad. There's plenty of good missionary approved music, but it's just not the same as my favorites from home. I guess that's all part of the sacrifice I have to make to be here. Things have been a little down as far as the work goes. Just about a month ago, things really started booming, and new people to teach were coming up everywhere. Since Theresita dropped us a couple weeks ago though, things have just really slowed down. I've tried my hardest not to let it get me down, but it had put me into kind of a weird funk. The other day, I had the chance to go on a split with my Zone Leader, Elder Staheli. I was talking to him about the area and how I was feeling. He really encouraged me and told me that he has noticed my hard work. He said that I was a good example to the other missionaries in the zone. It really was cool of him and I could feel the sincerity of his words. Elder Taylor (my trainer's trainer) was a ZL here last cycle. He helped me a lot while he was here. He's actually one of the AP's now. The guy that replaced him is Elder Tancayo, from Hawaii. Another really cool guy. My whole mission I've had awesome leaders who have encouraged me and gotten me through the hard times. That's a huge blessing. Anyway, things should hopefully be looking up soon. We had an idea to start a free bible study class at the church. We handed out a whole bunch of flyers and posted some in businesses that would let us. Hopefully people will be interested and we can maybe find some people to teach that way. All we can do is work hard and do things the best way that we know how. Whether we teach people or not is up to the Lord. We're just His instruments. Our only job really is to stay worthy and be out there talking to people. We had something pretty cool happen on Monday. We were outside contacting people, and this guy came up and started talking to us. Turns out he is a member from Anaheim who lives in Provo now. He was in the Bronx for a few days working. He was so excited to see us and took us all out to Taco Bell for dinner. It was so cool of him! The guy was hilarious, and he actually knew one of our Sister Missionaries, Sister Makanesi who is from Anaheim too. That was a really neat experience. It's so awesome how much people care about us missionaries and want to take care of us. I'm incredibly grateful for all of the love I have felt from others and the support I've had in my service to the Lord. 

Okay, last thing for this week's email. Yesterday it was way rainy. The Yankees had a game scheduled with the Cubs, but it got rained out. We found out from a member that it was rescheduled for this afternoon at 1:05. So since I'm good friends with one of the AP's, Elder Taylor, I gave him a call last night. I told him what was going on and asked if there was any chance at all that we'd be able to go. He's really into baseball too, so he was excited. He called President Morgan and asked him. President Morgan, being the great man that he is, gave us the okay! I'm going to a Yankees game today!!!! Me, Elder Rydalch, and our two roommates are all going together. If any of you have MLB.tv, watch for a group of four guys in white shirts and ties. How cool is this you guys? I live in the Bronx. A Yankees fan from little Nephi, Utah. And I'm going to the stadium to watch a game today. There's no way anyone could tell me that God didn't place me here. He could have me anywhere in the world right now, but He has me here. If that's not a big bright neon flashing sign that says God knows me personally, I don't know what would be. He knows us all. There's not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that this is true. I hope you all know that too. He knows you and loves you. He cares about you and watches over you. Sometime He might even take you to a baseball game! Needless to say, I'm so excited!! I am living the dream right now. I'm being take care of so incredibly well, and I'm running out of room to count all of my blessings. I'll take some pictures on my iPad today and send them. Have a great week everybody. I love you all so much!!

~Elder Allred 

General Conference with Elder Hausenfluck

April 10

General Conference was so good! I honestly think that this Conference weekend has been my favorite one ever. It's hard to choose a favorite talk, but I'll just highlight a few that I really liked. On my mission, I have come to love Elder Bednar so much. Studying from talks that he's given in the past has helped me understand the Atonement so much better. So, the talk that he gave on Sunday morning was one of my favorites. He talked about how our spiritual loads are what get us through life and what allow the Atonement to work for us. I really related to that, because I've seen that to be true in my life. There are people in this world that have gone through way more than I can even imagine, but in my young 20 year life, I've seen a good amount of struggles myself. It's because of those struggles that I have been motivated to rely on Jesus Christ and allow his Atonement to heal the hurt and make me a better person. It's kind of a weird concept. The hard things in life are the things that make us better and that we appreciate. That ties in with one of my other favorite talks from this weekend. Also in the Sunday morning session, President Uchtdorf talked about having an attitude of gratitude. Be grateful for everything. Every aspect of your life is a divinely created gift from God and has a purpose. Whether we know what His purposes are or not, we need to be grateful for Him and for everything that He has provided us with. Okay... one more highlight from General Conference. You all should have seen the smile on my face when President Eyring spoke in the Priesthood session. He started out by talking about how his childhood baseball hero was Joe DiMaggio. So cool! He later went on to talk about how the example that Priesthood holding men will set for their children and for young men that they associate with. It made me think of how it meant to me growing up, having so many great leaders in the church. I have so many great memories of scout camps and young men's activities. More important than any other leader was having a father who held the Priesthood and showed me that example. I didn't fully realize it as a kid or as a young man, but that was the greatest blessing I could have asked for. It played a very key role in bringing me to where I am today. If any of you haven't had a chance to watch all of the sessions of this General Conference yet, please do! You might not think so, but somewhere in the array of talks, there is something specifically for you. Something that will answer a question that you have or give you guidance that you didn't even know you needed. It sounds like the wedding turned out well. I'm so glad! I"m so happy the video worked too! Now I can feel like I was a part of the celebration. I don't have too much time to email today, so I'l have to cut it a bit short. The weather is finally consistently warm, so we're going to take advantage of it and go check out the zoo today! Just know that I'm doing really well and loving the Bronx! I love you all so much. Have an amazing week!

~Elder Allred