Harlem

~NEW COMPANION, ELDER MONSON~

 Hey everyone! So, I know that you all know today is transfer day. So, I'll tell you the news right here at the beginning. I was released as District Leader, and I've been transferred out of the Bronx to Harlem! I'm pretty sad to be leaving the Bronx. I've really loved it here. This last cycle was awesome. I got really close with a lot of the people I served with. Especially Elder Rydalch and the guys in our apartment. Elder Kohli will be going home tomorrow, and it was sad to say goodbye to him today. He's a good guy, and we've had some good times together. For his last district meeting, Elder Sevy and I put together a song for him. Since we all love country music, we decided to sing "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins. We re-wrote the words for him and put it into a missionary version. It was really cool. I was way nervous to sing in front of the whole zone, but it turned out so well! Anyway, I don't have much time to email today, so this one isn't going to be very long. I'm excited to start working in Harlem! My new companion is named Elder Monson. He's from West Jordan. This will be his last cycle. He'll be going home at the next transfers in July. It should be a lot of fun. These next six weeks will fly by! Adjusting to the new area and watching Elder Monson prepare to go home. I'm excited to have more stories to tell you next week. Thanks for everything. Sorry for the short email this week. I love you! 

~OLMSTEAD ZONE WITH ELDER AND SISTER SNOW~ 

..just a few days with Zack?....

*****Note from Mom: I usually just put the mass email on the blog, but this week I got a bonus email later in the afternoon of a picture Elder Allred took at the Bronx Zoo today. LOVE IT:)*****

Hey everyone! 

This week was probably one of my favorite of my whole mission yet. We had some cool experiences with teaching people. Last week, we met this guy named Ian. We were walking home one night, and he actually stopped us to talk to us. He's from Florida and staying here in the Bronx for a little while selling door to door for Vivint. He wanted to talk, because he was curious about what we do to get into people's houses. We ended up talking to him for about an hour about what we do and what we believe. He didn't give us his number or anything but he took our card. We just assumed we'd never see him again . It was a good surprise when we ran into him again on Saturday. He was sitting out in front of a Catholic Church that's right  down the street from ours. SO we stopped to say hi and talk a little bit. He was kinda discouraged because he didn't have very much luck selling that day, so it made him happy to see some friendly faces. We were actually headed to the church to do a Bible study, and he came with us. Nobody else showed up, so it was just us and him. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He wasn't too interested in actually committing to anything. He said he just wanted to learn more about our church so that he could be less ignorant. In any case, I felt the Spirit strongly as we were talking to him. I don't know if we'll ever see Ian again. He's a young guy though. I think he will reach a point one day where he is seriously looking back on his life and he'll wonder what his purpose is. He will think back to when he met the Mormon missionaries in the Bronx. I hope he will choose to follow the good feeling he gets from the Spirit on that day. Until then, another solid seed has been planted. So much of missionary work is just that: planting seeds in hopes that one day they will grow into something more. You hear that all the time, but I've seen so much truth to that little analogy in the past nine months. We also found a new less active member this week. He talked to us about the mission he served in Vegas. He's going through a really tough time right now. He grew up in the Bronx, lived in Utah and Idaho after his mission for nine or ten years, and just moved back because he got a divorce. Hopefully we will be able to help him. We also started teaching this Jamaican lady named Alicia and her daughter. I have high hopes for them. We just had so much fun this week. It was awesome to have Elder Rydalch's little brother, Beau, out here with us. You guys probably saw the pictures on facebook. He flew out Thursday night and stayed all the way through Monday morning. It was so cool to watch them be reunited. The bond between brothers is one that can't really be described with words. The whole weekend I was just thinking about how cool it would be if I could spend just a few days with Zack. Then I realized on Monday morning when Beau left just how hard it would be to say goodbye again for a little over two years. Elder Rydalch gets home in February of next year, and Beau won't get home from his mission in Ecuador until June of 2016. Anyway, it was a fun weekend. We had some great missionary opportunities to get Beau excited, as well as just some good normal fun. It's so cool that President Morgan allows stuff like this to happen. I am incredibly blessed to be in this mission. It really is the best mission in the whole world. Everyone will tell you that about wherever they served. That's because the Lord knows exactly where we each need to be, and I need to be here in New York New York North. Life is good. I still miss you guys like crazy. I think I'm kinda in that stage where it feels like I'll never come home. I'm sure that will pass in a couple months when I hit my year mark. I love you guys so much. Have a great week!

Love, Elder Allred

May 14

Skyping with everyone was so awesome! It was great to see you all and talk for a little bit. I really wish that we had that opportunity more often than twice a year. We're blessed with what we have though. From what I've heard, a lot of other missions are only allowed a thirty minute phone call. The Church actually wanted President Morgan to go down to thirty minutes too, but he didn't let it happen. He wanted to make sure that we had a lot of time. He takes really good care of us and makes sure that we get to do a lot of cool things. I really look up to that man and admire him for the way he leads this mission. Besides that, this week has been great. We've been teaching this guy named Eddy for a couple of weeks now. He is from Haiti and has been in the states for about twenty years. The way he was found is that a couple of sister missionaries just started talking to him on the subway down in Manhattan. He told them he had met with missionaries before when he was in Haiti and that he would be interested in meeting again. I may have already told you all of that, so if I did I'm sorry. Anyway, when we first met with him he said he had already been baptized. Come to find out this week, he was baptized into another church. He thought that when the Priesthood was restored again to the earth, that meant that every church had the authority. So, he was pretty disappointed when he found out that he needs to be baptized again. I was actually on split, so I wasn't at that lesson. Elder Rydalch said that Eddy was actually a little bit angry about it. Luckily he came to church with us still and we'll be meeting with him on Friday. Hopefully all will go well there, and he will have the desire to be baptized and active in the gospel. Being a district leader is so great! I'm loving it. My first training on Monday went really well. I was way nervous, but it turned out well. Everyone in the district is super supportive. It's a blessing to have these great missionaries here to help me with my leadership responsibilities. I really think that I'm getting way more from them than I could possibly give in return. I'm excited for this coming week. Elder Rydalch's little brother is coming to stay with us for a few days. He just got his mission call to Ecuador, and President Morgan is letting him come here before he goes. It should be way fun! I hope you all have a great week. I miss you like crazy. I love you so much! 

~Elder Allred 

May 7 ...grocery shopping in the heart of Harlem

Hey everyone! I'm a bit late. We went to Harlem today and got groceries at Costco. It was quite the adventure to take all of the food from Harlem back to the Bronx. Whatever you have to do to eat cheaper is worth it here! Haha. Anyway, I don't have a whole lot of time, so the mass email is going to be really short today. I'm going to try to do some individual emails instead. Quick update though. Things are great. The new district leader calling is going great! I love it so much, and I'm able to interact with each companionship a lot more. I'm just happy to have the chance to serve more people more fully. Usually each Monday I would give a training to the district, but since this week was the first Monday of the month, the zone leaders did it. Next week I'll be up though. I'm kinda nervous, but I know that opportunity  to teach the other missionaries each week will help me learn so much more! The work is good. Our mission has a goal to baptize 100 people in the month of May. I was talking to the AP, Elder Taylor, and he said we're already at 28! I think we will reach it. Elder Rydalch and I are hoping to set a baptismal date this week with someone. We've both been a lot more determined lately to work hard and have talked to a lot more people. We taught five lessons on Monday alone. Other than that, things are great! Nothing too big to report on. I can't wait to see everyone for Skype on Sunday. Love you guys! 

~Elder Allred 

District Leader :)

I can't believe today was transfers again. It seems like I just barely sent you guys the pictures of me with Elder Kroff, Steiner and Fronk from the last transfer meeting six weeks ago. This cycle has been good. As far as teaching people goes, it has probably been the slowest cycle of my mission yet. We just haven't had much going on. Since President Morgan's training that I told you about last week we've been doing a little better. On Thursday we taught this guy named Jeff. He's a potential investigator that I've been trying to get in contact with since I've been here, so it was awesome when he finally let us come over. I felt the Spirit so strong as we taught his about Joseph Smith, the Restoration of the Gospel, and the Book of Mormon. He also just happened to have a friend over at the time we scheduled our appointment. As we taught, his friend was listening and asked if he could have a copy of the Book of Mormon. He got up and left before we finished up, so we weren't able to get his contact information. He has our card though so hopefully he'll read and get interested and contact us. It was so cool. It feels so good to teach a solid lesson like that. When we get those opportunities are some of the times that I am most happy. We also started working with this guy named Eddy, who was baptized in Haiti about 20 years ago. Shortly after he was baptized he came here and lived in Florida for a few years before moving to the Bronx. He hasn't been to church since leaving Haiti, and he came on Sunday! We've already taught him twice, so hopefully we'll get to continue working with him. Other than that, there's not too much going on. Elder Rydalch and I will be staying together again this cycle in the Bronx. Our district leader got transferred, and President Morgan called me to be the new district leader here. I'm pretty nervous but excited for this new calling. My capacity to serve and love will increase so much, and I know I will learn a lot in the next six weeks. Things are good, and I'm excited for this next phase of my mission. I miss you and love you all so much! 

~ Elder Allred

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 

PICTURES!!!

Elder Allred, Elder Sorenson, Elder Rydalch, Elder Kohli

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 

You saw it here... Elder Allred promised his Mom he would come back to Snow College after his mission!! :)

Elder Rydalch and I are working really well together! It's been kind of an adjustment. I was really used to Elder Hansen, and we were getting along incredibly well. Six weeks together definitely wasn't enough time. I went two cycles with my first two companions, so to only have one with him made it feel like we were only together half as long as we were supposed to be. It's amazing how fast I become friends with people in the mission. I was thinking about that last week when I got to spend some time with Elder Kroff and Elder Steiner. I only had three months to get to know Elder Kroff and only two weeks to get to know Elder Steiner. But now they're both two of the best friends I've ever had, and I could sit and talk to either of them for hours on end. I'm so grateful for those friendships that I am building. I'll always be surrounded by people that share in my beliefs and can provide me with support. I think Elder Rydalch will be another one of those people. He's planning on going to Snow when he gets home and playing for the football team. Since I'm planning on going back for another year and cheering, and since we'll both be going in the Fall 2015 semester, we'll be able to hang out with each other all the time. That will be awesome! The work is going pretty well still. We did, however, have a pretty big disappointment last night. Theresita texted us and said she doesn't want to meet with us anymore. She's planning on moving down to Florida and going to a different church down there. It's really sad, because I know that she has felt the truthfulness of what we have taught her about. I've seen the spirit work in her and testify to her, and it's been incredible. She has been so eager to learn and so excited about the gospel. She was even going to let us start teaching her daughter, Juanita, this week. She's letting us come over on Thursday to say goodbye. Elder Rydalch and I are just planning on bearing testimony and expressing our gratitude for the opportunity we've had to teach her. If we can help her feel the Spirit one more time, then maybe someday down the road, she'll remember how she felt as she learned with us, witnessed a baptism, came to church, and had many other faith building opportunities. Maybe someday she will realize that she needs the fullness of the gospel that has been restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. All we can do is pray for her. That's probably one of the hardest things about missionary work. Our purpose is to invite and not to force.  We do all that we can to live worthy of the Spirit and provide people with  opportunities to accept the gospel, but in the end, they have their agency. It's their choice, not ours. As much as it pains me to see Theresita stopping and choosing not to learn anymore, I can't make her change her mind. I think that's probably the way that God feels about us a lot of the time. All He wants us to do is choose to keep His commandments and return to live with Him again someday. He loves us so much and wants us to choose Him, but He can't force it. Just like an earthly parent wants their child to love them, He wants us to love Him and choose Him. I'll be he sheds many tears when His children walk away from Him. That's one thing I've learned a lot about as I've been on my mission. As I come to love these people and have real concern for their salvation, I get a small taste of how our Father in Heaven and our brother, Jesus Christ, feel about us. As I see the worth in the souls of everyone around me, I'm understanding what the worth of my soul is to them. Being a missionary is changing me in so many ways, and giving me an entirely new  perspective on a lot of things. I love this experience so much. I'm so grateful for everything that I've been blessed with. And even though I'm sad about Theresita today, we get to go to the temple! There couldn't have been better timing for this. I'm excited to spend a little bit of time in Manhattan again. Plus I get to buy another matching tie today! I have one with all of my companions so far, and we always wear them to meetings where all of the missionaries gather. That's one way to get recognized by 260 missionaries! Anyway, thank you for everything that you do for me. I was spoiled this week when I got three packages in the mail. It was like Christmas! Haha. Have a great week everyone. I love you !

~Elder Allred 

Springtime in the Bronx

Elder Allred's final P-day with Elder Hansen was spent in Chinatown

 Transfer Day... Elder Allred got to see his companion from the MTC, Elder Steiner. His trainer, Elder Kroff and Elder Fronk. Elder Allred looks SO happy!!:) 

He loves us <3

Hey everyone! I can't believe how much the work has picked up in the past couple of weeks. As I told you last week, we started teaching Theresita. She is doing really well. I can't remember if I told you or not, but the first day we met with her was the day she was getting baptized into another church. I was really nervous, because I didn't know how we were going to explain to her that her baptism was a good thing but that it wasn't done by the proper Priesthood authority. We ended up having an amazing lesson with her on Wednesday night. Before we could even get started teaching her, she told us that she had read the pamphlet we gave her on the Restoration, which talks about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the fullness of the Gospel, including the coming forth of the Book of Mormon and the Priesthood authority being returned to the earth again. She said that as she read it, she felt that her baptism was a good thing but just didn't feel completely full. She told us that she knew she needed to be baptized again and that she would be coming with us to church on Sunday. It is incredible to see the Spirit working in people. We didn't even have to teach her this stuff before the Spirit was able to testify the truth to her. It just goes to show that we are not the real teachers. Our role is to live worthily enough and study hard so that the Spirit can work through us to teach people. The Spirit is always the real teacher, and we missionaries are just one vehicle through which it works. We had an incredible rest of the week teaching Theresita. Our zone leaders had a baptism on Saturday for one of their investigators, and she came with her daughter Juanita. The next day she was fifteen minutes early for sacrament meeting. she seems to really enjoy it and said that she cried a few times during Relief Society. She will definitely have some adjusting to do as she gets used to how our worship is. LDS meetings are much more silent and reverent than a lot of other Christian services. She is used to singing loud gospel music and shouting amen in the middle of someone's talk. It's okay though. She'll get used to it. And as she feels the Spirit more and more, she'll know that she is where she needs to be and that she's found God's true church. Besides Theresita, we've gotten in contact with a few other people this week. Not that numbers are super important, but we taught more lessons this week than I've been able to in my whole mission. The work has picked up in our area so much. I know that this is all the Lord's doing. Everything happens in His time and in His way. He prepares people to receive the Gospel and allows us to work with them when He's ready. We're being incredibly blessed with those opportunities all the time now. It is always nice to have a full schecule!  Of course, this exciting time for the area is coming just as the cycle comes to an end. Just as things get going smoothly, the Lord switches everything up! I guess that's His way of keeping us on our toes. Sadly, Elder Hansen is leaving the area and going to New Paltz, NY :/ We got along so well! Six weeks of being companions was way too short. Especially since this cycle went by so much faster than any cycle yet. It  definitely does not feel like I've already been here for a month and a half. Before I can catch up with the time, it will already be summer, many of my good friends will be going home, and I will be hitting my year mark. It's right around the corner. So yeah, I'm sad to lose Elder Hansen. He's had such a good impact on me and is an incredible example. I'm sure he and I will be lifelong friends. I'm excited for my next companion though! His name is Elder Rydalch from South Summit! Another Utah companion! Haha. Big surprise there. That makes more than half of my companions being from Utah. I've heard that he's a really cool guy. Elder Kroff was actually his MTC companion and said that he really enjoyed their time together. I'm excited for what this next phase of my mission has in store. Like I said, the area is on fire, and I'm getting another cool companion. Plus, the weather this cycle is going to be so much nicer! Spring time in the Bronx! Hopefully we'll be able to use one of our p-days to pop over to the zoo. Life is good! I'm loving it. Have a great week everyone. Remember that God is real. He knows what each and every one of you might be struggling with and knows how to help. Never hesitate to turn to Him, because He loves you. I know that's true. Enjoy every single day and keep on smiling! I love you, I love you, I love you!!! 

~Elder Allred