29 more days!!

 IHOP

His 5th Yankees game of the mission! And they played the Rays for every game he saw. Haha 

Hello family!
First I just want to say how sad I am to hear of the passing of President Boyd K. Packer. I remember watching him speak at general conference ever since I was a young kid. He was a good man to say the least and definitely an apostle of the Lord. I have no doubt that whoever the Lord calls to replace Elder Perry and Elder Packer will be men of God. I hope you all enjoyed your 4th of July weekend! Mine was a lot of fun! As you all know, we went to the Yankees game on Friday night. That was so much fun! It was cool to see Mo-tab there. Actually in the days leading up to the game we ran into some of the members of the choir out on the streets of Manhattan. That was pretty neat. The event also provided a great opportunity to start conversations with people in the subways. Did you go to the game? How did you like the choir? That's our church! Haha. That was pretty cool. I love when the public eye gets a positive perspective of the Church, because there is just way too much out there that tries to put out a negative image. Sadly I hear the negative rumors quite often here. So to have this event was great! The game was pretty good too. The Yanks were struggling a bit for the first six innings. I don't know how many of you watched the game, but most of you  probably at least know what happened. I was bummed because Tanaka wasn't pitching too well. I was excited to see what all the buzz was about this new pitcher in his second season with us. Our offense was decent. Had a few good hits, but nothing really came of it. When I had to leave at nine o clock it was right after the sixth inning and the Yanks were down 3-0. Of course the next day I was asking people about the game and heard how it turned out. Sounds like it was pretty awesome! I wish we could have stayed for all twelve innings! Then on Saturday we had to be in the apartment an hour earlier than usual. One of our roommates is a missionary from Germany. He's been out for about eight months, and this was his first 4th of July! So we cooked some burgers and fries that we had bought from Cosco and tried to give him the most "American" experience we could without being able to catch fireworks. It was a lot of fun! However, the 4th just doesn't feel the same without fireworks. Next year! The work is going well in our area. We have a few pretty solid investigators that I'm excited about. Elder DeGraw is great, and we're having a lot of fun working together. This week it started to get very hot and muggy! I think my last four weeks in New York will probably be some of the hottest four weeks of the year. I remember being in Harlem last summer, and July was pretty brutal. Drinking lots of water these days and sweating it all out. As long as my short sleeve shirts can survive a few more sticky, sweaty weeks I'll be alright. Haha. Other than that I'm just getting ready to see you all soon! This is the most bittersweet time of my entire life. You've heard me say it before. Excited to come home to see you but sad to leave this great city and this amazing work. Hope you all are doing well. Love you! 

~Elder Allred

4th Yankees Game

A few months ago, Elder Wagner's family offered to get him four Yankees tickets for a game in May. At the time I was his companion, so he offered to give me two of the tickets. Of course I jumped on the opportunity! We got permission from President Morgan  and got it set up, so today I'm headed down to the Bronx to go to my fourth Yankees game on the mission! I think I might just stay here forever. It seems like all I have to do is be a diligent missionary, and I'll continue to go to Yankees games! Before I came out on the mission, I had high hopes that I would have the opportunity to go to one game while I was here. By the time I come home I will have been to five! Pretty awesome. Anyway, this week was great! We have a new investigator named Brother Dan. He's super cool. The Portugese speaking elders tracted into his door a few weeks ago and handed him off to us. We had our second lesson with him on Friday, and we brought our ward mission leader along. Brother Dan also has a thirteen year old son (also named Dan), so our ward mission leader brought his eleven year old to fellowship a little bit! It was awesome. We visited with him again last night and talked a little bit about the Plan of Salvation. Little Dan's mom passed away a couple weeks ago. It's a tough time for them. I think that the message of the Plan of Salvation is very comforting right now. It's especially important for Little Dan to know that he will see his mom again. I love being a missionary. It's so amazing to see the happiness and relief that comes to people amongst life's challenges. Another highlight for me this week was that we had interviews with President Morgan on Sunday night. President and Sister Morgan go home in four weeks. So sadly, this was my last interview with him. I got pretty emotional. President Morgan has been an amazing support to me while I've been on my mission. He's been right by my side through several different challenges that I've been faced with. He and Sister Morgan both have done a lot to fill the hole that was left in my heart when I had to leave all of you behind. They are true friends, and I will always love them. In our interview I asked President Morgan a question. The same question I've been asking a lot of people recently. Over the last twenty one months I feel like I have come so much closer to God than I ever have before. I feel very close to the Spirit, and I feel like I can recognize its presence very easily in my every day life. So I asked President Morgan what I need to do when I get home to stay close. The things he told me helped me a lot and gave me confidence that I will be okay. Among several things that he said, I'll just highlight a one-liner that has been on my mind. "You can go home, but you can't go back". Powerful statement. I'm coming home to Utah in about two months. But I can't go back. I can't go back to the same bad habits that I had before. Not that I'll be a totally different person, I'll just be living on a higher plane than I was before. I'm confident and excited. Can't wait to see you all soon! Love you!!!!