Second Cycle Training Elder Raine

 The roommates in Harlem

 Harlem Zone 

A mural that reminded Elder Allred of his mommy:) 

Hello friends and family! 

Well, today was transfers. I can't believe it's already been six weeks since the last transfer meeting. Elder Raine and I will be companions in Harlem for another cycle. I was so relieved when I got the news that I would be staying. There was a small chance that I would leave, but I was pretty sure that since Elder Raine is only halfway done with his training I would stay and finish. I just don't think that I've completed the Lord's purpose for me in Harlem quite yet... so it will be good. My district isn't changing too much. I get to keep four out of the same five missionaries. We're only losing Elder Poulsen, because he is returning home to Utah. We will also be gaining two new district members. The sisters here have been covering both the Harlem family ward and the Harlem YSA. This transfer is bringing a lot of sisters into the mission, so President Morgan opened up the YSA ward area, and two new sisters will be working there. It will be great to have more missionaries to get to know and to serve with. I just love this calling so much. I've gotten so close with this district in the past six weeks, and I'm excited for more memories to be made in the coming weeks. Our investigator, Kristina, is doing really well! Yesterday we taught her about the law of tithing and fasting, and she said that it made total sense. She's ready to start paying her tithing after she gets baptized. That was the last lesson we needed to teach her before her baptism. So, now we're just working on scheduling an interview with her for this weekend, and as long as the interview goes well she will be baptized on September 13th! I'm so grateful that I have had the opportunity to teach her and Rafael since I've been here. They have both learned and progressed so much in the past few months. You might get sick of hearing me talk about the doctrine of Christ, but this doctrine has really changed them both as they've been able to apply the Atonement in their lives through it. This brings me to the last thing I want to talk about in my email this week. The 120 day challenge! It's so exciting to me that so many of you have joined me in this challenge. Already I've learned so much from my study of the Book of Mormon. I've begun to highlight anything that pertains to the doctrine of Christ that I find as I read, and there is seriously something on every single page. As I read the stories in the beginning that I've heard a million times before, I am gaining new insights that have never come to my mind. One that I would like to point out has to do with Laman and Lemuel. Of course, everyone knows these two as the wicked brothers of Nephi. Always complaining and murmuring. Constantly turning away from the righteous decisions of their younger brother. The thing that has impressed me is that on a number of occasions they soften their hearts and follow their brother  for a moment. Several times it says that they "humble themselves before the Lord" sometimes more than once in a chapter. In the first 18 chapters that I've read so far, it even says a couple of times that they repented. Every single time they humble themselves or repent they are forgiven, and they receive immediate blessings. What I really like about this is that it shows you how the doctrine of Christ works for everyone. Even for Laman and Lemuel, so after countless "humbling themselves" and repenting, even after seeing an angel with their own eyes, turn around and harden their hearts and go back to their wicked ways.  It doesn't matter how many times they mess up or how bad they mess up. They are always welcome to turn back to the Lord and ask for forgiveness, and He gives it to them every single time. The same is true for you and me. We all make mistakes in this life that leave us feeling a little guilty and shameful of ourselves. We even sometimes make mistakes that are pretty big ones. Ones that we've made in the past. Ones that we promised ourselves we would never make again. And when we slip up, it feels like there's no hope for us. It feels like we will never be quite good enough. That's what is so wonderful about the doctrine of Christ and repentance. Just like it was in the case of Laman and Lemuel, we can always turn back to the Lord and receive forgiveness for our shortcomings. None of us are unqualified for the infinite love of our Father. No matter what we do. I've learned this truth from experience in my own life. I've changed a lot over the past twelve months. I still make mistakes every day, but I know that I can always talk to God before I lay down and go to sleep and ask for forgiveness. It's such a beautiful thing to me that we have a Father in Heaven who offers us this kind of love. This truth is only being solidified for me as I take in everything that the Book of Mormon has to offer about the doctrine of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I want you all to know that there is nothing you could ever do that would disqualify you from repenting and feeling the power of the Atonement of Christ uplift you, strengthen you, and change you. I hope you can all feel how powerful this has been in my life and how strongly I feel about it. I love you all more than you could even imagine! 

~Elder Allred

..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