Week 6: First Days in NY

me and Elder Munoz..my new comp and trainer!

Hey Everyone!

Man this is so wild! I can't believe I'm here in New York! This place is so awesome and I've already had so much happen in my first two days but I'll try and keep this short! 

Alright so on Monday we left for Atlanta, and when we got there we got to call our families. There were no pay phones so we all had to borrow the customer service phones for like 5 minutes. It was so cool though I started bawling like a baby as soon as I heard my families voices haha. The lady at the desk started crying too but really didn't even know why I was crying so I explained our church to her. Awesome first sharing experience! 

When we got to NY, we walked off the plane and President Smith was there waiting for us with his wife and some of the zone leaders and ap's. He legit is the coolest guy and gave us a huge hug as soon as we got in with a huge smile. We went to the chapel right next to the mission home and had dinner, which was amazing because I've been eating rice and beans the last 6 weeks haha. After that we had an awesome testimony meeting in the home, and the spirit was legit so strong. After that we had pie for dessert and it was way good too. Then all the elders hopped in a van and went to a hotel. It was actually a way nice Hilton right next to one of the Trump towers haha. The bed was sooooo nice and that might have been the best shower I've ever taken. 

So the next morning we went and got breakfast at the hotel, then headed out to the chapel again to get our interviews done and then study and get our trainers and zones. So my trainer is elder muñoz! He's from Colorado and his parents are Mexican, but he grew up speaking English. He was able to understand Spanish since he was a kid because his grandma spoke it to him, and he's been out 9 months. He can speak super well now and I'm trying to catch up haha. So my first Area is in the Bronx! It's so dope! I legit am like the only white guy which is cool haha. We live with two English speaking elders in a apartment, which is actually decent for the bronx. I'll send pics if I can! We have city wifi every where, it's just a matter of getting on someone's account to use it haha.

our apartment and Zone Leaders!

So yesterday was my first official day and we actually taught 3 lessons! It was way cool and all of them were in Spanish. We taught a kid named A___ he's 12 and pretty cool but gets distracted really easily. He's a nice dude though and has a baptism date so hopefully he follows through with it. We also taught an older lady named No____, she talks forever haha. Almost fell asleep because she went on for 20 minutes about an Oprah singer, elder muñoz said he's fallen asleep a few times in there so I didn't feel too bad about it. Next we Taught a less active named r______. That was my favorite part of the day no doubt. I shared a scripture with her about miracles and asked what miracles she had seen in her life. She has a son with autism and the doctors told her he wouldn't be able to talk and understand like at all, but he is an awesome little kid and can definitely do a lot more than those things. She started crying while talking about it and I did too, and the spirit was seriously so strong in that lesson. We reassured her that everything is possible through Christ. Needless to say it was a full day haha. 

view from our balcony

So we were walking through the bronx and actually got stopped by a guy saying we taught white supremacy. We were with a member from the ward who is 12 and from the Dominican Republic so I'm sure he thought we were kidnapping him or something. But we ended up talking for a while and he said that in the book of Mormon it says Jesus was hung, but when we asked where it said that, he said he didn't know. He was saying that Jesus was black and all this other stuff that we all hear about from the internet. Right after we got done talking to him my comp said that happens all the time and that people here are just not too bright in the head haha. 

another view from balcony

Last thing we had last night was to pick up some members from the train station, and while we were waiting a homeless veteran came and asked us for money. We gave him some change and then actually asked to say a prayer with him. He said sure and to include his mom because she was going in for surgery. We said the prayer and I saw him light up, which was awesome.

Well now we're sitting in a laundromat waiting for our clothes but feel free to email me back! Love you all and thanks for all your support. It's been a hard transition to this and I'm a little homesick honestly. But I know this work is special and an awesome opportunity to share the truth with people. See ya later people! 

Love, elder allen