Week 10: Hot & Humid

Hey everyone! Another week down in NY, and it's honestly flying by! Crazy that I turned 21 out here, and that I'm already 2 months in! Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes and packages, you're all the best! 

Massive dead rat in the street!!

BMW I ($300,000 car)

This past week we did a ton of contacting and tracting. We knocked probably like 300 doors but almost none of them answered. Tracting legit is probably my least favorite thing haha but ya gotta do what ya gotta do to get new investigators! It's been super hot and humid here too, so that makes it even more fun. Legit as soon as I wake up it gets hot and nasty here, but hopefully I get used to it soon haha.

We had our first baptism this past Saturday! I'll put some pictures in this email too. The kids name is A___, and he's 13. Hes from Honduras and the missionaries found him while knocking doors. He's the only member in his family, and lives with his grandma and uncle. He doesn't really know anything about his mom, but his dad lives in Baltimore and he visits him every once and a while. he's a dope kid though. Definitely in the mindset of a 13 year old from the Bronx though, he tries to be all gangster and hard sometimes and it's hilarious. He's super cool, and it's funny to see how big of a change is occurring in his life. In my first lesson with him he refused to pray and didn't listen the whole time. The last lesson we had with him before his baptism though, he said he prayed before eating everyday, and he asked some super good questions about what we were teaching him. he's still figuring life out, but he definitely is headed the right direction! It's funny cause he actually got baptized the same day as this girl named L____, and thats his dream girl I swear. Every time she talks to him he blushes and doesn't say anything it's hilarious and we always tease him about it. The baptism was awesome though, and his uncle actually came! His uncle, M____, is super religious and goes to a Christian church here in the Bronx. He loved the baptism though and seems pretty interested in our religion, so we're going to start teaching him! 

Monday was the eclipse and some investigators and members from the English ward here threw a party outside the church for it. It was pretty funny cause they're all out there with cereal boxes and 3d glasses and stuff just looking up and freaking out. I told them it was way better in Idaho though ;) Some investigator there started talking to me and somehow he started talking about Donald trump and all this stuff so I just walked away haha. It was way random and he was ripping conservatives it was hilarious. But that same day we had our first interviews with President which was cool! One thing that I thought was cool was when he told me that as soon as he saw me, he knew I would be put in a ton of leadership positions here in the mish. That was way cool to hear! 

Today for pday were going to the Manhattan temple! I'll make sure to send pics. Apparently this one is awesome because it's a chapel and a temple in one. Then on Friday we're actually going again with a bunch of recent converts to do baptisms for the dead, and I ended up finding a name to bring! Pretty dope. 

Well that's about all I got for today! Love you all, and hope you're having a good week back home! If you have the chance, go read "The Character of Christ" by Elder Bednar! It's legit the best talk I've ever read no doubt. 

love, Elder Allen