4 of our brothers and sisters entered the waters of baptism.

July 29, 2013

This week was really good. SO much happened I can't even begin to tell every little story. But I'll give you an update. This week we were spoiled with so many miracles. Absolutely spoiled. It was incredible. So many that I feel we got our whole months full in one week so we'll see how the next few weeks are! Haha just kidding. Like I expressed last week, we don't know the area very well. We're trying, but we're not perfect. We got lost once or twice this week. But every time we got lost we found someone who was prepared to learn about the restored gospel. It was incredible, I was going to just try to get lost but I thought that might be cheating.

 We were able to see 4 of our brothers and sisters enter the waters of baptism on Saturday. Robbie, Lori, Joe, and Jessica. President Jenkins was able to come and it was absolutely incredible.The Spirit was so very strong, just seeing them get washed of everything and stand clean before the Lord. The Spirit that was there was overwhelming and as I had an opportunity to bear my testimony the Spirit confirmed to me what I'm doing here. On Sunday I was able to stand in the circle as they all received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Robbie (an ex-marine) stood up with tears in his eyes after his confirmation took place. It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong and testified to all of us that these things are true, that we have the authority to call down the powers of heaven as long as we are worthy of it.

I need to work on loving Elder Bartlett more. That's my goal this week, is to truly help him know the Savior. I don't completely know Him yet but helping someone so close to me so often will probably help me learn to appreciate Him a lot more. We found 12 new people to teach this week. They all invited us back and listened to us. There's a man named Jamie that pulled us over and asked us to come by. He's awesome. There are so many incredible things happening here. We were able to teach 24 lessons this week. It was one of those weeks when everyone wants to talk to ya. I loved it. That's cool you met that Elder from Queen Creek (that's the Mormon part of town, even worse than Gilbert.), what did he say about AJ? I love it out here, the people are so different. They are very humble. It's sad how so many of them fall to the things of the world and continually let them drag them deeper and deeper. I'm so grateful for the gospel in my life so I don't have to worry about all of that. I'm grateful to serve these people and helped them be lifted up with Christ.

We stopped by a Less Active and we were able to meet his girlfriend who isn't a member. At first she wanted nothing to do with us so I just talked to her. We chatted and eventually she brought up a concern of how people raised in the church leave when they get out on their own sometimes. Or strong members fall away. I felt like I should share with her the experience I had when Grandma passed away. When I had to decide if this was really true. I'm grateful that I had the chance to gain a testimony for myself at that time, it wasn't perfect but it was a testimony. She had a grandmother that had lived with her for 15 years that passed away when she was younger and she was really able to relate to that. She invited us back to talk more about the gospel because I promised her it will bless her life.

I'm grateful for the experiences Our Father in Heaven gives us. For our own good and for the good of others. I'm grateful for the Spirit that leads and guides God's work on the earth today and I know that we can be lead in all things if we seek for that guidance. I know that true happiness comes from following Jesus Christ and learning to live by everything that He teaches us. I know that we have a prophet on earth today, and what a blessing it is. I know absolutely that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that He loves and knows me. He knows my companion, He knows our investigators, and He WANTS us to know Him.

I love you so much. Thank you for the support you have given me.

Love Elder Alexander