The Spirit was undeniable.

April 27, 2014

Let me answer your questions. I live with Elders Ault and Sweeten at
their place, a members home in their stake. They were out of town last
week so we had the house all to ourselves. I like being in a trio,
especially with these two. We have lots of fun and teach powerfully
together, Elder Ault helps me not take myself so seriously. It is
pretty hilarious when we tell people we are from Riverton and have
been out 15 months. :)

So I'm still working in the 34th Ward, I go to the 34th Ward with
Brother Rapier on Sundays, and we are also working in their area. The
benefits of a small mission is that our areas are so small it's really
not that big if a deal to combine to.

Orvid is doing ok... Tonight we are going to the Visitor's
Center with him to watch the Joseph Smith movie so keep him in your
prayers? Phyllis is doing good, she has been sick this week so we
haven't taught her and she couldn't come to church. I just need to be
more patient and I know The Lord will do His will according to His
timing. Riley and his brothers Tate and Tallon are getting baptized on
May 16th!! Their Mom is totally on board and it will hopefully go
through. We don't have Zone Conference this transfer. That is every
other transfer, and the transfers we don't had it we have interviews
with President.

 It's hard being split from my Zone Leader Companion. I wish I could 

talk more about the Zones needs with my Zone Leader companion but

 you get what you get. I like it though.

On Wednesday I got to have my interview with President, it was really
great. I have an incredible amount of respect for that man and to sit
one on one with him and talk was an incredible blessing. I'm grateful
for the inspiration of The Lord because I need a Mission President
like him.

 That's good to hear about the fam! Tell Elyse and Dallas congrats. Are

they going to be up for Mothers Day?? Can you believe that is two

weeks away? I sure can't... So weird. Probably plan on Skyping at about

3 your time. I will let you know if anything changes.

This week was really good, I had lots of fun and lots of success! On
Monday we drove out to AJ and Elder Ault gave us a tour of his first
area. There's this weird super rich part of AJ called Gold Canyon that
he covered and Michael Jordan used to have a house there. He showed it
to us. We also went to this old Ghost Town that is pretty cool.

I have a funny story. One night this past week, can't remember which
night, but we were sleeping out on the couches in the family room. I
was a little more than half asleep and I looked over and thought Elder
Ault was staring at me. So I woke up to myself saying things like,
"What's going on?" "Stop looking at me!" "Why are you looking at me?"
At which point I began to blink myself awake and looked over at Elder
Sweeten, who I also thought was staring at me, so I started saying
things like. "Are you awake over there?" "Are you looking at me too?"
Then Elder Ault told me to shut up and it ends up it wasn't him
looking at me at all. It was a bowl on the coffee table. You probably
had to be there.

Probably the best part of my week, and what I will end with, was on
Saturday. We got to go to he sealing of a family that Elder Ault
baptized in his first area. The father at least. They also had five
children. I have been to a sealing before (Cam's) but I will admit it
was different with children there. At the beginning of the ceremony I
prayed for a spiritual confirmation if both the truthfulness of this
church and the ceremony I was about to be a witness of. The Spirit was
undeniable. Their 5 year old daughter began sobbing and embracing her
little brother. The Church is true. I know that God has given us the
power to seal our families for eternity.

Loves, Elder Alexander

Ps- We helped a 58 yr old man with Down syndrome build a swing this
week. Here's a quote-
"And when we finish... Hello, rock concert." And it was true. He
treated us to a rock concert.


Sent from my iPad

I'm loving life and loving serving The Lord.

April 21, 2014

What an Easter! It was incredible. We got to go to he Easter Pageant
twice this week and it was absolutely incredible! For my last watching
of it on my mission on Saturday night I had the best seats I've ever
head! It was great. We went with Orvid on Thursday and Riley and his
family on Saturday. I'm glad you all had such a nice Easter meal!

Guess who my companion is?? You guessed it!! I'm with
Elder Ault and Elder Sweeten!! Haha it's fantastic. Riverton Reunite.
It's always funny when people ask us where we are from. So I am
covering the 34th Ward and their area with them. They are serving in

the Citrus Heights Stake and it is very wealthy. We went and had Easter
dinner at Bishop H house last night and their house blew my

mind. They have a rock wall treadmill, and a giant chess set. Wowie.

Phyllis came to church yesterday! She is doing very well. She seems to
like the Ward but since she is going through Chemo she always feels
tired. We gave her a blessing last week, I think I told you about it,
and that really touched her. The Spirit was very strong and she felt
like she heard God speaking to her.

Me and Elder Horgan would always walk because our area is so small. It
gives us an opportunity to talk with everyone we see. It's a lot
easier to stop walking and talk to someone than pull over in a mini
van and try to strike up a conversation haha. So we still have the
mini van but we just park it sometimes. Right now we don't because in
the trio our area is a lot bigger and it will be like this until
transfers in three weeks.

Things are going really great!! I'm loving life and loving serving The
Lord. We finished our Atonement study this week and I really learned a
lot. The part that I really learned a lot about was when the Savior
was on the cross and God withdrew His Spirit. That part in the
fulfillment of the Atonement hit me like a pile of bricks. I know I
can feel when the Spirit isn't as strong in my life, and I don't like

it. But to think of the perfect Son of God having to feel the same

thing is unfathomable. That act alone shows me how much God and

Jesus Christ love me.

Loves, Elder Alexander

P.s.- I ate a sandwich at Steve Young's brother's house yesterday.
He's in one of the Citrus Heights wards I'm covering.

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Thanks for loving me. Have a wonderful Easter!!

April 14, 2014
Things went really well this week. It's been a struggle finding people but 

we are keeping the faith. We have been walking a lot trying to be more visible,

 I think the Ward likes seeing us out contacting. It's so cool serving in just one Ward,

 I feel a lot closer to the actual Ward. Like I'm part of it, which is really awesome.

 We had our Zone Training Meeting on

Tuesday at the MountainView Stake Center. I gave a training on
Sacrifice. It was pretty simple and I really tried to help the
missionaries in our Zone of giving up our will for the Father's. As
we've been studying the Atonement as a mission one of the biggest
things that I have learned is the fact that the humility that Christ
possessed was one of the major attributes that qualified Him to be the
Savior of the world. He was willing to give up His will for that of
the Father's. It takes a lot of sacrifice especially now with the
natural man in the mix. It really isn't natural for people our age to
WANT to so what we are doing, riding around on bikes in 100+ degree
weather getting denied  but that is why we are so blessed. As we give
up our will we always find that God has a better plan. The rest of the
meeting went really well, we have an awesome Zone. There are 30
missionaries, biggest Zone in the mission! #ToroNation. We went and
got pizza together afterwards.

On Wednesday we went and played softball with the Ward. We got Orvid
to come and it was a really good opportunity for him to get to know
people. I made this really awesome catch... Seriously everyone was
really impressed. But when it came down to it me and Elder Horgan
really blew the game hahaha. It came down to the bottom of the last
inning and we were down by two. Me and Elder Horgan were first up to
bat and... We both struck out. It's whatever though.

On Thursday me and Elder Ault we're reunite and it felt so good. We
went on an exchange and it was really nice. We did tons of service.
Speaking of Riverton, there is a family from Riverton that just moved
into the Ward! The Hales family. And Brother Hales just got called as
the Ward Mission Leader so that is pretty exciting.

Julie just got called as a Ward Missionary! So awesome. She didn't
have much of a testimony at all when I came to the area. In fact she
hated Joseph Smith. But now she is so solid, it's been really awesome
to see her totally flip it around. She got a job at DI, it's really
good for her. On Tuesday she needed a ride so we called up a member
but when they showed up they couldn't find her. Then we couldn't get
ahold of her for about 36 hours. We were pretty close to calling in
the po po but we finally got ahold of her so that's good.

Phylis was supposed to come to church today but she had a really bad
migraine. She had Chemo on Friday... But we went by last night and
gave her a blessing. She has definitely felt the and our Bishop got
her a large print BoM so that will help things move along. Since she
missed church she will have to move her baptism back but it was happen
in March.

We sent Saturday walking. We went and tried to contact all of the
Formers in the Area Book. We didn't have tons of success but it was
really fun. Elder Horgan is one of those guys that I could be doing
anything with and it would probably be fun. We didn't find anyone new
that day but I hope thatt he Lord sees we are willing to work for it.

So this letter is all jumpy but to answer your question the Easter
Pageant is going on right now. It was last week and then he 15th
though the 19th. We haven't gone yet but we should be going twice this
week with Orvid and the Carns.

Anyways, I will look forward to that Easter Package. I hope all is
well at home. I love you so so so much. Have a wonderful Easter!!

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

Hi Pop,

 I forgot to tell you but I met a man in the 46th Ward when I served there that served in the London South Mission. I think we decided he left right when you got there. His name was Elder Uchytil. 

I love you Pop, Thanks for loving me. I love you!

We all need to defend our faith and we can do it nicely!

April 7, 2014

I'm glad you enjoyed Conference! I definitely did as well... Here's
how my watching went.

Saturday Morning Session:
We were supposed to watch it with Julie but she was feeling sick and
started working today so she wanted to get her rest. We just watched
it with the Rapiers, the people we live with. I loved Elder Holland's
talk! We ALL need to defend our faith. When I was talking with Adam he
talked about how he always defends it and always has. I loved that. We
all need to defend what we believe it, and I loved that Elder Holland
pointed out that we can do it nicely. That's something I've always
disliked is getting defensive and hostile when people disagree. If we
share what we believe God will be there with us, He has promised us!
We don't need to get all defensive.

Saturday Afternoon Session:
We watched it with Orvid. My mistake in inviting him to watch the one
with the statistical report and all that... He got pretty bored but he
enjoyed the messages a lot. He still has a lot to get over but he is
doing really well. Elder Cook's talk sparked his interest in Family
History so that was sweet.

Priesthood:
We went with Brother Rapier and he rest of his family. But first we
went by Brother Stockton's because we invited him. He was asleep and
thought he was going to get out of it but we waited for him haha. He
wasn't too thrilled but ended up really enjoying it. Priesthood
session was my favorite. Every talk was exactly what I needed to hear!
I'm a total fan of President Uchtdorf and I really loved what he said
about the Restoration. I think that was in Priesthood at least? Yeah,
I'm pretty sure it was. I loved it! We really need to be prepared in
this day. It's so easy to fall when we let our guard down for even a
second!

Saturday Morning:
Our Bishop invited us to watch Conference with him and his family.
They also invited Riley, the 9 year old boy we are teaching, and his
family. There were tons of kids, about 7, with the two families there
so it was a little harder to concentrate haha. Bishop's wife made us
breakfast and I really enjoyed it, cinnamon rolls for days. The talk
that stood out to me in that session was Elder Bednar's about bearing
a load. We are supposed to have a load in this life, if you don't
you're probably missing out! It reminds me of one of my favorite
scriptures, I'm pretty sure that Elder Bednar used it in his talk but
it's Mosiah 24:14. We are meant to have burdens but we aren't meant to
bear them on our own.

Saturday Afternoon:
We were able to watch it with the Stockton's. I loved the talk Elder
Aidakitus (spelling?) gave. (His son served in the Mesa mission a few
years back, I've served in two of his areas.) personal Revelation is
one of the things our Zone is focusing on this quarter, he did a great
job in explaining the how and the why. I'm still figuring out how I
personally recognize revelation but I know it's really easy to build
up walls in our lives. Sometimes we get so busy that our minds are
going everywhere, except for Heavenward. But that's where all the
answers are!

Other than Conference we had a pretty good week. Phyllis doesn't think
she can be ready by the end of April for baptism so we are going to
keep working with her... She gets sick a lot so it is hard but we are
just taking a service route and keep serving her until she is well
enough to listen. The other day she was looking for an air compressor
to fill up her tire when I texted her during planning to see if we
could bring by an air compressor sometime this week to clear out her
gutters. She asked if we could get it right then and help her and we
did. The Lord works in mysterious ways!

We taught Riley last night and set a date for him and his brothers
(they're 8) to be baptized! We had set a couple dates when I was with
E. Crookston but that was just with he mom and it always fell through.
This time we got he boys all pumped and now they are expecting it to
happen on May 3rd haha. We wrote out a little calendar that has the
date on it and shows them how far away it is. It also has reminders to
read and pray, I hope it works!! Keep him in your prayers.

All is well, this week we have Zone Training Meeting. Tomorrow
actually. I'm excited, me and E. Derbidge planned it out this week and
I feel really good about it. I hope it touches some hearts. Well, I
love you lots!

Love, Elder Alexander

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The man, the legend, Elder Crookston.