A little boy pointed at me and said, "You look like Joseph Smith!"

June 23, 2014
Hello Mother,
HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I hope you have a wonderful day this week
Mommy, thank you so much for all of your love and support. I'm so
grateful for such a loving and patient Mother, I look to your example
often. Your selfless love and forgiveness is an incredible attribute
that I admire in you. Thank you for loving me unconditionally.

Well, we are moved. The apartment is all set up now, we got bunk beds,
and our new Bishop gave us some old couches. It's home sweet home now.
 In our study room me and Elder Ault have our Constitutions and Declarations
hung up, reminds me a lot of home haha. We are sure proud to be American, 
and even more proud to be Mormon.

The new Ward us super awesome. It's very diverse, we have really
wealthy people up north and then we have a ghetto apartment complex
down south, with some in middle class in between. It's awesome! Fun
fact, tons of people in our Ward were in the Air Force, it seriously
seems like every other person we visit was in the Air Force. Our Ward
Mission Leader, Brother B....., is really cool. They fed us on
Wednesday, our first night in the area, and he was actually a Dentist
in the Air Force.

We have a few people to teach but we are looking for more. F......and
his mother D....... are really the only solid investigators. He came
to church yesterday and stayed all three hours! D....... isn't as
interested but the Sisters said that as they've met with them she has
started to soften her heart, we are meeting with them tonight so that
should be great.

There is also a family that was recently baptized! C.... and D......
And their kids. I actually interviewed C.... for baptism so I already know them! 
D.... is from New York. They have been together for 8 years but just got married in
May. They're so funny and the gospel is helping them a lot. I'm
excited to get to know them better.

Thank you for the prayers! We have been able to stay a lot busier. The
Ward is a little nervous about having Elders again because before the
Sisters came they had a set of Elders that caused all sorts of
problems. So we get a lot of hesitant remarks about how they miss the
Sisters haha. But we went to Ward council yesterday and presented the
Ward Council Process that President Jenkins has asked us to focus on
and it went really well. I think they know we want to work.

We introduced ourselves to the Primary yesterday and as we left a
little boy pointed at me and said, "You look like Joseph Smith!" That
was pretty cool. By the way there is a lady that is driving through
the valley and might bring you some stuff so be on the look out! I
think she is driving up wed. If there is anything you would like
to send down with her as well you can do that! I might be in for some
new garments. A few Dri Lux with the lower collar, try something other
than crew.

Love you!

Sent from my iPad

I love this Gospel!

June 16, 2014
Hello. Hello. All is well on the Western front. We've just been

chugging along doing our member visits and it has been going really
well. We've gotten to know some really great families in the Ward and
everyone seems to be excited to seek guidance from Our Father in
Heaven on who to invite and how to invite them. But alas we did
receive some transfer news... And it goes as follows.

Me and Elder Ault will be remaining companions but we will no longer
be in the 34th Ward. We are staying in the Mesa East Stake though and
will be taking over the 18th Ward and the Sisters that covered it will
be taking the 34th Ward. So we switched, kind of crazy. I will still
be in the Toro Zone and Elder Derbidge is staying as well. The Toro
Zone used to have three stakes but we are losing one so we will be
down to just the two. So that will be interesting. We are moving out
of the Rapiers and going to live in an apartment complex called the
Polo Club. We will be living with Elder Sweeten (he is the one that me
and Elder Ault were in a trio with, he isn't in our Zone anymore. He
is in the stake that moved over to Saguaro Zone) and his companion
Elder Petersen. Things will be good.

Before I forget. I mentioned to Elder Ault that you had some Pocket Constitutions.

He would really like one. He sure loves America, almost as much as you sometimes. 

Any other American paraphernalia that you are able to send would be appreciated

Declarations? Constitutions we can sign? We listened to a talk about the American Constitution

by Ezra Taft Benson this morning and I am just overflowing with patriotism.

It took everything within me to hold in the chorus of, "Freedom isn't free.

You gotta pay the price, you gotta sacrifice. For your liberty." 

I'm glad to hear that all is well back in good ol Utah. Glad that Dad
enjoyed the picture and I hope that his Father's Day worked out. Sorry

I haven't sent your Mother's Day package to you yet, I will make
sure to get it to you soon!! I might also throw in something for Dado

in there so watch out.

Sorry this isn't a very exciting email but I sure love you a lot. I
will make sure to pray for a more exciting week and I'm sure with the
whitewashing it will be pretty exciting. I love this gospel and the
faith that I am able to increase everyday as I try to be more like the
Savior. I know that He lives. I know that He knows me and loves me. He
wants me to be the best person I can and He isn't going to let me

settle for less if I am willing to give my all to Him, I love that. He will help

me reach my full potential and I know that it is only through His grace

and mercy that it is even possible for me to do so.

Elder Alexander

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                                                           Temple trip a couple of weeks ago.

A member took us to sushi and I tried some octopus. That's me eating

it... The phrase is just a little joke between me and Elder Ault

This is a hawk, named Phoenix, devouring half a rabbit in Elder Ault's hand.

                                                                                 

This is me and Elder Ault on our hike the other day, pretty incredible.

Our actions are the means, not the end we seek.

June 9, 2014
I don't think I need anything else right now, I'm still pretty happy
with that Air Force shirt. 

The Family Mission Plans are going well. We have been able to meet
with quite a few families in the Ward and we are hoping to see some
more fruit from our labors. We have already seen some so far. A family
in our ward invite their neighbor to have us come by and help do some
service in their front yard and they accepted (who wouldn't?). We also
have two families inviting a very less active family to a family home
evening tonight. Seriously the more people there are doing the simple
things that invite others to come unto Christ the more people we will
have come unto Christ. It's pretty simple really. I'm excite to see
what else comes from this.

Another focus we have had is called The Ward Council Process. What
happens is here are 15 names that the Ward wants to focus on that are
selected. 5 from the High Priests, 5 from the Elders Quorum, and 5
from the Relief Society. After they are selected they are invited to
meet with us. Yesterday we hashed it out in Ward Council and decided
on 10 of the 15 names (High Priest Group was slacking, but that's ok).
In the following weeks each person will be invited to meet with us. We
are hoping to see many miracles.

The work is slow right now but we are keeping hope alive. I had a
question answered during my studies. I was considering how the
Atonement that Christ made helps us change. I have had a hard time
comprehending that but I was reading in Mosiah 3 about overcoming the
natural man and I came across this:
“We are safe on the rock which is the Savior when we have yielded in
faith in Him, have responded to the Holy Spirit’s direction to keep
the commandments long enough and faithfully enough that the power of
the Atonement has changed our hearts. When we have, by that
experience, become as a child in our capacity to love and obey, we are
on the sure foundation.

From King Benjamin we learn what we can do to take us to that safe
place. But remember: the things we do are the means, not the end we
seek. What we do allows the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change us
into what we must be. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us to
repentance and to keeping His commandments. We obey and we resist
temptation by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. In time our
natures will change. We will become as a little child, obedient to God
and more loving. That change, if we do all we must to keep it, will
qualify us to enjoy the gifts which come through the Holy Ghost. Then
we will be safe on the only sure rock” (in Conference Report, Apr.
2006, 14–15; or Ensign, May 2006, 15–16).

Our actions are the means, not the end we seek. Our actions and our
obedience are what change our hearts. In time after faithful obedience
our hearts can and will change. Our continued obedience is what allows
the Atonement to change us.

Elyse and Dallas are in my prayers, I love them so much. I'm so
grateful for the gospel and the comfort it brings in times of trial.
Adam is doing awesome. We had a good conversation yesterday, it's
always good to talk to him.

Love you!

Love Elder Alexander


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We sure love  George’s e-mails.  Jeff used George’s e-mail tonight for his FHE lesson.  It was great!  Thanks for sending them to us!             

 (A nice comment From his Aunt Jacki).

Put the Lord first in the best and the worst times and He will take care of you.

June 2, 2014
Thank you so much for that package. I really enjoyed it, probably one
of my favs. Thank you for the Air Force shirt, super awesome. I'm
going to probably go exchange it for a smaller size. Just so you know
in regards to you doing college stuff I'm really not sure what I
wanted you to do... Just make sure it all works out I guess. I've just
seen so many missionaries caught up in applying for colleges and I
don't want to waste that time. So if I don't have to apply til after I
get home then feel free to just research for me. Love you.

Thank you for joining in a fast for our area. Our mission joined in a
fast yesterday in order to find more people. The mission had a lot of
success the last few don't he but now we need to find more people.
That stands true for our area. Things picked up the end of April but
now we are left with nothing. Betty actually moved... She got a job
and stopped meeting with us, and then everything feel apart and she
had to move. It was sad but I feel as if The Lord blessed her and she
stopped making Him a priority. I learned a valuable lesson this week.
Put the Lord first in the best and the worst times and He will take
care of you. I know that's true.

So we literally have absolutely no one to teach. We have quite a few
potential people we have found but no one we are teaching regularly.
In order to keep busy and enable our Ward to independently do
missionary work we have been doing Family Mission Plans. We go in, say
a prayer, share a scripture, and talk about their friends, family, and
neighbors. We invite them to do specific things and pray who they
should invite and how hey should do it. It is going really well and
our next three days are completely booked.

I'm glad you got to go see Grandma Dorothy. Mosiah 16:8. I know that
we will see her again. I know that there is life after death, this
life doesn't make sense without. I'm so comforted in knowing that I
know exactly what I need to do to be with my wonderful family forever.
This church is true. Being obedient to WHATEVER The Lord commands me
brings more peace and happiness that anything. There's no fear, no
guilt, and the Spirit is there to comfort me when I need it. I love
you!

Love Elder Alexander
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