I'm very grateful to receive instruction from such wise men lately!

Aug 26, 2014
Hello,
First off I will apologize for forgetting to tell you P Day is on
Tuesday this week. I'm sure I got you all kinds of worried yesterday,
I spaced it until Monday night and it was just too late, sorry sorry!
The reason P Day is Tuesday is because Elder Schwitzer of
the Seventy visited our mission yesterday, so half the mission had P
Day yesterday and the other half has it today. We met with Elder
Schwitzer yesterday morning from 8-11:30 in a Special MLC. And then
from 1:30-5 he met with our Zone and about five others, 7 hours of
meetings can be long but it was well worth it! I'm very grateful for
the opportunities I have had to receive instruction from such wise men
lately! I don't know if I mentioned it but there is a member of the
Quorum of the Twelve coming down here on Sept 20, what a blessing!
Once again it would be hard to summarize all that I learned but here
is a fun fact he told us: one of the Twelve Apostles will stay home
from each session of General Conference just in case somebody tries to
take them all out. That way the keys that are necessary for salvation
and have been restored to the church today will all go to that last
remaining Apostle.

Anyways, to answer some of your questions. We haven't eaten any of
that duck yet but I'm sure we will have some soon, she has a lot of
creatures. As far as painting the orange trees, it is mostly for bugs
like you assumed and I think it also helps with the hot AZ sun that is
beating on the trunks all summer. We are quite the tree painters now!
The sister that wrote on my wall about her baptism is from my first
area. She has been taught by so many different missionaries and when I
was with Elder Kiene we started teaching her again. When I left the
area she had a date for baptism but the same thing that has always
stopped her got her again, smoking. Now over a year later she and her
husband are getting baptized! It's a miracle, seriously.

 As for the flooding we have had a couple of storms but have avoided much
flooding. Since the ground is so dry and hard here the water starts
flowing down the road like a river very easily. And last but not
least, I did get my package. Thank you so much!

Things are going well in the area. I think I mentioned before "The
Ward Council Process"nth at we have initiated in the 18th Ward. It is
a focus in the mission and what happens is each Auxiliary chooses five
families that they invite the missionaries to teach. Well, that
happened this week and we have had a lot more teaching opportunities!
The list includes part member families and less active members. As
well as active members who need a little help, it is a great way to
make sure we are doing the work that the Ward wants us to. It has
really helped bring us together with the Ward.

Last night we taught K-- for the last time, we have been doing a lot
of object lessons and it really helps with the people that have a hard
time focusing. He gave me a hug and told me I was nice and famous,
good kid. As for K---- and A---l they are doing good also, we are
meeting with them twice this week and hen they are going up to Utah
for a visit.

I have to get going but I will give you an in depth bio of each of our
investigators next week, hopefully there will be some new ones!

Love you,

Love, Elder Alexander

Painting orange trees is a big hit here.

Aug 18, 2014
Hello,
This week was a little bit slower and held a lot of trials of faith
within. This seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout my mission
though, weeks of plenty are followed by weeks of famine. But that's
how we grow! I actually gave a training about that in our Zone Meeting
this week, so a tough week was very appropriate. Not everything was bad
though!

As far as those we are teaching go, M..... and K.... are in fact
moving. But the good news is that they are moving to California where
K.... mom's family lives. K.... mom wasn't active for a long time
but apparently every time her sister came to town she would make her
go to church, so they will have support. We weren't able to meet with
them this week so that was sad. We showed up to do a family home
evening with the L....... Monday night and they invited F..... and
D.....! It was really good and then we taught them Thursday. When
we showed up F..... told us that his uncle kept bugging him about
converting and he said he was probably going to when he gets back from
his hunting trip in September! We read 3 Nephi 11 with them and D......
just kept saying that it made sense! They are great. A.... and K.....
were sick all week as well as D.....

We have had more opportunities to serve though! I'm glad you enjoyed
our new video and my new tan suit. Guess how much it cost... $3! :)
Gotta love 360 Thrift! Painting orange trees is a big hit, there are
plenty of them down here! And I can't tell you what family we did it
with, they swore us to secrecy, but we helped them butcher some ducks!
It was crazy!

Probably the highlight of my week was Saturday morning. We had the
opportunity to have a Special MLC with Elder Lynn G. Robbins. It was
incredible! He instructed us for 3 hours and could have kept going for
hours except he had another meeting, unfortunately. He talked about
how agency and responsibility are inseparably connected and effect
each other. He covered a lot so it would be hard to explain, I will
just have to show you my notes when I get home! But I can say that I
know he is a man of God, the things he said were able to change the
way I think and my desire to serve! Elder Nelson will be coming in Sept. Pretty exciting!


Well, I love you lots!

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

Trimming palm trees like it's my job.

Plenty of trees to trim
                                                                                                                                                                                                             

                                                 Skinned and gutted this bad boy myself.

                                                                                            

                                             

           

                 

The things you find in the alleys of Mesa.

Me and a blind turtle.

These sword pictures are at Brother Owens house. He has what is

believed to be the Masonic sword of Hyrum Smith.

I was reminded that it's God's plan not Elder Alexander's.

Aug 11, 2014
Good news. We taught M..... and K..... on Monday night. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation and asked them if they had prayed about it. They had and M..... said that he felt peace. We showed them a Bible video of Jesus getting baptized and afterwards K..... told us that Jesus was baptized to show us an example and so that he could return to the Celestial Kingdom. It was awesome!! We taught them the entire gospel of Jesus Christ and in the end asked M....... if this is the path he feels that God wants him to take to which he responded, yes. They both accepted to prepare for baptism on September 6th! We taught M....... the Word of Wisdom on Wednesday and he is going through the process of quitting smoking right now. He really wants to and when we stopped by for a minute on Thursday he told us that he isn't going to let a cigarette stand between him and His Heavenly Father. He means it to. We just found out last night that he may be moving to California with K.... and his family at the end of the month. We are praying with them right now to know whether or not it is what they should do. At first I was bummed, having a little pity party that they might move before they get baptized but then I was reminded that it's God's plan and not Elder Alexander's. 

The service opportunities have been great. We have done A LOT this week. One project that we did (I will send pictures) was trimming a palm tree!!! It was very sketchy. We leaned the ladder up against the tree and went up there with a chainsaw... It was quite the adventure. The palm leaves look really nice but they are actually camouflaged saws that were falling right on top of us. We did it for a single mother in our Ward. 

On Friday we got permission from President to go and serve at the Bishops' Storehouse with K.... & A.....l. It was really fun, that is a good place. The old missionaries were really excited to have us there and K..... & A..... appreciated not having to go alone. They also came to church on Sunday! A..... is super funny, he reminds me of a combination of Adam and Charlie Steadman hahaha. They are a couple that I know the gospel is going to bless. It's going to take some time for them to make all the changes necessary but I know that they want to be happy and we are going to help them realize that this is the only way to feel true joy. 

Hope all is well with you all. Let Adam, Jen, Elyse, and Dallas all know that I love them and I am grateful for their examples. I know that God lives and that He wants to bless us. He will if we are obedient, it may not be when or how we expect but He will do all things for our benefit if we follow Him. If we put Him first we don't have to worry about a thing. "Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

We had tons of opportunities to serve this week.

Aug 4, 2014

Hello Hello!!

Things are going really well... Let me see if I can remember everything! But first I wanted to start out with my testimony. God knows me really well. I can see so many experiences as I look back in my mission so far and see why I am in Mesa, Arizona. Why I served in each area. Both for the people I was able to meet and the simple experiences that have changed me. I learn more about myself and about God every day because of my surroundings. 

Last P Day they had to borrow our van for transfers so we got to drive Sister Jenkins' car for a couple days. It is a Toyota Corolla. I really missed the van but that's ok. We also had another Elder with us from Monday to Wednesday, his name is Elder M...... He was companions with Elder D....... who went home Monday night so he stuck around with us for a few days. We taught K..... Monday night. We had this wooden puzzle that outlined the Plan of Salvation that really helped him understand the entire concept. He is a great kid. In the end we told him we would get him one of the puzzles and he asked if he could have ours, which is owned by Elder Ault. Elder Ault told him that it had his name on it already. To that K..... responded, "Wow. Signed by real life missionaries?" It was too precious to pass up haha. I signed it too and we gave it to him on Wednesday. Elder Ault went with Elder S.... (Elder S.....'s companion) to teach K.... and M..... on Wednesday and it went really well. K.... wants to go to the Celestial Kingdom! We are setting the date tonight.

We had tons of opportunities to serve this week. We helped a Less Active sister reorganize her shed. As we talked to her she was really open with us and told us she knows she needs to come back to church (we didn't even bring it up) and she will. We are to keep visiting her. We also served a couple of people who aren't members of the church. We helped a lady named S..... cut up some branches that had blown into her yard in a storm. As a thank you she called us back the next day and gave us some homemade jam. We also helped a family, whose last name is Firethunder, by painting their orange tree. The Dad stayed out and talked with us for a large part of the time. It ends up he was in the Air Force (so many people in this Ward were in the Air Force!) and was in training to do what Elder Ault wants to do when he got injured. We are going to go back and talk with him soon. It really is true that people soften when you serve them. The Ward trusts us and are willing to extend their help and invitations to their neighbors!

We were able to meet with D..... this week and watch the Joseph Smith movie. There is a part where Joseph Smith is walking around the streets of New York and a preachers starts spouting out false doctrine about how God has predetermined who will be saved. Since we were at her house she paused it and said, "I don't agree with that." She thought that was part of our doctrine and we were able to explain that Joseph didn't agree with that either! She asks great questions, she asked us about why we are subject to man's changing laws. We didn't have a sufficient answer at that time so we told her we would study it. Our Bishop helped us find answers from Christ's life, like the stories of catching the fish with the coin in it and rendering to Caesar that which is Caesar's. We also found some great answers in Doctrine and Covenants 134. There are answers to every question! After the movie it really seemed like D..... was searching. We are praying she receives an answer!

I believe that I told you about K... and ....l. Right? They're the young couple in the apartments? Well I had a meeting on Friday, so Elder Ault went with Elder S...... and they saw them again. It ends up they are running low on food so they wanted to meet with bishop, they were able to meet with him right after sacrament yesterday. Although A..... had to take off to work right before Bishop could meet with them K..... ended up staying for Relief Society. We talked to them for awhile as we waited for Bishop to be ready and apparently they went to the Gilbert Temple Open House and loved it! K..... told us after he left that he would probably want to learn more. They're awesome and we are going to the church with them tomorrow for employment night.

What else.... The meeting I had on Friday was MLC. All of the District Leaders came as well. It was an awesome meeting. We counseled about a lot of things and really got back to the basics. A lot of unnecessary meetings have started happening in the mission and President out an end to it. I'm excited for this transfer.

I hope you know I love ya!

P.S.- A lady bore her testimony yesterday and gave a 20 minute history of the incredible town of Panaca, Nevada. It was pretty crazy. You should have seen Bishop's face!!

Sent from my iPad

The work reeeeeeally picked up!

July 28, 2014
Hello, hello. To answer your question, He is a Ward
Missionary in our Ward. He is awesome. We were over there talking
about a member in our Ward that he is working with, and then he
started telling us stories like he always does. You did get me in a
little trouble with that picture comment but oh well!!

This week was great. The work reeeeeeally picked up! On Monday we met
with K. He is 10 and his mom is returning to activity. Before we
even started teaching he exclaimed, "I want to get baptized!!" He has
a super hard time paying attention but he understands the gospel very
well. He gets it. And then on Wednesday we went and taught him again
but this time his Mom's friend, M......, that has been coming to
church with her the last couple months was there. He is seriously so
prepared. He told us how he was raised Baptist and then tried
Catholicism but neither felt right. He told us that since he has been
coming to church it just feels right. We were able to teach him the
Restoration and since he went to a "Bible College" (it was a two year
college with different classes in the Bible. He knows it pretty well)
the concepts we taught made sense. In the end he told us he would get
baptized when he gets an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. We
are going to set a date with him and K..... for August 30th tonight!
Pray for them.

Another awesome experience. There is a part member family (she's a
member and he isn't) in the apartment complex that no one has been
able to contact. We have stopped by multiple times trying to meet them
but could never get ahold of them. Well, we thought we would try and
call her and she answered! We set up an appointment and met them
Friday afternoon. They are awesome. They both actually grew up in
Utah, she was born in Cali and he was born in New York but they moved
to Utah when they were 12, and moved down here in January. She hasn't
been active for a long time and he said he really didn't have any
Mormon friends. We got to know them and then in the end he asked how
frequently we visit and we told him whenever they want us there, so we
are going by this Friday for lunch!

We also taught Fr....and his mother D....... this week. He still isn't
ready to get baptized but we aren't sure why. This week we are going
to teach him all about the temple and their importance.

I love the Ward! We have so many great members and I feel super
welcome. And guess what. I'm staying another transfer! Me and Elder
Ault will be companions for our third full transfer. We are keeping
the mini van and are just in the Ward. My Zone Leader companion
will be Elder S....... He was in the trio with me and Elder Ault. He
is going to be in the 60th Ward in the same stake that we are in on a
bike. I'm super excited!

Well I hope you have a great week. In parting I wanted to share an
awesome experience that I had this week. Yesterday afternoon I got a
message on Facebook from a Sister that is serving in one of the Wards
I started my mission in. Around the time I left we were working with a
Less Active member that struggled with an addiction to alcohol. This
Sister told me that a year ago, just before I left, we gave him a
blessing. I hardly remember it but she told me that since that
blessing, a year ago, he hasn't had a single drink. I can remember how
down trodden this man was when I saw him, how trapped he was. The
constant struggle he had everyday. To know that through the
Priesthood, the power of God, that was taken from him and that I had
the opportunity to be a part of it brings me more joy than I can
explain. I know that God is real. This week it was confirmed to me
that He is, He loves us and wants us to turn to Him. He answered my
prayers this week, a subtle reminder that my daily efforts were and
are making a bigger difference than I realize. I may not ever fully
understand exactly what comes from everything I do out here but I know
that as I'm obedient God will consecrate my efforts.

Loves,

-Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

Eternal life is knowing the Savior and Our Father in Heaven.

July 21, 2014
Hello, hello. I'm glad you enjoyed the pictures of me hiking, and yes
I did really go hiking like that. Actually we went again last P Day
and I had another outfit. I will send you more pictures of that today.
On the way down from our hike me and Elder Ault had to shimmy down a
waterfall (obviously no water in it right now because it's hot as
death) and encountered a wasps nest and many other adventures. We
don't really stick to a trail, we just go out into the barren
wasteland that is the Arizona wilderness and explore. So there's no
one else really around, it's a blast.

That is pretty crazy that Jordan gets home so soon, and then they'll
all start trickling in after him! It stills feels like yesterday that
we all left, I can't believe it has been a year since I went out to
Apache Junction! I went to a baptism out there on Saturday. Elder
Petersen, who served here and was my Zone Leader out there came back
to speak. It was good to see him. It was weird that he was Bruce
instead if Elder Petersen though haha. I also saw Elder Bartlett, he
is doing good. He is serving in the stake right next to mine, Central.
Good kid. Also saw Elder Tueller this week haha, crazy to see how much
a mission changes people.

I'm super happy to hear about Joey headed to Mexico! He will do
awesome, I keep meaning to write him but then I get distracted and do
other stuff that's probably not as important... P Day's sure are a
struggle.

So things in the Ward are going good. We taught D..... again on Monday
night and it was awesome. We read 3 Nephi chapter 11 with her up to
when Christ calls up Nephi and gives him authority to baptize. That
led into a discussion more fully concentrated on how the authority
that Christ had was restored to the Prophet Joseph Smith. She totally
gets it and asks some awesome questions. She asked about Polygamy and
I turned to Elder Ault who in turn turned to Brother Fenn (the member
that came with us) and he just laughed and answered haha. As we were
leaving I said to him, "Thanks for taking that polygamy bullet. I'm
not very good with geometry." He thought that was pretty funny. We are
going with her to the Visitor's Center tonight to watch the Joseph
Smith movie, pray that she keeps the appointment!

We are also teaching a couple new people tonight. There is a Sister in
our Ward that hasn't been to church in a long time and has recently
started coming back. She has a son that is 10 and hasn't been
baptized, his name is K..... She has also been bringing her friend
named M..... to church and he wants to learn too! A family in our Ward,
the Hughes, is going to have them over tonight and we are going to
teach them. Miracles. Also a few weeks ago we stopped by a guy named
B...... that some other missionaries had talked to and he had said to
give him a couple weeks to read the Book of Mormon. We went back on
Saturday and he hadn't read but invited us back this week to read with
him. He told us he really is looking for a church to raise his 14
month old son in but he likes drinking too much to give it up. We will
see about that! He is an awesome guy, super nice. I just love having
the opportunity to teach people.

1 John 2:1-6 says:
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous:
2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but
also for the sins of the whole world.
3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a
liar, and the truth is not in him.
5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God
perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even
as he walked.

I have been studying the New Testament and I am just about finished.
This week I read the three Epistles of John and these scriptures stood
out to me. Especially verse three. In John 17:3 the Savior says, "And
this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." Eternal life is knowing the Savior
and Our Father in Heaven, getting to know who they really are. Their
personality, their love, everything. And how do we do that? By being
obedient to His commandments and becoming like Him. That is the only
way to truly know WHO God and Jesus Christ are. I'm thankful to get to
know Him better as I strive to better follow His example and walk in
His footsteps.

Love you!

Elder Alexander

P.S.- Wish Grandma Alexander a late happy birthday from me!

Sent from my iPad

I feel like this is a sowing transfer and the reaping will come later.

July 14, 2014
 Thanks for the Pocket Constitutions, I gave one to the Assistants and they loved it. Elder B...... is from Mississippi and he is quite the patriot so he was pretty honored to have it. 

That's such an awesome story about Jacob and his friend. That's the kind of thing we have been trying to share with members of our Ward to get them excited. A lot of people have a phobia about talking to us about missionary work because they feel like we are getting to force them to invite people who aren't ready. That's a great story to share with others and I will probably do that with the Smith family tomorrow! Tell Jacob thank you and to keep up the good work.

Things have been good in the area. We started a new idea that we are hoping will give us a lot of work. A lot of times, as I have expressed to you, it is hard to stay busy during the day with such a small area. And a lot of people are at work! So something that is always successful is service. What we did is went to a member in the Ward that owns a printing shop and he edited our design for the flyer. We put them in each of the programs at church yesterday and now we are going to distribute them to the rest of the community. It is letting people know that we are willing to serve and it has our phone number, email, and Facebook names. Serving members helps us gain their trust and can strike interest in neighbors and serving members of another faith is a super unthreatening way to meet them.

The members are awesome, we actually had interviews with President and I asked him if he could leave in this Ward for a while. I love it! We were nervous that they wouldn't trust us, and they were hesitant at first, but now they have embraced us. We haven't had tons of success finding by it has been awesome to work closely with the members. I feel like this is sowing transfer and the reaping will come later. Not sure if I will be here for the reaping but it doesn't matter, sowing is just as important!

Last P Day we went and hiked in the wilderness. We have found that after 18 months in the same valley you have to be creative to stay entertained. So instead of doing the same old hike we always do (Flat Iron or the Windcaves) we just explored the wilderness. I had quite the outfit on, all purchased from every missionaries favorite Thrift Store, 360 Thrift. I will send you pictures! It was quite fun, Elder Ault has turned me into a pretty big adventure guy.

We had a lesson with a lady named D.... on Monday night and we are teaching her tonight again. She is Catholic and has told us multiple times that she isn't looking to convert. She has also told us how much she doesn't believe in Catholicism. She's really awesome though and it was our first lesson with her last week, the Sisters just talked to her on the street. As we got to know her she brought up a question about the organization of the church and prophets. We taught her the Restoration and she got it. She understood the Apostasy so well from what she had seen in the Catholic Church. She also told us that we answered a question that she had always had when we told her that Christ visited people in America. It was awesome!! She told us that even though she always said she wasn't looking to convert she really appreciated our message. The Spirit is already working with her!

I love you and will talk to you soon!

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

This is a statue of the First Vision in one of our members homes, it is so sweet.

                       Here's our flyer.

My hiking outfit.

I'm really lucky to be in this mission.

July 7, 2014
HELLO! It looks like the play was a success, Dad looked better than
ever. Our Independence Day was quite grand. Our President said that we
weren't allowed to stop anywhere unexpectedly so since we didn't have
an appointment at 8 we went and sat in some church baseball fields and
watched the firework show at the neighboring church called, Living
Word Bible Church. It wasn't the greatest show but it was more than
the one that I saw last year haha. And people seemed a little more
gutsy so they were shooting off illegal fireworks everywhere. It was a
good night. Me and Elder Ault got some Red, White, and Blue leis from
the dollar store and wore them to our wards breakfast. They loved it.

With the holidays and the fact that it's nearing the hottest time of
the year people love to leave AZ. That makes our work a little but
harder. This week we still managed to meet with a lot of members
though and that is still our focus. I feel like this transfer is going
to be gaining trust from members and establishing mission plans with
them and then hopefully we can stick around and do some reaping next
transfer.

We were able to go and meet a family that some missionaries tracted
into. His name is B... and she is J.... They have a like boy named
C...... that is real cute. They were very welcoming and invited us in,
gave us drinks, sat us down. (I accidentally spilled my Gatorade on
the carpet so that wasn't too good. But they were forgiving.) He ended
up telling us that he just has a hard time saying no so that's why he
said the missionaries could come by. He has met with the missionaries
before in high school but told us he never really gave it a chance. We
bore testimony of he Book of Mormon and were able to leave him with a
copy. He told us to check back in about a week and see how he feels
about it. The coolest part was seek his countenance change as we
testified and literally see the Spirit working with him. I feel like
he is susceptible to the Spirit, keep him in your prayers!

Other than that we had MLC this week. It was really good as always.
The church has changed some policies with the lessons we teach so
instead of just teaching the first four lessons in Preach My Gospel
before baptism we teach all five. May not seem like a big deal but it
kind of is. Zone Training Meeting is this week as well as interviews
with President

That's awesome to hear about the play, I'm glad it went well. Are you going

to send us some Gator jerky from New Orleans? We would love lots of that stuff.

And whatever New Orleans memorabilia you would like to send. Also many missionaries 

have been a fan of the pocket Constitution so if you could send some more of those 

there would be many that would be appreciative.

I really love the opportunity I have to work with the members on my mission.

I feel as if it is such a benefit for me. I'm really lucky to be in this mission.

The church is true. God hears our prayers and is anxious to bless us.

And He will. IF we do our part, if we break down the walls that are
holding those blessings back. Obedience is the only tool that can and
will clear a path for those blessings. I know that is true.

Loves, 

Elder Alexander

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