I'm me still but I'm different!

Dec 15, 2014
Now let me tell you about my last full week in the mission field. (That's still weird to say but I am coming to grips with it.)

On Monday after I emailed you we ended our day with some bowling. Some missionaries from our Zone joined us, safe to say I still got it. It was pretty fun, except for I felt like exploding after that pizza challenge. That night we went to a Christmas Concert at the Mesa Event Center in downtown Mesa. Our Elders Quorum President's wife was in it so he asked if we could bring an investigator and come with him. We asked President and he was fine with it so we took M-----, that is getting baptized on the 20th. It wasn't an LDS sponsored event or anything but they did have the Bible Videos depicting the Saviors birth playing behind the orchestra and choir so their was a pretty big LDS influence. It was really fun and a great way to continue helping M---- feel comfortable with the Ward members.

On Tuesday we had Zone Training Meeting. It was really good. President has established a new program or initiative for the mission. Last March was our highest baptizing month so President has deemed this coming March as MIRACLE MARCH and has set a goal for 100 baptisms in the mission. It's a pretty big deal, Stake Presidents have been notified, the entire mission (including members) are going to be invited to fast in January for the Lord to bless us with 1,500 New Investigators that month. We counseled about that for quite some time and came to some good conclusions about what we need to do in order for that to happen in March. Exciting stuff. After that we went to a wings place called Long Wongs as a Zone, and then on went on from there. Just another great day as a missionary! I started feeling pretty sick Tuesday morning but I was able to push through.

Wednesday was great. We had what is a called a Temple Excursion, where multiple Zones have their temple day at the same time and start it off w/ a temple chapel session w/ President Jenkins. It was my last time doing a session at the Mesa Temple as a full missionary, I'm glad I got to go one last time. It's one of my favorite temples. After the session we went across the street to a chapel and had our Christmas Activity. We started it off with a nice lunch, then everybody practiced for their Christmas Day performance at the Christmas Lights, and we ended with a Christmas Devotional from President and Sister Jenkins. It was superb! President talked about a 10 year old boy that got baptized the week before Christmas while he was serving his mission in Spain. That little boy went on to serve a mission in Chile, baptizing nearly 1,000 people. That story made me think of W------ from Apache Junction and little J------ that got baptized this past Saturday. Who knows who else these two young man will touch, they're great kids. We also for our Christmas presents from President. He got us all "The Lectures on Faith" by Joseph Smith. They are some incredible talks he gave explaining what faith is, how we obtain it, what we do with it, etc. I was actually going to ask President how to get ahold of a copy during by exit interview. He sure is inspired. :) Wednesday night we also went to the Christmas Lights with B-----. He is a funny man. He spent more time gawking at pretty ladies than anything else but we're still working on him haha. 

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday... (Unrelated story but we ate with a family that has a Down Syndrome daughter this week and she is 33 but has trouble saying "thirty" so at first she was just saying she was 23. But they finally came to the conclusion that she could say "Thursday" so now when she is asked her age instead of responding, "twenty three" and being 10 years off she simply says, " I am Thursday Three". She's awesome.) I ended up going on an exchange with our Zone Leader, Elder Meng, on Thursday. We were in his area, which literally has the temple in its boundaries and his apartment is right across the street. It was super fun. We visited a member with an edition of the Book of Mormon that was printed in 1830. Taught some really good people... And! Here's a good story. There's a family that opens an Indian Fry Bread stand across the street from the temple every night of Christmas Lights and the stand is right by Elder Meng's apartment. It's pretty expensive so Elder Meng has never got any but I offered to pay for us both and we decided we would pick some up right before heading in Thursday night. As we approached and began to ponder what we wanted I looked to my right and saw someone I recognized... Elder Tofu! He is a big old Tongan guy that I was in the MTC. He was in my Zone and went to Atlanta but was from Mesa. He recently returned home (his family actually moved up to Utah while he was gone but he was just visiting his family, which is the family that sells the Fry Bread) and we had a glorious reunion. I actually told Elder Meng a story about him earlier that day so it was pretty cool. Miracles! I have seriously seen so many people that I have met on my mission in the last couple of weeks, I love the small things that God does to make our lives a little fuller. I especially love when I notice them!

Friday was the wonderful day of Weekly Planning! What a riot. An older couple in the Ward, the Hastings, took us out to lunch to give us a planning break. They took us to a place called Waldo's, which is super good barbecue food. I had one of the best pulled pork sandwiches of my life. That night we were back at the Christmas Lights, which is a great place to be. Afterwards we swung by for some more fry bread. (It's a good thing I didn't know about is sooner because I would have gained some serious weight.)

We started off Saturday with a Stake Correlation Meeting and breakfast, followed by another breakfast with a member named M---- that is returning to activity, and then it was off to fill up the font for J-----'s baptism! The baptism was great. The talks were awesome and the Ward really showed up to support him. J----- had the opportunity to bare his testimony after he was baptized. He's a very charismatic kid, he stood up there and explained how he knew he would be happy after he was baptized but that he felt happier than if he was at Disneyland haha. It was perfect. He also said he knew the Book of Mormon was true, that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that Thomas S. Monson was a prophet as well. So cool. M---- also passed his baptism interview right after the baptism, he is getting baptized next Saturday night. :) After his baptism the Ward will have reached their goal of 4 baptisms for the year.

On Sunday I had the opportunity to to confirm J-----. It was a great experience. J----- really is a special kid, he is going to bring about a lot of good in this world if he stays true to the gospel. Saturday after his baptism we stopped by to see him and he invited his friends to meet with us and gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon. It was great! Sunday night we were back at the Christmas Lights with the A----- family! Brother A------ is not a member and we have been meeting with him. And... Last night he announced that he has decided to be baptized! It was so cool to hear him say he had made his decision. This has been a long time coming, I can tell you that. I won't be here when he gets baptized but I'm glad I got to be a part of this. 

Well... I haven't decided how I feel about coming home yet, I haven't chosen an emotion yet. Everyone asks whether I'm sad, excited, etc. But I'm not sure. I know I'm excited to see all of you again and I'm sad that I will no longer be a full time missionary. I have loved my mission so much and I wouldn't change it for the world. It's crazy to think I'm going back to little Riverton, Utah. It's crazy think who I was before. I'm me still but I'm different... I don't know how to explain it. There was a member in my first area that told me that he thought the real reason the church sends young people on missions is for our benefit and baptizing is an after product. But as I look back on my mission I realize that the moments that have changed me most are the times I was inviting others to Christ. The times I was helping them change their lives. It wasn't simply living on my own, making my own bed, cooking my own lunch, or anything else. It was the simple fact that in inviting others to come to Christ I was inviting myself to do the same. I know this church is true, I know that God is my Father and that He loves me. I will see you soon. :)

Love,

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

George will be home Dec 18th 2014 at 10:16 AM. Yea!!!

Me and my sons.