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.

Sent from my iPad

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

Sent from my iPad

The man, the legend, Elder Crookston.

I can't wait to find those the Lord has prepared.

Mar 31, 2014
Let me answer your questions. We live with the Rapier's, which is
where I lived when I served w/ E. Crookston in the 34th Ward. They are
in our Ward and they are super cool. Elder Horgan doesn't know the Bindord's. 
 But speaking of that there is an Elder Lithgow in my mission. He knows
the Binford's! Tell them that. That wasn't a District lunch we were
just getting some lunch after a District Leader Council. Elder Ault
isn't in my District but my Zone.

That's great to hear that the family is alive and well. Tell everyone
congrats and I would love some pictures of the new additions. Sorry to
hear about the little Goaty passing away. I guess they can't thrive
without my presence!

The Toro Zone is doing great. Elder Derbidge is a great missionary and has 

already been very easy to work with. Tomorrow we have MLC and we are going 

to be able to present our Zone focuses for the next quarter, Apr-June. We have 

decided to focus on Planning and following the Spirit. Our mission has really 

struggled planning since we got iPads and Facebook but it is really just a lack

of knowledge rather than laziness. We also know that when missionaries are given 

more free reign rather than a program it will enable them to reach farther.

I'm so excited to be back in the 34th Ward. When we got in the area on
Wednesday we went around and saw all sorts of familiar faces. Let me
tell you about the people we are working with..

Orvid- me and E. Crookston were teaching him. He is so awesome. Him
and E. Crookston became really good friends and he told him that the
only way he would let missionaries in after he went home was if they
transferred me back. Well... The Lord works in mysterious ways haha.
His big hold up, which is pretty major, is Joseph Smith so that is
what we are working on.

Phylis- she is going through Chemo. Super nice but kind of flakey. She
had a baptism date when I left the area but lost contact with Elder
Crookston and Elder Oniones. We went and taught her about the Doctrine
of Christ through reading 2 Nephi 31 w/ her last night. It went really
great and she committed to being baptized on April 26th! Keep her in
her prayers, we will be watching Some of Conference w/ her.

Julie- she hasn't been active in 40 years. Never rally had a
testimony. Me and Elder Crookston were working with her and now she
has a solid testimony of the restoration. She bore it yesterday! It
was really awesome. She actually is the one that found Phylis for us.

The Stockton's- they go in and out of less activity. We go and share
messages regularly and try to help them out. Sis. Stockton has come to
church the last two weeks! We stopped by Sunday morning and made sure
of that haha.

That's really all we have right now but Elder Horgan got a 24 hr bug
on Saturday, so we were in all day. You know what that means! I got to
clean the apartment, study, and plan. This week we are going to try
and contact all those who previously met with the missionaries and see
if they are interested. I'm really excited and I can't wait to find
those The Lord has prepared.

Love you lots!

Love, Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

A member sent this to parents. Eating lunch after a District leader council.

Our salvation depends on our believing in and understanding the Atonement.

Mar 24, 2014
This one will be rather short but I will make up for it next week. The
news is in... I am in fact getting transferred again. BUT I'm actually
going back to the 34th Ward again! That's the Ward I served in with
Elder Crookston. Since he goes home today and his companion left last
week they needed some new missionaries to come in. I told President in
my email last week I would be willing to do that so I'm heading back!
Elder West is staying in our area and I will be companions with Elder

Horgan. He has been out for about 4 1/2 months, I'm super excited.

They are keeping the Split Zone Leader experiment alive. My new Zone
Leader companion is Elder Derbidge. He will be in the neighboring
Stake, so we are in different Districts. Not sure how it will go but I
still have faith. The Toro Zone is doing awesome, I hope we can keep
it going.

Elder Ault is Toro bound. He won't be in my District but he will be in
the Zone. I'm super excited to serve around him again, it's a little
taste of home away from home. And he is super funny.

Today we are finishing out Elder Crookston's mission. I'm going to
miss him pretty bad but that's all good. His parents are picking him
up tonight. These last three months have flown by. We are going to
celebrate with some Red Lobster for lunch and then he will be off to
the mission office and farewell dinner.

All is well in the area me and Elder West are serving in. We taught
Kelly on Thursday and got to the bottom of another one of her
concerns. Rod figured out on his own (the Spirit told him) that he
needed to kick his roommate out and he's going to do it. Colby is
talking to his mom about baptism and should get baptized in April and
tons of other stuff. It's been kind of crazy since Wednesday because

we've been in a trio w/ Elder Crookston covering two areas we managed.

We are studying the Atonement as a mission as we prepare for Easter.
It has been great. We read Matthew 26-28 and a few talks so far and
have a lot more in store. I've really realized the necessity of action
when it comes to the Atonement. Our salvation depends on our believing
in and understanding the Atonement... That's a quote by I can't remember
who it's from. I know that my experiences of the healing of the
Atonement have taught me a lot more than merely being told about it
has!

Side story... I interviewed a young man named Tyler for baptism this
week. He has Down syndrome. He decided that he wanted to be baptized
and got approved. For his interview I showed him pictures on my iPad
and talked about things. It was awesome when I showed him a picture of
baptism. He got so excited and start doing the sign language for
baptism. That's when I knew it was ok. He had a desire to follow
Christ and through baptism he was able to show that.

Things are good. I liked your letter this week, thank you for always being so supportive of me!! 

Well, be safe this week. Pray for me. Love you.

Sent from my iPad

Elder Alexander and Tyler

We experienced some major miracles this week, so buckle up.

Mar 17, 2014
The beginning of your email scared me.. I thought you didn't get my
email again. I'm glad you liked it. I hope this one can live up to the
hype!
We experienced some major miracles this week, so buckle up.

We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, that's where multiple Zones gather
together and President is there. President spoke first about the
Atonement and obedience. It was awesome! He talked about how we all
have agency but we were given agency in order to do the will of God
not to decide what is right. That's already set. He also made these
booklets for everyone in the mission that has something about the
Atonement to study everyday of the month leading to Easter. I'm stoked
for it! He also gave us a clarification of some mission rules...
Basically he established some mission rules because missionaries took
advantage of his principle based obedience. So you should be getting a
package with my iPod in it soon! I will be sending it in the next
couple of weeks. (Side note... I got my St. Party's Day package! Thank
you Mom:)) But if you could send me some cd's for when we're cruising
in he van, that would be awesome. I wouldn't be apposed to some Lower
Lights on CD!

Back to Zone Conference. After President spoke each of the Assistants
spoke and basically trained the rest of the mission on what we talked
about at that MLC last week. They did a good job. Just before lunch we
had a discussion on a talk by Tad R. Callister of the Seventy called,
"What is the Blueprint of Christ's Church?" You should read it, he
lays down how our church matches absolutely perfectly with the church
that Christ set up. It's pretty sweet! As I've read the Bible more
thoroughly I've realized that more and more.

After lunch we had our separate Zone Breakout sessions. We had a
couple of trainings that were required and then me and Elder Crookston
talked for the last 20 minutes or so. It was basically Elder
Crookston's final moments of wisdom for the mission so he chose what
we spoke on. There is a deeply rooted problem in our mission that
seems to drag a lot of missionaries down and that is serving for
leadership. It's really too bad, people mark their success by the
leadership positions they hold. And it gets to a point where they are
no longer serving To please The Lord or hasten the work but they are
serving to look good so the Assistants will make them leaders. It's no
good... And it has led to another problem where people who aren't like
that don't want leadership at all so if they become one they don't do
a very good job. It's really too bad... We just talked with everyone
about serving where The Lord will have you serve. I focused a lot on
the two great commandments and Elder a Crookston just laid it down
because he was pretty passionate about the whole thing haha. It went
well and we had some good feedback.

Miracle time! The biggest one goes first. We have been helping Rod
reroof his patio because it leaked during the big rainstorm we had a
couple of weeks ago. On Wednesday when we were up there helping him
(serving alongside investigators is this best because you develop a
stronger relationship) he gave us some pretty good news. He found out
that he is anemic. Let me explain. We taught Rod the Word of Wisdom a
week or so ago and he told us he would quit drinking when it was
natural... Basically when he felt like it. So we decided to just
continue to keep him in our prayers. It ends up his Doctor told him he
needs to stop drinking, and love healthier. His Doctor prescribed him
the Word of Wisdom!! Prayers answered! And it ends up he is a whole
lot easier to teach when he is sober so we are excite, he's
progressing a thousand times faster.

Carol canceled her lesson last night but she is doing awesome. We had
this really awesome lesson where we just laid down the doctrine of
baptism because she said after a precious lesson, "Well I've already
been baptized." She was baptized as an infant in the Catholic Church.
We had a bunch of different scripture references like Matthew 3,
Romans, John 3, etc.. It helped her (and me) more fully understand the
reason, the covenant, and the necessity of baptism by proper authority
and proper mode. At the end of the lesson she understood and accepted
the doctrine but told us she still needs an answer on the authority
part. She believes that, by her definition, Joseph Smith is a prophet
but she doesn't quite understood or accept the idea of one true church
because she said she has found Christ is many religions. (Even
Muslim.) So we are still praying for her but she has come a long way
this week!

Aurora is doing better in school and her overall behavior. I don't
know if I told you but her Mom won't let her get baptized because she
has bad grades.... Parenting at its finest! We are hoping that she
will be baptized in mid April and it's looking pretty good for around
then.

This week we didn't have the best numbers but me and Elder West talked
about it and we really feel like The Lord is pleased with us. I know I
told you we had some potentials we hoped one turn into something and
we had some great steps in the right step with a few of them this
week!
1. Devin & Eyeme (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it but that's
how it sounds... Eye me.)-They were a referral from some members and
when we went by a couple of weeks ago he said he wasn't interested in
a message but he needed help moving a TV... So we helped! We ended up
talking to his wife (who is from the Philippines and is super
Catholic) and at first she was pretty closed off but eventually asked
us about how the leadership in out church is chosen which led to us
teaching the Restoration. In the end she wanted a children's story BoM
to better understand the story. We dropped it off a few days later and
just talked to Devin, he was a lot nicer! Well we stopped by this week
to follow up and Devin said that they are just super busy right now
and invited us back on April 16th! Haha it's a ways off but we will
see what happens. We will keep them in our prayers.
2.Jean- Some members asked if she wanted a blessing a couple weeks ago
when she went in for surgery and she declined... But she accepted some
service so a couple weeks ago we went and helped her out. When we left
I left a Book of Mormon on "accident" and she noticed as we left. She
asked if it was for her and we said of course! We went back to follow
up and she still hadn't read but she gave us some tangelos and we are
going back on Saturday hopefully to pigeon proof her roof. And she
said she would read this time!
3. Rachel- She is from India. The Sisters who were in this area about
a year ago talked with her but it never really went anywhere. We
stopped by a couple of weeks ago and taught her the Restoration. She
said that she would love to come to church but had family coming to
town. We went by on Friday and she was a little busy but she invited
us back this coming Friday and said she would come to church. We are
super excited for her!
Those are my adventures this week! 
Love you all, have a good week! We will get transfer news this
Saturday so I will let you know what is going on!

P.s.- E. Crookston's companion is going home this week so I'm going to
end up killing him after all! This week will be his last so we will
make it good.

Sent from my iPad

A member couple that go out with the missionaries sent this to their parents Sunday 3-16-14