The field is white and there is more than one way to thrust a sickle.

Oct 14, 2013

So I guess I'll answer your questions first.

Address: I believe it's 2039 N Horne. Guess what. We live in a house. Not in a house with a member but we have our very own house. Can you believe it?? It's pretty sweet, my new area is all farm like so we live on a members property in our own house.

Companion: My companion is good ol Elder Tueller (Tooler). He just graduated from High School, and he's a really good kid.

Transfer: Packing proved to be quite the feat. But I guess that is expected when you obtain a new pair of shoes, 2 new suits, and about 30 ties from the last time you packed... :/

Herman: Herman moved back to Florida this past Saturday. We had a great farewell, I'll include a picture for you. I should be sending him an email next week. (I forgot it at the apartment today, but I'll get it soon.) He told me that he was grateful for me, and he told me that he wished that he had a son like me. That was awesome. He still has a lot of questions but I know if we continue to pray for him he will be baptized soon.

My new area is in the Lehi Stake. We cover the Monument and Lehi 1st Wards. I came from the land of less teeth and more tattoos...... To the land of less sneakers and more cowboy boots? Less gasoline and more hay? It's pretty country. It's so country that behind the church building (which is about a 3 minute walk from our house and is super old) there is a rodeo pit/arena/thing. Haha I love it. TONS of members. I think there are more than my first area even. Everyone has lived here forever and they basically know all there neighbors. We live up on McKellips and Horne. We live in the Norther Western corner of the mission. Just north of us is the Reservation which is in the Scottsdale Mission. I'm the closest to the temple and the mission office that I have ever been. It's about a 20 minute bike ride to both. Which is really nice, we're at the Family History Center across from the temple emailing right now.

I loved conference so much. I can't wait to get all of them in the Ensign, I wish I didn't have to wait!!! Oh well though. I believe there is a reason that faith, patience, and the principle of enduring stood out to me in Conference. Out in AJ me and Elder Bartlett got to the point where we were teaching just under 30 lessons a week and finding multiple people each week. Now in this area a good week is to teach 5 lessons and to find a couple a people a month. But I'm so excited!! The members are great. What we're going to do is go in and let Elder Tueller practice teaching them the lessons. Just so they know that we're there to teach. We want to get to know them but our major role is to teach. 

We have 2 investigators. Bill and Nathan. Nathan is 13 and his parents are members. Just moved in from Georgia, his step father is a member and just got active and his mother is a Recent Convert of about a year. About half an hour into the area. Elder Tueller got to set a baptism date with him. Bill married a members sister. And she passed away about 10 days later. But him and Nathan are going to get baptized on October 19th!! We're so excited and we're really hoping that it will get the members going. Because after that we're going to be investigator less so we'll need some help!

I"m so excited for this new opportunity! The new area rules. Super different, but super exciting. I love the gospel and I love how it touches peoples lives. Even though our area is small and packed with members, I know that there are people that are prepared. That are ready to accept the gospel. Thank you for your prayers and everything. The weather is great down here. Seriously perfect.

 Fun Facts:

I just saw two sisters from each of my first two areas. Sister Ortiz and Sister Gillespie, so that's fun.

Elder Ault is in fact in my district!!! I'm going to be on an exchange with him tomorrow, letting the Riverton loose the Mesa. I'm excited. I'm also going to be doing my first baptism interview tomorrow so pray for me! And first district meeting so I could use a lot of prayers.

Also sometime this week I will be taking over my facebook. Yep, they just released it in the mission so I'll be on there for an hour a day. You can stay friends with me and I can stay friends with everyone.  As far as communication on facebook, if by chance I get to talk to someone back home and start teaching them on facebook I could send you a message on there for help in following up or getting them to church or something. Other than that our communication about packages and how things are going and all that will take place over email on P Day. 

Thank you for the scripture box, it's going great. I have close to 10 scriptures down pretty good. It's great. I really appreciate it. 

I'm grateful to be here, this mission is incredible. I love it to death. The Lord is hastening his work. The field is white and there is more than one way to thrust a sickle. Have a good week! Love you.

Love, Elder Alexander

Our humble abode.

This is a little place made to break horses. It resides right behind our home. There has been a horse out there lately that I befriended. Until the picture I included of him. I didn't realize that he was pooping and it really damaged our relationship...

Farewell Herman.

"He doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies those He calls." Being transferred and training another baby.

Oct 7, 2013
Well. The news is in, President doesn't want me getting too comfy so he's shipping me off again. So my days in Apache Junction are numbered. I haven't been transferred yet but I will be heading out on Wednesday. President wants me to go and train another baby, I'm just popping out sons left and right. We'll be whitewashing again but this time I'm going to be a District Leader as well. I'm pretty excited, and not nearly as nervous as I was last time haha. So basically anxious for it.  I'll definitely be needing a lot of prayers so bring em on! The Lord definitely prepares us for his work. "He doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies those he calls."  I'm headed out to the Heritage Zone which is over by the temple more and I'll be in the Lehi Stake I'm pretty sure.

Conference was great. For Priesthood Session we went with Herman and then he took us out to Village Inn afterwards. It was great! He really loves President Uchtdorf, as I knew he would. Then we watched both of the Sunday Sessions at Brother Gillespies house. Herman came to the morning session, but he left due to a headache. Right before President Monson's Talk. The very talk that was written exactly for him!! Ridiculous. But we got him a copy and we're going to talk about it tonight. 

Herman probably won't be getting baptized in AZ unfortunately. He knows the Book of Mormon is true but he still needs to learn to trust God again. We could baptized him. Elder Bartlett and I have agreed that it would be better to let him get established in Florida first. We have the number for his bishop there and we're going to make sure the ward is aware he is coming. I'm also going to continue to email him and make sure that he's going strong. He's an incredible man.

I realized last week that in my exhausted state I in fact forgot to tell you about William's baptism! Yes, he was baptized. I had the wonderful privilege of baptizing him. When he walked into the font he hoisted both arms in the air and yelled, "YEAH!!" He was so excited to make a covenant with the Lord! We should all be that excited!! The Spirit was so strong, William asked me if we could do it again before he changed haha. From the mouth of babes. Gotta love it.

I'm so excited for this new adventure coming towards me. I'm grateful that the Lord takes the time to look over my path and direct it. I know that He has an ultimate plan for me and I just hope I can make it a little bit easier for him!!!

Love you lots!

Love, Elder Alexander

Bautismo De William.

3 Nephi 11:3

Sept 30, 2013
Just another week in Paradise. We had a couple pretty good adventures. And I think that you would be proud to know that today I climbed a mountain. Just east of AJ there are the Superstition Mountains. They're actually mountains, no where near the Rocky's but they can hold their own. There's one peak that is called "Flat Iron" because it looks like the Flat Iron Building in New York. We climbed it. Our good friend Tate (who leaves for Peru on his mission in like a week and a half) took us, pictures soon to come. We left at about 7 am and got back at 1 pm.  I wore my nikes and now my feet are very tender, but I'll get over it. 

Well on the Spiritual side of things... We had a pretty decent week. It was a little humbling because we set some very high goals. Well, we didn't quite accomplish them. It was unfortunate but I think it taught me once again to stop relying on myself and rely on Him. He keeps having to teach me that, I'm just stubborn I guess.

Herman. I'm going to start from last Saturday (when I told him about John's testimony) and take you day by day. On Saturday the Spirit was very strong and we left Herman with the commitment to start from 3 Nephi 11 and just keep reading. On Sunday he didn't show up for church. When I called him he was on his motorcycle and told us to come by later that night. When we stopped by he wasn't there... But I talked to him on the phone. He said he'd received an answer and his answer was, "You already have the answer." Clear as day, he said. And he was pretty frustrated. When we went by on Monday night we talked about it more (He still hadn't read the commitment we left him yet). When I asked him about his experience he said, "Well, I guess you could say I heard a silent voice speak out loud." Right when he said that I knew what to do. I asked him to turn to 3 Nephi 11:3. After we read it he broke down in tears and said that that is the exact voice that he heard. But when we left that night he was still confused... On Wednesday we stopped by and it was amazing to see how the Spirit had continued to work with him. He'd put it all together. He did already have the answer. He just hadn't read it. He turned to me and said, "I want to do this. Before I go back to Florida." So Herman will be getting baptized on October 12th! The Spirit can truly work miracles.

Exciting things are going on in the mission. We're going to be on Facebook coming up in the next couple weeks. October 9th is transfers so I will find out what's going on this Saturday. Have I told you how excited I am for General Conference? We're so lucky. We get to hear the Prophet speak! Like 5 times in 2 days. Amazing.

Tell the fam I love them! They sound like they're doing so awesome. Give Jayce a big ol hug for me.  That's pretty sweet about Christian. He seems like the kind of man you'd want on a pirate tracking team. 

Love you! 

Love Elder Alexander

                                   

To the peak!

Taking a break

We saw two of these dang things.

It's just too perfect, but that's sometimes how the Lord's work goes.

Sept 23, 2013
My tooth, or lack of, is doing awesome. Dr. Barney wrote me a prescription but I'm above modern medicine, and besides I fit in just fine in good ol Apache Junction nowadays. I'm telling you, all I need is a little tattoo and next thing you know they'll be flocking to the font. 

That's good that Becc got to come by, I also heard that BYU lost to Utah. Surprise, surprise. They better pick it up or I might turn my heart to the Sun Devils. Did get the package, and I have to say that the banana cake is just about gone at this point. But that's to be expected. Also Facebook is right at the doorstep for this mission. We were supposed to get it this week but they might hold off for a bit. I'm probably going to make a new account but we'll see what happens! I don't find out transfer news until the 5th of October.

Everybody is doing really great. I'm going to be honest this past week is a total blur. We taught a lot of lessons... The Lord really blessed us. But to answer your questions. The sassy black family is doing awesome. We did a church tour on Monday. They weren't able to come to church but they're super nice and interested. We now have two other sassy black families that we found this week that we are very excited for. 

Let me tell you the story of Jessica. She's so awesome. She was a referral that we got on Wednesday. It was sent in by a member from another ward in Mesa. She met Jessica at this training program (the member is the trainer) and they started talking about the gospel. Anyways that was on Tuesday and we met with her on Thursday. When we sat down and started talking I found out that the member, Sister Shumway, had already taught Jessica everything in the 3 lessons and more. So that made our job super easy. It was once again super evidence to me that the Lord is preparing His children to receive the gospel. Jessica also has a 12 yr old daughter named India that is so smart. As we went through the first lesson she had a little highlighter and marked all the scriptures that we read in her Book of Mormon. It's moments like that when I expect a curtain to fall and the camera to be exposed. It's just too perfect, but that's sometimes how the Lord's work goes.

But not always. Herman is doing good. He's really searching. Yesterday I talked to him on the phone for quite a bit. He got an answer, and his answer was as clear as day, "You already know the answer." Now that just got him frustrated. So I had to talk him down but he's really at a loss right now. I shared the story of Jackie with him. It was very similar to the way that his wife passed away. I talked about the testimony that John bore at the funeral (Dad emailed me about it) and the complete confidence and testimony that John had that it was God's will for Jackie to go, and that she was ok. I testified to him that he can have that too, and I can't wait for the day that he looks me in the eye and knows it for himself. 

The work is moving forward great. We're seeing miracles like none other. This week I started to more faithfully right in my journal and it has already blessed my life. So don't procrastinate the day of your repentance, Everybody should write in their journal!! O Remember, Remember, talk given by Henry B. Eyring. Gotta love it.

I love you! Love, Elder Alexander

I'm so happy 

The Spanish Elders we live by. We call ourselves the  A Team.

Spiritual Confirmation

Sept 16, 2013
Once upon a time Apache Junction was explained to me as this, "Less teeth, more tattoos." That statement has proved itself true on many occasions and especially today. I am a regular old Apache Junction-ite. The only thing I am missing now is the tattoo, because this morning Chelsie Taylor's uncle ripped out my tooth.

There you have it. He took it, he came out in broad daylight and ripped out my tooth, and I'm not kidding. I went to the dentist this morning, and it ends up that my dentist was a friend of mine's (Chelsie Taylor) uncle and we're pretty sure that his son trained Riley Hansen in the Philippines. It was all a blur but I'm really appreciative. I just don't have a tooth.

Well on another note I heard from Grandpa Ron today, which was a treat, and he said that Colorado is in a pretty rough state. We're safe down here, we only had a sprinkle on Monday this week and that's about it. 

We were able to teach a lot of people this week, which was awesome. Herman is doing so great. He missed church yesterday...... Because he climbed a mountain to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I was alright with that. Bishop Duke and I gave him a blessing of comfort last night to help him feel peace in his mind. Tomorrow we are going with him to the Visitors' Center to watch a movie about Thomas S. Monson called, On the Lord's Errand.

Have I told you about William? Well William is Jessica's son. She got baptized when we first arrived and now he's getting baptized!! On September 28th, I'm really excited. He's 10 years old, and he's a really smart kid. Like he really gets it. I don't feel like I got it til about 9 months ago haha. But here's a funny story. We were teaching him about the Law of Chastity and I wasn't too sure how to teach him ya know? So I sat there.... And I decided to ask Jessica if she remembered what the Law of Chastity is. At first she didn't hear me because she was on her phone and there was a long pause.... So I asked her again. This time she heard me. And she yelled (she's a sweet spirit) "William don't have sex before you're married!" And that was that. 

We have a really awesome family that we are teaching. Kelly, Glynda, and Jordan. They're black and they're sassy as can be. It's the best. We took them to watch Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration and Kelly (Mom) was sooooooo excited. She thinks that Joseph Smith is a Prophet already! Glynda (17 yr old daughter) still wants to pray about the Book of Mormon before she decides, but she gets it! I'm really excited for them. We're taking them on  a church tour tonight so I'll keep you updated.

We had a good week. Really good. We were definitely blessed, and I appreciate your testimony. As it says in Romans 10:17 my faith is strengthened by hearing your testimony. Thank you thank you!

Thank you for the support and the love! Don't worry about the tooth, don't you freight, I'll be fine. It's a good excuse not to have to bike and to get some members out with us! I have a testimony of Jesus Christ and I know that I will one day be reunited with that tooth, but in it's prefect frame.

I had a Spiritual confirmation this Sunday as I sat in sacrament meeting. The Spirit really confirmed to me that I am a Son of God. That I existed before, that I walked with Him and saw His face. He is my Father, and I really thought about who I am. It's amazing.

Have a great week! Love ya

This is the Dentist they sent me to. When I approached it I thought of 1 Corinthians 13:11, thinking that I had put away such childish things. But I was brought to the depths of humility as my tooth departed my gums forevermore. Until the resurrection of course. 

"Live Life Living."

Sept 9, 2013
So I did receive my package and boy was it a treat! I appreciate it for sure. Here's a funny story. Back when Elder Bartlett first came out his mother sent him some of those dried mangoes for his birthday. They were a hit and the Spanish Elders almost killed us for them. When I opened my package (luckily we were at lunch when it arrived, I don't trust this AJ place) it was like a pack of ravenous wolverines was unleashed. We love those mangoes, and needless to say they are already gone.... 

Jayce is so cute, it's been nice hearing from Adam lately! He sent me a picture of their Beta Fish, Sam. I can't believe he's talking so much now! (By he I'm referring to Jayce and not the Beta Fish named Sam..... I hope that was apparent.) How's Jen doing is she still working at Scheels?? I heard from Elyse and Dal today. He's the ward mission leader! He's going to do awesome at that.

This week was pretty great. We got back up to teaching 20 lessons which was awesome. The members have been really great at helping us out and getting to know our investigators. We have a lot of people to teach but at times it's hard to focus on each of them individually. Sometimes I wish we could just focus on one at a time but hey, we've been called to the work and the Lord always provides a way!

 I just want a more effective way to memorize some scriptures. That's been one of my big focuses the last couple months is using the scriptures in our lessons and I've seen a huge difference when we teach through the scriptures! I know that they speak in a way far stronger than I can, and being able to expand on them is such a blessing. It's amazing how many things each scripture can resolve.

I love in 3 Nephi chapter 23 when Jesus Christ calls Nephi to bring the record which has been kept forward. At first when I read it I thought about how intimidating that would have to be for Nephi, here's the Savior of the world proof reading the record which they have been commanded to keep. It really goes to show how important this record was. The Savior found something that wasn't perfect and they were able to fix it. Everything in the Book of Mormon is for us, today. How amazing!!!

I learned so much this week and I'm so grateful for the ways that Heavenly Father prepares us for His work. We have experiences every day that prepare us for eternity. I want to tell you about Herman who showed me that this week. He was a referral from the American Sign Language Missionaries. His wife passed away from cancer this past Christmas Eve and it has been really tough on him. Since we contacted him on Thursday night we have stopped by every night and talked with him. He has the most incredible stories in the world, he's still searching but everything he says testifies that God has prepared him. When I talked to him Saturday night he was in a rough spot, really depressed. It broke my heart when I asked him if he believed there was peace out there for him and he said no. It's interesting because Herman knows that he will be with his wife again, but he just wants to get there. He doesn't see his purpose to live anymore. He used to use the phrase (I really like it) "Live life living." But now he doesn't want to live at all. He often says "my wife was my life", it's amazing how much he loved her. It really is amazing.   

That following day he came to church and afterwards he went on a hike. He told me that as he was walking a subtle thought entered his mind. "Maybe there is peace after all." That wasn't him that was the Spirit, and I told him to grasp to that and we can help him reach it. It's only been a few days but I can already see him changing.  We are going to teach him the first lesson tomorrow and I can't wait, I know that the restored gospel will give him a reason to live. I'll keep you posted on him!

I love this gospel and the peace it brings. I know that Heavenly Father truly does want us to be happy. Yes, this is a time to prepare to meet Him. Yes, we will face trials to achieve that. But I do not believe that we ever have to be sad. Sure we will be, but God wants us to be happy and I know that.

 Dad, hope your knee is healing well. I keep you in my prayers always. Love ya!

I love you lots! Have a good week and remember to "live life living."

Love, Elder Alexander

                                                                   MissionConference  

      

My old Ward Mission Leader, Bro. Olson, got me some scripture cases form El Salvador!! They're sweet. Here's the Book of Mormon one..

                                                                     And the Bible

I experienced my first Monsoon

Sept 2, 2013
Well let me tell ya, when it rains it pours. Literally. This week, we had rain. The first wave of it was on Tuesday I believe, we were going to talk to a referral with a young man named Tate that is about to head to Peru on his mission. We were walking up to the door and the lady was sitting outside, we she saw us she yelled, "I can not talk to you today!!" in an angry (what we believe to be) Yugoslavian accent. As she storms inside a single drop of rain falls in front of me about the size of a 50 cent coin. It was completely sunny. As we got back in the car the heavens were opened and gallons upon gallons of water fell upon us. It was insane. It lasted all of  6 minutes but it was nuts. (I believe the Yugoslavian woman was behind it but that's neither here nor there.)

  And then on Friday I experienced my first Monsoon. Just as we got back to the apartment for dinner (the member we were going to eat with had to cancel, but we had left overs so don't you fret) it started trickling. Within fifteen minutes the right outside our apartment was a like and right out back there was a river. The wind was absolutely INSANE. The thing is the ground in AZ is so hard. So, when you pour tons of water on it it doesn't seep in. It flows. The roads were rivers, in some places I heard it was up to peoples waists. We obviously didn't go out on our bikes but a member in a big ol truck came and picked us up which was nice. The next day all the water was dried up and there were seriously fallen trees around every corner. And dirt covered the roads. I actually crashed on my bike because of a darn sand bank that was left over on the sidewalk.

Emerald is in our area but she is actually about to move to our Zone Leaders area so we're probably going to move her this week but we're going to teach her tonight! As for Jamie and Marlysa they love us too much to stop meeting with us haha. They just like their smokes and drinks a lot and they're having a hard time letting that go. They also have a lot of legitimate questions, we're stilling working with them. Focusing more on Marlysa right now because Jamie is a little stagnant. We fasted for them yesterday so we're hoping to see miracles ensue. 

This week we found a lot of new people by going to members that the ward hadn't heard from for a while and finding out if they still lived there. They never still live there. So... We teach the people there! It's an awesome way of tracting because we have a different purpose and then we find out when they moved in where they're from and boom their walls are down. It's been cool.

We also had a lot of people cancel, or just not be home which is ALWAYS discouraging but we did pretty good at staying on our toes and staying motivated. I was able to go and watch the movie about Joseph Smith yesterday and it was amazing. I've seen it tons but this time it really hit me when he was riding his horse to Carthage. The scene right before he says to the brethren, "My mission is to testify of Christ. I know He lives." (Something like that.) And he knew that he was going to seal that testimony with his blood. I have that same calling, obviously at a different level but still it's the same. Would I be willing to seal that testimony with my blood? I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet. The Spirit testifies it to me every single day.

Thank you for everything, I'm going to include some pictures for you so ENJOY!!! I hope you have an awesome week, tell everyone I love em!

Love, Elder Alexander 

                                         This is my friend Sharon. She is doing so awesome. 

                                                                   

                                                                  SUPERSTITION ZONE