On a simple day in Bethlehem a child was born.

Dec 2, 2013
I had a pretty good week this week! For one I was swarmed with love

from back home and I have you to thank for that! I received my
Thanksgiving package on Wednesday and I just wanted to say how
thankful I am for the family I have been blessed with. Thank you for
the support and love that you show me! You make Thanksgiving easy on
me. :)
Speaking of Thanksgiving, mine went pretty goooood! I didn't over
indulge but I definitely had my fair share of turkey. We ate with one
family at 130 and another at 5. Along with a pancake breakfast! At 5

we ate with a recent convert Nathan and his family. It's been really good to see Nathan grow!

I love that kid so much. I got him to try all of his vegetables and stuff that his parents 

wanted him to eat and he despises haha. You would have though we were trying to kill him

 with the way he reacted. But he ended up having a good laugh and we're still friends.

 But it really is amazing how the Spirit feels on the mission. Everything truly is in a new light.

 I see it all differently and I'm so grateful!  We weren't allowed to stop by anyone unexpected 

so we got to enjoy our time with them. It was a major blessing! We also got to play 

football with all the missionaries in our Zone as well. Just so you know I haven't 

missed a step, MVP til I die.

Our investigator S passed away about a week ago. We have been
teaching her and her husband D since we got here. She has had
cancer for over a year and it really had hrs own. We've been going by
and Sharing messages of peace with them. The last time we went by she
asked us to tell her the story of Joseph and the Technicolor Dream
Coat, I give credit to the fact that I was surrounded by that musical
my whole life that I was able to fulfill her wish. D has never
really been interested and has despised organized religion most of his
life. But we're really good friends with him. And he asked us to speak
at S funeral. It was this past Saturday and they held it at our
church building, D and S are really good friends with the whole
Ward. There were a lot of nonmembers there. We were supposed to speak
about the Plan of Salvation, I started off and talked  about the pain
and sorrow we face in this life but the ultimate peace that comes from
the Savior. I focused it mainly in John 16:33, which has become one of
my favorite scriptures. The Savior promises us that we will have
trials. It's a definite. But He already overcame that and we are
promised to overcome it if we merely "come unto" Him. Elder T
talked about the Spirit World and the 3 Kingdoms to an audience of non
members, he rocked it.

I received my 12 days of Christmas package. I love you so much. I'm

spoiled. So far I have opened socks and pens, both of which I was in
dire need of. So thank you. I also set up my decorations. I will send
pictures. Me and Elder  are going to go in on a little tree
today we decided. But I love my personal one with all of my pictures!

On a very happy note. WE FOUND J. We were totally stumped one
night and had nothing to do when we stopped by a member and they
mentioned him. (God works through others.) So we darted overt here and
he was home!!! He was all over the place. Cali, Oklahoma, Louisiana,
Washington... You name it! And he's leaving again on the 4th but w're
going by tonight and we are so excited! Keep him in your prayers.
D came to church yesterday! He's so funny, he sat behind us in
church and kept writing me notes of his infinite wisdom. He had me
study D&C 10:43 this week where God mentions how His "wisdom" is
greater than the "cunning" of the Devil. What's the difference? Wisdom
is obtained through experience, which the Devil will never have! He
relies on his cunning in order to deceive but it's so awesome that we
can obtain wisdom and he can't. We can be so much stronger than him
because we are gaining experience. I don't know... It blew my mind.

Speaking of goats. Have they had any babies??? I was just thinking

about that, what's going on in the Alexander Animal Kingdom??                                                                       

I'm so excited to be serving The Lord during this fantastic Christmas season!!

The Spirit is already so much stronger and I feel that The Lord is going to be there 

to help us as we are testifying to others. This morning I took my personal study to

prepare myself to share the Christmas message in such a way as to spark interest 

in the restoration of the gospel. I of course read the story from Luke chapter 2 and

was lead to other places in both the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Probably my favorite

thing I found and realized and think I might use a lot is in Alma 37:6-7. On a simple day

in Bethlehem a child was born, on a simple day in Palmyra a young boy prayed.

Two extremely simple acts that both led to incredible things. Because of those small and

simple means we can all obtain salvation! Amazing. I'm so excited for the Spirit of Christ

 to be let loose! 

Love, Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

Merry Christmas to everyone. Let's all remember what Christmas is truly about.

Just finishing up decorating the Tree for our Ward Christmas Party.

His path is so much easier than any other.

Nov 26, 2013
I'm still blown away by the fact that Jordan is home already.
Absolutely blown away. I'm glad Adam and Jen got to go! They're doing
so awesome. I'm really proud of them. Jen has some really awesome
questions about the Book of Mormon and I can tell she really wants
to understand.
As far as teaching goes.... J is still MIA. His house has been
dormant for a few weeks now. We have members keeping an eye on it for
us haha. As for C. She's super nice but super busy and either
really doesn't know her schedule or purposefully tells us to come by
every time she is working. Either way we haven't had the opportunity
to teach her lately.
This week, nearly everyday we helped Bro B build a shed. Bro B
is the most active less active member I've ever met. He is really
awesome, and has become probably our best friend in the area. The cool
thing is, and the reason we've gone over everyday, is that he has an
awesome relationship with his neighbors. Everybody loves him! So in
turn the more we hang out and help him the more people love us! And
now he is giving us ideas to become friends with his neighbors. It has
been awesome. He was supposed to come to church yesterday but he
bailed on us. But we'll get him soon! He has a really strong spiritual gift, 
he can find details in the scriptures that might slip by me. One is in
1 Nephi. In chapter 2 vs 16 Nephi describes himself as "extremely young" 
and then you go to chapter 4 vs 32 and he calls himself a man. Bro B
 had me study what made him a man. What I found is that for the first time Nephi
gained a testimony of the things his father had been teaching.
Immediately afterwards he was called on to fulfill a mission at the
Lord's cal. Through trial and tribulation Nephi became a man in a very
short time. It's really amazing to see what The Lord can do with his
servants. I know He is building us everyday in order to prepare us for
His "wise purposes".
I too am grateful for the gospel. I have recently come to understand a
lot more. It's incredible that as we build faith in Christ we
naturally repent. And God blesses us. His path is so much easier than
any other.
I love you!

Love, Elder Alexander
Sent from my iPad

There will be Mas Del Spiritu De JesuChristo en el mundo. ( More of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the world)

Nov 18, 2013

We had some pretty good experiences this week. By way of update we
weren't able to meet with C... She canceled but we did talk to her
and she is super nice. She went to a weekend long party on the res
though so she missed church... But we'll get her! Unfortunately the
barbecue had to get moved so we're thinking about doing it mid
December so we'll see! But we have a Ward Christmas party on the 6th
of December that we are inviting everyone to!

 The area is still about the same. I'm super lost at what to do. We've visited formers

 and referrals and all sorts of things. Nothing. So we're just visiting members now. 

We pick a small portion and get all the addresses and go see them, talking

 to anyone on the streets which unfortunately isn't enough. 

A pretty good experience that I had this week is that Elder
T and me had the opportunity to participate in setting a missionary

apart. His name is A and he is headed to Utacha, New York. He has

been helping us out a lot since we got in the area and we became
pretty good friends! I've sent out quite a few missionaries out here
so I think I have a small taste of what you went through haha. But it
was a strong Spirit that filled the room when we set him apart. It's
amazing to feel the Spirit while participating in different
ordinances, I feel as if it is unique in each one.

It was an incredible experience to be able to teach Jen. This technology thing is so incredible.

 The fact that she is prepared right now. She really wants to know and I know she will,

 but not comfortable with meeting with missionaries and I just happen to be sent to one 

of the first missions rolling this out. The Lord works in very incredible ways.

I also got to Skype Jen. What? So crazy. Jayce is HUGE. And he
disturbed the lessons a little bit but I can forgive him for that. And
Jen said he thinks I'm taking him to Disney Land for Christmas... Poor

guy haha. It was funny... The first thing she said was,"your hair is so long!" 

And it is... So long. I look like a fool but I finally found a member that 

will be fixing that for me today! Phew...

As for Transfer News.......I will be staying here with Elder T  

for another transfer. So Lehi will be my Christmas area!! Woo. I'm
pretty stoked. I'm just praying we see plenty of Christmas miracles,
we know that there will be Mas Del Spiritu De JesuChristo en el mundo.
(More of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in the world.) That's my version
of Spanish. But unfortunately Elder Ault will be leaving me :( I'm
pretty bummed but it will be good for him, he's going to be a District
Leader! And guess what! He is going to serve in my first area! Crazy
crazy. I am excited for him but I will sure miss unleashing Riverton on
these streets.

I'm restarting the Book of Mormon with Jen, we plan on being to 2
Nephi by the end of this week. It has been a really good study. I'm
going through with all of the missionary lessons in mind and marking
scriptures according to which lesson they apply to, it has taught me a
lot.

Well. Pray for the angels that are working with the people in our
area! I know that they're softening the hearts we just aren't looking
in the right places so we can use all the prayers we can get! 

I love you!

Love Elder Alexander
Sent from my iPad

Some chickens we encountered on a walk. Just doing chicken stuff.

The mission happy is a total different happy!

Nov 11, 2013

Well, I'll start off with a story. On Friday I was on an exchange with
our zone leader Elder Owens, It was a day like any other, we woke up did

 some kind of exercises, and had our study for the day.

 At 10 o'clock we went to go to the church to do some Facebook.

 As we walked outside we encountered a lady on a horse,
which isn't uncommon out here in Lehi. She asked us if we could
distract the stray dog that was following her so that it didn't go and
kill her neighbors chickens, we of course offered our help. But things
went bad quick. As we tried to keep the dog distracted as she trotted
down the road we were quickly outsmarted. This dog, which we found out
was from the Indian reservation, took advantage of a passing car and
sprinted to the other side of the road and after the horse. We
defeatedly watched as the dog made his way towards the horse but the
horse was on the same side of the road as us. In his attempts to reach
the horse in crossing the street the dog got hit by a truck.... And
then kept running!! But that's not all, mere seconds later a ferocious
German Shepherd comes out of nowhere and attacked. The dog was still
recovering from getting hit by a truck while simultaneously being
attacked by a German Shepherd but amazingly it escaped and dived into
the bushes. And that is the last that we saw of it. Mind you this all
happened in about 45 seconds, me and Elder Owens are still pretty
blown away by it but I think will get over it.

Other than that this week was pretty uneventful. It's still nearly 

 impossible to find people but we are striving! J--- has officially

disappeared... But we're still keeping hope that he'll show up again.
We should be meeting with C----- on Wednesday and hopefully get her to
church on Sunday. When I was on exchanges with Elder Owens we tried
this thing where we just rolled up to people on the bikes and said,
"Hey, do you want to go to a barbecue??" Their reactions were
priceless and they'd just laugh. And it worked! If you offer somebody
free food they'll listen. So we have some potentials that I'm going to
be calling this week for all the info on the barbecue. We're praying
for miracles with that!!

On Saturday the Lehi 1st Ward had a Round Up that we helped with. It
was basically a rodeo without animals haha. Just a bunch of country
folk with a rodeo arena haha. I loved it, the people here are so
awesome, they're willing to help us all the time they just have some
pretty stubborn neighbors! But we know there are angels preparing the
hearts everyday!

They also asked us to talk in Sacrament meeting Saturday night so we

 talked about the Word of Wisdom. I talked about how the

Commandments are here to help us fly. I used the analogy of the kite
flying in the air. If you didn't know how a kite worked you would
think that the boy was holding the kite back but you come to find out

that without that rope grounding it the kite would fall. I know that

the Word of Wisdom protects us, the Spirit will give us ultimate peace
and happiness. I love in John 14:27 how The Lord tells us that His
peace is so much greater than the peace the things of the world bring

and I know that is what helps us fly!

I know what you mean, the mission happy is a total different happy. 

At times I look back at certain situations and try to figure out why I was so happy haha.

But it really is incredible.

Transfer news is this week, crazy how fast this went by. By the way
we've already been invited to about 12 places for Thanksgiving dinner
haha, totally covered. We've been invited to Thanksgiving breakfast,
Thanksgiving lunch, and Thanksgiving dinner. I love you all!

Love, Elder Alexander
Sent from my iPad

It's such an incredible experience when you feel Heavenly Father work through you.

Nov 4, 2013
Hallo,

Another week another dollar. First lets talk about the work. Remember the days of Apache Junction? Where we were teaching all the time? People were popping up all over the place? Well, this week was on the opposite side of the scale. We were trying so hard, meeting with members, contacting referrals, doing everything we thought we should. We talked to J but he wasn't able to meet with us at all. We're going back on Friday, he's still interested but he's just busy. But we won't give in!!! Hoorah! We discovered on Saturday that our area has APARTMENTS. And I love apartments. Yesterday evening after dinner and a short meeting with the ward missionaries we headed over there on foot. At first we were contacting former investigators. And well... no one answered. Well one lady did but she couldn't hear us very well and ended up saying that she didn't like missionaries and closing the door... Next we met a man walking his dog. Here's roughly how it went:

Us: How are you doing tonight?

Man: Good.

Us: What's your dogs name?

Man: I don't know I just stole it.

Us: Why'd you do that?

Man: It was just sitting there.

Us: Ok... (Still not sure if he was kidding or not.) What's your name.

Man: "Harold." Why would I tell you my real name, I'm a thief.

The conversation continued basically the same. He offered to sell us pot, we declined. All of what he spoke was so crazy that it might just be true. Either way I was able to give him a Book of Mormon. He's not interested but he took it so hopefully someday something comes form it!

This week was by far the hardest week of my mission as far as teaching goes. When it came to Sunday night guess how many lessons we had taught to non members? A big ol whopping 0. Yep... Absolutely none. And I was so discouraged. It was 8 and we tried one last house before we started walking home (we decided to walk because our area is so small.) Anyways we went to contact a referral in the apartments at that point. His name is M and the Spanish Elders sent us his way. When we stopped by the door was open so we awkwardly walked up... M wasn't there. But C was! C is a nice lady that grew up on the Indian Reservation. She's an Apache Indian. She invited us in and we were able to teach her about the Restoration of the gospel. She took a Book of Mormon, said the closing prayer, and accepted a return appointment. MIRACLES!! Fasting pays off. Cha ching. It was amazing. Thank you for your prayers and fasting! The area isn't exploding yet but it will get there. 

Halloween was fun. Breaking news, guess what happened.... They gave us iPads..... Everyone in our mission now has their own iPad min. It's crazy!!! Basically the church is developing a program for us to use. We're transferring all of the information from our Area Books onto our iPads. That way when a missionary goes to a new area all you do is download the Area Book and it's all there. But here's the catch. We have to go back about 10 years and enter absolutely EVERYTHING that has been recorded in our area. It's going to take forever. But the Lord truly is hastening his work. We go down to the church everyday and get on our iPads. We're on facebook... It's crazy. The transition is discouraging but once this gets rolling it'll be amazing. We just got an email from the assistants as I wrote this very email and we can use our iPads to email... This is so weird haha. But hey, I know it's inspired. We have all the conference talks from here to Timbuktu on there. All the Ensigns, it's incredible. Pray for me, I don't know what I'm doing!!!

As for District Leader responsibilities I went on an exchange with Elder Bennett (Elder Ault's companion) this week and it was real good. He's the youngest missionary in the mission. He just turned 18 in July but he's a good kid. Him and Elder Ault are the exact same haha. Exchanges are fun.

The family sounds like it's booming!!! Holy wow. Tell all of them congratulations! Elyse and Dal better get goin...

I had the opportunity to confer the Priesthood on Nathan yesterday. It was so sweet, it's such an incredible experience when you feel Heavenly Father work through you. He truly recognizes our righteous desires and He wants to bless us. The power of the priesthood is real and it is on the earth!

Well Family I love you. I had the chance to bear testimony this week in both of our wards and it was great. I love this gospel and the Atonement. I love how simply the Spirit works and the subtle promptings it gives us. I know that the Spirit is going across the land and preparing people. Hearts are being changed. When we open our mouths to spread the gospel we are assisted by angelic messengers. They lift us up, they carry our testimonies.

Love, Elder Alexander

This is me at the ward Halloween Party. The suit I am wearing, Goodwill special. Notice my undignified tie that I got at 360 Thrift for 50 cents. Perfect for Halloween. Notice the man standing next to me. That is Billy, he is a convert. Last of all notice the iPad in my left hand.   Happy Halloween!

God knows what we need, even when we expect something different.

Oct 28, 2013
Another week passed us by. And this one was tough.. The new area is proving more challenging than expected. Sometimes I think we have too many members haha. But I know that's not the case, I'm really grateful for them all. We were able to teach J again this week and it went pretty well. The Elder's Quorum President came with us and we taught the whole message of the Restoration. He told us he's a man of science... But that's ok!! As long as he learns to overcome the natural man and yield to the enticing of the Spirit. He did say that if he gets an answer from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true that he will get baptized so I'm praying for him!!

We have another couple that we're teaching. D and S. They've been investigating for years... But S is about to pass from this mortal life. She has cancer and she isn't doing good at all. Her husband D is not at peace with that at all, he's never really been interested in joining the church but I feel like this experience is changing him. It's going to take time and I think he might be bitter towards God for quite some time but we continue to invite the Spirit into their home the best we can.

Elder Tueller is doing fantastic. I went on my exchange with Elder Ault this week and it was a hoot. He taught me a lot too. We were able to teach a few lessons to some Recent Converts and the Spirit was really strong, he's a great missionary. It was also fun to tell people that we went to high school together haha, they got a kick out of that. 

Not a lot happened this week... It was a pretty tough one just because it's really testing my patience. To go from teaching 4 or 5 lessons a day to less than that for the whole week has hit my ego pretty hard. But when I realize that it's not my work but His my spirits are raised. As long as I'm doing absolutely everything I can He will make up the rest. I'm so excited for fast Sunday!!! Fasting has always been hard for me. But I feel like that's what it's supposed to be. When we obtain a blessing from Our Father it requires something of our soul, it requires sacrifice. Quite honestly this area has been a total answer to my prayers. Out in AJ there were times that I felt I was too focused on the numbers, that I was losing focus on the people. But out here there aren't as many numbers to focus on haha. But I'm grateful for it. God knows what we need, even when we expect something different.
Facebook is going pretty good. Sometimes I get a little lost haha but I feel like it is definitely inspired. The work is moving forward leaps and bounds and I know that the Lord is behind it.

I know that this church is true. The strength it gives me is incredible, and I'm grateful for it.I love the Book of Mormon, I plan on finishing it this week. It's so true. The Book of Ether amazes me. It is spitting image of what is happening. And it's amazing to see that the Nephites had that record but we still see their fate. It's so true that people have a hard time learning. But God is so merciful. He never gives up. 

Oooo, I know Christmas is forever away. (Not really. Is it really almost November??) But I have a request. Before Christmas Eve I need you to send me Mr. Kruger's Christmas. Please and Thank you. :)

I love you!! 

Love, Elder Alexander

We have the road map to success, we just need to start walking!

Oct 21, 2013
Howdy,

Well. Another week come and gone, and it was pretty great. I'm loving the new area and the different opportunities and opportunities it has already brought me. I'll have you know that we had our first housing inspection this week and we passed so I believe that I am cleaning up quite nicely. You raised me well! It's kind of like with training... Something I have learned and that President taught us is that a lot of the time we won't immediately see the fruit of our labors in training (or raising children). For example Elder Bartlett is doing awesome. He learned things that I didn't even know I was teaching and it took my absence for him to apply them. So rest assured my dear mother :)

Well Bill and Nathan were baptized. It was awesome. The mission has a new kick with doing the PMG layout for the baptism, which doesn't include the welcome to the ward by the mission. We applied it, and it worked!! It was incredible. The Spirit was so strong. Did I tell you what happened to Bill? Well, Bill met Trish. Trish was a member and introduced him to the church. They were super in love and got married. 10 days later Trish suddenly passed away. He bore his testimony of the Plan of Salvation at the baptism and it was super powerful. My good friend Nathan was really shy so he just got up and told everybody he's reading the Book of Mormon. Haha he's great.

We saw another miracle this week, and it really proved to me the power of our wards. Our wards are so powerful and well knitted together, I love them a lot. The members have already strengthened my testimony of the gospel! There is a new family that moved in. These people really keep track of the neighborhood, which is pretty easy with the amount of members in such a small area. Anyways last Thursday we went and introduced ourselves to Julius and Mel with Bishop. They were very friendly. We went back this past Wednesday and Julius was very welcoming and asked us to come back Friday. We did. When we went back he was trimming some trees so we taught the first lesson over some yard work, he accepted the Book of Mormon. BUT it ends up our Bishop owns a tree trimming business. SO our Ward Mission Leader (who was with us for the lesson) asked him if we could bring the young men by sometime and help him clean up the yard. (The yard's pretty big.) Julius agreed to eat. The next morning just around a fourth of the ward was going to work on Julius' yard. IT WAS AMAZING!! And I could really tell that Julius felt the Spirit, it was a great example of service for me. 

But it doesn't stop there!! Julius and Mel came to church yesterday!!! The ward has been incredible, it's awesome because this is the first solid investigator this ward has had for some time. They've rallied and it's made our job so much easier. We're going over to see Julius tomorrow so keep him in your prayers! 

I am so excited for the opportunity to communicate with Jen and many others over facebook. It was a huge blessing to hear her testimony of God is already growing and bubbling inside of her. It's such a good experience! It truly shows how the Lord is Hastening His Work and He has given us everything on this Earth to fulfill His purposes!  To answer your question about facebook, I do the same thing on there that I do the rest of the time. Invite everyone to come unto Christ. But now my reach is a little bit longer. I still have all the friends from back home but I don't just catch up with them. I continue to focus on my assigned area but now I can reach out to everyone I know. Keep contact with Recent Converts and everything, it's pretty great! As long is it's fulfilling my purpose I can do it.

I talked about you my parents in my gospel principles class yesterday. We were talking about parents and their role. I talked about the balance that you have and the unified method of raising me. Thank you!! I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up <3

I love you so much!! I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and the simplicity it brings to our lives. There is a lot going on but we have the road map to success. The path back to Our Father in Heaven is right before us, we just need to start walking!! I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God as is Thomas S. Monson. Most importantly I know that Christ is Our Savior. He loves us and cares about us. Our righteous desires matter to Him. 

Con Amor,

Elder Alexander