Elder Nelson had it right when he said this is the perfect place for missionary work!

Oct 13, 2014
Hello!
So much happened his week... Let me try to organize my thoughts!
J----- and G----- are still doing great. We got to go to the
Visitor's Center with them on Saturday and taught them about getting to 
the temple. We explained to them about how after their baptism they need
to set a goal to go to the temple and be sealed a year after. It is
very important to expand people's vision past the baptism, if you
don't progression ceases and converts aren't sure what to work
towards. I promised I would come back next year for the sealing. :)

We had another miracle. The M----- family has still been struggling
and we were set to meet with them on Tuesday night. Just before they
texted us and asked us to meet them at the Visitor's Center. When we
got there we watched a video by Elder Bednar. We thought it was about
the Atonement so we did a big ol lead in about the Atonement and
started it. To our surprise it was all about the Restoration of the
Priesthood.... We were able to tie it in well though and it ended up
leading into a discussion about the Gift of the Holy Ghost. So the
daughters name is O----- and she has wanted to get baptized the whole
time. G-----, the mother, has been a hold up because she just won't
come to work. As we talked we bore testimony that the Gift of the Holy
Ghost will help O----- overcome her emotional problems and receive
peace. Because we have seen that as we talk and the Spirit is there
she is calm and collected but as soon as we close it starts up again.
As we talked we talked about setting a date and we decided to find a
room to pray. We knelt down with them and they held hands and O-----
prayed. She prayed for help in her situation and help preparing for
baptism and closed. Then G---- said, "Do you have something else to
ask? I mean while He's here, because I feel Him here." O----- prayed
again and her prayer was this simple, "Heavenly Father, what day
should we get baptized? In the name of Jesus Christ, amen." We got up
and talked and O----- said October 26th kept coming to mind. They are
now preparing to get baptized on the 25th and confirmed on the 26th.
It's amazing! O----- is in the hospital now and will be for a few days
but G----- came to church yesterday! Miracles happen.

We are going to the Phoenix Temple Open House on Wednesday! The
M----- family is coming, J----- and G----- are coming, M---- and
N-----, and some Recent Converts, D--- and C-----. We are so blessed!
Elder Nelson had it right when he said this is the perfect place for
missionary work!

Well, this email isn't the greatest but I hope you have a good week!
We get transfer news on Saturday and I hope I'm blessed with another
transfer in the 18th ward. I love love love you!

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

Me and Elder Sweeten have the exact same suit and matching ties. This
is our Zone Training Meeting outfit. :)

The Atonement can help us today in a very real way.

Oct 6, 2014
Hello!
That's awesome that you are all going to watch Meet the Mormons,
President Jenkins already saw it and he definitely suggests it! We are
going to see it on the 15th, we have a Family History training at the
Family History Library and then they're going to show it right after.
I'm pretty excited. :)

The wedding is coming along great! And so are J----- and G------,
they are seriously so awesome. The have a dress, a rig, J------ has an
outfit, the building is scheduled, we have flowers and decorations,
Bishop will be there, and we found a member who is going to take a
swing at making a wedding cake. :) We taught J---- and G------
about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity Wednesday afternoon with
Brother Owens and it went really well. They are so accepting and
really get it. We also watched Conference with them on Sunday, both
sessions, with the McKays. They loved it!

This week was full of cancellations... I have found on my mission that
those come quite often. A member, Brother Cooper, helped me understand
more fully why that happens last night when we were visiting him. We
told him about a particularly tough day, Wednesday. We have roughly
eight set appointments and seven of them canceled that day. We got
home, planned, and went straight to bed. He told us that on his
mission he realized those days happened often too. He said he
eventually realized that those happened and when they did it was
completely out of his control (that darn agency thing). And that made
him realize that when a day went really well it still was out of his
control and was simply the power of God. I really loved that! And it
is super true. (Speaking of cancellations both of our set appointments
just cancelled tonight... Good thing we have back ups!)

We have had the opportunity to help he M------ family out this week
quite a bit. Their daughter has been having some real struggles with
anxiety and depression. She has little spurts of thoughts due to her
anxiety that cause her to almost harm herself. Her family has to
restrain her until she calms down and the thoughts leave. We were able
to go on Friday and Saturday and give her a blessing with members and
then teach them on Sunday night. I had a really comforting feeling the
first night we gave her a blessing and they told me her full name.
God knows her, He is aware of her and loves her. We were able to tell
her that last night and even though the thoughts would come and she
would try to resist in the end the member gave her a calendar of Jesus
and we committed her to look at the Savior and let him chase those
thoughts away. The Atonement is real, Christ suffered for more than
just our sins. In Alma 7 it talks about Him taking upon Himself our
infirmities and I know that is true. The Atonement can help us today
in a very real way.

I loved Conference! I especially loved Elder Uchtdorf's Priesthood
Session talk because self evaluation is something I have always
struggled with. I also loved Elder Bednar's, it was awesome! His story
of the boys and the ointment and bandages leading them to naturally
share what had blessed them is exactly what we have been emphasizing
in our ward! The more we realize what the Atonement can do and has
done for us the more we will desire to help others feel it also. I
also loved how he apologized for us being awkward, abrupt, and
relentless. :) Missionary in a nutshell!

Guess who we saw this morning! A----- and L-----!!! :) We were going to
get the van washed and we got to Country Club Rd, which is the
boundary of our mission, and I almost crossed it on accident but in a
last effort I turned sharply into some church that was feeding the
homeless. Everyone was confused why I turned in but then we looked
over and A---- and L----- were driving by! We were able to pull over
and talk to them. He is working for one of my previous Bishop's, Bishop
King, down in Lehi. They looked so happy and this morning I was
actually thinking about them! :)

Well I love you and I send my prayers out to the Binford's. Let them
know I love them. I love you all.

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

The Holy Ghost changes our heart

Sept 29, 2014
Hello :)

We went and hiked up to Flat Iron this morning, that's the one that me and Elder B-----  did this time last year, and I'm pretty sore already haha. We woke up at 4:30 and made our final preparations before we took off. It was perfect weather and it rained the last couple of days so there was some water up there, a nice little runoff waterfall. The view is always pretty good up there, we started driving home around 12:30. We kind of decided on it pretty spontaneously last night but I'm glad we did it! :)

So you're probably wondering about the whole "Wedding Plans" thing... And the bulk of my email this week is going to deal with that. But not in regards to myself... It is in regards to our good friends J---- and ------! They are incredible and this was miracle week for them.

On Wednesday we went with Brother B------ to teach them the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. We took a sketch pad and drew it out for them, they had a lot of questions and accepted the truths we taught then very easily. We committed them to start from the beginning of the Book of Mormon and they were excited because we always leave them chapters to read but they finish them soon after we leave and aren't sure what to read. 

On Wednesday I was on an exchange with Elder G-----, who is a new missionary and I actually day trained him his first night in the mission, and I textd  G----- to see if she had been able to read. She told me that she was just about to read and had an experience the night before but wanted me to check her facebook because she posted it on their. We were able to swing by the church for a few minutes that night and saw her post. She talked all about how the night we taught her the Plan of Salvation her eyes were opened to her Heavenly Father. Her and J----- stayed up til 4 in the morning watching movies about God and she realized the magnitude of he Plan of Salvation and couldn't stop crying. She also mentioned that she felt a huge burden taken off of her shoulders and that she felt like she had been forgiven of her sins. It was pretty incredible. While I was at the temple on Thursday I got a very distinct impression that we needed to focus on the Holy Ghost when we met with them on Saturday. So we planned on teaching more about the Holy Ghost. Who it is, how it operates, how we receive it, how it feels, etc. Because we knew they had felt it and we wanted them to: 1. Understand that is what they were feeling. 2. Desire with urgency the gift of the Holy Ghost.

We saw on Facebook that they were planning on getting married in January so we were a little worried about that. A lot can happen in three months and the reception of the Holy Ghost is something I have learned can't be put off. It makes ALL the difference for those that are initially receiving the restored gospel. So going into the lesson Saturday I was praying very hard to know how to help them understand and feel that urgency. And the Spirit did the job! We had a great lesson, Brother G----- is a member of our ward and he came with as well as G------'s friend A-----. She is preparing to serve a mission! The lesson went well and they accepted it very well. They told us they knew the Book of Mormon is true and that they wanted to be baptized. When we asked when they felt they could get married and baptized they responded with... October! They are getting married on the 23rd and baptized on the 25th. The Holy Ghost changes our hearts.

So with this unfolding me and Elder S------ have become wedding planners. And I'll tell you what, we are pretty darn good at it. Through word of mouth and the wonderful 18th Ward members we found her a wedding dress in less than 48 hours, totally free!!! She is going to get it tailored by a sister in the ward but it is a nice dress. Now we have flowers, pictures, J-----'s suit, and everything else that comes with weddings! If you have any advice we would sure appreciate it haha.

We have been staying really busy which is super nice. A--- and K---- left on Friday, they ended up moving out to Cali instead of Utah though... I am praying for them, they don't have a super solid plan moving out there but I hope it is what is best for them. They need the gospel that is for sure.

Well I best be off.  I got my package and I loved it. It is already all gone haha. Thank you for your love! I love you lots. Tell Jordan I say hello!

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

Elder Nelson came to town. I will just say that he carries an incredible Spirit.

Sept 22, 2014
Haha I'm taking better care of myself this week. Actually that's not
true... I got sick on Friday. I had terrible stomach problems and I
didn't sleep very well. Elder B----- was sick too though, so we
stayed in while Elder W---- and Elder S---- went out. I was out of
it most of the day but by Saturday morning I was good to go! :) The
thumb and my leg are healing up rather nicely, I shall include some
photos if I remember haha.

As for K--- and A-----l they are yet to move but they will be moving
this week. At least that is their hopes. A---- got this gross abscess
on his wrist and had to go to this hospital to get it drained and
she's been sick and the sky has been falling, it has just been nuts!
But we have been helping them and visiting them often.

I got to go on an exchange with Elder W---- and Elder B---- on
Wednesday, it was great! Back with my good ol boy and my new found
friend. We had a lesson with J----- and G----- that day and I had a
member joining us, so to avoid overcrowding them in their apartment I
gave Elder ----- and Elder W----- a list of people to contact in
the apartments and set them loose while I went with N----, a young
man preparing to go on a mission to teach J----- and G------. But
here's the thing... I promised Elder B----- and Elder W----- that Iwould buy them Jamba Juice if they found us someone to teach and they
totally did! J---- and O-----, we haven't met with them yet but wewill this week! Miracles happen.

Me and Elder S----- went to each of the District Meetings this week
and it was really fun. We trained on some of the things that we
learned from Elders R----- and S-----. We started by talking about
"Islands", we were asked this question by Elder R-----. "If you were
in the middle of the ocean in a boat and you can see nothing but
ocean, how motivated would you be to row? Now imagine you see an
island, are you going to let anything stop you from getting there?" We
need islands!! Things that drive us and we established those as
individuals in our Zone this week. The things that we keep rowing
towards even when every door is slammed in our face, it was awesome!
We also talked about a list of excuses people will use to escape
responsibility because we know that 100% agency comes with 100%
responsibility but everyone loves to avoid the second part. The
consequences. We made a list of things people do to avoid
responsibility and made another list representing the Sons of Mosiah
to overcome that list. It was fun fun fun.

We started teaching a young man's friend in our ward. His name is
P-----, he goes to Mountain View... A very Mormon school. Actually
it's where Max Hall went to High School. So he knows tons of members
but has never learned about it. He has a very "not interested in
converting" attitude but he wants to learn, great kid. We are teaching
him again this week with his friend M------, who is the member in our
ward. :)

J---- and G----- are doing great. We went to the VC on Saturday
and watched JSPR, it was great!  They are such good people. We are
friends with them on facebook now and her cover photo is them by the
temple!! They came to church on Sunday and loved it and they actually
asked if they can visit members of the ward with us haha, we may just
do it! I love them so much, they are changing and they know that it
will bless their lives. And it will!!! :)

Last but absolutely not least... Elder Nelson came to town on
Saturday! He shook all of our hands, and I will just say that he
carries an incredible Spirit. Looking into his eyes was the most

intimidating/inspiring/encouraging/every other emotion ever. This is the
restored church of Jesus Christ. Russell M. Nelson is an Apostle of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the spunkiest 90 year old I've ever seen!
I love him and I love you.

Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

The Scottsdale mission was there, here's the MTC District
            minus Elder Ault! Elder K------'s family moved to INDIA! Haha pretty crazy.

My thumb :(

This week was a little harmful.... I got hurt a lot.

Sept 15, 2014
Yes... The team was split up but we have something good goin on with
me and Elder S------ ! Elder Ault headed to the Mesa Central Stake
which is seriously across the street from the18th Ward! Me and Elder
S------ have been doing really good, we live in the same place
actually no moving yet. I'm glad to hear that Adam made it back from
New Orleans with my gator jerky!! I could use another paisley tie and
dried mangoes. :) haha you know I could always use those. As for the
violin that was a members violin, the M----, they let me borrow it
and my roommate Elder W----- taught me some "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
haha.

This week was a little harmful... I got hurt a lot. Luckily I didn't
have to go to the hospital. On Friday... I cut my thumb open. The
story is really embarrassing. Ya know how when you put permanent
marker on a whiteboard the only way to get it off is an Expo marker?
Well... We were getting permanent marker off of a whiteboard and the
Expo marker dried up so I... Kind of... Started sawing it with a
pocket knife and sliced my thumb open. I cut the nail right in half
and sliced it pretty good. I didn't know I cut my thumb so bad so I
started shaking it and I got blood all over myself, Elder S-------, and
the wall. It's healing up pretty good though. On Saturday as I was
recovering we helped a member in the Ward move a bunch gravel. We
would put it in a wheel barrow and wheel it past the pool and... I
fell in. I was walking backwards with the wheel barrow and I stepped
back and I was all of a sudden in the water. On a step though so It
only went up to my waist. I didn't realize I hit my shin but as I kept
working it swelled up to the size of my knee... It didn't hurt so bad
at first but later it got me. I couldn't really walk later that
afternoon, but I got a handle on it. Now it's just really bruised and
it's a little hard to walk. It's ok though, I'm fine. :)

I'm sure you heard of the flooding and we have had the opportunity to
go down and serve in the parts of the city that got hit really bad. On
Wednesday after transfer meeting we went down and helped people pull
stuff out of their garages and just throw it away. It's really sad...
People just have to pull out carpet and all sorts of things.
Apparently not many people have flood insurance so they are just going
to have to get rid of their homes. On Saturday the whole mission went
down, over 200 missionaries, went down to help. It was an awesome
experience. We helped a guy rip out a shed that got destroyed. I'm
grateful for the opportunity we had to serve and I guess another storm
is coming so keep AZ in your prayers!

K---- and A---- are doing awesome. They should be moving this weekend,
we are going to miss them a lot. They have had us over nearly every
night since Elder S----- got here. They prayed as a couple! It took a
lot of follow up, for a few nights, but it happened! And they came to
church! We also had them to a baptism on Saturday. I love em! :)

Things are great. I'm loving my mission. G-----, one of the new
people we found that requested the Book of Mormon, asked us a really
good question last night. She was really worried about being judged at
church because a "former member" told her they don't let people with
tattoos into the temple. I was able to tell her of my parents who are
the greatest example to me of nonjudgmental, unconditional love. Love
the sinner but hate the sin. I'm grateful for your example Mom and
Dad, I love you so much! This church is true and obedience will bring
blessings!

Love, Elder Alexander


Sent from my iPad

My injuries

A few days after

Transfers , I'm really excited I get to stay in the 18th ward.

Sept 8, 2014
 Remind Adam to get me some more
gator jerky when he is in New Orleans!

The video is done, I haven't been able to share it on Facebook yet but
will do that either today or tomorrow. The Ward thinks it's great! To
answer your question about the violin.... I learned a tune but I
wouldn't say I'm learning to play the violin! At least not very well
haha.

In other news we got our transfer news... Elder Ault is leaving me.
They have decided to split up the dream team, the Ward is pretty sad
to see us get split up. So he will be leaving on Wednesday and Elder
S------ is going to come be my companion! I'm staying in the 18th Ward
and the Toro Zone. Me and Elder S ------ are still Zone Leader
companions as well. I'm really excited I get to stay in the 18th Ward,
things are really starting to pick up! I'm also excited to be with
Elder S------, I think we will do really well together. And guess what
else, I'm going to live in the same apartment as Elder B----- ! Haha,
that should be fun.

The Ward is doing great. We were able to go by with Bishop and give
the M------ family blessings because they haven't been feeling very
well. Bishop came with his, he is a really good man. I'm grateful I
get to serve beside men like him out here, they teach me a lot. K-----
& A----l are doing well too, they actually may be moving back up to Utah
so keep your eye out for them! We had a really old lesson with them on
Friday. They were hungry so we brought them Little Caesars and watched
JSPR. They had tons of questions but you can tell A---- believes it. He
knew most of the story if Joseph Smith but wasn't aware of how he was
killed, he got really upset when he found out how it happened. He told
us afterwards that he wants to be a member of the church, we are so
excited! They're bummed Elder Ault is leaving because they said they
have met with missionaries before but didn't feel as comfortable as
they do with us so they never progressed. Elder S------ can get along
with anyone though so we should be good.

We also found a new couple! They actually requested a Book of Mormon
and we get a text from the referral manager telling us to stop by.
Their names are J----- and G-------, they moved into the apartments
in the area about a month ago and have been looking for a church. We
met them Tuesday and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and went
back Wednesday to give him his. Then on Saturday we brought them an
extra couch from our apartment because they didn't have one and we had
too many. And on Tuesday they are meeting with Bishop. When we went by
on Tuesday J----- asked how he would go about getting baptized in our
church... That's my favorite question haha. They will progress, we
just pray they don't move on us. Those apartments are pretty
transient, but we will see. God has a plan!

I hope all continues to go well, I love you so much! It's raining
pretty hard today but I'm safe. <3

Love, Elder Alexander

Sent from my iPad

We are so blessed in this mission....

Sept 1, 2014
Hello, hello.
I knew I would scare you pretty good! Sorry I forget to tell you about
the change! Another week gone by, this week was interesting and went
by both fast and slow due to our weird P Day on Tuesday and the amount
of mission meetings we have had. We were able to have success with the
people we are teaching but we are still on the the lookout for some new
prospects, and hopefully we have some leads that will come about soon!
I've seen it time and time again on my mission, there are people out
there that are prepared. We just need to find them.

Tuesday was a good day. We went to Goodwill and I saw some nice Aldo
shoes for cheap and I planned on buying them. As we were walking
through the store there was a lady with a big telescope in her cart
and Elder Ault helped her catch it and rearrange it in her cart as it
almost fell. We watched out and saw when she was about to check out
and went up to help her take it to her car. As we approached she asked
us if we would take her telescope to her car if she bought my
shoes... We tried to explain that we would love to help her and
that's why we came up to check out but she insisted and payed for
them. I ended up trading Elder Ault for some other Aldo's that are
dark brown. People are nice in Mesa.

Tuesday night we had a lesson with the M---- family. I don't know
if I have told you about them. There are three people we are teaching
from the family. G--- (the mom), J----- (the daughter that claims
she is not interested at all but comes to every lesson), and O-----
(the daughter that would get baptized tomorrow if her mom would get
over her fears and come to church). The father's name is B----- and he
was born a member of the church, they also have a son named B---- that
is 17 and he actually got baptized in December. A lot of missionaries
have tried with the M------- family but it hasn't clicked yet, they
know it's true they just can't or won't come to church. B----, the
father, is completely inactive and speaks very little english. When we
got to the area the Spanish Sisters were teaching them but there was
no progression so we thought we would try it with the stronger
fellowship from our Ward. They get distracted very easily so we always
do object lessons to keep them engaged. On Tuesday we did a lesson
with 12 nails and a nail stuck into the lid of a Gatorade bottle, we
always start with a challenge and it was to stack all 12 nails on the
top of that one nail and balance it there... There is a way. What we
taught with it was the organization of Christ's church. How He is the
cornerstone (Gatorade bottle) and the organization of prophets (the
single nail) and apostles (12 nails) is established upon him. It's a
great way to teach the restoration. There were tears shed by G----- as
we talked to her about whether or not she believes that Joseph Smith
saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and that this is the true church.
She knows it is and she wants to be baptized but she just has anxiety
like you wouldn't believe. When Sunday comes she always talks herself
out of going to church. Keep her in your prayers, she is ready, she
just needs some help.

We also took K---- & A---- to employment night at the church on
Tuesday. They really enjoyed it and A----- got some good leads. It was
funny because as the guy in charge was talking to A---- to get him all
set up he asked him if he was a member and he turned and looked at us
like, "Am I?" Haha, we just shook our heads no and that's what he told
the guy. We also went and saw them on Tuesday and had a really good
chat. We have been observing a lot when we are with them but this time
we talked a lot about how he was raised in New York. He was in foster
care a lot but he always went to the Catholic Church. He said he loved
it because it was the only stable thing in his life, church on Sunday.
He really is a good guy. They asked us to feed their cat while they
are out of town (up in Utah) so we have been stopping by for a few
minutes everyday to feed it and play with it for a minute. When we
went by yesterday we barged in the door and there was a random guy on
the couch haha. Ends up he is their knew roommate but we were pretty
confused for a bit.

On Wednesday we went to the Visitor's Center and got some training
from the Sisters on how to better utilize the resources there. We are
so blessed in this mission... Tons of members, a temple, a Visitor's
Center, and much more. Sometimes we complain about our small areas but
then we get over it.

As part of the Ward Council Process we met with a sister in the Ward
named R----. She is super nice and the High Priest Group wants us to
focus on her because she is lonely. We were able to share the first
lesson with her and our Ward mission leader Brother B----- came with
us. At the end we all talked about our experiences that led us to know
the Boom of Mormon was true. The Spirit was very strong.

The Priest's have started church ball so we stopped by their game on
Wednesday. There is a young man that is not a member named N---- that
came and will be there every week. We were able to meet him and we are
going to go back to the games and share a brief message before they
start, I'm excited!

On Friday and Saturday we helped M---- and K----- move... Sad day. But
they are going to be well taken care of out in Cali. On Friday it was
just me and Elder Ault moving and we did it at 3 in the afternoon....
Which is the hottest part of the day down there. We pushed through but
afterwards we had to lay down for a bit because we were pretty
dehydrated... We are ok now. M----- was really nice and gave us a
really big thank you. He told us if we ever need a recommendation or
someone to back up that we are good missionaries he would do it haha.
I'm grateful that I got to play a part in their story.

We had a really good experience on Saturday. Our Elders Quorum
President, Brother M----, asked us to go with him to help a part
member family. Their names are P---- and P---- and she is the member,
she really wants him to join the church! He has met with the
missionaries before, knows it all and he is really nice. He even came
to church yesterday and told us he was repaying the favor haha. We
told him we would come by every week if it got him there! They might
have us over for some ribs this afternoon, hopefully things pan out
with them.

Well, I hope all is well back in good ol Riverton. The church is true
and God knows us, the Book of Mormon is true and God will tell anyone
who honestly seeks after it, Jesus Christ is the Son of God and He
died for each one of us. I know it! Loves.

Elder Alexander

                                          This is a sneak peak at our upcoming missionary video!

This is our little friend.