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| My birthday muffin made by my awesome companions |
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| My bed overflowing with birthday loot. (Note from Elder Alley's mom: Yeah, I may have gone overboard with the birthday stuff...as he mentions in his email...but those packages are as much for me as they are for him. lol) |
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| Me & Elder Walker are practically birthday twins. Just one day difference. |
To explain this picture, basically Elder Gee decided it would be funny if he came over on March 4th with a present for me to make me think he knew about my b-day. So he is all "It's a very special time of the month you know that right, Elder Alley?" and I am all excited and like, "Yeah today is a special day!" And so I open the package and it's full of St. Patrick's day gear and he's all, "Happy Almost St. Patrick's Day!!!!" and starts jumping around and going all crazy 'n stuff and it was hilarious. So basically this gag has started where when it's someone's birthday we are all going to get him stuff and make him think that we got him presents for his b-day, when in reality we will just be celebrating whatever the next closest holiday is and not even mention his birthday. lolz
So the next day was Elder Walker's birthday, right? So obviously we celebrated.... Leif Erickson Day!!!!! hahahahha Hence Elder Walker's viking gear and all that. Anyways, this gag will continue between me and Elder Gee long into the mission and probably after too.
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| On midnight of the 4th (so right at the transitions for our birthdays) me and Walker were planning on getting up for 30 seconds to snap a twin birthday selfie and then go back to bed. So what happened is that I got up, went to get Walker up, but he wouldn't wake up. So I asked him while he was sleeping if I could put a party hat on him and he grumbled back a "Mmmhm" and so I did and then I took this pic and then I went back to bed. Priceless. (And he didn't even know I'd taken it until I emailed it to him on P-day. haha) |
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| At Zone Conference |
March 9, 2015
So as the title suggests the big news this week is that today I will be finally getting my own companion and that the infamous trio will be spitting up:/ I am a little bummed because, to be perfectly honest, these past weeks in the trio have been my favorite ones of the mission so far. We laughed, and worked, and felt the Spirit, and it was a lot of fun and I have made life long friends out of Elder Aldrich and especially Elder Walker. Who knows, I might even get to be companions with one of them in the future again!
But, the news is not all bad because the guy who will be my new companion is Elder Sefcik! He was probably one of my closest friends back when I was in Flamingo. He is going to come over here to Bonanza to be with me and I think we are going to have a splendid time together! Genuinely, our apartment is going to be filled with all the missionaries I like the most that I've met so far! Transfers are in two weeks so that might change soon, but for us I think that they would for sure keep Sefcik and I together for the next transfer so that he has more than just two weeks to learn the area, but again, with transfers... you never know. All we do know, is that for the next two weeks it'll be Sefcik and I together again, only this time as official companions.
The only other big thing I wanted to write home about this week was this.
READ THE BOOK OF MORMON!!!!!!
Seriously, there are so many things that have shown me why this is so important. For me personally, one of the major differences between how I was living my life before my mission and now, is that before I wasn't reading from the Book of Mormon consistently, but now I read from it daily and the difference is HUGE! With my investigators: Mireya, to this date, is the only person I have ever taught that actually kept her commitments and was reading the Book of Mormon consistently as we taught her, and now she is a strong recent convert in the church. I have seen the difference it makes. It's the same with the people in the wards that I have worked in, too. The members who I met who I knew were reading from the Book of Mormon daily were always more active and always magnified their callings more than any other member of the ward and that is because as we read the book we receive revelation for our families and for our callings!
And the other point about all this is that book is literally the make or break of our religion.
Every claim we make as a church from being the only church to hold the priesthood authority of God, to saying Joseph Smith was a called prophet of God, to saying that we literally have Jesus Christ at the head of this church and hold his same keys and authority to perform the saving ordinances ALL REST ON WHETHER OR NOT THE BOOK OF MORMON IS TRUE.
So read it. It's that simple. I have literally used this as I have taught investigators. I have looked them in the eyes and said, "There are two options here. Either everything I have just told you is true or it isn't. Either this is a message directly from God or I am out here wasting my time in a foolish endeavor. The proof, the deciding factor in all of this, is this book. If it is true, so is the message. If it is not the Word of God, then this is all just a big hoax. Test me on this. You can't claim I'm a liar until you've actually tried it out for yourself or not so read the book."
It is my testimony that this book is true. I promise you that if you do three things, you can know for yourself that it is true.
1) Read the book. It doesn't even have to be from cover to cover. Just at least dive into it and see what it is all about.
2) Ponder the message it contains and how it could benefit your life it it's true.
3) Pray and ask God the Eternal Father if the book is true or not.
God cannot lie.
And he has told me that this book is true, and therefore I know that this is his church, that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that through him the Priesthood authority of God was restored. That is my testimony, and it is all because of that special book.
So read it!
That is all.
Con Amor,
Elder Alley
PS Hahahaha I was so caught up in getting that message across I almost forgot . THANK YOU everyone for all the birthday wishes and to you guys and MomMom and Grandma for the packages. They were all wonderful and meant a lot!
Mom, I love you, but it is sometimes a curse that you go 110% into everything you do. You sent so many cool decorations and that party game and all that and I feel so bad that I didn't really get to use it all :( I mean the missionary work doesn't stop even for a birthday, so I just didn't have time to fully use everything you sent me. I feel bad about that, but know that I am super duper appreciative of all the work you put into that for me. LOVE YOU! I had an awesome birthday for as little time as I got to think about the actual fact that it was my birthday haha.
So yeah that was my birthday.
k
luv ya buh bai
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