Some Thoughts

At interviews
(Me, Elders Sefcik and Maldonado)

Elder Beltré, Elder Celestino and Hermana Sanchez

Me, Elder Walker, Hermana Lucero, Hermana Sanchez
Elders Maldonado, Celestino, Beltré and Sefcik

These shoes have been handed from missionary to missionary for almost 4 years now. An elder had them and wore them for his mission and then before he went home he gave them to a guy named Elder Short. (Cool guy. He came to visit while I was with Elder Martinez. Fun fact, the band he was in opened up for Macklemore before he got super big.) So Elder Short gave them to Elder Martinez and then before Martinez went home, he gave them to me. The legacy continues!

This is a teeny tiny puppy. Aaaawwwww.

Every Tuesday from 10:30 to noon we have District Meeting. We meet as a zone and the zone leaders give announcements and then we'll sing a hymn and have prayer and we'll do a little teaching. Then everyone splits into their perspective districts and they talk about their work and how they can improve and the district leaders give counsel and training etc. and then we meet up again at the end for closing exercises. I always like to go up early to set up chairs and then we play MoTab on the TV to invite the Spirit. (Notice the perfectly symmetrical chair line up. Paying homage to my Pops.)

The SpanMs (Spanish Missionaries)

Tamales. Yeah, baby.

Just another day in the Las Vegas West Mission

So I hope you received all the pictures and videos I sent home because I sent home A LOT. I figured that would cover my report of what happened for the week. For the email, I have three spiritual thoughts I wanted to share.

1) Quote I heard from a member that made a huge impact on me, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ will solve ANY problem, if people let it." I love that. It doesn't matter if it is spiritual, financial, martial, familial, whatever problems we have, living the gospel and putting in our own efforts will fix our problems.

2) Talking with another elder we came up with this: "The basic things the Gospel asks us to do and the blessings we gain from doing them are like if all we had to do was pick up a 2lb dumbbell every day and do some curls and that would keep us in top physical condition. The problem is so many of us are too lazy or distracted to even make time to go pick up the dumbbell." With simple things like prayer, DAILY scripture study and church attendance we are blessed with the companionship of the Holy Spirit which guides, protects, comforts, and strengthens us. Such an amazing gift for such simple tasks to do.

3) Lastly, as I was studying for a lesson we were going to give to the Elders Quorum this week, I received this spiritual inspiration. We know that the first of all the commandments is to love God with all our heart and might, mind and strength (Mark 12:30) and that the base motive for all our actions should be the love we have for our Heavenly Father and the Savior. This church asks a lot of us, but I realize this. There are two scriptural references, to my knowledge, where the Savior specifically says "If ye love me then _____" they are John 14:15 and John 21:15-17. The two things are "Keep my commandments" and "feed my sheep." As I thought about why Jesus Christ would pick those two things as the greatest ways to show our love for him and our Father in Heaven, this thought came to mind:What is God's purpose? To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39) or in other words to get all his children to return to live with Him and receive the blessings He has for them. That is His purpose, His whole work, the "why" behind everything God does. So when Jesus asks if we love him, he is basically saying, "Ok, you love me? Then we need you to help us in the great work we are trying to accomplish here. We need you to keep the commandments (his first response) because we need you to make sure you get yourself back into our presence. Then once you're set there, I need you to go and help your brothers and sisters do the same thing. Feed our sheep. Do missionary work. Let's get more of the family to reach their potential. If you love us, then help us with our work." And that is why those are his two responses to that. Food for thought.

-Elder Alley