Some Days Are Rough, Man

A pic I found from back when Elder Martinez and I were still together

From a missionary conference we went to a while back, as well.

And since I know you'll ask, Mother...

 (Front row: Elders Allen, Baldwin, me, Maldonado, Hermana Carvajal. 

Back row: Elders Martinez, Fotheringham, Sefcik, Preciado)

Leadership Training (Las Vegas Zone table) 

Going around the circle it's: Elders Carreño, Maldonado, Sister Su'apa'ia, me, 

Howe, White, Francom & Walker

PS Look at how pretty my comp is. ;)

Last week after I got a haircut

#CompUnity (Lunch at Zupa's)

July 13, 2015

So this week over all was a really good one, despite what the title says. Elder Walker and I did a TON of knocking doors and talking to people in the street. I think it was the most "finding" I have ever done in a single week and it was actually super fun! It's so cool to strike up a random conversation with Hispanics who are always a little shocked that these two white kids can speak Spanish. That's half the fun! 

We had a goal as a zone to use the Book of Mormon more in our contacting as well, because a lot of people just say, "Well all churches are good, and anyone talking about God is good, so what makes you guys different?" That's a valid question, and I could sit down with you and tell you many reasons why, and show you how even the Bible teaches us that there can only be 1 true church, but I don't want to Bible bash:) You want something that makes us different? It's as simple as our nickname. We are "Mormons" because of The Book of Mormon and we claim that it is additional scripture and everything we else we say hangs on whether that book is true or not!

So we saw success there in trying to find new people, but, man, was Sunday rough. I was in a down mood because we had called one of the missionaries in our zone who was supposed to have a baptism Saturday to see how it went. He was super sad on the phone and informed us that the man who was going to be baptized bailed at the last second and said he's not interested anymore. So that elder was sad, so that made me sad, and then NONE of the families and investigators we are working with came to church and because of that we are going to have to post-pone the baptism of the girl, Daisy, that we are working with. 

Then one of the members got mad at the missionaries after church because apparently we had been asked to translate for someone who was visiting and didn't speak Spanish, but there was miscommunication and it didn't happen and the member gathered us after church and was disappointed and said, "Missionaries, when we ask you for help, help us!" That got me even more down because we've been working our butts off just to build Ward trust, and that might have thrown it away partially. Then our lessons we had set up with the people we were meeting during the week cancelled. To top it all off, we had a lesson with an older couple who just couldn't grasp the concept of why our church is different, and why, if we are all worshipping the same God why it should matter? Ugh... again if you truly love God, you'd study his scripture, and if you truly studied His scripture you'd come to learn that He has clearly shown us time and time again that He has a specific way of working. There has to be a living modern day prophet. There is "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" and, therefore, one path to him and He's given us a church to be able to help us all be on that same path. "For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry...til we all come in the unity of the faith." Again this is all from the BIBLE.

....I should probably stop ranting haha. It's just hard some days being a missionary. This gospel and this church become more and more amazing to me every day. They make more and more sense to me as I study them and as that happens to me, it is that much harder watching people reject this message, or even worse, just be plain apathetic towards it. Man, I never thought I'd come to the point where I'd be saying those kinds of things, but it's all true! And this church is true! And the Book of Mormon is true! And Chirst lives today and leads and guides this church! And I'll preach those truths until the day I die and then some!

As sucky as some days are, I still recognize that this is the greatest thing I could possible be doing right now. As a missionary this is the only time in my life where I am officially set apart to be a representative, an actual apostle! (Apostle with a little "a". The big "A" Apostles are the quorum), but an apostle nonetheless! Life is hard, but God is good. And for those who walk the path Christ showed us, good things are always on their way.

-Elder Alley

PS This was in an email the mission office sent regarding mailed packages:

Dear Elders and Sisters,

We would like for you to ask your family and friends to send your packages to the Mission Office:

 Nevada Las Vegas West Mission
4455 Allen Lane, Ste. 140
North Las Vegas, NV 89031 

We have several apartments that will no longer be accepting packages from UPS, FedEx and USPS.

Your packages will be held at the Mission Office until your Zone Leaders pick them up.   Otherwise, they end up being returned to the sender.   Zone Leaders are encouraged to be “excellent mailmen”.

Love ya all,


Sister Mohler