That Time They Changed My Mission Call...

Baptism!

Friday Night Kick Off for Sacrifice Saturday

Do you know who this is? This is none other than the former Elder Horn
who served in the Brentwood Ward about a year ago and definitely had
dinner with the Alley family and who just happens to be the grandson of the family with whom
I live. He also said that when Michael got sent on his mini-mission Michael went and served
in the area of Canada where he was serving at the time. He remembers Michael super well and
was so excited when I told him that he has already been out for over a year on his full time
mission in West Virginia!

The visit that rocked the Matrix lol

New comp, Elder Adamson

Pre-Sacrifice Saturday

Post Sacrifice Saturday recounting of success stories

October 26, 2015

SOOOOOOOO MUCH HAPPENED THIS LAST WEEK THAT IT WILL BE LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR ME TO DO IT JUSTICE OVER AN EMAIL SO IM JUST GOING TO APOLOGIZE FOR THAT BEFOREHAND.

With that said, this past week was insane.

Like the title explains, I feel like with the transfer call I got, that they might as well have just given me a new mission call. Everything about my life right now is just so far away from what it was just a week ago that it's weird to think about. The only familiar thing are the missionaries here that I've known from before, but that is literally it haha!

So I'll just walk you through my week and hope that you can get the gist, but like I said, it'll be impossible to truly get across just how much craziness happened these past 7 days.

Monday
Pack, cleaned up, went to President's house and got to meet the new missionaries. Went to transfers, got Elder Adamson, hopped in my new 2015 Chevy Colorado (that's right;), drove off with Elder Adamson to a YSA (Young Single Adult) Family Home Evening activity..........
To say I felt out of place, is an understatement. I've been hanging out with little old Hispanic ladies for the last year. I was surrounded by....young, white people. I had to learn how to mingle and socialize with my own demographic all over again. It surprised me just how accustomed I had gotten to Spanish culture, and how awkward I felt in my own.

Tuesday
Got to meet the new zone, it's really small haha. 13 of us total. In Vegas there were 23. So a little smaller, but a little easier to foster a family vibe. There's some super nice elders here so I'm excited to get to know them better! Then went out, got to know the area, knocked some doors, met the bishop of one of the 3 wards we cover. (BTW covering 3 wards is insanely hard/fun).

Wednesday
Got to meet "S". A 24 year old, with long hair, a massive beard and who shreds on the electric guitar. We are working with him for the YSA Ward. Haha Again, one of those "We're definitely not in Spanish anymore" moments. Then met a family who the elders here were working with last transfer and found out they were from Mexico and I spoke Spanish with them a little bit. Then we picked up AP Elder Rogers at night for another full day exchange with the Assistants.

Thursday
Spent the day with Elder Adamson and Elder Rogers. We got hard core bible-bashed by like 4 different people as we were tracting throughout the day, which was not very enjoyable, and rarely ever happened in Spanish. But, that's how mish life be sometimes. Overall good day, though.

Friday
Had an extra training with the zone to prepare for Sacrifice Saturday (more details later). Got to teach a young guy named "J" for the YSA ward. It was cool because the YSA kids are all super pumped to come out with the missionaries so they actually call us looking to see if we have appointments! That definitely has not happened to me before! Went through the day and then I got picked up by some members from the Bonanza Ward to take me to the baptism of Marcelino! And I got to baptize him! It was soooo awesome going back to be there for that, Marcelino was super happy for his baptism and the spirit was obviously very strong. It was hard to have to leave again afterwards. It was the most Spanish I had gotten to speak in a while. But, I went back and we started a fast as a zone to kick off Sacrifice Saturday!

Sacrifice Saturday
This is the idea. Mission-wide. All 180 or so of the missionaries here on the west side of Vegas. Saturday, October 24th. From 10AM-8PM Nothing. But. Tracting. For 10 hours straight, we were on our feet, outside talking to people. Didn't stop for meals. We went on splits with members, with youth, with other missionaries. I personally knocked almost 200 doors. As a zone we talked to over 500 people, just in one day. And we're still waiting to hear about the mission totals. There's so many cool mini stories that happened through-out the day I wish I had the time to write them out, but I don't. Just know that the coolest part was that Elder Adamson and I had set a goal to find 5 new investigators that day. The 2nd door we knocked, a family let us in and we taught them and got 4 new investigators right then and there. Then.....8 hours straight of knocking and walking and talking, but nobody let us in. In the VERY last neighborhood, at the VERY last house we try, the VERY last person we talk to, lets us sit down and chat and we teach and he offers a prayer and feels good and says if he comes to church and likes it that he will get baptized!!! At the very beginning of the day (like 10:15AM) and at the very end of the day (7:55PM) we taught lessons and found 5 NI (new investigators) from them. And in between, was non-stop tracting/contacting. My legs were SOOO sore at the end of the day, but I felt so accomplished:)

This email is a hefty one, but so much happened. In fact, something so completely random, and unexpected, and mind-boggling happened to me Saturday morning that I would normally take a whole email to just talk about it, but that day was so awesome after what happened that even KYLE STARR randomly showing up at the members' home where I live Saturday morning to bring me breakfast because he was driving through Vegas on his way to Arizona, wasn't the best part of the day. (Sorry Kyle, you know I love you!) But literally, it was crazy. Sister Saure knocks on our bedroom door and says, "Elder Alley you have visitors!" which made no sense because missionaries don't have visitors. Then I came out and saw Kyle and Andrew Baird and we probably only talked for a total of 3 minutes and then he was gone. It felt weird to see him. It felt like a glitch in the Matrix. Because my mission life and my pre-mission life are like two separate lives and they collided with one another for a second and it truly felt strange lol Crazy....and then I went into 10 hours straight of tracting haha:)

Sunday
Covering 3 wards means a whole lotta church on Sundays! From probably 8AM-5PM we were in sacrament meetings, Ward councils, missionary coordination meetings, gospel principles classes, priesthood classes, a priest Quorum class, and others. It was so weird to be back in English wards, too, and the YSA Ward was the first time for me as well since I was never in one back home pre-mission. Then that night the YSA Ward had a "Sundaes on Sunday" activity where they get together for ice cream and ping pong and games and stuff once a month and the missionaries go because a lot of people will bring their friends who aren't members and we get to meet them there. But again....I've been with little old Hispanics ladies for the last year so I felt sooooo out of place being there. I did my best to remember my socializing skills haha but it was for sure a shock. The last thing for this week was the Spanish sisters that cover our same area asked me to come give a blessing to one of their people. I guess I'm going to be the north part of town's resident Spanish blessing giver because only hermanas cover the area up here and I live closer to their areas then the other Spanish elders. So it was a trendy mercy from the Lord to get to speak some Spanish for a little bit to end the week:)

So Yupp, there ya have it! It's a really, really long email this week, but it was a jam packed week.

If I had to summarize how I feel about what all has happened since transfers it would be: different. Being here in English, some stuff is nicer, some stuff I preferred back in Spanish, some things are easier, others harder. There's not one that's better than the other, it's just....different, really, really different lol:)

Anyways, thanks for sitting through all that! Love you guys! Hope you have an awesome week!

-Elder Alley

Note From Elder Alley's Mom: The visit from Kyle wasn't intended to be a visit. He was being very mindful of mission rules. He just wanted to drop off breakfast and a note for Elder Alley and then leave, but the members were trying to be nice and insisted he stay and at least say hi to Elder Alley. (I loved Elder Alley's description of how surreal that was. His two worlds colliding and since when do missionaries have visitors? lol) So sweet of Kyle to think of him. Elder Alley has such supportive friends. :)

Pero....no hablo inglés. (But...I don't speak English.)

 Mission Leadership Council

 Saying goodbye to mis amigos

October 19, 2015

............................Transfers literally never fails to get me. I've always had some sort of idea of what is going to happen, and then something completely different takes its place. So on Friday night this last week the AP's called us with our transfer call. I was a little nervous, but I had a pretty good idea that I might be going to this one specific zone. Elder Walker found out that his new companion was going to be Elder Maldonado! (My mission dad will be coming to replace me haha.) Elder Walker is excited because it will be the first time he has ever actually had a native Latino companion. And then came my call....

"Elder Alley you will be going to the Elkhorn Springs Zone with Elder Adamson!"
"But...there's no Spanish missionaries up there...."
"Yupp, you're switching to English!"
".........pero yo no quiero hablar inglés." (Translation for you gringos: "...but I don't want to speak English."

So yeah. I am going to be an English missionary now. They're switching me because they want me to remain a Zone Leader in the mission so I'm going to go be a ZL up in that zone. I'm actually a little nervous to be honest, because all I've known for the last 15 months of my life has been teaching in Spanish, contacting on Spanish, sacrament meeting in Spanish, studies, dinners, members all in Spanish! Haha this is going to be quite the change.

Some other comparisons for you to see the grand change coming up for me. Las Vegas Zone is the largest in the mission; Elkhorn Springs is the smallest. I've only ever covered 1/4 of a ward and shared it with other companionships; in my new area we are covering 3 different wards (2 family wards and 1 YSA Ward). I'm currently in the most economically challenged area the mission has to offer; Elkhorn Springs is mostly affluent, white people. Vegas Zone is the closest to the strip; ES is the furthest north zone in the valley.

So, yupp, it's going to be quite the change. I'm super nervous, but really excited. Elder Adamson is awesome! He is 20 years old, a big guy who played linebacker in high school and is super funny. We are going to get to mob around in a truck too :P We are actually pretty good buds already and he called me when we got the news and we talked about how stoked we are to be comps for his last transfer before he goes home (so I finally get to "kill" someone in the mission). So that will be super fun!

Other than that this last week we gave a Zone Training Meeting that went super well. We did this one activity where we blindfolded one person in each companionship and put them in a dark room that had a tv playing a movie and two different speakers playing two different things. Then one by one their companions went in and grabbed them and lead them through a course that lead them to the chapel where we had a tv playing the Because He Lives and Because of Him videos. We talked about how that related to what we do as missionaries. How people are trapped in a dark world with no real purpose or direction in their life and the media is constantly throwing things at them, keeping them unable to focus on anything bigger. Then we, as missionaries, get to pull them out of that dark room and bring them to Jesus Christ. The Spirit was super strong in the chapel as we talked about all that. It was a really cool experience!

Then we had a lot of lessons this week and we were able to make a lot of progress with a lot of people. Hopefully, one of our investigators is actually going to get baptized next week! (I would get to return for that:)

As of right now all I'm really trying to do is mentally prepare myself for this big change on my mission taking place today. Here's hoping it all goes well! Love you all and have an awesome week!

-Elder Alley

Spirit Coming in Strong This Week

Gotta exercise the physical body as well as the spirit

Nothing better than little P-day tennis in that great Vegas sunshine

October 12, 2015

So we had 2 real big spiritual moments this last week. 

Numero 1: We've been working with this family for a while, but the wife has decided that it really isn't for her. However, the husband still likes us coming over. We went over this past week and had a member with us. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the 5 steps He's given us to be able to return and live with God again. When we got to baptism the room got noticeably very peaceful. The kids stopped being rowdy, the neighbors outside quieted down, everything just seemed to be focused in on that moment. After describing the importance of baptism, we officially invited him to be baptized. He was quiet for a second and then said, "I know I need to say yes, because the second you asked me that question my body started shivering like something entered my body, but like a super peaceful and reassuring sort of power." ......What? Holy Ghost coming in strong! That was a super cool moment.

Numero 2: We get back Sunday night after a full week’s worth of work. We are about to go into daily planning for Monday. Our phone gets a text. It's the wife of one of the families we are working with. She says her husband isn't doing good and she asks us to come over. We go, and enter the house and sit down with the husband. He pours out his heart to us for the next 30 mins about all the trials and struggles he is going through. It was actually probably the most intense moment of my mission sitting in that man’s living room listening to him talk about a lot of dark things. But, the Holy Spirit was there and guided Elder Walker and my words. It was probably the coolest moment of my mission yet as I sat there and testified to him that the way to overcome all of this, is through Jesus Christ. We testified that Jesus Christ through the power of his Atonement could take away all of those bad feelings and mold him into the man he wants to be, if he would but let him do that. I can't say that I've ever truly felt more guided in my words, or more like a true missionary than in that moment. It was definitely one I will remember for the rest of my life. The husband’s countenance had completely changed by the time we finished and he said he believed us and felt really peaceful and was going to do his best to keep pushing forward.

It truly is such an incredible thing to preach of the healing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

Other than that we had a pretty solid week. We are now going into week 6 of the transfer and so the next time I email you guys I will we be telling you what is happening with me for the next transfer! We also have another Zone Training Meeting to give this week so we are prepping for that.

Hope you all have a fantastic week! Les quiero mucho!

-Elder Alley

Cooling Down

Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup made with beef stomach (tripe) and "librillo" beef meat along with the beef feet and tendons in broth with a red chili pepper base. Usually, lime, chopped onions, and chopped cilantro are added, as well as crushed oregano and crushed red chili peppers.

October 5, 2015

The weather seems to be in accordance with my mood cuz it's nice and chill out today. I actually wore a sweater this morning :D but after a hectic week it's nice to take a bit of a breather.

To recap the week, it all started Monday night with a Baptismal Interview I got to give to an investigator of one of the DL's in the zone. This lady was super prepared! It was awesome to interview her, and then we went right into exchanges with the AP's. One of the assistants named Elder Rogers came with Elder Walker and I into our area for the whole day. He doesn't speak a lick of Spanish so that was entertaining throughout the day. He raved about the authentic Mexican food we had for dinner as well (we purposely asked one of the best cooks in the ward to give us dinner that day so we could give him the prime SpanAm experience lol) and the whole day was actually very fun! Elder Rogers is a stud and one of the most solid missionaries in the game.

After that we had our mission wide leadership training. It was AWESOME! I learned so much and the Spirit showed me so many ways we can improve our area and change our missionary work for the better. In the very middle part of the conference Elder Walker and I gave our training to everyone on "How to Begin Teaching"  and it went really well. President, the AP's and several other missionaries came up to us afterwards and said they loved our training so that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. :D

Then it was on to General Conference weekend, which I loved! I don’t think I've ever gotten so much out of a conference. I used to not be able to not fall asleep during them, but this time I couldn't believe how fast they all went by and how many notes I ended up taking. I couldn't help but think about how the 3 new apostles must have felt when they got called. Such a heavy mantle, but the Lord doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called! I'm so grateful for living modern-day prophets and apostles who lead and guide us today. Larry R. Lawrence who spoke about receiving "customized council" from the HG: I’ve shaken his hand! He came to our mission last year. And of course I told everyone that Elder Haynie is a close family friend ;)

Major themes from #LDSconf
-Keep the Sabbath Day Holy!!!
-The need to seek and follow the Holy Ghost
-Keep the commandments!
-Importance of listening to Christ's ordained servants on the earth today

On a less spiritual note, look up the Hispanic dish "menudo". I ate that this week. It was gross.

And last of all, because of Elder Holland's incredible talk I feel the strong desire to tell you, Mother Dear, how much I love you and how grateful I am for the pure, divine, maternal love that you have for us your children. You are truly such a role model to me and I want to do all I can to make you proud!  Te amo muchísimo mamá! Tú eres la mejor madre en todo el mundo:)

That's all for this week. We have two weeks til transfers and it is looking very much like I'm leaving. So Elder Walker and I are determined to take advantage of every last second we have together.

Hurrah for Israel! #WatchMeBurn

-Elder Alley