#LDSconf

This pic is actually from last transfer. The other elder is Elder Burdge.
He was here in Red Rock Zone for one transfer waiting for a visa to
go to Australia. Good guy!

April 4, 2016

How bout that Gen Conf tho! My goodness I absolutely LOVE general conference. As a missionary, it is essentially the equivalent in hype and excitement to Super Bowl weekend for me. These past 4 General Conferences I've had while on my mission have been some of the most spiritual experiences of my life. I know that those men are called of God. I know that Thomas Spencer Monson is God's living Prophet on the earth today! There is such a power behind listening to the good word of a God in this fashion that we do every 6 months, and I hope that none of you took it lightly or casually.

It's so cool the sense of pride (the good kind) you get when you become a part of the missionary family. I felt joy swell inside as I heard the Temple announced in Lima, Peru and thought of Elder Sok down there :) I was stoked to hear the shout out from Elder Cook's talk to the Thailand Bangkok Mission and heard him recount a story that I had already heard 6 months ago from Sister Alley :) I love being a missionary and the eternal circle I have gotten to join as I've put on this name tag. Few get to do it, and it's honor to be one of them.

Of course I went into conference with some questions that I wanted to find answers to. And, oh boy, did I get some answers. Now, I'm no trunky-piece, but I definitely went to GC with the question in mind of what Heavenly Father wants me to do as soon as I get off my mission, and.... Well let's just say a lot of people talked about marriage and family this past weekend 😳

Something that really stuck out to me though, was from Elder Donald L Hallstrom's talk. He essentially mentioned the pattern that Satan will use on us all the time. He said he will get us to treat things casually, then ignore them, then forget them. I testify that that is true! Satan's biggest tactic is casualness. He won't get strong saints to flat out deny truth they know. He won't get you to deny the Book of Mormon overnight. But, he will try and get you to be casual about reading it! And casually reading it leads to never reading it which leads to losing your testimony of it. Avoid all casualness! I echo my thoughts earlier about "Nice vs. Necessary." Casual Discipleship is an oxymoron. We must be Disciples, true blue through and through!

I could go on for hours about how much I loved conference and I look forward to future conferences where I will be with you to watch them and we can discuss them in greater detail then. However, for now I am content giving this mission my all. The time is ticking down and it’s starting to hit me hard. This is the last week of the transfer, and then I've only got two more transfers left. Final sprint! 🏃

Also, Birthday shout out to MomMom! I love you and I hope you have the best birthday yet. You’re the best MomMom an Elder could ask for :)

We have MLC this week and Elder Ernst and I have been asked to give a training at it on why we need to have the "Vision to Baptize." We are fired up! It's baptism or bust people. John 3:5 is there for a reason! I’ll report more on it next week :) 

We went bowling today as a zone and it was super fun. We have an awesome Red Rock Zone right now and it will be hard to see it get changed up next transfer :/ 

Anyways, that’s all for this week, next time I write I'll let you know what my situation is going to be for my 2nd to last transfer here in the field! Love y'all!

-Elder Alley