Hot & Humid But Still Hanging in There

July 25, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? Man, that cabin that hosted the family reunion looked sweet! Those jerseys look cool as well. Can't wait to get mine. I'm glad everyone had fun at both EFY and the Family Reunion. Keep up the fun y'all.

As for me and Elder Boer, it's been really hot and humid over here in Huntington but we are still hanging in there. We've been doing a lot of tracting and walking in order to find more people to teach and by the time we are done for the day, we are just drenched in sweat. On the bright side, a lot of people who saw us out and about were very kind in giving us either water or Gatorade bottles. They may not have been interested in learning about the restored gospel but it's always nice to get some sympathy and something to drink.

But despite the heat and humidity, we have actually seen a lot of miracles this week. We now have an investigator on date for baptism, taught an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon to a recently found investigator, and taught an amazing married couple about reading the Book of Mormon.

Let me tell about this couple: their names are A and T. They're both members of the church but they haven't attended one for years. They met each other during their service in the army, working in Air Traffic Control. A is now currently taking training in Air Traffic Control for a small airport and T is currently going to school to get a bachelors degree in Aeronautics. They're both super nice and they have three kids.

What makes them unique is that T is actually a cousin to a sister missionary who also serves in this mission. To make the long story short, the sister missionary talked to President Salisbury who then talked to our zone leaders who then sent us the address to go find them. I first met them with Elder Lane and now I'm working with them with Elder Boer.

Elder Boer and I met them on Sunday and we originally planned on reviewing the Restoration with them because it has been a while since Elder Lane and I taught them the restoration and I only met them twice. But during Personal Study, I felt impressed to read 1 Nephi 11 and came across this verse, "And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?" As soon as I read those words, I realized that we needed to focus the meeting on understanding what their desires and concerns are. I'm glad I read that verse because that resulted in an amazing meeting where they were very open and honest about their desire to have the Spirit more in their home but they did have some concerns about coming back to church. In the end, we invited them read the Book of Mormon as a family and have plans to meet them and their kids in August to teach them the Restoration. It was awesome!

Well, I'll go ahead and let you party animals go now. I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley