Learning, Teaching and Revelations. Oh My!

At Wendy's saying goodby to Elder Yocam, 

who was getting transferred

Me, and the zone leaders: Elder Kropuschek, Elder Yocam, 

and my comp, Elder Boar

Getting ready to teach the Plan of Salvation to the Coleman Family

August 24, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

Man, it seems like everyone had a busy week. Let me start off by saying congratulations to Tanner Hardy for completing his mission in Bulgaria, Max for getting into BYU, Ashley for keeping the good work for her apartment complex, Aubrey for keeping up her dance classes and the fun with everyone at the lake and everywhere else, Aunt Mandy for having her new baby, Elder Wheeler for getting engaged, and Mom and Dad for their 27th Wedding Anniversary! Congratulations everyone! YOU ALL ROCK!

Also, even though it hasn't happened yet, Happy Birthday Aubrey! Eat plenty of cake (or whatever desserts you prefer) and have lots of fun (if the lake day hasn't already drained you. You looked tired in the pics Mom sent me ;)). With love all the way from West Virginia. Happy Brithday Sis!

Well, y'all, here's the big news: For all those who don't know, I'm now officially in my last transfer as a missionary! October 7th is when I go home. So, where and how am I going to finish my mission? I'll be finishing my mission here in the Huntington West area! That's right! You heard me! I'm staying here in Huntington West with Elder Boer as my last companion! That means that we'll be "killing each other off" (in missionary lingo, it means that we'll finish our missions together in the same area). We will definitely be staying busy because now we really have to make sure that our apartment and area book is up-to-date and ready to go for our replacements. Wish us luck ;)

Now, I meant for this to be a short e-mail but there were a lot of good things that happened this week that I just have to share it with you all. I already explained the week to President Salisbury so I'll just share my e-mail to him with you. We had a zone conference where we were talking about ripple effects in missionary work and the current elders who are serving in Martin, KY shared a cool story with our zone conference about baptizing a police officer and Elder Boer and I had an awesome moment in teaching this family named the Cs. Here's what I wrote:

"Thank you so much for the amazing zone conference. It was great to see you again and I definitely learned a lot from your message. The vision quest and ripple effect was especially helpful. The ripple effect has been on my mind ever since the Martin, KY elders shared their experience of baptizing a police officer because he saw missionaries walking around a lot and he was curious about them and why they would do such a thing. To me, this was a tender mercy from the Lord because Martin, KY was my very first area and I remember that Elder Barney and I did quite a bit of walking in that area. After that story, I truly believe that the Lord was letting me know that I did a good job in that area and that someone, unseen by me, was positively affected by me. I promise that I'm not saying this to brag but to show that the promise of "no effort is wasted" is true. Tell the Martin, KY elders thank you for sharing that experience at zone conference for me. Please and thank you."

"Well, for my report for the week, I just want to report about our appointment with the C family. We had an amazing teaching appointment! We taught Sister C, Brother C, and their three kids the Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon as a family and as individuals, promising them that the Holy Ghost will testify to their minds and hearts that it's true. President W (2nd Counselor of the Huntington Stake Presidency) and his wife Sister W (Young Women's President) helped us tremendously with that lesson by bearing their testimonies about the need for prophets and Jesus Christ's Atonement. I think what really helped with that lesson is that Elder Boer and I took time in our companionship study to create a specific lesson plan and role-played for that appointment throughout the day. It was a great lesson and I think everyone felt the Spirit in that room. If you can, tell Sister K that the Huntington West Elders want to thank her for allowing us to teach her cousin and her family. Please and thank you."

Well, I think that's everything. I love you all and miss you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley