Grateful to God

Celebrating Elder Jarman's 1 Year Mark. Not too much longer
and it'll be MY turn!

Burn, Baby, Burn!

August 24, 2015

Dear Mom, Dad, Aubrey and all my family & friends,

Oh, I get it now. So while the missionaries are away, the rest of the family goes out to play? I see how it is. Ha ha ;) I'm really glad that everyone had a fun time in Texas. I loved the pictures that Mom sent me.

However, what I'm really happy about is that Mom, Dad and Aubrey were not in Washington when the fires occurred. Thank goodness you're all safe. We may not have access to a T.V. but I actually just heard about the fires in Washington from the people here in Flatwoods. Normally, when I tell people that I'm from Washington, they either think of Seattle, rain, or Big Foot. However, this week when I told people that I was from Washington, their first response was, "Did you know that Washington is on fire?" I thought that they were just commenting about how dry and hot it was up there. It wasn't until I saw the pictures and read the letter that I found out that my home state really was on fire! I know that God has kept you safe. I bet He was the reason that your standby status to travel to Texas didn't backfire on you. Let us all be sure to thank Heavenly Father in our prayers for this miracle.

I'm also grateful to God that Ashley was kept safe as well. I hope that things settle down soon in Thailand. God really is watching out for us.

This week has been another slow week for missionary work but, as I was reading your e-mails, I started thinking that the slow pace is actually a blessing. Yeah, it's a pain to try to find a new investigator in this place, but I'm not the one who has to worry about fires or bombs. The work may be slow but I decided that I prefer slow and safe over fast and hazardous.

There's not a whole lot to report on this week. We've had a zone conference, volunteered at a place called the Central West Virginia Outreach Center, and, my personal favorite (not), more tracting. Oh well, as I said, better slow and safe than fast and hazardous.

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

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

What Has Happened So Far

Volunteering at the Senior Center :)

August 17, 2015

Dear Mom, Dad, Aubrey and all of my family & friends,

A wise man (a.k.a., my Dad) once told me that each day of the mission will go just a little faster than the previous one. Well, even though I've had some slow days and slow weeks, I was looking at my calendar recently and realized that August is already over halfway done and that I'll hit my year mark in the few weeks after this transfer is over! Wow! Time really did fly. Isn't that awesome? I know my year mark hasn't come yet, but it does give me something to look forward to. Don't judge me ;)

Anyway, not a lot has happened since the last time I e-mailed everyone (which is what usually happens when your P-Day is on a Wednesday during transfer week) but there is a miracle that happened. I mentioned this to President Salisbury in my e-mail to him. Here's what I wrote:

"My report for the work here in Flatwoods is that it has been busy this week. We did a lot of service for a member of the branch in helping her put some tin sheets on her roof, some more tracting, and contacting some of our recent potential investigators. At first, it seemed like we weren't getting anywhere and that this was going to be a slow week. But then, a miracle happened! We visited a less-active member, I'll refer to him as J, and told him that because he holds the Aaronic Priesthood then that makes him a minister for the church. That got his attention and he promised to come to church after we invited him. J kept his promise and he came in at the last hour of church!

I'm really grateful for this miracle because I'm really hoping that this will be a turning point for the branch. If we can help the members and the branch leaders to strengthen their faith in missionary work, then I'm confident that the work here will really hasten. Until then, we'll just do our best to serve here in any way we can and hope that our efforts will be enough for the Lord."

Well, that's my story for this e-mail. Stay tuned for another exciting episode of "The Adventures of Elder Michael Alley" ;) Lol! Take care everyone. I love you all and miss you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

PS Speaking of "episode", how is the Peter Capaldi season of Doctor Who going so far? Take care everyone. Love you all.

PSS As I said before in my last e-mail, Mom, thank you so much for last letter to me about Samuel Smith. It really did help me a lot. In fact, everyone's e-mails and letters to me have been like manna from heaven. I just can't get enough of them. I'm always get excited whenever I find a letter in my mailbox because to me it means that someone has been thinking about me. I love reading letters from you, Grandma, MomMom, my cousins, friends and everyone else. I wish I could write a letter to everyone thanking them for writing to me but there's just not enough hours in the day of a missionary. I hope everyone knows how much I appreciate everyone's letters. Thank you all so much.

From West Virginia with Love

Service project at Amy Powell's house.

Add roofing to his new skills :)

August 12, 2015

Dear Mom, Dad, Aubrey and all my Family & Friends,

Let me start by saying, "Thank you Mom for your letter." You have no idea how much that letter helped me get out of the funk I was in. I am honored to join the ranks ;) I also never knew about Samuel H. Smith's experience as a missionary until you sent me that letter. Missions have always been tough, but to do it without any training from an M.T.C. or formatted lesson plans? Man, I developed a lot of respect for Samuel Smith for that. I was also inspired when I read that even though he got no baptisms, him just giving two Book of Mormons helped bring two great leaders to the church.

Since being out here, the prophet Abinadi and now Samuel Smith have become my heroes. Why? They may not have gotten any baptisms or seen the results of their work, but their testimonies helped to bring others to God. It reminds me of what one of Ashley's companions said, "There are no such thing as half miracles. But we may not get to see the end result" (I'm not sure I quoted that right but hopefully you know what I'm talking about). I hope that the effort I'm putting out here in the mission will have a similar impact. Mom, thank you so much.

Well, another week has gone by and we're still not seeing much progress with the work here, but here's another tender mercy from the Lord that's very special to me. One day, Elder Jarman and I were tracting on this one street while it was raining. Before we got out of the car to work, I realized that I did not have an umbrella with me. I was a little hesitant to get out but then I thought to myself, "You know what, I'm from Washington and we get a lot of rain up there. I'm going to embrace the rain today." Another thought that came to me was, "If a cross and tomb could not keep the Savior down, then why should rain stop me from doing my job?" With these thoughts in mind, we went out and tracted the street.

Now you're probably wondering, "Yes, Elder Alley. We can see that you're not afraid of some rain. But what's the tender mercy?" Well, we got to talk to a few people who were from different faiths (shocking ;)) and, even though they weren't interested in learning from us, they had a lot of respect for what we did and they even told us that they wished that their churches would do more to spread the Word of God like we are. One person even told us that she was impressed by how dedicated we are when she saw us out in the rain. To me, this was the Lord's way of showing me that there are people who do appreciate what we do, whether they're members or not. To be honest, that was probably the best tracting experience I ever had as a missionary.

Well, that's my story for the week. By the way, the mission office called this morning and told me that my driving privileges will be restricted for a while since, even though it was an accident, it was still a "preventable" accident. I'm not too happy about that but rules are rules. Oh well, I guess I should be grateful for the driving experience I had so far and that I'm restricted for a while, not forever. I'm still waiting for them to tell us where to get it fixed and how it's going to be paid but hopefully we'll get over this issue soon.

Anyway, hope things are going well in good ole Spokane, Washington. I love you all and miss you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

P.S. I struggled hard to not laugh too loud after reading about the Loaded Questions highlights. Hurray for jorts references!

P.S.S. We haven't been able to get in touch with Bill for some time. So, I don't how he's doing.   

P.S.S.S. Before I forget: Elder Jarman and I are both staying in Flatwoods this transfer. Sweet, I really like our apartment anyway. Take care y'all.

What's Up Ya'll?

"The Food Den": area food bank we volunteered at

Mission truck: before

Mission truck: after (Oops!) :)

August 3, 2015

Dear Mom, Dad, Aubrey & all of my family & friends,

How's it going y'all? Man, Mom and Aubrey, when do you two sleep? It seems like in almost every e-mail I get, you two are always out and about doing something. The activities just seem to range anywhere from Jazzercise competitions to temple trips. Man, oh man. Still, I'm glad you two are staying busy and having fun. I always enjoy reading about what everyone's been doing.

Well, I guess I'll start off by answering Mom's weekly housekeeping questions: 1) Yes, I got the "Beat the Heat" package. Thank you so much. To be honest, I don't know what the deal is with these addresses in Sutton. 2) I use a separate gas card to pay for fuel for the mission car. 3) No, I don't know how to use a pay phone. Thanks for letting me know. 4) My apartment is the one on the left side of the apartment with the wreath.

Speaking of hoping things will get better, this week was probably the slowest and most frustrating week of my mission. For starters, I accidently dented and scratched the rear-driver side of the truck that I'm driving because of a sharp turn around a garage. Now I have to go through a long process of getting this damage fixed. I already filled out an online accident report and called the mission office. Now the next step is finding a place that will fix it. This frustrates me because 1) I'm usually a safe driver but now this one mistake is going say otherwise and 2) I don't know whose pocket the money is going to come from. When I was talking to Elder Crandall (he's in charge of the car management at the mission office), it sounded like either I'm the one paying for it or you guys. I'm not entirely sure because the conversation went too fast. Still, just keep me in your prayers and hope that this issue will get fixed soon.

The other thing that frustrated me was that we've been doing a lot of tracting to stay under miles and the only thing I have to show for my efforts are shirts drenched in sweat. Most of the people were either not home or just don't want to meet with us. This frustrates me because it's one of those moments that make me feel like I'm  sacrificing two years for nothing.

However, I have seen the tender mercies of the Lord this week. On one of the days when we tracting the entire day, there was one lady that gave us some water to drink near the end of the day. She may not have been interested in learning from us but I'm really grateful for her kindness. Bill (a new investigator that we picked up a couple weeks ago) has started reading the Book of Mormon and has already noticed a change in his attitude in the morning! We also got to do some service at a food pantry and I really enjoyed working with the volunteers there. #ILoveFoodPantries.

I'm sorry that this e-mail was so long. This has just been a weird week for me. Nevertheless, this does not change my testimony or faith on our Savior Jesus Christ. If this week has taught me anything, it's that when trials come, we will find that the only thing that will keep us standing is our faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I guess that's why Jesus Christ has been sometimes called "the rock" in the scriptures.

I think that's everything. We got some stuff that we need to take care of. I love you all and miss you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

To Lose Yourself is to Gain a Knowledge of Jesus Christ

A river runs through it...
but it's not supposed to. haha

Elder Jarman fording the river/street 

Elder Alley smack dab in the middle of his "Adventures on Salt Lick Road"

Elder Alley's current home away from home
(Note from Elder Alley's mom: He didn't specify which apartment was his, but I'm guessing it's not the one with a cute wreath on the door. haha)

View from his apartment

Another view

July 27, 2015

Dear Mom, Dad, Aubrey and all of my family & friends,

This week has been another week of tracting, but it was worth it. Why? Because I now have another funny story to share! Here's what happened: one day we were tracting on this one road in Flatwoods called Salt Lick Road where we were exploring to find any houses with people we could teach the Gospel to. We did find a few potential investigators but the real story is when we came to a part of the road that was flooded over due to all the rain and flash flooding we had over the last couple of weeks. Elder Jarman and I looked at the body of water and judged it to be about only knee-deep. So, we took off our shoes, rolled up our pants and walked across the impromptu river. It was a little tricky because some of the rocks that we were stepping on were loose and unstable but we made it without getting completely wet and losing our stuff! 

I felt proud of that accomplishment because I thought that we were showing the Lord just how committed we are to finding people, even if we have to cross a river! Unfortunately, when we got to the other side, we saw other parts of the road that also got flooded over and they looked like they were getting deeper and deeper. So, we decided to turn back and call it a day (it was almost curfew) before we got into a risky situation. Oh well. It was still fun to write about it in my journal. I even named that day "The Adventures on Salt Lick Road!" The best part is that you'll see pictures of it in the e-mail titled "Adventures in Flatwoods." Enjoy. :)

To explain the title, one thing that I've noticed since coming out on this mission is that I now have a love for the scriptures. It's amazing because I only remember reading a handful books (most of them were assignments from school) and the only other times that I've done some serious reading is when it came to articles on martial arts and other topics of interest before coming out here. I've read the scriptures before but mostly out of obligation to my family and teachers. Now, I love reading the scriptures! Personal Study time is my favorite time of the day! I love the Book of Mormon and its simple teachings! I've also come to love the New Testament and seeing how our Savior Jesus Christ was, in missionary terms, always finding and always teaching! I've also come to love the words of our living Prophets and Apostles, especially from General Conference! I've come to notice the spiritual nourishment and strengthening that comes from reading the scriptures and listening to the Prophets and Apostles. It's because of them that I now know the Savior better than I did before.

With that in mind, I want to leave with you my testimony that has grown since being a missionary. I know that Jesus Christ lives! I know that He is our Savior and Redeemer! I know that both the Book of Mormon and Bible testify of Him. I know that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet of God who saw the Father and the Son. I know that he translated the Book of Mormon through the gift and power of God! I know that the Book of Mormon is true. In the words of Elder Holland who quoted his great-grandfather, "No wicked man could write such a book. And no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded by God." I say these things in name of our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.

I love you all and miss you all. 

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley   

PS Yes, I did get a package from MomMom about a month ago. I just never got the chance to thank her yet. Would you be willing to do that for me? Thank you.

Also, I have actually just read something about the "My Plan" program last week when Elder Jarman and I were doing our mormon.org time. To be honest, I'm excited about it! I can't wait to see what I'll get to do with the program!

Still Kicking & Believing!

A snapping turtle. Possible investigator?

July 20, 2015

Man, this week was definitely hard but it came with great miracles from God. The challenge was that, as a mission, we went over our monthly miles limit last month. I'm not completely sure how this miles limit works, but the mission office has been busy with trying to get this problem fixed and organized. To help them avoid this issue again, we received word that miles originally excused (such as traveling to meetings) were no longer excused. As a result, Elder Jarman and I did a lot of walking and tracting this week. Personally, I really don't mind walking because Flatwoods really is a pretty looking area. It's just the humidity that I don't like. Oh well, it is what it is. As Dad, uncles, and friends have said to me, "the harder you work, the hotter your wife." Well, I hope my future wife will appreciate the hard work I'm putting out here. #DoingThisForYouBabe ;) haha. Anyway, we did get some new and potential investigators out of the deal, so hopefully we can meet with them and start teaching them more.

The biggest highlight for me though was our interview with President Salisbury. Again, I'm so grateful to be serving under the leadership of President Salisbury! He really does care about us missionaries and everything he says just inspires me to do better. 

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

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

P.S. While waiting for Elder Jarman to be done with his interview, I introduced Sister Salisbury to the allrecipes.com website. Her son was returning from his mission and she wanted to make something for him. #BlessingsFromChefMom ;) Love you Mom.

What Just Happened?

Elder Jarman

When it rains, you get wet. ;)

Meet Coach Cowen. He has a list of rules when you are transferred to Cowen.
Follow them carefully. :D

July 13, 2015

Dear Family & Friends,

How's it going, y'all? Mom and Aubrey, I'm so jealous of you that you got to go to Nauvoo. Judging by the pictures and e-mail, it looks like everyone had a blast. When I return home, can we go visit some historical church sites? Since being out here in the mission, I developed a desire to go visit areas where the Prophet Joseph Smith was at. Pretty please? :) Thanks.

Now, you're probably wondering why I titled this e-mail as "What Just Happened?". To be honest, this week just felt like a blur. I think the best the way to describe it is that I know we did something but I'll need to look at my journal again. ;) I guess it's because not a lot has happened. The work is just moving a little slow. Oh well, Flatwoods is a pretty looking area anyway, so I've got a nice scenery to keep me in a good mood. 

There is one highlight that I'm proud of. Elder Jarman and I got to give some priesthood blessings to an investigator and a less-active. These children of God were about to have to some surgery and they were really nervous about it, so we offered to give them blessings to comfort them. It was amazing. The investigator was in tears after we blessed him. It was amazing!

Who is Elder Jarman? He is about 19 years old and from Sandy, Utah. He's been out for almost a year. He also likes soccer and Pokemon. While I may not understand his sense of humor, I'm really glad to have him as a companion. He's been helping me to teach more effectively during our role-plays.

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

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

P.S. Mom, I also tear up whenever I think about the day I left for the MTC. It was a bittersweet moment for me as I looked back and realized that it would two years before we could be together again. Still, I know that this is where I need to be. I love you and miss you. Take care Mom.