Almost Done Baby! Almost Done!

Note from Elder Alley's mom: I got this pic texted to me with the message: "We just had dinner with these two fine missionaries. What great young men. Thanks for sharing them with us!" I was so excited, but the photo was really small on my phone and when I zoomed in I only saw the guy riding the donkey (who turned out to be part of the photo board lol) and the two next to him and none of them were Elder Alley. So I'm trying to figure out how someone could randomly send me a picture of a missionary I don't know. (I mean what are the odds of texting the wrong number and it being another missionary's mom?) Then I looked again and there he is! Elder Alley was hiding under the burro. haha Day made! I am so grateful for people who take the time to send me things like this. :)

 The Logan District: Elder Fitch (district leader), Elder Powell, 
Elder Kropushek (zone leader), Elder Boar (comp), Elder Curtiss (zone leader) and I

September 19, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

 Wow! Can you believe that I only got three weeks left before I come home?! That's insane! I still remember the one e-mail that I sent to Mom, telling her that two years as a missionary felt more like two centuries. Now I'm looking back on it and I realize that time really did fly by. I guess it's true what Grandpa Alley said to Dad and all my uncles and aunts before they left for their missions, "Each day goes a little bit faster than the previous one." Man, oh man.

Well, this week was another good week for missionary work. Since I'm just about done, I'm going to make these last few e-mails short so that I can have some mission stories to share in person. But I do want to share a couple things that happened this week:

1) Had another awesome teaching appointment with the C family! We taught them about how they can recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost, especially when it testifies to them that the Book of Mormon is true. We taught them this because, even though the parents are members of the church, their children are not members and so the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is kind of new for them. It was a great lesson. We had another member couple help us with the lesson and even I felt like I learned something new about how to recognize the Holy Ghost.

2) Contacted two media referrals and one of those became a new investigator! Her name is A and she ordered a Holy Bible from Mormon.org. When we delivered the Bible to her, we also get to teach her and her husband F about the Restoration. It was awesome and they even accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon! I love it when I get to teach people who are so open-minded and already have a love for God and His Son Jesus Christ. Not a bad week if you ask me.

Well, that ought to do it. I hope you all have a good week this week. I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

I'm Not Trunky! At Least...Not Completely ;) Ha Ha!

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? First of all, Happy Birthday Grandma! I hope you had a great birthday party and had lots of whip cream ;) Love you G-ma.

Also, just wanted to send a shout out to my awesome siblings: Ashley, Max, and Aubrey! I love you all and hope you're living life to the fullest. Rock on sibs!

Another shout out goes to Mom and Dad. Mom, good luck in seminary and the 12 week work-out program. Dad, continue to fly high and stay awesome and out of trouble. I love you all. Can't wait to see you all in about 3 or 4 weeks. Not that I'm getting trunky or anything ;) Ha ha. Just kidding. Things are going good here.

Not much really happened this week in the Huntington West area of the West Virginia Charleston Mission. Came down with the common cold near the end of the week so we mainly stayed at the apartment to take it easy. But we did still get some work done. We did get to teach one of our recent investigators, named M, this week. I'll just share what I wrote to my mission president with you:

"My report for the work here in the Huntington West area was that it was a good week. I didn't enjoy getting sick at the latter-half of the week but we still got some work done. One thing I like to report is our teaching moment with M, one of our more recent investigators. M is one of the workers for a group that's helping people who suffered from the flood that happened recently. He loves helping people and he's really cool guy. We first met him while tracting some weeks ago and, at first, I thought he wouldn't want to meet with us because he told us that he didn't go to any church because none of them were living up to what the Bible teaches or what they claim to believe. But, somehow, we managed to get a couple return appointments and he seems to be taking the message of the restored gospel very well. We already taught him about the Restoration and our last lesson was about the Book of Mormon, just explaining what it is and invited him to read it and pray about it. We'll meet him again in a couple weeks. I'll let you know how it goes. Just wanted to share this with you."

Well, sorry that this letter isn't very exciting. But I guess that's what happens when you get sick and you're nearing the end of your mission. Oh well, it is what it is. Until next time, I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

Hey, Hey, Hey! It's Elder Alley! (a "Fat Albert" reference. Couldn't Resist ;)

September 6, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? Got a question for Mom and Aubrey: When do you sleep? Ha ha! Just kidding. Man, I can't believe that Aubrey is already a freshman and has a driver's permit. I also can't believe that Mom is already teaching seminary and that Max is already a freshman in college. Another question: Will you people stop moving on with your lives? You're making me feel old and really outdated. I'm already having a hard time just thinking about all things that's happened in the world that I'll have to catch up on. Ha ha! Just kidding again. You all just keep rocking on.

Well, this week was another awesome week in teaching the C family! Before I get into that, let me tell you a story of how we came in contact with this awesome family:

Once upon a time ;), there was a sister missionary named Sister K who was serving here in the West Virginia Charleston. While Sister K was honorably serving her mission, she received word from her cousin, Sister C, that she and her family were moving from Tennessee to Huntington, West Virginia so that her husband could receive training for air traffic control for an airport. Because of the mission rule that family members could not visit their missionaries while they are serving, Sister K contacted the mission president to tell him of the situation. Sister C is a less-active member and her three children are not baptized so President asked both Sister K and her cousin for permission to send missionaries to go and teach the C family the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sister K and Sister C accepted the offer! President then contacted the Huntington Zone Leaders to send missionaries who were in charge of the area that the C’s had moved into. The missionaries who were sent to them was a well-seasoned veteran named Elder Lane and his devilishly handsome companion named Elder Alley (This is my story so I'll write it the way I like it. Ha ha :p). Since then, missionaries and members of the ward have visited and taught the C family about God and His Son Jesus Christ and His love and plan of happiness for them. And they all lived eternally and happily ever after (well, still working on the "eternal" part, but we are getting there!) :) The end.

How's that for a story? ;) They are a great family and we just taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the Bishop and his wife this week. It was a great lesson, especially when S (their oldest son) made the comment of "A life with Christ is to have Eternal Life." It was awesome! I love teaching this family!


Before I let you go, there a couple of questions that were given to me:

1) From Mom: When people ask you why we are here on earth, what do you tell?

     From Me: I try to tell people that we are here on earth to be tested to see if we will follow God's commandments or not. I try to keep it to that simple statement so that my companion and I don't teach too many principles in one sitting and not have a follow-up appointment afterwards.

2) From Ashley: What is the hardest principle of the gospel for most people to follow and why?

    From Me: It's the principle of living Prophets of God and the need for the Book of Mormon. The reason for that is because for many people the concept of God calling a prophet in our day and giving us more scripture other than the bible is a foreign and unthinkable one. Many of the people that I try to talk to when finding people to teach usually say either "I already go to a church" or "I believe in the bible" and then they close the door on us. They may to go to church and read from the bible, but they don't understand how God works or that the bible is meant to point us to God and not to itself. They focus on a tool from God and not on the God who gave us the tool.

Now, this does not apply to everyone that I met on the mission, but that is the attitude that I've noticed from most people who turn us away. I hope that this makes sense.

Well, that ought to do it. I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

Title: Any Questions? Bring Them On!

Throw Back Pic back from the MTC. This was taken almost 2 years ago!
(Thanks to my niece, Bekah, for hooking me up with this pic I'd never seen before.) :)

August 29, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? Glad to see that everyone had a fun week. I'm especially grateful that Aubrey had a great birthday. Happy Post-Birthday Aubrey!

To answer Mom's questions: Yes, Elder Boer and I are teaching a family and they are an awesome family! Their names are the C family and they have three kids. I'm pretty sure I told you how we found them in a previous e-mail. I love teaching them! We taught them the Plan of Salvation this week and it was definitely one of the best Plan of Salvation lessons I ever got to teach. So things are definitely going good with them.

Other than that, not much to report. Mainly we just tracted around in hot and humid weather. Sweet mercy! I really hope the weather cools down soon. Pray that I don't melt before I get home ;)

Before I let you all go, I just thought of something that might be fun for everyone. I was thinking that since I'm almost done with my mission and have learned a lot about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ during the past couple years, I was wondering if anyone had any questions about the gospel that I could help answer. I was thinking that those who have questions about the gospel of Jesus Christ could send those questions to Mom and then she could send them to me either through mail or e-mail and I can try to help answer them in my e-mails. Just an idea, so don't feel pressured to do it.

Well, I think that ought to do it. I love you all and miss you all. 

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley  

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

Another Week in the Books

August 15, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? Man, these past few weeks have been really hot and humid and this week was no exception. Elder Boer and I have been doing a lot of tracting (door-knocking) and, after being outside nearly all day, we just come back to our apartment drenched in sweat. Can't wait for the day when I can just come home, sit down and lean back on my sofa without feeling how sweaty my back is. Eww. ;) Oh, well. I heard that once we get to the end of August, the weather will start cooling down. Thank goodness.

Anyway, enough of my complaints about heat and humidity. This week was pretty good. It felt slow because many of the people we tract into are very quick to down our message of the restoration and our offering of the Book of Mormon. Let's just say that they are a living example of 2 Nephi 29 (hint: A bible! A bible! We have got a bible and need no more bible!). Now don't get me wrong. I do respect all religions. But it really does get annoying having our message rejected after a while. Work with me people! ;) Oh, well. It is what it is.

There are a couple highlights that I would like to share from this week that were pretty cool. I already reported this to my mission president, so here's an excerpt:

 "We had an awesome teaching appointment with D (one of our current investigators). She's been struggling with smoking and I felt impressed to have us, her and Brother P (a member who always comes with us to these lessons) read from 3 Nephi 11: 31-38 together. When we got to verse 34, she had some concerns about being "damned". Remembering a lesson that I had in one of my priesthood quorums back home, I explained to her that Jesus Christ meant that if we don't keep His commandments then we stop our progress in coming to Him, just like a water dam stops the flow of water. Brother P and Elder Boer gave great insights on this lesson as well and that seemed to really help her. She even set her own date to be smoke-free by August 31 and baptized on September 17. It was an awesome lesson!"

"Other than that, mainly just a lot of tracting and working an area all day. We did find a few more potentials that we will follow up this week, so stay tuned. However, my highlight of the week was getting compliments from random people we run into about how impressed they were that we would go preach God's word while other people our age would just waste their lives on nothing. Most of them weren't interested in learning our message but the fact they would compliment us like that always makes me feel good. Now that's a tender mercy from the Lord. Just thought I would share that with you."

Not a bad week if you ask me ;) Well, I think that ought to do it. I hope all is well back home. I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

Not Sure What to Write

Me and Elder Boar strutting in our Superman pjs 

August 8, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

Thank you all so much for writing and e-mailing to me. I know I've said this a few times before but I really am grateful for your letters and e-mails. I always get excited when I get an e-mail or letter from somebody because I can always feel an uplifting spirit from reading them. To me, they are always tender mercies from the Lord. Thank you all so much.

Thank you also for always keeping me up-to-date on life back at home. I'm also looking forward to the Utah trip coming up in the week after I get home. Sounds like fun!

Well, as the title says, I honestly don't know what to write about. This week has been okay. Elder Boer and I have been working hard to walk to different places and talk to as many people as we can and found a few more potential investigators. Unfortunately, they don't seem to understand the concept of keeping scheduled appointments. To be honest, that's just something that I've come to expect. Oh, well.

One thing that I am happy to report is that I've finally let go of the anger I referred to in last week's email. To make the long story short, there was a misunderstanding and we were able to resolve the misunderstanding and everything is okay now.

Other than that, not much has happened. Sorry for the boring letter. I'll try to make the next one a little more interesting if I can. Until then, I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley