Hey Ya'll

At 10:45am (PST), Elder Michael Alley was our first Skype call of the day. 
He called from their ward's clerk office. A previous bishop set up Skype on the 
computer in there so missionaries could use it on Christmas and Mother's Day. 
I thought that was genius. Michael had a quiet, private space to talk and 
he didn't have to coordinate with a member family's Mother's Day schedule.

It was another missionary miracle for us because Mike ended up getting to 
talk to all three of our missionaries even though he was flying all day. He just 
"happened" to have quick layovers during the times our missionaries were 
able to call. We know that was no coincidence. That was another tender mercy 
from Heavenly Father.

May 11, 2015

Dear Family,

How's it going y'all? Thank you so much for the awesome Skype time. I'm sorry that I cried a bit. I didn't mean to get so teary-eyed, but please know that this just shows how much I love and miss you all. As much as I enjoy reading your letters and e-mails, I really miss hearing your voices and seeing your faces. To be honest, knowing that serving a mission would require me to have a limited communication with you all was the main reason why I hesitated to go serve a mission. This kind of sacrifice is neither easy or fun. However, I believe that if I didn't make this kind of sacrifice then I would never have known how much my family means to me. So if you think about it, it is a blessing disguised as a hardship.

Anyway, just wanted to send you a quick shout out that I love you all and miss you all. I also want to give you a heads up and let you know that next week is transfer week, so my next e-mail will come in on Wednesday. Take care y'all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley