First Official Transfer Coming Up!

At the Mission Christmas Conference

Sharing his testimony

Michael and his companion, Elder Buttars. After transfers this week, he'll have a new companion,
but get to stay in Martin. We're grateful to Elder Buttars for the great training he provided
Elder Alley while they were together. The training period is over now. Time to hit it for reals. :)

He spent Christmas at the Bentley's house. He and Elder Buttars had a great Christmas over there.

Now there's something right up Michael's alley (pun intended)

Fine looking missionaries

With the Bentley Family
This family takes such great care of the missionaries. Elder Alley adores them.
I'm so grateful for people like them!

Elder Alley is a happy guy. He LOVES spaghetti.

Good call to put the towel on. (We've seen how he eats spaghetti. lol)

Lunch with some more of Elder Alley's favorite people :)

January 14, 2015

Dear Family,

First of all, I can't thank you guys enough for writing to me. I'm also truly grateful to you guys for putting our names in the temple's prayer roll. Please know that I find great comfort in knowing that my family and friends are rooting and praying for me from back home. Thank you everyone so much!

Well, as the title says, my first official transfer is coming up and the result is this: I'll be staying in Martin, Kentucky for another 6 weeks with a new companion. The Ashland Zone Leaders have told me that my new companion's name is Elder Barnie. I won't meet him until some time tomorrow, but I heard that he's a really nice guy.

Elder Buttars was a good companion who gave me some good advice and I thanked him for training me and putting up with me. To be honest, I have a lot of mixed feelings about this transfer. Part of me is looking forward to it, however, because I'm the one who is staying, that means I'm the senior companion ("senior" as in I know this area better than he does) and I'll be the one in charge. To be honest, I don't want to be in charge. I don't want to be a leader. I'm usually fine with just being on the sidelines. The best way that I can describe it is that I'd rather be the sidekick who wants to help, instead of the hero who gets most of the responsibility. Does that make sense? I'm not saying this to be negative. I'm just saying that I really don't like being in leadership positions. The fact that I survived being a Zone Leader at the M.T.C. was a miracle on its own. Oh well, it is what it is. Just please keep me in your prayers that I'll be able to make the most of this transfer. Please and thank you.

Speaking of "thank you". Could you thank Uncle Matt for me for his generous donation to our mission funds by buying the Play Station 3? I was not expecting him to give us that much. Thank you so much Uncle Matt!

To answer some of your questions: Yes, Grandpa's suit does still fit but I might send it home because I'm worried about it getting damaged out here. It is an old suit after all. I'll think about it after this transfer week settles down. As for what I was doing in that picture of me at the Christmas Conference: I was bearing my testimony of the true meaning of Christmas using Luke 2:8-20. Prior to this conference, me and a few other missionaries were asked to bear our testimonies about the true meaning of Christmas at the end of the conference. As I was bearing my testimony and reading them the story, I told them about the time when I asked mom, "Why did God send angels to shepherds?" I asked this question because during this time, it made more sense to me that God would send angels to His prophets and other chosen servants. Mom, I remember you telling me that (it may not be word for word) God loved the shepherds just as much as He loves us. Because the birth of His Only Begotten was such an important event, He wanted everyone to know about it, including the lower-class people like the shepherds. So important, that He sent angels to spread the Word about His Son. As I told this story, I testified that we, the missionaries, must be like the angels spreading the message of the Restored Gospel to everyone, including those who most people would over-look. It was a very special moment for me.

Before I end, I want to share with you one cool event that happened to me this week. I was on exchanges in Prestonsburg with Elder Wheeler and we came across this martial arts dojang after we had dinner. To make the long story short, Elder Wheeler saw my excitement when I saw the dojang and convinced me to go inside and talk to the teacher there. We did and the teacher and I had a great discussion about martial arts and its history. I wasn't able to get the gospel into the conversation, but the teacher said that we can stop by again and exercise with him if we want! I felt like I just opened up a new future for missionary work! It was awesome! I'm hoping that we can work something out where I can come back to help get the Prestonsburg Elders set up with the martial arts teacher. At the end of the day, Elder Wheeler told me that he loves watching missionaries "geek out" because that helps people to feel more comfortable around him and be more open to him. It was a great exchange.

Well, that's all for now. I love you all and miss you all. Take care everyone.

Love,
Elder Michael Alley

Happy New Year!

January 5, 2015

Dear Family,

How's it going y'all? How's it feel beginning the year 2015? Man, I got to admit that I'm little nervous because this is the year when, like Max and Jacob, I spend 100% of it doing missionary work. I really hope this year flies by because, in all honesty, this two-year mission is starting to feel like a two-century mission. On the bright side though, this week is the last week of my 12 week training program. I'm hoping that this sense of accomplishment will give me the boost I need to endure my mission. I'm also hoping that this freezing weather and flu season doesn't last forever because it's really putting a hurt on the missionary work here in Martin. It's just really hard to see people when they don't want to be outside (especially since some of our investigators are single women and mission rules prevent us from going into their homes) and they're sick. Oh well, it is what it is I guess.

I also want you to know that I love the pictures that you sent me. I couldn't help but chuckle when I saw Sam in his snowman costume (I would laugh harder but I'm doing these e-mails in library). I also can't believe how much older Aubrey looks in her pictures! I really wish she would stop growing (ha ha). I especially enjoyed the pictures of my new cousin Adam. He is so adorable. Way to bowl while holding my new cousin Dad! ;)

Man, I wish I was there for that Bunco Night at our house. It looked like a lot of fun. Could you do me favor and keep that slushie machine until I get back? I want to find out for myself how good these slushies really are.

Well, with the new year coming up, I have to admit that I've got some mixed feelings about it. Half of me is ready for a change: a change in weather, maybe a change in location if, for some reason I'm the one that gets transferred, but most importantly I'm ready for a new sense of motivation and excitement for missionary work. As I read Max's, Jacob's and Ashley's e-mails, I felt a lot of sympathy for them. Ashley's e-mail really stood out to me because I know just how frustrating it is to have an investigator drop you. Just last week, we had an investigator drop us on the day that we finally had a scheduled appointment with her! Man, this stinks! That's the struggle we have here in Martin: scheduling appointments. To make the long story short, it's really hard to schedule appointments here. When these things happen it becomes really hard to stay motivated for missionary work.

Being out here in the mission, I've realized some things about me that I've never thought about before. I like being in a big group of people and I like positive energy. I like being in big groups of people because it helps me to not feel lonely but I don't feel forced to say something since they'll just have conversations with other people. When I do talk to someone about something I like for them to be excited because then I can feed off of that energy.

To help me stay motivated, I read your letters and e-mails and find a quiet place to read my scriptures in the trailer during our meal breaks. I hope this e-mail doesn't make you sad, it's just that the work here is moving slow and I find writing about my thoughts and feelings to someone helps me to stay sane. I also gave a similar to report to President Salisbury.

There is one other thing in Ashley's e-mail that stood out to me. It was the advice that her companion gave her: "There is no such thing as a "half-miracle," but sometimes we just don't get to see how it ends."  I thought that was a great piece of advice. Not only does it help me to see the big picture of missionary work, but it also helps me to know that even if my weekly and daily reports show zeroes, it doesn't mean that miracles aren't happening. We just might not get a chance to see them.

Well, that's my report for y'all. Again, please don't let this letter get you down. I just needed to get this off my chest. As I have said before in my past e-mails, I've been given great counsel from my mission president and other missionaries and the members (especially the Bentleys) have given us great support. Take care everyone. I love you all and miss you all.

Love,

Elder Michael Alley 

I Wish You a Happy New Year!

Christmas morning at The Winn's apartment

Our pile of gifts. Thanks everyone!

Sister and Elder Winn. They're a senior missionary couple in our district. 
They are so nice. They remind me of Grandma and Grandpa Alley.

Oh, man, I love the Alley Family Missionary calendar!
One more Christmas to go. 

Skyping with you

                                           Nest series of photos is from Elder Alley's mom:

                                                  Our view of Skyping with Elder Alley

He even got to Skype with his Dad who was on a trip. 

(I love technology!)

This is what his little sister posted on Snap Chat

Love this boy and miss him!

3 for 3 in successful Skype calls with my missionaries!

More pictures Elder Alley sent:
Elder Buttars and the Bentley Family.
The Bentleys let the us Skype at their house and we spent a lot of our Christmas with them.
They are a great family!

Celebrating New Year's Eve
(Sister Bentley was really thoughtful and sent me these pics via Facebook.
"Bonus" pics of my missionary are THE BEST!!!)

Playing Uno.
(Funny, because his sister played Uno on New Year's Eve with the members in Thailand.
Uno is, apparently, a universal game.)

December 29, 2014

Dear Family,

Man, I really enjoyed Skyping with you guys during Christmas. You have no idea how much I loved talking with you. It just felt so good to finally to both see your faces and hear your voices. I loved every minute of it. I wish we could've talked longer but I guess there's a reason why these Skype appointments are limited to one hour. Still, one hour just didn't feel long enough. Oh well, now we have Mother's day to look forward to. Awesome!

Speaking of "forward", I just want to wish everyone a Happy New Year! To be honest, I am both excited and nervous for the new year. I'm excited because I personally feel like the feeling of a new year might be able to help with the missionary work here in Martin, Kentucky. I'm not sure how but it just might give us missionaries a new start in missionary work and allow us to invite more people to learn about the Gospel as they think about what to do for the new year. Here's hoping. Pray for us and hope things improve for missionary work.

My plan for the new year is to be social and confident in missionary work. What I mean by this is that because I'm not the most social person that you'll ever meet (as much as I hate to admit it), I find it hard to talk with people I don't really know. Anyways, could you keep me in your prayers and pray that I'll have more charity, understanding and patience for the people I've been called to serve? I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

I also want to explain real quickly about one of the pictures that I sent. Just in case anyone was curious, there's a picture of me holding the family missionary calendar while also holding one finger up. That's my way of saying, "We just have one more Christmas to go before we're all back together again."

Well, that's it for now. I love you all and I will see you all again in about 21 months. Have a Happy New Year!

Love,
Elder Michael Alley    

Merry Christmas Everyone!

At the Martin Christmas Festival

Elder Alley in Martin, Kentucky

December 24, 2014

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas everyone! Thank you everyone for all of your love and support. Whether it's a simple letter or a bag of candy, I can feel all of your love and support from just looking at what I've been given. I truly have been blessed with a wonderful family and group of friends. Thank you so much everyone.

Mom, thank you so much for your last letter. You have no idea how much your words lifted up my spirit. I'm grateful to know that I am helping with the work, even if it's just through e-mails. I've read that letter multiple times and each time that I've read it I've been thinking about Sis. Buxton's story of how her husband set up these teaching appointments with members for the missionaries to use. As I read Sis. Buxton's story, I've been thinking about bringing this idea up our Ward Mission Leader and our district and see if this could help reactivate some members in our area. I will have to wait until after the holidays since many people are out of town right now. Still, I like this idea.

I'm also grateful that you answered my questions. You didn't have to answer them but I'm glad you did. I promise that I won't beat myself up if things don't go according to plan. I will just be me, do my best and let the Lord have the rest.

I also want to thank you for sending me the Skype info. Just a heads up, I'll be calling you on Christmas Eve but the purpose is to set up a time when we can chat. It'll be hard but we'll need to do our best to stay focused and keep that phone call short. Man, I can't wait!

I'm going to keep this e-mail short so that I will have stories to share over either Skype or phone. I'm excited! I love you all and I wish you a Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley 

Tis the Season

Setting up the "He is the Gift" display at the City Hall Christmas Event

Pretty sure Elder Alley (and all the missionaries) are at the top
of Santa's Nice List this year. ;)

The stockings arrived!
Thanks to Grandma Alley and her mad sewing skillz!
(Hmmm. I'm sensing that whomever they rent the trailer from is a University of Kentucky fan. lol)

Elder Buttars got a missionary stocking, too. :)
(Yeah, definitely sensing a UK theme in the room decor. That's a lot of Wild Cat stuff.)

December 15, 2014

Dear Family,

How's it going everyone? Man, I don't know if there are any words that can describe how grateful I am to have been born into our wonderful family. I am so grateful for all of your love and support. The Christmas packages that you sent to me and Elder Buttars were awesome! I can't wait to see what I got for Christmas! But more importantly, I am grateful for all of your letters of support, wisdom, and comfort. They really do mean a lot to me.

Mom, I'm really sorry that I've only given you the surface details of my experience as a missionary. As you figured out, most of the time I just try to keep things to myself. I do it because I don't want other people to be burdened with my problems. I really enjoy helping other people.  I want to be the kind of person that people can rely on and have confidence in. But when I'm the one the one who needs help, it's hard. But I guess that since I'm only human, I need to start relying on others to help me.

So, how do I feel about being a missionary? To be honest, the feelings vary from day to day. There are days when I feel inspired to get out there and take on the world. This inspired feeling comes from many different sources: from what I read in the scriptures to counsel given in Zone Meetings. Even your letters have given me great spiritual boosts to keep going. Unfortunately, those inspired feelings tend to go away as Elder Buttars and I try to find people to teach. When our investigators don't progress because of either busy work schedules or they are just not home for some reason, I lose that go-getter attitude. And when I see people who are less active because they have been offended by some one or they just don't want to commit to anything or build their testimony, then deep down inside I just want to throw in the towel, go back to the trailer and just sit there for the rest of the day. Why? Because I feel like I'm just wasting gas, time and energy. I'm also struggling to be myself. I know that people said to be my best self but, for some reason, I feel like I need to be this disciplined missionary as soon as the suit and tie come on. I just hate that feeling. 

In my mind and heart I would ask: What do I need to do to get the work moving faster? What can I contribute to the mission? Why don't I have answers or solutions to all of their problems? Am I working hard enough or not? 

I promise, that my district and mission president have been giving great counsel and comfort to me as I express my concerns. Plus, I have seen the tender mercies of the Lord. The members of the ward are super nice and supportive of us missionaries. To the point that I am worried about being overfed (ha ha). I love doing service at this place called Elkhorn Park. I love working with the Winns (the senior couple). Elder Cluff (District Leader) and Elder Wheeler are hilarious and great to work with, and my companionship with Elder Buttars is good. The less actives that we get to talk to are super friendly to us and we get to have fun conversations with them. I'm even finding a love for choir practice at church. Who knew?

Please know that I've also been blessed by the Lord in ways that I can't describe. I believe, and still do, that the Lord will make me into the honorable man that He needs me to be. My definition of "honorable man": A man is who loves God and raises his family in the ways of the Gospel. Basically, like dad and grandpa. I hope that helps.

Well, I think that's everything. I love you all and miss you all. I can't wait to Skype/phone you on Christmas. I'm hoping to find out more about that soon, maybe in specialized training tomorrow. Anyway, take care everyone. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

P.S. One set of pictures is of me and Elder Cluff at the Allen City Hall for a special Christmas event. We were on exchanges that day and we got to set up a booth to show the "He is the Gift" video there. It was awesome! I even got to take a picture with Santa Claus! #RelivingMyChildhood (ha ha). Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

December 8, 2014

Dear Family,

Merry Christmas everyone! Today is definitely a Christmas miracle because the Internet at the Floyd County Library, where we usually do our e-mails, got shut down for some reason. I am doing this e-mail from Sister Winn's iPad (the wife to Elder Winn). I will ask her to send you an e-mail so that you can thank her for this miracle. This letter will be short so that I don't hog this thing. Anyway, I did get those 4 packages. Thank you so much. Do I need to wait until Christmas to open those? Let me know in the next email. Well, just want to wish you all a merry Christmas and I will give more details in my next e-mail. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

P.S. I will find out more about the Skype thing as the time gets closer. Probably at the upcoming district meeting. Take care.

Note from Michael's Mom: Part of me is very glad that I have such a considerate son...and another part of me wishes he'd just hogged the iPad and wrote me a long letter AND sent pics. ;)

Merry Christmas Ya'll!

At the Turkey Bowl with Elder Cluff, Elder Wheeler and Elder Buttars

So grateful for families who take care of my missionaries :)

Looks like they were well fed!

December 3, 2014

Dear Family,

Man, it's becoming harder and harder to summarize what has happened to me here in Martin, Kentucky. I just don't know where to begin. I guess I'll start with the Weekly Housekeeping:

1) Elder Buttars and I did not get transferred this week. The reason for this is because my training program with him is not done yet. We are now in Week 7 of the 12 Week Training Program. Therefore, there's a good chance that neither of us won't be transferred until sometime in January.

2) Yes, I did get some apple pie on Thanksgiving.

3) No, I do not have any info on my Christmas call yet. I promise, I will ask around and find out.

4) Yes, I did get the pajama bottoms that MomMom sent me.

Now for the real story. In case you guys were worried about me since I didn't send you an e-mail on Monday, I apologize for that. The reason for that is because on transfer weeks the transfer days take place on Thursdays. In order for the missionaries to prepare for their departures, Wednesdays become the new P-Days for that week. Even those who aren't being transferred are asked to hold off on the e-mails until Wednesday so as to avoid confusion for the Mission President who will receive e-mails from us. I'm sorry but that's the rule for this mission.

Anyway, Thanksgiving was awesome! We had a Turkey Bowl, had dinner with two member families who just spoil us (bless their hearts), and we are beginning a new missionary campaign to help people get into Christmas Spirit and hasten the work. It's called the "He is the Gift" campaign. If you haven't already, please go to christmas.mormon.org to watch the video. It is amazing! The Church is really putting a lot of their resources into this campaign to help people realize that Jesus Christ is the gift sent to us by our loving Heavenly Father. Please watch the video and help us to #ShareTheGift. Christmas time is the best time to do so. The West Virginia Charleston is already seeing miracles because of this campaign.

I also want you to know that I'm really glad that things are going well at home. It's awesome that you had the missionaries over for Thanksgiving. I truly have been blessed to have a very supportive and loving family. I am truly grateful for everyone's letters and e-mails. Thank you so much.

I will admit, it's hard not to get homesick during this time of year. I love Christmas because of the wonderful traditions that our family has with it. As I read your letter about Dad's attempts to fix the Christmas lights and Mom and Aubrey setting up the Christmas tree, I couldn't shake the feeling of "I wish I was there for that." I'm not trying to make you guys sad, but please keep me in your prayers. I'm really going to need them for this time of year.

As for the work here in Martin, Kentucky hopefully, the "He is the Gift" campaign will help to hasten the work here.

Well, I guess that's everything. Always remember that I love you guys and you're always in my prayers. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

P.S. Just a few things: 1) Elder Cluff (my district leader) says "Hi" (ha ha). 2) One of the pictures that I sent is a little blurry for some reason but it's me drinking a soda. I know that I promised to do the "No Soda Challenge" but since a lot of the members bring sodas for celebrations I decided that I'm going to make a few exceptions. Please, forgive me. Thank you. I love you all.