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

The Refiner's Fire: Never Fun But Always Necessary

August 1, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? Thank you everyone for always keeping me up-to-date on events back at home. I'm glad everyone had fun and was kept safe during their hiking trips, homecoming tours, talking with Japanese kids who are trying to speak English and so forth. I'm always grateful to know that I'm not completely out of the loop of your lives ;)

For this e-mail, I will focus on Mom's questions. My answers to her questions should explain what happened to me this week:

1) The name of the investigator who is on date to be baptized on August 13, 2016 is D. She has been investigating the church for a while and Elder Boer and I both felt like she would be ready to be baptized soon. However, it looks like we will need to move her baptismal date because she is struggling with some issues that need to be resolved first.

2) First of all, I want to thank my Mom, my Dad, and my sister Ashley for expressing their sympathy and prayers to me for my frustrations with the work lately.

I won't go into detail, but I've had a situation that resulted in my having anger towards someone. That person apologized, however, for almost the entire week I harbored this anger and resentment towards this person. (Note from Elder Alley's mom: The person is not his companion. I wouldn't want anyone assuming that. Elder Boer is awesome and Elder Alley is really happy to be working with him.) I even asked Heavenly Father in my personal prayers, "Why do I have to deal with this?" If this week showed me anything, it's that I struggle with forgiving those who I feel have wronged me in some way.

But then, something amazing happened on Sunday. During Sacrament Meeting, one of the members gave a talk based on Elder Kevin R. Duncan's General Conference Talk "The Healing Ointment of Forgiveness". As soon as this member mentioned the talk, the Spirit immediately grabbed my attention. When the member was done speaking, I realized that my problem was that I wasn't willing to forgive this person. I may have accepted their apology, but in my heart I didn't really forgive them. But Elder Duncan taught that the Lord expects us to forgive and let Him take care of justice. Mercy cannot rob justice but anger cannot bring peace. Only the Savior and His Atonement can bring us peace.

Since then, I've been praying to Heavenly Father to help me forgive this person and remove this anger from my heart. I'm still working on it, but I'm getting better at it.

Well, I guess I'll go ahead and let you all go now. I love you all and miss you all. Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley  

Hot & Humid But Still Hanging in There

July 25, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going y'all? Man, that cabin that hosted the family reunion looked sweet! Those jerseys look cool as well. Can't wait to get mine. I'm glad everyone had fun at both EFY and the Family Reunion. Keep up the fun y'all.

As for me and Elder Boer, it's been really hot and humid over here in Huntington but we are still hanging in there. We've been doing a lot of tracting and walking in order to find more people to teach and by the time we are done for the day, we are just drenched in sweat. On the bright side, a lot of people who saw us out and about were very kind in giving us either water or Gatorade bottles. They may not have been interested in learning about the restored gospel but it's always nice to get some sympathy and something to drink.

But despite the heat and humidity, we have actually seen a lot of miracles this week. We now have an investigator on date for baptism, taught an awesome lesson about the Book of Mormon to a recently found investigator, and taught an amazing married couple about reading the Book of Mormon.

Let me tell about this couple: their names are A and T. They're both members of the church but they haven't attended one for years. They met each other during their service in the army, working in Air Traffic Control. A is now currently taking training in Air Traffic Control for a small airport and T is currently going to school to get a bachelors degree in Aeronautics. They're both super nice and they have three kids.

What makes them unique is that T is actually a cousin to a sister missionary who also serves in this mission. To make the long story short, the sister missionary talked to President Salisbury who then talked to our zone leaders who then sent us the address to go find them. I first met them with Elder Lane and now I'm working with them with Elder Boer.

Elder Boer and I met them on Sunday and we originally planned on reviewing the Restoration with them because it has been a while since Elder Lane and I taught them the restoration and I only met them twice. But during Personal Study, I felt impressed to read 1 Nephi 11 and came across this verse, "And the Spirit said unto me: Behold, what desirest thou?" As soon as I read those words, I realized that we needed to focus the meeting on understanding what their desires and concerns are. I'm glad I read that verse because that resulted in an amazing meeting where they were very open and honest about their desire to have the Spirit more in their home but they did have some concerns about coming back to church. In the end, we invited them read the Book of Mormon as a family and have plans to meet them and their kids in August to teach them the Restoration. It was awesome!

Well, I'll go ahead and let you party animals go now. I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley

Off to a Good Start!

Charlie demanded a picture be taken of him :)

Elder Lane

Our District: Elder Kropushek, Elder Boar (my comp), Elder Yocam, 

Elder McCrae, Elder Powell, Elder Adams, and I

July 18, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going everyone? I hope you all are recovering well from the last couple of busy and emotionally draining weeks. I also hope that Aubrey and all of my cousins will have fun at EFY and that Max's transition from mission life to "normal" life goes smoothly. Have fun with that one bro ;) Ha ha. Still, I hope everyone is doing okay.

Well, as I said in my last e-mail, my new companion is Elder Boer. He is good ole, hard-working farm boy from Star, Idaho (he said it's located somewhere outside of Boise). He loves hunting and anything that involves being outdoors. What makes this companionship interesting is that he actually came out on the mission field with me (we weren't in the same MTC zone but we were in the same travel group) and I knew him when we were in the same district back when I was serving in Parkersburg North, WV. And that was over a year ago! #ElderAlleyIsGettingOldInTheMission ;).

So with all this in mind, that means that there are one of two possibilities that could happen to me: 1) I could transferred to a different area for my last transfer so that Elder Boer could take over and get my replacement settled in, or 2) We both finish our last two transfers here in Huntington West and kill each other off! How crazy would that be? Personally, I'm willing to bet that we'll just both finish our missions here in Huntington West. But, you never know.

Anyways, so I already knew Elder Boer and I was so excited when I found out that we would be companions because he is a good, hard-working missionary. In fact, right after he got settled into the apartment, we just got right to work. The results are that, within just four days of being together, we already found a ton of potential investigators and picked up two new investigators! It was awesome! So we are off to a good start.

One story that I would like to share with you happened on the second day of our companionship. One counsel that President Salisbury gave to the mission recently is that we should stay and work in one area all day. The reason for this counsel is that we, as missionaries who have cars, have a terrible habit of driving from one person's house to another and not get any lessons or finding opportunities in (it's a long story). Well, my goal for this transfer is to put that counsel to that test. So, instead driving from house to house, Elder Boer and I just picked a couple addresses to go to and either walk there or drive and then walk there. If they fall through, then we just tracted around that area for the rest of day. This resulted in a lot more opportunities to talk to people.

On the second day of our companionship, Elder Boer and I found this one family in their backyard swimming pool and talked to the father. We did our usual missionary intro and invitation to learn about the restored gospel and we then set up an appointment with him and his family this evening. However, the real story is that after we left this family and worked the area for the rest of the day, we were making our way back to our apartment when we ran into the father again and he was surprised to see us still out and about. As a missionary, I love seeing shocked reactions from people who see us walking around trying to spread the Word of God. For me, this allows more teaching opportunities because that usually gets people curious as to why we do what we do. It's always an awesome experience.

Well, I'll go ahead and let you guys go. I love you all and miss you all. Take care everyone.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley  

Greetings from Elder Alley!

Michael got to see the Bentleys again and Trish was nice enough to send pics.
Thanks, Trish!

With Elder Lane

July 11, 2016

Dear Alley Family & Friends,

How's it going everyone? I hope you all are doing okay. I know that this week has been a very draining week for everyone, physically, mentally and emotionally. But I'm very grateful to know that the funeral service for Uncle Marc was well taken care of. I am so proud of all my family members and friends of Uncle Marc and his family for coming together and showing love and giving service at such a critical time. You all are truly amazing!

Max! Congratulations bro! Way to finish your mission like a boss! You are awesome! I would have been satisfied to just know that you finished your mission honorably and made it home safely. But after reading Mom's e-mail about how you were a trooper in attending Uncle Marc's funeral after being back home for no more than a day and the love you showed to everyone and being a proxy for Uncle Marc, my respect and love for you has increased ten fold. Now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your mission was a success because of how much you have become like Christ. Way to go bro!

Well, the only thing that's happened this week was just some more tracting and letting Elder Lane saying good-bye to everyone since he'll be going home. The news for the upcoming transfer is that I'll be staying in here in the Huntington West area and my new companion is Elder Boar! I'm so excited for this transfer because Elder Boar was in my district back when I was serving in Parkersburg North and he is a good, hard-working missionary! He is also one of the missionaries that came out at the same time that I did. In other words, we may both be finishing our missions here in this area! How crazy is that?

Well, I'm going to let you all go now. I can't wait for my homecoming ;) I love you all and miss you all.

Hurrah for Israel!

Love,

Elder Michael Alley