The successes are great

In the last several letters that we have received from Alex, he is constantly telling us how things are really picking up for them.  Alex and his companion have been working really hard to build up their teaching pool and with the news that we got this week, they might have to work even harder at that.  The news was really good.  This past week two more people that they have been teaching for a while, were finally baptized.  Baptizing people that you are currently teaching is a good way to have to go back to rebuilding your teaching pool.  The people that Alex and his companion had been teaching weren't the only ones getting baptized that day.  In fact Alex said that there were so many people in the changing room after the baptismal service, that he had to wait out in the baptismal font for the changing room to clear out.  Here is how Alex was feeling at the time:

"It was a very neat experience to just sit there in the font by myself with all the doors closed. The spirit was really strong. It was a very good weekend for us."

Sometimes when you are in tune with the spirit, even some of the seemingly insignificant experiences can be powerful.

This seems like a never ending theme in Alex's mission.  Alex is constantly telling us stories about how someone he has met or some experience that he has had, ties him back to people or places he knows from Utah.  Well this week was no different and the experience that he recently had, following a Stake conference meeting, brought him even closer than just Utah.  Alex told us that following Stake conference a couple of weeks ago, the Stake Patriarch's wife walked up to him and asked if he was Elder Nicholes.  Of course Alex said yes.  The Patriarch's wife then proceeded to tell Alex that she had just received a call from western New York.  If you remember a couple of months ago, I wrote on this blog about how Alex's older brother had just been called and recently left to serve his mission in Rochester, New York.  As it turns out, the Patriarch and his wife have a son who lives in New York and had called to tell his parents that Alex's brother Christopher was at their house in New York eating dinner.  So here they are, hundreds of miles apart yet sharing some of the exact same missionary experiences.  How cool is that?!!

So here is an interesting story that came from Alex's Aunt and Uncle who had recently returned from Manhattan, Kansas.  I wrote about this whole experience in the last blog entry but this time we got the other side of the story directly from his Aunt and Uncle during a Sunday dinner at our house.  They told us that while they were on their way to visit some of their friends who live near Manhattan and before they had actually seen Alex, they decided to stop by the church building in Salina, Kansas.  As they pulled up to the church, they noticed that there were several cars in the parking lot which were all similar models with Kansas license plates. They pulled up the building, got out of there car and went inside the church to take a look around.  While they were walking around, they could hear some voices coming from one of the rooms in the building.  Once they finally tracked down the voiced to the Relief Society room, they cracked open the door and saw several well dressed young men in the middle of some kind of meeting.  Well of course these were the missionaries from the Salina district in the middle of their weekly district meeting.  Alex's Uncle quietly walked in the back of the room just to see if maybe Alex happened to be there.  As he looked around at the Elders, he didn't see anybody he recognized and decided to quietly step out before he caused any kind of disturbance.  Later on after his Aunt and Uncle finally met up with Alex, they told Alex the story about how they stopped at the church Salina and saw some several missionaries there conducting their weekly district meeting.  To everyone's surprise, Alex told them that as a zone leader he just happened to be visiting the Salina district that day and was at that district meeting.  Apparently Alex was sitting just out of sight on the other side of the room where his Uncle couldn't see him.   Since all of the missionaries were so focused on what was going on in the meeting, they really didn't notice the visitors that had momentarily poked their heads in to the room. 

In addition to that story, they also told us that once the members of the church in Manhattan found out about Alex's relation to their former Stake President, the members told his Aunt and Uncle all about the great job Elder Nicholes has been doing in their mission.  I can't tell you just how proud that makes us feel as Alex's parents to hear stories like that.

Well there are a lot more stories that Alex has told about some of the great people that he and his companion have been teaching.  Most of the details are a little too personal to share here but they are great experiences.  Every week Alex shares more about the teaching moments that they have had and the spirit that is present during these moments.  The response towards the gospel message that the missionaries share, has been very positive at times.  Of course there are ups and downs and not everybody is as receptive as others, but from the letters that Alex sends to us, he is having a great time and that time is rushing by too fast.

The secret is out

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have written anything on this blog.  It wasn't because I am lazy or procrastinating or anything, it is because over the last several weeks Alex has been so busy that he hasn't had much time to keep us up to date.  He has written to us every week although with the library being closed on President's day and the various snow storms that passed through the area, Alex has had to write to us on a day other than his P-day.  Because of that, he doesn't like to spent a lot of time writing because they have so much work to do.  But it is always good to hear from him no matter how brief his letters might be. 

Not many people knew this but I guess the cat is out of the bag now.  Alex has an Uncle or rather his mother has an Uncle, who used to be the Stake President in the Manhattan Stake several years ago.  They now live in Salt Lake but just recently travel back to Manhattan to attend the dedication of a new church building in the Manhattan area.  This presented a rare opportunity for Alex since he is now serving in the Manhattan area as well.  Alex hadn't told many people about his Manhattan, KS relatives mainly because the conversations would usually turn to reminiscing about old times rather than focusing on missionary work.  Not that reminiscing is a bad thing but for a missionary, focusing on your mission is the number one priority. 

So now that you have a little background, here is the funny part of the story.  A few weeks ago when Alex's Uncle and Aunt were visiting the Manhattan area for the building dedication, the local Ward members held a potluck open house for them.  A little later in the evening after Alex and his companion were finished with their teaching appointments, they dropped by the open house to say "Hi".  As Alex described the scene, there were quite a few people talking and mingling with his Uncle and Aunt.  As Alex entered the cultural hall his Aunt spotted him and immediately came over to give him a big hug.  Normally missionaries aren't allowed to hug someone of the opposite sex while they are serving as a missionary.  But in this case, since this was his Aunt and it had been almost a year and a half since they had seen each other, a big hug was the appropriate thing to do.  Of course since Alex hadn't said much about is Manhattan relatives, most of the people there had no idea why this former Stake President's wife was hugging this random missionary.  This drew a lot of funny looks and dropped jaws from the people in attendance.  So like I said, the cat is now out of the bag and now everybody knows that Alex has some roots in Manhattan, KS.  Ever since then, all kinds of Ward members have been giving Alex a hard time about not telling them about his Uncle and Aunt.  Once again, it is a very small world.  Alex didn't have a lot of time to chat that evening, but with the next day being P-Day, they were all able to meet up again and catch up on everything that has been happening at home and in the mission field. 

Another transfer day has come and gone and Alex is still in Manhattan.  He was lucky enough to be able to stay with his current companion, but he told us that almost every other companionship in their zone experienced a change.  I'm not sure what kind of challenges or opportunities this presents for Alex, being a zone leader, but from the tone of his last letter, there are new experiences to be had by everybody.  Alex has been serving in the Manhattan area for six months now and really loves it.  He and his companion have been working really hard to build up their teaching pool since many of the people that they had been teaching were actually baptized around Christmas time.  Alex told us that they are currently teaching some really great people and has shared with us many of his most recent experiences.  He also shared with us some really funny stories but they are all a little too personal to recount here.  Needless to say, Alex is very excited that he is able to spend at least one more transfer in Manhattan and wishes that he could stay forever.  Of course, forever is a long time and we would like to see him come home once his mission is done so that we can give him a big hug too, just like his Aunt did.

Missionary work can be challenging in many different ways

The weather was a factor this time in delaying Alex's weekly letter home.  When he was finally able to write home, he told us about the severe storms that they have been experiencing in Kansas.  Apparently the weather was so bad that it shut down the library for a couple of days.  Alex said that the temperatures had been around minus twenty degrees.  So due to the delay in writing home, Alex wasn't able to write a very long letter again.  He did tell us just how much he liked his new companion and how well they get along and work together.  Alex also told us that he is heading out to Wamego again for a few days to help the missionaries there build up their teaching pool a little more.  He expected to be doing a lot of tracting over the next few days in Wamego and hoping that the Lord would bless the Wamego Elders with some new people to teach. 

Tracting always sounds like a lot of hard work with not very much to show for it.  But for Alex, his opinion of tracting is completely different.  In his last letter home he talked about some of the tracting that they had done and the success that they have had just by going door-to-door meeting people.  Here is what he had to say about all of the door knocking that they did while in Wamego:

"So we have been doing a lot of tracting and street contacting lately, and we have been having some pretty good success from it. I really, really hate the missionary mentality that tracting is a waste of time. I think it can be very effective if you have good people skills and the spirit. I think that is a big problem in why missionaries never have anyone to teach. All they do is try to contact former investigators and wait for their ward to give them referrals rather than actually going out and being proactive. I just hate the stigma that is around tracting, its ridiculous!"

What Alex is saying here is very true.  Going door-to-door trying to talk people has always been one of the hardest ways to meet people and one activity that missionaries would probably like to avoid if possible.  However, talking to people is what missionaries do and if done right and with the guidance from the Lord, it can be very effective and obviously Alex's personal experience with tracting has proven just that.  Alex went on in his letter to tell us all about some of the teaching success that they had while tracting.  He told us about some really great people that they met and some of the opportunities that they have for continuing to teach these people the gospel.  During the two days that they were in Wamego, they taught nine lessons and most of those were people that they had met through tracting. 

Alex included some exciting news about a temple trip that is coming up.  One of the people that Alex taught and joined the church not long ago, will be going through the temple for the first time.  As a result, Alex gets the rare opportunity to accompany this member to the temple.  The other thing that is special about this experience is that the Independence Missouri mission does not have a temple within the mission boundaries.  The closest temple is near Omaha, Nebraska in Winter Quarters which means that Alex would actually be leaving the mission boundaries by special permission.  This will be the first time that Alex has been able to attend the temple since he left the MTC over a year ago.  I'm sure that we will hear all about this temple trip and the special experience that surrounds it.

Alex told us a funny story this week in his letter home.  Everybody in the mission knows that Alex is a bit of a heath nut.  Every opportunity he gets, he tries to exercise and keep in shape.  Also, as hard as it is sometimes on a mission, he tries to eat healthy as well.  So apparently he made a bet with one of the other Elders in the Manhattan area.  Of course a missionary betting with another missionary is probably not the most sanctioned mission activity, but in this case it was probably OK.  As it turns out, a group of missionaries decided that they wanted to visit the local Mongolian BBQ restaurant in the area.  While they were there, one of the other missionaries bet Alex that he could eat more BBQ than Alex.  Well if you know Alex, he doesn't normally back down from a good challenge so the bet was on.  Of course the more interesting part of this story is what the loser of the bet had to do.  Well, knowing that Alex is a health nut, the other Elder decided that if Alex lost, he would have to eat a roll of Oreos and a piece of cake.  That might be a consequence that Alex wouldn't want, but I think you would agree that most of us wouldn't mind losing that bet.  Of course there is always the other side of the bet as well.  If Alex won the bet, then the other Elder would have to workout with Alex for the next three days and finish every workout no matter what.  Knowing Alex and the kind of workouts that he is used to, this Elder was going to regret that he ever threw down the gauntlet on this one. 

So both Elders sat down with their very large portions of Mongonian BBQ and the contest started.  Again knowing Alex, there was no way that he was going to lose and this other Elder never knew what hit him.  As Alex explained the outcome in his letter, he really didn't have to eat that much BBQ in order to win the bet.  All he did was eat as fast as he could which really messed with the other Elder's confidence and resulted in the other Elder giving up before either one of them had really reached their limits.  What a strategy!  If you can't break them physically, messing with them mentally can be just as effective. ;-)  But the story doesn't end there.  I guess this Elder didn't quite learn his lesson the first time so he made the mistake of challenging Alex again to a water drinking contest.  This time the bet was who could slurp a cup of water through a straw the fastest.  No problem again, Alex won that one too.  Well apparently this Elder is a slow learner, but then again maybe not.  After losing both of the previous challenges, he again came back with a third one.  This time the challenge was who could make the most free throws.  Doesn't sound like a big deal until you consider that Alex is a wrestler and this other Elder played on the varsity high school basketball team.  Smart move Elder, but don't count your chickens before they hatch.  ;-)

Delayed letters home

With the holiday falling on a Monday, the library was closed which meant that Alex wasn't able to write home on his P-day like he normally does.  Then apparently he and his companion had a zone leader conference that they had to attend so we didn't end up hearing from Alex for a few days later than we normally would.  But it is always good to hear from your missionary and when we finally got his letter, he told us about many of the things that have been happening lately.

As I mentioned in the last blog entry, Alex and his companion have been working really hard to find additional people to teach.  Sometimes that can be a little frustrating because some of the appointments that they set with people that they are just starting to teach, tend to fall through.  But this is kind of expected when serving a mission even though knowing that, doesn't really make it any less frustrating.  Through all of that however, Alex did tell us about some good things that have been happening with the people that they are currently teaching.  His letter was short since they weren't able to write during their regular P-day time and they were a little short on time since they had another teaching appointment coming up. 

In his next letter, he started it out with a lot of exclamation marks.  If his punctuation alone could paint the whole picture, Alex was probably dancing around the library in excitement while writing home.  You can probably imagine the librarian having to walk over and with a big "shuuuush", telling Alex to quiet down.  The reason for all of this excitement was due to some news that he had received about a friend from back home.  It all had to do with a decision to go on a mission.  Alex told us that this was the biggest highlight of his whole week and it felt just as good as watching someone being baptized.

Alex did write us a little longer letter this last week but much if it was about experiences that can't really be shared through a blog.  As I mentioned before, while serving a mission, there are times when things are going well, and other times when things get to be a little frustrating.  The ups and downs are all just a part of the whole experience.  He did tell us all about a priesthood meeting that he attended in the Salina branch and how wonderful and powerful the teacher was.  Alex said that he felt a little "rebuked" after the lesson but it was a good kind of rebuking, if that is possible.  Well it must be, because Alex said that the lesson was fantastic and probably the best priesthood meeting that he had ever attended.

Cowboy up and git 'ur done

Alex's letter home was kind of a short one a couple of weeks ago.  From what he told us, he and his companion spent the last week working really hard and actually taught more lessons during that week than they have ever taught before.  But other than that, the week was fairly uneventful.  With all of the baptisms that they had during November and December, most of their teaching pool are now members of the Church.  So as a result, they are now having to work at rebuilding their teaching pool back up again.  But all of that is normal for a missionary.  You have to take the up's with the downs and the famine after the feast. 

Alex described a little bit about the crazy weather that they have been having in Kansas.  First of all he told us about how the city of Manhattan was testing out the tornado sirens that day just as the do almost every week.  I guess that is probably a good thing since Alex is sitting right in the middle of tornado alley.  Anyway, Alex told us that a couple of weeks ago they were in the middle of short sleeve weather with the temperature getting up into the 70's.  That is pretty far out of the ordinary for this time of year.  But just as quickly as the good weather came, it all turned back to winter again.  Alex said that within just a few hours the temperatures were back down in the 20's.   He even started out his last letter by telling us that they were in the middle of a snow storm which didn't really make him happy.  The storm really only dropped about 3-5 inches of snow on the ground but that was enough to shut down all of the schools and keep a lot of people from going outside.  Oh well, there you go with having to take the good with the bad and the up's with the downs, whether it is with a teaching pool or the weather.

Oh, I mentioned in the last blog entry under a picture of Alex all dressed up in a cowboy outfit, that we had no idea where he came up with those clothes.  Well Alex must have read his own blog because he answered that question for us in last week's letter.  As it turned out, there is an Elder in his mission that is just a few months behind Alex.  Both this Elder and Alex have been serving near each other for most of the last year.  Alex didn't give us a lot of detail about this Elder but apparently the Elder must have a cowboy background because all of the clothes belonged to him.  We still don't know what possessed Alex to want to dress up in cowboy clothes, but you have to admit that he does look good, right? :-)

There is another amusing story that Alex told us that must somehow be related to this whole cowboy craze.  So one of the things that Alex and many of the other missionaries in the Manhattan area have been doing, is volunteering to help maintain the grounds at the zoo.  One day about a week ago while they were working at the zoo, Alex somehow tore his AmericanEagle jeans.  When P-Day finally rolled around, Alex and his companion decided that it would be a good idea to go to Walmart to buy a new pair of jeans.  However this time he wasn't looking for a name brand like he had before.  He decided that any old pair of jeans would work and Walmart just happen to stock some really nice Rustler cowboy cut jeans for $8.50 a pair.  Since that sounded like a really good price and the animals at the zoo don't really care how well the missionaries are dressed, Alex decided that he should try them on.  So he went into the dressing room, tried them on and then came out to see how they looked.  While he was in the dressing room, his companion started up a conversion with a 50ish year old Walmart worker who's job it was to watch over the dressing room area.  Once Alex emerged from the dressing room, his companion started asking the woman what she thought about the jeans and if she thought Alex looked good in them.  Well, after being prodded a few times by Alex's companion for an honest opinion, she finally said, "well don't think that I am a pervert grandma or anything, but DANG those look fine!!!".  They all got a pretty good laugh out of it and Alex is now the proud owner of a pair of $8.50 Rustler cowboy cut jeans.  Wow, the monkeys at the zoo are going to go "Ape" over Alex's new look. ;-)

It's transfer time again and as it turned out, Alex didn't get transferred but he does have a new companion.  This is the third companion that he has had since he arrived in Manhattan last September.  He just keeps burning through companions like they are a pile of kindling or something.  Actually this is his previous companion's final transfer and he decided that he wanted to spend it training a new missionary for his last six weeks.  Well Alex's new companion is somebody that Alex actually new before his mission.  Apparently, they were both part of a group date that happened during high school but neither one of them remembered until a friend of Alex's new companion wrote and reminded him of the event.  The funny thing is that this whole acquaintance ties back to someone that I know is reading this blog and goes by the initials of H. Mac.  Anyway, its a small world and true to form, Alex always seems to find ties back to his home whether it is with the people he meets or the companions he is currently serving with.

Alex also tells us that their teaching pool rebuilding is going really well.  Several of the people that they are teaching have come to church and they are really excited about that.  In fact one of the people who they are currently teaching told Alex and his companion that it had been over 14 years since he had been to church so by the fact that he is at church today, just means that the missionaries must be doing something right.  Be grateful for all of the little things that go right and for some, even the little things mean a lot. 

 

A Christmas phone call

Alright, the last couple of weeks have been real crazy and I'm not just talking about Alex.  In this blog entry I am going break from the usual and talk a little bit about Alex's family for a minute.  Once you read the whole story, you will understand how a lot of what has been happening with his family, all ties into where Alex is current serving his mission.

So here we go.  Alex has an older brother who just recently turned in his mission papers.  Under normal circumstances, we would have expected a mission call about 2-3 weeks after he turned in his papers.  Well things didn't quite go normally.  Instead of just the normal envelope from the church, we received a called from our Stake President who informed us that the missionary department would like to know if Alex's brother would be ready to leave in 3 weeks.  That's right, it's not a typo.  They said 3 weeks, not 3 months! Our Stake President said that he couldn't tell us where Alex's brother was going at that time, but it was somewhere very important and of special significance.  Thinking that we would have to wait another week for the envelope from the Church to arrive, we were surprised when it came the next day.  When Alex's brother opened the letter we were all surprised to find out that he was being called to the Rochester, New York mission.  That's right, the same mission where Palmyra, Fayette and many other very significant Church historical sites are located.  With Alex now serving in the Independence Missouri mission and his brother soon to be serving in the Rochester, New York mission, we are going to have the greatest Church historical sites tour ever in about 2 years from now!!   As you can imagine, trying to get a missionary out the door in 3 weeks has been crazy.  I won't go into all of the details about Alex's brother's call here.  I will save that for when I start his brother's blog in a few weeks.  But needless to say, Alex is very excited, we are very excited and Alex's brother is extremely excited.

Back to what's up with Alex.  Well this month has been pretty busy for Alex as well.  I have already mentioned previously that Alex was expecting to perform several more baptisms this month and as of the last couple of weeks, those baptisms have happened.  Alex wrote to tell us all about the most recent members of the church and their baptisms.  He said that the baptismal services went very well and that the spirit was very strong.  The only hitch that they ran into was that while they were filling up the baptismal font, they ran out of hot water and by the time they figured it out, the font was a bit chilly.  Alex told us that during the baptismal service he and several other missionaries sang the song "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" from the children's hymn book.  Alex told us that with only two verses, the song was a little short so he spent some time during the previous week writing a third verse.  He didn't tell us what he came up with for the words to this new verse, but he said that it all went very well.  I'm not sure that adding to even a children's song is Church approved, but hey, if you are so inspired, why not. Alex is very excited to see these new members of the Church learning and growing along side of the other members of the Ward.  Alex even talked about how one of these new members has already been interviewed to received the priesthood.

Speaking of musical numbers, in the last blog entry I told you that Alex and his companion had been asked to perform a musical number during Sacrament meeting, the following week.  Well, the duet actually did turn into a quartet.  Alex and his companion recruited a couple of other members of the Ward to help them out.  They all  sang "Guard Him Joseph" and according to Alex, it went pretty well.  He said that the others who sang with him had pretty good pitch and that he was able to blend in ok.  In Alex's words, "I didn’t think we sounded too horrible".  I'm sure it was great, but I am still waiting to hear a real opinion from somebody who was actually there. ;-)

Since this last week was Christmas, we got the rare opportunity to have Alex call home and tell us himself all about what he has been doing.  As always, it was great to hear Alex's voice and to catch up on some of the details about his mission.  Not only did we get to hear from Alex, we also got to hear from his companion and some of the other missionaries that were accompanying them on Christmas.  We talked to Alex for quite a while on Christmas as they were all headed from Manhattan to Wamego where they were going for Christmas dinner.  Of course the Christmas dinner that they were going to wasn't the first of the day nor was it the last.  Just like on Thanksgiving day, they ended up spending time and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with several different families.  In fact Alex had to have his companion call us earlier in the day just to tell us that Alex would be calling a little later than scheduled because they had a teaching appointment along with breakfast at the home of one of their investigators.  That was all good though, because it gave us time to get through all of our Christmas morning traditions as well.  We got a short letter from Alex on Monday after Christmas since we had just spoken with him a couple of days before.  Alex filled us in on how the rest of his Christmas went and the fact that he and his companion attended mid-night mass also.  If you remember from a couple of blog entries ago, Alex and several of the other missionaries have been spending their P-Day playing ultimate frisbee with a member of the local Catholic church.  As part of this new friendship, this catholic member invited the missionaries to attend mid-night mass on Christmas.  Alex told us that it was very interesting and that it was fun to see their friend give one of the readings during the mass.

We got a package from Alex just before Christmas.  Along with the Christmas presents that were included in the box, Alex finally sent us the memory card from his camera.  Out of the 150 or so pictures along with a few videos, here are some of the highlights:

This is during his NASCAR period while serving in Burlington, KS.  We still don't know why he was so into NASCAR, maybe because there are some really "Nas-cars" (say that with a southern accent and you will get the joke. ;-)

While Alex was serving in Burlington, KS last summer, he told us a story about how he and his companion helped a neighbor do a little demo on their house. The problem was that Alex is a little shorter than everybody else that was working there.  So in order for him to be able to reach the ceiling, Alex had to pile up some of the debris and stand on it to get a little extra boost.

No, this isn't a picture of Alex but you can see a faint reflection of his feet in the window.  There is a zoo in Manhattan, KS where the missionaries volunteer most weeks to help out.  Alex told us that according to the records held by the zoo, this chimpanzee is the second oldest in the world.  How they know that, I am not sure.  Alex also told us that if you remember the scene in the movie "Return to Me" where the gorilla plays handsies on th window with one of the stars of the movie, Alex did the same thing with this chimpanzee one day as well.

Just a couple of caged animals at the zoo.  Nothing more to see here.  We are walking, walking...

We have no idea where Alex came up with the cowboy outfit here.  We certainly didn't send him with the hat, the big belt buckle, the boots nor those jeans.  It looks like he is back at the Wamego apartment, but why he is dressed up as a cowboy is still a question to be answered.  Maybe someday he will tell us. ;-)

"Look Mom, lunch!!"

Sorry for the joke if this is really your child's favorite pet chicken. But it does look good! ;-)

Alex told us that this is the picture that he and his companion are using for their Christmas card this year.  If you remember the Christmas card last year, Alex and his companion at the time did the same thing except they were jumping off a snow covered rock.  If you haven't received your Christmas card from Alex yet, "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!"

A week of triumphs and tragedy

Alex opened up his letter from a couple of weeks ago by telling us all about a baptism that took place the Saturday before.  The person who was baptized was somebody that they had met through a referral from a relative that actually lives in Utah.  Alex told us all about the miraculous changes that this man made in his life to get from where he was previously, to becoming a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In some of Alex's previous letters, he talked about several times over the last couple of months when they were teaching this man the gospel.  He described watching a life change right before his eyes and how it has actually been one of the more eye opening and spiritual events that he has experienced so far on his mission.  Of course Alex usually describes things in terms of sports and this is how he described this experience:

I remember Grandma pulling me aside one day and telling me that as good as it felt to win state [wrestling], baptizing someone on my mission would be a much better feeling, and she was soooooo right!!! Seeing [this man] change his life and be baptized was a way better feeling than winning state, I love it!!! I love being a missionary!

Alex spent most of his letter talking about the baptism and the Sacrament meeting the next day when they performed the confirmation.  He talked about the strong feeling of the spirit that came over everybody that participated and also talked about the great testimonies that were given following the confirmation.  This baptism was definitely the highlight of Alex's week if not his whole mission.  Like I have already mentioned several times in this blog, every week for Alex just seems to get better and better.  Alex is really looking forward to seeing more of the people that they are currently teaching, be baptized.  Several of them are already attending church regularly and have really felt the spirit.  Alex has really enjoyed serving for the last several months in Manhattan and really hopes to be able to stay there for several more months.  He really loves the Ward, the people and the members of the church there.    


In his letter this week, Alex told us about an incident that happened to another missionary that nobody ever wants to hear about.  Fortunately the accident did not cause any permanent damage but it was still very scary.  Alex told us about how one of the missionaries in a nearby companionship and stopped suddenly on his bike which caused the bike to go end over end.  Unfortunately, so did the Elder who was riding the bike and the first thing to break his fall was his face.  Alex and his companion were in the middle of a teaching appointment at the time.  Alex said that in the middle of the lesson they got an urgent text message to go to the hospital as quickly as possible.  When they got there they found this Elder a bit beaten up and bloody.  Since his face hit the pavement first, it knocked one of this teeth loose which he ended up have to have pulled later.  Alex told us that they had to take turns sitting with the injured missionary while he healed for the next few days and that luckily all of the hospital tests turned up negative.  It is a scary thing when something like this happens and fortunately in this case it appears that the Elder will be OK after his wounds heal up a bit more. 

Alex and his companion had a great experience at church the other day.  Not too long after Alex arrived in his mission, one of his companions introduced him to the guitar.  Alex has always had a musical background but guitar wasn't this primary instrument.  Well since then, no matter who his companion has been, they always seem to spend some of their time teaching through music.  Alex has taught himself how to play the guitar and both he and his companion sing hymns.  This time Alex and his companion were invited to play and sing for the primary children.  Alex told us that it was a real blast and that he really loves the primary kids in his Ward.  He told us that they sang a version of "Angels We Have Heard On High" and as they reached the end of the verse, all of the primary kids started singing along with them.  Then after they finished singing to the primary, they decided to go into the nursery to sing to all of the little kids as well.  The nursery kids didn't sing along with them like the older primary kids did, but Alex said that while they were singing, all of the little kids were very quite and really seemed to enjoy the music. 

Ah, but here is the real kicker.  After playing and singing for the primary kids, Alex and his companion were invited to sing a duet in Sacrament meeting next week.  One thing that Alex did inherit from his mother is a musical talent.  However, that musical talent only extends to playing musical instruments.  His talents seem to stop abruptly when it comes to actual singing.  So needless to say, Alex is a bit nervous about having to sing in front of everybody in Sacrament meeting.  His last statement to us was that maybe he would try to recruit a few more people to help them out and maybe a quartet could drowned out a lack of talent.  But hey, you have to give Alex points for trying.  How many of you would actually have the guts to stand up in church and sing in front of 300 people.  I told Alex that he needs to find a member of his Ward who would be willing to describe to us truthfully how it went.  We would really like to hear about it.

So to finish out his letter, Alex told us a story that no mother of a missionary ever wants to hear.  At least not until years after the missionary returns home.  For some of us who have served missions, this story is really no big deal, but to the mother of a missionary, she can only imagine the worst.  Alex told us about how they were traveling to Witchita one day and got stuck in a huge traffic jam.  This traffic jam was so bad that apparently the highway was nothing more than a parking lot and it went on for so long that people started turning around and going back to where they came from.  To Alex and his companion this traffic jam just presented them with yet another opportunity to spread the gospel.  So they hopped out of their car and started talking to truckers that were stuck in the same jam.  How they would do this was by climbing up on to the running board of the truck and then talk to the trucker through the side window.  Here you might think to yourself, so what is the big deal?  Sounds like a pretty good idea.  Well this is where the mother of a missionary starts to cringe.  Alex told us that since many of the cars were turning around, everytime a car would whiz by, they had to press themselves up against the truck just to keep from getting hit.  Now of course every mother remembers teaching and warning their kids about the dangers of playing in traffic.  Well guess what, you all forgot to teach them about how equally dangerous it is to teach the gospel in traffic as well.  So let that be a lesson to you!! ;-)