Mountains and Miracles

Hollaaaaa from your halfway missionary!!   Nine months ago tomorrow I waved goodbye to my sister and stepped on a Mexico City bound plane to prepare for the next 18 months of my life. Ohhhh all the things I didn't know haha. And many things I have yet to learn! Milestones have the effect of self-reflection, especially since the end of April it's been a year since I opened my mission call. A year and 15 pounds later(thank you Utah member dinners haha) I find myself speaking spanish in Wyoming with a dying companion(not literally- that just means she's going home soon) tracting the trailer parks of the desert. Lol.   What have I learned in all this time? Wow sooo much. I have learned about grace, and that I am not here as a missionary to do this myself. I have a companion and God and the Spirit and I must work together with all of them! I've learned to have fierce faith and be bold with love in inviting people to make changes in their lives that will bring them e...

Querida Familia,   This was a really good week and a lot happened. Our area is picking up and we hope it stays that way! We had set a goal of finding 5 new investigators and ended up with a whopping 8! WOOO BLESSINGS! I heard some pretty profound things this week, and one of those is that missionaries learn the law of opposition pretty quickly. When something hard happens you can be sure you're headed towards something good haha. I've had the most extreme emotions of joy and sorrow on my mission but I have a testimony that the deeper the sorrow the greater our joy can be!   A great thing about Wyoming is that the streets have names again(unlike Utah), so that feels a little more like home, even if the street names are "Hitching Post" and "Tumbleweed".   I did one of my first STL things this week and went on exchanges this weekend! Sister Kimball is the best. We actually got to the field at the same time, so I got a bit of a break for my first exch...

Hellooooooo Family!   Even if you're friends reading this, by now you can be my family haha :) If you haven't heard by now, I have been transferred to Green River, WYOMING! Wow I LOVE IT HERE!! And I'm not even kidding! It's almost the opposite of my first area, but I think I needed that drastic change! Green River is one of those "boonie" areas(3 hours out of Salt Lake- I didn't realize it was that far!) that most missions have lol. It's a town about half the size of where I grew up, and it has a small town feel that I actually really like. It is also gorgeous in a desert way. I kept having the feeling of deep connection with God because in the scriptures mountains and deserts were places of spiritual inspiration and growth. I'm excited for how I can come to know God here!    The people are amazing. I almost cried tears of happiness the first time we had dinner with a big family this week because that never happened in Millcreek. It...

My dear dear family and friends(if you've been reading my emails this whole time you're champs),    For the first time in my whole mission I heard the words "Sister Alley, you're leaving!" in Saturday night transfer calls. Wow, this past weekend has been nuts. Actually this whole past week has felt like it was worth two weeks. I have so many mixed feelings right now. I'm excited but also nervous, and I definitely cried a lot in church yesterday about leaving the people I have been serving for the seven and a half months I've been in the mission field. Our bishop decided it was a good idea to have me and the other Elder leaving our ward bear our testimonies in sacrament meeting. I was grateful for it, but I was also a bit of a mess. I testified about how God takes raw materials and refines them. I have seen that happen with me! And how my work may be done in this area but the work of the members of course continues. Stay tuned to see if I go to Wyomin...

Mis Queridos, Here comes the last week of the transfer! I just want to bear my testimony that God blesses the goals that we make. Sister Garbett and I have been elevating our vision lately and now have a goal to find 10 new investigators every week and we ended up finding 9 this week! Yay! My favorite lessons are those people who are really listening and start thanking us for visiting them because their heart was open to have the Spirit touch them.   I just wanted to share some of the goals we've been making to work with the members of our ward and extend the same challenge to you. The missionaries around the world are there to support each of you with your own family and friends. So here's the challenge: start praying for God to help you know someone specific to start sharing the gospel with. It can start super small! But as God leads you to a specific person, pray for their heart to be softened. And for the eyes to see opportunities. The goal would be inviting them to...

Holaaa Familia y Amigos!!   "These were days never to be forgotten, to sit under the sound of a voice, dictated by the inspiration of Heaven." WOW General Conference was the BEST!! I was so sad when it ended, what a privilege to live in a day when we have living prophets and apostles.    A couple miracles that prove God places people in our path, I saw this girl at the temple open house that I had met my first day in the field outside an apartment complex. She had been crying so I felt inspired to ask if she was ok and we ended up going up to her apartment complex to share a message. She still remembered me and thanked me for helping her feel better that day! There are no coincidences, God put her in my path again! Picture included. Also fun thing, we talked to another lady at the open house in the video room who came with a member friend and is investigating the church. We had a great conversation, and then a couple days later on Pday we just happen to run into her...