How it's possible to attend General Conference with -1 tickets

Holaaaa Familia y Amigos!

  Wow time is starting to go a little faster now! What do I even say about this week? Well first of all I want to thank you all for your prayers and email notes. I'm so sorry I can't respond to everyone! But know they mean so much to me. I can see my email each night, so feel free to send me emails, I just can only respond once a week on Mondays.

 To explain my title haha, we got to go to General Conference!! Tickets are pretty difficult to obtain though, so that was way stressful. But our angel elders gave us some for the Saturday morning session. We really tried to have an investigator come, but that didn't end up working out. We decided to go anyway since last time we decided to stay with a family for Women's conference instead of going even though we had tickets (that was so sad). So because of that, we had three tickets. At one point in line, my companion and I started to look for our tickets and suddenly couldn't find them anywhere. At that exact moment, a lady came up to us with two tickets and asked if we could find someone who needed them. We said, you know, actually we do! Woah, miracle! I know that God is always willing to help us, even when we mess up. Entonces, since we came in with three, lost them, and gained two, that is how it is possible to attend conference with -1 tickets!

  Speaking of General Conference, how amazing! And also a much needed  blessing to me to hear the words and counsel of the Lord's prophets soon after I arrived in the field, still struggling to adjust to missionary life. We watched the other sessions of conference at less active's houses, so half of the time we were watching it in Spanish, so some things I didn't understand haha. But I want to highlight what Elder Anderson said in his talk about our dear apostle Elder Hales who passed away yesterday. It is significant that some of Elder Hales final thoughts to share with the world were that when we have faith we will be prepared to stand in the presence of God. Keep the faith! 

  I have more to add to my list of countries I have met people from: Yemen, Turkey, Somalia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Peru, Afghanistan, South Africa. There's more but I forgot some haha. So true how Salt Lake is a mountain of the Lord, and all nations flow unto it! It's always interesting to hear peoples reasons for moving here, a good number because they heard Utah was a safe place to live where the people are nice and have morals. Doesn't mean everyone is that way, but I'm sure that good reputation is because of the Church! That being said, I ask all of you who are members of the Church to be a little kinder, look for those who need a friend, because I have heard so many stories of people, especially converts, who really need that. 

   Food! It's so fun to try food from so many different countries! I want to try to pick up some recipes along the way. For example, ARROZ CON LECHE oh my so good I don't know why I've never had it before. We also had something called lomos saltado, a Peruvian dish. 

  I learned a lot about myself this week, of just how important it is to trust in and depend on God. I also learned it's normal to struggle adjusting to be a missionary, we had intercambios, exchanges this week, and Hermana Wilson helped me a lot! We also had a new missionary training and I learned so much! One of those was that if I have a big enough why, I can do any how, and my why is pretty big: I love my Savior Jesus Christ. So, whatever struggles I have, I can know that I do know why I'm here. I'm called by a prophet and God has sent me. Yes I'm doing hard things but they are making me grow, and I want to grow! I don't have to expect perfection from myself, and I am learning. 

  We taught a lot of lessons this week. It is so cool to see how God has prepared some people to hear the gospel! I could give several examples but here's my favorite: we started to teach a man from Iraq, who literally approached us about how he could get a Book of Mormon! He's interested in the church because of how similar it is to Islam. Hearing him talk, it really is amazing how many similarities there are! We gave him a Book of Mormon in Arabic, and he seems excited and commited to read it. That's so exciting! It's so rare for someone to be so self-motivated. Hermana Dorsey and I were sad we had to pass him off to the English Elders.

  Oh I keep forgetting to talk about my companion! Hermana Dorsey, my trainer, is from Nashville Tennessee and has been out for six months. She is so patient, funny, and obedient, and loves the gospel. She inspires me because a lot of her family isn't active in the church. She doesn't speak Spanish natively either, but she's not bad at it so sometimes we try to pass her off as a Dominican haha. So thankful for her! 

  There's never enough time to tell you all everything that happens, but I'll leave you with a scripture. Mosiah 4:9-12. Believe in God! The blessings and joy that await us when we follow Him are great.

Mucho amor!

Hermana Alley

P.S. The sunflower picture is a shout out to Sister Madi Nestripke in Russia! Love you! The spanish word for sunflower is "girasol", like turn to the sun. I know all our lives will be brighter when we turn our faces to the Son of God.