Week 17

 This week has been stupendous but looking back it is not that much different with the week before. It is my attitude. As you go about the work with joy, with a spring in your step, doing all you can do, you will have a great life.

Below is a little message i sent the ward I am currently serving in:

The Worth of Souls is great in the sight of God.
As missionaries we dedicate every waking moment of our lives for the two years we are out to "Inviting people to come unto Christ By helping them receive the Restored Gospel though; FAITH in Jesus Christ, REPENTANCE, BAPTISM, receiving the gift of the HOLY GHOST and ENDURING to the end." ( Preach My Gospel, Ch. 1, Our Purpose).
As we look at this there are a few words that stick out more than others, namely: faith, repentance, baptism, holy ghost, and enduring. This is the Purpose of missionary work whether it be by full time missionaries, the Bishop, the Relief Society Pres. or a the CTR 7 primary teacher. It is the same goal and purpose. And as your full time missionaries we invite YOU to unite with us in this cause in INVITING others unto Christ. It is a commandment from our Heavenly Father and just as all of the other commandments there are Blessings waiting for you to take that step of faith so you might receive them.

"And if it so be that you should labor ALL your days... unto this people, and bring, save it be ONE soul unto me, how GREAT shall be your JOY..."
For the Worth of Souls is great in the sight of God
In the Name of Jesus Christ, Our Savior, Amen.

I love you!

~ Elder Josh Alger

Week 16

This week has been pretty good I think. Some of the Highlights would be our visits with Ray (not the same Ray as last time) and with the Armstead's friends. Our visit with Ray was very interesting. He is a devout Catholic but was willing to listen. We found him by literally being guided by the Holy Spirit. It was a pretty cool experience.

Dinner with the Armstead's and their friends was awesome too. The Armstead's have never invited friends over for dinner with the missionaries before. At first they were not sure how it was all going to play out but by the end I think they realized that it is not as scary as it sounds. They grew a lot that night. And I have grown with them. It seems to me that the more you dedicate your life to others the more you grow yourself. I love being a missionary and I love missionary work.
Elder Alger ;D

I love you all!
Bye!

~ Elder Josh Alger

Week 15

Life sounds like a blast back home! With all of the Halloween costumes and fall breaks and such. I can honestly say I am glad there is not fall break for missionaries. It would suck the  motivation right out of us. This week has been pretty rough too. I have come upon the knowledge that the Lord wants me to learn how to wait, and grow my patience. It is a little frustrating but at least I know he is not intentionally setting me up to fail. Yesterday was a very humbling experience. We spent most of the day going from door to door of potential investigators trying to find at least one that has even the slightest interest. We did not find any new investigators. But the silver lining to this is we found out that one of our investigators in fact didn't drop us but was just embarrassed about needing so much. The Lord doesn't always do what you expect him to but he always pulls through in one way or another.
I love you all and the Lord!
Good bye!
~ Elder Josh Alger

I love this song and it's message!

Week 14

 General Conference seemed to be a good time back home. I enjoyed the pictures. Over here we watched all 5 sessions of Conference in the Stake Center or, our normal church building. It was awesome and being in church clothes surrounded by other people helped me stay awake during all of the sessions. which apparently y'all had a hard time doing. ;D 

This week has been rough, but that's good. That means I am having trials and with trials comes spiritual progression. Training is fun, but stressful and difficult. Sometimes I feel so bad for being such a stickler for all of the extra commandments we have as missionaries but I feel it is important for Elder Wilson to know what exact obedience is so when I do eventually leave he will know the way to be the best missionary he can be. I have come to the realization why trainers call their trainees their sons. It is because we have the same purpose. We are to show them the way to righteousness and how they can reach their full potential so when we eventually do have to leave, they can handle themselves in this crazy world. I love him SOOOOO much! I just want him to know what it means to be a consecrated missionary but I feel like I am not a good enough example for him.

Yeah so that was my rant..... Sorry about that but I think it helped loosen some tension in the ever winding spring that is Missionary life.

This week I have been striving to keep Elder Wilson and I busy. So he can know what missionary life is supposed to be like. But I have found ourselves finishing all we have planned for too early and just winging it. It honestly brings me a whole lot of anxiety. I feel like the only time I actually get a break from the stress is in a lesson, because for some reason the lessons have been going very well. The main struggle is gaining a good teaching pool. So we don't over burden any one family or person. So that is what we are working on. Bishop has decided that the ward focus until the end of the year is going to be reactivating Less-Active members. So we have been focusing on visiting as many Less-Actives as we possibly can. 

I love missionary work, don't get me wrong. I just need to Adjust a lot in the next few weeks to being a trainer. I love you!

Elder Alger

I know this is Childish but sometimes I like making faces with my

food.... It really doesn't even look like a face but I thought it did

when i took the pic. But hey, it was good food!

This is my new companion, Elder Wilson!

The last is of Elder Nelson. An Elder that just ate Balut, fertilized

duck egg....... Gross..

These are some super awesome Mormon memes I found. They might be old

news to all of you out there that use the internet..... but to a

missionary that can email and go to mormon.org, it brought a much

needed smile to my face. :)

Week 13

Thank you to those who have been sending me short video messages.  I've been loving them! Sorry about not sending any responses last week but you'll get them all today.

The temp over here is definitely warm especially if your walking in it all day but it is not nearly as hot back home. The highs this week are between 96 and 90.

So guess what... I'm training a new missionary! Fresh from the MTC! I've only been out here for 3 months and they already have me showing new guys the ropes! It's super exciting but also makes me a bit nervous. I won't meet him until tomorrow though so you'll have to wait until next week to see him.

Well here it is.......

September 23, 2015
Today was weird. We had some technical difficulties with my companion's iPad. He updated to iOS 9 and his iPad wouldn't finish updating which resulted in his iPad being an expensive paper-weight.... but we were able to fix it by 5pm but it took up most of the day. After that we went to dinner with the Westre's, a returning member family. The are super cool and Sis. Westre is an excellent cook. Yummmmmm..... We had a little lesson afterward about Prayer and scripture study. That was basically our day. Not too bad.

September 24, 2015
Today is Thursday sooooooo it was interesting.... We kicked off the day with Weekly planning, (when we plan for the coming week, CrAzY RIGHT.😅) In between sessions of planning we had a teaching appointment with Ray. He is a good guy who really just wants to know all he can about the Church. He is not quite sold just off of our word but thankfully that is not what we ask. We ask all of our investigators to take God's word. So hopefully he'll take our advice and run with it.
After Ray we met with Ani. She was a fireball today. We had a hard time getting a word in but when we did it defiantly impacted her. She really appreciates us being there for her and supporting her through Christ. Her heart it in the right place and in the end that is all that matters.
We had to cut Ani's visit short so we could give a blessing to an even newer trainee who was feeling sick. I loved that that we're so willing to ask and that our response we'll be out as soon as we can. That is the way things should work. The Gospel makes so much sense if you just think about it.
After the blessing we were given a ride to my favorite family so far on my mission, the Trevinos. they are awesome. they are on the strait and narrow and are persevering through so many trials with there hand with God's I lost count. We had dinner and then Bro Trevino taught an FHE lesson. It reminded me so much of my childhood when my mom and dad would do fun little FHE lessons. I loved it!

September 25, 2015
So today I went on exchanges with Elder Orullian. He was sick so we weren't able to do any missionary work.We just stayed in the apartment all day... Lets just say it really made me appreciate missionary work. Mostly because the standards we have a missionaries literally make it so Missionary work is the only thing we can do if we are exactly obedient. If you plan on going on a mission you better do it for you or the Lord not for someone else. I got to know Elder Orullian a lot better though so it was a good day.

September 26, 2015
We kicked off the day with meeting with Greg. We talked with him about the baptismal interview questions. After we went through all of them and reviewed some doctrine to refresh his mind.

After Greg we met with Emmanuel. We taught Emmanuel about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Focused on repentance and how to do it. We also taught the Word of Wisdom. We gave him a blessing and will need to follow up about the Word of Wisdom in future meetings. He has such a desire to follow the Word of Wisdom. It is wonderful. I was the one who gave him the blessing and I nearly cried while giving it. He will be so blessed if he continues on this path. That was the highlights for today. Wonderful isn't it? :)

September 27, 2015
Today's highlight  was definitely meeting with Ross Maseuli and his family. Ross has been less active since he was a deacon. They currently go to his wife's church but his daughter has asked to go to her
dad's church before. There is definitely a lot of good potential in their family. They are great people!

September 28, 2015
Today was weird. I have come to realize that there is no normal day as a missionary. There are just so many different things you do throughout the week. Anyway. we kicked off today with the funeral of an apostle of God. Then we had to Rush over to the Daniels home to give Beth and her husband blessings. Then we went to the Trevino's to do some service, which ended up being building and sanding wood pallets into book shelves and a shoe storage bench. When we left the Trevino's we had a quick bit to eat and got over to Beth Daniels as soon as we could.
Beth was going to teach us on The Gospel of Jesus Christ but, Beth did not have her lesson ready. She looked a lot better tonight after her priesthood blessing. she asked a few questions and then we talked about the three parts of the Atonement. she really enjoyed it and said she would have her lesson on  The Gospel of Jesus Christ ready on Wednesday. To finish off the day we met with Charlotte Churchill. She said she would like to fellowship or befriend the Perez family so we prepped her for the lesson we will be having with the Perez's later that week. She is such a stud.

I Love you!


~ Elder Josh Alger

P.S. Could I get some sacrament sheet music, I was listening to my shuffle music lately and I have a feeling I'm going to be singing in Sacrament meeting soon. And some guitar chords and tabs of hymns and lullabies would be awesome. I've taken up guitar. Elder Andersen was teaching me but he is leaving so I'm going to have to fend for myself for a while.  Love you! And thank you!

Hand sketch from my Ipad

ME!!!!!!

Investigator's cool spray paint

Sweaty

District T-shirt pic

Sweaty again

Elder Orullian

We have Jalapeño cheddar bread too! My Favorite!

Week 12

September 16, 2015
Today has been absolutely fantastic! We kicked off our day by visiting with Brian, an investigator of ours. He and his girlfriend were very busy for the first half of our meeting preparing for a baby shower they were going to through for their friend. Brian's portion was to do some graffiti art for the party. It looked super cool. we taught the Plan of Salvation and he took it really well. Next time I think we should focus more on the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is so crutial in conversion. If an investigator does not gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon no action they take towards the Gospel will have lasting affect. After Brian we tried seeing a few Potential investigators to no avail. When we were finished finding we went over to the Dickson's home for dinner. It was very delicious, but what was even more delicious was the lesson we had with Ella afterward. we read about five chapters from the Book of Mormon with her and taught the importance of daily personal prayer and scripture study. After Ella we met with Sister Turner, a wonderful little old lady. She made me smile. :) Brother Dickson sang her a song and really brought up her spirits. and that finished our day. IT WAS Amazing!
September 17, 2015
Today was a day of planning as most Thursdays are. We did manage to have two teaching appointments though. The first appointment was with Ray, an investigator who really genuinely wants to know what we believe. He had a few things that were kind of hard for him to swallow. But we reassured him that if he pondered and prayed upon the things which we taught then God would make known unto him the truth of them. After Ray we went to go and see Ani. We caught her in the middle of packing her things to moved out. She was quite busy but still managed to talk to us one way for about an hour and a half. Occasionally we would be able to get a word in and we would reassure her that Jesus Christ is with her and will help her through all of her trials. She really appreciated the visit. After Ani's w had Dinner at Bro. Johnston Jr.'s. He is a great guy and it was an excellent dinner. We then spent the majority of our time after that helping him move his desk to his new office and getting to know him better.
September 18, 2015
Today was awesome!Met with Beth and did a quick Plan of Salvation lesson and committed her to bring a Joe to her lesson monday. Great lesson. We taught Sanchez the The Gospel of Jesus Christ and passed her off to Spring Valley. She took it really well and is totally willing to go to the Spring Vally ward. She is so awesome! Dinner at Amezcua's was awesome!We met with Victor tonight. He is super cool. He said he remembered meeting with the missionaries almost daily and he really liked it. We asked him what he remembered and he said it was fuzzy but he was able to remember a few things about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. We committed him to read the first chapter of the BoM and pray to know if it was true and if the restored Gospel is true.
September 19, 2015
Today we kicked off our day with visiting a referral from our mission President's wife. Sonja was a very nice lady. She is going through a really rough time and needs comfort and reassurance and love from her fellow brothers and sisters. We shared the Plan of Salvation with her and she expressed her true desire to live with her family forever. She really is a wonderful woman. After Sonja we had dinner and then taught Emmanuel. We met with Emmanuel duo o mono and taught him the Plan of Salvation. He believes that the BoM is true and the Plan of Salvation is true will still pray about it to God. He is such a stud! he really is wonderful and has a true desire to follow the straight and narrow path. that was our day! I hope you liked it! :D
September 20, 2015
Today was great. There was a lot of pondering involved with today. All day I was pondering what needs to happen to get the drive for missionary work up and running. I came to a conclusion of what we as missionaries can do to do our part. We will enter into the homes of all active members' homes, starting with Returning Members and Recent Converts and reaffirm or establish testimony in and of the Book of Mormon and then use that testimony as the driving force behind missionary work.
I truly believe that if we do this and align our wills with the will of the Lord along the way missionary work with the members will progress. Yeah.... so that is basically what we were focused on all day. It was a truly AMAZING day.
September 21, 2015
Today was good. We saw Tom and Em! They are awesome! Tom and Em said they would come to church next Sunday! It was so exciting! We haven't been able to meet with Tom or Em for over a month and a half. It is surely by the grace of God that we were able to meet with them.We were also able to have FHE with the Churchills tonight. It was great. We taught on family scripture study and the importance of it. The scriptures truly are amazing. That was my day.
Elder Alger out✌🏻️

Love you!

Week 11

September 13, 2015
Today was weird. We started with not having correlation with our ward mission leader because he is out of town again. Then we got to ward council and watched the at home portion of "Making the Sabbath more of a Delight", which was unusual. Then we couldn't find people to give some of our investigators a ride to church. Then we had our sacrament meeting go 20min overtime, then we gave a blessing to a resent convert's husband. Then after church we had an hour meeting with our Bishop trying to to figure out how to get the motor running with the ward with missionary work. We then we went to dinner at the Neder's. They are a super awesome family. We had New York style and Rib eye steak. It was very Delicious. Immediatly after the Neders we went over to the home of the Lemon Grove Elder's investigator Robin so Elder Andersen could give him a baptismal intervew. that was really fun! I was able to talk about the week with The Lemon Grove Elders and Robin is Geting baptized next Saturday! it was an over-all great day!
September 9, 2015
Today was no ordinary day. Why? Well first off we didn't have studies in the morning because we had to set up for zone conference which is kind of like a big seminar for missionaries. It was awesome but it took from 8am to 4:30pm. I learned so much. This Zone Conference was specifically focused on missionaries and members working together as a team. It makes so much sense now that I know but I didn't even know what I was missing out on before today. Or in other words 'I didn't know that I didn't know'. That's for you Landmark peeps ;D. But more on point we received conformation for using the method of members working with missionaries as a team at dinner today. At the Wester's, a returning less active family, we used the organization that was presented to us in the Conference and it worked! The Westers and us are united in bringing there friends closer to Jesus Christ and the Gospel! We received 3 referrals tonight! It was an overall great day! Peace out Dawg!👋🏼👏🏻✌🏻️☝🏼️👊🏾 Yeeeeah!
September 10, 2015
Hey! So today we taught an Evangelicall named Ray the Restoration. He loves gospel, especially when it is from the scriptures. And we met with Ani and taught her the  Gospel of Jesus Christ and the word of wisdom. She was a bit iffy about the word of wisdom so we stressed that she should pray to know Joe Smith was a prophet. It was a pretty good day. :D
September 11, 2015
Today was a rough day. We only taught one lesson today because Elder Andersen felt sick and we had to do extra planning. The planning was definitely need so I'm glad we did it. It is going to make next week be a breeze. This whole week has been weird though. With extra planning, zone conference, the ward pool party and district meeting there has been hardly any time for teaching. It definitely has messed with my mojo. Whatever that may mean. We did teach one lesson today though. And it was with Greg! I love Greg. We haven't met with him in about a week and a half because he has been very busy but we wear able to meet with him today. We taught him about the Ten Commandments with a returning member named Bro. Gonzalez. Because of his mind set we taught the lessons using hand gestures so he can remember them easier. It was quite fun. Bro. Gonzalez bore his testimony on the sabbath day and how it has blessed his life. Bro. Gonzalez is solid. We were very grateful to have him with us tonight. We invited Greg to church on Sunday and he said he would try but would never give a sure answer. Hopefully he'll be able to make it. That was my day. Elder out!

~ Elder Josh Alger