I never want to leave!

There is so much work to be done here and I never want to leave! The people I meet are amazing and I love to hear their stories but the best thing about this week was meeting a family from the valley (Scottsdale) and they had this huge business but were prompted to leave and come up here. They were never members and had never even been to a church. They met with us and knew it was the right thing. They packed up everything and just moved with no house in mind so they live in a little trailer with no power or anything. Getting to know this family and the whole story about how everything just worked out for them even when everyone they knew started to leave them because they thought they were crazy. But they have just listened to the spirit and everything has worked out so far. Its amazing to see what people will give up to come into this church. We are having our first lesson with them on Wednesday and they already know they need to be baptized even though they know nothing about the church. They just know its the right thing to do. We gave each of them a Book of Mormon and their faces lit up like it was Christmas. It was amazing to see! Anyways I want to challenge all of you to read and pray every night. These people I'm teaching that know nothing about it are doing it and you've all been life long members and don't do it. I know that I didnt I'm just saying this because I know how much it can help you in your life and the guidance it can give you. The church is true and I love all of you!!!!

Love Elder Lange  (and Elder Meza)

Surprise Gift!

(Alec's mom)  I was laying in bed last night answering some messages on my phone and this picture popped up.  It was like a little gift being sent from heaven!  I thanked whomever sent and told them I really appreciated it.  He said he was the bishop of one of the wards Alec is serving in.  He said he had the chance to teach with Alec that night to some members and said Alec was a great young man and shared a great message.  I told him Alec was quite shy so I was happy to hear he was talking and sharing his message.  The bishop told me the first day he met Alec, he didn't said more than two words, but things have changed and Alec bore his testimony on Sunday and is looking like he is feeling at ease.  Such a great surprise for me to get this little gift!  

Quench your spiritual thirst

Elder Meza is a really cool guy and he works really hard. He knows the scriptures like the back of his hand and knows the whole Preach My Gospel too. He thinks I'm a really good kid and thinks that I'm really smart and understand things it took him like 3 months to learn. He helps me out a lot and understands the need to help me and even though he knows the stupid questions I'm asking, he still takes the time to learn about me and why I'm asking the questions. He isn't one of those guys that looks at you ask says did you really just ask that and I love that about him! He helps me sooo much. I think most of the companions I'm getting are just to keep me in line haha. But he has a really bad sense of direction so I just help him around town and he helps me with all of the others stuff. He is really patient with me. The town is really small and takes like 5 minutes to drive from one end to the other but they love missionaries here. They try to do anything they can to help us and we get fed every night sometimes even twice a night so if you are ever thinking you don't have food just turn your papers in and go on a mission they take care of you haha. People pay for your food at lunch. Give you a place to stay. Cut your hair for free and just love being around you. Even the grocery stores give us 10% off of everything. This is all in town though. We cover the 2 wards out of town and 1 in town. The 2 out of town take about 20 minutes on a dirt road to get to the houses and everyone lives like 10 minutes away from each other. Its really hard to get to know every one in a ward let alone 3 wards, but going to church definitely help put some faces to the names. I went to church yesterday for about 6 hours trying to go to all the wards and classes and then we had to visit people after that. There is like no down time at all and everything you do is just trying to help others come unto Christ. Its weird to see some of the people that go to church that are covered in tattoos and look like they haven't taken a shower in a week but something about it makes me happy. Everyone tries talking to them and the only thing they want is to be a part of this wonderful church and everyone down here can see it. What a blessing it has been for me to of grown up in this church and I get more and more converted every day! One thing we have to try to remember is not just keeping the commandments and living them but why we do it. There is a difference between going to church and wanting to be there. We just have to all remember why we choose the right and not just do them because its the right thing to do. One thing we have to kind of think about and this hit me after I left Utah is that we have to try and quench our spiritual thirst just like we need to with our physical thirst. A lot of times we just pick out someone and think that because you are doing better than them you are doing good but you're not actually doing everything thing you can to do the best YOU can. I'm one of those people and thought that just because i was doing the right things it made me a good person but a little bit before i left and a lot well I'm out here makes me realize that's wrong. We all need to strive to be the best we can be and not just better than the other guy. So every time you take a drink of water, read a scripture or sing a hymn or something. Its not weird, you live in Utah haha. Anyways i hope all of you try to remember to quench your spiritual thirst as well as try to be the best person you can be. Love Elder Lange 🌵❤

An unlikely picture in a corn field

(Alec's mom) One of the best parts about Alec being so close and serving stateside is that I know people that live in the area he's serving. I have a good friend from college that lives in Arizona. When he read that Alec was serving in Snowflake he contacted one of his friends and asked her to look out for Elder Lange and maybe feed him a little too :) So I joined in on the facebook conversation and come to find out she actually drives past the Elders house everyday. So the next day she stopped at his house and told Alec that his mom Alana missed him and loved him. I'm sure that was probably a little weird and shocking. She sent me this picture of Alec and his trainer Elder Meza. I don't even care one bit that his eyes are closed and I just kept looking at this picture over and over and I could tell he looked so happy!



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The new missionaries in Arizona are on the mission blog

Click Here to link to the Scottsdale Arizona blog and read about the new arrivals

Alec's first letter from Arizona!

Well I just got to AZ yesterday! Its soooo hot. The first day we went out and had a picnic and then went to the family history center. Then we went contacting we actually got a lot of people to talk to us it was a really cool experience to go out on the first day. Some people look like they would never stop to talk but they do and love it. Then all the Elders slept at the mission home. We woke up at 5:30 and started exercising. Its sooo hard staying awake all day. Then we went to a classroom and turned in a whole bunch of papers and stuff. We then went into another classroom and got our companions. Mine is Elder Meza. Everyone ive been talking to says he is the best and really hard working! So far so good, he seems to be really cool. Then they assigned us to the areas we will be serving. I got called to Snowflake! Its like 30 degrees cooler and in the mountains! So we got a truck my first car out. Then Sister Sweeney gave us permission to go out and buy boots!!! Like holy cow can it get any better? All of my prayers have been answered. I got a good companion. Got the mountains. Got a truck. And I get to wear boots. I think I am really going to like this place. Not only do I get to share this beautiful message but i get to do it just to make me the most comfortable I could be. I prayed over and over again in the MTC to send me to AZ with comfort and the feeling of support! I know without a doubt that this was an answer to my prayers but I didnt think it could go this well, I mean literally nothing is going wrong and im starting to like it more and more. We are about 4 hours away from everyone else. So we got to our home at about 10 at night and then we just went to bed. We got up and did service this morning. We helped build a dog cage for 11 huskies. All the people around here are awesome and love to see us. It makes me so happy. I know it will be hard to teach some people and challenges will come along but I know Heavenly Father is on my side. Just me being in this place is very proof of that. Sometimes you just have to put faith in the Lord and take the leap. A mission wasnt easy for my to come out here. I dont know like anything about the doctrine near as much as a should, and lot of other things like me being shy and stuff but if you put faith in the Lord he will help you through all things. Hold to the iron rod and dont ever let go. I know he cares for each one of us and he would do anything for us we just need to put our faith in Him. Im so blessed to be were im at. Love Elder Lange ❤🌵

Elder Lange arrived in Arizona!

This is an email from the mission secretary:

"Dear Missionary Parents: I am pleased to notify you that your missionary has safely arrived to the Arizona Scottsdale Mission! They are busy, busy! President and Sister Sweeney greeted them at the airport and we had a picnic lunch in the Payson Park across from the Mesa Temple grounds. Afterwards they toured the Mesa Temple grounds and the Visitor’s Center to learn how to use it with their investigators. It is a pretty large center equipped with all the latest technology and truly everyone should leave having felt the spirit! Next was orientation and currently they are out proselyting and getting a taste for real missionary work! Dinner is at 7:45 pm with President and Sister Sweeney in the Mission Home. This evening they will have another meeting and off to bed in a variety of locations: mission home and missionary apartments. Tomorrow they are up bright and early, doing some sport w/President Sweeney, breakfast and then lots of training and their area and companion assignment. Lunch is a hamburger cook out followed by a spiritual meeting in the Scottsdale Camelback Stake Center. Then they disperse to their assigned areas! And let the work begin!!!"

The MTC and Elder Lange

Well everyone  I've been loving it here. Everyone was so sad when they first got here but I just had a feeling of peace and comfort. The days are so long though but the week is short if that makes sense. I hate not have naps or any free time. Everything is just on a schedule. But I heard it gets better than it already is! I was worried about my companion but he is so sick I love him! His name is Elder Bean. He is from Oklahoma and is 6'6" and plays basketball. He says hes playing here in Utah when he gets back off his mission. And my room mates are cool too. One is a diabetic so we get a mini fridge in our room. Its pretty nice because I have a lot of mountain dew haha. Everyone in my district is great too. I'm gonna miss them more than I missed some of you ;). Just kidding I love you all and love all the support you guys gave me! I miss all of you! But it is crazy how much I love these guys and its only been a week. Elder Bean is just really chill and is the best person for me to be with because he keeps me focused and working hard. Our teachers say we make one of the most powerful companionship and that we will be way great missionaries. They were sad when they figured out we weren't going to the same mission. He is going to Reno, Nevada. so are the other to Elders Ive learned to love. Elder Day and Elder Freeman. We all just get along so good and I think I was blessed with the best district. Elder Freeman is probably the funniest kid i have ever met and keeps me laughing all day. I leave a day earlier than all of them so its going to be hard saying goodbye and not being able to fly out with them. Then there are Elder Casey and Elder Rich. Elder Casey is a super good guy. He has already came to the mtc once and left and decided it was the stupidest decision of his life so he came back. He has a great testimony and is just a solid guy all around. I'm not that close with him though because his companion is weird. He reminds me of Dwight from the office. He looks and acts exactly like him so we kinda just stay away. Its hard as a companion to have someone like that because they don't really understand the meaning behind things and they take everything literally, so they don't think about the investigator or anyone for that matter and tends to say thing bluntly. He an awesome guy just hard as a companion. And he always does Ti Chi, you know like yoga martial arts mix. Anyways thanks mom for the suits because i get complements everyday from everyone about how nice i look. I even got voted the best dressed elder out of our entire zone. So the third day there we already had to start teaching people. They give you fake investigators so you can practice and they are way good at acting you would never guess they were fake unless you knew. They are called TRCs. This one was our teacher. There isn't really enough time to mess around so they get right down too it. It was a really bad experience because it went so badly. We taught with out whole district so it was 3 companion ships and the 2 sister companions. It made it a lot harder and i was afraid to start teaching again. On the fourth day i started to really get to know the sisters in my district and the are all pretty cool too so you could say i was definitely blessed. Then the next day was Sunday but it didn't feel like it because every day in here feels like Sundy but that's ok because you know the awesome feeling you have every Sunday just because its Sunday. Well that's what it feels like all the time. And on Sunday one of the sisters wasn't feeling good so i got to give my first blessing. One of the best experiences yet. We also watch a video that they only show in the mtc and i can say i honestly changed my life! So the next time we taught we got our own real TRCs and we are doing great with them the first one already committed to being baptized and the other one is on the way right behind him! The feeling i got after teaching him was incredible. If it feels like this every time some one wants to get baptized then i might never come home from my mission. Anyways I'm dint have any more time or else i would tell you more but they have class all day and its a lot of hard work. Its just a long grind but I LOVE IT! i miss you all, take care!

Love Elder Lange 

Elder Lange arrived safely at the MTC!

Elder Lange arrived at the MTC on August 5th 2015.  He wanted his last meal as a family at Noodles and Co.  We shed only a few tears and he turned around and he was off.  He looked very at home as he walked toward the doors of the MTC.