Thanksgiving Daily

Well everyone. I don't really know what to think. I'm really torn. I want to be out here the rest of my life teaching the gospel. It's brings so much joy to be in the service of our Lord. But I know I need to go home and experience the rest of life. I've spent the first 18 years of my life as Alec Lange and the last 2 as Elder Lange but I feel more like Elder Lange than Alec. I feel like my life has been changed forever. I'll never be the person I was before. My heart is so full of gratitude to be able to do this marvelous work. I'm grateful for the opportunity to come down here to Arizona and meet all the wonderful people I did. I've seen so many great miracles and so many more tender mercies. It hasn't really hit me yet that I'm leaving but I'm trying to talk myself into it. I'm trying to tell myself that it's actually happening because right now it doesn't feel any different. It feels like I'm just gonna keep waking up to being a missionary. They really do work you up until the last minute. Going back home is going to be much harder than leaving. This is probably going to be one of the hardest things I've done in my life. It's something I've worked so hard at for two years and now it's all over. It's come to an end. 

Alma 34:38 "That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you." 

The Lord has blessed me highly and I'll try my best to live in thanksgiving daily. 

My tag is a little more worn out than when I started

Cherish the time you have!

Wow this week was pretty good. We got a few solid investigators in the struggling Ward we have. We also got like 4 people that said they would be baptized this week so we are praying about some dates for them. This week should be really good and Elder Lemley and his new comp should have quite a bit of work. It's kinda weird to think that I'm going home soon. It hasn't really hit me. It feels like I'm just hitting the middle of my mission. It's just crazy to think about how fast time flies. I know sooner than I can imagine I'll be off my mission for two years looking back and wondering what happened to the time. Time is precious and we only have a short time our Father in Heaven has given us. We gotta take every chance we have to make our lives good because before we know it we are gonna be asking where the time went. We gotta do everything we can to grown and learn now. Time only gets shorter and shorter. Cherish the time you have and make the best of it. Remember to keep on the straight and narrow! 

Me chilling next to a giant pineapple

Old Jetta we got rid of 

Our sweet brand new 2017 ice blue Malibu (only on in the mish)

Only 87 miles on it 

Wendy's 4 for 4 deal

God of Miracles

We have been seeing some miracles unfold this week. We have been trying to work hard and leave it in the hands of the Lord to bless us. So after a really hard day of work we got home and were getting ready for bed and a priest in our ward texted us. He said that his step dad has just decided he wants to get baptized. It was super shocking because he hasnt wanted anything to do with the church in the past. Like we walk into the house and he goes into his room. He would even say hi or anything. Well he ended up coming to church the next day and we are going over to see him tonight. Also his step son that texted us is going on a mission soon so im sure that is going to help him move along more quickly. Its gonna be so good.

Another cool miracle we saw this week was finally meeting up with a guy weve been trying to meet. Well a couple week ago I was telling you about a guy that was close to baptism and the only reason he wasnt baptized was because he was living with his girlfriend. Well we finally met him and he wants to start meeting again and doesnt live with his girlfriend anymore. He still knows a lot of stuff the missionaries taught him in the past. Im super excited to see this all unravel this week. The Lord truly does bless us when we do our part.  Mormon 9: 19 "And if there were miracles wrought then, why has God ceased to be a God of miracles and yet be an unchangeable Being? And behold, I say unto you he changeth not; if so he would cease to be God; and he ceaseth not to be God, and is a God of miracles."

Had some good sushi!

POWER WEEK!

This week was super good! We had a baptism! She is super awesome. Her name is Jona (John-a). We have been working with them family for a long time. He is a member and got a little lost along the way growing up and then decided he wanted to get back into it. We taught them the lesson and had the baptism this week. It was so good. He started crying during the opening song and the spirit filled the room. It was probably one of the most spiritual baptisms I've been to. So good. 

Also this week I had my last Zone Conference. It was also probably the most spiritual Zone Conference I've been to on my mission. Every person I've asked cried. I had to give my farewell testimony. I got up and started crying and my companion started bawling. It's been a good run with him. Hopefully he can keep working hard throughout his mission. 

It's crazy how everything is coming to an end. It's pretty sad. I don't really want to move on but our Mission President got up and said our mission isn't where we build our kingdom, it's only where we start the foundation. It helped put perspective on things but it's still pretty sad. It's been a pretty powerful week. We are trying to get another baptism by the end of the month but we will see what happens. Keep on keepin on. 

We found a baby lizard in the baptismal font!

Baptism and a picture text!

We got a picture text today from Bishop Gales wife.  They had a baptism and she sent us some pictures.

"Hello wonderful Lange and Lemley families! Even thought its super hot over here, our missionaries are working hard! They had a baptism today!! This is the couple the missionaries have worked with for over a year! The husband was able to baptize his wife and it was very touching!"

"My husband and I have lived in our ward for 14 years and we have had the missionaries over twice every month for years.  Dallas and I were talking the other day and we both think this set of elders are among the best we've had! They are so diligent, focused and hard working. They are examples to us!!"

"They have changes lives over here...but I guarantee that they love and miss their families.  They re a great companionship and I know Elder Lemley will continue to do amazing things!  Elder Lange will be great missed in the mission!"

I gave it everything I had

Howdy. We've had a pretty good week. We found a lot of people that want to stop smoking this week so we have been doing a lot of stop smoking lessons. They are pretty sweet. It's designed to help you stop in 7 days. A lot of others ways to quit rely on gum or patches where as with this one the biggest source of strength is God. I've taught it to around 6-7 people and every single one of them have quit in 7 days. It's so cool to watch people put their faith in God and trust it's all gonna work. It takes a lot of faith but when they do it it all works out. 

So we have a baptism coming up this Saturday. It's gonna be super good! Her name is Jona and her husband is baptizing her. We have been working with them for awhile but they have finally felt like they were ready to make the step. 

I've been thinking a lot about some scriptures this week. Alma 

17:2-3. 

2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.

I was think about all my family and friends back home and more importantly the friends I've made on my mission. I was thinking about the joy I would find if I had left for years and came back and they were all still "brethren in the Lord". I can't even think about the amount of joy I would find seeing others come into the gospel and finding them years later still in the gospel. My biggest wish from my mission is being able to see my "brethren in the Lord" years later. It's takes work like it talks about in the scripture but it's all worth it. Every last ounce of energy put into the gospel. Just think about the joy the Lord will feel when we see his face and we have chose to stay in he gospel. When we can look him in the eyes and say "I gave it everything I had". There is too much joy in this gospel to just throw it to the side. Stay strong and keep pushing through. 

 (Elder Lemley's mom shared some pictures with Alec's mom this week, so we get a few more than usual) 

Happy 4th of July! 

We acquired some face masks

Pictures of our apartment in Phoenix

Just driving in 125 degrees wearing oven mitts and using hot pads

We taught the no smoking lesson and they threw out all their cigarettes 

 Helping some little birds in the heat 

Is God the pilot of your life?

We had a pretty good week. It's been pretty hot but we had some really cool things happen. One thing I wanted to talk about was a person we found this week. We have been trying to stop by this house that told us we can stop by and do some service for her. We were suppose to clean up her back yard but she hasn't answered to door for weeks. Well we decided to knock on her neighbors door since there had to be a reason we were in the area. We ended up knocking on the door and we talked to this lady for a little bit and she told us we could come back the next day. Well we went back the next day and she has 2 autistic kids and they are super hyper and just run around all the time making lots of noise. Well we asked if we could get started with a prayer and then we taught the lesson. She has some questions that no one could ever answer before. She was pretty amazed that we were able to answer them. Well the Spirit was really strong and we kind of talked about what the Spirit feels like at the end of the lesson so she could know how God was going to answer her prays about what we had taught. We told her that she might of even felt it while we were teaching her. She looked at us like we were reading her mind haha. It was a really good lesson and at the end she was looking around for her kids. She said that it was really weird that they weren't running around making lots of noise. She went upstairs to check on them and they were doing fine. They were playing on an iPad. She told us that it was normal that they would do that but it never lasted more than a couple minutes. She put it all together hat as soon as we said the prayer they both went upstairs and sat there quietly. We told her to take it as a sign that maybe God was trying to tell her our message was important. She really liked what we had to say and you could tell she was really interested in other things we had to talk about. 

I like to sit back sometimes and just think about how amazing Heavenly Father is sometimes. As humans our natural instinct is to try and do things ourself without the help of anyone. We had some one bear their testimony in church yesterday about how he told a story of him canoeing. He said he used to go all the time as a kid with his friends. They used to flip the canoes and one time his leg got stuck and he slowly started sinking to the bottom. He fought desperately to get to the top to get air but the canoe was just too heavy. He was sure he was going to die but at the very moment he stopped fighting an overwhelming feeling of peace coming over him. His leg was loosed and he then swam to the top. He said we often do this too much in the church trying to think we can get everything done ourselves. Often all it takes is just trusting in God and his plan instead of trying to do it without him. The lesson we had wouldn't of been nearly as good if we didn't have Heavenly Father helping us out. Sometimes we just need to take a step back and trust in God and his power. He is the driver. Is God the pilot or the Co-pilot of your life? 

I made this pizza. No biggie. 

Giant bug we found

This is what happens in 120+ heat!!!

This week was off to a hot start. It was SOO hot this week. It was like 120+ every day this week. Im pretty sure we were all over the news. There has only been 3 hotter days in the history of Arizona. So we were driving on the freeway and we got in this huge traffic jam and then our car started to drop RPMs and then died. We started freaking out because we didnt want to have to push the car out of the mess especially in the heat. Well we started it again and it died again. We truned off the AC and it started running better. We had the windows down because if we didnt we probably would of died. The wind coming in was so hot it hurt when it hit your skin. Also every one had their car running around us which made it even hotter. It felt like it was burning you. Anyway we finally got our car off the freeway after it died about 6 times and then let it cool off and we had to drive it about 5 miles to a shop to see what was wrong with it. That was the hottest 5 miles of my life. You are literally sweating from everywhere. We also have leather seats so it doesnt help in with the sun. They couldnt find out what was wrong with it. They think it was just something to do with the heat. 

 But we did have a pretty good week. We had an investigator finally set a solid date! She is getting baptized on the 15th. She already started inviting family to it and they are going to announce it in church on Sunday. We are starting to plan everything out for it. She is pretty awesome. Im excited for her and her husband. They are 22 and 23 and he is a member. They are super cool and they feel like family. The work is going pretty good. 

Also we got transfer news last night and Im staying! Its gonna be good to stay here and see some work come though. Elder Lemley will be my longest companion I've had. We get along though so its all good. Cant wait to see what miracles the Lord has for us! The Lord is willing to bless us all and give us mighty miracles. We just have to have faith it will happen. 

This was a story I came across this week. The amazing story of Charles Blondin, a famous French tightrope walker, is a wonderful illustration of what true faith is.  Blondin's greatest fame came on June 30, 1859, when he became the first person to cross a tightrope stretched 11,000 feet (over a quarter of a mile) across the mighty Niagara Falls. People from both Canada and America came from miles away to see this great feat.Blondin understood the appeal of the morbid to the masses, and reveled when gamblers began to take bets on whether he would plunge to a watery death. (Most of the smart money said yes.) On the morning of June 30, 1859, about 25,000 thrill-seekers arrived by train and steamer and dispersed on the American or Canadian side of the falls, the latter said to have the better view.He walked across, 160 feet above the falls, several times... each time with a different daring feat - once in a sack, on stilts, on a bicycle, in the dark, and blindfolded. One time he even carried a stove and cooked an omelet in the middle of the rope! A large crowd gathered and the buzz of excitement ran along both sides of the river bank. The crowd “Oohed and Aahed!” as Blondin carefully walked across - one dangerous step after another - pushing a wheelbarrow holding a sack of potatoes.Then a one point, he asked for the participation of a volunteer. Upon reaching the other side, the crowd's applause was louder than the roar of the falls! Blondin suddenly stopped and addressed his audience: "Do you believe I can carry a person across in this wheelbarrow?" The crowd enthusiastically yelled, "Yes! You are the greatest tightrope walker in the world. We believe!" "Okay," said Blondin, "Who wants to get into the wheelbarrow." As far as the Blondin story goes, no one did at the time! This unique story illustrates a real life picture of what faith actually is. The crowd watched these daring feats. They said they believed. But... their actions proved they truly did not believe. Similarly, it is one thing for us to say we believe in God. However, it's true faith when we believe God and put our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. It’s one thing to believe a man can walk across by himself. It’s another thing to believe he could safely carry you across. But it’s something else entirely to get into the wheelbarrow yourself.

It’s not enough to believe that Christ theoretically could save you. Until you “get in the wheelbarrow” and trust all to him, you are not saved.   2 Nephi 26: "Christ works miracles among men according to their faith"

Elder Lemley and Edler Lange

Our cars temperature this week (look at the middle number!)

A cat at a members house we ate at this week. haha

Is there enough evidence to prove you're a Mormon?

It's been a pretty good week! We got two referrals that were super solid this week. One said he would be baptized if the missionaries showed up at his house. We called the member that sent the referral and she said he was her best friend. They have been joking about coming to church, taking missionary lessons and getting baptized for a long time but recently he asked her why she  hasn't sent missionaries by his house. She thought it was a joke and kind of played it off but he was like no I'm serious, if you send the missionaries by I will get baptized. It's gonna be a good lesson with him this week. We are pretty excited.

The other was a referral that was sent by some missionaries in Mesa. They said the missionaries stopped to fix their bike tires at a gas station and he asked if they needed any help. Well they got to talking and he said the only reason he didn't get baptized is because he wasn't married. We went over last night to his house and this car comes flying in behind us. A guy comes running out and was jumping in the car and I stopped him and said Hey are you Tito? He said no but the guy driving is and we gotta go. Well they took off and then turned around. Tito rolled down his window and said Hey I wanna meet with you guys. Gave us his number and said call me. Then took off. They both seem pretty solid. I'm excited to see what happens

This week I've been thinking a lot of what it kinda takes to be a Mormon. I realized it's a lot of hard work. We have to draw this line once we are baptized and not cross it again. We have this limit we have to set. Commandments we have to follow to keep us safe and happy. It takes a lot of work. I was thinking about how people know we are Mormon. For us as missionaries it easy. We have white shirts, ties, name tags and are always with a companion. But what about life not as a missionary. How can people tell we are on the other side of the line? There is a quote from Elder Holland that says "If you were convicted of being a Latter-Day Saint, would there be enough evidence to prove you're a Mormon?" Gave me some food for thought. I hope can have people look at me and say "Man I bet he's a true disciple of Christ, he's gotta be Mormon. I hope to live my life to reflect Heavenly Fathers will.

If you always do what you've always done...

We had a pretty good week. We trying to focus on finding more investigators and getting the ones we have to church. Its been kinda difficult but we have seen some things pay off. We have gotten a couple referrals on our iPads and they said the only reason they havent been baptized is because they werent married and they want the missionaries to stop by. Just a bunch of awesome things like that. We are hopefully going to find quite a few people this week that are pretty solid. 

We had a couple people this week that were pretty cool. We stopped by to give this guy a Book of Mormon that he requested and we had contacted him before. He said he didnt have much time but was home for a bit so we could drop the book off. Well we sat out side his door talking to him for about an hour. He had tons of questions. They were all really good questions too. He is studying to be a minister right now.

Eating at Zuppas

We had a pretty slow week but I guess that's just life. You have your ups and downs. Your highs and lows. But its all part of the plan we are meant to fall just to get back up and learn from it. If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got. Its all about learning and moving on. We all have hard parts of our lives but if we look forward with faith and hope, its only bound to get better. Im so grateful the the Plan of Salvation and the sense of purpose it gives us but Im even more grateful for the the central part of the Plan. The atonement was preformed so we all could get up and move forward from every single one of our falls. Its all about eternal progression. 

Cooked cookies in our car during church!

                                                                                                                                                                                   

        

Becoming a Disciple of Our Lord Jesus Christ

This week has been really good. We are expecting to have someone interviewed for baptism this Saturday if everything works out! I'm super excited they are super awesome. The husband is a member and wants to baptize her so he is meeting with bishop his week to see what he needs to do to baptize her.  They should be good to go.

This transfer our zone is focusing on becoming a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I've been studying a bunch of talks and scriptures. Some things I learned this week is that it takes time and practice to become a Disciple of Jesus Christ. Like it says I'm Alma, you have to start with a seed and nurture it. Let it grow and keep doing what it takes to make it grow big. The Disciples inhe New Testament didn't just grow over night to become the Apostles but grew over time and learn from Jesus. In our life I think we expect too much of ourselves. There was an experience of someone reaching out to heir friend saying they needed advice. They felt like they were lacking in spiritual things and felt like they were losing their testimony. Their friend gave them a few things to do each night. The friend responded about a week later telling his friend that it wasn't working. He explained to his friend that it wasn't going to work in one quick week, but that it needed some time. Anything good takes time, practice and discipline. We don't expect to wake up in the morning being an all star in basketball or a pro golfer. Why would we expect the same with spiritual matters. For us to become Disciples of Jesus Christ we have to keep working and slowly growing our individual seeds. President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said "Brothers and sisters, we have to stay with it. We don’t acquire eternal life in a sprint--this is a race of endurance. We have to apply and reapply the divine gospel principles. Day after day we need to make them part of our normal life." Keep pushing a keeping striving to become a Disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the best investment you can make in this life! 

32nd floor of a high rise in Central Phoenix

Caught a little squirrel

We had some appointments the day of our zone Conference so the top one is us with the Phoenix zone. The bottom one is us in our own zone. We made it for lunch afterwards but didn't have suits haha. Also I got to see Elder Bell again!