TEMPLE TEMPLE TEMPLE (February 27, 2017)

To my dearest loved ones:

It's been quite the week! Busy as ever! And this is the last week of the transfer. That was quick! And this week is already march! Ugh what. Time needs to slow down a little bit. At Zone Conference a while back, President called me an "old timer." Man, I still feel like a greenie but I guess I have been doing this for a quick minute. Good fun! Glad to hear about all your adventures. Especially Dayne! I'm super jealous of your Disney cruise. That looked like fun! Let your friend know I got next dibs, ya? K thx. Have fun at Phantom mom, pops, and Cole! I've always wanted to see that one live! 

Lets see what happened this week! On Tuesday, we had Zone Meeting! It went super well. I feel this is the best/most productive one we've had thus far. It really makes a difference when people have the mentality of "I don't want to be there," or "I've already heard this." It was awesome to see the Zone prepared and ready to learn. I'm grateful for them. They are all doing really well. Our zone is killing it! We have some like 16 baptismal dates as a Zone. That's awesome! I'm excited for what's to come. The rest of the week was good. We didn't have too much happen. We weren't able to meet with Victoria but we did see Jose. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him and he loved it! That was cool. Lets see what else. OH, yesterday we had ward Conference and a bunch of less active members that don't usually come, came! That was cool! We had a full gospel doctrine class. Ahh good fun! 

We have our temple trip this Thursday, which I'm PUMPED for! I haven't been since August! Today is a 1/2 pday because of that. This is Elder Perez's last week which means we're gonna work harder than ever and go out with a bang! Next Monday, I get to go to Santa Rosa to drop him off and then pick up my new compa the next day! 

Until then, pasa una buena semana llena de mucho éxito y felicidad! Les quiero muchísimo!

Con Amor, 

Elder Alexander Scott Joyner

week1week2week3week4*WEEK5*week6 (February 20, 2017)

Happy Super Rainy Monday! Monsoons are pouring over here haha but it all good and fun. There's no bad weather, only bad attitudes :) This week was pretty great! We were able to get a lot accomplished and done and such. Tuesday, we went on exchanges with the elders in Lakeport. I went to Lakeport with Elder Gibbons who has only been out three weeks. He's awesome and gonna be a great missionary! Wednesday was spent visiting some new investigators we found last week and then finishing some preparation for Zone Conference. We were actually able to set a baptismal date with someone Wednesday night. His name is Jose and is the dad of like 8 kids. We set the date for March 24th but that may have to be changed because of some other stuff we found out over the weekend. (Haha you can email me if you really wanna know what it is.) He's a good guy! THURSDAY was Zone Conference! I learned so much. They talked about repentance, blessings of a mission, living the higher law, stepping up our game with regards to missionary life in general. It was awesome! I feel there is lots I need to work on and this helped! Good fun! I always love those special types of settings where the spirit is so present. Friday was our planning day. Saturday, we had stake Conference. Let me tell you what, it was a killer session. Ok first, I got a call Thursday afternoon from President Carson (second counselor in stake presidency). He told me that the 14 out of the 20 people in the choir that was supposed to sing on Saturday night got the flu. He needed a quick back up so he asked me to sing. So I sang Abide with me a 'Tis Even Tide. That was fun. Then all the speakers in that session were killer. President and Sister Wright spoke as well as Elder Mark Davis of the 70. He got up there, looked at us, closed his notes and gave a powerful talk. You could tell he was inspired and called What an amazing experience! He also spoke in yesterday's session, which was killer! Life is good. Only two weeks left in this transfer. Tomorrow we have Zone Meeting to review the stuff we learned in MLC a week ago. That should be good! Them we have Ward Conference this upcoming Sunday. Next week we have a temple trip on Thursday so I'm not sure if p-day will be Monday or Thursday, but I'll update ya when I know. I love and appreciate all your notes and love and support. Time keeps on flyin by. Time to Seize the Day! Mucho Love! 

Con Amor, 

Elder Alexander S. Joyner

Transfer 13/Week4/Day1 (February 13, 2017)

Hola Familia! Happy Monday and Early Valentine's Day too! I hope it's just lovely haha. I hope you can feel some love comin from over in NoCal. We had a pretty good week this last week! It was good because I wasn't sick and we were able to get some good work done! That always feels so good! We were able to find some new investigators to teach which is such a blessing! One of which is this single mom named Victoria. She's awesome. Her story is basically like that of Joseph smith but here in Ukiah. She says she's been confused about which church is the right one and has joined many but just can't find what she's looking for. We shared a little with her and let her know that her search was over and that the emptiness she feels will be found in the gospel! We only have had one lesson with her but we are stopping by again next Saturday. She also has 4 kids (2 of which are over 8) that she wants to grow up in good standards and such. Exciting stuff! We found a couple others but we think she's the most solid we've found in a while. The Lord is truly looking out for us. 

Thursday, we had interviews with President which are always a blast. I just love him and Sister Wright. They are some of the most amazing people I've met. He helped me out with some stuff and gave me some great counsel. We really have a special relationship haha. Friday, got some planning done and then went to a birthday party, dinner, and then went to visit another investigator we have which happened to turn out to be another birthday party for his niece. We walked in and taught like 10-15 people haha. It was awesome to see so many people interested in the gospel! And we were just in the right place at the right time. Saturday, we had MLC in Santa Rosa and it was just so good! I don't know why but this time all the sections and lessons were just on point. I learned so much and am excited to teach them to the zone next week! That was a blessing. 

Sunday was a busy day. We went early to try to invite someone to church and then made it to 10 minutes of ward council with just enough time after to practice a song that I sang in sacrament Meeting. The English Elders were speaking in both English and Spanish Ward so we had to do mini exchanges while we figured that out and then I had to translate for one of those talks. After church, we had a linger longer and then went with a member to see some potential investigators, had some quick dinner, stake choir Practice, went and had that lesson with Victoria, gave a blessing to a member, with just enough time to make it back in time for our weekly call and numbers. We're a little busy to say the least haha. 

This week we exchanges tomorrow, Zone Conference on Thursday, and Stake Conference on Saturday/Sunday. Should be a good one! 

Overall theme for this week, God is good. Plain and simple. I love my mission and the opportunity to serve others. Gandhi once said, "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others." I find truth in that everyday. It's amazing. 

I love y'all. Have a super week.

Con Amor, 

Elder Alexander Scott Joyner

"I got bronchitis..." jk not really bronchitis (February 6, 2017)

Hey-O! Happy Monday! And happy Waitangi Day for all you Australians :) haha ALSO Happy Early BIRTHDAY Mom! I hope you have the most fantastic day and all your hopes dreams and wishes come true! Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! Know I'll be thinking about ya! Wheeew it's beeen quite the week though. 

I've basically been sick all week. I came down with a bad virus that I'm just barely getting over today. It's been tough, both physically and mentally. I've had a bad cough and sinus stuff and it's just been a mess. And then I kept feeling bad because we'd have to stay in so I could rest and then we couldn't go find or see people and ya. Luckily, after lots of orange juice, I'm getting back on my feet and we're gonna have a super awesome week. There were a couple nights where I got cabin fever so we decided to go see a couple of people. We were able to see one of our investigators that we haven't seen in about 2 months named Rodrigo. He had a baptismal date for about 2 weeks ago, but we haven't been able to meet with him. He's really good friends with our ward mission leader and some other members about his age. He goes to institute and the YSA and everyone thinks he's a member but he's not. He's still interested in baptism but we're working on repentance with him right now. We had a good lesson this week about how repentance relates back to the Atonement and how he can personally gain a testimony of Christ for himself. We really see lots of potential in him and hope he makes that final commitment and sets a baptismal date this next week! Yes!

Other than that, we were able to see a couple less active members that haven't been in a while and because of that one came to church on Sunday and bore his testimony! It was sweet! He said he's been meaning to come more consistently and because we saw him that one night, he felt impressed to come! Cool stuff. 

This week we have exchanges tomorrow, interviews with president on Thursday, and then MLC in Rosa on Saturday! Should be a good busy week! Hope y'all are doing well. I love hearing from you and thank you for the support and such. It means the world. I love y'all! Have a super week!

Con Amor,  

Elder Joyner