CONFERENCE CONFERENCE (Mar 28, 2016)

HEY HEY HEY I hope everyone had the most fantastic of Easters! I'm super sorry, Cole, that you had to do the egg hunt inside. That's no fun! It's was surely different this year but still super fantastic.

Thanks mom and pop and Cole for the Easter package, btw. My companion has been going crazy with the little wind up bunny that bounces. I'll be in personal study and hear this clicking noise and I turn and its him playing with the toy bunny hahaha. He and I are so very appreciative of everything, so thank you! We had an exciting/busy week. So every year the Wagners (in laws of Presidente Hamilton) have a huge Easter egg hunt at their giant house here. They've been doing it for 25 years almost! Their house is like this mountain on the side of a hill here in Napa and its amazing! Then after that there was a baptism for the sisters who are in Sonoma, and then we had a blitz for the Napa second Ward missionaries. We ate at a Thai place on Saturday night, with a member, and then later that night the Hamiltons invited us over to dye eggs and help them fill eggs for their Easter egg hunt

the next morning. Easter Day, it was fast Sunday, so we had fast and testimony meeting. It was the smallest attendance I've ever seen at a sacrament meeting too. There were 5 members there and 4 investigators (none of which were ours). I've notice that has been one of the biggest struggles on the mission, getting people to church. We've tried everything we can, but for some reason they just don't come. We keep fasting for it too, but it will happen eventually so. The rest of the day was a normal Sunday, but it was great! It was such a great weekend to able to remember our savior and his sacrifice that he made for us. I'm forever and eternally grateful that he performed the atonement for us! We have great reason to rejoice and be happy. It's really incredible! That's why I'm here. Jesus Christ has changed my life and I will never go back.

Today, we were able to go golf again today at the Silverado Golf Course! It was once again super super fun! I'll forward on some pictures from that also!

The rest of the week was kind of slow. Elder Scow and I had to go the chiropractor this past week (yes dad I know the malice of the good ole chiropractors ;) for elder scow's knee. This was actually the second time we've had to go, and we're going back this Wednesday. The Bishop in Sonoma does it free for missionaries, so Elder Scow is getting treatments.

OH!!! For district meeting, Elder Scow and I did an Easter egg hunt with our district. We said the eggs were the investigators and that Elder Scow and I, were the members. The district members had to work with the members to get clues as to where the eggs were. They had to teach us a principle that applied to our life and our conversion and then we would give the "reference." It turned out really fun and such a good time!

This week also, we did loads of service! We probably did 4-6 hours of service on Wednesday and then 6ish hojas [hours] on Thursday cleaning someone's yard. We all got a little red, but it's worn off by now.

I think that's about it for me this week. We find out about transfers the end of this week and I'm hoping to stay one more in Napa! Also, CONFERENCE THIS WEEKEND! I'm super excited to be able to listen to our prophets and apostles and leaders of the church! It's such an exciting time, even amidst all the turmoil and strife in the world, General Conference brings such a thrill! I love you all and love hearing about your lives! I'd also love to hear about any experiences you've had on your missions and such! (Like Mom or Dad or Dayne or Elise or grandparents or anyone) have a fantastic week and such a good General Conference! I love you! Stay safe.

Love, 

Elder Alex Joyner

#Alelyua (again bc Pascua [Easter]) (Mar 21, 2016)

Happy P-Day all! What another great week it has been! I love hearing about your days and what keeps y'all entertained and happy! It's really felt like summer/spring this past week because of the time change. We had our interviews with President this past week, which was fun! It's always a good time to see him and Sister Wright. Oh also, mom, she was able to sew up my pants so now I have pants to wear YAYA! Oh I really appreciate the grocery box from Amazon. That was a surprise haha! 

We were only able to have on lesson with Samuel and his family this week, but it was nonetheless great! We shared the new Easter video and started talking about the plan of Salvation and how their family can live together forever. They really liked that. We were going to have another lesson with them, but they weren't there when we had tried to pass by on Friday.

Throughout the week, we have many opportunities to do service. Elder Scow and I have been doing Salvation Army, where we serve lunch to the homeless, this past transfer like once or twice a week. This last Friday, we had the opportunity to serve food at a Presbyterian Church. The program is called "The Table," where different churches in the area take charge of it once every month. Anyone who doesn't have food or wants a free meal can come in and we serve them. The English Ward was in charge this past Friday and needed some help so we helped out! We worked with Darren and Kelsey Walkenhaurst (Elder Walkenhaurst) and whilst we were working, he gave us a pretty good inside scoop on the District and all the drama that went down. It was pretty entertaining!

We've had lots of fun incorporating the Easter Initiative video into our Work. We've found joy sharing about the love that our Savior has for each one of us. I've started this thing, where each day leading up to Easter, I take some time to study what Christ did on those days. We've done this before in seminary, but it's different doing it in your own. I find it a great opportunity to study about our Savior. He did (and continues to do) so much more than we ever could imagine. Just like it says in the video, I know that I have found new life in Jesus Christ. Some may wonder, what is the need for a new life? I think this is speaking in terms more of that Jesus Christ can take our life and make it into something more than we could have ever dreamed. Something amazing. Something NEW even! It's incredible to know that I will always have someone there with open arms to take me when I'm most weak. Being a representative of Him has made me realize how much more of an importance he has (or should have) in our lives.

Since I totally forgot last week about the scripture, I hope that paragraph works hahaha. I once again encourage all to watch it and ponder it's message. You can find it here at: followhim.mormon.org

I hope Easter Sunday is an enjoyable time to be with Family and loved ones to celebrate that HE IS RISEN.

I love you each dearly. Have the most spectacular week!  Till next time.

Amor,

Elder Alexander Scott Joyner

#Aleluya (Mar 14, 2016)

Found Georgia in California

WOWIEWOW We are half way through March! That's some crazy sauce if I ever saw some. I'm glad Cole and Dad had a party on his 12 year old trip! Good job keeping that Ghost tour alive! COLE send me some more details and pictures and such! Happy Birthday to Papa this week! Wishing I could be there to celebrate with ya, as always! I love you! I'm glad to hear Grandaddy is doing well after the little emergency room stint. Glad Bro Dunford was there to take care of ya! Hahahaha that was a funny story you told, Dad, about the water and pipes thing! Oh Mommmm. Dayne sounds like he is getting a little summer trunky! Cmon buddy. Stick it out jajajaja. Elise y sus gatos? ¡Eso es loco!

This week was kind of just a normalish week. I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Matthews in the Napa 1st (English Ward) area. That was fun! I have come to realize though that I wasn't made to be an English missionary. Haha some people can, but not I. I had also gotten super pumped to go and eat 'white people' food for the first time in a while. So we showed up for dinner, and guess what this lady had prepared....... TACO SOUP. Hahaha don't get me wrong it was super good, but like even when I go to the English areas, I still get Mexican food. Oh Joy!

Lesson wise, it was a slower week for us. We were able to have success with Samuel Y Yokavet! (They're the Dad and Daughter that have baptismal dates for the 26th) We had a good lesson with them Wednesday and watched the 20 min Restoration movie, which really helped clear up a lot of questions about the Book of Mormon. Samuel's other two daughters also sat in on that lesson and so now we're teaching that whole family. (The ages of the girls are Yokavet-16, Jasmine-12, and

Martha-8, and then Samuel) After the restoration lesson we had, we asked them if they had any questions about anything and Samuel asked a super random question if we believed in witchcraft. It was like out of the blue too! Then the girls started sharing these kind of creepy experiences about stuff that used to happen in their old house and whoooo it was weird. We told them we could leave a house blessing later that week if they wanted. So we did, on Friday. The girls especially said they felt an immediate overwhelming peace come over them. It was super cool! And it was the first house blessing in Spanish that I've given. We're not sure if they're gonna meet their date for baptism on the 26th, but the girls, at least, really want to be baptized! It's super coolio.

Napa Squad

OH cool tidbit, we didn't have dinner on Friday and so we made Homemade Pizzas :) It was pretty fresh. A member had given us a recipe for Dough and I whipped out my pizza making skills from my Your Pie days and we had a pretty good dinner! We were pretty proud of ourselves for that!

THE #ALELUYA (#Hallelujah) came out yesterday! It's super de duper and goes along really well with the Christmas video! But I'll talk more of that below...

Alma 37: 38-44 (I won't paste it into here because it's a slick titch long)

This scripture is really cool and straightforward. (haha like most :) I really like the part where it basically says, because their Fathers had faith to work the Liahona, it worked. Of course they had to act on their Faith (because faith without works is dead) but it was still that simple; that they had faith and it worked. I feel as though I talk to different people throughout the day, I see many who don't have faith. They don't have faith that today is going to be a good day or that God is going to bless them in their lives. It's sad to see such a simple principle and practice be put to waste. I think that's why it is one of the first things we teach as missionaries. You have to have faith in Jesus Christ and that He is your Savior and Redeemer! Which leads me into this new Easter video that came out........ DON'T SKIP OVER THIS PART OF THE EMAIL. STOP WHAT YOURE DOING AND WATCH THIS.

https://www.mormon.org/easter/hallelujah?player=bc

Since being on my mission, I can testify that I have found New Life, through Jesus Christ. I know you can too. Like us as missionaries do, we invite people to keep commitments and promise them blessings. This video does the same. It invites YOU to 'Follow Him' and the promised blessing is that you will 'find new life.' Què increíble, no? I can testify that as you do this, you will find new life through Him.

Con Amor

Elder Joyner

California Rain

CARPE DIEM. Mañana. (Jk don't procrastinate, ever) (Mar 7, 2016)

Tis P-day once again!!!! How exciting! Great to hear all is well!

Dwayne, Congratulations on Canada! D'arque is a fun character and yes I do know Big Fish silly! The Foreigner sounds super familiar too! I'm super Jelly you got to go to Gentleman's guide. That's seriously one of my favorite shows! I listened to it a bunch before I came out. Oh and Glasses too!? How cute! You're becoming one of us! Cole you're next bud haha!!!! Momma thanks for the package of healthy goodies! I was having a rough day that day so it was a nice pick-me-up! Dad, haha soooo I may have already seen the new Easter initiative video because ya know, missionary connections :) I know how to work the system hahah! It ties in really well with the Christmas initiative video too. Hey Sissy! Our week seems to have been about the same then with lots of appointments fallen through and such. But good nonetheless!!!

This week was kind of slow just for a couple different reasons. Like I said above, we had some unexpected lessons fall through. We also had a good number of doors slammed in our faces. Like more than normal haha!! It's all good though! Cody mentioned something in his email last week that I liked. He said that each night he says something like "I wonder what God's gonna do tonight (in our area)." That's something I've started to apply to my finding and missionary work. It's amazing!

We have been able to start teaching this one lady named, Mayra, who is a member reference. We have been pushing asking for contacts and references with members recently! And so far it's been working. It's muy increible! She loves to read and learn and such. She wants to be a missionary and were like YAS we can help ya!! We're hoping to have her baptism by the end of this transfer too!

Being blessed to have cars in our mission can come with a price. As district leaders, Elder Scow and I have to do monthly car inspection. We got some quarterly training on this this past Friday by Elder

Marshall, who is over cars for our mission. That was fun! It was interesting to see how items such as cars need to be taken care of because it's Lord's property that were using. So also speaking of cars, we had to take our car into the tire shop to get a new battery and realignment of our tires. We ended up waiting TWO AND A HALF HOURS!!!!! QUÈ LOCO. It was not the funnest I've ever done.

Today, Elder Scow and I found the coolest little shop called Cost Plus World Market. We thought it was the Bee's Knees until we found out it's not just a California thing. It's still my new favorite place!!!

Isaiah 40:28-31

28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

29 He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint

WELLLL to me, I feel as though this first little part sounds like a proclamation of sorts! Kind of like a "Cmon guys, how have not heard this super really cool thing, that God, the one who made the Earth, doesn't faint and isn't weary!!!!!!!!" I think that's kinda funny, to be honest. He then goes on to say that everyone will faint and fall and stumble, but that those who wait upon the Lord, shall be lifted up. They will run and not be weary, walk and not faint. That sounds pretty fantastic if you ask me, and all we have to do is rely on the Lord? Wow that sounds like quite the deal!!! It's comforting to me to know that when I'm weak the Lord will raise me up to be greater than I ever could be. That has really helped me this week. We've more doors slammed in our face than usual, this week, so to me it's the small and simple things that make it or break it. I've found solace with putting my whole being in the Lord's hands.

I'm super excited for this week! As district leaders also, were supposed to go on exchanges with the Elders in our district, so I'll be going into the English area this week for a day. That'll be fun! OH I forgot to tell ya something fun. So Elder Wakenhaurst (the Elder from the district DVDs for missionaries) lives in the Napa 2nd Ward. I was able to meet and talk with him a little bit so that was kinda cool.

Have a fantastical week! I love you all! The church is true and the Book is blue! Till next week!

Con Amor

Elder ajoy

In honor of Dr. Seuss's birthday this past week, here's a quote dad included in his email to me:

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you!      
                                                                                                           - Dr. Seuss"