Week 9 - It's the Holiday Season!

Well, I'm pretty sure I am the only man on earth that could possibly be sweating during snow and 45 mph winds! I think I can cause my own hypothermia with all my sweat. It's not fair man. ha ha 

Thank you all for the letters and emails I promise I do my best to reply as quickly as I can! They really help me and I feel the love and encouragement from home! I've really learned a lot up here, probably one of the biggest would be that all we need to do for those who stray is not to pressure them but to just love them. 

It has come to my attention that I haven't really explained what my day to day normal schedule is like! From 6:30 - 7:00 am we exercise, from 7:00 - 8:00 am we get ready for the day (shower, get dress, etc.), 8:00 - 9:00 am is personal scripture study, 9:00 -10:00 am is companion study, 10:00-11:00 am is in field training, 11:00 am-12:00 pm is language study (so Spanish study for me). Then from 12:00 pm to 9:00 or 9:30 pm is when we go proselyting! From 9:00 or 9:30 pm we have planning and unwinding time till 10:30 when we go to bed and do it all over again! Obviously not every day is the same and scheduling can get rather hectic but that's the general scheduling of things!   

Sooooo, in the last two weeks we have done a ton of teaching, had a lot of meetings and all that good stuff, but I want to share some more recent experiences. Anyways, I've been pretty ticked at my companion these last few weeks, he kind reminds me of Gavin (my uncle) in his teenage days (no offense Gavin, I love you so much! <3 ). But I have really learned EXTREME patience, and have truly been able to put things aside and not linger on them. BUT! I have learned that even with that things are miserable! Don't worry, there are no holes in the wall and I haven't floored him or anything but things really turned around earlier this week. One morning Elder Bardalez could tell that I really just couldn't hide at this point that I had a problem and so we had a long good talk. I told him that I love missionary work, just when I do it with other elders. But after a good and humane conversation we work everything out and I have never been happier to work with him. The key to a relationship is patience AND openness. Because of our better relationship we have seen the spirit work miracles!

One day we were walking down the steps of someone's house and I saw a teenage boy and girl walking on the sidewalk heading in our direction. The Spirit told me that some how Elder Bardalez knew the boy. Sadly and regretfully I didn't immediately act on that impression, but Elder Bardalez didn't hesitate to start talking to him. I'm not saying I ignored the prompting, I just wished I had acted quicker. Anyways, the boy and the girl turned out to be brother and sister and they were just going on a walk. Elder Bardalez said, "Hey, think I know you!", and the boy agreed. How crazy is that I knew they knew each other before they even started talking! So we walked with them and taught them about the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the lesson wasn't anything too special, but we did get the boy to say a prayer at the end (and it was awesome!) and we got their address and phone number! 

Another night, after that experience, all of our appointments were falling apart and we decided to go and see Jazziel (who was the boy who said the prayer the other night). So that's what we did. When we got there we started to talk to him and his step brother Hector walked up and he joined right in to the conversation. So we went in and talked about the restoration and Joseph Smith. We asked Hector to say a prayer at the end of the lesson and to ask if our message was true and if Joseph Smith was and is a true prophet called of God in these days. He said the prayer, and at the end he paused before saying amen and my first thought was to help him remember but the Spirit told me to just be quiet because God was telling Hector through a confirmation of the Holy Ghost that our message was true and that the same church Christ established in His earthy ministry is on the Earth again! When Hector said amen he said, "Whoa, what is this? Wow, I've never felt this feeling before, feel my heart! Feel my heart! It's beating so fast!" He then grabbed all our hands and had us feel his heart. We told him that this undeniable feeling of love, peace and happiness is a feeling from God given through the Holy Ghost. 

We now see Hector and Jazziel every day and they have come to church and had dinner with us at another member's home and keep all their commitments! They are amazing and have a true love for the things we are sharing with them. At one lesson Hector was at the edge of tears because his sister didn't want to come hear the message we were sharing and said "She doesn't know what she's missing!" They are amazing and truly elect. They are already talking about going out with us to teach and going on missions. Hector really reminds me of my best bud Victor when he went through the conversion process. 

I love you all and I love this gospel! Adios!

Elder Alger

Graffiti of the week!

Here's a second graffiti of the week pic since I missed last week!

They dry the whole fruit up here, the orange was peel and all! they were both great, just a little too sweet for my taste!

Downtown Detroit!

It's getting cold!

Making a whole lotta chicken!

A visit to the Detroit Temple

A life is worth $7500 in Detroit????

A random couch 

This is a small shower I had to use on an exchange to another apartment .

This is my new favorite cheap hot sauce! Go Valentina!

I chopped off my hair! It hasn't been this short since 3rd grade!