email from Matt on July 28, 2014

Dear Family! 

We live with the Swensons. It is a 53 year old man who hasn't been married and his mom lives with him. They are so nice. He is a pharmacist. We live in their basement and have our own kitchen and stuff. It is really a nice house. We are starting to learn the area a lot better. I know it is Heavenly Father that is helping us to learn this area so quickly. 

Church was amazing yesterday! It was such a busy day. Literally the whole day was going from one meeting to another. Our stake president is President Howell. He is an awesome man and super serious about doing missionary work. We had a meeting with him yesterday morning with the rest of the stake presidency and the high councilor over missionary work. He talked about how embarrassed he is as stake for not providing more teaching opportunities for us to teach. He is on top of things. I really need to step up my game. We were in a gospel principles class and this lady told us she has a foster daughter who is 12 and really wants to be baptized. For some reason she couldn't before, but they met with the court people and now she can. So we are meeting with them tonight. Such a miracle! When you have faith, work hard, and are obedient God blesses you! There were quite a few members who came up to us at church and told us how they have people for us to teach!

We were running a little late yesterday morning. We walk outside and on our car someone took a car marker and wrote just married on the back window and hearts all over. It was pretty funny. We aren't sure who did it. We didn't have to time to clean it off before we went to church so it sat in the parking lot like that all day at church. 

So as a district leader we teach district meeting which we have every Tuesday. Last Tuesday was my first one as district leader. It went horrible! I don't have one tomorrow because we have zone conference. We also do baptismal interviews and I did my first one on Friday for the other Elders. 

Bob Strickland in my last area got baptized on Saturday. I went back for it. Elder Dean was able to come back to it too so it was nice to see him. Chris and Cindy were there. They still haven't heard word on if he can get baptized or not. Jesse was also there. I think I told you how her dad was in and out of the hospital. Well I guess last week her friend got murdered. So the other Elders really haven't been able to meet with her. She just needs to be baptized! She wants to so bad but all these troubles keep happening in her life. 

I think a lot of missionaries struggle with depression. I think at the beginning of my mission I struggled with it a little. I am doing great now though. I feel so blessed. I think I'm learning that when you put trust in God that great things happen! 

I've heard of that movie it sounds super good! I'm glad your visit with grandma went well! 

That is awesome about Cody! Mom you can do it! I know you. It won't come off strange or like you're selling something. You even said that he is looking for it, but he just doesn't know it, but YOU do. God has put him in your life for a reason! I'm excited to hear how it goes. 

I love you guys! Keep up the great work. 

Love Elder Alpin

email to Dad:

Hey! Yay on doing temple work for grandpa! Grandma is so cute I love her! 

There is a neighborhood in our area that is growing so quickly and there are so many young couples. They have two elders’ quorums because the classes are so big. 

How was priesthood session? I met a lady here that is in the other ward that meets in your guys building. I can't remember her name though. I forgot to write this in mom's email. Our stake president got us tickets for the rodeo they had in Bluffdale. We got permission from President Chambers and we went.  My first rodeo! It was fun. We were hoping to find some people to teach but everyone we talked to were members! 

I haven't got your pictures yet. I want to see them. I'll send some in a sec. I got my camera cord! 

Love you

Matt, Elder Dean and his old district

Elder Dean put Matt's name tag in Jello...yum!

email home July 21, 2014

Hello!

I'm glad to hear you are doing good! Have fun at the temple doing grandpa's work! 

This week has been kind of crazy. Elder Dean and I both got transferred. So they whitewashed my old area in Sandy. I'm so surprised too because we just started teaching so many people! I got transferred to Bluffdale. I like it here. It is the southern most part of our mission. There are a lot of horses and the houses are more spread out. Most of the houses are also super nice. We are white washing the area. 

I am training a new missionary named Elder Morelock. He is from Laie, Hawaii. It has been tough because neither of us know the area. They weren't really teaching many people before we got here so we haven't taught much since we've been here. I feel like we spend most of our time getting lost. 

The members here are great though. They are super missionary minded. They even feed us lunches here. We have a car too. So I will probably be gaining some weight. Yikes! 

So yesterday was our first Sunday in the area. We gave talks in one of the wards. Elder Morelock woke up sick and puking. So we went on splits and only I went and talked. Elder Zwick, from the seventy, was there and talked as well. It was super good. After that we spent most of our day at the house yesterday. Elder Morelock slept most of the day. I felt so bad! It was only his 5th day out and he was sick! He is all better today though. It has been really overwhelming lately. I also became a district leader, which I've never been before. This has been the majority of my week...

Love you guys!

Emails Home July 14th, 2014

From: Matthew Alpin
Sent: ‎Monday‎, ‎July‎ ‎14‎, ‎2014 ‎1‎:‎18‎ ‎PM
To: JAMIE ALPIN

Hola!

This week went by fast. It was good though. I feel like one of us will be transferred. I think me. My feelings about transfers always seem to be wrong though. Yes I will be able to go to Jesse's baptism. She isn't getting baptized on the 19th. We haven't been able to meet with her for two weeks because her dad has been having heart problems and has been in and out of the hospital. She did tell us about a really cool experience she had though. On Monday night at like 3 in the morning she couldn't sleep. So she started reading Joseph Smith history. When she got to the part where Joseph Smith was baptized she started crying. She said it was just so powerful. She is so ready to get baptized! I fasted for her dad and we've been praying for him a lot. Hopefully he gets well soon so she can continue to progress. Sorry about your work schedule that is kinda lame.

There is this lady named Julie. We talked to her about three weeks ago. She said she almost got baptized but was turned off by members of the church. So she wasn't interested in meeting with us. We waited about two weeks and came back to talk to her. We noticed that her yard needed some work so we offered some help. She said yes! So on Tuesday we went over with some people from the ward and dug up her dead grass. It was such a great opportunity for members of the ward to fellowship. She was so appreciative for our service. She said we could come back and teach her. So we are going back this Tuesday. 

Holy Cow grandpa is old! That sounds like it will be fun. 

I hope you guys have a wonderful week! You're great. Love you!

Email to Dad

Hey! Nothing much is up. Missionary work of course! It has been an awesome week this week. Yes transfers are Wednesday. I'm nervous! Don't remind me I only have 7 months. I've almost completed my sister mission! I'm glad to hear your tests came back well! Yay 2 pounds of fat is awesome! I got my old glasses fixed when I bought my new glasses. They fixed them for free. My new ones are kind of heavy and aren't the best to wear when I"m super sweaty all day. I am wearing them today though. Glad to hear things are going good! You are great!

Love you!

Matt

email & pictures July 7th, 2014

Dear Family,

Earlier last week I was feeling pretty down and hopeless. I began to pray. As I was praying the thought came to my mind to read the Book of Mormon. I grabbed my Book of Mormon and the thought came to my head to read Mosiah 3. It was so clear that was what I needed to read. I took some of the scripture out of context, but I read it and I knew that God heard me. In verse 4 really stuck out to me and also verse 12. I know that God answers prayers. It is because he loves us so much. After this I was no longer sad, but committed to go and work hard.

We had an amazing week. We were able to reach so many of our goals! So many miracles!  We met with Jesse on Tuesday. She said she can't wait to be baptized. We committed her to be baptized on July 19th. She is praying about it to see. She told us she also wants us to teach her 12 year old daughter so they can get baptized on the same day!

One of the relief society presidents called us earlier this week and told us of a couple that was moving in. We stopped by and helped them move in some stuff. The wife is active and the husband is not a member. He was going to start meeting with missionaries where they lived before but then they moved. He basically put himself on date to be baptized on the 26th of July. Then we met with him 4 days in a row. His name is Bob. He is about 60. We went to temple square with him on Saturday. It was kind of an awkward temple square lesson for some reason. 

The fourth of July was good. We went to a ward breakfast and two barbecues. One of them we went to was a neighborhood one and I saw a family from my last area in Kearns! Their friend just moved into our area so they came with them to the barbecue. It was so nice to catch up with them. We didn't watch any fireworks. We heard a ton of them though. 

I'm glad you had a good visit with Elder Law and his family.

I love Sister Christensen! She just got called as the Relief Society President in her ward. Yesterday was her first Sunday as it. She let us come and teach for 15 minutes in Relief Society. It was fun. She is too nice. Her oldest daughter would be the same age as me. She died in a car accident as well as Sister Christensen's mom and I think her dad died too. I think it was when she was a junior in high school?  So like 3 years maybe? 

I'm glad they reached out to Elder Kniffen. What city is he serving in? That is cool about Elder Grant's experience with the General Authority. I'll have to try that out. Transfers are on the 16th. Coming soon! Whenever we mention transfers to Sister Christensen she gets so sad.

I love you guys! Thank you for being so supportive. Ya'll are great. You are great missionaries too! Keep up the good work.

Love,

Elder Alpin

These pictures are from while ago. The first is when it was raining really hard we wore trash bags. Then the other one is from the temple and you can kind of see how my chin was scabbed. 

Letter Home & Pictures 6/30/14

Hello! 

I am glad to hear about your classes. Follow up is so important. It talks all about it in Preach My Gospel. Do you remember Elder Ballard's talk from conference. It was all about persistent, consistent followup. 

I'm glad ya'll are doing so good.

Alison emailed me last week I think and told me how Sister Hunt came and visited her. Mom.. Sandy is pretty big and there are quite a few missionaries here. It would be tough to find me I think. We aren't supposed to get visits from friends or other people. 

I don't know how I'm doing in the heat. Ok I suppose. There are a couple barbecues going on on the 4th of July with some non members we will probably go to. I'm not sure what we are doing for pday today. 

We've been teaching an 8 year old girl and her less active grandma for awhile now. The 8 year old (Shauntay is her name) got baptized yesterday. She wanted me to baptize her so I did. Her grandma came to church the past two Sundays, which is awesome! 

On Saturday we seemed to meet every ex-mormon anti in our area. Those kind of people make me so sad. I just don't understand how they can be deceived so easily. 

This week was really tough-mentally, emotionally, and physically. I just want to cry right now. Don't worry though. I'll get over it eventually. 

Sorry I can't really think of much to say. I hope you have a wonderful week. I love you! 

Email & Picture from Matt on June 24. 2014

Hello!

So I went to Doctor Katz yesterday and I am all better. No surgery for me! The piece he pulled out was literally the size of a gummy bear. It was way bigger than when you did it. And it was all white. It turns out it isn't behind my ear drum and isn't going through the bone. Such a blessing! 

Oh yeah so I was on exchanges with Elder Hansen. Elder Hansen came out with me. He is a good elder. I think he is only 24 though. We were sitting outside the church building waiting for one of our investigators to show up and this guy pulled up and his truck and talked to us for like 15 minutes and then wanted to call ya'll. I'm glad you had a good chat. 

Sister Summers grandson went into the MTC last Wednesday. They stayed the night at her house before he left. It made me think about the night before I went into the MTC. Crazy to think about. He is the one that is going to the Detroit mission. Elder Kniffen is his name so keep an eye out for him!  

What ever you make for Elder Law and his parents will be perfect! 

We just got back from the Draper temple about an hour ago. It was so amazing. I think it was the first time I really received revelation in the temple! It was so awesome. 

We gave talks in church Sunday. We talked about family history and temple work. 

We had interviews with President Chambers this week. It was good. He asked me a couple of questions. Basically what do I want to become at the end of my mission. Then we set goals to get there. 

So on Saturday I was just biking a long. I was making the transition from the road to the sidewalk. There was a little puddle. My tire slid and I fell off my bike. Don't worry though. My chin caught the fall. Now I have a big scab on my chin. It could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness it wasn't! 

Have a wonderful week! 

Love Elder Alpin

Elder Alpin & Elder Dean at the Draper, Utah Temple

Email From Matt June 16, 2014

Hello!

It sounds like you guys had a wonderful week! How long is Kailee staying for? I'm glad you were able to spend time with Alison. She's a pretty cool kid. I am so proud of Ryan too! What a good kid. My Father's Day was good. We got some delicious cookies from one of the wards because they had some left overs. One of our bishops had a baby last Tuesday. We stopped by on Saturday and got to see it. It was so small and cute! I'm so amazed that we can create people. It just boggles my mind that God trusts us enough to do that. I've been thinking about families a lot after that. I studied about families today during my studies. What really stuck out to me is how central the family is to the plan of salvation. We lived together as one big family with God in the premortal life. We are sent to Earth in families to learn, love, and prepare to return to live with God. After we die we can live as families in the presence of God. Without families we could not reach our full potential and experience the greatest amount of joy. God truly knows what he is doing having families, father and mother and children. It is so beautiful and delicious! 

We took Chris and Cynthia to temple square on Tuesday. We watched God's Plan for our Families with them. I love that movie. I almost cry every time. Chris started to cry. He truly wants to teach his children good and he knows that is it through the gospel of Jesus Christ that will happen. We are still waiting to hear back from the first presidency to see if he can get baptized. It won't be for a couple of weeks until we hear back. He hasn't found a job yet so I'm not sure how they are doing financially. 

Elder Dean and I went running on Thursday for workout! That is the first time I've ran in months! My thighs hurt for two days! I didn't think my thighs would be hurting because we bike so much. 

This week was a tough week. A lot of our appointments cancelled and it seemed like there was no one home! It was a little frustrating, but it happens.  

Yesterday evening we went to the stake center to use the bathroom. You'll never guess who was there! Jenny Oaks Baker! She is a violin player and Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. I have that one Disney CD of hers. Anyways there is a performance or something going on this week and they needed a place to practice. I didn't talk to her. I only heard her playing and saw the back of her head, but how cool is that?! 

Moses 7:26. I read that this week. It made me mad! Satan cannot win.

It was super hot this week. The past couples of days have cooled down though so it has been nice. It has been a couple of weeks since I've heard from Katie. Hopefully I'll get a letter today. 

Church was super good yesterday. I taught young men's. 

I have my ear appointment today. I am so excited! I hope they make it better. 

Sister Summer's grandson goes into the MTC Wednesday. He is going to the Detroit mission so he will be there in a couple of weeks. Maybe he will replace Elder Law. 

I hope you guys have a wonderful week. You are awesome. Keep up the great work! Love you much!

Elder Alpin