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I don't really know where you start of this week, but it has been a good week as it went on. When we started off this week it kind of stunk because i got really sick and was in bed all day Wednesday and most of the day Thursday. so we were kind of down because I felt like poop and we were not really finding anything for the last few weeks, just a lot of No's and door slams. It was really nice to get sick because we took a break for a second. we started to rethink what we were doing, what we wanted to do, and come up with a plan of what we wanted. these last few weeks have been very different then what I've been used to, the people, culture and everything is just VERY different from the rest of Alabama. These last few weeks we have been trying to think of new ideas, something different.

Something out of the normal but still missionary work. so we have been having kind of brainstorms with our zone leaders Sunday nights before P-day and we just talk about ideas and insides all night. and were getting somewhere, we have a few ideas were trying to push on and work with that i'm SUPER AMPED UP for. It's been a big change these last few days, after I started to feel a little bit better we have been trying to work some of our plans into the work. the main goal is to Improve unity with members and missionary. I wont type out the huge list of ideas were going to be trying but that's the big idea. We hope to have a big push when we get the chance, because were just going for the BEST way to work here. part of our plan includes working with less active members of the church so we have been meeting and getting to know them a lot more these last few days and have had some CRAZY cool experiences.


this week I've really just started to know more a lot more about myself, about the scriptures and about who I am as a person. A lot happend this week and just too much to type out, a lot bad but much more good. so i dont really know what to even write about. I super excited for Cosmos and I hope that he gets to come to Utah soon, im more then excited for him and everyone well have to let me know how it goes. the weathers great!!! eveyone keep doing good!


Love all Y'all!!!


Elder Landon Aldana

It's a HUGE city and there are a ton of doors

Looks like everyone is having a good ol time back home still. I'm glad that there's nothing too crazy going on while i'm out here. i would be very upset if there was. anyway, this is where i live now (((( 11575 Memorial Pkwy SW (Apt 402), Huntsville, AL 35803 )))) there nice little places to live, the people around us are nice. 

I don't really know what to write about this week haha, It's been a really hard week. we knocked on a lot of doors and not a lot of people answered or wanted to talk. the good part is, it's a HUGE city and there are a ton of doors. 

Elder Ihasz is a very good companion, we have been talking a lot because he is still a little bit new in the mission. hes super pumped up thou, just a little bit too pumped up. our first few days he would like chase people down. It was SUPER funny, i was like Ihasz.... if people are scared we will chase them down. they wont talk to us, so hes not as SUPER contact but still works very hard. 

How have i liked the big town of Huntsville so far... for real talk, its alright. There are a LOT more people but also a LOT more people that have looked up church-anti and have just a bunch more of dirt on the church that they dont really like about us. 

so part of me likes it because theres a ton of people, but part of me wants to just leave all these super hard hearted people. I'm normaly not upset to much about it but when they come after we and try and just destroy peoples beliefs in God, and take pride in it.... First time in a long time i have just got very upset over people, But hey,.... im over it were still right..... :)

anyway, the work is great here people are moving and I'm very excited to be here. I love y'all and hope you have a great rest of the week.!

Elder Landon Aldana

Landon doing magic tricks with the Mission President during the Christmas Party

Weatherly Alabama!

Weatherly Alabama! so the new area that i am going to be in here for the next few days is GREAT!! its very big haha. a lot bigger then any of the others places that i have been in here in the last year. The Ward here is great, everyone is very nice to me and has been more then willing to help us.

My new companion is Elder Ihasz, hes a very nice guy. hes from Washington, and has been out about 3 months now. he is very smart but still a little awkward around people so its really fun to take him our store contacting and trying to make him get our of his comfort zone and just start random conversations with random people

the people here are soooo much different from the people down in the south part of Alabama, here is like all about NASA and everyone is very well off and has like 3 cars, and expensive phones. its weird to see how different one state can be as your move from place to place.  

I don't really know what to expect at this point because its only been a few days, right now i just feel like i have settled in and now we can start to get everything working and moving good. i'm just very excited to be able to get out and start to talk with a lot more people, these last few days have just been a lot of admin and planning and such so i thinking that this week we are going to be able to have a lot more time to do work and such!!!

Love you guys!!!! keep praying and thinking about me!!

Elder Landon Aldana

P.S. ill have to send y'all my address next week!!!
and some pictures!!! and yes i did get the shoes and Candy THANKS SO MUCH!!!

Well I'll be leaving Clanton

Well ill be leaving Clanton... not only that i've been told that im going to be moving to Huntsville, (A big city!!) so i'm super excited!!!! but thinking about going to a big city has made me think about all the small towns that I have been in so far, so i think i want to tell a little story about how my mission has about gone so far. 

You show up!!! set your bags down in the house or duplex you will be living in because there are not very many apartments in the town. after pulling into town it take a good 2 minuets to get to your house on the other side of town. the 2 hour drive you and your companion have had some time to talk about the area and such. 

Its a small branch, no more then 20 people come on a good day and most of the branch is older folks. Everyone is Super nice to you!! they all know about you already somehow, its only been 24 hours and everyone knows more about you then your companion does. Its crazy!!!! the branch is great but its time to start the work.

its a small town and you know its been tracked to DEATH! so you try looking for ways to serve the people here. As a WISE Mission President always says "Service Softens Story Souls." your going to serve the town till they love ya!!!.... so you start out, knocking on doors, looking for ways to help out in anyway you can.

 Little by little you start to find ways to help out, once in a while you catch someone working out in the yard but the majority of the population is older folks so they never really get around. There's two types of people, ONE... will tell you "You cant work your way to heaven, I hope you find God so you don't go to Hell." TWO... "I love what y'all do I see you all the time, but we just don't believe the same way."

for a while you brush it off, go looking for others more ways to help, more people to see, but your town is not as big as you think. The people here have met missionary's they know what your do and why your here. now you swap your approach, no longer is it to just serve them, but to really and truly take an interest in peoples lives. 

why should someone listen to you if your not willing to listen to them? slowly but surely you start to talk with more people and become great friends with many people. after a few months its time for you to go, to move on to somewhere else to start over again. making the same relations meeting different people.

its a long story but that's the best way i can say how I feel about leaving to a Big City, I'm very excited to see a new environment, a new world but i do love the small town people soooo much. 

I love ya, ill have to tell you how the big city is!!!! 

Love Landio 

it sure has been cold down here

hmmmm..... it sure has been cold down here, but it sounds like its nice and cold back there haha! it is very cold over here thou, riding on bikes is not fun AT ALL!!! and i hope here in this next transfer i might end up in a big city and can walk most of the time haha. :) but knowing my luck well just have to see where i end up getting up at. I'm sure ill be happy wherever i go. 

so... get this! the last few weeks Elder Wilson and I have started to get along super well, but over the last few weeks we kind of started to butt heads a little more. so the other day we sat down and started talking trying to figure out why we were not getting along as we were say 4 or 6 weeks ago. and what we had found was that we were not communicating as well as we thought we were. 

I was getting frustrated because i felt like he was not listening, and he was getting more defensive and confused because of our lack of solid communication. as we sat down and talked we started to notice that we would do certain things when one another talked that made the other people feel like we were not listening or hearing what the other was trying to say. 

so after a long talk with one another we started to "Really" understand one another much better. I didn't feel like i had to repeat something because he was not listening but more he just was not understanding or was but had moved the conversation. I'm just very grateful that we were both willing to sit down and really try and listen to the other person. its amazing what happens when you just listen.  

this week we have been trying new ways to approach someone on the door. we have been doing quite a bit or tracking these last few weeks so we have had to get kind of creative or we would go crazy saying the same thing over and over and over again. It's also amazing how well Elder Wilson and I have been working together. I think that Elder Wilson and I have been able to really teach and talk in great unity. we just stop and pick up where the other is.

I'll have to say i think one of the reasons is that we really try and get to know each other, know how the other person thinks. I have a great deal of trust with Elder Wilson and because i trust him i can rely on him. it really is amazing to think about all of the things you learn while on a mission. you learn the gospel, but you learn a lot more about how to live your life!

Elder Lando ALdana

nothing holding back

well i guess to start off the week has been good, but very cold...... sometimes i wonder how i made it last winter, but i think that its not going to get much worse. other then it just being very cold for the most part we have just been spending a lot of time knocking doors these last few days. 

this month in the mission we are having what we call Book of Mormon month. The idea of it is basicly just teach as much as possible about the Book of Mormon and hand out 40 Book of Mormons. I really like it, we have Book of Mormon month about twice a year so its always interesting to see what happens in 30 days.

man, these last few days i have been extremely tired. I'm thinking its the grey days that we have been having all the time and just not seeing the sun at all. Its been very hard to get motivation to do anything these last few weeks going into the winter months, but were very excited for the next few weeks. 

we have Interviews with President Hanks this week and then next week we have a World wide mission devotional, so were all very excited about that and getting to hear from the General Authority and such. these last few months its been weird thinking that President Hanks will be going home before i do so anytime that we get to see him i love to just get to talk with him and be with him for a little bit longer. 

other then cold winter nights and long days in the rain, i have really begun to just enjoy being out here these last few months. thinking about where i was and were i was going. its so great to me to think that all day i just get to try and help people come closer to Christ. not even just come to the Mormon church, but i just get to help out and serve all day!!!. its great!!!!

the work here is great. as one missionary said a few days ago giving her last words to the mission because she goes home at the end of this month. she said "a missionary told me something once. Gods work WILL move forward, we just have to chose if we want to be part of it" I tell you what i want to be part of it. nothing holding back

i love Alabama, all of it!!! 

Elder Landon Aldana

this week is my HUMP DAY!!!

My shoe size is 11 D... the only thing that i really could use at this time is just some new shoes. other then that everything else is holding up for the most part. SOOOO.... if i could get some easy to cook recipes that would be super nice. and not even like SUPER easy but if you could send me the Ti Lettuce wraps one. that would be super helpful!!! I guess no surprise to anyone this week is my HUMP DAY!!! and its been so good already haha. last night Elder Wilson and I were talking and kind of got a little flare in the conversation, but after we were able to have a great spiritual moment together and were able to just like look back into our pasts. 

i was thinking it being about my year mark i would give y'all a little bit more information about how i was feeling when i first started this whole mission thing....

 QUOTE "1/07/2015 It's my first day as a missionary. ITS SO CRAZY here I'm feeling so many emotions right now but i feel that im in the right place. Elder Nelson is my MTC companion were like best friends already and im so excited to get to know him better. Im starting to miss home a little now. Its weird to think im not going to come back for 2 YEARS!!! i can feel the SPIRIT... I think its the Spirit anyway, so strong right now, in this place. Everything goes by so fast but its so good. in rooming with Elder Tatton, Elder Farr, and Elder Nelson. 

we seem to get along good and no one cares if I sleep with a fan, so thats a good thing. we met our zone leaders today. they seem like good people but its still hard to talk to anyone. I'm way excited to be here now but im Nervous the schedule is crazy from 6:30 to 10;30 your packed with things to do, but i feel that im learning a little and im ready for tomorrow. " first day in the mission....

i look back at that and just think about what i was feeling right about that time. I was SCARED!!! heck i didnt know a thing about anything in the church and now i was going to have to go and teach people about it for 2 YEARS!!!!!... and yet i did not know a thing about it myself. Let me tell you the story about me now. 

" Elder Landon Aldana. 6'4 white kid from Mapleton Ut.... WAY OUT IN THE COUNTRY..... I'm more confident then i have ever been in my entire life and for the first time in a long time i am able to see a bigger picture. no longer stuck in my old life but able to step back and change my life for the better and learn more about God then i ever would have back home. My mission has not only Saved my Spiritual life. It has saved my Physical life. no longer the silly young Gamer KID... but ive been able to find my own funny happy little self." 

as of right now. i can say with 100% i have found my Convert, i have learned to look outside oneself to find your true self. 

I love y'all !!!!

Elder Landon Aldana