It's been a great week! I'm sure I say that same thing every week but I just don't even know where to start. Really I just don't really understand how to put everything into words. I'll try for a little bit. 

Because I'm going to be calling y'all next week you can expect that you're going to get a little bit of a cheese letter this week. Other then potentially freezing to death it's been quite the ride this week. during the week we had a very large Christmas party in the mission. I was able to do a great little magic trick and have once again sealed my name as "that Elder that does magic..." but the best part by far was that we watched a movie as a mission. We watched the movie Zootopia? (I think thats how you spell it) Such a funny movie. Only down here could you really appreciate a line in that movie, It almost took all of us to our feet. 

at one point the main bunny is talking really really fast and runs off. There is more of a country bunny and he says to the parents of the main bunny. "Y'all didn't catch a word of that either? that makes me feel better I was thinking we was speaking in tongues of something" SOOOO!! funny, I would guess most everyone reading this has not had the chance to have someone start speaking in tongues to ya but it's a trip. 

later in the week another highlight was that Elder Ogden and I went to a Islamic Potluck! there is a fairly large Islamic center just a stones throw from our church that we semi-invited ourselves over too. I was so amazed at the kindness and reverence that was felt with them. We talked a little bit with someone similar to a pastor for a little bit about beliefs and tried to better understand one another. From what we left with both of us really just want to be better understood. They invited us back to give a presentation of what Mormons believe and we joined them for a service later that night. 

It always amazes me how alike all of us religions are. All of us are seeking a better relationship with our creator, seeking to be better people. I love how many blessings and opportunities come from being where I feel we can reach the closest back to God. I love the south and how different we are, but how similar we are at the same time. 

Love all y'all lots!! 

Elder Landon Aldana!!  

what an exciting time of the year! 

Well I'm very glad to hear that everyone is going to be enjoying Christmas as much as I am. This week at our church up here in Huntsville every year they put on a big Christmas concert. We were lucky enough to bring several people so we went several times, because of that I have had a song stuck in my head for the last day or so. It's been the Hallelujah chorus from handel's messiah. By nature the song just about blows you're socks off, but as they starting singing it really stuck out to me. 

I think part of it was that the song is all talking about Christ coming back one day and we talk about that a lot all day. How it talks about him coming and being the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It made me think just about how much I would not mind that. 

It helped me to laugh a little bit more as the next day after listening to a choir sing it, we went to seminary in the morming. Later in the day we went out knocking on doors first thing in the morning because why not.? As were knocking doors at like 8:00 in the morning and catching just about everyone at home (imagine that!) we had also took another set of Elders up with us and our plan was to divide and conquer. 

What really happened is that as we were walking back from a house little old grandma on the other side of the neighborhood was woke up by the other set of missionaries. She found us first :(. She then went on to explain what an awful thing we were doing and that we better be careful before flashing her beautiful 6 shooter revolver at us. She informed us that she had called the cops and did not enjoy us... :( 

we laughed about it and thought about how it semi killed the effectiveness of our morning. we took our dive home and enjoyed a great breakfast! 

I love this place, Love the people, Love Christmas the spirit that comes with it! Love the messiah!

Elder Landon Aldana!

Note:  For his last month, Landon has been transferred to Hunstville AL.  His address has been updated on the top of this page

Huntsville, the rocket city!!

I really like Sparkman! It's been a ton of fun so far, right now my new companion is Elder Ogden. He is from Redding California, It's been a ton of fun! we have been around each other for a good bit so it has not been very hard to work together. Were both nerdy!, and have very similar interests. It's been nice to see a lot of old faces!

sounds like everyone is going to be having a good Christmas, I know what we are planning to have a Christmas party next week. Just about everyone and there dog has asked if I was going to do a magic trick again, so I guess I'm going to have to do something fun! I know that this month we have a lot of things going on all at the same time.

While I have been trying to plan what is the last thing that I was everyone to remember us for I've felt really strong about leaving a trail of service. One of the highlights of some of the things we have stuck our nose in so far is that Saturday were going to an Islamic potluck... so that should be great, I've really trying to push to get a seminar on Mormonism at one of the three collages here. Lastly really trying to find as much service as we can with the new #LightTheWorld project from the church! y'all should look at it if you haven't ---Mormon.org--  This week we also had a great chance to go to the "Mana House" a local soup kitchen.

well, I hope everyone is enjoying the December holidays as much as we are! I love y'all lots!!

Elder Landon Aldana!

Hello!

Well, I guess y'all have heard from someone by now that I'm going to be leaving back up to Huntsville, but if you haven't SURPRISE! 

I must say, It's been really hard to think about leaving here. Here in Alabaster I made a commitment, that I wanted everyone that I met to really feel loved. To really feel like we cared about them and that they knew how much we cared about them. To often to I feel like missionaries come on into a town, or city guns blazing, and simply mine the wards and branches for people to teach. I don't think people do it on purpose, but I think sometimes we let people pass us by without taken the chance to really get to know them and really have a great opportunity to make a few friend. Don't worry thou... I still keep good composure in front of people. No tears or too much emotion can be shown haha! 

I just really don't even know what to write about. I feel like most of the stuff that happens to us is kind of lame... or super crazy, and at this point most things just kind of become numb. For example, this week we were out knocking on doors and someone let us in. Elder Purcell and I looked at each other because if someone lets you in here in Alabama you know it's going to be good. Either a great lesson, or there crazy, or there going to try and bible bash you. For our story, we were lucky enough to only meet someone crazy. 

we start talking and everything seems to be going alright, and we start to teach a little bit about prophets leading into teaching the first lesson. At this point we lost total control and the crazy starts to happen. The man we were teaching very much knew who prophets were... Because he was one, he had no clue how, but God had called him these last few months to re write the book of revelations, and then went on to other tangents. The worst part about this is that Elder Purcell and I kind of look at each other, and companion unity mind tell each other its time to abort our mission. So we get up and leave after another few minuets of really trying to be a nice and non offensive as possibly leave.  

what happens and why wanted to tell y'all this is that everywhere I have been. We meet 10 people like this a week, and it's just become the normal. I don't really know how to best describe it, but when you're teaching at some point they say something and it triggers the there crazy alarm in our minds. I'm really just very sad that I am going to leave these people. I just really enjoy it! there's nothing quiet like it, and I don't think i'm going to get much of it back home, but it's the best! 

I'm very excited to be moving, sad to be leaving. love everyone lots!

Elder Landon Aldana!!

P.S. Enjoy the snow!! also remember missionaries are no respecter of door signs!

Hello! 

Well, it sounds like that is quite a bit of stuff moving and going on back over there. I'm sorry to hear that. There has been a ton of stuff going on over here as well. Around the holidays here everyone does one of two things. One, there super nice because it's Thanksgiving and Christmas and they are just great people. Or two there total jerks and are like, "DuDE!! can you not see it's Christmas?? do y'all ever go away? I'm thinking were going to be getting more of the first ones this year... or at least i'm keeping my fingers crossed. You never can tell thou! people have started to be a little bit less crazy about football as well, all we got to do now is get past the 26th... the IRON BOWL! could be a holiday in Alabama if they could! It's the day Alabama plays Auburn crazy world out that day!

I don't really know what I want for the Holidays... One thing to start is that everyone should join us on December 1st! world wide day of service the church is pushing this year! were super excited because it's part of this years Christmas theme is all about 25 ways to help show the saviors light to the world! were super amped up about it and I think that, that would be one of the big things that I could ask for Christmas. If people would really just love each other for each other. If we could each take a little bit more time to do things for each other. That would be one of the things that I wish most of this year. 

Other then no rain, the weather here has been perfect, almost a little cold! Everyone here has been having a real big problem with the air being so dry a lot of people have been having problems with allergies. (even me... :( ) It's been crazy with no rain everyone has been losing there voice and has a runny noes! so pray for some rain down here so we all don't dry up and end up like Utah. It's been weird to see that everything is still fairly green, I think it's going to be nice to see all of the leaves change super fast. 

Well I love y'all! hope you enjoy this thanksgiving as much as we are! Love ya lots!

Elder Landon Aldana!

HELLO!! ROLL TIDE! 

That might be the most exciting thing that has happened this week! everyone around here talked about this last week how CRAZY of an upset everything was, I think I've heard more about that then anything else thats happened this week. We had a lot that happened this week. we attended our zone conference this week that President Sainsbury taught at. We also had stake conference, and to top off the week we helped kill/clean 2 chickens. it's been a lot of fun! 

at stake conference there was a really great talk about something i'm sure were going to hear a lot more about. It was about respecting each-other, and loving one another that we don't always see eye to eye with! he talked about listening, really listening and trying to understand one another. He talked about sometimes not all problems will be changed and fixed, but sometimes we change as we respect and love one another. He went on to talk about forgiveness and tied it into the story of the adulteress women. He turned to the last verse in the story, what he teaches after all the drama ends he says. (John 8:12) I am the light of the world, and how if we forgive and help people we too can be the light of the world and not follow in darkness. It was great!!

I also was thinking about something a good friend of mine back home talked about, she talked about how much she missed the south because in Utah people don't dump there whole life story on people they just met! haha! If I have not said it before I love the people down here. You meet someone and within 30 seconds there giving you from birth to now! It's fabulous and terrible at the same time. This week we had one of those terrible times where a man talked about going to anti-mormon stuff when he was a kid... and how much he grew up to hate mormons, but that we were ok... It was one of the most passive aggressive conversations i've been apart of in a long time, but i was reminded out of the talk giving. I do believe that as we better understand and better respect each-other, we will solve more problems and do more good. It's a two was thing thou, we all have to be more loving and caring.

I hope we all can be a little more "softer of hearts" and try our best to love all those we meet and get a chance to talk with. 

I love y'all!!!!

Elder Landon Aldana! 

Dear People!

Thats super cool to hear about all of the volunteers that help clean up! It reminds me a little bit of our week. I made a commitment this last week that I was going to try and tell a little bit more stories about what we do during the week. Not enough to leave you with a book to read, but a little bit more then the basics. Lets be real, missionary work does not change much! sort of.... BUT!! Elder Purcell and I were out on our bikes the other day. We have been thinking of ways that we can go around looking for service, one of those ways is raking up leaves. Our problem is how to carry our rakes.... Do we put them in our car and pull up like "Hey.... were hear to rake you're leaves..." and someone would shoot us because that's really weird around here. Our other thought was that we might find some way to strap them on out back and ride our bikes.... that's about as far as that idea went. 

lucky for us thou, god was able to provide us a way... because of the weird late fall we have been having just now people are starting to get around to raking there yards. The other day we found just a lady! she was very nice and when we pulled up into her yard on our bikes and asked for an extra rake she was more then willing to help us with that. This is where it gets great.... After working and talking for a little bit I asked it I could use their bathroom. As I was getting ready to leave the bathroom, lo and behold the phone jumps out of my shirt pocket into the toliet.... .. 

after contemplating what just happened I took immediate action, drying the phone off and to my disappointment it turned on, only to give me the white screen of death. To give you a better idea of the gravity of this situation, I have previously as in like 20 days ago broke a phone as well almost the exact same way. Only that time it jumped out of my pocket and died on the pavement. I'm now left with this white out phone in some random persons bathroom, a good 20 minute bike ride from the house, and to top it off I have to get tell Elder Purcell without looking like a total fool in front of the other people at the house. Literally the worst hour of the week for sure. It tops getting called the Anti-Christ by some random dude in the country, or a few other equal stories I wont mention while I'm out here. 

All In all, It was a great time thou. The family we helped Is going to have us back, and were going to have pecan pie! Elder Purcell and I are still best friends even after a blow like our phone almost breaking. We did save the phone by some immediate (RPT) "Rice Phone Therapy) the right side of him is still a little broke but he still works!! I love this place here. The ward, the people, Football! God loves our righteous desires and wants to grant them to us! 

I Love y'all so much! 

Elder Landon Aldana!