May 23, 2016

Well, it's not to say I've run out of things to say, but I definitely don't have anymore catchy titles to put on my emails. I hope that you are all doing very well and that you are all happy and healthy. I'm sorry that some of my emails recently have been weirdly short lately. You know that one thing that's always hard for me is to talk about my investigators, because conversion is a very sacred personal thing. It's hard to say someone is "doing really well" and then "not so well". Coming closer to Christ is between us and Christ, so I usually wait until afterwards to talk about people. That aside, Elder Brown and I have had a really good week. I enjoy working with him a lot. I think we work very well together which is nice. We are seeing a lot of success which is even better. I love being able to work as hard as I can to the end. I must be honest, the thought of coming home is very melancholy. I want to see you all, but I will be sad not to be a missionary any more. I actually love being a missionary - a lot. It's hard, but I would do it again. If they announced that missionaries have to serve another year, I think I could manage - haha. The scariest thing is coming home. It's hard to think about coming home. Missions are easy, life is hard. I don't really want a whole lot of down time when I get back. 

(Note from mom: The bulk of Alex's letter focused on specific things that he would like to do when he returns home and personal notes to family members. He mentioned a desire to continue studying languages. I'm including his thoughts below, but I wanted to explain the reason it seems like a weird transition from the note above)

I would like to learn some new languages as I've said in the past, but i don't know exactly what yet. I feel that i should learn French better. I just love speaking languages. The only way to really talk to someone is in their own language. I even look at myself, although i speak Malagasy, the deepest expressions of self I can only truly express in English. When you hear someone speak their native tongue, you are hearing an inheritance of knowledge passed down for millennia. It's really beautiful to think about, you are hearing the words they learned as their mother whispered to them putting them to sleep. I love language, it tells you so much about people and it enlarges your borders immensely. That being said languages are really, really hard! I hope you are all doing well. Please have a great week.

Elder Ahlstrom