Week 5

Hey everyone!  :)!

Happy days, oh happy daaaysss! I just got back from going to the Provo Temple, it has been closed for the past 3 weeks for cleaning and just reopened yesterday. The spirit at the temple, whether inside or just on the grounds, is just amazing. No matter how low I feel, whenever I go, or at least look, at the temple I feel so much better :). And a plus, I can see the temple from my classroom window (WOOT WOOT)!

I am so excited to share the gospel and help others come unto Christ and help them be an eternal family. I heard a quote the other day: "Missionaries leave their families for 2 years so that they can make other families eternal." I love it! I am so blessed to have an amazing opportunity to go to Washington and speak Spanish there. And what's even better is that I am going to share the gospel! Needless to say, these 2 years are going to be the bomb-digity. My Spanish has improved SO much these past 5 weeks. FIVE WEEKS! I cannot believe that I've been here for that long! I love it here! But to be honest, sometimes I miss home too.  :)   I miss Choma! Anyway, just 4 more weeks and I'll be off to Washington, isn't that crazy? My companion Elder Fiala said I was talking in my sleep - IN SPANISH - the other night. SPANISH. OVERLOAD. But I'll let it happen, I guess.  ;)

I received your package last night, and I thank you so much for the extra goodies.  I am so happy to have my family's support, the ward's support, and even many of my friend's support as well...  I'm a lucky dude! I mean Elder! I should be sending home the SD card tonight, and I am going to make a small caption with each picture.  Keep them so I don't forget what the picture was about when I get back home! That is such an awesome idea to have a blogspot by the way... if only I could view it, haha. I'll have to check it out in two years!

That's great that you are getting rain.  It rains here at least 4 times a week, but only for like 5 minute intervals, LAME! I hope that Woods Canyon is getting some good rain right about now. I can't believe that the kids start school again in LESS THAN TWO WEEKS! Wooaaahh! That is SO weird to think about!

So this past week I have started a new goal that I know will help me out on the mission, and in life: exact obedience. I didn't know that I wasn't allowed to write during my personal time, but I reread the MTC standards and Missionary Handbook, and it says to only communicate with your family and friends on Preparation Day. It is going to be SO tough not writing you as often as I used to, but I KNOW that I will be blessed for this. Through exact obedience, I will develop several other Christlike attributes that will help me throughout my mission, and once again in life. I am excited to follow the rules, commandments, and other limitations to the T now!

Anyways, getting low on time, 30 minutes is just not enough here at the MTC! Maybe I should make an outline of what I want to write about when I send my weekly emails home. Hmmmm....

Love all of you!

Elder Alex Annand

Week 4

So it's P-Day! Already! Time is flying by here at the MTC I can't believe it! When people say time does go by really quick, they aren't kidding! I'm in shock that tomorrow is my one month here! ONE MONTH!!@$!@! Crazyness haha! Halfway through the MTC already! But I am LOVING it! Aside from me dieting to not become a sumo wrestler, I love it! Everything is so awesome here, the spirit, the study time, everything. Not one thing I would really diss on haha:). So my first week or so I gained 10 lbs, but now I am down 12! WORKIN IT! I'll be the first body builder missionary no problem!

I bought this pen that has 8 different colors in it and is used for marking scriptures. BEST INVESTMENT EVER! I am so happy I bought it because now I have an efficient way to mark my scriptures. It also helps me stay focused and understand what I'm reading, instead of dozing off. Each personal study I switch off reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish and English, so far, I am at 2 Nephi 3 (I think?) in both. My goal is to finish them both before I leave, I think I can, I think I can:)!

Anyway, how is the ward doing? I miss every single person! But I know that I am here for the right reason:). Tell them that I love them! I hope that the Gregory's are doing okay! I already said that in a letter but I don't think that you have received it yet. Tell them that I pray for Elder Gregory, I hope everything is okay with the people in Japan and that they will be safe.

Choir is so awesome! I sang tenor this past song. The choir sang "This Is The Christ." One of the most powerful songs that I have ever heard/sang. The song literally testifies of Christ. "This is the Christ, the Holy Son of God, my Savior Lord redeemer of mankind." When the MTC choir sang it, I had chills and felt the spirit from beginning to end. I think I have found myself a new favorite:P.

Each day here has been so awesome though! Everyday has a certain activity that is super fun and exciting to go to!

Monday: Workshop - My district and I go to a big classroom and in a sense, are given a motivational speech; but I love it! The spirit is so strong and it really motivates me to work harder and harder each day!

Tuesday: TALL - I can't remember what it stands for, but it is a language program that gives us grammar, words, phrases and we try to translate them, etc. SUPER useful and I think has helped me learn the most with Spanish. We also have the Devotional which is like a fireside and the choir gets to sing. Love it!

Wednesday: Lots of class - Haha, 6 hours of class may seem like a lot but it really does go by fast! It's in 3 hour blocks and we spend around an hour teaching, hour learning, and hour studying. You'd be suprised how much 3 hours can help your Spanish daily!

Thursday: P-Day - GET TO EMAIL MY FAMILY:)!!! And just relax and somewhat take the day off haha. In the nights we have what is called TRC (can't remember what it stands for) and we teach members about a certain topic in our mission language, I think tonight I am going to teach about Revelation through the Book of Mormon. Needless to say, excited!

Friday: Lots of class - Yeah, just like Wednesday.

Saturday: SERVICE - WOO HOO! I love service! Our district has been cleaning up one of the buildings that is being renovated for like the past 3 weeks, but it's awesome! I love serving others and it really just brightens my day everytime I serve someone.

Sunday: Church - Kind of self explanitory, but it is the most important and best day of the week:).

I couldn't pin point a favorite day looking over it, they are all so great!

Anyways I love all of you guys, thank you so much for being such a support, thank the ward for their support as well:) I love them too!

Could you send me a few things:

-Crystal Light (Strawberry, Raspberry Lemonade, and other good flavors)

-A clip on tie, you may be wondering but it would be so useful for breakfast you have no idea!

Love love love LOVE,

Elder Alex Annand

Week 3

Hello family:)!

Another great week here at the MTC! I can't believe that I have already been here for 3 weeks, just one more and it's been a month! Crazyness! Time is flying by so fast and I can't believe I have been learning Spanish so easily! I never would have thought that I could learn this much of a foreign language in 3 weeks time, but I owe it all to the Lord and the gift of tounges! It's great how much study time we get here at the MTC, on Sundays we have around 7 hours of study time! Woohoo! I've been loving it here though, I've since lost 5 pounds since I started my diet (thank goodness)! I don't want to be a whale when I get out to the field! No-way-jose! I started a new exercise plan though, which is to run 5 laps around the track (10 is one mile), then do some workouts, then run another 5, workout, so on so forth till the end of gym time is over. Today though we will be able to have a lot of time to exercise because the temple is closed for 3 weeks for cleaning and I already did my laundry yesterday because there is a gas leak in the laundry room.

I don't think I have ever mentioned this but my teachers are awesome! My two teachers are Brother Lucero and Sister Cutler, they are both great teachers and very inspirational! Brother Lucero served in the Mexico Wahaka (I think that's how it's spelled...) and Sister Cutler served in Honduras. Can't wait to be able to speak Spanish like them in less than a year! Gonna be sa-WEET! Our district (class) teachers them every few days in our companionships. It's called progressing investigator. The teachers act like an investigator and we know just a minimal amount of information before we go in and teach them. Elder Fiala and I are doing a fantastic job! The spirit is so strong when we teach and our chemistry together is getting better and better each lesson! I'm excited to see how my Spanish will turn out by the end of the 9 weeks here:). Probably still bad though, haha.

Fasting here at the MTC is just like back at home, but sometimes it is a little more difficult because it's harder to study when you're dying of hunger;). We fast from 6:00am to 4:30pm on fast sundays. During sacrament, we each bare our testimonies in Spanish and it's an awesome spirit-driven experience! Almost everyone (including myself) are in tears before we even get to the stand! It's crazy! The spirit here at the MTC is definitely felt so much easier than anywhere else I can think of, besides the temple of course. Each building here is dedicated by a member of the twelve, which I thought was very neat:)! Anyways, so the fires around the MTC have been raging and the first presidency sent the MTC a letter asking for each Elder and Sister here to fast and pray for rain, in hopes to have the fires die down. Well, needless to say, it worked. It rained two times that day and I heard that the fires have died down tremendously, if not, are gone. Isn't that amazing?! Prayer is real, I know it. Our Heavenly Father answers our prayers, if we are willing to act on the answers He gives us.

And are you crazy mom?! I would NEVER become a sumo wrestler! NINJA FO LYFE! Haha love you guys:)!

I hope the ward is doing great, I miss each and every one of the people there! Tell them I said I love them and hope that they don't grow too much while I'm gone;)!

Love you guys, I expect a letter/Dear Elder from each of you soon!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

Week 2

Hey hey hey it's faaaaaaaaaaaaaat Alex!

Well I've been dieting and I have already seen myself slim down! I can't believe I gained that much weight in ONE week! I've been going to the workout gym just about everyday and am lifting weights and doing other sorts of exercises. Gonna be BEAST MODE when I get outta the MTC, instead of FAT MODE! I've been sticking to the fruit and vegies diet and it seems to be working good. Cutting down on that much sugar daily really helps me focus and stay awake.

I am pretty much used to the 16 hour days, we normally go to bed at around 10:30pm, but since last night was the 4th we were able to stay out and watch the fireworks for an extra hour. Probably didn't fall asleep till around midnight, so to say the least: ESTOY MOI CONSADO! But I'll survive, it's P-Day so maybe a nap is calling my name?

OH YEAH! IT'S RAINING! WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOO! Love days like these! Some of the Elders and Sisters are just out playing in the rain, but not me! I miss going around with my friends and we would always play in the rain for a few hours whenever a storm would come in haha, good times!



My companion, Elder Fiala, and I are getting along great! He's from Richmond, Virginia and is 6'3" I think. He has the same wacky personality I do so to say the least, we get along well. We sing all the time to destress, and yeah, we motivate others to join in too. We're pretty much awesome. We have a lot of things in common and I'm glad that I can have someone like him as a companion here at the MTC. We are both going to the same mission too! So maybe I'll be his companion someday?

I can't remember if I said this in my last letter or not, but I joined the MTC choir, and man, that was a GREAT decision! This past Tuesday we sang "Look at the World" by John Rutter, it went perfectly! There's about 2500 people here at the MTC a tenth of them are in the choir haha, the sound that we produce is great! If only you guys could be here to listen to us!

I also remembered that one talk by Elder Bednar, it's entitled "Character of Christ." You guys are gonna love it, trust me! It is super inspirational, if I had the chance I would watch it again and again! Another great speech by Elder Bednar is his "Becoming a Missionary" talk. Both of these are talks held at the MTC and are both supah-dupah-amazing! Can't wait for you guys to tell me how you liked them, SO WRITE ME ASAP!!

Also, I don't need any more garments. They have a garment store here and I already purchased them. Anyways I love you guys, I can really feel my Spanish improving too! I know that the gift of tounges is real, I can literally see myself improving SO much each and everyday, and I know for a fact it isn't me, but Heavenly Father. Get back to me soon on Dear Elder.

Also, do you send out the email to others? Because I think you should, so they know how things are going and so on. Thanks:)!

Love with all my english and wittle bit of spanish heart,

Elder Alexander J Annand