Week 14

Super sweet week!

I went hiking today! We went to Mount Pilchuck, but took a different hike called Lake Twenty-Two. The hike felt like 6 miles round trip or so, but it probably was more because when we got to the top we walked around the whole lake for a while.

           

We also found a few ice caves! Sweetness! Yes yes, I have pictures - and just a few videos! I probed and forgot to charge my camera so I couldn't get too much footage, but pictures - over 100! I'm sure you will like seeing them along with the captions!

Thank you for the package by the way! I love the music, book, and the letters of course! THANK YOU SCOTTY! And thank you for typing your letter, too. I probably couldn't have been able to read your 2nd grade handwriting. Trololol!

Just a random side note, there are TONS of people wearing Seattle Seahawk apparel because they are playing a home game today. Pretty sweet to see the amount of fans that support their team here! Don't see that much with the Cardinals in Arizona!

You've had more rain than me up here! It rained all day a few days ago, but then after that, nothing. I'm hoping for something soon! The cloudy days are FINALLY coming in! I'm so happy for that! Cloudy/rainy is my FAVORITE!! 

I am SO EXCITED for General Conference! WOW, IS IT GOING TO BE AWESOME! I cannot believe that it is in just two weeks! How SWEET IS IT GOING TO BEEEE! I hope I can watch it in English so I can get the most out of the conference, but if it's in Spanish, I'm sure the Lord will help me.

Love you all so much.  Keep up the good work - with ALL things!

Love,
Elder Alex Annand

Week 13

Why, hello there family!

 

I hope everything is going great! I am LOVING it! I got some AMAZING pictures of the sunset last night; hopefully, I will be able to take sunset pictures one last time before it's cloudy for the next nine months. Elder Robles and I went to a member's house for dinner and they live right along the ocean side. It is SO beautiful. If I were to move to Washington or anywhere else besides Arizona, I would have a house near the coast. It is BEAUTIFUL! The sunset was so amazing!!

(stock photo, fyi... ~June)

I'm glad that you got my SD card and everything:). I haven't gotten your package yet; it might be at the mission office so I'm sure I'll get it soon. I'm curious to what's inside!

This week was amazing though! I am happy to teach investigators in a different language! It is slowly coming along. I have a hard time understanding what people say, but I am able to share my mind with ease. I can conjugate verbs decently, but I am still learning everyday. I don't think there will be a day where I will learn some more Spanish…  It's crazy to think how much Spanish I have learned in less than three months time. WOW! I can't imagine what it will be like by the end of my mission!

 

Elder Robles and I were tracting and ran into a homeless lady. She used to be a member of the church! She doesn't speak Spanish, but we still talked to her and got to know her a bit. She was baptized when she was in high school (I would say she is in her 50s or so now) and loved the church when she would go as a student. She has been wanting a Book of Mormon and the weird thing is, I put an English Book of Mormon in my backpack that morning just in case. I knew it was the right time to give it to her.  I wrote out my testimony and invited her to church on Sunday...

SHE CAME!

She was a bit embarrassed because she wasn't in her 'Sunday Dress', but I told her that it's fine. It's not about what you wear; it's about whether or not you are actually at church!  I hope everything works out with her. It was an amazing experience!

I've been writing in my journal everyday! Just thought I should share that! I am excited to reread all of the entries when I'm older and have my own family one day.  :)  How amazing that's going to be!

I love you all so much and thank you for everything that you have done to help me be who I am today!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

Week 12

Hey there! 

This has been a great week! Very spiritual and uplifting! 

Yesterday, we had SIX investigators at church! It was weird having that many more people, it was surprisingly noticeable! There were over 60 people at the Spanish branch yesterday and it was way cool to feel the Spirit that much stronger.  :)   I don't want to give away too many details because I want to write about it in my letter haha. But last night we had a "cottage meeting". It is when missionaries bring investigators to the Mission President's home and there are some recent converts there that share their story and experiences. It was amazing how diverse every one of them were! I loved hearing about it, and it reminded me of my baptism a little over two years ago. I cannot believe how far I've come because of this church. Just imagine - where would I be without the church? Definitely not serving a mission, haha. I am so grateful for this opportunity to invite others to come unto Christ. This next Saturday we had a baptism scheduled, but I think we are going to have to change it because she hasn't talked to her husband about it yet, and we don't want any problems starting. Hopefully, Elder Robles and I will have a baptism this month!

I cannot believe how much a mission really works you! We are literally working FULL time, from 6:30 in the morning to 10:30 at night we are doing things that can help us invite others to come unto Christ. It is pretty amazing now that I think about it, I'm very excited to change people's lives for the better. It is such an amazing sight to see people change and receive that light that they have been missing. 

I have this investigator named "M", and he is a pretty heavy drinker and loves coffee. We taught him the Word of Wisdom this past week and he had the hardest time accepting it during the lesson. We told him to pray and promised him that he would receive an answer that he will know that the Word of Wisdom is a commandment of God given to us to protect us from harmful substances. We visited him the next day to see how he was doing and he has this alcohol stand once you walk in to his home, but something was missing, THE ALCOHOL! We asked where he put it, and he told us that it is all in the garbage! He is trying his best to follow all of the commandments of God and the commitments we give him, it is truly a blessing to watch him change before our eyes.

There's not too much else to say, other then what I will write in the letter home today. I love you guys so much and thank you for your support!

Kids - help out around the house! 

Choma - Keep being a good boy puppy! 

Tucker - Meh... 

             Sierra, TUCKER IS A NOOB! 

By the way... How is Tucker handling "indoor" life? Does he run away from dad all the time still or what? Anyways, I love you guys so much, and I hope that you are all doing great! See you next time!  :)

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

Week 11

Hola mi familia!

So sorry for the day late email! Yesterday was Labor Day so all of the libraries were closed so we couldn't email at all! I bet you were freaking out haha! Anyway, another awesome week here out in Washington! Marysville is an amazing place and it's pretty cool how diverse the area is... Since I am Spanish speaking, I go over two different stakes. It's pretty neat!  :)

My Spanish is improving quite nicely! One of my investigators "L" says that I am getting better and better every lesson, so it's good to hear that from a NATIVE!  :)

Now to tell you a little bit about my week:
My district leader, Elder Kordsiemon, challenged me to invite at least two people to be baptized, and I accomplished that goal! I invited "M", who is a man in his forty's, his wife is a recent convert, and we have set a goal for him to look forward to - the 26th of September. Another investigator, "L" (the one that say's I am improving with my Spanish), accepted a baptism date for September 29th.  :)  Her husband lives in Japan and she is here visiting her daughter, she leaves early October so hopefully this would be just in time!

I can't believe that it is ALREADY September! Crazy! It has gone by so quick this month! Elder Robles (my trainer) says it only gets faster. :(   I'm sure Brother Robert Gregory can testify to that, haha. I don't want this experience to go by this quick though. Good thing I'm still a noobie out here and don't have a month left or so, but before I know it, it'll be over!  :(  AHHH! Don't want to think about that!  I've been doing a great job with everything though. I'm surprised how much more focused I am when I read and study.

I bought some Vitamin D (refered to as the "sun" vitamin or something like that...) because I guess that is supposed to help you out here in Washington since there isn't too much sun everyday. Surprisingly, I have seen the sun everyday so far on my mission, so I don't know too much about what other people are saying, haha. But starting mid-October, I will rarely see the sun for the next 8 months, so I'm enjoying it while I can!
EXCITED FOR SNOW IN JUST A FEW SHORT MONTHS!!!



There was a huge church BBQ for the Arlington stake the other day. A live band, TONS of people, and even more food! Another thing I noticed out here on my mission is that my appetite has grown so much! I don't know if that's a good thing though... I'm still up 5 pounds, I've been jump roping like crazy when I go to the gym every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. This may be TMI, but do you remember the picture where I'm in the MTC jumping super high in the air? I believe in the caption I said I ripped my pants. Well, since there was a small rip, it kinda ripped more at the BBQ and needless to say... embarrassment for life. Luckily only the kids saw it while I was playing soccer and football with them, but I was wondering what they were laughing at for 10 or so minutes. I'm glad to have a branch that has people that know how to sew - Mission Hole in Pants has been quite the embarrassing ride.

Since I'm now out in the field, I can record more videos - in fact, I have been. I don't know how many I have, but they are there.  :)  I recorded a 19 minute or so video yesterday giving a small tour of my apartment and talking about random stuff, so I hope you like it!  I'll be sending the SD card probably this next P-Day, since I should have the other SD card you sent back to me from home.

Anyways, not too much else to say.  I love you guys, stay strong, because I'm trying to!

Love,
Elder Alexander J Annand