Week 36

Hello!

Cool lookin' mushrooms...

Is it p-day again already?!  Seriously, this past week FLEW by!  I can't believe that I am writing another e-mail haha...  Well I had another amazing week out in the mission.  I forgot my planner so I can't remember too much about it...  But, I remember that it was awesome!

I have been doing absolutely great, as always!  I can't believe that the end of February is already here, time to jump into March and celebrate my parents becoming older!  The weather is starting to warm up - I think last P-day it was super sunny out and the temperature got to around 55...  It was HOT!  Makes me think...  HOW AM I GOING TO COOPERATE WITH ARIZONA HEAT AGAIN?!  I'll just be a missionary here for the rest of my life!

Thanks, Mom, for praying for my investigators and I.  It really does help, even in the smallest of ways.  All of our investigators are doing great.  Something I've come to realize is that the time of the Lord is especially sacred in this short period I have to serve Him.  Sometimes, planting the seed is all I need to do, but there are those special occasions when there are people who follow the example of Jesus Christ and become baptized.


Baptisms!


We have about 20 different investigators, but I'll write about just a couple:

Elder Fiala and I have a baptism coming up in two weeks!  The 9th of March - I'm excited!  Her name is Maria, she has been going through MANY sorts of different struggles during her time that she has been meeting with us, but she sees that prayer and the gospel is helping her out in many different ways.  I'm so proud of her change and her willingness to see the different blessings of the gospel.  Hip hip HOORAY!

We have another amazing investigator named Jadid.  He is from the Dominican Republic and was a media referral we received from Salt Lake.  He is wanting to go to General Conference to see the prophets speak live... THAT'S CRAZY!  I can't believe he wants to do that!  I had no idea there were living prophets until I met with the missionaries, and now that he knows that there are - he wants to go and see them, AWESOME!!  The first lesson we had with him we were talking about different sorts of topics, why he was interested, what brought him to this point in his life, etc.  We were talking about the Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and he pulled out a talk that he was reading by him.  I am seriously stunned by this investigator.  I know that I am blessed to meet him because of my obedience to the Lord.  I love Mosiah 2:24 that says something along the lines of "When ye are obedient to the commandments of the Lord, he doth immediately bless you."  How incredible and true!  What a promise!  Sometimes we don't see the blessings in our lives, but once we sit back and ponder about the different things the Lord has given us - for example, a family, good uplifting friends, a home, food, the gospel, etc. is when we know we are being watched over by someone up above.  He is there; He is always there, and I love Him for that!

Have a great day!

I'll be sure to send the SD card home today.  I have been withholding it so I can get as much things on one SD card.  It is about full, so don't worry about sending it back.  Just look at all the pictures and have a fun time doing it!  Thank you for sending me a new SD card, I don't know when it will come, but I'm sure soon!  I'm excited to look at all the different photos and videos that have accumulated over the time of my mission...  how many pictures and videos do I have now?  Just curious...  By the way, I don't go to the post office to mail.  I just slip it into the "letter box" at our apartment complex - I'll just add an extra stamp before I send it home.

Love you all... Hope you have an awesome and uplifting next week!

Love,
Elder Alexander J Annand