Week 58

Hello family!

Amber & Dillon, friends and students in the
mission prep class that Elder Robles & I teach...
(Love this pic!   ~June)

Today I am emailing a little bit late - it was our district preparation day today! We did our activity early so that we can have the rest of the day to ourselves. We played chair soccer and a basketball game called "poison". Even though there are only 6 Elders in the district, both of the different games we played are super fun, and I always enjoy the moments and memories made when we get together as a district.  :)   I also just finished cutting my hair o_o.  Yes, as a missionary, I cut my own hair! I bought a hair clipper kit at Wal-Mart a few months back and have been cutting my hair since, crazy eh? I haven't had too many people laugh, so it means I must be doing a decent job!  ;)

I am so glad to hear that the family had a great time on the camping trip! I am so excited for the pictures! The few that you sent me are great! Dad is lookin' good, Choma is being a Choma, and Scotty, Sierra, and Heather have changed so much! Weird to see that! I am so excited to hear about the incredible miracles that happened on the trip, CWFYL (Can't Wait For Your Letter)!   ... I tried doing one of the "mom acronyms" - not a fan...  ;)  And it makes me so happy that you realize the importance of the Sabbath! I definitely lacked on truly keeping the Sabbath holy back then. Your desire to come to church weekly will bring out amazing blessings that you never knew existed. Sundays, now, mean so much more than "partake of the Sacrament, go to classes, go home, nap, other daily activities." The mission has helped me make changes in "every day" life that I will make last forever - I love it!  

Breakfast at Jack-in-the-Box    July 29,2013

Think of this question, "Can the Lord promise us something, and not fulfill it?" Surprising to some, the answer is yes. Throughout the scriptures there are countless amounts of blessings and promises that the Lord makes with us. However, each promise has prerequisites that we must complete before receiving the blessing. For example, in Mosiah 2:41, we are promised to have "never-ending happiness" if we but keep the commandments of God. In other words, the prerequisite for "never-ending happiness" is keeping the commandments! I'm sure if you do your own study you will see how true these principles are...  Try it out!

Look up Doctrine and Covenants 82:10. The Lord is bound to bless us when we do what He says. What is the most common thing that He asks us to do in the scriptures? Keep the commandments! He will never skip out, or forget, or think twice about blessing us when we listen and take heed to the council that He has given. If we do not listen, as the scripture says, then we have no promise - the promise that the Lord has made is not valid. Always pay your tithing.  :)  More blessings await you than you can ever imagine. The famous scripture about tithing is Malachi 3:10.  Before my mission, I thought simply that the Lord would pour out His blessings upon us because we paid 10% of our income. That is true, but the scripture has a deeper meaning. Where does our tithing money go? To the temples! The truest and most pure blessings await us inside temples. When we perform ordinances for ourselves, others, and family members who have passed without knowledge of this beautiful message, we receive "never-ending happiness," along with a sense of joy, peace, and accomplishment. I LOVE the temple and cannot wait for you to start your classes.  :)

Teriyaki for Lunch!   (Yum!!)    July 2013

That is incredible that Brother Cooley will be ordained a High Priest! I am so proud and happy for him; he is such a spiritual giant and a great example to me!  I am glad that you enjoyed the class that Brother Homer taught - he definitely does have a gift to be so "in-tune" with the spirit. As a missionary, that is a necessary gift to have. I've had and felt times where the spirit has prompted me to do one thing or the other, but I am trying to develop a more consistent relationship with the Holy Ghost.  It's a lifelong process however, but doesn't hurt to start now!  :)

This week was fantastic. My personal studies are becoming so much more effective after studying chapter 2 in Preach My Gospel. I really feel the difference and see myself learning so much more that I can apply daily. Parker Marsden came to visit! Haha - it's weird to say his first name instead of Elder. We held a small get together and had a good time catching up.  Saturday, we celebrated the Peruvian Independence, so that was nice...  I ate cow stomach AND cow HEART! Knowing that I was eating heart was disturbing, and the stomach made me gag (but the cow heart wasn't as bad as you might imagine it to be)...

Anyway, I still have to write President Bonham and planned on writing a few other people. I hope you have a great week! Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

P.S. I will probably send a semi-late email next week as well, Elder Robles and I are debating on going hiking at Mt. Pilchuck.  :)