Week 65

Good mornin' Family!

Outdoor Celebration

Today thus far has been great.  Woke up a little earlier than normal (6:00am) to go out and do shopping so that we can have more free time to ourselves for preparation day.  This week has been pretty neat.  Saturday, a member invited a friend to come to church and they showed up!  Her name is Y, and she has 3 children.  She is such a humble lady and is so prepared for the gospel!  She has had some very hard and trying experiences in life, and it is amazing to see where she is at now because of it.  Elder Jones and I are going to meet with her today at 5pm to teach her.  So Excited!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SIERRA!  Man!  That is crazy how fast time has flown by!  Wow!!!  It's super neat that Sierra was able to participate in someone's quince!  How did she like it?  I've been to one on my mission, and it was pretty intense!  They go ALL out for it. Mariachi band and all.

Missionary Feast!

This past week the weather has really been starting to change.  The sun comes out every so often, and it rained quite a bit yesterday.  Also, it is starting to be more foggy in the mornings, and the sun is starting to go down sooner.  The clouds are finally starting to come, and believe it or not, I'm excited for the rainy season this year.  It doesn't quite feel like autumn yet, none of the trees have started changing colors or anything like that...  Maybe in the upcoming weeks.

I want to hike Mt. Baker, but I don't think it will be something that I do while I'm a missionary.  I street contacted a guy this past week who is a guide for the hikers and he told us that it takes about 2 days if I were to climb up and down Mt. Baker at a steady pace.  Sooo... I won't be able to do that...

How's Dad and Scotty doing?  I've been thinking about them off and on this week, especially before bed.  As I have done so much serving others I have really developed a stronger love for my family.  I always took things for granted until I realized how much I really miss everything when I am not around all of you.  I guess that's one way to be more grateful for everything that I have.

I've been listening to this GREAT acapella group called "Vocal Point".  I'm not sure if they have too many CD's, but a friend gave me one titled "Lead Thou Me On". 

Something that I'm going to start doing is preparing a small spiritual thought to share in each of my emails.  I've been having tons more spiritual experiences with the Book of Mormon these past couple of weeks, and I think it would be neat to share it with each of you.  I want to have it drafted out so that I can have it all nice and pretty for you when you receive it.



Just realized there were some things this past week that I forgot about, haha...  

Blood Donation Day in September 2013

Well, I originally thought that missionaries were not allowed to donate blood - turns out I was wrong!  I donated blood this past Saturday.  Normally what I do when I donate is something called a "double red" (if I remember right...) which is when you donate twice as much blood, and they put the plasma and platelets back in you.  It's neat!  :)  It only took about 10 minutes to donate blood, but we stayed around a little longer to talk to the nonmembers that were there.  Also, the nurse told me to take it easy for the next three days, and maybe because I'm rebellious, I didn't listen!  :O  Played soccer that afternoon with the Spanish group, and it went so great!  We had some investigators there, and it was so neat to see them get so much fellowship and be so involved in an activity.  I'm loving my new area!

Love you all so much - each of you are such an incredible inspiration to me!  I hope that you have a great week... stay strong and keep your head held high!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand