Week 74

Hey there family!

This week flew by!  We did a lot of less active work, and our investigators are progressing big time!  We are hoping for two baptisms early next month, and a couple of more towards the end of the year.  Gotta love a white Christmas!  :) 

One of our buddies, RH, had his 30th birthday this past Friday!  R is an awesome guy and has the sweetest spirit anyone would know!  He always greets you with a smile, shaking your hand, and I can't help but give him a big hug every time I see him!  We celebrated his birthday on Wednesday and had a great time.  :)  We also did quite a bit of service!  This past Saturday was the Relief Society and Young Women's Super Saturday, where they all met together and had a fun arts and crafts day.  They made tons of different projects and some of it turned out really neat!

Drinking Smoothies !!

Today is the start of a new transfer!  We will be receiving a text in about an hour to see if I'm staying or going.  I've only been in Oak Harbor for 6 weeks, but I could be going back Spanish speaking, or stay English!  I'm excited to find out...  Transfers are flying by, but I'm making the most out of everything!  This experience is GREAATTT!  Who knew that giving of yourself completely for two years could be the most rewarding opportunity anyone could be given?  I sure didn't!  Everyone always says that because you serve a mission, you will be blessed for the rest of your life.  It wasn't until just a couple of weeks ago where that really clicked with me.  I am trying my best to become a righteous son of God holding His priesthood power.  If I live obediently and follow the Spirit, I will be able to reach my goal.  Well, a lifelong goal.  :)

So I was thinking this morning why so many people think and ponder so much on negative things that happen to them or others, instead of all of the positive instances that you should be proud of.  It seems that whenever someone slips up and falls, they want to give up and hide their face from the world.  Whenever someone makes a mistake, people immediately judge and forget about all of the incredible feats someone could have done in their life.  For example, I always notice people say that Peter was "unfaithful" when he started to sink after walking on water.  True, he did stray his sight from the Savior.  Yes, he was told to not doubt.  But why do so many people forget about the miracle he just performed?  He just walked on water!  He did one of the most incredible acts of faith anyone had ever done in the history of time!  I sure don't have a sufficient amount of faith to go walk on the Pacific.  The same goes for people nowadays.  So many people I meet say they aren't worthy to go to church, or aren't thought to be a success, etc.  Remember, please, especially when we are struggling, that the most loving being we can have a relationship with is our Heavenly Father!  The Atonement is made for us, particularly when we pass through those negative, depressing times.  It helps us get back up on our feet, shake off the past, and be forgiven for anything that we have ever committed.  I love Jesus Christ for that.  He has done so much for us and has made it possible for us to return to live with our Father forever.  How I can't wait to weep at His feet and thank Him for everything He has done for me!

Just got the text for transfers!  I'm staying!  My companion, Elder Thompson, is leaving, so that means I'll be getting a new companion tomorrow...

I love you all so much.  I hope whatever I rambled on about makes sense.  Have a beautiful rest of the week - Arizona must be nice right about now!  Over here, it's really windy and cold - haha.

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

Week 73

Hello, hello!  :)

What a great week it has been!

Battle Hymn of the Republic  (lyrics)   
Click the pic to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing it so beautifully!

Looks like that it went very well for you too - I'm glad!  Isn't Sunday amazing!?  This past Sunday we had some great talks on service, and all of the members who have been in the military sang "Battle Hymn of the Republic" because of Veteran's Day.  It was really powerful to see all those who have served our country, or are currently serving our country sing that wonderful song. 

I was sick last week, so I wasn't able to go to church for fast Sunday, but this past Sunday was awesome!  Because I didn't fast on fast Sunday, I fasted this past Sunday instead.  Some cool miracles came from it!  We had 3 investigators at church - each of them are super close to baptism!  Two of them normally don't make it out to church, so it was really nice to see them there.  :)  Each of them have small hold ups that has been keeping them from getting baptized, but I'm sure that they will be in the water soon.  :)  Elder Thompson and I were biking on Thursday to go and see a less active, when a lady in a white truck yelled at us asking for help.  She needed some help moving a couple things to a new place - it turns out that she went to church while she lived in California and has only been up here for a little while!  She wants to continue meeting with the missionaries and (hopefully) progress to baptism!  It feels so great to know that you were at the right place at the right time!

Transfers are next Tuesday!  I'll know Monday afternoon whether or not I'm leaving.  Even though I've only been here in Oak Harbor for 6 weeks, there is a possibility that I'll be leaving.  We'll see what the Lord desires!

Man... Chris is home already!?  Time is flying so fast!  I worked with him at Plastic Engineering for a small while, where I think we developed a pretty nice relationship.  I've known him for a long time, but never really spent too much time with him.  You'll have to get his email for me so I can say hello.  You can probably tell that he is such a spiritual giant - I love Chris!

That's awesome how much you got out of the talks on Sunday!  Man, I love this church so much!  It has done so many incredible things in my life.  I'm so grateful for this opportunity I have to share what I hold so dear to my heart!

Well, I gotta get going...  I have an appointment soon and haven't had lunch yet.  Hope that you have a great day and week!  Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

Week 72

Hey hey family!

Scott was stung on his little toe by an Arizona Bark scorpion
last weekend.  He's fine, but what a surprise!  Here's an pic from the
internet....  and Scott wants to keep it as a pet?  Eeeewww!    ~June

Man!  That is one crazy story about Scotty and the scorpion!  Did you read what he sent me?  Seriously, it was the funniest thing ever - just the way he described it - haha!  Maybe it's because we're boys, but I would so keep that as a pet as well!  'Atta boy, Scotty!  Hope he's doing okay!

The extra hour of sleep was nice.  It was really strange though, waking up and seeing some light - I thought I slept in!  It will start getting dark around 4-5pm - which is crazy!  Washington is really interesting... but I've grown to love it here.

I got the package!  Thank you so much!  :)  Seriously, you know me too well!  I got sick this weekend, and I needed some medicine.  It was so cool to see that you sent me that in the package!  I feel better now.  Bishop gave me some "green smoothie" which was full of vegetables and what not - it was really tasty and healthy!  It inspired me to be eating healthier and not stuffing my body with trashy things.

Cricket was my Green Rump Parrotlet that came home with
me in 2001.  He died unexpectedly Sunday evening.  Cricket
was full of sweet personality and playfulness.  I miss him,
but I know I will see him again in Heaven.    ~June

That is such a bummer hearing about Cricket.  It's so true how so much change happens while you are on your mission - and that is a type of change I wasn't expecting.  I'm going to miss that little fella chirping it up, laughing, feeding, and running around in the cage...  Aaahh, good times. 

So I've been wanting to tell you about some pretty cool stuff about our family history!  There are two members in the ward I'm serving in who love doing family history, so I asked them to do a little bit of research.  Well, it turns out that a little bit turned out to be a lot!  Annand is a Scottish last name.  With what we can find right now, it goes back to the late 1700's to a man named John Annand who was born in Scotland!  Isn't that so cool?!  I can't wait to do the temple work for these guys!  I'll have to send you all the paper work that we have found for these guys - it's so neat!

This week was pretty good.  Aside from getting sick over the weekend (and I wasn't able to go to church either), it went well!  Elder Thompson and I have been teaching a less active member who just had a baby about 2 weeks ago.  It has been an amazing experience for he and his girlfriend, and they had the baby blessed just yesterday at church!  I heard it was a really powerful experience for them.  The non-member girlfriend is now interested, and we will be pushing for them to get married, then baptized!  Then, in a year from that moment, they can be sealed as a forever family!  :) 

Last week, we had some extra time before going in to the apartment, and we decided to walk around to see if we could find anyone interested in the gospel before ending the night.  It turns out that we did! We found a woman named "G" who has a two year old daughter.  She is searching for religion and is trying to get her life back on track - a complete miracle!  She's doing great!  :) 

Well, I gotta get going.  My shoes are super torn up, so if I have the opportunity today, I might end up buying a new pair of shoes.  I love you guys so much!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand

Week 71

Hi family!

I don't know if you told Scotty to send me an email or not, but I got an email from him today!  :)  It made me really happy to see that he is doing good, and that he is helping out Dad a lot with the cars and stuff.  Sounds to me like he is changing a lot!

Enjoying the beautiful weather before rainy season...

That's a bummer that you weren't able to make it out to church yesterday.  Your work schedule really does mess with your internal clock.  I'm sure it is very hard to be changing that all the time.  Keep reading the scriptures daily, praying, and living righteously.  Then pray for more energy to be able to go to church, and I know that you will be blessed with it.  In order to receive blessings, we need to be spiritually worthy.  To be spiritually worthy, we have to be doing the things mentioned above.  Of course, Heavenly Father will bless us with many things that we don't deserve (because He loves us), but when we are doing what we should, and then plead for something that we need, He will bless us according to His will.  :)

My week was awesome!  It is so great to be a part of the hastening!  Miracles are happening day-by-day, and I'm grateful to have this opportunity to serve during such a vital time of missionary work.  Although I don't feel different as a missionary, the members are starting to take a larger role, which is a missionary's dream!

We should be having a baptism this upcoming Saturday!  However, it might have to be postponed a week, just to make sure that all the people who want to come can be there. The person we are going to baptize is super ready.  :)  Her name is E, and she is 11 years old.  Her mom is a returning member who does our ward bulletin every Sunday.

For all Minecrafters out there...   a Creeper!!

We had the ward's "Trunk-or-Treat" this past Saturday.  It was awesome!  We had several less active members there, and they had a blast!  Then, on Sunday, we watched the primary program which was even more awesome!!  A bunch of people came to that as well, and I'm positive that they felt the spirit!  There is something special when a little child, between 3-11, goes up to the pulpit and shares something that they believe in.  And then, hearing them sing is awesome!

I love you all so much!  Hope that you have a great week and keep your head up!

Love,

Elder Alexander J Annand