Yes that is a book with liam hemsworth on it. the sitcky note says "not to look at till after the mission" and then it is tapped shut. hahaha oh the dollar store!
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December 30, 2013
Christmas on a Mission
Well hello everyone! So good news I survived my 1st Christmas as a missionary! Actually I did more than survive, it was a really good day! So lets start with christmas eve...
-We got to go down to San jose and the whole mission met together for breakfast and a devotional. all 280 of us. crazy! but it was good too see other missionaries who I have served with like Sis. Goodman and Sister Ellis! We had Steak and eggs and pancakes. HUGE STEAKS. It was great. and then we did a white elephant gift exchange with our zone. Then we had our devotional. it was amazing. President Watkins talked and he started crying and it was just neat to see him on a more human level. He is so wonderful.
-So the rest of the day was spent visiting members, we saw one family and taught their little girls about the true meaning of christmas and then we helped another mom in our ward wrap presents. it was great I told all the kids I knew what they were getting. hehehe Then we went to dinner at the daytons who are a wonderful family in our ward. they have a son and daughter out on a mission right now so it was a lot of fun. dinner was great and then we even had some musical entertaniment provided my my comp who plays the cello. (she is amazing!) I stumbled through a piano song. Looks like I need to start practicing again. :(
-Then after that we went Caroling. and then all of the sisters in our zone (so 8 of us total) came to my apartment and we had a sleepover! with our mission presidents permission of course. We all drew names last week and then exchanged gifts. Then of to bed.
- Christmas morning was great, I openened my packages, thanks everyone! and then we did our studies and headed off to another members house! Where we ate breakfast and watched joy to the world. then to another members house where we ate lunch and shared a message and then to dinner. all within a 5 hour period. so. much. food. anywho dinner was great and I loved skyping! it was so good to see everyone and I cant believe that carson is coming home this week! fun to skype together as missionaries though! then after dinner we went caroling again and then to the bishops house for one last appointment. Overall my christmas was great. I realized that being out and seing people and reminding them of the true meaning of christmas was much more fun than opening presents. (though I am grateful for them) It was nice to have a christmas to realize the important things in life like the savoir and our familys.
So the rest of the week was slightly uneventful. did some service, did a church tour with a nonmember who I have to unfortunatly pass over to the ysa sisters... hahaha
Well I better go, but happy new years to you all and I hope you all had a wonderful christmas!
Stay safe!
Annlie
December 23, 2013
Merry Christmas!!!
Well Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you are all getting excited for the big day. I still feel like its september here in our 68 degree weather. Have any of you heard the song by greenday thats called "wake me up when september ends" ? Yep thats pretty much how I feel. haha
So this was a good week! Still a little rough since a lot of people are out shopping but still good. We got to go caroling as a zone with the stake president and that was a lot of fun! One of our less actives came out with his nonmember girlfriend and she was crying. I guess no one has ever come caroling to them before!
We also contacted an atheist at the bart. that was fun. Well I wouldn't call him a hardcore atheist but its all good. He knew a lot about the church and we just had a good conversation about what we believe and what he believes. you know you can get excited about something when you see a person and the first thing they say is " do you really believe that christ appeared to the indians?" YEP!
Also we tried this elderly lady in our ward. she has never answered and so on saturday we tried again and then we were walking away and then there was this loud scratch all the way down the door and a thud at the bottom. then we heard knocking from the inside. so at this point we are thinking that we killed this lady. so we knocked again and nothing happened. So then we went back on sunday and knocked and no one answered but as we were leaving we saw a lady look out the curtains. so good new I didnt kill anyone. hahaha
We had some pretty good lessons and some service, we got to help Sister bond clean her house and get ready for bro bonds 82nd (I believe) Birthday. That was fun. I have missed vacumming! Though mostly I just miss the carpet part. haha
Well I am out of time but I love you all and wish you a very merry christmas!
Annlie
ps. Dont forget the Christ is Christmas!
December 16, 2013
6 Months!
Can anyone believe that I have been out 6 months? Crazy right? and To celebrate I shall send you all a short lame email. sorry. haha
So an update on the sisters that left :sister Ellis went to holister and sister goodman went to santa cruz. rough life. haha
My new comp is Sister DeLaMare. She is actually from kaysville. crazy right? but her family just moved to orlando so theres that. we have both been out 6 months and she has been in livermore so I actually have met her a few times. she is really cool! I also made a paper tie and we burned it for our 6 months. I wwanted to take one from the church but I felt to guitly. haha
We also had dinner with our nonmenber neighbor jack. it was his 82nd birthday. which also meant we had dinenr with his entire family. awesome!
overall it was a rough week. no one was home. this whole holiday thing is really killing me. we did have 13 hours of service. the max is 14. haha so we did good on that! Im not going to lie this will be a bad email but Its a little crazy figuring out skyping next week with the family so I love you all and I hope you all have a good week whether you have finals, last week of school, work, christmas parties or whatever!
Love you all and thanks for the support!
Annlie
December 9, 2013
Winter in Dublin and SELMA'S BAPTISM!
So its freezing. Yes I know all of you in Utah and Poland (anna) are thinking, umm you aren't living in snow. but lets be honest here. I signed up for Cali. Not 30 degree cali. Oh well Its supposed to be back in the 60s this week so I will survive. :)
-As for the big news of the week!
I am not being transfered. so looks Like I will be in Dub-town for at least 7.5 months of my mission. This week I hit 6 months! So crazy! My companion Sis G will be transfered as well as my roomate Sister Ellis. I am Sad to see her go, we have been together from Day 1. as in the MTC. so after 6 months we wont be together. Its going to be weird. But I will survive somehow! ;) Plus we have plans to be together in Monterey at the end of our mission so its cool.
-Now to the other big news of the week, Selma got baptized! It was great. she was so happy! and so cute! and after she was confirmed on sunday? oh man She was loving life. I cant wait to see her progress in the gospel, she wants to serve a mission and she will be a wonderful missionary! She already tells me how to be better.
-Sister Johnson ( my mission grandmother who finished her mission after my 1st transfer) came back for Selmas baptism. It was so good to see her and selma was so happy!
-Also Elder Pak our zone leader is going home and his parents came up to go to church with him and then to his outgoing fireside. his dad isnt a member but I guess when elder pak offered him a book of mormon he accepted it! and His parents are sooo cute! It was adorable to see how happy they were. and they brought us Korean BBQ for today. so more on that next week.
-The bummer of the week was that we had elder irvine and sister bliss sing in our sacrament and then we invited all of our less actives and non members. and non of them came. sad day. Oh well next week!
-The ward is really sad to see Sister Goodman go, as am I, Nichelle as in tears last night. Oh man I am dreading 6 weeks from now when I will most likely leave.
-OH I felt a 3.7 earthquake. it woke me up. crazy!
-Oh so there is this special needs guy named collin that works at target and gets so excited to see us everyweek. So we went in today to have sis G and sis ellis tell him bye and he basically cried. and then gave them very long hugs. umm we arent supposed to hug at all. It was hilarious how awkward it was. Oh the life of a missionary!
Well I better go, I hope you all have a good week and stay warm!
Love ya!
Annlie
December 2, 2013
December?
Well here we are in December? When did it become december? Holy smokes! Also sorry but this email will be boring.. Hey I warned you all!
Well it was a good week but not a very busy one. Lots of people were either not home or out of town. Its quite funny because our little white handbook (the book of rules) Says that holidays are the best to visit people because everyone is home. Thats a lie. at least in california! haha We saw a bunch of the elderly couples in our ward. They are so cute! I just love them all. I will be sad when I dont get to see them anymore! We also had thanksgiving with the Lamberts on wednesday night. It was so good. potatoes. potatoes. and more potatoes. and green bean casserole. I could die happy. So then on thanksgiving we went over to St Raymonds catholic church and helped with a homeless dinner thing. It was a lot of fun! there was multiple churches from all around the area that came to help! Then that night we had dinner with sister Hernandez and her family. It was really good but had a spanish flare to the meal rather than a traditional thanksgiving. And then some how the family got some of the elders to sing, sister bliss to sing, and sister g and I did an interpretive dance.No none of you will ever see that. So Sister Ellis was the only one that hadnt done anything so we made her pray in hawaiian. It was awesome. Overall thanksgiving was good and I hope you all enjoyed your thanksgiving! Though I really did miss moms pie crust.. ah man.
-Saturday we saw Daniel! He is our inactive neighbor who is now 30+days sober! wahoo! We just need to get him to church now. haha
-church yesterday was good. We taught sharing time. I fail at sharing time. Majorly. haha oh well. and then we had dinner and guess what it was? Thanksgiving. I love this time of year. haha
Well sorry for the uneventful week, I hope you all had a good week and thank you all for your support!
Annlie
ps. Transfers are next week so if you try to send me anything make sure it will get here before tuesday!
November 26, 2013
Monterey!
Hello all. Im back. Yes If you all havent figured it out yet I spent yesterday on the beach in monterey. But we will come back to that in a moment.
-Pday last week was a blast. we played slaughterball. Its like dogdeball but its every man for himself. Quite fun actually. oh and guess who won twice? Me. I know I rock. ;) Also it was hilarious because it was seriously intense and then you had Sister Ellis who just ran around screaming. Love that girl. then there was my companion who had a talent of getting hit in the face. poor girl.
-then it was my bday! yep so my comp decided to tell everyone and their dog that it was my bday so it wasnt really a day focused on others. oh well. It was really good! I made cinnimon rolls in our toaster oven and then we opened some presents and then we went to Brandon and Nichelles house to help them paint their garage. They had made me a cake that said "happy birthday Annlie!" Yep it said Annlie. and they gave me a cute quote frame thing.. They are the best!
-Then at dinner the lady in our ward made me close to my favorite dinner. there was mashed potatoes so thats all that really matters. :) She also made me my favorite cake! It was great. This ward is amazing! and the relief society president gave me flowers! Now I have gotten flowers from my parents and the relief society pres. Exciting life huh? hahaha
-But the best part of the day was that fact that everyone we tried was home. Which didnt happen most of the week. and we finished off the night with the bonds who are this adorable old couple!- Thanks everyone for the bday wishes and packages!
-Wednesday it poor rain.
-We saw miss ruby! Yeah she is still progressing slowly. but she didnt say no to coming to church at christmas!
-Ah now to sunday night, we headed down to San Jose -Me and my comp as well as two of the pleasanton sisters. The other sisters in our zone were invited but they didnt want to go. So anywho we went to San jose and on the way there we were stopped on an overpass. By a car on fire. Who needs to go see Catching fire? Or the girl on fire? We just see cars on fire. the best is when sister swapp goes-this always happens to me! I always find cars on fire! - awesome.
So after that fun event we made it to the sisters house in san jose where we went to bed and then after studies the next day when went to monterey! It was great president let us drive a ford explore from utah and he gave us cash for food. Monterey is so pretty! I am so moving there. Sorry everyone Im not coming back to utah. So We played on the warf for a while and ate crepes and shopped and took lots of pictures of seals and then we went to the beach! Yep i put my feet in the water. We can go up to our ankles. At least thats what the other sisters told me. hahaha It was the best day! And then as we were leaving we saw president across the street. Apparently he had brought his family down as well.
So overall this was a great week! No worries we did do missionary work. The non missionary work is just more fun to talk about :)
love you all and happy thanksgiving!
Annlie
November 18, 2013
Hello to you all!
This week was a good week. and a busy one! So If I forget things sorry. that happens when its really busy!
-We had dinner with the Viazzo's. they are hilarious. the dad is a huge fan of disney so we always get a major update on anything disney when we go. and they have a daughter serving in the rome italy mission and so when we went to share a message he was like nope we have a message from our daughter. hahaha so they told us about a message their daughter shared with them. It was really good. it was about praying for family and friends who are either less active or not members and that if we pray for them daily for 21 days then the lord will prepare some of them! (that was the shortened version by the way)
-Wednesday we got to watch the testaments with Brandon and Nichelle and their family. yep it was in english. it was great. haha
-We saw all of our elderly ward members this week. if you have widows or elderly couples in your ward go see them. they are all so sweet!
-It was sister Ellis' bday on thursday! we made french toast and she opened her presents and then that night we had cake. It was great! and now all the sisters Iive with are 20! well that is until tomorrow. haha Sorry I ruined that plan.
-Zone conference! It was sooo good! I loved it. my president is by far the best president out there. sorry everyone else! I dont know we have had multiple people say we come to a mission not only for the people but because of who our president is and I am a big believer in that. I love him and his wife!
-I tried african food this week. it was pretty good. no idea what it was. but i think that might be better... no there was spinach and chicken. I think.
-Today we helped our landlord cover some things in a creepy shed with plastic so the rain doesnt get on them. I am going to go a head and ignore how many spider webs I may have touched. yuck.
-Over all it was a wonderful week and I am so excited for this coming week!
Love you all!
Annlie
p.s. Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!
November 12, 2013
Fwd: Its beginning to look a lot like..
September. Christmas music is a lot more fun in november when it actually looks like christmas. Oh well!
5 Months and a Baptism!
Well here we are again everyone! And today marks my 5 months out on a mission! Can you believe that?
me neither.
So it was a good week!
-We had dinner with Brandon and Nichelle and we did an object lesson and their son Nathaniel loved it! he is like 9 and he went and told another mom in our ward all about it and how it helps us get to christ. Yes he rocks. haha
-We were able to go up to the visitors center at the oakland temple! the youth were going to do baptisms and sis goodman and I kindly volunteered to stay with the 2 non member girls at the visitors center (we really wanted to go and we can only go with investigators so we were really excited!)
-It was great both alyssa and selma were crying and they just loved it!
-We saw miss ruby! she still hasnt read or prayed but she told us that she told her manager that "she had her girls coming over today do to bible study and she just loves how she feels when we come over" awesome thats the spirit now read the book of mormon! oh well maybe she will by our appointment next month. slow and steady wins the race!
-We got to see sister miller! she is an inactive in our ward that is an elderly lady. its great we read a scripture and she smiles at us and says thats so nice! thank you and then changes the subject. I was with sis ellis that day and I told her thats what she would do and after the appointment sis ellis was dying laughing because thats exactly how it went down.
-BRANDONS BAPTISM!
-it was great, he was so excited and he got a suit for it and his family was excited and so many people came that we had to move everyone into the chapel for the service! it was amazing!
-We have a new investigator Vera. We had the elders give her a blessing and after she gave them hugs. they aren't supposed to hug women. It was hilarious.
-Oh Sister Ellis and I build a fort. that was fun. mostly because we wanted to put the heater under it and stay warm. haha
Welll it was an amazing week with many miracles, I hope you all had a good week and I know this church is true!
love you!
Annlie
November 4, 2013
Fwd: Pictures!
Pictures from the wedding and halloween. Yep chase decided to sneeze right as we took that picture. also the outfit that I am wearing in the wedding pics is from safeway. be jealous. I love you all!
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