Mortensen, Annalise

Ello. This week has been so good!! Shoutout to my favorite uncle Doug who dropped off some goodies at the stake center for us. He can testify that San Clemente is so pretty. I'm very grateful to be here! On Monday we had a lesson with Ellie. She had two huge dogs in a cage who were barking like crazy so we said she could take them out since it was distracting... that was a mistake. One of them came full sprint at me and licked me right on the mouth then proceeded to lay on me/try to lick my face the rest of the lesson. I was half mortified half crying laughing. Sister Hill was being very serious to keep the spirit there but if you know me you know once I get laughing I can't stop. I had to bite my tongue to stop from bursting out while the tears rolled down my face. Safe to say there won't be another lesson at her house. Our friend Zoe is progressing the most right now. She's so cool. We had a bible study with her at a park overlooking the ocean and it was awesomeee! We...

What a week. I've never had so much new information and experiences thrown at me in a single week but it's been awesome! It's a mission rule that we aren't allowed to touch the sand, but fhe on Monday was at the beach so we got permission to go!! We had a new convert lesson right before fhe, so the 3 of us sat on the sand, stared at the ocean, and taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ. So pretty and spirit filled. San Clemente is beautiful and being in a ysa area is lots of fun so I'm soaking in every second! Since Sister Hill is an stl, we've had lots of meetings especially this first week of the transfer. It's amazing to me how a group of 20ish year olds can be so focused and so dedicated to doing something that requires a lot of sacrifice. Basically I love missionary work. There is so much good that comes from it. I started a "what I'm learning" journal and there's many things already that doing this work has taught me. Zone conference...

Wow this week has been an eternity but also flew by. Specifically Friday which I'm convinced was actually a few days long. We woke up at 4:30 to catch the bus and train to the airport. Ate some yummy panera before the flight- yay for breakfast sandwhiches and smoothies! The Carters and APs were waiting for us at the aiport. Got our luggage and headed to the mission office for some paperwork, lunch, and interviews with President Carter. He is the absolute best! I'm so blessed to have him and Sister Carter. They love hiking, skiing, and boat surfing so we immediately clicked. We then met our trainors and left for our new homes! I'm serving in San Clemente in a YSA area! It's really pretty. We get to see the ocean lots! My trainer, Sister Hill, is SO COOL. I look up to her so much. We're white washing the area (meaning both of us are new), she's a solo STL, and she's training me so has a lot on her plate but handles it phenomenally. Friday night, we unpacked fo...

This week was lots of fun and flew by! I can't believe I leave for Newport on Friday. I'm excited but also so sad to leave my district and the mtc. We're all really close and spend every waking moment together. Lots of signs, games, bookie, gym, cinny's, biscuits, and messing around. We pray on our knees together every night before parting ways. When you build relationships with the gospel as your foundation and share your testimony often, it's crazy how much more connected you are in a short amount of time! I don't know why I began in the first place, but I started speaking in a British accent and it spread like wildfire throughout our district. It's been going on for many days now and nobody seems to be able to stop speaking in the accent. We call it the  Mortensen  plague. Today our district made a temple appointment. It was our first time out in the wild by ourselves and we immediately lost 3 little sheep. I guess they were excited to be free and ran to ...