Weihnachten

Merry Christmas or Frohe Weihnachten!

     This week was crazy! Sister Heller and I had Zone Training and with that we helped lead and that was nerve racking for both of us! We really focused on FINDING (tracting, going out, and focused on finding new people to teach), our goal as a Zone is to go finding for 10 hours a week because the average is so much lower! We shared a great motivational video and talked about diligence and working on finding the elect—those who are searching for the Gospel and just haven’t found it yet. That is our job: finding people who want to learn about our Savior and come closer to Him.

Picture below: We tried to be creative with our finding this week!

Christmas!!!

    Our FHE this week was a Christmas party and we had a White Elephant exchange and it was fun to be able to sing, eat authentic Swiss/Austrian Christmas food and share in the Spirit of Christmas!! The Elders were there and we each had an investigator there as well, which was really good!
     We also had a lunch appointment this week where we celebrated Christmas, sang songs, and read the Christmas Story (the spiritual thought from the Elders) and we took some fun pictures!!
     We went caroling with one of the families in our ward, the Elders, and one of our investigators!!!!
      We started off Christmas Eve with bringing home-made cookies to less actives and investigators. We had so many cookies; it was so nice to see their faces light up. We were even able to help one of our investigators decorate for Christmas as she was running low on time and we stopped by just at the right time and she even let us share a quick spiritual thought even though she was so busy. Plus I got to practice my Spanish because she is from the Dominican Republic I think!! She is so cute and her kids are so cute as well!!! 
      We had a dinner appointment on Saturday night to start off our Christmas celebrations. It was us and the Elders and the family that invited us were American/Canadian so English! We had a Swiss dinner and American dessert!! We sang songs and talked about so many things. It really felt like home. It was amazing!!
*** We came home and opened our Christmas packages from home in the German style (they open their gifts on the 24th instead of the 25th)****
      Then we had Christmas Church Service or our Weihnachten Gottesdienst! It was only one hour, but we sang Christmas songs, and one family did a beautiful Christmas musical number!
      We had a Christmas lunch appointment too! The family is a part member family meaning the husband is not a member, but he cooked us the lunch and was so kind to let us into his home on Christmas. We took pictures with her afterwards and enjoyed talking to them about how they met and their family.
       Between appointments we went dooring to share the Spirit of Christmas with others and one kind lady let us in and she really only spoke Portuguese, but Sister Heller taught a whole lesson like a champ!!! All I know in Portuguese is Feliz Natal so... but Sister Heller explained who we were and the Book of Mormon and told her we have a friend who speaks Portuguese :)
      We had a dinner appointment with a ward member and the Elders on Sunday night as well to finish off our weekend of celebrating! We had another huge dinner (I am good for about a week) and we sang songs and we shared a spiritual thought and played games!!!

     I just want to testify to you all that I know that there is a deeper meaning to Christmas than presents and cookies and even deeper than a sweet baby in a manager that is that our Savior JESUS CHRIST lived and died for us but He lives and loves us. Through Him we can have hope, peace, light, love.... As you celebrate your Christmas with your family don’t forget that He lives and it is only through Him that we can have peace and joy and that we can live with our families forever! I know this to be true! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

 

 

Christmas Day

Go Big and Celebrate Christmas 🎄🎅🎄🎅🎄

Merry Christmas
      Sorry, this email is going to be short. I want to reply to everyone, and we are making cookies today to give away!!!
      This week I ran unto a rut, where I had no motivation to do much of anything and I was doing missionary work because that is what I am supposed to do, but I wasn't feeling the joy of it and I wanted to but didn't know how. I was praying all week, looking at how I can improve and how I can shake this cloud that was hanging over my head. Then as we were planning for Zone Training next week and we talked about Go Big, Do Big, I was praying to have the motivation back that I had before. I don't know how, but when I left that meeting, I wasn't where I wanted to be, but I was more motivated, more excited, and ready to get out there and find the elite!! 
      What I have learned from this is patience, faith, prayer, communication, and diligence. Trials come into our lives, in all kinds of forms and they tend to be different forms when you are on a mission, but they teach you the same lessons then if you are home. Trials bring us closer to our Savior because we need to rely on Him every step of the way. Although, this trial was not huge it was hard to keep going and as a missionary when you are feeling defeated or unmotivated, unproductive or you are not busy, it's the hardest thing in the world. No one tells you that before you go out, but it's true; when you are not busy, you lose the Spirit. In the words of Preach My Gospel "If you lower your expectations, your effectiveness will decrease, your desire will weaken, and you will have greater difficulty following the Spirit." This is true; we need to have the desire to have the Spirit! I think this applies in some way to non-missionaries as well! 
       The perfect birthday/Christmas present for me: pick something from the Advent Calendar and do it and if you feel okay sharing it, email me with your experience. I would love to hear how you all are sharing the Light of Christ this Christmas season!!! 

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Pictures:  

* Sister Heller decorated our room while I was asleep and then we celebrated!!!
* The lights picture is of beautiful Zürich, except this was scary because I lost Sister Heller for like 10 minutes!!! So scary, we were both so worried (there wasn't even a tree to hug), but we found each other, also Helen Keller's family comes from this area!

 

Christmas Is in the Air!!

Frohe Weihnachtsfest,

Christmas Conference 
Christmas Conference was on Tuesday and was amazing!!!  
We got to see President Kohler and Sister Kohler and they are the cutest, so spiritual.   
The whole day was amazing!!! We had amazing food and President spoke on how faith 
is the main part of missionary work and he talked about the two most important dates in
December (and no December 19^th was not one of them): December 23^rd and 25^th. The 23^rd
was when Joseph Smith was born because he restored the Church to the Earth under the
direction of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate on the 25th! We also got to watch two
videos shown at the Church History sites in Harmony, Pennsylvania, and I think Fayette,
New York where the Whitmer Farm is. SOO GOOD! If you can, go to the site and watch it! 

Temple 
Because I am now in Switzerland I get to go to the Temple once a transfer!!!! YEAH!!!
So on Wednesday we went and it was so cool! It was in Italian so I listened to it in English so I actually knew what was going on! It was so pretty though!!

Tausch 
We had Tausch and I went up to Schaffhausen and stayed with Sister Brinkerhoff—she is going home this week—so it was amazing to talk to a sister who has served her whole mission and to ask her for advice and to realize it is okay to have fun and to make mistakes! She is amazing!! 

Brunch 
The Ward Christmas Brunch was on Saturday and it was fun to see how the Swiss celebrate Christmas! Santa came and the kids had to perform something in order to get their presents and everyone sang songs! Sister Heller even recorded one song because they sang it in Swiss German!!! Crazy!! We sang Rudolph too, and I actually didn’t need the words for that one! It was funny because they sang Deutsch, Suisse Deutsch and English! 

CHRISTMAS ADVENT CALENDAR!! 

Have you been doing it? I would love to hear about the stories, miracles, awkward situations you have had from it! This is a wonderful time of the year when people open up their hearts and are more ready to hear the Gospel. I have seen this in my missionary work here as we walk around with our tablets and the #LighttheWorld video downloaded in 5 different languages. And while some people chase us out of their buildings, some people are willing to watch a short video about Christmas! And we then get to share our testimony of Jesus Christ and He is the Light of the World!
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer and all that is good is because of HIM. We can share in His light by serving others. I know that He lives and because He lives, I am here serving and teaching others. This video is doing miracles. We are now teaching a family because of this video, and the power of Jesus Christ's light and how it touches others’ lives through us! I cannot share my testimony and the video online, but you can. I am asking you to share the video and your testimony. Let’s share the Light of Christ and bring others closer to Him!

Zürich Is amazing!! I love my new area, the people are wonderful, the city is gorgeous and Sister Heller is amazing!!! I am finding Suisse Deutsch difficult, but I can usually tell when they are speaking it, which is the first step, right?

I did not get to watch the Christmas devotional because we had an appointment when our ward was showing it. Hopefully we can watch it at some point this week!

 

Also attached is our Companion Christmas card!!!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

Gemeinde Schwamendingen

Frohe Weihnachten

Transfers! 
So I am now in Zürich and it's weird! It is much more city like then Ulm was, but I like it! The buildings have lights covering them for the Christmas holiday and it is so pretty!!!! 

Swiss German 
Okay so Swiss German ain't High German, but it's cool! I can mostly recognize now when someone is speaking to me in Hochdeutsch or Swiss Deutsch because they have a swing to their words and I mostly can't understand them. Ha ha. But everyone is very kind and either speaks English or Hochdeutsch around me, and I have noticed I am getting a lot better at understanding people. I had an interview with one of the members and got through it with only a few troubles, and Sister Heller didn't even have to help me!!!!

The Ward Gemeinde Schwamendingen  is closer to the size of Glens Falls, but the building is HUGE!!! The Church here in Switzerland is very strong—everyone told me that, and now I get the chance to see it for myself; it's amazing!! Families talk about their mission experiences and they are so united. It's more like the States in that way. 

FHV 

We had a Relief Society activity my first night here, and I got to meet some of the members and I made a cool Christmas craft and had really good cookies made by Sister Heller!! 

Zone Leaders are in our ward too, which is cool to be able to work with the Elders!

Dienstprojekt 

We helped a New Converts mom move and we were able to share a spiritual thought and take pretty cool pictures!!!

Austellung (a street display)

We had one on Saturday, and it was fun because we had our Distrikt there and our GML. We didn't get any potentials personally as Sisters, but it was a great experience to see how other missionaries do street contacting and to be able to practice myself!
*** one lady came up to me and by the way she was standing I could tell she was not interested and she just wanted to bash me. And as she was standing there I was laughing to myself, but then Sister Heller came over and told her Schönen Tag noch (have a good day) and then told me to ignore her. Joke’s on her because I have no idea what she was saying because she was speaking to me in Swiss Deutsch  (she then came back and said she forgot to tell me something but again I only caught a little vocabulary and I told her I didn't understand. She didn't believe me...) Oh well. Ha ha.

Weihnachtskonzert 

Sister Heller organized a Christmas Concert with music, and then we showed the new Christmas film, and it went sooo well!!!! As missionaries we sang Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer and Winter Wonderland. It was cool to see how musically talented the ward here is. We had 4 different violinists, a cello, piano, trumpet, saxophone, pan flute, and singers of course!

 

Wenczel 

We had dinner at their house, and it is so cool because it is every week and both sets of missionaries are invited, and then we can each bring a less-active or an investigator or anyone we want, and it is so great to see the ward helping bring the missionaries and those we are working with together so that the members can better fellowship!!! We also have a FHE night set up for every week too!!! 

Christmas Sweaters 

We bought Christmas sweaters!!! So yup!!!

Sister Heller Is from Dresden Germany. She has been on her mission for a year now. She trained another Sister in my MTC group. She has 8 siblings and she is an amazing Missionary!!!

Christmas Service Calendar Are you doing the service calendar? If you are I would love to hear how it is going!!! Also share the video with everyone!!!! Like do it, now stop reading and go share it, just kidding but it would be amazing if you shared the video with one person and shared your love of Christ and the reason for Christmas!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Thanksgiving, Transfers and Tchüß

Hallo Guten Tag,

So I was sick this past week so not much happened as far as investigators or finding efforts (what missionaries call tracting) except for Sunday because we had a tender mercy!! Alex came to Church!!! It was a tender mercy for two reasons: one because we hadn’t seen him in a while and he missed church last week, and the other reason I will explain in a bit.

THANKSGIVING!!! 
On Thursday, Sister Campbell and I bought rolls and then Sister Campbell made a mini Thanksgiving dinner for us. It straight up tasted like Thanksgiving!!! We shared what we were thankful for!! Then our echt (real) Thanksgiving dinner was on Saturday with the American families in our ward! It was awesome!!! It was nice because it was in English so it was a little bit of home!!!! There were about 15 of us including the cute little children!! It was funny because most of us were American but there was one family that was German and our GML (Ward Mission Leader) is Chinese so that was fun!!

Thanksgiving dinner was fun, but it was also sad because I received a call Friday morning from President. Now dramatic pause... President doesn’t just call out of the blue. So we got a call from President on Friday morning—I was sick all last week so I was actually still sleeping—and he said that we are doing a mini early transfer because there are some Sisters in Switzerland who are American and don't have a German or Austrian VISA (Switzerland is their first area). And so to help prevent problems with the 90 days thing, they are transferring them out 2 weeks early, and I am one of the Sisters replacing! So I am transferring on Wednesday to Schwamendingen, which is in Zürich, Switzerland!!
So that threw us all for a loop.

I was only companions with Sister Campbell for 3 weeks... 

Stay tuned for information on my new companion... Her name is Sister Heller and she is a German, but that is all I know. 

So it was a tender mercy that Alex came to church because otherwise I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye. There was also a FHV (Relief Society - the women’s organization in our church) activity on Saturday so I was able to tell everyone and have them fill out my Tchüß book!!! 

I am really going to miss Ulm; it is where I started my mission and the people here saw me with my brand new Golden German (we call brand new missionaries goldens) and have helped me to be where I am now, but I am excited for the adventures that await me in Schwamendingen, especially because it is in Switzerland, which is where my dad served so I am super excited about that!!!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

Pictures:

Thanksgiving selfie

Sister Campbell and I making cookies at FHV Activität
Präsident Schaal and Schwester Schaal and I
Alex and I
The Whittaker family
Lackners and I

 

 

When America doesn't work out....

Hallo my peeps,

Distrikt meeting - Our first Distrikt meeting for the transfer! We have a golden, Elder D*****! Sister C****** is also new to the Distrikt, but it was really fun getting to know everyone! Elder K***** is our Distrikt Leader!!

Service- this week after Distrikt meeting our whole distrikt volunteered to help one of our members move! It took us forever to find their house but after getting lost, trying to use maps.me and climbing a huge hill, we finally found them!! I love it we were really able to help them!! After the Elders had to leave, we stayed for a few more hours and helped clean and move hints around and tape paper to their windows (everyone needs privacy) they bought us Döners and we ate them on the floor! Yes best meal #missionlife!

GML - We have a GML or Ward Mission Leader now!!!!! It is so exciting to be able to work with a GML because I have never worked with one before!! Plus I love their family!!! They have the cutest daughter ever!!

Military Base - Found out Sister C****** can get us on the American military base which is super cool!! Thank you to Brother C****** for being in the military! So we immediately started a list of "Things we need to buy in America!"  Cause you know—sometimes you just need chocolate chips semi sweet.... Except Sister Campbell needed to register first... Oh well, we had a fun adventure!!!

Ritersport Factory- We went to the Ritersport Factory and bought so much chocolate between the 6 of us we spent over 300€ 

Ritersport Factory - We went to the Ritersport Factory and bought so much chocolate between the 6 of us we spent over 300€ 

Interviews- I had my first interview with President!! It was so amazing!! I love how he is so close to the spirit that he knows what to say and doesn't even know exactly what you are thinking! It is amazing!! During my personal interview I was able to share some questions, concerns and some things I have learned so far! I felt the spirit so strong when I was talking with him!

CHRISTMAS So the Church came out with a 2016 Christmas Initiative and I invite you all to look at it and join me in participating because Jesus Christ is the light of the world and we can share that light through our actions!! 

Honestly what did you think when you first read my subject?

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!! 

Happy Birthday to Erin and Dad!! I hope it is getting best!!!

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

The spare key is in Stuttgart...

Hello world,

So...
Tuesday I got a blessing from Elder H***** who is in my Distrikt (Ellwangen and was Distrikt Leader) and it was sooooo good! I love Priesthood blessings. Elder H***** didn't know all the struggles and questions I was facing, but as I thought about my blessing over the next few days all the questions that came to my mind were answered through the words from my blessing, I received so much comfort from that blessing! 
Wednesday I said good bye to my mission Mom and was companion with Sister Peterson for about 4 hours! It was sad to say good bye to Sister W*****, Sister M*****, and Elder L*****, but there was also that excitement for the future! The train from Zürich shows up, and Sister P***** and I are freaking out. We both know our companions because we all were in the MTC together. It will be a really fun adventure. Ha ha!
Thursday around 10 I remember we need to do something with the dryer and washer so the pipes don't freeze out there. So around 11 I go out and I am in my missionary clothes, but am only wearing sandals. Sister C***** comes out to see and help etc., and she has slippers on, is eating toast, and she closes the door. And then she says, "Umm, I think I locked us out of our apartment" I am like, "What?!? You’re kidding, right?" Nope, she didn't realize that the door can't be opened from the outside without a key. Our phones, our jackets, our shoes, my tights, our phone number list, our tablets and our keys are in the apartment, and the only window open is opened the wrong way...
I run across the street to a man yelling ENTSCHULDIGUNG  ENTSCHULDIGUNG!!!  WIR HABEN EIN PROBLEM! We have a problem. So this man named Josef gave me a sweater because I was wearing shorts sleeves and a skirt and no tights or shoes! He got Helga to bring some phones for us and we searched her phone for the members’ numbers, but no one answered and then we found (a blessing) the office number on the preparetoserve website. We got a hold of the office and apparently the closest or the only spare key is in Stuttgart with the Zone Leaders. They got on the next train to Ulm!  (It's like an hour train ride) They had the spare key and they went to unlock our door, and it didn't work because our key was in the other side.... Elder B***** and Elder S***** tried everything: knocking the door down, tried sticking random things in the door to push the key out, Elder B***** even tried using a bike pump to blow the key out. We finally decided it would be safer and cheaper to call a locksmith except that was a disaster trying to figure out a number to call. Elder Bates called the office and with their wizardness found a Schlüsseldienst who could come and unlock the door for us!!!
Yeah we were finally in our apartment by 5 o'clock with 5 missed calls and a couple of texts! Apparently everyone knows now...  oh well!
We got a gigantic Schnitzel when we met with the Schaals so Sister C***** can meet them! This restaurant has gigantic ones!!! Ahh!! Leftovers for days!!

Real talk Sister C***** and I had a three-hour talk about life one night before bed. Okay it wasn't quite 3 hours but it was really good, I think it helps us to understand each other better!! 

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

Don't Pray for Patience

Hallo!

This week was really fun!! We had Distrikt Meeting and we like to do Role Plays to practice our teaching skills... well Elder Kennedy decided to give us all personalities for our role plays....

The Role Play was on How to Teach Someone to Pray. So I was Sarah Palin, Sister W***** was Hillary Clinton, and we also had Donald Trump, Mitt Romney, Snoop Dog, and a two other random ones I can't remember. Anyway, not sure how much learning we got done but everyone really got into character...

 "Snoop Dog, Werden Sie für uns beten?" "Ja, Gott, Wie Gehts?, Danke für meine Geld und meine Musik. Es ist sehr gut. In Namen Jesu Christi amen"

 "Snoop Dog Will you pray for us?" "Yes, God, What's up? Thank you for my money and my music; it is very good. In the name of Jesus Christ amen"

Then we had Trump praying for Amerika and his 10 foot high wall and Hillary praying that Trump won’t win and then Trump got mad, it was really funny.

Elder H***** even yelled to me "Hey Sarah can you see Heaven from your house?"

It was a good time! 😎🗨👏💬

Transfers!!!!!!

So we had Bible prophesies on Friday and then transfer calls on Saturday...

Bible prophesy said that I would be either going to Wien (Vienna) or I would be staying in Ulm and that was basically it so...

Transfer calls come—now the Zone Leaders are supposed to call around 7:00-7:15 to let you know, and if it gets to be 7:30 or later, President will probably call, which means that someone in your companionship is going to be in the leadership which for sisters means STL. It was 7:48 when the Zone Leaders finally called us. We thought for sure that President was going to call and we were freaking out!!! No, they just forgot us 😑.

SO!!! Sis W***** is going to Wien and step-training (meaning that they are a second transfer golden or greeny).

Most of my Distrikt is staying the same just Sister W***** and Elder L***** are leaving and they both are going to Wien ZONE!! Crazy!! Elder H***** will be getting a golden. So half of our Distrikt will have tablets and half will not, which will be interesting.

***NOW FOR ME***

A missionary’s 3rd transfer is their greeny busting transfer so I am being greeny busted, BUT my companion is SISTER CAMPBELL so I am greeny busting her because she was in my MTC group, so she is also in her 3rd Transfer!!!

It's going to be a crazy transfer. I am so excited!!

Please keep Sandra in your prayers her health is not doing very well—along with her husband Christian and her son Alex. And please pray for Alex, Elena and Alyssa. They are a new family that just started investigating the Church and they are just the best; they are so cute!

The Lord answers our prayers and not just because I prayed for patience but because we have a less active who is from Portugal and I had been praying for us to find someone who we could teach and would be baptized and spoke Portuguese! I thought it would help her feel more comfortable if she knew better what was going on... well, I found out on Sunday, Alex (the investigator above) speaks Portuguese and it is the most random language.  He speaks Romanian because he is Romanian and he speaks English because he has really close friends who are American and he speaks German, but why Portuguese... because the Lord answers the prayers of the faithful!

HOW DOES GOD SPEAK TO YOU?

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE SPIRIT?

So this past week I have been trying to figure out how I feel the spirit. I have come up with a couple of things, but that is one area of my testimony that I would like to work on. I want to encourage you all to look and see how the Lord speaks to you? I have found that most people don't have one way but that the Lord speaks to them in a variety of ways depending on lots of different situations. If you have a hard time like me, I encourage you to check out chapter 4 in Preach My Gospel which can be found online or in the Gospel Library App or wherever missionary stuff is sold...😉

Liebe Sister Anderson

Alpenländische Mission