☃❄It snowed!!!!!🌨⛄

Freunde,

This week we went to Germany. I may have already mentioned that because we did emails on the train but it was super fun to go on an adventure and to see some people I haven’t seen in a while!! 

Because it snowed Sister Heller and I took the wonderful opportunity to write Jesus lebt! Mormon.org everywhere we could! It was genius!! We even saw people looking at us as we were writing with our feet! Thank you Grandma and Mom for that idea (Remember when we would say hi to the mailman in the snow?).

On Tuesday before Distrikt meeting the Wetinkon Elders and we were waiting for the Zone Leaders and it had snowed, so we of course made snow balls and anxiously waited for them show up... yes we had a mini snowball fight before Distrikt meeting; it was fun!!

We also had MLC, which meant that we went to München  (Germany again!!!) to be taught by the AP's (Assistants to the President), President and Sister Kohler, and by the former Berlin Mission President. It was so much fun to see so many people I hadn’t seen in a while. I have friends who are in the office, zone leaders and STL's. It was so much fun! We even got to ride on a Ferry!! That was pretty cool! President talked about setting a new baptismal goal for our mission. Sister Kohler talked about persuasion, and the AP's talked about trying to improve constantly, not letting ourselves be okay with where we are. It was so good!!

         Sister Kohler talked about persuasion and in German there are two translations: überreden and überzeugnen. I always viewed persuasion as something bad or rude, negative. In the Book of Mormon when describing the devil, they use überreden which is negative, but when describing the prophets and when they persuaded men to do good, the translation is überzeugnen. Zeugnis is testimony or Witness and reden is to talk. Satan is very good at persuading people or überreden people to go against God's will, but we as missionaries need to testify and persuade (überzeugnen) through our testimonies that Jesus Christ lives! Persuasion is as good or as bad as your intentions for it. 

I also had a really cool experience with fasting this week. It wasn’t in what I fasted for, but how! Normally, I just skipped 2 meals so I would start my fast before I went to bed and then I would skip breakfast and lunch and then have an early dinner, but Sister Heller has always done a full 24 hour fast and I felt kind of guilty, so I did it with her. At first I didn’t know about it and the temptation was strong at different parts, but one thing I noticed as I went to Church suddenly, my stomach didn’t growl like a bear and I was weak physically but strong spiritually. It was an amazing experience! I can really put into words what it felt like, but I encourage you next Fast Sunday to fast for 24 hours and see what you feel and experience!

If you don't understand what fasting is or why we fast visit this link:

https://www.mormon.org/blog/what-is-fasting-why-do-mormons-fast 

If you want more in depth information on how you can be better at fasting visit his link:

https://www.lds.org/topics/fasting-and-fast-offerings?lang=eng

My challenge this week is to look at the Church's Self-Reliance Program. Maybe in there you can find a goal to work on and make it a New Year’s Resolution Becoming Celestial and you will become more self-reliant!

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

🎆🎉2017!!!🎉🎆

Freunde!

     I got the wonderful opportunity to skype with my family on Monday and it was amazing to see their faces again! I loved celebrating the New Year with our ward (until 9:30 when we had to leave to go home)! Sister Heller can’t believe it's the end of her black year (the year she is gone on her mission for the whole year) and I can't believe I hit my 6 month mark soon!!! This year is going to be amazing! 

    For me, I find the miracles and treasured moments are found when someone smiles to you and the last 10 people growled or when someone lets you tell them your message whether or not they have interest because the last 10 doors were slammed in your face. This week was filled with vorbei's (going by) on Potentials and genuine finding! 

      We had many small miracles such as a young woman getting super excited to see us, letting us in, making us tea and feeding us cake and allowing us to share our message with her. (Sister Heller and I thought we were in South America). Or when your two potentials let you in to share your message with the rest of their family and, although there is a language barrier, have genuine interest and want to learn more. We are now looking for a Persian Book of Mormon and other materials for one of our families! Maybe this applies to all missions, I don't know, but especially here, you find people who have come from all over the world—especially war-torn countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan, and from poorer countries such as Brazil or Hungary, but even just other parts of Europe like France and Italy.  I am nowhere near fluent in German and I can't speak these other languages at all and often their knowledge of German and or English is very limited, which causes a huge language barrier, but those who are honestly seeking the truth open their hearts and the Spirit can testify to them that what I am saying is true despite the language. It is amazing to see the Spirit work in the hearts of those you find.

     I know that the Lord is preparing His children, there are people searching for the truth, searching for a way home, but they know not where to find it. I have come to realize when we as missionaries pray to know where to go Finding and then go there and are diligent and don't let our hunger and fatigue get in the way, we find those people; we find the elect. 

     I just want you all to know, I know that there is a God in Heaven and He is the literal Father of our spirits! He loves us and wants us to return home. He knows what is best for us and has provided us with the necessary steps, a plan to return to live with Him. I know that this is His true Church, that if anyone is looking for the truth, you can look in the Book of Mormon. It is true, I know because I have read it! 

     Sister Heller and I have goals for this upcoming year and so we are focusing on bettering ourselves so we titled them becoming celestial...

     Set a goal to become better this year. What can you do to improve? Pick a Christlike characteristic (humility, patience, being charitable etc.) and set goals to improve and mark your progress. You will be amazed at what you will see!

 

Liebe Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

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