Don't let Sister Anderson make Maultaschen

Hallo beautiful world!!

It really is such a beautiful world, I hope as spring draws nearer, we all are able to enjoy the beautiful world that a Loving Heavenly Father has created for us!! 

Our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ have provided so many things for us. One of which is the Plan of Salvation. We as missionaries often ask people if they think about where we come from, where we are going, and why we are here! Well, all three of those questions can be answered in God's Plan of Happiness or His Plan of Salvation. It is better explained in this video:

https://www.lds.org/topics/plan-of-salvation/our-eternal-life/video?lang=eng&old=true

But part of that plan is to learn and grow on this Earth. And we can do that in a variety of ways, but one way is that God has provided us with prophets. Prophets are righteous men, who are called of God to declare His word. They help us interpret scripture, know of dangers, and tell us how much God loves and cares about us! Twice a year we have the opportunity to listen to God's Prophet and Apostles!! This is called General Conference!! General Conference is coming up March 25 for the Women’s Session and April 1-2 for everyone! I invite you all to think of a question or two and write them down, and then watch General Conference. I know that you will find your answer! I have done it and I know it works!! 

This past week was super crazy as Sister Miller was preparing to go home, which is double trouble because she is leaving the area. So we are super busy saying goodbye to everyone, and then she also needs to pack and get her luggage under 50 pounds, and all the other things a missionary has to do before they leave (e.g. paperwork, device picture transfer stuff, etc.). It’s crazy!! I am sad to leave Sister Miller; it was fun being her last companion, and to be able to learn so much from such an experienced missionary. She is going to be amazing at BYUI in the fall!! 

Then transfer day!! 

I got to see a bunch of missionaries that I haven’t seen in a while, including my trainer, SISTER WHITING! I don’t have any pictures yet because Sister Whiting has them. We said goodbyes and hellos, and now Salzburg has Elder Smith (we served in Schwammedingen together) and Sister McClellan!! 

Sister McClellan comes from Mapleton, Utah and has 7 siblings. She wants to major in journalism and she says her favorite color is green. She is an amazing missionary; it is going to be an amazing 5 weeks!  

I am excited for this next transfer!!! Keep the faith and I love to hear if you learn anything cool in your scripture study!! 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Pictures:

Me trying to make Maultaschen. Sister Miller would be so disappointed (sorry, Sister Miller; it still tasted good...) 

Sister Miller's last visit with Aflique
A bunny we found while dooring!!! 

 

 

 

God is patient and He loves you!!

So this week was a party and so much happened!!! Diese Woche war Spannend!!

First things first – transfers!!! I will of course be staying her in Salzburg because Sister Miller is being "transferred" to America. She flies home on Thursday!!! Crazy!!! I will be getting the amazing Sister McClellan! She is from Mapleton, Utah!! You all will have to stay tuned for more information next week!

Tausch – Our tausch ended up being shorter than planned, but I was with Sister Church, which was way fun because her trainer was also companions with me (remember that emergency transfer?? We were the ones who switched places). So that was way fun! We went finding and did street ingredients and bussing and dooring!!!! So much fun!!! 

Sleepover – after stake conference we had six other Sisters in our apartment because our stake is so big!!! It was one big party!! Sister Miller made everyone a traditional dinner called Maltaschen from scratch! 

Pfahlkonferenz (stake conference – as members of the Church we have a geographical area we belong to where we attend church every Sunday. These areas are grouped into units called wards. Wards are grouped into stakes. Every stake meets twice a year together at a stake conference where talks are given, etc. It's a great time to sing, learn and worship together in a larger than normally possible group).

The President over all of Europe for our Church spoke at stake conference. His name is Elder Kearon. What he talked about is what I wanted to share with you!!!

God loves us and He is so so so very patient with us! Imagine how you feel when you look at your child (if you have one, or another family member). Imagine all of the love that you have for that child! You can't imagine ever loving anyone more and then you have another child and your love grows. I experienced this when my uncle started having kids.  I didn't know if I could love another person in my family but I did and then I did again! It's like magic!! That is how our Father in Heaven feels for each and every one of us!!! He loves us so much that He sent His Son to come and make an eternal sacrifice so that we can overcome our mistakes and return to Him. No matter where your goal is or whether or not you think you have "made it," there is still ways to grow and improve. They are patient with us, they want us to improve and endure. I know that we can, we just need faith, patience and humility. I promise you that as you seek to come closer to Christ, He will lift you and carry you. We can do it! We can improve, WE CAN DO IT!! Rely on the Lord and help each other, we are all in this together!!

I love you all, keep the faith, and stay strong!! 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Pictures:

(1-3) we went to see you castle today for P-Day with the Ehepaar

(4-6) the flower is apparently endangered and very well could be 500€

(7) a picture of Luna and me at Stake Conference

(8) when Europeans try to be American  

(9) sleepover  

(10) stake conference with Elder Kearon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ich liebe Kaninchen!!!

So now that it is Easter time almost, the stores are rapidly coming out with bunny everything, especially chocolate bunnies!!! Chocolate bunnies are my favorite; it is like a little piece of home, so it makes me super happy!!! 

People have asked about what it is like here as far as food, culture etc. So I will try and get to that after I tell the Wunder der Woche! (Miracle of the Week)

This week we had a lesson with our investigator who has a Taufzeit! It is April 16th so please keep her and her daughter in your prayers!!! Often the time around the baptism is really hard because this is when the adversary is working the hardest!!! We invited the Bishop to be there and the lesson went really well, but the amazing part was after as we were walking back with the Bishop, we were discussing how this would work and if he thought it was possible, etc. We told him she was taking it seriously, and his reply was then the adversary is too. He looked at us as if we were the only force that could fight the adversary for her. His love and appreciation for the Gospel amazed me and filled me with confidence and hope, but also humility. As Sister Miller and I walked away, I felt as though a league of angels were walking behind us!! That is a day I never want to forget! 

Culture: Most people can speak English, and so signs and advertisements are a mixture of English and German or sometimes both! It makes life interesting! The culture and life here is very much like America. We meet people for appointments in the mall, we go finding along the river and in the tourist trap shops area (I don't know what you would call them but there are always a ton of people there) 

Public Transportation is HUGE, especially as missionaries. We are always using trains and busses! Although most people speak English, they are very appreciative that you are trying to speak their language, because I have also found while many people want to practice their English with you, many don't as they are uncomfortable speaking to a native English speaker in English. 

Food. For breakfast most mornings I have had Müsli, which is like cereal, but generally has oats and dried fruits or chocolate chunks or nuts, and you can eat it with yogurt or milk! Every transfer my diet changes because it depends on what my companion and I both like, but I love having fruit for breakfast, especially in vanilla yogurt!!! As far as other meals go, that changes all the time as well. Traditional food here includes potatoes, Döners, schnitzel, Raclette, Wurst, pretzels, and of course chocolate is very popular. I love Döners. They are a little rough on the stomach because they are so big and usually have spice, but sooo good!!! Schnitzel is chicken and Raclette is cheese you melt and pour over potatoes or vegetables!! Because everyone loves everyone else, you can find the German version of American, Chinese, and Mexican food here!!

The mountains are gorgeous, I can see them from our apartment window and whenever we are at the church or traveling. They are gorgeous with the snow still on the tops!! 

The weather has rapidly turned to spring and looks like it may stay that way. We haven't had snow since the beginning of February. The weather climate is pretty similar to New York as far as it’s humid and there are trees everywhere. It's so green. I love it!!! 

I hope you all have a great week and that you remember Jesus Christ is always there for us and wants us to talk to Him. 

Alles Liebe

Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Salzburg = Salt Castle

The title is a lie but that is what it means.... 

Have you ever asked yourself?

How do I treat my colleagues? How do I treat those around me whether they are considered above me or below or whatever? How would the Lord react if he was standing over us right now? 

It is an interesting question to ponder. The Lord has put us here to overcome the natural man and to learn how to master ourselves. After all the greatest commandment after loving God with all of your heart, might, mind, and soul is to love your neighbor. I can think of a few characteristics of Christ that go along with this idea:  

Charity

Patience
Forgiveness
Love
Kindness 

How can I be slow to anger and quick to love my God and my fellow man?

Well a few things have come to my mind and I will share them with you, if you have thought of any others I would love to hear about them!

- Making sure you are eating right, getting enough sleep, and managing our stress. When we are well rested and not stressed, it is easier to be patient with others. 

Remember what Moroni writes to us about Charity in Moroni 7:45-48

45 And charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity but rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail
47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him.
48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that we may be purified even as he is pure. Amen.

When we as missionaries are given our assignment we are asked to serve with all of our heart and try and become like Christ! One of the greatest attributes of Christ is that of charity, I have seen when I am more charitable in my life I am happier. Those around me are happier, and I can more easily share my message about Jesus Christ. I invite you to work on this Christlike attribute of Charity this week. Find a time this week to serve someone; maybe call a family member or friend you haven't talked to in a while or open the door for someone (for some other ideas look back to last year's Light the World Advent Calendar). I know that as we try and become like Christ, we will come closer to Him and we will become what he wants us to be!

As far as Salzburg goes, we have two wonderful people who have accepted a baptismal date. We were hacked kind of on Monday night (no worries it is all sorted out now). Our dryer tried to die, and we had interviews with President!!! Interviews are always so much fun. He explained transfers and schedules with us, which was cool, and he really emphasized how we need to master our message and know the points in the lessons along with scriptures so well that we can answer anyone's question on the street. That is my goal to know the lessons forward and backwards in English and German!!!

P-Day this week... UNTERSBERG!!! A mountain that has a gorgeous view, great for Dirndl (which I apparently have been spelling wrong my whole mission) pictures, good Frühsport, and great missionary opportunities. As we were hiking we ran into a camera crew that wanted to video us (because we were in Dirndls) and we shared with them what we are doing exactly and how the process works! Really cool experience and who knows maybe they will have interest one day... 

I hope you all have a great week!! 

If there is anything you would like to see in my weekly emails, Information about this beautiful place just let me know.

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

 

Es macht immer spaß!!

Hallo lovely wonderful people,

This week we had Distrikt P-day, Zone Training, Valentine’s Day and Fasching!!! 

P-day: We went to a beautiful town up in the Alps located on a beautiful lake with churches dotting the scenery. We went with our whole Distrikt, which was Salzurg missionaries, including the amazing Elder and Sister Matthews and Neumarkt Elders. It was amazing to see the beautiful landscape here. And as per usual, the Elders and Sister Miller wore Trachten, which is the traditional wear for Austria and Southern Germany, and they looked really good! (I had bought my Drindl, but it wasn't ready yet)

Zone Training: Every month the missionaries in leadership positions meet in München and receive training from President. And then those missionaries hold a meeting for the other missionaries in their area to train, teach, and uplift. This second meeting is called Zone Training and it was really good last week!!!  They talked about what it means to listen to someone and how we need to be listening just as much as we are teaching.  I also loved how they encouraged us to be self-motivated and how they said if you are clean and worthy stay that way. If you aren’t get clean and get worthy. Our biggest judge is ourselves, and it is amazing that the Lord trusts us enough to teach us correct principles and then lets us govern ourselves. I really felt the spirit of self-discipline from the Zone Leaders, which was really amazing!

Tuesday was also Valentine’s Day!!! So Happy Valentine’s Day!! Sister Miller bought me a flower and made me a cute Valentine, the Zone Leaders all gave us Valentine's Day Tea, and the Matthews gave us a Berliner!!! So it was a great Valentine’s Day!! 

To top Monday and Tuesday off, we had Klagenfurt stay the night! That was super fun!! We just talked about everything, it was super fun!! 

Finally on Saturday we got to celebrate Fasching, which is a holiday here that is similar to Halloween in the way it is celebrated. We helped out at our PV (Primary Children ages 0-11) activity and at the one in Neumarkt! It was so much fun to help out with the games and to watch the kids all dress up and have so much fun playing games. As missionaries we kind of dressed up but the kids and parents went all out, it was really cool!! We also helped set up for Fasching on Wednesday night, which was fun!!

I got my Drindl last week and attached a picture of my Drindl and my Swatch! 

This week, I have been thinking about time management and self-reliance, I don’t know how many of you know about the Church's Self-Reliance program, but it is really cool!! I have been getting the impression that I need to read it and study it better. We are trying it out as a mission and we are going through the step as missionaries. I just want to say that our testimony of the Gospel and our testimony of Jesus Christ as our Savior and Redeemer are precious and we should treasure that precious knowledge. When life gets hard, people doubt their faith and they doubt the existence of a God, but if we root our faith in Him and in the Book of Mormon, and we base our conversion on Jesus Christ and become self-reliant on our testimony, then we will be able to weather those storms. It is hard sometimes to know where to find answers but when we personally search the scriptures and fast and pray for an answer, we can know that the answer we get is truly an answer from God. He is there and He wants to answer your questions. Finding your own answers through patience, faith, and effort is one of the greatest blessings we have from God. That is the true spirit of the Self-Reliance—being able to weather the storms of life with God and His guidance. 

I love you all; I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, Redeemer and Brother. He loves us and wants us to return to live with our Father and He wants us to be happy. He knows what we are going through, He knows how we feel, and He knows us!! How wonderful is that!

 

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

Es ist eine schöne Stadt

Hallo meine schöne Freunde!

Our Taufen Termin:

We had an amazing appointment with our investigator who has a baptismal date! We were able to bring our GML with us and it helped us to better explain our point. We talked about the importance of Prayer, Scripture study and Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy, and how we need to have these three things to be able to keep the Holy Ghost in our lives!!

Junge Damen: 

We were invited to the Young Women this week and we were designing wedding dresses.... I think this is a sign for Sister Miller. She doesn't want to believe me, but she goes home in a couple of weeks.... (It's going to happen) 

Picture of my dress included it's not see through it just appears that way.

Finding!

This week we have planned a lot of finding!!! We don't have a ton of investigators at the moment, so what do you do? You go find new people. There is a phrase that says "Nothing Happens in Missionary Work until You Find Someone to Teach." I am a firm believer in this. I have come to love finding! It's amazing the feeling you get when get to stop someone on the street and for a few minutes they think about something more. They wonder if there is a purpose. They reflect on their creator. That is the wonderful part of being a missionary, it's beautiful really! Finding is definitely hard and sad when people slam doors in your face or when they yell at you, or the worst is when they won't even let you talk to them at all, but it's all worth it in the end. The Lord knows where His elect are. He is preparing people and it's our job to look for them. 

FHA:

Every week we have FHE (Family Home Evening) at a member’s house on Sunday night and we play games, eat food, and share a spiritual thought. It's super fun, and I am getting to learn new vocabulary, and getting to know the members better. The mom is super sweet too; she is organizing a member appointment schedule for us so we can get to know more members faster! It's super sweet!!!  This week we got to play with their hamsters!!! Picture included!!

I want you all to know, how much I appreciate the thoughts and prayers that you are sending my way. I feel so much love from all of you and I am very grateful!! 

The Lord knows each and every one of us. We are HIS children, and He loves us and wants us to return to live with Him forever!!! What a beautiful message!! I know what we lived with our Father in Heaven before this life, and this life is our chance to learn about Him and to believe in Him. And when we believe in Him, He can take away our pains and our sorrows and give us the greatest gift we could ever receive—eternal life with our family!!!!

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

 

7 Monate und ich wohne in Salzburg

Hoi,

So this week I got 2 Taufe termins!!! (Baptismal dates) one in Zürich before I left and the other in Salzburg at the end of the week!!! It is amazing to see people really want to come closer to the Savior and really want to know what He wants for them. The Lord is preparing people to hear His message! 

I left Sister Heller this week; she is super cute. I'll miss her and her creative finding ideas! We had a great two months together, taking over Zürich (Zürich where leaders are born). Then she helped carry my billion bags to Hauptbahnhof to catch my train to Salzburg. (Yeah I still have a little under a year left, not sure how this whole packing 2 suitcases under 30 pounds is going to work...) 

I am really going to miss Zürich and especially the Schwamendingen ward and Sister Heller. Alle sind so lieb!! 

TRANSFERS: So I am now in the wonderful, beautiful, traditional land of Salzburg where the grass is greener and the music in my head is Mozart. This is also the land of the Sound of Music, which apparently I will see quite a bit of while I am here (the land where it was filmed). 

My new companion: Sister Miller. She is a beautiful redhead, who hails from Portland, Oregon where, using her words "it's weird." She is not so happily celebrating her 17^th month (kind of) this month. So I get to send her home at the end of our 6 weeks together. She loves science, art, and volleyball! 

We had the chance to go to a wedding as well (well the reception) and that was really fun. We helped set up and then were able to go for about an hour before we had to return home (the receptions here go for hours and hours and hours) the food was really good.

Today: 

We visited the Mozart Wohnunghaus (basically the house where he lived not the house where he was born, so much cooler), I took the tour in German (hey Sprachstudium) and it was really interesting! Even though he is famous for the piano, they really focused on the violin which I thought was cool! 

Also bought a Dirndl today!!! Because when in Salzburg.... It looks super cute and traditional. Sorry no pics yet. It is being sized so in a week or two I'll have super utensils pictures. 

One quick spiritual thought: The Lord puts people in our lives and gives us experiences so that we can learn and grow, it is our responsibility to learn from them and share our experiences (when appropriate). The Lord has invested a lot in each and every one of us. We are His Children and He loves us. I know that because I have felt His love.

Have a great week!!!

Alles Liebe
Sister Anderson
Alpenländische Mission

Pictures:

Love lock bridge- yes, lovers buy a lock and attach it to the bridge forever as a symbol!
The beautiful mountains here remind me of Utah, I love it!
One of the members has a snake and I got to hold it!!! 
Sister Miller and a Buddhist flower from a wedding (not really a Buddhist flower but doesn't it look like it?)