We Are Famous.....Part Two

http://ldsliving.com/story/77671-missionary-christmas-pictures-from-around-the-world-77-missions

It Was Warm...

Remember how I said it was warm here with no snow?......The 26th of Dezember 2014, the temperature dropped... and the Earth was covered in a white blanket. Anyways and now it is absolutely freezing and absolutely beautiful to be a missionary. 

I was so grateful to call you all this past week and see all of your amazing faces:) I had such a great time and wished I could have answered all of your questions, but I had a great time with the time we had. I can honestly say, this was the greatest Christmas I have ever had! I love the members, and they all took such good care of this week. On Monday, we were with Family Aeschbacher eating Fondue, Wednesday we were at Family Harder (a vegian/health health family) eating falsch fleisch, then Family Müller... Oh I love Family Müller! They have grown to become my absolute favorite Family. They have the two real cute daughters that said Hi to you on Skype;) They fed us breakfast, gave us Swiss shirts, feed us a huge 3000 course dinner, absolutlely amazing with salad, soup, chicken, potatoes, fruit salad, and so much more. We also played Settlers of Catan! I was almost in tears knowing how much they had sacrificed for us. 

There was one thing though that touched me the most that Christmas day. As it was getting late, we all gathered together and sang around the christmas tree with lit candles:) We sang and we were all given a chocolate ornament to hang on the tree. We went around one by one, hanging these chocolate ornaments and each was a gift. Each was a gift of Jesus, we would say, this next week I will give Jesus the gift of.. Loving everyone... forgiving more... being a better missionaries... having Him engraven on our heart. It was incredibly beautiful and touched me. That is the true meaning of Christmas. It's not about the gifts we recieve, but the gifts we give to Jesus. What will you give Him? Think about it:)

On Friday we went to the Temple, Saturday we had Raclette with the Schültz. Sunday was my birthday:) What a wonderful day as well. At Church everyone was wishing me a happy birthday and then afterwards we went to a Weniger Active famile. We traveled by train, then 45 minutes in a wild, freezing Snow storm. We ate more Raclette and had a wonderful time together. This week was the greatest week:) I am so greatful. I can feel the love of everyone and especially the love my Savior has for me. I felt it so strongly, I hope you did too. I wish you a Happy New Year's and I love you all!

Love,


Elder Annen

We Are Famous!

https://www.facebook.com/LDSMissionaries

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas,

Ich wünsche ein frohes Weihnacht!!! With Everyday getting closer and closer to Christmas, I am getting more and more excited to call all of you! Really, I am so excited and can hardly wait. This week we finished setting up our huge/small christmas tree. I remember at home, spending hours decorating the whole house with ornaments, snowmen, lights, the nativity scenes, angels, stockings, candy and so on. The ganz Christmas time is so exciting, and is nur ein Happy time. I can always feel it in the air, when Christmas comes closer and closer.

So Like I said, we finished decorating the Christmas tree this week, and continued through our adventkalendars. The Chrsitmas tree is beautiful, not real, but still beautiful, and I can say this may be the greatest Christmas I have ever had.

This past few weeks I have been pondering about Christmas and what makes this time such a special time. What makes it special? I think about past Christmases... What part made this day such a wonderful day? I think about the gifts I gave. I remember being more excited to see others open their presents, then I was about mine. I remember, hoping that Jessica, Ashley, Jeremy, Mom, or Dad, would really enjoy the gift, that they would be happy and smile and laugh. So is this why Christmas was so special to me? Giving, brought me greater joy then getting.. Then I think about what we all got. All of us collectedly as a whole. What have we all received? Gifts? Toys? Candy? A Testimony? This day we all received, Jesus Christ. That day, He was born and He is the greatest gift to us all.


I love the picture, The Spirit of Christmas, by Greg Olsen. I will include it in this email. Truly it shows the true meaning of Christmas. Receiving gifts is fun, giving gifts brings happiness, but remembering the true meaning of Christmas brings us everlasting joy:) I find this art to be quite inspiring. It makes me wonder, what do we focus on when it comes to Christmas? The world may focus on Santa, but even Santa seems to be focused on Christ. Thomas S. Monson talks about the true meaning of the Spirit of Christmas. He says, "We must only drop the last syllable and it (The Spirit of Christmas) becomes the Spirit of Christ." What a wonderful, yet simple sentence. We must only drop the last syllable, we must only drop the focus of buying, buying, buying, shopping, shopping, shoping, and this becomes the Spirit of Christ:) Again, this art is amazing, It reflects the true meaning of Christmas. I hope we all remember the real meaning and that we are happy, not overly stressed, but reflect on Christ.

I love you all!
Love,
Elder Annen

'Tis the Seasons!

Happy Thanksgiving and on to a Merry Christmas!

This week, woooooooooooow! I have never eaten sooooo much in my entire life! Yep, I will be fat this season, haha. No but seriously, no joke. I will be HUGE! I have to say though being feed by members is a huge blessing. I love every appointment, even if I understand 1% of the conversations On Monday, we ate with the Reisen, and had an awesome Family Abend zusammen. We ate, then Elder Hassley, out of nowhere pulled out those small, animal making balloons. What in the World!?!? First off, where did he get those? Second off, what can you do with these balloons to make a spiritual lesson? He did a great job though. Elder Hassley told us to try as hard as we can to blow up these balloons with our mouths... and wow that was a little more then tough. I huffed and I puffed, and no way was that balloon going to fill up. I kept trying and Elder Roberts actually strained his cheeks trying to blow it up. Poor guy!

Then Elder Hassley, brought out a pump and explained how this is Christ. We can never fill up this balloon, unless we have a pump. The pump is just a simple toy. It fills with air, then compresses, until it can give no more air. The pump takes effort, similarly our relationship with Christ takes a similar effort. We must give all ourselves. We will be compressed till the point where we can almost give no more. Then We are filled. We are renewed, with a greater capacity, greater faith, greater happiness. Are we willing to give be compressed in order to be filled with this greater love? I wonder if I am willing to go through the hardest times for the sake of having the Happiest of times. I think I would be willing. I desire so greatly to be filled with pure Happiness, to know that I have worked hard, done my best, then can be happy. We only go through hard times in order to be happy. Everything we do, trials put on us, in the long run, is only ment to make us happy. We may have a trial because we have made a mistake, Heavenly Father asks that we repent. So we can be happy. He gives us trials, to help us learn, and be happy!

With this season of Christmas, let us forget about the worries and stress, and be Happy. For the only gift we should think about receiving is Him. Is Jesus Christ. That is what makes us happy. I love you all, and wish you the best, and Happy Birthday to Jeremy soon!

Love,
Elder Annen

Musikalisher Abend

Dear Family,

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all eat as much turkey as you can because I won't be there, but I will be thinking of you all! My companion and I, plus our two roomates Elder Roberts and Sanft, are thinking of putting together a little Thanksgiving so, I wont be missing out, whoot! Anyways this week, we had many eating apointments and really great musical fireside. And these firesides are what I want to talk about because they are absolutlely amazing! The Spirit and power that these events bring are incredible.

So what is a Musikalisher Abend? Well here in Switzerland, it is a huge deal. There are flyers and advertizing all over the Schweiz, a story created, movie film made, music prepared, and many prayers and much fasting all to make this event happen. I will a link if you want to find more info, but it is all in German so best of luck to you all;)http://musikalischerabend.com/

This Fireside was called "Auf Der Suche Nach Gott." The story is of a man, that has a single daughter, but a wife and 2 other children that died in a car crash. He wants to be the best father he can be. Sadly, with no wife, he leaves his child at home, while he is away at work trying his best to make a living. He ponders about life. Why did his family pass away and how can he be a great father? Does Gott exist? As he thinks about his he stumbles upon two books. A child's book and the Book of Mormon. These two books tie together and builds this beautiful scene of a man and a daughter auf der Suche nach Gott. The Spirit I felt was incredible. I know the Church is true, I had that reconfirmed to me over and over again and at the fireside it was even greater. Joseph Smith is a prophet, he restored it to the earth. I know without a doubt in my heart, because the Spirit filled every doubt in my heart as I listened to the fireside. I Know that my Redeemer lives. He loves us, and is always there. I love him so greatly, and grow contunally everyday to love him more and more. I wish I could describe the event in its fullness but feelings are hard to describe. In short it was inspiring, amazing, spiritual. I loved it. I hope to bring this fireside back home.

Well, Christmas is also coming up soon and I am really excited, especially to spend it in Europe. in Konstanz they have already started to decorate the city with lights and a huge christmas tree. What an exciting time! Well I love you all and pray for you always.


Love Elder Annen

Blessings In All Times

Meine geliebter Familie,

What a week of blessings and of miracles.. Seeing people with almost nothing, has touched my heart so greatly. First off let me try to draw a picture of Europe and Switzerland for ihr (you all).

The building are all beautiful, greatly decorated with pillars, stones, statues, cobblestone walkways, fountains, fancy cars, trains, green fields, a country full of colour and full of life. As you walk, down small alleyways filled with small shops, one can only wonder. How can a place be so beautiful? As one walks around on dirtpaths and can only see tall, green, yellow, sunflowers, cornstalks, plowed fields, one can only wonder. I wish I was skilled inwriting and describing how beautiful the contrasts are in Europe, but I do not have that skill. Europe is simply a beautiful place, a place seemingly full of life.

Yet the life here is dying. Maybe this applies to the whole world, or simply here, I am not sure. This amazing place, with great history, art, beauty, is slowly falling apart. They have forgotten what it means to live. Have we forgotten what it means to be alive? Are we living everyday, as a number, or as a blessing from heaven? 

Again, Europe a perfect place, many seemingly perfect cities, I would even say a Traum Wohnung. I remember Jeremy telling me about Korea, with their "cellpads." This epidemic of technolgy. Menschen have forgotten what it means to live. They are constantly plugged in and plugged away. Have we forgotten what it means to live? To unplug? To actually live? To interact with others? I think at times we have forgotten. Have we forgotten about others? Europe has in part.


My challenge would be to unplug from the virtuals worlds that are out there and starting living in the world you are on now. Talk to someone, you dont know. Do something unsual crazy, different? Take a chance, a leap of faith. Take an oppurtunity to help another. My fear is that America is starting to die like Europe.

Seeing people with almost nothing, has touched my heart so greatly. I have seem people with absolutle nothing, who have the greatest faith. They truly have learned to live. They care for others even though they, themselves have nothing. I had the oppurtunity to give a blessing to a boy in a family that had absolutely nothing. I was greatly humbled by them and their faith. As I gave the blessing, the feeling of peace and completel love filled my head, and heart. I wished I could bless them with everything, with money, with a nicer apartment, but they do not need that. I wished I could bless them with happiness, but they do not need that. Because they are so happy with nothing, they know how to live. So please unplug and connect with someone in need, even if on the outside they dont look in need. I love you all.

Elder Annen


Some quotes I heard this week...

"Even when you trip you fall forward."
"When Life knocks you down, you are in the perfect position to pray"

A Week of Meetings

Dear Family who I haven't written for a while......

This past week has been great and as the title suggests, full of meetings. We had Stake Conference two days in a row, then interviews with president, and then zone training. I have heard so many inspired words and stories that I do not have enough time to write them all to you. So I will stick with one story, the story of John Tanner. 

In Zone Training we were talking about being Consecrated. What does that actually mean to be completely consecrated? It means we give ourselves to the Lord right? Heart, might, mind, and strength right? Its that simple yet that difficult. I knows it actually easy to do everything the Lord asks us to do, but why can it be so difficult? And this is what I wish to explain about Consecration. We give everything. Absolutely everything, which means we give him our agency and desires. I read an interesting scripture, in Moroni 7:6-8. It speaks of giving gifts without holding it back. With giving gifts because you want to give the gift. And yet if you do not desire to give the gift but give it anyways.... it counts as nothing. Now back to being consecrated... Do not take this as doctrine, but as I have pondered this scripture, I have had the question "So how does this idea apply to this gospel?" Hmmmmm... If I do something the Lord wants but inside I don't have the desire to do it, wait.. It profiteth me nothing.. True Consecration, is giving everything, our desires are the same as the Lord's. We WANT to do it. We are HAPPY to do all the things he wants. Why do we want and why should we be happy to do the Lords will? Because why not. These things bring us closer to Christ and that makes us happy. 

The Story of John Tanner is inspiring. Look it up, please. He was a man that gave everything he had for the church. We saw a movie clip of where John Tanner speaks to Joseph Smith. And John Tanner did not want to be paid back for all that he gave, He gave because he was completely grateful for everything Heavenly Father gave him. He was truly consecrated. Please look up his story, it's amazing. Well that's it from me. I love all of you.


Elder Annen

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2010-07-139-treasure-in-heaven-the-john-tanner-story?lang=eng

A Change, I Could Use Some Change

Dear Family,

Another transfer starting and thank goodness for a change too! Honestly, I needed a change and now I have a new companion Elder Hassley! He is another German, really nice, friendly, and overall a fun person to be around. 

This week, has been really interesting, with me trying to take over an area. I THOUGHT I knew everything about my area, what trains, buses, what times, everything comes and goes, but I don't.. So this week was... Whats the right word? Exciting? Adventurous? A whole new experience from the past 4 months, where I had no clue what I was doing. Haha, I still dont have a clue what I am doing, but I try my best. This week we had another service project with Garten Arbeit and that was exciting. Raking, chopping, trimming, and ja, Garten Arbeit. With all this service, I have some time to think and ponder. The story that keeps popping into my head is the story of The Currant Bush.

So here is my spiritual thought for this week. The Currant Bush story, I think we all know it. If you have forgotten, look it up by, Elder Hugh B. Brown. I realize more and more that I need to change. I have many faults, many imperfection, and yet I feel that I always fall short. At times when I feel down I remember the purpose of the Atonement, and how Heavenly Father says,“I am the gardener here. I know what I want you to do.” We have no clue our potential. I remember Jeremy`s homecoming talk and how he talked about racing horses and how we have great potential with having Heavenly parents. Then I think about why we go through such hard times. Hard times, where we feel alone, we feel under high pressure, we cannot move anymore. We want to give up and just cry. And as we cry or cannot move anymore, it seems we fall. Yet when we fall, we naturally, fall to our knees. At these moments we may realize, we have forgotten about prayer, Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Atonement. It is at these moments, that we realize, we have forgotten who the Gardener is. In the future we will look back at these times and say,“Thank you, Mr. Gardener, for cutting me down, for loving me enough to hurt me.”

I love that phrase. I love you all and pray for you immer.

Love,

Elder Annen

Another Transfer Gone....

         This past week was Transfers and boy! I was so excited to see what happen next... New companion, new area, or stay the same. I had no idea! I was so excited and didn't know what to think. I really wanted a change, but if not, that is what the Lord wants. Calls came and I learned I am staying here and my companion is going to Wettigen. And so I will be getting a new companion, Elder Hassley! All I know it that he is another German, and not much more than that. I really am excited, but a little nervous since I am taking over this Kreuzlingen area. But I am ready, let's do it!
This week, we went to St. Gallen, for a flash mob to advertise the church, and guess who I saw?!?! I saw Wendy! She spoke crazy German to me and I couldn't understand very well, but she was there and I hope I can bump into that family again! The flash mob was really a good and then all the missionaries went out and talked to everyone, handed out Books of Mormon, pass along cards, and really was a great advertisement. So many people stopped, videotaped, took pictures and it was exciting to see other people being excited about missionary work.

     I have been thinking of a spiritual thought to share, and I wish to speak about the Seed of faith. The faith as small as a mustard seed. We read about having only a seed of faith, we can move mountains. This shows that faith doesnt have to be a gigantic number, its more built on quality and simplicity than quantity. When I think about a seed, I think of it as being the most simple basic unit of life. Exercise faith in a simple pray, excercising faith in simple scripture study, in a simple family activity, these simple activities build our faith. They dont have to be expensive, just simple and meaningful. Moments that are so simple yet rememberable. Quality not quantity. Anyway that is my little geistig Gedanke.

I wish you all the best and again, I hope to hear from you soon. I love you all! Perhaps next week I will hear from more of you, but who knows!;)

Love,

Elder Annen

Unihockey!

What can I say about this week?

Not much, we worked hard and oh! We played unihockey with the ward, which was really great. Unihockey is hockey but you run in a gym back and forth and back and forth, I was sweating so hard! We played for 2 hours or so and I was dead. 

I do not have anything really spiritual to share this week, I would just want to share a quote from David A. Bednar, "Absolute truth exists in a world that increasingly disdains and dismisses absolute." This statement is powerful, we see truth(miracles, healings, spiritual gifts, revelation) all around us and yet how often do see it and yet reject it. I have heard from people that God used to exist, he created Earth and man, then left. How is that possible? We see truth everyday that proves God exists. Hospitals, people are saved everyday, that is a miracle. How do people reject these signs of truth? I do not understand because there is truth all around us and yet people do not see it. 

Anyways I hope to hear from you all soon, but if not I understand, you are all busy with school and things.

Love you all,
Elder Annen

The Desire, A Will, All Given Freely

Oh Family, I love you all and am not sure what I am going to write about this week....

We had Zone Conference and heard from President, who shared some imspired words that we as missionaries needed to hear, we need to work harder, we need to improve, anyways, I feel so impressed that I need to change if I am to become a missionary. I say become a missionary because I feel like I am not one. Its a process. We are all going through this similar process, whether we are moving forward or backwards, we are all becoming missionaries. The only things is, are we actually trying to change and do better? Are we really good at repently, daily and joyfully?

This week we also had more service and guess what!?! Stacking wood again! These Swiss people really like wood. I think all of them chop wood all day and then ask the missionaries to come by and stack it, haha, who knows?:) That is a hard and tough job but I enjoy service projects. Well, nothing else significant happened this week so why not share a spiritual thought?

In my personal study, I have been truly, deeply trying to understand the life of Jesus Christ. I feel so impressed with the Atonement. I know that I can email and tell you how I feel but you wont feel understand the deepness of understanding and love that Jesus has for all of us. I realized that Jesus Christ truly gave everything for us. He couldnt feel pain. He couldnt die. Yet He died. He suffered incredbile pains. How is this so? He loved us. He loves us. Jesus Christ willed Himself to feel pain.

How many of us would force pain upon ourselves? How many of us, if we could control the ability of life, would force death upon ourselves in order for others to be happy? I am so impressed with this this past week. Jesus truly performed the greatest sacrifice, full of love, charity for each one of us. I stand all amazed. Really I do, He suffered, and dead because He wanted to. He wanted to do it for us. Incredible. Well, I know you may read this and not have a huge impact on you, but I feel so deep inside that Jesus, loves each and every single one of us. I love Him! And I love all of you, hop to hear from you soon!

Love,
Elder Annen

General Conference Weekend

Dear Family,

Oh man! General Conference Weekend! How was it? Having a few days off of school and enjoying the weekend listening to some of the most inspired talks I have ever heard! Really that was fantastic! So for this week I will give some highlights then mostly talk about Conference because, wow, that was a special event.

This week we had some time to get a little more excercise, and so we went for a run and played some soccer with some Europeans and man! They are so incredible at soccer, I would just run around, trying to look like I was doing something, and hope they would pass to me. Haha oh I am so humbled by that experience... Honestly, soccer is a fun sport, but it humbles me because I realize how bad I am at it. And now I want to get some proper shoes, cleats, but oh well! We also had exchanges this week and helped an old man move wood from his old tractor into his house. He spoke crazy swiss german, and kept saying gelb! After everything... Yellow? Why does he keep saying gelb? or Yellow? That didnt make sense to me. 

General Conference.... What a powerful event! I will talk about my two favorite.. Uchtdorf`s and Jörg Klebingal talks, Uchtdorfs from Priesthood session and Jörg from Sunday morning. "Lord, is it I?" What a powerful statement... I cant think of any comment to add to this wonderfully simple phrase. How often do we look at others and saw, wow THEY need to change that. THEY shouldn't do that, why are THEY doing that? I like the story of the Solitary Dandelion, he talked about. In summary, therre was a man with a perfect lawn, completely green, bushes trimmed, lawn mowed, weeds removed, and the yards was perfect. His neighbor always admired his lawn. This neighbor would look at the lawn everyday and think wow what a beautiful lawn. As the neighbor walked past this perfect lawn, he noticed one dandelion. Why would the man with the perfect yard, not pick up this weed? The rest of lawn was amazing. The neighbor kept thinking about this as he walked into his house, with his yard being covered in dandelions. How often do we see mistakes in others but not in ourselves? I would ask if all of you would ask yourselves... "Lord is it I?" Will you please look within your heart and ask "Lord, Is it I?"

Jörg Klebingal gave 6 amazing tips for finding peace in ones life..

1) Take responsibility for your spiritual confidence, if you arent happy with it, change it! Dont blame others, take responsibililty

2) Take responsibilty for Physical confidence, if you arent happy with it, change it! The body is a temple. Read the Word of Wisdom, it says the exact, perfect diet. Meat in ONLY times of winter or famine, eat good! The Word of Wisdom is the perfect diet

3) Obedience, do things for the right reason

4) Become REALLY good at repentance, happy joyful repentance everyday.

5) Become REALLY good at forgiving

6) Accept trials and experiences... This is something I struggle with and I like what Jörg said. In times of trial "force a smile, look heaven ward, and say `Lord I know why I have this trial` "

Anyways really powerful talks. I love you all!

Love,
Elder Annen

From President Kohler

Dear Families of our Alpenländische Missionaries-

As we approach the holiday season, we want to reach out to all of you and thank you for your support.  It is an honor to serve with your great missionaries in such a special part of the world.

We know that you are anxious to send Christmas packages to your missionaries, and want to ensure that each missionary gets his or her package by Christmas.  In order for this to happen in a mission as large as this one, with over 270 missionaries, this takes some careful planning and coordination.  We will be delivering the packages as we go around the mission for our Christmas conferences. For this to be possible we need you to ensure that your package is delivered to our mission office by Dec. 1st (address below).

We would also like to invite you to support us in our goal of having a baptism in each of the 68 wards or branches in this mission by the end of the year.   Join us by uniting your prayers and fasts with ours in drawing upon the Lord’s blessings as we invite and help others to come unto Christ.

We love your missionaries, appreciate their service, and are grateful for your faith and prayers.  May the Lord continue to bless you and your families.

Liebe Grüße,

Präsident and Sister Kohler

Alpenländishe Mission

Lommelstraße 7

81479 München

Germany

How Much Wood, Could a Woodchuck Chuck....

Dear Wonderful Family!

First off, Jessica.... Happy Birthday!!! I cant believe you are turning 16 and will start doing so much more, dating, driving, and have a great time at high school dances and whatever! So Happy Birthday, I am so excited for you! I also want to apologize, because I have hand written letters for you all for your birthdays, but I have kein stamps to send them to you:( So I am really sorry, when I send these letters and they will be about 3 months late or whenever I have time to get stamps. My companion never gives me time to email, let alone, buy stamps and write letters, so I apologize! A thousand apologies!!!

This past week has been full of meeting with investigators, having finding days, service, eating with members and just really busy times. I think I will tell about the service project. So we woke up at 6:30 as usual, got ready and headed off to this service project in Weinfelden. We went to family Reisen`s house and helped chop and stack wood, which was surprisingly fun! I remember when Jeremy came home and he was so into physical, hard, work and now I can understand why he felt that way! So we had one person handing long wood planks to the sawman who cut the wood, then put it into a wheelburrow and my job was to stack the wood into a nice pile. Not really that exciting for a normal person, but as a missionary... This was a great thing to do! I love doing service, its one of the greatest blessing here out in the mission. When I come home I definitely want to do more hardwork. After working for 3 hours or so.. We had a delicous lunch, with fries, bratwurst, bread, and hardboiled eggs, apple juice made from Family Reisen`s apple trees, and man! It was absolutlely amazing! But they play the funniest game with their hardboiled eggs.. So one person holds and egg and another person holds another. Then they smash the eggs together and see which one is the "bad egg" and cracks. Then they swap sides of the eggs and play the game again. Anyway I thought it was a funny game!

In studies this week, I found a really interesting story in the book of Mark, chapter 9. Jesus had his transfiguration on the mount, and came down. Jesus was in a, what I would call, a "spiritual high." He had just been praying and communicating with Heavenly Father and angels. Anyways, He comes down, and a man comes to him with a son that is pocessed. The Apostels had tried to heal him but they could, this next part literally saddend me. Jesus say," O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you." He was so sad from how little faith the Apostels had. He asked how much longer, he would have to cooperate with this "faithless generation." The father begs Christ to heal his son, knowing that he, himself, doesnt have great faith or have a great belief. Christ replies " If thou canst believe... All things are possible to him that believeth" Now let me quickly switch to another idea. Do you remember the song "Believe" by Josh Groban? If you have forgotten, the main chorous goes like this....

"Believe in what your heart is saying

Hear the melody that's playing
There's no time to waste
There's so much to celebrate
Believe in what you feel inside
And give your dreams the wings to fly
You have everything you need

If you just believe"

I find this to be so interesting, " You have everything you need, if you just believe." I think of the faith a child has for christmas ever year. They have such a great excitement, great faith that Santa will come. They have geniune belief. Geniune faith... And yet Christ says," If thou canst believe... All things are possible to him that believeth." If we all could simple believe, thats it! Believe! All things are possible! I know this to be true! I know it with all my heart and soul. Because I have seen people who have nothing. No loving family, no money, addiction, and yet they have enough. How do they have enough? Because they believe. That simple. 

"You have everything you need
If you just believe" 

I leave you my testimony and ask that we do the simple thing, believe, Come follow me, its all a simple phrase. I love you all!

With love,
Elder Annen

It's Only A Mountain

Wow..... The last week has been absolutely insane... First off...... Bum...BUm... BUM!!! The Säntis, the most intense mountain. Ever... The climb reminded me of the story of Jeremy`s, with climbing mountains. The hike started out really warm, with a little bit of fog. I was wearing my giganticous coat and sweatshirt just in case and man I started sweating to bad, it was completely disgusting. So I took that off and kept going.

The hike was easy, then it got steeper and steeper... And narrower and narrower... One side is next to a rock wall and the other is a cliff. I could only see 3 people ahead of me then all the fog hid everyone else. We climber higher and higher, narrower and narrower,steeper and steeper.. The weather started to turn bad. The wind picked up, and was blowing like crazy! Then the rain came, and I was wet from sweat and wet from the rain. We kept climbing up and up. Then the temperatures started to drop, and snow, and wind grew stronger and stronger against us. We were walking through snow, ice, slush and remember... We are next to a cliff and a rock wall.. Talk about between a rock and a hard place, or at least a hard fall^^ Then we got to a solid rock wall and we climbed straight up it, with no equipment and no gear, just straight up in the crazy weather. 

We climbed and climbed. Then we got to the top.. A path covered in snow, mostly ice, and a cliff on both sides. One wrong step and bye bye Elder Annen. But of course, there was a miraculous chain, covered in ice that we could hold onto. I didn't bring gloves. I was told in my mission call to buy some on the mission in winter time. So held to that chain with hands that screamed in pain because first of fear and second because of how cold it was. My hands were completely numb and yet they burned with the freezing chain. We kept going and came to a drop off where 30 feet we went down 50 feet then straight back. People,missionaries, were slipping everywhere and that was so scary. Because if one slipped everyone behind them would be in trouble. We climbed and with frozen, blistering hands, faces, wet feet, we made it to the top.

The most interesting connection came to me though. The chain was freezing, the path narrow, surrounded by mists of darkness... Anyone seeing a connection? I thought of the iron rod story. The chain was freezing and I wanted to let go so badly the whole time. We have to hold to the rod even if it kills our hands. I have to go apparently and will talk later.

Love you,
Elder Annen

A Pretty Relaxed Week

Well family, this week has been pretty normal and a little upsetting....

A brief summary sense last time I wrote.... We went to the hospital a few times to visit Saila, and I hope things go better for her. She has really had a hard life. I also had exchanges with the elders in St. Gallen. We went to one appointment the Baygül family from Turkey and sadly they were not home. So we went to a less active and GUESS WHAT?!?!?!?!?!? Also nicht home. So went to Institute and ate some Mexican food. It tasted really good because well.. I was super hungry! But it definitely was not as good, as Mom`s Mexican food! Honestly, the Mexican food here is definitely not healthy and not even all that tasty compared to Cafe Rio or home food. Then we went to the apartment and went to bed, Whoot Whoot! Favorite part of the day for sure! Next day we switched back from the exchange and yeah. We went to Nina and GUESS WHAT? She wasn`t home either.... So we went home and studied.

Then yesterday we had part of a p-day because I wont be on tomorrow, or be having a p-day tomorrow. So really nothing exciting happened this past week, but morgen wir haben an awesome hike!!! We are getting up at 4 in the morning, and climbing the Säntis, which is this huge mountain, and hopefully next week I can send some awesome pictures. Anyways, I don't know what else to say...

I am doing pretty well, and am excited to be able to work more. I love you all and pray for you all.

Love,

Elder Annen

Wild Wild Week

Dear Family,

     This week has been a little more normal, I guess.... I have thought everyday about my big sister getting married, and wow from the pictures I saw the yard looked beautiful, Ashley looked beautiful, Jessica looked amazing, and Jeremy...... I don't know what to say about him. I sadly, don't have much time to write.

     But I love you all. This week we helped Saila move out of her apartment and wow that was disgusting. Sooooooo much dirt, cat hair, and who knows what else. I am so excited to keep working. I love it out here and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Elder Annen

The Harry Potter Approach....

     First off let me thank you all for your prayers! I have felt so much better this week and I believe it is from all of you, so thank you! This week has again been tough, missionary work is definitely work! Its also has soooooo much to do with facing some of our greatest fears, doing things that are outside our comfort zone. I have such a fear of people... I really do. I fear people, talking to people, knowing what to say, how to say that in German and wow, I had no idea that talking to people was one of my greatest fears..

     This week, I have really been trying to work on talking to people, on the street, buses, trains, bascially everywhere.. And I would start off, "Sorry, excuse me.. Are you from here?" then they would respond and I would try to talk to them, which usually failed in my broken German. Anyways, I was starting to get really annoyed because this language and cultural difference is so difficult to deal with.... So after being all frustrated, I decided to do a dumb approach, which I call the Harry Potter Approach. Not to be confused with the Saratov Approach;) So that day I has wearing an orange and red tie and my big Mr. Mac coat and honestly I looked like someone from Harry Potter! So I approached this lady on the street and said, Excuse me... Are you from here? I am here talking about Hogwarts, Do you know about Hogwarts? She just stared at me, for what felt like 20 minutes and I was about to laugh so hard, but I kept my straight face.... She then said Ja? Then I bursted out laughing and my companion took over talking and she invited us to talk to her more some time this next week, it was so funny and everytime we approached someone I started laughing because I couldn't help myself. Anyways that was my Harry Potter approach^^... haha

     Well this week has still been pretty tough, but fun. Again thank you all family for praying for me... I can't believe Ash will be married in a few days and that school starts so soon.. Sorry to remind you Jessica:( Anyways, I love you all...

Love,


Elder Annen

When the Going gets Tough, Elder Annen Gets Tired

Family!!!!!!! I am so happy that I finally get to write you and have a little longer then 30 minutes to write all of you.. What can I say about this week!?!?!?!?! Let's just say its been really good and really hard...

The good... I have never prayed more in my life then I have this past week, every second I seem to be asking for the gift of tongues, the gift of understanding, the gift of just help and encouragement. If I could ask one thing of you all, I would ask that you would pray for me, this week has really been tough and not sure what to do.. Well back to the good, our investigator, Siela, is so great. She has a great desire to change and wants to be baptized so badly. I don`t really know what to tell you about her other than I am really excited for her and love seeing the change within herself. I`ll tell you a little bit about her.. She is 50 something years old, smokes, drinks everyday, has stomach cancer, and has really had a tough life. I`ve realized lately, how great God`s love is for everyone. He wants to hear from us to badly, and loves us incredibly. I stand all amazed. I can't really think of any other words to use to describe my feelings.

This week there was a huge festival in Konstanz, where 55,000 people from all around come, to watch fireworks, dance, hangout and have a great time. I didn't get to go to it, but I heard the crazy cannon sounds of fireworks going off all night, I hope one day I can go back to this awesome festival! Well I am not sure what else to say, but I hope to hear from you all, whether by email or letter, I love to hear from you......


I love you all,

Elder Annen

My feet hurt...

This Was Not The Language They Taught Me In The MTC

Family!!!! Oh I am soooooo happy to finally have some time to write you!

Let me tell you, so much has happened, soo many miracles I have seen everyday I have been here, I know that Heavenly Father is with us every step of the way in missionary work.... First off I am serving in an area called Kreuzlingen! Which is an awesome area, we live in Germany, but everyday we literally walk into Switzerland then ride trains to everyplace, investigators homes, members and so on... My Comp is Elder Strauss from Germany and he is pretty ripped to the bone, not going to lie. Everyday he gets up at 5 to work out and stay fit, one day I will be as big as him, but probably not:) Well I am still quite limited on time so here goes a quick update..

In the past week we have commited two investigators to be baptized and they said yes!!!!!!!!!! So that is really awesome:) 

One miracle happened to me as I was riding the train from Munich to Kreuzlingen... So I was with some elders that had been out for almost 2 years, and we all started to talking to this young lady, Kortina, she was 22 and just going home from work. We started to talk to her and she was really interested with our beliefs, one elder asked if any of us had an I am a Mormon card, all the missionaries said no, but I knew I had one. So I went into the back of the train to get the cards. When I went back, I remembered that I had shipped the bag with all my cards and realized I didn't have any cards.. So I prayed with all my heart in the most simple and powerful prayer I have ever said.. I remember distinctly not being in control of myself, as my arm reached into my coat, and pulled out an I am a Mormon card.... Where had it come from? I don't honestly know... But Heavenly Father put it there... I know it. I had never put a card in my coat. I have such a testimony that God is a God of miracles. Why wouldn't he be? He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.. I love Him with all my heart. I am so grateful to Him.

 
Well it was fast Sunday and guess who had to bear testimony in aweful to German??? Any Guesses? Jeremy? Ashley? Jessica? Mom? Dad? No Guesses?!?!?!?!!? Fine, Ill tell you, I did! It was said with all my heart, but I don't know what I said..

Love you All,

Elder Annen

Elder Hunter Annen with President and Sister Kohler
in the mission home in Munich, Germany

Not Enough Time To Say Hello, Goodbye, I'm Late, I'm Late, I'm Late!

Dear Family,

I love you! I love you! I wish I had time, to say everything that has happened to me, and all the spiritual moments this week but I dont have time....

I have learned so much this week but if there is one thing worth sharing its love...... The love I have for all of you, and the love Heavenly Father has each one of us! I love you Ashley, I love you Jeremy, I love you Jessica, I love you Mom, and I love you Dad! I honestly truly love and miss every single one of you. I pray for you all often... If I could challenge you to do one things this next week, I would ask and plead with you, to share greater love for one another:) If someone was done something to offend you, forgive them.. Some of Jesus's last words were "forgive them, for they know not what they do." He showed such great love as people showed Him such great hatred... Please forgive one another, and help each other out, for sometimes we say things we dont mean to say, because we know not what we do to others... I love you and want you to know that I constantly worry and think of you all! 

With a Heart full of Love,
Elder Annen

I have a random side note that I want to include but dont know where to put it, to my brother-in-law. I am happy to have Zavier join our family, I really appreciate getting to know him before I left. Thank you Zavier for being such a great friend, and spikeball pal!
Again I love you all:)

Zwei Woche Left!

Dear Family,

Wow, this week has been the same yet as unique as every week! I don't know exactly what that means, but really. Not much happens here, yet everything happens, but I do not have enough time to write it all out or explain it to y'all. Well these past 7 days have been a lot of work and plenty of fun! The Sisters in my district decorated our classroom like Christmas, hanging a paper tree and ornaments on the wall, a handshake mistletoe, and giving all the Elders in our district candy/food! It made my day and seemed like so much fun to celebrate the 4th of July last week, and Christmas this week! Christmas and in the middle of July! Look Kay! An indoor blizzard!:) We sang Christmas hymns all day and really had a great time. Let's see what else happened this week? Easter bunny perhaps?!? Haha!

We taught several lessons and I am starting to understand more, and speak a little more in our lessons so I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for that! This week Elder Hunt and I taught the Plan of Salvation to Robert. The lesson went sooo well, we helped him with his questions, taught him, and when we had some extra time we told some jokes and left. It was the greatest lesson we have ever taught...... We also taught Dani, about the Restoration of the Gospel along with answering some of his questions. We are planning on asking him to be baptised next time so I am really excited, because I think he is ready....German is coming along, but I am a little nervous to get out into that field and realized "this isn't the language that taught me in the MTC!" I really am excited to leave in two weeks and we will have one more group of English speaking missionaries. This group plus us, German speakers, will make about 90 missionaries, which is a huge number here in the England MTC! That's almost double our first group! So now our meal times are switched around and there are two lunches... You guys probably don't care, but over here its a huge deal and our only bit of drama.. haha!

This week we had someone from the quorum of the 70 come and talk to us, President Donaldson (?) Donaldsen(?)DonaldDuck(?) Anyways, he gave an amazing talk to all of us on personal prayer, and more specifically personal revelation. His words confirmed in my mind that missionary work is only possible through personal revelation. We cannot function, work, teach unless we have the Spirit... This doesn't only apply to us missionaries... All of you can recieve it for yourselves, why not try it? In the scriptures, specifically the Book of Mormon, it talks about faith being as a seed, and to experiment upon the words. The scripture doesn't say we have to try it, but I am urging you to all try this experiment. Why not? What is there to lose? A few minutes on bended knee, then be blessed with an anwser, a feeling or a direction to move forward! Ich weiß dass wenn sie beten und lesen in die Schriften können sie ein Antwort empfangen! I'm sure my spelling and German grammar is awful, but one day, I might understand all the German language:) We also watched a devotional by Neil A. Anderson. He talked about how things unseen by the world are eternal... I found that to be an interesting phrase... People may say well, Jesus Christ never came to Earth, Joseph Smith may not have seen the First Vision, but that's what the world says. They don't see as we see. For the way we see is not through seeing at all. We see through all of our senses, we feel the Holy Ghost, we hear the words of Truth, we can feast on the word of Christ and so on. We see, becasue we have felt. Faith is something hoped for, but not seen. Faith is something felt and known but not seen.

Anyways, I cannot remember if I told all of you last week, but my good friend Brandon Whitehead was in the England MTC and today he left for the real world experience:) Also I met an elder..... Elder Hanson from Zürich, Switzerland, that said he knows Wendy! So that was really fun to talk to him and get to know him better.... I have talked to several return missionaries and I keep thinking, that I will be in Switzerland for most, if not all of my mission, but we'll see^^ I sure hope I get to go there and serve where our family is from... Well I wish I had more to say or report, but I don't. Just know I miss you all dearly...

I love you all and wish you the best! I pray for all of you, Jessica, Jeremy, Ashley, Mom and Dad, I love you and hope to hear from you soon.

Love,
Elder Annen

Spreche Ich Deutsch?

Hey Family!

Well there have been some stuff happening this week... So on this past week we were studying in the classroom and all of a sudden the room started to shake and we were all like what do we do? Is this an earthquake? The second coming? Ahhhhhhhh! So we hid under our desks and waited.... The ground was shaking.. Shaking a lot and I didnt know what to do, one person yelled that we should all get out and run so with the whole building shaking we ran outside... Fire trucks and ambulances had arrived and there was mas chaos......

Then I woke up^^ haha did I scare all of you? I sure hope so and I hope all of you had a wonderful 4th of July! I know I sure did! My district went outside in the morning and said the pledge of allegiance, drew pictures of America and the U.S. flag on the boards, sang patriotic songs and had a blast! I wish we could have shot off some fireworks or something, but the British don't like the 4th of July...I wonder why? Well how was Kathy's house? I hope that was a lot of fun going to the golf course and watching them go off! Well I should tell about a spiritual experience because this week I have been so blessed with feeling the spirit and all the blessings that have come with being a missionary.

But I'll tell of you guys that story later because I want to congratulate Ashley on getting engaged and I am so excited for you... I wish I could be there for the marriage but for some reason I have to stay here... Well I am excited for you Ashley! Then it was Dad's birthday so happy birthday to you! I hope you dont start growing some grey hair or anything^^ hehe silly me! Anyways I wish I could be there for all of these wonderful events going on. I love all of you and miss you all terribly......

This week we got to watch some of the greatest devotionals, my favorite was from Richard G. Scott and how important prayer is. He said, " you cannot rush an effective pray." I thought about that and how true it really is.. Whats the point of saying a quick prayer? Do you say a quick prayer, hoping to get a quick answer? Why do we do it? I would challenge all of you to put more time into our prayers. Think about what we are really grateful for, ask for what we really need, and pray like this phone call to Heavenly Father is the last call or communication you can have with anyone ever again. He is everywhere and can do anything. Without Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father, I would be nothing, but because of Them, I can do anything, even serve this mission. I pour out my mind, my thoughts, my feelings, to Them and I know They live and care for us. I am indebt to Them forever.. Anyways, hopefully all of you can try to have a mighty prayer a week and really communicate with Heavenly Father...

I love you all!

I miss you,
Elder Annen

Pippip and Cherrio!!

Lieber meine Familie,

Another week has gone by and.......none of you have written me.... I am a little disappointed in y'all and for that I am going to move to Europe and not come home for two years.... maybe I'll learn some German, visit Switzerland, Germany, and Austria and Italy without all of you.... Just kidding, but seriously I can't wait to get out there in the real mission field. The missionaries that were here for two weeks (going to missions in England) left this morning and now the MTC is empty as can be... only 20 missionaries here... It is so strange and well kinda sad.

Today we got to visit some Church sites and wow:) I cannot believe how large of a difference England made to the church, so much happened, Heber C. Kimball was so inspired and I wil try to explain everything that I learned but chances are my words will get messed up and none of you will understand what I am trying to say... I would describe myself as being like Nephi being weak in writing and speech. Anyways, we first went to the town square in Preston, where there was this huge obelisk in the center. People would gather there to talk and buy some random food or something. The missionaries that went there, didn't have money to rent a place to preach/teach so they went to the town square and taught people who would listen to them. I am trying to remember who the missionary was, but the first time they preached, after they were done 8 people came up to them and asked to be baptised. There were stories of whole congregations, that were following a minister and all of a sudden the whole congregations would want to be baptised and the preacher would be so angry. I understand why, some people would be anger at the mormons, but it brought so much good:) We also got to visit the house where Gordon B. Hinckley was a missionary, and received the famous letter from his father, "Forget yourself and go to work." It was really a neat tour. There is so much more I could tell you but I don't have time.

This week my testimony has grown so much and I have never felt the spirit so constantly in my life.. I wake up and the spirit is there, I go to class and it's there, I eat food it's there. I feel the Spirit here all the time and I know that I am blessed incredibly. I have gained an appreciation for missionary work in a talk given by David A. Bednar on Christmas day a few years ago, where he said things like, this mission has nothing to do with you.... Learning a language or not has nothing to do with you.. Who cares where about the culture it has nothing to do with you... This mission is where missionaries learn to turn themselves over to Jesus Christ and go to work. This work has nothing to do with me, but I only hope to be worthy to do as He would have done. I love you all! Talk to all of you next week.

Love,
Always and forever,
Elder Annen

 We got to visit this house where Gordon B. Hinckley was a missionary, and received the famous letter from his father, "Forget yourself and go to work." 

Let's Go! Go! Move! Move!

Hallo Mein Familie!

It's been crazy since I last saw you guys, I now understand why Ashley and Jeremy would say, "So much has happened, and I don't know where to begin!" Jeremy told me to always write a quick summary then, go into detail an something if I have time.....

So quick summary of my week in 5 sentences. Loooooooooooooooooonnnnnnng flight, where I met I nice older lady, who I got to talk to about the church and why I am serving a mission. I have taught 3 lessons to an investigator in GERMAN, and man that is a tough language to learn. The MTC is very small with only about 50 missionaries, and we are divided up by our language we will speak in the field, and mission we are going to, and put into districts. The food here is amazing, I had always heard the British food was bad, but nein, it been sups nice ha^^ And boy have I missed you all, that in writing this email I am almost brought to tears just thinking about all of you...

Well that's the summary of the week... Any questions?

Learning German has been death! Why did I ever take Spanish when all it did was mess me up in ths foreign language? Anyways, I have been so humbled in this past week. I have never thought myself as being prideful, or overconfident (unless I was pretending just to make others laugh) but wow! I have been so humbled! BOOM shut down! I thought picking up German would be easy, but it has been tough. Everyday we have about 3-4 hours of German language study, with a teacher, or on computers, or personal study, and my brain is fried like an egg! Then we are also planning lessons for investigators, eating, getting 8 hours of sleep, devotionals, ummmm... and so much more..

The Elders that room with me are all awesome people! My companion, Elder Hunt (from Sandy, UT, and went to Alta High School), Elder Killpack, Elder Borelli, and Elder Howarth. Elder Killpack and Howarth are from some random place in Utah, and Elder Borelli is from Italy! They are so fun and we have a great time together. Ummmmm...... Today we got to go through the temple and the Preston Temple is amazing:) I will try to send a picture of it next week. It beautiful here in England, so green, full of shrubbery, trees, flowers, green stuff, ohh and it rains like everyday here!!

Let me tell you about our German role-playing investigator as quickly as I can because I am running out of time, ahhhh! His name is Moritz, and he speaks a little bit of English and requested a Book Of Mormon because he googled "God" and the Church popped up! So he requested a Book of Mormon, and so on our first visit we TRIED to teach him about Heavenly Father and our relationship to him... and that conversation didn't go so well... He asked us if we were like Hercules, and went on and on, in a kinda making fun of way, that was not fun to hear because well He is making fun of us. And also I don't really speak German! So our next lesson with him, we wanted to reteach him about Heavenly Father and that didn't go well either, I didn't understand a word he said, but I knew he had a ton of questions that I didn't know how to answer or understand. Then our third lesson we taught the same lesson again, and it was successful so that was really nice.

If you have any questions to ask me please send me some so I know what to write about in my next letter.....

Well I have to go now, so know that I love and miss you all!

Elder Annen
#icantspeakgerman
#yet
#MTC4Life

Elder Annen's Safe Arrival

It's been so crazy with all the flying and traveling, being super tired and not having much time to write. All I can say is that so far this mission has been great!

I have limited time! but I love you all, and I don't know anything about p-days, and customs was easy to get through, especially having my Swiss passport!

Love you,
Elder Annen

Elder Annen's MTC Address:

Elder Hunter Michael Annen
Alpine German-Speaking Mission
England Missionary Training Center
Temple Way
Chorely
Lancashire
England PR6 7EQ

February 27, 2014
 I received my mission call to the Alpine-German Speaking mission! The countries my mission covers are Southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Liechtenstein, and a little bit of Italy. I fly out to the England MTC, June 18! I am so excited and cannot wait to serve!