Never Ending Upward Spiral

Much Aloooooha!! Gee whiz it's been way too long, I'm sorry about that! I promise I'm totally alive and well out here in beautiful Laie. How are you all?? Enjoying your summer break so far? There's no way it's summer over there already! How did that happen? The school year just started! Don't have too much fun swimming, getting tan, sleeping in, going to EFY, and eating ice cream all day everyday :D 

I'm doing outstanding over here! Another transfer has gone and we're already in week two of my sixth transfer. My dear Sister Knudsen and I are staying together one more transfer! Cheehoo! We're keeping our same wards, same pad, and same VC shifts pretty much so we're excited. We are so blessed to stay in our same wards because normally sisters here don't stay longer than a transfer in a ward!

 
All last transfer, we tried to get a hold of this girl named Amy, but we could never get a lesson with her. She was either busy, sick, or out of town. After trying and trying, we finally had a lesson with her yesterday! It went so well and we already love her so much. She is Korean actually which is awesome! I kept thinking about Elder Annen as we talked with her. She has been through a rough life and wants help. She told us that she doesn't think she can do it anymore; but she said she believes Sister Knudsen and I have power to help her. It was so sweet. All three of us were crying as the lesson was being taught. She is already gaining a testimony that through Christ's Atonement, she can be healed and given an enabling power to overcome her trials. The gospel is for EVERYONE.

I have one cool VC experience to share before I go! So Sundays at the VC are awesome. They're packed with people all day long. Members, non-members, you name it! Most of them are members enjoying their sabbath with the family and it's so fun. We love taking them on tours to give them a converting experience even as members. It gives them the opportunity to be more converted themselves and to give them missionary opportunities. One of our favorite things to show them is the video "God's Plan for His Family". Have you seen it before?? Ah heavens, it's my favorite movie in the whole world. Even though I've seen it hundreds of times, I bawl every time I watch it! It is truly inspired. Just last Sunday, Sister Knudsen and I took many wonderful members on tours and also showed them the video. The spirit was felt so strongly and I could feel my testimony building as we gave the tours. Now before each tour, we invite them to pray to know of someone who is ready and prepared to receive the gospel as they are here. We promise them that as they go on the tour and feel the spirit here, Heavenly Father will bring someone to their mind. And wow, Heavenly Father kept His promise. By the end of our shift (3 hrs), we had received 32 member referrals! Thirty-two! It was incredible and such an eye-opener to me on what Heavenly Father can really really do if we only have faith.

Think about how your faith in Jesus Christ has blessed you in your life. And think about what you can do this week to have an even greater increased faith in Him. I know that as you do, Heavenly Father will show you what your faith is capable of. He'll show you what He can and will do if we only have a little faith in Him. That evidence will increase your faith little by little as you act on those small evidences. It's a never-ending upward spiral. I love Heavenly Father so much! I love Him because I know Him. 

I know that He loves you. Let Him help you.

Know that I love you 75 miles per hour and miss you so much!

Aloha,

Sister Annen

"Words of Mother"

Sister Annen has had such a busy transfer that it's been hard for her to write much for the blog.....

AND now, I, Sister Annen's mother, speak somewhat concerning that which Sister Annen has written; for after I had searched among the records, I found these quotations which contained this small account of the dealings of the Lord with Sister Annen ..... I have made an abridgment from her last letter down to her next letter which will hopefully come soon.....

"How was your Memorial Day? What did you guys do?  Here in Laie it's been super busy and crowded with people since everyone has today off.  This winter is the PCC's 50th anniversary and we invited the first presidency to it! Ah! I'm so excited!  That week is going to be fantastic!  It's going to be HUGE! Another opportunity to bring people into the kingdom of God you know what I'm saying?"

"Yesterday, we walked in to sacrament meeting when bishop came up to us and asked if we could speak for 15 minutes IN 15 minutes since the stake presidency couldn't make it ... haha oh the life of a missionary. I was super nervous ... but it all worked out and the spirit just told me what to say.  I love him too :)"

"Just last week our zone got to go to Pearl Harbor for a service project!  We cleaned the Missouri and it was awesome! We washed the windows because they're filming another movie on it.  Afterward, they took us on a tour and fed us ice cream for cleaning for them!  It was so nice!  While we were cleaning, regular tourists were looking around the ship on tours and would ask us if this cleaning thing was a project for troubled teens -- little do they know :D.  Haha we told them who we were and hopefully because of that, a few seeds were planted!  It was so cool! They thought they were coming to see the Missouri ... heh heh little did they know they would be hit with the spirit! Oh yeah...."

"Sister Knudsen and I committed our investigator Josh to baptism yesterday! Whoo! We're just on cloud 100 at the moment.  Not that that's any different from how we usually feel, but we feel pretty awesome and grateful.  The last few weeks had been frustrating because no one had been home, and our last investigator Daniel didn't see a need to be baptized!  We had such a great lesson with the spirit totally teaching!  But nothing... We were really disappointed because we didn't know what to do.  So we fasted!  It was the only thing we knew that we could do and then ... batta bing batta boom, Josh is going to be baptized! Whoo! Heavenly Father is so good."