No Rain on Our Parade

Aloha Ohana!

Wow what a week. What a transfer! This week was the Polynesian Cultural Center's 50th Anniversary and I wish I could explain what it meant to be a part of it! Because us sisters get to give the tram tours at the PCC, we were invited to be in the PCC's 50th Parade. A Parade! And oh boy was it ever amazing! We wore our blue tram muu muus and stood on the tram waving to the people of Laie. Who gets to say that they were in a parade as a missionary?? All 30 of us sisters belted "Called to Serve" and "Army of Helaman" over and over and we could really feel the excitement in the air about missionary work. We got to throw candy, hold the hands of the children on the curb, sing, and represent the Lord Jesus Christ all in ONE parade! There were so many times where I tried to hold back the tears, as little girls would run along side us and shout,"I want to be a sister missionary like you someday!" or "When I grow up, I want to be just like you!" Ah, I'm crying just thinking back on it. Who knew a being a part of a parade could be such a spiritual experience :)

On September 21, our mission will be honored to have Elder Holland speak at our Mission Conference! Have you heard of him before? Oh man, I don't know if I can wait that long. The VC and the trams from PCC will all be closed that day so that all of us sisters can attend. It's going to be so special. I can't wait to tell you about it!

We have been and are so blessed here. Laie is such a special and inspired place. I can't say enough how blessed I am to serve on temple grounds almost my entire mission. I can honestly say it's my home away from home. But we can all say that ya? The temple is literally our home while we are away from home. Yes, I can be referring to our home here on earth, but I really mean that the temple is our home while we are away from our home with Heavenly Father. It always amazes me how much He truly loves us! He provides His House here on earth for us to help us feel closer to the home we used to reside. Life is oh so good.

Thank you for being the people you are. I love you so much. Thanks for being patient with me! I'll try to write more.

much ALOHA!

Sister Annen

Transfers!

Transfers this week! Dun dun dun :) haha so we found out transfer news this morning. Sister Knudsen and I knew we wouldn't be together since she's done training now (I can't believe that my daughter is growing up so fast!) and so we were trying to guess what would happen to the both of us! Here's what's going down. So, Sister Knudsen will be training a new sister! Whoo! And not only will she be training, but she is training out full-field! So exciting! She's leaving Laie and going to Honolulu. It TOTALLY caught us off guard since she just came out and normally you don't go outbound til later in your mission. And because I haven't even been outbound yet! But hey, we're happy to do whatever the Lord wants.
As for me...I'm staying in Laie for another transfer! Yeah! It'll be my seventh transfer here in my beautiful little Laie. Half of my mission so far! Holy smokes. And it looks like I'll be here for my eighth and ninth transfer as well because I have been called as the Sister Trainer for the 30 sisters here at the Visitors' Center! I'm so excited! President Warner called me last night and asked if I would accept the call, and even though I was taken back and I didn't think I heard him right, I must have stammered out a 'yes' because it was announced in our VC training this morning. :) I'm totally trusting Heavenly Father on this one.

I have a quick story I wanted to share! So when I first came out, Sister Johnston and I tried and tried to get a hold of and teach this cute Japanese girl named Julia. Time after time, we couldn't contact her. And when we did get a chance to teach her, she didn't seem like she cared during the lessons. At times, we wanted to just give up; but we knew Heavenly Father didn't want us to drop her. We were supposed to keep teaching her. We were both transferred out of the area and come to find out, Julia moved back home. Now fast forward to yesterday. Yesterday at church, Julia's fellow shipper Nathan came up to me and said, "Guess what Sister Annen?? Julia got baptized!" Yep! She had moved home and after that knew she needed to be baptized. Wow, Heavenly Father knows what He's doing. It's all in His timing isn't it? Even if we don't see the fruit of our efforts right away, it's still worth every minute to work hard and be obedient to our Father in Heaven who needs us. I love Him so much!

I have so much more to tell you, but of course time is up already!

Keep smiling and loving and know that I'm loving you right this second!

Lots of love! Aloha! xoxo

sister annen

Proud to be a child of God...and an American!

Happy 4th of July a few days ago! How was it?? Did you have a blast and eat hot dogs and do the lip sync (I'm actually really curious if you did that this year so let me know ;)) ha and watch the best fireworks with the fam? I hope so! The 4th of July was terrific here! It was interesting though just because Hawaii is funny when it comes to the 4th of July. Yes, it's one of the 50 states, but sometimes you forget that since it's so different. A lot of people over here actually don't know it's a state! ha I didn't know that was a thing, but hey it's cool.

So, yes the polys celebrated it since it's another excuse to party and get together with family, but it isn't as big over here as on the mainland. It was a blast though! All of the missionaries finished proselyting at five, and then we all got together and had a bbq. We felt very American, it was awesome.

We got our dear new mission president, President Warner this week! May I just say how much I love him! Really I do. He's from SLC just like Elder Annen's mission president is! (maybe they're pals who knows) He's this small little man who's so sweet and so smart. Very different from President Dalton- not in sweetness or smartness! But in stature haha. President Dalton was a tall big guy and I could always tell where he was even in a large group of elders. But with President Warner, he looks just like another Elder and it's hard to find him sometimes. He is so cute. I don't know how he would feel about me describing him that way, but it's definitely a good thing :) He and Sister Warner, are ready to work and love us all you can just tell. It's obvious that they are called of God to serve here. I'm so grateful to have the second half my mission to serve with the dear Warners.

What else let's see...I feel like there's so much since I haven't emailed in years I'm so sorry! I guess Elder Annen was MIA for a while there too so I'll apologize for the both of us. Anyway! Transfers are coming up next week! What's going to happen :) Who knows. Sister Knudsen and I are on our twelfth week together- she has grown up so fast! and I can't believe it! She's not a baby anymore, but she'll always be my daughter :) We have had some incredible times together that's all I can say. Some super funny and embarrassing times and some of the most spiritual, powerful times I've ever experienced. She is an amazing missionary. I felt like she trained me for sure! I'm going to miss her. Good thing about being a VC sister, is that even if you're not companions anymore, you'll see them everyday and sometimes even live with them again! So that's always a relief when change becomes hard sometimes.

What's going to happen to me next transfer?? Man who knows. Well of course I know who does ultimately! haha but let's just go with the expression for now. I could go to another island and be a full-field missionary for three months, or I could stay here a little longer, I don't know! We find out next P-day so I'll keep you in the loop on that.

Life has been really great and really hard these last few weeks. Our investigator Josh is having a really hard time coming to church. We had set a baptismal date, but because he has only come once, we keep having to move his date forward. The lessons will go really well when we can catch him, and his friend Tau whom he lives with (who's a member) is on board and great at bearing testimony. But because neither of them have a phone and their life motto is "hakuna matata", it's hard to catch and teach him. They are in an amazing reggae band called "The L81Z" (the late ones) and that takes them to Honolulu often. Anyway, they're amazing people, and we just love them.

Some days I would be confused thinking maybe we weren't obedient enough or thinking we were doing something wrong. I would say that I had faith in the Lord, but I didn't trust in His timing! That is totally part of having faith in Heavenly Father. Is having faith in His timing. It just comes down to listening to the spirit to discern what our friends need so that we can know how to best help them. In Josh's case, to come to church. We fasted just yesterday and hope to catch them this week. I'll tell you how it all goes next week too.

I'm so happy that the spirit is the one that teaches! You know what I mean? If it were just Sister Knudsen and I, our area would be bleh. The work wouldn't and couldn't move forward. Thank goodness Heavenly Father is in charge of His work. I know I say that in almost every email! But it's because it's so true and I've really gained a testimony of it.

Think of something that you're struggling with and think about how you can better trust in the Lord's timing. I promise that as you trust in the Lord's timing, you'll find that it's the BEST timing. More so than we can ever see on our own. Allow the Lord to lead you. Because He will.

I LOVE YOU oh so much ohana!

Aloha!!!

love always,

Sister Annen

Aloha!

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."

He's in Charge

What's happening everybody?? Happy May! Guess what day it is in six days! MOMMY'S Day! Aahhh! I can hardly stand it! Good thing I'm sitting ;D heh heh WOW Sister Annen has no sense of humor at all :D 

This transfer has been terrific and so fun as tough as it's been! Whitewashing an area is a little less than a walk in the park if you know what I mean. But it has been so incredible and I love our wards! Two of our wards are Young Single Adult wards and our other ward is a married student ward. They are the best. Sometimes, I'll be sitting in Sacrament meeting totally thinking I'm just back in my singles ward from back home and then when I go say hi to my friends, I'll remember I'm serving in the ward as a missionary when the first thing my friends do when they see me is throw out their right hand :D haha so funny. Btw! Whitewashing is when you and your companion serve in an area where neither of you have served in before. So it's close to starting over and getting to know everyone and contacting investigators and teaching them in preparation for baptism all before six weeks are over since that's when one or both of you could be transferred to another area. I'm making this sound really hard...and it is! But thing is, it works and is possible because the Lord is in charge of this work. If He wasn't in charge, this wouldn't be possible, it just wouldn't. I'm so grateful that He is! I've really come to learn this transfer that He's in charge and He WILL provide a way to move it along no matter how hard it may look ahead. He knows what He's doing I tell ya :) I love Him.

This is super short I apologize, but hey, I'll make it up next Sunday by calling you!! Cheehoo!  Less than a week. We got this. I love you all and hope you know how proud I am of you and how proud Heavenly Father is of you. 

Aloha Ohana!

xoxo 

Sister Annen