Hale sweet Hale (home sweet home)

Aloha from LA'IE!!!

How grateful I am to be BACK! Oh my goodness I have missed it so. Laie is definitely my home away from home. Leaving the people in Aiea and Pearl City was one of the hardest things I've had to do; but being back here in Laie couldn't make me happier. I have gained such a testimony of the spirit of the temple and temple grounds (having not lived around it each and every day). I felt the spirit each day out in Aiea and I experienced miracles daily. I will be forever grateful for the lessons I learned there. With that, I gained such a testimony of my call to the Laie Temple Visitors' Center. It is a place that people take with them when they go back to their home. Heavenly Father blessed me to meet and to see people I had already met from the PCC and VC while I was out there. Whether I was out tracting, teaching, or at IHOP of all places! I met people who had not forgotten the way they felt during their stay at the Visitors' Center. I could share loads and loads of stories! but I will save them for next month.

So THIS transfer is my last transfer...And it has already gone by too quickly. My new companion is Sister Su and she is from Taiwan. I love her oh so much! Her English is incredible and I can't imagine having to learn another language to teach the gospel. She is pretty amazing; I can't wait for you to meet her. There are choke people from China who come to the VC, and so I get to see Sister Su in action by teaching the gospel in Mandarin. It's awesome! We stay with each other in tours if it's not busy and so I get to just stand, listen to Sister Su and smile at all the beautiful asian faces :) I feel so pathetic and useless sometimes to be honest! I wish I could speak Mandarin so badly! Haha I try to run around and grab any pamphlets or Book of Mormons for her in Mandarin if someone is interested in one. I'm her "water boy" in a sense, and if that is how Heavenly Father needs me to be a missionary, then I am more than happy to do it :) The other day I decided that I wanted to do more than just deliver pamphlets. I asked Sister Su to teach me how to say, "I know that was she says is true." in Mandarin in order for me to double testify of all she teaches. So during her language study to learn English, I've been learning my ONE phrase and I just got it down! Boy, it was tough :) But I did it! Man, no wonder they are so smart! Just communicating and getting the intonations right makes you breathe hard ha. Props to them. Here my phrase (just to help me get it down a little more) 'Wo dzu dow ta shuwo duh, shoo doy duh'. I haven't had the chance to say it yet, but Sister Su and I are just waiting for the chance :) Oh how I love sharing the gospel so much! Good thing that doesn't have to end at the end of this transfer.

She and I are living at the little beach house :) The same one I lived in when I first came out and the same one I lived in when I was training Sister Knudsen. And now here I am again at the same pad!
This morning, we went to the temple which made my whole week. Love the temple!

What else can I update you on. Hmm...OH! We have a new VC Director! Duh Sister Annen! Ha ya, that's been new! He's great guys. He was a mission president before, and so he's good. Of course I miss my dear Mcdonoughs though. They were here for most of my mission. But the VC will be left in wonderful and inspired hands. The other two senior couples whom I've come to just love so much are leaving around the same time as me. I'm so happy we all live in UTAH! The blessings from living in Utah :)

Anyway, goodness I'm sorry let me just explode on you guys! Ha I just gave you a bus load there. I hope it all made sense. I am just so happy to be here, back at the VC, with my dear companion Sister Su, in the Laie 2nd Ward. Life is good.

I love you nui loa! I am thrilled to hear about my dear future Elder Annen and where Heavenly Father needs him! Please record the call opening ya. I am so happy. A mission has been the greatest, hardest, most rewarding blessing Heavenly Father could have ever given me.

Talk to you soon! xoxo

Much Aloha,

Sister Annen

For the Birds

Aloha and happy Monday everyone!

How's it family? It sounds like it's been quite the week for all of you my goodness. Keep doing what you do and show the world what the Annens are made of :) Know that you have a number one fan on a little island called O'ahu.

This week was wonderful. Which is normal over here. Just last Sunday, Quinton Kamaunu, who just got baptized in December, received the priesthood!! It was the greatest sight to see as he stood up in his suit and the ward sustained him. He was beaming just like he did after he was baptized and after he received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Feeling the spirit just does that to people. It truly is the greatest gift Heavenly Father can give us on this earth. I was so happy and I couldn't stop smiling all three hours or all day or all week.

I need to finish my favorite story about member missionary work! I'm so sorry it's taken me so long! Did you guess why the father looked for the birds? I will tell you. He knew that if he found the birds, he would find the fish since the birds eat the fish.

Now, why would I tell this story? Whenever my companion and I are teaching a member family after a dinner appointment, we will tell them that, we, as the full-time missionaries are the fishers in the boat. We try to find the 'fish' or those who are prepared and ready to hear the gospel. But sometimes, or a lot of the time, it is difficult to find people to teach on our own. So we look to...the birds! And who are the birds? YOU!! :) We look to you because you go to school with them, work with them, and play with them. You are their friends and family and we are here to help you guys. As my companion and I finished telling this story one time, this cute little boy said, "So we're the birds huh? So we eat the investigators?" haha oh man I was laughing so hard!

I have so many other stories and experiences to share but I'll have to save them for later.

Sorry this is kind of short! The length of my emails are definitely not a measure of how much I love you let me tell you that. If that were the case, this computer would crash because the email would be so long.

I love you!!

much aloha,

Sister Amen

Catching Fish

Mele Kalikimaka!

 

I know Christmas is over, but I really wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas in Hawaiian. What a special treat to talk and SEE you! Oh boy what a good looking family. And I mean that not only by your great looks, but, you all really just radiated and made me so happy. Thank you for helping me feel the true spirit of Christmas even more. We were so blessed to go to a baptism that same day. It was so special. Talk about giving a gift to the Savior.

 

This transfer with Sister Tui'moala has been so fun! Wow, do I have a testimony of working hard and having fun at the same time. She sure knows how to do it, and I love that. She is a great teammate as well as the spirit. I love our threesome!

 

We had the privilege and blessing to have Elder Auna, our Area Seventy, come and have a meeting with all the ward council leaders in our stake. He trained us on Hastening the work of Salvation and what we can specifically do to to work together as member missionaries and full-time missionaries. One of my favorite things he talked about was how we as a people right now are in the exact situation as the people in Helaman were. This is why. They were preparing for the Savior's coming. Aren't we doing the same?? We are preparing for the Savior's coming right now! This just happens to be His second time coming to this earth :) As the people were preparing and diligently sharing the gospel with others before the coming of the Savior, this is what happens: "And it came to pass that in this same year there was exceedingly great prosperity in the church, insomuch that there were thousands who did join themselves unto the church and were baptized unto repentance. And so great was the prosperity of the church, and so many the blessings which were poured out upon the people, that even the high priests and the teachers were themselves astonished beyond measure." (Helaman 3:24-25) Have you thought that perhaps the same thing could happen now? Absolutely! Heavenly Father has prepared those thousands-more even! already for each of us to share the gospel with them. What a wonderful thought. All we need to do is show our faith and be prepared. Heavenly Father will send the prepared to the prepared.

 

This training reminded my of one of my favorite stories I've learned out here on my mission and my companions and I love to share it with our members at dinner appointments. It's a Tahitian analogy of how full-time missionaries can work with the members to bring salvation to the Heavenly Father's people. As I tell you the story, think about how it relates to working together.

 

Once upon a time, there was a small boy and his father. The father wanted to teach his son how to fish; and not only to fish, but to fish well. One day, they brought their fishing spears and their little boat, and sailed into the ocean to catch some fish. The little boy was so excited because this was going to be his first time ever to catch a fish. He sat in the small boat with his spear ready to catch the first fish he saw. After many hours, the little boy couldn't catch one fish. He didn't even see one! Discouraged, he turned to his father, and asked, "Father, how are you catching the fish? I can't even see one let alone catch one." As he turned to his father, he noticed that rather than his father sitting in the boat with his spear looking into the water, his father was standing in the boat and looking out into the sky.

"Dad what are you doing?? We're trying to find fish here and you're standing and looking at the sky! How do you expect us to catch fish??"

The father turned around and said, "Son, I'm looking for the birds."

 

Now why would the father be looking for the birds instead of the fish?

 

Ah man this always seems to happen, but I'll have to save the rest for next time sorry family! Be thinking about it, and how it relates to working together and then I'll write more next time.

 

Have a wonderful week in the year 2014! I love you so so much! Muah! :)

 

love and much much aloha,

 

Sister Amen

Copy and Paste

Aloha to you!

 

I have so much to say. So much to say! I wish I could copy and paste my mind family :) I feel this way each Preparation day and I even feel this way every night before I'm about to write in my journal! Heavenly Father never ceases to bless me with unlimited experiences, lessons learned, people met, and miracles seen or felt that I'm dying to write down for others to read and for me to remember later on in the future. I'll be sitting like Nephi in front of a desk instead of a bolder, with a pen instead of a chisel, a paper journal instead of gold plates, and think to myself, "Where on earth am I going to start??" I never feel I can write fast enough. Can you imagine how Nephi must have felt as he tried to describe his father's dream, or his experiences with Heavenly Father, or the miracles that he witnessed unto golden plates letter by letter with a chisel? Wow, I'm just amazed. You've got to know that Nephi along with all the other prophets knew that what they were chiseling line after line, word after word, letter after letter was true. It was no copy paste. I am continually in awe of the scriptures!

 

I'm kind of going off, sorry about that. What I've been dying to tell you is that, as you know, Sister UV and I have been teaching Quentin. He has known that the gospel is true and even cried as he gave the closing prayer. It was so sweet. We met with him on Friday and he wants to be baptized this Sunday!!! He had his interview a couple days ago and it went great. We couldn't be more excited. What a wonderful Christmas present for Quentin, his family who are members, for me, and for the Savior.

 

Sister UV and I have also been teaching Shantel (age 8), Chanelle (age 8), and Naturelle (age 10) who are adorable recent converts. They have such strong testimonies and have been through so much already in their short little lives. They live with their grandma who is a member and also with their mom, Agnus, who is not a member. We have been trying to teach the girls' mom as we teach them their after baptism lessons, but with no success. She would normally leave or go take care of the baby. Due to certain circumstances, about a week ago, she accepted to start taking the lessons with us! Oh boy we were so excited :) We met with her for the first time on Friday to see where she's at, and to teach her the Restoration. Without hesitation, when we talked to her about baptism, she said "I want to be baptized and I want to baptized on the 22nd." Jaws dropped, hearts attacked, we finally get out, "Of January?"....

So let me stop here and tell you that we have two baptisms this Sunday the 22nd. Ah!! Two! Needless to say, it has already been a pretty crazy week getting everything ready for the both of them. I am so so happy. Nothing can beat seeing the gospel change the lives of people you care about ya. Nothing. It's the best feeling and the best present Heavenly Father could have given me this year.

 

Time is out already, but I also just have to say that I will SEE you on Christmas! Yep, there's this thing called Skype... :) WHOO!! I'm super happy and I can't wait to see you! And Elder Annen is coming home in TWO days!! Wow, that is amazing. Take pictures for me ya? I'm so happy for you all to see him!

 

I love you all so so much! Keep smiling and spreading your sunshine. It hits people. It really does.

 

Aloha!

 

Sister Amen

Called to Serve Over the Rainbow

Malolele everyone!

 

Well the time has come! I honestly cannot believe it's here. I am out for my full-field experience here in beautiful Aiea, Hawaii. It is part of the Waipahu Zone and boy am I loving it! Waipahu is the southern part of the island of O'ahu and it's beautiful. A completely different world from Laie that's all I have to say! There are big beautiful homes EVERYWHERE and we live right outside of the city. My new companion is a dear and her name is Sister Uasila'a-Vaha! Try to say THAT five times fast...or once :) ha. She is Tongan and you say her name like this: Wasila a vaha. Everyone has given her the nickname of Sister UV, but I'm taking the challenge to say her full name everytime I say it. I'm getting better. She just finished training and is solid. She doesn't have a license and so I have the privilege to drive in a city I have no idea where I'm going; but it's all good because Sister Uasila'a-Vaha is a wonderful navigator. Plus! driving in Hawaii-even though I'm convinced the island will sink from the choke amount of traffic, is so so much fun because if you ever need to merge lanes, you just throw out the shaka sign, and they will let you right in. It's called 'driving aloha' and it's a real thing. Ah I love Hawaii so much.

 

So I must talk to you about tracting. Well, I only LOVE it!! Oh my goodness I could tract all day. Ha maybe. It totally reminds me of serving in the VC! It's pretty much exactly the same except rather than waiting in a muumuu for people to come in to share the gospel, you go from house to house. At first, I was a little terrified because the homes we tract into are huge and beautiful and on this gigantic hill where you can see the entire city and you can see ALL of Pearl Harbor. People are very well off here. It's terrible on my part, but I figured people would slam doors in our faces (which I was ready for!) and be rude since they had everything they could want, or they think they could want. But anyway, they're not like that at all! If they aren't interested, they tell us so kindly and thank us for doing what we do. What missionary gets thanked for knocking on a door of someone they've never met before?? Who gets that luxury huh? Missionaries in Hawaii I guess :) I tell you ohana, Hawaii never ceases to amaze me. I ofa Hawaii. (Ofa in Tongan means 'love'. I learned that from my great companion. She is teaching me a LOT it's so cool!) Sorry for the choke tangents, I just have so so much to tell you! My first day tracting together, we ended up finding a Filipino man named George and he wants to learn more! We have an appointment with him again and I'm so excited. We have been so blessed with new investigators through tracting, member referrals, and listen to this!

So back in Laie, Sister Munoa and I were teaching this golden lady named Desiree who was progressing and learning and doing well. She wasn't from Laie but went to work at a member's home to take care of their son. She agreed to take the lessons and so that's how we had the privilege to teach her. She didn't want to be taught back home yet with her kids because she wanted to learn it for herself first. Well, a few weeks ago, she told us the exciting news that she is ready to have the missionaries back home teach her and take her to the ward she would go to after she was baptized! We were so excited! I guess it was bittersweet too because I had been the one teaching her, but hey, it's all the Lord's work whomever gets to share it. Anyway, knew I was leaving full-field anyway, so I told her goodbye, when I hear that I am being transferred to Waipahu. Guess who lives in Waipahu? Desiree!! Yes! Oh my goodness, I cried. I cried! Now I get to be the one to teach her and her family and I feel just so grateful.

 

Also! Man, sorry everyone, I'm going 100 miles per hour here. But listen to this. So, Sister Uasila'a-Vaha and I received a referral for a lady named Maria Castro. I looked at her name and thought, "Hmm...this name looks so familiar to me. But I don't know how because she's from Waipahu and I've been in Laie this entire time. How could I know this lady?" We went over to give her a copy of the Book of Mormon that she requested. She answered the door and when I saw her she looked familiar! Okay, I KNOW this lady I think to myself. We ask her how she became interested in reading the Book of Mormon when she says,

"Oh yes! Well my family and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center a little while ago, and a sister took us on the tram tour to the Laie Temple Visitors' Center. Have you been there before?"......…..

Oh my goodness, have I been there before?! I raced through my brain and totally realized that I had been the sister who had been their tour guide and had taught them about the gospel at the VC and they were the ones who wanted to learn more! Once I realized all of this, I gasped/exclaimed and scared Maria poor thing :) She wants herself and her daughter to learn more and so we set up an appointment for Tuesday. I can't wait 'til Monday to tell you all about it! I never thought that I would get to see the other side of serving at a Visitors' Center. I knew that it wasn't possible to see all the fruits of my labors (as with all missionaries of course, but especially at a Visitors' Center) but for Heavenly Father to let me see and experience THIS! Wow, He is too good to me.

 

He is so good to ALL of us. I am seeing more and more each day how much He truly is aware of us and loves us.

 

Know that I am so grateful for all of you. I love you so much and am so so proud of you. Have a Happy Thanksgiving! xoxo!

 

Aloha,

 

Sister Amen

A Tour with the Savior

ALOHA my ohana!

Happy November! How was your Halloween? Are any of you still on a sugar high? Halloween over here was exciting. People come to Laie from literally all over to trick or treat. It's because Laie is so safe and Polynesians over here know how to have a good time. Poor Sister Munoa was sick so we had our own Halloween party at home eating chili and cornbread (that our Bishop and his family so kindly brought over) and watching Mormon Messages. Mormon Messages are wonderful, I have to say! Why didn't I watch them before? If you're ever just cruising on a weekend or something, you have to just sit down and watch them. I know I told you this before when I was a cyber sister, but it's still true. They are so inspired.

Sister Munoa and I were serving at the Polynesian Cultural Center a little while ago inviting everyone to join us on the Tram Tour. To our surprise, no one wanted to come! We were a little bummed because we only give five tours a week and we really wanted to work on being bold and just sharing the gospel with all of our tram guests. We wanted to do all we could to really weave gospel principles into our tours. Even as we talk about the PCC, BYU-H, and the community of Laie, we wanted to focus on giving a tour the Savior would give. We were so excited! But no luck this time :( As we were leaving with our sad empty tram, two older men ran to catch us on the tram! Yes! We asked where they were from and what had brought them here, when they both said, "We are priests for the Catholic church" ...gulp

And now this is where I must end. Sorry I don't have time to finish the story! That's a way to keep you in suspense ya? :) haha I totally didn't mean to do it on purpose I'm sorry. But I'll finish it next p-day! Just know that not only did I survive, but my testimony was strengthened from it.

I love you across the universe and back 100 times! Smile and keep your chin up :)

much aloha,

Sister Annen 

Forever Families

Aloha Ohana!

Happy Monday! How's it everyone? What a week you know what I mean? Goodness, I'm exhausted. A wonderful exhausted though. It always is out here :) 

We had a mission conference with Elder Schwitzer of the seventy this last week. It was amazing! All the missionaries from the islands except Big Island flew to O'ahu to hear him speak. I have never seen so many missionaries in one place! We normally can't all get together with flights and stuff so this was a treat. I got to see the VC sisters who are out full-field including Sister Ogawa! (my sweet Japanese companion from two transfers ago) She's on Kaua'i now so it was so fun to see her.

There are so many things that Elder Schwitzer talked about and I wish I could list them all! But one of the main things he talked about was the importance of the family unit. He said that when we are in Heaven, the organization of the family will be more important than the organization of the church. Have you thought of that before? I sure hadn't! Wow. The organization of the church is to help strengthen the organization of the family now, for the day when the family will help the organization of the church. I hope I explained that okay. Elder Schwitzer did a much better job. But how incredible is that? The family really IS ordained of God. It's why Heavenly Father has commanded us to cherish, strengthen, and nurture our families. We are preparing these small units on earth now to become eternal powerhouses with our Father in Heaven! I just tear up at the thought.

There are so many other experiences and lessons that I want to talk to you about but once again my time is up! Someday, I'll be able to just talk story with you all for hours. I feel like Mormon who talks about how the Book of Mormon is only 1/100 of what really happens. My emails are only 1/100 of what I get to learn or experience and I don't even have to engrave on gold plates! I have a keyboard! ha oh well. Life is good. Just know that missions are the best okay? I can't imagine my life without it.

I love you all more than my Hawaiian friends love poke, musubi, lepulu, spam or otai. (I'll tell you all about those someday.)

much aloha!

xoxo

Sister Annen