Sister missionary dead after hiking accident in Switzerland
Oct 14, 2020, 7:20 AM
Sister Annabelle Nielsen. The Nielsen Family.
SALT LAKE CITY — A sister missionary from Utah has died after suffering a fall during a hike in Switzerland where she was serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Sister Annabelle Nielsen, 20, from Highland, died on Tuesday while on a hike. Church spokesman Daniel Woodruff said Nielsen was hiking with five other missionaries from the Alpine German-Speaking Mission when she slipped and fell down a steep incline.
“We express our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones. We pray they will feel the peace and comfort of our loving Heavenly Father as they deal with this tragedy and honor her life,” Woodruff said in a statement released late Tuesday.
“We also pray for the other missionaries who were with Sister Nielsen at the time of the accident and are working to provide them with the necessary support as they process what happened.”
Speaking to the Deseret News as the family’s spokesman, President Rodger Lyman, First Counselor in the Highland Utah Central Stake, said the family found out about the accident involving the missionary in Switzerland on Tuesday afternoon.
“Annabelle was a sweet, sweet young girl, just a wonderful young woman,” Lyman said. “We’ve known her almost her whole life. Just fun, fun to be around, very kind and loving, very active.
“The family is struggling, as anyone would, but keeping the faith.”
