On Tuesday we had a special District Meeting with the Assistants to the Mission President and our Zone Leaders and President and Sister Murdock. President was doing interviews with each of the missionaries in a separate room, so we were pulled out one by one. Interviews always scare me a little bit, but this was the best interview I've ever had with him!! Beforehand he told us all to study repentance, and in the interview we talked all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and what repentance is and why and how we repent. It was really good. And President was so loving and sweet!! He thought I was going home at the end of this transfer and I quickly corrected him and said I had another transfer after this and he was very relieved. And he kept thanking me for doing such a good job with Sister J and working her so hard. It was so kind. Plus the District Meeting was awesome and super motivational! The Assistants did a whole long thing about how to have inspired planning sessions. They said that when you plan for something with the Spirit, the Lord has a purpose for you there. Everywhere you go and with everything you do, you need to find that purpose. If you try an investigator and they're not home, you should figure out why the Lord has guided you to that street. We were really excited to implement that, and as we went out for the day Sister J and I were setting goals about how we can talk to more people and better fulfill the Lord's plans. And it seriously paid off.
Later that afternoon Sister J and I were driving around in Olathe. All of a sudden she pointed to some random man and said "THAT MAN NEEDS THE GOSPEL!!!!!!!!!" I found a place to pull over, but right then someone called us and we had to take the call. As we were on the phone, he walked right past where we were parked. After the call, we frantically backed out and I drove to where I thought he had walked. Then we got out and RAN!!! We saw him walking down an alley and literally chased after him haha. It was great. Then we yelled and he turned around and we asked him if he would take our survey. He did, and we found out that his name is R and he is actually from North Carolina but he walked across the country and landed in Montrose (15 minutes from Olathe). He said all he had was his sleeping bag and a backpack. Every morning he would pray that Heavenly Father would guide him, and the whole way for 2 months he would see lighthouses - in people's yards, on billboards or buildings, wherever. Just little statues and stuff. He followed those and knew that they were signs to keep going. Then he made it to Montrose and he was so tired and done walking when someone came up and offered him some food and a place to sleep. He asked where they were from and they pointed to a church and said that they were part of that church organization. He looked at the church, and it had two big lighthouses at the top and he knew it was a sign from God that he had reached his destination. He lived in Montrose for a while but recently moved to Olathe to work a custodial job for the school district. He said "God works in mysterious, small ways. For example, I saw you two parked back there and I knew there was something about you, and now we're talking!" We freaked out and said "We actually saw you and knew we needed to talk to you and share our message! We literally chased you down!!!!" and he said "See? God works in mysterious ways."
Then we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel and it was amazing. We were just standing on the side of the road, but it was one of the best lessons ever! Then we invited him to be baptized on September 12th and he said "Yeah, what time?" WHAAAAAAAT NO ONE EVER SAYS ANYTHING LIKE THAT!!!!!!!!! It was incredible. I'm going to send pictures of the alley and videos that we took right after. We were pretty excited about it.
On Thursday we had a day full of miracles. Without even realizing it, we taught 9 lessons and found 3 new people to teach! That's like unheard of. It was a super fun day though and all of these miracles kept falling into our laps. We saw a girl walking down the street we were driving on and Sister Johnson said "Do you think that girl is ok?" and I said "I don't know any more than you know." and we kept driving to find a house of a less-active. We tried that house and they weren't home. When we turned around to go back out to the car, the girl was RIGHT THERE so we ran up to her and started talking. We taught her a little bit on the street and set up a return appointment to teach her family! She's 15 and she has two younger teenage siblings. We're pretty excited about that too.
We also met a really awesome lady named B out in Montrose. She is sooo prepared to receive the gospel. Missionaries have tried her in the past and she was too busy to learn because she was taking care of her disabled husband. I saw her name in our area book and it's been eating at me for the past couple of months. We finally were able to make it out there - she lives in the furthest outskirts of our area - and I'm SO GLAD we did. She recently moved her husband into his brother's house because she couldn't take care of him anymore. And now she has time to meet with us. Pretty amazing how these things work out.
Friday night I got to go on exchanges with Sister D in Grand Junction 7th Ward!!!!! That was my favorite area ever. I could not have been happier to go. Sister D is training a new missionary, just became a Sister Training Leader, and they are whitewashing the area, so she's been under quite a bit of stress!!! The Elders did a horrible job of keeping records, so I was able to go through the ward directory and the area book with her and tell her all about the people. We spent quite a bit of time coordinating and figuring things out so that she would have a better plan for how to approach the area. It was great. All these memories were flooding back the whole day and it made me homesick - for Grand Junction! Seriously, when I think of "home" I think of that Ward. I miss it so much.
And it was really great because we were able to see a lot of members who I know and love! It was awesome. Plus I found out this morning that I get to go back to Junction this week for another Exchange!! I can't wait.
It was also really fun being with Sister D because she's hilarious!!! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time. And she knows my family and lived in my home ward until she was like 6 and we were trying to find mutual friends. That was fun. We might have been up really late talking. Whoops.
Sunday was another fabulous day in Uncompahgre. Lots of miracles! We tried one family on the Ward list that no one knew. They have an 11 year old son, D, who we put on date for baptism! We're seeing them again on Thursday :)
I know that God is preparing people every day to come unto Christ. It's been so amazing for these past 16 months to be a part of the hastening of the work of the salvation of souls. I can't think of a better calling I could have at this time in my life!!! We're halfway through the transfer and I only have one more transfer after this before I come home. As much as I love and miss Edmonds and everyone there, I am sad that I'll have to leave this place. Colorado will always have such a special place in my heart! I've had the best times and the hardest times here. I've made sooo many memories and met some of the most incredible people. Most importantly, I've really come to know my Savior Jesus Christ as I've worked side by side with Him. It's been amazing.
Love,
Sister Koenig
We found a corn field (one of many) and pulled over. It was fun. :)
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