September 28

My back is healed! I don't really know how that happened... I told Sister J one night that I was so sick of laying around doing nothing and I couldn't stand it anymore and that the next day I would be healed and we would work. She laughed. Then the next morning I woke up and I literally was better! And my huge bruises that were on my back were gone! Pretty amazing. I thought Sister J was going to have a heart attack because she was so shocked. 

M and B came to church, which was awesome. M loved it! She's still on date to be baptized on the 17th of October. We also had like 9 less-actives come to church. And we started teaching a man who was ex-communicated but wants to be baptized again and he's really excited about it. He was at church too :) 

A's date got changed to the 17th. We're seeing her tonight and teaching about the Plan of Salvation. She's such a cutie. I'll work harder this week at getting pictures to send home! We had exchanges on Friday to Saturday and I was with Sister D. I LOVE HER. We have way too much fun together. We met this lady named L who is totally the elect but doesn't know it. Our interaction with her actually started out with her saying "Yeah I'll take your survey but I already have my own church and I don't plan on changing....do you still want to talk?" And then we taught her all 5 lessons in one lesson....that was a first. We gave her a Book of Mormon and she committed to reading it. She had the most amazing questions, and I was learning so much from the Spirit as we were talking with her. I was telling Sister D later that I can always tell if a lesson is truly being guided by the Spirit if I learn something new while we're teaching. It's amazing. Anyway, L loved everything we were saying, but she is afraid to change. But at the same time she's totally open to changing...it's hard to explain. She's totally going to get baptized someday. Then Sister D and I ate a whole pizza together. Wow we're cool. 

Sister J and I have been working hard and seeing lots of cool miracles. I only have 3 weeks left on my mission and I want to go strong every minute of every day until the end. Please keep us in your prayers :) 

I love you all! 

Sister Koenig

One month left!!!

My back is still hurt, so we weren't able to work much this week. That was a huge bummer. But every lesson that we did have was INCREDIBLE!!!

I went on exchanges to Grand Junction on Wednesday and got to hang out with members all day while Sister D worked. That was a partayyy.

So on Friday I finally met M! She is AWESOME!!! She's 17, a senior in high school, and sooo sweet. We taught her about the Restoration and she is now on date to be baptized on October 17th, my last Saturday in the mission field! The lesson was incredible; one of the most spiritual lessons I've ever had. She said at the end, "How old do you have to be to do what you guys do?" (as in, to be a missionary). We told her you have to be 19, and she said "Aww darn, that's a long time away. Well, I still have a lot to learn though, so that's probably good." She also wants us to bring her study guides to help her with reading the Book of Mormon. She is so excited to go to church, and we have a church tour with her tomorrow! I LOVE HER.

B is also doing amazingly well. We had a couple lessons with him this week at a member's home and they were incredible. On Thursday our lesson was completely guided by the Spirit. I don't even really remember what we talked about, but it was GREAT. At the end he told us that he found his favorite scripture, D&C 18:10. Apparently he was watching prank videos on youtube one night, and then randomly clicked on a different video. He couldn't even remember what it was abohut, but at the end it showed that scripture, and he knew it was God trying to tell him something. Pretty cool.

A turned 9 yesterday, and she is getting baptized on October 3rd. She was supposed to be baptized this weekend, but they weren't able to make it to church yesterday and her date was pushed back. We're really excited for her baptism! It's gonna be great.

I only have a month left on my mission, which is freaking me out. I still have to figure out how I'm going to get myself to Denver, but I'm sure it'll work out! And then I'll come home and be a regular, boring person. No offense to all of you, but that's lame! Haha :)

I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week! Be good!
-Sister Koenig

People, places and things.

This week was crazy! I hurt my back. That was the bad part. And we found some awesome people to teach!! That was the good part.

The first was M. She is a girl that Sister P taught on exchanges back in May or June. She was AWESOME and so solid - she had found Mormon.org and loved everything she read and wanted to be baptized and stuff. But then she went to Denver for the entire summer :(  Well Sister J found her again on exchanges a week and a half ago! She is finally back from Denver and really wants to meet and come to church. We haven't been able to teach her yet because she had a crazy schedule last week, but we will be seeing her tomorrow! And she texted us yesterday and said that she is going to buy clothes to wear to church next week. Super awesome.

B is doing great. He committed to living the Word of Wisdom starting on Saturday so that he can be baptized on the 26th! Keep him in your prayers!!! We are seeing him again tonight.

C is this cute 9 year old boy that we've been teaching for a while. He is getting baptized in November with his brother K. They have 5 boys in their family between the ages of 2 and 9, and it's a little crazy sometimes. It reminds me of my brothers a little bit.... Hi brothers! I love you!

We just started teaching A who is a sweet girl who turns 9 next Sunday and she is hoping to be baptized a week later! It's been hard to get into their home because of their crazy schedule/life, but we are seeing them tomorrow as well and only have to teach her a few more times before her baptism. The family came to church the last couple weeks which is great. They also brought a nonmember friend who is living with them named S who wants to start taking the lessons!

We got a referral from a member in Montrose for his friend in our area. His name is D and he's a cute little old man! He totally reminds me of the old man from the movie Up. He even has a dopey dog that looks just like the dog from the movie! And his wife passed away a couple years ago and he is still mourning over that. We asked him if he had ever read the Book of Mormon and he said no. I said "Why not?!" and he said "No one has ever offered me one!" Sister J said "We'd LOVE to give you a Book of Mormon!" and he said "That would be amazing. Thank you so much." We're going to see him tonight. :)

Despite my back being in bad shape, we ended up doing a lot of service this week. We had already committed to a couple projects and I felt bad backing out (lol see what I did there?) so I just toughened up. We helped set up for a wedding for a few hours on Thursday, we helped clean a shed on Friday, and I swept and dusted and vacuumed an entire house on Saturday. It was killer. But fun!

I'm seeing a doctor this week, so don't worry too much about me. I'm also going to Grand Junction for an exchange on Wednesday! Sister D is arranging for me to basically hang out with members all day while she goes out on splits with other members. Nice. I think I'm going to be hanging out with Sister R, one of my favorite people ever, for like 5 hours. I'm excited about that.

I love you all! Have a great week! I'll be home in 37 days!!!!

Sister Koenig

I'm Staying in Uncompahgre!!!

This is the last transfer of my mission. CRAZY!!! On Saturday night we got transfer calls and I found out that I am staying and will finish my mission, or "die," here in Uncompahgre. I'm pretty excited about it. This ward has become my home and my family and it will be really hard to say goodbye in 6 weeks!!

Last week we saw B. He's doing really well and is getting happier and happier every day. He told us that he had made it to being 3 days sober before he drank again. We were really proud of him, and committed him to go 5 days sober. As far as we know, he has done it! What a boss. We're seeing him tonight. He's still on track to be baptized on the 26th of this month :)

On Friday night we went on Exchanges and I went to the Grand Junction Spanish area with Hermana E. We had an amazing day full of miracles! I love when you just know that you were exactly where the Lord needed you, talking to the exact people who needed your help. It's a good feeling. It was also fun attempting to teach in Spanish! I'm definitely not a pro, but I enjoy it. We read the Book of Mormon with a less-active lady and I read in Spanish and I don't think I accidentally said any swear words or anything too crazy....hopefully! We also got to go to a hispanic wedding reception at the church which was super fun. Lots of good food, and some amazing karaoke lol.

Last night we were tracting on "Pleasant Valley Rd." It's right by "Friendship Rd" and "Peaceful Ln" haha. I love this weird place. We were walking and crossed paths with a mom and dad and their little daughter on a trike. We asked if they would take our survey, and they said they would as long as we walked with them. So we started walking, and found out that the husband is a Seventh Day Adventist Pastor. That's a new one! He was sooooo nice. And apparently he has studied our religion A LOT because he had all these questions and things that he brought up. It was really interesting. Apparently they believe in annihilationism, meaning that when they die they are just gone and don't exist until the Lord breathes the breath of life into them again and they are resurrected. And if you're wicked, you'll be resurrected but then burned right after that and you will cease to exist. That was a really sad thought to me. I know that my spirit existed before, and that it will continue to live on after my body is buried in the earth. I know that someday all of us will be resurrected and then judged according to our works and the desires of our heart, and we will be placed in a state in which we are most comfortable in to live for the rest of eternity. I know that all people have the chance to live with our loving Heavenly Father again, if we do the necessary things. And that gives me a lot of hope.

As we were walking with and talking to them, I started being attacked by mosquitoes. Have you ever seen Lilo and Stitch? You know the part where the alien is obsessed with mosquitoes and then one lands on him and he's excited but then suddenly they swarm him and completely cover his body and you can only see his eyes???? That's how I felt yesterday. After our weird little half hour walk, Sister J and I quickly went back to the car and I wanted to scream because of how itchy my legs were!! It was dark and I turned the car light on and looked and ohhh my goodness I looked diseased! There were over 50 bug bites on my ankles and lower calf. I have no idea why they loved that spot, but they really did! And of course, because I'm me, the bug bites started swelling and it was awful. I was afraid I was going to look like I had Elephantitis or something crazy! We went to a ward member's house and they gave me some calamine lotion. I love them :)

Also this week while we were on Exchanges, Sister J accidentally locked the keys in our car and there was some damage done to it while she tried to get back in. So this week we are going to get it fixed, and we will possibly be without a car for like 4 or 5 days. Oh dear. I'm glad we have bikes......

Since yesterday was Labor Day we're emailing today. That was my last holiday on my mission. I'm starting to have a lot of "lasts" and it's freaking me out! But I'm excited to work really really hard here for the next 6 weeks and to see amazing miracles.

I love you all! Have a great week!
Sister Koenig