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

This week...

This last week Sister J and I set out to break the mission record of number of lessons taught in one week. We were off to a great start - Monday night we had tons of miracles and met some awesome people! We met this Baptist woman named C who REALLY wants a Book of Mormon! We are seeing her again tonight. We also met a nice Hispanic woman who is interested in learning more about prophets. It was great.

On Tuesday we had Sister's Conference in the morning in Grand Junction. I got to see Sister V!!! And a bunch of other Sisters I love :)  I was asked to give a training on overcoming fear through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I only had a couple days notice, but I've had PLENTY of time to prepare because I've been studying that and learning that concept a LOT the past few months. I think it went well. Trainings are always weird because you prepare in advance what you're going to say and then you always end up saying something entirely different. Well, I do anyway, I suppose I can't speak for anyone else. The other trainings were on overcoming feelings of inadequacy or discouragement. I enjoyed it!

My poor companion however was quite ill. She got the gnarly cold that I had the week before and she was suffering. When she gets sick, she goes super ditsy/crazy. It was fun. She would be laughing hysterically one second about nothing, and then suddenly crying because she was upset because she sneezed. I felt like a mom taking care of her. Good times.

She was sick for like 3 days, soooo the whole 57 lessons in a week thing went down the drain...and THEN to top it all off, I got the cold AGAIN! How does that happen? I don't know. I promise I take vitamin C! So I had that from Friday morning until last night. And today Sister J's throat is starting to feel scratchy again....hopefully we don't keep passing this back and forth!

We finally saw B this week on Tuesday. He's doing well, but could always use some prayers! He came to church on Sunday and we'll be seeing him again tomorrow. He's back on date to be baptized in September.

On Friday night we went on Exchanges! I went with Sister C to Grand Junction, my old area! Sister J stayed in Uncompahgre. I had a great time. I was really ill, so that was rough, but we worked hard. I love going there because I get to see all these familiar faces! I had a prompting to try J, an amazing older lady that I used to teach. She is an eternigator (eternal investigator....takes the lessons forever without getting baptized or really committing to anything) but I love her with all my heart and I just feel so strongly that she is ready to receive the gospel! And she needs it! Right before I left Grand Junction in Feb she got really sick and was in the hospital so I didn't get to say goodbye.

We went out there on Saturday and I'm SO GLAD we did! Her heart has softened immensely in the last few months and she knows that this is what she needs in her life. We put her on date to be baptized Oct 4th! She was so happy to see me, and the Spirit was so strong in that lesson. It was amazing. I told her I would come back to Junction for her baptism :)

I can't think of anything else major that happened. I just love my mission so much. I am getting really sad about leaving! I don't wanna! But they tell me I have to go home. Lame.

This Saturday we find out transfer news for MY LAST TRANSFER. Next Monday is Labor Day so I won't email then, and then Tuesday is transfers.... If we're getting transferred, I'm not sure when we'll be able to make it to the library. If we're not getting transferred, we'll email Tuesday morning.
I love you all! You are all amazing and I am eternally grateful for your support! Have a great week and ENJOY SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!

Love,
Sister Koenig


Pictures:

 Sister V & me

Sister B & me

2 Months Left!

This week I passed my two months left mark...which means I have less than two months left....CRAZY!!!

We had a great week and we worked hard. Sister J is a total fireball and I work her hard! (When I'm not sick...) I love that she can keep up, and that sometimes she even pushes me a little bit! This week we went out to good ol' Pea Green, which is about the furthest part of our area. It's this tiny little place with a little community building, one store, and an old schoolhouse! Adorable.

We found a couple part-member families to teach this week so that's exciting. We also had exchanges with the Spanish Sisters in Grand Junction. I was with Hermana Y and she is awesome. She just came out this transfer and she's already a pro! We had a great time together. I don't know how it happened, but all of a sudden I found myself telling her all about my pet chicken and all these weird stories about my life! She probably thought I was a freak. But it was fun.

That evening we tried a family that recently moved into the ward. Sister J and I had gone out to the address the day before, and we were baffled because the address appeared to be an abandoned warehouse.... We drove all around this barren field trying to figure it out, with no success. We kept looking for any possible house that could be on the property, but it was just the warehouse. When I was on exchanges, I was DETERMINED to figure it out. We went to the warehouse again and went up to the door and there was a doorbell. I rang it....and heard a dog barking inside! And then a teenage girl opened the door and said hi and turned around and yelled "The missionaries are here!" We were instantly bombared by 4 young children haha. Apparently they're a super awesome Mormon family that just moved here from California. They bought the warehouse, and they're turning it into a massive house!!!! We got the tour and it was incredible. Their family room alone is 2500 square feet! They have a huge place for food storage, and even an underground tunnel that they store cold foods in. They have this long hallway that they've turned into an archery range! They have a massive room that they're turning into a schoolroom, and of course they're going to homeschool. The whole thing was amazing. I've officially decided that someday I am going to buy a warehouse and live in it with my 10 children.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Sister Koenig

Here are some random pictures from Pea Green!

God works in mysterious ways

This was a fantastic week! We weren't sick, nothing too crazy happened, and we saw tons of miracles. It was awesome.

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. :)