I'm still alive!

I haven't written a mass email in like two weeks and that is such a fail and I'm so sorry! I'm repenting though!!!

The last few weeks have been great. We are teaching some amazing families right now.
There is one in particular that I just adore. The grandpa and grandma are members, but they never really went to church growing up and knew basically nothing about the church until some Sister Missionaries came by their house 6 months ago. Now they're coming back to church and they love it and they're learning so much and embracing the gospel wholeheartedly!!! It's fantastic. And the grandpa got the Aaronic Priesthood yesterday!!!! Then they have these 3 grandkids, a 13 year old boy and twin 7 year old girls, who I love dearly. They spend the night at the grandparent's house every Saturday night so that they can come to church on Sunday! And they go there every Monday night for FHE! It's actually so adorable - The grandparents were watching general conference at the beginning of the month and one of the speakers said that you need to do four things - 1) Family scripture, 2) Family prayer, 3) Attend the temple often, and 4) Have Family Home Evening. The next time we went to their house after conference, they said "What's family home evening?" so we said "Oh! We'll show you!!!" and we've been doing it with them every Monday night since. It's fantastic.

Last Monday we went to another member's house with this family for a big combined FHE. It was sooooo good. The members we went to have an 8 year old and a 5 year old and all the girls were just playing and laughing and having a wonderful time which was exactly what the twins needed. They're a little shy sometimes, but they totally hit it off with those girls. I love when that happens. :)

Great times at FHE!

Last week on Sunday we had a special Stake Conference. I LOVED IT!!! It was a broadcast from Salt Lake for like 70 Stakes in this area of the US? Something like that. I don't know. But Elder Bednar and Elder Scott and Sister Esplin and Elder Christensen spoke. The main themes were prayer and hastening the work, so of course I loved it! They spoke about how members and missionaries really need to come together, and that members are supposed to be the full-time finders and missionaries are supposed to be the full-time teachers, and how missionaries are supposed to assist the members, not members assisting the missionaries. They really just laid it all out haha. I think some of the members felt sufficiently chastised because they were all coming up to us afterward and asking us when they could come to lessons with us :P YAY! I love that.
The Stake President here has a goal to get 15 lessons with members each week per companionship. That's a big goal!!! Most missionaries in the Stake don't even get 15 total lessons a week, so everyone has to really step it up to make it happen. The first week that we were striving for that goal, we hit 9 member presents!!! It was awesome. We've never gotten that many, and we really did work hard for it.

That night after Stake Conference we went to a member's home for dinner and we asked them what they liked about conference and the wife said "Oh I don't really know, I was having trouble not falling asleep." and I was like WHAT! How?!?! It was soooo good. But then she said "They're always talking about hastening the work, hastening the work. That's all we hear about these days!" and her husband chimed in and said "Yeah, they keep talking about it, but no one is doing it!" hahaha sooo yeah maybe if everyone stepped it up a bit they would talk about it less :P Myself included! One thing Elder Bednar said was that this is the Lord's work, and He does the hastening. Are we willing to keep up with the Lord's pace, or are we going to insist on continuing as we are and doing what we've always done and staying with what is comfortable? That pierced my very soul. My Mission President's wife always says that the best missionaries are the ones who are willing to do what no other missionary has done before. I love that. And just because you have never done something before, or no one you know has done it, does not mean that you CAN'T do it. You can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth you (Philippians 4:13), and Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me, ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me (Moroni 7:33)!!!!!!!!!! With Christ, you have the power to do anything He needs you to do. That's a pretty amazing promise. Do we truly believe it though? Or are we afraid that we might fail? Don't ever let the fear of failure keep you from trying!!

It has been sooo hot here, like in the 80s every day. Yuck! I think winter is finally coming though. Woot woot! Time to break out the winter clothes :) Poor Sister Keavali is from Fiji and if it gets below 60 she freezes. She's going to have a hard time.

This week we have Sister's Conference AND Zone Conference, so it's going to be a very spiritually uplifting week! I can't wait!

Today I want to bear my testimony on the Book of Mormon. If you don't have one, you NEED to get a copy and you NEED to read it!!! That book will change your life if you let it. Whether you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or not, you need to read it!
The Book of Mormon is either true or it is not. It was either translated by Joseph Smith by the power of God or he made the book up from his own imagination. That makes Joseph Smith either a pretender or a prophet. And the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is either true or it is not. There is no in-between; no half-truths. God didn't allow for that because then people would only half-believe. But it IS true, and it IS wonderful, and I know it has changed my life and can change yours as well. The beauty of the Book of Mormon is that it is a book with a promise - that if you sincerely read and pray about it, with real intent and a willingness to act on any answer you receive, you WILL get an answer and you WILL know that it is true, by the power of the Holy Ghost!
I have been so blessed to have the Book of Mormon in my life, and to have the presence of the Spirit as a constant companion as long as I am worthy of it. And each of you can have that as well! This Gospel is so true. Jesus Christ really is your Savior and He LOVES you! You are a precious daughter or son of God and YOU ARE IMPORTANT. They wa

nt you to succeed. They don't want you to just endure this life, but to ENJOY it! So they have given us so many gifts and resources to make our lives enjoyable. Prayer, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, family, friends, church - so many things!
Yesterday is Relief Society the lesson was on gratitude and I could go on and on and on about all the things I am grateful for. Heavenly Father has done so much for me, more than I could ever deserve.

I encourage all of you to pray sincerely this week. To really take the time to have a conversation with your loving Father in Heaven. He doesn't care if your feelings are clumsily expressed - just talk to Him! Recognize that He is near and He is listening. "Prayer is your key to personal revelation. The lock is on your side of the veil." (President Boyd K. Packer, https://www.lds.org/liahona/1997/06/personal-revelation-the-gift-the-test-and-the-promise?lang=eng)

Love you!

I love you all! I hope you have a fabulous week and that you feel God's love for you and the Savior's grace and mercy in your life! Find opportunities to strengthen your own testimonies and to strengthen others'. That is how you will find the most joy in your life.

Love,
Sister Koenig

Meet The Mormons!!!

This past week all of the missionaries in my mission got to watch Meet the Mormons! It was fantastic!!! We watched it at various Stake Centers throughout the mission. Somehow my Mission President had a copy of it....he has all sorts of connections, I swear. But YOU ALL NEED TO WATCH IT!!!!!!!!

If you go to meetthemormons.com, you can find out if it is playing near you. If it's not, you can request for it to come to your area, and then if 800 people request it in your area, it will come! And then you can watch it in the theaters with a friend!!! It's totally and completely worth it. Scout's honor. (It’s playing through Thursday at Alderwood 7, and in Redmond and Seattle.)

I hope you're all doing well. Things are great here in the field. We are working with some awesome families and we're going to baptize some fantastic children of God within the next month!!! I am so excited.

Me being excited!

We had a pretty awesome miracle last Monday night - we went to a family's house (they're an older couple, they were both born into the church but never really went, and they knew basically nothing about Mormons. But the Sisters knocked on their door 6 months ago and have been teaching them ever since and they're becoming reactivated now and they're awesome and I feel like I'm supposed to be here for their family. I love them so much!) to do an FHE. They've never done one before and they didn't even know like what it was, but they heard at conference that they're supposed to do the 4 things - family prayer, family scripture, temple, and family home evening. They're working toward going to the temple, and they wanted to do FHE, so we told them we would come and do one with them!!!! We also told them to invite their grandkids. Every Saturday night their twin granddaughters (they're 7 and adorable) spend the night so that they can come to church with them on Sunday. The twin's mom isn't a member (that’s their daughter), but she seems supportive enough, and really nice! Anyway, we told them to invite the grandkids and they were like ok! So Monday night we went over there, and the twins were there and also the twin's older brother who is 13!!! He was so nice, and they were all excited about FHE. We sang songs (well, more like stumbled through songs, since they don't know any church songs haha) and prayed and then Brother R (the grandpa) taught the lesson. He was so nervous because he has never done anything like that before. But he pulled out his gospel principles book and says "Ok, today we're going to talk about baptism." IT WAS SO AWESOME. By the end of the lesson, all 3 kids wanted to be baptized sooo badly and we put the 13 year old on date for November 1!! And we invited him to church. And guess what - HE CAME!!!! And so did his mom and his sisters!!! It was literally the best news. My heart was filled with joy.  We actually had 5 investigators to church, and our zone combined had 10 at church....so we contributed half of that. WOOT WOOT.

We had exchanges last week!

I hope you're all reading the Book of Mormon and learning from it each day and loving it. It truly is the best book.

I love you all soooooo much!!!!!!
Sister Koenig

Happy Fijian Independence Day - October 10th!

I'M STAYING IN GRAND JUNCTION!!!!!!!!!

We got transfer calls on Saturday night and Sister Keavali and I are both staying put!!! YAYY!!!! Such a relief.

This past week was tough because I was really sick from Monday until like Thursday!! All I wanted to do was cry and sleep. Poor Sister Keavali had to sit at home and be bored. Having a sick companion is kind of the worst thing because there is nothing you can do except sit at home twiddling your thumbs and reading the Book of Mormon. She's so patient though. I love that woman.

General Conference was fabulous. I LOVED EVERY SESSION SO MUCH!!!!!! Oh my goodness I took so many notes and I just absolutely loved everything that was said. It was pretty much perfect. I don't know if it's because I'm a missionary or what, but I think that conference was especially good. I can't wait for the November Ensign to come out so I can study the talks more in depth!!!  If anyone is interested, you can watch all of the sessions online already! The written articles will be online soon too!

  At Conference: Sisters Seru, Rodriguez, Keavali, Koenig, Lara, and Turner

One of my favorite speakers was Elder Jorg Klebingat. He talked SO FAST, but man that guy is like a young Jeffrey R. Holland! One thing he said was, "Acknowledge and face your weaknesses, but don't be immobilized by them, because some of them will be your companions until you depart this earth life." I was thinking about how true that is and it reminded me of the scripture in Ether 12:27 that talks about why God gives us weaknesses, and how if we humble ourselves and have faith in Him, He will make our weak things become strong. But sometimes the actual weakness doesn't go away, we just deal with it so much better! Let me just tell you, I have SO MANY WEAKNESSES. It's kind of painful to think about. But I know that I have learned so much about myself as I have tried to conquer those weaknesses and make them my strengths. Sometimes it's easier to give up, or to be immobilized by a weakness. But does the easier path make us the best that we can be? No!

Richard G. Scott said that our purpose on this earth is to be tried and tested and STRETCHED. How are we meant to be stretched if we don't have any challenges? How are we meant to grow if we don't have any weaknesses to overcome? I kind of think of it like a weightlifter. If they lifted 5 pound weights every day, it wouldn't do much. But as they lift heavier and heavier weights, their muscles have tiny microscopic tears that eventually heal, and that is what makes the muscles bigger and stronger. We have to have those "tears" in our lives sometimes so that we can heal and be stronger! And those tears come from having weaknesses, and having challenges, and then overcoming them and never letting them stop us. Yes, those tears might make us sore, just like they do for a weightlifter, but the results are so worth it in the end. I hope this makes sense.

I'm trying to finish the Book of Mormon in a transfer (which is 6 weeks). The transfer ends tomorrow, and I'm on page 435 out of 531....awkward. I can do it! I've read SO MUCH in the last week haha. This morning I was reading probably one of the best parts of the Book of Mormon - 3 Nephi, when Christ comes to the Americas after His resurrection. I underlined each time it said baptism or any variation of the word, and it's kind of insane. Baptism and repentance - and you can't have one without the other. The Savior's atonement is just waiting for us to use it. He took upon Himself all of our sins and everything, so that if we have faith in Him and repent and are baptized, we can be clean. But the atonement doesn't work for us if we sit on our butts and do nothing! Like I said, we have to WORK and stretch and grow. We can't lift 5 pound weights every day, or less, we have to do more! The gospel of Jesus Christ is about action. He wants us to be baptized because it is an action of showing that we want to follow Him. And then after we are baptized, we have to keep acting. Repentance is a continual process - that is why we partake of the sacrament each week. And growing and learning and becoming are all necessary in this life! This life is the time to prepare to meet God. Like Elder Klebingat said on Saturday, "How would you feel if you were told you would see God in one minute?" AHHHH!!! Scary, right?? There is an 84 year old woman in the 9th Ward who was baptized on Saturday. She has known the church is true for quite some time, but fear and other things have kept her from being baptized. However, she finally chose to act on her faith and show her willingness to follow the Savior's perfect example. After she got out of the font, someone said "Well, she's ready to go Home now!" Think how proud Heavenly Father will be of her when He sees her again. Ah I just love it.

This gospel is true, and baptism by the proper Priesthood authority of God is the only way that we can access the Savior's atonement. Which, by the way, we all totally need because we are so full of weaknesses that it is ridiculous. But I love that about us. Satan, however, also loves our weaknesses because he likes to pick at them and make us very self-conscious about them. Don't let satan win. He will lie to you to stop you from reaching your potential, but the beauty of it is, you have agency and you don't have to listen. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ will never lie to you, and they will never lead you astray. And they have commanded us to do certain things, like being baptized, because they know the full picture and they understand everything so much more fully than we ever could. And they love us, so they want us to be safe and happy.

I testify to all of you that this gospel is a gospel of safety and happiness and peace. And it is a gospel of truth.  I know it is true, and I know it will fill you with joy that you have never before experienced, if you will let it. When the Savior came to the Americas, God announced Him saying "Behold my Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." I want God to say that about me!!! And I want Him to say it about all of you. You are all His sons and daughters and HE LOVES YOU SO MUCH. I can not express that enough. But it is true. The Savior said "Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are all those who come unto me." (3 Nephi 9:14) He is always reaching out for you, and will forever reach out for you. All that He asks from you is that you will come unto Him and take His hand and walk with Him.

I love you all so much and I know sometimes I just go off on rants but that's because THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. You are all spirit sons and daughters of God, which makes you all my brothers and sisters. Heaven is not heaven without those you love, and I want to see all of you there.

Love,
Sister Koenig