Christmas

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas.  Again I just want to thank everyone that sent me things, my companion and I were very blessed this year! There are wonderful people here in Waukesha that have been so kind to us. We have felt very loved. I hope that everyone has an amazing week. I love you all!

Sister Koyle

Bathroom Selfie!!  

We went on exchanges!! 

and made Snow cones!

Many are cold but few are frozen

Well my new daughter's name is Sister Wilson, she is from Calimesa, California, and she is great. She is pretty quiet, but she is a great missionary and we are getting along great so far. I am basically out of time for today, but I just want to thank everyone who has sent me anything for Christmas, or been a part of sending me something. It really means a lot and I really appreciate it. It has been super cold this week. Yesterday it was like -8 and apparently on Wednesday it was -27 with the wind chill and we have had a ton of snow, so it's wonderful. I LOVE the snow, it brings me to much joy. I am excited for Christmas. I hope we can all focus on our Savior at this time of year and how we can become more like Him, and use more fully His atonement. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas.

Love,

Sister Koyle

 Waukesha Missionaries in our Christmas sweaters

lots of snow 

-9 . . . cold 

​Sister Wilson and I, no wonder nobody answers their door we look like bandits.

​Here is a picture of the Christmas tree that ya'll sent me!! Thanks! I haven't had time to put up the new ornaments yet.

I'm going to be a Mom again!!!

So, transfers have come, a week early due to Christmas (The Church doesn't fly missionaries the week before Christmas.) So Sister Jenson is going to Verona, which is near Madison I guess, so that is cool, she is really excited. And I get to train a Greeny again!!! I'm so excited. It dawned on me about two days ago that it was actually a possibility that I might train again. And turns out my wish came true. I have no idea what her name is yet or what she looks like, but I'm sure she is great. And I can't wait to meet her on Wednesday. 

This week has been great. We met this awesome guy tracting that actually wants to meet with us, like for reals, he was totally genuine, and willingly gave us his phone number and set a return appointment, he said that his parents used to meet with Missionaries. So that is cool because he is literally the first person I have met in this area that has wanted us to come back. 

Umm it snowed a good 6-8 inches these past two days so that was legit. I love the snow. We were late to our meeting at the church and we go outside to get in the car and there was like 6 inches of snow on every little part of our car, so we were just more late for our meeting, since we had to clean it all off. And then we get to church and our meeting was cancelled, so it was totally fine. 

President and Sister Williams (my mission President and his wife) talked in our sacrament meeting yesterday so that was really awesome to see them there and to be able to hear from them. They both talked about their conversion stories, which was awesome. Before President got baptized he wrote a letter to Harold B. Lee, the President of the church at that time, and asked him to baptize him. Later his secretary called and informed President Williams that due to the fact that Harold B. Lee would be in Europe at an area conference that he wouldn't be able to baptize him. I thought that was a pretty funny story. 

I hope everyone is doing well. I hope that everyone is enjoying this Christmas season, and taking time to remember their Savior, and do serve others as he would.
Here is a quote from my favorite talk of all time. It was the last talk that Elder Scott gave, and it was the talk that I really tried to live by when I was in college, it is called "Make the Exercise of Faith Your First Priority"
"Don’t yield to Satan’s lie that you don’t have time to study the scriptures. Choose to take time to study them. Feasting on the word of God each day is more important than sleep, school, work, television shows, video games, or social media. You may need to reorganize your priorities to provide time for the study of the word of God. If so, do it!"
And here is the link! Ya'll should read it!
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2014/11/sunday-afternoon-session/make-the-exercise-of-faith-your-first-priority?lang=eng 

Have a happy and safe week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Our ginger bread houses 

Tracting . . . I love the Restoration, I wish all of Waukesha loved it too. 

Waukesha Ward Christmas party!! 

My inspirational tea . . . "Your choices will change the world"

It finally snowed!

We were contacting former investigators this week and it was dark out, so we go to this one lady's house and she lets us in, she is super sweet and super Christian, and then she looks down and sees dog poop on the floor, and she tells us to sit down and she goes and gets a rag and literally cleans our shoes off for us. Super embarrassing and kinda weird to walk into a complete stranger's home and have them clean off your shoes for you. So that was fun. 

Another time this week we were street contacting near campus, not on campus because it is a catholic school, but anyways and we met this awesome guy from Algeria, he is like a world champion jujitsu fighter, and he is Muslim, and speaks very little English, so that was really fun to try to talk to him. He had a lot of questions about our religion though, and about Christianity. 

 Yesterday in church this lady said that in her patriarchal blessing it says that she walked with Jesus in the pre-earth life. That really got me thinking, I thought that was really cool and then of course I wondered if I walked with Jesus in the pre-earth life as well. And then I thought, well do I walk with Jesus in this life? We were able to go to two baptisms on Saturday and I gave the talk on baptism at one of them. And it is so cool that when we are baptized we basically make a promise to our Heavenly Father that we will walk with Jesus. We promise that we will represent him and strive to become like him and do the things that he would do if he were here.
The Christmas devotional yesterday was super great I hope that everyone was able to watch it, if not it is on lds.org, so go watch it!

I hope that everyone has a stellar week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Our missionary stockings

  

District pics, last district meeting of the transfer, we have the assistants and the STL's in our district. It's a blast! 

Very front: Elder Lee

Middle: Elder Godfrey, Sister Jenson, Sister Koyle

Back: Elder DeSantis, Sister Lamprecht, Elder Van Orden, Sister Gross

  

​We walked out of church yesterday and it was a winter wonderland. I love it! 

Jump on the band wagon

#LighttheWorld 

watch the video at mormon.org

It's a good one, you won't regret it. 

 

This week has been great. The past two weeks on P-day I have actually been able to go to zone sports because the missionaries here are close enough to each other to have zone sports, so that is a ton of fun. We had a really wonderful week, it flew by pretty quickly. We had a really great zone conference on Tuesday, the spirit was SOO strong, I loved it. Then for Thanksgiving we just went to some members houses and that was really great and fun. On Friday we went on exchanges with the STL's and I was able to learn a lot of needed things, which was great. And I met some awesome people. Our STL's had a baptism on Saturday so we were able to go to that, it was great! We shared the first vision with a lot of people this week, it was great. We don't really have any investigators here, but we are going to get some :) I love being able to share the new Christmas video with people it is really awesome and people are way more willing to talk to us when we tell them about the Christmas video. I love this time of year it is just wonderful, especially when you are a missionary. I hope that everyone has a great week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Sorry I didn't send pictures last week, the computer was being weird. . . 

This week we had zone conference :) #MilwaukeeNorth 

​These are 6 of the 26 people that I came out with #13months 

One is a trainer one is an assistant and one is a zone leader, it is cool to see how we have all grown in the past year.  

​We went on exchanges this week, I got to go to Milwaukee YSA and Brookfield with Sister Gross 

And we found a Christmas tree in our closet last night and set it up :) 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Hello world. This week was a'ight, can't complain. We met with our recent convert. We set a baptismal date with this really funny black lady. We volunteered at the food pantry, and at the hope center, which is a place where they give away free clothes and shoes to people who need them. Those are both really fun places to volunteer. You always meet the most interesting people. The food pantry is my favorite, the people there are super nice and the people are so happy to receive food. I feel like we did a lot of service this week which was great, it always makes a person feel good when they serve others. I keep finding more and more people here that are from the Burley area so that is pretty cool. The people here are amazing!!
A lady at church yesterday gave an amazing talk about gratitude, she talked about the ten lepers. She said that she knew that all ten lepers were extremely thankful that they were healed, but only one of them actually took the time to express that thanks, and because of that, his relationship with Jesus Christ was strengthened, where as the other nine did not have their relationships with Jesus Christ strengthened because they didn't take the time to thank him. And she talked about how many times we receive things and we are so thankful but we don't actually express that thanks to the person or to our Heavenly Father. But if we do express thanks that it makes our bonds and our relationships closer with our friends, family, and our Heavenly Father and our Savior Jesus Christ. I thought that was pretty profound. 

Here is an awesome quote from President Gordon B. Hinckley that one of my STL's showed me.

"Many young women are serving missions, many are preparing to serve. Not because they aren't married or have nothing else to do, but because they have a desire to serve, therefore they are being called to the work. The reason so many are going is because in the next generation Heavenly Father will be sending His priesthood army to the earth and wants to send them to mothers who have been trained and taught in the gospel. What better training can a young women have than that of serving a mission!"

I hope everyone has a fabulous Turkey day!! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Waukesha!?!

My new address is 

141 Morris St. #3

Pewaukee WI 53072

This week has been great, I said goodbye to Gresham and all 600 people that live there and I went from transfer point to transfer point all day Wednesday down to Waukesha where there are roughly 70,000 people. So it's a change. It's good though. On Wednesday my trainer finished her mission and I was actually able to work with her and tract with her for a couple of hours on Wednesday so that was a huge tender mercy.

 I am serving with Sister Jenson again, that is not very common, but it's good we get along great. We actually had a baptism on Saturday, this 85 year old lady, who is super cute. President and Sister Williams just showed up at the baptism, that was weird, I haven't seen him in like 2 months, and now I am close enough that he can just show up wherever. Anyways this lady who got baptized, her grandson was baptized about two years ago and her daughter was baptized last year, so now there are three generations in the church, super cool. Nothing too exciting has happened, we have some cool neighbors who just moved in and he said that he used to meet with Sister Missionaries in West Allis, he said that he really needs more religion in his life, so we are going to start meeting with him. The ward here is great! It is super huge, there are like 215 members that come each week, and church is 1-4 so that is really weird, we got out of church yesterday and it was almost dark already. But the people are great, people are really nice. It is kinda weird to be in a little city again, but it is nice I like it, for some reason it is a lot easier for me to be out going and talk to a lot more people, probably because I know I will never see them again, where as in Gresham you see the same people all the time. It is also weird to see Elders everyday, and I have even seen two sets of Sisters since I have been here, there are so many more missionaries around, I was an hour away from any missionaries in Gresham. So there are a lot of differences and a lot of changes, but all in all it is still Missionary work, The Lord's work. It is still a joy to meet new people and to share the gospel with them. I finished the Book of Mormon this week and I really liked this scripture in Moroni 9:6

 "And now, my beloved son, notwithstanding their hardness, let us labor diligently; for if we should cease to labor, we should be brought under condemnation; for we have a labor to perform whilst in this tabernacle of clay, that we may conquer the enemy of all righteousness, and rest our souls in the kingdom of God."

I have a labor to perform, and so do you! I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Love yous! 

Sister Koyle

Caroline's baptism! 

On Tuesday night we were saying bye to some members and we got out of the car and this adorable little puppy came right up to Sister van Overbeek and she would not put the puppy down, she really wanted to take it home but I was like #whitehandbookpage46 

My trainer on her last day!! dropping her off at the mission home.  

​Dad I met your cousins the Blackers, they are in the ward that I am serving in :) There are also some Tateokas that are in my ward that are from Burley. 

Transfer

Someone texted this picture to Mom

Hello Everyone! On Wednesday I'm getting transferred to Waukesha (north of Milwaukee), and I am serving with my old companion Sister Jenson. . . wish me luck. This week has been great, and I'll miss serving in Gresham a lot, I have really learned to LOVE it here. I'll miss Sister van Overbeek, she is the best daughter a mother could ever have, we have had a lot of fun together. The Lord has blessed us with many miracles. This is a great time to be serving in the Milwaukee Wisconsin mission there are miracles all around us. The Green Bay Stake president told us yesterday that the baptism goal for the Green Bay Stake for 2017 is 204 baptisms, usually that is how many the whole mission has in a year, but the Lord is hastening his work. It is a great time to be a missionary. I hope everyone has a wonderful week.
Love,
Sister Koyle

Last district meeting in Antigo, Sister van Overbeek, me, Elder Potz, Elder Jorgenson, Elder Melle, Elder Bennett 

Exchanges with the Wausau sisters, Sister Christensen, Sister Naughton, Sister van Overbeek and me 

And some deer!!

Hey it's Halloween!!

The weird thing is to think that last year on Halloween I was on my mission, and today is Halloween again and I'm still on my mission. But it is great!! we have been seeing soo many miracles lately. 

So Wednesday morning, mid studies, I look out the window right by my desk to find a dead pig hanging from a tractor. So that was very distracting, of course we had to go out there and see what was up. They were just butchering pigs, that's all, it was pretty cool actually, it gave me a good education. Later that day we came down stairs to leave and there were just two pig heads sitting on the table, no big deal . . . We ate the pig tongue the next day, Grandma actually made it taste really good, it was like an authentic Hawaiian dish. 

The Lord has been blessing us soo much lately, it has been amazing. I don't feel like we have been doing anything differently, but wow all of the sudden we actually have people to teach, like quite a few of them, I'm like where did yous all come from? So things have been going great here. This week we were tracting and we shared the first vision with this young lady and mid first vision I look at her eye lashes and they look wet, I was so confused, then she started sniffling and I realized that she had started crying, like a lot, and she kept crying and we said a prayer with her and she cried even harder, I didn't know what to do, except share the gospel with her of course. She just kept saying thank you so much!! So we are excited to follow up with her. She totes felt the spirit! She said that she would read the Book of Mormon. 

Last week we went across the driveway to Brother and Sister Rekow's garage to help them make apple juice and there was a lady there that they had given a Book of Mormon to, and she asked us how she could better understand it and we said, well, we would love to come over and read it with you, so we have now taught her twice and she has come to church twice, and she is awesome. 

We were teaching a young mom that we met tracting and after we taught her the restoration she said "you guys are blowing my mind . . . it makes so much sense" And we were like YES it does!! This native guy that we are teaching told us that he wants to stop drinking before we even taught him the word of wisdom, he said I just don't think you can be spiritual if you drink. We were like ya, we totally agree! Then we went to the Shawano Trunk or Treat and three members told us that they have friends who want to take the lessons. It's like Heavenly Father flipped a switch and the work here is exploding, even in tiny Gresham and Shawano, Wisconsin. 

I hope yous have a Wonderful week and a Happy Halloween!! Be safe! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

me: Grandma what are you going to do with the pig heart?

Grandma in her sweet tender old lady voice: Feed it to the Sisters :) 

Remember the pictures I sent home of pigs a while ago, well, they are now bacon and ham. They butchered all six of them this week, and we got to watch them do it.  

I can't remember if I ever sent a picture of these cranes, they are all over the place here.

Fall in Wisconsin

My pumpkin!! since I am in Wisconsin is was moldy after 3 days . . . But it was still fun to carve. 

In the woods!! I said "so where are all of the maple trees?" and Sister Rekow said "these are all maple trees"  hahaha . . . . 

25 year old Christmas trees on the left, and maple trees for maple syrup on the right. The "farm"

that we live on is 192 acres, so we decided to explore it. 

Me, Sister van Overbeek, August (Sister Rekow's grandson), and Sister Rekow driving to see the leaves.

Lambeau Field

We went to Lambeau Field last week, and I actually got to see the field this time, a member drove us to Green Bay and we went on a tour, it was pretty cool. While we were waiting for our tour we sat at the bar in Lambeau Field and ate fried cheese curds, I don't think it's possible to get more Wisconsin than that.

​We walked through the little green tunnel that the players run out of. 

I went to Green Bay today . . . sorry

Hello Everyone!! I don't have any time today, so I will write twice as much next week, maybe.

Love,

Sister Koyle

(someone texted these pictures to Mom that day)

At the bar at Lambeau field waiting for cheese curds and a tour 

I hope yous have a good day!

Hello everyone! So this week we almost hit a deer, just as I turned my brights on a deer popped out of the trees like a daisy, ran half way on the road, and turned around and went back. If he would have kept running straight I would have hit him for sure, but the Lord protects his missionaries :). We also lost our phone for a solid 24 hours this week, we knew for sure that it was somewhere in Gresham so that was good, turns out it was laying in our ward mission leaders drive way. Also my companion is sick and she got Grandma and I sick. So Grandma made me drink this concoction of onions, garlic, lemon juice, honey, and ginger, so that was interesting, I feel better though. 

We got to meet with Killian, our recent convert yesterday and we were talking about missionary work and he said "I would be a dope missionary" haha and we were like yes you would be! So that is pretty exciting that he wants to go on a mission and he is going to the temple for baptisms in the middle of November so that is super exciting as well. His friend, who is a member that is preparing to go on a mission, told us that Killian came up to him and said hey do you want to go on a mission together? and he was like, well it doesn't really work that way, hahaha. There is that scripture in D&C 18:15 that talks about how great shall be your joy. And you know, baptisms are great, but it is even better when the people who are baptized continue to live the gospel, that is what brings real joy. Nothing else super exciting has happened, but things here have been going well, they are definitely on the upside. I hope everyone has a great day and a great week! 

Love yous! 

Sister Koyle

(everyone here says yous, instead of you guys, or you all, or ya'll) 

We had Zone Training this week. 

Stay on trail or stay home. 

I think my companion is a little chilly 

​The leaves are falling down

Bonus picture of grandma sleeping on the couch:

Wheat and the Tares

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all having a happy Columbus day. (1 Nephi 13:12) It is Columbus day right? Well anyways, this week was pretty normal. We tracted and we did some service for a few people we saw some less actives and had dinner with some members and saw some recent converts. When we tract here, almost every door is the same. They all say "I have my own religion", so it is pretty hard to get past that, if anyone has any ideas of smart comments to say back please let me know :) Although yesterday we had a different one, they just opened their window and said "thanks" and then closed it. I was like, so. . . . you don't want to talk to us? Also we knocked on a door and saw a car drive by and stare at us and then we went to the next house since the first house didn't answer and when we were knocking on the second house that same car that drove by us pulled into the drive way of the first house, I was like are you kidding me? Another time we were in a nicer part of town and we offered this lady a card, jut a simple card and we told her that it had a great website on it and she gives it back and says oh I don't have a computer, I was like okay first off pretty sure everyone in this neighborhood has some way of using the internet, second please just take the card so that this isn't awkward. It is amazing to me the things that people do to not talk to us, we are trying to bring you salvation!! Now I know how all of those teenage boys feel when they ask a girl out on a date and the girl says no, except the only kind of dates that we want are baptism dates. We just keep trying it's pretty much all we can do. We are trying to have the attitude of, if these people don't accept the gospel it isn't going to be because we didn't try to share it with them.

We drove to Wausau on Wednesday and had district meeting and also interviews with President. President Williams is really awesome, it's like he is a normal person or something, so that was nice. I really like the parable of the wheat and the tares in D&C 86 how it talks about then growing together. Sometimes I wonder why there are so many different churches, and why some people are so against us, and then I realize that there is opposition in all things and that my testimony has grown a lot on my mission because of the opposition I have faced from other people. Everything happens for a reason right? I hope you all have a blessed week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

 Grandma's Grandson got this 12 point buck so that was pretty cool to see it hanging up in the garage.

The corn is gone and they put a ton on sewage/cow manure on the field and lets just say smelling the Wisconsin dairy air is priceless.

​Maybe not forever . . . but 5 or 6 months is good. :)