We Finna Pray

So this week was sweet! We had Zone training on Tuesday so we drove to Oshkosh for that and they totally pumped me up and they gave us such good training's just about things that we already know but needed a reminder about like making our studies more focused and lots of other good things like that. Friday we were able to drive to Menasha for blitz's. Recently they changed the way they do exchanges. So now instead of one of us going to our leaders area and a leader coming to our area, we both go to our leaders area for 24 hours. I really enjoyed it and I learned a lot. We were contacting at Lawrence University and we got out of the car and the first girl that we talked to we just asked here where to go because we had no idea so we started talking with her and apparently her grandma is Mormon and so is her best friend, so we got her number and gave her a Book of Mormon and it was awesome. It is cool to see how the Lord leads us. 

So the lady last week that told us that she tried a new incense, we actually taught her and her daughter and her friend the restoration and they said that if they came to know that what we taught was true that they would get baptized so that was pretty cool, the lesson actually went super well, and the spirit was really strong, I was really surprised. After the lesson was over she told her little granddaughter "Come on, we finna pray". Finna is a very common word here, especially among black people. It kinda means fixing to or going to. We always say it just for fun, like We Finna baptize Sheboygan. 

So yesterday was thee best day ever! This guy named Adam came to church and also Vickie came to church. She said that she would be baptized but she wanted to come to church first to check it out and see what it is like before she commits to a date, so now that she came to church we can commit her to a date this week. Adam was a referral from a less active member, he is really interested in the gospel, and he is the total complete golden investigator which is awesome except he just happens to be homosexual so that kinda puts a damper on things, but he said that this is the first church that he has been to in 31 years that he doesn't feel like he is being judged. And he is totally reading the Book of Mormon and he said that the restoration just makes sense. So I don't know we will see where this goes. 

Also the saddest thing ever happened on Friday we had to drop Holly and Bennett because they weren't progressing. He is still reading the Book of Mormon, but he is just curious about it, I don't think that he really wants to know yet if it is true. He is really caught up on the godhead and eternal progression, those are two things he can't get past. They are seriously my favorite people ever and I know they will be baptized some day I just don't know when. I literally started crying a little bit when we left their house, it was so hard to tell them that we can't teach them anymore, but the spirit and President Cutler both told us to drop them so we did. 

So ya that was my week, it was super awesome and I am looking forward to another one. Something clicked this week, like I finally realized that the reason I am on a mission is to prepare me for my future, not just to teach people, I mean obviously I am trying to do that too, but really this is my schooling for the rest of my life, so that was a really cool realization. I hope ya'll have a great week!

Love,

Sister Koyle

Blitz's with the Sister Training Leaders. Sister Dunlap, Sister Butler, Me, Sister Schlosser.

We were contacting and we found The Mystery Machine!!! 

I may or may not have figured out a way to get a Spanish and a Hmong name tag. I was so excited when I got them in the mail. You aren't supposed to be able to get a name tag in any language except for the one that you speak, but I think the lady who works in the office is new. :)

Really? During the Superbowl???

It isn't everyday that you get to tract during the Superbowl. For our door approach here in Wisconsin we do a short ten question survey. I love the survey so much! it is super helpful and you get into a lot more doors. And from the questions on it we can go into the Book of Mormon or forever families or the restoration or the plan of salvation or pretty much anything. So last night we had a little extra time so we decided to knock some doors. And I asked this guy if he could help us out with a short ten question survey and he says "REALLY . . . during the Superbowl you wanna do a survey?" and I said oh ya I forgot, when does it get over? Then he just closed the door. And then for some reason, I could not stop laughing, it was such a funny experience, I think you just had to be there and see the expression on his face. 

Earlier in the week we decided to go tracting because we hadn't been for a long time. Usually in Sheboygan tracting is pretty successful, that is how we find almost all of our people and people here are usually pretty open to our message. So we knocked three blocks of doors and got nothing from it except for frozen toes and fingers. But then around the corner of the third block there was a girl, named Rene shoveling her snow and we asked if we could help her and she said no and then we asked her to do the survey and she said yes and then we were able to talk about the Book of Mormon and give her a copy and get her number and a return appointment, so that was a really cool miracle. 

Also this week we met this really nice lady named Demetri and we stepped into her house and it smelt hard core like weed, but we don't care because almost every house in Sheboygan smells like weed, it is actually kind of expected. But we step in and she randomly says "sorry" and I said "for what?" and she said "the smell . . . . . (long pause) . . . .  we just tried a new incense" hahaha I tried so hard not to bust up laughing. 

It got up to fifty degrees here the other day, that was pretty weird, and really hot. All of the snow is slowly melting so that is kinda sad. But other than that, things in Sheboygan are going pretty well, I'm just living the dream! I hope everyone is doing well and I hope ya'll are healthy! and I hope everyone has a very Happy Valentines Day on Sunday!! Mosiah 18:21 he commands us that there should be no contention one with another, but that our hearts should be knit together in unity and in love one towards another. So if you are holding a grudge against anyone, now would be a great time to tell them sorry and let it go. 1 John 4 is a wonderful chapter on love, especially verses 7-9 "let us love one another, for love is of God" Happy Valentines Day!!! 

Love Sister Koyle

​I had to find the perfect spot between where the water washes it away and where the sand is frozen, that my friends is skill.

Haha it says BEWARE OF DRUNKS. . . . and of course a Packers sticker. We asked the guy at this house "If you knew there was another Book of Scripture that testified of Christ would you read it?" his response was "The Mormons got a lot of that!! Secret bible verses and what not!" We were laughing so hard.

We decided it was warm enough to go running again. This is the Marina, where the boats sit in the summer, and where people go ice fishing in the winter.

I made Tamales this morning, so that was fun!

All six of the missionaries here in the Sheboygan ward had the opportunity to teach the youth yesterday for the fifth Sunday, it was actually really fun. Of course we talked to them about missionary work and the importance of social conversion and of being a friend and inviting your friends to activities. The spanish elders did a really cool object lesson where they got a dragon fruit and a volunteer and they had the volunteer describe what the fruit tasted like, but he had no idea because he had never tasted it, so it is like the gospel. We have to study and know the gospel ourselves in order to share it with others. (D&C 84:85) Then they had him taste the fruit and then he was able to explain what it tasted like, and he wanted to share it with everyone. So once we have tasted of the goodness of the fruit we will desire to share it with those around us. (1 Nephi 8:12) But sharing the gospel can be very scary, but if we are prepared we shall not fear! (D&C 38:30) All we have to do it open our mouths (D&C 33:8-10) It was really fun teaching the youth. 

We also saw Vickie this week, she was a referral from an awesome girl in the ward named Katie. Katie actually met Vickie at the hospital when Katie took me and Sister Carlini to the hospital so that the bishop could work on Sister Carlini's leg. Kinda confusing I know . . . but Vickie is thee sweetest old lady you would ever meet, she is very humble and treasures her bible very dearly. She said that she would get baptized, but we didn't set a date with her yet, because she wants to come to church first to see what it is like. So I would say we are pretty excited about her. 

But other than that this week has been great, just doing regular missionary things, we have started to visit more and more less active members, because there are A TON!!!! here in Sheboygan. As President Hinckley tells us, missionary work is pointless if we don't hold on to the fruits of our efforts, so that's what we are working on. I hope ya'll have a fantastic week! Happy February!

Love,

Sister Koyle

P.S. my address is 620 Broughton Dr. #204 Sheboygan WI. 53081 . . . just in case . . . 

We tried to walk out to the light house, but we didn't get very far. . . It was all covered in ice.

People here don't just build snow men

Attempting to write in my journal. #MissionaryWork The sleeping pictures continue.

Making Tamales!!! So GOOD!

And eating Jalapenos . . . not so good. Notice mine is the smallest.

We decorated the golf balls that we use to knock on people's doors, note the scripture reference.

Sister Butler burned a cardigan for her 9 month mark.

I am so sorry, but a lot of picture worthy things happened this week.

Last week for P-day we went to the aviation heritage center and we did a flight simulator, so it is like you are actually flying an airplane, except you aren't. There are computer monitors instead of windows and the whole thing actually moves like when you turn the steering wheel the simulator actually turns too. It is really hard to fly an airplane.

Baptism By Fire

This week has by far been the busiest week of my mission, and possibly my life, so that was awesome. We met a lot of really cool people who are just searching for and have a desire to find the truth, now we just teach them and hope that they have the motivation to do something about that desire. 

Tristan was baptized on Saturday so that was sweet! It is really cool to see the amazing changes that she has made in her life, and it is so cool to see the power of the atonement work so quickly in someone's life. You can literally see a big difference in the light in her face, especially compared to when I first came to Sheboygan to now. She said that even the people that she works with have noticed it. She also said that as she reads the scriptures each day that she is able to have a lot more patience with her boys and with the people she deals with at work. She is such an amazing strong woman. 

When I left on my mission one of my sisters told me that people here will cook potatoes for me since I am from Idaho, except they won't actually know how to cook potatoes. I have had some fun experiences with this already, but the best one yet was on Saturday. So for Tristan's baptism one of the members decided to cook baked potatoes for afterwards, except they had a genius idea of putting butter in with the potatoes, well the butter melted in the oven and got on the bottom of the oven and smoked up the whole church and started the tin foil on the bottom of the oven on fire, so that was really exciting. This my friends is why you don't cook things in the church kitchen. 

We had an awesome worldwide missionary broadcast this week from some of the apostles and other various people, and they really stressed teaching repentance, which is awesome. I never really understood repentance until now. Everyone thinks that it is a big scary word, but it is just a wonderful gift. We need to repent everyday so that we are able to have the spirit with us. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Koyle

Me Tristan Marion and Sister Butler

We had some Lake effect snow, woo hoo.

​This is real life.

​We had to take a selfie.

We Tract in the Cold!

Happy Monday Everybody!

So I live with a different person now, so that is interesting. Sister Butler is awesome, she is from PG Utah and she is actually a Nauvoo visitors center sister, but since it is so slow in the winter they send the Nauvoo sisters on their "outbound" missions for 6 months, so she was called to Wisconsin. She has been in Wisconsin about the same amount of time as I have, before Sheboygan she was in Port Washington, but she was in Nauvoo for six months before that, so she is half way done with her mission. Confusing I know, but its really okay if you don't understand it all. Also, she is the driver now, so that is interesting. She is very "go with the flow", which is important because our plans are always changing so you have to be able to deal with it. It is fun to have a different companion, because then you get new ideas from them, so that is nice. 

As far as the work is going, it's pretty great we have seen some success this week, I think that we found another solid girl named Brittney, she was a referral from the Spanish elders, who tracted into her and she seems really interested. Also this guy named Adam who was a member referral has a lot of questions, so hopefully that goes somewhere good. And Tristan is doing great! she really misses Sister Carlini, but hopefully she will realize soon, just how awesome Sister Butler is. She is all set to be baptized this Saturday, so we are stoked about that. I never realized before all of the preparations that come with having a baptism, but I am learning. This is pretty much my first baptism, and it is Sister Butler's first baptism, so neither of us really know what we are doing, but its all good, we'll figure it out. The important thing is that Tristan is so ready to make a covenant with her Heavenly Father, and I am so excited for her.

It has been pretty cold here, but we are trying to suck it up and rub some dirt in it. Good thing I love the cold. D&C 76:22 is an awesome scripture, I love how Joseph Smith bears such a simple and powerful testimony about our savior. "That He Lives!" I know that as we bear simple testimony of our savior each day that we can be a great influence and a light to those around us. Have a Happy Martin Luther King Day!

With love from Sheboygan,

Sister Koyle

​Lake Michigan as of this morning, I am waiting for it to freeze. . . 

Last day with Sister Carlini

This is Sister Butler . . . isn't she cute? 

​Sunday morning steam on the lake.

 That little black dot in the distance is the light house.

That awkward moment when you are done training.....

Happy Monday everyone! 

So on Wednesday a missionary named Sister Butler is going to be coming to Sheboygan to be my new companion, I know nothing about her, but I hope and pray that she is awesome. Sister Carlini is being transferred to Appleton, and she is going to be serving with . . . . Sister Roskelley, my MTC companion! Except she is not excited about it . . . at all, which makes me sad because I am a tiny bit jealous of her because I love Sister Roskelley. But I am excited/nervous for my next adventures with Sister Butler. 

This week was pretty cool, I feel like we have met some really cool people that have a lot of potential, so I am excited about all of them to see how they accept the message of the gospel. Tristan is doing so good, she is still set for the 23rd and we even announced it in church, so it is totes official, and so exciting. But a little stressful because we have a lot to do before then, like teaching lessons and baptismal interview and inviting people and all that jazz. Also Sister Carlini gave a talk in church on Sunday and so Holly and Bennett came to church to hear her talk so that was super sweet. I just hope that I can still keep up all of these good relationships with people here even though Sister Carlini will be gone. 

This week we had at least two people ask us if it was possible that the Book of Mormon was true, but that Joseph Smith was not a prophet and of course we told them no. But it is so crazy to me that so many people have such a big problem with Joseph Smith. I was praying and basically saying why did Joseph have to practice polygamy, because I feel like a lot of people would accept the gospel if it weren't for that. And I got the answer that even if he hadn't practiced polygamy that people would still find fault with him, and they would reject him for some other reason. Jesus Christ was perfect and people still found what they thought was fault with him and people still killed him. So that kinda put me in my place and definitely broadened my understanding. But I know that Joseph was a virtuous man and that he was called as a prophet of God.

We were listening to a cool talk this week and it said that our mortal genealogy is so long and it goes on forever clear back to Adam, but our spirit's genealogy is one direct line, we are children of our Heavenly Father. I thought that was really cool and I had never looked at it like that before. Also the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults is SOOO good, ya'll need to listen to it. Here is the link to it, I challenge you all to do the challenge left with us from Sister Nelson. I hope everyone has a great week. 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Just taking an evening stroll out on the lake. 

We almost made it all the way across and then we chickened out. 

​The District on Little Elkhart Lake 

​Last time getting Menchies with Sister Carlini, it's her favorite. 

​And this happened. 

Happy 2016. Good thing it's easy to change a 5 to make it look like a 6!

So last week when we came to the library to email there was no snow on the ground, but by the time we left the library everything was covered in almost a foot of snow. So Christmas wasn't white, but 3 days later it was. It was actually a pretty bad blizzard the snow was blowing completely side ways which made some nice drifts. We may or may not have gotten our car stuck in the snow a couple of times last Monday, but thank goodness people here are nice and helped push us out. And by the next morning the snow plows had come and all of the roads were clear, so it was great. 

But other than the weather, Amy, one of our recent converts, said something very profound this week, we asked her about the prophet and she said that she feels like the prophet speaks directly to her and that the prophet is someone who takes her hand and walks her over the bridge to get her to Heavenly Father. I thought that was the coolest analogy. 

We met with this less active and his girl friend this week, his name is Adam and her name is Ari and she told us that her goal for this year is to get baptized, I thought that was the coolest thing. I asked her why and she said because Adam's Mom has such a powerful testimony and that she has such a spirit about her and she is so happy all the time and she wants that. So that was awesome, it goes to show that we really can make a difference if we share our testimony with others. She wants to come to church, but she straight up told us that she is just too lazy, and she has insomnia. But she is going to try to change her sleep schedule and come to church next week. But I love her already and I am really excited about her. 

Also Holly loved church last week and this week Bennett told us that they aren't going to go to their church forever and that when they quit going to their church they are going to come to our church. Idk how soon they are talking about, but that sure was surprising and exciting. I was like did you just say what I think you said? So that was crazy especially since he has gone to that same church his whole life. Also they said that they are going to take a trip out west in Summer of 2017 and that they are going to come and visit me, so that is pretty exciting. And Bennett is now in Alma 5 in the Book of Mormon, and he is praying to know if it is true, I have definitely seen his heart be softened since I have been here it is the coolest thing and I know it is because he is reading the Book of Mormon, that book works miracles. Idk when, but they are totes getting baptized someday.

I hope you all have a great week and a Happy New Year!! Set goals, not resolutions!! If you don't set goals then you can't reach your greatest potential. 

Love,

Sister Koyle

p.s. I know this is crazy especially being in Wisconsin but I actually didn't see any drunks on new years or new years eve, but then again I'm not that great at identifying them.

 Well it snowed, and it looked gorgeous for a couple of days

Since nobody in Wisconsin knows what a snow cone is we made our own, it is just fresh Wisconsin snow mixed with crystal lite.

Silly picture from our ​last district meeting of the transfer . . . weird

 So the Polar Plunge is a thing here, this is the beach on new years day. It is Sheboygan tradition to jump in the lake on new years day, they said it was nice this year because they didn't have to cut any ice in order to get in, people here are CRAZY. Also, it is really weird to see a beach covered in snow.