General Conference was Legit

So General Conference was awesome! I think that my favorite talk was Henry B. Eyring's just because it was so powerful, and it made me realize that I need to bear powerful testimony a lot more often. 

Sunday was such a great day. We watched conference at Marsha's house, she is like the grandma of the Sheboygan ward and she is always taking care of us. So of course she gave us lunch afterward and we also watched the afternoon session there as well. Then we had an awesome FHE with the VanAsten's we talked about commandments, I think they are starting to warm up to us, we had a lot of fun with them yesterday. Then we had a solid lesson with this big intimidating/nice black man. He has been in the military for 20 years and he has been on 4 tours (I think that's what they are called) and he knows his bible pretty well. He asked a lot of good questions. And he is genuinely searching for the truth, so I think he has a lot of potential. I am excited about him. 

Our week has been pretty great, we had a little bit of snow, but it is melted and we had a lot of rain this week. Next week we will be driving to Milwaukee to drop off Sister Butler to fly back to Nauvoo, so we get to sleep in the mission home for a night or two, and I will find out who my new companion will be. I am kinda excited, but of course I am also sad. Sister Butler has been a great companion and we have become great friends. I think the key to a good companionship/relationship is communication, we just tell each other nicely when something annoys us. So I will miss her a lot, but I know she did what she was supposed to do here in Sheboygan.

My whole mission is doing an atonement study of the Book of Mormon and we are all reading it in about three months. At first when I learned that we were going to do this I was actually pretty upset because I am right in the middle of Alma at the good part and now I have to start all over again. But then the Lord kinda humbled me, and I guess I am starting to like it. So if anyone wants to join I will attach the document with the reading on it. I know that reading the Book of Mormon has definitely strengthened my faith in Christ and his Atonement, and that if can do the same for you as well. Have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Sister Butler found a light saber, notice there are three more behind her :)

We tract in the snow. #SnowSelfie . . . again :)

 We went to the light house last week for P-day because some of the Elders had never been. Don't they look awesome? I'm proud of my picture taking skills :)

Conference is way more exciting than March Madness

Someone texted this picture to Mom on Easter Sunday

I can't wait for general conference, it is way more exciting than march madness

So the Women's Broadcast was really awesome. Definitely things that I needed to hear. I would encourage everyone to watch it, not just the women. Easter was also awesome and it has been so great being able to testify of Christ and his atonement and resurrection everyday. People don't realize that it is real and it really works, but it does. Sometimes I even have a hard time remembering that, but it has become easier as I have come to learn of Christ and love Him. The program that we had for sacrament meeting was really awesome, there was a lot of music and we were able to sing in the choir and the spirit was just very strong. There were SOOOO many less active people at church and they all looked so happy, I was like you will probably be this happy all of the time if you just keep coming to church. 

We started teaching this really cute woman who is a less active guys fiance. She has already been to church about four times and we are really excited about her, she has a lot of potential. She was open to reading the Book of Mormon and she said that she is going to keep coming to our church. She has the cutest little girl who is about 4 and the cutest little boy who is a year and a half old. And her and her fiance are getting married in September. #EternalFamily #SealedInTheTemple I'm not sure when, but it is totally going to happen. After all isn't that the real point of missionary work, is to get people sealed to their family so that they can live with them for all eternity? 

We had a wicked snow storm all day Wednesday and all day Thursday. We drove out to Plymouth because we had three lessons there one right after the next and the roads were nuts. Thank goodness a snow plow turned in front of us and totally saved our lives. That was a miracle, God protects his missionaries. :) 

Shirley is working on quitting smoking, she said that she isn't going to take smoking into April with her, so we are holding her to that. But besides smoking, she is on fire. #NoPunIntended Last I checked she is in Mosiah 14 in the Book of Mormon and she has read the daughters of our kingdom book, which I don't even know what that book is about. And she is always watching BYUTV which is awesome. She is wanting to go to institute and addiction recovery and she always studies the lessons for Sunday School and Relief Society. 

Other than that we just did usual things this week, knocked some doors, met some interesting people, had some lessons with less actives and recent converts and investigators. Things are pretty good here in Sheboygan.  I am SOOOO EXCITED for general conference!!!!! I hope all of you are looking forward to it as well. I know that the prophets and apostles are God's mouth piece and they are so inspired with the things that we need to hear at this time in our lives and in history. I encourage you all to listen to conference with a question in mind and I know that your question will be answered as you listen to the speakers and to the spirit. I hope ya'll have a wonderful week. 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Fun Fact: I was baptized 12 years ago yesterday and received the Holy Ghost 12 years ago today! I am so grateful for that gift of the Holy Ghost, it took me almost 12 years to figure out how to use it, and I am still learning. 

 Driving to Plymouth on Wednesday, isn't it beautiful! (this was before the snowplow came and saved the day)

They said we can't hold babies, they didn't say anything about puppies. . . we named him Charlie, he lives in Oostburg.

​#snowselfie

"Are you friends with Jesus?"

This week was awesome . . . I think, I don't know I can never remember what has happened. 

But yesterday we were at this lady's house and she has two 8 year old twins and the one comes up to us and says "Are you friends with Jesus, even though you can't see him?" and her twin sister says "Of course they are. They are angels! They just get to be on earth so that they can go to people's houses and pray with them". So that was super sweet. I thought of responding by saying, how do you know I can't see Jesus? just to freak her out, but I decided against it. 

So I can't remember everything that I tell ya'll, but Shirley was supposed to be baptized on the 26th, this Saturday. But She had a smoke on Sunday so now we get to push it back. I'm really not sad about it, I know she will totally still get baptized, she is really excited about the temple, her daughter passed away not to long ago and she is really excited to be baptized for her in the temple. But she just needs to quit smoking first, so it should be about three or four more weeks before she is baptized, which is good because then she can get to know the ward better and gain more friends and fellow shippers. But other than that she is TOTALLY ready, I have never met or dreamed of someone who is so prepared. 

So last week was Pi day you know 3.14 and so we went to a members house for P-day and ate like 5 different types of pie, it was super fun, and I totally forgot to get pictures but that's alright. 

Also last week we were in Walmart and this lady comes up to us and says hey sisters I used to be taught by some other sisters about a year ago, do you think that you could start coming by again? and then she gave us her number. So that was awesome, total miracle. And we looked her up in our area book and she seems pretty legit. Apparently her brother is LDS already. 

So a couple of weeks ago we found a less active member in our member book who had a quote next to her name that said "I am never coming back to church" So we decided we would take the challenge and try to visit her and get her to church. So we knock her door and her sweet son who is like 6ish answers the door and we say can we speak with your Mom? and he was very hesitant like are you sure you want to talk to her? So he goes and talks to his Mom and she starts yelling from behind the door, leave me alone, get out of here, and all of these crazy things, and the little boys says to his Mom, they are just two nice girls. So we left and that was the end of that. But at church yesterday that same lady came up to us and she was super sweet and she said hi you Sisters were trying to contact me a while ago, can we set up a time to meet this week? I'm pretty sure I was speech less for a little bit, like there is no way that you are the same lady. But apparently the Lord works in mysterious ways to soften peoples hearts. So we are pretty excited about that. 

And we send out a text about church every Saturday and there are a billion phone numbers in our phone, but we don't know who some of them are because they are from previous sisters, so I accidentally texted someone who we don't know, and he was like, how did you get my number? This is perfect that you texted me because I want the truth in my life and things like that, and he totally wants to meet with us. And once again, looked him up in the area book and he seems legit, so once again miracle!

So sorry for the long email, just a lot of miracles this week I guess. I hope everyone is excited for Easter and for general conference. Remember the real reason why we celebrate Easter, it is because our Lord and Savior lives, and because he lives we can also live again. What an amazing truth that is! I become more grateful for it everyday.

Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Sister Koyle 

We got us some Wisconsin shirts, because why not? 

Sister Howard took us all to the Yacht club, it was awesome, and super good. 

​This was our celebration of St.Patty's day #ShamrockShakes

I wanna drink their Koolaid

Well this week was awesome. We had zone conference in Oshkosh which was pretty great to hear from our leaders. conference is always a little stressful, but also motivating so it is great. There was a recent convert that talked to us at zone conference and she said that the first time she went to church was like "What is going on?!! I wanna drink their Koolaid!!" then she ended up getting baptized and she is the happiest person I have ever met. We also got to watch the face to face with Elder Holland, it was great for missionaries, #ItWasAllAboutMarriage, but it was still super good things to remember for my future. We had a very busy week, we taught our investigator about the word of wisdom and she was super cool with it. No problems at all, which is totally a miracle because everyone in Wisconsin smokes or drinks . . . a lot. So she is pretty much set for baptism on the 26th, and she is so excited apparently she found the BYU channel and she has been watching it and she watched the Joseph Smith story so she knows all about church history. She is the coolest old woman ever, and she has been super prepared. We are working on her husband still, he claims to be baptist, but he has never gone to church, like ever . . . she said the last time he was in a church was 48 years ago when they got married in one. 

We also had exchanges, which was awesome!! Sister Quist and I went to UW Oshkosh and it was a nice Sunny day and everyone was outside playing games and walking, so we were able to do a lot of street contacting and we had 9 first vision lessons, it was an awesome day to be a missionary. It is really cool to share the first vision with people because it is such a powerful experience. Sister Quist and I were talking to these two girls and two guys were about to walk past and I felt like I should talk to them, even though we were already talking to someone, but I followed the spirit and did it anyways and these two guys were super cool, the one guy just kept saying that he is looking for the truth and he really wants to find it. We gave him the church address and a book of mormon and he was like ya I will totally read this. So last night Sister Quist called me and said that those to guys had come to church, and they set up appointments to teach them, so that was a huge miracle.

We also had some good food this week, a lady in our ward made us Korean food because she is from Korea and then on exchanges a lady from China made us Chinese food, so I would also consider that a miracle :) 

Anyways I'm sure as most of you are aware that there is a new Easter video that came out yesterday and it is awesome, Please Please Please watch it and share it with your friends. I know that you will be blessed as you do that. I hope you all have a marvelous week . . . Happy St. Patty's Day AKA remember to wear green on Thursday. 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Exchanges!! Sister Butler, Sister Quist, Sister Schlosser, and Sister Koyle 

Found this gem while we were running on the pier "It's not salt water" 

4 cakes in 3 days, these people must love me

A year ago I was chillin on the beach in San Diego with my friends, but I guess chillin on the beach in Sheboygan is pretty good too (It's just a different kind of chill). 

Saturday one of the Elders in my district made me a chocolate birthday cake, which was totally sweet of him. Yesterday we were able to have a really great family home evening with a part member family. It was just this man and his 12 year old daughter (who just happens to not be baptized) and they are the sweetest people. We had a really good spiritual lesson, and the Dad had a lot of good insight and he did very well at teaching his daughter.  And then we played a fun game with them. Then we ate birthday cake that they made for me and it was soo good. I love them so much I hope that we can start teaching his daughter soon. We asked if we could and he said no, but he was open to having a family home evening, so baby steps :) 

After FHE we ate dinner with the Oviatt family, which I know I'm not supposed to have favorites, but they are totally my favorite family in the ward. I think that is probably because they remind me so much of my family. The Dad is very knowledgeable about the gospel like my Dad and the Mom is so willing to serve and give of herself and her time just like my Mom is, and the girls kinda remind me of me and my sister. So anyways, they also made me a cake, which was awesome. And then this morning Sister Butler made me a cheese cake. 

This week has been good, we have been working on obedience, which is awesome because when you obey you just feel better inside and out, which for me is a big enough blessing. Also this week we had a family home evening with Tristan so that she can hopefully start doing them on her own with her boys. We have been challenged to do two first vision lessons a day which is actually a lot harder than you think. A first vision lesson includes telling them about the first vision and reciting it, committing them to do something like read a pamphlet and then say a prayer with them. At first I was like ya we can do that, but then I actually got out there and tried to do it and well lets just say that we are going to try a lot harder this week, and do a lot better. But we have seen one miracle from it so far, this one lady said thank you so much, I really needed this today, so that was really nice to hear.

I want to thank everyone for the Birthday wishes, and for the cards and everything else, I feel very loved. I had a pretty great birthday yesterday. My mission president called me and wished me Happy Birthday and he said "did Sister Butler make you breakfast" and I said "no it was fast Sunday" and he said "well you passed that test." Hahaha he is a tricky old man. 

There is an Easter video that is coming out on Sunday, I would invite all of you to watch it and share it with your friends, it is a really great video and it is similar to the Christmas video that was put out in December. You can find it at mormon.org/easter. I hope everyone has a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

p.s. sorry this email is random and all over the place.

We took pictures by one of the billions of red (used to be red) barns that we passed this week.

Shoveled some drive ways and side walks . . . 

Took a picture by the Cleveland sign since that was our first and last time going there, it is a tiny town north of Sheboygan that doesn't have much going on.

When your day is so busy, you have to have lunch right after breakfast #MissionaryLife

We knocked on a door on Wednesday and the lady answered and said that she is a Born Again, (they are our favorite) and she used to be a Jehovah's Witness (also our favorite) we asked her why she changed and she said "The Lord delivered me from it" so we thought she was pretty funny until she said "It is so funny that you knocked on my door, come on in. I was just learning about the Mormon's. I was watching this DVD about cults." I was like are you kidding me? I was thinking, the Lord probably sent us here to deliver you again from being a born again and to tell you the truth about his gospel. We didn't get very far with her, but I bore my testimony of Joseph Smith and I told her that if she wants to learn about the LDS church to get her information from a reliable source and I gave her a mormon.org card. Before we left we asked her if we could pray with her, but we think her Jehovah's Witness kicked in because she wouldn't pray with us. 

There is a young man here in the Sheboygan ward named Arrison Smith and he received his mission call to Logan Utah, I am so excited for him. So come April all of you Logan residents out there be watching for Elder Arrison Smith. He gave his farewell talk yesterday and he made me cry a little bit. He has been through a lot and it has taken sometime for him to be able to serve a mission but he is going to be a killer missionary. I am a little jealous of him because Logan is my favorite place on the planet. 

There is an older lady named Shirley that we tracted into a couple of weeks ago and when ever we ask her what to pray for she says "for the ministry" (which always reminds me of Harry Potter for some weird reason) But she is already a better missionary than I am, she has already given out five Book of Mormon's to her friends and family and she has been to church twice and she has a baptismal date for March 26. I know . . . It sounds too good to be true, so we will see what happens. 

Easter is right around the corner, and I am excited. I am so grateful for my savior and all he has done for me. I know it is only through him that I will be able to live with my family and my Heavenly Father for eternity. I really have grown to love Christ since I have been out here. If you want some tear jerkers read Isaiah 53, or Mosiah 14.  Mosiah 14:5 is one of my favorites "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." I know that no matter what is thrown our way that we can be healed through Christ. Have a blessed week!

Love,

Sister Koyle

P.S. 

Also a great quote from this week.

Me - "why does everyone in Wisconsin wear shorts in February?!"

Kaci Roll (girl in the ward) - "Because it's 30 degrees!!!" (as if that is warm)

SHEVEGAS is a thing here in Sheboygan, there is also OSHVEGAS in Oshkosh.

Everything is melting, it is a little sad. I have grown to love the cold.

So I will be in Sheboygan for another 7 weeks at least. This transfer is one week longer than normal because missionaries will now be staying in the MTC for 3 weeks instead of 2. Which means that I will be on my mission for a week longer, so that is pretty sweet. Sister Butler goes back to Nauvoo on April 12th, so more than likely I will still be here in Sheboygan after she leaves. Honestly this week was a little boring, we did a lot of finding, but we didn't have too much success. 

But one really cool thing that happened this week was we taught the restoration to this nice old lady on Friday, and she seemed like she understood it all very well, but she didn't say much, she is pretty quiet, but she committed to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. So we gave her a Book of Mormon with our card in it that has our phone number and church address. Then at church on Sunday we were walking through the pews greeting people and I saw her sitting there and I was like what the heck that lady that we taught on Friday is at church? So of course we sat by her, it was the coolest thing. People don't normally just come to church like that, usually getting someone to church is like pulling teeth. So that was definitely a miracle. 

We also had a great lesson with Adam, he talks a lot and he had so many questions so that was awesome. I love when people ask questions then you know how much they are understanding, and you can better teach to their needs. He said that it all made sense so that was awesome. He keeps telling us that he is taking all of this very seriously, so that is awesome. 

We also taught Quita, and boy is she a talker, she gets so far off the path so quickly, we always have to bring her back to the conversation. But the lesson surprisingly enough actually went really well, considering how much she talks. We did get through the whole lesson in a timely manner and she also had a lot of good questions. When we were teaching about prophets she said so does that mean that there is a prophet on the earth today? and we were like wait a second we are getting to that. We showed her the scripture in Ezekiel 37:15-17 about the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph and her mind was blown, she was like "it says it all right there, what do other religions say about that scripture? why don't other religions use the Book of Mormon?" haha so that was pretty funny, and awesome. She also was going off and she said "ya'll are good people, you never hear anything bad about the Mormons . . . except the whole wife thing, but everyone does that, they just keep it on the down low" Hahaha we were laughing so hard, so that's Quita for you. 

I know that the Lord is always with us through times of trial and even good times too. I know that we are all children of our Heavenly Father and that because of that we have divine qualities and divine worth. I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

 ​This picture was not planned, my compy just rocks at taking pictures.

​So somehow all of a sudden there was a ton of rock solid ice build up on the shore or Lake Michigan that went out about 200 feet or so, so we went and played on it and got some cool pictures. But we drove by later that day and it was all gone.

​I'm standing around where the water usually comes up on the shore.