The Gospel Unites Families Forever

We had a pretty good week, met some pretty promising people and also our investigator got married!! which is so awesome. Me and Sister Naughton were half joking half serious about coming out here next Summer for their sealing in the temple. #FamiliesAreForever She also said that she prayed about being baptized and she feels really good about this religion. She said that it wasn't a very hard decision so that is awesome. So we are really excited for them. 

Also Shirley is actually getting baptized like for real this time. This Saturday at 4 o clock. She passed her baptismal interview and she hasn't smoked for at least 2 and a half weeks, maybe three, I can't remember. We are really excited about her. She also finished reading the book of mormon this week. Some how we got on the topic of her 50th anniversary which is in about 2 years and we asked her what she would like to do for it and she said well I would like to get married in the temple. #FamiliesAreForever So we will have to work really hard on her husband Roy, he is really nice, just not really into religion. She also started on her family history this week so that was pretty exciting.

As we all know yesterday was fast and testimony meeting and this little boy got up to bear his testimony yesterday and he said "My brother tried to throw a ball at me and it didn't hit me and that's how I know that God is real" of course we were all rolling laughing, but then he said that he also knows that God is real because he prayed and he felt a good feeling inside. It is really cool that the holy ghost can testify of the reality of God to a little boy, just as well as anyone else. It doesn't matter how old or young or what race or gender you are, you can receive answers just like anyone else and it is though subtle feelings and thoughts. God loves all of his children so he sends his spirit to speak to us all, as long as we are willing to let the spirit in.

Love,

Sister Koyle

 P.S. Also we get to skype on Sunday so woohoo.

This is a picture of the Berg family after the wedding. The lady in the middle holding the baby is our investigator. 

Washing windows at Above and Beyond 

Drinking Mello Yello

You have so much truth. Why are you with the Mormons?

So we met a guy this week, who claims to be a know it all, apparently he has even read the Book of Mormon. He kept asking us all of these questions expecting that we wouldn't know the answers, I was like dude they don't just send us out here without teaching us first. Anyways so he was actually pretty nice for the most part, he was super old and he gave us a book that he wrote, about seeing God (which we gave to Goodwill since we can't read it anyways). At the end of our conversation he said you have a lot of truth, why are you with the Mormons? I was just thinking, where do you think I got it all from? It is sad when people are so close to the truth, when it is right in front of them, but they don't accept it. 

Anywho, our week was great! Long, but great! We asked a less active member if we could "practice" teaching her the lessons and she kindly agreed, then when we showed up to her house she had her non member friend there with her and so we were able to teach both of them and invite both of them to church and to read the Book of Mormon, it was super cool. There is definitely power in the Book of Mormon that you can't find anywhere else. I am so grateful for that book. 

So there is this former investigator who we are always trying to meet with, but he is always so busy. But we texted him about church, and he texted us back and said, "I can't come to church I'm on house arrest for thirty days". So we said back, "do you have a book of mormon to read?" and he said "ya I have the app" and we said, "when would be a good time for us to stop by to see if you have any questions" and he said, "well I guess anytime". Since he is on house arrest he can't really go anywhere, so that is super nice for us because we can just visit him whenever. So we visited him that evening and he is super cool, he said that he wants to change his life, plus he is a DJ so that is pretty legit. 

My week has been pretty good, nothing too exciting. I'm just trying to be the best missionary that I can be, it is pretty hard sometimes, but it can be fun too. I think the key is just laughing at everything. Me and my comp laugh a lot!! especially since she is hilarious. Make it a great week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

The Beach 

Chicago dog in Sheboygan? 

They never texted us back... #MissionaryWork

Apparently there is something about redheads that gets me

So my new comp is legit, probably because she is a redhead, or it might be because she is from upstate NewYork, either way I love her. So her name is actually Sister Naughton, and we actually came out to the field together, but I came out with like 25 other missionaries (that is a lot), so I didn't actually know her. This week has been long and crazy, but super good. We have already been through quite a bit together, last Tuesday we were tracting in Sheboygan after we got back from Milwaukee and we met this man who was totally against religion and God. It was actually really funny because he said that he didn't believe in God, but then he went off ranting about God and I said so you do believe in God, and he said No! and I said well it sounds like it, sounds like you are just mad at Him. Then we bore hard core testimony to him, but he was just so hardened, but weirdly enough it really strengthened me and Sister Naughtons bond with each other. So ever since the first day we have really just clicked. 

Also this week we set a baptismal date with this awesome lady, who is engaged to a less active member. We are really excited about her. Her and her fiance also moved their wedding date way up, so they are getting married in two weeks, which means that she can get baptized sooner woohoo! I was so excited when they told us that I could hardly contain myself. 

Shirley is still awesome, she hasn't smoked for over a week now so that is really awesome! Also this week we were able to help a member move, it was actually really fun to be able to wear pants and to move boxes and run up and down stairs, super good exercise and I am still sore from doing it. It was really hot that day too and I was able to experience humidity :) It has been soo nice the past couple of days we have been able to wear short sleeves and we can beach contact now since people are outside. 

In other news Sister Naughton is awesome, she just has a fire about her. When we left President's house last Tuesday he told us that we are going to be a powerful team and boy was he right. She has so many good new ideas about how to push the work further along. And she is super obedient, like I thought I was obedient before, but I guess I was wrong. Also she basically already knows all of the active members after going to church once. She asked me about every single member that was at church. 

I am so happy to be here, and so be able to wear Christ's name on my chest, I hope that it will be written on my heart by this time next year. I know that His atonement is real and that because of Him hearts can be healed and softened. It is so cool to see that his work will go on with or without us, so we might as well help it along. I hope everyone is doing well. Have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

 Of course we had to run to the light house :) Also (Robin) I love Sheboygan and I am super happy to stay here, because the people are great and so is the view and now that it is getting warm it is just starting to get good. But my mission president told me that he isn't going to keep me here forever.

 Me and my comp.

Boys will be boys, or in other words, Elders will be boys. No worries, the silly string came right off :)

I think I have been out for 6 months... weird

So we are headed to Milwaukee today, I will meet my new comp tonight and we will drive back to Sheboygan tomorrow morning, I think her name is Sister Naught, but I'm not really sure #NoPunIntended 

We had a pretty great week this week, Shirley hasn't had a cigarette in about 4 days or so, so she is on her way to baptism. It was so cool we took a member with us who used to smoke, and Shirley was saying how she wants to stop and she has better things to move onto like getting baptized and going to the temple, and the member that was with us said "You know Shirley if you were really serious about this then you would give me your smokes right now" And Shirley said I won't give them to you, you don't need that temptation, but I'll give them to the sisters" So she gave them to us and they are hanging from our ceiling fan as our trophy :) we are pretty proud of her. 

Obviously since I am a missionary I don't exactly keep up on politics, but I asked my ward mission leader how the election is going and he said he would rather vote for Hitler at this point, so apparently it isn't looking to good, but then again he is from German decent so it's not that surprising. 

Sister Butler and I were discussing the pre-earth life, because it fascinates me and she said "I hope me and Jesus were tight in the pre-earth life" I was laughing pretty hard. But in all seriousness, obviously we don't know how close we were to Christ before this life, but we can always become closer to Him while we are in this life, we can continually learn of Him and try to become like Him and as we do that we will become closer to Him. 

Have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

​The Sheboygan district at zone training last Tuesday, Elder Keisker takes page 33 very seriously 

All of my companions and I at zone training 

Shirley's Cigarettes 

Hahaha district lunch eating Pho . . . So good

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