Where in the world did August come from?

I can't believe it is here, I feel like time is flying by. I never thought I would say that. When I was first being trained I would pray every day that the time would go by faster. I think Heavenly Father is just now answering my prayer. 

This week has been pretty great. We will have a Baptism on August 13th and I am SOO excited for it. This 19 year old kid that we are teaching has been so prepared by his member friends. It is amazing to see. We taught him about families and temple this week and his Mom passed away when he was 11 and he just can't wait to have his Mom baptized in the temple. During his prayer at the end of the lesson he started getting choked up. I always love it when the spirit brings grown men to tears. We also taught him law of chastity this week, that was interesting teaching someone my own age, but it actually went alright, the member couple that we were with bore hard core testimony :) thank you members! 

And the 16 year old girl that we are teaching set a baptismal date for September 16th. It is so cool when people set baptismal dates and they actually know what they are doing and are prepared for it. She was just so happy and smiley after she decided on a date. Now she just needs her Dad's permission. So if anyone wants to pray for that that would be awesome. 

I also found out this week that a 19 year old guy in Sheboygan that Sister Naughton and I tracted into when I was there got baptized recently. So that was pretty exciting, he is Hmong and so we referred him to the Hmong elders there and they could never get in contact with him, but after I left they were able to contact him and teach him, and now they are teaching his Mom.

This week it was raining pretty hard and I was driving and there were frogs jumping all over the road, I don't think I hit too many of them though, but it was super weird, I have never seen anything like that before. Wisconsin is really beautiful and green, and there are red barns all over, it is kind of nice. The gospel is true, the book is also true, so read it, and it will help you. Have a great week.

Love,

Sister Koyle

 I guess we played dress up . . . Grandma has been housing missionaries for ten years, for 7 of those years she had Elders, so in the depths of her house we found these old suit coats, and a fedora.

 So I tried on Grandma's wedding dress from 65 years ago, it actually fit pretty well. She told me she would let me borrow it for my wedding, hahaha she is a funny lady.

This road is called lovers lane, #TotesAdorbs

9 down 9 to go, but who's counting?

Well honestly nothing too exciting happened this week. We had interviews with President Williams on Friday so we got to drive to Wausau for that. It was nice to actually sit down with him to get to know him better. And the interview was great, I didn't feel rushed at all, so that was nice and much different from President Cutler. 

I also burned a skirt for my nine months mark. It was so funny when we went to burn it, Grandma Rekow told us to be careful because she didn't want us to start a huge fire because it is so dry outside. The funny thing is that it had rained that morning and it is NEVER too dry in Wisconsin. We have an Elder serving here from New Mexico and he said "In New Mexico we pray for rain. Here, they need to stop praying" I was laughing so hard, because it is so true. They don't even water their fields here, or their gardens, how nice would that be? I haven't seen any wheel lines or pivots since I have been here, but there are fields of corn 6 feet high everywhere you go. 

Sometimes we get to see this super sweet 93 year old lady. She was inactive for 60 years, but she has started to come back to church now. And she is the classiest lady I have ever met. Basically think of Audrey Hepburn when she is 93 and that is this lady. She always talks about her days of playing the violin and waltzing. She is always giving us tips on how to look young and what products to use, she is hilarious. This week she said in a very serious voice "girls, I have to ask you something, what does hashtag mean?" It wasn't that easy to explain it to a 93 year old. But I think she got the idea.

All of the people that we are teaching are doing well and are progressing, so that is great. We are just trying to find new people to teach now, so that we still have people to teach after these people are baptized. We have a recent convert working toward the temple so that is exciting. Hopefully I will be able to go with her. This nine month drought of temple attendance is going to kill me. We figured out another thing that CTR stands for, Current Temple Recommend. Even if the temple is too far away for you to go often, it is still important to have a recommend, and to be worthy to enter. I love the temple to much and I am so grateful for the peace that is there, and I am so grateful for the priesthood power to bind families together forever. I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Koyle

Here's to nine months! #halfway #Doesn'tFeelLikeIt 

Don't worry Mom this was my companion's old skirt that had holes in it

I had my very first kids meal this week, so that was kinda fun.

I am on a Quest!!

So we had a stellar zone training this week, a real kick in the pants. I needed it so bad, and I bet everyone else did too. The Sister training leaders shared this poem with us and talked about how Obedience is our quest. How the world puts limitations on things and tells us that we can't reach our goals, but with God nothing shall be impossible. All we need to do is have the faith, because God works according to our faith.  

"To dream the impossible dream

To fight the unbeatable foe

To bear with unbearable sorrow

To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong

To love pure and chaste from afar

To try when your arms are too weary

To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest"

This week we were going to set a baptismal date with this 16 year old kids for sometime in October, but when we asked him when he wanted to get baptized he said before school starts, so he set his baptismal date for August 27th, so we need to teach him all of the lessons before then. But that was a total miracle! We were so excited. The 19 year old kid that we are teaching is really progressing as well and he had so much real intent and desire to be baptized, we are aiming for the 6th of August with him if we can teach him all of the lessons and get him interviewed by then. And the 16 year old girl that we are teaching wants to get baptized in September, we just need her Dad's permission and his heart has softened, he has let the missionaries in Fond Du Lac come over twice now. So thanks to the Lord miracles are happening, we don't have many people to teach but the ones that we do have are AWESOME. I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Love,

Sister Koyle

 Sorry this picture is awful, but this is the Shawano Ski Sharks. Sometimes we watch them on Monday's when we have nothing else to do. In this picture there is a tower of 6 of them on water skis, it's pretty cool.

Nature is a miracle.

​a member showed this to us, I thought it was pretty cool.

Wisconsin is a wonderful place . . . if you can withstand the mosquitos

Well honestly this week has not been very eventful, besides the fact that I counted 16 mosquito bites on my legs. I guess I am going to have to start wearing bug spray instead of perfume. All day yesterday we literally tried to contact every less active and former investigator that we could, and no one answered their door. So that was interesting. We did have a really cool miracle this week though.

Last week at church a member told us about this less active girl who has been going through a lot of hard things and she is ready to come back to church, but she doesn't really know any of the doctrine because she was just baptized at 8 years old and that was it. So we contacted her and her husband let us right in, they are thee sweetest couple. And they both really want to be taught and they both want to come back to church. And he isn't even a member yet, so hopefully we can get him baptized. 

Also there is a man who we have been teaching and he hasn't really progressed too much because his wife is anti, but this past Wednesday we got his wife to come to the church to do family history and they were able to find some good leads on her family history, so she is planning on coming back in a couple of weeks to do some more. Their son and daughter also came to the church and they both played capture the flag with the youth and we were able to give a Book of Mormon to the son. So that was pretty exciting. 

On Saturday we had a young woman come out with us because she wants to serve a mission and it was so funny. We were walking around the baseball park giving out cards and talking to people and she was just super freaked out, like she couldn't believe what we were doing. Then we tracted for a bit and when someone accepted an offer to pray with us she squealed, I think it freaked them out a little bit, but they still prayed with us :) We also helped a part member family with service and it was SO FUN! We basically just got to play in the dirt, and pull out weeds and vines and little stumps, I loved it so much. I hope you all have a super great week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

This is what we eat for dinner every night . . . JK

They have nice sunsets here.

​​The Church oh Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is even on the welcome to Gresham sign.

So grateful for Religious Freedom and that I am serving in the states.

This week has flown by, so I guess that means that it has been a good week. It is weird to have P-day on Tuesday. I can't really remember what we did this past week. It was the end of the month so we were walking a lot. Friday we drove to Madison for three hours had a 2 hour meeting with President Williams and his wife and then ate dinner and drove home, so that took up the whole day. It was good to meet him though, he seems like a nice guy and like he will be good for our mission. Over the pulpit he said "do you think I'm nervous? ABSOLUTELY!! (with his hands in the air) But whom the Lord calls he qualifies." I took a lot of good notes from him, but I don't have them with me now. I remember that he said that a mission is a defining moment in life. That the decisions that I make here will affect the life that I will have after my mission. I thought that was really cool, and it really struck me. I need to "choose the harder right" as President Monson says. It is really cool because mission presidents spend like four days with the 12 apostles before they come out, so he was basically a spiritual power house because of that. He said that he and his wife really want to get out with the missionaries and actually do missionary work which is really cool. 

On Saturday Gresham had all of their festivities, so we street contacted before and after the parade (the only day of the year that you can street contact in Gresham) It was so nice to actually be able to have people to talk to about the gospel. We got to watch the fire works out of our bedroom window that night. Yesterday Bonduel had all of their festivities so we went to the Bonduel parade and the after party at the park and we contacted people. Again so nice to actually have people to talk to. We found a few kind of promising people. It is hard because almost everyone knows about the church already from unreliable sources. But that is why we are here, to try and straighten out some of those misconceptions, and to show people that we are nice people.

We had a super solid lesson with the 19 year old guy in Gresham. He is still praying about baptism on August 6th. We read 2 Nephi 31 with him and we related the gospel of Jesus Christ to golf, since he is a golfer and in verse 9 of that chapter it talks about the straitness of the path, and there is a Golf course that he goes to called The Whistling Straights. We have to have the faith to swing. Strait spelled that way means a narrow strip of land, so we have to follow that narrow strip of land until we make it to the hole, AKA endure to the end until we make it to the celestial kingdom. So it has been a good week. I know God answers prayers, the answer isn't always what we want to hear, but he does answer. I hope you all have a great week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

P.S. 1 Nephi 13 17-19 totally talks about our independence from Britain, the Book of Mormon is amazing. What can I say more?

 We went fishing last Monday with a part member family and I caught this tiny Blue Gill, it is the first fish that I have ever caught with a fishing pole . . . but it was tiny so we had to throw it back. I also caught a tiny perch . . . that we also threw back.

But the people that we went fishing with gave us all of their fish, so we brought them home to grandma and she taught us her ways of butchering fish or whatever you call it. So I got to skin this bass. It was super fun, I would probably do it again.

Friday we drove three hours to Madison, to meet our new mission president. So we decided to stop by the capitol for a bit, because why not? I like Madison, it is a nice city, I wouldn't mind serving there in the future, just sayin.

AAAAND Happy Fourth of July!! Once again, my favorite holiday, good thing I am still in the states or else I might go insane.

Happy Fourth of July

The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday ever, also due to the Fourth of July my p-day will be on Tuesday the 5th, just FYI. This week has been interesting. It has been hot. But I can't complain to the people down in Arizona who are dealing with 120 degrees because it has only gotten up to 94 here. We had a some super cool miracles this week, we taught this 19 year old kid who is friends with the bishops son and he basically already knew everything that we taught him it was super cool, he was telling us about the spirit world and the celestial kingdom before we even said anything about it. And he has a baptismal date for August 6th, so we are really excited for him. 

Then at church yesterday this young man came up to us and asked us when he could meet with us. So that was super cool, he has come to church about 3 times now, totally on his own, he even rides his bike to church, talk about dedicated :) We are really excited to meet with him. He has a couple of friends in the ward too. The power of a member missionary is real, go invite your friends to church!! 

We also has exchanges again this week on Saturday and Sister Katz came to Gresham for the day with me. But all day Friday she had walked in the heat and the house that we live in doesn't have AC so it is usually super hot in there. And Saturday morning we walked all around Shawano (since we have no miles to spare) in the heat, so Sister Katz was sick most of Saturday with heat stroke or exhaustion or whatever it is called. She was super delirious and kind of funny to listen to. She ended up laying on the couch in the church in the dark for about 2 hours on Saturday so that she could rest somewhere cool so that she didn't die. We both drank like 4 water bottles and a power aid that day so we were alright. But it was kind of an adventure. 

We had dinner this week with this totally adorable old couple and they said that they like to hold hands because they love each other, but mostly to support one another so that they don't fall. But they were still holding hands while they were sitting down, so I think it is really just because they love each other. 

That was pretty much my week. This area is pretty hard, but the Lord is blessing us with miracles as we are obedient. I hope everyone has a grand time celebrating their country and their freedom and their religion this week. Alma 46:12-13. 

Love,

Sister Koyle

We found these tiny frogs on the road while we were walking, they are so cute. 

 Awkward District Pics

Elder Allton, Elder Vandreew, Sister Jenson, Elder Shepard, Elder Lott, Me

​This is Piper, she is nine and totally hilarious, I love her so much.

Eternal Life is Family Life

So I would like to first off wish my Dad a Happy Fathers Day! Thanks for everything Dad. So we have had a few exciting things happen this week. First off we were walking since we are always low on miles and we saw this girl with a super cute puppy, it is always easy to talk to people about their dogs, so we were all over that. And come to find out that she really wants God in her life and she really wants to come back to church. She is a native and she just got out of a really bad relationship, but she is super cute and I am so excited to teach her later today. When we gave her the Book of Mormon and told her that she could keep it she was so excited, she hugged it and said that she would treasure it forever and I was just thinking, yes you will you, you have no idea right now the difference that book will make in your life. But it was awesome, I have never had anyone receive the book of Mormon the way that she did. 

Also there is a guy who came to church this week that is a friend of the bishop's son and we asked him if he would like to learn more and he said actually yes I would, so we are going to meet with him tomorrow. The Lord has really been blessing us. And President Cutler gave us two referrals so that is exciting, I have never had my mission president give me a referral before. 

We had zone conference on Friday and it was super great. It was about 7 hours long. I showed up to zone conference and looked down at my feet and realized that I was wearing flip flops, so thank goodness zone conference was in Gresham and we just live a mile from the church, so we went home real quick so that I could change my shoes. But the actual conference was really great, it is President Cutler so he talked more about how "eternal life is family life", they have really ingrained that in us, but it is wonderful I love it. Sister Cutler also talked a lot about the atonement which was awesome as well, she had us write a one page summary of what we have learned from doing the Book of Mormon Atonement study, so that was kinda cool. I think I will attach it to this email, if you want to read it you can. 

This week a raccoon ate all of grandma's chickens, we set three traps to try and catch the raccoon, but it is too smart, somehow it got the food out of the trap without getting caught in it. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week and a happy Summer! 

Love always,

Sister Koyle

 This is my mission president and his wife President and Sister Cutler, they are so sweet. We had our last zone conference with them on Friday. They go home next week. My new president's name is President Williams, we will see what he has in store for our mission. On July 1st we will be able to go down to Madison to meet him.

​You know, just the usual corn car . . . only in Wisconsin 

We went to the Sun Drop factory in Shawano for P-day last week, it was pretty fun and we got to try all of the flavors.

What the Atonement Means in My Life 

June 15, 2016 

Sister Naomi Koyle 

Between being a missionary, studying The Living Christ, and now doing the Book of Mormon Atonement Study I have learned a lot about Christ’s Atonement for all mankind. The first thing that I have learned is that all mankind includes me. I learned in Preach My Gospel that the Atonement includes Christ’s suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane, His death on the cross, and His resurrection. Growing up I always learned that the word Atonement meant “at one with God”. Therefore, because of the act of the Atonement I can be with my Heavenly Father again, or in his presence. No unclean thing can enter the presence of God; as I rely on the Atonement I can become clean each week as I partake of the sacrament. In Alma 5:34 is says “Ye shall eat and drink of the bread and the waters of life freely”. Repentance is free because Christ has already payed the price for everyone. However Christ cannot make me clean against my will, I have to make the choice to accept his help. That is why repentance is so important. As I repent I am able to use my agency to choose to align my will more closely to Heavenly Father’s will. And since being on a mission I have realized that repentance is only possible because of the Atonement. In Mosiah 26: 29-30 I find that because Christ suffered for me I am able to repent and be forgiven, and I am also able to forgive others.  

Some of my favorite passages in The Book of Mormon are in Mosiah 14: 4-5. “Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 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 love that last line. I know that I can be healed through the Atonement of Christ. I know from Alma 7:11 that he not only suffered for my sins, but also for my pains and afflictions and temptations. He has suffered everything for me, all of my sorrow and sadness, He always knows exactly how I feel, and I can always rely on Him. In 3 Nephi 9:13-14 Christ says to come unto Him, His arm of mercy is always extended towards me, repent and return to Him so that He may heal me. He willingly suffered, took His life, and raised it again because He has so much love and charity His Father, for me, and for each of God’s children.  

Since Christ was resurrected I will also be resurrected. I will be able to have a perfect immortal body, my spirit and body will be united forever. And so will all of my family members. My Dad will have a perfect back, my Grandpa will have a perfect mind. I will be able to see my Aunt and my Grandpa again. Because of the Atonement I am able to live with my family and with Heavenly Father forever. That includes my family that I have now and my future family. Because of Christ’s Atonement families can be together forever, sealed together by his power in sacred temples. Because of the Atonement I can have eternal life, and we all know that eternal life is family life.