They forsook all, and followed him

Time is flying by, I can't believe another week is gone. Things here are starting to pick up so that is good. We haven't had anyone to teach for basically two months now, but now we have a few investigators which is great. All in all we are doing well, my companion and I are very different, but we actually get along pretty well. It has been really nice and warm the past couple of days which has been super nice. But we have had some freezing rain, which makes everything super slippery and scary to drive in, but we are doing good. One of the Elders recent converts passed away unexpectedly a couple of days ago, so that was really crazy, and kinda sad, and apparently our neighbor is on the run from the cops, so that is kind of exciting. Exchanges were really good. We knocked on this guys house and he was so cool, he was like so happy to listen to our message, and then he told us that he used to talk to the Elders in Appleton, but then he had to move back down to Milwaukee, and he lost his Book of Mormon, so we gave him another one and he was like "I'm fina read this" So that was really cool, he totally wants to meet with missionaries again. We also met a cool lady named Linda, we are excited about her. It is pretty easy to get discouraged as a missionary, but you just have to stay positive. There are so many negative things that happen, but you must focus on the good, and forget the bad. I have been reading the new testament, I have a goal to finish it before April 27th, and I was reading Luke 5 about when Christ tells them to let their nets down and Peter says "Master, we have toiled all the night, and taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes" and they had to call their friends over to help them catch all of the fish. I loved this because I feel like this is my life, we have toiled and caught nothing! But I know that as we are obedient to our Heavenly Father and the Spirit that we will be blessed for our efforts. I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle
P.S. We were tracting during the (Green Bay football playoff) game last night and someone told us that it was like 21-3 packers. So I figured they might win. Also tracting during the game = no success. We had some drunks yell at us though.

Well we went on exchanges this week, I went with Sister Hess to Milwaukee and Sister Wilson and Sister Naughton were in Waukesha.

There is a talk called "A Summer with Great Aunt Rose" and it talks about how forever consists of nows, I really liked that, what we do now matters in eternity.

Here are some cool looking churches or buildings or something that we saw in Milwaukee. :)

Pewaukee Lake

The ice fisherman

Yes that is a truck behind me driving on the lake.

We actually had a lesson with someone this week!

So this week was interesting, it was super cold, but it was really good. We were thankfully able to meet with this mother and her daughter, they have learned a lot about the church already. I was so happy when we were able to have a lesson with them, Sister Wilson invited them to baptism and the ending result or answer was "probably" so we will keep working with them. We have been challenged to invite one person to baptism per day and it is pretty fun actually, to be able to find that one person each day, and to hear their different answers. Most of them say that if they knew that it was true that they would be baptized. But a lot of them say that they have already been baptized, that's when we get to teach and testify of the priesthood. We had a super good zone conference on Tuesday. President talked about repentance and all of the different steps and it was wonderful, I really enjoyed it. He also talked about Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-27 26 "For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward. Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;" The Lord isn't going to tell us every little thing that we should or should not do, but we just need to be sure that we are always doing things for a good cause, and that we are being righteous, and not wasting away this time that we have here on this earth. I know January is usually a hard month for people. The Holidays are over and it is bitter cold, and everyone is broke, but we can still feel the love of our Savior as we repent daily and as we serve others and turn outward just like Christ always did. I hope that you all have a wonderful week and that you can look at the positive and bright side of things.

Love,

Sister Koyle

The sunset on Pewaukee lake

Hahaha this is my favorite picture, we were laughing so hard last night. We had dinner with the Hansen's yesterday and they were so kind to let Sister Wilson have this coat. It is a down coat and it is good up to -40 degrees. 

Sister Wilson: I'm just a blueberry

Me: No you aren't, you are a daughter of God.

We had a lot of fun slidding around on this side walk, the entire thing was just ice. 

Happy 2017!!

Well I hope that everyone had a safe and happy new year's eve and new years day. New years eve we played exploding kittens (a card game) at a members house and that was the extent of our partying. When we told their 9 year old daughter that we don't stay up till midnight on New Years Eve she was devastated, she hardly even believed us. We tracted most of the week, I actually love tracting most of the time. We met this awesome JW lady. Usually when we come in contact with Jehovah's Witness' we kind of both just have a mutual understanding with one another that we don't really want to talk to each other, and that is that. But this lady was very different, she was asking us all of these questions and it was awesome, it was fun to be able to answer them all. We talked to her on her doorstep for a long time, and Sister Wilson bore some hard core testimony, and we almost got the lady to take a Book of Mormon. Also at church yesterday a recent convert brought one of her friends to church and she asked us for a Book of Mormon, #AlwaysPacking so that was pretty cool too, hopefully something good happens with her. I am excited for the new year, 2017 is going to be a great year. It is really weird to think that I will only be a missionary for 4 of the months in this year. I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been Restored and I am so grateful for it.

Love,

Sister Koyle

Another district picture. Sister Gross is going home in 2 days. Sister Wilson always wears all of her winter gear because apparently she is always cold. 

Ice fishing season is in full swing. 

Turtle crossing! . . . probably not this time of year

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!