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.

This week was a bit more exciting than the last one.

So I keep forgetting to tell everyone my address, so here it is!

P.O. Box 25 Gresham WI. 54128   . . . . please write me :)

Also I keep forgetting to tell everyone that Elder Lott is in my district, he used to be in my ward when I was in college in Logan, so it is kinda fun every week to see someone that I know from before the mission.
So this week has been fun, and miraculous. It is our goal every week to share the first vision 14 times a week, and we usually don't ever make that goal, but, by the grace of God, we were able to this week! Yesterday we knocked on three houses in a row and shared the first vision with all of them and gave them all a copy of the Book of Mormon and set up two return appointments so that was really awesome.
Also I got to eat some bacon cheese and chocolate cheese it was super good and I highly recommend it, the chocolate cheese was basically like eating fudge, super weird.
We were driving to district meeting in Antigo which is an hour away and we have to drive on a dirt road through the reservation and it had rained the night before and we almost got stuck, but we didn't :) but we did have to stop the car and move a bunch of tree branches off of the road, so that was fun.
I got to exchange with Sister Katz on Wednesday it was great. She is from LA and went to school near San Diego for four years, and she is a very seasoned missionary, she served in the ghetto of Milwaukee for nine months of her mission, and told me a lot of stories about how the Lord protects his missionaries.
We met a native guy yesterday tracting in Shawano and he was super nice. We were telling him about the Book of Mormon and how it is a record of ancient people in the Americas and he said well the only people who were in America was the natives and we said exactly, this book talks about your ancestors and we preceded to tell him how Lehi came over to America from Jerusalem and he was like no, us natives were created from the dust of the earth. So, I was not expecting that. But he was really cool to talk to, he told us how he believes in Christ and how a Teepee has 13 poles which represent Christ and the 12 apostles, and how they all point upward toward God, and how their doors always face East. It is really interesting how people have bits and pieces of the truth, I am so glad that we have all of the truth and all of the pieces of Christ's original church. I am so glad to be a missionary, sometimes it is hard, but I am trying to get over myself as Elder Bednar directs :) I hope you all have a wonderful week.
Love,
Sister Koyle

 ​Tender Mercy, we were tracting when it was 90 degrees out, and an ice cream truck drove by, so we got some ice cream :) Also it was the first time I have actually seen an ice cream truck so that was awesome, it had music and everything.

 I went on exchanges with Sister Katz in Wausau, she is so sweet!

 So before the big rain storm it was really hot in the attic so we opened the windows to let the cool air in, and we left our study room for a bit, and when we came back we were locked out of our study room, the wind had blown the door and jammed it shut somehow. So while we were figuring out how to get into our study room the storm came and our windows were open and got everything all wet including our area book.

So this is our area book the next day all layed out on the floor and trying to dry.

Everyone here loves Sun Drop

Well I don't have much time. Nothing too exciting happened this week. We have just been trying to meet the part member families and trying to have lessons with them. We do have a few other investigators who we need to set baptismal dates with. There is this 16 year old girl who is so awesome and so spiritually mature for her age, she is so ready for baptism, but her parents won't let her be baptized till she is 18. There is another Man, who is a total family guy and he is ready for baptism too, but he doesn't want to do it without his family, which is great, except for his wife is anti. We asked him to be baptized on July 9th and he said that he would be baptized on July 9th 2017, so at least he is willing, but hopefully it will be sooner that that. We also had a media referral who we have a lesson with today, he seems really prepared so we are excited about him, apparently he used to live with a Mormon family in Arizona, so that is how he got interested. We are also teaching this Mother and her son and they are pretty interesting, I love the Mom so much she just needs to get baptized, but they both have a really hard time reading and so they don't have a testimony of the Book of Mormon because they can't read it. I never thought I would come across that problem on my mission, but oh well. 

A lot of the members here are really great, they are so sweet and nice to us. There are quite a few members who give us the cold shoulder, I think that is because in the past they used to send all of the disobedient missionaries here, so we will have to figure out a way to gain their trust. We have a 9 year old recent convert who is so adorable and full of energy, I love her so much, she is always wanting to play crazy games with us. There is another recent convert who is preparing to go to the temple in August, so I am really excited about that since I will hopefully get to go with her, I will get to go to the temple after a 10 month dry spell, I miss it so much. Not much else has happened. I got some mosquito bites since they are everywhere, I haven't hit a deer yet so that is a plus and I saw a bald eagle. 

I love fast and testimony meeting, I don't know how everyone else's Sacrament meeting was, but ours here in Shawano was great. The spirit was really strong and I bore my testimony and just shared the love of Jesus Christ, most of us probably know Alma 7:11-12 but Sister Jenson was reading it this morning and she said that it just clicked that he willing suffered and died for us so that he would know exactly how we feel, so I just thought I would share that with all of you. Also families are forever and what a blessing that is!! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

There are Amish people here!!! and a lot of rain. Everyone here keeps saying that they need the rain, but I'm like it is SOOO green, I don't think you need any more rain.

​These are the Williams girls, aren't they adorable? We played an awesome game of Jenga before we ate dinner.

​I think this is the ugliest, biggest, turtle I have ever seen in my life.

So many trees, so few people

someone texted this picture to Mom on Memorial Day

So I live in the attic of an OLD farm house with an 85 year old lady, who we call Grandma Rekow. She is known around town for making interesting food, the first thing I ate when I got here last Wednesday was chicken giblets. I have realized that I took a LOT of things for granted in Sheboygan, and in life :) Gresham has 584 people or something like that, and they are ALL related. 300 of them are Mormon, and about 150 of them are active. The other 284 people already know all about Mormons, so we can't really tract here, but we cover a billion other tiny towns that are anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes away, the closest missionaries to us are an hour away, which is very different from Sheboygan. My area actually covers two different wards, which are in two different stakes, or zones. We have the Gresham ward, in Wausau, and the Shawano ward in Green bay. We also cover the Menominee Indian reservation, but we can't go there without a priesthood holder. 

There are a lot of trees, and wildlife, so far I have seen 2 frogs, a snake, 5 turtles, a four foot crane, bear tracks, and a bunch of other random things. I am definitely not in Sheboygan anymore. It just takes some getting used to. Especially since the only thing I know how to do is tract, and we basically can't do that much anymore, so I will have to try really hard to figure out other ways to find people. My comp, Sister Jenson, is from Boise, she is nice and we get along, but I really miss the fire that Sister Naughton had about the work. I think that when missionaries get sent to Gresham they just assume that there is no missionary work to do here, so then they don't work as hard or try as hard, but I am pretty determined not to fall into that trap, I know that miracles happen when we are obedient, and diligent. 

I have mostly just been getting to know the members, because there are a lot of them. On Saturday morning the Gresham ward had a breakfast and then we went to Gresham's church on Sunday so I got to know that ward pretty well. Then last night the Shawano ward had a Luau and so I got to know some of them, the Luau was really fun and it was nice to see that a lot of people invited their friends. We also got to do the hukilau dance with the relief society so that was pretty fun. 

So basically it has been a decent week and this area is probably going to be pretty hard and it is really going to test me, but the mission field is all about the atonement so I'll just rely on my savior.

I love you all! 

Sister Koyle

P.S. Congrats Ethan and Jeni!! I am really excited for you two. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow, take lots of pictures for me :)

​We went to Bookworm gardens last p-day in Sheboygan, it is the cutest little garden, we had a lot of fun there.

Transfer omelets at the Bingham's, my last day in Sheboygan. 

​Driving to transfer point, six suit cases, four sisters, all in one car.

a painter turtle on the side of the road, apparently if we catch a snapper in July grandma will make turtle soup. 

 ​So many trees, so few houses. This is what a vast majority of my area looks like.

 This is our dog Roxy, she was weekly planning with us.

This is my closet!!! Isn't it huge!

Where in the world is Gresham?

So I don't have much time today, but this week has been amazing and this transfer has been even better, I have loved Sister Naughton so much and all that she has taught me, but it looks like I am going to Gresham in Wausau, I have heard mostly good things about it, but I am a little concerned about my companion, but all I can do it hope for the best, I think the worst thing about getting transferred is packing everything and realizing how much stuff I have accumulated. 

Something really cool that happened yesterday is that we had 4 investigators at church, that is the most I have ever had during my whole mission. But also we were walking down the street yesterday and there was a lady sitting on the curb and we just started talking to her, and of course our conversation led to the gospel and she was genuinely interested and we set up an appointment with her and we gave her our number, but we forgot to ask for hers, but then like an hour later she texted us (that NEVER happens) and was like this is the lady that you just met, I am excited for out meeting tomorrow, so then we had her number and we are really excited to meet with her today because she seems pretty solid. 

Also for some reason this week we have been receiving a lot of marriage and family advice, everyone just keeps telling us all of these things, it is kinda weird. But one thing that I liked was from a less active member and she said that if you are going to have children then you need to pay attention to them. And I really liked that because 1. It's true and 2. We are all Heavenly Father's children and he pays attention to us. He is very involved in all of our lives and he is always there for us whenever we need anything, he always wants the best for us and he always listens. 

So wish me luck in my new area, I will miss Sheboygan a lot, I have really grown to love the people and the place, but I guess I am on to new adventures. Have a wonderful week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

​Last week for P-day we hung out at the park, it was super fun. 

​We had out last district meeting of the transfer. #TeachRepentanceBaptizeConverts 

We had exchanges with Sister Quist and Sister Schlosser 

And we got to see little Elkhart Lake in all of it's glory . . . so pretty

These are some of my favorite people from Sheboygan:

the first is Ariel who I was teaching, and her good friend Sister Pollock

This is Grandma Marsha from Sheboygan, she makes the best cake!! and we didn't even match on purpose.

This is Brother Klunk the ward mission leader in Sheboygan, He always does that thing with his hands because he says that he was born when pterodactyls roamed the earth.

This is Elissa Berg, I was teaching her in Sheboygan, she is great and she is getting baptized on June 11th, I am so happy for her.

Member work is the bomb

Well all of the sudden we have been doing quite a bit of member work and it is awesome!! The only problem is two of our solid investigators are on probation or parole or whatever that is called, and one of them is under 18, and we haven't talked to her parents yet, so we can't really set baptismal dates with any of them yet.

This week was great though, we had zone training in Oshkosh on Tuesday and I got to see some of my homies, and learn how to use the family proclamation more in my finding. And on Friday we had interviews with the mission president, it was our last interviews with him, because we are getting a new president in July. 

We had a really cool thing happen, for mutual the young woman had us come and teach them the first lesson, and they invited all of their nonmember friends. So there was this one girl who was really interested and so we have started teaching her, she is awesome, and such a cute girl.

Shirley called us last week and told us that her husband Roy broke his femur, so he had surgery and now he is in a nursing home for a month, which means that we can teach him in the nursing home and he just gets to listen because he can't go anywhere :) 

We also did a lot of service this week, which is really fun, we helped this man fix a fence and he said that he would come to church next week. And then we helped a part member family with their garden and we were completely covered in dirt, so that was fun. Our other investigator gets off of house arrest this wednesday so he said that he will come to church this coming Sunday so that is super great. 

And almost everyone that I love was at church on Sunday it was the best sunday ever, and we had a munch and mingle afterwards so that was great! 

Also there is this family in our ward here with 9 kids and between the 11 of them they play the piano, cello, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and the harp. So they just held a family recital yesterday after church and all of the pews were packed and about half of the people were nonmembers, so we were all over that. It was a wonderful time and we met a lot of cool people. 

This may or may not be my last week in Sheboygan, we will find out on Sunday. Remember that Christ lives and that he loves you and that Heavenly Father doesn't expect perfection, only progress. 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Magnolia trees are blooming 

 All of the sisters in my zone, My trainer is with Sister Naughton's MTC companion and my MTC companion is with Sister Naughton's trainer, confusing I know.

A korean lady in our ward gave us this Korean tea and when she gave it to us she said that some people think that it tastes like dirt, but it is really good for you. So I was like I bet if I put three spoonfuls of sugar in it it won't taste bad, well I was wrong, it definitely tastes like you are drinking dirt, so I just downed it really fast.