Hey it's Halloween!!

The weird thing is to think that last year on Halloween I was on my mission, and today is Halloween again and I'm still on my mission. But it is great!! we have been seeing soo many miracles lately. 

So Wednesday morning, mid studies, I look out the window right by my desk to find a dead pig hanging from a tractor. So that was very distracting, of course we had to go out there and see what was up. They were just butchering pigs, that's all, it was pretty cool actually, it gave me a good education. Later that day we came down stairs to leave and there were just two pig heads sitting on the table, no big deal . . . We ate the pig tongue the next day, Grandma actually made it taste really good, it was like an authentic Hawaiian dish. 

The Lord has been blessing us soo much lately, it has been amazing. I don't feel like we have been doing anything differently, but wow all of the sudden we actually have people to teach, like quite a few of them, I'm like where did yous all come from? So things have been going great here. This week we were tracting and we shared the first vision with this young lady and mid first vision I look at her eye lashes and they look wet, I was so confused, then she started sniffling and I realized that she had started crying, like a lot, and she kept crying and we said a prayer with her and she cried even harder, I didn't know what to do, except share the gospel with her of course. She just kept saying thank you so much!! So we are excited to follow up with her. She totes felt the spirit! She said that she would read the Book of Mormon. 

Last week we went across the driveway to Brother and Sister Rekow's garage to help them make apple juice and there was a lady there that they had given a Book of Mormon to, and she asked us how she could better understand it and we said, well, we would love to come over and read it with you, so we have now taught her twice and she has come to church twice, and she is awesome. 

We were teaching a young mom that we met tracting and after we taught her the restoration she said "you guys are blowing my mind . . . it makes so much sense" And we were like YES it does!! This native guy that we are teaching told us that he wants to stop drinking before we even taught him the word of wisdom, he said I just don't think you can be spiritual if you drink. We were like ya, we totally agree! Then we went to the Shawano Trunk or Treat and three members told us that they have friends who want to take the lessons. It's like Heavenly Father flipped a switch and the work here is exploding, even in tiny Gresham and Shawano, Wisconsin. 

I hope yous have a Wonderful week and a Happy Halloween!! Be safe! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

me: Grandma what are you going to do with the pig heart?

Grandma in her sweet tender old lady voice: Feed it to the Sisters :) 

Remember the pictures I sent home of pigs a while ago, well, they are now bacon and ham. They butchered all six of them this week, and we got to watch them do it.  

I can't remember if I ever sent a picture of these cranes, they are all over the place here.

Fall in Wisconsin

My pumpkin!! since I am in Wisconsin is was moldy after 3 days . . . But it was still fun to carve. 

In the woods!! I said "so where are all of the maple trees?" and Sister Rekow said "these are all maple trees"  hahaha . . . . 

25 year old Christmas trees on the left, and maple trees for maple syrup on the right. The "farm"

that we live on is 192 acres, so we decided to explore it. 

Me, Sister van Overbeek, August (Sister Rekow's grandson), and Sister Rekow driving to see the leaves.

Lambeau Field

We went to Lambeau Field last week, and I actually got to see the field this time, a member drove us to Green Bay and we went on a tour, it was pretty cool. While we were waiting for our tour we sat at the bar in Lambeau Field and ate fried cheese curds, I don't think it's possible to get more Wisconsin than that.

​We walked through the little green tunnel that the players run out of. 

I went to Green Bay today . . . sorry

Hello Everyone!! I don't have any time today, so I will write twice as much next week, maybe.

Love,

Sister Koyle

(someone texted these pictures to Mom that day)

At the bar at Lambeau field waiting for cheese curds and a tour 

I hope yous have a good day!

Hello everyone! So this week we almost hit a deer, just as I turned my brights on a deer popped out of the trees like a daisy, ran half way on the road, and turned around and went back. If he would have kept running straight I would have hit him for sure, but the Lord protects his missionaries :). We also lost our phone for a solid 24 hours this week, we knew for sure that it was somewhere in Gresham so that was good, turns out it was laying in our ward mission leaders drive way. Also my companion is sick and she got Grandma and I sick. So Grandma made me drink this concoction of onions, garlic, lemon juice, honey, and ginger, so that was interesting, I feel better though. 

We got to meet with Killian, our recent convert yesterday and we were talking about missionary work and he said "I would be a dope missionary" haha and we were like yes you would be! So that is pretty exciting that he wants to go on a mission and he is going to the temple for baptisms in the middle of November so that is super exciting as well. His friend, who is a member that is preparing to go on a mission, told us that Killian came up to him and said hey do you want to go on a mission together? and he was like, well it doesn't really work that way, hahaha. There is that scripture in D&C 18:15 that talks about how great shall be your joy. And you know, baptisms are great, but it is even better when the people who are baptized continue to live the gospel, that is what brings real joy. Nothing else super exciting has happened, but things here have been going well, they are definitely on the upside. I hope everyone has a great day and a great week! 

Love yous! 

Sister Koyle

(everyone here says yous, instead of you guys, or you all, or ya'll) 

We had Zone Training this week. 

Stay on trail or stay home. 

I think my companion is a little chilly 

​The leaves are falling down

Bonus picture of grandma sleeping on the couch:

Wheat and the Tares

Hello everyone!! I hope you are all having a happy Columbus day. (1 Nephi 13:12) It is Columbus day right? Well anyways, this week was pretty normal. We tracted and we did some service for a few people we saw some less actives and had dinner with some members and saw some recent converts. When we tract here, almost every door is the same. They all say "I have my own religion", so it is pretty hard to get past that, if anyone has any ideas of smart comments to say back please let me know :) Although yesterday we had a different one, they just opened their window and said "thanks" and then closed it. I was like, so. . . . you don't want to talk to us? Also we knocked on a door and saw a car drive by and stare at us and then we went to the next house since the first house didn't answer and when we were knocking on the second house that same car that drove by us pulled into the drive way of the first house, I was like are you kidding me? Another time we were in a nicer part of town and we offered this lady a card, jut a simple card and we told her that it had a great website on it and she gives it back and says oh I don't have a computer, I was like okay first off pretty sure everyone in this neighborhood has some way of using the internet, second please just take the card so that this isn't awkward. It is amazing to me the things that people do to not talk to us, we are trying to bring you salvation!! Now I know how all of those teenage boys feel when they ask a girl out on a date and the girl says no, except the only kind of dates that we want are baptism dates. We just keep trying it's pretty much all we can do. We are trying to have the attitude of, if these people don't accept the gospel it isn't going to be because we didn't try to share it with them.

We drove to Wausau on Wednesday and had district meeting and also interviews with President. President Williams is really awesome, it's like he is a normal person or something, so that was nice. I really like the parable of the wheat and the tares in D&C 86 how it talks about then growing together. Sometimes I wonder why there are so many different churches, and why some people are so against us, and then I realize that there is opposition in all things and that my testimony has grown a lot on my mission because of the opposition I have faced from other people. Everything happens for a reason right? I hope you all have a blessed week! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

 Grandma's Grandson got this 12 point buck so that was pretty cool to see it hanging up in the garage.

The corn is gone and they put a ton on sewage/cow manure on the field and lets just say smelling the Wisconsin dairy air is priceless.

​Maybe not forever . . . but 5 or 6 months is good. :)

Heavenly Father doesn't want weekend visits, he wants full custody!

We were trying to contact less actives for the relief society president and we knocked on this one house and the person we were contacting had moved, but we explained that we were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the lady that answered said "Do you baptize?" and in my mind I was just thinking well heck yes we baptize!! In fact that is my whole purpose in leaving my friends and family for 18 months is to try to baptize people!, how did you know? turns out she actually wants her 9 month old daughter to be baptized, we didn't tell her that we don't baptize babies yet, but we set up an appointment with her, taught her the first vision, and gave her a book of Mormon. She said "I guess I should learn about the religion that my daughter is going to be baptized into" we plan on sharing Moroni 8:10 with her :) we will see how it goes! 

Also we are teaching this awesome couple, sorry I can't remember who I tell you about, but Sister van Overbeek invited them to baptism this week and the husband was like yes I totally want to be baptized before the year is over, and the wife was like do you really think that I can be baptized? And when we told her yes she started crying. They set their date for Christmas, which is like 3 months away, that is a long time for missionaries, so we will see what happens. 

Conference was great! I really enjoyed Elder Oaks talk about missionary work. And fun fact, Elder Uceda (who spoke about prayer) is the Father of the bishop in the Sheboygan ward, so that was pretty cool. One of my favorite quotes was probably from K. Brett Nattress when he said something to the effect of, I am unaware of anyone who reads the Book of Mormon everyday that has fallen away from the church. I thought that was a very good point and it really shows the importance of reading the Book of Mormon each day, it is something that each one of us needs, it brings the spirit into our lives, and it brings peace to our hearts. I wish you all a wonderful week of missionary work! 

Love,

Sister Koyle

Look at this cool hammock swing!! For a second I felt like I was in Logan canyon again. 

 Going to do service #lookingood

This is what we call an Amish Pie and they are bomb.