Dear Family,
Sister Baylee Koenig has been serving as a missionary in the Florida Jacksonville mission for the past 18 months. It has been a great blessing for us to have her serving here. She will be returning home in the next few weeks.
To her service as a missionary here she had opportunities to serve in several different areas throughout our mission. She served in Brunswick, Georgia. She also served in MacClenney, and Orange Park Florida.
There is such a sweet wonderful spirit about this great missionary. she has always been very obedient and dependable. She's the type of missionary that we never had to worry about, she never had a complaint, she always held her head high and did a wonderful work by putting her heart, mind, and soul into everything that she did.
It has been a wonderful blessing to see the transformation through the growth and progress that she has experienced during her mission. What was once a fairly quiet and reserved missionary at the beginning has become a powerful and confident missionary at the conclusion of her mission.
That wonderful spirit that she invited into her work has allowed her to become a wonderful teacher of the Gospel. It has been a beautiful experience to see how many lives she has touched by her inspired teachings. Many lifelong and eternal friendships have been created through relationships with nonmember, less active member, and active member alike.
In one of her recent cities that she served, she had very little success in the way of baptisms for some time. Initially there were some concerns on how to learn how to work with the members and help them create a desire to help in missionary work.
Sister Koenig was instrumental in serving that Ward and in helping to change the attitude of the people in that area. They soon grew to love and respect her. She was an instrument tin the Lord's hands in preparing some of the first baptisms that had taken place in that Ward for a long time. It shows the great faith and dedication this sweet missionary has. Her love of the people and love of our Savior Jesus Christ have been a great blessing to us all.
She'll be a great blessing in the church when she returns home with many skills and gifts and talents that she will continue to use as she serves in the church.
We return her home having completed her mission with great honor. Her family can be very proud of her.. She is a wonderful disciple of Jesus Christ.
Sister Craig and I deeply appreciate the loving sacrifice you have extended to prepare this choice young missionary for her exemplary service here.
With Much Love and appreciation,
President Paul W. Craig
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Welcome Home Sister Koenig
Wednesday, May 13, 2015
April 14, 2015
I can't believe it. This is the weirdest I have ever felt in my whole
life. I JUST HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS!! I'm happy, then sad, then
excited, then nervous. It's just so weird. I can't believe that 18
months has come and gone. I've learned so much and changed so much and
I'm soooo glad that I decided to come on a mission. It's changed my
life. So I'll fill you in on all the details in a few short days, but
I wanted to end my last email with my testimony:
One of the most important things that I've learned in the last year
and a half is that God loves us. He loves every single one of us soooo
much. And he wants us to be happy... Which is why he has given us the
gospel. I know that living the gospel is the only way that we can be
truly happy. It finally makes sense. I know that all of the
commandments are for our good and that they bring us lasting
happiness. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.
I could go on for dayssss about this but I've seen this time and time
again, and prayer really works! I know that the Book of Mormon is
true. It's another witness of Jesus Christ and we learn so much about
Him and how to become more like Him by reading it. And most of all I
know that Jesus Christ is my savior. I've learned so much about the
atonement and about repentance and I'm so thankful that Christ has
made that possible for us. That we can change and repent and be able
to say (like the conference talk) "'Twas I, but tis not I." I know
that the church is true. And I loveeeee being a missionary!
Amen.
HALLELUJAH!
Love y'all!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig
life. I JUST HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS!! I'm happy, then sad, then
excited, then nervous. It's just so weird. I can't believe that 18
months has come and gone. I've learned so much and changed so much and
I'm soooo glad that I decided to come on a mission. It's changed my
life. So I'll fill you in on all the details in a few short days, but
I wanted to end my last email with my testimony:
One of the most important things that I've learned in the last year
and a half is that God loves us. He loves every single one of us soooo
much. And he wants us to be happy... Which is why he has given us the
gospel. I know that living the gospel is the only way that we can be
truly happy. It finally makes sense. I know that all of the
commandments are for our good and that they bring us lasting
happiness. I know that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.
I could go on for dayssss about this but I've seen this time and time
again, and prayer really works! I know that the Book of Mormon is
true. It's another witness of Jesus Christ and we learn so much about
Him and how to become more like Him by reading it. And most of all I
know that Jesus Christ is my savior. I've learned so much about the
atonement and about repentance and I'm so thankful that Christ has
made that possible for us. That we can change and repent and be able
to say (like the conference talk) "'Twas I, but tis not I." I know
that the church is true. And I loveeeee being a missionary!
Amen.
HALLELUJAH!
Love y'all!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig
April 6, 2015
This week was really good. We did service every day, so that kept us busy. We did yardwork, helped people move, and clean. Conference was really good. My favorite talks were Elder Renlund's and Elder Holland's. It's crazy that that's my fourth and final General Conference since being a missionary. Hopefully my notes are just as good when I'm not a missionary. The Seaman's really liked it. We dyed Eater eggs between sessions with them, so that was fun. And afterwards we taught them the restoration. It went so well!! Alex is really shy, but she's been opening up a lot. WE scheduled to teach her lesson 2 on Saturday in a member's home, so I'm really excited for that.
I did get my package. Thank youuuuu! .JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Sunday, April 5, 2015
March 30, 2015
Hellooooo!
We haven't heard from Jim :( But we met a few new people. Hopefully we
get to see them again! The most exciting thing that happened was that
the Seamans (a part member family that we've been working with) came
to church 2 weeks in a row, and during relief society we finallyyyyyy
got to talk to Alex (the nonmember wife) and she where she's at with
everything. And she said that she wants to take the lessons!! So
that's super exciting! And we're going over there all day on Sunday to
watch conference and have lunch with them.
So much happened this week! We made cookies and gave them to members,
we did service helping a member clean, we had Ward members come on
trade offs with us, and we helped out at the wedding of a less active.
The wedding was super weird. The girl he was marrying was black so the
ceremony was done by this black lady preacher. It was super hard not
to laugh. Like she would randomly start praying in the ceremony and
then everyone there was like, "yes lord!" "Thank ya Jesus!" Definitely
a once in a lifetime experience. Haha
Also, this happened. Scariest thing in my whole life.
An account by my companion:
"We woke up and went about our normal business. I go downstairs as we
get back in from exercising and I sit down and start eating a bowl of
Captain Crunch. Just as I finish I hear this horrifying scream from
upstairs. (Our apartment has two floors.)
"THERE'S A TARANTULA IN THE BATHROOM!" I let my heart slow down and
roll my eyes, expecting nothing more than perhaps a dime-sized spider
in the shower and I head upstairs. There I find Sister Koenig on the
stairs wearing only a towel, standing, staring to the open bathroom
door.
"There is a hugs spider! It jumped at me while I was in the shower!"
"Wha-" Then I see perhaps the largest spider I have ever seen in real
life, it was at least the size of my palm, crawl over the lip of the
tub and down the side to the tile floor. I stay behind the stairwell
and watch as it scurries from hiding spot to hiding spot towards us
with unsettling speed. It hides under the scale and I can't help but
laugh at my companion's apparent terror, but all the same I run
downstairs to find the Raid when Sister Koenig tells me where it is. I
come upstairs and the monster is gone. By this time my companion has
fled into the bedroom and I look around for the spider, unable to find
it. She then tells me that the spider is on the wall I am leaning on.
I immediately run to the opposite wall and the spider jumps off the
wall and dashes into the laundry closet where we lose track of it. We
wait for it to come out, but it doesn't so I go and start spraying
raid along the bottom of the doors. Sis Koenig proceeds to start
getting dressed meanwhile we anxiously await the arrival of the
spider. I decide that I am going to go take a shower and as I walk
past the bedroom door my spider senses begin to tingle and I look just
next to my head where the spider is perched, ready to pounce on the
edge of the door. I scream and jump up on my bed and that makes Sister
Koenig scream even louder. The spider hides once again from view. We
watch and wait, seeing it pop out occasionally, until finally I grab
the raid and spray it. It jumps off the door and begins scurrying
along the floor. It runs the edge of my closet, and we think it is
going to go in and Sister Koenig screams even louder. Perhaps it is
confused, its brain addled by Raid, but it doesn't go into the closet.
It runs to the towels on the floor, I spray it again, and then instead
of going behind the dresser it races towards Sister Koenig, the
apparent object of it's pursuit. She screams "SPRAY IT! DON'T LET IT
GO IN MY CLOSET!" So I spray it and it appears to die... It curls up
on itself and falls onto its side. We sit there and watch it for a
little bit and the spider starts twitching and uncurling its legs. I
scream again and jump up on the bed before I get down and spray it
once more for good measure. The pressure and force of the spray coming
out of the can make the spider appear to raise-up but once the jet of
white, faintly citrus scented, chemicals ceases the corpse of the
Brown Recluse lies prone on the Raid-soaked carpet. Sister Koenig
makes me pick it up, a task which I loathe, and I double bag it in
Walmart bags while wearing gardening gloves. Then I look up what it is
in the missionary medical guide and it is a brown recluse spider. Ugh.
Gah."
Yep. I'm still having giant spider nightmares.
The women's conference was really good. I can't wait until General Conference!
See you soon!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.PNG)
We haven't heard from Jim :( But we met a few new people. Hopefully we
get to see them again! The most exciting thing that happened was that
the Seamans (a part member family that we've been working with) came
to church 2 weeks in a row, and during relief society we finallyyyyyy
got to talk to Alex (the nonmember wife) and she where she's at with
everything. And she said that she wants to take the lessons!! So
that's super exciting! And we're going over there all day on Sunday to
watch conference and have lunch with them.
So much happened this week! We made cookies and gave them to members,
we did service helping a member clean, we had Ward members come on
trade offs with us, and we helped out at the wedding of a less active.
The wedding was super weird. The girl he was marrying was black so the
ceremony was done by this black lady preacher. It was super hard not
to laugh. Like she would randomly start praying in the ceremony and
then everyone there was like, "yes lord!" "Thank ya Jesus!" Definitely
a once in a lifetime experience. Haha
Also, this happened. Scariest thing in my whole life.
An account by my companion:
"We woke up and went about our normal business. I go downstairs as we
get back in from exercising and I sit down and start eating a bowl of
Captain Crunch. Just as I finish I hear this horrifying scream from
upstairs. (Our apartment has two floors.)
"THERE'S A TARANTULA IN THE BATHROOM!" I let my heart slow down and
roll my eyes, expecting nothing more than perhaps a dime-sized spider
in the shower and I head upstairs. There I find Sister Koenig on the
stairs wearing only a towel, standing, staring to the open bathroom
door.
"There is a hugs spider! It jumped at me while I was in the shower!"
"Wha-" Then I see perhaps the largest spider I have ever seen in real
life, it was at least the size of my palm, crawl over the lip of the
tub and down the side to the tile floor. I stay behind the stairwell
and watch as it scurries from hiding spot to hiding spot towards us
with unsettling speed. It hides under the scale and I can't help but
laugh at my companion's apparent terror, but all the same I run
downstairs to find the Raid when Sister Koenig tells me where it is. I
come upstairs and the monster is gone. By this time my companion has
fled into the bedroom and I look around for the spider, unable to find
it. She then tells me that the spider is on the wall I am leaning on.
I immediately run to the opposite wall and the spider jumps off the
wall and dashes into the laundry closet where we lose track of it. We
wait for it to come out, but it doesn't so I go and start spraying
raid along the bottom of the doors. Sis Koenig proceeds to start
getting dressed meanwhile we anxiously await the arrival of the
spider. I decide that I am going to go take a shower and as I walk
past the bedroom door my spider senses begin to tingle and I look just
next to my head where the spider is perched, ready to pounce on the
edge of the door. I scream and jump up on my bed and that makes Sister
Koenig scream even louder. The spider hides once again from view. We
watch and wait, seeing it pop out occasionally, until finally I grab
the raid and spray it. It jumps off the door and begins scurrying
along the floor. It runs the edge of my closet, and we think it is
going to go in and Sister Koenig screams even louder. Perhaps it is
confused, its brain addled by Raid, but it doesn't go into the closet.
It runs to the towels on the floor, I spray it again, and then instead
of going behind the dresser it races towards Sister Koenig, the
apparent object of it's pursuit. She screams "SPRAY IT! DON'T LET IT
GO IN MY CLOSET!" So I spray it and it appears to die... It curls up
on itself and falls onto its side. We sit there and watch it for a
little bit and the spider starts twitching and uncurling its legs. I
scream again and jump up on the bed before I get down and spray it
once more for good measure. The pressure and force of the spray coming
out of the can make the spider appear to raise-up but once the jet of
white, faintly citrus scented, chemicals ceases the corpse of the
Brown Recluse lies prone on the Raid-soaked carpet. Sister Koenig
makes me pick it up, a task which I loathe, and I double bag it in
Walmart bags while wearing gardening gloves. Then I look up what it is
in the missionary medical guide and it is a brown recluse spider. Ugh.
Gah."
Yep. I'm still having giant spider nightmares.
The women's conference was really good. I can't wait until General Conference!
See you soon!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig
March 23, 2015
I don't have very much to write today because we're going to St.
Augustine. And next week we're going to the zoo. Do I have enough
money in my account? Thanks. Love you!
Jim started a new job, so we haven't heard from him too much. Booooo.
We knocked a lot and met some interesting people. One lady from Panama
opened the door with a knife in her hand. Hahah she was actually
really nice though and was cutting an avocado before she answered he
door. Another guy asked if we were Mormons and then told us to go
away. We met this really nice lady who said we can come back this
week. She has three kids, so hopefully we can teach them too. On
Saturday we had two appointments with people that we met last
Saturday. And both houses said that the person that we were supposed
to have an appointment with didn't live there. It was super weird.
We had corned beef and cabbage twice, we did yard work, we passed a
dead armadillo on our bikes, so of course I had to take a picture! We
helped out at this big genealogy conference at the church and I read a
lot of bios of our ancestors. They're super interesting!! It did rain
a lot. And it always seems to be on bike days. One day it rained so
hard that we walked so we could hold our umbrellas (video attached).
Sounds like things have been going well there. How was your birthday?
See you soon!
Love you!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig
.JPG)
.JPG)
.MOV)
.JPG)
Augustine. And next week we're going to the zoo. Do I have enough
money in my account? Thanks. Love you!
Jim started a new job, so we haven't heard from him too much. Booooo.
We knocked a lot and met some interesting people. One lady from Panama
opened the door with a knife in her hand. Hahah she was actually
really nice though and was cutting an avocado before she answered he
door. Another guy asked if we were Mormons and then told us to go
away. We met this really nice lady who said we can come back this
week. She has three kids, so hopefully we can teach them too. On
Saturday we had two appointments with people that we met last
Saturday. And both houses said that the person that we were supposed
to have an appointment with didn't live there. It was super weird.
We had corned beef and cabbage twice, we did yard work, we passed a
dead armadillo on our bikes, so of course I had to take a picture! We
helped out at this big genealogy conference at the church and I read a
lot of bios of our ancestors. They're super interesting!! It did rain
a lot. And it always seems to be on bike days. One day it rained so
hard that we walked so we could hold our umbrellas (video attached).
Sounds like things have been going well there. How was your birthday?
See you soon!
Love you!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig
Yesterday we were contacting potentials, and I felt prompted to knock on a random house on the street. I almost ignored the thought, but then I realized that it was from the spirit. We knocked on the door and met a man that wasn't really interested, so we left and I was a little confused at why I had received that prompting. Then I felt prompted to visit some other potentials that lived a little out of the way, so we went. We had an amazing lesson with them and we were able to answer so many questions that they had from reading the pamphlet almost 6 months ago. It was great! From this I learned that sometimes we get promptings just so Heavenly Father will know if he can trust us. And then when we have his trust, he will give us promptings that will lead to miracles. I'm so thankful that I've come to learn how to recognize and follow the spirit and hopefully become someone that Heavenly Father can trust.
Also, the new Easter initiative comes out on Saturday! #BecauseHeLives look it up and share it!
Monday, March 16, 2015
March 16, 2015
This week was really good. Jim forgot that we were coming, and he was
really embarrassed that he didn't read so he promised to read this
week and we're going back on Wednesday. My companion is getting
better. She's just really shy and quiet.
This week we did a lot of service. We worked in a lady's yard all
morning one day. It was hard work! And hot outside! Another day we
helped make cakes for the relief society activity. They were really
excited to hear that I worked in a bakery because they had no idea
what they were doing.
We knocked a lot of doors this week. We dropped a lot of people that
we were teaching, so we're trying to find some solid people. We met
some potentials, but no one really golden yet. Hopefully we find some
people this week!
Elder Kopischke from the seventy came and talked to us for like 6
hours on Friday. It was really good. He was super intense. He talked
about faith, and about coming to know the Savior. Another thing that I
really liked was he was talking about not getting discouraged. He said
that since, as missionaries, we don't take the praise and credit when
good things happen, that we shouldn't take he blame when bad things
happen. So that's definitely something to remember.
Riding bikes isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We usually ride
about 15-20 miles. My butt is sore from my bike seat though. On
Wednesday we were biking the 7 miles to our dinner appointment when we
caught in the rain. Luckily we were only about five minutes from the
house when it started raining, but we still got soaked! It was really
funny.
Sounds like things are going good there. Any fun birthday plans? I'm
sending you a card today.
Hope you have a good week!
Love you!
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
really embarrassed that he didn't read so he promised to read this
week and we're going back on Wednesday. My companion is getting
better. She's just really shy and quiet.
This week we did a lot of service. We worked in a lady's yard all
morning one day. It was hard work! And hot outside! Another day we
helped make cakes for the relief society activity. They were really
excited to hear that I worked in a bakery because they had no idea
what they were doing.
We knocked a lot of doors this week. We dropped a lot of people that
we were teaching, so we're trying to find some solid people. We met
some potentials, but no one really golden yet. Hopefully we find some
people this week!
Elder Kopischke from the seventy came and talked to us for like 6
hours on Friday. It was really good. He was super intense. He talked
about faith, and about coming to know the Savior. Another thing that I
really liked was he was talking about not getting discouraged. He said
that since, as missionaries, we don't take the praise and credit when
good things happen, that we shouldn't take he blame when bad things
happen. So that's definitely something to remember.
Riding bikes isn't as bad as I thought it would be. We usually ride
about 15-20 miles. My butt is sore from my bike seat though. On
Wednesday we were biking the 7 miles to our dinner appointment when we
caught in the rain. Luckily we were only about five minutes from the
house when it started raining, but we still got soaked! It was really
funny.
Sounds like things are going good there. Any fun birthday plans? I'm
sending you a card today.
Hope you have a good week!
Love you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)