May 26, 2014

 

Happy Memorial Day!
I'm good. Things are going well here in Macclenny. We had more member
present lessons this week and found some new investigators, so that
was good. We set a baptismal date with an 8 year old and and 11 year
old for June 15, so we're excited about that. We started teaching a
grandma and her 15 year old daughter. They are really fun. Their names
are Mary and Faith and they actually live in Georgia, which is only 20
minutes away. They had us over for dinner last night and it was really
good, but you won't believe how fattening it was! They made country
fried steak that they cooked in BACON GREASE! And they made mashed
potatoes with butter, half and half, cheese, and bacon. And
vegetables, covered in butter. She even put butter in the gravy!! I
CANT EAT LIKE THIS!! Maybe I just won't eat except for meal
appointments.
I don't really know how to explain the area. There are some farms but
no industry or anything like that. A lot of people in the ward do real
estate. Sister Beaver is good, she started to talk a lot more this week
so that was good. Her mom always sends her weird food from Hawaii that
she makes me try, so that's fun. We went to a lady's house that lives
wayyyy in the country and she had four huge gardens. You should have
seen them! She also said that putting cayenne pepper on your plants
keeps the rabbits away.
It sounds like things are good there. Are you in the choir? Or did you
just have to listen to it?
Now that Tyler and Julianne are moving you will be the only ones that
don't live close! I'm jealous that you are going swimming today. It
has been SO hot here this past week, like 90's. The humidity makes you
sweat so much even if you're just standing outside. Are you having a
BBQ and having people over today? Or just doing yard work?
Yesterday we had a tornado warning and severe thunderstorm warning. I
survived them both!
 We had zone conference in lake city on Thursday. It was really good
and we talked about becoming consecrated missionaries. Also, we can
read emails all through the week, but we can only respond on P-days.
So feel free to email me more. We are going to start using family
history more when we tract. I think that will be good. Can you go on
family search and fill in the blanks on dad's side? It doesn't even
have his parents on there, which is weird because I thought we had
linked it.
I love you!
Thanks for the package in advance. Have a good week!
Love,
Sister Koenig

"Now for a question I pray that you will consider on a daily basis:
How will you prepare for your personal interview with the Savior?

You youth of the noble birthright are not perfect yet. None of us are.
So, you, along with the rest of us, are very grateful for the
Atonement of the Savior, which provides full forgiveness as you truly
repent. You also know that your stay here in mortality is relatively
brief. (And the older you get, the more you realize that.) In time,
each of you will graduate from this frail existence and move on to the
next world.

Judgment day awaits each one of us. I don’t know whether the heavenly
gate is pearly or not, but I do know, as do all students of the Book
of Mormon, that “the keeper of the gate is the Holy One of Israel; and
he employ[s] no servant there; … for the Lord God is his name.”36 Yes,
each one of us will have a personal interview with Jesus Christ.
(Youth of the Noble Birthright: What Will You Choose?)"

 

Training and role playing

May 19, 2014

 Sister Beaver

Cute pics! Luke looks so big! How was shooting? Did dad or Davis go with you?
Yes, I got the package. Thank youuuuu! :) Things barely fit. I don't
know how I'm going to make it to my next area though, I'll probably
have to throw some things away. Happy anniversary!! Are you doing
anything fun for it?
Macclenny is sooo country. It rained allllll day on Thursday and I
thought we were going to get our car stuck in the mud on the dirt
roads. Macclenny is a little smaller than Fallon. We live with a
single lady in her 30's in a cute little house. We have bunk beds. She
isn't home too often so we just do whatever for meals and share a
kitchen. My companion is sister Beaver. She is from Hawaii. She is
really nice, but kind of awkward. I really don't know how the
senior/junior companion thing works... But I think she is senior
because she has been in this area the longest? But she's only been out
for like 3 months. So it's weird because she's still kind of nervous
to teach and is still getting to know the area, so for the first few
days we just drove around and she didn't really know what to do. It's
getting better because I suggested we just started going through the
ward list. Also it's weird  because every companionship does things a
little differently so we're trying to figure out what to do. It's good
though. She said in all of her training she only went tracking 3
times...which is probably why we only have two investigators. But
we'll change that so we can find more people to teach. We get along
well though. The ward is really nice. Definitely not Brunswick,Ga
though. It kinda sucks going from always having appointments to not
having any at all. Sister Merchant and I would have like 10 member
present lessons a week and this week we had one. And only 2 set
appointments. So it will definitely take a lot of adjusting. Hopefully
I'll be able to help get the ball rolling.
Here are some pictures from my first week in Mac Town USA!

May 13, 2014

It was really good to skype you too.
So right after we got off skyping with you, president Craig called.
Sister merchant got a training call! So I'm off to MacClenny. I was
hoping I would go to Jax or Gainesville. But I guess I'm meant to be
in the country... The bugs are going to eat me alive!!
Last night we went to the bishops for dinner for the last time. It was
so sad! I've been spending so much time with these people and it's sad
to leave them. Silvia (the bishops wife)'started crying, which made me
cry. I'll miss them! And I'll really miss sister merchant. We have
never argued or even gotten annoyed with each other after being
together 24/7 for 4 months! And we have so much fun laughing and
singing all the time. I made her sign a cd for me so that she can be
my claim to fame once she goes on tour with Taylor swift. Haha.
Hopefully my next comp is good too.
Packing is stressful. I have so much stuff and I don't know if I'll be
able to fit it all in my suitcases! Wish me luck!
I don't really have too much to say because I feel like I told you
everything on Sunday. We taught Patricia the law of chastity yesterday
and it went really well. She was going to talk to her boyfriend and
tell him they had to get married or he had to move out. Nothing is
going to stop her from being baptized! And she's still reading the
Book of Mormon and is still caffeine free! She's doing great.
That's about it. Have a good week! I love you.
Xoxo
Sister Koenig

I really like this quote. It talks about obedience and why we have commandments.
“I’m a traditional Jew, and I observe the biblical dietary laws. … I
suspect most of you assume I go around all day saying to myself, ‘Boy,
would I love to eat pork chops, but that mean old God won’t let me.’
Not so. The fact … is, I go around all day saying, ‘Isn’t it
incredible? There are five billion people on this planet and God cares
what I have for lunch [and] what kind of language I use.’

“… I am not diminished by being told there are certain things I may
not do because they are wrong. Rather, it enhances me.”1 (Wherefore,
Settle This in Your Hearts)

 Sister K, Sister Wilson, and Sister Merchant

May 6, 2014

That's so exciting!!(Micah's mission call) It sounds like you had fun on Dads birthday. Did you get him anything cool? 

Takiyah hasn't had her interview yet, so still no baptism date. She is about to get kicked out of her appt. unless she finds the money to pay her rent, so hopefully she figures things out. If she doesn't then getting baptized probably won't be the first thing on her mind. So we'll be praying for her a lot. Patricia is doing great! She came to church yesterday and said she felt so peaceful, like she was the only one in the room. Also she said that whenever she is with us she just wants to know god like we know him. We read 2 nephi 31 with her, and it was great! She was so excited and amazed at how well she was able to understand it. She told us that it was like how you are bad at math so you say you don't like it, and then you get a problem that you understand and then you love math. So now she loves the Book of Mormon! It was just an awesome experience and now she looks forward to reading the Book of Mormon and having more aha moments.

Good job on making your Mormon.org profile! I'll have to look you up. I'll try to write Davis, but today is super busy because it is another sisters bday. I never have enough time to write letters!! The Zyrtec seems to working, a lot better than the Claritin at least. The headaches haven't been as bad. I wear my glasses sometimes. Maybe I'll wear them more.

This week was good. It went by really fast! It's getting hot here and I need to get more short sleeve shirts that I don't have to wear anything under, because it is way to humid to layer. We have started running more and found this path that we can run on, instead of just the side of the road. So that's been good, and it's so nice outside in the mornings! 

This week we did a ton of service. We did yard work at the bishops, helped and investigator pack, and cleaned at Kristin's. It was really funny, we were cleaning her tile grout in her kitchen with toothbrushes and she was like you better not tell anyone I'm making you do this, they'll think I'm so mean! I wish I would've taken a picture. 

Yesterday we got to drive to fernandina beach to see the ft lauderdale temple dedication. It was really good! They just talked about how we need to make he temples a bigger part of our life. So many sacrifices are made to build temples, so we need to use them! I know I can't right now, but when I get home I'm going to go to the temple more often. 

I love you!! 

Xoxo 

Sister Koenig