July 28, 2014

This week was good. We saw Trasy and had a member come with us. It was
good, but she hasn't read the Book of Mormon yet... She says she is
still interested though. So that's good!
We didn't teach the little girls any more songs. And they come to
primary maybe like once a month. But they were there this week! I was
so excited to see that Mindy's son got the priesthood! I was so
worried about them for a while, but it sounds like they've been doing
really well. Singing in church went well. It ended up turning into
like a whole band haha. We did come thou fount and I sang the last
verse by myself. I played the violin, Robin played the guitar, her
daughter played a little drum, the elders sang and one of them played
the harmonic. Haha I thought it sounded better without the elders, but
she felt bad for leaving them out. Everyone really liked it and we are
already trying to plan what song to do next. I wasn't going to play
the violin, but she got an old one that they had fixed just so I could
play it. Then we taught gospel principles class and I taught relief
society. They went pretty well. It was such a busy Sunday!
It sounds like you had a good week. Wish I could've been at the
shower! I can't believe I'm going to be an aunt soon! The letters
looked cute.
I'm sad the Joyners are moving. I guess they don't really have a
reason to stay, but I hope I still get to see them. The train concert
sounds fun! Where was it? You guys sound like you're always doing fun
things.
I'm soooo excited to go to the temple this week! I can't wait! This
last week we helped the less active from England with her yard again.
So hot. And we went to the stake Pioneer Day celebration with her in
Lake butler on Saturday. That was fun. It was at the first LDS church
in Florida. So we got a tour of that and the cemetery and the "rock
hole" or little creek that they used to get baptized in. It was really
cool. And they had homemade ice cream 😋
I can't even remember anything that happened this week. We rode our
bikes a lot. Only got caught in the rain once. People are starting to
like us more! The bishop and his wife even wrote a note to us and gave
us candy saying that we are a blessing to the ward and our smiles are
contagious. All my niceness and service is finally paying off!! Haha
Transfers are next week.. I don't really know what will happen. But
p-day will be on Tuesday.
I can't really think of an assignment... Um. Read 2 Nephi 31:20. We
have been trying to focus on a scripture every day and memorize it.
This was one of them this week. It's one of my favorites.
I love you!
Have a good week!
Xoxo
Sister K 😘

July 21, 2014

I teach Relief Society next week, and it's on the keys of the
priesthood (I think that's the name of the talk) and we're singing in
church next week. I'm excited. Trasy had to reschedule, but we're
seeing her tomorrow night. She has a friend that goes to our church
who just got back from vacation, so that should be good. We've
actually had a few dinner appointments and a few more this week! Yay!
Last week when we were at Walmart we saw a nonmember wife of a less
active and they invited us over for dinner! We went on Thursday and
since she is from Mexico, she cooked us real Mexican food! It was so
good. I want to teach her so bad, but she told us that she was born
catholic and will die catholic, but we'll see how it goes. Her two
little girls love to sing, so I taught them the descant of I am a
child of god and they loved it! They really like me and want us to
come over more to sing with them, so I was thinking we could all sing
in church together and that will let us go over to their house more
and it'll get the mom to church!
We did a ton of service this week. We helped a lady from Cuba do her
family history, we cleaned an old ladies house, and we pulled weeds
for a less active from England for TWO AND A HALF HOURS! I've never
weeded so long in my life and it was in the middle of the day. I think
I had a drip of sweat for the first time in my whole life. Haha it
wasnt terrible though because she told us funny stories and her accent
made them funnier.
We're doing the indexing thing sometime tonight I think. That's good
that dad did it.
Sounds like you had a good time at the temple. I get to go on the
31st. I can't wait!

 I can't really think of what happened this week... We rode our bikes

all day one day. We had some nonmembers show up to volleyball this
week, so that was good. Destiny and Jordan FINALLY got baptized, yay!
I gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and we sang. Christine is
trying to sell her house...the one were living in. So she wants us to
deep clean it...that's not fun.
I took a lot a pictures this week, so here they are.
Love you!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig

July 14, 2014

This was a really good week. It flew by! Definitely hot and humid. I
actually like riding a bike! It's nice to get some exercise! My butt
was really sore the first few days from sitting on the seat, but I'm
used to it now. I just wish that it wasn't so humid. It's been raining
every afternoon though, they call it the dog days, so we can only ride
our bikes in the morning. I think I spent around $200. I have to get
headlights and tail lights today though.
Our investigator Trasy is doing really well. She didn't make it to
church, but other than that things are going really well. I can't
remember if I've told you anything about her yet, but she has three
daughters and her husband is agnostic. She isn't very impressed with
any of the churches down here because she said they're all about
money. So she's really impressed that no one gets paid in our church.
She is really open to reading the Book of Mormon and said she just
wants to know the truth. So we're really excited about her! Our last
lesson with her was really funny, her 5 year old daughter is autistic
and during the last lesson she grabbed sister beavers arm and bit it.
It was so funny!
My talk went really well. I'm getting way better at public speaking. I
told them about the time dad paid me to give a longer talk and they
all thought it was really funny. I got a lot of compliments and one
lady said "if I was your momma, you woulda made me proud" haha. I
spoke on the blessings of personal scripture study. I really liked
this quote "Brothers and sisters, you don’t have to be a natural
student to read the scriptures; you just need to love the Lord."
There is this Mormon message about tender mercies. It's called "oh
remember, remember" and it's really good. You should watch it.
I would rather have Fallon's 106 than Macclenny's 95!
That's exciting that Alex got his mission call. Tell Davis to check
his email please. Thanks. Is Micah going through the temple or are
y'all just doing baptisms? Either way, that's good!
Thanks for the letter this week by the way. The baby shower
announcement was cute.
This week I was in lake butler for a trade off and we built a fence.
You would've been so proud of me. I got so dirty! My face was even
covered in dirt...and sweat. Yuck.
I can't really think of anything else we did this week. But here's
some pics. I love you! Have a great week!
Love,
Sister K

July 7, 2014

Thanks for the letter, stamps, and money!
This week was good. It went by fast. I'm getting a bike today! I'm
nervous to ride it, but it should be better than walking! We walked
all day Wednesday, and it was terrible! I've never been so hot in my
life! And everyone we tried to see either wasn't home, or wouldn't let
us in, I was dying! We took some funny pictures though. And I got
sunburned with a line from where my bag was.
I'll have to try that penny thing. Hopefully it works. I'm scared I'm
going to crash! Good news: I should be going to the Orlando temple
sometime this month! I can't wait!
 Do you think Davis will pass his drivers test? I can't believe he is going to be
driving... Crazy!
I want to teach Amber online, but I don't know if she's interested or
not.. And I don't know how to find out if she is. The share the book
thing is going good. We haven't heard if any of the members friends
are interested yet.
Not too much else happened this week... We taught primary. And next
week we're speaking in sacrament meeting, and the next week I'm
teaching relief society, and hopefully singing with a member at the
end of the month. So hopefully that will help people to get to know me
and want to talk to us more! Haha
Oh, I almost forgot. Our baptism for the 8 and 11 yr old didn't happen
yesterday because they were still out of town. But hopefully it'll
happen sometime this week.
We found some new investigators! We have our second appointment
tonight with one and tomorrow night with the other. Hopefully they are
actually interested!!
We made s'mores over the stove on the Fourth of July to celebrate.
I can't think of anything else.. Have a great week! I love you!
This is a quote I found this week that I really liked:
“Christ says, ‘Give me All. I don’t want so much of your time and so
much of your money and so much of your work: I want You. I have not
come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half-measures
are any good. I don’t want to cut off a branch here and a branch
there, I want to have the whole tree down. … Hand over the whole
natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the
ones you think wicked--the whole outfit. I will give you a new self
instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become
yours.’” (Mere Christianity, New York: Collier Books, 1960, p. 167.)
(Jesus the Christ)

June 30, 2014

This week was pretty good. Nothing too exciting happened. We still
haven't found anyone to teach yet :( But we're looking! The other day
we went tracting at 6:00 and it was still 100 degrees. I thought I was
going to die. We're fine on miles for this month, but July is when
they're getting cut. And they made a rule that we can't carpool with
the elders for district meeting so that's more miles we have to use
every week because district meeting is 30-40 miles away. So we're
planning on buying bikes next week. We might get a member to take us
to Jacksonville, but if not I guess we'll just buy them at walmart. I
don't hate the idea of riding bikes because it will be good exercise.
I just can't get over the fact that I have to do it in a skirt and I
have to wear a helmet. Ew. It's impossible to look cute in a helmet.
And it's SOOO HOT. I just hope I don't crash.
Still no dinner appointments.. But the ward mission leader did feed us
lunch when we went over to help his wife make stuff for girls camp
yesterday. That was fun.
I can't believe I'm at my halfway mark either, woooo! Crazy!
The reunion sounds like an adventure. I can't believe there are places
in this country that are actually cold right now! Sounds like you and
Kennedy had fun. Did you do a theme in his room?
I've missed your weekly letters! And tell dad to email me back!
I don't really have much to say. This week was a blur. I finished the
Book of Mormon! Here are some pictures:
This guy made us a sweet potato pie.

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June 23, 2014

This week was long!
We haven't seen the grandma and daughter lately. We need people that
are already interested, not people that we're trying to convince to be
interested!!
We're getting to know the ward a little better. Last night we stopped
by the Bishop's and him and wife talked to us for an hour! That was
good because the bishop getting involved is the first step to getting
the ward involved in missionary work. We are going to start playing
volleyball Saturday mornings and we talked to the youth about it and
they are excited to come and bring friends! So hopefully that's
successful. I can't believe that I'm almost half way done with my
mission, it's crazy!
This week we had a second appointment with some Jehovah's witnesses.
They were so nice and we were excited to go back, but a few minutes
after we got there, the lady's sister showed up, who was also
Jehovah's Witness and she wasn't as friendly. It was terrible. She
just wanted to yell and argue and was twisting everything we were
trying to teach. And the member we brought with us was just bible
bashing while sis beaver and I sat there. I finally just cut the JW
off and told her  that we weren't trying to prove anything or convince
her, but we were just there to invite them. Then I bore my testimony,
she kept interrupting but I just kept on going. Then we finally
escaped. It was not fun! I've never had anyone be that mean or
argumentative! I was just glad it was over. It was so hard not to
argue though, because I could've whipped out just as many bible
scriptures to prove her wrong. It was super annoying. But I didn't
because "29 For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit
of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of
contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with
anger, one with another. (3 Nephi 11:29)" Safe to say we won't be
going back there.
I think that's about all the excitement here. It's hot, humid, and
rainy as ever. Sister Beaver takes a long time to do anything. I don't
know if she's just used to island time and oblivious to how long she's
taking or what, but it's so frustrating! I hate being late to things!!
There's this Mormon message called "our fun family vacation" You
should watch it. It's really good, but makes me miss my family! And
vacations! Oh well, I'll have all that in 9 months!
Have a good week!
Love,
Sister Koenig

June 16, 2014

Hey!
I saw that you did the discover the book thing, I want to see Kara's!
Good job! Dad and Kennedy are slackers. Make sure to participate in
this weeks #searchthebook and take pictures of you reading the Book of
Mormon in your favorite spot and share a powerful experience you had
while reading the Book of Mormon. It seems to have been pretty
successful. Did you see the article Mormon.org did on it? We are just
trying to get more members here to do it so that their friends will
have questions and want us to teach them. We're trying to get the
members more involved, but that's hard when we hardly ever see them. I
don't know if they don't like the missionaries or what, but we only
had one meal appointment last week and no one signed up this week.
Definitely different than Brunswick... I've almost been here one whole
transfer already. I can't believe it!
Painting the house, that's fun! That's cool that they can do baptisms
every week. No one has said anything about the ordain women thing. I
just see some of the stuff on Facebook.
The training went really well. I told a story about pole vaulting and
I couldn't do it at first but I had to practice doing small things and
work my way up. I talked about how "by small and simple things are
great things brought to pass" and our goals and plans are the small
and simple things that help us reach our ultimate goal of 1000
baptisms. And president Craig has "set the bar" with mission standards
just like coach reibsman set the bar at practice. I don't know if his
is making any sense, but it did when I gave it!
This week was longgggg. So many things fell through. I'm ready to find
some new investigators already, but I don't know where to find them!
Hopefully this week will be better. In president Craig's letter he
sent us today, he said they are cutting down everyone's miles by 300.
So we are going to have to go on "car fasts" and probably get a bike.
Ahhhh! I can't ride a bike in a skirt! And it's SO HOT! Hopefully we
can just be more careful with our miles so we don't have to resort to
bikes. It would be good exercise though.
We did service this week with alpacas and fed them and scooped their
poop. We'll probably start doing that every week.
Have a great week and remember to do the search the book thing on Facebook!
I love you!
Xoxo
Sister K

June 9, 2014

Things are good here. The baptism scheduled for Father's Day had to
get moved because their mom had to work :( but hopefully they will
still get baptized soon!
Sounds like you've been busy! I loved the pictures you sent me! That's
fun that you went to an aces game, those are always so fun! I can't
believe that Kelly and Emma graduated! That's so crazy to me that they
are already that old! Tell everyone you saw that I said hi back.
I thought I already emailed you about the shoes, but they are really
good. A little big and a little ugly... But I'm a sister missionary.
So it's whatever. Haha
The bugs are still bad. I've been trying to remember to wear bugs pray
and there's this avon stuff that's like baby oil that's supposed to
work but it's gross to be all oily all the time. I haven't seen any
fireflies here yet, I hope I do though! They are the coolest things in
the whole world! Have you seen them before? That's good that Shelly is
doing well!
This week we have dinner with a family that raises alpacas and we're
going to start doing service for them, so that should be fun. Also we
helped teachers move and clean their classrooms at the school that
Christine, the lady we live with, works at.
We have been meeting with a lot of investigators that aren't
progressing. One  guy that we see calls himself a "pentemormon"
(Pentecostal and Mormon). So he knows the Book of Mormon is true, but
he won't get baptized or do anything about it. So it's frustrating. We
met a couple new investigators this week. Hopefully they stay
interested!
It was really stormy a couple nights here. So much lighting rain and
thunder. It was crazy! But the days are HOT. And so humid.
This week we have interviews with president Craig and we have to give
a training tomorrow on "how to set goals." I don't really know what to
say. Do you know of any stories/analogies that I could use?
Okay, so this is the most important part of this email. Our mission,
as well as the other Facebook missions, is doing this big campaign on
Facebook. First off, everyone reading this go on Facebook and join the
group "called to share." Then join the event " discover the book."
Mom, dad, Davis, sommers, who ever else is reading this, you better do
it!!! And invite all your friends and family members. We're trying to
make this go viral! So the event is, tomorrow (I can't remember the
time, but it says on the event) everyone is going to post a picture of
themselves with the Book of Mormon and the hashtag #discoverthebook
and your story of how you discovered the Book of Mormon. This should
get it trending and then people will have questions about the Book of
Mormon and then we'll be able to start teaching them on Facebook. I'm
excited for it and y'all should be too!!
Have a good week!
I love you!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig

We went fishing today and I caught a huge
catfish!! And we ate it! I was scared for my life!!