August 25, 2014

That's so good that everyone is going on missions!
My week was good. I can never remember what happened by he time Monday
rolls around. We had a really good zone conference in Gainesville. And
it was even better because we went to Krispy Kreme afterwards haha. We
started working out every morning with Jenny Gray, a less active. We
go to her house at 6:05 and she has this Pilates machine that we use.
It's fun and hopefully it will get her and her family coming back to
church, but it's so early! I've been sore from it, so that's good
haha.
We finally got a lot of people to come to volleyball, now we just need
them to bring their friends so we can start teaching them! We starting
teaching Mary and Faith again (the grandma and granddaughter) it's
going better already. We taught them all of lesson one yesterday and
they committed to reading and praying about the Book of Mormon. We're
seeing Trasey on Thursday. Soccer season started for her and her kids
so she is always doing that. She's still interested though. Glad you
liked the song. The bishop said we have to do something every month.
It's going good with sister williams. I'm the senior comp. We are both
pretty laid back, so we get along well. She's a good teacher. We
cleaned someone's porch and their outdoor furniture this week for
service. It has been SOOO hot here. Everyone says that it's been the
hottest summer ever, and last winter was the coldest winter ever. I
thought Florida weather was supposed to moderate!
Good job on doing #ifollowhim! It was worldwide, but our mission started it.
I'm sad that Taylor swift is coming out with new music without me :(
oh well, it'll still be there in 7 months.
Tonight were having a ward Family home evening at the river. So that
should be fun! It's so country here. They describe the directions to
the place, "go on 121 past the Florida Georgia line, then you'll see
the mud boggin place, then take the next right" said with a thick
southern accent. Haha
Have a great week!
Love you!
Xoxo
Sister Koenig

August 18, 2014

What's the college thing that he's doing? That's cool that they won a triathlon! How far was it?
I saw the newest movie when I went to the temple too. It was good.
I don't have much to say about this week either. Trasey had to cancel because her daughter hit her head and had to go to the e.r. There is always something!! Hopefully we can see her this week. It rained a lot this week, so we didn't ride bikes at all. And sister Williams doesn't like to ride bikes or exercise.
We sang our musical number in church yesterday and it sounded really good. We got a ton of compliments.
I seriously can't think of anything that happened last week... It's all a blur. We tried to track down some less actives and former investigators, but they either didn't live there anymore or the address didn't exist. We had a relief society activity where we did Christmas crafts on Tuesday, that was fun. Sorry, this letter is really boring.
I found this quote by Jeffrey R. Holland this week and I really liked it:

"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?

You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary.

Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.

For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.

If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it pass,” ¹⁶then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way."

Have a good week! I love you!

Xoxo

Sister K

Nothing to see in these videos, just listen.

August 11, 2014

Good morning!!
My week was pretty good. My companion is Sister Williams from Logan,
Utah. She's been out 6 weeks longer than me. She's really nice.
It sounds like you guys had a lot of fun! How was the Belnap reunion?
When does school start there? Everyone goes back to school her next
week. I can't believe that summer is already almost over! And I've
almost been out a year! Crazy.
Last week we had transfers on Wednesday in Jax. It was good to see
other missionaries that I haven't seen in a while and it was cool to
hear all the testimonies of the departing missionaries. We ate dinner
twice at the old folks home with a less active lady, yum.
We saw a lot of less actives and knocked a lot of doors. One day we
were riding our bikes and we stop to talk to this lady and she was
sooooo wasted. She was hilarious. Here are some of the funny things
she was saying (just imagine a drunk southern lady saying them and
slurring the words together, it'll make it funnier) " Man, I just love
Jesus. He is the most awesomest man I have ever met." ...when talking
about being irreverent in church..."I get down with him. I'm crazy for
God" and she was like dancing. It was sooo funny.
Yesterday we stopped by to see Trasey because she just got back from
being out of town for a funeral. She was excited to see us and said
that she was just about to text us to set up an app. Because she
misses our meetings. And she is still looking forward to coming to
church. I hope her and her family get baptized!!
Christina, the member we live with, just got back from Utah and she
brought me chocolate covered cinnabears. Yum!
That's all that I can think of that happened.
Oh, and a girl just got back from serving her mission in Colorado and
is going to start coming out with us. She's really nice and we're
having dinner with her fam tonight. So we're excited about that!
I really like these quotes. I don't know what I would do if I didn't
laugh all the time haha
"Humor improves our attitude, strengthens our relationship skills, and
helps us successfully cope with challenges. Whether we are
experiencing an anxious moment on an airplane, trying to get around
sibling rivalry, or just trying to handle the trials of everyday
living, humor can be a constructive and beneficial part of our lives.
If we can appropriately laugh at it, we can live with it. So go ahead
and laugh--it’s good for you! (If We Can Laugh at It, We Can Live with
It)"
"President Gordon B. Hinckley affirmed the value of humor for all:
“We’ve got to have a little humor in our lives. You had better take
seriously that which should be taken seriously but, at the same time,
we can bring in a touch of humor now and again. If the time ever comes
when we can’t smile at ourselves, it will be a sad time.”
Have a great week! Love you!

August 5, 2014

To answer your 5 million questions:
I'm staying in Macclenny for another transfer. Sister Beaver is going
to Gainesville. The temple was AWESOME!! I love temples and the
feeling that you have when you go there. After the session we got to
go to the sealing room and President and Sister Craig spoke to us and
the  we got to ask the temple president question. It was so good. And
that temple is so pretty! We had to leave Macclenny and 5:50 a.m
though, so I was pretty tired. And then it was about another two hours
from Jax. There were about 50 missionaries that went.
No new investigators this week. Lots of service. We did yard work,
helped with the alpacas, cleaned out someone's food storage. We met
with A LOT of less actives this week. Trasey is out of town for a
funeral, so we haven't been able to meet with her.
It sounds like you guys have been having lots of fun. That's cool that
you had a missionary experience!
I ate gator this week at a restaurant. It was okay. Pretty chewy. We
rode our bikes in the rain again, but we didn't go over miles, so
that's good. The bishop came up to me on Sunday and said that he wants
me to do something in church again. So I talked to the lady that plays
the guitar, robin Davis, and we're going to sing "be thou my vision"
with her daughter that is visiting from BYU. It sounds so pretty! And
I'm playing the violin at the beginning. I'll send you a video, but we
still need to practice it more.
Assignment for this week: watch the new video "hope of gods light."
It's SO good!
Oh and we have another Facebook thing that you probably already saw,
but it's #ifollowhim. Post a pic of you with your fav pic of Christ
and your testimony of why you follow him. Please invite everyone to do
the same.
Love you

Sister beaver made these things called Musubis. It's like spam sushi.

It sounds really nasty, but it was actually pretty good.