The End

Well...I can't believe that missions actually end. This week I got to

go on my last exchange to my first area which was super cool all of

the memories flooded back of when I just arrived and had no idea what

I was doing. I look back now and see how amazing the last year and a

half has been. It has been the most beautiful gift from my Heavenly

Father to grow closer to Him and to Jesus Christ. I have loved serving

here in San Diego there are so many people that have changed my life

forever and I am eternally grateful. Overall what's changed me the

most is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I was pondering a little bit this

week about how the gospel has changed my life and these are some of

the things I thought about.

What the Gospel of Jesus Christ has changed about my life...

- I know that I am never alone because I have a Heavenly Father that

loves me and knows me.

- I am more joyful and positive

- I have stronger family relationships because I know that we are

working together to reach eternal life.

- I make better choices for my own benefit and the benefit of others

spiritually and temporally

- I have inner peace and hope because I know God's plan and timing are perfect

- I know that I am imperfect but that I can become better each day and

have second chances because Jesus Christ took my sins and weaknesses

upon himself.

- I know that no challenge is too hard because I can do all things

through Christ who strengthens me.

- I have love for everyone that I meet because I know that we are all

brothers and sisters in God's family.

- I am grateful because I know God is good and is continually pouring

his blessings upon us.

- I know that I have great potential because I am a daughter of God

created in His image.

- I am diligent and obedient because I know that the commandments are

loving guidance that will help me have eternal happiness.

- I can forgive others and forgive myself because I know that we are

all working together on this eternal journey.

- I study and ponder about the scriptures because I know that God

calls prophets to teach us and to lead the way.

- I am virtuous and pure, worthy to enter into the Lord's house and

make promises with Him.

- I replace fear with faith

- I pray always because I know the heavens are open and God wants to

communicate with His children.

- I share the gospel of Jesus Christ at any moment that I can because

I know that the salvation of a human soul is the most important thing

in the whole world.

I know that God lives, that this is the true church of Jesus Christ

restored upon the earth. I have loved being a missionary it has

changed eternity for me. I am excited for everything that lies ahead.

Thank you all for you love and support I couldn't have done it without

you. I am excited to see you soon!!!

Love always,

Hermana Koelliker

Time is flying

Wow the weeks just go so fast I can't believe it! This was a great

week!! We saw some awesome miracles on the street, yesterday we got

out of our car and stopped a man named Santiago. It turns out he had

been visited by he missionaries in the past and he was like "I was

preparing myself to be baptized but then I had to move here to San

ysidro and I lost contact with them" We invited him to be baptized on

August 6th and he said yes! He is excited to come to church and start

meeting with us.

Mid conversation with Santigo another man named Antonio passed and we

noticed that he had a torn up bible in his hands so we stopped him as

well and turned it into a nice little group conversation where we were

able to teach them both about the restoration and invite them to read

the Book of Mormon.

Everyone here is always really intrigued by the "castle" off the side

of the freeway in la Jolla (the temple) so that's always a good way

for us to catch people's attention. We shared a little with them about

the temple and they both want to prepare to go inside!

This morning I read one of my favorite scriptures and it reminded me

of the importance of having the spirit in our lives.

D&C 11:12-13  "And now, verily, verily, I say unto thee, put your

trust in that Spirit which leadeth to do good--yea, to do justly, to

walk humbly, to judge righteously; and this is my Spirit. Verily,

verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my Spirit, which

shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy;"

If we keep the commandments and take the sacrament worthily, we will

be able to qualify for the companionship of the Holy Ghost that will

guide us, enlighten us, and bring us joy. What a wonderful gift!!

I love being a missionary an recognizing the Lord's hand in everyday.

Thanks for the support and love! I am praying for all of you!!

Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July!!! Yesterday we had a great day it was a miracle we

were on the street and we ran into one of the people that was baptized

a year ago in Chula Vista her name is Clayra I love her so much I gave

her a big hug and she lives in my area so we are going to be visiting

her again. We got invited to the bishops house for a carne asada with

some other members of our ward so we went to that and then we had to

be in our house at 6pm. We made churros and then we were trying to

catch a couple fireworks out the window haha there were some trees in

our way. Fourth of July 2016!

There is this lady in our ward named Hna Salazar I've written about

her before but she is like 80+ and is the most awesome missionary this

week she went out teaching with us and we were walking through her

apartment complex haha when we would start approaching someone she's

like yelling at us "go convert them!" Then we taught one of her

friends and she's so bold it's so cool were like worried that she

needs to rest because she can't climb stairs but she just wants to

share the gospel with everyone!

We had lots of meetings this week where I had to share about the Book

of Mormon and revelation through the Book of Mormon. I love the

scriptures in Alma 37 that compare the Words of Christ to the Liahona.

40 "And it did work for them according to their faith in God;

therefore, if they had faith to believe that God could cause that

those spindles should point the way they should go, behold, it was

done; therefore they had this miracle, and also many other miracles

wrought by the power of God, day by day."

According to our faith the Book of Mormon will direct us in the way

that we need to go. I love the Book of Mormon and know that it was

written for us in these days to follow the path that leads to eternal

life.

Love you all!!!

Hermana Koelliker

Finding

Sister Leyva and I have been blessed with many opportunities to find

new investigators this week. One of the biggest miracles we saw was

the Gonzalez family. We were looking through the less active members

in our area book apps and found one with the name Crystal. It didn't

have very much information about her just said that the missionaries

tried calling her once and we're waiting for her to send them a

message. It had been a few months so we decide to stop by and see if

we could teach her. We knocked on the door and a lady named Mirna

answered. She let us in and we asked if someone named Crystal lived

there. Crystal came into the room and we found out that Mirna and her

niece Crystal are both members of the church that were baptized when

they were little but haven't attended in a long time. We asked to

share a message with them and invited Mirna's three children who are

not members to join us also. We had a great lesson and they accepted

to be baptized, read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and attend

church. We were so excited and saw another miracle with the same

family this week when we met Mirna's husband on the street and shared

a little with him. We feel like they have a lot of potential and are

excited to teach them!

Hahahah another investigator we found while fighting cockroaches in a

members kitchen. We're laughing right now because we volunteered

ourselves to help an Hermana clean her kitchen because she's sick and

she has nobody to do it for her so anyways it's FULL of cockroaches

and when we started we were screaming because they were jumping and

falling from everywhere and by the end they just didn't even phase us

we had all these bug spray and medicine things haha it was quite the

adventure. BUT afterwards her friend showed up and we got to teach us

the restoration and she excepted the invitation to be baptized when

she comes to know that it's true so great things ahead!!

Keep your eyes open for opportunities to find people that are ready to

hear the gospel! All of us need to be continually finding and inviting

because we have the best message and news to share. I love you all!!!

And am praying for you!!

Hermana Koelliker

God's Love

Sorry we don't have much time because we went to the temple but I'll

just share a little experience from this week...

Last Wednesday we had an awesome lesson with a grandma and three of

her grandsons that live with her. When we got there she was so anxious

for us to teach her how to pray so we being to explain prayer to her

and she was like wait one second and ran upstairs for her grandsons.

They were like 13, 10 and 8 probably. Anyways so they come in and she

told them to listen while we explained to them how to pray. So we tell

them how to start and then asked them what some things are that they

are grateful for and the little one started talking about how grateful

he was for his family and just started crying it was the cutest thing

the spirit was so strong. Then one by one they each said a prayer on

their own. The middle one went last and just started bawling you could

tell he felt so much love from his Heavenly Father and it was such a

beautiful moment.

Something so wonderful about being a missionary is that everyday you

see miracles and feel the spirit as you help connect people to Heaven.

I know that God listens to our prayers and when we are sincere and

have real intent He poors out His blessings upon us. I love being a

missionary!

I love you all!!!!

Hermana Koelliker

God is good

We had the most beautiful baptism this week of Candy and her children.

A week ago we knew that Candy was planning to be baptized Saturday but

her kids hadn't decided yet they told us that they didnt know if they

were ready yet so we were praying and praying and miracles happened. A

member talked with the kids about how baptism is just the start and

how we wont know everything before baptism but it is the gate that we

can enter to keep growing our knowledge and our faith.

Anyways...wednesday we went to teach them with Sister Schmitt and

Candy was like "Ana and Sammy have a surprise for you" so were like

what??? and ana said "me and sammy are going to get baptized with my

mom" I jumped and hugged ana and sister garcia was crying and same

with candy it was amazing the spirit filled the room. We had to teach

them like all of the lessons like super fast and they had their

interviews and then Saturday was amazing!!!

The bishop and everyone was there early cleaning and setting up and it

all went perfectly. Her son thats serving a mission in Washington

right now got to skype in and see the whole meeting. At the end he

shared his testimony and congratulated them and it was the sweetest

thing in the whole world- Candy also shared her testimony about how

great of an example her son is to her and how happy she is to have the

gospel in her life and in her family.

After they were baptized we were in the hall just waiting for a minute

and i was pondering about how grateful I am for a loving Heavenly

Father that allows us to be apart of miracles like these. To be able

to see this family accept the gospel and be baptized was a priceless

experience that I will never forget. God is so good to us and allows

us to be apart of His work. I love being a missionary!

Trust

We saw so many miracles this week! On Thursday afternoon we got a call

from our investigator Candy -we hadn't been able to have a lesson with

her in two weeks because she is super busy and we were a little bit

worried about her but she called us and told us that she had been

reading the book or Mormon and praying with all of her heart so that

God would show her the truth and lead her in the right direction and

she said that she received so many answers and knows that this is what

she needs to do. At church on Sunday we took her to see the baptismal

font and she asked us when the next baptismal service is because she's

ready and wants to be baptized. We scheduled it for this Saturday at

6pm she is working really hard to make the changes necessary to be

ready! Also her son that's a missionary right now will get to skype in

to see the baptism which is so cool I am really excited for her and

for him- for the whole family! It's amazing to see how the Lord

blesses the families of His missionaries, I know he is blessing mine!

This week we had Elder Hamula come to the mission which was so awesome

he taught us for like 3 hours and then did questions and answers. For

the first question a sister asked about knowing when to drop an

investigator. When we teach someone for a certain amount of time and

they aren't progressing then we have to drop them for awhile so that

we can find other people that are prepared. Sometimes it's really hard

to drop investigators because we love them so much and we don't want

to feel like we are giving up on them but I loved what Elder Hamula

said.  He said sometimes we are so anxious for everything to happen

now when we need to trust that God knows and cares about each one of

these individuals and he has a plan for them. Usually as missionaries

we are anxious to help investigators be baptized right then or as

members we want the less active members to come back right now but we

need to look at the big picture. Wether they will be baptized now or

in the future or return to the gospel path now or in the future we

don't always know but we can only do our best and then trust in the

Lord.

I hope that makes sense....I know that God has a perfect plan for each

one of us and as we move forward with faith and with an eternal

perspective everything will work out. I love being a missionary! It is

the best!! I love you all

Hermana Koelliker