trainingggggg

In the mission they have a weird vocabulary that everyone always uses haha and they say that when you are with someone for their last transfer you "kill" them and then they say that if your training a new missionary then you are their mom/dad hahah so this morning sister avila "died" and headed back home to Utah it was super weird to see her go but I am excited for her and the future she has ahead. this morning I also found out that I'm going to be training and that I will pick up my "daughter" tomorrow at the transfer meeting so theres a little bit of mission lingo for you. I am excited for this next transfer were going to see lots of miracles!!!

this week has been super awesome I feel like things kind of turned around for us and we were about to find some really solid new investigators. haha a couple funny stories

#1- we teach english classes every tuesday night for free so we have all of these cute people that don't know really any english come and last week for the class we did this activity where we had one person go up in front of the class and they had to put the phone on speaker and then we would call a business or store or something and they would have to ask them what time they opened and closed hahaha it was so funny because they were so nervous i wanted to start having them call my family and to see what would happen hahaha but don't worry i know that thats against the rules hahah maybe ill give them your guys phone numbers and they can call to practice for homework.

#2- i was driving down this street to go visit a less active member and we passed this man and i noticed him walking but i just kept driving and then we got to the house and i just felt really strongly that i should've stopped and talked to the guy walking so i ran and put an invitation to general conference on this members door and then got back into the car to drive back to where i saw the man and i was just hoping he would still be there so we hurried and stopped and got out and i locked the door to the car and started trying to talk to him and it turns out he's from HONG KONG and speaks like two words of spanish and no english so we weren't able to communicate super well so he starts walking away and then i remembered that we had a chinese restoration phamplet in our car so i go back to the car open the trunk and grab the phamplet and accidentally locked the keys in the trunk hahaha so sister avila starts freaking out and i just start sprinting down the street after the Asian man to give him the phamplet so i get to him give it to him and she was probably wondering why in the world i was chasing him but we start walking back to the car and sister avila is like "why did you lock the keys in the car were stranded..." then we get to the car try the door and BAM it was unlocked. MIRACLE hahaha and who knows maybe that chinese man will read the phamplet and find the missionaries sometime in his future!

hahah kind of random stories but i have seen so many miracles this week and tender mercies as the Lord has helped us reach our goals! things are looking up for the area and i am super excited to get my new comp tomorrow. love you all!!!

have a good week and enjoy general conference! make sure that you prayerfully listen and take notes because in D&C it says "wether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants it is the same"  so this is our chance to hear what God wants us to hear through His prophet and apostles! 

xoxo hermana koelliker

Just Another Week!

HOLA HOLA HOLA

Yesterday night was a miracle night ah it was so amazing! I feel like as missionaries you learn to appreciate the little things a lot more. Anyways so it hit 8:30 pm and we had been driving around trying different people for the last hour with not a lot of luck. We had just tried a less active that we can never get ahold of and we came back to the car. A potential investigator came to my mind but I felt really strongly that we should pray for guidance so we said a prayer and sat for a second listening for a prompting and sister Avila was like "nobody is coming to mind" and I still could only think of the potential so we started driving and on the way  I saw two men on the street working on their car and I kept driving until I hit the end of the street then I felt really strongly that we should go back to talk to them so I flipped around and parked and we were going to walk down the street and talk to them. We get out of the car and walk a couple houses and see two different people out so we start talking with them and then we were like "somos misioneras de la iglesia de jesucristo de los santos de los últimos días" and the lady responded super fast and said "soy mormoma" (she's a member). Anyways turns out she just moved her from Las Vegas where she was sealed in the temple awhile ago but hasn't been to church in 6 years!!! But she was outside with her friend and we talked to both of them and they're both going to come to church! Anyways we taught them then start walking back to our car and I'm like wow what a miracle that was so awesome then another lady shows up like right by our car and we ended up having a lesson with her also and have a return appointment for Friday and she was super cool. Back to back miracles ah it was just such a testimony builder for me that if we ask for guidance and act in faith the the Lord really will guide our steps. 

Proverbs 3: 5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths."

The Lord is helping us work to build this area and gain more trust of the members! One week til transfers I'm pretty sure I'll be staying here for awhile longer but I guess we will find out. Love you all!!!

XOXO HERMANA KOELLIKER

Life on the Border

Something I've learned on my mission is that most of the time things just don't really turn out how you thought they would haha but that's okay because we just need to exercise our faith and trust that God has an even better plan. 

Isaiah 55:8-9 

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

that scripture is soooooo true!!!! Especially this week haha it was kind of a roller coaster anyways so we were going to have a baptism this Saturday and she had her interview and everything went well and she was so excited and all and so we saw her a couple times through the week and we went by Saturday morning to check on her and make sure she was ready and all good for her baptism that night at 7pm and she said yes I'll be there at 6:30 I'm ready and this is what God wants for me right now and I'm so excited so we all prayed and hugged and it was all good. In the afternoon we sent the elders to go visit her (she's been taught by a bunch of different sets if missionaries) and they stopped by to make sure that she was still good and wasn't going to go to Mexico and was ready and everything was good until about 3 pm when we receive a text and she's like sorry sisters I'm going to Mexicali and I don't think I'll be back in time for the baptism so we're like WHAT and we call her and were like no you need to come back it's all planned everyone's coming this is what you want and what God wants and she's like ok I'll try to be back by 7:30. 

-in the meantime-

We decide to go teach a less active family and we always teach the restoration so we get in there and were just teaching it and my companion was like There's so many churches and Joseph smith wanted to know which church was true have you ever had a question like that? And then things just went bad from there and they took offense to that question and just started tearing us apart... Fifteen minutes later we left crying so that didn't go too well. 

Trying to stay positive we continue texting and calling the baptismal candidate and then about 8 pm we lost contact with her and she never showed up and we were super sad for her. So we went home and went to bed and woke up Sunday and wanted to go see if we could find her and she wasn't home so we left a note and that's all the contact we've had with her. Then we walked by to pick up another solid investigator for church and found out he had left for Mexicali for the next two weeks. The struggle of living on the border :(((((((((( 

HOWEVER we are not lower our expectations and we are not giving up because the devil wants us to feel doubt discouragement and despair but we need to move forward with FAITH because Gods plan will go forth!! So we are still smiling and finding joy in the journey. I have never worked harder then I have this week, we come in every night ready to collapse it's so awesome and I'm so grateful that I get to serve here. 

SO NEVER GIVE UP!!!! Keep serving loving and working hard in all you do. 

I LOVE YOU ALL!!!! 

xoxo hermana koelliker

Ps you don't have to worry about me getting kidnapped and taken over the border because my comp is a karate triple back belt hahaha I didn't even know that was a thing but hopefully she's got my back. 

Baptisms Coming!

THIS WEEK WE'VE SEEN MIRACLES!!!!!!

We started out September with very few investigators and nobody with a

baptism date but we prayerfully set a goal to have two baptisms in our

companionship and the Lord has placed two people in our path.

The first is Fabiola who is 19 and has been taught by a bunch of

different missionaries in Mexico and here and she's like an angel that

fell into our hands and wants to be baptized ASAP she's been begging

us and will be baptized this Saturday!!

Second is Gilberto that we found on the street two weeks ago and is

progressing so well and reading the BOM and has already been to church

twice and has a date for the 26th

I AM SO GRATEFUL AND EXCITED

sorry this is short but I love you all and am grateful for you love

and support!! Especially your prayers! Have a good week

XOXO

on our bikes. this one makes me lol

calexico

COMO ESTANNN????

Still down here in the Mexican border preaching away haha this was a good week! Every Tuesday night we teach English classes and so many people come!!! We're trying to figure out how we can get them to come Sunday's too haha so we're going to sing I am a child of God to them tonight and keep sneaking in little gospel hints hopefully they will all turn into investigators and get baptized!!!!

As a missionary I feel like I've heard a lot of excuses and justifications as to why people aren't obeying the commandments of God. I think some people convince themselves that they are exceptions or that their disobedience is forgiven because they are going through a significant challenge with family or health. For others it might just be laziness or worldly distractions. This behavior or way of thinking is more common in some then others but I know that we have all probably found ourselves guilty of it at some point or another. The truth is however that God and His commandments are the same yesterday, today, and forever, they don't change. As disciples of Jesus Christ and members of His church it is our responsibility to be a light to the world to hold God's standards high and to help others repent and come unto Him. Yesterday we were teaching a woman who lives here in Calexico on the weekdays so that her daughter can go to school and then every weekend they go to Mexicali and that's where her husband is so she only sees her husband 2-3 days a week and one of the days is Sunday. So we taught her about the Sacrament and the importance of church and invited her to attend church this weekend in Mexico. She began to try to convince us that Sunday is one of her only days with her husband and that she didn't need to go to church to have God and was kind of trying to receive a confirmation from us that she was excused from church attendance because of her circumstances. Our response was a little bit different then I think she expected when we testified to her that going to church is a commandment of God and that we need to obey out of love and respect and that He blesses us when we go to church. Something that I've learned significantly on my mission is that we can't please the world and God at the same time, while that woman wasn't very happy with our response, I know that that's what God wanted her to hear and that He wants her and her family to be in church on Sunday. In preach my gospel is says that we need to declare the gospel with a voice of warning and love, because if we truly care about the people around us then we will lift each other to a higher level of commitment and obedience to the Lord. I know that if we "do always those things that please him" and help others do the same that we will be blessed and find true happiness as servants of God. 

This week I have seen progress in this area thanks to the guidance of the Spirit. As I walked around in the 120 degree hot sun I just prayed and prayed that the Lord would help me fulfill my purpose and guide me through the spirit, and He put people in my path that were ready to hear the gospel and prepare for baptism. Im so grateful!!!!!! I love and miss you all! Your in my thoughts and prayers!!! 

Xoxo Hermana Koelliker

PS we had some Jehovah's witnesses knock on our apartment doors this week haha we had a nice conversation with them and then they walked over to the elders apartment and started getting into a little argument hahah so we had to go brake that up and thank them for coming by.  

PPS our cars have little babysitters called TIWI. it tells me to "check my speed" every five seconds haha oops hopefully my driving privileges don't get taken away. 

the border 2 minutes from my house