the faith to walk on water

HOLA HOLA HOLA

this past weekend we had an awesome stake conference I loved it and

learned so much!!! Super inspiring. We had Elder Pimentel from the 70

here and on Sunday he gave a talk that I really loved and he talked a

lot about Mathew 14.

"And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea.

And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled,

saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is

I; be not afraid.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto

thee on the water.

And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he

walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to

sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and

said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"

Elder Pimentel talked about how Peter had the faith to get out of the

boat and trust the Savior, and then when he began to doubt he called

out to the Lord to save him.

Faithful followers go out of their comfort zone when called by the

Savior, they get out of the boat and when things get hard or they

begin to doubt they reach to Him and they know that immediately He

will come. And then after the Lord has lifted us up He will then walk

on water with us.

I loved the way that he related that story to us as members of the

church and how we need to have the faith to walk on water if that's

what the Savior is asking us to do.

He then went on to say that sometimes the Lord will tell us to roll up

our sleeves and  start swimming and that that will be the miracle. So

exercise your faith and follow the Savior wether He is asking you to

walk on water or swim.

Anyways there's something for all of you to study. This week was a

great week and it flew by wow! We've seen so many miracles and had to

do a lot of dropping and finding because we haven't been seeing much

progression in our teaching pool. We have a baptism for the 7th that's

all planed for Zandra (I'm gonna send a pic). She's 17 and a senior in

high school and just so sweet. We love her and are so excited for

her!!!

This week we had a lesson with a member who we invited to church, she

told me that she's been serving her whole life she's taken care of her

family and been a good person and that she's done enough service and

she doesn't need to do anymore. It made me sad to hear her just go on

and on about how she didn't need to do any more service. Once she

finished we had to tell her that never ever have we done enough

service and that we need to keep loving and serving everyone around us

at every opportunity we get. We've never done enough!!! Keep giving

all your heart might mind and strength to serving God and those around

you.

We have another investigator that is drilling us with questions about

the plan of salvation hahaha I've been studying super hard and

learning tons. Life is good!!! Gospels true

I love you all!!!!

hermana koelliker

holaaaa

Sorry don't have much time but here's a little story from this week.....

A month or so ago we were doing some street contacting down here and we stopped to talk to a women that was sweeping her driveway. We got her name and asked if we could come back another time and share something with her and she agreed so we wrote down her address and continued on. I remember that night thinking back on that experience and feeling really badly that I didn't try and teach her right there on the spot. Usually we always try to share the restoration right when we meet people because then they will feel the Holy Ghost and will be more open to learning more and what not but for some reason I hadn't taught her and I remember feel badly about that. I told my companion we needed to go back and see her so we scheduled her in a couple times but weren't able to find her. She had kind of slipped to the back of my mind until last Thursday when sister castellanos and I were walking back to our car to head home and walked right past her house and realized that we had enough time so we knocked the door. She answered really quickly and invited us right in. We shared the restoration and towards the end of the lesson she told us that she has been praying to God asking Him what church she should join and it was soooo cool because we were just able to relate it to Joseph Smith and testify to her that God has sent her her answer and invite her to be baptized. A few days later we had our second lesson with her and she shared with us that her son in law passed away this week and that her daughter was in a rehabilitation center. With all of the humbling experiences she's having in her life right now we know the Lord has prepared her to accept the gospel and we're so excited to be able to teach her. 

The church is true! The Holy Ghost will guide us! I love you all!!!!!!

pray always!

Hahaha I just turned to my companion and asked her what even happened this week and she said "nothing really happened but we're just praying and praying and praying" 

sooooooo this week has been a week full of prayers down here in Calexico. 

We have an investigator that's 17 years old she's so sweet and cute I love her but anyways we only ever meet with her we've invited her family to listen but she's the only one that's interested. A couple weeks ago we set her on a date for baptism for the 24 of October and so she had to talk to both of her parents to get permission to be baptized on this day. So we've been praying a lot for her and she's super solid already read like half of the Book of Mormon and keeps commitments really well. Last week she spoke with her mom and it went well she said that she would support her if she was 100% sure about her decision. She was super nervous to talk with her dad but yesterday we had a lesson with her and found out that all went well and he also gave her permission to be baptized. We were so excited when she told us just had the biggest smilies. The bummer is that she then asked to move the date to November 7 because she wants to learn more about the living prophet and apostles. We are grateful for her desire to learn and are going to continue praying that she can feel confident about being baptized on the 7th. 

This week we have also been working with Alvaro, the sweet humble submissive one that I talked about in my last letter. We brought a member to our last lesson and started with the restoration again so that he could understand the importance of the Priesthood and know that our church is the only church that has this authority from God. The member was super bold and just what we needed and Alvaro asked to pray right then about what we had taught. So he started praying and was talking super quietly so we couldn't hear the whole thing and he was like "please God help me to know if I should join with the Mormons, if that's the place that I should go" it was so awesome and I know he's going to get his answer. After the lesson he asked us if the next time we come over if we could each individually go around and say a prayer so we're going to be praying even more with him this upcoming week. 

Over the last 8 months prayer has becoming something so valuable and essential for me it's hard to describe. I've always prayed ever since I can remember but when I think back to my first couple days in the MTC I think that's when prayer really changed for me and I really learned how to communicate with God. I used to think that it was weird that BYU prayed before everything and now I find myself literally praying always. When I run in the morning I pray in my head and throughout the day I'm constantly praying either alone, with my companion, with investigators, members when I feel sad I pray when I feel grateful and joyful I pray. I love to pray and feel the love that Heavenly Father has for me and all of His children. Prayer gives us power and strength to move forward with faith. I love this quote from one of my favorite talks 

"It is good to pray for Heavenly Father's blessings. But after we say amen, we have to get up off our knees and go to work. We cannot expect the Lord to guide our footsteps if we're not willing to move our feet. And we should not ask the Lord to do for us what we can and should do for ourselves." -Elder Wilford Anderson 

So this week don't forget to pray and then get up and exercise your faith!!! I love you all!!! Your in my prayers. 

Xoxo Hermana koelliker

One of our English class bffs hahahah she always gives us chocolate such a sweetheart 

After church selfie. These are the elders that serve in our ward 

general conference!

How wonderful it was to watch general conference this weekend!! I've always loved it but my testimony of living prophets and apostles has grown a lot throughout these past six months and it was awesome to see President Monson at that pulpit putting every last bit of energy into delivering his talk. Something that the spirit taught me at conference was to focus on the simple things and to be centered on Christ. There are so many things to worry about in life but what I decided I need to do is focus most on building my faith and others faith in Jesus Christ. Anyways I loved all of the talks but I especially loved president monson and how he concluded his talk 

“That each of us within the sound of my voice may pledge to follow Him, thus becoming a shining light to the world, is my prayer,”

Here's a little about my week...

Wednesday I went to San Diego to pick up my new companion. Her name is Hermana castellanos from Houston Texas and she already speaks fluent Spanish what a blessing. She is an awesome missionary and we get along super well! I'm excited to serve with her. 

On our way back from San Diego I had driven like four hours already that day and I was almost to Calexico when bam cop behind me flashing lights.... My little speed detector that's supposed to yell at me and tell the mission office on me hadn't even said anything and then the cop comes up to the window and tells me I was speeding :(((((( I tried to make him feel bad for me cause I'm a missionary hahaha we were like trying to pull out pictures of Jesus Christ and such to get him to cut us a break but no he asks for my license and the papers and such and comes back with the ticket. We started asking him if he had talked with missionaries before then slowly found out that he's good friends with the bishop in El Centro so of course I invited him to general conference and he said he might be able to make it and then crossed out the ticket!!!!! #blessed hahah I was so happy and grateful

On Sunday night we were trying to find a referral but ended up knocking on the wrong apartment number. The lady who answered the door had been sleeping but instead of being upset that we had woken her up she was very nice and welcomed us in to share our message. I was impressed to see someone so willing to invite us in and as we shared the restoration we were able to find out that she had already been taught by missionaries in the past and was very familiar with the church and its teachings. She wasn't baptized the first time meeting with missionaries because she had some concerns with the word of wisdom but she seems very prepared to accept the gospel at this point so I'm super excited to go back and teach her. 

We have another investigator that we've been teaching named Alvaro who has always been very open and accepting to our message and who has already attended church twice. He is very meek and submissive almost as a child which made us wonder if he had some health problems or disabilities. So Sunday we were outside and we gave him a Book of Mormon and he was so excited and just kept talking about how much he loves Jesus Christ and when we finished the lesson we prayed and were about to leave when he stopped us. He then went on to tell us about an accident that happened when he was a child, his brother found a gun in the house and was going to try shooting it at the floor but the pressure lifted his brothers hand and the bullet took out a large portion of Alvaro's brain which has now been replaced with metal plates. When I heard this story I felt so much compassion for him and what his family might have gone through as a result of that experience but it was also cool to see that despite the physical disabilities he has, his faith in Jesus Christ is extremely strong and His love for God and those around him is inspiring.

That's all for now. I LOVE YOU!!! 

Con amor, Hermana Koelliker