Gulfbank Sept 23, 2013: I ATE FISH.... and LOVED IT.

Just sittin in the street

Hola hola

      This week was kind of just a workin week :) I mean they all are, but we really only have one progressing investigator and so we have just been digging and trying to find people. For me one of the hardest parts of missionary work. Its so emotional because you work so hard but the outcome isn't visible and so it really sometimes feels like you're doing nothing haha but its ok!!! Because the Lord is on our side!! and with Him all is possible :) and we just need to have our faith in the right place and keep movin' knowing that we are doing what he wants!

We got a call from our investigator saying that he might be going to church with his grandma and taking his son and girl with him, which was really sweet because that's just something that everyone wants, to be all together with your family and so even though we were sad he wasn't going to be at church, we were happy that he would be with his family. But the night before church so Saturday night ahha he called us, something didn't work out and anyways,  he said that he didn't want to go to church because he didn't feel comfortable, and then he told us he was sad because he was going to surprise us and show up but he couldn't get ahold of his ride so we had to figure that all out haha. anyway the point was that he showed that he wanted to come to church because he was comfortable and that made us SO happy. He decided to come because he wanted to be there and he felt welcome. That just, AHHHH that just makes me so happy and so I just want everyone to be so nice!!! haha that sounds weird but if you don't know someone at church, go say hi to them!! You are in the house of the Lord and every person should feel personally responsible to make every other person feel welcome! at least smile and wave. that's it :) What would Jesus do?

We had special training and mission presidents interviews this week! That was fun :) We learned about the POWERFUL FIRST LESSON. That's what we do in our mission where we explain our purpose with power and then teach them a lesson and invite them to be baptized, obviously only if it is right :) but it is really wonderful, its a way to create a strong spirit, testify of the love that God has for them, and allow them to know the things that we expect and that way they can tell us if they are interested in desire what we are telling them. The interview with President was awesome, I just love that man, he is so incredible and so caring, I cried as usual just like I do in every situation that it might possibly be acceptable haha. He gave me a blessing as well that said some pretty powerful things that just made me realize how aware the Lord is of our struggles and that He is right there, He's right their to hold our hand. He talked to me about allowing the Savior to take the burden off my shoulders, and without thinking about it my immediate response was but I feel bad. And he said, why do you feel bad? Why would you feel bad about doing something that the Savior would be so happy about, it makes Him happy when we ask Him to carry our burdens, when we allow Him to make our burden light, because He already suffered for all sadness, anxiety, stress, fear, emotion that we will ever have, what makes Him sad, is when we wont lean on Him and rely and have faith in the fact that He overcame the world. I testify that we have a loving Savior, that if we allow Him, He will make our burdens light. But He cannot take away your agency. We inflict pain on ourselves when we don't kneel down and pray and ask Him to take some of the pain away. I know that without Christ we cannot return to our Father in Heaven, that we can't live with our families forever, and I want that more than anything. The Lord is always with us and if you doubt that read the words of the hymn "Abide With Me Tis Even Tide" and pray and ask, and He will be their.

I love you all :) I hope all is well and everyone is happy :) 

Oh I tried Talapia! and I loved it, it was so yummy :) Also a really nice guy gave me free cinnamon twists from taco bell! Oh and also we got this new missionary life booklet and its all about helping you feel better about things youre stressed about and one that I have taken a particular liking to is one that is about working out and one of the suggestions is marching to approved music. you bet I jumped on that one ahha I have even come up with new marches, theres the straight legged jazz fingered march, and the twinkle toes one, and the drunken chicken one (hna B named that one because she told me I looked like one) and then when you get really fancy theirs the marching leap dance moves across the room. I like that one :) It really works! try sometime when you cant get your body movin haha :)

Te amo <3

Hna Liz Koch

Big Rain

Gulfbank Sept 16,2013 EMILIO IS THE COOLEST PERSON EVER AND HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED

EMILIO IS THE COOLEST PERSON EVER AND HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED AND THE HISPANICS KNOW HOW TO PARTY.

Hola hola hola

       This week ended with a bang. Like really super awesome. But first I just want to tell you the little silly things I wrote in my planner that made me think of you guys at home and wish I could have told you or witnessed.... I really don't know why though because some are dumb but for the sake of the "me" who wrote them down during the week... even though I have no idea what she was thinking when writing them..... I will tell you them!!!! Here I go!!! also before writing this actually I just want to say, mom I love you. You're my best friend <3

       OK!!! so first on the list hahaha oh ok I know why I wrote this.... SOO Hermana B was telling me about her teeth when she was younger and how they were super bad, but not so bad that they were pointing in opposite direction hahaha and I know you know what came in my head.... I thought of dad singing this to mom and started singin' (sing it with me or this won't be any fun) OOOOOH MY SWEET HEART TENSE. SHE AINT GOOD LOOKIN BUT SHE GOT GOOD SENSE.... shes got western teeth in her mouth, one points north. one points south OOOOOH MY SWEET HEART TENSE, SHE AINT GOOD LOOKIN BUT SHE GOT GOOD SENSE.

Next... hmmm oh ya this isnt that funny but I was so excited about it so ill tell you haha so Hermana B and I were driving and this white Mercedes straight up cut us off like not even like... hmmmhmmhmmm I'm meandering over... like, HEY I felt like chopping off the front of your car today sort of cutting off... and at first we were like ahhhhh what just happened but then he like did a little wave in his mirror and we realized he didn't know what he had done... so we both at the same time waved back and I said "smile and wave boys, smile and wave" hahah and we laughed really hard and I was so happy that I got to use a movie quote in an actual situation! and I thought of Jeff 18 and was like, I gotta tell everyone this haha.

Oh ya the next thing was that I just wanted to tell you that sometimes when we are driving I look at myself in the side mirror and make creepy faces at myself, and I am guessing that you are not surprised.

Um last little thing is that we were walking down the street to tract and we have made up a ton of games like fill in the blank with gospel principle phrases and such but we were just quietly walking and we started translating songs haha so we started singing, 

What is love?! baby don't hurt me don't hurt me no more, and it was pretty catchy.

Oh and I got a letter from Hno Loy! (one of her teachers in the MTC) He promised us he'd send us all letters, and he's awesome so that was super exciting.

Ok so the good stuff #1 fun #2 fun/ spiritual!

#1- Noche de Latino! ay!! it wassoooooo fun. the Hispanics no how to party... I'm just sayin. I was definitely born into the wrong culture. It was seriously so fun! the pictures are on the SD card I sent home.... But let me tell you this was my kind of PARTY!! There was sooo much food from all the different countries that make up our ward and it was all spicey which was just SO DELICIOUS. and there were streamer things I dont know what they are called across the gym and all cute cut out lookin latino and then there was MUSIC!!! The classic what you think is Hispanic music kind of music! And then the women in our ward have been practicing for like a month and a half for this dance they performed for us and it was so cute!! and they looked fabulous! and then they all put hats on us and we all took pictures and it was awesome! Ana and Edenilson came with us and we haven't seen them in forever :/ so that was EXCITING! They were so cute they just stayed by us and we talked and ate! Our ward was so sweet, everyone came up and said hi to them! Edenilson sat next to me and just stared at me all night hahaha kind of awkward but whatever. Life as a missionary is probably the most awkward thing I've experienced haha. He's 8 or 9 so in school they only speak to them in English now so he's getting super good so he just kept saying to me," are you having a lot of fun?!" in his cute accent. gotta love it. Then curfew came around and we had to skiddadle which was kind of sad cuz I could party all night!!! I also decided I should probably move to Mexico or a Hispanic country for a little while after my missinon, like 2 months at least and have these awesome parties all the time!! It reminded me of Peru and all the music and fun FIESTAS! there :)

#2- Ok so we had an awesome restoration lesson with Emilio at the beginning of this week! It was so great! At first I was kind of nervous because he told us that he doesn't believe in prophets in these days just the old ones :) But he told us it was because of people who claim to prophesy of things, it's kind of confusing to explain but either way we taught him, and we taught him about Joseph Smith and we read the first vision, and at first he said to us I'm not going to lie I didn't really feel anything when we read that and in my head I was like whaaAAtt nooo :( but we kept talking and bore testimony of God's will and when he answers us and then read a little bit more of the history when Joseph refers to Paul and he was like that was my answer. And we were like WOOOOO!!! and then we continued and at the end we said, do you believe this is true, and then he said ya, ya I believe that its true! We were like yes! Will you pray to KNOW that it is true and he said yes and it was just so bubbly and happy and spiritual :) Then ok here is the BANG at the end! 

So last night, was Sunday night and we had time to go have a lesson with Emilio and we took Prisila Leyva with us! Prisila is SO CUTE! She is our age and is sending in her mission papers, she is the daughter of one of the councilors to the stake president and her mom is the relief society president in our ward and one day she walked into sacrament and Hna B freaked out! Turns out they were super good friends at college and hadn't put together that she was in her ward! Anyway she is the best and always comes out with us! Anyway we taught Emilio Alma 32 about faith :) We read versus here and there and there was testimony bearing all over the place and we just talked about having faith in God and his will and he shared beautiful things about his life and his struggles he had and Priscila bore an amazing testimony on having the gospel in her life and then we asked him if he would be baptized in November? and he said yes! and it was amazing! That counts as a date because we aren't sure what date he can because he needs approval, but it was so cool! 

Then we talked about eternal families and the blessings of growing up in a home with the foundation of the Gospel and it was incredible and we were all crying! He ended with the most amazing prayer and in it he said he was thankful for THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! Which is SO incredible! He showed us the pages he had been just reading on his own and marking of the heeeezeeee and it was Moroni 7!!! He was like I was just reading and couldn't stop! I just had to keep goin! and then I was like I need something to mark this!! haha he is so awesome. wow. I feel so blessed. He is truly a gift from God for us. I feel so incredibly grateful to even have met him.

I love my family. I know that my family is the first blessing that God gave me. I know that when a home is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ that it is and will always be a place of refuge and peace. Helaman 5:12. Christ is the focus, and with Him we can do all things, he is the one who made it all possible and everyday we should strive to be more like Him. The quote that I love that will ALWAYS touch me is the one that says, " Live your life in such a way that people want to know Christ because they know you". I love that! If you haven't ever heard the song "Come see the light" you need to listen to it. its about 3 nephi 11 from the Book of Mormon, the song says, 

"the shadows flee, His quiet voice, the light of hope descends, be free of doubt and arise, come touch His wounds and fall at His feet.." 

and it goes on and its amazing but those words just hit me. I can't wait for that day, to see my Savior. I love Him and I will serve Him as best I can :) Because I can do all things through Christ. In His name Amen.

Hermana Koch

Exerpt from Hermana Burnhams blog about Emilio

(He loves the scriptures. If we don't have a lesson with him one day he calls us that night to read and talk with him about what he is reading. The best part, in my opinion, is his scripture-reading voice. I used to read the scriptures in my head using my own voice, but now I read them using his voice--not even joking. Imagine a super thug, recently released from prison, rapper-like man reading 1 Nephi 3:7 with super sweet enthusiasm and emphasis.  Its awesomeeeeee (*sing songy voice*)!  In our last lesson with him I looked at him and said "So, E, do you believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God?"  He just looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Well, how can it not be!?" Amen to that E. Amen to that.)

I got to meet Lizzie's Bishop in Texas, Houston 5th ward at Hermana Parry's house in San Marcos, CA on Monday night for dinner. He came to say hello while on a business trip to CA.
A very nice man and taking good care of our missionaries.

Gulfbank Sept 8,2013: The week that Kathryn Lambrakis went to church.

Hola hola.

     Well this week was.... ummm well I'm not really sure how to explain it... ill do so in three palabras. FAST, HAPPY, INTERESTING.

So I chose two experiences to share with you!

  

#1- Emilio

#2- Kathryn Lambrakis

We are going to start with Katy hahaha

#2- Kathryn Lambrakis.... good ol' Kathryn Lambrakis. I love this woman to death.... maybe I shouldn't use that expression haha Katy is 89 or 90 one of the two and we absolutely love her. One day a couple weeks ago we were waiting for a member to get home because we had an appointment with her... and she wasn't there.... story of our lives haha love it. Anyway so obviously we aren't going to sit there and wait because we are missionaries and we don't do those kinds of things, plus I would probably fall asleep if I just sat, always happens. Anyways sorry for the tangent, so we looked at the cross road and had to decide which way to go, the way we chose was the way to the house of Kathryn Lambrakis. So we go knocking, and the first house we knock on, the one on the corner of the street is cute and has a little gardenish area. I can't really explain this so I'll give up trying. Anyway, we knock on this door. This glass door because the inside (normal wood) one was open and we wait and wait and suddenly we see a little person walking around into the hall to the door. She's wobbley and so adorable and she opens the door and we tell her we are missionaries from The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and she invites us in! So we go in and sit down on her couch and she starts talking to us about how she does family history...
OH THIS IS THE CUTEST PART ABOUT HER!!!
When she talks, her dentures pop up and down like they've got something to say too!!! ahhh I love her.  Our talkin's are not important. So we visit Katy once a week usually. But this week we told her that we were going to come by on Saturday to help her clean because aparently the people who do it haven't showed up, and her house needs to be cleaned because she has 30 cats. We repeated, asked her if she would be here on Saturday, and she always says... Yes of course I will.  I don't ever leave unless my neighbor takes me grocery shoping. I'm always here. So beautiful Saturday roles around, and we head over to Kathryn's and we knock on her door... no answer... we knock harder.. no answer... In this situation usually you'd be like, oh shes so cute and old she probably cant hear us... no no not Katy, she tells us all the time her ears are like radars and they are! its true.
SO we think about this and suddenly we realize. We might have a life or death situation. Kathryn Lambrakis was NOT coming to the door. But really though we start panicking. She has no family, and never leaves her house, she's so cute and old and she lives by herself and she is not coming to the door!!! So slowly the knocking starts escalating. We start knocking harder... then we start knocking on her windows, then we go around her house to the back door which is always proped open and yell into it Kathryn... its the Missionaries... we're just a little bit worried about you..... And so we call Marisol who is the member we are visting and she visits Kathryn almost everyday because Marisol speaks english because she's young. And she says that Katy got her groceries yesterday! soooo thats out of the question, and she never leaves, so she has to be in there. So we start panicking and are like well we absolutely can't break into her house because that would look horrible!! and If we find her injured :( or even passed away! someone could blame us and we are like ahhhhh we just want to get in there and see if she is ok. so we keep knocking and we decided we need another opinion so we call little york to see if Elder Mondragon knows what to do, but he didn't answer, so we called Aldine and talked to Elder Alexander
(who by the way I dont think I've mentioned this, but he was in my district in the MTC he was the district leader for half the time, anyway we are buds and he is in my district here! so we've been in the same district for all three months of our mission... and he's the district leader again. He has been in the field for one transfer and on our second transfer he is already the district leader and a trainer and has to learn spanish! poor thing. but he can do it, he's awesome.)
He didnt know what to do either, so he said we should pray, and we all decided the question we needed to pray about is whether or not to call the cops. So we got in our car and asked and we both felt that we needed to call them. So we did so! and they said they were on their way. It starts raining of course and we keep knocking on the windows because we decided that if she was in there that we would want her to know that we were there and that we weren't going to leave her! So the cop shows up and asks us if we are family... we tell him no she has no one and he says, "well I sure hate to kick a door down without a family member" ay!!!!! I'm like oh no this guy means business. Then another cop shows up, super duper nice! and we tell them that the back is open and explain everything, so we all go around and we wait outside the gate because we didnt want to break in and they went in... b t dubs cops here are decked out in weapons galor all over there waist.. Don't mess... they"ve got all kinds of scarey gadgets... like a huge tazer in the front... his was yellow so if I had to get one I'd probably get the yellow one two, it only seems fitting since its my favorite color.... and if I'd tazer someone, might as well give them a spice of Lizzie with it. Anyways they go flash lights on, stepping over the tiny new kittens. At this point we start a new mode of panic called.

O MY GOSH THERE ARE COPS GOING INTO HER HOUSE AND IF SHE IS IN THERE SHES GOING TO HAVE A HEART ATTACK AND DIE.
#WEALMOSTKILLEDKATHRYNLAMBRAKIS.

Well anyway we wait and they come out and she wasn't in there... fewf! Shes ok... oh wait this is awkward... we had cops break into the house of Kathryn Lambrakis and she isn't there.... Pretty soon her neighbor guy shows up and says to us, she's not home, I saw a big white van for her church come and pick her up and take her to church, sometimes she goes to church on Saturdays (not true she hasn't gone in forever) but I guess she went this time!... So there you have the week that Kathryn Lambrakis went to church.

Now for the end of the story actually, that night we were driving not knowing what to do for the last like 15 minutes, and I say we should go see Marisol and tell her we don't have a long time, but when we got there there was definitely some sort of hoorah goin on so we decided it wasn't a good idea. We both look at Katy's house. We both felt that we needed to go see her and tell her what had happened. So we pull up to her house, feeling rather embarrassed and also super nervous that this little harmless spunky lady was going to yell at us, and we walked up. Definitely the walk of shame considering the man from earlier was just sitting on the bed of his truck staring at us. We knock on Katy's door, and see her come around the corner (gave me so much peace) and she feebly pushes the door open and tells us to come in, fewf! not mad. So we tell her that we were so sorry and what happened and she had kind of already heard and her response back broke my heart. She said to us, "its nice to know that somebody cares" she wasn't mad, she wasn't annoyed, she felt loved because she knew that we cared. She repeated some things that she repeats a lot, but they hit me a lot harder this time. She told us that she doesn't have anyone, that no one checks on her, that the only family she has is her niece and nephew which told her a long time ago that they werent going to take care of her, especially because they dont get any of her inheritance. She told us that the neighbor who came over and told us she was gone never talks to her, that none of them want anything to do with her unless they can get some money out of her. and sadest of all the church she has been going to since she was a little girl, doesn't ever come to see her, that they told her they wouldn't pick her up anymore because she smells like cats, and when she does make it to church, she sits by herself, and everyone stays away from her because they say she smells like cats. My heart is broken. she says, "I try so hard, I bath and try to keep the house clean" it just tore me up. We shared with her Romans 8: 38-39 and she says that she knows that God is always there for her and watching over her, she always says, "its not your religion that takes you to heaven its your heart"... Hermana B and I talked about in the car how we feel like our missionary work has been so different than all the missionaries in the zone, it just seems like we have been here to heal hearts, and to sit with people as Christ would and hold their hands. I love this opportunity, its difficult, its a lot of heart break, but I am so happy to be here to show someone that they are loved and that they are not alone.

#1 Emilio!!!! Emilio is amazing as usual! HE CAME TO CHURRRRCHHHHHH AND HE LOVED ITTTTT AND HE EVEN SANG LOUD AND PROUD DURING THE HYMNSSSSS he's so cool. Oh and in gospel doctrine he just, you know participated the WHOLE TIME. and it was on the word of wisdom and we haven't even taught him that! AND as he said bye to Elder Mondragon, Emilio said to him, see you next week!! (ahhhhh what?!! aparently he is coming next week!!) and THEN. Henry Salgado drove him home and aparently he also set up a ride with him for every week without us doing anything!!! HE SET UP HIS OWN RIDE. mind blown. hes the best. anyways ya!

I love you all!! Read romans 8: 38-39 and think about how much God loves you! It gives me so much comfort :) Sorry I wanted to write a little something that I learned in personal study but i dont have time :/

Te amo te amo te amo bastante!

Hermana Koch

Gulfbank Sept. 2, 2013: First week of the new transfer!! Goodbye Hermana Parry!

"Good to see you, good to hold you"- (ps: i love you), 

saying bye to Hna Parry with black mascara under my eyes

Hola hola!

       Sooooo as you probably know.. Hermana Parry was taken from us this week :( heart broken. quite literally. you will see in the pictures later! but ya that was rather tragic. But then we keep going because we are missionaries and that's what we do and we love it and that's the life. We cried way too much haha but now I am happy because I know I got to live with someone I knew before this life. She will forever be a soul sister (insert over played train song) as cheesy as that sounds. I love her, she's awesome and has taught me so much! and then on top of that though, I am still with Hna B,  who is quite possibly one of my favorite people in the entire world :) I love her guts. We just laugh and love life together in all kinds of weather, stinky and clever and i definitely stepped in dog poop this week that was a great experience. ANYWAY onto the substance of this week!

       So this week was awesome! It was suuuuuuuper productive! We have worked worked worked all day and a lot of it was finding, which was awesome! We had a handful of experiences where we were prompted by the spirit to talk to someone or go knock a couple houses on a certain street and we found some new investigators! It was awesome :) The highlight of the week would be our lesson with Emilio :) pretty much changed my life. haha he's SO AWESOME! ahhhh I just LOOOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! anyways... sorry for that random blurt out. anyways Emilio :)

       (Look mom I am doing paragraphs now so you don't have to apologize for the people that get overwhelmed ;) hehehe) Ok so!! If you recall I wrote in my last email the experience with Emilio! Well we went back this week to teach him :) we had left him with The Book of Mormon and 3 Ne 11 to read :) We came over and sat down and started talking and asking how he was doing and we started talking about the scriptures and he was amazed that Christ allowed the people to touch Him and just all this different stuff. Well what ended up happening was Emilio told us his life story in how he ended up finding God. It was so beautiful and I don't even know how to explain it, it was so incredibly spiritual. Wow. O my gosh, I could just feel how much God loves him and is preparing him. The spirit in the room was SO strong you could cut it with a knife. He told us about him going to prison when he was 16 (which is really sad because he is an amazing person. He got in a car accident and the other person died and because of something unlucky i don't really know, he got sent to prison) and he was having a really hard time obviously. Long story short, he has an amazing story about finally going to church at prison and about God answering his prayers through scriptures and how he completely changed his life and decided to follow Christ. He even had this moment where he thought to himself about whether or not he wanted to follow Christ, that he thought that that meant he would never be able to have fun ever again and then he said to himself, what is fun though? He went through this whole thing about what fun really was to him and how he had been messing around and doing things that were labeled as "fun" that were meaningless and all these things and I am doing a horrible job explaining it. Anyways, he explained this beautiful story about how he knew that God was knocking on his door but he was just pushing Him away and he finally let Him in and it was amazing. 

Hna B and I were crying by the end of it and then we just probably had the  most amazing purpose lesson I've ever had. We started talking to him and Hna B talked to him about preparation and that God has been preparing him and how he will love the Book of Mormon and that it will change his life. I wish i could repeat exactly what she said, it was really incredible we were crying, she has such a beautiful strong testimony. And then I looked at him and said to him that throughout your story you keep talking about how the Lord was knocking at your door, we are representatives of God's son, Jesus Christ and we are literally knocking on your door. AHHHH it was such a testimony builder to me as we talked to him that this was true. AY! i love this gospel :) 

Anyway he then told us about the first time we knocked on the door and met him and then he told us he was watching a game and then we left and how he sat down and was like wow.... I just sent representatives of Him away because I'm sitting here idolizing football players (MINDBLOWN). The rest is history :) we talked to him about his life more and we gave him "homework" and are meeting with him soon and I have never been so happy to know someone. He is the most prepared person I have ever met! He's incredible. 

Hna B and I just had a moment of squeals as we shut the doors of the car and drove away! AHHHH life is so good. I love being a missionary! I wouldn't rather be anywhere else. This is so humbling and so great to be apart of something so great. I am honored to serve Him.

       Short little spiritual thought is one of my favorite scriptures, it's 1 Ne 7:10-12, go read it! It honestly is just so beautiful. It's Nephi talking to Laman and Lemuel. It literally just cuts me to the core. The repeated line throughout this passage is "How is it that ye have forgotten"?. This question is so applicable, to many situations. As I read those words it reminds me when I am feeling sorry for myself, or feel like I don't know the answer to something that I have prayed about or feel like I am not worthy to serve Him, what He has done for me. I remember the amazing quiet and soft feeling I have felt when the spirit confirms to me that things are true, I remind myself of the sacrifice Christ made for me and that I can only be forgiven of my mistakes through my faith in Him and what He can do. I remind myself of the confirmation of my questions and doubts and then I get over myself and do better things :) Sorry that was just really short, but that just cuts me SO deeply. and then just ends simply, "wherefore, let us be faithful to him" BOOM. that's it, so beautiful! UGH! i love the scriptures :) HOW CAN WE FORGET. Don't ever forget, don't ever forget what He has suffered so that we can return and live in never ending happiness :) When I want to be selfish and rest, or not follow a prompting because I feel awkward or am too tired to read my scriptures I think of Christ, and then move forward and do what I know is right :) I also think about Mosiah 2: 41 - I want that outcome! I want to dwell with God in a state of never ending happiness!
Therefore I gotta do what I gotta do :) So just this week, DO WHAT YOU GOTTA DO :) Everything is better that way haha, just be happy, it's your choice. Te amo bastante.

Love,

Your slightly oblivious, total goober

Hermana Koch

(Once again I am stealing this info: A little side note from Hermana B's blog. 

Another thing Lizzie forgot to mention....ahhhhhh, Darling girls I hope I get to meet someday)

"Sometimes when you are a missionary you decide to get Chic-Fil-A after District Meeting. Sometimes people decide to get in fights in that said 

Chic-Fil-A.  Sometimes one of these people has a gun.  Sometimes you aren't allowed to leave the Chic-Fil-A because you might get shot. 

So . . . that happened."  

 "Is that chocolate or poop?! is that chocolate or poop?!... its chocolate :) ..... WHAT IF THAT HAD BEEN POOP?!"- baby mama.... my encounter with dog poop :)

Little story by Hermana Burnham

(I thought I would add this story to Lizzie's blog since she didn't mention it and I'm sure she will want to remember it)

The Keys: By Hermana Burnham

So we live in a pretty sketchy part of Houston, right? You've heard the stories. And there are also many more that I choose not to share of scary things that have happened to us. So, as soon as we come in our house we double bolt lock the door and then go into our room and lock the door to our room as well. Well, this is difficult to describe over email, but my bed is right next to the window of our bedroom (as in, my face hits the blinds all during the night) and that window is right next to the front door – but not "next to" as in on the same wall. The door leads into the living room, but you walk down the hall and do a little turny turn and then the window is on the right wall and the door is in the left wall (divided by some more wall and water heaters and such).  Okay, so now that you are all thoroughly confused, I will proceed with my story.

One night we come home, plan, go to bed and go to sleep. Well, they go to sleep; I never sleep haha. So, at about one in the morning, Hna Koch woke up to go to the bathroom.  I was still awake and Hna Parry is out like a rock, when all of the sudden there is a knock at the door. I hear it, but choose not to talk nor move because the window, even though covered by blinds, is still right next to where whomever is knocking on our door is standing. Hna Koch then says in a loud whisper, and for anyone who has ever been in dangerous situations whispering seems to always be louder than talking, "Someone just knocked on our door."  This comment wakes Hna Parry up.  By this time, I have concluded that there are two men standing outside our door . . . at 1 am. They are talking about the stuff on our door [a picture of Jesus and a sign that says no smoking . . . I was really tired of 1) always smelling like smoke; and, 2) feeling like I was developing lung cancer]. They proceed to knock 2 more times, and that is a total of 3 knocks for anyone counting, each knock growing louder and louder. By this time, I am plotting ways to save us. These ways included throwing the girls into the closet, arming them with various make-shift weapons as I go to conquer the enemy by hitting them over the head, after being cleverly hid, clearly, with my "Bubba Gump" cup – that really is more of a weapon than it is a cup. All of the sudden they start banging on the window. Let me remind you, I am laying RIGHT NEXT TO the window. If the window wasn't dividing us, they would be touching my face in that moment. So, needless to say, I think I am about to have a heart attack when they well: "YO!!! YO KEYS A AHN DA MAT!"

That's right folks. Our keys, to our home, car, etc., had been IN OUR DOOR all night long and these kind people, whom we thought were there to kill us, found it a pressing enough . . . I don't know how to speak in English[editor’s note:  Brian, just for you, I am sure] . . . matter to violently bang on our window and wake us up and let us know that 1) our keys were NOT in our house, and 2) they had placed them on the mat.

The Lord protects us.

P.S.  After waiting to make sure they were gone and no one was waiting for us outside our house, we retrieved the keys.