Nov. 18, 2013: 4th Transfer!!! Gulfbank OTRA VEZ!

Having a little fun with Sarah Maren the Bishops's daughter after decorating their home with hundreds of nativities for openhouse display!

SOoooooo I don't have a ton of time I am sorry!!!

This week was awesome!!! WE TAUGHT YANDREA!!!! she is so darling I just love her and she and her brother came to church!!

Maria came to church as well :) and to the Relief Society activity!! It was so fun :) She is so amazing and is so active and involved. ahha She is so fun and I know I will be friends with her forever!! It was really sad because I thought I was being transfered and we were at her house and we were all eating and her mom is just the kindest and told me that her house is my house and just all this stuff. I just love them. I never want to leave here!!! ahhhhhh haha 

This week was good. I was sick so I feel like I didn't do as much as I should have so that was lame of me but who knows, I'll get better soon!

I love being a missionary. I am sooooo glad that Savvy (Savannah Henshaw who was in the Philpines Typhoon) is alive and I want to say well, but I am sure that it is still really hard. I am praying for her. Her story was so amazing and I just cried. She is the strongest girl. I want to be her! What a wonderful missionary. 

I am so blessed and am so aware of it right now and decided that means there is no reason I can't be better! So this week I'm going to be a better person all around. 

Love you all, Pray hard, it's the right thing to do and it's good for you!

Love

Hermana Koch

Gulfbank Nov 11, 2013: The HARDER you work the FASTER it seems to go!!!

Showing us her new costume jewelry state of Texas necklace. 

Hola hola!

      How is everything!! I hope well :) I am sure it is! I am so sad to hear about the Philippines(i dont know how to spell) that is really so sad but I am so happy that Savvy is ok. I am praying for all of the missionaries as well as the people there! I can't imagine what Sav is probably feeling for her investigators and her ward! wow. so so sad :( 

That's... kind of a sad note and I feel bad being happy after that, but I will share some happy news.

So really all there is to talk about this week is Maria and Yandrea!!! They are both sooo awesome!!!

Maria

Well we went over to teach her the restoration, she has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying and has felt a difference. She has the most beautiful little girl and we just LOVE her. I just cried sitting there I don't know why but I was feeling the spirit so strong that she has totally made this 360 turn and that she is coming to chruch and that she wants Olive to grow up knowing God because she was never taught to know God how we do and we are teaching her and she just keeps telling us how thankful she is. She is so darling and I just feel so close to her, I know that we will be life long friends, plus it helps that we are pretty much almost the same age. She came to church on sunday and it was so awesome! She loves it and said several things confirming that she is going to keep coming back. She believes everything and doesn't question it! :) She asked how she could become a member of the church? And we were like baptism!! haha She is so incrdible and I am just so happy I have never seen the gospel change someones life so dramatically and rapidly and I feel so close to her and I have never been so happy at the thought of someone accepting it. 

Yandrea!!

We had an amazing lesson with her. AMAZING all about the Holy Ghost and how much God loves her and He blessed her with her family and she just loves her family soooo much and it reminded me of how much I love mine!!! She knows so strongly... quien es el espiritu santo y she felt answers to her prayers about the Book of Mormon and we asked her to be baptized on the30th of November and she said YESSSS!!! We talked about how she felt the Holy Ghost when we asked her so she knows that when ever she feels the Holy Ghost she can't deny whatever He told her. I love it. I love her, she is soooo excited and we are too!!!! 

PRAY for los dos!!!!!!

This week it really has come to my attention that it is not about me. That when we are having problems or feeling bad or think that someone is being mean to you, realizing it is not about you. We need to remember that everyone is going through something different. And if we look outside ourselves and our feelings that there might just be something that the Lord wants you to share with Him. Because that's one of the covenants we make at baptism. I love that. I love the Lord and I love that this life is all about helping others. As we help others we help grow the kingdom of God and we get to be a part of it. So when you are having a hard day, think about someone else whose might be harder and try to lift their spirits, because in all honesty it's our choice.  Everything is our choice, and I strongly believe that it is our choice whether or not to allow something that someone else does to effect our happiness. It's between us and God :) I love that. I love my Savior and I know He loves me because I have asked Him. I want nothing more than to be in His presence someday! 

Love 

Hermana Koch

  Temple lovin. Zone picture :) 

our lovely district... 

What happens when Hermana Koch gets a hold of the Bishops phone!

Fun Pics!

Just almost died at Marisol's... no big deal... the result of the choking water.

Marisol's adorable grandma I absolutely love her... her spanish is super hard to understand ahhaha no big deal though, the Lord is on my side. 

 Hermana Knappens adorable face ahha that was a total candid shot. 

Save me a piece of that corn! Save me a piece of that corn for lata!

 HALLOWEEN.... it happened... awkward aparently there was a rule about no cross dressing.... in the picture..  I think this is the order I cant really see it haha but its sister Brown and sister Bonner and then Hermana Villanueva and Hermana Miller and then Hermana Knappen and then MEEEEE :) 

Hna Knappen y yo 

Elder Hamelou (Argentina) and Elder Valdez (Provo utah)

Elder Christensen (Salt Lake) Elder Abadillo (Gautemala) and me and Hermana Knappen!

 Kathryn Lambrakis's 89th birthday

 TV in her house!!

Still Gulfbank: Nov 4, 2013: Hmmm catch up on 2 weeks???

Houston No. Zone 1 goes to the Temple

Hola Hola Mi Familia!!!

      How are you doing?!!  I am doing so well :) and I miss you all so so much! I am so so sorry I didnt get to email you last week!! SOOO Lame of me. BUT!  It was a really crazy day I barely got to email president! YIKES we went to the Galaria the mall here and it's like 3 stories and insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane. And you know me hating to walk..... the me antes mi mision would have been so bumbed that we had to walk to far!!! buuuuuttttt it doesn't even faze me :) ever since I got on my mission I don't even care or think about the fact that I have to walk!!!! Um but ya. We planned the timing a little bit off and I didnt get back in time because there was so much traffic and it stressed me out and then we got here to email and I had NO time and I cried. I think Sister Knappen didn't know what to do with me. haha ummm but ok soooo I'll just say a few things! 

ANA and EDDENILSON!!! our investigators we found with Hermana Parry and Hermana Burnham and they were like yes! we want to be baptized! and then they fell off the face of the earth! But they are adorable and Ana is like my favorite woman she is so adorable she is from Honduras and her son Eddenilson was born here, he is 9 and she is soooooo sweet. She wants to come visit in California once I go home and I am so obsessed with hammocks that she wants to send me one that her husband gets from El Salvador.  Eddenilson is so special and he is so kind and always is so cute and I helped him do his math homework and when he got a ton wrong he started crying :( and we assured him that it was ok and that he was suuuuper suuuuper smart and ugh I just adore him!!! I need my pictures with them from the fiesta!! I sent them home so that I can get them to her because she wants them! They now have a baptismal date! And they are so cute ahhhh I just LOVE THEM!!

Another miracle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YANDREA!!! A little girl named Yandrea! She is 11 and we got a referral for her and so we just decided to go like an hour later and we showed up and they were like we are all members but her, and she wants to get baptized!  We were like what wait?? hahah and they were like come in come in and we were like we cant :/ we cant go in with out a woman and so they called their mom and had her walk home from work!! and they were all so excited. It turns out that they were allllllll super duper active in Honduras and they have a super awesome conversion story and they have like 5 kids and they were all baptized and grew up in the church and she was in the relief society presidency and they took their kids every week and then anyways... they came here and aren't active anymore :/ and we didnt EVEN KNOW THEY EXIST! but her mom was like when are you going to come over to do the classes and we set up plans and she is going to get baptized!!!!! What a miracle!!!!! 

Kathryn Lambrakis turned 89!!!!!!!!! and we celebrated her birthday with her and we are going to try to teach here. her birthday was so fun :) The Leyvas came over as well. It was so darling we were inside the house and this trumpet started playing and she RAN  to the door it was so cute and she cried and loved us all and it was beautiful and then president Leyva talked about it in the stake conference and it was so special :) 

Thats all!!!! Oh, I had an experience where I fasted this week and then like a few hours later Hna Knappen said something to me that answered my prayers and I just cried thinking about how much my Heavenly Father loves me and how he answers my prayers and how he wants to bless us SOOOOOO BAD. But if we don't do what is right and what He asks He can't. How sad that must make Him and how much that must hurt :( UGH.  I LOVE THIS GOSPEL!!!!!! IT IS SOOOOO REAL!

I love my God and I love my Savior. He lives and we are NEVER alone. Sometimes we just need to take a step and have enough faith that he will take our hand. Faith is something I want to work on :) HEY! Let's do it together :) Everyone read ALMA 32!!! ooo Quick, another miracle Marie Mota texted us pretty much dropping us that she wasn't ready for anything church related because she was in a bad place and we showed up and didn't give up on her because we had a prompting and she is probably going to get baptized!! Hermana Knappen related to her and testified of the Book of Mormon and the power it has to chase away negativity and it was just awesome. I KNOW the Book of Mormon is true. I know it and I know that Joseph Smith restored the only true church on the earth and if you ever question it, Pray :)

Love you all, sorry this is short I promise next week will be better!

Hermana Koch

 Awkward picture with Josefina and Roberto. haha Roberto wanted to make sure we were sending these to our parents and told us to tell them who he was so I figured its ok to use their names... plus its weird calling them jo and rob ew.

Just with Katy on her 89th birthday!! :)

Just flooding... no big deal... but really no big deal. haha it always does this. 

My shoes are ALWAYS WET :) I really do love it though. ahha