Jan 13, 2014: Canyon Lake Area: WEEK TWO IN DISNEYLAND:)

So the miracle this week that I decided I wanted to share was about just being a kind and genuinely happy person.
So many things happened this week but it was just really cool to see how the Lord works and plans every little thing :) So on a day during this week we drove up outside a members house because we were going to contact her neighbors, however, the member started reversing out of her driveway! She one way or another convinced us to drive down the street with her to buy a couple of things, we normally wouldn't do that unless there was a missionary purpose behind it! So we told her that we were going to come with her, but we were going to contact people and try to share the gospel. So we went with her and she was really fast and we got to the line to pay, and behind her was a woman that was dressed in scrubs. Hermana Rowe was just super sweet and started making conversation with her about her job and that was it! We were walking out and we bumped into a woman and started talking to her and she is from Equador and we ended up getting the address and name of her grandson who was with her! So it was cool to be able to do that with a member there to experience that side of missionary work!

Well a few days go by and we weren't thinking about it and we went to lunch with a member. That day we weren't speaking english AT ALL, which we are working on doing all the time, but because we were doing that, the member we were with had to translate for us which she really loved and was laughing the whole time. Towards the end of the lunch, we see a woman out of the corner of our eye point at us and go heyyyyy I know you!! And we were kind of like what?? Who is this and then it clicked!!! It was the girl that we talked to about her job! She was so nice and kind! She came over and started talking to us about how she was just talking about us to the men at her work, which her work just happened to be like two buildings away!! and telling them about how she met two girls whiter than her, and then walked past us later and heard us speaking rapid fire Spanish! She was so impressed and we talked to her for a little while and the hermana we were with translated the whole thing and was smiling and they were both laughing and we told her our purpose as missionaries and we exchanged information and she is totally interested and excited! Super cool experience! All because we talked to her and were nice to her! And now we have a new friend that God put into our path twice! And we weren't even going to be there at that time originally but the hermana changed the plans! So it ended up being a really amazing learning experience that we all had together :) What miracles the Lord gives us when we are just trying to be Christ-like to everyone we encounter!!

Our area is doing great!!! I love it here and the ward is amazing! They are so incredible and missionary oriented!! I love being in a ward that gives us referrals before we can even ask sometimes! They are so helpful and supportive :)

I am doing so wonderful :) I am so happy and progressing so much everyday and when I don't, I know why! The Lord is blessing me so much and I can say with more conviction than ever before that I know that Our Savior lives. He is at our side through everything!

Ok so this is the email that I sent to the President this week and decided to copy and paste it because this is what I wanted to share with everyone and I thought it wasn't too personal! haha but ya!

SOOOO THIS WEEK WAS GREAT!!! As always :) We see so many miracles a day and I feel so incredibly blessed! So there is kind of a funny story that goes along with that little miracle though ahha..... SO Hermana M who took us to lunch had to translate us and we all were laughing so hard she definitely had the giggles! It was so great! So the reason behind us not being able to speak ANY ENGLISH AT ALL!! was because we made a deal with the elders in our ward..... Elder Langenbelik and Elder Sinaca. The deal was that whoever spoke spanish first before zone meeting had to cook food for the other companionship... So clearly we did NOT WANT TO LOOSE... anyway, we told hermana M why we weren't speaking english and we decided that she is going to call the elders and only speak english ahhaa (I promise this was her idea!) and we are laughing and like ooooo noooooo soooo we get in the car and she calls them! Elder L answers the phone and she starts talking in english about how she is looking for some missionaries and someone gave her their number and all this stuff and she is barely holding it together and giggling so hard! and then all the sudden we yell, YOU LOOOOOOOSE!!!!!!!!!! and it was SILENT. dead. silent. hhahahha we were sensing confusion and hermana M keeps going and then in the middle of what she was saying says to them, you loose, you spoke english..... and then all the sudden we hear OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH and all of this yelling hahahha and they were soooo mad hahahha they were like that was a low blow. cheap. cheap hermanas you guys are cheaters hahha and we were all laughing and hermana M at this point had been laughing so hard she had tears dripping out of her eyes and so we at first felt bad but came to a good conclusion that this was a good experience for the hermana hahah and the elders were laughing and said it was a good one but then told us that they were going to get back at us but did the same thing and we didn't fall for it hahaha anyway… what's happening I think now is sometime we have to make papusas and they have to make orchata and ya. That was our experience that also got the other elders in our district involved haha and it was just a mess. Anyway it was a really fun week with a lot of cool miracles! We are teaching a few people right now who I absolutely love! but I dont want to say much right now because I don't have much news just some stuff that I probably shouldnt share :)

I love you alllll SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH AND i MISS YOU SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!

The church is true. I know that Christ lives and watches over us. This work is amazing. If you have any desire to serve. DO IT. YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!

Love,

hermana Koch

Houston Texas Mission Christmas photos

big enough for 2 pictures
Lizzie is on the far left with a cream sweater and green dress