Thursday, October 30, 2014

Oct 30, 2014: New Area! Woodlands: HOLA!!! WELCOME TO THE WOODS!!!


Hermana Hill
 Sister Training Leaders

HOLA HOLA!!


Sorry this is going to be like a 2.3 second email!! I love you all!! I am in Woodlands! Super close to Conroe. Conroe used to be apart of the Woodlands ward!! We switched areas all around in Woodlands and so now we have the north area which was part of South Conroe! and we are basically white washing. I love this ward! They are so awesome! We had an awesome halloween party! Hermana Hill and I dressed up as angels ;) I'll send pictures later, we were covered in sparkles hahaha OH HERMANA HILL!! OK YA. So hermana Hill is my companion. She is wonderful and she and I been around each other a lot on the misison and have always wanted to be together and now we are!!

   The people here are awesome! The bishop is so awesome. I love him already! And that's really all to report! Sorry! But I love you and I have like no time left on my mission and I am going to cry and it's not fair... and I totaly have loved it and I trust God :) and it's totaly fair because soon these people will need someone else!!! 


I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU I LOVE YOU!!

BESITOS!
HERMANITA KOCH

YEP THIS HAPPENED AGAIN!
Daddy working in TX minutes away again





Meeting the Barrera's who secretly told him they needed to meet him 
at the church where they were dropping their daughter off.
Next thing he knows, Hna Koch is pointing at the car in the parking lot screaming,
"THAT'S MY DAD, THAT'S MY DAD"
We love the Barrera's for taking such good care of the missionaries and especially our daughter. 


He got to meet these awesome sister missionaries and 2 elders 
giving them great mission council and LUNCH! He loves missionary work!




I love to get surprise texts like this from people who know and love my daughter! 
Sis Missy Ashton and son Travis. Her son is serving as an AP in the Irvine CA Mission
Maybe I will run into him and send her a picture too!




Goodbye for now Hna Provost and Hna Marlowe 


Monday, October 20, 2014

Oct 20, 2014: Last one from CONROE: One more transfer and one more new area? WHY NOT?



My Conroe gente <3 gave them my whole heart!

(As her mommy, this makes me so happy and shed real tears of joy. 
These people will be missed as she is leaving a piece of her heart.)

Hola amigos,

    How is life these days? TOMMMMY HOW WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY?!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG BROTHER!!!! I HOPE IT WAS AWESOME and that you did lots of my favorite dance moves. haha I love you so much! I'm sorry I have been kind of lame on the birthday side these days. I PINKIE PROMISE I REMMBER AND I THINK OF YOU ALL!!! It's just really busy and hard to do things :/

   Lots of crazy things are happening! So as you have maybe heard... I am being transferred out of my Conroe :***( and it's sad and really hard... but I don't have time to dwell on it!!! No one is gone forever. I can always come back and I will always love everyone here! I am still so busy. Hermana Marlowe is getting transferred as well! SO that means dearest darling hermana Provost is taking over the area!! wooooohoooo We are so proud of her! She has only been trained for 7 weeks! She can TOTALLY do it :) I love her so much, she is stressed out of her MIND haha but she just doesn't realize how much the Lord trusts her and how much these people need her. I admire her courage. She is one incredible woman. :)

So with that said my ode to Conroe is this:

My dearest Conroe I love you so, 
te amo mucho les dejo? no. 
No me parto por mucho tiempo.....

...to be continued hahah I don't have enough time.

SO THIS GLORIOUS WEEK!! SHALL WE TALK ABOUT IT? WE SHALL. 
MONDAY: We had a great day!! We found some of the members in our ward who haven't been coming to church and shared a message with them and are going over to visit with them and eat another day! We then visited a family in the WARD THAT WE LOOOOVE they are sooo awesome. The hermano filled our brain with wonderful knowledge haha and we felt like we were in the temple! Then we went and saw Paula and Mauricio and our lesson was great! We helped them make some personal goals! :)

Tuesday: I went on an exchange with hermana Perry and hermana Miller! It was fun! :) I learned SOOO MUCH from them! :) hermana Perry was so sweet! She came out with hna Provost and she invited EVERYONE to be baptized!

Wednesday: We had our first amazing lesson with Jessica, Monica, Laticia and Leonel and that is explained in my miracle. And then we had another awesome lesson with Paula and Mauricio, and David came with us. He is like our 4th companion he is so devoted to missionary work! He loves them so much. He and Mauricio are both from el Salvador... I love that country. mi gente haha

Jueves: We went to Kaity's farm! She is so awesome! We did some service there and helped her study! They have a horse named Ace! <3 fond memories, (grandpas old horse Ace) and we did some awesome planning and then some great activities with the ward including some volleyball which is always good ;)

Viernes: We taught David about making decisions and it was awesome. He always ends up teaching me new things! He has the goal of working in the temple which was so cool because I have that goal for after I get home too! Then we went to Jessica's again! She is so darling! She absorbes EVERYTHING like a sponge! She remembers everything she reads from the Book of Mormon!

Sabado: We went to the Vasquezs house! The sister of hermano Vasquez, our ward mission leader! He is getting married in January and so I think I want to come back real quick, bring hermana Parry if I can ;) (see if she even reads this) haha it was great! We then went and visited one of our friends with Tere and it was really awesome! He is so great and he has been coming to church a lot and loves it so much! It really is so great to go and visit with him. We then went to a lesson with Jessica and her cousins again and it was great. We taught them the restoration and they all understood!!! They said they will pray and read to know. They are so great. I however will possibly not know anything else that happens with them bc I am leaving! haha

Domingo: Church was wonderful! Before it, we had correlation and we ate pancakes! And then there were amazing talks by the temple president and high councelmen!! Hermana Escobar one of the members from Canyon Lakes spoke!! I LOVE SEEING HIM!!! Jessica and Dario came to church! The classes were great and then after we all went outside to take a picture bc elder Howe is going home! We went to Paula and Mauricio's after church!! They fed us and the elders pupusas! They were so yummy and then guess what we did... WE ATE AN IGUANA!!!! AHHHHHH it was pretty good... and chewy. We then went and visit Tere and then she came with us to visit Dario again and it was great! :) We had a miracle!! WE FOUND JESSICA AND AMANDA!! Who I taught with hermana Buno they were there and we got to talk with them it was so sweet! We are going to visit them today. 
Anyway moral of the story... I love this work, this area, and everything about it. I have to live here someday in Conroe at least for just a smiggen of time. I am sad to be leaving but grateful that I get to love a whole other group of people!


My Miracle to the President:

(M) pues habia MUCHOS MILAGROS!! Pero algo que realmente me sorprendio ers un milagro que se cayo de los cielos!! Uno de nuestrommiembros menos activos empezo de venir a la iglesia otra vez porque los elderes han estado trabajando con el!! Empezo a venir y el trayo su sobrina! Ella tiene dos hermanos menores y ellos perdieron su padre hace 3 meses y tabien hace 6 meses desaparecio su mama. Ellos esten en una situacion muy triste, desanimada, y dificil. Nos conocimos y ellas es muuuuy linda! Nos dijo que queria bautizarse! Entonces fuimos a la casa de ellos y alla encontramos 4 de los sobrinos del hermano, tuvimos una leccion muy espiritual y 2 de ellas tenian una fecha ennque quieren bautizarse!! Me encanta este milagro porque estos ninos no tienen padres en la tierra estan solos confundidos y en una situacion oscuro. Pero YO SE QUE NECESITAN AHORITA QUE SABER que tiene Padres Celestiales. Quienes les aman masnque ellos comprenderan. Y yo se que porque El Senor siempre esta consiente de sus ovejas, ya empezaron de tener la luz del evangelio en sus vidas. Este Domingo vino otra vez y esenamos a las jovencitas y ellas escribieron para lo que estan agradecidas y la unica cosa que jessica puso dijo "estoy agradecida por las misioneras porque vienen a mi casa y me ayudan" <3 me toco muy fuerte. Amo este evangelio.

(Translation by Kevin: 
Well there were SO MANY MIRACLES!! But something that really surprised me was a miracle that literally fell from heaven!! One of the less-active members that we have been teaching started coming to church again because the elders have been working with her!!She has two younger brothers and they lost their father about 3 months ago and also about 6 months ago their mother just disappeared. They are in a very sad situation. We got to know each other and they are sooooo beautiful! They  told us that they wanted to be baptized so we went to their house and found them with four of the nephews of the brother. We had a very spiritual lesson and two of them have a baptismal date!! This is such a special miracle because these kids don’t have parents on the Earth right now. They feel alone and confused and the are in a very dark situation. But I KNOW THAT THEY NEED TO KNOW that they have Heavenly Parents who love them more than they can comprehend. I know that because the Lord is always aware of his sheep and they have already begun to have the light of the Gospel in their lives. This Sunday we met and taught the young girls and had them right down the things that they are grateful for and the only thing Jessica put was, “I am grateful for the Missionaries because they come to my house and help me.” <3 I was so touched. I love this Gospel.)

I love you all so very very much! I hope you have a wonderful week and always remember that you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. You wear it on your heart. It's not a badge that you wear for 18months to 2 years. 
con mucho amor,
hermana Koch


 These crazy people... David, hna Marlowe hna Provost, me Michelle, hno Hernandez and I can't see the picture and can't remember who else is in there. 
I think hno and hna Ayala and hna Barrera haha sorry



Temple fun!


Iguana bones


Irma and Eldon :)


Mauricio teasing hna Provost

Oct 17, 2014: Conroe area: Kaity's farm!


A horse named ACE! Memories of grandpas horse Ace!




Looks like his teeth are clean and they are having a blast!


Dog lover



Pizza at the Incredible Pizza, I'm guessing it's not gluten free or lactose free!


Oct 17,2014: Conroe: Short update and more on Monday!



We did Gabby's hair and make up for prom! :)


Buenas!


   Sorry that this will be soooo short! But I don't have much time! As you know my Pday got switched and I got to go to the temple! IT WASSSSS BEAUTIFUL AS EVER!! Love it, and love being able to communicate with God! I hope everyone is doing well!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO KELLY BELLE AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY EMMETT!! 
I LOVE YOU BOTH!!!!!!!! soo soo much. 

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week! I did! Underneath is my miracle to the president! I will write more on Monday on the happenings. We are already way into the week that I will talk about on Monday and I can't remember the last week very well at all ahhaha but that's ok life goes on!!! On Sunday though Hermano returned to church and he brought his nieces and one of them is named Jessica and sooo darling and she wants to get baptized!! So we get to teach her :) yayyy. So ya haha we had some miracles with that that I will share on Monday ahha. 


Pues muchas cosas buenas pasaron! Y tambien porque ya es viernes de la proxima semana, esta un poco dificil recordar todo... pero un milagro que me gusto mucho! Paso una tarde durante la semana pasada tuvimos muchas citas fijadas y no sabiamos que hacer porque necesitabamos ir por todos lados! entonces porque nuestros miembros siempre nos ayudan y siempre nos apoyan... fueron con nosotras para que podriamos hacer splits! Y VIMOS MILAGROS! y tambien pasamos un tiempo divertido. O tambien otra! Pusimos una meta con una de las hermanas de hablar con su amiga sobre nosotras visitandola y ella nos llamo bien emocionada y nos dijo que su amiga le dijo que si!!!! entonces fuimos a la casa con la hermana para visitar su amiga y fue una leccion increible estuvimos llorando y todas sintieron El Espiritu y su amiga nos invito otra vez!


I really just don't know what to say except that I absolutely love the people here. The moral of the story is to love where you are who you are and who you are with because that is what God wants. :) I love you all so very much and you all have had a wonderful impact on my life!! HUGS AND KISS TO LAST YOU TILL MONDAY!!!!


<3 con muchisimo amor,
Hermanita Koch

Ps: I have a goal to read El Libro de Mormon by December 31st and turns out David does too, so I'm racing him... not that reading the Book of Mormon should be a race, but it's motivation haha anyway MORAL OF THE STORY! WE ALL NEED TO HAVE A READING THE BOOK OF MORMON GOAL BECAUSE IT WILL BRING MORE BLESSINGS THAN ANYTHING ELSE! Let's be honest we all want those blessings. Love you :)



Hermana Barrera reading to her mom so she can hear, SO SWEET!


Monday, October 6, 2014

Oct. 6, 2014: Conroe: ANDO OCUPADA SIEMPRE... Y ME ENCANTA

 The sun was gorgeous I couldn't help it! haha 


HOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLA


      This week has been CRAZYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY. Seriously! We have had sooo many meetings. It was like hermana Hill and I were companions for like 3 days haha We had a lot of meetings and a lot of planning for trainings and stuff and it was awesome. My mind is exploding with information! Haha last night my brain was hurting and I told that to hermana Provost and she giggled and said that it's just my brain trying to file everything into my mission file. It's very true... I have to start filing. haha 

So Monday was great! So was Tuesday! Tuesday we had MLC (missionary leadership council) and it was suuuuper awesome ALWAYS LEARN A TON!!!!!!! Then we planned for specialized training and zone meeting... and that took ALL DAY haha so my hermanas were here in Conroe and they had A MIRALCE!!! This will be my miracle for the week bc I can't send you the one I sent to the president. 

So I get back with hermana Hill from MLC and my hermanas are just freaking out telling me they have to tell me something so I naturally tell them to hurry on up bc I'm gettin old and they tell me THAT PAULA SPOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I COULD NOT BELIEVE MY EARS AND I JUST BURST INTO TEARS I COULD NOT BELIEVE WHAT I HEARD. Long story short last, week we felt really prompted to invite her to practice speaking and to NOT give up when she was alone. Well the hermanas went back and were reading with her in 1 Nephi 11 and they got to verse 22 and hermana Provost stopped and said, " I LOVE THIS!" and at the same time Paula said the same thing. They said it was perfect crisp and clear. The FIRST THING SHE HAS SAID IN 3 YEARS ALL BY HERSELF WAS THAT SHE LOVES THE BOOK OF MORMON AND THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST!!!! It was so amazing I couldn't believe it and I couldn't believe I missed it. ahhaha But I am so happy it doesn't matter. I know that the Lord gives us miracles and that He loves His children and gives them hope. 

Wednesday was specialized training and interviews so the APs and the ZLs and us taught the training while our zone got interviewed. So they split the zone into groups and so we were there all day as well teaching. It was actually quite amazing we felt prompted to talk about companion inventory and boy am I going to do it with my eternal companion someday!

Friday was zone meeting and we focused on helping people progress and making plans for our goals and Saturday was awesome obviously. 

CAN WE TALK ABOUT HOW AMAZING CONFERENCE WASSSSSSSSSSSS.... 
The amount of revelation I recieved was just awesome. I always feel so full!!!! One of our amigos came! and he liked it! I just really don't know how to express my feelings about it except if we don't watch conference, we deny the love God has for us. 

David (the return missionary in the area that came home recently)  told me about when he was in the mission.... like 2 months ago haha but when he was there he decided to only write down revelation and not to worry about everything else... which I always thought I did that but I realized I always try to do that butttttttt I didn't... bc I would rush to write down everything... but this time I went in with like 7 questions and I just wrote down the answers!!!!!!! Anyway I have to go, we are going to wing stop the best place ever but 

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!! THE GOSPEL IS SO TRUE IT IS JUST BURNING A FIRE IN MY CHEST!!! IN CONFERENCE THEY SANG MY FAVORITE SONGS "HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION" AND "COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS!" 

I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU!!!


hermana Koch



  ITS A BLUSTERY DAY IN TEXAS, the weather is finally changing!


The inspired objective we came up with the zone leaders, elder Wildman and Elder Dias.


 Just with hermano in his garden


  I love my hermana and hermano Ayala <3 they are Tere's parents :) 
They have 4 girls like us! Liz, Tere, Samantha, and Iris


 First day training our zone together with Sister Hill as the other STL :) 
 Hermana Hill <3