Man this was the longest week of my life waiting for the first e-mail. Her p-day is on Thurs. so we didn't get anything for 8 days. Tooo long for me.
We did get a handwritten letter by Monday so that was awesome and I heard from a friend Colton Farnsworth who is teaching at the MTC and he saw her. She told him to tell us that she is doing fantastic and loves it. He said she is doing great and is helping her companion.
A favorite picture that I got this week while we were on our trip to Bora Bora.
Sent by Colton with a text message when he saw Lizzie during her service hours at the MTC. Made our day!
So on to the first email. Funny girl, real, raw emotions. Love it!
MOOMMMMYYY!!! and family :)
How's it going everyone?! First off to mom I want to say I loved reading your emails! And too everyone else I will be reading them shortly but I have to send my big email first haha this is very stressful. So all I have to say is thank you SO much for thinking of me and emailing me and even though it is SO EXCITING that I can email, if it isn't simple questions then it would just be so much better if you could dear elder it to me and then I can write you back :/ I just don't have enough time to read everything and then reply! I am so sorry! And second of all THANK YOU ALL for your dear elders! I will write them back today! (Thursday) because it's my Pday! :) so fun. But yes fill free to send me dear elders when ever because I get them that day and they literally make all the difference whenever I get them I seem to always need them! They always cheer me up and lift my spirits which is really helpful because already there is down days and up days! Sometimes it's the language and sometimes it is me being hard on myself or frustated with myself or just you know waking up on the wrong side of the bed ;)
Ok sooooo MOM thank you for the packages they make me so happy!!! I am wearing the new not see through blouse today! I seriously love it and have already gotten compliments on it and I have been thinking about you all day :) I have the best mom!! I haven't worn the happy skirt yet! But I am so excited too! But I can't because of feminine reasons ;) Thank you so much for the packages with all my things I love your little notes with the packages in side :) haha "contents in package" you crack me up your the cutest. You read my mind with the ring!! I have felt so naked without it!! Haley lost hers :/ but Tan and Trav still have their's and I think everyone else too, I dont know! haha
HOLY HANNAH IT WAS CRAZY THE FIRST DAY!! I know you got my letter about it so I dont need much detail but I seriously was instantly like o my goodness gracious I already know what it is like having ups and downs!! This is insane! Haha meeting my companion Hermana Spendlove was so great :) she is literally an angel. I don't think she has ever done something wrong! I have never met someone who is more focused and more insanely on task than her! SHES LIKE MOM ON STERIODS! I love it :) It didn't take us long to figure out that we are a match made in Heaven! We've discussed this, our teacher also says so haha, she says that she wishes she could enjoy life more and you know me I could always enjoy life a little less ;) so we are a perfect balance! She keeps me on task when she can! haha And I help her not stress and realize that everything will be ok and it is ok to smile and enjoy the good times! She seriously is such a tender heart... NO JOKE. SHE WOULD NOT HURT A FLY.
So the first day was quite the fiesta! I saw Colton which was just like great and also awful because I was so happy to see a face I knew and such a sweet one! But then I started crying haha apparently I was holding it in still after I said bye to mom and dad :) Then everything in the week blurs together besides our lessons!! Everyday has been studying studying studying! And then having good times with our district, I love them all, were just one big family! O MY I WAS SO EXCITED!! One of the Elders in my districts last name is Riddle!! I was like please tell me your first name is Tom!!! its not..... it's Joe.... Joe shmo oh well it was exciting while it lasted... HOWEVER! since technically his first name is actually Elder (ha elder wand! so many harry potter references!) I can still pretend it is Tom because that would be so cool. Voldemort gone GOOD. oh wow would that be powerful. Sorry I don't know why I am going on about this! haha My time is running out!! (there's a muse reference for Todders and Jakey)
Anyways... Ok so our first lesson with Guillermo was great! We were so nervous because we have to speak completely in spanish he doesn't understand english! But we prayed and studied so hard and the spirit was so strong that we were were having impressions the entire lesson! It was amazing how much the spirit can speak through you if you have faith and listen! So I felt impressed at the end to ask him if he knew God loves him and he said "no se" which means I dont know and I was impressed to invite him to pray and ask God, and he said yes! It was amazing just in the whole aspect that I was able to feel the spirit talk to me and I don't know if I have ever been so confident that it was the spirit talking to me!! The next to lessons I got really down, they didn't go as well, he didn't pray, we didn't feel the spirit as much and it was really hard, I was so frustrated with myself because I KNEW I was doing something wrong, there is no reason the spirit would just leave me out in the dark! It was really hard and after the third lesson I just went into the bathroom and cried and prayed so hard saying why am I having such a difficult time, what am I do wrong, I am not cut out for this I am not strong enough I cannot even feel the spirit, they aren't kidding that the misison has the lowest of lows I mean I was a mess!! I was just crying to myself thinking you are such a baby! And then I went into is my testimony strong enough for this am I ever going to learn spanish! haha Not one of my proudest moments :) The language barrier was the hardest thing and one of the main reasons I was crying because it is so frustrating not being able to communicate with someone and especially when you don't know where the spirit wants you to go because you are frustrated!!
When I came out one of my elder friends in the zone saw my puffey eyes and was so sweet and asked me if I was ok and talked to me and calmed me down and helped me feel better, we seriously have angels in our whole zone it is awesome. Then they sent down the hall Elder Toala? can't spell it haha but he is so awesome and came and read a scripture to a couple of us that kind of lifted my spirits. SO finally we had a break of teaching him on Tuesday because it's a special day where we do service and then later go to a devotional and boy was that day FULL OF BLESSINGS! Seriously though like this just changed everything for me! I was getting clostrophobic not ever being able to be alone which is not my companions fault at all it just is weird and dificult because I like to be alone sometimes haha and not have anyone too close to me.
So Tuesday we did serious, which really gets your mind in the right place and it felt really good to clean and work and focus on something else for a while. But then later that day we headed over ealry to the devotional because basically everyone in our zone was doing to choir! So we were singing for the devotional! So we get there and all practicing and so I was looking for Haley, Travis and Tana and I didn't see any of them! But then all of the sudden these girls behind me pointed Trav out to me and I saw him and waved! and then We were heading up the stairs because Hermana Spendlove has a twin and her branch president came over to west campus just to tell her to meet her twin sister at 6;30 at the northwest corner of the Mariott! So on our way up the stairs I saw Hales!! I almost DIED I was so happy but we had to keep going so then the twinsies met up and it was SO SWEET! We all were almost in tears. So we asked for a split so she sat with her and then I go walking back and I ran into Travis! shook his hand for like a second then had to go!
SO the devotional was amazing just what I needed to hear! It was all about... well actually tons of stuff.... But what really helped me was that he said we lived with Heavenly Father for thousands of ages and he knows us and we know him, we spent time with him and we love eachother. It made me think of when we see Him will we recognize him? He also said when you pray and don't feel like you are being answered remember to count your blessings and I felt so selfish and realized that I need to realize that I am fighting his battle and he will never leave me! After the talk I saw Trav and Hales and got to take pictures with them!! This changed my outlook and then I will leave you hanging for a little bit with the out come of our last lesson!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!
Hermana Koch
OK On to my first week!!
Sister Haley Christensen: Japan
Sister Aly Davis: San Antonio
Elder Travis Bloomfield: Japan Mission
Marriott Center for the Tuesday devotional and choir practice
OK!!! so here is the last part!! I was so happy from seeing all of them and our class was so awesome we learned about how to ask people to be baptized but we were bumbed because we didn't think that he (Guillermo) would even know what that was because he hadn't really been progressing! BUT we went in with no notes, feeling the spirit ready to read Alma 32 with him!!! It was AMAZING!!! we felt the spirit so strong and had so many impressions and verse 28 hit him really hard and he just sat there thinking and asked me how he could get faith and I told him through reading the Book of Mormon and praying and then I felt impressed to say to him, when you know these things are true will you follow Christ's example and be baptized.... he sat there and thought for what seemed like 10 minutes and then he looked up and said, si. And the spirit was so strong! I bore my testimony and started crying and then we asked him to say the prayer and it was so sweet and kind of like I don't know how to do this and then he ended and Hermana Spendlove said, God is so happy right now :) or something like that and we left!! It was AMAZING!!! I LOVED IT :) I love teaching through the spirit.
Sorry this is really really undetailed but I don't have time :/ I love you all so much!!! Some one sent me a carmel apple and I don't know who and I'm scared to eat it because it might be poisonous!! however you spell that!! I will share my testimony next time I have to go!!
love hermana koch
Lizzie proving to me that she is taking her vitamins. She cracks me up!
And this must be her district!
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