Mosiah 3:4 10/28/13

Dear Family,
It was a great week out here in Texas and coming home finally became real. I received my flight plans the week before, but so far they are just papers. This week we had Zone Conference, our all day training with several zones and President. It is always filled with good training and at the end they have the missionaries that are ending their missions bear their testimonies. I knew that and so I was prepared. But after lunch, when we still had some more training workshops, I started to get really nervous. I mean, sick to my stomach, seriously nervous. I didn't realize before how big of a deal it was for me. I am ending my full-time mission and I am so overwhelmingly grateful for the opportunities and growth Heavenly Father has blessed with me. And I didn't want to get up and ramble or preach. So I was praying so hard for the help to know what to say and how to say it. Nerve-racking. I know Heavenly Father filled my mouth and I bore testimony of miracles. This mission has a special focus on miracles. I thought when I came to the mission, I understood what a miracle was. But I didn't. The Bible Dictionary says that miracles are also called works because they are the natural result of the Lord's presence. The mission has been miraculous because the Lord has been with me every single day, every moment of every day. While on the mission I have seen the miracle of the youth responding to the prophet's call to arise and serve. When I entered the MTC there were about 54000 missionaries and now there are over 80000. But to break that down a bit more. When I came to Houston there were 16 Spanish sisters. I knew them all. Now we have over 50 Spanish sisters. Before the announcement, 700 mission calls were issued each week- now it is 1200 every week. But the largest increase was in the number of sisters, with 8000 before and nearly 20000 now- an 142% increase. It is remarkable. Our entire message as missionaries is miraculous from the account of Joseph Smith receiving an answer from Heavenly Father as a young 14 year old boy all the way to the greatest miracle known to mankind- the Atonement of our Savior. I am grateful that I was able to share my testimony with my fellow missionaries, but it made it all very real.

I have been slacking with my investigator updates so here you go:  We have been teaching one of our investigators, Doris, the plan of salvation this week and every new principle we shared caused her to just light up. Every new piece of the plan made her excited and it was humbling for us to remember how many do not know these precious truths. Our investigator Sandra is progressing well and she loves reading the Book of Mormon. She came to general conference and then to church this past week. She has been so prepared and she is introducing us to all of her family. Speaking of family, one investigator that we have been teaching for a couple months now has slowly introduced us to her entire extended family and now we are teaching three of her cousins, an aunt, and a sister-in-law all separately! And the group of workers that we teach every Wednesday are starting to progress and read the Book of Mormon. Wonderful things happening here in Westgreen.

Yesterday we were so excited because between the companionships, there were six investigators at church! We have been struggling so hard to help people come to church and for three of them it was their first time. Things did not go as planned however. Sacrament meeting was the primary program and I love the program dearly, but the microphones caused static, there was lots of movement of children in and out of sacrament meeting, and it was from an investigator's standpoint, unorganized. Remember, I have worked with the Primary and done two Primary programs before as a teacher/music director. But looking at it from a visitor's perspective, it was confusing. So we hoped the classes would be a little calmer, but our teacher for the second class was late so another brother stepped in and taught a mix of the Restoration, plan, and gospel all in one class- from the veil to Joseph Smith. Good doctrine, tough composition. Now, our Relief Society is wonderful so I was excited to bring the investigators to Relief Society. Instead, we had a combined meeting on...family history!! Yeah! We have been working so hard with family history and we asked for the stake to come down and do a training. What happened was the stake coordinator came from the stake and chastised the ward for not working harder in this and when they asked questions she just seemed to tell them to go to the stake center and she would answer questions there. All in all it was a tough Sunday, but....the key word...I was full of joy all day. From the time I woke up, through church, through all the craziness, I could not top smiling from ear to ear. Heavenly Father has just filled with me joy for this work. Mosiah 3:4 says," For the Lord hath heard thy prayers, and hath judged of thy righteousness, and hath sent me to declare unto thee that thou mayest rejoice; and that thou mayest declare unto thy people, that they may also be filled with joy." My greatest desire as a missionary is that other may also be filled with the joy that the gospel brings.
I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and support. Go out and frustrate Satan.
Les quiero,
Hermana Kristi Koerner

3 Nephi 17:9 10/21/13

Dear Family,
Ok so I know the countdowns are starting and I am so excited to see everyone. I will refrain from counting down until my last week or so in order to stay focused, but are all free to do so : )

We had a wonderful experience with one of the young women. She has been out with us teaching several times and she loves to share the gospel. She called us last week and told us that she was talking with one of her friend's about the purpose of life, and the friend expressed that she wasn't sure what her purpose was. The young woman then bore her testimony and invited her friend to listen to the missionaries. We met with her at the young woman's home on Friday and from the start the Spirit was strong and she is very spiritually sensitive. We were able to share our purpose and start the plan. Afterwards she told us that she wants to her parents to hear this. So we are going to meet her family this week! I feel so blessed to be working in this area, with this ward.

This week as Hna Townsend and I were leaving the temple, President Crane (temple president) was at the entrance and we stopped to say thank you to him. He shook our hands and began to ask us questions about our temple experience. Did we have a beautiful experience? Do we learn something new every time? Does it become deeper and deeper each time? And finally, did we give thanks while in the temple? He then shared D&C 97:12-13 with us and told us that many people do not receive the answers they pray for in the temple because they neglect to give thanks. It was a tender mercy from the Lord as I've been focusing on expressing as much gratitude this transfer as possible.
In other good ward news, our ward mission leader has been struggling and we hadn't had correlation in about two months. The bishop was aware and did all he could until he was able to call another brother. He called Hno Escobar, who is great leader in the ward and is always helping the missionaries anyway. We are very excited to start working with him.

So cool entry in the Bible Dictionary under "War in Heaven":"The warfare is continued in mortality in the conflict between right and wrong, between the gospel and false principles, etc. The same contestants and the same issues are doing battle, and the same salvation is at stake...The nature of the conflict, however, is such that there could be no neutrals, then or now." I love that!

I am reading in 3 Nephi, the chapters of the coming of Christ and I love the story how the Savior healing the sick. I especially noted this time how the Savior healed them spiritually. Just hours/days before the whole land was mourning the loss of loved ones, but their hearts where healed by the Savior. "And it came to pass that when he had thus spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their sick and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind, and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth unto him"

Thank you for all your prayers for Dilma, Doris, Patricia, Elvin and Hno Rincon and please keep praying for them and for Sandra.
Love you all,
Hermana Kristi Koerner

1 Nephi 7:16-18 10/14/13

Dear Family,
It is solidly autumn now, even here in Texas. The leaves are starting to change and the cool weather has come in. But it is absolutely beautiful and the weather is perfect for more walking. I now have my final companion, Hermana Townsend! She is from Murray, Utah and we even found out that we were born in the same hospital. She comes from a large family of ten kids and she is the youngest. Her mother is from England and so she is introducing lots of little British candies and words into our companionship. She is so sweet and patient and we are seeing lots of miracles together. Sorry about the email last week, but I will try to make up for it today. Yesterday at church, our bishop called on me last minute to give a talk since our speakers weren't prepared. I had a few ideas in mind and when I went up the Spirit put them all together. It truly was a beautiful moment for me as I could feel the Spirit filling my mouth, while at the same time utilizing the knowledge I have gained through diligent studies. Then last night, the Velez family (whom we eat with every Sunday night) had asked me to cook for dinner since they know I love to cook. So I made our chicken enchiladas for 20 people. I've learned that they are not hispanic enchiladas at all, very american. But everyone loved it. So I had fun cooking again. I'll attach pictures.
We are seeing lots of miracles and I wanted to share one from last weekend. A young woman named Sandra has been coming to our English class and she is wonderful. Last week we invited everyone to conference and she was really excited to come. She came to ALL FOUR SESSIONS!!! And took notes, and asked questions non-stop between sessions. Needless to say, we are now teaching her and she is progressing towards a baptismal date the beginning of November. Some people are so ready for the gospel. Please pray for her so everything goes smoothly with her family. Another investigator whom we haven't seen for several weeks, called us and asked us to come. He seemed to realize the importance and made adjustments so he can continue to listen to us and prepare for baptism. Another miracle happened with a part-member family. We have visited them a couple times trying to get to know them since they are new in the ward. The wife is a member and the husband is not...yet. We thought from our first visit that he said he had heard all the lessons before. But we found out this week that he hasn't! So we explained our purpose and asked if he would like to learn about the gospel- and he agreed. He was so sincere and genuine, and even in the short lesson we taught, the Spirit was very strong. Please pray for Brother Rincon so he can receive the gospel and recognize the blessings the gospel brings.
One of the greatest blessings I have received from my mission is an understanding of how the gospel fits together. Before, I know I had a testimony of parts, separately and individually. I knew Joseph Smith was a prophet and that the Book of Mormon is true. I knew the principles of faith and repentance were true. I could quote the plan of salvation backwards and forwards and I knew it was true with all my heart. But I didn't realize that I did not know how all of it relates together. I could not have told you how the having a prophet relates to the plan. Or how the five principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ play an active part in the plan of salvation. And I certainly didn't understand how all of it is tied and woven together by the Atonement of our Savior. I had heard before that the central message of the gospel is the Atonement and all other principles are merely appendages to it, but I couldn't have explained how. I have learned to related everything to Jesus Christ and at the same time have gained a more eternal perspective at the purpose and means of the plan of salvation. That being said, I still have so much to learn. The more I learn about the gospel (and everything else), the more I realize I need to learn. When I come home, I pray that you will keep that in mind.While I have grown and changes in so many ways, I am still human and have so much to learn.
But I know that I don't have to do it all myself. Not only does the Atonement cleanse us and free us from sin, but it enables us to reach higher than we can possibly by ourselves. There is a wonderful talk by Elder Bednar on this enabling power of the Atonement where he mentions several examples (including the story of Nephi I have as the subject). I loved this part (and all of it) that I wanted to share. "I suspect that many Church members are much more familiar with the nature of the redeeming and cleansing power of the Atonement than they are with the strengthening and enabling power. It is one thing to know that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for us—that is fundamental and foundational to the doctrine of Christ. But we also need to appreciate that the Lord desires, through His Atonement and by the power of the Holy Ghost, to live in us—not only to direct us but also to empower us. Most of us know that when we do wrong things, we need help to overcome the effects of sin in our lives. The Savior has paid the price and made it possible for us to become clean through His redeeming power. Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for saints—for good men and women who are obedient, worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and serve more faithfully. We may mistakenly believe we must make the journey from good to better and become a saint all by ourselves, through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities. The gospel of the Savior is not simply about avoiding bad in our lives; it also is essentially about doing and becoming good."

And then I loved the talk by Elder Scott in this recent conference, when he said "Many of us have allowed weakness to develop in our character. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we, like the Ammonites, can build spiritual fortifications between ourselves and any past mistakes that Satan attempts to exploit. The spiritual protections built around the Ammonite fathers blessed and strengthened themselves, their families, their country, and future generations. The same can be true with us. So how do we build these eternal fortifications? The first step must be sincere, thorough, and complete repentance. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, each of us can become clean and the burden of our rebellion will be lifted. Remember, repentance is not punishment. It is the hope-filled path to a more glorious future.
Father in Heaven has provided us tools that help to build the fortifications between our vulnerabilities and our faithfulness. Consider the following suggestions:

•Make covenants and receive ordinances for yourself. Then steadily and consistently work to provide ordinances in the temple for your own ancestors.
•Share the gospel with nonmember or less-active family members or friends. Sharing these truths can bring a renewed enthusiasm into your life.
•Serve faithfully in all Church callings, especially home teaching and visiting teaching assignments. Don’t be just a 15-minutes-a-month home or visiting teacher. Rather, reach out to each individual member of the family. Get to know them personally. Be a real friend. Through acts of kindness, show them how very much you care for each of them.
•Most important, serve the members of your own family. Make the spiritual development of your spouse and children a very high priority. Be attentive to the things you can do to help each one. Give freely of your time and attention.
In each of these suggestions, there is a common theme: fill your life with service to others. As you lose your life in the service of Father in Heaven’s children,Satan’s temptations lose power in your life."

I love you all and I pray that you are enjoying learning from the recent conference. Thank you for all your prayers and support.
Love,
Hermana Kristi Koerner