12.22.2015

Week 45: May All Your Christmas's be White

Feliz Natal a todos!

What a lovely week with the baptism of Joel. We had lots of fun making treats and food with our investigators, helping them prep for christmas. We also have been droping off small notes everyday ´the 12 days of christmas´with scriptures and symbols of christ. its been pretty fun and a little bit hectic as usual.



The zone christmas party was a blast. We had a lot of fun with the skits/musical numbers. One day you´ll get to see the videos. We had an amazing training by Sister Mathews about the grinch. she wrote a book about how the grinch really stole christmas. it was amazing, so i´ll just summerize what the story is because it had much better rhymes that i cant recall. But anyways, it goes a bit like this: the grinch tried to ruin christmas for who´s, by taking away all the lights, all the presents, and all the food, but it didnt quite work, and instead they learned a bit more of what christmas is really about. the who´s thought they changed the Grinch´s heart, but he still had that wish to ruin the christmas of the Who´s. So this time, he started slow, he started to mention all the things they must buy, all the decorations they needed and that they didnt have much time. soon all the who´s were running around too worried about the sales and the lights and the things they must do. As they forgot and got caught up in the hussle, they forgot about what christmas was, what really was the meaning of christmas. They were too worried about the gifts they were giving and they forgot about the gift that was already given. And thus the Grinch really did steal christmas.

Don't get caught up in all the lights and the ´festas´. dont let yourself get lost in what to get the neighbors. remember what christmas is truly about this year as we think about Jesus and bring him into the gifts that we give, remind others of the best gift that was given. Christmas is a time when we have the opportunity to be the hands of Christ for God´s children. Even the smallest things can turn into a miracle. I know that there are people out there that need some Christmas cheer. It may not be in presents, but maybe just a invite or a small gesture. Never forget the power of the Holy Ghost to lead and guide you to find the one family or life that you can touch this christmas to make it a christmas just a little bit different. 

Here´s just a short little thought from a friend´s weekly email, though it was worth sharing with ya´ll.  I will paraphrase from one of my favorite stories: The Forgotten Carols.  In it Uncle John says, "think about it, wise men coming from the east because they saw a new star in the sky, angels singing to shepards, a virgins having a child.  It sounds absolutely absurd, but we believe it is real because something about the season makes us feel that it is."  I am sorry I cant quote it off the top of my head.  But what I have come to feel with the lack of presents, lights, and christmas trees is that the christmas spirit is still there.  I dont focus so much on the things that this christmas lacks, because it isnt about santa and his sleigh bringing toys on christmas day, its not about christmas cards or sparkling lights, because far away and long ago he was born to straw not snow, in swaddling clothes, the newborn king, our heavenly lord, our everything.  I know he lives, I know he came as the scriptures say, and he is "more than the babe in bethelem.  More than the carpenters son"  I know he is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.` (QC: Elder Holt) 



I love this season and I love you all!
Warm hugs from:
Síster Kohlert :)

Week 44: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Boa Tarde,

It was another lovely, hot week here on the island of Sal. The weather has been a bit warm these days, but we have been pulling through. We were blessed with the miracle of water, which has been on for the whole week, so i do believe that it will stay now! Que Benção! We had quite the rat race running around to get everything ready for Sabrina´s baptism, and all went well, except for the fact that no one told us that there would be no evening church Sunday and that is when sabrina comes, due to the christmas devotional that we watched. Unfortunately, she was also sick, so she was not confirmed, but for sure next week. oh so much stress! But the baptism went well! Que Benção! 

We have been blessed with finding some new promising families! we do think that Heavenly Father wants us to learn something about marriage because we have SOOOO many families that need to get married, but don't want to, or want to wait longer. Its been rough. We must need to learn something out of this because these people are amazing, they just need to get married! We´ll get there one day with some of them, hopefully all of them...

Gutting the fish we bought on the street


We prepared our house for Christmas and we stuck snowflakes on our window to make it seem a bit more like home. It kinda works if you squint real  hard and turn on the fan and put on a blanket and drink some hot chocolate, but your also sweating by then. Que Benção. So excited so spend christmas here, just love all these people. They just are so accepting and make you feel so welcome when they know that your far from home at a time when everyone is with their families, but i really do feel like i have family here. Hope you all have a lovely prep to your christmas this week, send lots of love to all those around you, especially the missionaries serving by you! Endulge them with the love of their families.




Love you all!
Sìster Kohlert 🎄

Week 43: Oh, The Schedule

So, training is interesting. we tried to experiment with switching up the schedule, but it kinda just turned into a disaster. we were late or super early for just about every appointment... haha but we pulled though. we got to watch some guys butcher a pig. that was cool. we also got to witness the full-on caboverdean mama bear criole fight (that our reactivated member was a part of, story for another day, but I now know that I understand quite a bit of criole).




The baptism of Sabrina was moved, so should be getting pictures of that soon! the members here are awesome, mainly the recent converts. So glad that we get to spend Christmas here! Marlene, 13 year old recent convert, bore her testimony yesterday...sweetest thing ever. She comes to church in the morning and the night and is now always teaching with us! She wants to serve a mission in portugal. what a peach. She also always makes us little bows to wear in our hair. I'm also going to teach her to lead music so she can do that for her calling. it would be prime. Perla and he family, 

Elaine and Tiago, are moving along well. They all came to church on sunday, but she needs to get married, but she doesn't want to. So we´ll see how that goes. She is amazing though. and Maria is a boss as usual. We just have to get her married as well. It's a work in progress. Well, her not-yet-husband is where we´re working.

Homemade Caboverdean Yogurt
Sister Lee is amazing. preparing for her first division. She is going to be amazing. brushing up on the street contacts. Man, how I hated to do contacts, now i dont mind it. But the mission does get easier when your senior companion, but it also gets A LOT more stressful. I feel like I´m always forgetting something... everyday. We also we´re blessed with water again! Hopefully it wont be shut off again. Maybe it will be a permanent blessing. blessings on blessings. 

Love the mission. and `african` love you!

Síster Kohlert

Week 42: Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Family and Friends,

So just another week has gone by. My new trainee is amazing! love her to death! she speaks poruguese like a boss even though she´s from the good old town of Boise, Idaho. We had a lot of fun in Praia, then to catch our 4 am flight back to Sal, and of course the AP´s slept in and we woke them up ten minutes after they were supposed to pick us up. Ya know, only 40 minutes late from when we were supposed to get to the airport, but we made it. ​Had lots of fun showing her around the area and trying not to overwhelm her too much with the Kriol. We made it through the first week just fine! We should be having a baptism this Saturday if all goes well! Sabrina is an amazing 16 year old. she truly understands the importance of enduring to the end. she´s been such an example to her friends. Short on time this week, I´ll try to write more next week!

Love you all!
Till next week!

Síster Kohlert

11.24.2015

Week 41: Transfers Round 7

Oi Oi Oi!

Transferências! *dumb roll please* As announced by President over the pulpit of the adult session of district conference, I will be training! woot woot! That's a story for another day, but I got to find out my transfer a day early. I'll be training Sister Lee from the United States. And that's basically all I know about her. I'll head over to Praia this week to pick her up and recieve a bit of training. Should be an exciting experience. Ya know. Praia is always cool. Haven´t been there since I arrived! And now Sister Johnson, my trainer, will be in the other dupla of sisters right down the road!

We also learned that our water will come on every 15 days for about two days. This poor sister will be born into such an interesting place. I just have got to find us a new house. Bucket showers and hand washing clothes is getting a bit rough. 4 months is enough for me haha. Apparently president didn't think so... haha life is good though.

This week we did get to go teaching with Sister Mathews, the mission presidents wife. We had a lot of fun with her. She helped us a lot with Maria and José, the ones who need to get married!, José officially has a date for marriage! February 20, but unfortunately I dont think that I will be here :( super sad. There is a small chance that I´d be here, but that would be 6 transfers in the same area, aka half my mission. Maybe they´ll move it a few weeks earlier so that I have a higher chance of being here :) Sister Mathews said that she wants to attend the wedding. At the least I'll get pictures :) Anyways, another lesson we had with Sister Mathews was with a new investigator, we were teaching the plan of salvation, and right as I was in the middle of inviting her to be baptized, her little baby that Sister Mathews was holding starting farting! haha we all just busted up laughing because the mom was laughing so hard. It was hilarious, but so embarrassing too because the Mission President's wife is there! I was trying so hard to get through the invite, but the baby would fart again and someone would start laughing so then we´d all laugh and we just couldn't pull ourselves together. so funny. But we did get through it and she did accept to get baptized :) 

So that was the funny story of the week. 
But I do have one more, I just remembered.

So Tanha (recent convert) was super stressed out one day, so we had the Elders come over and give her a priesthood blessing, and of course Eder wanted one too. Then when we came back to visit them again this week, Marlene (Tanha´s daughter, baptized with her) told us that her little brother, Joel 7, was pretending to give their little sister, Joelma 3, a blessing! So cute! He put his hands over her head then said some stuff then shook her hand at the end. Bahaha cutest thing ever! Anyways, I love these people! So glad that I have met the people I have here in Sal. The love of a missionary is something truely different. How much you care about these people when you only know them for a few months. How badly you want them to be happy. I´ll keep ya´ll posted next week on the new comp!

Till then,
Síster Kohlert

P.S. Pictures to come next week!

Week 40: Just the Ush

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry this letter will be kinda lame. Nothing much happened this week. Just a lot of lessons. I could just explain all the problems that we are having right now, but i´d rather not write that all. 

This week was just a blurr, still don't have water, its been two full weeks since we´ve had any. Just prayin that it'll come back because hand washing clothes is very time consuming. The blessings of a washing machine. 

Hope ya´ll like the photo of making french toast in our disaster of a kitchen because we can't wash the dishes very easily and there are 5 liter water jugs everywhere full of filtered water to wash the dishes. 


Transfers are next week, super excited for some change! Can´t wait to find out who my new companion will be! We did get to go to Buracona today, lots of fun.


Cabo Verde is just beautiful. Love it here. Sorry, really dont have anything else this week! Oh, but we did have zone conference with elder dykes from the seventy! that was super cool! He was mission president in Portland Oregon for a bit, and I definitly knew all the places he talked about! And our zone is only 14 people, and 2 couldn't come so we got to have a bit more fun than the rest of the zones. 

And thats all!
Love you! ��
Sister Kohlert

Week 39: Batismo :)

Ola meus amigos!

So another week has come and gone. Not to many changes out here, not too much news to share so this might be a bit of a shorter email. Sorry... hopefully next weeks will be better!

This week Tanha, Marlene, and Eder were baptized! Woot woot! They are truly amazing. I love them so much! I just know that they are going to be a solid addition to this branch here in Sal. It amazes me how much kids pick up on the spirit. Eder is one spectacular 11 year old. He doesn´t falter to read the Book of Mormon everyday, and he truly understands what he reads! (future misssionary, i think yes!) The work here just keeps coming along.


Antonio, Rofina, Josefa, Flavia, and Ricardo will not be baptized till the end of the month because Rofina still has to come to church one more time and we have district conference on the 21st so they will have to wait till the 28th, but it´s better that way because they aren´t all quite ready yet. Hopefully they will keep progressing and nothing will slip till then!

Heavenly Father has truely blessed us and placed us with another family who are married, the mom and daughter are prepared for our message. Just love to work with families!~


Maria and José are still working towards marriage, they have been talking about a date for marriage either the end of this year or the beginning of next. Hoping for december! Maria wants to get baptized now, they just need to get married! José finally let us know his doubt with baptism, which turned out to be that he was worried with his work schedule right now that he wouldn´t be able to be a strong member in the church because right now he has to work every saturday and sunday from 8 am till midnight. That lifted a huge weigth off our shoulders, but still makes it hard on him because his work doesn´t know when they will get more people to work on saturday and sunday. Lets just say im extremely grateful that his worry is not being able to go to church every week! 
Anyways, always working hard, here´s some pictures to prove it. just kidding. here´s just some pictures because I love you!

😘Até Logo,
Síster Kohlert

11.04.2015

Week 38: Decisions and Revelation

Tudo Bem!

Dont have much time today, sorry... but i just have a couple things to share. Oh and our water was out for a week and a half, on for two days, now off again. Anyways...

First, I love mission. Yes, it is hard. Yes, its the best thing ever. So many ups and downs every week, but this was a great week for me. We started off with district meeting on tuesday, and received an amazing reminder about why I am here. Its so easy to get lost in this work and forget what your true purpose is. Lately I have been getting lost a bit in the numbers, it really does make a difference of who your companion is. I havent yet found the balance between numbers and loving the people and following the spirit. Sometimes we just get caught up in the numbers. Sometimes we forget about them, but then end up not having success because we forget about the work of a mission. Its hard to explain, but i feel like in slowly bouncing from one end to the other but getting closer to the missionary I would like to be. I want to bring the spirit into everything I say, I want to show the love of God. 

My Beautiful Piece of Africa
I had an amazing experience this week that really reminded me that I am needed here. That im not just another missionary walking the streets and that God could have used anyone else. We were on divisions, I was with Sister Park (love her!) and we randomly ended up having a lesson in the street with a 15 year old girl because our back up appointment fell. As we are beginning the lesson, one of the less active members passed by, Crisolita, and invited us to teach the girl in her house, so accepted. Crisolita mentioned that her knee was hurt, but nothing more. As we sat down, the girl had to go do a errand, so we asked if we could talk to crisolita. of course she said yes, and as we asked her about her day, she just broke down in tears. Things with family happened with the church, then she hurt her knee and she couldnt get off work otherwise she wouldnt be able to feed her family. As I just stood there hugging her, a lady that I had only talked to a few times, I felt Gods love for her. As we sat down to read a bit of the book of mormon with her, the spirit was thick in the air, you could feel the power testifying to her. There wasnt a dry eye in the room. As I offered the closing prayer, I had the impression to ask her if she would like a blessing from the elders, which she accepted. We called up the elders and just told them that a member needed a blessing of health because of a knee injury. As Elder Ayala gave Crisolita a blessing, everything that he said was exactly what she needed. Absolutely every doubt that she had was answered in that blessing. I know that Heavenly Father knows each of us personally. I know that He inspires his servants. The power of the priesthood is real. It heals our hearts and our spirits and we give him all that we have. There is no way that Elder Ayala knew what Crisolita neded, but her Heavenly Father did. 

The Sisters in the Sal District
The next day, crisolitas daughter came running up to us to let us know that her mom´s knee was all better. Just after we left she was able to walk. It didnt come as that much of a surprise to me, because after that blessing I knew that she would be okay. The moment wasnt just for Crisolita. I know that I needed that. That the elders needed that. that crisolitas family needed that. I know that the miracle touched something deep inside each of us. Heavenly Father knows us. He loves us. I love you all, thanks for everything you do. 


Much love,
Sister Kohlert

Week 37: Rain Storms and the Usual

Ei! Tu dret!

So ya know. Just the usual here in Sal. Workin away. We did have some funny experiences this week, and of course some miracles.

First, our week started off with a HUGE rain strom. Talk about down pour. Definitely were walking in a river of water up to our knees. Super fun, oh i really do love the rain! we took a member through it too. She was giggling like a 4 year old in a candy store. Then I almost fell into a 6 foot deep hole because it was full of water and I couldnt tell that it was there, luckily the member and my comp remembered so they stopped me probably only a foot or two from the edge. It would have been really bad, and I probably would have gotten really sick. The good news is that I didnt! Sorry mom  and dad, don't worry about me! Got angels protecting me :) 
Random boy up in a tree!
We got to see some miracles this sunday, when we had 6, yes, that is not a typo, 6 investigators at church! A family of four, then another investigator who brought a friend who we talked with the night before. Ah! So amazing! Maria (the one who brought the friend) is just so amazing! Every time we talk about the Book of Mormon, she says that she knows it´s true with such a firm conviction! There is no doubt in my mind that she got an answer. Man! Just the way that she said it on Saturday night when we invited her friend to pray about it. Maria, with such power in her voice, with such a surity, you´d think that she has been a member for at least 5 years. so incredible! Those are the moments that make the mission (at least for me).

We did have a bit of a sad moment on sunday when Tanha, Marlene, and Eder didnt come to church so we have to move their baptism to the 7th of november. Ah! I just love them so much and I just want them to be happy! 

When we were reviewing the baptismal questions with Marlene (13) and Eder (11), we asked them what they remembered about the law of chastity, and marlene forgot, but eder whispered the answer in her ear, `dont have kids before your married´ so cute! He is so smart! When one of the elders asked him what was something cool that he read in the Book of Mormon, he showed him the scripture in ether when the brother of jared asks the lord to touch the stones so that they will light their boats. Ah! such a boss! He knew how to apply it too! how the holy ghost guides our lives. wow. God prepares those we teach. The church is true! Its the moments like these that makes the missin worth it. Cant wait till the day that Tanha and her family get baptized, then hopefully ill get to see the day that they get sealed in the temple. 

Love you all! Have a great week!

Till then,

Sister Kohlert

Week 36: Oh..The Ups and Downs

Bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite a todos!

This week was quite the whirlwind! We have changed up our schedule a bit, had some highs and some lows. As a mission, we used to have a goal everyday of getting 10 street contacts, 3 lessons with a member present, 3 references received, and 1 investigator lesson in a member´s house, which was very hard, not gonna lie. But now we have a new goal of getting 15 street contacts and 5 investigator lessons everyday. We have been working VERY hard to meet that goal everday, and we have seen miracles!

Just in case you´re wondering, our schedule now goes as follows:
6:30 wake up and excercise
7:15 prep for the day and eat breakfast
8:00 begin studies
10:30 leave to teach
1:30 lunch
2:15 back to teaching
9:00 head back home and plan for tomorrow
10:30 sleep at last

So naturally our bodies have adapted to this lovely schedule so that we dont need to eat or use the restroom for 7 hours till we get home at night, then binge on cereal and popcorn or whatever other snacks we can eat quickly as we plan for the next day. So yeah... dinner isnt a thing on this mission. We´re super healthy out here in Africa. Life.

We also have been out of water this entire week. The sisters and elders also ran out. We´re just lovin´ it here in Sal! 

But we did have some amazing spiritual experiences this week! I´ll just share one, my favorite one: 

One of the recent converts of the elders moved into our area, so we have the responsibility of reviewing the lessons with her, so we were reviewing the first lesson, the restoration, with her on Saturday. Her name is Edisa (Ed-EE-za) by the way. She´s aborable, 18 years old. Anyways, me and my comp were impressed to stress that Heavenly Father knows Edisa by name. As she quickly made the comment that He knows all of us. We noticed that she was quite bothered by the fact the He loves all His children, so of course He has to love her as well. We both bore our testimonies of how we know that at times we think ´how could he remember me when there are so many others, that sometimes we feel lost in the masses.´ Soon Edisa was in tears and so was I. It´s been a while since i´ve cried during a lesson, but the Spirit was SO strong! No doubt that the Spirit was answering her concerns. I know that Heavenly Father loves EACH of us, more than we can imagine. The Book of Mormon is for Each of us, personally. I know that the words of the prophets in that book were written for me in those times that I feel alone, when life just seems too hard or unfair, when I forget my worth,I find God talking to me through The Book of Mormon. I know He is doing the same for each one of His children. It´s one of the most important things that I have learned so far on my mission. I have seen Him in the lives of all those I teach, all those I talk to. He knows you, He loves you. Never forget your infinite worth in the eyes of God. 
I love you all! Thanks for the love you show and the support every week!

Síster Kohlert

Week 35: Transfers

Heyo! soooo i will be staying here in sal and my new companiion is my grandma, Sister Zimbelman (mission grandma aka trainer of my trainer)! She is from utah and this is her last transfer on the mish, and she started her mission in this area! super excited! Sister Friaça went to my old stomping grounds in Porto Novo! Super excited for her because that area is amazing. so jealous. 



Funny short occurance during gospel principles yesterday, 
Our teacher and all the members of the class were set on the fact that caterpillars die and then are like reinacrnated/restored into a butterfly. They were dead serious. super funny as we tried to explain that the caterpillar is still living and doesnt ever die to become a butterfly in the cacoon. It was hilarious.

So one quick story that was amazing that happened yesterday:
On our way to bring our investigator Tanha and her family to church, sister friaça saw a random pair of kids shoes in the middle of the dirt road. We just walked past, but then sister friaça goes back and picks them up. We look at them, in really good shape still, and they look just about tanhas sons size, Joelm,... as far as we can tell. So we take them with us to Tanhas house. when we get there her daughter answers the door and lets us know that her mom and brothers already left for the church and that she wouldnt be able to go. But we asked if anyone in their family needed shoes. she thinks for a second and quickly replies Joelm! Turns out he went to church in flip flops because someone had stolen his shoes. When we get to the church sure enough, joelm needed shoes because they would be walking all the way to palmeira (a good hour plus walk) right after church. Random story, but I know that those shoes were placed in our path for a reason. (and i think we both prayed to make sure it was okay that we were taking the shoes and that someone didnt need them...) I hope that Tanha felt that Heavenly Father is looking out for her as a single mother trying her best to provide for her family.

Amo vocês!
Síster Kohlert

10.18.2015

Week 34: Conference Heat Wave

Dear Family and Friends,

Never thought i´d say this so soon, but our water is off again! Haha just a few more days and it should be on again. Oh the life on an african island.


Conference was amazing! Well, at least the one session that we got to watch in english. The others were good too, but its always nice to hear their voices rather than the translators because you can't exactly translate emotion. My favorite that I heard in English was elder Holland´s. It was exactly what some of our investigators needed to hear, except they were unable to attend.

This week we have followed up with our new investigators and really found some diamonds in the rough. First is a 17 year old girl, Lenizia. She is 9 months pregnant and due the end of this month! She excepted a baptismal date, and already knows Jospeh Smith was a prophet and is reading the Book of Mormon. She's adorable! The only problem is that she is going to give birth around the time of her baptismal date, so hopefully everything will be timed right and she´ll be able to be baptized the end of this month.

Another family we have found is Sonha, Alsindo, Adilson, Suzi, Sweli, and Zau. They were all ready to go to conference with us, when their cousin/niece had to go to the hospital and they had to take her. Zau was already to go, but had to run over to meet them there when she heard about it. Next week though. They are prepared.

Then we have Tanha and her family. She had a boyfriend and it was really holding her back, but they now have separated and she is so excited because we planned to teach her the law of chastity that day that she told us she kicked him out of the house! So she was so excited about the lesson on chastity. so cute! The only problem right now is her work schedule that causes her to work most Sundays. But we´ll see what we can do!

Other than that, you can see these great moms that would be uplifted by Elder Holland's talk and be touch by the spirit as he spoke! So excited to share the talk with them!

And it has been super hot these last few days. We took a taxi to the church Saturday for conference because we couldn't stand being drentched by the time we got there. oh Africa, how i love you.

So thats all for this week!

Lots of loves,
Síster Kohlert

9.28.2015

Week 33: Sweet Water

Boa Tarde!

We finally have water! Best day ever. Finally have a clean house and a new found hope! This week was incredible in the way that we found 16 new investigators, but unfortunately none of them came to church... but a friend of a recent convert came! and she lives in our area, so that was a miracle. Now we just have to keep up with all of our investigators and see who will actually progress. We have high hopes though!

I also got to hear a bit about my recent converts back in Porto Novo, two of them that had gone less active when I got transferred, are now active again! One, Anilton is preparing to receive the aaronic priesthood, and serve a mission! And his sister, Rosi is also active again. Love them! And I belive that i already mentioned a few weeks ago that Dany was preparing to recieve the Melchezidek priesthood and serve a mission as well. Ah! Miracles! The day that I will be able to talk to them again will be a great one (because most dont have internet and theres no such thing as receiving letters here).

Sorry its another short email, don't have much to say this week. Life keeps going. Our work is progressing, and transfers are on their way.

P.S. super excited for general conference! Any guesses for the next 3 apostles? My guesses: Tad R Callister, Gerald Causse, and Bruce C Hafen. I have some backups, but those are my top 3 guesses.

Love you all!
Till next week because A-frikan´have a lot of work to do (cred. Elder Holt)

Síster Kohlert

9.21.2015

Week 32: This Is Water.....NOT!

Boa Tarde!

You probably thought that i was gonna say we didnt have water yet, didnt you! haha! 
We still don't.

25 days without water and still going strong! This was a week full of trials and a lot of learning, a lot of humility. We´ve had a hard time with our area, and then I got sick... again. So we were out for a day and a half. Better now. Had some good experiences with a lot of stuff that I can´t write it all in this letter, but know that you learn a whole lot about yourself out here. 

Just had a good reminder of what a mission is. Reminded me of a speach that was given by someone famous who´s name escapes my mind at the present moment, called this is water. he talks about three gold fish who are swimming in a bowl, and one is older and wiser and tells the other two that they are in water, and they dont believe him. He then relates it to us, and how we have to remind ourselves that this is life. This is the mission. We have a purpose that we cannot afford to forget. I have a much greater purpose here on the mission that I have been forgetting lately. There´s so much that we teach people, but what it really comes down to is that we have a Heavenly Father who has a plan for us to be happy. Not just for a day, nor a week. Not just till the end of our lives here, but forever. We cannot even begin to understand, let alone compreend the joy that we have been promised if we follow the Savior for the time that we have here. I am so grateful for the opportunity to teach this plan. To have the Spirit testify though me of this devine message of happiness.

First Grass I've Seen Since I Left

....and a REAL PINE TREE!

The Zoo


Amo vocês!
Síster Kohlert

Week 31: Maneira!

Heyo!

Just to keep y´all posted, officially 18 days without water. Gotta love life. When the other missionaries be calling president when they dont have water for 4 days, we are living over here lugging 5 liter jugs of water from the store up to our third floor apartment. wheres the respect? bahaha now this is life.

So aside from that, we have been continually finding new families and people to teach. it just takes a lot to get them ready for baptism. to get people married here is a rough a bumpy road with lots of road blocks. Hopefully we´ll have a wedding this transfer, we´ll see though.

This week we taught a group of little boys to play ninja after our english class, funnest thing ever. Helped us leave all the stress and relax and have some fun for a bit.



Then on Sunday, one of the speakers didn't show up, so during the sacrament, the bishop waves me up to the stand, and tells me i´ll be giving a talk on eternal marriage. so great. gotta love that. trying to write a talk on the stand during sacrament, and of course I assume i wont be the first speaker... haha yeah right! Definitely was the first speaker. So that was a really rough talk since the sacrament only takes about 10 minutes to pass here, so i only had 5 minutes to prepare. bahaha. i guess thats a part of being a missionary. maybe i should just prepare a few talks and keep them in my bag on sundays just in case. 

Swarm of  flies in our Apartment

Lots of loves, hopefully next week we will have water too!

Síster Kohlert

Week 30: On the Search for Families

Heyo! 

So this week was full of ups and downs. Just to keep y´all posted on the water situation, we STILL dont have water. yup. its been 10 full days now without running water in our house. super fun. 




As for missionary work, we have been finding A TON of new families to teach! Its truely amazing, i cant even explain it. and I dont have time this week to write all the stories. just know that I´m doing well, and I love the people we are teaching. At times its hard, mainly just because of how a mission is, and somethings are just unavoidable. But we´re pushing on, and learning a lot more about trusting in the Lord. I have learned this week, more than anyother time in my life, that the Lord knows. He knows our efforts, He knows our hearts, He knows what we are feeling,

and most importantly, He knows our investigators and the families here, and He sees the changes in their lives, even if it doesn´t show up in the number of lessons we have, or the number opf baptisms. I have seen the spirit touch the hearts of the people and you can see the change in their eyes. There were so many lessons this week and I wish I had time to write, but unfortunatly I dont! Just one quick update about one of our investigators, Paula, I sent pictures of us at her farm lsat week, she let us know this week that her husband will no longer let us talk to her, and she is no longer allowed to go to our church. It was very hard to hear for us, we really have grown so close to her and her family. We´ve just been praying that her husband will open his heart, and at least let us talk to her and her kids again. The mission is hard, and its trying, but it´s so worth it. I cant even describe it, but those who have served know exactly what I mean. I love you guys so much!

Till next week,
Síster Kohlert

9.01.2015

Week 29: Hurricanes and Chuks

Sorry I didn't email yesterday, the internet was down due to the hurricane. we are all safe here, but we definietly got hit. Started on Monday morning, and the flights were cancelled, and there was a lot of rain and very strong wind. But first, I will review the week. 

Some Investigators
So the week was good, just like usual, hot, lots of walking, till about Friday when our water was shut off, and our landlord is in Belgium. No way to contact him. We decided to wait to see if it would come back on. Mean while, we got to see the chuks(pigs) of our investigator Paula. Super fun, ill send pictures. 





Then Saturday, the water was still off, and we had hardly any in the house, so we had to go to the other sisters the get some more. We watched a baptism on the beach that night because the font wasn´t ready. Super cool. Then we went home and our water was still off and we asked our neighbor and she said hers came back on, so we decided to wait a bit longer.The next morning, still no water. We took showers and did everything at the other sisters house, and life continued. We visited Marina, who was pregnant, turns out she had a miscarriage. It was sad, but she wasn´t too effected because she wasn´t super excited to have another child. Then on Sunday night, we got the call about the storm, and had to prepare a few things. We still were without water. Then the next morning the storm hit. Our windows were leaking water all over the floor, we were contantly mopping trying to keep up with it. we put towels in the window sills then went out to get groceries in the middle of the storm. 
Waiting Out the Storm
We thought it hadnt hit yet and was going to get worse later. haha we are so smart! We collected the rain water to use to flush the toilets and wash the dishes (our house STILL doesnt have water, going on 5 days now) The electricity went out for a while and we went out to teach.
Soaking Wet from the Storm
Had a great lesson with Paula and her family in the candle light. Then did some service for our neighbor and just had some miracles happen! Hoping that we will find a new house and our water will return. We are all safe here. Love you guys! Thanks for the prayers!

Sister Kohlert