FEB 15, 2015 Happy Valentines day from ELDER KOHLER

-Elder Jacob Reed Kohler

Feb 15, 2016 Happy Valentines Day from ELDER KOHLER

2-15-15

Well to start off we are getting more snow as wel speak which we will be staying in again today... So feel free to email me for whatever reason you might have! And second happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope your day was full of love! 

My week was super busy and pretty great! First off we did a lot of service which I have come to love so much! We have a family in our ward, who is the sister of the Mother in the house living with them who we have been teaching for a while now! (I hope that made sense) but anyway, she got married this last week! Which is so good for her and her situation right now! And she seemed so happy which makes us really happy for her! But we spend the entire day before in the church helping set up everything for it! My companion joked that we will have to do a wedding decorator business after the mission it was so good! Haha and it really wasn't too bad! We then spent our whole evening at a members cleaning out some of the storage rooms in their house! They are moving to a house they have in Ecuador and that makes me really sad cause they are one of my favorite families I've met here! They're crazy, loud, and super loving, so they remind me of my own family a lot! They said I can come down to visit after the mission though so that'll be on the list of many things to do! Lastly out of the service we met a family in our building who are from Iran, who we have seen a couple of times around our building and said hi to, but this time we actually had a conversation with them. They ended up asking us if we could teach them more English. We said we obviously aren't teachers but we would love to help as much as we can. They were surprised when we said too we wouldn't take money. The English part went well, but then they asked what we do exactly and of course we jumped right in on that one! We explained our purpose and even gave them a Book of Mormon to help with their English! He told us that in their culture when they hold a book sacred to them they kiss it and put it to their forehead, which he then did with the Book of Mormon which was really cool! We have ended each lesson with a little something about our church and it is going really well so far! They're such nice people! 

Next is some amazing news for us WE HAVE A SUPER SOLID INVESTIGATOR!!! So our investigator last week has had some problems with her house info so we weren't able to meet with her this week, which got us super down! But as we were talking to a woman in our ward she said her daughter is interested in hearing the lessons! The mother we actually received as a referral a while ago, but when we went to go check on her we found out that she is actually a member! She was baptized 19 years ago in Peru and when she moved here she didn't move her records and ended up being less active in the church. So when we found her she was super happy to come back and now we are teaching her daughter the lessons too! Her daughter is younger which is nice to be able to connect with more! We had one lessons which went really well! She picked up on everything and was super interested! We're so excited to continue visiting with her! One of her favorite things we told her, that I have really come to appreciate, is our knowledge that Christ visited the Americas after being Resurrected.  It is such a significant and important event in the Book of Mormon! And there be something I would definitely say you should read if you're at all interested! It starts in 3rd Nephi Chapter 11! 

Lastly church was amazing as usual! First off Marilyn came to church! (Name of the investigator above) this was a super big deal for us considering we haven't had an investigator to church in a long time! So to have a new investigator there was so cool! She asked a lot of questions and was really into learning about it! It was so cool! She met with the bishop for a minute and he was able to welcome her into the ward which was really good too! She said she enjoyed it and will be happy to come back next week! Also in church we have been teaching the primary kids every third hour which has been way fun!! They are hilarious and also super crazy! I'd like to say thank you to any and every teacher I've ever had, and also especially to my parents, because I know I was just as crazy as these kids! But it is also so much fun! We brought them candy for Valentine's Day and they were bouncing off the walls, but we were able to rope it in and have a good lesson about Nephi building is the ship to cross the ocean! 

All in all this week I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be a missionary! I love being able to help people and to see the happiness in their eyes from it! So in honor of Valentine's Day this week look for opportunities to show someone some love! 

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

-Elder Jacob Reed Kohler

JAN 25 2016

1-25-16

Well the last week was a short one so this email will be too! One of my cool thing they happened from the last week was that I was able to go on exchanges with the Traveling AP to Virginia which is out of the mission! It was cool to drive down and visit with that family! They were super sweet and fed us some good tacos! One crazy part was that as we were about 20 minutes away it started to snow pretty hard! So the 20 minutes tuned quickly into another hour of driving! The drive back ap was worse and about 3 hours! We ended up driving a whole of 6 hours that day! It was a long time, but Elder Parker and I had some really good talks! Some of which I'll share later. First funny story wad that we pulled up next to a big travel bus and it said wifi on the side! So I tried to click to see if it would work, it needed a password sadly! I then looked at the bus for any sign of a password! That's when I decided to choose one of the 2 phone numbers on the side, and it worked! So we just got behind the bus and had some wifi for a bit which was funny! Another cool thing wad while I was gone my companion was able to tract into a lady who wanted us to come back, and then accepted wanting to be baptized! I'm so excited to be able to help someone towards that and to help them come closer to Christ! So that'll be an adventure for sure! 

The next big thing was the huge snow storm that I'm sure you all heard about! We were snowed in for about 3 days, which took the rest of my week after our exchange! So it was a long first day of not being able to do much. So as usual when you put a bunch of young adult men in an apartment locked up for too long we come up with ideas. We decided to have our other missionary buddies form the apartment 5 miles away walk to us, but that we would meet them half way! So we got all warm in all the clothes we could find, and started the trek! We met them about half way and had some fun of course along the way! It was a blizzard out there and I could probably have counted on all my fingers the cars we saw driving around it was so dead! There was no one out driving and actually quite a few people walking around! Lots of wind and snow and everything! Super crazy but super fun! We then were locked in again all weekend and to be honest not much went on and it was pretty boring! We were super happy to get out again and do some work! 

Lastly I want to share what I talked to Elder Parker about a little as well as Elder Squire a little bit! Is that we often forget about the grace of God. We really cannot be perfect in this life! In the end we all fall a little short! But the amazing thing is we have the atonement if Christ and the Grace of God which make up for that last bit they we need! So what does that mean? We can do whatever we want and be fine right? NO! We still need to do all we can! We need to have Pure hearts and Real intent, out in our best effort, and treasure up the word of God! After we do this along with all we can do, we will get there with the grace of God! The scripture for this week is 2 Nephi 25:23 because of the last phrase which is exactly where we can see this all backed up! It means we can't stop or give up! But we also have to know we will stumble at times, we're going to fall and even some will get really low. Nonetheless, if we do all we can and put in all our strength, faith, and trust in God, we will be able to make it by his Grace! So do your best, but if you mess up, know you have a safety net! We just need to allow God to use it by doing all we can do! I love you all and I hope you have a great week! 

-Elder Jacob Reed Kohler

FEB 1st 2016

2-1-15

This was another week of a lot of service! We've just been continuing to to shovel the snow out of people's driveways which was fun! Super tiring physically, but it helps a lot spiritually! I was actually having a tough day, and we got a call to shovel some snow. So obviously they wasn't the first thing I wanted to hear haha. We get there to 2 feet of icy snow up a super slanted driveway. It started out rough, until the family came out and we started talking to them! It ended up being super cool and a great experience for me! I've really come to love service out here cause it puts me into such a good mood! 

This week I also got sick which was not very fun! Especially after all the snow locking us in, having to stay in the apartment again wasn't super fun! I did get out to one appointment this week that was pretty fun! We were able to meet with an elderly couple who knows my companion! They were super nice and told us about their 4 missions they have been on! Super devoted and kid people with very strong testimonies! They also make super good brownies which made my day for sure! 

Lastly I got the news that I will be staying in my area one more transfer! This will be 5 which is crazy I'm already this far out, but also crazy that I'm still here! I was kind of expecting a change this one, so it was a surprise not to leave! Apparently the Lord knows something I don't in the sense of there must be more I need to do here. I'm working on being more willing to accept what the Lord has for me. When we can make our will the same as the Lords our life will be very blessed! Just like the scripture in D&C 4:5! So my challenge this week is keeping your eye single to the glory of God and all he has for you! I love you all and have a great week! 

-Elder Jacob Reed Kohler

Feb 8th 2016

2-8-15

This week was a pretty good week! We had a couple really cool experiences! 

First off we had exchanges with the new traveling assistants which was super cool! I went on mine with Elder Ord who is actually a friend of my Kohler cousins in California!  So it's always fun to get to hang out with him for a bit! He is also a super devoted missionary! We went to an apartment complex looking for a referral we received. The only problem was we didn't have the apartment number just the complex address. So we prayed and went in with a goal of teaching two lessons and getting 3 people to invite us back. After a lot of knocking, talking, praying, and effort, we were able to achieve our goals! That is one big thing I've learned is prayerfully setting goals is huge! If we can set goals and invite God into the process, then he knows how to help us achieve these goals! But if we just go in blindly and hoping for success, we can't always achieve what we want to. So set goals and pray to ask for help!

Next the other Elders in our ward had a baptism which was super cool! The baptism was for investigators that have been investigating the church for about a year now! So that was a long time coming and they were very happy to finally have gotten there! We even were able to have the missionary that first started teaching them come and baptize them! Which made it such a special event! Talking to them and talking to a good friend back home who was baptized recently was so cool to be able to remember that peace that comes over you after being baptized. I think a quiet peace is something we can all use in our crazy lives and it's so great to remember that we can have it by following God's commandments! 

Lastly we have a new investigator! She is such a nice lady! She has two kids and is separated from her husband and is looking for some support and happiness in her life. She told us how impressed she was with our church and how he has a special feeling when she talks to us! We were able to have a really great first lesson and she said one think she really liked was the scriptures! How the Book of Mormon and the Bible compliment each other so well! And I couldn't agree more! I love the scriptures so much! They are so amazing to have for us to be able to relive the experiences of such amazing prophets and followers of Christ. For those of you who know me know I don't really love to read unless it has a lot of pictures. So starting to read the scriptures was a struggle for me at first. But as I have started to read with more purpose and with a question in mind, I have come to love reading the scriptures so much! So that's what I'd challenge you guys to try this week, is think of a question you've had in your life, then search for the answer in the scriptures! If you pray and have faith I promise you will receive your answer either by the words you read, or the feelings of the Holy Ghost! 

 Well I hope you have a great week! And a Happy early Presidents' Day and Valentine's Day! It's super crazy how fast time is flying! It has been 7 months today so that's nuts! But who's counting right? Haha. I really have loved my mission so much so far and it has taught me a lot! I'm excited for the months to come and the great things I'll continue to learn! Much love to all and to all Una buena semana! 

-Elder Jacob Reed Kohler