This week we worked really hard. We have been having some lessons in the morning and we get to the house on time or late. We have a goal  this week to always get to the house on time. We have several people here in the area that are only available to visit at night. 

We have an investigator that will get baptized on Friday. We decided to have it on Friday because that's the day that her Dad, who is a less active member, has work off. We are really excited for her. We are going to visit her every day this week. She knows that the church is true. Both of her parents are less active members but her Mom has recently started to go to church with her. 

We had an amazing experience with the family that the Lord guided us to. The Mom and her sons D. and G. came to church on Sunday. In the second hour, after getting the 3-year-old G. all settled down in his primary class, we were able to sit and listen to a wonderful lesson on how Jesus Christ established his church. At the very end of the lesson we read about baptisms for the dead. After the class she asked the teacher about the work for the dead. I responded to her questions and the teacher explained things in a way that she could understand. After a combined effort of explaining, she told us that her brother died when he was 21, that he didnt know how to read, but that she had a dream that we analyzed and discovered that her brother wants his work to be done. I thought that was absolutely amazing. D., the oldest son has a baptismal date for the 18th of May. A., the Mom, and her husband aren't going to be able to get baptized for a while because they have to get married and he has to get divorced before they can get married. 

We met a lot of new investigators this week. We have been having a lot of lessons. At the end of the day we get to the house tired and at peace feeling like we`ve done everything that we could do. 

The mission leader is really nice and he really loves us. We need to help motivate him to get him to do some of the responsibilities that he has like the weekly missionary meetings and to come to the baptisms. I think that they may have been having some difficulties or trials. They didn't come to church on Sunday because of an emergency. I will try to get to know them better to know how I can help him and his family. 

I have been trying to be more specific in my prayers. I`ve made a list of people and their needs and I use that once a day to pray for people by name. I sometimes don't like it because I tend to ask more than I thank him for. I`m trying to work on perfecting my prayers. 

On Sunday, we had a meeting with the bishop, his counselor, and a high priest. He helped us know where the area boundaries are. He gave us five less active members to rescue. We also have the homework of finding the directions of the recent converts. There are a lot and we don't know where all of them live. I really hope that they can get the ward missionaries working well. I think that we can help the mission leader take over that. It's impossible for us to visit all of the recent converts. 

I`m really happy here. I am amazed by how much work there is to do. 

I`m trying to be a leader but I am very lost in my area and I still don't know people's names and other key details that are important to memorize. 

We have been speaking in English and Spanish. I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that effecting my Spanish but so far I don't think that I've been getting worse. 

I`m happy and learning and working hard. :)

Love, 

Hermana Koehler

One of our investigators dogs had 11 puppies! That is so crazy!

Dear Mom and anyone else that reads this, 

It has been an absolute pleasure to be here in the 24 de Diciembre with Hna C. I feel like I've already been here for a whole change. The people here are so wonderful.  I found out that my trainer Hna Molina served here. The people...they are just so special. It has been so easy for me to come to love them very quickly. 

I know that I learned in Doleguita. When I left, the bishop told me that I need to use all of the knowledge that I gained there and that's what I really want to do, but it can be hard.

My first day here I also found out that we had a baptism that night! Wow, how amazing is that? It was absolutely beautiful and wonderful. 

I have been able to apply many things that I learned from Doleguita so far. One of those is the planning sessions every day. I have improved my planning significantly and it is definitely a more edifying, helpful experience. 

It's really nice not to have to worry about travel time here in the city. We've been able to have 8 or more lessons every day because everything is so close together! It really has been a long time since I've been here in the city.

We had a zone activity today where we went to Cerro Anton and afterwards we were dirty and wet so we went to shower. It's a bit of a problem today. 

 Just a few experiences that I had this week: 

-My first or second day here I saw a house that I had seen in a dream before my mission. I remembered that in the dream there was a young man. I asked one of the members about the people that lived there and asked if there's a young man that lives there. They said, "Yes." We talked to him the other day. He is 14 years old and he is super positive. I am really excited to see what will happen with that. 

-My companion and I were walking to an investigator's slash less active member's house and we both felt like we had to turn onto one of the streets. My companion said that she didn't know why, but she felt like it was this street. So we turned onto it and we were literally led to a house. I don't know how else to describe it except to say that we were literally led there. 

I'm learning how to be happy and fun and I'm learning how to get along with others.

Yours truly, 

Hermana Hannah Koehler 

P.S. What things do you want me to write in my weekly emails?

I'm back in the city! Tocumen...24 de Diciembre. 
My companion is Hna C. de Honduras.

Meet K...
She was baptized on Wednesday, 
aka the day I got here.

Today we had a zone activity and we climbed up a mountain.

Waiting For Today's E-mail

[I cropped this from a picture I found on the mission president's photo blog. It is the only clear-ish photo with Hannah in it that was posted yesterday. She was in the corner of someone else's picture-- thus the Elder's ear.]

So I am officially leaving Doleguita David. Things have been absolutely insane but it has definitely been a learning experience. Things have been insane because this whole week we have been communicating with the president about changes and at first they were going to close the area. So we had to prepare everything as if they were going to close the area. But today we found out that I am the only one that will be leaving. 

I have learned so much here in Doleguita. I will be eternally grateful for the knowledge I have gained here.

The greatest and most simple knowledge that I have gained here I had explained to me yesterday-- the glorious simple beauty of the atonement. He taught me that the atonement consists of two things: love and agency. He taught me that the Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ loved the world enough to sacrifice his life for us even when he knew that many would just reject his sacrifice. They spit in his face and even killed him even after all that he did. I also learned the connection with love and agency to faith and action. Faith is connected with the love of the atonement and that love is nothing without action. That faith is nothing without works. That is the greatest, most simple, and most beautiful thing I have learned here in Doleguita. 

I am willing to start stepping up to the plate to reach my potential. We´ll see what happens next change.

Thank you for all of the support and love that you have given me. I recieved the packet this week :) Thank you everyone that wrote to me from the family. It was a joy to read the little notes :)

Love always, 

Hermana Koehler

Fotos

That's us tearing my umbrella apart and making the bulletin board.

This week we tried to crunch everything into just five days..well really four and a half days..because we knew that because of General Conference we would have less time. I remember in my previous areas how frustrating it was to not be able to work like normal during General Conference. Miraculously, we were able to follow just about every one of the plans that we had even though Friday we had to change things a bit because of my companion going to immigration. 

There have been many little successes this week. One of which is that there is a 100 percent chance that we will be having baptism in the near future. The newlywed wife of one of our inactive members has come to church twice and she said that she loves the church already. Her husband has been teaching her and she is really excited about the idea of going to the temple with him. She already knows a lot because of her husband who is a returned missionary. This Sunday she didn't come to church, but we`re hoping that they watched Conference on the internet. We haven't spoken with them yet. 

On other notes, three of the inactive members that we have been visiting did show up to church. None of the investigators that we invited showed up, but I didn't feel bad at all because my heart was full of the success that we had with the inactive members. My favorite moment was when the bishop gave a huge hug to one of our inactive members that has been struggling with the repentance process. It was absolutely beautiful. It was like Jesus Christ was giving me a kind of hug. 

I finished reading the Book of Mormon backwards! I read it in Spanish and it was an absolutely wonderful experience. I really have a greater understanding of the prophets that wrote these words. When I changed from reading from one prophet to the other I felt like the tone changed.

Send my love to everyone please.

Fotos: Us at Sunday dinner and my food at Sunday dinner. I was excited because there were so many veggies. haha

[She also sent a picture of Christ that she loves, but I couldn't post it because of copyright issues.]