Michael survives his lump removal. Warning, graphic picture attached

Hey!
Yeah it was a holiday so we have P day today so that’s fun but my armpit is doing a lot better now i had to stay in the entire week basically so that got old way fast haha also we had to go back and forth between Kingston the entire week for the doctor to redress it so ya.. that was fun i guess so long story short not much happened this week other than me going from extreme pain to it being better now so looks like the prayers worked but on the Brightside now when i go like swimming i can show people the scar i got from being stabbed in the armpit in Jamaica haha  Editor’s note: I said it looks like you’ve got a Lord of the Rings troll growing out of your armpit!

but no i will be back with Elder Knight so that is good to actually be doing missionary work again haha but ya i remember reading the story or Lot and being really creeped out haha it just goes to show what happens when you don’t do whats right the Old Testament is really cool when you find things that relate to what is important you just really have to look for it sometimes haha
So is the cabin going to be all done on the inside when i get back? i hit my 22 month mark on sunday so that was weird i also came to the realization that i am the oldest white missionary in the Jamaica Kingston Mission its really weird i don’t know how to feel about it…. but anywho this week should be good though i got a really big Charlie horse though yesterday night i was backing up one of the zone leaders and he wasn’t paying attention and he was about to hit a car and i was hitting the truck but he wasn’t stopping so out of nowhere my animal instinct or something kicked in i just put my leg in between our truck and the car and it gets pinned….. and in my head i am thinking “what the heck did i just do?” and i look up and other people saw it and they were also wondering what i just did then the driver notices and pulls forward…. and i go and get mad at him but luckily enough my leg (and angels) stopped both cars from getting dented… and now my leg is just sore…. so ya that’s another story from this week for ya haha once again don’t worry i am fine i just figure you are going to learn the story someday so i might as well just tell you now haha

Editor’s Note: Uhmmm….charlie horse?  You put your leg in between 2 vehicles to stop them from hitting each other and you’re calling that a charlie horse!  He always wanted to be a pirate…I just hope he doesn’t make that dream come true in Jamaica.

but it has been a while since i have heard that story it means a lot more to me now that i am older and understand the importance of it though it is always great when people follow the promptings of the spirit anywho i guess that’s all that really happened this week so ya but its good to hear that all is well back home! hope you have a great week!
Love Elder Koegler

 bowling from a few weeks ago.

happy Canadian Thanksgiving – I’m going to Wendy’s – oh and I have a bump that I need to see a doctor for

Hey!
So this week was good i guess just a quick question why do we celebrate thanksgiving in October? but sounds like a good thanksgiving we have to go into Kingston again this week but we have more time to email this time its for me cause i got this weird bump that hurts a lot so we are getting it checked out by the doctor i have had a few of these bumps before but this one is bigger and actually hurts haha it even made me lose sleep for 2 nights cause it hurt so bad but dont worry i should be fine i think haha

Editor’s Note: UHMMM…..a bump, a weird bump….don’t worry….losing sleep?  Like I’m not going to worry!!

but the reason for me telling you this is because then we will be going to like wendy’s or something so i will have a good thanksgiving meal haha once again i should be fine haha i think its like a big zit i think but anywho we went bowling on monday and i got souvenirs and it turns out i suck at getting souvenirs so dont get made at me when i get home and only have lame things for you guys haha but ya bowling was fun though its weird to think that i already have my homecoming talk topic and stuff we will see how this all goes down its been really weird reflecting on my mission cause now its at the point where i actually feel like i have been here for a long time its weird to think it will all come to an end im excited but nervous at the same time… but i know that you guys will be there to help me out also i was thinking about my future as well and i was wondering if you could look up stuff about becoming a pharmacist cause ya i dont know that would be cool if you could find some stuff out about that though its just a thought.
also i love the book of abraham it is just so awesome to think that our church knew about all this stuff like worlds without number and stuff like that since the 1830s when almost everyone thought it was just our galaxy but ya i wish i would have paid more attention for that part of seminary cause all that stuff just went right over my head haha.
but Elder Knight and i are getting along pretty well we are pretty different though but its all good our investigators are coming along not as fast as we would like though we had a lot of things fall through this week so that was kind of a bummer but we are teaching this one lady that we thought was a member but it turns out she isnt and her son is on a mission in the Dominican and she comes to church every week so we have been meeting with her and she is scheduled for baptism on the 25th so hopefully all will go well these coming weeks so ya my tide pod situation is good though i will have enough to last me but i was wondering if i could get a little bit more money though cause like i had to spend some of it to get the bike so ya but on the brightside i have been losing weight since i have been in spanish town so that is good i gained a little but in portmore and kingston but now it is going away so thats nice and i have actually started enjoying getting haircuts so i dont think you will have to worry about me getting really long hair when i get home just a mustache haha but ya anywho love ya so much i am thankful for all you guys and helping me when i was growing up to be where i am today and for all the support that you give me!!
Love Elder Koegler

Editor’s note: our conversation through the day

Me: Are you still there?

Michael: Well I am now

Me: you have to tell me all about the bump, where was it? what did the doctor say?

Michael:it was in my armpit and it was just like an ingrown hair that got really bad haha but she cut out the infection so ya i just have to go back a few times this week for her to re dress the wound and stuff she gave me medicine and stuff

Me:You and Devin (his Waterton friend, who is serving in Tahiti) are the same person….that is what he had too. NOT FUN! But I’m glad you got it taken care of. Who did it, was it the mission nurse? Or did you actually go to a doctor?

Michael:haha thats great but ya i went to the doctor so ya but on the brightside i get to be in a truck for the next few days and be a pretend zone leader

Me: because of you injury? Who’s driving this truck? are you still with Elder Knight, or are you switching out with someone?
That is the bright side…
So did it hurt? Did she freeze it? Do you have a fever?

Michael: we are just going to switch with the zone leaders so i will be with Elder Biddulph but ya it hurt she didnt do anything to numb it haha but i think i was starting to get a fever it was really bad

Me: You should keep an eye out for another fever. And if you get feverish you need to tell someone right away. did she actually cut it out, or use a syringe (needle).

Michael:she took a razor blade and just cut right across it

Me:Did she stitch it up? Or is it a gaping hole?

Michael: well it was a gapping hole then she stuffed a cloth with antibiotics in it…. it hurt haha

Me: I’m glad we got to talk to you today! We’ll keep you on the pray roll at the temple!! Oh and we have thanksgiving earlier because the harvest is done and the indians in Canada said we should.

Michael’s conference report

this is us waiting outside at the church for the power to come back on in between sessions

Hey!

well i am sorry but this week is going to be short cause i dont have much time we are going into kingston for Elder Knights doctor appointment so i only have a half hour today but ya confrence was great! i loved it all Elder Hales talk really stood out to me its weird when the talks on marriage and stuff actually apply to me now haha so ya that was weird haha but i also loved Elder Hollands talk on mothers! i love you soo much words cant explain it you are the best i dont know how you dealt with me as a teenager and stuff but you are the best! also i liked Elder Nelsons talk on women it just got me pumped to be married haha but ya those are the ones that stood out to me i got the general idea from conference i think it is that we are suppose to make the better choices in this word we live in it was awesome also sad that it was my last conference on my mission but we were able to watch most of it on saturday it was raining hard on and off for the entire day so the power would go out every once in a while but we got basically all of the talks so that was good but once again sorry that this one is really short but ya anywho love ya!
Elder Koegler
i will send more pictures next week

The things you take for granted growing up in the church

Spanish Town

Hey!

Well that sounds fun trips to Edmonton are always fun but its crazy to think about how much things have changed since i left haha but its good to hear that all is well it is also good to have an email from you that isnt all about the renovations for the cabin haha

but ya i have seen sister lynn like twice i think but we didnt really talk and i think a lot of jamaicans are scared of things that arent that scary but i guess no one really messes with us as compared to the jamaicans but spanish town isnt as bad as everyone makes it out to be or at least from what i have seen

our week was good it was a little bit of a roller coaster of emotions some times but i guess it was pretty good i guess first off b. that one old lady we were teaching was suppose to get baptized yesterday she even got interviewed and everything but then there was a plot twist nobody in her family liked the idea of her getting baptized again like her baby father that lives in kingston pushed her and got in a fight then the police came and put him in jail and then her daughter also got in a fight with her so ya that was sad she didnt get baptized… and then Elder Knight also got hit by a car yesterday night on our way home so ya it was kind of funny he didnt get hurt bad but it looked pretty intense (editor’s note:says the boy who was also hit by a car on his bike).

the guy i traded bikes for is coming along pretty well we taught him about the plan of salvation and he took it very well a lot of people think that the fall was a very bad thing but after we explained it he was perfectly fine with it so that was nice

this transfer ends the 3rd of novemeber so ya i only have like 2 transfers left… its crazy how fast last transfer went by like it actually only felt like 2 weeks i dont know how i feel about it haha but ya i guess i will live and ya jeff came home this week so you will have to tell him i say hi or you could tell him i say “wagwaan” and he will understand

i guess about you stuff with the Fall its funny how much i just kind of brushed it off before i never really thought of it being a big deal before i was endowed i just thought it was common knowledge that it was a good thing its funny how thats how i felt about everything when it came to the gospel i thought it was all just common knowledge but i was very wrong so its great letting people come to know about it but ya conference will be great i am also way excited to see who the new apostles will be its sad that this will be the last conference on my mission cause this is where i really got to enjoy conference and actually learn from it too anywho love ya!! and have a great week!

Love, Elder Koegler

here is the lion and nativity set I got now it resides on my desk, the joseph is black so it looks like I just got a carving of like Samuel l Jackson haha

Teaching the guy he traded a bike from

Hey!
So its been a pretty good week we had to go into Kingston on Tuesday so that was fun cause we got wendys and wendys is always good I also bought a patios new testament so that is fun as well then I also traded that one guy for his really nice bike along with some money so those are the worldy things that happened this week

on the missionary side of things it was a good week for the most part we had a lot of things fall through which was kind of a bummer but we were still able to meet a few new people that are pretty cool like this one older couple who actually have a son who is a member that lives in Utah so that’s pretty cool we also started teaching the guy that I bought the bike from and he is also pretty cool but in other news the transfer is coming to an end which is crazy this has been the fastest transfer of my mission so far its really scary haha but everyone in Spanish Town is going to be training new missionaries so that’s fun so in the house I am living in there is going to be me who has been out for 21 months then Elder Senior who has been out 3 months then Elder Knight who has been out for a month and a bit and then a new trainee so ya I will be living in a pretty young house haha it makes me feel really old so ya its weird but it sounds like fun teaching seminary again and I really wish that I would have focused more in seminary that would have helped me out a lot more here but such is life I guess haha but ya that’s basically my week though it was good anywho love ya and have a great week!!!
Love Elder Koegler
ps I would send more pictures but there isn’t much too take pictures of so ya… love ya!

Reality of coming home starting to sink in

Hey!
Yeah this month is flying by way too fast its scary once again it sounds like you are having fun fixing up the cabin but thats way funny about the story with dad and the deer there was a few times that deer would chase me and indy and it would be way scary haha so its a good thing that dad has good aim haha

i found a guy that carves stuff so i ordered a nativity set and a rasta lion and it costs 9000 Jamaican so there you go i got a nativity hopefully its good i wont see it for another week or so cause the guy is on the other side of the island but he does a lot of carvings for missionaries so it should be good and i also found a guy that wants my bike so i will trade him for my bike its a really nice racing bike like it would be good for even back home so hopefully all that works out as well

this week was good we had the most investigator lessons i have had in a long time so that was way awesome some of them are coming along sadly none came to church though the one lady that is suppose to get baptized on the 26th was stuck on the otherside of the island in a rain storm so she couldnt make it but we will see what happens this coming week we just have a lot of people that we recently found that are just in the beginning stages so there isnt too much to report on in other news we got interviewed by president Brown this week so that was fun it was weird cause i had to renew my temple recommend thats when you know i have been out a long time haha and he also told me that i should start my 5 year plan for when i get home so i need you to figure out somethings for me like stuff about school and start asking around for a job he also told me that i have to plan out a budget but the thing is i have no idea how to do that so ya…. i really need your help to figure out some numbers at least but ya it was a good interview he told me that i will most likely finish my mission here in spanish town i am alright with that spanish town is nice he also told me that i might even train again for a transfer after i finish training Elder Knight so that is also pretty interesting but we will see how this all works out its scary to think that i am one of the oldest missionaries left in the mission i dont feel like it at all also that is really weird that all those guys are now like moving on with their lives but ya it was a good week i love it here
Love Elder Koegler

Spanish Town is Magical

Hey!

Once again it sounds like you guys had a fun week fixing up the cabin haha so thats good it will be like a brand new cabin when i get back so that should be fun are we just going to have Christmas there or home? and ya you can take the deer head there cause i will probably just live there instead of the house you can just take all my stuff there haha just kidding but ya you can take the deer head there.

But this week was good i think this area has been one of my better ones so thats good Spanish Town is just a magical place everyone here is doing pretty well as far a missionary work so thats good we were able to meet a few new people this week and B. that one older lady came to church but she was like almost an hour early so that was good but i have been trying to find people that want to trade bikes with me but no one has offered yet so ya… but we also met this cool guy named Z who some other elders were teaching he is 18 but then we moved into the country to work at a farm for the summer but anywho one of his problems was that he smoked and he wanted to quit and he told us yesterday that he hasnt smoked in over 3 months so ya thats way sweet he is pretty cool i have also had a cold for almost the entire week with a runny nose and everything so i had to turn british and use my sweat rag as a hanky so ya i was blowing my nose into it all day… it was gross but effective haha i have been trying to use bush remedies to fix it but it hasnt worked yet i havent been using the right stuff i guess so i am still sick i would have never guessed that i would have gotten a cold in Jamaica but ya its possible i guess haha but ya it was a good week though Elder Knight is doing well, fast sunday was good no crazy people bore their testimonies so that was good and ya i dont really know what else to report on sorry this email is pretty lame anywho love ya!!
Elder Koegler

Baby kittens and speaking in tongues

Hey!
So that’s exciting with the cabin and stuff it sounds like that has been a fun little project so far but it looks good I think it sounds like I wont have to be helping with that when I get home haha

this week has been good not too much happened as far as I can remember so ya oh on the bright side I saw people “getting in the spirit” for the first time we were just riding home and when we ride home we have to ride through Spanish town but anyways in one front yard we say like 15 people all in like a circle singing and dancing and speaking in tounges so ya that was cool I wanted to go back and watch for a little bit but Elder Knight said no they were probably trying to cast out a demon or something

we also had a whole bunch of kittens on our porch today so that was a pleasant surprise haha and I guess we actually did missionary work so that was good as well we met some pretty cool people like this one guy named kirk and his baby momma latisha they are pretty cool we had a few lessons with them and they went well

also can you believe that it is the end of august? where has this summer gone? I still feel like its march its so crazy also that is crazy that brady is going to grade 12 its weird to think that when I left he was in grade 10 and couldn’t drive and all that stuff and now he is a big angel fluff haha but Spanish town has been nice nothing to crazy has happened yet so that’s good umm ya so that was my week I guess also do you know anything about school for me yet? anywho love ya have a great week!!
Elder Koegler

Last Zone conference for Michael

Hey!

Thats crazy that it snowed its still been just as hot as ever here haha also crazy that jordan lamb is married but and way good that parker got his call its weird that he is that old now haha but that will be good to have a permanent cabin how long will it take for all the renovations? hopefully all that will be done by the time i get home haha but if not its whatever i guess it will be good to have our own koegler family stories in waterton.

its been a good week i guess we kind of actually have people to teach now so that is good just people that we have met through our own efforts but its been good the bike ride to our area isnt as bad as it was before so thats good its weird cause now i am use to the heat so it isnt bad when i just stand there in the sun haha but we had zone conference this week so that was good Elder Martinez from the 70 came so that was cool he has been here 3 times before but it was good they talked a lot about studies prayer and planning so ya it was good but they have a little news letter for the mission and there is like a little spiritual thought from president brown then it says like upcoming events and the missionaries coming in and going home and guess what? i was on the list of missionaries going home…. so i guess that was my last zone conference so thats weird cause i still have a while left but ya so that was kind of sad but its also nice cause at church here there isnt crazy people like in kingston so we can actually get through a lesson in church haha so thats good but ya it was a good week though considering we still dont have too much of an idea of where people are so ya haha

its all good though but are you just going to always live in waterton now that the new cabin can actually be used in the winter? cause that would be cool but kind of sad for dad i guess haha how often have you been up there this summer? do the people in the fairmont ward even see you anymore?  anywho thats my week i guess love ya and have a great week!

Love Elder Koegler

Editor’s note:

I asked him if he’d like me to make a quilt using all his mission ties, like this…

His response was, “but I kinda like my mission ties”

I’ve been called to repentance!

It’s been hard to keep up with the blog (it shouldn’t because now I only have one email to add)…I know, but it has been.  The 2 sister missionaries at home are keeping me so busy…we’ll go with that excuse.

But Michael has been faithfully writing every week and here we go.  Blog Updated!!

Oh and Seminary started, and I’m doing a major renovation project….1-1/2 hours away…