TIME FLIES...

Dear Family,

This week feels like it just flew by! I can hardly remember what I did 10 minutes ago! Oh wait, I went to Target.. :) I felt like I needed to participate in Black Friday shopping on Monday, so I did :) It was fun. We had a pretty good Thanksgiving. It was at the Gabrish's home. They live in the middle of no where, and so we had a "country dinner" as they called it. They didn't have a stove, so most everything was dutch oven. It was pretty good! We had fun. Sister Gabrish was the one who text the picture of us to you. She sent one to my companion's mom as well. We stayed for a little bit to see your response. That was so awesome!!!! President gives us permission to be at member's homes longer than an hour on holidays. So we stayed for about 2. Something I thought was funny is that I have been told by tons of people that I have a cool accent! I guess us Idahoans have an accent that only the east coast can recognize.

We were very busy on Friday and Saturday! I love busy days! We really relied on the Lord to plan out our days the night before, and everything worked out! Nothing was dropped, or missed. We saw everyone we sought out to see, and more!  On Sunday we had 3 dinner appointments within 3 hours. I was so full!! I haven't felt hungry in days! Members feed us like mad! I feel so blessed though!

One of the members had a boy just come home from serving his mission. He was in Utah. We got to go to his home coming open house. He seemed so happy to be home! 2 years seems like such a long time!! But I can definitely say that it goes by a lot faster when you are the one serving! I am almost half way finished, and I feel like I just started still! But then again, I also feel like I have come such a long way, and have grown so much! I have learned things on my mission that I don't think I could have or would have ever learned on my own. I used to think I had to rely on the spirit. That I had to be obedient. And that I needed to be here. But now, I know that I NEED to rely on the spirit. I WANT to be obedient, and the LORD needs me here. That's because the church is true.

Love,

Sister Keller

Oh, I had the hardest time staying awake this morning during my personal study! I was about to say my prayer. Dear Heavenly Father... zzzzzzzzzz...... Then Sister Howard took a picture of me. I repented for falling asleep during a prayer :)

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Family, 

This week was a pretty awesome week. Especially from all of the spiritual experiences we've had! So we have started teaching the members the missionary lessons. We have noticed that they too can always use our visits as ways to strengthen their testimonies. At dinner appointments we have been doing a quick spiritual thought. Now, we go over to their homes not always with the intent to eat, but to have a real lesson. Sometimes we just show up like we would at a normal investigators house for 15 to 20 minutes. We have started teaching them the message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and a lesson on the Book of Mormon. Then committing them to give away a pass a long copy of the Book of Mormon that we bring for them. We invite them to write their testimony inside, think of their favorite story, and think about how important it is to them. That way they will know what to say to their friends when they feel impressed to give it. We have really strengthened our relationships with them because of this! It is great because they don't know us very well, and now we have their trust! 

Our teaching pool isn't very big right now, but we still have pretty solid investigators! I am so excited to keep seeing them and bring them closer to Christ! But because we don't have very many investigators we have been doing a lot of work with the less active members. This ward is huge, and could be even bigger if all of the members actually showed up once in a while. So we have been visiting with some very sweet ladies regularly, as well with stopping by some other families who haven't been visited in a while. 

This past Wednesday we got to hear from a general authority!!! His name was Elder Katcher and he is a member of the Seventy. He taught us how to work with ward leadership and how to use the Book of Mormon more powerfully in our teaching. I learned so much from him that day. I also learned how familiar I am with the Book of Mormon! You could ask me anything and I could relate it to a principle from a Book of Mormon story! This wasn't even the best part of the meeting... So there are 6 zones in my mission. Potsdam, Albany x2, Owego, Utica, and Syracuse. Elder Katcher visited each zone. He was inspired to choose 5 missionaries from each zone before he even got here to have a personal 1 on 1 interview with him. Guess who was one of those 5 he chose in the Owego Zone?!?!?! ME!!! It was so awesome!! He asked me a couple questions and then asked how he could help me in any way. I know that he received revelation from God to answer my questions, because he helped me in so many ways!!! I feel pretty awesome.

Sister Howard gets to go to return and report tomorrow! We leave tonight, and get to stay the night in the mission home again. I love training! I love going to return and report. I have been able to go 3 times now! I will be driving the zone leaders minivan to Utica, because I have to pick up 4 more sisters along the way. So excited!

Robinsons sent me another package! loved it! THANK YOU.

I hope you all have an awesome Thanksgiving!!! I will be celebrating at a members house! They seem awesome. They have a big family! Happy Turkey day! Dont forget to tell the Lord all of the things you are thankful for! Make sure you have plenty of time, because it should take a while!
Love you! The Church is True!

Love, 

Sister Keller

BASEBALLS

Hello dearest Family!

This will be kind of fast, because I don't have very much time. So, this past week Sister Howard and I were dropped by a couple investigators that we inherited from the previous missionaries. We never met them, but they told us they didn't want to meet anymore. So that was a little sad. But we still have solid investigators getting ready to be baptized soon! Their date will probably be the first week of December now though because they got sick and didn't come to church on Sunday. Pretty lame because we gave some awesome talks during Sacrament meeting! We were called late Friday night and they needed someone to talk on Sunday, so we were happy to fill in. We were told by so many people that we helped them feel the spirit.

On Tuesday, Sister Howard and I had a pretty scary day. We were out and about looking for a man that was taught a long time ago. His record said that he was dropped because he had a scary experience of seeing evil spirits and started drinking again, then lost contact. So we decided to go looking for him and try to rekindle the testimony that he once had. We found his house and this old man comes up to us with a broom in his hands. He was holding it in a way that looked like he was going to hit a baseball with it. (I think we were the baseballs). He asked us what we were doing there and we introduced ourselves. He asked us if the man we were looking for owed us any money and we said no. Then he told us to "get in our car and hit the road". I hope he was just having a bad day, because he was a bit on the "cranky old man" side. President Wirthlin always tells us that if we wake up and are having a bad day, to get back in bed and get out on the other side and say that it is going to be a great day! It works :)

We got to attend a baptism on Saturday for a young woman that the Elders had taught. That was super awesome! I love their face as they come up out of the water. You see them take their first breath as a whole new person! A follower of Jesus Christ! She seemed so happy.

I saw you all had a little bit of snow! I giggled a little bit because it was about 50 here on that day :) It snowed here this morning and it was really pretty! VERY cold though. Humidity chills you right to the bone! It hurts! But I am very excited for Christmas time. Every one says that it is the best time of their missions because there is so much we can do for others. It is a great time to talk about Jesus Christ too. I am looking forward to having a snow shovel ready in our trunk so that we can stop and help people through out the day!

Mom, I really don't have anything bad to say about this area. I am having such an awesome time every single day! I also got all of the packages you mentioned. Yours was so fun, and your friends was yummy!

"My own testimony grew as I learned about Heavenly Father and the Savior from the teachings and testimony of my parents, teachers, the scriptures—which I read diligently—and especially the Holy Ghost. As I exercised faith and obeyed the commandments, the Holy Ghost testified that what I was learning was true. This is how I came to know for myself." 
-Robert D. Hales 

This is so true for me as well! I have especially gained my testimony from the influences of you, Mom and Dad. Every time I am asked to remember the moment I knew the church was true I always think back to a moment when I was with the both of you. You have both really set such a huge example for me, and I am very grateful for all that you taught me!!

I love you all!

 Love, Sister Keller
The Church Is True

SPECTACULAR WEEK

Heeeyyyy Family! 

I had another spectacular week! We are having so much fun here! The work is so incredible. We haven't missed a day of contacting people everywhere we go. I love going up and down streets and finding people to teach. I have really begun to understand how to teach when you find, and find when you teach. People are so friendly here as well. I feel like I am really helping my companion know what it is like to be out on the streets all day every day. We have quite a few people getting ready to be baptized. Two of them are related. A daughter and father named Melissa and John. They are preparing to get baptized on November 29th. We are so excited for them! Our youngest investigator is doing this all on her own. She of course has permission from her family, but she is only 13 and has been coming to church with a friend. Our first Sunday here, she and a young woman came up to us saying she wanted to start taking the lessons AND get baptized! We had our first lesson with her yesterday and she already has a date for November 29th as well. She is so sweet! We really have to start from scratch with her. She isn't quite sure who Jesus Christ is, or what his purpose was. But she does believe there is a God, because she has prayed to Him before, and received an answer! She has incredible faith! Members can do amazing things to help with missionary work. They helped her feel ready like this, along with the Lord softening her heart. 

My companion is awesome! We have lots of fun together. We also work hard! We have fun working hard! I am grateful the Lord sent me to the companions that I've had. I have loved each of them in a different way, and learn something from them. I can really see how it is preparing me for an eternal companion. I am just glad that I get to have a say in who that companion will be :) 

Sister Howard had her first door slammed in her face the other day. I was pretty bummed out because the road we were tracting was called Keller St. Luckily it was a nice slam. The man politely said no thanks before we could say anything and then he slammed the door. I chuckled a little bit at how awkward we felt. 
I'm serving with a lot of Elders in my area. We all go to the Elmira ward. They are Elders Bybee, Sedgwick, Kunzler, and Oloapu. My town is called Horse Heads.  

We have a really fun district. Sister Yancey was in my last area and so we are in the same district again which is fun. Then there is Sister Hunting who began in Lake Placid just like I did, and we have so much to talk about! She loves hearing about how so many people are doing. 

I Love you all! Mom, I miss your guts too! I hope you all know that I am doing fine. I am having a super duper time on my mission. I love every phase of the work! 

“I have often said one of the greatest
secrets of missionary work is work! 
If a missionary works, he will get the 
Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will 
teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches 
by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts 
of the people and he will be happy. 
There will be no homesickness, no 
worrying about families, for all time 
and talents and interests are 
centered on the work of the ministry. 
Work, work, work—there is no 
satisfactory substitute, especially in 
missionary work.” 
– PRESIDENT EZRA TAFT BENSON 

The Church is True! 
Love Sister Keller 

LOST AND FOUND!

Dear Family, 

WOW! I am so excited to tell you everything that happened this past week! It has been a very very long week. SO, Saying goodbye to everyone on Monday and Tuesday was extremely hard. It was sad to leave that awesome area, but I know they will be taken care of. Bright and early, Wednesday morning, Sister Dahl and I took our 3 hour long drive to Utica. We get there and  I met my new companion, Sister Howard. She is 19, from Brigham City, Utah, and is super awesome! Then, we take 30 mins JUST to find our car, and pack all of our bags. It was squishy but we crammed it all in. Then we find 2 of the elders who serve here in Elmira and they give us an address to put in to my GPS. We then take another 3 hour drive to Elmira. We got there pretty late. We got lost, found the apartment complex and couldn't find the right door. So we were awkwardly driving all over the place to find the door. We finally found it, and I see that I drove over a huge land of grass to get there... oops :) It was easier to find in the day time... We walk inside, hungry and tired and come to find a bottle of ranch in the fridge and an open can of diet coke. Scrumptious!! Luckily the 4 elders who serve here with us called and said they have pizza waiting for us at the church. We got to take all of the food home so we had something to eat the next day. We had a small preparation day on Thursday so that we could buy some food, and what ever else we needed to last us till today. 

To start the work off, we had no area book for the first day and a half, and we were receiving texts left and right for appointments needing to be scheduled! The elders had all of our things because they were seeing the sisters investigators when they left. So when we arrived, they still needed to give it back. We had no idea who these people were or where they were in their progress, so we prayed and decided to have a scripture study with everyone. All of our lessons were very spirit led. It was awesome! I gotta say.. I have never felt the spirit so strongly in my entire life. We are both so new to the area, my companion has no idea what she is doing in the first place and is looking up to me to have a full day planned. We have needed the Lords help. We have been walking blind but guided by faith. The Lords' light shines brighter than noon day sun! 

We finally got our area book back and have an easier time planning. We have 3 investigators with a baptismal date! They are pretty sweet. I love seeing them. We also meet with a lot of less active members and strengthen their testimonies. Sister Howard and I had an amazing experience the other day. We were out knocking on doors and met some pretty awesome potential investigators. We are excited to go back and try them again. Along the same block, we walked past a house that had their car door open outside. We figured they might have forgotten about it, and that would be a great excuse to go talk to them! So we did. We knock on the door and a woman comes out wondering what's up with two random girls in the rain and cold knocking on her door. We first tell her that the door is open and she was very grateful we told her. We stood there for a few moments quiet as she was cleaning the seat of her car and I finally said that we were also here to share a very glad message about the Gospel of Jesus Christ being restored to the earth through a modern day prophet. That sparked her interest and she began asking a TON of questions. We had a great conversation outside in the rain, and she invited us in to have a real lesson. We taught her the restoration, and invited her to be baptized. She said she definitely wants to be baptized again and this time by someone who knows what they're doing! I am so excited for this area! There is so much potential!! 

I LOVED church on Sunday! The members are so awesome!!! They love the missionaries, and feed them every night! They are very cool. I love going to their house and just feeling right at home. It is  very nice to feel safe and taken care of by these people. They are all very understanding of us little lost sisters :) We also had some young women come up to us right after church and had a friend with them. They said that she would like to start taking the lessons and get baptized!!! We were like, OK! sweet!!! We are so excited for her!!! 
So, I love this area. My companion is so sweet, and we laugh a lot! Things have been going great!!! Must be because the church is true or something. 

Love, 
Sister Keller

FAREWELL LAKE PLACID!!

Dear Family and Friends! 

My heart is leaping with joy and breaking all at the same time! I have absolutely LOVED serving in Lake Placid, and getting to know all of these wonderful people. I will truly miss their sweet spirit, and fun personalities. I accomplished so much in this area, and grew to know how much God loves all of His children. Each person here touched me in some way, and I will always remember them! I know that my next journey will be just as rewarding as this one was! 

I suppose you want to know where I am going! We got our transfer calls on Saturday. So there I was, minding my own business, eating some cereal at 8 in the morning. When all of the sudden, our phone rings. Huh? That's a bit early... The Zone Leaders don't usually call until later in the afternoon.. Then my companion notices the caller ID "Mission Home: President Wirthlin" OH BOY!!!!! Every missionary knows that if President is calling the day of transfers, something big is going to be happening!! (Well, everyone except my companion knows this) 

So I'm freaking out, while she answers the phone looking at me in a weird way, and President Wirthlin says "Sisters, I'm about to change your lives!" So then we both start freaking out. President says "Sister Keller, you first. You will be OPENING ELMIRA, NY! Not only THAT, you are going to be training AGAIN! Sister Dahl, you will be transferred to Liverpool!" So Lake Placid is getting two different sisters! 

A fresh start!! I am so excited!!!!!!! I am white washing/opening a new area, and training a new missionary!!!! This will be awesome learning a new area at the same time as my trainee. We will both learn the area together. Yes, I'm a bit scared, but as my companion keeps telling me "Faith over Fear, Sister!" I know that the Lord will be with me. I am very grateful for another opportunity to train. It is such an important, and sacred leadership responsibility because we are training missionaries who will be serving and taking over the mission after we are gone. The Lord must have liked the way I did it the first time, and trusts me to do it again. 

So we have been deep cleaning our apartment like crazy, trying to pack all of the stuff we have and cleaning some more all in such a little amount of time! 

I have to get going, because I still have so much yet to do! 

I love you all! The church is true! 
Love, Sister Keller

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

Dear Family, 

Guess what! It snowed yesterday!!!!!! I just about cried... not really, but I was not ready for it! I don't like the cold. I can't ride my bike any more now! I have been told by just about everyone to stay off the roads for the first few snow days because everyone forgets how to drive on snow and ice. I guess it gets pretty dangerous. I'll be careful! 

So on Tuesday we had our Branch Family Home Evening, which was so fun!! We ended up doing a great job with the skits! I tried to post them on Facebook, but they are too big... well one of them is. The other one takes too long to load and I haven't had the time to load it. So I will send home the SD card so that you can watch the videos sometime. You will get to see me and hear me :) I will want the SD card back so that I can show investigators. Acting out Book of Mormon stories is a great way to help people understand the story easier before and after they read them. 

Our 3 day exchange went a lot better than I thought it would! I had a poor attitude about it a couple days before it began, thinking it was just going to be another opportunity for someone to point out all of my flaws in the everyday work.  As it turns out, that was Satan making me feel that way, and I do a lot better than I think I do, or give myself credit for. I have been working on patience these past 12 weeks as my Christ-like attribute.  I know that I really struggled with patience at home as well. So I knew that if I could learn how to be patient while on my mission, it would be such a blessing for me in the long run. Sister Glenn, one of my sister training leaders, pointed out to me that I have so much patience, and that SHE learned a lot from ME from the exchange! I know that the Lord places us into companionships not to help us make life-long friends, but to help us grow and learn how to make ourselves the person we want to become. Becoming friends is just a bonus if you have a good companionship.

I have been sick these past couple days. We didn't do very much on Saturday and Sunday and we almost had to cancel appointments. But our Branch President told us to do splits with some sisters in the branch. So Sister Pascarelli (branch missionary) stayed at the apartment with me while I rested, and Sister Mitchell (member) took my comp. to all of our appointments and more! It was awesome. I'm slowly starting to feel better now. Just a really annoying cough and stuffy nose. My comp says I snore :) 

Today we have a district activity and we are going to be carving pumpkins! I went out and bought one today and I am pretty excited! I don't know what face to make, but hopefully it will look good. Tomorrow we will be having a district lunch just before our meeting in Plattsburgh. I love those! I am pretty excited for Halloween. We don't get to be out late though, and I don't think we can hand out candy. The Robinson's sent me a package that had chocolate mummies inside. We loved them! Thanks! 

"Devoted disciples of Jesus Christ always have been and always will be valiant missionaries. A missionary is a follower of Christ who testifies of Him as the Redeemer and proclaims the truths of His gospel." -David A. Bednar 

I love you all! The church is true! 
Love, Sister Keller