IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?

Dear Family,

Is this really happening? Am I finally here? This is so crazy! 18 months worth of serving and doing the Lord's work now finished and I am getting ready to finally board the plane to Boise! I gotta say... It has been the hardest, craziest, scariest, awkwardest, most stressful, physically and mentally draining, exhausting, trying, challenging work I have EVER done in my ENTIRE life. BUT, it has also been the most rewarding, spiritual, heart felt, loving, motivating, amazing, life changing, happiest, blessed, work that I have LOVED doing more than anything I have EVER done. 

In 1 Nephi 3:7 we read that often quoted scripture: “I will go and do.....”.  We are so familiar with this. I like to turn back the page and look at 1 Nephi 3:5. In this verse father Lehi is asking Nephi to go do this assignment of retrieving the plates but he then tells him that his brothers have murmured when asked to do it. “Behold thy brothers murmur, saying it as a Hard Thing which I have required of them.” As you know, Nephi steps up and accomplishes the task. There are many hard things we are asked to do in life. We call this the Doctrine of Doing Hard Things. Yet here is the grand secret of it all. When we do hard things the blessings flow, lives are changed, people are blessed, and the Lord accomplishes His work through us. "Missionary work, particularly a full time mission, is hard. Yet in the doing, comes the Spirit......and the blessings" -President Rogers. 

Never in my entire life could I picture myself doing the things that I did out here. I am thankful that I was so clueless as to what was actually going to happen to me because I probably would have chickened out. But I came out here blind, and uncertain about the future but with a testimony of the things I've learned growing up. That was truly all I needed. The Lord opened my eyes and gave me the certainty of the message that I was sharing was true. He was the artist that molded me into the missionary and person that I needed to be to reach my full potential. He knew the whole time what I was capable of doing, and knew my limits. He never put me in a situation that I couldn't handle. Even when I thought I was hopeless. I have been cut at the knees a few times, but that only made me stronger and I bore testimony of those moments that God hears and answers our prayers. He knows our struggles and wants us to turn to Him in those moments. 

I realized yesterday as I was sharing my testimony in Sacrament Meeting that my very first Sunday as a missionary was a fast and testimony meeting. I stood up and bore my testimony that day pretty green about life and a bit scared. My testimony has grown so much since that day. Before coming on my mission I knew that the church was true. I knew that Jesus Christ was the Son of God and that He lives. I knew that we had a living prophet to lead and guide His church. Today, I know more than I know that I am sitting at this computer typing this email that Jesus Christ is my Savior! I know, that Heavenly Father loves me and has a perfect plan for His children to come unto Him in His kingdom once again. For all eternity. I know that families are forever sealed together in sacred temple ordinances done by the holy priesthood authority of God.  I know that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ, in the sacred grove where they called him to be the prophet of the restoration of the one true church in these latter-days. I do not know all things, but I would fear for my eternal salvation if I denied the things of which I do know. I know that the church is true with all of my heart, mind, and soul. 

Farewell NYUM! God be with you till we meet again! The church is true!

Love, Sister Keller

P.S. See you at home!

  

LAST FULL WEEK!

Dear Family,

Well guys! this is my last full week! CRAZY!!! I am only going a little bit nuts. I have like 4 almost 5 packages that need to be sent home, so I am working on those today and getting them shipped home next week. 

My week was spectacular!!!!!!! I went on my last exchange with Sister Hansen. I gotta tell ya... the spirit is so strong when it comes to knowing who needs to stay and who needs to go for exchanges! We don't just decide and pick who goes. We make it a matter of prayer and have to really ponder on what would be best. Each time, both me and my companion come up with the same answer so we know that it was by the spirit! When I prayed about this exchange, I felt like I heard the voice of the spirit tell me what needed to happen. Like one man speaketh to another. It was not something I wanted to do, but in the end it turned out being exactly what needed to happen.  I took over Manchester again and Sister Hansen and I did an amazing job. She is going home next transfer and has been really struggling with that. She really really doesn't want to go home. She has gotten so lost in the work and is truly an extremely dedicated missionary who has just worked her tail off the entire time. So every time she thought about going home, it made her sick to her stomach. That also made her feel bad because she loves her family. So she just didn't know how to be at peace with it. I am so thankful that she came with me. My attitude toward going home is great! I don't feel sad about it, and I don't feel like I am leaving something unfinished. In my opinion, my 18 months here has been exactly what the Lord needed me here for. No more, no less. I feel very humble about it all and I am so grateful for the wonderful service that I have done for the Lord. She told me that my example was something she really needed to see. She needed to see that it is possible to be okay with finishing a mission.

We did a lot of service this week. I have to get back on the roof of someone's house and finish painting the siding on Tuesday. Hahaha we told President that we were on a roof and he's like... "Oh sisters.. don't tell me that!" There is no way we could get hurt though. It is flat, and I could get down with out a ladder if I needed to. We also volunteer at a food cupboard and the library.

One time this week, were out knocking on doors and found a woman who had moved out of her town and was actually a member! She's like the 2nd lost member we've found this month! We think that she is less active though because she wasn't really trying to find the church. But still! She is someone that missionaries couldn't find in their areas because she didn't tell anyone she was leaving. God knows where all of His children are and will lead His servants to them every time :)

So, yep! it has been another busy busy week! I have a lot of stuff I need to get done. It is so weird to know that I only have a matter of days to get everything done. When people ask me when I go home I say NEXT WEEK!!!  So I better get going! I am doing great by the way. The church is true! 

LOvE yOu!!!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Keller

MOST AMAZING WEEK!

Dear Family,

Yep!! I had another baptism! Only this one happened in Binghamton. But I still get to count her because I taught her all of the discussions and she just so happened to get baptized after I left. But her name was Danielle. Me and sister Bladh were her first sister missionaries to teach her, and the day before I left for Bennington, we committed her to baptism for September 5th. She made it to the date and is now a member of the church!!! I am so happy for her! It was a long road for her, but she finally did it! 

This week was by far, hands down, the most amazing week of my entire mission!!! I had the most amazing exchange with Sister Tui in Palmyra, NY! The temple trip was so great!!!! I felt so beautiful in my white temple clothing and the spirit was so strong. We got to meet the temple president there and go through an endowment session. I loved sitting in the Celestial room. Do you remember the Miskins from Lake Placid? They got to go to the temple too because their mission is coming to an end as well. It was so great to see them there!! 

I hope you all got to see some of my pictures on Facebook. There were only a few, but I took some of all of the places we went to. My favorite was the temple of course because of how much I've missed it. But then my next favorite would be the Sacred Grove. Walking along the path to get there and seeing it in the distance brought chills to me. Stepping in to the grove made the spirit so overwhelmingly strong!!! I absolutely know with out a doubt that Joseph Smith saw our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ there. I literally got to walk through the restoration of the gospel. I saw the place where the Book of Mormon was buried and kept safe for thousands of years. And then I got to go to the store where it was first published! I really really really wanted to buy a replica of the first edition Book of Mormon, but it was very expensive. So I will just buy one online sometime when I get home hopefully. 

We got home late Wednesday night, and then I got sick all day Thursday, so we stayed home and I slept all day. My companion went nuts, but that's okay :) Friday, we thought was going to be one of the hardest days yet.... We looked at it and we had nothing scheduled. It was going to be a long day of finding... But we tried to get creative with it. Late Thursday planning for it, we decided we should try service tracting. We would put on some jeans and ask if any one needed help around their house our yards. We did a lot of praying to know what streets to go to and then went to bed. So Friday morning, we woke up and got ready to head out to the first street. We were a little anxious because we weren't sure how it was going to work out. But it turned out to be amazing! We came across a house that was in the back woods. A woman answered the door and was oddly happy to see us. She shook our hands and said who she was and that she had just moved there from Logan UT. She was almost crying too because she told us that she had no clue how to find the church and really wanted to go on Sunday. It was an answer to her prayer that we came to her house that day. 

The next street we tried also brought a miracle! A less active member had lived in Bennington for a long time, and when the sisters tried to go visit her one day she never answered. They tried calling her and her phone was shut off. She became a missing member. We tried another house in the back woods and found her living with her parents! That was pretty cool. She was so glad we came and she really wants us to come back and visit her again. The next street, we finally found someone who actually let us in to provide service for her. She thought she was dreaming because no body ever just walks up and wants to help clean for free. So we did some yard work and helped clean up the remains of a fallen tree. I loved Friday so much.

We also picked up 4 new investigators this week, and gave away 2 more copies of the Book of Mormon. We try to give some away every week that we've been together in this companionship. So starting from 0 investigators and then 3 weeks later we now have 10 investigators, all while being Sister Training Leaders, and traveling in and out of our area each week. I don't think I have ever worked so hard!!! I am so grateful!!!! I love going to bed exhausted from doing the Lord's work. His church is true!

Love, Sister Keller   

LIVING THE SCRIPTURES

Dear Family,

My companion and I realized some pretty cool things this week. Our area hasn't had missionaries serve up here in over 15 years. Then before that, only for about 10 years.  There used to be a branch, but that didn't last long.  So before all of that, there was nothing. Nothing, until you go further back in time when Joseph Smith was the prophet. My companion and I are talking to the posterity of the people that Joseph Smith testified to back in the 1800's. These people have no idea about the church! They haven't been taught or even seen missionaries walk around their towns until now! We thought that was pretty cool. 

We also are literally living the scriptures right now as well.  There is a story about Ammon in the Book of Mormon.  He travels into the land where the Lamanites live. He simply walks up to their king and desires to serve him.  In return, the king offers him a responsibility to watch his flock of sheep. At the same time, he is able to show the Lamanites the power and authority of God which he holds and protects them. Then he ends up teaching and baptizing their king. Okay, back to the land of Manchester. We have learned from the scriptures, that the best way to earn one's trust and respect is to serve them. So we have been walking around and try to offer service to those we meet. The part that is really cool is how we walked up to the home of the town's local church priest and offered to give service for him and also to know how to help the community around us. It was awesome how we were able to become his friend and show that we weren't there to bash anything he taught, or shove our beliefs on him, but to desire to serve. Just as Christ did.

I had my first exchange this week with Sister Maxwell. I was totally nervous about it because I don't know the area hardly at all. Quote of the day.. Me: "I don't know Jack about this area" Sister Yancey: "It's okay. Good thing I'm Jill"... Get it? Her first name is Jill... I just about died laughing. Any who... I was lost for most of the day and couldn't figure out the GPS for a while and couldn't remember the address of some people. But we ended up having a really spiritual experience. The Lord directed us where we needed to go, and we ended up finding 2 new investigators. 

When we exchanged back, Sister Yancey and I drove down to Utica with our Zone Leaders for Mission Leadership Council. Once every month, all of the Sister Training Leaders and all of the Zone Leaders travel down there and we discuss the needs of the mission. It was super fun and I was so glad that I got to participate in that. My first and only MLC... Good thing it was great! I get to travel down to Utica AGAIN tonight because I get to go to the temple TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wahoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited :D I will get to walk through the Sacred Grove, see the old houses that the early saints lived in and see the printing press where the Book of Mormon was first published. Other things too, but I can't remember all of them. I can't believe it is finally time for this awesome trip! Yay!!

I hope you all know that the church is true! I do!!! 

Love you all! Love, Sister Keller

2 STEPS FORWARD....

Dear Family,

You would not believe how hard the work has been here this week. If you saw the things my companion and I have had to go through, you would be amazed to see how we can keep going. It's not quite 1 step forward, 2 steps back, but rather 2 steps forward and being shoved back. It seems like every day we have had something cool happen and our spirits are lifted and then something happens and we feel like we were punched in the stomach. Not having investigators for the first week was very hard. We were walking and walking and talking with everyone we could find! There are a few less active members we tried to see as well. One of them has a sister who lives next door to them and isn't a member. We didn't know that at the time, but we felt the urge to knock on her door. She told us that she has been praying and looking for the one true church, and has been having the hardest time trying to find it. We picked her and her daughter up as 2 new investigators!! It was a great blessing to finally find someone nice, willing to listen, and open to trying it out. We still walk and walk everywhere we go because there are so many more people that need to be found. They have waited 15 years to have missionaries come and find them. They don't know that yet, but the Lord has been preparing them for us. We have met a lot of cool people just walking up and down the streets of Manchester Center where all of the outlet stores are. Some nice and religious, some atheist, and some just plain crazy. One guy we saw sitting on a bench late at night caught our attention. We walked past him and said we would find him on our way back down the street. It would have been too awkward to approach him the way we were at the time. So we found him again later and talked with him for a little bit. He said that as a kid, one of the members we know used to live next door to him and take him to church every Sunday! He doesn't remember much about it, but still has a copy of the Book of Mormon. We got his number and hopefully we can get the members to contact him again. We most likely won't alone because he was in his mid 40's and told us that we were "wicked hot" and asked us if we wanted to go out to eat with him sometime. I thought it was funny because he still said it even after he knew we were only 20. 

We also went tracting and found an extremely anti woman. Her door was left open and so we knocked on it and a very polite voice said to come in. Then when she saw us the voice went to a deep grown, “who are you and what do you want?” The only words my companion could utter were "we are missionaries". Then before we knew it, we were being yelled at. “Out! Out! Out! Get out of my house!!” We ran out and felt like dogs. She told us that we belong to "the bad church" and called us fundamentalists. My companion hasn't ever been told that before, but I have. Just shake the dust off and move on. It is a little intimidating to come back from that, but we have to remember that not everyone is mean like that. Somehow we get the courage to walk up to another door. Pretend like nothing has happened to us. All of our attention must now be on the next person and show them that we love them even though we haven't met before. But God knows them. They are His children too and we are there to tell them that. 

I got to help paint someone's kitchen this week. That was fun. Then we went and sang to some old people who can't come to church anymore. I love visiting the nursing homes and talking with some of the random people that live there. They have such funny stories to tell. I'm sure they don't get very many visitors, so talking to a new face must be exciting for them. 

I have my first exchange this week with one set of sisters. I will be staying in Manchester and my companion will be going to Saratoga Springs. It will just be 24 hours. No more 3 day exchanges. I am a little nervous to take over because I still don't know where I am half the time. But it should be great! 

That's about all I have for you this week! I hope your week goes well :) I love you!

The church is true!

Love, Sister Keller

SUPER BUSY

Dear Family,

The Lord must have really wanted to do everything in His power to make sure that I am super busy these last 6 weeks, and not give me any chance to think about going home. When I got to my new area, I was completely unaware of the circumstances we were going to be in. My new area is actually a brand new area that we opened up! Sister Yancey and I would have been the only missionaries serving in the Bennington, Vermont branch, but the area has now been split in half. The elders took over the bottom half of the branch starting in Bennington. Then we cover the top half starting with Manchester. We have a whole house all to ourselves. We have all new furniture, and have had to rearrange everything to a way that we like it best. Missionaries have never lived here before. In fact, missionaries haven't served in Manchester as an area in over 15 years. So we have basically started completely from scratch. There are no investigators in this area, and only a few former investigators from back in 2003. So even though we don't have any investigators to teach right now, we have still been pretty busy visiting the less active members that live up here. This branch has really struggled over the years. There used to be a branch for Manchester itself, but so many people moved or went inactive that it went down to just the one branch in Bennington. They've had branch presidents that have had their records removed. That's how bad it's gotten... But, things have been turning around! They have a fantastic branch president right now, and the missionaries have been working super hard at getting the members excited to come back to church. I know that I have definitely been sent to this area for a reason. There is so much work that needs to be done! 

So I had a STL training meeting on Saturday over skype with the AP's, President Rogers, and all of the other STL's in the mission. It was pretty cool. We basically talked about how important our calling is, and the influence we will have on our fellow sisters. Something that stuck out to me most was how it will be my responsibility as a sister training leader to be a model of excellence. Part of my calling is to uplift, inspire, and bless the sisters we are here for. As a sister training leader, we help these sisters in any way that we can. If they need to call someone to vent about a hard day that they've had, we are someone that they can call. If they are struggling in their companionships, we help them out. We also schedule exchanges with them. So there are 3 sets of sisters in my zone. There are the Saratoga Springs sisters, Sisters Maxwell and Seadar. The Hudson Falls sisters, Sisters Hansen, and Hamilton, and the Plattsburgh sisters, Sisters McCormmies and Tui. Sister Yancey and I have already prayed about when we will be doing exchanges with them for this transfer, but not yet who will be leaving and who will be staying. We will be doing 24 hour exchanges with them. So either I will go with one of them to their area and my comp will stay here with the other sister, vise versa. And only once per transfer with each set will we do an exchange. Planning for the Plattsburgh sisters exchange was a struggle. They live so far away, and we would have a problem with our miles. Sister Tui is actually a temple square sister and will be going home with me by the end of the transfer!! So for the exchange with them, we decided that since we are going to the temple together, that will be our exchange. Then sister Yancey and Sister McCormmies will just stay back in our area and work. It all worked out perfectly!  Sister Tui and I have to try to hand out copies of the Book of Mormon while we are out since it won't be a "normal" exchange. I am so excited though to have a sister going home with me! I thought I was going to be all alone. But nope! 

My area is totally cute! There are little shops that are very popular and people walk the streets a ton, which means lots of people for us to talk to :) We'll have new investigators before we know it! I hope so at least. We've been trying really hard to talk to lots of people. I gave out a Book of Mormon to a lady on a park bench yesterday. She was smoking and had a dog with her. I love to walk up to people and talk with them and cause them to forget that they have a cigarette in their hands. Then it smokes out and they have nothing left to use. It worked on her! It looked like she barely lit it, and by the time we were done talking to her, she had nothing left to smoke. More room in her hands to hold a little blue book now :)

I love you all so much!!!!!! The church is true!

Love, Sister Keller

  

WEEK OF GOODNESS!

Dear Family,

This feels like it has been the most eventful week yet! It was so good! I will have to go day by day of everything that happened, so that I don't leave any goodness out.

Monday: P-day. Always a pleasure to have. But we had a great dinner appointment with our Ward Mission Leader's family. At the end of a dinner appointment we usually ask them if they know anyone that would like to learn about the gospel. This time, we asked them if any of their neighbors would be interested in meeting us. They told us 5 different families to try, and then walked around with us to meet them at that moment! It was great! We met 3 out of the 5 families, and they all seem so kind! One family we tried to visit opened the door and was glad to see the member, but when they saw Sister Hess and I they backed off a little bit. I had an impression to ask them if they liked to do family history work. As it turns out, that was one of their biggest hobbies! So they invited us in and we talked about lot's of different things regarding Heavenly Father blessing us with families, and doing the family history work for them. We even shared a brief message of the restoration with them. They had so many questions and by the end of our meeting they were commenting at how bright the glow was around my companion and I. It was such a cool experience. 

Tuesday: We attended a baby shower and had a sweet lesson with Johnson about the Word of Wisdom. We also finally got in contact with some visiting teachies that we are supposed to see every month which was cool!

Wednesday: Busy day of typical proselyting. We had a good lesson with another investigator and helped her feel the love of God for her. She also barely moved in to a new house, so we helped her unpack a little bit. Then a member took us out to eat to a Hibachi restaurant where they cook in front of you. She was scared the whole time because she thought they would catch her hair on fire a few times haha. It wasn't possible, but it was funny to see her reaction. 

Thursday: We felt like it was a never ending day! A good day though! We had an appointment set up for every hour block of the day. Only one fell through, but we were able to get in contact with her later. We had our Coordination meeting with the ward mission leader to discuss the work in the ward, and the people we have been meeting with. Afterwards we went to play basket ball with a couple of investigators, and Birdy. He is pretty good at defense! 

Friday: I have been looking forward to Friday all week, for multiple reasons. One was our district meeting. Our district leader had asked Sister Hess and I to give the entire training (which is very unusual). We had our discussion on Faith, and did a faith walk. We tied string around tons of trees and blind folded the other elders and sisters and talked about Lehi's vision of the tree of life and the iron rod. It was really fun! We also ran over to the hospital to visit a member. I love surprising people at hospitals because they always feel so happy to see missionaries come and bless them with company. 

Saturday: Not too much to report on, but we had fun at another baby shower, and met with several less active members from the ward.

Sunday: This was a happy and stressful day. I love going to church and feeling the spirit there. We had investigators finally come after several weeks of not showing up, and got to meet with Johnson again. He is so cool! It is like a breath of fresh air when we teach him, because he is a beautiful shade of gold! He is always willing to keep commitments, reads the scriptures, and prays about the things we tell him. 

Okay! I will tell you about TRANSFERS!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So this whole transfer, I have been praying, and working super hard to do the best I can at overcoming my weaknesses, and building new strengths. Because if I am going to be a Sister Training Leader, then I have to be able to LEAD by example! I kept the phone by my side all day long on Friday because I know that president calls missionaries to leadership positions the day before the actual transfer calls from our Zone Leaders. He called me at 8:00pm Friday night and said that he is aware that this is my final transfer in the mission, and that he would like to call me to a special assignment to be a Sister Training Leader. YAY!!!! The one thing I have always wanted to do in the mission field, and I finally get to for my very last transfer!!! That's not all though. My new companion will be Sister Yancey! I love that sister to pieces, and have served with her already once before, so I know that we are friends. AND, I will be moving out of state!!!! My new area will be Manchester, Vermont! There is one little area outside of New York that is part of our mission boundaries and that is where I'll be for the next 6 weeks! Sister Hess is taking over Vestal. She's a little bit scared, but I have seen her in action. She'll do so great!

The church is true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you all!

Love, Sister Keller