BAPTISM #3

Dear Family,

John was baptized on Saturday! Yippy!! It was so great! There were a ton of investigators there to watch because they are all planning on getting baptized in January. The elders are planning on having about 8 people getting baptized next month! So exciting! We brought another soul unto Christ! He can now work on getting sealed to his wife next year! He was just glowing on Saturday and Sunday. We had to go see him today as well and he was still grinning from ear to ear. I just love it!

Christmas was a lot of fun. We went over to the Gabrish family's house (same family that we saw on thanksgiving) and had Christmas dinner over there. We all played basketball in their in door gym and had lots of fun. Sister Howard and I were pretty awesome! We hardly ever missed a basket! on Christmas eve and Christmas day, all 6 of us missionaries were invited to the same members homes for all meals. So we all had tons of fun. 

I have been sick for the past few days and made Sister Howard go nuts because all I have done is sleep. Everyone is getting sick here! Its awful! I'm finally better today though. Everyone keeps giving me vitamin C stuff because I keep getting colds. I think it is because we are always going and being outside a lot. 

President and Sister Wirthlin told me early Happy Birthday in an email today! It was so sweet! They told me that I will be 7305 days old! I am going to be 2 decades! Crazy! 

I went on exchanges this week. One of my Sister Training Leaders is a greenie. I went to her area and her companion came to mine and worked with Sister Howard for the day. It was interesting and a great learning experience. I taught her how to talk to random people off the street and gave some ideas of how to work with her area book more effectively. It was fun. Including my 24 hour exchanges, I've served in Lake Placid, Hamilton, Horseheads, and Corning. It's pretty cool. I hope to see so much more of my mission in these next 9 months. My next transfer will be January 21st

The church is true! I Love you!

 Love, 

Sister Keller

FOLLOW A PROMPTING

Dear Family, 
Are you as excited for Christmas as I am?!?!  I don't think so! I am so pumped!! Sister Howard and I are so excited for this week. We made it packed with people to see and places to go to bring the spirit of Christ into everyone's home this Christmas season. I am going caroling on Tuesday evening to some investigators and Less Active members homes with the Elders and a couple members in our ward. On Wednesday I have 2 meal appointments with members and then going to a different religious Christmas celebration.  A member of the ward was invited and is bringing all 6 of us missionaries to the event. On Thursday I will be opening presents early in the morning and then off to 3 meal appointments through out the day. I will be Skyping you at 3:00 my time!!!  Friday I am going on a normal exchange for 24 hours. I will go to Corning with another sister and my companion will stay here in Horseheads. I miss those! So I am excited for that! Saturday John is getting baptized!!! YAY!!!! He is so ready too. We have been able to feel the spirit so strong at our lessons with him these past 3 weeks. We are very glad that we put off his first baptismal date, because he has gained so much more of a testimony than what he had before. It is also a very sweet Christmas gift to his wife. She's been waiting for this day for years! This week is going to be awesome!!!!

Shout out to the Sundance Ward, Thanks for all of the letters you sent me!!! And thanks to my little sunbeam class! I got your sweet letters too! 

On Sunday we were in second hour of church and talking about how we have seen Christ in our lives and sharing experiences from Christmas' in the past. Well there was this one woman, her name is Sister B. She wanted to share an experience that she had the other day. She said that, "the sister missionaries helped her this week so much and they had no idea they even did it". This was on Thursday. Sister Howard and I felt as though we should go outside and walk up and down the streets near our apartment and talk with as many people as we could. Praying that we could spread a little cheer around town. We even made cards with candy canes to give to people as they walked by. (it was freezing out so we had to knock on doors to give them away. No one would be out walking on the side walk in that weather... Except missionaries) Along the way, we would wave to every single car that drove by and smiled really big in hopes that they would wave back. We got EVERYONE to wave back! Well, we had no idea, but Sister B. was sitting inside a McDonalds looking out the window and feeling really down from a hard experience that she had gone through. She then spotted us walking down the road and started sobbing as she saw how we waved to absolute strangers just as Christ would. It was then during class on Sunday that we had seen our prayer answered. We did help someone feel the love of Christ that day and bring joy again into their life. FOLLOW A PROMPTING! Even if it makes you go out of your way into the cold! 

I am so thankful for our Zone Conference on Tuesday. I really felt the spirit, and I took away so much from it. I was called to share my testimony of our Heavenly Father, because I have come to really know Him. I am so thankful for the constant reminder that Heavenly Father loves me and is watching over me. I reread my Patriarchal Blessing and that is where I came to truly know that He knows exactly who I am. I know that all those who put that conference together were really inspired to know what to do, because we all truly needed it. I know that in the past couple weeks I've had a rough time, but I KNOW that it was the Lord teaching me how to see the good in hard situations. 

I had the most amazing personal study this morning. I did a Preach My Gospel "personal study" in the Christ Like Attribute section. I read from Mosiah and Alma to think about how the sons of Mosiah wanted to teach the Lamanites. 
Alma 17 
10: "And it came to pass that the Lord did visit them with his Spirit, and said unto them: Be comforted. And they were comforted". 
11: "And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto the salvation of many souls". 
The Lord says that we need to be patient in our afflictions, because we will have many of them. But, in doing so, we will be able to be that example that will draw others closer to Christ. Now, my favorite part of my study was when I read through Alma 26: 27-37. These missionaries went through the same things that we all face throughout our missions. They felt a little depressed, but were still comforted by the help of God, and kept going. They taught in houses, in streets, on hills, in synagogues, and all while being mocked and spit upon. But they still found joy in finding just one soul. They found joy by looking at the fruits of their labors. 

In the 9 months I have been out, I have seen the fruits of my labors. I referred to the quote by President Hinckley "Many of you think you are failures. You feel you cannot do well, that with all of your effort it is not sufficient. We all worry about our performance. We all wish we could do better. But unfortunately we do not realize, we do not often see the results that come of what we do". I have seen so many good things happen on my mission so far. I am so thankful for how much I am learning as well.

I have a VERY powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon. I KNOW that it is true. So is the church.

-Love,
Sister Keller

THE CHURCH IS TRUE

Dear Family, 

I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life. We have the truth. We know God's plan, and we know what we can become. It is simple, yet so much to take in. It is the best thing we could ever hope to have in this life because it carries on through the next life and on for eternity. I went to a different church's Christmas celebration to represent The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and it made me so grateful to be a member of our church knowing how much God has in store for us through His Gospel. I just want to work that much harder now to proclaim this gospel to all of upstate New York!!! I'll just stick with Horseheads for now and work my way around though.  The church is true

We had a lesson with a man that the ward knows as "grumpy 'ol Mike"  He really is grumpy!  But we finally got him to open up to us as to why he doesn't want to come to church and get baptized. It's a long story, but we know where to go from here now. It will take a very long time, but the Lord knows when the time is right. John is doing pretty good still. His new date is set for December 27th.  The church is true

Want to know something crazy?? Remember that one guy I told you about that wanted to hit us with a broom? Well, his grandson ( the guy we were trying to find in first place) texted us the other day!!! He wants to meet up again sometime! It's been a couple days since our last contact with him, but I am hopeful that something will happen.  The church is true

We really had very spirit felt lessons with less active members this past week. I have come to see how much I love to feel the sweet spirit. Especially when I have a hard time or a rough day. The Lord makes up for it. Times like those, almost make you forget about the bad stuff. I guess that is how I have seen my mission as such a wonderful experience. I can hardly remember the rough times. I still cringe when I hear about breaking teeth though......   The church is true

Christmas update! I got your great big package this week! I cant wait to open my presents! Mom.. I shook a couple presents... and then remembered that you told me not to. I can't tell what anything is anyway. I also got the Robinson's package today! They let me open something everyday until Christmas. I still don't know what time I will be calling, but I do know that it will be sometime after 1 my time. I'm hoping to call somewhere between 3 and 3:30 my time, but I don't know yet. Just make sure you are all together anytime after 11 I guess. I will have a final update next monday to let you all know. I want you all to come ready to ask me a bunch of questions!!!!! Let's use our time to the fullest! So start making your list! The church is true

I love you all!!! I cant wait another 10 days!!!!! 

Love, Sister Keller

GLAD TIDINGS

Dear Family,

You guessed it! I get to stay and celebrate Christmas and my birthday right here in Horseheads, NY!! YAY!!!!!!!! I am so excited!!! We have members feeding us every meal both Christmas Eve, and Christmas day! They also coordinated to have all six missionaries at the same houses. So we will just be hangin with the elders all day. I also know that I will be calling for 30 min, and then skyping for 30 min again just like mother's day. But I dont know what time, or where I will be for that yet. I am not sure if it has to be at a members house, or if I could use the laptop at the church. I find out soon.

Things got kind of hard this past week. We had a little bit of a set back.  Sister Howard and I were supposed to have a baptism this past Saturday... Things didn't go quite the way we were hoping. Our investigator didnt pass his interview with our district leader. He is worthy for it, but there was just a very strong feeling that he was not ready to be baptized. We came to see that he needs to gain a stronger testimony first before he makes the decision to be baptized. We just know that if we give him a little bit more time, he will come to want this baptism for himself and it will mean a lot more for him. He will know WHY he is doing it. It's not just another baptism to join another religion. It is a saving ordinance that will lead him to eternal life and exaltation! It's kind of a big deal! We also lost a couple more investigators.

We have just had the most difficult time trying to get in contact with anyone! We haven't been successful with finding new investigators. Our teaching pool just went down to 2 people. To top it all off, we were going to the Christmas Devotional at the church and found the elders rubbing it in that they had investigators taking up a 3rd of the congregation pews. I just went down hill last night.. had a little bit of a melt down and felt as though I was failing. I felt I wasn't doing good enough or that I wasn't working hard enough and that is why we haven't been blessed to be trusted with more of God's children. But was it really so? Am I sitting at home all day? No. Are we knocking on doors everywhere we go in between appointments? Yes. Are we TRYING? YES! These points were inspired by my companion to help me realize that we are not failing. We are trying and that is what counts. We are doing great things with less active memebrs right now. We are building trust and friendship, and excitment to COME BACK to church! We also received lists and lists of more people that need to see us. Part member families especially! So we've got lots of work to do! We also received a phone call from one of the elders wanting to appoligize for rubbing it in our face that they had so many investigators at the devotional. "I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men." Doctrine and Covenants 64:10

Dont worry though! No homesickness, no more saddness, just glad tidings of great joy! The church is true!

Love, Sister Keller

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

FUN & GAMES

Hello dear family and friends!

I have had a pretty fun preparation day! We got to go to Goody Goodies (a foreign game store) and play games with the Elders, Trent, and Jaremy and then go out to lunch. We also got to plan a really fun Family Home Evening activity we are putting on for our branch tomorrow evening. We are going to be doing skits, acting out Book of Mormon stories, and have the members guess which story we are doing. It is going to be lots of fun and we have props and everything :) I'm excited!

This week we will be in a trio again for a 3 day exchange. This time with Sister Glenn. She will get to be in the skit as well. We have 3 stories in mind that we will be doing. Maybe I can get a member to film it and show you all some how. I don't know though.

I heard about Elder Jackson.. I saw his Facebook post saying he is going home for medical reasons.. I pretty much threw a fit in the library when I found out! Not really, but I was sad! I haven't gotten to see him while I have been out here so I hope he comes back. If not, I know he was a great missionary. I heard lots of really great things about him. An elder that I came out with, Elder Wendt, was his companion for a little while and he is serving in my zone now and he got to tell me a little about that. So, Elder Jackson, now that you aren't in New York, write to me! tell me about your mission!

Well family, it is getting pretty chilly here! I had to get my tights, coat and gloves out.. not my big coat, just my light coat. Just shows that Christmas is right around the corner!! 

I love you guys! The church is true!

"Teaching in the home is becoming increasingly important in today’s world, where the influence of the adversary is so widespread and he is attacking, attempting to erode and destroy the very foundation of our society, even the family. Parents must resolve that teaching in the home is a most sacred and important responsibility. … The leaders of the Church spend a great deal of time thinking about how to improve teaching in the Church. Why do we invest this time and effort? It is because we believe in the immense power of teaching to increase the faith of individuals and strengthen families. It is my belief that one of the most effective things we can do to improve teaching in the Church is to improve teaching in our homes. Our teaching in the home prepares us to teach more effectively at church, and our teaching at church helps us to teach more effectively at home." -L. Tom Perry

Love, Sister Keller

CHRISTMAS TWICE A YEAR!

Dear Family,

Patience Mom, letters are coming :) I haven't been able to give myself any time to write any letters. I have had lots of people write to me, and I feel terrible that I haven't responded in forever. So I just want to let everybody know I have your letters and emails! I am little by little writing you all back! 

General Conference was AMAZING!!! I absolutely loved all of the talks! Elder Bednar's talk... WOW! That was just perfect!!!! I can't wait until I get a copy of the Ensign so that I can read it all over again. All of the talks were just fantastic. I think it was the best conference I have ever listened to. I had so many questions answered and felt the spirit SO strong! We really had a party at the church! The Whites came, (member family) (love them) and then there was us, the elders, Trent and Jaremy. We stayed there all 6 hours of the day. In between sessions we were either on Facebook saying how amazing first session was, calling people to come to the next session, or playing games with everyone and eating food. General Conference is just like Christmas to me now :) Best part is we get it twice a year!

Sister Dahl and I took quite the road trip this week! She needed to see a doctor for some medicine and he works on the other side of the mission! Luckily there were some elders who needed to go too so we car pooled with them. 13 hours in a car on Friday! It was a very, VERY long day! It was a lot of fun though! We got to drive through so many areas of the mission. The elder who was driving served in almost all of them so he was excited to see all of his areas again. 

We had Zone Conference this week too. That was really awesome! President gave each of us a little bouncy ball that has a smiley face on it and told us to bounce it when ever we are feeling sad. In order to catch the ball, you have to keep your eye on it. The higher you bounce it, the more you have to "look up"  Get it? It was pretty awesome. We have Zone Training this coming Thursday now. I don't know if you heard, but there is a movie coming out called "Meet the Mormons" We get to watch it!!!! President is allowing all of the missionaries to view it at their Zone meetings. The coolest part is that my zone gets to see it before it even comes out in theaters.  It comes out October 10th. We see it the 9th.

I hope you all had a great week! If you missed any of the General Conference talks, I would like to invite and highly recommend you watch them.  The brethren all testified that the church is true!

Love, Sister Keller

BEAUTIFUL FALL

Dear Yous Guys, 

I had a pretty awesome week! It is getting extremely beautiful here with the leaves changing! It has also been really nice outside. So we have been out riding our bikes a lot! When you think of New York, I bet you think of sky scrapers, taxi cabs, and pavement. That is the exact opposite of where I am! Trees sweep every inch of the earth it seems like. The mountains look like they are painted red, yellow, purple, orange, green, and brown from all of the trees. It is just beautiful!

The General Woman's Conference was amazing! It was very spiritual and the messages were very powerful to me. We got to watch it at the church. There was only one person who showed up to watch it with us, so we had a great evening with the 3 of us. I don't know if I told you this, but I have been teaching myself how to play some songs on the piano. We have a piano in our apartment, so I take advantage of it. I have memorized "We Thank Thee Oh God, for a Prophet" with both hands! We were teaching a lesson to an elderly couple one day, and I noticed that they had a piano. So I asked them if they would mind if I played a song for them when we finished the lesson. I played this song, and it completely changed the feelings that were felt. Everyone got really quiet, and it brought the spirit so strong! I am now working on "I am a Child of God".  I can't wait to play for you all when I come home. 

I had to get my flu shot today. Sister Wirthlin has been telling all of the missionaries to get them, because it is spreading like mad up here! My companion is such a sharing person. She thought it would be nice to give me her cold. So we're just a couple of sniffling missionaries right now. I tried to avoid it, but it is a little difficult when you are with someone 24/7, and within sight and sound of each other at all times. Not fun... It's all good though. 

Okay! So Sunday was really cool. As you know from Sister Dalmas, her friends; the Allred family came to my branch. We were at the church building on Saturday evening using the computer when we got a phone call from them asking what time Sacrament meeting started. So I found them after church and told them I was the one they were on the phone with. We started talking, and I asked them where they were from. When they said Idaho, I said I was from there too! Then Sister Allred asked me if I knew a Lisa Dalmas. I said yes, and that she was my Mom's visiting teacher! Way cool! They also told me that they lived in the Shelly Idaho area, so I asked them if they know the Leckington's. They said "yeah, we know Shawn"! I then went on to tell them how he was the one who was part of Dad's conversion to the church. It was just a really cool conversation. 

So my branch went on their temple trip this weekend!! Guess who went?! Jaremy! After only being a member for 2 months, he got to see where it all started in Palmyra, and enter the house of the Lord. I think it is funny. I have been a member my whole life, and I haven't gotten to see any of that yet, and he is just barely baptized and got to see everything! I am so happy for him! He said it was an AMAZING time! Trent didn't get to go because of a Skeleton race. I got to see him go, and he got 1st place!! He is really good! We were very proud of him. 

I have decided to start working on a scrap book of my mission. I printed a bunch of pictures off, and I have kept all of the letters people have been sending me which I will include in the book. I have started taking pictures of me with the members, and people I teach. I am really excited, because this will be something I can look back on forever.

I have been reading my scriptures like crazy lately. I have finished the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and now I am almost finished with the Pearl of Great Price. I have developed such a strong testimony of the scriptures. I know that they are truly God's word, and they have been such a great tool for me in the work. They bring me so much comfort, and joy, and I never want to put them down! I know that when we keep our hearts and minds in the scriptures, we will be as strong as Helaman's army, the Stripling warriors. We can fight temptation and all manner of wickedness. The church is true! 

Love you all! 
Sister Keller

I WILL STAY WHERE HE WANTS ME TO STAY

Dear Family,

At the beginning of this transfer, I felt kind of uneasy about serving here in Lake Placid for another 6 weeks. I wasn't sure what more there is to be done by me, or how I was to do it. I was also feeling like I am stuck here, because I have been here for so long. I made it my goal for this whole week to remember why I love Lake Placid. To really focus on my time that I have here, and why I have been called to serve here. I did a lot of praying and a lot of reflecting with my companion. I am so grateful for the answers that I received. I found a quote in Preach My Gospel that really hit me hard. "The attitude you have toward your mission is a reflection of your love toward your Heavenly Father and His Son and your respect for the priesthood." After reading this I now have a complete understanding that the Lord sent me here for a reason. I am called to serve here because I am the only one who can touch the hearts of these people at this time. (along with my companion) These people needed a missionary like me, and the Lord knew that. He knew that I could help these wonderful people. I have seen the things I have been able to do here, and I really do see all of the good that I have done. I love my Heavenly Father, and I love His children. I need to show it more! I must also respect my mission president's priesthood authority. I know that it is through his personal revelation from God that we are called to serve where we are. I am very happy to say that I will go where He wants me to go. I will stay where He wants me to stay as well. So if I am called to serve here my whole mission, I am happy to do so. There is always work to be done. It will never stop until all has heard the gospel, and have accepted to come unto Christ by faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end! 

We received a headquarter referral this week. Those come from Salt Lake. They told us someone wanted a bible in our area. We called the person and told them we would love to bring it to them. They didn't want us to and hung up the phone pretty quick. We didn't give up though. We mailed the Bible to them and had a personal note attached with it and our names and phone number. Also an articles of faith card. We tracked the package, and it got to them. Hopefully they will have an interest in us. We also received an interesting phone call from an excommunicated member the other day. She called the church, and the Clerk, Brother Parrish, referred her to us. She told us that she wants to come back to church! She also wanted a priesthood blessing. We are very excited for her. We have been keeping contact with her and are becoming friends. She seems like a very sweet lady. I just wish she lived closer. Her home is just barely outside of mission boundaries, so we can't really go visit her. President Evans (branch pres.) is still trying to decide what to do. She would love to come to our branch, but she isn't in the boundary...
I am excited to see what happens!! 

Guess what! The Jehovah's Witnesses came back... They knew me by name, and said they wanted to meet with us! uhhhh... Okay! Sure! Nothing wrong with that :) So this should be a cool experience for Sister Dahl and I to share our beliefs and bare testimony of truth :) Because the church is true, you know :)

Love, Sister Keller 

STAYING PUT

Dear Family,

I got my transfer call on Saturday! No surprise there. I am once again, staying in Lake Placid. I knew that was coming, but I hoped for a change. Hopefully next transfer I'll go somewhere else! This means I will be here for 7 months! I think the record is 9. 

So we had a pretty fun week! We went to Return and Report on Thursday which was a lot of fun. I loved seeing all of my friends there who are trainers as well. We had District Conference on Saturday and Sunday which was awesome! Elder Bennett of the Seventy was there to speak! It was fun, we all drove to Malone to attend. My entire zone was there, so I got to see the 2 Elders from my MTC district. 

We had a sweet district activity today! (that is why I am so late emailing today) We went to a huge base ball field and set up volleyball nets, played soccer, and kick ball. I took a picture, but I don't have my camera with me. I'll send it next week. 

I pretty much just have one progressing investigator now. She is not the only one we visit, but she is the only one showing any sort of interest in learning more. We have really been working hard with her. We visit her every single day, and she finally reads the Book of Mormon! She always told us she hates reading but now that she actually started, she can't put it down! She wished she had just picked it up and read it a long time ago. It has been so awesome seeing how far she has come in these past two weeks. I am very happy for her! She is seeing the blessings more clearly and understanding that God really is answering her prayers! 

I am doing really good with reading my scriptures! I am almost done with Doctrine and Covenants. That book has some amazing stuff! I am learning so much more about the church from studying it. Once you get into sections 120 and on, it gets deep in doctrine! I love it!! 

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

Sister Keller

I KNOW WHO I AM

Hey there everyone! 

How is life in the West? Good I hope. Things have been pretty awesome here. You wouldn't believe how much things are changing already! They have so many trees here of all kinds and the leaves are just beautiful. It has been nice seeing colors other than green. It has also cooled down quite a bit.  Fall comes fast! 

So we had a pretty good week, but also some sad times. A less-active member of our branch just died recently. I loved going to see her. I am glad that I got to bring Sister Dahl to see her a couple times before she passed. She was just the sweetest lady. I knew how much she struggled though, so I am happy that she is in a better place and with her family again.

Sister Dahl and I experienced some hard-core Bible bashing with an investigator. We no longer consider her a progressing investigator. All she wants to do is learn bits and pieces of the gospel. At first we thought she was really interested. But as it turns out, she found joy in trying to prove every bit of doctrine wrong with her bible. She said there were some things that fascinated her about the church. Like, temple work for example. So we are going to teach her what she wants to learn for now rather than wasting our time with this bible bash nonsense. In time, we pray that the Lord will soften her heart and she will realize that what we teach is true.

We had a very annoying OYM (open your mouth) experience. So we are just walking along the side walk, being friendly, saying hello and smiling, handing out cards etc.. All of the sudden we see a group of people walking by, handing out cans of beer for FREE! We couldn't believe our eyes. People were gladly taking alcohol off of the street while ignoring our friendly "hello". Just shows how much Satan is influencing the world today... Other than all of that, we had a pretty swell week with teaching our awesome investigators and recent converts. 

I finally got the package with the skirt and two shirts. Thanks!!!! I've been wanting those types of things!! They fit perfectly too. I also got a letter from Mema and Papa. I love getting their letters. They are so sweet. I still get my weekly letter from Grandma and Pappy! I love those!!! I also got my hair cut! It was long enough to donate! I don't know how to do that sort of thing, so I am sending it home. I know how much you like getting pieces of me in the mail. :)

I think it is really great that you are trying harder to have FHE, and scripture study, and prayers together. TRUST ME, the more you work at it and the more often you do it, you will feel so weird when you forget to read scriptures or say prayers. I literally can not go to sleep without saying a prayer first and tell Heavenly Father how grateful I am for each day. 

I am a Latter-day Saint. I am a full time, totally committed disciple of Jesus Christ. I wont look back, let up, slow down, or be still. I know where I came from, I know why I am here and I know where I am headed. I am no where near perfect, I have so much to learn. My faults are obvious to everyone, especially me. I have a friend who is perfect and He can help me along my way. I strive to live by inspiration, learn by faith, love by patience, lift by prayer, and labor with power. My pace is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Celestial. My road is narrow, the mountains are high, my way is rugged, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised deterred, lured away, turned back or stopped. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate with the enemy, pause at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I will be the very best I can be in every aspect of my life. I am a Latter-day Saint. I must go forward until I am called home, give until I drop, teach until all know, and work until Jesus comes again. And He will come again. He will find me doing the best I know how to build His kingdom here. I know that the church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller

LABOR DAY

Hello! 

Trent is here letting us use the Olympic Training Center to email again since the Library is closed. We've had a pretty cool day. I have been showing Sister Dahl around town and letting her see the cool visitor centers. Tried to go shopping, but we get sick of Gap after a while. It sure would be nice to have a Walmart or a Target closer to us. They are in Plattsburgh which is an hour away from us.

This month will mark my 6th month mark!! I have a 3rd of my mission done! It's crazy that I have been in Lake Placid for that entire time!! Just a year left to go! I have been having so much fun here though. I really, really love the people here. Especially the members. This branch is just awesome. They are all such great people. My current investigators are awesome as well. We are teaching Marybeth, Brandy, Brittany, Lonni, a family of 5, and the elderly couple I mentioned before. They are all pretty fun. We enjoy teaching and getting to know all of them. 

We had a super awesome weekend! During 3rd hour on Sunday, we and the elders taught everyone the Restored Teaching Method. It is basically the way we teach investigators. We wanted to show the members how we teach the Message of the Restoration so that when we invite them to come with us, they know what to expect of the layout of the lesson. The members really enjoyed our lesson. We were able to follow up with one family that evening at a dinner appointment on how they liked it, and they are excited to start working with us more. It was awesome to see how many members came up to us right after church to tell us they are willing to come teaching with us! I do have a strong testimony in the way we teach investigators. It is simple, short, and spirit filled. 

On Saturday we were out on our bikes.  We had so many opportunities to talk with people on the street because of it. We rode past one man sitting in his truck with a map and he looked pretty lost. So I told Sister Dahl that we should turn around and see if we could help him find his way. He was so grateful for us, and we were able to point him in the right direction. We didn't get to give him any literature, but we still planted a seed for him. Next time he sees missionaries, he will remember that a couple of sisters helped him find his way. Right after that, we rode a little further and a biker called out to us. She was so excited to see us riding along and told us she and her husband were riding across the US. They told us about their life, and said they may not look like Mormons because of the motorcycle get up but they were! I though it was awesome. We found all of these people from just being outside riding around and gave ourselves that time before we met a potential who turns out to be a really awesome woman we hope to teach about family history. 

Well everybody, you are awesome! I love you all this much!
 [-----------------------O-----------------------] (pretend that is my arms stretched out) 

The church is true! 
Love, Sister Keller

FUN WEEK

Dear Family and Friends,

I had a really good week! Being in a trio is a lot of fun! It was a three day exchange with our Sister Training Leader, Sister Barlow. The whole purpose of this special exchange was so that we can improve our short and frequent lessons with investigators. I hope we can do them more often, as well as still doing the normal 24 hour exchanges. I really grow a lot when we do those, and I know that Sister Dahl would too. 

I absolutely love the members here! They are so good to us! One family made goodie bags for the Elders and us. These goodie bags where huge, and clear full of food! It is enough to last us the week! I also love visiting them all. They are so fun.  I really hope to stay in touch with them. One member wants to invite me to their wedding reception next year. I thought that was so sweet. 

I don't have very much to report on with investigators. I am teaching a very old couple that have the desire to be baptized, so that is way cool! They love us. They yell from the door for us when we pull up! They literally tell us to hurry up and get in there! I think it is funny. Jeremy is preparing to go to the Palmyra Temple with the whole branch in a couple weeks. I am so excited for him! He is even more excited though! He couldn't wait to tell us he got his recommend from the branch president. He also bought a CTR ring online that he couldn't wait to show us. It is so awesome to see how much he has grown. In just 3 months he went from smoking, and no church, to a priesthood holder and now on his way to the temple! He passed the sacrament for the first time yesterday. It is now his calling to prepare the sacrament each week. I'm just so happy for him. It also really helps me know that I am doing a good job as a missionary. 

I hope I can get a hair cut soon. It might not happen for a couple weeks because I can only do it on Mondays, and it is Labor day next week. They are so expensive here... it's too complicated to cut it myself though. I want more than just a trim. A lot more. Maybe someone in the branch can cut hair. 

I am so excited for you all to start school again! I wish I could see you go! You all looked super cute in your "first day of school" pictures!  I love you guys so much! I know that you have seen a lot of missionaries come home these past couple weeks, but don't let that get to you! It will be my turn next year! I love being a missionary! I am not ready to come home yet! These people need me here. But hey! guess what! it has been 5 months! I am almost a third of my way done! I will have spent a 3rd of my mission here in Lake Placid. WOW! The church is true! 

Love, 
Sister Keller

P.S. A huge thank you to the Vrba's (I wear the necklace everyday) and to the Robinson's for their packages! 
I LOVED THEM!!  

THANK YOU

Dear Family, 

This week went SO much better than last week. Thank you all so much for your prayers and HUGS!!! It all really helped me. I got the flowers you sent me that same day!!!! I was so surprised! They are beautiful. Thank you so much!! I have been truly humbled by this experience of training. It is still hard, but with the help of my constant companion I get through it. I seriously wouldn't know what I would do if I didn't have the Spirit with me to lead and direct me in the work. I have learned how to put my full faith in the Lord. 

We had a really neat lunch appointment with some members the other day. When we arrived, we could just feel the tension that was there between the family members. They had just been in a huge argument before we showed up. Their daughter went up to her room the whole time we were there. We stayed with the parents, and had a good uplifting conversation about church stuff, and gave them a spiritual thought at the end of our meal. We then went upstairs to the daughters room to see if we could help her in any way. We had an investigator we were planning on seeing right after we left, and we had the impression to ask this daughter if she would like to come with us. It would get her out of the house and focus on the Lord for an hour of her day. She told us No, and came up with a bunch of excuses. I then had another impression to say a prayer with her. I can't explain how the spirit took over me, but that prayer was one of the strongest overpowering prayers I have ever said for someone. The moment I said "amen" her whole attitude did a 180. She perked up, and said she would love to come teach with us! The spirit was so strong at that moment! It was so cool! 

This week, we will be on a special exchange. I am going to be in a trio for a couple days. One of my Sister Training Leaders will be coming to our area to teach with us. It should be interesting and fun. I think we will learn a lot! 

So, as you have already seen, I am on Facebook now! It is going to be such a huge help with staying in touch with the people we meet, and be able to contact them on a daily basis now. We will even be able to have lessons with them using Facebook. We just "message" them. I have to admit, it was hard to see that part of my life again. As a missionary, that stuff had been set aside for 5 months now of my life, and seeing all of my world at home was very strange. It is so tempting to send you all a quick "Hi" but I know that, that would be disobedient. We have been given this special privilege and if we take advantage of it, President will take away ALL computer privileges. You, however, may comment/like the posts that I put on my page. I can respond as long as we keep things missionary based. I have to always maintain my sacred calling as a servant of the Lord in conversation and in photography. 

I love you all so much! I am doing much better now, so it's all good :) The church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller 

P.S. Thanks for the play-dough.  I had fun!!

SOMEONE NEEDS A HUG :(

Dear Family, 

Oh boy, where do I begin... 
My new companion is Sister Dahl. She is 21, and from Dallas, Texas! She is a very sweet girl. Man, is she hard working too! It is like there is never a slow moment to breathe with her! It has been great to be busy and work hard. That doesn't mean there has not been any stress from it all though... I have actually had an extremely hard time adjusting to all of this change. I have been very, very stressed out. Since transfers, I have hardly wanted to eat anything, and it has been 5 days now... I have never experienced this level of stress which made me not want to eat before. I force myself to put something in my stomach so I can avoid getting sick, but I don't want much. Water has been my constant friend. 

Training is probably the hardest thing I have ever done. I have learned so much from the amount of time I have been out, and was doing so well with my trainer. I now have to learn how to help my companion feel the same way. Everything we do now has to be all planned by me, because she doesn't know anything yet. Yes, I expected that, but I was not ready for what the stress would do to me. It has almost been a week now, and not much has changed like the way it did when I was being trained. I guess I kind of know what Sister Bowen went through, but she didn't seem as distraught as I do right now. I know it made her feel overwhelmed, but I never saw this type of effect on her.

The only time I feel comfortable right now has been at church, seeing the members, and studying on my own. Every other moment of the day, I am overwhelmed. I have written to President Wirthlin about how I feel, and I hope he has a way to help me. I have told Sister Dahl how I feel, so she knows I am overwhelmed. She told me that I am doing a wonderful job with helping her, and I was happy to hear that. Sure, I know how to do the work, and yes, I am very passionate when I teach. I love to teach, and bare my testimony. but I don't know how to handle the stress. 

I am so sorry that telling you this probably isn't what you were hoping for, but I just feel like there is no one else left whom I can turn to, to express how I truly feel. 

I miss you all so much!!! I think about you every day! I really need a hug or something... can you send me one of those in a package? 

None of this has shaken my testimony. I still know that the church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller

BAPTISM #2

Dear Family/Friends, 

Hey Hey Hey! This week was amazing!!! Sooo much stuff happened! So, first of all, Jeremy's baptism went so well! Brother Sipler had to say the prayer 4 times because he wouldn't say it exactly right. It was cringing, but also funny because he would mess up the same thing over and over again. He finally got it right, and was able to baptize him. It was so amazing to see this young man make this change in his life. We see in him that he is ready to be a disciple of Christ. We asked him why he made the decision to be baptized and he responded saying he knew it would bring him closer to God. What an amazing answer!!! Sister Bowen sang at the baptism, and we watched a Mormon Message. His mom and twin brother came to support him, which was great! They were very happy for him. His brother had mixed emotions, but I'm sure they all felt the spirit. He was confirmed yesterday, and Sister Bowen was able to write down the prayer for him so he could read it all the time. This guy seriously needs to serve a mission now. He could be an amazing missionary! 

Our trip to Utica went great! I had a really fun time in Hamilton on exchange with Sister Fiefia. I really hope I get to serve there one day. The people were awesome. I loved teaching and giving church tours. We went tracting in a trailer park over there and had a scary experience! This guy came to his door and was very rude. He said some threatening things to us and told us to go away. We just said something like, alright, have a nice day! Everything is all good though. It's not like I haven't had a door slammed in my face before. Sister Bowen had a fun time in Palmyra. I am excited for my opportunity to go there next year! It will be fall time, so it will be very beautiful! 

The next day, Thursday, we hung out at the mission office for a little bit to get new cell phones. President Wirthlin came up to me and asked me to come into his office. I had 2 theories of what he wanted to tell me. I was either in trouble, or becoming a trainer for the next transfer. Can you guess what happened?? I am training a new sister this next transfer!!!!!! I was very surprised! I was amazed at how soon I have been called to be a trainer. The Lord knew I was ready now I guess. So I will be staying in Lake Placid for another 12 weeks! That is how long a missionary trains for. I don't know who she is yet. We always find out who we are training with at transfers. So I will know this Wednesday who she is. I am excited! 

On Saturday, one of our investigators, Lonni, took us to the top of White Face Mountain. There is a castle up there and a beautiful view of everything. It got stormy really fast up there, so the clouds blocked our view. Thunder and lightening came and one struck the castle we were in! The worker was funny because he told us all that we had just been struck by lightening. It was so loud! I am alright though. The electricity in the air made our hair go crazy though. It was fun! 

I love yous all very much! :) I actually said "yous" one day and Sister Bowen laughed. It is a weird accent that people in the North Country have. I am slowly picking it up now... haha. The church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller 

GOOD TRANSFER

Hi everyone! 

I am having such a good transfer! Seriously, everything is just going so well. Trent getting baptized was the sweetest experience.  I was sad I couldn't be there myself to see it happen but his phone call made my whole day. He is back here now.  He brought Sister Bowen and I a copy of his baptismal program, so I will be sending a copy of that your way soon. He also gave us the email addresses of the Elders who took care of him in California, so we could tell them thanks. We got a picture with him as well.

I am super excited for Jeremy's baptism.  He tried on his white jump suit yesterday after church, so he is ready for that! We only had one in his size! It was meant to be I guess :) This Thursday we will be teaching Brother Sipler how to baptize him, and practice so that when it is time for the real deal, they won't mess up. The baptism will be this Saturday, August 2nd. Sister Bowen will get to be there for it! It was very good planning. It will be her last Saturday in NY. We got to make the program this time. It is so awesome! Everything we put in it represents parts of his journey in learning about the gospel.  He has great support from his family, friends and co-workers.  He is a golden investigator.  A dream that every missionary hopes for!

I am so glad that I was called to serve in Lake Placid, New York.  I know that the Lord had a perfect plan for me to be here at this time and to meet these people who have been prepared to hear our message.   

Today is a beautiful, soaking wet day and we are very busy.  We are going hiking with my district to Mt. Baker. I hope the rain lets up a little. We had to cram everything  today so that we would have time for everything. Grocery shopping, laundry, the hike, and we have to be ready to go in time for our trip to Utica. I'm excited though. I get to have two sleep overs! One in the mission home, and one in Hamilton with another Sister on exchange. 

I sent home a package today. Be looking for that. I really loved all of the pictures you sent!!! Keep them coming! You all look so cute! And I would love to hear from EVERYONE! Letters absolutely make my day!!

I love you!!! The church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller

Awesome week!

Hey family/friends! 

I had the most awesome week!!!! Everything went the way it was planned. Trent was baptized!!!!!!!!!!!! He called us before and after the baptism so that we knew what was happening. You could just tell in his voice and attitude the difference there was from being an investigator to a new member of the church. He is now an Aaronic Priesthood holder as well!!! I am so happy :') He was the very first person I had ever had a lesson with. It was a long, hard process, but we kept him in our prayers and thoughts every minute of every day trying to know how we could help him come closer to Christ. It happened though! Finally! He is a whole different person now. He knows that God loves him. He knows that the church is true! 

Now Jeremy is next :) We had a really awesome Sunday with him. We talked about his baptism the day before to help him know what needs to happen. We asked him to ponder on who he would like to baptize him. We were thinking one of the Elders should do it, but they suggested Brother Sipler. He is a recent convert to the church. He was baptized a week before I got here. Him and Jeremy have gotten to be really good friends. Our first lesson with him, we had Brother Sipler present so that he could bear testimony about the things we shared. When we asked Jeremy if this is what he would like, he loved the idea! We then went to Brother Sipler and asked him to baptize Jeremy, and he started to cry! He said it would be an honor, and gave him a big hug. So this weekend was a pretty emotional one, but tears of joy!!! I couldn't be happier right now! This transfer has just been so much fun! So many amazing things are happening. 

So tonight, the Plattsburgh Sisters are coming to pick Sister Bowen and I up to drive to Utica so we can stay in the Mission home. We are having a Sisters Conference on Tuesday over there. I'm pretty excited for that! Then next Monday, Sister Bowen and I will drive to Utica again. This time for her to go to Palmyra and see the sacred grove, go to the temple etc. I will be with a different sister during this time on an exchange in Hamilton. On August 6th, we will be in Utica AGAIN, but this time for transfers! I will get my new companion there and bring her back to Lake Placid. Sister Bowen will fly home on the 7th. We have some crazy busy weeks ahead of us!!! 

Hey, we got a new car :) our old one had too many miles on it. We have a silver 2014 Toyota Corolla now. It's fun! I hope I am the designated driver next transfer so I can drive it!!! 

I love you all so much! I pray for you night and day!! Everything here is going great! I love the work! The church is true!!! 

Your favorite missionary, 
Sister Keller