BE THOU HUMBLE

Dear family,

I am so glad that last week is over!! It was a really hard week for Sister Howard and I. We went into it thinking it was going to be so great and then it turned out to be the exact opposite. The whole time I was thinking that there must have been a reason for all of this to happen. The Lord must be trying to teach me something here.

So we had meetings scheduled to meet with some pretty great people. They got cold feet and backed out at the last minute. We had 2 amazing investigators who were so prepared and dropped us. I also slipped on the ice and banged my knee up pretty good. I had to go get a brace for it to wear for a couple weeks. Literally everything we had planned fell through. There was also a day when we got yelled at, at every door we came to. I was so confused! We both KNEW that there must have been a reason as to why we were having such a terrible week! But then one morning we both had a similar personal study. We both had the impression to study humility... Well, I learned my lesson. The Lord was teaching me how to be humble by putting me through challenges that would do the job. I was praying and the song lyrics popped into my head "Be thou humble in thy weakness, and the Lord thy God shall lead thee". It is very easy to be humble in happy moments, because we give the glory to God and are feeling blessed. But it is very hard to stay humble when your day is terrible. Some may think it is just the opposite, but I can beg to differ. We MUST remember that with every challenge or set back in our lives, the Lord is at work providing something better.

Well, He did provide something better! We found a great guy to teach on Sunday! We had so much fun with members this week as well. Melissa is most likely going to get baptized on February 14th. We have so many teaching appointments set up for this week that we aren't sure how we are going to make them all yet! I am so grateful for all of the lessons I am learning. They come when I least expect them nor want them, but they are so wonderful later on!

This week I will be going to Corning again, this time serving with Sister Yancee. It is going to be a very different exchange! I will be there for 3 days instead of 24 hours. My companion gets to take over this area for 3 days with a greenie.  I am pretty excited! So many great things happen over exchanges!

I love you all so much! I think about you guys all the time and I miss you!

The church is true
Love Sister Keller

The brunt of today's snow storm going through New York 

will miss Sister Keller, but winter is still in full force. 

BRRRRRRR!!!

The best ME

Hello friends and Family!

For this next transfer I will be staying in Horseheads and Sister Howard will still be my companion. We were super happy about that! I am pretty happy that I get to serve a 3rd transfer with a companion that I have become such great friends with again. I am still hoping that next transfer will bring a change though. I hope at some point in time of my mission, the Lord puts me with a sister who will push me again. 

I have been going back and forth with my thoughts on how my mission has changed me and how I have grown. A lot of self evaluating. So when I first came out, I was obviously needing to be trained. Every missionary has to be. Sister Bowen pushed me to limits that she knew I could handle, and I learned so much from her. Right after being trained, I became a trainer. I didn't have an opportunity to learn from someone else, or learn ways of doing missionary work from another perspective other than my trainer's. All I knew about being a missionary came from my own knowledge. After training Sister Dahl, (who is now a trainer this transfer) I became a trainer again! and opened this area! The Lord must really like me as a missionary. We have been having lots of Zone Trainings and Conferences on boosting our self esteem, and reading from our Patriarchal Blessings to learn that we are worth so much in the sight of God, and that we have been blessed with so much more than we realize. I learned something very important at these meetings, and I know it came from the Spirit. I learned that I was very prepared for my mission before coming out. I had such a strong testimony of the gospel before coming out, and going through the MTC was just adding to what I already knew. Sure, I was terrified of what was to come, but the Lord knew what I was capable of doing. He knew that if I were to be put into a companionship with another missionary before training, I would try too hard to become what they already made themselves. So instead of learning from another Sister, I have been able to rely fully on the Lord and learn what kind of missionary HE wants me to be. I am so thankful for all that I have learned and I know that I will be able to carry it with me forever. I am better than everyone else at being me, than they are at being me. So I want to be the best me there ever was! 

So guess what! I love working in 30 degree weather! It is so much warmer than -20! It is crazy how much of a difference it is! It is like sweater weather!... Not really... it is still cold. It got up to 40 yesterday. I was finally able to go walk. I love heat waves!

Oh! Friday night was so scary!! We had just come home around 9:30 (that being the curfew for us to be home) and we heard a really loud alarm. I was looking at all of our fire alarms, and couldn't tell which one it was. I thought maybe it was a neighbors alarm, but it was too loud. Then Sister Howard found our Carbon Monoxide alarm and realized it was the one beeping! I was about ready to drop everything and run until I read the back of the alarm and realized it was just dead. So we called president and he gave us permission to hurry down to Wal-mart and buy a new one. I was glad that I didn't have to worry about being dead the next morning. I'm still alive! and the church is true! 

Love,

Sister Keller

BRRRRRR!

Hello Family!

 I am still alive! No frost bite!! (yet...) It is soooo cold here! I don't like humid -11 wind-chills. It just burns! It's like having dry ice hit you in the face. But President Wirthlin has told us to stay inside during days like these. I knew an Elder who had frostbitten ears. They got better but he said they hurt so bad when they thawed. I cover literally every single part of my face. I have way too many layers on right now. So needless to say, I'm pretty warm. 

This week was pretty sweet! There were 4 people baptized from the Elders area on Saturday. I really like that family. We take their mother out teaching with us sometimes. Even before she was baptized, she loved to come teach. She just knew how wonderful the gospel was and wanted to start sharing it with others. It is like Elder Bednar's talk this past General Conference. When we discover something that brings us joy and relief, we want to immediately share it with others. She has a very powerful testimony. Her girls do too! She has 2 daughters and were so happy to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost on Sunday and be welcomed into the Elmira Ward family. The 4th woman is a friend of theirs I believe, but I am not sure. She could be a relative. She was so happy too. There is another family getting baptized this Saturday too! MAN! People here are just so ready! I am so excited to be a part of this great work! The missionaries in this area, the 4 elders, Sister Howard and I have been working so hard. The ward is extremely grateful for our efforts. Especially our Bishop and the other auxiliaries. I hope all 6 of us stay at least one more transfer here!!! The goal for this year in the ward was to have about 15 baptisms. We are already at 6! There is a pretty good possibility for 13 more to come real soon.

In November the Elders also baptized a young girl from our area. They taught her while there were no sisters, so that's why she wasn't ours. But we teach her the new member lessons now. She hasn't been coming to church, but we have been really working hard with her. She sees the importance of coming to church and is going to be there in these next 2 weeks. We are excited to help her get prepared to go to the temple with the rest of the youth.

There is a really sweet member who we see multiple times a week. She used to be less active, but since we have been here she no longer is. Her testimony has strengthened so much! We have really seen her grow. We frequently study the Book of Mormon with her and relate it to her life. I have gained such a powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon!!! I find so much joy in reading it! We recently brought this woman to come teaching with us. It was the first time she had ever been asked to come out with the missionaries, and she LOVED it!! She was such a big help too. She has a great testimony, and can really relate with people.

"So much in life depends on our attitude. The way we choose to see things and respond to others makes all the difference. To do the best we can and then to choose to be happy about our circumstances, whatever they may be, can bring peace and contentment."
—Thomas S. Monson

The church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller

Happy BirthWEEK!

Dear Family,

I had a pretty good birthday. Well, birthweek.The actual day itself wasn't too fun. The weather was super bad and we couldn't go outside. Then everyone we had scheduled to meet with that day canceled on us, including the dinner appointment. So we did a lot of practicing teaching lessons with each other and catching up on Sister Howard's 12 week training. We are on our 2nd transfer together by the way. Okay enough with the down side... That morning we had a sweet lesson with an investigator and then went to the church to help a woman crochet a hat (my companion's kind act of service that day because I don't know anything about yarn) and she surprised me with the entire young woman's class to sing happy birthday and give me a present! It was very unexpected! I also got phone calls throughout the entire day of different people singing happy birthday to me! I had about 20 people sing to me and had 2 different parties at members houses throughout the week :) Oh, and yes, I got your package on the 2nd!

Church was AWESOME this week! So as you know, we have been visiting quite a few less active members for a while now. Well they FINALLY came to church! One of them brought a friend! We have been teaching her friend for about 2 weeks and she came to church! It was really unexpected but, super awesome. The Elders have about 8 or so people getting baptized this Saturday and one of the youngest girls stood up to bare her testimony during Sacrament Meeting. It was so sweet! Another investigator stood up to bare his testimony and said that he isn't investigating. He already knows that the church is true and that his next goal is to "get in the water". Our investigator who is autistic spoke up announcing to everyone that her baptism is February 7th. She is so sweet! She is actually Brother Houston's daughter (the man who we just recently baptized). Elmira is so prepared. The field is white and ready to harvest. I hope I spend at least one more transfer here to see it grow.

The church is true! I love you!

Love, Sister Keller