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

NOT TRUNKY YET

Dear Family,

Oh. My. Goodness!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe that transfer calls are this Saturday! Transfer 12 went by so fast. I wonder how 13 will be... Everyone thinks that I am staying because it will be my last one. I think that is very nice of them to say. It makes me feel like they really love me. I am not so sure if I will finish here though. I would love to serve in one more area. I have been really praying to know how I can make my last transfer great and one that I won't get trunky. No one thinks that I am trunky, or could get that way, but that is because I am trying so hard not to be! Definition of trunky: a full time missionary who comes to the end of their missionary service and talks about going home, thinks about going home, packs their bags 5 weeks early, loses focus on the work, stops caring, doesn't care about the rules... etc. I don't do those things, but I know that it gets harder not to when the big 13 comes around. So I am kind of hoping I will finally get to be a Sister Training Leader or something in a new area. We'll see :)

I was able to give away a Book of Mormon this week! It has been a little while, so I was excited to do that. We had a fireside at the church on Friday. A couple of women came because they heard about it in the paper. It was so cool, because they got to hear two returned sister missionaries talk about their missions. One went to Japan, and the other went to Armenia. After hearing their stories, I am so thankful that I came to a state side, English speaking mission!!!  When the meeting was over I ran up to them and gave them a Book of Mormon. They seemed excited to read it. 

Our mission conference was really cool! We drove all the way to Syracuse in the AP's van which crams 12 missionaries inside. President Rogers is changing a ton of things! Mostly teaching methods, and rules and such. I am loving all of it!!! Other missionaries, not so much... Some are really upset that he isn't doing what President Wirthlin did. It doesn't bother me. I know that he has been called, and set a part to do what he is doing now. He gave every missionary a piece of paper that we were to write down some goals for what we hope to accomplish for the rest of our missions and when we go home and stuff. Then we sealed it up in an envelope and he plans on having us open them up and go over them when we have our "Going Home" interview with him, to see how we have accomplished those goals. I really liked that. 

I have a pretty busy week this week, I hope it goes well! The church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller

NOT MUCH

Dear Family,

I really don't have too much to report on this week. We did have a really good week though. Great lessons, and great spiritual experiences. Our lesson with Johnson went awesomely well. He committed to come to church "on some Sunday". That's good enough for us! But only because we know that he is genuine, and has a legit reason for waiting.

 

We received some referrals from a couple members this week. We only could contact one so far, but that was a really cool experience. So the family that the member told us about had experienced a horrible car accident a long time ago leaving the father paralyzed. They sued the car company and won and got a super nice fancy house that is accessible for his wheel chair and things. They didn't know that we knew all of that, but it helped us start a good conversation with them. We walked up to the mother washing her car and introduced ourselves and said we were in the neighborhood. We told her that we knew a little bit about their experience from some neighbors and she wanted to introduce us to her husband. They were so welcoming and offered us some water. We were able to teach them the restoration and bare testimony of the Savior. They are pretty religious, so they weren't really interested in more, but they have a lot of potential in the future! Plus they just had a great experience with a couple of nice Mormon's, so now they know that we are good people.

Instead of a zone conference tomorrow, we will be having a mission conference!!! Well half of us. But that is going to be huge! We will be traveling to Syracuse for the meeting. I am pretty excited! I already love what the new mission president is doing. I can tell that he has big plans for change in the future :)

Well that's all folks! The church is true! 

Love, Sister Keller