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