IS THIS REALLY HAPPENING?

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Sister Keller

P.S. See you at home!

  

LAST FULL WEEK!

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

LOvE yOu!!!!!!!!!

Love, Sister Keller

MOST AMAZING WEEK!

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love, Sister Keller   

LIVING THE SCRIPTURES

Dear Family,

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

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

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

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

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

Love you all! Love, Sister Keller