Back to the Beginning!

Lindsay didn't write a letter this week.  She just sent pictures of journal entries for a few days last week.  I love it, it's the real her for sure!  

 13 Julio 2017

I WENT TO OXKUTZCAB!  So, on Tuesday we went to Ticul, a big pueblo close to Ox, to do splits with some hermanas there.  I couldn’t bear being so close to Ox without going, so I asked permission from President to go!  And he said yes!  We were only there for like 5 hours, but we made the most of it!

I called Hermano Tigre to let him know I was coming and he greeted us at the bus station!  It was so FUN to see him again!  I almost cried and so did he!  We went to visit a few members including all the kids that drove us crazy in Sacrament meeting every week, los ninos with the crocodile (they now have a monkey as well) and Presidente and Hermana Villareal.  It was so cool to see everyone again.  And it was even cooler because I could talk to everyone without problem!  Various people were quite surprised, haha!  I guess I’ve learned a little Spanish in the past year.

Ox is so cute.  I love it!  I’m so glad that I started my mission there.  The people are so loving.  Legit everyone gave me fruit, haha!  Just like old times.  Also, los ninos gave me a backpack, a little bag, a bucket hat and some sparkly white sunglasses :)  The people of Ox are so giving.  It’s incredible!

It was so amazing just to be there again.  It’s so cool to look back on everything that happened there, everything that has happened since and how much I’ve changed.  I’m definitely a better missionary/person now than I was then.

Back on Tigre's Tricicolo.

Her first home!

All the kids that gave them a hard time in Sacrament meeting...

Los Niños - the kids she first baptized.

They had a crocodile when she was there and now they have a monkey! 

14 Julio 2017

Today was legit crazy.  I woke up sick.  Like really sick.  But I felt like it would pass so we went out to work like normal.  But during our first lesson I had a lot of trouble forming coherent thoughts because my head hurt so sooo bad!  My companion realized I was not doing well so we went home after.  I had almost no energy and it was so hard to walk home.  And it was only 3 blocks.  I just laid down in my hammock until my back hurt!  (It was a long time).  My sweet companion took good care of me!  She helped to bring down my fever.  While I was sleeping she put wet cloths on my forehead - she was so worried about me.  She’s way cute!  After like 4 hours my fever broke.  And just in time because we had to leave the house to go to Jareth’s baptism!

So we got to the church and there was no water!  A repeat of my first baptism in Ox!  We tried figuring something out, but nothing worked.  So we asked permission to go to the Stake Center and we all went!  The font was empty so we had to wait like 45 minutes to fill up.  Jareth got baptized at 8:45 that night!  That doesn’t sound that late, but in the missionary world that’s very late!  But I forgot to mention that on the way to the baptism, the cops pulled us over because Hermana Elsy ran over a cone! haha!  But she got out of a ticket because she said she was going to her son’s baptism!  It was so funny.

Jareth was sooo excited!  After the baptism, he shared his testimony and said that he’s excited to be a member of the Church and excited to be able to pass the sacrament!  Ahhhh, he’s so cute!  We got back home at 9:30 and realized we left our phone in the Stake Center!  Ni modos!

16 Julio 2017

We didn’t take a bus all day yesterday.  That was pretty cool.  We planned to go visit an investigator because her husband wasn’t going to be home.  We went to eat at their house and right after we finished, he got home and one of her friends came over.  So we couldn’t teach her :(  We were sad because we studied hard to be able to teach her well about the Restoration.  Opposition in all things :(  We’re going to have a noche de hogar with them tomorrow.

But today was pretty normal.  Actually no!  It was awesome because Adriana got a calling!  She’s a Relief Society teacher!  She taught the class today, I was so proud!  She taught it with an object lesson and passed out little papers for the sisters to read and everything!  Like a RS teacher with experience!  It was so cute!

I gave a talk in Church! It’s the 5th time I’ve spoken in the mission.  And probably the last time!  The next time I speak I’ll be at home.  What the crap.  But my talk went well I think.  I cried a lot at the end.  The mission has made me soft!  I can’t even imagine how much I am going to cry the next time I speak.  Que eso!  

Con Amor,

Hermana Keeler

The Zone! 

Four Areas and the Lessons Learned

Well this week was great!!!!  I feel like the weeks are just flying by.  We are already in semana 3 of this cambio!  It's gone by so fast.  And it's crazy that I just have 6 weeks left.  I've really been feeling the urgency to do everything that I possibly can in these last weeks that I've got!  My companion and I are working HARD.  We had 9 investigators at church yesterday :) And we have 5 baptisms planned for this change!  Jared and Eduardo are getting baptized this week!  It's been incredible to see so many people so willing and so ready to make a covenant with our Heavenly Father!  I love all of the people that I am teaching soooo much! They iinspire me to be better! 

Adriana this week recieved a calling!  She won't tell us what it is becuase she wants it to be a surprise when they announce it in church this Sunday!  I'm so excited for her!  She's learning a lot and really living the gospel.  Last week she couldn't go to church because she was really sick, but when we went to visit her later that night she told us, "I sanctified the Sabbath day here in my house."  I died hahah she's soooo cute and has such a desire to choose the right!  I love her! 

 

We're having a little bit of trouble finding new people to teach!  We have a ton of investigators right now, but they're all going to get baptized soon and we won't have anyone left to teach.  SO we're praying hard and searching for these people!!!! 

Sooooo I got sick this week!  I had a 39 degree fever!  We use Celcius here haha!  But I felt really really awful on Friday and I didn't know why and also I was soooo hot so finally I asked for a thermometer to see if I had a fever and I was burning up.  We went home a little later and I rested for a bit!  The next day I even got to sleep in a little bit!  And when I woke up I was fine.  I think Heavenly Father sent me a fever so that I could sleep just a little longer!  Tender mercies :) 

On Sunday we got locked inside the church, and outside of our house!  First we were inside the church studying when we got a call from the elders asking where we were... we told them and they were like oh crap you guys are locked in. So they had to call someone to let us out!  Then... I locked the keys inside the house so when we got back at 9 we were locked out.... my comp jumped the fence climbed on the roof and tried to get in through the back... that didn't work.  Then the Castillo family came to help us and hermano Olegario got us in!  They saved us!  But I felt so dumb after haha.  That's the third time in my mission that I've forgotten the keys!  Who knows why my companions always want me to carry them with me! : }

Well I was reflecting a little bit on my whole mission. I was thinking about my areas, and how each one of these areas has taught me something different. I know that the changes are inspired and that in each area I have had something new to learn! 

Oxkutzcab was to humble me. Mérida was to help me gain a confidence with Spanish and help me to connect with the people. Campeche was to help me learn how to find people to teach, and help them understand the principles of the gospel. Aeropuerto is the place where I have learned how to baptize. But more than anything how to love! I'm so grateful for the Mission!  I have loved every one of my areas and all the people I met!   I can only think back on my mission and feel gratitude!  I am infinitely grateful for this opportunity that my Heavenly Faher has given me :) 

I love you all! 

Hermana Keeler

She didn't send pictures today so I found some from each of her areas.  Enjoy the Retrospective! 

OXKUTZCAB

 MERIDA (Vergel)

CAMPECHE

 MERIDA (Aeropuerto) 

The Heat has nothing on Us!

Buenas!  Well this week was really great.  It's been really fun to show Hermana Torres around this area.  I've realized that it really is a super cool area.  There's a little bit of everything. There are some really poor parts, but there are also some really rich parts.  It's a good mix.  And we're not lacking in people to teach!  There are so many people here.  We have a ton of investigators PFs (in mission language that means families where not all are members). 

Hermana Torres and I get along really well.  She's super cute and funny.  I met her in Campeche when she was my sister training leader.  It's nice being a sister training leader because it usually means you have good companions.  I've been blessed to be friends with every one of mine!  Also My beloved daughter Hermana Sanchez is now in our zone!  I get to see her every Tuesday!  It's so great to see old companions again :)  I've made lifelong friends here in the mission!!!!!! 

This week we decided to try something a little different to find people to teach!  Hermana Torres knows how to play the recorder ( the fake insturment that you learn in elementary school haha) and I can sing a little bit, so we decided to play and sing for people.  It really didn't work as well as I thought it would.  The people weren't as excited as I hoped.  I guess we were just mediocre!  BUT.  We did see a miracle! 

We went to go see a less active member on Sunday.  We yelled and no one came out.  We yelled again and nothing.  Then it started to rain a little bit so we got closer to her door and took cover under the little porch.  We were just standing there for a little bit and Hermana Torres pulled out her recorder and started playing.  And so I started singing.  Suddenly the woman who lived there stuck her head out of the window on the second floor and asked us what we were doing there.  She was just like what the heck are these girls doing at my door and why are they singing.  So we explained who we were and everything.  And turns out the less active member had moved that day!!!  But this woman invited us in (it was raining REALLY HARD at this point) and we taught her about the book of Mormon!  We found a new investigator thanks to Hermana Torres's recorder :) 

Yesterday at church my convert, Sara, bore her testimony!  I was so proud!  She really is so great!  She has a strong testimony!  She faces a lot of opposition, but is really faithful and perservering!  Her brother in law Eduardo also came to church and is going to be baptized next week!  I love them so much!  They invited us over for pancakes last night.  We ate them Yucatecan style... con la mano! (with your hands) 

I love being a missionary!  Yesterday at church I just felt so happy.  I love all of the members.  I love all the people I teach!  I've been so blessed to be in this area.  I feel like I'm in the promised land.  There are so many people that are prepared to recieve the gospel!  And I'm glad to be an instrument in God's hands! 

We are hoping to have 5 baptisms this change!  We know it's possible with a lot faith and a whole lot of hard work.  The heat has nothing on us!  We're missionaries of the true church!  And we're going to finish strong!!!!!  I love this work and I love my Heavenly Father!!!!!

Love,

Hermana Keeler

Riding in trucks and Super Miracles

This week was incredible! Two of my favorite people got baptized on Saturday!  Adriana and Sara. Adriana is the sister of a recently returned mission and Sara is the wife of a less active member.  They both have known about the church for a long time, but recently made the decision to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized!  I was so happy to be able to be a part of their conversion, and finally help them make a covenant with our Heavenly Father!  I love them both so much.  They both have faced a lot of opposition in their conversion process, mainly from their own families.  It's been so inspiring to see them continue on even without the support of their families!  They both have strong testimonies, and I know that they are happy to have finally made the decision to take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ!

We went to the baptism with Hermana Sara and her family in the back of their pickup truck.  Here in Mexico, they do things a little differently... instead of sitting in the bed of the truck you stand up.  They have like a fence to hold onto and stuff.  On the way to the baptism we were laughing and talking to hermana Sara, her sister in law and their two little kids.  It was raining just a tiny bit and I felt the wind in my face!  I just felt so happy that I was in Mexico, int he back of an old pickup truck, on the way to the church to see someone that I love make a promise with God.  I'm so grateful that I was called to serve in Mérida.  I love this place and this people with all of my heart. 

Welll.... I had changes!  I've got a new companion!  I'm super excited to work with Hermana Torres!  She was one of my friends in Campeche!  She's going home this change, and I go home 3 weeks after her, so we're both nearing the end!  We're going to work hard to finish strong!!!!  We're hoping to be able to baptize the Garrido family (the boys and their mom) and a few of our other investigators!  I'm a little sad that Hermana Espinoza left, but I'm glad for the time that we had together in this ward!  We worked really well together!  I had a lot of fun, and I learned a lot too!  But I'm really glad that I'm with Hermana Torres.  She's super sweet and really fun!  I'm so blessed that I've always had good companions!!!!

SO this week we saw a super miracle. Yesterday we went to church in an uber taxi with Adriana and David, and we got there a couple minutes late so we like ran out of the taxi.  Our cell phone fell out of my pocket and got left in the taxi!  We called and called and no one answered!  Then later Hermano David called again and the taxi driver answered!  We asked him where he was and he said, One block from the mormon temple downtown.  And David was like,  Hey go inside the chruch right next to the temple and give the phone to the guys in white shirts and ties"!  Our phone ended up with the security guard!  The Elders passed by later that night and brought it to us the next day!!!!  I didn't have to pay 600 pesos to buy a new one!!!!!  Blessings!!!! 

I want you all to know that I am happy. SO HAPPY! You wanna know why?  Because I love my Heavenly Father! And He loves me. And all of you too :) 

 I love you all! 

Hermana Keeler