Small Victories!

The next time we hear from her she will be in Merida!   Her Pdays (the day she gets to email) will be on Mondays now.  Her birthday is Thursday, May 5th… Cinco de Mayo!  (I should have known that someday she would be spending her 20th birthday living in Mexico!)  Anyway, if you would kindly send her some birthday love via email prior to Monday, May 2nd she would love it!  lindsay.keeler@myldsmail.net

SO this week was good. Went by WAY FAST. I feel like I was just doing this but it has been a whole week!!! 

I am good at things that no one cares about. Badminton, roller skating... tap dancing. I realized this week that tap dancing is quite an impressive skill and I never really realized it. The other day someone brought it up for some reason and I was like "oh yeah I can tap dance" and showed my district a couple moves and they were all like WOAH THATS SO COOL. And then I taught one Elder how to do a shirley temple and he practiced it a ton hahaha. So that was really funny. 

The comedor has really been letting us down lately. Last Friday they served fish for lunch and then served the same fish that no one ate for dinner but tried to disguise it with red sauce. It was disgusting. Later that night when Hermana Dangl and Hermana Nelson were praying they thanked Heavenly Father for the comedor and after I  was like WHY IN THE WORLD ARE YOU THANKFUL FOR THE COMEDOR. But then the next day for lunch they had flautas with avocado salsa and flan the dessert of the Gods. So moral of the story is prayer works. Be thankful for everything. Even old tilapia. 

Okay you know how I got swoll? MY BODY TURNED ON ME AND I GOT A LITTLE TINY STRETCH MARK ON MY RIGHT BICEPT. I got too muscular too fast, what?  So we have been playing tennis at gym and not lifting weights. Today was the last chance to exercise here because we have meetings and have to pack and stuff, I played volleyball today and I actually enjoyed it. Small victories against the world's most socially stressful sport. 

We are packing today! SO that is why our room is digusting in the picture haha. 

Speaking of small victories, I went to show someone that I couldn´t roll my Rs and I ROLLED MY RS. I can usually do it a little bit in words but I have never been able to just straight roll my Rs but I DID IT. I legit slammed against the wall I was so surprised and elated. Haven't really been able to do it since but it was a good moment! 

SO spiritual thought this week. On Sunday we had a lesson about hope. It was very timely because the previous day we took this little quiz to see Christlike attributes that we needed to work on. My lowest scoring one was hope! There was a quote on this slideshow that we watched that said, " I can't do this but I'm doing it anyway!”.  And that is how I feel most of the time honestly!  Like what am I doing I can't speak Spanish!  But I am doing it anyway because I am being obedient!  And I have to have hope that good will come out of this experience!  Even if my only convert is me :)

I leave at 2:30 AM on Monday!  Super crazy. I am trying to enjoy my rock hard bed and hot showers because who knows what will be in store for me in Mérida! 

It will be an adventure!!! 

Love,

Hermana Keeler

Getting more than just spiritual gains!

Apparently she’s learning more than just how to be a missionary,  because she’s throwing in some weightlifting lingo that I thought were typos until Chris corrected me.   And Owen has very dry hands in case you were wondering!   

 So this week I don't have a ton to say... everyday is exactly the same.. haha. My hands are exactly like Owen's... it is so dry here. But my lips are fine bc no more weird accutane skin so that is good. Just Owen hands all day every day. 

I have been working out hard, I am quite swoll now.  We get lots of protein in the comedor ( we have two options every meal: a slab of meat or cut up meat)  so I am getting gains like crazy.  But actually I can do 30 pushups now and I actually did a pushup witha 45 lb plate on my back so I'm feeling pretty good. 

The other day a senior missionary serving at the CCM came up to me, gave me a hug, and said, "That's from your cousin Emily Burnett!" It was way sweet! I guess they met somewhere in Mexico City West! SO that was fun.

Not sure if they have them in California but try to find a kinder bueno bar…best candy ever…the rest of Mexico’s desserts are no good though, except for flan.  Missing my mama’s good cooking and the thai food dad’s wallet makes! 

I had an increíble realization. SPANISH IS EVERYWHERE.

Enrique Iglesias. 

ENRIQUE CHURCHES.

His middle name is probably no va a, because his songs do not indicate that he goes to church. 

The things you learn at the CCM. 

Happy birthday to Hermana Sorenson and Maddi Baugh! 

Something interesting did happen this week! 

They are doing a ton of construction on the CCM so we had to change classrooms. I was actually really sad because our class is literally one third of the size of the old one and really only has brick walls a whiteboard and some desks. We did not realize how spoiled we were before! And it is further away so now we are late. 

Still learning Spanish and still learning how to be a missionary. 

Everyone go read 2 Nephi because it is GOLD. My favorite chapter is either 31 or 32... can't remember but they are both good. Go read them! The Gospel Library App is free.. the Book of Mormon will change your life! Also, if you haven't read the intro to the BOM do it because it's super cool! I had never really read it before I always just skip to 1st Nephi.

I LOVE ALL OF YOU! 

Hernana Keeler 

PS. Send me lots of email letters from now until next Friday because after that I won't be able to get any! Please make me a happy hermana! 

Lindsay’s days at the training center in Mexico City are soon coming to an end.  She will be leaving on May 2nd for Merida.  There is a service that delivers your printed email to missionaries at the CCM free of charge.  www.missionarypackagemx.com.   She only has access to email once a week for 40 minutes, so she loves getting these printed emails because she can read them anytime during the week and then she has a printed copy.  Also, her birthday is May 5th, she will be entering the field that week, so I am sure she would appreciate lots of birthday love as she makes that transition. 

A white girl in Mexico

Hello family and friends!!! 

The days are blending together. We do the same things everyday. It kind of feels like one really really long school day but you take naps in between classes. But it's more fun than school and it’s more stressful too because people's salvation is on the line. 

We are constantly learning. ALWAYS. If we're not learning we're sleeping. And sometimes I even learn in my dreams. Estoy bromeando. SPANISH IS THE WORST. but not really I feel like I am meant to speak Spanish but just can´t yet. I am getting better at rolling my Rs I am better at it than some people in my district. I sound less white than a lot of people here which is good.I can say so much but I can't understand some Latinos. Some I can understand almost all but some I'm just like TALK SLOWER, WHY ARE YOU YELLING,  PLEASE SLOW DOWN IM A WHITE GIRL IN MEXICO, WHAT AM I DOING HERE I DONT KNOW SPANISH, but on the outside I'm just smiling and nodding sí. It´s so frustrating because I can express my self relatively well but that doesn't matter if I can't understand anything!!! 

In TRC this week we taught this lady and I got almost nothing out of the lesson but I shared some gospely stuff and I think that it made sense but I was so confused the whole time. Speaking of being confused, we went to the temple last week. We had translators for the first part but the rest of it was in Spanish. I really had to just listen to the sounds that the lady was making and try to imitate them because she was not speaking real words I am sure of it. It was cool though. Spanish is a lot simpler than English in terms of words alone. It's kind of refreshing. Once I learn it hahaha.

Sometimes I forget that I have a first name. I respond to Hermana. It's so funny because everyone just refers to their comp as their title but I only respond to Hermana Christensen because I know her voice so well. It's kind of funny. I am so grateful for Hermana Christensen. She is so great! We get along really well. She really is so much like Maren and our relationship is so similar it's kind of crazy! She's really hardworking and determined and sometimes I need that! We really just know when to pick each other up when we need it! We compliment each other really well. 

Mom you were so right. When it comes down to it I am a rule follower. I like following the rules and when I see people breaking them it makes me a little upset. But I have to remember that God gave us all agency so that we can all learn for ourselves!!!! And that just because I may follow a certain rule it doesn't mean that I am any better than anyone else. Comparison is so real here. It is so hard not to look at someone else and compare your language skills, teaching ability , and even dumb things like clothes. But comparison is soooooo not of God! He created each of us individually and spent time to make us who we are! The worth of souls truly is great in the sight of God!!! I have learned that so much already, I can't wait to see how much more I will learn of that in the field.

EVERYONE. Go watch the Mormon Message, I’m a Mormon, Recovering Addict, and Better Son. That is my teacher Hermano Pavia! He is the best. He has had a rough life but the gospel can change everything! He went on a mission and now he is a teacher at the CCM! The gospel changes people's lives for the better! Here's the link to  Hermano Pavia's story    

I love you all!  Have a great week!

Love, 

Hermana Keeler

Donuts and Roller Coasters

Hello family! 

This week was good. Everyday is kind of the same. We have personal study, breakfast, more personal study, language study with our teachers, some kind of spiritual learning activity, lunch, gym time for an hour, and then we have a little time to get ready and relax (like 10 minutes haha). Then we teach our investigator, have more language classes, prepare lessons for the next day, eat dinner, study Spanish on the computer, and study language more. So we are going from 6:30 until ):30 every single day. It gets kind of redundant after a while. But sometimes we change things up and study outside or have gym at a different time and that's kind of a big deal :)  On April Fool’s Day we moved all of our desks in a circle around our maestros desk.  They didn’t think it was that funny ... Mexicans don’t have April Fools Day!   We don't get to leave the CCM regularly, but today we do because we are going to the temple! I am way excited. You will get pics next week.

So we have had a sickness going around the CCM... some call it the brown plague. It got so bad that we are not allowed to touch each other at all anymore. Handshakes and hugs are forbidden. It's actually kind of hilarious. Every single person in my district has gotten it EXCEPT ME!!!!!!!!!!! I AM THE ONLY STRONG ONE! Seriously my companion was like dying and then everyone else in my district was dying and then everyone in the whole CCM was dying... haha the teachers are afraid to be here! It's hilarious and sad how pathetic everyone is. Pray that I don't get sick. I don't think that it is the food... 

The food.

It is okay sometimes. But then today they served eggs with cut up hot dogs (Derek you would've loved it). And I was like okay I can't do this. So I ate cereal. They have these things that look like donuts and smell like donuts but THEY ARE NOT DONUTS. They are circular shaped gross dry pieces of bread with weird chocolate on them. So that was really dissapointing. A few days ago they brought in these huge boxes of chocolate twisty donuts from like a bakery and I was so excited because they looked like the ones at home!!! I was very dissapointed to find that they were the same gross bread with slightly better chocolate on top. 

We speak a lot of english. More than I was expecting. All of our meetings are in English. So that is kind of hard. I am in mexico but I am still surrounded by lots of white people. We are getting better at talking to latinos now though. We made friends with some Hermanas the other day.

Okay funny story for the week. So after devo the other day we walked back into our hall and there was a bird sitting on the ground. We walked up to it and it flew down the long hall toward the other doors. There were some hermanas on the other side that started freaking out because the bird was coming straight for them. It got to the end and realized that there was a door so it turned around. It came down to our side SO FAST and flew straight into the window and died. All of the hermanas screamed so loud and we didn't know what to do!  This huge elder just picked it up and threw it in the trash can lol. 

HEY SHELBY OWEN AND DAD WHY DONT YOU SEND ME A LETTER IF YOU EVER GET AROUND TO IT. The printed out letters are the best!!! It's like Christmas. Family Derek has already sent me 3 or 4 so you better get on it. I just want to know what you did that week. And please send pictures!!!!! They print them out on the letters!  I just want to know what's going on in Los Estados Unidos. Oh btw my Pday next week is Friday. 

I miss you guys but honestly, I'm too busy to be homesick. This is my life now so I'm just trying to live it here instead of back in the states.  I feel literally exactly the same, just maybe a litttle bit more responsible? and I feel more Holy but also totally inadeqaute a lot? It´s weird. But I am definitely myself. 

I had a really hard day yesterday. We had TRC yesterday for the first time. TRC is where you teach volunteers who come in from the city! They are usually native Spanish speakers so it is good practice, but they are hard to understand. Hermana Christensen and I taught this lady named Ellie. She was nice but we seriously didn't know what to say to her. We tried to talk to her about her life and get to know her but we weren't connecting like at all. It was a weird feeling. It was different from what I usually feel because it wasn't a lack of language skills it was a lack of PEOPLE skills. Which has never happened to me before. It was so frustrating. After we got out I just put my head in Hermana Christensen's lap and cried. I was very discouraged.

Later we watched a video called The Atonement and the Mission Field (mom please look it up and send it to me). It was incredible. It talked about how salvation isn't cheap, so why would our work be easy? Why would we think it would be easy if it was never easy for Him? That really struck me and gave me a lot of courage. 

This is different from work I did before. This is completely changing my life and my goals and needs and wants and giving them all to Him. 

Some people say that the mission has the highest highs and the lowest lows, but all the best roller coasters do! And it will just keep getting better (and harder).  The mission is an incredible experience.  It truly is the greatest work that we can attend to in this life!  

I love you all. 

Con amor, 

Hermana Keeler