Elder Keller & Elder Phillips in Sao Paulo

Elder Keller & Elder Phillips in Sao Paulo

Monday, July 20, 2015

#46 July 20, 2015 Following the Spirit

Alright this week was totally awesome! Im not gonna lie it was hard and we are starting with nothing but that forced us to turn to the Lord in everything we did and it turned out super great!

Alright so numbers wise this was the worst week of my entire mission! Like it was horrible... haha everyone is German here and we get a lot of no's but the lord also blessed Elder Reid and I to find new people who were willing to listen to our message. So for you guys to have an idea we taught seven lessons this week. One a day. Thats never happened on my mission! Haha Normally three a day is a bad day! In Guaratuba you could like convince the people to let you come in for fifteen minutes so you could share a little bit about the restoration but here people want nothing to do with you! But it was awesome because every day we would talk to members but of course they dont have anything so we knocked doors, and every day at the end of the day the Lord helped us find someone who would let us in! And with Elder Reid I feel like i am learning how to listen to the spirit like never before. Just this week alone I have had so many experiences where we both catch eachother thinking the same exact thing and then realizing it was totally from the spirit. In every lesson as well we really realied on the lord and in the times that we got stuck, we would pause (which i absolutely hate doing and elder reid is helping me get better at that) listen to the spirit, and then respond! And the lessons are turning out awesome! 

We had a really awesome example of how to follow the spirit in one of our lessons this week. This old lady let us in and it was her and her daughter and the daughters husband and we got talking to them trying to get to know them a little better and because it would be the first lesson we were just thinking we had to share the restoration. but we knew the people didnt have a lot of time so we could only share a part. And i wanted to start teaching the restoration but there was something just yelling dont do it! And so I was like then what the heck are we supposed to teach??? Then I thought we have to go with the last part of the plan of salvation. So we taught the spirit world and the kingdoms of glory. The ladies husband had died five years ago and it was awesome to use that in the lesson to help her and afterwards reid said he felt the exact same thing! that we had to teach spirit world and the degrees of glory. I thought that was super awesome to see that we had each gotten in tune enough with the spirit that we knew what we needed to teach without even talking! It was awesome! And we had multiple experiences like that every single day this week! I love knowing that we have the spirit with us. 

Reid is totally awesome because he is the first comp i got that loves analyzing the lessons and thinking back on what we could have done better with everything and we get along great because we both love the gospel and we want to get better! It is really simple when it all comes down to it. Good companionship is just a desire to follow God and not our own ideas. He has only been in Brasil for 9 weeks but is speaking awesome so that is really great! 

Also I learned a huge lesson this week. In our district I knew there was a certain elder that would be with us. I was in the MTC with him and lets just say he wasnt too focused on his purpose. So of course, good ol Elder Keller is already judging this guy before he even gets to the apartment and thinking am probably gonna have to fight with this guy to get him to do what is right. So then he got there. And i learned a super awesome lesson this week! We have to really strive to get to know the people that we lead or who are in our care because then we start to learn how to love them just as Christ does. It is super hard sometimes but we have to remember that Christ and Heavenly Father love every single person no matter how bad they may be! I tried really getting to know this elder this week and turns out he is a really good guy! Sure he has some problems with president and rules but when I really learned about his past and how he got out on his mission i learned to see his potential and not what he is like right now. And he is a totally awesome kid! So we always have to remember to get to know someone and their story before we just write them off. 

But anyways joinville is totally awesome and is stinking huge! haha we walk like crazy and the 3 kilometers doesnt do much because our church building as well as where we live isnt even in our area! haha We have to walk ten minutes just to get into the area and from their the church is already like 2 km away so pres said we could expand our radius to be able to work. But it is super cool here and they have really cheap really unhealthy hamburgers that we eat all the time so im happy (; Haha but the ward is really cool! the bishop is a great guy and the members flat out told us that they cant convince anyone to take the lessons but they are willing to go with us and do splits and stuff so that is really good! now we just gotta find people! 

But I love and miss you all so much and hope your week goes awesome! The gospel is true! 

Love, Elder Keller 

Monday, July 13, 2015

#45 July 13, 2015 Transferred to Joinville!!

Wow Im in Joinville now! pretty crazy! so last week president called and told me i was getting shipped out of guaratuba and sent me to joinville which is like 100 times different than guaratuba haha. but i am super exicted to serve here! the city is gorgeous and has a lot of german influence and is the biggest city in santa catarina! im already lost... but we are in a house with 6 elders and there are 8 in our district.

Im not gonna lie, leaving Guaratuba was super hard. I really feel like a created a special bond with a lot of people there and grew to feel a little bit of the love that Christ really has for us. I think it was most difficult saying by to miriams family because we were so involved with them and on getting them back to the church and to the temple! But Elder Moore who is from my group is totally awesome and is gonna take my place there so they are in good hands! I was the only one transferred out of there. 

But now I am with Elder Reid who is just awesome! I just had one comp study with the guy and I can already tell that the companionship is going to be really great! He is from Daines group. Served in the usa for two transfers and then came over here! he has been in brasil for about 9 weeks but is already speaking super well! 

Not gonna lie this place is a mess, because the apartment we have is huge so we are not gonna have a lot of time today or this week i think cuz we are going to have to clean up everything and change the house up a bit but I am really excited to get started here in Joinville. 

The other Elders in the house are going to be Elders malkum, dos anjos, soares, mueller, and reid. Malkum is from my group and he gets here today, dos anjos has been in Joinville like 8 months out of 14 on his mission! i think once you go to joinville you dont leave! But its a great place so im excited. 

I was thinking about it a lot when i was transfered and it was hard saying bye to guaratuba and i feel like i left it in good hands! We even got a return appt marked with that awesome couple luciano and ana lucia for next week who went off the radar because of phone problems! Also i realize i love change! We have to go through change so that we can grow! There is a big banner with a quote by Elder Bednar on it that President carries with him to all meetings with the mission that i think in english says, if we always do what we have always done, we will always have what we have always had. 

And it is so true! We have gotta leave our comfort zones to be able to grow as missionaries!  But im sorry it was short im out of time but i love you guys and ill get more out next week! 

Elder Keller 

Monday, July 6, 2015

#44 July 6, 2015

Alright so this week was great! We had to go to Joinville to get Elder Sulivans results for his knee and we found out he is fine he just has to do some at home physical therapy cuz there is water bunching up in his bones that causes pain but the exercises should be able to help him out.

Also while we were there we had to do some vaccination for the flu cuz president wanted us to take it so we had to go to a mall because that was the only place in joinville that accepts our plan and woah it was crazy! I know it doesnt sound like anything but it was like being back in America for a second! haha Joinville is actually a pretty nice town so it was pretty sweet getting a nice little american experience on fourth of july week! They even had a mcdonalds there! But mcdonalds here is like nice food so it is SUPER expensive! Forget the dollar menu. Haha. But i did buy a good ol' real american ice cream sundae and i almost died cuz it was so good! haha (ice cream here at least in all my areas is different). 

But the work here is great! Now we are just waiting on people with dates for baptism so we have been trying to find new investigators this week and we have found a few good possibilities but the book of mormon shows really quickly if they are going to be good or not so we are probably going to try to find a lot more this week! Bruno has been smoking one cigarrete a day for a while now so we have been focusing on studying the book of mormon with him so he can stop! But im sure with your prayers and his own he will be able to (: 

Vinicius is great and we taught all the big commandments and he doesnt have any problem and just said he knows that he needs to follow them so that was awesome! We are just waiting to find a problem but so far he has been super great (: We moved all of our baptism dates to the 25th because the whole ward is doing a temple caravan on the 18th so no one would be there! Transfers are next week so we will find out in this one whether i stay in guaratuba still or not! But either way I know the Lord is gonna put me where I need to be!

I love the mission because we learn so much how to trust in the Lord! we have got to learn that Heavenly Father has more power than any man so if we obey the commandments we will be blessed. I was studying the hymn A Poor Wayfaring Man Of Grief this week and I love that song so much! And its principles are so true! When we forget ourselves and help others we will be happy. Why? Because when we help others we are helping Christ. And I love it out here because we just get a tiny glimpse of his life. As small as it may be it helps us to understand at least a tiny bit more. And every time we help our savior we will be helped in return! It put a lot more meaning behind mosiah 2:17 for me. Thats why on our mission we have to study for our investigators and not for ourselves which has been something that was kind of hard for me in the beginning but now ive been applying it and in the end i get more revelation during my studies because of it! So we have always gotta be looking out for others and trying to help them. 

The relief society pres here is the hardest working member and visits everyone in the world! She is awesome! No one in the ward works that hard. She was called 2 months ago as there family was struggling financially because they had just opened up a fruit shop and didnt have any time. But she didnt complain about how it was hard, she went to work and now her family is being super blessed because of it! It is so awesome! And she doesnt have a car yet she will visit people super far away still! And I think about myself in that position and i probably would have done the opposite because I would have been thinking about myself. 

But anyways im out of time but I love and miss everyone so much! Family you are so lucky to be in washington! Have fun and take a ton of pics for me! Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Keller