#87 May 7, 2016 Let the Spirit be the Teacher

I love you guys so much! Dad I loved that letter from G-ma Keller! That letter was so awesome! I love how you gave it to kevin because i gave it to moore right afterwards to read but i didnt even realize that until after haha. But man Grandma Keller is just awesome!

I have been so blessed in my life with the family i have been given. And not just immediate but aunts and uncles, grandparents and everyone. I really have been given so much in this life so i know a lot will be required.

But I loved seeing a little bit into your mission dad! I am going to keep that letter for my own kids! As well as many letters from both of you guys! Lately I have been keeping the important ones in my journal.

The best part about that whole letter is the fact that 30 years of here life Grandma was not a member of the church. And she just became a powerhouse! And that is why you all turned into such champions in the kingdom of God

But anyways to answer a few questions.

SKYPE. Alright so there will be 8 guys here trying to skype in the office with 3 cameras tomorrow. So i was thinking maybe the best time would be 6 PM here. Which would be 2 PM there right? You guys said the ideal time would be 4:45 for your guys. Do you think I should try to go earlier? It sounds like all of them are going to be talking between 3 and 5. We will be here in the office so it shouldnt be too much of a trouble.

As well as for the trip if you guys want to stay in joinville/guaratuba saturday and sunday night i am cool with that as well. It is getting cold and rainy here so i dont think there will be that much to do. I just want to visit the families in joinville as well as the people in guaratuba.

But i thought it was super cool that Natress was called! When you guys went to Jim with Mcstraw dad did you go with natress? i was looking him up here in the office after the call and he looks awesome!

But anyways let me know if the skype works out! i love you guys so much! You really are the best family i could even imagine! thank you so much!

Love Elder Keller

This week was full of great experiences!

Tuesday we had a leadership training council. And it was awesome! We have been focusing on Elder Bednars part from a missionary transmission from January that was put on. President printed it out for everyone into awesome little books so we have been using it a lot and it is packed with great stuff!

So we have been focusing a lot on how we can better let the Spirit be the teacher in the lessons. And it has been awesome. If there is something I have learned from President Silva it is how to teach. The guy just has a gift and I want it! So President told us some of the key points that he wanted us to hit and then we started planning it last week and it was super cool to see how the spirit taught there.

One thing I see are that there are two different kinds of teaching.

The first is to fill up time, have a good presentation and make everbody happy in the end and its low risk. Then you have the second which is called, "jumping out of the boat" as Elder Bednar likes to call it.  Which basically means constantly getting out of your comfort zone and doing what you dont wanna do. It isnt comfortable following all the teaching techniques that you learn. But if you do it, it enables the spirit to teach. And you let others learn things for themselves instead of just trying to cram everything you know down their throat. 

So we have been preparing a lot for this council and trying to do the harder things and it ended up working out great!

The 3 pincipal points we wanted to pass in the training were: To invite is not to convince, Simplify: To teach does not mean to speak, and how to be more worthy instruments. One of the biggest things we have wanted to get across is invite people to be baptized in the first lesson. We are here to invite. Our missionary purpose is "invite" others, not "convince" others to come unto Christ. The elect will hear the voice of the Lord and will not harden their hearts.

And a big problem we have in our mission is we stay with these families who looks like elects but they arent. They are so close but they are not ready to progress towards baptism. And we waste all of our time. So why do we invite in the first? To find the elect. That doesnt mean someone cant be that at a different time in the future but right now maybe they aren't.

So we didnt an awesome practice with the nerf basketball hoop my parents sent me and used Matthew 19 with the story of the rich young man that Christ invited to leave everything and follow him. If you study just the verses 21 - 24 and look at how the greatest missionary, Christ invited people, you can learn a lot! And so we did that as well and we learned a ton with what the other missionaries were getting out of it as well.

That was a little part but the best part of the training was when a sister said, "now i get it! Now i get why we have to invite them! I didnt understand why before but now it makes sense!" and that was just so awesome to me! When you see that the spirit has taught something to someone and it clicks in there mind is one of the most satisfying things ever! I love teaching so much! It is the best! There are very few other things that bring such a good feeling as learning and teaching. And I am going to miss so many opportunites to constantly do so like we have out here on the mission.

But another awesome thing that happened this week was after all the trainings. We lost monday and tuesday because of the council but wednesday and thursday we had time to work after leaving the office both days. In those 2 days we talked to 71 people on the road and knocking doors and not a single one wanted anything to do with the church! And thursday night I was just kind of frusterated! Like thinking, arent we putting in the work??? What are we doing wrong? We have been here for two weeks and getting no where. Moises is awesome but he is like the rich young man. That guy looked like an elect. He came to Christ asking what he needed to do to progress but then couldnt do what needed to be done. He couldnt make it all the way. And that happens all the time as missionaries. We think we found a golden family and it ends up they are not.

So Friday we start doing the same thing. This day we had the less active list and we started trying to find anyone. We went to one at the top of a huge hill. It was like 7 at night and raining and we started clapping at the door and the next door neighboor comes out and told us that she wasnt home. But then she just randomly tells us to come in.

She lives there with her son, brothers, and mom, She and her son participated. We asked her why she let us in and she told us that her husband passed away one month ago because of a heart attack, (she is 40 and her kid is 12). She told us that a week after that an armed man broke into her house in the middle of the night and tried to rob them.

Then she told us that she started praying to God to try to figure out what church she needs to be going to. She was born Catholic but never believed it could be true. She has gone to a few church's in these past few weeks but wasnt finding anything.

The lesson was just awesome! But impatient Elder Keller cant just wait one day sometimes! haha.

She accepted the baptismal invite and said she wants to know. But we will see what happens. We are going back there tonight with a member to see if she read the pamphlet. We are going to invite and try to be as convincing as possible. She seems totally awesome! Her name is Josiane and her son is Eduardo.

But I love my mission so much! Like Elder Holland said in the MTC this is the closest we will ever get to real life (talking about the celestial kingdom) in our mortal lives!

I love you all! Hope you have an awesome week! Happy mothers day! Cant wait to talk to you guys!

Elder Keller