I have been trying to think about what I would write in my last letter but there are so many things that I could write right now that I gave up on planning. So I am just going to write what I feel.
Just to update really quickly, Daniel and Deborah are absolutely awesome! I love those guys! They made a goal to try to read the Book of Mormon before their baptism without us there haha. And they are reading and loving it all!
James is doing super good as well! He helped the sisters in a neighboring ward baptize another haitian. He basically taught the guy everything in Creole. He is going wild with missionary work! He tells everyone about the gospel! I think i already wrote this but we went by the place where he works and his nickname is "shepherd" / "pastor". He is doing awesome and goes on visits with us all the time! I feel like the Lord left him so much time without the Gospel in his life just so that he could know what life is like without it. He isn't afraid to tell anyone that this is Christ's only church. He tells everyone about the answer he got about that. He is a great example of what a converted person is like. He felt the song of redeeming love and sometimes i ask myself after seeing james, can i feel so now? Am I that excited about the Gospel, about making sure that everyone on the face of the planet knows that we have a living prophet, that the Book of Mormon is true?
We also found another awesome guy named Joelsio who is awesome! He is 19 and just like Daniel and Deborah. He is hungry for the truth!
After finding him I was talking to Elder Sierras and we both concluded that one of the best feelings you can have in this life is the feeling you get when you see that someone discovered the truth! When the Spirit teaches someone that this is the truth, the joy that comes from that is immeasurable! And I think that is why missions are so amazing. Because that is your constant goal! I am going to miss all this time we have to immerse ourselves in this work and just teach the Gospel!
Anyways this week as always was awesome! We learned a really good lesson yesterday. We woke up and found our house flooded. Everything was soaked! I had just picked up my suit from the dry clean the day before and it was totally filled with dirty rain water. Same thing with all of our clothes, lots of books, letters, study desks, shoes, etc... The roof had caved in on a part of the house and so it basically rained inside just as much as it did outside. And of course we were all pretty angry.
But we cleaned up the mess and went on with the day. We ran home last night in the rain, and it was pouring! When we got home the leak had started again so we started grabbing everything and trying to put it all in dry parts of the house.
Again we were all pretty frusterated!
Then out of the blue, Elder Salomão, white shirt, tie and all, jumped in the 2 inch pool of water and started pretending he was swimming! In this gross water that was seeping in from the attic. So we all jumped in with him! Then we started playing soccer with missionaries, we set up a desk as the goal and then you had to get a missionary in the goal. And it turned out being a super fun night! It reminded me of all the fun days I had back home in the irrigation water. Just this time we had white shirts and church pants!
But thinking about it, our missions, well not just our missions, our entire lives are full of moments like that! Moments where we can see the cup as half empty or half full. But sometimes it is hard to see that it is half full! Really hard! Like last night, no one was thinking that our house being flooded would be something really fun. But it turned out being awesome! And Salomão decided to make the most out of it in that moment and that is what we gotta do with everything in our lives!
The scripture that I believe I most used on my mission with people that I taught was Mosiah 2:41.
"...ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual."
So many people in my life have been such amazing examples of that, especially my parents. Before my mission I knew that was true because I saw how it happened with my parents, through their experiences. But now I know that scripture is true for myself.
It is impossible for us to be truly happy in this life if we are not striving to always keep the commandments of God. ALWAYS. But if we keep them, we are blessed in ALL THINGS. That is pretty awesome! He is going to bless us in everything!
Sometimes when the problems and challenges come we forget about that. We start to murmur and lose track of whats going on because we think God stopped blessing us but that is a lie! We have to go through challenges but we can be happy while they happen. Just like the water became a fun thing yesterday.
This was an important lesson that I learned on my mission but the most important lesson that I learned of all is that Jesus Christ lives and his Atonement was real. If Moroni decided to end the Book of Mormon, the truest book on the face of this earth, talking about this sacred Doctrine with the powerful verses that he wrote in Moroni 10:32-33 than I think there is no better way to end an email than to talk about the Savior's Atonement.
I learned on my mission that we must CONSTANTLY depend on Christ's Atonement. If we don't we begin to fall. Even in the little aspects of our lives. That is why the dumb little primary answers that we all gave our whole lives are so important! Prayer, scripture study, going to church, etc... We all know the answers but we don't all really do them.
The keys to getting access to the power of the Atonement are the ordinances and the commandents of the Lord's Gospel. And that is why we have to follow them. And when we follow them we will be extremely blessed!
I have seen that time and time again on my mission! Every day we see that out here! Every day we can see that in our lives. You can see the difference between people who are using the Atonement and people who aren't. There is a different light!
I am going to miss my Mission so much! I have learned more in these past two years than I ever imagined could be possible! And I was scared to come home because it is going to be different. But the Atonement isn't just for missionaries. It's for members to. In fact it's for everyone that wants it! And really we are all missionaries. We can all feel that warm spirit that accompanies us so constantly on our missions. But I know that I have to keep doing what I do out here so that I can have that right.
I love my mission. I love the friends that I gained on my mission! I love so much my Mission President, President Silva and his wife Sister Silva. They helped me to go through such a big transformation and taught me so much. But most of all I love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I am so thankful to be able to know that God loves me and that Christ suffered for all of us so that we could return to our Heavenly Father.
I know that He loves us. I know that Jesus is the Christ. The only one that could save us and he Atoned for each one of us. I know the Holy Ghost is the greatest teacher that exists. He can teach us the truth of absolutely anything if we seek to know for ourselves. I know this is Christ's church. His ONLY church. I know that he calls imperfect men to lead this church so that they can learn and grow. But it is His Church, and He is in control. When we follow those leaders, especially the Prophet, we will be happy. And that joy is greater than any other joy we can possibly experience in this life.
I love you all so much and thank you all for your love and support! I hope you have an awesome life and that all can constantly strive to come unto christ through the ordinances and the commandments that the Lord has established!
See you all in a few days!
With love for the last time,
Elder Ian Ward Keller
p.s. Go Huskies!
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