Greetings from Portland!

Elder Keith made it to Portland safe and sound.  Here is his take on how the last 24 hours have gone:


Hello from Portland!

I made it!  I woke up at the crack of dawn yesterday, well I didn't really go to sleep, and got to Portland around 10:00 yesterday morning.  We were taken to the temple and were able to look around and stop at the Visitors Center.  It is such a beautiful temple!

Then we went and did some administrative things and had a couple interviews.  I had the opportunity of speaking with President Ballard and his wife.  They both are so nice and I am really excited to work with them!

My companion, Elder Halversen, is totally awesome!  He was supposed to be training a visa-waiter, we have a few missionaries who are waiting for their visas to Brazil and were reassigned here, but they swapped things around at the last minute and he got stuck with me!  He's super cool and is a great help.  I'm excited to work with him and learn from him. 

We are an i-Pad mission!  So on Thursday, I will be getting my i-Pad and I'm so excited!  I don't have to carry around two sets of scriptures!  It's going to be so cool to learn how to teach people with the i-Pad and I'm excited to use those resources to help bring others closer to Christ. 

The Spanish is rough.  I feel like I didn't learn a thing in the MTC.  Not really, I learned a lot of Spanish but it's definitely going to be a struggle but I know with lots of hard work and faith that everything will come to me and become easier. 

Let's see....not much else has happened...I've only been here for 24 hours!  I have my address but I left them in the car like a Dinkus so just update the address on my blog to the mission home address.  It's sometimes easier to send things there so they can just forward things to us.  But once I get my i-Pad and get it situated, I'll send you my address for my apartment so people can send me goodies.  What kind of mental retard writes down the address and then forgets to bring it into the library....the same mental retard that has to send emails from the library like some poor old Joe.

I miss Elder Gonzalez a lot but I know he is doing great things in Argentina...if he's even there yet!  I'm excited to work with Elder Halversen and learn from him.  Well, that's seriously about it.  I don't have much to say...I've only been here a day.  There's lots of fog....like lots of friggen fog!  We were driving last night(only one area in our mission walks) and we couldn't see the other lane....NUTS!  Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is wet.  Like everything is wet.  But this is going to be awesome!  

Until next week! 

Love you much,

Elder Keith

 

As always, he has a sense of humor about things!  Well, ladies and gentlemen, he made it to the place where he will be working and serving for the next chapter in his life.  Say a prayer for Elder Keith, I know he will feel those blessings!

Until next time :)

Off to Portland!

Hello, readers!

Elder Keith is now in Portland!  He called yesterday from the airport and sounded great.  He was so sad leave the friends he made while in the MTC, but he is ready to be out in the mission field.  Here is the e-mail he sent to the family.  Followed by some pictures!

HOLA!

What is happening to my life right now?!  I leave the MTC in three days and I will be teaching in Portland before I know it!  I leave the MTC at 3:30 AM...obviously someone in the travel office hates missionaries and wants to watch as our lives crumble so early in the morning!  These past six weeks and flown by so fast!  I remember being dropped off like it was yesterday.  Seriously, I remember almost every detail and it's crazy to think that six weeks has come and gone!

We had to wrap up teaching with our investigators this week.  Oscar, who is by far one of my favorite investigators, accepted our invitation to be baptized and has continued going to church with his wife and is keeping the commitments we are extending to him!  It was so amazing to ask teach him over the past month or so.  Watching him grow and progress spiritually and develop a greater relationship with Heavenly Father was amazing and we obviously did something right because 'dat foo is gettin' baptized! Shoo!

 The weather has been a complete dream these past couple of days so we've been able to practice contacting people outside and what an awesome exercise that has been.  Being outside and walking up to people and getting to know them in that atmosphere is really going to help once we get out of these sacred prison gates!  

I got THE package this week too!  I've been deprived of Coke with caffeine these past six weeks and then suddenly I got a package from Amanda that had two bottles of coke.  Let me tell you how amazing that Coke was.  We had a party the other night.  As I drank that Coke, I felt as though I was floating on a cloud of dreams that was carrying me through life.  We really don't realize how great things are until we have them ripped from our possession and they are teased in front of our eyes.  What kind of joke is Caffeine-Free Coke anyway? 

Our stay at the MTC has been filled with so many blessings!  This past Tuesday, M. Russell Ballard came to speak to us for the Devotional and it was amazing!  We have had two apostles come and speak to us on three different occasions!  Not to mention the numerous Seventies that came to speak to us, and that one guy who lost American Idol...what's his name?....David Archuletta or something?  Yeah, we've been pretty lucky! 

Yesterday we had our In-Field Orientation.  This seminar started at 8:00 in the morning and went until 5:30 in the evening.  That 9 1/2 hour day consisted of sitting and listening to how to be a better missionary and learning how to properly plan and make contacts and teach and blah blah blah.  Basically, it was the last six weeks shoved into 9 1/2 hours.  Because of yesterday, I am almost out of Excedrin.  Everyone had such raging headaches by the end of it...but it was fine....everything was fine!  :)

I'm really going to miss my companion.  We have such a fun time together.  We keep joking around that one of us needs to swap missions and ask the Mission President to assign us as companions for our entire mission!  We have figured out the groove of working together and our lessons are BOMB!  We have a lot of fun together and laugh so much!  I don't think I've laughed as hard as I have here in my life.  We all have such great relationships and it's going to be sad to say goodbye in a couple days.  But I know that we all will be reunited in just a short amount of time speaking in our sexy language, talking about everyone and no one will even know.  They're all going to be such great missionaries and I'm excited for all of them!

Hermana Curnow, the solo sister in our district, has a blog that she wanted me to mention in my messages home!  http://hermanacurnow.blogspot.com/ is the name of her blog.  Elder Gonzalez also has a blog! It's http://elderraulgonzalez.blogspot.com/ so look it up and follow is tubular adventures out in Argentina! 

Not much else is happening!  We have to pack up all our junk and get ready to go!  I can't believe that it's already time to go!  The next time you all hear from me I will be in Portland!  This is so exciting!  I can't wait to go out and teach a bunch of people and help them receive the gospel!  I know what I am doing is true and the things I am teaching are true as well and I can't wait for people, like our investigator Oscar and the grouch Jorge, to understand and know for themselves that what we are teaching to them is true!  This experience has been totally rufus and I have only just begun!  I'm so excited! 

I love you all and can't wait to hear from you!  Keep on keeping on!  Remember to release the negativity and let it shine, shine, shine!  Stay golden you wonderful people! 

Love you all!

Elder Keith

 Evidence of Tanner, being his goofy self. 

Well, that's all for this week.  As soon as I have Elder Keith's address in Oregon I will update!  Don't hesitate to send him some snail mail.  He loves mail! 

Send your prayers to Elder Keith as well!  Here comes the real fun! 

 

 

Leaving for Oregon in one week!

For your reading enjoyment, here is Elder Keith's latest email and pictures! 

This week has been so crazy!  Something significant happened everyday and it's been amazing!

Where to start?

1.  District A left this past Monday and everyone was an emotional wreck.  It was like saying goodbye to your brothers and sisters.  We had all grown really close to one another and it was sad to see them go, but awesome at the same time because they are now spreading the good word all over Argentina.  As a treat for them, we didn't go see a church film last Sunday but instead all got together and had a get together where they all had a chance to bear their testimonies to us and say goodbye.  Everyone was emotionally exhausted by the end of it but it was a nice time to say goodbye!  

2.  Jorge.  This week was our last week to teach Jorge and we all know how hard he has been.  This past Monday was such an amazing lesson!  The Spirit was there and was so strong, it was seriously so amazing!  He wanted to know more about baptism and he accepted our invitation to read with his wife and he said they both felt the Spirit while reading and he knew what he was reading was true!  FINALLY!!  

Last night was our last lesson with him and, I'm not kidding when I say this, the best lesson Elder Gonzalez and I have taught here at the MTC!  The Spirit was just as strong as it was on Monday and he really enjoyed our lesson and kept asking for more. At the end he said that he has noticed a change in us, between our first lesson and now, and more importantly, he's noticed a change in himself!  

3.  We are also teaching our teachers, who are acting as investigators they taught on their missions, and those lessons have been going well too!  We taught Hermano Barrett, who is acting at Oscar, and he has been one of our best investigators.  He's been receptive and willing to read and pray to know these things we are teaching him are true.  We were teaching him this week and the lesson was going great!  Scriptures were being used, personal experiences were being brought up, and our testimonies were being shared!  One of our best lessons...basically this entire week has been a week of amazing lessons.  After our lesson with him, he came up to us and told us that our lesson was great and our personal experiences really helped him understand the concept and that our lesson was great!  ....How's bout y'all come at us!!  Like fo real, we are on fire!  

4.  DEVOTIONAL!  So normally when you give the prayers are devotional you sit up on the stand and do everything like a normal church meeting.  Not this week.  There were rumors flying around this place, remember that I said people talk around here, and we heard that there was a big named speaker coming to speak to us because this Tuesday was the MTC Presidency's last devotional.  We were sort of worried but it's fine...who would be coming to speak to us in the middle of January?  Then on Tuesday morning during service, some kids come in and say "There are three seventies and a General Authority already here!"  WHAAAAAT?!  I hauled some butt to gym to find Hermana Stanger, the sister who was praying with me, and we were freaking out.  We show up to devotional to get seated early and we are sitting on the floor in front of the stage because THERE WERE EIGHT SEVENTIES AND A GENERAL AUTHORITY sitting on the stand that night!  Excuse me....I didn't agree to that!  I was FREAKING out!  Like sweat stains for straight days.  We are sitting there singing out prelude music when Russell M. Nelson walks in and I almost died. So I got up and said the opening prayer with my hands shaking and it was magical.  We were so nervous but everyone in our branch told us we did wonderfully.  Can you believe that?  Can you even believe that happened to me?!  What is my life?!  It was so awesome!  Oh!  I almost forgot!  This MTC devotional was being broadcast to all the other MTC's around the world.  Just to add on some much needed pressure!  

5.  On Wednesday we got to host the new missionaries and it was awesome!  It was freaking frio our there so we all huddled together in one mass as they pulled up.  I only hosted one missionary and he was from Sandy and was going to Canada.  He got out of the car and I got his bags and he turns around and looks at his entire family, who all got out of the car, and walks away.  I didn't know what to do!  I ran after him and they got into the car and drove away...odd, I know.  Just wait.  So I'm all excited and talking with this kid, asking him questions and such, and telling him about me and my mission.  This kid didn't say one full sentence to me.  I would ask him questions and he would say "yes" or "no" or "okay".  So I quickly dropped him off and welcomed his nervous took us to the MTC!  Elder Gonzalez and I were hot chocolate runners to all the elderly traffic directors in the parking lot across the street.  They were the funniest guys I've met!  One of them says to me "Now you walked all the way up here with this open cup of hot chocolate and managed to not spill it all over you or the ground.  If that's not a testament to how you're drug free, then I don't know what is!"  Seriously.  These words were spoken to me.  And I love that man.  

6.  After hosting we had the opportunity to have the new Colombian MTC President and his sweet wife come and speak to our district.  They came and spoke to us about our purpose and we were helping them with their "Welcome to the MTC" seminar thing that everyone goes through on their first day.  It was an awesome experience.  What made it so amazing?  They spoke in English...the entire time!!  It was great.  But seriously, it was so cool to hear from them and be able to talk with them.  They were really nice people! 

What a crazy week, RIGHT?!  Along with these nut-ball experiences, there have been some unbreakable vows made between some of us.  In case some are unclear, in Harry Potter if one breaks an unbreakable vow, one dies...so these promises are being kept!  On January 6, 2017, Elder's Gonzalez, Sandall, and I are meeting in Rexburg as a reunion of sorts.  Then in July of 2017, Hermana Walfield, Elder Gonzalez, me, and others are going to Spain.  By that time we will be fluent Spanish speakers and will travel the world speaking our new language!  That's the type of friendship we all have.  We want to do things with each other when we get back!  So fun!  

I leave the MTC in ten days.  Let's all take a moment to breathe because I really need one!  Ten days!?!  What is that?  C'mon!  There's no way...gah!  The Spanish is getting much better but man...ten days makes me freak out!  But I know it's going to be awesome and I can't wait for it!  

I love the work we are doing!  I love watching the hearts and minds of our investigators change and watching them realize that what we are teaching them is true!  I love you all and can't wait to hear back from you!  

Stay golden my peeps!

Love,

Elder Keith

Elders and Hermana's in the district

At the temple! 

Elder Keith with his companion and Jorge, the investigator they have been teaching!

Tanner and Taylor! One of his roommates from college.  He will be serving in New Jersey. Fist pump!

Well loyal readers, Elder Keith's time at the MTC is coming to an end.  Time is just moving on by. Next week he will be on his way to Oregon.  I will be sure to update his address as soon as I have it! I hope everyone has been enjoying reading about his progress!  He is excited and motivated, how awesome! 

Until next time! 

Another great week in the MTC!

Good morning loyal readers! Here is the latest from Elder Keith.  He is doing great and making memories. He has been at the Missionary Training Center for almost a month and in just a few short weeks he will be heading out to Oregon!

I hope you enjoy this week's installment of "As the World Turns...in the MTC".  :)

Hola!

Things are going great here!  We just got back from doing our first temple session in two weeks and it was amazing.  It's an amazing opportunity we have to go to the temple every P-day.  We all did our session together because we have a district in our zone leaving on Monday and we all stayed and ate breakfast together...and lemme tell you...dat temple breakfast tho...I got two biscuits and gravy and a big ham and cheese omelet and I was in heaven.  

This week was a week of small miracles.  Last Friday, Hermana Osborne asked Elder Sandall and I to give her a blessing because she was having a hard time and needed some comfort.  It was an amazing experience and the moment the blessing was over, her entire demeanor changed and I know that the Spirit had and is continuing to comfort her!  Then, Hermana Martinez asked Elder Gonzalez and I to give her a blessing because she too was having a hard time and was worried about things at home and I was able to give her the blessing.  It was the first blessing I've ever given and it was great!  She said that she felt so much better afterwards and it was seriously such a great experience!

This past Monday we taught all three investigators, including Jorge, who by far is our toughest investigator.  Our lessons with our two teachers playing investigators went really well and they were really receptive to our messages.  Then we go to Jorge, who at our last visit, really felt the Spirit, cried, and prayed for us.  This visit was a total hot mess.  We were talking to him about the Plan of Salvation because his son had passed away and the only reason he is talking to us is because our church gives his son hope.  So we are talking about the Plan of Salvation and he interrupts our lesson and says that we aren't helping him or his son, we don't care about him, his needs, or his son, and that we don't love him.  He said that "You may have love but I am not feeling it!"  He proceeded to yell at us for AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES and then said, and I quote, "Don't say anything more.  You can finish with your prayer but don't say anything more!" 

We were so upset and hurt that he would think and say those things because they were all wrong.  We planned this lesson about the Plan of Salvation specifically for him and to help his son and we work really hard for him and his lessons.  Then we had to teach him again last night and we both were so nervous to go in and teach him again.  But something weird happened.  He acted as though Monday night had never happened and was kind and understood and accepted our message for him and wants to know more about the church and baptism.  How crazy is that?!  The Spirit works in many different ways and it's amazing to see it work its way through our investigators.  

John has been sending me cards and notes of encouragement.  He really is such a great guy.  So great, that he sent me TWO books of HARRY POTTER STAMPS!!  Like, what is life?!  So amazing.  Tom and Beth have also been writing me on Dear Elder.com and they sent me a package of candies and such.  I have some great people in my life.  

I saw Taylor!  He came in on Wednesday and leaves before I do!  LOL!  We have gym and meal time together so we see each other often!  It was great to see him and catch up!  

This past week our Branch President asked if he could pull me away for a second and immediately I started sweating.  So I go into a room and he says that our branch is in charge of ushering for this next Tuesday (13th) devotional and we have to say the prayers and he asked me if I would say the prayer in this upcoming devotional!  After relaxing and taking a moment to breathe, I said yes.  So this Tuesday, I am saying the prayer in the devotional in front of the entire MTC.  I've been sweating ever since he asked me!  But it's very exciting!

Earlier this week, Elder Gonzalez was trying to climb up the bunk bed and slide underneath the guard rail and crawl underneath the bed, without touching the mattress. So he begins and is making good progress.  He is halfway under the guard rail when it breaks off the bed and he falls onto the floor, from the top bunk, hitting his back on the metal frame of the bed.  I don't think I've ever laughed as hard as I did the moment he fell off the bed.  It was the funniest thing I've ever seen! 

Elder Gonzalez and I have been getting along great and I'm so glad we are companions.  We work really well together and I sneaked a peek at our teachers evaluation thing online and he said that our lessons are really well taught and we do a good job together!  And not to brag or toot our own horn but TOOT friggin TOOT!  Our lessons are bomb!  On Tuesdays, we teach members from the area and the couple we taught this week, The Rascon's, said that our Spanish was very good for only being here three weeks!  We are the dream team!

I'll tell you how perfect Elder Gonzalez and I are.  We are one.  One night, we are laying in bed and all of the sudden we both start singing 867-5309 (Jenny) at the same time!  Then on another occasion, we both started singing MMBOP by them Hanson brothers.  Then, on yet another occasion, we started singing I Want it That Way by the BSB!  Those are just a few of our musical similarities.  A really funny one that happened a couple nights ago was when Elder Sandall was laying in bed drawing some face of some random, odd looking woman (he's practicing his people drawing) and I lean up on my elbow and say "Draw me!"  And at the same time, both Elder Gonzalez and I say "Draw me like one of your French women, Jack!" from Titanic and we all busted out laughing.  The picture Elder Sandall drew is an absolute masterpiece.  

That's how all of us are with each other in our zone!  We all goof around and help each other when we need it.  Like one, big happy family!  LOL!  We all decided that when we get back from our missions that we are either going to school in Idaho or Provo and will spend weekends together and basically be BFF's.  Every last one of us.  Except those certain few that are unwelcome...they know who they are!  

You're probably wondering why the subject of this email is "What's the difference between the MTC and prison?!"  That is a joke that our zone thinks is SO funny.  The answer...In prison, you get visitors.  I mean, it's pretty funny...but it's said all. the. time.  

Not much else is happening!  Elder Gonzalez and I started writing Hermana Curnow's little brother asking him all sorts of questions only those on the outside world could answer!  I asked if there was a new iPhone yet, if Facebook had been taken over by something new and popular, and if hashtags were still a thing!  We are awaiting his response! We get to host the new missionaries next week!  We are the ones at the curb that get to pry them from their weeping mothers and bring them into this sacred prison yard and show them around and who to sit with and who to stay away from unless you want a big brawl in the lunch line.  It's going to be fun!  Things are still the same here!  We want to be fluent in Spanish, our investigators baptized, real food from Del Taco or Costa Vida, and some REAL Coke!  So basically, just another week here at the MTC!  

Tis all the time for now!  I love and miss you all lots and can't wait to hear from you!  Pictures to come! 

Love,

Elder Keith

Check out some of the pictures from his email: 

 Until next time, thanks for reading!!