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!
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