Hello readers! As the editor of this blog, I need to take a moment and apologize for the lack of updates. Here is several weeks of emails and pictures! Enjoy!
¿Qué pasa?
This week has been crazy! So many things have happened and it's just been
nuts! Where to begin?
DOUGLAS GOT BAPTIZED! We've been teaching Douglas since I got here and
he's been amazing. He's from El Salvador and moved here a month ago where
he married his wife Irene. Their story is straight from the Hallmark
Channel. They dated when they were younger and her parentsdidn't like him
and all that jazz. Life intervened and took them in separate directions,
both getting married and having families. They both got divorced some
time later and one day found each other on Facebook. They started
messaging and Irene's coworkers bought her a plane ticket to El Salvador to see
him. He moved here, they got married one week later, and he was baptized
on Sunday the 15th! He's just the coolest guy and always says "I
just want to do the right thing and what is best for my family." He has
such a strong testimony and is a great guy!
This past Wednesday was a day to remember for sure. The night before we
went out for sushi, I didn't partake because I was legit ill, and Elder
Halversen was saying that he didn't feel good. I guess he
should have skipped that sushi game too because I KNOW that's what the problem
was. So we go to bed and he wakes up the next morning in so much pain and
so nauseous and is saying that he has a pain in his lower right side. The
moment he said that I said "Call the mission nurse....it's
appendicitis." Seeing as I'm a doctor and all. So we call her and
get sent to a doctor ten miles away only to be sent back
to the hospital in Oregon City because they said he had, wait for it, appendicitis.
We go to the hospital and the mission nurses husband and I waited in the lobby
for 3 1/2 hours while these "doctors" ran tests and such. We got to
know one another and we talked college and jobs and blah,blah, blah.
Elder Halversen and the mission nurse come waltzing out of the hospital with
papers and everything was fine. Turns out he had the beginnings of a
virus in his colon. He's been on
laxatives and drinking Miralax for three straight days and hasn't had any improvement
until today; he is no longer in pain or nauseous.
WHAT IS MY LIFE?! Our first week together we had meetings everyday that
took us away from teaching. Our second week that heifer without a license
hit our car, which we still haven't heard anything about, and this week we were
in the hospital and practically home bound for
three days! SHOO!
We went on exchanges this week! The Elder in my Facebook post is our District
Leader, Elder Smith and he's way cool. We were busy all day teaching
awesome lessons and changing lives...the usual. He really
helped me with the language and gave me some pointers to help move things along
and those 24 hours were so informative! It was awesome! We went to
Patty's, a member in the ward who we are super tight with, for dinner and we
had salmon and asparagus and I freaking at it all. ANOTHER FISH and more
vegetables. These hippies are taking over my life and it's getting out of
hand!
Today for P-day we went on a hike. I thought it was going to be a normal
hike that took a couple hours and all...WRONG! It took us almost an hour
to even get to the trail head, by car! So we are walking and walking and
walking in really pretty and green forest and we are walking and walking and
walking. We climb some cliff and I thought we were done...nope!
That was half way. So we keep walking and hiking and finally get to the
top of this huge mountain. Turns out it was the wrong mountain and we were
on the smaller of the two. Could have fooled me! By the time we got back to the
car it was around 6:00. What time did we
leave the house? 12:00.
What time did we start the hike? 2:30. That's a freaking long hike if
you ask me! But it was awesome and the pictures are too legit to
quit! We haven't been able to do a hike because I guess it rains here or
something, and today was the perfect day for a hike! It was a lot of fun!
Things are going really well! We are always busy. The work is
hard. We have long hours, the people we teach are tough and stubborn, and
sometimes it gets discouraging. But the benefits are absolutely amazing
and we have a pretty great boss! This is a wonderful opportunity I have
to go out and help people basically change their lives. The gospel is
such a blessing and it is 100% true!
I love and miss you all. I hope everything is going well with all y'all's
lives and you are noticing the blessings in your lives each day! Keep
smiling and remember to shine, shine, shine!
Love,
Elder Keith
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| Surviving the long hike! |
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| Oregon is beautiful! |
¡Hola, Hola, Hola!
So I've been here for like four weeks. What is life?! Time really does
fly by!
What happened this week? This week has been pretty slow. Just teaching
people and saving lives like normal but nothing crazy happened. We have some
new people we are teaching that we finally got a hold of. We've gone by a bunch
and no one has been home or someone's floor needed mopping and we couldn't come
in or whatever but this week a couple of people were home and let us in and we
began teaching them!
Our investigator, Angel, who has a baptismal date for this Sunday is doing
great! He didn't come to church last week because, and I quote, he
"thought his cat may be dying". This is the same cat that he literally
throws out of the room when it comes sliding in like the trash it is and the
same cat he bad mouths and says he hates all the time. But I digress. He's
coming along really well and I'm excited for him to take this next step!
We just have to make sure everything is good to go and I really hope it is.
He's a cool kid!
We had a meeting this week about our iPads. And boy was it a meeting. It
started at 8:00, but we had to be seated by 7:30 because Elder Nielson of the
Seventy and Brother Heaton from the MTC were there to welcome us and shake our
hands, and it went until 12:00! My MTC friends know of Brother Heaton
because he spoke to us three separate times during our stay in Provo...and he
followed me to Portland! I couldn't believe it when I heard he was going
to be there! I screamed "NO!" To the heavens! But it was
an awesome meeting that was super informative and our work on the iPads is
going to grow and be even better! We all get new iPads this weekend and
I'm pumped! The one I'm using is still logged in as the old missionary
and they haven't given me my account so I can't do too much. So I'm excited for
these new ones!
My food adventures for the week: fruit cocktail! I ate fruit cocktail last
night and now I'm sitting here writing this email...something weird is
happening here. I'm getting more adventurous with my food andI'm not dying.
WEIRD!! Haha! But seriously, I'm growing up!
I finally got my haircut today. It's been like 6 weeks or something and I was
starting to look like an animal. So I go to this place by our apartment and I'm
not kidding when I say that SportsClips in Oregon City, OR gave me the best
hair cutting experience of my entire life. I go in and it's like a big old
sports store with jerseys and TVs playing basketball and all that jazz.
Angie, my hairdresser friend, was super cool and did a great job on the
hair. Since it was my first time there, I got bumped up to the MVP
package which includes a hair wash and massage, a hot towel wrapped around my
face, and SURPRISE a massaging chair. I tell you what. It's been
almost four hours since that haircut and I'm still talking about it. I
almost fell asleep. I was covered in goosebumps. It. Was. Amazing. Like
oh my word!
Tomorrow we get to go to the temple and I'm so excited! We've gone to the
visitors center and walked around with investigators and such but now I finally
get to go in a do a session! I'm so excited. I love the opportunity we
have to go to the temple and help those who couldn't while here on earth
receive the eternal blessings that the gospel promises us!
Not much happened at all this week. It's been pretty dead but things are
starting to grow! Our investigator's hearts are softening and the seeds
of the gospel we are planting are starting to sprout! Between our
investigators, this temple trip, and my unbelievable haircut from
heaven, this week has been pretty dawg on good!
Remember to love the Lord. He is always there. He will always answer our
prayers and bless our lives. He is pretty awesome! He loves us more than
we can imagine!
I love you all and hope everything is going well! I pray for you all daily
and hope you are noticing the blessings of the Lord in our lives!
Love,
Elder Keith
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| Missionaries by day, bakers by night. They made them for a pot luck! |
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| Embracing the culture :) |
Wassup,
wassup, WASSUP?!
This week has been something else. People say that as a missionary you experience
the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Boy, were they right!
The highs:
1. We got to go to the temple this week! It was amazing. We've seen
the outside of the temple many times before but now we finally got to go in and
it is seriously the most beautiful temple I've seen. I've
only been inside like 4 but it was so pretty! It was such an awesome experience
and I'm so grateful we have a temple in our mission where we get the
opportunity to go and do sessions!
2. We got new iPads! They're basically the exact same ones we had before
except that they're 32GB and we had to pay for them. Haha! They gave us new
protective cases and these things make the iPad so bulky it's ridiculous. I
have to shove this thing into my bag everyday and it sticks out and drives me
nuts! But we are so lucky to have these iPads and to be able to work with
them....I guess. :)
3. Angel! Angel is the investigator I've mentioned a few times and he is
doing great! He talked with his mom about his baptism and she said to
wait it out and investigate it more and make sure it's not a rushed decision.
That's totally understandable. But we've been going by and reading the
scriptures with him and teaching him and they have been some of the greatest
lessons we've had! The spirit has been so strong and he has definitely
felt it. We invited him to talk with his mom and see if she would come to one
of our lessons because we, and he, really want to share the happiness we all feel
that comes from the gospel! He's showing some major improvement and it's so
awesome! I'm really
excited for him.
4. Keith. My man, Keith. We were leaving our apartment the other day on our way
to an appointment and we see this big, somewhat scary, black man walking
towards us. I knew he was going to say something and I was praying it was kind.
He calls "Hey Elders!" And stopped us introducing himself as Keith
and he just wanted to say hi and tell usthat what we are doing is great.
PHEW! He was saying that some missionaries had been by his house before
and he knows a bit about is and he understands how hard our job is and just
wanted to say that what we're doing is great. He reeked of beer and was so
drunk he probably didn't even know where he was. He kept saying stuff about how
he was black and blah, blah, blah and asked me if it was weird for me to talk
to black people...uh....no....! He was
hilarious! He was saying "yall know that I'm black and I know all
that yall do so I want a blessing. Right here. Right now. Let's go!"
I looked at Elder Halversen who just was going to offer a prayer
on Keith's behalf when Keith yells "HANDS!! Give me yo
HANDS!" So we all stood in a circle and prayed for Keith, who then
offered a slurred prayer of his own. It was touching.
He went on talking to us for almost an hour. Judging our outfits and telling us
that our ties were off that day. Hugging me like five times, I smelled like
beer after that, and telling me to say "Datz
wassup!" After he gave me "credit where credit was due". This
guy was seriously the best guy I've ever met in my life. We tried to leave like
a million times and every time he would stick out his hand for a
handshake and say "tap it twice, cuz yo so fine!" And we would have
to tap his hand twice and salute him. DATZ WASSUP! He said that I don't talk
enough and said I looked at Halversen when I talked so he made me look his straight
in the eye and tell him why I was on my mission. He also wanted to steal our
watches, that's what he said, and even grabbed Halversen's wrist. I LOVE KEITH!
The lows:
Really the lows were just a compilation of a lot of things. The stupid language.
Why don't people want to learn English?! I literally heard someone say
"English is too hard and doesn't make sense. I don't want to learn
it!" Oh okay. I just turn around and say "well Spanish is even
harder and really doesn't make sense but I HAVE to learn it!" Haha!
This week was rough on the lesson front. We had a day of meetings, pday, and a
temple trip so we were already behind. But what was so upsetting was that we
had set appointments with three or four
different people and none of these people showed up or were home. What was even
worse? They set these appointments according to their schedules! We
even brought members of the branch to to fellowship and get to know them better
and no one was home. This was the first time on my mission where I have been
really upset. It's so discouraging when stuff like that happens because all we
want is for these people to receive the blessings of the gospel and they aren't
home! GAH!
Those are just a couple of the things that got us down. They may not have been
the lowest of all lows but they were discouraging. But I had four
"highs" that I mentioned that totally outweigh the "lows".
I
mean, people weren't home and the language is hard, but we got to go to the
temple and teach lessons to people that really want those blessings. And we met
Keith!
My emails are long. In reality, nothing happens! I just ramble on about
the little things! We all will face challenges in life but the best way
to get through those challenges is to focus on the abundant
amount of blessings that our loving Heavenly Father gives us each day!
I love and miss you all! I hope everything is going magnificently in your
lives and that we all can be able to recognize the blessings our loving
Heavenly Father gives to us. You're all the best. Stay fresh.
Stay rad.
Love,
Elder Keith
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| Elder Keith and Elder Young |
¡Hola, Hola!
This week has just been blah. Nothing has happened. Just one of those weeks
where the days just blend together into one jumbled mess and then you realize
it's P-day and there are people waiting with bated breath to hear from you....AHAHA!
I went on exchange this week with the zone leaders and I went to a town called
Estacada. I met some of their investigators and they are awesome. We went to
this place called "Calamity Jane's" for dinner and I got a bacon
cheeseburger "trail boss" style. Which means that I got a bacon
cheeseburger with a pound of meat and that was the size of my head. No joke, it was the size of my head. I should
have got a picture but I forgot and by the time I remembered, I had finished
the whole thing!!! Can you say heifer?! I think I gained 6 pounds because
of this burger.
We did some surprise service this week for the relief society president. We
went over while she was at work and trimmed their backyard and picked up at the
trash and pulled the weeds and planted a bunch of flowers in their front yard.
It feels so amazing to help other people like that. The next morning we were invited
to breakfast at their home and we sang hymns with them and sang her favorite hymn
and she broke down crying. I'm getting legit emotional writing about it because
it was simply amazing. The spirit was so strong and she is such a great woman
and their family, along with Patty's have taken such great care of us and we
are so blessed to have them.
We had some powerful lessons with our investigator Angel. We went by and
watched "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" with his mad
the spirit was so strong. The spirit hit him pretty hard and we could all
definitely feel it! That movie is so powerful and really strengthens my
testimony of Joseph Smith. It's amazing.
This week was the end of the transfer and two missionaries, one sister and one
elder, from our district left. It was sad because we've all grown close, but
they only wish to be as close as we all were in the
MTC, and we were good friends and always had a good time together. But they are
needed where they have been called and I know they will do great!
Seriously, nothing happened this week. Just another week saving souls and
blessing lives. I hope everyone is having a great week and is recognizing the
blessings of the Lord....I sure am!
Miss and love you all!
Elder Keith
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| Elder Keith and his new district. |
¡¿Qué Pasa, Mufasa?!
Well, here we are! Yet another
week has gone by in just a blink of an eye. Man, that rhymed. I'm good!
This week has been good! We met almost every single one of our goals this
week, which made me so happy. Ever since I've got here we have had something
hinder our work. First it was a week of straight meetings, then we got in
a car accident, then we had an infected turd that clogged a colon, then we had
this, then we had that. This was the first week in almost 7 weeks where
we finally had each day open to teach! It was awesome!
I went on another exchange this week. The district leader came
to Oregon City and I went to Canby. Canby is this gross little town
and we taught a few lessons. We ate dinner with an English family
and, I'm not kidding, it was a dream. We had actual American food, chicken
Parmesana, and actual dessert. We had cake! It was beautiful. I also
ate cauliflower and some sort of yellow chewy-maybe-squash-type-of-thing.
It was awesome. We taught some great lessons and I learned a lot! I love
going on exchange because it's a great opportunity to learn from other
missionaries and see how they do things in different areas.
We went to Yareli's first birthday party. Yareli is Jackie, who is Patty's
sister, daughter. So she's Patty's niece. I had mole, which is this
FREAKING SPICY sauce, and I got it on my shirt and that crap ain't coming
out. An oil based stain of a dark red color on my white shirt...nope! We
helped set up for the party and it was fun! They go all out, these
Latinos. I had one big birthday party, when I was 9, and it was almost
identical to this party the other day. The girl was turning 1....and just
sat there. But there was a bounce house...ya know, just in case she was
feeling up to it.
Other than that, it was a pretty normal week...well as normal as you can get in
Portland. We finally taught people that we have been trying to teach for six
weeks and we had investigators at church! We are slowly getting
there! Everything will work out, in time. We just have to have
faith and trust in the Lord and His timing that everything will work out...and
it does!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful
week. Spring is here, well it was...the rain found its way back, but I hope
everyone is enjoying their week and that you all are able to recognize the hand
of the Lord in each of your lives because He is there! I know it!
Love and miss you all!
Elder Keith
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| Elder Keith and Gama, who just got back from serving a mission in Colombia. |
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| Missionary plaque that is on display at the church building in Bloomington. |
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| Elder Keith and his buddy, Yareli. She doesn't seem to impressed with his funny face. |
