Picture from Elder James

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The Last Christmas in the mission

I had a good Christmas week. On Thursday we went to the Christmas conference in Visalia. We had a couple of trainings and then played minute to win it and bingo again. Elder Tongish and I won a challenge. On Christmas Church was only an hour long with no speakers, just music. We had the Martinez family attend as well. Elder Atkinson and I went to Porterville next and Skyped from the Richie family's home. We had a delicious meal there and almost all of the missionaries from our zone came and played a present game there called Yankee Swap. It was fun.

Then we came back to Tulare with the Zone leaders and watched the Incredibles. It was a weird but nice to watch a movie. We played some board games and stuff there as well. 

Probably my favorite part of the Christmas week was watching the Nativity Bible video with the Maciel family. It was really simple, but the spirit was very strong.

We have a few good investigators right now, and we have been finding a ton of new potential investigators. They should catch up soon and start turning into a ton of new investigators.

I keep losing my camera on Preparation days, but when I have it with me next time I'll send a lot of pictures.

We were able to do a lot of work this week with less active members. We ran into a whole bunch of Jewish people this week, which was interesting because we were so close to Christmas. We found one that was a messianic Jew as well. He believed in Christ, but was a Jew because Christ was a Jew.

Thank you all for all of the gifts and letters that you sent to me.

Love,

Elder Keeley 

Little Time

I had a good week this week. We got a special opps missionary named Elder Page. He was pretty cool. I went on a split with Brother Van Herk and had a good time. Today we went to Visalia and practiced singing in a choir. We taught a crazy person when we were with Elder Page. 

It rained a little this week.

It was good overall.

Elder Keeley

Staying in Tulare

I had a pretty good week this week. We have picked the Cervantes family back up and have been teaching them. They haven't quit decided to come back to church, but they have started to read again, and watched music and the spoken word. Hopefully they will be able to come back. They almost got baptized when Elder Atkinson was teaching them.

We area also still working with the Martinez family. They just need to quit smoking. 

This next transfer we will be having an Apostle come and tour our mission. I am excited.

I went on an exchange with Elder Derbidge, and it was pretty good. He is doing pretty well. 

Elder Rearte is coming down to the Porterville zone, and I am excited for that. He is one of my favorite Argentines.

All of the Tulare missionaries went to the 1st ward's Christmas party for a minute and we sang O come all ye faithful. It was fun as well. 

I forgot my camera at the apartment this week.

Love,

Elder Keeley

Surprise Baptism

I had a great week this week. Monday was preparation day like normal. On Tuesday we had Zone conference and it was very good. Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders. On Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder James. On Friday I worked on Stewardship reports. On Saturday we had our ward Light the World Service party. On Sunday we had a baptism. 

The person who got baptized was Sister Carlson's son. He only with her every other weekend for about 26 hours. We had taught him a couple of times over here in Tulare, and he had come to church a few times over here. A while ago we referred him to my home boy Elder Mountford. Also Elder Davis. They had been teaching him for a while. Elder Mountford and Elder Morrison taught him on an exchange and Elder Morrison talked to President Clark about him.

President Clark said, "baptize him!"  

We did. It was crazy. 

We also had 7 investigators at church this week. There was also another non member that isn't an investigator yet. We were at church when we got texted by the Faucet family. They said they were coming to church. They also had their member fellowship from Fresno come down as well. They only stayed for sacrament. The other four people we had stayed the entire time. 

The most notable part of the baptism was the water temperature. Brother Carlson told us that he wanted it to be like a hot tub, and somehow we accidentally made the water really warm. Brother Carlson said that baptism is like being freed from a bunch of weights. The sacrament can be like that for us as we partake of it gratefully and intentionally in a spirit of repentance. 

Elder Keeley

Picture 12/5/16

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Thanksgiving #2

I had a good week this week. On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Derbidge. We were able to teach a lot more people this time, and I was able to do a lot of teaching in Spanish. We taught the Valentyne family, and a lot of other people. I really enjoyed teaching the dinner lesson in Spanish.

On Wednesday I went to District Leader Council and had a great time there. I really like that meeting, and always learn a lot.

It rained a couple of times this week.

Yesterday Elder Atkinson and I went to tract a street, and I took a Book of Mormon, a plan of Salvation pamphlet, and a super old finding happiness pamphlet. We contacted a family from somewhere in the middle east area that didn't speak very much English. They had a stick precariously perched on their roof, and I commented on it. They didn't understand, and one of them called their dad, and then gave the phone to me. he didn't really understand English very much either, so we eventually just left. The next neighbor we talked to wasn't super interested, so I gave her the old pamphlet. We contacted about five houses in a row where everyone was sick inside. We actually were pretty successful on that street.

Thursday we had a Turkey Bowl in the morning. We ate dinner at the Teves's home, and then helped them get rid of some flies.

Love,

Elder Keeley

picture 11/28/16

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President Interviews again

I had a great week this week. I really learned a lot this week. From my interview with President Clark I learned about the importance of relating everything back to the gospel of repentance and the atonement. It was something I knew before of course, but I learned it in a new way.

During my studies I really focused on powerful prayer and faith. I've always tried to keep gratitude a theme in my prayers, but I learned more about being completely sincere, and how I can be that way. I believe that it has helped my prayers become better.

We have a lot of good things happening in our area, but it isn't moving as quickly as I would like. I have made teaching about church and repentance more of a focus, but no one came this week. 

I am excited for Christmas and the spirit that comes with it. 

One of the most visible miracles that I experienced this week was while I was on exchanges with Elder Matienzo. We only knocked on about one random door during the day, we had a lot of appointments, but with the random door that we knocked on we were able to find a pm family that had just moved down to Tulare from Fresno 3 days before. The non member is a 9 year old girl, and the parents have been sealed. They have one son on a mission. We were able to help them settle into the ward and spanish group. Things like that have happened to me a lot on my mission. Especially on exchanges. There were many more less visible miracles. I am glad that I have a journal to look back, because it is really easy to forget.

Remembering is another thing that was brought up a lot this week, especially in relation to the sacrament. Remembering is truly a wonderful thing.

The Martinez family is making a good push to give up smoking for good. They have decided to work their way down using e cigarettes, and then quit completely.

The work is progressing, and getting ready to explode with Christmas.

The baptismal interview was also good. The candidate passed.

Love,

Elder Keeley 

Picture 11/21/16

It's a​lmost after Thanksgiving

Tons of Teaching

I had a really great week this week. There were four days where we taught 7 lessons, so this week we taught more lessons than I ever have before. We found quite a few new investigators, and were finally able to teach the Faucet family. They are really awesome and understand a lot about the gospel. They didn't make it to church this week though. The Martinez family has quite smoking, but it will be a challenge for them to hang on. We had an investigator named Kennedy that came to church and had a lot of fellowship, but she dropped us after seeing the commitment that she would have to make. 

We are doing a much better at teaching less active members as well, and I had a neat experience while teaching one. I was on a split because Elder Atkinson was is MCM, and Brother Van Herk and I taught Sister Galecia about the Atonement and the sacrament. She had never before understood the purpose of the Sacrament, and it really stuck with her. She came to church this Sunday.

We had a lot of random people come to church this Sunday. We had 4 investigators come, and then 3 or 4 new members came. Three came from Delano, and the Fourth had been going to the Spanish group. We also had one non-member come to Sacrament meeting, and then talk to the Bishop afterwards to try to get financial help. She disappeared afterwards.

My home ward boundaries were shuffled. I am in a new ward back home now. 

The new missionary in my district is named Elder James. He is from Utah, but lived in Northern California for a long time.

This week should be a pretty busy week. We have president interviews tomorrow, and I get to do my first baptismal interview on Wednesday.

Love,

Elder Keeley

Picture by Elder Nelson of my new haircut

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Picture 11/7/16

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The beginning of another transfer

The first transfer here in Tulare is over now. The district basically is the same, but Elder Frei is leaving to Fireball, Kermin west, and Elder Matienzo is training a new missionary. Elder Nelson is coming from Hanford to be the new Zone Leader, switching with Elder Walker.

Also, Elder Perkins, my trainer is one of the Assistants now. 

I had a really good week here in Tulare. Halloween was very interesting, we never were able to go out and proselyte. On Tuesday Elder Atkinson went to San Fransisco for insurance reasons, and I spent the day with our brand new Ward mission leader.

On Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Matienzo, it was the second of the transfer, and it was fantastic. He has really grown a lot this transfer. I also went on exchanges with Elder Derbidge on Saturday. We were able to teach a new investigator in Lindsay that has already come to church twice. He is currently living with a member family. He is a very likely to be baptized in the coming weeks.

We had stake conference this week, the theme was the temple. 

Work is going pretty well in Tulare as well. Tonia is doing fantastic, and has really changed a lot already. We were able to receive a solid media referral man named Rudy, and also have several solid member referrals that we have begun working with. We taught a young lady named Kennedy that had come to a members farewell talk. She has a lot of solid member friends as well. Sherrie was unable to be baptized because she has been extremely busy, and we have had a hard time teaching her recently. The Martinez family has been struggling to successfully quite smoking so that they can be baptized. Eddie was able to quit drinking for a few days, but then he slipped a little.

This ward is very focused on missionary and temple work, it is a great thing. I am amazed at how many investigators Elder Atkinson and I were able to find this transfer. I never really tracted and knocked doors consistently on my mission until I was with Elder Stojka, but it has really increased my confidence and the rate at which we find new investigators. We found more than 4 times the new investigators this transfer than were found in this area last transfer, and received considerably more referrals as well. 

I have been studying the principles of humility and patience, along with faith recently, working mainly through the index. I have noticed a strong difference between being compelled to be humble, and being truly brought into the depths of Humility. Being compelled is often temporary like Laman and Lemuel, but truly humbling oneself to the depths of humility is generally considerably more lasting and life changing. Nation changing for the Nephites. It is a very important attribute.

Love,

Elder Keeley

A Wet Week

We were able to baptize Tonia this week. I was able to do the confirmation for her. She is super awesome, and has really grown a lot in the past couple of weeks. She is truly converted, and loves to repent. 

We were able to receive a lot of great people to teach from the ward this week. There was a neighbor, The Castro family, that came to the Trunk or treat, several kids that invited their friends to the primary program, a super awesome lady named D that the Martinez's daughter invited to come to church that came, and the faucet family from a member in Fresno.

The Martinez family and Eddie are both committed to live the word of Wisdom fully starting tomorrow. It will be a great challenge for both of them, but with God's help they will succeed. They both have baptismal dates for the 26th of November, just after thanksgiving.

We weren't really able to see Sherrie this week because she was busy.

We have been finding a ton of new investigators every week here in Tulare, and have a great month all set up.

Love,

Elder Keeley

district picture

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Temple picture

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Picture 10/31/16

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Zone Conference

I had a good week this week. We had a lot of blessings. Our investigator Tonia came to church again this Sunday, and now she is all set for her baptism on Friday! I'm excited. We were able to have Sherrie come to church as well. She is progressing very well, and has a date for the 5th of November.

We were able to find a lot of investigators again this week, and have been having a lot of success in our area. We will have an occasional hard day where no one is at home, but it is becoming less and less common. 

On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Derbidge. He is very interesting one. He was very good at using his scriptures when we taught a lesson.

On Wednesday after my exchange with Elder Derbidge, Elder Atkinson and I worked in the Sister's area for the afternoon. We found them well over 20 new investigators in about 5 hours. 

I went on an exchange with the zone leaders. I mostly worked with Elder Walker. He likes to find. We talked to a few people.

We had Zone Conference this week. That's always a lot of fun. 

We've had a lot of success in helping people come to church while I have been in Tulare. This week was our worst showing, but we still had 3 people come. It's nice having people come to church regularly.

Elder Keeley

Better picture

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Zone Conference

I had a good week this week. We had a lot of blessings. Our investigator Tonia came to church again this Sunday, and now she is all set for her baptism on Friday! I'm excited. We were able to have Sherrie come to church as well. She is progressing very well, and has a date for the 5th of November.

We were able to find a lot of investigators again this week, and have been having a lot of success in our area. We will have an occasional hard day where no one is at home, but it is becoming less and less common. 

On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Derbidge. He is very interesting one. He was very good at using his scriptures when we taught a lesson.

On Wednesday after my exchange with Elder Derbidge, Elder Atkinson and I worked in the Sister's area for the afternoon. We found them well over 20 new investigators in about 5 hours. 

I went on an exchange with the zone leaders. I mostly worked with Elder Walker. He likes to find. We talked to a few people.

We had Zone Conference this week. That's always a lot of fun. 

We've had a lot of success in helping people come to church while I have been in Tulare. This week was our worst showing, but we still had 3 people come. It's a nice change.

Better picture

picture 10-24-16

Here is Elder Tongish.

He is sort of Tongan, but not really.

10-17-16 Pictures

I found this on exchanges with Elder Matienzo. It is Elk and Beef Jerky.

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Fuel the find

I had a great week this week in Tulare.

On Monday our district meeting was a lot of fun. We didn't successfully communicate the location we would meet at to the Elders in Lindsay, Elder Lopez and Elder Derbidge, and they arrived around 40 minutes late. They were able to participate in the last training that I gave on using the Book of Mormon introduction to teach the restoration, but that was about it. They got to have a cookie still. We weren't able to do to much on Monday afterwards, but we did find a less active member that lives in Reedley's son.  

On Tuesday I went on exchanges with Elder Matienzo, my favorite Bolivian. He has been doing very well in Tulare, probably the best in his mission. We had some good success, and found a new investigator, but we accidently bible bashed (sort of) a Jehovah's witness in Spanish.

On Wednesday I went to Fresno for District Leader council. That is one of my favorite meetings that I go to as a missionary. I was able to learn a lot of things to bless my district, and to be a better leader. We did some family History with Tonia when I got back. Not much happened in Tulare while I was gone. Tonia is set to be baptized on the 28th of October.

On Thursday we taught an old German lady, and were able to meet with the Cervantes family. They were going out of town for the weekend, and missed church.

I really learned a lot this week about prayer. I had a few neat experiences. I was joking around with the Sisters in my district telling them that they needed to find us a referral (I tell everyone to give us referrals, it works). They told me that I should just pray about it. On Saturday I prayed for a referral from the sisters, and also that we would be able to reach our goal for new investigators. On Saturday we found one new investigator, not quite the goal (still good though), and we didn't receive a referral from the sisters. The next day we were able to reach our goal of four new investigators (we found 5) and we were able to receive a referral from the Sisters. They had been visiting a member in Lindsay and dwm-ed her or something (basically asked her who had the Lord put in her head for us to teach). The member asked them if they had the phone number for the missionaries that were in Tulare west (us). She had a person for us to teach. We haven't received the call yet from the member, but the Sisters are following up today.

We were also able to teach the Martinez family with brother Cox. We taught them about being agents unto themselves. They came to church again, and are still working to quite smoking. They plan to be baptized on the 27th of this month, but will need to quit smoking first.

We also had Eddie come to church. He is doing pretty well.

Elder Keeley 

Bike Trouble in Cow Country

I had a great week this week. We started off our week with a bang, teaching a media referral that had previously been studying Islam. he had lived in Utah previously, and it went pretty well. We were able to find several new investigators this week. 

We had quite a bit of bike trouble this week. Elder Atkinson wasn't sure what a goat head plant looked like, and he ended up with two flat tires. He borrowed a bike from the Spanish Elders. My bike was pretty good, but I switched into first gear to go up a hill, and my derail-er got caught in the spokes and got bent a little. I also borrowed a bike from the Spanish Elders. Elder Atkinson also crashed into a fence on his borrowed bike. We are getting our car back today. It had a dent in it.

On Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Lopez, to Lindsay. It was super fun. We found two members at different times.

One was an inactive member that was living in a hotel. She is just about to move into an apartment in town. She was on the ward directory, but had the wrong address listed. Both companionships in Lindsay had just recently been looking for her.

The second was a recent convert that moved from Bakersfield. She didn't know that the church was in Lindsay as well. The Lord builds his church in mysterious ways.

Probably our best investigator right now is a lady named Sherrie. She is the leader of a female Christian biker group. She just had rotor Cuff surgery like Brother Smeaton, and so she can't drive anywhere. That makes it easy for her to read her scriptures, get taught by us, and come to church. She has come the last three weeks (counting conference.) 

We have been having great lessons with her. When she hears something new, she will ask for scripture references, and then prayerfully study them.

The ward has also been on the ball with her. They team up with us as we go and teach her, and they even help her when she can't do things because of her arm. They give her rides to church. She has a date to be baptized on the 5th of November.

Tania was sick this weekend, so she won't be able to be baptized this Saturday. We will have to move her date back a week. 

We are also working with the Cervantes family and the Martinez family. The Cervantes family was almost baptized, but they reseived some backlash from their old church and their children. They are still reading and meeting with us, but they missed church this week. 

The Martinez's are working on giving up smoking. They want to be baptized, but they have to be smoke free for at least two weeks first.

My new district is awesome. There are five companionships, including the one leaders and a pair of Hermanas. Elder Matienzo and Elder Lopez are both in this district with me. 

Love,

Elder Keeley

PS, this is just dairy country, instead of Raisins. They make protein powder cheese, and milk of course.

Picture of Old district

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Tulare Time

I have been adjusting to Tulare well. We had a lot of people watch conference this weekend, and we have a few baptisms coming up. Down here Word of Wisdom problems are more prevalent with our investigators. They are all pretty good at coming to church. Elder Atkinson is pretty good to work with. He is a good missionary. Our apartment is very nice. I am still the District leader of a district leader with 5 companionships. No senior couples this time. That means the exchange life continues. We meet in 3 different wards now though.

I really enjoyed conference. I know that the General Authorities really do have the Priesthood Authority. They are called of God.

God loves us.

I also got to go to a baptism of the Zone leaders. They are in the district.

The Area here is a lot smaller than Selma. We still have the country side, and we reach the southern boundary of the mission. We also cover Pixley and Tipton.

Elder Keeley

pic of Elder Atkinson

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#StraightouttaSelma

I had a great week this week. Elder Stojka and I worked like crazy and taught a lessons at the rate that I prefer. We found a lot of new people to teach as well. That's probably not what you care about from this title though.

I am being transferred to Tulare 2. 

From a secret meeting with President Clark, we knew that Elder Stojka was going to be transferred, but We had no idea that I would be leaving as well. I said goodbye to a lot of people, and got some good pictures. I should get some more today.

Hopefully I will get some from some baptism pictures from Selma soon.

On Sunday Sister Williams came to church. We were able to teach her with Brother Gooden, the High priest group leader that knew the Williams family from before we found them. He was a very good help, and helped them as we had a frantic Sunday preparing the area for a double in of Missionaries. She had a good time on Sunday. The Allreds were out of town. We had a couple other people at church as well. 

We worked a lot with a part member family that we hadn't really seen since Elder Perkins was in Selma. We taught them twice and helped them with an Eagle project. I don't feel like I should share their name. They have been coming to church fairly consistently as well. We directly asked the non member why she hadn't been baptized yet, and she expressed some concerns, but what it really came down to was a lack of reading from the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is really critical for conversion into the church. If people sincerely and with real intent read to investigate if the church is true, and pray and go to church, then they will be converted. 

Reading the Book of Mormon with prayer allows the seed of Faith to grow. Faith is really important because it allows people to know that if they follow Christ, they will be happy. They will have everything they need and more. That leads them to repent, and the gospel cycle. It allows people to feel the Spirit, so that God can work with them.

Love,

Elder Keeley

Picture

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Picture of Elder Stojka

Alright for Tonight

I had a great week this week. We had several more miracles.

The first was that the Allred Family was able to come to church again for the second week in a row. The dad was able to come this time as well. We were able to teach them yesterday with the Elders Quorum President. They are planning on having their 10 year old son baptized in November when they go back to Utah for Thanksgiving.

The Second was we were able to find a Less active family via a media referral. They are off of the Directory, but they just decided to return to church as a family. We taught them with Brother Smeaton. She had been going to the Mennonite church. They also have an exchange student from Thailand. She doesn't have any testimony of the Book of Mormon, but we read the introduction with her, and she has already started reading on her own, and told us so.

The Third is Brother Bundy. He is the Father of one of our recent converts. His Family hasn't come to church since December, but he told us earlier today that he just sold more than half of his bread route, so his work load will decrease from 80 Hours to around 30. He is planning to return to church. This is a great blessing.

The Fourth is I was able to have a good talk with Elder Stojka and understand more of who he is, and the struggle he has been having with his mission. He is progressing.

The District is also progressing nicely. Every Week nearly every key indicator category is increasing, and the missionaries are all growing tremendously. This week we focused on asking for referrals as a district, and our finding exploded as a result.

I went on an exchange with Elder Matienzo to Reedley. It is always fun to be on exchange. We visited a former that I had taught back in October. 

Last Monday while we were doing our shopping at Walmart and someone asked us if we could move their shed. We said, sure, what time? 

We were able to move it for them, and set up an appointment to teach them and their brother who has been struggling.

We were going to contact a potential investigator with Brother Smeaton, and a lady started to talk to us. I felt prompted to talk to her about family history, and it was very effective. We were able to teach her a little, and set up a time to meet with her again tomorrow.

Jonathan Meza was also able to come to church again. Sister Bolin has also been coming.

-Elder Keeley

Specialized training and the Allreds are back

I had a great week this week. On Tuesday we had specialized training all the way down in Porterville. It was very good, and I learned a lot from the Assistants and President and Sister Clark.

On Wednesday I went on an exchange with Elder Kloepfer. He is from Orem, and is being trained by Elder Arebalo. I got to go to Dinuba. In Dinuba we were able to teach the Guiterrez family again. They are recent converts, and are super awesome. They are training a seeing eye dog, like Liz did. 

We were able to teach another recent convert family, and several other people as well. It was lots of fun. We talked to one man that told us a long story about how he came to be a follower of Christ, but then he turned down a Book of Mormon.

I was also able to go on an exchange with Elder Nelson. He is being trained by Elder Strommen. That was a super fun exchange. We worked in Selma Spanish. I was able to teach Messiah again, and contact a lot of referrals that we had given to the Spanish Elders. It is fun to go on exchanges with Selma Spanish because we can steal their investigators if they prefer English. We stole a couple of them.

We have been having a lot of blessings in relation to Part member families recently. The Allred Family came to church again for the first time since February, and we were also able to teach them for the first time since February.

We were able to meet Mariah Soto's daughter Crystal, and her mother as well. We are also having a fair amount of progress with the Kinnys and the Millers. We might be able to get them married soon. 

We were in a random neighborhood in Selma and drove by a man working out in his garage. I was like, that's probably the former named Isaac. He is a cop. I had never met him before, but I just knew who he was. We set up an appointment with him.

We have a lot of potential investigators in Selma, Parlier, and Kingsburg.

Love,

Elder Keeley

Exchange with the Zone Leaders

We tried a new finding approach. It wasn't very effective, but it was very fun, and was good publicity I think. I had a little sign.

Picture 9/5/16

Grape Selfie. It'a a bad angle, but it still grape!

Working in the Lords vineyard.

I started emailing late, so I am short on email time this week. This week I had the priveledge to go to District leader Training in Fresno. It was a very spiritual meeting, and I learned a lot about correction, accountability, and many other things.

I went on exchanged with Elder Strommen, and also with the Zone leaders this week. It was a lot of fun, and we did a ton of work. Elder Strommen is a very good missionary.

On Saturday we went to the Church's grape vineyard and harvested grapes to make raisins. It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it. We worked a lot this week, and talked to a lot of people.

Here is one short experience:

On Tuesday Elder Stojka and Elder Nelson taught a new investigator names Roman.

On Friday or something I street contacted an older man and he referred his daughter to us. His daughter turned out to be Roman's wife. We are doing our best to make more contact with them.

I had a really great week.

Love,

Elder Keeley

The beginning of the exchange life.

One of my friends, Elder Anderson (in hong Kong) has 6 missionaries in his zone. We have 10 in our district. This means that I have the oppurtunity to go on a lot of exchanges. I love exchanges. An exchange is where I will switch places with another Elder in my District, and work with them for around 24 hours. It is a great tool for teaching, and a great way to get a feel for the district.

This week I went on an exchange with Elder Arebalo, and Elder Maas. I went to Dinuba and Reedley. 

It is a lot of fun to work in a different area for a while, and see how other missionaries work. 

My companion Elder Stojka is a lot of fun to be with. He has been serving for just under a year. He is from The Jersey Shore area. He was is a convert to the church and was baptized when he was about 13, this means that he has a lot of great experiences that he is able to relate with investigators about how he joined the church. He is hilarious and appreciates my jokes as well. 

The district Book of Mormon challenge has been fun as well. It is really easy to give away a Book of Mormon to someone, and it can lead to great things. It's important to follow up with the Book of Mormons though, It doesn't do us very much good if we do not testify, and then teach the people that we give the book to. Also, if they do not read it. We had a few neat experiences this week with following the spirit.

Elder Stojka and I were coming back from a leadership meeting, and I felt like we should go to Wendy's and get some Frostees. I wouldn't normally do that because I don't like spending money on fast food, and we have ice cream back at our apartment. We went to Wendys and after coming out of the drive through we found Brother Bundy. Brother Bundy is a member who's children we baptized back in December. We haven't seen him very much since because he is working a ton. We were able to have a good conversation with him, and he is thinking about making some changes so that he can work less. He also gave us some bread, because he is the bread delivery man.

 We also were able to have a couple of neat experiences where people asked questions such as, why are there so many churches? We were able to answer those questions with the restoration, and as we did so, the spirit was very strong. We will be going back to share more good news with those people this week.

Minerva has been going to temple prep consistently. The Kinnys and Sister Lawson came to church on Sunday. Sister Larson is slightly less active and in a part member family. The Kinnys are a part member family. They both live in Kingsburg, and it was great to see them at church. Sister Lawson has been coming fairly regularly since we found her in Kingsburg. I was able to confer the Melchizedek priesthood upon Alfredo and ordain him to the office of an Elder on Sunday. It was a really neat experience. 

Everything is going well. My district is awesome.

Elder Keeley

Picture 8/29/16

This is Elder Stojka. I think that only one picture can fit in the Blog per email, so I will just send one a week I think. Sorry about that. I will eventually send a whole bunch 

Crazy Adventures in the Snow

I had a crazy week this week. On Tuesday I was on splits with the Hammonds while Elder Mangum went to Clovis and President Clark called us and said that Elder Stojka would be joining us in Selma. The Hammonds and I taught Minerva while we waited for him to arrive. Minerva just started Temple prep this week, so she will go in about 6 weeks most likely. 

Elder Stojka arrived, and then Elder Mangum got back a little while later. We were suddenly a tripanionship. Obviously the thing to do in a Tripanionship is to go on splits and work twice as much. Elder Mangum was feeling better, so we did some work. 

Later, on Thursday Elder Stojka and I were driving to Hanford for a leadership meeting when President Clark called us again. He told us that Elder Mangum would be transferred to Kings Canyon. We had our meeting, came back, and then Elder Mangum packed up. We visited a few people and then he left. 

Elder Stojka and I are companions now. He has been out for just under a year. He is hilarious. We have been working hard and having a great time. 

We had our first district meeting thing on Saturday. It was super good. We made a district goal to give out Book of Mormons and it has been excellent so far. It is a productive way to talk to someone, and a powerful way.

We helped an Hispanic family move on Saturday. It was pretty good as well.

Brother Bolin came to church on Sunday with his wife. It was exciting. 

We are making some progress with the Miller family and the Zamora family. The Zamoras are adjusting to being back in school, but Jerry is reading, and they should be coming to church regularly shortly.

Elder Keeley

Transfer week

It is another Transfer week. I am staying in Selma, but I have also been called as District leader. Elder Arebalo and Elder Strommen are training. Elder Matienzo was transferred across the street to Reedley. Elder Lamoreau and Elder Collins are going elsewhere in the Zone. It should be lots of fun to be district leader because there will be 6 Elders that I have to go on exchanges with in about 4 weeks. I love exchanges. We have 8 young Elders and a senior couple in my district. The Selma District.

We were able to have 4 people come to church on Sunday, 3 of which are less actives, and one of their friends. In our area right now we haven't been able to teach or find as much, but the Lord has been blessing us with referrals from Members. None have turned out yet, but it is keeping this area flourishing. We have a lot of families that we are teaching that are filled with potential. Our investigators are reading and praying and some are even coming to church. We should have a very productive September.

We weren't able to see the Zamoras or the Millers this week because they both went on end of Summer vacations. School has started over here, but it's still very hot.

We had a ward home made ice cream party this week as well. Brother Preston works at Fresno State in the Chemistry department so he brought some liquid nitrogen. It was fun, the blew up a bowl on accident.

Things are really good here.

Elder Keeley

Exchanging for days

This week was a good week. It was very different from a normal week. On Monday we went to Sister Thursten's 87th Birthday party for a minute. We got a whole cake from it.We went to the Temple on Tuesday. It's always the best to go to the temple especially as a missionary. On Tuesday Elder Mangum and I went out for a little while, and Elder Mangum paid for it the next day. On Wednesday we worked with Brother Smeaton and had Missionary correlation meeting. On Thursday I went on an exchange with Elder Collins. We teamed up with Alfredo and saw a lot of people. It was lots of fun. On Friday I mostly just weekly planned. On Saturday, I went with Elder Strommen and we worked in both English and Spanish. We prepared a girl named Messiah for baptism, and we taught a lot of lessons. We ended up at a Mexican baby shower party. We got some Mole'. It was the best Mole' that we have had so far. We saw Minerva. She will reach her year mark on Tuesday. She will be able to go to the Temple soon. 

On Sunday Messiah was baptized. Our investigator Connie also came to church.

Our investigator Robert Miller pretended that he went to Vegas withj his wife and got married. We will help him actually get married soon.

Elder Mangum is getting healthier.

Love,

Elder Keeley

Zone Conference and Leo

I had a good week this week. On Monday Elder Mangum and I went out biking, and he got two flat tires. Goat heads are the enemy. I have been lucky so far with no flat tires. We taught a member home lesson. The next day Elder Strommen and I went on exchanges. It was really fun teaching in Spanish with him.We taught a lot of people. I like Elder Strommen. Wednesday Elder Mangum wasn't feeling well, so we did a lot of planning and preparation for MCM. We taught one lesson with Brother Smeaton, who returned from his surgery.

I thought that Zone Conference was fantastic. I felt the spirit a lot, and learned a lot, and it changed the way that I teach the restoration. It made me more excited to teach it. I teach it show that God still talks to us, and that he can answer our prayers.

I went on Splits with a 19 year old named Leo from the Spanish Branch the next few days. I think that it was really good for him, and got him fired up to be a missionary. We found two new investigators together and one of them came to church. His name is Fernando. He is from Georgia and is really polite.

We had a powerful lesson with the Zamora family where we learned of some of their concerns. We had the Robisons and the Hammonds there. The spirit was very strong. The two younger Zamora boys most likely will not receive permission to be baptized anytime soon, but we should baptize Kevin in August or September. He finally read his scriptures like he should. 

In an effort to help the people that we teach come to church, I have been studying page 20 of the 12 weeks book, revelation through church attendance. It has 6 main reasons for why we go to church. I think there is really 7.

They are: 

To partake of the sacrament and renew the covenant of baptism. For those who aren't baptized it is good practice, and gives them a chance to reflect on the Atonement.

To show our faith in the commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy.

To receive the promised blessings from keeping the Sabbath day holy.

To learn and build our testimony as we are taught the gospel.

To receive revelation from the spirit that is found at church.

To build fellowship and learn from other's testimonies.

The other one that I think is key is that:

It gives us a chance to serve and build our conversion by helping and teaching others.

It is cooling down quite a bit this week. The air quality is awful. 

The Dinuba missionaries had a baptism on Saturday for some people that are coming into the English ward. 

I got to be in the confirmation circle even though I don't know them that well. Elder Arebalo called me up to hold the mike, but the Bishop gave it to the executive clerk and I joined the circle instead. It is a neat feeling and a great privilege.

Love,

Elder Keeley

Tiwi Picture

We unplugged Tiwi today.

It was killing our battery. Our Tiwi was also broken.

It is a short lived Victory.

Tiwi doesn't solve the problem, Tiwi is the problem.

We had permission.

Members and Meetings but also good stuff

I had a good week this week. I'm goignto just throw this email together.

On Monday we ate dinner with Sister Thursten and gave her a blessing, and then we ran into a Bible basher. They weren't a very good. 

On Tuesday we had our district meeting. I gave a training on how to work with the ward to help people come to church. Elder Mangum and I committed a lot of people to church this week, and we expected a high turn out, but unfortunately no one came. 

We were able to find several more new investigators this week, a lot of whom seem ready to embrace the gospel (they just need to come to church). We found one investigator named Leti that broke down into tears as I gave her a picture of Jesus Christ and talked about the joys of the gospel with her. She has been having a hard life. 

On Thursday we were able to team up with our Bishop and visit Veronica B, Jonathan, and the Zamora family. The Zamora family is making a lot of progress towards activity in the church, and even Taleen is making much more of an effort to get to church and to build her testimony. We have been making good head way with her. Jerry doesn't think that his ex-wife will give permission for the boys to get baptized, and so we had a spiritual lesson on miracles and faith. We are praying for the best. 

The Miller family is striving and planning to come to church as well, but they are having a hard time getting there on Sunday. We are going to try to visit them and help them in any way that we can.

On Wednesday we went to the Doctor for Elder Mangum. He had an infected mosquito bite, but he is still alive. We also had our trainer trainee meeting. I am getting very familiar with the trainer trainee meeting, so it is lots of fun. 

On Friday we were able to teach Leti for the first time, and were able to team up with Alfredo for the first time in a little while. He is working a lot of hours to save up for his mission in December. 

Saturday was basically just a regular day. We were able to teach the Hansens (except for Kim) and were able to see Sister Workman. I hadn't really seen Sister Workman since the days of Elder Perkins. She has a husband that loves bow hunting. She told us that we could definately come and teach her family.

On Sunday we taught Minerva and ate dinner with the Nichols family. 

Elder Keeley

Rhino

Zoo and stuff

We went to the Zoo this week, so my email time is very limited. We went with Elders Collins and Strommen, and then Alfredo and Hailey. Hailey is leaving on her mission in August. It was fun.

This week was very good. We had Connie come to church, but unfortunately the Zamoras and the Millers did not. Both of those families are very close to baptism, they just need to come to church.

We were able to find a few more people to teach this week, so that was good as well. I would say more if I had more time.

Elder Keeley

Selma Training ground continues

I had a great week this week. On Monday I got a haircut from Elder Howard. It was his first one ever, but it turned out pretty well. We played some games and watched a few more fireworks. We were at Alfredo's house.

On Tuesday we went to Fresno and I dropped Elder Mountford off with his new companion. I split drove to the mission office again, and then went to Fig Garden. I was with Elder Quinn and Elder Wilmoth. Here is my only picture of them. I'll get one at Trainer Traninee.

Elder Quinn abandoned us on a split. Elder Wilmoth and I tore up the fig garden area talking to random people. We went to a park and talked to a random member with her non member friend and we were able to teach a member present lesson, and were able to get a new investigator for some random missionaries.

We went to the Temple and had all of our usual training meetings. I was the most experienced trainer there. 

We got our new companion on Thursday, and then we came back to Selma and got to work. 

I am nearly out of time. We had a good lesson with the Zamoras on Sunday. We also had a good Member home lesson with the Hernandezs.

Elder Keeley

My new Companion is Elder Mangum. He is from Orem.

Transfers and Float Party

We had a new transfer call come in. As everyone must have guessed, I am staying in the promised land of Selma. Elder Mountford is heading north to Fresno, and I am training again, so I will probably be here for a full year. That's pretty awesome. Ward members joke about how they can't get rid of me. I am excited to be training again. Dinuba got doubled out, Elder Howard and Elder Lybbert are both leaving. Elder Arebalo and Elder Matienzo are coming in. I am excited for this next transfer.

We teamed up with the Bishop this week and were able to visit three different families. The Bishop is a good team up. 

On Saturday we were able to help at the ward's fourth of July party. We scooped ice cream into cups so that people could make different flavors of ice cream floats. Root beer was still the general favorite, but I liked Berry and Pineapple. Some people liked Apple. A lot of people came, but it was mostly just the active members.

There were a ton of people at church on Sunday for a baby blessing. Almost all of the seats were filled. I said the closing prayer. 

Probably the biggest thing I learned from being with Elder Mountford is to not waste time talking about things that don't really matter when there are more important things to be done. I also learned about the teaching ability that delegation has, and the importance of positive reinforcement.

Elder Keeley

Pictures 7/4/16

I might have not sent pictures 1 to everyone.

​

Luau, Specialized training and more

 On Tuesday Elder Mountford and I were able to head down to Visalia for Specialized training (Zone Conference). We were able to learn a lot, especially about doing a great work where we cannot come down, like president Uchtdorf's talk a few years ago.

I had a lot of fun work this week. We had limited time to proselyte this week with Specialized Training and a Luau on Saturday, so we made the most of what time we had. I had 4 main highlights of my week.

The first was Specialized training of course. I love the spiritual recharge and edifying effect that zone conferences and district/zone meetings make in this work. I go back to work with practical and effective things to work on to take part in the Lord's hastening of this work. Maybe the biggest thing I learned from Specialized training was to not come down to worry about the things that don't really matter. 

The second highlight was also sad in a way, but we were teaching one of our investigators named Andy. He had been one of our better readers of the Book of Mormon, and was progressing in many ways but wouldn't come to church or even commit to try to come to church. We had a lesson with him on Sunday about the Atonement of Christ and repentance, and at the end of it he was crying and almost shaking from feeling the spirit. He told us that he was happy with his religion where he was at, and that he believes that his baptism is good. It was a neat experience for me because it was something that Elder Allred had talked about people doing as they choose to turn away from the spirit. It was like the story of Alma and Amulek in The book of Mormon.

The third highlight was helping people move. We were able to help one member's family, and one investigator move across time this week. 

The forth highlight was the luau on Saturday. We were able to have a lot of people come to it, and it was a great experience for everyone involved. We put a lot of work into advertising and preparing for it. We had several of the people that we have been working with show up. A lot of great things happened there, and there are a lot of good stories, but I am out of email time. I have a lot of pictures, but am only able to send a few.

Elder Keeley

two more pics

The return of the Hansens

I had a good week this week. I went on an Awesome exchange with Elder Strommen. We went pure spanish. It was fun, we even played soccer. 

We were able to teach the Hansens again after a long break while their mom was on vacation.

Alyssa came to church, and it was great.

We got a new Senior couple, the Hammonds. 

We built a pyramid.

The Zamoras are close to baptism. Sorry for the short general email this week.

Love,

Elder Keeley

The Week of June the 12th

We had a great week this week. Unfortunately, Domingo dropped us. We have been teaching a lot of lessons, and doing lots of good stuff. The Zamoras were able to come to church again, and we are working towards getting their mom's permission. 

We played Soccer on Tuesday again. I'm starting to get decent at dribbling again, so now were are beating the Hispanics.

Our ward mission leader Brother Smeaton is down for 6 weeks recovering from a shoulder surgery.

One interesting story that we had this week was teaching some drunk people. I think it was Elder Mountfords first time. They were at one of our investigators house, and were crazy. One was very confrontational and was asking us to teach him something new because he had dies and had seen Jesus. The other one was telling us about how he was in the military and could beat up the other guy if we needed him to. We didn't need him to. We were able to teach an interesting plan of Salvation lesson a little bit. Then we left.

Elder Keeley

Secret English Exchanges

I had a great week this week. Elder Collins and I went on Exchanges to the far away place called Selma Spanish. It is the same area as Selma Spanish, but it's puro Espanol. It wasn't on this exchange though, as I successfully commandeered 4 new investigators for Selma English. We also taught an English family, and ran into Able.

Elder Mountford did fantastic leading the area in my absence, and was able to find a new investigator that we had previously street contacted. Unfortunately, he was just a bible basher, so we stopped teaching him.

We also had a great district meeting and Zone meeting. Elder Allred gave a great training on how we can work with the Bishop more effectively to help investigators come to church.

We also had what I like to refer to as the return of Elder Perkins to Selma. Elder Perkins came to Selma and we worked as a tripanionship for half of a day. We weekly planned, and then were able to meet with a few people. It was good times.

We had no investigators come to church on Sunday, but we were able to have three less active members come for the first time. One of them just got Sundays off for good. 

Our area is doing well, our only struggle is still helping people have the faith to come to church.

Elder Keeley

Santo Domingo

We had a great week this week in Selma. Elder Mountford and I kept teaching people and having meetings and stuff. 

We found couple named Domingo and Genie. I had previously given Domingo a Book of Mormon a few months ago, but we never saw again until this week. We talked to Genie first and she exclaimed, "Oh, my husband has your bible!" We only were able to teach them a little bit because they liked to talk a lot. They asked if they could come to church, and we invited them, and they committed themselves. 

On Domingo, Domingo and Genie came to church 40 minutes early, even before we got there. The Spanish Elders found them (Spanish sacrament is first). We came and taught them more of the restoration before church, and then they went to their classes.They were only able to stay for 2 hours, but they loved it. Because it was the 5th Sunday, for our combined hour, President Callister, the temple president, taught us all, including Domingo and Genie, about temples and answered questions that people had submitted. He had pre-selected the questions. It was great because Domingo and Genie had lost a son. They told us that as we had taught them they had felt like their son was there as well. We have high hopes for them.

Elder Mountford and I have been practicing using the Book of Mormon in teaching during our studies, and in some of our lessons this week. It has been fun to role play as investigators with silly concerns (What about iced tea, it's not a hot drink!), and then watch how Elder Mountford tried to resolve it with the Book of Mormon. Elder Mountford has been growing a lot. He is learning the Selma life.

We weren't able to see the Zamoras again this week. Our Investigator Connie hasn't been able to come to church because her grandson keeps running away and she has to stay home in case he comes back. He is only 13. She has had a little stress about it.

Elder Keeley

Temple trip, Interviews, and the Zamoras are back

Our greatest miracle this week was probably the progress that we were able to have with the Zamora boys. We were able to work with the ward council and find a ride for some of the boys and they came to church on Sunday. We had a great lesson with them. Max, Nick and Kevin (Kevin might be a little behind) will be asking their mom if they can be baptized on the 25th of June. They have come to church 3 or 4 times, and have watched conference twice. They are currently are longest being taught investigators. Max is basically the best. When we sang hymns in church he would read follow along and read all of the Lyrics. He loves to feel the spirit. He's only 14.

We had a good week this week. We got to go to the temple. It was good. I love to go to the temple and feel the spirit that is there. 

We also were able to have our president interviews for this transfer. They are really short, but it is edifying to talk to president Clark. 

My bike's derail-er is is broken, just like Elder Oliver broke his twice. I was hit from behind by Elder Mountford. Antonio Bikeman is working on it. I borrowed Elder Peterson's bike. We also have a car, so that's nice.

I can't think of any other exciting stories off the top of my head.

Elder Keeley

Mothers Day and the OLE OLE FIESTA

I had a good week. We had a party thing on Friday. It was pretty good. Elder Mountford and I helped set up the Cultural hall. We almost cooked hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch.Elder Mountford went on splits with our ward mission leader and learned how to navigate throughout our area. It was a great learning experience for him, and he loved it. He did well, and learned much. 

Elder Mountford has been doing very well. He is fearless, and will even tract in Kingsburg if I ask him. We got brutally rejected every time, but Elder Mountford and I kept our spirits up. We have been having effective role plays and studies, and I have been doing my best to delegate responsibilities to him. It is a good learning experience for me to hand off responsibility, and it has helped me grow much as a leader.

Our Investigators with the most potential to be baptized during this month are Irene and Connie.

We have been teaching Irene for a while, and she has been keeping many of her commitments, and has been progressing in many ways. Her struggle has been coming to church, she often gets called away by her family to go to different events/ activities, and hasn't made it yet. 

Connie is a foster Mother for seven of her grandchildren. The oldest two are very rebellious, and get into trouble, even though they are 15 and 13. She came to church the week before this one, and came to the ward/branch party. She missed church this week, but we do not know why yet. She has been keeping all of her other commitments and wants to be baptized. She just needs to come to church, and quit drinking coffee. All seven of the Grandkids that she watches are boys. # of them came to the party.

Mothers day was pretty good. We went to the Engstrom's home and Skyped from there. The computer was a little slow. We ate dinner there as well. We were there for a while, but it was a good place to be.

Everything has been going pretty well. 

Love,

Elder Keeley