#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

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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