Finding, DLC, Conference and more.

I had a really busy and spiritually powerful week this week. I also had bad allergies the whole time. I started my week with an exchange with Elder Maas. We were able to find two new investigators and biked around everywhere. We talked to a lot of people. We also teamed up with Nick Hamilton. It was good. Then we swapped Elder Maas out, and Elder Thornton and I teamed up with Matt Cox. We decided to set a goal to find 3 new investigators during the evening. We found 2 and a half, and a bunch of potential investigators. an 11 year old came in at the end of a lesson, but we didn't count him yet. 

On Wednesday I went to DLC with Elder Sullivan. It was a really good one. We learned about Tad R Callister's consecration devotional principles. It was powerful. 

We came back to Tulare and ate dinner, then biked over to MCM. Elder Thornton went on a split for MCM like usual. Tim and I then went to Lindsay and interviewed Gabriel, one of the Lindsay's investigators. He got baptized on Saturday after priesthood session. MY whole Wednesday was a meeting.

On Thursday we did some more biking. WE found a cool investigator named Justin. It was super windy all day long. We actually teamed up with Mike for a while. We went on a split with Brother Hepworth for an hour. On Friday we kept biking. We taught Henry. He had a non member Brother move in with him just barely.

I had an interesting epiphany today as I was taking a power nap while listening to the missionary broadcast DVD that we had. Elder Bednar talks about the scripture that says the power of godliness is manifest in ordinances. Without the ordinances it is not manifest. He was pushing towards inviting everyone to be baptized, but it really applies to church as well. Church is generally the first place where investigators are able to witness an ordinance performed by proper priesthood authority. It is the first place where Godliness is manifest unto them. For the investigators to know if this is the True Church of Jesus Christ, they must go to the church, and witness the Sacrament. I will seek to apply this teaching.

We didn't watch any conference on Saturday besides Priesthood session. We spent the time finding  and trying to teach. We only had one investigator watch conference this time. 

On Sunday We watched Conference and found a big family to teach as well. I really loved this conference. I liked all of the talks. My favorite ones were President Eyring's talk in Priesthood session, and the L. Whitney Clayton's talk, and Elder Rasband's talk, and President Monson's charity talk.

We ended up with 12 new investigators for the week. That's the most I've had so far.

Love,

Elder Keeley

4/3/17 picture

I caught a lizard.

Thunderstorms

We had a pretty good week. We taught a lot of lessons, and did a lot of work, but unfortunately we didn't have any investigators at church this Sunday. 

We had President Interviews in Lindsay. It was probably my favorite interview so far. I am a lot more comfortable getting interviewed now. It should help me later during job interviews.

Here is a good story. We got back to our apartment at about 9:12 because we had gotten out of an appointment and didn't want to risk using any more miles, so we started to walk around our neighborhood. We walked down the street and didn't see anyone, then we walked back and saw a Mexican cowboy. I called out to him and he walked up to us. He was sopping drunk and said he was locked out. He told us that he was homeless and that he just wanted his blanket. We walked down the street a little with him and he told us that he drunk a little bit sometimes. He was pretty wasted. A policeman came down the street with a spotlight. He saw us talking to the guy, but drove down to the house where we found him. We walked the homeless guy over there, and handed him over to the police. It was kind of funny, but also kind of sad.

The weather was crazy this week. We biked in the afternoon, and it was nice and cool outside. Then we drove in the evening and there were thunderstorms and rain. We were driving with a ward missionary and the weather was so crazy that we had to pull over for a minute. The whole sky turned orange. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture.

I have been studying all of the references to Jesus Christ in the Topical guide. I am up to Jesus Christ appearances Ante-mortal. As I have studied Christ I have grown in my understanding of him, and of how the doctrine that we have is tied together. It has been a good experience so far, and one that I highly recommend. It is interesting how the different Books of scripture highlight different aspects of who Christ is.

Love,

Elder Keeley

All Cotton Picking afternoon

We had a lot of work hours this week. The other Elders in the ward moved down to Porterville, and because of that we have been able to go on splits almost every day of the week. We took over the old Elder's apartment. it isn't as nice as our old one, but the location is a little bit more central. We are right next to Elder Matienzo and Elder Mendez. 

My whole district is actually doing incredibly well right now. Everyone is finding and teaching a ton. Investigators are coming to church and the work is hastening.

We had a special opps missionary with us for the weekend, and it turned out to be Elder Bradshaw. He is the same person that went out with Elder Smith and I a year ago in Selma. What are the odds of that? We had a lot of fun with him. I'd be driving, see someone and pull up next to them, and roll Elder Bradshaw's Window down so that he could contact them. Everyone he talked to was out of the World nice. "Are you the Mormon's? I love the Mormons!" " I love Jesus, you can come back anytime!" 

One of my favorite investigators right now is named Oz. I might have talked about him before. I taught him with a priest on splits yesterday. We taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. We really focused on the Atonement, repentance and baptism. We had him read the paragraph on acknowledge the Savior and he said, "This is me, this is what I want. I want to repent." Oz has been a great example of someone that has made dramatic changes as we have read the Book of Mormon. The way that he looks has changes, the way that he talks has changes, he does more work around the house, and cleaning. Almost everything is better. As we talked about the Holy Ghost, he said those feelings are things that I feel a lot. I don't always act on them, but I am trying. He brought up his baptism date, and we helped him set a new one. He had a rough past full of drugs and other hardships. 

Here is my new companion Elder Thornton. He is 6'5". 

We spent a lot of time cleaning and reorganizing our new apartment. It became way better. We got a new shower head and everything.

Here is Elder Thornton.

We also went biking this week. It is very hot over here already. It brought back memories of the Selma. I am able to talk to the missionaries in Selma sometimes because they work with some of the Sisters in my district.​

Love,

Elder Keeley

Virus-free. www.avast.com

3/20/17 picture

​Big Ben

This is a massive chair throne. We were teaching Manny on Splits. Drink 7 up! 

-This message was brought to you by 7 up

Virus-free. www.avast.com

We went to the Sequoias last Monday. Also Transfers

Last week we went to the Sequoias. We didn't get back till about 5, so I didn't have time to email.

We went with Brad and Bri. We drove all the way to the General Sherman. Good old William Tecumsah is one of my favorite Cival war generals. I also like his name. The General Sherman Tree is the Biggest one in the World. It was cool. We also got some ice cream in 3 Rivers. It was a lot of fun, but the drive took forever.

We have had a really good last two weeks. We found 8 new investigators this week. We'll see how good they are later. Elder Wright and I had found more than 177 groups of potential investigators this transfer. I ran out of space, and filled up some sticky notes.

We went on a team up with Brother Foxley yesterday. We went to visit a potential investigator named Salene, but she was gone. Instead we taught a LA member named John and a new investigator named Shannon. John has the nickname of Happy, and he is homeless. I've ran into him a few times. Brother Foxley used to be his home teacher. We taught about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and John left the lesson at the end Crying. It was neat. Brother Foxley teaches our gospel Principles class, and it is really good. He is a high councilman.

I have been blessed to notice the powerful change that comes to investigators as we take time to read from the Book of Mormon with our investigators. As we read with investigators, they invite themselves to church, and want to experience the change that comes through the gospel. I love the Book of Mormon. We can see this especially with an Investigator named Oz. With him we basically just read with the Book of Mormon. We also saw it with Jonathan this week.

We had Emily and Alavaeh, Brad and Bri, and Megan come to church this Sunday. President Clark was there and got to meet them all. They all loved it and had a good experience.

All of the investigators that we had at church on Sunday are very prepared, and will all be baptized soon. As we taught the Doctrine of Christ from third Nephi 11 with our investigator Emily and her granddaughter Alavaeh we had Alavaeh stop us every time we read the word baptism, repentance, and Holy Ghost. As we read the chapter, Emily told us quietly, " That's what I want." It was powerful.

We are close to baptizing Junior. It has taken longer than it should have.

We had a lot of cool stories this week. Here is a taste.

We were trying to visit a potential investigator named Ethel. She wasn't home so went to her neighbors house because an older Black man and his daughter were outside. It is already really hot over here in Tulare, so I walked in and asked the man for some water. He looked at us and said, "This is the craziest thing all day, and it's been a crazy day! I wonder What God is trying to tell me. I have never had two White men walk in my yard and ask me for water before. He got us some water. He told us that we could come back another day and share our message with him. 

As far as Transfer go, I am staying in Tulare again. Elder Wright is leaving to go to Visalia. The Zone leaders moved from Tulare to Porterville, and we are getting a new set of Sister Missionaries in Tulare.

The plan is that we will go Home teaching with the Elders and High Priests, and Priests, and the Sisters will go visiting teaching with the Relief Society. It should be very good.

We get to team up with Tim finally.

Love,

Elder Keeley

3/13/17 Pic from Last week when we didn't email.

That's Brad and Bri, Elder Wright and me. I blinked again.
​