Meetings and Service at the Pioneer Village

I followed my families example and went to a one room school house. We did a big just serve helping hands service project at the Pioneer Village in Selma. We cleaned, but mostly just ended up looking at cool old stuff. 

We also helped Brother Bolin fix his VCR, which is basically as old as the Pioneer Village.

This week we had, as the Subject line/title suggests, a lot of meetings. We had a district Meeting on Tuesday, a Zone meeting on Wednesday as well as a Missionary Coordination meeting and a pre-coordination meeting, an all day Trainer Trainee meeting on Friday, the service project on Saturday, and then church on Sunday. It was a lot of fun, a lot of learning, and a lot of meet.

Elder Mountford and I were still able to hit the pavement searching for new investigators, helping less actives come back to church, and helping our investigators on the path to Conversion.

We were able to have a very spiritual lesson with the Zamora family, who are starting to build some positive momentum again.

It rained a little this week, and there almost was a big rainstorm, but it missed us.

I learned a lot this week about the importance of frequently praying and remembering God. God has a larger impact in our lives than we often give him credit for, and as we are grateful, and look for the blessings that he has given us, we are able to have much more happiness and success. It helps us to be humble, and to have faith in him. I know that God lives and that he loves us.

Elder Keeley

 

New stuff

I had a fantastic week this week.

at the beginning of the week Elder Smith and I visited Irene with Minerva and Brother Joe Johnson. We had a powerful lesson on family history and temples that turned into a lesson on the word of wisdom.

Tuesday was tranfers. Elder Smith went off to Porterville, and I went off to Peachwood, in Fresno and Clovis with Elder Muir and Elder Kennick. One of the most things about training is the couple of days that are spent in a different area. I had the oppurtunity to go to the temple on Wednesday and then prepare for training. We played basketball with the Elders Quorem and some investigators up in Fresno. It was a fun time.

We went to the mission office to meet our new companions. I got the one and only Elder Mountford. He is an awesome missionary. He is super obedient, humble, and is full of faith.

We had a baptism interview on Thursday, and then a baptism on Saturday. It was an awesome baptism. We had members from two different wards, and we had our stake president there as well. The spirit was really strong as several people bore their testimonies. I had the oppurtunity to be the voice in the confirmation the next day. 

Veronica Gayton came to church again, and that was awesome as well.

We also got a car! It is really new, and it gets us where we want to go. 

Everything is going well. I feel like missionary work in Selma is about to explode again. Hopefully our investigator Irene will come to church soon, so that she can be baptized.

I have been learning a lot about obedience to procedures, and how that is related to humility. I have been doing my best to teach Elder Mountford the way that the General authorities have taught us to train.

Elder Keeley

Training again!

Elder Smith is heading down to Porterville, and I am staying in Selma. I am training again, and that's awesome. I get to go to the Temple again.

This week we did a lot of work. We have been pushing to work more effectively with the Ward council in our Missionary Coordination Meeting meeting, and we had some great success this week. We were able to work with lots of the different Auxiliaries, and team up with people that fit with our investigators.

We helped Brother Bolin set up his TV cables, and we took some down. 

We taught Irene with Minerva the recent convert, and it was a great lesson. We just talked about tithing, but Irene is coming to church on Sunday with Minerva. 

We had stake Conference this week, and Elder Sabin was there. 

I got to try some menudo this week. I didn't really like it. I'll put pictures in a second email.

We also helped Sister Thurstin move a new cabinet thing into her house. 

This week was really good. Elder Smith and I just did a lot of work and taught a lot of people.

We went on one wild goose chase where we left a free bible card on a door, and that person started ordering free bibles for people who didn't want them. We biked all over the place. 

We are baptizing Chandra this week. That should be fun for the new missionary. When Elder Oliver came in, we baptized people two of his first three days.

Elder Keeley

The Weekly Week

I stole this title from Elder Roy. I capitalized the W's.

I had a great week this week. The highlights of the week were:

Getting a tomato plant from Brother Smeaton, and helping to weed his garden, and his neighbor's garden.

Teaming up with President Clark again. We went with him just after The Saturday afternoon session of Conference and taught Emilio (the son of Emilio) and Amalia in Spanglish. Elder Smith got lost because his Spanish isn't very good yet. We didn't get to ride in his car this time.

Watching Conference at the church, at Brother Bolins, at Brother Mezas, and at the Zamoras. Conference was excellent, and like Elder Holland said, I never wanted it to end. My favorite talks were President Uchtdorfs talk on the Savior restoring us, President Eyring's first talk, President Monson's talks, Elder Hollands talk, Elder Stevenson's talk, and Elder Arnold's talk. Elder Arnold came to our mission a while ago.

I like Elder Monson's talk about choices. It was a really short talk, but it was powerful. The choices that we make, really make all the difference in our lives. It is important for us to choose wisely, and to stay focused on where we want to go and where we want to be. As we choose the right, the Lord will bless us immensely. 

It turns out that I didn't really have a cold, I just got hit really hard by Allergies. They were really bad for a few days, but I mostly am over them now. I am grateful for Puffs lotion tissues, even though my mom doesn't like them.

I worked really hard to start teaming up again, our team ups slowed way down when Elder Smith got here. We taught 11 or 12 lessons with members this week. (We only really counted 11.) It was really good, and we got blessed for it. We were able to have every single key indicator go up quite a bit, which is really good. It was really fun. We were able to find a really good referral that we had been trying to find. We already had his phone number, and we knew what apartment complex he lived in, and then he talked to the Spanish Elders and is golden. We will start teaching him today.

Everything is going pretty well.

Elder Keeley

Porterville Specialized Training and Exchanges. Also Easter

I had a good week this week. We had a productive Monday afternoon, and then on Tuesday we went on an hour drive down to Porterville for Specialized Training. I think that's our mission president's new name for Zone Conference. We learned about making small changes to become a lot better, and about better finding through the members and through our own efforts.

On Wednesday we spent almost the whole afternoon working on creating a ward mission plan with our ward Mission Leader, Brother Smeaton. It should be good if it is followed. We are submitting it to the ward council to see if it is approved. 

I got to go on exchanges with Elder Howard. That's always lots of fun. We taught a family in Spanish, and I was able to talk quite a bit. I am learning almost exclusively from street contacts and other missionaries. 

On Thursday we continued our exchange, but didn't really catch anyone at home. When I came back to Selma, Elder Smith and I were able to teach a lady that we found by talking about family history. She is good with everything, but doesn't want to come to church because she works at the school, and doesn't like to run into the kids that she knows. She doesn't want to restart family history because she thinks she will become addicted. She is a really nice lady though. Her name is Barbara.

On Friday we went to Parlier and taught a man named Eloid at Tony the Barber's barbershop. He had just gotten out of prison 6 months ago, and is looking for a way to repent, and become a better person. He feels the spirit well, and is interested in our message. We taught him again Saturday as well. He has been off of Crystal meth for 6 months, and knows that he cannot go back or he is in big trouble.

On Saturday we taught a lot of lessons, and had a good time. 

Easter was good. It was a fast Sunday, and I bore my testimony of the Atonement, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have been studying a lot about the gospel recently, and have come to more fully understand how the Gospel and Atonement are really center of everything that we do. the ability to be forgiven of our sins, and be healed is an amazing thing. Jesus Christ allows every single person to recieve healing and help.

I got a cold this week, which wasn't very fun. It made me really tired, and clogged my nose. We worked through it, but it wasn't very pleasurable. 

Elder Keeley

One minute Mass

I only have one minute, I apologize. I went on exchanges with Elder Munzon, that was pretty fun. We also got a mini missionary named Elder Bradshaw from Visalia. He was pretty cool and that was pretty fun as well. We might have a baptism coming up, but we'll see. Everything is going pretty well. Have a happy Easter!

Elder Keeley

The New Era

Everyone was surprised that I stayed in Selma. Elder Smith came in, and we kept going at full speed, except our finding dropped a little.

We are teaching two ladies named Irene and the older Irene's sister Diane. They are golden investigators that we found a while ago, but surrendered to the spanish Elders for a whilem but they never taught her. They gave them back to us and we started to teach them again. They are really awesome. Diane's husband had just barely died, and she was looking for a church where she could be with him again. She just kept asking us how she could know that this church is true. That whole family is doing really well.

Jen Prieto keeps trying to have her baby. She needs to get her act together. This isn't the time to have a baby.

Parnell is doing well as well. He really wants to change his life.

I learned a lot this week about using family history, and being grateful and patient with the Lord's timing. I know that this is the Lord's work, and that it will happen in his way. Missions are lot's of fun.

Elder Smith came from Merced. He was trained by my trainer's trainer. He also came from Missouri and Kentucky.

Elder Keeley