Monday, February 27, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, Feb. 27, 2012
That is crazy that Sister Jellen saw David! I know that David is doing great and is ready to get out into the field. I was so glad that we got to be in the MTC at the same time.
Go Jessica! That´s so good that you got a good job already! Are you going to still work at NuSkin? And are you donating plasma? My companion said I was crazy for doing that.) Ya, I´m not too excited to go to a single´s ward either. I´m going to avoid it if possible.
What a blessing for Dad and you and the whole family! That is awesome that he gets to be home on Fridays.
This week has been great! I got to baptize an investigator for my first time last Saturday! It was so great! Her name is Nancy. She is 67 and we found her as a past investigator from the last missionaries that were here a few months ago. She was so excited to be baptized, even though she didn´t remember very much of what the missionaries taught her. We taught her everything last week and she was baptized on Saturday! It was a great experience!
Last night we were lucky to be accompanied { :) } by Elder Reilei, an assistant to President Bruce. He taught us a lot and had such a great lesson. He shared thoughts about prophets and Joseph Smith. He had us close our eyes and picture what the first vision must have been like as he recited the first vision. And then afterwards he gave the whole family an opportunity to bear their testimonies. It was very special. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. All of the scripture that he translated and wrote down is the word of God. They are all true books and are a blessing to us, and it is vital that we use the Book of Mormon.
Something specific to our mission (and all the missions in South America particularly) is that we need converts. Not just baptisms, but people completely converted. We are asked to spend a lot of time teaching less-active members, recent converts, and the members. And when people are truly converted, and see the big picture, they will want to help us bring souls unto Christ. In the last two weeks I have had a big change in my perspective. As a missionary we work all day to only help others come unto Christ. And then as a result, our own testimonies have been strengthened a lot.
Up until now I have read in the scriptures, prayed, gone to church, most of the time to strengthen my own testimony. But now just focusing on others has made me think differently of how I should be when I go back home. That is great that I have been strengthening my testimony all this time, but as Christ said to Peter after he had been resurrected, "Feed my sheep". Now that you are converted, help others! Don´t just go back and fish.
I know that as we try to bring others unto Christ so that they can have the same joy we have in this gospel, we will not have to worry about our own testimonies.
I hope this made a little sense. But in other words, I am loving being a missionary and everything I am learning :)
And some slightly exciting news, I got bit by my first dog last week :D Luckily it just left a little bump on my leg, but it´s all better now. It was just a mom warning us to get away from her puppies.
hasta luego,
Elder Keele
Go Jessica! That´s so good that you got a good job already! Are you going to still work at NuSkin? And are you donating plasma? My companion said I was crazy for doing that.) Ya, I´m not too excited to go to a single´s ward either. I´m going to avoid it if possible.
What a blessing for Dad and you and the whole family! That is awesome that he gets to be home on Fridays.
This week has been great! I got to baptize an investigator for my first time last Saturday! It was so great! Her name is Nancy. She is 67 and we found her as a past investigator from the last missionaries that were here a few months ago. She was so excited to be baptized, even though she didn´t remember very much of what the missionaries taught her. We taught her everything last week and she was baptized on Saturday! It was a great experience!
Last night we were lucky to be accompanied { :) } by Elder Reilei, an assistant to President Bruce. He taught us a lot and had such a great lesson. He shared thoughts about prophets and Joseph Smith. He had us close our eyes and picture what the first vision must have been like as he recited the first vision. And then afterwards he gave the whole family an opportunity to bear their testimonies. It was very special. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. All of the scripture that he translated and wrote down is the word of God. They are all true books and are a blessing to us, and it is vital that we use the Book of Mormon.
Something specific to our mission (and all the missions in South America particularly) is that we need converts. Not just baptisms, but people completely converted. We are asked to spend a lot of time teaching less-active members, recent converts, and the members. And when people are truly converted, and see the big picture, they will want to help us bring souls unto Christ. In the last two weeks I have had a big change in my perspective. As a missionary we work all day to only help others come unto Christ. And then as a result, our own testimonies have been strengthened a lot.
Up until now I have read in the scriptures, prayed, gone to church, most of the time to strengthen my own testimony. But now just focusing on others has made me think differently of how I should be when I go back home. That is great that I have been strengthening my testimony all this time, but as Christ said to Peter after he had been resurrected, "Feed my sheep". Now that you are converted, help others! Don´t just go back and fish.
I know that as we try to bring others unto Christ so that they can have the same joy we have in this gospel, we will not have to worry about our own testimonies.
I hope this made a little sense. But in other words, I am loving being a missionary and everything I am learning :)
And some slightly exciting news, I got bit by my first dog last week :D Luckily it just left a little bump on my leg, but it´s all better now. It was just a mom warning us to get away from her puppies.
hasta luego,
Elder Keele
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, Feb. 20, 2012
Chile is awesome! The people are all so nice and willing to listen, and my companion can really bring the spirit. There have been people, who at first glance you would think they would not care to listen at all to what we have to say, especially because I´m a gringo haha. But after a few minutes they get really interested and want to know more. It´s funny because they don´t really like Argentines here, and I know that I don´t have a lot of their respect, but yet they listen and the spirit tells them to listen and suddenly they want us to come back. It is so cool! And I´m grateful that I´ve been able to see that change in them because it is really one of the coolest things to see.
Church was great yesterday! We had three investigators come! One is a pastor of another church, but his wife and one daughter are members. The other was a girl that has a baptismal date for this Saturday (The Elders before us were working with her). And the third was the friend of a member. We taught her and the member family the night before and there was a huge change in how much she cared from the beginning of the lesson to the end.
I still haven't been able to really participate in lessons yet. I can´t think fast enough to say what I want. But every once-in-a-while my companion just turns to me and makes me say something. Then I do, and it slows down the conversation haha, but the investigator can understand me I think. My companion has forced me to do several contacts just by myself a few times, and I´ve been so amazed that I´ve been able to understand them and respond back to them. I´ve been helped out so much by the spirit and will continue to need that help.
My companion is from Buenos Aires, Capital. Like I said before he is such a ´capo´ (stud). He is a great example to me and makes me work hard.
Luckily food-wise I have only had one piece of spicy chicken, and it wasn´t even that spicy. Yay for no spicy foods! And they don´t really eat sea food either. A lot of chicken and rice. And it is all so good! There has not been one thing that I didn´t like so far! In fact, yesterday I found a good use for honeydew! No longer is it just second-hand cantaloupe in my mind! You put it in a juicer, and it is delicious! The drinks here are almost always either water, juice, or coke. Everyone has coke here. And water is more rare because you can´t just drink it from the tap. So usually just some kind of juice, or coke. Ooh! And the other day I found Inca Cola! I got excited but my companion just looked at me with a weird face. So we both got one and it was so good! It´s like creme soda. He didn´t really like it though haha. I thought it was a super good drink, but I guess to them it´s not.
President Bruce is awesome! We haven´t had our first interviews with him yet, but I think we all go back to Antofagasta next week to have them.
Elder James Gillespie, my friend from the Scera, is in my zone! I don´t know why I´ve been blessed to have him and Elder Howard in my district, but it has been so nice to talk to both of them.
Today we played soccer for two hours and then basketball for a little bit. I am so red! I forgot to put on sunscreen today. I have the other days so I´ve been fine, but I´m pretty red at the moment haha.
Oh ya! The sunsets = the best. Since we walk around so much I get to see it almost every day. My companion thinks it's weird that I like it and questioned if I have not ever seen a sunset before or something. But they are as cool here as they were in Utah. I´m actually in Alto Hopicio, a few miles from Iquique, and we can´t really see the ocean except when we drive to Iquique. So I have yet to see the sun setting over the ocean. Maybe in my next area.
I love you all!
Elder Keele
Church was great yesterday! We had three investigators come! One is a pastor of another church, but his wife and one daughter are members. The other was a girl that has a baptismal date for this Saturday (The Elders before us were working with her). And the third was the friend of a member. We taught her and the member family the night before and there was a huge change in how much she cared from the beginning of the lesson to the end.
I still haven't been able to really participate in lessons yet. I can´t think fast enough to say what I want. But every once-in-a-while my companion just turns to me and makes me say something. Then I do, and it slows down the conversation haha, but the investigator can understand me I think. My companion has forced me to do several contacts just by myself a few times, and I´ve been so amazed that I´ve been able to understand them and respond back to them. I´ve been helped out so much by the spirit and will continue to need that help.
My companion is from Buenos Aires, Capital. Like I said before he is such a ´capo´ (stud). He is a great example to me and makes me work hard.
Luckily food-wise I have only had one piece of spicy chicken, and it wasn´t even that spicy. Yay for no spicy foods! And they don´t really eat sea food either. A lot of chicken and rice. And it is all so good! There has not been one thing that I didn´t like so far! In fact, yesterday I found a good use for honeydew! No longer is it just second-hand cantaloupe in my mind! You put it in a juicer, and it is delicious! The drinks here are almost always either water, juice, or coke. Everyone has coke here. And water is more rare because you can´t just drink it from the tap. So usually just some kind of juice, or coke. Ooh! And the other day I found Inca Cola! I got excited but my companion just looked at me with a weird face. So we both got one and it was so good! It´s like creme soda. He didn´t really like it though haha. I thought it was a super good drink, but I guess to them it´s not.
President Bruce is awesome! We haven´t had our first interviews with him yet, but I think we all go back to Antofagasta next week to have them.
Elder James Gillespie, my friend from the Scera, is in my zone! I don´t know why I´ve been blessed to have him and Elder Howard in my district, but it has been so nice to talk to both of them.
Today we played soccer for two hours and then basketball for a little bit. I am so red! I forgot to put on sunscreen today. I have the other days so I´ve been fine, but I´m pretty red at the moment haha.
Oh ya! The sunsets = the best. Since we walk around so much I get to see it almost every day. My companion thinks it's weird that I like it and questioned if I have not ever seen a sunset before or something. But they are as cool here as they were in Utah. I´m actually in Alto Hopicio, a few miles from Iquique, and we can´t really see the ocean except when we drive to Iquique. So I have yet to see the sun setting over the ocean. Maybe in my next area.
I love you all!
Elder Keele
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, Feb. 11, 2011
Oh boy! I am so pumped to go out into the field! Yesterday we had our in-field orientation and that made me so excited!
Brother Littlefield was the director, so that was pretty cool. He did a great job and helped me and the other missionaries so much! We pretty much learned everything that a missionary needs to know, other than teaching. Like using the members, how to plan well, and tons of things that a missionary needs to know.
Something really important that I learned yesterday is to make sure, as missionaries, we are being a blessing to the bishop, not a burden. Brother Littlefield helped us remember how much bishops have to do and how much is on their mind. As missionaries we should not ask them to do anything for us, but we should always ask if there is anything we can do for them. Working with the ward mission leader and the members is a little different. But we always need to remember how busy the bishop is.
I wish I could remember that day like Professor Dumbledor does when he put his memories into the pensive thing. I feel so excited now because I feel like they just told us everything we need to do to be great missionaries. I tried to take good notes and I will definitely refer back to them frequently and make sure I am doing everything right. I'm so excited to meet my mission President! President Bruce seems like the coolest guy! He sent all of us a letter a few weeks ago, and we are so excited to meet him.
Today will go by fast because we'll try to get everything packed. And then tomorrow will be a great last Sunday with our zone (all of whom I will miss so much). And then 4am Monday morning we're off!
They told us yesterday that they were starting a new program with the brand-new missionaries going in to the field. It takes an extra hour each day, and after 12 weeks we are supposed to be ready to be senior companions. It is so the new missionaries don't just tag-along with their senior companions, but they start learning how to do everything correctly from the start.
It is going to be a hard few months getting started in the field, but I am so ready! There is going to be so much more to think about than we've had in the MTC. But I'm ready to go to work :D
Hahaha thank you for sending me Jordan's e-mail. That would be terrifying--waking up to a rat in your bed would be quite startling. I hope that never happens to me haha.
Well I'll try to get on a little later today again, but if not, this is the last e-mail from the MTC! Next time you hear from me I'll be in another part of the world that only speaks Spanish and is really hot. I'm so pumped!!!
Thank you everyone so much for all the letters and packages I've received in the MTC! They have been much appreciated, and I love hearing from everyone. I've loved it here, and now I'm ready to go to the real work :D
Love,
Elder Derek Keele
Brother Littlefield was the director, so that was pretty cool. He did a great job and helped me and the other missionaries so much! We pretty much learned everything that a missionary needs to know, other than teaching. Like using the members, how to plan well, and tons of things that a missionary needs to know.
Something really important that I learned yesterday is to make sure, as missionaries, we are being a blessing to the bishop, not a burden. Brother Littlefield helped us remember how much bishops have to do and how much is on their mind. As missionaries we should not ask them to do anything for us, but we should always ask if there is anything we can do for them. Working with the ward mission leader and the members is a little different. But we always need to remember how busy the bishop is.
I wish I could remember that day like Professor Dumbledor does when he put his memories into the pensive thing. I feel so excited now because I feel like they just told us everything we need to do to be great missionaries. I tried to take good notes and I will definitely refer back to them frequently and make sure I am doing everything right. I'm so excited to meet my mission President! President Bruce seems like the coolest guy! He sent all of us a letter a few weeks ago, and we are so excited to meet him.
Today will go by fast because we'll try to get everything packed. And then tomorrow will be a great last Sunday with our zone (all of whom I will miss so much). And then 4am Monday morning we're off!
They told us yesterday that they were starting a new program with the brand-new missionaries going in to the field. It takes an extra hour each day, and after 12 weeks we are supposed to be ready to be senior companions. It is so the new missionaries don't just tag-along with their senior companions, but they start learning how to do everything correctly from the start.
It is going to be a hard few months getting started in the field, but I am so ready! There is going to be so much more to think about than we've had in the MTC. But I'm ready to go to work :D
Hahaha thank you for sending me Jordan's e-mail. That would be terrifying--waking up to a rat in your bed would be quite startling. I hope that never happens to me haha.
Well I'll try to get on a little later today again, but if not, this is the last e-mail from the MTC! Next time you hear from me I'll be in another part of the world that only speaks Spanish and is really hot. I'm so pumped!!!
Thank you everyone so much for all the letters and packages I've received in the MTC! They have been much appreciated, and I love hearing from everyone. I've loved it here, and now I'm ready to go to the real work :D
Love,
Elder Derek Keele
Friday, February 10, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, Feb. 3, 2011
Thank you for sharing what you learned from President Monson! It reminded me of when Elder Bednar spoke here because he also said that he wouldn't be able to fulfill any of his duties without the help of the Lord. And I know the Lord is there to help you with anything that you need a boost in. I know that he does that because I have felt it so much here already.
Yes! We got our travel plans! We all think that we may have been more excited when we saw those in our box than when we opened our calls haha. We have a 34 and a half hour flight plan. We meet at the travel office at 4am on Monday the 13th and we arrive in Antofagasta at 2:30pm (our time) on the next Tuesday. We have four flights. Our first one leaves from the Salt Lake airport at 7am, and we fly to Chicago, then New York, then an 11 hour flight to Santiago, and then one more flight to Antofagasta. We're so pumped!
So this Tuesday was the 50th anniversary of the MTC! Elder Russell M. Nelson was the main speaker, and Elder Jefferey R. Holland opened for him :D :D :D I will never forget that I got to hear Elder Holland in the MTC, even though he only spoke for about 5 minutes. He really made me want to be the best missionary I can be. And he said we probably won't be able to comprehend the magnitude of the 50 year celebration of the MTC. Then Elder Nelson gave us a lot of history on some of the missionaries that the buildings here are named after. Then the cool part :D He gave a re-dedicatory prayer for 5 buildings that were renovated. It was so cool to be a part of! His relationship with our Heavenly Father seemed so close. It was amazing to hear an apostle pray.
Well that's all the time left :( Next week I will write on Saturday, and then I leave a couple days after that! I'll find out about the money on Friday during our infield orientation. Adios!
Elder Derek Keele
Yes! We got our travel plans! We all think that we may have been more excited when we saw those in our box than when we opened our calls haha. We have a 34 and a half hour flight plan. We meet at the travel office at 4am on Monday the 13th and we arrive in Antofagasta at 2:30pm (our time) on the next Tuesday. We have four flights. Our first one leaves from the Salt Lake airport at 7am, and we fly to Chicago, then New York, then an 11 hour flight to Santiago, and then one more flight to Antofagasta. We're so pumped!
So this Tuesday was the 50th anniversary of the MTC! Elder Russell M. Nelson was the main speaker, and Elder Jefferey R. Holland opened for him :D :D :D I will never forget that I got to hear Elder Holland in the MTC, even though he only spoke for about 5 minutes. He really made me want to be the best missionary I can be. And he said we probably won't be able to comprehend the magnitude of the 50 year celebration of the MTC. Then Elder Nelson gave us a lot of history on some of the missionaries that the buildings here are named after. Then the cool part :D He gave a re-dedicatory prayer for 5 buildings that were renovated. It was so cool to be a part of! His relationship with our Heavenly Father seemed so close. It was amazing to hear an apostle pray.
Well that's all the time left :( Next week I will write on Saturday, and then I leave a couple days after that! I'll find out about the money on Friday during our infield orientation. Adios!
Elder Derek Keele
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