Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, April 2, 2011
The pictures are of us cleaning a 1976ish Mini Cooper. It doesn´t even work at the moment, but he plans on getting it running again. We have washed 4 cars in the last week. Service!
Also, our awesome missionary dog, Mason! He is so cool! He usually comes to our district meetings and he walks around with any missionaries that he finds. That day he came to our pension and hung out for a bit. He is so cool!
And our cowboy hats were for a Relief Society Hat dance thing last Friday.
Conference! I loved conference weekend! We weren´t able to go to the first Saturday session, but we made it to the rest. The whole time listening I was wishing that our investigators could hear the talks. If everyone took in the counsel we were given, what a better world this would be!
I loved Elder M. Russell Ballard´s talk about the family. He said that if the family is the base of the community, the whole community will be better off. The family is so important, and really is a divine organization from the Lord.
We have been working with one family in particular the last month. The parents are not married, but the mom is so strong in the gospel and has a lot of faith. The dad is not a member, but he has a testimony and knows this church is true. In order for him to be baptized, they must get married. For the past month they have kind of switched off on their desire to get married. First he didn´t want to, then when he said yes she said no. And that´s how it´s been. They are in a really hard time now especially because he lost his job a couple weeks ago. Sister Andrea has been having such a hard time because she says she has been having a battle inside herself and has so much pain every day. She wants to do what is right, but she can´t come to decide to get married because she doesn´t feel that Alejandro will give her the support she needs. We have been working with them a lot lately, and Sunday morning we stopped by. During that lesson I felt more love for an investigator than I have had so far in the mission. I want her and her family to be happy so badly, and I know that they can be if they will live the gospel! They agreed to go to the Sunday morning session, and they did. I sat by them, and with their rowdy 5 year-old that we were all trying to calm down, I didn´t think that they were able to really listen to the speakers and feel the Spirit. But about an hour after the meeting Elder Hertler called to check up on them, and they said that they are now going to get married! I don´t know what was said that made them finally decide that, but I know that they did feel the Spirit as they listened to the Prophet speak. Oh how I love conference.
It is sad though that the only session that was really well attended by many people was the Sunday morning session, which was at 1:00 here, about when church is. The Saturday ones and the Sunday afternoon session had only a small portion of the people. Next time conference comes around we hope to help the people see what a blessing each session is. I learned a lot and got answers to many questions.
Oh ya! I haven´t told you that I got your package! I got it about the 20th of March, a month after it was sent I think. All of the Elders and I loved the candy :D And thank you for sending me the stories of our ancestors. They were all amazing to read. To think that it was so long ago that some of our family joined the church. And the faith they had is incredible. The stories of William and Sarah Mendenhall amaze me. They had no family support from their parents, and they said some terrible things about them and the church, but they still followed the prophet.
Could you send me my priesthood line? Just all the names over email would be great. I want to share it with people to show how special it is and that the authority really has come from Jesus Christ Himself. Thanks!
I might try and put a package together in the next few weeks so if there is anything that anyone would like in particular let me know :) (Like candy or food or stuff)
Sister Williamson told me that the ward is doing a 40 day fast for missionary work. That is so cool! And maybe that can help explain the tremendous blessings I have had in my first couple months here. Thank you for all of your prayers! I have definitely felt them!
Thank you for everything!
Love, Elder Derek Keele
Also, our awesome missionary dog, Mason! He is so cool! He usually comes to our district meetings and he walks around with any missionaries that he finds. That day he came to our pension and hung out for a bit. He is so cool!
And our cowboy hats were for a Relief Society Hat dance thing last Friday.
Conference! I loved conference weekend! We weren´t able to go to the first Saturday session, but we made it to the rest. The whole time listening I was wishing that our investigators could hear the talks. If everyone took in the counsel we were given, what a better world this would be!
I loved Elder M. Russell Ballard´s talk about the family. He said that if the family is the base of the community, the whole community will be better off. The family is so important, and really is a divine organization from the Lord.
We have been working with one family in particular the last month. The parents are not married, but the mom is so strong in the gospel and has a lot of faith. The dad is not a member, but he has a testimony and knows this church is true. In order for him to be baptized, they must get married. For the past month they have kind of switched off on their desire to get married. First he didn´t want to, then when he said yes she said no. And that´s how it´s been. They are in a really hard time now especially because he lost his job a couple weeks ago. Sister Andrea has been having such a hard time because she says she has been having a battle inside herself and has so much pain every day. She wants to do what is right, but she can´t come to decide to get married because she doesn´t feel that Alejandro will give her the support she needs. We have been working with them a lot lately, and Sunday morning we stopped by. During that lesson I felt more love for an investigator than I have had so far in the mission. I want her and her family to be happy so badly, and I know that they can be if they will live the gospel! They agreed to go to the Sunday morning session, and they did. I sat by them, and with their rowdy 5 year-old that we were all trying to calm down, I didn´t think that they were able to really listen to the speakers and feel the Spirit. But about an hour after the meeting Elder Hertler called to check up on them, and they said that they are now going to get married! I don´t know what was said that made them finally decide that, but I know that they did feel the Spirit as they listened to the Prophet speak. Oh how I love conference.
It is sad though that the only session that was really well attended by many people was the Sunday morning session, which was at 1:00 here, about when church is. The Saturday ones and the Sunday afternoon session had only a small portion of the people. Next time conference comes around we hope to help the people see what a blessing each session is. I learned a lot and got answers to many questions.
Oh ya! I haven´t told you that I got your package! I got it about the 20th of March, a month after it was sent I think. All of the Elders and I loved the candy :D And thank you for sending me the stories of our ancestors. They were all amazing to read. To think that it was so long ago that some of our family joined the church. And the faith they had is incredible. The stories of William and Sarah Mendenhall amaze me. They had no family support from their parents, and they said some terrible things about them and the church, but they still followed the prophet.
Could you send me my priesthood line? Just all the names over email would be great. I want to share it with people to show how special it is and that the authority really has come from Jesus Christ Himself. Thanks!
I might try and put a package together in the next few weeks so if there is anything that anyone would like in particular let me know :) (Like candy or food or stuff)
Sister Williamson told me that the ward is doing a 40 day fast for missionary work. That is so cool! And maybe that can help explain the tremendous blessings I have had in my first couple months here. Thank you for all of your prayers! I have definitely felt them!
Thank you for everything!
Love, Elder Derek Keele
Monday, March 26, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, Mar. 26, 2012
Happy Birthday yesterday, Nathan! 17? That can´t be right. You are almost done with your junior year of high school? One year to go? That is crazy hermano.
Thank you for the pictures! It´s so good to see everybody (well, everyone but Mom and Stephanie. I´m guessing mom was taking the picture and Stephanie... don´t know. Get in the picture next time! ;) ) A couple days ago I was trying to picture everyone´s faces, and I couldn´t do it! I had to go look at the pictures in the calendar you sent me. And last night I had a dream that I was home with everyone except Jordan who was still on his mission. So thank you for the pictures! It looks like Nathan´s birthday was fun! (Especially for him ;) )
And in the dream I prayed in English. It was weird haha. I have actually been praying in English with Elder Hertler because he needs to learn English. He hardly knows any, but he is learning really fast. He wants to maybe go to BYU and play futbol americano after his mission. That would be so neat to take him to the States.
Yes, we have heard about some of these earthquakes. In our pension one missionary is from Mexico and one from Santiago-ish Chile. And then me, and a member told us there was an earthquake in the States too, but I don´t know where. Now we´re just missing Argentina and all of our homes will have had earthquakes. Scary! We have only felt one for sure a few weeks ago. And one maybe last week. Just small ones of course. During the first one, we were sitting in a member´s home and everything just started shaking! It was crazy! It only lasted about 5 seconds.
Oh boy Jessica. That´s good to hear! :D And one of your companion´s is going to stay with you!? That would be so much fun! Seeing any of my mission buddy´s after the mission is going to be a blast. Enjoy conference!
Oh man, I am so pumped for conference! The first session is at 1, so the next is at 5 and priesthood is from 9 to 11. Luckily not too different. And I think we even get to watch it in English. It is so nice to hear them from their own voices and not just a translator. We are all blessed to always have that privilege.
Wow. Thank you for sharing that experience in the temple. That makes so much sense. And I don´t think many people here are to the point in doing their family history work yet. So that will help! Our ancestors need their work done now so they don´t have to wait during the millennium and so they can participate in the second coming.
That makes me so happy to hear about Harold! Thank you!
Yesterday was tranfers and most of us in Alto Hospicio are staying here! I´m so glad about that. Elder Hertler and I have much to do. And I love rooming with Elder Lopez and Elder Garrido. They are both great.
Well it was good to see most of you again! Only a month and a half and I get to call, and on Jessicá´s birthday too!
Love, Elder Derek Keele
Thank you for the pictures! It´s so good to see everybody (well, everyone but Mom and Stephanie. I´m guessing mom was taking the picture and Stephanie... don´t know. Get in the picture next time! ;) ) A couple days ago I was trying to picture everyone´s faces, and I couldn´t do it! I had to go look at the pictures in the calendar you sent me. And last night I had a dream that I was home with everyone except Jordan who was still on his mission. So thank you for the pictures! It looks like Nathan´s birthday was fun! (Especially for him ;) )
And in the dream I prayed in English. It was weird haha. I have actually been praying in English with Elder Hertler because he needs to learn English. He hardly knows any, but he is learning really fast. He wants to maybe go to BYU and play futbol americano after his mission. That would be so neat to take him to the States.
Yes, we have heard about some of these earthquakes. In our pension one missionary is from Mexico and one from Santiago-ish Chile. And then me, and a member told us there was an earthquake in the States too, but I don´t know where. Now we´re just missing Argentina and all of our homes will have had earthquakes. Scary! We have only felt one for sure a few weeks ago. And one maybe last week. Just small ones of course. During the first one, we were sitting in a member´s home and everything just started shaking! It was crazy! It only lasted about 5 seconds.
Oh boy Jessica. That´s good to hear! :D And one of your companion´s is going to stay with you!? That would be so much fun! Seeing any of my mission buddy´s after the mission is going to be a blast. Enjoy conference!
Oh man, I am so pumped for conference! The first session is at 1, so the next is at 5 and priesthood is from 9 to 11. Luckily not too different. And I think we even get to watch it in English. It is so nice to hear them from their own voices and not just a translator. We are all blessed to always have that privilege.
Wow. Thank you for sharing that experience in the temple. That makes so much sense. And I don´t think many people here are to the point in doing their family history work yet. So that will help! Our ancestors need their work done now so they don´t have to wait during the millennium and so they can participate in the second coming.
That makes me so happy to hear about Harold! Thank you!
Yesterday was tranfers and most of us in Alto Hospicio are staying here! I´m so glad about that. Elder Hertler and I have much to do. And I love rooming with Elder Lopez and Elder Garrido. They are both great.
Well it was good to see most of you again! Only a month and a half and I get to call, and on Jessicá´s birthday too!
Love, Elder Derek Keele
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Elder Derek Keele, Mar. 19, 2012
Yes! I have had a great week! The highlight was spending a day on splits with the assistants. I worked with Elder Ricks, and we had some awesome experiences that I will write about later. Yes, my companion has been much better too.
Becoming a ward is the goal :D That would be so neat to see. There are enough members, but not enough that are dedicated in attending. One of the Elder´s quorum counselors that just got released yesterday hasn´t attended church in months, maybe years. And we are one of the stronger branches in Chile. There are some where not even the Bishop shows up to church. President Bruce told us that getting people to church is a battle here. So getting them to church is fun.
Our sector is probably like... our stake and the Lakeview stake put together. That is our branch area. However big that is haha. So to get to church is about 20 minutes walking for the farthest people. That takes an effect on the attendance as well. We have a chapel and it is beautiful! It is only maybe 10 years old and I love being in it.
Haha poor Japonese Girls. Rats, no. And spiders not really either. We usually wake up with a bunch of bug bites though, and there are tiny cockroaches and other little bugs. But we used a spray as well so they don´t bug us too much.
Do choir Nathan! It was so much fun and I still sings the songs in my head with the Tabernacle Choir CDs we have haha.
President Matt Holland is really good! I went to a fireside of his at UVU a few months before I left. He is a lot like his dad. Those stories are so neat! Very small world.
Go Brenton! That is so cool! I´m way happy for him! Tell Josh to get on it too. haha
So Saturday I got to work with Elder Ricks all day. We have had an investigator, Carla, for about a month. Elder Hertler and I both know that she knows the church is true. And she enjoys the peace and comfort that it brings. But for some reason last Tuesday she decided not to make the step of baptism. Elder Hertler and I did not know how to help her. But then we met with her Saturday with Elder Ricks and he helped her remember what she knows and realized the peace that she is looking for in her life is right here. And it is so easy to get. Just accept Christ and His atonement. When we do that we can wake up every day and just be happy, knowing that everything will be okay as long as we follow Christ. We don´t have to worry about all of the bad things in our life because the Lord will take care of us. It is when we go away from Him that we start being afraid. So she will now hopefully be ready for this Saturday.He also helped us with a family that needs to get married. The mom is a member but the dad is not. They both want to do what is right, but getting married has just been a hard step to take for the almost 20 years they´ve been together. We know that every missionary companionship that has taught them has challenged them to get married. But Elder Ricks helped them both a lot and hopefully they will change.
This is week 6 now and I hope that I stay here with my companion another 6 weeks at least. But we´ll find out next week.
The mission is amazing! And I´m working to be better every day!
Love,
Elder Derek Keele
Becoming a ward is the goal :D That would be so neat to see. There are enough members, but not enough that are dedicated in attending. One of the Elder´s quorum counselors that just got released yesterday hasn´t attended church in months, maybe years. And we are one of the stronger branches in Chile. There are some where not even the Bishop shows up to church. President Bruce told us that getting people to church is a battle here. So getting them to church is fun.
Our sector is probably like... our stake and the Lakeview stake put together. That is our branch area. However big that is haha. So to get to church is about 20 minutes walking for the farthest people. That takes an effect on the attendance as well. We have a chapel and it is beautiful! It is only maybe 10 years old and I love being in it.
Haha poor Japonese Girls. Rats, no. And spiders not really either. We usually wake up with a bunch of bug bites though, and there are tiny cockroaches and other little bugs. But we used a spray as well so they don´t bug us too much.
Do choir Nathan! It was so much fun and I still sings the songs in my head with the Tabernacle Choir CDs we have haha.
President Matt Holland is really good! I went to a fireside of his at UVU a few months before I left. He is a lot like his dad. Those stories are so neat! Very small world.
Go Brenton! That is so cool! I´m way happy for him! Tell Josh to get on it too. haha
So Saturday I got to work with Elder Ricks all day. We have had an investigator, Carla, for about a month. Elder Hertler and I both know that she knows the church is true. And she enjoys the peace and comfort that it brings. But for some reason last Tuesday she decided not to make the step of baptism. Elder Hertler and I did not know how to help her. But then we met with her Saturday with Elder Ricks and he helped her remember what she knows and realized the peace that she is looking for in her life is right here. And it is so easy to get. Just accept Christ and His atonement. When we do that we can wake up every day and just be happy, knowing that everything will be okay as long as we follow Christ. We don´t have to worry about all of the bad things in our life because the Lord will take care of us. It is when we go away from Him that we start being afraid. So she will now hopefully be ready for this Saturday.He also helped us with a family that needs to get married. The mom is a member but the dad is not. They both want to do what is right, but getting married has just been a hard step to take for the almost 20 years they´ve been together. We know that every missionary companionship that has taught them has challenged them to get married. But Elder Ricks helped them both a lot and hopefully they will change.
This is week 6 now and I hope that I stay here with my companion another 6 weeks at least. But we´ll find out next week.
The mission is amazing! And I´m working to be better every day!
Love,
Elder Derek Keele
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
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