How is everything? Things are going pretty good here. This has been a good week as far as everything goes. Not too much to complain about.
Last Saturday we had to teach in TRC, which is where we do a home teaching sort of lesson to either native speaking members, or more often, returned missionaries. It was the first time we had to plan for a 40 minute lesson and deliver the whole thing. I was pretty nervous. Especially because last week Elder Vance had a bad time with the two guys we got. They were pretty good friends I think and they would kinda laugh sometimes, and the one was kinda dramatic. Actually I really liked the lesson! We definitely had the Spirit there. I could feel it working on me and Elder Watkins, but also the two people we taught. When we started teaching they got quieter and you could tell that they knew we were teaching the truth and that we were doing it seriously. In the end we had a way good lesson and an awesome experience. Sunday wasn't too bad. I'm the District Leader now until we leave on the 12th. It doesn't mean a whole lot. I have to lead like 2 meetings a week, get the mail, and go to leadership training on Sundays. It's not that exciting. The highlight of that day was our district review about the devotional. We did it with the Laotians because there are only 4 of them (at least a couple are going to open the Lao speaking mission in Oakland California!). There's one Lao Elder, Elder Adam, who had a really strong testimony but is always timid. Sister Jackson got up and said that she was following a prompting and with the Spirit told him how strong his testimony is and that if he will take hold of it and share it with the world he can change so many people's lives. The Spirit was so strong and emotional. She wasn't the last person to give and emotional testimony and by the end we could really feel the Spirit.
Monday was pretty typical. Service, study, lunch, gym, the usual. Elder Vance and I did upper body stuff and I can feel it now... Tuesday, yesterday, was one of the best days I've had here. It was Elder Watkin's birthday, and for his birthday we got to leave the MTC!! Actually he had to go to the dentist to fix a chipped tooth. But it was still fun! He even thinks so haha. We drove like 5 minutes in an MTC shuttle to the office. Everyone we saw was way nice and asked about our missions. The dentists worked really fast too. While we were there we got to listen to some real music on the radio! I mean...I sat and plugged my ears the whole time... Over all it was smooth and it was a different experience to be missionaries outside of the MTC. Even though we were practically on BYU campus.
By the way, Elder Crump and Sister Jackson both went to the University of Utah and loved it there! They say that it's a cool place because it's such a good school and because there are so many different kinds of people you can see there. They have a good biomedical engineering program there, so I'm really tempted to look into it and see what could happen.
Okay back to Tuesday. So we went to the dentist, then came back and we were already done with our one block of classes that day. The devotional takes up the time in the evening. So all we came back to was studying and gym! Not a bad day! The devotional was good, and we had another devotional review. This was good too. The Spirit was there, but instead of a crying sort of feeling, everyone just felt happy and you could feel the love everyone had in the room. I was so surprised at how much more comfortable and calm that Elder seemed already. Elder Reid, also Laotian, bore his testimony on how happy he is that he knows that through the atonement he can be with his family forever, and how grateful he is that he gets to spread that knowledge and joy to others. He is always such a happy person, and I can definitely feel it rub off onto me.
So after that we went back into our residence and had a sort of party for Elder Watkins. His family sent some really good food and drinks so we just sat around eating until our stomachs hurt for a while and just talked and laughed. So Elder Smith has a sister who is a couple years or so younger than us and Elder Watkins is always teasing him about how he's going to marry his sister someday. Elder Smith takes it like a champ. So Elder Smith decided for his birthday he's going to get his sister to write Elder Watkins a letter. It was so funny! She played it off so well. She wrote all about how much she loves him and is so proud of him for what he's doing. and that she's looking forward to there eternal lives together. Then on the back she wrote the real letter haha. It was such fun and good night!
So I have 3 more weeks here then we head to Thailand. I'm so nervous! Thai is a way hard language and I don't feel ready yet. I'm just hoping I have a good senior companion. Our teachers do so much to prepare us in every way. They're really amazing people. So I've heard that letters take about 3 weeks to Thailand. Maybe you want to send some now so I'll have them when I get there. ;)
I love you all and I'm so grateful for all the support!
Love Elder Keller
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