Week 37

Hi everyone!  It's been a few weeks and I haven't written but it's been so crazy busy here that I haven't had the time.  But today I'll try and sum up the last couple weeks and fill you all in on my third area in the mission: Elche Ward 2!

So I've been here for about a week now and I'll let you know how it all is. So I've moved a little more south than Gandia where I was before. Its about an hour and 30 minutes more south. It's in the Elche zone in the mission which is the Elche stake. Which means I am in one of the main areas of the stake now which is super great! My area has a small portion of the west side of the city of Elche. The other portion of my area is a lot of little towns and a bigger one named Elda where there used to be a branch. They broke up the wards in Elche and added the branch of Elda and that's how we have the 2nd ward in Elche where I'm at now.

I would love to include a lot of pictures of the area but I've been driving all over the place. I've been blessed with a car in this new area which is a huge blessing. The sad part is I'm driving all over the place, we don't walk a lot and I'm the only legal driver... I've driven to Alicante which is a big city to the east of Elche, to Elda many times, and all over Elche.

I am companions with Elder Rodriguez who was my district leader when I served in the island of Mallorca. We're super good friends and we have a great time together. He's been showing me how to get around the area and how we work here. It's a very different area meaning we work a lot with the members. We meet with the members at least 2 times a day which a lot and we have lots of dinners or lunch visits with them. It's a great way to get to know the leaders of the ward and fortify the members. It's been  super fun and we are hoping that by working with them a lot we will get references from them which usually end up being the people that get baptized and stay active. 

This transfer we are going to try and work more on finding people. Not every member gives us references and so we have a small teaching pool right now . We have one investigator who is being baptized this Saturday and that's about it so we are going to be working hard in Elche and Elda to find more people.

This transfer I hope to try and help the two parts of the ward become more united. There is a small division between the members in Elda and the members in Elche. The members in Elda are a little salty about closing the branch there and they have a little bit of pride about their branch that closed 6 years ago. They're a little possessive of the missionaries and get offended if we say we are the Elche missionaries. They want us to be called the Elda missionaries. And that's a problem because the fact is all the members are equal and were in the Elche ward not the Elda ward. So we hope to help them understand this and help them become more united with the Elche members. 

I am super happy to be here and I'm having a great time already. I'll inform you all more when we start working a little more and get more situated here. Thanks for the emails from all of you and thanks for the prayers! They help a lot!

Love you all!

Elder Keith 

Sorry about not sending lots of photos but I just don't have many. I promise more next week!

Week 37 Email to Mom

Hi mom thanks for the email, sounds like a great week!

That's so nice of the companies to give free suits to the victims of the fires. To be honest the world is an evil and unfair place but when a big tragedy like that happens, others are so willing to help. I saw that happen in the island as well with the flood, it was cleaned up within a week even though it caused a lot of damage. And sounds like a great pay for helping them organize. You can send those pants to the mission office and will get them soon. I don't know my current address and its safer to send packages there. I also don't know about the customs fees on this...

I've had classes like that in college and so I know how you feel. 

An elder told me they don't do the videos anymore in the temple is that true? From what you told me it sounds like no.

How is josh doing with driving? He needs to be so glad he's driving there in Spain because its nuts here. I'm finally getting comfortable driving here but still Spain is a crazy place to drive around. Especially in the big city and having to parallel park. That's the hardest part and so I'm working hard on trying to get comfortable parallel parking.

 

I've heard about the restaurant! I hear it's super great, I'll have to go when I get back. In Valencia there was a restaurant exactly like that one but I never got the opportunity to go. 

What happened to the fence? Is the ground just wrecked or how has it become to bad?

I'll send in pics and more info in my weekly email! Thanks for filling me in, love you lots!

Elder Keith 

Week 36

Hi everyone!  Sorry this is gonna be a short email and I also didn't email last week but it's what I can do.  I didn't get a free day I was traveling all over the place today and so I just finally have 30 minutes to write emails 

I got transferred again but this time to Elche! It's a town in the south of Spain about an hour and a half from my last area. I had a great time in Gandia, the short 3 months I was there but I'm glad to move on and help other people.

My new companion is Elder Rodriguez. He is from Monterey Mexico and has been here in Elche 3 months now. We know each other really well actually, he was my district leader in Mallorca and then I've seen him ever since in zone conferences and now were together which is super crazy.

I'm excited for these next number of months I'll be here in Elche.  I'll make sure to send pictures next week and respond to all of you! I'm sorry for not sending any responses or anything for 2 week I just haven't had time on my p-days. Thanks for all the emails and I'll talk to you all next week!

Elder Keith

Stickers Jon made at a store in Valencia

Somebody got himself a new suit!  Nice!

Week 35 Emaill to Mom

To be honest before I was writing stuff down every day so I didn't have to take a lot of time writing on Mondays but that lasted like 2 months. I've hit a wall in the mission where I'm just tired. I've hit a wall of idk what its called, it's like I feel like I've been here a long time and I need to find my drive again to keep me going.

The Pakistan class is about their culture or what is it all about?

I know how you feel. Honestly the same thing happens here, every week is the same and so it's hard to write down what happens because it all mixes together and it becomes hard to write stuff down because I don't want to write the same thing every week. All it is is finding people and teaching lessons. They're the same lessons and the same people. For me I have to search and find those experiences to share and I also don't want to share everything because I have some good experiences I don't want to share.

I emailed grandma about her health. I don't know what to tell her really. I told her to trust in the Word of Wisdom and do her part but idk she has a lot of health problems...

When Josh gets his license he should go out looking for a job. It will keep him busy and help him save up money. 

The craziest thing I've noticed is our plans never go as we planned. Almost every day this last week plans changed as things came up it was crazy. It's not saying that we shouldn't plan things but that as well plan well, the lord will bless us with more things to do and it works out better than we plan. It's super great and a fun surprise each day.

Getting the choir together here is hard as well. The members have both drive to sing except for one member who came in and gets them so sing. Its hard and it doesn't always sound great but it ends up bringing the Spirit as you work hard and bring the Spirit of the choir to the ward. Idk how to help more people come but the best thing is just keep going and don't give up.

Recently I've had a hard time in the mission and I didn't know why. I was always arguing with my companion and things were just not going well and I was mad. So I prayed and I was mad and I came to a realization that this whole thing with my companion was because the Lord gave me a wake up call that I was getting complacent in my abilities as a missionary and that I needed to be better. I needed to learn to argue not to prove I was better and to not get angry so fast. I needed to learn the Doctrine better. I needed to be more humble. I needed to learn the rules better just so many things and it gets me depressed. I'm working on improving but it's hard and I have to take it one step at a time. Love you lots and thanks for the encouragement and emails! They help a lot!

Elder Keith

Pictures of Gandia, Spain 

Week 34

Wow I am so glad that holidays are over! Most people say no but as a missionary its rough. In Spain, holidays means I don't want to do anything that's not "vacationy" or with family and that's not bad but as a missionary it's hard to meet with people if they shut you down quick. I actually had a man were teaching laugh at me when I asked him if he could meet... it's all in the past and now were back to normal!

Holidays were great, this last week was New Years Eve! I was sick the night of which was a big bummer. We went to a less active members home to celebrate with them and when I got there my stomach was upset and I was feeling like a fever was coming on. They started feeding us and every bite I took I felt like it would come back out and I was freaking out but in the end I just straight told them I cant eat I don't feel good. Just "adulted" and didn't hide it and it was fine, I ended up just taking an hour nap on their couch while everyone celebrated and then we went back home hahaha. It wasn't so exciting but it was fun to see all the fireworks out when it hit 12. Every holiday here in Spain has to have fireworks.

I was feeling sick the days after so we took it easy, and it wasn't bad because not too many people wanted to be visited. So we relaxed and had a few visits. One of them was with Alberto and we set a confirmed baptismal date for the 26th! He told us he feels ready and honestly hes a changed man so I think he will he a great member! The sad thing is the 26th is the Saturday after transfers so I hope I can stay here in Gandia and be there for his baptism and help him adjust into the church. He's truly one of the best people I've met and I'm so excited to see him take that step of baptism in his life.

Also our friend Carolina is having a hard time in her life.  She's away from her family and she's been thinking about baptism. With lots of things on her mind shes been struggling to please keep her in her prayers so she can have some peace in her life and figure everything out.

We also passed the holiday of the 3 kings in Spain! It's to celebrate the 3 kings that visited Jesus after his birth. There's a large parade and people see the kings and relax during the day with their families. They also eat a pastry called Roscón! It's a weird pastry with candies on the top and a chocolate or vanilla filling. The thing is they hide two items inside. One item is a bean called the Aba and the other is a little toy king. If your piece of the Roscon has the king you are crowned with a paper crowned and are the king. And if you get the Aba you have to pay for the whole cake hahaha. Well we were lucky and someone gifted us a Roscon and so when I got the Aba I didn't have to pay for anything.

I wanted to share a scripture from the Bible in James 1:22 " But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." This is a scripture that has impacted me recently because the majority of people in the church or Christian's in the world love to listen but aren't very good at the follow up part which is to act and be a doer of the word. The promise is when we act on what we learn it becomes integrated and we understand more what the doctrine it and we are changed for the better. So I encourage everyone as you study the scriptures or learn a principle in church or general conference to be doers of the word and not just listeners. 

Have a great week everyone! Love you all. Send me emails with your photos from the holidays! I would love to see what you all did.

 

Elder Keith 

Week 34 Email Reply to Mom

What a great week!!!!!  It has actually been great to be out of school and be able to do so many things this week.  Next week is gonna be rough - no one goes to be before 10 anymore over here and these kids are gonna suffer this next week.  Pray for them.... pray for all of us!

Monday was NYE and Dad and I went to dinner and played games with the gang (Knud's, Chance, Bond).  Josh went to Kelly's to play games and eat with her family, Jill went to the Barron's house to spend the night, and James had Daniel over.  We got home right about midnight and of course there are morters and fireworks going off in the neighborhood and Duke is a shaky mess.  I swear one day he is gonna die from being scared.  He wouldn't come out of my bathroom closet, and then we got him to come out and he went in the upstairs bathroom and got in the bathtub!  No joke!  So we finally got him downstairs and he slept with Joshua that night.  Poor Duke!
Wow if only Duke was here in Spain. I feel like once a week they're setting off fireworks here they have to many holidays, and every one of them they celebrate with fireworks.
Tuesday we just hung out around the house.  I needed to do laundry and packing and then Wednesday dad went back to work and the rest of us went to Fresno.  Just as we were getting ready to leave, dad calls me and says - are you gonna go to the temple while you are in Fresno?  I actually had put my stuff in the car but didn't think it would happen (but you never know!).  I told him maybe.  He said - no, you need to make sure that you go while you are there.  Lots of changes!  It's a little different, but very inspired changes I've heard they changed stuff but I don't know what. I won't be able to go for a long time as well so who knows if I'll even remember what they change it's kind of sad though it's a long time to take us away from the temple but it's what we have to do. I hope they build a temple in Barcelona one day. They should because there's no temple in the middle of Paris and Madrid and it's a long distance between the two.  I look forward to taking you to the temple when you get home.  I guess until you get home, you will have to just speculate and wonder.  I feel bad that you can't go to the temple for so many more months, but I know when you get to go again, it will be the sweetest experience to you!  

We went to dinner with Aunt Heidi, Dustin and the kids and gram and gramp on Wednesday night.  Aimee was having a slumber party for the YW, and we kept Benny with us and he brought over his new Playstation 4 and the boys just played all night.  Then Thursday my sister and I got pedicures, then I got Groupons for the Mb2 Go-carts and took the kids there.

Rob, Toni and the kids met us there and they all raced and then we went to Red Robin for lunch.  We were able to go to the temple that night and the kids stayed at Aimee's house.  It was awesome!  I loved being able to go to the temple with my sister.  I may not have a lot in common with my siblings, and we may not be very close, but we have the gospel and strong testimonies and that helps us have a great bond with each other.  I really wish Rob was stronger in the Gospel, and I know that Heidi could use the Gospel in her life, but she had a lot of pride and would never admit it.  And I don't think she would agree with some of the doctrine now.  She has become very liberal minded.  All we can do is bring up the gospel and bear testimony with people like that. We can't give up but we can't push them. Did lots of people ask about me and the mission?

Friday we had my cousin Dan's girls to grandma's house to play with Jill and Aunt Aimee picked up the boys.  We let the cousins just spend time together and I worked on packing the car (of course!).  After the girls were picked up by Bonnie, we got the boys and went over to see Grandpa Birdie.  Man.... he is having the hardest time standing up and moving his legs.  I don't know how much longer he can be living alone and independent.  It was bad! I was thinking of sending him a letter but I don't have his address, could you send it to me? But he was in a good mood and told us a whole bunch of jokes - he would say they are clean jokes, but they weren't very clean!!!!  That was hilarious!!! Yeah I've had some weird experiences with old people as well. I had an old man give me advice about sex one time on a bench in gandia. It was so awkward and just weird but old people don't care. 

We started the new Come Follow Me for Families on Saturday.  We decided we would review the lesson for the week on FHE night, make assignments for readings for the week, and then after church on Sundays we would have a wrap-up meeting and discuss things we learned and make an action plan.  I'll attach the document at the bottom of this email.  If you can't view it, I can send it another way.  Just tell me tomorrow.  It wasn't too bad as long as we involved the kids as much as possible.  Jill is still so squirley and doesn't stop messing with James.  It drives me nuts!  I've been studying that book as well. I study it in Spanish for my language study. Its very well put together and I think it will help us out a lot. So we had an early dinner, the did our lesson, and now we are having a treat for "dinner" and the kids can clean up (cuz I need to do other things for choir and finish my email to you!).  Dad has a meeting tonight - the stake is gonna do a trek this summer which means dad is gonna be one busy busy guy!!!  I hope it all works out!  I don't know how he is gonna do it all.  I really loved having two hour church block today.  It was so nice to finish nursery in just 50 minutes.  The kids did great and as nursery leaders, we aren't quite as tired by the end.  It is a nice change.  We are also doing choir before church now, so that is amazing because we are home by 12:15 and have the rest of the day to focus on Family Studies and the many other things we need to do on Sundays.  Josh is now companions with Mike Johnson for ministering and I know they will be going out a lot!  Br. Johnson is amazing!  

Any ideas for what I can do for your dad for his birthday? Idk go to some cultural food place in Sac or something. Some food from another country or something like that . Honestly I haven't been with him and a while so I can't help too much with what to buy or something.  It's coming up soon!  I need some help!  I'm terrible at buying meaningful gifts.  We are refinancing the house - our interest rate on our mortgage adjusts every year, and in the past it's been fine, but this year it went up pretty high, so we are finalizing a refinance this week.  That means we will be locked into our interest rate and it can’t go up ever again. I have an appraiser coming out this week to do an appraisal for it.  I started my classes.  I haven't done any of the work yet, but I was reading messages from the teachers and updating my profile.  Pray for me!  I don't know how I'm gonna get everything done and stay sane!!!!  It is not easy!

I've still been reading the Book of Mormon (started over) this week and will continue to be diligent.  I learned from my reading the whole BofM in 80 days that we are all so much more capable of reading several chapters a day if we just put our minds to it and set goals.  So I need to set a goal!  I'm hoping that our gospel discussions with the kids will help them want to set their our goals to read the scriptures every day.  I've thought about getting each of them their own blue BofM and a book light to read before they go to bed at night.  What do you think? I would say it's a good idea. Idk for me I never studied on my own until seminary and even then I wasn't too great at reading a lot. The thing I've learned on my mission is you have to set a time for it every day or it won't get done. If the goal is to have them study daily, then we set a time up every day to get that study in.

I love you so much!!!!!  I miss you and always look forward to Mondays.  They are the highlight of my week.  It is such a treat to hear from you.  I pray for you every day and I think about you all the time.
I love you with all my heart,
Mom 

Week 33

Happy new year everyone!

This last week not too much happened. I'm gonna make it short and next week I'll add a little more.

We had Christmas! Which was super fun. We ate with a few members and I got to talk to my family!

Christmas is weird in Spain because they celebrate it the night of the 24th. They eat their Christmas dinner the 24th around 10 and then open presents at midnight. They aren't too patient to open presents huh, but they sure have a great time. I enjoyed seeing a different way to celebrate Christmas.

We then had some visits and not much more. Honestly missionary work is pretty repetitive. Just find, meet with the same people, and repeat. It's been hard this holiday season to meet with people because they go on vacation or simply want to just relax and not do anything. So its been a little less productive but we try our best to meet with everyone.

To be honest I don't have many pictures either because truly not much has happened. It was a normal week.

As a mission we have been doing a read through Preach My Gospel challenge. Basically every week we read one chapter from the book and study it. And now we are on chapter 4. To me, Preach My Gospel is like the scriptures. You can read and read it and something new will come out every time. I also read the Book of Mormon each day and just this last Thursday I finished reading it for the second time in my life. It took me 7 months but that's ok. I took it slow and studied and marked the book and truly it was a great experience. I know that it is written for our day and that we need to continue studying every day to try and understand as much as we can from the book. The fact is, we never stop learning and we can always grow our testimonies. I know the Book of Mormon was written for our day and with each of us in mind. It was written by God's prophets and for the purpose of bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Truly without that book we could not receive eternal life because we would not know all we need to do to achieve it.

Have a happy new year everyone! I'm excited to spend the next entire year in he mission and to have more life changing experiences! Love you all!

Elder Keith 

December 23 Random Text Message

It was such a treat to get a random text message while I was in church on Sunday!  Here is what it said:

"We got to meet your son today while visiting some friends in Spain.  He said to say, "I'm Alive" and that he looks forward to talking to you on Tuesday."

What a treat!!!!  I am so thankful for random text messages and wonderful members that know that it is a joy to see a picture and get a message from my missionary!