Week 49 Las Arenas!

Hey everyone! I'll fill you all in on my first week in my new area in Las Arenas!

So my new area is in the north of Spain right on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea, it's basically 6 small towns that we work in all connected by a huge subway system! It's been super fun, I've basically seen most of the area. Las Arenas is a branch with a solid 40-50 members that attend each week which is good for a branch, they have a goal to reach 70 members attending at some point so we've been working with less active and finding people in the streets to help them reach their goals. 

This last week we saw a couple miracles.  We went to an address we had in the area phone about 30 minutes from Las Arenas in the edge of our area and we ended up finding a family of 5 Mexicans! Its crazy because there aren't a lot of Mexican immigrants here so its crazy to find some. We talked for a while and then they came out and made us this Mexican dish called gorditas which is like a tortilla pocket with eggs and chile which was super good! This weekend we are going to meet with them and have some more Mexican food. Also one of their children isn't baptized and so we are going to work with them and see if we can work with their son to get him baptized!

This last week walking in Bilbao (outside of our area) we passed by the chapel and met a member with her friend outside checking out the meeting times. Turns out the member is from Madrid and came all the way to Bilbao to show her friend the church! We talked more and we thought surely her friend lives in Bilbao but it turns out he actually lives in our area! So this weekend we have a reference to teach. He also came to church this last week so it looks like he has a lot of potential!

It's been super fun here in Las Arenas.  I get along super well with my companion and we are going to see a lot of success together. Today we went on a hike in Plentzia and saw a lighthouse and the beautiful Basque country coastline. I'll send a few pictures today! 

Thanks for the emails! It was good to hear from you all. I hope you all had a great Easter and were able to ponder on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Being a missionary I didn't have a normal Easter with a big feast or gifts, instead I was out in the streets sharing with others that Christ lives and he loves them. It's been a priceless opportunity to be a missionary! 

Talk to you all next week!

Elder Keith 

Week 48 Transfers!

April 15, 2019

Hi everyone! Transfers were this last week and I got transferred again! Crazy right! Now I'm in Las Arenas which is next to Bilbao in the north of Spain. Here its beautiful green forests and lots of rain! Very different but I'm excited for a new area and a new companion. My new companion is Elder Peñaranda who is from Colombia, we have the same time in the mission and so we know each other already and so I'm super excited for this transfer.

This last week we had two exchanges, one of them I went to Alicante with the zone leader and we taught and worked over there and then the second one I worked with Elder Beher from ward 1 in Elche and we contacted and taught a short lesson in a family home evening. We brought one of their friends they're teaching from England she loved all of it! 

We also did a lot of goodbye visits, we stopped by lots of members and with all of them I shared a scripture from 2 Corinthians 4:17-18. 

17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

These scriptures are some of my favorites and they help me understand that God has a purpose with all he does and with every trial we face. 

Love you all! I'm ready for some new adventures here and for more experiences!

Elder Keith 

1-4) Pictures from Bilbao 

5) Leo and Juan, members we met with a lot 

6) The Rivera family

Week 47 Quick Email

April 8, 2019

Hey everyone sorry for not being able to send a detailed email this week! I'll attach a few pictures to see some things I did. I'll fill you all in next week! Talk to you later!

Elder Keith 

1. Me and my companion making arepas 

2. Book of Mormon 

3-5. Pictures from the dam we visited today!

Week 46 Email

April 1, 2019

Hey everyone how are you doing? Send me an email! I would love to hear how you all are! This last week I hit 11 months in the mission. One more month and I hit the halfway mark! It's insane I've been here in Spain for so long now! Time flies by that's for sure.

This last week we had a family home evening with an Argentinian member who recently moved into the ward named Leo and an Argentinian family in the ward. The father in the family, Ricardo, pulled out his old lesson book from his mission and taught Leo the Plan of Salvation super well! We hasn't forgotten any of even though it's been 20 years. We added in a few scriptures and finished the night playing headbands if you know what that game is and eating Argentinian empanadas! They were super good, one of them was ground beef, an olive, and sugar mixed into the meat and it was surprisingly good!

I went on an exchange with elder Roberson in Elche Ward 1 and we had a normal day out contacting and we finished the night having a sleep over with my companion and his. It was super fun, we stayed up late playing card games and talking. 

Thursday we went out to a small town called Villena which is on the border of our area and we met with a family to eat dinner. It was about an hour out in car but so worth it! I had never gone out there and the father, Claudio (from the Dominican republic) surprises us by showing he is a DJ. He had the biggest speaker I have ever seen in my life! He played some club songs he has been working on and the music was so loud that my ears were ringing at the end hahaha. We even got my companion to rap a little freestyle at the end of the visit which was super fun hahaha. 

We finished the weekend with zone conference, we had 8 elders in my apartment! And then we had stake conference as well the next day. One quote I liked from stake conference went like this: 

He began talking about Peter from the new testament, he denied the Savior 3 times in his life. Moses from the Old Testament also denied the lord but 5 times! And we know how important they both are in the scriptures. In the end they both fulfilled their callings and ended up being huge prophets in their day. The question that the speaker proposed, is what blessings would they have lost if they had not overcome their doubts and just followed the lord commands? Many times in our lives we have opportunities to serve and we let our doubts or concerns impede us from being a servant of the lord. But as Mosiah 2:17 says , when we are in the service of others. We are only in the service of our God. The blessing that come from god when we serve others are unimaginable. He literally blesses us according to our desires. I encourage you all to go and find little acts of service to do each day. these acts of service  will help you become more like the savior, help those around you, and strengthen your families. 

Love you all! Have a great week. Send me pictures! I really love to see your pictures of things you do or where you are at.

Elder Keith 

1. View from a lighthouse we visited today in Santa Pola 

2. The kids at the house in Villena. Their names are Alexis and Valentina 

3. The DJ setup, super sweet with the lights!

4. Got to see 3 elders from my MTC group at zone conference: Elders Taylor, Flake, Keith, and Dixon (in order)

Week 45 Email from Dad

April 4, 2018

Elder Keith,

I know you didn't give me an assignment.  When you mentioned the concept of perfect love the other day it reminded me of a couple of talks and I did a little research.  I am sure we could spend a lifetime trying to understand.  Interestingly the scriptures NEVER use the words "Unconditional Love", but rather use "Perfect Love".  Its one of Satan's great tactics to use the word "unconditional" and even society has adopted it.  Parents should love their children unconditionally as if there is no judgment or consequence for actions.  Don't worry about sin, God forgives everyone, just Believe and accept Jesus as your Savior.

Unconditional would suggest a lack of order or consequence for one's actions. There is an "infinite atonement" but NOT unconditional.  Heavenly Father loves us and provided a plan for us, but does NOT have unconditional love for us.  It is true that we can never sink below the depth that the Savior's atonement can't reach, but there are requirements.  A broken heart and contrite spirit.  Faith, Hope, and true repentance.

I like this excerpt from a talk, "Christ told us, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12.) We must love others as Christ loved, which means that we must know “what manner of spirit [we] are of,” and “what manner of spirit [they] are of,” in order to help each other with wisdom and skill in our mutual quest for life eternal. Many people profess love for others, yet they contribute to leading those people away from their Father in heaven, away from real joy. Love, in our day, is used as a reason or an excuse for many acts that bring deep sorrow. Jesus Christ, the only perfect man, can say, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15.) An imperfect being should say, “If you love me, help me to keep Christ’s commandments,” and “Because I love you, I will do all I can to help you keep Christ’s commandments.”  To love is not enough. To be loved is not enough. But to be loved by perfect love, to be loved by Christ, to establish a personal relationship with him is enough to set us on a path through which we can know “what manner of spirit” we are and grow to the point where we can “have according to our desires” because we “joy in that which we have desired.” “Herein,” promises John, “is our love made perfect.” (1 Jn. 4:17.)

So for me, perfect love is a process, just like charity, not something you tangibly possess.  One doesn't say, "hey look at me, I'm filled with charity or I have perfect love".

Hopefully, this helps provide some insight from my perspective and gives you something to noodle on!

Love, Dad 

Week 45 Email

March 25, 2019

This week was a pretty normal week everyone, not a lot to fill you in on.

Were still in the phase of finding here in Elche and so we've dedicated a lot of time in the streets. The good thing is we've developed a good rhythm of contacting and lot of good routes to go finding so it's been a good experience. 

I missed a few days out sick but I'm feeling better so I need to make up for the days I was out! Hahaha

In a district meeting this last week an elder shared this quote from a talk from Elder Gong from the most recent conference:

With daily obedience and refreshing living water, we find answers, faith, and strength to meet everyday challenges and opportunities with gospel patience, perspective, and joy.

In life it's hard to obey all the rules or all the gospel of the Christ but its necessary. God knows it's hard and so as we try to put in our best efforts he blesses us with living water. Living water referring to Jesus Christ. It's like a hike and when it begins to get steep or the trail rough, the lord blesses us with comfort and some refreshing "water" to help us continue. 

Sorry there's not a lot to talk about this week but this next week will be full of fun stuff! Stay tuned for more next week 

Elder Keith 

1. A statue in the center of Elche.

2. Picture of all the zone after we played volleyball together 

3. Elche at sunset 

4. Tower we visited today as a district, you have a view of all of Elche from the top.

5. All the elders in the district.

Week 45 Email to Mom

March 25, 2019

Hi mom thanks for the email!

This week wasn't too eventful missionary wise and I'll explain why:

Monday was preparation day.

Tuesday was a normal proselytizing day, I think we spent the whole day contacting.

Wednesday: I believe we did an exchange this day, may have been last week though. But anyways I did an exchange with elder iñesta from Puerto Rico for a day, it was pretty chill. We met with German this Spanish friend who's progressing for dinner.

Thursday: district meeting.

Friday: I came down feeling sick in the morning. My body was weak, I had a headache, and I felt feverish. I took some ibuprofen (which I'm actually running out of) and I was feeling better but then at night time in a dinner visit I came on with a full fever and I was super miserable.

Saturday: I woke up feeling a bit better but not 100% and I thought I was fine to go out and work again so I went to a lunch visit and was about to pass out, I saw everything go spotty and black and I had to sit down fast. I didn't end up eating and so we went home after the visit and I slept all afternoon and all night. Sunday I felt better and I feel better today as well. 

I called the mission nurse about this sickness because I don't know If you will catch on but I've had this same fever thing 3 or 4 times now in 3-4 transfers. It keeps coming back and so I'm waiting a call from the mission doctor to talk with him. We're looking into maybe doing some blood work to see what's causing this problem. I'll keep you updated on how it all turns out. 

I've started a small journal that I carry with me everywhere that I write spiritual impressions in. As well as every day in my personal study I write down my favorite scripture from that study in the journal. It's something I've seen other missionaries do and I've enjoyed it up to now.

This next week end  is zone conference and interviews with president and stake conference of Elche so I'm gonna have a great weekend. Love you!

Elder Keith 

Week 44 Email to Mom

March 18, 2018

Hi mom sounds like an interesting week!

So did you pass out on the toilet or what happened? Sounds super scary but I'm glad to hear that everything is well and that you're recovering.

Josh had an interesting party! That's new, what did they do? Just watch movies and stuff, looks like a mutual activity to me hahaha.

Seeing the picture of Jill at the movies makes me miss going to the movies and eating movie theater popcorn. Here there's a movie theater close and you can buy a big tub of popcorn  like there is there in the states but for 3 euros. Way cheaper! And it still tastes really good.

This last week was pretty normal, lots of finding and lots of hard work, by Saturday I really wanted to have a free weekend hahaha. But I've had a really good relaxed preparation day, the zone came here to Elche and we played volleyball in the sand with like 20 missionaries.

That's about it! I'll add more detail in my group email. Love you!

Week 44 Email Pig Feet

March 18, 2019

Hi everyone! It was a pretty relaxed week to be honest, lots of Finding so we can start teaching some people!

We found a woman named Ana from Romania knocking the door of a direction we had in our phone! She's very very nice and received the missionaries a long time ago. She is interested in meeting again and so we are going to set a date to meet with her another day.

We did a lot of contacting this last week and found lots of people! One of the people we met was a woman named Consuelo. She is from Colombia and is very nice and receptive to us. She invited us to her house actually and so we went and then got her number to come back another day. We came and turns out she invited three  friends to come and listen to our message. A couple of them have a lot of potential! So we finally have a few people to meet with. Consuelo invited us over another day to eat with her and she made us beans with rice and pig feet! That's right.... pig feet. Basically fat and cartilage. My companions foot actually had a little bit of hair on it hahahahaha. it wasn't the worst but I'm not going to ask for them again.

This last week I had a few days where I was really happy and going an then suddenly one morning I was just super tired and just out of it. I was like stagnant, not happy or sad. And I was confused as to why it happened this way. That morning it turns out we went out early to a visit and we didn't get to do scripture study before leaving. And I realized that doing that study each day makes a huge difference in my day, it was like night and day. 

D & C 136:29

29 If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful.

If we allow time for the lord to bless with his spirit it will automatically make a difference in our day.

Have a great week everyone!

1. Elche at night 

2. District went go karting last week. Yes they gave us a bottle of alcohol for some reason, for some record we beat. And so we shook it up and exploded it but didn't drink it hahaha. 

3. Me and my companion Elder Pack 

4. Colombain arepas with shredded beef and cheese 

Week 43 Email Un poco loco

March 11, 2019

Hello everyone how are you all doing??? Its been a few weeks, I'll catch you up on how it's all been going here in Elche!

This last week has been a lot of finding, we don't have anyone to teach really. So we have spent a lot of time in the streets or in missionary terms... HIT THE STREETS! 

This last week we had a lot of good member visits that are helping a lot. We met with a Colombian member and are lunch with her, as we got to know her she gave us a reference of a whole family of Colombians who recently moved into the apartment next to her so we are hoping to work with her soon and do a family home evening with her soon, as well as her neighbors! Also when we met a Spanish woman in the street that was so nice! She is studying and just was so open to learning about us. She has a lot of traits and hobbies in common with me and my companion and so we had a great conversation with her in the street and she hope to meet with her tomorrow! Exciting!! As well as a member came to us and wants to meet with us and her boyfriend German. German is a Spanish man who started meeting with the missionaries about 6 months ago but was meeting with the elders from the other ward. He actually lives in our wars boundaries so now we have the opportunity to teach him. He actually has been coming to church for a long time and has already received all the missionary lessons and is ready to be baptized! It's a huge miracle. Were waiting on him to arrange a new things first to be able to be baptized but I'm sure within a short time he will be ready and baptized! Stay tuned everyone.

This last Sunday we taught a family home evening with a lot of members. We shared the article from the March Ensign about how to share your testimony more naturally. We shared a lot of experiences from the mission and explained that it is really not too hard to share the gospel with others and that God helps calm our fears of sharing the gospel with others. It left a lot of them thinking about sharing the gospel with others and we will see if it works out to our benefit as missionaries  I encourage you all to read the article because it is useful for all of the members. 

Let me know how you all are doing? I've seen a lot of changes back in the states and I would love to hear from you all! Have a great week everyone! 

Elder Keith 

Week 42 Email to Mom

March 5, 2019

Sounds like a normal week! Glad you're doing well and everyone is doing fine. Today my companion left at 9 in the morning and now I'm waiting for my new companion to come. Elder Rodriguez is going to Girona which is close to Barcelona and that will be his last area in the mission. I'm sad we didn't get to spend more time together but it's normal to change, I'm getting used to it. My new companion is named Elder Pack. He is from Utah and has about 5 months left in the mission. He is coming from the mission office and so he is ready to get out and work! I'll send you a picture of him later. 

Today with some of the extra time we had this morning we went to a small castle and saw the view of Alicante city from the view. It was a little sketchy looking but it was super pretty! 

This last week flew by honestly. We did some exchanges and Elder Rodriguez went to say goodbye to a lot of members so it was busy as well. I went to a small town named Crevillente this last Thursday and it was super fun. We went contacting and came up on a group of 10 gypsy kids. We ended up playing soccer in the street with them for a bit and enjoying the day. It was super fun and something I hadn't done before.

Anyways I'm doing well. I'll probably call later this afternoon if I get the time and I'll see how you all are doing. Hope you have a great day! Love you lots!

Elder Keith 

Week 41 Email to Mom

I'm doing well thanks for asking. It was a fast week to be honest. We didn't do too much.

Tuesday we went to Elda and had dinner and that was about it.

Wednesday we had district meeting and then we finished in Elche.

Thursday we went to Elda and had some lunch and dinner.

Friday we spent the day in Elche. That night an elder went to Barcelona to do his Spanish residency and then his companion stayed the afternoon and the next day with us until he came back.

Saturday we spent almost the whole day in piso sick and relaxing.

Sunday we went back to church and some crazy man came in and starting begging people for money so we were security and helped him leave peacefully. Sounds a lot like the seminary experience with Josh.

And today we went to the beach and then watched the sunset and now I'm here emailing.

It was a pretty normal week. It's been hard being sick and not being able to go out much and work. My companion with mono hasn't had a lot of energy. And so we haven't been able to go out contacting a lot or go to many visits.

We find out transfers this Saturday and transfers are the Tuesday after. I'm pretty sure Elder Rodriguez will be transferred. Hes been here a long time and he finishes the mission soon. I hope I get another missionary here whose ready to work because we need a lot of work done here in Elche. Or Maybe I could train. It's a good area here in Elche and I have almost 10 months in the mission so it's a possibility. We will see, I just hope to finish strong and have a good transfer to come.

I've learned a lot from Elder Rodriguez. With every transfer I've learned a lot from my companion. This transfer it's been learning to be a better person, not missionary but a better person. Elder Rodriguez has hit me with a lot of criticism this last transfer. Some of it was just verbal abuse and it hurts me but some of it actually has helped. He says one thing I don't do well is portray my emotions very well. He takes it very bad if anything goes against his way of thinking or comes out in a negative way. It's been a challenge learning about his culture and how he understands things because I've never had this problem with other companions. It's been an overall good experience.

Anyways that was my week summed up. I hope to have a better week coming up! Thanks for the email! Love you lots!

Elder Keith 

Week 41 Email

February 25, 2019

Hey everyone I'm sorry for not writing it's been a super busy mission lately! And even more the preparation days. Today we went to the beach and played Spikeball and watched the sunset with a bunch of missionaries and then we ate dinner together. It was super fun, I'll include a few pictures to show you all how it was. 

This week was different from past weeks, me and my companion have been sick and so we had to take some time to relax and recover. But we did have some great experiences. Some interesting ones as well.

1. We were at church on Sunday and two things went down. First we had a homeless man come in the building and start begging people for money and so me and my companion  had to play security and usher the man out and then we were going to leave and another weird man came into the building. We were about to leave and my companion recognized the man in the car as a man who came to the chapel weeks and caused a few problems so we turned around and played security again until this man left as well. 

2. Last week I got hit by a car in my car on the way to the chapel on preparation day. The man merged into me so it was his fault but either way it was a big mess and we have to fill out a lot of reports. Everyone is fine and safe but the car needs to be taken to the shop to fix the Drivers side door.

3. On Sunday morning we had a miracle. In Elche we have been struggling to find new people to teach and on Sunday morning a member called is and let us know they invited a whole family of Colombians to come to church with them and so we had a member give us the reference and the family enjoyed church a lot! It was a great experience and we hope to teach them soon.

4. One afternoon this last week while contacting a group of young Spaniards started yelling stuff at us. They yelled at us in English first and then we answered them in Spanish and they stopped acting like big stuff hahaha. After that we talked to them a bit and one of them started to rap for us. It was super cool and the man has a lot of talent, we took a video of it all.

This last week I have started listening to talks given from apostles at  BYU. I listened to one called the inconvenient messiah by Jeffery R. Holland which was super great. He talked about how all the acts in Jesus's life were necessary but inconvenient. It was uncomfortable to pass through all he suffered. In the church we have a lot of commandments and standards that leave us feeling uncomfortable but they're necessary to follow and necessary to complete gods plan for us. I encourage you all to listen to it. You can search for it on speeches.byu.org 

Love you all thanks for the emails!

Elder Keith 

1. Me and elder Rodriguez and Hughes 

2. Damage to the car from the accident 

3. Tower where we watched the sunset today 

4. Selfie 

5. The sunset today, without filters or anything

Week 39 La tierra de Elche y Miel

February 11, 2019

Hey everyone sorry I'm sending this email late but seriously I've never been so busy in an area before and I don't have time to do anything hahaha well ok that's a lie.

Today I went to Alicante to go visit the beach and rent roller blades and long boards to cruise along the beach which was super fun! I have some good pictures as well to show. Alicante is a big city and it has big mountains in the middle of the city and its bordered by the Mediterranean sea on the east which is super pretty. 

This last week was super busy, super busy. We spend a lot of time working with members and did some service and visits with other friends. 

We eat lunch and dinner with members every day which is super great (and I think I'm gaining weight hahaha not a lot but with driving and having so much good food it's coming back little by little.) We share quick messages and one of the best visits was one where we showed up and the member had invited a friend over who isn't a member of the church and we ended up the visit teaching their friend. The woman we taught actually ended up rejecting the Book of Mormon we offered her in front of the members but that's ok. I made sure to thank the members a lot for inviting their friends to the visit. It's sad she didn't accept the book but you know as long as we make the effort to invite and share the gospel that person prepared with show themself.

We also did a service activity taking a lot of stuff out of a bar of the friend of a member. His bar closed down because he wasn't raising enough money and so we helped him move out a lot of utilities like the huge grill and fridges and things like that. And it was dirty! Like super super dirty, we were covered all over in grease and dirt and we helped him for 4 hours and so it was a lot of work and dirty work but fun. We got to know the owner more and hopefully we can invite him to learn about the gospel a little more in the future. 

Thanks for the prayers I can truly feel them help me each day. I invite you all to read 2 Nephi 9 and think about what it means to you what having "perfect faith" means like Nephi says in the chapter and let me know what you come up with with an email! Love you all

Elder Keith 

1. Member made us milkshakes and pancakes... blessings

2. Pictures of the beach of alicante today 

3. My companion during studies.

4. Alicante boardwalk 

5. Hondurenian baleadas: tortilla with mashed beans, egg, pan fried ham, and cheese. Super good and you can eat a lot in one sitting 

Week 38 Voice Message Email and Photos

February 4, 2019 Voice Email Message

1. Photos of the garden today

2. More palm tree photos, there's a ton of palm trees here it's like I'm back in Hawaii.

3. Our chapel here in Elche! Full of palm trees and super beautiful!

Hi everyone sorry I don't have a lot of time but I wrapped up this last week in a short voice message. I hope all of you can listen and enjoy!

1. My district 

2. Me and my companion 

3. Baptism photos!