This week has been sooo GOOD!

August 22, 2016

Selfie!! 

Hey Y'all!!!

This week has been sooo GOOD! We have seen so many miracles and tender mercies! First off, I've been given the opportunity training a new missionary!!! My comp's name is Sister Rueckert, and she's an amazing missionary!! She's taught me a lot so far, and I'm pumped to work with her the next 6 weeks! I found out that greenie fire is real, and I love it! She is determined to work hard and to be exactly obedient! She's from Salt Lake City, Utah. 

There's been a ton of rain the last 3-4 days somewhere around there. But none of it is really affecting where we live.  Yesterday our bishop announced that next weekend they need members to go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to help with the flooding. 

Just going to go over the highlights from the week. 

Tuesday: Not a whole lot happened because that was transfer day, so I was waiting for my new comp most of the day. Sister Williams my previous comp was there all day as well, so I got to talk to her and spend time with some other missionaries.  Sister Rueckert arrived at 4:30 and that's when they told me I was training her. We had to travel home, which takes a little over an hour because Queen City is far away from everything. We went and saw this family that's semi-active and had a good visit with them. By the time we went to bed we were both so tired!

Thursday: We finally caught Dock and Diane at home! We talked to for a bit, just seeing how they were doing and then asked if they had read the chapter we left with them last time. They told us no, so we read with them and asked them to finish the chapter. Later day we went tracting and met this awesome guy named Peanut! We started with asking him questions and getting to know him and then shared the Restoration.  The Spirit was super strong and amazing! Peanut is great and very open and teachable. We set a return appointment for the next day. 

Friday: Had a really good lesson with Liz about the healing power of the Atonement and how it helps us to let go of the past. I love it when I feel like the Spirit is really speaking through me; it's the best feeling ever! The Spirit was really strong, and at the end of the lesson Liz told us she felt great and that she could conquer the world. 

Sorry y'all, a lot more happened this week, but I've run out of time! I'll tell y'all more next! I wish I had time to tell y'all more about the great week we had.  Let's just say for now the work is really picking up:D Love y'all and have great week!

Love, Sister Keables

I got to shake Elder Anderson's hand!

August 15, 2016 

HEY Y'ALL!!!

Good news! I'm not getting moved!!:D I don't know who my new comp will be, but she better be ready to work hard and to kill it here in the small town of Atlanta, Texas! 

 Nothing super exciting happened this week, so sorry if its not too long. 

Tuesday. We did service at the library, and on the way there our bishop and his daughter saw us and offered to take us to the library.  Of course, we said yes mostly because it was really hot outside. Later that evening, we went and saw Alma and Mario because it was Alma's birthday and most of her family was there. They fed us dinner, and we got a chance to meet some of Alma's kids that we hadn't met before. I love their family!!!!:D They've pretty much adopted us; Alma calls us her girls and told us that her is our home. lol 

Wednesday. We had Zone Training Meeting and we talked about teaching to people's needs. It was so good!! I learned so much, and it was really cool because they had members come and pretend to be nonmembers so that we could practice teaching to someone's needs that we just barely met. We learned more about how to teach to people's needs and the importance of listening to them and then trying to discern what they needed to hear. 

Thursday. There's this place called Rebecca's Food Pantry, and we've been meaning to go there and see if we can volunteer, so Thursday morning, to save miles, we biked to it, and it helped me remember why I don't love biking. It wasn't too bad though because i'ts a little cooler in the morning. They told us to come back next Thursday and they'll find something for us to do, so we're excited:D The best thing that happened Thursday was when we met this lady named Trish. We were tracting, and for the first 30 minutes only a few people answered, and one let us in. We got to this one house, and there were a two older guys outside.  We went up and started talking to them, but mostly talked to one of them. I don't remember his name, but he told us he was Southern Baptist, but he had a friend who didn't go to church and needed God in his life. His friend was actually in his backyard, and he asked us if we wanted to go talk to him.  We said yes, and he led us to his friend. As you can tell, I have a hard time remembering names. Anyways, we talked to his friend for what felt like hours, and he told us he was Catholic.  He told us about his life and how God had helped him. We ended up talking about the Book Of Mormon and we offered him a copy. He said yes, and told us he would read it. Sadly, he doesn't live in Atlanta or anywhere close, so we couldn't really set up a time to come and see him again. After that, we walked back to the other guy who introduced us to his friend, and he asked if we wanted to talk to his wife and mother-in-law. We told him we would love to meet them, and he took us inside their house. He's wife's name is Trish, and His mother-in-law's name is Teddy. When we first started talking to her, she had the look on her face like, "Why are you in my house?" We talked for the first few minutes, pretty much about everything: about the hard things she's been through, including a divorce that she went through that was awful really, really hard for her. She talked about how her and her husband don't go to the same church and she really wanted that. She also told us she wants her family to be closer. At that point she really opened up and the Spirit really took over from there. We shared the Restoration with her and she really seemed to like it. A huge part of it was that the Spirit was helping us teach it to her needs and concerns. I am so grateful to the inspiration the Lord gave to our sister training leaders and our zone leaders because it really helped us to be better tools in the hands of the Lord. When we got to the Book Of Mormon she asked for a copy and was pumped to read it! It was awesome lesson, thanks to the Spirit!:D 

 

Running out of time, so i'll have to tell y'all more next week! One last thing before I go, Liz wasn't able to come to Stake Conference:( But it was really good, and I got to shake Elder Anderson's hand!! The members that took us pretty much hustled us to him and told him they wanted him to meet their sister missionaries. lol I love them!

Anyway, that was our week or at least most of the highlights!:D Love y'all and have a great week!

Love, Sister Keables

 Some awesome members gave us a ride to Stake Conference! 

We walked for days trying to save miles...

August 8, 2016

Hey y'all!!

This transfer sped by! And in answer to your questio,n transfers is next week. I'll most likely sta,y but you never know what could happen. This coming transfer will be my last, which is so weird to think about. I feel like I've been out 6 months and still have plenty of time, but I'm determined to make the most out of the 7 weeks I have left!:D 

This past Tuesday we went on exchanges with some other sisters in our District, Sister Anderson and Sister Ausen. Sister Anderson came with me to Atlanta for the day, and we had a great time together! She's a wonderful missionary and she taught me a lot. While I was with her, we went and saw Shortly and Carolyn. They're potential investigators, me and Sister Stephens have only taught twice before, but it had been a while. We followed up on the Book Of Mormon and asked them if they had read, but Shorty and Carolyn hadn't read much and didn't seem to remember it very well, so we went over it again, but this time from a different angle. We talked more about the history of the Book Of Mormon and why we need it. We invited them to pray about the Book Of Mormon and if it was true specifically. Me and Sister Stephens both felt the Spirit very strong when we testified of the power and truthfulness of the Book Of Mormon and how it could bless their lives if they are willing to let it. We have an appointment with them tomorrow.  Pray it goes well!:D

Tuesday morning we had a really good lesson with Liz. We talked to her about obedience and following the Prophet. Something Sister Anderson is really good at is following the Spirit and using the scriptures when she teaches. She pulled out a few to help Liz understand and it really clicked for her. We also told Liz that a Apostle is coming to Stake Conference next week and invited her to come to it and pray about Thomas S. Monson being a prophet. She seemed excited and really wants to come! The apostle that's coming is Neil L. Andersen!!! It's going to be in Shreveport, and i'm so excited! Plus Elder Anderson wants to have a special meeting just with converts and investigators so Liz might get meet him, not just see him!:D 

Exchanges lasted from Monday evening to Wednesday lunch time because we had district meeting. Sister Anderson has only been out 7 months, so she's not new but not old or ancient like I am. lol It was fun being with her because it reminded me of some things I need to work on or should start doing. I was able to help when it came to things she wanted to work on.  All in all, we both learned lot:D 

Thursday we walked for days trying to save miles, met several people walking, and there was this old couple who said we could come back, so that was cool. One of the members actually picked us up on the way home and called us crazy for walking in the heat. Haha! This member's name is Sister Nelson, and she's probably the funniest member in the ward. She was telling us about a friend of hers named Taylor and that we needed to go to her house and teach her. Sister Nelson asked what our plans were for the next few hours, and said she would be willing to take us right then to go see her friend. Sister Nelson drove us there, and we got to talk to Taylor for a few minutes. She wasn't feeling well so we weren't able to stay for long. 

 Early in the morning we had planned on walking to Liz's house, but instead we talked to this lady named Janine. Me and Sister Stephens are both working on talking to everyone even if it might be awkward. lol Janine was mowing her law,n but we went up to her and talked anyway. At first we were talking to her about our church then hers and then her family. She invited us in to cool down and she also gave us some Gatorade. We got to talk to her for about an hour and she told us we could come back. 

Sorry this email is so confusing y'all, but i'm a little scatterbrained today:D Love y'all and have an amazing week!!! Promise I'll write a better email next week!

Love, Sister Keables

Our District!  We all word black because it was Sister Stephen's last District meeting!

 Only in the South someone writes scriptures on our car! 

 Went into a lesson and found this on our car! 

With Liz :D

Some Fun Pictures!

August 1, 2016 

 Cereal galore! 

 Thank you for the package! 

My mission has changed my life...

July 25, 2016

HEY EVERYONE!!:D

This past Saturday our ward had a fish fry, and one of the members rented a bounce house! There wasn't a huge turnout, but it was still fun.  The members gave us some of the extra food, so now we'll have food for days!! haha I mostly ate dessert because I'm still not a big fan of fish. Have y'all ever rented a bounce house? Because I don't ever remember us ever renting or getting in one. So I'm assuming Saturday was my first time, the only problem was the fact that i was in a skirt :( 

Anyway, there's this really awesome lady named Mary we met a few weeks ago. She told us a lot about her childhood and the rough the things she's been through.  Mary is a super sweet lady. This last week we stopped by to see her, and she told us that she's told everyone about us and how kind we were. Mary has a lot of potential and is really open. She was hurt in the past though because of a preacher and since then she refuses to go to church. So she's open to learning more about Christ, but not so much going to church. Mary told us that she knew God had sent us to meet her and share what we know, and she felt like there's something different about us. We were going to teach the Restoration, but it just never seemed to come up. And from what she's told us, it doesn't sound like the Restoration would help her needs and concerns. We talked a little about repentance but mostly it was her talking about her problems:D I think when people see our tag, they also see counselor and therapist.  We can't but they can lol Not complaining, I just think its funny:D 

We had a few good lessons with Liz this week, but the best one was a few days ago. A member named Joyce Ward came to the lesson with Liz and we talked about prayer. It was a really good lesson and defiantly inspired! Liz expressed several concerns and we talked about how prayer could help her and it was defiantly what she needed to hear! Also in the beginning of the lesson Sister Ward told Liz she used to smoke and started around the same time she did! We, or at least I, had no idea that Sister Ward used to smoke, and she was able to help Liz and understand where she's coming from, so that was awesome too!:D 

We also saw Zina this week, and she came to church! She's still praying about her date which is the13th of August but from what she's told us, hasn't received an answer yet. She's doing well. We asked her yesterday if we could meet with her twice a week instead of once and she was all for it. We heart attacked them last week because it was her daughter's b-day and brought them brownies. It was a lot of fun, but the best part was decorating the daughter's car too. We COVERED the door in hearts and put several on Quan's car:D That's daughter's name, and she's super sweet and cute. 

Charles, the guy we told y'all about last week, fell of the face of the earth :( We called him and he hasn't answered, which is weird, and we've stopped by his house a few times and still hasn't answered. Last week, when we met him, he seemed super awesome and prepared, so were not sure what's going on with him. We refuse to let it get to us because Satan is just trying to be stupid and discourage us, but as long as we do our part and did our best then the Lord will bless us. One of things I've learned from the Book Of Mormon is that when Satan tries to get you down, just trample right over him and keep going!:D 

Y'all I hit my 17 month mark next month?!! I can't believe how quickly time is flying by! It's hard sometimes not to think about it, but I'm trying my best not to. I still have time and I want to give my all and give the Lord my very, very best! I promise him more than a year ago that I would give a full 18 months of my life, and he hasn't forgotten me for it. I would have never had guessed or imagined the experiences, people, friendships, areas or memories I would gain. My mission has changed my life, and I'm beyond grateful for how much it's changed me. I have loved it so much, and it will always be something I'll cherish and always remember :D Love y'all and have an amazing week!

Love, Sister Keables!

We made elephants! 

 Now this is real time country :D

 The bugs here are massive!