6 Aug 2012 (Week 10)

Hey everybody!

 first funny story. So we moved to a new house, and my companion was kind of annoyed because it was farther away from R***, so it would be harder to stay under miles. (this happened the day after my last email.) so we went to go meet the family that we were going to be living with and were having trouble finding them, so we called them and they gave us some better directions than the GPS. we pull into the housing developement labeled "*******" and the first house we see is huge. we were thinking "ok, i can live with this." and as we drove deeper in the houses keep getting bigger and bigger. we get to the last and it was pretty much a mansion. we go say hi to the family, a retired couple named the ML***. they show us around, and then down to our apartment. basically we are spoiled in every sense of the word. the apartment has two large rooms and a full bath, and a kitchen. we are set with our own washer, dryer, bathroom, eating table, studying tables, couches, etc. at the end of the tour sister ML*** was like "is this good enough for you guys?" in the most serious way possible. elder M*** and i looked at each other, and trying very hard not to laugh said that yes it was sufficient. but that wasnt the end of it. we walk out the back exit of the apartment on to probably the most extravegent yard ever, and a full veiw of the snake river. we figure the mission office must really trust us to give us that temptation. ill have to ask about if we could get licences and go fishing on a monday maybe. I do my morning study to the sun rising on the river pretty much now, no big deal. :)

Next awesome thing, is we got a couple with a baptismal date last night, the 8th of september. it is especially awesome because the spanish branch in R*** has not had a batism or even a baptismal date in six months. So we got some high hopes, the biggest challenge with this couple is getting off work on sundays, but we are praying. :) the next two investigators we have high hopes for are named pablo and jesus, they both live in a trailer park in the middle of R***. pablo came to church with a friend, and although he is tricky to catch, the one time we were able to he was pretty golden. he works at a milk factory here, and was interested in our message because everytime he sees missionaries or mormons in general they all just seem so happy, and while there are other happy religious people, no one tries to give their happyness to others through missionary work like we do. the next time we catch him, we are going to invite him. Jesus i dont know as well, elder M*** was teaching him before i got here, but i invited him to be batised and he said yes, but we dont quite have a date yet. we will see.

another thing we have been doing is building up the ward and stake support stucture for missionary work, cause right now it isnt really that functional. it is pretty much dead to be honest. but not for long! we have been meeting with one of the 20 or so bisphops in our three stakes everyday, then finding out who the ward language mission leader for that ward is, (if there isnt, encouraging them to call one) and then visiting the WML. there, we talk to them about how to revitalize the area, and how to get more references, so that we can do less tracting and more teaching. the fruits of this labor probably wont be apparent for a month or so, but we hope to build something that future elders can use.

something fun I have been learning, and i have come to realize that this is why RMs are so good at being salesman, is how to apply what you have to what poeple need. it almost sounds bad that way, but it is really not. what it really comes down to is listening to people. People really like to be listened to! When you do a little of that, they open up, and then all you really do is plant a seed. it is really quite neat to see this process before your eyes.

Talk to you all next week, bye!

Elder Keyes