Elder Jordan Keele- July 29, 2010

As usual, especially in the laundry room, my mind is going a bazillion miles an hour. So many things on my mind. If you could tell Austin that I've been so busy lately, but I really have been thinking of him often, I would appreciate it. Literally today I had 30 minutes to write letters. Maybe I'll find some time later today to write, but we'll see. Just know that I love you all, and even though I can't express it all the time, or even in the way I want, I appreciate everything everyone is doing everywhere! :)

Thank you so much for finding a way to send R-Jay my letter. He deareldered me yesterday or two days ago. That was nice. I'm so proud of him.

As much as I love it here, I would love even more to go to the field. Provo would be awesome. I find out tonight or tomorrow if I'll get my visa on time, but I'll tell Jess to write you on Monday about it. Tell Linda thanks!

I can't wait to find out where Jen is going.[Cousin Jen is going to Guatemala City South Mission] I'm so glad she got it! Good job!

I love hearing about the little things that everyone's doing. Dallin?? An overnighter?! Sweet! He's gonna love it! I can't believe you're all growing up. I told you not to until I got back! I wanna hear about your campout, k Dallin? Have fun Dallino!

Some info about the MTC. They're doing some major remodelling. In the gym, adding a new building, and tightening security. They're going to build, from what I was told, a wall on the outside, rather than just a fence. Just today they removed those two gray stones at the entrance that said MTC and had the beehive on the corner. The ones where we got pictures taken. They're gone! That's history! It'll be cool to see what they do when I get back.

Thanks so much for the DELICIOUS zucchini bread. As always, it was gone in about 10 minutes :) Everyone says thanks!

My district is the oldest district in our zone. It's so weird! We don't feel old at all. My roommate, who is becoming one of my best friends, is zone leader. It's way cool. Today is day 51 for me, and if all goes as planned I leave on day 62. CRAZY! Yes, time does fly. I'm so excited to go, but at the same time I don't feel prepared... but at the same, I know the Lord will help me out when necessary.

We went to the referral center on Sunday night, and we didn't know what we were doing. We were told we could do it, but nobody was there to tell us how. So we kind of just messed around until we found out how to do it. But by that time it was time to go, so I made one call and it went to their answering machine. Then time was up. Anyway, what I'm getting to... ask Grant if he remembers making a referral on June 30th, 1998 at 11:52 PM. It didn't say to whom, but I looked up KEELE and that's what came up. I'm not sure exactly what that means, but if he remembers, that's awesome.

I went to the temple today. It looks so nice! I mean it always looks way nice, but I really like the carpet, wallpaper, and curtains. If any of you haven't gone, you should go. Partly because you should always go to the temple to 'renew' your memory, and re-straighten your focus, but also to see the beautiful new 'decorations' I guess you could say.

I know my thoughts are always jumbled and may not make sense. But as I said earlier, just remember that I love you all, I think of you as much as a missionary can, and I'm always, always, always grateful. Thanks to everyone for everything!

I hope your weeks go by very nicely. I'm always praying for my family, and most of the time others too :) Hopefully you'll only get one more e-mail from me while at the MTC. EXCITING!!!

LOVE,

Elder Jordan F. Keele

Hna. Jessica Keele-July 26, 2010

No, I didn't get to clean the temple, but Hermana Snow and her district got to, and she put together chandeliers! So cool! That's great you got to take Nathan and Stephanie to the temple. It definitely makes us better when we appreciate it. I just got to go today, and I'm so, so happy right now! :) You miss it more when you're not able to go for almost 5 weeks-ish.
Oh, guess what!? there is a new dress code and I'm a little upset about it because I could have brought so much more!! Skirts no longer have to be solid color or mid calf length. Oh well. Oh, but could you also send me my skirt that's striped w/blue and brown? It's my favorite, por favor! And don't worry, it's within the new dress standards. I will send you a package this week too, hopefully, with my i-pod and stuff. And thank you so much for getting those pictures. I think it will make her day! :)
That's so exciting about Marcos!! :) tell him I say congrats! No, Jordan hasn't told me!!! haha Where is RJay going!? I'll probably find him before you tell me but that's okay.
Well I'm doing great. I love it here. I'm learning a lot, but I just don't like writing everything because there is so much to say and I'm rushed. haa I'll try and give more details in letters though. I love you all and I just wanted to say thanks again for supporting me on my mission! :) I love this opportunity to serve my Savior. I'm learning a lot more about him and I just feel so blessed to have the opportunities and knowledge that I have. I love you, take care, ttyl

Love,

Hermana Keele

(Jess)

Elder Jordan Keele- July 22, 2010

Thursday,
July 22, 2010
10:00 a.m.

It was so cool to see my cousin Jenny-fur here at the MTC! I loved that! She looks so good and I can't wait for her to experience all of this as well. I still can't wait to find out where she and R-jay are going. This is so cool! If she got her call yesterday I'm going to pick up the mail soon, and I'll check to see if you wrote me about it.

Today my district gets to do service in the temple! I can't wait. I'm not sure exactly what we'll be doing in there, but we're going to be there for 3 and a half hours doing stuff. I feel so temple deprived. It's been about a month since I've been in there, and it's just an unusual feeling. It'll be so nice to finally be in there again.

I love my MTC teachers. Hno. Milne and Hno. Reschke. Hno. Reschke went to Europe the last three weeks, and he just got back yesterday. Before he left I promised him he'd never hear me speak English again. Yesterday was my first test. It's really cool. It's fun to only speak Spanish even though it's difficult at times. My district has 3 days a week where we go on 'English fasts'. We can't speak English at all on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. It is hard for a lot of us, but we've all progressed and learned a ton!

Well, I'm going to go for now. I have about 16 min. left for later today, and I'll probably use it around 4:30-5:30. Well, hope everyone is doing well. I love you all!

Elder Keele

July 22, 2010
4:50 p.m.

Hola...

YES!!!!! Way to go R-JAY! I sent a letter home for him thinking he was still in town. I hope you can find his address and let him know. That's so awesome!!! Good job R-Jay. [Jordan's friend going to Little Rock, Arkansas]

YES! Way to go Marcos! [friend from Argentina going to Barcelona, Spain] That's so awesome! I can't wait for him to meet Josh. I see Bro. Littlefield all the time here. Josh I've seen 3 times, but if I see him again I'll tell him.

We just got done doing some temple cleaning. It was so cool! I cleaned the baseboards all over the chapel in the baptistry, and in the two confirmation rooms. So, my brothers and sisters, next time you go to the temple, and you see some baseboards in the baptistry, just remember that I cleaned them. :) It was such a neat experience doing physical labor in the temple of the Lord. I just can't explain it. We moved a million chairs around, tons of extra carpet we stored in the basement, and it was just cool to see the temple like that. All new carpet everywhere, all new wallpaper, all new lighting including the chandelier... it looks so good! The temple opens back up on Monday, so by next P-day we'll be able to go. I'm so glad it's here because I've been dying from not going to the temple.

I have a cd player with speakers. But unfortunately, due to some careless missionaries, they don't allow music while at the MTC. It's really too bad, because I most often feel the spirit when listening to music. Jamie, I would love for you to do that for me. That would be so nice. I can't wait to get to the field and listen to music all the time!

I absolutely love the Book of Mormon. I absolutely did not even come close do what I should have done to fully take advantage of the Book of Mormon. It's so cool! I don't wanna put it down. I hate when my study time is over. Mom, did you hear that? I can't stand it when I can't read anymore! Weird, huh? It's amazing what changes the mission can make in your life if you allow it to.

I haven't been able to read the rest of the letter. I took a picture of the duty to God stuff, and I look forward to reading it.

Read the Book of Mormon, go to the temple, even if you don't have a recommend. Allow the Lord to mold you into the best you can be. I love you all!

I sent some pictures for you today. I hope you get them sometime. There's only a couple, but before I leave the MTC, I'll send some more. My thoughts are all jumbled, but I know at least the Lord knows what I'm trying to say.

Otra vez, les amo a todos! Me encanta esta obra.

Elder Jordan Keele

Hna. Jessica Keele-July 19, 2010

Hola familia! I saw that you mentioned having me print out e-mails in the morning and then coming back to write. I would like to do that, but I feel bad asking Hna. Snow to do that because I feel like it's rubbing it in that I get e-mails every week. I like to just let her pick the computer time because if she doesn't get an e-mail I feel bad. So I probably won't do that for a couple more weeks. But it's okay. I print them out later and then just respond to them in a letter or the next e-mail. I know I'm bad at that but still. haha
Oh could you do me a favor? Hna. Snow sent her family a couple pictures of the Savior she got while working at Seagull Book or Deseret Book. Anyway she had a really hard time letting them go because they were her favorites. Would you mind getting them? Just the small pass along card size. But they are by David Bowman. One is called Innocence and the other is called My Child. They are really cute and they're in black and white if that helps! She really didn't want to give them up, but we had just gone to a devotional and they talked about a lady who got interested in the Church because of the pictures she saw that we had of Christ. In all the ones Hna. Snow normally see's, he never looks happy. So she's hoping it might help her family. I hope so too. But if you could find those that would be wonderful! :)
Yeah, I saw Jen yesterday!! It was good :) No it doesn't distract me. haha I love being here! But it was still good to see her! I love you all and miss you tons but I'm working hard and I know why I'm here! hmm I'm trying to think of something interesting to say, haha No se, pero ayer Presidente Lindsey asked if I would be the coordinating sister. I think it's really funny because there is only going to be the 3 of us in our whole zone after Wednesday and so far we have no new sisters coming in. So I don't know if I'm suppose to do a whole lot with that, but I guess I'll find out! Although we will be getting 3 new sisters in our room (just not in our zone) so it's going to be a lot more crowded now. We've been spoiled!! We each have 2 closets and a bunkbed. Oh well, we figured it wouldn't last. Well I hope you all are doing well. I love you so much! Take care.

Love,

Jess

Elder Jordan Keele- July 16, 2010

Hola todos!

First, thank you for telling me about my mission president. I did meet him and his wife. All the Elders going to that mission were able to talk to them the night before they left. He does seem really cool. I can't wait to re-meet them!
Thank you for the pill info as well. I haven't been sick again. I just wanted to make sure I knew what to do in case I do get sick. I don't know how I would find Jen if she came on Sunday, or what time. But I've tried to fix my pants and I'm just not skilled enough. But if you dearelder me sometime about when she's coming, maybe I can arrange for something.
On Sunday we had at the fireside, Sister Jenny Oaks Baker, Elder Dallin H. Oaks' daughter. Elder Oaks and his wife were also there. But Sis. Baker is an INCREDIBLE violinist. She's played for a million different orchestras and is a worldwide accomplished professional. It was so cool. I've always loved listening to instrumental music. I would love to have one of her CD's... that would be awesome :)

I just love learning about Christ. Everyday I read for my personal study the Book of Mormon along with other things. But lately I've been really focusing on learning more about Christ. I decided to start with the four gospels. It's amazing how much you can learn when you really try (that sounds familiar....). I also started to read the book by James E. Talmage 'Jesus the Christ'. It's really hard to understand, but the parts I do understand are amazing. It's really made me mold into a new person. After just over a week of really focusing on Christ, I've noticed huge differences in my life. I know we all can improve in that area. It's helped immensely in my assignment of leadership to know how to deal with different situations.

I've heard a lot about the NBA and how crazy it's been. I understand that these next few years may be the most amazing years in NBA history. Those who know me understand that I love the NBA, and I love talking about it and discussing different things. HOWEVER, I can't stand talking about it here. It literally hurts my stomach when others are trying to talk to me about it. I can't think about it. I'm not saying those who do talk about it are bad, but I just know for me that it's not something I should do. It's hard, but I know the Lord has blessed me with this understanding. The elders in my district know how I feel about it, and thankfully don't talk about it when they're around me. So, I'm sorry to those who want to talk sports to me, but please, it's gonna have to wait.

I just love it here at the MTC.

Dad, I want to share something with you that I thought was interesting and that you've probably already thought about, but I think it'd be good to share anyways. Our Branch President talked to us a little about the Sacrament. He made a good point about the first person that receives the sacrament when the Aaronic Priesthood is passing it. As we all know, the first person is the one presiding, normally the Bishop. But that's not the focus of the Sacrament... or at least it shouldn't be. I think that at times we focus too much on making sure that the right person gets it first (and, while that's still important), it's not for everyone to be distracted by. I guess what made me think about it is that at times the congregation looks up to make sure that they're doing it right. And one thing that encourages them to do this is when all the attention from the rest of the Aaronic Priesthood is focused on the same thing. I don't think it's such a big deal, but I've definitely noticed that for myself as a member of the congregation, I'm always focused on who gets it first no matter where I am, and I shouldn't be. The Sacrament is such an important thing, but it doesn't do nearly as much for me if I'm focused on the wrong things.

I did get my coat from the missionary mall. I heard that the consulate or whoever from Mexico was on vacation during the world cup, and that he's back now so the visa's should go quicker...I guess we'll see if that's true. Mom, thanks for sharing your funeral experience with me. I haven't read it in detail yet, but I printed it and I'll read it later. I love your experiences. They're always wonderful to hear. We're doing lots of 'English fasts' days that we only speak Spanish. And it's helping a ton.

Well, I love you all! Keep up the good work. I can't wait to be in Mexico. I love missionary work. I love growing closer to my Savior.

Until next week :)

Love, Elder Jordan Keele

Hna. Jessica Keele-July 12, 2010

Hola mi familia!! Como estan? I'm sorry I'm such a slacker. I wrote you all letters on the first Monday I got here, but I haven't sent them yet. surprise surprise. They're coming though!! :) Mom, I think Jordan told me to tell you that he got his coat from Missionary Mall. And yeah, I'll just send my i-pod home for the Spanish scriptures. That works perfectly! Thanks!! :) I had an interesting day yesterday, but I'm still really loving it here!! haha I never know what to say in e-mails because I feel like once I get in to saying something, it just logs me off! But thank you so much for the packages and letters! I love and miss you all so much!!

I want to let you know that this experience has been a huge "learning experience" for me. I don't know, it's just made me think more about why I'm here, and all that I want to accomplish in this life because I know that my Heavenly Father has invested much in me! He sent me to you and you've taught me so much and set such good examples for me and set a standard that I am going to live up to! Because when I stand in the presence of my Heavenly Father again I couldn't handle standing there knowing I wasted any time, or any of the time He has spent on me so that I can help others. I'm not going to be another bad investment to Him!
Hermana Snow is such an example to me too! I can't remember if I've explained this already or if it's in one of the letters I haven't sent yet, but she is a convert and her family is still Catholic and really anti-Mormon! It makes me sad because they don't write her. But she's so strong and she knows why she's here and still has so much hope for her family. I'm just so grateful I don't have that to worry about along with learning the language and recognizing the Spirit more and everything else on top of it! You guys are such a strength to me!! Again, I love you all so much!! What have you been up to lately? Oh and how's Johny doing? I think I had him and Nicole text me there addresses but I forgot to get them out of my phone so if you would send them to me, por favor.

Con amor,

Jessica

Hna. Jessica Keele- June 28, 2010

It's so hard for me to understand why I've been so blessed! Out of all the people in the world, I was born into a family with you and Dad, with the brothers and sisters I have and with the extended family that we have, being raised in the gospel all our lives, living in a nice neighborhood, with all the things and home that we have. I just don't get it. I have so many and always have had so many examples to look up to. My roommate, Hna. Snow, is a convert. She used to be Catholic. She grew up in Utah, but her family is Catholic, and it makes me really sad because they don't really talk to her. She's been here for five weeks and she said she was excited because her parents finally wrote her an email last week, but they were talking about the rosary prayer. She still writes them every week but her brother and sister haven't talked to her yet. It makes me so sad. I'm blessed to know that I have a family of 10 who are all proud of my decision to serve a mission. I don't know that I would have as much strength as she has if I was in her situation. But, I hope that I would. I never want to lose sight of why I'm here and what's important.
I know that I'm going to have trials and struggles throughout my mission, but it's wonderful to know that all of you will always be there for me! That's one thing I know I will never have to worry about. I love you and miss you, but I am so excited to be here!!! I can't wait to be able to save lives and share the gospel to people in Argentina!

Elder Jordan Keele- July 8, 2010

Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 10:53:39 -0600
Subject: Re:
From: jordan.keele@myldsmail.net
To: jlkeele@msn.com

Hola everybody!

Thank you so much for the talk and your's and dad's thoughts. I actually haven't had a chance to read it yet, but I printed it out and I'll go over it with my district. So much happened this week, so I'll just get straight to the good stuff :) I picked a good computer today.

I absolutely love the devotionals and firesides here. Every single one has been so beneficial. It's amazing how much you can learn when you really want to. Ha! What a concept! One quote that I really appreciated was from Pres. Hinckley and his dad. There was a point on Pres. Hinckley's mission that he really thought about why he was there. It was hard, and he just wanted to go home. His dad told him in a letter something like "I suggest you forget yourself and go to work". I think that applies not only to missionary work, but it can apply to everything we do. Later on, while he was the Prophet of the Church, Pres. Hinckley said regarding his decision to go on a mission "that was the most important decision I have ever made". Um, WOW! Here's a prophet that has probably made more important decisions than we will all ever have to make combined, and he said the most important one is the one that each one of us has the opportunity to make. Now, I'm not a prophet, and I can't see the future, but I really believe that if Pres. Hinckley wouldn't have gone, or even if he would've left home from his mission early that he wouldn't have been a prophet. I don't know if that's true or not, but I do know for sure that that decision was the one that started all the rest of his important decisions. I know that if I can serve to the best of my ability, that I will be blessed for life. I don't know what the Lord has in store for me, but I really want to find out!

I'll write Linda today. I would love to serve in my hometown area :) If my VISA doesn't come on time, that would be awesome of her to talk to the mission Pres. I think that blogspot will be cool! I think people will appreciate it. Plus it'll be a nice way for Hna. Keele and me to review our missions. I'm planning to send pictures by next week. I'm going through my camera today to figure out which ones to send.

I saw Dustin (I don't remember his last name) yesterday. The one that lives(d) across the street from Grandma Keele. I guess he works in the kitchen or something. He was so excited to see me :) That was fun.

Dad, I made you go through all that trouble to get our line of authority, but then I think I forgot to bring it with me. I looked a little bit but didn't see it. If you wouldn't mind sending it to me, I would appreciate it!

Mom, thanks for looking for the music. We're all excited to do something.

Like I said, my time is frozen at 27 minutes 4 seconds. My companion has 7 min. left and I got on just before he did. So my time is running out. I didn't get to say all I wanted, but I'll probably write a letter today for the family and you can read the rest then. Thanks for everything!!

I haven't gotten the coat from missionary mall yet, so if you could call on that that would be nice.

The hardest part about writing e-mails is that we don't have much time. And the whole time my mind is running at a million miles per hour because I have so much to say, but I'm so rushed. I wasn't able to read Mike and Louene's email, but if you could tell them thank you for writing, I'll make time for it next week. So if this e-mail is just jumbled and hard to read, please understand.

I love you all! Keep holding strong!

Con un monton de amor!

Elder Keele

Elder Jordan Keele- July 1, 2010

Hola amigos y familia!
I do see Jessica all the time, I love it!
Sundays are awesome because we have so much personal study time. Basically my Sunday schedule is 1 hr of study, breakfast, 1 hr of study, priesthood mtg, 1 1/2 of study, lunch, 1 hour of study, district meeting, temple walk/pictures, sacrament mtg, 1 hr study, dinner, 1 hr study, fireside, films (like the Testaments or the Joseph Smith movie), then 30 min. of planning, then back to our residency. That's every Sunday. Some of those study times we can use with our compañeros. It´s such a great time to bring yourself closer to your Savior. I´ve grown so much just from one Sunday at the MTC. I know it´s not just for missionaries, you all back at home can make this happen! Set aside even just an hour or 2 for personal study. Choose a topic, or just go where the Spirit takes you. It´s amazing the places the Lord will take you when you give him the wheel.
We get ice cream every Sunday and Wednesday. It's from the creamery and it's sooo good. My favorite so far has been the Caramel Crunch. D-licious!
Well we just heard the Mexico City North-West Mission, as soon as it's official, will take control as the smallest mission, but who knows, that new Utah one very well could beat it out.
Derek, I'm so proud of you for going with the missionaries. Pay close attention to how the investigator feels as you teach them. The key is to get them closer to Christ, that's all there is to it. Keep going with them. It'll just get you more and more anxious and excited to go.
Sis. Dalton was our devotional speaker on Tuesday. It was probably one of the greatest talks I've ever heard. I have a bunch of notes, and I can't wait to share those thoughts and experiences with you all someday.
I can't wait to hear about where Marcos is going on his mission. It's nice to think of them, and especially to remember the special experiences we've had with them in Argentina, at home, in Salt Lake, and here at the MTC. I'll never forget that.
Thanks for all the support from everyone, it's nice to know that we're being taken care of.
On Sunday we had a devotional. In it they introduced some awesome new stuff. First of all, they've made the 'District II', which is the preach my gospel dvds. They're so good, and I can't wait to continue watching them to learn how to be better teachers. They also told us about the new mormon.org website. It'll be released on July 7th I think it was. But on there, everyone can make a profile. Essentially it's a mormon facebook. But people can go on there, tell about your experiences and read the stories of others. They suggest everyone make a portrait/profile. I think it'll be really helpful. They're also coming out with new ads for the Church. Normal people with normal lives, with extraordinary conversion stories. They're like long commercials. Keep an eye out for those.
Well, I'm sorry my time is short. Again, I wish we had a longer time, but it's good enough. Thanks again for everyone, you're in my prayers everyday. Stay strong! Love, your missionary Elder Keele P.S. My entire district has been wondering about two things. If you could do some research and let us know that would be awesome. First, how does dry cleaning work? And second, one that's more relevant, what's the difference between a sin and a transgression? Maybe there's a talk out there somewhere about that. Also, there's a few Elders in my district that would like to sing for a devotional sometime. I suggested I could play the piano for them while they sing, but we don't have a song. They're asking their parents too if they know of any good songs that would be good for 4 people to sing. Les Amo!

Hna. Jessica Keele

Hola familia! That's all the Spanish for now. haha How are you guys? I guess Jordan must have told you he saw you guys on Wednesday, (the van at least :)) Well the first couple days were a bit weird, kinda like the first day of school. You're just learning about your schedule and what your going to do rather than just doing it. Kinda boring, haha, but Friday got better. Saturday I loved and Sunday I loved!!! My companion is Hermana Dennison and we are very much alike! It's really funny. We think alike. We're both left handed. Our favorite color is orange.. anyway its really funny! We taught our first lesson on Friday, and it was really scary. Jordan said he didn't start that soon.
Oh by the way, I have seen Jordan every day so far and yesterday we saw each other tons!! We even got to sit next to each other during a long meeting where we watched 2 episodes of "the district 2" its really funny and spiritual at the same time.. It's like the other Preach My Gospel dvd's we watched, but it's like the second season and this time there are quite a few missionaries and they aren't the "best" missionaries that the other ones were so we get to watch what they do wrong, haha really funny.
Well I just found the notes yesterday! So thank you guys! I love and miss you all very much!!!
Well I'm really liking it here. My companion and I room with another sister, Hermana Snow. She's really amazing!! I have 2 teachers, Elder Sturgil who went to Mexico I think, and Elder Ringwood who went to Resistencia, Argentina. I like them a lot. Everyone in my district is going to Argentina but 3 different missions. Some to mine, my companion and a couple others are going to Neuquen and some to Resistencia.
Friday night Elder Oaks spoke to us and also in the room were Elder Bednar, Elder Holland, Elder Scott, Elder Cook, Elder Nelson, Elder Christofferson, and Elder Anderson. I met my new mission president and his wife that night! They are soo sweet and funny. They remind me of the Turnbulls, and I'm soo excited to get out there :) Well gotta save a couple minutes, but I love you all! I hope your doing well. Take care.. Con amor, Hermana Keele