Friday, November 19, 2010

Elder Jordan Keele- November 15, 2010

Well, first comes sacrifice, then come the blessings. This past week, a member had signed up to feed us from Tuesday to Friday. Well, as you know, we walk everywhere. And I wasn't used to that ha ha. Last week I told you it takes about 25 minutes to walk from the furthest place of the area to home. Well, that wasn't quite true. On Tuesday, we were hungry, thirsty, and had no idea where this family lived. To make a long story short, it took a long, long time to find it. My feet were sore, I was sweating, and I was just tired all around. But, we didn't know that they owned a restaurant. This past week I've eaten the best Mexican food I've ever had in my life! It was delicious, and they treated us really well and sent us home with some extra drinks and food. They were very nice. My favorite thing I've eaten since I've been here is the Huarache. That's the first picture. It was huge and delicious. So, again, after much sacrifice comes many blessings :)

Yesterday was stake conference, and we were privileged to hear from Pres. Eyring and Elder Bednar via broadcast from Salt Lake. It was really cool. Fortunately for me, each of them had a translator standing next to them, translating sentence by sentence. ha ha They both gave wonderful talks. It was funny because Elder Bednar and his translator worked perfectly with each other. It was very well done. Next, when Pres. Eyring spoke, he and his translator weren't quite always on the same page. It was funny ha ha. They kept cutting each other off and messing each other up. I guess that just shows that he's human :) But it was a great talk nonetheless. And I was blessed to hear it in my native language.

Things are going well here. I was a little sick for one day, I think just so my body could get used to the transition. But other than that I've been just fine. We eat a small breakfast at home, usually lunch between 2 and 4, and that's it. Interestingly enough I don't eat very much, but I never go hungry. I've only eaten one thing that I didn't like. In fact it was disgusting. It was 'pata', or pigs feet. It was nasty! The taste, texture... everything. Fortunately it was at the restaurant and it wasn't very much. Other than that, I love Mexican food!

This morning the Bishops family, and some other members of the ward, invited us to play basketball and 'futbol rapido', (essentially indoor soccer outside...) with them. It was a lot of fun! I'm amazed at the teeny kids that dominate me.

The Lord has blessed me so much. I know that as I try and improve, He willingly and happily helps me out. I've learned so much since I've been here. My companion is very patient with me, and that's very helpful. We get along fine and work hard. This past week we received a referral from the temple visitors' center. Her name is Maria de Jesus, and she's a bit elderly. Her husband passed away about 4 months ago. She lives with her son, and her daughter lives in our area too. All of them are interested in the gospel, especially the plan of salvation. They came with us to stake conference yesterday, and they liked it a lot. They know this is what they want, and we hope to baptize them all together on the 28th of this month. Sometimes the Lord blesses us with trials, such as the passing of their father, so that we have a new perspective on things. So we can learn in a different way. So we might be more receptive to things. So essentially we can be happy. Here on my mission I've learned to love my trials. That's how we grow the fastest, and again, that's how we're happy.

That's what this gospel is all about, learning. Why else did we come here if not to progress?

Well, I'm grateful to be serving a mission. I know this is the best thing I could be doing at this time in my life.

I hope you're all doing well, and I wish you good luck for whatever you do this week!

Until next time, Love,

Elder Jordan Keele

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