June Happenings 2016

 young women activity, fogged up windows, youth conference, Troy's birthday, drive to Utah, girls camp, Hill Airforce base air show, cousins and colorado friends...

Troy and Ethan high adventure in Jackson Hole Wyoming

Letter from Grant - June 27, 2016

Sent: Monday, June 27, 2016 12:08 PM
Subject: Genève Week One

So the work here is doing incredible! We have three people lined up
for baptism already.

Ali, Armenian who was referred to us by a less active. The
missionaries went to his house and after having taught him a good
while he stopped progressing so the missionaries just taught his
daughters and they both got baptized and now Ali wants to get baptized
too! So we are working with him as well as his wife. Ali is trying to
quit smoking but he doesn't seem to try a lot.

Serge, from the Congo and has an adorable family with two kids. Serge
has really flipped his life around since he met the missionaries. He
requested a Book of Mormon on line and then the missionaries showed up
and just started teaching. He said he would listen but didn't want to
go to church or anything. Our last lesson he told us that he will do
anything to get baptized. He has such a huge desire to have God in his
life. It's truly wonderful. He even said that after he gets baptized
that his wife will look into the church. It would be really cool to
baptize a whole family even if it's one at a time.

I haven't yet met our other investigator with a date. But if you want
to pray for her her name is Julian. She is dating a member so that's
probably where all of her time is going.

My new companions. Elder Wade, I hope the name sounds familiar to you
because it didn't to me :P Elder Jesse Wade is going to be starting
point guard for Gonzaga when he gets off of his mission. He is really
cool, we bro out all the time and he is a really good missionary.
Like, he just has a lot of people skills and so for him talking to
people and really just teaching people takes zero effort. He is a very
diligent very obedient missionary as well. I am really looking forward
to the rest of this transfer.

Elder Lutu is my other companion. He is a Samoan from Boise Idaho.
Might play football in college. Elder Lutu is on his fourth transfer
so he is still pretty young and doesn't speak French super well yet.
He is super fun though, great guy with a big heart. He has his head on
straight so we all work well together.

This week we drove down to Annecy to do a baptismal interview. I
interviewed a very prepared man who is on his way to the salt lake
temple to get sealed this upcoming year with his spouse. It always is
a pleasure to peak into the work of the lord in sectors other than
your own.

Anywho, Swiss is incredible! Fun fact! In Swiss French they have
different words for the numbers seventy and ninety in French French :)
that has been driving me off the walls! Haha, people either don't
understand what I say or I don't understand what they are saying. That
and when we went to church this last week people either assume that I
am German(Keller means cave or cellar in German) and because everyone
in Swiss speaks like five languages they all HAVE to ask me :) it's
pretty funny. Oh, and people, if they listen to me speak first, assume
I am native French :P I can't fool a Frenchy with my French accent but
I can fool a Swissy! I think we had five people at church not realize
I was a American or comment on my accent.

Something SUPER SUPER COOL about Geneva and the Kellers. If you look
back on our genealogy on Grandpa Kellers side of things we have an
ancestor name Serge Louis Ballif who was the First missionary to come
and open up the city of Geneva for missionary work and then years
later be the missionary president of this mission! He has a big ol
plaque dedicated to him in the Geneva chapel where we go to church
every Sunday! I took a picture of it :) It really is so amazing to
think that I am serving, walking, and teaching the gospel on the very
same streets as Serge! Maybe it sounds silly but it gives me a
reinvigorated drive to go out and just preach to everyone in Geneva.
It also seems to give Geneva a homely feel. Like, my ancestors used to
live and serve here before immigrating to Salt Lake. I don't know how
to explain it, but it gives me butterfly's in my stomach and makes me
more than proud to be here :)

Avec amour,
Elder Keller

 Elder Wade was on the phone so we took a picture of us on the Biggest building in all of Europe :)

Me next to Serge's plaque.

Letter from Grant - June 6, 2016 (no letter last week, so I'm not looking for it later :)

Sent: Monday, June 6, 2016 7:46 AM
Subject: Robertine

I'm just going to start out with the best, Robertine's did get
baptized! And all in the same  week her daughter got out of the
hospital (she was suffering from some rare blood disease in Africa but
will soon be coming to France to live with her mother :) and she made
it into her cooking school! They only take seven or eight students a
year and it's held up in Bordeux. Apparently to test in they sit you
down in a kitchen, they give you a recipe, all the ingredients you
need and tell you to make it. You have to finish the dish within a
certain time and it has to meet certain qualifications and then they
judge your plate with everyone else's. You do this multiple times
until the judges have weeded everybody out! Haha, kinda bonkers but
what can you do?  She now has to read some thousand page book on
cuisine and memorize a bunch of cooking faux pas and must do's.

Pierre is doing good, skipped institute this week but that's because
he was also in Bordeux for something.

Yoland, fixed a baptismal date, needs a job to support herself. She is
progressing great in the gospel, she has been understanding
everything! She even brought her sister to church with her so that was
fantastic because we are teaching both of them together.

The Jumelles. Jumelles is the French word for twins. This week while
contacting my companion and the zone leader taught some 24 year old
Jumelle girls who are surprisingly interested in the gospel. I met
with them Friday with my companion Elder Orr. They have TONS of
questions because they have a friend in Utah who just got her mission
call and they want to know like everything about us. Fingers crossed
we can get them to church to meet all of the young adults :)

What else do y'all want to know? I bought a new pair of pants today? I
really like French pants :) they are TIGHT!

Avec Amour

Elder Keller