Mom and Morgan quick exchange

On Mon, 31 Dec 2018, 11:48 AM carlin keller, wrote:
Hello beautiful!!

We are driving up to Idaho for New year's Eve with the cousins.  Well get in about 6pm, so they are waiting until then to have the Keller family dinner, super nice of Betsy!  Grant and Kirsten just got back from Texas yesterday and they are coming up with us, so that will be fun too 🎉🎉

It was so great to see you and you laugh!!  You look wonderful!  Do you guys need anything if I mail a box next week??

Love you
Mom


It was so good to see you all!! I really miss the family and am so happy I was able to Skype.

Also, tell everyone thanks for their Christmas Cards I loved them heaps!!

How was everyone's Christmas? Tell me how new years is:)

Love you heaps!

Merry Christmas from New Zealand

Fun fact of the week: Tahitians eat dog ?? (But not cat! says Sister Perry)

Que pasa mi familia favorita!?

Highlights of this week :)

1. I FINALLY GOT TO USE MY SPANISH IN THIS BEAUTIFUL ISLAND OF NEW ZEALAND !!! A member from Mexico was riding his bike around New Zealand and got in a crash, so is stuck in Opotiki for a few weeks. I held a decent conversation after church with him, and even understood everything he said!!! I was muy feliz :)

2. The woman who we met street contacting is named Tanya, and told us we could come back and teach her more about our religion! She asked a lot of questions that allowed us to share our testimony, like if this is a good church and what we teach. This time I had a Book of Mormon on me so I was able to hand it to her and tell her how its blessed my life and that the times I was closer to God were the happiest times in my life. Visits like those are the reasons I love being a missionary!

3. We had an awesome lesson with Pearl! Her two daughters are age 6 and 9, and they asked heaps of deep questions. Like who is Gods father, does God cry, and where does God and Jesus live now. We played a fun game with them and (tried to) answer all their questions. Then we taught Pearl about the atonement. She asked why she should repent if she will make the same mistake in two days, so we shared Alma 34:10 and explained that the atonement is infinite and as long as she is trying, she will be covered and her sins will be forgiven. When we told her, she said "you're kidding!" And was so excited which made me so excited! I love when i get to see how people can feel Christs love for them. I'm so lucky to be a missionary during these times :,)

4. We were walking back to our flat from our appointment with pearl, and we saw this old lady walking with grocery bags. We said hello, then kept walking, but both Sister Perry and I turned back and felt like we needed to help her carry her groceries. So we got in the car and sped over to her and got out of the car to help her carry her groceries. She ended up being lost so we spent the next 30 minutes walking around trying to find her house. Turns out she lives just down the street from us, and her granddaughter saw us walking with her and helped us get her back home hahaha. Fun adventures in Opotiki!

This week was full of ups and downs, but through it all my testimony of this gospel has stayed firm! I know that our Heavenly Father loves us and is aware of everything happening in our lives. Like it says in 3 Nephi 18:19-20, "pray always unto the father... and behold it shall be given to you".

I love yous all and hope you had a merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!!!

Much love,
Hermana Keller ;)


1. Our Branch Presidents daughter who reminds me of my cousin Aly!
2. My favourite children:,)
3. The only place in the world a magpie is considered "exotic"
4. Your weekly dose of pretty NZ pictures ;)
5. Sis Perry and I!
6. A sweet RM who came out with us to do visits!

Just pictures of Morgan in her ward in NZ! Took them off of Facebook

Morgan is serving in the Opotiki Branch in New Zealand and they accepted me to join the branch web page.  I downloaded pictures of Morgan that they had posted since October when she transferred there!  They are mostly Christmas pictures, but still fun to see her :)

Christmas Day

The kids came down and opened Christmas.  I guess Tanya and Ana had been up for awhile chatting.  But Troy went up around 8:30 to get everyone going so we could then clean up for Christmas breakfast.  My parents started Christmas breakfast a long time ago and friends, family, neighbors would come over and have omelettes and sit around and visit Christmas day.  This year we hosted it and I cooked the omelettes.  Learning tips and tricks from my dad and Troy's dad, we've often made omelettes for friends or guests who are staying with us.  They are yummy and it's fun to see what people like to eat in their omelette.  This year my whole family came over through out the day and Janet and Gary Flake who are good friends of my parents came over.  Tricia as usual had made some orange rolls, very yummy.  We used up our last jar of Great Grandma's chili sauce that I had bottled before we moved to Texas.  I'm going to have to dig out that recipe and make some this year!

Our prophet, President Nelson, in the October General Women's Conference, challenged all of the women of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  And while doing that mark all of the scripture verses that talk, teach or mention our Savior Jesus Christ.  I finished the day after Christmas.  Usually I spend the entire year reading through the Book of Mormon and just studying sections as I go.  It was really insightful to read it from front to back in such a short period of time.  So much to be gained by reading it as a whole.  I was surprised to find that only a few chapters didn't mention God or Jesus Christ.  We often think of the Book of Mormon as a history of the Nephite and Lamanites who left Jerusalem and came to the Americas.  It is really a testiment of our Savior Jesus Christ and his teachings.  I'm grateful for this opportunity to strengthen my testimony of my friend and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I know we are here to be tested and that through the Attonement of Christ our sins can be washed away if we repent and come unto Him.  I couldn't be where I am today or who I am today without the repentance process, without scriptures to learn from and to gain knowledge of our Heavenly Father and His son, without the gift of the Holy Ghost and the light of Christ that helps us know good from evil and guides us to do right.  I'm far from perfect, but so grateful for a Savior who can lift us up, when we remember to let Him, when we fall down.