Xie Tian Baptism

Baptism ; )

I know, I owe you all an explanation as to why this email is coming in on Wednesday...

Monday was a french holiday and everyone closed all of the shops everywhere and since the church is an hour and a half by train we couldn't do emails then. And on Tuesday we had an exchange with some other elders and we didn't want to waste time by doing emails so we pushed it off until Wednesday. Sorry. I really do love you all! AND MADAME GIL IS NOW SISTER GIL!

So on Saturday, the day of the baptism, we got to the Toulouse chapel maybe two hours early and just prepared everything. Set up chairs, filled up the font, printed out brochures, all that good stuff. When people started arriving madame Gil was super excited! Plus we were having a total of four baptisms in the Toulouse font that day! So we had plenty of people! The actual baptism was really cool! Elder Gossel had the BIGGEST German smile on his face after he baptized her! I couldn't have hoped for a happier baptism :)

On Sunday I got to give Sister Gil the holy ghost and a blessing! That was a really cool experience too! I don't think she stopped smiling all of church! haha I don't think I have seen her happier!

Monday, or P-day, we were going to do normal P-day things But like everything was closed. SO we helped the Frick family build a little hut on some of their property. They have land in the campaign, or just the wild untamed parts of France, with horses on it! No Tanya, we did not ride the horses. But we did pet many a horse. The actual construction of the little hut was kinda hard. We had to clear a bunch of boulder/big rocks out from a little area and cleanse the spot from all of the weeds and bushes. 

Tuesday we did an exchange with the Albi Elders and I got to teach Sister Gil about the temple (she kinda knows what happens in the temple already) and about patriarchal blessings! She thought those were really interesting! We talked about the importance of the sacrament and at the end of our lesson I asked "have you felt the holy ghost more in your life since your baptism?" her response "no, but the entire week leading up to the baptism every time I prayed to know if it was right I could feel that heavenly father wants me to get baptized and I knew it was what I needed to do!" I was so happy that she had that confirming feeling! 

It was a wonderful week this week! I hope everyone is doing well and staying out of trouble :P

Elder Keller 

Weekend going ons

Yesterday we had lots of things going on after school. Extra tumbling meet & viola lesson. Victor & I we supposed to go to take the learners permit test but he did not show up after school, so that actually saved me a bit off running around. Grant had track & field & Tanya had an away game - didn't make it to either. High jump in Kearns & bball in Syracuse, opposite ends of the valley. But the best part of the evening was our dear friend Odie getting baptized. His bishop & stake president shared wonderful thoughts and testimonies. There was such a sweet spirit there and Odie just glowed. It was also nice to see Claudia & Angela and their families. Odie is such a great person, I truely hope he finds great joy through this choice.

So onto Saturday...
I got up at 6:30 to take Ana to tumbling. These competitions have been great for her, she definitely has been trying harder and doing better these past two months then the whole year that she has taken tumbling. Three hours later and a sixth place medal & we we home to start our day. Grant had a track met at the Olympic oval so we headed out. First time he was running the 200 meter. It started a little later than planned, but it was nice to sit and chat with him for a while before he ran. We then ran home & troy took boys for hamburgers & I went to Morgan's viola concert at the bountiful library. I love listening to her play. It's so calming and beautiful. We then picked up her friends to go hiking in the rain & mud with her, crazy. Tricia brought her kids (& pizza) by  to do she & my dad could go to president porters daughters wedding in slc. Out was great, all the kids went down to play in the basement. Lovely times, busy going ons, but lots of fun kind of day.