Mom's Letter To Morgan

Ohh  so fun!! I'm glad you are enjoying time with dad. I'm sure the kids will be okay, I mean in two years they could be living on their own...

Ah that would  be cool if you went to Australia!! Wed be in the same time zone Haha!! Dad sent a video of everyone saying hi, and it made my week. I miss your voices!!

Thank you so much for supporting me on my mission! I know it is expensive, and its a long time for me to be gone, but I have never felt closer to Christ and I know I wouldn't have ever had this opportunity without you. Thank you so much!!

Miss you lots mama!!

Sister keller

On Mon, 12 Nov 2018, 4:57 AM carlin keller, wrote:
Hey babe

We are hanging out at Becky's dinner in Portland Maine waiting for a table for breakfast. 

We took this little trip so that we could get some more miles so Dad can have diamond medallion one more year, we'll really so I can have gold status one more year, not that I flew much this past year. 😂😂

We had a bbsitter, but she didn't make it over last night so I think the kids stayed up pretty late!  We'll see if they make it to church 😂

Sorry I didn't get a letter of earlier in the week and we are a little distracted here.  Stacey, Jennifer and I are trying to plan a little trip like in February, we were looking at Australia because there were some cheap flights, but we didn't get them booked in time so who knows where we'll end up.

Hope you had a wonderful we'll this week.  I did mail a little package, it isn't a Christmas package, so open it 😊.  Do you get stuff pretty quickly or does it take a month before you get it from when I mail it? Or do you know? 🤣

Love you, mom



Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

Dad's Letter To Morgan

So, back in America...

We had the mid-term elections last week. Medical Marijuana was on the ballot in Utah and passed!  It wasn’t actually a surprise, as it was expected. The church was against it but realized it would pass and so has worked with other groups to come out with a proposed compromise that would allow medical marijuana under more specific circumstances.  It will be interesting in Utah to see what the future looks like with legalized stuff. I have no issue if it is treated like any other prescription drug and doctors can prescribe it to be ingested in a pill for purposes it is useful for (cancer patients etc) but because it is only legal in some states and is not at the federal level, it can’t be used in the same framework as prescription drugs. As such, it will be a bit of a mess here for a while. I just searched online and it sounds like New Zealand will be having a similar vote next year. Changing world.

Also expected in the elections was that the democrats would win a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in a decade. This is big news but the republicans still control the senate and the White House of course so all it means is that the democrats will have some blocking power on new legislation and the power to conduct investigations into trump if they want to. Will be interesting to see how they use the power.

What else?  Mom and I are in Maine this weekend just as a quick getaway. Mom is worried the kids will turn into juvenile delinquents while we are gone but she’s still trying to enjoy herself.  Being a mom seems hard :)

I read a few chapters of Jesus the Christ this morning. Good stuff. I’m also reading a book from a friend of mine in which he does kind of a poetic and narrative retelling of the gospels. It’s really cool.

We had our first party in the new house with people from work. Went well. Next up: thanksgiving!

Hope you are doing great. The gospel is so real and you are implementing it on the front lines. If not only changes people. It continues changing them non-stop forever.  The gospel is life. A way of life that is of a very different kind from what we otherwise would live.

Hope you have a fantastic week. Love
Dad

Sister Keller Writes Again

Since I'm in a pretty upbeat mood I've decided to do my weekly email in fun facts to make it more... fun :)

1. The reason we have exchanges pretty much every other week is because my lovely companion is STL and has to have the sisters up once a transfer.
 Exchanges were so awesome!! I was back with Sister Morgan and Sister Vodo, and we got heaps done. (must be something about Morgans….) Absolutely nothing went according to plan, but we got one new investigator and one referral and we are progressing with someone we didn't think we'd be progressing with! It's super exciting and was a very productive exchange.

2. Apparently small children really love me?
I think it's because I let them do whatever they want to me haha. While all the big kids were playing touch, I was sitting in a circle with three 9-10yr olds playing a hand clapping game thing, with two 3yr olds doing (pulling) my hair and putting grass in it, with one 6yr old telling me to punch boys if they try to kiss me. (we were telling each other stories and that was the moral of her story haha. I like it)  I've kinda learned that whenever I'm around small children they will want me to play with them and I kinda give in haha

3. Sister Keller really dislikes technology
This week we had to transfer our whole area book (which is about 100 pages) into our cellular devices, and it took a really long time and made my head hurt. I just want to use paper but it's okay because we're hastening the Lords work and it's all goods!
4. Sister Keller really really dislikes spiders
So during the spring time, there are just spiders everywhere. None of them are deadly unlike in Azzie, but they are everywhere. They have also learned to CLIMB THROUGH THE VENTS which is super terrifying when you're going 100kmh up a steep hill and you see a less than friendly eight legged nightmare crawl out of the vent and up the side of the steering wheel. I feel like Ron Weesley haha

5. Apparently I've grown an inch since the beginning of my mission?
There are three dresses that were fine in the MTC but don't go past my knee like they're supposed to, so I've had to give them to my companion haha. They look way better on her anyway TBH. I'm just hoping I stop growing so I'm not taller than my husband.... ha ha

6. When milk goes bad it doesn't turn sour, instead it turns into cheese!
Yes I did learn this by experience how did you guess? No I haven't tried the expired milk cheese, and no I'm not planning on it.  (Don't even think about it Ethan)

7. Against the will of my immune system, I've decided I am no longer allergic to cats :)
Yeah I still have allergies but they're just SO CUTE I want to pet them all and I do pet them all and just suffer the consequences. One of our investigators has a cat named puss puss and we're good friends and I love her :)

For those of you who didn't have time to read the whole thing, I don't blame you it's long as haha. Pretty much we had exchanges, I'm doing good, and never going to come home. Jokes! kind of....

Love and miss yous heaps!!

Sister Keller

Dad's Letter to Morgan this week

How does it feel to no longer be a greenie?  I don’t know what the official cutoff for that is, but two months in the field is probably enough to say you know the ropes.  Missions are like miniature lives, in that missionaries go through these phases of maturity and gaining of perspective.  It’s just that it happens so fast in the mission field!  I suspect you are observing, learning, experiencing so much every day.



Yesterday was a good day.  Ethan and I played pickleball for our new ward’s EQ activity.  Mom stayed home and used the blower to blow leaves off the grass.  We have lots of leaves at the new house!  Ethan and I went to Farmington pond to do a little more fishing.  It’s so close, and now is a great time of year. In the summer it’s too warm.  Ethan caught a bunch of trout, and I caught some too.  But he definitely did really well yesterday.  Then Mom, Ana and I went and got a hamburger, and Ethan had Luke Longson over last night.  They basically watched TV for several hours. (Some things never change!)  Ana went to hang out with some new friends in the ward.



Tanya and her boyfriend brought Laila over last night for an hour or so.  They babysat all day for MJ.  Laila was cute but a little tired at that time of the evening.  I’m not a big fan of cranky babies, so I said hi and went back to the study. 😊



It was great to see that you and your companion had a baptism.  Those are some of the best times.  Curious: do you have to travel far to get to a building with a font, or is that readily available in NZ?  Are the church buildings there similar to what we have in the U.S. or is the format very different?



Chris Cutler texted me yesterday to say they were having the Idaho party in the Woodlands, and they’d miss us.  Darn!  That was one of the coolest things in the Woodlands.  Which reminds me, if Duncan were here he’d want me to ask you what you do and don’t like about the food there.  I think you mentioned it briefly in one of your letters, but I suspect you’ve been there long enough now to have developed some opinions!



Hope you are doing well.  It goes by so fast.  Did you hear Elder Rasband’s talk in general conference about managing our fears?  He even mentioned the common fear among missionaries of talking to strangers.  It was really good, and I listened to it again today, because I’m teaching a lesson next week.



Love you tons.  We pray for you always. Have a great week.



Dad

Another Letter from Sister Keller!! Lucky Day

Hello family! A lot happened this week but I didn't want to write all about it in my mass email because I knew it would be too big. So I'm sending this to yous and if you want you can forward it to grandma and grandpa or other family members. Love yous!

So we are teaching these two young girls who are 13 and 14. Their father is a Less Active, and part of the big gang here in town. He told them this is the only church they're allowed to take lessons from which is way cool. He still knows that this church is true despite being less active. Last week we taught the first lesson, and I recited the first vision from memory. The next week, we asked if they had any questions. The younger girl said she didn't, but tried to memorize the first vision because she heard me say it from memory. It was so cool to me because she could understand the importance of the first vision even though she isn't a member and hasn't taken all the lessons! Our actions can be so much more important than our words at times.

We have one new investigator who has been working with missionaries for almost 10 years now. He has a strong testimony, but he is a heavy smoker so he stopped meeting with missionaries regularly. He likes talking with us. It's so hard because he feels unworthy to come to church, but we know that if he would just come he could see the benefits of it and would find quitting smoking to be easier. We're working hard with him and I've been fasting.

The new investigator I mentioned in my mass email is so awesome! We are planning on setting her this week or at the latest next week because she has so much love for the church and a desire to learn more. We are just hoping there won't be any big surprises...

The rain definitely slowed us down a lot. We spent a few extra hours studying instead of out teaching because we were too cold... this week seems to have much better weather so we're determined to work as much as possible!

being in the city again is so weird! I forgot that houses have two stories, or that there are such things as two lanes of traffic. We bought expensive as waffles just because we know we won't have the opportunity to buy any when we go back to Opotiki haha. Tauranga is so beautiful I love it so much!! Also apparently there's a few Argentines in this area so I'm kinda secretly hoping I'll serve here... fingers crossed Haha 

Love yous thanks for the support! ❤❤

Sister Keller

Mom and Morgan Letters

Things are going so well! I love being a missionary and Sister Ieremia and I have worked everything out so I"m honestly just constantly happy. It's the best!

I'm glad yous are being soical with all the neighbors! Hahahaha I definitely think you should work at Delta, then I"ll have something to look forward to when I get back ;)

Hmmm.... maybe ask Lexie? Or some of the old NSL girls who are seniors now?

Haha are you kidding there's no way I'm going home early unless i physically have to! I'm already planning on asking for an extension haha. But I'm excited to go to the temple too!! I miss doing endowment sessions.

I love letters so much thank you for sending them!!
I"m sending a larger email to you and dad about more details of my week in a bit. Thanks for cheking up on PR for me. I'm a little bummed but I'll be able to figure that out when I'm back!
Love you lots!!
Sister KEller

On Sun, Nov 4, 2018 at 2:06 PM carlin keller wrote:
Dearest Sister Morgan,

It's Turkey month over here in the states!!  October always seems to fly by these days.  Well, everything does from Sept to Dec.

How is life treating you?  Hopefully things have been good for you and your trainer to stay together and in the same area :)  It can't be all bad if you get to run on the beach in the mornings for exercise, dreams do come true! hahaha

The house is feeling more and more comfortable, it's like we are supposed to be here.  Hopefully the kids will make good friends in the ward and neighborhood.  Next Friday we are having people over from dads work for food and to visit, so hopefully he'll be ok that not everything is put totally together yet!  Still figuring out food.  We keep planning toward Mexican, but it's an Italian house.  I feel like we should be doing something Italian, but probably not going to happen.  Then Saturday dad and I are flying to Portland Maine.  It was the furthest we could go on our fly within the states buddy passes and get the most miles!  Dad just needs 5500 more miles to get his diamond status again next year.  It might be the last year! sniff sniff.  I keep saying I'm going to go work for Delta, but if he gets the miles I'll wait till next year.  wink, wink, hahahaha

I asked Akemi if she'd stay with the kids next weekend, but she has 7:30am classes.  I know Rachel is living at home, but I'm not sure if she would like to stay here at night... I don't know.  Laura Jacobson is going to a friends wedding, Tricia's babysitter is watching someone else's kids and so Grandma is watching her kiddos...  It seems like there should be more options.  Who am I missing?  Can you think of anyone I could ask that would be ok staying and not weirded out if Tanya comes over or stays one night?  I was thinking Tanya could, but she and boyfriend are inseparable and I don't really want him or V here while we are gone...  Oh, maybe Kate would?? Grant and Kir said they would check their calendars, but they didn't want to last time.  I may just see if they can stay with Mike and Stacie, but then there's the dog...  sigh, this is why dad and I can't travel together :(

Do you miss hearing about my woes??  I'm done and moving on.  So I do well during the week reading my BofM, but the weekends not so good, so I need to do some make up reading right after this!  I have been going to the temple every week and in a couple weeks the Tingey's are going on a Saturday to do a bunch of sealings!  It will be fun to go to the temple with you again when you get home, don't come home early for that, there will be lots of time when you get home ;)

Love you tons, sent you a snail mail letter this week and sent some pictures before this, so hopefully you are all caught up on the family dealings.  Love you tons and tons and tons!

Mom


I sent pictures of the dog and Halloween this past week.  I'll get those posted in a different post.

Letter from Sister Keller :)

Kia Ora!

Fun fact of the week:
Kiwis don't celebrate Halloween :(
(Oh yeah by Kiwi I mean the people of New Zealand, not the cute fluffy birds. Though I highly doubt they celebrate Halloween either)

It was transfer week! And... nothing happened haha. Sister Ieremia and I are still in Opotiki and still working hard! It was a super rainy week so that kind of slowed down work because rain=cold and neither sister Ieremia or I enjoy walking in the cold. Not too much has changed. We only get 1-2 cockroaches pr week instead of night (nice), and I can legally drive on the left side of the road (also nice).

Today for P day we got to go to Tauranga (which is about two hours up the coast) and I am still in awe! I could probably write for an hour about how strange it is to be back in a city. In New Zealand they call small towns with few people the Bush, so the whole time we were walking around the city we totally looked like we were lost country girls haha. I forgot that there was more than one lane of traffic, and that houses can have multiple floors. We ate at an actual restaurant and came in through the back door hahaha. It is so cool to be in the city but I also love Opotiki and never want to leave so... good thing I have 5 weeks left before transfers haha. We got to hike this mountain that's right by the ocean and it was super fun! The best part was as we were hiking, I smiled at everyone and said good morning and when they'd look back at me, they'd first look at my face and then right to my name tag. How cool it is to be a representative of Christ!

One cute thing this week that happened was we visited this Samoan family in our ward because Sister Ieremia speaks Samoan and can communicate with the parent. I understand less than nothing, so I end up talking to their kids. They have three girls who love to swing dance with me and it's the cutest thing. The youngest is about three and always gets really excited whenever she sees me. Apparently the other day they asked her who her sisters were and she started off with "Sister Keller.." before naming her other sisters. My heart melted a little bit.

Also I have a big surprise.
I participated in an athletic event !!!!! I know I'm just as surprised as you are. What happened was Sister Ieremia wanted to play (touch) rugby, and I was completely content to read Jesus the Christ from the sideline (which is an amazing book btw yous should read it and then discuss it with me), but they needed another player so I ended up playing! I still have never touched a rugby ball, but I did a really good job running around and pretending I knew what I was doing :)

Okay I'll end with something a little more spiritual haha. We had two referrals from our branch president, and we've taught two lessons with both which is awesome! One girl we're teaching is super interested in the Book of Mormon and is progressing really fast. She asked us about the 10 commandments so we taught her that lesson, even though it's usually one of the last things we teach. Afterwards she told us she wanted to write them on a big sheet of canvas so that she would never forget them. It was so sweet and just such a testimony to me that Heavenly Father really is preparing people to be taught and he will guide us to them so they can find the happiness and peace that they are searching for.

Alofa atu!


Sister Keller