ey you guys!!
As always, it's so satisfying to hear from each of you!
Whattt up!? You guys are so awesome!!! I love you guys!!!
Richard got baptized!! It was a spiritual feast!! He really prepared himself! He explained that the whole day before the baptism at 5:30 he was just reading scriputres and praying and pondering all the things he's leard and the commitment he was about to make, and let me tell you. I've never seen anyone that excited to get into the font. He was anxious!! It was so cool to see. His cousin's boyfriend Mike gave a talk about baptism and then I gave a talk about the Holy Ghost, then the baptism. Let me tell you guys, the highlight of the whole experience other than the baptism, was Mike's talk. It was one of the greatest talks I've heard in a very very long time. I've thought about why that is and here's what I've come up with. Mike used to be really less-active, addicted to drugs and was an alcoholic, so he really hasn't been involved in the church for a long time. In the past year he's made the biggest 180 out of anyone I"ve known. He's so excited about the gospel and his testimony is awesome. So when he got up there to talk, it wasn't any of the little,"so my talk is on baptism and first I looked up baptism in the dictionary..." crap like that. It was real. It was from his heart!! His words came from feelings deep down that only he can access! It was absolutely stunning. I felt the spirit soo strong. What an awesome experience. Then Richard's baptism was great! They only had to do it once ha which is always good. Richard was just glowing you guys. It was so stinkin cool to see. Baptism is awesome!! Then he bore his testimony once he got changed and almost couldn't make it through it. He was so touched that all he could express was thanking everyone for being there and expressing this experience as,"an adrenaline rush of the spirit". Pretty stinkin cool. He's an awesome guy. We're happy for him. Then yesterday Elder Catmull confirmed him and that was way spiritual as well! Just a very very spiritual weekend.
So uhh it's August? Where the flip did summer go? It's like already pretty much gone! I cannot believe that. Yesterday we were with our aawesome ward mission leader, Brother Belasquez, and in his closing prayer for our correlation meeting with him he expressed that we could have the strength to endure to the end of our missions and for some reason I was thinking,"man it's going to suck when I have 21 weeks left." Then as I though about it, I realized that I only have 20 left!! 20 weeks left as a missionary! 20 more times at church! That's so crazy! Next week I will officially hit 20 months!! Time is so short its insane! I seriously cannot believe I"m at 20 months. It doesn't seem real. Pretty intense!
How are you guys? Dad, you feeling well! My companion and I are praying for you everyday. It's sounds like the support from others hasn't ceased. That's really cool. I'm glad that we're getting help from others. I'm very very comforted to know that. Hey has anyone went and grabbed my package and my Ukulele from Elder Shaw?? It's kind of been a while since yall to do that so I"m just following up to see if anyone has done it? His number is in my e-mail probably 5 or 6 weeks ago or maybe earlier.
Hmm other than Richard there hasn't been too much happening. We've found a couple of new people that aren't way solid, so not much to report about there.
Oh i should tell you guys about Mrs. Margaret!! haha You guys. We have this recent convert of 2 months in our ward that is so hilariously awesome!! Her name is Margaret. She's 60. She's a big ol black lady! She's so awesome! We're tryin to help her quit smoking again cuz she picked it up last month. She lives kind of across the street from us so we're gunna try and work out getting to see her for like 30 minutes every morning and read a chapter in the BOM with her. She loves Elder Catmull and I. She always has the funniest craziest stuff to say. She gets more off topic faster than anyone I've ever known. We were trying to talk to her about what the blessings are that come from living the Wow, and she somehow started talking about the size of the eggs she's buying? She's so crazy! ahaha she was like,"Lemme tell you, they say those eggs was large? but lemme tell you they are like wayyy wayyy medium!" She's super funny!
Then we are kind of teaching this lady named Maria Lancaster! She's also way hilarious and crazy! She's way Hungarian and has a super thick accent and loves missionaries! She's been friends with missionaries since 1980! She loves to feed us and we go over once a week and water her yard for her. Last week she cooked us stuff bell peppers which were incredible, then she made Debiled eggs! She's an amazing cook and she always says crazy stuff. She comes to church a lot, and she calls the relief society, the "short skirts class". and all the women in releif society are the ,"short skirts girls". If there is anyone that has a testimony and believes in modesty, it's Maria. She's so funny about everything. She's feeding us this week! She told us what it is, but its a crazy word that I can't even pronounce. I've actually got kinda close with her. She gives nicknames to the missionaries she really likes, and my nickname is "skinny". Elder Schwenke used to go see her when he was in this area and his nickname is "chocolate bear". haha she's awesome.
The last week of this transfer is next week! This is week 5 starting today. Crazy right? I feel like I just got here, but it's already been 5 weeks.
Okay so mom requested I tell a little bit about the riots. Pretty much here's what happened. 2 Mexican guys got shot by police a couple weeks ago. One of them was un-armed and so now everyone is on the police's case about being racist and having a trigger finger. It was pretty bad the first week but has calmed down a lot. now they just come around on the weekends to protest. Not really anymore riots, but they are protesting a lot now, mainly outside of DisneyLand too. Their posters are pretty messed up. One of them we always see has a picture of mickey in a nazi uniform doing the nazi sign. Lame! They just want attention, but yeah it's really a lot more tame and under control now so nothing to really worry about. Just some people wanting attention that's all.
I don't know if I told you guys, but like 3 weeks ago I finished Jesus the Christ!! What an awesome book!! I loved it!! And last week I sent some missionaries going to deseret book on a special task. I had them get me an original first addition replica of the Book of Mormon. It was only like 20 bucks! It's way cool! I love it!
So i gotta tell you guys what we did this morning. Us and the Ap's went and hit golf balls at the driving range! It felt so good you guys!!! I got a 100 balls and hit those things and acquired 5 blisters on my left hand! haha. Man it felt good. We had a blast. I love our assistants right now. It's Elder Sumsion. One of , if not the, best friend I have out here, and then Elder McClain. I very skinny crazy hyperactive kid whose never kissed a girl in his life. haha. They are so much fun to hang out with. We had a blast. First time I've hit a golf ball in 2 years. So that was fun! After this we're going to do our shopping and then we're having zone activity at our stake center. Probably going to write some letters, play some b-ball or dodge ball or something. I love hanging out with the zone. I'm building some awesome friendships out here. I love everyone in our zone and it sucks cuz like 7 of them are done with their mission this transfer and half of them are from Australia so the chances of seein em again are slim. But that's just how it works!
Elder Catmull and I are doing good! President Bowen is awesome. Pretty much everything is going really well right now. I hope everyone continues to help dad out. He needs that continued support. Noone loose that fire of support for him. He needs it!
Well guys I better wrap up. If you're sending a package soon, I would appreciate some new face wash and face lotion. Oreos and white fudge chips ahoys are always good. I went through those ones you guys me in like 2 seconds. they were so good. I buy really healthy food, so the only junk I get is from members of the ward and you guys, so it's always a treat. You guys would be so proud. I'm getting to be a little chef! haha so yeah that would be nice.
Let me know if you need Elder Shaw's number again. It should be in that e-mail.
Alright guys I love you each SO much
I miss you!!
Let me know if you need anything or want anything at all! Seriously. There are disney shops and little outlets everywhere by disney land so p-days I could run grab something.
Love you guys!
Elder Keyes
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