September

A Volcano blew up for my 1 year mark!

September 7th

it didn’t really but it’s getting pretty, it’s been spewing out a ton of ash every day.  I also hit my year mark so that’s super cool!! 

We sadly weren’t able to baptize Jasmin this week because her parents changed their minds but she is so strong in the church she will be fine until she is 18.

Wow we got to know one of our recent converts really well the other day when we taught about family history he said he couldn’t fill out the “My family” pamphlet because everyone is still alive!! (it goes back to your great grandparents) he said all of his great great grandparents are still alive! the oldest is 125 years old and his grandkids fill 5 towns in the country he has around 1000 grandkids. It’s pretty crazy hearing about the native customs and culture, they have this plant which is like poison ivy and if a kid miss behaves or if anyone breaks the law they wip you with it while your naked then dump ice cold water over your head haha so pretty crazy!!!

I was also able to have chicharon this week which is pig neck fat that they deep fry until its a little grease cube... it wasn’t pleasant. +

and today we had a bbq with our district!

Love Elder Keyes 

Stake Conference

September 14th

This week we had stake conference and we were able to hear our president and his wife speak. also half our district hit a year so we had a party as a district. 

The stake conference was cool we went to two sessions one Saturday night and then another Sunday. The one Saturday got over late so president Richardson drove my district home cause we live a little far from the stake center. One of the other companionships had to stay with us because it was like their sectors City’s days there so they would have to fight through like a drunk mob to get to their house so president thought it would be better if they just stayed with us. It was pretty cool we made hash browns and a huge omlet Sunday morning. 

I was also able to see the Gallardos from my first ward so that was pretty cool their baby is talking a ton now it’s crazy how much a baby grows in a year.

The district party went good we had pizza and soda and icecream so everyone was pretty happy!

Well not to much happened this week the volcano is still dumping out ash and my comp goes home next week so ya next week should be interesting!

Love Elder Keyes 

I Killed someone and now have a Step-son

September 21

Elder Richey died (finished his mission) so I was staying with the zone leaders last night. and I was there when they received the changes and turns out that I am going to finish Elder Huaito´s training making him my step-son. he is from Peru and seems pretty cool he was in the country before so I’m sure he is going to pretty excited to eat some good food again.

This week we had a ton of meetings one of which being my comps final interview. but the members were all really nice and able to keep him positive about going home (he was really sad to leave). 

But the zone is pretty cool right now Elder Markham came to finish someones training as well so now this zone is pretty much filled with elders from my group. Also Elder Hagemeyer another elder from my group came to be our zone leader here so I’m really excited to see how this change works out for the zone! 

But ya nothing really happened this week love you all!

Elder Keyes 

Elder Richey & Quito Ward

Me & Elder Huaito

Lots of Contacting

September 28^th

this week because Elder Barnes was training we were able to have him in our house for a few days so that was cool. also my new comp (elder Huaito) even though he is new actually teaches really well and learns super-fast. 

We also found a new less active Miguel Angel, who was actually an active member when I first met him. I met him in my first sector we ate at his mother in laws house. sense that time he has passed through a ton of trials and long story short he is living with his mom in my current sector. You can really tell that he has gone through the repentance process. We were also able to start teaching his little brother when is way smart and has actually attended church a few times.

But other than that I got my hair cut today and ya that was about all that happened this week haha. 

Elder Keyes

Elder Soarez came

So this was pretty busy week we were able to have a multi mission conference with elder Soarez and also elder Urceda. so it was pretty cool to be with that many missionary's. Also Elder Soarez's wife spoke to us in portugués with a translator but we could almost understand every thing portugues is practically like Spanish pig latin its really similar it just sounds a little more frenchy. but she spoke on conversion and her husband basically tried to tackle every missionary subject there is in 2 hours so it was a lot to learn about. it was cool it basically all boiled down to diligence as being the most important thing as a missionary and also planing. but this meeting we super special because there hasnt been a general authority to visit us in almost a year and a half.

The volcano luckily hasnt gone off yet BUT it has been dumping out a ton of ash so im just glad we live far enough away that the ash doesn't affect us. the ward is also still freaking out about to have a food storage. I like being in this ward a lot though all the members are really cool and are church doesnt start super early like some in country. we got a new relief society president so we will see how our momitas change up now. 

 Sadly our baptism fell through but the girl that was going to get Baptized (jazmin) she now has approval from her dad so this week is definitely gunna be the week!! We also are going to have an activity for one of our families so that they can get married so that they can baptized. the members are really starting to help us out so the work is really going faster. 

Ya so that's about it for this week love you all 

Elder Keyes  

July 27th & Aug 3rd

The Garcia’s got married and baptized

This week was pretty crazy trying to prepare everything for the baptism and for the Garcia’s wedding. the Garcia’s were supposed to be baptized with their cousins the Adrandes but the night before their baptism Sister Andrade informed us that she forgot she had to work and that we would have to reschedule. luckily the Garcia’s were super pumped up for their baptism so they still pulled through.

The marriage was really cool Elder Bustillo (my Trainer) was able to go to the court house and see it as well because he is the person who found the Garcia family. That day we were also able to go to a bbq because our comp had a leader meeting with president and the elder who came with us is about to finish his mission. And was in this sector before so a family wanted to do something nice for him, it was awesome they made a ton of food.

The baptism went really well, president showed up to see the Andrade’s baptism it was kind of a bummer that they didn’t show up but he was happy to see the baptism. Also Elder Bustillo was able to baptize them. This family is awesome though Sunday night after they got confirmed they had already invited one of our investigators to have family night with them and to come eat at their house. 

But that was the highlight of our week love you all

-Elder Keyes

Old Friends

This week my comp had a pretty cool experience with finding a family. we also had a birthday party for one of our investigators. and we were able to help out  one of our investigators alot this week. we also ate pizza with the bishop.

Elder jaurez my comp from Honduras started his mission in Peru but Peru booted out all of the missionaries from Central America so about a year ago our mission received like 16 missionaries from Peru. And in Elder Jaurez´s first sector they found a family from the coast but after teaching them for a month the family moved to comite del pueblo (where we are now). so Elder Jaurez was super excited when he got moved to this sector  because he hoping to teach them or at least so them while he was here. And up until this week he had not seen them, we found them walking down the street. They were super excited to see him as well, we set up an appointment and we are now teaching them they are way cool they are from the coast. They just aren’t married so we are going to have to help them out with that.

Brother Andrande had his birthday this week and  it didn’t go so well mainly because everyone forgot but once we were reminded we were able to throw him a little party. the Bishop was able to come and talk to them after to try and strengthen their testimony a bit. 

We were visiting with one of our investigators this  week and the wife said that we needed to come back so that just her husband could talk to us. We did and with the problem that he presented to us for me we have to represent something special for a 45 year old man to ask 2 19 year old kids to help him solve this problem. Its crazy we are practically strangers to this family and after 3 short visits they trust with their biggest problems. We were able to set goals with them and assign a bunch a scripture for him to read. all I know is that the light of Christ exists in this church and people really can feel and see the difference this church brings.

Love Elder Keyes