November 28, 2011 Letter from Elder Keddington

Hello Friends and Family!

 

All is well! Or should I say All is WET!! Its been raining here for the past week! Its been the Wettest Novemeber on Record in Arkansas! Luckily I have a Car and a companion who doens't like walking. So. We stay dry pretty often. Which I'm not a huge fan of. You're supposed to get down and dirty on your mission! Oh well. I'm sure it makes my Mom happy.

 

This week has been bittersweet. Thanksgiving was great! I had SO much food! I still feel fat and our fridge is STILL chuck full of food! The Members love us down here! And They certainly know how to cook. Not quite Mom's cooking. But its still pretty dang good. But then I again I missed the family and friends. We had a Turkey Bowl and it was a blast! My Companion is a huge Football Buff and is actually going to play for BYU when he gets back. And then go on to play Pro Baseball. But Anywho. I liked being on his team. :)

 

I had a cool experience on Saturday. I met this investigator Robin. And She likes having us come over and visit for 5 minutes or so but whenever we try and teach her she is ALWAYS giving us an excuse! My Aunt is in the Hospital. My Grandma is in the Hospital. My Daughter is in the Hospital. My Uncle Died. Just excuse after excuse. Needless to say. I stopped going over there so often. I actually vowed I wouldn't go back there because she is just wasting our time. But As week we a good 5 minutes drive away from Robin's house and we were going to an Appointment I had a feeling we should go see Robin. I thought it was interesting. So we drove by and knocked on the Door. She answered and gave her usual excuse. My Husband had a stroke! I thought, "oh thats a new one." But after standing at the door her Husband comes to the door and is speaking jibberish and isn't walking right. Within minutes she is broken down crying begging us to fix him. Of course we did the only thing we knew we could do. We gave him a blessing. It was amazing the Spirit that was in that home and to see the hope and joy light up her eyes after the blessing was over. I was just grateful that I was able to be a tool in the Lord's hands. The Spirit is real and we can all be tools if we allow ourselves to follow His will. It was a wonderful Experience!

 

Anywho. The Church is true! I Love You all and I can't wait to see you! Christmas is coming soon! I can't wait! I'll see you all soon!

 

Love

 

Elder Keddington

Its hard to see... But these signs are TINY!

One of my favorite Dinners. :)

Sarra this one is for you. In memory of our 2 o clock runs to the store. :) They are only $1.50 here!!

November 14, 2011 Letter from Elder Keddington

Dear Family and Friends!!

Another week has FLOWN by! I really just can't believe it! The work has been going SO well! My new companion and I seemed to be.. off.. for the first week. We had different teaching styles and we disagreed on a lot of things. But. Thanks to the Spirit and thanks to a lot of prayer we're getting along great and we're really moving the work forward here in Otter Creek. Its been a fast moving week.

Funny Story. We had an investigator, Don, who is working on rebuilding his house. We offered to help him and invited him to Dinner at a member's home. We can't drive investigators. So he told us he would drive. We punched in the address on his GPS and we left. This was about 1 o clock in the afternoon and Dinner was at 5. We get to the dinner appointment at 5 and Don isn't there yet. 5:15. Still no Don. 5:30. Still no Don. We get a phone call from Don at about 5:40 and he is panicked and angry at us because his GPS lead him to Bryant(A 30 minute drive from his house.) Hahaha. It was so funny because he was SO angry at US because he couldn't use his GPS. Needless to say... We're bringing him Chili on Tuesday to apologize. Haha.

These past 6 weeks I've been teaching a sweet older lady, Brenda. She is awesome! Loves Music and singing! She has been involved with her church for over 18 years! Plus, she has some SERIOUS responsiblities in her church. Like if her and another person isn't there. Their church service most likely won't take place. Needless to say she is very important. But we've been teaching her quite a bit about our church. :) She knows the Book of Mormon is true and the importance of it. We had one of the most spiritual lessons I've had so far on my mission teaching the Plan of Salvation. We found out her Husband had passed away a few years back and she has always wondered what had happened to him. She admitted to us that she believes everything we've taught her and we invited her to be baptized. She Accepted. :) Then I bore testimony of the Plan of Salvation and the joys baptism will bring to her and her family. The last time I felt the Spirit THAT strong was in the MTC surrounded by Hundreds of missionaries singing Come Come Ye Saints. :) The Spirit was so strong there I could FEEL a difference when we stepped out of that room. Such an amazing experience. She is committing to come to church with us and we'll be talking about her leaving her church shortly. Only the Lord will be able to have that happen.

I am glad to know that all of you are doing so well! I miss you all! And I'll see you all very soon!

Love

Elder Keddington

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November 7 2011 Letter from Elder Keddington

What a great letter!  Happy Birthday to his proud and awesome Mom!

Hello Family and Friends!!

 

All is well! This week has been awesome!! I'm still in Otter Creek and I've sent off my first companion. It was tough seeing him go. I go REALLY close to him. But I'll see him again soon and I hear rumors he is already dating a girl pretty seriously. :) Haha. But my new companion is awesome! He's from Hawaii and then moved to Alpine, Utah. He is a HUGE Athlete. He turned down being drafted by the Kansas City Royals to come out here on his mission. He has a chance to play PRO Baseball and turned it down. He had a $250,000 signing bonus!! He turned it down. That just goes to show you how AWESOME my companion is. I Love Him!!

 

We've been teaching a man named Geoff, He is an atheist and he likes speaking theology and discussing the proof of God. It has been wonderful teaching him because he asks a lot of soul searching questions. At times he likes to prove that there isn't a God and he made an interesting point that I couldn't argue without bringing up faith. (We had brought up faith before and he isn't a huge fan of faith. He calls it the F word. Haha.) But I just opened my mouth and things just started flowing out and I had no idea what point I was trying to make but the Spirit began to work and made a huge point on how God doesn't reveal everything to us at once that is line upon line and precept upon precept. It opened his eyes a little bit and I believe we're making real progress with him. I felt the Spirit was there when we left. But then back at the apartment, D&C 100:5-8 popped into my head and I just FREAKED out! I wasn't "confounded before men" and he gave me what I needed to say in "The very moment" I needed it! I was a HUGE Testimony builder to me! This work is real! This work is TRUE!

 

We've also been teaching Rebecca and Michael. Rebecca has cancer and Michael is quite possibly the most AMAZING Guitar player ever. He reminds me a lot of Dad. :) But I LOVE Both these people SO much and they're SO friendly! We finally got a chance to talk about religion and they're SO interested in what we have to share. I'm excited to be able to meet with them soon. 

 

This Family of 14 will probably be taught this week. I'm working very closely with the Bishop. I talked to him and he said, "They're dry. But they're ready." The Lord blesses us for our hard work and I am seeing it pay off with me and my new companion, Elder Hannemann. But I am grateful for all of you! For your friendship and love! I miss you all and I'll see you all very soon!!

 

Love

 

Elder Keddington 

 

sorry...no pictures today

The Dans Wild Wedding!

I'm sure most of you know by now that our sweet little Dani is now married to a Wild named Daniel.  The Wedding day could not have been more perfect--coolish temperatures, blue skies, fall colors still on the trees and a glowing, beautiful bride and handsome groom.  All who were present recognized what a glorious occasion this was and what a miracle it truly was that these two people, so perfect for each other had found one another.  Dani has married into a wonderful family and I know they and Dan will be taking very good care of her while she is so far away from us.

Dan and Dani, we are so happy for both of you and know you are going to have an amazing life together!  We love you!

Enjoy the photos. I'll post the really good ones when they are made available.