Elder Keddington Oct. 24, 2011 Letter

October 24, 2011 Letter from Elder Keddington

Hello Family and Friends!

1) Trunky(Trun-kee): Defined as a missionary who is sick of his mission and ready to come home, derived from "living out of his trunk." ex. "Elder Whiting, Dude you are so trunky!"

Don't worry! I am NOT trunky! I try very hard not to be. But that is a new word that I've learned out on the mish. and was able to witness this week as I "killed off" (sent home) my first missionary. So in a way I was "born"(my first area) in Maple Street. And boy was it rough being around an Elder who was Trunky. All he would talk about was girls, cars, hunting and home. He didn't care what he did and it didn't matter what he was thinking. And it begins to rub off on a missionary who is fresh and missing home. But I moved forward and he is gone. I am here and ready to work hard.

TRANSFERS!! I found out this morning I'm getting transfered!!! ...... But they told me not to pack my bags... yet. So I'm staying put for the time being. My Companion was promoted from District Leader to Zone leader and they usually pair the Zone leaders up so I will most likely be getting a new companion. Either way its a huge mess and I have no idea what is going and I just want to work and avoid all the drama. I'm shocked at how much DRAMA is involved with missionary work. Who is going where? They're going who? When is the who? Its all just a big mess! Anywho. I'll let you know as soon as I can if my address changes but you can always mail me at....

Elder Keddington

905 Kierre Drive

N. Little Rock, AR 72116

It will always find me. :)

I will start attending a REAL ward this week in a REAL church building which is a relief and I look forward to it. But it was sad to see the members of my unit(which is smaller than a branch that is still attached to the ward. They just meet at a different time in a different building..) get released and see all the hard ward go down the drain. But It'll be good to have members that are ready and waiting to be supportive! I hope you're all doing well! I am loving this work more than I thought possible and I keep you in my prayers constantly. :) I Love You all. I'll see you all very soon!

All is Well!!

Elder Keddington

May Awesome District

Me and the VERY TRUNKY Elder Whiting

My 2nd favoarite tie. Thank You Elder Boice.

Engagement Photos!

Engagement photos are in.  What a beautiful, happy couple! I think I can speak for our entire family when I say we are so happy that Andrew has found such a sweet, intelligent and beautiful young woman.  She is everything we'd hoped for him and we're all so excited for both of of them!  Looking forward to seeing you both at the wedding in less than 2 months!

October 17, 2011 Letter from Elder Keddington

Hello Family and Friends!!

 

All is well in the Mission Field! Work is becoming much easier with the weather FINALLY cooling down! It still gets to about 80 degrees but its becoming easier. Yay!

My companionship has become a temparary 3-some. Elder Schroeder is leaving us to go to a new area on Thursday. He was out on his mission for 4 months and then needed knee surgery. He has just come back. Good kid. He could use to teaching lessons though.. Haha.

 

Miracle of the week! Easily one of the sweetest ladies I know. Rebecca Morris. Rebecca is a survivor of breast cancer and has cancer in her bones as well. She is currently going through a heavy treatment of radiation. 5 days a week. Her Husband, Michael, and her 5 Yorkies keep her strong. But Elder Peay and I had a wonderful chance to teach her the Plan of Salvation and they LOVED it! They told us it all makes sense and that they never really knew what happened to the other people that never knew Christ. Later on the week before Rebecca began radiation we asked her if she would like to recieve a blessing. She accepted!! Such an AMAZING Teaching Oppurtunity! We taught her about the priesthood and the priesthood blessing. (James 5:14) and began to give her the blessing. Elder Peay Anointed. I sealed it. In the blessing I felt a the impression to tell her that what she will be going through will be a small moment and that she will be made whole through her faith! I was so sure the blessing would work!!

Yesterday Rebecca was at church. She came to ALL 3 hours. And loved it. She has so many questions and has been reading the Book of Mormon steadily. She has CANCER and she came to church. This work truly is of the Lord. There is no doubt in my mind about that.

 

I Love You all! I hope that all is well with you and everyone! I would love to hear from all of you! I Miss you all and I'll see you all very soon!

 

Love

 

Elder Keddington

October 10, 2011 Letter From Elder Keddington

Hello Family and Friends!!

I'm REALLY short on time so this will have to be a quick one. All is well and I have an awesome story to share with you about Christina. :)

Christina is a single Mom with 2 kids that we taught an awesome lesson with some members on wednesday night. I was really nervous about it but I feel it went successful. We stopped by on Thursday to see how she was doing. No answer. Friday. No Answer. Saturday. No Answer. Sunday. She wasn't at church like she promised. We hadn't seen her in 4 days and I was beginning to think we had scared her away.. We walked past Christina's and she was outside with her 2 kids playing. I began to get excited when I saw her reading a book. We get a little closer and she isn't reading just any book, but the Book of Mormon and she was already in Alma 17!! She loves the Book of Mormon!! In 4 days she read half the Book of Mormon! Talk about an amazing miracle!

I love this work because I get to see miracles like that every day! Its pretty amazing how the Lord blesses us each day. I miss you all! And I'll see you all very soon!

Love

Elder Keddington

Hidden Mickey!

Elder Peay trying to get into the dryer...

He did it!!!

October 3, 2011 Letter from Elder Keddington

Friends and Family,

Hello! All is well!! This week has been rather uneventful. Except conference! Which was amazing! For those that might be curious, my favorite talks were by Elder Holland, President Eyring, and President Monson. All of them in the priesthood session. So. Mom and Sisters. You're going to have to read them when they come to the Ensign. Haha. It was cool though. We didn't go to a member's home but we had all 5 sessions in the church building. All the members dressed up like they were going to church and watched conference as a ward! It was awesome! They had Pot luck between both sessions and a set of missionaries decided to treat everyone to deep fried twinkies. They were a huge hit. I remember thinking Sunday morning session about how amazing this Gospel is and how true it is. There were quite a few investigators there and most of the talks were about how our church is different from others and how our church is true! It was quite an amazing experience!

I had a funny experience out tracking a few days ago. We ran into these 2 men who were talking and we contacted them. They asked,

"What Church are you from?"

We replied, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

He laughed and said," Thats a mouth full. How old do you think I am?"

We laughed and guessed mid 30's when he is CLEARLY in his 60's.

He replied, "I'm 62! What can you POSSIBLY teach me about Jesus Christ that I don't already know?"

Elder Peay then replied, "Did you know Jesus Christ came to the American Continent?"

Silence... "How old are you??"

Haha. He wasn't interested in listening to us but it was still a funny experience. Anywho. I Love and miss you all! I forgot my camera so no pics this week. But The Church is true and I'll see you all very soon!

Love

Elder Keddington

My New Ride

Well, my little Maxima was getting tired.  After having it looked at and getting the bad news that we'd need over $2000 worth of repairs done, we decided that now was the time to move on.  Besides, a real estate agent needs leather right?  So....good bye to my pretty little white Maxima...

Good bye little Maxima...you've been an awesome car!

Hello to my new little black Altima!

Hellooooo shiny black car with blonde leather!!

Oh yeah!

We put the first 300 miles on this little beauty driving to San Antonio to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary.  Wouldn't you know it, it actually RAINED while we were in San Antonio.  Of course they didn't get a drop in Round Rock while we were gone.

When we arrived home after a couple of days of R&R we took the the new wheels over to get the grand kids' approval.

I don't think there was a single button that wasn't pushed.  After a thorough going over, I think we got the big thumbs up!