Hello family!!! This week has been a crazy week!! I have loved it so much!!! First, I'll explain the rabies part of the subject. We were tracting this past week and there was a couple walking their dogs. Since I love animals, I ALWAYS talk to people with animals because it is a great way to start a conversation. So, we stopped to talk to this couple and I asked them if I could pet their dogs. They said, "Oh yeah! Sure!" So I bent down to pet the dog and the dog sniffed my hand and wagged his tail a little bit. So I figured it was okay to pet him. No. It most definitely was not. The darn dog BIT ME!!! and then the guy says, "Oh sorry. He's a bit testy." I'm sorry. You couldn't have told me that BEFORE I pet him? Or BEFORE he bit me? Haha. The saddest part of the story is that they walked away before we could even talk to them about the gospel. I told Sister Carlin that if I started foaming at the mouth that she knew why. I guess you can't come home from a mission without being bit by a dog. haha. :)

Now on to faith. We had a HUGE test of our faith this week. Last week, we stopped by to see one of our investigators (who is 27 by the way) and her father opened the door and very boldly told us that they were a Christian home and they didn't believe in anything "us Mormons" did and to NEVER come back again. that was a HUGE bummer. I for sure felt a little bit of Godly sorrow that night. Anyway, last Thursday we had an appointment with her and we couldn't get a hold of her. And we didn't feel that we should go see our back-up, and we were fresh OUT of miles. We were kind of lost. So we prayed. And as we prayed I got the feeling that we needed to do what we had planned. Sister Carlin got up and started walking to the car because she was going nuts because we had been inside for like 30 minutes. When we got to the car I told her what I had felt. She looked at me and said, "Are you sure?" I said yes and we went on our way. Shaking the entire car ride there. How were we going to knock on the door when he CLEARLY didn't want anything to do with us, ever? When we got there we prayed and sat scared in the car for like 5 minutes. Finally, we got out of the car, walked up to the door, took a deep breath, and knocked. It was probably the longest 15 seconds of my life. Guess what? NO ONE WAS HOME. But now we were determined to find the person on that street that we were sent there for. We knocked every house on that street and the last house on the street was who we were sent there for. A lady about 90 years old opened the door and I think she had Johnny Cash BLASTING in the background. We could barely hear what she was saying because the music was so loud. She invited us right in and started talking to us. We found out that she served in the Navy and did lots of other cool things. However, She had fallen a few months ago and hit her head on one of those parking curb things and had something like short-term memory loss. It was really sad. She kept thinking that we were boy scouts collecting clothes because it was Christmas time. But she was our miracle that day. I learned so much from that. I didn't realize how much faith I actually had until the Lord asked me to do something that I knew I couldn't do by myself. That is why our faith is tried sometimes, so that we can realize how much we actually trust in the Lord. It was an amazing experience!

Now for another funny story. I mentioned last week that every Sunday we go to this older couple's home and they feed us ice cream, right? Well, last night was SO FUNNY! It's his birthday this Thursday so Sister Powell asked us how old we thought he was going to be. I guessed 75 and Sister Carlin guessed 76. That is not how old he is turning. He is going to be 85!!! This man is amazing! He works at the temple, gardens, walks fine, and he even still works on the roof! At 85! How crazy right?! Well Sister Powell said, "I never wanted to look older than my husband, but I'm afraid I already do." This started the funniest exchange between them I have ever heard! He said, "Well your hair is certainly whiter than mine." She said, "At least I have more hair than you." His face was PRICELESS when she said that! He gasped and said, "You didn't have to go there!" It was soooo funny!!! I love them so much!! I will definitely be visiting them even after my mission! I have learned so much from them!

I love being on a mission. I have never been happier before! Doing the Lord's work is the greatest thing. I love having my faith tried and realizing that the Lord really does have control. I love realizing how much the gospel really means to myself, and to others. I hope that you all can realize that in your lives as well. The gospel isn't just about making us happy in this life. It concerns our ETERNAL SALVATION. We can't afford to mess around with something so important! If we want to be in a state of eternal happiness, we know what we need to do! That is why our Savior, Jesus Christ, came to this Earth-so that we could be saved and be escorted into the Celestial Kingdom by Him who made our Salvation possible. I know that if we rely on Him, we will be eternally happy. I know that there is never a point of no return-we can ALWAYS choose to change.
I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

Love,
Sister Keele