English classes for whom?

McKellar, me, and Budge (Shane Hatch's nephew)

Yep the past year went by super fast. I cant imagine how fast this next one will go. I have loved it so far! On Friday we had a conference in Garden City all day long. So that was my fourth of July. But it was good. Got to spend it with Elder MCkellar

 

This week was pretty good, on Friday I was on exchanges in Hugoton Kansas. Its a super small town. But then I got sick on Saturday morning really bad. I got really cold, and shivery and had a huge headache, so I pretty much slept all Saturday and Sunday. Couldn't even go to church yesterday. And my whole body broke out into some sort of rash. I'm not sure what im sick from. But I still don't feel so good.
 
 But anyways a guy from Sudan called us and asked us to come over, so we went to his house, and we set up an English class for the Africans here in town too. So now we teach Arabic to Spanish to all these people from Africa. It is tons of fun. And an awesome way to introduce people to the gospel, because the people that come to a class like that are generally more humble people than you would find otherwise.  So now we are teaching five English classes a week. Tuesday and Thursday at 1PM And 7PM at the church. And then Thursday at 12PM at the fire station to all the firefighters. But the miracle of it all was that on Tuesday we set up the African English class, and on Wednesday we were walking down the street, and a black guy was yelling from behind us "my brothas". So it turns out he is a member that just barely moved here from Iowa. He has all these tribal scars on his face. Pretty cool guy. But if we can get him to the class and everything, we could be potentially teaching Africans the gospel. You would have never thought in Guymon Oklahoma.

The Seaboard -Guymon pork processing plant, located in the Oklahoma Panhandle, opened in 1995 and processes about 20,000 head of market hogs a day.

But apparently there are 28 different countries represented in the workers at the pig plant here(seaboard). And tons of different languages. Our apartments are mostly full of people from Africa.



Campo Chino-where the Chinese play soccer. feels like a third world country.

On July 5 we were in this town name Hooker Oklahoma, north of Guymon visiting a part member family. And it was funny, they celebrate the 4th on the 5th because there is only one guy certified to do the fireworks in the area, so on the fourth he is Guymon, and so IN hooker the day is completely changed to the 5th. Funny small towns.

 

 

I have really had to learn to understand Cubans here! don't know if you've ever spoken with one, but they are pretty difficult to understand, when I got here I didn't understand a word they said. But now I can understand them pretty good. There are a ton of Cubans here. And we teach some of them too. You can always tell they are home if their door is open. If it isn't they aren't home. And when you knock on a door, and the guy who answers it is shirtless then he is definitely Cuban. For some reason they just do not wear shirts. Not even kidding.  There is a less active member here who is Cuban as well.

Other than that everything is great! Pray that I Heal soon, my whole body aces. I feel pretty terrible

Beehiving and Dumpster Diving

Elder B. Keeper


This week was pretty good! I was on exchanges with my good friend Elder Garnett in Liberal for a day on Thursday. Cool to see some old people







What they do in the Midwest on Saturday afternoons




 

I found that I really like Mexican food much more that I do like any other food now. When i came on my mission I didn't really like the Mexican candies, but now I love them. The pulparindo candies with the chile powder on top.  I really don't like watermelon without polvo de chile on top. And all the lollypops have chile powder in them too. And my most favorite snack in the world is pepinos and limon. It just like cold cucumbers cut really thin , and then lime juice squeezed all over the top, and a little bit of salt. they are super good.

 

Yesterday after church we had a little potluck after church. And all the Mexican seesters cooked good food, arroz con leche, gorditas, enchiladas, and chicharrones. We had a lot of people at church, 20 more than normal so that was sweet.

 

Trailer park fun

But we had some cool miracles this week. We put up flyers all over the town in every Mexican store, for our English class. And we get several calls a day about the class, it has been really successful.

The Panhandle is super cool! Really hilly. Not at all like all my other areas.

Wow, that is hilly!
 

 Its pretty windy and hot right now. The people here are pretty much the same. Super good people. I think I realized how different the people are here when we were helping out with some service this week, we were helping with the grand opening of the fire station and the service opened with a prayer. I don't think that happens in Arizona? But it is really wierd to find someone that doesn't believe in God here. And its crazy how many churches are here. Not kidding on main street within half a mile there are 6 different churches, right next to each other Methodist, catholic, Lutheran, Nazarene, and a couple other Christian denominations.. You don't stand anywhere without seeing a church.

The view from our apartment on Highway 3

 

But we did some cool stuff this week. Like I said we helped out with the Fire station grand opening, that was pretty cool. The Fire chief here isn't a member, but he is like the best friend with the missionaries. He is always inviting us over for food and stuff.

 

 We are in tornado season, we get some huuuuge storms.

 

Tornado weather

We also got a check from "the community" for 100$ to fix our bikes (since they were robbed and then returned to us paitntd up and missing cranks)  That's the one thing about Guymon, everyone respects the missionaries a ton here. Some one gave us 20$ gift cards to Sonic the other day, just because. And whenever we go places seems like everyone is waving or honking at us, and we have no idea who they are. There are a lot of good people here.



Eveything is awosme. I really do love it out here. Its crazy my year mark has already come. On Friday Elder Garnett gave his dying testimony to the zone, he goes home in a couple of weeks. I realized how short this all really is. Too bad

OK is OK!

Here we are, the Liberal boys. Ibarra, Garnett, Malo, and myself

 

So I was expecting to be here in Liberal for at least 6 months. But I guess they changed their minds. I'm leaving Wednesday for Guymon, Oklahoma. the only area in Oklahoma. MY area is the entire panhandle.

 

Oklahoma panhandle is in a serious drought. The Grapes of Wrath, anyone?

 

 

 

 So it's pretty exciting. Its a really small branch that has some history.

 

The Branch President has been in his position for something like 30 years Because there is no one to take his position. It is pretty dysfunctional. Not at all like Liberal. Still a lot of Spanish.

But anyways one of the best missionaries in this mission, Elder De Leon served as assistant for like 6 transfers like 9 months. And For his last 4 transfers they put him down as training district Leader. So They sent him to Guymon, to see if he could help the struggling branch. for his last 4 transfers. He had been there for 2 and they decided to pull him and put him in an almost shut down Spanish branch in Wichita. So they are sending me out there. I'm pretty excited but really nervous. It is a huge responsibility. Still district leader.

 

 

 

I'm with Elder Blaylock, my first Utah companion. He's white too. But my Spanish is pretty good, I'm not worried anymore.

 

But I need a lot of prayers so that I can find out how to work with the people in Guymon. I find that every missionary has their niche or way of working, I really feel that in Guymon I will find mine. but I need a lot of strength from de Lord.

 

 

 visiting the Oklahoma temple

 

I'm still in the same zone, just 40 minutes south of Liberal not far at all. So I will still participate and work in the soccer tournament in July, and will come up to referee. Bishop here might be kinda mad. He didn't want anyone transferred because he needs us here for the tournament. But I guess I'm not that far.

 

Mark McKellar got transferred to Garden City, as a ZL. MY ZL's are still Garnett and Ibarra. I like them a lot ,Garnett is my really good friend from SC remember?, and he served in Guymon for 9 months of his mission, so that's good to have someone experienced.

April 28

April 28

 

This week was really good. I was thinking that there were probably some tornadoes somewhere in Kansas. It was super super windy yesterday, and very, very dusty. Too much for me to handle on foot. We got dust all in our mouths. But it was okay, most everyone let us in. Yea maybe I will see one soon. It makes sense that there would be a lot of tornadoes here. The weather changes every single day. If the wind is going north it is a warm day. If it is going south it is a cold day. And it changes at least once or twice a week. I guess when the two winds meet in a low pressure system that's where tornados happen.

 

We had dinner with the Bishop last night. And we were talking about the next big ward/missionary activity. And I thought of the idea of a soccer tournament. So in June we will be holding the S.U.D Liberal Cup. Or LDS Liberal cup in English. There will be 68 teams of 3. there will just be 3v3 tournaments! its going to be awesome. You should see how big soccer is out here. Every field has soccer goals all over the place. Its much bigger than any of the other sports. The population is like 80% Hispanic so that only makes sense. But its going to be a sweet activity! I really think that were going to have more people there than we know what to do with. We are going to charge 20 bucks a team, and then Bishop is going to use his monster grill, and we are going to cook food for everyone that comes.

 

 

Transfers were today. Me and Elder Malo are staying! The only one sister in my district is changing so that's good. Bu there were some big mission changes. I remember my friends Elder Neeley and Stopper? Elder stopper was in a trio companionship with me and Elder Gomez in Garden City when Elder Neeley got called to be Assistant. But anyways, Elder Stopper is now the Assistant, And Elder Neeley is a District leader in my zone. So that's really cool.

I'm in the back, next to my Chilanglo companion
 

 

 

Our Zone only has three districts, and two of the three district leaders are previous Assistants. Makes me feel like a little guy being on conference calls with those guys. But the zone leaders are in my district, and Elder Garnett just got transferred out to be in my district! He was the good friend of mine, that was my companion in Arkansas city when I was there for two weeks during Christmas time. So that's super cool to be serving in the same ward with him again, before he goes home at the end of July.

 

 And Elder Budge got sent to Garden City. So we're neighbors! There were no Spanish elders coming into the mission this transfer. So I was expecting to train again but no one even came. But I like Elder Malo a lot so I'm glad to be here with him!

 

 

 

I know its been 3 months since my last baptism. Its time to have another. I'm positive we will have a couple this transfer. Our investigator Carlos is doing super good. He will get baptized pretty soon here in a few weeks I'm sure. And he will be an awesome addition to the ward. He is really smart, and everyone knows him. And he was a Catholic priest for a long time here. So It will have a lot of merit when he is baptized. He came to another baptismal service we had on Saturday. The zone leaders baptized a lady named Maria Isabel. And he really liked the service.

 

We got a free tour through the Masonic lodge here in liberal.

 

We have a super cool investigator named Jimmy Johnson. He is pretty high up in masonry. But anyways the first 13 presidents and first 6 prophets of this dispensation were masons. It is a Fraternity.  I learned a lot from getting into the lodge. Their ordinances are almost the same as what we do in the temple. The masons were the people that built all of the old temples in the old testament, and so they know all the ordinances of the ancient temples. And so when the great apostasy came, those ordinances were kept on the earth through the free masons.  Its pretty cool.

  

 

Me and Elder Malo have been reading the new testament in Spanish for language study, and we just got through Luke. So I think we will be able to finish it this transfer and start the book of Mormon.

 

We started teaching this guy from Cuba and I hardly understand what he says. They speak so fast and so slurred. I'm sure that's how Brother Rojas speaks his Spanish. But he's a cool guy.

 

but this week went really well. This transfer is going to be a lot of fun with Elder Garnett around. His companion is from Spain, Elder Ibarra. And is super good at soccer. So we are going to have tons of fun. West Kansas has got to be one of the ugliest places in the mission. But one of the most fun, and best to serve in.

Conference means BBQ--Kansas style

 

 

 

Conference was awesome! It always is! I loved a lot of the talks and I need to listen to them all again!

 

I really liked Bednar's talk, about having a load. He touched up on upon a few of the same things that he did when he spoke to us a few weeks ago. He spoke a little about objects and agents. I thought it was really good. I also really liked a few talks form the priesthood session. But I really can't remember all the talks. I took notes but forgot to bring them to the library. But there were a lot of good talks. I just need to look through them all again.

 

 So last Monday we found an investigator....from Yugoslavia! We knocked on his door, and he had an accent but did not look Hispanic, so we asked him where he was from and he said Yugoslavia, and when I told him my dad had lived there and spoke Serbo-Croation, he invited us in. He was disappointed to hear that Dad didn't live here in Liberal. He said he hasn't found anyone yet that speaks Serbo-Croation here in Kansas. He and his wife have lived in the U.S. for 15 years or something, so his English is pretty good. But we have a book of Mormon that we are going to take back to him tonight, so I need to know ASAP what towns dad served his mission in! So I can tell him. his name is Cole, and he's like 40 years old.  

 

So before the conference on Saturday night for the priesthood we had a big steak fry. Bishop has the biggest grill you've ever seen. He welded it out of a old mild processing machine. They throw like 30 steaks on at a time. They take their grilling/smoking serious out here in Western Kansas.

 

Last P day the whole zone came down and we played a huge soccer game. Soccer is huge here. It is what everyone does. The weather is super nice, an the trees just started to get green so every park in the evening is just packed full of everyone playing soccer. All the Guatemalans play together and play and speak Ciche. And there is a team of Puros Argentines here too. They have huge tournaments apparently during the summer. It sounds like a ton of fun!

 

 

 

 

This last week we had dinner with the Bishop  Davis'. son.  It was cool, he knows everyone in our ward and the area super well, and he graduated from my same high school! Crazy that he grew up around the corner from me.

 

 

 

 

 

If you don't like the weather......

 

 

 

 Tornado season is here! and we are in what's called Tornado Alley! Maybe we will see one. Its cool, you can feel all the cold air from the north, and all the warm air from the south. One day it will be in the 80's with the wind northward, and the next day there is ice on the windows and it is in the 40s with the wind coming south. Liberal is 40 miles of what is considered the exact midpoint geographically of the U.S. IT takes the same exact time in a car to go to san Francisco and New York where we are right now. Pretty cool.

 

IT was 90 degrees on Saturday, today it snowed. there is s saying in Kansas "if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes". And the weather really does change that fast. But looking forward to tornados.

 

This week out here was awesome. So me and elder Malo said that we were really going to try to talk to everyone this week. No matter what they were doing we would not come back to the apartment unless we had found 5 new investigators every single day. We didn't see the blessings until Saturday. So in Liberal there are a bunch of ice cream men. But they don't drive trucks. they have these little hand bush carts with bells tied around their necks. Looks like Mexico. But they just walk all over the place in the afternoons, and we always buy ice cream. So we met one of the guys named Juan Morales from Guatemala, and we got his address but it was a bad address. But it was weird, we just kept running back into him throughout the week, until we finally found out where he lived. but he wasn't even home when we went but the other guy he lives with was. The other guys name is Carlos De Leon, from Guatemala as well. But anyways we taught him about the Restoration, and he accepted to be baptized. He is the most prepared person I've seen! He clicked with everything we said. He's a really smart guy.

 

But anyways we were mentioning to a member Sunday morning that we had an investigator named Carlos de Leon, and they could hardly believe us. So it turns out Carlos is a High priest in the Catholic church, and super well known amongst the whole community, especially the Latinos. Even all the white people know him because he has been the greeter at Walmart (the only grocery store) for 20 years. When he came to church yesterday, everyone already knew him. He doesn't speak much English, but even all the white members knew him. And all the Spanish converts that used to be catholic were just it awe, because their catholic priest was at church. We had no idea that so many people knew him! But it is awesome because he will be key in bringing many others into the church for the Spanish community if he continues on his own road to baptism. He's a super cool guy.

 

As district leader I have to go on exchanges with every elder in the district at least once every transfer. On Tuesday I went to mead Kansas, with Elder Stanford, and we had an awesome day! We put 5 different people on baptismal date in one day. It was sweet. I actually met elder Stanford at EFY that one year we went. We played soccer together in the gym, everyday. So the district is all doing super well. We have 11 people progressing to baptism, and the standard for the mission is 4. I love Liberal!

Helados...ice cream.. and soccer

Jack told me about his mission call to Argentina!!! You can't even imagine how happy that all makes me. That's such a cool place to go. I've met a few Argentines here in Kansas and some of them talk real funny. They talk with kind of an Italian accent. And they don't say "tu" they say "vos". They always say, " me tienes podrido" o "me tienes voludo" I don't even know what that means. But they are fun to talk to. Why don't you talk that? did you used to? That's so cool. That we will be able to speak Spanish together!

 

Liberal really is the biggest place to be. It is not super different than Mexico down here. Almost all the people are Hispanic. The Mexican ice cream men even don't have cars. They push around these coolers on three wheels, with Mexican ice cream inside. We always stop to buy some too. Many are now our investigators. A lot of Mexicans, and a lot of Guatemalans, and a lot of semolina to surprisingly.



But the Somalians kind of scare me. Don't know why. Their culture is so much different. I cant even compare. But its cool because we need special permission from the president to teach a Muslim. 

 

 The bishop is honestly one of the greatest. Actually president told me he is the best in the mission. So the ward is super friendly and nice. The  Davis' are really cool. They feed us every week. Bro Davis looks a lot like...The other brother (bishop)Davis.

 

I would not mind staying here for a good portion of my mission. And I think I probably will. The bishop likes a minimum of 6 months and he is in close contact with President Bell.

 

But this week was cool. We really have seen some cool things in the area. We found a load of new investigators this week. Everyone is outside playing something it seems. There are just too many people to talk to.

 

This week  I got to really understand what it means to be anxiously engaged in the work. Now I really feel anxious about everything we do. I find myself constantly thinking about how we are going to reach our goals, and how we are going to better the ward and area. Next Monday will be 9 months! pretty quick. I will get back almost exactly a year into Jack's mission.



My companion is super cool. really good missionary. And everyone likes him because he is Chilango, even though he has been in the USA most of his life.

 

My Spanish is coming a lot good now too. Sometimes when I'm talking English I will say something in Spanish just because I can describe it in Spanish better than I can describe it in English.

Like "asi es" or "para cara uno",  meaning like each person. But I just don't know what to say in English.

 

On Saturday and Sunday it seems like everyone is outside barbecuing, and cooking carne asada. Today we are going to this sweet Mexican place called Gorditas 2 go! Best gorditas in town. And we mostly do all our grocery shopping at the Carneceria. I can hardly eat store tortillas any more. Fresh ones are so much better, and I think that pan dulce is better than donuts.