Hola Familia,
Yo decidi (perdon pero yo no puedo poner los accentos) a escribir todos mis emails en Espanol. Entonces si quieren entender lo que you escribo, tiene que aprender el Espanol.
Okay, so I guess I better write my email in English this time. I am sure you are all waiting with baited breath to know where I got transfered to. I am serving in a little town in North Georgia called Dahlonega. It is actually a very historic place. It was the site of the first major gold rush in the United States and the birth place of the phrase "thar's gold in them thar hills" (seriously) It is a lot different than my last area. I have always been in the city, now everything is very spread out. We determined that our area is about 600 square miles. We cover half of the Sugar Hills Georgia Stake. I also found out that the Sharon Springs ward where Joel and Linda Hiatt live is covered by my new area. It is exciting (and a little bit disorienting) to finally be in a new area.
My new companion is Elder Braydon Muffins, I mean Uffens. No it really is Uffens. He always jokes around about opening a bakery called Uffens Muffins. He is from Centerville Utah and I think is one of my favorite companions so far. I am really excited to be working in this area. There seem to be many great people here. I have actually been on bike a little bit here. We share our car with two English Elders here so we don't always have a car to drive. I have discovered that I am not in very good shape. We have been running every morning too, and sometimes I am very tired. Georgia most certainly is not flat. In this area they even have "mountains" ( more like the Boise foothils). We have done some pretty tough rides lately.
You guys should look up stuff about Dahlonega on Wikipedia or something so you can kind of see where I am serving. North Georgia College is in Dahlonega. It is a pretty big millitary school. There are a lot of kids in ROTC. We were at Walmart today and there were a lot of army kids in there. We actually met a returned missionary there that is about to finish school.
Wow I am really surprised to hear that Kent and Marshiela are moving to Nampa. Have they been wanting to do that for a while? I had not even heard about that yet. It will be really cool to have some more Banners at Skyview high school. Tell Ryan to get used to having teachers ask him if he is related to us. Also tell Ryan congrats on getting his Eagle Scout. That will be a really good thing, especially on a mission. Members are always asking if we got our Eagles becuase they want us to be good examples for their kids. (Oh also, tell Ryan that if he doesn't write me soon I am going to beat him up when I get back).
Kudos to Marcie for having a friend a church!!! That is awesome! You have no idea how much it helps missionary work when members get involved. It would be imposible for the missionaries to share the gospel with everyone alone. I am very proud of you. It sounds like Angie and Ben made it to Idaho Falls alright. I am really happy that they are still close to home, and also to Rexburg.
Well I guess I better wrap this letter up.
I love you all,
Keith (Elder Banner)
Monday, August 9, 2010
August 2, 2010
Well first of all I am getting transferred. I will miss John's Creek a lot. There are so many cool people here. I don't know exactly where I will be going but I am sure I will love my new area and companion.
This week was a pretty good week. We found someone really cool on Saturday. Her name is Isabel. She seems really interested in our message. She has four little daughters too (I think the oldest is about 10) I gave them stickers that said "Soy una hija de Dios" or "I am a daughter of God" They were all excited and they went up to their mom and were showing the stickers to her and asking her questions about stuff we had given her. One of the daughters asked her what the Book of Mormon was and she answered by saying it was a book she was going to study all week. That was pretty exciting.
Another cool thing that we found out about last week is that John Schmidt is coming to the John's Creek ward for a fireside. He is a famous pianist. I don't know if you guys remember the video that I showed you with the combination of the song Viva la Vida by Coldplay and Love Story by Taylor Swift. It was a really cool piece of music and it will be a great opportunity for missionary work. Unfortunately I will be missing that since I will be in a different area.
I have learned so much in this area and it has been awesome to see how I have changed and how other missionaries have changed. It will be really cool to get to see another area because all of my areas have been right next to eachother. I hope that I will be in a branch again because being in a translation unit can be very exhausting.
Love, Keith (Elder Banner)
This week was a pretty good week. We found someone really cool on Saturday. Her name is Isabel. She seems really interested in our message. She has four little daughters too (I think the oldest is about 10) I gave them stickers that said "Soy una hija de Dios" or "I am a daughter of God" They were all excited and they went up to their mom and were showing the stickers to her and asking her questions about stuff we had given her. One of the daughters asked her what the Book of Mormon was and she answered by saying it was a book she was going to study all week. That was pretty exciting.
Another cool thing that we found out about last week is that John Schmidt is coming to the John's Creek ward for a fireside. He is a famous pianist. I don't know if you guys remember the video that I showed you with the combination of the song Viva la Vida by Coldplay and Love Story by Taylor Swift. It was a really cool piece of music and it will be a great opportunity for missionary work. Unfortunately I will be missing that since I will be in a different area.
I have learned so much in this area and it has been awesome to see how I have changed and how other missionaries have changed. It will be really cool to get to see another area because all of my areas have been right next to eachother. I hope that I will be in a branch again because being in a translation unit can be very exhausting.
Love, Keith (Elder Banner)
July 26, 2010
We have had an amazing week. The Lord has really seen fit to bless us in this time. For reasons that I do not fully understand many of the members that we had had challenges getting to trust and support us have really begun to support and trust us. We had two members at church yesterday tell us they had people they wanted us to work with.
We found a family of seven on Saturday that are all of baptismal age. One of our investigators also had a baby on Thursday and she will now be able to come to church. Before she was on bed rest a lot of the time. I think that she will be baptized soon.
We are also planning more activities to get members involved in missionary work and also to reactivate less-actives. We have found two less-actives this week and the English Elders have also found a less-active member this week.
I am really enjoying my mission and I hope that we can continue to find success. We have been so blessed. I have met some really cool people.
I love you all and I am sorry that I didn't get to write a longer email today.
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
We found a family of seven on Saturday that are all of baptismal age. One of our investigators also had a baby on Thursday and she will now be able to come to church. Before she was on bed rest a lot of the time. I think that she will be baptized soon.
We are also planning more activities to get members involved in missionary work and also to reactivate less-actives. We have found two less-actives this week and the English Elders have also found a less-active member this week.
I am really enjoying my mission and I hope that we can continue to find success. We have been so blessed. I have met some really cool people.
I love you all and I am sorry that I didn't get to write a longer email today.
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
July 19, 2010
We have had a good week this week. I feel like we are getting back on our feet as a Spanish only area again. Our investigator pool is finally getting full and we are starting to sift through and get to the point where we can spend our time on those who really have interest in the message we bring. We have one family that will be having a baby this week, and they have promised us that as soon as she is back on her feet after having the baby she will come to church. I feel very strongly she will be baptized. She has been reading and praying. She tells us that she has not received an answer yet but that she knows that God answers in His own time and in His own way so she will not give up.
The English Elders had a baptism on Friday of an investigator I worked with. His name is Khiel Franscois. He is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was really cool to see that changes he has made. When we first found him he was super shy. He wouldn't really talk to anyone but now he knows tons of people and even goes to FHE in the singles ward.
Well we now have only two more Sundays of the transfer. I am sure that will be leaving this area. I will really miss it.
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
The English Elders had a baptism on Friday of an investigator I worked with. His name is Khiel Franscois. He is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was really cool to see that changes he has made. When we first found him he was super shy. He wouldn't really talk to anyone but now he knows tons of people and even goes to FHE in the singles ward.
Well we now have only two more Sundays of the transfer. I am sure that will be leaving this area. I will really miss it.
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
July 12, 2010
Hey Family,
Well first of all, thank you for getting me Kyle's address. I am sorry to hear about all of the trouble you have had with the cars. I can't believe it has been that much of a problem. Hopefully this will be the end of it.
To answer your question about transfers the next transfer is August 4th, a Wednesday. We will know who will be transferred on the Sunday before. I will let you know if I will be transferred on Monday the 2nd. I am pretty sure that I will be transferred.
The English Elders have a baptism coming up on Friday. It is an investigator named Khiel that I worked with when I was covering English and Spanish. We also have a family that we are teaching that I am sure will be baptized. I am sure that Elder Hardman and I covered English and Spanish to help prepare us to teach this family. She speaks mostly English and He speaks mostly Spanish. So I have felt prepared to be able to teach her the gospel in the language that is best for her. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to preach the gospel in English and Spanish. Some missionaries are telling me that I will end up switching to Portuguese next and learn another language. Who knows if that will happen, it is all in the hands of the Lord. If he asked me to learn Russian and start speaking the gospel, I would do it. It would be hard but I know it would be what the Lord wanted me to do. Fortunately we don't have too many Russians here so I won't have to worry about that.
I can't believe all of the people that are now returning from their missions. I can't believe that Jordan Woodruff, Blake Wasden, and Kurt have all returned now. It seemed like when they left it would be forever before they returned. It just goes to show that time is all relative. I have heard that as soon as you start to feel like you have missionary work figured out it just flies by and it's over. I am afraid I am starting to get to that stage. This transfer will half over on Wednesday. I can't believe it! I hope that I will be able to do all the Lord has in store for me in this area before I get transferred.
I have a crazy story to tell you all. The other day one the English Elders, Elder Olsen randomly asked me if I knew someone named DJ Savage from Boise. I was really surprised and asked him if his name was Donald, and he said yes. I don't know if you remember Donald Savage, but he was in my third and fourth grade classes in grade school, but his family moved to Boise and I hadn't seen him since. Elder Olsen was in his MTC District and he showed me some pictures. It is amazing how small of a world we live in.
Yesterday at church a lady came up to us and told us that they had some food for us in their car. I was imagining a few boxes of cereal or something but instead she had an entire trunk full of food in her car. I was completely blown away. Our cupboards are now completely full of food. We were also very excited to find an entire box of skittles in there too. It is amazing how kind the members are to us here. Someday when I get back to college I am going to wonder what happened to the people who feed us dinner almost every night and bring food by for us. The life of a missionary is hard but full of tender mercies of our father in heaven.
I testify that miracles are happening all around us and I encourage you to pray and ask our Heavenly Father to remove your fear and open your mouth. I know that it will be filled with the words that need to be said to bless the lives of those around you.
I love you all and hope that you have the best week possible.
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
Well first of all, thank you for getting me Kyle's address. I am sorry to hear about all of the trouble you have had with the cars. I can't believe it has been that much of a problem. Hopefully this will be the end of it.
To answer your question about transfers the next transfer is August 4th, a Wednesday. We will know who will be transferred on the Sunday before. I will let you know if I will be transferred on Monday the 2nd. I am pretty sure that I will be transferred.
The English Elders have a baptism coming up on Friday. It is an investigator named Khiel that I worked with when I was covering English and Spanish. We also have a family that we are teaching that I am sure will be baptized. I am sure that Elder Hardman and I covered English and Spanish to help prepare us to teach this family. She speaks mostly English and He speaks mostly Spanish. So I have felt prepared to be able to teach her the gospel in the language that is best for her. I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to preach the gospel in English and Spanish. Some missionaries are telling me that I will end up switching to Portuguese next and learn another language. Who knows if that will happen, it is all in the hands of the Lord. If he asked me to learn Russian and start speaking the gospel, I would do it. It would be hard but I know it would be what the Lord wanted me to do. Fortunately we don't have too many Russians here so I won't have to worry about that.
I can't believe all of the people that are now returning from their missions. I can't believe that Jordan Woodruff, Blake Wasden, and Kurt have all returned now. It seemed like when they left it would be forever before they returned. It just goes to show that time is all relative. I have heard that as soon as you start to feel like you have missionary work figured out it just flies by and it's over. I am afraid I am starting to get to that stage. This transfer will half over on Wednesday. I can't believe it! I hope that I will be able to do all the Lord has in store for me in this area before I get transferred.
I have a crazy story to tell you all. The other day one the English Elders, Elder Olsen randomly asked me if I knew someone named DJ Savage from Boise. I was really surprised and asked him if his name was Donald, and he said yes. I don't know if you remember Donald Savage, but he was in my third and fourth grade classes in grade school, but his family moved to Boise and I hadn't seen him since. Elder Olsen was in his MTC District and he showed me some pictures. It is amazing how small of a world we live in.
Yesterday at church a lady came up to us and told us that they had some food for us in their car. I was imagining a few boxes of cereal or something but instead she had an entire trunk full of food in her car. I was completely blown away. Our cupboards are now completely full of food. We were also very excited to find an entire box of skittles in there too. It is amazing how kind the members are to us here. Someday when I get back to college I am going to wonder what happened to the people who feed us dinner almost every night and bring food by for us. The life of a missionary is hard but full of tender mercies of our father in heaven.
I testify that miracles are happening all around us and I encourage you to pray and ask our Heavenly Father to remove your fear and open your mouth. I know that it will be filled with the words that need to be said to bless the lives of those around you.
I love you all and hope that you have the best week possible.
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
July 5th 2010
Hey Family!!!
We have had a great week here!
On Saturday we went to an event they were having for the fourth of July in Duluth. There were a ton of people there. We were trying to contact people to share the gospel. It was pretty cool. We also got to watch fireworks from outside of our apartment.
We have really been enjoying this transfer. I have felt so relieved not to have to worry about so many English Investigators. One of my old English investigators named Khiel is getting baptized next Friday. We are really excited.
We are having success here. We have been so blessed to find many amazing people. We have had a very busy week. It was really great to hear from you all and I hope that you all had an amazing fourth of July. God bless the USA!!!
Love,
Keith (Elder Banner)
We have had a great week here!
On Saturday we went to an event they were having for the fourth of July in Duluth. There were a ton of people there. We were trying to contact people to share the gospel. It was pretty cool. We also got to watch fireworks from outside of our apartment.
We have really been enjoying this transfer. I have felt so relieved not to have to worry about so many English Investigators. One of my old English investigators named Khiel is getting baptized next Friday. We are really excited.
We are having success here. We have been so blessed to find many amazing people. We have had a very busy week. It was really great to hear from you all and I hope that you all had an amazing fourth of July. God bless the USA!!!
Love,
Keith (Elder Banner)
Monday, June 28, 2010
June 28, 2010
Hey Family
Thanks for all of your emails!!! I hope that dad got my father's day card in time. I thought it was pretty funny. Angie sent me an email partly in Spanish. I thought that was pretty cool too. New rule all of the emails sent to must be in Spanish, Just kidding! I got my new companion on Wednesday. We also got English Elders again which has been a huge relief. It was very difficult to be doing English and Spanish. My new companion is named Elder Johnson. He is from Rock Springs Wyoming. He has been out about 8 months, but like many of my companions he started out as an English Elder. He has only been Spanish for six weeks, so it is up to me to teach him some more Spanish. I really like him. The new English Elders names are: Elder Olsen and and Elder Oxley. They are both from Utah. We had a really good time at church on Sunday. We had an investigator come to church for the first time, and she really needs it.
We have had a ton of success these last couple of days. We have found some really cool people.I am very pleased with all of the blessings we have recieved and are still recieving. We can never catch up with him. Whenever we do more, he does double of that.
I can't believe that Kurt is going home tomorrow. He was only out about a year when I left on my mission. If I were him I would be really scared. I am already scared and I still have about a year left. It's wierd to think that one year ago today I gave my talk in church. People always say it goes really fast, but you never really understand until you actually experience it.
I love the Lord and I love this work. It brings great joy into my life. I hope you all have the best week ever!!!
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
Thanks for all of your emails!!! I hope that dad got my father's day card in time. I thought it was pretty funny. Angie sent me an email partly in Spanish. I thought that was pretty cool too. New rule all of the emails sent to must be in Spanish, Just kidding! I got my new companion on Wednesday. We also got English Elders again which has been a huge relief. It was very difficult to be doing English and Spanish. My new companion is named Elder Johnson. He is from Rock Springs Wyoming. He has been out about 8 months, but like many of my companions he started out as an English Elder. He has only been Spanish for six weeks, so it is up to me to teach him some more Spanish. I really like him. The new English Elders names are: Elder Olsen and and Elder Oxley. They are both from Utah. We had a really good time at church on Sunday. We had an investigator come to church for the first time, and she really needs it.
We have had a ton of success these last couple of days. We have found some really cool people.I am very pleased with all of the blessings we have recieved and are still recieving. We can never catch up with him. Whenever we do more, he does double of that.
I can't believe that Kurt is going home tomorrow. He was only out about a year when I left on my mission. If I were him I would be really scared. I am already scared and I still have about a year left. It's wierd to think that one year ago today I gave my talk in church. People always say it goes really fast, but you never really understand until you actually experience it.
I love the Lord and I love this work. It brings great joy into my life. I hope you all have the best week ever!!!
Love, Elder Banner (Keith)
Monday, June 21, 2010
June 21, 2010
Hey Family,
Sorry about not getting to email last week. The guy we usually email with was out of town.
Also sorry for the confusion, transfers are this week, we got the call on Sunday. I am staying in my area. My companion is getting transfered. I will be getting a new Spanish companion and we will also be getting English Elders in our area again. I will have to teach three missionaries about the area and about the investigators. It will be a little crazy. Only my district leader and I will be staying here they will also be getting English Elders in their ward again. So we will have six new Elders in our district. I will miss teaching a few of our English investigators. I can't believe that I am still in the same area. I have been serving in this area since October, I could almost be considered a resident of Duluth!
I hope that you all (I still don't say y'all) had a really good time at all of your class reunions.
Sorry I couldn't finish my email before my computer was having problems.
Love, Elder Banner ( Keith
Sorry about not getting to email last week. The guy we usually email with was out of town.
Also sorry for the confusion, transfers are this week, we got the call on Sunday. I am staying in my area. My companion is getting transfered. I will be getting a new Spanish companion and we will also be getting English Elders in our area again. I will have to teach three missionaries about the area and about the investigators. It will be a little crazy. Only my district leader and I will be staying here they will also be getting English Elders in their ward again. So we will have six new Elders in our district. I will miss teaching a few of our English investigators. I can't believe that I am still in the same area. I have been serving in this area since October, I could almost be considered a resident of Duluth!
I hope that you all (I still don't say y'all) had a really good time at all of your class reunions.
Sorry I couldn't finish my email before my computer was having problems.
Love, Elder Banner ( Keith
Monday, April 12, 2010
April 12, 2010
Hey Everybody!!!
This has been another great week. We have been so blessed here in this area! This week we found nine new investigators. Eight of them were Spanish. The best thing was that in the past we have had a problem of teaching a bunch of guys who rented apartments together. They could not progress very easily because of bad influences around them. These Eight new investigators were all part of families! They are great people. One of our new investigators called us at 11:30 on Saturday night and left us a message saying she wanted to go to church on Sunday! I really feel so blessed. We have had days before where you sometimes knock doors for hours and you don't find anybody. With this transfer I was really stressed because I didn't think we would be able to find as many people because we are so busy with English and Spanish, but we have found way more since then, without knocking any doors! It is amazing how when you are given a greater burden, if you respond in a good way, you receive more blessings! I know the Lord is watching over us here and that he is leading us to find those who will receive our message!
Last Monday we went to a member's house for our preparation day. They live right by the banks of a river. Their daughter took us all on a tour of "The bamboo forest" It was really cool. There is just a random group of bamboo growing by the river. That is not really normal in Georgia. It was not quite like Hawaii but it was still really cool. Some of the other Elders climbed way up the bamboo to get into a high tree. We weren't really sure they would be able to get back down, but they were able to slide back down the bamboo.
Love, Elder Banner
Hey Everybody!!!
This has been another great week. We have been so blessed here in this area! This week we found nine new investigators. Eight of them were Spanish. The best thing was that in the past we have had a problem of teaching a bunch of guys who rented apartments together. They could not progress very easily because of bad influences around them. These Eight new investigators were all part of families! They are great people. One of our new investigators called us at 11:30 on Saturday night and left us a message saying she wanted to go to church on Sunday! I really feel so blessed. We have had days before where you sometimes knock doors for hours and you don't find anybody. With this transfer I was really stressed because I didn't think we would be able to find as many people because we are so busy with English and Spanish, but we have found way more since then, without knocking any doors! It is amazing how when you are given a greater burden, if you respond in a good way, you receive more blessings! I know the Lord is watching over us here and that he is leading us to find those who will receive our message!
Last Monday we went to a member's house for our preparation day. They live right by the banks of a river. Their daughter took us all on a tour of "The bamboo forest" It was really cool. There is just a random group of bamboo growing by the river. That is not really normal in Georgia. It was not quite like Hawaii but it was still really cool. Some of the other Elders climbed way up the bamboo to get into a high tree. We weren't really sure they would be able to get back down, but they were able to slide back down the bamboo.
Love, Elder Banner
Hey Everybody!!!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
April 5, 2010
Hey Family,
Sorry I didn't get to write an email to you guys last week. It was a very busy day and I did not end up being able to send an email. I did however put a short letter in the mail so I hope you get that soon.
I hope that you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. I found it very uplifting and inspiring!
I have some interesting news. I did not get transferred. I am still serving in the John's Creek ward. Elder Nataren got transferred to a different part of the mission. We usually have two English and two Spanish Elders in the John's Creek ward, but as of Wednesday, Elder Hardman who was an English Elder in John's Creek before is now a Spanish Elder with me. We are temporarily covering Spanish and English until the mission gets more Elders. I am teaching Elder Hardman Spanish now. He was very surprised and had no notice until the transfer meeting. He didn't know until it popped up on the screen. We also had a Spanish Elder that has been out about 18 months go Portuguese speaking. It should be very interesting to see how he does. We now have about 150 missionaries in our mission. About 16 are Spanish (it should be 20) and we also have 2 Portuguese Elders and 2 Portuguese sisters. It also sounds like we might be getting 2 Korean sisters from temple square to serve in the same basic area as where I am. We have a lot of Koreans here in John's Creek.
We have been doing English classes on Wednesday nights at the church and they really have been a great success. We have distributed many flyers and other things trying to get the word out. Somehow the news has spread pretty far. We had another missionary from another area that somehow heard about it and is sending one of his investigators to our class. I also have gotten at least three phone calls from people I don't know calling for more information about our classes. It is amazing how much we have been blessed by these classes. Who would have thought that I would end up teaching English to Spanish and Korean speakers, and teaching Spanish to English Speakers. I really feel blessed to have these opportunities.
Love,
Keith (Elder Banner)
Sorry I didn't get to write an email to you guys last week. It was a very busy day and I did not end up being able to send an email. I did however put a short letter in the mail so I hope you get that soon.
I hope that you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did. I found it very uplifting and inspiring!
I have some interesting news. I did not get transferred. I am still serving in the John's Creek ward. Elder Nataren got transferred to a different part of the mission. We usually have two English and two Spanish Elders in the John's Creek ward, but as of Wednesday, Elder Hardman who was an English Elder in John's Creek before is now a Spanish Elder with me. We are temporarily covering Spanish and English until the mission gets more Elders. I am teaching Elder Hardman Spanish now. He was very surprised and had no notice until the transfer meeting. He didn't know until it popped up on the screen. We also had a Spanish Elder that has been out about 18 months go Portuguese speaking. It should be very interesting to see how he does. We now have about 150 missionaries in our mission. About 16 are Spanish (it should be 20) and we also have 2 Portuguese Elders and 2 Portuguese sisters. It also sounds like we might be getting 2 Korean sisters from temple square to serve in the same basic area as where I am. We have a lot of Koreans here in John's Creek.
We have been doing English classes on Wednesday nights at the church and they really have been a great success. We have distributed many flyers and other things trying to get the word out. Somehow the news has spread pretty far. We had another missionary from another area that somehow heard about it and is sending one of his investigators to our class. I also have gotten at least three phone calls from people I don't know calling for more information about our classes. It is amazing how much we have been blessed by these classes. Who would have thought that I would end up teaching English to Spanish and Korean speakers, and teaching Spanish to English Speakers. I really feel blessed to have these opportunities.
Love,
Keith (Elder Banner)
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Hey Family!
This has been another great week for me. I wanted to tell you guys about an experience we had yesterday.
In our last zone conference we watched some videos from the new Preach My Gospel DVDs (not yet finished) about prayer. We had one investigator that we could never get to pray while we were there. We decided to apply what we learned from those videos. We knelt down with him and Elder Nataren and I each said a prayer and then he prayed. We asked him to specificaly ask if our message is true. I could tell that he was feeling the spirit. I asked him how he felt. He said he felt a peace within him that he hadn't really felt before. He now has a much greater resolve to change and do the things we ask him to do. He has committed to read the Book of Mormon every day from now on.
Yesterday was ward conference in our ward. President Jensen (Our stake president gave a great talk, but to my surprise he mentioned my name. He told our ward that my dad was his trainer on his mission in Korea. He said that dad "Elder Banner" was a great missionary and that he really loved "Elder Banner" I am very greatful that I have a father that was a faithful missionary and a loving companion so that even now so many years later I can meet one of his companions and see the respect and love he has for my dad.
Love, Keith (Elder Banner)
This has been another great week for me. I wanted to tell you guys about an experience we had yesterday.
In our last zone conference we watched some videos from the new Preach My Gospel DVDs (not yet finished) about prayer. We had one investigator that we could never get to pray while we were there. We decided to apply what we learned from those videos. We knelt down with him and Elder Nataren and I each said a prayer and then he prayed. We asked him to specificaly ask if our message is true. I could tell that he was feeling the spirit. I asked him how he felt. He said he felt a peace within him that he hadn't really felt before. He now has a much greater resolve to change and do the things we ask him to do. He has committed to read the Book of Mormon every day from now on.
Yesterday was ward conference in our ward. President Jensen (Our stake president gave a great talk, but to my surprise he mentioned my name. He told our ward that my dad was his trainer on his mission in Korea. He said that dad "Elder Banner" was a great missionary and that he really loved "Elder Banner" I am very greatful that I have a father that was a faithful missionary and a loving companion so that even now so many years later I can meet one of his companions and see the respect and love he has for my dad.
Love, Keith (Elder Banner)
Friday, August 21, 2009
August 21st 2009
Hey Family, I hope that you are doing well. I am doing great here. I got a dear elder from grandma and Marcie this week that was great. Today we didn't go to the temple because one of my companions, Elder Elg, is sick. He is doing alright but he does not want to get anyone at the temple sick. On Wednesday I hosted again, this time I only hosted one Elder, but it was still fun. We got a new district in our zone this week which is great! They have seven Elders and three Sisters. They seem like a great group, and because I am one of the Zone Leaders I had the opportunity to take them on a tour of the campus and explain some of the stuff at the MTC to them. I found that to be quite fun. I hope we didn't confuse them too much. We should be getting another new district on this coming Wednesday, so that is exciting. We also got a new councilor in the branch presidency this Sunday. We had a member of the MTC Presidency in our branch. It was a very strange feeling to be sitting on the stand with him. Our new councilor is really great. His name is Brother Robinson. We had a few more strange experiences happen this week. In my last email I told you about an Elder that passed out and hit his head on the floor last Tuesday. Well this Monday he almost passed out again. We gave him a blessing and he didn't quite pass out. We believe that he is mentally exhausting himself. He is a very spiritual person and he feels that everything must be perfect or he is not working hard enough. On Tuesday we had a different Elder that took some medication that he had just been prescribed, and within 40 minutes he was out cold. He came out of it within about a minute. We had medical people come down and they took him into the ER. He was there until about 5:00 in the morning. He is totally fine now, and he told the doctor he was not taking those pills anymore. Hopefully things will calm down a bit soon here. I only have about 10 days left. I can't believe it. This time in the MTC has gone so fast! It seems like I have just gotten here. One of the Elders in our district figured out that about halfway through September we will be done with about 10% of our missions! That is very strange to me. I am really excited to go to Georgia, but on the other hand I am a little bit freaked out. I am glad that by the time I get there summer will be almost over so maybe it won't be so hot. I have found a couple of random connections here in the MTC. There is a whole new group this week going to Boise on their missions. One of them is from Queen Creek, Arizona, pretty close to Marcie. I also met an Elder that knows Mike Banner, he lives right by them. I don't have my planner with me right now, or else I would give you their names. Anyway it is amazing how many connections you have once you look around. The will be broadcasting the Oquirrh Mountain Temple dedication here on Sunday so we will all get to attend. I am pretty excited to get to participate in the dedication ceremony. Anyway I am almost out of time, I love you and I hope that you are all doing well. I will keep you in my prayers and I am grateful for all of the prayers that have been offered up in my behalf. I love you all, Keith (Elder Banner)
Friday, August 14, 2009
August 14, 2009
Hey Everybody,
I hope you are all doing well. I have quite a bit of crazy stuff to report this week. On Sunday my companionship got made the new zone leaders in our branch. Being a zone leader is very interesting. It is a big challenge, but I am grateful for the opportunity to grow. I live on the first floor of our building, but all of the other elders in our zone live on the fourth floor. That is kind of a challenge because it is our job to make sure that everyone is in their rooms by quiet time, and that everybody is in bed by 10:30. It can be very hard because not all of the elders here are super dedicated to obedience. On our first night as zone leaders, two elders had not been seen since dinner, nobody knew where they were. We decided that we would give them the benefit of the doubt and not call the front desk until after 10:30. At 10:30 they still were not back so we called the front desk. Luckily they were up at the front desk and so it was ok. The next day one of the districts we are in charge of had a big fight. A lot of the people in the district were having obedience problems and so they were really mad at their district leader for telling them off. It was not a good situation. After a couple of days we got it all worked out, but it took a lot of time. On Wednesday one of the elders in a different district, also in our zone, passed out sometime after we went to bed, and hit his head on the floor. He went to the hospital in an ambulance and he is suffering from a mild concussion. The old zone leaders (they left for their missions on Wednesday) said that they never had anything crazy happen while they were zone leaders. We have definitely had our fair share of crazy events so far. I got to host new missionaries on Wednesday. It was a blast! I got to host two Elders and one Sister. When you host an Elder you help them get to where they check-in. Meet them on the other side with their bags, take them to their residence hall and drop them off to get their medical stuff checked. It takes about 10 minutes, then you go back for to wait for another Elder. For the sisters it is a little bit different. Two host Elders take all of the Sister's bags, so she does not have to carry anything, and they take her to the entrance of the building where the sisters all live. There they meet a host sister that finishes the rest of the hosting.The changed everything this week, so we were the first group with the new system. I hosted one Elder right after our meeting was over, then after a little while, I hosted a Sister. Her uncle was actually the old mission president for my mission. She is actually going to the same mission her dad went to. The next Elder I hosted was actually a triplet. All three boys came in at the same time. They all had exactly the same bags, so it was a bit confusing. It was kind of hard to see them have to leave their families. I think the hardest thing was seeing the fathers tear up, when they dropped of their missionaries. It made me remember how important this work is. I am really excited that Jennifer got to go up to Spokane to visit her friend. I will have to watch out for a Sister Reed in my last week. I hope she has had fun hanging out with Savannah. I am jealous! :) It sounds like she will be a little guitar player when I get back. Angie wanted to know if I had gotten a tape recorder yet. I did so if she wants to send me tapes I can. I am supposed to leave on August 31st so you might want to switch to letters then. In answer to her four square question. I have played four square almost every gym time since I got here! I love it, it is really fun. Thank you for all of your encouragement and support.
I love you all, Keith (Elder Banner)
I hope you are all doing well. I have quite a bit of crazy stuff to report this week. On Sunday my companionship got made the new zone leaders in our branch. Being a zone leader is very interesting. It is a big challenge, but I am grateful for the opportunity to grow. I live on the first floor of our building, but all of the other elders in our zone live on the fourth floor. That is kind of a challenge because it is our job to make sure that everyone is in their rooms by quiet time, and that everybody is in bed by 10:30. It can be very hard because not all of the elders here are super dedicated to obedience. On our first night as zone leaders, two elders had not been seen since dinner, nobody knew where they were. We decided that we would give them the benefit of the doubt and not call the front desk until after 10:30. At 10:30 they still were not back so we called the front desk. Luckily they were up at the front desk and so it was ok. The next day one of the districts we are in charge of had a big fight. A lot of the people in the district were having obedience problems and so they were really mad at their district leader for telling them off. It was not a good situation. After a couple of days we got it all worked out, but it took a lot of time. On Wednesday one of the elders in a different district, also in our zone, passed out sometime after we went to bed, and hit his head on the floor. He went to the hospital in an ambulance and he is suffering from a mild concussion. The old zone leaders (they left for their missions on Wednesday) said that they never had anything crazy happen while they were zone leaders. We have definitely had our fair share of crazy events so far. I got to host new missionaries on Wednesday. It was a blast! I got to host two Elders and one Sister. When you host an Elder you help them get to where they check-in. Meet them on the other side with their bags, take them to their residence hall and drop them off to get their medical stuff checked. It takes about 10 minutes, then you go back for to wait for another Elder. For the sisters it is a little bit different. Two host Elders take all of the Sister's bags, so she does not have to carry anything, and they take her to the entrance of the building where the sisters all live. There they meet a host sister that finishes the rest of the hosting.The changed everything this week, so we were the first group with the new system. I hosted one Elder right after our meeting was over, then after a little while, I hosted a Sister. Her uncle was actually the old mission president for my mission. She is actually going to the same mission her dad went to. The next Elder I hosted was actually a triplet. All three boys came in at the same time. They all had exactly the same bags, so it was a bit confusing. It was kind of hard to see them have to leave their families. I think the hardest thing was seeing the fathers tear up, when they dropped of their missionaries. It made me remember how important this work is. I am really excited that Jennifer got to go up to Spokane to visit her friend. I will have to watch out for a Sister Reed in my last week. I hope she has had fun hanging out with Savannah. I am jealous! :) It sounds like she will be a little guitar player when I get back. Angie wanted to know if I had gotten a tape recorder yet. I did so if she wants to send me tapes I can. I am supposed to leave on August 31st so you might want to switch to letters then. In answer to her four square question. I have played four square almost every gym time since I got here! I love it, it is really fun. Thank you for all of your encouragement and support.
I love you all, Keith (Elder Banner)
Friday, August 7, 2009
August 7, 2009
Hey Everyone! I hope that everyone is doing good. I am praying for you guys often. I am past the half way point in the MTC now. It seems crazy. I have been here for over 5 weeks. The way time passes here is a little bit strange, for the first three days each day feels like a month. For the rest of the first half each day felt like a week, and each week felt like a day. Now all of the time is going very fast. I am hosting new elders next Wednesday. I am really excited! I remember when I first got here and my host helped me with my bags, and helped me find my room. I have been looking forward to hosting for pretty much the whole time I have been here.My days of teaching lessons in English are over, and my days of speaking English are running out fast. Each week we choose one more day that we speak only Spanish. Now we can only speak English on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The other days are Spanish only. Our last week here will be all Spanish! I love speaking spanish! I really feel blessed that I have caught on so quick. On Wednesday we taught our first lesson in Spanish. It went pretty well. The lady that we taught was from Nicaragua, I think and she didn't speak any English, so we had to speak all Spanish! I was very glad about that actually, because I hate using things as crutches. I like eating with the native Spanish speakers so I am forced to speak in Spanish. One of my favorite things to do here is TALL, it stands for Technology Assisted Language Learning. Or something like that. It is a program on the computer for learning languages. It teaches me a lot. They are making so many changes here right now. They are replacing all of the computers in my building with really fast ones with really big monitors. It is great because when we were doing TALL on the old computers we spent a lot of time waiting for them to load. We also just got these cool new chairs and desks today! We had been waiting for them for about a week and a half. That may not sound that exciting, but in the MTC that is very exciting. They are always doing what they call "pilot groups" here. Before giving us new chairs and desks they tried out about 15 different types on small groups for a while to see if it helps the missionaries learn better. One of the new things that they are testing right now is having netbooks (really small laptops) to help the missionaries learn their language. We saw a group carrying them around everywhere. We also have a district in our zone that is a different building that has big TVs and other stuff in their room for the teachers to use to teach. The name of the game here is progress, and faster learning. They are willing to do whatever it takes to make us learn more in the time that we have here. I am so grateful for all of the people we have here that help us so much on a regular basis. One of my teachers (she was actually just a sub for 2 weeks) is a convert and she told us her conversion story yesterday. Her name is Hermana Peñaflor. I will have her record it to a tape for me and send it home for you guys. It is amazing! I was so grateful that she shared her story with us. I wish I had time to type it up for you guys but it would take too long. I have found some great friends here that have helped me a lot. When I first got here there were 5 or 6 people that I knew from home here, but now there is only one. Lizzy Law, from work, got here on Wednesday. I was really excited when I saw her. She told me that she saw Jennifer like two days before! It was nice to get to see someone from home. We got a new district in our zone this week. There are two elders going to the Georgia Atlanta mission, so they will be pretty close to us. I have some good friends in the MTC that are leaving next week. It is hard to see them go, but it is also very exciting. I am very excited to go to Georgia and start teaching the gospel. I am not getting really anxious yet though so it is ok. I am sure I will hit that point soon too. I love you guys thank you for all of your letters and dear elders. They really brighten my day. Thank you for your prayers.
Love,
Keith (Elder Banner)
Love,
Keith (Elder Banner)
Saturday, August 1, 2009
July 31, 2009
Hey family, I hope all is well with you. I am so glad that the family reunion went so well! I hope everyone had a lot of fun! I am grateful for all of the support I have gotten from you. It has been great to get your letters from Dear Elder all the time, I love each and every one! I hope that I have done a good job of answering your questions. If I missed any or you have any more please let me know! I found Jennifer's story about driving the truck to work very humorous. My best advice for her in regards to driving it is: expect the unexpected! I hope that work is going well! I heard that Ryan and Kaylee are enjoying the extra income from working at Seminis, you will have to get them to send me a dear elder telling me about work! I am excited for them! I hope that they will continue to enjoy working there. I loved hearing from Marcie this week!I wish Jared the best in going back to work again. I know that Marcie will be a great stay at home mom! I have been reminded once again of how blessed I am to have the companions I have. They are very good companions. I was talking to one of my teachers, Hermano Valladeres, and we talked about how great all of the elders in our district are. He has a disability in his leg that has been mostly fixed now, but at the time of his mission it was not fixed. He had a companion that would make fun of him about his disability, and yell at him all the time. I am so grateful that my companions are so great. I guess I may not have mentioned I have two companions right now. I really like them both. All three of us are going to the same mission, so I am sure I will see them again. This Sunday is the halfway point for my MTC experience. I can't believe it! It seems so crazy! I have already been here for a month. I have been told by some return missionaries that the rest of the first year feels like another MTC stay, and that the whole next year feels like one more MTC stay. I guess I am halfway done with the slowest part. I know that one day I am going to realize that I am closer to the end than the beginning, so I don't want to waste a minute. I had a cool experience yesterday morning. I was thinking in Spanish! I was so happy, it only lasted for about 15 minutes but it was so cool. On Wednesday we have to teach the whole restoration in Spanish for the first time, our days of English teaching are over. We now have two days of the week that are Spanish only. They can be very hard. I want to write a bit in Spanish for those of you who know Spanish: Yo se que José Smit era un profeta de Dios, Yo se que Tomas S. Monson es la profeta hoy. Yo se que Jesucristo muerio por mis pecados. Yo se que nosotros puedemos vivemos juntos con Nuestro Padre Celstial otra vez. Me amo ustedes mucho. Thank you for all of your support. I love you. Keith (Elder Banner)
July 24, 2009
Hey family, I have really enjoyed all of the dear elders I have been getting. It is great to hear from you! Congrats to Jennifer for getting your associates, I am so proud of you! I am trying to write small notes by hand and send them to each of the families, but it will take a while since I can only write letters once a week. I am glad that mom was able to get someone to take her shift so that she could make it to the family reunion. I hope you had a blast!!! The temple open house must have been amazing. On that topic, people have been asking if I have gotten to go to the temple yet. The temple reopened right after I got here so I have gotten to go twice. I was very impressed, Provo has never been one of my favorite temples, I didn't really like the design of the outside. The inside is beautiful, I really love that temple. Today I did not get to go though. It is pioneer day, and down here pretty much everything is shut down today, including the temple. I wanted to tell everyone of another experience in the RC (Referral Center where we call people). I believe I told everyone about my experience with the lady who was having surgery. Well I have been praying for these two women ever since I called that number. On Monday I learned that I could go back and listen to my old calls. I searched for about 20 minutes trying to find that call. I finally did and I was able to get the number and name of the person again. I called the number and the woman I had talked to the same women I had talked to before! I was so happy! I asked her if they had been able to watch "The Lamb of God" yet. She said that they didn't have a DVD player because she did not have very much money. She is staying at the woman who is having surgery's house while she is going through all of this stuff. I told her that I had been praying for them. I felt impressed to talk to her about the Savior. She said she was familiar with the Bible. I told her that Christ and his apostles did their miracles and blessings by the power of the priesthood. I told her of how after the death of Christ and his apostles the priesthood was no longer upon the earth. I testified to her that the priesthood had been restored upon the earth again today. I asked her if I could share with her the story of how the priesthood had been restored to the earth. She said yes. I told her of Joseph Smith's first vision and of his call to be a prophet. The spirit was so strong during the first vision. I know that she could feel it. I told her of the restoration of the priesthood and of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and I testified that it was true. I asked her if she would be willing to have two representatives of our church come and deliver the Book of Mormon to her along with a message of Jesus Christ. She said that she was very interested and would love to read the Book of Mormon, but that since she was not at her own house she did not have permission to have the missionaries come. I knew that the adversary did not want her to have the missionaries come and teach her. I was persistent and she agreed that I should send her information to the missionaries. I told her that I would put a note down that they should call and make sure they had permission from the owner of the house before visiting. She accepted the missionaries! She seemed very sincere and the spirit was there. I was so excited. I feel very strongly that she will accept their message, and I pray that she will be baptized and feel the joy of being closer to God. I know that I called her the first time for a reason, and that I was directed to find her record again, even though I was not asked to do so. I know that our Heavenly Father cares about each of His children, He wants them all to return to live with Him. That is why I am here. I hope that we can all do our part to bring others unto Christ. The missionaries need the members to do their part to. I would encourage you all to open your mouths. Anyone who is truly your friend, will know that you are telling them about the gospel because you care. If they are truly your friend the worst they can say is that they are not interested. Take the leap of faith, our Heavenly Father will not abandon you! I love you all and look forward to hearing more from you! Love,Keith (Elder Banner)
July 17, 2009
Hey family, I love you all, thank you for all of your letters and stuff, it really is encouraging!I appreciate the emails too, but I wont always have time to answer or read all of them, I only have 30 minutes for email. Please send any longer messages through dear elder, so I can have a bit more time to read them and email you back! I am greatful for your prayers and guidance. I pray for you all often. On Tuesday I had a great experience at the RC (Referal Center, it is a call center where we call people to follow up on their orders for free videos, bibles, and copies of the Book of Mormon. I called a number and the lady on the record was not actually home. The woman I talked to was very nice, and she told me they had not gotten a chance to watch their video, "The Lamb of God" yet. I asked when we could call back after they watched it. She told me the lady that I was trying to contact was going into surgery this week, and was not doing very well, so she was unsure when she would be up and about again. I told her how sincerely sorry I was about the situation. She asked me, very sincerely if I would pray for her. The spirit was very strong! I told her that I would, my scriptures happened to be open to Matthew 7:7-8 at the time. That scripture talks about God answering our prayers. I felt impressed by the spirit to read her that scripture and to tell her that if she would pray with faith, through her prayers and mine everything would be alright. She was very emotional, and told me that she knew that was true, and thanked me. I arranged for her to be called back in a couple of weeks, and I hope that they accept the missionaries when they are called back. Experiences like that make every answering machine, every person that hangs up on you, every person that is angry and tells you never to call them again, it makes all of that worth it. One call out of 50 can make it all worth it. I have prayed for this woman every night since then and I know that her prayers, and mine will be answered! I hope that we can all learn from experiences like this and go forward with faith!!! My time is nearly up for email so I will wrap this up, I will try to write more in my letter today. Please forward this email to the family, or put in on my blog. I am so grateful for a loving family!Oh, and just so you guys know it is OK for you to refer to me as Keith in your letters, it is nice to see your first name occasionally here. Love, Keith (Elder Banner)
Friday, July 10, 2009
July 10th 2009 Keith First E-mail
Hey family I finally got my email account set up! I am very excited to get to correspond with you on email. My Preparation day is on Saturday so that is when I will be sending emails. Please make your emails to me short, as my time is limited, and I will get dear elder stuff faster anyway. In answer to Angie's questions: I am in a great district, we have twelve elders, and they are all great! I am in the Joseph Standing Building, 13M. La comedia de el CCM es muy bueno. However it is a little bit heavy, I may finally gain weight for the first time in my life. Believe it or not I have not been hit very hard by home sickness, I still miss you guys but I am doing fine, I know that is due to all of your prayers in my behalf. Thank you Ben for you words of encouragement, and in answer to your question we do still play four square, I find it very fun. I thought it was so kind of you to take the time to write me with all you have going on. Good luck with your last semester, I know you can do it, especially with the help of the spirit. If you will pray every time before you study, you will receive Divine help in your studies. I am doing pretty well with Spanish, the TALL Program is great! I have learned a lot with it. I did understand most of what Ben wrote to me in his letter, and I am excited to read it again latter and see how much I have improved. I have been told only to compare with my self on Wednesdays, it works!Jennifer thank you for telling me how you are doing! It is fun to hear about all of your stories! Dad and Mom, I love getting your dear Elder letters!!! They are great! Thank you for your words from sister Kreutz's lesson, they really helped me out. I was very happy to receive an email from Marcie! I am sorry that we didn't really have a real good bye on the phone, and that I was so grateful to Jared that I got to see the Sawtooth Relay DVD! I loved it. Angie I am glad that your pregnancy is going well, and I wish you the best of luck. I wanted to tell you guys about my teaching experiences so far. The first lesson my companion and I got to teach, we only had 20 minutes to prepare, unfortunately our investigator (really a teacher who evaluates your teaching) was yawing a lot and half falling asleep during our lesson. So we felt we had room for improvement. On Tuesday we had another teaching appointment, this time with two young ladies, who were volunteers from BYU. We talked to them in Spanish for 10 minutes to get to know them, they were playing the part of two sisters who knew that God and Jesus Christ existed but were not so sure he really cared about them, they had recently lost their brother to a car accident. The lesson went a lot better than the first, our teacher collected their comments, and gave them to us, this is what they said: "We felt the spirit throughout the lesson, the Elders were like conduits of the spirit. They were very sincere and humble, you could feel how deeply they believed their words. They had an honesty about them. When they started tying in our situation with what they were teaching, trying to help us, is when the spirit became overwhelmingly strong. They did a good job splitting up the lesson." Both of the girls were nearly brought to tears by the spirit at one point in the lesson. I was very grateful for the Spirit. Well my time is just about up, I love you, keep up the prayers, and words of encouragement. I love every word that you feel inclined to send me!!! Let the spirit into your lives, so you can be blessed. Love,Elder Banner (Keith).
July 4th Letter
Dear Mom and Dad July 4, 2009
My P-Day is Friday, this week we have a pseudo p-day today on Saturday.
There has been a lot going on and we are being tested. We have daily challenges that we must overcome.
I have thought a lot about the significance today holds for all missionaries. Today we celebrate our independence and we should be turning our gaze heaven word. Without this great nation and our freedom, this faith could not have blossomed and grown as it has. I am extremely grateful.
In my last letter I accidently left out the name of one of my roommates. Elder Eversole from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Elder Elg, my companion lived in Boise and his mom would like to get in contact with you.
I have heard that the spirit is very evident here, but so is the power of the adversary. This is very true it matters only what spirit you choose to tune into. Yesterday, we had a very amazing experience. In class Hermana Pena Aflora, wanted us to see what our investigators need to learn to be truly converted. She asked us to share our conversion stories the first few were not all that spectacular, but then Elder Patton stood up. Elder Patton is our gentle giant and he has a good heart. He stood and spoke of how when he was young he was very small and got picked on a lot. I know exactly how he felt, but my home life was better. He never felt very loved, he felt that no one could love him. He believed in God and Jesus Christ but did not feel they cared about him personally. He was a member his entire life. His parents got divorced and he and his mom moved to Oregon. He told us that moving to Oregon changed his life, he finally had friends. He said that there he got his first real girlfriend. He told her about all of the things that he felt made him a bad person, and he was afraid that she would leave him, but she didn’t for the first time in his life he finally felt loved by someone. Through this he finally was able to learn that God and Jesus Christ loved him, that they could love him. He became truly converted. He l=wanted to tell others that God loved them toll so he came on a mission. He said that he had become a bit discouraged again in; the MTC. He and myself, and some of the other elders were in tears by this time, and I know I had to help him. This entire day was very spiritual. Me, my companion , and Elder Patton’s companion gave Elder Patton a blessing that night. I told him after the blessing that we loved him and that he had been place in our path for a reason. I told him that he brought the spirit and touched my heat personally. I have been praying for him in my personal prayers. I am glad that I have parents that thought me that God loves me. Thank You. The Spirit of God was very evident in that meeting. Unfortunately I cannot say everyone has had the same great thing happen to them today.
Elder Danesh, he is from Gianna, in South America, had a hard time. He has had a bigger challenge that most of us. He has no Spanish experience and never really felt part on the district. During a meeting with his companion and our district leader got up and left, no one knew where he went. Our whole district went looking for him. He was found and we left two missionaries to watch him, he did not want to talk to anyone. He met whit our branch president and I have not seen him since. I do not how what his gate will be, but I wish I had reached out more, and I hope we get a second chance.
I don’t mean to be negative and I am truly becoming a better person each day, and I am enjoying my time here. I love you and pray for you. Elder Keith Banner
My P-Day is Friday, this week we have a pseudo p-day today on Saturday.
There has been a lot going on and we are being tested. We have daily challenges that we must overcome.
I have thought a lot about the significance today holds for all missionaries. Today we celebrate our independence and we should be turning our gaze heaven word. Without this great nation and our freedom, this faith could not have blossomed and grown as it has. I am extremely grateful.
In my last letter I accidently left out the name of one of my roommates. Elder Eversole from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Elder Elg, my companion lived in Boise and his mom would like to get in contact with you.
I have heard that the spirit is very evident here, but so is the power of the adversary. This is very true it matters only what spirit you choose to tune into. Yesterday, we had a very amazing experience. In class Hermana Pena Aflora, wanted us to see what our investigators need to learn to be truly converted. She asked us to share our conversion stories the first few were not all that spectacular, but then Elder Patton stood up. Elder Patton is our gentle giant and he has a good heart. He stood and spoke of how when he was young he was very small and got picked on a lot. I know exactly how he felt, but my home life was better. He never felt very loved, he felt that no one could love him. He believed in God and Jesus Christ but did not feel they cared about him personally. He was a member his entire life. His parents got divorced and he and his mom moved to Oregon. He told us that moving to Oregon changed his life, he finally had friends. He said that there he got his first real girlfriend. He told her about all of the things that he felt made him a bad person, and he was afraid that she would leave him, but she didn’t for the first time in his life he finally felt loved by someone. Through this he finally was able to learn that God and Jesus Christ loved him, that they could love him. He became truly converted. He l=wanted to tell others that God loved them toll so he came on a mission. He said that he had become a bit discouraged again in; the MTC. He and myself, and some of the other elders were in tears by this time, and I know I had to help him. This entire day was very spiritual. Me, my companion , and Elder Patton’s companion gave Elder Patton a blessing that night. I told him after the blessing that we loved him and that he had been place in our path for a reason. I told him that he brought the spirit and touched my heat personally. I have been praying for him in my personal prayers. I am glad that I have parents that thought me that God loves me. Thank You. The Spirit of God was very evident in that meeting. Unfortunately I cannot say everyone has had the same great thing happen to them today.
Elder Danesh, he is from Gianna, in South America, had a hard time. He has had a bigger challenge that most of us. He has no Spanish experience and never really felt part on the district. During a meeting with his companion and our district leader got up and left, no one knew where he went. Our whole district went looking for him. He was found and we left two missionaries to watch him, he did not want to talk to anyone. He met whit our branch president and I have not seen him since. I do not how what his gate will be, but I wish I had reached out more, and I hope we get a second chance.
I don’t mean to be negative and I am truly becoming a better person each day, and I am enjoying my time here. I love you and pray for you. Elder Keith Banner
MTC Arrival and Keith's First letter
Dear Family, July 1, 2009
My branch president wanted us to let our family know that we are still alive. The first day at the MTC was not as hard as I thought it would be, it was actually very exciting! I have a great companion. His name is Elder Elg (pronounced Elge). He is a little younger than I am. He is from Boise and he went to Capital High School. He and one of my other roommates, are serving the same mission as me. My other roommate, Elder Bryan is serving in Puerto Rico. The other two Elders get along great. I get along good with Elder Elg. He is the District leader. I am the senior companion for the first 4 ½ weeks. Elder Elg thinks we might be related. I saw Tyler Gropp, Tayson Beck, and Dallon Valle today. Dallan is in my branch. I love you and will write to you soon. Thank you for your support.
My branch president wanted us to let our family know that we are still alive. The first day at the MTC was not as hard as I thought it would be, it was actually very exciting! I have a great companion. His name is Elder Elg (pronounced Elge). He is a little younger than I am. He is from Boise and he went to Capital High School. He and one of my other roommates, are serving the same mission as me. My other roommate, Elder Bryan is serving in Puerto Rico. The other two Elders get along great. I get along good with Elder Elg. He is the District leader. I am the senior companion for the first 4 ½ weeks. Elder Elg thinks we might be related. I saw Tyler Gropp, Tayson Beck, and Dallon Valle today. Dallan is in my branch. I love you and will write to you soon. Thank you for your support.
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