Here's what's happenin down here in Mexico...

That Hermana with trouble learning Spanish?  She asked to be switched to English speaking and she left for the Provo MTC last Thursday.  We miss her, but I'm glad she's in a better place for her. 

So I was really mad because I was getting letters last week and then I asked for more and didn't think I was getting any!  It turns out that the mail was slow and I got 5 letters from Thursday, Friday, and Saturday… all yesterday.  Thank you.  Those things seriously make my day.

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How to Easily Write Arianna a Quick Letter for Free!  

Click on this link, and then "FREE LETTER" on the top of the page.

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I played a flute here!  It's a really crappy one with closed holes even... probably as good as Samantha's marching flute. But I played it and I made it sound so good.  (The trick is to drop your jaw.)  Thank you, Nancy for teaching me that!!!  Anyway, we had a broadcast devotional with Provo last night and right before it started, an elder in my district (Elder Peterson) and I played Nearer My God to Thee and it was great.  It was one of those arrangements where the flute has the melody 4 times and the piano has actually interesting stuff.  So, we switched some stuff around and it was really fun to play.  It sounded awesome and I loved playing because that's one of the things that I miss the most.  I miss it partly because I love the flute and partly because it made me feel like I was a little closer to Samantha and Mom.

Me and Elder Peterson who played the piano for me.

It was for sure a tender mercy. Playing a crappy flute and making it sound freaking beautiful made me feel really good and talented. It was  a confirmation to me that this really is a talent that Heavenly Father has given me. 

Here are the names of the elders in my district so you and Samantha can stalk everyone who I hang out with all day every day, if you want. Christopher Redford and Karter Baltich. Alex Pickering and Brett Hepworth. Conner Barlow (DL) and Alex Peterson (played the piano for me). Landon Hatch and Colton Stulce. And then there's Ryan Kesler and Kyle Lemon (ZL).

Adele - We don't get to see sunsets because that big mountain with the B on it in all the CCM pictures is in the way.   But, the sunrise is pretty cool.  We don't really get to see it because of another mountain (reminds me of Peru) but the colors are beautiful.

Esther - My favorite thing about Hermana Art is her testimony of the atonement.  It's really strong and inspiring and I love it when she talks about the atonement during our lessons because it totally brings the Spirit.  My other favorite thing is that she always talks to the new girls and asks them how they're doing.  I love that she makes them comfortable because the CCM is kinda hard sometimes.

Hermana Art and I on our first P-day

Dad - I didn't remember the story you told me about in your letter about how you were really frustrated about trying to learn Spanish.  <Bennett was out in the hall near tears with utter frustration.  The teacher came out to talk to him and Bennett asked him (in a pout) when he was going to be glad he got called to a Spanish speaking mission.  The teacher thought for a minute and said, "When you get home!">  But I do remember your story about being in the CCM for 7 weeks wondering when your visa would come and a 3 week-er came up to you, thinking he knew exactly how you were feeling, and tried to console you.  You said he puffed his chest and told you with much smugness that it gets easier when you've been here as long as he had.  lol  Mostly that just makes me feel better that I only have to be here for 6 weeks before I get to go back to the US and to my mission.  Every day I am more and more happy to be going back to the US because I will have normal food available to me and I will have the comfort of being in my own country.  lol  I just realized that I'm now a 3 week-er like that guy in your story. :)

Tomorrow is Mexican Independence Day and I'm pumped for that.  We get to have a celebration tomorrow night and so that will be awesome. Then apparently there will be cannons going off all night to celebrate in the city so that'll be fun.

The food here is okay.  There is plenty of it, but it's still cafeteria food... Mexican cafeteria food.  The thing we always say is, "It's weird, but it's good."  The best is Tuesday night, though.  We get Costco pizza for dinner. 

The temple last week was good. It is so beautiful.  It's kind of an event though.  We leave at 12:00 noon and it takes an hour and a half to get there and then we do the session at 2:00.  It's all in Spanish, so we get headphones. And we can sort of understand the Spanish. The veil is in Spanish, which is a freaking hard!  Then we load the bus at 5:00 and get back at 6:30-ish.  We're all really tired when we get back, but it's good.  We get to go to the temple again today so that's cool.

Riding the bus to the temple.

Left side:  Elders ?, ?, ?, Me, Hermana Art, Baltich
Right side:  Elders Pickering, Hepworth, Lemon, ?, ?, ?

Samantha - No transfers in the CCM.  I don't actually feel the Spirit when we're singing Called to Serve, but I do like singing with everyone.  We sing in Spanish here and that's kinda hard, but cool.

Right now both of our teachers are our investigators. Sandra and Joseph. Sandra's story is that her baby died 3 months ago and doesn't think that God loves her. But her cousins are Mormon and they think we can help her.  Joseph is a professional fighter.  He does Jiujitsu and recently hurt his knee so he can't fight anymore.  He met missionaries while at his cousin's house.  Both are pretty tough and saying what I want to say in Spanish is really hard too.  But, I love it.

This is our teacher, Hermana Perez.  She's also our investigator, Sandra.

I love you and I miss you tons. 

 Love, 

 Hermana Keller 

P.S. I wish I could send a heart emoji. These Mexican keyboards are so hard. Also the Mexican computer doesn't recognize English so seriously every other word has the red underline on it, FYI.