111 Degree Christmas

Hey fam,

It was sweet talking/seeing you guys for 2 minutes yesterday. I will tell you this tomorrow but I will write it down anyway for record. On Christmas Eve is when Argentines do most of the celebrating. But to start I have to begin Friday night. My comp and I were heading back to our place it was like 8:30pm and I decided that we would buy some empenadas for dinner cause they sounded good. So we did so and Friday night I ate 12 empenadas which is kinda alot but I had done it before. And of course I downed it all with a nice Argentine Coke. I was pretty full from the soda and empenadas going to bed. But that all ended up being a mistake cause I woke up Saturday with a horrible stomach ach. I didnt feel like i needed to throw up but my stomach just hurt. Then as i got ready and was doing personal study.... it hit me.... diarrhea. And I was in and out of the bathroom all morning and we couldn't leave. Then we left to appartment at 1pm to go to our main Christmas lunch with the Aguirre family who is also the 1st consulor and his wife washes our clothes. So we are pretty close with them. But my stomach was feeling kinda weak going there but luckly I was able to eat all the food and sprite with out problems. That was basically the main Christmas meal for us because Sunday a member just brought us food to the church and then we ate it at our place after church. But Christmas was pretty anti-climactic. Just Church then just chilling in the church building watching Elders talk to their families. We were going to talk at the church building of our Zone leaders and bake brownies and cookies there but the Internet was not working at all. So we had to take a Taxi across the city to us the Family History Center in the big main Church building in the Mission (435 Entre Rios). Then after we were done with that we just went back to our place cause it was the end off the day. Kinda boring. Not to mention the taxi driver said it was 44 degrees celsius or 110 fahrenhiet with humidity. It was pretty weird. 

But as for the work.... it's actually going ok. We found a lot of new people last week so it makes it a little easier to plan when you have names to put down haha. But our investigators with baptismal dates didn't go to church... so that's a problem. and I kinda undestand because here Christmas is just like New Years in the States. They party all Christmas Eve with BBQ's and fire works and at midnight they put the kids to bed and then continue partying and drinking until 3-4 in the morning. So waking up like 4 hours after going to sleep to go to church is improbable. And next Sunday is New years day.... so it might be the same issue next week too. But we will try to work with them and at least get them to go to a Branch party Friday night at the church. So that was that this week. I'll talk to you all tomorrow. Write down questions that you have cause I dont know what ya want to know. Love you all and I'll SEE you tomorrow!! 

Elder Corbin Keicher

It's going to be a HOT one

Hello Fam. 

First I want to apologize for grammatical errors and misspelling of words in these emails. I dont reread them and just hit send when I finish haha. But anyway this week was a lot of fun and kinda long and really HOT. The humidity here is pretty noticable now. We had a district meeting at the begining of the week where we watched "Feed My Sheep" by Elder Holland and there was a part in there that I really liked. He said, "Missionaries got to get the gospel out of their head and into their hearts." I really liked that and had never really thought of it like that before. But it is a super good talk that talks about missionary work and if you can find it, I would recommend watching it. We also had a productive and an unproductive week at the same time. We were able to put a baptismal date with 2 of our progressing families. One the Boasso family who we put a goal/date to get married by the 21st of Jan. and a lady named Zuni and her son Ivan accepted a baptism date for the 14th of Jan. I hope we can work with them and they put in the work to achieve this. And at the same time I hope members can really welcome them in and befriend them into the branch. It was also unproductive because we didnt have many lessons this week. My trainee is having trouble keeping the missionary schedule. It is a little frusterating at times and I feel we wont find success if we aren't keeping the missionary schedule as a companionship. But I am being positive with him and trying to help him adjust. I have seen progress in him in just these short 2 weeks. But we can always do more. He is a super funny kid and loves fast food like me so we have good conversations about food. He also worked in a movie theater before he came here so he has filled me in on movies. 

Also this week we went and painted a house of a member. It was a lot of fun cause I have never really painted before. I'll attach pictures but it was super fun. The paint was like water color paint but it sill worked alright. We are going to have to start wearing hats now during the day because of the heat. Its a rule President is putting into play. So now I will be rocking sombreros in pictures. We had lunch at a members house the other day and for dessert, they gave us Sandias or watermelons. It was actually really good.

For the Christmas call... I will do a practice call at 3:30-3:45pm my time 11:30-11:45am your time. Then on the 27th I will let you know next P-day when I will do that. But yeah that was basically the week. I hit 6 months on the 22nd. Weird. Tie burning week ahaha. But enjoy this Christmas week and the snow and cold. I wish I could enjoy that. Love you guys :)

Sincerely,

Elder Corbin Keicher

Dad Life:)

Hello Fam!!

So like I said last week I am a dad. And it feels really weird and is like awkward deja vu!! But my companion is Elder Jakob Potts from West Jordan, UT . I picked him up from the mission office on wednesday so the monday and tuesday before that I was with Elder Maldonado from Chile! He arrived with me here in the mission. But he was a lot of fun to be with. But as for my child he is doing good. I have been reading some of my journal entries from my first week to see how I was feeling in my first week aand have been trying to just be a good trainer.  I have had the responsibility to lead all the lessons and work now which is different and a little overwhelming but this first week hasn't been too bad. It is actually fun to contact around christmas time cause usually the people here with christmas decorations up are at least willing to give you 30 seconds before rejections. And it is a little easier to pick the house to contact haha. This past week it rained all day Friday and then in the afternoon on Saturday. Then Sunday it was a great day. We had 62 people at church which is the most I have ever seen here in Fontana and that might be in part because it was the Primary program. There were 12 kids in the primary program... and it was kinda of enjoyable. The exact same as it is in the states. Kids either talk way too quiet so that you can't hear them or shout like they are King Benjamin giving his address to the people. Then today we played basketball at a church and just kind of spent time with other missionaries. Then went to subway here in Resistencia and are now writing in the usual Cyber cafe. But basketball lasted like 20 minutes cause it is just way too hot to play. But it was my first time playing basketball in the mission and as you all know I suck at basketball. It is my second worst sport behind soccer. But against latios I kind of like basketball cause I can school them. Now I know how Patrick feels when he would school me all through out high school. 

I enjoyed hearing that Kamrie had her baby and Gabe got married. Thats sooo exciting. 

The work here in fontana is a little frustrating. People just are not keeping commitments. Mostly the people who are so close to baptism. And we are kind of low on investigators. On Friday I was feeling just kind of down because we haven't had a lot of success. I opened moms package friday night and there was a ensign from the conference. I read the talk by Elder Uchtdorf from the Womens general session entitled "4th Floor l

Last Door". And boy after reading that I felt like I needed to improve. It talked about missionaries contacting an apartment complex where they didn't find success until the last floor and last door. I definitly decided that I could do better. Not that I was bad before but that I could improve. I am confident that, at least in the mission, you should not get too comfortable. There was a quote that I still remember from the MTC that said, "There is no comfort in the learning zone, and no learning in the comfort zone." We learn from being uncomfortable and doing hard things. 

I am excited to talk to you all on Christmas. I got approved from President to just corrdinate with you guys when we should talk. So I think we will do it on the 27th cause the 26th is a P-day. I heard that you guys wanted to do a confrence thing so that Logan can be apart of it sooo that will be up to you guys cause I dont have the time to figure that out. So..... we will be able to coordinate all the details for that on the 26th when I write. But you will have to make me a skype account so that I have something to log into. 

I got some pictures this week with my new bee, a turtle I found in the street and from inside a taxi. and other stuff on dropbox. I love you all and hope you enjoy your week. Love ya

               Elder Corbin Keicher

I'm Going to Be a Dad!

Hey Fam!!

So pretty BIG news here. Transfers was a huge surprise for me. I recieved a call from President Franco early Sunday morning to extend a call to me to be a trainer. So I will be recieving a brand new missionary out of the MTC on Wednesday. In this group there are 6 Americans and 2 latinos (one brasilian) so it is likely that I will get a Gringo to train this transfer. That also means that I am staying in Fontana. Elder Gallegos left Monday morning and his new companion is... Elder Butler haha my trainer. Kinda weird. So I will spend my 4th transfer of my mission here in Fontana again. Which actually I am happy for because it is nice being by the mission office. And we have a mall near by to eat McDonalds. So this next transfer will be pretty interesting and fun. And earlier this past week I had "Tramites" and i dont know the exact translation for that but basically its the process to recieve my Argentine government ID card. I had to go to a local police station here in Resistencia on Wednesday morning which took like 3 hours. Then on Thursday I spent the majority of the day in Corrientes which is a different provence next to Chaco. There we spent the day pretty much in like a DMV type building.. took photos, signed papers, stuff like that. There were a couple other missionaries there with me but there was one named "Elder Nuñez" who when I saw him, I thought for like 20 seconds it was Michael Maxwell. He looked exactly like him. I was freaking out in my head and was soo confused. But then I realized it wasn't him. and He is from Chile too haha. But anyway. I also had the priviledge to spend 2 days with Elder Phillilps cause he was doing Tramites with me Wednesday and Thursday. It was interesting seeing him again since I havent seen him for 5 months. But I enjoyed all the different things and fun stuff that happened this week. A lot of sifferent Elders and the mission has a different feel to it now that I have a title and there are a lot of different elders in my Zone and district. There is one other Gringo training from my group and 2 gringos from my group that got made Zone Leaders. So my Group is growing up quickly. The mission passes quickly for sure. It feels weird that I haven't talked to you guys yet. But I am defintely excited to do so. I still haven't heard anything so far about the Christmas call. We have a Zone Meeting on Friday so I will know more maybe next P-day to tell you guys concerning that. 

Bueno, Sunday we had 4 investigators at Church which was nice. Two of them were Pablo and Augustin Boasso. This is there 10th time attending church which is a TON considering they aren't baptised yet. But its the same story with them... not married. I will plan on setting a baptism date with them this week so that they can set a goal. And that why we can work toward a date. The other 2 that attended was a mother and her son (Zuni & Ivan). They are awesome. They accepted baptism this past week but they didnt want to commit to a date because they wanted to go to church to see how they liked it. So hopefully by next week we will have 4-5 Invetigators with a baptism date. Pray for them!! 

I am super excited to be a trainer. I seriously think it will help me a lot to become a better teacher. This first 3 transfers I have had companions who knew the language better than me so sometimes I fell back on them. This transfer I am super excited to tackle this challenge. I hope I can be a good trainer! 

Well its is basically Christmas and I know we have all seen the #LighttheWorld chirstmas video on mormon.org

It is a video that really brings the spirit and shows the true meaning of Christmas. I would challenge all of you to share this video on your social medias to allow everyone possible to watch and feel the true spirit of Christmas. And if you really want accompany Alam 7:11-14 with it. 

Well thats all the crazy news with transfers this week. I hope you all enjoy the freaking snow and cold, and holiday spirit haha. I'll just enjoy some 110 degree awesomeness haha. I wish Asher luck with his "little" opperation. 

I have photos in Dropbox but no videos. They take too long to upload. Maybe next week. Love you all!! 

Love,

Elder Corbin Keicher