Road Trip

Hey Fam

So this week was pretty cool. Now that I am away from “big” cities and am out in boondocks, we have to travel to get to meetings. So this past Tuesday we had a Multi-Zone conference in Formosa Capital which is about 3 hours by car. So Tuesday morning we woke up at around 5:00 am and left in a convey or van type car that carried us (pretty much the whole zone) to Formosa capital. We got there by 9 am and then the meeting started at 10am. Multi-Zone conferences are just fun because you get to just sit, take in a lecture from President Franco and then eat lunch. And you also get to see other missionaries that you dont usually see. I got to catch up with a few people. I saw a sister from my MTC zone, Sister Ramos, who I haven't seen since we got here last August so it was cool to catch up with her. I also got to meet up with my first zone leader from Resistencia, Elder Regan, who now is ZL in Formosa Capital. Overall it was a fun experience and I learned a lot from the counsel of President and his wife. They both are just great people and spiritual power houses. I bet they are getting excited to near their end and return to their home in South Jordan in July. I had my typical interview also with president which was just basic and routine. After we had the multi-zone conference we went to a bank and took out some money and then went to a pretty big grocery store chain here in south america called “Carrefour” which is basically wal-mart. It is nice and they had Mac n' Cheese and also A1 sauce. We then made our way back to Ibarreta after we finished some shopping and got back to our little house at 10pm. So it was a full day and six and a half hours of driving. It felt kinda cool to be on a “road trip”. The driver…. Who wasn't lds, played some “Shake it off” by taylor swift and some other songs for a little bit on our way back… it felt weird but I took it as a tender mercy to enjoy cause you dont get a lot of those in this part of the world. Later on in the week was pretty basic. Wednesday and Thursday were just basic days and actually our Zone Leaders who we live with left to got even further north to visit a “Laminite Colony” that lives about 6 hours away.

The story from them is actaully really cool. This specific colony was discovered by the church about two and a half years ago. And I dont have all of the details but basically with this colony, missionaries went in to see if there was potential there. And so missionaries went in and started talking to the people and started to present the story of The Book of Mormon. The missionaries explained the appearance of Christ coming to the americas and the sequence of events that happen in BoM. And after the missionaries presented this, the people just looked at the missionaries weirdly and basically said, “yeah we already know this”. Considering that this was the churchs first contact with this colony ever, the missionaries were really confused or dumbfounded. “How?” they asked. How can you already know about this? The members of this colony began to explain that basically their ancestors always keep records of their lifes. And in their records, they had written from ancient ancestors of a man appearning to them dressed in White and a white beard. So with this knowledge already the missionaries keep teaching and basically they baptized like all the people of this colony. And today, Missionaries make Bi-weekly visits up there and we are the closest missionaries to their colony. But there are a bunch of little colonies spread out up here that missionaries visit. 

But anyway this past weekend was a annual event here in Formosa called “Carneval” which is a day celebration. It is pretty much like Parker Days but its more of a 3 day parade. And is actually kinda dangerous so Friday-Sunday we had to be in the house by 7:30pm. So we took advantage of that time and played Monopoly. I won games out of the 2 games we played… which I dont know how because I have never seriously played monopoly before. But it was a pretty relaxing weekend. 

As for the missionary work here... it's going... the things we are missing is the most important part... progressing Investigators. We have found plenty of people and taught lessons but we are struggling on getting back for As for the missionary work here... it's going... the things we are missing is the most important part... progressing Investigators. We have found plenty of people and taught lessons but we are struggling on getting back for follow up lessons and seeing if they read or are keeping commitments. I am concerned that my small language is making it difficult to connect to the people. It is something that is probably in my head but it is a concern I have. I have been studying in Ch. 5 of PMG this week due to a challenge Pres. Franco gave us. And it has been really awesome. One chapter I enjoyed a lot was 2 Nephi 26 that talks about the establishment of false churchs. It is super good. I think I liked it a lot because we had a really funny lesson with a guy name “Lusio” who is really a nice guy. But he had some pretty messed up views. He told us that due to working 30 years in the Police it has diminished his belief in God and established religion. He keeps on telling us the all churchs are is a business and everything is corrupt. He then went on, bashing Catholics and basically all forms of Christianity. He kept telling us that once he dies and goes to heaven he will figure it out and do what God says. But anyway it wasn't a too crazy experience but just one that we had this week. 

Anyway, that was the week. I cant believe how crazy the Super Bowl was. Tom Brady is just soooo good. But I honestly didnt even realize that it was Super Bowl Sunday until 7:30pm. hahaha Crazy!! Anyway i love you all. Have a great week. 

Love,

Elder Corbin Keicher

Just Another P-Day

Well hola fam,

I am emailing a little bit earlier this week due to having 4 missionaries having to share the same computer. Anyway, this week was actually a lot of fun. To explain, the city of Ibarreta is one branch but there are 2 sets of missionaries in it. To be honest I actually kind of like it. My area is so small compared to my last area. In my last area I had to spend $500+ pesos a month just on bus transportation. and here I can walk from end to end in 20 minutes. It is actually nice. And also the members are super cool. The biggest difference between the last branch in Fontana compared to here is that here there are actually youth. Having youth in your branch is actually really nice for missionary work cause the youth just like talking to you and youth have a lot of friends. So we get to work with them which is fun. Earlier in the week last week we did a family home evening with one family in the ward. It was super fun. We shared a message about recognizing and learning the language of the spirit. We started out by writting just some words in english and asking them if they knew what they meant. Obviously they didn't and then we translated it for them. Then we talked about how learning a new language is the same when learning the language of the holy ghost. Just like how you have to study and put in effort to learn a new language. You have to DO things in order to learn to understand what the spirit is telling you. You have to do more than talk about it. Then after we shared that message we played uno.... and that was the first time I have played UNO with native spanish speakers. So that was a cool experience. Except I realized that I havent developed the vocabulary for card games haha. That is another thing that is different here. We have a family home evening every week with members which is very fun to do and participate in. It switches things up and is a great way to get references and for members to invite friends to get to know the missionaries. 

One thing that I forgot to mention in last weeks email was something really cool. Here in northern Argentina there are Aborigenes indian tribes that have little church groups established. And there is a tribe right next to Ibarreta that the missionaries have to visit and take care of. I have pictures of the little meeting house on dropbox. In this tribe the speak their own language called "Pilaga". But they also know spanish. But we have to take a day every week and go visit all the members there and then on sunday we have to go over there and administer the sacrament and conduct a small little sacrament meeting. It is pretty cool.  

Also this week the other Elders in Ibarreta had a Baptism on Friday. So we got to go to that. I have a picture of that on Dropbox as well. It was of a 12 year old kid of a part member family. But as far as the missionary work in Ibarreta, it is a little more exciting than in my last area. We ran into a guy in Saturday and had a lesson with him. We had a super good lesson with him and turns out he is from Buenos Aires but recently moved here like 3 weeks ago. He is like 25 years old but was involved in drugs and just a bad life style in Buenos Aires so he moved here to get a fresh start. Then we arrived. We had a great lesson and explained the restoration to him. He was super excited to got to church Sunday but we arrived at his house Sunday morning to pick him up and a neighbor pretty much told us that he was up all night drinking. It was a little disappointing but.... we are going to be working with him cause he is super ready and prepared to make a change in his life. 

But anyway, I am doing great here. I have felt comfort this week and the spirit in this work. It is exciting to know that you are all just excelling in your lives, jobs, schooling, and callings. Keep pressing forth. Love you all!! Peace!

Love,

Elder Corbin Keicher 

The Oven of Argentina

Hey Fam,

Well i am in the middle on literally nowhere!! haha but it is kinda cool. haha a lot of things for me are very different. I will go and explain somethings that happened this past week. Firstly, on Wednesday I picked up my new comp Elder Taylor from the office. He landed in Resistencia last Tuesday and he is from the Bay area in California. But crazy thing happened while we were at the office. So usually what happens when missionaries arrive in the mission field is that on Wednesday morning, they get assigned their trainers. After that we have a lunch all together and watch a mission video. But while we were eating lunch, one of the new latinos started having a seizure. It was kinda scary and weird and president Franco and Sister Franco ran in and we all left the cultural hall. But after 15 minutes he was okay and we all returned to the cultural hall to finish eating our lunch. Probably just a stress thing. But anyway, from there Elder Taylor and I left to the bus terminal to take a 6 hour bus to IBARRETA, Formosa. It was actually split up into two bus rides. a 2 and a half hour bus to Formosa Capital. then a 3 and a half hour bus to Ibarreta. So I am out here... and there isn't much. There are actually indian colonies out here that have members in them. But yes it is HOT. Usually sits around 40-43 degrees celsius. But these first 3 days, the Air Conditioning was having problems with the uneven electrical circut and for these days we couldn't use the AC at night.... and I remember I think Friday night I went to bed at 10:30pm and inside our little house it was 95 degrees. Luckly I had the little fan that mom sent me and I just set that on my chest and I had air blowing in my face all night. But we got that fixed and now we have good constant AC in the house. But Ibarreta is pretty small and a lot of dirt roads. It is a lot different but one thing that is really nice is that there is a really nice church here. It totally sticks out like a sore thumb but it is nice. I am writting from that church right now. One thing that was also kinda fun was that on the bus rides here they played movies. When we got on they were playing the end of a film with Tina Fey when she goes to like India or something as a reporter. But that was in Spanish. Then they played a movie in english but it was soo cheesy.

I got to spend sometime with Elder Potts new trainer and his name is Elder Howe. I found out that his older brother was in my ward up at Utah State last year. I thought that was cool. This week we have a world wide broadcast with Elders Bednar, Oaks, and Andersen who are going to be talking to all of the missionaries. It will happen on the 25th. So that will be fun to attend and listen too. 

It is definitely different getting thrown into a brand new area and having to train at the same time. It is difficult to have to do everything and get to know an area you have never been in. Right now I feel like my language isn't as good as it should or could be. I felt really good after being companions with Elder Gallegos cause he was a kid from Buenos Aires but now I have gone 2 months with new american missionaries and I feel like my ability to understand and communicate has diminished. But I am just pressing forward. I know that if I just do what I am supposed to do and work hard everything will be okay. 

Anyway that is basically my email for this week from FORMOSA, ARG. You all sound great. Keep pressing forward and keep true to the things that matter. 

Sincerely,

Elder Corbin Keicher

(Photos of the little house and inside the bus)

Change is a Good Thing

Hey Fam,

Big changes AGAIN this transfer this week. I AM LEAVING wooaaahhh.... and I am training again. haha so I will be picking up my next trainee tomorrow and then heading up to.... Ibarreta, Formosa. This province of Argentina is comparable to West Virgina of the states. The language is dirty and the conditions are super poor. And everytime I meet a missionary and tell them that I am going there, they just look at me and say, "Im sorry man". haha SO It will be interesting and a growing experience. Especially since I am going to a new area that neither I or my comp (obviously) knows. But anyway I am super excited to train again and I definitly learned a lot of things this past transfer. I will be traveling 8 hours in a bus tomorrow after I get my comp from the office. It will be my first real bus ride here. They play movies on the buses over the speakers so hopefully I get a good one. haha

This past week was fun. I had a feeling that I was going to leave so I made sure I got to say goodbye to the people that I was close too. On Sunday I got a call from the branch president at 8:12am asking me to give a talk that day. So I quickly reviewed somethings I studied this past week in personal study and then we went to church. At 9:41 the branch president gave me the rest of the time in the church.... soooo I got up and I actually gave the best talk I have ever given. I truely felt the gift of tounges guiding my words or I guess the spirit but it was really cool and I actually didnt have any nerves. I talked until 10:02 and it ended up being really cool. And I can credit all of it to the time I dedicate to Personal study. Thats something that I thoroughly enjoyed and have been trying to take full advantage of that hour I have each day. 

But anyway I took some photos this week. They are all on dropbox but I will attach some on this email. I took some photos with members that I loved. The one with the old guy is the guy that gave me the name "Elder Ketchup". I took a photo of the keys here cause they look like Hogwart keys and look ancient. We also had interviews this past week which was a lot of fun. The actual interview is pretty short like 10 minutes. Just a "how are things going?" "Hows your health?" "DO you have any concerns?" Then it is done. But here in July we will be getting a new president so it will be interesting to see what changes will be made. We will also be watching a world wide broadcast from salt lake on the 25 that is going to be broadcasted to all the missions in the world. They are going to be doing a little schedule changes to the missionary daily schedule and a few other things. SO that will be fun. But anyway.... I am excited to this new change. I will be writing you guys from a different place next week. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Love ya'll

Elder Corbin Keicher

Frog In A Bucket

Hello!!

Well another week in sweaty white shirts is in the books. Nothing too crazy... kind of a quiet week here. This is the last week of the transfer. on Sunday evening we will get a call and then monday is a normal day and Tuesday is P-day next week. Something kinda of sad happened here in Fontana on the 31st/new years eve. An inactive family lost a 11 year old girl due to a cement pillar that fell on her. Totally random and super sad. For the 6 months I have been here in Fontana I have never seen this family at church or even knew who they were. But a couple members in the branch that did know them were devastated. I tried to go find them they other day when I was on divisions but it is just so hard to find. We looked for 45 minutes but to no avail.

We struggled the first part of the week to find out investigators at home and all our appointments fell through. These past couple days we were able to find some good new investigators and find some investigators in their house. Unfortunately our investigators with a baptism date didn't make it to church. So we will just have to keep inviting and set some goals on that end. 

This past weekend I had a pretty simple spiritual experience that helped my testimony on prayer. When I started my fast this past saturday, I began the fast with a prayer and during the prayer I just felt the spirit so softly. I really felt like my prayer was being heard. Sometimes, especially as a missionary, prayers are said so often that it becomes a routine and sometimes I forget to really pray from my heart. I have noticed that the more I put into my prayers, the stronger Heavenly Father responds and testifies to my heart. 

Basically that was the week for me. A member gave us some mangos they had picked from a tree. I was super excited to try them cause I have never had the chance to eat a fresh mango before. But it ended up tasting horrible and not good at all. Anyway I love you all and hope you enjoy the snow while I bake ;)  

LOVE,

Elder Corbin Keicher

ps. We found a frog in out water bucket that collects water drops from out AC unit. It stayed there for like 12 hours.