¿La vida? Muy buena...

Guest Blogger: Logan Keller

I am currently still in the “adjusting period.”  On September 3^rd, I returned home from a 15-week stint in the largest city in the world, la gran Ciudad de Mexico.  I often find myself feeling the desire to go get tacos around 10:30 at night and realizing that Betos is the closest thing to a taco stand, or responding to a professor’s question with “¿Cómo?” But, life is good—muy buena.

Elder Keller arrives at El Prat, 25 Aug 2009

The first half of my time in Mexico City was spent working for a foundation named the Academy for Creating Enterprises, which teaches returned Mexican missionaries business principles based on church doctrine.  Interacting with and coaching these recently (and not so recently) returned missionaries, really impacted my perspective on life. Many of the students return from two years of consecrated service to few job offers and even fewer opportunities to further their education.  I had a hard time reconciling how these new friends of mine, who had similar mission experiences, interests, and testimonies of the gospel, had such a different pathway to success and prosperity than I did.  It was neat to see how knowledge empowered them and gave them an added measure of hope and faith for the future.  They taught me so much through their humble, ambitious examples.  I am grateful the Lord is giving me opportunities to apply the skills I learned while on a mission in Barcelona along with the business education I am learning at BYU to help make a difference where I can.

At Sants

After the internship, una “amiguita” invited me to spend some time at her house in the hills outside the city. Excited to gain a different insight to the Mexican culture, I accepted the offer.  She also invited me to be a counselor in charge of missionary work at a multi-stake EFY she was directing.  Although it was a little strange being the only gringo at a weeklong conference for 500 Mexican teenagers, I experienced one of the most spiritually uplifting weeks of my life.  My assignment as the missionary work counselor was to give a lesson on Preach My Gospel and discuss how they could prepare now for their missions.  I prepared a short slide show with pictures of Barcelona and a few of the miracles stories I witnessed which they seemed to enjoy. Many of the youth are new converts and the only active members of their family. Their stories are inspiring. By the end of the week, it was neat to hear the youth of Mexico bare testimony about how excited they are to serve missions and to stay strong in the church.  I left this week with upwards of 150 new friend requests on Facebook and a strong confidence in the youth of the church.  The Lord is preparing them to preform wonders. It is clear to me they will be ready.

Last day in the mission: farewell portrait

After EFY, I checked into the newly transformed Centro de Capacitación Misional de Mexico.  Three times the size of the Provo MTC (including the soccer fields across the street), this spacious campus is beautifully maintained and houses more than 800 missionaries.  I joined a group of about 45 Spanish instructors contracted by the church to spend a period of time teaching missionaries and mentoring Latin teachers who would be teaching Spanish language instruction to English speakers.  The majority of the missionaries at the Mexico MTC are North Americans who will be serving in the Western region of the US. They are sent down to the Mexico MTC in order to make space available for visa waiters in Provo.  My time in Mexico was filled with full-time teaching, Mexican food, young single adult dances every Friday, soccer games, occasional weekend getaways with friends, and excursions to the city in the afternoons.

Through these experiences, I have gained a stronger understanding that God is my Heavenly Father.  He is aware of my weaknesses and talents. He places me in very specific situations to learn and to help others grow.  I have the same purpose as I did in Barcelona and when I focus on helping others to come unto Christ, the Lord helps me to do the same. Life is good—muy buena.

Logan is from Salt Lake City and returned home in June 2011. He served exclusively in Cataluña. He currently attends BYU-Provo where he studies finance in the Marriott School.