Monday, March 28th, 2011

The baptism went great! Scary though, it was scheduled to start at 10 but at 10:10 they weren't there. I thought they'd pulled a run-away convert and booked it to almost join another church :) (Not really) I baptized her and it was a great great day. The confirmation was yesterday and that was as well awesome. We also had our first investigator at church yesterday, (I don't count Olivia, she came most every week with her way active mom), and in fact, his name was John, and he's sitting right next to me. I didn't notice but we came to the library and he was sitting here, kinda neat. Another cool thing was that the reason why Olivia and her Mom were late was because she was bringing a ton of her less active/non-member family to the baptism and to church the next day! Awesome!!! The ward yesterday was Packed! There were more there than when we had Ward Conference, so that was neat to see. It's cool how just adding more people can bring more of a spirit and contribution to classes and sacrament meeting! Thanks Kimberly for keeping Olivia in your prayers! That means a lot to me.

Bradley of mine, I got your letter and loved the pictures, to bad BYU lost! I truly thought that they would win to fulfill some prophecy or something to prove to the world that people are better off for not doing bad stuff, if that makes sense, but it wasn't meant to be. But anyways, do you remember a Christine Clinnin from Indiana? I met her in the MTC and she recognized my name. She knew or might have been converted by Elder Lyons and she remembered you, and now she's serving a mission.

So something happened this last week that kinda broke my heart a little. Elder Hunt and I were tracting and this guy answered the door after we knocked. We talked and introduced ourselves as missionaries of Christ's church. He listened but then interrupted us and said, "Can I ask you a question? Why did god make my wife kill herself? Thank You! BYE!" He just shut the door and went inside! I couldn't believe it! I was partially heart broken because I KNEW how much he needed what we have and how happy he could be! He just needed to give happiness a chance. That was hard! I almost wanted to go back and force it upon him, for his own good, but we can't do that as missionaries, or as members of the church.

BUT GOOD NEWS!!! GENERAL CONFERENCE IS COMING THIS WEEK!!! I missed it! I can't believe it was 6 MONTHS ago that I went through the Salt Lake Temple and BYU lost to USU in football! Isn't that crazy how fast time goes mom?

In Elder's Quorum yesterday we were talking about families, and how to run them as fathers with our wives now or in the future, and I thought, "Man, I am SO SO blessed to have parents like mine." AND I AM! Mom, all the kids will agree with me! Both you mom and you dad are amazing. I shared with the Quorum that the best thing is prevention and not correction of inappropriate child behavior. The example was how as long as I can remember, we read scriptures early in the morning, and said prayer twice as a family, and you know what? I grew up with that, all the kids in our family have, and you know what that's done? It means that even though Ashlyn and Geneve don't understand anything about the world and are under 5 months old, their parents are reading with them and praying with them. All because that's why you mom and dad have done with us! I'm sure Ashlyn and Geneve and Kaylee will do the same thing with their kids! We don't know when kids start remembering and developing their character, so if you make sure you start early, like Kristen/Jared and Austin/Angie do, and like you did mom and dad, you have nothing to worry about. For you there is and was no need to worry about me doing bad things, because you had taught us well, which translated into me getting good friends. I want that for my children. I was reminded of that during church yesterday!

Hey Justin, Brad and Dad, hopefully Austin as well (unless he's going with his dad and brothers), but probably not Jared, cause he's in Texas, anyways, have fun going to priesthood session this saturday! My comp and I are taking our dinner hour during a pre-priesthood session barbeque and then are gonna watch the session, so it's kinda like what we've been doing for years! Love one another!

I love you mom! I'm reminded of how much you do and how lucky I am to be born into a family with you and dad as the heads. VERY few people have that chance, and I have! I love you!

Your favorite 19 year old son,
Elder Jason McKeen

Monday, March 21st, 2011

Happy End of the World Day (According to the New World Order, today was and is the end of the world, so wait for a giant meteor, or a mushroom cloud, personally I expect it to hit in 2 hours).

Honestly, this last week has been a harder week. There were a lot of stuff that we had to do, weekly planning, leadership training, and more that kept us from being outside finding people. I wasn't feeling like a missionary, but I've realized that those things are very important because they help you be more affective when we're proselyting. We also HAD to do a long service project on Saturday, which we don't usually do, but it was kind of almost an emergency. Just little stuff like that has kept us from contacting and teaching, so that's really why it's been a bit harder for me.

I started the New Testament today cause I finished the Book of Mormon this last week. We read the BoM as a mission, so I read from that everyday as well as the New Testament. THERE'S SO MUCH TO STUDY IT'S CRAZY!

Investigator Update: Something really cool happened. Olivia is getting baptized this next saturday and she asked me to baptize her and Elder Hunt to confirm her! :D That's pretty pretty cool! You'll be getting a great picture next week of us at the baptism. It's this saturday at 10 am, so I'm excited about that. She's the 9-year-old girl who was found by a miracle!

Donovan and Michelle Pardos: AMAZING PEOPLE! We have a lesson at a member's house tonight and they're so fun and easy to teach, or, easy for the spirit to teach. They're open to so much good and ask LOTS of questions which is good!

We have lots of people we've taught once and are waiting to see if they keep commitments, so these are the people we're really really hoping for.

Last night Elder Hunt and I had a party in the living room! We moved our mattresses in there and slept on the floor, just to change things up a little. So a really really cool story happened! We were riding our bikes out of the apartment complex and a guy stopped us and called us over in his car. We walked over and I very calmly freaked out in my mind. I recognized him at once. We talked and he asked if any of us went to BYU and I said I went to a semester there before I came here. He said he'd played football there so I played ignorant and said, "What's your name!" "Michael Reed!" CRAZY! I shook his hand and told him how much I and my brothers and dad had loved to watch him play. He lives in our complex and we have his number in his phone. He said that Mac, the supply guy from BYU had sent him some shirts and asked if we wanted a football BYU t-shirt. Of Course!!! I got a pic with him and after that he asked us, "Have you ever heard of Austin Collie?" (My mind started hoping that he was inside his apartment or something) "Of course I know Austin Collie!" He said he'd just gotten off of the phone with him and they still stay in touch and hang out if they can. Way cool

Quick note, Brad, could you send me your first mission journal, of when you got to Indiana? Only if you feel comfortable, it's just that me and you are SO much alike in our minds and in most every way, so It'll help to see someone else going through the same thing...does that make sense?

Another funny story, there was a recent convert, whose name is Caitlyn, and she's I think 15ish. She was baptized after her older 19 year old sister was and they're both really really solid. Their family, mostly extended has been giving them a hard time for their conversion, and after Caitlyn put a picture of the Book Of Mormon on Facebook and said that "This is what I read in my spare time!" one of her cousins commented about how she could do that to the family, and dishonor and stuff, so Caitlyn (kinda sassy!) wrote back, "I don't know by what authority you were baptized by, but I was baptized by the authority of GOD!" .....Smackdown! It's like those Anti-Christ prophet smackdowns in the Bom! Such good people out here, but we're focusing especially on strengthening the ward now! It's very very much needed to help converts. Sorry, I'm running out of time!

I love you all so so much! Pray for me please, but don't worry about me please :D I'm doing so well and splendid! It wouldn't be worth while if there weren't hard times now would it. I know this church is true and Justin and Kimba....prepare for missions if Kimba you decide to serve! I love you!

love,
Your son: THE Elder McKeen (just to let you all know the word THE means Texas Houston East mission)

Monday, March 14th, 2011

Holy Cowie! Another week huh? Dang they go by so fast. Guess what? It's thundering, lightening and raining outside! Beautiful! We're going shopping after this. So one thing I thought I'd share real quick is a talk I read. It's titled the fourth missionary and how we can become that missionary that few become. I read it and the one thing I wanted to work on was turning not just my body and spirit to the Lord, but also my desires, and dreams, and make my desire, what the Lord desires. As I thought about this I wondered, and have been wondering this for a while, "Does that mean I can't have fun as a missionary? That I'm supposed to be a missionary and have no fun?" I hope not, we're told a lot to be a missionary, but also to be ourselves, and I WILL go crazy if I don't have fun over the next 22 months. (Yup, almost 22 months! :) ) I was wondering how I can go run in the rain during lunch, or play a mini game of mini golf in my apartment during dinner, or do other harmless but fun stuff like that, if that's one of MY desires. I bet the Lord would rather have me studying my scriptures at the time, rather than do little harmless fun activities during dinner. That's something that's been on my mind so if anyone has any advice PLEASE let me know. (So it just barely, within 5 seconds just started POURING, and the only reason I know that is because we can hear it through the library roof! :D FUN FUN)

Investigator Update: :( Sad story, Rick and Corinna Brown said they weren't able to change right now! They said they agreed with much of what we told them in the short 35 minute lesson we gave Rick on the doorstep, but that they just weren't ready. The first thing I thought of was that I bet Satan had a party over that two weeks until we could meet with them. We knew it was too long to wait, and that's why we stopped by every other if not every day to see them, but that wasn't enough. But ya know, I left there kinda of sad, but not, because although I would have LOVED to see them converted, we planted an AMAZING seed, and I KNOW it'll happen in the future. Maybe within the year, but it'll happen.

Olivia, the 9 year old girl whose mom we tracted into and is a member, is just doing great! She reads a picture Book of Mormon we gave to her most every day, and prays and teaches her non member dad and sister the Plan of Salvation chart we gave her. So so great! She's going to be baptized the 26th of this month, march, so we're just still going with her on that, just making her feel comfortable and understands everything as much as a 9 year old can.

We have two more baptism dates with a brother and sister named John and Carol. It was on exchanges, but Elder Hunt said they had a fantastic lesson. We'll see how they do.

We taught an AMAZING AMAZING lesson to a referral married couple named Donovan and Michelle. Actually, we didn't teach the lesson, the spirit did! It was probably the best lesson I've had since being a missionary. Elder Hunt and I were guided an incredible amount by the spirit to ask question inspired by him, discern their needs (which were primarily based on faith and how they can gain a knowledge of what we teach and what they read), and teach principles to what they need! It was so so great! They didn't want to commit to baptism, because that was a big part was them finding out for themselves, which we were fine with, but they said they'd read the BoM and pray, and pray and pray. They're such great people. Mid twenties, enjoying life but have been searching through many religions, looking for one that allows them to have a "good feeling" about what they are apart of, and also learn about Science, and other religions, and use that knowledge, or testimony, that they'll gain if they have the desire, to correctly discern what is true and what isn't. Just like you dad, as you read the Book of Jasher. You have a firm testimony of the gospel, and you can use that to pick out what is true and what isn't. .They wanted the same thing. By the way dad, I love the Book of Jasher stories you send. Keep them coming please. Elder Hunt and I read them....I just love hearing everything from you and mom.....I also told them about my strong testimony, but how I still wanted to learn about other religions and that's why I took the World Religion's class at BYU. I wasn't "Looking", but I was "Learning" about other religions. AMAZING LESSON. Next one is tomorrow, on tuesday.

Oh, and Brad and Dad, please keep the newspaper pictures of BYU basketball coming. I hear a bit, and talk to members, so it's nice to fill in the gaps. I was happy to hear about Daves! What a stud! Not for what he did, but what he did...if that makes sense. He chose to follow God, and not man. But Brad, just the pictures, with a date on them would be nice. Not the stories please! Love you both.

Oh, and mom, I did indeed get the package! I loved it! The Stafford shirt is just what I need. The MM shirts are kinda heavy, that's all. But please don't go buy anymore. I can easily make due. I'm perfectly content. And an answer to your question mommy: YES! I cook all the time for my companion and I. I'm gonna get stuff to make Lasagne today, and we make Dad's cornbread ALL THE TIME. Probably 3 times a week, and also biscuits. We're eating well! BUT, please don't send me anymore sweats :) I'm getting tired of sugar, and I just eat it and eat it if it's there. A member made us the BEST cake a week ago. It was a peruvian cake I think but it was named "Tres Lechase?" It means "Three milks" and I'm sure you've heard of it. It's a legend! If you so desire to send me food, and I would love more food, send me muffins like you have, or rolls, or amazing stuff like that. Sorry, I don't mean to be picky. I don't mean to be fat either, and that's why I'm saying. :) Love you! Oh, and thank you so much for the Jerky, it was gone 20 minutes after I opened it.

So, I've been trying to buy really good, healthy food, like strawberries, bananas, apples, carrots and celery. And lately, after I eat the bulk of the meal I grab some carrots and celery and some Peanut Butter and eat it! It reminds me so much of our trips to London as a family, and eating PB, with carrots and celery. Elder Vainuku, from tonga thinks I'm crazy. By the way, he made us some Tongan food the other day. AMAZING AMAZING!! Dad, if you ever want a fun idea that puts out amazing results. Make Tongan food! Everything is cooked in Coconut milk! So so AMAZING!

Funny note, dad, I was laying in bed, and I heard the noise of a freight train traveling in the distance. I knew it was coming up to a road crossing, even though I couldn't see it. Wanna know how? I heard the distinct, 2 long, 1 short, 1 long. Isn't that weird how I remember that?

Another thing to Kristen, Jared, Angie and Austin. On my wall, I have pics of Mom, Dad, Kristen, Angie, Brad and Alex, all as missionaries, but I felt like something's missing. When you get the time, could I get a picture, maybe two, of Jared and Austin as missionaries in Boston and Oklahoma? I talk so much about my family, that I want everyone to see. If it's not to much to ask, could I get that one picture of Austin where he's looking through a peep hole with a santa hat on? I love that one!
So a funny story: We went to an asian buffet, called Hibachi, and by the way I tried sushi for the first time. eeh! But anyways, I was walking around, carefully deciding whether I'd like heart burn, or constipation, and what foods I should pick according to those wants when I heard the BeeGees on the radio! At an asian buffet, in Texas! Crazy ehh? I've been reminded of the family so much. Dad, it was definitely a tender mercy of the lord.

I also had a question to all, but I thought of dad when I thought of it. What happened to the Hill Cumorah Box that the plates were contained in? We know where that hill is, but not where the box is? Is that one of those, hidden-by-the-lord moments?
Also, I thought of a good present or idea if anyone is bored or wants something to do for christmas or birthday, but I'm fine without it. I wanted a Shopping/Email idea list, instead of writing them in my planner. I'm fine doing that, but just to be a bit more organized, and to be reminded of home more :) Just a home made one, or a store bought one, just something.

One last story: Elder Hunt and I were biking around, and we saw a man whose car had broken down in the middle of an intersection, so we quickly set our bikes down and ran to help him push. We pushed it out of the intersection, when I realized that an Army soldier, dressed in Camo had come to help as well. I don't know why, but I thought it was just such a cool moment to see us as missionaries, and an army soldier do an act of service. We didn't talk cause he ran off, but just a cool sight to imagine. A man, with two missionaries and a soldier in camo helping this guy push his car.

I must be going now, but I love you all! Each day, more and more I learn and am reminded of my dependence on the spirt and on god! I know that missionary work is a privilage and an amazing opportunity given to us by our Heavenly Father. No work is greater than this, that the saving of a soul. I will represent the McKeen name well and work hard! I love you all! I think I'm gonna start doing more of the small plates of nephi, with more spiritual stuff, than the large plates with just political and social stuff. What do you think? I love you all!

Justin: Way to be getting 5 days of reading in this week! I'll send you an amazing letter but just keep on going dude! I love you so much and I want you to succeed!

Kimberly: How are you? Sorry if the letter I sent you was a bit weird, I realized after I'd written it that it was, but that's okay. You're 12! Weird stuff huh? I love you and I'm so happy You gave a talk and did well in your play. I'd love to hear about it... MAYBE IN A LETTER :D I love you!

Sorry, Kristen and Jared, no time to write today but I love you!

I love you Mom! That letter I sent you only containted .000001% of all I owe you and will forever owe you! Keep being such an amazing person! I love you!

Your son, Elder McKeen

Monday, March 7th, 2011

Okay, so some AMAZING miracles have been happening! This week I've been reminded SO many times that my efforts are mostly to prove to the lord and myself that I can follow him, and that success is a blessing, not something that is corolated with my obedience. First miracle: Tuesday, Elder Hunt and I were tracting at 10:25, and weren't seeing a whole lot of people because of the time of day, and the neighborhood we were in. After a bit, I was reminded of a house that we thought to visit. It was where a lady had someone die in her family, and I thought there would be no better time to go to here. We knocked, and no answered, we knocked again, and no one answered. I thought that was a little weird, because the thought to visit her came into my mind kind of like a prompting, but I brushed it off and said it was just my mind. We looked down the street and decided to go right on the same side of the road. A couple houses down, we knocked on the door, and this guy game to the door whose name wasRick Brown. I noticed he was remodeling his house and painting a new room he'd put in. We talked for 5-10 minutes about that, and everything I said was stuff like "Oh man, my whole family and I painted our whole middle floor once, so so fun!" or, "My dad and I love doing stuff like this, putting in rooms, BUILDING LOFTS, and more" or, "My mom loves to paint our house, we get the whole family to help and it's so fun!" or "My brother in law Austin who's big into remodeling, put windows into our living room and let us help, it is so exciting!" I was quickly reminded of all the fun times we have with PAINTING, building, remodeling, and more! Keep doing that! NEVER pay someone to paint the house! It's more fun and unifying to do it with people you love. ANYWAYS, we eased our way into the gospel and HOLY COW! Rick and his wife were text book golden contacts! AMAZING! His wife's mother had just died and neither of them were at all happy with their religions, (Protestant and catholic). They had been jumping between churches, each sunday trying to find one they liked! We taught him a first lesson in his garage and he loved all we were saying! He'd say all the time "Ya'll know this makes A LOT of sense" That's when I thought "I KNOW! THAT'S WHY I LOVE IT SO MUCH!" He loved the ideas of prophets and understood the apostasy really well! He also was drawn to the part that we emphasized a lot which was that he can find out FOR HIMSELF if the BOM is true, and if what we teach is true, through prayer. We let him hold a book of mormon, and at the end he said "Would ya'll mind if I kept this book to read?!" Holy GUACAMOLE!!! I was so so amazed! I was on the clouds for the whole day! And now, just retelling it is making me crazy! We left and walked down the street, and I was basically crying, and I DON'T CRY, but I'd NEVER seen something like that before! NOTHING! Angels had truly prepared his heart, and his wifes, to accept our message. The down side is that we can't meet with him for two weeks, so we're gonna set up an appointment for this weekend. He's a shift worker and couldn't make time to meet with us, but we went over almost everyday to meet his wife, and talk. Such nice people, that welcome us in their home everytime. Cool Miracle!

Olivia Martinez, the little girl whose mom we tracted into is getting baptized!!! Very cool! Her mom is a member, and had been looking for the church. She's 9 years old so she has to be taught by us, which was cool! She's getting baptized in under 3 weeks, so that's REALLY cool! Another great part, is that her mom, who's super amazing....well....we were teaching Olivia, and we set a baptism date and we mentioned that Baptism are great ways to invite others who aren't members to them. She said she'd already gotten a friend of hers and her 2 boys to say they're coming! AMAZING! She's a great member missionary, who is so excited to learn and teach. She's invited them to the baptism, and to come sit in on a lesson. Her friend is really excited! Sounds promising!

A member, whose name is Sis. Humphrey, also has a friend she wants us to teach! Sis. Humphrey is a Recent Convert, and while we were teaching her and visiting with her in the lounge of her apartment complex, her friend walked by who is ready to hear the gospel. She's not satisfied with her religion and asked Sis. Humphrey lots of questions about us! She walked by and said "Oh I'll be seeing you two gentlemen very soon!" We're doing a church tour with her this saturday! Very cool!

Now some funny stories! We were talking to a Recent Convert named Cameron, who's 18, solid kid, has his struggles, and is the text book Texan! He can't see himself working for anyone but the military. So many times we'd be talking and he'd say, "I just wanna shoot some A-RABS!" I couldn't believe it!

Another funny story that will illustrate what kind of place I'm at: We were at a member's house, eating dinner, and were during a lesson with them when all of the sudden it goes silent, and we here these GUN SHOTS from out side! Someone asks, "Were those gun shots?" The members said, "probably". Oh well, and we continued with the lesson. What the?! :)

So many times I've found myself getting frustrated, mostly while tracting, cause I've had literal doors slammed in my face, just like the "Hello, I'm Alma, and this is (SLAM!)....Hello, I'm Alma (SLAM!!!).....Hello, (SLAM!!).....He (SLAM!!!) (That's for you Brad and Justin! Remember laughing our heads off at that part?!) After this happened a couple times, I'm not sure why, but I was reminded of Dad, Brad, Justin and Myself, at the Byu v. Utah 2006 game. As we were walking to the stadium, there was SO much booing, and taunting going on, and I remember, being 14 at the time, kinda scared, and dad, just LAUGHING! I decided that all I could do with so much opposition, is just laugh it off, like dad did at all the BYU v Utah games we've been too! I love you dad!

The rain here is AMAZING! We haven't even had that much, but one morning, we were playing ultimate frisbee in the church field, and it just stated coming down, heavy. We stayed and played, because in 1 minute we were soaked! It gets worse than that all the time! The cool part was that we were playing, and I was of course in my white Orem city League shirt, and someone threw me the frisbee, and it was out of my reach, and I dove and BARELY caught it! It was awesome! Everybody screamed and cheered! I was reminded of how much fun ultimate frisbee is and was with Shawn, Micah, Brad, Nick, Matt, and everyone else in the fall! I quickly caught myself being prideful and cloating in my ability, so I said a prayer and thanked Heavenly Father for my love of sports and athleticism!

So much to write and so little time! I was realized how important scripture study is! Because of exchanges, and sunday church at 8, I went almost 2 whole days without studying from the scriptures, and I can't tell you how down I was! I felt so so crappy! I read this morning, and really had the scriptures open up to me, and it was incredible the difference! The scriptures, The BOM is the word of god through his prophets! I know it!

I love you all, I know that this church is the ONE true church, and I love our testimonies! I share it so so much out here, especially with people who don't want to talk to me! It invites the spirit and strengthens myself! Strive to bear your testimony at all times, both in words, and in your actions! I can't write individual snipits today, but I love you so much mom! This gospel is true and I know it! You're an amazing momma!
Your son,
Elder McKeen