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
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
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