Monday, April 25th, 2011

1st story: (This one to Bishop Davis) During weekly planning, Elder Marlar and I were talking about an investigator whose name is Kenneth. He's a crazy but funny guy who smokes and wants to be better and follow "the word". We were talking about what to teach and his plans for progressing this week, when I remembered that we needed to teach him about the "Stop Smoking" program the church does for investigators like him. We honestly should have taught it to him and got it running a couple weeks ago, but I was reminded of it then. We talked about it and put it down. (We were visiting him that day for a lesson) During the prayer to leave the apartment a couple hours later, I was once again reminded of him and how I needed to grab the Stop Smoking pamphlet for him to keep....I forgot after 15 seconds in the prayer. As we were walking down the stairs to leave, I was reminded one more time to get the pamphlet for him, so we ran upstairs to get it. As I was in the apartment I thought, "I'll grab two copies, so he can have one to keep, and we can have one to read with him while we're there." I got two copies and we left. Kenneth's house is the farthest we ride on our bikes, about two miles, so it's quite the pilgrimage. While we were riding, this guy at a gas station called us over and asked if we were mormons. We said we were and asked him the same question. His wife was and he has been taught everything by the missionaries down in the South Mission. His name was Wade and he was saying how bad he wanted to go to the Celestial Kingdom. He said the only reason he wasn't baptized was because he smoked and he "didn't want any smoke in him when he was baptized." Elder Marlar mentioned the "Stop Smoking" Program, the same one we were doing with Kenneth that same day, and he said he would be really interested in it. I almost started laughing as we told him we just so Happened to have an extra copy of the program today. We gave him the spare pamphlet we had and got some info from him, not much though. He's gonna be a hard guy to get a hold of. We gave him our number and he said he'd love to meet with us. MAN!! Cool story! The Lord does surely work in his mysterious ways and I know that he DOES work for the missionaries!! If Bishop wants to edit or condense it down so it's shorter that's okay!

OH OH OH! Carol is being baptized! On May 7th! Let me tell you just in the last 2 or 3 weeks we've been making great progress and really feeling loved by them and love them! I LOVE going over there to teach and visit them! There such amazing people and they're so so humble! There's a scripture in the beginning of a chapter in alma that talks about them finding great success among the poor and those that were cast out of the synagogues, and they are a perfect example of that! They read from the Book of Mormon all the time! Jon can't read very well so we got him the BoM Audio CDs, and we weren't really sure how commited they were, but they're being baptized now. Carol has been to church 4 times in a row, and we're still working on Jon. I learned with them the great importance of becoming friends and loving your investigators, and not just seeing them as a, as Elder Holland put it "Baptismal Statistic!" There here at the library with us right now cause they don't have a computer. They're so so humble and amazing people! Yesterday we taught them the Word of Wisdom which was my biggest worry, but they don't smoke, do drugs, drink coffee or alchohal. But they do drink a bit of tea. The awesome part was they were so ready to change and felt sorry that they had been drinking it. Jon said, in very very poor broken up english, "oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know we weren't supposed to drink tea." I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM! So much! Last night Elder Marlar, myself and Jon had a group hug cause we love them so much, and they love us. I get so happy and joyful when I see them! They always tell us to be careful and that even after I'm transferred we have to stay in touch. Mom and Dad? When we come back? That's who we're going to go visit! Jon is just as amazing, but has a tiny hesitancy in coming to church, so that's what we're working on. They love reading the BoM, and praying! They're super good at praying about everything! Pray for them please! Jon and Carol! They're brother and sister, and every investigator who is gonna be baptized needs help in the weeks leading up to it ya know?Thanks!

Hey Dad, ya know how I always asked you how on earth you survived in the hot and humid Brazil? And you always told me that you just didn't notice it as much? I could never understand that, until now! When you're out riding your bike in it for hours each day, I just don't care or notice it as much. You just get used to the humidity. Lately I've been feeling myself relying to much on myself, and not enough on the spirit, and it's something I have a hard time controlling. I've figured out it's a problem with my pride. Even though it's not in extreme amounts, it's to much, and I need to be more humble and recognize the lord. It seems weird but I've actually been praying for afflictions to make me more humble. :D Any thoughts from anybody? I love you mom!

I really do love the work, and am so grateful for you and your influence on me! I'm doing the lord's work, and it is work. As Elder Eyring said, "I love this work, and it is WORK!"

Hurrah for Israel and keep being amazing okay? Enjoy Indiana! Love you

Your son
Elder McKeen