"Dark Year" down and hanging with the Holy Ghost...

Christmas Down -Time for a new year…

Christmas is the weirdest time to be a missionary hands down. I seriously have no idea how I am supposed to feel or how I actually feel. It is rad and all that I am a missionary and it is rad that I get to talk to my fam bam in person, but for some reason it is super weird to have a mix of the two. Haha I think that the only time that will be okay is if me and my future wife go on a mission somewhere.

But ya Christmas was so awesome, I took a ton of pictures but left my camera at home so I will have to send them next week. I promise.

So this is the end of my "Dark Year" as some missionaries call it. The one year I had in my life where I was able to be a missionary 100% of the time. And my report on this last year....this last year has changed me more than any other year I have lived on planet earth. I am still me... but I just feel like I am a better me if that makes sense. I would not trade this last year for anything haha, but as 2015 comes around the corner and I finish this year I have to say I have no regrets. I am completely happy where I am right now which is incredible. I truly believe that is because of the Holy Ghost. The companionship of the Holy Ghost is the highest level or highest degree of happiness we can find in this life because we are not literally in God’s presence yet. And this year I have had the Holy Ghost with me every single day. It really has changed my perspective on life in general. So I challenge all of you to do a couple things. One is to strive to have the Holy Ghost with you all the time and see what difference it makes in your next year.

Okay and for the year twenty-fifteen I have kind of set some goals myself. 2 things I can do to help hasten the work of Christ and something I am going to give up completely this year. Also 1 goal of something personal I can do that I have always wanted too. And 5 things to strengthen my testimony life. Not too hard of goals. But all in all, if all of your goals fall through the floor and you are left dangling there all alone…all I can really say is I hope that next year I am better than I was this year. I don't know how but that is my goal.

I love you guys be safe.

love elder keegan

Some Skype call comments:

At the Mission Christmas Party he and his companion performed some numbers for the group. One was "Find the Girl" instead of "Kiss the Girl" (The Little Morning-Find instead of The Little Mermaid) and another parody on "Reindeer are better than People". He said everyone thinks he and his companion look alike and they both remind people of Zac Efron, so they do a parody of him too. He said the missionaries enjoyed it and laughed and even the Mission President was okay with it.

On p-days they play basketball at a gym or sometimes go to Bath and Body and smell the lotions :-). 

Sharing free cocoa and our message with San Angelo...

Its Christmas, its Christmas time, Merry Christmas Y'all

Well everyone the days are finally here, it has been a long time coming, a long long time :), but we made it haha. I have shared Christmas messages with you guys the last couple of weeks so you are probably super tired of them, but I have a cool story that changed the City of San Angelos' opinion of Mormon missionaries.

So Idk if I have ever told you how truly hard missionary work is down here in west Texas. On a really good day of morning finding, in the summer when people are outside, is about 14 so that is only 14 people you talk to that day that are outside. And maybe one will invite you back. And we won’t talk about the others haha. But in winter time it is a lot harder because there is no one outside, the population is so spread out and so little that by the time you see someone they have already gone from their car to the house in an instant. But the prophets and apostles have asked us to pass out at least 10 “He is the Gift” cards a day. Not going to lie, I thought it was a pretty steep goal in the winter, but they asked us to and I knew the Lord would prepare a way for us to do it. So we started planning and thinking of ideas on how to share this gift and message with all of San Angelo.

We prayed for guidance from Heavenly Father to let us know the best way to share the news of His son. Then the idea came. So in San Anglo there is nothing to do, but during Christmas time they set up lights along the river and everyone in the entire town goes to see it. So we decided to set up a stand and give out free hot chocolate and give a card and share a quick message with everyone who stopped. So we had the members donate cups and hot cocoa and 5 gallon buckets. And we got the projector from the church and played “He is the Gift” video on it on repeat. So people could see it as they walked and slowly drove by. We didn't know if it was going to work. They had to get a city permit and a food handlers permit for us all and dedicated a plot where we couldn't leave. We were in.

So we go and set up camp on Saturday night. It started off kind of slow. But then 20 minutes later we had a line of easily over a hundred cars. With two city workers/officers directing traffic for us because so many people wanted to hear what we had to say and obviously get a little bit of free hot chocolate too. After we did this I saw so many people’s opinions of Mormons change and their look on Christmas change as well. Elder Severson and I were able to share the Christmas message with 192 people on that night. 192 souls where able to come closer to their Savior that night and many many more from other missionaries and everyone one of them is now sharing the gift with all of their friends as well.

I was in tears by the end of it all. Praising God that He had heard our prayer.

Christ Lives, he is our Savior, he is real, he is alive..... I am so blessed to be able to share the message of his birth this season. It is the greatest gift to me to be able to share his name with the world if that makes any sense.

I love you all and I hope you have the merriest Christmas you have ever had. And I hope you know I love you.

love elder keegan

75 degrees,17 months, Christmastime and trial-time...

75 Degrees and Sunny= Christmas in San Angelo Tx.

It’s weird, it’s Dec., like the 15th of December and I am wearing a short sleeve shirt and I want to wear shorts but I can’t. And I don't think anyone else wants to see me in shorts either, due to the fact that I have been on a mission for 17 months now and my legs have not seen sunlight for more like 10 minutes at a time, if that. Which is sweet.

So in case you didn't know already, I am staying here in San Angelo for another 6 weeks so I get to be here for Christmas and New Year’s, it’s going to be legendary.

So this week was the Ward Christmas Party which was way rad, we totally got pictures with Santa. And had the coolest nativity play by the Primary I have ever seen. There was everything from sheep, crying on stage, to throwing their cotton fur at each other, to Mary dropping the baby, and a pine tree in the middle of the Middle East falling on all of the donkeys and cows.... it was beautiful to say the least. Also Elder Sevey and I decided we are going to make a Christian album so be ready for that in a few weeks :).

This week we had some pretty powerful lessons as well. One of our investigator couples has been going through a lot of hard hard times lately. They feel as though it has been one trial after another. Which it truly has been for them. And they brought up the question why do bad things keep happening? Why does it not ease up, is God punishing us for something we did in our past? This couple is incredible, they recently in May found out they were going to have a child. And ever since then life has been in the dumps. I was pondering this a lot. Christ will not punish us continually for one action. He’s our Father. If you were a parent and your child did something wrong obviously you would help show them what the right thing to do is. You wouldn't punish them, then after they learn and don't do it again, punish them again two weeks later for that same thing. God does not work like that. The truth is there are many reasons why we have trials in this life, but for this couple’s case this is what we have come to the conclusion of.

The refiner’s fire. That is the fire that gold has to go through to get all of the imperfections and all of the impurities out of it. Until it is eventually made perfect.

As we see in the past, we see this a lot. In Joseph Smith’s case, he was cast into Liberty Jail for months. In the winter. And because of that time where he thought all was lost, he was able to write sections 121, and 122, and 123 of Doctrines and Covenants. They say Joseph Smith was not the same man who went into Liberty Jail when he came out. He was transformed into the prophet he needed to be.

Even Jesus Christ himself went through the refiner’s fire. After Christ had fasted for forty days…suffering fatigue and thirst. At the end of it all, Satan came to tempt him. When Christ was in his weakest physical state, is when Satan chose to attack. That must have been incredibly difficult. But after Christ endured, he began his earthy ministry and completed the greatest act, the Atonement. So if you feel like your life is the hardest it has ever been, maybe it is because God is preparing you for something great that you can’t even comprehend like this young couple with their new child. I believe God is preparing them to be earthy parents.

If you are down in the dumps if you feel all is lost. Look how far you've come. And ask yourself are you a better person now then you were before these trials? I promise with the Lord’s help you can get through anything... Truly Anything. It’s incredible.

I love you all so much, have a great week right before Christmas and celebrate my 17 month mark with me on the 17th this week :).

Be safe

Love Keegan

Add Fireman to the list of Missionary attributes...

Add Fireman to the list of Missionary attributes.

So this week was a doozy as my buddy Elder Buratto would say haha. This could be my last week in San Angelo so if anyone was planning on sending me a letter don't send it any later than Tuesday! And I will update you on next Monday on where to send it!

So this week I got to see a lot of people in the ward I started out in on my mission, which was way cool, it's weird that they remember me after all of this time, it was kinda like I was coming home. But among those people, I found out that one woman and her husband are having a baby and were recently sealed in the temple! She is like way pregnant, and she wanted us to like do some service for them to help them out in any way. So for 1 of our ten service hours this week we tried to help this lady induce labor by going on a walk with her and her husband on a full moon and street contacting with them while we do it......it worked......haha just kidding, that would be insane. But I would have to add that to the list of things I have done on my mission now that I never thought I would do before…

Also this week we went on exchanges and I went to the other area, to first ward for the day to help the work over there too! And while we were there we were sharing the “he is the gift” message with everyone we could find. Because it is incredible, but while we were doing this we started talking to a lady, and I can’t for the life of me remember her name, all I know is that her husband looks like a Lamanite warrior, it was crazy, but anyway as we were watching the video the spirit came to our little huddle outside on her lawn and right as I was about to testify of our Savior Jesus Christ, a truck comes speeding up from behind her house, yelling “hey lady someone lit your trash can on fire and now it’s getting your fence!!!!!” I was so in the spirit that I didn't realize what was going on, but I just started running into the back yard with my companion following me, and we came to find smoke bellowing out of this trash can and the fence catching on fire! So we like superman and the flash, run and grab the hose, while they are calling the fire department. While he is getting the hose, I run to the burning trash can and put my shoulder into it and football tackle it away from the fence. While they are both on fire still and he come up with this bucket of water and we throw it on the fence and we are running back and forth till we finally put it out. Before anything too serious happened. But as we finished it up, this fire truck with like 10 fireman come running over asking if everything is alright? We assure them that we are missionaries and we have the situation under control :) haha. So we got it all settled and set up a return appointment with them for a couple days later and when we went back they were so impressed with our church and the restoration that they accepted a baptismal date…so everything happens for a reason. Fires just don't start in the middle of a garbage can for no reason, I mean come on!

Also on a cool note too, I invite everyone to watch the “he is the gift video”, because this is the season for those who have not found Christ to find him and the season for those who have found him, to come closer to him. Life is so hectic and crazy all of the time. Especially on Christmas, people are always going, going, buying, buying, cooking, decorating, singing, fighting, watching movies, sliding on the ice, asking Santa for gifts....but I invite you this season to slow down for a minute, and recognize the first gift of Christmas. I think Christ needs it. I mean even the very first Christmas of them all, as we read in Luke 2:7 was crazy hectic. I mean there was so much stuff going on there wasn't even room in the city for them to stay. It sounds like something was going on that weekend like a concert, or even an ancient basketball game or something. Even from His birth he has not had a Christmas that was completely devoted to him.....the true meaning of Christmas...he is Christmas… So I Challenge all of you this Christmas, to remember the ONLY one and ONLY reason for the holiday. Christ. So bring your family closer together through him this Christmas starting now. He is the ultimate gift, what more can I say.

Alright everyone, sorry for talking your ear off this week, it was a good one.

I love you. I really do. I love you for who you are and for what all of you have done for me. So be safe out there and be strong.

Love elder c

He is the Gift!

We did it, we are still here, we are all still here, and you can take that to the Bank!

 Everyone it is now Christmas season and we can listen to Christmas music! But as a missionary I can only listen to a few things, so I have been listening to Christmas music since literally the first hour I got into the mission field in the middle of July, so it’s awesome, plus it’s still like 70 degrees here and sunny so it doesn't feel quite like Christmas yet, but I bought some eggnog this week just for kicks and giggles haha.

Oh ya, and there is like this 50 foot teddy bear at the mall and me and Elder Severson played on it last p-day it was so rad. And while we did it, this preacher from the black Baptist church in town came up to us, and was like “are you guys ministers”? And we were like ya? And he was like, “God bless you gentleman, thank you for showing the world you can still have fun and follow our Lord and Savior! PRAISE JESUS!” And he gave us a fist pump and did a cool little step as he walked away haha.

So rad thing this week was that our mission president called an emergency zone meeting and he showed us the “He is the Gift” video! It seriously gets me pumped up for this season and what it really is about. I really have never been so stoked for Christmas in my life and now we are just talking to people about Christ and his birth, sharing the account from the Book of Mormon and it is working so well, it’s changing the world! If you haven't seen it, go see it. It’s called “he is the gift” and it’s at Christmas.lds.org.

Oh ya and Thanksgiving was so rad. We started out the day with a good old turkey bowl with all of the military....if I didn't mention it before, this is a military ward and everyone is like 20-30 and super jacked its crazy cool haha. But that was so fun, 2-hand touch with a bunch of military people gets pretty intense! I’m not gonna say I won the game, but I think we are all winners for trying haha and dinner was so good! It’s weird there are only 2 days a year you aren’t supposed to like "work" as missionaries and Thanksgiving was one of them, so we just ate and ate and ate. I gained like 5 pounds it was sweet. But not too many spiritual experiences sadly :(

Such a good week out here in the mission, we had some more investigators at church this week and the work is going forward so much it’s unreal. We are changing the world. All of us and we can see it if we open our eyes!

Love, Elder C.

Tale of an Elder in Angelo

This is the Tale of an Elder in Angelo.

So this week was incredible. I don’t think I have ever worked harder or been more tired in my entire life. But it’s weird, I think that this week I have learned more than I have in a long time.

So there is this couple we found the other day and started teaching them. They are incredible. We taught them about the restoration of the gospel, then we proceeded to answer every question about religion, the afterlife, heavens, purpose of everything and many many more. It was awesome because we could answer them. The answer of “what is our purpose here on this earth”… to anyone who doesn't know is to have joy. To find the most lasting and loving joy that you can. So essentially we are here to be happy :). So let’s stop worrying about all the haters out there and just feel the love from our family and from our God. So now they are preparing for baptism...

Also we are teaching another family. They are so rad. But we found them the other day and they had similar questions as our other investigators, with the exception that she did not believe there is a God. Look at that last statement... it is past tense :) haha There is a God. Their family wants to be together forever more than anything, even if they ask..."are you sure you want to do this?" “I mean you are going to be stuck with me forever.” The principle is simple, but it means the world to me.

This week is Thanksgiving......It is my last Thanksgiving as a full time representative of my greatest friend, hero, and savior, Jesus Christ..... It’s bittersweet. But I am out here to show him how grateful I am for him. That is my reason for my service. Jesus is the Christ. He knows you. He knows everything about you. As he was suffering in the Garden he saw you. He lived his perfect life for me and he gave his perfect life for me. So I hope if you don't get anything else out of this letter I hope that you truly know that Christ knows you. And I challenge all of you everyone to know him. Because that is the only way I have found that purpose of life I was talking about before.

I am so thankful for everyone in my family. God let us be with our family for a reason. These people around you, though they are far from perfect, were sent to you be with you. Out of the 80 billion people who have lived on this earth you got them. So I am going to try to be a better brother and a better friend, son, cousin, acquaintance, cause I know whoever you are, you’re in my life for a reason and I am so grateful for you. I really hope you understand I am so thankful for everyone I know, I really am... because of you I have found my gratitude. I have found my joy. Even if I wasn't the missionary who got a shout out from Jabari Parker. (There was social media pic and comments from Parker with missionaries) I am still a lucky guy:).

And to wrap it up, the 2nd family I was talking about is now preparing for baptism to be together forever. So ya, I love you guys so much. Feel free any of you to write me. I would love it!

Stay sweet world…

Love elder Keeg

PS. Also me and Elder Severson wrote a song, but I cannot get the video to upload, so here are a couple pics to show you how legendary it was haha.