It’s a wonderful world we live in...

What a week here in Portales for another week….

I was thinking today and I am in the second largest mission in the United States but I think the population is the smallest, seriously everywhere in my entire mission is pretty much a small town and I really am digging this small town life. I live in the literal Wild West like no joke.... we are still here down here. I got to rope cows this week. I have realized how much of a sissy I was before the mission like no joke, when I first came out all the hicks would call me a city boy, but know that I have grown into a man and can rope cattle, cook bbq and know pretty much everything you could ever want to know and need to know about cows, horses and building your own house. I have finally been accepted into the southern cowboy life, I have become a cowboy in a way and I’m so down.

This week was really cool. We got to volunteer at food drive where we put all of the food into bags for people who needed it and there were a ton of people there in the back room doing it. And the people in charge of this huge assembly line thing came up to me and Elder Hammond and asked us out of the like 80 people there, if we wanted to be the ones to hand out the food to those who needed it. It was such a blessing to see the faces of the people who truly needed food and how grateful they were that we were willing to help them. It changed me too see how truly blessed we are to have the things which we have. At the food drive I saw a lot of people that I talk to all of the time and you would have no idea that they were struggling because they are always working and they never ask anyone for anything.... we truly need to be thankful for the little things in life. Like every piece of food that we are blessed with, and every minute of life, it’s the little things that truly matter.

A quote in a letter that I got the other day that I really liked was "It’s a wonderful world we live in" man it really is this world is awesome, think of the beauty in it think of the sky and the sun and the stars and the moon. I took trees and clean air and water and hills and mountains and my family and my friends and my car and my life for granted when I was home. But never again. I love you guys be safe out there in the world. I love you.

love elder c

3 Mouse-kateering in Portales and the Priesthood...

The sun is up, the sky is blue, it’s beautiful and so are you dear… (everyone reading this message)…

It is a beautiful world here in Portales. I say a lot that it isn’t very pretty, but you know I really can’t say that, it’s got that nice flat plain-y look going for it, with the tumbleweed wild-west cowboy dash to it. I can dig it :)

Going 14 months strong, it has gone by at the exact speed that it has needed too. Some missionaries say it goes by way too fast and others way way too slow, but really if you just enjoy the moment it will go the exact speed it needs too. I am staying here for another 6 weeks and we are becoming a trio and getting an Elder Ross. He is becoming the newest “mousekateer”. On that note I would say one of the best ways to wake up is to look down and see a mouse caught on a stick trap right next to your bed. It’s just a good feeling :), but I got him and I think he is the last of the bunch. Also the only thing better than one bouncy castle......is two bouncy castles. (Pictures included).

Okay on a more awesome note. This week Tyler turned 14. And his father is not a member, so he asked me to ordain him to the office of a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood. I accepted. This is the 4th or 5th time on my mission I have been able to do something like this, but this time it was different. When I went into the room to ordain him and his whole family was sitting there, I was overcome. I was giving this family the priesthood it desperately needed in its home. Though he may be young, Tyler is taking on a huge responsibility being the priesthood holder in his home. It is a powerful yet wonderful gift given to those worthy males who will use it to bless their family. It’s weird to me how much I cry on my mission. Every time I give a blessing I cry, I have taught the discussions well over a thousand time I feel like, but there is still so much power in God’s plan for us that I still seem to bawl every time.

Also please go to the temple as much as possible, I miss it so much, so please go for those of us who have to wait and not go as often, I just wanted to throw that in there. 

This week has been a good one, I’ve learned a lot about how important it is to have the priesthood in your home. I am going to be bold and say this but every father should have the priesthood, it changes a home and a family, brings you closer together. I am so grateful for the priesthood and how it has been restored. The gospel is real. The same power Jesus Christ had is on the earth, so let us not waste it.

I love you all so much and be safe out there it’s a mad mad mad mad mad world.

Love elder keegan

Pullin cows and finding a phone

Here we are at the end of another transfer so if you wanted to write me a letter this week, Wednesday is the latest absolutely you could send it so I would get it! Also this week is my 14 month mark on my mission, man time is going by so fast it’s unreal man. 

Every week there is something new to love and to learn. I feel like I am becoming more of a man every day, from boy to man in two years is my goal. Service is awesome here too, so many opportunities. Like this week when we pulled dead cows from the dairies. 

My entire mission I have been trying to follow the spirit so much, so I could have one of the stories where I was like knocking a street and that person was praying for us to come and save their life or something like that. And I don’t think I have had one in a long long time, if I have, but I was kind of down trodden this week about it then we met with Kandy:). Kandy just got baptized as you already know, but she never really opened up about the first time we met until we sat down with her the other day. She said that right before Elder Marchant and I knocked on her door, she was at a cross roads in her life. She could pick either path, one that would lead her to worldly happiness and the other that would lead her ultimately to destruction. So she prayed for God to send her a sign. Literally the second she said amen, we knocked on the doorJ. I am so grateful for the Spirit of God. She then explained that, when she saw us she had to hold back tears because she could feel the Spirit of God in us and on us, it was tangible. The Gift of the Holy Ghost is so much different than just merely feeling it. It is a gift that you and other people can literally see. People know when you are a disciple of Christ. They can tell. We are different from the world and let’s keep it that way.

Another story for ya this week! Okay so we were looking for service and our friend runs a business where you go around to all of the dairies and pull the dead cows, put them in a trailer and bring them to the slaughter house for them to make dog food out of. Well this week we were helping him and there was a cow with cancer that we had to put down. But we had to chase it first. So we got into the cattle barn/corral place and chased a 1000 cows down to get that one with cancer cornered. After we got it we killed it, but our friend lost his phone and we were looking everywhere for it. Then I had the idea to pray and they were like “no we don’t need to for something like this”...I prayed anyway and after I prayed I looking up and I saw the phone instantly. Prayer works, even for the little things so never be afraid to pray. Ever, even if you are in the middle of a whole bunch of dead cows and poop don’t be afraid to pray! Can I get an amen!

Haha I love you guys so much, be safe out there in the big bad world. I will just be here kickin in a little town for the next week. Remember who you are and what you stand for. We all want to change the world, let’s do it on step at a time.

love elder c 

Dog-sitting and the Spirit in Spanish

OH what a week…

God bless this beautiful land of Mexico, New Mexico, but everyone here just pretty much calls it Mexico so I guess I did get to serve a foreign mission!

This week was so cool there was a baptism, not by us, but the Spanish sister missionaries had one here and it was way rad.

So this week we got to dog-sit for our neighbors across the way for an entire week while they were off for her job, and while we were taking care of them we decided to leave a Book of Mormon on their couch as the spirit directed, and low and behold when they got home Sunday night they picked it up and read it. They also appreciated how well we took care of their animals and how much pride we took in our home and things. They then wanted to live like that even more too. As members of the Church we take upon us the name of Christ, and I do not believe that Christ’s house would be a dump, so we need to treat everything that God gives us with respect and love, because people will notice and I mean God gave it to us, He deserves it.

So further with the Spanish baptism, we took Cindy to it. Cindy does not speak a word of Spanish and neither do we. But during the entire thing she was crying and she said she felt the spirit stronger then she had in forever and she knew this is what she needed to do. I think God’s word alone is amazing because no matter what language it’s in, if it is truth, the spirit will be there and the spirit will tell us of truth even if we don’t understand all the words. Truly think about that though, that alone is incredible and proof enough to me that there is a God. God is so incredible I love Him more every day.
This week was a keeper.

Love elder c