Good-bye to the great state of Texas!!

Hello everyone and good-bye to the great state of Texas!!

Yes it is true I am leaving and going out of Texas, but wait I am not going home! No, I have been called to serve in Portales, New Mexico!... (outside or NW of Roswell)… and let me tell you I am a little bit stoked to go there and to convert that great state to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I am sad to leave Midland though, over the last couple of months it has become my home and the people here my family....I will miss them :)

So this week was one of the best weeks of my entire life and that is because I know the Lord truly has sent me on my mission for a reason…

Today I am going to tell you about my friend Shaquel. He is a twenty-year-old who just got home from doing a tour in the army. When he got home he fell away from the church and wasn't comfortable coming back.... about 2 months ago Shaquel was driving his truck and he stopped at a four-way stop. He then proceeded to go, thinking it was his turn. As he pulled out into the street a semi-truck that failed to stop, going 60 miles an hour, hit his truck…turning the truck into a blob of destroyed metal.... Shaquel was pinned under the dash board and he was losing a lot of blood. The ambulance then came after 17 minutes and cut him out of the truck gently pulling him out. He was then rushed to the hospital. When he arrived he found out that he had broken both of his femurs, shattered his right ankle and broken every rib on the right side of his body. He was bleeding a lot and the doctors didn't think he was going to make it. He then, after getting to the hospital, had a massive stroke leaving him on the brink of death…

It was about 8:00 p.m. when we received a call that we were needed at the hospital to give a blessing. So we biked as fast as we could to get there. When we got there it was one of the scariest moments of my life. We asked the nurse where we could touch him and they said nowhere.... we pleaded that we only needed to put one finger on his forehead and after a little while she then agreed. She said she was afraid it wasn't looking so good and that the only thing they were banking on was that he was a strong boy. Elder Clement and I then gave him a blessing of healing. We said he would be healed because the Lord said he would. We then left. About a month later we received a call from Shaquel’s grandpa saying thank you. You saved my grandson's life. Apparently after we left Shaquel began to change dramatically and he then began to awaken. He asked us to go see Shaquel in the rehabilitation center, so we went and when we got there we saw him. He said thank you for doing what you did for me. He said that he is going to change his life. He said he has seen the power of God in his life and he knows that the priesthood is real! Shaquel and I are now lifelong friends and I know that the Lord sent me to Midland for him. I needed to be worthy, I needed to be ready and He needed me at that time. 

I am so blessed to be an instrument in the Lord’s hands. I am so blessed to be on a mission and I am so blessed to be alive. I love life and I love all of you. Thank you for everything you do.

Love Elder Christensen

The Lord's arms must be getting pretty strong from carrying me so far...

Hey Everyone. Happy day after Mother's Day and another day on the mission :).This week was a pretty good week, it was warm and people were pretty happy to talk to us!

So this week my companion was having some brief stomach issues so I got to know all the people who hang out around the 7-11 throughout all hours of the day. They are a fun bunch haha. But while I was talking to this pair of 13 year old Siamese twins which was rad. I ran into a member who hadn't been to church in like 10 years and she was like "Hey quit preachin around my store"!! and I was like "shoot I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to", then she was like, "Na, I'm just messing with you". We got to talking and she said she hadn't been to church because she didn't feel wanted.... I was livid! So I told her, I want you! Haha and more importantly God wants you there. Everyone should feel wanted because everyone is wanted!

Self-esteem is such a complex thing, I can’t fully comprehend it, but I know that everyone are sons and daughters of a king...or God, our potential to succeed and prosper is limitless, we are limitless. God wants us to be as happy as we can to be everything and anything we can! Commandments are not restrictions; they are there to help us be who we truly are. Sometimes we feel low and forgotten... being on a mission is really hard and lonely sometimes. But I think back on the footsteps in the sand:

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. 
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky. 
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. 
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints. 
Other times there were one set of footprints. 
This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life 
When I was suffering from anguish, sorrow, or defeat, 
I could see only one set of footprints. 
So I said to the Lord, "You promised me, Lord, 
That if I followed you, you would walk with me always. 
But I noticed that during the most trying periods of my life 
There have only been one set of prints in the sand. 
Why, When I have needed you most, you have not been there for me?"
The Lord replied, 
"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints 
Is when I carried you."

I know the Lord's arms must be getting pretty strong from carrying me so far... 

I am so grateful for my Lord and Savior. I am so grateful to know that we are truly never alone because of his atonement. I know that I am who I am for a reason. I am me and I am here for someone and something! I will try every day to live up to my potential, a son of the God on high. I love you all and I challenge all of you to seek out your full potential and to live it on day at a time.

love keegan

Mother’s Day… my new favorite holiday ...

Hello everyone this week was a good week :)

But let’s be real, being a representative of Jesus Christ is pretty much the greatest thing in the entire world I am not going to lie. Sure missions are hard, harder than I ever imagined, but really it can be done haha. I mean just take it one day at a time :)

So this week is Mother’s Day… my new favorite holiday cause I get to talk to my family. I mean seriously on mission any contact you have with your family and your friends is the best day of your mission by far :) 

SO this week nothing too big happened, just a couple things out of the woodwork, so I will keep you posted.

This week I wanted to talk about mothers. Those of you who take your mother for granted...I would like to say to you "stop". I have been gone now for 9 months and I have realized how much I truly love my family. I used to look forward to getting out of the house and away from all of the rules of life, but......missions have way more rules... haha. I miss my family so much. Really they have done everything for me and I need to do all I can to pay them back. 

Sorry my letter is short today but really just think about your family. You seriously can’t imagine being away from them until you do it.

I love you guys so much and really we can do this, but we need each other. Do it.
I promise you can’t do it alone. 

Thanks for the love guys. I miss you.  Elder Keegan

Apparently I can teach the restoration in dog...

I am…I am a religious man.

So another week has gone by here and it was another week haha, it was so weird and just random and full of stuff but not really full of lessons or people to teach, just a lot of weird encounters haha. I am doing good though and I am healthy and alive and I bike like 35 to 40 miles in a day with yesterday 50 mile-an-hour winds that blew me off my bike, so that was way fun haha, no joke it was actually so rad I like flew like an eagle and I could almost like touch the ground it was holding me up. I have pic to better explain what I am trying to say haha.

Also this week we were knocking a street and we found a lady and on her door she had a sign that said "woof is spoken here" instead of “love is spoken here”, like the normal saying is. So I was like, oh that’s clever haha and I knocked on the door and told her I liked her sign and she looked at me with a weird face and said.....”woof”....and I tried to talk to her and she just kept woofing, so naturally I just started woofing back and we talked by woofing at another and idk what happened, but I gave her a Book of Mormon and idk if she is going to read it or what the heck happened, but apparently I can teach the restoration in dog hahahahahahaha…ya it was awesome.

Also this week we knocked this street by the Walmart down south and there was this guy who said to come back on Friday at six… but we had a bad feeling about going there when we got there, so we left.... Then on Friday it hit the fan…the time we were supposed to go back, we decided not to go and went to the next street over instead to see someone else, cause we had such a bad feeling. Then at the place we were supposed to go across from the Walmart, there was a shooting and a guy killed another guy and took this other guy hostage and ran into the house we were supposed to go see!!! There was a standoff for like six hours until it all finally simmered out. So if we would have been there we might have been hurt or even worse... that’s why I now am a firm believer in following the promptings to leave as well as to go! If you have a bad feeling about something it is the Holy Ghost talking to you, so listen to it intensely and heed what it says because it will save you.

I know that the Lord protected me that day and that He needs me here for a reason, my job here is not done and Texas needs me as much as I need it right now. I am so blessed to be here and so blessed that the Lord is mindful of me and my safety. Thank you for your prayers they are working :) I love you all so much, be safe. Here are some pictures of me this week at a house with a guy who sings on top of his horse it was awesome.

Love Keegster

"Defend the faith"...

Hello Hello everyone how are you today!

It is a glorious day, life is looking up and the future is looking bright... hallelujah.

Haha it is getting hotter and hotter here in the beautiful state of Texas and I am sweating rather badly, haha jk, well kinda.

Happy Easter. I decorated my apartment this week and it was fun and full of laughs as we went out with the priests in the ward, kids my same age but still at home, it was kinda cool. I felt young again and we had some marvelous work on the Christ’s day!!.

So this week was full of everything you could imagine and I wouldn't have it any other way. I have learned a lot about myself this week and a lot about what the Lord wants for me and my family! In my life I have always felt like I had the answers, like when I get in trouble and they are getting mad at me, I was always like “I know, I know, I know”. Or when someone was trying to tell me something important, I would always think that I knew best. I come here today to tell you I know nothing. I am so small. And I don't know. But the Lord knows and I know that I cannot be a missionary without His help, I need Him every day.

Another thing that happened this week that really changed my life forever…

We were street contacting people on the side of the road and no one really wanted to talk, but we were still trying. We just got done talking to some thugs and we were walking away when one of them yelled, "Joseph Smith is a liar." Every time before this moment, I had just kept walking and shrug it off and not do anything..... Then the thought came into my head “defend the faith" "defend what you believe in, he would fight for you!” So I stopped, turned around, not knowing what I was going to say. I ran up to them and I bore my testimony on how I....know... that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I was so filled with the spirit that tears started rolling down my eyes and I was so overcome with my love for this work I could not hold back anymore. I was not fighting with them, I was just letting them know that I know this church is true and no man can stop this work.

I am so blessed for what we learned in conference. I know now what I must do to defend what I believe in and defend the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day-saints. I hope all of you will stand up and do the same.

Love Keegan

“It’s what it is”...

Gooooood Morning Vietnam!!!

Your right, it’s not the Vietnam War anymore or anything, but seriously it feels like it. It’s not necessarily an actual "war" but it is a spiritual fight every day. Those who think that Satan isn't powerful are most definitely lying to themselves, he is so powerful and cunning we cannot even imagine......BUT we are still stronger cause: 1) we have God on our side and 2) we have a body! yaaaaaaa.

So this week has most definitely been a week. We have biked more than 40 miles a day, which is really so much it is crazy. But here in Texas people live about a mile away from each house and that’s how it goes sometimes. That’s kinda my new saying “it’s what it is”. Cause really there are a lot of things in this world that I cannot change so they are what they are. WE CAN’T let the little things bother us guys, they are little and seriously it’s easy to get mad, but it’s always better to be glad :)

This is Easter week as you might have noticed and I have seen many, many people here focus on Christ’s death…which is a part of it… but our message is that He lives! Because He does! Death is not the end! He proved that when He arose on the third day! He died for us. He took our sins upon him. He paid the ultimate price for us and then He rose again so we all can live again!! How rad is He! I really hope that everyone truly will think about Christ this week leading up to Easter. Cause He is Easter.

Not freaken bunny rabbits and chocolate eggs (which are awesome don’t get me wrong), but the focus should and needs to be on Him.

This week has been a week like I said. But we have 2 more people progressing to the waters of baptism and they are so excited to be making that promise with God. I am so blessed to be here and to display this information to them. I think that people think that being a missionary means we are here to convince you to come to our church, but that’s not it. We can’t force you to do anything. We are here to show you the light and the spirit will do the rest :). He’s a pretty cool guy the spirit.

Well everyone, I love you. I know the church is true and that I am supposed to be a missionary no matter what challenges come my way. Like accidentally bumping my companion and him stepping on a nail so we have to go soooo slow now :) haha its fun. Well I love you all so much. I’m happy I am me still, but an even better man.

Love Keegan

 

 

This week has been so freakin rad...

Hello hello hello everyone, this week has been so freakin rad!! I love Conference so much, it is Christmas on the mission no joke.

First things first, I am staying here another transfer and my best mission mate, Elder Clement is leaving to my place of birth, San Angelo. I am getting an older missionary named Elder Kurtz so fun…

The work is finally picking up this week which I am so blessed to be a part of it. I was able to witness the marriage and baptism of Russell and Ana this week. We were able to talk with them briefly before the sisters took over. They are an amazing couple and the wedding, then baptism really hit me deep and showed me the importance of our eternal Plan of Happiness and how important eternal families are. After they were married and walking up the aisle of the chapel Russell looked over at me and said “next stop the temple”! And I was so happy I was like “yaaaaa”,really loud and it was bad, but it was awesome at the same time.

Okay, so conference Saturday changed my entire life. I didn't used to watch Saturday Conference because I always thought I had "better things to do". Well, I am here to tell you I am an idiot because I have missed out on so much that the Lord needed me to hear. It’s not even funny, I am livid. I am so grateful to have a prophet and 12 apostles on the earth today who truly know what we are going through and are sent from God to help us get through it. Like the first talk in conference, I too have had some very unkind people spit, throw and do a number of things I will not mention because I am afraid my mom will come and beat up the state of Texas haha. But I know that Jesus Christ suffered and felt every little thing that I feel when that happens. I know that He is there to comfort me and to lift me up because I could not get back up by myself. I am so blessed I made the choice to serve mission.

Like they said in Conference, we all are going to have big decisions to make in our lives. Time is changing and the world is getting worse. We need to make the choice either to stay strong and to go with God or to follow the world and Satan. God's Doctrine will never change but the fads of the world will. I know that if I didn't serve a mission, I would not have made the right choice. I am eternally grateful for my family, friends and my best friend. I know that this is where I need to be, but I need your help and I need your prayers because it is not easy. It is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life, but I know that the way to salvation is not easy and I must endure. We need to all be ready to stand up for what we believe in. We need to be ready to not be sifted by the world and to not change, but to stay upon our rock. I pray that all of us will make the decision to stand up. Because Christ stood up, fell down, cried and bled for all of us. The atonement of Jesus Christ is real. I use it every day and I need it. Without the atonement we would be nothing.

I love you all so much and I am always here for you and I ask for your prayers because I really need you at this time.

Love Elder Christensen