Trying to teach up a storm....literally!

Hello everyone one how is everything going? This has been one of the most intense weeks of my entire life… filled with love, music, tragedy and even a heart-throbbing tale about how two missionaries survived a tornado. Haha, but we will get there on step at a time. Haha, we are trying to teach up a storm here, but all of our daily efforts have caused a storm literally.

So my story begins at 6:00 Saturday, we were driving to our appointment with Israel, when we receive a call from our infamous district leader Elder Craigen saying there is a tornado watch so we should probably head in for the night, so naturally we decide to head in because we didn’t want to be caught in a tornado. But on the way we stopped and made sure all of our investigators are okay and they know what is going on haha, luckily they had all received an alert text saying to get inside, then we got home we then packed or bags and began to wait for the perfect storm. As we were outside admiring the beautiful sky and all of the lightning, I then saw a faint image in the distance of a funnel cloud coming down from the sky and it touching down and then a few seconds later it then breaking up and disappearing. Needless to say it was crazy, so Elder Marchant and I became men and went under the house into our storm shelter to then wait it out for the night. We came to find all of the black widows friends that we caught last week and they were not too happy to see us haha, but it was awesome so we waited in the cellar of doom for a few hours, watched for the storm to pass and crawled out of our hole and we were safe.

So it was kind of an anti-climactic story, but I saw a tornado this week and the after math was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. While I was looking at the sky and the clouds and the sun looking through it all during the storm, I was taken-back by the beauty of God’s creations. In New Mexico nothing is really pretty, but when I looked up at the sky I was taken to another place. I was thinking how there is a God, there has to be, that can’t just happen. I know there is a God and that He loves us, because even when we think we won’t make it through the day,  when life is looking so ugly for the longest time, He gives us something beautiful. He gives us that little glimmer of light that we need. With so much chaos and destruction around us, with the world turning up side down, with all the hate and all the pain with everything that ever gets us down…God will eventually give us all something beautiful, something to keep us going, He will open our eyes and our hearts. We just have to be patient. We just have to endure as a good soldier of Christ, and God will give us the greatest gift, we can’t even imagine, we can’t even fathom… eternal exaltation in the kingdom of God where we get to rest from the hard day’s work, where we get to feel the love. So remember even in the darkest hour God will stand by you :) and if you need any more help you can lean on me. Because we are unstoppable…. we have the power and the light to overcome the darkness! I love us.

Love, elder keegan

A few of Keegan's answers from Question Letter #3:

What is the nicest thing a comp has done for you?

 He told me I was a hard worker when we were falling asleep.

Is there anything you would change about your 1st year so far? 

I would not change anything about my life so far.

Rank order the best 3 things about a mission:

1) Missionary work 2) Endless sky 3) BBQ (I wish :-) haha we're not allowed)

Who would play you as a missionary in the movie of your life? 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt or Ryan Gosling or James Dean

What do you never want to forget from your mission?

 Who God has made me

I found my brother, a black widow and Bre this week...

Hey everyone this has been an awesome week! 

It was a beautiful week in Portales, New Mexico with lots of sunshine and a lot of love.

I did a lot this week. I found a black widow in my home and that freaked me out, it was insane! Haha, it was like the size of something big. And we trapped it and put it into a cage with these ants and this other like big beetle we found and it was like the coliseum! Haha, but really there is not much to do in a small town in New Mexico on p-day so we are finding awesome things, pictures included.

Also this week I got an awesome visit from my brother K.C. (and Macey). It was one of the best days of my mission. I had forgotten what it felt like to see someone familiar and someone who loves you unconditionally… I was so blessed. I am so blessed to be in the family that I am and to be where I am right now. I know this is where I need to be even if it is away from my family for two years. This is the Church of Jesus Christ, his church he set up and restored to the earth… it is so important that I am here.

This week we were blessed to start teaching Bre, an 18 year old girl from Arizona, she knows this message is true because she asked God. We were teaching Bre the Plan of Salvation this week and she was kind of upset, not because she didn’t agree with what we were saying, but because her whole life she was so lost, she thought that the end was the end, but it gave her so much peace and that’s what this message is… it is a message of peace and happiness and love and joy and awesomeness haha. 

Also at the end we were explaining Heaven and she said she finally understood why missionary work is so important. It’s not just to get people to come to our church. It is to help all of our brothers and sisters obtain the highest level of the kingdom of heaven. idk that really hit me hard, we are not out here to get people to come to our church, we are here to help out brothers and sisters get back home and to help them find their way. That’s why our message is so important, because it is the only way… and a lot of people disagree with that and it makes me sad. 

But I do know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ and the priesthood of God has once again been restored. I am so blessed to be alive in this day.

To be with people I love and to do all I can to help those I love.

I am so pumped right now. 
Love, Elder Christensen

Tornado, a red shirt and socially awkward in the Promised Land

We are unstoppable, we will not be defeated! Brothers and sisters I have found the Promised Land and it is Portales New Mexico! I know, who would have ever thought, but I assure you it is. I am happier than a little school girl this week!

SO one cool thing about Portales is that there is a college here and there are still a ton of kids on campus taking summer courses, so I get to talk to people my own age. But the down fall is, I am socially awkward now when I talk to kids my own age because I am used to old men and old women and people with a ton of kids so yah, it’s pretty cool!.

Missionary work here is amazing, as well the people here are so nice and everyone is willing to at least talk to us and be nice. It is such a change from my previous area. I now have regained hope in humanity :) I have been so blessed with my new companion too, his name is Elder Marchant, he is a hard worker and he knows his stuff. He is 19 and from Syracuse, Utah and we seriously just bounce of each other when teaching and it is a beautiful thing.

This week I decided I wanted to do something new and kinda different for missionary work. During our morning prayers I asked Heavenly Father to let us know who the elect person of the day was and to help us to know who it was by him wearing the color red. I was kinda just joking around and thought it would be fun. But to my surprise, we found Israel. He is 23 and married with 1 son. His mother is LDS and he has wanted to learn more and be baptized for a long time. (He was wearing a red Coca Cola t-shirt). God has a sense of humor, I think I forget that sometimes, but He is willing to show us what we need to do and who is prepared even if it is in a fun way. 

Also this week was fun because we had a severe tornado warning with a cloud that turned green over our head and stated circling, but we didn’t hear any 

sirens or anything and we didn’t really know what was going on cause it was kinda dark outside. But luckily we have our Zone Leaders who sent us a text and all we knew was this "hey get inside", so that was fun haha. I am glad it didn’t touch down or anything like that and I wish the communication to missionaries was better sometimes, haha but hey the Lord’s hands are in all things right:)

Well I am a happy camper and I have more things to talk about next week, but I love you guys so much and miss you all keep on keepin’ on! 

Love Keegan

Love Keegan