First Transfer Complete

Elder McKeon is done with his first transfer!  This is what he had to say about it:

Hey everyone!  How's it going?

Well there are only like 2 days left in my first transfer as a missionary in Brazil!  It is nuts to think that I've already been here this long and that I am learning so much in the little time that I've been here.  It has been amazing here and my testimony has grown so much since I've been here.  It is so cool being a missionary....

 

Alright, story of the week, we were walking on a really busy street, and it was incredibly hot and we didn't have any appointments set up for the time, so I said, "Lets go get ice cream".  We went to eat some ice cream and sit for a second to cool down and then an older brother named, Nilton, (that we have talked to on the street before) walked by the ice cream store.  He came back into the shop and asked if we wanted ice cream.  As young, poor, hungry missionaries, we of course said yes! So we sat and talked with him as we ate more ice cream but then he had to go home.  We asked if we could come by and talk with him that day and he said yes. So we went to his house and he made us a little snack and he received a text from niece. It said that he should read the second chapter of the book of Joshua in the Old Testament.  Its about these 2 YOUNG MEN who were sent into Jericho, ANOTHER COUNTRY, to spy. Then they went to the house of Rahab and asked her to hide them because the King´s men were coming after them.  She hid them on the roof and the King's men left.  Rahab said that Jericho was afraid of Joshua and his people for the Lord was with them protecting them wherever they went.  Rahab made the men swear that her family would be safe if the armies came to Jericho.  They swore that if she obeyed the things they said, everyone in her family would be safe.  They had to go into the mountains for 3 days to spy.  After they left the mountains they went to Joshua and said in verse 24 "Truly the Lord hath delivered into our hands all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of us".  It was such a random chapter to read, he made the comparison to us that we were 2 young men from a different country to "spy" on them and to help them come closer unto Christ.  It was interesting after that because he then dominated the rest of the time just talking about random things and we couldn't really get anything in, but we planted the seed so we can come back and teach him more.  We can do it much better the next time we go there and teach him about the gospel.  It was great because I had no idea that would happen.  Elder Bednar gave a great talk about this kind of situation and it's just amazing the way the Lord works through us to find people to teach.  It was such a testimony builder for me. 

I write in my journal EVERYDAY!  It's really good to be able to look back and read of my earlier experiences in the CTM and I can learn from things in the past.  We are planning on going to a member's home named Marcelo, and I will plan on calling you guys on Christmas Day at 11:00 your time, 5:00 my time.  It's a 6 hour time difference but there is time to coordinate this later. I am so happy and love being a missionary!  It's so cool to be here serving the Lord especially during this time of year when our Savior was born.  I am reading in Jesus the Christ right now and I am learning so much more about Him that I can teach to all of the wonderful people here! 

Its so awesome here!!! 

I love you all!!! 

Elder McKeon