Hey
everyone,
This past week we had
divisions in our area. I went with our Zone Leader, and Elder Diaz spent the
day with Elder Moreira. We had a great day of success! We found so many people
to teach and we had a couple of miracles.
When I was with Elder
Nelson (my Zone Leader), we had just gotten out of one lesson and we went to
our other appointment but they weren’t home. We turned around and we were at a
little park when he asked me what our back up plan was (which was to make
contacts). This park was a good place to do them so Elder Nelson asked, "Who
should we talk too?" When I looked there were a few people there, a mom
with her child, a couple of kids flying kites and this guy sitting by himself
at a table.
(A pink dog in the Favela)
The guy kept looking
at us, the 2 Americans wearing ties and nametags. I thought to myself, "We
need to talk to him." But, he looked like the kind of guy who would stand
up and walk away the second that we started walking towards him. I told Elder
Nelson that we needed to talk to that guy and so as we started walking towards
him; I was praying the whole time that he wouldn’t get up and run away. It felt
like a super long walk but it was really like 2 seconds.
We finally get there
and he hadn’t gotten up and left, so we got right into it saying who we were,
why we’re here, and what we had to offer. Elder Nelson was talking and I was
looking at this guy. He started to tear up and then just lost it. I saw it
happen, the transformation in his face and countenance. It was amazing. We
asked if we could sit down and he said sure. We sat and he told us that he was
kicked out of his house because of a fight he had had with his father-in-law and
that his life wasn’t going the way that he wanted it to.
We were talking and he
then just spits out the question, "Why did you guys come and start talking
to me?" I started to answer and Elder Nelson cuts in and says, "We
were over there about to teach somebody else but they weren’t home, so I asked
Elder McKeon who we should talk to and he picked you. It was a feeling." I thought to myself, "That’s
what it was, just a feeling, but it was the Spirit putting that in my mind to
talk to Carlos, and that he needed to hear our message." I was so glad
that I listened to that prompting and that we met Carlos, because it was a
miracle. The only reason we were in that area was because of that ONE
appointment, and turns out that Carlos was there waiting for us to talk to him.
It was a powerful experience. I am so glad that I had it and it has helped my
testimony grow so much.
We also had a baptism
this past week for Antonio. We made a contact with his grandson, who didn’t
want anything to do with the Church, but he said that we could visit his Aunt,
where Antonio lives. We went by there and met Atonio, who is a more experienced
man of 77 years. We taught him that night and we left, but I didn’t think much
of it because he was old, and didn’t really seem that interested.
We went back once more
and met his daughter, Miraldete. We have taught them and then we asked if they
had already been baptized and they both said no, which is pretty surprising
here in Brasil where everyone and their dog is baptized. We explained that it
was a commandment to be baptized and they were ecstatic. We took them to Church
and they had a great experience and we baptized Antonio yesterday. I was kind
of scared because we woke up and it was POURING rain, but after 10 minutes it
stopped and the sun came out and it was HOT.
(Antonio's Baptism)
We have to use this
machine to heat the water in the baptismal font, because there is no hot water
switch, so there was no way to heat the water and he is an old guy of 77 years.
I was afraid that he wouldn’t go through with it, but when I got into the water
(and I am used to cold water) it was like ice!! I was standing there shivering
and I look back and lead Antonio into the water and he didn’t say a word. Meanwhile,
I’m freezing my butt of and shivering like a little girl. I take him and I say
the ordinance and as soon as I said, "Amém," it felt like we were in
a different font with fire water instead of ice water. It felt like we were in
a Jacuzzi. I can’t explain it. I stopped shivering and I was warm all over. The
Spirit was so strong and the Lord was there with us in that baptismal font. We
got out of the font and everyone was joking and laughing, "I bet that
water was pretty cold huh??" I said nothing and Antonio just said,
"It was warm." They all laughed because they thought he was joking, but
he wasn’t joking. It was real and I knew it and I knew that he knew it. It was
so amazing. I was so happy that day. It was so great and I will never forget
that feeling.
(Antonio and Elder McKeon)
I hope you guys have a
great week and I love you!!!
Love,
Elder McKeon
Hey
guys,
How is everybody
doing??
It is getting colder
down here! I'm glad to hear that the heat wave has passed you guys, but down
here it’s getting kind of cold. I had to buy a beanie to wear when I go to
sleep. It reminded me of how dad always used to wear his beanie on just the top
part of his head every morning just to cover up that bald spot! I guess now he
has to cover the whole thing since his whole head is bald haha.
We had a good week,
but it was different because we had interviews with President Ferrin on Friday.
We got to do a division with Elder Cleveland, the Assistant to the President.
He is a great guy and I am really close with him. He is an amazing missionary
and I learned so much from him in the 2 days we spent together. The cool part
was that Jardim Camargo Novo was his first area on the mission. It’s where he
was trained and learned how to be a missionary. We worked so hard during the
day and I learned a ton of new things to try when I work now. We had a lot of
good lessons together and we now have 7 more people to teach because of the
techniques that I learned. At the end of the day we would visit the people he
taught and it was touching to see the love that these people had for him and
how he helped them come closer to Christ. It was truly amazing. I just hope
that this is the same feeling that the people that I have baptized feel for me
as I feel for them.
On Friday we had
interviews with President and it was kind of hard because when we, Americans,
have interviews with him, he speaks in English. It’s hard because it’s been a
long time since I have spoke in English and I would have to say a lot of it in
Portuguese so he would understand what I was trying to say. Sometimes, he would
say a word in English and I wouldn’t understand it and then I would ask another
American what it meant and none of us would understand the word.
This next week should
be great! We have a lot more people to teach and lot of new people coming to us
and they seem promising!
I love you all so
much!
Love,
Elder McKeon
