Temple Trip

We were able to speak to Derek for the last time via Skype last weekend (which is why there was no email). He is doing great and has grown so much over the last 21 months. 

Hey guys! 

How are you all doing? I am doing great here.

We got to go to the Templo de Campinas on Tuesday of last week, which was so awesome. We had to leave here at like 3:30 in the morning because our session was at 10 and it takes 3 hours to get there without traffic. It was my first time going back to the Temple since the beginning of my mission! I had forgotten how beautiful it was. It's on a mountain side that looks over the entire city and EVERYONE there knows that it is our temple and it is such a beautiful place to be and to experience. 

(Elder McKeon with Elder Pasos in front of the temple)

After our session we ate in the cafeteria where I was able to talk to an American temple worker. He was an older guy and I looked at his name tag and it said John H. Hawkins. He asked me where I was from and I said California. He then asked me what specific part of the state I am from, and I told him I was born in LA but live near Sacramento. We kept talking and turns out that he knows Grandpa Buck really well. It is crazy to think that this man and Grandpa Buck were really good friends, but here we are meeting in Campinas, Brasil of all places. That is the beauty of the Church though...it makes for such a small world!

The day after our temple trip, I was able to go on splits with Elder Hanni in Cruzeiro because they needed some help in that area. In those 2 days we taught 11 lessons! We were also able to find new people to teach, and we learned quite a bit from the people we were able to serve. On our second morning, I felt like we needed to do our studying outside on this hill by the house. We went out to study, and we came across a man rebuilding this bridge. We helped him work on it, and we were able to make a new contact with him. Turns out that studying on that hill was inspired.

We have a mission conference with Elder Russell M. Nelson (a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) this Wednesday. I am so excited! It will be in São Paulo, so it will be great to get back to the city.

Well I hope you all have a great week and remember that I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder McKeon