Week 9

Hey! 

We had dinner at members house on Thanksgiving. It was this great Latin family, Familia Batten. Well it was Hermana first time making turkey and she gave us all the works except for potatoes-- we had rice instead. hahaha!  I ate it like the good boy I am and man let me tell you was that rough. It tasted fine. (I hate Thanksgiving food) :( haha!
My companions really liked it, but I just couldn't say I liked it. I ate it to not be rude. 

Well this week was wild. To start of the week there was a drive by shooting up the street from our apartment and then the next day a trailer park blew up!!! hahaha!! It just lit on fire. It was nuts!!!

 We also gave three blessings this week. One of the three I anointed the oil in Spanish and then the other one, I gave the blessing! It was in English. The funny thing about that blessing was, it was for the 2nd counselor in the Bishopric. He has the same back problem my mom had. So that was cool bcuz he asked me if i would give it before he explained what was wrong and why we were giving him one. So that was an awesome experience. 

Also coming up next Sunday we have our first baptism with this kid named Saul. Our first lesson with him was the second day I got here and so I am so so so pumped for that! He is such a good kid. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and his only question was "Is it okay if i still drink Soda sometimes?" Like I am so pumped for his baptism. 
Our appointments this week were a lot better. This week flew by. It is nutty. 

I got the Amazon snack box and it is Freaking awesome! I love it! Thank you so much! 

I love and miss you guys

Elder McKeon

Elder Kennedy eating Ramen

So this is my Sunday night! My comp is the District leader so he was making phone calls. I had a rootbeer float with Elder Kennedy and watched a Joseph Smith history video.
It was the best!

 just me and my comp at dinner time - snacking on a pb and j 

Week 8

Hey all!
This week was a rough week. Every appointment canceled on us last minute except for our appointment with Saul. He is the one who is getting baptized on December 3rd and I am so excited for him. He is such a great kid. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom this week and his only concern was about if he was allowed to drink soda! I Love it!!!! 

Spanish is rough. I sit through church not knowing what is going on! I pick up little pieces but it is hard. I am trying my best to speak it, but it is hard making so many mistakes and then having my companions just speak it. It is hard but I am trying. My bike broke again! Same problem- the pedal fell off. Elder Burke took it to the bike shop to get it looked at and fixed. It has been there since Saturday and it isn't done yet. I have been borrowing a bike. 

Update: we did get food and that was a blessing. :)
We already finished all of the stuff we needed to do today P-day! Sending some pictures! Also have a awesome Thanksgiving this week! I love and miss you all so much! 
Elder McKeon

My companion Elder Thompson was not impressed with the fact that at the zoo they had a crow in the cage.

If you read the sign, that's what my companion does when he is angry at me! hahaha  

Me feeding a giraffe at the zoo! way cool and funny hahah

Asleep on the floor after nightly planning!

Here is a pic of me and both my companions and Elder Burke! He does all our bike stuff!

Week 7 - First week in the field!

hey! This week has been crazy!!!! First full week out here and it is nuts!! I am in a tripanionship again and my trainer's name is Elder Thompson. He went to school with Cassidy! 
We have been running around all week teaching so many people! We are teaching this kid named Saul and he is getting baptized on DEC 3! I am so pumped! 
The language is rough! I understand very little which is really hard :( 
I am in a biking only mission so I am killing it on my bike! My bike has broken twice since I have been here. One night my pedal broke off and then another night my front tire just fell off, it has been wild. I got some sweet battler wounds from crashes because I have almost been hit by cars several times! 
This week has been so stressful. Don't have a lot of time to email cuz we spent our p-day at the zoo with a family from our ward. I didn't really wanna go bcuz we had so much to do this first p-day, but it was great! We have been awake since 4am bcuz we had to get up early to do our laundry.
 My apartment is a piece of garbage compared to other apartments in our mission. I am in  the second most ghetto part of our mission and I love it. I am serving in Bellaire Texas; hahaha! how funny is that. :)
 My area is really weird, kinda of reminds me of home cuz going down one street and you are in the hood, go down the next street and you are in really nice area. Except for the hood is really ghetto and the nice areas are really, really nice. It is really funny. 
We haven't had any food in our apartment for the last week, so we have been eating whatever we have. It is rough!  Now after we send our quick emails, we have to go to the grocery store on bikes... no idea how that is gonna go, kind of nervous! 
 We just found a car to go get groceries but we only have like 50 minutes to go shop cuz we have a lesson at 6, a lesson at 7, and a lesson at 8 tonight. Mission is stressful but I am loving it so far! Hopefully it only gets better! I haven't stopped sweating since i got here. :(
 My trainer has been out for 10 months and he speaks the language so well. My other companion has been out 5 months and he can't speak it or understand it at all, which makes me nervous too! My bike got fixed! Everything with that is all good! We're so busy it is unreal! My legs are so sore from my bike... oh my goodness! We ride so many miles a day. I think this week we did like 40 miles, maybe more! It is unrealI.
 love and miss you guys so much! 
Elder McKeon

Houston Arrival! Week 6

Elder McKeon arrived in Houston today! We were able to talk to him this morning. He was tired but ready for the field! So happy for this boy!

His mission has a Facebook page!  Sis Hall taped their arrival at the airport!

https://www.facebook.com/THETHSM/

New Arrivals to the Texas Houston South Mission Nov. 7, 2016

President and Sis Hall with Elder McKeon

Letter we received from Pres Hall today!

Dear Missionary Family and Friends,

Hello from the Texas Houston South Mission, the best mission in the world!  We were blessed to have your missionary arrive safe and sound to Houston today.  After we welcomed them at the airport, we had the blessing of getting to know them better and hosted them for lunch at the mission home.  At this very hour your missionary has already been assigned to their new companion and is working in the field.  We love them and we know they will do excellent work.  They are well prepared to serve the Lord and we expect great things from them.  We also know you will support and encourage them to become the best missionary they can be.  

Sister Hall and I feel so blessed to serve with your missionary.  We will love them, support them, and help them become powerful missionaries that are committed to find, teach, and bring others unto Christ.    We love this work and we know you and your family will be blessed through this wonderful experience. 

President & Sister Hall

Week 5 (no Week 4)

Hey everyone! Last week in the MTC! I'm sorry for no email last week. I was in the ER with my companion. Don't worry everything is okay! 

Well I leave for Houston Monday morning and then I am straight out into the field that night! Lots of nerves going through me but I know the Lord will guide me! So many new experiences coming my way and I can not wait! 

I have taught an amazing investigator these last couple of weeks named Marco and I had an amazing experience with him.  So last week I had a dream about sharing the hymn I Love to see the Temple with our investigator Marco because we were teaching him about temples. so I told my companions about the dream and they said I needed to share it with him. I printed it out in Spanish and we went into the lesson and it was a great lesson.  I started to share with him the hymn and I felt the spirit like something I had never felt before. After our lesson he goes, Elders wait walk me out and so we start to walk him out and he looks and me says, guys I have something to tell you and he begins to tell us how the night before our lesson he had a dream of 3 missionaries sharing with him a hymn and he didn't know who the 3 missionaries were and he didn't know the hymn. Then he says but as soon as you started reading me that hymn I knew that, that was the song that was shared with me in my dream and you were the 3 elders in it. So then I told him about my dream and it was so amazing and a spiritual experience. He accepted our baptismal invitation and he literally is the coolest guy ever! Literally one of the coolest things I've experienced! 

President Russel M. Nelson came and gave a devotional on Tuesday night and I got to sing in the choir for him. That was way awesome too! so many cool things going down making me so excited to get to the field! I miss everyone and hope everyone is doing great.

yo oró por ustedes mucho Te amó 

Elder McKeon

Elder Beckstead the night before he left. He's good friends with my cousin! Small world!Yes I am in a lava lava! We have a Samoan Elder in our district and he gave it to me!!

 Me, Elder Hall, and Elder Gress with our investigator Marco. I have great stories about Marco.

picture is a drawing Elder McDonald drew for me. Its moby dick jumping over a boat! Nice!

Throwing up some blue steel! 

All the guys in the district. Left to right: Elder Hall, Hickman, Me, Gress and McDonald