Email received December 22, 2014

Hello everyone!

First of all, Merry Christmas! Hmmm.. can't believe it's Christmas again... weird. So we had a good week this week! On Wednesday we were trying to find a member of the ward, we talked to his wife and she said that he had moved out. He hasn't been active in years. We talked to her about the He is the Gift video and were able to share it with her. She said we could come back and share more with her. I really hope so. She seemed like she had some walls built up but I feel like she is prepared right now. On Friday at the Christmas conference, I was talking to a missionary who is now serving in the Melbourne ward. I asked him about Gilbert. Do you remember him? He got baptized in November of 2013 but stopped coming after about 2 months. Well, apparently he has been reactivated and is doing great! Definitely a pleasant surprise.

About 2 weeks ago we talked to a man who was outside his house. Before we left he promised to us that he would come to church sometime. Well, guess who came to church yesterday?! Yeah, that was totally unexpected. He loved it! He said he would be back next week and that we can come by this week and begin teaching him. His name is Mark and we are really excited to teach him. The sacrament meeting program was full of musical numbers. Including plenty from the primary. Mark got a kick out of that. haha.

The Christmas conference was great! The whole mission got together, President Mortensen spoke to us, we watched The Nativity, ate, sang songs (We're all still confused why they picked "I'll be Home for Christmas" as one of the carols, jerks.), and to close it off we all got a package from home! Twas awesome. I also got to see so many friends! Especially Elder Su'a and Elder Fa'amausili.

On Saturday night we went caroling as a district! It was awesome. We've been handing out as many He is the Gift cards as we can. Christmas is definitely the best time to be a missionary. It's very natural and people are receptive. I hope you all have a merry christmas! What an awesome time of the year. I'm so grateful to have the best gift given to me that anyone could ever have. I love you all and miss you!

-Elder Steed

The Bro's at the Christmas conference. Elder Hunter and Elder Fa'amausili

So a member gave us a $50 papa john's gift card for christmas. Yeah, it's all gone. lol.

 Bed-time selfies. Lol

Email received December 15, 2014

Hello Everyone,

We had a pretty good week this week! We had lots of appointments with potential investigators that all fell through. However, we were able to find some more potential investigators this week as well. So let me tell you about a guy named Jimmy. Jimmy was baptized in the 70's but fell away soon after. He loves missionaries and will do anything for us. He takes us shopping, he feeds us, he's the man. So missionaries go over there pretty often and check up on him and share some thoughts and all that good stuff. Well, he likes the church and will come every once in awhile but doesn't really have a testimony of it. This week while we were at his house we showed him the He is the Gift video. He loved it! We got to talking and he opened up quite a bit. He was telling us how his neighbor (who is a member in the ward) told him about his conversion story and how he came to know it was true. :)

Jimmy starting talking about how he doesn't think he can say that, and how he doesn't have an experience like that. Anyway, we decided that we are going to start going over the lessons with him. It was cool because it was totally his idea. We're really excited! To top it off, he came to church on Sunday! There are 2 conditions that have ALWAYS had to happen for him to come to church. 1. He has to convince his wife to come with him, he would never come alone and 2. If his daughter came to visit on Sunday which she almost always does, he stays home with her. Well, he couldn't get his wife to come and as he was walking to his truck his daughter pulled up. He still came! I was really proud of him.

Awhile back I wrote home about an inactive member that we tracted into. We went over this week and talked to her daughter, Tina, who isn't a member. Tina has had many discussions with missionaries in the past and knows a bunch. She likes us but there are some doctrinal things that she disagrees with. Anyway, we are going to start going over to her house and doing service for her. Hopefully we can get to talk more with her and answer some of her questions. :)

Yesterday the bishop's son gave his farewell talk and he had an open house that night that we were able to stop by for a few minutes. Took me back in time to my talk and open house (not that it seems very long ago) haha and it made me thankful for all my friends and family that I have for support. You guys are the best! Things are really picking up in this area. I know that if we do our best with what the Lord asks of us, blessings will always come. :)

Oh! We're also having a Christmas Mission Conference! No one really knows what's going to happen.. haha. It's this Friday at 9am and there is no end time. Intriguing. lol. Until next week! Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! You're the best momma ever!

love,
Elder Steed

New companion, Elder Beck. In front of Jimmy's famous Tree of Life. haha. He takes one of these pics for every new companionship.

Email received December 8, 2014

Hello Everyone,

So I have a new companion. His name is Elder Beck. He’s from Seattle area and was also Elder Fa’amausili’s MTC companion. We spent our whole entire week finding and talking to people. I’m sure most of you have heard of the “He Is the Gift” initiative that the church is putting on right now. All the missionaries have special “He is the Gift” pass along cards. We’ve been handing them out like candy! Christmas time is such a great time to be a missionary.

I think we found around 10 potential investigators in just the past 4 or so days. Some of them seemed really interested and prepared. I love being a missionary during Christmas time because it’s so easy to share the gospel. If you were wondering, we haven’t really been able to stay in contact much with Alan, and Ayad has seemed to have lost interest. Just thought I’d update y’all on that ----- yes, I said it. I hate it as much as you do. haha.

I had some weird anxiety attack thingy this week. It was the second one I have had on my mission. Quite ugly. haha. Anyway, I asked my companion for a blessing and everything is all good. Since I have been in this area we have been working with a very interesting guy named Peter. When I first got there he was struggling a lot with his testimony. This past week when we met with him I realized just how much he’s changed. That’s truly what the gospel does for us. It changes us into something even better than we were before. I know that as long as we are trying our hardest and doing all in our power, no matter how much power that is, to do what is right, the Lord will always bless us.

Yesterday in Young Men’s 3rd hour of church, we watched the movie called “Legacy”. Pretty old and pretty cheesy but good. It’s amazing how powerful a testimony of the restored gospel can be. That it can allow people to endure seemingly impossible trials. I know that The Book of Mormon is true. I know that this is Christ’s church. And I know that no matter what opposition may come our way, the Lord will always remember us. Thanks for all that you do. I love you all! Until next week.

love,
Elder Steed

Email received December 1, 2014

Happy December!!

We had a much better week this week. The best thing that happened this week was we started doing something that our District Leader suggested to us. He told us that when we go to a member’s home for dinner or when we are sharing a message with them, to ask while we are leaving who they feel we should go visit. He said it's always inspired. So, we were having dinner with a family on Friday night and asked who he feels we should go visit. He gave us the name of a lady we should [see, someone] he home teaches.

We went over the next day and had a great lesson with her. It was definitely something she needed at that time. Her daughter who hasn't been coming to church was there as well and we were able to meet her. At first the daughter was in the other room and not really listening. But towards the end I could tell that she was listening. We've gotten some other names from other members for people we can go visit. I'll let you know how those go.

We got transfer calls last night. I'm staying and Elder Allen is getting transferred. We've been together for 2 transfers. I still haven't had a companion for more than 2 transfers. It's probably inspired. The Mission President probably feels bad for my companions. Haha jk. So that's all there really is to report on for this past week. There's a lot of new changes in the ward with callings and such. Especially with our new ward mission leader. I'm feeling really excited for this next transfer.

Ahh, the Christmas season again. What an awesome time to be serving a mission! Seriously. It's the best. I get to skype home in 24 days! Crazy. Time is flying by so fast. Anyway, I love and miss you all. Have a great week and be safe! Until next time.

love,
Elder Steed

Add-on message:

Dad, Houston is such a horrible city for bikes. haha. There are no sidewalks, no street lights, all the streets are cement with tons of potholes haha. Yeah, not a very bike friendly city. It's all good though! :)

Email received November 25, 2014

Hello everyone!

Rough week. That's for sure. Last Monday I started to feel sick and had a cold the next few days. Then my companion got it. Then his back wheel on his bike broke. So we got it fixed. Then the back wheel on my bike broke. haha. Then for the weekend I was on en exchange with Elder Hunter and his back wheel broke. haha. All of our bikes are cursed. It's whatever.

So, most of what we did last week was try to visit less actives and former investigators. We met a few former investigators who said that we could come back, so we'll see where things go from there. Honestly there's not much else to report on. The past couple of weeks have been pretty rough.

In the next couple of days I will be finishing the New Testament. Reading it has really strengthened my testimony, not only of the savior, but of the restored gospel. It's truly amazing what we have. This is the New Testament church. This is Christ church. I know that he leads and guides us through prophets and apostles, and if we stay close to their counsel and follow the commandments, we will not be led astray.

I love this time of year! Thanksgiving is my all time favorite holiday. Luckily, it's the last one I have to spend away from family. I'm grateful for all the amazing friends and family that I have. I'm grateful for the gospel and the chance that I have to share it everyday. I love you all. Have a wonderful thanksgiving and a wonderful week! :)

love,
Elder Steed

Email received November 17, 2014

Hello everyone!

We had a pretty rough week. However, we did have some pretty cool miracles. One is that there is a member here in the ward that is working really hard to go to the temple so he and his family can get sealed. He's working hard with the bishop so that he can get to that point. Anyway, he does lawn maintenance and we just kept running into him all week! It was awesome. We knocked on the door of one of his customers and he is now a potential investigator. So that's cool.

Another miracle happened on Friday night. We had everything fall through and we were going back to our apartment, it was super cold and just really bleh. Anyway, a man stopped us and starting asking us some questions that he had. He thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses so when he heard that we weren't he was curious about who we were. We talked about the Restoration and he accepted a Book of Mormon. It was just cool because it always seems like the really awesome things happen during the crappiest of times. haha.

This week we were biking to a dinner appointment. As we pulled up onto the driveway I noticed that the car had a Nevada license plate. When we got in the brother was wearing a shirt that said Las Vegas on it. I started talking to him about Vegas and where I live and where he used to live. Then the wife came in and after over hearing that I lived in the Orchards she asked what my last name was (my tag was under my coat) I told her Steed. Her reply was "Laurie?" hahaha I was really surprised. Turns out that she was a roomate with Liz Chidester for some time and had gone to a couple of camps when mom was stake yw president. She used to live in Stallion Mountain ward. Anyway, her name is Sister Perez and her and her husband have 5 adorable adopted kids. Such a cool family. She sent a photo of me to Sister Chidester over facebook so maybe you guys have seen it already. Anyway, it was a good time talking about Vegas and people that we both knew. Well thats it for this week. Love you all! Have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed

Add-on email: We also got a new ward mission leader! Brother Cline! The family that sent the photos!

(Here is the photo taken by Sister Perez mentioned above as well as Liz's commentary. :))

Look who ate dinner with my friend and family tonight! It's Elder Nathan Steed, she was so excited and so am I! I always love hearing about my seminary kids that are now serving missions. 

Email received November 10, 2014

Hello everyone,

We had a cool miracle happen this week. We were tracting and ended up knocking on the door of a lady that has been inactive for years and isn't on the ward list. We talked a bunch and she said that she really likes the church but had just fallen away. :)

We were finally able to meet with Alan again. Everything is going well with him, it’s just going a little slow. We were able to set up a constant meeting with him for every Friday. This week we are going to be really bold. We are going to talk about the Plan of Salvation (his wife died 7 months ago) and about baptisms for the dead. His wife was also an investigator before she got cancer. We talked a little about how the gospel is taught in the spirit world and how there are missionaries too. We really feel good about Alan. Church was really great yesterday. Both of the talks were amazing. :)

Other than that, this was a really rough week. Everything fell through and we didn’t plan very well for that. At one point I kinda lost it and had a mini melt down, but all is good. haha. It’s so cool to be a missionary. We are working really hard to find people to teach. It seems like everyone we talk to that is interested only speaks spanish. So we’re finding people for the spanish missionaries! Same team though, right? haha. Anyway, we’re gonna try harder to work more with members. I think because my first area when I was being trained was a pretty hard ward to work with members so I honestly just never learned how to do it. I guess the best way to learn something is to just do it even though you have no idea what you’re doing it. That’s probably the biggest lesson I’ve learned on my lesson so far.

Well, I love you all. Thanks for the continuous prayers and updates. It’s so great to be a missionary and to do the Lord’s work. It’s always amazed me how he trusts us (missionaries & members) to do HIS work. I love you all!

love,
Elder Steed

(The following photos and captions were sent to us by a family that fed Nate and his companion a while back, the Clines.)

Hi, my family belongs to the Bear Creek Ward where your son and his companion are serving.  We took photos of them when they had dinner at our house and I thought I would pass them along to you.  My son is serving a mission in Nevada Las Vegas West and I love it when I get photos from members so thought I would do the same for you.

We fed them up on lasagna, garlic bread, salad, brownies and Blue Bell ice cream.  After dinner they gave my husband and I and our 15yo son a wonderful lesson on the blessings of the priesthood.  We were so grateful to have Elder Steed, Elder Allen, and their spirit in our home. Hope you enjoy the photos.  They enjoyed posing.

P.S.  This was all their idea....  I just took the photos..

No missionaries or Books of Mormon were harmed here.  Pretty hard to get through 2 Nephi...

Email received November 4, 2014

Hello Everyone!

So yesterday we had a mission tour meeting where we received training from Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge of the Seventy so we weren't able to email. The meeting was good. It lasted really long and it was really hot in the chapel. I also had a huge head ache so I think I missed a lot of what I could have gotten out of it :/ It was about how we can be better teachers and to make sure that we teach to the investigators' understanding.

We had some pretty cool miracles this week! One happened while we were tracting. On Saturday we knocked on the door of a lady who said that just the other day she was thinking about how she needs to be back in church. She prayed just the other day that God would send her somebody. She was also really excited about family history. She said that she would be at church but she didn't come :/ We'll have to knock on her door again this week.

Earlier on in the week, we were biking around and we didn't know exactly where we were going. We stopped and my companion pulled out the map (yes I know, who uses a physical map?) and this [guy] in the house we were in front of came up to me and started talking to us. He said that he was investigating the church up in Delaware and really enjoyed church and the Book of Mormon. He said the only reason he hasn't gotten baptized is because he wants to get baptized with his wife who is still in Mexico. He just recently moved here and didn't know how to contact the missionaries. The crazy thing was that he had seen us 3 times already. He said the first time he saw us biking so he tried to follow us but we turned and he lost us. It was an eye opener to me of how many people I pass by and pass up even when I'm a full time missionary! Sometimes we get so caught up in what we're doing, even though it may be a good thing, that we miss opportunities that are right in front of our face! Anyway, it was a miracle that we were lost right at that moment and needed to pull out the map right in front of his house. We gave the spanish missionaries his info and they've already met with him and say he's doing great!

We've been working hard to contact the minimum of 15 people a day. There's still lots of room for improvement but we are doing much better. My contacting has changed so much lately. I'm trying my best to love all the people I come in contact with and to take an interest in them, rather than just talk to them out of obligation. We've seen our potential investigator pool almost double. Anyway, I love and miss you all, but it is a wonderful thing to be a missionary!

until next time,
Elder Steed

 I come out for studies and I find this.