Email received September 21, 2015

Hello everyone!

Hope y’all are doing well. So, this is crazy, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but this is my last email as a full time missionary. This week had a lot of ups and downs. The down part is that I got sick on Friday! Just in time to sing in sacrament meeting on Sunday, give a temple tour, and come home. Last night I woke up at 2:30 am and couldn’t fall back asleep. I’m literally a zombie right now.

So one really cool thing that happened this week is that we got a phone call Thursday from an unknown number, they left a voicemail and it was a girl that said that she had a lot of LDS  friends growing up and wanted to convert. Her name is Amanda and she’s so solid! We’ve met with her 3 times this past week and she has a date for October 17.

So Elder Smith and I are both leaving Traditions. Elder Lopp will get 2 new companions tomorrow. And I will be with the mission president going through final interviews, temple trip, testimony meetings etc. It’s all pretty surreal. It does not seem real that I am finished with my mission. I’ve learned so much throughout these past two years and I really wouldn’t give it up for anything.

I think the greatest lesson I’ve been able to learn is to stop placing limits on myself. I’ve learned how to be confident. Not because of myself but because I have a Father in Heaven that will ALWAYS be there to help. As long as I am living in a way where I can receive His help and recognize it, why would we ever feel unsure about ourselves? If we remember who we are and what our potential is, we can feel confident and sure about ourselves! The trick will be to put this into practice in the next stages of my life when I am a “greenie” again. Haha.

I know that this work is true. I know that God knows all of us and wants us to succeed. He is always willing to help. I know that God loves us enough to speak to us today. He has called a prophet that guides us. I know the Book of Mormon is true. It answers the questions of the soul. Simple truths about the most debated and unclear topics of the gospel are clearly and beautifully stated in the Book of Mormon. I know that through the Atonement of Christ we can be cleansed from sin. We can have all our guilt and shame taken away and we can actually FEEL and BE clean. What greater feeling is there than that? I’m grateful for the things that I’ve been able to learn on my mission. I’m indebted to it! I’m also grateful for the great responsibility I’ve been able to have to spend the last 2 years sharing this message. I know it, and I love it. Thank you for all your love, support, and prayers over these years, they were much needed.

I’ll see y’all soon. :)

Love,
Elder Steed

I'm coming for you Nevada!

____________________________________________________________

Email received September 14, 2015

Hello everyone!

Wow, this is my last full week as a full time missionary. What on earth! People keep asking me how I feel and I just don’t know how to respond. It hasn’t really hit me. I don’t feel any different.

So we had a really cool miracle this week. We were on campus one day contacting and we sat on a bench to take a break for a few minutes. There was a girl that walked up and started talking to us. Her name is Duoduo. She is from China but her aunt in Houston married someone from Salt Lake and joined the church. She has been to church a couple times in Houston and in Salt Lake and was looking for the church here.

We met with her twice this week and it went really well. She sincerely wants to know. We were able to get back in contact with Asia this week! She has been doing ok. She knows that it’s true, but is having a hard time because of pressure from family and from friends.

This weekend we had a tailgating party at the institute before the game. They set up the pit Friday afternoon and smoked pork butt, chicken, and sausage all throughout the night so that it’d be ready by 2 pm to eat. It was a MAD HOUSE here. That stadium holds 102,000 people. There were people everywhere. I love Texas A&M!

Anywho, not much else to report on. Thanks for all the love and support! I’ll talk to ya next week!

Love,
Elder Steed

 Photobooth fun!

 New member lesson with Charles. He teaches us the Plan of Salvation and does great.

 Setting up the pit before the game. BBQ-ing goes 14 hours before game, through the night. Texans are crazy. Photos from right before kickoff, so many people an so loud!  Me calling people to repentance.

 Look how cute Elder Lopp is!

Email received September 7, 2015

Hey everybody! We had an awesome week this week! We started to teach Britteney, the girl we met at burger king. We met with her 3 times this week and she came to church. She is so prepared. It's awesome. Unfortunately she is moving to New York today, but we will connect her with missionaries there.

We started to teach a girl that we ran into Elder Smith's first day in the field. We ran into her again recently and have started to teach her. She's pretty sweet.

Ive been reading Mosiah lately and I love Mosiah 11:21

21 And except they repent and turn to the Lord their God, behold, I
will deliver them into the hands of their enemies; yea, and they shall
be brought into bondage; and they shall be afflicted by the hand of
their enemies.

I love that we have the ability to repent. When we don't, we are
brought into bondage by the mistakes we make. As we repent and change
we are literally freed from what holds us bound. That is why Christ
came. So that we can be free. There is absolutely nothing that we have
to be in bondage to. That is why Christ came. To free us.

Love you all! Have a wonderful week!

-Elder Steed

 The mission board at the mission office. Departing missionaries.

 We luhzz Charles

 This is Britteney after church. She is the girl we met at burger

king last week.

 The table we had at the student center open house for LDSSA. We had

students write what they had "Because of him" and put it on the board.

The best companionship!

Email received August 31, 2015

Hey everyone!

This will be a short email. Sorry. First off, school started today. There are so many people. I had forgotten how many people there are. It’s crazy. This past week was “Gig ‘em” week so there were lots of events with students everywhere. We had a lot of fun talking to people and being dorks on campus. We had a really cool experience finding someone this week.  In the beginning of the week we went to burger king for lunch. The girl working there was really cool. We ended up feeling like idiots for not inviting her to any activities or to learn more. Later on in the week we went to burger king again. All 3 of us had pretty much forgotten about her, but she was working again. She wanted to know what church we were from. We ended up getting her number and texting her to play volleyball on thursday night. She was really excited and had a great time and we’ll be meeting with her tomorrow. We’re pretty stoked!

We’ve been meeting with Alfred pretty regularly and he is progressing. He has a date for the 19th and we’ll be working hard to get him there. It’s kinda hard to gauge where he’s at cuz his response is always “its good” haha. I love asians. :) Anywho, sorry for such a short letter. Have a great week! Love you!

-Elder Steed

Email received August 24, 2015

Hello everyone!

We had a pretty fantastic week here in C-Stat! We began teaching Asia, the girl that I wrote home about last week that was playing the piano. She is awesome! She invited her roommate to come and we have taught both of them 3 times already and they came to church. They currently have a goal of being baptized on the 27 of September. We have taught them both the Restoration and Plan of Salvation, and will be going over temples and family history work tonight. We’re excited.

We had zone conference this past Wednesday and we went over the doctrines found in lesson 5 in preach my gospel. We also talked a lot about the priesthood, it was really cool. It was my last zone conference, so I gave my “dying” testimony. So weird. I don’t think it’s really hit me at all. Doesn’t seem real lol. A lot of zone conference was on marriage. And President said that that needs to be our goal when we go home. It was....weird. Haha!

We had one of the sickest sacrament meetings yesterday. There were 3 talks that were all fantastic. They were on the joys of living the gospel and two of them were given by recent converts. Bishop Quinn spoke for a few minutes at the end because there was some extra time. He bore his testimony and conversion story and it was so awesome. There were a few non-members there and it was just a missionary’s dream come true. Bishop Quinn is such a missionary minded bishop. It’s really a blessing. Here are some cool quotes from some of the talks yesterday that I loved.

“There is no reason to live in sin because we have the opportunity to be clean again.”

“We have a loving heavenly father who will forgive us as long as we ask.”

Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.

“God has created a plan for each one of us. By not being content with our trials and lives we are saying that we are not content with the plan God has made for us.”

-Alexis Wylie

Everyone wants to be happy, but they don’t want to change what they are doing to become happy. We want to keep doing the things that make us unhappy and hope that somehow we will become happy. What are the things that will make us happy? The commandments. Mosiah 2:41.

We can continue to do the things we hope will make us happy, and delay the inevitable, or we can do what makes us the most happy; live the gospel and serve others.

-Jordan Anderson

I love these and they ring so true! I just want to add my testimony that all of those are true. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Til next time :)

-Elder Steed

 Kyle Field sunset

 LDS Chapel, Caldwell TX

Email received August 17, 2015

Hello everyone!

This was an interesting and very stressful week. To start off, we got a new companion on Thursday. His name is Elder Lopp and he’s from Orem, UT. He’s 22 and is excited to be on a mission. He’s awesome. The 3 of us are going to get along very well.

Every companionship in the zone is training, there’s 2 new companionships in the zone, and there is a new zone leader. So, safe to say, I am stressing out! A lot of responsibility. Also, we are only going to be covering the traditions ward now and no longer the family ward :( This week has been pretty rough because most pf our work lately had been in the family ward and we had been focusing so much on progressing investigators that now we really have none left. It’ll give us a fresh new start, which is always good.

We had a really cool miracle happen this week. On Wednesday, Elder Smith and I were on  campus from 11 AM to 5 talking to people. The first 3 hours were absolutely brutal. We had the worst attitude and we did not want to be talking to people. Not to mention it was hot as heck! We went inside one of the buildings to get a drink. As we were walking out, we both were dreading going back out. We were passing by one of the huge study rooms and I heard someone playing the piano in there. I looked in and had the strongest impression that we just needed to take a breath and read the Book of Mormon. It was really relaxing to read while someone was playing the piano. All of the sudden I recognized the song that the girl was playing. It was a christian song that I recognized from listening to christian radio. It sounded so good and I knew she was playing it because she saw us in there. I then had the strongest feeling that the reason I got that impression was because I needed to talk to her. I went up afterward and thanked her for playing. She ended up coming to institute that night and we are meeting with her tonight! After that, our moods changed and we had so much fun biking on campus talking to people. It was a blast!

I’ve been really soaking in this week the reality of my calling. It’s literally the coolest thing ever. It’s so easy to forget when you do it every day for such a long time, but it is seriously the coolest thing ever! I love it. I’m very grateful for all I am learning. It’s amazing to see how much change the gospel can bring for the better.

Congratulations to Mark Anthony! I’m really excited for him! He’s going to impact a lot of people. Well, that’s all for this week. I love you all. Have a great week! :)

Love,
Elder Steed

Email received August 10, 2015

Hello everyone!

This week has been interesting. It was Elder Spragg’s last week in the mission field. He flies  home this Wednesday. Ahhh! Also, today is the first day of my last transfer. Oh how time flies. I guess it’s not official yet, but Elder Smith and I will most likely be training a new missionary this transfer! We will be picking him up on Wednesday!

We had kind of a scare this week with one of our top investigators, Alex. She had to cancel like 4 appointments in a row and then she texted us saying that she didn’t want to take the lessons anymore. We asked her if we could meet and just talk about it. It was such a powerful lesson. She was concerned that she wouldn’t be able to keep all the commandments. We talked about the Atonement and how it’s a process of becoming. We’ve realized that we have been teaching really effectively, but that we haven’t been emphasizing the Atonement very well.

We’ve begun to re-focus our teaching to people’s needs and it’s been so much better. We actually won’t be covering the family ward anymore and will be strictly YSA. We’re pretty stoked for the semester to start. There’s going to be so many people on campus and we need to find some new investigators.

Anyway, sorry for such a lame email this week. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Steed

Email received August 3, 2015

Hello everyone!

Hope all is well! We had an interesting week. It was surprisingly kinda slow compared to the last few weeks. We think it was due to losing focus while planning. However, it was still a great week! Nicki’s roommate got baptized this and Elder Spragg and I were asked to sing our song at her baptism. One of the sister missionaries recorded it and I’ll try and see if I can send it home. The baptism was great. The girl’s name is Brianne and her grandma is actually in the family ward. Even more crazy, is that her grandma is the lady that one of our investigators, Chris, is living with. Chris has been meeting with missionaries since March and we’ve been meeting with him since I got here.

It’s been a long process with Chris. So many times we thought we would have to stop meeting with him, because he would just make so many excuses to not change. In just the past 2 weeks there’s been a night and day difference. We were wondering what the difference has been, and we realized that the change came once he got lost in the Book of Mormon. He’s been flying through the Book of Mormon, and ever since he has been on fire. The only word I can think to describe it is just conversion. He’s going to get baptized on Monday the 10th. Right before Elder Spragg goes home.

While we were planning and thinking about one of our investigators, Xing Hua, who has been an investigator of sorts for over a year, we realized that he doesn’t really have any friends in the ward. We came up with this awesome idea to have him and Charles, our Chinese recent convert, to take us out to a Chinese restaurant. Charles brought another friend as well and it was so fun! They were all at church! As well as another Chinese friend that Xing Hua brought! I love Chinese people haha. They are the best.

So in a lesson this past week we were teaching an investigator that lives with a less active member. We were going to be teaching the Plan of Salvation. She (the member) didn’t want to join in on the lesson because she “already knew the Plan of Salvation”. She may have already known the doctrines or components of it, but as she expressed where she is in life she clearly doesn’t understand or have a testimony of it. This is why it’s so important to teach the WHY of the gospel and not just the what. While she was expressing her doubts and feelings of hopelessness I came to the following conclusion:

How does the Plan of Salvation actually help us to be happy no matter what? Everyone says that, but how? There are so many unfair things and trials, how can we have hope or true happiness? Jesus Christ is our ultimate example. He lived the most unfair life ever! He had the most pain ever, yet, He had the most fulfilling life ever. Why? How is this possible? Because He knew EXACTLY who He was, why He was here, and He had COMPLETE confidence that He could fulfill God’s goal through obedience. So, when we have pain and suffering, if we remember who we are, what our goal is, and have faith enough to obey, we can have confidence that we will fulfill God’s goal for us! If we are to become like Him, is it any wonder that we have to have pain and suffering? If we remember that, then we can be happy no matter what. I know that this is true. I know He has not only plans for us, but a goal for us. The plan that He has made for us to get that goal is perfect. But we need to do our job in understanding the WHY rather than just the what.

Sorry for preaching. Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Steed

 Squirrels at A&M

 BDubs! Classic photo

  Excited to be done with 1 Tie July! 31 days straight wearing the same ties!

Excitement may have been an understatement

Email received July 27, 2015

Hello everyone!

This week was great! Charles’ baptism was on Wednesday and it was seriously the best. Tim Nixon, the guy who came home early from his mission in Taiwan because he broke both wrists, ended up being able to baptize him. He helped us a lot with teaching Charles in Chinese. Anyway, we ended up moving Charles’ baptism up to increase the chances of Tim being able to come because he didn’t know yet when he would be heading back to Taiwan. It ended up that he got the call the day of the baptism that he would be leaving the next day at 5 am. It was definitely inspired and was a really great experience.

It was very stressful right before the baptism. He ended up being really late, people on the program weren’t showing up, there was just all kinds of distractions leading up to it but it ended up great. Charles bore his testimony at the end and it was very humbling to hear it. He said that he was at a point where he wondered why he was going through the trials he had and that he had lots of questions that had never been answered. It was really humbling, because it took me back to the time we met him on campus. I asked him if there were questions that he had that didn’t make sense. I asked him if he wondered what the point of everything is. It was so cool to see that though I felt like I wasn’t doing anything special, or didn’t feel like the way I contacted him was all that inspired, it was exactly the questions I needed to ask. Another great part about this story is that I was having a horrible day on campus. I seriously just did not want to talk to anyone any more. My companion was off talking to someone else and I was standing in the middle of campus just looking around and being miserable! Then I saw Charles, and I just wanted to talk to him. Since then we see Charles on campus all the time, but never where we first contacted him. Later on he told us that he never walks that way and that he took the wrong turn. I was hit at the baptism with a realization of how inspired all of this has been. Now, after 4 weeks Charles is baptized! A guy who didn’t even believe in God 4 weeks ago! So great.

Nicki’s baptism on Saturday was great as well. She bore a powerful testimony at the end as well. She talked about how the gospel filled “last piece of her puzzle.” She said that she had just stopped going to her church because she felt that something was missing. Her baptism went great!

I got to sing at the mission president’s fireside last night. Elder Spragg and I sang a duet of “I Will Not Be Still”. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but we absolutely nailed it. It was a great experience. It was really great to sing again.

I’ve been studying a lot about faith recently. What is faith? I love Matthew 4: 18-20 because it is an account of true faith.

18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
19 And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

God’s whole goal, His work and His glory, is for us to become like Him. Faith is a belief that with Christ’s help, we actually CAN change; that it’s actually possible. If we have that belief it will lead us to act. The disciples in this story literally believed that if they followed, they would change to become “fishers of men”. They believed that with His help, they could become more like Him. Having this belief led them to act. Action brings change, or repentance. A change to become more like Him. I know that if we have faith enough to act, if we believe that we can Change with his help to become more like Him, then no matter our weaknesses or infirmities, we can bring about this change. We can accomplish His goal for us. As long as we trust Him enough, to follow Him. Love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Steed

Email received July 20, 2015

Hello everyone!

Hope you all had a great week. We did here in College Station! Charles and Nicki will be getting baptized this week. It will be awesome. Charles has been doing so good. We had an appointment fall through this week and then they called 10 min before the lesson saying that they could still meet. So we are about to go to this appointment and then we realized that we needed a male to come with us. I was scrambling to see who we could get to come with us and then BAM. The name Charles popped into my head. So our investigator Charles, who didn't even believe in God 3 weeks ago, helped teach the plan of salvation. It was the sickest moment and ever!

This week while I was on campus an anti-mormon approached me. They all seem to have the same outline that they use on us. Anyway, he went off and later I did some pondering on the things he was saying. It came down to the fact that all this man wanted was evidence.  Evidence that the book of mormon was true, evidence that Joseph Smith was a prophet. PROOF PROOF PROOF. Now of course we can receive spiritual conformation which is proof. But all he seemed to want was physical or scientific evidence. This is the kind of evidence I'll be referring to when using that word. So, this is what I learned: the need for evidence  sprouts from doubt. We want evidence because we fear that it's wrong. There is no way to prove or disprove anything about God. If there was, this on going debate between god vs no god would have ended a long time ago. It was designed to be that way. Doubt and faith can never go together. Faith is a pre-requisite to receiving revelation. Therefore, if all we care or want is evidence or proof, we will never really know. Testimony is based on revelation, not evidence. Ok, I'm just straight preaching right now. Hopefully some of that made sense.

Anyway, that's all I've got for this week. Love you all!

-Elder Steed

 One tie July ties

 Latest temple tour

Email received July 13, 2015

Hello everyone!

Another great week here in College Station! Charles is doing so well. He said that he feels peace as he reads the Book of Mormon. He has invited his friend to learn more as well and she agreed to do so when she gets back from New York in August. Charles is seriously the best. He came to the temple tour last night as well. His baptism is scheduled for Aug 1.

We set a goal to have 22 member presents this past week. By Saturday we only had 18 but because we had planned and did our part, we were able to get 6 yesterday. Definitely a miracle! So we’ve started meeting with several new people. One is a roommate of a recent convert and she is awesome. We are planning on extending a baptismal date with her this week.

Things are going so well. I wish I could give a more detailed report but there’s just so much that’s happening. I’m so grateful to be a missionary. Lately i’ve been learning so much more about the Book of Mormon. We’ve decided as a companionship to read from it together every day. Too often we as members take the Book of Mormon too lightly. We see it just as a way to know that the Restoration happened. If that’s all we view it as, when we come to know that its true then we won’t have much more motivation to continue to read it. But it’s so much more than that. It’s written specifically for our day. It helps us know how to withstand the evils of our day. It truly is the tool God has prepared to gather Israel in the last days. I know that God lives and that He always provides safety for His children. He has done that in our day with The Book of Mormon. I love you all! Have a great week :)

Love, Elder Steed

Email received July 6, 2015

Hello everyone!!

We had a really great week this week. We got a new companion on Thursday. His name is Elder Smith from Idaho Falls. He’s such a great guy. He reminds me a lot of Brian Davis. They have the same voice and laugh. He’s so ready and his testimony is so powerful. Elder Spragg and I feel like he’s training us!

We have continued to teach both Charles and Nicki. Nicki is getting baptized on July 25 and her friend has started taking the lessons and will be getting baptized on the same day! Charles has been doing great. We taught him why God gives commandments and then introduced the Word of Wisdom. It was a great lesson.

Yesterday after church we met with a girl that comes to the YSA ward. Her whole family are members of the church but she’s not. She has a calling, got her YW medallion, and has been going to church for 10 years. We talked with her for 2 hours and it all just came out. She’s been fighting against it for so long but we set a date for her to be baptized on Aug 8. It was a really great experience.

Well, I don’t have much more time. Sorry for such a lame letter. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Steed

New companionship! Elder Smith and Elder Spragg

Email received June 29, 2015

Hello everyone!!

So Tom was baptized this weekend! It was really cool. We started to feel like we should push his baptism back another week. We told him about it and he was kinda bummed. We then talked about D&C 9:8-9 which says:

8 But, behold, I say unto you, that you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right.

9 But if it be not right you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of thought that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong; therefore, you cannot write that which is sacred save it be given you from me.

We all got on our knees and had him pray about it and didn’t feel right. We prayed again and we all felt like it was right for him to be baptized this weekend. It was a really cool experience! The baptism went well and we had 2 investigators come to it.

The best part of the week was on Thursday night. There was a house that we tracted into and set up an appointment to teach the daughter. When we came she said it wasn’t a good time. We gave her a Book of Mormon and encouraged her to read the first 8 chapters before we came back. Well, when we came back she wasn’t even there. But her mom was home and she let us in. We taught her and her daughter in law the restoration and it was the best lesson of my mission. They are the most prepared people I’ve ever taught. They literally started crying during the first vision. The spirit was so strong. When we brought up the Book of Mormon, she got so excited and started asking us what the tree, the rod, the fruit, and the people laughing in chapter 8 meant. She had read the first 9 chapters before we even taught her! She wasn’t even there when we challenged her daughter to do it! We set a baptismal date with her and her daughter in law. We went over again last night and gave her a blessing. She will be having surgery soon and is going to start treatment for cancer.

Elder Spragg and I are staying together another transfer. This is his last one. We’re also getting a third companion. We will be training a new missionary. We’re really excited. Things are going so well. We currently have 9 people with baptismal dates, with plenty more on the way. We also had 3 investigators come to church!

I’ve been gaining such a greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon lately. There’s a section in Preach My Gospel that I really like, it says:

All objections, whether they be on abortion, plural marriage, seventh-day worship, etc., basically hinge on whether Joseph Smith and his successors were and are prophets of God receiving divine revelation.
The only problem the objector has to resolve for himself is whether the Book of Mormon is true. For if the Book of Mormon is true, then Jesus is the Christ, Joseph Smith was his prophet, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true, and it is being led today by a prophet receiving revelation.

Coupling this with Mormon 8:26-33 is really powerful. That reference says that the Book of Mormon will come forth in a time where it will be said that there are no more miracles, the power of God will be denied, churches will be defiled and raised up in pride, there will be wars in foreign lands, secret combinations, etc. I LOVE what it says in the last verse, verse 33. It tells us EXACTLY what it is we need to do in these chaotic last days. It says “look ye unto the revelations of God.” In a time that Book of Mormon prophets described as a day when people will “contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance” (2 Nephi 28:4), the only sure way to be safe is to look unto the revelations of God.

God has revealed Himself in our time. And once again the only objection, or only thing we have to resolve for ourselves, is whether the Book of Mormon is true. Because if it is, then we no longer have to contend man for man with our own learning. How chaotic does that sound!? That’s the very reason the world is how it is today. We can know the EXACT truth! We can know that God and Jesus Christ live, that they speak to us today, and that wickedness will NOT prevail.

I know that as we “look unto the revelations of God” we will never be led astray.

I Love you all! Have a great week :)
-Elder Steed

 Tom's baptism