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!

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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