Email received February 3, 2014

Hello,

The Book of Mormon manual is so awesome. I'm glad you were able to get one dad. We had a pretty good week. Not too much to complain about. Laura is still doing pretty good. We have now taught her the law of chastity, word of wisdom, and tithing. She committed to live each one. In the last lesson, when we tied it in with the Atonement, she asked us what we mean by "use the atonement" I tried explaining it but it just didn't really work out haha. She paused for a while, let the Spirit teach to her, and then she gave us pretty much the most beautiful definition of the Atonement that I have ever heard. It made me tear up. She's at the point where she can recognize and learn from the Spirit often. She is living her life in a way to have the Spirit teach her more often. This work is awesome. Besides that, all our other investigators have gotten kinda bogey-ish. A bogey is a term for flaky, or just whatever you wanna call it. haha. Laura is doing great, but besides that, we are struggling a little bit. I'm trying to be as patient and understanding as possible. haha. Church was great yesterday. Spirit was very strong. One of the most spiritual sacrament meetings I have been in. There were 2 ward members who had an immediate family member pass away that bore their testimony of the Plan of Salvation. I'm grateful for that amazing plan and the love that God has for us to give us that plan. Families can be together forever, through the Atonement of Jesus Christ we can return to our Heavenly Father to live with Him and with our families for all eternity. I love you all. Sorry this was such a lame letter, but we had a rougher week than usual. Keep praying and reading your scriptures. Dad, use the BofM manual. It's amazing. I love you all.

love,
Elder Steed

We eat a lot of pizza.

 Coolest district ever. Elder Bergman, Elder Steed, Elder Su'a, Sister Williams, Sister Bonner

Email received January 27, 2014

Hello All,

We had a pretty good week this week. The Book of Mormon class we had this week was pretty good. We taught it this week. Elder Bergman taught about how we can study it more effectively. Then Elder Su'a and I went over 1 Nephi 3-4 and talked about faith. It went really well. There was actually a pretty big group of people there. There was about 10 members and 1 investigator. Laura came! It was awesome. She really enjoyed it.

We got a new investigator this week. His name is Elton. He was a media referral that we got. When we went over there he said that he isn't a big fan of organized religion but is a "believer". He said that he just finds it interesting and likes to see where the different christian religions stand. We went through the first lesson on his door step and I felt that it went really well. He seemed very surprised by it. He said something along the lines of "So you're saying that your church is the same church Christ set up, with that same priesthood?" and he thought that was pretty cool. It's always a good lesson when you can at least get them to understand the claim of the Restoration. Some people feel the Spirit but they don't fully grasp the concept. He did. We can't meet with him for like the next 2 weeks, so hopefully we can get back into contact with him. He seemed pretty interested.

Laura has been progressing a lot. On Saturday we taught her the law of chastity. Always a bit nerve wracking to teach that haha. It went very well though. We have had very spiritual lessons with her. I won't go into them, but there have been feelings and thoughts that she has had that leads her to change. I told her that she is beginning to better recognize the Spirit and that she is beginning to live her life in a way that the Spirit can testify to her more often. She has gotten her answer, she just needs to choose it. She's in a very difficult situation but I think she will do what is right. She's so cool.

Laura also came to church on Sunday! She really enjoyed it. She came and 2 of the sisters' investigators came! Gospel Principles was amazing. Jackie, one of the sisters investigators with a baptismal date, started crying and said that she feels something different when she comes to this church compared to all the others, and Laura agreed. The work is going great. I love all of you so much and I think about you often. I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Steed

Melbourne Nerf Mafia. Left: Elder Bergman. center: Elder Su'a. right: Elder Steed

 Don't let Elder Su'a get a hold of your camera.

Ice storm! They stink! haha

 

Took forever!

Email received January 21, 2014

Hello all,

I hope that you all had a great week. Sorry I didn't email yesterday. All the libraries were closed here so we didn't have a place to email. We had a really good week. We had another lesson with Jonatalie on Tuesday. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it went really well. She liked it a lot. She had had a heart attack since we had last met with her the week before. We ended up giving her a priesthood blessing and she was crying at the end. She said she was still in pain but just felt comfort. It was an awesome experience.

We had a really great lesson with Monica on Thursday. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was really great. 3 of her daughters have already been baptized so I think they are a big example to her. We extended a date to be baptized on the 8th of February, although she didn't come to church so we might have to change that. She was taught by missionaries about a year ago, so she already knows a lot.

Saturday was the highlight of our week. We had another lesson with Laura. It was simply amazing. We ended up not teaching any of the things that we had planned to teach. She said that the hardest challenge for her is that her family doesn't support her meeting with us and going to church. They always go somewhere else when we come over and she said it's really hard on her. One of my companions shared an experience that related really well to her situation and how after he had still done what the Lord wanted him to do despite not having any support, things worked out and the family member now supports him. There was a time in the lesson where the Spirit was so strong that all 4 of us were crying. She said that she believes that this is what God wants her to do.

One of the most amazing things about that lesson was that as we were closing up and about to leave, Laura's niece walked in with her friend. Laura started talking to her niece's friend about us and what we do. She started teaching her about the Apostasy. We ended up teaching the friend, whose name happens to be Laura as well, the first lesson. She loved it and wants to be taught more. It reassured Laura (the 1st one) what we had told her an hour before, while that her family might not be ready for the message, there are people out there who are, such as herself and her niece's friend. The friend lives in the south mission so we will have to pass her on, but we have an investigator who found us an investigator and helped teach the Restoration. It was so cool.

Well that's just a tiny portion of my week. I love you all so much and I hope that everyone is happy and healthy. Stay safe and stay awesome.

Email received January 13, 2014

Hey Fam,

We had a pretty good week. We had an awesome lesson with a lady named Jonatalie this week. We taught her the Restoration and it went really well. She was like bawling the whole time. You could see, in her eyes, that the spirit was telling her the truthfulness of the message we were sharing. She said she felt really happy and felt loved. The spirit testifies to  people you teach on a mission more than you would think, but sadly people's agency often times gets in the way and they forget those feelings that they felt. Anyway, it was a great reminder of how strong the Spirit can be. Not just to us as members, but people learning of the Restored Gospel for the first time as well!

We had a really crazy experience this week. A couple of nights ago I was driving back to our apartment on the freeway in the very left lane. Thankfully, I looked over to the right and noticed that a crash was about to happen so I started to pull over. About 50 yards ahead in the lane next to ours, traffic was almost to a stop. There was a car who must not have been looking because she slammed into the back of a almost fully stopped car while she was going about 60 mph. After the impact, the car that got hit started spinning and both cars ended up going through the lane that we were in. If I hadn't have looked and saw that it was about to happen, we probably would have slammed into both cars at 75 mph. Clearly someone was looking out for us and I'm glad that they were!

We have started a Book of Mormon class here in the Melbourne Ward. I had the idea for this a couple of months ago and this past Wednesday we had our first one. The idea was to strengthen members and LA's and to invite investigators to it as well. Well, since it was my idea, I had to teach it. haha. Elder Su'a taught some as well. There were about 7 people, all active members in attendance. It actually went really well. When I got the idea I strongly felt that it was revelation. It's interesting how as I acted on that revelation, the Lord helped me (and Elder Su'a) to have a good lesson and for the Spirit to be there. If we act on the impressions that we get, the Lord will help us accomplish the things he has asked us to do.

We have a new investigator named Monica. She was taught by missionaries before and 3 of her kids were baptized. She moved into our ward so now we will be teaching her. She seems really awesome and there might be some promise there. Laura came to sacrament meeting yesterday. The talks that were given were really awesome but she had to go home after it was over. She said she enjoyed it but that part of it she didn't enjoy (we are guessing it was the noise level because of the kids) lots of people are used to when you can hear a pin drop at church haha. Well there's a little update. Lots of our investigators have decided to ignore us, but at the same time we are finding new, more prepared investigators. We are also starting to work with the members more often and see what we can do to help strengthen them in their calling as member missionaries. Do your best to help the missionaries. They need help. Love you all! Have a great week! Sorry, I forgot to take pictures this week :(

love,
Elder Steed

Email received January 6, 2014

Dear Family,

Well something interesting happened this week. I showed up to transfer meeting to get my new companion. While there I found out that I would be in a trio and would be training when the new missionary arrives. That was a surprise. haha. My new companions name before we got the 3rd missionary is Elder Su'a from UT. If you remember me having someone as a friend on Facebook who was going to my same mission, that's Elder Su'a. We were friends on fb and now he is my companion. Small world. Elder Su'a is hilarious. He reminds me of cousin Mike a lot. He looks like him, just not white, and he acts a lot like him. It cracks me up. My other companions name is Elder Bergman and he is from Syracuse UT. He is excited to be here.

Well things were a little slow this week between the new companionship, the new year, and me being really sick. Despite that, we still had some really cool things happen. We had 2 lessons with Laura this week. Both were about the Book of Mormon. We read Enos with her and it went really well. We got her excited to read the Book of Mormon. We were able to help her understand who is writing, who the Nephites and Lamanites are, etc so that it makes more sense. We also touched on why the Book of Mormon is so important in finding out the truth of the Restored Gospel.

Yesterday was a really good Sunday. The chapel was almost full! Something that I wouldnt have ever imagined seeing in the Melbourne ward when I first got here. Laura didn't come though. She texted and said that she fell asleep reading the Book of Mormon and didn't set her alarm. Coolest excuse for an investigator not to come to church, right? hahaha It was funny. Pray for her. Pray that she might have the strength to act on what the Holy Ghost has testified to her, despite difficult changes that she may have to make in her life. We also met with a man named Sterling who wants to get baptized in February. Things are really looking up. I wish I could write more but I don't have much time. One really cool thing that I realized this week was that I kind of feel comfortable with what I'm doing and I kind of act like I know what I'm doing. Getting a new companion I technically was "taking over" the area since I know all the people. Now that Elder H is gone and that I'm training I am more prepared than I thought I was! I hope you all have a great week and get to feeling better! I love you all!

love,
Elder Steed

 

Transfer meeting, saying goodbye to Elder H. I also met Sister Cardona-Paul right after taking this.

 

Me, Elder Bergman, and Elder Su'a. Elder Su'a and I are training Elder Bergman.

 

What 7 months in Texas does to you :(

 

 My new companion. I want to go home.

(He's kidding of course!!)

Email received December 30, 2013

Dear family,

We had a pretty good week. You're never going to believe this. I'm still in shock. We had an investigator come to church. It was weird. We didn't know what to do or how to act. hahah! Well to start off, it was great to be able to skype you all. I definitely enjoyed it. It kind of makes the next few days interesting though. You can see it in all the missionaries after they had skyped. You could literally see everyone's "trunkiness". If you don't know what that means, ask a returned missionary. Well I goofed and I left my camera at the apartment so I don't have any pictures to send this week. I also left my old planner (today is start of new transfer) at the apartment so I'll have to try to remember everything that happened this week off the top of my head.

Well Tuesday was Christmas Eve, and we were invited to the Rosas home to be at their Christmas Eve party. (same family that let us skype at their place). It was a lot of fun. A lot of members of the ward were invited as well. It was a great time. They forced Elder Hillebrant and I to sing christmas hymns haha that was interesting. Christmas morning we opened our gifts. The Book of Mormon was the coolest gift ever. Thanks to all those who wrote in it. Sure miss you all. Then we had a zone breakfast. We ate breakfast as a zone and played basketball and volleyball and such. It was a lot of fun. Then we skyped! that was awesome and a lot of fun. For the rest of Christmas we went over to a family in the ward, the Major's home. They fed us dinner and we sang Christmas hymns. It was pretty fun.

So I can't remember what day it was, but we went over to a referrals house and taught him the first lesson. He had a girl there as well, I'm assuming it's his girlfriend, and it went well. I think they understood the concept of the first lesson and we committed them to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. They said that they would. We also set up a return appointment for tomorrow. Hopefully that doesn't fall through, and hopefully it goes well :)

On Thursday we decided to go visit Laura. She didn't come to church that past Sunday so we didn't have a planned lesson with her. We showed up and talked to her for awhile. We talked about missions like the whole time. We told her about what we do and how all of it is set up and such. She thought it was very interesting and she liked it. We set up a lesson with her for Saturday. On Saturday we planned to teach her the last 2 parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. We ended up talking a lot about The Book of Mormon. She said that she feels that she has to read the Bible so that she can understand all the references that The Book of Mormon makes to the Bible. A thought that I had was that the Bible is important, and that we should read it. I have been reading it and I have learned a lot, but if we read the Bible and know that it's true, do we come to a knowledge of the "One Lord, one faith, one baptism" that the Bible teaches about in Ephesians 4:5? It's not possible, considering the 700+ Christian religions that read from the Bible. If we read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if its true and receive an answer that it is, then we come to a knowledge of that one Lord, one faith, one baptism. Then, after we receive that witness, we can be able to read the Bible and understand the correct interpretations and meanings of it. The Book of Mormon has increased my testimony of the Bible, and I am grateful that God allowed for the Book of Mormon to come forth so that we can know the true interpretations and true doctrines of Christ's gospel. Anyway, she gave us a pretty promising indication that she would be coming to church on Sunday.

Well Sunday came, we thought for sure Laura was coming. She didn't. We were bummed. When sacrament was over and the usher opened the door, Laura walked in. We were so shocked. It was funny. Long story short, she loved it. The talks were good, gospel principles was great, it was all about baptism, so it fit perfectly. One really great thing about Laura is she said she doesn't feel she has fully repented. She says she needs to before she gets baptized. She is awesome and she just gets it. She loved church and the ward did a great job of welcoming her. We are really excited for what lies ahead.

Well there is a lot more that happened this week but I can't remember it all off the top of my head :( Hope everyone has a great week and I'll update you all on my new companion next week! I love you all. Keep being amazing :)

[Elder Steed]

 

Christmas aftermath.

 

Our awesome zone.

 

Elder Valdez (right) is the best.

 

  Our new WML, Brother Parker.

Email received December 23, 2013

Hello! First of all, Merry Christmas to you all! I hope that it will be a great day! We definitely had a better week this week. WE HAD 3 MEMBER PRESENT LESSONS THIS WEEK. That's a lot, considering I had only had 4 to this point on my mission. Member present lessons are the best. Last Monday we had dinner at the new Ward Mission Leader's home. We talked about what the ward needs. He is awesome. He's young, single, an attorney, and he's on fire. We are very excited.

On Tuesday we had another lesson with Laura, our top investigator. We had a member there named Lauren. She is the sister-in-law of a sister in our ward. She was only in town for a few days but is planning on going on a mission so she came with us. We talked a little bit about the Holy Ghost and Enduring to the End. Laura said that she knows that she committed to be baptized last time we met, but that now she isn't ready. I testified that the reason she said yes before was because the she felt the Spirit so strongly testifying to her that the things we teach her are true and that it's the right thing to do. The Spirit is always so strong in our lessons with her.

On Wednesday we had a lesson with John again. We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and were really bold with him about how the people who baptized him before didn't hold proper authority. He wasn't offended and appreciated our honesty. He said that he has some reading and praying to do. He also asked us some questions about the Fall and the fruit. He said that he hasn't talked to a minister yet who could explain it. So we are excited to have the Plan of Salvation lesson with him this Tuesday. If he doesn't cancel, seeing as it's Christmas Eve. haha. We also had another member present on Wednesday. It was at the Smith's home. It was with a lady named Tina. She is pretty cool but our lessons are always on negative stuff she's heard about the church and stuff she's heard from her pastor. Her husband does not like us at all. She texted us saying that we are trying to brainwash her by having her come to the home of a black lds couple. It was pretty ridiculous. The reason we had the lesson at their home was because we accidentally scheduled a lesson with her at the same time the Smith's signed up to have us over for dinner. So we decided to do both at the same time :)

Thursday we had another lesson with Laura with a member present. It had to basically end before it started because some guys game to work on her floor and it was too loud to have a lesson. But thankfully the two of them were able to talk and become friends. So that's good. We also had a correlation meeting with our new WML. We have developed a little ward mission plan and are testing the waters on it now!

On Friday we had Christmas conference. There are now 280 missionaries in the Houston mission so the Christmas conference has 2 sessions instead of one. Anyway President talked about the Atonement. It was so great. He went from the Pre-mortal Christ all the way through now. He talked a lot about the Fall. The doctrine of the Fall is amazing. It's so great to be able to understand it and how it fits into the Plan and the Atonement. I'm grateful that we have The Book of Mormon and revelation through modern prophets to be able to understand it and how it fits into God's Plan and the Atonement. We also met with Laura Friday night. We randomly stopped by and just talked about the church. We talked a lot about faith and how essential it is to finding out truth.


Well that's most of what happened this week. I hope that everyone has a great Christmas. And I'll talk to some of you on Wednesday! Woooo!

Love,
Elder Steed

 

My desk!

 

I couldn't get a no blurry one, but this is downton from Moody Park.

 

hmmm. awkward.

 

  Our Christmas set up!