Email received May 5, 2014

Hello everyone,

Here's a crazy thought. On Sunday I get to call or skype you guys! It seems like just yesterday we skyped. Yeah, somehow, that was 5 months ago. Hmmm. Some more news for you: I am being transferred tomorrow. I am leaving my first area after 5 transfers (7 months). It's a bittersweet feeling. I'm kind of nervous because even though I've been out for quite some time now, I still don't know anyone or any of the rest of the mission. Everyone keeps telling me that Melbourne is soooo different than the rest of the mission. Most of it is country. I don't know how I feel about that, I'm definitely a city boy. haha. Today is my last day with Elder Pongi :(. We got along great and had lots of fun. He's a hilarious little Tongan. I don't know why I said "little" cuz his arms about the size of my thighs. haha. :)

This week was pretty good. We got some other lessons in and we even got a member lesson this week! That's been something that has really been hard to get in this area. We had a lesson with Herman this past week. He is the man that we came across maybe 2 months ago by turning on the wrong street. We ended up dropping him because we could never get back in contact with him. One day a couple weeks ago while we were biking, we somehow ran into him again. haha. Crazy how that works. The lesson was pretty good. There is some potential for progress if we can just get him to read the Book of Mormon.

Yesterday we were on our way to an appointment that we had at 6. It was with a lady who came to church for the first time in years and her family. She is a member but a lot of the family who came to church yesterday aren't members. They really enjoyed church. Anyway, we were on our way to the appointment (about a 7 mile ride) and Elder Pongi got a flat tire about halfway through the trip. It was literally the worst possible spot to get a flat tire. haha. We ended up calling some Spanish missionaries and they came and picked us up. We had to reschedule the appointment. Anyway, when they dropped us off at our apartment, there was a man who waived them down. It turns out that he was baptized several years ago but hasn't been to church in a long time. They were able to set up an appointment and such. It's really cool how all this timing and placing works as missionaries. If we hadn't have gotten a flat tire, those elders wouldn't have met that man.  :)

This past week I made a huge mistake in being convinced by my companion to have him cut my hair. haha! I told him that I wanted a 3 on the sides and scissors on top. Yeah.. haha. He accidentally went to far up while cutting the sides. Pretty much the only way to fix it was to do a 3 all the way around. I hate it. haha I look like a bafoon! Oh well, it'll grow. Anyway, I got to get going. I hope you all have a fantastic week and I will let you know how things go in my new area! Love you all. See you Sunday!

love,
Elder Steed

 Last day with Elder Pongi :(

freaky...I know.

Email received April 28, 2014

Hello All,

This week had some ups and downs. On Tuesday we had interviews with President Pingree because he only has 1 transfer left. Our interview was great, he gave me some motivating words and some awesome advice. I love that man and I am sad that he is leaving. Later on Tuesday evening we went on exchanges with the AP's. Elder Valdez went with me and Elder Hillebrant went with Elder Pongi. Elder Valdez and I had a great time. We talked to TONS of people and even ran into an investigator that we had lost contact with. It was pretty cool.

On Thursday we biked over to a former investigator that we found in the area book. We ended up teaching the Restoration and it went really well. It was great to be in a spiritual 1st lesson, it had definitely been awhile. On Saturday the North Elders had a baptism. It was awesome and very spiritual. All the Elders in the ward sang a musical number. The baptism was at 5 and we decided what song to sing literally at 4:58 haha! It ended up being really good though. We sang Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy. It was great.

We've been kind of worried about Laura lately, we see her about once a week but I don't know, it feels like we're kind of losing touch a little. We'll try harder this week. To be honest, lately I have been kind of discouraged. But then I realized that I needed to stop feeling sorry for myself because nowhere in my purpose or call letter did it say I was here to baptize people. I'm just here to invite others and to serve them. As long as I am doing that then I am doing what I have been asked to do. This could be my last week here in Melbourne ward. I've been here for 5 transfers (7 months). It's crazy. It's such a bitter sweet feeling! Well I got to go. I love you all and I want you to know that we all have a perfect, loving Heavenly Father who wants to hear from us!

Elder Steed

 The Elders after interviews (Doesn't he look so handsome?!)

 Houston North Zone after intervies with President Pingree.

 Biking.. haha

Email received April 21, 2014

Hey All,

This week honestly was pretty hard. Our top investigator was really close to baptism but there have been some setbacks and it's not clear when she will be baptized. Other than that we are struggling to find people. I think we just have to continue to try our hardest and we will be blessed. Sometimes the Lord will test us to make sure that we will work hard even when things get tough. He needs to be able to trust us. So we will continue to work hard and we will work harder this week than we did last week.

Here's a cool miracle we had recently. One day we were biking home from trying to visit some people. The area we were in isn't exactly the best place to be so we were hurrying home. We came across a young guy who waived us down. We started talking to him and it turns out that he is a member but has been really struggling with some things and hasn't been to church for quite awhile. He's been to church two weeks in a row now! It's amazing how the Lord will put us in certain places at certain times in order to come across those who need us. Being a missionary is awesome. Have a great week!

Thank you for all the love and support. Have a great week and keep being amazing!

 Elder Pongi

 

 

 Elder Grasse made homemade donuts!

 District Meeting photos!

Email received April 15, 2014

Hello All,

Sorry that I didn't get a chance to write yesterday. We have had a pretty good week. Laura is really progressing. She has already had her baptismal interview and we are currently trying to decide on a date of when to be baptized. We are all really excited! She still has some really hard decisions to make before she can be baptized. I'll be praying really hard for her. We got a new investigator this week. His name is Daishawn. He was a member referral from a member in the spanish ward. We've taught him twice but we can't really tell if he is progressing or not. Other than that, things are going kind of slow, but that's alright. Recently our mission president issued a cool challenge to us. He attended a seminar for mission presidents in this part of the country that was held by Elder Bednar. The challenge is to get a paper back copy of the book of mormon and to read it cover-to-cover, highlighting anything that helps us answer the following question: How can I better use the enabling and strengthening power of the Atonement. At the end, we will write a one page summary of what we have learned. President Pingree has asked us to finish it before June 30, 2013. I'm excited. Well for the sake of time I have to go, love you all. Have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed

Email received April 7, 2014

Hey everyone,

My ankle is doing much better. Glad that everyone liked the pictures. I can walk on it without limping now, although it still hurts. I can also ride my bike just fine. I just can't play volleyball. Well, I'm not going to lie. I still play. I just don't run or jump. haha. Other than that I'm good.
This week we met with Laura twice. She is just awesome. There's just confusion about marrying her fiance or not. We are just trying to be there for her as she is going through these difficult times in her life.
Guess what! We have a new member referral! We were supposed to teach him for the first time last night but it ended up not working out. He couldn't come. We just talked with the family about how the lesson will go when we do meet with him. The member is really excited and so are we. We are meeting with them Tuesday night. He has already been to church once and came to the church yesterday for the first session. Apparently he really enjoyed both of those. Anyway, the member didn't do anything complex or hard to invite him to learn. It was just very simple. I'm excited to get my first member referral. I feel like it will be much easier for us, and more importantly, for him to have that support from a friend. It's hard for missionaries to do everything on their own. It's much easier when members help out. We are also supposed to finally meet with Roy again this week. Hopefully that goes well. I found a new favorite song! It's called "I Love the Lord" by byu mens chorus. I would LOVE to sing that song. It's amazing. I hope that all of you have a great week, and I hope that your trip to Austin will be great! for a little while you all will only be 2 and a half hours away by car. Have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed

Email received March 31, 2014

Hey all,

I wish I had some stuff to report on, but I don't really have much. haha. Last Monday I sprained my ankle playing volleyball. I landed on someones foot as I came down from a block. Twas very painful. I can walk, well hobble, now and it is progressively getting better. Most of the week was spent studying and cleaning. Pretty lame. Oh well.

I do have a new companion. His name is Elder Pongi. He is from Tonga. He has been on his mission for a little over a year now. His english is very good for not knowing any before his mission. He is such a goofball and cracks me up. We have a lot of fun. It's going to be a great transfer. As soon as I can start working fully again. I am starting to walk better but I'm scared for biking. Hopefully it wont take too long to be able to bike. I'm upset that this happened because we just got 2 new polynesians in our district who know how to play volleyball. And now I'm hurt. Oh well. haha. Well thanks for all the updates. I'm glad that Sister Goodwin was able to meet mom and deliver the note. I think that the Goodwins should be friends with the Cockrells up at BYUI. That would be sweet. Well, I gotta go. We're now going to the gym where I can watch people play volleyball. Gosh. haha have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed

 hahaha!

 front view

 

Compare with normal sized leg in background.

 

 This is what it looked like after 5 days.

 

 This was a really boring week.

 

Bored.