Elder Nathan Steed

Email received May 26, 2014

Hello!

So sorry to hear about Grandpa! Makes me pretty sad. But also makes me really happy. Sometimes we go to a dimentia care home and just talk to the patients there. I'm glad that Grandpa has his memory back and I know that he's happy. Love that guy! I know that because of the Atonement "Death has no sting" and "The grave no victory"

This week we got 2 new investigators. One was a man that we the missionaries met about 2 weeks before I got to this area. He works at the HEB that we grocery shop at. His name is Jason. He is an awesome guy. We met with him on Wednesday at the church. We also had a member with us who is a recent RM. The lesson was really hard to stay focused and on track but it was good. He had a lot of questions. He ended up being very interested in The Book of Mormon and committed to read and pray about it. The second new investigator is named Jim. We met him just walking around last Saturday. The street contact was kind of interesting. He said he wasn't too interested but ended up giving us his address. Didn't make much sense. haha. Anyway, we knocked on his door and had a short, run down version of the Restoration. He too became very interested in The Book of Mormon and committed to read it. Both of these new investigators aren't what you would sometimes call a "golden investigator" but anything can happen if they read the Book of mormon and pray sincerely about it. So we'll see what happens. :)

We also met with Anthony & Lexi this week. We taught the Plan of Salvation and it was a really good lesson. Anthony wants to be baptized but because of some legal issues and the fact that they aren't married, it will take some time. We will continue to meet with them though. This sunday both wards that we cover had a farewell. Later on we went to the little open house that was for one of them. It was weird being there because it made me remember the feelings that I was going through. Then I saw that they had her call letter framed and on display, I can't believe I opened mine almost a year ago?? Can you believe that? Unreal. Time is flying. Yesterday was my 8 month mark. Time is flying. Well, I hope you all have a great week. I love and miss you all.

love,
Elder Steed

Note: Nate wants you to watch this video!
https://www.lds.org/youth/video/because-of-him?lang=eng

Elder Neville and Elder Hillebrant after zone conference.

No neck photo!

Elder Neville, Sister Pingree and I.

He goes home in 3 weeks. So sad. (rather disgusting pic, I know.)

Elder Valdez! Gonna miss him so much. Btw, he gave me that tie :)

One of the many lakes in our area.

Every lake or pond is infested with turtles

("Infested"? That's awesome! I'd say "blessed" or something :P)

You get pretty tired by the end of the day..

Email received May 19, 2014

Helllloooo!

We had a pretty good week. This week we spent a lot of time on our bikes. Having a car is great and all, but you don't come across too many people that you can invite. One day we decided to ride our bikes around and just talk to everyone. In about 5 hours we made 37 invites. It was awesome. The most I have had so far on my mission was 22 and that seemed unbeatable haha. Well we invited 37 people in one day, and got rejected every single time haha. But, what was cool is that when you do all that you can to talk to and invite everyone, even if they reject you, you feel like a true missionary, which was a great feeling. :)

We were able to find 2 potential investigators this week through our finding efforts. So that's awesome. The most exciting thing that happened this week was with a part member family. Their names are Anthony & Lexi. Lexi is a member but hasn't been active for a really long time but is now coming back to church. She is dating Anthony and they are thinking about getting married. Well, we have recently begun to teach Anthony. I met him my first day here in the Woodlands and the lesson was interesting. He hadn't read out of the Book of Mormon and had some doubts about it. He enjoyed his first time at church, however, the lesson in elders quorum kind of confused him. We were able to resolve his questions. This week when we went over there, we didn't really know what to expect. Well, the lesson went really well. We read 2 nephi 31 and he really enjoyed it. He said the more he reads it the more he likes it and thinks that it's true. He pointed out that he loves how it goes side by side with the Bible. We ended up extending a soft baptismal commitment ("When you find out these things are true will you be baptized by someone holding the priesthood"). Usually there is some silence as people think about the question but right after I finished the question he immediately said "Absolutely". It was awesome. haha. He is a really cool guy. He is super buff and is trying to walk on in the NFL. He played in college but had to quit to take care of his daughter.

On Saturday Elder Hillebrant came with us on an exchange. AP's often go on exchanges with Zone Leaders. Elder Neville is a zone leader and for the day it was all 3 of us. It was a blast. We talked to a lot of people and found a potential.

Saturday evening we volunteered at the Iron Man that was being held in the Woodlands. WHY WOULD PEOPLE AGREE TO DO THAT? Who created the Iron Man and why do they hate humanity? haha jk.. but seriously. The participants started at 7 am with a 2.4 mile swim. After that they had a 120 mile bike ride, and then a 26 mile run. The participants have til midnight to finsih. The station where we volunteered was at mile 15 of the run. 95 % of these people looked like straight up zombies. We felt so bad for them. haha. It was a great experience though. There was over 2,000 people in the race and people all over by the course cheering them on. It was a really neat experience. There were 2 members in our area who did it and both finished. Not only that, but they were at stake conference the next day. Crazy stuff. We had our badges on and a lot of the runners recognized us and would say hi to us. A lot of runners were members. Some would say things such as "Elders! The book is blue!" Then people in the crowd would stare at us like we were crazy or like we just murdered their first born child. Both of the members in our ward finished in just over 13 hours. The first place winner finished in 8 hours and won $75,000. Iron Man's are really cool, I would not mind watching another one. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me :(. Anyway, sorry if all that was boring. I hope you all have a great week!
Love you!

Elder Steed

Elder Harris, my MTC comp. Miss this fool.

There's a lot of snakes here. It's crazy.

Elder Hillebrant caught a lizard!

He's special.

Email received May 12, 2014

Hello!
Yes, Mother's day skype was great! Thanks! It was good to see all your wonderful faces! I'm glad that you didn't think the haircut was too bad. It has grown quite a bit so you didn't see the worst of it haha. I'm also glad that you enjoyed the pictures of Elder Pongi and I. We are good buds!
My new companion is Elder Neville. He is from France. He has an awesome French accent. Sometimes it's a good finding tool :) haha. We are getting along great. He's a complete goof. He is a really good missionary as well. We are having a lot of fun.
Church yesterday was pretty good. In my new area we cover 2 wards and both of them are about the size of Desert Inn ward. It'll take a long time to remember everyone's names haha. In The Woodlands 1st ward we were asked to speak in relief society. After sacrament, all the women in the church 12 and older went to a special 2 hour long meeting for Mother's day. We were asked to give a talk on how our mothers have helped us become converted to Christ and His gospel.
Well, not sure what Elder Neville and I did, but they loved it. There was multiple teary-eyed women and tons of center pieces. I was relieved when we walked out haha jk :) We pulled a genius move though. After giving those talks and melting their hearts, we passed around the dinner calendar and BAM. It got completely full! hahaha. After those talks, we were asked to talk to the primary children for 20 minutes for both junior and senior primary. Well, in order for all the women to be able to go to that special meeting, the men took over for primary. Primary with no women. It was interesting. hahaha. It must be divine inspiration for women to be in charge of primary, or maybe just common sense. who knows :)
Finding here is pretty hard. Most people have all that they think they need. They have all they need temporally. Fortunately, most people are still very friendly. The members here are GOLDEN. They invite us to dinner and bring non member friends. it's great. Finding here is pretty hard, but there are lovely people here. We have about 3 or 4 investigators who have member friends to fellowship them. Well, That's all I can think of right now. Still not completely sure what this area is like. I'll have more to talk about next week. I love you all so much! have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed