Email received October 27, 2014

Hello All,

We had a great week this week! On Thursday night we went on splits with some of the members in the ward. The one that went with me is a new member of the ward. His name is Brother Young. We just went to the park and started talking to everyone we saw! He was awesome! He never got to serve a mission so he was having a blast. I did the first few and then he just went all out after that. It was a really cool experience.


On Saturday night all our plans fell through and it was dark. We were just kinda biking around not knowing what to do. haha. Well, we heard someone call for us and we went over and started talking to them. They're a young couple who have been having a lot of trials recently. The man told us that he was about to walk out on his wife and kid that day but stopped because it wasn't the right thing to do. I felt prompted to tell him that as long as we are having righteous desires and doing what's right, he will allow for everything to work out. He got the biggest smile on his face. We are supposed to be meeting with them this Wednesday.

We were finally able to meet with Ayad again this week. His wife has basically been bed ridden so he's been taking care of the kids and everything.They also had someone rob their apartment. When his wife came home he was inside but got away. She's been really paranoid ever since so he's been putting wooden planks on the windows and trying to burglar proof the apartment. He believes in the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith but he has this view that every book and prophet is true. So that's our main concern with him.

Do you remember a few weeks ago I emailed home about a guy that we met while trying to visit a less active? Well, the less active didn't live there but we were going to do service for the guy that did. We finally got to do that service this past week. We went into his backyard and just started destroying everything with machetes! It was awesome! I felt so cool, but now have some blisters to show for it. haha. Well, there's the highlights of the week. Oh, I met a member in the ward that grew up in the Stewart Ranch ward and is related to Mike Hallewell. Purty cool. Love you all! Have a great week :)

love,
Elder Steed

Email received October 20, 2014

Hello everyone!

So, by far I had the best week of my mission this past week! Who remembers Laura from my first area? (You all better since every email for the first 7 months was about her) :) I started teaching her with Elder Hillebrant a year ago and last Saturday she got baptized! She asked me to speak at her baptism. It was such an amazing experience and the spirit was so strong. It was so good to be back in Melbourne and to see her and the members. I love that ward so much. There were also so many missionaries there! Elder Hillebrant baptized her, I spoke on baptism, Elder Su'a spoke on the Holy Ghost, Elder Pongi sang a song, and Elder Bergman said the opening prayer. Elder Neville was also there because he is Elder Su'a's companion. All in all I had 5 former companions there! It was a blast.

Laura was just beaming. I'm so proud of her. Over the past year she has had so many reasons to quit or throw in the towel but she never did. I will always remember her for that and strive to be that faithful throughout my life. I cannot even begin to describe my experience on Saturday. It's frustrating trying to put it in words. haha. The best way that I could put it is that everything that has happened over this past year: every dropped investigator, every rude person, every lonely and discouraging moment, has been worth it. I could go my whole mission and never teach another lesson and it would all be worth it.

Ok, the other thing that happened this week was interviews. My interview with President Mortensen went well. Basically the whole interview was him talking about what he's heard from past companions of mine who are AP's or ZL's about me. The whole interview was about overcoming my insecurities, being confident, and to always be me. He promised me that as I pray and fast that I can do it. This is something that I've always struggled with, but I know that I can rely on the Lord and he will help me. I'm excited to do this, and I know it will help me so much. Not only here in the mission, but my life afterward. I also got to sing in sacrament meeting yesterday. It was awesome. I love you all, have a great week!

-Elder Steed

Halloween decorations!

Laura and Elder Hillebrant

The Elders who have taught Laura

Laura after the baptism.

Email received October 13, 2014

Hello everyone!

We had an interesting week this week!. Ayad's wife has been very sick so we haven't been able to meet with him. We spent most of our week riding around and contacting referrals that we have gotten from either Mormon.org or other missionaries. We have met a handful of them and were able to set up appointments with them for this week. So we're excited.

Do you remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote home about a guy named Brandon? He was the guy that showed up at the church with a member when we were doing family history that wanted to learn more. Well, turns out that he had to unexpectedly move to San Antonio. However, when we got back in contact with him he had already found the missionaries up there somehow and he has been meeting with them! It was a great surprise!

Yesterday at church, one of the young women brought a friend to church. We're really close to that family and they invited us over for dinner that night. She had a TON of really good questions that we were able to answer. I think she really enjoyed it and hopefully we will be able to meet with her again sometime in the future. There's a young man who's a senior in that same family and he has been asking us advice about sharing the gospel with his girlfriend. He said that she said that she would come to church sometime! He was really excited about it. These two siblings both invited their friends. They made it look so easy! A lot of times we make it so much harder than it really is. We just need to invite, and do it out of love.

Today so far has been pretty lame because my bike got stolen. We just came out of the grocery store and I could see him riding off. I was really mad. Especially because it was pouring rain and we had a bunch of groceries. Luckily a lady who ended up being a member of the spanish ward came up and offered to drive our groceries back to our apartment. I'm still pretty upset, but I'm glad that Heavenly Father still watches out for us, even in times of trial. He will always look out for us. I love you all and hope that you have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed

Email received October 6, 2014

Hello everyone,

I hope you all enjoyed conference! I know I did. However, my bum is a little sore from sitting ALL weekend. It's amazing the gift we have to be able to have the servants of our Heavenly Father speak to us. I am grateful for them and all that they do for us. I could feel, as I'm sure you could, a confirmation that they are indeed called of God and are faithfully doing His work.

We weren't able to meet with Ayad this week. His wife has been really sick and he has been taking care of the kids. I'm really looking forward to our next meeting with him. Yesterday we were able to see Alan again. He's been doing good but has been out of town. We were able to talk about moving on from trials and setbacks. He lost his wife not too long ago and it has taken a huge toll on him. However, we've been able to see the change in him over the past couple weeks. Although it's still unbelievably hard for him, you can see a change. We weren't able to share the message we had planned or get him closer to baptism, but we shared what he needed to hear. It was a really powerful experience.

That's about all that happened this week, the rest of the week was pretty uneventful. But that's ok because conference totally made up for that! Well, sorry for the weenie letter this week. I hope you all know that I love and miss you. Have a great week! GO DODGERS!

-Elder Steed

This is the Liu family in The Woodlands. Best family ever. Oh, and REAL Chinese food is the best!

Email received September 29, 2014

Hello everybody,

We had an interesting week this week. On Thursday we went over to visit a referral that we had gotten. He ended up just wanting to bash and just pulled out so much anti stuff. It was so lame. It was pretty ironic though because the first thing he said when we showed up was that he didn’t wanna bash or be rude. Which is EXACTLY what he did. haha. At the end he wouldn’t even shake our hands because we don’t believe in the same Jesus as him. It was fantastic. haha.

We taught Ayad the plan of salvation this week and it went well! In ward council yesterday the ward talked about what we could do for him. There were lots of members that introduced themselves to him and fellowshipped him at church yesterday. One even gave Ayad his bike to help him with transportation throughout the week! Alan hasn’t really responded to us as of late, which is sad. Hopefully we can get in touch with him this week.

On Wednesday we got to watch the “Meet the Mormons” movie. Wow! It was awesome! The church said that after testing the movie, 74% of watchers said they would refer a friend to watch it. It’s not threatening, it’s funny, and it’s spiritual! It’s definitely something that the church is hoping will help people understand who we are and why we live the way we do. But beware, any mothers with children on missions will most likely cry. So bring your tissues to the theater :) haha.

Well, there are the highlights of the week! Sorry for such a short letter, love you all!

-Elder Steed

 Cool sunset and a mosque in our area.

 Katy North District. Elders DeLuca, Steed, Bergman, Allen, Sapp and Sister Sapp.

My comp made me a cake for my yearmark!

 1 year!

 awesome sunset!

Email received September 22, 2014

Hello everyone!

We had a great week here in Bear Creek! We met with Ayad for the first time. He is from Iraq but moved here for a safer life for his wife and kids. He worked in the oil and gas industry and has met lots of friends from around the world. He had a coworker from Canada who was a member. They weren’t really allowed to discuss religion at work but he learned some stuff about the church. After he had moved here, he told us that he prayed one night telling God that he wanted to learn more about the LDS church. The next day some sister missionaries came up and talked to him. He started coming to church and that’s where we met him! The lesson went well. He’s been reading the Book of Mormon and is already in 2 nephi. He agreed to be baptized. He is waiting to get his work permit so that he can get a job, but in the meanwhile he doesn’t have any income. Yesterday at church we found out that he had walked all the way to the church! He lives right next to us, which is a 15 minute bike ride. Ayad is awesome!

On Thursday we went over to the church for a family history class. I was able to find some new names! Which was an awesome experience. I’ve always known family history work is important and that it’s part of missionary work, but I had such a strong feeling that what I was doing that night on the computer was equally important as what I do day to day. I felt so strongly that it is the same work. While we were at the class, a member walked into the church with one of his friends who was interested in learning more about the church. His name was Brandon and he is awesome. We got his information and will hopefully be meeting with him this weekend. :-)

On Saturday we met with a man named Alan. His wife was an investigator but she has since passed away. His interest has been sparked because of his wife’s interest in the church just before she passed away. We taught him the Restoration and he really enjoyed it. He said he will start reading The Book of Mormon. Unfortunately, neither Alan or Brandon came to church yesterday, but it’s all good.

Some other exciting news, we are getting together as a zone this Wednesday and will be watching the new movie, "Meet the Mormons". We’re pretty excited. Well those are the highlights of the week. I would say the thing I learned the most this week is that I now KNOW that family history work is the same work as normal missionary work. I’m grateful for the Plan of Salvation, and that the Lord has provided a way for those who weren’t able to receive sacred ordinances in this life. What an amazing plan! I love you all, have a great week!

love,
Elder Steed

Email received September 15, 2014

Hello everyone!

We had a few really cool things happen this week. We were going through our list of members that the ward gave us to contact. We went to one of the addresses and they no longer lived there. However we got to talking to the man that did live there. He was really cool. He's a little older and has been doing a lot of work in his yard. We offered to help and we will start going over there to help him with his yard work.

On Friday, district meeting was all about family history work. After the meeting we headed over to the library with the senior couple in our district to do some family history. They were busy helping others so they weren't able to show me much. However, I found a lot of cool pictures of Grandmother and Grandfather. I also noticed a lot has been updated recently by Jamie and some of the cousins! It made me really happy. I also found a line that went all the way back to Adam and Eve. Pretty cool stuff. We are going to be meeting with that senior couple once a week to do family history. I'm really excited. The library also expressed some interest in maybe having the missionaries teach a genealogy class in the future.

On Sunday, a man who the sister missionaries met right before they were taken out of this ward came to church. His name is Ayad. He's from Iraq. He is so cool! He has had an interesting life and has moved here for a safer life for his wife and children. He's very intelligent, humble, and pure. We gave him a Book of Mormon in Arabic and hopefully will be meeting with him this week. I'm really excited.

I had another really cool experience, but it will be hard to explain. As most of you know, I am not the most outgoing person. Honestly, I'm pretty awkward. I have to get comfortable around people to really be myself. Once that happens I'm outgoing and all, but before that, not so much. It's a wonder that I have any friends. haha jk. Anyway, I was in a dinner appointment with a member and the senior missionaries. The comment was made that I hardly talk. It was made a handful of times to the member and it was pretty embarrassing. It's something that I've always struggled with and am well aware of, and now it's being announced on the spot to a member. I felt really awkward, inadequate, and alone. The next day I decided to fast to basically feel comfort. I don't know if as a result I'll be more outgoing or less awkward or whatever, but I know that as a result I felt a lot of comfort. Today I feel great! Even though yesterday I felt VERY inadequate and alone. I have a testimony that fasting and prayer can help with any trial, no matter what it is. Well, there are the highlights for the week! I miss you all so much, but I'm happy to be where I am! Until next week!

-Elder Steed

 Personal study selfie. Lol.

New companion, Elder Allen. Mid-stretch. lol