13 Weeks a Missionary

Well Hello Everyone!

This week i have learned a bit more about patience, I know, scary right? but actually it was a huge blessing! so the story kind of goes like this.

Lately me and elder Jackson have been feeling like we have been putting in a ton of work and yet not finding much success. We've been working really hard biking, contacting, trying to talk to everyone and yet we haven't seen to much progress from anyone. Then, on Saturday, it all changed. Our investigator martin just blew us away in a lesson. hes been reading and praying! then we were contacting by some soccer fields and a huge group of Hispanic guys want to come to the church to play on our soccer ward activity nights. Then we talked to a kid that asked for a BOM to read and told us he had a bunch of friends he wants to take to soccer, Then again later that night a man from New York talked to us and ask for a BOM because he no longer had his. It got lost during his move.

It was such a good day, it felt like in every thing we did the lord was guiding us to those who needed us. i learned a lesson in patience, i learned that sometimes the mission is going to drag and you wont feel successful but by following the lord and acting in diligence he will guide you to those who need you. So on those days you don't feel successful you really are! as long as your striving with a steadfastness in Christ striving diligently to be a better missionary each and ever day. Loving the Mish!

I really loved this little expirience though! because me and elder jackson work hard, we try and be the best missionarys we can be and sometimes its hard to see why we are being obedient and working hard and are not finding solid people, while some missionarys who arent working hard are finding amazing people and having so much success! However, its ok, the lord tries us all in different ways, and as we learn and progress he will bless us. So when me and elder jackson have been working for weeks and maybe not finding the most success, he saw fit to bless us with success in due time. All we had to do was just stay steadfast :)

Thats a principal i just have learned to love! Steadfast. in the dictionary it means...

"resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering."

That is just awesome! Imaging how much good we could do if in everything we were steadfast? unwaivering? firm? We could change the world! Thats when blessings come. Just like me and elder jackson showed steadfastness with working through the heat and the hardness, we were blessed. When you work through the trials and hardship, with a steadfastness toward your goal, you will be blessed to obtain it. That is why it is so important to be steadfast in christ! in all ways and at all times! if we are dutifully firm in trying to be like the savior, can you even imagine how much better of a place our world would be!? It is just awesome!

So I challenge everyone this week to be steadfast, choose one specific thing and be 100% steadfast in it this week, i promise you will see blessings as you are diligent and steadfast :)

So one last thing, YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO!!!

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3792885561001

Its the newest mormon message and its amazing! Hope everyone is doing awesome! i  hope my letters inform of enough thats happening too haha.

Love you all! Keep on keeping on!

-Elder steele

Week 12, will be in Huntsville for 6 more weeks.

Hey everyone!

I just want to start by saying hello! for everyone that reads my emails thank you! i can feel your love and support and prayers and i am so grateful for all that you do for me! a missionary would be nothing without his family and friends and support group! you guys help keep me going and remind me that im here to help others gain families and friends like you FOREVER!!!!

So on to my week, It has finally started to cool down here in alabama!!!! these 70-80 days are just amazing after some 104 days haha. Im starting to understand why people like the south too! for one, during the year the weather rocks and when its hot most people can just hang indoors and be fine! (not us though haha) In addition, everyone is so nice and friendly, its a pleasure to talk to people most of the time! very kind people all in all! 

This week started off awesome too! Elder zwick of the 70 came and gave a wonderful training to us missionaries on tuesday! We learned so much from him! but mostly what we all can take away from it is missionary work!!! He talked a ton about members and missionarys! everyone that is a member should be a missionary too! share the gospel with friends and family! and its so easy, all you have to do is share a mormon message on twitter or facebook, or share a quote, or invite a not member friend to have lunch and talk about beleifs. If your friend is ready you can help lead and guide them and be there friend in the church so that they too can come to the fulness of the truth! i challenge everyone to become member missionarys! 

In addition, as members, read over preach my gospel, every single word in that book has been pondered and prayed over by apostles and prophets! it is scripture, as you read it you will become a better missionary as well. Which leads me to something super important that i learned... What we become is far more important than how we act. It sounds weird but think about it, we can act good, we can do missionary things and go through the motions, but if we are not truly converted ourselves, then we are not teaching or acting with power or athority or conviction! we cant just go through the motions! we have to become converted! we have to be true disciples of jesus christ! we have to act as we would have us do, not just to do it, but because we want to do it because we love the savior and truly want to help others! so become like our savior! dont just act like him!

Ok, so that was a lot of exclamation points, but am i making my point maybe? That we all need to become member missionarys, become true disciples of jesus christ, its our duty! to bring others unto christ :)

Alright so thats enough of my ramble for that haha. just please continue to share, and use these websites....

mormon.org

mormonchannel.org

lds.org

etc :)

Now the rest of my week went awesome too, we have had a few new people come for english classes and futbol which means we are now working with this way cool 19 year old named miguel! he is awesome! we are going to start having lessons and stuff too, he could even go on a mission soon! if he decides to be baptized, who knows! could be amazing!!

in addition we also had the opportunity to help the alzheimers association with a walk! (kind of like relay for life) and so doing service has helped us be recognized as effective and christlike people! especially in a state where many people do not believe mormons are christians! (weird right?) Thus i am very grateful for the opportunities i have to serve others every day here in the mission!

I just want you all to know that i know this church is true and that it will bring more happiness to your life than any other thing! i know that as you serve others and the lord you will find true joy! i am so grateful for my opportunities to serve as well. i invite everyone to serve in anyway they can!

-Love you all!, Elder Steele

Huntsville, AL Mission Week 11

Hey Everyone!

First off, please email this to everyone who wants to see it!

alright so lets get down to business, i got a new challenge, its something that we talked about in district training and its just awesome!!!

Its called a "Lollipop Moment", kind of weird i know, but bare with me. A lollipop moment is a moment in your life were either someone does some small act to you, or you do some small act to another person that completely impacts someones life. These acts could be small, making a joke that brings someone happiness and gives them courage to face a trial, inviting someone to church when they are at their darkest, just a text like "hey, how are ya? just thinking about you!" can have an unbelievable impact on others! look at the light of christ video on mormon.org or just look back at your own life, has there not been someone that by small acts has influenced your life?

There was lots of storys shared in district meeting, and personally i had to make a list of all the people who have impacted my life! at some point i plan on thanking every one of those people as well.

Thats my challenge though, think back on your life and find that one person who has made an impact. Then go to them and tell them what they did and how it has helped you. thank them for that impact they made :) then go out and try and act in such a way that you can be an example and affect others for good :) make some new lolipop moments! 

Alright, so now on to some cool things about this week :)

So me and Elder Jackson this week decided to start setting some fun random daily goals, goals like "hear a crazy story" or "dont pop a bike tire" or "be awesome" or "meet a prepared Hispanic." stuff like that. So every night at daily planing we would say a little prayer to help with our planning and that our goals would happen. They did! almost every single small daily goal we have had has come true! We did meet a prepared Hispanic! we said a prayer in the middle of walmart with them!!!  we set a random goal to have someone give us free food and we got free tomatoes! we prayed and set the goal to find a family and we did! this family is so cool too! they're one of our really promising investigators! his name is martin (the husband) and we have taught him twice now! so cool!

I am just so blown away by how just setting small goals and trusting in the lord has aloud us to find a new family! it helps us focus on our work too! Now our daily goals have switched and are focusing more and more on investigators and finding, i just cannot wait to see what more can come from faith and reliance on the lord. i know for a fact that goals and prayer are real powers that work! 

So that was just really really cool to see how goals can affect you :) then I also had a really crazy random expiriences too. 

Met a "Prophetess" she was like twitching and stuff, crazy!

Then i met a crazy black guy who cant walk but "knows everything there is to know about jesus christ"

So as you can see, missions are never boring, always fun exciting expiriences! ahah :)

To end on a more spiritual note though, This comming saturday our district has a baptism! its a man named Rigoberto that the other elders have been working with has been prepared and is set to be baptized saturday night! Ive seen his progress as he has attended church and the light of christ has entered his eyes. the branch is so excited for him and hopefully it will bring new life to the missionary effort here! hopefully the work will keep progressing :)

Anyways, just want to let you guys know that i love all of you! look to be an example for good in the world and look to be the best missionary you can be even at home! if you have questions be sure to ask!

-Elder Steele

P.S. Stay steadfast in christ!

And some pictures of Kieran in Huntsville, AL!!

Huntsville, Alabama Mission Week 10

hey everyone! 

I just want to start of by saying Hi! i hope everyone is doing awesome! i sent this to  few people i have email addresses for, please forward it to friends and family and anyone who could use a message about Jesus Christ! if anyone wants to email me for more info or just to say hi feel free as well, Missionary's love spreading messages about christ and the restored gospel! :)

So here is the thing, im going to put a link to one of the awesomest videos i have ever seen!!! please please please go watch it and then share it with  friend, it is just such an amazing uplifting video that could help so many feel the spirit and have a better day. rather they be mormon or baptist or presepitrian or whatever it may be, this video is just awesome :) 

http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=3701964025001 

Alright, so now stuff about me....

Well, i am still here in Huntsville! ive been in bama for a month now and its been awesome thus far! We work with so many different people, i speak spanish to new people every day, yes there's quite a lot of Spanish people in Alabama!!! i can tell you that sometimes missions are hard, but they are so worth it! anybody with a question of rather to go or not, go! you will not regret it! ive grown so much closer to our heavenly father and i feel true joy from doing the work of the lord. Choose to serve the lord, you will be blessed no matter how small of service that may be :)

The coolest part of being a missionary is being literally the hand of the lord in his work! I had just an awesome experience this week that shows hoe the lord will always help you be in the right place at the right time if you are striving to follow exactly what he wants you to do. here it is .

Me and elder Jackson were biking and having one of those days where no appointments work out and you're constantly getting rejected. It was begging to really start to get us down, but then something awesome happened! We ran into one of our progressing investigators who needed our help. I had prayed the night before to have an opportunity for service that next day and we got one! So we rolled up and saw her with her car, hood up, and some white guy who couldn not speak spanish trying to help her. We stopped and talked to her and found out that she needed to put more oil in her car but didnt know how and she had lost the oil cap. So, we were able to add oil to her car and get her over across the street to auto zone and do all of the necessary translating so that she could get the part she needed and get her car all back to running order. It was just amazing to see how sometimes you go through hard days and everything seams to go wrong only to make sure that you are in the right place at the right time! The lords hand really is in our work, he knows where we need to be to help people come unto Christ and i'm so grateful to be part of his work here. We are continuing to teach this lady (her names maria) and we're hoping to see her keep progressing! 

It was so cool! The very lady we are teaching needed help and although we were having a bad day the lord made sure that we were right were we needed to be! I know he lives and he loves us! I hope we can always live our lives to be led by the lord to be in the right spot to help someone in need :)

That wasnt all though! i also had an amazing experience and opportunity to attend the temple this week!!! I didnt know this last week but on saturday i got to attened the temple with the spanish branch me and elder Jackson work with! they went down to the temple  as a branch to do baptisms and since its small me and elder jackson came with to be extra priesthood holders :) It was really fun to be in the temple! expessially to get to work with baptisms because you almost never do that as a missionary! Me and one of the elders from gardendale, elder pendleton,(who was with me in the mtc) were witnesses for almost 30 branch members! it was such a great activity, thats almost all of the active members in our branch! elder Jackson and elder pendletons comp (i forgot his name) did confirmations. The temple there in Birmingham is really small, but it is still a house of the lord and it is so special to be able to go in and be a part of such sacred ordinances :) 

hopefully my mom will get the pictures of that even in the next few days and be able to add them to the blog. :) 

anyways, i am out of time for today, but i want everyone to know that the lord loves them! he is watching out for you! i challenge everyone to try and be a bit of a missionary and help others in need, share a video or an uplifting thought, help someone in need! thats the true spirit of christianity! I love each and every one of you! stay steadfast in christ, he is the light of the world and he loves all of us! to share one last thing, go read 2 nephi 32:3 

Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, theyspeak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do. 

By studying, the holy ghost will help guide you and lead you to help others and to really be able to be a servant of the lord :) study daily and pray, they'res huge power in the smallest things! 

I love all of you! have a great week!

-Elder Steele