Feb 5, 2012

Wow, you guys had a crazy week it sounds like. I can't wait to see Alyssa play some ball when she is in grade 12, sounds like some pretty exciting games. And like always, no one seems to be able to beat those southern alberta teams. I would love some sushi. It isn't a big thing at all here, most people haven't even tried it. All those historical details about the world at the time of the Bible and Book of Mormon are fascinating to me as well. If you find any really cool things out you should tell me. Coming into London a lot more people know the Bible and will try to use the Bible to prove our church is false (we call this bashing). I try to never bash, or get in arguments, but knowing your bible and especially the context of the bible seems to help a lot. Those guys all got their mission calls!! That is so sweet, they sound like they are all going to awesome places. I would have loved to go to Montreal. And Connor might not even be coming back alive from Nicaragua. I guess Riley and Landon are next. Tell Riley to get his started, because if he gets his call when Pres. Shamo is in office, there might be a chance I could skype home while you guys open it. But that isn't guaranteed even with him. It really is a colorful week. All of these African people are really nice, but they seem to have no concept of time. We set an appointment, and we show up on time, and no one is in. We call them, and they are like an hour away or in another city or something. So we call people like everyday for 3 days leading up to the appointment to make sure they know about it. It snowed here two days ago! It was actually quite a snowstorm, and it left about 2 inches of snow on the ground. If that. The whole city just ground to a halt. They have no way of clearing the snow other than salting it. So 2 of the Elders in this district had their church meetings cancelled, and ours was just a two hour service with less than half the usual attendance. It was so crazy to see the whole country just fall apart because of a little snow. We did manage to get Jay out though, and he really enjoyed testimony meeting. He really wanted to go up and talk as well, but he chickened out in the end. We also had this guy Eric at church, a Ghanian who I literally cannot understand a word he says but I know he is speaking English. He was supposed to be baptized last week but always cancels when he have appointments. Ernest didn't make it to church, because of the snow. Same with Cherise and her mom Lileth. Another of our investigators Spencer is just too lazy to come I think. He always cancells saturday night. Another lady Victoria was busy with work or something. Amit had to study for exams. Patrick was busy with something. We have a lot of investigators, but it is proving difficult to get them out to church. The ward here is really great. We are finding a few really solid members that are willing to come on lots of teaches with us. We had 9 teaches this week with members present! That probably means like nothing to you, but that really shows that this ward is on board with the missionary effort. We usually get like 3 member present teaches and the most I ever had before this week was 7 and that was my first week in the mission. Ernest is the most prepared investigator ever. We taught him on Saturday and the first thing he said to me when he finally got home an hour later than we planned, was 'Steed, I am eager to be a Mormon.' He also said he wants to be '100% mormon and then go back to Ghana and be the prophet.' Haha.... we should probably clear that up one of these days. He is always telling us about how the BoM clarifies the Bible and helps him to understand it, but he has only read like the first few chapters. This is also the barber shop guy. He can always get us laughing when we teach him, and he is an amazing guy. I don't know if I've mentioned Cherise and Lileth, but they are a Jamaican mother and daughter that we have the craziest teaches with. Every time we ask Lilieth a question, she manages to turn it around and relate it to how when we are faced with temptation, we must yell 'The Blood of Jesus!' And she does this repeatedly in every teach, and shakes first fist in the air and everything. So we have stopped asking her questions. Cherise is solid though. She is just trying to find the true church she says and she said that these teaches have opened her eyes. After we taught Cherise last, we had some free time so we knocked some of the flats in her building. One of them had a no cold callers sign on the door, so we skipped it. Not long after, Elder Curran went back and felt like he should put a card through the mail slot, and put our number on it. The next day, I got a phone call from Shivonne. It took me a while on the phone to figure out who she was, but then I realzied it was the lady with the no cold calling sign on her door! She called us back! She said she wanted us to come over and teach her more about Jesus Christ. We felt this was such a miracle, and we got over there as quickly as we could. Turns out she has family issues and struggles with depression, and she really says she just is unhappy and hopeless. We taught her a bit about the Atonement, and we are going back on Tuesday. She really needs the gospel, and she is really open to it. Oh ya just a heads up, Jay menitoned that he wanted to come to Canada one day. I said if he did, he could come stay at our house. He immediatly took me up on that offer, and has made plans to come next summer. He is seriously already making travel plans, so that is seeming like it is definintely happening. He has a step daughter in Calgary as well. He is 44, but a really cool guy and I think it would actually be fun to have him over. He is getting baptized on the 25th if all goes well. Same day as Ernest. Well, we have a zone pday today at Windsor castle. because of the snow, it is going to be tough to play any football, but we might have a snowball fight. The zone leaders can be pretty lame sometimes, so they didn't feel like having a zone pday and in the end I had to organize it. But it should be really fun. One of my best friends from the MTC is the other district leader here, and so it will be nice to get to see him again. Have you guys still be emailing Ken and or Toni? I think they are doing great, and me and Ken have started this tradition of always talking to each other on Sunday nights before I go to bed. It is nice just to talk with him and be reminded of those great Helston days. I can't wait until they get to Canada or America or you guys come here and get to meet them. Well I better go. Thanks for writing, I loved hearing about your guys' week and I hope you enjoyed hearing about mine as well. 'Be obedient and wise.' I like how every week you end your email with a little nugget of wisdom. I try to do both of those things, but I still am always trying to do better. Love Elder Steed

Jan 29, 2012

Hey Dad,
That is so cool Jackson has the priesthood now. That is so amazing, he is going to love passing the sacrament on Sundays. Was he pretty excited about it? Him and Riley have both taken big steps in the priesthood, that is really cool. We really did have a crazy deacons quorum. I really do hope that Jackson's will be a bunch of solid guys that get on missions, I think that helps a lot. Finding is something that I have definitly improved in, but I still have a long way to go. There are some missionaries I have seen who seem to be able to strike up a gospel conversation with just about anyone. I have a long way to go to get to that point. I mentioned in the email to mom we had a really funny teach with Ernest.
We came to his house at the right time, but he wasn't in so we called him. He said he was at 'MoJeezy's,' a 'barbering' shop. We had no idea where or what this was, but eventually found it. It was this hair salon on like the 5th story of this run down building. As we climbed the stairs, we heard this really loud bass pumping. And the advertising sign for MoJeezy's said that it was open from 10am until 'late.' That was a bad sign right off the bat. Oh, and we had like our 60 year old ward mission leader with us. We get to the door of the salon and go in, and there are like 20 african guys in there. They all just stop and turn and stare at us. We are two white guys in suits with this other old, bald white guy. I just froze, I was thinking something along the lines of 'Oh no, I'm going to die,' but then Ernest called out from the back of the shop 'Steed! Whats up!' and I finally saw him and then everyone was cool. This hair salon was like nothing I have ever seen. There were like 6 chairs and barbers in this place, but like 4 couches around the outside of the room where all these african guys who weren't even getting haircuts were just hanging out. Once Ernest said hi to us, they were really cool and made room for us on a couch and talked with us a bit. There was this big flatscreen TV and music just pumping, like these crazy African electronic beats. The barbers were all black guys in their 20's, and they were all like dancing and singing along to the songs. They seemed to be mostly just talking to each other, like everyone in their must have been a regular cause they were all just like joking and messing around. It was like this weird hair cutting party. And no scissors were in sight. They all had clippers, and they were cutting all these guys' hair that was already like shaved off. Seriously, the haircuts took like 30 mintues, and by the end the hair looked exactly the same. They just ran the clippers over their heads. Me and Curran were just loving it, but our WML was a little bit uncomfortable I think, he mostly just stood by the door. Ernest finally got out of there, we asked if they would cut our hair and they said they can actually use scissors so yes they could, and we finally got to Ernest's house. On the way, Ernest told us that he really wants to be a prophet but he realizes how hard it is to become a prophet. By the time we got to his place, we didn't have a lot of time, so we talked about the Book of Mormon. I think Ernest might have been a bit confused by our last teach, as at the end of this one he said that he wanted the prophet to pray, and they pointed at Bro. Jolley, our ward mission leader. We were like 'What??' But just went with it. We will talk about that with him later. It was easily the best night in Slough I have had.
We also had a really great D.A. after church yesterday. It was with the Hitchens, they had like 3 kids in their 20's who were there so it was really cool to talk with them for a bit, as we had no YSA in Helston and it is nice to interat with people of the same age. The dad though, who is a solid member, kept trying to show us episodes of his favorite TV shows, and one of the guys just wanted to show us biking videos on youtube. It was pretty funny, we had a good time with them and they made a really great BBQ.
That experience with Ken and Chris this week really does make everything worth it. It is just incredible how it has all worked out. I hope your week went well as well. Are you working a lot or are you still getting pretty good hours?I am going to come home and be a big fatty and you will be in great shape. You are going to have to coach me when I get home.
Love Elder Steed

Jan 29, 2012

I actualy talked to Ken last night on the phone for a long time, and he told me all about his amazing day yesterday. I cannot even say how happy I was to hear about that. It makes me really wish I had been there. Ken said he was so nervous, but I am hoping that experiences like this will help them to get out to church every week. I really miss all those guys in Helston.
Ya I have also really been feeling bad that I never talked to my friends more about the church... I guess I just wasn't really interested in it at all though, so I had no reason to share it. I would have loved to hear Darren's stories about my antics in priests quorum. I actually just wrote them a letter today. I could have probably shared a few more stories as well.
I can't wait to see the Calgary temple finsihed. I have seen some photos of what it will look like online, and it is going to be a really nice one it looks like.
I thought it was really cool that Ken and Toni had started reading my blog... I hope I didn't say anything stupid in those letters. I would be interested to read them and see if my letters now sound any different than they did back then.
Noah sounds like a goof. It is going to be weird coming back and he will be like 9. I just remember him as my baby brother, but he isn't really going to be a baby when I come home.
I am feeling a lot better about Slough. I think the biggest change was at church this Sunday. At first I was really disapointed because no investigators showed up, but it turned out to be a good thing. Two of the talks were about exaltation, which is something investigators should not hear for the first time in sacrament meeting, in my opinion. And it also freed up a lot of time for me to go 'ward contacting.' I think I talked to everyone in the ward and introduced myself and just tried to get to know them a little better. Except one lady, I feel really bad because she snuck away right after church and I didn't say hi to her. I don't know her name even, and neither does Curran. I don't think him and Deal placed a huge empahsis on relationships in the ward, but for me that is like my primary focus. This ward has loved missionaries in the past, one of the AP's served here a year ago, but at the moment they just seem impartial towards us. Hopefully we will be able to change that and get them back on our side. I know that is how the work will really start to go forward. Actually, it already is a little bit. We have two members who talked to us and are inviting a friend to their house this week and us as well to go and teach them. Teaches in members homes are always the best.
I did another exchange with the zone leaders this week. They have a really bad rep in the mission. Everyone seemed to think that I would not get along with them at all because they are just compeletly by the book and really strict. Turns out they are pretty cool guys though, they seem alright so far. I think they are just really dedicated missionaries. Although I don't think it hurts to follow the spirit of the law sometimes. And I have decided we need to find some Nepalese people, because the zone leaders have like tons of Nepalese people getting baptized there and they are all just so cool and commited. We are working with Africans, who are also really cool but just seem to lack the committment somtimes. It isn't like the black people back home, who are pretty much just American/Canadian. These are like actual Africans, they are all like first generation, and have been here for like 6 months and many people here don't even speak English. There are also lots of Polish and Indian people.
That being said, we have got a really cool guy who accepted a baptism date this week. Last monday actually. His name is Ernest, we found him street contacting a few weeks ago, and we called him and he invited us over and we taught him a restoration. At the end, we extended a baptism invitation, and he accepted a baptism date for Feb. 19. He is such an amazing guy. He is probably late 20's, and lives in a flat with this other family from Ghana. We have taught him once more since then with a member, and he already testified that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and told us how it makes the bible so much clearer. He is currently picking up more hours in the week at work so he can meet with us weekends and get to church. The last teach was actually really funny though. I'll talk about it in dad's email.
The other guy is Jay, and he is someone Deal and Curran were working with for quite some time. Goulding and Curran extended a date to him on exchange, and he accepted and is hoping that by setting a date it will help him to recieve an answer to his prayer and he can finally know the Book Of Mormon is true. He has already read up to Alma 58. I think he knows it is true, he just hasn't recognized it yet. He has an atheist friend who he is always with, and they take all the lessons together. The atheist guy, Amit, is really atheist. He is always telling us scientific evidence of how there is no God. Yet he still loves coming to church and talking with us about it. Jay actually didn't accept the baptism date at first, but for some unknown reason Amit talked him into it. He told him that he thinks this will really be a good thing and help him get an answer to his prayers. These two guys are so funny. They just talk non-stop, and apparently the teaches go for like 2-4 hours, even though I have never been able to teach them yet as I have always been away on exchange.
We are finding lots of people, and teaching quite often. Most of our finding is actually so far just as we walk from appointment to appointment and we talk to everyone we see on the way. We have had a lot of success with this though.
Ken and Toni promised they will come up and visit sometime soon, which I really look forward to. There are lots of Nando's here, which is the best restaurant ever.
I hope all is well back home, I am doing so great don't worry,Love Elder Steed

Jan 21, 2012

Hey,

I think I said mostly everything in the email to Dad. I am pretty devastated to be leaving. I can't believe it was 6 months I was there.

It feels like I had been there forever. It isn't the same here, differnet zone leaders, different people in the district, different ward, different investigators, different companion. And I am supposed to be more responsible, as someone made a mistake and called me as the district leader, so I have no free time and I'm on the phone all night. I'm sure in a few weeks I will have adjusted, but at the moment I don't think it has quite sunk in. It actually feels really similar to when I left home to start my mission.

I hope that doesn't make you worry though, that is not my intention.

Because the work is the same here as it was in Helston, I think when we get out and work I feel much better than when we are in the flat.

We don't have a car here, which means we probably aren't going to be able to take our lunch hours, I might just pack like a Mars bar everyday or something. The other crazy thing is how much we walk here.

This is what I imagined missionary work would be like. We must have walked close to ten miles most days so far. I am going to start using my iPod to keep track. My legs and feet are just dead. It is really good though because we can contact people as we travel from appointment to appointment, where in a car we could not do this.

Okay, in terms of those girls complaining..

I sent Janie her letter back like 2 months ago. I got it sent back to me like amonth ago because I put her address in wrong, and then resent it a few weeks ago. I just send Noodles her letter back today. And I have not recieved one from Lolo, so I don't know what she is talking about.

I'm still happy and I'm doing fine. I will get used to all these changes soon enough. I am finding it really exciting that more people I know are starting to go on missions.

I hope all is well back home, and I can't wait to hear from you guys next monday.

Love Elder Steed

Jan 22, 2012

Hey,

Well, as you guys know, I am writing from a Library here in Slough.

What a crazy week it has been. Sorry I didn't have a chance to write on wednesday, but I was doing all the transfer stuff. It was another long day of driving.

I am glad to hear how prepared Jace is. We have been emailing the past few months, and he sounds ready and excited to go. He is going to be a really good missionary. I would have loved to be there for his talk.

And to have been gathered with the whole Steed clan, those are always fun times.

I don't even know where to begin. Transfer calls didn't come until like 5 on tuesday night. My stomach was in knots all day. When the call came that I was going to Slough, I was pretty upset. I had spent a night in the Slough flat a few months ago for a mission conference, and it was the worst flat I had ever seen. I remember specifically saying I could never live there. After the call came, we went to Ken and Toni's. It was our big night, and we went and got pizza express and then went to the Joseph Musical. It was amazing, and the best night I could have ever imagined for my last night in Helston. It was really hard to say my goodbyes to Ken and Toni and many other ward members. I couldn't really deal with it, so for the most part I just decided it would be easier to leave and not say goodbye to everyone.

My really good friends I said goodbye, but I loved that whole ward and I am really going to miss it. I felt really at home there and I have had some amazing times.

Now I'm in Slough. It is a different world. There are like no white people here, wheras in Helston I only ever saw like 5 people who weren't white. Slough is technically part of London, but it is on the outskirts. It was ranked #2 most depressing places to live in the U.K.

It isn't actually that bad though. And yes, I am much closer to President Shamo, and I wouldn't be suprised if he is trying to keep an eye on me. Actually, we just had a zone training on friday, and he came and taught us and had interviews. We had a really good interview, every time you get to talk to him it is just so uplifting. I am gutted that he is going to be leaving inlike 4.5 months.

Things here are starting to feel better as I have started to work on cleaning the flat. There were these towels on the floor of the bathroom, that have apparently been there for over 3 months. They were soaking wet, and had not even been touched since the night I stayed at this flat 2 months ago. I threw them in the garbage, and they were just covered in mould underneath. This place hadn't been cleaned or even vaccumed for months. I could barely even stand it. I couldn't like sleep or go to the bathroom comfortably it was so bad. But we have done a lot of work, and today for p-day are going to do a lot more.

But enough complaining. Tanner Brooks emailed me from the MTC this week which was really cool. My new comp, Elder Curran, is a really good guy. He was converted 2 years ago, and none of his family are members. He has only been out on his mission for about 3 months now but he is doing very well for only being out 2 transfers. He is fearless in talking to people on the street and is a good teacher as well. We get along pretty well, the first few days I didn't talk much but now I am getting back into my normal thing. We are starting to have some fun. Church here is going to be just as funny as in Helston I think. There are only like 50 members a week, and they don't seem to love missionaries as much as Helston did. It was my first sunday, and I had to teach both the gospel principles class and the elders quorum.

We had three investigators at church. Two of them are best friends, Jay and Amit. Amit is a devout Atheist who I don't even know why he is coming to church, and Jay is a Christian who was raised a Hindu, and is really seeking the truth. The other guy is Eric, a Ghanaian guy who just sat in the corner and said nothing. He is getting baptized in a couple weeks though. The gospel principles was about Law of Chastity.

We had the ward mission leader and some older ladies in there as well, and it was total chaos. Jay and Amit kept trying to delve into our personal experience with the Law of Chastity, and things just exploded when we starting talking about homosexualtiy. I had to tell them off when it became too much, but I pulled them aside after class and apologized. They are both really fun guys though. We had a D.A. after church at the 2nd counsellor in the bishoprics house, and Jay and Amit were invitied as well. We had a really good time, but after 2 hours I was desperatly trying to get us out of there to go do other things, but they can just talk and talk and talk and it was like almost 4 hours before we left. I am Elder Currans second companion, and his trainer is going home in like 3 months now. I am afraid that they have been doing things in their own way, but we are really going to focus on more structure, extending commitments and using our time wisely.

We don't have much of teaching pool, but we have done a ton of finding this week and have had lots of success. We have met like 10 people who gave us their mobile numbers, and we have set up 6 first teaches with people for this week. I am really excited to start teaching people of other cultures. Apparently at one time, Slough was one of the highest baptizing areas in the mission, but in recent months it has been pretty dead.

I am very sad to have lost Simmons and White as my zone leaders. I always gave them a really hard time, but they were both really good guys. My new zone leaders are way to serious, and they don't seem like they will be able to put up with my antics very well. I went on a mini exchange with one of them to inteview one of their investigators for baptism. The guy passed the interview, and I was able to get Elder Goulding (the zone leader) out of his shell a bit and we had a bit of fun. I also miss Elder Oscarson. There were times when I was annoyed by him, but I think that is how it is with everyone, and he was the most loving guy ever and a great missionary and a great example to me.

Elder Curran is very opposite to him, he really likes to call the shots. And I'm fine with that, I'm really just letting him run the area at the moment until I find my way around a little bit better. He has potential to be an amazing missionary.

I am glad to hear grandma is doing alright.. she is in my prayers.

I know you think my 2012 predictions are crazy... but it could happen.

You never know.

I get about 110 pounds a months. But after groceries and eating out, I end up always having to use the credit card for things like new clothes, sending my post, dry cleaning, stationary/supplies, and other big purchases. I am trying to do better with it, but like moving into this new flat I have had to buy a bunch of stuff. I needed to get a new bathmat, a new drying rack for the dishes and some new cloths.

These are seriously essentials.

That is a crazy first line for the flames. Backlund must be doing well. The second line is glencross, Ollie and Tanguay then? Those are two pretty solid lines.

My new flat address is:

Flat 3

26 Upton Park

Stokehouse

Slough, Berkshire

SL1 2DA

Hopefully you can find that on google maps.

Love Elder Steed

Jan 15, 2012

I know you guys don't like in HP anymore, and I'm not even in the country, but I am still mad that they are not allowing skating on the pond. Why would they do that? It just seems stupid. But I guess that does make leaving HP a little bit easier.

Bourque for Cammellari!! No way! I did love Bourque, but I'm just remembering the glory days of Iggy and Cammellari... hopefully they can find some chemistry again. What is the first line? Iggy, Mike and Tanguay? Or Iggy, Jokinen, Mike? I'm pretty sure he can play either center or winger. Hopefully this can turn around the flames season so far. How are the Kings doing under Sutter? Probably amazing.

I don't know how much the rafts would cost, but if it is reasonable I would say buy them. That seriously sounds like the greatest trip ever. I get back like July 1 next year, so we would have all summer to do something like that. I would love to do that when I get home. Although the horses thing might be a problem.

Ya alyssa hasn't wrote to me in a while. Thanks. And I'm glad Riley is liking SAIT. I would be horrible at that kind of program he is in, but remembering his earlier days I'm sure he will do great with that. And he has mono? Haha does amanda have mono as well then? I'm glad Jack has some friends, and I can't really picture Noah getting slimmer. Sounds weird. You should send a photo... and did you see how skinny Payton Charleton looked in their Christmas card? He is staring to slim as well. No mom didn't mention the scholarship. What did I win it for? And ya the thing is, I might be getting kicked out of the UofC anyways and would have to reapply. I remember you are allowed a 2 year unexplained leave of absence, but anything more than that and you have to reapply. So I'm not sure if it means I will be okay, I remember thinking that I was coming back one semester too late, but I'm not really sure. I will definitly be thinking a lot about what school I want to go to. That is, if I even go back to school. Dec 2012 could very well be the end of the world, so maybe I won' t be going back.

I think that even if nothing big (like a natural disaster or nuclear war happens) the hype over 2012 is so big that people will go crazy. THey will pull all their money out of banks, go underground, commit suicide, etc. And I think this will cause widespread chaos and destroy the world economy. And then I'll have to catch a boat back to Canada. I'm not being funny either. So I am probably going to assemble a 72 hour bag here. Get some survival gear and food, like the stuff you just add water to. And probably a knife, a flint and steel, one of those water purifiers that you pump (like the one you have) and some other stuff I think might come in handy. Is that alright with you if I buy a bunch of stuff like that?

Haha I can totally imagine what you will think about all this. Trust me, better safe than sorry. I have also decided not to put all my savings into precious metals, because of the inflated cost of gold and silver at the moment.

Anyways, hopefully Mom starts to feel better soon. I will let you guys know about transfer date asap.

Love Elder Steed

Jan 15, 2012

Yes, transfer day is wednesday. There are many wild guesses and speculations flying around. There are 3 new zones opening up, new districts being formed, a big group of missionaries coming in that need to be trained, and lots of the missionaries are starting to near the end of their missions. Like in 3 transfers, a group of 30 something missionaries goes home, and that is like a fifth of the mission. So I am sure there will be many changes in the mission. But, even with all that, I think I will stay here in Helston for one more move. I bet Oscarson goes off to train or be a zone leader or something, but I don't know if I'm ready to leave Helston yet. Well it doesn't really matter if I'm ready or not I guess, but I just feel like I got 6 more weeks in me. Total guess though, I'll find out tommorow and probably email again Wednesday.

That looks like a nice photo. Although I feel like I am making a very weird pose in it. And dad looks really skinny in that photo. Like skinnier than Riley even.

I love 17 Miracles! We have borrowed it twice now off of different people and we have watched it quite a few times. We had like a ward movie night where we watched it as well. It is kind of depressing at times, but really a great movie. We quote it all the time. Like, 'But Chester, it is for certain,' or 'I believe fear and dire circumstances bring out the worst in human beings.'

It has got freezing here as well. I am constantly cold now when we go outside. It is impossible to defend against the chill here. I need to buy some gloves probably. Going to the drop in center will be great. That is always one of my best memories of Christmas/FHE even though I didn't really like going at the time.

That is too bad to hear your health has been so bad lately... maybe you should get it checked out to make sure it isn't something more serious? But that is amazing Riley was able to help with the blessing. He will have to get used to giving out many blessings on his mission.

This has been a good week for us. Chris Thomas has still been smoke free. It is seriously a miracle. After like 30 years of 50 a day, he just quit cold turkey. Today is day 9, and he shows no signs of slowing down. He is getting baptized on Jan. 29! After all this time, he is finally able to get baptized and recieve the Holy Ghost. I am so happy for him.

Alright, crazy story. We were knocking doors and this one guy answered and said come back in a few days. We did, and he let us in and we had a good chat for like 45 mintues. Not about the gospel though. This guy is in his 50's probably, but is just like a firecracker. He is a short guy, but is always just bouncing off the walls. He is always talking really fast and going off on crazy tangents and stuff. His wife was really nice too, but it was hard for any of us to get a word in. Really nice guy. Right as we were leaving, he asked what I thought of the food here, and I mentioned I really liked the roast potatoes here as we don't have them back home. He was like 'Hey! My wife makes great roast potatoes, why don't you guys come over Sunday for dinner?' We obviously said yes, but it was crazy that this guy just invited two random/stranger religious people over to his house for dinner. So we went there yesterday and had the greatest meal I have had in this country. They are pretty posh, and his wife was an amazing cook, and made a ton of food, and it was all homeade, even the yorkshire puddings and the gravy, and the lemon merugine pie afterwards. They had like classical music playing in the background, there were candles floating in water on the table, they had like 5 different utensils, they had a sitting room, and dining room, and a living room we went it for different parts of the night. It was awesome. But they weren't like stuck up or anything, just really nice. The problem was, we got there are like 4, and then they started to prepare the whole meal and didn't want our hellp with anything. So we ended up talking while they made the meal, then eating, then sharing a message about the BoM afterwards, except everytime we said a sentence, he would respond to it by going off on like a 10 minute story about something it reminded him off, then bringing it all back at the end. So we were there for like 4.5 hours. I don't think there is anything we could have done though. We are going back next monday for dinner again. We told them we are watching the restoration dvd after dinner though, so we will see how it goes. We then had to go to see Paul Morris, as he leaves to Birmingham tommorow to start his new job, and if one of us moves we won't be able to see him again. We got there pretty late, so Oscarson had to account with the district, but I just chatted with them for a while. He is one of my best friends here, and if I have to leave I will really miss him.

We have been teaching Naomi still, and Fiskani. We had a great teach about the POS with Naomi, and are really excited that she is really interested and sinceire. And then we are going over this morning to help Fiskani pack/move, as she is moving into a new flat and divorcing with her husband. We watched the 20 min restoration DVD, and she said she believed it was true. Also, there is a little tree with two leaves on it right at the start, and she felt like that was a sign from God that there is still life in her even though she is feeling very low. I guess a few years ago when she was really struggling she saw a little tree exactly like that growing and green in her otherwise dead garden. It is cool how God speaks to us sometimes. She said she feels like she needs to get away from her old church, and that she really needs something to lean on and find strength in right now. I'm really hoping that she will get baptized.

We had some big changes in the ward here yesterday. The EQP and the High Priest group leader were both released, and new ones were called. Ken had a really rough night at work and didn't make it to church. He really needs to get his act together and get to church even when he is tired. I'm probably gonna have to tell him that today. Obviously there are some situations where you can't make it to church due to work, but we had just taught him about the priesthood on saturday, a really good lesson, and he was going to get interviewed by the Bishop for it yesterday but didn't turn up. I'm not to worried though, they are both still really solid and Ken is looking for a new job.

Hope you feel better soon, you guys are always in my prayers,

Love Elder Steed

Jan 8, 2012

Hey,

It has been a pretty crazy week and half since I last wrote. Elder Casey and Atwal, serving in St. Austell, have not been getting along these last 5 weeks. Which is too bad, becuase it is Casey's first moves in the mission. So on Sunday night, the zone leaders called and told us they were both being e-moved up to London, closer to President. They each had their own problems as well. Turns out though, that it was like a massive, mission wide emergency move. Ten companionships were changed around. And we all got an email from President and it sounds like he is making a lot of changes in the mission and is cracking down for his last few months before he goes home. We are on the outskirts of civilization though, so we don't get affected by that much stuff. So we ended up doing a two day road trip up to Staines, Catford, Croydon, Wandsworth (all boroughs of London) and then coming home. I was the only driver as well, and although I thought it was cool to drive in London, I did not enjoy driving two seven hour days in a row, but it is done now and we are alive so can't really complain. I also got to stop off and get breakfast with Elder Palmer and everyone we were with, in Wandsworth, which was like the highlight of the trip. I have missed him, and it is crazy that he goes home in 4.5 months. When I came out he still had a long way to go.

I can't think of anything really awesome this last week in terms of the work. We did A LOT of finding this week. But actually one huge thing that happened, is Chris Thomas quit smoking. He has been smoking for 25 years, was smoking like 50 a day, and has been meeting with Elders and coming to church every week for like 9 years, and last week he just quit cold turkey. I was on exchange with the italian elder, and he commited him to quit. He only lasted like 4 hours, but we went back the next day and told him he needs to just try again and again until he does it. That was on saturday. He hasn't had a cigarette since. We called him every hour the first night, and like 4 times the next day, and now we are talking to him like twice a day. We are going over to see him today as well. I just can't belive it has finally happened. He is going to get baptized in two weeks, if he continues to not smoke. But we are very hopeful.

Also, I called Fiskani this week because we haven't seen her forever, and it turns out she is seperating from her husband. Which is really good, because they had the most horrible marriage/living arrangements I have ever heard of. Her husband was a pig. Sorry, that isn't very Christlike, but it is true. So hopefully when that is all done with, she can get baptized as well.

Thanks for sharing that stuff you taught the young women about with me. That is cool, because that is exactly what I have been studying and focusing on lately. I have just about finished Jesus the Christ, that massive book, and at the moment I am reading it like a novel. It is so fascinating and makes the life of Christ actually seem real and not just like some story you hear in church. The chapter about the atonement was incredible. And I found one of the talks Dad put on my iPod that I just love. It is called 'The Saviour in Gethsemane,' and is seriously maybe my favorite talk ever. It is by someone Skinner. You should really listen to it. I gained a lot of insight from it. So thank dad for putting that on for me. Oh, and the part about you asking for the spirit to be there. I have noticed that that is something that Elder Bednar does every single time he begins a talk. So it is probably a good thing to do.

I can't wait to try dad's new smoker when I get home. I'm sure he will have many new tricks up his sleeve for cooking by the time I get home. I will have a few of my own too. Like how to make rice. It took me like 4 months to get it down. The italian elder helped me out a bit.

How are the pitchers doing? I was actually planning on going to that same YSA fireside, but something else came up last minute and we had to miss it. Is Landon excited to start getting ready to go on his mission?

Alyssa got a whole month off school? That is madness.

Ya being first-born has its ups and downs. But to be fair, it is probably more downs. Noah is gonna have it so nice. Just make sure to keep those kids away from sleepovers still. Well I am glad at least someone is reading my letters home as well as you guys. I really was well taken care of this Christmas... say thank you to everyone for me just in case I forget! But I am in the process of sending off a bunch of post to say thanks to a lot of people. Good luck with finding our Prussian ancestors. If you want the kids to help you, just have them read that talk by Bednar that tells youth they need to do family history. Oh, If you had to sum it up, what would my main lineage/country of origin be? English or Welsh or German? Oh, and I have heard rumors of a site that can trace your ancestry back all the way too Adam. I'll let you know more about that if I can find it.

Love Elder Steed

Jan 1, 2012

How did blue birds get into the fireplace? Did they fly down the chimney? Dumb birds.
Ya brad is way too early of a riser. He probably wakes up earlier than I do. I don't think I will ever have a job where I have to wake up before 7 on a regular basis. Me and Elder Oscarson have started waking up at 615 and going on runs in the morning. We went on a run on wednesday, and then had an exchange on thursday. On the exchange, my alarm went of at 615 and they were really annoyed and shut it off. Then on friday I was back in Helston and we were planning on going on a run at 615 again, so I figured I wouldn't have to mess with my alarm. Turns out that they hadn't turned the alarm back on. Elder Oscarson woke me up at 745. It was totally accidental, so I didn't really feel that bad about it, but it did feel really nice to get that much of a lie in.

Okay, I know a lot of keener missionaries, but no one chose to not call their family. That is crazy. He must have been out of control.

Ya I always miss you guys, but I don't feel more homesick because of the call. I just thought it was nice to get to talk with you all. I am getting back into the swing of things as the holidays come to an end.

That's rough Riley had to do an impromptu talk. I had to do one yesterday in church actually. Oh man, that just reminded me. Dad is going to love this one. The bishop's dad died yesterday, so he didn't make it to church. However, he was one of the planned speakers, so when he didn't show up, the second counselor asked me and Oscarsauce to fill the time. Alright Dad, do you remember 'A single, drop, of blood?' The vietnam war (which the UK was not involved in) and the pit with the spikes covered in feces? The story that Ashton told in Fiji in sacrament meeting that we were just cracking up over? Ya, I told that exact same story yesterday in church. It was awesome! I then went on to talk about the atonement and read a bunch of scriptures and stuff. I think it caught everyone's attention though. People were probably really sick of hearing from me yesterday, as I did the sacrament prayer, the confirmation, and a talk.

But ya, what I was saying. I'm really impressed Riley was able to give a talk on such short notice. He is way more prepared to be a missionary than I ever was. Hopefully he isn't grumpy as often though.

Hardcore BoM study? That sounds like a really good plan. My new year's resolution is to drop from 150 pounds to 140. I am doing this by drinking 1.5 litres of water a day and by running three mornings a week.

I can't really think of anything else that cool this week. We picked up a former investigator, and her husband, they are both young 20's and we are starting to teach them again. Elder Casey, the greenie who has been out for like 3 weeks now, decided to go home. He has depression I guess, and President gave him permission to leave honorably. At the last minute he changed his mind and he is now staying. He has announced that he was leaving to his whole ward and to all of us, so It was probably pretty awkward at church yesterday. Him and his trainer, Atwal, are really struggling together. We are doing like 1-2 exchanges with them a week so they don't kill each other.

I can't belive Brooks left on his mission today.

Things are good here. We are going to have a great p day with Ken and Toni and the district here.

Love Elder Steed

Jan 1, 2012

We were out partying all night. There is a really good club here in town. I'm pretty sure Oscarsauce kissed a girl at midnight.

Just kidding. I have been pretty sick the last couple of days, and we got in on Dec. 31 at like 930 and I just went straight to bed. I was planning on setting the alarm and waking up at 11:55 and being awake for midnight, but I just felt like crap and couldn't do it. We are going today to Ken's house, with all 6 of the missionaries in Cornwall, and he is taking us to his gym and teaching all of us MMA training. I feel still pretty sick today but everyone else is really excited for it so I am just going to have to push through it. Sounds like you guys had a good new years eve. 40-50 kids? That sounds like a mad house. Hopefully the Pillings didn't supply champagne or anything to all those kids. But it wouldn't surprise me if they did.

I can't believe Riley is an Elder now. If you guys are going to try to get him out of there before September, so he can make it back in time for school to start, he will be sending his papers in in a few months. How crazy is that.

Ken and Toni did show up to church, and I was able to confirm them yesterday. I was really nervous. I spent all morning stressing and trying to think of things to say, and then telling myself I shouldn't be trying to plan it ahead of time. I couldn't focus on anything else at church. Finally the time came to give the blessing, and my prayers were answered. I got up there and I just felt calm, and as I started the blessing I was able to just let my mind go completely blank. I'm still really new at giving blessings, but I really did feel the guidance of the spirit. It was easily one of the highlights of my mission so far.

That is kind of cool that we were both involved in priesthood ordinations yesterday. I can't wait until Ken becomes an Elder. Our Elder's quorum president is moving away in a week, Paul Morris, and I'm pretty sure in 6 months they will make Ken the new EQP. Yes, there is a serious lack of strong priesthood in the ward.

Sounds like you guys hang out with the Pillings 24/7. I thought you would see them less once you moved, but apparently not.

Transfer day is on Jan. 18. This has felt like the longest transfer of my mission so far. Which is weird, because we have done a lot of fun things and Christmas and everything. I'm really excited for Joseph on the 17th as well.

I hope you guys have a great time at the cabin, let me know how it goes.

Love Elder Steed

Dec 25, 2011

I'm glad you had such a great Christmas. You actually held it together pretty well yesterday during the skype thing. Better than I expected. You guys are the best family ever. Sorry I didn't always realize it growing up. I hope you have a great day today, and enjoy this time with all the family.

Love Elder Steed

Dec 25, 2011

I think yesterday was my favorite day of my mission so far. I loved getting to talk to you guys. I feel kind of bad though, I feel like I just talked about myself too much and I didn't hear enough about how and what you guys are doing. I also forgot a few things I was going to talk about. Maybe I'll write like a list or something next time. One thing I forgot is to say hi to you guys from Elder Atwal. I have no idea why he wanted me to, but he was really insistent and called me last night to make sure I had said hi to you from him. He is serving in St. Austell and is a really good friend. I think it might partly have to do with the fact that he wants you to send him a package full of American things, like Cheetos and Kool-aid and I don't know what else, and then he will pay you guys or pay me or something.

Ken had a really crazy day yesterday... I wasn't something I could really talk about in front of him to you guys yesterday. He had some serious issues with his younger sister, who is disabled, and his mom, and his younger sister went crazy and it really upset him. So we will make sure it happens next week. Also, that car adapter for my iPod is broken, I think it broke in the post on the way over here. So I might need to buy something for that at a boxing day sale today, because we aren't allowed to use headphones. Also, Elder SImmons wanted me to tell you that he still thinks you are a legend. After all those 17 dollar McDonalds runs I bought for Simmons, everytime he wants something he says 'Joel'll get that.' It's pretty funny, and has actually became a pretty common statement among missionaries in Cornwall. So you are kind of famous down here.

I hope you guys have a great boxing day. I wish I could be there for the Magrath skating party, that was always one of my favorite things.

Uncle Mike sent me a pretty sweet email, and I'm sure his talk was amazing as well.

I love you guys, and I seriously cannot wait until May when we can talk again.

Love Elder Steed