June 17, 2012

Hey, 

Happy Fathers Day!

Ya usually we don't go in boats or anything, but the AP's just let it go because we were with the Branch President and the only young man in the branch. I have a feeling though that the new mission president will crack down and there will be no more fun things like that going on. 

It is like 830 now and I don't think we really have a long time. We are just at the mission office with the AP's. We had an awesome day. We played football with a bunch of missionaries from one of the zones in London. And they brought all their young men from their wards and their young men all brought friends, and we had like a 10v10 football match. It was English people against americans and everyone else. They were way more skilled than us, but they didn't pass. We started off down 3-0 but ended up beating them 10-8. And then played some american football afterwards. Really no one there had ever played football before, even the americans, except for Simmons. Every fourth I would just hail mary down the side line and he would throw a bomb. Touchdown. No one had any idea how to play. It was actually a great day.

 I am amazed that you finished the race. I don't think I would ever be able to do any one of those 3 things on its own, let alone in a row. I can barely make it this big hill, to get to where all our investigators live, on a bike.

I think that branch presidency doesn't have to be a high priest. But I'm not sure. One of our guys I don't think is even endowed. You just wouldn't expect England to be one of the places where Elder's need to play that big of a role. 

That semi accident sounds crazy. Thanks for the photos. 

And thanks for the updates on BLC every week. I am going to have some big plans for when I get home. We will take that business to the next level next summer. We will get some good things going for Riley for when he gets home. 

This was an amazing week. Holly's baptism went so well. It was just 9 people there, but what was really nice was that her father and his new wife also came and supported her. Me and Elder Martins sang a duet, and we gave her the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was like 500 degrees in this pool house and the wind was gusting like crazy outside as we confirmed her. It was just like the first couple of verses in Acts ch. 2. I thought it was a really spiritual service and experience.
And tomorrow is President Shamo's final zone conference. So he is having half the mission tuesday and the other half wednesday. I am going to be really sad to see him go. And then a month later Simmons leaves. And then 3 months after that, White leaves. And then all of my really good missionary friends will have gone home. I'm the oldest missionary in our district right now. It is really strange to see so many new young missionaries who I don't know. Does it feel like a year already to you guys?

I sent you something for fathers day. Just a small package. But I sent it this week so it is more than likely going to arrive to you a bit late. 

I thought it was cool that you were using that waterbottle finally. And also, in one of those photos you but onto my ipod at Christmas had you wearing that Expos hat I got you a long time ago and then you never wore it once. haha I'm glad those things are getting at least a little bit of use.

The missionary work in Guernsey is weird right now. We have a ton of investigators. But they all have issues, whether it is word of wisdom, or not being married, or having community service from growing drugs on sunday mornings. We have found a really cool family last week that we had knocked on their door a few weeks earlier. It is a mom with 3 kids, two teenage boys who like us and are pretty cool. They asked us to go cliff jumping and playing football with them and stuff (we told them no...). But it just seems like we are finding a bunch of people who aren't really interested in religion or the gospel but who just like to have us over and feed us dinner once a week. We have like 4 families that just like us to come over and eat with them. I have never really had this before. It is nice because we are getting to know more people, and they are introducing us to their friends and stuff, but it is also frustrating that we aren't finding anyone who is really prepared. I think that one thing I have learned on my mission is that there are always things you can find to do to just fill the time but that isn't really that productive. I just want people who are ready to hear this gospel and who recognize the truth of it. This gospel is just so true when you really look into it. If people would just give it a chance. Maybe I'm just being lazy. I don't know.
Other good news is that Ken and Toni are doing great. In a couple months, the relief society president in Helston is going on a mission. i am going to guess that Toni is going to be in the presidency when it is reorganzied. And Ken is having a lot of success with his own buisness he has started, and is hoping he will eventually be able to quit working the door and work more normal hours. And make a lot more money. The things that have happened with Ken the last couple of weeks have just been filled with miracle after miracle. It has strengthened my faith seeing everything unfold the way it has. I will tell you guys about it sometime. They are going to the temple on the 17th this month... which just happens to be moves day. So I am hoping that one of us gets transferred just for the sole reason that it means I would most likely be able to go do baptisms in the temple with them. How cool would that be.

 The Baral's are also doing great. The Baptists have been annoying but it seems they have mostly just given up now. It is good I wasn't in Slough, for this whole baptist thing. Pettersen is a lot more passive. I probably would have killed someone. 

Holly has introduced us to one of her friends, a lady named Samara. She was cool, she didn't think we were weird or anything. And on wednesday night Holly is having like 3 or 4 of her friends and us over to her house for Chinese food and just to meet them and stuff. I am hoping that there can be a chance to start to teach some of them. New converts are gold mines for new solid investigators. 

I can't really think of what else has happened this week. Not too much. Pretty normal. The weather is getting better. It has just rained and rained non stop for like a month. I have been so sick of it. I cut my own hair this morning as I was sick of it being long. Next monday is 'black monday.' But I should still be able to email on monday. I have a feeling that one of us will move. Elder Martins is a good missionary, but is just a bit boring. In the sense that he is really textbook. He doesn't think about anything he is doing, he just does things in the only way he knows how. It works for us though. 

It is getting late. Tell mom I am sorry I can't send her an email as well. But to be fair, it is fathers day. 

Love Elder Steed

June 10, 2012

I don't have a ton of time anymore. We are at the Lingauds house. We just spent the day him Pres. Lingaud, and the one young man in the ward (a 16 year old named Joe) and were out ocean fishing for Mackarel all day! It was really fun, Joe had a little boat we used. We only caught one fish. But it was a beautiful day, the ocean was calm, and we had a lot of fun. At the end, we started talking to another fisherman who had a ton of crabs and we bought 5 from him. So we came back to the Lingauds and just ate the fish and crabs but were still hungry so President is going to pick up some CHinese food while we finish emailing. These guys are the best. And in one year they are moving to calgary, because their permit runs out here and they have family in calgary. So I'm sure I will see them there. He wants to go with us fly fishing on the bow.

What is Brooks doing that is so rude towards Riley? Me and Mike are good friends, and I hope it doesn't cause him to dislike me when I take over next summer. Not that it really matters. If he is going to be weird about it that is his deal.

John Watson really is crazy. We had an appointment with him last week.

We showed up to his house and no one was there. We called him a couple hours later to see what happened and apparently someone had insulted his family and he heard about it so he ran off to go beat them up. And he did. But he is a good guy.

The huge black guy is Ernest. He was one of my best friends in Slough.

He asked me to be the best man at his wedding, he always said he wanted to get baptized and all this stuff but he would never come to church. He was from Ghana and was a great guy but just had no commitment. I don't know, for some reason me and that guy just clicked. He was always saying to me 'Im a hustler man,' But I never understood what that meant because he wasn't doing anything illegal.

Okay so I better get going. Hopefully next week will be more relaxed.

The TV is on and Joe (the 5 year old) is running around and it is hard to focus.

I can't wait to hear about Ryan's trip to Utah. Please let me know how it goes.

You are putting a lot of money into BLC... hopefully it pays off.

Good luck in your race. That sounds really intense. I think even if you finish it that would be quite the acomplishment. And ya sometime tuesday afternoon will be the baptism, so if you are starting in the morning I'm sure you will be racing while we baptize Holly. Enjoy the race and the waterbottle!

Love Elder Steed

June 10, 2012

Hey,

Yes Guernsey is just like that. It is probably a bit different than from back then. All the locals complain that there are too many cars.

And there are a ton of latvians and portugese people that have moved over here. So I'm sure it is a bit different. But it really is laid back and peaceful. Most of the shops are just like mom and pop places.

Everyone is laid back. The max speed limit on the island is 35. THere are a lot of islands you can see on a clear day, but I have never been to the place you can see France. We have actually been in some of these German bunkers along the ocean, you guys will love it if you ever come over here after my mission.

The investigators are doing great. We have a weekly sunday roast with Jason and Steisha... she is really interested and comes to church every week but he just thinks we are cool guys and likes to talk to us. But they aren't married, so even though she reads the BoM everyday and goes to church she can't get baptized. We had a member of the stake presidency over (they come about once a month) and taught Luke and Louise and they are doing good, I think they will be working towards marriage hopefully sometime soon. Holly though is the real miracle. In 2010 the branch presidents wife got baptized. Before that in 2006 a lady got baptized but went inactive or moved away immediatly. So in the last 10 years that is pretty much all that has happened here. Everyone is pretty excited. The Lingauds (a phillipino family that is the branch presidents family) have a 5 year old son who has desperately wanted a primary. A year ago president Shamo came over and re-dedicated the island for missionary work and specifically for finding Joseph (the 5 year old son) a primary so he wouldn't be the only kid. Holly has 3 kids, and they love primary. I think that prayer is being answered. We were having a problem finding her a place to get baptized in. She didn't like the idea of the ocean, and we went around to every hotel with a pool and none of them would let us reserve the pool for a baptism. So Holly took it upon herself and found a friend of her dad who would let her use her private, heated, backyard pool.

So in five days she will be getting baptized! It is a very exciting time. She has read the Book of Mormon every day for a few months now, and she is actually smart so she understands what she is reading which is really nice to see in investigators.

The other crazy news is the Barals... I don't know if I have mentioned much but they have had the baptists trying to get them into their church the same time we have. In the weeks leading up to baptism and also the last few weeks since, they have been going over in gangs, like 4 or 5 at a time, and just throwing a ton of anti material and trying to change them. Pettersen told me all about it, and I gave them a call and asked Pratigya about it. She was so cool... she was like 'we have already chosen, we will never change our mind, we know this is the truth, they won't even read the BoM,' and all this other stuff.

I was really worried about it but it sounds like things are okay. I always text Lukas good scriptures to look up. I guess the baptists came over and tried to tell them we do baptisms for the dead and that it wasn't biblical. Lukas flipped out at them and pulled out the scripture in 1 Cor. that talks about it and confounded them. Even Dambaru has said he realizes that this is the truth. It didn't help the baptists that one time they came over they took a BoM and then threw it in the garbage. Pratigya kicked them out and put up a bunch of stuff on it on facebook and stuff. So I am still a little bit worried about having the baptists over too often, but they are so solid and handling it really well.

You should email Toni though. She said she hasn't heard from you in a while.

There are only 4 priesthood holders here including us. So the stake presidency guy wanted to set us apart one of us as a member of the branch presidency and one as the EQP. But because Shamo goes home in like 2 weeks he said he doesn't know what Millar (the new guy will

think) so that they should wait. So I got set apart as elders quorum teacher and Martins is sunday school teacher. That is only my second time ever getting set apart.

Sounds like the hockey went well. It was pretty funny to hear about the fall of the Sasquatch. I also hope you guys aren't in wheelchairs when I get back.

And also I'm sad I missed seeing the Skinner clan. I haven't seen them in ages.

Oh, I also read those talks you sent me. The ones Riley was told to read. They were pretty good... the Lock Your Heart talk was pretty funny. Good advice though. You hear a lot of stories as a missionary about dodgy stuff.

Those donughts looked so weird! Were they any good?

Well we are going over to Luke and Louises to do a little FHE with them and the kids. We've had a great day today. But I'll talk more about that in dads letter, it's something I think he would find interesting.

So jealous about the breakfast for dinner... where we are we don't get too many D.A.s, there is no fast food and the groceries are just stupidly expensive. So we have like 3 staple meals we always eat...

chicken nugget wraps, frozen cheeseburger, and pasta with mince (hamburger). We just eat cycle through every 3 days. I haven't had a pancake in so long, let alone french toast or waffles. THey just don't eat them over here.

Send me one of those homeade donughts. Actually, if you are ever going to send another package, I would love some rootbeer and ranch dressing. I told Jason I will have him drink rootbeer as he had never even heard of it. He thought we were talking about real beer at first.

Well, see you later,

Love ELder Steed

June 3, 2012

Hey,
That is amazing that you were able to do that triathalon with so little sleep. I am glad you are no letting Toni beat you. Good luck with the Ironman. Just think of me on Guernsey peddaling up these crazy steep hills here in a suit and just about dying at the top. I am still so out of shape. I was actually having a big issue this week--I was falling asleep everywhere. When we would be watching the Restoration DVD with investigators I would fall asleep in the first 30 seconds and not wake up until the end when Martins would kick me. During a spree of like 6 houses in a row that didn't answer the door, I fell asleep leaning against the wall at a door. I would fall asleep as soon as we got back to the flat for lunch/dinner. I fell asleep sitting on the couch sending a text, sitting on my bed doing the Rubiks cube, just everywhere. And I would go to bed at like 8 at night and really struggle to get up at 630. So I had no idea what was wrong. But then it dawned on me. It is those new allergy meds you sent me... I haven't taken them the last 2 days and I feel way better. So although they completely got rid of my allergies, I was just a total mess. So i think now I will just have to struggle through these allergies.
Speaking of this, ya, I can solve a Rubiks cube now. I bought one because there is nothing else to do here. My record is 2.30 mintues.
Okay the investigators here... also a lot of familes. The active membership here is like 8 a week. A month ago, Martins and the guy before me had 29 people at church (including kids.) We had 20 this week. A lot of families. One single mom (Holly), a family that isn't married yet but comes to church every week and wants to get married and have 2 kids (LUke and Louise), a really cool young family with 2 young kids (Jason and Steesha. Jason isn't as interested, but he just likes us. Steesha has come to church every week for like 3 months and really likes it. They just aren't married. We went to their house last night for an AWESOME roast dinner). And all 4 of these people live within like 3 minutes of each other, with Holly, Sarah and Steesha are neighbors, and live in three houses in a row. So that is pretty cool. We also have picked up a Portugese lady as a new investigator who has 2 kids (13 and 15) that aren't really interested. We met her street contacting and she just invited us over to her house. We went back yesterday to share the Restoration DVD after we shared the first lesson on Tuesday, and she had bought a ton of popcorn, cupcakes, coke, other sweets, tons of stuff like that. And invited 2 of her other friends over. We had a really good discussion and we are going back to have a Portugese fish feast soon. We also have an Indian guy we are about to drop and a crazy celebrity guy named John Watson. He has 14 kids and you could easily find him if you looked on google. He really wants to get baptized.
So that is pretty much the work here. A lot is going on, and if there were some weddings then we might be having a bit more success.
I will definitely be able to do buzz lawn care. I am still deciding if I am going to lifeguard or not... but if buzz is going that well and I can earn enough money doing that, I will be willing to not lifeguard and just do it full time.
There is going to be some big conferences soon before President leaves. Everyone is going to miss him. Okay well the twins are attacking me. Tamsen and Imogen (Holly's 2 year old twins) are fighiting me and making it hard to email. I will send photos.
Love Elder Steed

May 30, 2012

Hey!
Okay, when you put last weeks letter in those terms it sounds just ridiculous. President Shamo never said I couldn't book the flight, he said the mission had no money so they were unable to get the tickets. They have reimbursed me though--I have like 500 dollars in my mission account that I have no way of getting back into my CIBC account. I did have to buy the plane ticket for my companion as well, as it would not have gone over so well if I had left him alone in Guernsey. Staying with the Baral's until 1030... some missionaries get so caught up in every rule (Law of Moses) that they become robotic and I think (this is just my opinion) that they lose a lot of opportunities to follow the spirit (the Law of Christ). The Law of Christ is how President Shamo likes to run things. The spirit was there that night, and I believe that everything that happened last weekend was meant to happen exactly how it did. Things worked out perfectly. The internet cafe and egg thing... ya I can't really say much about those. But President wasn't upset I did what I did, he said he had even tried to use his own personal credit card to get me back to Slough because he felt very strongly about that I should be there.
The Barals were confirmed yesterday in church. I was so happy to hear about that. The only problem is that Dambaru is still a drunken mess. He came to church, totally drunk, for their confirmation. Apparently he stood up in the middle of the meeting after his wife was confirmed and yelled 'My darling! My darling wife! I love you so much, can I kiss you?!' And then ran to the front and embraced her. I wish I would have been there for that one. He also stood up and applauded and yelled when his kids were confirmed. It is really sad and honestly pathetic the way he is. He was such a great guy for those 60 days he was sober. I just wish he could see what he is throwing away because of this stupid alcohol addiction. Nothing seems to work for him. So at this point I just have to laugh when he does stupid things like that, or else I would probably cry.
Too bad to hear about the fine Riley got. I wonder if someone called the cops on him.
I love to hear about everyones sporting events... but where is the weekly update about team Crush? Is the season over already? And what a classic moment at that basketball tournament with that coach freaking out. I am going to miss playing basketball on a team... maybe I will have to find an old person team.
So today is a national holiday, it is the 60th anniversary of the queen being crowned. So the whole island is just having a big celebration. All the shops are closed. The only place we were able to email was at an investigators house. So we are at Holly's house right now. She is a single mom with 3 kids, but is really cool. She has come to church every week for like 2 months. And a couple of days ago we finally asked her to be baptized... and she is getting baptized next saturday! Not the 9th, the 16th. So that is exciting. Keep her in your prayers. Because we are here, I will be able to send some photos as well!
My piano skills are horrible. They are getting even worse because I literally never play. Someone here had a guitar the other day also and I picked it up, and I can't really play that well either anymore. So all my musical talent is gone.
Today is a bit hectic, but next week I will send Riley an email. Going through the temple is a pretty big deal and so is preparing for a mission. I will see if I can think of a few words of wisdom.
Spending some time with Simmons and White was really fun. They are great guys. It is so crazy to see some of my best friends here going home soon. Simmons only has 2 months left. And as you can tell, I haven't really changed all that much. I still do my normal thing. I have been out for 11 months next week. Coming up to my year mark is a scary thought... it is something I didn't really think would ever happen.
Anyways, tell both grandparents I love them also and especially Grandma Steed that she is in my prayers.
I love you guys,
Elder Steed

May 27, 2012

I also did get your email. I just thought I'd let mom have the long one this week. Crazy about the squirrel nest, and thanks for the allergy meds. Those things are soo good. They have helped so much, I will need more in 80 days though. Thanks for those birthday packages.

They were great, especially that calendar with a big picture of my face on the front. All the missionaries I was with when I opened that were just dying laughing when they saw my face on the front of that calendar. I thought it was pretty funny also, but really nice. Thanks for that stuff, I have already devoured all the sweets and I really like the tie. And that little book of references is proving very helpful as well.

Good luck in your half marathon triathalon. Hopefully I will be able to get back into those when I get home. They were pretty fun. Well it is a beautiful day and we are going to go have some fun and take a bunch of photos. I need to find some way to send them. It might be months though until I can send any photos. I got in an argument with the guy who owns the internet cafe on the island so I am sort of hesitant to go back. I got out some CD's from the library and tried to use the internet cafe to burn them onto my ipod. But none of the computers had itunes except 2, but both of those 2 couldn't read CD's for some reason. So I was on for like 30 mintues, and he wanted to charge me a pound fifty for trying like 10 different computers to do what I wanted and having none of them work at all. I told him I didn't feel I should have to pay for his computers if they didn't even do what they were supposed to. So he got a little fired up, and I think it would be weird if I go back. So ya, it will probably be in my next area when I send you guys photos. But hey, I love you guys, and I hope everthing goes well this week 

I also remembered about that cake mix you sent over in the pacakge.

Devils food chocolate. Thanks for that. My birthday was spent in a conference so it wasn't that exciting. But that night, we were staying with the AP's and 4 other zone leaders. I had the cake mix with me, but we had no eggs. We went out to this really nice Thai resturaunt for dinner, really posh place, great food and service and everything.

And at the end, I called the waiter over and asked for some eggs. All these guys were from Thailand and Bangladesh and stuff. It took some coaxing, and a couple other waiters and a cook got involved, but in the end I got my three eggs from the kitchen for my cake. All the other guys were dying laughing. We went home and I mixed the cake in a big wok and then cooked it in the oven in a frying pan. We had no cream or ice cream or anything, but it was still awesome and we used all those candles and lit them on the gas oven. Pretty funny night, but it was a great birthday. Thanks for sending that stuff.

Love Elder Steed

May 27, 2012

Hey mom,

Thanks for the letter. This has been one of the best ones in a while.

Truman, the sports, the apostate missionaries, team crush, classic. So Alyssa has not been going on any real dates though? Hopefully she will enjoy working as a lifeguard. My only advice is don't work at Trico. I loved my job and the people there, but they are a really bad influence.

I can't belive that A) you are playing that aggresive and B) you lost a game!? What happened? I'm gonna fly home next week if you guys don't pick it up.

And ya, that is really dodgy what those missionaries are doing. That is just what we call wasters. Especially if they are hanging out with a cute 16 year old girl and her mom under those circumstances...

someone needs to sort them out.

Okay, the AP's are with us. Simmons and White, just like the good old days. It's a long story. But pretty much, there was a mission leadership conference on friday they flew us in for. And then I wanted to go to Slough for the baptism of the Baral's and President was going to send the AP's back with Elder Martins to work Guernsey until sunday night when I flew back. Then Thursday at 3, 3 hours before our flight was supposed to leave, they still hadn't bought our tickets, and Martins got a phone call. When he hung up, he told me that we weren't going to the conference anymore. I flipped out and started making some phone calls. I got ahold of the office elders, the airport people, sorted out investigators to start driving us around. I eventually just bought the tickets myself over the phone  and got to the airport just in time to catch the flight. It was REALLY expensive. But I then talked to President and got his approval for the mission to reimburse everything. So I will be getting over 500 dollars reimbursed this week, but I have no way of getting it back into my CIBC account. I might just hold on to it until the end of my misison. I don't really know what else to do.

But all of this was worth it. Coming back for the weekend was seriously one of the best choices I have made on my mission. This last week I had been in constant contact with the Barals, Pettersen, and the senior couple about how things were going. The baptists, anti-mormon stuff, alcohol, family pressure, friends, it just seemed like everything on earth and hell was fighting against getting these people baptized. I got back Friday night and went to see them. Dumbaru was abducted by the baptists. He has been drinking all week. They took him up to Yorkshire, for some baptist conference up there. At first I was really mad, but I have since realized that it was necessary, and all just part of the plan. I think the one thing I have learned from the whole Baral thing is that God always has a plan. The week before I left Slough I was just so down. Everything was unravelling then with the Barals, after everything we had been through, and I just felt like shutting down. My faith was shaken at times throughout this process.

But somehow everything just came together at the end. I need to log off and log back on. I will send this message.

As I was saying. Until Friday, Luna was not going to be baptized. She was concerned about all her friends at the baptist church, she wasn't sure about why Joseph Smith was a prophet, like how the BoM proved him to be a prophet. She was worried about her Hindu friends and family in Nepal. All sorts of problems. But I talked her into taking the interview anyways. She did, and she passed. Saturday night was then one of the most intense and spiritual teaches of my mission. We went over at 7 for dinner, with the Woods. The Woods left at 8, and I taught them, but mostly Luna, about the Restoration as taught in the Bible and the BoM. I was so glad it is a topic I have studied before.

By 9, Luna was understanding, but still said she didn't want to be baptized. I can be a bit stubborn, and I just told myself we weren't leaving that house until she committed. For the next hour and a half, I just tried everything. Starting with getting Lukas and Pettersens greenie to stop speaking. Me and Pratigya went at Luna with everything. She is also stubborn. She twice said she refuses to be baptized. Pratigya at one point just told us to give up and go home, she wasn't going to budge. But eventually, even though it was like 1030, she finally stopped and just thought. It was dead silent, you could have heard a pin drop. For like 2-3 minutes. And then she looked up and said she would do it. It was one of the best moments of my mission.

Then Sunday was even better. We went over at 830 and prayed with them, and then they got picked up for Church. I'll tell you all about it some day, but I don't think email can really do justice to how church and the baptism went. One of the most sacred experiences I have ever had. But it all worked out. They were all baptized, and were all so happy. We went to members house after and had a BBQ, with the Barals, and then I went home and got picked up and flew back to Guernsey by myself. The AP's picked me up there, and I went to bed. I was exhausted. It seriously has felt like a war this last week. I don't think that the problems are over, or that things with the baptists or Dumbaru are going to stop now, but I think that this was a big step.

It taught me that no matter how bleak things may look, God has a plan and he is in control. Things work out how he wants them to.

So that was my week. There really isn't much else to say about it, and I also need to go because an investigator is picking us all up to go walk these really nice cliff/ocean paths along the coast. So I hope you guys all have a great week! I wish I could send the photos, but the computers here don't have the capability.

Love Elder Steed

May 20, 2012

That was really cool to hear about all those boys' farewells. Sounds like they did great and I'm sure they will be awesome missionaries.

I'm really excited to hear where Landon goes. Hopefully he comes here!

Did you know sean is going to Vancouver for some NHL 13 contest he won?

Tell Grandpa I wish he could come here and he could wash our dishes for us in whatever water he wants to. The sink and kitchen are so small and it is tough to wash stuff.

In my first area I did a lot of service projects and in Slough I did a few, but here we don't seem to have many to do. We will find some though.

My new companion is Elder Martins, from Portugal. He is a good guy.

For the first time, I am taller than my companion. He has been out 7 months, but only left his first area 5 weeks ago. So he has been sheltered a bit in his first area and we work a little bit differently but so far we are getting along well and the work is going very good.

There are a lot of Portugese people here for him to talk to. There are also a ton of French. If I can pick up my French again It might come in handy. Once I feel better I might start doing that.

Guernsey really is the most beautiful of all the areas I have been to.

All of the houses are massive. Not quite as big as Canadian houses, but way bigger than any UK houses. And we are on bikes... my legs are so sore. This place is full of hills, and going up these hills is killing me. Martins says in a couple weeks I won't notice it anymore.

We had to go to a bike repair shop because I had no brakes for the first couple of days. But it is so expensive to live here. I think you have to earn a minimum amount of money to be allowed to move here. So almost everyone is just loaded. And so stores like Poundland and Tescos and Asda don't really exist here. They mostly just have posh shops and groceries cost like twice what they did in Slough. And because there are only 6 members we had 0 DA's last week so we have to buy/cook everything. And there is no fast food on the island. I was devastated when I found that out. But at church on Sunday I invited ourselves over to a few places so we have 4 DA's this week. Which should be a lot better. I never have the energy to want to cook myself food.

So I am going to go home and sleep for a few more hours and try to feel better. Have a great week!

Love Elder Steed

May 20, 1012

Hey,

I am also pretty excited to be here. Sounds like Riley is doing a little better with his lawn care. And sounds like some fun work projects. I love doing stuff like that.

But so far it has not been the best start. It rained every day this week. Not just a little bit, is has poured like non-stop every day this week. And on thursday I started to feel really ill. Saturday and Sunday I was probably the most sick I have been my entire mission. I wasn't puking or anything, I think it was a combination of allergies and cold. But I am still so stuffed up, I just feel sore and have no energy and it has been a bit miserable. But I went to bed at 9 last night and I am feeling a bit better this morning. My rule is only take a day off work if I am puking, so I have just been working through it. I think that may have made it worse though. I think if I would have just taken some time thursday to rest I might have never got this bad. Oh well. 

It has actually been a pretty good week work-wise though. We have some awesome investigators here. We have one family, Luke and Louise, who have been coming to church every week for like 3 months. They are getting baptized as soon as they get enough money to get married. They fed us chicken and chips the other night and they are... interesting. But very nice. And they have a 7 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. We also have Steesha, who is 24 and has a 4 year old son and a 2 year old son. She has come to church like the last 4 weeks. She is really solid, we are going over there tonight for dinner. We are trying to get her partner, Jason, involved. He is really nice but so far just isn't that interested in religion. But he is asking more questions and tonight he is really excited for us to teach him the plan of salvation. Steesha will get baptized as well as soon as she gets married. We also have a lady named Holly, also 24 with 2 kids around the same age. She is probably the most solid, as she is not living with anyone so we dont' have to worry about the whole marriage thing. She comes to church every week and has 3 kids, a boy and two twin girls, and wants to get baptized. We have been talking about doing it in the ocean which would be really cool. Steesha and Holly live on the same road. There is this little road with 4 houses on it. Steesha is one, Holly is another, another one of our investigators named Sarah is one of them (but she is also studying with the jehovas witnesses) and the fourth house is a lady named Claire but she isn't interested. And all four of these ladies are friends which is cool. We also have another young couple in their 20's named Sam and Sophie, who didn't come to church this week and I haven't met them yet. But they were at church last week. I think they have a kid. And also Richard and Kelly are another young couple in their 20's with a son (Richard and Sam are cousins) who we are teaching. We also have a guy named John, whose son is a professional boxer, and an Indian guy named Gotham we taught on wednesday. He fed us these Indian sweets that were soaked in sugar syrup and so sweet it made me sick. So we have a lot of stuff going on right now. The ward is usually like 6 active members. The branch president, his wife, the 1st counsellor, and then 3 other people. But we have 3 BYU students who are living here for a couple of months, and the church attendance has been at like 30 the last few weeks due to all the investigators and kids. If only they would get married and join the church...

The other really cool thing is we found this lady named Mary. While Elder Martins (my comp.) and his last companion Elder Anderson were teaching someone in this cafe, one of the waitresses came up to them and just announced that she was a member of our church. They got her info and we saw her yesterday. She is Portugese, she didn't know where the church was and she works sundays so she hasn't been coming for the

2 years she has been on the island. She is 26 and joined when she was in university because she had a really close lds friend. She wants to start coming again though and said she would book time off work. She also took a copy of the Book of Mormon to give to her little sister, who also lives on Guernsey. I guess a bunch of her family lives here as well, and they get together for lunch every sunday. We are going to try to get ourselves invited and try to meet them all. And hopefully find even more people to teach.

So, that is Guernsey. Between seeing all these people and dealing with illness I've been pretty busy. But I also got a rubiks cube and learned how to solve it already. It is pretty fun. We don't ever see other missionaries or have anything to do on p-day/free time so I bought it to stop myself from going crazy. I also got my new suit and raincoat. The suit was literally the cheapest one I could find here.

It was 80 pounds for the jacket and trousers. I thought I would just get a really cheap one and beat it up and then when I am about to go home buy a nice one I can wear back home.

This Sunday the Baral's are getting baptized. It is right after church though. And I obviously can't leave Guernsey ward unattended. But I am going to be at that baptism. We have a mission-wide conference they are flying us over for on Friday. So I think I might ask president to send back one of the missionaries in staines to Guernsey for the day and I stay in Slough with Pettersen and his comp and then the other missionary in Staines goes with the zone leaders. It is complicated, but it is the only way I can see this happening. And I might need to pay for my own airplane ticket back to Guernsey on Monday. But I'll use my own money for that, and I see no better way to spend my money than to be there. Either that or Elder Wood, the senior missionary in Slough, said he would pay for me to come back. So we will see what happens.

Sorry I just have rambled on. I just have so much new stuff to talk about.

Love Elder Steed

May 13, 2012

Hey, I am at the library in Guernsey. It is such a sweet place. We are right beside the ocean right now, I can look out the window at the library and see the beach. It is really sunny and warm. We have like 6 families investigating but most of them aren't married which is a problem. My companion is Elder Martins, he is from Portugal but lived in London for like 8 years. So far he seems pretty cool but everyone is cool the first few days. I bought a new raincoat on sale, it was 60 pounds. It should get me through next winter though. I was only allowed to bring 20 kg with me, because we had to fly over. So I left almost everything at the mission office. I have like a tshirt, a pair of shorts, pajamas, one pair of shoes, one towel, just all the basic stuff. I left like 60-70kg of my stuff at the office. The flat here is way nicer, we are renting a room from a non-member family that have lds relatives in England somewhere. We don't use pounds here--we use Guernsey pounds. It looks like Monopoly money. It is like a different country. Out on the street it seems like every other person is speaking in French. Yesterday we did contacting and knocking for like 4 hours and everyone here is really nice for English people. Most of the white English people in Slough were really rude and wouldn't talk to us, but here everyone is white and they were all really nice. We got like 8 people's addresses and phone numbers. The bad news is last night Dumbaru got drunk again. I have been promised that I can fly back to Slough for their baptism, but at this rate I'm not to sure it will happen. Well, I didn't bring my suit with me as it weighed to much, and so I am off to go look for one for my early birthday present. Hope you guys have a great week! I also sent you a postcard, hopefully that will arrive this week.

Love Elder Steed

May 13, 2012

It was great to see you guys. It wasn't quite as exciting for me as it was the first time, but I still can't wait to see you guys and Riley again at Christmas.
The crazy senior couple here always says really funny things. I have like 2 pages of quotes from him I'll send you one day. But he always was talking about how this stuff with the Baral's is a chess game. We always laughed, but it actually kind of was. It seemed so hopeless at times, like they would never be baptized, but then one day something just clicked and they took that big step. Teaching them has been one of the most challenging, frustrating, but also rewarding parts of my mission. I hope we will stay friends. Dumbaru has been doing a bit better, he had a little bit last night but got up and went to work this morning  which was good. I returned the credit cards to his wife but he still thinks I have them.
I called President this morning and told him I felt like I needed to move. I thought and prayed about it a lot. I feel like Pettersen will get them baptized with his new greenie (he is training now, that will be good for him). I am flying out to Gurnsey at 1150 tomorrow morning. It sounds like a crazy place. The ward has 11 active members, and they had 35 people at church yesterday. I told President that nothing will stop me from getting back to the Baral's baptism on the 27th. They will have to fly me back to the mainland, but President Shamo agreed. It actually worked out well because there is going to be a mission wide conference they would have flied me back for anyways on the 28th, so it's not a huge inconvience. I'll email again wednesday and tell you what it's like!
Love Elder Steed

May 6, 2012

Hey,

Thanks for those photos. It is great to see everyone. Send more photos! I will try to as well. Are you excited for next week? I can't wait to talk to you guys.

I just wanted to explain something I said in dad's email, how I am going to play basketball. A few weeks ago we contacted this little Philipinno guy who was really born-again Christian. We just compared faith vs. works scriptures on the street. He was cool, but we didn't really get anywhere. Then last week we saw him in Subway and talked to him again. He is a cool guy. Then this morning, we were travelling to the train station in Windsor and he saw us across the street. I am currently wearing my Toronto Raptors Vince Carter jersey, so he yelled across the street at us and then ran over to say hi. He started asking me if I play basketball and invited us out to play with him and his friends. I guess him and a bunch of Philipino Christian dudes play some basketball every Saturday. So I said we would go this Saturday and play. He was pretty excited. I will have to bring Elder Huang here because Pettersen can't play ball at all. So we will exchange that day. Elder Huang is from Singapore and isn't that great either, but this whole district is horrible at bball and he is the next best. It should be fun and maybe we will meet somebody cool there.

Last night was really good. The woods have moved into their new house. We went over after church with the Barals and they made dinner and we had a really good night. We then watched the hour long Joseph Smith video together to help them understand the restoration a bit better. They had a ton of questions as they watched. Elder Wood would go on for like 10 minutes just rambling after every question and just confuse everyone. I would then have to give a very brief and to the point answer to the question but it was still really frustrating. The Woods seem to have this desire to tell everything they know about the gospel and church history they can to anyone they can. Like obscure details and deep doctrine and stuff. But they are old so I feel like I can't really tell them how bad it is. 

We have started working with a new guy named Jeff. He is really cool, from Kenya, and although he bailed on us for church at 915 sunday morning, I think he is genuine. He has been baptized Anglican, but pretty much said 'well obviously...' when I asked if he would be baptized again when he knew the BoM was true. He wants an answer to his prayer about the BoM and then to join our church. That is always nice, and hopefully it works out that way.

Another really cool thing this week was we taught young mens again. We have been working with them a lot lately. We were supposed to do a misison prep activity. So we decided that we would make it fun. We split the boys into groups of two, and gave each one of them an egg, a roll of tape, a sheet of newspaper, 15 straws, and ten popsicle sticks. I think I saw this on ZOOM (the old tv show) many years ago. So they had to design something with the given materials that would protect the egg from cracking while being dropped from the highest height. It was such a fun activity and I think it will help them remember the spiritual things we talked about afterwards (relating the activity to missionary work). I will probably do the same thing in my next district meeting.

Ya so it's been a good week and I think this next week will be even better. We are going to go have a zone football p-day!

Love ya, Elder Steed