Giving Thanks for Blessings and Miracles!

Dear Family,

Thanksgiving was pretty great! Elder Miner and I got to eat with 2 different families! The Ainuu family kind of canceled on us. They let us come over, but they told us when we got there that they changed their minds and wanted to go to their parent's house for Thanksgiving. They gave us some food (The typical turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, but with Macaroni and Cheese, too) and we still got to talk, but it ended up only being about 30 minutes. The last 90 minutes of dinner, we spent over at another less-active family, with Sister Tingey. They made Italian Sodas for Thanksgiving. I usually don't like sodas, but they were so good!

I could go on about what cool things we got to do at the Thanksgiving Activities, but I would rather tell you a couple of miracles that happened this week. And I am so grateful for them!

Elder Miner's bike (which is borrowed from another missionary) has had troubles this week. We found out on Friday, that it had a flat front tire. We tried to patch it up, but every time we thought we fixed it, we found another hole in the inner tube. The inner tube had about 8 holes in it. I have no idea how it had that many holes, but it became apparent that it was irreparable. We had to make an emergency visit to the bike shop. Due to all of the red lights, we arrived around 6:55. I thought that the shop closed at 6:00 and when we approached, the lights were off and it was obviously closed. We were in the parking lot about to turn around, when another car came up behind us and parked. The man that got out of the car happened to be the owner of the shop and he was just out for a few minutes. The shop was really supposed to close at 7:00, but he said that he was gone to help out one of his friends. When we showed him the inner tube, he gave us 2 brand new ones for free! I was totally shocked. If we didn't have all of those red lights (and it was pretty much every single stop light) we would have shown up and left before the owner got back. So, this was a double miracle!

I told you a couple of weeks ago about our goal to find 5 new investigators each week. The last 2 weeks, we didn't reach our goal, but this week, we have been blessed! Heavenly Father has lead us to a family of 4 (actually 5, but the father wasn't in our lesson) and they are searching for the truth! I hope that we can help them come closer to Christ by helping them be baptized!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Steiner.

P.S. I still haven't written down Sister Tuiloma's conversion story. She actually hasn't been baptized, yet. What I hear from our member fellowship is that she is still committed to be baptized! I will tell you this much, the theme of her story is "Open Your Door". It will be a lot shorter than the first one, but that is because I have a bad memory. I hope that I can get her to write down her story and send it to me.

Items Received:

* Letter from Grandma and Grandpa Sheffield. Thank you! I love you!

Q & A

Do you have transfers the same week as Christmas?
* No. President Eaton decided to shorten the transfer to 5 weeks, so transfers are a week and a half before Christmas.
* My companion will probably not be Elder Miner. I have served in Scenic Hill for almost 6 months. Odds are that I am going to a new area for Christmas.

Will that affect your call home? Where will you go to make the call?
* All I can do is set up skype calls with the Alfrey's in Scenic Hill. Pretty much all I can hope for is that my companion in "my probably future" area has Christmas calls set up.

Do you even have Facetime or Skype?
* Yes. Calls made in this mission are generally done over Skype, but I think Facetime might work, too.

Do you know anyone that has that technology that will share so we can see you on Christmas?
* So far, I know the Alfrey's did it for Elder Nelson and Elder Green on Mother's Day. I hope Christmas works for them.

Elder Miner is ready to celebrate Christmas! He really likes to wrap his blanket around his head.

We decided that we wanted more Thanksgiving food, so we had Stuffing! YES!! I love it!

It was foggy all day on Sunday. I loved it! It felt like an adventure! Also, can you find our Ponderizing Scripture in the reflection on our windshield? I had to print a reversed paper in order to make it reflect the right way.

Knowing that my time in Scenic Hill is winding down, and as Elder Miner's training is almost complete, I took him to see the Seattle Horizon, just like my trainer showed me.

Join in Mighty Prayer Alma 6:6

Dear Family,

This week was Zone Conference! It was all about mighty prayer. The scripture I put in the subject line is the ponderizing scripture we had for this week. Mighty prayers aren't about how much time or how beautiful the words are, it is the feeling that makes it mighty. It is a prayer that you pour your whole heart and soul into! I feel like mighty prayer is also very specific. President Eaton made it pretty clear that we can actually pray for specific experiences with our investigators. I am pretty excited!

I also went on an exchange this week! This time a left Scenic Hill and went over to the Crestwood ward with Elder John! Every time a member asked where I was from, they would always say there are a lot of missionaries from Kaysville, Utah. I remember one particular experience from it. Elder John and I had a set dinner at 5 and we forgot to bring our reflective vests to put on after 5. So, we quickly went back to the apartment to pick them up, but while there, I accidentally left my second sweater there. (Yes, I wear 2 sweaters because of how cold it gets.) After dinner, it was dark and cold. That was when I realized that I forgot it. I said I was cold, but then said, "Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done." I was just quoting a scripture, but I feel like it was real. I prayed that God would keep me warm for the rest of the evening. Right after that, we went over to an investigators house, (The investigator has been out of town for 3 weeks.) and he was there! We got to teach him a lesson on the Book of Mormon and he was totally fixed on it! He was already committed for baptism, and now I see why! He was amazing! I noticed later on, that I didn't feel cold anymore. I know that God will answer our prayers and sometimes, we just need to ask.

Love,

Elder Steiner.

P.S. I still haven't written down Sister Tuiloma's Conversion Story. It is hard to write it on the spot, so give me some time.

Items Received:
* Thanksgiving Package from family! Yay! Muffin Tins! Now I really get to make desserts!

I had to get a picture of the sky. I didn't get to see the blue sky for almost a week. I had no idea I would miss it so much.

Goals

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty good. It is starting to rain almost every day! We even got some snow on Saturday morning. I got a picture of it. It only snowed for about 30 minutes and all melted by the end of the hour. I am grateful that I have a car at least part time! The heaters are nice!

This week, there has been a focus on goals. Our mission is currently working on the goal of 40 baptisms this month. I think we were at 17 last week and we had some on Saturday, so I think we are over 20 now. Elder Miner and I started working on our own goals on a paper called the Standards of Excellence. Over about an hour of discussion and prayers, Elder Miner and I have set a goal for 5 new investigators every week. I feel like it is obtainable through God, but I know that there is no way we can reach that goal on our own. We worked very hard and showed a lot of faith throughout the rest of the week. We had several opportunities to meet that goal, but because of agency, they fell through. By the end of the week, we only found 2 new investigators, but I don't feel like we lost. We did all that we could do and we worked hard. God blessed us so much that those 2 new investigators are conditionally committed for baptism (meaning they will be baptized when they learn the church is true). I hope that we will be able to accomplish our goal this week and continue to work hard and show our faith. I hope for the promise that is said in Ether 12:6, "And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith." I know that in the end, we will be blessed for our faith and diligence in His work. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Steiner.

Elder Miner got bored during our Weekly Planning snack break.

The snow we got on Saturday morning! After I saw this, I realized it is already half way through November! Time sure is flying!

The Light Of Our Testimony

Dear Family,

This week has been full of adventures! And it has been full of fun, too! The housing coordinators came by when we were doing Weekly Planning at our District Leader's apartment, and they didn't clean it ahead of time. :) I have seen the blessings of opening my mouth this week!

We are now starting a new transfer, that is why this e-mail is on a Tuesday. I can't believe how fast time has been flying! This week marks the beginning of my 4th Transfer! Elder Miner and I are both staying in Scenic Hill for another transfer! Yay! I am still training!

I am starting to realize how much time has passed because the sun now goes down at 5:30 rather than the 10:00 I am used to. The lights on my bike are starting to get really important now.

On Tuesday, during the daytime, I noticed that the headlight on my bike seemed a little dim. I thought that it was fine, it only looked that way because it was bright outside. As the day got darker and darker, it became apparent that my light really was low on battery. It got to the point where I had to follow closely behind Elder Miner and use his light to shine the way. This made me think about our testimony. If the light is our testimony, then darkness would be trials. It is easy to think that we have a great testimony when it is bright outside, but when the darkness comes, when the trials and tribulations come, we realize it isn't enough. It is day time right now. Now is the time to prepare and strengthen our testimonies, so when trials come, we can still see the true way by the light of our testimony.

I hope that all of you are taking every moment possible to add to your own light. We know that we are living in the last days and hard times will come. My hope is that we will all be ready for when that time comes. I love you all, so much!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Sorry again for the lack of pictures. I want to take pictures, I am just too busy. There really is work in missionary work!

Q and A:

Are you able to get dry?

• Yes, when I am not in the rain, I eventually dry off. It might just take a few hours.

Do you get to go to the temple at all during your mission?

• Yes. I automatically get to go 2 times, one each January. While on the January Temple trips, we will be able to visit a Deseret Book, and I plan on getting more missionary approved music! I also get to go when my recent converts enter the temple.

Do you have any requests for your Thanksgiving package? Do you need new shirts, socks, pants, or anything?

• Yes, some snacks. We don't get very much money for our shopping, so our snacks are very limited. I loved the last package and you did choose the kind of cookies that I like!
• I don't know if I am in need of anything, but I would love to have another pair of black slacks and another pair of "darn tough" socks (now my favorite socks).

Halloween!

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty fun!

On Monday night, we had a meeting with the Bishop to coordinate with missionary work in Scenic Hill. We were on bikes that day, and we had to bike for about 15 minutes to get back to our apartment. The meeting took a little too long, so it was about 9:14 and we were about to leave when Bishop Gealta comes running out to us with a frozen, unbaked, apple pie. Fortunately, I had just enough room in my bag for it. By time I got it into my bag and was ready to leave it was 9:17. We biked as hard as we could to get back by 9:30. We got there at 9:31. We jumped right to daily planning and getting excited for tomorrow's lessons and plans. The next morning, I was cleaning the apartment a little, and found the floor wet underneath my bag. I looked into my bag and found the pie. We totally forgot about it. Thankfully, it was in a box that was in my bag, so it didn't thaw completely. My bag was sticky and wet, though. We put the pie in the freezer and cooked it during Weekly Planning on Halloween. It is still good!

Speaking of Halloween, we didn't do anything really special. We weren't allowed to be out after6:00 pm, so we put our Weekly Planning for that night. Our investigator, Lili Tuiloma, finished moving out on Halloween. She is now officially in the Federal Way Stake. She is still set to be baptized, and I am hoping I can get permission to attend her baptism. Don't worry, we are still teaching a lot of people because the work has exploded this week. We doubled our lessons this week and next week looks just as good! I hope you all had a good Halloween! I love you so much!

Love,
Elder Steiner.

PS: My camera was in my bag with the pie, and so got the lens a little dirty. I also forgot to clean it before I took these pictures.

We biked in the rain for 2 and a half hours on Friday. It was actually pretty fun! I just got soaked!

This is our Halloween Dinner. Most of this we got from Brother Weiderholt. He gave us the pancake/waffle mix, the waffle maker, the hashbrowns, and the orange juice mix. And for some reason, Elder Miner likes to eat waffles with Peanut Butter. I tried it and it is pretty good, but also really fattening. He also likes to heat the syrup in the microwave.