Merry Christmas!

Dear Family,

I hope you all had a great Christmas! I sure did! I loved the call home! It was great to see you all! This week has been great! I want to tell you about one of our investigators, John!

John Keo randomly showed up to church a couple of weeks ago. We had never met him before, but he knew a few people in the ward already. In that one day at church, he got a lot of new friends and a lesson set up with us! We taught him a lesson last week, and that's when we realized that we will have to teach a lot simpler than we thought!

We taught him again this week with his daughter, Saleena (I don't know the real spelling). Teaching really simply worked a lot better with him. He learns at a slow pace so we are going to take our time with him. He is progressing well already! He has already stopped smoking and he is working on praying with his daughter if the Book of Mormon is true! It is awesome!

I hope you have all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

This is our Christmas Eve picture!

Yes, that is a rubber ducky candle. :)

  We had a power outage on Christmas night, so we got out the only candles we had. :) It was fun doing our daily planning in "Candle Light".

The Fabulous Federal Way Festival of Finding, It'll Be Fun!

Dear Family,

This week has been on the cooler side, in the 20's for a couple of days. The mission did a couple of cool events. We had a Zone Conference on Friday. It was really a half-mission Christmas party, but they have to call it a Zone Conference. It was great! We had a competition to see how many Christmas songs we could sing. It was great!

The other cool event was "The Fabulous Federal Way Festival of Finding, It'll Be Fun!" I added the "It'll Be Fun" because it was always the following phrase President Rasmussen used when he explained it. It took place on Saturday and the whole mission went finding from 10am to 5pm. Not only that, but also no missionary was with their companion. It was a mission wide blitz! We would switch up our companions a couple of times and go finding in an area specified by our Zone Leaders.

Since Saturday was the coldest day of the week, the event came to be known as "The Frigid Fabulous Federal Way Festival of Finding, It'll Be Fun!" That is a long name. It really was a lot of fun! Many people were found and it is a good kick-off for the next year of baptisms!

Christmas is right around the corner! I hope you are preparing to have a great time! I am! I hope you have a great week! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

From the Zone Conference, the whole mission got a yellow shirt with a new mission logo on it. That way, we will look unified when we go do service!

Don't forget the true meaning of Christmas!

Miracles in the Snow!

Dear Family,

First off, Happy Birthday David Harris! Okay, now I can move on...

I have had an awesome, busy week with Elder Ward! It has been colder than usual (30 degrees, burr, that's cold). It has been cold enough for some snow to fall on us. Elder Ward has been so excited that when the second snow storm came (We were on exchanges) he went to the nearby abandoned school and had a snow ball fight with Elder Richards!

The exchange started Thursday night and went for most of the day Friday. It was snowing harder than I have ever seen it in Washington. I was with Elder Bollwinkle in the Skyway B area, which happens to be the most northern area in the mission and covers a little of Seattle. Elder Bollwinkle is on his 2nd transfer here and this is his first exchange taking over the area. He didn't know who to visit, so during daily planning on Thursday night, we said a prayer and asked that our plans for the day would turn out for our good and the good of our Brothers and Sisters. Well, that prayer definitely got answered!

On Friday morning we got a text telling us that a member in the nearby Veteran's Hospital wanted us to go over and give him a blessing. So, that was the first thing that we did. We checked into the hospital as LDS Chaplin and the lead chaplin led us to John Austin. We shared a scripture with him and gave him a blessing. He thanked us for coming by. On our way out of his room, the lead chaplin came back to us and said, "Another person saw you and wants to you visit him, too".

So we follow her to the next patient's room. This brother was a little older and he was fighting cancer. We talked with him for a little while, neither of us knowing what to say, and we gave him a blessing. As we walked out, we could tell that he felt a lot better and he had a smile on his face. We both felt that the Lord had guided us to where He needed us the most.

Nothing happened according to plan that day, but I felt like we did our best to serve as the Lord's instruments. I know that this is His work and that He will direct our paths. We are not alone in this service. I know that Heavenly Father knows who we are and He will send help. It could be anyone, but He will comfort you. He has promised it.

I am getting excited for Christmas day! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

I remember! I put that statue in the car a year ago! That car went to Skyway B area after I left. They got a new car, but they kept the statue! 

Elder Ward putting up Christmas lights in our apartment! Yes, he is standing on my desk. :)

This statue looks familiar...

Elder Bollwinkle and I tried to do a selfie, but I guess I didn't aim the camera right.
​

My First Week in Garrison Creek!

Dear Family,

This week has been awesome! Garrison Creek Ward is so great! It is supposed to be a bike area, but we are walking because Elder Ward had a bike accident last transfer and broke his wrist. This week has been full of adventures! Elder Ward and I have run into some interesting people, some more than once, this week. As we have been showing them kindness, they have slowly been opening up to us.

My first full day in the area we ran into a man. He looked like he wasn't completely there, but we talked to him anyway. When we asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ, he grunted something and kept walking. He passed us and after a few steps he turned around and shouted, "I love God!", then kept walking. That was interesting.

Well, the next day, we saw him again. This time he had his dog with him. We were waiting to cross the same crosswalk at a busy street. He didn't have a leash on his dog because it would follow him wherever he went. He told us the dog had fleas, so we didn't pet it. When the walk signal came on, we started walking. Halfway across the street, we looked back and saw his dog still on the other side, unaware that we were crossing because it was scratching itself. The time was almost up to cross the street. The dog might cross at the wrong time and get hit. So we stopped the man as he was walking (he walked with a fast pace) and we pointed back to his dog. We reached the other side as he was calling for his dog. It ran across the street right as the light turned green, but the cars saw it and slowed down. The dog made it safely across the street.

The man was pretty happy that we cared enough about him to help him. After that, he was willing to talk to us. We had a long conversation going down the street. In the end he said he wasn't interested, but he said we can talk whenever we see each other on the street again.

Doing good deeds is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. I love the Christmas initiative that the Church is doing this year (#LightTheWorld). It gives us a simple challenge each day to serve others. I know that if Christ was here, he would be serving others. I know that this church is true. If you want to feel the Christmas spirit this year, you will do the things that Christ would do.

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

​This is Elder Ward standing above the real Garrison Creek.

We got some snow this morning! I haven't seen snow like this since I was in Utah!

Have to get that name tag picture while we can!

From Creek to Creek

Dear Family,

Another transfer has met it's conclusion and now another transfer has begun. I am being transferred to a new area: Garrison Creek ward, Renton Stake. I will still be on bike. My new companion's name is Elder Ward. I am sad to leave Lakota Creek ward, but I am excited for my next area of service.

This week has been pretty good. We ate Thanksgiving dinner at Sister Lewis's house. She invited some non-members over and so we were able to share a short message with them. I hope that they will contact the missionaries when they go home. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

I got to go on an exchange with the Korean Branch Elders. I went with Elder Jang in the Korean Branch for one day. He is still learning to speak English, even though I think he is very good already. When I was there, we got to have an English class. A man who spoke Korean wanted to learn English so he can do better here in America. He could speak words, but he had a hard time learning English grammar. Wow, I didn't realize how difficult English is to speak. I am grateful that I know it so well. It was a cool experience.

I hope that you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

The last district meeting of the transfer! My district was awesome! From Left to Right:

Top: Elder Jang, Elder Delp, Elder Jones, Elder Northrup, Elder Steiner, Elder Pickney

Bottom: Sister Zavala, Sister Beazer

Zone Conference Week!

This week has been crazy! Elder Jones and I are running behind on all of the exchanges we have to do this transfer, so we had 2 this week! I stayed for one and went to the other area for the other one. They were both great! It is really fun to go on exchanges with other missionaries because everyone seems to have their own teaching style, and we can both learn new things to become even better!

There was also a Zone Conference this week! President and Sister Rasmussen taught us about a new method of teaching. The way most of us are used to doing a lesson involves teaching, then setting up an appointment at the end. In this new method, we do all of the small talk at first, including setting up another lesson, before we even start teaching. Then when we are all done teaching, we "flee" or get out as fast as we can. We want to leave the Spirit with them to continue to testify to them. I haven't tried this method, yet, but it sounds like a great idea!

This upcoming week, our mission is being visited by another member of the Seventy. Elder Gay is doing a mission tour from Thursday to Saturday and he is going to speak to my half of the mission on Thursday. It is going to be awesome!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

​I guess we are getting a little too excited for Christmas...

Rainy Adventure!

Dear Family,

This week has been rainy! Elder Jones got sick this week, so we had to stay in our apartment for a few days. We avoided much of the rain, but not the worst storm! On Saturday, the rain came down pretty hard for a long time. That with the combination of the many leaves from the trees resulted in all of the drains getting clogged. Elder Jones and I had to bike through a few deep puddles, one was a whole foot deep! There was water everywhere! I felt like I was going on an adventure. We made it back to our apartment just before dinner and we were completely soaked! I am so grateful that our apartment has a dryer!

We currently don't have any investigators because Brother Ili seems to have disappeared. He changed his phone number and moved out of his parent's house, so we are having a hard time contacting him. It might just not be his time, but I do know this: He has a Book of Mormon, he knows it is true, and he has a Heavenly Father that will not give up on him after just one try! He will come around sometime in the future, I am sure!

I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.​​

Happy Halloween!

Dear Family,

I hope you have all had a great week! It has been an adventure for me! There has been rain on and off this week and a lot of biking. On Thursday, after our weekly planning, I got on my bike and realized that it was very wobbly. I got off and tightened the back wheel, but it still wobbled a lot! It was totally not safe. So, after calling members and realizing all of them were unavailable, we make our trek to the bike store. It wasn't actually that far away, just a 30 minute walk.

At the bike store, the worker took apart my back wheel and showed me what it looked like inside. The bowl that encased the bearings was cracked and looked like it was about to break apart! He said that if I hadn't brought it in, it would have broken within the next week and I could have gotten hurt. The result, though, was that I had to buy a new wheel. So, 1 hour and $71 later, my new wheel is put on (Thankfully it was in stock) and my bike is ready to roll! I am so glad that it is safe now!

My bike has been riding so much smoother since then! I had no idea it was so bad! It feels sturdy and safe. Then Saturday comes and Elder Jones falls off his bike 2 times. He is so sore! He spent so much time tuning his bike Thursday night, and he had to do it all over again because those crashes made some cords slip. It was funny.

Anyway, it has been an adventurous week! I hope you all have a great week! Happy Halloween! I love you all!


Love
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Elder Jones jumped off the curb with his bike and something fell off. I found out how hard it is to find a bike light in a bunch of leaves!

Elder Jones wanted a bench press, so he made one. It didn't work out too well. We are not doing that again!

That fog makes me feel like I am in a grave yard! Happy Halloween!
​

General Authorities In The Mission!

Dear Family,

This week was so amazing! I was sick most of this week, but that is not the cool part of it, Elder Ronald A. Rasband came to our mission for a special training! Not just him, but also Bishop Wadell of the Presiding Bishopric, and Elder Clayton, President of the Quorum of the Seventy. Also, Elder Call, the Seventy of our area, was there, too.

It was on a Saturday Morning. The whole mission piled into the Federal Way Stake Center, filling almost the whole chapel. We all stood up in reverence when they walked in. At the beginning we all had the opportunity to shake their hands. Elder Rasband made a comment that he had never been in a meeting with missionaries with so many key holders present. It was a powerful meeting. The program was changed a few times, on the spot, allowing for some people to bear their testimonies.

The Spirit was so strong there. They spoke of our divine call as missionaries and what it takes to assign a missionary to a mission, a zone, an area. There is a lot of prayer and fasting involved, and it is all done by revelation from God. Every single missionary is in exactly the right place in exactly the right time to bring about Heavenly Father's will. It is powerful. It is the true church of God.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband spoke of how Christ served one by one, to each person. Similarly, he shook all of our hands one by one. And we are so serve the people in our mission one by one, person by person, lesson by lesson. God works in small and simple ways, one by one.

He talked about the difference between going on a mission and serving a mission. To serve a mission is to go all in, giving your all. Going on a mission is just to go and fulfill your duty. Elder Rasband said, "The more you know Him, our Savior, the more you love Him. The more you love Him, the more you will want to serve Him." His challenge to us was to be obedient missionaries for the right reasons. We need to study the life of Christ to learn and love Him.

I know that Elder Ronald A. Rasband is an Apostle of the Lord. There is no doubt in my mind that he was inspired with what to say. I know that this church is true. It is lead by the Savior, and He has called common men and made them into leaders to guide us back to Him. Always follow the Prophet. Heavenly Father will bless you as you do. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

This is my new companion, Elder Jones!

Elder Rasband agreed to have a picture with our entire mission! It was so amazing! Good luck finding me!

Transfers Have Come Again... Always Too Fast!

Dear Family,

This week has been very rainy, but awesome! On Wednesday, our Zone Leaders did a great job doing the Zone Training. They invited the Spirit by testifying often of Jesus Christ and they taught a little bit about what the difference is between fun and joy.

What is fun? Fun is something that we get when we do something that we like and it is always temporary. What is joy? Joy is happiness that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ and can last. The Zone Leaders taught us that it is important that we focus on finding joy in the work, not just looking for fun. So many blessings are promised to those who lose themselves in the work. It is literally the best way to go.

Now that I have delayed a little bit: Transfers! I am staying in the Lakota Creek Ward, but Elder Scheidell is getting transferred to the Gem Heights Ward in the Puyallup South Stake. My new companion is going to be Elder Jones. I think he is a newer missionary because I haven't met him, yet. I am currently e-mailing with Elder Scheidell and the transfer will actually take affect later today. I am going to miss Elder Scheidell, but I am excited to meet Elder Jones. It is going to be a great transfer!

I am still the district leader. I guess I will have to make my district meetings more formal. With an all Elders district last transfer, it sometimes got to be a lot of fun. :) It is interesting the way that Federal Way Zone works. Everyone in the Zone has a car except for the District Leaders. They are all on bike. I hope that we can get a car in the near future, because our area is starting to become dangerous. (Killer Clowns on the lose, multiple shootings a few weeks ago) I am only scared to be outside some of the time. :) For the most part, though, I feel pretty safe. As long as I am obedient, I won't have to worry about getting harmed! It is so awesome to have such a promise on my side. :)

On another topic, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will be visiting this mission on Saturday! We think it is going to be Elder Rasband, but we don't know. We have been told that their schedules can change just a couple of days before, so we might just get a 70 instead. Cross your fingers!

I am excited for this week! I hope you enjoyed this letter! So much is going on! It is going to be awesome! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

P.S.

The Lord did protect us this week. We didn't have the full weather report, but we knew that it was supposed to be bad because everyone we talked to on the weekend told us to go inside and take the day off. Well, we didn't. I think that the Lord turned to storm away because we were out proselyting. We expected to get 50-60 mph winds, but we didn't get much more than about 25-30. Enough to make a couple wet trees fall. I actually have read my setting apart blessing recently (Actually almost 3 weeks ago) and I think it is pretty cool the things that I have been promised in that blessing. Hopefully, I am being obedient enough. :) I can see some places that I can improve on, as can we all.

This is the Hoof family. Brother Hoof is the new ward mission leader in this ward! It is going to be so great!

The Federal Way Zone! Truely awesome!

Some missionaries didn't get the memo that this is supposed to be a funny picture...

Ugly Tie Day!

Dear Family,

This week has been a good week. I got to go on a short split with one of the Assistants to the President who also happens to be my trainer. Elder Nelson and I have always been great friends and having this opportunity to go proselyting together again has been amazing! We both have come a long way in the last year! It is amazing the change!

Elder Scheidell and I have had a slower week this week, but it was still great! We have doing a lot of tracting and street contacting. We are starting to improve our skills and work together in teaching. We get a lot of practice. :) I have seen a few door mats that are pretty funny. I only took a picture of one of them, though.

We knocked on the door anyway. There was another one that said "Beware of Dog" and it looked like a dog had taken a bite out of it. It was funny!

We knocked on the door anyway. There was another one that said "Beware of Dog" and it looked like a dog had taken a bite out of it. It was funny!

I am doing great here in Lakota Creek Ward. The members are awesome here and they really love to help us out. We are supposed to get a new ward mission leader soon because Brother and Sister Kauer and moving out. They say that they will be back in a year. The work is slowly moving forward and Elder Scheidell and I are working hard to bring souls unto Christ.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

P.S.

We somehow agreed that for our last District Meeting this transfer, we would all bring our most ugly tie to district meeting. I think I won the contest. :) There was one tie that I thought was actually pretty good...

Ugly Tie day at District Meeting! It was awesome!

This is my District: (From Left to Right: Elder Steiner, Elder Scheidell, Elder Lewis, Elder Northrup, Elder Hunter, Elder Mitton)

​

The Commandments of God

Dear Family,

General Conference was awesome! It is hard for me to choose a favorite talk, but I really liked the one by Kazuhiko Yamashita about being ambitious for Christ. I think if we are all ambitious for Christ that we will be able to do great things for the Lord.

One week ago, on Monday, Elder Scheidell and I got to teach Brother I the Word of Wisdom. We set up for Brother W to come with us, he was baptized about 10 years ago and has an amazing testimony of the Word of Wisdom. We all met at the church after P-Day. Brother I showed up with a coffee in his hand.

I thought it would be best to start off with saying outright what the Word of Wisdom is. We went over the things listed in the pamphlet that we should refrain from (Then we added marijuana to that list, because it is legal here in Washington) and then focused largely on the blessings that come from living it. We read the story of Daniel and his brethren in the Bible (Daniel 1). They decided to eat grains and water when the other kids ate meat and wine. In the end, Daniel and his brethren were more wise than the other children. Brother I loved the story and he proudly proclaimed, "I am going to share that with my kids!"

Brother W gave a powerful testimony of how the Word of Wisdom affected his life when he joined the church. It was probably the best Word of Wisdom lesson I have ever had! Brother I committed to live the Word of Wisdom so that he can get baptized!

After the lesson, I remembered that he walked in with a cup of coffee. When we first taught him about what the Word of Wisdom is, he put his coffee on the ground and didn't even touch it until the lesson was over and we were all leaving. He did not finish that coffee. Brother I knows the Book of Mormon is true and he is now making sacrifices and changes in his life that is bringing him closer to Christ. I am excited for his upcoming baptism!

I know that Heavenly Father has given us commandments to bless us. To some people, the commandments may seem like a barrier keeping you from enjoying life, but the complete opposite is true. Keeping the commandments of God brings you joy that you can find no where else. He loves us and He intends for us to be happy. I know that this is true.

"And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it." Mosiah 2:41

I hope you all have a great week! I love you!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Did You Know Pumpkin Is A Squash?!

Dear Family,

This week has just blown by! We had a pretty funny thing happen this week. The Federal Way Stake is making a large emphasis on visiting and helping prospective elders to receive the Priesthood. So, Elder Scheidell and I got a ward list of prospective elders and we have been going out trying to contact and see if they even still live here. We have done a lot already, but this one in particular was funny.

We chose a name from the prospective elders list and decided to go knock on the door. When we were walking up to the door, behind the bush was a window and someone at the window told us that he wants us to come in and talk to him. We asked if the prospective elder still lived here, but I don't think he understood what he said.

So we went up to the door and knocked. Someone answered and we asked him if the prospective elder still lived here. He said no and that he moved out over a year ago. Then he asked, did you come to see Lupe (pronounced Lou-pay)? Lupe called from the downstairs and said, "Yes! I told them to come!"

So we went in and walked down the stairs. Lupe was in a wheel chair and he was super excited to see us. Long story short, he told us that he was baptized a long time ago, but he didn't get all of his "new member lessons" because he moved away from Hawaii to Seatac. He found the missionaries there, but lost contact again when he moved here in Federal Way.

He had no clue where to go to find the church, or anyone from the church, so he waited. He saw us pass on our bikes a few times and he told us that each time he saw us, he said that he wanted to talk to us. So when he saw us come up to his house, he threw open the window and invited us in.

So, while we were looking for prospective elders who are interested to receive the Priesthood, we happened to find one in the house of one that moved out. It is funny! God knows what His children stand in need of. He will help you. You just have to wait and have faith. The Lord's timing is the best timing.

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Steiner.

P.S. Oh, and if you wanted to know why the weird title, here it is:

Elder Scheidell and I got some Pumpkin Pie for dessert on Tuesday. When Sister G brought it out, she said, "We had to make sure you got your vegetables." Elder Scheidell was surprised. He said he thought it was a fruit. Sister G said, "Well, it is a squash, so vegetable."

Then we used that question for lots of our contacting approaches this week. Just imagine how funny it is, two missionaries coming up to you. You already know they are going to talk about God in some way. Then the question comes, "Did you know that Pumpkin is a squash?

Wow! This is a great view! There are plenty here in Lakota Creek!

It is always great to get invited back to one of your past areas for the baptism of someone you taught! This is Alex and Melodie. They are a part of the family that Elder Palmer and I worked very hard to meet with.

I have a watch tan line! Oh, yea!

I got this picture from the mission blog (wfwmission.blogspot.com). This was the mission devotional a couple of weeks ago at the Graham Stake Center. The one that looks just like our stake center. I look very short next to Elder Pickney!

My funny face this morning.

God's Will Will Happen

Dear Family,

This week has been so good! Elder Scheidell and I had a cool miracle this week. It will take a while to explain, but it is worth it!

On Wednesday, Elder Scheidell's bike started to have a problem. It made a funny clicking noise. When we looked at it closer, we found that one of the spokes on his back wheel broke. We found out right before our dinner appointment, so we decided to go to the bike store after dinner. We ate dinner and got to the bike store shortly before it was supposed to close. The guy there said that he could fix it over night or he could have it done quickly in the morning.

So, we planned to go to the bike shop first thing Thursday morning, leave our bikes there and walk. I felt prompted to go to a near by apartment complex that I haven't been to, yet, called Quail Run. We originally planned to have our Weekly Planning at that time, so we moved that to later in the day.

Thursday came. We left our bikes at the bike shop and we started tracting there. It seemed like no one was home and those we did talk to weren't interested. I was about to suggest we go to a different place to find people, but I decided to knock on one more door.

When I knocked on it, someone next door told us that they weren't home. So, I turned to her and asked, "So can we share our message with you about Jesus Christ?" She said yes. We walked over and sat on the bench on her front porch. She had a question about how to find out if Joseph Smith was a real prophet or not. I told her it was a long explanation and so we ended up teaching her the whole Restoration lesson!

Her name is Shauna and she is taking care of her mom who just got diagnosed with Alzheimers (I think that is how you spell it). Her daughter got physically abused just the day before for trying to help a homeless guy. Shauna loved the message and she asked a lot of good questions. She loved when we talked about families and about how much Heavenly Father loves us.

At the end of the lesson, we gave her a Book of Mormon and told her to read it and pray about it. That is how you find out Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. As Elder Scheidell and I walked away, we started to realize what just happened. Heavenly Father knew that one of His daughters needed help and comfort, so He sent us.

If Elder Scheidell's bike didn't randomly break down like it did, we wouldn't have been out knocking on doors. We could have gone to so many different places during the time our bikes were at the bike shop, but we felt prompted to go to her apartment complex.

We arrived back at the bike shop right on time and the bike was all fixed. I know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children. He will help us when we need and ask for it. Nothing will get in the way of Him fulfilling His purposes. If it is God's will, it will happen. And He will even make other things happen to do it if He needs to.

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

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

My name tag with the Book of Mormon! This is the Puget Sound.

​This week Elder Scheidell hit his one year mark!

Sister P's Baptism!

Dear Family,

This week, there has been a lot of miracles, but first off: Happy 1st Birthday Melody!!! And for later this week, Happy Birthday Dad!!! I won't write how old you are because you probably don't feel that old. That's okay. I don't feel like I have been on my mission for 14 months... I am becoming an "old" missionary.

I can't remember if I have mentioned Brother I before. Elder Scheidell and I got to teach him about the Book of Mormon Thursday. I read to him 1 Nephi 19:23 and we talked about what it meant to "liken" the scriptures to ourselves. The lesson went very well and he was excited to start reading the Book of Mormon.

The next morning, Brother I. texted us and told us that he wanted to meet with us. We went and sat on the steps in front of the church. He showed us his Book of Mormon. Almost every other verse in the first chapter of 1 Nephi had some highlights. He told us that he felt like he related very well with Nephi and his family. He said that he felt like his dad was a "goodly parent" to him and taught him about Christ when he was growing up. He said that he wanted to be a good dad to his children, too. (Up until this point, we didn't even know he had children.) He also shared how he found the name "Lehi" in the Bible (Judges 15:9). He said that he felt that this was happening for a reason and that he felt that God was leading him. Elder Scheidell and I testified of how the Gospel of Jesus Christ blesses families. We then taught a little about repentance and aligning our will with God's will. He loved it. He came to the baptism on Saturday, and church on Sunday.

Speaking of baptism, Sister P got baptized on Saturday! She is pretty shy and got a little nervous when so many people showed up to her baptism, but she relied on God to help her get through it. She even found the courage to get confirmed during Sacrament Meeting on Sunday! We are now going to start the "New Member Lessons" (which are really the same lessons taught again) with her to help her plan to go to the temple in one year!

Well, this has been a long letter. I hope you liked it! I love you all! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Sister P after her baptism! The Spirit was so strong!

​The world's best gummi bears! They are so good! Found only at Fred Meyer (equivalent to a Wal-Mart except it sells these gummi bears!).

Transfers Call

Dear Family,

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATT!! You are awesome and a great brother-in-law!

This week has been a little on the crazier side. That is probably because I procrastinated all of the exchanges until this week. So crazy! We started to forget things, missed a couple of appointments, and so on. Anyway, we have learned. :) We will plan better. That is right, "We"! Elder Scheidell and I are staying together for another transfer here in Lakota Creek Ward! I am so excited for this transfer! I will try not to procrastinate exchanges this time. :)

I am so excited right now! Kristin P is getting baptized this Saturday! After investigating for 3 years, she feels it is time. She told us that when she was partaking of the Sacrament one week, she thought about getting baptized and felt the Spirit confirm it to her! Elder Scheidell and I are teaching her our final lesson tomorrow and she will have her interview on Thursday!

Also, even more good news: Do you remember Lili T? I taught her all of the lessons almost a year ago (wow, that makes me feel old...), but she moved to Federal Way before she got baptized. Yep, the Silver Lake Elders found her and started teaching again! A couple of weeks ago, they told me that she is on date for this Saturday as well!

With two people that I love getting baptized this week, I have a lot to look forward to. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

My district! (Top from left to right): Sister Thurman, Sister Bowman, Elder Mortensen, Elder Covington, Elder Riley, Elder Steiner. (Bottom from left to right): Elder Higginson, Elder Scheidell.

Elder Scheidell and I on the go. We just made it up a long, steep hill. It feels so good to finally be at the top!

Q and A:

Did transfers affect you in anyway?
*Nope, Elder Scheidell and I are both staying!

Your district? Are you still DL?
*I have a totally new district now: (wow, all Elders)
*I am still a District Leader.

Is your bike all fixed and working properly?
*Yes, it has been working great this week. I have had to tune it a little, but I am figuring it out. :)

Referrals are Falling from the Sky!

Dear Family,

This week has just flown by. I thought I wrote to you just a couple of days ago. Oh, well. At least I have a story to tell. :)

Elder Scheidell and I have been working really hard here in the Lakota Creek Ward. So hard that we forget almost everything. We set a goal and went about organizing our white boards in our apartment to show everything we usually forget about our investigators and other things. God is a God of order, not chaos. Just a few minutes after we wrote everything down on those whiteboards, the blessings came! So fast! Our Zone Leaders sent us a string of texts with information of 9 people that other missionaries found that live in Lakota Creek! 9 referrals from other missionaries! That is the most I have ever received at one time in my entire mission. We wrote them on the whiteboards and then ran out of room! (Blessings so much that there isn't room enough to receive them!) I guess that organizing things really works!

I went on an exchange with the Zone Leaders from Friday to Saturday and when I came back, Elder Scheidell was telling me about this Samoan guy named Moi. They had met him on exchanges and set up a lesson for Sunday at 10:00 am. Good thing church starts at 1 pm here! On our way to the appointment, my bike had some unexpected problems and we weren't able to make it. We called him and rescheduled for 6:15pm, after dinner, still on Sunday. He didn't make that, so we then called again. Okay, we are going to try for 7:30pm. This time, he was there! (We also found out that we were going to the wrong park the entire time...)

So with the exact meeting place made clear and with all of us there, we finally got to teach him. The message of the Restoration seemed to resonate well with him. He loved it. He felt the Spirit and when we asked him if he would be baptized, he told us that it is too early for him to make a commitment. He worried a lot because he wanted to be in the same church as his brothers and sisters and they seemed very intent with going to another church. We settled with inviting him to read from the Book of Mormon every day and praying about it. We are going to see if we can invite his whole family to meet with us next time, so they can experience it, too!

I love you all! I hope you liked the stories! Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

PS: About the bike: The good news is that I didn't get into a crash. I was just biking and realized that the back tire was not staying straight. I looked at it and found out that the rod you put through the axle was bent, so I took it to the bike shop. This was Friday morning. He straightened it, but also told me to take a look at the actual axle of the wheel. When I got back to the apartment, I took the wheel off my bike and the axle just fell out of it. It was in 2 pieces and the bearings were coming out, too. Uh oh! I took it back to the bike store. Phil (who works at the bike store) told me that he would have my wheel fixed by Saturday Morning at 10 am. Well, I went on an exchange, so Elder Covington picked it up instead. he put the wheel back on my bike and rode it for the day. The exchange ended and it was now Sunday morning. We started biking over to Moi and my bike seemed different. I looked down at the wheel and I found that my derailer was bent. It was not aligned with the gears, so it made some noise and Brother Neal from the ward told me that if a derailer isn't aligned, you need to stop riding it and get it fixed. That was how Elder Scheidell's derailer broke. So, to prevent further damage, I stopped riding it and called Brother Neal. He took my bike to see if he could fix it. I got a loaner bike from the Bodily family in the ward until my bike is fixed. Brother Neal just texted us a few minutes ago that he fixed it and it is ready to go.

The Good Samaritan

Dear Family,

This week has been great, but first off, Happy Birthday Brianne!!! There. I got it out. :)

Let me tell you about a crazy experience I had last Monday. It is kind of long, but it is good! I promise! It was 8:40pm and starting to get dark and we started to bike back to our apartment from the church. There are 2 routes. Usually we go up the large hill and coast down the other side, but we were tired, so we decided to go the round route through a neighborhood instead. It was weird because I noticed that we even went to the opposite side of the street than we normally do.

There, sitting on the grass next to the park fence, was an old man. He was wearing a camouflage shirt and greenish-brownish pants. We wouldn't have seen him if we biked on the other side of the road. We asked him how he was doing. He said, "Not very good." Was asked what was wrong and he said that he can't walk very well because he recently had his is feet operated on. He also said that he was trying to walk back to his home from his friends house, but he got lost and it is starting to get dark. He didn't have is walker, either.

We asked him what is address was and we put it into Elder Scheidell's GPS. It brought up no results. We did find an intersection just down the road a bit that he was talking about. We locked up our bikes and walked with him down to that street. It was slow progress because his feet hurt. We found out that he likes to sing gospel music and he has a good singing voice. When we got to the intersection, he looked around and said that he didn't recognize anything. By now, it was 9:20pm, past our curfew. We called the Zone Leaders and let them know.

We asked him for his home phone number and called it. "This is not a working number," our phone said back. We found a place to sit down and I was thinking, "What are we going to do? We need to go and we can't just leave this man here!" We called every member we knew. Finally, Brother Decker answered and was on the way.

It was around 9:35pm when Brother Decker came around the corner with his truck. We all got in and we drove around the general area until the man recognized his street. He lived in an adult care home and his street address was just one digit off of what he told us earlier. We took him to his house and the care takers were waiting there for him. Sadly, I don't remember his name. Brother Decker drove us back to our apartment. We got back at around 9:48pm.

I believe that Heavenly Father loves His children. He knew that one of his children was in trouble and needed to be brought back home. He directed Elder Scheidell and I on a route and place that we don't normally take so that we would find him. It would have been so easy to just say, "Have a good night" and keep biking on to make it back before curfew, but something kept us there long enough to ask, "What is wrong" and to help out. I know that Heavenly Father works in mysterious ways and I am just grateful that He was able to use us as instruments in his hands.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice for the good of others. I believe that in the story of the Good Samaritan that he was a busy person, too! He had a life like everyone else, but he was willing to stop for the man that needed his help. Heavenly Father wants to bless His children and more often than not, he does it through other people. Be the angel in someone else's life. Show them what it means to be Christ-like. And you will receive many blessings from our Father in Heaven.

Sorry for the extreme length of this letter. I hope you liked it! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Oh! Also, the Overson family gave us a ride to church in their Ford Model A! It was probably the most comfortable car I have ever been in! It was so much fun!

Another great sunset at Lakota Creek!

Zone Conference!

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty great! I was let off the hook for this week. We had Zone Conference, so I didn't have to make a district meeting. :) This was President and Sister Rasmussen's first Zone Conference in this mission. They did a great job! Zone Conferences go from 9:30 am to about 4:00 pm. That sounds super long, but they involved us so much that it just flew by! They talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and that we should weave that into all of our lessons as often as possible. They also talked about how faith is the only way that true repentance can take place. It was pretty amazing!

Elder Scheidell and I gave it our best shot the night after Zone Conference. We had a lesson set up with a part-member family, the P...s. It is a mother and her non-member daughter.They have been taught by missionaries for a long time and have been through all of the lessons almost 7 times. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation. We continuously referred back to the Atonement of Jesus Christ because that is what made the whole plan work! At the end of it, Kristin, the daughter, told us that she had never heard it taught that way before. She loved it! She said that she has been deciding on a baptismal date for one of the first weeks of September! That is exactly what Elder Scheidell and I were planning. She has been coming to church and keeps telling us that she really wants to get baptized!

Moral of the story: Follow the advice of your Priesthood leaders. They know what they are talking about and you will be blessed for following their guidance.

I love you all! I hope you all have a great week!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner

This is what happens when I forget to take pictures through-out the week. You get the most current one. I took this just a couple minutes ago. :)

Hooray for missionary food! Aw, this one doesn't have any beans in it...

The Fruit of Our Labors

Dear Family,

This week has been good. Elder Scheidell and I have been working hard to find new investigators. I remember on Friday, things suddenly started to happen.We first did service at a local Food Bank, handing out food for about 2 hours. It was kind of fun! I was in charge of all of the dessert items. I should have eaten a bigger breakfast because those things made me hungry!

After our service, we had lunch, and then biked to the church to begin splits with our ward mission leader. When we got there, we saw that he was already talking with someone. Brother Moses just missed the bus and was looking for a ride to Safeway. We talked a little bit. Brother Moses is a Christian that loves to talk. He seemed very interested in what we taught and he said he would come to church on Sunday. Our ward mission leader gave him a ride.

Then after that, we all got on bikes (Yes, even our +60 year old ward mission leader) and we went to go visit a potential investigator. His name is Brother O. He invited us in and after a little "get to know you" we found out that a lot of his loved ones have either passed away recently, or are sick and close to it. Elder Scheidell and I decided that we needed to teach the Plan of Salvation. He loved it. He became very enthusiastic and he started committing himself to do things. He came to church on Sunday and we didn't even have to ask if we could come back to teach again, he asked us! We are now looking forward to our next appointment this Thursday!

This all sounds great, but I haven't mentioned that before this day, it had been a very slow week. Sometimes in missionary work, it is discouraging because you are working hard every single day and you can't see anything come from it. The thing different that happened on Friday was that before we left our apartment, we prayed that we would be able to see the fruit of our labors. I wasn't expecting it to happen that fast, but I did expect something to happen. When you are petitioning for the Lord's blessings, expect that you need to do your part and that He will answer in his due time. "Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you, Amen." (D&C 4:7) I know that this is true. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner

Q and A:

How long has your companion been in the Federal Way area?
* Just one transfer before me, so about 2 months now.


Is there a Federal Way Stake?
* Yes


Is your area like a city (Kaysville) or more rural (forests)?
* It is more like Kaysville. There still are a lot of trees, but it is mostly neighborhoods. There are also some apartment complexes, too.


How long has your companion been out on his mission? How old is he?
* 11 months
* 19, I think

How is your district?
* They are doing good. We all had a slow week this week. Well, everyone but the Zone Leaders. They are on fire! For some reason, this week, most people have been canceling appointments. It is really cool that I can start to see how things work in this general area.

Lakota Creek Ward borders the "Puget Sound". We found a beach and took some pictures. It was awesome! We found some shells and sand dollars, too.