Bothday!

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty good! I have a few new investigators this week and one of them seems pretty promising! I had a great birthday. I ate at the Bishop's house for dinner and they made me a cake! Probably the best thing that happened on my birthday was the baptism! Yep, I baptized Devu Thapa on my birthday! Yay! I didn't actually teach Devu, but the sister missionaries did and they needed someone to baptize her! It was awesome! I forgot to bring my camera to the baptism, but some other members of the ward got pictures. I don't have them with me, I still have to get them from the ward members. :) The Ainuu's also made me a cake for the Family Home Evening with them on Monday. Both cakes were great!

Also, there was a worldwide missionary training meeting this week! It was awesome! Something that I really liked was how important repentance really is. As a missionary it is easy to gloss over repentance and go straight to teaching about baptism! Repentance is the thing that actually prepares people for baptism. Repentance helps them change their lives and helps them grow closer to Christ and our Heavenly Father. By asking them to read the scriptures and apply them, I am actually asking them to repent and change their lives. It was a great training!

Some of you may be questioning the subject line of this email. I am glad you noticed. :) I couldn't decide between Birthday and Baptism day, because it was both! Then I thought, "Bothday, that will work!" I typed it in with a smile! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Items Received:

* Birthday Package! Thank you!

Q and A:

What can we do here at home to be missionaries?
*** Talk with everyone. One way to help bring people unto Christ is by being a good friend and example. If a less active member chooses to not reactivate, don't abandon them. I bet something inside them always wants to return to activity. This is all I could think of. I love you!

What is your favorite dinner, breakfast, desert, color, scripture, family story, and embarrassing moment?
* The bishop asked you what my favorites were because I couldn't decide. I like a lot of things I used to not like and vise versa.
* Dinner: Teryaki Chicken; Breakfast: French Toast or Mountain Man; Desert: Blue Berry Muffins; Color: Green and Blue; Scripture: Mosiah 29:20; Family Story: The Hill Cumorah Pagent; Embarrassing Moment (really?): Forgetting that we were already scheduled to meet with members and asking them again. It actually happens a lot.

What did you learn from the Worldwide Missionary Training Meeting?
* The theme is "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts". There were a lot of things mentioned and talked about, but something that really stood out to me is the fact that we have to teach repentance, too. As a missionary, it has been really easy for me to gloss over repentance because I get so excited to talk about baptism. They said that repentance is the only way that leads to baptism. If we don't teach about repentance, they will have a greater chance of going less active or not continuing investigating. It is important that we teach repentance with out saying the word repentance. When we invite people to read the Book of Mormon and pray asking God to help them find something in it that they can apply and change in their lives, it is telling them to repent! I will be honest, after this training, I felt excited to teach a lot more!

This is the time of year that moss is everywhere! I really enjoy stepping on it. It is really soft and usually has a little water in it, so I can splash where ever I go!

There are some more great sunsets this week! They were awesome! The hard part was finding a clearing from the trees. 

There is a funny story with this one. Last P-Day I had a craving for some Gorp (Family made trail mix). I was at the store thinking I wanted to buy it and make it. I thought maybe it could wait next week, but then I remembered it was my birthday week, so I went ahead and bought it. The next day, I receive my birthday package and what is in it? Some Gorp! Now I have a lot of it! Yay! Extra pretzels!

I made brownies for the baptism and blue berry muffins for my birthday! It was awesome! Thanks for the mixes! I plan on making my actual birthday cake after I buy cool whip later today.

Bretton's Birthday at the Bishop's Home (these two taken by the Bishop)

Blowing out the candles!

Cafe Rio!

Dear Family,

This week has been great! It was a little slow at first, but came out strong in the end! We found 5 new investigators this week! I think one of the highlights of this week was Cafe Rio! The only Cafe Rio in the mission just opened last Wednesday, and it is located in the Scenic Hill Ward!! Yay! Elder Anderson and I went to Cafe Rio 5 times the last week. We got 4 of those meals for free because (of course) all of the people from Utah (meaning mostly members) went there and paid for us! It was awesome!

Elder Anderson and I are actually pretty good at Charades! We had a family home evening with the Ainuu's yesterday and the activity was Charades. We tied 2 times with 12 in one minute and came out with the win! We were all laughing and having a great time.

I love you all! Sorry this letter is on the shorter side! I still love you!

Love,

Elder Steiner.

P.S. I haven't received any packages for this week because District Meeting was canceled due to a World Wide Missionary Training taking place tomorrow! I will probably get the pending packages while there.

God Works In Mysterious Ways!

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty great! The slow times are over and this area is alive again! I had an enjoyable exchange with my district leader and I learned a lot from Zone Training, but I think the best thing that happened was just yesterday!

This week has actually been pretty sunny! Of course, when it is sunny, the temperature plummets and it is very cold, but I have been doing well. Many members of the ward have been getting sick, but Elder Anderson and I haven't! I think it is because I wash my hands pretty often. :) I am starting to get used to standing with good posture and my back hasn't been hurting me as much this week! I guess all of those strengthening exercises Sister Eaton gave me have been doing good!

Yesterday (Sunday, January 10th), Elder Anderson and I were at a member's home doing some follow-up. We really just showed up to set up an appointment, but they let us in right then, so I we didn't come prepared with a short message to share. While we were there, I prayed and asked what scripture to share and then I flipped open the Book of Mormon to a random scritpure. I turned to Mosiah 4:27. I read over it and I waited patiently for the right time to share it. It never came. We shared a Mormon Message video called, "I'll go where you want me to go." It was about member missionary work! So perfect, but it didn't really go well with the scripture I found. I didn't end up sharing it during that lesson, but I kept it book marked.

Later that night, we visited a less-active family. I, again, was expecting just to do a door stop visit and set up another time to meet, but the father was home and they let us in. It was just the father and the mother there this time. We haven't met with them for a few weeks, so we followed up with how things were in their family. They told us how they have been going through a hard time, and how they were fighting for custody of some boys that they have been raising for 10 years, and many other stressful things. When I looked at my Book of Mormon to share a message, I saw the book mark. I opened it and shared the scripture. It talked about how we need not run faster than we have strength. I related it to how we are saved after all that we can do. I ended by bearing my testimony of how Jesus Christ knows all that we are going through and how we will never be given a trial that we can't overcome through him. The Spirit was strong. They said that message is what they needed to hear and they were grateful for us coming over. I know that Heavenly Father gave me that scripture to share with them, even though I didn't know when or who to share it with. He really does work in mysterious ways!

I love you all so much! I hope you are all having a great week, too!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Items Received:
* Snow Package from the Harris family! Thank you! I love you, too!

Sorry, I forgot to take pictures this week! I hope I will remember for next week!

PS: Note that P-Day will be on Tuesday for the next 3 weeks, so the letters will be a little late.

Happy New Ye... Wait, is it 2016?

Dear Family,

Did you know that I have been out for over 6 months now? I just found that out. I am a little shocked. It has definitely not felt that long! I was talking with someone (I don't remember who), but they said that they don't set New Years resolutions, they set goals. No one actually accomplishes New Year resolutions (If you do, I applaud you), but everyone accomplishes goals that they really work for. I just thought that was funny. I always thought that goals and New Year resolutions were the same thing. I guess not. :)

This week has been a little slow. People are getting sick, but not the missionaries. And now people are finally returning from their vacations! Elder Anderson finally got to meet the bishop yesterday. The bishop left right as Elder Anderson got transferred here, and he got back lateSaturday night.

I recently have been studying humility. I have found that humility is closely related to submitting your will to God. In Mosiah 24:15, it says, "The burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord." In this verse is a promise. If you submit your will to the Lord with patience and cheer, you will find your burdens lightened. Alma and his brethren were humble! They did wait, and sure enough, the Lord did eventually deliver them! I know that with God, nothing is impossible.

I love you all and I hope you had a great New Years!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner

This is where Elder Anderson put his statue. Yep, Velcro is awesome!

It got pretty cold this week. Cold enough that the fountains in Washington Park Apartments started to make mountains of ice. All three of the fountains are in the picture, just some are farther away. It was so cool, you might even say it was cold!