Zone Conferences!

Dear Family,

This week has been awesome! Office Elders are always busy when the week of Zone Conferences comes! During every Zone Conference, while all the missionaries are inside being taught by President and Sister Eaton, we are outside choosing which car is the cleanest in each zone! Thankfully, every day we did this was bright and sunny! The car in the zone that was the cleanest, we awarded the Gold Plates and an additional 100 miles each month until next Zone Conference. Its a competition! Some cars were vacuumed out, dusted, washed, and waxed. Some weren't. We gave the Gold Plates accordingly. When the time came around for Elder Palmer and I to go to our own Zone Conference, we had a past Office Elder, Elder Davidson and his companion to do the car inspections for us. The topic in Zone Conference was repentance, both for ourselves and how to teach it to others. It was awesome!

On Sunday, there was another Mission Devotional! This one was held down in Puyallup. Now that I am the senior Office Elder, I run the slide show while Elder Palmer ran the lights. It got pretty stressful at one point. The Assistants came and made some last minute changes to the slideshow program, but they didn't save it. Brother Egburt (The computer guy) decided to restart the computer 5 minutes before it started to be sure that it would run smooth. When it restarted, we had to quickly make all of the changes over again to the slide show in before the devotional started (about 2 minutes). But after that, all worked out! All of the videos played just fine, the choir was amazing, and the convert testimonies were powerful! I love these devotionals!

At the beginning of the week, Sister Eaton called us and said that some Sisters in Federal Way discovered bed bugs in their apartment. It was already fumigated, but the bugs didn't go away, so they figured that they burrowed into their wooden bunk bed and survived. Our mission was to go destroy the bunk bed, throw it into the dumpster, give them new beds, and not spread bed bugs. At this point, I was already starting to get nervous. Our week was already booked until Saturday, so that was the day set to go fight the bed bugs. You know when you dread something, it just makes it seem to come faster? That is what happened this week. Saturday morning came and a funny, familiar tune from a movie went through my head, only it had different lyrics. "Who do ya call? Office Elders! We ain't afraid of no bugs!" When we got there, we applied bug spray and the bed bug luggage spray (that you bought me) on our clothes. The Sisters left to go proselyte and they left us at their apartment. We started to use the drill to undo all of the bolts in the bunk bed, but a lot of them were stripped and wouldn't come out! Thankfully, Elder Palmer and I brought a couple of hammers, too. Elder Palmer did the first hit. The top bunk broke and fell to the side. Then we looked at the mattresses (They had bed bug covers already) and they were covered with bed bugs that weren't there before Elder Palmer hit it. We ran outside and said a prayer before going back in. Eventually, with lots of prayers and fears, we got the entire bunk bed into the dumpster across the street. Then the Sisters texted us and told us that they decided they didn't want any of their furniture anymore. So we grabbed everything else and put it all in front of the dumpster (We can't take it with us without getting bed bugs in the truck or trailer and that would be very bad). Then the exterminator came again for the second fumigation right as we were leaving. We did everything that Sister Eaton told us to do, put our clothes immediately into the dryer and take showers. Then we went back after dinner (after the fumigation had settled) to bring them their new beds and also a table with some wooden chairs to study on. It was just as scary because the bugs were still alive! The exterminator told us that they will eventually die from the fumigation, but it might take a couple of days. After all was said and done, neither of us could sleep because we were afraid that we had brought bed bugs into the truck or even our own apartment. It was a rough weekend. Anyway, Elder Palmer says that he got an answer that the bed bugs didn't spread into the truck or the apartment. I hope he is right!

Cool experience, huh? 

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Here is a past picture that I have taken that shows what the Gold Plates look like. This was back when I was training with Elder Nelson (now the new Assistant to the President) and we cleaned this car so much!

​Elder Palmer and I doing car inspections in Auburn while everyone else is at Zone Conference! Oh yea!

Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Family,

This week has been awesome! It included Mother's Day and a family being united in baptism! Ja. and Is. have been working towards baptism for the last couple of months and just last Tuesday, they passed their baptismal interviews! They got baptized on May 7th, 2016! They asked Bishop M. to do both the baptisms and confirmations for both of them. The rest of the family has been working on reactivating and getting temple recommends. LJ is 15 years old and both he and Ja. got the Priesthood on Sunday after church! Ja. got ordained first, and so was able to stand in the circle to ordain his step-son!

Can you imagine how Sister C. is feeling? She just got one of the best Mother's Day gifts ever: Her family united by baptism and activity in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! They plan on going as a family to do baptisms for the dead this week!

As for me, I got to call home and talk to my family over skype! It was awesome! You make me laugh so much! If you want my opinion, it was far too short! Thank you for all of your support, love, and care for me! I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Elder Palmer and I in the Mission Office!

It was a sunny day outside, so that's where we took the baptismal pictures! Is. (left) is the step-son of Ja. (middle) and Bishop M. (right) baptized both of them.

Big group picture at the baptism! Missionaries starting from left to right: Elder Palmer, Elder Davidson, Elder Steiner, and Elder Brown. Everyone else from left to right: Is., Ja, Ni, Me, Bishop M., (I forget her name, but it is really cool), and LJ.​

This is a picture of the whole mission! This was taken at the top of the Skyway Ward in the Renton Stake, and you can see all the way to the bottom of the mission at Mount Rainier! I got this picture from a different missionary, so sadly, I didn't take this picture myself.
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Transfers Have Come Again!

Dear Family,

First off, I want to tell you how the C family is doing. They are doing great! We are teaching them their final lesson this week and they are getting baptized on May 7th! I am really excited! This week we taught them about the 10 commandments and showed them the hand signs for each one. The signs are actually pretty cool!

I got to do typical office work. I moved beds into apartments for upcoming trios, took bikes around, etc.  I also got to drive another brand new Corolla off the lot. That never gets old! (Get it?)

This week is the start of my 8th transfer! Thanks to being an Office Elder and having IMOS privileges, I got to see what is happening in the transfer early! Elder Davidson is being transferred and my new companion is Elder Palmer! That is funny because the bishop in the Lake Lucerne Ward is Bishop Palmer. I think he is going to get a kick out of that! Because it is transfers, I got the opportunity to drive to the airport and kill a bunch of missionaries (In missionary language, Kill = when a missionary sends another missionary home)!

I love you all! Have a happy Mother's Day! And I will see some of you on Skype!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

The Maple Valley district! It was awesome!

10 Months

Dear Family,

Yesterday marks my 10th month on my mission. I am at a loss of words.......... How could it have gone so fast?! Are you sure it is 10 months? I am going to pretend it has only been 3.

This week, I got to have another lesson with the C family! This time was awesome because President Eaton and Brother Whatcott were there! Brother Whatcott was the former bishop in Elk Run and is known to be a spiritual giant. When we let members of the ward know how our lessons have been going they would usually say, "Wow! You are really bringing in the big guns!" It is true. President Eaton helped the shy members of the family totally open up and share comments! Brother Whatcott shared a testimony that would convert anyone! It was pretty amazing. We taught about daily prayer and scripture study, especially as a family. When we asked them if they would pray and read the scriptures as a family every single day, they said, "Oh, we have already planned to do that." Someone from the ward showed them a conference talk about families and the C's have been applying what they found in it! Wow! The members of this ward are just so great! They have already been planning on going to the temple after Brother C. and I. his son are baptized, too! May 7th is their baptism day and they will be confirmed during Sacrament Meeting on Mother's day.

Elder Davidson and I have been pretty busy (as always) with office work this week. We got to go to the Elk Run Ward Chili Cook-Off on Saturday and it was awesome! The C's came and had a great time. I hope all of you have had a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

This is kind of what Graham looks like. There is no highway, just all small roads and spread out neighborhoods. That is why it takes 1 and 1/2 hours to get to Graham compared to the 1 hour to get to Puyallup South (The stake just north of Graham).

We went down to Graham this week to close some apartments. Graham Stake has half of Mount Rainier in it (and it is the southern most part of the mission), so it looks really close!

Delightful Mission Devotional!

Dear Family,

This week I finally got to have another lesson with the Coate family! It has been 3 weeks! First they got sick, then they went out of town, and so finally the time was right for them! In this mission we have a policy that investigators must live the Word of Wisdom for at least 3 weeks before they are baptized. Sadly, Jamie had an iced coffee when they got back from their vacation, so we have had to push back the baptism date for May 7th. It looks like both Jamie and Isaiah will be ready for that date!

On Sunday, there was an awesome mission devotional! I had to run the lights during it. I would usually turn off the lights when a video was being played, but in the middle of the devotional, the computer froze! One of the assistants to the President told us to keep going with the program and skip the video. So I turned the lights back on and joined the choir for a song. Thankfully, the computer started working again after the song, so we were able to continue the devotional! Candice came to the devotional! Since she is paralyzed, she doesn't get out very often. In fact, this is the first time that I have seen her outside of her apartment. She said really liked the it.

Bethany, congratulations on making it into Limited Edition! You are awesome! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Spring Break!

Dear Family,

Not much happened this week. In terms of Office work, we got a lot done, but as for proselyting, everyone seemed to be out of town for Spring Break. Since we are behind on the lessons for the Coate family, we have moved their baptismal date back to the 30th. Hopefully, we won't need to push it back anymore. They are doing pretty good. They spent last weekend in Utah. They didn't manage to get into any of the sessions, but they listened to them on the radio. We happened to run into them at the grocery store today. It was funny. They just came back from their vacation this morning, so they looked very tired. :)

Elder Davidson and I got invited to the "Empty Nester Group" dinner last Monday. It was held at the Waldrun's home and they happened to have a non-member live with them for the last month before she graduates from medical school. We shared a quick message about General Conference and about how easy it is for us to hear the prophet today as compared to the past. Now that I think about it, that probably made them feel pretty old... We didn't really get anywhere with the non-member, but she liked the message.

On Saturday, I got to go on an exchange with my District Leader, Elder Nelson (the one from Kaysville, Utah). Everyone we visited got a kick out of the fact that we came from the same hometown! :) Miracles happen while on exchanges and this one was no exception! We contacted people that haven't been contacted for months and we met a lot of people! It was great!

I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

One more sunset! It is really different from the typical, gray overcast days. On those days, it is sometimes difficult to even tell where the sun is.

Heavenly Father's Miraculous and Mysterious Ways

Dear Family,

This week has been full of miracles! Probably too many to write them all. :) So I will choose some of the highlights.

On Thursday, Elder Davidson and I got to go and see Candice again. This time, though, before we started to read the Book of Mormon with her, Brother Bean, and Deanna, she requested a blessing to help with her cold. I was chosen to give her the blessing. I don't remember most of what I said, but I do remember feeling prompted to say something like, "God is happy for the work that you do. You are a light to all of those people who visit you, drawing them closer to God." Candice is paralyzed. She can't get up and do work. But when I said that, I could see her smile as she is visited by various members of the ward. Later that night, Brother Bean took us to visit another family, the Smith's. He had each person tell of a highlight of their week. Sister Smith said that her highlight was visiting Candice last Saturday. I felt right then that the blessing was true.

On Friday, Elder Davidson and I went to Federal Way to move around furniture and bikes. We went to an area that Elder Davidson previously served in. We picked up some bikes there and he felt prompted to give one to one of his recent converts (we were going to just donate it anyway). We drove it over to Sister Harper. When we knocked on her door, she opened it and was shocked. She knew Elder Davidson and was surprised at our visit. She said that she had been having a bad day because her much needed paycheck didn't come today. When she learned that we brought her a bike, she started to cry and said, "I know that God is still watching over me. He sent you two to comfort me right when I need it." She was very grateful for the bike and the visit.

General Conference was amazing! I got to see every session and I found myself surprised that it ended so quick. My favorite talk was by Jeffrey R. Holland in the Sunday Afternoon session. I think he hit spot on the fact that we have to "return to Earth". His message has inspired hope to me and hopefully to all of you. I love you all and I hope you enjoyed General Conference as well!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

The sun came out for the whole week, so you will get some good sunset pictures. :)

Sunset at Lake Sawyer. This selfie actually didn't turn out so bad. :)

Some more pictures of the sunset at Lake Sawyer!

This is the secondary storage for the mission. It used to have tons of furniture that had to be taken to the dump, so Elder Davidson and I cleared it out and are now using it as the bike storage for the whole mission. This is actually a garage from the townhouse that missionaries live in, so they made it into their temporary work-out room.

Happy Easter!

Dear Family,

This week has been busy! Since, it is the first week of transfers, the office stays busy! Many things had to be updated: New missionary addresses, Mission President's contacts, new e-mail list for all of the missionaries (now including the new missionaries), and more. Oh, and several apartments were moved around. :) Very busy. Most of the time this week was spent moving and closing apartments. I had to close my first apartment this week. Remember when I deep cleaned it before I left a few months ago? Yep, again, but this time I actually had to take all of the furniture, too. It had the heaviest desk I have ever lifted! It was huge (and I loved it when I was there) and it was really hard to move. Most of the furniture was either too large or not in good condition, so most of it we had to take to the dump.

Easter Sunday was awesome! So many people came to church this week! It is so awesome! The Coate family didn't come, though, because they are sick. They are still on date to be baptized on April 16th! They are planning on going to Utah for Spring Break and going to General Conference! That is so cool! "You can bet your money on the Prophet!" (Quote from The District) I love you all! Happy Easter!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

Q and A:
Is it still raining all the time?
* Yes, but there have been more sunny days this week! Spring is coming!
* Fun fact: Maple Valley is the 2nd rainiest city in the United States.

I love you, Bryson!

It is nice to have sunny days at last!

One of the less active members in the Elk Run Ward worked for the Seattle Sea Hawks when they won the Super Bowl. Bishop Moulton said that he had this amazing ring, so we went and asked to take pictures of it. It is way bigger than I expected it to be! Does this count as worshiping idols?

This is the sunset of Easter Sunday!

God Watches Over His Missionaries

Dear Family,

Today is transfers. The cool thing about being an Office Elder is that I can see what happens at transfers before most other missionaries. :) I also took all of the departing missionaries to the airport yesterday. I had no idea that driving to an airport could be so stressful, but I had another missionary, Elder Lee-Wen (who was an Office Elder in the past), guide me through the steps. There were so many miracles that happened at the airport. First off, I managed to get the giant van to the airport. That is probably the largest vehicle that I have ever driven (There was barely an inch of clearance between the roof of the van and the ceiling in the parking lot). One missionary, Elder Tavo, had to travel alone while the other 6 missionaries got to be together most of the way.

Elder Tavo had to take 3 different flights, but he doesn't know anything about airports or even what to do. But God knows. When we went to check in his luggage, the man at the desk happened to be the Stake President of the Seattle Stake and he gave Elder Tavo his baggage for free. Not only that, but he also upgraded him to premium, meaning it goes directly to his home, so he doesn't have to check it in after every flight. But the blessings didn't end there for Elder Tavo. After we checked him in, he had to go through security and there was a line that was about 1 and 1/2 hours long. Elder Lee-Wen felt prompted to talk to the lady at the premium line and as he did, the lady said Elder Tavo can go through premium (at no cost). That allowed him to completely skip the line and go through first. We couldn't follow him through security, but I know that he is in good hands, God's hands.

I know that God is watching over his missionaries. He is willing to help us out in times of need and I know that He protects us. I am very happy to be out here serving His children. Even though I don't do as much proselyting as a regular missionary, I still get to serve my fellow missionaries around the mission, making sure that everything runs smoothly so that they can focus their efforts on serving. Also, being an Office Elder is a lot of fun! I love you all and I hope you have a great Easter!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Spring is in the air! And the beautiful sunsets are returning! Oh ya!

Just for fun. :)

Group picture this morning! Elder Lee-Wen is on the right, Elder Elzey is in the middle, Elder Jackson is in the middle, but a little to the left, and I am on the very left.

Prosperity Picture!! My Trainer on the left, Elder Nelson. My trainee on the right, Elder Miner.

Welcome Enumclaw Stake!

Dear Family,

This week has been pretty good! The Coate Family is progressing very well. Sister Coate is a member who has been less active for a while and she just got re-married to a non-member. I don't know what gave her the motivation, but she just out of now where started to bring her whole family to church. She has talked with the bishop and has set up a plan to get her husband and son baptized and the rest of her family to return to activity! So far, we have had the first 3 lessons with them and they are accepting it well. Brother Coate really wants to get baptized, and so does Isaiah, their 11 year old son. They currently are committed for April 16th to be baptized, but at the rate that they are progressing, they could be ready long before that! During my last lesson with them, they set a goal to be sealed in the temple in April of 2017. Wow! They are so committed!

On Wednesday, Elder Davidson and I put our "8 birds with 1 stone" plan to use. We filled the trailer with the supplies that many missionaries needed, and for the first few hours of the day (While all of the other missionaries were doing their studies) we dropped by 7 different companionship's and either picked up furniture of dropped it off. Then we went and got a replacement mattress for the new mission nurse that moved in last week. Yep, 1 drive, 8 tasks complete! It was going to be 9, but we didn't have time to go to the D.I. to donate the futon... Anyway, the plan was a success and we put 124 miles on the truck that day! Good thing we have unlimited miles! It is so nice!

Saturday and Sunday was Stake Conference. I thought the Saturday session was pretty full, but then I was surprised again when the Maple Valley Stake Center was completely full on Sunday. The parking lot was full and people parked all the way down the street. It was pretty crazy. The Stake Center is about the same size as the Haight Creek Stake Center and it was so full that people had filled the whole gym and were sitting on the stage all the way in the back. It was amazing! The Stake was officially split into the Maple Valley Stake and the Enumclaw Stake. Two new Stake Presidencies were called, too. It is a pretty exciting change. I love you all!
​
Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Elder Davidson is really good at backing with a trailer. This is when we are putting it back at the storage unit.

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