It's Snowing!

Dear Family,

This week has been a little on the slower side because many people have been getting sick, but it all ended up being a great adventure when the snow came! I wanted to email you all yesterday, but the libraries and schools were closed due to the snow fall. We got 10 inches of snow here. That is the most snow Seattle has had for the last 5 years! It has been great!

I can now tell you about the new changes regarding the missionary schedule! The new schedule is supposed to allow missionaries to have more freedom on how we plan the day. If you want to watch the video and how it was announced, click this: https://www.lds.org/broadcasts/watch/worldwide-missionary-broadcast/2017/01?lang=eng&vid=5308414566001

This mission is not currently using the new schedule. We will be applying the new schedule later this week after President Rasmussen announces it at Zone Conference. My zone has our Zone Conference this Friday.

Elder Ward and I have a new investigator named Sister Kis. She has 3 kids, one of which is already a member and the other two are not baptism age. She has been taught by missionaries before, all of whom wrote on her record saying that she is golden, but work and smoking is keeping her from attending church and being baptized. Three weeks ago, she become unemployed. Somehow, at the same time, a member requested that we go over to see her. She has been taking the lessons ever since and she is very receptive to the Spirit. She is currently on date to be baptized, but first, we need to help her stop smoking.

As for John and his daughter, Celine, we haven't met with them for the last two weeks. They haven't come to church either (but that might be because the Super Bowl was one of those Sundays). We are working on setting up another lesson, but we are having trouble keeping in contact with them. We will keep trying with them.

I know that this church is true. Heavenly Father is preparing people to receive the Gospel everywhere around the world. I know that I can be an instrument in helping them to do that. I am grateful for the guidance of the Spirit that has helped us to know what to plan for and what to say for each of our investigators.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

It's a snow-Elder!

I love snow! Too bad it doesn't stay very long around here.

This is what we saw leaving our apartment yesterday morning.

Mission Temple Day!

Dear Family,

As you can tell by the title, our mission went to the Seattle temple this week! The south half went last Tuesday and the north half went today! It was amazing! We all had a great time and the Spirit was so strong! I hope you all get to attend the temple regularly. It is truly a blessing that we can participate in God's work!

This week has been a great week! We had a world wide missionary broadcast as well that included some really important changes. First off, we only have 4 Key Indicators to report instead of the 10 or so we used to have. There is also going to be a change in the missionary schedule that will give us 2 extra hours on P-Days and shorter lunches every other day. And a few other schedule mix-ups.

This mission will start living by the new schedule starting February 10th where President Rasmussen will introduce it to the mission. President Rasmussen has the ability to change the schedule to fit the place of the mission. We don't know what he is going to do, but he will probably keep it close to the regular schedule.

I have had a great week! I want you all to know that I know this church is true. The temple is a blessing in both our lives and the lives of those who have passed on. I know that this is God's work! He will bless you as you keep his commandments and stay true to your covenants. I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

What a great day to attend the temple!

Buddhist Meeting

Dear Family,

This week has been a busy one! The work has been taking off and Elder Ward and I are scarcely finding the time to get everything done! We had a lot of lessons this week and some cool experiences! One of which had to do with Buddhists!

There is a part-member family in this ward where the husband is a Buddhist. He is respectful to us and we are too and he comes to church every once in a while to support his wife. He invited us to one of his Buddhist meetings that was on Friday. We got permission from our district leader and we went!

It was definitely a new experience. It was held in someone's house and there were about 5 people there. They started the meeting by chanting some words for about 20 minutes. Elder Ward and I didn't know what to do, so we sat waiting for it all to get done. One thing I noticed is that they could all be great singers!

After the chanting, they pulled out a magazine. It looked like an Ensign, but for their religion. They opened it up. It had a monthly message, things for youth, and discussion topics. Pretty cool. We spent most of the time there discussing and finding common ground between our beliefs. Both sides were respectful and willing to hear each other out.

I learned that Buddhists has a lot of the same values that LDS members do. One main difference is that they don't believe in God, but in reincarnation for eternity. If they do good in this life, they will get a better life next time and vice versa. It was cool to testify to them that God lives and what resurrection is. I hope that our testimonies helped them!

Anyway, it was a cool experience to realize that this church really is the truth. Satan will take truths and he will put a twist on them so they aren't full truths and will deceive as many as he can. Heavenly Father knows what is truth, it is His truth. And He will tell us what that is if we ask Him. I know that this church is true and that there is a God and that He loves us, not just those in this church, but every child of God.

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

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

P.S. Today is my Birthday! Hooray!

It is the gumdrop tree!

Teaching the Plan of Salvation!

Dear Family,

This week has been one of those slow weeks. It is probably because both Elder Ward and I got sick, so we didn't get to do very much. On one of the days, we did get to teach John K! He is doing very well and is progressing! He has just about quit smoking and he is enjoying our lessons.

This week, we taught the Plan of Salvation. Brother Graham came with us and he brought his little picture set that he made when he was on his mission. They were very simple and they worked great! John understood a lot of what we taught and he agreed to help us teach this to his daughter a week from now.

I know that as Elder Ward and I do our best to teach to our investigator's needs that we will be given what to say and what to do. I know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children!

I know this letter is short, sorry! I hope you all have a great week! I love you all!

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner.

The Spirit Will Help You Remember!

Dear Family,

First off, Happy Birthday Logan!!

Second off, Elder Ward and I are both staying this transfer!

Okay, now I can move on... This week has been a slower one. A lot of our lessons fell through, but we still had 2 of them! I had a pretty great experience during one of them, but I will have to explain a little.

Our lesson was set for Friday and we planned for the lesson on Thursday during our Weekly Planning. Since it happens to be the end of a transfer, we wrote our plan notes in the new planners for next week. We planned to show a Mormon Message video and 2 scriptures to Brother Buckley. He used to be a member and now he wants to come back. We teach him almost every Friday.

At the lesson, I realized that I didn't bring the new planner that had all of my notes in it. I couldn't remember what scripture I was going to share! I quickly said a silent prayer and while my companion was discussing the video, I pulled out the Bible and started searching.

It didn't come all at once, but little by little. I remembered Corinthians, which one? 2 Corinthians. I was flipping through it trying to remember where it was. Chapter 7. I read the chapter heading and skimmed through until I found it! Versus 9 and 10.

I shared the scripture and we had a good discussion on repentance. I don't think Brother Buckley or even Elder Ward knew that I had this experience, but I know that the Spirit helped me out when I needed help. I know that Heavenly Father is watching out for us. I know that He loves us and will guide our every step in His work!

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

Love,
Elder Bretton Steiner

This was my district last transfer! From left to right: Elder Leavitt, Elder Kim, Elder Bollwinkel, Elder Richards, Elder Steiner, Elder Ward.

​We have a pretty cool view from the hill of all of the businesses.

Happy New Year!

Dear Family,

This week has been a slower week, but you can expect that. Many people have gone out of town for the holidays, so it has been a challenge! John and Saleena are doing good, but we didn't get to meet with them this week. We hope to see them again next week!

I went on an exchange this week to the Skyway B area this week. That is the most northern area in our mission and it covers a lot of Seattle homes (but not the city itself). It is totally different there than any other place I have seen in the mission. It is also one of the more dangerous areas. I found a few things that I thought were funny or different and I have some pictures of them! :)

Have you made any New Years Resolutions? If you haven't, you should probably stop and think about it. Heavenly Father wants us to return to Him. What do I want to become? How am I going to do that? How am I going to become more like the Savior this year? Asking questions like that combined with the power of prayer and scriptures, the Holy Ghost will tell you what to aim for. God always has blessings in store for those who strive to serve Him.

Knowing that New Years marks the fact that I have less than 6 months left in my mission. I want to give it my all for the rest of the time that He has given me in this mission. I know that there are people that He has been preparing to receive the restored Gospel. I will do my best to be an instrument in His hands for His work.

"I know that which the Lord hath commanded me, and I glory in it. I do not glory of myself, but I glory in that which the Lord hath commanded me; yea, and this is my glory, that perhaps I may be an instrument in the hands of God to bring some soul to repentance; and this is my joy." Alma 29:9

That is still my favorite scripture when I think about missionary work. I hope you all have a great week and start of 2017! I love you all!

Love,

Elder Bretton Steiner.

Houses in Seattle are so packed together that they are running out of house numbers!

This is as far north as the mission goes. Pretty good view of Seattle!

If it doesn't say no parking, then people will park there! And yes, this is somehow a 2-way street. You just hope that someone isn't coming from the opposite direction!

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!