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.
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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!
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