Australia Day!

Monday (1.25.16)

The week was really great……I know I say that every week but it is true! EVERY week IS so great down here. We were able to visit the Brown family for FHE and dinner! I honestly love this family soooo much! They are the greatest! Elder Kim and I were able to teach them a Family Home Evening lesson and it went awesome with their cute little girls. We taught them about the importance of the Sacrament and how to be missionaries with our friends. We showed them how good it is to invite our friends to church so we can help them feel clean like we do EVERY Sunday! I am so grateful for the Savior and His atonement so we can have that sacred blessing in our lives.

Family Home Evening at the Browns! 

Tuesday (1.26.16)

Today was Australia Day and Zone interviews!  Zone interview day is always a very busy day for zone leaders. Elder Kim and I were the taxi for some of our zone members We were in and out of the station all day long. We picked up missionaries from the station so we could get them to their interviews on time and then took them back so they could get on their trains a couple of hours later. 

Zone Conference Taxi Driver... Check out the missionary photo bomber in the back.

I had a great interview with President Maxwell. I really love talking with him and learning from him. He paid me a very nice compliment on my skills as a missionary. When I am with him I just want to learn everything I can from him so I can be an even better missionary. We always spend time a good amount of time talking about the missionaries in my zone and the ways we can help them the most. Elder Kim told me President Maxwell told him, "That Elder Steele... he is solid. He is consecrated and dedicated to missionary work." Wow! That really made me feel good and fired me up to be the best missionary in the world!

We had to leave Zone Interviews a little bit early for an appointment with Heather. We were trying to schedule her granddaughter’s baptism. We finally decided to move it to the 27th of February. That will be a great day and it will make things less stressful for everyone. Then we were able to go over to the De La Cruz family for a special Australia Day South American Soup. 

Aussie Day with the De La Cruz family.

Delicious South American Soup... What a great Aussie Day Feast!

It was really awesome and then we were able to teach them about the First Vision. The spirit that resides is so powerful when we testify about the Prophet Joseph Smith’s experience. It continued to be a great night as we were able to visit with Iain and Suzie. They had some questions and wanted to talk through some things with us. We finished up the night teaching AJ and Leyla about the Restoration again. We showed them the Restoration DVD. AJ told us and when he saw the part where Joseph Smith sees God and Jesus Christ that all the hair on his body stood up and he felt something that he had never felt before. He is doing GREAT!!! :)  Elder Kim and I are blessed to see miracles every day!

Wednesday (1.27.16)

It was one of those hard days for missionaries because it was POURING all day today and we were not able to get as much done as we wanted to. I always say, “There are only great days and good days as a missionary. That is because there is good in EVERY day!” Elder Kim and I started our day with District meeting and then we went back home for Elder Kim’s language study. (He is from Korea). After language study we went to check up on some Less Actives and unfortunately they weren’t home. So we picked up Wai, a recent convert, and went to visit Sister Nicotera. That was a really good experience! We were able to have a really good visit with her. It was also valuable for Wai to feel welcomed to the ward by Sister Nicotera. Next we were blessed to be able to meet with Geoff and Lani. This is another reason why the day was good. ) They fed us a yummy dinner and we had an AMAZING lesson with them. Lani just keeps opening up more and more to us and we are really making a lot of progress, She wants to get back to church and she feels that Geoff getting his calling in the ward is the catalyst for them to make the committment!  It was a huge miracle because starting next week they signed up for us to go to their house EVERY Thursday night to teach her! We are really making some great progress with her! I remember the first time I went to her house (about 2 months ago) she didn't feel very comfortable and had a hard time coming out of her room to talk with us! The gospel is truly amazing!! :) 

Thursday (1.28.16)

We started our day with a correlation meeting with Brother Faiva, the Samoan Ward mission Leader. I honestly LOVE THIS WARD!!!! They are amazing! They have two non member families they are working with and they want us to meet with them soon as well! :) He told us they have also been visiting Sosi Seiulu, (the woman we were able to find) and they are really working hard with her to help her go to church! They are such faithful members and they will do ANYTHING for servants of the Lord! :) Then we of course had a great lunch with him!  You can NEVER go to a Samoan house without them feeding you! It is such a blessing…..they love the missionaries so much! Next, we went home and did our Weekly Planning session. This takes a great deal of time but it is very important for missionaries to plan so we don’t waste any of the Lord’s time.  After that we headed over to the Robin’s house. They are Sister Young’s parents. Brother Young is her husband and he is not a member. But we have a good plan to help him. Elder Kim and I go over to Grandma and Grandpa Robin's house one week and then we alternate the next week to Sister Young’s house so that way we can have weekly contact with Brother Young and the family! We were able to follow up with them about reading the Book of Mormon and THEY ARE DOING IT!!!! YES!! I was so happy to hear it!!  We taught them a wonderful lesson about how important it is to just simply believe that God is there and trust that He WILL let us know! :) I know this is true. He knows each one of us and loves each one of us! Then we were able to go over and teach Laz. We really like meeting with him. He is struggling to remember all the things he learned at church. So we are slowly just re-teaching him the Gospel. It is going pretty well and hopefully we will help him get the desire to come back to church.

Friday (1.29.16)

This morning started out with DLC (District Leadership Council) Following DLC we raced to our two appointments but they both were a no show. However, that was okay because we had to do our SMCM report anyways. That took a couple hours which was a bummer... but then we got a call from a member that told us to meet them at Hungry Jack's because they wanted to feed us!

Member feed at Hungry Jack and new contact.... doesn't get better than that!

That phone call is always music to a hungry missionary’s ears! We loved meeting them and while we were there we found a wonderful  Filipino/Korean family. They seemed happy to talk with us and they had met missionaries before. We were able to get their contact information so that was wonderful! Then we raced to our appointment with the Havili family and our dreams came true because they fed us too! hahaha We got fed a lot this week and it was wonderful!  We talked about staying steadfast in the gospel. Sister Havili really connected with us and we all felt the spirit really strongly. Tears flowed freely for all of us as the Spirit filled the room. Sometimes it is hard to be steadfast and Satan tempts us but it is sooooo worth it! We are excited to help them and they invited us to come over weekly so that is great!  We are excited to help them on their journey in the Gospel!:) To finish the night we raced to AJ and Leyla’s and had an amazing lesson with them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Leyla was worried she might not be prepared to be baptized but it is amazing how the Spirit can resolve any of our concerns. After the lesson, AJ needed some help push starting his manual transmission van. It was sooo heavy and we knew we couldn’t push it by ourselves. So we said a prayer with him and called upon our Father in Heaven for help. Shortly after we finished our prayer, a random guy showed up and pushed it with us!  After we got the van moving that guy just left and disappeared. It was a miracle and it really grew AJ's testimony of prayer.:) 

Saturday (1.30.16)

It was an amazing morning!  Sister Goodall was endowed at the Melbourne Temple and we were blessed to be able to go with her:):) It was so amazing to share that experience with her and see her take this very important step! :) I was so thankful that I was able to go! 

I love this lady... Sister Goodall!

So Happy to see members from the City Branch.

To make matters even more miraculous, the recent converts from the Doncaster ward (my last area before Cranbourne) were at the temple that morning as well! It was a wonderful surprise to be at the temple the same day as Bee and John! It was soooo amazing being able to see them again! Another miracle happened that day also. It was a really special day for John because he was baptized for his twin brother in the Temple! It was so amazing to feel his joy and see how excited he was! :) 

Bee and John were doing baptisms at the Melbourne Temple.

After that we taught Iain and Suzie again and helped teach them how the Gospel simplifies things so we can find more happiness in our lives. I testify the Gospel is the key to happiness here on earth!  Next we visited the Mattocks and taught Monique about the Ten Commandments. I am praying she will choose to be baptized soon. To finish a wonderful day,the Terremates fed us a great dinner and we went home and called it a night!

Sunday (1.31.16)

Today was amazing because so many people came to church!!! Missionaries always worry about who will come to church.  AJ and Tanaz (his daughter) and Brother Young came to church today. Also the Havili’s came and they BROUGHT A FRIEND!! It made me and Elder Kim so happy. We are so excited to work with them, They love the church and they want to share the Gospel with their nonmember friends! Then we were blessed to have lunch at the Seiuli’s. After that we went back to the church for Stake Choir practice. It is sounding great and I am excited to be part of the choir. I love to sing!