Wow this has been a GREAT WEEK!!
(Like usual) But also a great transfer! There are 17 transfers during a mission
and I already have 1 down! I have seen sooo many miracles while I have been
here in Australia! I have definitely witnessed the Lord’s hand in my life as a
missionary!
I mean in the last 6 weeks, Elder
N and I have had 1 baptism; we’ve set 13 Baptismal dates!; we’ve had 38
new investigators; taught 85 total lessons; and last but not least we got 147
NEW CONTACTS!!! YUP, 147 :) For me it’s not about the numbers, I just love the
work, but President Maxwell wants us to keep track of our activities for the
mission office. Man, the Lord has really blessed Elder N and I! My first 6
weeks here in Australia have just been GREAT, and the next 6 weeks (that’s the amount
of time between transfers) look even BETTER!!
Alright, here’s the break down for
this week!
Tuesday (9/30/14):
This marked my very 1st FULL month in
Australia!! WOW! I am becoming an Aussie;) hahaha.
So Elder N and I taught a kid in his 20's
named D. He is from Malaysia and is here in Melbourne studying. We started
teaching him a lesson but Elder N had to leave for a minute to take an
important call so I took charge! Wow, what an amazing experience (not that I’m
being prideful or anything, but I was proud of the way the Lord helped me to
pick up where Elder N left off). D and I talked about the Plan of Salvation and
why baptism is SO important in obtaining Celestial Glory! He was KEEN on
baptism so I popped the golden question and committed him to baptism on the
18th of October! He is super solid
and I can’t wait to see his progression in the weeks to come!
After teaching D we had to go to the ICU
to give a blessing to a less active member who was having a pretty rough time!
I love giving priesthood blessings because you are able to become so in-tune
with the spirit. It’s an unexplainable feeling! The lady is doing much better
now, and was actually discharged from the ICU 2 days after the blessing! WOW,
can you say miracle!
Wednesday (10/1/14):
It is already October! That’s what I
wrote in my journal today…totally crazy to think that:) However, today marked
the day of the fastest baptismal commitment I have ever seen! Elder N and I
were teaching the first lesson to a guy named T from Ethiopia. Unfortunately,
he had an unexpected appointment he had to get to so we only had about 10
minutes to talk! Fortunately for us, the spirit was so strong and T seemed very
ready to be baptized, so we committed him to the 25 of October! :) I can’t say
it enough, but the Spirit works in incredible ways.
On a sad note, the guy we had
committed to baptism for the 4th of October disappeared on us.... Oh well,
other missionaries will find him sometime down the road! Sometime it is my job
to just plant a little seed and hope it grows over time!
Nothing like Australian ice cream to help you feel better at the end of the day. Lucky for me I'm at a 10 pound deficit :)
Thursday (10/2/14):
We taught another person from
Malaysia today. His name is E! He was so solid and very accepting of our
message! As we got talking to him after the lesson though, he is just traveling
through Melbourne but he really wanted to hear our message about Jesus Christ. Since he is just passing through we won’t be teaching him
anymore. However, when he gets back to Malaysia he says he is going to put in a
request for missionaries on Mormon.org. Later in the day, we got a call to
dedicate an apartment from a less active member… So that was really cool. We
actually challenged her to dedicate her own flat and she accepted the
challenge! We taught her what she needed to do, and after the prayer was
over, she sat there and said, “ya know, I have been inactive for 10 years, but
I need to come back to church!” WOW, now that was an amazing experience!
If you didn't know already, I’m teaching
English classes here at the Branch. I love teaching and helping all of these
people from around the world to learn and grow!
Another new spiritual experience happened today while I was teaching a gospel lesson to a man named H. He is
from Pakistan. His English is not so good, but that is why the Spirit teaches
the lessons and not me :) I was the only one teaching him today and I could
tell by the way he responded to me that he knew what I was saying. It was like a
total out of body experience! Anyway, the lesson went great and I committed him
to be baptized on the 15th of November… I'll keep you posted on how he is doing :)
Friday (10/3/14):
Man I love teaching 1st lessons! Just
to see investigators hear the gospel for the first time is an amazing thing to
witness. Today we taught D (hooray), you might remember her! She was the Jewish
lady and was the very first lesson I ever taught! We had set a Baptismal date for
her back in September but she couldn’t be baptized because she got really busy and wasn’t
able to make it to church! Well she is less busy now and ready to be baptized!
Her date has been set for the 25th of October!! I love this work!
Saturday (10/4/14):
So the transfer call from President
Maxwell came Saturday night!! And YES I will be staying in the City with Elder
N for at least another 6 weeks! Thank goodness, because my work here is far
from being done… You can imagine how stoked I am about staying in the city! We met
D, the guy who was my first baptism here in the city, today at noon, to
continue teaching him the post baptismal discussions. The dude is soooo cool!
He unexpectedly brought us lunch! Man, he is the MAN!! :) I love him so much!
Elder N and I celebrating that neither of us got transferred this week.
Later we taught a kid named C. He is
from Korea and has been here for about 1 week! He seemed pretty eager to here
about the gospel so I will keep you posted on his progress.
Sunday (10/5/14):
Today was probably by far my busiest
and weirdest Sunday here yet! It started with an investigator lady named D. She
arrived 30 minutes early to church so we taught her a lesson! I had GQed her
earlier in the week and had invited her to come to our Sunday services, so I
was really excited she came! However, at church she totally fell asleep on her
chair, as well as the chair next to her… I’m talking full on, lay down on the row,
and take a nap! Ya, lights out… she had shown up to church drunk! Poor thing, I
guess the Church house would be a pretty peaceful place to sleep off a
hangover:) I guess we should have sung “Ere you left the bar this morning, did
you think to pay?”
So for all of you who have ever
wanted to lay down on the bench and go to sleep during sacrament meeting...
don’t! After reading this blog, people may think you are sleeping off a
hangover :)
Even after a CRAZY Sunday like today, I still have lots to smile about.
I am doing really GREAT here in
Australia! Hope everyone is the same! Thanks again for all the emails and
letters you send me…..I am sorry I haven't had time to answer them……I am still
trying to make this one hour of email time per week work. Thanks for your
patience!
Elder Steele
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