Sunday, October 12, 2014

Happy to be staying in the City with Elder N!


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!!

Check it out, because I don't have a car or a bike (I walk everywhere) I've lost about 5 Kilos (10 lbs.).... cinch up the old belt!

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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