Trevlig Morsdag

Email written: 5/28/18

Hallå!! 

It's been another awesome week here in Övik. Äldste Hansen and I are working so hard and having some of the coolest experiences together. We really have seen the Spirit guiding us in that we do and say each day. It doesn't matter if we're serving, teaching, or finding. The Spirit is always there to help us. 

One of the things that we felt impressed to do is do something special for our friends that are mothers. Yesterday was mother's day in Sweden, and I'm not quite sure why it's different that the US, but I guess it doesn't really matter. Moms deserve more than one day to be celebrated anyways since they do so much! (s/o Momma Steele) The idea we had was we could think about a few specific people, and then swing by and give them a nice rose for Mother's Day. It seemed like something so simple, yet we were able to have some really cool experiences as we went out and delivered these flowers. 

The first one I thought of goes as follows, and I typed the story up a little earlier and so that's why it might feel like it doesn't flow as well. But anyways, there is an older couple, Glenn and Carina, that we had tracted into a few weeks ago. Glenn is someone who just loves to talk about just about anything and everything, and so we were able to really hit it off with them. What helped even more was that Glenn is oddly obssessed with Texas as well and so we wanted us coming back multiple times so he could learn all about Texas haha. Well, we went by another time after that and it was Carina's birthday and the whole family was there, her parents, glenn's parents, and their closest family friends. They invited us in to celebrate with them and so we came in and had some cake together and then met everyone. We thought we would leave after only a few minutes, but then their parents really wanted us to stay and talk to everyone for a while. We're not exactly sure why they wanted us to stay, but we gladly accepted and got to know each other. Everyone had their own unique personalities, some serious, some quiet, some loud, some bubbly, and it was so much fun to become friends with all of them. We then gathered our things and then went on our way home and thought about the next time we would come back and visit them to share a little bit more about the gospel and we thought that mother's day would be the perfect occassion and we could come by and give a flower to Carina! So that's exactly what we did, and sure enough, the whole family was there again and they invited us in for cake, yet again and so we came in and Glenn's mom just started asking us a bunch of questions about the church, and really sincere questions too and all the questions that we were able to answer surprised her quite a bit since everything that we said lined up with how she had thought about things her whole life. Others around the table began to ask more questions and so here we were, Äldste Hansen and I, sitting at a table, teaching a whole family, 6 people, all about the restored gopsel and the things that matter most to us. We were then able to all say a prayer together at the end of the meeting, and we got everyone else's information to then visit them individually as well since they don't get together that frequently. Glenn was happy to talk to us and said that it was so interesting to learn about America and Texas, but then his mom was just like no what was really fun, was listening to them talk about their church. I've always been interested in learning about other churches. 

Later, as we were driving on our way to another house, we passed by a kyrkogård (cemetery) and saw a woman there just sitting in front of headstone, and I thought it would be nice to give her one of the flowers that we had, but I wasn't so sure and Elder Hansen was driving and so I didn't know if he saw her, but then after we drove up a bit, Elder Hansen asked if he thought we should turn around and visit that woman, and so without even thinking I said absolutely, turn around. And so that's exactly what we did, and so we got out of the car and slowly walked towards her and we weren't exactly what we should say, but then I just said, we're not exactly sure why, but we felt impressed to come back here and give you a flower. She had been crying quite a bit and so she had to wipe away a lot of her tears. We found out that her mother had passed away 2 years ago and so she had thought to come to the grave and remember her mother for mother's day. We then were able to show her the Prince of Peace video and testify about the Plan of Salvation for her. It was something that she really needed in that moment and she was very thankful for the flower. We then went on our way and I guess we'll never really know what happened for her afterwards, but we hope that the small little act was able to help her out tremendously. 

The last one of the day, was a visit to Tea's family, to give her Mom a rose, and it turned into a 45 minute conversation all about what we believe in, what they believe in, and then ended with an invitation to come back for dinner, and an offer to take us sightseeing some time with the whole family. They are truly some of the best people ever and are now some of the best friends that we have here. We really look forward to spending more time with them and helping each other come closer to Christ. 

A ton more happened this week, but I guess it can all be summed up with one sentence, I'm loving life. While it might be really stressful now as district leader, and with the new technology and still relatively new to the area, it has been an absolute blast and such a fun adventure. I'm learning so much and continuing to improve daily through the help of God and Christ. Have a great week everyone! Vi hörs.

Pictures: 

Hike we went on last P-Day, out in Skuleskogen

Also, since my brother is getting married soon, my parents made a cut out of me so enjoy hahha

view from kerstin and anders

--Äldste Steele

Hike we went on last P-Day, out in Skuleskogen 

Hike we went on last P-Day, out in Skuleskogen

Hike we went on last P-Day, out in Skuleskogen

Also, since my brother is getting married soon, my parents made a cut out of me so enjoy hahha

view from kerstin and anders

A Texas Cowboy Goes to a Farm

Email written: 5/21/18

Kära familj och vänner,

WOW, what a week it has been. Life just continues to get better and better here on the mission. Also, in other news, I hit my 10 month mark on Saturday. It's hard to figure out exactly where the time has gone, but I know that I'll use the time that I do have left dedicated to helping others as best I can. Äldste Hansen and I have had a ton of service opportunities this week and it's been quite a wild ride.

6) chopping wood with Carlos 

On Tuesday, we went out and stacked wood and polished windows all morning for a nice elderly couple that gives the missionaries free haircuts. I had never really stacked wood before, but thankfully Äldste Hansen knew what he was doing and made sure I didn't mess it all up. During our service, the couple, Kerstin and Anders, not only prepared a fika for us, but also a lunch. Apparently in Sweden, you take a break every few hours to sit around, drink juice, eat some crackers and cheese, and then you get back to work. Sounds like we're hardly working, instead of working hard if you ask me, but I'm not going to say no to free food! At the end of our visit, we asked if we could come back and actually teach them, as they have had so much contact with the missionaries over the years, and they agreed! 

The very next day on Wednesday, we traveled about an hour and half away to Junsele to work all day on a farm with 2 members in our branch, the Karlssons! Yes I come from Dallas, Texas, but no I have never worked on a farm or done any kind of that work really, so let's just say it was quite the experience. We got to chop up some trees, milk some cows, take apart farm equipment, fika (as usual haha), all in work boots and jumpsuits. Pictures to be attached :) It was so cool to spend time with the Karlssons and get to know them and have some spiritual experiences together as we read from the Book of Mormon together and sang a psalm as well. 

3) playing with the new borns

4) hay is for horses

5) the farm

So, some of you might have seen my Facebook post, but for those of you who didn't and for those that are on missions without Facebook, I made a post with me and Äldste Hansen cooking pancakes. Last week, I had sent a picture of us with pancakes and our friend Tea. Well, last week when we had gotten the pancakes from her, we asked if we could help out this week and cook up some of the pancakes for the city. The organization that takes care of the event every week is called Pannkaks Kyrkan (pancake church) and it's simply just an organization made up of different christian churches that make pancakes for the community once a week. Tea and the other people that were there told us that we were more than welcome to come and so that's exactly what we did! We showed up and cooked pancakes for a HUGE line right in the middle of the city. We made so many awesome friends there and we even saw some of our potential investigators in line and we had a lot of good conversations. Not to brag or anything, but my pancakes were definitely better than Äldste Hansens haha just kidding. But at the end of the event, after making a lot of new friends, and becoming even better friends with Tea, we said our goodbyes and let them know we would try and help out as much as we could going forward in the future. Later that night, Tea then invited us to attend a worship/song/concert thing at a church building in the city the next day. We looked at our schedule, and saw that we had time, and so we decided to visit it and see what it was all about. It reminded me a lot of Vacation Bible School, if that kind of paints a picture of what the songs/concert was like. It was definitely cool to see other people worshiping God in their own way. What was so cool though, was we saw one of our old investigators there and talked to her for a while, and then one of our new friends Emil was there and he just asked me questions the whole time all about the church, and in the end, he asked us for a Book of Mormon to read on his own! What a bro! We wished we could have stayed the whole night, and gotten to know everyone there and find teaching opportunities, but we looked down at our clock and saw we had only a few minutes to get home, so we quickly had to rush out, but just as we were leaving, Debbie (the old investigator) stopped us and asked if we could all pray together before Äldste Hansen and I got home. We gladly agreed, because well, praying is awesome and highly recommend all of you do it. But we prayed together and then for the final words Debbie just told us "You know, Steele and Hansen, there's been a lot of good missionaries here, but there's something special about you two, I hope you know that" It was such a touching moment and it just put the cherry on top of the night. 

picture from Facebook post

I'm so thankful for this opportunity to go out and meet new people and see how God and Jesus Christ can help them in their lives. We have a lot of investigators that have some big mountains to climb, but I know that all is possible through our Savior, if we just believe, follow, trust in Him. Never forget that no mountain is too hard to climb and that there is always help. Have a great week everyone! Jag älskar er!! 

1) out hiking last P-day

2) view from the top of the hike 

Pictures: 

1) out hiking last P-day

2) view from the top of the hike 

3) playing with the new borns

4) hay is for horses

5) the farm

6) chopping wood with Carlos 

-- Äldste Steele

Eagle-Shield-Bay

Email written: 5/14/18

Roof access picture of Äldste Steele and Äldste Hansen

Hejsan!!

I don't have a ton of time today, but I just wanted to let all of you know that I arrived safely in my new area and life is great. The area I'm serving in now is called Örnsköldsvik, which literally translates to Eagle Shield Bay. How cool is that??

Elder Hansen and I have already had some amazing experiences together and it hasn't even been a week yet. We work so well together, mostly because we both love these people and also we're both willing to work really hard. With the combination of those 2, miracles happen all the time. 

On Wednesday, we're going out to a farm to do some service for one of the members here. It'll be my first time doing real farm work...kind of crazy since I grew up in Texas, but I'm really looking forward to this service opportunity. We have so many other awesome things planned for the week including some finding work in between and I know it's going to be a great week. 

We've been having a lot of success tracting (knocking on doors) recently, and I thought to share a quick experience about Maria to end off the email. About a week or so ago, Elder Hansen and Wilson (missionaries that we here right before I came) had gone by and had met Maria's daughter and had talked for a bit, and were told that they could come back. So, Elder Hansen and I were the ones that were able to go back, so we went and knocked on her door, and Maria answered. She had never seen us before, and so it was a little awkward at first, as it sometimes is knocking on doors, but then her daughter came by in the background and she remembered us. We just began talking and we became instant friends. We then remembered that we had an extra plate of cookies in our car and so we told her we would love to give them some cookies. She was completely shocked and didn't really know what to say. She then wanted to know what the catch was, but we just told her no catch whatsoever, we are here out of the goodness of our hearts to serve people and help them come closer to Christ. We then grabbed the cookies and delivered them to her and she was so happy she almost began crying. We said that we would come back some other time and that we could keep in contact through Facebook. Well, today as we were buying our groceries, we happened to see our good friend Maria working. We went and started talking to her and asked her about her hurt finger as she had sliced it open peeling some carrots or something like that, and then she told us that yesterday was just an absolute stressful day and it made things worse with the finger and she didn't know how to stop the bleeding, but then she remembered something. She had cookies in the fridge that 2 young missionaries had given to her just a few days prior. The cookies, while they might've been something so small, gave her a lot of comfort when she needed it and was so thankful for it. We then said goodbye and instead of us saying it first, she said 'Vi ses', meaning we'll be seeing each other a lot more in the future! It's experiences like these that Elder Hansen and I have been having. Experiences that have been so powerful and so touching for the people that we meet. Because really in the end, it's not about numbers, it's about the people. About caring for individuals and reaching out for love. It's something I've always focused on and I'm glad my companion Elder Hansen focuses on it as well. 

Hope you all have a great week! Jag älskar er! 

Pictures:

We have roof access on our apartment building and so we took a couple of pictures up there and then the other picture is our good friend Tea we met in the middle of stan who made us some pancakes. :)

-- Äldste Steele

Roof access picture

Roof access picture

Roof access picture

Roof access picture

our good friend Tea we met in the middle of stan who made us some pancakes

It's Going Down in the DL's pt.2

Email written: 5/7/18

Tjena!! 

1) The Endler's!!! Love them so much

Well, just like that, another week another transfer has gone by. I totally thought that I would be in Stockholm staying another 3 months, but sometimes God has other plans in mind. I will be moving wayyyy up north to a town called Örnsköldsvik to be with Äldste Hansen and as you might've guessed, I'm going to be the district leader up there!! It's going to be a lot more responsibility than I had as district leader in the MTC, as I will have to prepare for the weekly district meetings, go on exchanges with all the elders in the district, and keep good contact with district members to help them in the work. It's going to be a great opportunity to serve other missionaries and I hope that I will be able to receive help from my Heavenly Father to make up the difference for my weakness and inadequacies. 

As I was walking home on Sunday, letting it all sink in that I would be leaving Stockholm, I felt as if I really took my time for granted here. I thought of all the possible things I could do in Stockholm, but I kept pushing them off because I thought I would have 6 months here. But as I thought about it more and more, I realized I was focusing on the things that didn't really matter that much. I was thinking of all the museums and cool castles that I could have visited and all the touristy type things. But when it really comes back to it, I helped others come unto Christ. I helped our few investigators and members the best I could and served them with love. I gave my best effort here in Stockholm and I know that the only thing that matters in the areas I serve is my commitment to helping others learn how they can follow Jesus Christ, and when I look at it from that perspective, I'm able to move to a new area with an assurance I did what I needed to do. 

It's going to be a crazy next 3 transfers with my new responsibilites as district leader, and then another huge responsibility coming up after that once some certain missionaries receive their visas and get to Sweden ;)

Life is great! I'm loving the mission, loving the people, and loving my Savior. I'm excited to see what good ol' Övik has to offer.

Until next week, ha det bra! 

Pictures:

1) The Endler's!!! Love them so much

2) Sunset in Stockholm

3) a pic from last week at Valborg!

-- Äldste Steele

2) Sunset in Stockholm

3) a pic from last week at Valborg!

Äldste Renlunds besök

Email written: 5/1/18

Wow, what a week it has been! Looking back on my mission, this past week probably was the most eventful week. For starters, I'm writing this email on my new Samsung! We had zone conference on thurs/fri and so we had quite a bit of training on the use of technology in missionary work. The zone conference was fantastic and between the spiritual and information overload, I was totally beat afterwards. It's really taken some time to get used to this new change in our mission but I am so excited to see all that I can do with the tools that we have. While I might be stressed about it all, I've been able to just take it slowly, one step at a time, and working alongside Ä. Baggett to re-learn how to use technology haha. The mission really is all about adjusting such as to new areas, new companions, new language, new inspired changes, etc. It's been such a blessing to have the Lord by my side through all these adjustments as He helps me improve and become even better. 

Then, to make the week even more eventful,Äldste Dale G. Renlund of the quorum of the twelve apostles, came to visit Sweden and spoke to all the members on Sundayevening and then to all the missionaries yesterday. Since Ä. Renlund grew up in Sweden and served his mission here, he spoke to the all the members in Swedish and it was such a special moment. Most people, included myself and Elder Renlund, were in tears as he expressed his love for Sweden and said "Bröder och Systrar, det känns som jag har kommit hem. Jag känner mig hemma här. Det var på svenska att jag först läste Mormons Bok, välsignade sakramentet, bär mitt vittnesbörd" Words can't even really describe how special of a moment it was to hear an apostle of Jesus Christ bear testimony in Swedish. It will definitely be a moment I will never forget.

The next day, we got to hear from him again. He gave such uplifting messages to all of us as missionaries, including 'On behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you for your service.' It really gave me the boost I needed to finish out this transfer strong and continue to improve as a missionary.

Otherwise, life is just fantastic! We went to this huge celebration yesterday called Valborg, which is pretty much when Swedes burn the winter away and it's supposed to mark the official beginning of Spring. It is just such a blessing to have all these experiences here in Sweden alongside my brothers and sisters that I love here. I'm thankful for my choice to come on my mission and even more thankful for staying on my mission and gaining my testimony that I'm supposed to be here and that I was called of God by revelation to serve at this exact time in Sweden.

Hope you all have a fantastic week! Jag älskar er!

Pictures:

1) Valborg

2) Zone leaders and Hampus 

3) äldste baggett och jag 

4) out in gåshaga brygga after a member meal 

5) typical swedish neighborhood 

1) Valborg

2) Zone leaders and Hampus

3) äldste baggett och jag

4) out in gåshaga brygga after a member meal 

5) typical swedish neighborhood