Job's Wife and the Big Picture

Email written: 9/24/18

Tjena!

It's been another great week here in Utby! I've been able to experience a lot of great things here with Elder Harper and I hope that we can continue to see miracles as Elder Harper's mission comes to an end. We were able to have interviews with President Youngberg this past week and so at the end of the interview, I was just like, okay President, how did you know that I needed to be companions with Elder Harper? He sat there for a little bit and then he began explaining to me that it took him a while to know which transfers needed to happen and after much prayer and pondering, he knew exactly where everyone needed to be. He told me that right now at this point in my mission, this was the best option for me. He said that there are several different things that could happen in the future and so by being in Utby with Elder Harper for this transfer will allow the Lord to guide me to the places I need to be and to be with companions I need to be with. He told me there's a lot more going on than just the current transfer and so he looks at the big picture. So many times in life, we don't look at the picture and are so caught up in the present that we can't understand why certain things are happening in our lives. 

During the week, we received a text from someone who had previously been taught with the missionaries and she really wanted to meet with us. She had been going through some things in her life the past few months, but now she felt so much better and really wanted to meet us and learn from us! So we set up a time to meet, but we had to cancel because her daughter got sick, but she was able to come to church yesterday and we got to talk quite a bit there. What's even better is that she is already good friends with several ward members and a member took her to church and sat by her! 

The topic of our first lesson with her, was, upon her request, a lesson on Job and Job's wife. Apparently, her good friend is writing a book about women found in the Bible and so her friend asked her to be the model for Job's wife that she will include in the book. But anyways, we were able to explain all about the trials that Job faced and how he and also his wife reacted to the challenges they went through. We testified to her that we know that God won't give us a challenge we can't handle, and because this sister had been through a lot, it was hard for her to believe it, but I'm thankful for the testimony that I have that all the trials that we go through are things that we can handle. We just need the bigger picture! 

Other than that, things are going super well here. We were able to help out at Östhjälpen and everyone there thought it was hilarious we were moving heavy boxes around and putting in work in shirts and ties. We've also been able to run into some really prepared people, including a dad that immediately asked us for a pamphlet when he answered the door and then after he took the pamphlet, he gave it to his 5 year old daughter and said, We're going to learn about God together!!. So some cool things are happening here in Göteborg and I'm thankful to be a part of it. 

Ha det fint! Vi hörs!

Pictures:

1) A storm came to Göteborg...

2/3) Storm aftermath 

4) Sunset

5) KFC trip last monday

-- Äldste Steele

5) KFC trip last monday 

1) A storm came to Göteborg...

2/3) Storm aftermath 

2/3) Storm aftermath 

4) SunsetJob's Wife and the Big Picture

Välkommen till Utby

Email written: 9/17/18

Hej!

1) The crew that picked me up

Well, I'm officially moved in now to a smaller suburb of Göteborg called Utby. I already love this area, but I still miss Örnsköldsvik quite a bit. Övik really has some special people there that I really am going to miss. :'(. But, I know that there are people here that I need to find and to teach and help here, and so I look forward to the many opportunities that I will have to serve here in Utby. One thing that was pretty shocking for me here in Utby, was the fact that our ward is an actual ward and we have over 100 active members here. It's going to be hard to learn all these names and families, so I hope that I can start getting it down in no time and really make this place my home. 

We've had some great experiences here in the past few days and I thought that it would be good to share them with y'all! One of those great experiences is finally tasting real kebab,,,wow, that stuff is good, but anyways...

We were out tracting, and in the back of my mind, I wanted to meet someone that we could do some service for. I've always liked to come into areas and find out where the service opportunities are so that I not only can teach people, but also serve them. So, as we are out knocking doors, we end up talking to this nice lady with 2 huge apple trees in her yard. She offered us some of the apples, which we gladly accepted, and then we asked if we could come by some other time and teach her. She then began making up the I'm retired, but insanely busy excuse, and so we were going to leave it at that, but then i was like, wait a minute, what are you busy with? And we found out that she works at this massive second hand store and so we started talking about that and we now have a service opportunity for a second hand store that raises money to build schools in less developed parts of eastern Europe, so we are super pumped for that! 

The next day, we had planned to play some American football with a couple of the young men in the ward and as we were going into it, I really prayed and hoped that someone would come by that we could talk to about the gospel. So sure enough, as we were playing, this older man came to the sidelines and just watched us. I knew immediately I needed to talk to him and so I excused myself from the game and jogged over to him. I began chatting with him and quickly found out that he had lived right behind the church Kungsbacka (a citysouth of göteborg) for a big chunk of his life. He would act as a type of security for the building by walking around it making sure nothing bad ever happened to it. He didn't have a belief in God, but we agreed to meeting up again this next week to pick some svamp and talk more about life! It was cool to see that little miracle! 

And then, to top it all off on Saturday, we ended up dong some HEAVY lifting for a lady that lives not too far from us. Apparently, one of the ward members, this absolute bro from Australia, has been in contact with this lady for the past 5 years and has been waiting for the right moment to bring in the missionaries for a service project, lots of prayers, and a spiritual message after lunch. It went super well, and we hope to see the results of those 5 years of 'seed planting' in the near future! 

Life is good, and it's awesome to be around Äldste Harper, Lee, and Domino! Until next week, ha det bra! 

Pictures:

1) The crew that picked me up

2) Flygplan 

3) hejdå äldste steeleson

4) the church here in Utby!

-- Äldste Steele

2) Flygplan 

3) hejdå äldste steeleson

4) the church here in Utby!

First Shall Be Last, And The Last First

Email written: 9/10/18

Hejsan allihoppa! 

Well, it's been real, but I found out just last night that I will be leaving Örnsköldsvik. I will be transferring to one of Sweden's biggest cities, Gothenburg! But, the part of this transfer that's the biggest shock, is the missionary that I am going to be companions with! This is how the phone call went last night:

Zone Leaders: 'Elder Steele will be transferred to Utby (Göteborg) and will be co-senior companions with Elder Harper'

Me: 'Wait what? What do you mean Elder Harper? I've already been companions with him. He was the missionary that trained me! Y'all are just messing with me, tell me what's actually happening"

Zone Leaders: 'You're going to Utby to kill Elder Harper'

So, I'm going to be companions yet again with my good friend and brother in Christ, Äldste Dale Harper Jr. It's going to be a crazy 6 weeks and I am so pumped to see what we can accomplish. The Lord really must want us to accomplish something big together if he wanted us to be companions again. This will be Elder Harper's last transfer and so I will be his last ever companion here in Sweden.

It's been really great being able to serve here in Örnsköldsvik. I've laughed, I've cried, and I've learned a ton. I've been thankful for this opportunity to serve in Eagle Shield Bay. I know that it will be in good hands with my son, Äldste Thompson. 

There's quite a bit on my mind with moving and all, so I can't really think of much more to say, but I hope that you all have a great week. I'll tell y'all more about Göteborg next week! Until then, ha det fint! 

Pictures:

1) Sweden landscape

2) From a hike today up to Åsberget

3) I'm going to miss this view....

4) The Övik boys!! 

5) This fire was used to burn one of my white shirts....video to come later

-- Äldste Steele

1) Sweden landscape

2) From a hike today up to Åsberget

3) I'm going to miss this view....

4) The Övik boys!! 

5) This fire was used to burn one of my white shirts....video to come later

Fjärde Våningen, Sista Dörren

Email written: 9/3/18

Friends and Family,

Well, here we are, at the last week of the transfer. It's been a great transfer so far, and an even better continuation of training Äldste Thompson. It's making me pretty sad that we might have to part ways soon and move to new areas and get new companions. Tears may or may not be shed when I'll finally have to let my son fly away from the nest of eagle shield bay....

I've officially been in Sweden now an entire year!! It's so crazy to think that a whole year ago I was doubling into Gävle with Äldste Harper. We've planned this Friday with the youth in the branch to burn a white shirt in commemoration of one whole year, so stay tuned next week for those pictures! 

But anyways, we had a last door miracle yesterday! I almost cried tears of joy when it happened. So here we were, in morning planning. We were about to plan in the last part of the day and I felt really strongly we needed to set the goal of someone with baptismal date by the end of the night. I first asked Ä. Thompson if he had any goals or thoughts on what we need to accomplish at the end of the day, but nothing was coming, so I shared what I thought we could accomplish, and so then we set the goal to find someone that was ready for baptism and then thought about where that person would be. I felt it wasn't on our list of focus people and that it was going to be someone we tracted in to in Domsjö. Setting this goal and plan required quite a bit of faith, but we planned it out and went through the day until we had the last hour-hour and half to go tracting in Domsjö. Well, we start knocking, and while everyone we knock in to was home, all of them were not interested. We even had one lady yell at us from behind the door and told us that she was calling the police. It was pretty discouraging, but at the same time we were laughing quite a bit because the people we were meeting were saying some weird things, like 'Halloj'. 

Well, it was 8:55, and there was one more house that I felt we needed to knock on. We come up to the door and we knock. A woman comes and answers the door and Äldste Thompson just impressively starts taking the conversation. We first come to find out that she is a swedish as a second language teacher, and this got me excited because I've been wanting to meet a swedish teacher that can help us get better at Swedish. Then, as we are talking, her son peeks his head around the corner and goes oh hey what's up steele! And I'm like wait, I know this kid, and it turned out to be someone that Äldste Hansen and I had played basketball with about 4 months ago. They gladly welcomed us back any time this next week and we walked back to our car, overjoyed that we had just witnessed a last door miracle! 

Patience and faith are essential for each an every one of us to truly experience the blessings that God has in store for us. A lot of times, we are going to have to go through our trials in life, and sometimes even cry out, when will this end? But, I know that God will always provide, even if it's the fourth floor, last door, or even the 'fourth watch' as talked about in Mark 6. May we all be patient and have faith in our lives!

Thank you everyone for the support! I hope everyone has a great week and don't forget, in the great words of one of our neighbors, 'Jesus kommer mycket mycket mycket mycket snart'.

Hejdå!

Pictures:

1) It looked like we were underwater

2) the sun has finally begun to set here in Sweden

3) ski jump in Övik

4) the ski jump is a lot scarier at the top

5) Me and one of my zone leaders, Äldste Hartin

-- Äldste Steele

5) Me and one of my zone leaders, Äldste Hartin

1) It looked like we were underwater

2) the sun has finally begun to set here in Sweden

3) ski jump in Övik

4) the ski jump is a lot scarier at the top