5th P-day Toronto (Tillsonburg)

Steve Said his knee is much better and it will be checked out at the doctor on Oct 7th!
I am scared to death for socialized medicine to diagnose this wrong, but my knee was diagnosed wrong when I was 14 here so maybe not much better. Pray for a miracle that nothing will be seriously wrong with it.

He will be getting a new companion on Wednesday, because Elder Johnson is heading home. His new companion is 6'4, so that should be an interesting combination. Can't wait to see pictures!!;)

Here is the letter from Steve....

This week has been great.

Reg and Margarett have taken to showing us everything they own which is awesome and Reg is softening up a bunch and is not ready to come back to church yet but I bet he will soon.

A picture of some of Reg's stuff he likes to collect

    With Sherry this week was awesome. She is still scared to commit to a baptismal date but totally knows she should and is receiving incredible fellowship from the branch. She even told us in a lesson that we had saved her life, and she knows that it really is God who sent us there. She still thinks a lot of it is just getting her out and being social. But obviously we know that there is a lot more happening than that. She is changing so much! Her daughter had a mental breakdown and is in the hospital which I think will be huge for her, she prayed to be closer to her family and she is getting it! Also we have prayed a bunch and think Conference is going to be where she gets a solid answer. 

    We also met this guy on the street and he was super nice. Homeless with nothing but insisted on buying us Tim Hortons and wanted to know his purpose in life. We told him a bit while walking around town and set up a return appointment which was hard since he's homeless and he didn't show which was too bad, but he was super awesome.

    Also Elder Johnson had his departing interview which from what he said was pretty intense. Elder Bakker was there though cause he has a companion who is dying.(Elder Bakker MTC Farsi speaking). So it was way cool cause I got to talk with him for like 30 minutes. Also I got to talk to Sister Shields a bunch and we talked about traveling and Israel and stuff and it was way fun. I also got to go teaching with one of the Brampton Zone leaders named Elder Taylor, he is super sweet. Unfortunately it fell though but we tracked into some sweet Indian people in Brampton that I'm way excited for him to teach. We slept over at the mansion that night and got to see how that works when not many people are there. The assistants(Elder Holt and Carrol) and the Brampton zone leaders(Elder Flake and Elder Taylor) are the two companion ships who live there. I got to talk with all them a bunch and ask what they would do if they were starting again differently. It was sweet and you can just feel their power just like with Elder Johnson that you can tell comes from their commitment to their service.

     The temple with Brother Gary Pidgon was phenomenal, and I get to go again for the 6 week  newbies next week before conference which will be awesome! We got the video that I see almost every time and the spirit was so strong. My testimony was greatly strengthened as to how real this Gospel is and that what I am doing has real consequence in these peoples lives and how much I want all of God's family to be in the temple together.

     In church we sang 159 "Now the day is Over" as the final hymn of Elder Johnson's mission church experience. I of course was so happy they chose that classic hymn!

    I know everyone Jesus Christ. I know His restored Gospel is the best way and only way to fully access Him and His Atonement. I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be a missionary and be offering Jesus Christ as a representative of Jesus Christ every day. I know Him so much better and my relationship with Him and my Heavenly Father is beyond so much deeper than I ever knew it could be. I know God knows me. I know he loves me. I know he loves ALL of His children and has a plan for all of them.

Emailing back and Forth on September 19, 2016

Sorry to hear about the knee still giving you problems. It sounds like you now have the right brace which is great. I would suggest taking it real easy for a while (as long as your medical guy recommended) and not playing sports and give it time to really heal. Certainly, it sounds like walking is good, but just make sure to wear your brace. I know you hate not being able to play and this is a significant trial so remember President Uchtdorf's counsel to "slow down" and don't try to just speed up and get through it. You don't have to be perfectly humble in order to warrant the Lord's blessings or be a successful missionary. None of us are perfect anything so I hope you don't believe you have to be completely humble before being loved and blessed. Just try your best. Can't wait to hear your recordings. Have you got to attend the temple yet in Toronto? If so, did you work in the baptistry or receive an endowment?

I have not gone to the Temple, but this week I get to go to go twice. Once for the 6-week training and temple trip that all missionaries in their first 6 weeks get to go to. And we have a returning member who is receiving his endowment on Saturday and we get to go with him for that. We don't get to participate in any ordinances in the font because water, could do other stuff though. I think that both the trips this week will be recieving enddowment ordinances .

Ok I'm not liking this medical guy very much, did your knee feel like if popped again? I would really like you to go have it checked by a real orthopedic doctor , didn't he come and see you and look at your knee and brace and see if you have torn the ligament? Is it al swelled up again


Haha, you can call to get all the details if you want, this is the first time he had seen my knee brace though.
He had me on Tylonol extra strength but I rarely take that now because it doesn't really hurt, not too swollen but the swelling has never really went away, which he said is because it is healing so that's normal. He did look at it after you talked to him but I couldn't find my brace that morning cause their was loads of comotion at "The mansion" because of Elder Arnold. Anyway he got me a great brace now and you should probably like him because he is a super nice guy.

4th P-day in Toronto (Tillsonburg)

This week has been pretty sweet!

     I'm bummed to hear about BYU. It's probably good i'm here and not there being infinetly frustrated with the decision to play Taysom rather than Tanner. I of course have thought since Taysom's announcement of playing this year that Tanner would probably be the better option. Oh well. I'm glad Kalani is saying the right things I guess, I'd rather have him play the right players. Like I said, probably good that I'm out here instead of back there.

     At sports last week I messed up my knee again. That was great. The next day we went to Brampton and Elder Cannon looked at the brace I had and said that's not what he meant at all. That was fun. We went shopping with him and he got me a hefty brace and says, "Be wise, what can I say more?" about what to do on it. I won't be playing sports on it for at least 3 weeks to be safe. Anyways that has been fun.

     We have had some pretty great Branch involvement and our investigators are really starting to feel very welcomed and loved at church and at other activities that they are being invited to and coming to.

     I was pretty emotionally and physically tired at the start of the week and I'm crediting my knee for that.

     We did some service on Thursday for some members which was fun.

     We had my first zone council this week! It was super sweet! The spirit was super strong and I think the individual preparations of the zone. One piece of personal revelation I recieved was that I can be obedient with the right spirit and attitude of love for God while still not being absolutely enthusiastic and bursting with optimism, as well as even thinking that I don't want to do it. The perfect example of this of course is Jesus Christ, who was outwardly weighed down by sorrow through different parts of His ministry and especially while performing the Atoning sacrifice, and He even asked to have the cup removed, he didn't want to do it. Yet He did, and of course we know He did it out of a perfect love for us and for our Heavenly Father. It brings me great comfort to know that it is okay if I don't absolutely want to do this work everyday, and that I can still serve for the right reasons in the right way.

     There was lots of great instruction given, and I felt the spirit very strongly throughout the entire 3 hours. Probably my favorite part was testimonies though at the end of the meeting. Elder Johnson bore a very simple, short, yet powerful testimony. It was wonderful. Elder Wehi who I have also grown a great respect for(one of the zone leaders, going home with Elder Johnson and is from Austrailia), gave a beautiful testimony to finish the meeting and said somehting that has really stuck with me. He said that those out in the world without this Gospel are so much more tired than we are. They are tired of not having the truth, tired of not accessing the Atonement, tired of not knowing Jesus Christ, and that we cannot afford to let our tiredness get in the way of them recieving the gift that will stop their tiredness forever. He said he knew that our missions were intended to prepare us to raise an Eternal Family. They were beautiful thoughts in a beautiful testimony.

     I think our talks in Sacrament meeting went well and hopefully will provide some motivation and inspiration to come join this labor of love.

     Something that I have really thought about this week was how I don't know of any other work where there are so many resources available and specific instrustion given than to missionaries to carry out missionary work. On one hand it shows how important missionary work is the Jesus Christ, on the other it shows and tells me that I don't have to re-invent the wheel. I think often times I think that I am the exception or those that we are working with are the exception. This simply isn't true, if we will just follow the pattern that has been so clearly established we will have the most success possible.

     In my studies I have also tried to apply a similar principle. Often studies feel like review because I lack the true humble searching spirit and think that I know enough about these and there isn't much more to find besides small insignificant details. Obviously this is very untrue. to help with this I have been applying one thing from studies each day to do during that day, so far it has been a wonderful experience.

     I know that Jesus Christ is the leader of this church and this work. All of God's children were His and are still His long before and during and after my interactions with them, and He will take care of them. This Gospel becomes very simple if we will honestly trust in God. Trust Him enough to obey without full knowledge, trust Him with our friends, trust Him in difficulties. I know as we trust in God he DELIVERS. Always.

3rd P-day in Toronto (Tillsonburg)

September 12, 2016

It's been another great week!

     It has been ultra hot and humid. Pretty much over 30 degrees Celcius and very humid the whole week.

     Sherry is really starting to improve and is gaining a serious interest in the BOM! She still doesn't want to talk baptism at all and shuts it down super fast whenever it is brought up. but she has said relatively passively(only when I asked her very directly) that she believes the BOM is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet. That was awesome but it is still very passive and not inspiring real change, at least at that point in time. Anyway she also is reading a ton of the BOM and before hand had not read really any at all. I know that if she keeps reading she will begin to develope that real intent that has not been there or is not there super well yet.

     However, we had a sweet experience with her and church. She had said she would come to church, but our follow up didn't work because no answer to phone. The member that was going to bring her showed up without her and we were super bummed. However Elder Johnson saw her coming in outside the window in Priesthood 10 minutes before sacrament meeting so we went out and talked to her for a sec. She was holding her mouth which she has been in a lot of pain because she has had multiple mouth operations recently. she said that when the member had come to get her it had woke her up cause she forgot, and decided not to come. But she said that "God kept telling her that she needed to come" and she DID!! I was so excited and talked to her after and she said that she really liked the speakers that spoke, it was a high councilman and someone else that he had brought. Such a miracle! Can't wait to meet with her on tommorow and talk about her expericences with the BOM. We are also going to leave "The Testaments" with her which I don't think I had ever seen the whole thing pre mission but it is one of if not my favorite films that the church has ever came out with before.

     We also finally got to have a lesson with Jordan and I think we have set up in his mind a real opportunity for him to pray with real intent and recieve his answer, I have my fingers crossed!

     An absolute highlight and probably biggest highlight of the week was Elder Arnold! Holy cow! He spoke in last conference and gave a great talk, but what he did here was nothing short of miraculous for me individually. we stayed at "The mansion" the night before in Brampton(big house where the Assistant's live). It was fun to see so many missionaries but none of the ones I came out with were there. My zone was though and they are all pretty sweet!

     The next day we were in the church right by the temple(general meeting place for big meetings). the district and zone leaders, and the sister training leaders were with Elder Arnold in a seperate meeting for the first 2 hours, and the rest of us had a great led discussion about the stripling warriors and Christlike attributes they demonstrated. It was sweet and it really brought the spirit! There were people at the mansion who had met with Elder Arnold the previous day that said he was super bold and laid down the law.

     Anyway I had some specific questions going into the meeting, hoping that the spirit could answer them and teach me anything else I needed to know from Elder Arnold. I can't begin to tell you how crazy it was. Every single one of my questions were answered in depth, and 90% of them were answered in the first 10 minutes. By the spirit some, but mostly by the actual things he said. I have an absolute testimony and it has been significantly stregnthened that Christ's chosen representatives are His chosen representatives and they are absolutely inspired to recieve revelation for me.

     One question I had had how important it was to kneel with investigators in lessons. in the MTC they taught that it was very important and should always be a priority. However out here Elder Johnson seemed to suggest that it wasn't that important and that it wasn't as important they the investigators were the ones actually praying and that it was more important for them to be the patriarch of the home and choosing. I honestly was very worried about this because I had some spiritual experiences with investigators praying while kneeling. Elder Arnold shook everyone's hands as the music was playing and then when the prayer was going to be said everyone kneeled down. Elder Arnold got up and said this was not okay, we don't kneel in big meetings. He said that we would from that point foward be kneeling with all of our investigators in every lesson. Prayers answered. He said that the foundation of the mission was here, but we were going to be making some small changes to help the mission stop being so "flat". He talked ab out obedience being so important because if we don't do obedience we will never get onto anything else. He said that we should have such good studies in the morning that when we get tgo someone's doorstep there is NO WAY that they won't feel the spirit super strongly. Another question I had was why goals were not focused and why we didn't make it a consistant priority to follow up on goals all the time. He talked a lot about goals and how we should be fired up about goals and how we were approaching goals all the wrong way and not setting nearly enough, which I completely agreed with.

     One thing I really loved that he said was that when people reject me they are only rejecting Christ, and that he was willing to be rejected for Christ all day every day. 

    Another thing I was super worried about was that we just seemed not to be using the ward in the way we should be, and was going in with the question of how we could get the ward excited about missionary work and really work as a team. He answered this with fire. Totally said that we are spending way too much time contacting(just waking around talking to people) and tracting and not spending nearly enough time teaching and using members as the PRIMARY way to find people. It sounded like angels singing in my ears. He then shared some specifics of how we can make that happen.

     I was so excited and hyped to go back to our area and basically change our entire gameplan of how we were doing things. However I quickly found that Elder Johnson was not nearly as excited as I was about all this, he was immedietly saying why he thinks we should apply it, but not expect immediate results because of the "uniqueness" of our are and whatnot. Oh well. He did tell me the next day some things that I thought probably were going on in his head which makes a whole lot of sense.

     Elder Arnold seemingly just came in and tore down a huge foundation of things that President Clayton had been doing. To Elder Johnson it felt like everything that he had been taught in the last 2 years had been torn down by Elder Arnold(This of course isn't actually the case, but I could see how he could feel that way). And it's difficult because Elder Clayton is now a General Authourity as well and obviously he was doing a lot of things right here. Also he has 2 weeks so I'm sure it is tough to think that we should change the very fundamental way that we use our time. We'll see what we can do.

     On the brightside about half of our mission is missionaries that came in within the last two transfers, so everyone is fresh and if we apply these things, I know that it will work out incredibly well. I do feel that I have for sure been very prideful about this and that I was looking at it much to much in a way of justification for me being frustrated with how we have been approaching it. the truth is though that I have a lot that I can personally do a lot better at in relation to this advice. And even though I am new I haven't really proactively done anything to help us be more successful in these areas that were addressed.

     I am just so excited to get going. It is so much better out here where I don't have personal distractions that get in the way of carrying out revelation of how to improve. I love it.

     My faviorite quote that Elder Arnold shared was from Richard g. Scott, "In order to reach a higher goal we must do things differently." I am so excited to do things differently, and then continue to do them differently to reach higher and higher goals!

     

2nd P-day in Toronto (Tillsonburg)

This has been an incredible week. I've loved every second of being out here. Before I forget again I have to say a few words concerning the Canadian food I've been introduced to, it's fantastic. They have putin which is heavenly and Smoke's is the resturaunt the missionaries love. the maple syrup is actually that good. They have a desert called "The Great Canadian Sunday" which is probably the best thing on this planet. It's vanilla ice cream with the corn flakes cereal and coated in maple syrup, it's heavenly.

    NO NEW INJURIES THIS WEEK! YAY!

     I took some serious spiritual rebuking this week, and a lot of comfort. We were teaching one of our investigators named Sherry and she just doesn't get that we have what she needs, or at least that was my prideful thought. She had decided by the end of the lesson that she was really just there for us and that she was going to help us so we could be better missionaries for others. That's true, but she needs our message said my prideful mind. Anyway I was rebuked and the spirit taught me that really there were many that could help her, and I was here mostly for me. I needed to focus on others, but I was moslty there for my own progression. It was difficult to take in and I'm definetly still learning about it.

     Dad's voice recording made me cry and was super good the day after that spiritual rebuking. That day I was simply comforted by the spirit and experiences all day after the difficult one before. When dad said that the spirit told Him from God that He had me, I felt the spirit very strongly say that He did have me, and He was going to be with me and take care of me, and that I could do it through Him. That's when I cried and stuff. Later for portal trainging stuff I saw a clip from President Monson talking about how sometimes life is hard and we don't see the light at the end of the tunnel. This is how God wants this life to be, and it is the way that I can truly grow.

     Sunday was wonderful and I really felt the spirit during testimony meeting. I know that this is Christ's church anywhere in the world and that all people on the earth truly are children of God. We were listening to a piece of some talks and got to one from Holland addressing mission presidents. He said something along the lines of, "I have often wondered why the work of Salvation is so difficult, and why people don't just accept this Gospel that I know could bless their lives forever. After much thought I have come to this conclusion as to part of the reason. THE PRICE OF SALVATION IS NOT A CHEAP EXPERIENCE. Not for the investigator or for the missionary, it is difficult, and it is absolutlely worth it. I invite you presidents, when your missionaries question as to the difficulties of the work and ask why it is so hard. Tell them that someone much greater then them, much better, did something that wasn't easy for Him. Tell them that He asked if there was no other way and for the bitter cup He was asked to drink would be removed from Him. This is no cheap experience, but it will be eternally worth it" This was powerful for me and gave me the motivation to keep going.

     Also, we finally got to see Jerry which was a super great tender mercy. Also I had my first investigator actually drop us so that was awesome. I was so hyped about Jerry that I just didn't really care.

     I know this is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and He is who I represent, I'm so grateful for the small amount of time that I get that priveledge.

1st P-day in Toronto (Tillsonburg)

Which one of these is not like the others?
Poor Steve cut his head open getting his luggage out of the trailer on his first day in the mission.
One week later he sprained his knee, so the medical missionary knows him well!

Well, not too long after emailing last week I suffered a knee injury at sports. We were playing what's called "chair soccer" which in all honesty I didn't think was all that fun. Anyway I planted wrong I guess and my knee popped on the outside and I had trouble walking and stuff. We iced it and called Brother Cannon who is now quite familiar with me. He said to get a knee support band which we did. I have been icing it and wearing that and it is starting to get a lot better. Still definetly swollen though and I can't run or anything on it till at least Friday he said. Good times! I'm sure this is no suprise to you back home.

     We had our first District meeting this week and they had us do a bunch of stuff. Elder Johnson says that based on the numbers that were presented our District seems to be struggling significantly. I still don't really understand what reasonable numbers are but I'm not too worried about all that. They are really emphasizing opening your mouth and talking to everyone in part because Elder Ballard talked about that a lot. It's awesome.

     We finally got to teach Sherry who the old missionaries said was our one solid investigator. She was great. She does not want to set a baptismal date and it sounds like the old Elder's did nothing but talk to her about that. They told us she hadn't had any of the lessons... Oh well, we decided to not worry about that and have her gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the rest will take care of itself.

     I am starting to see more and more tender mercies throughout the day when otherwise it would seem like a difficult thing to do. There are so many nice people here, even the ones that are not very interested in the Gospel. So that's pretty sweet. We definetly are working on how we can do better at finding people which I'm sure based on what I've heard is something to be improving and changing throughout one's mission.

     church was fantastic! It is super small town and awesome! My testimony was significantly stregnthened of the fact that "where two or three are gathered there am I also"

     One of my favorite things that I read today was in Jesus the Christ where it talks about how "one" is in regards to purpose, and power in regards to the Greek original translation, but how it does not relate to the personality. I love this principle of us still keeping our personalities throughout Eternity. It makes Heaven sound a whole lot better to me!

     Also if you have sent any actual letters I haven't got them so that's a dagger. I am sending some (I think) today if I get the chance.

     I would love inserts to my shoes if we decided that would work, the arches of my feet hurt a bit all the time. I love and miss you all.

     I am so thankful for the chance that I have to be a part of this glorious work. It is difficult. It is emotionally taxing and spiritually draining, but it is fantastic! The relationship I have been able to stregnthen with my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has been incredible. Elder Johnson is amazing and I have learned and am learning so much from him, and am trying to soak up as much as I possibly can because I know I don't have him for long!

This was the group Steve arrived with at the airport in Toronto on Aug. 15, 2016