Aug 14, 2017 Biking now, great workout for his knee!

Aug 14, 2017

THis week has been awesome!

We have seen a lot of great miracles this week! We have some people that have received answers to prayers about specific dates for baptism!! Some have committed, some haven't yet. We are having quite a few people come out to church and Elder Bakker is keeping them all thrilled with his Farsi translation!

     Also a big highlight this week was a Zone Conference! It was awesome and really focused on following up with all the "OYM"ing and helping us set better goals and more effectively plan! They showed us a few videos from the mission presidents training which was very powerful. One that I really felt the spirit during was a video of a bunch of recent converts of the last 2 months all saying "the missionaries found me..." I really felt the spirit. I know that this work is continuing and is going at exactly the pace that the Lord sees fit and is happening exactly as He desires! What a blessing it is to be a part of this work on the front lines!! I love it!

     This week/month we have been biking like crazy which is the greatest! This has led to a lot of saved Kilometers on our car and a lot more opportunities to talk to people! Also, we are getting great exercise and I'm sure it is great for my knee! Love it! So grateful for that!

     This morning we had some early morning sports which were super fun! I actually got to hit some tennis balls with another missionary! Good stuff!

       Also, we are getting some great Iranian food, we are trying to learn how to make some of it! I heard there were some restaurants back there which will be pretty sweet!

      Everything else here is amazing! We still are eating amazing and balling out at night with our nerf hoop. My 3 pointer has been blessed from that haha. I understand more and more Farsi and I am able to contribute more and more to our lessons and contacts with them!

     Love you all. Hope all is well and everyone is excited about fall! Have a great week!

July 24, 2017 Lots of new people to teach!!

Hello Family! This week has been incredible! We are seeing many miracles!

We have some great investigators right now all around the globe! Some here, Montreal, Taiwan, and who knows where is next! Crazy!

MPQ has been reading the B of M every night(3-4 pages) and coming to church and believes a Prophet is necessary today and wants to know what the purpose of life is, because no one has ever been able to answer that question for him.

LRT + EHI new from California where there great LDS friend majorly impacted there life, and they don't want to go anywhere but the Mormon church.

MPE wants to be baptized

UOR also wants to be baptized

JOU +UYH +DKE want to be sealed as soon as possible

HJO is reading the B Of M and feels that he/she has a great role to play in bringing friends back to the church and new ones into the church

A lot is happening, and we are seeing many miracles!

The Lord is blessing us immensely. I know that He is able to accomplish His work, that in reality I am not responsible nor capable to accomplish it. Only he can. I also know if I am worthy and work hard, He will allow me to be a part of His work, and greater peace and joy can be felt as I serve Him than in any other way or means. I know the Savior Jesus Christ is the only name and means whereby we can be saved and receive peace in this life, and Eternal Life in the world to come!

    This has been an incredible experience getting to talk with so many people that have completely different backgrounds culturally than myself. What a blessing! They are wonderful! The amount of love I have for the Iranian people is more than I can say with words, how I wish to become like them. Also I have been able to evaluate in a very real and personal way who the Jesus of Nazareth really is to me. For me I know that He truly is the literal Son of God, and my personal advocate with the Father. He will come and rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Prince of Peace, and we cannot find the buoyant peace that comes from following, loving, receiving, knowing, and becoming one with and in Him anywhere else. I adore Him.

I love and miss you all and wish you the greatest week! I hope the Missionary Training Center and Seven Peaks, and everything else has been wonderful! I also recently have been thinking how grateful I really am to have been born and raised in the family that I was born and raised in. What power comes in lives when love and Priesthood authority and power are ever present in our homes. This is true religion. How grateful I am to share that here with all I have to give at this time.

Canada Day! July 3, 2017

Hello blessed family! I hope all is well back in the blessed land of Utah! Here is quite blessed as well!

   We have definetly had some major attitude adjustments(especially me). I think last week was a climax of quite a bit of stress, and a lot of new and challenging circumstances. I appreciate your love and support!

    This week has been incredible! We have switched an attitude of talking to everyone we see to going WAY out of our way to see more people that we can talk to. And we are finding a lot more Persians!! And it defiantly helps that my Farsi is improving so I can talk with them a little bit and make sure we have a Gospel invitation in every contact! We start every contact(or at least a lot) with a "shoma farsi belidid" aka "do you speak farsi'? And actually that works well, and we ask everyone who they know that is Persian, and people know a lot of Persians, and give us a lot of referals that way to try!

     We had some powerful lessons with X, Y, Z. And they aer doing amazing!! Some really are close to being ready to commite to baptismal dates!! Also finding a ton more Persians that we are currently teaching or will be teaching soon! It's crazy! I've never been happier! I'm reminded of the thought from someone that sometimes in this mortal journey we will be filled with hope, and at times we will be filled with a degree of despair. I am so grateful for this and am thrilled for the "effectual struggles" still to be had here and beyond!

     Also a member family of ours is doing very well and has some goals set with Bishop to go to the Temple in September to perform baptisms and confirmations for some anscestors who have passed on, and then a short time later to be sealed as a family! It's incredible! They have a son who is 17 and sweet, and is fellowshipping one of our soon-to-be investigators who came to church this Sunday! And is going to bring some friends to sports night!

    One super cool miracle this week was that we were referered to this street, tracted, and second house someone was so surprised that we spoke Farsi, and was semi-interested. But he gave us a referral of his best friend who he said he would sit in on lessons with, address andall. Well in a totally different area about 30 minutes later we talked to a Persian delivering pizza, and guess what, found out same friend that had just been referred! He also said he would text us a bunch of people that we could teach!

     We are seeing miracles all around and I've never been happier! I know thi s work is true!

And actually today we are back in my old stomping grounds in downtown Toronto because the Zone Leaders wanted to bike here and spend the day! It has been a blast so far! It's also pretty nuts because we are biking in one of the biggest cities in North America!

Anyway hope all is well! I am so grateful for you love and prayers, you are always in mine! Have a wonderful  week!

The Bauer's are a family that Steve's mom taught the gospel to while she was serving her mission in Hungary!

I am so proud that Steve remembered a word in Hungarian!
EGESZEGDRE!! means " BLESS YOU" you say that after someone sneezes!!

THis week has been great!

One thing I forgot was that a while a go we ran into a Hungarian who knows the Bauers, his name is Erno glonczi. I believe he said he was in there stake, and has recently moved here to Canada!

Canada Day was awesome! The Richmond Hill Ward had a great breakfast which was a good time! We also heard a lot of fireworks after we went into our apartment!

Church yesterday was great! 

We had the holiday weekend here which means yesterday was a holiday so we get to email today on the 4th! Happy 4th of july!

We can't wait to see the miracles that will come here!

Have a great week! I love and miss you!

Hard Week!!

It's been an pretty difficult week this week.

We have seen lots of miracles though!

The work goes on, and I know that it is real and true.

I am grateful that I get to be a missionary at this time!

Have a wonderful week and know that I love you!

Richmond Hill North Area, June 12th

This week was a wonderful week! We are having a blast up here in this Richmond Hill (North)Area.

   This area is awesome! There are some great members and a lot of work to do through them! The whole ward really is great!

    We also have lots of wonderful investigators that are doing very well!

     One cool miracle we saw here last week was accidentally (or not so accidentally) knocking on the wrong house, who ended up being a member. Who happened to have the other missionaries(English) not show for an appointment for whatever reason. Who wants her daughter to be taught so she can prepare to be baptized! That was pretty great!

    We are excited to see the miracles that are yet to come as we labor here!

    I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I have been reading and attempting to understand it. I feel a great power that comes from that book, and while I don't know often what the specific words and phrases mean in Persian, or how to pronounce them, I feel the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true.

     I can't tell you how nice and welcoming and genuine Persian people are. It's very inspiring. I am so grateful I get to serve in a way among them.

     Happy Father's Day to Dad next week! I am so grateful that I get to be your son.

     I also would love to hear how keeping the Sabbath day holy throughout your life has blessed you!

     From what I hear summer vacation has started out wonderfully! Lubes, Cooch, Hont, and Toast, I love and miss you a lot! I can't wait till we get to be reunited again!

    I hope you all have a great week and know how much I love you! I'm just so grateful for Heavenly Father's great and glorious plan. I know it's real. Love you!

Transferred to other FARSI AREA!! JUNE 5th

What a great week!

I had my first Skype call with some other missionaries in Germany which was actually really fun and super cool. I have probably said this, but there are about 10 Farsi speaking missionaries in the world right now!

     We also had an eventful exchange this week! Elder Holden(Elder Ward's companion) came here for a day! It was pretty nuts because we had a full Farsi(family doesn't really speak any English) service and lesson! It was pretty crazy and super funny! Within two minutes I was trying to say something, even though they don't speak English, they said to speak English(must have thought we had better odds haha) Anyway English didn't work, but Farsi mostly did! The service didn't end up working out, but we did read Maroni 10:3-5, and they said they believe the B of M is true, and I was able to testify, and they committed to read and pray about the B of M every day! It was honestly super exhilarating and the spirit was as strong as I have ever felt it in a lesson! I was also able to speak at honestly a much higher level than I was capable of before that! It was incredible!

     Our Ward had a cake auction this week and we baked a pretty legit cake (thanks to Elder Bakker's baking background). By the way, I have never eaten so well as a missionary. We eat like Kings. It's crazy!

     Some of the other missionaries put a bunch of money into the cake auction and we won a cake for $135. It was a good cake! Also, like 4 other cakes were donated to us!

     Fast and testimony meeting was wonderful! This ward really is incredible! We had transfer calls, and after just coming into this area, Elder Bakker and I are both being moved to the North area Richmond Hill. Elder Casdorph(15 months out) is being transferred to English work as a Zone Leader, and Elder Mcbeth is training a 9-month missionary who is now just learning Farsi, they will be in our current area, aka Farsi South Don Valley. 

     Also crazy Family history news, I will get this sisters email to you. SHe's from Scotland and broke down why our name with spelling(she is positive) is actually originally from England and was adopted into a Scottish clan. She was showing me the kilts of my clan and whatnot. WE were going to have dinner with her and she was going to show us a bunch of stuff, but now we are getting transferred. however, the blessing of Farsi work is I'm guaranteed to return haha. but I will send your email to her and she is planning on sending a bunch of information to you. 

    I know this work is real, and I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be. Your prayers are appreciated and felt. I do not walk alone. Love you and have a great week!

First Week Speaking Farsi! Everything is now a secret!

We got a little worried when this email was labeled "The BIG ONE!"

Sent on May 23,2017

No time to email. Craziest week of my life. I love my Heavenly Father, and I love you. Pray for me

Sent May 28, 2017

Actually, this has been a ton of fun and I never knew how much I would enjoy learning a language! And quite honestly it's actually A LOT easier than I thought it could be!

This week I had my first Farsi meeting. Which is where the 4 of us Farsi Elders get together and talk about moving the Farsi work forward, it was cool. We also Skype Germany every so often and talk with them about moving the work forward, so that' cool. I think we are doing that tomorrow for my first time.

     Last preparation day we went and Elder Ward, Holden, and Bakker got haircuts that ended up taking 2 1/2 hours, hence no emailing time.

     This last week we got to mow and trim a lawn and take down some Christmas lights which were super great! Haven't got to do that in a long while!

     By the way, I can't really tell you about any of our investigators or Farsi members or their names because that's super under raps. Which honestly I am pretty pumped about! You can just know that the work is going super well and we are seeing miracles!

     It is definitely different being in Farsi work(in addition to the language), while we still get to talk to Farsi people, most of the people we talk to are English speakers, and most of the potential investigators we find we pass right along to some English missionaries. on the flip side, we get referrals from them which are awesome!

     One definitely great experience this week we got to give a blessing to a Brazilian member, what an incredible experience it always is to be able to participate in blessings. I know of nothing which testifies of the divinity of this work to me more than participating in the administration fo a Priesthood blessing or receiving one.

     I was happy to see and hear that dad ran into Elder Merkley! I sure hope he is doing well!

     I know this work is real, and that it's the Lord's work, he has said "I am able to do mine own work" and He does. stop being afraid, just believe.

    I love and miss you all! And hope you have an incredible week!

*note from mom...

I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that he can't share with us who he is working with. And especially that Steve is super stoked about this!!