Monday, June 19, 2017

Welcome Home, Elder Steele!


Elder Austin Taylor Steele returned home with honor on June 13, 2017. It was a glorious day to be together again, as a "Party of Five." Austin addressed the congregation of the Allen 1st Ward, Allen, Texas on Father's Day, June 18, 2017.  The talk is included in this final post. Thank you to everyone who supported Austin with your positive thoughts and prayers.
"...Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." Matthew 25:23



Fathers of the Book of Mormon

             “I speak to you tonight on the subject of worthy fathers, worthy sons. The Book of Mormon was meant for us. It was written for our day. Its scriptures are to be likened unto ourselves.” This is how Ezra Taft Benson started his 1985 October General Conference address. And it’s how I start mine. But what does the Book of Mormon have to do with fathers? While I know there really are no handbooks that have all the secrets to be a dad, I also know that the Book of Mormon can guide us in the right direction. We do not need to go very far in the Book of Mormon to find the first great example. It’s probably the most read verse “I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father” Like I said, we’ve all read it every single we’ve tried to get back into a habit of reading the scriptures daily, but let’s take a moment to analyze. Nephi recognized the blessings that were his parents and we can give some credit to them because they taught Nephi, and Nephi was able to experience or live those teachings.  President Benson also had something to say about this verse, “Good fathers teach their sons, and good sons listen and obey. Teaching is done by precept and example, and by word and deed. A good model is the best teacher. Therefore, a father’s first responsibility is to set the proper example.” Now how does he do that? By learning. How does he learn? Well there are many ways, and one of those answers is… the Book of Mormon. Lehi had a testimony and lived what he taught so that’s why Nephi trusted in his father, evidence is found in 1 Nephi 3:7 “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.” Nephi had been taught by his father to trust in God. Lehi had to set the example and Nephi had to listen to him. By the end of their experiences in leaving Jerusalem, Nephi had grown in faith because he trusted in God, and he trusted in God first because he followed the example of his father.

            But it doesn’t stop there. If we look at the story of the Book of Mormon, one of the big running themes is fathers teaching their sons. Like Mormon comforting his son Moroni that “may Christ lift thee up” (Moroni 9:25). Or Lehi again encouraging his sons, this time to “arise from the dust and be men.” In Mosiah (27:14) we learn of what to do if as a parent we are struggling with a child “And again, the angel said: Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.” Alma was constantly praying for his son because there was not much more he could do.

And then there is the story of Enos. Most of the time we focus on how long he prayed and how he was able to repent, but I what leads him to pray is also worth noting. “Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he was a just man—for he taught me in his language, and also in the nurture and admonition of the Lord—and blessed be the name of my God for it—And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God, before I received a remission of my sins. Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forests; and the words which I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart.” (Enos 1:1-3). Enos didn’t wake up that day and decide he was going to pray, but instead it was the culmination of all that he had been taught by his father Jacob being brought back to his remembrance at the exact time he needed it. Or in other words, Jacob was a light for Enos.

Jose A Texeira, an area 70, recounted an experience he had while camping with his 2 sons. “We first went to the store to buy supplies” he said “and even though it was a 1 night trip, we had bought enough food to last us a whole week and then we went to a fast food restaurant for dinner on the way.” His younger son was very excited and shouted “Wow Dad. Look at all that food. It’s just for us!” They arrived at the campsite and got everything set up. Then they decided to go exploring around the campsite and enjoy time together. Then the night came and Elder Texeira realized… he didn’t bring a flashlight. “There we were. With all this food waiting for us back in the tent but we had no light to get us back. Not even 1 little match.”

Being a father is much more than just providing food for your children, it’s being a light to guide them for when the dark comes. Because it will come. Now how can we get this light to guide us? “And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. (Helaman 5:12)”Or in other words; The Book of Mormon! There is so much power in the Book of Mormon. Not only in the words and teachings, but also because it’s purpose is to bring us closer to Jesus Christ. And there in lies the solution.

Now at this point y'all are thinking, hey, isn’t he supposed to be giving a report on his mission. Where are the stories? And well, one of the biggest lessons I learned is all centered upon the power of the Book of Mormon. Especially in my last 3 areas I really came to experience how reading and following the principles of the Book of Mormon can bring miracles.

First, let’s go to Maquinista Savio. It’s a small town (almost) in the middle of nowhere up in the northern part of the provincia of Buenos Aires. The first 10 months of my mission I had basically been in the heart of the city of Buenos Aires in the Villas, or ghettos. Everything was crammed, loud, and dangerous city living. Then I got the call to Savio. I didn’t even have the slightest idea of where that was, no elder had ever talked about there. Later I found out my trainer had been there, but he had never told me before. So there I was in (almost) the middle of nowhere and I DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL! I had to ride a broken dumpster bike through mud every day. The members couldn’t give us lunch most of the time, and due to inflation we had to be very conscious of how we spent our money. They were constant rolling blackouts which meant no hot water or power for our little heater in the middle of winter. I had never been so cold and hungry in my life. And to top it all off, the ward wasn’t that great either. We started the transfer with a baptism and then got left with 0. We couldn’t find anyone willing to teach. We had already passed by all the members everyday. We were out of ideas. Then as I was reading the Book of Mormon, I began to note how the great missionaries of that time were able to do so much good. Of those things were: their incredible faith that there were people prepared, the prayers they offered so that hearts would be opened, their diligence, and their patience through suffering and afflictions. I had afflictions so I was already on my way. It struck me that there were people prepared; we just had to ask. One of our biggest challenges was at night. It was too dangerous in most of our area so we had to stay and work closer to the apartment, but the issue was that there were almost no members nor old investigators. We then received counsel to specifically ask for something to do at night. Then we prayed and fasted for a family to teach at 8pm close to the apartment. And we kept doing it and still nothing. And in the meantime, ward attendance was dropping. Then, the other companionship was cleaning out their apartment and happened upon a piece of paper that said “My Family has read the Book of Mormon” and it was a daily reading calendar. He told us about it and how they felt we should try it out with the ward. Then “Operation Jesus Christ at home” went into action. We challenged every family to read the Book of Mormon every day as a family even if it was 5 minutes and we were able to promise big blessings. Things started to change. The ward “woke up” and changed in how they acted. They really started to worry and work to help those who weren’t coming by organizing better the home and visiting teaching programs. The ward started to do more activities and overall they were just happier. The ward all had renewed desires to grow and they all did their part. There was more love and a different spirit. The ward was ready to welcome whatever investigator we would bring. One day we did divisions as a zone and I left the area for the day while my companion stayed back. As a zone we were to send messages when a miracle happened. It was about 7:30pm and a message came that said “Miracle woman. Married. 7 kids. Accepted baptism date first contact. #miracleinsavio” I couldn’t believe it! 2 days later we went back and we taught Cecilia and her family at 8pm at their home, which was located near the apartment. We were truly blessed those 3 months to baptize her and her family and find many people through her.

My faith was almost unbreakable, I seriously felt like I could face head on any challenge with God’s help.  Then I got sent to Villa Urquiza. It’s in a zone called Belgrano. It’s the wealthiest zone of Buenos Aires and also known for being the most difficult. Urquiza hadn’t had a baptism for more than a year. My first few days I was really excited and ready to change everything. But like with most things in life, as time goes on it gets harder and we lose the fire we started out with. All day everyday we would just walk around cleaning out the member list because there was almost nobody in the streets nor did we have any records of old investigators. And the ward had just been divided so we lost a good number of members and those who stayed started to burn out. So what did we do? Got them to read the Book of Mormon! With the same reading calendar from Savio, we committed every family to read the Book of Mormon. Then we had a new initiative to share 30 copies of the Book of Mormon per week in contacts, which meant we had to talk to A LOT of people about the Book of Mormon. As the ward started to take their reading seriously and as my companion and I did our best to share the Book of Mormon with everyone, things started to change. Again, the ward grew and was happier. Members were more willing to talk to their friends and also reach out to those who had fallen away. Then to top it off, near Christmas time we as a district went to every area singing and contacting with the Book of Mormon. While we were in Urquiza 2 people went up to a companionship of sister missionaries and asked if they could talk to their mom. We went, and as we talked to her, we were able to see how God through trials had prepared her. Livia accepted everything trusting in God and was able to get baptized. And again, it was a large part due to the Book of Mormon. (There was also the time when right after doing emergency divisions, we left the apartment and the other elder stopped a lady on the street and asked if we could share a book with her. Susana and her Husband were baptized 3 weeks later.)

And then there was Nueva Pompeya. When I arrived, there were rumors that the stake was going to make some changes and were going to divide some wards and redraw boundaries. The stake president and the bishop asked us if we would work outside the villa. The villa is where the elders had always worked and where the majority of the members lived. After receiving a spiritual confirmation, we went to work. We didn’t do it alone though, of course we had the Book of Mormon! We were able to share the Book of Mormon with so many people it was incredible. The ward saw us working and that we were dedicated to sharing the gospel, which made them trust us more. The ward started reading the Book of Mormon and the bishop changed the ward mission plan to “Share the Book of Mormon” The youth organized activities to go out to share it with everyone they could (in 4 hours they shared 55 copies). The members were having incredible experiences in their homes and the Lord was truly blessing them for their desires to grow closer to him. The ward also put a lot of emphasis in reaching out to those who were not attending because we all began to miss their presence. My last Sunday, working all together, the ward was able to bring 30 less active/inactive members to church. All because the members, through the Book of Mormon, recognized what they could do and the blessings that come from it.

Brothers and Sisters, I testify of the Book of Mormon. It is powerful and it is true. It tells us what we need to do to have peace in this life and salvation in the life to come. Reading the Book of Mormon changes lives. Fathers read the Book of Mormon personally and as a family. Children, listen to your fathers. We all have a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to return to be with Him, and the Book of Mormon is one of the many blessings we have to make that possible.

(If it goes too short, talk about obedience. How the Book of Mormon teaches us what to do, Mosiah 2:41, obedience stories)


Testimony in Spanish

Pictures taken before the Open House on Sunday, June 18, 2017








 






















Monday, June 5, 2017

Osgood, More Like OsBAD Schlatters

Email written: 6/5/17

This week was more of the same heat my back, take medicine, stretch, heat my back, stretch, ice my knees and rest. And our official unprofessional diagnosis is Osgood Schlatters disease, which basically has to do with your quad muscles and knee joint and its not complicated to treat, but it requires not walking a lot (something hard here) and rest and ice. The good news is that it won´t be long term.

It was frustrating because the ward really needs us. In the past few weeks, attendance has dropped down and the few who are there are losing their "fire" too. We have an amazing bishop and ward mission leader who are trying to do everything possible, and we want so bad to be able to help, but we have been really limited.
But even though we stayed home most of the week, we were still able to see some miracles. On Tuesday for the first time in 6 weeks, someone was home when they said they would be and they read their Book of Mormon! We were able to teach and at the end said "Of course I´ll get baptized when I find out it´s true" so finally after everything we have someone to teach! On Thursday, as I went to ice my knees, I looked out the balcony at the park that´s in front of our building. And like always there were people doing parkour, smoking (not always cigarettes) and some couples on dates. I didn't really think anything of it. Then I called the nurse a little later to ask what else I could do for my knee, and she gave me a few more ideas. We then went downstairs to visit the other elders to ask their opinions and I looked out on their balcony and recognized one of the guys who was with a girl.... It was Agustin!!! After a month and trying to get in touch with him, he just happens to be hanging out at the park right in front of our building! To make sure it was him, we called. And he answered! He said he had been working and studying but would come to church on Sunday. Then we realized he didn't have the best group of friends at the park and we could tell he didn't want to be with them. So then we had some of the members who are his friends send him uplifting messages. We watched as he read them and looked at his friends, explained something, and then got up AND LEFT!! He turned away from temptation!!! We were so happy to watch him make the right decision.

On Sunday the Bishop decided to "call on the powers of heaven" to help the ward progress again. And right as we said amen, an inactive family walked by the classroom! We had spent almost 6 months looking for this family and then a week and a half ago, we visited them for not even 10 minutes basically telling them to read the Book of Mormon. And following behind them was another less active recent convert who has been impossible to contact. The bishop was so happy and he looked at us and said "The miracles have already begun Elders!" And they have. Even though we didn't baptize in the month of May and it was filled to the brim of challenges and problems. it was still a month of growth! I realized sitting in sacrament meeting that if I learn from and find humor in what has happened, it will grow closer to Christ and have a valuable experience to learn from.

Something else very special is that during testimony meeting a member who after 13 years, became an official again, got up to share his testimony. When he got up he just stood there for a second feeling the pulpit and looking at everyone and he realized that it was something real for him to be able to bear his testimony again. It was so simple. He bore his testimony of the restoration, the Book of Mormon, and of Jesus Christ. And that´s what it all boils down to. A testimony of God and his plan of salvation for all of us and a testimony of the role of Jesus Christ changes our lives. I know that God loves all of us and that there really is a plan. I know Jesus Christ lives and is our savior. I know the Book of Mormon is true.

-Elder Steele

Monday, May 29, 2017

Turn Around

Email written: 5/29/17


Well this week we just decided to keep going because there really is no other option................
And things started to turn around!
Monday night we went to follow up on a contact we made, and the first miracle is that THEY WERE HOME (this has been something that has not happened to us this month) and she said she read what we left her (and a little bit more) and she said she liked it, partly because "it says in the beginning that it is true and no other book says that so I want to learn more" So we set up another time to go by. That time she wasn't home, but our back up plan was to visit an old investigator and she answered the door and said she wants to learn more, but because of her work and study schedule, it was hard, but now she has more time! That night we were looking for a part member family to visit, but they weren't home, but we remembered about and old investigator and when he answered the door he said "Hey I thought you forgot about me or something what happened?" He then explained his hours got changed, and even though he works as a taxi driver, he was going to be able to come to church because he really wanted to. On Saturday the ward got together again to share the Book of Mormon and they were really successful, and then the best part was that we also had a teaching appointment. We weren't really that optimistic that they would be home, but we went anyway. They were home and they had read and wanted to have us explain more! We haven´t found families of 10 people who want to get baptized, we haven´t had crazy scary stories, we haven´t changed the world (yet), but what we have managed to do is learn how to just keep going. We know there is still a lot to do, but we´ve learned not to get down on ourselves and that things do and will get better.
Something very interesting that helped us a lot this week was a scripture I found in Doctrine and Covenants 124:49 "Verily, verily, say unto you, that when give commandment to any of the sons of men to do work unto
my name and those sons of men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that work, and cease not 
their diligenceand their enemies come upon them and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it 
behooveth me to require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings" 

-Elder Steele

Monday, May 22, 2017

When Life Knocks You on Your Back

Email written: 5/22/17

This week we were able to work all day everyday as my back was feeling better, but like the subject says, it was not easy. We were so excited to get back to the routine of finding but even with our best efforts, nothing happened. We kept getting what we started calling "almost miracles" Like for example we got 20 references from the church offices and other missionaries and NONE of them existed. We said "oh well" and kept going. Then we had a zone conference and the whole zone with president and his wife went out to share books and the majority were in our area! only 1 of the 14 was willing for us to pass by again. We are lost and we don´t really know where to go from here. The only thing that has given us hope is  Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." Obedience brings blessings, but sometimes we have to wait for them. We can´t give up even if no one wants to even look at us in the street. 

One of the reasons why we didn't want to give up was a street contact we did a few days ago. It was getting late, people were being very openly opposed to us and we were getting frustrated and everything. I said a prayer that was basically "we´re trying so hard and you know it. why has it been almost 3 weeks with nothing?" and then I saw a lady walking and I thought "You have nothing to lose, just do it" and we did. It was one of the most powerful contacts ever. She started crying and saying how hard life had gotten and how she needed something like this, and we could feel God´s love so strong in those few minutes. It made that hard day worth it.

Something that I have been thinking about all week was something that my uncle mentioned about the principle of agency. It´s our ability to choose and it´s the only thing God can't take away from us. Even if we do our best to help some one, in the end it´s on them. We can´t change some one´s mind, but we can do our best to make them feel the desires to change.


pic- from the balcony of the other elder´s apartment, I could see 3 of my areas (the far right Parque Avellaneda, in the middle is Nueva Pompeya, and the far left back Soldati)

-Elder Steele

Monday, May 15, 2017

This Week Took My Breath Away

Email written: 5/15/17

Literally. So to start last week, I slipped in the rain and fell right on my back (and got winded so I lost my breath for about 30 seconds) so the rest of the week was me trying not to hurt my back more. Luckily my companion had a home made heating pad, which he made out of sewing 2 socks together filled with rice and then we heat up in the microwave. Because I´m basically an expert in back pain already thanks to the mission, I knew kind of what to do (and not to do) so we took it slow this week. We still were able to leave and go out, but only to the appointments we had already set up since last week. It was frustrating because the whole zone is growing and finding more people to teach and baptize and we got stuck with nothing. As I was laying there, I was asking "Why? Why now? I just want to end well. I´m doing my best to stay focused on the mission and not think about the end. I´m working harder than ever before and there is so much to be done, but I have to stay in bed. Why has everything that could go wrong these past few weeks gone wrong?" and I didn't really get an answer for awhile. 

Then on Sunday, it was another week of people telling us they'd come to church and then not come and it was kind of sad to see almost no one in the gospel principles class. But at the same time I kept thinking "We've already committed this much to work outside the villa, why would we just give up?" and then I just felt good. I felt at peace that what we're doing is going to pay off, and even though I not might see it, the ward will, and that´s what´s important. Whether we have 10 or 0 baptisms, we've worked so hard and will continue, and some very valuable lessons have been learned, and will continue being learned.

Most of the time we focus on the destination or the end goal, like for example on a road trip from Utah to Canada. It was easy for me to only think about getting to Canada to take the cruise and enjoy the vacation that I was starting to not be able to appreciate all the points in between, from the amazing scenery to the conversations with my family and grandparents. At one point my grandpa even took a detour to have a more scenic drive, at first I got impatient then I realized the lesson that he was trying to teach. That's how life can end up, we can focus on the destination being heaven and we forget that we came here to get experience and to learn to prepare us for the destination, not just show up and get to the destination as quickly as possible.



I came here to baptize, that is my commission, but more than that it is to invite others to come unto Christ and that very much involves helping others on a journey of change and that's where the lessons are learned and the joy is felt. It has taken me 21 years to figure that out, that life is just made up of a bunch of experiences and how we enjoy them will determine how much we get out of life. We´re still going to work hard to do out part to baptize, but this week has given me peace in my efforts and I know that nothing is wasted.



Pics- Soccer, dinner, and the homemade heating pad

-Elder Steele

Monday, May 8, 2017

Count Your Blessings

Email written: 5/8/17


Well, at least we're alive (Don't worry Mom, nothing scary happened) that's about all we can say this week. This week was brutal. Elder Comp and I are staying together here in Pompeya and we were ready to keep working and see miracles. We were all set up to have 2 or 3 baptisms this week but they all fell through and then we lost every other investigator. We were so confused because we had been doing everything we were supposed to do following the counsels of President Smith along with talking to literally everyone, fasting, praying, and focusing on being obedient to make us worthy of miracles and in the end.... nothing.  Like for example, Franklin. The kid who by miracle showed up and is so ready for baptism. His parents had changed their minds so we made a plan, fasted and prepared so much. We even filled the baptismal font and set up as if we were going to have a baptism to show our faith and desires. We had the best lesson planned and when we showed up, that plan went out the window and it did not go how we planned. They said they want to wait a year to baptize Franklin and then we invited them to be baptized and they didn't give us a clear yes or no and it was so frustrating. I was frustrated because we had done everything to show God we were ready for a miracle, and to get nothing was really hard on us. On Saturday we went to the youth activity to teach a lesson and they asked me to give a spiritual thought (I was not in the mood to do it) then as I thought about what to share, the youth theme this year is James 1:5 which basically says that if we want to ask something from God, He will answer. That at first bugged me because we had been asking and we didn't receive but then I was reminded of the example of Christ found in matthew 26:39 and how even He was asking for something that he didn't receive. That made me realize something. It´s not that we're not going to see a miracle, it's that God has something a lot better and bigger planned for us and we'´re only going to get it if we keep up our efforts. Yesterday during testimony time, a few members gave incredible testimonies and the ward just seemed happier. Then one pointed out it was that they've all started reading the Book of Mormon as a family. One sister got up and was crying tears of gratitude for our challenge in having them read the Book of Mormon. While it's not technically what we were working for this week, it was rewarding to see that we are still doing good. 

Yesterday in Gospel Principles we talked about Fatih (in Spanish it´s Fe). One of the members made a joke because Fe on the periodic table is iron. That made me think a lot about how our faith can be. Iron is a metal, which means it´s strong and pretty hard to break, but at the same time it can be heated up and bent and twisted and reshaped. We need to be firm in our faith but also allow God to put us through the heat to purify and reshape us. We have no idea why last week was so discouraging, but we know something is going to change soon enough. 



Pics- My belt finally broke, and the inside of my agenda (to help keep me focused) 
-Elder Steele

Monday, May 1, 2017

What Storybook?

Email written: 5/1/17


This week started out as one of the greatest ever! Saturday we had interviews with President and it was an awesome interview. President Smith really helped me understand a lot of things and it was the best. This week we also had the new idea from President to leave every morning at 10 until lunch to focus on sharing the Book of Mormon and finding new people. We worked hard trusting that we would see miracles and they started to come. The ward is so excited in sharing the Book of Mormon and they are now so willing to help us (we're eating so much more now haha). We really do have the best members and bishop here. We have found a lot of people and we realized that we can start baptizing more and we were so pumped.

On Friday we had the baptism interview of Franklin (the kid who just showed up and asked to be baptized) and things looked good. The baptism was at  5:00 and at 5:20 his family still didn't show up. We called and his dad said that they changed their minds. I was mad. The bishop was with us and he told us to stay calm and he called the ward mission leader to come in with us and the 4 of us made a plan of how we were going to teach and baptize not only Franklin, but the whole family.

Then just like they say "as one door closes another opens" a member who we helped come back to church showed up with her daughter and told us we need to teach her because she had just moved from Bolivia to study.
We started teaching but because we were so excited we kind of overwhelmed her and then we worried we blew that miracle too. Then on Sunday of the 7 investigators we were waiting for, none of them showed up and that was just another hit. I was frustrated and asked God "Why don´t I ever get the storybook ending. Why don´t things ever turn out" and then the question came to me "well, who's writing the book?" and that made me think a whole lot. I'm going to be honest, I don't know why a lot of things happen, but I realize I have to just trust and keep going so we can still achieve great things. 

Pics- making donuts and fried oreos

-Elder Steele