December 23, 2009

Prologue:

Dear Mom & Dad: Please send this by email to everyone. I tried emailing this week, but I got logged out because my 30 minutes was up! I am sorry if you didn’t receive my email. This brings me to my next point that you should stop sending me emails and just send through dearelder.com. I only have 30 minutes to email which includes reading, sending, and actually logging in to my account which is dumb … but it happens. When these precious 30 minutes are up then it logs me off and doesn’t save my email or send it. This is troubling – we can land someone on the moon, but can’t automatically send e-mail. I had 2 seconds left and pressed the send button and then I got logged out. So let me know if you got the email. If not, forward this to everyone, thanks!

Business Matters:
Have everyone stop emailing and start using dearelder.com while I’m in the MTC. I receive the dearelder letters very fast, usually the day of or the day after.

Jessica: thank you for the calendar as well as the blog. Unfortunately, I can’t ever look at it in the MTC or my computer account will be terminated … Yikes! Also, Jessica, I have never gotten your letter that you said you sent me so I will give you my address again and will also be sending you mail.

Elder David Barney Steed
MTC Mailbox #199
Bra-SPS 0111
2005 N. 900 E.
Provo, UT 84604-1793

Or www.dearelder.com. Select the Provo MTC and fill in my info. My departure date is 1/11/2010.

Nate, Sandrine and Family:
Josh, Cedric, and Taiva: Thank you for the pictures and cool drawings that you did. I really needed the pictures because I don’t have any from home. Also, I am wondering if you got my letters from Grandma and Grandpa yet that I sent you?
Sandrine: Thank you for the letter earlier this week. I learned a lot from it and I agree that Christmas on a mission is fantastic!

Nate & Mark: Keep up the good work. Nate, I didn’t think you would last this long in life either. It looks like we are both going above and beyond the expectation of each other.

Katie & Justin: How are you doing? Katie, thank you for the letter that you sent me and the testimony that you shared.

I need Jordon’s address because the one I have is in Thai and I don’t understand it, but it looks cool!

I also need everyone else’s address so I can write you all. I have 30 minutes to email, but hours to write.

Cedric, enclosed is a video that I did for your baptism

Life at the MTC:
Things are going really well here except for the fact that I got this 72 hour death virus! Also we have received 40 visas this last week, but none were for my District. However, 3 zone leaders are now gone … oh goodie. We will see what happens. The District has made a Christmas card and I want to send it to everyone so please just email your addresses. My district was chosen to usher for the apostle that is coming this week, but we don’t know who it is.

I learned something interesting this week about angels. A sister in our district brought up a scripture in section 84:88 which talks about Christ being on our right hand and left hand and his angels bearing us up. When I was reminded of that I thought of how as members who are baptized we are supposed to bear each others burdens. I then thought of the talk that Elder Holland gave called “The Ministry of Angels”. He mentioned that we as individuals can be angels. This spirit hit me very hard that the angels in section 84 were people like me and righteous missionaries who bear each other up. Cool, huh?

I love you all,
Elder Steed