Steven's Letter for today 7/22/13

Another good week in seabeck.

 

nothing to crazy happened this week.  We had another lesson with Alex. He is still progressing, he is just scared to tell his parents he wants to be baptized.  we dont know if it is going to happen on the 27th still. But it is okay, it will happen eventually!  Before i get transferred! haha

 

Elder Holt and I are having a blast knocking doors. Everything is spread out so we get a chance to talk a lot between doors.  And we get some funny peopole answering doors.  it is a good time.

 

no one else is really progressing. It is hard to stay positive, but i am trying my best.  Our bishop is awesome and keeps us motivated and always has suggestions!!

 

thank you for all your support!

 

-Elder Dean

Letter from 7/15/13:

So it was an amazing week.

I have a new companion, but am still in seabeck. with a new companion. elder Holt. he is from the bay area of California. we get along really well. we work together well which is most important.

remember that investigator Alex scott? he is getting baptized on the 27 of this month.  am super happy for him. he is the first investigator that I found, taught, and now baptizing. it is amazing to watch him grow and progress.

so the weather is great out here right now. I love it.  we continue to meet really weird people knocking doors. we met some wickens. they were really weird towards us. it is really fun.

this week has been good!

hope everything is well..

-Elder Dean

Letter from 7/8/13

Last week of my first transfer!

I got my transfer call on Saturday, and I will be staying in Seabeck.  But my companion is transferring to Bremerton Ward.  My new comp will be Elder Holt.  All I know is that he is from the Bay Area of California. I am excited to start another transfer and continue the hard work.  I love the ward and the Bishop here.  Bishop Naumann is the best bishop in the mission according to our mission president, and I believe it!!  I just wish the people are more accepting.  But there will be some good things happening this transfer.  I am hoping for 4 baptisms.  We are having one this Saturday.  A family in our ward has a nine year old nephew who wants to be baptized.  Since he is nine, he still has to be taught by missionaries and be interviewed.  I am excited for the kid.

my relationship with John Buckner and his wife has been growing like crazy! i love that guy.  He has a parrot that sits on my shoulder all the time.  it is so funny.  His wife hasnt accepted the invitation to baptism yet, she still loves her old church. but we are working on it! and we are trying to get john to quit smoking, that way he can baptize his wife when the time comes..


The fourth of July was awesome. People get really red neck over here. we went to a members house for BBQ that night.  They live on Wildcat Lake.  people were drinking and driving their boats all crazy and blowing dynamite up in the lake!! so crazy! but it was fun.

Last night we stopped at a less actives house and had a good talk with him. we then met his grandma who is 102 years old!! i was scared to shake her hand and break it! haha. she is very fragile, and told me she is just waiting the days until God takes her away. pretty nuts.

i am loving my mission and everything that i am learning.  I love teaching people and helping them find some direction in life.  I know that Tacoma Washington is the right mission for me.

Love you guys

_elder Dean

Letter from 7/1/13

Hello Family,

 

This has been a SUPER slow week.  most of our appointments fell through. but there was some good.  I will start with the bad first.

 

our investigator Shannon has recked her chances of baptism. at least anytime soon.  She decided to move in with her boyfriend(who was less active that has been doing so good!).  it is really frustrating, because they wanted to get married in the temple. but she cannot be baptized as long as they live together. unless they get married first. so lame. and they are moving out of our area.

 

our new investigator Dana, has bailed on our appointments twice. i dont want to give up on this guy, but he makes it hard not to.

 

some good though!  Alex Scott, our 17 year old investigator who dropped us called us up for another appointment. we left him with the reading assignment of 2 nephi 31.  when we asked him what he learned from it, it was amaazing.  He summed it up perfectly and explained how we need to have faith and repent.  Then be baptized to fulfill all righteousness. and some other things too.  Me and Elder Bullough just looked at each other dumbfounded.  He is a smart cookie. We taught him the plan of salvation, and he jsut kept saying how much sense it makes. and how it seemed too perfect.  He still has not recieved an answer through prayer, but it is working out logically in his head.  we cannot get him to church though. he just keeps saying he isnt ready. i dont know what that means though haha but i am feeling good about him.

 

another good thing that happedn has to do with our buckner family.  we went to church on thursday night, because we teach a book of mormon class.  When we pulled in, we saw John's wife's(dianna a nonmember) truck ! we were so confused. so we walked by the kitchen and there were a bunch of women making pot pies and dianna was with them having a good time.  i talked to the relief society president and asked how she got invited.  it is a hilarious story.  So Bev Good, is an interesting old lady.  She is a very active member, but has skewed views of the doctrine and life. she is convinced people break into her house everynight.  She also thinks Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet, and that why he was killed.  She thinks woman should and will have the priesthood. so yeah. we avoid all conversation with her haha. but she took it on her self to invite people to this activity.  She went through the ward list and called EVERYONE. all the do not contacts, less actives. everyone.  so the bishop was getting a ton of calls with people asking to have their records removed. but she did leave a message at john buckners home.  Dianna got the message and came! it was crazy.  we talked to john the next day and i guess dianna was impressed, because their church doesnt do things like that. i can definitely see her accpeting the gospel soon.  it is just hard to see her because she is NEVER home. but john is.

 

all in all is was a good week.  Thank you for all the support! keep sending letters i love to hear from you!!

 

-Elder Dean

Letter from 6/24/13

Hey Family!

 

Another good week.  Sorry I cannot write much, these computers are SO SLOW. they are really testing my patience.

 

We had a mission tour this week. So a member of the 70 came and checked on us.  His name was Elder Pieper.  He was way cool and way nice.  He gave us instruction on how to improve our teaching.  But it is hard to teach here when we cant find anyone.  I found out that Kitsap County(where seabeck is), is one of the top 10 least religious counties in the United States.  Pretty ridiculous.  We run into a lot of weed up here. It is super annoying.  Stoned guys will always let us in but then it goes no where.

 

so i had a cool story.  We are working with the Buckners. We are pretty close now. But John was baptized when he was 8, but his parents were divorced right after and he went to live with his Mom.  And she is super anti towards the church.  His wife is not a member and very faithful to another church.  Elder Bullough has been working with him and doing tons of service for him the last 3 transfers he has been here.  But John doesnt want to hear to much about church or come to church.  since i have been here we go by at least 2 times a week for a few hours to help him out.  He was in the Navy and was injuried when he was deployed, so he remains retired with a bad back.  Finally this past Saturday i invited him to church again and he didn't say no, he just said i had to talk to his wife.  So i found her in the back yard where she was gardening. at first she wasnt too fond of the idea, but i told her it would no hurt to come at least once and see what it is about.  I called them sunday morning and gave them a wake up call and reminded them.  So they showed up on Sunday!  It was the first time john had been to church in 40 years.  after sacrament i talked to him. they were going to there other church right after so they didnt stay for sunday school.  But he really loved it. the ward was awesome about welcoming him.  he whispered in my ear that he wants to come back, we just need to work on dianna(his wife).  But that she just needs baby steps.  I was so exiceted when he told me that! best birthday gift ever!  i have a good feeling about them. they are awesome!

 

 

Well i love you guys and miss everyone!

 

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!!!

 

-Elder Dean

Monday's Letter

Hello Family,

 

Another week, and I am still loving it.  I would send pictures, but my camera is still not working.  I hope i get something figured out before I get transferred.

 

We are working with a bunch of familes, but we have two investigators we are focusing on.  Shannon and Alex.

 

Shannon is a tough one.  She is engaged to Patrick, who just came back to church this year after years of inactivity.  He is about my age, and Shannon is too.  So we all get a long well.  We have taught Shannon everything and she believes it to be true, but just feels like she is being pressured.  But some good news is Patrick over heard her talking to her Mom, and she told her she is almost positive she will be baptized.  So now we just have to wait and keep teaching her and try to build her faith.  I would really love for her to be baptized while i was here so i can be apart of it.  She is so awesome.  Patrick is so happy that she is finding it to be true for herself, and not just do it for him.  I will keep you updated on her progress.

 

Alex is cool too. He is only 17 but wants to be closer with God.  He has a hard time believing in Jesus Christ and the Atonement, but is open to learning. He believes that we all came from a single cell organism.  But he has been reading from the book of mormon and praying about it.  But he has not recieved an answer yet. But he said he will continure to do so.  He is also worried about what his family will think.  I commited him to baptism and he said he will, once he finds it to be true for himself.  Which is awesome that he has that amount of faith already.

 

We will be meeting with both of them this week as well, so it will be good.  We do so much service out here.  Since everything is very spread out we do a lot of work with less actives and ward members and try to get referrals.  it has been working well so far.  I am getting a little tired of mowing lawns though.  Everyone here has huge lawns. ans when they let it get out of control they really do. waist high sometimes. it is ridiculous....

  We were doing service for this guy John Buckner. he is a really nice but odd man.  he had his friend Ralph over who was interesting. he is ex-military(like 99% of bremerton/silverdale/and seabeck).  He showed up with his shirt off and a 24 pack of bud light... by noon he was tripping over everything, and i knew his life story.  He is so lost it is bad.  I wish he would accept the Gospel, or even pick up some morals from it, because it woul really benefit his life.

 

Alright time to go! Weather is perfect here by the way. Dad would love it.  Winter time may be another story though.

 

Love you guys,

 

-Elder Dean

Letter from Steven

THIS WEEK'S LETTER FROM STEVEN:

Hello Friends and Family,

 

It has been a hecktic first week. I got no sleep my first day here and am slowly cathcing up haha.

 

i am in the bremerton area. is is not very populated, so it is very hard to find people.  My companion is elder Bullough.  He is from Tooele, Utah.  He is pretty cool, and we get a long well.  We leave in a members basement.  They have  a HUGE property. with tons of trees.  there are trees everywhere here. it is a little ridiculous.  but is is going well.

 

we just had a baptism on saturday.  His name is Tom Delcour.  He is 85 and awesome.  He has been attending church for years and decided it was time. so we taught him the lessons in one week and he got dunked! it was awesome!  The ward isnt too big, but the members are awesome.have much time. i will send a letter this week!

 

love you guys!

 

Elder Dean

Steven's Address in Washington

Elder Steven Lawrence Dean, Jr.
Washington Tacoma Mission
4007 Bridgeport Way W., Suite D
University Place, WA 98466-4330

Week One at the MTC

What is up my peeps.

This first week has been crazy.  I have about 9-10 hours of class everyday. I am up at 630-1030 everyday with no down time. Except for my 30 minutes meals.  Since my pday is on wedneday, this is my one and only email from the MTC.  next week ill be in Washington!!!  And i am not sure when my p day will be there. most likely a monday, whic means i wont have a pday until the monday after the next!! But it is all good. I am learning a ton!

My companion is Elder Waring(pronounced wearing), he is from Devon, England.  We get a long well! He is a funny English man, and I think his accent has been rubbing off on me.  I have been calling people "cheeky little monkeys." hahaha no but he says it a lot.  He is slow at getting ready in the morning. but that is easy to do since we only have 30 minutes to be showered and in church dress and at our first class.  But he is awesome! I have another companion ship  that live in the room with us.  Elder Muliaga and Elder Pennington.

Elder Muliaga was born in samoa, but raised in Australia.  He is very quiet, but when he says stuff it is usually really funny.  Elder Pennington is the opposite. He is from Tampa, Florida.  He talks a ton! everyone has to tell him to slow down! haha but they are both awesome.

I see shayla(sister davis) almost everyday at meals.  she is usually just ending as i get there. so we dont have a chance to really talk or sit together.. But it is nice to see here! she is doing really good! Everyone in her district seems to love her! They always shout my name if there see my anywhere on campus. it is funny.

I have been learning a lot. But other than church stuff i have been learning a lot about myself.  I have been trying to put myself in other peoples shoes and see where they are coming for.  Especially for the elders in my district.  I am becoming really good friends with this guys! wee spend all our time together so it is easy to do!  It is easy love people, when you focus on their positive attributes and not their negative ones.  It is teaching me a lot about myself and how i usually view people.

So far i have not had any leadership positions other than senior companion.  Which is kind of nice, because the ones that got called to leadership have no clue what is going one! haha.

well i dont have too much time. I love and miss you guys!! ask me any questions if things dont make sense!

-Elder Dean

Time to say goodbye. We will miss you so much Steven, but we also know you will be an awesome missionary. Choose the right, and return home with honor. Love you!

As we prepare for Elder Dean to Enter MTC

Entering the MTC as Elder Dean on May 15th, 2013

Steven will be serving in the Washington, Tacoma Mission

Beautiful Temple in Seattle, Washington

3 NEPHI 5:13
"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life."

Steven's Address while at the MTC:
Elder Steven Lawrence Dean, Jr.
MTC Mailbox #233
WA-TAC 0528
2005 North 900 East
Provo, UT 84604