So grateful to be "wearing His name every day!"

Wow this week was seriously so amazing!! For those of you who do not know already, this week was General Conference so we had the opportunity to listen to the leaders of our church stand up and speak to all of the members of the church!! It was such a spiritually uplifting and truly inspiring experience! This General Conference I felt like the main theme was on families! Luckily, if you guys don't already know, I have been blessed with the very best family that this world has to offer!! One of my favorite talks was by Larry M. Gibson and he spoke on fatherhood and the attributes of becoming a good father!! I could not help but think of my dad and the amazing and wonderful man that he is and the unbelievable example that he has set forth for me to try and follow after!! I have to brag for a second when I say that my dad is easily the best example and most Christlike father I have ever met! My entire life I have always felt loved and adored by my dad! He has always been there during the good times and during the hard times as well!! One thing that I remember from my childhood is how my dad and I would always go to sporting events with each other! It's something that we have done since I was just a little boy and the tradition has carried on all the way up into my older ages as well! I sure do miss that part of being away from home! It would be impossible for me to put into words how much my dad means to me! He has shown me exactly what an amazing father should do to show his kids that he loves them, as well as treat his wife with the upmost respect… always tending to her every care and treating her truly like she is his Queen! I am proud to say that I truly have never heard my parents argue or bicker with each other with me in the same room!! Who can say that!? Like honestly, that's as cool as it gets!! I want to treat my future wife in the exact way that he treats my mom! They truly love each other with all of their hearts and show it each and every day in their actions towards each other! I am truly blessed to be in such a setting and to be blessed with all of these amazing examples around me!! I only hope that I can obtain a small fraction of the attributes that my Dad has and apply them to my future family as well! Anyway, sorry if I embarrassed you Dadio!! Just had to brag for a second about how amazing your are!!:)

Conference was such an amazing experience!! There were a lot of things that I learned from Conference that were amazing insights on what I can be doing out here as a missionary to be able to better spread the work and be able to become a more effective messenger of God's message! I also learned a lot about what I can do when I get home as well!! What I can do better as a member of the Church when I am no longer a missionary, as well as how I can always magnify the calling that has been given to me, no matter what calling it is!! Over all, Conference was just amazing!! It is impossible to express all of the emotion and inspiration that comes from watching General Conference, but for those of you that did not have the opportunity to be able to watch General Conference I invite you all to go onto our Church’s website (http://www.lds.org) and there you can find all of the talks that were given! All people are invited to watch this conference! They do not just limit it to the members of our church! That's why it's called "General" Conference! They want all to come and hear the message that they have to share! I think for those of you who have not yet had the opportunity to watch, you will be filled with a spirit of hope and love that your Heavenly Father has for each and every one of us!! That's really what this conference is all about! To remind us that we have a Father in heaven and He loves us so very much, and also that we have a Savior and he came to earth and died for all of us so that we can live with Him again someday. This conference there was a special focus on the importance of families and how truly families can be together forever!! As President Uchtdorf said, "Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, death has no sting." I know that what he said is true and how grateful I am for that knowledge!! I am so grateful for the wonderful family that my Heavenly Father has given to me in this life and to know that I will be able to be with them again in the next life is a joy that is impossible to explain!! I look forward to the day where I will be able to have my own family and take the person who I love very most to the beautiful house of the Lord and there be married with her for time and all eternity!! I could not think of a better gift that Heavenly Father could give to me! A promise that through Him, I can live with the people I love the very most forever and ever!! He does quite truly want us all to receive our own Happily Ever After.

I love this gospel and I am so very grateful that Heavenly Father has given me the knowledge of it!! I could never deny the things that I have done and seen here on my mission!! I KNOW that this work is the work of God! There is no way in this world a whole bunch of punk 20-year-old kids could go out and do this work and actually have people believe us unless it was true, unless it really did come from God! I testify to you all that it does! This is God's work and this is His church that he has once again established on the earth through modern day prophets! I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ that has been given to us is perfect! I know that Heavenly Father’s plan for all of us is eternally perfect and he has trusted all of this perfectness into the hands of an imperfect people! We all fall short of the glory of God, but I know that through His mercy and His grace that we can become like him through the everlasting power of repentance! Just like a hospital helps sick people heal, so is the church a place of healing! Not of the body, but of the spirit! Our own spiritual hospital to heal from the wounds that we have caused to come upon ourselves… we can use the gift of the Atonement to repent of those sins and be spiritually healed through him! I am so very grateful for the gift of repentance and for the knowledge that for every time that I fall down and then try to get back up, I always have a loving Heavenly Father that helps me back up and brushes me off and through his Son's Atonement for all of us, He will forgive me for my wrong doings and help me get back on the right path, the path of God, the only path to eternal happiness. I love Him with all of my heart! I am so grateful to be out serving a mission, wearing His name every day on my chest! It's an experience that I will never be able to forget! And something I will hold dear to me until my last breath here on this earth!! I am so grateful for all of you at home! For your examples and your prayers that you have sent to me! You are the reason why I am here and you are the reason why I can keep moving forward every single day with a skip in my step! :) I love you all so much and hope you know that you are all in my prayers as well!

With all the love I possess!
Elder Steadman