"The record breaker for records that no one wants to break :)"

Hello everyone!! Well this week was definitely a week with a twist that I did not see coming!! Haha but that's a good thing! I love my mission! Always keeping me on my feet!!:) So first of all I will tell you all the normal stuff that happened this week and then I will tell you the cool surprise!:) So on Monday this last week in the morning we woke up early and we went to go and play some soccer! It was an absolute blast! Except for the fact that I cannot play that dang sport to save my life!! Haha I give my bro mad props for being good at that sport because I just look like a joker every single time I play!! Ha needless to say, I volunteered to be the goalie where I felt a lot more comfortable only having to use my hands!:) haha Oh and Elder Quirante was there too! So I got to see him, which was awesome, and then after soccer he came with us to go and eat at just a small little restaurant thing and then we went back to his house because it was closer to where we were at than my house was, and we got changed into our regular proselyting clothes for the day! Then we went to the mission home and had a good time seeing all of the Elders! It's fun being back in the city because every p-day you get to see so many different Elders!:) So yeah, Monday was a good day!

Also another cool thing that happened this week was that we were contacting in an area kind of close to where we live and we saw this lady out selling bananas and for some reason we felt like we should talk to her. So we started talking to her and asked her if she had ever learned about Jesus before and she told us that she used to go to church every single Sunday, but that she just got busy and stopped going. We asked if it would be ok if we came back again another day to share more about what we believe in our church and she was super excited that we teach people at their houses on weekdays instead of her having to come to the church to learn every time with us! So she immediately accepted!!:) She also told us how much she missed going to church on Sundays, so we invited her to come and try out our church this Sunday! Unfortunately she was not able to come this week because she had some big family event that she was going to so she was not going to be back home in time to make it to church, but she said next week she really wants to come and try it out!! Since the time we have contacted her, we have had two more lessons with her and each time I can just see her face light up every time we share more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It's pretty awesome!:)

Ok, so are you all ready to hear the surprise!?:) ha Ok fine… I'll tell you!:) So on Thursday this last week I was in a lesson with one of my less-active members in the ward when I felt my phone vibrate. The first time that it rang I did not look at it. I figured when I was done with the lesson I would call whoever it was back. Then they called a second time and I still did not look at it, but then they sent me a text message on top of calling me two times! So I tried to wrap my lesson up and then when we finished the closing prayer, I took out my phone to see that the Assistants to the President were the ones that had called me twice and sent me the text message as well!! I opened up the text message and this is what it said, "Please call us back as soon as you can!!" Haha well I'm not gonna lie, I was a little bit scared! In those moments, for some reason, you cannot help but think, "What did I do wrong!?" Haha But after nothing came to mind I figured I was in for perhaps a different surprise! So I called them back and asked them what was up! They then proceeded to tell me that there was a new Khmer missionary and he was supposed to start his mission about two weeks ago, but he got into a small moto accident so he had to wait another extra two weeks before they could clear him to start serving his mission. Then they told me that he is now all healed up and ready to be a missionary and they want me to be his trainer!! Ha I couldn't really believe it at first, but then when I finally came to my senses I said ok!!:) They told me they were going to be dropping him off in Stung Meanchey in about an hour! Sure enough, an hour later I had another companion with me!:) His name is Elder Sorn (អែលឌើរ សន) and he is super cool! He is from Tuk Tlaa (ទឺថ្ឡា) and he is a very hard worker! He loves to laugh a lot too, which is good, but he still knows how to be a hard worker! I am super excited to be able to keep on working with him and train him for the next couple months! At the end of March or beginning of April he will be heading to Australia to serve his mission, but right now he is waiting on his passport and stuff so they want him to start his mission here and then when all of that stuff comes he will head out to Australia. Sometimes it can take a while, so they don't want him waiting around forever for that stuff! This Sunday it was pretty cool because we were talking to some of the members and I overheard my new companion talking to one of the members in our ward and they were asking him how it was being companions with me and the very first thing that he said was, "He actually gets up on time! I didn't know missionaries actually obeyed that rule!!" This was a great reminder for me because sometimes we forget that people are always watching us! There are some days where I think if I could, I would give away my firstborn child for an extra hour of sleep haha, but I cannot forget that there is always a pair of eyes on me and any bad habits that I have will be carried over to him so I need to try and do my very best to be the greatest missionary I can so he can take some of the good things that I have and then a lot of the good things that he already has and combine them so that he can be one amazing missionary!!:)

I know that for us as members of the church, we are always in the spotlight! Whether we recognize it or not people are always watching us and people are always watching what we are doing, so we need to all try our very best to follow all of the commandments that Heavenly Father has given us so that when people look at us they can know that we PRACTICE what we teach!! I will be the very first to admit that I was not a good example of that for a very long period of time in my life and I regret that so very much!! But we can all start today!! If you haven't been following what you know to be true, it's not the end of the world! All is not lost for you! Heavenly Father still loves you! All you have to do is get on your knees and repent and talk to whoever you need to talk to in order to get on the path of repentance! I promise it will be a huge burden that is lifted from you if you don't just put it off and do it TODAY! Get back on the right track because Heavenly Father needs YOU to be an example to his children and to be a light to those who are still in darkness!! And for those of you that are already following and being a good example...keep it up!!:) Keep being amazing! I am so thankful for people like you and your example because without people like you, I know for a fact I would not be on my mission right now!! All right, well there is my little spiel for you all this weekend! :) haha So yeah, that's the big surprise this week for you all! I am training! I still don't feel like I am super ready to be training, but I know that this is a good experience that my Heavenly Father is giving me to help me become a better missionary!! I am going to do the very best to train him so that he will be twice the missionary that I ever was!!:) So right now we are a companionship of three! This is the fourth time that this has happened to me on my mission and I have not even been out a year yet!! Haha lots of missionaries always make fun of me for always being the record breaker for records that no one wants to break!:) haha But I really don't mind! As they always say, "Three heads are better than 2 heads."... or something along those lines!;);) Anyway, that's all I have for you all this week, but I want you all to know that I love you so much! I sure do miss all of you so much but I would not trade the experiences I am having out here on my mission for the riches of the world!! I love my mission and love the people here way too much to ever trade it for any worldly treasure!:) I love you all and hope that you all have a very amazing week! Oh, but before I go I have one more very important announcement!! This week is a VERY important week! This week my favorite brother in the whole world is turning 21!!! Or is it 12!?!? I can't remember anymore because the last time I Skyped him, his voice was all deep and manly!!:):) So I need YOU ALL to do me a big favor! Because I am half way across the world, I can't give that stud a big birthday hug, but all of you can! So if you see Luke Steadman this week I want you to give him the biggest hug you can and then let him know that his brother over here in Cambodia loves him SOOOOOO MUCH!!!:):) I love you Lukey Bear!!!:):) Have an amazing birthday week big guy! :) That's all for this week! Much love and prayers headed your way from the Kingdom!!!:)

Love, Elder Steadman