So, in the words of the all famous and much missed Elder Steel, so good and bad news we have my team and a team in the congo that are trying this project so the team in the congo decided that it cant be dont its to hard! so just my team is the only one working on it so now were starting to draw attentino so on jan 23 they are coming down to look at my progress and see if it can be done so, thats kinda cool but kinda scarey at the same time so now the weight of all the churchs in africa is resting very squarly and heavly on 4 elders shoulders and one married elder! but it feels good! i think I work better on the hot spot! but because we are on the watch now they can get us stuff that we need so this week they bought me a welder! with an auto darking helment! so that was like a tender mercy I get to weld again! well thats the work on the house!

The pictures are of his most recent trip to zone conference. 4 hours by vehicle (in the open box of a pickup on dirt roads and a long boat trip up the zambizi river) The adventures never stop! The Monkey is named Sharira but sounds like Shakira she is a pet monkey. He said everyone has a pet monkey. He thinks she was killed though he said she pulled off an abu and stole some fruit and they killed her! sad day. He still has an infection that causes severe itching and makes life generally miserable his shower has very little water pressure and the house has no doors, or windows. But even through all that he says he ;oves it here and would not want to be anywhere else! Go Elder Steel

Christmas is Coming....but not in Africa

First off i wouldn't want to go to any other mission!! This one is the best one hands down, I mean yeah it has its down falls but for the most part I love it. Every single time I get a new sickness or something bad happens to me you can pretty much count on the fact that i'm on the ground laughing cause i'm so happy i just keep thinking you can lay as many sicknesses on me cause i'm not breaking my spirits and it's only going to make a great story when i get home! So i'm not crushed about it I love it, I mean it stinks that i have to eat rice everyday but you win some you lose some! The work... well it pretty much stopped because we are just working on the house but when we went up to zone conference this weekend in Quilimoni, President said that he wants us to be more balanced, so just 4 hours of study, 4 hours of teaching, and 4 hours of house work, so hopefully this week our teaching will pick up cause i feel kinda left out of that group right now! I didn't get a new comp, that is why i was sent here though. Cause the kid before me got sick, not my comp, so last transfer the kid got sick and went home so then Presidnet moved me in, in his place. My staff, it is on and off some days it's not bad and other days i cant stop itching it! And it looks bad but for the most part I think it's pretty calm right now. I'm really not getting any sleep, and not very good nutrition, but oh well i'm still getting enough, and that is 8 times more than any other person in Africa.

The house is slowly coming this week or maybe next week we should have the floor laid with concrete, so moving along on that part!

So i was shopping for light bulbs for my house this week which i couldn't find, but i found a christmas tree so i now have a fake 2 foot christmas tree with lights! i got to do something to keep me sane, or what little sanity i have left!

(This is wear they drive to get the sand)

I get up at 4 in the morning, jump in the back of a pickup drive about an hour out into the most jungle part of Africa, dig 4 tons of sand out of the ground then place it in the truck, then drive back to the church and drop the sand off then drive back and repeat.

(After their 4-hour drive in the back of a pickup)

Thursday we traveled to zone conference, so to get there we got on a boat to a town called Luabel, which by boat on the zambie(which i drove by the way) is about 2 hours. Then from there we waited for a car, we waited for 4 hours then one car finally left our town but the car drove back in the same way we came in, so we past Marromeu! So we drove for like....4 hours on dirt roads inn the back of a pickup but getting rocked like a rag doll! Then finally we got to a paved road so we then drove the rest of the way to Quilimoni where we had conference.

(Dreaming what skiing would be like in Africa)

Well that was my week in a nut shell, hope everything else goes well at home only one more week till transfers here, next week we find out! com Amor, Elder Steel

October means summer?

photo update from elder, (110 degrees, snakes everywhere, rats the size of cats, no power therefore no a/c, could someone send me a translator that does conjugation)...Steel He still loves it and loves what he is doing, and we love him. Nice golf course?, mamba jamba snake charmers, looks like spinach dip??? but not sure

Water system, turn on the water grab two buckets run to the well fill till full return to house pour water into cups and yahoo you have water

Balanca Kids

Balanca pets

Some of the latest updates from Lane for all of us to enjoy!

So one day I was sitting eating lunch with my comp talking trash on Jake and how I could beat him in raquet ball you know just the kinda stuff you say when he is half way around the world! when all of the suddon a mamba just crawes in our window... not a fun time it just haunts the rest of the week for you thinking there could be more snakes in your house so then saturday comes around and my comp sees this giant giant rat so he is hitting it with a broom trying to kill it when I run to get a cantan to kill him when I get back to where he was the rat ran out and jumped on me. I threw my leg in the air and he jumped on the other leg so I was hopping like a little girl it was pretty scary and the rat got aways so thats my week in a nut shell finding people are rats and snakes!

yea so the week was good I got your package thanks!! the litte kids here love the dolls I gave them out to the missionarys in my house to give out so I didnt get to see all of them placed but the ones I gave away the little kids loved! I gave one to a little boy and he was so happy he fell to the ground started to kiss it then got up dancing screaming in english I love you I love I love you it was pretty funny!

As for mozambique I think I know exacly why im hear, I wanted my mission to change me from this lazy wont apply himself lane to someone who works hard and is smart because i thought I was going to be forced to study 3 hours a day and I thought I was going to have these crazy rules that wont let me do this and that and come to find out we dont really have much rules so every change I have wanted in my life I have had to make it myself. I have to force myself to study and read and do the things I thought I was going to be forced by others to do so it has really helped me help me! Another reason might be I am being trained to build from nothing some of the strongest people to truely convert the members here.

just a little africa baby there all so fat its either super fat or super skinny there is not much inbetween haha! there a funny people

August 16 2011

Im sleepnig on a nice mattress! the floor in our house is cememt but its one of the only ones in the village so we have it pretty nice! the shower yea we got good water pressure but the water is well water so cold and not really all too clean! but yea my new comp elder Jeffs got here along with 2 other elders so we growing the area! I'm pretty happy! so there is a normal house its made all out of mud and a few sticks then for the roof its just capin that kinda of stuff we have in are backyard that we always cut down and burn thats the roof if that helps give you an idea of the house of my area. the other pic is of a nice mozambique kiten they have them out side in a giant hut with a capian roof thats where they cook all their food and do that kind of business. next is our gaurd a typical african! hahah he is a crazy guy and you can kinda see our house in the background its a nice house! the next one is my walk home to my house at night if your thinking thats a stupid picture i cant see anything then your on the right track! the village doesn't have power so unless its a full moon you are seeing just as much as i am seeing.. nothing!!! hahah its a little creepy some nights but i have made it so far with out steping in a hole or a snake! im not sure if that gives you a good idea of the area im living but that is kinda the houses the people and the paths you can kinda see in that pic that there is a small path. thats what a take all day long! just about the same size as our trail to the river!

The Choppa ride to the next town. A small van that fits 6-8 people, but mostly 15!

Lane writes: this is the pathway to our home if you can see anything more than darkness your doing as good as I am. I haven't fallen in any holes or stepped on any snakes yet so i'm doing good!

This is a typical African Home, the posh neighborhood have tin roofs!

This is our guard, and our home behind him. It also serves as the Church. Mom and Dad think maybe we all should chip in and get the guard a new shirt!

African Kitchen...Better than the Olive Garden huh?

Did Simon Dewey make it to Africa?

Lane's pictures Aug 1st

adventures in Africa

the this is a view from my backyard and a banana tree in my backyard and the next is there is always a crowd of little people following me so I thought I would take a pic and when the village saw the camera the little kids came out of the wood work! it was sweet! sunday comes and im getting ready for church setting up chairs and sweeping and a snake pops out of the chairs and into the chapel so im trying to get it out so finally I just man up and grab the snake by the tail thinking its not to big and it doesnt look to mean so as im holding it the snake it stricking and its fast! and mean so I get to scared of it throw it hit it with a rock and chop its head off then our sr. couple comes and I show them our cool little snake and turns out it was a mamba! so im a true man now cause I grabbed a mamba by the tail and was playinig with it

Africa Week 3

well first you were right, the village i live in is about 45 min drive or more to the city of Beira so we have to get on a shopa, it's a minivan and you pay 15 meticas to ride it from balanca to beira its about 26 meticas for a dollar right now so we ride it. There are four rows of seats, all can seat four people in them but the more people you can get in the more money you can get so most the time a low number is 17 and a high number is 36 people just crammed in there, so it's a long nasty ride but so is all of africa! we don't have a house address, no one in are village does your just marked by GPS coordinate. so you cant send a package you just send it to the mission house and we get it on the next transfer. You can email photos here i just got some of jakes magic farm! and i can send a few back to you but the internet is so slow i can only send a few pics at a time and i have to buy a card reader first so i have to find one! then i can! so one day you can get pictures. im doing great the jet lag in gone now im just trying to get use to the country! the weather channel is right its freezing here! its not really that cold but for africa its like in the all time lows ever its cold! the people just sit in there house with a little fire all day trying to warm up! so yea its the warm dry season right now then come december like it gets the hot wet season and thats the only two we have here! and as for the people there just a lost, cause i've been trying to teach them just that but there just to lazy and stuck in the traditions of their fathers to change but still trying one of them will get the hint some time! but that's all the questions here a normal day in the life of me so we get up at 6:30 eat breakfast then have 3 hours of study personal then language then companion, so for that i'm just using all my time to read the book of Mormon in Portuguese. Both language and personal trying to get that under my belt then for companion. My comp wanted to learn the bible better so were reading that. Were in exodus 22 right now NO FUN! haha then we got out and teach we can most the time get in 2 lessons then lunch then 2 more some days 3 lessons then we teach piano then seminary then we can get one lesson in then its dark and since we live in the middle of no were they don't have electricity in 95 percent of the houses so we have to go in at about 1700 or 5 ish then we just do what every we want until bed time its a good life! somethings about it get old like when ever i want water i have to go to the back yard and fetch it out of a well not just turn a nozzle! so that not so fun but for the most part i love it's just a giant camp-out! the people are crazy, the other day we were walking home from a lesson and some drunk guy was calling us little men little men so we just thought he was on the phone then he grabs me so i whip around and he tells me look i'm a little drunk right now but i want to change my life i want to be a Jesus man help me, so me and my comp decided to see if he really wanted to change we would have him take us to his house and he would pour out the beer in front of us which by the way is 10 meticas cheaper than water so everyone is drunk. So when we get to his house he looks and looks and can't find any, so my comp tells him so go get us some water so we can wash our hands, so as he is doing that i steal an empty bottle from the ground and fill it with dirty soap water i found outside, when he comes back out i was like look i found it. So he grabs it from me smells it and was like yep, then we open it and before i can say anything else he chugs it! then after that he stops drops the bottle gets the funniest face ever then with all the strength he could find screeches NNNAAAA then runs to the corner and throws up! i couldn't hold it in so i was laughing my head off, he asked what was so funny i just said it didn't translate well to Portuguese then i told him if he really wanted to change come to church then we left. He didn't come but i know he wouldn't but that was just another normal day. All the girls have kids and they just breast feed right there in front of you just take there shirt off and start feeding, it was supper awkward at first but i'm getting used to it now. It happens like 6 times a day! but thats just crazy old Africa for you. Any other questions just send them my way! love you have a great week!

Africa Week 2

well yea so i made it to balance ok im alive um... so my house is the chapel and yes its just me and my companion living out there we have a nice little place its sitting on like 10 aches and its all gated in its sweet in are front yard in a pineapple field in the back is mango and banana trees on the side are cashew trees and then all over we have coconut trees thrown in so its a nice little place i like it i would say if you could find the worst house in garden it would maybe be a little nicer than this house but for the village we live in its like a mansion! so the village is called balanca and yes it is out in the middle of nowhere, where the only house in the town is made of concret the rest are made of rocks or mud so we have it nice. um church... well my companion is the branch president i dont think he has counselors, there are about 40 people that come to church just a few of them are baptized and active! but were working on that i teach the young adult class and then church is over we only have 2 hour church so thats pretty nice! my companion is elder Peterson so far he is just like ryan seger to the T he is the state champ wrestler of utah he was in collage wrestling and pretty darn good, he has malaria right now so we just sitt around the house all day but he is feeling better so i think we will be out by tomorrow! yea the time difference is crazy here! it sometime hard to go to bed on stay up in the middle of the day but i am getting use to it! so the first day i got to my area in balanca if it will help explane how getto we have it we had to hunt a goat then we killed it then ate it for dinner that next day so its pretty crazy! its a wild city but because im white everyone is super super scared of me because here white only means two things money and power so every time you confront someone they are very very shy and just want to leave so you have to be extra open and make sure they know your a nice guy! the work is pretty hand right now just because i cant speak the language yet so its coming supppper slow but its coming i hope well i dont have much else cool that happened that i can tell you with out you freaking out so i will just save those stories from when i come home! needless to say its a crazy crazy town here and its everyman for himself! well im off but hope you are having a great time i love it here!

love elder Steel!


well i wasn't all alone on the bus! the presidents daughter is adopting a mozambique girl who is like 10 or so, so the president had her go with me because she needed to go back to beira to get her adoption papers! so i had a little friend! but it was at night so i just sleep most the time. yea your lucky you got that email off cause i dont know if you would have caught me but i heard that some times you can caught me online then we can chat back and forth so if you ever get the right timing on a monday morning maybe! my week has been good my companion has malaria so i didn't do anything yet just got to my house unpacked just messed around in the yard chucked some coconuts and just cleaned the house a little but he is pretty much better so were out in beira today to email and shop so i think we will be ready to go tomorrow then i get my real first lesson. so sunday i just got up my house in the chapel so mopped the floor and set up chairs then we had church about 40 people showed up which is about normal for that branch then the people who were going to speak bailed so my compaino and a sr missionary had to speak but my comp said that happens almost every week so just have a talk ready! then afte sacrament we split into young men young women's and primary and the old people class the sr. missionary taught primary my comp taught old people and i had a kid about 15 teach are class because i wasn't there and prepared but he did a good job! so after that we went to the next town of dondo the other elders have a house there and we stayed there so that the trip today wouldn't be so long and busy other wise we wouldn't do to much email in are little jungle out there! so its kinda true that were not baptizing because we can baptize but it has to be after at least 5 weeks and they have to be living every commandment with exactness, because the week before i got here they had to x comunicate like 10 members cause they were baptized just because it the missionaries asked them to and then they went right back to sleeping with everyone and smoking and selling drugs so we dont baptize much unless they are really ready, president said it best what is more importrand the wedding day of planning the marriage so thats what we work off of! and they to get the members more involved they baptize them so even if we had someone ready they members will baptize them not us. so that kinda cool! and that will be in effect till i get a new president at least! im to help you visualize just think of Hawaii with crazy amount of trash and naked people running wild! that is were i live! and i think i will be able to get pictures cause they said packages are good to send and come in! so i will be able to do that no letters just packages so i will try to send you some cool stuff! nothing will get robbed because if you rob in this city they beat you till your limp stuff you in a tire and light you on fire its a pretty nasty thing to see! crazy place but good new cause im not getting robbed! haha! well talk to you next week i hope your having a great time dont worry about me i have the lord on my shoulders plus they pray for me in every temple and in most mormon families so im in no harm pray about ryan and tayler! love you miss you bye
Amo, Elder Steel

First Week in Africa

My president is way way cool i love him so far we had a giant training today on the way things are done here and what everything is really about and so far he is a way way sweet guy! next my companion is named elder Petersen i meet his Saturday but they says he's really cool he is the branch president of are area and he sounds cool! the country... well for you all i can say is... its great NOTHING like i pictured it if your thinking of a third world country your proable wrong cause its way way worse than that! but i love it so much its 10000% better than the mtc! well in dads letter it says were im going so there is that the bush! its sweet and yes as for telling what language is this YES i told the guys that right when we got here hey do you know on best 2 years when... so i know how that feels if we stray off the topic of the evanlho im way lost!


hey there president steel its elder steel right now im in africa freezing its not what you think africa is! its crazy down in this country i love it its nothing like the mtc its way way better the president told us today that were not baptizing here were just building a foundation and building members up so its a lot different he told us everything you learned in the mtc is great but it doesn't work on mozambicans so here is what you need to know.. its sweet i love it you can for sure tell its a third world country tho! lots of crazy stuff already! im assigned to balança a few hours out of beira the president says its almost as jungle part of the whole mission so that will be fun a 18 hour bus ride to there so i learned i cant speak Portuguese unless its talking about the church but you learn fast when everyone is talking it! Well talk to you later love you chow!

Last Week in MTC

well i would be ok with getting a transfer just because i feel like i could teach anyone anything in english perfect but i think it would be a lot harder to pickup pork and cheese if i didnt talk it at all for a few weeks so its would be a win lose but i think they will just keep me hear but nao sa they didn't tell us anything about anything yet were just in the dark waiting! thats cool that your getting another car if it makes you feel better mission presidents might drive a avalon but elder oudorf drives a camry and president monson drives a lincon town car! yea the temple is sweet to go to each week i love it try to get it all in before i leave because i cant go to one in africa! the lessons i teach are right out of preach my gospel the words of the prophets are what i use so just read that with teh spirtt and tahts what im teaching im try to be a p.m.g missionary! just trucking along so if its in there im trying to do it! my nose is good and so is the rest of me but right now my spirit is down because as i was walking in some girl had a weedeater and i could smell the gas burning and man did that smell good and bring back good times! hahah oh well better ones on the way! obedience brings blessings, exact obedience brings miracles! bye love you have a good week send me the stuff itold dad to please!!!!

Week 7

on man just a few short days left i cant wait! and i wish i could have weather like that right now i just sat in side of a classroom all day and on Thursday i will be walking around in the 100 degree heat! not cool! 2 months have gone by pretty quick you definitely have to use it to the fullist thats for sure! i cant wait to exercise my fé in real members we have are depater devo last noitch and now were ready to goi just passing time so i hope life on your side of the fence is going well because this week is going to be melhor than yours its mission president week so tomorrow atreves sunday were get one hundred and 13 mission presidents! alnog with that there will be a different and most days many 12 apostles here every day and then for us missionaries on friday they are holding a special devo .. in that devo will for sure be 8 of the 12 apostles and maybe the first presidency there has been no confirmation on that yet! and rummer has it elder holland is speaking! so hope your life is going good love you lots! talk to you from africa!
oh ps they said for me to send you a package it will almost always get to you but for you to send me one... it wont come.. and letters down there have to be hand delivered so they never come maybe once every 6 months.. but who knows i guess just maybe count on emails.. chow love ya

Week 6

the week has been great just chugging right along like always! my face/...well its broken but for the most part its ok! i mean its not like i cry in pain even day so i will live! im just about to go crazy in here only about 2 1/2 weeks left and i cant wait! I'm so ready i don't even care if i cant speak the language down there i just want to move to africa already! they havn't told us about visas but they said that there has never been a problem with missionaries getting visas going to Mozambique so just don't worry about it! THIS WEEK i get to drag the new elders in! i cant wait I'm way pumped for it i already got pranks i'm going to pull on them and everything! my discussion are going great but funny story so most of the time i do all the talking and my comp elder walker just bears his testimony so this last lesson i let him teach he taught Jeorge about keeping the Sabbath day holy and i was feeling really stupid cause i couldn't understand what was going on and was lost the whole time then at the end i ask jeorge pregunats (questions) and he was like umm i didn't understand a word he was saying so will you teach me that! hahah it made me feel pretty cool and i got to the point where i can speak so good they made me a investigator pequisador im pretending to be micah! its way fun i love being on the other side of things and i read (ler) that section in d&c the first week i got here and ever since then i just read everything in english and study the lessons in english and just let the spirit do the rest so far its worked out great! we will see how it works in africa! Oh by the way not that i really read the scriptures i get all more out of them and there way cooler you should instead of just reading the scriptures every night STUDy the scriptures ever night and what helps me i re enact it to fit todays times! its way fun i get way more out of it! welll got to run, bye love you! keep up the good work!

Me and my comp are going well all is well in zion just waiting for the long trip to africa its 2 days long! we don't memorize the discussion just the main points of them and then let the spirit teach the rest and so far there going well i have a baptism on sunday and i'm going to try to commit my other pesquisador to batismo this week! and i'm also and pesiquisador to read dads letter to know morte! im not district leader anymore you can only have it for 4 weeks then you change! can you send me in a letter jakes new adress! thanks in my district only 7 but now in my branch we have like 35 which is the highest in the ctm jake is a good egg he send me a package! full of junk food! yea he for sure is my favorite brother! its cool that you gave her my adress cause it will make me look cool when i get a letter from a girl other than my mom! oh man phoxy sent me home made bread yesterday and i almost died because it was so good i tried to eat the whole loaf at once! how is life with all the birds back in the nest! i bet thats fun! ill try to send you a letter with my schedule so you know what i do every day just same old same old! oh by the way one of the kids in my zone played ball for byu so i promised him when he comes back my little brother Ryan can beat him in basketball so tell Ryan he better not let me down! i got the BYU teams new player riding on him! well i got to go miss you and love you lots thanks for tudo coisas bye love elder steel!

Week 5

Nice to know you guys are getting rain, you lucky dogs! Its kinda snowed hear yesterday! Looks like your taking after my example and just getting hurt all the time. We had a talk about malaria the other day they said.... your going to get it and not very many have died from it but it is the leading cause of death for people going to africa, so that was nice to hear. Send a pic of ryan in braces i want to see that!!! let him know i'm laughing at him! there was something else i wanted to putt in the package but i forgot what it was.. shame and the language... well i find my day cursing at the people who built the tower of babel if that helps you understand! but other than that my life here is going great my 2 investigators are getting baptized in 2 weeks even though its fake its definitely not a fake spirt you get, so that's fun! i cant wait for one month to go bye! im leaving the states the same time joseph smith left this earth and im pumped for it! last week we got elder Nelson and his wife! it was sweet! well hope all is well in the mother land!

Week 4

Sent from your iphone, how dare you tell me your stories about your forbidden fruit! not cool this is send from a old school computer with a timer counting down from thirty! i'm doing fine just got a small hit in the face with some kids knee in kickball! its broken but its fine just got back from the doc just now but its pretty cool when ever i touch it my whole face goes numb so thats fun! its not that painful mostly because its super numb! but still not half bad! my companion is starting to like me a lot more still times when he hates me but were working on it! his sister came into the ctm this week and so that helped him a lot to have someone there but i know when he leaves he is going to break down again! oh well not my problem! hahah and oh yea i have been continuing studying all the time its killer! i think were doing 70 contacts a week and 10 lessons! all in pork and cheese! and every break we have we spend studying to make sure were saying the words right! and yes we did get some cool visitors last week was Richard Hinkely pres. Hinkelys son and elder neil l andersen and this week is someone in high power to cause they set the TelePrompTers up! so that will be cool i talked to pres. andersen he called me by name and shook my hand! well i'm glad YW is going good glad they follow you if in the next 2 years any hot girls move in feel free to have them write me! Bahaha! nothing much else to write about just doing the same stuff every day i send jake a birthday present and with it i send pictures of a few stuff so you will have to get them from him! jake got the shaft the rest of the families birthdays will be in africa so i can get them cool stuff jake... ctm he got nothing cool! hahah oh they moved me into a 3 some companionship with an elder going to brazil his comp got a vista so he is with us now he is pretty cool! Well my time is beeping one minute left so i got to fly by love you! talk to you next week, chow chow!

I would love to play board games but the pass the pigs i asked you guys to send me and the popcorn still hasn't came yet! so until then its all systems go! i just got back from the doctors i broke it all right but there nothing they can do about it so they said to just man up i have the ex rays there pretty cool! always nice to see there is nothing on the inside of my skull! ryan and Tayler are done with school... wow that was quick! hhahah to bad they didn't the the moon bounce! the language.... well its coming for just learning it 5 weeks ago i guess its ok but it doesn't feel that way i can almost translate everything on my own but other and speak enough to get me by but im sure that will all change when we go to africa! nice to know you got your braces off! Ryans turn now!!! YES!!! hahaha i thought shane and sadie were suppose to be there last week! well i know shane always late! its been raining this whole week so i had to do gym inside everyday so to go to the real world to see a doctor was a shock! i was talking to everyone i saw! it was nice cant wait for the next 4 weeks to fly by then maybe i will have cool things to write about i was talking to a girl in the doc office and her friends just got back from there and said they have ivory everything for dirt cheep so if you want anything just let me know! Hey and send me that popcorn all ready i precisar it! bem esperiansa tudo bom! amor vocé chow!

Week 3

oi! pai! How is things back in the real word! Nice to hear your bike is running great cause so are my feet ya little punk! Jake sent me a pic of the new kawi's, man oh man there nice! but no worries when you guys are riding your bikes i'm talking to apostles so i think overall the joke is on you! yeah my comp is not a fan of me but it really doesn't hurt my feelings the only thing that bothers me is that i'm sure were not teaching with the spirit we should teach with cause of it! But my district loves me i talked one of the kids in my distract into taping pillows around his face and letting me launch a small work out ball at him with are workout bands! the first time we missed it came back and hit another kid in the head and left a good lump the next time we got him in the face tho! needless to say he didn't want to do it another time! so yeah all the missionaries are low right now in the ctm (thats pork and cheese for mtc its pronounced ctm e) there is only like 1300 but by the middle of summer there is going to be 2500, so were at a low point now but recruits are coming! And thats not all that are going to africa that is just my distract there is still one other distract that is the same size ill try to send pictures of them all sometime this week! and you know if scott park doesn't work out next year you can always come to africa! we had a guy come in and talk to us about it the other day in basic, because there all slaves there they speak trash pork and cheese the bugs are huge, there is no cool animals because they were all killed in the war, and monkeys try to steal your stuff all the time! He said the food is either very very bad like fish that live in sewage dumps or its normal world food. He said they wont let you eat with the members most the time so you cook your own food and bring it to eat at the members house! There a lot more cool stuff to but i'm running low on time, but he did say the rats are the size of big cats and you hunt them at night, and after 2 months you get immune to misquito bites so thats cool! Well i'm off love you miss you talk to you next week!

well hello! Man i was laughing pretty hard where i heard Tayler snapped the phone, hahah poor kid! So we got new kids in that we are training to speak pork and cheese and one of them hasn't got endowed yet, i told him to do that this morning that was pretty cool! Nice to know you are getting your familia back this week but just to let you know they wont fill my whole! I'm just to amazing hahah! yeah so far the only apostle we got was Neil L Andersen, but i got to shake his hand and tell him i was cool and stuff like that. We got a new branch president which i'm glad cause the last one hated me! hahah and yes i'm still district leader but it might change the 4 week they try to switch it all up there so maybe then i can get released, until then i'm still in charge of getting the mail! And no my companion isn't an athlete he is into yogi and he is vegan and lots of other stuff. He yelled at me the other day cause I drink 4 cups of root beer a day... so i did what everyman would do.... went and got 2 more cups of root beer and chugged them right in front of him! its kinda mean i know but you get whats coming to you his sister comes into the ctm tommrow and he thinks he is going to go meet his family, little does he know! How is my picture hunting going did you find it yet! I'll try to send some pictures this week sometime if you send pass the pigs and popcorn oh and easy mac! I lost 5 pounds already because it hurts to eat! my nose might be broken.... not really sure but if it was up to me i would guess yes! oh well got to fly love you miss you!!!!!!!!!! love elder steel

Week 2

....I didn't even know it was a greeny box till later that day and one of the elders from my district was like oh your parents sent you a greeny box too! I was like yeah.... i guess they did! so i was in the temple today and i was thinking you know if Adam wouldn't have ate they forbidden fruit my dad wouldn't have to be out in the lawn picking weeds all day long! BAhahah maybe not the right way to look at it but hey! so the nariniah hole is a hole behind the closet doors thats just big and leads to empty space, and the pillow room is where they stick all the pillows for every missionary that is not in use and its about the size of my room and stuffed to the top with pillows, i got one of the workers to take me in this Thursday, i can't wait! well glad to know you guys will be having fun cause I'm trapped in a room all day with a teacher that doesn't speak my language just guessing words!...Oh by the way they gave me medicine for my tooth and my leg and i found out the hard way that if i take them together i stop breathing and have a heart attack! That would have been nice to know before i took them. I didn't really stop breathing but it was pretty close and I'm almost 100 percent sure that i had a heart attack! NOT FUN!! and on the I'm hurt note, since i stopped taking my tooth pills i can't chew on that side of my mouth cause it hurts, I also chipped my front tooth and i think i broke my nose in basketball but its all good! Just adding stories to my mission list! So I'm teaching my second investigator its going well i can pretty much understand everything he says. I just learned that were on a pilot program that is you get more playing the game than you do studying the game so we are one of like 5 groups in the MTC that is doing it and we have been teaching since day one! it works pretty well. Phoxey sent me cinnamon rolls last friday I'm not sure if it was just cause i haven't eaten real food for a while but they were so good, i loved it! Were learning Brazilian Portuguese because no one here can teach Moz- Portuguese so they said once we get down there we will pretty much have to relearn the language, that is going to be a killer! well I'm out of here off to do my laundry, have a good week love you lots!!!

Week 1

oi!! tudo bem! como vai? Hows life on the other side of the vail? It's going good over hear! life in the MTC is..... well.... a lot better than life at home hahahah! But it does have its ups and downs, the food is definitely not moms food! which brings me to the point will you guys send me popcorn i'm craving that SO bad! not really sure why! oh also can you find me the picture of christ holding a black baby in africa and send that to me, thanks! Studying is killing me i just want to be outside running around! but i'm starting to get use to it, maybe in a few weeks i will be use to studying all day. I guess its paying off cause i can speak a poco. I'm starting to find out all of the missionary myths and finding them like the pillow room and the nariah hole! They definitely keep you busy thats for sure! I can't wait for the 9 weeks when i'm out of here and in Africa! We have devo tonight and were hoping it's someone from the quorum of the 12 but were not getting are hopes up! oh those headphones that you saw shane using, i have to use them in a program called tall, it's the worst for the first 3 hours of it it was cool now i just want to throw the computer out the window every time we here tall! My teacher Irma Smith wont speak english to us so in the whole time i have been here i have heard maybe one hour of english from him, so i guess were getting thrown in by immersion like baptism. Well the clock at the top of the screen is beeping read and black 2 mins so got to go, love you lots!!!! later gator!javascript:void(0)

First Letter Home

My companion is great his name is elder walker from salt lake he knows every single person in the MTC so its kinda hard cause he never wants to be with me only his other friends but were getting better! my distract is sweet to i'm pretty sure it is one of the best! but maybe its just cause i am i'm in it! they made me distract leader so the whole time anyfree time i should have i'm in meetings and interviewing people so i decided that i'm going to be super rebellious this week so that i wont have to take the place of zone leader because are zone leader leaves to brazil on friday! I'm definitely going crazy in here though, i didn't even know it was possible to study for 10 hours a day and now i'm forced to, it's getting to my head!!! but i guess its good for me. so far i can say my prayers and bear my testimony in Portuguese but thats about it. I'm teaching a guy named mario i go in for my third lesson tomorrow im not really sure if he knows what i'm saying but i hope he can just feel the spirit! it pretty crazy definitely not what i was expecting, but...i like it and i hope soon i love it! the other elders in my zone that are leaving to brazil have been here 9 weeks and they can almost speak the language perfect so i'm hoping that will be me but i'm not holding my breath! oh by the way i got some bad news...........for you.... not really anyone else... i cant call home on mothers day i guess the 1600 other missionaries need to use the phone and since we just saw you we were the first ones off the list! you win some you lose some. P day in the MTC is not really a p day cause you have to get ready for the rest of the week do laundry and temple then learn what i'm going to teach mario tomorrow so its not much of a day off but i get a few seconds. well i got to get going but have fun in the real world i love and miss you!!! love Elder steel

last get together

We all got together with Phoxay and Blake and had lunch at the cafe paesan, an Italian restaurant in provo. Then we took pictures at the temple grounds.

Just before leaving for the MTC

Our family in front of the temple, before leaving for the mtc.

Grandma Grover

Grandma Grover, excited about Lane returning to serve where her and grandpa served in 1990

Grandpa and Grandma Steel

Last visit to say goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Steel

Harmony Pennsylvania

Lane at the Susquehanna river where the priesthood was restored, and great revelations were given, like this one in D&C 4

Lane at the Peter Whitmer farm in new york

We went on a church history tour at Lanes request. here are a few photos of some of the sites we visited. Here he is as he accepts this challenge to go ye unto the world and preach the gospel.

Many Are Called

Every Christmas Eve our family has a little Christmas program, each person takes part in the program somehow (tells a story, plays music, sings).

Every year my brother Lane always tells the story the Christmas scout, which we all love. This year it came time for Lane to tell his story and we were all very excited. Then he hands my mom a present and tells her she has to open it because it is part of his story. Right when she opened the present and we all spotted the white envelope the room flooded with tears. LANES MISSION CALL. And the best part…he kept it all a secret, always making comments that sounded like he wasn’t going on a mission anytime soon, little did we know he was waiting for his call the whole time.

Lane was called to the Mozambique, Maputo mission in Africa and will be speaking Portuguese. He leaves April 27 and he is so excited. Jake happened to catch some of the action on tape check it out. This is for you Brittany wish you could have been here.

We are all very excited for Lane and can’t wait to see lots of pictures, maybe he will end up living in something like this….

...or maybe this!