last email home!

well, i´ve been thinking about what i would say in this email for a while now. i cannot believe it´s the last. how grateful i am for the time i´ve spent as a representative of Christ and His church. i wouldn´t trade this year and a half for ANYTHING and i´m so grateful to my Father in Heaven for sending me here to Chile to learn and to grow. 

i know the gospel is true. i know Christ lives and loves us so much more than we will ever know. i know our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and return to Him, and that is why He sent us His Son, who i love with all my heart. i know that if we follow His perfect example and live His perfect gospel, we will not fall. it doesn´t mean that it will be easy...it´s not supposed to be. but as we do the small and simple things we find peace, joy and happiness through our challenges. as i watched general conference this weekend i noticed that almost everyone spoke of or mentioned our personal conversion to the gospel. i know that it is SO important that we become truly converted to His gospel and that we live it to experience that happiness everyday. equally important is sharing the happiness we have because of what we know. i´m excited to keep being a missionary and sharing the gospel with those around me!!

thanks for the support and love i have recieved from all of you. you´re the best. i love you all so much. see you soon.

XOXO, hermana steele

"Because He Lives"

hola familia!!

this week we had an activity with the ward for the new inciative, "Because He Lives"! We had a tour of the life of Jesus Christ. all the missionaries in our zone came to Pto. Varas to help! in the first room the Elders talked about the birth of Jesus Christ. in the second room the sisters talked about Jesus's baptism. and in the third room the elders taught about Christ's suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane. in the fourth room hermana Ralph and I talked about the resurrection! we show the video "because to Him" from last year! it´s a great video! I had chance to watch it many times and think much about the real meaning of Easter. 

I know Christ lives. I know that His life didn´t ended on the cross. He arose on the third day and because of him, I will also be resurrected and return to the presence of Heavenly Father. and as the video says, i always have a second chance to start over because of Him. I think life would be impossible without those second chances ... but we have them! everyday! I love him very much and am very grateful for what he did for me. Mosiah 16: 9 says: "He is the light and life of the world, yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death."

in the last room they watched the new video, because He lives. I love this video too ... is SO great! if you haven´t already seen it, i inviste you to watch it! and not just watch it, but share it! post it on your facebooks with your testimony of the living Christ to help others understand who He is for us.

Friday we went out to visit some hermanas with the new president of the Relief Society. We decided to visit a less active family that the ward is trying to help come back to church. They are such a great family ... the parents both served missions, and are sealed in the temple! When we got to their house the bishop had just showed up! so, we decided to share the new video with them. the dad began to cry and expressed his feelings of Christ and his desire to come back to church. he was very sad that his family stopped doing the small and simple things. all of us were crying and we were able to testify to the power of the Atonement and His love for each of us, no matter what we have done in this life. I think it was one of the times I have felt the Spirit stronger throughout my mission. we said a prayer and left. and yesterday, the whole family came to church and stayed for all the meetings! It was a miracle. 

on saturday little moira was baptized. i cried through the whole baptism. i think it was a lot of emotions that came all at once. i was so happy for her and her family! the spirit was definately present! i also couldn´t help but think about the fact that i´m coming home next week. i´m so grateful for my mission. i wouldn´t be who i am today without it.

on saturday, we had lunch with the bishop. he told me "hermana, you´ve been here for a long time and i wanted to thank you for all you´ve done here. maybe you haven´t had as many baptisms as you wanted here in Pto Varas but you´ve reactivated 11 almas. and that is a great thing." it was super sweet of him! i think in this sector i´ve come to understand the joy our Heavenly Father feels when 1person finds his way back to His fold. "And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."

well family, i love you all SO much. i pray for you always. thanks for all you do. seriously...watch the video if you haven´t. and have a box of tissues near by. 

helives.mormon.org

XOXO, hermana steele

Moria Jara will be baptized!!!

¡HOLA!

this week went by REALLY FAST! i guess that´s nothing new...

on monday, i started feeling sick. (you know, the whole nose ears & throat thing) it definately got worse as the week went on. and then on wed my companion started feeling sick. so it´s been a week of lots of tissues and hand sanitizer. all the elders say it´s normal to get sick because it´s my last transfer. (whatever that means?)

on tuesday we had a training on a new iniciative the church is doing for easter. at this time of year we celebrate Christ´s resurrection and it´s a perfect time to seek the ones that seek Him. the iniciative is called "because of Him" and we are REALLY excited to use it to find, teach, baptize, and reactivate the people of pto varas. a new video and website will come out this saturday and i invite you all to share it with EVERYONE on your facebook, twitter, instagram, ect. to invite everyone to learn more about our Savior and help them remember that because He lives, we will too. we came up with this idea with our ward mission leader: this next sunday our ward is going to have a fireside and we´ll present the new video and challege all the members to share the video with their friends. then anyone who "likes" the video is a reference for us!! we are super stoked! and on abril 5th, we will be in the plaza downtown with a projector showing the video. super awesome right? (check out this message by Elder Nelson with the link to the new website: lds.org/new-era/2015/03/because-he-lives) 

so remember those two little boys of the less active we started teaching last week? ok their names are Vicente & Rodolfo. guess what? they read the chapter we left them in the Book of Mormon...and they really liked it! they came to church on sunday...and they really like it too! on Friday, we went and taught them about prayer. they sat and listened VERY intently and told us they would pray everyday. they asked great questions and we were able to help them understand how to pray correctly. i had the idea to make them little signs that say "pray always" and after the lesson they colored them and together we wrote the steps of prayer on the back. IT WAS SO CUTE. i love them so much. i think i´ll bring them home with me. 

this saturday Moira Jara will be baptized!!! i invite you all to come and watch this little angel make covenants with her Heavenly Father! we are so very excited for her! we have our last lesson tomorrow with her and her family that have been COMPELETLY reactivated. they are one of my favorite families here in pto varas. i think i´ll bring them home with me too. (this week i´m feeling really grateful for facebook and skype haha)

last week we found a new apartment building and decided to knock a bunch of doors. we found A BILLION new people that are very, very prepared to hear the gospel. on one door we knocked a man about 30 years old answered the door. he started asking us who we were and what our church believes in. he asked for our number and we left wondering if he´d actually call us. he told us he´d be at church on sunday. and guess what? he called. he asked more about the church meetings, what time they started, and what he needed to wear to get in. guess what else? he came to church with us yesterday! the ward was SUPER awesome with him. we have an appointment with him and some members of the ward tonight! pray for alejandro! (and if you want you can sing the song "alejandro" by lady gaga Syd)

yesterday we had a SWEET ward cousel. i´m really really grateful for the Cólon ward and all my leaders here. they are great and i feel privigeled to have been able to work with them so long. our ward mission leader is helping us A TON. it´s been really awesome to see his desires to serve and his excitement for the work. i feel like the ward is progessing A LOT. i know that our Heavenly Father is hastening His work. I know He is a God of miracles. i´ve seen SO many this week. and i´m excited to see ever more as i continue to serve Him with all my heart.

i hope you all have a great week! you are in my prayers! i love you so much!

con amor, hermana steele

More miracles!

HOLA! so much to say, so little time.

well just so you know, i signed up for classes. it was so stressful, but it´s done.

so remember like forever ago when i told you about a less active we found knocking doors? and when we taught her the plan of salvation and she would just not believe it? yeah well we´ve seen some pretty crazy miracles with her lately. basically when we found her she didn´t remember ANYTHING. (or she didn´t understand ANYTHING when she was baptized) so anyways, we finally got her to come to church with us a few months ago and she´s been every sunday since. she LOVES the book of mormon. she reads like 10 chapters every week! and last week, we taught her the word of wisdom and yesterday at church she told me that she hasn´t drank coffee since our lesson! it´s been super cool to see.

another family that we´ve reactivated is progessing A TON too. the dad was called to be the president of the young mens yesterday and the youngest daughter will be baptized  next sunday!!!!!! we are SO excited for her! we´ve been teaching her and her family for a while now...she understands EVERYTHING PERFECTLY.

we finally have a mission leader!!!!!!! YAY!! we had correlation for the first time in 6 months last week. it was a miracle.

on saturday we found ANOTHER less active member. she told us to come in and teach her and her family. her 2 youngest boys aren´t members. when we asked them if they believe in God they told us no. so we shared alma 32:21 about faith. we talked about a lot of things that we can´t see but that we can feel (ex the air, love, ect.). in the end we left them with their own copys of the book of mormon and the little boys were like "SWEET! thanks!! we are gonna read it!!" the mom told her kids they would go to church next week and the little boys were super stoked. it was pretty cool. the whole lesson i thought of this primary song: 

"A long time ago in a beautiful place,

Children were gathered ’round Jesus.

He blessed and taught as they felt of His love.

Each saw the tears on His face.

The love that He felt for His little ones

I know He feels for me.

I did not touch Him or sit on His knee,

Yet, Jesus in real to me

I know He lives!  I will follow faithfully.

My heart I give to Him.

I know that my Savior loves me."

i know that Christ lives. i know that this is His work. it´s not mine. and any success i have as a missionary isn´t because of something i did, am doing or will do! i´m just His representative. and i´m here to bring the truth UNTO the people and then put that truth INTO their hearts. i feel like i just watch miracles happen all the time. i know for a fact that i´m here to do the Lords work in His way. like nephi said when he was commanded to build a ship, "Now I, Nephi, did not work the timbers after the manner which was learned by men, neither did I build the ship after the manner of men; but I did build it after the manner which the Lord had shown unto me". (1 nephi 18:2)

i hope you all have a great week! i love you guys SO MUCH!

con amor, hermana steele

I know He hears us!

HOLA!

hm not too much happened this week. that doesn´t mean i didn´t learn A TON...because i did. and i could sit on the computer for hours writing ya´ll. but this week we had to stay in the house for half the week. you know how last week i told ya that there were riots happening all over our sector? yeah well...they got worse. basically a boy in our sector commited suicide and everyone thinks that the police killed him because they found his body. so all the gangs in Puerto Varas got together and started barricades all over our sector. apparently they all had bottles of gas so that they could set the policemens house on fire (because here in chile they all live together). there were policemen ALL OVER our sector this last week! hermana ralph and i were pretty freaked out! i found this sweet verse in the book of mormon this week though. it says "look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction."

i´ve learned that Heavenly Father doesn´t always answer my prayers in the way i want Him to. there have been lots of days where i´m SO tired and don´t think i can do anything more. or days where i feel like i just do not have any more patience. more than once i´ve fell down on my knees asking for His help. and He DOES help. we see miracles everyday. sometimes it´s nothing more than a feeling that everything will be ok. most days i don´t know how it will all work out but it always does. and everyday i´m happy to be a missionary doing what i do as a representative of Christ. i love my sector, i love the members, i love my companion. although most days are hard, i´m glad there´s not a quick solution to my problems. i´m glad God gives me the chance to turn to Him for help. i´ve come to know my Heavenly Father in a way i wouldn´t have if He answered my prayers the way i wanted Him to. i´ve learned to trust in Him. i know He hears us. and sometimes just the fact that He is there listening gives me strength to keep going.

anyways, we ended up leaving the sector this weekend. i´m glad that everything is back to normal now so that we can keep working hard and finding Gods elect. i´m ready to preach repentance unto this people...haha.

i hope everything is good where you are! i love you guys SO MUCH! pray for my sector and the people here in Pto Varas! have a great week!

con amor, hermana steele