tengo gozo en mi alma hoy!

FAMILIA! IM IN THE FIELD!

like what? can you believe it?! my time in the CCM went by so fast! too fast!! i miss it there! seriously leaving the CCM was like saying goodbye to family again! because my district was my family! but i love it here in the mission! my mission president is AMAZING. amazing. im so so so lucky. my first area is called la union! its beautiful! and its more like what i imagined chile to be like. santiago was very modern compared to where i am now! but i absoultely love it. my trainer (my mama) is awesome! her name is hermana bennett! shes from UT! shes teaching me a lot and helping me to be a better missionary! im super grateful for her and her example.

spanish is coming! we only speak spanish...all day everyday! and im getting better everyday! in the next few months i should be speaking a lot better! but for now, i just do the best i can haha......seriously people talk so fast here. the other day someone asked me how many sisters i have and i thought he said how many years do you have (how old are you). so i said 19 hahahahah! he was like WOW! it was pretty funny.

oh my goodness family, i absoultely love the people of chile. i cant even describe the love i have for these people. i love them with all my heart. we are teaching a lot of people...a lot of menos activos. a lot of times we will just read el libro de mormòn with them. because that book can work miracles. read it every single day! its my very best friend out here in chile. well that and the spirit. haha! OH!!!!!! SATURDAY WE HAD A BAPTISM! yeah 1st baptism in the mission! YAY! we have been teaching her since i got here and then she was baptized on saturday! her name is Omyra...she is 9 years old and her mama is a less active! shes super great...such a cute little girl! after baptism we teach every lesson again so now we are starting from the beginning with her. 

i cant believe how happy i am. even when its hard (which it is...always will be), and when i know satan is getting to me, i am happy! i know for a fact there is NOTHING better i could be doing right now. nothing. and when i miss home, i just remember that i get to be with my family forever and these people dont.

so yeah the package you sent me is here in chile haha. i will get it either tomorrow or wed! they told me i have some other packages too...but i will get them all this week! thank you thank you for all the love!

HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO IZZY & LILY!! i love you both so much and im so grateful for you both. 

anways, i love you all! thanks for all the emails! i love reading them all! gracias gracias! i hope you all have a great week! 

con amor, hermana steele

this is alcantara! where i live! so so so pretty huh!?

I met Elder Holland!!! EN SERIO

SO YEAH.

monday morning Elder Gilbert told us that Elder Holland was coming to our CCM! i was freaking out!! i was super excited all day! we didnt know exactly when we was coming...around 2 or 3 pm. so after lunch we were in our classroom. we had just finished our prayer and our classroom door was open. we were waiting for our teacher to come and all of the sudden our district leader JUMPS out of his chair and runs out in the hall. and i look up and see him shaking elder hollands hand...en serio. so elder holland walked into our classroom and started talking to us for like 10 mintues! I SHOOK HIS HAND!!....TWICE! it was so cool. we were the only district that got to talk to him! i felt so lucky.

we had a devo with elder holland like an hour later and i got to lead the music so i was in the front row. literally RIGHT IN FRONT of elder holland. he looked me in the eyes multiple times. oh my goodnes. it was awesome. the spirit was so strong. he talked about how this is one of the greatest things in the history of the church. and i am apart of it. im living it. he said this time in the history of the church ranks with the first vision, the coming forth of the BOM & the priesthood. he said i am not just here to find a few converts. its not just one person...its just 10,000 people they represent. im saving their posterity. he talked about how every dispensation started with a vision. one of the biggest mistakes i could make is going into my mission without a vision. joseph smith had a lof of difficulties in his life. but he could never deny his vision. it kept him going. and my vision will keep me going. "we live too far beneath our potential. we live too far beneath our privilage." my mission can be anything i want it to be!! elder holland said he doesnt care about the number of people we baptize. it reminded me of what grandpa steele said to me when i left....he said dont worry about the number of baptisms. that doesnt matter. just be the best missionary you can be. elder holland said if i give my heart and soul to my mission my life will be affected forever. the next 17 months is going to change my whole life. i will never go back to "real life". this is real life. as close to real life as im going to get. the next 18 months i get to save souls. with no interuptions. the last line of his talk was "welcome to the work". ah wow, it was amazing. i feel like his talk was writing for me...like he was speaking to me...oh wait he was! hahaha. i love elder holland. there is no doubt in my mind that he is an apostle of the lord.

after we heard elder holland speak we went to the temple! it was the last time for 17 months! so at the veil, i usually go through in english! because its so hard in spanish! so half way through the lady could not remember the words in english..she had just sent 5 other girls though in english. but i told her i could just finish in spanish. and after i was done she said wanted to talk to me. so when we were leaving the temple she was waiting by the door. she came up to me and said "i dont know how you felt but i felt the spirit so strong when you went through. i could not remember the words in english! and i feel like the lord was telling me that you needed to go through in spanish. and when you told me you could do it i knew you could! and i just wanted to tell you that i know you are here in chile for a reason. and that you can learn spanish. its hard, but you can do it." she was crying and so i started crying! it was so so so cool. after that she asked me how long ive been out and i told her 5 weeks. her jaw dropped! she was like oh my goodness youre amazing! you dont know how long it took me to be able to say the words you said in there!

just 5 minutes before, when i was sitting in the celestial room i was praying that the lord would help me learn spanish...which i do all the time. so hearing the temple worker tell me that i can learn spanish and that the lord was telling her that i can do this was really awesome.

the next day we got to watch a broadcast elder holland gave to all missionaries. and yeah that talk was amazing as well.

i have been trusted by the lord because i have given up so much. it doesnt matter how good (or bad) my spanish is, or how good i am at teaching the lessons because i have the light of christ in my eyes. and my heart. god has called me & raised me up at this time so i can serve in osorno. there is someone there that only my faith, my testimony can touch. i know this is going to be the hardest thing ive ever done. but im making history! the lord needs me. and im committed to his forever. i will never be able to thank the lord enough for this opportunity.

i have to stay in this until the end! "thats where they give the blue ribbons". the world is full of starters, but we need finishers. its easy to start. but its hard to keep going...and thats when we decide how commited we are. "kick when you dont want to kick. and stroke when you dont want to stroke." im going to knock doors when i dont want to knock doors anymore. and im going to keep practicing my spanish when i dont want to speak spanish anymore. and i know that even if i dont baptize anyone, i will come home with one convert. and that will be me. my mission will be worth it if i say "i believe" when its over. i will come home better than i was before. i am the future of this church! and i will be teaching and raising the future generations.

i know my mission is going to be hard. its already been so hard. but salvation is not a cheap experience. so how could this be easy? saving souls has never been easy. thats why we use the word "sacrifice". i know i will spend time sacrificing. i already have. but i wont even come close to sacrifing like Jesus did. i wont bleed from every pore, or suffer for the sins of the world. but i will walk where he walked. and talk what he talked. and sometimes shead the same tears he did. but how could it be easy for me when it wasnt easy for him? "take up your cross and follow him." 

this week has been really awesome! and next time i write to you guys I WILL BE IN OSORNO!!!!!!!!!! YAY! on friday we go on splits with the missionaries! like real life missionaries! im so nervous but im super excited!

i love you all so much! send me some pictures next week! i miss you! i hope everything is going well! you are in my prayers.

con amor, 

Hermana Steele

one month!

Hola Familia!

oh my gosh the days are going by faster and faster. i cant believe ive already been here for one month! its crazy! i feel like i said goodbye to you guys forever ago...but at the same time it feels like it was last week!!

i still LOVE chile! i love it more everyday. i am constantly reminded of why i am serving this mission.

i think what ive learned in the mission this far is that i am not a very patient person. well, i can be with others but not with myself. learning a new language has been tough for me. and i know heavenly father is trying to teach me to be paitent with myself. i asked my teacher the other day how to be paitent with myself and he told me that i cant learn patience without knowing immpatience. he said always think of something that lifts me up. i am not perfect. not even close! but no one expects me to be perfect. learning takes time. another thing that ive learned a lot about is the grace of christ. there should never be just two options: giving up or quiting. "the blessings of christs atonement are continuous and his strength is perfect in our weakness". D&C 67:13- continue in patience until we are perfect. christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done "all we can do". we recieve his grace before, during and after all we can do. grace is now!! my favorite hymn is "come, come ye saints". its seriously become my favorite. and i hum and sing it all the time. "grace shall be as your day". we can always count on the sun coming up in the morning. we can always have confidence in chirst. grace is constant. the task ahead of me is never as great as the power behind me. this is seriously the hardest thing ive ever done. i dont know how to tell or explain how hard its been! but all hard things are worth it. "why should we think to earn a great reward, if we now shun the fight". i love being a missionary. and i cannot wait to get to osorno and start teaching the gospel. i want to thank you mom and dad for raising me right. for teaching me the principals of the gospel. how lucky i am to have such amazing examples in my life! i love you all so so much. i read something the other day that said "if you're homesick, just remember that you are fortunate to have a family you miss. so think of it as a blessing." haha so im grateful for you guys.

so you know my tide to go pen i brought? yeah i havent used it once...but every single elder in my district has. HAHA i think its so funny!
my companion and i are super awesome! haha we are getting a lot better at teaching lessons and planning and stuff! and in the mtc we always talk about being unified with your companion. and its super funny because hermana durham and i say the same stuff at the exact same time!! in spanish! haha so we think we are pretty unified...haha. im so grateful for her. shes awesome! i dont know what i would do without her!

well, i love this gospel. i know that it is true. i love the book of mormon with all my heart. im learning so much here! and i feel like ive grown up so much!! thanks again for all the love and support. i can feel your prayers. and you are always in mine!!

con amor, hermana steele