Patience is a virtue!

hola hola!

wow thanks so so much for the package! i opened it christmas night and it was so awesome! i needed everything you sent haha! and i loved the scriptures with everything! that was awesome.

im so grateful for this past christmas to remember the reason we celebrate it. im grateful for the example of lily and cosy giving santa a baby jesus because yes "jesus is the reason for the season"! it was so good to see you all on skype! im so so so glad you´re all doing so well! such a blessing. i hope you are enjoying utah! tell everyone hello for me please! (SYD: im jealous you get to hang out with hannah...she emailed me and said you guys are going to do a photoshoot! how fun! give her a big hug for me and tell her i love her!) sorry i couldnt really speak english...it was really hard! im excited to see what happens next christmas...hahaha.

i love my savior so much. i know he lives. im so grateful for this mission. for this short time i have to serve the lord with all my heart. i learn so much every single day here on my mission...its so awesome. i know this is what eternal life will be like...learning and growing everyday. its crazy to me that no matter how many times i read the same page in preach my gospel or the same chapter in the book of mormon or the same talk by president monson i always learn something new. i love that about this gospel. i know i will never stop learning! there is always something new to learn, and always ways we can improve to become more like Jesus Christ. i never ever thought i would love trails. but i do!! and here in the mission i have a lot of them. but i love them because they make me stronger! its awesome when im like "yeah im ready for anything and im going to baptize the whole world!" but when im struggling i have to rely on my savior and the atonement to help me get through that hour or day until im ready to bapize the world again. i´ve also learned to be patient with myself. i feel like i talk about patience a lot but i have learned that i am not a patient person and this mission is teaching me to be patient.(along with a lot of other things). the lessons im learning from patience are helping me to be a better missionary, and a better person. but i´ve realized that patience does´t just mean waiting. its enduring. and enduring well. its staying with something until the very end! and WORKING for that something even when our desires are delayed. and i think that its these times when we are working and exercising our faith that we grow the most. for me, its hard to not get discouraged when results dont come instantly. but thats part of patience too. my investiagtors aren´t perfect either and im learning to have patience with them too! i will never give up on them (or the less active members). alma 17:11.

well i love you all SO much! thanks for your prayers and for your support. i hope you have a happy new year!!

con amor, hermana steele

lily- i love my ring! thank you so much! i wear it everyday!

mom & everyone else - all the food was awesome...and i love all the hand cream stuff! my pajama pants are SO cute and so is the sweater from jcrew! ah! thank you! also the nativity is super cute too! im going to keep it for next christmas as well and then give it away! and yes im totally memorizing the living christ with you guys! ill do it in enligh and in spanish! such a great goal! love my elephant! its so cute!!!

BTW! i totally met elder adams the first day i was here. haha he´s the assistant to the president! he is really really awesome! 

tell grandma steele thanks for the package as well! i love the sweater and im super excited to read the book! and all the treats were super yummy! and tell her thanks for all the emails. tell her i love her so so much! 

Singing with Angels!

this week has been super awesome! i just love being a missionary. and i really love chile.

last night we had a christmas presentation and all the missionaries in my district and all the youth in my district sang in a choir. the youth have been practicing for this choir since august! i felt super blessed to be apart of it! we sang like 7 or 8 chirstmas songs and read in the scriptures about when christ was born. and we all got red dresses...so it was pretty legit. i will send pictures next week. hermana bennett and i have been inviting EVERYONE to this presentation. and a ton of people showed up! it was awesome!! the spirit was super strong. and there were definately angels singing with us! afterward we watched the christmas devotional. and that was amazing too! ah i just love president monson. i realized this month that christmas is my favorite holiday. and when president monson spoke about the spirit of christ it made me realize why. 

im super excited to skype you guys this week and see you all and tell you about our 2 new investigators that are super great.

this mission is better than i ever imagined. and i will never be the same! my heart is forever changed! and i will forever be grateful for this experience.

Con Amor, Hermana Steele

Moroni 8:3 - you guys are in my prayers always! 

syd- super jealous of the color run you did! that´s on my bucket list!! thanks for the pics! your the best! the no bake cookies turned out aweome!

mom- our christmas tree this year is super awesome! i love it! and i love my pointe shoes on top! & thanks for forwarding me hermana orullians email! 

The Gift of Tongues is real!

Hola Familia!

holy cow the weeks are going by so fast! i cant believe next week is christmas!!! im so excited! and im so grateful that im here with the people of chile this christmas! im excited to skype you guys! the member family i live with really wants to meet you when we skype! so is the 24th around 5:00 PM chile time ok? i think we are 3 hours difference so thats 2 PM for you guys. i hope thats ok! but let me know!

so last week we had zone conference! it was so awesome! president rappley talked about the holy ghost the whole time. and how much our investigators need the holy ghost...because its the greatest gift we can recieve in this life. here in chile there are SO many less active members. its crazy. seriously a lot of the time we knock on a door and the person who answers was baptized when they were little but haven´t come to church since then. so presdient rappley said that the reason we have less active membors is because these people dont have the holy ghost. so its our job to help them feel the spirit and help them remember what they need to be doing to have the holy ghost with them. he also talked about how we as missionaries need the holy ghost as well. because if we dont have the holy ghost with us then our investigators wont feel it in our lessons. the holy ghost is the real teacher. so yesterday hermana bennett and i fasted to know how to help our investigators feel the spirit and we were fasting for charity. and right after we broke our fast we had a lesson with a active member. her name is celeste. 

after the lesson hermana bennett told me that celeste has never let missionaries in her house. and that she never wants to talk to the missionaries. but yesterday she let us in and talked to us for more then an hour. and our lesson with her was so great. the spirit was so SO strong. and i dont know that i have ever felt so much love for someone here in chile than i did for her. it was amazing. during the lesson i wasnt worried about what i wanted to say next and how to say it in spanish. i was thinking about how i could help her to feel the spirit. and literally words were put into my mouth. i cant even describe it! i know that the gift of tounges is real, and that fasting works. celeste has a super strong testimony of this gospel and of the book of mormon. she´s awesome. and she told us that she would come to church with us this sunday! i was really happy. 

well i love you all so so much. i know this church is true and i know that living this gospel is the only way we can have happiness in this life. i´m so greatful for it and for all of you! thanks for your support and your prayers! give lily and cosy kisses for me!

Con Amor, Hermana Steele

Syd- um yeah ok i have the prettiest sister ever. thanks for the pictures! hope you had fun at formal!

2 month mark!!!

hola hola!

ive been in the mission for 2 months now! oh my goodness its crazy how fast time has gone by! wow wow wow.

so here in chile they call me "rubio" (which means blonde)! haha it´s super funny because im not blonde at all...and everyone comments on my blue eyes. everyone. so thats funny too...just thought i would share. im the greengo from arizona with blonde hair and blue eyes.

so i really love my companion. she´s seriously THE BEST. last monday while we were walking home she said to me "seriously hermana you´re my favorite companion. (and she´s had 9). your my favorite because you make me want to be a better missionary! i dont ever want a new companion!" i thought it was the sweetest thing! i feel the exact same way about her! im so lucky to have her as my first companion. she will train me for 2 cambios (i think in english thats transfers?) so i will be with her for like 2 more months!!

last week we had intercambios (i have no idea what intercambio is in english...i think exchanges) with the hermanas over the mission. i guess they are kinda like AP hermanas. the companionship is a greengo and latina. so i got put with the latina and my companion, hermana bennett went with the greengo. haha hermana bennett and i were talking about it the night before and hermana bennett was like "you´ll probably go with the greengo because she speaks english." hahaha nope. but seriously it was super awesome. and i could totally communicate with her the whole day! and we taught great lessons and worked super hard that day! it was a little hard to understand her because she´s from argentina...and they speak different haha. but at the end of the day she asked me how long i studied spanish before i came to chile. and i told her i have never studied spanish in my life! i told her i knew hola when i got here. and her jaw dropped hahaha! she was like "no way! you speak so much spanish and you speak it so good!" she also told me how obedient i am...haha so that was a good self-confindence booster day. which was much needed haha.

the little girl we are teaching named nadia is progessing a lot! we finally got her to start reading in the book of mormon everyday. and she reads a lone because her mom (who is less active) doesnt have time to read with her. super tender right? she was having a hard time remember how to pray so wrote the steps down on a piece of paper for her and now she wants to pray every lesson. its so awesome. aw i just love her and her mom so much.

this week is my first zone conference! yay! im super super excited because we get to hear from president rappley. (side note about president...him and his wife lived in the dominican republic for a long time back when they werent sending missionaries there. but while he lived there he started talking to people about the gospel and the people were really receptive and so president called the church and told them to send missionaries to the DR. so they did! super cool huh? also, people pay lots and lots of money to listen to him talk. yeah he´s awesome.) anyways, i have to share a goal in the conference with everyone! i have so many but i think i will share my goal of seeing a family i convert enter the temple.

well i love you all so so much! you are always in my prayers. and i hope your doing well! hearing from you every week is the best thing ever. 

i love this gospel. i love being a missionary! alma 26:16

XOXO, hermana steele

Faith, fires, and funny stories!

Hola Familia! Como Están?!

So much to say so little time! Ah wow I had 30 emails inbox when I logged onto my email...haha thanks for all the love!! Seriously it´s the best.

So me and my compaion are working super hard! We talk to everyone that we can! And we are teaching a lot of lessons. Last week we invited 6 people to be baptized (which is a lot)...and one of them said yes! Her name is Nelly and we are teaching her again tomorrow! She´s super bueno. Just an hour ago, the AP called and told my companion and I congrats on how many people we are inviting to be baptized. When we got off the phone, my companion looked at me and said "Hermana, the APs never call anyone and say congrats. And you have been in the mission for a week." So that was pretty cool! We´ve been really focusing on using the book of mormon more in our lessons. (because the BOM is the better missionary). I seriously love that book so so much. It´s changing peoples lives here in chile.

Ok super funny story...haha. So yesterday my companion was quizing me on the congugations for preterit tense because that´s what I was studying the day before. So we are walking and I was totally congugating everything correct and getting it! So we are walking and I´m like "Wow, Spanish is easy!!" And me and Hermana Bennett just start laughing our heads off. Seriously it was so funny. Maybe you just had to be there...but I thought I would share that I´m seriously learning a language that somedays I feel like I will never speak or understand. I´m fasting and praying so much that I will learn spanish...and I totally am! Even if it´s slowly.

So I live in a little house connected to a home of a family in my branch. And it seriously reminds me of aunt stars cabin. Hermana Bennett and I sleep upstairs and its just like the attic with all the beds in the cabin. And the stairs make the same creaking sound when you walk up and down them!! Its great! I love it! Oh and we definately chop our own firewood and make fires! Haha I´ve learned to do both! It´s super awesome! We make fires in the morning because our house is always freezing cold. (so thanks mom for the slippers...I wear them all the time). Seriously at night I use 5 blankets hahaha. The mornings are cold but after lunch when we actually go outside the sun is out at it´s always super nice!

One thing I´ve really gained a huge testimony out here in the field this week is faith. I know for a fact Heavenly Father hears my prayers. Seriously when I want to give up and when I´m feeling frustrated with spanish or feeling like I willl never be a good missionary I just say a prayer to Heavenly Father to help me have the strength to keep going. And within minutes I feel so much better! And I´m ready to baptize the whole world!! And it´s so awesome! I know that I could not serve this mission without His help. I know that when I cannot keep going he will carry me. And I know that if I´m working my hardest then He is pleased.

Well, times up! I love you all so so much! Thank you so much for all the support. I can feel your prayers! I love it here in La Union! I love my companion and I love the people. And I love being a missionary!

Con Amor, Hermana Steele

shout out to uncle scott and aunt athena for the package! I was super excited for every single thing! especially the goldfish! they are my fav and we dont have those here!

sent to madeline from her mission pres in the CCM

Note from Madeline's Mission Pres in the CCM

Hna Steele,

I felt bad I didn't get to say good bye when you left. When you got on the bus to take your back pack off I thought you were coming back and then I got side tracked and you were off before I could give you a good bye abrazo. You are a special young lady who is going to make a wonderful missionary and some day a sweet wife. You always had such a good spirit about you. I enjoyed reading your letters to the Pres. You and sister Durham were a good companionship...I was amazed how fast your 6 weeks flew by. Have a great mission. Your Spanish will come and before you know it you will be expressing yourself freely. Just be diligent. That is what Heavenly Father asks of us. It would be great to see you when we come to Southern Chile in a couple weeks but who knows how everything will work out. May you be blessed throughout your mission.

                                E. Gilbert