2/24 Everyone will know someday!

this week was SUPER AWESOME! hermana bennett and i have been talking to literally EVERY SINGLE PERSON. & we are meeting a lot of new people! really great people!

yesterday, 5 less active members came to church! (when i say less active members i mean like they haven´t attended church for YEARS). saturday we visited one family that i absouletly love. we were sharing a scripture with them and then all of the sudden one of the daughters was like "yeah i want to go to church tomorrow. we need to go dad. i know that if we go we will feel a lot better" it was so awesome and the spirit was so strong as she testified to her dad about the importance of going to church. after she was done talking the dad was like "ya vamos!" (basically he was like yep we are going!) hermana bennett and i were SUPER happy! after chruch the president of the branch came up to hermana bennett and i and was like "hermanas! thank you so much for working so hard with the less active members. it was so awesome to see so many here today." if we are so happy about the fact that so many less acitves came to church today, i can´t even imagine how happy Heavenly Father is. 

also, we have an investigator right now  named hugo. i don´t think ive told you about him? or maybe i have. but anyways, he super awesome! he´s reading the book of mormon and every time we visit him he has new questions. and he loves coming to church! i love seeing his progression and seeing the gospel change his life. he really has the true intention that it talks about in the scriptures. he is going to be baptized in march! 

also we have an investigator named alejandra. i told you about her on christmas when we skyped remember? she´s the one with 3 little girls and her boyfriend is a member but has been waiting for his divorce papers to be registered or something? but GUESS WHAT!? the papers went throught like a month ago! so they are getting married in march!! hermana bennett and i have been fasting and praying for that family like crazy! what a blessing! we are really excited for them!

mom- yeah vegas always makes me kinda sick too. i don´t really like vacationing there. i kinda get the same feeling as you were describing when people here slam the door in my face. i just think "but no! you need this message!" but i always always remember that everyone is going to get the chance to hear the gospel. maybe not today, or tomorrow. maybe not this year, and maybe not in this life. but everyone will know someday. 

im so so grateful for my savior. through his love we can change. his inviation is to follow him and his example and become like him. and im grateful for the opportunity i have everyday to be better and try to become more like him. i love this gospel with all my heart! i know it´s true! 

con mucho amor, hermana steele

2/18 Elder Ballard!

hola hola! como están?! ojala que todos están super bien! 

i got my package the day before valentines!! thank you thank you thank you!

so yesterday we got to hear from elder ballard. it was so awesome!! there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that he is an apostol of the lord. the spirit was SO strong the whole day. im really really grateful for the opportunity i had to listen to him. he talked about a lot of different things (all of which were exactly what i needed to hear). he talked a lot about how if we want to teach more people, we have to talk with more people. satan doesn´t want me to talk to everyone, he wants me to just walk through the day. he talked about how there are 2 powers...the power of satan who doesn´t like us missionaries because we have the capacity to redeem and save and bring souls unto christ. and then we have the power of the savior, the redeemer of the world who says "come unto me, and be baptized in my name". he said that as representatives of jesus christ we are in the middle of the war between these powers. and that we have to pay whatever price i need to pay to have the truths written on my heart. there will be some people who reject my testimony but there will be those that i will find...the ones that are being prepared by the Lord who will know that something is different and they will want to learn more. there is SO much power when we as missionaries testify becuase we are testifying of pure and simple truths! he also talked a lot about faith. fear is the opposite of faith. we cannot have fear. if we have the faith of a grain of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. math. 17:20. im learning a lot about faith in the mission and im so grateful for every opportunity i have to exercise my faith in jesus christ. so hermana bennett and i have a lot of goals to talk to every single person...in every situation, every circumstance.

so after the conference hermana bennett and i were super excited to just talk to everyone...haha. so while we were waiting in the bus terminal we were started talking to this guy and he said something to us that i will never forget. he told us when we talk, we have this light in our eyes. and when we talk, we are passionate about it! he was like "i can tell you guys aren´t lying!" haha! it was such a testimony builder to me that people are going to feel the spirit when we testify of jesus christ. they are going to feel something different...just like elder ballard was talking about. 

i know that this is the lords work. i will always always be on his side, defending the kingdom of god. it´s crazy how fast time has gone by. i dont like it at all! so its my goal to take advantage of every moment that i have here in the mission, because i know i will never get this time again! i know that jesus christ lives. i know that this is his church. i know that god and his son appeared to joseph smith and restored the gospel and now we have it. we are so so so blessed to live in this time when the church has been restored in its fullness! i want you all to think about what the restauration of the gospel means to you and how it has impacted your life. i hope you see that because of the restauration, we have everything!

well i love you all SO MUCH! you will never know how grateful i am for each and everyone of you. thanks for you prayers! and for your support. have a great week!!

con mucho amor, hermana steele

2/10 I'm not a new missionary anymore!

so...IM DONE WITH MY TRAINING!!! I´M NOT A NEW MISSIONARY ANYMORE! hahaha...exciting right? i´ve offically been in the field for 2 transfers! & we have transfers this week! hermana bennett (and every single other person) said that we would split up because trainers never stay with their children. so i was expecting to get a new companion or leave La Union. but nope! hermana bennett and i are BOTH staying in la union this transfer! it was unexpected but im really exicted! and im really grateful for the opportunity to work with my mom (hermana bennett) another 6 weeks! i know that this transfer is going to be super awesome. and i know we are going to see miracles this transfer. did i mention im super excited!?

next monday the whole mission is going to puerto veras BECAUSE ELDER BALLARD IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! im stoked!!! yay yay yay! so next week, pday is on tuesday...just to let you know!

so there´s just SO much that happens during the week that there is no way that i can write it all in one letter. even if i had the whole day to do it. there just aren´t words to descibe all the tender mercies of the lord and all the miracles we see everyday! what a blessing right?

everyday we find new people to teach, more people that the lord is preparing for us. there are people out there...we just have to find them. ah i just love being a missionary! this week, hermana bennett and are going to fast about how many baptisms the lord wants for us this transfer. then we are going to give up one thing to the lord in order to get those baptisms. im really excited. i have  A LOT of faith that we are going to have a lot of success this transfer.

i know that jesus christ lives. i know he died for me! and that he is literally my savior. im so grateful to my father in heaven, for sending his son to atone for the sins of all mankind! i know i am his daughter! and i really love being a missionary!

have an awesome week!! i love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!

con amor,

hermana steele

A strong impression

hola familia! como estan!?

i hope you´re all doing good! how´s school for lily and syd and izzy?! and syds job...how´s that coming!? and florida? any news? yeah the fleas are getting better. don´t worry mom! 

this week was seriously amazing. i don´t have the words or the time to explain all the awesome things that are happening. the branch im serving in is getting stronger. i love love love the members of this branch. they have the strongest testimonies. they are such good examples to me. they love missionary work and they love helping us in whatever way they can. our mission leader is awesome too. awe i just dont ever want to leave this sector! we are really starting to see progress in every single aspect of the work here. in the branch, in our investigators, and in our personal progress as well. its super funny to look back on my first day here. when i hardly knew any spanish and could hardly understand anyone. heavenly father is definately blessing us with the fruits of our labor. we are trying so hard to work dilligently everyday, every moment, being EXACTLY obedient. and we are seeing miracles.

we have so many new investigators...its AWESOME! ok so there´s this one investigator right now and he is 16 years old. we knocked on his door like a week ago and were talking to him for a little bit and we gave him a card with a number on it to recive a BOM. so he told us he would call the number and we left. we didn´t talk to him for very long because we wanted to go back another day and teach his whole family but he told us that his parents are catholic and that they don´t want anything to do with other religions. anyway, we left and i had the strongest impression to go back. i had no idea why but we did and when we walked past his house he was still standing in his door way and he was calling the number on the card for his BOM. when he hung up the phone he called to us in the street and was like "hey! where is your church and how do i get in?" we told him the street of the church and he told us he would be there sunday. so saturday night we called him to see if he was still going to come to church and if he got his book of mormon. he told us yes, and that he has been reading everyday and praying to know if its true. and he told us he has seen a change in his life, that he feels really good! yesterday, he stayed for all 3 hours of church...and all the young men were super nice to him and welcomed him. awe it was so awesome! after church he came up to us and was like "its like a family here". SO TENDER RIGHT!?!?! awe i wanted to cry. hermana bennett says she knows he is going to get baptized. i know it too. 

we have a few other investigators like him that are reading the book of mormon and praying to know if its true. its so amazing the power of the book of mormon. i can´t express in words how much i love that book. its my best friend. it really contains the fullness of the gospel. i know that it can change peoples lives...im watching it happen everyday.

well i love you all so so much! i hope you have a great week! remember that someone in CHILE loves you!!!

con MUCHO amor, hermana steele

PS. GUESS WHAT!? i totally have the first 4 paragraphs of the Living Christ memorized in english and in spanish!!!!!! its SO awesome. i love it. hows it coming for you guys?! 

hermana bennett says hello! 

The Lost Sheep

hahahahahahah so about the fleas. yeah don´t worry about it. there´s nothing i can really do about it. i´ve changed my sheets and washed all my blankets and thats about all i can do. but they are definately getting worse. i have like 30 on the right side of my stomach. its really not a big deal...its just annoying is all!! in my next package though will you please send me anti-itch cream?

you know why i love the mission? (well i love it for a lot of reasons) but i love that i get to see peoples lives change through living this gospel. and that i get to see my life change as well. my testimony has grown so much! i never ever ever get tired of sharing my testimony. its sooo awesome.

so we have this investigator right now named Doris. i love her SO much! we contacted her daughter in the street and she told us her mom would probably like for us to pass by because she´s in her house alone a lot. so a few days later we went to visit doris. and seriously when we walked up to the gate of the house she walked out of her house and was like "hermanas! come in!!!!" it was like she was waiting for us. so we walked in her house and we were asking about her family. she has 7 kids and her husband commited suicide a year ago. it was super emotional and i cant even believe what she has gone through. we had to leave because we had another visit, but we left her a pamphlet on the plan of salvation. she told us to come back the next day...so we did and she had read the pamphlet and understood the whole thing. crazy right!? so we invited her to be baptized and she was like "well yeah, of course!" on saturday she came to a baptism with us and really liked it. and on sunday at church it was seriously like she was a member already. she already knew some of the members and she was answering questions in the sunday school class and in reflief socitey. in preach my gospel it says something about how the Lord has prepared people for us...we just have to find them. doris is more than prepared and im super exicted to keep teaching her about what i know is true and to help her gain her own testimony. 

so all the church records here in chile are really messed up because people dont tell the church when they move. the fact that we find people who are members all the time that no one knows about is proof of that. so there´s this new system that all the members and missionaries are working with to help fix the records. its awesome because we get to find the "lost sheep" and also find new people to teach. for example...we have this HUGE list of members (that we know of) and what we have to do is go and make sure that all the information we have from MLS is correct and if it´s not we have to fix it through this new system. and so when we knock on doors and it´s not the person on the list we can be like "oh we were looking for Juan. we wanted to share a message with him about families...but could we share this message with you?" SUPER AWESOME RIGHT!?!?! hermana bennett and i are super excited!

well i love you all so so much!! i hope everything is going well! how is Whimsy doing? and Ali? tell her i said hi! & everyone else too! i pray for you all every day! 

con mucho mucho mucho amor, hermana steele

SYD YOU ARE SO PRETTY! SERIOUSLY. i hope you had a blast at formal!