Change!

hola hola! guess what? this week are transfers! i´m staying in valdivia, and my new companion is from SPAIN! how awesome right?! i´m SUPER excited. everyone says she´s super funny...always cracking jokes! her name is hermana martinez!

i REALLY hate when people say "oh i´ll just wait untill transfers to change. i´ll wait to change until i get a new companion or a new sector." no...that doesn´t make any sense. if you want to change you can do it NOW! here in the mission, i´m learning the significance of the word "change". because of what Christ suffered for us, we can change immediately. if the morning was crappy, it doesn´t mean the whole day has to be crappy. if the first week of the transfer didn´t go so well, i always have the opportunity to change and do better the next week. the purpose of the gospel is change. to help us become more like our savior. faith in him and repentance is what helps us have the desires to change. making and keeping covenants is the way to change and enduring to the end is how we caninternalize those changes over time. change doesn´t mean in the future, when the weather is better or when the new year comes. it´s now. the other day i read this scripture and i think it´s one of my new favorites:

"and now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters."

i´m SO excited for this transfer. to work harder than i ever have before and take advantage of every single moment i have as a representative of christ. the way i see it, i´ve got 2 options: i can be the kind of missionary that just floats around and does whatever...or i can be the missionary that the Lord wants me to be and do real missionary work. 

so yesterday we found a new house...and we are moving in the next few weeks. hermana clark didn´t help much with the decision of moving because she´s leaving...so that kinda stunk having to decide on my own. but i´m super excited to move. it will be a LOT better than where we are now. there´s just been way too many problems with our owner. i´ll take lots of pictures of us moving in!!

well family, i love you a lot. i love being a missionary! i hope you have a week filled with opportunities to share the gospel! "there is too much at stake to give only a halfhearted effort to this sacred work. being a disciple of christ is not an effort of once a week or once a day. it is an effort of once and for all."

con mucho amor, hermana steele

Let us cheerfuly do all things that lie in our power....

you know something funny? all the sisters here in the mission have been telling me that you guys moved to Texas to find my husband...HAHA. so i´m glad you guys have already started the search and are showing pictures...hahaha. but that´s really awesome someone is coming to my mission! you have to tell him he´s coming to the best mission in the whole world.

so this week one of our less actives came to church! a member that´s been less active for A VERY LONG TIME. and no matter what we do she just does not want to come back to church. but she came yesterday! with her 2 children! so that was a miracle. we are hoping and praying she´ll have the desire to come next week too. pray for her! (it´s the member that added you on facebook mom...she wants sydney to accept her as a friend. i´m pretty sure she´s already posted pictures of us at church on sunday haha)

so this week i´m really grateful for hermana clark! she´s helped me quite a bit! it´s been a really rough week...

(you don´t have to put these in my blog...they are just for you guys to read so you know and can pray for me hahaha)

ANYWAYS, i´ve just been feeling a little bit sad, and upset! so i started reading some of the notes that the elders from the MTC left me and this is what some of them said:
"i´m going to miss you constant cheerfulness", "your always so cheerful and happy", "thanks for being so upbeat all the time", "thanks for bringing happiness to our MTC family", "you made our class a fun one!", "thanks for brightening up our district everyday". CRAZY RIGHT?! almost every single elder said something about my attitude. and i starting thinking about how the attitude that i have is my decision...my choice! no one can make me be happy...i have to choose to be happy. and really there is no reason i have to be sad. because i am so so so blessed. so this week (and the rest of my life) i´m going to be happy in every and any circumstance. rain, shine, pain, hunger, with progessing investigators or without any investigators at all. im gonna be grateful for what i have...because it A LOT! im going to choose to be happy...because if not, i´m going to have regrets. i´ve realized when im happy, the dumb things that happen just dont matter! there´s a mormon message called "moments that matter most." i love it. it´s one of my favorites. it shows that the little things that happen everyday are from our hevenly father for us to enjoy and cherish. but if we are always upset or sad we let those moments pass us by. there is always something to be grateful for. miracles happen everyday! and having a spirit of gratitude brings us true joy. one of my favorite scriptures says "dearly beloved brothern, let us CHEERFULLY do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." 

i´m really grateful for the many examples i´ve had of gratitud. i´m grateful for you guys you have taught me to be grateful and to be happy in all circumstances.

hey! did i tell you our ward started a choir?! it´s been a lot of fun! hermana clark and i are the pianist...no one else plays. so hermana clark is playing a hymn and i´m playing a hymn!

well family, i love you guys A LOT. i love being a missionary. it´s the best thing ever. i hope you all have a great week!!

ps. one of our investigators wanted me to tell you that you have an amazing daughter...and she wanted me to thank you for raising me hahahahaha.

OH MY GOSH...GUESS WHAT!?!

this week we got to go to an ISLAND! it was SO awesome! our whole zone went together to preach the gospel to the people that live there because there aren´t missionaries there! so we got to take a boat out to this island called corral. it´s really beautiful there! and the people there are REALLY prepared to receive the gospel. i hope they put missionaries over there soon!

OH MY GOSH GUESS WHAT!? this morning i got to call hermana aquino in la union to see how she is doing and see how things are! and she told me that Hugo is getting the melchizedek priesthood this weekend! i almost starting crying...and then she told me that one of the investigators we found together got baptized and now she´s working on her family history and her parents are going to get baptized!! so then i really did start crying! how awesome right!? la union is so special! i love it with all my heart!

i love that syd has been studying her scriptures everyday since EFY. this week i´ve been studying a lot about the gathering of israel. and i read something that said without the book of mormon, there would be no gathering. its so true! i never thought about that. our investigators can´t just pray and come to church...they have to read the book of mormon to gain a testimony of it all...and like syd said, become truly converted to the gospel. the book of mormon is the key stone of our religion! without it we have nothing. i love the book of mornon so much! when we were in corral, we´d read a verse to the people when we would knock doors and we testified like crazy of the book of mormon. the whole day people were asking where they could buy a copy and how much the book costs. how lucky we are to have such an amazing book in our homes and in our lives to read everyday! in d&c it says we should treasure up in our minds continually the words of life. elder bendar said treasuring up means more than just reading. it means "focusing, working, exploring, pondering, praying, applying, and learning, valuing, appreciating, enjoying, and relishing." i love this quote that grandma steele put inside my scriptures when she gave them to me:   

"what i mean by reading is not skimming, not being able to say as the world saith, "oh yes i´ve read that," but reading again and again, in all sorts of moods, with an increase of delight every time, till the thing read has become a part of your system and goes forth along with you to meet any new experience you may have." -C.E. Montague

the book of mormon testifies of chirst on every page...so when we read it, we learn of Him. we learn what He is like and how we can become more like Him. that´s why i love the book of mormon!

anyways, i hope you all have a great week! i love you all SO MUCH! thanks for everything!

con amor, hermana steele

goals, plan, and a vision!

i can´t believe how fast this week went! this week we met our new mission president! he´s super great! they are from mexico...and they talk different! it´s so funny! like we understand them but they just talk with a different accent. but he´s awesome, i already love him and his wife and i´m really excited to work with them! i know i´m going to learn a lot. kinda cool that i had exactly half my mission with president rappleye and the other half with president obeso.

we also had a meeting with the stake president this week that was super awesome. he wrote 3 words on the board: goals, plan, and vision. then he asked us which was the most important. we decided that the vision is the most important. then the goals, and then the plan. it reminded me of what elder holland told us in the MTC. he said if i serve my mission without a vision i´m destroying it before it even began. a plan without goals doesn´t make sense, and we don´t know where we are going without a plan. but we can´t do anything at all without the vision of what we want to accomplish. yesterday we called our district leader to give our numbers for the week and they were way low. i got super discouraged...i almost started crying haha. we´ve been working hard and trying to find people to teach. our district leader could tell i was upset and told me to read my patriartical blessing. so i did and i felt a lot better!! i also remembered this meeting that we had with our stake president about vision, and i realized that i haven´t been focusing on my vision...or why i´m here and what i want to achieve. it´s the same with our heavenly father. he has a plan for us...it´s called the plan of salvation. and his goal is "to bring to pass the imortalily and eternal life of man".

anyways, we are working hard here in valdivia! sounds like you are all doing good! i love you all so much! can you believe i´m going to have 9 months in the mission this week?! crazy huh? i´m half way done. i can´t believe it! have a great week! always remember someone in chile loves you a lot!

con amor, 

hermana steele

ps. i´m going to the doctor tomorrow...just so you know!

pss. can you send me more biotin and dental floss in my next package. thanks!

psss. i cut my hair a couple weeks ago. i didn´t cut much but its horrible.

A miracle happened!

the weeks are going by SO DANG FAST! i just want to cry thinking about it. hermana clark got her moroni letter this week. its like the letter with all her flight plans and stuff. super super crazy because i was with her when she completed 9 months....and next week i´m going to have 9 months in the mission! ALMOST HALF WAY!? like what in the world right?!

i´m so glad you guys got to texas safe and sound. sorry that the house was so dirty...that stinks! but at least now you know your in a clean house! i loved the little video you sent me! the house looks cute!  sorry that it was tough to leave tucson. sounds like it was time to leave! i´m really excited for you guys! i think the change will be so great! that´s so funny that the little girls just sweat from the humidity!! haha i bet cosys hair is crazy curly. it´s really humid here too...but cold humid. like china. so my hair is always super curly...i can´t straighten it. i hope syd has fun at EFY this week! i would LOVE to be a counselor for EFY one day.

so this week we visited a less active member...the SWEETEST lady EVER! i seriously love her like my grandma. we invited her to church and she was like "i want to go but my husband wont let me...you can even ask him." so we did and he told us no. it was a little bit scary. anyways, it´s SUPER sad because she wants to come back to church. some prayers for hermana doris would be great. :) 

ANOTHER one of our investigators told us he doesn´t want to listen anymore. it was sad...but we´ve tried to keep good attitudes. and we are working hard to try and find the people here in valdivia that are ready to except the gospel. and honestly, we find really great people every single day. last week we did a contact in the street and this lady told us to visit her and gave us her direction. but when we wanted to visit her, we couldn´t find her house...so we were super bumbed. but a miracle happened! a few days later we were walking and she ran up to us and was like "why haven´t you come to my house yet!!?!" and we explained we couldn´t find her house...so she was like "well come right now!!" haha so we went, and ended up teaching her family. the lesson was SUPER awesome. her oldest son is SUPER great and wants to be baptized so we are working  a lot with him. its a family really prepared by the lord. i think the lord is trying to teach me to have pacience in HIS will, and to have faith to keep going even when its hard. haha theres a quote that we have on the wall in our house that says "life´s a ride. you´ve gotta buy a ticket, hang on tight and keep going around til they kick ya off." and the other day hermana clark was like "and then you buy ANOTHER ticket". hahahaha SO TRUE RIGHT? that´s how it is. it´s hard sometimes but we keep going. the other day a man in the street looked at my name tag, looked at me, and then called us garbage. so that was fun!

anyways, for my birthday? idk anything! i don´t really need anything! but there are these leather scripture cases that i want SO BAD. my scriptures don´t have cases right now...and this man has leather cases and he like draws images on them...you know? idk how to explain it. but they are expensive...so if you could just put money in my account i can get those! yeah?!

well i hope you have a great week! i love you all SO MUCH! i´m always praying for you! the church is true!

love, hermana steele

ps. when you guys come get me, can we go to peru? haha...

pss. guess what?! i´m playing the piano in sacrament meeting! fun stuff! 

I will live the gospel every single day of my life!

hola familia! how was your last week in tucson!? it´s crazy to think that right now you´re probably in the car driving to TEXAS! how exciting!! ah i´m really excited for you guys! it will be a good change. dad...remember when you bought a texas flag instead of the chile flag?...hahahaha still have the texas flag?

so yesterday we had lunch with one of my favorite members here in valdivia. we started talking about the ward here and how it´s kinda going downhill. (at least that´s what paola said). the ward here in Rio Cruces has almost 600 members...and only 80 attened every sunday. my branch in la union had more sisters in the relief society than the ward here. it´s super sad! hermana paola said it hasn´t always been like this. i´ve only been here for 6 weeks so i just figured it´s always been like this...and yesterday when i found out that there are so many members that aren´t attending church i almost died. and the active members aren´t motivated at all to go and visit the less-active members or magnify their callings. paola was super sad and really overwhelmed. we asked her why she thinks the ward is going through a rough time right now and she told us there´s a lot of factors but that the main reason is that the members aren´t living the gospel in their homes. the members here aren´t doing the simple simple things like saying their prayers, and reading the scriptures, and going to church every sunday...so they are falling away. it´s way hard to see and i feel a lot like paola most days. way overwhelmed. but i know i am here in this ward for a reason and one of my goals for the mission is to strengthen every ward im in. so that´s what i´m doing here...one step at a time. "by small and simple things, are great things brough to pass". that scripture not only applies to me as a missionary, but to the members too. that if they are going the small and simple things, great things will happen!

if i´ve learned one thing here in the mission it´s how to be a member of the church. a GOOD member of the church. i´ve caught a vision of who i want to become and what i want for my future family. i can say without any doubt that when i go home i will LIVE the gospel every single day of my life...even when it´s hard. i´m so grateful for you guys...for teaching me the importance of prayer and scripture study. of course there are people here in chile of examples of who i want to become, but there are also examples of who i do not want to become! i guess that´s something great about the mission...is that we come, change, and go home completely converted to the gospel of jesus christ.

this week we found 2 less-active families in our sector that we didn´t know exsisted. we have a family night planned with one of the families tonight and the other family is super awesome too! i love them SO MUCH. when we knocked on the door they told us to come in. they told us they want to come back to church...and you could tell that they both really have the desires to come back. so we sang a hymn with them and when we finished the mom was like "can we sing more?" IT WAS SO TENDER! i´m way excited to work with this family and help them get to the temple (because they aren´t sealed).

so president rappleye goes home this week. SUPER SAD! i´m so grateful for him and for the opportunity i´ve had to work with him. our new mission president is from mexico! i´m excited to meet him.

well i hope you all have a great week getting moved into the new house! send me pictures plz! i love you all SOOO MUCH! so so much! i love being a missionary and i love the gospel with all my heart!

love, hermana steele

I'm grateful for....

this week has been SUPER crazy.

first...we have transfers this week! hermana clark and i are staying together here in Valdivia! so im excited for that...we are gonna keep working hard to find more people to teach. hermana bennett was here in valdivia with us too but she´s going to punta arenas to be the sister training leader!! i´m so excited for her! she´s going to be a great leader! i always knew she´d be one of the leaders!

also, this week Pres. Rappleye gave us all permission to watch the chile soccer game. right now there is the world cup in brazil! so chile played last friday and we got to watch! we went to the house of the martinez family and it was SO MUCH FUN! wow the chilenos love their soccer...i´m pretty sure everytime we scored you guys could hear us down here in chile. right?! they just scream and yell...its so much fun!

we also had exchanges with the sister training leaders this week! they always come right when i need them. i learned a lot from hermana zortman! i love that she testifies of what her companion says. before she teaches something different, she testifies of what her companion taught. she also gave me some ideas that i could do to help hermana clark and i teach with more unity. she also told me that i teach really well! which was good to hear! she told me she loves the way i teach because the way that i talk makes people want to listen to me. like i really KNOW and FEEL that what im saying is true. it reminded me of that investigator in La Union told me...that i talk with my eyes. haha! i hope i always remember to teach with this same happiness and feeling! because i really do have a message of happiness!!

this week was also one of the hardest weeks i´ve had in the mission. 2 of our really great investigators told us that they dont want to listen anymore. one of our investigators looked on the internet and saw that we worship satan. so that was really hard. BUT, i´m staying possitive. in preach my gospel it says that my success as a missionary is based on my dedication. there´s a list of behaviors of successful missionaries...and every behavior is within the missionary´s control. i can´t force people to accept the gospel but i can choose what kind of missionary i will be. and i´m trying to always always choose faith in my savior jesus christ and trust in the Lords will. hermana zortman told me that in la union i learned to teach really well...and here in valdivia im learning how to FIND people to teach really well! haha! its so true. but i love seeing the tender mercies of the Lord every single day. 

hermana clark and i started this game the other day. it´s called "im grateful for...". we play on the way back to our house because it´s like a 30 min walk. we just take turns telling each other what we are grateful for! but seriously it helps me so much! it helps me to remember to stay positive and work hard. 

well i love you all so much! thanks for all the pictures and emails. i love them SO MUCH!!!! my foot is completely better now. no worries. i´m glad everyone is excited to move! i´m really excited for you guys too!! have a great week!

con amor, hermana steele