Uchtdorf's talk on gratitude!

so one of my questions for general conference was how i can work here in the mission with more engery. and do ALL things with more cheer. my answer came from elder uchtdorf's talk about gratitude. it was such a great talk!!! so i´ve been trying to have a more grateful heart. i´ve been trying to be grateful...when our appointments fall through or when i´m really tired in the morning and don´t want to get up. or when my feet hurt and i don´t want to walk anymore. or when its raining and cold outside. obviously i love the mission more than anything. but one of my goals has been to love EVERY PART of the mission. i wasn´t exactly sure how to do that until conference when elder uchtdorf started talking about gratitude. and one thing i am extremely grateful for is the gospel in my life. when hermana aquino and i are walking in the streets we sing hymns and primary songs. i´m so grateful to have the knowledge that "i am a child of god" and that the temple is a place where we "make covenents with our father and promise to obey" and "a holy place where we are sealed together." and that "i belong to the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints. i know who i am and i know God´s plan and i will follow Him in faith. i believe in the Savior Jesus Christ. i will honor His name. i will do what is right and follow His light. and His truth i will proclaim." i have sung these primary songs since i was 5 years old. i´ve known simple truths all my life and i can not describe how grateful i am for that. there are people in the world that don´t know they are children of god and that he loves them! how sad right!?! well that´s why i´m here in chile. it really is true...being grateful helps me to work harder and with more energy. because when i think of all the blessings i have i am reminded that all the blessings i have are from my heavenly father. and that there are people here in chile that need the same blessings.

i also wanted to share my studies with you! because this week they were SUPER awesome. i´ve been studying a lot about our identity and our destiny. we are more than just creations of God. we are HIS CHILDREN. literally we are His Spirit off-spring! and we have the potencial to become like him. but we have to understand our identity (that we are God´s children) to understand our destiny. (what we can become) because of the decision of adam and eve we can progress...we can choose between good and evil and become like God. (Gen. 3:22) through the power of the atonement God can empower us to become like Him. but why? why would God want us to become like Him? 2 nephi 2:25 says that adam fell so that we could have joy. our hevenly father wants us to have all the joy that He has. He wants us to experience all the blessings that He experiences. "happiness is the purpose and design of exsistence". it´s for this reason that the plan that God has for us is called the plan of HAPPINESS. 

how crazy about the ward being split! mom i´m sorry you wont be camp director anymore. that really stinks. but that would be awesome if your in the thorntons ward!! 

yeah i got your email that your friends with hermana bennetts mom! that´s super fun! yes i think you should write hermana rivas!! i know she would love it! but you would have to do it soon because she ends her mission in july i think? 

that´s super awesome that syd and izzy are loving lacrosse! and lily with swim! i bet you guys will have a lot of fun with aunt star and grandma! i miss those 2 a lot!

SYDNEY OH MY GOSH STOP BEING SO PRETTY! wow your prom pics are SO CUTE! did you have fun!? i hope so! 

have you guys gotten the package i sent yet? 

thanks for the lyrics to the song!! i will always think of it when i make fire...the video was super awesome too! i loved it! 

well i hope you guys have a great week! full of missionary opportunities! i love you so so so much! keep being the best family in the WHOLE WORLD! 

con amor, hermana steele

ps. remember my roommate maddie? yeah she´s going on a mission!

and caitlin is doing ILP and dating a guy pretty seriously! i got my first email from her today...so that was fun haha. 

Members are Missionaries too!

hola hola!

easter was great! we visited some people and shared "the living christ" with them! so that was pretty awesome.

SO. another thing i´m learning in the mission (out of the billion things i´m learning) is how to be a member of the church. seriously when i get home i´m going to go with the missionarys to their appointments! i know that when i get home from my mission i will still be a missionary. and i´m super excited to keep sharing the gospel...where ever i am. 

yesterday at church the president of the relief society gave us some time to talk to the sisters. they haven´t been helping us very much this transfer...so it´s been hard. but our mini lesson was super awesome. we basically talked about how this is one work and that we have to work TOGETHER to bring almas unto Christ. yeah i have a name tag that says i´m a representative of the lord but the members are missionaries too. i have a strong testimony of this because of Hugo. every single lesson we had with him there was a member there as well. and he progressed so much faster! and now he knows all the members...and they all know him! the work is SO much more effective when we have members helping us with the progress of investigators. so it´s been hard because the members have lives and families and so it´s hard for them to come with us to appointments. but yesterday when i was bearing my testimony i just started crying haha...and then half the sisters in the relief society started crying. the spirit was super strong...no one could deny it. and after i said "amen", the sisters were like "when can we go out with you?" so hopefully we see some progress with that.

i love love love this gospel so much. i love being a missionary. i love sharing my testimony with anyone that will listen. 

hermana steele

Exchanges with Hermana Rivas...my grnadma!

HOLA HOLA! COMO ESTÁN?

so this week has been kinda slow...idk me and hermana aquino are seriously working so hard. every single day we get back to the house and we are just dead. but it´s awesome and i love it. i think i love the mission more than i did 6 months ago.

we had exchanges this last week...i got to work with my grandma!! (the trainer of hermana bennett). and wow she´s amazing! she´s from Nicaragua. i´m so so glad for the opportunity i had to work with her. this last week i´ve been pretty hard on myself and i´ve just let satan get to me. i want to be the perfect missionary. i HAVE to remind myself of the positive things that i´m already doing. working with hermana rivas was such a blessing. the entire day she kept telling me "wow you´re an awesome missionary. hermana bennett trained you well." this exchange was exactly what i needed to help cheer me up. at the end of the day hermana rivas shared a scripture with me...d&c 4:5. she told me i have faith, hope, charity, love and an eye single to the glory of God so therefore i am qualified for the work. i´m pretty sure she was inspired to share that with me. i have read that scripture before...but it was different this time. she also told me to be grateful for my weakness, because they make me stronger. i already knew that too but now in my prayers i thank God for my weaknesses because they are opportunities to make me stronger.

OH MY GOSH GUESS WHAT!!?!?!? saturday we taught the younger brother of Hugo for the first time! IT WAS SOOOO AWESOME! seriously he´s just like hugo! and he´s getting baptized next month!!! the lesson on saturday night reminded me A LOT of the first lesson with Hugo...he had a lot of doubts, a lot of questions but so much desire to learn and to know that what we are teaching is true. i knew the family of hugo would all be baptized one day. yesterday hugo and his brother came to church together. IT WAS THE CUTEST THING! and hugo recieved the priesthood yesterday and shared his testimony in testimony meeting. i was bawling. hahaha. 

well i love you all A LOT! more than you know. i hope this week goes well...especally in north carolina! i´m praying for you all. mornoi 8:3

con amor, hermana steele

4/7 response to mom's letter entitled "worried"

first of all...don´t worry about the earthquakes mom. haha they aren´t close to us at all! and president is taking good care of us. and the fleas...they aren´t nearly as bad as they were. its a lot colder now so that´s why. i still have them yeah but it´s all good. yes my companion speaks a little different than the chileans. seriously the chileans speak chilean. not spanish. but she speaks super well. sometimes i don´t understand everything she says but most of it yeah. it´s SUPER weird to me that we´ve been together for 2 weeks now. time is flying by. can you believe i´ve been in the mission for 6 months now!? weird weird weird. i am learning a lot from hermana aquino. she´s really sweet and we get a long good! guess what!? she´s from a family of 5 girls too!! she just works different than hermana bennett. but it doesn´t mean that the things she does different are wrong! she´s helping me to be a better missionary. and she´s very very very obedient so that´s always good! i´ve been blessed to have good companions haha!

4/7 Covenants

so conference!! it was the BEST right!? seriously it was like better than christmas. i did not want it to end. i love the prophet and his apostles. 

i also really loved the womans conference. one thing that stood out to me was how much they talked about convenants. i´m so SO grateful that i´ve already made convenats with my father in heaven. yesterday i was reading in the scriptures about the convenats i´ve made. and it hit me that we´ve made the covenant to ALWAYS remember Him. always. no matter what. i think that if we all remember our savior jesus christ, and what He did for us, that would help us to keep the rest of our covenants...to live His gospel and to keep His commandments. it all starts with our thoughts right? also, the speakers in the womans conference spoke a lot about how it´s our job to help others make and keep their covenants. it´s our responsibilty as members of the church to help others in their progress. i seriously love my calling as a missionary. because i get to help other people make these covenants with our father in heaven and i also get to help the people that have already made covenants keep them! in moses 1:39 it says that Gods work and glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. and he couldn´t fufill that work and glory without making promises with us here on earth. the gospel of jesus christ is "the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." the gospel is literally our salvation! and it is JOY! my purpose as a missionary is to help others come unto Christ...BY HELPING THEM RECIEVE THE RESTORED GOSPEL. and seriously it´s because the message of the restored gospel is a message of joy, of happiness! i love the scripture in D&C where is says "...proclaming glad tidings of great joy, even the everlasting gospel." and this joy isn´t just in this life...it´s a joy FOREVER. the gospel is the only way we can find eternal happiness. i know with all my heart that is true. 

well there is A TON of other things i learned from conference. but i don´t have time to write them all haha. but hey will you send me the ensign in english when it comes out next month!? PLZ & THANK YOU! 

we´ve been finding a lot of really awesome people and we are working hard with them. it´s frustrating when people don´t keep their commitments. like when they don´t come to church...because if they don´t come to church we can´t be baptized. and satan knows that so he works really hard sunday mornings...haha but seriously. anyways, i´m trying to always keep a good attitude no matter what. but it´s hard. missionary work is hard. but i wouldn´t want it to be easy. 

I LOVE YOU ALL SOOOOO MUCH! so so so much! have an awesome week! 

love always, hermana steele

ps. i saw a video of the gilbert temple the other day...its super pretty! im excited to see it when i get home...hows the tucson temple coming?

pss. i sent you guys a package today...it has some chilean candy and other stuff!