I love my purpose as a missionary!

hey family! this week was another hard one. i´ve felt a little discouraged...the work seems to be going really slow. and i wondered why the Lord has kept me here in Pto Varas. on thursday i asked for a blessing from a brother in the ward. it was a beautiful blessing!! he blessed me with energy and strength to keep working hard. in the blessing he talked about the power of my calling and how i can turn to the scriptures for the comfort i need. i hadn´t told him anything about how i was feeling but the blessing was perfect and it was just what i needed. at the end of the blessing, i was crying and so was hermana meacham. the spirit was very strong. i felt Gods love and i realized that in this time of trial i can choose to turn to Him or i can turn away from Him. and no one else can make that decision for me. i know the only solution is to forget myself and give it all to him.

i love my purpose as a missionary. i absolutely love what i do...invite others to come unto Christ. the word "come" is a verb...it requires that people act and that they personally accept that invitation. and when they do, they change and become happier. i´ve learned that i´m not here just to invite others to come unto Christ. that invitation is for me as well. i personally have to act and accpet the invitation from Christ. and as i do, i change and am happier. i know that Christ suffered for me so that i can return to live with my Heavenly Father one day. but i also know hat He died so that i can change and become more like Him.

we´ve been working with a less active who doesn´t understand that very well. she´s committed lots of errors in her life. she knows God can and will forgive her someday...but she doesn´t understand that she can be forgiven now! we´ve been working with her for a long time now and i love her with all my heart. she hasn´t been to church for over 6 years because of the guilt she feels. but she´s been to church the past 3 weeks now and it´s been a miracle. she´s changing and i can see she´s much happier as she accpets Christ and His Atonement.

another less active family we´ve been working with has been to church for over a month now. they want their youngest daughter to be baptized so we are preparing her for that and helping the family at the same time. the husband of the family said this to me yesterday: "we are so glad you´re still here. we need you here." i can see that this family is also accepting Christ and are MUCH MUCH happier!!

i know God see´s and knows things we don´t. i know He knows us and give us commandments because He loves us and wants to bless us. his commandments aren´t punishments but are the way we change. i know He loves all of His precious sons and daughters here in Chile. and i know the only way to have true happiness in this life is by following Christ and accepting His invitation to come.

XOXO, hermana steele