Soldati is on the Comeback

Email written: 11/23/15

What a week. Every companionship this week had a baptism and it was just a really good feeling that all the hard work that we´ve put in not only this transfer but the past few transfers. 

The 2 baptisms we had were Guadalupe and Brian. 

Guadalupe has known the missionaries for almost a year and 2 of her kids got baptized in March but she has just kept waiting and there was always something to make her push her baptism back but she finally entered the waters of baptism and she was so happy and after she told me she was waiting for a missionary like me and I was really humbled. 

Brian got baptized too and he is such a sweet little kid. Now his family is complete and it´s helping his mom get back to church. 

This is the last week of this transfer and I feel good. Everyone in the zone thinks I´m staying and yesterday I was thinking and I´d be ok with another transfer here. I´m ready to just keep working.    -Elder Steele

The Heat is Turning Up

Email written: 11/16/15

So this week we went in to it feeling really good about reaching our goal of 52 lessons. We had a good start then everything just got stacked against us. It´s either been brutally hot, or pouring rain which means no one wants to be outside so we can´t contact. Then Elder Garcia has been sick all week so he´s had to deal with that. And to top it all off everyday our members fell through, so we could not reach our goal, but we worked harder than ever.

 On Wednesday morning I was talking about how I haven´t done tramites yet (aka I've been illegal for 1 month) and just then the phone rang and it was the secretary telling us that I had tramites on Friday. Then Thursday while setting up a baptism for Friday afternoon  we got a message that we were going to the temple Friday morning. So that night was a sick companion I had to plan, coordinate the lunches for the 8 elders (because the new relief society president is in our area), and figure out how we are going to the temple, tramites, and having a baptism. So I called the secretary and he said because we had the baptism, we could skip tramites. After a good temple session (and photoshoot beforehand. Just look at that picture) we left to check our phone to see if everything was good for our baptism, but the message read ´´Elderes. Ella no llegó a la capilla.´´ and I was done. It ruined the rest of the day up until we went to see her that night when she explained how she had to go to the police station and her phone didn't have credit. So we moved her baptism to this coming week.

Speaking of baptisms, that same Thursday we had a vianda (where the member just gives us lunch in a tupperware container) so we took it to eat in the house of another member and with that we started talking and the family told us the son of the lady who gave us the vianda is 9 and wants to get baptized, so right after lunch we went to see Brian and we are getting him ready for Saturday where as of right now every companionship (4) in the ward of Soldati is going to be baptizing.

This transfer is almost over and we are running out of time to get work done in Soldati. Also tomorrow I hit 5 months and looking back it´s been rough and right now it feels like I don´t have much to show for it. A lot of people think that the mission is just one amazing incredible experience after another day in and day out, but in reality, it´s just a lot of hard hard work waiting for the day when it will be all worth it. It feels like time is running out already because so much time has already passed and in reality I don´t have that much left, and with those feelings I can either use them to get discouraged or work more. I just don´t want to fail. 

-Elder Steele

Shake n´ Bake Baby

Email written: 11/9/15

So this week was the week we worked hard for. When they first told us about the 52 lesson goal we all thought how in the world, but last night when filling out the weekly numbers, Elder Garcia and I got to fill out Lessons with Member: 53. we couldn´t believe it and it was such a good feeling. We had truly worked all day every day giving everything and we ended up with the lessons. But it´s more than numbers, we learned that greater things are possible if we can put enough faith, patience, and diligence in. We only have 1 with a baptism date, but we have a lot others we are working with this week and the greater miracles are going to be coming in no time. 

So speaking of Shake n´ bake, it´s how Elder Garcia and I have been able to do our contacting goal. I have really tried to eliminate all fear of talking to people but because I really don´t know what I´m doing some of the time and that´s where Elder Garcia comes in and seals the deal. It´s a pretty good system. 

So with our 1 investigator with a date, Aldo Esteban, it´s very interesting. When we first talked to him we kind of though no way anything will happen because he smokes wayyy too much. But we´ve been talking to him and he´s been to church 3 times already. I was a little nervous to teach the word of wisdom but we taught with a lot of authority and put goals to help him quit smoking and get ready for his baptism date. 

Ready for another week of hard work and miracles. 

-Elder Steele

Moving Day and Thanks for the package!

Email written: 11/2/15

So this past week we moved apartments and it was kind of a mess. The secretaries that came to help couldn´t come until 9:30 PM so we had to stay up until 11 PM 2 nights in a row. But now we are all settled in and it´s nice to have a bigger apartment and 2 more Elders (Lobato and Brady). 

So last week we couldn´t do our 3 day miracle, BUT this week we pulled it off. We didn´t try for a 3 day miracle but members and plans kept falling through to where we had 1 lesson going into Friday. Then Friday we got 8, Saturday we got 10, andSunday we got 2. 21 lessons in a week! Just a few weeks ago we were only getting between 7 and 13. Things are really turning around and it feels good. Part of what helped was on Thursday we had Elder Gonzelez from the 70 come talk to us to help us raise our vision and push to the end of the year. The goal for baptisms for the mission in 2015 is 1600, and we only lack 537 to get there. He talked a lot of faith and I felt motivated. With that I was able to do my 10 daily contacts (which means talk to at least 10 people in the street everyday) and really seek for those opportunities to have lessons. In the meeting we also were presented with a new weekly goal of lessons: 52. When we all heard this it was a ´´seriously. How are we supposed to do this?´´ But now after how we´ve been working we know it is possible. Between me, Elder Garcia, Elder Lobato, and Elder Brady we have talked about what we can do. This week we are going to work and pray harder than ever before. We are going to give up the rest of our p-days this transfer. We are going to have to do more than 20 contacts a day. This is going to be a difficult week, but by Sunday night so very rewarding. I am so ready to turn it up in the monoblocks.

With baptisms we have Guadalupe planned for the 7th and then a family we found on Saturday (reference from the mission president´s wife) have the date for the 22 of November.

-Elder Steele

I can´t believe yall sent me a basketball. Love you both so much!