Who Even Does That?

Email written: 1/18/16

This week has been a little bit of a disaster. Let´s start with the first day of transfers. We received a call from the Zone Leaders and they told us that one of the other companionships in our ward had found a map and it turns out their area is bigger than they thought which means our area is smaller than we thought. And with that we lost Leandro, Roberto, and Amelia. Or in other words we lost everything we had coming into this transfer. It´s been a little hard, but Elder Holtry is going to start teaching them so I know they are in good hands. And then yesterday was one of those days. My sube (bus card) ran out of credit and my companion´s card stopped working. This meant that when we depend very much on the bus to get around, we did plenty of walking. And then the cherry on top our laundry. The Relief Soceity president offered to wash our clothes and told us to bring our clothes to the church. So like every week when we have stuff like baptism clothes or tuppers to return, we left it in the kitchen. After the meetings ended we went to the kitchen and guess what wasn´t there... OUR LAUNDRY!! At first we thought it was a joke from the other elders, but then we talked to someone who was sitting in the kitchen and he told us that he saw someone leave with our bags. So yeah, we got robbed. And the saddest part is we didn´t even see the guy who robbed us. But on the bright side we got special permission to go to the temple/MTC this week (because it´s in another mission) so yeah we feel pretty cool. So Sunday night with no sube, the majority of our clothes gone, and no investigators, but 3 things came to mind: the words of Ether (in the Book of Mormon), Rocky (from the Rocky Movies) and Jimmy V (Former NC State basketball coach):

34 Now the last words which are written by Ether are these: Whether the Lord will that I be translated, or that I suffer the will of the Lord in the flesh, it mattereth not, if it so be that I am saved in the kingdom of God. Amen.

´´Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!´´

“Don’t give up, don’t ever give up”

So yeah. The mission (and life) are going to hit and we are going to be faced with situations and the real test is how we react. Elder Troya and I decided that we just need to smile and laugh and what´s happened and get back to work. And some good news is that there is no way next week is going to be worse! 

-Elder Steele