When Life Knocks You on Your Back

Email written: 5/22/17

This week we were able to work all day everyday as my back was feeling better, but like the subject says, it was not easy. We were so excited to get back to the routine of finding but even with our best efforts, nothing happened. We kept getting what we started calling "almost miracles" Like for example we got 20 references from the church offices and other missionaries and NONE of them existed. We said "oh well" and kept going. Then we had a zone conference and the whole zone with president and his wife went out to share books and the majority were in our area! only 1 of the 14 was willing for us to pass by again. We are lost and we don´t really know where to go from here. The only thing that has given us hope is  Doctrine and Covenants 130:20-21 "There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated—And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." Obedience brings blessings, but sometimes we have to wait for them. We can´t give up even if no one wants to even look at us in the street. 

One of the reasons why we didn't want to give up was a street contact we did a few days ago. It was getting late, people were being very openly opposed to us and we were getting frustrated and everything. I said a prayer that was basically "we´re trying so hard and you know it. why has it been almost 3 weeks with nothing?" and then I saw a lady walking and I thought "You have nothing to lose, just do it" and we did. It was one of the most powerful contacts ever. She started crying and saying how hard life had gotten and how she needed something like this, and we could feel God´s love so strong in those few minutes. It made that hard day worth it.

Something that I have been thinking about all week was something that my uncle mentioned about the principle of agency. It´s our ability to choose and it´s the only thing God can't take away from us. Even if we do our best to help some one, in the end it´s on them. We can´t change some one´s mind, but we can do our best to make them feel the desires to change.

pic- from the balcony of the other elder´s apartment, I could see 3 of my areas (the far right Parque Avellaneda, in the middle is Nueva Pompeya, and the far left back Soldati)

-Elder Steele