Tuesday, March 31, 2015

56: Semana Santa

From March 30th...

Well Semana Santa has started, and since I am in the city, it means that all my investigators leave and go on vacation to their pueblos. Awesome. Its kinda empty here in la Esperanza haha but its okay. Its just for one week. And not EVERYONE has left... :D

--I-----  and her family haven't left :)) The family -H--- that I talked about last week. --I--- loved church on Sunday again and even went to the conference for women on saturday and a baptism of other missionaries despues. She is praying about her baptismal date of the 11th of April. She has already recieved an answer that the Book of Mormon is true, so thats all good :D she just needs to recieve this answer. I hope I have a baptism before I leave this area again. 

Because I AM leaving this next change haha. We had interviews with President on Wednesday as a zone and its set. Ill have changes in April. Im super sad to leave here after 6 changes but its time. Im gonna make the best of these 2.5 weeks that I have left here.

I'm only gonna talk about -I---- today because all the other investigators positives that we have have already left on vacation and yeah its a bummer. --K-- went to the west of Honduras called Ocotepeque. She is so pilas. She took her Book of Mormon and all the pamphlets we give out to people so she can read them all. We found out this week that she is the daughter of pastors. That was a suprise. But she knows she's found the truth haha. She said the other day, I feel like I've planted my feet in something solid. Yes. Yes -K---- yes you have. You've found the truth you've been searching for all your life. 

I've changed a lot over the past 13 months and I will continue changing and progressing throughout my life. Something that has gotten to bug me is when people say things like "You're great, never change!" Excuse me? If I never change why am I here? We are here on this earth to learn, change, progress, repent, become more like our Savior Jesus Christ. If I "never change" I am not fulfilling my purpose here in this earth. 

Christ said, "What manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am."
How are we to become like Our Savior and Redeemer? Repenting every day. Changing our nature to become more like him. More patient, more kind. 

Happy Easter Week! Remember the Atonement of our Savior every day. 

<b>Watch this video:</b><a href="http://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_FR_3-27-2015_dMIS_fMRMN_xLIDyL1-A_">http://www.mormon.org/easter?cid=HP_FR_3-27-2015_dMIS_fMRMN_xLIDyL1-A_</a>

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful day, 
hermanita steele

55: What a beautiful week

From March 23rd

Finally a real good week in La Esperanza :D The Lord is sure blessing us.
The 'group' at the temple :)


We have been blessed with the Hernandez family. I love them so much. In Ojojona (another part of Honduras outside of our mission) the missionaries found her, and she was married and baptized with her husband in June. They were preparing to be sealed in the temple this year when in february, a gang killed her husband, mistaking him for someone else. She moved her to live with her family, and we found her and now she is part of our ward. The wonderful part is, her family. She now lives here with her parents and sister. They ALL came to church on Sunday and the mom and sister (Amalia and Ingrid) came to the temple with us on Saturday and felt the peace that we can only feel there. The parents have to get married but Ingrid is SO ready. We set a date with her for the 11th of April to be baptized. I have faith that this baptism will go through, it will be my last Saturday here in Esperanza...

hna Juarez and I in divisions in Santa Lucia

Hna Velasquez (I LOVE HER SOOO MUCH) and I in divisions :) i love divisions!! (that's when she goes out and trains other sister missionaries who are not her companion)

The temple was so beautiful Saturday :) So grateful that we have one here in Honduras. 

Also, KATERIN!! Esta mujer es maravillosa. Shes so awesome. Katerin lives with Orfila, a member of the church who is from SAN LUIS!!!! (My other area in the south of Honduras!! :D) But anyway she is 18 and is living here to study. We found her the other day and taught her about the Book fo Mormon and she was like yesss I want to read it! And she read. And came to church on Sunday and is suuuper excited about church. She loved it. The Hernandez family too.


us and our ward mission leader and his assistant :)

HA. ALSO. My chikunguya is sooo much better. There were 2 days this week that I didnt have to take medicine. AND TODAY. TODAY I PLAYED I BASKETBALL!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN PLAY SPORTS AGAIN!!!!! And my feet and ankles don't even hurt!!! I am so thankful that I am finally almost better. 

SHOUTOUT TO MY SISTER EMILY WHO LEAVES FOR HER MISSION (BOLIVIA SANTA CRUZ NORTE) TOMORROW!!!!! WELCOME TO THE HERMANA STEELE LIFE!!
Love you all! :D
love, hermanita steele

me with hna Zwang. Shes a convert from another area but I got to know her around the time she was going to get baptized and she is one of my best friends. She invited me to go to her SEALING in May!!! :D





hna Juarez and I in divisions in Santa Lucia






the family Hernandez and us :)) (Carlos the dad was working)
I LOVE MY LISBETH!!!! hermana castellanos and I worked really hard to reactivate her, and this sunday, she got her first temple reccomend to enter the house of the Lord!!!! I am so happy for her <3<3





54:Let's do this a little differently

From March 16th

Let's do this a little differently today....

Monday: Went on divisions with members in the ward and had a total of 7 lessons on a monday!! :D it was such a blessing.

Tuesday: Went on divisions with the area called 21 de Octubre with Hermana Morales from Nicaragua who is about to end her mission. I served with her in the South and so it was fun to work with her and learn from her :) Met a Returned Missionary who hasn't gone to church in years and his wife of 17 years and their cute baby who looks like a chino. Taught them, invited them to church. Felipe and Amy. Met the zone goal to find a new family to teach before Thursday!

Wednesday: Ended divisions and set some baptismal dates with my comp (Hna Garcia) with our most positive investigators. They already fell but that's okay.

Thursday: District meeting. All the Elders showed up late, figures. The APs call in the night to tell me that BERTA ACCEPTED A BAPTISMAL DATE FOR THE 11TH OF APRIL AHHHHHHHH

Friday: 4 lessons before lunch. :D Started divisions with an area called Girasoles. I went to Girasoles to be with Hna Aldama from Mexico. It was interesting because she was sick. So I spent a lot of time studying Preach My Gospel haha..........

Saturday: Spent the morning in divisions helping the hermana find new investigators in a rich neighborhood. Ended divisions, my comp (hna Garcia) tells me that our investigators mom yelled at us to never come back. Awesome! Taught Felipe and Amy about prophets and why they're important. Invited them to church.

Sunday: Call everyone to wake them up. No one answers like usual haha. Go to church. Manuel comes! An eternal investigator. Walter gave an awesome talk in church. BOOM FELIPE AND AMY WALK IN. Yes. So happy. They stayed for all 3 hours too. (p.s. theyre already MARRIED :D) Everyone was so happy to see Felipe. Also a family that Hna Castellanos and I found that we had to hand over to the Elders when the area was divided came to church!! all of them!! it was so awesome!! Good things are happening. Dinner in the night with the Martinez family like usual :) Fell out of my chair laughing during daily planning session in the night time with hna Garcia. hehehehe. :D
Thats all. This week we are going on divisions to VALLE DE ANGELES wooo. Its colder over there than here in Teguc. Its gettin pretty hot. But Im thankful Im not in the South right now :P
Love you all have a good week! Write me a letter!hermanita steele

53: how I feel spending half of my mission in one area




From March 9th


I had my clothes packed in my suitcase. My companion was calmly getting ready for the day (calmly is a joke, she is never calm hahaha love her so much) and I thought I would get a head start on packing. I figured after 5 changes here in the Esperanza it was time to go. 
The zone leaders call..... 
IM STILL HERE hahahahaha Im dying. They took out hermana Castellanos to be the mission nurse. Im still here in Esperanza. 6TH CHANGE. that is officially half my mission in the field. ha. what. Good thing I love it here. Even my zone leader was like Hermana Steele we thought the Assistants were joking. we were like, do you know how long she has been in that area???? Oh they know....

My new companions name is Hermana Garcia from El Salvador. Her and I have the same time. She is a new sister training leader so I get to train her how to be one! woo! 

Also I'm her first gringa :D hahah poor thing

The Elders got me an Olaf piñata for my birthday!!!
Big news, after so much time in this area I was like President this area is too big we need Elders. And so we have Elders now in the ward!! The assistants to the President have taken the big rich neighborhood we had. It's nice not to worry about it but Im really sad that I now can't visit a lot of the people I loved visiting :( 
Miracles happen. Does anyone remember "B"? I taught her with Hermana Groll, my trainer, at the beginning of my mission. She was super close to being baptized but didn't pass her interview for some little things. Andddd after that she basically fell into apostasy and didn't want anything and wouldn't let us into the house. WELL SHE CAME TO CHURCH YESTERDAY AND SAYS SHES READY TO CHANGE AGAIN AND COME BACK AND BE BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!! I just died. She walked in and I jumped up and ran to her and gave her a big gringa hug. I am so happy. 
​Well thats about it. Here are some pictures :D 
love, hermanita steele​








52: Pictures are worth more than my words. ha



From March 2



Well my comp and I are a little frustrated with our investigators and we are strugglin to find new ones who are positive that will progress. Man we just need some REAL investigators. We do have some that are progressing but not how they need to be. But all on the Lords time. 
We may no have a lot of success right now as far as baptisms go, but we know the true measure of success is not the number of people in the water. There are so many different things that count success. I know that I am a successful missionary. There are a loooot of things I have to improve, but I know that I try my hardest to do what I am called to do.
We have had a lot of members who have been less or inactive come back to church, including Lourdes and Jesus and their family. That one makes me the happiest because they were baptized with me in May :) the bishop is going to give them callings and everything. I am so excited.
I dont have a lot to talk about... just livin the mission life and working hard.... ahhh we will find out about transfers today...... I really don't want to leave but I know that President wont leave me here any longer haha 5 transfers here... spread out but still :p I have enjoyed every moment. Ill never love an area like I love it here. Aaaaand no one wants me to leave either haha. But I know that wherever I go is where they need me.
HICE TAMALITOS DE FRIJOLES it was so fun
thank you family for the package!!! I loved it!!! ahhh those Charleston Chews... so good....... and my camera!! thank you so much!!!
problem is with the camera is that the pictures it takes are SOOO AWESOME that they are too big to send normally haha so I will make them smaller to send to youuu :p ......
no i give up theyre taking too long to upload so this is the only picture you get byyyye
<3 hermanita steele

51: Even the dogs wished me a happy birthday

From February 23rd


¡Felíz cumpleaños Hermanita Steele! 







I got bit by a dog. On my birthday. hahaha.... But dont worry its not too bad :p I didn't have to get rabies shots because the evil dog was vaccinated already! yay!! It hurt though.. especially when one señor
(V---'s dad) grabbed a LIME and my leg and just rubbed it on there as hard as he could..... Hondurans have their own methods of health care hahaha
Some cool things this week... We met a Cuban in front of the Cuban Embassy!! He was super excited to receive us but when we went back another Cuban told us that he had an emergency and got sent back to Cuba D: really sad... But another thing..

I taught English in the Dominican Republic Embassy to the Ambassador and two other doctor ladies... :D It was super awesome. I was real nervous but it went really well. I taught with one of the members from my ward. We are going back this week and we are going to try to set up appointments with them to talk about the gospel. I got to tell them in English about my mission and stuff. It was really awesome :D

I talked in church yesterday! It went super well. :D
Other than the dog thing my birthday went really well :) lots of calls from the missionaries in the mission and the Elders in my zone bought me a cake :D and a piñata of Olaf from Frozen :D hermana Carmen made me a cake too :D my ward also did a dinner thing for me after mission correlation and the Martinez family also bought me a cake and a little party.... :D it was a good birthday.
I know that my time here in Esperanza is coming to an end. And Im really sad about that. But... I know Im needed somewhere else. Transfers are the 3 of March. aiwelutablweifaiwelu. Noooo. But okay. I'll be okay. 

Remember -J-- and  -L--- and their family? Well they came to church this week. They have passed many trials but FINALLY they're over, and they are ready to come back to church. They are a family that were baptized with hermana Groll and I. I love them with all my heart.
I love you all! hermanita steele



50: One Year!!



From February 16th






Picacho
-V-- is a gift from the heavens! She came to church yesterday for the first time and despite THE WORST RELIEF SOCIETY CLASS EVER she loved church and she already stopped working on Sundays so that she can come. She really wants to be baptized but she still doesn't feel prepared. Her date is March 1st if everything goes well. :) And she is preparing herself for this date. March 3 there are transfers.... So were hoping she is prepared. We are doing our best, doing our part, and she is reading and praying. She is so great. She's stopped drinking alcohol with her friends too!! We had a big lesson with her about the difference between resisting and avoiding temptation. She loved it and now she AVOIDS the bad situations. She first was trying to resist them, but now she just goes home early :D

On Saturday we have the baptism of -R--- :D My companion and I started visiting him and his mother named -A-- L--. She has been inactive for some time. But we started visiting her and teaching -R--- (8 years) and she has been going to church with him for over 3 weeks now. He is the cutest and smartest litle kid and it will be a good day :) They just moved here from the states 2 months ago and so its fun to speak English with -R--- :D -A--- even taught part of the class in Relief Society yesterday :D

My companion and I are super happy because we started visiting the Bishop's father, -R----, who hadn't gone to church in years. We started teaching him with the scriptures that hurt and puncture to the soul and make one want to be better. We have been teaching him about the blessings we can receive for being faithful and the huge consequences if we don't.
The first few lessons, his wife and daughter were like no he's never gonna come to church, he has to change his attitude, he's been like this for years, he's not gonna change now. Oh really. Well he now has two weeks in church, both of them in white shirt and tie. And yesterday he SHAVED HIS BEARD! :D haha this is huge you guys. We helped the bishop's dad get back on his feet and back in church. :D he's so great. He's a big burly man and we don't hold back anything on him, we teach the things how they are.
When we were like Hermano who do you want to say the closing prayer? and he's like, Usted Hermana Steele porque usted tiene las armas!! Haha I guess the translation of that would be You Sister Steele have the weapons!! Or like... I was the one ... okay I don't know how to explain it.... aweiugaewiua I'm having a real hard time talking in English today....
​​So I turn one year in the mission on Thursday..... wut
thats all for now folks!
amor,hermanita steele





49: I love Viki

From February 9th...

Sorry, took lots of pictures today but there on the Elder's cameras because I don't have one and my companion didn't plan ahead and her memory was full and then the camera died anyway haha so when the Elders send them to me I will send them to all of you :))

Okay my mom asked me a bunch of questions so Ill answer them here in my letter. 

"What are two foods you miss the most from the United States?" Ummmm like..... my father's cooking. Basically sums it up. Real good bbq. Ribs. Stuff like that. Good lunch meat and cheese.... BREAD...... Like all the store bought products you can basically get here... OH MY GOSH THE ICE CREAM!! The Ice cream here is just NOT the same.......

"What are some things you missed most about living in the United States that you appreciate now that you didn't before?"
I miss the people who pick up their trash and their dogs poop. I miss that kinda life. Also my bathroom is the tiniest thing Ive ever seen.

"Is your Spanish as good as mine ha ha :-) just kidding that's not really a question. I know your Spanish is good"
My Spanish is good sometimes haha sometimes I can hardly speak and words slip out in English and I dont know why....

"Share one crazy thing that happened this week. Could be with an animal or drunk people or just Honduran stuff."
I saw Jesus. (see below, haha)Umm Viki's neighbor has a dog that is possessed by the devil so every time we leave the house we have to run really far because the dog doesn't do anything while were there but when we leave it follows us trying to kill us Im not even joking a little bit, I wish I was.

"Share something spiritual that happened this week!"
Just like, everything that happens with Viki. I love her. 

"What did you do as sister training leader this week? What is it like helping other sisters?"
We had divisions this week with some hermanas that are having issues in their companionships... That was fun... haha the both times I was with the problem companion and had to help them get their head on straight. It's weird helping the other sisters, like sometimes I don't know what to do honestly. Its hard. But I think I help... haha :p

"Do you have any joint pain or flareups still (from Chikungunya)? Or are you all good? 
Yes I still hurt every day! Yay! haha... But there's nothing I can do. I take 2-4 ibuprofens a day, depending on the day. One (sometimes 2) in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night before I go to bed. That one is really important because if I don't take it I feel awful in the morning. But I can work so I'm fine.

So this week! We went to PICACHO FINALLYYYYY! Picacho is Honduras' Christ statue. We went this morning and got back at like 330. It was so fun. Super high up in the forest and you could see lots of Tegucigalpa and Comayaguela from up hiiiiigh. I saw squirrels! :D MY FAVORITE PARTTTT 

My zone leader Elder Hughes also loves camping and stuff like that so WHAT DID WE DO... we roasted hot dogs and made smores over a fire. It was SOOO AWESOME. The smores were my idea :D:D Man. I loved it. It was so peaceful and relaxing up there. 

I love Viki. The sad thing is she wasn't able to go to church this week but that's a long story that I'll tell another day. She is super pilas. THIS WEEK SHE ASKED US FOR A LIST OF ALL THE COMMANDMENTS SHE HAS TO FOLLOW. What? Who does that? Man usually people don't want to know anything because they don't want to be responsible for keeping them. But man. She is awesome. Ive never met a person more prepared to receive this gospel. And more willing to change. 
Gotta gooooo love you all! Ill send pics when I can!
love, hermanita steeleeeeeeee

48: Another week in the mission

from February 2nd... 

-F-- and -S---are progressing well. I will keep you updated on them! -F-- talked to his mom so we have permission to teach him now! But we will see if she gives him permission to get baptized when the time comes. Wait what am I saying! Of course she will. TENEMOS FE hahaha. (we have faith)
My lider misional (ward mission leader) is SO pilas! He is the most pilas in the mission and so he has to give a presentation junto con mi obispo (bishop) to President Bowler and ELDER DUNCAN AND ELDER OCAMPOS, the presidency of the area. how crazy is that!! Hes nervous but we know he will do great. He is suuuch a big help to us and we are super grateful.
--V---!!!!! Wow. she is 21. pilas. We found her last monday night. she is incredible. She couldn't go to church this week because she already had a commitment but she was like why didn't you guys find me BEFORE I made the commitment?? it's your fault! hahaha she is so great. I have NEVER felt the Spirit so strongly like in the lessons we have with her. And we get along super well. I've been weird about teaching women my age in the mission because I feel weird and I feel like they're judging me haha. But not with -V--!! She is so awesome and I love her so much. We are SOO excited to see her progress.

My companion is awesome and I love her. She is so fun! She turns one year in the mission this week and I turn one year in a few weeks.... how insane is that?? The time flies sooo fast here. In the beginning it was super slow. But now were like what day is it we cant even keep track. 
I love you all! Sorry no pictures... but I dont have a camera. 
love, hermana steele