Week 48 - Nothing's Gonna Stop Me!

written: 11/29/2021

Week 48

A pretty normal week here in Puerto Montt! It is a little weird not going to lie after saying goodbye to a lot of the members, converts, and friends here in Puerto Montt and then seeing them again and saying "oh yeah, funny joke, I will still be here but I don't know how long so this may or may not be the last time we see each other". We still don't know when we are going to be receiving transfer news and we brace for a text basically everyday. We are going to be receiving transfers every 2 weeks so it's better to not get comfortable. This week we mainly focused on member visits so my new companion could get to know the members that we usually visit and we also had the opportunity to get to know a few new members. We are walking literally EVERYWHERE because the weather is nice and it is a good way to show the sector to my companion. I have a pretty sweet tan so I'm definitely not complaining about that. 

We got the chance to meet with a new friend and he is a Haitian, just like our friend that was recently baptized. What I've seen is that so many Haitians are so open to the gospel and are great people but the language barrier usually diminishes any chance of a true conversion. Well, now we have Evens, our always willing and amazing translator. He is willing to hop on a call any day in the week to help us teach Haitians. This week we got to know a Haitian and we began the lessons with him. We had a lesson about the prophets and we were originally planning on prophets and Jesus Christ and after we talked a little bit about prophets, they began talking in Creole and after 5 minutes, our convert told us that he was teaching about baptism and that he was interested! Crazy! He ended up attending church this week and is pondering the decision to be baptized! 

A crazy cool experience happened last night! We have not had much success this week in lessons but we didn't lose hope. We were in the chapel and we were wondering what the next plan of action would be and we saw that during lunch we had received a reference in our area book. We called him up and he said that he had time to talk right now so we jumped on the opportunity! We thought we were going to share about prayer, get to know him, and go from there. Well as the lesson goes on, I remembered the counsel I always tell my district, "don't have fear in inviting people to be baptized". We continued in the lesson and I told him that it was not a coincidence that we were talking to him and he agreed, saying he has been looking to belong to a church. He also said he was searching for us, as this has happened recently with our sweet abueli we baptized and with Evens. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted! Not only that, but with one of the coolest baptismal dates, January 1st, to begin the new year as a new person! Clearly, we could have just shared our quick lesson about prayer and set up another appointment to teach him and things would have gone fine and maybe in the future we would have invited him to be baptized. But we felt and knew it was his time, and to not hesitate, it didn't matter that we just got to know him. Miracles happen!!!

The last big thing was during the week there were some trials I had to go through and at first it was really tough, not going to lie. But with the help of some friends I have made in the mission, prayer, and reflection, I was able to feel better and remember that trials won't hold me down for forever. I always take solace in Ether 12:27 and the knowledge that God's plan is perfect! I hope y'all can also remember that God has a perfect plan and we will all pass through trials but there is always going to be peace in Christ and his atonement because He just wants us to improve everyday! 

Love,

Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Perfect Thanksgiving Meal... PIZZA!; So blessed to call him "Brother"; Working while I am playing!; It's a Christmas miracle... my favorite candy!; The name is Steele, Elder Steele

Week 47 - Little Vacation to Osorno

written: 11/22/2021

Week 47

What a crazy week! 

On Tuesday we had a super cool day! We needed to find people to teach and we had the idea to go to a the soccer and basketball courts near us and try and get all of their numbers. We ended up getting a lot of numbers, we enjoyed playing and it was nice to be out in the sun. For me, it's all about finding a balance and making sure I can do the missionary work while doing fun things. On Thursday, we had a district finding activity where we all went to an area in the district and tried finding people for the missionaries there by talking to everyone in the street. My group was my companion and the other elders in my area. We ended up going near the beach and tourist areas. For 2 hours we saw 0 success, but then we saw a group of students playing on the beach and we realized it was basically their PE time. We played volleyball on the beach and we also played beach soccer, all in our proselytizing clothes. We were really living our best lives. We ended up getting a ton of numbers between all of the school and it was so cool to see success while having fun.

We also had a baptism this Wednesday! Evens is a man from Haiti who is super cool. We have been working with him for about a month now and now that he's baptized we plan on talking to a lot of Haitians so that he can translate the lessons because he has super good Spanish. 

The craziest thing that happened this week was transfers. We received news on Tuesday that I'd be leaving my area along with my companion Elder Vilcherres. We were super sad to leave and we had to say our goodbyes. Well, on Friday we went to Osorno. We were in the car when the elder in the office received news my companion has covid and isn't coming to Chile for minimum 2 weeks. So we had to wait for president to do emergency transfers and I was told I'd be returning back to my area with a different companion, Elder Quezada. So basically I packed up everything, went to Osorno, and returned within 24 hours. Little vacation. I'm super sad to not be with Elder Vilcherres because I learned so much from him, we have so many memories together, and I really changed for the better with him. I'm told I have about 2 weeks in my area and my companion from the United States should come and then I'll leave and be with him, but we never know with how crazy transfers are. 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: You have questions? I have answers!; Proselyting on the beach; Evens' baptism day; Brothers from another Mother; Me and my new companion, Elder Quezada

Week 46 - Warmer Weather, Baptisms, and Findings!

written: 11/15/2021

Week 46

What a great week!!! I can't believe it's already midway through November, and it definitely doesn't feel like it, as it's starting to heat up here and I'm wearing my short sleeve shirts and less sweaters! Still lots of rain, but that's what happens here in this mission. 

Yesterday we had a baptism!!! Florencia is someone super super special for us. We have been working with her for 4 months or so and we found here as we were contacting less active families and we first we were working with her mom and found she wasn't baptized but had desires to learn and be baptized. She absorbed everything and could teach back anything we taught her, pretty impressive for a 9 year old! We know she has so much faith because of all the trials she had to go through to be baptized. The biggest one being last Wednesday she broke/fractured her ankle and was told she can't put any weight on it. Yet she still wanted to go through with her baptism. So we got her in the wheelchair and when it was time for the baptism both my companion and I had the chance to baptize her and we had to hold her and carry her into the water and slowly lower her in. As we were giving her the Holy Ghost, I could feel a super super strong burning sensation in my hand and it is a signal of her faith. 

This upcoming week we are supposed to have the baptism of our Haitian friend, Evens, if everything goes well in his interview! He has progressed rapidly and we've been working with him for about a month. We know he will be a key to help bring so many to the church because he speaks Haitian creole and will be able to teach Haitians that previously couldn't be taught due to the language barrier. He had to work yesterday but since we have zoom meetings, he was able to watch. And just to make sure we knew he was watching, he decided to send us 8 different screenshots at different parts of the meeting and later sent a message saying he watched the entire meeting and he's ready for his baptism on Wednesday. Such a legend. 

A small miracle we saw was on Friday I was viewing WhatsApp stories of our friends we teach and I saw a person we'd never talked to and I decided to send him a message. We talked for a little bit and he FaceTimed me to say what's up and we invited him to church just to see if he was interested. What'd ya know, our friend Gibbonson strolls into the church with a fresh suit jacket ready for church! He said before the pandemic sister missionaries taught him but lost contact and he's interested again! 

Lastly, this week is going to be super awesome because on Thursday my district is traveling to an area in the district to do a blitz finding activity for a companionship of sisters. We are bringing all 5 companionships to the area and we are going to talk to every single person in the street for 3 hours to get new people for the sisters to teach as their area is hard to find new people!! 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Elder Vilcherres, Florencia and Me; Florencia and her family; Family Home Evening!; Our Zone

Week 45 - The Tender Mercies of the Lord

written: 11/8/2021

Week 45

This was another great week in Chile! The weather is improving, it's getting warmer, but of course, still rain, but thankfully not too much. Who knows when, but eventually we are going to receive those 80 or so missionaries from the united states, and who knows, maybe I'll be training an American that speaks 0 Spanish sooner rather than later. 

We had lots of tender mercies with our friends, when we had lows, we saw the tender mercies which helped us remain happy and motivated. We are preparing for a baptism this Saturday and we are seeing the support from her mom, we are seeing a real change within the family and we are excited for Saturday and hope that all goes well!! We had a call with a friend we have been teaching for a long time. She told us she received revelation that she needs to be baptized and that she saw it all in a dream! Now we are just hoping she acts on her revelation! ALSO! Our recent convert recently shared with us that her son also received revelation in a dream that he needs to be baptized!!! I love when they share their revelation and I just hope that they'll then act on what they've received because we are always willing to help them reach their goals! 

We got to meet 2 of our friends in person this week and really get to know them! It definitely isn't the same when we call them and when we are in person!! Being in person changes everything and they can really open up and the environment to feel the spirit is so much stronger! We know things aren't perfect and we've had a lot of setbacks in terms of other baptismal dates, people telling us they're not interested, but every time we see a setback, we move forward with faith and we've seen those tender mercies. We know God wants the best for us as long as we do all that we can.

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include:Sushi overload; The Book of Mormon is true!; Rain suit OR Firefighter gear?

Week 44 - Keep Giving My All

written: 11/1/2021

Week 44

Busy week with lots of work for us everyday. This week we found out that this transfer period is only going to be 4 weeks and that starting at the end of November we are going to be having transfers every 3 weeks because of all the new and reassigned missionaries are finally going to be coming here to Chile. I really don't want to leave this area but I know I'm going to enjoy every last day I have here and give it my all. We are also going to be having a member of the seventy come to our mission at the end of the month!

This week we had many different people we got to know a lot more. One of them is Evens, a Haitian who has been here for just over 4 years. He is someone super super special and awesome. He wants to have a lesson/phone call every single day to learn more and more about us and our religion. This week we basically went through all the lessons. He has lots and lots of questions, but they are all super good. He recently accepted a baptismal date as well!!! He attended church with us on Sunday and we had a super good lunch with him (picture to be attached) and he had a journal with over 40 questions for us, but at the end he learned so much and felt super comfortable in relation to us and the church. He said he has been looking for the correct way, or route and that's when he saw an ad for our church on YouTube!! 

Another cool thing that happened this week was the progression of someone we've been talking to for a while now who has a hard time keeping their commitments, but we kept seeing little signs she had super potential. This week I had the feeling to start reading the Book of Mormon to her throughout the week and showing her gospel principles that are in it and having a conversation surrounded what she learned. It went super well the first two calls we had and then we had another call where we focused on the doctrine of christ. She then started talking about baptism. She told us she has come to the conclusion, on her own, that her baptism was done incorrectly and not with the proper authority and in the way Jesus Christ was baptized. 

We continue seeing that the Lord's plan for us is perfect. The progression of our friends is something so fulfilling to see. Time to keep giving it my all!

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: ...Slam Dunk!; Good food with good people!; I am officially a resident of Chile!