Week 74 - Miracle in Llanquihue!

written: 5/30/2022

Week 74

Wow! What a week it has been!!! I don't think I have space to write all the awesome stuff that happened, but I'll give my best to give a little run down of the most important things! I have been super motivated ever since I got here to my new sector. I do miss Coyhaique but I know I was blessed with a lot of time there and now is my time to work here in Frutillar and Llanquihue. I have new found energy and a new found spark it seems and I love it, it makes the work super fun and enjoyable. 

This week began with zone conference and it was President and Hermana Meek's last one with us, as they'll be finishing their mission at the end of June, so crazy! It was a really spiritual and enjoyable conference  and President shared a lot of parting advice and I could definitely feel his love, I'm going to miss him! However, I am excited to meet the new mission president in the coming weeks, it'll be interesting!

On Wednesday one of the biggest, if not the biggest, miracles happened on my mission!!! Little back story, a few days before we were doing regular contacts of people in our phone and we received a reference from someone named Thais. We contacted her and she said she'd love to meet up and have a lesson with us. We planned for Wednesday in the chapel of Llanquihue. We were waiting in the chapel and she sent us a message 10 min before the time we had planned and she said she was waiting outside. We greeted her and went inside and began talking. She is a super shy 19 year old and she doesn't talk a lot haha! We introduced ourselves and asked her what caught her attention about our church and why she wanted to learn more. She told us "I've read a lot about your church, I've read about your founder (Joseph smith), and I want to be a part of your church" I looked at my companion in total shock, but in a good way, as that is not something you typically hear! She told us before she wasn't very religious, she was actually an atheist, but "something" about our church was calling her and her attention. We began talking a little and we  began teaching about the restoration and as we were about to talk about the first vision, we invited her to ponder in silence after we finished. We waited and then asked her what she was feeling. She told us she had a similar experience and that a few months ago, still an atheist, she was in a very bad depression and she kept seeing ads on Instagram about our church and she felt it was calling her. One day she prayed, something she had never really done before, and received an overwhelming sense of emotion and she knew she wanted to be a part of this church. After she began looking at information, finding the church website and getting into contact with us! We extended a baptismal invitation and she accepted and it in 2 weeks! As the days went on, we were able to teach all of the plan of salvation, she attended church, received a chapel tour, met all the members and made some friends, and is reading the Book of Mormon and praying everyday!!!! She is amazing!!!

The rest of the week was filled with member visits to get to know them, a fun branch activity where we talked about sharing the gospel and a member came up to us and said she wants to have a family home evening with potentially 4 people who aren't members, a service project and much more! The only negative thing this week was how bitter cold it is!!! But if that's the only negative thing, I'll take it!

Last note, if you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend "Your Great Adventure" a video from the church that came out last year. We have been sharing it with a lot of families and it is super powerful!  (It's about 5 minutes long)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhG_SY-LhPE

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Zone Conference - Puerto Varas Zone Back row: Elder Morris, Elder Fugal, Elder Martin, Elder Boysen, Elder Thomas, Me, Elder Pastene, Elder Crowton, Elder Quezada and Elder Jara Front row: President Meek, Hermana Meek, Hermana Glenn, Hermana Torrez, Hermana Caceres and Hermana Fuhriman; Lumberjack Steele!; Good food after hard work!

Week 73 - New Adventures in Frutillar!

written: 5/23/2022

Week 73

My first email from my new area, Frutillar! It isn't necessarily the country, but it definitely has those vibes. It is super flat and rains a lot more than it did in Coyhaique, but it is about the same as when I served in Puerto Montt last year. We live in a triangular house on top of a hill and it is made up of wood and gives off cabin vibes. It is FREEZING but we are trying to fix that situation so I don't freeze to death. 

It was super sad saying goodbye to everyone in Coyhaique, but I was definitely blessed to have been given a few days to be able to say my goodbyes and they announced the transfers early. A few highlights included going to see a few places with Moises and Karen and Honey, saying goodbye to my primo Jorge, and having a massive goodbye lunch with hamburgers, onion rings done in an airfryer and chocolate mini donuts with white chocolate. I'll never forget all of those people and they will always be in my heart and I can't wait for when I can one day return back to Coyhaique!

After a shuttle to the airport, a 45 min flight, a shuttle to a bus station, a bus to Puerto Varas and a taxi to Frutillar, I was finally in my area. Tiring for sure! The last few days I have just been trying my best to get to know the sector, the members, the people we are teaching and it definitely looks like it will require a lot of work, but I am excited. This area seems to be a "tough" area, with some trouble finding and baptizing. I am super motivated to give it my all and just do all that I can. We had an activity on Saturday with the elders quorum and there and on Sunday, I took every opportunity to talk with the members and ask them questions and tell them my desires to work hard, work with the members and form a genuine relationship, and baptize. I am thankful I am in a branch again because it allows me to work even closer with the members!!  I am looking forward to this transfer and I have lots of goals and high expectations for myself!

Lastly, something really cool happened this weekend! We were having a regular morning with studies and I saw in the mission group chat that the missionaries in Portal Del Mar were having a baptism and then I realized it said "Inan Gabriel" and after some digging I found it was the same Inan that I had taught with Elder Pillpe and Elder Vilcherres! It was just so awesome to finally see him get baptized and decide for himself, as when we first met him he was a timid 9 year old that was just listening because his dad wanted him to. It was an awesome way to begin our Saturday and it made me super happy!

I am doing really well here in Chile and I am just trying to give it my all. I am trying to soak up every day because to me time is flying by way faster than it has in the past and I want to do all that I can and have 0 regrets!

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Elders Quorum in Frutillar; Later, Dude! Elder Levar and Me; Moises, Me, Elder Levar, and Karen; and Moises and Me

Week 72 - On to New Adventures

written: 5/16/22

Week 72

My time in Coyhaique has finally come to an end as we received transfer news last night. I'll be heading to Frutillar to be with Elder Jara! You likely won't remember, but around 7 months ago I visited Frutillar for one day with my entire district for a fun finding activity where we talked to anyone and everyone trying to find as many people in a few hours and we ended up in the bottom part of Frutillar with a massive beach, massive amphitheater and lots of tourists. From that day I always said I'd love to serve in Frutillar.... Seems as if my thoughts were meant to be! I'll also be working online with another sector called Llanquihue, so that'll be fun as well. I'm super sad to leave Coyhaique but it has been the best 6 months!!!! I have met so many lifelong friends and found a second family in Fabiola, Javiera, Moisés and Karen!

A little bit about the week... It was a pretty great week, honestly. We didn't have too much success for a ton of the time knocking doors and we had a pretty crazy experience with a dog. As most have come to see in my emails, the dogs are EVERYWHERE here and we have run into some crazy streets. Well, one morning we got out and about and began knocking doors and we talked to a lady that wasn't interested and she was trying to calm down her massive dog. We moved onto the next house and Elder Levar thought he heard a noise from that house so he peeked his head a little and next thing we see is the fence topple down and we BOOK IT because the dog had broken down the fence and we thought we were done for!! Anyways, we still did see success and we had two amazing lessons with two different families with found knocking doors and they both had a less active member present that seemed like they wanted to come back to church and also help their family members become members and learn more!

Over the weekend the writing was on the wall that I was going to receive a transfer after being here so long so I began trying to take as many photos as possible with all the members I could. I always want to remember them and I have gotten close with so many people!!! I know it won't be the same but thankful for technology and the ability to check in on them once I leave Coyhaique. Although I wish I could stay longer, I am pretty excited to see what Frutillar has in store for me! 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Pamela, Fredy, Maxi, Elder Levar, and Me; Hermano Ciares; Hermano Ruiz "Santo Varon"; Rosa Perez (my Chilean grandma); and Curry chicken and carmelized onion pizza

Week 71 - Meetings, Meetings, and More Meetings

written: 5/9/2022

Week 71

This week was jam packed! From interviews, to zone conference to District conference and all the fun stuff that comes with those meetings!! A week filled to the brim with meetings definitely makes the week go by super fast, although the days can get pretty long!

This week we only really got 2 full days to go out and work without having a meeting to attend or somewhere to be, and we are just trying and trying and trying to find some new people to teach! We didn't see too much success, but we did end up finding a few knocking doors. We really have our focuses set on helping Fredy get baptized, although the process continues to get longer. We had a great lesson with him during the week and we had asked him if he had prayed. He told us he had, which was great that he had finally taken up the challenge! However, he told us he still hasn't felt an answer yet. We pivoted and told him he had to keep praying and truly study and do all the things necessary to receive an answer. We also asked him if he feels prepared for a baptism, and he said he thinks he needs to learn a lot more. Smartly, Elder Levar asked him all the baptismal interview questions without saying they were the baptismal questions and he answered all of them with ease. He is praying about a specific date, beginning with this upcoming Saturday. We shall see!!

President Meek showed up on Thursday and that began the madness of all the meetings. It began with a working lunch at our favorite restaurant where I got to enjoy my salmon and avocado ceviche while we discussed a few topics. It's crazy this is my second to last interview with President Meek before he heads home and we get our new president! Friday we had a mission conference AND a zone conference. The mission seems to finally be understanding the bigger picture and we are focusing a ton on baptism and not as much on little miniscual things. I'm definitely excited for the new shift in focus and think more success will be seen. A funny part of the zone conference was President Meek had an elder and I jump up and see how high we could reach. Then we went and had to try and grab M&Ms from someone standing on some chairs to demonstrate we can reach our potential and set higher goals when we see the prize in front of us, or the final picture or result we want to accomplish. Saturday and Sunday we had a District Conference and we had an area seventy come and speak to the Coyhaique District so that was fun!

My primo (I think I've mentioned before I call one member my cousin) was so happy to take a picture with President Meek and the area seventy, he was beaming! He has plans to attend the temple this year to get endowed and sealed after 20+ years of waiting! Also, quick cool story with my primo. We were in the car going home with him and we were talking about if he remembered the missionaries who baptized him or still had contact. He said no, but remembered one of their names. I decided to try and search on Facebook and sure enough someone from Utah popped up with that same name. I sent him a message and the next day, he responded and confirmed it was him! That night, they did a videocall and got to reminisce on the baptism over 20+ years ago! Social media is such an awesome way to connect people! 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Zone Conference May 2022 - Elder Risi, Elder Mcclean, Elder Anderson, Elder Tomney, Me, Elder Levar, Elder King, Elder Carroll, Elder Allasia, Elder Holland, Hermana Jones, Elder Jones, Hermana Meek, and President Meek; Hermana Meek, Elder Levar, and Me; "Pichanga" (combination of french fries, meat, hot dog, chicken, tomato, avocado with added mustard, ketchup, and mayo!); and Man sized dogs barking their heads off at us as we walked by

Week 70 - An Interesting Week

written: 5/2/2022

Week 70

This week was definitely very interesting! My companion was basically bed ridden until Friday and then we were able to do small things Friday and Saturday and we ramped up the progress yesterday. Having a sick companion definitely doesn't make for a fun week, as there isn't much to do in a small house, unable to leave. Sorry this email will likely be very short, but hey, not much happened! There still were a few positives! Our friend Patricio showed up to church yesterday, that makes for the second straight week attending church! He is super busy, he is studying in college, working full time, trying to create a business and is caring for his sick mom and grandma, so him coming to church is awesome! We are really hopeful in his progress and we have faith he is going to be baptized! We also stopped by someone we found knocking doors a few weeks ago and they were helping their young daughters with a school assignment and he told us he still wants to keep learning about the gospel and we are super hopeful for him as well! This upcoming week is going to be pretty busy, we have President Meek coming for interviews, zone conference and district conference with a general authority seventy! I guess it was better Elder Levar was sick last week and not this upcoming week with all the craziness going on!

To end I can share what my favorite part of my personal study was because this email is pretty short. I was studying a lot in Mosiah, and reading about Abinadi. Abinadi is just such a great example for me to follow! He is an excellent example of courage, faithfulness, standing up for what we believe, and just trusting in the Lord. I hope to always have the power in my testimony like Abinadi did. 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: cute little puppy; Abinadi standing before King Noah