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! 

Week 43 - Opposition is Necessary

written: 10/25/2021

Week 43

Time flies when you're having a great time! We have already gone through one week of this new transfer. I can't believe it's almost Halloween! 

We continue to move forward with our friends with a baptismal date. Something we have definitely seen is right when we put a baptismal date with someone, there is some type of problem that arises. Why? It is because Satan doesn't want people to be baptized, so he will put whatever obstacle in front of us to make sure the baptism doesn't happen. Sometimes it works, and the person doesn't get baptized. But when the person pushes through, it makes it even more special. We also make sure with every person that has a date that they are going to be a true convert, not just a number for us. It's truly all about showing love, getting the members involved, and showing actual interest in the people. 

This week we got to meet a ton of people and we have many good outlooks. It is something really awesome when people tell us they've received direct revelation and answers from God that they want to continue talking with us and that the things we teach are true. But almost every time, the person passes through a trial to gain that answer. Something we've also talked about as a companionship is that when things are going going, we are going to face a ton of opposition, just like our friends when they want to change. It is great we always have this in mind, so when the trial, opposition, or obstacle comes, a discussion happens, or a problem arises, we are prepared and know we need to just push through. 

I know that opposition is necessary. Without the trial, faith couldn't be gained. Always have to keep pushing forward.

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Me and el gato; member's picture frame collage so we (the missionaries) will not be forgotten; and Business on top and Party on the bottom!

Week 42 - God's Plan and Timing are Perfect

written: 10/18/2021

Week 42

What a great week! This week concluded the transfer and the entire week we were on the edge waiting for transfer news on Saturday Night. We told a lot of the members and they all said they'd start praying that we wouldn't leave because they can't imagine me and my companion leaving. We even had our abueli (our miracle) who said she wanted to talk directly with our mission president because she needed us to stay more time to help her and be with her. Well, Saturday rolled around and we received news that we are staying here in our sector!!!!! We called a bunch of members and they were screaming and super happy! They all said their prayers were answered and it was the best news. For me, this is awesome, to have a relationship with all of these members that they are so excited for us to be here for a minimum of 6 more weeks. Best ward ever!!!!

Yesterday was the baptism of Ortencia, who as I've mentioned before, is our abueli. A family in the ward basically adopted her as their grandma and we visited her so much, helped her with things in her house, and had the opportunity to gift her many things as well. This week a Book of Mormon with big letters arrived and we gave it to her and the smile and joy she had when she received it was so awesome! She told us she doesn't even care about TV anymore, when she is home and in her bedroom, she just wants to read the Book of Mormon. At the baptism yesterday, the font didn't want to fill, and we were on a time crunch, and the water was only at about thigh length, waist length for people that aren't giants haha, and we just had to move forward with the baptism. As we entered, we finally understood why both of us needed to be dressed in white to help in the baptism, because before we were confused on our roles and how we'd both baptize her. So we realized we needed to both help her submerge in the water that wasn't filled up all the way and it was definitely inspired that she insisted on both of us baptizing her. As we submerged her, we had to go super low and she let go of my hand and didn't plug her nose. As she came up from the water, she was coughing a ton and we were super worried we might've just killed our abueli, but then all good and she was perfectly OK!!! Afterwards, she told us as she entered the chapel she felt like she had a bunch of things weighing her down and once she was baptized, it all went away. The faith that she has is CRAZY. She told us she is ready to help us find more people to be baptized and she is super direct and told us "all these people saying they don't want to be baptized for all their problems need to just forget about that and realize that being baptized is what will help them overcome their problems and follow God" She is an inspiration to me!!

With the baptism of the abueli, and especially the way we found her, just confirms to me that God's plan and timing is perfect! I'm super pumped for these next 6 weeks here and to keep working hard. 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Teamwork makes the Dream work!; Me, Ortencia, Elder Vilcherres; Me, Elder Vilcherres, Elder Carrasco, and Elder Robinson; Hermana Finch, Hermana Cook, Elder Vilcherres, Elder Knell, Elder Carrasco, Elder Gonzales, Elder Robinson, and Me; and Happy Birthday, Elder Robinson

Week 41 - La Abueli and Directness

written: 10/11/2021

Week 41

The transfer is flying by, and we only have one more week until we receive transfer news!!! I hope I stay here in Puerto Montt, but only time will tell. 

We continue to see progression with our awesome abuelita. She has accepted every single thing that we have taught and she is counting the days until her baptism. She will be baptized this Sunday and my companion and I will both be in white to baptize her because she has a problem with her leg and also because she said she couldn't decide and it had to be both of us to baptize her! She even helped us yesterday extend a baptismal date to someone we were teaching... and she isn't even baptized yet!! She is someone super direct and she doesn't hesitate to say how she feels. So when she saw that someone wasn't baptized, she immediately wanted to help him. My companion is also super direct and it's helped us so much with the progression of our amigos because we get to see their true feelings and  we get them talking. 

We continue to work with less active members and we met a super cool new family this week. We ate good desserts, joked around, talked a lot, and built trust! As we left, she said we need to come back way more often! I love everytime we meet a new family and I hope we will be able to help activate them. 

Chile is the best! I have definitely been blessed with the people I've met and especially the ward I'm in now. Time is flying by, and at this point I don't even want that to happen because I'm just enjoying every single day to the fullest. Also shoutout to the Argentinian family that gave my companion a Messi jersey and a sweet jacket to me. Just a small example of the small acts of kindness these members show to us every day. 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Let's gooooo.... Argentina!; Everybody loves the Elders; Celebrating with the Giant Gringo; and Showing off the newest tie!

Week 40 - Miracles Come in Many Ways

written: 10/4/2021

Week 40

All,

General Conference was the best, and I'm glad I had the chance to listen and watch the prophet and his apostles and all of the great talks

This week we had an amazing miracle. We had the chance to visit our miracle person in her house and get to know her even more. We could tell she needed a lot of love and people to support her and talk to her. After talking with her for a while, we began to talk about the gospel and she knew almost every single principle and doctrine we talked about. At this point, we knew she was put into our path for a reason and we asked her what she was willing to do to show her love for Jesus Christ. She told us she wanted to be baptized. She also told us that last Sunday, she was laying in her bed when something told her to leave her house... and when she left, there we were, walking by. 100% the spirit. She had the chance to come and watch conference with us and she felt the Spirit so strong, she was very emotional, and she loved watching it!! She has become our adopted grandma haha

We have tons of family home evenings with our members, as it is a great way to meet new friends to teach, spend time with the members, and to have a good time! This week we had an awesome family home evening centered on the plan of salvation. Afterwards, we played a game where we answered questions and if we got it wrong... whipped cream in the face. It is always important to find a balance in working and enjoying time with the members and family home evenings like this, with an important message followed by a game, has been awesome. 

We continue to work with our members non stop and we continue to develop more and more love for each and every member and friend we are teaching. We have members that are willing to drop everything and help us. I continue to work on developing humility and my companion and I always make sure we never get complacent and we always work harder and harder. To me, conference focused on love, repentance, and following the prophet. I hope to continue to develop love for everyone here in Chile, repenting every day, and follow the guidance of our prophet. 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Family Home Evening Fun!; Wrong answers? Pie in the Face!;