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

Week 69 - The Weather Can't Stop Us... Ok Maybe a Little!

written: 4/25/2022

Week 69

A cold, cold, cold and rainy week here in Coyhaique! (forecast of potential snow this week!) The entire week was filled with rainy and cold days, but that didn't stop us from getting out, although sadly Elder Levar is currently sick :(

The beginning of the week was a lot of tracting door to door trying to find people! Up and down success, and even though it was raining, we decided it was better to be out trying our best and not sitting around in the house waiting for the weather to get better (knowing it likely won't as we are really getting into fall/winter weather after little hints of the season). On Thursday I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Tomney, someone I've known for the last year, but only through phone calls and messages. We finally are in the same zone and we got to go on our exchange. Best part of Elder Tomney is his first name, yet he spells it Colin with one L hahaha. We had an absolute blast!

We have been working really hard with one family and one person specifically. His name is Fredy and his wife, Pamela, is the funniest person ever, we get along super well! This week we focused super hard on personal revelation and receiving answers to our prayers, and we've invited him to ponder and pray to know if he should be baptized. The entire time he's been in teaching by the missionaries, not a short time, he told us he's never prayed himself. As we taught that lesson, we really saw the need to basically do this with all our amigos ASAP because a confirmation by prayer is vital in any conversion!

This weekend was filled with more lessons falling through and door to door knocking in the rain. We bundled up our best and even went and chopped wood for a member, that was actually super fun in the rain! But all the rain and coldness must've caught up with Elder Levar as all day yesterday he was feeling bad and had to stay in bed all day. It was definitely weird not going to church and I really missed going! But shout-out the branch! All day they were texting and asking where we were and once they realized my companion was sick, they constantly texted to see what they could do to help, and all day they were dropping off food, drinks, Gatorade, medicine and anything they could think of! The members here are the best!!! The best news of the day was when a ton of members kept texting us telling us one of our friends, Patricio, had shown up to church!! They all ministered to him and afterwards we called him and he said he loved how inclusive the church was and he felt really comfortable! 

Let's hope Elder Levar starts feeling better to have a great week :) 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Chopping wood in the pouring rain; Me and Elder Tomney

Week 68 - Miracles Are Often Disguised as Coincidences

written: 4/18/2022

Week 68

This week flew by and before I knew it, here I was typing this email again!! Last P-Day was very busy, as we had to take a flight in the morning and travel to another part of the mission, in Puerto Montt! I was able to see a member that I got to spend a lot of time with when I was in Portal Del Mar, so that was an awesome experience! I also got to eat completos and the next day I got McDonalds, so a pretty successful trip if you ask me, along with the leadership meeting of course.

Once we were back in our area on Wednesday, the days just blurred, but we did have a few good things happen! We had a great lesson with someone who has been taught by a number of missionaries and is the husband of a member. We had a lesson about personal revelation and invited him to pray if he should be baptized, something he said he has never done! We are hopeful! We are going to be doing the same with another person who has been in teaching for a very long time and we are excited to see what the future holds for them! 

One day in the afternoon we had a short time planned to make a cake with a member and his family. Making the cake took only 15 minutes and we were told we were going to have to wait 40 minutes for the cake. Elder Levar and I both agreed we were going to go knock on the doors on the street during this time. We went out and began knocking and after about 5 or 10 houses, we said our typical "alooooo" outside of the fence. A man came out of the door and we introduced ourselves as missionaries and he invited us in! (This has only happened twice in the last 2 or 3 weeks we have been tracting). We began to teach him the restoration, find out about his family and situation, and see he was someone who was really interested! It is a family from Colombia and we are hopeful we will continue to teach them, especially because a recent convert from Colombia lives with her family 5 houses down from them! It was just confirmation that we were doing what we were supposed to and that it was great we both acted on the prompting to go knock doors and not just wait for the cake!

This Sunday being Easter we imagined a lot of people would attend church, but much to our faith, not only did we not have a lot of the people we were teaching show up, but the members didn't really show up either! Remember that mythical campo I mentioned last week? Well it seems like everyone went to the mythical campo this past weekend as well, but we were still able to have a good sacrament meeting and we were able to see a lot of progress in the branch as we are finally having meetings and everyone is getting more organized :) 

To end, especially after the story and experience we had out tracting, it really goes to show you God's hand in the work! I am excited to see what God has in store for the people here in Coyhaique and I am excited to see what happens these coming weeks! I am hopeful and there is a lot of potential!

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include :Me and 4 missionaries from the "original crew" L-R: Sister Weight, Elder Baum, Elder Abegglen, Me, and Elder Solis; My homie, Elder Petty; Jorge is a member missionary! Look at him sporting my name tag and the Book of Mormon; Homemade shrimp ceviche with banana chips and popcorn (yes, popcorn!)

Week 67 - More Time in Coyhaique

 written: 4/11/2022

Week 67

This week started off with some nerves as we waited for transfer news and I really didn't want to leave Coyhaique! On Tuesday, after much anticipation, we received news that I'd be staying in Coyhaique with Elder Levar, another transfer together! At the end of this next transfer it'll be just under 6 months in Coyhaique, and I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of every moment!!

Also to start this week off, I was sick again, big surprise knowing me now. The usual summer into fall change of temperature symptoms came and hit me and I also have a nasty mouth infection #notfun but, hey, still going strong. Didn't stop us from going and knocking on doors in a downpour of rain! We were in a trio for 2 days as another missionary was waiting for his companion to arrive!

We got the chance to go spend a good chunk of Saturday with the Elders Quorum out in the campo, aka countryside. As we've talked with other elders we've come to the conclusion that the campo is this mystical place that basically everyone always mentions and it can mean anything now haha. We drove around 45 minutes to one of the member's houses. As we pulled up, we went into a barn and there was the fire already started. We enjoyed sopapillas, a barbecue with tons of different meats, explored a river and we all got to share our testimonies, definitely a fun experience. Someone we've been teaching also had the chance to come, and he even bore his testimony - progress!!

I really want to focus on President Nelson's invitation which is to control what we can control. There have been many times recently where I've gotten stressed out for little things, but I know I just need to take a step back, control what I can, and go with the flow!  Trust the process. While not easy, it's definitely something I'm going to try and continue to improve on! 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Elder quorum; the barn in the countryside; Now that's some good cookin meat; and Elder Levar and Me exploring

Week 66 - Grateful to be a Missionary

written: 4/4/2022

Week 66

An awesome week! I definitely can't believe it is already April!! Like what?? It was definitely a very busy week with many moving parts, but we made it work with what we had!

This week we had President Meek come to Coyhaique for interviews and finally a zone conference. It has been a few months without a zone conference because of all the changes in the mission and all the missionaries coming from the United States. But nothing ever goes to plan haha and we ended up only having about 1/2 of what was planned, but hey that's what happens when the missionaries in the zone have to travel by bus to get to zone conferences and interviews. The best part was definitely the awesome lunch we had, full of sushi, pizza, and ceviche. Never going to complain if I even get one of those, to get all 3 it was like Christmas! We also got a mountain of things for our house to not freeze and turn into icicles because the temperature is definitely already changing, but we will not have any problems being warm in our house.

This week as we were doing door to door contacts, we had a super cool experience with one of the people we met! He didn't have too much time when we first talked to him, but we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and left him with the invitation to read. We checked back up with him yesterday and he told us that he had began reading and then told us that his mom had recently been diagnosed with cancer and 2 tumors. He said that he knew it was time to grow closer to Jesus Christ and he feels that we knocked on his door at the perfect time. Little miracles!

Of course this week was also general conference, which was awesome!! On Sunday, we got invited over to a family's house not only for lunch, but breakfast also. She made massive waffles with all the toppings you could think of and to top it all off, lasagna for lunch! It is impossible to go hungry here in Coyhaique haha the members always take care of us. The talks about missionary work were definitely awesome and I am definitely happy I followed my prompting to serve a mission, even during a pandemic, or I know I would definitely be feeling all the feelings if I had listened to that talk at home. I am definitely blessed to have chosen to serve and even though it has been hard, it has been exactly what I needed. Even though my process to get on the mission hasn't been the easiest and I went through a lot of obstacles, I wouldn't have it any other way! 

Love, Elder Collin Steele

pictures include: Waffles for the win!; Neil L. Andersen, "Following Jesus: Being a Peacemaker" April 2022 General Conference; The "mountain of things" to keep us warm; The Awesome Lunch! (L-R around the table) Elder Levar, Me, Elder Caroll, Elder Tomney, Elder Jones, Hermana Jones, Elder King, Elder Anderson, President Meek, Hermana Meek, Elder Marshall and Elder Cisterna