Happy Super Bowl (yesterday) and Valentine's Day (for everyone other than monks or missionaries)!
This week was pretty normal. I had exchanges with Elder Muñoz (not my previous companion, a different Muñoz) on Wednesday. It was pretty good. Our first two contacts were a little rough, though. One was a very christian lady and the other was a pastor for the Church of Christ. It's hard to not explode and go on a rant about priesthood authority with someone like me that likes to argue but I was pretty good about keeping my cool (especially with my limited Spanish...). We counted both as lessons because they were exceedingly long contacts.
We found a really good investigator the other day named Salvador. He's 20 years old and he met with other missionaries before us. Our first lesson was with Hiram (our ward mission leader) so we automatically had someone to fellowship Salvador. He said that he would like to be baptized after he learns more and we set a baptism goal for the 27th of this month. I don't know if that goal is going to work out because he didn't come to church yesterday but it's still worth a shot. I think he will progress really well.
I was expecting about all of Piedras Negras to come to church yesterday with the number of investigators we talked to about coming but we only had 3.
Jesús came for about half of sacrament meeting but then he had to leave for work. We met with his mom the other day and she really likes to talk to us. She received the Book of Mormon really well too. I'm a little worried that he might start losing interest but I really think we can still baptize him this month.
Axel also came which was really good but since he is a kid I felt like a dad trying to keep him quiet during sacrament meeting. He kept asking what time it was and playing with the hymn books. I feel really sorry now towards my parents who have dealt with kids in sacrament meeting for more than 20 years.
Ernesto, our eternal investigator, came early and went to some of the classes in the other ward. We had a lesson with him with the bishop and talked about eternal families and the blessings he could get along with his family if he would be baptized. We also had a lesson specifically about baptism yesterday which went pretty well but he still has his doubts. It's pretty hard because his doubts are mostly about really abstract topics that need profound doctrine to answer. I think he'll be baptized but I don't know when.
Gustavo did not come to church and we have decided not to teach him anymore. We taught him about the Word of Wisdom and that was like a giant wall for his progress. He said he didn't want to be baptized because he believes that he needs to drink alcohol to do his work. The work he believes he is doing is uniting the world and preparing it for the second coming of Christ. I don't know if continuing with him would be a very good use of our time.
Here are the birds!
Common Raven -Cuervo Grande
Lesser Goldfinch -Dominico Dorsioscuro
Montezuma Quail -Codorniz de Moctezuma
I didn't get a lot this week but it's more than none. :)
I've been thinking a lot about the importance of the priesthood recently. In reality it's the only thing that makes us different from every other church. I feel really happy that I'm worthy of this responsibility that Heavenly Father has given us as his servants. Here are two scriptures that I like about the priesthood.
Hebrews 5:4 "And no man taketh this honor unto himself but he that was called of God as was Aaron"
Alma 13:10 "Now as I said concerning the holy order, or this high priesthood, there were many who were ordained and became high priests of God; and it was on account of their exceeding faith and repentance, and their righteousness before God, they choosing to repent and work righteousness rather than to perish."
By these two scriptures we see that holding this priesthood is only possible for those who have been called of God. In order to be called of God we must work righteousness and repent. As someone who has been called of God and has this responsibility I feel really happy that I can be part of this and press forward in this work.
Thanks everyone that read all the way to the end of this! It's a little long but I think that's preferable to a handful of sentences.
Thank you all so much for everything. Les extraño y amo.
-Elder Steiner
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