Week 76 (3/13/2017)

Sorry I missed last week but I'm back safe and happy in Acuña! I was not able to write last week because I had to go to Saltillo for my visa. I'm glad that it went a lot more smoothly than last time. At least I wasn't illegal for two days like last time. Haha! The secretaries are doing a little better now than a year ago.

This week was really good and I'm glad that I'm still here in Acuña. Today is changes but our whole zone is staying the same. I'm even staying with Elder Reid for another six weeks! Last week the assistants told me I was about to be chosen as secretary but President chose another Elder instead. I'm glad that I get to stay here now because we had a lot of success this week. Even though being secretary would be really fun I'm glad to be here with Elder Reid.

We are going to have a baptism this Saturday and then three more next Saturday if everything works out! I'm really glad because everything just seemed to work out perfectly so we can have these baptisms. One of the investigators was in Saltillo for her cancer treatment (which went well and she is almost cured) so I was worried she wouldn't be able to meet with us. We went to her house looking for her granddaughter (also going to be baptized) and she was home! She bore her testimony to us of the BoM and said that she was finally sure that she wanted to be baptized. The girl to be baptized this week is Lucia and the three next week are Carlos, Jenifer, and Lilia. Please pray for them and that they can be baptized!

Along with our success in baptismal dates we were also able to find 20 new investigators! It was really cool and we were able to meet our goal. I think that by looking for more people we have been showing our faith and God has blessed us for it.

This week I saw a Peregrine Falcon for the first time in a looooong time. It was messing around with some swallows and they were mad so they chsed it and picked at it's tail. Little birds can be really brave. I also saw Sandhill Cranes on my bus ride to Saltillo. That was pretty cool.

That's about it for this week. Thanks for everything and I hope you have a great week! If you work with faith God will bless you no matter what!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Steiner

Week 74 (02/27/2017)

Happy Monday everyone!

This week was average in terms of missionary work. We had an exciting pday last week with the other elders and then on Tuesday we had our district meeting. Lately we have been focusing a lot on finding new investigators and our district hasn't been completing very well, us included. I gave a pretty good training paired with an inspirational video from the zone leaders which actually helped out a lot. After the meeting we went and contacted new people in the other elders' area. All together we found 13 new investigators in under two hours. We plan on having activities like that in a different area each week to help keep us going finding new people to teach. By the end of the week we had a total of 60 new investigators as a district so I think we're doing pretty well. Haha!

The next day we did divisions with the zone leaders and helped them with their baptism that afternoon. I went with Elder Painter to his area but Elder Painter never uses maps so I was kind of in charge of getting us to the lessons because he would get us lost. Divisions are really fun especially when I get to learn a lot from the other elder.

Yesterday we had a good time in church and I also got some packages! Woo hoo! We had three investigators in church which was really nice and we also helped out with the choir that night. Elder Reid can sight read music like a champion.

Our baptism for this week ended up not happening because our investigator didn't feel ready. That was kind of hard but we are shooting for the eleventh of March so we can get him baptized soon. I'm really glad for the work I have done here in Acuña and I hope I can keep it up before I leave here.

Well, that's it for this week! Not a lot of bird news this week but I'll keep my eyes out for next week.

Thanks for everything! I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Steiner

Week 73 (2/20/2017)

Hello everyone! I hope you have has a great President's day! Mine has been pretty normal but at least I get the day off with you.

This week was pretty normal. It was a little harder because we had to budget our taxi money a lot so there was a lot of walking instead of taxi rides. We were really blessed by members and investigators who gave us some extra money to get by. I really saw the tender mercies of the Lord this week.

I have also been a little sick this week but not too bad. It has made it awkward in lessons when I'm pulling piece after piece of toilet paper out of my pocket but I guess they understand. Haha!

The craziest day was Saturday because we had to run from lesson to lesson and we had to be pending all day for the other elders' baptism. To top it off it was Elder Reid's birthday so we got two cakes which are still in our fridge.

Today we went and had a picnic with some converts of the other elders. We went to a little river and I saw a bunch of cool birds. I saw a vermilion flycathcer for the first time ever which was really cool. I even identified it from far away because of it's flying habits. I felt like a birding pro. Haha!

Well, that's it for this week. I think we are going to baptize this Saturday but I'll let you all know how it goes.

Mucho amor!

-Elder Steiner