Week 88 (06/05/2017)

Hello everyone!

Today is a little crazy because President started this phone meeting thing (where all the leaders have a conference call) so I don't have a lot of time to write everything. Then again, this week hasn't been too crazy.

The biggest thing is that we were able to baptize Eliza on Tuesday. It was really difficult but really cool because:

1. The church ran out of water so the font was only a few inches full

2. The sister is really old and fragile right now so we had to have three elders with her in the font

3. The elders got together and started filling the font with buckets from the neighbors house to get at least a few feet of water

4. Three of us got in the font and sat her down on a tiny chair from the primary so she could easily go into the water

It ended up being a great baptism and she was so happy. We are going to visit her right now to see if her family wants to start coming to church with us. :)

Elder Reid also baptized this week in the other area. His name is Hector and he is really cool. He wants to serve a mission so a year from now he will be able to be a missionary too!

Today we also learned about the changes but only one thing changed in our zone. Elder Reid went to Saltillo  He is a zone leader now! I'm so proud of my little trainee. He will do great things.

Well, I'm out of time because I need to call people now. I hope you all have a great week! We should have two baptisms this Saturday. Their names are Lizet and Jorge. I will let you know what happens! I love you all!

-Elder Steiner

Week 87 (05/29/2017)

Happy Monday everyone!

Like I said last week we had some crazy changed in the zone the beginning of last week and I have a new companion. His name is Elder Ibarra and he has nine months as a missionary. He is from Acapulco and is a really good missionary. President wants me to get him ready to lead more in the mission so as a new leader I have to teach a new leader. Haha! Talk about the blind leading the blind... Just kidding but it is a little stressful. However, I'm certain we will have a lot of success here.

This week we had the chance to help another couple get married! We put a lot of effort in last weekend to help them sell and set up a raffle to earn money for the wedding. Their names are Mary and Eduardo and they have four little kids. Mary was meeting with the missionaries for a while but her husband never listened. A few weeks ago they had some problems and we were worried they would get separated but then we started teaching them together. We taught a lot about the importance of the family and Eduardo loved it. They were very happy to be married and baptized. I attached some photos of the baptism and when they got married. They got married at 12:00 and baptized at 5:00 the same day. I baptized Eduardo and Elder Salazar (our district leader) baptized Mary.

This week we also worked a lot with the other elders in our zone to get them going and excited for the coming months. The mission goal is one baptism for every missionary every month. This month we were able to meet the goal and then some so I have high hopes for Acuña. President wants us to be an example for everyone so we are working with faith and diligence.

Lately we have been going every Monday to play volleyball in the church with the other  missionaries. Today we also played some other games and it gets surprisingly competitive among missionaries. It's really fun though because we can become more united as a zone and gain trust.

Missionary work is really great and I am a little sad that my time is running out. I only have eleven weeks left here so I am going to do my best to get everything done.

Tomorrow we should have a baptism. Her name is Eliza and she is really sick. We taught her a while ago and we are going to baptize and confirm tomorrow. She is a really sweet lady and I'm glad we can help her. Elder Reid will baptize her because I taught her with him.

Thanks for reading! No bird news this week. I'll let you know next week. I love and miss you all!

-Elder Steiner

 

 

Week 86 (05/22/2017)

Well, I haven't written these weekly emails in two weeks so I don't really remember everything I need to say so I think I will just give a summary of these last few weeks.

First off, we haven't baptized in two weeks so you are all updated on that. This week we will baptize two investigators. They are going to get married on Saturday and then baptized afterward. They are really great and I have seen a huge change in the two of them. They have four little kids who love us and I know that the gospel will help this family a lot.

This week was my first full week working with Elder Painter in my area because before that we were with Elder Reid working both areas which was crazy. Elder Painter is a great missionary and we got a lot done in the time we had together. Now there have been a few changes in the zone but I'm excited to see how things work out.

Elder Painter got a call from President on Friday about some changes in the mission and it turns out that Painter is going to be the new assistant. Woo hoo! Now, I have had less than a full change (six weeks) as a zone leader and I am now zone leader 1. That means that I am 100% in charge of this zone and I need to do everything possible to help the other missionaries have success. I have never done this before and most missionaries have a little bit more time as leaders before they do it. Apparently, President has lots of confidence in me. I still don't know why exactly but I'm going to do my best. :) The leaders of the mission have a lot riding on us to keep the mission excited and working hard.

My new companion is named Elder Ibarra. He was part of this zone and President decided to move him up as ZL 2. He is still kind of new but he has lots of potential. I'm excited to work with him.

Thanks for reading even if this was just a summary. I didn't say what has actually been happening but I hope you get the gist of it.

This week I saw a Yellow-crowned Nightheron. That's a bird I have never seen before. I was close to getting a picture but I'm not fast enough.

Have a great week! I love you all!

-Elder Steiner