Week 47 (08/16/2016)

Hello everyone!

Well, once again I have come to the end of the change. That makes seven changes in the field. It sure has gone by quickly but I still have a little bit more than a year to go.

This week was a little difficult but still good. I worked with some of the other elders on short changes because Elder Domiciano was sick a few days this week. On Saturday I went with one of our zone leaders to cover the appointments for the afternoon while Elder Domiciano stayed with the other zone leader. It was only for the afternoon but I learned a lot and I feel like those short divisions got me way more pumped to work and teach. I've seen that good divisions can really change someone's whole mission.

On Tuesday we had our last zone meeting for this change and we talked a little bit about how there was potential that some areas might be closed or "white washed" (where a whole new companionship comes in) and that's exactly what happened with my area...Our area was merged with the other one and three out of the four of us are going to different zones. Elder Muñoz, my trainer, is staying and is now in charge of the whole ward in terms of missionary stuff.

I'm going to Allende tomorrow which is part of the Acuña zone. It doesn't really make sense to me because Allende is a lot closer to Piedras Negras than it is to Acuña, but I don't make the rules so no problem. I'm pretty excited for my next area because apparently it's kind of like ranch country. I think it will be a little more calm and whatnot. Also, I've met my new companion before and he is pretty cool. He's named Elder Antonio.

There's not a lot more to report specifically this week. One of our investigators is finally starting the divorce process. Her name is Patty and she has been going to church for a long time but hasn't been able to be baptized because she is married to someone else. We finally were able to get the process started yesterday and I am confident that she will be baptized next change.

This week I didn't see many birds apart from the usual. This morning apparently there was a barn owl outside of the house of the member we were with but I couldn't see it. I sat at the window for about 20 minutes waiting for it to come out but it never did...

That's about it. Thanks for everything! See you next week!

-Elder Steiner

Week 46 (8/09/2016)

Happy pday!

I don't have my agenda today because plans got changed a little but I'll do my best to tell you about what happened this week.

This week has been kind of tiring. Piedras Negras is really hot and we're going through the hottest part of the year right now. I think that walking around in the sun all day makes it a little harder to go the extra mile while contacting and looking for new investigators but we're working hard and trying to find people to teach and bring to baptism.

Thursday some of the zone came and did a contacting activity in our area to try and find new investigators. We used the whole afternoon after lunch knocking doors and contacting. We ended up with about 8 new investigators in one day and Elder Domiciano and I have been giving follow up to have lessons and appointments with the contacts we all made. It was really helpful for our area because we have been having trouble finding new people to teach.

On Saturday Elder Muñoz and Elder Ray, the elders that share our ward, baptized one of their investigators so we helped them out with the service and to get some baptismal clothes.

On Sunday we had an interesting class by the ward mission leader. He taught all of the priesthood and Relief Society and basically told them all that the member missionary work in this ward was basically dead and then presented our ward mission plan. I think it was pretty good because if the members are helping us it makes the work a lot easier and a lot more efficient. I expect that as we apply our ward mission plan there will be a lot more work with the members and we'll start to see a lot more baptisms.

Sorry that this email is a little shorter. I can't quite remember all the stuff that happened this week and I don't have my bird list. I hope that all of you are well and that you have been having a good summer. :)

Thanks for your support and your love.

¡Les amo y les extraño!

-Elder Steiner

Week 45 (8/2/2016)

Hello everyone!

I don't have a lot of time to write so I'm sorry if this one ends up a little short.

This week we did divisions and I went to the outskirts of Piedras Negras for the third time on divisions. The area I went to is called Villa de Fuente and it has a weird stretch of desert that goes through the middle. We had to cross that deserty part four times on Tuesday. The cities here are kind of weird sometimes.

On Wednesday we helped the Relief Society president cook for the youth conference. They had to make a bunch of sandwiches so Elder Domiciano and I went to help them out. We made about 150 to feed all the youth and leaders. I didn't help a lot with making them because there were a lot of people helping but I was in charge of putting the sandwiches in the cooler. I was complimented for my good arranging skills. I feel like that's a good thing but kind of a lame thing to be complimented on. Haha!

On Thursday and Saturday we ate with some members who live in a tiny town outside of Piedras. It was pretty cool because there were all sorts of goats and chickens and whatnot. They also made really good food. We had carnitas on Thursday and then carne asada (steak) on Saturday.

On Friday we helped out with youth conference. Each missionary companionship did an activity and taught a little bit about the Book of Mormon. We also did BoM jeapoardy at the end. It was fun to help out and do some games with the youth.

The two investigators we were going to baptize this coming Saturday, Ana and Arlene, went to Dallas with their mom. I don't think we will  be able to baptize them now but we are going to put them in contact with missionaries over there. It's a little rough having them leave just before their baptism date but I think it will all work out.

Here are the birds!

-Green Kingfisher

-Great Kiskadee

-Fulvous Whistling Duck

-Snowy Egret

-Double-crested Cormorant

-Chihuahuan Raven

Sorry it's shorter this week but thanks for everything and thanks for your support!

Les amo y les extraño!

-Elder Steiner

Week 44 (7/25/2016)

Hello everyone!

This week was good. Only a few things to report but basically same old missionary work. It's a little different with President Cahoon but not much has changed.

On Wednesday we had interviews with President Cahoon. It was a little different than a regular interview because he was trying to get to know each of us. He asked about family and what we like to do and stuff. He also encouraged me to study Preach My Gospel more profoundly so on Thursday I started, and I got through two pages the first day. One of our zone leaders told me to take my bird book to show him I like birds, but at the end of the interview he told me "It's good to like birds but it's better to like Preach My Gospel."  Thanks Elder Bermudez... He was just joking but I still felt a little dumb. We also talked to Sister Cahoon while our companions were being interviewed. She can't speak Spanish so I helped her translate with a few of the other missionaries. They're both really nice but it's different to have an American mission president.

Wednesday was also Elder Domiciano's birthday. Early in the morning the elders who live next door came over and sang and played the guitar. They also brought cookies. Later that day we visited some members and they had a cake for him, and President Cahoon brought a package that Elder Domiciano's family sent. By mission birthday standards it was pretty good. We also had cake on Saturday and Sunday with members again. The members here like to feed us which is pretty nice. Even with that I still don't think I'll gain any weight. I'm still as skinny as ever. Haha!

Today we went to the border. Here in Piedras there's a really big flag in the plaza by the bridge. You can see the flag from all over the city. I was telling Elder Muñoz that Eagle Pass should get an even taller pole and flag. Haha! I looked over at the US with my binoculars and I saw a stop sign in English. You've got to love the little things as a missionary. This morning we also went to get our haircut. While we were waiting for our haircut a rabbit ran out into the street in front of us so we had to go save it. A few minutes later the owner came and got it but we just sat there with it on the curb.

We have two really good investigators now. They're named Ana and Arlene. They're the granddaughters of a recent convert and they're planning on being baptized the 30th. They are the best investigators that I've had so far because they do all their homework and go to all of the youth activites. If only everyone could be that way...We're also working with a sister named Patty. We're helping her to get a divorce and then married so she can be baptized. We hope she can be baptized next month.

Here are the birds!

Greater Roadrunner

Ring-necked Duck

Common Merganser

Common Nighthawk

Black-chinned Hummingbird

Even though it's really hot here I like being in Piedras Negras again. If I can get through the heat here it should be a piece of cake next year. Haha!

Thanks for everything! I hope that you're all well and that it's not too hot wherever you are.

-Elder Steiner

Week 43 (7/18/2016)

Happy Monday everyone!

First off, it's really really hot here in Piedras. It is way hotter than when I was here in February (obviously). It's about 41 C every day...In the shade. :) Regardless, Piedras is where I started the mission so if I end up dying of heat stroke here I think that's okay. Haha! I think this will be an interesting next six weeks especially because it's the hottest part of the year.

The other day we were walking to lunch and it was really really hot. I was looking forward to getting into the members house because it is usually cooler inside because of the fans or cooling. I was very wrong. It felt like a furnace in the sister's house. I asked to use the bathroom hoping that it would be slightly cooler but it was the opposite. I think someone must have just taken a shower or something because it was really humid in there. Gladly, most members have better fans and AC which helps a little.

My new companion's name is Elder Domiciano and he's from Brazil. He has a four more months than me in the mission. He's pretty cool, but it's still a little weird changing from Elder Bauer where we almost only talked in English and we liked a lot of the same things to a companion who's primary language is Portuguese. I'm excited to see what I can learn and how this change goes.

It's kind of weird getting back here after three changes because all the Elders here have changed. No one in this zone was with me other than Elder Muñoz because he came back to Piedras with me. I can't remember if I said but Elder Muñoz and I are sharing a ward now. It's kind of weird to be spending so much time with my trainer but I can't complain. It's good to be around Elders I'm familiar with.

Our house  is pretty nice. We don't live above members so there will never be surprise cake or pineapple juice at the end of the day but it's still good. We live in a duplex with the other elders. There's a washer and dryer but we have to pay in quarters to wash :( We have a good cooler and it's a comfortable house. We are also able to spend a lot of time with the other Elders because they live next door.

This area is pretty cool and it has a lot of potential investigators and baptisms. We found 10 new investigators this week and that's without working at all on Tuesday. I'm confident we won't have much trouble finding people to teach here. I just hope we can find those that are ready for us and will be able to be baptized. We already have several progressing investigators but Elder Domiciano and his previous comp basically cleaned out all they had before I got here.

This area is also really nice because there are several areas with standing water. That means there are a lot of water birds that you don't see very often! This weeks birds are:

-Mourning Dove

-Great Egret

-Killdeer

-Double-crested Cormorant

-Rufous Hummingbird

-Black Vulture

-Common Poorwill

-Black-necked Stilt

-White-faced Ibis

-Scissor-tailed Flycatcher

Well, that's about it for this week. If you have any questions or concerns or whatnot just write me. I'm having a good time here and I feel comfortable aside from the heat.

Thanks for all your support and love. I love and miss you all!

-Elder Steiner

P.S. If you want to send me a package or letter tell me and I can talk to a brother from the ward or stake to get it from Texas rather than sending it to the mission office. Thanks!

Week 24 (2/29/2016)

Hello everyone! Happy Leap Day! 

This was the last week of my third change here in Piedras Negras Barrio 5A. Tomorrow I'll be on a bus heading to Saltillo for the fifth time (I'll talk about my Saltillo trip this week in a minute)! I'm going to Valle de los Flores, the zone where the mission offices are, so I'll be there with the secretaries, the assistants and President Rodriguez! Also, my dad (trainers are called dads and whatnot), Elder Muñoz, is there! I'm excited to see him again even though it's only been six weeks. My new companion is named Elder Hernandez and he is one of the district leaders in Valle de los Flores. I've been with a district leader every change so far so I think the Lord might be preparing me for something. Or maybe President just flipped a coin to decide where I go. Who knows. Regardless, I'm excited for a new area. I'm going to miss Piedras Negras but I've heard only good things about my new area.

Last pday we had a very fun zone meeting. The zone leaders made crepes for all of us and we got jerseys of the Coahuila Santos, the soccer team from this part of Mexico. It was really cool and I'm definitely never going to forget this zone and what I've learned here.

This week I took my fourth trip to Saltillo for my visa. I'm not sure but I think the secretaries are doing stuff wrong on purpose at this point. Haha! Just kidding, this time it wasn't so bad. However, I did realize that with all the bus trips I've taken during my mission I have over 72 hours of bus time. I'm not sure quite how to feel about that, but it's something! I was able to get a handful of letters that had arrived in Saltillo as well. All of them, other than the one I got from Elder Muñoz, were Christmas letters. Haha! However, even though I didn't get them for a while I'm really grateful to those that sent them.

So here in Mexico most people are Catholic. The two main saints here in Coahuila are the Virgin of Guadelupe and Saint Judas. The statues and paintings of Saint Judas look more or less similar to the way Christ is portrayed and they are all over the place. Something I found a little funny was that two times now we have shown kids a picture of Jesus and asked them who is in the picture and they have said Saint Judas. Just something interesting I noticed. Haha!

Here are the birds! There are quite a few this week.

American Goldfinch -Dominico Americano

Yellow-rumped Warbler -Chipe Rabadilla Amarilla

Verdin -Baloncillo

Turkey Vulture -Zopilote Cabecirrojo

White-faced Ibis -Ibis Cariblanco

Chuihuahuan Raven -Cuervo Llanero

Tamaulipas Crow -Cuervo Tamaulipeco

Inca Dove -Palomita Colilarga

Great Egret -Garza Grande

Tree Swallow -Golondrina Arbolera

Barn Swallow -I saw this on the way to the computer place so no Spanish name

Osprey -Gavilán Pescador

I didn't notice the change in birds during the winter here as much as in Utah but during the colder months I saw a lot fewer of the little doves and I actually haven't seen and Common Ground Doves since the begining of December. Just something I noticed. :)

This weeks spiritual thought came to me on the bus. While you're on an eight hour bus ride you have a lot of time to think. On Wednesdaywe sang Qué Firmes Cimientos (How firm a foundation) in a lesson and I was thinking about the english words during the day. While we were on the bus to Saltillo I kept thinking over the words, especially of the last verse, and how firm my testimony has become while I've been here. The words to the last verse read:

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose

I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I'll never, no never, I'll never, no never,

I'll never, no never, no never forsake!

I feel like these words are echoing around in my mind all the time now. Here in Barrio 5 there are quite a few less active members and it makes me kind of sad to see these people that have found the path but fallen away. However, even though it makes me sad it just gives me stronger conviction to never falter in my testimony and to never forsake what I have learned to be true. I hope all of us can have so strong of a conviction such as to never stop believing in Christ and following His example no matter how difficult our trials are.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. I'm really grateful to all of you.

Les amo y extraño. -Elder Steiner

Week 23 (2/22/2016)

Hello evereyone!

Based on some of the emails I've gotten, none of the emails I sent last week went through so I resent all of them just a few minutes ago. You're all going to be really lucky and get two weekly emails from me this week!

This week went fairly well. Not a lot especially exciting happened but it was good. We had 29 lessons which was very nice and we found 14 new investigators. That was very good.

I decided to do an experiment this week to see if my water filter really works. It's obvious that it would have worked but it's fun to call it an experiment. I put some tap water in the bottle and filtered it and all and I'm yet to be sick! The tap water here isn't safe. It's very different from Utah where you can get water that's just as good as bottled water from your sink. I always feel a little worried when I'm washing the dishes because I'm not sure if I'm actually putting more germs and dangerous salts on than I'm getting off. Hmmm...

The other day Elder Gallegos said he'd give me 100 pesos (about 5 dollars) if I could catch a rooster. I decided to do it but I chose a hen instead because roosters can be a little nasty and will peck and scratch more than a hen. There was a group of them in a field along the road so I slowly walked over and tried to catch one. My chicken catching skills have gone down quite a bit since I left home so I wasn't able to catch any but Armando, our member friend, took some photos of me trying to catch it. I don't know if that was within the rules or not but it doesn't say anything about chasing chickens in the missionary handbook so why not!

Church was fantastic this week. We managed to have 10(!) investigators in sacrament meeting!! Six of them were people we found within the last week and four of them were progressing investigators from before. I was really happy because the most I've had come to church in one week is four or five.

Were probably going to baptize Jesús this Saturday. I'm really excited because it will be my first baptism! (Other than my little sister, Maisie) He has progressed really well and he got pretty excited about it after we took him to a baptismal service for the other elders. It's good to see the Lord's work in the life of our investigator.

Here are the birds! There were a lot more this week. :D

Chihuahuan Raven -Cuervo Llanero

Common Raven -Cuervo Grande

Ladder-backed Woodpecker -Carpintero Listado

Yellow-rumped Warbler -Chipe Rabadilla Amarilla

Killdeer -Chorlito Tildío

Herring Gull-Gaviota Plateada

Black-throated Sparrow -Gorrión Gorjinegro

Verdin -Baloncillo

Green Parakeet -Perico Verde Mexicano

Bewick's Wren -Saltapared de Bewick

This week's spiritual thought comes from Luke. I read this scripture the other day and it really made me think about how commited I am to the Lord and this work. It's Luke 9:61-62 which reads "And another also said, Lord I will follow the; but let me first go bid them farewell which are at home at my house, And Jesus said unto him, No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God."

This scripture applies to all of us and our commitment to serve the Lord. Not all of have or will serve full time missions but we all need to commit our lives to the Lord and serving His children. In this dispensation we aren't required to sacrifice animals because the sacrifice we give is our full devotion and consecration unto the Lord. It's honestly really hard to fully consecrate ourselves to the Lord because of all the distractions and worldly things in our lives, but as we strive for perfection and follow the gospel of Jesus Christ we can get there step by step.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! Les amo y extraño.

-Elder Steiner

Week 22 (2/15/2016)

Hello everyone!

This week was pretty good. Not a lot exceptionally exciting happened but we're working hard! One good thing about being here is that it's not hard to get lessons. We had about 30 lessons this week and we've been racking up the new investigators. Everyone here has a Christian background so we just need to say we're sharing a message about Christ and if they aren't busy we're already walking in the door. That probably sounds pretty good but it's pretty hard to get them to realize that what we're telling them is something new and not what they've all already heard. We need to drop investigators about as fast as we get them simply because if people aren't going to change then there's no point in us visiting. However, I would much rather be gaining and dropping investigators super fast than never finding anyone to teach.

This week while we were walking across our area to a lesson I mentioned to Elder Gallegos that we should start doing express baptisms. Here in Mexico there are a bunch of trucks that drive around selling water, corn, bread, etc. All of them have speakers like an ice cream truck to let people know that they're coming. We were thinking that we could drive around in a truck with a font in the back saying "!Bautizmos¡ ¡Bautizmos gratis! ¡0 pesos y 3 grandes bendiciones!" I think we could get a lot more converts that way.

I learned this week that my body doesn't like it when: I eat really spicy chilies, do Insanity (the exercise videos), or eat brown mole (a type of sauce that you eat with chicken). The food here is usually really good and I haven't found many things that I won't eat. The members are also really nice about spicy food because they know that most Americans can't eat it. However, one sister put chilies out on the table the other day. Elder Weidmeier (one of the zone leaders) ate it right up without problems so I thought to myself "It can't really be that bad". I was very wrong. I nearly threw up and my mouth was dying. The sister brought me milk so I was okay but I don't think I'm doing that again.

About Insanity, Elder Gallegos and I started doing more exercise last week and it's going pretty good. The only bad thing is that it makes it pretty hard to do all the regular daily things when your whole body hurts. My legs have been sore for several days...

Brown mole is made with chocolate in it and you eat it with chicken. It is not really my favorite and it's really hard when the sister fills your plate up with it...I think out of all the foods here it is the one I like the least.

Here are the birds!

-Cedar Waxwing -Ampelis Americano

-Lesser Goldfinch -Dominico Dorsioscuro

-Black-throated Sparrow -Gorrión Gorjinegro

Again, not a lot this week but it's still fun to find and identify them. :)

This week we only had one investigator come to church. That was pretty frustrating... It was Ernesto and I don't really know what more to say. He's still not willing to get baptized and he's still being difficult.

Based on that we only had one investigator in church the spiritual thought is about church attendance. I can't think of anything better to do on Sunday than go to church. It is seriously the best thing for anyone's life and there are countless promised blessings that come with it. 

"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day" D&C 59:9

Keep going to church everyone and think about how much it really protects us from the filthiness of the world.

Thank you all for your prayers and emails and everything! You're all fantastic and I'm really grateful for you all.

Les amo y extraño.

-Elder Steiner

Week 21 (2/9/2016)

Hello everyone!

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

Pictures

Here are some more pictures from Elder Steiner

Week 20 (2/1/2016)

Hello everyone!

I decided to start doing the email titles based on weeks in one area. I think that will be better than doing a sort of countdown type thing. Less distracting.

This week I had exchanges with Elder Zuñiga. He's Elder Morales' new son (being trained by Elder Morales) and he only has about 3 weeks on the mission. I felt like a seasoned missionary working with him even though in reality I'm just a little baby. He did a really good job with everything. He contacted and taught really well. It was fun to be senior companion for a day and see what's it's like to be a baby missionary from the out side. I gave him some advice casually and he received it like I was giving the best advice ever. He's going to be a really good missionary.

The last few weeks we've been working with two return missionaries, Armando and Juan de Dios. They are super helpful and Armando is helping us teach his room mate. It's fun to have the example of return missionaries because they can bring their methods to teach and be friends for the investigators.

I started to read the New Testament last week. I read Jesus the Christ within the first few months and comparing the gospels with what I learned in Jesus the Christ is really cool because it puts the life of Christ in a new perspective. I want to finish the gospels before the end of this change. I also started reading the Book of Mormon again. Everyone should read 1 Nephi again and really look at how much information Nephi gets in his vision. I was writing all sorts of notes in the margins of my scriptures.

We got a new investigator this week named Axel. He's 11 or 12 years old. He came to church a few times before I even got here but he never wanted to tell us his address. With Elder Muñoz we found his house but he was never home but we finally had a lesson with him and his older brother and he came to church with us on Sunday. We just need to teach him and baptize him because he already has enough church attendance. He's really funny and he really likes the pamphlets we give out.

Gustavo went to Monterrey this week so we couldn't teach him and he couldn't come to church but we should still be able to baptize him this week. I really hope we can because he's really eager about it.

Jesús couldn't come to church this week because of work but he's progressing really well. He should still be able to be baptized this month.

Noe came to church and is also progressing really well. He likes church a lot and he really likes our lessons. His family is really Catholic so I was a little worried that he might receive a little bit of trouble from that but as far as I can see it's going really well.

We dropped Oscar this week. We have been teaching him for a really long time and he still hasn't come to church so we're not going to visit him anymore.

Here are the birds!

Tamaulipas Crow -Cuervo Tamaulipeco

Killdeer -Chorlito Tildío

-Green Parakeet -Perico Verde Mexicano

-Cattle Egret -Garza Ganadera

-Common Raven -Cuervo Grande

-Lazuli Bunting -Colirín Lazulita

-Ruby-crowned Kinglet

-Yellow-rumped Warbler -Chipe Rabadilla Amarilla

Oh yeah, a few random things. I realized the other day that my notes are a weird mixture of Spanish and English. It would be really confusing for someone that couldn't speak both to read my notes. We lost our fork some time ago. I have no idea what could have happened to it. Elder Gallegos always says "Hey man" on the phone. It's like his catch phrase. I hit my head on a sign the other day and it hurt but then after a contact or two i realized that I had cut myself when I touched my hair. There was quite a bit of blood but it's all good. Head wounds always bleed a lot and it's all clean and good.

Well, that's all. Thanks for everything!

¡Les extraño y amo!

-Elder Steiner

Week 19 (1/25/20160

Hello everyone!

Thus begins my third change in the field. This week has been really good. I think I already said that Elder Muñoz was changed to an area in Saltillo. It's a little weird to have a new companion because I'm still just a little baby missionary out here.

My new companion is Elder Gallegos. He has two more changes than I do here on the mission and he was already training the previous two changes. He's really good and he loves to contact and find new investigators. He's from Tabasco, Mexico and he's 22 years old. He was studying English in Arizona for six months before his mission so he speaks some but it's a lot easier to speak Spanish with him. During language study I help him to read my scriptures in English. It's pretty funny to see someone struggle to read the scriptures as much as I do with Spanish. "Ye", "yea", and all those other words are really confusing for him.

Elder Gallegos' desire to contact non stop is really what I needed because there are so many available investigators here that we need to find news and drop olds within days in order to find the chosen people. In Europe and the US the missionaries hold on to every investigator they can get. Here, everyone is willing to hear the word of God but we really need to weed out who actually wants to progress rather than just talk to us. The worst is when we do a first lesson with someone and then invite them to be baptized and they say that they've already been baptized. Then we need to teach the great apostasy and all in about five minutes so we can get to our next lesson in time. Even worse is when they say "It's all the same God" which, in a way it is, but the Bible (THE Bible that they all read) says that Christ was baptized by immersion and that that's how we should do it (Romans 6:3-5). Yeah, it's the same God but God still has rules and steps that we need to follow the way he told us. I'm always so relieved when we get a contact that doesn't say "it's all the same God" because it shows that they are willing to listen.

Well, enough of that nonsense. This week has been really fun. Partially because we're working hard and partially because I don't need to do 12 weeks anymore. We have had lots and lots of lessons and we even managed to get 4 people to come to church!

One was Gustavo, as usual. He is progressing really well and my worries about him flew out the window when we talked with him about the gift of the Holy Ghost. He really understands everything we've been teaching and he really wants to learn a lot more.

Another was Jesús. He is reading the Book of Mormon and he's already started sharing it with his friends and family after about a week with us. His mom was also interested in listening to us but she left to Saltillo to be with some family for about a month. When she returns we'll be able to teach her.

Noe also came to church and he knows Jesús. We didn't know this before but it was very convenient to have them at church together. I was a little bit doubtful about Noe when we started but he is progressing really well and his sister and mother are listening to us too.

Last of all Ernesto...Our eternal investigator. We would drop him (we only visit him about once a week) but his wife and his daughters are members. Awesome faithful members (that like to give us snacks). We're going to keep moving forward with him and see how it goes. It's kind of frustrating because he always goes to church (early too!) and he understands it all. We're going to keep visiting and see is anything changes.

Here are the birds!

Yellow-rumped Warbler -Chipe Rabadilla Amarilla

Ladder-backed Woodpecker -Carpintero Listado

Cooper's Hawk -Gavilán de Cooper

Tamaulipas Crow -Cuervo Tamaulipeco

Verdin -Baloncillo

That's about it for this week. ¡Les amo y extraño!

Gracias por todas sus oraciones y amor.

-Elder Steiner

PS We played basketball at the church this morning. I'm still not very good at basketball but it was still fun!

Week 18 (1/18/2016)

Hello everyone!

I finished my training today! Woo hoo! The training program for missionaries is called "The First 12 Weeks". It basically helps you know how to direct lessons and everything you would need to do to immediately train another missionary once you are done. Luckily I am not training anyone. I'm staying in Piedras Negras for the next change as junior companion. Elder Muñoz is headed off to Saltillo and my new companion is named Elder Gallegos, I think. I'm not 100% sure because it was just related to me over the pone by Elder Muñoz. Regardless, this next change will be filled with all sorts of exciting things that I'll probably forget to tell you. However, I will try!

This week was a little bit different. We had to go to Saltillo (for the third time) so I could sign something for Elder Franco, the new secretary. I had signed the same thing for Elder Leon, the previous secretary, but it was under his name so Elder Franco couldn't use it. Regardless, we had another 8 hour bus ride to Saltillo. We went in the night so I didn't see any birds on the way there...However, I did spend some time on the bus reading the January Liahona. It was a little hard to read because the movie screen was right in front of our faces (we're not supposed to watch but it's REALLY hard on the buses) but I had a nice spiritual moment on the bus. I was just reading and I felt a new peace about my mission. It was a calmness that I hadn't really felt since before I even left and I felt at peace with it all.

We arrived in Saltillo really early in the morning and since there weren't a lot of taxis we walked all the way to the secretaries house. It took about 45 minutes and we got there at6:00 in the morning. We went inside and then I went and laid down for about an hour. After that we went to the office around 8:00. This was the first time I went to Saltillo not expecting a package and there just happened to be 3. That was pretty cool. Haha!

So, I signed the paper and then we waited around for a bit until we got back on a bus to Piedras at 12:20. On the way back it was day so I saw a few different birds.

This Friday we had a zone conference. The president came up and gave us the new mission moto. The old one was "¡En este misión bautizamos!" and it was changed to "¡En este misión enseñamos arrepentimiento y bautizamos conversos!" The change was made to help us focus on teaching the importance of repentance and making sure that our investigators are converted. It's part of a world wide change in mission culture. The conference went really well and it helped me change my mentality about my attitude here and how I teach the investigators.

This Tuesday (sorry, a bit out of order) we had our last regular zone meeting. This time it was actually kind of weird because a lot of the elders were actually moved around today and yesterday. We said goodbye to a lot of the elders. We took a zone photo in the baptismal font. We set our cameras on timers and ran around through the bathrooms and into the font but Elder Marin was a little slow running around so he tired to jump over the barrier (see potos).

Here are the birds!

Killdeer -Chorlito Tildío

Verdin -Baloncillo

Common Raven -Cuervo Grande

American Kestrel -Cernícalo Americano

Black Vulture -Zopilote Negro

Swainson's Hawk -Agililla de Swainson

Thanks for all of your support and for writing to me! Thanks to those that sent packages for Christmas (even though I got them late)!

I miss you all and I hope that everything is going well.

-Elder Steiner

I forgot to mention! Nelly had her farewell at the church the other day. We took a picture with her.

Week 17 (1/11/2016)

Hello everyone.

It's about time I wrote a good weekly email so here goes!

First, a little bit about our area. There are 4 wards and 1 branch here in Piedras Negras with 16 missionaries. Piedras Negras is right on the border of Texas across from Eagle Pass. Our area is one of the smallest out of the 8 yet it's still pretty big. It would take us 45 minutes to go from one end to the other since we can only walk. There used to be bikes but there were some accidents so President decided there wouldn't be any more bikes. 

Our ward is very nice and the members like to help with missionary work. One sister, named Nelly, that is leaving on her mission to Brazil this month likes to help us out a lot.Tonight we are having a noche de hogar (family home evening) with several families and a few investigators.

The stake center is about 3 blocks away from our house so it's pretty easy for zone meetings and Sundays. Our area is half of our ward and the other half has two other missionaries. We do a lot together since they are fairly close to us.

Our house is very cold at night. Everything here in Mexico is made out of concrete so we need to have our heater on all night. Then during the day it starts to get hot. I wear my fleece in the mornings and the night and often by the middle of the day I wish I was wearing short sleeves. Even though it is cold at night our house is pretty good. The toilet doesn't quite work all the time and our couches are a little torn up but I've realized it's good most missionaries are young men because young men usually don't complain about dirty conditions (i.e. Henry's room).

A summary of our investigators:

Oscar: 43 years old and taking care of his sister who has cancer. We've been teaching them both but Oscar is worried about coming to church and he has a hard time keeping commitments. He has a lot of trust in us and he really likes when we visit. But we decided that if he doesn't come to church next week we'll have to leave him.

Antonio and Lorena: A couple that's been living together for several years. They have 3 kids ages 5, 3, and 1. They are not married which makes things really hard for us. We keep teaching them and waiting for Antonio to finish up the divorce from his previous marriage so they can get baptized. They have really strong testimonies and they really love the church but we mostly just need to wait.

Gustavo: This guy is really smart but I think he's a little crazy and may have some issues along the way. He studies Hebrew and knows a lot about the Bible and other doctrine. He accepted the Book of Mormon right away which was fantastic. He's been reading and saying that it's answering his questions. We set a baptismal date for February 6.

Ernesto: He is an eternal investigator. His daughters and wife were baptized over a year ago and he's been receiving the lessons for 2 years or so. He says he has doubts about lots of things. He comes to church and reads the book of mormon more than the rest of his family. I think the main doubt is with his financial troubles and tithing...

Here are the birds!

Cattle Egret -Garza Ganadera

Great Egret -Garza Grande

Green Parakeet -Perico Verde Mexicano

It's pretty short this week. I saw a few different birds but I didn't get a good enough look at them to identify them.

I'm going to try and include more details moving forward because I have gotten several emails about how my emails are too short. :P I hope that this is sufficient. Haha!

Well, I love you all and miss you a lot. Thank you for writing and for all your prayers and love.

-Elder Steiner