Week 42 (7/11/2016)

Hello everyone and happy birthday Ameirca!! 

This week has been pretty good. We have mostly been preparing area so that if we were changed the next elder(s) could baptize this month. It's been a little hard with no progressing investigators but we changed up our contacting methods and we very quickly got several lessons. In this tiral I think God was letting us figure out what we needed to change. It took some time and lots of knocking doors but I think I learned what I needed to.

On Thursday we had our first zone conference with President Cahoon. We saw him briefly on Tuesday after our district meeting but we actually got to learn a little bit about him and his wife. Sister Cahoon spoke to us briefly but she doesn't speak Spanish so a sister missionary was assigned to translate. After that we started making a list of things we want to improve on so President could learn a little bit more about the mission. He seems really cool and I'm excited for the next half of my mission.

On Saturday we taught Alejandro, Jose Garcia, and Pedro Mata with the bishop and a high councilor to help them receive the Melchizedek priesthood. It was kind of last minute but we got them all interviewed and ready so they could be sustained in the priesthood meeting the next day. I was really happy to help them especially for Alejandro because his baby is coming next month and he'll be able to bless his own son.

Yesterday we had a pretty regular Sunday. It was a little hotter than usual which was pretty bad but I'm getting used to it. But the best thing that happened was with Jose Rocha, the investigator who can't leave his house very easily because of anxiety. We went with the bishop later in the day to see if he could come with us to help Jose. I think we woke him up but he was happy to help us. Haha! We ended up making it all the way to the church with him! That's the farthest he has gone from his house in 12 years! We didn't go into the church but I was really happy we could help him arrive and see the goal.

Today we ended the change. Elder Gallegos (my comp from Piedras) is now the new assistant so his companion, Elder Johnson, spent all day with us. We left early in the morning to find out where the president assigned us and I'm leaving Saltillo and headed back to Piedras Negras!!  Elder Bauer is staying here and then goes home in August. I'm not sure how I feel about being sent back to Piedras in the hottest part of the year... I'm excited to hopefully see some of the people I met while I was there and to get to know a new companion but I'm going to miss this ward and Elder Bauer. I think these two last changes have been the most fun of my mission even if they were the hottest and sometimes hard. I'm really happy to be here and I hope that I can make it in Piedras.

I leave for my new area tomorrow in the morning. It will be my eleventh bus ride between Saltillo and Piedras. I wish I could have been in Piedras today because you can see the fireworks from the other side of the river.

Well, that's about it. I hope everyone is well and that you enjoy your fourth of July!

Thanks for everything. 

-Elder Steiner

Week 41 (07/04/2016)

Hello everyone!

This week was kind of boring. Not a lot happened and we've just been going nuts contacting people.

This week we were supposed to have two baptisms this Saturday so we finished up the lessons and did a practice interview. The two are daughters of a less-active member and their names are Casandra and Careli. We arrived at their house with the zone leaders on Friday in the afternoon for the interview (basically a miracle because we're all out of money and we still managed to have enough coins for the taxi) and then they said that they didn't want to be baptised on Saturday. They had said they wanted to that morning so I was sure they would be all good for the interview. The funny thing is that right before we went in I was talking about how rough it would be if they said the didn't want to be baptized.

It hit us a little harder than normal because this week we have lost almost all of our progressing investigators. We've found several new ones that have potential but we were kind of in a slump. We had an activity at the church Friday night and I ended up sitting on the floor, cutting plastic leaves for the activity. It probably looked a little sad. Haha!

I feel fine today. Sunday and Pday are pretty good refreshers. Today we did a deep clean of the house. After that we played chess and then went to the mall. We ran into some other elders there and looked at ties for a little bit. Then Elder Bauer bought a hat and some bread. Normal pday stuff. :)

The best thing about this week was that we almost got José to the church. He still has trouble leaving his house but the bishop has helped us and José's anxiety is getting better and better. He knows and believes everything but he just can't get to church. :/ I think we'll get him there this week, though! He's made a lot of progress and It's so great to see the Atonement work in someone's life.

Here's the bird!

Scott's Oriole

Once again, not many cool birds this week...

Well, that's about it. Thanks for everything! I hope everything is good there. I feel good here even though the baptisms fell. :) We're working hard.

Oh, this was also President Rodriguez's last week. President Cahoon gets here tonight and we'll meet him pretty soon. I think Thursday.

Week 40 (6/20/2016)

Happy Father's day (yesterday)!

THis week was pretty good. It felt hotter than normal but today it has been cooler with a lot of rain.

Not a lot happened this week up until the weekend but we were working and doing everything like normal. We have several good invetigators and two are going to get baptized thiscoming Saturday.

On Friday we were invited to a YSA activity. The activity was to motivate them to go on a mission or help with missionary service. We didn't take up a lot of time but we shared our testimonies about missionary work. A brother from the stake talked about his mission as well and then a return missionary shared her testimony. It went really well especially since there were burgurs at the end. :)

On Friday night after the activity we started exchanges with Elder Muñoz, my trainer, and Elder Rodriguez. I went to ELder Muñoz's area and we worked there all Saturday. Their area was a little weird because it was several different housing developments with a strip of desert rnining right between them. We ended up crossing the desert part four times during the day. It was quite a bit of walking and I ended up getting a little sun burned on my face. By the end of the day we realized that we had left the keys inside and locked ourselves out. Elder Bauer and Elder Rodriguez met us at the house and I had to climb up and into a tiny window to open the door. I've had to break into a lot of missionary houses here on the mission...

Yesterday was Father's day as you all know. :) We visited several less actives and shared a Mormon message about fathers and Heavenly Father. It was pretty good. I'm truly grateful for both my dad here and my Father in Heaven. I have received such great blessings from the two of them and I hope to be able to honor them both.

After our last lesson Elder Bauer took dats so I sat there in the member's house and colored in an Avengers coloring book. I colored Hulk and Captain America.

Today we went to a breakfast buffet. Elder Bauer ate about three omlets. It was pretty good and not too expensive, but Elder Bauer is out of money so I payed for the taxis and the breakfast... After that we played risk with Elder Muñoz and Elder Rodriguez. Everything is going pretty well. We got wet walking to the computer place to write and I keep joking that I'll get tranch foot from all the water in my shoes. Haha!

Only two birds this week.

-Peregrine Falcon

-Chihuahuan Raven

Everything is good here. I feel happy and healthy and I'm working hard. I hope you are all well!

Thank you for everything.

-Elder Steiner

Week 39 (06/14/2016)

Happy Monday everyone!

This week has been pretty good. We ended up not working almost every morning for a bunch of different reasons.

On Tuesday we had a zone conference with all three of the Saltillo zones. It was the last one with President Rodriguez. It was really great to hear the President's testimony. I've learned a lot being here and I've been really happy to have President and Sister Rodriguez as examples. They're always taking care of us and I'm really going to miss them. However, I'm also excited to meet the new president, President Cahoon. I'm excited to learn from him too and I'll also have him as my president for more of my mission.

We also did exchanges on Tuesday and I went to the other area. Tuesday ended up being pretty easy since I didn't work in the morning and then I wasn't in charge of my area in the afternoon. Haha!

On Wednesday we went to the hospital because a dog bit me. Now, first reading that you probably think of some huge nasty bite from a pit bull, but it was actually just a tiny bite on my thumb from a chihuahua. Yep. A chihuahua spazzed out and bit me so Sister Rodriguez said I had to go to the hospital. I got some antibiotics just t make sure I wouldn't get some weird disease. It was okay because it was a house dog so it didn't have rabies or anything crazy.

On Friday we went to the hospital. Again. Elder Bauer hadn't been feeling too good and it hurt him to walk too much and to breathe. We had the doctor check him out and then he went and got x-rayed. He didn't have anything too bad. It ended up just being inflamed intestines from eating too much wheat and fats. The doctor gave him some pills and he's feeling better now. We were sort of making fun of each other about why we went to the hospital and who's was a more ridiculous/dangerous reason.

Today was probably the most relaxed pday I've had but it was weird because both Elder Bauer and I started feeling weird for not doing anything. It was kind of weird. Haha! At 6:00 we are baptizing a girl from the ward. It doesn't count as a convert or for us but it certainly counts in Heaven. :) Also, I like to think Heavenly Father gives brownie points for that kind of stuff.

Here is the bird!

Great Black Hawk -Aguililla Negra Mayor

Yep, that's the only different bird I saw this week. Not super exciting. I have been seeing lots of Cave Swallows, though. :)

That's about it. Thanks for reading and thanks for everything.

-Elder Steiner

Week 38 (06/06/2016)

Hello everyone!

This week has been pretty good. It's been a little more difficult bt still good. The last few weeks we found several good families but they disappeared about as fast as we found them so now we've been contacting and looking for new investigators like crazy. It's a little hard but we're working hard.

It's also been a little cooler this week. It rained really hard on Monday and it's been cloudy almost all week. The clouds are much better than the sun when you walk around in the streets all day.

This week Elder Bauer and I also started playing Jenga every day. We're pretty evenly matched and we've started playing it like tennis so you have to win by two games. We've decided that Jenga is very underrated.

I forgot to mention last Monday but we went to the center of Saltillo to get souvenirs. I bought a wool sarape (basically a poncho) and mailed some letters. I wear my sarape almost everyday after we get home. I think it makes me play Jenga better.

On Thursday Elder Bauer flooded our house. We were doing our weekly planning and he started filling up the washer to wash some of his clothes. He forgot that it was filling up so our whole kitchen and main room floors were covered with water. We were lucky that we remembered after not too long because the water was on it's way to getting to our bedroom. We had to sweep all the water out with a broom after that. Luckily, our floors were really clean afterward.

On Saturday the members that live below us changed the lock on the gate. We misunderstood when they told us the combination so we didn't know how to get in at night. We ended up having to climb up a telephone pole by our house up onto the balcony thing. I think it looked pretty bad because our neighbors were out and saw us basically breaking into our own house...

Yesterday we had a good church service and four new investigators came to church. I was really happy that they came because it has been hard getting people to church lately. Later in the day we also had a lesson with a less-active member who we haven't seen in a long time. His family is all active so I hope that we can help him reactivate.

Here are the birds!

Curve-billed Thrasher -Cuitlacoche Piquicurvo

Lesser Goldfinch -Dominico Dorsioscuro

Common Raven -Cuervo Grande

Killdeer -Chorlito Tídio

Not a lot happened this week but we're working hard and I feel good. I hope everything is good there. I love and miss you all!

-Elder Steiner

Week 37 (05/31/2016)

Hi everyone!

We started writing a little late today so this email might be short.

This chnage there were very few changes. Our zone is only a little different and Elder Bauer and I are still in the same area together. It's kind of funny because three out of my four companions are here in my zone. Elder Gallegos came to be our zone leader and Elder Muñoz, my trainer is in our district.

This change is the last with President Rodriguez and then the new pres. arrives. I'll only have President Rodriguez for about half of my mission so it will be interesting to have a new president for this next half.

Last Monday the other elders came over to our house to play risk and to wash their clothes. Elder Bauer and I had to leave after a little while so we left the house to them. When we got back all my socks that I had left to dry were gone. Apparently Elder Muñoz had taken them by mistake so this week I've been using some other socks I got from members for Christmas. Sadly, these socks are super uncomfortable...

On Friday we went and cleaned out another missionary house after they had left the area. Us and several other elders were there cleaning and we got to take anything the others had left. I got some extra toothpaste, a scarf and a pan pipe. Elder Bauer grabbed the toilet paper and some crocs. We also took a lightbulb because one of ours had burned out.

On Saturday a kid from the ward got baptized. It was the biggest baptism celebration I have ever seen. There were all sorts of fancy photos and Book of Mormon cupcakes and whatnot. I was a little jealous, to be honest. Haha! I wonder what it's going to be like when that kid goes on his mission...

Here are the birds!

Sage Thrasher

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

Tamaulipas Crow

That's it for now! Thanks for reading and for being awesome!

-Elder Steiner

Week 36 (5/23/2016)

Hello again everyone!

This week was the last week of the change and I think I can say it was the best one yet. We got our changes this morning and I'm staying in this area for another change at least. I'm really happy that I can stay here and hopefully baptize some of the families we found these last two weeks. Also, Elder Bauer is my favorite companion so far so staying with him is really nice.

I forgot to mention last week but we ate with the missionary couple that is here in our mission on Monday. Elder Bauer ate with them on exchanges a few weeks ago and the other day he jokingly asked the sister when we would eat with them again so they invited us to eat for p-day. Two other companionship's were there with us. We're going to make no bake cookies to say thanks for the lunch.

On Tuesday the Elder Lugo, the senior elder that fed us on Monday, came to work with us. We had several really powerful lessons with him. He also has a tablet so we were able to show videos to the investigators. Elder Lugo is a really good teacher and he's never timid so it was fun to work with him.

On Thursday a dog tried to attack me. We were walking along and offered to help some people move some furniture into their truck. They said no and their dog, chained to a tree, started to bark at us. So, we started to walk away and then we heard something happen with the chain then the dog came running around the other side of the truck. Elder Bauer just kind of stood there and didn't know what to do. I didn't want to hit the dog with it's owners right there so I just pushed my bag into it's face and started backing up. It worked pretty well because the dog couldn't get past my bag and the owners came and grabbed it within a few seconds. It was kind of scary but honestly not so bad. The best part was that my companion was just laughing at me the whole time.

On Sunday we ordained Alejandro, Jose, and Pedro to the Aaronic priesthood. I'm really happy that they all have the desire to move forward and grow as members. Alejandro was especially excited. He really wants the Melchizedek priesthood so he can give blessings to his wife and others. He's a really good convert.

We also went to Arteaga, a small city outside of Saltillo, on Sunday. There were a bunch of people there in a big market thing. We had a contacting activity where we stood up on stools and testified of the Book of Mormon. It was really cool but honestly really scary. Each of us got up and testified for about a minute. I was pretty loud and felt pretty good when I started up but then I had to get down after a minute because my legs were shaking.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that when we werre getting the baptismal font ready for Alejandro we had to use buckets to empty it. The pump wasn't working right so we had to dump the water into the sinks in the bathroom. It took a while to empty but we got it ready in time.

Here are the birds! 

Carolina Wren -Saltapared de Carolina

White-tailed Kite -Milano Coliblanco

Well, that's all for this week. Thanks for everything!

¡Les extraño y les quiero!

-Elder Steiner

Week 35 (5/16/2016)

Hi everyone!

This week was good. I have a feeling that the weeks are going to keep being good. The mission is a lot easier in month 9 than month 2. Haha!

On Tuesday we had our zone conference and the zone leaders trained us. Like I said we're focusing more on the Book of Mormon so they set up a jeopardy game with BoM questions. It was pretty fun but it got a little intense at some points. Missionaries can get really competitive about doctrine.

Later that day during lunc Elder Bauer challenged me to eat some really spicy salsa. He said that for every spoonful I put in my food he would eat two without food. Basically, we had a really fun afternoon full of stomachaces.

Tuesday is mother's day here in Mexico so we went around with our ward mission leader and delivered roses to our investigators and some less active members. They really appreciated it and it was pretty fun. Our ward mission leader is a little old so driving is scary especially with how people here drive anyway...

On Thursday we went and visited one of our investigators. He said he was busy so he couldn't have a lesson then. We offered to help him and we ended up washing his dog. It was pretty fun except for trying to catch the wet dog after washing him. Haha!

On Fridays we have our meetings with the ward mission leader. His wife usually gives us something to eat afterward. I can't remember what she gave us but I do remember that Elder Bauer and I ate some bugs. She had some beetles that supposedly help with all sorts of health problems so Elder Bauer ate some. After that I was basically obligated to eat some. It was pretty weird. I can't remember the last time I willingly ate a bug.

On Saturday we baptized Alejandro! It was really awesome. He and his wife looked really happy. I'm so glad that I can help these people to follow the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel is the coolest thing in the world.

Here are the birds!

Swainson's Hawk -Aguililla de Swainson

Cave Swallow -Golondrina Pueblera

The spiritual thought for this week is from the hymn Ye Elders of Israel verse 2.

2. The harvest is great, and the lab'rers are few;

But if we're united, we all things can do.

We'll gather the wheat from the midst of the tares

And bring them from bondage, from sorrows and snares.

I was thinking specifically about this the other day while listening to this hymn. A lot of the time I feel like I'm wading through a field of tares and that there is too much corruption and apostasy for wheat to grow well but that just means I'm looking at the wrong thing. If I'm topo busy thinking about the apostasy and badness then I can't focus on looking for people that will accept the gospel. I'm here to help the people lost in the midst of the tares to come unto Christ and be free.

Thank you all for your love and support! I miss you and hope that you are all well.

-Elder Steiner

Week 34 (5/09/2016)

Hello everyone! Happy (late) Mother's day!

I hope you have all had a fantastic week because I know I have. It's been a little rainy this week which makes walking around all day a little harder but it's a lot better than the heat. The biggest downside to the rain is that it gets humid when the sun is out. This morning I felt like I was already drenched. I'm glad I'm in a desert so I'm not always dealing with humidity.

Last Monday we had a fun lesson with a family that we reactivated. Elder Bauer brought a bag of tootsie pops and made me do pushups so the family could get tootsie pops. It probably won't surprise most of you that after about 20 I was having a pretty hard time. I even had to do pushups when they didn't want the sucker. We taught about the Atonement and how Christ suffered so we could get free blessings. Also, how Christ suffered for us even if we don't accept the blessings so we may as well just accept it and get our blessings in stead of having our Brother suffer in vain.

Thursday was Cinco de Mayo. I bet a lot of you had parties in your Spanish classes or with your friends and whatnot. However, here in Mexico Cinco de Mayo is basically a regular day. I didn't know it was Cinco de Mayo until I had to write something in my agenda. America makes a way bigger deal out of it than Mexico.

On Friday we had a regular day of work but at one point we were walking along and an old man came by pushing an old lady in a bicycle cart thing. We immediately offered to help and we pushed them to a little health center. They weren't really interested in having a lesson but it was nice to help them out.

On Sunday I had to give a talk in sacrament meeting. Luckily I was actually warned a few days in advance instead of at the beginning of sacrament meeting. Haha! I also only had to give a short talk because the sister that spoke before went for about 25 minutes. I gave a little talk on missionary work and how it's everyone's responsibility. I think it went a lot better than my last talk. :)

Today we had a pretty relaxing pday. We played chess (I lost) and then risk (I won) and we got back from looking for souvenirs a little while ago. We also started reading the Book of Mormon over again as a mission. I'm going to do it all in Spanish this time.

We are going to baptize this Saturday! His name is Alejandro and his wife is a return missionary. He originally wanted to be baptized in June but he prayed about it and decided to be baptized this week! They want to get sealed in the temple so next year when they go they could invite me and I'd get to go to the temple during my mission!

Some other baptisms that we had lined up for this month because people keep making excuses about coming to church. Luckily we found a new family of three who are super excited so we might baptize them the 28th of May.

The spiritual thought this week comes from Elder Holland's talk from the October conference. "No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child."

I am extremely grateful that I can testify of the love of a mother. I don't know if I'll ever really understand how much my mother loves me but I can see quite a bit of evidence in all that she has done for me. I know mother's day was yesterday but there isn't a day that we shouldn't be grateful for our mothers and all they do for us. Thank you for everything, mom.

I didn't see any cool birds this week. Sorry...

Thanks for reading! I hope you're all well!

Les amo y les extraño.

-Elder Steiner

Week 33 (5/02/2016)

Hi everyone!

I hope that all of you have had a good week! I know that I have. It's been a little busy and unusually tiring but pretty fun and productive.

On Monday night Elder Bauer and I moved our mattresses up on to the roof and slept up there. It was a little windy but it felt really nice. All the houses here get really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter so being up one the roof felt nice at night.

On Tuesday I had exchanges with the other elders from our ward. Apparently their area is quite a bit bigger than ours so we had to walk a lot and mostly uphill. Our last lesson was the last house basically up on the mountain. Walking up there wasn't so bad and I got to see some cool birds but it was awfully far away so we didn't have any lessons right before or after. I also saw a bunch of jackrabbits up on the hill because it's a lot more deserty up there.

On Wednesday we had a normal day but for our last lesson we watched "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" with some investigators. We had popcorn and candy. It was the first time I had seen it in Spanish which was interesting, and I was happy to understand it all. It was a really spiritual lesson even though we basically just watched the movie. Afterward Elder Bauer and I testified of Joseph Smith and the Spirit was definitely present.

On Friday night we started exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Daines who will probably be the next assistant to president. It's always fun to work with the more experienced missionaries. They can always teach you something you need to know.

Today we played monopoly with the zone leaders. I did okay and got the orange monopoly (the best one) but I did a bad trade early on and it all came crashing down...

That's basically all the cool stuff that happened this week. I did also have a really cool Spirit guided contact to find a new investigator yesterday but it's a little hard to explain. Just know that it was cool.

Here are the birds!

Northern Mockingbird (Not a "Mockingjay" like all the Americans think. Those don't exist)

Cassin's Kingbird

Curve-billed Thrasher

Red-tailed Hawk (Go Utes!)

Scaled Quail

Bewick's Wren

Tamaulipas Crow

Sorry, no spiritual thought this week. I've been slacking a bit... It'll be good next week.

Well, thanks for reading! I hope that everything is going well for you all!

¡Les extraño y les amo!

-Elder Steiner

Week 32 (04/25/2016)

Hello everyone!

This week was pretty normal. We did have some pretty frustrating first lessons but everything is going really well.

On Monday we went to the mall to spend time with other elders looking at suits. For about two hours. I don't know if I mentioned that last week but it lasted a really long time. Elder Bauer and Elder Johnson were trying on what seemed like every suit.

It started getting a little stormy on Tuesday and it rained off and on until Saturday. The storm finished off on Saturday with a lot of rain within about 30 minutes. Right before it started raining really hard we decided to head home to get coats and umbrellas. I think the Spirit had a hand in telling us to plan lessons by our house at that time. Haha! The rain also made it so washing our clothes on Monday last until about  Friday because our clothes kept getting wet and we kept forgetting to bring them back in. To say the least, I'm really grateful for dryers.

On Friday we went over to have a lesson with one of our investigators but he was across the street painting the neighbor's house. We ended up helping them to paint and we set a time to come back and visit them. The family that lived there had lived in Canada for several years so we were speaking English with the kids to help them practice.

Here in Mexico there are these things called trompos. The kids here are playing with them a lot now because they are only around in April. Elder Bauer and I bought some and I have to say it is super hard to do anything with them. The kids around here can do all sorts of crazy tricks and I can barely get them to spin upright. We were playing with them in our house the other day but we decided to stop because the members that live below us didn't appreciate it. So, we decided to go up on the roof to try them out because there was no way that they could hear them from up there. Since I'm not very good at keeping the trompo under control I was worried that I would accidentally launch it off the roof. I commented this to Elder Bauer and then tired to spin my trompo again. Suddenly it went launching off the roof and bounced miraculously on a few walls to land on a neighboring roof. I considered retrieving it but then decided that was probably a bad idea. I promise I'm not a disobedient missionary. :)

These last few weeks we've been working with an investigator named Monica and her family. She is really excited about being baptized and her sister is also pretty excited too. She always reads the Book of Mormon or pamphlets but she is yet to come to church. That is a little difficult but I'm confident that she can be baptized next month along with her sister and mom if they come to church.

Here are the birds!

Peacock-Pavo Real (FOR REAL)

Turkey Vulture -Zopilote Cabecirrojo

Northern Parula -Parula Norteña

Cooper's Hawk -Gavilán de Cooper

Lesser Goldfinch -Dominico Dorsioscuro

This week's spiritual thought is from Matthew 5:13. 

 13 ¶Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

I like this scripture because we can talk a little bit about chemistry with it. When you mix dirt in with salt it loses it's preserving power and it's taste. So, sins are like the dirt and we lose our ability to come closer to God if we are corrupted with dirt. Normally it's really hard to get dirt to separate from salt but not if we use water and fire. First you dissolve the salt and filter the water then dissolve away the water with fire. The purifying power of baptism, water, and the Holy Ghost, fire, can return us to a state of purity and spiritual power. I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and how we can truly be clean through the whole process.

Thanks for reading and writing to me! I'm grateful for all of you and your support!

Les amo y les extraño.

-Elder Steiner

Week 31 (4/18/206)

Hello everyone!

This was the first week of my sixth change! It was kind of a slow week in terms of lessons but I am having a lot of fun with my new companion. I said last week his name is Elder Bauer. He's from Idaho and his high school mascot was a potato. I thought that was kind of funny. :) He has 20 months on the mission so he's leaving in August, almost exactly a year before I go home.

This week was pretty normal. We were with Elder Johnson, our zone leader, on Monday because his companion got changed to be assistant. We taught all the Monday lessons as a trio which was pretty cool. I think I've spent an unusual amount of time specifically with leaders here in the mission because all my companions have been district leaders and we spend a lot of time with the zone leaders as well. 

Tuesday I was in the bus station for about half the day waiting for my companion. I got to know a few missionaries whom I hadn't seen before. We got hungry after a little bit so we went over to a little store and I found powder hot chocolate(!). I haven't seen it very many places here in Mexico so I bought it and saved it in the house.

On Sunday we only had one investigator in the church...That was kind of frustrating especially after about five people had said they would be there. It's okay, though. The investigator that came is named Cecelia and she's pretty close to baptism. We just need to get her "husband's" divorce finished up so they can get married and be baptized.

Every Sunday we take dats so we stopped by a members house to call the other elders. As we were sitting there the dughter in the family was progressively bringing in different farm animals. I took pictures with a rabbit and a chick and then Elder Bauer and I took a selfie with a chicken. That was pretty fun.

Here are the birds!

Brewer's Blackbird -Tordo de Brewer

Zone-tailed Hawk -Aguililla Aura

Turkey Vulture -Zopilote Cabecirrojo

Northern Rough-winged Swallow -Golondrina-aliserrada Norteña

The spiritual thought for this week is from 1 Nephi 20:10.

 10 For, behold, I have refined thee, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.

This week we are going to start ponderizing scriptures each week. I chose this one sort of randomly but it happened to be really important for Elder Bauer. I basically just opened up the Bible to the topical guide and saw furnace. This scripture is really important to show how we are chose of God by how well we endure the challenges we face.

Thanks you all for your support! I am really happy to be here even though it's a little dirty and there are dogs everywhere. I know I'm in the right place and with the right companions.

Les extraño y amo!

-Elder Steiner

Week 30 (4/11/2016)

Hello everyone!

This was the last week of the change! This change has been fantastic and I've really learned a lot. I feel way more confident with Spanish than the past change and teaching is a lot easier now than the past changes as well. I'm really happy with the work I've done this change. This last week we found several really good people that could be baptized by the end of next change.

I'm staying here next change but Elder Hernandez is headed to Monclova. I'm a little sad that he's leaving but it's okay. I can say that I really learned a lot from him and I hope that I can start applying it more in my own teaching and as I work with my future companions. 

My next companion is named Elder Bauer, and my streak of being junior companion to district leaders continues this next change. I'm excited to see how we work together and what I can learn.

This Friday we had an activity in the church. It was a little difficult because the ward wasn't as involved in the planning as we wanted but it turned out really well. We even had 6 investigators there between us and the other missionaries! We focused the activity around how the members can help us with missionary work. We commited all of the members to do a small act of missionary work this week.

It's starting to get really hot here this month, and it's only going to get hotter during the summer. I'm glad that I'm here in Saltillo at least for now because it's higher up in the mountains and it doesn't get quite as hot. I'm starting to see how what Robert Whetten said about how hot it gets is very true. I hope I can survive at least through this first summer and then maybe the next will be a little easier. (Probably not...)

Here are the birds!

Chipping Sparrow -Gorrión Cejiblanco

Barn Swallow -Golondrina Ranchera

Bewick's Wren -Saltapared de Bewick

Common Nighthawk -Chotacabras Mayor

Cattle Egret -Garza Ganadera

White-tailed Kite -Milano Maromero

I forgot to look up a scripture for my spiritual thought this week but I have something I can relate to the birds. The last three birds in the list flew away almost immediatly after I saw them and I was really happy that I saw them before they left, especially the kite. I think that God gave me several tender mercies to see those birds. For most of you that might seem a little silly but I'm honestly grateful for all the (little) good things (and some of the bad things) that have happened here on the mission.

I'm really happy to be here as a missionary and I'm really grateful for all that you all do for me. Thanks to all those that write. I miss and love you!

-Elder Steiner

Week 29 (4/5/2016)

Hello everyone!

This week was pretty normal up until the weekend. We had a bunch of lessons and contacted a bunch in the street and in houses. Basically normal stuff here in Saltillo.

This weekend was a spiritual whirlwind. On Friday we had a zone conference where the zone leaders and President Rodriguez trained us and I learned a lot of things I can improve as a missionary. President talked about a lot of different things but one that really stuck with me was about three different types of missionaries and thier trials. The main idea was that trials of faith come to those who are just. Consequences of sin come to those who are dissobedient. I think this can apply to all of us. Are we in a trial because God is testing us or simply because we put ourselves there? I'm really trying to focus on obedience now. Many of you probably know that it's not very hard for me to be obedient but, as a missionary, it's hard for anyone to be obedient. Every little thing is important in bringing the Spirit and finding the people that are waiting for the Gospel.

This General Conference was really powerful for me. It was the first time I watched every session without sleeping through any of it. Hear that Anna, Henry, and Ellie? I broke my habit of sleeping in church! :) Leading up to General Conference I was worried that I would have to watch it in Spanish so I was praying for the gift of tongues for several days. When I got to the stake center to watch, I found out that te missionaries could watch it in English in the high council room. That was a relief. The American missionaries watched all the sessions together as a little group. It was pretty nice because I could really focus and share notes with the others. Also, some of the sisters brought snacks. It reminded me of using skittles and m&ms to play conference bingo. Haha!

This week I was feeling a little impatient and tired with my companion and the other elders in our ward so I wanted to see if I could get an answer about how to be more patient. I think the best answer to my question was President Uchtdorf's talk in the priesthood session. He talked a lot about marriage and being a good husband (not quite aplicable to a missionary) but he also focused on charity. I love charity and the power of the pure love of Christ. It was a powerful reminder that I should exercise more charity with my companions and the other missionaries. We'll see if I can actually practice what I believe. :)

I'm really grateful that we can watch and listen to conference and receive guidance from living prophets and apostles. Even though President Monson didn't give very long talks I really felt the power and truth in his words. I hope we can all follow the council we have received this weekend.

Okay, here are the birds!

Zone-tailed Hawk -Aguililla Aura

Sharp-shinned Hawk -Gavilán Pajarero

Cooper's Hawk -Gavilán de Cooper

Cassin's Kingbird -Tirano de Cassin

Say's Phoebe -Mosquero Llanero

Barn Swallow -Golondrina Ranchera

Well, I think that's the most important stuff for this week. Thank you all for your support and for all that you have done for me! I love getting your emails and hearing that you enjoy hearing from me. I love and miss you all!

-Elder Steiner

Week 28 (3/28/2016)

Hi everyone!

This week was really fun and a little bit crazy the last few days, but still very fun. We were visiting Pedro and José every day to get them ready for the baptism on Saturday. We did lots of practices for the interview with José because he's kind of old and doesn't quite understand/can't hear all the words. They both passed the interview just fine. It looks like I'm actually doing a pretty good job as a missionary. :)

The baptismal service was a Noche Blanca where the whole zone was supposed to baptize. However, only three companionships ended up baptizing out of the whole zone. That was a little disappointing but it's okay. All together we ended up baptizing nine people because the zone leaders slammed out some lessons on Friday and Saturday. As district leader of the zone leaders, Elder Hernandez has to do all the interviews for their investigators. The whole morning on Saturday we were with the zone leaders finishing up the interviews and lessons. It was a little busy and we had to pay for several taxis it worked out pretty well.

Yesterday we went to Arteaga, a small city near Saltillo, to have an Easter contacting activity. Every Sunday there is a huge market with lots of people in the park so we figured it would be a good place to contact. We set up a screen to show some of the Easter videos that the church has made and then spread out to contact and bring people to the videos. It was pretty fun. We got a lot of rejections but there ended up being several contacts from our area. I'm certain that there will at least be a few baptisms from the activity.

This week I started teaching Elder Hernandez English. He wants to learn because his girlfriend is on her mission in Canada and is learning both English and French. He's eager to learn but isn't trying very hard. Haha! He has a hard time with the "th" sound. I give him a hard time about that sometimes, but it's fun to teach him English.

Today we went hiking in the mountains with one of the brothers from the ward. We didn't go very far but it was still pretty nice to get away from the streets and all the dogs in the city. I also saw a lot of birds! I was hoping to see some hummingbirds but the others wanted to keep moving so I had no time to wait around. It was really fun but it made me miss the mountains in Utah. It was also pretty difficult to get up to the hiking spot. In Utah you just need to drive 30 minutes or so and you're already hiking.

Here are the birds!

Clay-colored Thrush -Zorzal Pardo

American Kestral -Cernícalo Americano

Curve-billed Thrasher -Cuitlacoche Piquicurvo

Prarie Falcon -Halcón Pradeño

Black-tailed Gnatcathcer -Perlita Colinegra

Broad-winged Hawk -Aguililla Adura

Mexican Jay -Chara Pechigris

Turkey Vulture -Zopilote Cebecirrojo

Cassin's Finch -Fringílido de Cassin

Northern Mockingbird -Centzontle Norteño

Pyrrhuloxia -Cardenal Desertico

Black-throated Sparrow -Gorrión Gorjinegro

Common Raven -Cuervo Grande

Killdeer -Chorlito Tíldio

Greater Roadrunner -Correcaminos Mayor

Sharp-shinned Hawk -Gavilán Pajarero

Black-and-white Warbler -Chipe Trepador

The other day I was listening to "I Need the Every Hour" and I started thinking about how much we really need Christ every moment of our lives. Christ is someone we should call on only when we need Him but that is literally all the time. We all have so much to change and improve in each of our lives. Through the Atonement and the sacrifice that was made for us we can really change and improve. Not only that, but we can also receive the comfort that we all need in this life. I'm truly grateful for what Christ has done for us and the comfort that I have every moment here in Saltillo.

Thank you all for your prayers and support! I hope that everything is going well for all of you.

Les amo y extraño.

-Elder Steiner