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

Week 16 (1/4/2016)

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm sorry. I'm a bad missionary and I forgot the birds last week... Here they are (this week and last).

Killdeer -Chorlito Tildio

Cattle Egret -Garza Ganadera

Cooper's Hawk -Gavilán de Cooper

Great Egret -Garza Grande

Black-crested Titmouse -Paro Crestinegro

Greater Roadrunner -Correcaminos Mayor

Cedar Waxwing -Ampelis Americano

Lesser Goldfinch -Dominico Dorsiocsuro

Clay Colored Thrush -Zorzal Pardo

Bell's Vireo -Vireo de Bell

Okay, this week was pretty good. We had dinner with one of the member families for New Years which was really nice.

We met a cool investigator on Sunday that I forgot to mention. His name is Gustavo and he's really smart. He studies all sorts of things in Hebrew about the Bible and whatnot. I think he will get baptized.

This is gonna be short again because we had to help somebody during our writing time. I hope this is suffficient for all of you...

Just remember that I love and miss you all even if my emails are short.

Thanks for everything!

-Elder Steiner

Pictures!

You guys are so lucky this week. Will was able to send us some pictures from his time on his mission so far. When we talked to him on Christmas he was loving life and was really working hard. He is doing great and really really appreciates all the emails and letters everyone has been sending him. Keep it up!

And it wouldn't be Will if the pictures didn't include a few birds. Sorry I am not educated enough in birds to tell you which is which. 

Week 15 (12/28/2015)

Hi everyone!

Last week's email ended up being a little short but I guess I din't have a lot to talk about. Haha! This week was a little more eventful.

On Tuesday I had exchanges with Elder Taylor again. That was awesome. I learn a lot every time I'm with him and it inspires me to want to work harder and improve. He gave me a list of things I could do to improve a lot. By applying them I was able to work a lot more effectively this week.

We also had Christmas this week! We ate dinner and had a party with some members and they gave us gifts too! It was really fun and we also had a piñata. The family lives up on a hill above the city and we could see all the smoke covering the city. Elder Muñoz said most of it was probably from carne asada. Haha!

It was also really great to talk to my family. I miss them but I'm glad to be here.

Our investigators are coming along very well and we keep working hard to find more.

Sorry, I'm out of time (again) but I'll talk more about the investigators next week.

I love you and I miss you all! I wish I had more time to let you know what it is like here but I keep running out of email time for one reason or another...

Thank you for everything!

-Elder Steine

Week 14 (12/21/2015)

Merry Christmas everyone!

I hoe that everyone is having a good first few days of Christmas break/week. That was always the best break of the year during school. Sadly, missionaries don't take breaks (other than pday, I guess but it still feels like any other day because of all the stuff we need to do). We're going to work on Christmas and Chrismas eve just like any other days but it's all fine because the work is pretty fun and it's still Christmas so I can't be sad. It's not allowed.

This week was pretty regular. I had exchanges with Elder Salazar this week. He's from my mission generation and he came to my area so I was in charge of planning and leading and everything. That was a little stressful but it is what it is and I learned how to plan more efficiently.

We met a new investigator named Oscar. I'm not sure if he really likes to have lessons from us or if he's just lonely and wants someone to talk to. It was actually kind of like he contacted us. We were walking by his house and paused for a second and then he called out to us and we thought, "Why not." We have been having lessons with him every two days. I'm confident we can get him baptized next change.

Recently for contacts we have been showing the new Christmas video that the church made. I don't remember if I said this last week but it's a good way to get contacts. Technology and videos really draw people in especially if they are short. People are too busy sometimes but when we say "It's only two minutes" they usually say yes and we end up having a 30 minute lesson about how Christ is our saviour and then we do a baptismal invite.

Here are the birds.

-Cedar Waxwing -Ampelis Americana

-Green Parakeet -Perico Verde Mexicano

-Bell´s Vireo -Vireo de Bell

-Ladder-backed Woodpecker -Carpintero Listado

-Pectoral Sandpiper -Playero Pectoral

Thanks for all the Christmas wishes and thanks for all the support.

I miss you all!

-Elder Steiner

Week 13 (12/14/2015)

Hello everyone!

This week was a little different than normal. First, it was the first week of my second change! Two new missionaries came into our zone. One, Elder Morales, is in our district, and the other, Elder Holmes, is in the other area in our ward. Second, we had to go to Saltillo again on Tuesday. Elder Leon, one of the secretaries, took my papers in a little late so I had to go down there to sort some things out. Elder Muñoz had to go down there anyway so it wasn't too big of a deal. We lost a day of work, though. That was a little annoying.

We didn't get as many lessons as we wanted this week. Partially because we had to go to Saltillo so our planning got messed up and partially because we were just unlucky. That's how it is, though. We keep working hard and looking for new investigators. Also, my Spanish is getting a lot better!

Yesterday was the temple dedication for the Tijuana temple. That was really cool. I've been to a few temple dedications before but This time I was really thinking about how important the temple is and all the blessings that we can receive by going there. President Uchtdorf told a story about how when the San Diego temple was built sisters from Mexico came to clean in the temple. The sisters appreciated the opportunity to simply clean the temple and some of them took their cleaning clothes and framed them. Living in Utah the temple was always right there. I wish I had gone more often and appreciated it more.

The church released its new Christmas video just recently and we have been sharing it with our investigators and members. I want all of you to watch it and think about why Christ was born and all that he has done for us. Christmas is a great time for family and gifts and parties but it really is a time to think about our Savior and his sacrifice for us.

Here are the birds:

-Great Kiskadee -Bienteveo Grande (These are everywhere so I'm taking it off the weekly list)

-Bell's Vireo -Vireo de Bell

-Cattle Egret -Garza Ganadera

-Greater Roadrunner -Correcaminos Mayor

-Green Jay -Chara Verde (There were a bunch in a cage so this shouldn't count but thery are really beautiful birds so I wanted to tell you I saw one)

-Killdeer -Chorlito Tildío

-Black-throated Sparrow -Gorrión Gorjinegro

-Sharp-shinned Hawk -Gavilán Pajerero

-Green Parakeet -Perico Verde Mexicano

Thank you for all your support and love! I miss you all!

-Elder Steiner

And here are some pictures he sent this week. Finally!!

Week 12 (12/7/2015)

Hi everyone!

This week was the last of the change so two down and 15 to go! Haha!

We had our last zone meeting on Tuesday and we took pictures and a lot of the elders wrote notes in each other's journals because we were expecting eole to leave during the change. It turns out that only two people were changed and one has already been gone for two weeks so he could be trained as a secretary. So...The zone is basically the same!

We had stake conference this weekend which was interesting. We didn't go to the Saturday part because we had an appointment. A 70 came and spoke and President Rodríguez as well. I gleaned some information from them all but Spanish talks are still pretty difficult. Haha! The last speaker spoke about the importance of the Sabbath day which was perfect for one of our investigators, Antonio, but his youngest daughter was throwing a fit so he was out in the hall for the talk...I really hope that we can help Anotonio and Lorena progress because even after the divorce and marriage if he is still working on Sundays it will be a problem. His testimony is really strong so I think we can help him realize the importance of the Sabbath day. It will just take a little while.

Another one of our investigators, Ernesto, is completely ready for baptism. He goes to church each week. He reads the Book of Mormon and he understands everything. The only thing is he says he has lots of doubts. His daughter bore testimony about how much baptism and the Holy Ghost changed her life and how his doubts will be solved through the Holy Ghost but he is still reluctant. I want to try and set a baptismal date for this Saturday and hopefully the Spirit will speak to him and help him know that he's ready.

The other investigator that is really progressing is Erika. She skipped work to come to church last week. I don't know how that works out...I think it's a good, better, best thing. Haha! Regardless, she is progressing and we're trying to set a baptismal date with her. Her 10 year old son, Miguel, is also interested. I think we'll try to baptize him on the same day as his mom. Erika's mom is also interested but she is sick right now so we can't teach her.

I realized this week that we have tortillas with every meal. For lunch on Friday we had pretty much regular American meal like I would at home with potatoes and corn and it was all prepared like my mom would have made it. The thing is that we ate it all on tortillas! Tortillas for every meal. The best thing about that is sometimes the hermanas make them themselves. Those are really good.

Birds:

Green Parakeet -Perico Verde Mexicano

Great Kiskadee -Bienteveo Grande

Ruby-crowned Kinglet -Reyezuelo Sencillo

I wasn't looking very hard for birds this week. I'll try harder this week and see if I can find some cool ones.

Thanks for everything! I love you all!

-Elder Steiner