Week 54 Villa Bonita

Hey guys. 

This week we received our transfers.  I am still in Pioneros Ward in Villa Bonita. I am training for real this time. This time, my son actually showed up on the mission. His name is Elder Alvarenga.  He is from El Salvador. He speaks English really well and seems super chill. We´re gonna have a lot of success!

The elder that I was supposed to train two transfers ago finally got here too, but he is with Elder Reader.  

On Tuesday we had interviews with President. It was the best interview I´ve ever had. We sat down, and he said "All the missionaries are asking about Elder Steele and how you are having so many baptisms in Pioneros. Tell me, what are you doing to have so much success?" I know he said that just to boost my confidence even more, and it worked. In the interview he told me that he wanted to keep me as district leader in Pioneros and that I was going to train. I was hoping he was going to tell me that I would be a zone leader, but my work here in Pioneros isn't done yet. I´m actually really happy that I finally get to train someone.

When I left the interview, I found the opportunity to motivate my companion a ton. Normally if you would say to someone that it would be their last week, they would die. I told him in a way that motivated him to make his last week the best week we've ever had together. And it was.

This week we were able to have 15 lessons with members present, which is more than we have ever had. Elder Rojas was able to gain a ton of confidence of a few members in his short time here. We told those members that it was his last week and that they needed to take advantage of the time with Elder Rojas. We taught with Moroni Bahena every single day except for Friday, when we got super sick. The lessons we had with Moroni were super crazy awesome lessons that only happen on rare occasions on the mission.

These last 3 weeks with Elder Rojas we were able to start teaching 28 new investigators, which for me, is unbelievable. I know a lot of people think of Elder Rojas as a frito, but I had more success with him in 2 transfers than with any other Elder in my mission so far. We baptized 7 people together. Me made a good fit. I was the super sincere and direct teacher, and he was the clown that helped us gain a lot of confidence. It´ll be different teaching kids without him. He didn't go too far, but I´m gonna miss him.

Since we have so many new investigators, I can tell you about some of them.

Luis Angel: He´s not new, actually we were almost about to leave him. He is the bishop´s daughter´s 15 year-old boyfriend. She apparently broke up with him, and the next Sunday, he showed up to church for the first time in forever. The next time we taught him, we made sure he understood that the church isn't just about winning the love of his girlfriend (even though it´s pretty awesome he´s willing to get baptized for her) but that he needs his own testimony. He told us sincerely that he would pray to ask for his answer. He also went to church yesterday and his a baptismal date for February 2nd.

Ricardo: Ricardo is Ivan´s older brother. He has been to church ever since the confirmation of Ivan. Things are going well with him. The challenge with be his dad, who has full custody of him. I don´t know if you remember hearing about that story. Anyway, Ricardo will be baptized February 2nd also.

Pablo Ruiz: He has been to church 5 times and wants to be baptized. He is 72 years old, and lives in a free union and can´t get a divorce from his old wife to get remarried. He is cool. He still gives us rides to church on occasion.

Jesus Alberto: We had taught his son one time, and one day we were looking for him again when we found Jesus. He told us that his wife left him with all his kids. He seems like a he would be a pretty sucky husband and dad, but when we found him, he was in the most humble and depressed state I have ever seen someone. He said the other day, he tried to kill himself, but stopped himself and decided to pray instead. He made an inner promise with God that if he would do whatever it takes to get his family back and that he would be a better husband and father, if God would send help. The next day we show up at his door. I promised that if he went to church with us, that his family would return. We talked for a lot more, and the lesson went really well. He still didn't show up to church. We´re gonna go chew him out.

Marcela and Javier: Marcela is Orlando´s sister and Javier is her boyfriend. They seem really cool and want to be baptized but have super busy lives and haven´t been able to make it to church yet.

Portugal: She is Moroni´s friend. We went to teach he, and had invited her to be baptized and she accepted. At the end of the lesson, her parents showed up and her mom wanted to dispute about everything and was really angry. I answered every doubt without contention in my voice and with such clarity that they were left speechless many times and I could see in their eyes that they almost started believing that what I was saying was true. But Satan was still in her heart and she didn't believe. She actually made us participate in the Lord´s Prayer at the end. Such apostasy.

I´m realizing that I've been writing for too much time now, and will have to write about the other investigators next week. I didn't even get into detail about Friday when we were sick, haha. Anyway, I love you guys. These transfers are passing by so fast, it´ll be Christmas again before I know it. Bye!!!!

-Elder Steele



These are the extra photos and things he said to us as a family this week:
As a mom, I thought this was the best apartment yet.  It was great to see that he actually has a Fridge now!

We actually had interviews with the president on Tuesday and they told us to bring 10 pictures of our house to show that we actually keep it somewhat clean. It turns out they didn't ask for the pictures, but I can show them to you guys.

It doesn't have much. But it´s home

Yay! A Fridge!

Eggs are super cheap and taste good with Salchicha and Chorizo.

Did you notice we have to heat up water in a bucket to be able to shower?

And today the president made a new rule that we can´t do that anymore, so I´m going to have to buy an electric shower head. They won´t let us heat up the water because apparently it´s super dangerous and we could electrocute ourselves, even though I've been doing it every day for almost 6 months now.

Mom's response- "That sounds even more dangerous having an electric shower head."  

His response-  "It is more dangerous. Sister Munive was talking about how people have been been in the shower and they start feeling tingling on their back. I have never been shocked by the water heater that we use."

The last photo in front of our house with Elder Rojas

Elder Rojas transferred to Esperanza. The northern boundary of my area is the southern boundary of his area. It's funny because with Elder Rojas, we were teaching a few investigators that live in the boundaries of Esperanza, and now it´s his area.

Here is a funny story he sent us as a family.  We all got a laugh out of it...  Just had to post...

I found out something crazy and funny about my companion Elder Rojas. It´s that on Friday we got really sick, so we stayed in our house that day. I was more sick than my companion, I couldn't function at all and just slept almost that whole day. My companion started complaining that he was bored and asked what he could do. I told him to just do whatever, and I was going to rest. He asked me if he could play a video game. I responded, "sure" because I assumed he was being sarcastic as he always is and that he would read or something. 5 minutes later I woke up and he was playing on a PSP! I had no idea that he even had one, and I was with him for 3 months. I responded really surprised that he had it. He knows that I don´t like to scold people and when he noticed that I didn't like that he had it, he stopped playing. On Sunday when we found out the transfers, he decided he would give his PSP to Orlando (our convert) for his Birthday. I asked him if he was really going to give away a PSP to Orlando, and he said, "Yeah, don´t worry, I have another one that is better." My frito comp had 2 PSPs! When he said that he spent all his money on candy, that was a lie. At least he never played on them except for that one occasion. Que loco!

With my new companion Elder Alvarenga in the mission home