showdown between the towns people and the cops

This week has been crazy! I was a good little elder and wrote down things to tell you all about. But truth be told this week was super interesting, so it would be hard not to be able to write something. First of all, thank you for all of your ideas... it really has helped me to get an outlook of what I am writing. I’ll try to include them in my next letters. But all in all I’ve decide to be a little more explanatory about our dealings in the everyday world. So I might be including some more interesting and colorful details... but I do so believing that no one will worry about my health. :)

There has been this slight problem going on in our area for the past few days. There is this huge field in the middle of our area. There are a lot of people who decided to take that field for their own and put houses on it (which is obviously illegal). We were returning home late one night and saw a ton of people out in this dark field putting up lines and burning grass... so we asked what was going on and they told us that people wanted to put up homes there. Turns out that they got caught because the next day there were a ton of police and everyone was sitting around the field waiting for the police to leave. Well, they are still there. It has been like a week. It is this showdown between the towns people and the cops to see who will leave first. People have basically set up a little city there with a soup kitchen and tents and fires and everything. The area is totally unrecognizable. Every time we go by there people yell at us and stuff. It is so weird... the middle of our area is just SO different. But hey, what can you do?

This week was our ward conference... the relief society president was in charge of putting together about 35 little wagons. Well, I went over and helped her sew and glue and get things ready. It turned into this big problem, but it was nice to help and use my talents.

Speaking of talents. My companion and I were asked to help with the ward choir... so every night this week we had to walk to our church and practice (so we’ve been getting home like an hour and a half late every night this week). I started out with the melody part to help them... then I was moved to the Alto part... then Tenor, then Bass.... The choir was small and needed a lot of help. In the end my companion sang tenor and I directed! It was so weird teaching people how to sing and then directing them... I am so not a director, but we got a lot better with me directing. No one knew how to direct or sing... so I was like a music king within the members... it was funny. And on Sunday they sounded pretty good. Not as well as we had practiced, but good all the same. It could be that they were all in shock from seeing a train wreck on the way to the church (I’m telling you... we had the weirdest week). There was this dumb person who tried to beat the train and lost... No offence to the people here... but they don’t know how to drive.

It is super cold! All of the sudden it got really cold, especially at night. It was really hot one day, then the next we needed coats. Go figure.

We are teaching some amazing people now. We were praying to be able to find someone to be able to baptize this transfer but we were not able to find anyone super ready until recently. Two Sundays ago this inactive member and his family just show up in church. I sit with him thinking he is an active member (because I’m still new) and find out that he was inactive for like 4 years and felt called back. He has twin daughters of the age of 9. So next week we will be baptizing them and another wonderful lady by the name of Karina. Elder Chatwin really wanted to baptize his last transfer and it looks like we will have at least 4 this transfer. YEAH!!!!
We also found this other lady named Mari who is just super ready, but she needs to get divorced and then married. I don’t know if I’ll be around when she gets baptized. But we found her and she is just GOLDEN! She came to church yesterday and loved it. She has 9 kids and stays home all the time. She loves reading and has already read a lot of the Book of Mormon... she read all of Moroni between visits because she liked the book so much. I love her, she is really great. She wants all of her kids to get baptized and become like the members of the church. She is just so wonderful.

I had a question about marriages. Here is the deal. Most people don’t get married here. And if they do, they get separated quickly and getting a divorce takes upwards of six months to a year with a cost of 1000 to 3000 pesos... which is what most people make in 6 months. It is really hard to get divorced and with everyone wanting divorces, people always think that it is just better to live together without any legal attachments. People don’t see the importance of marriage. They all say that they are married in their hearts and that is all that matters. Well, before the eyes of God they are in sin... so the people we teach really need a strong testimony to get married before baptism... because if they are living together and not married they can’t get married... that whole law of chastity thing.

I also had a question about what the standards (or goals) of the mission are... so here is a quick overview:

1 baptism weekly
8 overall fechas
2 new fechas
5 investigators in the sacrament meeting
10 lessons with member present
30 other lessons
10 lessons to inactives/recent converts
12 new investigators
2-3 divisions (depending on companionship)
20 references contacted
50 contacts

That all probably doesn’t make any since... but if you read Preach My gospel it will make a lot more since.

Okay... I need to dash. But I’ll work on my next weekly update for you all.

I love you,

E. Tommy Steinkuhler


PS I’ll be calling home for Mother’s Day. Probably after church here... at like 1 PM here... or perhaps later if it would be better... let me know. The thing is that mother’s day is my companions last day on the mission... so I don’t know if I will be able to call at a reasonable time. So let me know what you want and I’ll think about it and let you know.
PPS I’m happy.

We’ve only had Tinkerbell for 5 days

las fotos de la zona Villa Elvira Bis

We have had a really long week... and I don’t know why... perhaps it is because Mother´s Day is around the corner, or because I’m going home soon... but I don’t have any desire to write home anymore. I’m sorry if my letters are really lame, but I just don’t feel it anymore. For that very reason I wrote down a few things this week that I wanted to share with you all. But none of them are very good.

We were supposed to baptize again this week, but she got super attacked by her family and ex-pastors. She had a really rough week and on Saturday when we went to fill the baptismal font, a member met us there and told us she had decided to put it off. BUMMER!!!! But we talked to her and everything is good again. In a few weeks she will be going through with it. It was really cool though because she asked me to give her the Gift of the Holy Ghost. We asked her who she wanted to baptize her and give her the Holy Ghost. She doesn’t know many male members... so she looked at me and said... you seem to have a lot of experience with the Holy Ghost, will you give me the Holy Ghost? I laughed inside but was really highly happy.

A little note about the church... it is in the middle of the most ghetto city ever. It is funny because on one side there are these old smelly houses and the other side is a construction cite... and in the middle is a house of God.

 Sorry... no time this week. Next week more.
Love ya

__________________________________________

Turns out I do have more time.

Here is a tidbit more about what we are doing. My life has been so overwhelmed with the mission standards that I don't do much else but focus on getting the standards. We put the goal to get all the standards this week... we were so close. I don't know why we call them standards, because they are so high that only one area in the entire mission has gotten them... and only once! We of course want to be cool too... so we are working for it. But with all the meetings we have as zone leaders and all the other... "ish" we need to do, it is hard (is "ish" used in the states?). So we are super tired. It is funny because at the end of the week we just can’t do anything because we are so tired. It is obvious with our words. We are often found teaching on any Sunday afternoon in a weird Spanglish slur that people don't understand. We mix up words and don't get doctrines across right. That is why God sent us out two by two. Elder Chatwin and I are having a great time together.

This week we were able to find some really super awesome families. We found this one lady who has 10 children... 9 girls and one boy. She is just waiting for the truth. She was a reference from one of the members. We simply asked her what her neighbors names were and what she knew about them. This member is not very social but had lived there in that house for about 10 years. So gave us a list of names and we visited a few. Some were good, others not so much... but this one lady is simply prepared. Her name is Mari. She lives in humble circumstances and works diligently to keep up their home of 15 people. We’ve only visited her twice, but she is wonderful. She already believes the Book of Mormon is true and wants to go to church. Not many people are that prepared in one week. She is just lovely. The truth is that finding people like her and so many other prepared people is really what keeps the excitement of the work up. We love our work because the people here love God. It is hard to explain, but I'm really happy to see so many of God’s chosen children become closer to him through what the true church has to offer.

I’ve also got some other news. Some interesting news. It all has to do with animals. Our pinch here is huge! And has been rented by missionaries for forever. There are some things that go so far back no missionary in the mission knows where it came from. For example. There is a dog that lives in the yard. Her name is Margarita. She is a short, long, fat, deaf dog with few teeth. Everyone assumes she is the house owner’s dog. But we don’t know. All we know is that we don’t feed her, and no one ever has... but yet she lives on... fat¿! She is funny. She knows not to enter the house and is truly a nasty dog, so gets very little love. But she is always around when we get home. Also, people here don’t get their animals fixed. So there are a lot of unwanted animal pregnancies. So there are a lot of unwanted animals in the streets. Most die... it is the sad truth of South American countries. I’ve often found kittens or puppies in the street and helped them out. We clean them up and find them a nice home before anything weird happens to them. This week we found the cutest little kitten. So we brought her home and cleaned her up. We even named her... Tinkerbell. We have been trying to find a family for her, but 3 member families have recently had kittens in their homes and don’t want them or any other cats. So, I don’t know what to do. We have a precious kitten that we can’t let outside because of the dog and we can’t find a home for her... I’m totally unsure as to what we are going to do with her. I’ll keep you updated. The truth is that she is adorable and super friendly. We’ve grown really fond of her. It makes us happy to come home and see her there waiting. The more time that goes by and we can’t find a home for her I get the feeling that the same thing happened with Margarita... but we’ve only had Tinkerbell for 5 days... so I’m not too worried yet.

I finished The Book of Mormon again this week. I then re-started Jesus the Christ because I’ve only read a few chapters. It is good reading. I wouldn’t say that it is as good as the Book of Mormon, but it is good.

Well, I’m out of here.

Love you all,
Tommy

PS Like I said earlier... I’m dying out on my letter writing. Can you please send me some suggestions. Like questions or whatnot.

We’ve been running and running and running (or, speed walking)

I’ll be honest with you all... I have no desires to write home. This week was too complicated. We have been working the very skin off of our feet. We baptized this week and made a lot of other progress in the area. The President has said that all the Zone Leaders need to be getting the standards of the mission. One of those standards is baptizing every week! I know that the Lord is making it possible and working for us, but it is killing me.

We took out a baptismal fecha with this family we found a few weeks ago. But they need to get married. So last night we went by and told them that if they wanted to get baptized they needed to get married (a usual problem for us missionaries, so we know how to resolve it). We asked them to pray about it and tell us what they think. The mother was all for it... the father was iffy. He told us that he would pray and tell us in the morning. Well... that would be this morning. BUT to have them get baptized by the goal we have placed... they need to take out the marriage date today. So I woke up at 4 in the morning... took a bus to Varela and got in line with another Elder. At 7 my companion and another elder went to the house of these investigators... I wasn't there, but apparently he said no. So I’m tired and bummed out today. We’ve been working craziness like this all week. It is really wonderful and spiritual, but I’m tired. Every day this week has been like that, we’ve been putting our faith in action and have seen a lot of success. We took out 51 references this week, baptized, did intercambios, and 3 new fechas. I know that is all nothingness to you all... but it means a lot of work to me. We’ve been running and running and running (or, speed walking) and seeing a lot of success.

The baptism we had was super chill. The man was totally calm and happy, even though his family didn’t come. Elder Chatwin and I were talking about him this week and noticed something. We both noticed that he has pure eyes. We looked into his eyes and saw pure humility and charity. He is full of pure light. I have had the blessing of seeing changes in people... but even more than the changes, the thing I am most grateful for is being led by God to prepared people. There are some people who have been so prepared that when we find them they basically jump into the water. Then again, there are some who need to be given a tranquilizer before baptism. This week we will be having another baptism. She is one of those really prepared people. I’ve grown to love her a lot. Her name is Karina... I’ll try to send pictures next week of everything. The computers here are really slow. And I want to take a nap before leaving to work today... I’m really tired (HA sometimes I do tell you all when I’m not perfect).

Along those lines, I should probably apologize for not writing all of everything in my life. I’ve been reprimanded by quite a few people in the past few weeks for not "telling the whole truth". I’m sorry. If you have any questions... I’ll be happy to answer them. Feel free to ask.

Love you all,
Tommy

PS I’m not depressed... just super tired. I think I came off as bummed out... sorry.

Did you realize Im a Zone Leader? I went to my first Jedi Council EVER! It was fun.

This was a way long week. We did so many things that I don't know where to start. Hmm... let me explain some more about my companion and the pinch (apartment). Elder Chatwin is one of my favorite people ever... he is fun and crazy all at the same time. He teaches and testifies powerfully and has a strong desire to share the gospel. But at the same time he is totally wak! We laugh almost all day. Our personalities blend perfectly together. In our pinch there are four elders. One of them is brand new and on his second day in the country (my third day as companions with Elder Chatwin) he asked me how long we had been companions. He was shocked beyond words to hear that we had only been together for 3 days. The truth is that it feels like a month ago that I last wrote you... but in that monthly-week, Elder Chatwin and I have become great friends. I respect and love him until the end.

Our pinch is a huge old dirty house. It has two levels. They are separate and the only way to get from upstairs to down is by the stairs on the side. The upstairs hosts 2 elders: Elder Day and his new companion Elder Taylor. Downstairs we find the Zone Leaders and a mess of old objects left by all the missionaries who went home. The Zone Leaders have lived in this pinch for about 5 years straight... and never have time to clean or anything. Elder Chatwin has lived in the pinch multiple times and said that he has never seen the place cleaned. Needless to say I’ve spent long hours scrubbing and washing EVERYTHING. I thought about taking pictures to send you all but then realized that I don't want to scare you... nor do I want memories. The place is fairly clean now though. We have a couch too!!! I would not call it sanitary though, but there is a couch. OH, and a dog! She belongs to the owner of the house. My first question was who feeds her... and my companion told me that he has wondered that for over a year. She is cute and small and deaf. She reminds me of an uglier Violet.

This week we really started to pump up our work. The elder that I replaced just went home. And his last transfer he wasn't able to baptize. Elder Chatwin said that he didn't want to go home like that... so we have been working our tails off to baptize every week. We couldn't do it this week because of conference, but next week yes and the week after also. I love the ward. Our area is TINY. It is about 10 square blocks. It is so small, but full of humble people. WONDERFUL and humble people. There are no large buildings or restaurants or anything. We can’t live in our area because there is no place to rent. There is also this huge field that is technically our area... but there are only cows. The members are great and want to help us. It is obvious that they all have their problems as well... but they all want to help. I love righteous people!!! (not to say that I don’t love the non-righteous people).

Conference was amazing also. It was the first one I could watch all 4 sessions of during the mission. I loved it terribly. Elder Holland was wonderfully blunt again. Elder Bednar spoke to my soul again. And all the other talks were perfect. A lot of hidden talent. I was surprised at the family theme that was apparently not planned for according to Elder Anderson. I was able to watch most of it in English too. In Spanish it just isn’t the same. Some of the speakers do their talks in Spanish beforehand and we can hear their voice... but it isn’t the same. I love to hear the expressions and feelings of the people.

I had someone kind of give me bit of grief about not being straight up with you all. I am not only with the Zone Leader... but I am one too. For some crazy reason the President has asked me to be a Zone Leader... It is craziness... but I’ve accepted and am working hard to be the zone leader I always wanted. So I’ve been somewhat scatter brained recently. I apologize if I’m a little out of it from now till the end of the mission. I’ve got a lot on my mind.

In any case... I know that I love you all. I miss you and pray for you. Have fun this week.

Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS It is getting cold.