they almost broke the building down with joy

So, last week I sent such a terrible letter that I thought I would try and send something a little better this week... so all week I wrote down little things to share with you all. Let us start with the weather, because it is always a good conversation starter.

I don't know if any of you keep track of the weather in the world (probably not... I wouldn't), but there has been a lot of rain here recently. So much rain in fact that the work is getting harder. This last Sunday we got caught in the rain with our Sunday clothes on and no preparation... let me explain. So, the church is like three miles from our house and our area is between us and the church. So we normally go straight to a member’s house to eat after church. Normally we leave our jackets at the member’s house and get them on our way home. Well, this Sunday we couldn’t. The member’s house was too far out of the way that we just went out in our suits, besides it was cold. We went to a new area to open it up... an area where there are no members and no investigators. Well, while contacting people it started to drizzle... and we found someone and entered the house. Right after leaving it started pouring down rain. So we took off and tried to find cover, but it was too late. We just went to the closest member (1.5 miles away) and then to the pinch because it took us so long to get there in the mud that we had to go straight home. The best part of the story is that the family we found is amazing. There was this lady that freaked out at the pamphlet we gave her and ran to a back room to pull out that same exact pamphlet. She said that she had received it like six months before and enjoyed it so much that she saved it waiting for us to come back. It was a wonderfully simple and spirit filled lesson. We taught and testified about The Book of Mormon and she and her family decided to read it together!

The photos are when I got home to the pinch. There was so much mud on me and I was so wet that I just jumped in the shower to wash me off. The difference between the photos is that one is from six months ago... when I wasn't in my suit... the new one is this week... in my suit.

Bad/good news... my shoes broke again. Don’t worry, I’ve fixed them... but anyway, here is what happened. About four months ago they broke, the stitching snapped. So I did a quick fix with the strongest thing I had... fishing string. It is plastic and I knew it would get old and break, but I had nothing else in the moment. Well, at a ward activity on Tuesday they asked me to play soccer for 10 minutes... during those ten minutes my shoes busted open. So I bought some good string and sewed them back up... no drama. But the coolest thing was that the members were all surprised that I could do it... so they started asking me about what I did before the mission and I was able to share my talents and help people in new ways, it was cool.

In my agenda I wrote down "shopping bags" but I don't remember why. I’ll think about it and get back to you.

Funny story, we went to a less active member’s house and sat down inside to teach them. Then someone clapped the house and the wife jokingly said, “Must be the Jehovah’s Witnesses”... turns out it was! So their father asked us to go out and greet them. With gusto I went out and we chatted a bit. It was funny seeing their faces. They were not expecting us to come out. We shared a bit of our message with them and them with us... then they left. It is always interesting being instantly recognized as a member of the LDS church. It happens here a lot, and I am glad to say that we do a pretty good job representing our Lord and Savior... If I’m allowed to say that.

One last thing: My companion and I have been working hard to do everything possible. We have been finding lots of new people and teaching lots of new lessons, but it all seems to be coming to nothing. We sat and talked about it and started thinking about how the Lord doesn’t always want us to do all these things just so we can baptize, but so we can be faithful. And then how sometimes when we do everything right, God just puts people in our paths. Well, about four days ago that blessing came. We went to visit a suffering member and their 11 year old son comes up from nowhere and asked us, “When can I get baptized?”. We thought he was some street punk because he is always dirty and never reliable. But we taught him and saw his sincerity and took out a fecha with him. Because of the rain we only had 8 members go to church. But this young boy that so willingly decided to get baptized got up early (without his parents) and came out in the rain with us to walk 2 miles in the mud to church. It is amazing the love people have for doing what is right and I love seeing the people be blessed for it. In about a week he will be baptized!

Sorry, LAST THING: We did a district activity for our district meeting. We went out of our church and tried to bring people into it to teach them. It was a really fun activity and in total we found 8 new people as a district. It was really cool! Oh, and our zone is doing really well... We have been all working hard and united-ly towards our goals and the assistants told me last night that according to our effort and efficiency scales in the mission... our zone is the highest!!! I loved seeing the other elder’s faces when we told them... they almost broke the building down with joy.

Okay, I’m gone. I love you all and want you to know that I am happy. I am working hard and looking fondly to the moment when I will see you all again. All my love again,

Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS Today we went bowling and I found out that I stink at it... There are a lot of things that need to be practiced within 2 years or you just lose your touch... like rock band.