Monday, July 26, 2010

I never thought it would be this hard.

It is such a temptation to not write anything this week. But alas, I assume that I should write SOMETHING. So more than anything I’m just sending a shout out. It was a weird week. It was full of weird days and lots of not work. I feel bad because I want to be clapping houses and teaching... but this week was full of meetings and traveling. It is all required things, but not what I want to be doing. But because of that it made the week feel really long. But I am all too often reminded how often I’m going home... which makes it feel even longer. I have this growing desire building up to just go home. It is amazing how much harder it is at the end of the mission... I never thought it would be this hard.

I taught my last workshop as a mission leader... that was weird. We had a really good district meeting that Elder Lucas and I taught. It was simple, but spiritual. We learned how to do better contacts. It is something that we had learned about a month ago and have been using to great success. It was nice to be able to testify of the power of such techniques. We have continued our crazy finding spree this week, even with all the traveling we have done.

One thing that I really enjoyed about this week was getting to know the President a little better. He didn’t know that I was going home so soon and when he found out he was kind of bummed. It was funny seeing him react in such a way. I’m used to the president knowing everything. It was just evidence to me that even mission presidents are just human. I love President Stapley... he will be a great mission president.

It rained again on Sunday, I was kind of upset about that. I hope it doesn’t rain anymore. I’ve already packed my bags and spare shoes... so I don’t want to get my current shoes wet... fyi we are asked to pack a week in advance.

I’m so not excited to write you all... I think I’m just going to stop wasting cyber-space and wait till I can tell you all in person.

This Saturday we get to go to Capital... or the city of Buenos Aires as a special treat for all that go home. So I’m looking forward to that. I also hear that I can call home when I’m in the airport. So I guess next Tuesday I’ll be calling you all bright and early in the morning... MAYBE. If not, I’ll just see you later when I get off the plane.

I love you all,

Elder Steinkuhler

Monday, July 19, 2010

Chè dos semanas... wow

Hello everyone, this is your normally faithful writer Elder Steinkuhler here. I’ve just completed another wonderful week of heavenly labor and am now fully ready to give you a 100% account of all of my actions... the only problem is that I can’t. So we will take out a few key factors and hope that it suffices.

First of all, it is really cold. It feels like about 30º or so. The winds are almost always high in our area and there is always a lot of water, so if you get wet... it is REALLY cold. Sunday morning we woke up to rain... not happy Steinkuhler mood. We went looking for our investigators in the freezing rain/ice sheets and for some reason no one wanted to come with us, go figure. Ha ha, it was fun though. We had a great day in any case. We ended up finding some really awesome people, which brings me to my next point.

Two weeks ago we found a lot of people... families mostly. But none of them really wanted to have us come back... for one thing or another they were busy or didn't want us to come into the homes. Needless to say, they did not read what we left them. So that kind of got us down in the dumps. But this week we found wonderful people. People truly prepared for the gospel. But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself....... I don't know how to tell all of this, so I’ll just start with Tuesday.

We had our zone conference with the new president. It was a great conference and we learned a lot of new things... but he also explained a lot of changes going on in the mission field all over the world. For example, our capitations will now focus on 8 lessons... there will be meetings for four days with the mission leaders... etc. I feel like I can share one thing the Spirit hit me with. I realized that although 75% of my teaching is focused on personal revelation, I was not doing enough to help people get their own answers. The conference really made me look at my teachings from the beginning of my mission until now. And I’ve realized that there are a lot of things that I can be doing better. I know that I am suppose to be like the best in the Zone because I'm the zone leader and have been in the field the most time, but I am not really that good at teaching. I realized that this week. I still have so far to go. So I started adjusting my teachings this week to great success. I focused my own personal prayers and prayers with others to help them feel the Spirit and learn how to get a true answer from the Almighty.

We had this wonderful finding experience this week with a young mother and her boyfriend. Last Sunday we did a few contacts during the soccer world cup finals... to our great surprise there was a nice young lady who talked to us for awhile but didn't want to let us in because her family was watching the game. So we set up an appointment to come back and we found not only her but this wonderfully intelligent boyfriend as well (I love teaching couples). It was right after the conference and I had my heart swallowed up in prayer, so when we sat down and started to get to know them, I felt inspired to read something from D&C section 9. We started reading and she told us that she has problems understanding new things and that she never understands things she reads. So we went slow and she understood everything PERFECTLY!!! It was amazing... and her boyfriend seemed to have already known the things we taught him, it is just that he never lived it. ANYWAY, we taught them lesson one very fast. We started with prayer, then why there are so many churches (apostasy), then Joseph Smith, then The Book of Mormon. It was phenomenal! They loved it and the Spirit was so strong. I was blown away, I don't know if it was just because of how well God had prepared them or because of the things I learned in Zone Conference... but that was one of my favorite lessons yet in the mission.

Yesterday we also found a wonderful lady who has a daughter with mental problems. She asked us to give her a blessing of health and I performed the sealing. I really have grown to love using God`s Priesthood. The daughter couldn't really talk, but I could see her pure spirit... I felt so much love for her and her family as we performed the ordinance. The funny story about that is that they were references from the lunch appointment we had. After church we had to walk about 30 minutes in the mud to our lunch appointment at the end of nowhere where this one member lives. The truth is that neither I nor my companion wanted to go... but we ended up going because the member wouldn’t take no for an answer. But what a blessing it was. We had such a wonderful spiritual experience that the member gave us about 35 references more... YEAH!!!!!!

Well, I pulled out my suitcases to start packing this week... and I found all the old stuff (or what I called "ish") that had been collecting up for two years. I felt somewhat like Harry Potter when he cleans out his trunk at the beginning of book 7... and yes, I still remember/love every part of the Harry Potter books. I found old cards, drawings, lesson plans, books, toys, keys, etc. It was sad looking at it all and thinking, "I really don’t want any of this ish, I should probably just throw it all away". It was a sad day. I feel like I threw away a part of two years, but it is a part that I just cannot bring with me. I still haven’t actually packed anything, perhaps today I’ll do it. FYI, I did not get my nap last week, and I doubt I’ll get it this week. All well, I’ll get lots of sleep on the plane.

So, it looks like everyone is telling me that I’m going home in two weeks. I don’t feel like it still, I know what is going to happen... but I can’t feel it happening to me. Life is just going on still... and I don’t see it changing, although I am excited to see the changes. I feel like I’m just going to get transferred again, but this time they told me in advance. Well, I will have one more pday left after this one. So if anyone wants to send me an e-mail before I get home... do it this week. If you want anything I MIGHT be able to get it, but with such short time there are no promises. Anyway, I’m off.... I love you all and hope to see everyone soon.

All a missionaries love,
Elder Steinkuhler

PS We played pool today and my companion whooped me 2/3 times. The last time I BARELY won. I’m going to miss Elder Lucas a lot.

Monday, July 12, 2010

how do sore thumbs stick out?

Well family, I'm tired. I am so excited to write this and then go take a nap!!! That is right, Elder Steinkuhler is going to take his first nap in like 6 months!!! I’ve planned it into my day, and will fully enjoy it.

I’ve been slightly sick this week. Almost everyone in the zone has been getting sick... it is just missionary life, nothing big, but bothersome. Today is particularly cold. It is freezing outside, but we went to play soccer, volleyball and Frisbee anyway. I guess my knee is doing better. It hurts unnaturally much when I get hit there, but other than that it doesn't bother me anymore, thanks for the support and prayers.

So, let me start off with the sad news... Spain won the world cup... the good news is that it is all over. I'm so tired of being caught in the street with nothing to do because people are watching the world cup. By the way, I didn't really care who won... but Merry served her mission is Spain, so I was rooting against it. I guess her mission was just better. :D So, people still give me flack (a real word) about being German. I guess I just stick out like a sore thumb (how do sore thumbs stick out?). It is kind of funny because people yell at us asking if we are German and my companion always answers by asking if he looks German. They look at him and he laughs telling them that he is for Paraguay. I love Elder Lucas, he is just a stud! We are working good together... well sorta. Let me explain.

This week was a particularly hard week. I don't know why. Everyone failed on us. Our investigators, our members. It was just difficult. It put me to thinking why. I think God has a lot of things for me to learn in my time left. This week I have learned a lot about what is most important and how to overcome trials. I'm so glad that my trials have not stopped... because when they stop my learning stops. I love being here, things are just so much more meaningful. A rejection at home is just a rejection. Now I can see what God is teaching me by telling me to talk to someone who is going to reject me. I’ve really learned that we are not able of baptizing or changing people. They have to do it for themselves. I’ve learned so much this week that I don't know if I can really explain it all. And even if I were to explain it all you wouldn't understand because it is something that you need to live. But one of the biggest things I’ve learned is that I am a true convert. I’ve learned that my testimony is strong and that it won’t fail me in hard times. But as I stop doing the good things in this life, I will weaken my testimony. All of you who read the scriptures will understand me when I say that the scriptures have power.

One of my favorite parts of the week was Saturday morning. I was feeling kind of sick, but not as sick as Elder Shupple. However, Elder Jones had called us to see if we could do a service project for some members in the area of Claypole. It was a "moving" with the assistants, the elders of Claypole and us. Well, last minute the assistants couldn't make it... so it was just Elder Shupple, Roy, Lucas and me who went early in the morning. It turned out to be a mud/clay shoveling project. It was HARD labor. And Elder Shupple was sick so he did little and almost fainted... he is such as good sport, I love that kid. So they left early. Then my companion died out after like hours. So in the end I shoveled all the clay and my companion wheeled it away. It was interesting to work basically alone for an hour. My muscles were tired and my mind alive... My body turned into a machine and I was able to ponder upon many subjects. It did me so much good. I loved it and the members were so grateful. I had forgotten how good it feels to work hard and serve others. I loved it to death. I’ve been looking for reasons why God has called me to where I am. I know that I am in the right spot and often the only one who can do what I can do. It was so obvious in this day that God wanted me to be exactly where I was at exactly that moment. I look forward to finishing the job if we have time.

Well, I'm off to take my nap. I love you all. I'm working hard and truly, surprisingly happy.

Take luck, I love you,

Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS I’m in a good mood, I hope you are too.

Monday, July 5, 2010

123% better

I have no time... so let us start out with the good news; because I have a lot of news (not that interesting, but news), both good and bad.

I was able to do an intercambio with Elder Gaffney this week. He is the new elder of my new elder... or in other words (that are banned from missionary vocabulary) he is my grandson. He is a fun little fellow from Oregon. He speaks amazingly well and has a great desire to teach. We did a fun little change-up on Wednesday morning at 7:00. My companion and I went to another area and changed up with them.... then came back. Then in that morning we went out to work and found 7 people... a new family. Then we ate lunch and in the nighttime we round 5 more. It was a great day. We taught a ton of lessons and he got really excited for working and talking. He is a wonderful missionary and I had a great day.

Going off of that, this week we had better datos then any other week of my mission. I sent you all the standards of the mission some time ago. This week we were able to achieve or surpass all but baptismal goals. We found 31 new people this week... that beat my old personal record by like 12. It was a wonderfully hard week. We worked our tails off. I keep on getting people telling me not to slack off now that I’m at the end of the mission. But what the President told us about being the most effective at the end of the mission really hit me. So we decided to try and raise the bar even higher then what we had... although we almost died, we did it!!!! We had the best week of my mission this week. So don’t you worry, I’m focusing. Not only that but: (here comes the bad news)

Last Monday we ate at an all you can eat pizza place. I had about two entire pizzas... and almost died (they were big). I was already feeling somewhat sick... so that night after sending my update, I went home and couldn’t leave because I needed to be close to a bathroom. So we couldn't work on Monday. Which kind of sucked. But I’m better now... 123% better. However (more bad news)...

Yesterday while going to pick up investigators for church I fell on the train tracks. I was looking at the sky and well......... there was a hole. There was a place where people could walk underneath and I didn’t see it. So I hit my knee pretty bad. We were already running on a tight schedule, so I just brushed off the dirt and kept on going. But after our sacrament meeting it was killing me. Today it is a lot better, but still a little swollen. But it makes for a fun story.

Other bad news... President Asay is gone. He went home already. And President Stapley will not be in Argentina until this week. So we are a little bit without president for awhile.

Good news: It has been wonderfully warmer than normal. Still chilly, but not cold.

Bad news: Argentina lost to Germany. It was scary. We went out to try and teach during the game. As you walk down the street all you can head is a constant dialog from the narrator... Every house was watching it so it was heard in every part of the street. But we lost... and bad... and I look German. So people have been yelling at me for awhile. For a few hours I was really worried for my life, but most everyone knows that we are from the USA. So no prob Bob.

Good news: We discovered an inactive family this week. We started teaching them and he told us that the reason why they went inactive was because the Stake President had told him to cut his hair. I laughed and pulled out my driver’s license and explained what happened to me before the mission. We bonded for a time and they promised to return to the church. They said that their daughter is 9 years old and that they want us to baptize her. So I’m excited to work with them and bring them back into the church. It is really one of those moments where you just know that God sent you to that family. I have way too much in common with this brother that it is impossible for us not to be friends.

Well, I guess that is about it. So much happened this week, but I can’t explain it. We felt a strong desire to clap a house as we went by this week and found a family of 9... all brothers and sisters whose mother passed away 2 weeks ago. They needed our message so bad.

I promise you all that I’m not dying out. I’m working hard... I love the mission life and I love what we are achieving. Miracles are never tiresome. I’ll try and send some good stories next week. Thanks for all of your support.

I love you all,
Elder Steinkuhler

PS I’m excited to come home. Don’t get me wrong... I am very excited to have my interview with President Paxman. And I am even more excited to be able to be around for two of my friend’s weddings.

PPS The president told us to tell everyone that we have 6 months left... it is so fun telling people that and seeing their reactions. Some people believe me without a doubt... others tell me I should have less... others say that I’m already at home. It is fun to see what people think, but just like David has always told me... it is what the Lord thinks that is most important.