My hair is amazing

The first two questions:
How are your shoes? My shoes are good. I just got a pair re-soled. They had some holes on the bottom about 2 inches in diameter, but not anymore.

How is your hair? My hair is amazing... and really blond. It got tinted in the sun so now I'm really blond... and I decided to start doing my hair about a month or three ago... so every day it is parted, and blond... and amazing. But I need to cut it.

First of all... I had chocolate pizza today. Both dark and white chocolate... as well as a pizza with coconut and another with pineapple with black sugar... good times. There are a lot of all you can eat pizzas around here. I didn't eat much this week, so I got my money´s worth.

I’ve got two bits of bad news from this week that Ill share with you... first of all... Trash in Argentina is put into large METAL trash boxes that hang over the sidewalk. I’ve never had a problem until now. You see, I normally glance over at my companion as we walk... they normally are ABOUT my height. Elder Roy is not... So I look down... very down. TWICE this week I hit my head on those darn trash reciprocals. The first time it cut my nose open (don't worry... I healed fast). The second time I grabbed it right in the corner with my forehead. It might have given me a concussion... it hurt and I was bleeding... and this 14 year old young member girl laughed at me because my Spanish got REALLY bad. But there is something about Argentina... all harm done to the body heals REALLY fast... for everyone, it is amazing.

Bad news number two: I'm sickish... my other problem I had when I called home for Christmas has gone away... but now I'm sick with something else... Hehehe oops.

This week was kind of blah... We worked really hard. We had some really good appointments. We are teaching some golden people. All of our lessons are full of the spirit. We are helping people convert themselves. There is just one problem... no one is married. So we will hopefully be getting 10 couples married and baptized here within a few months. We had some really spiritual experiences this week, but I would like to only share 2. Those that The Spirit indicates...

We went over to a family’s house this week. I love this family with all my heart. The father always helps us and the wife is kind of inactive. They got into a debate right when we got there... I shared a bit with them and then got kind of mad. I started saying things that were very harsh. I did not feel like myself, so I stopped talking and listened to the Spirit... it told me I had to stand up and hug the father... and apologize. I didn't want to... but I did it. And I just started bawling. I’ve never cried cried in a lesson. The occasional tear is unavoidable, but I’ve never broken down crying. I apologized and asked if we might do a prayer. The father was praying and started to call us servants of God and asked God to bless us... I lost all control and started sobbing. I couldn’t control myself... and just cried there for a bit as they all worried about me. I don’t know why it happened or why it had to happen to me... but it did. And I felt God`s love strongly with them. Then we left. I didn’t want to stay there because I was just crying, so we left. That Sunday they both came to church and I felt good again. I don’t know what happened... but it was good. I believe and hope I was the tool God needed that day to bring something into their home. There are other parts of the story, but that is all I feel I should share... if you want to know more, ask me.

The other story is this appointment we had at an investigators home... The girlfriend wants to get baptized REALLY bad... but needs to get married. The boyfriend is kind of flaky and wants to make changes, but wants it to be easy. Anyway... we went over and he was sick and didn’t want to talk. So I told him he didn’t have to talk, we would talk and he could listen. He chuckled and sat down. We taught a great lesson about the family using lots of personal experiences and lessons we’ve learned from our parents. The Spirit was strong and we ended on a great note. He then thanked us because he felt great... he always notices the difference there is when we come over and teach. It feels so good to hear that. Simple words of thanks are so good to us.

Anyway, I’m over time and I wanted to just say bye. I love you all and hope all is well. I know I’m well and a lot happier then I was. This week was tough, but thus is life. I hope you all had an even better week then I did.

Love,
Elder Tommy Steinkuhler

PS So, who wants to write me a letter? And who wants a real letter? Let me know and I’ll try to be a better letter writer.
PPS I love you all.

So I climbed up the tree

Well, I’ve got a funny story. So last Monday we did service in the morning. We took the roof off the house of an investigator and left right when some of his friends got there to help him. That night as we were going home we walked past this bag (common article of the street) and my companion heard a cat. So we returned and found a kitten next to the bag. I picked it up... but still heard a cat. I looked up the tree and saw another little cat in the tree. So I (in the dark) climbed up the tree and saved the cat. As I hopped down a group of girls pasted by. They stopped and goggled over the cats. The last one grabbed the cat I plucked from the tree and said it was precious... and left with it, not even talking to us. So... we were left with a kitten. We brought it home and bathed it. The next day we gave it to a member as a birthday present. BUT... the reason I tell you all this:

So that night there was a HUGE wind storm and two really good things happened... the house we did the service for was okay, but if we hadn't helped them they would have been really wet that night. And we saved 2 little cats from certain death. The houses here had their roofs ripped off by the wind. We had 3 investigators loose part or all of their roofs and one investigator that had their whole house fall over (fortunately they were away on vacation). There were a lot of people terrified for their lives as huge plates of metal went flying through the air (that would be their roofs)... but no one in our area was hurt.

And that is about all I’ve got for the entire week. This week has been a running circus ride. A lot of things have happened to us and all of them were weird and/or sad... so I don’t really feel like talking about them. We did have our Zone Conference though and that was great! I love our president. He animates us a lot and gets us going. He also teaches us in these pure spirit lessons that just edify everyone. It is wonderful. I wonder if people ever feel that way when we leave. We’ve had a lot of people tell us that they feel the spirit when we teach and they want to make changes in their lives. We have lots of people who want to get baptized, but ALL of them need to get married. About 20 of them. It is kind of a bummer. But I love seeing the people change and the inner light start to come out. The best part is seeing the appearance of the person change. These people are often dark skinned and dark haired... but when they turn to God, I swear they are whiter and brighter then I have ever been. I love this work and I love being here.
I’ll be honest with you all... I’ve been rather trunky lately, but I have also never been so happy to be here. The feelings of love and hate get stronger no matter what direction you go. As I love the people more and desire more to stay so do the feelings of hate and desires to grow stronger. I know I’m in the right place and I know I’m happy... I just hope you all can see that too.

Sorry this is a short one, I’ve got stuff to do. I hope and pray that all is well.

All my love,
Elder Steinkuhler

he was a very angry little man

The gang and our Bishop Pohl

Elders Coats, Sasanuma, Yo, and Roy

Well, I'm lame... I never leave enough time to write all I want to. So let’s just jump back into this thing about my companion Elder Roy.

Elders Roy y Steinkuhler

Elder Roy started the mission a year ago here in Mayol (my area). It was his first area... well, he came back. He is a funny little fellow. I love working with him. He makes me laugh a lot, which is kinda funny because people told me he was a very angry little man. He has a lot of funny qualities that I’ve touched upon and almost fallen over laughing. For example, he is always tired. So what with the heat and all... he often finds it hard to stay awake in lessons. He often does drastic things to stay awake. The only weird thing about our companionship is that he knows the members and I know the investigators. I almost never go by the members... active or inactive. But he said it was almost all they did when he was here. So every once in a awhile we are walking along and he claps at a house. I think he is doing a contact, but out pops some random obscure member. Ha ha, good times.

Well, the temperature here is murderous. I remember seeing movies about people dying in the heat with bugs flying around their heads and sweat dripping off their faces. I remember thinking that was so weird and only happened in the wild jungles in Central America. Not true! As I whipped sweat off my face and swatted at a fly before clapping a house, my mind returned to that thought and I realized I'm in one of those places. I hear there is lots of snow up where I live. Well, the thought of snow is quickly melted from my mind with the heat here.... IT IS HOT!!! And HUMID!

Well, we found a bunch of really great families recently. One of them is a couple who were taught by the missionaries about 3 years ago. They are great. They know lots about the gospel and are excited to have Elders back in the house.

Another is a couple that lives in front of the last. They are wonderful and interested in finding answers to their questions.

Another is another couple that was also taught by the missionaries... but about 10 years back. I’m not sure if the father can read. But they are wonderful. I’ve fallen in love with their daughter. Her name is Jennifer and she is 8. She and her sisters are complete dolls and have put in a lot of effort to learn my name. They are wonderful!


One last thing... we are teaching a wonderful lady who has been listening to the missionaries for about a year now. She cannot get baptized because she needs to get married. Well, last night as we were heading home, we crossed paths with her. She looked really unhappy. We stopped and asked what was up. She started to expound upon the fact that she separated from her boyfriend that night. They were going to get a marriage license this week... so this was somewhat of a shock for us. We chatted for a bit and then headed over to the chapel. We prayed and as she explained what happened, I prayed and opened up the scriptures. I just randomly picked a scripture and it was perfect. It had her name in it and everything. We read it and she went home feeling a lot better. We are going to go to her house right now. I am so glad that we were where the Lord wanted us to be at just the right time. I hope you were all able to talk to someone this week as well... be that instrument in God’s hand this week. If you were, or had an experience this week... write it to me.

Love you all,
Tommy

I slept through all the fireworks

Another week down... another transfer down... another companion down. The 6 weeks have passed, and a new companion has arrived. Elder Roy is my new companion. He is a wonderful sterling young elder from Nicaragua. The funny thing is that he is RETURNING to his first area. So this is going to be interesting. At least I won’t need to train him in the area. He is a fluent Spanish speaker... with little English understanding. I’d put him at about 5 foot, 110 pounds. Dark skin, black hair, great smile... I feel awkward now. I honestly don't know anything about him... He seems great, so I’ll give you more details about him next week.

This past week was... blah. Everyone was traveling for the vacations and those who stuck around, wanted to spend time with the family that came to visit them. It was rather a slow week for us. Full of hypothesizes about transfers and rain and walking and parties. The end was really sad... it is always so sad to see people leave an area. The investigators always cry and don't understand. The members understand and try to tough it out. I’ll admit it is nothing like home. I don't remember any of the elders that passed through our ward. But everyone seems to remember us... photos are taken and tears are shared... It’s just a sad day. I’ll miss Elder Mortensen.

Well, something cool I wanted to share that just happened to me. I’ve always wanted to give The Book of Mormon to someone while they were reading another book. Today on the train I saw a woman reading a book and just knew it was my opportunity. So I sat down next to her and began to chat. She was reading the first Twilight book. It was too perfect. I explained how it was written in my home city, by a Mormon... I asked her why she was reading it and she said that her friend suggested it. I asked her if she would read a book if I suggested it and she happily agreed. I pulled out a copy of the Book of Mormon and gave it to her. I taught her a little bit about it and took down her information. I’ll be sending some elders to her house tonight. It is so wonderful to see the power God has. He turned my righteous desire into a wonderful experience.

This Saturday we did service for some orphanages. We put in a new floor so that they could sleep in more than one room. We also fixed the fence outside so that strange things don’t come in at night. It was fun to help them out. There were a lot of really cute little kids. The service was planned by our Zone Leaders... but due to weather and other things, it got delayed. Everyone was kind of cold hearted toward the activity when we left, but when we got there and saw the kids our hearts melted and we began to work. We got almost everything done in about an hour because of our desire to work and get the job done. We didn’t teach anything... we didn’t even wear ties... but it was good to serve the Lord in that way for a morning.

I have new goals for this year and new hopes. I’ve talked to my friends and connections and The Lord. It looks like I’ll be coming home in the first week of September. I’m sorry if you wanted me to come home earlier, but it looks to me like the Lord has other plans. I’m excited. I know I’ll really need you all to keep me excited too. I’m so grateful for all the prayers that I get from you all and support in various ways. I’m doing very well and my sickness is basically all gone. I’m excited and ready to go.

I hope that all of you take this opportunity to put goals down for the year. I never understood why we put goals down after new years. Then I realized that it is the best time of year, because we are all still focused on others after the Christmas Season. Now would be a great time for you all to get some goals down on paper and look at your lives. I know personally that it helps.

I love you all and keep you constantly in my thoughts and prayers.

Elder Steinkuhler

PS I slept through all the fireworks... :D