Here in the mission we do something called "contacts". It is supposedly the most inefficient way of teaching and finding. Well, we only have 15 members in our ward... so we don't have many options. So, we do LOTS of contacts. However, some days we are just teaching and don't have time for contacts. We ALWAYS try to do 5 a day. It is amazing how sometimes it is the 5th person that lets you come back after 4 rejections. ANYWAY... Tuesday was one of those days. We did contacts and on our last one... we found a man by the name of Jorge. Wednesday (the next day) we came back and took a baptismal date out with him for 1 ½ weeks later. Saturday we went by with the Branch President. Sunday he walked 50 blocks to come to church. And on THIS Sunday he will be baptized!
I would like to take the time out and say that this was all due to great leaders, great RMs, obedience and faith. Jorge has been pre-prepared by other missionaries and it was due to them and faith that we found him. We came in for our first appointment and he was sitting there with his Book of Mormon, Bible and a smile of his face. We started out with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and in the middle he stops us... basically explains everything in his own words and asks, "Look, when can I get baptized?". You have no idea how wonderful it is to hear those words. Now that I know we are going to have a baptism here I will tell you all a little bit about Villa Zula (my area).
Villa Zula has the reputation in the mission of being the most dead area. There are few members and no ward support. When I got to this area there were no records or investigators. It was like opening an area. I’ve worked as hard as I can (I think it is due to this area that I'm losing my hair). When Elder Villagra came I decided to tell him we had the best area in the mission. I boasted up every good point of our area. We started to work hard and the mission president here told us to "take the tops off our areas", as we put our faith in our leaders words... miracles have happened here. Villa Zula is now one of the leading areas in the Zone. We have exploded with success. In fact, so much that we don`t have time to handle it all. I cannot tell you how wonderful the Lord is to his missionaries. Blessings are at every hand. I want to tell you all that miracles exist today. Faith, obedience and hope are the keys to finding those miracles.
Another great thing has happened to us this week. Elder Aidukitis from the 70 came to speak with us. He told us all what we are doing bad and showed us how to do it better. We got to take a photo with him. It was an amazing talk that he gave to us. We did a few practices and he called on Elder Villagra and me to help him. In the practice he threw a Book of Mormon at me because I wouldn't accept it (as a joke). It was pretty scary to see a church leader throw a Book of Mormon at my face. He encouraged us though. He promised us we can double the work we are doing. He also promised us we can baptize EVERY WEEK of our missions.... regardless of where we are. It was that same day that Jorge asked us when he could be baptized. What a great week!
Well, things are cold down here. The majority of the people and missionaries are sick. A dear friend of mine kindly reminded me that if I want to stay healthy I should ask for prayers. So just letting you all know... there are sick missionaries down here who could use some prayers.
Other than that things are great! I got my birthday present from my Mommy. She included glow sticks and it turns out glow sticks don’t exist here. So my companion had a grand old time playing with them. He thought they were the coolest thing ever and asked if they had batteries. Then how to turn it off... it was a good night. I hope the pictures of that also make it through.
Well, I hope you enjoyed this week`s presentation of "A week in the Life of Elder Steinkuhler". Things are going great! We are all having a grand time down here.
Love you all,
Tommy
PS ¿Are there any questions? - (mother should get that quote)
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