Stories from Afar (Volume 14)

I guess I'll start with the strange story to why my P-Day is on Tuesday this week instead of Monday. So as some of you might know already, my companion and I made plans to go to the temple with Shannon and Robin. It will be Shannon's first time and we are all super excited to go on Thursday. We got permission from the District Leader and talked to the Sister Training Leaders about how we could have this temple trip come to pass. Well, they all told us that we would have to change our P-Day to Thursday and use up our free time to go. We knew the temple would be worth it; even when we got the news that there would be a District Activity on Monday where they would watch the movie called "The Best Two Years" (Which I have never seen) and eat popcorn. We knew it would be worth it to miss such a fun activity. 

Sunday afternoon came around and we realized that we needed to make sure it was okay with our Zone Leaders that our P-Day was changing. We texted them but they didn't reply. Thus Monday started and we began it like any other normal day; exercising and studying. We even went out and did service for Vickie. At 2 PM the Zone Leaders called us and gave us the great and terrible news....
Normally you do have to go to the temple on a P-Day but you don't have to when you are going with a recent convert!! We told them that everyone had told us otherwise and after getting in touch with the President's Assistants, we found that the Zone Leaders were correct.... We were disappointed and my companion was a bit angry that they hadn't told us the day before. So basically, we missed that District Activity for nothing. Very disappointing but we are trying not to be bitter. In fact, I learned a lot from this experience. 

Later yesterday night, the spirit whispered to me and helped me see this whole situation in a new light. The Lord was testing us to see what we would give up to go to His temple. We were totally willing to give up not just ANY P-Day, but a P-Day that would be spent hanging out with other missionaries and watching an amazing, funny movie. (All of that is a Missionary's dream for a free day) We proved to the Lord that we loved Him more than we love movies and activities. Now, like Abraham and Isaac of old the Lord has tried us and is showering us with blessings because we did the right thing. The Zone Leaders granted us the opportunity to have P-Day today and still be able to go to the temple on Thursday with Shannon and Robbin. So we gave up something good for something that was infinitely better. 

I have learned that when you are willing to sacrifice something you love in order to do the Lord's will, He will bless you in more ways than you can ever imagine. I'm sure that you all are seeing the Lord's blessings in your lives as I am out here doing what I can to serve the Lord. WOW!!!! Sometimes I love being a Missionary! 

People look at you weirdly, especially when you mention that you need to use the bathroom really loudly in a small restaurant. (Yes, that happened this week) They wonder about our name tags and why we are wearing skirts in freezing weather. (Don't worry mom, the leggings you got me are doing wonders) Some are in awe of what we are doing, insomuch that they care to warn us about dangerous people living on the next street over (that happened yesterday while we were tracting in what used to be the Elder's area on a street named Burnside; my companion's last name hehe). Others just adore us and give us hugs and lots of food. (We have had a dinner with members/non-members like every day for these past 2 weeks. I almost forgot what it was like to have a normal dinner hour in the apartment) But yeah, those are just the little things that have been happening in the Tallmadge Area here in Ohio.
Kirtland on the other hand... A bit has changed. We now have a new Site Director. They are the Isaac's and instead of going by Elder he now goes by President. So I have two Presidents that I follow; President Stratford and President Isaac. They should work well together, at least I hope they do. President Isaac and his wife are so cute and kind. They are also very knowledgeable in Church History. He used to work in the Church History Department back in Salt Lake so he REALLY knows his stuff. We'll see what kind of changes will happen now he is Site Director of Kirtland. 

Also up in Kirtland we ended up playing the Transfer Game during dinner hour. In the Kitchen in Kirtland there is a whiteboard with all of our names and pictures on it; showing who is in which area and such. The Transfer Game is when you and other Sisters make guesses on where each of us will go next transfer. Needless to say, I really hope to go with a certain sister by the name of Sister Conway. She speaks my same language of movie quotes and puns and we are already great friends at the Visitor Center. She goes home in two transfers so I really hope I get to be her companion.
Being companions with Sister Burnside has been a real blast and I am going to miss her a lot. I'm grateful for Kirtland because we will still be able to see each other when we are there. So the good byes to companions don't last too long up here. 

Other news..... Well, Carolina had her little baby boy!!! He is super cute and small. Too bad we can't hold babies as missionaries. But hey both the baby and the mother are doing fine. We will be seeing them later this evening. Not much else to report on the others except that we are not sure when Vickie is going to be baptized. 

I do miss you all back at home and I had a dream the other night that you all came to visit me. I freaked out and tried to avoid you in the crowds. I think this shows that I really am turning into a true blue missionary! But don't worry, friends and family. I still love you all and know you are praying for me. Keep up the good work you do at home and church. You never know what a little service will do for someone else. Until next Wednesday (It's transfers so P-Day is on Wed next week) I bid you farewell.

Sending LOTS of LOVE from Ohio!
Sister Becca Steiner

PS. I miss Camo....

Stories from Afar (Volume 13)

This last week, Sister Burnside and I were anticipating the storm that would arrive on Saturday and woooh!!!! What a storm its been!

Sister Burnside's favorite spot...

It didn't start snowing until 11 am on Saturday but it snowed the rest of the night making the roads horrible and the snow kept piling up. Word was received that church would be canceled and at first we were like, why? They should have all of the snow cleared by the time church starts in the morning but as we lived the next day we realized why. 

Sunday's temperature was in the teens and there were gusts of wind possibly up to 30-40 miles per hour, making it feel like it was in the negatives. We couldn't tell if it was snowing half of the time or if the wind was just picking up the dry snow. Often, there was white all around the edge of the sky like cloud cover but then just above us was blue sky. I have to think that all the white was the snow blowing around us. 

The snowbank....

The Mission President counseled us to stay inside and NOT drive. Needless to say, they didn't need to ask us twice. We stayed in our apartment for the entire day!! SO what did we do to fill our time? First off, the missionaries in my district had a little church meeting of our own over the phone where we bore our testimonies of Christ. That was a really cool experience. After that we studied and I did service by making a little pipe-cleaner dragon for a certain sister in the ward. That was a lot of fun to do. Another thing we did was go visit Bruce and Carolina. They live in our apartment building so we didn't have to go outside. Huzzah! We did service for them, had dinner with them, and also read the Book of Mormon with them. I'm so grateful that they live so close and the amazing friendship we have.

I guess that brings us to day 3 of the storm. The snow is coming down off and on and the wind isn't as bad as yesterday. The temperature is about 9 degrees last time my companion checked but it feels like -4.... But we have to do things we don't always want to do so... yeah. We have to clean out our car for Zone Conference this week, probably go shopping for food (Mostly just milk for my cereal) and of course missionary work later this evening. 

Pipe-cleaner dragon

Sometimes life in an adventure and I would totally say that these last few days have been just that! I have definitely learned more about the Lord's time. Every hour doing missionary work is His and we need to do all we can for Him. Just because we were inside doesn't mean that the time was my own. That was an important lesson I learned yesterday. I'm grateful for warmth and blankets and fox-socks. I love watching the snow fall and see it billow in the winds. I'm grateful I didn't have to walk a dog yesterday or go to the store (we saw some people doing that). 

Even the darkest and scariest storms can bring goodness. They create opportunities to serve and cause people to be more grateful for the everyday things. I'm grateful for Christ's atonement and the knowledge that we are never alone. He has been through it all alone so we do not have to. ("None Were With Him" by Elder Holland 2009?) 

Super stuck red car.... and snow

I hope you all are surviving your own storms of life and are holding to the Rod of Iron. It will help keep you grounded upon the rock of our Redeemer. Stay warm and loving!!!

Sending a LOT of LOVE from the snowy Ohio!!!!

Sister Becca Steiner

Stories from Afar (Volume 12)

This week has gone by really fast!!! I still can't believe that is P-day again! Woohoo! Anyway, we finally have snow again in Ohio even though it's only about 1-2 inches. It's really pretty to walk in when you are all bundled up and warm. It makes me happy.

We had interviews once again!!! And before it I was pretty terrified. Last time I didn't have the best experience but I am happy to say that this time was definitely better. I didn't really have much of a conversation with President Stratford but that's okay. I think he dug out most of the stuff about how I'm doing from my companion. So that experience went pretty well. 

Oh! Also, we had exchanges last Wednesday! I got paired up with Sister Linford again and it was pretty stressful. I had to lead in the Tallmadge area and know all the people we were going to see and such. Sadly, it didn't include me driving. Haha I have not driven a car since October!! It's super weird and I feel that I might scream again if I do. (Throw back to first time driving hehe) But I did learn a lot because of exchanges. I learned that I know more than I thought I did about the people and that I should always invite people to read and pray about the Book of Mormon! That promise is so powerful it can change people's lives for the better!

So update on some people from last time. Bruce and Carolina are amazing as always! This week we've been over there a lot, reading the Book of Mormon together! We also got their sister, Angelica to join us and we invited all of them to pray about the book!!! I am so excited for all of them! Huzzah!! We also helped them move into a new apartment down the hall. It was a lot of fun as we pushed a stroller up and down the first-floor hall carrying boxes of stuff. I love their family!

The family that we had invited to church last Saturday didn't come and we haven't really had a chance to visit them again. I hope we will get that chance soon! I now see that we need to invite them to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know its truthfulness!!! 

Kaleb, the guy we hope to have baptized on the 27th, just had a family member pass away so we've given him some space. I'm not sure when we'll visit with him again. 

Let's see, anything else? Oh! Sister Burnside and I went up to Kirtland on Friday and it was slow but still good! We took out one tour and so we had plenty of time to do studies and such. We also had to say good bye to the Site Directors; Elder and Sister Jennings. It was really sad and tears were shed. They are going home to Utah later this week. The whole Visitor Center will miss them!!!

I can't really remember the other things that have happened cause it went by so quickly but I'm grateful to be out on my mission and helping others come unto Christ! So until next time, farewell!!

Love, love, love
Sister Becca Steiner

Stories from Afar (Volume 11)

WOW!!! This week has gone by super quickly!! But I guess first of all you are all wondering exactly what happened to the person we asked to be baptized last minute. Well, I'll just say that it didn't happen... He was super busy and didn't really reply back to our texts at the beginning of the week. Needless to say, it was the cause of much stress. But we are planning for the 26/27th of this month. So that will be exciting!

Dinner.... a shake and fries!

 On New Years Day, (The day after P-day) Sister Burnside and I wore our SLACKS!!!! WOO!! It was definitely more warm and pretty crazy... We looked like business women, Haha! We went to a restaurant called First Watch! (hehehe....) It served mostly breakfast foods and I realized that those are my favorite. I can't count how many times we had breakfast for dinner before coming out on my mission. (I'm really missing French Toast.... I'll probably buy the supplies today)

We met with Shannon there and we showed her our slacks and told us she felt like she was at an interview or something. We all laughed at that. Of course, with them being black I got dog hair all over them that night and haven' taken the time to brush them off. I guess we are both so used to dresses it will take time to realize we have something more to wear. It's super exciting!

Okay, you are also wondering more about what more I did this week in missionary work. Well, I am pleased to announce that last Saturday was probably one of the BEST days of my mission so far! Huzzah! It was definitely a day where I learned how amazing it is to be a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and be able to rely on the Holy Spirit as it testifies of truth. I also learned that sometimes missionary work is so much more than teaching. It is about friendship and service.

Sisters of our District

So the first thing I learned happened because of a lesson we had with a family who we had found the night before and had a history of learning about any and every church they ran into. So it was the very first time inside the house and our plan was to share the Restoration but apparently, God had another plan. We listened to the mom as she explained her journey of experiencing so many churches. We could barely get a word in, it was that crazy.... But then it got SUPER CRAZY!!!

A knock sounded at the screen door and since the main door was open, I could see the shadow of a young man. He called out "We are missionaries for another church (I will not say which)." They proceeded to bribe this family into hearing a lesson with candy and balloon animals! I repeat... BALLOON ANIMALS!!!! Thankfully the mother was kind enough to tell them no because we were there. She also told them off of going to church the next day because she had already agreed to come to our church. (YAY!!! That made me very happy) But these two missionaries were persistent. They offered food, rides for her children to their church, and even more candy. All I could do was sit silently because I was so shocked!!! 

Me and my super cute Eevee!!!
(drawn by a friend)

This experience was definitely a testimony builder at the truthfulness of our church. We don't have to bribe people to come. We reverently invite them to experience the truth for themselves and we have a promise that if they earnestly seek for it, it WILL happen! We can gain a powerful testimony that this is God's church. I definitely felt it that day. I know our church is Christ's true church! How grateful I am to be a missionary for Him!

The next story I have happened much later that night; at 7 PM. The Elders had called us and explained how they had a lesson planned with a woman named Jennifer but they were too far away to make it to her house. Thus Sister Burnside and I came to the rescue! And what a rescue it was!!!

This lady was trapped. She, herself, has been clean for over 2 years but the boyfriend that lives with her is definitely not. He totaled their car and basically is like a zombie. She loves him with all her heart but he cannot feel emotion for her; which is super sad. She cannot go anywhere because she doesn't have a car and its cold outside. 

But when my companion and I came she told us her life story because she really needs girlfriends. Someone who can understand what she needs and loves her and helps her. (I'm not saying that the elders couldn't do that) We were able to listen and love her already.

Chocolate Cheeks

During one of her pauses as we talked, I took a step towards her and gave her a hug. Of course, not everyone likes hugs but sometimes I just go for it, no questions asked. And I am glad I did because after Jennifer recovered from her shock she meekly told us that she couldn't remember the last time she has been hugged!!!! WHAT!?!?! I died at that! How can someone go for so long without a hug?! We were all so full of emotion and I cannot tell you how many hugs were given and promises to come back and bring brownies (my specialty, hehe). But we also gave her a Book of Mormon and told her exactly what someone once told Shannon "If you want to have true happiness you will read the Book of Mormon!" We know she's in so much pain, so we invited her to read Alma 36. We book-marked it for her and I hope that she does and learns that through Christ can all of her pains be washed away.

So from this experience I learned that there are people out here who really need friends. I have seen so many already! Friendship is a great way to do missionary work; even back at home! So I encourage you all to reach out to old friends. Pray to know who to talk to and the Lord will help you remember! Love them, listen to their stories, and help them out in anyway you can. The Lord is on your side!

I am so grateful to be a missionary! I enjoy being out here in Ohio and serving others with all my heart. Though a piece of my heart will always be in Utah, I look forward to the year-ish I have to be here. I love you all and I hope you guys are doing well. SO! Farewell until next Monday!

Love, love, love,

Sister Becca Steiner

Stories from Afar (Volume 10)

Hola mi familia y amigos! Christmas has come and gone and life has been looking up! The days before that fantastic day celebrating Christ's birth were really hard as people were stressed out and too busy to meet. I'm glad the holiday season is almost over and I still can't believe that the year is over and a new one is beginning! WOOT!!! 

A couple days ago as I thought about this I realized that ALL of 2019 would be spent out here in Ohio as I do missionary work and bring others to Christ. It was a little intimidating to realize that but words came ino my mind that brought me peace. "This is my year!" From a very young age, one of my greatest desires has been to make a difference in other people's lives and now that I'm on my mission I finally get to spend every moment of every day doing just that! So this really is my year! "Hoorah for Isreal!" (hehe, movie quote) 

Anyway, it was difficult before Christmas but after... so many miracles happened and Sister Burnside and I were able to get out of feeling low. We remembered that Missionary work is fun and the Lord blessed us immensely! That first day everything was on time! We met so many people we wouldn't have if we hadn't gone certain ways or accidentally had too long of a Weekly Planning session. Needless to say, it was a great day to pick ourselves back up and remember that the Lord is with us. So that was great!

Oh yeah!!! I have another really cool story to tell! So there is this guy. He's been coming to church for 4-5 years already because his girlfriend is a member, but he hasn't been baptized. So last weekend, Sister Burnside and I were pondering on what day we should ask him to be baptized and Jan 6th kept popping into her mind. It was too soon! she thought... I mean, it is only a week away. But the Lord kept prompting us for that day and told us that if this person we are teaching accepts this date then he would be able to get the testimony he's been searching for this week!! That's so crazy! We tried to get a hold of this person on Saturday but couldn't. So yesterday, after second hour we rushed out of class and told him what the Lord was inviting him to consider right in the middle of the hall at church. The spirit was SO strong!!! Wow! And surprisingly, he wasn't too surprised about the invitation but he promised that he would pray about it. 

We are still waiting to hear back from him, but it should be soon. I mean... a baptism in 6 days... woo! (Wipes future sweat off my brow) But the Lord himself has set this invitation and so I don't doubt that it can be done if this person wants it. EEEeeek!!!! I'm so excited. Hopefully, there will be a happy ending to this story next week!

Also with this new year, my companion and I met this lady who picks a word each year and applies it to her life/notices it a bit more and we want to try the same thing. So this new year, my word is going to be "Heal." That's one of the reasons why I am out here. I want to help heal people by bringing them unto Christ and feel of the goodness and light that is the gospel! I'm going to make a little bracelet with that word on it so I can remember!!

Well, I think that is all for now. So HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!!!! "It's the start of something new!" (Hehe) Have an amazing evening and I love you all! Have fun, be safe, don't die!!!
Until next time,

Sister Becca Steiner

P.S. Still no snow in Ohio...