...even mistakes can turn into something amazing!

A crazy week this has been. But I'll only share a little bit. I think I'll talk about exchanges that happened on Saturday. I wanted to focus on learning to recognize the spirit and boy! I think I learned a lot!

It was around 7 at night and we were heading to a house to visit someone who might be interested in our message. But we missed the turn to get on their street. Instead of turning around, my companion Sister Linford kept going, telling me that there must be a reason why we missed our turn. We turned at the next place we could and stopped the car. 

We were going to use the spirit to find someone on this street who needed to hear our message. Long story short, we knocked on quite a few houses and got rejected each time. When we went to our car I thought to do one more, so we did. But still no good luck. We drove away, going to the house we originally were heading to.

To our amazement, the garage door was open and someone was on a ladder getting stuff down from a high shelf. We got out and was able to talk with the nice gentleman. He was interested and we made a time for us to come back and meet his wife, Heather. This man was the only one home at the time. 

This is such a great blessing because if we hadn't stopped and tried our luck at all the doors earlier we wouldn't have caught this guy in his garage and it would have been easy for him to shut the door in our face like so many others that night. We were so happy and amazed at the timing of the Lord. Only he could have helped us be right where we needed to be right when we needed to be there. 

I love the holy spirit now and how even mistakes can turn into something amazing. We just need to have open minds and look for God's plan in everything. 

This is all that I will share for this email. So I will bid you all farewell until next week! (Hopefully it will be longer then)

Love you all!
Sister Becca Steiner

Stories from Afar (Volume 4)

Any way, I guess it's time to get into the really fun stuff! SURPRISE!!!! I am not at Kirtland! I was sent right out into a full proselyting mission (I hope that's how you spell it) and I am in a town called Tallmadge; maybe 45 minutes away from Kirtland. This is really weird for everyone because I am the first VC Sister to NOT get trained at Kirtland so I'm not really sure what's up with that... but even before I learned where I was going I knew that the Lord would guide me and I would work to do my best.

My Companion is named Sister Burnside. I remember it because it's kind of like a sideburn, you know a beard... She makes that joke too sometimes when she introduces herself so that's been great. Thing about her and me is that we are so opposite! She loves shopping and you all know how I feel about that. She's not much for art or crafts or movies, but she's so open we are getting along quite well. I already feel that I can just ask her anything and she won't judge me for it. She's been so much fun! She looks a bit like one of my Trek Sisters; Miranda. (I think Bethany might know her) Sister Burnside is an inch or two shorter than me and is just so quirky! When it's just us and she goes on a rant she gains this silly accent that makes me laugh. I've already seen my own words following a similar pattern as hers when she speaks this way..... so no guarantees and it's only been 5 days! She can be pretty dramatic which is fun. (Btw she's from Sandy Utah)

My apartment is in a tall tower (At least tall for Tallmadge) and even though it says no smoking and stuff the halls always smell like it so that's been an adventure. I think the stairs smell like an unpleasant cat though Sister Burnside doesn't think so. We are the only two in our apartment and I think my favorite thing is to now grab my blanket and lay on the floor. Maybe it's also because I get so tired. 

The very first day Sister Burnside said that the Tallmadge area is the mission that EVERYONE wants to go to and that's because it is blooming! And she wasn't kidding! When we look at our areabook we have so many dots showing potentials and people we are teaching and the like! It's so crazy here! But I love it! We are always on the go and Exact Obedience is something we always strive for. Last night especially! (Oh it was so great... story time!)

We went to visit an old lady around 8:30 who Sister Burnside said was very talkative. We were there just listening to her for about 50 minutes! As you know, missionaries are supposed to be in their apartment by 9:30. We had about 10 minutes to drive back and get inside. As soon as we left the old lady's house we booked it to the car and quickly backed out (I had to stay out of the car to make sure we didn't hit anyone though there was no one there). When our building came into view it was 9:27; only three more minutes! We noticed that all the good parking spots were taken and so we had to turn around (Which included more backing up) and drive to the other side for more parking. I said a quick prayer for us to get in before 9:30. We found Celestial Parking which was great but we got out of the car so fast! We ran and were practically crying out "Exact Obedience!" as we went. Thankfully, my companion's phone said it was 9:29 as we reached our door and we both sighed gratefully to be in on time. 

I know that is super ridiculous but we've been super obedient and the effects are already showing in this amazing area. I want to keep having miracles happen and the way to get those miracles is though Exact Obedience. hehe! You are probably wanting to know more about some of the people we are teaching. Well, I'll gladly tell you!

On Saturday we went to a referral and her name was Mae, though most people call her Freddy. (I have no idea why). We taught her the first lesson and she was supper receptive! She already had experience with feeling the Holy Ghost so it was pretty easy to invite her to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if its true. She accepted... and then it was my turn. I promised her that she would get that truth if she sought for it intently (Like Mormoni 10:4-5 says) but I also asked that if she did get the witness would she be willing to act on it and get baptized! SHE SAID YES!!!! So point for extending my very first soft baptism invite! Huzzah! We are excited to go later this week and teach her more.

That same day we went to go see a lady named Carolina who lives in our same building. She has been having lessons for a while now and has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon. We are trying to get through to her boyfriend Bruce. He is the one who I usually think about. It took Sister Burnside and Sister Dunn a few weeks to get through to him enough for him to sit in on the lessons and so we weren't sure what was going to happen when I came instead of Sister Dunn.

Also something you should know is that when Bruce did come out of his shell he gave the other sisters nicknames. Sister Burnside is Smiles though I don't think Sister Dunn got one. But I got one that night. I got a nickname. I don't think I've ever been so happy to get a nickname because it means that he likes us. (He really doesn't like people) And guess what my nickname is!! He calls me Red. It's not because I'm "Retired Extremely Dangerous" Haha! Its because my face burns when I talk sometimes; especially when I'm nervous. So yeah! A silly nickname that I love! 

Bruce has done a lot in darkness and he doesn't have much a desire for light. He told us he wanted to find someone who was as dark as him but nope! Instead he got to meet me! An innocent girl full of light. (Seriously he talked about how innocent I look) I'm just so grateful he's opened up to me. I don't know what we'll do to get through to him and show him that light is better than darkness even though its hard. My hope is that I'll be able to be a good example to him of light and how him how amazing it is. I know Heavenly Father loves him and I do too. 

I will be honest that after talking to him about his darkness I was freaked out but I know there is hope for him. If anything, I want to remain his friend. He has told us he doesn't have friends and so I think that's very important. But yeah. That's been my life right now.

At least, the non-stressful part. Sister Burnside and I have to decide how often we go up to Kirtland to do tours and stuff. My companion worries about me and my training for the Kirtland stuff. She stresses out about this a lot though I think we'll just figure that out as we go. We are actually going to head up there later tonight and stay there until Wednesday morning. We both know how important Tallmadge is and thus we aren't going to go up very often. Since I haven't spent much time up there I haven't met the other Kirtland Sisters yet but I will tonight. That's exciting, though I think I'll go back to being quiet like I usually do around big groups. (My companion already knows that about me. At least she'll have my back and I'm grateful for that)

I'll finally get my phone tonight too! YAY! Right now I am actually in a library on a computer. This will probably be the last computer I'll touch for a long time. Yeah, we have a rule about not being on computers at all. We had to call our Mission President for permission to do this since I don't have my phone yet. This is a pretty strict mission and our Mission President is intimidating. Sister Burnside is both in awe and terror at the mention of his name. It's pretty silly. I love her. She makes me smile in a world that is so grey. Seriously! There has not been a sunny day since I've arrived here. LOTS of rain/snow and I'm so grateful for my rain-boots!! There was Frozen Rain on the day I arrived. It's been great!

I hope all of this makes sense cause it feels so disorganized today. But oh well! Life has been amazing and my companion is hilarious and encouraging. She's always pointing out my strengths and helping to start using them more often in our teaching. (I never knew that innocence could be a strength but that was one she mentioned after Bruce). She's patient with all of the stories I tell and we laugh a lot. I am loving the work though missing my music and stories. I do miss you all too but the stories I tell of you is helping me be happy. So thanks for all the fun adventures we've been on.

Until Next Time!

Sister Becca Steiner

P.S. I did get myself a new coat. We have two dinner plans on Thursday so we'll be stuffed. As far as I know our P-Day is on Monday.

We also got this cute note from Becca's Companion:

Subject: NICE TO MEET YOU

HI I'm sister Burnside and I get to be companions with your AMAZING daughter!!!! She is so happy it's crazy!!!!!! Here are some cute pictures of her I took on my phone (see them above) !! I already LOVE her

I wish your amazing family the very best <3

The Life of a Visitor Center Missionary

It’s Friday, I have yet another P-Day, which is pretty nice, but that means that I don’t know when I'll be able to email you all next. I get to my mission next Wednesday and I think that is P-Day in the field. I’ll see if I can send something out then. Anyway, since the rest of my district has left the time for the real training has begun. 

These last two days I have learned so much about what Visitor Center Missionaries do and I am now more excited to be one.Apparently, VC Sisters (Visitor Center Sisters) do a lot of work online. There’s this website we go to that lists off the people all around the world who are requesting free Book of Mormons or Bibles. It appears that most on the list are desiring bibles. Which kind of makes sense. 

But our job on that website is to contact those people in that list by messaging them and then calling them to ask more questions and contact info! Calling.... many of you probably know that I can get super scared from calling and tend to pace around for a few minutes before even attempting the call. (That’s what happened when I had to call and set up an appointment with the Stake President to come out on this mission) It looks like I’ll have to get over this weakness of mine.

Also with online work, we get to refer to ourselves by our first names! It’s to help people understand that we aren’t nuns but actual people with experiences. It’s already really weird to use my first name! Lol! Who knew it would happen so quickly?

The other thing about VC Sisters which I love a lot more than calling is giving tours. It was described to us as a “walking lesson” and that is literally what it is... except I think it’s easier. When giving a tour you have a lot of resources to work with; videos, pictures sculptures, etc. all of these things have a story and you all know how much I love telling stories. We had a TRC tour yesterday. Basically a practice one where we had a person, learned about who he was/ his story and then took him to different murals we have to teach him something that could help him. Our TRC wanted to find direction in his life and so we went to two murals; the first showed Nephi about to renter Jerusalem to get the plates “being led by the spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [he] should do”. 

The second mural depicted the story of Esther and how she stood before a King. I loved telling these stories and I felt that he understood them better because there was a picture. We continued by explaining that these two stories told of people who trusted in the Lord. They did not know what would happen, only that the Lord was on their side. Come to think of it, I can also relate to these stories. After all, I have no idea what’s going to happen on my mission. I just know that giving tours is probably my favorite thing so far.

The other news is that I’ve now met up with all the other sisters going to visitor centers! There is about 50 of us here right now, so they had to split us up into two classes. Silly thing is that the 50 of us only represent 4 different missions. More than half are going to Temple Square and the other half are going to the Washington DC Temple Visitor Center. You noticed I did my math wrong?... yup! There’s a single sister going to the Mormon Battalion Historical site in California and then there’s me; the lone missionary off to Kirtland.

It kind of depresses me because I was really looking forward to meeting someone going to my same mission. I guess I was hoping to make a friend that I would see a lot at the Visitor Center. But alas it is not meant to be. It does make me wonder why. Why am I the only one? Why was I sent at this point in time and not when a big group of us went out? There are a few answers that give me comfort. I’d like to think that Heavenly Father has something special planned for me there. The other reason is so I could learn to be more social and not have to live with the mistakes that I’ve made here at the MTC. 

I am definitely learning a lot about myself and the things I need to work on to become the Sister I want to be. Wow, I just love telling stories. So I thank everyone for listening (or reading as it may be). I’m excited and also nervous to head out to my mission, but I know that Heavenly Father will be by my side. He’s definitely been here this week, holding me up when all I wanted to do was cry and sending precious sisters to listen and comfort me. It’s been really hard. Wednesday has probably been the hardest day of my whole MTC experience. But I am making it through and surviving. 

Never underestimate the power a single email has upon the heart of a missionary! (Or anyone else) So I’m going to challenge you guys that when you get a prompting to reach out to someone, don’t wait; not even a single day! Cause even if it’s a really short message, it still has the power to make someone’s day a whole lot brighter.  

I love you all and hope you are doing well. But I will bid you farewell until next time!

Sister Becca Steiner

Stories from Afar (Volume 2)

This week has been both amazing and difficult. I’ve felt lonely, been given comfort, gotten a greater witness that this is where I’m meant to be, and also have felt the love of a new family I found here at the MTC.

Hearing stories about why others are out on a mission kind of brought me down. I have had experiences and they have been amazing! But so many others have gone through things I can barely imagine and it has made them strong and their testimonies reflect their inspiring determination. Stories of overcoming and persevering through family problems, death of loved ones, even suicide of close friends. I was not anticipating all of their experiences and I allowed myself to feel... I guess discouraged. Did I know why I was here on my own mission?

My art

I wrote in my journal my experiences to try to make me feel a bit better and it sort of worked. But what really helped me was praying to my Father in Heaven. I felt comforted. The next day, I started drawing on the same page as the day before but words came to my mind and instead of drawing, I wrote them down.

“Turn the page...” I wrote. “It's a new day!

My soul lifted and I felt courage and peace. I then began to draw what I was feeling on the next page. I love that picture because it still gives me the courage, peace and strength that I felt that day. I’m so grateful for art and being able to express myself through it.

The next story I’ll tell is about the power of music. It is tradition for the leaving districts to sing a song during their past sacrament meeting with the zone. The song that we chose was the EFY Melody. This song has always been special to me because it reminds me of when I sang a rendition of it with my family and also a miraculous experience I had on Trek when I sang it then. Little did I know it would be wonderful to me even here at the MTC.

Practices were always pretty bad, like they usually are but I had faith that the Lord would help us do our best on the actual day and thus it was! It was powerful. The spirit filled the room and while we were up there I realized two distinct things that Heavenly Father wanted me to know.

The first came about because I looked out the window of the room we were in and once again saw the building I stayed in during my time at BYU. At that moment I was singing with power, proclaiming that I was a missionary. I knew then that I could overcome the feeling of longing I got whenever I saw that scene. No longer would it hold sway over my heart and no longer would I allow it to tempt me away from being a missionary for the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Now whenever I look towards BYU I feel warm and smile because I know where I’m going and what I’m doing. I’ll return there someday, but that isn’t today.

The second realization came from the words we sang on the last chorus. Instead of singing “we will be the Lord’s missionaries!” we changed it to say “we are now the Lord’s missionaries!” At that moment all my feelings of loneliness disappeared and I discovered that the Elders and Sisters who stood by my side had become my family! I had hope that my district and every missionary I would ever meet were a part of one great family. We may have come from different walks of life with different experiences but we all had one thing in common; being united to do this great work! I may feel alone sometimes but in reality I’m never alone. I will always have a Sister in the Gospel by my side.

Amazing district and a teacher; Sister Rojas

That night I let go of the hard feeling I had with my companion and I was more free than I have ever been here at the MTC. I laughed, joked, and played with the others and I really needed to be joyous. That day the Elders became my brothers and same with the Sisters! Sunday night was joyful beyond what I can say, but there was much more to come the next day.....

Amazing district and a teacher; Sister Rojas

The day went slow and somber because we all knew it was the last day that all of us would be together. The classes came and went, kind of dull, but the moment I want to touch upon was at district council that evening. We finished telling each other why each of us were on our missions and my companion was last. But before she even started she was already in tears and could not tell her story. She didn’t want too.

After a while of silence, Elder Smith began his testimony and got it going. Everyone has beautiful testimonies and most of what was said was how we really had become brothers and sisters. We had come from so many different places but now we were one! Many tears were shed, and eventually my companion was willing to share with us her reason for a mission.

I was astounded at the things she been through. She ended with the Lord’s promise that she would be a light unto others and help them know they are loved. She has doubts because of her experiences but she is putting her faith in God. Somehow, with her mission she will be able to receive this blessing. I teared up at this. I haven’t told her yet, but she and I have the same desire. We both hope that Heavenly Father will help us make a difference. Knowing this has definitely helped me love her more than ever before! I am astounded in her faith and pray that she will have that blessing and all others that God wants her to have.

The rest of the testimonies were so tender and I loved them all so much. We also exchanged little notes with each other. But I didn’t truly cry until the very end when Elder Smith gave the closing prayer. We all knelt down on the floor and got in a really close circle. I don’t remember much of what was said, but the spirit descended almost tenfold and tears fell from my eyes. I knew without a doubt that we were family and always would be because of all that we’ve been through.

I cried for our family, and those who would leave in the next few days. I cried because of the love I felt and the connection to each and every one of them. By the end, everyone was crying, Sister Finlinson the most of all. She had clung to her companion and was sobbing. I had enough to go over and cling on, sobbing with her and feeling her sorrow. She was amongst the first to leave and she was my closest friend. It hurt to see her sob so heartbroken! (Sorry to say family that I cried harder here than I did saying goodbye to you all)

This is when it was the hardest to not hug all the Elders! It was awful! But alas I have not and await for the day to hug the rest of you! The rest of the night I kept thinking of a scripture in Alma. (Huzzah for the scriptures!) When Alma the younger sees the sons of Mosiah for the first time in years. It is after they have all been preaching the word of God and they rejoice exceedingly! But what added to their joy was finding each other still strong in the faith.

This story gives me hope that I will see the members of this district again, whether it be in this life or the next. And we will rejoice exceedingly for the success each one of us will have. Our district chose the Christ-like attribute of hope this week and I think it is a great one to work on.

We will hope for each other’s safety in our travels. We will hope for success in our missions and for strength to see them through! And we will hope for the day when we will be able to see each other and rejoice!

I’m going to miss my district so much! Every time I think of the faces of those who have already left I get tears in my eyes. But I know the Lord will carry me through this last week and seeing everyone else leave. Four left today, six Elders leave tomorrow, and then three sisters head out next Tuesday, leaving me to be the last to go next Wednesday. The Lord will carry me through this.

After district council last night

I love telling you all stories and I hope that they brighten your day. Even though they were kind of sad this week. I’ll try to find more funny stories in the future. I love you all so very much!

Until next time,

Sister Becca Steiner