August 24

Feeling tired Sunday, Aug. 10, after our temple trip to Raleigh the day before. Made it to branch council then had to leave early to pick up Tyrei and Kierra. Barely made it back in time for sacrament meeting. Lots of new people showed up. Had to bless sacrament water twice because they ran out. Sister Jensen (missionary in YSA branch), Ellie Lewis (going to Prove to BYU) and Cassie Paries (newly returned missionary) spoke. Good meeting. Alexis taught Gospel Doctrine on Elisha. Our combined third hour was taught by Bro. Reese on family history. Most of the kids had laptops or tablets and he walked everyone through how to get on and find names. Had to have a nap after meetings and warm up leftovers for dinner. Watched Bible videos on Mormon Channel, mostly New Testament and ate popcorn. Checked online for 12 volt air compressor. Walmart had a better deal than Harbor Freight. Now to get Stevon's tire fixed!

Monday we did our workout and enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Warm and muggy all day. Bought the air compressor at Walmart, even though it was higher price and model than online. When we got to Stevon's car, a motorcycle was parked next to it, so had to maneuver that around so we could get close enough to air up his rear tire. Then Stevon mentioned he has to fix broken housing for tail light and replace serpentine belt. And he does not want to drive it to tire shop because he might get stopped for no license plate. So we drove it to the new apartment where he moved and he is going to fix the tail light. We vegged out (napped) when we got home. E. Steffler talked on the phone about 2 hours! Picked up Kierra and friend and Tyrei for FHE. Suppose to play Ultimate Frisbee, but it started to rain, so played Defend Your Chair. I'm learning all kinds of new games. About 30 kids came; good turn out. It rained almost 3/4 inch of rain. Lightning and rain when we returned kids to their homes.

Tuesday was water aerobics, and we forgot our noodles. E. Steffler returned to apt to get them. Took G2 elders to graduation lunch to B's Barbecue. I can think of better ways to celebrate, but that's what they wanted. Then got ready to feed 3 more branch members dinner of enchiladas. Had trouble with gps finding an address to pick up one of them, but finally got to eat. Talked about Palmyra; all 3 had gone on the bus trip. Andrew told us about his grandpa holding a "pig pickin" in the backyard. You roast a whole pig then just pick off the meat you want to eat. Learned a new term!

Wednesday walked in 100% humidity, yet again. Did laundry and made a batch of bread in preparation for G2 sisters that come for practice lessons. Got items together for Maike's birthday, even went to UPS Store to mail them, and didn't have her address. I had left it at home. Not just the apt, but HOME! So messaged her on facebook and she sent it to me. Read scriptures and went to teacher training. I took a loaf of bread to share with those who made the effort to go to it – with honey butter. The lesson was good and so was the treat.

Visited with our usual Thursday member reading Book of Mormon and going over lessons. Short stay because the twins were needing attention. Next Thursday they will be in school and maybe we can get some real reading done. Got everything to the UPS Store and mailed off. Hopefully it will get there (Germany) by Sept. 3. Took G1 sisters to dinner; Sister Pace is leaving to go home in a week and we wanted to do something special for her. She lives in Provo. Went to Logan's for a steak; it was yummy! I went online again to find bed bug protection sheets; need to measure mattresses for length, width and depth.

Water aerobics on Friday, and even E. Steffler thought the water was too warm! Got together two bagsful of food to take to district meeting. We told the YSA sisters we would provide lunch for the missionaries if they would help with a service project. E. Steffler and I didn't think we wanted to be involved! It was helping students carry suitcases, etc., from cars to dorms on campus. Ten missionaries worked hard and handed out passalong cards and chatted with as many students as they could. It was hot and humid so it was doubly hard. We were glad to provide lunch! It was homemade bread with peanut butter and homemade jam plus grapes, pineapple, crackers and cheese. Took along some milk in case someone could not eat pnut butter and jam without milk; I know I can't! We told missionaries we would need to measure their mattresses. Started with zone leaders and our mattress and got them ordered. I want to make sure the product is good before ordering covers for all 12 mattresses. We pretty much read all afternoon while the missionaries labored at their service project. The sisters said it was a great service. Also about 93 degrees and 85% humidity!

Saturday we walked earlier than usual so although it was humid, it was not so hot, closer to 70 than 80. Made two batches of brownies – one for an open house and one for a baptism, then made a batch of bread. Bought a white blouse for church. Looked up some on the warm less actives and they were friendly, so that was good. The open house was to welcome home the returned missionary (and possibly for the first counselor to say good-bye to the branch). It involved a chocolate fountain and every kind of fruit, cookie and cracker you would want to cover in chocolate! All yummy. Then went to the baptism. It was from G1 ward; recognized the sister, but didn't know much about her. Watched the baptism then left, but we did leave the brownies.

Have I explained the terms G1 and G2? If I have, bear with me. Greenville 1st ward (G1) has a set of elders and a set of sisters, as does Greenville 2nd ward (G2); The young single adults (YSA) branch has a set of sisters and a set of senior missionaries (us). There is also a set of Spanish-speaking elders that serve all of Greenville. The last four Saturdays there has been a baptism, but not from the same set if missionaries. Hope that clears up any misunderstandings. So our district consists of all the missionaries in Greenville; the zone involves our district (Kinston West) and Kinston East, which consists of missionaries from Kinston and Woodington – four sets of missionaries, so it is much smaller. We have district meetings weekly and zone meetings monthly.

So we work pretty much in the YSA branch, but help all the missionaries that we can. We also work with a woman from G1 who wants to read the BOM with us so we can explain it as we go along. We have been having dinners twice a week with those who went to Palmyra so they can remember the feelings and bear testimony of what they felt and saw. It has been fun; we are learning more about the members in a more casual setting and feeling the spirit that we felt in Palmyra – a win-win situation.

We were looking at the calendar and in 2 more weeks, we will have been on our mission for 6 months – 1/3 through! We are loving it, even though we are missing home and kids and grandkids. We pray for all of you and know that you pray for us, also. We are also planning our anniversary trip to Williamsburg, VA. It should be a lot of fun. If anyone wants to write to us, go the easy route and send an email to kaye@steffler.us

We do love to get mail, just like any missionary does. Our mailing address is 1610 Wimbledon Dr. #112, Greenville NC 27858. Thanks again to everyone and God bless. Elder and Sister Steffler