Sunday, September 7, 2014

Sept. 7

First let me say a word or two about the bus: We have seen several and not had my camera. Had my camera this time, but no tobacco hanging off the side or flying out onto the road. Use your imagination!
Sunday Aug. 31 was sort of curious – no branch council because no counselors. An investigator wanted a ride to church and had a friend who wanted to come, so we said of course, we could pick them up. They were at McDonald's downtown. She was even wearing a nice dress. He was in jeans and has a wife and 4 kids in another town. They were staying in a homeless shelter. She said her step grandfather where she had been staying had tried to rape her and she left without any of her things. So I don't really know what is going on there. She is pregnant, so should not be coming to the YSA branch to begin with. Oh, well. Stake presidency was in attendance to install two counselors: Andy Brimhall and Trent Jones. They and their wives talked, as did Bro. Paries (former member of presidency) and Pres. Walker and Bro Jones (no relation to Trent). Powerful talks; went over time by 20 min. Got invited to the Paries, for probably the last time (sob). Discussion afterwards was powerful with spirit and testimonies. YSA sisters and an investigator were also in attendance. Then sisters came to pick up the "death" cake and for Sis. Griffin to pick an Indian trinket. E. Steffler talked to Deana and Lena and got caught up on their goings on.
Labor Day – no rest for the weary! Did our work out, swam and relaxed. Shopped for diatomacious earth (for insects) and nose plugs for E. Steffler, which happened to be next to 5 Guys, so naturally we had lunch there. Went to the movie "100 Foot Journey" which was surprisingly good. PG rating. Met G2 and Spanish elders at Sweet Frog for some yogurt. Had to hug E. Terril (with 3 district leaders watching). Going to miss him. He has been in Greenville since we have; like a grandson. Fixed supper for G1 elders; spaghetti and homemade bread and jam. They brought a loaf of white bread they had made in their bread machine in exchange for a loaf of my bread.
Tuesday after swimming in warm water from the hot, humid days. We went to Washington to look at a house for the senior couple that will be there shortly. Lovely 3-bedroom home, but it is 10 min. from Washington – only draw back. Then took the Washington sisters to lunch. Was good to see Sis. Jones again. She will get a new companion Thursday. Fixed my "go to" recipe for 3 members, creamy chicken enchiladas verde. Had a great discussion on Palmyra then did the BOM pictures. Clark shared 1 Nephi 1, the Godhead plus Christ (the One) gave Lehi a book and told him to read it. Only then did the Spirit enter into him. We must read our scriptures every day to feel the Spirit.
Wednesday was Happy Birthday to my sister Karla and exchange student Maike. Walked in the hot humid morning. Shopped Sam's Club mostly for Break the fast items next Sunday. Bought ice at Sonic then went to church to put in the freezer and make copies in the library. Sent texts to all members to remind them of Institute that night. Had an institute committee meeting before institute and the sisters showed up soaked. It had been raining downtown, but not at church – yet. Good lesson; donuts to illustrate a story and ice cream afterwards with toppings. DJ called and got us caught up on doings. Jake is going to till and Scottie got a job at a dairy – way to go both of you!
Thursday morning got a call at 6:40 a.m. Sis. Griffin and Marshall were locked out of their apt. Long story short: cars were traded and apt keys were not. So they napped on our couch while we exercised and told the maintenance guy to unlock their apt. They were gone by the time we got back to apt. Sis. Marshall is from New Bern and had been up since 4 a.m. She is also gluten and lactose intolerant and had 2 bags of groceries. She left some peppers for us. Joanna D'Auria changed our appt to Saturday and her quad came in the mail, so we were glad she changed it. Got institute students registered through WISE; had 25 registered. Not bad for a first time. We are reading syllabus' that my brother Kim sent us; they are very interesting on D&C and church history. We read some on Lesson 2, BOM, D&C and SS lesson on Job. Also made a batch of brownies to take to transfers. This was our first transfer meeting; I had no idea there would be so many! Missionaries from all over eastern NC were in Greenville to meet the transfer van. Saw E. Horne and gave him a hug. I'm getting good at that! Was sad to see 5 missionaries transferred from Greenville. But new ones came and we will get to know them. Two of them are greenies, fresh from MTC. We will have practice lessons with them with lunch included starting next week.
Water aerobics in warm water and 100 % humidity on Friday. Took golden honeydew melon, apples, crackers, cheese, pnut butter and Nutella to district mtg. Lots of new missionaries. Discussed Why We Share the Gospel by D. Todd Christofferson – to strengthen investigator and member. From Preach My Gospel we discussed Preparing investigator for baptism. Could not get anyone to come to dinner, except one new member from Havelock. Decided we would take him to dinner. His brother dropped him off and he had brought a friend! So we took both of them to 5 Guys, then back to apt for a lesson! We were actually being missionaries! It was great. This girl is open to all religions (she has her own that she is happy with) and accepted a Book of Mormon and we set up another appt with her. Took them back to ECU dorm – and got lost on the way back to apt! Had to get Miss Naggie's help (gps) to get home. It is so easy to get directions switched around! Kevin had gone to Palmyra on the Havelock bus and talked about what he saw, so we even got that covered. That lead into discussion of Joseph Smith and the Restoration. It was cool the way the Lord made that happen.
Had appointment with D'Arias and took her an Ensign, copy of Brad Wilcox's talk on grace and new quad for her. She was nicely surprised. She had not read any BOM the last week, so it is good we met up with her to get her reading again. She is making a monster head out of paper mache for Halloween and that is where her time has been spent. It is taking shape. Read about opposition in all things, 2 Nephi 2. Decided we would check out the Collard Festival in Ayden, but I think everyone in the county was there. We caught the tail end of the parade. No way was I going to walk 5 blocks and fight traffic, so we went on to Greenville and checked out the apt where 2 elders will be moving next week. It looked pretty good. Then back to our apt and had lunch then started our fast because we will have break the fast tomorrow about 3. Had a nice long talk with Nate and got caught up with him.
Sher's birthday is tomorrow – happy birthday! Hopefully you will get your card then or the next day. It has been a good week, a long, hot week and we are approaching our 6 month mark! Does not seem possible. We are just starting to figure out what this mission thing is all about. It is wonderful working with the missionaries and feeling of their spirit. We are getting to know the members, too, and feeding them and giving them Books of Mormon to hand out. I wish I had been a better member missionary at home. I missed out on some wonderful opportunities. Hopefully we will do better when we get home. Hopefully everyone is doing well. Would love to hear from you; email is kaye@steffler.us  Drop us a note! God bless all of you. Elder & Sister Steffler

No comments:

Post a Comment