October 13

Late again this week – and no good excuse! I remembered at 9 p.m. last night and just could not think straight enough to write.

When I made bread again on Monday, Oct. 6, it was a slurry again. I was getting pretty disgusted, blaming the flour, the yeast, anything. I added two more cups of flour and mixed it, but did not let it sit any longer. After it was in the oven, I was putting away the clean dishes from the dishwasher, and there was the 1 cup measuring cup! I looked at the cup I had been using, and it was the 2/3 cup. I was ashamed I had blamed everything else when it was my own fault. I took a blue marker and highlighted the 2/3 cup and a black marker to highlight the 1 cup, so that won't happen again! I did not throw away any bread, it tasted okay, but it was not pretty. Picked up Dan's hearing aid at the post office and sent off McKay's birthday card (HAPPY BIRTHDAY). It cost $20 for them to mail the hearing aids, but cheaper than driving to Raleigh to pick it up (time plus gas). Went to Logan's Steakhouse to celebrate our anniversary. The youth played the Name Game at FHE. They can have fun playing any game, I believe. But it was fun watching them. Talked with one of the members after the game and asked about a banner for our upcoming fall fest. He said he made one last year, so we commenced to look everywhere we could think of. Found it in the R.S. closet, along with a ton of fall decorations. We hit the bullseye!

Tuesday was water aerobics, and I thought the pool was heated. It did not feel heated, but we had had a few days of cooler weather; getting down into the 50s at night affects the water temp! Had the G1 sisters for practice lesson and lunch – breakfast for lunch. Interesting tidbit happened during lesson. I was an investigator having difficulty keeping commitments. I had not prayed about baptism, so the new sister asked me to pray about it right then – never had that happen before, nor had her trainer. Revelation! E. Steffler watched the priesthood session that he missed Saturday evening. The YSA sisters came by to finalize plans for the fall fest. Got the lollipops marked and printed about 180 handouts with basic info on branch meetings. Were informed that the investigator that had planned for her baptism Saturday decided against it and is moving to be with her boyfriend. It is so sad when someone makes that kind of decision knowing that the church is true. Enjoyed reading lesson #8 that Kim sent – good background on early converts to church.

Wednesday we had a quick walk, early, because we had things to do, places to go! Packed the fold-up chairs, water, snacks and headed to president's house. Finally found it (without gps), exchanged crock pot for pop-up shade and headed to Pitt Community College and fall fest. Found a decent parking place (we were an hour early) and got the shade up and decorations unpacked before the YSA sisters arrived. Tablecloth on table, decorations scattered , poster and lollipop tree set in front of table, church items set out. There was a breeze, so I worried about the shade taking off. E. Steffler and I took turns holding it down. I was thankful for the shade and the tree nearby; we did not get too warm – and the temp got into the 80s. The sisters worked the crowd and got 32 people to voluntarily sign up for activities and more info about the church. It was a busy place. Lunch was served outside and there was a long line in front of our "booth." The fest lasted from 10 to 2. Gave away a lot of dum dums. Took the sisters to eat at Jersy Mike's (sub sandwiches); they needed the nourishment. It had been a good day. Had institute that night; we set up the chairs in a different way and about everyone commented on it. Had D&C 29-35; good discussion.

Workout and soak in hot tub started Thursday off right. Went to Joanna's to read Book of Mormon, she had forgotten, but it was okay. She was having a bad day, so we talked and prayed and finally settled down to read in Mosiah. Then to Sam's Club for some items and Sweet Frog to have a yogurt with G2 sisters before one of them got transferred that afternoon. Sis. Bunker is headed to Mt. Pleasant in Virginia. Came back to the apartment and gave her an Indian trinket to remember us by. She is such a sweet sister; most all the missionaries are! More shopping then to Salvation Army to sign up for volunteer work. Also found Ronald McDonald House where a young mother and her mom were staying while the baby was in the hospital. Talked with the mother and told her we would love to take them to lunch and to call us; they haven't. Need to go back and see how things are. Traffic was horrendous; I remembered why we didn't like to drive during rush hour (3-6 in Greenville). Took us 40 minutes to drive about 5 miles. Got a call from housing elder for the mission; he wants us to find another apartment for the Kinston elders. Called the high counselor over missionaries and asked for the names of mission leaders in Kinston; he was in a meeting with church leaders from mission and stake. He texted the mission leaders from both wards in Kinston, and I called one and got the right one. He is going to send us the names of two realtors tomorrow to meet with. I went into the bathroom to take my evening meds and as I reached for the medicine cabinet, there was a 2-inch long cockroach on the mirror. Yes, I screamed and had Dan come dispose of it – another one down the food disposal!. Yuck! He said I had scared it to death, but it was not dead!

Friday was a perfect morning for water aerobics. The weather had warmed up enough that the warm was just a touch cool, not cold. We were early for district meeting; returned the tablecloth, all clean, and put the paper plates in the YSA closet. Took honeydew melon and Go Gurts to share. Pres. and Sis. Baker were in attendance; put an extra edge on the meeting! Had a good discussion on E. Bednar's talk on prayer. E. Steffler prepared some ribs for supper; shopped for a few more items for Sunday and bought 4 pumpkins for FHE. The youth are carving pumpkins, so we bought a few in case some showed up without one. Planned and prepared for Saturday and enjoyed ribs! Decided on a place to meet K1 elders, in La Grange. Read Sunday School lesson on Isaiah and watched a couple of talks from conference. Got a call from G1 sisters; Joana needed someone to take her shopping at 10 a.m. tomorrow!

Up early so we could get to Joanna's on time. She and her twin boys, age 6, wanted to go to Lowe's for the kids' corner. They were making haunted houses – so it was not really shopping she needed to do. There were about 30 kids (all armed with hammers) with parents already there. The kit was pretty self-explanatory. E. Steffler helped one twin and she worked with the other. It was pretty cute and only took about 20 min. to complete. So we made it back in time to meet with YSA sisters for a lesson and lunch. Lesson was on chastity, which they introduced with the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes." Think about how you could teach about chastity using that song! It worked wonderfully. (Think only good thoughts; no touching between shoulders and knees; stand in safe places; see no porn; hear no bad music; speak no bad language or thoughts; and the nose – no one knows about the nose!) Had breakfast for lunch, again. Headed to La Grange to pick up K1 elders; put location in gps and it took us to a place about 5 miles from where we needed to be. I kept telling E. Steffler we were not going in the right direction! He has more trust in Miss Naggie (gps). We were 25 min. late and the elders were sweating (it was in the 80s again). Felt bad. Took them to apt, then tried to find where they thought the new apt was they were interested in. Nope, could not find it. Next we went to the stake dance, watched a video of photos taken at Palmyra and the grand march, finally got to eat bbq chicken, green beans, boiled potatoes and yummy dessert. Home by 8 p.m., no dancing for us! And it rained all the way home.

Sunday had branch council, picked up Tyrei and had good testimony meeting and SS. Then had to prepare for break the fast. Had 5 spice pork (prepared by branch pres. wife), cabbage salad, rice and desserts. Home by 4:30 and crashed for awhile. Then sisters came over to give us some assignments to contact from fall fest. Don't know why I couldn't fit in a blog somewhere!

So another week behind us; almost 7 months on our mission. Does not seem possible. Have a couple of assignments this week: photograph gravestones and service project, in addition to our usual, so we should be fairly busy. Hope all of you are being busy, staying out of trouble and all that. Keep a smile on your face and the spirit in your heart and things will go better, I promise. Love y'all. Elder & Sister Steffler