Jan. 11

Another week before the branch members return, so it was pretty slow, as far as missionary work goes. Jan. 5 was Rylin's 4th birthday. Four years ago Maike watched Collin and Ashlyn so I could be with Tina when Rylin was born. Lots of water under the bridge since then! Said good-bye to Elder Bauman; they were on their way to Walmart to find something for his future wife, so he could tell her he thought about her on his mission. (His brother said he had to do that!) FHE was a little thin; I was surprised that it was held. Only about 10 came; played Smurf.

Gassed up the car Tuesday for $2.14 gal. I saw on facebook that it was under $2 in Idaho! Great. Elder Steffler's doctor appointment with the cardiologist went ok. He lost 3 lbs (over the holidays, even!) and blood pressure was low. His doc told him that when the bp is too low, you can feel tired and not have enough energy, so she cut one of his heart meds in half. Got a text from our investigator and she wants another lesson! So happy. Made a batch of bread and invited the elders over for warm bread and honey butter. Each threesome ate a loaf! They were in threesomes because of transfers. Finally saw G2 sisters and gave Sis. Whetten an Indian trinket. She chose a hair clasp, beaded of course. We loaned our GPS to Sis. Hansen so she could find her way back from Virginia after the training meeting. Sis. Whetten is taking hers with her to Franklin, VA.

Taught Sarah the plan of salvation Wednesday. She said the closing prayer and it was awesome! Got a perm at Mitchell's and E. Steffler got his hair trimmed and got our new president books spiral bound and front and back pages laminated. Elder Siddoway and his new companion, E. Lewis from Mesa AZ, came for supper and bread – another bread convert! We are now friends on fb with about all the missionaries that went home Monday; so fun.

Thursday was our coldest day yet; 14 degrees and we went walking, only about half a mile before we stopped so we would not get frost bite. Went to the movie "Into the Woods" because our appointment fell through in the afternoon. A musical with four or five fairy tales woven in together. Kind of crazy. Started hemming a skirt that was given to me. E. Steffler got on the floor so he could mark it; what a sweetie. Got it hemmed. Finished reading Alma and started on conference talks.

Took G1 sisters with us to district meeting. Got to meet all the new missionaries. E. Hiraldo is the new district leader, his new companion is E. Martinez from Caldwell, Idaho! Hermana Fields is in a zebra companionship (she is Spanish speaking and her companion is English speaking) and is from Utah. Elder Williams (from Utah) is companion to E. Hunter, zone leader. Only two companionships did not change. We role played presenting the restoration in 5 minutes. It is really hard to do! Then we practiced different methods of introducing a lesson (to get rid of the awkward "let's get started"!). Had a missionary correlation with Taylor Given, who is back from Disneyworld (he worked there during the break). It was good to talk about some of our problem areas. Made another batch of bread. E. Siddoway said that my bread is "holy" or "sactified" because it feeds the missionaries! Started listening to a download from E. Bauman on Skousen's BOM lectures. Outlines the historical background so you can understand why they did what they did. Also, the language. The brass plates were written in Egyptian; they needed it so they could remember how to write Egyptian, not so much for the spoken language. Names in the BOM were of Egyptian origin. Lots of things I did not know.

Saturday we walked the path behind the park because next week it is going to rain most of the week and we won't want to walk it then – too muddy. No deer this time, but still lots of things to see. I have been reading the Bible, word for word! Have read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Joel, Obediah, Amos and Jonah. So interesting. Each prophet had something to say about the latter days. Also read all the life story of Ezra Taft Benson in the new presidency book. If you have not read it, I encourage you to; he had a marvelous life. And Flora just wanted to marry a farmer – and he ends up president of the church! His agricultural background benefitted people around the world. From Skousen we learned that Lehi and Sarah had at least 4 children in the wilderness! Very interesting.

Another week gone by. Good to have branch meetings today. Off to a good start for the new year. Happy birthday to Nate tomorrow! Love all my children and grandchildren. Hope you have all had a good Sabbath. We love all y'all. God bless. Elder and Sister Steffler