March 29

I have started dabbling in Family History and have found four names with 17 ordinances needing done! I am feeling the spirit of Elijah working in me. Elder Steffler is even interested but just tells me to do it. The names I found were on his line. Had to have the FH consultant help with the duplicates. Had German spellings plus a name she used as well as her full name; lots of merging. That will take some time to learn – just need to practice!

Nice walk on Monday, a little breezy. A sister is going home and I wanted to make her a "death" cake. Yes, you are born on the mission and die on the mission when you go home. Her favorite was pistachio, so had to shop for the ingredients. Found a recipe online – and it was yummy! Only gave her half because her companion could not help her eat it. Shared the other half with YSA elders and a member that we fed Monday. Made bread because we had a lot of people lined up this week to feed. Picked up our member for FHE so he and E. Steffler could home teach three members between FHE and volleyball. Two investigators at FHE also; they seemed to enjoy the games and members.

Tuesday did our workout and soaked in the hot tub. You can see that E. Steffler is enjoying it! YSA elders came for practice lesson and lunch; only one more to go for that companionship. They also finished off the last of the strawberry jam; need to see if Sam's still has a good buy on them so we can make more. Had to scrape the frosting off the cake for one of the missionaries because it is made with milk. He said it was still really good. Our member that we have been reading the Book of Mormon with finished this week and we started on Pearl of Great Price. I also encouraged her to start over on the BOM.

Up early and walking Wednesday at the senior center. Put together a casserole that the gluten intolerant missionary can eat and fed to both sets of missionaries that came. The sister going home loved the cake, plus it tastes really good. Institute that night; numbers are down. Need to come up with something to get members there. Food does not seem to be an incentive anymore.

Thursday we made a rush trip to Raleigh to get E. Steffler's hearing aids cleaned. Took all of 10 minutes, so when we got back to Greenville, I got a perm. Fixed dinner for 2nd counselor in branch presidency and his wife. Also used up ripe bananas in banana bread. Helped them print off a name they had found to take to the temple.

Friday at district meeting we learned about the church's Easter initiative #Because He Lives. There are pass-along cards also to help people find the site. Fed the Spanish elders because we knew the one had finished training and would probably be transferred. Made empanadas for dessert; neither really knew what they were. I told them it was a gringo Mexican dessert! We helped the G1 sisters with a demonstration with an investigator and her two children, ages 9 and 11. E. Steffler had the priesthood that helped the colored water turn clear in baptism. The kids thought that was pretty neat, so they got out their magic set and performed a couple of tricks themselves! Took the YSA elders out to have a steak dinner for graduation from training and the senior companion was pretty sure he was being transferred.

Saturday we took our FH consultant to a training in Kinston; we learned way more than she did. It is amazing what a Smart Phone can do when it comes to familysearch. We also linked ancestry.com to our family search. Learned how to find names and how to send to the temple all with the click of the mouse. How things have changed since I took my first genealogy class when I was 13! I drove to Sis. Paries' house to watch the Women's Conference (and have some yummy snacks!) and took a sister with me. I have about forgotten how to drive. I just let E. Steffler worry about Greenville's traffic. The conference was wonderful; good talks, good music and great spirit. Hope some of the readers of this blog got to watch it too.

Most of our children got together at our house for an Easter egg hunt and food on Saturday; we provided the money eggs that the adults like to find! Lots of pictures on facebook; made my heart ache a bit that we missed it, but I would not trade our time here in Greenville with anyone. It is great working with the young singles and missionaries. Our family is growing by leaps and bounds as we come to love these young people. Transfer calls came and most of our district will be getting new companions on Wednesday. Looks like we will take a sister to meet the transfer van in Wilson (about a hour's drive) on Monday so she can fly home Tuesday. Here's hoping you had a great Sabbath and are looking forward to General Conference. We are! Love, Elder and Sister Steffler

Hot tub

Hot tub finally working!

March 22

What a sweet, wonderful, spirit-filled week.

It started with church on the 15th. It was good with good speakers and lessons. That evening our investigator Sarah came for supper and a lesson on tithing and fasting. She had already read about tithing online but not fasting. She was okay with both and committed to live both. She is such a blessing!

Monday we had a nice walk at the senior center, lots of activity going on: grounds people getting the spring clean-up going, students walking doggies and just folks out enjoying the beautiful weather (we were in the last group!). Shopped at Sam's to fill up the fridge and freezer, plus more binders to file more conference talks and commentaries. Started getting calls from our mission president. First, can you take Wilson sisters to the temple Friday? Yes. We would like to go Wednesday also, if at all possible, with our zone. No, not possible. Ok. Second call, Ok, you can go Wed. but you need to take two sisters from Greenville. Of course! Third call, can we put three in the back seat? Yes. Then can you take an elder in front and have S. Steffler sit in back with the two other sisters? Yes! So we are set for both Wed and Friday!

Picked up Tyrei early so elders could teach tithing and fast offering. He was ok with tithing but not fasting – no food for a whole day? No way! So we will have to work on that one again. Had Jet's pizza for FHE and had various members lip sync songs. Sarah came and so did her friend Jonathan. He even did a lip sync; not bashful at all!

Tuesday a nice workout and soak in the hot tub. Had YSA elders for a practice lesson and lunch. Went to read with a member, Ether 10. She was so excited to show us her "garden." She had dug up around her shed and planted peas, lettuce, beans, strawberry plants. The extra hankies that we had put a rush order on came in. We texted G1 and YSA elders and G1 came first so they got to pick which hankies they got and took the other two to to YSA elders. Had a long talk with DJ; he bought a greenhouse and is now trying to figure out where to put it! It is our year anniversary; I forgot and we didn't even celebrate!

Wednesday up early for our trip to the temple. Met at the church for a short prayer meeting then loaded up and headed to Apex where the Raleigh Temple is actually located. I gave a hankie to Pres. Baker and one to Sis. Baker in remembrance of this memorable temple trip. A full session of just missionaries. What a beautiful sight! They are so valiant and worthy and excited for this temple session. All dressed in white, I could hardly hold back my tears. Truly an army of Helaman, and the Lord. Pres. and Sis. Baker hugged all the elders and sisters and then we sat in the celestial room for about 10 minutes and soaked in the spirit. It was wonderful! Complete silence – not a word. No one wanted to leave, but we had lunch and pictures to take and a zone conference to get to. Pres. and Sis. Taggard (temple president) spoke to us and explained some of the reasons for symbolism and explained the squared circle – where eternity meets creation. There was even a short testimony meeting and training on temples and family history. Pres. and Sis. Baker (mission president) spoke and bore their testimonies and how we are on the path back to our Heavenly Home and headed in the right direction. How blessed we felt to be in such company. Returned to Greenville in time to go to institute then home to crash.

Thursday was a day of rest before we repeated all of the above. We bought and mailed birthday cards to two grandchildren whose birthdays we had forgotten! What kind of grandma am I? I need to repent, but I had my eyes fixed on the temple! Filled up the gas tank for another trip then got on familysearch to see if I could find more names. All I did was get confused; help Jessica! She is the one who helped us find the first name. When E. Steffler got up from his nap, his back was hurting; he could hardly walk. He got a hot pack then a cold pack and took Aleve; also found his back brace and that helped. We had to get his back working for another trip to Raleigh!

Friday woke up to rain, but E. Steffler's back was somewhat better and we said a fervent prayer that he would make it all day. The rain quit by the time we got to Wilson to pick up sisters and it did not rain again the rest of the day. So pictures outside; everyone was happy. A repeat of the temple session, so spiritual and zone conference; a double dose of both and so worth it. One of the sisters was from Burley! It was 6 p.m. when we returned to Wilson, so we took the sisters to Cracker Barrel for supper. We feel so blessed to have been with missionaries for two sessions at the temple.

Saturday I was ready for a water aerobics workout, only to find the heated pool closed. What a disappointment; the pump that was making so much noise must have quit completely. So we walked to the hot tub for a soak. Heather Clark, one of our nieces, stopped by for lunch and a chat. She had spent a week at Nags Head with 12 friends on vacation. Yes, I guess moms can take vacations from their kids; never thought of it before. We reminensed about past times and she brought us up to date with her family and her world travels (Australia, Germany, Maryland, Colorado and now Arizona); yes, her husband was military. When we took pictures, she looked like her mom and E. Steffler looked like his dad. Wow, family resemblances. She said he even sounded like his dad. So glad she took time to stop and see us. She was on her way to Fayetteville, and had to go right past Greenville.

I hope as you look at the picture below that you can feel our excitement at being in the temple. That is the Angel Moroni between us. Hope all y'all had a good week, too. We certainly did! We enjoyed the temple and the visit with Heather and teaching our investigator. Doesn't get much better than that. So blessed to be here. Thank you to all who pray for us. Every prayer helps; every good thought helps. We miss you but would not miss this for the world. God bless each and every one of you. Love, Elder and Sister Steffler

At the temple

Got to go with missionaries twice!

March 15

Got the date correct this time! Happy Sunday y'all. We had Spring Break, which meant no meetings for the branch all week. We – I – had thought about going on a trip, but that fizzled out. We'll have to wait for Karla to get here to ramrod us on a trip!

The change of time came at an excellent time: we got to go to the 1 p.m. meeting. It was interesting to be in a family ward and hear the babies crying and toddlers toddling. We were getting over some kind of illness, not really a cold, but achy and yucky feeling. We were glad we got to sleep in and have a peaceful day.

We felt good enough to workout Monday, but not until 10 a.m.! Daylight savings is messing with our sleep patterns. Went shopping at Sam's Club and filled our frig and freezer. Should be good for a week, at least. Fixed supper for a branch member, then she helped us find a name to take to the temple. It was pretty exciting. Our upstairs neighbors moved out and stopped by to say good-bye and give us a box of chocolates. We waited too late to make friends with them. I think we could have done some things with them. Got a call from the member that we read with, Joanna, and she needed to go to the grocery store. Her son was going on a trip the next day and needed to take a sack lunch and her cupboard was bare. She had gotten some money in the mail, but needed a ride to the grocery store, so we took her. As we were leaving the apt complex and pulling onto Wimbledon Drive, we could see about 5 or 6 deer in our headlights just across the road. There are critters everywhere around here!

Tuesday we were ready to go walking and got a call from G1 sister missionaries. If we were going to drive somewhere, could we get some popsicles for one of the sisters? Of course we went right to the grocery store to get some. She was in the study lying on her stomach which was hurting. It took all day for her to get one down, then up it came. We fed the YSA elders after a practice lesson. Slices of pork loin, fried onions and Yukon gold potatoes (from Idaho!) and asparagus. Pretty much our go-to meal all week. Went to Joanna's and read; we are in Ether, so moving right along! Sister trainers came to borrow the air mattresses, now that both will hold air. Broke open the box of chocolates – and they lasted a week. So proud of us!

After our workout Wednesday, we got to sit in the hot tub, which finally got fixed. It felt wonderful. The G1 sisters were on exchanges with sister trainers, so two were here for a lesson and two were at the doctor to help the sister who was so dehydrated. I was afraid she would be hooked up to an IV, but they just gave her more pills and two shots in the rump. The G2 sisters came for a practice lesson and supper; yup, pork and potatoes. Was shown an interesting way of presenting the Restoration using small drinking cups. The temp got to 82; I am so ready for the pools to be warm enough to swim!

Setting the alarm to try to get use to the new time change. I haven't had to get up to the alarm for months! But I also have to take a PM at night to get to sleep. Hope my body adjusts quickly. Had a nice walk at the senior center, then off to Kinston to check missionary apartments. We were asked specifically to check on air filters and working appliances. Only found one dirty filter and a couple of problems with appliances. One oven was self-cleaning, but the door would lock and not clean. The other was a very rusty frig (on the outside only). Plus the back door lock did not work on one of the apts. For lunch we went to Pizza Plus and had burgers (that was a suggestion from a set of elders). When we got home E. Steffler looked at the change he had gotten and looked at the receipt, and we had only been charged half for being missionaries! How sweet. Tender mercy. One of the G1 sisters is on a special diet, so we took them shopping for some of the items she could eat. Good thing, too, because she ran out of energy about half way through and had to sit while we filled the cart.

Friday did a quick walk around the complex so we could be on time for district meeting. G1 sisters thought they could make it if we drove them. I took the temple hankies that Lena had made for me and gave them to the missionaries, because they get to go to the Raleigh Temple this coming Wednesday. They are so excited. I had to put in another quickie order because I ran out! Hoping they get here Tuesday. Starting making bread later and discovered I was out of yeast. So E. Steffler had to make a mad dash to the grocery store. We have been grocery shopping more this week that ever before. We fed the zone leaders and they were grateful for the fresh bread (and pork and potatoes!) and jam and honey butter. Sarah called us later and wanted a lesson Saturday with a friend on Word of Wisdom. Tender mercy.

Saturday was Pi Day, so had to go shopping for a pie, bought a chocolate cream, yummy! Rained all day. Got a call from our branch mission leader who said that Sarah wanted to get baptized Tuesday! After dragging her feet all this time – well, her friend who has read Book of Mormon with her and helped her a lot is moving Saturday. So we found out if it was possible, and it was, so we presented it to her and she is going to think about it and let us know tomorrow. Jonathan was her friend and he had been reading some of her pamphlets and the BOM and Sarah has been teaching him, so he was very prepared to be taught. We briefly touched on the first three lessons and then taught Word of Wisdom, which Sarah thought he needed. He said he was not smoking (he did not say for how long) and was very interested and accepted the baptism challenge. Wow. This does not happen often. We invited her to supper tomorrow and would teach her another lesson, on tithing and fasting. She is pretty much done, then. We asked her if Jonathan was the one she bore testimony to, and she said one of two. She is amazing. Really puts us to shame.

So today she has decided that she needs to get baptized when she feels it is the right time, not by being pressured into it. I totally agree with her. I said her birthday would be a good time (April 10) and she said maybe before that. So maybe tonight we can get a solid date. She was at Sacrament Meeting and so was her member friend, who was asked to bear his testimony since he would be moving Saturday. They talked during Sunday School, then she went home to study so she could come have dinner and a lesson with us. She keeps our life hopping! We love her to death.

Hopefully this finds all of you well and enjoying the springtime weather, getting itchy gardening fingers and feeling God's love for us by giving us this beautiful world. And we are grateful for all of our family and friends who read this blog and pray for us. Every prayer helps us feel your love and God's love more strongly. God bless all y'all! Elder and Sister Steffler

March 1

As I look at my journal entry from last Sunday, I noticed something I don't think I mentioned last week. The ward that meets last sometimes opens the curtain into the cultural hall. That happened last week so we had to wait for them to end their meeting before we could set up tables and chairs and have the food taken out of the kitchen to the hall. It was 4 minutes from the "Amen" until everything was set up and ready for the blessing on the food! YSA are serious about their food, and most had fasted 24 hours like Pres. Walker had talked about at branch conference. Plus, the ward went long (baby blessing and family bearing testimony, etc.) and I had all the food and paper goods on trolley carts ready to go. Everyone wanted to help set up. We had a taco bar with 3 kinds of meat – burger, chicken and pork. All good, plus desserts!

Monday we tried out the senior center walkway and found only a few puddles we had to jump. Ran some errands and shopped, so never got to my bread making. Got the tablecloths and towels washed from break the fast and returned them to the closet. Picked up Tyrei then E. Steffler's suit from the cleaners; finally got to FHE where we played musical Jeopardy! The star was on our team; she loves music and memorizes the lyrics and artists, etc. Not many she did not know. Tyrei is excited to start working tomorrow, from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. Not too excited about the hours, but to have a job. He should still be able to make his church activities. He thinks he will have Sunday off.

Tuesday I finally made bread and E. Steffler vacuumed. We are getting pretty slack about keeping the apartment clean; course, we don't do much to get it dirty, either! YSA elders did a practice lesson and stayed to chat a while because they did not want to "deep clean" their apt. Read conference talk and four chapters in BOM. How hard it much has been for Mormon to watch his people destroy one another. This is from the Book of Mormon in the BOM. Our appointment that evening canceled and our investigator is going home for spring break to do homework, so we will not be teaching her. I did text her to see if she was reading in the BOM and she said her friend had told her to read Alma 53-56 (Helaman's warriors) and Alma 32 (faith compared to a seed). She remembered that I had told her about that chapter when she said she felt she had a testimony. Looked online to see how long it would take to drive to Goldsboro then to the temple (2 1/2 hours). We are taking the Goldsboro sisters to the temple March 20. Then I tracked how long it would take to go to Mt. Vernon and Washington, D.C. We have a long week coming up with all the students gone for spring break. Thinking about a "little" trip.

Nice foggy walk Wednesday, damp but not too cold. Finally got to read with our member friend Joanna. She thought she was starting Mormon, but later called to say that she found her marker at Mormon 5. Oh, well, we read chapters 1 and 2 again. Her glasses look nice on her. Did laundry until the G2 sisters came for a practice lesson and supper. They practiced tithing and were going to teach an inactive sister trying to get active again and is having financial difficulties. They know if she will pay her tithing that she will be blessed. Open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing, as Malachi says. Tyrei wanted to go to institute so we hustled around to pick him up and get to correlation meeting at 6:15. I also took a couple of loaves of bread to share before the meeting began – with honey butter, of course. We studied D&C 105-107, 110. Two elders from the quorum presidency talked about 107 on the priesthood.

Thursday we made it to the fitness center to workout, but E. Steffler did not feel well. It was warm, 60 degrees at 8 a.m. E. Steffler spent most of the day sleeping and blowing his nose. Had to cancel an appointment with G1 sisters to help teach a lesson. We did read the commentary on D&C 110, the visions in the Kirtland Temple: Jesus Christ, Moses, Elias and Elijah. Also read Mormon 5 & 6. I started reading the commentary on the New Testament Parables. The lost coin, lost sheep and Prodigal Son were especially touching to me. The reasons for them being lost and how they were found again. Also filled my time with crossword puzzles and puzzles on the computer. DJ called with a question about the weed burner and not having a good flame. His papa waved his hand over it and told him some things to check and fix. He is rototilling up a storm and getting ready to plant his giant pumpkin.

Friday I was up early but let E. Steffler sleep in – until 9:15! Don't know how he can sleep that long, so hope it helps him feel better soon. I didn't even ask him if he wanted to try to go to zone meeting; I called and said we would not be there. I decided if I was going to be stuck at home all day again, I was going to work a real puzzle, so I got out the one I did for New Years and worked it again. Took all day, but I finished by 9 p.m. Of course I had eaten and did dishes and took out the stinking garbage and mailed a letter. Later I went to check on the mail and there was a letter from Sis. Whetten. She wanted to thank us for all we had done to help her and wished we were in Franklin, VA to help her train a new sister. She also wanted a hankie to take to the temple, so we got one ready to mail to her. Had a nice chat with Lena as she drove to work. She wanted to know which plants to pull up, which to trim and prune, that sort of thing. It has been so nice there; she was hoping to get the tilling done Saturday.

No exercise on Saturday, again. I was feeling punk and E. Steffler didn't feel up to it, either. We had the hankie to mail to Sis. Whetten so we got cleaned up and showered, then had to nap, then off to the post office. The line was about out the door! We were in line 20-30 min. It always seems longer, but it was a long time. Saturdays at 11:30 are almost as bad as Christmas mailing. Came home and had another nap! I didn't feel like making bread, so E. Steffler decided to tackle it. He did pretty good, too. Although he took a nap and I had to take it out of the oven. Wanted to watch a movie on NetFlix but couldn't get the laptop to download the app. So listened to Skousen, much better!

Today no branch meetings – spring break, you know. So we went to the 1 p.m. meeting (which was really noon, but daylight savings kicked in) and enjoyed a nice breakfast before church. Still a little achy and tired, but not too bad, so hopefully we are over whatever we had.

Really enjoyed spring weather today, and so did everyone else in the apt complex. People out walking, running, washing cars, everything but going to church. I'm sure some of them do, at least I hope some of them go to church! Hope all of you have had a good Sabbath, too. Does not look like we will be going to D.C. When I talked about it last week, E. Steffler got sick. I guess that is writing on the wall, so to speak. We will stay busy with the missionaries and hopefully searching out some of the YSA in G1 and G2. Take care of yourselves and God bless you in all your activities. We love you! Elder and Sister Steffler

Bread making

He wanted bread pretty bad!

March 1

As you can see by the photo below, we had some interesting weather! Ice last week and snow this week. I'm ready for winter to be over. We decided to do a taco bar for break the fast, easy and not too complicated. Listened to an interesting lecture on how you judge righteously. By Skousen, reporting on King Benjamin and how he had run his government. No taxes to pay the king; how would that be?

For FHE we had Wings over Greenville and wrote to missionaries. When I was cleaning the YSA closet, I found a pile of letters that we had written in December and had not mailed! So the missionaries are getting a double batch.

Up at 8 a.m. Tuesday to answer a question for the G1 sisters about Zenos and the allegory of the olive tree. We played some of the Skousen lecture that said the master of the vineyard was the Father and the servant was the Son. Mostly you hear the master is the Son and the servant is a prophet. The master says he will help with the last dispensation and the Father appeared with the Son to Joseph Smith to open this dispensation. Makes sense. Then we went walking at the senior center. There was light snow just starting, and as you can see, we got a bunch of it. Mission cars were grounded. Schools closed. Added up to about 3 inches and cold enough to stick around for awhile. Still had practice lesson and lunch. G1 sisters offered to get our mail, then they stayed and chatted until S. Bunker needed her meds. We also fed them spaghetti for supper.

Snow melted enough so we had no problem walking to the fitness center Wednesday. Institute was canceled; another storm expected. Decided to fix stir fry for the G2 sisters, just had to thaw everything. Then I made crepes – with gluten-free flour. Got a call from Tyrei; he was at the church and had not heard that institute was canceled. So we had to go pick him up and take him home.

Hardly any snow from the weather system overnight so we walked around the apt. complex. Our neighbors upstairs invited us to lunch so we had an enjoyable break. They are Jehovah's Witnesses so we did not talk about religion, but everything else was ok. They are moving to Hawaii this week and said they would think of us when they are lying out in the sun on the beach. We told them, thanks. Had a nice long chat with Edward; his is doing well and keeping busy.

Friday had a hurried workout before rushing off to district meeting. After lunch and a nap, I noticed I had received a couple of calls. I mostly get scam calls on my Smart Phone. But one was from my sis Karla. We chatted for about half a hour then noticed we were late for correlation meeting! So off we went, only 12 minutes late. Had a meal planned for Tyrei so E. Steffler dropped me off to prepare it and he went to get Tyrei. YSA elders came to eat and give him a lesson on Plan of Salvation. They made him answer the questions and did not feed the answers to him. It really showed how little he remembered from his lessons a year ago. Then we took him to a basketball game in Kinston. He sat on the sidelines most of the game; he is good a throwing baskets but not aggressive on the floor and it was a hard-fought game. We lost by 14 points. He was pretty upset that he didn't get to play much.

Late start on Saturday. For exercise we shopped at Sam's. Does that tell you how the day went? We needed a few things for break the fast on Sunday. And gas. I made cookies for break the fast and we got the burger fried and seasoned. YSA elders brought their griddle for us to use to warm up the tortillas Sunday. We watched Steve Martin in Pink Panther 2; pretty lame, but we were somewhat entertained. We started our fast early so our 24 hours would be up by 2:30. We hadn't done that before and it was good. We had in mind what we wanted to fast for so our purpose was firm and so was our resolve. I read comparisons on the Sermon on the Mount, Sermon on the Plain and Sermon in the Temple (BOM). Very interesting. Sort of like MTC for his disciples.

Glad today is over. Break the fast always about breaks me! But we fed a goodly number. Then I had a nap, then E. Steffler had a nap. He was busy today: gave spiritual thought in branch council and taught priesthood brethren. A good spiritual day. Hope your day was, too. I love the Sabbath, especially the feeling of the Spirit when we attend church. Hope y'all are experiencing the same thing. We love all y'all and pray God's blessings to be with you. Elder & Sister Steffler

ps Do you like our new dinnerware? Nice set at the second hand store Sisters Attic.