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