April 5

Happy Easter greetings to everyone! We had a lovely day at conference, watching at the church; eating an Easter feast at a member's home; and coming home to find we had been "egged." Several possibilities, but don't know for sure.

We have had an interesting week.

After a good three-hour meeting block Sunday, we enjoyed some crepes that E. Siddoway had made for us. We put Nutella, strawberry jam and whipped cream on them. Yum! I had posted a photo on facebook of S. Hansen and her death cake and got a lot of likes on it. One nonmember asked why it was called a death cake, so I explained some of the mission culture, born on a mission when you come out, then die when you go home. Kind of morbid, but interesting.

Monday we took S. Hansen to Wilson to catch the mission van to ride to the mission home then fly home Tuesday. One elder from Wilson plus missionaries from Rocky Mount and Roanoke Rapids were also being picked up. Hermana Fields went with us to say good-bye to her companion – a zebra companionship is what it is called. A Spanish-speaking and English-speaking companionship. We also have a set of elders in a zebra. When we returned, the other set of sister missionaries were running errands, so she wrote letters here in the apt. Found out S. Glaser will be H. Fields new companion! She was the first one we had practice lessons with, her and S. Jasperson. Such fond memories – a year ago, almost. We made two batches of strawberry jam; Sam's had a special on them. And homemade is so much better than store bought. Had 20 young singles to family home evening, plus a few adults and missionaries. Played Signs and had a lot of fun.

Tuesday we had to hurry through our workout so I could make a batch of bread (to go with the fresh jam) before the YSA elders came for lunch. Made omelets and empanadas. E. Lewis gave a short lesson on Follow the Prophet to hype us for conference. E. Siddoway is transferring to Curritick, so had to say good-byes and take pictures. Read with our member friend. Since we have finished the Book of Mormon, we have been reading Pearl of Great Price. We read Moses 1 last week and she finished all of Moses, so we read Abraham 1 with her. E. Steffler promised to grill a steak for a sister who is being transferred; he was so worried it was going to be tough that he ran (drove) to the store to buy a marinade for it. It was still tough! He was so disgusted. I made creamed potatoes and peas and they were good. Showed them the video Man Without Guile, the Brigham Young conversion by a simple testimony of a man without guile.

Wednesday: April Fool's Day. Did you see all the posts on fb? I loved the 3 hour block going to 4 hours with a break for lunch then exercise. Made oatmeal-fudge bars for institute and they were a hit! We shopped for plastic eggs and jelly beans; I also inserted an Easter pass-along card and Elder Oaks talk on singles needing to get married into the egg – it was a large egg! Gave them to all the singles. Had 20 young singles to institute, much better than the 11 or 12 we have been getting. Met the new YSA elder, E. Allred. The district leader, E. Hiraldo, got a new companion, E. Armstrong. S. Barfuss' new companion is S. Villegas; lots of new missionaries in Greenville.

Thursday the YSA elders came for lunch and a short message. He asked how prayer had influenced our life, and the short lesson became quite long; each had a tearful story to share. Fed them corn dogs and warmed up potatoes and peas; much better the second time. Also fixed banana cream pudding with bananas and whipped topping. S. Baker had asked us to help take sisters to Wilson; one had to delay her transfer by a day to get a new contact. She was coming from Nags Head, so it was after 3 when she got here and we took her and S. Johnson to Wilson. Looked for a restaurant for supper and our gps said Pup's was .6 miles away. I was hoping it was not a hole in the wall; it was pretty upscale – and expensive – but we ate anyway. The food was good. We were listening to Skousen lectures  when the G1 sisters returned the air mattress they had borrowed, and stayed for bread and jam!

Friday was district meeting and got to formally meet all the new missionaries. Read 2 Nephi 31 and discussed it, then role played how to present repentance to a nonmember. After meeting, E. Steffler gave a requested blessing to a sister then we went to iHop for lunch. I'm having the omelet next time, it looked better than my turkey-avocado sandwich. Got new neighbors upstairs; young men and women running up and down the stairs like it was nothing! Took YSA elders to a benefit spaghetti dinner at the church to help fund girls camp, then took them to Sweet Frog for yogurt.

Saturday – finally got into the pool to do water aerobics. Yes, it was cold, but I was determined. E. Steffler put in his toe and that was enough. It wasn't too bad after you got numbed up! Made another batch of bread so I could take fresh bread for those going to the first session of conference. It was mostly missionaries, but they really enjoyed it. Conference is at noon and 4 p.m. here on the East Coast, so it was lunch time. Great talks and singing in both sessions. E. Steffler went to priesthood session and a meal; almost was too late for a burger! I loved the talk by E. Eyring about the law of the fast and how the fast offering is used. Also E. Oaks parable of the sower hit home; E. Bednar's fear vs faith; E. Anderson's Hear the music of the gospel (in our hearts); E. Renlund, saint vs sinner; E. Ringwood's Shiblon, a man without guile; and E. Cook's heats knit in unity. They were all good and were things I needed to hear.

Today, Pres. Monson announcing new temples in Haiti, Ivory Coast and Thailand; wow! Loved S. Wixom's Joy in the Journey, hold fast to what you know; Teixeira's hope in the future; Causse's recognizing the hand of the Lord in everything around us, including ourselves; Neilson's prodigal son; Holland's atonement; Uchtdorf's grace of God; Pearson's true disciples; Pino's gospel perspective; Anderson's see and believe the Lord's miracles; and Nelson's Sabbath Day. I want to watch each of them again, then read the talks and mark them and make them mine. I loved conference. We even got to go to an Easter feast between sessions. It truly was a feast! Then when we got back to the apartment, you can see what awaited us – Easter basket with goodies! Don't have a clue who left it; could be several who could have. Nice to be remembered!

We love all of you. I feel we are on the downhill slope to coming home and it scares me. Have I done all that I could have? Who should I have talked to and didn't? I imagine every missionary feels like this. I need to work harder and be more diligent. Thanks to those who pray for us and miss us. Just had a surprise visit from G1 sisters; came to see if we actually got the basket, so now we know who gave it to us! Love all y'all! Elder & Sister Steffler