May 17

As you can see in the photo below, transfers were this week. Said good-bye to Elder Lewis; he has been with us since January; headed to Roanoke Rapids as district leader. He is a solid missionary. Said farewell to four missionaries in our district and hello to four new ones. One sister is training so we will get to do practice lessons and feed them once a week. That will be fun. Elder Terril, who was here last year, is Assistant to the President and helps with transfers. It was good to see him again – plus I took a loaf of bread to transfers to give to him.

I did get three Mother's Day cards on Tuesday; thanks Lena and Eliza. The one from Lena's kids said: Know what I love about grandma hugs? (Inside) Free refills – whenever I want them! So cute. I love that.

Tropical storm Ana gave us a few days of rain – some of it intense at times. The strawberry guy at the farmer's market said they had to throw away 80% of what they picked Thursday, but the new berries coming on are good. We are picking tomorrow!

One of the big highlights of the week: we decided to go on a diet! Hope to have off the 10 lbs I have gained on the mission by the time Karla (my sister) comes to visit the first week in June.

Helped an investigator get to lessons and meetings. She is coming along slowly. Also read BOM with our member friend and took her grocery shopping. No, she does not have a car, but she does have three boys who like to eat – twin boys aged 6 and a boy who just graduated high school. He has a hollow leg!

We met the sister missionary who we had previously met at Palmyra last year. We were there in July and this sister was in the performance and had already received her call to serve in the Virginia Chesapeake Mission. She had asked every senior missionary she had met if they had been to Palmyra. She was pretty excited that she finally found us!

Farmer's market was pretty incredible this week: strawberries, tomatoes, beets, purple cauliflower, zucchini, grass-fed beef, eggs and peaches. Note – all on the diet! Hurrah! But we get a cheat day, so we had a burger and fries at 5 Guys for lunch and fed the elders for supper last night. Then we started our fast; so much to fast and pray for – family, missionaries, investigators.

We feel so blessed for this time here. I try not to feel guilty that we are not out knocking doors like the young missionaries do. But we would only last one day! So we try to support missionaries and members whenever we can. And we need to go hunting for young adults who are hiding out and really need the gospel. But they really like their sins! If we can get them to look at their lives from an eternal perspective, sometimes that helps them get back on-track. We love them. And we love our family and pray that the Lord will help them through their trials and strengthen them. God bless all y'all. Elder and Sister Steffler