June 30

I'm late this week, but for a good reason! We have been on vacation! Yes, senior missionary couples get to go on vacations. My sister flew into Raleigh on the 24th (her flight was 3 hours late, oh well) and we headed to Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate. And what an estate! 8,000 acres, 250 room castle (?) and gardens to die for. You really have to see it to believe it. We hiked up three flights of stairs and visited most of the rooms, I think. Then we spent some time taking photos of the flowers. Karla even went down several flights of stairs (and yes, back up them) to see the conservatory with its exotic plants. I barely made it back to the shuttle before I gave out.

Then we traveled back to Greenville to stay overnight and headed to the ocean the next day. To Harker's Island to catch the ferry to Cape Lookout. Rode the "mule train" – actually in the back of a pickup – out to the very tip of the point of the island. You can see waves washing ashore in both direction; there has to be turmoil out there somewhere. On my sis's bucket list was to get her toes wet in the Atlantic Ocean. We did that, even found a few shells for her to take home. Hiked over to the lighthouse but didn't feel up to walking up the 263 stairs to the top. I heard it is a marvelous view; I'll take their word for it. Next we traveled to Manteo to stay overnight. Had to have some authentic fresh caught fish at Tale of the Whale. Even I, who does not particularly like fish, enjoyed my skewers of shrimp, mahi and scallops. Next day we get up and get ready for church in Nags Head. We are there 10 minutes early – those who know Karla know what I'm talking about! And the building is locked; it was stake conference. There were about 50 people wandering around (all visitors) waiting for the doors to open – they didn't! So we went on to the Wright Brothers Museum in Kill Devil Hills. Very interesting; lots of photos, some taken by one of the brothers who liked taking photos. The replica of the plane is awesome. To think someone would actually get on that and push it down a hill and have it fly – not me, thanks.

Then on to Norfolk Botanical Gardens to see more beautiful flowers. Even took the boat ride around Wright Lake and saw some of the wildlife, mostly birds but a few turtles. I didn't look too closely for snakes. Took oodles of photos, especially of the roses. They were a tad bit past prime, but still gorgeous.

I would not want to be a tourist every Sunday, but we did try to go to church, it just didn't work out. Instead we enjoyed the wonderful world that was made for us by our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. So thankful that we can enjoy it (and the air conditioning in the car). It was a wonderful time to spend with Karla. Family. Means. Everything. What would we do without family? Or the gospel? It would be a sad world indeed.

Monday we drove back to Greenville and she got to meet a few of the YSA at FHE then off to Raleigh to catch her plane early Tuesday morning. A shuttle ran from the hotel to the airport, so we didn't even have to drop her off there; we got to stay in bed.

Well, it was a whirlwind trip but a good one. 1,537 miles by our odometer. One we won't forget. So glad we could spend it with her.

We love all our family, extended family, family in the gospel and friends. We pray that your week will be a good one. I think we are about ready to go back to work. God bless all y'all.

Love, Elder and Sister Steffler

Succulent in a frame

At Norfolk Botanical Gardens.

Atlantic Ocean

Karla got her feet wet at Cape Lookout.

Biltmore

Conservatory

Here is the pic

Karla

My sister came for a week and we were tourists!

District leaders

Elder Hiraldo and Elder Armstrong

June 21

Yes, transfer week. The tall elder is Elder Hiraldo. He was our district leader and will now be our zone leader. His companion is going to Morehead City. Lots of changes in our district; even closing down a companionship; only one companionship is not affected and those sisters are in the midst of training.

Another week of high temps and humidity; one thunderstorm that kept me awake – I finally took a PM to go to sleep. But rain was sorely needed, so I try not to complain. Forecast is for mid 90s and thunderstorms in the evening. Makes for an interesting vacation with my sister Karla.

FHE was a kick, literally; the young adults played kickball in 98 degree weather! Had a couple of kids almost to the point of heat stroke. Good turn out; enough for 3 teams of volleyball later. That was indoors so a little cooler.

The hottest day of the year was Tuesday and we had appointments! Went to Snow Hill and left a flyer, to Pink Hill and saw a member who was in an accident about 6 weeks ago and is recuperating, then to La Grange for dinner with a member, her boyfriend who is a member also and her mother and stepfather who are not members. They grilled ribeyes and baked potatoes. Very good. We taught them the introduction to the Book of Mormon. Her mom was more interested than the stepdad, but they committed to read and the 2 members committed to give away their BOM to nonmembers.

Up early on Wednesday to head to New Bern to zone conference. Always a spiritual feast. The missionaries were divided into several groups then were videoed giving a 7 minute Restoration lesson. We were in a group of three sets of missionaries and all three did good jobs – none got through in the 7 minute restriction. They got to review themselves and everyone gave opinions of what they did good and what they could have done better. Very instructive. Pres. and Sis. Baker did a role play of Book of Mormon introduction and so much better than the way we have been doing. It is more of a 30 minute presentation, not 14 min. Got home at 4:30 and started putting together a fruit pizza for institute and Tyrei called for a ride, so we really had to hustle! It was a hit and 15 showed up.

Thursday we had the G2 sisters over for a lesson practice and lunch. Only one more week before they are officially done with our role plays. They tried the new BOM intro and had to quit before they were finished because they had to weekly plan. We finally got our piece of pie from the G1 sisters, and it was apple, not pecan, but still pretty good. Watched a life story on Pres. Monson on Mormon Channel. He is such a faithful servant of the Lord. We also finished reading all the October conference talks.

Friday after exercising and swimming, we stayed in the apt. all day. It was so warm and muggy, just no energy. The young missionaries really have my respect; they are out in the weather every day. Listened to an awesome talk by E. Holland about the ministry of angels. We fed the Spanish elders (see photo) and had to take pictures. I made lots of phone calls to follow up on some of the young singles and inviting them to church.

Saturday we walked in 80 degree weather then went to the farmer's market. Lots of people go shopping there. We fed the YSA elders for supper and gave out some VCM handkerchiefs that Lena had embroidered. It is a good memento of the mission.

Today being Father's Day, not as many YSA to church, but we also had a few new ones that hopefully will continue to come.

Looking forward to this week when Karla will be here. I have planned an itinerary; let's see if we stick to it – lots of traveling, but seeing lots of sites also.

Hope everyone is doing well this week. Try to stay cool and we will too! We have less than 3 months to go! Time is really speeding up. I may even be getting a little trunky! We love the Lord and His work and our mission. What a privilege to to work with these faithful missionaries and to reach out to the young adults. This is the Lord's work; we love it. God bless y'all!

Love, Elder & Sister Steffler

June 14

The cute little pot in the photo was painted by a sister missionary who we have gotten to know quite well. She has been here four transfers – about six months and will probably be transferred on the 23rd. She wanted to do something special for us and she enjoys painting on pottery. She also promised to make us a pecan pie tomorrow!

My sister Karla has finally decided on the days she is coming to visit: June 24-30. So looking forward to it. Already have the first day planned in Ashville, NC at the Biltmore Estates. Tickets are only $50 each!

We searched out a member who has just moved to Little Washington, about half an hour away. We actually found him! And he was at home. He and his siblings had just returned from an awards assembly at school and a couple of the younger ones had earned awards and were pretty proud showing them off. We invited the member to institute, FHE and church. He showed up at institute the next day! And to church today! He is a keeper. His mom owns a nice home and is fixing up an apt for him to live in. His dad is working in Kuwait for a year or so, and he was homesick, so he came to NC to help with the family. A nice young man.

Elder Steffler had to give a couple of blessings this week – one to a sister missionary and one to a baptismal candidate and his wife. So three altogether. The man was baptized on Saturday, so blessings do work. The wife had waited 29 years for the day when he would be baptized, and he was not going to let a little thing like pneumonia stop him!

Wednesday was E. Steffler's 72nd birthday; lots of well wishes on facebook. Thanks to Deana for making a photo collage that was cute and folks liked, too. Got lots of calls, even a couple during institute!

I have been shopping for my "little" vacation with Karla. I don't think we will have time to shop AND see everything we want to, so I decided to buy a few things. Went shoe shopping, didn't have the kind I want, ordered them in, didn't come on the truck like I wanted, but they got them in Friday and I bought them. I may take them back if they don't start feeling better soon! It has been a long time since I have worn sandals.

Have I mentioned that the heat and humidity have been almost unbearable this week? Highs in the 90s and humidity from 80-90%.

We had a meal with the YSA today. Don't know what to call it: mix and mingle, meet and greet, linger longer; anyway we had BBQ beef and pork. We did not make vinegar style; give me Sweet Baby Rays any day! We cut up about a dozen kinds of fruit for a fruit salad and that took a lot of time. But it was all worth it! Had 33 young singles at sacrament meeting; the stake RS presidency spoke and we got a new 2nd counselor in the branch presidency, so a good day. Two crock pots full of BBQ and salads and desserts with ice cream. There may have been a little salad left over and that was all. They eat until it is all gone! The Spanish elders took the last of the salads, so we did not have to bring anything home.

We have a dinner appointment Tuesday with a member whose folks are not members, so that will be interesting. Real nice girl and her boyfriend is in the elders' quorum presidency. It is about 45 minutes away, but that is like nothing around here. We also have zone conference on Wednesday which is always very uplifting. It is about 45 minutes away, too, in another direction. This is a huge stake!

Hope this finds all y'all well and being good. God will bless you if you will ask Him. I know this is true. We have seen miracles. One was last week when E. Steffler has a PPI. After the interview, the young man said, if I had known a year ago when you appeared on my doorstep that I would be in the elders' quorum presidency today, I would not have believed it. Such a nice young man. There are several members that we have really grown to love. This mission has been such a blessing to us and has widened our vision of what an impact you can make. Have a blessed week!

Love, Elder & Sister Steffler

 

Flower pot

Sister Barfus painted this cute pot for us.

June 7

As you can see from the photo below, we had our senior activity in Norfolk, VA yesterday. The Nauticus is a naval museum that we walked through then went onboard the battleship Wisconsin and walked from one end of the deck to the other. I think E. Steffler was more interested in this type of activity than I was. "Wow! Look at the size of that cleat. Nate would love to have one of those." Something to do with a thingy that holds a huge chain onto another thingy. I'm sounding like my sister now! But the guns were pretty impressive. We watched some film showing the Wisconsin in battle during WWII in the Pacific. It took a direct hit on the deck and other crewmen didn't even know it had been hit. 16 layers of steel protected it. Anyway, pretty impressive stuff. The museum had all things naval in it from live critters to a giant shark tooth – megaladon or something like that, about the size of a softball (the tooth). E. Steffler sat at the controls of a simulator like an underwater thingy with claws to pick up articles. He managed to pick up some chain. We didn't stay too long because we had a long ride home (3 1/2 hours).

But we got to have lunch with seven other couples from the mission. There is such a need for senior couples. The mission is expecting 31 new missionaries in August, the largest incoming group ever. It will be quite a challenge to get them all arranged. There are several apartments empty now that will be put to use then.

Something that took up the first part of our week was the death of one of our member's father. The member is the only LDS in his family; his dad was part of a Harley Davidson biker group and there were about 30 bikers in the funeral procession, along with all the paraphernalia that goes along with bikers – leathers, long hair, cigarettes, all free spirits. The widow even wore her leathers to the funeral and rode her bike in the procession. Our member said a few closing remarks at the funeral and said the closing prayer, so we did get a little of the church into it. His dad was only 52 and he took it really hard.

We will follow up with him this week to make sure he knows he is loved. We have a few other appointments outlined – one is even a dinner invitation! Don't get those too often. It is in LaGrange, about an hour's ride away. I'm anxiously waiting for my sister to call to say when she is coming to visit. It is going to be really hot if she waits too much longer. This week is suppose to get to the 90s. Not looking forward to that!

Hope this finds all y'all happy and healthy and enjoying life. We are! God bless y'all. Love, Elder & Sister Steffler

Wisconsin

16 inch barrel and a 1000 lb bullet can shoot 21 miles. Impressive!