Sister Steenhoek and some of her fellow missionaries.

Flat Tires, Apostles, and lots of Chocolate Milk

29 October, 2013

So what do 6 sister missionaries do once they find out they have a flat tire? Of course! Pull into a conveniently located Auto Zone, take pictures with the flat tire, and then go get some snacks and wait for the mechanic to get there.

So Welfare Square is so neat. Something that we are privileged to do while serving there is that we are able to host orders. A host goes around with the people picking up their food order and they mark off the items on a list that that particular person/family is in need of. It is so much fun! It truly shows you that there are lots of different kinds of people with an array of needs. It is both humbling and an honor to go around with them and fill their shopping carts with the food they need. It is fun getting to know each and every one of them! Funny story: we were giving a tour to 2 sets of sisters from temple square, and we had just passed through the cannery where they were canning apple sauce. One of our sisters poked her head in the door and said, "Could I try the apple sauce??" The man working in there loves sisters and gave each of us a jar of apple sauce hot off of the assembly line! That was so nice of him(: The smell of cheese at Welfare Square has gotten quite old, but the wonderful chocolate milk never gets old!

We met Elder Hinckley, President Gordon B. Hinckley's son, as well as his wife at Welfare Square. They were giving a tour to a newly elected senator of Australia, I do not recall his name. But that was neat!

I have seen Elder Williams quite a few times on Temple Square giving tours to his investigators, so it is so funny seeing him around.

Probably the biggest temptation here on Temple Square? Wanting to pick up all the leaves all over the place and throw them in the air, acting like a little kid. The hardships of acting professional.

We have this adorable lady who we got in contact with who lives in the North East, who wasn't understanding that we didn't live near her. When we were talking with her on the phone, she would be like, "Can you tell those nice young gentlemen (Elders) who visited me to give me a call regarding the next visit?" Or, "When will you and I meet in person?" We sadly had to explain to her that we were not in her local area:/ She said, "One day, we will meet. Whether it is here or in heaven. I am so grateful for your service!"

We have this other kid we are teaching over the phone, Josh. He is a high school senior. He had a copy of the Book of Mormon, but hadn't read it in a while, and therefore was losing interest. The scriptures can be likened to any situation(: For some reason, the only thing to try and spark his mind was when Ammon was leading the people of Limhi our of the land of Helam away from the persecution of the Lamanites. Gideon, Limhi's chief general, had the idea of making the Lamanite guards drunken with wine so the people could esacpe with their flocks. Good move, Sister Steenhoek. Hahah afterwards I was thinking, really? That is the first thing that came to mind?? But afterwards we asked him what he was doing at the moment, and he replied, "Not much really." We got you now... I replied, "Great! Could we read with you out of the Book of Mormon right now?" We started with "I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents,..." And stopped to provide input. At the end of our reading with him, he sounded quite intrigued with the Book of Mormon and is going to start reading again! The gospel is true(:

We had a surprise guest come speak to us yesterday morning! Elder Dallin H. Oaks and his beautiful wife, Sister Oaks came and spoke with our mission. It was a pleasure!! We all got to shake his hand afterwards. A sister had asked a question regarding a complex question that doesn't directly apply to the basic doctrines of the church. He said to 1. Respond to the question they SHOULD have asked, 2, answer with what you do know, and 3, Don't state personal stances and beliefs. We are not called on a mission to preach the Gospel of Sister Steenhoek, but of Jesus Christ. We should tell people what he would have us tell them. There was also another question asked regarding what we should tell less-active RMs. He responded by telling us the recipe to become less-active:

Stop your spiritual maintenance.

Stop going to church, stop reading your scriptures regularly, and stop praying. This will surely cause you to drift away. Those who drift away no longer have that weekly promise of "always having his spirit to be with them" when they stop partaking of the sacrament. SO powerful and true. That is what is most important.

Just to end, a scripture I just LOVE to share on tours at Welfare Square is Mosiah 4:21. God has given us everything. None of this is ours in retrospect. We should therefore be in the service of our fellow beings. That is where true happiness comes(: 2 Nephi 26:30.

Keep it fun! Play in the leaves for me(:

Sister Steenhoek

                                                 

                                                 Angie with the PR Rep for the Church

Crom- Conference Prom

Oh my. I never explained CROM! Crom is "Conference Prom" We all wake up at 5:30ish and get ready for General Conference since there is a chance we could wind up in the General Conference Issue of the Ensign....not to mention we had to be on the Square by 7:30.....so funny(:

Woah. This week was something else! I feel like sooooooooo much happened, yet here I am once again at the computer emailing away! It is so odd  to think that today is my last P-day of the transfer! Just letting everyone know that I may or may not be able to email next week. Transfers are next week, and who knows when my P-day will be or what my next assignment will be(:

Well for starters, I'll explain last P-day and our craziness. So after emailing, we went to our Zone activity, which was bowling. Afterwards, we went to IHOP to grab some food. While we were there, a sister called our phone, Sister McQueen, and told me she found my camera! It was hidden in the weirdest spot, stuck under a chair cushion at a desk! Anywho, it was found just in time, right before I was about to buy a new camera. Thank goodness! But the thing here is having a flash drive and taking other peoples' pictures that they have taken from events. It really pays to be able to see sisters from my mission each and every day!

We then went to Costco and Walmart to finish out that busy day. I still cannot get over 2-story Walmarts.

Before I get into General Conference weekend, I forgot to mention something about the Relief Society General Broadcast! So last week, I believe I mentioned that I was able to go to it live and sit in the plaza seating. Well the General Relief Society President walks up to us sisters and starts talking with all of us. She points to me and says, what is your favorite primary hymn? I totally blank and say, "uhh it has something to do with Jesus." hahaah how detailed! I could not remember the title for the life of me. But luckily, my co-sister training leader in the MTC said, "is it, 'I'm trying to be like Jesus??'" YES! It is!!! I told the General Primary President of the church, and she said, well you ARE being like Jesus by being on a mission. You are doing a great job. It was a pretty cool moment for sure(:

Now for General Conference!!! It is one thing to watch it. It's another thing to watch it while being on a mission because you are reading these kinds of things non-stop each day. So when conference comes around you are just so enthusiastic with each catch phrase an apostle says. But it is a WHOLE OTHER thing to be part of the entire production of Conference!! Just amazing!!

Some of the people I remember seeing from conference: Brother Crockett my MTC teacher, Lauren Morris and the whole Morris gang(:, Chelsea from my summer BYU ward, Taylor and Dallin (my cousins) and Uncle Matt, Elder Sam Williams from the Katy 3rd Ward in Houston, Sara Herzig from college and Houston, Chantell Bartholomew (I don't remember her new last name!), Amanda-she cuts my mom's and sister's hair!, Jennifer Dukes(:, Aubrey from my winter ward, as well as others from BYU!

Super fun seeing familiar faces! I am sorry if I misspelled your names:/ Anyways, it was a BLAST being on the 'other side' of General Conference. Something we were trying to accomplish was to get lots and lots of referrals for who to we could start teaching from the many members who showed up to Conference. I know that lots of people think that we as missionaries are kind of annoying when we go up and ask if there is anyone in their lives that they think could use a message of Jesus Christ, but I now know that being on the other side of things and being a missionary instead of a member missionary TOTALLY puts things in perspective. Member missionaries, we NEED your help. What I told hundreds of people here over the weekend was that being bold is key. Yes, you need to keep timing in mind, as well as being loving, but sharing the gospel with your friends and loved ones is key. If God wanted to spread the Gospel on his own, I am sure he could do that without any problems(: But his method for missionary work has been laid out for a reason. I believe it is to bring both the missionary (the member OR the one with the black tag) and the investigator closer to Christ.

I feel honored that all of the people I've talked to and all of the people who've referred 1+ of their closest friends and loved ones trust me as a disciple of Christ to bring them unto him. It makes me want to try even harder to see what Heavenly Father sees in his children.

We ended up getting about 65 referrals over the weekend. That is so many precious souls in the sight of Heavenly Father!!!

I talked with this one lady who was just having so many troubles in her life. She broke down in tears right there, and mentioned how she spent most of her life caring for her 10 children, and how she felt no one really appreciated her or even called her by her name. She is having marriage troubles and is having a hard time bringing happiness into her life. I hope that through talking with her that we will be able to bring lasting happiness into her home(:

Well on Monday, we got to sleep in until 12, and Tuesday until 9 am. How late!!!

Monday, Sister Thacker had a fever, so instead of going with us to our service activity from 1-4, she stayed home with one of our awesome zone leaders, Sister Gannon, and Sister George, our other Zone leader, was my exchange companion for the afternoon. It was soooo funny being with her because she just laughed all afternoon long. I don't think there was a moment without laughter during service! We went to Heritage Park and set up for a haunted ghost town type thing they will be doing. Since it shows the history of Utah, we moved handcarts and wagons for our service! It sounds totally silly (which it was!) But it was also such hard work! I respect the pioneers for the many miles they trekked. We got some superb jump pictures out of that service project, though! The usual jump picture, as well as a ninja jump pic!

This morning, my companion and I served in the Humanitarian Center giving tours, and I had NO IDEA what to say! I did not know any of the information, but luckily, my companion had just served there the transfer before(:

 We gave 30 5th graders a tour, and this one was obsessed with dragons haha. He was telling me all about how he draws them in class every day. That age is just so funny!

Sooo you know you're a missionary when you see someone in SLC trying to back out of their parallel-parked parking spot on the street and you want to run over and stand behind them and guide them out of their spot! RMs and missionaries, you know what I am talking about.

Well I drove the mission vehicle today. Kind of exciting. It was funny because my companion was having troubles backing the car out of our parking garage, and pulling it back in, so I came to the rescue in both and we switched places hahah.

Well. We have to go get ready for our Christmas party that we're having as a district! we are watching the Christmas Orange and eating pumpkin pie(:That's all for today! I always jut have so much to say(: Hope all is well! Write me emails(:

<3

Sister Steenhoek

This is Angelique and her fellow Sister Missionaries in a rarely seen area in the basement of the Beehive house.  October 1, 2013