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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

20 April, 2014

Temple Square is going well, as always! I think it is a particularly special time to be able to be here during Easter time. The flowers set the PERFECT scene for the Easter season.


Yesterday during Easter Sunday, Sister Cano and I had the opportunity to go to Music and the Spoken Word. It was phenomenal! They sang so many of my favorite songs about our Savior. 
Str. Steenhoek and the fantastic International array of Sisters

Afterwards, we took a tour composed of Jack from the UK, and Zhen from Texas. It was kinda funny because we were about 15 min into our tour, and Zhen asks to join us. Zhen made the tour so much more lively with his questions. We went to the Tabernacle, and I sang, "We Thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet" in the historic building. It really brought the Spirit, especially since listening to a prophet of God was the building's original purpose for being built. We taught the Restoration, and were able to give a copy of the Book of Mormon to both of them. We hope to hear from them again and teach them more!

Antonio is one of our beloved investigators from Mexico. He has a HARD life. Polio, his children don't talk to him, poor circumstances, depression. Yesterday, he was particularly down, and we taught him about being grateful through our trials. The Spirit was so strong, and we were able to help him resolve his concerns. The adversary is working extra hard on him. He was supposed to get baptized this week, but he didn't go to church yesterday because of his emotional state. But the Spirit prompted us to call at the PERFECT time.

Well, this past week, Sister Cano passed off taking tours in Spanish! She has been much needed with the entire world Spanish population visiting Temple Square. When we take tours in Spanish, we teahc together, so I teach in English, and she teaches in Spanish. She tells me how challenging it is translating my English to Spanish. I am so proud of her!(:
Well, I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!
Sister Steenhoek

Monday, April 7, 2014

"So then Elder Perry told me..."


Hi friends and family!

Just another wonderful day on Temple Square. We just had conference, amidst many other events and exciting things! For starters, I will finished training Sister Cano this transfer. How fun! The no moving part is even more fun! 
Angelique and her companion - Str. Cano from Peru

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, Sister Cano and I were able to cover for Welfare Square tours. For those of you not familiar, Welfare Square is the main location that the Welfare program of the church was established. It has a bishop's storehouse, an employment resource center, a Deseret Industries, a Cannery, a Grainary, a Dairy, and a Bakery. I was proud of Sister Cano for picking up the information on the WS so easily. One of the tours we took was with 2 families. One was a mom with her children and brother in law, and the other was a couple and their sister. We had 2 members of the Second Quorum of the Seventy in that tour!  One Elder was from Ghana, and the other Elder was from Nigeria. That was pretty intimidating, but it was also a wonderful experience to share with them what we are all about. Another tour that was touching was with a family of 3 children and their mom and grandma. The oldest daughter was 14, was almost blind, and she carried a stuffed animal. During our tour, we asked, "So you are in high school? How is that going?" She responded, "Not very well."..."What? Why?"..."I think the other kids think I am weird because I like stuffed animals." Well we told her that everyone is kinda weird in their own way and that there is no "normal" person.  Thank goodness for being weird! At the end of the tour, she gave us a super big hug and didn't want to let go. I hope she knows how valuable she is!

Our fun week didn't end there! Thursday, the day after transfers, Sister Cano and I, along with 2 other companionships, had the incredible opportunity to help the Church Office Building Catering Company with a lunch for the Apostles. My BYU catering skills came in handy after all! So we helped set up the many tables for all the 70s and the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, and then we helped to serve and clear plates! I had Elder Cook and Elder Perry at my tables. I have to say, that was a nerve-racking experience serving nothing but Apostles of the Lord!! I went to one of my tables, and a member of the 70 was doing my job! He went around the table filling up everyone's water glasses! It was like a room full of charity. As I picked up Elder Perry's plate, he asked where I was from. "I am from Texas!" ...(Leaning over to the apostle next to him)"Does she sound like she is from Texas???" Hah, what a character. After the lunch was over, they let us take home all of the extra cookies, and let me tell you, there were a LOT. Apparently, a lot of apostles aren't fond of chocolate chips!


So conference: We had the privilege of attending the Saturday morning session of Conference. I quite enjoyed Elder Holland's talk, Elder Rasband's talk, and Elder Anderson's talk. They focused on power and having a firm foundation. Wonderful! As we were talking a picture in the Conference Center, Sister Elaine S. Dalton *(the former General Young Women's President) walked by and said, "Just beautiful!!" 


We talked with many wonderful and many interesting people. Probably 8 non-members, and 1 in particular who just was NOT interested. He perplexed me because in the most relaxed fashion to our questions of, "Don't you want more happiness in your life that God wants to give you?" Just responded, "Eh, no not really..."  I have never come across someone like him! But I know God will definitely help him know this is the way.

We talked with a man who wants to run for president. He told us he wants to run for life. I'll be looking for him in the next election. We talked with a Young adult who we told to go on a mission. His papers should be in by June first. 

I also ran into Sister Davis, who had moved to Perth Australia, and the Uldroyd's from Houston. It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces!

The weather was super odd, but that didn't stop the many members from listening to a prophet of God speak! Something I loved that I had heard in a tour was that we need prophets to interpret scriptures for our day. Just as we read scriptures many times throughout our life and get different meaning, so should our prophets and apostles in behalf of the world.

Love you all! Let me know of your favorite talk in conference, or a favorite insight you had.


Sister Steenhoek