Notes from December 19, 2014

Well I think every week on Temple Square has many eventful stories to tell...

We had soup night last week! This super nice ward made us soup and a bunch of desserts (yes,
mission full of sisters!). It was wonderful!

Last night, we also ate at a member's home, the McDougals! They are awesome. They are basically
how I want my family to be when I am older. The mom and dad were working together with
EVERYTHING- cooking, starting conversation at the dinner table, and even when we made nativities
out of clay! The dad was sitting at the table as well making a snow man with his kids. The family was
so unified and it was great to see. Something funny about the McDougals, I went to their house for
Christmas dinner last year! It was pretty funny because they remembered that Sister Park and I were
in charge of all the mission cars last time we came.

So one of our wonderful homeless friends, Evelyn, sang the Little Drummer Boy for us. She told us
that if we printed out the words for her, she would sing it! It is her favorite Christmas song. Evelyn
has a 13-year-old girl and a 10-year-old boy. 

Calvin wants to be baptized!! We met Calvin at a desk, and he is originally from China, but he lives
in LA and is doing some acting.  Pressure loves the Book of Mormon!! Pressure is this woman from
Liberia. Sister Park transferred Pressure to me before she left. It is pretty difficult to understand her,
but we can tell that she has such strong faith. When we asked if she had her Book of Mormon near
her, she told us she didn't and asked if we could call in 20 minutes. We couldn't and so she said,
"Call tomorrow? Please Please Please Please...!"  She really wanted to read with us. The cutest! Our
mission sent letters to the missions in Sierra Leon and Liberia stating that we would be able to teach
the investigators there that currently cannot be taught because of the Ebola outbreak and
missionaries not being there. We will probably be getting many African investigators in the next few
weeks to call! Exciting!

Okay. Now for the old man and his dinosaur. I was standing at a desk one night during the Christmas
rush when I turned to my left, and this man holding a tattered foot-long toy dinosaur was right next to
me! I asked him about his dinosaur, and he said his name is Dino, and it is his companion. Dino has
been traveling everywhere with him since 1993. I asked him if Dino had ever gotten a bath and he
 said, "Are you kidding me? That would ruin him!" My companion asked him if Dino was Mormon and
I asked if he had been baptized and confirmed. He didn't like our jokes too much.

We got chased twice by odd people in one day only a few days ago!
We are glad we have security.

We had a beautiful testimony meeting during Zone Conference yesterday. The theme was, in 2 minutes
tell about an experience when you felt the Spirit undeniably on your mission. It was so powerful and
the Spirit was tangible in the room. Never deny that you have felt the Spirit.

Love you all!

Sister Steenhoek