3 Strikes √√√ and you're outta here!

Hi family and friends!! So this was quite the week. But to start off,
we had this awesome lesson with a girl named Katie. She's around our
age. We usually teach her with her mom, but it was actually Katie's
parents' anniversary the night we went over. We taught Katie the
restoration, and her reaction was, "it just make sense!" I wish all
investigators were like her haha.
We met a 7th day Adventist named Darcy. Darcy is a 36 year old who is
very excited about life. We told her all about the Book of Mormon, and
she brought it home. The next day, we saw her again! We asked her how
everything is going. She told us that when her mom had seen the copy
of the Book of Mormon (she lives with her mom), her mom made her throw
it away! When she told us that, I think it made my heart start
cracking a little bit. My companion and I were both thinking, "you
could have given it back...!"
On Friday, we went to the visitors center for an all-DC north sister's
breakfast. 

Afterwards, Sister Taggart and I went to the temple! It was
my first session at the DC temple, so that was quite the neat
experience! It is always fun to be able to visit temples that are
closest to you.

We went to the DC Nationals baseball game as a mission on Saturday! We
rode the Metro there and back as a district. Not only was our mission
there, but also the DC South mission! There were 300+ missionaries
roaming around. 

It was Soo cool to see! And I think people gained a
better perspective on us as Mormons, to see us out and about-"in the
world but not of the world" (: Also, we won!!!
So we got home at around 12:15, and didn't get in bed until 1am! 

That didn't stop us from waking up at 6:30 still! But man, Sister Taggart
and I were totally slowing down yesterday. We had about 2 hours left
of our day, and we had contacted almost everyone we could think of.
Our bodies were exhausted from a lack of sleep, but we just decided to
go walking to find people. We ended up teaching two lessons, got a bag
full of peaches from an investigator that works at one of the many
local orchards, and got caught in an insane thunder storm! I was
talking with a member on the phone while we were walking back to our
car a few streets away when it starts POURING. I was trying to play it
cool on the phone while getting drenched. But the days feel so much
more fulfilling knowing I did everything I could to make it a
successful missionary day.

I just finished reading "Our Search for Happiness" in my personal
study, and I must say that that is a wonderful book. If you are
wondering the beliefs of our church but are not sure if you want to
approach a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,
pick of a copy of that book. I know that the most immense, eternal
happiness in life is found through following the commandments of Jesus
Christ and learning more about our Savior. May we take the time each
day to do so

Much love,

Sister Steenhoek

Week 50, Can you believe it?

We did more service with Paula this week! We were helping Sister Davis
unpack more boxes. Paula found some nail polish, and started painting
her nails while we were doing service!! I attached a sneaky picture
below of my companion and Paula(:

The speed limit changes are loco out here! There is something we like
to call photo cops out here in Maryland. There are cameras on random
streets that are strategically placed behind a tree or something, as
well as right after one of those stealthy speed limit changes. No
worries though. We are pretty good about obeying, honoring and
sustaining the law!

We had many cancellations this week, and the family from Honduras that
we were teaching dropped us today:/ but we know that means it's time
for a miracle!

We just started teaching a mom and her son (around our age) originally
from Cameroon! They are so cool and very open. They each have a copy
of the Book of Mormon and are going to start reading it this week! A
crazy story about them though. So we retracted into their house to see
if the mom was home, but her son Will answered. We taught him and gave
him a Book of Mormon. We had about an hour left of the night last
night and decided to tract in their same subdivision. Lo and behold,
we run into Will's mom, Solange, and she told us that Will was
expecting us to come by! And we hadn't even contacting him about
coming by. We were then able to teach Solange and Will together last
night. The Spirit works, but only if we are listening.

We taught the Gospel Principles lesson this past Sunday, and it was on
charity. One of my favorite scriptures are the last 6 or so verses of
Matthew chapter 5, and how it's easy to love someone that loves you,
but how about loving someone that does not love you? I fact someone
that is your enemy? That takes the pure love of Christ.

So as we were filling up our gas tank today, the gas starting dripping
all down our car! We all have blonde moments sometimes....So we got
worried and went inside the gas station to tell the employee about our
pretty silly situation. He just told us to squeegee it off of our car
and we should be good to go. Uhh. Haha as we were doing that, that
same employee's voice comes over the intercom and he tells us to come
back inside. He gifts us with a free car wash! I think he was a little
worried about our welfare too haha.
We are going to the DC Nationals baseball game this Saturday as a
mission! I am so lucky to be here for this transfer.

Stay true, and keep it real!

Sister Steenhoek

21 July, 2014

Hi friends/family! 

So we had quite a few lessons this week. I'll just tell you about a few. Paula is really progressing. That is our 69 year old investigator with a white mullet.  She painted her little Chihuahua's toe nails pink this past week.

We taught her the restoration, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the word of wisdom this past week. I think the change will be a difficult transition, but she is enjoying learning more from us. She mentioned that she likes coming to our church because we are all so friendly.
I am sure you all have those eternigators, and you RMs know what I'm talking about. The Velasquez family is awesome, but they are having trouble committing. The good thing is that they know this is true. They are just afraid to make the big leap. Leticia, the mom, is so cute. She cut up a watermelon for us when we spontaneously stopped by. There are lots of motherly figures here in the DC area that take care of the missionaries.
We had a hilarious lesson with an investigator named Kevin with our member present, Jim. Jim is this white man, and he is married to a black woman. Kevin is a mid-30s black man. So as we are getting to know Kevin, Jim randomly says, "Brother, it doesn't matter what race we are. I am married to a beautiful Jamaican woman. It don't matter the color of our skin!" Oh Jim. Haha you gotta love the different character in small towns. So because of Jim's randomness, he says, "Brother, I love your earring. When I was just baptized, I was talking to a member who said, 'Jim, your earring is distracting. You should take it out so people won't be distracted when people talk to you.' Your time will come when you feel it's your time to take it out." Those are the times when you bite your tongue thinking, "eye yey yey!!!" But the lesson went very well nonetheless(: 

We were contacting one day, and we came across Clara, who was smoking in her front lawn. She was pretty hesitant to talk with us because she thought we were selling something. I told her, "We're not selling anything. We're giving it away for free!" Clara said, "Nothing is free in life!" We were able to tell her about how the Book of Mormon and the Bible testify of one another. While we were talking, this huge bug hit Clara in the face!!! I felt so bad, but it was sooo funny. I was trying to gain composure off to the side while my companion distracted her. Clara accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and took down the information to our church, which she asked for! We hope to see her again!
Dee is another one of our other investigators. She will be baptized in a few months and is so excited about it. What I love about Dee is that she is so comfortable with herself and doesn't really care what others think of her. She has a whole flock of sisters in the ward that she's made friends with already! 
Well today for pday, we took the metro to the city. We did a LOT of walking. We visited the Lincoln Memorial and then walked all the way to Georgetown! We didn't really know where to go, which is a little unavoidable as a missionary sometimes. Haha we asked a guy for directions back to a metro stop, and after a few seconds of a clueless look he said, "well if you put it in your iPhone you can find it pretty easily." What's an iPhone??
We visited DC cupcakes in Georgetown, and it is a way cute cupcake shop!
We also contacted all of the homeless people we walked by and told them about the DC temple. We got one of their names and numbers (this one had a phone) and the missionaries located in downtown DC will be contacting him!
Isn't it neat to think about that we all have unique talents and abilities that God can use for the building up of the kingdom of god? If we follow his counsel, we will be able to utilize our talents to their full capacity. Who wouldn't want that?

I love you all! Moroni 8:2-3

Sister Steenhoek