Notes from 20 October, 2014

We met Leona today while she was looking at the painting of the boy Jesus teaching scholars in the temple. Leona is from the States and has bright red hair. She was here with her ward just walking around temple square on a youth trip. We found out she is not a member! We are so excited to have the opportunity to keep in contact with her.

We also met Ramdass from Singapore just yesterday. We explained ot him about the Book of Mormon, and he was SO excited to get his own copy!! We will call him next week after he gets home from Salt Lake. On the same day, we also met this girl from Singapore who asked us where she could attend a church meeting here. We will be keeping in touch with her as well to see if she liked the church service.

Bob getting baptized on Saturday! Sister Stigsson met Bob while she would exercise in the mornings. He knows German, Russian, and English.

As we were walking through Temple Square yesterday after Music and the Spoken Word, a member yelled, "the Church is true!" Only on Temple Square.

Scott, the man we met a few weeks ago, is doing great! He jut isn't sure what ward to go to since single's wards cap off at 45 for the older singles wards, and he JUST turned 46. He doens't know if he feels comfortable going to a family ward. But he accepted coming to our ward this Sunday! He is working through having some faith issues (such as tithing) after learning about the church for a year now. But we will help him.

Transfer conference next monday morning! I will know what my fate is for the next 6 weeks before I email next week.

My companion is famous!! A woman from the Ensign for Sweden came to visit Temple Square, and apparently all the members in Sweden know each other. So my companion was interviewed for the Swedish Ensign!! Check it out.

We met this guy from Ivory Coast by the Christus Statue, and he had an incredible story. He is a convert to the church, and after serving a mission, he decided to go to China for work. It turned out to be a scam, but instead of returning to the Ivory Coast, he felt he needed to stay in China. After a year of being there, he returned in the hopes of getting a visa to come to America. Apparently it is very difficult to do. When he went to get his visa, he went to a teller who spoke to him in Mandarin Chinese! She said his Mandarin was so good and that she has approved his visa for 3 years more than he had originally asked for. God works miracles.

There was a wonderful analogy that was shared in sacrament meeting yesterday. When a master pianist stands up from playing a wonderful piece of music, people don't come up to the stage and congratulate the piano. They congratulate the person that made the music happen. The same with miracles in our lives. God is the person that is causing the miracle, and we are only the instrument in his hands. We need to thank God for the miracles he has granted us to witness on a daily basis. 

I hope you are all having a lovely week! And I also hope that you are continuing to help out those missionaries in your local area. Members are KEY to missionary work.

Love you all!

Sister Steenhoek

Posing with some of the Sister Missionaries on Temple Square with David Archuleta and his accompanist, Kendra Lowe