Notes from 18 August 2014

Hello! Here is the update on our investigators: Paula is doing just
wonderfully! She looked so lovely and modest at church the other day.
She invited us the the Gaithersburg, MD fair, but we couldn't go:/ but
she is progressing so well! She is starting to feel like she needs to
repent of sins in the proper way, which is an indicator of her coming
closer to a Christ.

We committed Dee, our investigator who will be baptized in the near
future, to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, and she accepted!
We both started over as well, and we will be able to follow up on her
reading.

Will, our investigator from Cameroon, believes the first vision to be
a true and powerful event that occurred, we just need him to get
excited about church.

We have a sister leaving out of our ward in 9 days to go on a mission!
I am just so proud of Ashley Barney and of her willingness to serve
The Lord. We went to her farewell, and I have attached a picture
below.

We went to downtown DC today to exercise on the national mall, and a
sister and I did yoga in between the Capitol and the Washington
Monument. We are so American(: we did meet a girl around our age by
the Washington Monument and we got her name so we could keep in
contact with her on fb. She is a Zumba instructor in Trinidad.

I know this is way short for my weekly emails, but if hope you all
have a wonderful week!

Sister Steenhoek

11 August 2014

Transfers were this past week..... We are together still! Yes!! I
think Sister a Taggart and I work very well together. Not to mention
we balance each other out(: our roommates moved out because they shut
down their area. It was bitter sweet. Pretty sad that we can't come
home and tell them about all of our crazy experiences, but we now have
2 bathrooms for getting ready in the morning!! Yippee!
Sister Taggart is the new sister training leader, and she will be
wonderful at it! That means we will be going on quite a few exchanges
this transfer.

So Paula has been sick this past week, but we made her feel a little
bit better by getting her sparkly pink nail polish. She was so excited
that she had to try the color out right then and there! But not on her
own nails of course, on her little chihuahua, Lily. We are going with
Paula and Sister Davis to the visitor's center this week to show Paula
around, and also to see "On the Lord's Errand." Speaking of Sister
Davis, we went over there to do some service this week, and it
consisted of putting spices into little glass jars and labeling them.
We liked that job because we got to smell all of them. Sister Taggart
and I are going to be expert chefs when we get back home! (:
So I went on exchanges with Sister Connelly at the DC Visitors Center
all day on Thursday, and we did a youth tour! We had all young women.
It is always one of my favorite things to see a group of people's'
understanding of one subject change into something greater over time.
It was also sooo nice to be back serving in a Visitors Center once
again! Sister Connelly and I then went on exchanges again this past
Thursday, and we stayed in Gaithersburg. Highlights: 4 Spanish
referrals (all contacts using the broken Spanish we know), Peruvian
food at an authentic restaurant, a drunk man stopping us from across a
busy street to come talk with us, and a 6-inch moth!!
My companion. Is too funny. So we were laying in bed when we got a
text from an investigator. He was basically dumping us as his
missionaries. Although it was sad, my companion had a funny outlook!
"Being a missionary is too hard. People break up with you like every
day." Haha so true.

We went a visitors center event with Laura and Bro Britton last night.
We are not sure how that went.... I think Laura was pretty overwhelmed
by it, her being atheist and all. Hopefully she continues to meet with
us!

We taught a Catholic man and his Jewish son a few days ago, and that
had to be one of the most confusing lessons. We did not know which
direction to take it in? Luckily, they both have copies of the Book of
Mormon now!

Dee is this awesome black woman who owns a hair salon. We teach her in
her hair salon when she isn't busy. We are going to go back sometime
this week and help her unpack shipments that she gets in. We taught
her about church services, and she is wanting to come with us one day!
We gave her a restoration pamphlet, and she is excited to read more on
the Restoration.

We taught a lesson to Will from Cameroon this past week, and we put on
little shoe booties to walk in his house (I'll send a picture of
them)! He also made Sister Taggart and I herbal tea in his mom's fancy
tea pot and fancy tea sets. What hospitality!
I was reading in 2 Nephi 9:6 this morning, and it reads:
"For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of
the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and
the resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and
the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became
fallen they were cut off from the presence of the Lord."

I think it is so interesting that the scripture connects the fall to
resurrection. It further supports God's order and wisdom. His plan is
flawless, and everything needed to happen the way it did so that we
will one day be able to return to his presence and be exalted. If we
do our part, we will be able to stand before our father in heaven and
tell him, "I have done all I could to do thy will," and Jesus Christ
will happily be our advocate with the Father.

Love,

Sister Steenhoek

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

Miracles Always Come

So. Last monday we take a Sister in the ward's niece with us out tracting who is preparing to serve a mission. We go to some different peoples' homes, including potentials, and 2 different potentials dropped us. Hahah it was hysterically horrible. Well I told The member that sometimes we have those days, but that when we see miracles, it is all worth it. We had about 20 minutes left in the day when this young adult guy comes long boarding down the street. Charles is in his early 20s. As he was riding by, we started contacting him. After stopping and listening to what we have to say, he said, 
"Why hasn't anyone told me about this before??" He was so interested and he accepted a Book of Mormon. We are waiting to see where it will go from there.

Well I got the flu this past week. It was pretty funny though because we were coming home from a service activity so I could be contained, and our roommates walk in like 20 minutes later. One of our roommates was sick too! So we just went on exchanges. I spent that day watching some classics: the Joseph Smith movie and On the Lords Errand.
> We went to the Spanish Night of Music at the Washington DC visitors center last night, and we were lost with what was going on haha. But the members we went with were from Nicaragua, and they really enjoyed it!


We are teaching a family from Honduras- Tegucigalpa. I met them this past week, and they warmed up to me after I told them my brother just got back from serving a mission there recently, and that I went to Roatan and held a Honduran monkey. They have some major concerns with church. Satan is working hard on them, so we hope the a Spirit will touch their hearts and work a miracle inside of them.

So Paula, our awesome investigator with a white mullet and a Chevy van, came to do service with us this past week. We went to help a member unpack boxes in her house. Paula is really opening up to us and is truly seeking to know if this is true. She just drove to Philly to by a Chihuahua so her dog, Pooh, would have a friend. She is just a character. We are going over to see her new dog tonight and to resolve concerns about prophets.


My personal study is currently focused on the children of Israel and why they were a chosen people. Something I read that was so interesting to me was that when the children of Israel were in bondage, it was far from the ideal situation for them, but their needs were taken care of. God wanted to give them the opportunity to act on their squandering faith, or build heir faith through humility by giving them trials. God does that for us as well through trials. He wants to give us the opportunity to grow. How good he is to us.

Sister Steenhoek 

Outbound Mission to Washington, D.C.

Hello from Maryland/DC! Woah. Last week was pretty intense. I couldn't even believe that we were there by the capital on the Fourth of July. It was Soo fun! Here's some fun pics below. So something fun about Maryland is that there's soooo many deer here that keep running out in front of our car hahah. Also, I am loving this country-ish feeling to my area. The ward here is pretty great. We have lots of characters that aren't afraid to be themselves. One of the ward missionaries, Brother Larkin, is awesome! He just takes the initiative and calls some of our investigators that he is fellow shipping to see when we can come over. He also brings copies of the Book of Mormon wherever he goes so he can give them out. What a missionary!!

Right after Sister Taggart and I ate some frozen yogurt in the city on the fourth in DC, a Mormon family chased us down and invited us to eat lunch with them in this way nice Italian restaurant with them. We made some new friends!

So my mission president, President Cooke, acts like Steve Martin and Steve Carrell. He claims that he looks like Leslie Neilson, but none of us missionaries know who that is haha. We did charades last night for a Sunday evening FHE, and his word was "pig." He acted out a gorilla (or that's what it looked like) and we were all laughing sooo hard. No one could guess what he was doing. But he really is an incredible person with great character.
We have an investigator named Paula, and she is quite the character as well. She came to church with us, and when we were singing the first hymn, my companion was trying to turn to the page it was on, but she said, "No. Turn to the next hymn were gonna sing!" I think she just wanted a head start or something. She's definitely a spunky one. She loves yard sales, and LOVES service. So won't join the chin unless we find a bunch of service for her, so we're working on that one.
Tracting is fun! It is a challenge, but it allows us to tweek our door approaches and contacting techniques to become better each day. The challenge we are working with is that we talk with many people while walking/tracting, but they always say, "just come back any time" instead of setting an appointment with us. I know we will figure it out though.
So we have a pretty cool potential investigator. Solange is from Cameroon, and she is a Christian. She just moved here, and she has 3 boys. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon, and we were able to teach her the restoration. We will go back to her house this week to teach her more and answer any questions she has.

Well, l love you all! I always love reading your emails and hearing about your lives. 

Sister Steenhoek

PS: So here is my mailing address for my outbound:
Washington DC North Mission
11700 Falls Road
Potomac MD 20854-2823