"Well This Has Been an Interesting Week!" Sept 29, 2014

I don't even know where to start. It's been a whirlwind and somehow I only have 3 transfers left! I AM getting transferred tomorrow. I am going to be a Sister Training Leader in Albany (not new york), so I will be leaving the Zone. (I figured it out for myself, we're not really officially sure that's where I'm going until tomorrow, but that's the only STL companionship getting transferred so it is the only place I could go.) I thought I wasn't going to get transferred because I was training, but here we are and I'm packed and almost ready to leave! It's been so awesome being in Baton Rouge 3rd Ward....I'm going to miss it so much! But I am so excited to move on and have new adventures. Because, as you know I love adventure :)

I have been so distracted writing this email....I started it an hour and a half ago but transfer information keeps coming in and I am one of the missionaries in the mission who makes it a point to have all the transfer information I can before transfers. It's fun because then everyoen comes  to me for transfer info and I feel special :) kidding, I just love knowing/guessing where everyone is going.

what are some things we saw this week?

Well. We saw one of the members in the Plaquemine Branch get arrested....and tried to bail her out. We pull up to breakfast at another member's house, (we slept over at the Plaquettes' because sister Hill had to come home for medical reasons) and there's cop cars surrounding HJ's car. We see them cuff her and stick her in the back of the cop car, and we go in and the otehr member called the police because they didn't recognize the car. Theen the charges were dropped but apparently one of her dogs got out this mornign so they were looking for her to pay a ticket so she got arrested anyways. We finish breakfast, go to the ATM and pull out the $250 to bail her out, run to the police station and with the money triumphantly in our hands, we open the door, go up to the counter and say "we're here to bail someone out!" The clerk just looks at us...and says "you have to go down to the jail to do that one." #awkward. So we leave the police station and are about to drive down to the jail when we see the police officer who arrested HJ walking in! We run up to him and ask for directions, and he says she's bailing herself out as we talked to him. It would have been a better story if we'd been able to, but she still paid $57 in pennies and 81 in in $1s (She never spends her 1s or change) and the rest normally. so that made up for it a bit, but that was the adventure. Then we had to spend the rest of the day crying because we had to take Sister Hill to the mission home and say goodbye. That sucked. Pretty bad. I was so emotionally drained by the end of that day I just wanted to go to bed. So I did. Also we got stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours so that wasn't fun either.

Wedneday was also a bit of a fun day....we found out Sister Ririe is allergic to wasps! We were doing a service project and she got stung, so we drove to a member's house and gave her benadryl and her hand went numb and she passed out. No death though, thank goodness. I had to check like 15 times to make sure she was still breathing.

Friday we got to go to the temple, which was awesome :) Always a blessing.

Saturday was the women's broadcast! Taht was so cool. See my spiritual thought at the end :)

Sunday I already knew I was getting transferred, so I said goodbye to people and it was very difficult to leave :( I have really loved this ward. I have definitely grown a lot here, and grown to love people more. It's been so busy! but so good :)

Yesterday was spent running around saying goodbye as well--plus, a member in our ward I'm good friends with got her mission call to the Leeds, England mission! She reports in England on January 1, 2015. It was such a tender mercy I got to be here for the call. I have been working with her for a while and I love her a lot, and it comes my last full day in BR3? if that's not divine intervention I don't know what is.

so that was this week! Next week, who knows what will come? I am so excited for it :) Though it's a bit bittersweet, because Sister Stephens goes home tomorrow. But at least I know it's not the end :)

So here's my spiritual thought:

The women's broadcast was all about preparing to go to the temple. I thought that was so cool, but in one of the talks one of the speakers turned temples inside out. she quoted this scripture:

1st Corinthians 3:16: "Know ye not that ye are the temple‍ of God, and that‍ the Spirit‍ of God dwelleth in‍ you?"

She then said this:

"The temple's purpose is to serve manking and to push back the darkness. We are temples of God. Our purpose is to serve mankind and push back the darkness." It's so true! If we are temples, every good word, thought and deed help push back the evil in the world. As Dumbledore said, "we must fight, and fight again, for only then will evil be kept at bay, though never quite eradicated." We can't completeyl stamp out the darkness in the world, but we can push it out of our lives. Dark and light CANNOT exist in the same space. We have to choose which one we want to exist in. So as we are kind to ourselves and each otehr, as we take a stand for the things that are right, we push back the darkness a little further and bring a little more light into the world. Temples are lighted at night so they can be seen in the darkness. We are as well. Christ said "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven." He also said "I am the light which ye are to hold up." when we do good, we emulate the Savior of the world. We hold up His light that banishes the darkness.

LOVE YALL SO MUCH!!! I'M ONTO ANOTHER GREAT ADVENTURE!!

Sister Steele

Saying goodbye to the Baton Rouge 3d Ward Young Women.  I'll miss them!

Hello Again from Louisiana Sept. 22nd

Hello again from Louisiana! hope everythign is going well for everyone. This week was fun, but the kind of fun that missionaries have. We were busy. We saw a lot of people and made some progress with them! Let's see......[insert flashback music here]

Monday we went bowling! it was fun but I still stink. I made exactly one strike and the first game I scored like 68 or something and the second game I think I scored like 40. I stink. I think i've been bowling twice in the past 5 years, and some of the other missionaries for some reason had takign bowling lessons when they were younger. I keep waiting for when we play softball or soccer again so I can prove to the world I actually do play sports :)

tuesday we got the oil changed in our car (if it was my car I could have done it, but since the mission provides cars, they want us to get them taken in. Not complaining though :P), had a meeting, and went and helped Sister Hansen make little "faith kits" for the missionaries (as in, we put dirt in a bag with a bag of seeds and paper cups, so they could plant the seed, water it and watch it grow! Faith is like a seed. If we plant it in our hearts and "water" it [pray, read scriptures, etc] it will grow just like a little plant!) and then we got to go to the temple! It was so nice to put all my cares away and focus on feeling the Spirit and feeling at peace. The temple really is a house of God, a place where His Spirit just sort of washes away any worries or cares you have. It is so peaceful. I love having the opportunity to go to the temple.

Wednesday we saw a ton of people!! We got to go to the nursing home to visit this sweet lady and sang to her and her friend. I love nursing homes, really. Everyone is just so happy to see us and it's so easy to just smile and say hello to people. It's fun to ask for advice, too. We visited her again yesterday and her friend was there, J. J is 100 and a half! She's got some really good advice :) I love old people. We saw a lot of my favorite people and got to eat dinner with some of them :)

Thursday I realized I actually like being a grownup. Mind you, this only happens occasionally. We went to lunch with some of the women in the ward, as a Relief Society thing. We went to this yummy little place called La Madelines, and it was really fun. It's nice to feel like you belong to something, and Relief Society is meant to be just that--an organization to help women feel closer and belong and serve each other. It's just fun :) Then we went to do service, and off to dinner at the end of one of the bayous in Prairieville. Tender mercy with that one--we had an entirely different lesson planned for this part member family (the husband isn't a member) and in the middle of dinner I remembered we were planning on sharing another video with him, "Because of Him" from Easter. That one talks about how because of Jesus Christ we all can live again. It was a super powerful lesson. When we were teaching, all I could remember was Grandpa, saying that when we get to heaven he doesn't want to see any empty chairs where someone in our family should have been. I was bawling my eyes out, but so was everyone else. Well, it was really spirit led, because 2 days later, the husband's mother passed away. I hope we were able to provide a little comfort for him and his family. I know that Because of Him really sums up my testimony of Jesus Christ really well.

Friday we saw a bunch of other people too :) It was fun and pretty productive. We have a member who recently started coming back to church, whose daughter is about to turn 8, so she wants us to teach her the lessons before she gets baptized :) that's always fun :) I love their family, so that's no hardship!

Saturday we met a new family who moved into the ward! incedentally, they're from Chandler even thoguh they just moved from anotehr area in Louisiana. Small world! then we had a killer weekly planning session and baked cookies while we were at it and gave them to the Elders. Cause we're awesome :)

Sunday was church :) That was really good as well! I love going to church and taking the sacrament. It is so refreshing to know I can be clean every week. Its such a burden off of my back. I went and helped out in young women's again, too, so that was doubly fun. I miss Young Women's sometimes.

So, that was my week! I wanted to share a poem with yall before I go though, because its been a poem I've had that's shaped my entire mission. It's called "Valleys":

 

Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble and woe
It's then I have to remember
That it's in the valleys I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced pain,
I would never appreciate God's love
And would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn
And my growth is very slow,
Sometimes I need the mountain tops,
But it's in the valleys I grow.

I do not always understand
Why things happen as they do,
But I am very sure of one thing.
My Lord will see me through.

My little valleys are nothing
When I picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death;
His victory was Satan's loss.

Forgive me Lord, for complaining
When I'm feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it's in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.

Thank you for valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it's in the valleys I grow!

 

Love you!!! Have a great week :)

Sister Steele

Meetings, Meetings, Meetings Sept 15th

It's funny, because sometimes my job feels a lot like dad's--talk on the phone and play on the computer. Well, we only get to play on the computer on Mondays, but whatever. We definitely sit in a lot of meetings. This week was double duty. We had something called specialized training this week where we had 6 hours of people talking and it's really interesting but it kind of gets hard to pay attention after the first 3 hours. Most of our week was taken up by meetings. It's so weird because every week I come to the computer with thoughts of what I'm going to write, and then I sit down and realize that my days are the same over and over and over again. They're fun and interesting for me, but for everyone else, it's like "we got up and saw some people and went to a meeting and saw some people then we ate dinner at these peoples house and saw some people and came home and collapsed into bed because we were so exhausted." That's pretty typically what my journal entries say. in a little more detail, of course, but the concept is the same.

We did have some cool experiences this week. So our investigator, S is still praying about whether he wants to be baptized on the 27th. his biggest problem is church attendance becuase he works 7 days a week. He believes everything we teach, he just doesn't know whether he wants to be baptized yet. Well, his family was out of town ths week (in utah for a baby blessing) but his wife C told us that S had the weekend off! So we prayed and prayed and prayed some more and told the bishop and the ward mission leader he was coming so we kept praying! And.....he came! He showed up for church on Sunday morning. He only stayed for the first hour, but he came! We sat by him and it was a pretty stellar sacrament meeting--we talked about scripture study and why it's so important to read the scriptures. We get to see him on Friday of this week! We're really excited. If you haven't been able to tell this late in my mission, I really am horrible at writing long emails. I don't really expect to get better, either.....sorry. Katie is much better at that than me.

 

 

 

I actually wanted to share something that I shared at district meeting about progress this week. I love progress, no matter how small. Here's my spiritual thought of the day :) A little bit of soul food :)

 

"Heavenly Father puts people in our paths so that we can change for the better. The fact that we can't get away from good people who want to help when we're doing wrong things means that He hasn't given up on us :)

"Why am I happy when I see just a little bit of progress in the people I work with and love? because that means that not only has Heavenly Father not given up, neither have they. I read a really cool talk earlier in my mission that talked about how the light within us can never fully die. It's Reuben J Clark:

 

'Every human being is born with the light of faith kindled in his heart as on analtar, and that light burns and the Lord sees that it burns, during the periodbefore we are accountable. When accountability comes then each of usdetermines how we shall feed and care for that light. If we shall liverighteously that light will glow until it suffuses the whole body, giving to ithealth and strength and spiritual light as well as bodily health. If we shall liveunrighteously that light will dwindle and finally almost flicker out. Yet it is myhope and my belief that the Lord never permits the light of faith wholly to beextinguished in any human heart, however faint the light may glow. The Lordhas provided that there shall still be there a spark which, with teaching, withthe spirit of righteousness, with love, with tenderness, with example, withliving the Gospel, shall brighten and glow again, however darkened the mindmay have been.'

"I read that and immediately took hope, especially because I've worked with a lot of people who have all but let that spark die. And it's SO HARD to watch people slip away when there's nothing you can do about it. It's one of the greatest dissappointments I have had to face as a missionary. But I have the faith that when we're ready, REALLY ready to change, we will. As humans, we have the capacity and capability to change. We know it brings happiness. That's why I'm happy. Because I'm living the gospel. Not because times are easy because they most certainly aren't. But I am happy because I am consecrating my life to Jesus Christ right now. And that brings a kind of joy I have never experienced before. Does it mean I'm always happy, or don't experience the sadness that comes with disappointment? No. But does it mean that I know I am acceptable before the Lord, and that brings something even greater than happiness--peace. Peace of conscience. Knowing that if I was called to die at this moment I would be okay. I know, too, that we can all feel the same way, if we want to. When we're ready to change, all of us can experience that peace of conscience which is what we're looking for. but it ONLY comes through living the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm not there perfectly yet, obviously. I make a lot of mistakes, but that's why I'm glad that repentance is part of the process. why am I so happy with just a little bit of progress? Because it's a starting block for eternal progression. We might think our little actions are a big deal, but I know they are. I am so grateful for any kind of progress.. Now, after we start we've got to keep going. It's HARD to change. I know. but it is SO worth it. We have to give so much up but we'd better not think we're ever on our own. when that desire is there, He will take that desire and grow it. But we have to take the first step and MAINTAIN THE GROUND WE'VE ALREADY WON. DON'T LET SATAN TAKE ANYTHING ELSE. we've got to win this battle and the war! We've got to start moving forward. We know what to do. We've just got to have the courage to do so. If we even have a twig of faith, God can grow it. That first step is the hardest but it's so worth it!"

 

I love y'all so much! you're amazing and I'm privileged and honored to be associated with this particular group of family and friends. I don't know what I did to deserve it. Love you!!!

Sister Steele

PDay in "Death Valley" (LSU Football Game) Sept 8th

Needless to say, it was a pretty good pday. I don't think I'll have another one quite like it the rest of my mission.

It was really fun, too, because we got to contact a lot of people before the game (when they weren't completley drunk). We got a lot of questions and it was a really great contacting activity! ....after we left at halftime the only people who would talk to us were the ones playing beer pong, so... oh well.

This week went pretty well. Thursday we went on exchanges with the Plaquemine sisters, because sister Hill has been really sick. It was so much fun being back in the ghetto. Those people are completely different from anyone else in the world. They don't  always love to listen, but they always love to talk. You sort of have to adopt their speech patterns, too, or they'll shut you down and won't listen to a word you say. Sister Baba is so cute :) She's a temple square sister, so coming to plaquemine was definitely a change for her.

Friday was ZTM (zone training meeting) and sister Hoskins did a fabulous job instructing. It was funny, because I could throw out random quotes from the first 10 months of my mission and either Elder adkins or Sister hoskins would get most of them. If Elder Ryan was down here I'd be complete :) We had aREaLLY good lesson with our investigator S, and we invited him to be baptized on the 27th! He even came to chruch on Sunday (it's a big deal because he works 7 days a week and he didn't even ask for sunday off, they just gave it to him this week.) So he's praying about the 27th and we're moving full steam ahead! The Lord realyl does work miracles when you do His will. We had been worried about inviting him to be baptized on a specific date, because we know coming to church is hard for him. but we felt prompted to anyways! And here we are :)

Saturday...well, you've seen my saturday.

Sunday was really good too! We did splits (meaning I went with the Relief Society president and Sis Ririe went with one of the 17-year old girls) and covered a lot more ground. We had pancakes to break our fast and got to jam out to primary songs on the piano. So it was a good day and a good week!

This week we have meetings galore and nothing quite that eventful. I don't think much can beat this week for eventful.

Love y'all!

Sister Steele I

Happy Labor Day Sept 3d

So.....having to use public computers does kind of stink....because that means when so many of our national holidays are on Mondays, we don't get to email :( Oh well! here I am, so all is good.

Let's see.....oh! So guess who I got to go on exchanges for a little this week? Yes indeedy :) Sister Hoskins and I are reunited for a little! I will tell you we went to bed on time, but I won't tell you how late we stayed up talking. There was so much to catch up on, and you know you are really good friensd where this is no gap or awkwardness when you see someone again for the first time in 3 months, just laughter and talking and good memories :)

 These are my girls :) I love them! I have some pretty great posterity.

Hmmmm.....what happened this week? I have like a week and a half to email about, and I still struggle to find something to write about. It's been either really hot or pouring rain this week, and it's supposed to rain the rest of the week. We had a really cool lightning storm last night--dead silent, no rain (at the time), no thunder. Just the clouds lighting up over and over again with lightning for about 20 minutes as we drove home. You don't get those out west.

Sister Ririe was in turn sick this week (I apparently have an immune system to be reckoned with) so we spent Thursday inside. Friday, I was getting cabin fever so I texted Sister Hansen and we went on splits! We left Sister Ririe to sleep at a members and saw one of the people we're working with. It was really fun just to sit and talk to Sister Hansen for a while (for those of you who don't know, that's my mission president's wife...it's nice having her in the area because sometimes we can get to do things like this). also, I found out she has problems with her lefts and rights, just like me. So I'm not the only one!!

Saturday it rained all day (literally ALL DAY) and so my shoes got soaked and Sister Ririe got her first taste of Louisiana rain. but we still saw a few people and then had to go in and do weekly planning because it was the first LSU football game and so no one wanted us over :) Speaking of which........this Saturday. As in 3 days from now we get to go to the home opener at LSU stadium. Be jealous.

Sunday....what did we do? Church was interesting. It always is, especially when the content of the meetings is deep doctrine. It's a big act of faith on our part to invite people to church, because we never know what we're going to get! oh yeah, we went over to our bishop's for lunch, and he made us steak and super good potatoes! It's funny, because the first night sister Ririe was in LA I told her "you don't get too many potatoes down here, it's mostly rice." Almost every dinner appointment we have had in the last 2 weeks we have had potatoes. I've had more potatoes in the last 2 weeks than I have my whole mission combined! But that was fun. then that evening I made peanut butter nutella cookies for our member neighbors who moved in as thanks for the rolls they brought us last week. It was cool because we got to see him sign the closing prayer. Since being on my mission, I've heard English, Spanish, Cajun (which is english mixed with who knows what) Navajo, and signed prayers and they're all so cool! The Spirit is strong with all of them, and it's proof to me that God hears and answers all of our prayers.

Tonight we get to see Sister Baird, as they're in town for a meeting. We're getting frozen yogurt and having fun. Next week, we have a big meeting called specialized training, where we go and president Hansen instructs on a particular aspect of missionary work, and that's combined with the Denham Springs Zone, which is sister Stephens' zone! So I get to see all of my companions who are still in the field in the course of a week. Talk about a tender mercy.

Exchanges were awesome with Sister Hoskins. It was so FUN to sit up and talk! And we still teach really well together too :)

Not too much else for now! I can't think of anything else to say. Hope everything's going well for yall!

Love you!!!!!!

sister steele

Revenge of the Poison Ivy Part 3 Aug 25th

Can I just say I am really really grateful poison ivy isn't as common out west? Because it STINKS. No, it doesn't really. You can't smell it. But it is no fun whatsoever. I would send you a picture but my legs and arms look gross so yeah. It's not a horrible reaction compared to others, but I have patches of poison ivy rash all over my legs...and my arms....and my neck...back behind my ears...and my shoulders. Note to all who do yardwork in humid climates: BEWARE THE FUZZY VINE. it makes you VERY ITCHY.

 

So....training. It's been a really long time since I've been around a greenie. I mean, I've been around second transfer greenies a little bit, but first day, first transfer greenies? Especially coming from another old fart like me? It was definitely an adjustment and continues to be. I have to scale down my mission talk and explain a lot more, and while I'm grateful for this opportunity, it's definitely different. I LOVE Sister Ririe. But I DO miss Sister Stephens. 1 transfer is nowhere near long enough to be companions. But, she was needed in Amite and I was needed here, so I'll just have to buckle up and start again.

 

Let's see....we went to the capitol building for pday. That was a lot of fun. The STLs came with us so we had a grand old time. The picture attached is from the top of the capitol building--it's the tallest state captiol in the US. But it's pretty awesome and a really good view.

 

PS,Dad will be pumped for this: We are currently planning on moving one of our pdays to a Saturday so we can go to an LSU football game! We got permission from Pres Hansen so we might be going to the LSU-New Mexico State game! If we held out...and had enough money we could go to the Ole Miss or the Bama game...but those tickets are like $300 a seat. So...2 months worth of allotment? Eh.....better not. I wish, though. We're gonna use it as a contacting opportunity. So freaking pumped!

 

This week we saw a lot of members and introduced Sister Ririe to the ward. We're working through the members and asking for referrals through them. Sorry, now I'm distracted because I was helping my district leader pick out tickets. We're going to work super hard this week!

Let's see....we didn't get kidnapped, Ty is now home, Sister Stephens has a transfer left. BUT! Sister Hoskins went STL to Baton Rouge, whcih means we get to go on exchanges with each other!!!!! I am so excited.  I'm still super distracted....sorry.

I'm trying to think of anything interesting from this week.

We have this part member family, the C family who just moved into the ward. Well, the mom and the kids are active, but the Dad is Catholic. He's been taught everythign and he knows its true, but he just can't let go of some of his past mistakes. But we went over on Thursday and taguth him and his family, and I just had another one of those feelings like this was a person I had promised to help before this life! We had just come from another appointment where I had felt the same way. I'd been struggling to figure out why I was here, and back to back I found two of my reasons. We're inviting him to be baptized the 27th of September! We just gotta pray that he gets Sundays off with is work. He's about as LDS as a non-LDS man can be :) We're really excited for them.

Anyways! That's pretty much it for now. Love yall a ton! Write me letters!

Sister Steele

The Return of the Machete Missionary Aug. 19th

I am more than a little bit bummed that Sister Stephens and I are being split up...again. It seems like I went from having the same companion for 6 months to driving off my companions every transfer! But I think I should have the next sister for 2, because she isn't even in louisiana yet...she's flying right now from where Katie is to where I am. Weird.

I brought very little with me to the library today becasue we're going to the Capitol building (it's the tallest in the US) (we had to be special somehow) so I have to sort of pull this week out of my head.

Monday: We played volleball at the church. as usual. Funny though--one of the members wanted to take us out for dinner and texted us and asked us where we wanted to go. Sister Stephens said "I really want to go to outback, but it's too expensive" so we put down "we're good with whatever you want!" Then he texted back "do yall like outback steakhouse?" we about died laughing.

tuesday: District meeting. I instructed on faith and commitment. It was alright, I guess. Commitment is so important to faith and that' s where I struggle a lot so it was really good for me to instruct on it. We got put on lockdown because Sister Stephens had the flu. For real.

Wednesday: Sister stephens was still sick. I about died of boredom. but I caught up on my journal!

Thursday: We broke free of our lockdown and saw a bunch of people. 8, to be exact. We taught our investigator L through a window #firsttimeforeverything and caught up on our numbers for the week.

Friday:We cleaned an older member's house. It was DISGUSTING. I have never seen black sludge actualyl growing in someone's fridge before. I think I disinfected myself like 6 times after we left. They were super grateful though :)

Saturday: 1 year from the first time I ever used a machete.....we do a service project and get to work with machete's again! And we took a picture of the people who were at the cemetary last year, and it was a surprising amount! 5 out of the 17 who are still out on missions. It would have been 6 but Elder Browning had to be at something for his ward so he wasn't at the servic project Also got into poison ivy again but I don't know how much. . Right now just a little bit. But the last time it took a week for the rash to show up, so we'll see. We were icky and gross and it was so much fun. We both got training calls and tried to figure out who was leaving and where.

Sunday: We had church, our strange less-active M came and it was....interesting. Not terrible, but definitely interesting. We had gumbo at a member's for lunch and talked a lot about missions since they have 2 twin girls who are working on their papers and got invited to FHE at another member's house.

Yesterday we went and said goodbyes to the people we love :) then it's time to pack and go!

I know. Worst email ever. Hna Steele totally has me beat. But my brain is fried because transfer week is super stressful and I stress too much anyways. Forgive me *grovel grovel grovel*

I don't have a ton else to say. I know this chruch is true and I love it! I love being a missionary even if it means having to say the hardest goodbyes of your life. Good thing there's no such thing as a permanent goodbye. But they still stink.

Anyways! Love yall! Sorry this is short.

Sister Steele

August 4th

Sorry this will be a short one--there's not a ton to report. We were sick off and on this week with a bug going around so we didn't get a whole lot of work done. We're doing better now, but it does mean there's not much to say. Mostly we just slept and watched Mormon Messages.

Transfers are next week--while I think/hope/pray we're staying together, no promises. With President Wall I would almost bet on us staying together because sister Stephens goes home next transfer, but for right now I'm not so sure. She could stay and train her last transfer and I could leave. or she could get transferred to double open an area and train and I could train too. We have no idea. I'll let you know next Tuesday.

Um...Sister Weidmann left back for temple square this week--it was a very sad day :( We're going to party in Switzerland when I get back. Sister Baba is currently in Plaquemine, but usually the temple square sisters get moved at transfers. Plus, they might double transfer out the Plaquettes and possibly close the area. We're not sure, though. Lots of stuff has to happen this transfer because we have 21 missionaries going home and 29 new missionaries. Crazy crazy crazy. elder Allred got moved to Zachary so now we have Elder Brimhall. And Elder Griffin goes home next week so we'll have a new assistant as well. So hopefully Sister Stephens and I are staying!

Wednesday we got to go to breakfast with the Alexandria missionaries---it was SO nice seeing them. I miss my friends up north! We ate at IHOP and then they had a meeting at the mission home. good times. Sister Baird was also down for the meeting and then she and her companion and another set of sisters stayed the night at our place, meaning very little sleep went on. Which is probably why we got sick....oh well.

We had a cool experience this week with a recent convert. She is actually from Arizona and is Navajo. We've been teaching her the new member lessons and trying to get her to come back to church (long story). We finished up the plan of salvation and started talking a bit about temples, when I felt like that was the tie back we needed to get her to come to church. I found out that the reason she hadn't been reading the book of Mormon was because it was hard for her to understand in English, so we offered to order her one in Navajo! She was so excited (as was the senior sister in the office) and gave the closing prayer in Navajo. That was one of the most beautiful prayers I have ever heard.

I think that was the most interesting thing I have to say for this week. I'm still a little sleepy, if I sound weird in my email. This week should be good, though! Looking forward to it.

Love yall!

Sister Steele #1