First, I want to start off with this amazing picture:
I SAW THE YOUNG FAMILY IN THE ENSIGN! pretty sweet. I screamed with joy when I saw their picture and my comp got really freaked out, hahaha. Yeah, I took a picture with a picture because I'm cool like that.
Anyways...
There are so many interesting people in Vanderhoof! Most people that we tract into are actually quite religious, which is a whole new dynamic from people who don't know anything about God or Jesus Christ. For example, we have this one couple that we are teaching who are Christian. They love the Bible and love meeting with us. The husband will read the Book of Mormon, but the wife won't. Her dad is the preacher for the Christian church. She actually has been on missions for about 10 years of her life, through Mercy Ships which are based out of Texas. You should look it up online, they sound amazing.
There's also a bad side with having so many religious people as well. We had an amazing lesson with a first nations (Native American) lady. We gave her a Book of Mormon, but then her Mennonite neighbor convinced her to give the Book of Mormon back. It was very sad. Hopefully, we will be able to give it back to her eventually. She used to be an alcoholic, but has totally changed her life. She would love the gospel if she actually took the time to learn about it and didn't listen to her neighbor. Her neighbor is really scary. She yells at us every time she sees us go visit people around her. It's okay, Sister Ellgen and I still love her.
So, when we were visiting a couple in our ward, the father told us that he met Jackie Chan on his mission! He gave him a Book of Mormon and got a picture with him and everything! I couldn't get over how cool that is. Seriously!! Jackie Chan has a Book of Mormon? Sweet!
So this past week we had a huge ward clean up of the building, because it was getting pretty disgusting. The two wards in Vanderhoof worked so hard, and now it looks so clean, beautiful and amazing. That was on Tuesday. Then on Thursday, we had an open house! We only had about 15 people show up, which was a little disappointing; but for our very first event, not too shabby. Us missionaries were in charge of showing people the baptismal font, which was amazing. I hope that we'll be able to get someone into the baptismal font very soon!
On Saturday morning, we drove for an hour and a half to PRINCE GEORGE! An actual city. It was magical. We had zone conference all day Saturday. Then we had adult stake conference at night, but we had to find an investigator to come with us to be able to go. We went street contacting and I got proposed to. Sadly, I had to decline because of the fact that I am a missionary. He was a kind fellow and actually showed up at stake conference with his friend that night. Ha, ha!!!
We stayed with the Nechako YSA Sisters on Saturday night, but we had to walk back from stake conference because we walked there when we were street contacting. SISTER TILLEMAN, the Mission president's wife, gave us her jacket. She is like my mom away from home. I love my mission president and his wife SO much!
Sister Tilleman's jacket!!!
The sisters that let us stay in their apartment! I love them so much!
This senior sister missionary made us delicious food while we were at zone conference and stake conference. I love it when I don't have to starve/make food of my own.
And this is the wonderful Sister Shelley! She is in Vanderhoof with me as well, but she is in town. Lucky ducky. hahaha.
Well I learned SO much at Stake Conference and Zone Conference this weekend. I was so spiritually fed and am now ready to take on the week with energy and enthusiasm! This gospel is true, and I know that with every fiber of my being. I wouldn't be out here doing all this super hard and challenging stuff and working hard every day if I didn't know that it was true.
An amazing story: So ANGELINA!! She was the first investigator that Sister Ellgen and I tracted into our very first night here in Vanderhoof. She FINALLY allowed us to have another lesson with her. We taught her about the restoration and she said that she'll be baptized on October 12th! I can't believe the day has finally come! She is so ready and reads the Book of Mormon. I can't be more happy for her!
Another cool story: So when I first got out in the field and we where getting assigned our trainers, I was actually going to go to Langley. But then, over the PULPIT, President Tilleman changed me to come to Vanderhoof with Sister Ellgen. I know that I was meant to be here even though I'm terrified of all the bugs, rats, and living in a log cabin. It's a lot to get used to. But I've been able to live in a log cabin for a whole month now!! I'm proud of myself.
Another cool story: Sister Ellgen and I were driving back to our log cabin, and we saw something in the road ahead of us. We thought it was a dog at first but it was actually a BEAR cub! It was so cute running in front of us. I tried to get a picture, but he ran into the trees as soon as I pulled my camera out. It was pretty sweet. I've seen a bear and a moose so far! And some pretty scary bugs. And giant flies. Anyways, who cares? I'm doing the Lord's work!
I can't wait go get more letters from y'all! They mean a lot to me.
Sister Struempler
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