Food & Finding (12/15/2014)

This week was so great!!! On Monday we had a lesson scheduled with Diane, our awesome investigator. Turns out she messed up her back, so we wont be able to teach her for a while! We didn't teach her all last week, so hopefully this week we'll be able to teach her more and she'll feel better. We had FHE with an awesome family. Funny story: we were going to watch Joy to the World, but then when we put the DVD into the DVD player, it got stuck. So they had to use pliers to get it out or something. We talked to them about the first Christmas in America in 3 Nephi 1 instead, so that was really great :)

 

Tuesday we had lunch with this awesome lady in our ward! She is dying of cancer, which is really sad, but she's hanging in there! We had a wonderful time together :) I feel like on the mission we pick up a lot of moms & dads, grandmas & grandpas. We did a lot of finding which was great. We have a lot of people scheduled for this week, so hopefully we can actually teach them!! We also had dinner with a member and that was interesting. Sister Bernard and I were SO STUFFED that we didn't feel good. Sister Bernard actually threw up after dinner. So sad. We realized that we need to stop eating so much food. ugh! Why are the members so awesome? One day we accidentally had 3 dinner appts, so we had to reschedule 2 of them. 

 

Wednesday we had a CHRISTMAS zone meeting. We read this AMAZING talk https://www.lds.org/ensign/1977/12/maybe-christmas-doesnt-come-from-a-store?lang=eng and all talked about it. I challenge you all to read it and tell me what you think. It really opened my eyes to the role that Mary and Joseph played for Jesus Christ. We also had a Christmas dinner and they even got a YSA band together to play Christmas songs for us while we ate. It was so fun!!! Then I finally got to teach Alfonso!!! He is this awesome man from El Salvador who just got baptized in October. He's been struggling a lot lately with the word of wisdom and doesn't know if he can repent. We finally got him to understand repentance, and he came to the Christmas party and to church on Sunday! MIRACLES! 

 

Thursday we did weekly planning. I only have 3 more left! I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We found lots more as well. We found this super awesome guy right before we were about to go inside. We were out street contacting in creepy downtown and we walked up to this man named Bruce. He said that he talked to Elders before, but they never called him. We got his number and are going to teach him on Wednesday! Pray for him for us!!!!

 

Friday we got to volunteer for the Salvation Army again. We rang the bell for the kettle drive at the mall! We're going to the mall today by the way - I'm so pumped!!! I just love it. It get's me in the Christmas spirit volunteering and helping people out! Then, we had the CHRISTMAS PARTY! Even Santa made an appearance. Lots of less active members and investigators made appearances. That was so awesome!! CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS!!! 10 more days!!!!! Saturday we walked...and walked...and walked...and walkedddddddd!!! It's park your car day on Saturdays, so yeah. We did get to help someone decorate her tree! And had an awesome dinner appt. :)

 

SUNDAY!! Church!!! We went to church and had a great time. After church, we stopped by this family that we met on Saturday who told us to come back the next day. Turns out he was just trying to be nice and thought that he made it clear that we shouldn't come back. Say what? People are so weird. Then we went and visited this AWESOME family! The wife is from Germany and she was there when the Berlin wall came down! She's a convert too. So basically the best thing ever. And the husband was a convert too and had the BEST conversion story. Then, we went and visited the less active that had the wolf and all the dogs. That was so fun! But stinky!! Afterwards we went finding and then went to visit a newly married couple in our ward and sang christmas songs with them. It was great! Love you all!

Send me letters!!

Love,
Sister Struempler

Here are some pictures from the week:

Kelowna!!

Santa Claus at the Christmas party!

Chipmunk!

Swing!

Sister Bernard on Bernard Street

me holding a wolf puppy

So many dogs!!

Christmas is coming! (12/8/2014)

I'm so excited for CHRISTMAS because it's the best time of the year! Everyone loves CHRISTMAS and is so much happier! People are more willing to listen to us because CHRISTMAS is coming up. CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS, CHRISTMAS!!! Can you tell that I'm excited? hehe!

On Monday, we did our normal p-day thing. We taught this new investigator named Diane. She is SO AWESOME! She is a recovering alcoholic and is so ready for the gospel. We taught her the entire restoration lesson and she loved it. She loves that we have a prophet on the Earth today and she loves the Book of Mormon. She is so prepared, so everyone please pray for her for me! We really want her to get baptized this month and have a WHITE CHRISTMAS!!! We're teaching her again tonight.

Then on Tuesday...oh Tuesday. Something happened to our car and that was a fiasco. We are still trying to get it fixed. We got to meet with this recent convert. She is so crazy, but so awesome. She kept telling us about how she owns a castle in Detroit and needs to go there to find it. What an adventure! We also got to help out with a nativity exhibit that the church was putting on here. It's called "Creche." It was BEAUTIFUL! There were over 400 nativities on display!

Wednesday, we had district meeting! It was so great :) I love Sister Holbrook, she's a fantastic district leader. We also got to be hostesses at the Creche exhibit for a couple hours and tour people around. Towards the end, a bunch of school kids came and there were so many of them. It was crazy!!! Also, a man from the newspaper came and took pictures of Sister Bernard looking at one of the nativities. She's famous! She was in the newspaper on Thursday! hehe. 

 

We also found this cute couple named Lauren and Brent. They invited us over for dinner the next day. Thursday. Thursday we did weekly planning. We also visited with this less active lady and helped her read the Book of Mormon. She just got an electric blanket and was falling asleep while we were reading to her....hahaha, oh well. Then we had a super stressful lesson with Lauren and Brent. Turns out Brent is a pastor at the Baptist church. They wanted to teach us, instead of us teaching them. They are super nice and said we could come back anytime and would help us if we ever needed anything. Agree to disagree, eh? We also had a meeting with our ward mission leader. He made us eat fennel. It was...interesting! 

 

Then on Friday we got to help out with the Salvation Army kettle drive. We got to stand in the mall and say "Merry Christmas" to people. It was so cute. Parents would give little kids a looney or a toonie and then they would come up to the kettle and we would give them a candy cane. So FUN! We got to visit an awesome family in our ward that night as well. 

 

Saturday! "Park the car" day. Oh man, I was exhausted from trudging in the snow all day. We talked to lots of people. We met this drunk man that some missionaries had talked to earlier, who felt bad for not talking to the missionaries before. He was so nice, and I hope he actually calls us. We also met this guy that had his priorities all messed up. He said that we should go try some ecstasy and then we'll, "know what life is all about." Poor man. We also met these teenage guys who tried to get us to hang out with them. On Sunday, we had so many miracles. We went to church and that was great. A lot of less actives showed up, which was nice. We found this awesome lady named Stacey. When we knocked on her door, she was like, "Come in! Get out of the cold!" She doesn't go to any churches, but is interested in reading the Book of Mormon and learning more! We're so excited to teach her on friday. We also got to go to the beginning of the Christmas Devotional and then had to leave early. We went to our stake president's house (he's in our ward) and had dinner with them. They invited some neighbors over as well who aren't Mormon. We shared Luke 2 with them and made gingerbread houses! I even put a moose on ours! hehe. Well, that was my week!

 

I love you all so much!!!

Endure to the end!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

 

Sister Struempler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Kelowna! (12/1/2014)

So I'm in Kelowna! I got here on Wednesday night and it was SNOWING! I'm so excited to be here, but it's seriously freezing. -15 degrees Celsius. But it's an adventure.

 

Monday we awaited the call. We got it while eating dinner with a member, so they were able to comfort us. I love members. I love Courtenay. I miss it already, but I know I'm supposed to be here in Kelowna. Tuesday was chaos with packing and saying goodbye to everyone. Tuesday night was the Relief Society Christmas party, so at least I got to say goodbye to lots of people there.

 

Wednesday we went to Nanaimo. Sister Bartlett went to Richmond to pick up her TRAINEE! She's training a brand new missionary. I'm so proud of her. 

 

Then I got to the airport at noon. We had a huge delay because there was so much fog. I was stuck in the airport with an Elder for 5 hours. It was an adventure. We flew to Vancouver and then had a lay over there. A member from Vanderhoof bought us dinner, so that was sweet! Being a missionary is so awesome. And then from Vancouver we flew to Kelowna, and I got my new comp Sister Bernard! She is SO awesome. I love her so much. She's from Utah :) She's been out for 3 months and we are getting ready for an amazing transfer together!!!

 

Thursday we planned. I hate planning...still. I think I say that in every email I have ever sent home. Oh well. Then we went out and worked! We live right in downtown Kelowna, which is nice, but is also kind of scary. But, I'm getting used to it. We talked to tons of people and found some cool potential investigators. We then went and visited a member. I knew her brother and sister-in-law in Richmond, so that was cool that we have a connection already. We also had our first coordination meeting. There are 3 sets of missionaries in this ward! So crazy. It's probably twice or three times as big as the Courtenay Ward. Friday, we walked around downtown again. We tried to visit some people. We met this awesome less active lady who is from Cuba. She was just waiting for someone in the church to visit her and show her some love. She has felt ignored for a long time, so we're going to work with her and help her a lot. I'm so excited!

 

Then on Saturday, we had our walk and talk day. It was so cold! We went and met the Bishop. He's only been a member for 8 years! It was amazing to hear his story. Sunday, I had to give a talk and my topic was about enduring to the end . . . because I only have 5 and a half weeks left. I was running around like a crazy person at church trying to meet everyone and get all of their names down. I'm determined to get to know this ward even though I won't be here that long. Members are just the greatest! Then, a nice family invited us over for dinner yesterday. It was really good. We went finding in the cold and everyone who opened their door was like, "It's cold, go home!" And we were like, "No, this is important!" haha - oh the joys of winter. 

 

I know that this church is true. It just is! There is only one true church on the Earth that has the priesthood power and all of the saving ordinances. It's the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

 

I hope that y'all have a wonderful December and Christmas season!

 

Send me letters!

Sister Gabrielle Struempler

313 - 1425 Bertram Street

Kelowna, B.C.

V1Y - 8K4

Canada

Love,

Sister Struempler

White (11/24/2014)

This week was probably one of the best weeks that I have had on my mission. Get ready for a good one!

On Monday, we were just going about our normal P-Day business, then we got a phone call from a member. He told us that this lady named Shayla called him up and was begging him to call us so that we could meet with her. She investigated the church 2 years ago, but then just dropped off of the face of the planet. She was watching some youtube videos that freaked her out and decided that she needs to make changes in her life and wants to start coming to church again. Talk about a MIRACLE! So we called her up and started teaching her Monday night. She also came to church yesterday which was super exciting! 

We volunteered at the food bank on Tuesday and this guy that volunteers there seems pretty interested in learning about the gospel. Now we just need to find a way to contact him besides the food bank...because we're not really supposed to proselyte in there. We saw Ken and Shelley! Ken had a pretty bad fall last Friday and actually broke his nose. So sad! But the ward is being great and helping them out which is really awesome. Shelley "doesn't know if she can be Mormon because she likes coffee." She'll come around, it'll just take some time :) 

Then we taught this CUTE old lady named Agnes. She is actually preparing for baptism now! She's scared of water, so we'll see how this goes. Her date is for December 13th, so everyone please pray for her!

Then Sammui had her baptismal interview! It went so well and she was just so happy afterwards. :)

Then we taught our pagan friends Tuesday night about the restoration. It was pretty good, but we don't know what it's going to take to get them to change. Hmmm...

 

 

Wednesday we had district meeting! It was so good :)

 

 I have a twin by the way

 

p.s. this is how missionaries park their cars...hehe

 

Last district meeting together because TRANSFER CALLS ARE TONIGHT! ahhhh.

Thursday we did weekly planning and then went out to work. We went finding and talked to some pretty awesome people. We talked to this guy that was sincerely asking questions about the Book of Mormon and it was just so awesome. We gave him our number, so hopefully he'll call and want to learn more! We also visited the relief society president's mom, who isn't a member, and then visited with an awesome member family :) So exciting!  ​

Friday, Sister Bartlett got sick :( She had to rest and she also got a blessing. It was such a miracle! She felt better the next day! Priesthood power is real! We also went to a member's house for dinner and that was delicious. They just got sealed last week! There are 8 kids! Then we went and saw Sammui one last time before her BAPTISM! 

Are you ready for Saturday? BEST DAY EVER!  We went up to MT WASHINGTON in the morning. It's the Ski Resort of the Island. It made me want to go snow boarding so badly. We have a member and an investigator up there so we got to spend some time with them and teach them :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you want some Sushi, Eh??

 

 

And then when we got back to Courtenay, guess who I got to see?!?!?!?!?!

 

 

VICTORIA WAS IN COURTENAY! We went shopping with her at Costco! Oh my gosh, I was in heaven. She's going to the temple in January! I'm so happy for her!!!!!!!!!! :D

Then we went and taught this cute lady from Ecuador named Catalina. 

And then....

SAMMUI'S BAPTISM!

 

 

Sammui and Andy :)

 

It was so amazing :) I love her so much! Then on Sunday she got confirmed and it was just awesome :) I could see her just glowing with the spirit!

 

Then after church and lunch, there was a Christmas Parade. We didn't go to it, but we got there just as it ended and talked to the departing crowd. I was in heaven! Most people I've seen on main street in Courtenay the whole time I have been here! And everyone was so kind and excited for Christmas that people actually talked to us. I love this season!

We went and watched "Joy to the World" with this less active member. She wants to come to church but can't wake up for it...uhhh...yeah. We're working on her.

Then we had dinner with the Andersons! (the people that we live with)

 

 

I love them so much :D hehehe

Then...MIRACLE! This senior Elder from Salt Lake called us and told us all about this couple that went to St. George on vacation. They were there for 2 weeks and went to the visitors center 3 or 4 times. He said that they were getting home yesterday, so we went over and met them. They are SO SOLID! I'm so excited. And then we went and visited another less active member that night and she gave us a bunch of free clothes. Wahooo!

Miracles have not ceased. 

Love,

Sister Struempler

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

This past week has been FREEZING! Like 30 degrees. So crazy.

Monday we went to a member's house and did some arts and crafts. It was super fun! We got to make our own homemade Christmas cards! We're going over today as well to finish them up. So fun :)

Then on Monday night, we went all the way out to Black Creek to have dinner with some members in our ward. They live on a Bison farm . . . so awesome! Except, get this: the wife's parents live in a suite above the garage and they actually go to the ward in Campbell River. Let's just say that we & the Campbell River elders ended up at the same dinner appointment (awkward). Afterwards, we went and had FHE with a different lady in our ward :)

Then on Tuesday, we went on exchanges and I went down to Qualicum Beach: Land of the Old People! It was really awesome though. It was super cold, but super sunny. We went to the beach for exercise in the morning, which was really fun!

 

 

 

 

 

We got to teach this super cute old man about the plan of salvation. His girlfriend just died, and he's really sad about that. We also ate dinner with some members & the wife is from Chile. She made MEXICAN FOOD. Awe man, I've missed that stuff!! We also got our flu shots and met this awesome old man that looked like Abraham Lincoln! It was full of adventures!

I got back to Courtenay and we did our weekly planning. We tracted a complex that a member lives in and then went and had a lesson with them. We also dropped by this less active that actually said she might come to church on Sunday! I'm so sad, she didn't come :( Then we planned SAMMUI'S BAPTISM! SO STINKIN' EXCITED! She's getting baptized on the 22nd!! WAHOOO!!

Then on Friday, we went to an apartment building to go tracting in the morning. We then drove to Nanaimo for a Zone Meeting! It was seriously so good. We talked about how setting goals are so important to success and it's all from goals that the work begins. I'm trying to be better about setting goals now!

Then the Duncan sisters came up on an exchange with us, and we both went and saw members at 8pm. It was good :)

Saturday, we were still on the exchange for a little bit and Sister Schroeder and I went to Comox & talked to people. We went to go contact some people that this man told us to go visit. We went to knock on the door and there is a husband and a wife. The wife starts walking down the stairs (mind you, we can see this through the door) and says: "I'm not answering, it's the Jehovah's Witnesses!" and then I say (through the door), "We're actually Mormons!" She then proceeds back up the stairs. We ring the doorbell this time. Wait. The wife comes back down the stairs, "They're still there!!!" At this point we realized that she wasn't going to answer the door, so we just left a note. It was so awkward, but so funny! hahaha. Oh the joys of missionary work. In the afternoon, the Duncan sisters left, so we went back to work. We visited a couple members because we were freezing! It was good though :) This ward is starting to do better with their missionary work!

Sunday we had church :) Nate came with Crystal's three girls:  Juniper, Sage, and Adaelia (sp?). So cute, right? It was funny because Sunday was the practice for the primary program - of course! But they seemed to like it alright. Sammui came as well. She's doing so well and I'm so excited for her to be baptized!

After church, we practiced with the choir, ate lunch, and tracted a bit. We went and taught Sammui some more of the commandments to make sure that she understands them. She's Vietnamese and Chinese. The sad thing is that when she was living in Vietnam, she actually got stoned when she was younger. This has caused her some mental problems and she even has a fake eye because she got hit in one of her eyes with a rock. She's the sweetest person ever and has such a positive attitude. I'm so grateful to be able to have gone to her wedding, teach her, and help her to be baptized!! We taught a few more people that night and it was so great.

This week was amazing and I just love being am missionary. I hope that you have had a wonderful week as well! write me letters!

Love,

Sister Gabrielle Struempler 

Hastening the work! (11/10/2014)

Wahooo! Another week as a missionary completed. What a crazy week, I don't even know where to begin.

As you know from my last email, we got to watch "Meet the Mormons." That was sweet. I love that movie so much! I love how it shows us Mormons as normal people. On Tuesday, we drove back to Courtenay and on the way we stopped at this place called, "Goats on the Roof" There weren't any goats on the roof anymore though. Too late in the season. But here are some pics:

 

Sister Bartlett got to ride on a yellow school bus for the first time!!

 

The members that we live with have a bus. :)

 

"Goats on the Roof" with no goats :(

 

The pumpkin that sister Bartlett and I carved on Halloween!

 

We got to teach our pagan investigators. It was awesome. They told us that they want to be friends with us and have good conversations. We don't know how interested they are in converting though. We still teach them because you never know what can cause a person to change. The less active came to church once, so we have made some progress. I'll keep you updated. We talked about tim-tam slams, so now we're going to have tim-tam slams and teach them another lesson this week. It'll be fun :)

We got to do some service for a family that just moved into our ward. That was so fun! We helped them paint some of their rooms :) They fed us lunch and even made us a GIANT panookie! Oh my gosh. It was so good, I was dying! So full. And then we went and had dinner with a different member that night. I felt like a stuffed turkey by the end of it all.

Cool story: We went to McDonald's with a member to teach one of our investigators. She ended up not showing up, so we were walking to the door when this lady stopped us. She was like, "Are you missionaries?" And we were like..."Uhhh...yeah?" She then said, "We're Jehovah witnesses! I think we've seen you around town. Do you get mistaken as Jehovah witnesses a lot?" We then proceeded to sit down with these two wonderful Jehovah witness ladies with our member and had a little lesson with them. We talked about how hard it is to knock doors - they really do understand! And then we started getting into the Book of Mormon. They didn't even know that Mormon was a person! We basically taught them the entire restoration and they didn't even Bible bash us at all! It was such an amazing experience. God does prepare people for us to teach; even the people we would least likely expect, can be ready to hear the Gospel. 

Another cool story: We met this guy who was working on someone's house and he was interested. He gave us the cross street of where he lives, but didn't give us the actual address. We went one night and knocked on all the houses around the cross street and couldn't find where he lives. Then another day, we had an impression to go back to the cross street and there was an apartment complex there as well. We started buzzing some apartments to talk to people and here walks out our potential! He was like, "Well, this is where I live!" It was such a miracle. We also found a super cute, nice old lady in that same apartment complex. Miracles. 

We taught Ken this week about temples. He really liked that :) We also got to teach Melissa who we haven't taught in FOREVER! She quit smoking. And, she fasts the first Sunday of every month. Uhhh...coolest investigator ever!

Oh, and on Friday we got a frantic call from a member of the Bishopric telling us that he forgot to ask people to speak in sacrament meeting. Guess who spoke in sacrament meeting? Sister Bartlett and I! Wahoo! hahaha. 

I love you all!

Sincerely,

Sister Struempler

Happy Halloween! (11/4/2014)

What a crazy couple of weeks it's been...what a crazy transfer it's been! I don't even know what to say. My mind is all over the place, so hopefully this email makes some sense.

 

Monday evening we got a call from a family in our ward. They asked us if we were coming over for dinner and we were like, "We'll come. On our way!" Forgot to look at our dinner calendar . . . oops! It was so much fun. They have 8 kids and they all like to talk to us at the same time - hahaha!!

Then we went and got Ken's baptismal record all signed and finished off. He's an official member!! <3 We also stopped by Debbie and her husband, Wade. They made it back from their trip to California. They even stopped in at the San Diego Zoo! Sounds like they had a blast. I'm excited to teach them again :) 

 

Tuesday we went on exchanges! I went to Duncan with Sister Weller. It was awesome! Duncan has one of the largest First Nations reserves in all of Canada! There were some pretty awesome totem poles to look at. We got to visit this recent convert who is just the coolest. She thinks that science proves that Adam and Eve existed! I don't remember all the things she told us, but it was pretty sweet. 

 

Wednesday we had district meeting in Nanaimo. I love being with all the other sisters here. :) Then we came back to Courtenay. We had no k's left, so we had to walk everywhere that day. We talked to people and even stopped by this less active man. His name is Gordon and he reminds me of Santa Clause, haha. He's a funny old guy. Then we went to the church and taught the young men how to cook fast & easy missionary meals. :D

 

Thursday. Oh my gosh it was POURING! Dumping buckets from the sky. It was ridiculous. Oh yeah, and there's been a water problem the past week. We can't drink the water from the taps. We have to boil our water or get water bottles. That's been fun! hahaha. Apparently, the water is contaminated. So weird. Anyways, so it was pouring. We stopped by some people and nobody was home. We didn't know what else to do, so we went to the Walmart parking lot and talked to people there. It was pretty fun. We pumpkin/heart attacked some people, and stopped by this awesome new member who just moved in. We went finding a lot and had dinner with a member. What a great Thursday!

 

Friday - HALLOWEEN! It was Sister Bartlett's first one. It was awesome :) We even carved a super cute pumpkin - her first one. If I had my camera cord I would show you. I forgot it. next week! We had to be in by 6pm, and we did some weekly planning while listening to fireworks. 

 

Saturday - We walked around and talked to people.We met this sweet biker guy that totally met Elders before. Too bad they went over to his house on Sundays to watch football. We told him that we don't watch TV on our missions, hahaha. It's just so cool to see how many connections people have with Mormons! We were walking around and Sister Bartlett was feeling really faint. We called the mission nurse and had to go to the hospital. We were there for 4 STINKIN HOURS! I was dying. But, we made it out alive and Sister Bartlett is okay :) MIRACLES. Some men from our ward even came and gave us blessings. 

 

Sunday we went to church! It was an awesome testimony meeting and Sammui came to church as well. I'm so excited for her to get baptized in two weeks! We also had dinner with a family and watched the CES broadcast. We went finding and then drove to Nanaimo!

 

MONDAY! Zone conference! We had no idea what it was going to be about. We left at 10am to get to Victoria for a combined meeting with all the missionaries here on the island. Then...dun dun DUNNNN! President Burt GOT THE MOVIE "Meet the Mormons" for us! WAHOOOO! IT WAS SO GOOD! I just loved it. If you don't know about it go on meetthemormons.org and you can learn more.

 

We ended up sleeping in Nananimo again last night and then came back to Courtenay today :) We stopped at "Goats on the Roof" on the way up in this teeny town called Coombs. There is grass growing on the roof and they have goats...that seriously LIVE on top of the roof. It was awesome!

 

Well that was my week. Full of crazy ups and downs. 

 

I'm excited to start to listen to Christmas music now :) If anyone wants to send me some, that would be much appreciated!

 

Love,

Sister Gabrielle Struempler