SNOWWWW!! Goose poop...goose poop EVERYWHERE! (12/23/13)

This week was CRAZY!

We found 7 new investigators! Some of them aren't too solid, but still that's pretty awesome :D

We also taught Jane and she decided that she wants to be baptized on January 11th, 2014.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT WE ARE SETTING DATES FOR 2014!!! That's INSANE!

So yeah. On Thursday night we got a call from the Vernon 1st sisters asking if they could stay with us because they were driving all the way to Vernon. So we said yes, of course. Then on Friday, we wake up and there's TONS OF SNOW!  They couldn't leave, so they stayed with us another night and then left on Saturday. It was fun hanging out with them and working with them.

 

 



 

 

It's like a bad prom picture, hahaha



We found one of our investigators one night...he answered the door only in boxers and told us to come back the next day. So we did, and he ended up being so HILARIOUS! His friend was at his house and became a new investigator as well! They love the fact that I'm from Texas and they love country music and going salmon fishing. THEY GAVE US FRESH SALMON FOR FREE! It was awesome. I marinated it with soy sauce and brown sugar and baked it. IT WAS SO GOOD! I loved it. Sister Dockstader even ate some and she hates fish.

So I'm feeling better. We think that the source of the bathroom smell might be from the fan in the bathroom. Weird stuff.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! WRITE ME LETTERS! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Sincerely,
Sister Struempler

Merry almost Christmas!! (12/16/13)

Another week in Canada and I was SO SICK. It was horrible. Being sick at home is fine because you can miss school...watch tv...eat food...read books...be lazy. Not on a mission. My motto for this week was "work when I can, sleep when I need to." I think I was going stir crazy because all I could do was read the scriptures and sleep and do missionary work if I was feeling up to it.

THANK GOODNESS for the priesthood because I was able to get a blessing on Sunday so hopefully I will be better this week.

So between feeling horrible/nauseous/dizzy/sneezey/all the gross things, we were able to get some things done!

 

We went tracting and found some new investigators! It's fun going tracting and knocking doors this time of year because we get to admire all the pretty Christmas lights. And if people yell at us we just look at the Christmas lights and then feel better.

 

We are meeting with this lady who used to be a heroine addict but has now turned her life around, has been sober for 3 years, and has a baby! She is the GREATEST PERSON and I love her so much. She has horrible anxiety and hasn't been able to make it to church yet...hopefully one day she will! I love meeting so many awesome people. That is one of the most fun things about being on a mission!

We had two investigators come to church! One is the son of a recent convert, and he says that he wants to be baptized which is awesome! And the other one is the mom of a less active who is now coming to church again because he got a new job, so he doesn't have to work on Sundays. She's a little hesitant because her husband doesn't speak English (only Chinese) so he doesn't want to go to church with her. Please pray for Jane so that she'll want to be baptized and come to church with her son!!!

This morning was interesting because we woke up and it smelled like something DIED in our apartment. We tried to locate the source of the smell and thought it was under the sink in the bathroom. We CLEANED the bathroom so well, but the source of the smell is yet to be determined. Hopefully we will figure it out this week because I don't know how much longer I can handle the smell. I'll keep y'all updated.

 

Sister Kennedy! She has been out for 9 months now! I went on an exchange with her. Well, she came to Chilliwack from Abbotsford for the day.

This week I was able to read about Christmas in America. It starts in 3 Nephi 1 in verse 4. It's fun to read because it's so different than the normal Christmas story in Luke! I hope that we can all remember the REAL reason that we celebrate Christmas. Christ was able to give us the greatest gift of all...the atonement! So that we can all return to live with our families and our Heavenly Father again. It's such a wonderful blessing and I love sharing this message with people, especially at this time of the year!

Write me letters! I love you all! Merry almost Christmas!

 

Sister Struempler

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him! (12/9/13)

So this week was Stake Conference and the Christmas Devotional! It was so fun! I can't wait for Christmas! I love this time of year because people are more willing to listen to our message of hope and peace that we share about Christmas and Christ's birth!

 

Here are some funny Christmas pictures my comp and I decided to take:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways . . .  

 

This week we made baskets for people in the ward and delivered them to people. We also went tracting a lot, because a lot of people say they're too busy right now to meet with us . . . meh. And we found some pretty cool people to teach!

 

We are also now teaching this boy who is the son of a recent convert! Her daughter got baptized first, and then she got baptized when she moved from DALLAS to here, Chilliwack. And now the son Andrew wants to be baptized. He doesn't know when yet, but it's just so cool! If one person in the family finds the truth then it just spreads like wildfire.

 

We also taught this awesome lady who we met on the street named Chealsea. Her husband is a long distance truck driver so she is home alone with her two kids a lot. She wants her sons to have good morals because she was a rebellious child. Ha ha ha . . . whatever that means!

 

I just love seeing how this gospel changes people's lives! When we asked Andrew how his mom changed when she got baptized he said that she is A LOT more patient now. Pretty funny, hey?

 

And it snowed today which was so fun! It's been super windy and cold the past few days so it was a nice change.

 

ERMEGERSH, SNER!

 

 

We also had stake conference this weekend and Elder Call of the 70 came and talked about how we all have trials. We should expect to go through trials, because if we don't then we won't grow! It was such an eye opener because people sometimes think that this gospel will protect them from hard times. But we ALL NEED trials so that we can grow stronger and become better people! see Helaman 5:12

 

I hope that you are all having a wonderful December! Please write me letters! I really appreciate it :)

 

Sister Struempler

 

 

 

 

I can see Mt. Baker from here! (12/3/13)

Please write me letters! I've only gotten 1 so far :(

 

So, Chilliwack is making me homesick. It's SO MUCH like Washington except more farming, so it kinda stinks sometimes, but that's okay!

This week is going to be short because I don't have much time since we went to the temple today! YAYYYY!!

 

 

It was wonderful. I love the temple.

 

Going in there reminded me of why I am a missionary. I'm here to help people get to the point where they can make covenants with Heavenly Father which will help them eternally! Pretty cool, hey?

 

So this week has been insane. We went to a musical that the stake was putting on which had a lot of songs from Handel's Messiah. It was WONDERFUL! I am so excited for Christmas...I just like the Christmas season.

We were able to have some return appointments with the investigators that we've been finding. That was fun! We met this crazy man named Rick who got in a logging accident, so he doesn't remember anything from his teenage/childhood years. He calls us like every day. It's kinda weird, but I just think that he thinks of us as good friends, but whatever - hahahaha.

Sister Dockstader saw snow for the 2nd time in her whole life.

 

 

It was snowing but it didn't stick at all. It melted as it hit the ground, but she enjoyed it.

We baked like 120+ cookies for investigators and less actives! That was really fun. Sister Dockstader kept getting mad at me because I kept eating the dough. It was so good!!

So I'm officially not vegetarian anymore. I've decided. Here is proof:

 

 

It's just too hard to be vegetarian. And expensive hahaha yeah.

The work is going great! We are finding a lot of people. It's just hard when they don't keep commitments, but they do have their agency. I wish you all a wonderful December! I can't believe it's December already! CRAZYNESS!

Here are some more pics:

 

 

 

Sister Struempler

 

Luckacuk!!! Look...aaa..caugh...cughaklsfljghfkjhg...hahaha! (11/25/13)

Luckacuk is a name of a street. Sister Dockstader and I think that it is hilarious for some reason. Maybe it is because we lack normal sources of entertainment.

So monday night started out with FHE with a wonderful family in our ward. We are trying to get to know all of the members, but it's just so hard! My brain can only memorize so much at once, and I feel like my head is going to explode sometimes! AHHHH!! hahaha

We had a zone meeting in Abbitsford on Wednesday and it was wonderful to be able to meet all of the missionaries in our zone! They are so awesome and I'm excited to work with them! We set goals and had some training from the zone leaders.

We've been doing mostly finding because that's what you have to do when you open an area. There wasn't anybody for us to really teach, so we just started tracting and tried to find people to teach. 

We did have a wonderful lesson with a lady named Korey and her daughter Akeyla. Akeyla is 9 and loves going to church with her dad (her mom and dad aren't together). And Korey thought that Akeyla would like to have us teach her so we did. Outside. On the porch. Sister Dockstader was wonderful and got down on the porch floor and taught the restoration using these awesome cards that she made. And then I taught her about Joseph Smith. We gave her a Book of Mormon and they wanted us to come back. It's these kind of people that we try to find! Truth seekers. They are the best and are the people who progress in the gospel. They are just hard to find.

That pretty much sums up the week. Here are some funny pictures:

 

We decided to paint our nails red for Christmas :D

me...wrapped up in Christmas lights

SALTED CARAMEL HOT CHOCOLATE IN A RED CHRISTMAS CUP!

p.s. if you look close...I didn't know what to tell them for my name...so they just wrote "sister" on the cup...hahaha

Us taking a cute picture in front of the church

 

Well that's pretty much it! Happy Thanksgiving...I wish I got to eat Thanksgiving dinner...too bad Thanksgiving in Canada was like a month ago...hahaha. Eat some food for me!

Write me letters! I haven't gotten any yet :(

Love you all!!

Sister Struempler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What the Chilliwack???? (11/18/13)

I got TRANSFERRED! I'm opening for Sisters in Chilliwack 2nd ward!! WAHOO!!

First things first . . . here is my new address so you can write me lots of letters:

 

Sister Struempler

7425 Shaw Ave

Apartment 110

Chilliwack, B.C.

V2R - 3C1

 

So last week was craziness because I had to say goodbye to everyone before I left.

 

 

Oh Coral, I'm going to miss that crazy awesome girl. I got put on the measuring wall that is on the right of the picture :) Sister Ruby Arnold is awesome and I'm going to miss her and all the members in Vanderhoof so much! They were amazing.

 

 

It was so hard to say goodbye to my investigator, Rebecca. She is wonderful! She had a baptismal date but we had to drop it because of some commandments that she wasn't quite living yet. She is a wonderful person and would always text us her prayers! I hope that she will continue to learn more about the gospel!!!

So my last lesson in Vanderhoof was with a woman named Monica, and her dad came. He Bible bashed the whole time. Oh Vanderhoof....hahahaha I'm going to miss you and not miss you at the same time.

 

So when we went down to transfer meeting we got to stay with the Delta Sisters!! WAHOOO! They are hilarious.

 

 

The Sister in the middle holding the camera was in the same mission prep class as me at BYUI. So that was awesome getting to stay with her.

Sister Ellgen is still staying in Vanderhoof and is training . . . she's the new district leader. Sister Dockstader is my new Senior Companion. She's been out for 6 months and served in Vanderhoof for her first 3 months, then Surrey for the next 3 months. We can talk about Vanderhoof together and she knows the people I'm talking about . . . hahaha!!

 

 

Here she is (Sister Dockstader).  She's from Fresno, California and is a nerd like me. We get along quite well!

Here is the view!

 

 

Beautiful, eh? I love the mountains and seeing the snow but there isn't any snow where we live which is nice. It just rains 24/7. 

So we found 3 new investigators last week and don't know any ward members. It's weird getting to know a whole new ward and not know the area/anything at all. It's an adventure for sure!

I love you lots and write me tons of letters!

Until next week,

Sister Struempler



 

Mission Conference & Baptism! (11/11/13)

Oh what a crazy stressful week it has been. This week was the hardest week of my mission so far, but it was definitely the most rewarding. Because...VICTORIA GOT BAPTIZED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But let's start from the beginning of the week...

So Monday I butchered cows, and it snowed, and the snow hasn't melted. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we had to fit in as many appointments as possible, because we left Thursday night to go to Vancouver for mission conference. Elder Johnson of the 70 came to our mission to tour it and to give mission conferences as well. We went to the one on Friday. It was so wonderful and before we started he had everyone come up to the front of the chapel and shake our hands. It's great to know that we are cared for individually as missionaries.

So Wednesday, Victoria got interviewed for baptism. That was so special! And then we went to Fort St. James after that to teach some people there. We traveled a lot this week. 

Here is a snow picture:

 

 

Here is a picture of Vancouver/Burnaby 

 

 

I love Vancouver. It reminds me of home. Well...Seattle.

Anyway, we learned a lot from mission conference on Friday and then flew back Friday night. But, the Vanderhoof Sisters drove us to Prince George, and they weren't able to make their flight on Friday night. So we stayed with the Nechako YSA sisters on Friday night . . . they are so wonderful!

 

 

 

I love them. Anyway, we drove back to Vanderhoof on Saturday and had a really interesting lesson with some people from another Christian church. They don't seem to want to read the Book of Mormon, just want to argue points of doctrine. I don't know if we are going to meet with them again. 

Then Sunday was INSANE and AWESOME! Victoria made covenants with Heavenly Father and her life will never be the same again. 

Her son Ben & friend Coral being a goof

 

This is her daughter, Elizabeth

 

And HERE IS THE BEST PICTURE EVER!!!

 

She looks so happy and beautiful in white! I just can't help but beam with joy as I'm writing this. I LOVE IT! Brother Mecham was able to baptize her and she just giggled as she came up out of the water. She is so happy and so am I!

This week is transfer week. Pray for Sister Ellgen and I that we will be okay with whatever happens. We are pretty sure that Sister Brown (our district leader) is leaving, so we don't know who is going to be called as the new District Leader! 

Sister Struempler