We broke a window...oops

Léihdeih hóu!

It's Sister DelHoyo or Dīng jímuih back with my weekly update! This week has been crazy!!

We'll start off with Wednesday because that was a busy day haha. We had to wake up a bit earlier than usual because we offered to make breakfast for the Methodist church in our area! The church usually has free breakfast and lunch for seniors on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and Sister Steiner has gone a few times so she knows the Pastor and his wife Candi (sweetest woman ever). We went in for breakfast on the Friday before and then just offered to make breakfast for them next time and they gladly agreed. So we made French toast! It was easy enough, we had a bunch of eggs at home from members who give us them, and then cinnamon, and Candi provided the bread. Everyone at the church loved it and Candi kept telling us what a blessing it was that we did that for them. That was just the beginning of the day though. That evening we had to drive 4 hours down to Cheyenne so we could be there the next day for a trainers meeting. It was a loooong drive, but we were able to get there safely. We stayed the night at the Cheyenne STL's apartment. One of them is named Sister Spendlove and she was actually Sister Steiner's companion two transfers ago so she was really happy to see her.

The trainers meeting on Thursday was pretty sweet! I got to see all the new missionaries who came in the same day as I did again, or at least the ones who were in Wyoming and Nebraska. Our mission President, President Palmer, talked a lot about the importance of teaching simple doctrine and the Book of Mormon in mission work. The simple doctrine is really important to remember because a lot of the times people can get caught up in the things that branch off of simple doctrine like the word of wisdom. But you have to remember the doctrine that it comes from, such as that God calls prophets in every dispensation. If you know this is true, then you will know that our prophet today is a real prophet of God. If that's the case then the word of wisdom also came from a prophet of God. If so, then it is wisdom from God given to us through his prophet. Buy anyways that's the main idea and I definitely agree with it. The other thing he said was the importance of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is the most powerful tool we have as missionaries because it can always bring the Spirit into people's hearts. President Palmer said "don't put yourself between someone and the Book of Mormon". I had the idea, because of this, that in our lessons order visits with other people when we want to read a scripture, we should let the person we are with read it. I believe there's pow

power in just holding the Book of Mormon and reading the words yourself. If the person we are with could just feel that, then I know that their heart would be softened.

Other than what was taught in the trainers meeting, I also got to have an interview with President Palmer himself. He asked me about my mission experience as a whole even from back in MTC. I gave him a general overview. He then asked me the reason why I came on my mission. I told him I came because I didn't want to just graduate college, get married, and then just have life how it is. I wanted to be able to spend a year and a half, helping other people, growing my testimony, sharing that testimony, meeting people I never would've met otherwise, and having experiences I never would've had otherwise. I wanted to be able to have that before I continue on with ordinary life. He asked me if I am a big planner. I said that I like to have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, but in most cases I can just go with the flow. He told me that he predicts that Heavenly Father is going to stretch my limits. He said to remember, though, that when everything feels like it's going wrong, it's actually going right. Heavenly Father has a plan for each of us and we won't understand exactly why certain things happen. We won't understand sometimes why we had a terrible companion who it was so hard to get along with. But, Heavenly Father gives us those experiences for a reason so we can learn and grow and become the best we can be. I hope I can continue to remember that.

Other than the trainers meeting, I have some Hong Kong news! Last week I got a call from the Fort Collins mission office and they received my visa!!!! Sister Steiner and I took my passport with us to Cheyenne and then gave it to the AP's who took it down to Fort Collins for me so now it's safe with my visa. All I'm waiting for now is for an itinerary to be sent to me! I'm not sure when that'll be, they might still wait to send me until the transfer is over around mid September, but we shall see. As for my HMTC district, they've been chilling in Hong Kong for the past weekish and they only have 5 days left of quarantine until they can get out onto the city streets! I'm so excited for them. Also, Sister Johnson and I finally had time to do language study together! We had a zoom call yesterday and were able to practice teaching the lessons to each other. Sister Steiner is amazing for letting me spout random Cantonese phrases she doesn't understand at her, but it was so nice to be able to talk to someone and have them understand me again 😂. She doesn't have any word on her visa being approved or shipped yet, but fingers crossed that she gets it soon!

Sister Steiner and I got the opportunity to do some more service this week! We went and helped Linda out with her weeds again. We've done the majority of her fenceline now but there's still a good part left. It's been really hot recently but starting tomorrow it's going to cool down considerably (I'm so excited!) so we're planning to go help her again soon. As for our other service, we went over to a lady in our ward, Sister Wiser's, house. She breeds dogs and has this big kennel which needed to be cleaned out. So Sister Steiner and I did a lot of dusting and sweeping and moving stuff in and out. It wasn't too bad but the heat made us really thirsty, hot, and sweaty. We also helped her weed whack her front yard and that was the first time I've ever done that. She gave us this flannel and sports glasses to wear to protect our arms and eyes and we looked so funny in them. I lowkey got a piece of weed richocheted in my eye (thanks glasses for nothing) but it's fine 😫. The bad part was that while we were weed whacking, a rock must have been kicked up and hit the window on Sister Wiser's screen door, breaking it! We felt so bad about it but Sister Wiser was so chill she was just like "it happens, you live and you learn. And it could've been worse, it's only the screen door." I'm so grateful that Sister Wiser is so forgiving.

A quick update on Roland! He came to church again last week! He wasn't as interested in the talks this time, but we're glad he came! He still isn't comfortable staying for the second hour, but baby steps. We also were able to zoom call him for a lesson the other day. We read 3 Nephi 11 with him and invited him to be baptized! He doesn't think he has enough faith yet to commit to it, but he is interested so we told him to pray about it and we'll see what happens!

One person I wanted to tell you all about though is Dan. Dan is a guy that Sister Steiner and Sister Spendlove, her comp at the time, found off of Facebook back in April! He was pretty content with his beliefs at the time, but then he had a dream with the two of them in it, leading him towards a light. He said he never has dreams so this was pretty big for him. Since then, he's been reading the Book of Mormon and taking all the lessons and has such a strong testimony! He's going to be baptized next Saturday and I'm so excited to be a part of it! We were able to have a lesson with him the other day and we taught him about Eternal Marriage, the Law of Chastity, and Obey and Honor the Law (Sister Steiner just sort of added that in at the end). It was so cool to be able to teach him and see how open and understanding he is. One of his biggest struggles has been coffee. He has been addicted to coffee since he was 10 years old, but Sister Steiner said that when they taught him the word of wisdom he said, "well I guess I better get rid of it then." He's made so much progress since then! The other day, he said that he only has two or three pots left and then all the coffee will be out of the house and he can just throw away the machine so it won't be a tempation. We're so incredibly proud of him. He is truly a testimony to me of God's power and how he can help us change our lives!

Sister Steiner and I also found out that the STL's are going to be leaving to their original assignments in Canada and so President Palmer has asked us to cover their area as well as ours! I thought it was busy already but things are going to get crazy! They have a lot of people that they've been teaching so we're excited to be able to help them continue to progress. We just hope we'll have enough miles left to use 😅.

I wanted to finish my email by talking a bit about the COVID-19 related announcement that the First Presidency sent out. I know that this pandemic has been a weight on all of us. I know a lot of people are annoyed by wearing masks all the time and there are a lot of people who don't believe in the vaccine, but think of it as like a seatbelt. If we don't wear a seatbelt, that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to get into a crash. But think about the small percentage of time when you do get into a crash. You'll want to have had your seatbelt on. Personally, I have no problem against wearing masks and having the vaccine. A lot of people, especially in Wyoming, might not agree with me, but I urge you to listen to the Prophet's reccomendation. The vaccine might not be suitable for everyone, depending on health situations, but please pray about it and ask your doctor. This sickness is being spread without you even realizing it. It may not effect you, but you could be the reason it gets passed to someone who passes it to someone who accidentally passes it to someone's grandmother. We can take steps to slow down the spread and protect ourselves and each other. I urge you to consider this.

I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us all and that he will always be there to help you. Don't be afraid to ask him.

I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful week this week. Don't stop looking for the blessings in your lives!

Love,

丁姊妹

Sister DelHoyo

3 Nephi 18:20

20 And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.

District dinner (minus Elder Keenan and Nicholls but plus Elder Tamoama and Danielson) at Taco Bell (Sister Steiner actually hates Taco Bell though so she had McDonalds)