Update to Steimle's Christmas service

The Steimle's received this letter from those they adopted in Brian's name.

                                                                    December 27, 2014

Nanette & Miles Steimle

6111 Shasta Place

Camarillo CA 93012

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Steimle:

On behalf of Military Missions, Inc., and the soldiers who serve in harm's way, I would like to thank you for your support and participation in OPERATION S.E.N.D. Christmas 2014!  We are honored that you chose our organization as your partner to show support for our troops.  I'm sure that the male (ID #14821) and female (ID #14822) who received your care packages were thrilled when they arrived!

This is our third year to offer the Adopt-A-Hero program, and is a huge success because of generous and caring people like you.  I am certain that the soldiers who will receive the packages will be overwhelmed by the encouragement, support, and gratitude shared in each box.  The troops greatly appreciate knowing that Americans back home are supporting them.

Please remember that any donation made is tax deductible, and that if you shopped for a Hero, the items you bought for the care package are tax deductible as well.  Be sure to add that into your total donation amount on your tax return, along with the $20 cash you sent for postage.    

Military Missions, Inc. sends out care packages  on a year-round basis to deployed military personnel, both to individuals and to units.  Our goal is to provide a touch of home during long deployments.  Your donations make it possible to send these care packages.

On behalf of the heroes who will be touched by your gift, we are grateful.  Thank you for partnering with Military Missions, Inc. to support and encourage those that ensure freedoms known only to Americans.

Blessings and Merry Christmas,

Linda Cummins

Military Missions, Inc.

Homeless Kits for Sam

This year we had Sam's name for the service exchange. We had finished our service by the time we knew Sam would be with us for christmas. So we put together this little video and presented it to him last sunday night.

Our Idea came from realizing how much Darik Startup meant to Sam. Im sure most of you know that he was homeless and Sam cared a great deal for him. We sat the kids down one day back in November and we talked about Darik and how he was our cousin growing up just like Rocky or Ollie would be to them. We loved him and got to know him and his funny personality. We talked about how much this would mean to Uncle Sam because he didn't just give him money and food, but truly loved him!

We all came up with a list of things homeless people would need. We talked about how some things they suggested wouldnt work because they wouldnt have a way to cook the food we included. We went to the store and picked out the items as a family. We also let each child pick fabric to make draw string bags. Together we sewed the bags and put the items in each bag. Lily was sweet and wanted to add a toy to each bag so they "weren't lonely". Here is our list of what was in the bags and the video we presented to Sam. The letter at the end is what we included as well.

Love you Sam! Thanks for all you did for Darik!


Reusable Water bottle

4 granola bars 

5 fruit leather

tuna/crackers kit

10 bandaids

5 anitbiotic ointment packets

10 safety pins

wetones packets

Kleenex pack

chapstick 

travel size shampoo/conditioner 

toothbrush 

comb

cotton gloves 

socks

gum

Hat

http://youtu.be/uqkkMPa4DX4

We went with our friends the Terrys to deliver the bags downtown. Brad Terry the Dad is a structural Engineer and often has to go to different bridges in Boise to make sure they are safe. He helped us find places he knew of where homeless people live. He said we would not believe how many homeless people there are that are living in the freezing cold weather. We did 20 bags and felt like we could have probably done 100 more. People were coming up to us asking and we had to tell them multiple times we were already out. It was really heartbreaking and made me choke up several times.

Like a good neighbor, the Buhrleys are there

 Having the Buhrley Family to do a service for was both easy and hard. So many things came to mind when we were brainstorming for ideas. But at the same time as we would think of different ideas and even started them, they didn't seem good enough or right. One thing that came to mind is what a good neighbor and friend they are. It is something that Scott and I are not that great at......especially when you have Roger coming over complaining that our sprinklers are getting his bricks wet. Or when Rachael leaves nasty notes on our friends car when they turn around in their driveway. Not to mention the nasty note that was left anonymously on our doorstep about Charlie constantly getting out.

So we started looking for opportunities to be better neighbors. First we stopped watering our grass, which was more of being forgetful then considerate. Then we made sure to tell everyone coming to our house to please not turn around in our neighbors drive way. We even got our gate fixed multiple times to keep Charlie from getting out. While these things were considerate, they really weren't a service that required much sacrifice. So we were on the hunt for a bigger and better way to serve.

Well the opportunity came this November when we found out our friends, Julie and Craig Windes would be moving into our neighborhood. We knew this would be the best way for us to serve in Amber and Matt's honor because how many times have they moved across states with little ones or even a newborn baby! So we were going to try and be good neighbors and friends in their honor.

The Windes actually got the house and would be closing escrow in the beginning of December, the worst time to move. We knew from experience as we just did it two years ago this month. It's such a busy time of year, so asking for help is way more difficult not to mention Craig has an intense job in LA and has to work long hours and can't be there himself, leaving Julie to do a lot of the moving.

Then if it couldn't get more difficult for them an unexpected tragedy happened on December 2nd when George, Craig's dad past away. I'm not sure if you all knew but they were living in the same house as George for years, he was a big part of their families daily life to say the least. Now on top of moving and Christmas, they had a funeral and grief to deal with. More then ever they needed the help of friends and family. We decided we were going to help more then our busy schedules would allow. When we couldn't come over to help paint or pack we would babysit their kids or help spread the word for people to help out. Max helped in the babysitting department, Ollie came and helped with the painting while Harper played with their 3 boys... which kind was a bonus for us because it kept him busy.

 Even though the year is coming to a close, we've committed ourselves to see this through and continue to help our friends and new neighbors fix up their cute house and move into our hood. It's been rewarding and they have been so grateful finding out what a big task it is just to paint, do floors and get it ready to move in. We realized we were simply paying it forward from all the help we had for our move and remembered how good it felt to go the extra mile helping other peoples lives rather than just being wrapped up in our own day to day struggles.

We Love you Amber and Matt and hope one day we can help YOU move! (to California ;-)

Ruth & Scott

Steimle Family To Pethels- 2014

Steimle to Pethel/Villa- "Adopting Servicemen"

How better to serve the Pethels than to support someone in the military! I know you have many friends (your kids included) whose parents are working and a lot of times sent away from their families. I know many people don't even have families. We thought it was appropriate to adopt a few of these soldiers. We were assigned a male and female with a list of very specific things they needed.

We headed out to the store to fill their requests! It was fun having the kids shop for the supplies. Then we wrote notes for them. We shipped them off at the post office.

Hi Nanette,

Thank you so much for choosing to adopt 2 Heroes! This is such a great way to give back to our deployed troops who sacrifice so much for us! The Heroes assigned to you are "MALE #14821" and "FEMALE #14822". Please use this info when corresponding.

I can't tell you how much Military Missions appreciates your help in supporting our deployed troops, especially during the holidays while they are away from their families.

Please contact me if you have any other questions.

P.S. If you have trouble with the attachment, please click here to view as a webpage..

Thanks again!

Karen Sparks,

Military Missions, Inc.

President/Webmaster

webmaster@military-missions.org

It was actually really a neat experience. Myles and I kept reminding our kids, "think if you were in the dessert, bored and alone on Christmas. What would you want to do? What would you want to eat." haha. Merry Christmas Pethels! I know how near and dear soldiers are to you all.

To Heather From Myles 2013

Finding a service for Heather has really been something I’ve had on my mind all year.  When she got pregnant, I thought about doing something revolving around that.  But it seemed a bit creepy if I just showed up to a pregnant mom’s home and offered to help.  I thought about doing something with hair, but it seemed a bit cliché and didn’t really feel like something she’d appreciate.  Towards the end of the year I was a little bummed that I couldn’t think of something for a person who is so service-oriented.  Then I thought, she can appreciate working with hoodlums because she is married to one.  So my service was given to a rebel kid in our ward.  

Mitchell was born to a drug addicted single mom in Ventura.  His little brother and older sister were born to the same mom.  But they each had different dads.  His sister was adopted by her dad’s mom (her grandma) when she was about 6.  But Mitchell and his brother were left raising themselves.  He was raised in and out of government funded orphanage homes, his mom’s apartment, and fending for himself on the streets with his brother.  He saw things that most adults don’t even think could happen before he was even 9.  That was when his current step mom came into his life and fought for about 5 years to adopt him and his younger brother.  Needless to say,  his “trama egg” was a big one.  When he was about 15, his adopted mom joined the church.  Mitchell was baptized at the same time.  With hopes that the church would help, Mitchell was brought every week.  But church alone could not repair him and relieve his adopted mom of the challenges he had at home.  So for the next 2 years he was sent to Westridge boys academy in Utah where he could receive some more professional help.  He came home every so often to try living a normal life with his mom.  I always loved it when he did because it was one more young man to add to the quorum at church.  But challenges at home with his mom always resulted in him having to return to Utah.  So about 6 months ago when he came back, I asked if I could work with him.  Realizing I couldn’t give professional counseling and just going to church alone couldn’t fix everything, I figured the only help I could give would be to continually reinforce the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a male role figure in his life.  So for the last 6 months I’ve texted him either a scripture, called him, or just hung out 2-3 times per week.  Of course, I can’t say that he is totally rehabilitated, and certainly not all of his transformation has been a result of me alone.  But I’ve seen some pretty cool miracles happen in his life.  One of which is that he is preparing to serve a mission in the next 6-8 months.  Another is that there is enough peace in his home that he hasn’t had to return to Utah.  And I can attest to the fact that it has to do with the principles of the Gospel being inserted into his life by those around him.  

Last week the icing on the cake was that I invited him over make lasagna’s for people he was grateful for, which is one of my families Christmas traditions.  It was cool to see him embrace the excitement of service into his own life as he labored in the kitchen and then delivered the gift to those he loved.  

I actually wrote this story because of the big hearts that both James and Heather have for those who have struggled through life.  I’m excited for them to pursue their dreams of helping others in need through rehabilitation.  And when they open their center in San Luis Obispo, I can’t wait to be there for the ribbon cutting ceremony.  I love you guys.    

To Brian Pethel

When I got Brian's name I knew exactly what I wanted to do as his service. It's actually something I deeply admire about him. And that is he is such an amazing step dad to Xoe and Xanthe. I know as their aunt that loves them so much, it's nice to know that they are being loved and cared for and have a good male role model in their life. So I thought I'd pay tribute to another amazing step dad. I instantly thought of Nick Henderson. Everyone speaks so highly of him. And you can tell that he loves Ainsley and thinks of her as his own. So I called up Emilie and Ainsley  and talked to them about Nick. Then I bought his favorite treats and a sonic gift card and wrote him a letter of appreciation.
I wrote and told him how much as a family we appreciated him and all that he does for Ainsley. Its just nice to know that Ainsley has a loving father in her life taking care of her when she isn't  with Sam. She loves that takes her in daddy daughter dates. And She loves to go to football games and eat skittles with him. Emilie said that he is so good to her. And how lucky she was to be married to someone so kind. I think the best thing was that Ainsley calls him Dad. That says a lot about what kind of father he is too her.

To day I received this text from Nick

This is Nick.  Thank you so much for your gift.  It amazes me that between Sam, his family, and us we are able to provide so much love and support for Ainsley.  It was so kind to even think of me and I will be grateful for your gift every time I get my favorite drink from Sonic! :). Have a Merry Christmas!
 Anyways I really do appreciate you Brian. All the things you do for the girls do not go unnoticed. You really were an answer to our prayers. Thank you!
Ruth

Loving on Grandmas-- To Mom from Sam

My service was for mom... who's a grandma. 

So I did 1 whole day of service for my friend Megan's grandma. Her family takes days of helping her. So I took one. Helped her with her medicines, re made all her beds, cleaned, went grocery shopping for her, bought her new candles & lit her candles for her, and snow scraped her walkway and driveway. She was so stoked & I ended the day with a fresh bouquet of flowers for her front room! Mom is An amazing grandma and it only helps me appreciate her more.