Sister
Poppe's screwdriver strikes for the third time! A screw fell out of a chair at
dinner the other night and I whipped out my trusty floral tool and fixed that
stool in a jiffy. I'd like to see people
continue to mock me for bringing a screwdriver on a mission.
After
I fixed the stool at our dinner appointment the family tried to force us to
take left over waffles. We literally ran out of the house as the husband chased
us with waffles and proceeded to put one under our windshield wiper. We drove
to our next appointment with it securely in place and continued throughout our
evening with our portable windshield snack. I left it on our windshield overnight
in case a squirrel wanted it (now that I think of it, I don't even know if
there are squirrels in Arizona, but maybe a roadrunner could have eaten it). No
animals even nibbled on it, so I threw the rock hard carbohydrate on top of a
bush before we drove off the next day; it was still uneaten that evening. The
animals in our apartment complex are clearly snobs who don't appreciate
breakfast food.
We
were asked to plan a day in the life of a missionary activity for the Mia Maids
and Beehives for Wednesday's mutual, so we did that and it was fun. We had the
girls read the first lesson in Preach My Gospel and then they gave us a 10
minute lesson. It was an absolute train wreck, but they have a solid 4-7 years
before they are old enough to serve so they'll figure it out. We then talked
about the importance of companionship and unity, and talked about things we do
to become closer. We played 2 truths and a lie with them as an example of what
we do to get to know each other better. We had fun getting to know them and
showing them that we are real people. I got a little sassy with them and I
think they enjoyed it. One girl was mocking my age and said something about my
pet dinosaur and so I asked if she had her training wheels taken off of her
bike yet. Two can play that game!
Every
other transfer we have one on one interviews with our mission president and his
wife. As you may recall, I voluntarily forfeited mine last time we had them
scheduled due to a time crunch. I haven't had an interview with president since
the day I disembarked the plane in Phoenix, so I didn't really know what to
expect. Naturally I was nervous, as I always am when I have to stare people of
authority in the eye and talk about my performance, but my nerves were
unwarranted. We had a really good
conversation. I realized he knows a lot more of what goes on in the mission
than I originally believed. I figured I was lost in the crowd of 250 or so
missionaries he is over, but I am not. He told me he is so proud of the
missionary I am and he is so pleased with how much I have matured spiritually.
He said there is a marked difference in the person I am now and that he hopes I
have noticed that change in myself and am proud of it as well. When I came into
the mission I had a high level of social maturity and I was just going through
the mission, now he said the mission is going through me and I am socially and
spiritually mature. I am not one of the missionaries that goes above and beyond
to try and impress him when he is in my presence, and I don't suck up to him
either, so I was shocked that he had noticed commendable qualities about me. It
just goes to show that if you do what is expected of you for the right reasons
and don't seek approval, you will still get positively affirmed and you won't
annoy people with your brown nosing. We were instructed to read a 2006 BYU
devotional called "Your Refined Heavenly Home" in preparation for our
interview with Sister Jenkins. President and Sister Jenkins do something really
cool that they call 10%. Basically 10% of all instruction they give us is
dedicated to information that will be useful after our missions. This
devotional was our 10% for interviews and we were going to talk about it with
Sister J. I absolutely loved the devotional because it talked about the
importance of refinement in appearance, educating ourselves in classical music
and literature, using intelligent language, being well rounded and educated,
being clean, and living true to the potential we have as spirit children of God
by surrounding ourselves with wholesome things.
Basically the talk validated every tendency I have that Brandon and
Bryce call snobby! When president asked me about it in passing I told him I
loved it because a church official was telling us that we had to be classy.
When Sister Jenkins asked if I liked the talk I told her I loved it and she
responded with, "I figured you would like this one." I'm glad that people know I appreciate class.
You should read it! It's actually kind of interesting that we were asked to read
it because just the day before we were given the assignment I told my companion
that I don't want to marry someone that won't take me to the symphony and then
we read this talk that told us that we shouldn't settle for spouses who won't
do cultural things with us.
The
Tony Hawk boys are finally home after their month away for the X-Games and a
trip to Utah. We were so excited to see them and they were actually really
excited to see us too. We showed up to their house before they did for our
lesson because they were running late so we waited on their doorstep. When
their car pulled in the youngest boy didn't even wait for it to fully stop
before he jumped out and ran over and hugged us. We just really love them.
They're growing so much too; they are much more involved in our lessons now and
are gaining testimonies of basic gospel principles.
As
you saw on Facebook, we went to Rubio's on Tuesday and it filled a hole in my
heart that only gourmet chicken tacos could fill. It is the biggest tender
mercy that the only area of our mission that dips across the 60 includes a
Rubio's. I literally got teary-eyed I was so happy. It was such a stupid little
thing, but it really did make me aware of Heavenly Father's love. Plus it was
nice to socialize with some of our new friends. Sister Simmons and Moreton are
as sassy as Sister D and I and we just really enjoy each other. We created a
club called the Sassy Sisters Club and we are getting shirts made. We are quite
literally the bluntest sisters in the mission and I'm still unsure how we were
all four put in the same zone, but we love it!
Gourmet chicken tacos
Sassy Sisters Club
In
accordance with the Twin Knolls Ward Mission Plan goal, I finished indexing my
500 names this week!
We
spent 3.5 hours at the Thunder Mountain Relief Society president's house on
Saturday talking through a list of inactive people she had that she knew
nothing about. As we sat there and I shared everything I knew I felt like a
huge creeper. Simultaneously though, I realized how many people I've talked to
in the last five months and it was nice to feel like I had valuable information
to share. My companion was bored out of her mind, but it's good that she knows
these things so that when I leave some of the information is with her. #workingwithwardleadership
I
couldn't handle the uncleanliness of our kitchen any longer and I am tired of
doing the other sisters' dishes, so I wrote a long note encouraging them to
clean up after themselves. The phrases "If we get bugs I will literally
put them on your beds. Do not cross me," "I could care less if your
bedroom looks like a hot mess hoarder disaster, but please keep the common
areas clean" and my favorite, "The Spirit won't be here if the
kitchen looks like an African slum," made an appearance. I also quoted
scripture and posted the mission's standard for cleanliness to help support my
case. I then took a leaf from Martin Luther's book and hung my letter and
evidence on the outside of our front door so it would greet them when they got
home; then it looked like rain so I moved it to the less dramatic refrigerator
door.
Sacrament
meeting ended a little early so we were called up to talk about being better
member missionaries! How fitting since I just wrote a blog post about it.
The
Hobbit Family and Harry are still doing well and progressing! We helped Harry
with more indexing this week and it was just as comical as the first time. I
don't think he will ever be tech savvy. He did surprise us with some Sonic
shakes at our lesson on Thursday. If we were a church that gave salvation in
exchange for bribes, Harry would be exalted already. He is always being so
generous to us!
Generous
amounts of love,
Sister
Poppe
Nephites
Lamanites
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