The sisters from our apartment in our Fit for the
Kingdom 5K shirts
On
to my week!
We
are teaching an active member from Twin Knoll's who is kind of in a faith slump
right now. She feels stagnant and wants help building her faith and
progressing. It is so rewarding to work with her because she does everything we
ask her to do, she is trying so hard, and she is making amazing progress. I
always leave her home knowing that I have such a special calling right now to
help all people come closer to Christ.
We
had another story time this week and it went really well! We told the same
stories as last time because we figured our audience would be different (and it
was) and added a children's Mormon Message and another song. The kids were all
pretty young, but the moms and toddlers enjoyed it! They said that we need to
make it a regular thing and that they'll all invite someone. I'm so happy that
it is working. I charged Sister D2 with
carrying on the program after I leave. We had 7 total kids come and I know that
it will only grow from here!
We
received a referral for Thunder Mountain and we were so excited! We showed up
to talk to the guy and he seemed kind of confused and said, "don't we have
an appointment for tomorrow at one?" We said sure and figured that whoever
sent the referral had told him that we would be able to meet then or something.
We weren't really too hung up on it. We
went by the next day and as we were walking up to the door the single's ward
sisters pulled up. Basically we were both sent the referral because he lives in
our family ward, but is single's ward age. They had contacted him and set up
the appointment, that's why he was confused. We were so mad and sad. We really
got our hopes up and they were dashed. Plus the other sisters were kind of rude
about it. We
went to Smashburger to console our feelings. #girlswhoeattheirfeelings
We
had our first training for the Mesa Temple Christmas Lights and we are so
excited! My first shift is on December 1st, and from there we serve every other
night through New Year’s Eve. Because transfers are December 3rd, I don't know
which shift or which schedule I'm on yet.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AT THE TEMPLE
As
a warm up to the 5K, we participated in our stake's Fun Run on Saturday. I only
did a mile; Sister D2 did two.
Harry
quote of the week:
"I
saw a lady with a veil and red dot right here (points to middle of forehead).
She was a Lamanite. (Nods his head in self satisfaction)."-Harry
"Harry.
That was a Hindu lady! Not a Lamanite."-Me
Hahahahahaha's
had by all
"I'm
glad I didn't tell her that her ancestors were wicked then...I was going
to."-Harry
Sister
D2 has started to become a little bit sassy. It's evidence to me that my
training period is complete; she has become what she needed to become. Whenever
we have correlation meetings in Thunder Mountain I always get more worked up
than I should and my spicy side comes out. Sister
Dawson's spicy side FINALLY showed itself at our correlation meeting on
Thursday and I was so pleased. I started calling her Spicy D and it has stuck.
I think she enjoys it. She definitely likes it more than "the
gazelle" which is what our TK ward mission leader now calls her.
Hahahahaha. It makes me so happy.
We
are experiencing a little drama with the missionaries in our stake currently. I
know I'm supposed to write home uplifting things, but this is too good to pass
up. We are the only missionaries in the stake that cover two buildings. Because
of that we asked for a key to the family history center in the one building we
didn't have one in. The other sisters asked for one too apparently and they
were given our key and we were sharing it. It was working out well until one of
their ward councils complained that we brought ants into the room and were
using unauthorized websites. The ants were in the room before we had the key
and we reported them, and the unauthorized website was BYU because one of the
elders got permission from the mission president to work on a BYU application
on P-Day for after his mission. Someone, please send that disobedient elder
straight to where the sun don't shine. Unworthy swine, anyway. So the sisters
took the key away and said that "until we gain their members' trust back
no one was allowed to use the key". We thought that meant all of us, but
we found out that their bishop didn't take the key, the sisters did and still
have access to the room. We were already irate because it was our key to begin
with and we didn't do anything to deserve it being taken away! On
top of that, the fact that they have the key enrages me even further. So we
told our ward mission leader and he was furious as well and said he would take
care of it. He confronted the sisters at church yesterday and demanded they
give him the key or to put it back in the library where it was so we all had
access to it again. They said they wouldn't because their bishop entrusted it
to them. He said that buildings are a stake responsibility and that the stake
didn't take it away, so their bishop doesn't have right to and further, we
requested the key so it was never theirs to begin with. The high councilman who
gave it to them only did because he knew sisters requested it, but didn't know
which ones and he saw them before he saw us. The one sister still refused, so
the WML took the issue to our bishopric and they said to take it to the stake
and to get us a key because we need one and one other ward in the building doesn't
have the right to bar our entrance. We are currently waiting on our WML to
contact the appropriate stake representative and to get back to us. I will not
let this die! Justice will be victorious. Don't mess with Sista P and Spicy D!
SATAN'S
5K OVER AND OUT: As you saw, I wrote a blogpost about Satan's 5K. The evening
after I wrote it I received a text from Sister Jenkins that said, "Sister
Poppy, I just read your post about training for Satan's 5K. :D :D :D! I had no
idea how miserable this was making you feel. But I commend you for the
turnaround and what you have learned! I
would call this a defining moment, wouldn't you? :)" I was so mortified
that she actually read my blogpost! I figured that in the pile of 255
missionaries she would never see my post pop up on her newsfeed, let alone take
the time to read it! I responded about it being a defining moment and reassured
her that though this was her idea, I actually named the 5K after the one and
only Satan and wasn't referring to her as Satan. That Friday at our Christmas
lights training PKJ (AKA President Kirk Jenkins, AKA Prezzy J, AKA Prezzy K
Jenks, AKA President) came up to me and said that Sister Jenkins made him read
my blogpost and that he thought it was absolutely hilarious and written very well.
He also apologized for filling the role of my middle school gym teacher. I was
even more mortified that he had read it! During this conversation Sister
Jenkins joined in to tell me that she also emailed a link to all of her
children and told them to read it. She asked if I ran that morning and I told
her I had. Somehow I think I've become the poster child for all the slow kids
that have been stripped of their agency and forced to participate in this awful
five kilometers of torture. The positive in all of this is that I know that my
blog, though often unorthodox compared to other missionary blogs, is one
hundred percent acceptable. A part of me always feared that PKJ would run
across my blog and that I would get a phone call asking me to remove my less than
ordinary blog from the web and to repent and think about what it means to be a
respected female representative of Christ. Thank goodness Prezzy J appreciates
humor and uniqueness!
At
the 5K today I saw Prezzy J, of course, and he shook my hand and said,
"I'm glad to see that no doctor’s appointments popped up to prevent you
from being here!" This is never going to die! My goal was to run the first
mile and then walk the rest. They said there would be mile markers, but I was
starting to get tired and was convinced that someone forgot to put out the mile
markers so I stopped running. Then, I looked up and saw the one mile sign and
it was about 100 meters away. I was so annoyed at myself for stopping! I was so
close to accomplishing my goal and I gave up too soon. It was okay though, I
had caught up with my friend and we walked the next two miles and then ran the
last 1/10 of a mile to the finish so that we could say we ran across the finish
line. It was actually a really enjoyable event for the last 2 miles. Sister
Moreton and I just talked and decided that we should probably be companions
sometime before the end of our missions.
Sister Jenkins and I
are practically besties now, so we took some celebratory
5K pics. NOTE: It was
her idea to jump, not mine! That's a first!
I've
met a lot of sisters that I love, but only a few that I LOVE and Sister Moreton
is one that I LOVE. It took us 49 minutes to complete, which isn't terrible I
guess. We could have probably pushed ourselves harder, but it was a pleasant
morning and I thoroughly enjoyed spending some quality time with her. As we got
close to the finish line Sister Jenkins ran out to meet me and said she wanted
to run the last 100 or so feet with me.
She hugged me and congratulated me and then President Jenkins came up
and shook my hand and did one of his terrifying combo side hug/shoulder shakes
and said he was so proud of me for doing something hard. There were no medals
though, so I'm still a little upset
about that. I am still going to run three mornings a week and am going to try
to be at a point where I can run a 5K by the time I'm home. I have 36 weeks
left, so I can just increase the distance I run by 1/8 of a mile a week and
slowly work my way up to 3.1 miles! I did decide today that I would love to be
one of those moms that just drops her kids off at school and then walks with
her friend and chats for an hour. I could do a 5K every single day if I had
someone entertaining to walk with like Sister Moreton.
Sister Moreton and I;
5K champions
You
guys need to try Blue Bell's Christmas Cookie ice cream; it is so delicious.
Also, read your scriptures! They're important too.
Happy
Thanksgiving and Love you all!
Sister
Poppe
Flamingos! We placed
them in our first yard in Thunder Mountain.
We had a stake fun run
on Saturday. We went and ran as a warm up to our 5K.
I did a mile with Sister
Dunn and Sisters Krueger and Dawson did 2 miles.
Spicy D and I
When I'm frustrated/angry/confused/or any other
negative emotion, I just fall on the ground and exclaim something like, "I
DON'T UNDERSTAND LIFE," or "UGGGGGGGHHHHHH WHY IS LIFE HARD," or
my favorite, "FREAKING I DON'T EVEN KNOW. (followed by unintelligible
noises of frustration)". Well, my legacy has continued with Sister D2. She
fell over in frustration the other day and I loved it. Training=a success.
#winning
Last P-day we got home after emailing and there was
a fort in our living room!
We watched the Testaments in it and all fell asleep
during the movie.
It was actually a really great nap.
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