We Opened the Door to a Police Officer

Hi!

We had a good week with Lost as we prepared for his baptism on Saturday! We had FHE with them on Monday and we asked him to prepare the lesson. On Sunday he joked that he was going to teach us the Law of Chastity. Well it wasn't a joke, he taught us the Law of Chastity without actually teaching us the Law of Chastity. He wouldn't talk about sex at all. It was so funny! He also taught us the Word of Wisdom. We asked him what his favorite treat was so we could bring the treat since he was doing the lesson and he said, "Two king sized Kit Kat bars from Circle K." I responded with, "We can make you something, it doesn't have to be from a store...we have P-day on Monday. Also, who do you think we are? TWO king sized Kit Kats? And what makes the ones from Circle K more special?" He laughed and said that if we were going to make something then he wanted brownies. We're going to pick him up two candy bars this week though as a congratulations for being baptized type thing. His baptism went really well. His extended family sang a hymn in Tongan as a special musical number. It was touching. He is a good kid; I'm excited for him to serve a mission someday.

 We wanted the boys to smile and they wouldn't and this 

candid shot was taken in our attempt to make them laugh

 Next to me is the cousin who baptized Lost and 

then it is Lost and Sister Smith

We loved their authentic Tongan outfits! They wanted to wear 

our tags, this was the cousin's explanation, "We're the missionaries 

and we baptized you two and this kid is the bishop." They're really 

                                 funny kids. I've enjoyed working with them.

On Monday evening we had members take us to DQ for FHE. They're one of my favorite families in this area. What is life coming to that people take us to DQ for a lesson? The downside of being loved is you are force fed delicious things that just contribute to your already expanded waist line!

The lady we took to, Meet the Mormon's (I'm going to call her Wisconsin, because she is from there) had us over for a lesson and it was great. She is progressing slowly, but very steadily. She is cautious and that is okay. She is really enjoying learning more though.

We had an activity at district meeting in which we were assigned another missionary a few weeks ago and we had to come up with a scripture that describes them. Elder Steward had me and he picked Proverbs 31:25-27. It's a good scripture. I was very flattered.

We met a LA who we don't even have the records for and his wife is a nonmember. They let us in and we had a great talk with them. She is hesitant to learn more because missionaries have been pushy in the past, but we set a good tone and she invited us back! We're hoping things begin to progress with them and that we can re-activate the husband and baptize the wife and get them to the temple. Speaking of temple, HERMIONE IS GETTING SEALED THIS UPCOMING SATURDAY AND I GET TO GO! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

The TLC family dropped us. It was kind of sad. The wife isn't interested and the husband is taking a step back to keep peace. Whatever. We have the message that will bring the peace to your family! SATAN.

Sister Teddy is still going strong. We're really upping our game. It is so hilarious. I've realized how sad it makes me that no one will ever truly understanding the hilarity of much that has happened on my mission. Sister Smith and I are literally laughing all the time and no one even knows how funny we are. And we can't repeat what we say in the same way so we don't even try. Our roommates get it, because they observe it, but the world will never know how privileged we've been to be together for almost 3 months.

We had a temple trip this week and it was just amazing. I am starting to get answers to questions about my post mission life and it is a relief to have the skeleton of a plan.

So get this story. Thursday night we were sleeping away, like people do at 1:39 am, and we heard a knock on the door. Then a few doorbell rings and another set of loud knocks. Sister Smith and I got out of bed in a confused daze, each of us thinking about the most random of possibilities that was happening on the other side of our front door. As we approached the door (her in spandex and myself in a blanket to cover my lack of clothing) we hear the individual on the other side shout, "MESA PD!" We opened the door to a police officer on our porch with a host of other officers and paramedics on the ground below him. He asked if we knew the girl that was rolling around on the ground beneath our 2nd story porch. We said we didn't and then he explained that she was totally sloshed and had been knocking on our neighbor's door and they called the cops. They were checking the neighboring doors now to make sure that she wasn't just a couple of doors off. We apologized and said we had never met her before and then he thanked us and apologized for waking us before he left. We peered out the window by my bed as they handcuffed her and put her on a stretcher and strapped her down (she was being really violent) and then they loaded her in a fire truck and took her off. It was all really sad actually. It made me so grateful for the Word of Wisdom. That girl was so confused and drunk that she didn't even realize that the people around her were trying to help her. She could have been kidnapped, raped, killed, anything because she was so defenseless. It was eventful to say the least.

Man it is just so hot here now. May was beautiful and June has come out with a fiery vengeance. 118+ people.

Our WML had us over for dinner and his wife was out of town so he had his nonmember neighbor eat with us as our third female. He's so sneaky. He planned it that way so that she would feel obligated to come over. She enjoyed our message and loves us (we've met her once before). She's a sweet older lady. We also had Costa Vida pork salads, so that was a miracle.

We have a new PMF that moved in and their 11 year old daughter wants to be baptized! We are so excited to work with her. Some elders had been and it wasn't going really well, but we already have a good relationship with them after one doorstep approach. We think it's because we're sisters. Hopefully there's more on that front next week to share.

Love,

Sister Poppe

We were locked out of our apartment after the gym the other
morning and I had to break in to the kitchen window.

We had a family history training this week and during the process
I found this census record with great, great aunts Elsa and Anna Poppe.
Just like Frozen.

We showed up to service 10 minutes before everyone else and
killed time like any other iPad missionary would...by taking selfies

Roommate night time bonding

Sister Brinkerhoff (also known as Swaggy B, Sister Swaggerhoff,
or Brinkerbell) loves VW buses and the people we did service
 for had one, and she about died!

Our new matching Baja sweaters with our guns.

Cows or Llamas?

Happy Birthday Week to Me!!! (and Hitler???) AND GRANDMA!

I forgot to tell you about a signature Amanda moment from last week that I'm sure you'll love:

"That is a super skinny cow!"-Me
"That's because it's a llama."-Sister Smith

Then this week Sister Smith received a letter from her sister in which her sister said how hard she laughed when she read that conversation in Sister Smith's weekly email last week. Now her family probably thinks I'm uneducated! They don't know I've just struggled with proper animal identification my entire life. She did say that she'll tell them this week that I am cultured and not dumb just to clear up any misconceptions.

We had a lesson with the guy I told you about last week that came up to the truck window while we were praying. He will heretofore be called Mikky D because he asked if we could have the lesson at McDonalds. It was kind of strange, but it worked for him. The lesson went really well. He is old and has health problems, so our challenge will be helping him feel the Spirit to the point that he wants to make the effort to change his life at this late stage of the game. He is very open though and has a deep love for Christ. 

"Sister. I don't know how I feel about teaching a lesson at McDonalds."-SS

"They do it on the District 1, so we're fine."-SP

"Oh! You're right. We can totally teach at McDonalds."-SS

"This probably makes us even better missionaries. We're following the District with exactness."-SP

"We need a picture!"-SS

We are teaching the 8 year old brother of a member right now and because the parents aren't members, he is considered a convert if he gets baptized. We are really excited about that and hope to put him on date for May. He remembers so much of what he learns in Primary and really wants to be baptized. He is a great kid. Normally I would be uncomfortable at the idea of baptizing a young kid whose parents aren't involved in the church, but he is so on board and his sister does a good job of getting him to church. I think this will really bless his life.

The Fairway Groves ward mission leader is amazing. He is always trying his hardest to magnify his calling. He invited his neighbor to go to the VC last night and she accepted so he told us to meet them there. We shared a good lesson about Christ and temples (because she had a lot of questions about temples). She is very open and interested and said she won't look anything up online because it is disrespectful. We hope to take her back to the VC to watch Meet the Mormons and JSPR (Joseph Smith movie)

Sister Smith had two exchanges this week, so that meant I had two exchanges this week since I am her other half. The first one I was with Sister Rasheed! We were excited to be together again. We had a good day. We started by doing service at a place called A New Leaf. I'm not 100% certain what they do there, but I would assume they help people turn over a new leaf. Just a hunch. We painted a cinder block fence and I rather enjoyed that. We found a new investigator from a member referral! She is open and somewhat interested, but is also very devoted to her current church. We had two good lessons with other investigators and had a member with us for the evening. Our ward mission leader's family took us out to eat for my birthday because he is going to be out of town this week. They took us to Matta's and it was a lot of fun. Their children are the most adorable kids you've ever seen. I wouldn't be surprised if they're on Pinterest. The wife's sister actually served her mission in MN and served in our ward! Her name was Sister Pitts. I remember the name, but not much about her. She remembered our family (which I'm not sure is a good thing...). I know I went out with the sisters once in high school, but I don't remember who the second sister was...maybe it was her!

 Service!

My second exchange was with a sister named Sister Solipo. I really like her! She came out the transfer before me. We had a lot of fun just talking with each other while we walked between apartments and such. We had a hard time finding people home, but such are Saturdays in missionary work. We did help a lady move. She was interesting and had a TON of stuff. It was overwhelming.

So many people that we are teaching have had deaths happen in their life last week. It made us so aware of Satan and how he will try us when we are progressing in the gospel. We are giving them a week off to mourn and we will make them cookies and take them over with a Plan of Salvation pamphlet so they will know we're here and we care, but so they can also not feel pushed around by us.

D&C58:28 stuck out to me in my studies this week. Read it and figure out how it applies to you!

The primary president in Fairway Groves found out my birthday is this week so she asked me to come into Primary so the kids could sing to me. So I did that yesterday and it was so cute! When she introduced me, the ward mission leader's son (who took us to dinner) started loudly saying, "THAT IS MY MISSIONARY! THAT IS MY MISSIONARY!" It was cute. Obvi we're besties. 

Random quote:

"I like the sisters better because they talk about Jesus more than the elders do."-adolescent at our dinner appointment.

As you can see, my ambition with emailing each week is waning. I can't wait to just talk to people and not type to people! It gets exhausting. Sorry I'm lame!

Love,

Sister Poppe

We were both in navy and white, thus a photo was warranted

Why are we so cute?

Bday week dessert. Fresas con crema at a 

random hole in the wall Mexican place

Nutella pancakes to kick off birthday week!

Nacho Libre ward talent show

Cryptic email from President Jenkins...

he literally sounds like a mob boss. 

And I told him that.