If You Yell, “Robin’s Daughter,” at me, I Will Respond

This transfer has just been six weeks of ups and downs. This week was no exception! We woke up Thursday morning and had no water in our apartment. We called and woke up our ward mission leader's wife and asked if we could use her shower. She said we could, but said that her whole family had already showered so she didn't know how hot the water would be. We ran over there and the freezing cold water coupled with the fact that I had a 7:45 am meeting to get to deterred me from washing my hair. THANK YOU DRY SHAMPOO FOR BEING INVENTED. But I still feel like I looked disgusting the majority of the day. As it turned out, Sister Merrell had hot water in the upstairs shower, I was the only one that bathed in a stream of chilly water straight from the upper regions of the Canadian Tundra. We went on to have a stake service project cancelled and no water for the majority of the day. At least we had the Easter Pageant to go to that night to help brighten our day!

 Sunburns

 Easter Pageant Extravaganza!

The Easter Pageant was great this week. We went every night and had eventful things happen each day. I ran into so many people from my first area and it was wonderful. I will always love those people...and they still love me! It really helped cheer me up. Seeing different people every night was such a tender mercy. I ran into the Memorial Day Gun Family and they were so happy to see me. It made me glad, because the last night we saw them they were upset about something and I was a little sad that I left them on a bad night. We also saw Al Fox Carraway one night! I didn't approach her because I'm sure she gets tired of people doing that, but it was cool to see her in real life!  On Friday we went down and saved seats all day because we only do weekly planning on Friday afternoons anyway. We rescheduled some things to fill the morning and then did our studies and planning and lunch break on the temple grounds so we could have awesome seats for the show that night. We all got the worst sunburns though because we weren't quite ready for the full force summer sun to be out in April.  At this point in my life I'm already about 98% guaranteed I'll have skin cancer so I just embrace it. We did see the Larsen family one night as well and they recognized me right away because I look just like you, mom! I'm always taken slightly aback when people just shout at me, "ROBIN'S DAUGHTER!" I always respond though, so I guess it works.

Birthday Month started this week!!!!! Sister Moreton treated me to Smashburger to kick it off. When our food was brought to us the waiter said, "and I know which one is yours....I always recognize your order.  A cheeseburger with only cheddar cheese and an egg, and sweet potato Smashfries. I remember my regulars." So that was embarrassing. I only go like twice a month! I've really scaled it back since Dumas left!

 Kick off to birthday month at Smashburger!

At dinner the other night I saw a lady crying outside of the restaurant and I really felt like we needed to comfort her. We went out there and talked with her and gave her an Easter pass along card.  She is from Brazil and is sad because she is alone here in America.  She said there was nothing we could do for her to help so I offered her a hug and she said that would be great. My mission has turned me into a hugger. I literally hug every one that is female all the time.  I don't even know who I am anymore. At least hugs aren't awkward for me anymore! Look how much I've grown.

Sister Moreton has given me a new nickname that she is rather proud of; Scandala Amandala because I'm so scandalous. I hardly think I'm scandalous because I'm not on par with Li-Lo, Miley, or the Kardashians, but I guess by missionary standards I have a slightly elevated scandal level. I mean if we're talking about scandalous Amanda's, Amanda Bynes should take the cake for that one, not innocent sister missionary me. It did remind me of a nickname dad would make up for me though.

I was impressed during conference that I have truly been blessed with the truth on Earth and how much peace that brings. Nothing of the future should ever concern me or trouble me because everything will always be alright. I will always know how to make myself happy because I have been given the principles that lead to joy. Even in the troubling times that will inevitably arise I know that in the eternal scheme of things everything will be happy if I just do the simple things I've been asked to do. It's so simple and yet we all make it hard sometimes. I don't know why that hit me so hard, probably because I tend to worry too much about the things in the future I can't plan for or control, but it was a simple truth that I know but that was brought to my remembrance rather strongly this weekend.

Our mission has shrunk from 255 missionaries to about 200 and will stay around 200 for as long as possible. Now that the initial boom of missionaries has come and gone our mission has stabilized. As such, a lot of areas were added to or split up with transfers. Our wards were separated and added to two other areas (we actually suggested that because our area has so many snowbirds that the already slow work will slow even more in the next week and a half). Sister Merrell and I were so excited to find out we are being transferred! I'm headed to the Alta Mesa Stake to be companions with a sister named Sister Smith. I was also released as sister district leader because all sistrics were disbanded. Sister Smith has been out about 9 months and is a sister training leader so it will be an adjustment to go back to being junior companion, but it will be so good for me. I didn't realize how worn down I had become in this area until this week when I was looking at pictures of Sister Dumas and I in my first area and I realized I looked so happy and that I hadn't been that happy in a while. I have slowly died in this area and I'm ready for a fresh start and for the opportunity to only have to focus on me. I only have three transfers left and I want them to be the best of my mission! A lot of sisters were released from their leadership callings and many of us were placed with new or newer sister leaders, so I'm not surprised I was put with Sister Smith. I'm sure there is a lot we can learn from one another. I can't emphasize how excited I am. I really gave it my all in my current area and things just always seemed to fall apart shortly after we got them going and I don't know that I could have handled much more of that. Im sure when I look back on my mission I will be grateful for the hard lessons I learned in this area, but for now I'm happy to just be able to walk away and heal a little bit. I'm also moving back to the first apartment complex I lived in! The first shall be last, and the last shall be first because I'll probably die in my new area.

 The death of Sistrict 1085.

I look forward to telling you of the new adventures in my new area!

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

After a strenuous afternoon of weeding in the heat MP demanded that we 

come inside and take a break. She is working on her art skills so she wanted 

to see how we could draw. I insisted that I can't draw and she insisted that I try. 

This "Ghost Baby Alice" was born. Sister Merrell on the other hand is really good!

My French toast from no shower water morning. 

My 7:45 meeting was cancelled last minute. Thus I had

to make my own breakfast. They were delicious!

Sister Moreton bought me consolation Reese's Puffs on 

no water day to help ease my first world problem pain.

The granddaughter we are teaching went to the Easter Pageant with us 

and the family that introduced her to the church. It was so fun! 

I love those girls so much! In the first picture Laina Lou was 

"fixing my hair"

The finished product.

No water. Hot mess hair. No clean bowls. 

Reese's Puffs in a Mason Jar.

My Mother Called Him a Communist Dictator

This week was a week of firsts for my companion and me. There were so many firsts, that I'll start with all of those and then go into the remainder of my letter.

1. It was the first time I've called a group of sisters to repentance.  When I was in the Salt River Stake our district leader told the stake president that our district had some of the best missionaries in the mission in it. At the time I thought that was an exaggeration, but having left the district now, I believe it was true! I miss being with some of the most obedient and driven people in this mission. I woke up the day of our district meeting and felt inspired to change the training I was going to give to a talk on obedience and repentance.  There has been too much slipping in the district and too many times that the sisters haven't pushed themselves (myself included). I boldly, yet lovingly, shared some scriptures and passages from Preach My Gospel about repentance and diligence and then told them a few things that needed to improve and then invited them to repent. I was so nervous. Naturally my neck was red. No one hated me by the end, and one sister told me later that day that she has been praying for correction and that I answered her prayer. Things are improving, but they still aren't where they should be, unfortunately. But I do have a tendency to expect more out of people than is likely to be achieved.  So I need to work on that.

2. It was Sister Rasheed's first time riding a bike! I taught her last P-Day and we worked on it some more on Christmas Eve. It was so hard!  How do you explain to someone how to balance? You can't! We are to the point that she can ride the bike by herself  if I hold it and help her start or if she can use a curb to push off of. I looked so ridiculous running around holding on to the seat and handle bars of a bike that a grown woman was riding.

The bike started to roll forward as the self-timer was

counting down and this is what it captured.

 

Battle wounds.

 

3. I did my first dumpster dive. I bought a pair of earrings at Target and I couldn't find them the other day. I looked all over and finally decided that someone must have accidentally thrown them away when we cleaned up all the wrapping paper and boxes Christmas afternoon. It was 9:30 in the evening, but I knew the longer I waited to check the garbage the more there would be to sift through. I grabbed my head lamp and Sister Rasheed and reluctantly headed toward the dumpster at the end of the parking lot. We checked the recycling bins first because they were cleaner. When that didn't yield a positive result I knew I had to actually climb into the dumpster. I stupidly was still in a skirt, sweater (complete with my name tag...#dignified), and slippers, but I just went for it. I knocked a recycling bin over and used it as a ladder and then grabbed another recycling bin and threw it in the dumpster so I had something to sit on that wasn't a pile of trash. I hopped in and spent the next half an hour sifting through the remnants of people's festive day. I didn't find my earrings and decided to give up. I put the recycling bins back and went home with nothing more than dirty hands, an appreciation for the fact that I've never been homeless, and a pair of two year old slippers that met their demise. The next day I found the earrings in the trunk of our car.

 

4. I spent my first Christmas away from home. In all honesty it didn't really feel like Christmas because of the weather so it didn't hit me until Christmas Day that I should be sad. We had a great day though! I still can't believe that you mailed my gifts to a member's home instead of the mission office so I couldn't open them before Christmas! I inherited my poor self-control at Christmas time from you and you had the audacity to limit me! We went to the relief society president's home in Brimhall and had breakfast with her and her children and grandchildren and opened our gifts.  When I opened my watch she said, "Look kids! Blessings of a mission! You go on a mission, you get nice things." It was so funny. I got to take a nap on Christmas day and it was potentially the best gift I could have received. I am literally always exhausted.  ALWAYS. My right eye has twitched on and off for a month and I'm still not sure if it is from sleep deprivation, stress, or an undetected case of epilepsy.  Probably the last one. I'm dying. We had dinner at a fun home that night and they gave us cute stockings with treats. We ended the evening by singing with the entire mission at the temple. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the recordings I heard of us, but people seemed to like it. We all know I'm kind of a music snob, so I'm sure the general citizenry liked it even though I didn't think we sounded that great. I did rock my bell part though!

5. I took part in comforting the first sister in my district to have a small break down during my tenure as district leader. So many emotions all the time! 

That's all for the firsts!  On to the last few points of this letter.

A couple in Brimhall does "Subway Saturday" with the sisters once or twice a month so they took us out for lunch and it was hilarious. A friend of theirs from another ward ate with us as well. I literally thought I had climbed into a time machine and was having lunch with Brandon 40 years from now.  He talked a lot about guns, oil drilling, the military and other things, but the most Brandon like thing he said of the day was, "the first thing I'm doing when I'm dictator of this country is kicking all the Prius owners out!"  When he asked about my family and myself and I told him that he reminded me of my brothers and dad he said that I must come from a fine family. Then when he found out that I had a degree in American Studies and the men in my family had all or were currently serving in the military he said that we were fine people and that he should fly out to Minnesota to meet my family. He's crazy! hahahahaha.

At Christmas lights I saw someone with a UNI sweatshirt on so I approached her and asked if she is from Iowa. Through our conversation I mentioned that I lived in Hampton and it turns out that her brother is Mr. Wempen, my middle school principle! Her dad asked for my name so he could talk about me and I gave it to him. I really wanted to lie because I'm sure the only thing Mr. Wempen remembers about me is that middle school years were bad hair years for me and that my mother called him a communist dictator the first month of our three year authority figure/pupil relationship.

I'm going to be honest.  Things are slow here. I feel like I'm in a hamster wheel just running, running, running and nothing is happening.  I really hope that when Christmas lights end and when we have more time in our area that things will take off. We have a mission wide fast this upcoming Sunday to find new investigators and our wards are fasting with us. I know that will lead to many miracles and I am so excited for them to start pouring in!

Today is my 11 month mark!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAT????? Also, I'm having a crisis because I realized my birthday is in 4 months and I am not ready to be 24.  24 just seems so much older than 23. Where did 23 go?  I seriously JUST had my birthday month. I can't even handle this. 24 year olds own houses and stuff. I can't even.

On that note, have a happy new year!  Set some real goals this year. Include spiritual and physical goals. I am going to read all of the Standard Works in 2015 for one of my spiritual goals.

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

This is an awful picture, but for some reason Sister Rasheed loves it.

 

Christmas morning with our stockings.

Thanks Bri Bri! They are adorable.

These are all of our favorite things! I spy a Smashburger gift card,

                               a fancy new watch, Sperry's, and Resse's trees.

 

Sister Rasheed said as she was opening the gifts from my family,

"How your family know all my favorite things! These my favorite gifts."

Spot on family. Spot on!

I LOVE MY WATCH! I'm taking it to the mall today to

get it sized down though because it is a little large.

 

All bundled up.

 

I ran into two members from Twin Knolls at Christmas lights!

 

Seriously, I have been waiting all month to illegally hop the

little fence to take a picture with this fake man.

 

 

"I curse in da morning and pray in da evening."

We had our mission Christmas party this week and it was a nice little event.  We were split into three groups over three days and each of us were assigned a day.  Our party was on Wednesday.  It was fun to see one of my good MTC friends, Elder Sweeten, again because I haven't seen him very often since we arrived in Mesa. We've both been in different parts of the mission.

Mission Christmas Party!

 

We did a temple session and had a chapel session with the temple president. The temple president said, "I wish I could tell you all that I know. I know so much. All I will say is that you really are the best of the best and you have been sent here to wrap up the scenes of this Saturday Evening of the Earth. You are a chosen group." Can we talk about how terrifying that is! I excused myself from the obligation to SAVE THE WORLD under the pretenses that I am 23 and not one of the 19 year old missionaries, so I wasn't saved for this purpose...only the 19 year old missionaries were. Clearly the 4 years I have on them places me in a different generation. We had a luncheon after the temple and then practiced our songs for Christmas evening. PKJ and his wife then addressed us and shook each of our hands and wished us a merry Christmas and gave us each a copy of Lectures on Faith. As I shook his hand he said, "Sister Poppe.  The members in the Salt River Stake sure miss you.  I've already received comments that they just miss you so much out there."  It really made my day and gave me the motivation to keep on trying in my new area even though I just want to leave them and go back to what I have known for 10 months. It reminds me of when we moved to Minnesota.  I didn't hate my new situation and there was a lot of good happening, but I still just wanted to move back to Iowa because it was what was easy and normal for me.  It took time for me to like Minnesota as much as I liked Iowa and then even more time for me to love Minnesota. So I know with time (probably another two weeks) I will love this place as much as I should.

Sister Childs (the one who got her ears pierced last week) is an amazing missionary. She is just so lovable and good at being bold and talking to everyone.  She gave the girl who pierced her ears a pass along card and it inspired me.  So when I bought my new coat last Monday, I gave two employees a pass along card as well and invited them to have Christ in their Christmas this year.  They were actually very nice and thought it was sweet of me.

We have a new investigator in one of our wards that I will call Willy Wonka.  Mainly because he is kind of crazy and mysterious and blunt.  Not because he gave me candy, because he didn't. He is an ex-communicated J-Dub, so a lot of his issues are ones that Hobbit Hole Grandpa had.  Those J-Dubs sure know how to brain wash people! He honestly isn't very open, but wants to know more because he likes the way Mormon people act. I think over a long period of time he may have potential, but I will probably just be here long enough to start to chip away at the bedrock before someone else can get to the fountain of water beneath.

We had a sister training leader meeting this week (even though I'm a sister district leader, I go to those meetings, because my responsibilities are the same as a sister training leader, plus more on top of that). It was a good meeting.  We brainstormed and talked about ways to help our sisters. After our meeting while we were mingling Sister Jenkins gave us dating advice and it was so funny.  Somehow we convinced her to bring her wedding pictures out and they were hilarious! THE 80'S. I'm telling you.

I met an excommunicated member of the church at Christmas lights who was feeling pretty down on herself. I shared Helaman 5:12 with her and she teared up and said that she prayed in her car before she came to the lights and asked that she would have enough strength to keep trying to get her life in order.  She said that my scripture helped her focus on what she needs to do; rely on Christ. She hugged me and thanked me.  It helped me feel like I was actually helping people and not just wandering around doing nothing.

MIRACLE ALERT!

Let's set the scene: 12/13/14. 8:48 pm. Sisters Poppe and Rasheed were contacting referrals and had had no luck. They were exhausted and wanted to sleep after roaming for 3 hours at the temple and walking about a bajillion miles. They decided to try one last referral that hadn't been home on a previous attempt. She was home and let them in and is super interested and even said she normally doesn't answer the door at night because she lives alone. We are going back tonight!  The church is true! She will be heretofore called Jamie Lee Curtis, because she has short hair and is sassy. JLC is so prepared it is crazy!

We did service for a sassy lady in one of the retirement communities in our ward and it was hilarious. I seriously wish I could have video recorded the entire thing. She gave us a 20 minute introduction of herself that included her stance on welfare, parents these days, and people with weak testimonies. She then said, "so that is me. I have a good feeling about you girls. You have a good spirit about you. I think we will get along just great and this will be the start of many wonderful visits during and after your mission. I hope you will accept who I am and that we will be friends. God bless these sweet missionary sisters!" Here are a few of the highlights that I remember from our visit (keep in mind she still has trace amounts of a Jersey/Brooklyn hybrid accent from when she lived back east):  Her daughter joined the church in 1991 and then after college in 1995 she went on a mission. The lady joined right before her daughter left.  The daughter's original mission call was to El Salvador and the lady wasn't having it, so she petitioned the first presidency and got it changed. I didn't believe her because that never happens, but then she showed us the framed mission change letter her daughter received that reassigned her to California. I was floored! She said though, "I didn't raise my daughter to be killed in the jungles of El San Salvador!"

"I still love Tom Selleck's shorts in Magnum P.I. He is the only man who has business wearing shorts on television."

"The lady is a gossip and she has a dog face" (about her Jewish neighbor).

"You are a princess and don't let any man treat you otherwise."

"I curse in da morning and pray in da evening."

"I'm 73 years old and I'm a racist."

While we were contacting potential investigators in an apartment complex, this man greeted us from his balcony. I started talking to him about his faith from 15 feet below in the dark and eventually he came down to talk to me. He was not a fan of me. He was trying to trip me up by asking me historical questions about Jesus and the Bible but I answered all of his questions correctly. He asked how I know so much and I said I went to college and that I know many sides of Christianity's story, I just know which ones are actually true as well. He got all up in my business about how I shouldn't be out spreading lies about Jesus because I'm clearly educated and I know better. At one point in time he flat out told me that the Almighty isn't pleased with how I am wasting my time and lying about his son.  At this point I was livid so I said it was time for us to go because things were going to become contentious. I said, "I respect your beliefs sir, but we are going to just have to agree to disagree, because I have been called by a prophet of God to share what I know, and I know my message is true (quoting Preach My Gospel for the win)." #elderhollandstatus To which he said, "I refuse to consent to that; I will not let you believe you are right." I bore a brief testimony then and we left. #troll Someday his knee will bow and his tongue will confess and I will not live with the guilt of knowing that I backed down.

The toilet paper in our church building is not your typical church stock. I don't know if this stake pays 11% tithing or if a t.p. enthusiast donates the bathroom tissue or if these wards won a contest put on by the first presidency in which they won multi-ply toilet paper for a year or if something else is going down here. I'm telling you though, it's magnificent. #blessingsonhigh

I was a little worried about how being companions with Sister Rasheed was going to be because I knew she loved her first companion a lot.  Things have been going well between us, but a part of me still worried that maybe she was putting on a front. The other night before bed she said, "good night! Sleeping time! I love you!" Then the next night she said, "sister. You is funny. When we transfer I nervous. I said I no know Sister Poppe. And all the sisters say, 'Sister Poppe great!  Sister Poppe funny. You have fun with Sister Poppe. She good missionary.' But I still scared. What if I no like Sister Poppe? But I like you sister. You is fun and funny." I'm glad that we get along and that I love her so much because it would be hard dealing with all the stress of having a companion who isn't fluent in English and not like her at the same time.

Sister Rasheed learned the word sassy this week! It is so funny. She uses it all the time now. She will point at naughty kids, or me, or random strangers and whisper "sassy!" I also told her she can call those people spicy so sometimes she says spicy. When we did service for our funny new friend Sister Rasheed looked at me and mouthed, "Spicy!" I died.

Love,

Sister Poppe!

 

Brimhall Ward Christmas party. Sister Rasheed thought it

 was hilarious that we were taking pictures with props on sticks. 

Every time she sees this pictures she says,

"Sister! I like. This good picture!"

 

Sister Rasheed admitted to me that she has been practicing her kissy

lips face ever since we took a kissy lips face last week as a district. 

She has greatly improved! She also made me put on her

bright lipstick before we took the picture because my

 more tame lipstick wasn't bright enough.

Temple Lights!

 

 

Freely Ye Have Received, Freely Give

We stopped by 11 homes Monday and Tuesday evening so I could tell people goodbye/so we could share the He is the Gift video. They were hard visits to make. One of my favorite families gave us Christmas gifts from the Target dollar spot that were cute. We were already excited, and then when we found a fifty dollar Target gift card between the two pair of warm holiday socks we are even more jazzed! We definitely have to make a trip back to Mesa now after my mission because I promised a bajillion people I would come back and visit them. The Target gift card family told me that they are moving to Minnesota though and they want to meet my family when they get up there! The husband is from Minnesota and the wife and kids love it so they are moving. They're thinking it will happen in May. The wife already Facebook creeped you, mom and liked all of your little home renovation crafting things.

 

Needless to say, I was so sad to leave my area. I had a hard start to the week. My first night in my new area I felt like I was back in the MTC. I was sad, wanted to cry, and didn't know why I was here. I was overwhelmed at the idea of creating new relationships and I just wanted to cry. But I didn't. I prayed so long on Wednesday night that I fell asleep on my knees with my head resting on my bed. I was asleep for at least half an hour before I woke up because my legs were tingling. I had a lot of meetings my first few days in the area, so that didn't help because I felt like I wasn't getting anything done in my area. Additionally, we have to do four hours of studies a day so Sister Rasheed's English improves, so we really didn't get much done my first two days in the area. On Friday I decided I couldn't be sad anymore so I just prayed and asked for the strength to love the new people I was meeting. In my personal study I read Matthew 10:8 (because I decided to read the four gospels before Christmas Day) and the line that said "freely ye have received, freely give," jumped out at me. That was the official end to my pity party because I realized that I have been given so very much and all Heavenly Father wants me to do is love and teach new people. He isn't asking me to chop of a limb or give up Reese's for the rest of my life. I have been given so much, so I can give to others. In a new area.

Cheesecake Factory mom's parents are in my new ward! I am so excited because it means I will be able to see them occasionally when they come to church with her parents. Her younger sister gets home from her mission in a few weeks so she said they will for sure be at sacrament meeting for her homecoming talk the Sunday after Christmas

I sat through approximately 8.5 hours of meetings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Another meeting I was supposed to have was postponed so our four hour meeting from Thursday that didn't end where it needed to could be finished on Friday. So I will have another 2 hour meeting this week on top of ZTM (that I have to give a THIRTY minute training at) and a breakfast meeting with the high councilman over missionary work in this stake. These meetings don't include the correlation, weekly planning, and ward council meetings that I normally sit through! They were all wonderful though. Our long one Thursday that carried over into Friday is called Mission Leadership Council (MLC) and that happens once a month. Normally it doesn't take two days, but this month we had a lot to discuss! We talked a lot about what leadership looks like and how leaders help people grow. I loved when we talked about missionaries that come into the field at a 2 and leave at a 3 and how that growth is huge even though it doesn't seem like it. PKJ said that we all probably came in at a 10, but if we don't leave at a 15 the other elders and sisters still made more of an improvement than we did and that we need to remember that. Growth should always be looked at within one missionary, not between one missionary and others. We also planned how we are going to prepare for a super baptism month in March. We set a lot of small goals for December, January, and February to help improve the quality of missionaries that we have and to increase their faith so we can find enough people to have 100 baptisms in March. I also had District Leader Orientation (DLO...seriously, missionary work is all about abreves, I guess). That was pretty straight forward and short; I was just trained on how to be a district leader by my zone leaders, and then helped them set goals for the transfer and talked through the needs of the missionaries I am serving. I also sat down with three of the five sisters in my district and talked with them one on one about goals and expectations and how I can help them. It isn't required of me to do that, but I really felt like it was important. I want each sister to know that I love them and that I will help them reach their goals and keep them accountable.

We had the Aspen Christmas party on Saturday and it was so fun! A decent amount of the homes in that ward are on huge plots of land. I think they're acre plots, but I am also bad at estimating, so I don't know. The bishop lives on one of those plots and he has an amazing backyard. He has a full size basketball court, a covered outdoor kitchen and pavilion, in ground trampoline, batting cage, BATHROOM, projector, fire pit, garden, legitimate park-like playground, and some yard to spare. The Christmas party was in their backyard. I was in love. We went early to help decorate and set up the food tables. The bishop's wife is President and Sister Jenkins' niece and the daughter of one of the mission presidency members. Her brother and sister-in-law were there to help set up and they are in my other new ward. I really like all of them, but especially the brother and his wife. They're hilarious and not super Mormony. The wife is a reporter and reported at the Sochi Olympics for NBC. #legit. I spent a lot of time talking to one of our investigators at the party and that was good for me. I know her well enough now that I feel like I can connect with her in lessons. The bishop has a four square court as well and I was so excited! I played with a group of ten year old boys for a bit.  The next day at church one of them told me he was going to beat me at four square someday and that we had to play again. I'm already making friends with people in my mental range.

The fire alarm went off in the middle of sacrament meeting in our first ward yesterday. It was eventful! Every one sat there for about 45 seconds and finally a member of the bishopric stood up and we all followed suit and filed out of the chapel. It was a false alarm, but some people just went home because we stood in the parking lot for 10 or 15 minutes while everything was examined. It was kind of funny.

We were invited to YW to help with the lesson in Aspen Ward and it was so fun. One of the YW forced me to give a lengthy introduction of myself and when I was done I heard her whisper to her neighbor, "I like this missionary!" Hopefully we can work with them as much as we did with the TK YW.

Sister Rasheed says a lot of funny things. This week's favorite was her interpretation of Jingle Bells. She was singing "Jingle Man!  Jingle Man," all day on Saturday because she thought those were the words to Jingle Bells. I also love her prayers. She always says, "Bless me and my companion we teach very well," and, "thank you for all the blessings." Sometimes she says, "bless my tongue that I speak English." It's so cute! She said she wants to learn more real world words, so I've started teaching her a few a day. Drive thru and dollar menu were probably the most useful.

President and Sister Jenkins had good friends in Mesa this week and they sat in on some of our meetings. They're pretty important people in Idaho. The husband has advised President Bush and Obama in cabinet meetings before and is the top guy over education in Idaho. President Jenkins had him share words of wisdom with us a few times. During one of the stories the friend shared, he said, "I took my daughter and President Jenkins' daughter on a little trip one Saturday when they were 6 or 7. We stopped at a gas station and I went over to get a fountain Diet Coke when I noticed his daughter looking at me. I asked her if she wanted one and she replied, 'no, that's what Laman and Lemuel drank!'" We all died laughing because it sounded exactly like something President Jenkins would have told his children when they were young.

 

I did my first Christmas lights shift on Thursday and am looking forward to doing more! I have an in with all the snow birds and love it. They don't always want to talk to the missionaries, but I have found that I can spot them pretty easily by their wardrobe (or lack thereof) and then I say something along the lines of, "you must not be from here! It's too cold to still be sporting sandals and capris!"  Then they tell me they're from Minnesota or Canada and I tell them I'm from Minnesota and we are friends. We work every even day at the temple. Our shift is always two hours, but changes depending on the evening. We are either 6 to 8 or 8 to 10. It's so fun!

I have decided that I want to find and baptize a family in this area.  I am praying for it every day and am devoting all free time to contacting potential and former investigators. I've already made lists and we are going at it! Sister Rasheed keeps saying, "Sister! We so busy!" It's good for us.

Love you all,

Sister Poppe

Sister D2 and my last trip to Golden Spoon together

Harry and his fiancé and her daughter and I with Paco the pup.

  

Sister Rasheed and I!

 

Sister Childs didn't have her ears pierced, so we went as a district

today and she got them pierced! These are the things

you can do with an all sisters district.