We Must Check Out the Pug Run on Youtube

Hey!

Another week has come and gone and I'm here to tell you all about it!

We contacted an older gentleman about a month ago who, when we asked if there was anything we could do for him, said, "oh no. I just need to weed my yard, but you young girls can't do that." We had some open time this week and decided to just go over and weed his yard without even asking him. He may never know that we did that for him, but it was still really fulfilling!

The Cheesecake Factory Family took us to dinner at a Mexican place on Tuesday and it was delightful to be with them, as always. Some of my favorite parts of the evening included:

When we arrived at his house Noah sprinted out the door and yelled, SSISSSSSSSSTTTTTTERRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSS," and then latched onto my leg with both arms and started stroking the bird on my skirt and grabbed my hand and said, "okay, now just come on inside!" It was the cutest most welcoming tone; I felt like he was the little toddler bell hop at a hotel. We settled for the garage while we waited for Brother CF to change so we could head to the restaurant.  This is the conversation when we arrived and saw Maya's new haircut, keep in mind Maya is way too smart for her own good and quite the little sassy pants. Kind of like another small girl you all may remember from approximately 18 years ago: 

"I love your hair! It's just about as sassy as you are now."-Me

"I am NOT sassy! (Said with her hand on her hip and with a little head shake...contradictory? Yes.)"-Maya

"Sister Poppe is sassy."-Sister D2

From behind her hand, in a whisper to Sister D2, "I bet she is!" -Maya

Sister CF told us about a conversation she had with Noah as she was telling him about the story time we are going to do next week about Jesus:

"Is Jesus going to be there?"-Noah

"No, sorry."-Sister CF

"Ahhhhh, but I haven't even ever got to meet him yet!"-Noah

At one point in the evening Noah wanted me to share with him his joy over his root beer so he legitimately took his cup and shoved the straw in my mouth after he wasn't fooled by my fake drinking and yummy noises. The germs were already shared, so I took a sip as per his demand.

We had an all day zone conference on Thursday. My group presented our training on planning and it was so legit. I wrote a play the incorporated scriptures from the parable of the vineyard in Jacob 5.  The script followed the evening of two missionaries. They were in a dead area and weren't sure what to do. We had three "pop out" trainings in which the play stopped and trainings were given on accountability and taking ownership of your area, setting goals, and how weekly planning funnels into daily planning which funnels into lesson planning. We compared different trees to less active members, recent converts, active members, part member families, and nonmembers.  The audience watched as the different pop outs slowly gave the missionaries direction and they eventually developed a desire to focus on the needs of individuals as well as their goals. I feel like I'm not giving it justice; it was way cooler than I'm describing it to be!

It was by far the most creative training of the day. As the narrator opened the play he did mention that it was written by "the one and only Sister Poppe." He wasn't supposed to announce that, in case people thought it was stupid. We had a practice for our Christmas choir as well. This year all of the mission is required to participate in a choir that sings on Christmas evening on the temple grounds. I get to play a bell in the song that needs a bell choir accompaniment!  I jumped at the opportunity when they asked if anyone could sight read music and played an instrument in high school. I cover the A flat; I'm kind of a big deal.

We had dinner with a middle aged couple with older children who don't live at home one evening this week.  Their dogs have become their children and we were introduced to each one of them one by one.  Two are pugs.  The dad started telling us about how pugs do this thing where they run in circles and are crazy.  He kept calling it a pug run, so I finally asked if that was the official term, or his term.  He said, "Well, it's probably mine, BUT if you ever go to a pug party and use the term people know what you're talking about." So then I had to ask what a pug party is and he went on to tell us about this one time that he went to a party for pug owners and there were about 35 pugs with their owners in one place at the same time. He then started describing the pug run to us from that night and we were dying imagining 35 pugs running in a circle together like maniacs. That's the first thing I'm going to Youtube when I get home.

On Friday evening we stopped by a new family's home in TK. The four year old daughter prayed before we left and her prayer, in its entirety, was, "Dear Heavenly Father, please bless that these two moms will come over again. Jesus Christ. Amen."

The stake I'm serving in does an annual event every November called Night of Classics. They find talented (like actually talented, not mediocre) people in the area (they're usually members, though there were a few nonmembers and a handful of inactive people this year) to showcase many varieties of fine art.  The first hour was fancy finger desserts and a walk through art gallery that was amazing, followed by an hour and a half program of musical talents.  I got a little teary-eyed when a lady played the 2nd Movement of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto because it was the same song I played for contest my senior year of high school. I haven't played the clarinet in almost 2 years!  I bet I'm nowhere near as good as I once was; which makes me sad. Two women sang Pie Jesu, which was another song I performed at contest in high school.  It was actually the highest scoring piece I ever did. It was the one Kalyn Schroeder and I sang together that lead to me singing at a Lutheran church on a random Sunday with her.  Anyway, we got a 39/40; a near perfect score.  So it was a beautiful evening that made me a little sad that I don't do much with music anymore. But the positive is that Lavender Brown and her husband came with us! They really enjoyed the evening. Lavender is one of those really talented black lady singers, so she loved it and was excited that someone already asked her if she would perform in the show next year.  They're really trying to make this a community event to help expose people to normal Mormon activities.

Us with Lavender Brown after the Night of Classics.

 

The Phoenix Temple dedication was yesterday and it was a really great dedication. A lot was mentioned about not taking the temple for granted and going repeatedly.  I love that.  I wish everyone made the temple a priority in their lives.  The majority of members in the US have a temple within an hour of where they live. There is no better way to protect yourself from Satan than by going to the temple.  Really, people should go more often!

People have started inviting us over for Thanksgiving and we are so excited because so far, they're all some of our very favorite families. I feel like I'm in high school again and people are getting asked to prom and at first it's nerve wracking because I could get asked by someone I don't want to go with, but I'd have to say yes because I don't have a date yet, but now I can breathe, because I just got asked to prom by someone I really want to go with. I'm relieved that we have plans for Thanksgiving and that they're with such wonderful families. We already have three dinners on Thanksgiving Day, one the Sunday before, and one on Tuesday of that week already penciled in.

Sister D2 is trying to topple my dynasty. As we left mutual she said, "I'm never going to be able to get as many people to love me and be my best friend in these wards as you've been able to." I told her to give it 7 more months and it may happen; you can't create a band of admirers overnight. She told me she wouldn't need that long to steal all my friends. As if. May the odds be ever in her favor. These are Poppe's peeps. But, Harry's dog, Paco lovesssssss her. So she is making headway in her attempt to steal all the members of my fan club.

I had an idea this week that I am so excited about! You know how people do fundraisers in which they will put flamingos in people's yards and then require them to make a donation before the flamingos are removed?  Well I decided we will do that and instead of money, we will require members to do one of the following to get the flamingos out of their yard: invite us to give them a family home evening lesson, teach them one of the investigator discussions, do an hour of service for them, help them create a family mission plan, or present a gospel lesson on any topic. Hopefully this will not only increase our teaching hours, but will also generate conversations about the church between neighbors. "Hey, why do you have flamingos in your yard? That's an HOA violation waiting to happen." "Oh, just the obnoxious missionaries in our ward. They put them there and now we are having them come over for a family night to give us a lesson as payment to get them out of our yard. They're actually pretty fun girls. You want to join us on Monday evening?" BAM. BAPTISM IN THE WORKS.

I've yet to receive any Christmas music selections, so get on it people!  I need some festive tunes!

Love,

Sister Poppe

Tony Hawk Fam and us (and one of their skater friends).

I'm starting to slowly get pictures with families so that I don't

have to take a million pictures the Sunday before I'm transferred.

Selfie with Ron to document another successful indexing session.

His pointer finger chicken peck is getting faster week by week! 

  

VAMPIRES

 

Happy sharks make for a happy sleeper.

 

Shark faces

 

Companionship unity blankets. Aren't we so cute? 

 

 

She is the Amy Poehler to my Tina Fey

So I have mentioned my bosom sister, Sister Adams quite a few times in my letters home. Just as a reminder, she is the B to my FF, the Amy Poehler to my Tina Fey, the Reese's to my egg. Though I have only known her six short months, she is one of my very favorite people; I think we were probably besties in the PME or something. She ended up having to go home after our second transfer because she was having some serious medical problems. Though she had hopes of returning to the field, Missionary Medical deemed her unfit to return to missionary service. Through all of this, she kept her faith and a kind family from the area she served in offered her a place in their home and lined up a job for her here in Mesa. She moved back a little over a month ago and I finally got to see her last P-Day. It was the most joyous reunion; almost as moving as the Boy Meets World Cast Reunion earlier this year! She came bearing gifts in the form of homemade Kneader's sandwiches. We talked for about an hour and a half and hugged it out and took some pictures before we had to leave to proselyte for the evening. While this was the most touching moment of my week, it wasn't the only sweet reunion I had.

Elder Michaelis (the Uncle Si elder) went home last week because he honorably reached the end of his two year mission. He was the first real missionary friend I have had go home. Up until the end of last transfer, the people going home didn't mean much to me because I didn't know them well. He was in my district for three transfers, so we got pretty tight. He called me President Poppe instead of Sister Poppe at least 57% of the time. On Tuesday morning as we were walking up to the gym, he popped out of the door to greet us! All five of us sisters from my apartment stopped dead in our tracks. My hands leapt to my mouth and I covered my gaping expression as if the bus had just been moved from in front of my very own extreme home makeover. TLC should have been around to tape the moment; we were all so shocked and excited to see him! He brought his parents down from Utah to meet the families he served and taught. We all met his parents and talked with him. He worked out with us Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning.

After this week, I think I can fully relate to the story in which Ammon runs into the sons of Mosiah and Alma after they've been separated, preaching the gospel. He is so excited to see them that he loses his strength! I didn't do that, but I was more excited to see my missionary friends than I ever thought I would be. The people I've served with have come to occupy such a special place in my heart; even if the vast majority of my friends are twerpy elders who are 2-4.5 years younger than me.

One of the Thunder Mountain YW asked me to sing in church with her yesterday. We sang a beautiful medley of Called to Serve and Savior, Redeemer of My Soul. Her mom told me about a month ago that she heard me sing when they sat a row in front of me one Sunday and that I needed to sing in church. I thanked her for her compliments and didn't think much of it until her daughter asked me to sing a duet with her in Sacrament Meeting. The daughter said that she was thinking about what her mom told me and that she wondered if I would be more open to singing if it was a duet with her. She decided to be bold and ask the music coordinator if she could sing and the coordinator penciled her in. She then hunted me down and asked if I would join her and I agreed. The music coordinator told her later that she couldn't find anyone to sing a special musical number in the month of August and that she had prayed that somehow she would be able to find someone so she could fulfill her calling and then the YW approached her! The song was beautiful. I saw a few people in the congregation even tear up. It was an honor to sing with her; she is extremely talented. Her voice matched mine better than anyone else's I've ever sang with. "Sister Poppe! Why did you never tell us you can sing!?!" became the phrase of the day.

We have started teaching the families in Thunder Mountain and it is actually going very well. Between our two wards we already have 15 lessons scheduled for this week. With our community service, daily studies, and a zone training meeting this week, we literally have every hour Monday through Friday already booked solid. Our schedule is crazy; I am so pumped to be busy! We wrote out a four step plan for meeting with the families and our objective in teaching them. The ward mission leader loved it and instituted it as our ward mission plan.

We had a lot of lessons last week too and more already scheduled for next week. The lessons we have done so far have been really good. In every home someone has said that even though what we are teaching is something they know, they've learned something new from what we have taught. We leave every member lesson by praying with the family for missionary opportunities and then we encourage them to pray as a family again about specific people and for the faith to act on missionary opportunities. We also give them ideas for missionary opportunities; the last thing we want is for these people to just give their neighbors Books of Mormon. In the very least, the members seem to like having us in their homes so we feel loved and that is always nice. It really will be a challenge for me to leave this area; I love these people!

We had our first day volunteering at the library this week. It isn't that hard; it's just alphabetizing, but this girl who works at the library is super condescending and is always hovering "in case we do something wrong and need a little help." Puh-leaze. I have a college degree, I can handle the alphabet, and I don't need help.  #Kthanxbye. I'm very Christlike to her on the outside though. She probably just wants to feel important so I let her.

All in all we had a busy, but pretty uneventful week, so I think this about covers it!

Love,

Sister Poppe

                         We received treat bags for no reason 2 days in a row.
                        I kind of feel like an Oscar nominee with my swag bags.

              We invited one of our YM friends to go to a lesson with us and he
             invited another boy from our other ward to come as well. Their third
             friend invited himself when he found out what they were doing so we
              had three boys from three different wards in the stake at one lesson.

                                                  Sue was telling me jokes.

                                                      Perdizzle and Sista P

I Carry a Batman and a Screwdriver in my Purse, of Course I'm Winning.

Last Monday we went with a couple on a drive to Canyon Lake for FHE.  The wife asked us a few weeks ago if they could take us on a scenic drive around sunset to see the beauty of the desert outside of the city and we finally went!  I had never thought the desert was beautiful until we took that drive. We stopped to take pictures of the lake and they turned out stunningly. I also got car sick and was dizzy for three days after the trip whenever I stood up after sitting for extended periods of time, but it was worth it. Also, the lake looked familiar; I think we may have gone boating there with Kim and Dean years ago.

                                             Sunset at Canyon Lake

One of our appointments fell through on Wednesday evening, so we helped the YW help an older lady in the ward pack up her home to move.  There were way too many people in her tiny trailer, so I stayed outside and helped a few of the girls trim a Mesquite tree.  Our loppers didn't work very well, so I started just ripping the thin branches off the tree and the girls helped me.  I had a good time talking to them and getting to know them better. One of the girls was Harry's soon to be step daughter. We actually had a really good conversation about their home and different things. She also said that I'm her favorite missionary and it will be weird when I'm eventually transferred and won't be on their couch three times a week. She said I'm her favorite because she actually respects me because I am intelligent. It made me feel good, because we all know that sometimes I struggle with being labeled as "intelligent" instead of "spiritual".  After the service, we had Italian sodas at the YW president’s house and were attacked with water.  Once we were wet we decided to just join in and have a water fight because we were already wet and we weren't technically swimming or taking part in water sports.

 

The assisted living home we serve at got a piano!  There was a hymnbook and a children's song book and a few other books with songs from the 50's and such there. I decided to just play a hymn on a whim and one of the residents, Phil, asked me to keep playing. I played for an hour and toward the end I started singing the hymns I was playing because he started singing. His father-in-law is the man who owns this particular assisted living home and the piano is actually Phil's late wife’s. It was actually a very tender moment; he was so glad someone was playing his wife's piano and enjoyed hearing the hymns.  I played all the hymns I can play, some of the children's songbook songs, and a few pieces I have memorized that aren't church related. You'll have to mail me my pink binder of sheet music, mom, so I can play some more for Phil. By the end of the hour there were 5-6 elderly people sitting in the room just listening. Hazel told me that I play wonderfully and then she told Sister Dumas and me that she loves us before we left. The sassy old women are starting to show affection for us! As we were leaving I realized that even though the residents are old, and many aren't fully there, playing hymns for them may be a seed that was planted that will be harvested on the other side. I know they felt the Spirit as I played; Phil teared up a few times, and they all were nicer to each other than they ever are.

Our new ward mission leader in Thunder Mountain is really magnifying his calling.  He has emailed a million families in the ward and has set up appointments with them. We're excited to start teaching in that area!  Even if it is active members of the church who already have the gospel.

We set up a family mission plan with a Hispanic family in our ward on Friday night.  While we were there we each received a drawing from their son, lots of hugs, ice cream, and an invitation to come back and teach them how to play the game of Life (they own it and don't know how to play). Their kids LOVE us. They run up and hug us every week and always want us to come over. It makes me wish I was serving in South America a little bit. Hispanic people are just so loving!

We were teaching Harry how to do family history the other night and some of the elders in our stake happened to be teaching an investigator in the family history center at the same time. We are supposed to be home at 9:00 every night, unless we're in a lesson, then we can get home at 9:30.  We wrapped up at 9:00 and told Harry goodbye and headed out to our car.  As we were approaching our car, we saw that the light was on in the elders' car and we decided to check to see if the doors were unlocked because if they were we were going to shut their dome light off.  We also decided to put the Pizza Hut sign on their car.  Their doors were unlocked and somehow we decided to just hide in their car to scare them when they came out. We knew that their lesson had to be almost done because it was already a few minutes after 9:00, so I hid in the backseat and Sister D hid in the front passenger seat. We ended up camping out in the car for FORTY FIVE minutes because they stayed in the church FOREVER. Every time we got close to just leaving we decided against it because we had already invested time in the hot, axe scented vehicle. Finally they came out and they had one of the YM with them that had been out with them all night and we scared them. Their reactions weren't as dramatic as we wanted, but it was still hilarious. We saw the YM at mission prep on Sunday and he was telling other YM about our scandalous exploit! We told him he had to stop or we would make him stop.

We really do enjoy mission prep on the Sundays we can make it! I love working with the youth in general and enjoy every opportunity we have to interact with them. We took two YM out with us to Harry's lesson on Saturday and had them teach the entire thing. One leaves in a few weeks for his mission and the other is a recent convert who is planning on serving next summer when he hits his year mark. It's kind of cool because when I first got into this area the youth never wanted to serve with us, now they all want to go out with us. There is a rivalry between a few of the YM in the Twin Knolls Ward and a few of the YM in the Thunder Mountain Ward about who we like more. They fight over who our favorite YM are, which is hilarious, because none of them wanted anything to do with us three months ago! The boy that is prepping to leave in a few weeks on his mission sat by me in Gospel Principles yesterday and Sister D got mad at him for not sitting by her, so now there is a rivalry between us about who the youth like more. Really it isn't a rivalry; it's a one sided competition in which Sister D tries to win. But I'm winning; I carry a Batman and a screwdriver in my purse, of course I'm winning.

We went to a political fundraiser for dinner on Saturday and it was fun! Our less active member invited us and even introduced us as missionaries during the program. We had dinner and then watched a performance of different island dances.

I don't know what it was about yesterday, but it was love the missionaries day or something. Everybody wanted to love us! We got so many hugs and compliments. The YW who is following me on Twitter that I mentioned last week told me we're now best friends and I told her to make a handshake to prove it, and she did! She is hilarious. She's only 13, but I want Bryce to marry her.

I have started studying from the beginning of the Old Testament Institute manual and it is so enlightening!  I really enjoy learning about basic doctrines in a deeper way. I think it has made my studying more productive and I am learning some really cool things about the pre-existence and stuff.

Things are still going well with our investigators.  We are excited that school starts this week because that means more people will be home more regularly.

XOXO,

Sister Poppe

We are teaching a family how to be missionaries.  The couple wants to leave when their daughter graduates in a year and the daughter wants to serve a mission after she graduates as well. We meet with them every Sunday night and give them a mini MTC experience. I mentioned last week that this is the first summer in at least 15 years I haven't made a S'more, so when we arrived yesterday they had everything for S'mores and we made some over the stove.  I was so excited!

                                                    WE ARE COUSINS!!!

    The Hobbit Hole Family let their desert tortoise inside for us to see this week.

 

 

It Was Most Definitely a Dinosaur Raised From the Dead

We went on a little hike with the Memorial Day Gun family for FHE on Monday. There's a little mountain hill thing that is only like a quarter of a mile hike that the husband has been wanting to climb, so we went with them and got froyo after. 'Twas a good evening for building member trust.

Post Mini-Mountain Hike

Some quotes from the week:

"Sister Poppe has the voice of an angel. When she sits next to me and sings in our pew I cry."-The middle Tony Hawk son

That boy competed in the X-Games and he likes to hear me sing, what is this? I'm not cool enough for sk8ers to like me.

"Did you hear that?"-Sister Dumas

"Yeah, I think it was a chicken."-Sister Poppe
(In the most serious voice I have ever heard in my life)"It was most definitely a dinosaur raised from the dead."-Sister Dumas

So apparently Bryce had to read a postcard I sent him in front of his entire platoon. I don't even remember what I wrote, but I received five letters in the mail on the same day from random boys in Bryce's platoon thanking me for my entertaining postcard that brightened their day. I'm assuming the same drill sergeant that made Bryce read the postcard made the boys write me thank you notes. My companion and I had a good laugh at my plethora of letters from the army that day. 

(Mom’s note:   Amanda should be getting 46 more letters as Bryce’s drill sergeant did make the whole platoon write her letters.  I suggested she divvy up all the letters amongst all the missionaries in her zone so all the boys will get a response.)

I had an exchange this week with my sister training leader, Sister Avanesjan, in her area. It was a super short exchange, not a normal 24 hour one. She is German and a visitor center sister. I really like her. We had a good street contact. The guy wasn't interested, but we talked to him for 15 minutes. I told her at the beginning of our exchange that I'm awful at street contacting and that in our wards we don't have the opportunity to do them very often because it's illegal in the gated communities to proselyte and our other community’s people are never in their driveways or front yards. I said I needed to work on it and I got the opportunity after dinner. She said I'm not awful at it; in fact I'm good at it because I'm not awkward and I can talk about anything. I just get really nervous, so I take that as being awful at it. We also had a really good lesson with an investigator about the priesthood and his concerns. I enjoyed teaching him and answering his questions with Sister A. She said that most sisters don't jump in and teach on exchanges that aren't in their areas because they're too nervous so she was grateful that I actually opened my mouth.

While I was on my exchange, Sister Avanesjan asked if I am a clean person because the sisters we live with called the mission president's wife to complain about Sister Dumas and I and our cleaning habits. I was infuriated! I told Sister A about our apartment and the note we left and everything. I explained that the sisters probably called to complain about my note, not about my cleanliness but that Sister Jenkins may have been confused.  Sister A said, "I told Sister Jenkins that given your personality I would assume that you are actually the cleanest sister in the mission but I would watch you during our exchange to see if you were clean. I've watched you and you seem tidy, but I've never seen your apartment so I figured I would just ask if you're clean and I'm glad I did. I'll call her tomorrow and set the story straight." So she must have called her, because Sister Jenkins called us and asked about our apartment and I just told her how gross it is and that we have talked to the sisters about it more than once.  She called the other sisters and then called us back and said the most beautiful words I've ever heard, "Sister Poppe, I talked to your roommates and I think things are going to be clean from now on. I know it's hard when people have different ideas of what clean is, but from what I've gathered they aren't following the mission guidelines for cleanliness so I talked to them about that and told them they need to follow the cleaning rules. They said they were hurt by the note you left them, but I said that you had talked to them and that in my opinion a note was just the next logical step to try and solve the problem. I sure do appreciate you and your companion's cleanliness and overall hard work, I love you two. Have a great day!" I didn't even get reprimanded for my note! But seriously, is this 4th grade? Who calls the mission president's wife to tattle on another sister because she left a "hurtful note"? It all backfired on them and I am further affirmed in my correctness.  I AM ALWAYS RIGHT.   #owned.  The other sisters have been overly nice since the phone call.

We had a relief society craft night this week that we took an investigator to. The Tony Hawk mom is in charge of activities, so she told us that we could make one of the necklaces for free (they cost 8 dollars). We decided we were going to make missionary necklaces to remember our missions by. Mine turned out super cute! I included a picture, but in case you can't read it, one charm says "sister", another says "AZMM '14-'15", and the last one says "3 Nephi 5:13", which is our mission's scripture.

 

We had a tense lesson with the Hobbit Hole Family about the Word of Wisdom. The father is all about drugs being used for their natural purposes and went on this rant about pharmaceutical companies using drug extracts to get people addicted to prescriptions so they can make money and how pure coca leaves are better for you than prescription pain killers and on and on and on. At one point in time the AZ and US Constitutions were getting thrown around and I about lost it. I quoted part of the 4th article of the Constitution about states' rights to make laws as justification for states having laws prohibiting drugs and then I had to stop myself because missionaries aren't allowed to enter into political discussions.  I would have gone into the rights of the government to create federal laws as well under the interstate trade and commerce clauses but I didn't. Oh man.  Their incorrect interpretations of the Constitution were really grinding my gears.

Things ended on a positive note though. The family said that they do love us and that they are grateful that we enlighten them and listen to their concerns even when they go on rants. The grandpa also asked for a blessing to help him quit drinking and we took a male member with us so he gave him a blessing right then and there in the living room.

We got adventurous and taught some of the ladies at the nursing home how to play Mexican Train. Hazel was being sassy with me because I won two times in a row and she couldn't see the colors on her dominos. The lady is hilarious I love her. Sue tried to run away and said "If I try hard enough I can get into that room they won't let me in (that room being outside; she was trying to get out the front door). If you keep trying you have to make it through! Now let's go. Let's take turns."  She was more impassioned in her delivery than Martin Luther King Jr.

in any of his speeches. It was actually kind of sad; I never want to get old.  Ever.  Just twinkle me like the 3 Nephites.

One of our 18 year old male friends invited us to mission prep. We went and it was actually a great experience. The mission prep class in this stake is crazy awesome! The kids who go regularly are so prepared.  They have a different RM teach a chapter of Preach My Gospel each week; it is a well-run class.

Reese's Puffs were on sale 2 for $5 so that was a little tender mercy #treatyoself.

I baked some Nutella chocolate chip cookies. Baking without a Kitchenaid is so medieval. #spoiledkidcantuseawoodenspoon

Tony Hawk fam is doing well. Harry is getting a little discouraged; he thought he would be baptized by now. I pray for him every day and one of these days both of our prayers will be answered!

I've been studying up on the second coming and it is really interesting, the institute manuals provide good information; check 'em out!

XOXO,

Sister Poppe

                                                    Beautiful Arizona sunset

What Would Katniss Do?

You're in France (we'll talk about the fact that your travel email stated that if you die on this trip Brandon gets to raise Bryce instead of me later #what #itisbecauseheismarried #singlechoppedliveroverhere)! I am not even going to hint around. I want a cool postcard sent to me. I told Betsy the same thing for when she is in Africa this summer. In fact, I'm going to extend a blanket invitation to everyone who will be anywhere thrilling during my mission. Really this is more of a blanket expectation than invitation; I expect a postcard from all exciting destinations anyone travels to between now and August 11’ish, 2015. If I don't receive one I will assume you don't love me and you will subsequently be dead to me without the option of resurrection. You can expect a sensational postcard from me in return with desert landscapes, jackalopes, or other desert flora, fauna, or feisty animals (I had to make that start with an F somehow). Blessings from Heav' are also still available for all mail delivered to me. That offer is always redeemable and stackable with other coupons.

I had my exchange for the transfer with Sister Dunlop on Tuesday. She served in my area for seven and a half months and was Sister Gillespie's trainer. We had a good exchange and she told me at the end of the day that it was a blessing to work with me and that I'm one of her favorite sisters in the mission now. I don't know what kind of genetics you and dad contributed to my makeup or how you raised me, but for some reason people really like me here. So thanks for raising me to be me. Maybe I'll never leave AZ because my approval rating is higher here than anywhere else I've lived. Harry Potter's fiancé even told me this week that J-Lo released a new song called I Love Poppy and that it was probably written about me. I have a lot of undeserved admiration and love from people in this mission; even on bad hair days. I'm not used to being "cool", it's kind of awkward. We worked on street contacting during my exchange because I hate it and think I am awful at it (though Sister Dunlop said the awkwardness is only in my head, I'm a natural talker.  Surprise, surprise, eh?). I was bothered for a while that I wasn't sent on a foreign speaking mission because I thought I was smart enough to learn a new language and figured Heavenly Father was doubting my ability to quickly learn a new tongue.  In hindsight I don't think my intelligence was ever a factor in that decision. My only talent in missionary work is connecting with people and talking and that would have been severely hindered if I was trying to converse with people in a language I'm not fluent in; I'm more grateful every day that I am in an English speaking assignment.  We didn't have any immediate success with our talking, but I do believe that we had a miracle with a member's neighbor and that she will be interested eventually. She used to manage a property that missionaries rented when she was in California, and a lot of her friends are members. We will stop by occasionally and talk to her until she solicits our salvation saving services (I don't know why my letter is so alliteration heavy today). We were also invited by some elders to team teach a girl they're meeting with who they are having a hard time connecting with because she's 11 and they're older and weird. She was such an amazing young woman with a great love for God and a strong desire to learn more. I loved her and wish she was ours to always teach.

My missionary portal hasn't been letting me log in for two weeks now.  We use that website to facilitate correspondence with the mission president on a weekly basis. Some techies in SLC are looking into it.  I was beginning to believe I was being sent home and hadn't been informed yet. I know I lit some scarecrows on fire, but I'm not an extremist! I've done nothing to warrant a dishonorable release! I told president last week at zone conference why I didn't email him and just figured I would send a double email the next week. Well last Monday it was still not allowing me to enter, and I've yet to be sent home, so I decided I would hand write my weekly letter and mail it to the mission office. I used a stamp with Dumbledore on it and added a note on the envelope that said, "If the AZMM was Hogwarts, you'd clearly be Dumbledore," with an arrow pointing to the stamp. I really hope he appreciates that as much as he should.

It was my companion's hump day on Wednesday and my four month mark on Thursday, so we went and got Froyo with the gift card her aunt in Gilbert gave us. The employee gave us half off and an extra stamp on our stamp card. I'm going to miss the benefits associated with the black badge when I'm home.

It is getting so hot! The days of double digit temps are over and we've been launched into summer. Along with the double digits, good hair days have flown out the window. My hair is going to remain off my neck indefinitely. In an attempt to stray from my bun and pony tail comfort zone and simultaneously spice up this long summer of drab hairdos, I'm practicing my braiding techniques. Essentially I ask myself every day, What Would Katniss Do? #wwkd And then I do it. Unless it involves killing people with archery equipment, because then my ability to access my missionary portal will be permanently unauthorized and replaced with access to The Arizona State Penitentiary's inmate mail service. Who knows, maybe I'll get so good at braids and fancy up-dos that I'll be qualified to be Mary Crawley's lady's maid by the end of my mission.

Investigators are a lot like men you're interested in. You just want them to like you and marry you and let you have their babies and build you a house and take you to Disneyland (really, is that too much to ask) and just when you think you have their attention and that just maybe they will ask you out, they get distracted by something prettier. We have had two people express a lot of interest and meet with us and then either cancel a lesson and not re-schedule, or ignore our calls this week. C'mon people! I thought I was at least worth the dollar theater and the Taco Bell drive thru by now! I'm going to be all ready for dating when I get home because rejection is practically a prescription I take a daily dose of at this point.

We did some hardcore leg workouts on Wednesday and we were dying on Thursday. We were walking funny; it was like we had a little twerk in our step. We had a lesson with Harry Potter and he mocked us as we walked up to his house and then proceeded to pray that our sore legs would feel better and heal so that we could have strength to work our legs out again the next day. He got too much enjoyment out of watching us get off his couch after the lesson too. We didn't tell them that we felt like Miley when we walked but before we left Harry's fiancé said something about us twerking when we walked and we were like WE KNOW, RIGHT! We had also told Harry he should consider bearing his testimony on Sunday and he had said no but then he said he would get up there and tell everybody about the missionaries who come over and teach him how to twerk and how that is his testimony.  As another visual for our walking, I will share a quote from my companion, "I think this is how they get the zombies to walk this way. They make them work out! I'm serious." We really did look like twerking Walking Dead cast members.

We have a lot of gated communities in our area and we struggle to remember all of the gate codes. We have one subdivision that has a lot of smaller subdivisions in it that doesn't have a ton of members. We have some of the gate codes, but one of the neighborhoods has an inactive family we have been trying to contact and we don't know the gate code there. It is pretty small, so traffic in and out is minimal, but every time we need to go there someone is going in and we piggyback them in, or someone is leaving and we illegally go in the out.  We kind of look like creepers, but Heavenly Father provides every time! It's a never ending tender mercy. #miraclegate

So, I think I must be doing this missionary email thing wrong or something. Every time I get another missionary's letters forwarded to me they're short and all about personal growth and the gospel and touching tales and stuff. I like my letters to be all encompassing, so sorry they're long, worldy, and not quite holy enough. Maybe by my one year mark I will write home letters of a higher spiritual quality.  Just so you know I really am a good missionary when it comes to being spiritual, and we do work hard, it's just more fun to tell you about Froyo and puppies than about unsuccessful door knocks and street rejections. You can just read my journal when I get home or something if you want the spiritual details.

Line of the week comes from Harry Potter. We read through one of the Priesthood Session talks from last conference with him and he asked why we read it. We told him that a lot of the messages apply to women too and because we have to know what to tell our husbands to keep them in line. He reminded us that we need to look for hard workers and guys who aren't into video games when we get home and start the husband hunt. Because when you marry guys who play video games you support them and they call you at work and say (here comes Harry's gem), "What's for dinner? Hurry home so I can go to my friend's house and play the...the EBay show." Hahahaha what? The man cracks us up. He also couldn't remember Sister Dumas' name the same night and he called her Sister Douchener. We laughed so hard that Harry and I were crying.

We also had a little girl (5 or 6 years old) tell us you have to pay your tithing so you don't get fired. She was 1007% serious. That was a contender for quote of the week.

I asked Sister Dumas the other day if she ever used MSN Messenger, to which she responded, "Sister. Of course I never used MSN Messenger in my life! You have to remember we practically grew up in different generations." Excuse me! When did 23 become the new 40? Well we were talking to a teenager we met at the home of an inactive lady and he asked how old we were and we told him. He said something about the three year age difference and I said that Sister D acts like it's so huge but it isn't--even though she never used MSN Messenger. He proceeded to say, "I don't know MSN messenger, but I do like older bands like that...new music is awful." HE THOUGHT MSN MESSENGER WAS A BAND. OKAY, LET ME JUST GO CRAWL IN A HOLE WITH MY WALKMAN AND ALL THE OTHER OLD LADIES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHO WERE BORN BEFORE CLINTON WAS PRESIDENT. #kidsthesedays

We are giving Hermione the new member lessons and this week's was on Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity.  She imparted some of her own knowledge about intimacy during the lesson. Let's just say we all learned some new things that lesson...

It's Sister Dumas' birthday week! She turns 20 on Sunday! I'm going to do something special each day this week and I am excited to make her only birthday in the mission memorable.

We ran into Tammy in the foyer at church and they gave us left over Mexican food from her birthday for lunch! It was absolutely delicious.

 

                                            Lunch at Kyle and Tammy's

We gave a short message in jr. and sr. primary and it was so fun. We talked to them for a few minutes about being a missionary and then asked them what they thought they could do to prepare to be one someday. After that we challenged the jr.'s to memorize the Articles of Faith and the sr.'s to study the scriptures by themselves each day.  We were welcomed with lots of excitement. It's amazing the kids that remember you even though the only interaction you've had with them is one meal in their home. It was humbling and a good reminder that kids are always looking to us as an example and they truly idolize missionaries.

Today while we were driving to meet Sister Dumas' aunt for her birthday lunch we had quite the small adventure.  We were stopped at a red light and a Schwan's man turned left from the perpendicular street and one of his doors flung open and a bunch of meet flew out right in the middle of the intersection! The guy stopped a few yards up the road and we jumped out of our car and helped him pick up his products.  There were a bunch of cars stopped while the clean-up was taking place and no one else jumped out to help!  We were shocked.  We got it all picked up really quickly and ran back to our car so traffic could continue to flow.

I have to tell you, I love my companion, but she is an absolutely terrible driver.  She didn't get her license until she was 18 and then promptly went to college and didn't drive there and then came on her mission at 19 and hasn't driven until this transfer.  It's like being the passenger in the car of a teenage girl with her learner's permit.  I have empathy for you now, mom.  I'm going to get an ulcer.  "Are you going to stop at this red light," and "We should probably pick a lane instead of taking up two," are the most common phrases out of my mouth while in the car. Oi.  "Turn your headlights on," is another frequent request.

I'm currently in Alma and it is interesting comparing the evil that was abounding before Christ's birth with the evil that is abounding in the world now as we lead up to the second coming of Christ.

Enjoy your trip!  Send me a postcard!

Love,

Sister Poppe

Sisters with the cheesecake kids!

Our favorites!  Noah and Maya.  Noah finally calls me Sister Poppe
instead of sister missionaries.  He also always asks if he can come to
my house whenever I see him now.  I always tell him my house is boring
but maybe I'll come to his again sometime.

 

We asked a member to take a picture of
us in our Memorial Day outfits and he asked if we wanted him to hang a
flag up and we were so excited that he did and then he asked if we
wanted to hold guns!  I guess it's a violation of the white handbook
to handle firearms, but we found that out after the fact.

 

The Memorial Day gun family has one daughter and she drew
the picture for us.  It's of her with us and her parents.  I enjoy the
fact that she included my companions bump that she always has in her
hair.  My companion and I were arguing about my hair color the other
day and then we received this picture in which I am a blond.  My
companion took that as enough evidence that she wins and that I am a
blond.  We all know I'm a brunette, but I have to let her win
sometimes because she said the other day "You're the only companion
I've had that I'm not always right with.  I NEVER BEAT YOU IN
ARGUMENTS."

 

Talking in Your Sleep, When Does it End?

Happy Memorial Day!

We had a pretty slow week here in the Salt River Stake.  It was one of the worst ones since I've been out, but we found ways to make it enjoyable.

I came up with another object lesson for Neville that involved cakes.

I'm going to blog about it this week so I don't want to ruin it.  We made cakes though on Monday for this lesson and then Neville cancelled so we just had all this cake sitting around.  We were a little annoyed because we spent some of our own measly missionary funds on the ingredients!  We gave the cake away at our zone study for the week though so at least it didn't go to waste.

                  

We received a referral from the church on Tuesday and also had an appointment cancel so grabbed one of the young men that just graduated and got his mission call and had him follow us over to meet Kayla and Austin.  An older lady answered the door and informed us that there has never been a Kayla or Austin that has lived in that home and that no young kids do (which is interesting because we didn't know the ages of Kayla or Austin...we never said they were kids).  She then proceeded to talk to us for about 40 minutes about her religious beliefs, spirits, and her background.  We felt like the conversation went well so we took mental notes and were discussing them with the young man we took with us on the curb before we left to go home for the evening.  As we were talking two kids walked out of the house with a dog!  I asked them what their names were and they sheepishly said, "Sam" and "Matt".  WHATEVER.  OKAY FINE.  JUST WASTE FORTY OF MY MINUTES LADY.  Looking back her answers were too perfect and I think she gets a kick out of messing with missionaries. We were livid.

 

We had dinner with the most wonderful elderly couple on Wednesday.  They were funny and a good example of what a marriage should look like. They care so deeply for one another but they aren't overly mushy or anything. After dinner the husband said, "Tell your parents’ hello from us and that you are doing a wonderful job here. It was such a pleasure to host you sisters this evening. Keep working hard. You are doing so well." So, hey from the Moore's! Brother Moore is also a fan of RFD TV and tractor pulling. I learned all of this by asking about his Ernest Tub CD I saw on the counter and telling him about how dad likes Ernest Tub. He was impressed and thinks he would be just the best of friends with dad. He said he would watch tractor pulls and RFD TV with dad any day. Yes, I do believe I had dinner with the old man version of dad; that is probably why I loved him so much. The wife was super patriotic so I loved her too #godblesstheusa #andoldpeoplewhoarenotcrabby

We had a zone conference on Wednesday. It was really good. We talked about being consecrated missionaries and I was thoroughly humbled for an hour straight (almost to the point of tears, but I held it together). I've come to realize that feelings of inadequacy are never going to leave while on a mission, but that doesn't make experiencing them any easier! I left the first hour of that meeting feeling like the vilest of creatures. I will admit that I have the tendency to take things too personally and to the most negative extreme, but there still are things I need to work on and zone conference provided a good reflective time for me to recognize my plethora of faults. We also had a wonderful meeting on interacting with ward council members and how missionary work is actually supposed to work at the ward level. All ward councils were invited and we had people from both wards come. I have been working so hard to establish accountability in both wards I'm serving in and have tried to establish relationships of trust with some of the ward leaders so the work would pick up here and I think this meeting validated the things that Sister Dumas and I want to see instituted in our wards. Everything that was said came from a plan laid out by L. Tom Perry so it isn't just coming from our mouths now, it is from an apostle and that will help. I told one of our bishops that we want this to work and he agreed with us so I followed up by saying that Sister Dumas and I will keep the ward council accountable.

We will be blatantly honest when things aren't done right. He is looking forward to a positive change and a re-energized attitude about missionary work. I think everyone will just pray that we get transferred because they will be sick of us "motivating" them.

Sometimes I think I was called on a mission to act as a cheerleader/Dr. Phil hybrid (still better than being a Prius hybrid).  Not exactly what I had in mind when I decided to serve a mission, but I guess we can't all save souls. Some of us have to do the administrative work.

On Thursday we had a really fun dinner with a family in one of our wards that we didn't know very well.  They had all the same OCD issues as me (like taking eggs, ice cubes, and sacrament cups out in the right order and tv volume on a multiple of 5 (except they actually liked theirs on even numbers). At the end the kids played us their piano recital pieces and they had me play as well because my poker face is horrible and they saw through my lie and knew that I played piano.

Corn dogs were only 50 cents at Sonic on Thursday. We went twice. The drive through man remembered us. #embarrassing  (Who works shifts longer than 5 hours though anyway?)

                              

We had a member go with us to our lesson with Harry Potter on Friday and afterward she asked if we wanted to go to Sonic with her for half priced shakes. We agreed and went there for the third time in 36 hours. It just so happened, that four of the elders in our zone were biking home during our visit. They saw us and harassed us for being at Sonic again. They stopped their mocking phrases pretty quickly when the member offered to buy their shakes too.

Every week I think about telling you about random things that are not necessarily new, but that I've never told you before.  This week I am going to share with you the rivalry between Arizona Mesa full field sisters and Arizona Mesa Visitor Center Sisters. This is a serious rivalry.  It goes un-discussed and people act like it isn't there, but it is.  Whispers are shared in closets and other closed places between full field sisters about the injustices of being a real missionary.

The rivalry is up there with the Sharks and Jets, the Taliban and the US, the Bloods and the Crips, and the Team Edward and Team Jacob teens. I'm telling you this is real stuff here.  Someday I will go into more detail about the main points of the rivalry, until then you will just have to be content with this knowledge and know that in the case of a battle you have to side with the full field sisters (because we are better and because we are probably more dangerous because we have more street smarts because we don't serve most of our day in an air conditioned building with scripted monologues).

We hardly ever have service to do in our wards and we are supposed to do service once a week. I brought this up in ward council in one of our wards and said that we ask people all the time if we can serve them and they say no. The bishop said that every woman likes their windows washed so we could always do that. We took that seriously and bought a squeegee and some microfiber towels and spent a few hours on Saturday walking through one of our gated communities asking ward members if we could wash their windows. A lot of people weren't home, but we ended up washing the front windows of two members' homes. At one point in time I was on a step stool on a ledge of a house and I just knew I was going to die. It didn't end up happening, but I'm sure that mental picture about gave you a heart attack, mother given how clumsy I am. This service must have made an impression on me because that night in bed I guess my companion and I had the following conversation. I was asleep, she was not:

Me (in a disgusted voice): Why do we have this bucket. And the water?

Her: We are doing service, we are going to clean windows.

Me: (scoffs) Gross!

Sunday was a pretty good day.  We met a potential investigator in Thunder Mountain and I have a new fan club in Twin Knolls comprised of children.  When the Cheesecake Factory Family got to church they sat in the pew in front of us instead of on the side like normal and Noah came right on back and sat with me while his sister turned around in the pew to talk to me.  At the same time another family arrived and their toddler insisted on talking to the missionaries so she came over and was stroking the leg that Noah wasn't trying to climb on.  I talked to them until church was about to start and then Noah stayed in my pew until he was summoned to his row after the opening prayer.  He sulked on and off during sacrament meeting because he wasn't allowed to show me his toys or sit with me.  In relief society I played the piano; it went alright.  I'm still not half as good at the piano as I was at the clarinet, but we got through the hymns alright.

Today the Cheesecake Factory Family invited us over for breakfast and to "help" them put pavers in their side yard.  Really Brother Cheesecake Factory just wanted us to be there to talk to his neighbor who was going to help to.  He staged an entire fake breakfast visit so we would "just happen" to be there when his neighbor came over.  We had a really tasty breakfast and we did help for a little bit with the pavers.  It really was a two man job though and I'm not really good at things that take precision and need to look nice.  I ended up playing an elaborate game of shark attack with my bestie Noah and his sister Maya.  My companion played for a while but then went over and talked to the parents.  As we left Sister Dumas told me, "When we got there for breakfast Maya told me I had to be her best friend because you were Noah's, so she only wanted to be my friend by default.  After your shark attack game and her new nickname for you-Sister Poppe Seed-I would say that you've won her admiration and she would rather be your second best friend than my first best friend." Their mom is just sad that missionaries aren't allowed to babysit.

We also went to Deseret Book today, Backyard Taco (missionaries eat half off there and it is delicious!  Think Chipotle but more authentic and better), Winco, and we were invited to a member's home for Memorial Day Dinner (we normally fend for ourselves on P-Day's for dinner).

I'm still trucking through the Old Testament and am really cruising through the Book of Mormon.  I finished a few weeks ago and re-started and I'm already in Mosiah.  I really love Nephi though.  I didn't realize how wonderful of a missionary he was until I became a missionary.  He is Christlike and so patient and loving.  He always mentions his love for others and his distress at their sins.  Everyone always wants to emulate Alma or Ammon, but I'm really trying to be more like Nephi.

That about does it!

Love,

Sister Poppe

                                        

PS:  We met the first litter of puppies that Harry Potter's dog fathered.  They really were precious!  We can't wait until we get to meet the other puppies when puppy mama number two gives birth.