Baptismal Covenant and a Kit Kat Bar

Hey!

The Death plague soldiers on. I seriously haven't been this sick since August 2009. I continued to try to do as much as I could until Thursday. I called Sister Jenkins to ask if I could skip our sister training leader meeting and she told me to not only skip the meeting, but to rest for 48 hours. We did end up going out a little on Thursday evening and all night Friday despite my quarantine orders, but I rested a lot during the day. Some sisters showed up after the meeting I missed and gave me a card that Sister Jenkins had all the sister training leaders sign, hot cocoa mix, and some poppy seed almond pound cake. I felt so loved and was shocked that Sister Jenkins took the time to make me, one of 240 missionaries, feel individually loved. I also missed a meeting with the high councilman over missionary work in our stake so he sent breakfast over with my zone leader after the meeting. A lady in one of our wards made me more homemade soup and others brought me tissues and medicine. I've never felt more pathetic in my life. It was humbling to accept so much charity from people.  Especially because I knew if I was at home I would have just taken care of myself. I wasn't incapable; people just wanted to serve me.  I'm still raspy and my nose is runny, but on the whole I am about 87% better. I did finally ask for a blessing on Friday night and that helped a lot.

Through all of this we found a new couple to teach and that was a miracle! They have six children as well. Our first lesson with them is on Thursday. They have had lessons in the past and we just re-contacted them this week. I heard somewhere once that it takes, on average, 7 meaningful interactions with missionaries and/or members of the church before people become seriously interested in baptism. I don't know if that is true, but it sounds about right. They have a lot of promise and I can't help but think about the positive impact baptizing this one family would have on so many people in the future.

Our new investigator, Cho Chang, came to church on Sunday with her two sons! It was such a pleasant surprise! She told us she wasn't going to come and then she ended up changing her mind. I've been praying so hard for her since we met. Every night I ask Heavenly Father to protect her from Satan. I know that she has a desire for the truth and I know that Satan will try her even more because of that. Her sons loved primary and she enjoyed everything as well. She committed to come next week again. The hard part will actually be sitting her down and having lessons. She loves church, but she is busy and it is hard getting her to schedule things.

We now live with Sister Moreton (my bestie) and Sister Casey (her new trainee from the MTC)! I LOVE IT! We party so hard every night in the hour we have between missionary work and bed.

We spent so much time trying to find this week in one of our wards and EVERYBODY didn't have any interest in learning anything at all. Agency is literally the worst. Why can't everyone just want to be Mormon already?

I had a great week though and felt very guided by the Spirit. Even when things weren't successful I knew we were doing what we needed to do. I am confident that we will continue to find people to teach. I know that sometimes we just have to go through dead periods as a trial and then things brighten up. It's always darkest before the dawn.  Thanks Florence and the Machine for your true lyrics.

Love,

Sister Poppe

We helped the Activity Days girls learn about the sacrament on Wednesday. I told them to think of a Kit-Kat bar when they can't remember their baptismal covenant. K-keep the commandments, A-always remember Him, T-take upon ourselves His name. The girls we saw throughout the week after the activity all remembered KAT and recited it to us!

"Sister. Tonight I your doctor. You need my steam." Sister Rasheed's boiled 

water with Vick's Vapor Rub in it actually worked wonders.

I think more people need to tease their hair and pose like Simba on Pride Rock

Post Lion King Photo Shoot pic. I had just drawn a scar on my 

face to be Scar and it doubled really well as a rock star look.

This is the Hunger Games Spear

Hello!

I'm about to share with you a story about dreams coming true (it isn't as good as that one time I finally got to go to Disneyland at the age of 22, but it's still good). I brought this plaid shirt on my mission with the hope that I would be able to chop down a tree (or a cactus) in it and feel like a lumberjack. Dreams come true and prayers are answered! We helped the Memorial Day Gun family cut up a tree they knocked over in their backyard on Monday evening. I even used a hatchet to chop a branch off! We shared a message with them after our service and then somehow got off on a tangent about evil spirits.  Spirits terrify me. Sister D2 and I both had bad dreams that night.  From there we tried to contact some people from our area book that were previously contacted and uninterested. We knocked on a lesbian's door. She was polite, but not interested due to our stance on gay marriage. I complimented her sweater though.

I USED THAT HATCHET TO CHOP A BRANCH OFF #lumberjack

Little Memorial Day Daughter wanted in on a hatchet pic (also, sorry for the awful quality of the pictures.  The $400 iPad still struggles with taking pictures in low light situations).

     Never fear!  The Memorial Day Gun Family had another new weapon I could take a picture with.  This is the Hunger Games Spear.  Or just a spear if you're not me.

We had some cancellations this week and I decided we would use that time to drop by and share brief messages with members so Sister Dawson could get to know people more quickly. We had a good time doing that.  At the last family we visited on Tuesday evening I asked if we could pray with them before we left (as per usual) and the family asked Sister Dawson to pray. The dog, Bisquick, thought that prayer time was a good time to get all up in Sister D2's business. The youngest daughter (she is 12 or 13) saw this so she and Sister Dawson started cracking up as the dog sniffed around and then randomly bolted after peering into Sister D2's soul for a few seconds. Sister D2 struggled through another 15-20 seconds of praying before the mom stopped her because she thought she was getting chocked up and was homesick or something. When everyone was filled in on the dog story the wife told the husband to pray because he would be the only one who could keep a straight face. He prayed and we all giggled through the prayer. It was almost 9:30 so I think we were all just a little too tired. I told Sister D2 that the 8 months of mission blessings I had been storing up were all just taken away because we ruined family prayer. We had a good laugh about it a few times throughout the week though.

We got to watch Meet the Mormons on Wednesday and it was fabulous! I was really impressed with the way it was produced. It really is just an opportunity to "meet" six Mormon families. It isn't preachy at all.  I loved the opening in which people in NYC were interviewed and short clips from pop culture were shared to show the inaccuracies that are associated with Mormons. How many missionaries will be able to tell people that they watched a clip from South Park on their mission, with the mission president in the room, and didn't get in trouble? The best part was the brief bit of Tina Fey in 30 Rock they showed. I knew Tina would find a way into my mission somehow! We will be besties with Amy Poehler and J-Law in the CK lounge. #bestieblessings

The United Way does something called Project Connect in which they partner with local churches to create a fair for homeless people. This month it was in our area and many of the denominations got together to staff the event. They have booths set up for employment opportunities, free flu shots, showers, DES, a haircut, and many other things to help homeless people get back on their feet. Everybody gets a free lunch and a week's bus pass as well as a care package with some necessities.  It's pretty cool. We signed up to help and we were assigned two homeless men to guide through the process. The first guy only really seemed interested in the free lunch and we weren't with him long, but the second guy really took the fair seriously. We did the important things first, such as, talking to the employment specialist, and didn't get to less important things, such as the haircut. A lot of these people just enjoyed having humans to talk to, so we spent time talking to our second friend and he said that we were such a pleasure to spend time with. He just got out of jail for failure to pay child support; he lost his job after the 2008 housing bubble burst and wasn't able to make payments. It was good for me to see that there are homeless people who didn't ask for their situation. It was also nice to see that he isn't willing to settle for his position in life. I don't doubt that he will find a job and slowly get his life together.  It sure made me grateful though for my upbringing and my determination in life. It's sad that so many people are content to live in their circumstances as long as they have the very basic essentials. We weren't allowed to proselyte, but we got a referral anyway. We talked to one of the United Way employees just about real life and she invited us over, but we told her we couldn't come because she wasn't in our area, but that we would send some sisters over.

Good quotes from the library this week from our Friday helper friend who is slightly off:

"Other planets don't have to look like ours. They always show Mars with dirt like our deserts because they think other planets will look like ours. I bet they just take photos of our desert and tell us it's Mars."-Friend

"Is Sister Poppe a nickname, Amanda?"-Friend

"Kind of. Poppe is my last name."-me
"Oh. Poppies are dangerous, Amanda. Cocaine and heroine and stuff."-Friend

Harry told me this week that if he dies I have to take care of his dog, Paco. He said if I'm home and he dies I have to come back and get Paco. I definitely never thought someone would will me their dog while on my mission. #proudgodmother

We are getting closer to Harry possibly being baptized!  The bishop is talking with the stake president to see if they can come up with a solution to get him baptized in November!  This is even better news, because I found out on Saturday that I am staying in this area for one more transfer.  TRANSFER NUMBER SEVEN.  People keep telling me that they just need to transfer my records here because I've been here long enough to basically just be a member of the ward.  People were so kind and loving and excited when they found out I was staying for six more weeks. I really do believe this will be my last transfer here though.  By the end of the transfer I will have been here just shy of ten months.

TONY HAWK MOM IS ENGAGED! CRAZY! She is getting married on November 28th.  I can't even believe it.  I am so happy for her.  He isn't a member, but he has been sitting in on our discussions with the boys.

That about does it!

Love,

Sister Poppe

We made pumpkin pancakes for lunch on Saturday. I put Nutella and peanut butter on mine and added a layer of powdered sugar and a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar.  The dish wasn't complete without some pumpkin spice nuts to garnish the dish (compliments of Brandon and Brianna). I almost died after I ate it and felt sick for an hour, but it was so delicious!

Obama is Gay and Michelle is Actually a Man?

Hello!

I forgot to tell you guys a funny Sue story!  Before she broke her hip we were there one day and I was playing the piano and looked over and saw Sue rummaging through my purse.  I saw her shaking my mints and I went over and took them from her and took my purse and put it up higher.  She started motioning at me and told the nurse to chase after me because I took her stuff!  It was hilarious! She was so worked up about it that she wouldn't let anyone talk to her.  She forgot about it pretty quickly though and we were friends again.

We had a ZTM this week and I was asked to give a training (again...I keep thinking they'll stop asking me because my presentations are always borderline inappropriate, but somehow I think that is the reason I am asked back again each month to train on some missionary topic).  I talked on what to do when there's nothing to do, and how to effectively online proselyte (because according to my zone leader I am the queen of online pros). I basically told the other missionaries that we have to be ourselves when we are online.  No one is going to join the church because we just put a scripture, quote, or nice message on our pages.  Our personalities have to shine through!  I shared a couple examples from my Facebook and told them how many likes I got.  This lead to a question and answer session where I gave advice (that was unplanned and also lead me to going over my time limit). It was so nice to see a few people from my zone post some really great stuff on Facebook after my training though.  I hope they continue to post uplifting thoughts with a little bit of themselves embedded in them.  The Lord didn't call robots to serve him, he called us, and I am going to continue to be Amanda Poppe the missionary.  Not Molly Mormon the sister with bad style and no personality who is good at smiling and quoting Nephi.  I also made a word find for them to do with ideas to kill time with in the afternoon when appointments are hard to come by.

Sky-River Zone after ZTM

The Women's Broadcast was really great!  Neill F. Marriott's talk really spoke to me; I can relate to her a lot.  I have a lot of pride as well that I am actively trying to remove from my life, but it is hard to be humble!  I am becoming better at it though and will continue to acknowledge The Lord's hand in my life and the talents that Heavenly Father has given me.  I enjoyed the whole conference because it was a little more hard core than normal.  There was less love and more accountability expected of the women of the church.  There are too many weak women in this religion and I am glad that they are finally starting to tell us what we need to do to be better.  I loved that they told us to go to the temple regularly.  Too many girls only go to the temple to get married and don't really understand the importance of what they are doing and then they still wear their immodest clothes and don't ever go back again after their wedding.  YOU GO GENERAL RELIEF SOCIETY BOARD.  TELL THOSE WOMEN TO KEEP THEIR COVENANTS! #bringdownthehammer

A member of the Twin Knolls Ward hosted a social after the Women's Broadcast on Saturday and Sister D2 and I made Oreo balls!  I made some with birthday cake Oreos and Sister D2 made some with mint Oreos.  People loved them. And us. But they always love us.

At one of our Visitor Center trainings, the sisters showed us a demo of a story they share with kids when they come in.  They said they did a test run of a story time and had a lot of success, but they don't want it to be too large so they're not advertising it. I was a little bitter that yet again, the VC sisters get to do fun things and I have to actually work so I decided that I was going to establish story time in our stake because it is far from the VC and because I want to tell kids cute Bible stories.  I brought it up to my ward mission leader and he loved the idea and he passed it along to Bishop as well and he approved and loved it too.  I talked to the other sisters in our stake and we are moving forward with a stake wide children's story hour hopefully to take place in the next few weeks!  The idea behind it is actually that stay at home mom's will invite their non-member mom friends to go and that we will be able to use this as a solid proselyting tool.

Updates on the investis:

Lavender Brown: We had a wonderful lesson with her last week.  She is really chatty so we always have a hard time getting a word in, so at the end of one of her long stories I asked if we could just take a few minutes to each bear testimony of our belief in Heavenly Father's love for us.  She agreed so my companion and I, as well as Nug Nug who we took with us to the lesson, all shared our feelings about Heavenly Father's love.  We all cried like a bunch of wimps and it was a powerful experience!  We asked Nug Nug's mom to offer Lavender a ride to the Women's Broadcast on Saturday and she did and Lavender came and really enjoyed it.  I know that we have a long way to go with her, as she is pretty non-commital, but we are really working hard to get her friends in the ward so that she will have an incentive to learn more.

Harry: He is doing well!  He told me that he has changed his prayers to include me not just staying another transfer, but for my entire 18 months mission. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if I never make it out of this area.

Hobbit Hole Family: The grandpa hasn't had alcohol in about a month!  He said that he knows that the blessing he had is the reason he doesn't have a desire to drink anymore.  We are still having a hard time meeting with them on a regular basis, but we had a good conversation with the grandpa and committed him to start reading the Book of Mormon again.  He said he has taken a step back from religion the last few weeks but feels that we are right and that it is time he starts to study again.  PROGRESS! While we were there, the grandpa shared with us all of his conspiracies and it was all I could do to hold back my laughter.  He is convinced that Obama is gay and that Michelle is actually a man and that there will be the first gay marriage at the white house soon that Obama is going to preside over.  He also believes that he is the anti-Christ.  I guess "In God We Trust" is being taken off of our money in accordance with Obama's orders as well (this one I'm actually sure could be true, someone will have to confirm or deny it for me).

 

Tony Hawk Boys: Those little bandits are still just lovin' life.  They're doing well and were all at church on Sunday for the first time in a long time.

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

Kool temple rock.

I have been in love with that lion ever since Jeff's wedding in

December and finally got a selfie with it!

 Temple Trip

                    
       One of our ward missionaries surprised us with Sonic Drinks when she
             showed up for Harry's lesson on Thursday. I love these people.

THIS IS WHAT THIRTY SIX REESE'S PUMPKINS LOOK LIKE! 

 Only one person has been kind enough to mail them to me, but I

 know that she will be blessed for her sacrifice.

Our ghetto apartment has a leaky window; this was my solution as we don't have maintenance's number and I was not about to run to the office in the torrential downpour and ruin my hair.

          We had a lesson with a family in the Thunder Mountain Ward last night
                                                         and they have an 
                                                      INDOOR PET PIG!
                                                      INDOOR, PEOPLE. 
          They said he is more house broken than the dogs and more well behaved
           as well.  Sure enough while we were there he had to go to the bathroom
              and he went to the door and snorted!  I loved it. His name is Cletus.

 

 

 

Training for Satan's 5K

As the temperatures have started to decline I have come to learn that I am officially a pansy. The pansifacation process has been happening since my freshman year of college, but I believe it has finally concluded and I am a full blown disgrace to the Midwest. I wore a cardigan on Tuesday because it was only in the 80's, and I sleep and study in a sweatshirt because the 78 degree AC in our apartment is just a little too cold (meanwhile my companion sleeps with a sheet covering half her T-shirt and basketball short clad body). Despite the chill factor, I still refuse to wear pants to bed though so I guess I'm not as near to frost bite as I think I am. Seriously, something is wrong with me. Heaven help me during my first winter back in Minnesota. There will be no need for you to shout, "close the door, it is winter," anymore mom, because I will probably beat you to it.

Hermione's kids haven't been transitioning into family scripture study and FHE very well, so I asked if she wanted us to do an FHE lesson with her family last Monday evening. She basically said good luck and accepted our invitation. Her kids were pretty cold at first, but by the end of the hour they were all enjoying themselves and participating in gospel jeopardy. That night Hermione texted and said, "Thank you both for just being you!! You have helped us have fun as a family! Can we do this again on next Monday too?? And think of a different game to play? I will make something sweet for you both!! Yes I am bribing you both completely. Haha. :)" When I read that text I truly believed for the first time on my mission that I was sent to Mesa to help someone specific. I have become really close with Hermione's family and believe that my entire mission will be worthwhile if they make it to the temple. Hermione told me two weeks ago that whenever and wherever I get married she is making the trip for the big event. I told her she could hasten the process by just finding someone for me to marry. I just love her so much!

We didn't meet with the Tony Hawk fam the week before last because the boys were out of town, so I was excited to see them this week. When we got there the middle boy said, "Now the party has finally arrived," and the oldest boy said, "Poppe! I've missed you." It warmed my heart.  I forgot to tell you guys something awesome! The middle boy filmed an episode of Ridiculousness a few weeks ago with Rob Dyrdek that will air on MTV sometime. I think he also filmed an episode of Fantasy Factory while he was there. He said something about an episode airing in October and one in January he thought. You guys have to DVR the episodes so I can watch them when I'm home! Tony Hawk boy said that in one of the episodes Rob told him that when he retires the Tony Hawk boy gets to take over his shows. I asked if I get to be on them when that happens and Tony Hawk boy said that I can be his Channel Westcoast (with a less obnoxious laugh, clearly)!

Our ox was in the mire so we went to Target on Friday night and purchased a stupid $6.17 plunger. When sister missionaries are in Target on a Friday evening and they only buy a plunger, everyone knows what's up. It was super embarrassing, but I just owned it. I walked with my head held high and looked all the judgers in the face as I swiped my card at the checkout. Haters gonna hate. Judgers gonna judge. Poppe's gonna pop (those clogs out of the pipes). Our toilet has been having problems, so I think there was some buildup or something going on; it took above and beyond normal plunging efforts to fix it. #selfsufficient #preparingforlifelongloneliness

                   

My biggest triumph of the week.

I miss Sister D. It was so easy to have fun with her and be myself. I hope she is enjoying Brazil.

Sue broke her hip and is in the hospital, so the assisted living home was operating at a less entertaining level this week. We still had a good time serving there though. The residents are just so appreciative of the company we provide.

Update on training for Satan's 5K: it is still awful. I try to be positive about it, but by about minute three I already hate everything in the entire world. Mainly I just hate how much of a hindrance I am. We run outside and someone always has to be the slow one with me so I'm not alone. I really despise feeling inadequate and I get to feel that way every morning for half an hour while I bring up the rear of the sister missionary herd. I'm always glad I ran by the end of my work out because it feels good to start my morning that way, but while I'm puttering down University I want to shoot lasers of hate out of my eyes that are strong enough to slice Hummers in half.

Elder Nelson came to speak to our mission with the Scottsdale Mission on Saturday.  We had approximately 500 missionaries in one stake center!  My roommates and I carpooled to the event and arrived two and a half hours early so we could get good seats in the chapel and not in the overflow.  We ended up in the third row!  I swear to you, Elder Nelson peered into my soul no less than three times.   He was accompanied by Elder Foster of the second quorum of the 70 and Elder Hansen and area 70 in the sixth quorum (who also lives in the stake I am serving in).  They gave such wonderful talks.  When Elder Nelson walked in the room was filled with the Spirit and there was no way I could deny that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ.  It was such an unforgettable experience.  We all got to shake his hand before the meeting officially started.  All three men spoke to us about missionary work.  They talked a lot about training a new missionary and how it is the most important calling in a mission and the one in which the most trust is involved.  It was a unique experience for me since I am actually training this transfer and the words he said applied to me.  He motivated me to be the best trainer I can be so that my mission legacy will be in the missionary I train and down through the ones she trains.  I also felt inspired during the meeting that I need to be better at using the scriptures in my teaching.  I have been told so many times that I am such a wonderful teacher that I rely on my own abilities and don't use the scriptures when I teach.  In every lesson we have had in the past few days I have used at least 2 scriptural passages and it has really enhanced my teaching ability.  Elder Nelson invoked a blessing upon us that we will be hard working, obedient, good member missionaries when we get home, safe, and many other things.  It was a powerful meeting.  Our mission president was asked to tell us one thing and he said, "We love you Arizona Mesa Missionaries.  We love you more than you love us." It was so sincere, I will never doubt that my mission president and his wife love me. It made for a wonderful end to our good week.

Love,

Sister Poppe

Because Nug Nug and J-Fizzle have been featured on my blog, MJ wanted to be as well.  She found me after sacrament meeting so we could get a pic for the blog. I love her whole family; they're a family that I will always remember fondly from my mission.

 

I take all of my training duties seriously; especially the ones that involve me introducing my trainee to AZ cuisine. Our first P-Day included a trip to Backyard Taco and Bahama Bucks. No one can accuse me of not teaching Sister D2 what is important!

I finally used part of my Cheesecake Factory gift card to take Sister D2 out for dessert to celebrate her one week anniversary of being in the mission field.

 

 

 

 

A Reese's a Day Keeps Satan Away! Part II

Huzzah for Israel!

Sister D and I hit up Smashburger on Tuesday to celebrate her last week in America. While we were there we ran into a potential investigator, Nug Nug and her sister, and had a random stranger pay for our lunch. I do believe we were meant to be in that restaurant that afternoon. We went back on Thursday to celebrate for real with our district. The elders beat us there and had someone pay for their lunch, but we were about 10 minutes behind them and didn't have the same luck.

                                                         Smashburger!

Our lessons went well again this week. We are killing it here! The best lesson we had all week was with Harry and his fiancé on Saturday night. She opened up to us and is finally ready to take the bull by the horns and get active in the church again! She cried through the entire lesson. I told her that she has enough time to work everything out so she and Harry can go through the temple at the same time a year after he is baptized. This area is thriving and I am excited to announce that I will be staying for another transfer! I was asked to train one of the five new sisters coming into the mission and I am so honored and excited!  I cannot wait to build her up and make her awesome! Camp counselor me is already coming out and I am ready to just love this girl like it ain't nobody's business. Hopefully she likes me. Tony Hawk mom told me it was an answer to her prayers that I am staying and Harry said that he prayed and told Heavenly Father he was going to stop investigating the church if I left. I thought he was joking at first, but he opened up and said that on top of everything else, the thought of getting two new missionaries was unbearable and he really needed me to stay. His fiancé hugged me when we left and whispered, "I'm so glad you're staying, I knew you would, because you're the strong one." Then she told me she loves me. She also gave me a scarf and one to Sister Dumas as well and said they are for us to remember them by (they gave me mine early since I'm apparently never getting transferred). They're supposed to remind us of hugging them when we wrap them around us.  I almost cried. I am starting to get paranoid that people are going to get tired of me though. By the end of this transfer I will be halfway through my mission and will have spent six of my twelve transfers here. Training a new missionary is a two transfer job in most situations as well, so it is even likely that I may stay here for ANOTHER transfer after my sixth. I'm not letting the horse get ahead of the cart though. We will just have to wait and see what happens.

Sister Dumas and I are going to be in a music video! Our TM ward mission leader wrote a missionary song that has been approved by the church and now he is shooting a music video. He took some footage of us teaching Harry and of us knocking on his door. #celebstatus #redcarpet #whenismyinterviewwithellen

I remember grandma telling us the story, Little Black Sambo when I was a kid, and I always thought she just made it up. Well, we were at a family's home the other night and they had a little match book that said "Sambo's Pancakes" with a (white) boy, some tigers, and pancakes on it and I was like, "HOLD THE PHONE WHERE DID YOU GET THIS? MY GRANDMA USED TO TELL ME A STORY ABOUT A BLACK BOY NAMED SAMBO WHO MADE TIGERS RUN IN A CIRCLE TO MAKE BUTTER FOR HIS PANCAKES." They told me about the restaurant and then brought out a children's book with the same story! And here I thought for 23 years that Grandma Margie made the story up. The restaurant made the match packet kid white and took the adjective "black" out of the restaurant name so it was a little more PC. Because white kids are more likely to have confrontations in the jungle with tigers and have mothers who make pancakes. #obvi

So I did your 10 books challenge, mom. I have to point out that I really did list 10 books that "shaped who I am". These aren't necessarily my favorite books, just ones that have shaped my ideology and perspective in some way. Too many people doing this challenge are just listing favorite books.

Top 10 Books (or Book Series) That Have Shaped My Life:

1. The Standard Works---assorted prophets of God (Truly though, these books have had more of an impact on my lifestyle than anything else I've read. They're not always my favorite to peruse, but they're the most influential.) 2. Harry Potter Series---J.K. Rowling 3. Among the Hidden Series---Margaret Haddox(?) (and thus my fear of big government began at a young age) 4. Cabeza de Vaca's Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America (or something like that)---Cabeza de Vaca (you don't truly understand early Native American/European relations until you've read the journal of this struggling Spanish explorer from the 1600's.) 5. All of Jane Austen's novels 6. Barbarian Nurseries (don't remember the author) 7. Ender's Game Books---Orson Scott Card 8. The Things They Carried---Tim O'Brien (this book has taught me more about being a writer than almost anything else I've read. People love it for the history, which I do too, but really O'Brien's writing style is the thing from this novel that changed me.) 9. American Girl Books (my love for American history stemmed from my veracious reading of these novels in kindergarten and first grade) 10. Night---Elie Weissel (I think I just butchered the spelling of his name...life without Google is hard!)

I was asked to sing in a quartet for a fireside on Sunday. Each month there is one fireside that is intended to uplift investigators. The fireside changes locations each month and all missionaries in the mission are encouraged to bring someone to it. I had never been to one because we always had something else going on the evening it was being presented. I loved the three people I sang with. They were all really talented. Quartets are my favorite groups to sing in because it isn't a solo, but everyone is on their own part so people can still hear each individual. I sang alto. I also made the other missionaries color coordinate their outfits with mine so we would look classy like the MoTab. We looked sharp! We took Harry with us and he really enjoyed it. The stake that hosted the event is the one that my friend Peri moved to after she left the mission so I got to see her too. She said that she and the family she is staying with have been praying that I get transferred to their ward. Best case scenario will be that I finish my tenure in the Salt River Stake and then serve the rest of my mission in their ward. Start praying, people!

Spiritual thought: I started the Book of Mormon again last week, and as I was reading in 1st Nephi 17 I had a thought. Nephi and his family just arrived in Bountiful and they are excited because it is beautiful and has an abundance of food. The Lord has blessed them with a comfortable place to rest and prepare for their journey to the America's. I can't imagine how tempting it was to just stay there; they had everything they needed and more. How often do we make the mistake of making a comfortable pit stop permanent? How often do we shortchange the blessings Heavenly Father wants to give us because we believe we have already been given enough and we don't want to work harder to receive the prize He truly wants to give us? I'm sure I have done it before and at times I'm still tempted to do it. A mission really has blessed my life, but there are days I think, "Eh, seven months of experience is enough. I've received a lot of blessings. I just want to pack up and go home and take a nap. Peace out, Mesa." But there are hidden blessings waiting for me at the finish line of 18 months if only I remember this was never where Heavenly Father intended for me to stop.

In the Reese's world, we all know that the larger holiday shaped candies are more delicious than the average cup (I even wrote a blogpost on this my freshman year of college...it is a valid scientific fact--the ratio of peanut butter to chocolate is higher, resulting in a natural increase of joy experienced by your taste buds ). You have your Halloween pumpkins, Christmas trees, Valentine hearts, and Easter eggs; all delicious, but the eggs more so than the rest. As you probably noticed, half the year is jam packed with Reese's friendly holidays, the other half is dead. Its feast or famine mode, and we are about to leave the six months of nothing for the six months of plenty! We are mere weeks away from Reese's pumpkins being released! October until April--six months of heaven sent abundance. I know that you think this has nothing to do with missionary work, but quite the contrary is true; it has everything to do with missionary work. By mailing me, a servant of The Lord, Reese's special edition holiday treats, you are helping The Lord hasten His work! It's also a fact that white chocolate Reese's don't help with hastening the work, they actually slow missionary work, so don't mail those. I think there is going to be a General Conference talk on this in October, so I will have some apostolic backing shortly. And remember, a Reese's a day keeps Satan away!

I bid you adieu,

Sister Poppe

 

Sharks!

 

Hipster sisters 

 

We had a great week at our many wonderful dinner appointments.  One of the highlights was finally getting a waffle and a dirty Diet Dr. Pepper from the Waffle Love truck!

                                          We helped set up for the wedding.
                            Sister D and I weaved the flowers through the arch.

                               Photo booth pics from the wedding in our ward

 

Ain’t Nobody Got Time For Trolls!

We had another productive week! I feel so blessed that we have had a lot to do the last month or so because I do not handle down time well.

We started off our week with the Tony Hawk mom. She invited us over last P-Day to make crafts and bake banana bread. It was so nice to be in a kitchen again. I made bread for us, the Tony Hawk family, the Cheesecake Factory mom, and another lady in the ward who we love.

So last week I had a random email from a guy named Trevor Wolfe (I'm not even giving him the dignity of changing his name because as you will see, he is a Troll). He said that he has been trying to get a Book of Mormon from Mormon.org but he hasn't ever had one delivered.  He asked if I could help him out.  Okay, first of all I have no clue how this guy got my personal missionary email address (though I think that the mission addresses are so easy to come up with because most missionary's just have their first.lastname@myldsmail.net that he probably just saw me on Facebook or something and took a guess and it worked). Second of all, I find it highly unlikely that if he has requested a Book of Mormon multiple times that he hasn't received one yet. Mormon.org Book of Mormon requests are sent to missionaries via text messages and they deliver the Book of Mormons.  Those are GOLDEN referrals because people are actually interested and have sought out the gospel on their own.  There is no way that missionaries haven't been by his house if they received a Mormon.org referral. But I decided that it wasn't my place to decide whether this guy was worthy of the gospel or not, so I responded and asked for his information and told him we would get a Book of Mormon to his home. I also told him a little bit about missionary work and about companions and signed Sister Dumas' name on the email as well so that he knew there were two of us communicating with him. He gave me his Facebook address as well, so I added him there and he messaged me right away and wanted to have an online lesson.  Most people don't even know that missionaries can do online lessons so that was pretty fishy as well.  As Sister Dumas and I Facebook crept him we saw that he is a born again Christian who has spent time in Utah preaching to Mormons.  He's also on a crusade against Jehovah Witnesses.  I Facebook messaged him and basically told him that we would love to teach him if he is genuinely interested in learning the truth, but that if he just wants some Mormons to fight with that I personally don't have time for that.  I told him that I saw his Facebook page information and that I wasn't wasting time talking to a guy who was just going to twist my words and try and convince me that I was going to Hell.  He said that he was genuinely interested in learning more so we set up a lesson with him.  We taught him the Restoration lesson via FaceTime and it was so stupid.  He didn't try and fight with us; he played the part of an interested person, but I could tell he was probing for information.  I can read people pretty well and I knew he was acting innocent.  He was probably recording our lesson and we will probably end up in some YouTube video misquoted or something.  I did have a few moments though where the Spirit told me to not say things though, so that was good.  In one instance he asked what things set Mormons apart from other Christian religions and we said really just the Book of Mormon and modern day prophets.  The temple came to my mind and immediately I was prompted to not even bring it up.  I know without a doubt that he wanted us to bring up the temple and that he had some sinister plans with that.  So I didn't mention the temple.  After our lesson I told Sister Dumas this and she said that she couldn't think of anything different which shocked her during the lesson because she always brings up temple marriages when people ask that question and she was stumped as to why she couldn't think of anything to say.  After I shared with her my experience she said that she knows she couldn't think of anything to say because she wasn't supposed to bring up temples.  I'm glad we were both cautious and onboard with that whole situation because it could have been way worse.  He hasn't contacted us since, and we aren't going to do anything more with him because he's an Anti-Mormon troll who picked the wrong people to try and manipulate into giving him the information he wanted. We were confident in everything we said and testified strongly at the end. Take that back to Satan and see what he'll have you do with it T Wolfe!

We went to the temple and it was great! As you know, I ran into Whitney and Jessica.  It was cool; I saw a wedding being photographed on the front steps as we were getting ready to leave and as I walked out I heard someone yell "AMANDA!"  I haven't heard my first name in a long time so I kind of just assumed that a member of the wedding party had my same name. I looked up and saw Jessica snapping pics and Whitney waving at me!  I ran over and hugged them and then we had to go to a meeting at the VC. I saw them after our meeting; it was a nice little tender mercy.

We had a RS activity this week about serving and loving our husbands.  It was based on a book called "The Husband Project" and it is supposed to help your marriage.  They said that they were going to tailor the presentation so that you could apply it to anyone, not just a husband, but it was still pretty husband oriented.  Sister D and I sat at the naughty table and were distracted half the time by the women we were with.  They were hilarious, but they're so disruptive!  We aren't allowed to sit by them in any real church setting because you add Sister D and I to their already loud group and it just gets worse. I liked the core message of the evening though.  Basically if you're having problems with your spouse or a child or a friend, serve them.  If you serve them and choose to not let little things bother you, you will grow to love them. I've found that to be true on a mission with my companions and will definitely use that in marriage!

We have two new members in the "Sisters Poppe and Dumas Youth Fan Club".  They're hilarious girls.  They are Bryce's age.  I found Bryce a wife.  She is 17, hilarious, a little weird, and wears RayBans.  Clearly she will fit in with our family and will be a perfect helpmeet for Bryce. I've got his back. She is actually the girl who called you on Sunday, mom.  She said, "Hey, can I call your mom and just tell her you're awesome and stuff?" Don't be surprised if you get a few random picture messages here and there from that one. She's a riot. The other girl is hilarious too.  Her whole family is funny; they are the ones we ate dinner with last week where the youngest daughter said we were fun because we don't talk about grandma stuff.  These two girls are compiling a list of reasons I shouldn't be transferred and they are going to give it to the mission president this Sunday when he comes to speak in sacrament meeting. We'll see how that goes!

Mom's note:  random picture showed up just yesterday saying, "corndog day".

We had a member of the second quorum of the 70 come and speak with us yesterday and it was really good!  He talked about the basics of the gospel and using our personalities in our missions.  His wife was hilarious and spent her entire time talking about the fact that we were sent to our mission for a reason.  We have experiences in life and characteristics that make us perfect for someone and that is why we are here, so we can't hide those things.  We need to be ourselves and we need to let our uniqueness shine.  I loved it!

Sister D got her visa! She heads out on September 9th! So the likelihood of me staying in this area for another transfer went from 2% to much higher.  I wouldn't be surprised if I'm transferred and I wouldn't be surprised if I stay.  If I do stay I will have spent 6 of the 12 transfers of my mission here; I would be okay with that though!  If I get transferred I have to make people love me again and start a new youth fan club.  Too much work.

Quotes of the Week:

"You need a haircut. It's getting straggly on the ends. Like 4 or 5 inches so it's all the same. It's all over the place."-Hazel our assisted living friend to Sister D. I don't think Hazel understands layers are supposed to make your hair multiple lengths.

"What is central to the Plan of Salvation."-Me

"Central. That means middle. Okay. The holding tank!"-Harry
"Ummm...what?"-Sister D
"I think he means Spirit Prison."-Me in a whisper
"Spirit Prison, Harry?"-Sister D
 "Yeah!"  Hahahahahaha's
"Okay, well no. That isn't it. The atonement is central to the plan of salvation."-Me

"What's a dispensation?"-Me

"Your attitude."-Harry
"Harry! No! We go over this every time. A disposition is your attitude. What is a dispensation?"-Me
"Something with a time."-Harry
"Yes, that's the start. It's a period of time when there's a prophet on the Earth, Harry."-Sister D "A dispensation is when dis prophet is on da Earth."-Me
"I can't even handle you. Did you really just say that?"-Sister D
"Hey! See, now I will remember that!"-Harry

I was planning on giving you an update on our investigators, but this letter is already long so that will have to wait until a time when my letter is shorter!

LOVE!!!!!!

Sister Poppe

P.S.   I don't even know why I wrote LOVE!!!!! so obnoxiously.

Amanda's sassy elder alter ego 

This is Jean who we help with her crossword puzzles 

Light out from under the bushel

Me and Sister D at the temple

there are no words for this 

Collecting chicken eggs after dinner

Mission farewell, he is going to South America