Master Booshizzle, meet L-Shizzle.

Hey!

I was reading in Alma this week and noticed that Alma does a lot of less active work. It makes me feel validated. He isn't always just preaching and baptizing!  He goes out and re-teaches people and re-commits them to live the word of God.  I never caught on to that before, but early on in the book of Alma, he gives up his judgment seat and goes out to the people to re-activate them in the church.  I absolutely love that.  Less active work is so important and it is done in the Book of Mormon!

Sister Dumas had her exchange with our Sister Training Leader, Sister Dunlop, on Thursday, so I was with Sister Dunlop's companion, Sister Taumawara. Sister T has been out nine months and is from an island off of Fiji called Kiribati. She is a Visitor Center sister currently doing her full field outbound, so she is not only still learning English, but she is learning the ropes of being a full time proselyting missionary. She is so funny. She says "for real" in her funny accent whenever something disappointing happens. During companionship study she wanted to practice teaching for the four lessons we had planned during the day so I told her I would be the investigator and she could be herself. She was struggling through the law of chastity and finally asked if I would just practice teaching so she could observe what I do. This launched us into a two hour long companionship study in which she wrote down what I said verbatim for the law of chastity, word of wisdom, and half of the plan of salvation lessons. She was so cute. I think she hasn't had the opportunity to really learn the lessons in English very well and that a lot of words haven't been defined for her. Like intimacy. She had no clue what that meant. I enjoyed the experience a lot, I have really come to absolutely love teaching in any way, even to other missionaries.

You know you're a missionary when you close your voicemails in the name of Jesus Christ.  I wish I could say that I was on the receiving end of that, but I most definitely left a voice mail that went like this, "Hey!  This is Sister Poppe.  I have your stuff in our car.  We're in the parking lot by the VC, but we're getting ready to head out to lunch, so if you're not here in two minutes we'll have to arrange another time to meet because we're starving.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Ch---oh my gosh.  I am so embarrassed that I just started to close this voicemail like a prayer.  Okay, just call us.  Bye." #realmissionary

We had a temple excursion this week.  That just means that we had a short chapel session with the mission president before our session and that our session had 4 zones in it instead of 1.  We had about 80 missionaries there the day we went.  The other two days there were about 60-70.  It was nice to have peace for a few hours and to see other missionaries.  I ran into my friend Elder Sweeten and we talked about how the people we came out with are dropping like flies!  My best friends, Sisters Clift and Adams, are both home for medical reasons right now.  Sister Adams is going through some pretty serious stuff and may not be able to return, and Sister Clift is losing motivation to return the longer she's home, so that makes me very sad.

There is a man that lives in our apartment complex that has become friends with some of the missionaries.  He likes to talk to Sister Dumas and I while we online proselyte each day.  His last name is Bouchet and he is a substitute teacher.  He told us that he tells his students that his name is Master Booshizzle.  I think he should be friends with L-Shizzle.  He brings Sister Dumas and I a piece of hard candy each day.  I think we're his favorite...mainly because he is a history teacher and I love America, so I'll talk to him about D-Day and stuff.

We think Harry Potter has started smoking again, which is disappointing because he hasn't smoked for almost 6 months.  We are going to talk to him about it on Tuesday.  On a funnier note though, he told us about an experience he had at the grocery store this weekend that was hilarious.  He said that the lady at the cash register got all huffy at him because he came to the express lane and he had more than 15 items.  She said that his pack of water bottles was 32 items alone and that he should learn to read signs...because we all know that water bottles attached by cellophane count as 32 items and not 1.  She complained to him the entire time she rang up his items and then called him a sinner.  Before he paid he said, "You know, you're right.  I am a sinner.  So I should probably repent and I should do it now because if I get hit on the way to my car I would go straight to hell for not repenting." So he proceeded to pray at the cash register out loud and ask for forgiveness and for The Lord to bless the cashier with more patience.  He also went all out and blessed the missionaries, his family, and prayed for a few more things and then ended.  When he was done the other cashiers and people in line all said Amen!  A few people approached him and said that was the best thing they've ever seen and that they couldn't believe how rude that cashier was. We were dying! We also taught him how to index this week and that was entertaining.  He knows nothing about computers.  He was frustrated because he said he was typing numbers and they wouldn't show up...we looked over and he was hitting F2 and F7.  We let him know that those aren't number keys. #babyboomersandcomputers

I don't know if you remember me telling you about the fireside we had set up with the bishop in the Thunder Mountain Ward a few months ago or not, but we had it on Sunday night and it was a success!  The bishop had forgotten about it even though we had mentioned it in ward council and emailed him about it so he was kind of dragging his feet, and the ward publicist didn't do a good job of getting the word out, so on Wednesday we made small fliers and found the addresses of every family in the ward that has at least one active member (I decided that that meant someone with a calling in the home) and posted fliers on their doors.  We had 66 families written down and we ended up getting them on 60 or 61 doors.  It was good practice for my upcoming political career.  We had about 35-40 people come to the fireside and they generated a lot of good ideas.  We opened with a clip about missionary work and then I addressed the audience and kindly told them that we were looking for ideas to move missionary work forward, not for excuses, we know them already.  The bishop then did a good job of facilitating a good discussion. It was a good ending to my week because I had been struggling all week long.  I was feeling like I wasn't making enough of a difference and wondering why I was even out here on a mission because we aren't teaching very many people and I was worried that I was a disappointment to The Lord.  But to see so many people want to do better missionary work was so good.

After the fireside the ward mission leader's wife was talking to me and said that this ward has never been fired up about missionary work and that she knows the only reason people came is because I insisted on a meeting with the bishop and I insisted on the ward members being held accountable and I continued to plan this fireside even though people weren't on board, and then we put up fliers and advertised on our own.  She said that I may not think I am saving souls, but I am because I may have motivated a ward of people to do their part and down the road people will be taught in this area because of my diligence. Her husband also said that he talks to ward members and they respect us and have the highest opinions of us as missionaries and that they recognize that we are working hard even though our numbers don't show that.  Our bishop in our other ward said the same thing to us.  As I was having a discouraged moment this week my companion told me that she is continually amazed at the relationships I have developed in the wards I am in and the way in which I lift the people up.  She quoted something I said in ward council that morning as evidence and said that The Lord knows I can handle not having success and that some people can't handle that.  There is a reason I am in these wards and it is for the members.  I still struggle with everything because at the end of the day we don't have high numbers and I worry that that means I'm not doing my job, but at least the members like me.  I get discouraged because there are sisters in this mission that people associate with being selfless and loving and generous and kind and trusting and I will never be looked at as that type of missionary.  I'm always classified as a go-getter, a problem solver, entertaining, and someone who gets stuff done. One of our ward mission leaders even told me that he pities the man that ever tries to cross me because he will never win. Those are nice characteristics, but I'm also loving and kind and trusting of The Lord, and selfless but no one ever acknowledges those characteristics. Basically there are sisters that are candidates for future general relief society president and are wife material and I'm just a candidate for future president of the world and our culture tells us that it is more desirable to be one of the women that is future general relief society president and wife material than who I am. It's been a rough week.

We also had two really productive ward council meetings yesterday in which names were discussed, assignments were given, and both bishops told the ward councils that they need to fulfill their responsibilities that were assigned so we can do our work as missionaries.  I pray I'm here at least one more transfer so that we can continue to work with these ward councils and help them establish a habit of missionary work.  Transfer planning is this week and we find out if we're being transferred on Saturday.  The OCD part of me wants to stay another transfer because that will mean I served six months in these wards and I like the roundness of that number.  

Sister Dumas' birthday week was fun!  I took her to lunch to get a Chicago hotdog on Saturday and a Sonic shake for her birthday and on Sunday we made lemon bars when we got home because those are her favorite and her mom mailed us a mix.  She is officially not a teenager anymore, so I told her I'm holding her to a higher level of accountability.  Hopefully her driving skills improve exponentially.  Her mom also mailed us money to go and get birthday pedicures today, so I am excited to do that!

While we had exchanges, Sister Dumas found two new people to teach!  We are really excited and hope that everything works out, though at this point I know better than to get my hopes up!  At least I'd like to think I do, but secretly they're already up.

Good luck to Bryce at Basic Training!

That about does it!

Love,

Sister Poppe

Sorry, no pictures this week.

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.

 

 

A Coyote Swear is Like a Pinky Promise

Hey!

First of all, I can't believe I forgot to share with you one of the best stories from last week! We were heading to dinner Saturday night and the road we were supposed to turn down had a car sitting just out of the intersection sideways. It was blocking both lanes, but it looked untouched. I told Sister Dumas to just drive around it, and as she did I looked inside and saw a man slumped over the steering wheel.  We immediately pulled over and jumped out of our car. As we did another car with two ladies stopped and they jumped out. I called 911 and Sister Dumas and one of the ladies went over and began to assess the situation. They tapped on the windows and he didn't respond. The lady declared that she believed he was having a seizure. This happened while 911 was still ringing so when they picked up I told them where we were and what was happening. They transferred me to the rural unit since we technically weren't in Mesa but instead in the county island.  As I was transferred and told the new guy what was going on the lady told her niece to call the lady's husband because he used to have seizures so she thought he could help. The man told us to get into the car and shut it off, so we did, and to make sure the driver didn't move because he would be disoriented. The car was a manual so it was only in neutral and was rolling, so we moved it slightly out of the way and then I braced my body against it so it would stop inching forward (I told the lady she should put the emergency brake on but she didn't listen). The man came to at this point and threw up so we made sure he didn't aspirate anything and then we kept him in the driver's seat. He was incoherent and confused throughout all of this. I stayed on the phone for about 10 minutes while we waited for the ambulance and fire truck to arrive. They got there and put him in an ambulance and moved the car and we went off to dinner! We are pretty sure the guy will be fine. He was young. He had college books in his car and a name tag from Sprouts Marketplace. We were 20 minutes late for dinner, but they clearly understood!

I also forgot to tell you about the Women's Appreciation Dinner we went to in one of our wards.  On the Friday before Mother's Day, the Thunder Mountain ward had a dinner for all the women aged 18 and up.  The young men, elder's quorum, and high priests served the women a catered Italian meal while one of the young men played beautiful piano music. They gave a short presentation about the power of women and mothers and then served us cheesecake. It was delicious and provided us with a good opportunity to get to know ward members even better.

I've always wished that we walked around more because we would get more exercise and we would talk to more people on the streets.  On Tuesday we parked our car and then spent almost two hours weaving in and out of part of our ward.  We were knocking on less active peoples' doors and would wave and talk to individuals that we passed.  We didn't see a ton of people because it was hot and the middle of a weekday afternoon, but we talked to two more people than we would have if we had been in our car.  One man was an intriguing individual that we will call Jeff on a bike.  Jeff stopped us and asked if we were Mormon girls to which we responded in the affirmative.  He said, "I knew you were.  You're so pretty.  I always said if I could get me one of them pretty Mormon girls and have a dozen babies that would be the life.  Even if you can get a half dozen of them pretty Mormon girl babies you're lucky." We thanked him as every good sister missionary does when she receives a kind compliment hidden in a basket of creepy and talked to him about the church before we went on our way.  We had a lady stop us in her car and gave us a referral (though it was for Spanish missionaries...so we had to pass the information along).  These were dubbed walking miracles and we hope to see many more of them as we have intentionally scheduled time to walk instead of drive.  After our adventures we drove to visit a referral we received from church headquarters.  Normally these don't yield any success in our area, but this kid has promise!  He is a senior in high school and received a Book of Mormon from missionaries in Pine.  They talked to him a little bit and he is really interested in learning more.  We set up a lesson with him for this Tuesday and we are very excited!  #walkingmiracles

We had an eventful week with the wildlife.  We found some quail eggs at a members home (we have put the husband in charge of being in charge of the quail watch 2014...we expect an immediate text when the chicks emerge from their shells).  We also saw a coyote!  I wanted so badly to get a picture of it but it slinked away before I got my iPad out of my purse.

Quail Eggs

                                                                              
Shortly after we saw the coyote we ran into Neville at mutual (he was skipping and hiding in the hallways as per usual).  He actually spotted us and hobbled over on his crutches (he just had knee surgery to correct a recent hockey injury).  It was really wonderful that he approached us to talk; it makes us feel like our lessons are meaningful to him.  In the very least he likes us and he doesn't like
most members of the church because they are fake in his opinion.  We decided that we needed to come up with a secret handshake and I still had coyotes on the mind so Sister Dumas, Neville, and I created what we call, the coyote handshake and the coyote swear.  You make your hand into a coyote and then make it run and touch noses with the other two individuals.  A coyote swear is like a pinky promise but more binding in which your coyote ears touch.  I can sense your jealousy already. Everyone wants to be included in a handshake featuring Arizona wildlife.

I have really been striving to figure out what it means to be humble.  I have always struggled with accepting compliments because I'm afraid that acknowledging my gifts will make me look pompous. As I've been on my mission I have been frequently complimented on some of my finer qualities and it has been hard knowing how to handle that. I think I have a lot of flaws and I could name many of them at the drop of a hat and I used to think that to counter-balance a compliment I had to bring up a flaw so people would think I was humble. Sometimes that annoyed people and they would say things like, "just take the compliment! You really are good at (fill in the blank)." I had a boss tell me once that I am the hardest person to compliment because I get awkward and start to deny it. I've realized since I have been on a mission that being humble isn't denying or downplaying your strengths as much as it is acknowledging that they are gifts from Heavenly Father. Yes I have spent a lot of hours practicing the skills required to be a talented musician and I have continually used and polished my teaching and leadership skills in various capacities in classes, jobs, and extra-curricular activities, but I was given those abilities to serve others with. As long as we give thanks to God, recognize His hand in our lives, and serve others with our talents we are being humble. So the next time someone tells me I am a good pianist I will try and smile (though that is the hardest compliment for me to believe) and thank Heavenly Father for the miracle that my chubby hands can gracefully slide across the keys. It is a struggle for me to be humble because I have been blessed far beyond what I deserve with really valuable and marketable abilities and personality traits that I take for granted. I get frustrated when people can't keep up with me and I need to work on that too because that is another aspect of being humble--accepting others the way that they are. I need a nap from all this soul searching, pondering, and internal stretching. It's exhausting!

This is getting long and people are starting to lose focus and not care; I know.  So I'm going to finish up with some short sentences/paragraphs that aren't very descriptive.

As an attempt to woo the older women in the ward into loving us we attended an enrichment activity on bread making.  #trophywifeskillz

I think the ground squirrels here are the most adorable creatures God created.

Someone cancelled dinner this week and just gave us cash.  We hit up Smashburger.

We are giving Hermione new member lessons and wanted a member to go with us to help in the fellowshipping process.  I really felt prompted to invite a less active lady down the street to help with these lessons.  After I persuaded our ward mission leader that she was a better option than the individual he selected to go we invited her and she has been coming.  At our last lesson she said that these lessons are exactly what she needed because they help her realize the testimony she has and help her realize how strong she is and that she needs to make a better effort to read her scriptures and go to church regularly.  We were so excited that she said this and then she went on to share her concerns and opened up to us all!  We had dinner in her home that night and it was wonderful as well.  We are grateful for the direction of The Spirit!

I gave another training this week.  This time it was at a zone function and my companion co-taught with me.  It was on effective planning.

George W. Bush's dog died. #sadfacebookfind #rip #heprobablywouldhavebeeninmyk9fanclub

We went to Hermione's sister-in-law's baby shower to support her and fellowship her.  She is kind of taking the lessons from us.  She is.  But she won't commit to anything.

A member told me that the white supremacist gang in Apache Junction would probably recruit me if I served there because I'm so white.  I did point out that they do have a lot of the foreign missionaries there.  It's probably so missionaries don't get hauled into a modern KKK ring.  He also said I would probably end up heading one of them because I am such a fair shade.  Then he pointed out the ever so slight natural red undertones of my hair and said I probably don't have a soul so I would be a great addition to their group. I'M NOT EVEN A GINGER AND HE MADE ME THE BUTT OF A GINGER JOKE.  #haircoloridentitycrisis

Last night the two of the Tony Hawk kids greeted us at dinner with Nerf guns.  After we ate we had a Nerf war with them.  It was a lot of fun!

How we pass the time before bed.

                                                                            

Cheesecake Factory Family's son ran to my pew to greet me yesterday at church and talked to me for a bit and then church was about to start so I sent him back to his mom.  Halfway through sacrament meeting he threw a fit because his mom wouldn't let him come over to talk to the missionaries (he calls me the missionaries...just me.  Not my companion and I together.  I alone am the missionaries).  After sacrament meeting I went over to talk to their daughter and the mom and I sat down behind them in a pew and the little boy hurdled the pew to sit by me.  He snuggled in and said "Missionaries...what is in your purse?" My normal Batman toy wasn't in there or my Nanobug, so I showed him my screwdriver.  He actually really liked that.  I will really be sad to leave behind my three year old bestie when my time in this area is done.

Things are going really well here in Mesa.  My companion and I are in a completely platonic and straight love affair with one another and are already dreading the day we aren't companions anymore.  The members seem to like our dynamics together and I feel that with our similar personalities we are getting a lot closer to our investigators and members alike because we're both pretty personable and friendly.

Love to all,

Sister Poppe

                    

                         Poor quality desert shoot, we need Jessica @Wonderland Photography!

One night I went all out and entered a coma sponsored by Nyquil and Benadryl

Hello!

I had a really good week; skyping home definitely made it even better as well!  Here were the big events...

Last Monday we were playing keep away with a soccer ball and at one point in time the soccer ball was coming in my general direction so I decided I would jump up and head the ball. Elder Webb thought he would do the same. Neither of us realized that the other had the same ambition so we both leaped into the air (admittedly, my leap was clearly less athletic looking...more along the lines of an awkward grizzly bear hurdling a boulder). Before we knew what was happening my face collided with his cologne scented pectorals. We landed on the ground and immediately wept, wailed, and gnashed our teeth at one another (okay, there was no weeping). We were both wearing looks
of horror on our faces as we realized that that was the closest we had been to a member of the opposite sex in three months. My chapped bottom lip cracked open during the traumatic experience, but it healed, as did our mortified missionary minds.

I have a new companion and am in the same area! It is exactly what I wanted to happen at transfers! Her name is Sister Dumas (dew miss).   She is 19, though she turns 20 this transfer. I told her she is in luck because I love birthdays and there is literally no one better to spend a birthday with as a missionary than me. She has been out 9 months but is waiting for a visa to Brazil. We decided this morning that the best case scenario involves her staying this entire transfer and the next one with me and then getting her visa after our two transfers together. It was love at first sight for us. She is hilarious and fun and hard working.  She has to study Portuguese an hour a day as well, so I usually study extra there or organize things.  When missionaries found out we were going to be together they all were like, "Man you guys are going to tear it up!" and "Oh man, you guys are going to have a hoot together!"  I really enjoy her and feel blessed to be with a companion who is fun.  She thinks I am 

fun too, so that is good.  She also thinks I am just the best teacher.  I hear that from every one I serve with and from ward members we teach and investigators too.  I guess I just have a natural teaching

ability or something because everyone comments on it.  I kind of hate that I am good at teaching and that I am doing well as a missionary because I have to admit that I was wrong.  I never wanted to serve a mission because I thought I would be bad at it and here I am actually succeeding.

I've been playing the piano quite a bit for different district and zone meetings and it's a miracle that I don't suck as bad as I normally do. I have started practicing hymns while my new companion
does language study every day.

I have finally figured out an adequate way to describe Elder Michaelis to you all. He is crazy, but hilarious. It hit me this week that he is literally Uncle Si trapped in a young missionary's body.

Before I share this story, I need to remind you than an entire first world country that used to rule almost the entire world lights effigies of varying sizes on fire every year in honor of Guy Fawkes.
Okay. When we moved into this apartment there was a bunch of random stuff left behind from many sets of previous occupants. Among the trinkets, clothes, and missionary paraphernalia were two small
scarecrows. I thought it would be fun to light them on fire in the elders' lawn for April Fool's Day, but then thought that wasn't wise for a 22 year old recent college grad who is currently serving The
Lord. Translation: I didn't want the elders to think I was crazy. Well as the transfer progressed we all became slightly odder and somehow I decided it was acceptable to light things on fire in one of the
driest states in the nation. Sister G and I put some napkins in our small sacrificial fall crafts and I doused them in a generous amount of almond body spray a less active woman gifted to me.  We marched across the apartment complex during nightly planning and I struck a match as Sister G knocked on the door. The tiny creatures burned inside the spaghetti sauce jar we balanced them in and we hid behind the corner and taped the show with an iPad. Their reactions were hilarious. Imagine the following:

Sister P:  Sets the pants of each scarecrow alight while Sister G knocks. They both flee the scene.

Elder Raisor: (opens door) What the crap!...Sisters!

Sister P and G: hahahaha (Sister G's ha's are considerably louder than Sister P's)

Elder Michaelis: (bangs chest and dances around flaming scarecrows like George of the Jungle while making ape noises.  Imagine Brendan Fraiser in missionary attire and no shoes)

Elder England: What is this?

Elder Webb: (whooshing the smoke) It's getting into our house!

Elder England: Ya'll are crazy!

All are laughing intermittently.   After the fire was out they all admitted that the prank was hilarious
and that they are glad we are fun sisters.

I was sick this past week again.  I think I'm allergic to cacti, though a member told me I'm probably allergic to the grasses because those are what are blooming now.  In my head I was like, "What grass lady?  The two sprigs in your yard or the square inch of it a block away?  You do know that turf isn't real?"  She probably is right though if she knows the area.  I'd like to think it is the cacti because that seems a little more fun.  People were offering medicine all of the time because I sounded miserable for about three days.  One night I went all out and entered a coma sponsored by Nyquil and Benadryl.  Man did I sleep well that night.

The children in church yesterday were like wild chimpanzees!  #happymothersday? I finished the Book of Mormon and have started it again and am still in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is painful to get through at this point.  Moses has far out-stayed his welcome.  I mean really?  Five books?  Greedy much, Moses?  It has been good for me to read though because I really do see now why the Book of Mormon is such a powerful book of scripture.  It is so simply written and is meaningful.  Every verse of the Book of Mormon serves a purpose as opposed to the chapter I read in Numbers this morning that was literally a list of what the sons of Aaron provided as sacrifice for the year.  It really is a testimony booster to read about golden spoons being offered while turtledoves are being burnt!  

I'll finish with a quick blurb about all of our investigators:

Harry Potter:  He is doing well.  We got him to pray in Sunday School yesterday! The teacher asked for a volunteer and as a joke I volunteered Ron and she ran with it and he actually prayed.  We're still waiting for his bankruptcy to go through and then he can be married and get baptized.  Pray that his lawyer gets his act together so we can get this show on the road!

Ron Weasley:  We mutually dropped each other.  I like to think we broke up with him, but really he is the one that never called us back.

The Tony Hawk Family:  Those boys are just the best.  They are doing well and are really working hard even though they know they can't be baptized without their dad's authority.  I gave them my cookie dough creation lesson last week with some other young men in the ward and they loved it! Actually, Neville and his brother from our other ward know the Hawk boys and we invited them over too so Neville and his brother got to listen to that lesson again and they still loved it.  It really is fun to teach them.  It just re-affirms my thought that if I had to choose between only sons or daughters, I would pick sons.  Boys are fun.

                       
                                       Cookie dough creation lesson 2

Hermione (and a little about a less active sister):  Baptized!  And we are now giving her the new member lessons and her sister-in-law (heretofore called Ginny Weasley) who isn't a member is sitting in on them.  We also have a less active lady from down the street sitting in on them too.  The less active lady is younger and fun.  We stopped by to ask her if she would go to the lesson with us and she said she would love to and then she said, "I'm sorry, I just have to say, you are the most darling missionary, but I didn't like your last companion, that's why I avoided you!  I know that missionaries are sent for certain people and she just wasn't sent for me and I felt so bad that I would ignore the both of you because I just love you, Sister Poppe!"  I told her it is fine; I'm sure there are people who don't like me either.  She really likes my new companion though too so it is nice to get to work with her a little bit more and have her help with Hermione's lessons.  She is also feeding us this Friday so that is exciting!

Sirius and Neville and family:  We still visit them and we have had a lot of success with Neville.  He really is latching on to things now that we are coming up with hands on lessons.  My new companion is creative so it is nice that I don't have to come up with all of the object lessons on my own now. That was stressin' me out!  He believes in God!  He didn't when we started. He is praying every night too.  Sirius is still being stubborn, but I'm going to wait him out.  Like a hunter stalking a deer I will wait.  I have plenty of beef jerky to tide me over.  Actually, I have none.  But I have Reese's.  So it's the same.

That about does it I believe!

Love,

Sister Poppe

The first photo shoot of Sisters Poppe and Dumas. Here we are posing with our Mother's Day roses.  ALSO! Best part of being in two wards on Mother's Day? You get chocolate in two wards!  We even had nice chocolate.  One ward gave us See's Candies and the other ward gave us Lindor truffles. In Twin Knolls one of the young men gave me two servings of chocolate for being a good missionary! #iamnotevenamom

 

 

It’s the Hair, It’s Always the Hair!

 Hello (seriously the most stressful part of my week is deciding which greeting I will use to open my email home...I only have so many creative ways to do this and 78ish weeks is a long time)!

 I'll start this email with transfer news!  I am staying in the same area but I am getting a new companion.  I don't know much about her and everything I know is hearsay, so I'll tell you more about her next week when I have learned things about her first hand.  I do know that she is waiting for her visa to go through so she can go to Brazil where she is really supposed to be serving, but she has been in Mesa for at least 6 months.  Technically she could get her visa any day and then leave shortly thereafter, so I may have a new companion at any point during this transfer.  A couple of other sisters told me she is funny and kind of loud.  I'm not sure what president was thinking, I'm sensing that there may be too much personality for one companionship.  This is either going to be hilarious or a complete disaster resulting in more damage than Hurricane Sandy.

This week I had the opportunity to lead a training session during our district meeting.  It was on asking inspired questions and listening.  Those two things are my favorite aspects of missionary work and the only things I'm really exceptional at so I loved giving the training.  I started everything out by playing a game of 20 questions.  When we finished I used that object lesson to outline my key points.  I told the group that teaching lessons is a lot like the game we played.  I pointed out that a few times some people asked me questions that had already been asked and related that to working with your companion during lessons.  If your companion asks your investigator a question you better listen to the answer because you can't ask something they already did or it will show that you weren't listening and don't care.  I also pointed out that when someone asked me if I was a mouse (I was actually a burrito) they didn't try and force me to be a mouse, they moved on and asked questions until they found out what I was.  When we teach people we need to focus on them, not on what we want to share with them or who we want them to be.  Though the people asking the questions may have wanted me to be a mouse, I wasn't one and preaching to me the merits of being a mouse instead of a burrito isn't going to make me want to change.  We can't just throw doctrine at people and expect them to want to change.  We have to get to know them and find out what their needs are and then we can help them.  After this introduction I gave more training on asking inspired questions and facilitated role playing exercises to practice.  It was a good experience for me to teach my district and I really enjoyed it.

Hermione's baptism was on Saturday and it was beautiful!  President Jenkins and his wife came and they enjoyed the service.  President said that our talks on baptism and the Holy Ghost were the best he has ever heard at a baptism because they were short, centered on core church doctrine, and meaningful.  I took that as a huge compliment because I'm still not entirely convinced that president likes me.  He also enjoyed the meaningful presentation we gave while Hermione was changing.  We showed the Because of Him video the church released and then we had taken pictures of people holding up their own Because of Him... signs and had a slide show.  We then shared brief testimonies of Christ.  Hermione's sister-in-law got really emotional and told us she should have been getting baptized that day too.  We're going to work on her a little bit more and hope that she decides to take the lessons.  

 

                        Hermione and I right before she was baptized!

 

This random old lady talked to me for a long time and hopes that I get sent to her ward.  That's super flattering and all, but the lady doesn't know me!  How can she know that she wants me in her ward?  It's the hair.  It's always the hair.  I have gotten more compliments on my beauty since I've been on my mission than ever before and I think my hair just fools them into thinking I am beautiful or something.  There is a Glee episode about hairography in which they say that if you whip your hair around enough people will think you're a good performer.  I take the time to do my hair each day and people assume that I am beautiful and an amazing missionary.  EH, it works for me! I am so sneaky.

Remember that one time I referenced My Milkshake in correlation meeting?  Well that is never going to die.  My ward mission leader still thinks it is the most hilarious thing.  Somehow I think he likes me more after that incident than he did before.  I would be a little worried about the missionary work in my ward if my missionary was quoting scandalous rap songs in my living room, but he doesn't seem to mind.  He also said that he talked to the men in priesthood about how they need to be more supportive to the missionaries and he said he almost ended by saying, "And I just told you guys this in a way less colorful way than Sister Poppe would have, so you better shape up".  I'm relieved he didn't; I don't need the ward members knowing that I am as sassy as I really am!

One of the elders kept bothering me to take this energy supplement.  So one morning I finally did.  It's called C4.  I was straight up crazy for like half of the day...and my arms are still sore from the intense lifting I did.  The elders incorporate me in their workouts now and I get so many dirty looks from the other sisters in the gym...they have a different interpretation of what an inappropriate relationship is than the Elder’s do I guess.  We're just doing squats!  We aren't whispering sweet nothings. #sweetheartsquats

Because people love us they give us food...it's kind of made #totesfit815 turn in to #fatty4lyfe

Remember when that lady told me that dogs can read auras?  I'm still on the fence about that, but I do seem to have a dog fan club.  It is becoming outrageous the number of dogs that love me.  Dogs in Mesa revere me; I think my name has gotten out among the barking chains.  Hermione's brother-in-law and sister-in-law live in her house and they have a dog that is usually in the backyard when I am over.  Well one day this week she was waiting in the living room for us.  The dog greeted me cordially enough, but then decided that she needed more love than I was offering, so she knocked me onto the couch, sprawled across my lap, and started licking me from forehead to chin!  This is no small dog either, mind you.  My fan club now consists of many loyal K9 followers, though Lysie the beagle is the president because she follows me around when I'm over and sits by me at the dinner table.  Other members include (listed in no particular order): Paco, Mercedes (newest member, inducted 5/1/14), Perdy, and Toby.  There are other dogs that are trying to join, but these are the most common purveyors of doggy love.

         Lysie.  President of the K9 charter of the Sister Poppe Fan club.  

         She is off to  Washington for the summer but will be back when

           snowbird season starts up again.  Until then she will preside

                                                    from afar.

 

I think they need to get orchestras for fast and testimony meetings like they do for the Oscars.  Some testimonies just need to end and I think a tactful way to encourage that would be to play a lovely hymn on some strings.  It works for the celebs so it will work for us!

We had a really awesome experience yesterday at church.  A lady walked in and said that she was looking for another church but couldn't find it so God sent her to ours.  We ended up talking to her for half an hour and then invited her to follow us to our other ward for sacrament meeting.  She did and really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately she doesn't live in our area so we referred her to the missionaries in her ward boundaries.  I think she will end up being baptized...she is really prepared.

We went to a fireside presented by the architect of the Gilbert Temple last night (who is actually Michael's uncle) and it was a really wonderful experience.  I took a lot away from the fireside that I needed to hear.  The architectural information was interesting and such, but I liked the personal story he shared of how he became an architect.  I really have spent a lot of time thinking about the way in which the Lord shapes us to become who we are and I think more often than not we are shaped in ways that we don't realize until later.  I had another opportunity to think about that while we were in the temple this week.  I was pondering the people I have been blessed to know in life and how I was really worried about going on a mission because I was afraid that no one would be around when I get home.  I was convinced that I would have no friends and that no one would care about me anymore.  I realized though that I have a small group of people who faithfully write me and that I am actually becoming closer with though I am away and only hear from them 2-4 times a month.  Heavenly Father knows our needs.  If we are doing what he wants us to do then we will be blessed in a way that is important to us.  Relationships have always been important to me and I have a hard time letting go of people I care about, so Heavenly Father has blessed me with meaningful relationships with people I care about even though I am far away and restricted in my means of communication.  It is amazing how we are always blessed for living according to His will.

Hopefully I will continue to have meaningful insights and will become a better person each week.

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

We had a lesson with a youth in one of our wards this week and we were teaching the ten commandments.  I decided to make the lesson more interactive, so I took the towel that was hanging up in her bedroom off the wall and put it on my head to make me look more like Moses...instead I just kind of looked like the Virgin Mary.

 

 

We went to the temple as a zone!  It was crazy windy and my skirt kept trying to fly up and do other scandalous things.  It was a wonderful morning, as temple mornings always are.