He Kissed Me with His Oreo Mouth

Hey!

Wow! With these busy weeks it’s making it hard to email home because I have so much to write and so little time. I'll try my best!

There is a musical FHE once a month put on by a talented pianist in the fancy rich stake here in Mesa. His name is Clyde Bawden. We took our ward mission leader's neighbor to it and she loved it! At the end she said, "I feel so warm right here (in her chest) and peaceful! Do you feel that?" We told her that we did and that it was the Spirit testifying of the truth of the message she heard that night. Her neighbor is going to invite her to learn more.

At the assisted living home we visit one of our friends was expressing her sorrow with being old and lonely. She talked about her husband and how much she misses and loves him. We gave her a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and she was so grateful and happy. She said it is a truly beautiful book. If we don't get her here, we'll get her on the other side.

When we returned our bikes Sister Smith biked into a bush. And it was sooooo funny.

We stopped by the TLC Family's home this week and had an amazing conversation with the husband on the porch. We taught him the Restoration outside and he wants us to come back and teach his entire family when his wife gets back in town next week. THIS IS A MIRACLE IN CASE YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT.

We met a less active this week who is so sweet. She didn't have a good experience at the temple the first time she went so she kind of fell off the radar. She opened up to us though and is going to allow us to keep visiting. We will help her and her cute little family! The son is adorable. He called me mom and kissed me with his Oreo mouth. I wanted to hold him so badly. OBEDIENCE. Ah. He sat next to me as we talked with his mom and played with my Batman and Hex-bug Nano-bug thing (which is potentially the most useful mission gift I've ever received! So many children have been distracted by that thing).

Lost is still doing well. He is getting more open with us as well. We asked if he had any questions at the end of our lesson on Friday and he said, "Sister Poppe, are you going back to BYU after your mission?" We meant questions about the Plan of Salvation, but it is cute that he is asking us human questions now. We went out with him and the priests who helped us teach and our ward mission leader for gelato after our lesson. It is made by a real Italian and is literally as good as the stuff I had in Europe. Oh man. I had some Nutella gelato and it made me want to just never eat anything again so that I could savor that sweet, creamy, delicacy for the rest of my life. This was the same day that we had the cheesecake feast...

So I received a phone call on Friday while we were weekly planning letting us know we had to come to the mission office because someone brought me something perishable. We went over and to our surprise there was the most welcome of rainbow bags on the package table in the mission office; a Cheesecake Factory take out sack. President Jenkins stopped us in the doorway and asked if that was the bribe we promised him if we stayed together. We were going to offer him a piece, but he left before we could. Which reminds me, we do owe him a piece, because Sister Smith and I are staying together for 6 more weeks! Miracles of all miracles. Anyway, back to the dessert. We ate it with our roommates while we took a weekly planning break and we all almost puked because we should have stopped eating but didn't. IT WAS SO GOOD. Cheesecake is literally my favorite dessert.

We had ZTM this week and were having a potluck afterward. Sister Smith and I were assigned a watermelon but we forgot to buy one on Pday. When we got to dinner on Tuesday night, the day before we needed the watermelon, the lady we had dinner with asked if we wanted to take home the left over watermelon. We had enough for our potluck and we didn't have to go to the store on a day that wasn't Pday! MIRACLES.

President Jenkins decided that too many trainers aren't training their new missionaries correctly, so he took a poll of mission leaders and asked who the best trainers have been in the mission. My name was one of the most prevalent I guess because I've been asked to participate with a few other missionaries (including Sister Smith) in a train the new trainers meeting this Wednesday. I'm specifically supposed to role play an effective 12 week training (that's what the new missionary training is called). I am humbled, honored, and excited!

Our 8 year old convert was baptized! It was a wonderful day. I'll send pictures next week, we didn't get any on our iPad so we're waiting for them to be emailed to us. The service was wonderful and his nonmember parents came and enjoyed it. A few days before his baptism we had a lesson with him and his 6 year old nephew said the funniest thing in the closing prayers, "Please bless that 8 year old will not flip out. Because he will be fine. Because he is only under the water and then out of it really fast. Like....a race car." This is the same kid who a few weeks ago asked us, "Is it true that people from State Farm can just appear in other places?" when his mom told him that you can ask the missionaries any questions and they have answers. President and Sister Jenkins came to our baptism and we asked President at the end when we would receive transfer news. He said, "Tomorrow night. You'll find out in about 24 hours.......that the two of you are staying together." He told us a day early! We were so caught off-guard that we didn't really react very excitedly.

Bambi is doing really well and is interested in family history. I am excited to work with her more on that.

Today at Target a sweet lady approached us and gave us each a $20 gift card. People are so nice to us sometimes. I'm excited to do nice things for missionaries when I am home! You should all do something nice for some missionaries!

Last night we were contacting former investigators and we stopped by a woman's home and had a great talk with her. She has read the Book of Mormon twice and believes fully in it. She said she will be baptized someday, just in her timing. The lady is old. Super old. I think it's time. We set up a return appointment for Friday and are looking forward to the miracles that will happen with her.

Love,

Sister Poppe

What a surprise! Cheesecake Factory cheesecake delivered to the mission 

office for us. We were all thoroughly excited. In the words of Sister Mitchell, 

"I'm glad I made the decision to come down to Earth." Yes. It was that 

good.  Also, a great weekly planning break.

Post Crossfit/Sister Brady's Bday!

Sister Smith's baby hairs remind me of Dwight Shrute. 

They're called her Dwight Shrute hairs now. 

They make my heart happy.

What's a Hugs Mom?

Hello!

Wow. Another busy week in the Alta Mesa Stake!

A few weeks back we received a phone call from the assistants to the president (it was actually the day we came down with the flu). They called to ask if Sister Smith and I would give a training at MLC about correcting missionaries in a way that leads to them changing their hearts. I was specifically told that though I was released from my leadership position and was no longer a part of the mission leadership council, that I was invited back for this meeting for the purpose of giving this training. We focused on the importance of loving those we serve, being genuine, and following the Spirit when we correct. A few people got teary-eyed and everyone enjoyed our training. A few days before we gave it President Jenkins asked how I felt about coming back to MLC. I gave him a little grief about not using me the five months he actually had me on the council and he said, "Sister Poppe, you are the most equipped to give this training, so we just needed to bring you back. It was the only option." I have had to do my fair share of correcting people, so I guess I have the experience! Sister Smith is also good at loving people into correction, so we just went with it and prepared a lovely training. During MLC Sister Jenkins made a comment about googling someone and how no one would ever Google the Jenkins because nothing would come up. I let her know that that was actually the first thing I did when I got my mission call. She laughed really hard and said, "Leave it to you, Sister Poppe." The real question though is why don't more people do that? You have to be educated! I couldn't live under the spiritual dictatorship of the Jenkins' for 18 months without knowing the paltry details that the world wide web effortlessly provides.

 We liked our new outfits, but not our heads, so we cropped them out. 

This was after our MLC training.

We gave President Jenkins a coupon redeemable for one treat if he keeps Sister Smith and I together for another transfer. He is actually softening to the idea and said, "Well it's one thing to keep two sisters together because they're friends, it's another to keep them together because they're productive. You two are productive together, so we'll see. I won't say it won't happen." Then at our baptism on Saturday a member of the Bishopric approached him and asked what the ward had to do to keep the two of us together in that ward because we were the best of the best and President Jenkins said, "You're just hurting yourself with those comments! That's why they shouldn't stay together! It is unfair to the rest of the mission! We'll see what happens though." So there is a glimmer of hope that this could work out! Sister Smith is an AMAZING missionary and I'm just normal, so really there isn't any reason we shouldn't stay together. She can help me continue to try my hardest my last few months.

We made a goal to be charitable this week and as we set the goal I said, "The problem with this is that the Lord will definitely see fit to give us opportunities to be charitable now." And he did. So many of them. We (mainly me though) were more annoyed all week than we both have been in a very, very long time. Not at each other, just at flaky people, other drivers, and situations that were out of our control. It was still a great week and all in all everything worked out, there were just a lot of stressful situations where we were late because of things we couldn't control. I hate being late more than I hate people who don't vote. I still need to work on charity, so it will continue to be my goal until the end of my mission probably. 

We went to this cool place called Organ Stop Pizza with a senior couple in the mission that happens to live in our ward boundaries and a few investigators. The food was thoroughly mediocre, but the organ entertainment was so fun! The guy can play anything. We used that meal as kind of a means of bribery to get the mother and her daughters we are kind of teaching to the Visitors' Center to watch JSPR. The mom enjoyed the movie, the one daughter that came wasn't as enthralled. The mom loves Sister Smith and I though, so we'll use that to our advantage and teach them what we can, when we can.

The FG ward mission leader asked for our help to create a blog for spiritual stories. We helped him and I'll let you know when it is up and running! His wife made us the most divine brownies I have ever eaten as a thank you. It was a great 45 minutes doing some of my favorite things; eating and blogging.

We met a man from Iran who has two wives. One he lives with in the US for 6 months and one he lives with in the Middle East for 6 months. This is real life! He is more Mormon than he realizes he is.

We had a baptism on Saturday! My baptismal numbers have officially doubled! There was a ton of member support and she looked so happy. She has come a long way and has overcome many personal demons over the 18 years she has had interactions with the gospel. We're so proud of her for her complete change and total repentance and 100% dedication to the gospel. 

 We had a baptism! We'll call her Bambi because she is very nice and loving. 

This is a picture with some of the sisters who have taught her over the past

 few months and the ward missionaries and ward mission leader.

 Bambi before she went into the water!

We met a young man that I'll call Lost, because he is a Poly and every time I think of Poly's I think of islands which makes me think of the show Lost. He is moving in with his uncle and cousins who are members. He has had a lot of interaction with the church already and has come to church many times and goes to mutual frequently. We had the first lesson with him and he committed to be baptized on June 6th! I'm telling you, this area is so good for my soul. There are miracles and blessings that I have never experienced on my mission here. Those Polynesians are so laid back. He was just like, "Yeah, I'll be baptized." But his eyes actually meant it. They're so quick to recognize truth and to feel that the gospel is what they need in their life.

I met a family in our ward at dinner who used to live in Plymouth and was in our stake for two years! They moved a few years after we lived there.

Now it is time for the most entertaining part of our week. It all centers around our investigator who we will call General Mills (GM) because his name reminds me of cereal. Let me start with a physical description before I jump into the joy he brought our life this week. GM is a 70 year old undercover cop who works closely with the DEA to catch drug dealers. He looks like he is actually in his mid-40's and acts like he is a 22 year old Harley Davidson salesman.  The man has tattoos all over his body, multiple piercings, chin length, wiry salt and pepper hair, and an interesting sense of style. His nails are often painted black and he has blue tinted glasses perched on his nose. He told us that his platonic roommate turned wife actually told him the first time see saw him that she was scared because, "You drive a big Harley Davidson and look like you're straight out of hell." You're probably thinking, "Wow, the man looks like a drug dealer!" That's because he does. He looks like the people he is trying to catch. He showed us a picture of himself before he had this career and he looked like a normal guy. He is hilarious and doesn't seem like anyone who would ever be remotely interested in the gospel, but he totally is! He has been wanting to make us lunch for weeks and our schedules finally matched up on Wednesday. He asked if he could make us tea and I told him that we don't drink sun tea but that we would talk more about that at lunch. It was the perfect set up for the Word of Wisdom, which we have been wanting to teach him anyway. He was so cute and excited to feed us. When we walked up to his town home we heard all his dogs barking (he and his roommate have 12 dogs because she rescues them). Blaring above he K-9 wailing was he most awful sounding screamo/metal/druid death cries/general ugly sounding music I have ever heard in my life. We just started laughing out loud. Seriously. GM is SEVENTY and he listens to this stuff. He came out all cheery like in black jeans and an open, cut off, button up wolf shirt turned vest with nothing on underneath. We suppressed more laughs and went over to the pool to wait for him (we didn't have a third female so we had to eat and teach outside). During the lesson he randomly said, "Well, I guess I'm getting married this Saturday. The roommate asked me and I said yes." So he just up and decided to marry his roommate, which is a blessing for us because now we don't have a law of chastity issue to deal with! He then invited us to the reception and said that we could bring proselyting materials to hand out if we wanted to! Who does that? Only an investigator who loves the gospel and loves us. He said it was going to be Bohemian and boy was it something else. We were only at the reception about 15 minutes and all of them were gloriously awkward. We walked up to the park pavilion to see him getting a tattoo at his own outdoor wedding reception. I'm not sure what the City of Mesa's policy is on that, but I bet it is not generally recommended. They proceeded to cut their wedding cake with a Samurai sword and handed out miniature Buddha's as thank you gifts. My Buddha will bring me luck in love and Sister Smith's will bring her happiness. I loved everything about our interactions with him last week and can't wait until he gets baptized. Because he totally will at some point in time. Hopefully before the completely arbitrary date of August 11th. 

Sister Smith quotes that prove we are meant to be best friends:

"I used to draw Ron Swanson all the time."

"That sign needs a comma. You give the best hugs mom. What's a hugs  mom?  See?  It needs a comma. You give the best hugs comma mom."

"It just proves to me that our bodies are carbon and water. Sometimes  they erupt like a volcano."

On a doorstep, after the normal missionary-esque questions have been  asked and it seems as if we are about to lose this awesome hipster guy that we just want to share the gospel with/be eternal friends with, "Is that Parks and Rec playing in the background? Sister Poppe is literally Leslie Knope. And I'm Ann Perkins"-SS this lead to another  five minute conversation about some worldly things but also his religious background, upcoming marriage, his Mormon family, and his life goals. We are all three besties now. Leslie Knope, what a heart softener.

Love,

Sister P

Sister Smith thought the sign and my coincidental outfit was 

too serendipitous to not take a picture of.

An elder took a creeper shot of us biking when we were on bike for two days. 

It was kind of cute. Poppe/Smith on bikes. Doing the Lord's work, 

saving miles, having awful hair days. Biking was kind of the 

worst thing ever and we decided to never do it again. 

To save miles today we did personal and comp study at the temple 

after a sister’s movie gathering we had this morning at the VC. 

How lucky are we to get to study the word of God on His grounds?

Sister Smith draws an exceptional Ron Swanson. 

He probably won't like that this is putting him on the grid, 

but it's too fine a piece of art to not share.

If I ever have to live in a nursing home, this is what my door will look like.

This is our 8 year old investigator's 6 year old uncle. 

He got a new tag and was so proud of it at church that 

we had to get matching missionary pictures.

Skyping home! Keep it classy, family. Nice wardrobe.

 A sister who served here for two transfers had to go home because of some

 bad leg problems (she had surgery before her mission and was still having

 problems). She came back for Bambi's baptism because she taught her

 before she went home and then we all went to lunch today before she 

heads back to St. George.

Hermana Guapa

Hello!

We have been meeting with our ward mission leader's neighbor (who we will call Rose, just for the simple reason that I'm down to half an hour to write this letter and I don't have the time to think of anything more creative!) and things are going well. She is interested in the church for purely historic curiosity at this point, but she did commit to read the Book of Mormon this week so her secular interest is about to become a lot more spiritual. We also took her to the VC to see JSPR this week and we invited her to the missionary fireside we sang at last night. She enjoyed the fireside quite a bit. We also formally invited her to take the lessons this week and she agreed. Though again, for only the sake of understanding those around her better. Yeah. Whatever. We'll see what happens. We don't get to tell the Spirit no! She said that she likes discussing ideas with us so it will probably go really well.

We had exchanges this week and I was with Sister Whitney Smith for the day and we found a new investigator in the Springs together. It was like a Preach My Gospel moment. Seriously. We were walking to knock on a potential's door and we saw a lady on her porch. I had the impression that we should talk to her, but she was on her phone so we just smiled and walked by. As we got just out of eyesight we heard, "Girls! Come back!" We turned around and as we approached her she looked at me straight in the eyes and said, "Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?" I responded, "Yes, we do. And in Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father." She went on to tell us about the struggles she's had since moving to Mesa six months ago and said, "I just don't think I'm feeling the Holy Spirit in my life. How do you feel the Holy Spirit? I need to feel it in my life!" I asked if we could come in and talk with her and she let us in. We spent half an hour talking to her about baptism, priesthood authority, the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the great apostasy. It was a jumbled first lesson without the first two points and without the Book of Mormon. She said she has been baptized into three different churches in her life and just wants to feel the Spirit. She invited us back and we are so excited! Everything that morning had been crazy and nothing went as planned and truly everything leading up to that point prepared us for that moment. We needed to be in front of her porch exactly when we were and it lead to the most miraculous finding experience of my mission. We are going back this week and I fully intend her to accept what we share with her. The only problem is that she lives with her daughter and wants to move out, so it is likely she could move out of the area. Her daughter is also pretty anti, so that isn't good!

Remember that one time I told you about that sister who loves my

blog and has always wanted to be my companion? Well we were for

a day! We went on an exchange. I'm afraid she probably realizes now

that I'm not as amazing as she originally thought.

We also spent some time at the assisted living center in our area during exchanges and Sister W. Smith and I had a great time visiting the members in there. They're so sweet and so grateful when we come by. I really don't want to get old! We met an old Catholic lady who was convinced we were nuns because we go by "sister". She told the Mormons at dinner that she met some nice nuns and even they tried to tell her that the sisters that came were Mormons. She didn't believe them. She told us, "Go out and make every one Catholic in this place, sisters! Some other people (most likely the Mormon) share their beliefs in here and we need 'em all to be Catholic!" 

I was really struck with the importance of the work I am doing this week. I've always known it was important, but I just felt differently about it this week than I ever have. Maybe it's because I hit 15 months on the 29th or something. I just really love what I'm doing and know how valued missionary service is. We often do things (like visit the assisted living home) that no one else has a lot of time for. Honestly, teaching nonmembers about the gospel is sometimes the least effective part of my day. Really uplifting people is what is important and what Christ did the most of.

We set a date for our 8 year old to be baptized on the 16th! Woo! We have another baptism this Saturday! My record is increasing by 200% in the next two weeks. #holllaaa #blessings

On Friday we had zone conference and it was my favorite zone conference of my mission. We talked about having a change of heart and making permanent changes to our natures. I love it. I am so grateful for the lessons I've learned on my mission and for the way my nature has changed. I feel like such a better human being now than I did before I came out. I am excited to always serve selflessly and to be an instrument in the Lord's hands for eternity. During the conference Sister Smith and I both had to give two one minute lessons without prep time. It was kind of fun and President Jenkins thanked us after the meeting for our good comments. He also said that he will possibly consider keeping us together for another transfer because we keep working on him! We still think it is a slim possibility though, so pray for us! The best part of the day was when President Jenkins turned the meeting over to Sister Jenkins and introduced her as Hermana Guapa, which translated is Sister Hottie or Sister Babe. They're so cute!

Saturday was a day of moving! We helped two families move and it was crazy! 

There were other great experiences, but I'm out of time! As always, excuse the typos and general lack of awesomeness that comes with penning something in a brief period of time.

Love,

Sister Poppe

Cat wrapping paper. I still stand by my statement that cats in real

life are awful, but cats on things and in YouTube videos are hilarious.

And with this package, birthday month is officially over. Until next year,

birthday month. Get ready, because next birthday month will be huge.

I will be celebrating a quarter of a century of life after all.

We have a problem.

Dos de Mayo lunch celebration...

because we won't have time on Cinco de Mayo

 Bike swagger

 

Just doing missionary work on a bike.

Funny story! We had a mission fireside last night for nonmembers and Sister Smith and I were asked to sing in a small group of sisters. They have these monthly and I've sang at a few. They have recent converts share their stories and have a few musical numbers and then the mission president speaks and sometimes Sister Jenkins does. They're intended for nonmembers and they're great! We had two investigators come and after the program we were talking with them as the chapel cleared out. We found ourselves as the last people there other than President and Sister Jenkins and a counselor in the mission presidency. They were talking with us and then it became 10 minutes to 9:00 and we started leaving because of our curfew. As we were leaving President Jenkins said he would walk us out. When we got out front our car was on the opposite side of the parking lot (it wasn't a huge parking lot, but decent sized) so he told us to get in the car and he and Sister Jenkins would give us a ride to our car. We protested, I said, "President, this is why sisters gain 30 pounds in Mesa," and he just laughed and made us get in his car. We ended up talking to Sister Jenkins for 10 minutes while he talked outside the car and it was fun. This was made all the better because at zone conference a few days before as they shook our hands President pulled Sister Smith in and said, "How is one of my favorite missionaries doing," a few minutes later as I shook their hands Sister Jenkins pulled me in and whispered, "You are my favorite person, Sister Poppe." Neither of us heard this but as we told each other later we thought it was funny that neither of them are supposed to have favorites and somehow their two favorites ended up in the same companionship. So as we sat in the back of their car we felt like their children. But it also kind of felt like we were in the back of a cop car. He drove us to our car and thanked us for all that we do for the mission and then awkwardly waited until we started our car and drove off. The best part is that we took this picture, which we have entitled, "Backseat with Mom and Dad," without them even knowing.

No caption provided, but aren't they cute?