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.
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