One of our appointments fell through on Wednesday evening, so
we helped the YW help an older lady in the ward pack up her home to move. There were way too many people in her tiny
trailer, so I stayed outside and helped a few of the girls trim a Mesquite
tree. Our loppers didn't work very well,
so I started just ripping the thin branches off the tree and the girls helped
me. I had a good time talking to them
and getting to know them better. One of the girls was Harry's soon to be step
daughter. We actually had a really good conversation about their home and
different things. She also said that I'm her favorite missionary and it will be
weird when I'm eventually transferred and won't be on their couch three times a
week. She said I'm her favorite because she actually respects me because I am
intelligent. It made me feel good, because we all know that sometimes I
struggle with being labeled as "intelligent" instead of
"spiritual". After the service, we had Italian sodas at the YW president’s
house and were attacked with water. Once
we were wet we decided to just join in and have a water fight because we were
already wet and we weren't technically swimming or taking part in water sports.
The assisted living home we serve at got a piano! There was a hymnbook and a children's song
book and a few other books with songs from the 50's and such there. I decided
to just play a hymn on a whim and one of the residents, Phil, asked me to keep
playing. I played for an hour and toward the end I started singing the hymns I
was playing because he started singing. His father-in-law is the man who owns
this particular assisted living home and the piano is actually Phil's late wife’s.
It was actually a very tender moment; he was so glad someone was playing his
wife's piano and enjoyed hearing the hymns.
I played all the hymns I can play, some of the children's songbook
songs, and a few pieces I have memorized that aren't church related. You'll
have to mail me my pink binder of sheet music, mom, so I can play some more for
Phil. By the end of the hour there were 5-6 elderly people sitting in the room
just listening. Hazel told me that I play wonderfully and then she told Sister
Dumas and me that she loves us before we left. The sassy old women are starting
to show affection for us! As we were leaving I realized that even though the
residents are old, and many aren't fully there, playing hymns for them may be a
seed that was planted that will be harvested on the other side. I know they
felt the Spirit as I played; Phil teared up a few times, and they all were
nicer to each other than they ever are.
Our new ward mission leader in Thunder Mountain is really magnifying
his calling. He has emailed a million
families in the ward and has set up appointments with them. We're excited to
start teaching in that area! Even if it
is active members of the church who already have the gospel.
We set up a family mission plan with a Hispanic family in our
ward on Friday night. While we were
there we each received a drawing from their son, lots of hugs, ice cream, and
an invitation to come back and teach them how to play the game of Life (they own
it and don't know how to play). Their kids LOVE us. They run up and hug us
every week and always want us to come over. It makes me wish I was serving in
South America a little bit. Hispanic people are just so loving!
We were teaching Harry how to do family history the other
night and some of the elders in our stake happened to be teaching an
investigator in the family history center at the same time. We are supposed to
be home at 9:00 every night, unless we're in a lesson, then we can get home at
9:30. We wrapped up at 9:00 and told
Harry goodbye and headed out to our car.
As we were approaching our car, we saw that the light was on in the
elders' car and we decided to check to see if the doors were unlocked because
if they were we were going to shut their dome light off. We also decided to put the Pizza Hut sign on
their car. Their doors were unlocked and
somehow we decided to just hide in their car to scare them when they came out.
We knew that their lesson had to be almost done because it was already a few
minutes after 9:00, so I hid in the backseat and Sister D hid in the front
passenger seat. We ended up camping out in the car for FORTY FIVE minutes
because they stayed in the church FOREVER. Every time we got close to just
leaving we decided against it because we had already invested time in the hot,
axe scented vehicle. Finally they came out and they had one of the YM with them
that had been out with them all night and we scared them. Their reactions
weren't as dramatic as we wanted, but it was still hilarious. We saw the YM at
mission prep on Sunday and he was telling other YM about our scandalous
exploit! We told him he had to stop or we would make him stop.
We really do enjoy mission prep on the Sundays we can make
it! I love working with the youth in general and enjoy every opportunity we
have to interact with them. We took two YM out with us to Harry's lesson on
Saturday and had them teach the entire thing. One leaves in a few weeks for his
mission and the other is a recent convert who is planning on serving next
summer when he hits his year mark. It's kind of cool because when I first got
into this area the youth never wanted to serve with us, now they all want to go
out with us. There is a rivalry between a few of the YM in the Twin Knolls Ward
and a few of the YM in the Thunder Mountain Ward about who we like more. They
fight over who our favorite YM are, which is hilarious, because none of them
wanted anything to do with us three months ago! The boy that is prepping to
leave in a few weeks on his mission sat by me in Gospel Principles yesterday
and Sister D got mad at him for not sitting by her, so now there is a rivalry
between us about who the youth like more. Really it isn't a rivalry; it's a one
sided competition in which Sister D tries to win. But I'm winning; I carry a
Batman and a screwdriver in my purse, of course I'm winning.
We went to a political fundraiser for dinner on Saturday and
it was fun! Our less active member invited us and even introduced us as
missionaries during the program. We had dinner and then watched a performance
of different island dances.
I don't know what it was about yesterday, but it was love the
missionaries day or something. Everybody wanted to love us! We got so many hugs
and compliments. The YW who is following me on Twitter that I mentioned last
week told me we're now best friends and I told her to make a handshake to prove
it, and she did! She is hilarious. She's only 13, but I want Bryce to marry
her.
I have started studying from the beginning of the Old
Testament Institute manual and it is so enlightening! I really enjoy learning about basic doctrines
in a deeper way. I think it has made my studying more productive and I am
learning some really cool things about the pre-existence and stuff.
Things are still going well with our investigators. We are excited that school starts this week
because that means more people will be home more regularly.
XOXO,
Sister Poppe
We are
teaching a family how to be missionaries. The couple wants to leave when
their daughter graduates in a year and the daughter wants to serve a mission
after she graduates as well. We meet with them every Sunday night and give them
a mini MTC experience. I mentioned last week that this is the first summer in
at least 15 years I haven't made a S'more, so when we arrived yesterday they
had everything for S'mores and we made some over the stove. I was so excited!
The Hobbit
Hole Family let their desert tortoise inside for us to see this week.
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