Sister! You no good sleeper!

Happy Christmas week!

Our first official lesson with Jamie Lee Curtis went pretty well. She is really chatty and kind of lonely, so she appreciates our lessons.  She had a small back operation done a few days later, so we haven't seen her for a week, but we will stop by in a few days.  She contacted us and said she is looking forward to seeing us! I'm really hoping and praying this will go somewhere because she has so much potential!

Sister Rasheed got the first zit of her life on her 22nd birthday. I don't know if that is what Taylor Swift was feeling when she claimed the age of 22 to be an emotional state, but it was definitely part of Sister Rasheed's reality. She was confused about what was on her face and thought she had a rash. We told her it was a zit and we were trying to describe to her how to pop it and it wasn't going anywhere.  She was trying, but without a decade of practice like the rest of us, she was a bit behind the learning curve. In a true moment of companionship love, I popped it for her.       #Ra-pop4lyfe

We had dinner this week with a couple that thought our names were Sister Coffee and Sister Lasheed. Sister Rasheed gets a kick out of calling me Sister Coffee on occasion now.

Sister Rasheed likes to cook and she wants to open a restaurant someday, so I bought her an apron for her birthday and she loved it!  We also went out for pizza, her favorite American food, on her actual birthday. She didn't want me to take her because I threw her a party on Monday, but I told her that in America we celebrate birthdays for at least a week.  And if you're me, for a month.

Sister Rasheed made her hand into a cobra snake shape this week and made a snake noise and moved it toward me and I about died! I asked her if that is a Pakistani thing and she said, "No. We eat dinner one night at members home and the dad do it to his son.  Now I do it." I taught her how to hiss and to make other noises and now we make noises all the time and it is so funny! She said that people in Pakistan are not this weird. But she also said she loves American people.

We met with this truly frustrating woman on Friday night. She was a referral from our ward mission leader. She is his neighbor and seems to always be upset about something so he told her to let the missionaries come over to help her. He's invited her to do that before and this was the first time she actually took him up on it. We stopped by and she spent almost 2 hours complaining about her life and the injustices she has faced and telling us what Mormons believe. She cut us off many times and would never let us share information or even a testimony before belittling our childlike faith or citing literature from an anti-Mormon group called Concerned Christians. Finally she let me get in a word and I told her it was time for us to leave her home with a blessing and to continue on with our evening. Sister Rasheed wasn't feeling well and had actually fallen asleep on her couch during one part of her rant. She wouldn't let us show her the,  He is the Gift video, but she did let us pray. The most amazing part of this whole experience though was the fact that nothing she said swayed me. I have heard a lot of people say that they have left lessons full of anti-Mormon stuff a little shaken up.  I was angry that she wasted my time, but I wasn't concerned about my beliefs. I'm grateful that I have a strong testimony in the gospel and that I am not concerned when I hear the logical arguments against the church. In a way I am grateful that she spent so long spewing lies because it was a testimony building evening for me. To end it all, Sister Rasheed gave a simple and sweet prayer that I know will come back to her remembrance during the Millennium.

We had stake dinner two days this week #christmasmiracle

Sister Rasheed's quote of the week:

"I just like only one movie.  My faaaavorite. TITANIC! Many, many time I look that movie. I like."

The craziest thing happened this week! A lady Facebook messaged me and said that she read a blogpost about my companion and me, and that she wanted to share a gift with us for Christmas. I was super confused and eventually found out that an LDS blogger had taken an excerpt from my letter home about Sister Rasheed and I, and how Sister Rasheed doesn't get much mail and then the blogger asked for people to send her cards for Christmas. I ended up corresponding with the blogger because there was a piece of false information that needed to be corrected and in the process the lady asked for my blog address so I could be featured on her blog. She posted my latest post and already has received positive comments.  She sends out a weekly newsletter and features different bloggers from time to time and said that she will feature mine occasionally! I am so excited. I told her that I want to pursue a career in writing if at all possible and that I would love any deserved publicity. She said she loved my latest post on the Poppe's Plates blog and that is why she ended up sharing it.  I haven't had the chance yet to check my blog stats to see how many more views I had after she shared it, but I am excited to hopefully work closely with her and to help more people learn about the gospel through my writing!

I will talk to you all on Christmas day! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!! SO MUCH EXCITEMENT AND HAPPINESS I COULD PEE MY PANTS!!!!!!

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

Sister Rasheed's birthday was on Wednesday so we celebrated last P-day with some other sisters. I forgot to mention that two weeks ago a random stranger paid for my groceries at Walmart. I felt bad because I was also buying bobby pins, mascara, etc. so my bill was higher than normal. But the lady really wanted to help out so I let her. Anyway, because I had extra money I decided to buy stuff to make Sister Rasheed's party more special, such as party hats and ice cream. Again last week, a lady offered to pay for my items at Walmart and I felt bad because I had all of this party stuff and face wash and random stuff. But again, she insisted! It turned out to be good though, because it cost and arm and a leg for me to ship home Christmas gifts.

On Sister Rasheed's birthday we stopped by the mission office for our car inspection and one of the senior couples was sharing a cake they had been given.  I told them it was Sister Rasheed's birthday, so they made her chop off about half the cake and take it with her!  We enjoyed it for 3 or 4 days.

 

Someone in Mesa has our mailbox!

We put all of our beds in one room so that we can study in separate rooms.  I feel like an orphan. I hate it. I never get to sleep on time because people are talking and it is just not an ideal situation for me.  But the other sisters love it because it's like a sleepover.  Maybe if I was 19 and didn't love sleep I would be more on board with this forced nightly slumber party.  Also, since I took this picture I have been moved to the middle bed, because the other sister doesn't like the fan to blow on her.  It's kind of funny, because now I roll onto Sister Rasheed's bed AND Sister Fry's bed throughout the night. Sister Rasheed said, "Sister!  You no good sleeper. You like dis and dis and dis. Your arm here. Your arm on my pillow. You no good sleeper!"