My Mother Called Him a Communist Dictator

This week was a week of firsts for my companion and me. There were so many firsts, that I'll start with all of those and then go into the remainder of my letter.

1. It was the first time I've called a group of sisters to repentance.  When I was in the Salt River Stake our district leader told the stake president that our district had some of the best missionaries in the mission in it. At the time I thought that was an exaggeration, but having left the district now, I believe it was true! I miss being with some of the most obedient and driven people in this mission. I woke up the day of our district meeting and felt inspired to change the training I was going to give to a talk on obedience and repentance.  There has been too much slipping in the district and too many times that the sisters haven't pushed themselves (myself included). I boldly, yet lovingly, shared some scriptures and passages from Preach My Gospel about repentance and diligence and then told them a few things that needed to improve and then invited them to repent. I was so nervous. Naturally my neck was red. No one hated me by the end, and one sister told me later that day that she has been praying for correction and that I answered her prayer. Things are improving, but they still aren't where they should be, unfortunately. But I do have a tendency to expect more out of people than is likely to be achieved.  So I need to work on that.

2. It was Sister Rasheed's first time riding a bike! I taught her last P-Day and we worked on it some more on Christmas Eve. It was so hard!  How do you explain to someone how to balance? You can't! We are to the point that she can ride the bike by herself  if I hold it and help her start or if she can use a curb to push off of. I looked so ridiculous running around holding on to the seat and handle bars of a bike that a grown woman was riding.

The bike started to roll forward as the self-timer was

counting down and this is what it captured.

 

Battle wounds.

 

3. I did my first dumpster dive. I bought a pair of earrings at Target and I couldn't find them the other day. I looked all over and finally decided that someone must have accidentally thrown them away when we cleaned up all the wrapping paper and boxes Christmas afternoon. It was 9:30 in the evening, but I knew the longer I waited to check the garbage the more there would be to sift through. I grabbed my head lamp and Sister Rasheed and reluctantly headed toward the dumpster at the end of the parking lot. We checked the recycling bins first because they were cleaner. When that didn't yield a positive result I knew I had to actually climb into the dumpster. I stupidly was still in a skirt, sweater (complete with my name tag...#dignified), and slippers, but I just went for it. I knocked a recycling bin over and used it as a ladder and then grabbed another recycling bin and threw it in the dumpster so I had something to sit on that wasn't a pile of trash. I hopped in and spent the next half an hour sifting through the remnants of people's festive day. I didn't find my earrings and decided to give up. I put the recycling bins back and went home with nothing more than dirty hands, an appreciation for the fact that I've never been homeless, and a pair of two year old slippers that met their demise. The next day I found the earrings in the trunk of our car.

 

4. I spent my first Christmas away from home. In all honesty it didn't really feel like Christmas because of the weather so it didn't hit me until Christmas Day that I should be sad. We had a great day though! I still can't believe that you mailed my gifts to a member's home instead of the mission office so I couldn't open them before Christmas! I inherited my poor self-control at Christmas time from you and you had the audacity to limit me! We went to the relief society president's home in Brimhall and had breakfast with her and her children and grandchildren and opened our gifts.  When I opened my watch she said, "Look kids! Blessings of a mission! You go on a mission, you get nice things." It was so funny. I got to take a nap on Christmas day and it was potentially the best gift I could have received. I am literally always exhausted.  ALWAYS. My right eye has twitched on and off for a month and I'm still not sure if it is from sleep deprivation, stress, or an undetected case of epilepsy.  Probably the last one. I'm dying. We had dinner at a fun home that night and they gave us cute stockings with treats. We ended the evening by singing with the entire mission at the temple. To be honest, I wasn't that impressed with the recordings I heard of us, but people seemed to like it. We all know I'm kind of a music snob, so I'm sure the general citizenry liked it even though I didn't think we sounded that great. I did rock my bell part though!

5. I took part in comforting the first sister in my district to have a small break down during my tenure as district leader. So many emotions all the time! 

That's all for the firsts!  On to the last few points of this letter.

A couple in Brimhall does "Subway Saturday" with the sisters once or twice a month so they took us out for lunch and it was hilarious. A friend of theirs from another ward ate with us as well. I literally thought I had climbed into a time machine and was having lunch with Brandon 40 years from now.  He talked a lot about guns, oil drilling, the military and other things, but the most Brandon like thing he said of the day was, "the first thing I'm doing when I'm dictator of this country is kicking all the Prius owners out!"  When he asked about my family and myself and I told him that he reminded me of my brothers and dad he said that I must come from a fine family. Then when he found out that I had a degree in American Studies and the men in my family had all or were currently serving in the military he said that we were fine people and that he should fly out to Minnesota to meet my family. He's crazy! hahahahaha.

At Christmas lights I saw someone with a UNI sweatshirt on so I approached her and asked if she is from Iowa. Through our conversation I mentioned that I lived in Hampton and it turns out that her brother is Mr. Wempen, my middle school principle! Her dad asked for my name so he could talk about me and I gave it to him. I really wanted to lie because I'm sure the only thing Mr. Wempen remembers about me is that middle school years were bad hair years for me and that my mother called him a communist dictator the first month of our three year authority figure/pupil relationship.

I'm going to be honest.  Things are slow here. I feel like I'm in a hamster wheel just running, running, running and nothing is happening.  I really hope that when Christmas lights end and when we have more time in our area that things will take off. We have a mission wide fast this upcoming Sunday to find new investigators and our wards are fasting with us. I know that will lead to many miracles and I am so excited for them to start pouring in!

Today is my 11 month mark!!!! WHAAAAAAAAAT????? Also, I'm having a crisis because I realized my birthday is in 4 months and I am not ready to be 24.  24 just seems so much older than 23. Where did 23 go?  I seriously JUST had my birthday month. I can't even handle this. 24 year olds own houses and stuff. I can't even.

On that note, have a happy new year!  Set some real goals this year. Include spiritual and physical goals. I am going to read all of the Standard Works in 2015 for one of my spiritual goals.

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

This is an awful picture, but for some reason Sister Rasheed loves it.

 

Christmas morning with our stockings.

Thanks Bri Bri! They are adorable.

These are all of our favorite things! I spy a Smashburger gift card,

                               a fancy new watch, Sperry's, and Resse's trees.

 

Sister Rasheed said as she was opening the gifts from my family,

"How your family know all my favorite things! These my favorite gifts."

Spot on family. Spot on!

I LOVE MY WATCH! I'm taking it to the mall today to

get it sized down though because it is a little large.

 

All bundled up.

 

I ran into two members from Twin Knolls at Christmas lights!

 

Seriously, I have been waiting all month to illegally hop the

little fence to take a picture with this fake man.

 

 

"I curse in da morning and pray in da evening."

We had our mission Christmas party this week and it was a nice little event.  We were split into three groups over three days and each of us were assigned a day.  Our party was on Wednesday.  It was fun to see one of my good MTC friends, Elder Sweeten, again because I haven't seen him very often since we arrived in Mesa. We've both been in different parts of the mission.

Mission Christmas Party!

 

We did a temple session and had a chapel session with the temple president. The temple president said, "I wish I could tell you all that I know. I know so much. All I will say is that you really are the best of the best and you have been sent here to wrap up the scenes of this Saturday Evening of the Earth. You are a chosen group." Can we talk about how terrifying that is! I excused myself from the obligation to SAVE THE WORLD under the pretenses that I am 23 and not one of the 19 year old missionaries, so I wasn't saved for this purpose...only the 19 year old missionaries were. Clearly the 4 years I have on them places me in a different generation. We had a luncheon after the temple and then practiced our songs for Christmas evening. PKJ and his wife then addressed us and shook each of our hands and wished us a merry Christmas and gave us each a copy of Lectures on Faith. As I shook his hand he said, "Sister Poppe.  The members in the Salt River Stake sure miss you.  I've already received comments that they just miss you so much out there."  It really made my day and gave me the motivation to keep on trying in my new area even though I just want to leave them and go back to what I have known for 10 months. It reminds me of when we moved to Minnesota.  I didn't hate my new situation and there was a lot of good happening, but I still just wanted to move back to Iowa because it was what was easy and normal for me.  It took time for me to like Minnesota as much as I liked Iowa and then even more time for me to love Minnesota. So I know with time (probably another two weeks) I will love this place as much as I should.

Sister Childs (the one who got her ears pierced last week) is an amazing missionary. She is just so lovable and good at being bold and talking to everyone.  She gave the girl who pierced her ears a pass along card and it inspired me.  So when I bought my new coat last Monday, I gave two employees a pass along card as well and invited them to have Christ in their Christmas this year.  They were actually very nice and thought it was sweet of me.

We have a new investigator in one of our wards that I will call Willy Wonka.  Mainly because he is kind of crazy and mysterious and blunt.  Not because he gave me candy, because he didn't. He is an ex-communicated J-Dub, so a lot of his issues are ones that Hobbit Hole Grandpa had.  Those J-Dubs sure know how to brain wash people! He honestly isn't very open, but wants to know more because he likes the way Mormon people act. I think over a long period of time he may have potential, but I will probably just be here long enough to start to chip away at the bedrock before someone else can get to the fountain of water beneath.

We had a sister training leader meeting this week (even though I'm a sister district leader, I go to those meetings, because my responsibilities are the same as a sister training leader, plus more on top of that). It was a good meeting.  We brainstormed and talked about ways to help our sisters. After our meeting while we were mingling Sister Jenkins gave us dating advice and it was so funny.  Somehow we convinced her to bring her wedding pictures out and they were hilarious! THE 80'S. I'm telling you.

I met an excommunicated member of the church at Christmas lights who was feeling pretty down on herself. I shared Helaman 5:12 with her and she teared up and said that she prayed in her car before she came to the lights and asked that she would have enough strength to keep trying to get her life in order.  She said that my scripture helped her focus on what she needs to do; rely on Christ. She hugged me and thanked me.  It helped me feel like I was actually helping people and not just wandering around doing nothing.

MIRACLE ALERT!

Let's set the scene: 12/13/14. 8:48 pm. Sisters Poppe and Rasheed were contacting referrals and had had no luck. They were exhausted and wanted to sleep after roaming for 3 hours at the temple and walking about a bajillion miles. They decided to try one last referral that hadn't been home on a previous attempt. She was home and let them in and is super interested and even said she normally doesn't answer the door at night because she lives alone. We are going back tonight!  The church is true! She will be heretofore called Jamie Lee Curtis, because she has short hair and is sassy. JLC is so prepared it is crazy!

We did service for a sassy lady in one of the retirement communities in our ward and it was hilarious. I seriously wish I could have video recorded the entire thing. She gave us a 20 minute introduction of herself that included her stance on welfare, parents these days, and people with weak testimonies. She then said, "so that is me. I have a good feeling about you girls. You have a good spirit about you. I think we will get along just great and this will be the start of many wonderful visits during and after your mission. I hope you will accept who I am and that we will be friends. God bless these sweet missionary sisters!" Here are a few of the highlights that I remember from our visit (keep in mind she still has trace amounts of a Jersey/Brooklyn hybrid accent from when she lived back east):  Her daughter joined the church in 1991 and then after college in 1995 she went on a mission. The lady joined right before her daughter left.  The daughter's original mission call was to El Salvador and the lady wasn't having it, so she petitioned the first presidency and got it changed. I didn't believe her because that never happens, but then she showed us the framed mission change letter her daughter received that reassigned her to California. I was floored! She said though, "I didn't raise my daughter to be killed in the jungles of El San Salvador!"

"I still love Tom Selleck's shorts in Magnum P.I. He is the only man who has business wearing shorts on television."

"The lady is a gossip and she has a dog face" (about her Jewish neighbor).

"You are a princess and don't let any man treat you otherwise."

"I curse in da morning and pray in da evening."

"I'm 73 years old and I'm a racist."

While we were contacting potential investigators in an apartment complex, this man greeted us from his balcony. I started talking to him about his faith from 15 feet below in the dark and eventually he came down to talk to me. He was not a fan of me. He was trying to trip me up by asking me historical questions about Jesus and the Bible but I answered all of his questions correctly. He asked how I know so much and I said I went to college and that I know many sides of Christianity's story, I just know which ones are actually true as well. He got all up in my business about how I shouldn't be out spreading lies about Jesus because I'm clearly educated and I know better. At one point in time he flat out told me that the Almighty isn't pleased with how I am wasting my time and lying about his son.  At this point I was livid so I said it was time for us to go because things were going to become contentious. I said, "I respect your beliefs sir, but we are going to just have to agree to disagree, because I have been called by a prophet of God to share what I know, and I know my message is true (quoting Preach My Gospel for the win)." #elderhollandstatus To which he said, "I refuse to consent to that; I will not let you believe you are right." I bore a brief testimony then and we left. #troll Someday his knee will bow and his tongue will confess and I will not live with the guilt of knowing that I backed down.

The toilet paper in our church building is not your typical church stock. I don't know if this stake pays 11% tithing or if a t.p. enthusiast donates the bathroom tissue or if these wards won a contest put on by the first presidency in which they won multi-ply toilet paper for a year or if something else is going down here. I'm telling you though, it's magnificent. #blessingsonhigh

I was a little worried about how being companions with Sister Rasheed was going to be because I knew she loved her first companion a lot.  Things have been going well between us, but a part of me still worried that maybe she was putting on a front. The other night before bed she said, "good night! Sleeping time! I love you!" Then the next night she said, "sister. You is funny. When we transfer I nervous. I said I no know Sister Poppe. And all the sisters say, 'Sister Poppe great!  Sister Poppe funny. You have fun with Sister Poppe. She good missionary.' But I still scared. What if I no like Sister Poppe? But I like you sister. You is fun and funny." I'm glad that we get along and that I love her so much because it would be hard dealing with all the stress of having a companion who isn't fluent in English and not like her at the same time.

Sister Rasheed learned the word sassy this week! It is so funny. She uses it all the time now. She will point at naughty kids, or me, or random strangers and whisper "sassy!" I also told her she can call those people spicy so sometimes she says spicy. When we did service for our funny new friend Sister Rasheed looked at me and mouthed, "Spicy!" I died.

Love,

Sister Poppe!

 

Brimhall Ward Christmas party. Sister Rasheed thought it

 was hilarious that we were taking pictures with props on sticks. 

Every time she sees this pictures she says,

"Sister! I like. This good picture!"

 

Sister Rasheed admitted to me that she has been practicing her kissy

lips face ever since we took a kissy lips face last week as a district. 

She has greatly improved! She also made me put on her

bright lipstick before we took the picture because my

 more tame lipstick wasn't bright enough.

Temple Lights!

 

 

Freely Ye Have Received, Freely Give

We stopped by 11 homes Monday and Tuesday evening so I could tell people goodbye/so we could share the He is the Gift video. They were hard visits to make. One of my favorite families gave us Christmas gifts from the Target dollar spot that were cute. We were already excited, and then when we found a fifty dollar Target gift card between the two pair of warm holiday socks we are even more jazzed! We definitely have to make a trip back to Mesa now after my mission because I promised a bajillion people I would come back and visit them. The Target gift card family told me that they are moving to Minnesota though and they want to meet my family when they get up there! The husband is from Minnesota and the wife and kids love it so they are moving. They're thinking it will happen in May. The wife already Facebook creeped you, mom and liked all of your little home renovation crafting things.

 

Needless to say, I was so sad to leave my area. I had a hard start to the week. My first night in my new area I felt like I was back in the MTC. I was sad, wanted to cry, and didn't know why I was here. I was overwhelmed at the idea of creating new relationships and I just wanted to cry. But I didn't. I prayed so long on Wednesday night that I fell asleep on my knees with my head resting on my bed. I was asleep for at least half an hour before I woke up because my legs were tingling. I had a lot of meetings my first few days in the area, so that didn't help because I felt like I wasn't getting anything done in my area. Additionally, we have to do four hours of studies a day so Sister Rasheed's English improves, so we really didn't get much done my first two days in the area. On Friday I decided I couldn't be sad anymore so I just prayed and asked for the strength to love the new people I was meeting. In my personal study I read Matthew 10:8 (because I decided to read the four gospels before Christmas Day) and the line that said "freely ye have received, freely give," jumped out at me. That was the official end to my pity party because I realized that I have been given so very much and all Heavenly Father wants me to do is love and teach new people. He isn't asking me to chop of a limb or give up Reese's for the rest of my life. I have been given so much, so I can give to others. In a new area.

Cheesecake Factory mom's parents are in my new ward! I am so excited because it means I will be able to see them occasionally when they come to church with her parents. Her younger sister gets home from her mission in a few weeks so she said they will for sure be at sacrament meeting for her homecoming talk the Sunday after Christmas

I sat through approximately 8.5 hours of meetings on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Another meeting I was supposed to have was postponed so our four hour meeting from Thursday that didn't end where it needed to could be finished on Friday. So I will have another 2 hour meeting this week on top of ZTM (that I have to give a THIRTY minute training at) and a breakfast meeting with the high councilman over missionary work in this stake. These meetings don't include the correlation, weekly planning, and ward council meetings that I normally sit through! They were all wonderful though. Our long one Thursday that carried over into Friday is called Mission Leadership Council (MLC) and that happens once a month. Normally it doesn't take two days, but this month we had a lot to discuss! We talked a lot about what leadership looks like and how leaders help people grow. I loved when we talked about missionaries that come into the field at a 2 and leave at a 3 and how that growth is huge even though it doesn't seem like it. PKJ said that we all probably came in at a 10, but if we don't leave at a 15 the other elders and sisters still made more of an improvement than we did and that we need to remember that. Growth should always be looked at within one missionary, not between one missionary and others. We also planned how we are going to prepare for a super baptism month in March. We set a lot of small goals for December, January, and February to help improve the quality of missionaries that we have and to increase their faith so we can find enough people to have 100 baptisms in March. I also had District Leader Orientation (DLO...seriously, missionary work is all about abreves, I guess). That was pretty straight forward and short; I was just trained on how to be a district leader by my zone leaders, and then helped them set goals for the transfer and talked through the needs of the missionaries I am serving. I also sat down with three of the five sisters in my district and talked with them one on one about goals and expectations and how I can help them. It isn't required of me to do that, but I really felt like it was important. I want each sister to know that I love them and that I will help them reach their goals and keep them accountable.

We had the Aspen Christmas party on Saturday and it was so fun! A decent amount of the homes in that ward are on huge plots of land. I think they're acre plots, but I am also bad at estimating, so I don't know. The bishop lives on one of those plots and he has an amazing backyard. He has a full size basketball court, a covered outdoor kitchen and pavilion, in ground trampoline, batting cage, BATHROOM, projector, fire pit, garden, legitimate park-like playground, and some yard to spare. The Christmas party was in their backyard. I was in love. We went early to help decorate and set up the food tables. The bishop's wife is President and Sister Jenkins' niece and the daughter of one of the mission presidency members. Her brother and sister-in-law were there to help set up and they are in my other new ward. I really like all of them, but especially the brother and his wife. They're hilarious and not super Mormony. The wife is a reporter and reported at the Sochi Olympics for NBC. #legit. I spent a lot of time talking to one of our investigators at the party and that was good for me. I know her well enough now that I feel like I can connect with her in lessons. The bishop has a four square court as well and I was so excited! I played with a group of ten year old boys for a bit.  The next day at church one of them told me he was going to beat me at four square someday and that we had to play again. I'm already making friends with people in my mental range.

The fire alarm went off in the middle of sacrament meeting in our first ward yesterday. It was eventful! Every one sat there for about 45 seconds and finally a member of the bishopric stood up and we all followed suit and filed out of the chapel. It was a false alarm, but some people just went home because we stood in the parking lot for 10 or 15 minutes while everything was examined. It was kind of funny.

We were invited to YW to help with the lesson in Aspen Ward and it was so fun. One of the YW forced me to give a lengthy introduction of myself and when I was done I heard her whisper to her neighbor, "I like this missionary!" Hopefully we can work with them as much as we did with the TK YW.

Sister Rasheed says a lot of funny things. This week's favorite was her interpretation of Jingle Bells. She was singing "Jingle Man!  Jingle Man," all day on Saturday because she thought those were the words to Jingle Bells. I also love her prayers. She always says, "Bless me and my companion we teach very well," and, "thank you for all the blessings." Sometimes she says, "bless my tongue that I speak English." It's so cute! She said she wants to learn more real world words, so I've started teaching her a few a day. Drive thru and dollar menu were probably the most useful.

President and Sister Jenkins had good friends in Mesa this week and they sat in on some of our meetings. They're pretty important people in Idaho. The husband has advised President Bush and Obama in cabinet meetings before and is the top guy over education in Idaho. President Jenkins had him share words of wisdom with us a few times. During one of the stories the friend shared, he said, "I took my daughter and President Jenkins' daughter on a little trip one Saturday when they were 6 or 7. We stopped at a gas station and I went over to get a fountain Diet Coke when I noticed his daughter looking at me. I asked her if she wanted one and she replied, 'no, that's what Laman and Lemuel drank!'" We all died laughing because it sounded exactly like something President Jenkins would have told his children when they were young.

 

I did my first Christmas lights shift on Thursday and am looking forward to doing more! I have an in with all the snow birds and love it. They don't always want to talk to the missionaries, but I have found that I can spot them pretty easily by their wardrobe (or lack thereof) and then I say something along the lines of, "you must not be from here! It's too cold to still be sporting sandals and capris!"  Then they tell me they're from Minnesota or Canada and I tell them I'm from Minnesota and we are friends. We work every even day at the temple. Our shift is always two hours, but changes depending on the evening. We are either 6 to 8 or 8 to 10. It's so fun!

I have decided that I want to find and baptize a family in this area.  I am praying for it every day and am devoting all free time to contacting potential and former investigators. I've already made lists and we are going at it! Sister Rasheed keeps saying, "Sister! We so busy!" It's good for us.

Love you all,

Sister Poppe

Sister D2 and my last trip to Golden Spoon together

Harry and his fiancé and her daughter and I with Paco the pup.

  

Sister Rasheed and I!

 

Sister Childs didn't have her ears pierced, so we went as a district

today and she got them pierced! These are the things

you can do with an all sisters district.

Don't Mess With Sista P and Spicy D!

First and foremost, I SURVIVED THE 5K. HOLLLLLA ATCHA CHAMPION RIGHT HERE. Bum, Bum Bum Bum, Bum Bum Bum, Bum. Bum. Bum (That was Eye of the Tiger) STRAIGHT UP ROCKY STATUS! More on the 5K later.

The sisters from our apartment in our Fit for the Kingdom 5K shirts

 

On to my week!

We are teaching an active member from Twin Knoll's who is kind of in a faith slump right now. She feels stagnant and wants help building her faith and progressing. It is so rewarding to work with her because she does everything we ask her to do, she is trying so hard, and she is making amazing progress. I always leave her home knowing that I have such a special calling right now to help all people come closer to Christ.

We had another story time this week and it went really well! We told the same stories as last time because we figured our audience would be different (and it was) and added a children's Mormon Message and another song. The kids were all pretty young, but the moms and toddlers enjoyed it! They said that we need to make it a regular thing and that they'll all invite someone. I'm so happy that it is working.  I charged Sister D2 with carrying on the program after I leave. We had 7 total kids come and I know that it will only grow from here!

We received a referral for Thunder Mountain and we were so excited! We showed up to talk to the guy and he seemed kind of confused and said, "don't we have an appointment for tomorrow at one?" We said sure and figured that whoever sent the referral had told him that we would be able to meet then or something. We weren't really too hung up on it.  We went by the next day and as we were walking up to the door the single's ward sisters pulled up. Basically we were both sent the referral because he lives in our family ward, but is single's ward age. They had contacted him and set up the appointment, that's why he was confused. We were so mad and sad. We really got our hopes up and they were dashed. Plus the other sisters were kind of rude about it.  We went to Smashburger to console our feelings. #girlswhoeattheirfeelings

 

We had our first training for the Mesa Temple Christmas Lights and we are so excited! My first shift is on December 1st, and from there we serve every other night through New Year’s Eve. Because transfers are December 3rd, I don't know which shift or which schedule I'm on yet.

CHRISTMAS LIGHTS AT THE TEMPLE

As a warm up to the 5K, we participated in our stake's Fun Run on Saturday. I only did a mile; Sister D2 did two.

Harry quote of the week:

"I saw a lady with a veil and red dot right here (points to middle of forehead). She was a Lamanite. (Nods his head in self satisfaction)."-Harry

"Harry. That was a Hindu lady! Not a Lamanite."-Me

Hahahahahaha's had by all

"I'm glad I didn't tell her that her ancestors were wicked then...I was going to."-Harry

Sister D2 has started to become a little bit sassy. It's evidence to me that my training period is complete; she has become what she needed to become. Whenever we have correlation meetings in Thunder Mountain I always get more worked up than I should and my spicy side comes out.  Sister Dawson's spicy side FINALLY showed itself at our correlation meeting on Thursday and I was so pleased. I started calling her Spicy D and it has stuck. I think she enjoys it. She definitely likes it more than "the gazelle" which is what our TK ward mission leader now calls her. Hahahahaha. It makes me so happy.

We are experiencing a little drama with the missionaries in our stake currently. I know I'm supposed to write home uplifting things, but this is too good to pass up. We are the only missionaries in the stake that cover two buildings. Because of that we asked for a key to the family history center in the one building we didn't have one in. The other sisters asked for one too apparently and they were given our key and we were sharing it. It was working out well until one of their ward councils complained that we brought ants into the room and were using unauthorized websites. The ants were in the room before we had the key and we reported them, and the unauthorized website was BYU because one of the elders got permission from the mission president to work on a BYU application on P-Day for after his mission. Someone, please send that disobedient elder straight to where the sun don't shine. Unworthy swine, anyway. So the sisters took the key away and said that "until we gain their members' trust back no one was allowed to use the key". We thought that meant all of us, but we found out that their bishop didn't take the key, the sisters did and still have access to the room. We were already irate because it was our key to begin with and we didn't do anything to deserve it being taken away!  On top of that, the fact that they have the key enrages me even further. So we told our ward mission leader and he was furious as well and said he would take care of it. He confronted the sisters at church yesterday and demanded they give him the key or to put it back in the library where it was so we all had access to it again. They said they wouldn't because their bishop entrusted it to them. He said that buildings are a stake responsibility and that the stake didn't take it away, so their bishop doesn't have right to and further, we requested the key so it was never theirs to begin with. The high councilman who gave it to them only did because he knew sisters requested it, but didn't know which ones and he saw them before he saw us. The one sister still refused, so the WML took the issue to our bishopric and they said to take it to the stake and to get us a key because we need one and one other ward in the building doesn't have the right to bar our entrance. We are currently waiting on our WML to contact the appropriate stake representative and to get back to us. I will not let this die! Justice will be victorious. Don't mess with Sista P and Spicy D!

SATAN'S 5K OVER AND OUT: As you saw, I wrote a blogpost about Satan's 5K. The evening after I wrote it I received a text from Sister Jenkins that said, "Sister Poppy, I just read your post about training for Satan's 5K. :D :D :D! I had no idea how miserable this was making you feel. But I commend you for the turnaround and what you have learned!  I would call this a defining moment, wouldn't you? :)" I was so mortified that she actually read my blogpost! I figured that in the pile of 255 missionaries she would never see my post pop up on her newsfeed, let alone take the time to read it! I responded about it being a defining moment and reassured her that though this was her idea, I actually named the 5K after the one and only Satan and wasn't referring to her as Satan. That Friday at our Christmas lights training PKJ (AKA President Kirk Jenkins, AKA Prezzy J, AKA Prezzy K Jenks, AKA President) came up to me and said that Sister Jenkins made him read my blogpost and that he thought it was absolutely hilarious and written very well. He also apologized for filling the role of my middle school gym teacher. I was even more mortified that he had read it! During this conversation Sister Jenkins joined in to tell me that she also emailed a link to all of her children and told them to read it. She asked if I ran that morning and I told her I had. Somehow I think I've become the poster child for all the slow kids that have been stripped of their agency and forced to participate in this awful five kilometers of torture. The positive in all of this is that I know that my blog, though often unorthodox compared to other missionary blogs, is one hundred percent acceptable. A part of me always feared that PKJ would run across my blog and that I would get a phone call asking me to remove my less than ordinary blog from the web and to repent and think about what it means to be a respected female representative of Christ. Thank goodness Prezzy J appreciates humor and uniqueness!

At the 5K today I saw Prezzy J, of course, and he shook my hand and said, "I'm glad to see that no doctor’s appointments popped up to prevent you from being here!" This is never going to die! My goal was to run the first mile and then walk the rest. They said there would be mile markers, but I was starting to get tired and was convinced that someone forgot to put out the mile markers so I stopped running. Then, I looked up and saw the one mile sign and it was about 100 meters away. I was so annoyed at myself for stopping! I was so close to accomplishing my goal and I gave up too soon. It was okay though, I had caught up with my friend and we walked the next two miles and then ran the last 1/10 of a mile to the finish so that we could say we ran across the finish line. It was actually a really enjoyable event for the last 2 miles. Sister Moreton and I just talked and decided that we should probably be companions sometime before the end of our missions.

Sister Jenkins and I are practically besties now, so we took some celebratory

5K pics. NOTE: It was her idea to jump, not mine! That's a first!

 

I've met a lot of sisters that I love, but only a few that I LOVE and Sister Moreton is one that I LOVE. It took us 49 minutes to complete, which isn't terrible I guess. We could have probably pushed ourselves harder, but it was a pleasant morning and I thoroughly enjoyed spending some quality time with her. As we got close to the finish line Sister Jenkins ran out to meet me and said she wanted to run the last 100 or so feet with me.  She hugged me and congratulated me and then President Jenkins came up and shook my hand and did one of his terrifying combo side hug/shoulder shakes and said he was so proud of me for doing something hard. There were no medals though, so  I'm still a little upset about that. I am still going to run three mornings a week and am going to try to be at a point where I can run a 5K by the time I'm home. I have 36 weeks left, so I can just increase the distance I run by 1/8 of a mile a week and slowly work my way up to 3.1 miles! I did decide today that I would love to be one of those moms that just drops her kids off at school and then walks with her friend and chats for an hour. I could do a 5K every single day if I had someone entertaining to walk with like Sister Moreton.

Sister Moreton and I; 5K champions

 

You guys need to try Blue Bell's Christmas Cookie ice cream; it is so delicious. Also, read your scriptures! They're important too.

Happy Thanksgiving and Love you all!

Sister Poppe

 

Flamingos! We placed them in our first yard in Thunder Mountain. 

 

We had a stake fun run on Saturday. We went and ran as a warm up to our 5K.

I did a mile with Sister Dunn and Sisters Krueger and Dawson did 2 miles.

Spicy D and I

When I'm frustrated/angry/confused/or any other negative emotion, I just fall on the ground and exclaim something like, "I DON'T UNDERSTAND LIFE," or "UGGGGGGGHHHHHH WHY IS LIFE HARD," or my favorite, "FREAKING I DON'T EVEN KNOW. (followed by unintelligible noises of frustration)". Well, my legacy has continued with Sister D2. She fell over in frustration the other day and I loved it. Training=a success. #winning

 

Last P-day we got home after emailing and there was a fort in our living room!

We watched the Testaments in it and all fell asleep during the movie.

 It was actually a really great nap.

 

 

 

 

 

Heavenly Father's Approved Blessings List

Our sister training leaders this transfer are Spanish sisters, so instead of doing an all day exchange (because one of us would have to spend a day doing Spanish work then), we did an evening with them in our area. We did a blitz, which is just when you try and visit as many people as possible who aren't members. We already had a lesson scheduled, so I went to that for part of the evening and Sister D2 spent her whole evening finding people to teach in Twin Knolls. She found 3 investigators, and I found 3 in Thunder Mountain as well! To be counted as a new investigator, you just have to have been taught a principle, commit to an invitation (read the Book of Mormon, come to church, etc.), and schedule a return appointment. So while we had 6 new investigators in one evening, they didn't all pan out. People weren't home when we went back, but that is pretty normal. To get 1 baptism a month you're supposed to aim for 16 new investigators. We've never had that many in a month, but things are looking better already for November! It's amazing how much more you can get done when you split up and cover twice as much area in just 2.5 hours. I was so proud of Sister D2. Her personality is such that she is better at finding than other things in missionary work, and I didn't realize that until Monday evening. She gets down to business, whereas I talk a lot. I only made it to 2 houses beyond my one hour lesson that night, but she hit up 7 houses and a few street contacts. She's so good at it! If I had my way, I would outsource all my finding and just teach people 24/7. Oh yeah, that's also the Lord's way too...but somehow it never happens.

I was asked by an elderly lady this week if Sister Dawson was my sister or my baby. (Insert Emoji face with slanty eyes and lowered eyebrows).  *mom's note:  Sorry, I don't have emoji's on my computer, only my phone.  You will just have to imagine it.

There's a less active lady that we have been asked to visit on and off my entire mission and we are never able to contact her because she won't answer her door.  We were asked to stop by again this week and I was annoyed but then felt like we should try so I could be a good example to my companion.  I was kind of negative and made the comment that it was a waste of time because she wouldn't answer the door on our way to dinner that night. We were eating across the street from her so we were going to just give it a shot after dinner because it was close and wouldn't take any of our miles. At dinner the wife mentioned that if you ever wanted to visited the less active lady you just had to go around to their backyard and knock on the back door because they answer that one because they figure only friends know to go to that one.  So after dinner we tried the front door and she didn't answer. I was like whatever!  Let's just be creepers and let ourselves into her back yard and do this.  So we did and she answered and talked to us for about ten minutes! I knew her whole back story, but acted dumb and she talked to us about all of her drama (of all the people I've met she is the first one who I can understand why she wants to avoid our ward). I invited her to attend the ward that meets at 1:00 in our building so that she wouldn't see the people she doesn't want to see. She also asked about what she could do to save her brother who died. We told her we could come back and teach her about the Plan of Salvation and baptisms for the dead.  She took our number and said she'd call us.  I prayed for her before we left and it was actually a really good little meeting. #miracle

I don't know if you remember Ron Weasley, but he was my very first lesson out in the field. We taught him my first night in my area. He goes to Montana for the summer, and he was finally back last week so we stopped by.  He remembered me and even gave me a hug.  We shared a message and talked with him outside for about half an hour and invited him to church.  I know he still isn't ready for a commitment, but it was good to stop by and check in with him. He said he was going to see Meet the Mormons that weekend. He's a nice guy; I hope he comes around eventually.  He did say that he read my Facebook posts all summer.

The women at the nursing home were sure on something on Saturday.  There were two fights while we were there and a lot of sass.  I had four women trying to talk to me at the same time while Sister D2 was at the piano and all of them would get mad if I diverted my attention to someone else.  I've come to learn more and more that volunteering at the assisted living home is a lot like working with the six year olds at camp.

We were taken care of pretty well this week as far as meals go. We were taken to Smashburger one evening just because the family feeding us remembered that I loved it. Another night we had Barro's pizza and then on Saturday a sweet single sister took us to a great place called Red, White, and Brew. Dad also randomly mailed me a crisp Hamilton so I treated myself to Pete's Fish and Chips after the temple on Thursday.

Some friendly advice: never feed missionaries lasagna. They'll lie and say they love it and eat it and want to die. They just really don't want it. I can promise you that I will never eat lasagna, spaghetti, or goulash ever again in my life. I already didn't like those things and now I despise them. Heaven help me when I get sent to a poor area and have it more than I already do.

We had a fun ward progressive dinner on Friday night.  It was amazing how many people actually came!  It was only for adults, and every one was assigned a home to eat dinner at, and then every one met at the RS president's house for dessert. I really enjoyed the opportunity to be around the members and talk about real things. They enjoyed it too.  They finally understand that we will be real people around nonmembers!  It was amazing to realize how close I've actually become with these people.  So many couples approached me just to talk at the dessert party. Who ever wants to talk to missionaries? But so many people felt the need to come up and talk with us; it made us feel really loved.

While I was sitting in the most useless ward council meeting of my life, I had a wonderful thought. Bishopric's should wear matching ties every Sunday. Not super matchy matchy, but at least ties from the same family of colors. Think of how that would automatically invite the Spirit! #GQbishopric

I am starting an official competition that will run from today until December 1st. I am asking for Christmas music! You can send complete albums or create a customized mix. Whoever sends me the best Christmas CD will be rewarded with an AZ postcard, a certificate, the pride of winning, an official announcement in my letter home, and one blessing from Heavenly Father's approved blessings list*. Entries will be judged based on my musical taste, and my musical taste alone, so think Sister Poppe when you start burning! Bonus points will be given for creative mix names. Please send all entries to:

 

Sister Amanda Poppe

2525 N 32nd St.

Mesa, AZ 85213.

 

Bonus points will also be given if you include Reese's Christmas Trees in the parcel. Every participant will receive a gratitude shoutout and, as customary, general blessings from Heav'.

Regards,

Sister P

*Heavenly Father's Approved Blessings List has actually never been published, though it is likely that blessings could include one, or any combination of the following:

1. An extraordinarily wonderful day

2. The opportunity to star on a game show  

3. A new puppy (Betsy, this one is for you) 

4. A Get Out of Ebola Free Card

 5. A wink from a handsome stranger

6: A vacation

7. An onion ring in your French fries (this blessing brought to you by Sister Krueger)  

8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio twice in one day  

9. A five dollar bill on the ground  

10. A new friend

 

I HAD MY HUMP DAY.

 

IT'S DOWN HILL FROM HERE PEEPS. 

We made a pizookie to celebrate.

 

The sun shone down upon us gloriously as we left the temple; 

the heavens smiled at our service.

 

Target had their hats 20% off today so we were trying them on in preparation

for Christmas lights.  Unfortunately we both settled for a more conservative

and professional look.

 

#thuglyfe 

 

My companion gets a kick out of my "laughing" pictures. 

I just think they're so great.