My Gospel Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune

We created a Wheel of Fortune game this week and it is so fun! We played it with the Tony Hawk family and with Hermione's family. They all enjoyed it. The Tony Hawk boys asked if I would sing for them and I said I would sing WITH them, but not for them. The youngest boy sang a line of I am a Child of God with me and then stopped so I did too and we got back into our game. At the end though the youngest boy wouldn't say the prayer, so I told him I'd sing for him if he prayed.  He prayed and then, as per Sister Tony Hawk Mom's request, I sang "Families Can Be Together Forever". The oldest boy recorded part of it and sent a Snap Chat video to who knows who, and the six year old said, "You are like a remix of an angel, Sister Poppe!" I'm not sure what the even means. I just picture an angel collaborating with Calvin Harris to create a Rihana-esque rendition of "If You Could High to Kolob" for Mormon HD Radio, but I could be off.

My Gospel Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune. I'm probably more proud of them than I should be.

 We had dinner with one of my favorite families in Thunder Mountain on Tuesday. The meal was delicious, but the highlight would have to have been when the 9 year old son told us what you get when you cross Peeta and Katniss' names. It wasn't Katta...

On Wednesday, Sister D2 wasn't feeling well, so we took it easy. We had planned to stop by a lot of stay at home moms' houses in the afternoon and were going to drop by the assisted living home as well, but we figured too many fragile young'uns and elderly folk could be infected. She took a needed nap and then we prepped for our story time on Thursday (more to come later on about that), did our normal online time, watched The Testaments, and highlighted Moroni 10:3-5 and the last two paragraphs of the introduction in all of our proselyting Books of Mormon and added pass along cards with the mission office's phone number written on them inside the front cover. It wasn't the most productive use of time, but given the circumstances it was the best I could come up with; at least we didn't just sit around our apartment.

Story time was not as successful as we had hoped. We aren't giving up though. We talked to people, gathered opinions, and decided that a different time and more advertising will probably yield more attendees. We set one up for mid-November. The actual stories and activities were really great. Sister D2 had the kids help her act out the Good Samaritan story, and I told the story of Jesus feeding the multitude. Every time I said Jesus, the kids had to say, "loves me!"  When I said bread, they had to rub their tummies and make a yummy noise, and when I said fish they had to make fish lips and wiggle their hands together like a fish swimming upstream. They were actually very captivated and didn't run around like they did during Sister D2's story. She gave them an inch and they definitely took a mile...or seven.

We had the Fall Festivals in both of our wards last weekend (I'm still not sure why they weren't called Trunk or Treat...no one was really sure why they changed the name stake wide this year). We had a great time.  We were told that we couldn't dress up on Halloween, but I figured we could accessorize!  So we bought stuff to make sashes and purchased a tiara and went as Miss America candidates.  Plus, I think the no costumes rule applies more for Halloween day when we're out working than for our ward activities, though I could be interpreting it a little too liberally. A group of girls came to the TM festival from another stake in Mesa and they said, "the sisters in our ward would never be cool enough to dress up; you're cool sisters!" #winning The validation of 13 year old girls matters more to me than it should...

Sister D2 told people that she won the pageant; I was okay with that.

We all know my answers aren't PC enough to win a pageant. 

I told everyone I won Miss Congeniality though.

 

We had a great lesson this week with Sirius Black, his wife, and Neville Longbottom.  I felt like we needed to read from the Book of Mormon with them, so we selected Ether chapter 12.  Before we started, I talked about the ways in which the Book of Mormon answers our questions through the Holy Ghost, not always through the literal words of the text.  Then I invited everyone to take a second to pray about something and promised that as we read the Book of Mormon they would receive an answer.  We ran out of time, but I felt like we needed to read a verse we didn't get to, so I said that we would just skip ahead and read that verse before we ended.  After we read that verse Sirius said that verse was exactly what he needed to hear!  We aren't sure what he was looking for exactly, but we know that we facilitated a positive experience with the Book of Mormon with him.

We helped some YW in TK with family history at the YW president's house and it was a ton of fun. She is having us come over the next 3 Sunday evenings to help different girls find names for the upcoming youth temple trip. I love love love love working with them. I can't wait to have daughters.

 

We went to the Phoenix Temple open house yesterday with Hermione and her husband and his parents. We got special permission to go with them on Monday and to change our P-Day to today, Tuesday because the only day during the entire open house they could go was yesterday. I thought it was pretty, but not nearly as beautiful as the Gilbert Temple. We had lunch at a Greek place after that, and stopped at Costco with them on the way home, where I ran into your cousin Camette!

 

I'm really learning a lot lately about listening to the guidance of the Spirit. It's pretty hard sometimes! I have learned a lot about trusting the Lord lately and just letting go and handing everything to Him to fix. Not that my desires change, but I let Him be in charge and try to stop stressing about things I don't have complete control over.  Why do people have their agency?

I finished the Book of Mormon for the fourth time on my mission today!   I'm still learning more each time I read it!  I'm not sure what I'll focus on the next time I read it yet though.

That's a wrap! Enjoy the many pictures this week.

Lots of Love,

Sister Poppe

 

I bought some curlers to try and give my hair more volume. 

This is a daily thing for me.

 

This panda was at the library and I REALLY wanted a picture with it.

I waited until there was no one around and went at it.

"I'M STICKING MY HEAD THROUGH A PANDA!"

 

Banana art at dinner

 

Nug Nug's family got some baby ducks!

 

 

 

What is the CK Lounge?

Sister D2 got her iPad last week and is officially online proselyting now. She used her first hashtag in her life last week as per my loving instruction. It was a #proudmommoment for me.

Let me break down Thursday for you. It was easily the most emotionally taxing day of my mission. I kid you not we spent 80% of the day listening to people speak.

1. We started off our day with a district meeting. I gave a short 10% training on time management skills and how to use our time wisely after our missions. I gave everybody a Reese's Pumpkin for their participation.

2. Lavender Brown spent over an hour and a half talking to us about her life and problems before we were able to give her any of our planned lesson. We listened kindly and when I noticed an opportunity to segue into our lesson I jumped on it. She really just needs someone to listen to her. I decided that we will view all of our lessons with her as first a service opportunity and when we have spent enough time just listening to her, we will transition into lesson time.

3. We stopped by a random guy's house that had been given a Book of Mormon to see if he was interested in learning more.  I had never met him before and didn't know what to expect, though I figured he would basically say he wasn't interested and we would go on our way.  He invited us in and then spent an hour going off on Ebola in the US and railing on Obama, Obamacare, Indians, Isis, illegals, and told us about the murders that have happened in this area before and told us to be careful.  He said that downtown Mesa isn't fit for young ladies like us and that we should never go there.  Then he went off on credit card fraud and retirement funds. SO MANY ISSUES AND I HAD NO TISSUES.

4. After a failed attempt to contact a potential investigator we stopped by a member's home because Sister D2 had to use the bathroom and couldn't hold it until we got home. It was about 8:47 at this point so we were just going to use the bathroom and then go home for the night, but the member's talked to us about missionary work and stuff until 9:05. I was so tired and just wanted to not talk to human beings anymore. Finally, we left and embarked on our 12 minute drive home.

5. When we finally arrived home I treated myself to a much earned spoonful of Nutella. A Celestial payment indeed.

Speaking of Celestial, one of the elders in my district calls the Celestial Kingdom the CK Lounge and I think that is hilarious. I've incorporated it into my vernacular. Feel free to do the same.

It never does get old playing piano for the elderly residents at Heritage Village. They're so appreciative and sometimes they even tear up. They don't even care that I'm just an average pianist; they adore the way that my songs break up the monotony of their day. Especially Phil. He loves it and even prayed for us before we left on Wednesday because he was so full of gratitude.

We had to turn over an investigator to the elders serving in her area this week. It was sad, but better for her. She needs young friends, so a single's ward is a better fit for her. Not to mention we aren't even the sisters over her family ward...all in all we had no right to her.

A member of our ward has been inviting her to church and we have taught her two lessons so it was time to let go. Sister D2 asked if we could just teach her anyway and I set her straight right away about the importance of boundaries to a missionary. I shared my story with her about the stupid elders who taught and baptized the girl from our area in June and how I wasn't going to be that kind of missionary. I know we will be blessed for our obedience and someone will come along.  Additionally, I've worked harder the last three weeks than I have ever before in my mission, so we should be getting blessed for our diligence as well. For the first time since I've been training we got home before 9:15 the other night. It was glorious to walk into our apartment at 8:57 instead of our average 9:18. I'm going to collapse when I get home in August; I'm literally always tired.

I want to invite all of you reading this to have the local missionaries in your home. I don't care if you're super active, not a member, less active, the bishop, or half dead. A missionary's job is to invite others to come unto Christ. We have been very blessed the last few months to be in many homes with a variety of people. It helps the time go faster and makes us feel useful when we can discuss religion with others. I want every missionary in the world to be busy.  SO INVITE THEM OVER. AND MAIL ME REESE'S PUMPKINS...............and a nice note, because I demand affection. Amanda does mean "worthy of love" after all.

Thanks to Betsy, nice stranger Catherine, and mom and dad for the response to my shameless plea for love and PB chocolate treats. A few elders in my district are shocked that I've received three Reese's parcels and two of them aren't even from my family. One elder said, "Wow, everyone must really know that you love Reese's Pumpkins," and his companion said, "How do you get people to send you so many things?" I told them it is because I've spent my entire life being such a good friend that people want to mail me my favorite candy.  Really it's just because I promised people blessings for spending 10 bucks on sugar and postage. I have been sharing them though; I'm not hoarding all of my goods. It is a true act of Christlike sharing.

General Conference was great!  Saturday morning we watched it with our district at a member's home in another ward that the sisters cover.  I cooked made to order omelets for every member of my district (except Sister D2 because she didn't want one) and the other sisters made French toast. We watched the afternoon session at the church and had Lavender Brown watch it in a member's home.  She ended up opening up to the member about things she is going through and the member told her she should get a blessing  We called around (right after the priesthood session, so it was pretty hard to find someone) and found someone to give her a blessing.  On Sunday we watched both sessions with Harry and his fiancé and her daughter.  It was nice to watch it in his home.  During the afternoon session I had a great experience!  The girl who we turned over to the other elders messaged me and basically in a nut shell said she believes in God now, has been praying, is thinking strongly about baptism, and wants to be a member of the church.  We talked a lot about her concerns and she said, "You make me want to be Mormon." It made me feel so good to feel like I may have impacted someone in a positive way!

General Conference Observations:

1) D. Todd Christofferson sounds like Alex Trebek.

2) When are jewel tones going to die?
3) When will we get PowerPoint presentations during conference?
4) I loved Elder Holland's talk because I have been thinking about service a lot lately. Before my mission I didn't like the idea of helping people who could help themselves, but now I realize that far too often we don't understand all that people are going through. Additionally, we will always be blessed for serving others, even if they don't "deserve" it. I'm sure Christ fed some people loaves and fishes that didn't deserve it. If we can help someone, then we are in the service of our Lord and that is what matters. Now go forth to serve!
5) Thanks to Elder Klebingnat's comments about our bodies being temples and getting into shape, our mission president is going to think that Satan's 5K is an even better idea than he already thinks it is. C'mon Seventies, throw me a bone here! Don't endorse exercise, this is 'Merica; endorse Smashburger.
6) There were a lot of flashy ties. The 12 embraced iPads and now they're accepting modern fashion. What is next? Maybe the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will move into a more fashionable era?

Hobbit Hole Family conspiracies for this week include: Barrack Obama eliminating the 22nd amendment and becoming a dictator, Satan pamphlets being distributed in schools, and blood moons landing on Jewish holidays this year, thus ushering in the Second Coming of Christ.

Well, that is about it!  It was clearly a busy week and there is a lot I'm skimping on in the interest of time!

Love,

Sister Poppe

   District Photo Shoot!  Notice how the elders were instructed to

      re-create our sisters only picture.Somehow I don't think that

     Elder Owens fully captures my essence.

                                      

Cookie Dough Creation lesson with a family in TK

                                

   Library volunteers take a break for a selfie

       Though the weather is still warm, fashion is no respecter of persons. 

      It is boot season, folks!

                                    

Harry's dog in his Halloween costume. 

                                                      

Hahaha.  He hates it.

  

We hiked a little hill this morning.