If You Yell, “Robin’s Daughter,” at me, I Will Respond

This transfer has just been six weeks of ups and downs. This week was no exception! We woke up Thursday morning and had no water in our apartment. We called and woke up our ward mission leader's wife and asked if we could use her shower. She said we could, but said that her whole family had already showered so she didn't know how hot the water would be. We ran over there and the freezing cold water coupled with the fact that I had a 7:45 am meeting to get to deterred me from washing my hair. THANK YOU DRY SHAMPOO FOR BEING INVENTED. But I still feel like I looked disgusting the majority of the day. As it turned out, Sister Merrell had hot water in the upstairs shower, I was the only one that bathed in a stream of chilly water straight from the upper regions of the Canadian Tundra. We went on to have a stake service project cancelled and no water for the majority of the day. At least we had the Easter Pageant to go to that night to help brighten our day!

 Sunburns

 Easter Pageant Extravaganza!

The Easter Pageant was great this week. We went every night and had eventful things happen each day. I ran into so many people from my first area and it was wonderful. I will always love those people...and they still love me! It really helped cheer me up. Seeing different people every night was such a tender mercy. I ran into the Memorial Day Gun Family and they were so happy to see me. It made me glad, because the last night we saw them they were upset about something and I was a little sad that I left them on a bad night. We also saw Al Fox Carraway one night! I didn't approach her because I'm sure she gets tired of people doing that, but it was cool to see her in real life!  On Friday we went down and saved seats all day because we only do weekly planning on Friday afternoons anyway. We rescheduled some things to fill the morning and then did our studies and planning and lunch break on the temple grounds so we could have awesome seats for the show that night. We all got the worst sunburns though because we weren't quite ready for the full force summer sun to be out in April.  At this point in my life I'm already about 98% guaranteed I'll have skin cancer so I just embrace it. We did see the Larsen family one night as well and they recognized me right away because I look just like you, mom! I'm always taken slightly aback when people just shout at me, "ROBIN'S DAUGHTER!" I always respond though, so I guess it works.

Birthday Month started this week!!!!! Sister Moreton treated me to Smashburger to kick it off. When our food was brought to us the waiter said, "and I know which one is yours....I always recognize your order.  A cheeseburger with only cheddar cheese and an egg, and sweet potato Smashfries. I remember my regulars." So that was embarrassing. I only go like twice a month! I've really scaled it back since Dumas left!

 Kick off to birthday month at Smashburger!

At dinner the other night I saw a lady crying outside of the restaurant and I really felt like we needed to comfort her. We went out there and talked with her and gave her an Easter pass along card.  She is from Brazil and is sad because she is alone here in America.  She said there was nothing we could do for her to help so I offered her a hug and she said that would be great. My mission has turned me into a hugger. I literally hug every one that is female all the time.  I don't even know who I am anymore. At least hugs aren't awkward for me anymore! Look how much I've grown.

Sister Moreton has given me a new nickname that she is rather proud of; Scandala Amandala because I'm so scandalous. I hardly think I'm scandalous because I'm not on par with Li-Lo, Miley, or the Kardashians, but I guess by missionary standards I have a slightly elevated scandal level. I mean if we're talking about scandalous Amanda's, Amanda Bynes should take the cake for that one, not innocent sister missionary me. It did remind me of a nickname dad would make up for me though.

I was impressed during conference that I have truly been blessed with the truth on Earth and how much peace that brings. Nothing of the future should ever concern me or trouble me because everything will always be alright. I will always know how to make myself happy because I have been given the principles that lead to joy. Even in the troubling times that will inevitably arise I know that in the eternal scheme of things everything will be happy if I just do the simple things I've been asked to do. It's so simple and yet we all make it hard sometimes. I don't know why that hit me so hard, probably because I tend to worry too much about the things in the future I can't plan for or control, but it was a simple truth that I know but that was brought to my remembrance rather strongly this weekend.

Our mission has shrunk from 255 missionaries to about 200 and will stay around 200 for as long as possible. Now that the initial boom of missionaries has come and gone our mission has stabilized. As such, a lot of areas were added to or split up with transfers. Our wards were separated and added to two other areas (we actually suggested that because our area has so many snowbirds that the already slow work will slow even more in the next week and a half). Sister Merrell and I were so excited to find out we are being transferred! I'm headed to the Alta Mesa Stake to be companions with a sister named Sister Smith. I was also released as sister district leader because all sistrics were disbanded. Sister Smith has been out about 9 months and is a sister training leader so it will be an adjustment to go back to being junior companion, but it will be so good for me. I didn't realize how worn down I had become in this area until this week when I was looking at pictures of Sister Dumas and I in my first area and I realized I looked so happy and that I hadn't been that happy in a while. I have slowly died in this area and I'm ready for a fresh start and for the opportunity to only have to focus on me. I only have three transfers left and I want them to be the best of my mission! A lot of sisters were released from their leadership callings and many of us were placed with new or newer sister leaders, so I'm not surprised I was put with Sister Smith. I'm sure there is a lot we can learn from one another. I can't emphasize how excited I am. I really gave it my all in my current area and things just always seemed to fall apart shortly after we got them going and I don't know that I could have handled much more of that. Im sure when I look back on my mission I will be grateful for the hard lessons I learned in this area, but for now I'm happy to just be able to walk away and heal a little bit. I'm also moving back to the first apartment complex I lived in! The first shall be last, and the last shall be first because I'll probably die in my new area.

 The death of Sistrict 1085.

I look forward to telling you of the new adventures in my new area!

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

After a strenuous afternoon of weeding in the heat MP demanded that we 

come inside and take a break. She is working on her art skills so she wanted 

to see how we could draw. I insisted that I can't draw and she insisted that I try. 

This "Ghost Baby Alice" was born. Sister Merrell on the other hand is really good!

My French toast from no shower water morning. 

My 7:45 meeting was cancelled last minute. Thus I had

to make my own breakfast. They were delicious!

Sister Moreton bought me consolation Reese's Puffs on 

no water day to help ease my first world problem pain.

The granddaughter we are teaching went to the Easter Pageant with us 

and the family that introduced her to the church. It was so fun! 

I love those girls so much! In the first picture Laina Lou was 

"fixing my hair"

The finished product.

No water. Hot mess hair. No clean bowls. 

Reese's Puffs in a Mason Jar.

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!"

 

 

No Sisters Left Behind, and Other Stupid Things

Hello!

I'll start out with transfer news; Sister Dumas and I are both staying in this area! It's crazy to think that by the end of the upcoming transfer I will have served 1/3 of my mission; and in the same area nonetheless. Sister D found out that no missionary visas have been processed through the Chicago consulate since February due to the World Cup, but in July they will start processing them again. It is likely that this could be her last transfer in the US.

We meet with the Memorial Day Gun family once a week to help them progress toward the temple and we are really growing to love that family. The wife has a daughter from a previous marriage who is turning 8 next month and will be baptized. I knew that they were both on the younger end of life but was never quite sure how young. The husband is always mentioning things from his childhood that were also a part of mine, so I finally asked him how old he is. He is only 24!  So that explains why we basically are the same person.  He wants to start a business with me after my mission and his wife legitimately offered me their spare bedroom to live in.  They're funny people; I really like them.

We stopped by some homes on Friday night to follow up on family mission plans that we created with some families because our investigator's appointment fell through.  The first home is of a family that I know but not very intimately.  Their three year old son was excited that we stopped by and as we left he hugged us and said, "I just love them so, so much!" It's funny how some kids love us because of who we are--missionaries--even though they don't know us very well.  We stopped by the Cheesecake Factory Family's home and as usual were greeted by pomp and circumstance.  The mom told us that after nursery the week before Noah was running through the halls yelling, "MISSIONARIES!!!! MISSIONARIES!!!" We had already left at that point and he was sorely disappointed that he missed us. The mom was baking cookies for Father's Day and her husband was gone so she told us to stay 20 more minutes until her first batch was done so we could have some before we went.  While we were waiting I read a book to the kids and then Maya gave me a dance recital.  The kids in our wards really make us feel loved when we need a pick me up.

Me breaking the rules by holding Noah on my lap. 

He loves selfies!

We are in an intense custody battle over an investigator that is giving me an ulcer.  I'm about to call up Maury and ask him to have us on his show to solve the dilemma.  We got a call last week from our district leader telling us that there was a 17 year old that was being taught in the Citrus Height Stake that is actually living in our ward boundaries and that she has a baptism date set already.  It is a huge no-no to teach people outside of your area so we were a little bothered that she was poached from us by some other elders in a stake in a completely different area of Mesa.  We found out that her boyfriend is in the stake she is being taught in and that is why she is being taught there, but now that she's getting baptized she has to get baptized in her appropriate ward.  We were told that there was going to be a transition lesson this week in which we would all be at a lesson and then from there just Sister Dumas and I would teach her.  We were so excited because her dad is actually a less active member in the Thunder Mountain ward and because that ward is completely dead!  This is the answer to our 40 day fast!  A baptism and the potential to re-activate her dad and baptize her mom!  Well after our transition lesson we had another one and at that one the boyfriend's family basically told us that she’s going to be baptized in the Citrus Heights Stake and that boundaries don't actually matter and that she is too shy to go to a new ward at this point.  That's the short version of that.  So we called our ward mission leader who called some people to set things straight and at this point she is going to have her records in our ward but be baptized over there and then we were told we are teaching her the new member discussions and she will move over to our ward slowly but the other ward is still clinging on to her!  Okay, let's just baptize this girl and tell her she can go to whatever ward she wants to the rest of her life!  That sounds smart!  The elder accused us of just wanting another notch to add to our belts and we were irate.  All we want is to help this girl understand the way the church functions and the opportunity to re-activate her dad!  It is so out of hand. The elders should never have let this go on as long as it did...they've been teaching her since DECEMBER. Really?  It took them 6 months to track down her real ward? So that has been a mess.  Mainly it is frustrating that we have found a handful of people since I've been out that were interested and we immediately turned them over to the appropriate elders or sisters when we found out their addresses.

As a form of good karma though, we did actually have a guy on Sunday from Apache Junction bring two people to our ward who are interested in learning more.  He brought them to the appropriate missionaries, like all good human beings should do!  We are really excited, they are really prepared and we think they will be receptive to the gospel.  We talked to them and set up an appointment for this Wednesday!  #blessings #karma #obediencebringsblessings #New investigator

We went on a wild goose chase to find a referral this week. We got one with an address and went and were told that the person we were looking for lives 2 houses down so we went there and he said that it is actually his brother that is interested, not him, but he is out of town until Wednesday.  So we will go back later this week.

We helped a family from one of the elders' wards move this weekend.  It was a good service opportunity, but frustrating because people were trying to just throw stuff in the moving van.  I set every one straight though, and told them we had to do everything in a logical order.  Elder Webb and I then just had people bring us stuff and we loaded it for a while.  One of the elders whined about his sore elbow the whole time and didn't actually help. As if.

We had a Zone Training Meeting (ZTM) this week and I was asked to give a talk on faith.  I'm always asked to speak or give training at these things now. Some people haven't done anything all transfer long!   I guess it just must mean I have a lot to learn. We had to pick a Christ like attribute to work on for the month and I selected hope because I need to be better and having perfect faith and hoping for the best instead of just planning for the worst.  I'm just really good at planning for the worst!  I had a really good week though full of answered prayers, direction, and spiritual insights.  I am always a little surprised at how much I am growing as a person on my mission yet how much I stay the same, which is good.  I was worried my mission would change me to the point that I was unrecognizable.

 We went on this awful hike this morning as a zone up to the wind caves.  I was getting so mad at the elders who wouldn't just hike on without us; I'm a slow hiker, but I'm not a child I can do things alone.  They were like, "No sisters left behind," and other stupid things.  Okay.  When I'm doing something humbling I prefer to be left alone, okay, thank you.  We finally made it to the stopping point and one of my zone leaders was getting a kick out of my bitter sarcasm and asked if I would write a blog post about the experience.  I told him I wasn't to a point of spiritual clarity yet about the situation, so probably not.  He said something else and I was like, "The last thing I want to do on a P-day is hike up a freaking mountain with a bunch of skinny girls.  I'm having flash backs to running the 600 in third grade; people offer encouragement and you don't want it!  I never encouraged the stupid kids who did awful on their spelling tests during the middle of those.  When you're doing something you're bad at you don't want attention drawn to yourself!" He laughed and told me I'm something else and said he is looking forward to the blog post. It was cool at the top and my anger dissipated almost immediately, but I still hate hiking up mountains.  I only hike when I'm super angry (like the one time I hiked the Y) or when Ryan Gosling takes me on hiking dates (which is still yet to actually happen). At one point during the hike I told my friend Elder Webb that our friendship was over because he was being outrageous (clearly I wasn't being outrageous, just he was).  He started talking to me like five minutes later and I was like, "ELDER WEBB.  Are we friends again?" He assured me that we were because he is a boy and doesn't hold on to anger.  I wasn't ready to be his friend again, but I am also the worst at holding grudges so I told him we could be friends again. Hikes bring out the worst in me...men should hike with me before they decide they want to marry me because it will never get worse than hiking with me.

Sister Dumas and I at the summit

Well, I'm sure I forgot things, but that is about it!

Love,

Sister Poppe 

I was saving this large Resse's egg for a bad day

  

Sister Dumas turned 20!!!

Birthday decorations

On Wednesdays we wear pink.

A girl during sacrament meeting drew me this picture.

 It originally said, "Sopr Poope" but she

was able to salvage my last name, though super will just have to stay sopr.

What Would Katniss Do?

You're in France (we'll talk about the fact that your travel email stated that if you die on this trip Brandon gets to raise Bryce instead of me later #what #itisbecauseheismarried #singlechoppedliveroverhere)! I am not even going to hint around. I want a cool postcard sent to me. I told Betsy the same thing for when she is in Africa this summer. In fact, I'm going to extend a blanket invitation to everyone who will be anywhere thrilling during my mission. Really this is more of a blanket expectation than invitation; I expect a postcard from all exciting destinations anyone travels to between now and August 11’ish, 2015. If I don't receive one I will assume you don't love me and you will subsequently be dead to me without the option of resurrection. You can expect a sensational postcard from me in return with desert landscapes, jackalopes, or other desert flora, fauna, or feisty animals (I had to make that start with an F somehow). Blessings from Heav' are also still available for all mail delivered to me. That offer is always redeemable and stackable with other coupons.

I had my exchange for the transfer with Sister Dunlop on Tuesday. She served in my area for seven and a half months and was Sister Gillespie's trainer. We had a good exchange and she told me at the end of the day that it was a blessing to work with me and that I'm one of her favorite sisters in the mission now. I don't know what kind of genetics you and dad contributed to my makeup or how you raised me, but for some reason people really like me here. So thanks for raising me to be me. Maybe I'll never leave AZ because my approval rating is higher here than anywhere else I've lived. Harry Potter's fiancé even told me this week that J-Lo released a new song called I Love Poppy and that it was probably written about me. I have a lot of undeserved admiration and love from people in this mission; even on bad hair days. I'm not used to being "cool", it's kind of awkward. We worked on street contacting during my exchange because I hate it and think I am awful at it (though Sister Dunlop said the awkwardness is only in my head, I'm a natural talker.  Surprise, surprise, eh?). I was bothered for a while that I wasn't sent on a foreign speaking mission because I thought I was smart enough to learn a new language and figured Heavenly Father was doubting my ability to quickly learn a new tongue.  In hindsight I don't think my intelligence was ever a factor in that decision. My only talent in missionary work is connecting with people and talking and that would have been severely hindered if I was trying to converse with people in a language I'm not fluent in; I'm more grateful every day that I am in an English speaking assignment.  We didn't have any immediate success with our talking, but I do believe that we had a miracle with a member's neighbor and that she will be interested eventually. She used to manage a property that missionaries rented when she was in California, and a lot of her friends are members. We will stop by occasionally and talk to her until she solicits our salvation saving services (I don't know why my letter is so alliteration heavy today). We were also invited by some elders to team teach a girl they're meeting with who they are having a hard time connecting with because she's 11 and they're older and weird. She was such an amazing young woman with a great love for God and a strong desire to learn more. I loved her and wish she was ours to always teach.

My missionary portal hasn't been letting me log in for two weeks now.  We use that website to facilitate correspondence with the mission president on a weekly basis. Some techies in SLC are looking into it.  I was beginning to believe I was being sent home and hadn't been informed yet. I know I lit some scarecrows on fire, but I'm not an extremist! I've done nothing to warrant a dishonorable release! I told president last week at zone conference why I didn't email him and just figured I would send a double email the next week. Well last Monday it was still not allowing me to enter, and I've yet to be sent home, so I decided I would hand write my weekly letter and mail it to the mission office. I used a stamp with Dumbledore on it and added a note on the envelope that said, "If the AZMM was Hogwarts, you'd clearly be Dumbledore," with an arrow pointing to the stamp. I really hope he appreciates that as much as he should.

It was my companion's hump day on Wednesday and my four month mark on Thursday, so we went and got Froyo with the gift card her aunt in Gilbert gave us. The employee gave us half off and an extra stamp on our stamp card. I'm going to miss the benefits associated with the black badge when I'm home.

It is getting so hot! The days of double digit temps are over and we've been launched into summer. Along with the double digits, good hair days have flown out the window. My hair is going to remain off my neck indefinitely. In an attempt to stray from my bun and pony tail comfort zone and simultaneously spice up this long summer of drab hairdos, I'm practicing my braiding techniques. Essentially I ask myself every day, What Would Katniss Do? #wwkd And then I do it. Unless it involves killing people with archery equipment, because then my ability to access my missionary portal will be permanently unauthorized and replaced with access to The Arizona State Penitentiary's inmate mail service. Who knows, maybe I'll get so good at braids and fancy up-dos that I'll be qualified to be Mary Crawley's lady's maid by the end of my mission.

Investigators are a lot like men you're interested in. You just want them to like you and marry you and let you have their babies and build you a house and take you to Disneyland (really, is that too much to ask) and just when you think you have their attention and that just maybe they will ask you out, they get distracted by something prettier. We have had two people express a lot of interest and meet with us and then either cancel a lesson and not re-schedule, or ignore our calls this week. C'mon people! I thought I was at least worth the dollar theater and the Taco Bell drive thru by now! I'm going to be all ready for dating when I get home because rejection is practically a prescription I take a daily dose of at this point.

We did some hardcore leg workouts on Wednesday and we were dying on Thursday. We were walking funny; it was like we had a little twerk in our step. We had a lesson with Harry Potter and he mocked us as we walked up to his house and then proceeded to pray that our sore legs would feel better and heal so that we could have strength to work our legs out again the next day. He got too much enjoyment out of watching us get off his couch after the lesson too. We didn't tell them that we felt like Miley when we walked but before we left Harry's fiancé said something about us twerking when we walked and we were like WE KNOW, RIGHT! We had also told Harry he should consider bearing his testimony on Sunday and he had said no but then he said he would get up there and tell everybody about the missionaries who come over and teach him how to twerk and how that is his testimony.  As another visual for our walking, I will share a quote from my companion, "I think this is how they get the zombies to walk this way. They make them work out! I'm serious." We really did look like twerking Walking Dead cast members.

We have a lot of gated communities in our area and we struggle to remember all of the gate codes. We have one subdivision that has a lot of smaller subdivisions in it that doesn't have a ton of members. We have some of the gate codes, but one of the neighborhoods has an inactive family we have been trying to contact and we don't know the gate code there. It is pretty small, so traffic in and out is minimal, but every time we need to go there someone is going in and we piggyback them in, or someone is leaving and we illegally go in the out.  We kind of look like creepers, but Heavenly Father provides every time! It's a never ending tender mercy. #miraclegate

So, I think I must be doing this missionary email thing wrong or something. Every time I get another missionary's letters forwarded to me they're short and all about personal growth and the gospel and touching tales and stuff. I like my letters to be all encompassing, so sorry they're long, worldy, and not quite holy enough. Maybe by my one year mark I will write home letters of a higher spiritual quality.  Just so you know I really am a good missionary when it comes to being spiritual, and we do work hard, it's just more fun to tell you about Froyo and puppies than about unsuccessful door knocks and street rejections. You can just read my journal when I get home or something if you want the spiritual details.

Line of the week comes from Harry Potter. We read through one of the Priesthood Session talks from last conference with him and he asked why we read it. We told him that a lot of the messages apply to women too and because we have to know what to tell our husbands to keep them in line. He reminded us that we need to look for hard workers and guys who aren't into video games when we get home and start the husband hunt. Because when you marry guys who play video games you support them and they call you at work and say (here comes Harry's gem), "What's for dinner? Hurry home so I can go to my friend's house and play the...the EBay show." Hahahaha what? The man cracks us up. He also couldn't remember Sister Dumas' name the same night and he called her Sister Douchener. We laughed so hard that Harry and I were crying.

We also had a little girl (5 or 6 years old) tell us you have to pay your tithing so you don't get fired. She was 1007% serious. That was a contender for quote of the week.

I asked Sister Dumas the other day if she ever used MSN Messenger, to which she responded, "Sister. Of course I never used MSN Messenger in my life! You have to remember we practically grew up in different generations." Excuse me! When did 23 become the new 40? Well we were talking to a teenager we met at the home of an inactive lady and he asked how old we were and we told him. He said something about the three year age difference and I said that Sister D acts like it's so huge but it isn't--even though she never used MSN Messenger. He proceeded to say, "I don't know MSN messenger, but I do like older bands like that...new music is awful." HE THOUGHT MSN MESSENGER WAS A BAND. OKAY, LET ME JUST GO CRAWL IN A HOLE WITH MY WALKMAN AND ALL THE OTHER OLD LADIES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD WHO WERE BORN BEFORE CLINTON WAS PRESIDENT. #kidsthesedays

We are giving Hermione the new member lessons and this week's was on Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity.  She imparted some of her own knowledge about intimacy during the lesson. Let's just say we all learned some new things that lesson...

It's Sister Dumas' birthday week! She turns 20 on Sunday! I'm going to do something special each day this week and I am excited to make her only birthday in the mission memorable.

We ran into Tammy in the foyer at church and they gave us left over Mexican food from her birthday for lunch! It was absolutely delicious.

 

                                            Lunch at Kyle and Tammy's

We gave a short message in jr. and sr. primary and it was so fun. We talked to them for a few minutes about being a missionary and then asked them what they thought they could do to prepare to be one someday. After that we challenged the jr.'s to memorize the Articles of Faith and the sr.'s to study the scriptures by themselves each day.  We were welcomed with lots of excitement. It's amazing the kids that remember you even though the only interaction you've had with them is one meal in their home. It was humbling and a good reminder that kids are always looking to us as an example and they truly idolize missionaries.

Today while we were driving to meet Sister Dumas' aunt for her birthday lunch we had quite the small adventure.  We were stopped at a red light and a Schwan's man turned left from the perpendicular street and one of his doors flung open and a bunch of meet flew out right in the middle of the intersection! The guy stopped a few yards up the road and we jumped out of our car and helped him pick up his products.  There were a bunch of cars stopped while the clean-up was taking place and no one else jumped out to help!  We were shocked.  We got it all picked up really quickly and ran back to our car so traffic could continue to flow.

I have to tell you, I love my companion, but she is an absolutely terrible driver.  She didn't get her license until she was 18 and then promptly went to college and didn't drive there and then came on her mission at 19 and hasn't driven until this transfer.  It's like being the passenger in the car of a teenage girl with her learner's permit.  I have empathy for you now, mom.  I'm going to get an ulcer.  "Are you going to stop at this red light," and "We should probably pick a lane instead of taking up two," are the most common phrases out of my mouth while in the car. Oi.  "Turn your headlights on," is another frequent request.

I'm currently in Alma and it is interesting comparing the evil that was abounding before Christ's birth with the evil that is abounding in the world now as we lead up to the second coming of Christ.

Enjoy your trip!  Send me a postcard!

Love,

Sister Poppe

Sisters with the cheesecake kids!

Our favorites!  Noah and Maya.  Noah finally calls me Sister Poppe
instead of sister missionaries.  He also always asks if he can come to
my house whenever I see him now.  I always tell him my house is boring
but maybe I'll come to his again sometime.

 

We asked a member to take a picture of
us in our Memorial Day outfits and he asked if we wanted him to hang a
flag up and we were so excited that he did and then he asked if we
wanted to hold guns!  I guess it's a violation of the white handbook
to handle firearms, but we found that out after the fact.

 

The Memorial Day gun family has one daughter and she drew
the picture for us.  It's of her with us and her parents.  I enjoy the
fact that she included my companions bump that she always has in her
hair.  My companion and I were arguing about my hair color the other
day and then we received this picture in which I am a blond.  My
companion took that as enough evidence that she wins and that I am a
blond.  We all know I'm a brunette, but I have to let her win
sometimes because she said the other day "You're the only companion
I've had that I'm not always right with.  I NEVER BEAT YOU IN
ARGUMENTS."