Ordering Drinks that Aren't Water!

Hello,

This will be a quick email today. I have a lot to do. Sorry! But also in 17.5 months I've never really skimped, so yeah....

We set a baptismal date with the 11 year old we are working with. Her parents openly said last week that they need to progress toward the temple so we will help them with that as well! August 1st will be her day, which is also the 16 year anniversary of my own baptism. The parents have really connected with us and so has the daughter. They love us and are so grateful that we came into their lives. The stars aligned so it's a right place, right time kind of thing. They're finally ready, we're sisters, they've been humbled lately and everything is working.

We had a good lesson with an older couple we are working with. I've talked about them before. We read the Book of Mormon with them regularly and we finally had a lesson with them that was a little more focused and real.

We had a lesson with the lady that we met at church and asked us to be baptized. We intended to teach her the first lesson and then turn her over to the elders. Instead we taught her the first three lessons in an hour and then turned her over. It was amazing! She knew so much and was like, "can we fit in another?" She is getting baptized in a few weeks. She was sad that she was getting elders instead, but it will all be great!

My allergies were crazy bad this week. Bad enough that it was border line illness. I had a slight fever and stayed in for a day. My eyes are so itchy and watery and I was worried people would think I was emotional. My worst fears were confirmed yesterday. We had a missionary fireside that I sang at and during the closing hymn my eye started watering uncontrollably. This lead to my mascara running into my eye and the pain that always accompanies that. So then my eyes were watering even more! Sure enough KJ looked over and saw what looked like me sobbing and he made this tender face. As if. Like I have emotions? Ugh. Whatever. Maybe he thinks I'm a little more sensitive now.

Sister Childs pointed out that a lot of revelation in the Book of Mormon happens in dreams. Because of this we've decided to be better at thinking about our dreams and treating them like they're important so that the Lord knows we take them seriously and that he can give us revelation during that time. I started a dream journal and it is mildly entertaining because I have the weirdest dreams.

A lady pulled us aside after sacrament meeting and gave us a $50 bill each. She was so funny and hush, hush. We aren't supposed to accept money but she made us. Sister Childs' 1 year in Mesa anniversary is the same day as my 18 month mark so we already wanted to celebrate with Outback Steakhouse. Now we have the funds to do so! We're taking our roommates with us and we are ordering drinks that aren't water! YOLO

Love,

Sister Poppe

My last temple trip as a missionary was last week. Crazy!

 

That bunny looks like a pile of my hair.

 

 

Happy one week anniversary to Sister Childs and I!

 

We teach a recent convert and his nonmember wife and

this is the buffalo he killed like 15 years ago.

 

Throwback pics! I forgot to send them weeks ago:

 

I was convinced this was a squid leg...

it was just a little corn thing.

 

5000000009 calories of sweets helps the Thai food go down.

 

 

Happy Birthday to America

Hello,

Starting your last transfer is kind of a weird feeling. Everyone asks you how you're feeling and such. I don't know how to answer because I legitimately don't know how I'm feeling. It doesn't feel real. It's like when I was a kid and you told me that someday we would go to Disneyland. Someday I'll go home. Except someday is actually in 5 weeks and it still feels like someday.

Sister Smith and I had a sad goodbye. At least 68 times our last few days together we said, "How can I get a new companion," or "What am I going to do with someone else?" I remembered the last of our only/greatest hits:

Quail

Little Grill
Eyeballs

I do love Sister Childs though. She is wonderful and the kind of companion I need my last transfer. She is a sister training leader so I will still go on quite a few exchanges with the sisters she is over.  She said that she believes that the sisters she is over are hers because they need to learn something from me as well this transfer.  That is an interesting thought. It's interesting that she remembers so much of what I said when I was her district leader. She's openly shared things that I taught in district meeting or on exchanges with the sisters she is over and has told them they are things she learned with me. I don't even remember saying some of the things she remembers. She is a hard worker and will be such a blessing to the area when I leave (she is now too, but I feel good about her being here without me down the road.

Our 4th of July was pretty good! Last year it was a day off, but this year were expected to be missionaries all day. We went into the day with a positive attitude and knew that if we were happy then we would find things to do. That's the way the Lord works. If you do his bidding without complaining then he gives you things to do. We did service for our ward mission leader's neighbor and she fed us lunch. We were asked by someone we are working with to feed their dog while they were out of town for the weekend. We stopped by there a few times during the day to feed the dog and give her more water. We played with her a bit and loved her too. She was a sweet little thing. Then we met with Sister Childs' sisters and had the beginning of the transfer goal setting meeting you have with your sister training leader. We didn't have a dinner appointment, so we went out to eat with our roommates on our way to downtown Mesa where we helped with the Celebrate Freedom Festival. On Friday when we found out that we were expected to work on the 4th I remembered seeing an opportunity to volunteer with them, so I called the lady and asked if they still needed volunteers with the event being 24 hours away. She said they did and we went down and had a good time manning the blow up water slides all evening.

We loved the Freedom Festival. It was so fun and patriotic.

Elder Renel and Sister Buduuan's first 4th of July

and first sparklers ever.

 

The best part of the day was in the morning though. The sisters I live with decided that they had to make the day special because I love America so much. Sister Childs and Brinkerhoff woke up early and went to IHOP and picked up breakfast with American themed berries on top. While they were doing that Sister Buduuan made a list of a bunch of phrases about America from the Book of Mormon on a white board. When I woke up I walked out into the living room and they sang Happy Birthday to America/me and presented me with breakfast. Wow! Why do people love me so much? I don't even know! I'm so lucky to have such great roommates. I asked how Sister Childs woke up without waking me up and she said that she prayed the night before that she would wake up at 5:30 and she did. Right on the nose! It was a testimony builder for me on how much Heavenly Father loves us. He loved me enough to enable my companion to wake up to surprise me and he loved her enough to answer her prayer. AND HE LOVES AMERICA #promiseland

 

We met with Polly at the assisted living home last night and actually shared with her a lot of the Restoration lesson finally. I don't know if we'll teach her everything in this life, but in the very least we are doing service for her. We also stopped by a couple in the facility that is a part member couple. The wife is a member and the husband isn't. In all the years that missionaries have taught him he's never read the Book of Mormon I guess. I asked him why he always says, "I'll join when I decide to," and he didn't have a good answer. So I asked if he had ever read the Book of Mormon and he said no. So we spent quite a while talking with him about that and committed him to start reading it. Crazy people anyway.

We actually had someone approach us yesterday after sacrament meeting who wants to be baptized. Literally out of nowhere this lady pulled me aside and said, "I just got married to a member and took the lessons a year ago. I want to be baptized. How do I do that?"  I almost died!  I've always wanted that to happen. And then we found out she isn't in our ward boundaries...

We're working with a couple who has an 11 year old daughter who isn't baptized right now. It's been a challenge getting in to see them the last few weeks but they finally came to church and are finally open to us. We've had a few good contacts on their doorstep and they approached us about setting up a time to meet on Sunday and they specifically said that they're ready to have their daughter baptized.  They really seem to like us. The husband loved my testimony from sacrament meeting. We made them cookies on a whim for the wife's birthday and they love that too because they celebrate birthday week.  Obviously that gave us something big to connect on. We're excited to work with them and get the daughter baptized and help them go through the temple.

Our week was busy, but other than that nothing too eventful seemed to happen. Just normal soul saving stuff.

A good quote from the week:

"Sister Poppe. I just like you. You bring me solace. I don't even know what that means, but it's true."-Swaggy B

Love,

Sister Poppe

 

Day 1 of American clothing week. I actually forgot to take my picture

a lot of days, but I will send the ones I actually took. This is also a

picture of running into a family member at church!

And Sister Smith and I matching all cute like.

  Day 2: I lack red in my wardrobe, so I celebrated with a

lot of blue and white and my hard to see red headband

  Day3: Swaggy B and I unintentionally matched.

Day 4: The Red Solo Cup really upped my patriotism.

Day 5: Sister Smith's last night with the Eagleston fam.

They're one of a kind. I love them so much.

 

Howl at the Moon Wolvpanionship!

Hey!

We had kind of an interesting week. We had SIX lessons on Tuesday and were crazy busy all day long and were exhausted by the time we got home at 9:15. That then led into a slower Wednesday and Thursday. We used a lot of our time those days to contact less active members and to talk to people. We had things scheduled both of those days, but things fell through or people stood us up.  On Friday we did our normal weekly planning for the upcoming week and then that evening we were crazy busy again, just like on Tuesday. We had a lesson with our ward mission leader's neighbor (I can't remember what I've called her previously, but she is the lady that is from Michigan who just wants to learn more about the church for historical and secular interest). It went well, but it was our last lesson. She is still having a stupor of thought about the trinity, but she isn't very open to learning by the Spirit. She is polite in lessons and absorbs information, but it doesn't touch her heart. She has good neighbors though and isn't afraid to ask questions, so I'm sure over time she will continue to learn more. After that we went out with a girl who is waiting to go on her mission. We had a few short doorstep lessons and then we had a miracle contact! We saw a few guys carrying in groceries so we offered to help. They didn't accept, but we kind of pressured them and then they let us serve them. We started talking to the younger guy and then the older guy joined in. Two people drove up at that point and talked with us. One was the dad, the other was the son, then the son's girlfriend and the son's friend who is living with them. The friend said he actually talked to elders a few days previously and they gave him a Book of Mormon. The dad started getting kind of defensive and said his pastor told him years ago to never let a Book of Mormon in his home. The friend then said, "Why? It's a book. They just ask us to read it. I read the introduction like I was asked to and it isn't a bad book." That opened up a discussion about reading and praying. The dad then said, "What do you believe about the apostles and Christ? I believe once Christ died and the apostles left, the church died." We were like, "WOW WE BELIEVE THAT TOO!" in our heads. Out loud we were like, "Oh yes. We actually believe that too." Then we taught a short 5 minute Restoration lesson. It was really cool! We invited them to church and they didn't come, but we will just go back and talk to them some more this week.

Sister Smith and I make up random little songs when we're driving around or walking through neighborhoods. They're usually quite catchy actually. After President Jenkins wrote us about locking our hearts a few weeks ago we wrote a song called Lock Your Heart. It's pretty good. Well, like all things in this mission, it spread like wildfire. One night our roommates were the only people who knew it and then within a few days word had already traveled to KJ. We saw him a few days later and he asked us about it. We were kind of embarrassed but he loved it. He said he should get that out to the whole mission. We kindly objected and left before he pressured us. A senior sister in the office did capture a video of us singing it though. We have an album though. It is called Soppe's Greatest/Only Hits. Here are the hits:

Vaha Koloamatangi

Lock Your Heart

Panting Bird

Swaggy

Bye Bye Sister Mitchell

Sharks on My Body (that was a hit I wrote before becoming her companion)

Sister Teddy

(I feel like I'm missing one or two more)

On Saturday we went to the endowment and sealing of Hermione and her husband. It was a tender moment for me. I haven't seen many baptisms on my mission, but at least those I have worked with are still progressing in the gospel. I was so proud of them. The sealer said EXACTLY what they needed to hear. It was so powerful and guided by the Spirit. Having worked with her and her family for 10 months I definitely know their struggles and he touched on all of them. It was a testimony building experience for me. She cried during the sealing which made me cry as well. It was a sweet day.

All the sisters that are still in the mission that taught Hermione 

during and after her baptism with their companions.

 All the sisters that taught Hermione with her after her sealing.

Hooray! 

THEY'RE SEALED FOR TIME AND ALL ETERNITY!

The reception that night was nice as well. It was great to see so many people I love from my first area. It was even more wonderful to see that they still love me. I'm excited to visit them when I'm not a missionary. I was even more honored that the Cheesecake Factory kids not only remembered me, but remembered me by name. They're young and I left those wards almost 7 months ago. I just love them all so much!

I entered the cultural hall to see two very excited Cheesecake Factory kids. 

This picture is horrible quality, but it demonstrates Noah's excitement. 

He wouldn't stop jumping up and down even for the picture. Their mom 

said that you would have thought I was a celebrity when she told the kids

that I was coming that night. She said they jumped up and down and fist 

bumped the air in the kitchen when they heard the news. I gave Noah the 

                             last of my mints (aka Shark Bites) to have forever.

Slightly better, but still bad quality. There I am posing with the 

SHARK SOCKS they gave me. They're my favorite people. 

When I got there the husband said, "So we're two weeks away 

from a hug now, right?" I told him I go home in 6 weeks, 

not 2, but when I'm back he can definitely have a hug.
 

Here is the sad part of my week though. We got transfer news and Sister Smith is leaving. We knew it was going to happen, but it doesn't make it any easier. It will be sad to see the death of Soppe. Except it won't ever die. We have a celestial friendship. I said that having her leave is like having a husband die that I am sealed to. Obviously she is my favorite, but I'm just getting married to someone else to pass the rest of my time here on Earth. I do love the sister that will be my new companion though. She was in my district when I was district leader. She was the sister who got her ears pierced on P-day! Her name is Sister Childs and she is a rock star. I knew that I would likely get another good companion because she will have to learn the area quickly and be ready to take over when I go home at the end of the transfer. It's weird to say that. Go home at the end of the transfer. I had a sister from my last area call this morning because she thought I was leaving today and she was panicked that she hadn't told me goodbye. It's weird.

Sister Mitchell goes home tomorrow and this was a legitimate conversation she and her companion had. It wasn't even a joke. How touching:

"Which family will you miss the most when you go home?"-Sister B
"Sister Poppe, Sister Smith, and Dahl Phynne. They're my favorite family."-Sister Mitchell

Also, Happy Birthday to America! I'm dressing in red, white, and blue every day this week to celebrate. Pictures to follow next week :)

Love,

Sister Poppe

Beautiful Sunset with Jesus clouds

HABOOOOOOOB!

 

 The work doesn't stop even when there is a dust storm warning and travel 

isn't advised. Because let's be honest, dust storms are not even that hard to 

drive in compared to blizzards. But we kind of looked like 

hot messes for an hour or so.

Howl at the moon wolvpanionship!

Sister Smith and I in our matching wolf shirts. She's the only 

companion that loved me enough to want to have the same 

wolf shirt as me.  Long live Soppe.

 So, fun story. The Cheesecake Factory mom was at Hermione's sealing

 on Saturday and she pulled me aside and asked if I was going to the

 reception that night for Hermione and her husband. She said that her kids 

had been asking her all day if Sister Poppe was going so she wanted to 

make sure they were there the same time I was, and then she said that she 

had a gift for me.  IT WAS THOSE AWESOME SHARK SOCKS THAT 

ARE ON MY FEET.  She saw them and her first thought was of me.

We Opened the Door to a Police Officer

Hi!

We had a good week with Lost as we prepared for his baptism on Saturday! We had FHE with them on Monday and we asked him to prepare the lesson. On Sunday he joked that he was going to teach us the Law of Chastity. Well it wasn't a joke, he taught us the Law of Chastity without actually teaching us the Law of Chastity. He wouldn't talk about sex at all. It was so funny! He also taught us the Word of Wisdom. We asked him what his favorite treat was so we could bring the treat since he was doing the lesson and he said, "Two king sized Kit Kat bars from Circle K." I responded with, "We can make you something, it doesn't have to be from a store...we have P-day on Monday. Also, who do you think we are? TWO king sized Kit Kats? And what makes the ones from Circle K more special?" He laughed and said that if we were going to make something then he wanted brownies. We're going to pick him up two candy bars this week though as a congratulations for being baptized type thing. His baptism went really well. His extended family sang a hymn in Tongan as a special musical number. It was touching. He is a good kid; I'm excited for him to serve a mission someday.

 We wanted the boys to smile and they wouldn't and this 

candid shot was taken in our attempt to make them laugh

 Next to me is the cousin who baptized Lost and 

then it is Lost and Sister Smith

We loved their authentic Tongan outfits! They wanted to wear 

our tags, this was the cousin's explanation, "We're the missionaries 

and we baptized you two and this kid is the bishop." They're really 

                                 funny kids. I've enjoyed working with them.

On Monday evening we had members take us to DQ for FHE. They're one of my favorite families in this area. What is life coming to that people take us to DQ for a lesson? The downside of being loved is you are force fed delicious things that just contribute to your already expanded waist line!

The lady we took to, Meet the Mormon's (I'm going to call her Wisconsin, because she is from there) had us over for a lesson and it was great. She is progressing slowly, but very steadily. She is cautious and that is okay. She is really enjoying learning more though.

We had an activity at district meeting in which we were assigned another missionary a few weeks ago and we had to come up with a scripture that describes them. Elder Steward had me and he picked Proverbs 31:25-27. It's a good scripture. I was very flattered.

We met a LA who we don't even have the records for and his wife is a nonmember. They let us in and we had a great talk with them. She is hesitant to learn more because missionaries have been pushy in the past, but we set a good tone and she invited us back! We're hoping things begin to progress with them and that we can re-activate the husband and baptize the wife and get them to the temple. Speaking of temple, HERMIONE IS GETTING SEALED THIS UPCOMING SATURDAY AND I GET TO GO! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

The TLC family dropped us. It was kind of sad. The wife isn't interested and the husband is taking a step back to keep peace. Whatever. We have the message that will bring the peace to your family! SATAN.

Sister Teddy is still going strong. We're really upping our game. It is so hilarious. I've realized how sad it makes me that no one will ever truly understanding the hilarity of much that has happened on my mission. Sister Smith and I are literally laughing all the time and no one even knows how funny we are. And we can't repeat what we say in the same way so we don't even try. Our roommates get it, because they observe it, but the world will never know how privileged we've been to be together for almost 3 months.

We had a temple trip this week and it was just amazing. I am starting to get answers to questions about my post mission life and it is a relief to have the skeleton of a plan.

So get this story. Thursday night we were sleeping away, like people do at 1:39 am, and we heard a knock on the door. Then a few doorbell rings and another set of loud knocks. Sister Smith and I got out of bed in a confused daze, each of us thinking about the most random of possibilities that was happening on the other side of our front door. As we approached the door (her in spandex and myself in a blanket to cover my lack of clothing) we hear the individual on the other side shout, "MESA PD!" We opened the door to a police officer on our porch with a host of other officers and paramedics on the ground below him. He asked if we knew the girl that was rolling around on the ground beneath our 2nd story porch. We said we didn't and then he explained that she was totally sloshed and had been knocking on our neighbor's door and they called the cops. They were checking the neighboring doors now to make sure that she wasn't just a couple of doors off. We apologized and said we had never met her before and then he thanked us and apologized for waking us before he left. We peered out the window by my bed as they handcuffed her and put her on a stretcher and strapped her down (she was being really violent) and then they loaded her in a fire truck and took her off. It was all really sad actually. It made me so grateful for the Word of Wisdom. That girl was so confused and drunk that she didn't even realize that the people around her were trying to help her. She could have been kidnapped, raped, killed, anything because she was so defenseless. It was eventful to say the least.

Man it is just so hot here now. May was beautiful and June has come out with a fiery vengeance. 118+ people.

Our WML had us over for dinner and his wife was out of town so he had his nonmember neighbor eat with us as our third female. He's so sneaky. He planned it that way so that she would feel obligated to come over. She enjoyed our message and loves us (we've met her once before). She's a sweet older lady. We also had Costa Vida pork salads, so that was a miracle.

We have a new PMF that moved in and their 11 year old daughter wants to be baptized! We are so excited to work with her. Some elders had been and it wasn't going really well, but we already have a good relationship with them after one doorstep approach. We think it's because we're sisters. Hopefully there's more on that front next week to share.

Love,

Sister Poppe

We were locked out of our apartment after the gym the other
morning and I had to break in to the kitchen window.

We had a family history training this week and during the process
I found this census record with great, great aunts Elsa and Anna Poppe.
Just like Frozen.

We showed up to service 10 minutes before everyone else and
killed time like any other iPad missionary would...by taking selfies

Roommate night time bonding

Sister Brinkerhoff (also known as Swaggy B, Sister Swaggerhoff,
or Brinkerbell) loves VW buses and the people we did service
 for had one, and she about died!

Our new matching Baja sweaters with our guns.