half-way

So....nine months. I feel like that's a huge step in life. I've accomplished half of my mission! I've been in two areas, three companions, and have met some of the most amazing people on earth.

....yet I feel like I've just begun.

I wonder what these next nine months will bring.

That being said, it's amazing the amount of drama that can happen in one day. That day for us was Sunday.

Saturday afternoon, we met with our investigator. We tried teaching her the Plan of Salvation, but she was kind of distracted. Finally we just read 2 Nephi 2 together and talked about the fall of Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ's sacrifice and how freedom to choose is a gift from God.
 

As we left, she told us she wanted to come to church. We called and set up a ride for her, and she said she'd be ready for tomorrow!

Sunday morning comes, and her ride calls us to say she won't answer her phone or her door.

So yes, she didn't come.

Good thing church is every Sunday. Hopefully next week.

Saturday evening we called our 90-year-old investigator  to see if he was still coming to church.

"WILL YOU BE AT CHURCH TOMORROW?"

"Well, I was planning on it, but then my Jehovah's Witness friends came and said they really miss me! I think I'm going there tomorrow!"

Dang it.

"YOU'RE JUST A POPULAR GUY!"

"I try to be."

Speaking of him, here was a golden conversation we had on Tuesday during our lesson:

Us: "AND THAT INCLUDES FAITH!"

Him: "......Satan?"

Us: "FAITH!"

Him:"........Space?"

Us: "F-AI-TH."

Him: ".......Where did I get the S from?"

Love teaching 90-year-old men.

Now before this next story, I guess I should give a little bit of background information. At the beginning of this week, our recent convert went to stay with a relative for the week for Winter Break. (Yes. They have a winter, Christmas AND spring break here. Jealous.) I was talking to her friend and said, "So when is she getting back?"

"....she didn't tell you?" she replied.

That's never a good start to a conversation.

"Tell us what?" I asked.

"She's not coming back. I guess she didn't really like it here, and she went to her relative's just for vacation....and decided to stay."

I felt a little bit of my heart squeeze. I'm not sure what to think at this point. I feel like I should be more upset than I am.....but I'm just calm. Maybe this was supposed to happen? I don't know.
Either way, I'm still worried about her. I hope she's okay. I really do love that girl. She's incredible.

So, that was the drama of the week.
BUT. It wasn't at all a bad week! In fact, we've managed to pick up a new investigator! Hurrah!

See, last Sunday this random guy came to church, and no one knew who he was. So people come up and greet him, and we're like, "Elders. Go sit by the new guy."

"Okay."

After church, New Guy starts to leave and I'm like, "HEY!" and go corner him. Turns out he's a student at a nearby college. I asked him if he'd be willing to learn more from us! So he says yes and we set up a time to meet with him.

That Friday, we met with him and found out a little more about him. Turns out he came for a class assignment, but he's always had an interest in the Mormon religion.

So I asked, "So how were you first introduced to the gospel?"

He smiled uncomfortably and said, "You want the truth?"

"Yes...."

"The South Park episode."
I couldn't help it. I totally burst out laughing and said, "I knew something good would come from South Park!"
So brilliant. Turns out he was raised in a different religion, and was amazed at the differences in church buildings. He said that when the Bishop shook his hand and introduced himself as "Bishop N." he thought, "Oh my gosh....the BISHOP'S here? I'm shaking hands with the BISHOP?"
I laughed. We taught him the first lesson and he was super open about it! Hopefully we'll see some progression with him :)

Also had a couple from Taiwan feed us native Taiwanese food. SO. BLASTED. DELICIOUS. Then the next night a lady took us out for fast food Chinese. Not quite as delicious. 

Well family, I love you all so much! I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary at this time when the Lord is hastening His Work!

Also it was 40-45 degrees here. HEAT WAVE!

Hurrah For Israel,

Sista Stimpson

nine months, what?

So basically SO much happens on a mission, that you can write about as much as you can/want......and you still only get a teaspoon of what happens. So I will do my best to tell y'all the happenings of this week:

We were blessed with a once in a lifetime snow storm called: The Nor'easter. Basically the winds from the east collide with the winds from the North and decide to just dump snow on us.
Our ZTM got canceled because of it. And we were stuck inside. ALL. DAY. LONG. Actually we decided to venture out in it because we were tired of being inside and so we went to try a potential.
Bad idea. We were FROZEN. And soaking wet when we came home! But still. I am SO excited that I got to be in NY for an epic snowfall!

The next day we had an appointment at 10. We leave the apartment at 9:50....and forgot that we'd have to not only scrape off our car, but dig it out, too.

.....half hour later we're on the road on the way to our appointment.

Then we get to the house.......and knee-deep snow was covering the pathway to their front door. So we did some "service" and shoveled our way to the front door.
Then there was ice underneath the door, so we couldn't open the screen door to knock on the front door. So THEN we start chipping at the ice with our shovel and managed to open the door enough to get our arm through, and we knock.

The woman's daughter opens the door. We managed to squeeze ourselves through into the house, our cheeks red between a mixture of cold and exhaustion from shoveling as we say, "Is your mom here?"

"Well, she's actually asleep."
Great!
So we talked with her and our recent convert while we warmed up.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Speaking of Valentine's day, Sister H and I spent some time this week taping hearts with scriptures about love to some ward members' homes. We did so to the Relief Society president, and as we were running back---BOOM Sister H is on the pavement busting up. She fell on black ice and managed to rip her leggings and give herself a nasty cut on her knee.

The next day we were out knocking doors. I turned the corner, and POOF. I slipped right into a giant snow pile and snow poofed around me. It was very graceful.

Later that same day, while Sister H was tending to her knee that was still bleeding/oozing disgust, the Relief Society president called us to thank us and said, "You girls are SO sweet and SO sneaky! You guys knew I was going to be at the Relief Society activity so I wasn't going to be home!"

......actually we had no idea you weren't going to be home.

We hung up and Sister H said, "So basically I ran and fell for no reason?"

"No, no. It made an epic story."

We had a lesson with our investigator. We sit down and ask, "WHY WEREN'T YOU AT CHURCH THIS SUNDAY?"

"Laziness!" he boldly declared.

".....THAT'S NO EXCUSE!"

"I know!"

We tried teaching the plan of salvation, but it really didn't go anywhere. He kept going on random tangents and said we don't talk about Christ enough. I was about ready to cry out of frustration. So then we gave him a plan of salvation pamplet and assigned him a few pages to read.

Sunday rolls around and who comes walking in the door? He does! I shake his hand and he sits down next to us and said, "I read that pamplet you girls left me!"

"YOU DID? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT?"

"It was very nice! It was just what I needed!"

Yay! We will be discussing it with him tomorrow, so hopefully it'll go well.

Saturday we decided to go visit a less-active family that neither of us had met. We pull into their driveway and the husband--an older gentleman--comes out of his garage to see who it is. Sister H introduces us as the sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His response?

"Ah we have new sisters! Come on in!"

So we walk in and I'm thinking, "Man these less actives are super welcoming!"

I see pictures of their children and wonder if their children are active.
Then I turn around and see pictures of the temple. What?

Then we sit down and they start telling us about all the missions their children have served. And their grandchildren have served. And that they want to serve.

Yeah these people are totally active.
This is the second time this has happened to us. Sister H and I kind of sat there, unsure of what to do or say. Then we shared a spiritual thought with them and left.....and got stuck in the snow in their driveway.

The next day at church they came up and talked to us.
Curse you, big ward.

Saturday was also transfer calls day, and of COURSE we decided to spend that day in the middle of nowhere, where we had no service.
So the zone leaders call us. We had no service. Later we did, so we call them back. No answer. They call us back when we had no service. So then we call them back. No answer.
Finally we gave up and called our sister training leaders and they gave us the juice.

Sister H and I will be staying together another transfer! Which is really good. I still don't know this area or these people well enough. As for the Elders - Elder G will be going to Rome, NY (not Italy) and Elder R is our new district leader and will be training! So that's exciting.

Again. SO much happens on a mission that I wish I had more time to write about. But I am so grateful for this opportunity! I love and miss each of you! Time has flown and I really can't believe I'm at my halfway mark :/ Not sure how I feel about this.

Love you all!

Hurrah for Israel,

Sista' Stimpson.

babababababaaam

So. I am not connecting with this ward. At. All. Or my investigators. Or less active members. Like it's getting to the point where members and less actives have commented on how I just don't seem to be clicking.

I had been trying the whole "fake it till ya make it" game plan. Doesn't seem to be working out too well in this situation. Baaaaaah. Sister H and I finally had a heart-to-heart about it, which consisted of me eating a ton of Hershey kisses and saying, "I'M NOT CONNECTING WITH ANYONE AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WRONG! EVERYONE MISSES THE PREVIOUS SISTER MISSIONARY!"

"I know. I've noticed it too. I'm getting frustrated with it, too."
"WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE?"
"I really have no idea."
"ME NEITHER!"

Then I ate another handful of chocolate.
It was a low moment in my missionary life.

But no need to worry. I know it'll get better, and this has been a very....blessed....opportunity to practice the Christlike attribute of Hope. And Patience. And Charity. And Diligence. But in the meantime I still get a little grumpy and have probably gained a pound due to the amount of Hershey kisses I've been devouring like a mad squirrel.

Have I told you guys about the squirrel that adopted our porch? Yes, so we have a squirrel that would always crawl around our porch. And then we started feeding it Cheetos. And then it went a little crazy and started climbing our screen door and scratching at the entry of the door and running around super fast and super crazy. Then we decided to go more natural and we switched to feeding him almonds and he's calmed down a bit.

And this is why the national parks tell you NOT to feed the animals.

Anyway. Here's how this week went:

Monday - Preparation day

Tuesday - Spent in Saratoga

Wednesday - Drive in awful snow to Albany to pick up the Albany Sisters. Then a day spent in Glenville with Sister R's trainer and Sis. J (my MTC companion).

The Albany sisters don't have a car and had to go to Utica. Our TIWI unit (the thing that yells at us when we drive too fast) in our car is broken and needed to go to Utica to get fixed. Sister R's trainer and Sister J are our Sister Training Leaders. We had an exchange planned for Thursday night to Friday night (when you switch companions for the day).
So the AP's call us and said, "Sisters, the Albany sisters are going to take your car to Utica. In the meantime, you will spend the day in Glenville. You can stll go on your exchange as planned."

Let's put it this way: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were a complete Missionary party.

Wednesday night Sister J and I taught  a member a lesson about missionary work. Then they gave us a lot of ice cream and we danced our way back to the apartment.

Thursday, I went tracting with Sister R's trainer, and Sister H and Sister J went tracting in a street that was kittycorner to us. Sister R's trainer and I talked about funny mission stories as we trudged through the snow. AND! Then, we knock on this door and I start to introduce ourselves to an old woman who answered, when she said, "Would you like to come in?"
"We would LOVE to!"
She let us in and told us how her son dated a Mormon. And then in between talking about Family Home Evening, the church welfare system, politics (well we mostly just listened to her rant about them), we somehow managed to talk about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. AND she told us she'd like us to come back!
Investigator found? Check. It was awesome!

Then we visited / practice taught some members. And they gave us cookies. And brownies.
Then we went home for dinner, and ate cinnamon roll pancakes.

My food choices have not been the best lately.

Thursday night, Sister R's trainer and Sister H drove the Albany sisters back to Albany, then went to Saratoga, and I spent the day with Sister J in Glenville. We tracted a trailer park where we danced on the doorsteps of the houses that didn't answer (we have way too much fun together) and talked to a nice and only slightly-drunk man about the Book of Mormon.

Slightly drunk guy: What is the Book of Mormon anyway? Is it like more of the New Testament?
Me: Well, we study from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. While the Bible takes place in Jeruselum, the Book of Mormon takes place at the same time period but on the American continent as well.

Slightly Drunk guy: OOOOOOH! I get it! Why aren't you out telling more people about this?
Me: ........we're trying to!

Slightly Drunk Guy: Wait......you're not from the Latter-day Saints, are you?

Me: Um.....we are, yes.

Slightly Drunk Guy: OOOOOOH! I had you confused with someone else. How many husbands you guys got?

Me: We um....don't practice plural marriage. And I have none.

Slightly Drunk Guy: OOOOOOOOOH!

Classy.

Saturday we had a girl who is preparing to serve a mission spend the day with us. We visited our investigator and she said, "I've just been feeling so much more peace since I've been seeing you girls. It makes me so happy!"

She came with us to a church activity. We took her on a tour of the church and at the end she teared up and asked us to pray that she'd have strength to change her life and her ways. Later, during the activity, she pulled the Elders aside and said, "I've never felt this much peace at any other church before! And I finally know what it is! It's the Holy Spirit, isn't it?!"

Awesome? Yes. I was SO happy!

So now you're wondering what the activity was. It was Mormon Family Fued. Near the end, the elders and us convinced her to be on a team with us. So she comes up with us....and one of the questions was "What are some things Mormons do after church on Sunday?"

She tried to run away.
I grabbed her and said, "Say take a nap."

She nodded and went back to the table. When it was her turn, she said, "Take a nap!"

Number one answer. What!

The next question was: "What are some things to bring to a ward potluck?"

She looked really confused at us and tried to run away again. Once again, I grabbed her and said, "Say Jell-O."

"JELLO?"

"Trust me. Just say it."
So the host guy comes up to her and says, "Um....so....this may be a hard one...."

"JELLO!" she shouted.
Number two answer. What!

After the activity, she high fived us and pulled us aside and said, "I'm working this Sunday, but I really, really want to work it out so I can come to church next Sunday. Is that okay?"

UM. THAT'S MORE THAN OKAY!

It was so exciting to see her progression, and I hope she continues to progress!! It was also exciting, because this is how our lesson went with our ninety-year-old investigator:

Us: SO. HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING COFFEE?

Him: Of course! Every single morning! The doctors say it's good for you!
Us:  DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT LAST TIME?
Him: Yes.

Us: WHAT WAS IT?

Him: Wisdom.

I groaned on the inside.

Well my friends. I must be off. Transfer calls are this Saturday. I am assuming I'm staying, but with how I've been connecting to this ward, I really don't know. We'll see next week! Sister H has been here three transfers so she's assuming she's leaving. LOVE YA'LL!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

 

Adirondack Adventures

Aloha! It is a whopping 30 degrees currently in Saratoga! An occasion to wear my lightest coat!

Shows the kind of environment I've been living in :) HEAT WAVE, BABY!

Anyway.

This week was much more positive and eventful than last week.

We had district meeting on Wednesday, which included district interviews with our district leader.

Let me tell you. It is SO relieving to get along with my district leader. I no long dread district meetings or district leader interviews.

I was still feeling kind of down from this previous week when I sat down with Elder G. He asked how I was adjusting and I said, "Eh. I just feel like I'm not getting to know this ward well enough. Like I'm not clicking, or something." 

"I felt the same way when I came in!" 

"You did?!" 

Elder G. came from a small branch right next door to Owego before he came to Saratoga. He told me how it can be hard to go from a small ward/branch where you know everyone, and everyone knows each other, to a large ward in a city where nobody knows you, and it's harder to get to know people. That made me feel better, knowing I'm not the only one who experienced this.

Tuesday we also had dinner at a member family's home, which consisted of me trying on 6-inch, brightly colored high heels which were basically unwalkable, and all of us putting whipped cream on our hands and throwing it into the air and catching it with our mouth....or faces. Mostly mine just liked to stick to my hand and I ended up just eating it off of my hand anyway. But still, it was fun!

So now for our investigators. So we have a ninety-year old investigator. He's basically deaf, so every lesson we have with him WE HAVE TO BASICALLY YELL REALLY LOUD SO THAT HE CAN HEAR US. We tried to teach him the Word of Wisdom for the second time. Basically, we had to stop calling it the Word of Wisdom, because he misses the 'of' and goes off on a tangent about literally, the word "wisdom." He committed to live the Lord's Law of Health......we're just hoping he realized he committed to live it. It's hard to know what's really getting through to him, especially because he likes to get off on tangents during our lessons. This last lesson, he started talking about his black dog, and this is how I brought the subject BACK to the Word of Wisdom: 

"HEY, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS BLACK? COFFEE! COFFEE IS BLACK! WHICH IS SOMETHING THE LORD HAS ASKED US NOT TO DRINK IN THE WORD OF WIS---.....I MEAN THE LAW OF HEALTH."

We also have another investigator. She met with missionaries years ago, and started meeting with the sisters a few months ago. After disappearing off the face of the earth after a few times meeting with her, she called us two weeks ago and asked to meet with us again. We had a good first lesson with her about church and we met again with her yesterday. We walk in, and she asked if she could watch the Restoration DVD, because she remembered she really liked it before.
So we sit down, and pop it in. The spirit is present, she is way into the movie. Tears are forming in her eyes.
Then the time comes for Joseph Smith to pray to know which of the churches is true. He walks into a grove of trees. Looks around him, begins to kneel....then....

*knock knock knock*

"Oh it's my friend!" 

CURSE YOU, SATAAAAAAAAAN!

She left to go visit with her friend, and we couldn't figure out the remote. So basically she came in at the very LAST ten seconds of Joseph Smith seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

But she still liked the movie! We had a discussion with her about the Book of Mormon. She described how when she was studying before, she REALLY felt peaceful, calm and happy. She really missed that feeling and wanted it back. We told her she could feel it again, and committed her to be baptized. She said it was definitly a possiblity, but she wasn't sure yet. So yay! Hopefully we'll continue to see progress with her, there. It was really cool.

We also traveled up to the one and only: Adirondacks.
I don't know if they're mountains....or forests.....but basically there was a big green spot on the map of my mission in my call letter indicating a national forest, and from the beginning I wanted to go there. FINALLY we were able to travel up there because we had a bunch of leftover miles! We went tracting into the NICEST people! None of them were really intrested, but a lot let us in and asked us what we believe.
Thankfully, I had been studying in Preach my Gospel the 3-5 minute explanation of some of the lessons, so I was able to give a good rundown of the restoration of the gospel.
The 3-5 minute run down of the plan of salvation? Yeah that was pretty lousy on my part.
But still! It was awesome.

And I was incredibly grateful I studied that, because later we met up with a family who used to invsetigate. They weren't interested in learning any more, but they let us in and we chatted with them for a bit, when their daughter (who is our age) said, "So I'm like, confirmed a Catholic and all, but I'm kind of athiest....no, well, agnostic. I mean I believe something's there. I just don't know what. I mean my dog's so cute SOMETHING had to create it! So what is it you guys believe?"
Aha! I'm glad you asked that. Thank goodness for Preach My Gospel. I was able to give a brief run down of the restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel. At the end, she said, "....that makes sense! Like it's super logical. Cool."
We asked if she wanted to continue learning, and she said, "Eh. Too busy for that." 

"Well check out this website. We've gone viral." Then I gave her a mormon.org card. So yay!

We had a lot of other mini miracles/adventures this week, but basically I'm out of time and still need to email President Wirthlin.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Things are looking better, and hopefully they'll continue to go up, and hopefully we'll find more investigators. 

loves!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson