Brother Fredette (aka: Jimmer's dad) came to church this past Sunday. And this is basically how our encounter with each other went down.
Sister H: "Hello, Brother Fredette!"
Brother Fredette and I word-for-word at the EXACT same time: "Hello! How are you---er, I'm good. You? Oh---I'm good."
Then we literally stared at each other for a good six seconds, waiting to see if the other person was going to say something and not wanting to say something in case the other was going to say something.....and then he walked away.
So awkward.
This week was a good week! Though I could basically waste my whole letter talking about Tuesday, so I'll try to spread out the whole week.
Tuesday morning we get a call from the member in our ward who our recent convert (who went to go live with relatives) lived with.
The first words out of her mouth were, "Guess who's here."
"Who?"
"Our friend."
"SHE'S BACK?!"
"Yeah. She's staying with me, at least for the next six weeks."
"SHE'S BACK!"
We raced over to her house and had a good visit with her. Again, she's stressed with life, but it was good to see her and I just ADORE her! We are so, so excited to see her again :)
Tuesday afternoon, we also had a visit with our elderly investigator. At the end of the lesson, we asked him if he'd attend church. He said he probably would, then asked, "Will there be cake and coffee?"
"WE GUARANTEE WE WILL NEVER HAVE COFFEE AT OUR CHURCH."
"Tell me! What am I supposed to drink that's hot in the morning besides hot chocolate and hot water?"
"HERBAL TEA."
"YOU TOLD ME TEA WASN'T OKAY!"
"WE WERE TRYING TO TELL YOU HERBAL TEA IS OKAY, BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN!"
So he shuffles into his kitchen, and comes back out with his boxes of tea and literally throws them in Sister H's lap, and stares at us.
We picked up the box of green tea and said, "SEE THIS? GREEN TEA. THAT'S BAD."
We picked up the box of black tea, did a thumbs down and said, "SEE THIS? THIS IS BLACK TEA. THIS IS BAD, TOO."
Then we picked up the box of herbal tea and said, "SEE THIS? THIS IS HERBAL TEA. THIS IS GOOD. YOU CAN DRINK THIS!"
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"WE TRIED!"
"Well I guess I'll just have to buy some herbal tea, then."
He was planning on coming to church, but Sunday morning he called us and said he wouldn't be able to make it.
On Wednesday, I got a bittersweet letter from our second convert from Owego. She wrote about how much she missed me, how hard it was for her when I left ...............and how she hasn't come to church since I've left and she doesn't know why.
My heart hurt a little reading that, but I could tell by what she was writing that she was just feeling a little overwhelmed by everything she was being asking to do. She studied for a year before she even started coming to church, and she likes to take things slow, so I'm not surprised that she's feeling overwhelmed. I wrote her a note telling her that she should focus on church regularly for now, then focus on getting to the temple in a few months, then she can focus on the other things if she wants, but not to take it all at once. Hopefully that helped :/ I miss that lady.
Thursday morning, I got a horrible night's rest. So I was basically a major grump face. That's when we were supposed to see a less active member. But she was really sick, so we talked with her for a few minutes, said a prayer with her, and left.
Now back to Tuesday.
Tuesday evening comes, and Sister H and I get in the car, when the zone leaders call us. I look at Sister H and said, "Why are the zone leaders calling us? Elder T isn't our zone leader now so it's not like I'll be asked to give a talk or a spiritual thought in zone meetings anymore!"
We laughed and answer the phone. We say hello and Elder L and his companion ask, "Sister H, would you play the piano for zone training meeting next Thursday?"
"It depends. Which songs?" she asked.
"It depends on Sister Stimpson. We want her to sing a solo for the special musical number."
I laugh and go, "Yeah, that's hilarious, Elder L."
"No. I'm being serious."
".........What?"
"We want you to sing a solo for a special musical number on Thursday."
"............Wait, seriously?"
"Yes."
"YOU'RE BEING FOR REAL HERE? YOU'RE ASKING ME TO SING A SOLO?"
"Yes."
"WHAT BROUGHT THIS ON? I don't have the most angelic of voices!"
"I honestly don't know! We were praying and praying to know who should sing, and NOBODY was coming to mind! Then we were in the car and all of the sudden I felt, 'Sister Stimpson should sing a solo' so I thought, 'Hmmm....Okay!'"
"So this is inspiration?"
"Yes."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"Okay I'll do it! But if I TOTALLY mess up and sound bad, I'm blaming you."
"That's fine. We have this whole zone training meeting on our heads anyway, so might as well add the musical number to it, too."
So I hang up the phone, and the first words out of my mouth are, "I HAVE TO TELL MY VOICE TEACHER! AND I HAVE TO TELL MY MOM!"
We told a few members at dinner appointments about this and with each one, we had the exact same conversation:
Members: "You're singing a solo for a zone meeting? You must be quite the singer!"
Me: "....not particularly."
Members: "Well you sang in the school choir, right?"
Me: "No, no. I was in band."
Members: "So...why did you volunteer?"
Me: "Oh, I didn't. They asked me to. I mean, I took about three months of singing lessons, so that's something!"
Members: "Wow. I don't think I could do that."
Me: "Yeah I really don't know how I am, to be straight up with you."
Finally after the third time we had this conversation, I said to Sister H, "Maybe I'll just start telling people I was an opera major so we'll stop having this conversation."
So seeing as I've never sung a solo before, I called a few ward members to practice in front of them. Sister H and I picked out the song 'The Olive Tree' to sing which is about missionary work/Jacob chapter 5. Well I sing in front of a ward member and she goes, "....You know..... I'm giving the Relief Society lesson this Sunday, and I would love to have you sing for it at the beginning of my lesson."
At first I was going to say no, but then I realized that I'll be singing in front of 40 missionaries come Thursday, so might as well agree.
So I sang on Sunday, and it was fine and dandy. You know, no Celine Dion or anything, and then another ward member comes up to me afterwards and says, "So you want to sing in sacrament in two weeks?"
My first two thoughts were, 'C'MON lady -- my voice is so simple and I'm not even that great!' and 'oh dear I'm already sick of this song and now I'll have to sing it AGAIN?'
But instead I said, "We'll see how Thursday goes. Can't I just play the flute?"
"No, you're used to the flute. I think singing is the start of something new for you."
She walked away and Sister H says, "She doesn't take no for an answer. You're totally gonna have to sing in sacrament meeting."
Basically I have NO idea how this happened, but I'm totally psyched. And totally nervous. This is DEFINITELY a new experience for me! Wish me luck!
....but seriously.
Sister H: "Hello, Brother Fredette!"
Brother Fredette and I word-for-word at the EXACT same time: "Hello! How are you---er, I'm good. You? Oh---I'm good."
Then we literally stared at each other for a good six seconds, waiting to see if the other person was going to say something and not wanting to say something in case the other was going to say something.....and then he walked away.
So awkward.
This week was a good week! Though I could basically waste my whole letter talking about Tuesday, so I'll try to spread out the whole week.
Tuesday morning we get a call from the member in our ward who our recent convert (who went to go live with relatives) lived with.
The first words out of her mouth were, "Guess who's here."
"Who?"
"Our friend."
"SHE'S BACK?!"
"Yeah. She's staying with me, at least for the next six weeks."
"SHE'S BACK!"
We raced over to her house and had a good visit with her. Again, she's stressed with life, but it was good to see her and I just ADORE her! We are so, so excited to see her again :)
Tuesday afternoon, we also had a visit with our elderly investigator. At the end of the lesson, we asked him if he'd attend church. He said he probably would, then asked, "Will there be cake and coffee?"
"WE GUARANTEE WE WILL NEVER HAVE COFFEE AT OUR CHURCH."
"Tell me! What am I supposed to drink that's hot in the morning besides hot chocolate and hot water?"
"HERBAL TEA."
"YOU TOLD ME TEA WASN'T OKAY!"
"WE WERE TRYING TO TELL YOU HERBAL TEA IS OKAY, BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN!"
So he shuffles into his kitchen, and comes back out with his boxes of tea and literally throws them in Sister H's lap, and stares at us.
We picked up the box of green tea and said, "SEE THIS? GREEN TEA. THAT'S BAD."
We picked up the box of black tea, did a thumbs down and said, "SEE THIS? THIS IS BLACK TEA. THIS IS BAD, TOO."
Then we picked up the box of herbal tea and said, "SEE THIS? THIS IS HERBAL TEA. THIS IS GOOD. YOU CAN DRINK THIS!"
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"WE TRIED!"
"Well I guess I'll just have to buy some herbal tea, then."
He was planning on coming to church, but Sunday morning he called us and said he wouldn't be able to make it.
On Wednesday, I got a bittersweet letter from our second convert from Owego. She wrote about how much she missed me, how hard it was for her when I left ...............and how she hasn't come to church since I've left and she doesn't know why.
My heart hurt a little reading that, but I could tell by what she was writing that she was just feeling a little overwhelmed by everything she was being asking to do. She studied for a year before she even started coming to church, and she likes to take things slow, so I'm not surprised that she's feeling overwhelmed. I wrote her a note telling her that she should focus on church regularly for now, then focus on getting to the temple in a few months, then she can focus on the other things if she wants, but not to take it all at once. Hopefully that helped :/ I miss that lady.
Thursday morning, I got a horrible night's rest. So I was basically a major grump face. That's when we were supposed to see a less active member. But she was really sick, so we talked with her for a few minutes, said a prayer with her, and left.
Now back to Tuesday.
Tuesday evening comes, and Sister H and I get in the car, when the zone leaders call us. I look at Sister H and said, "Why are the zone leaders calling us? Elder T isn't our zone leader now so it's not like I'll be asked to give a talk or a spiritual thought in zone meetings anymore!"
We laughed and answer the phone. We say hello and Elder L and his companion ask, "Sister H, would you play the piano for zone training meeting next Thursday?"
"It depends. Which songs?" she asked.
"It depends on Sister Stimpson. We want her to sing a solo for the special musical number."
I laugh and go, "Yeah, that's hilarious, Elder L."
"No. I'm being serious."
".........What?"
"We want you to sing a solo for a special musical number on Thursday."
"............Wait, seriously?"
"Yes."
"YOU'RE BEING FOR REAL HERE? YOU'RE ASKING ME TO SING A SOLO?"
"Yes."
"WHAT BROUGHT THIS ON? I don't have the most angelic of voices!"
"I honestly don't know! We were praying and praying to know who should sing, and NOBODY was coming to mind! Then we were in the car and all of the sudden I felt, 'Sister Stimpson should sing a solo' so I thought, 'Hmmm....Okay!'"
"So this is inspiration?"
"Yes."
"You promise?"
"I promise."
"Okay I'll do it! But if I TOTALLY mess up and sound bad, I'm blaming you."
"That's fine. We have this whole zone training meeting on our heads anyway, so might as well add the musical number to it, too."
So I hang up the phone, and the first words out of my mouth are, "I HAVE TO TELL MY VOICE TEACHER! AND I HAVE TO TELL MY MOM!"
We told a few members at dinner appointments about this and with each one, we had the exact same conversation:
Members: "You're singing a solo for a zone meeting? You must be quite the singer!"
Me: "....not particularly."
Members: "Well you sang in the school choir, right?"
Me: "No, no. I was in band."
Members: "So...why did you volunteer?"
Me: "Oh, I didn't. They asked me to. I mean, I took about three months of singing lessons, so that's something!"
Members: "Wow. I don't think I could do that."
Me: "Yeah I really don't know how I am, to be straight up with you."
Finally after the third time we had this conversation, I said to Sister H, "Maybe I'll just start telling people I was an opera major so we'll stop having this conversation."
So seeing as I've never sung a solo before, I called a few ward members to practice in front of them. Sister H and I picked out the song 'The Olive Tree' to sing which is about missionary work/Jacob chapter 5. Well I sing in front of a ward member and she goes, "....You know..... I'm giving the Relief Society lesson this Sunday, and I would love to have you sing for it at the beginning of my lesson."
At first I was going to say no, but then I realized that I'll be singing in front of 40 missionaries come Thursday, so might as well agree.
So I sang on Sunday, and it was fine and dandy. You know, no Celine Dion or anything, and then another ward member comes up to me afterwards and says, "So you want to sing in sacrament in two weeks?"
My first two thoughts were, 'C'MON lady -- my voice is so simple and I'm not even that great!' and 'oh dear I'm already sick of this song and now I'll have to sing it AGAIN?'
But instead I said, "We'll see how Thursday goes. Can't I just play the flute?"
"No, you're used to the flute. I think singing is the start of something new for you."
She walked away and Sister H says, "She doesn't take no for an answer. You're totally gonna have to sing in sacrament meeting."
Basically I have NO idea how this happened, but I'm totally psyched. And totally nervous. This is DEFINITELY a new experience for me! Wish me luck!
....but seriously.
Well. I love you all!!!! Miss you all so much, too!!!
Hurrah for Israel!
Sista' Stimpson
You are the popcorn popping on my apricot tree Sister Stimpson - keep up the wonderful work of sharing the words....
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