11 Months

So we pull up to a less active member's house, and the first thing I see is various chickens and ducks scattering every which way. I hear a rooster call as I get out of the car, and I see our 70-year-old less active member, running around with a chainsaw.

"........Brother M, what on earth are you doing?!"

He jumped when he saw us and said, "My chickens got loose while I was cutting down a tree! I got all of them back in except one!"

"Oh.....do you want help?"

And I start waddling towards a duck, my arms outstretched in vain hopes of catching it.

Cause you know, a duck is almost a chicken. 

"Oh no, it's fine."

The rooster crowed again and I said, "But hey! Your rooster sounds like it's doing good! Though you'd think he'd get sick of saying the same thing over and over again. It's like I'd get tired if all I could say was 'potato.' Pretty sure I'd just stop talking. But no. The rooster keeps going."

"Well he makes a different sound when a fox is attacking him."

"....................hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

He invited us in, and as Sister L and I sat while he turned off the TV, I pondered on the conversation we had just had.

And realized that I just have a knack for saying the weirdest things.

This week was a'ight. It's been a battle of optimism. It has now been six weeks since I've taught a lesson to an investigator, and I feel like Sister L and I have exhausted all our finding efforts. Sometimes I'm left to wonder what more we could be doing. I'm happy, but MAN it's been hard to stay optimistic when we haven't taught a single lesson to an investigator in FOREVER.

This week, we had the opportunity to set up a table at the local college - Skidmore College. We made a big poster portraying the Plan of Salvation, had a laptop with Mormon messages playing, various pamplets laid out, and completed it with a bowl of tootsie rolls! It was a lot of fun!

The first day, two student came up to us. One of them pointed at the Book of Mormon we had and said, "Hey! I saw that musical!"

"Cool! Now do you want the real thing?" we asked.

We gave him and his friend a copy, and they asked what exactly it was about.

"It's a record of the prophets here in America. It takes place at the same time as the Bible, but just has writings of the people who were living on this continent. It goes hand-in-hand with the Bible."

"Wait.....there were people here? Like before the Native Americans?"

"No, no! This is an account of the Native American's ancestors."

"WOAH."

After explaining some about the plan of salvation, and about how we are here on earth to experience joy and prepare to meet Heavenly Father again, they took a few pamplets and sat down. We ate tootsie rolls and watched as they both sat with their friends. We heard them explain the premise of the Book of Mormon, and flip through it together with their friends.

Later, the guy who originally came up to us was sitting with some basketball players. One basketball player started to leave, and another one turned to the guy who we had talked to and said, "You need Jesus, man!" The basketball player turned around and shouted across the whole room, "THAT'S WHY HE'S GOT A BOOK OF MORMON! TO HAVE JESUS WITH HIM!"

We laughed, and our guy turned around and gave us a thumbs up. Later he showed us the Book of Mormon and told us he'd bring it to the basketball game with him.

Hope he read it during half time or something.

It was too great.

The other day we were visiting with a woman. We walk in and sit down, and she's watching some movie from the 80's. So we ask, "May we turn that off?"

Then she whips out this HUUUUUUUGE pile of cash and says, "No, no, no. I have to focus on counting this cash and I can NOT be distracted!"

Because, you know, keeping the loud TV on to help you focus makes logical sense.

So she starts counting the cash.

And she lost count.

Four. Times.

Finally Sister L and I started counting with her and holding up our fingers.

"20....40.....60....80......100.....20........40.......60.....80......20......"

"NO. NO YOU'RE ON TWO HUNDRED."

"200! 20.........40.............60.........80...................oh no I lost count."

"NO. NO YOU'RE ON THREE HUNDRED."

"Well I already combined the pile so now I'm starting over."

.....twenty minutes later she FINALLY had the cash compiled. She placed it in a box, placed the box in a box, and placed THAT box in another box. (Yes. I thought of Emperor's New Groove.) As she sealed it shut, she said, "Oh no.....how much money did I count?"

She began to open the box again when we shouted the total.

"Oh okay."

She put the box aside and said, "Well. Now that I have all THAT figured out, I can finally come back to church!"

"..............Great!"

She still hasn't come.

If she wasn't a senior citizen, I'd suspect she was up to something.......suspicious.

Well it appears I'm out of time.

I love you all so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista Stimpson

HOPPY Easter! Get it....hoppy? [an old family joke]

Basically Easter is great as a missionary because you actually focus less on the chocolate bunnies and more on our Savior and remember the REAL reason of the season :) I LOVE it and this has been the first time Easter has really stood out to me as a holiday :D

We also got so. much. candy. The ward was very, very kind and supportive to us on Easter! We and the Elders had breakfast with some ward members Easter morning. It was SO good! And they gave us each an Easter bag.

Church was wonderful! The same less-active member who came last week came again this week, and the less active member who has been reading the Book of Mormon regularly came this week, too!

I also led the music in Relief Society.

It was an arm workout.

Ward members also gave us some Easter goodies, too. It made me feel loved :)

Easter Evening, we had a combined dinner with three families from the ward. It was a lot of fun, and I knew all the families decently well! Sister L and I decided that we're going to have a combined Easter Sunday Dinner with Sister S in the future. (We both served with Sister S.) And they, too, gave us an Easter Basket.

It was a great Easter full of love and full of our Savior.

Anyway.

I seriously can't even think of what we did this week! We've done a LOT of finding. Not a lot of luck yet - though we have a lot of potentials that we can hopefully pick up as investigators this week! Hopefully....but we have been having REALLY good and productive lessons with some of our less-active members. So that's a bonus.

Haha.....so we had a lesson with a less-active member. I warned Sister L before hand that I have the HARDEST time understanding him.

His wife is also listed on the ward roster.

We're 90% sure she's no longer living.

So the Bishop asked us to find that out.

"How are we supposed to bring that up?" asked Sister L.

"Well, you're the new missionary. You could ask if he's married!"

We invited a ward member to go with us, and we told her the situation. This ward member is awesome! And she's a returned missionary herself. She said, "Oh don't worry. I'll be the newbie who asks all the get-to-know-you-questions."

So we go in and sit down. Right away I can't understand what he is saying. I don't now WHAT my problem is. Everyone else can understand him but just something about his VOICE makes it IMPOSSIBLE for me to understand!

"So do you have much family?" asked the member.

"mmmmuhhmmmurs."

I'm sitting there thinking, "What.....on earth did you just say?"

"Oh, some children! Where do they live?" said the member.

I start scribbling down information in my planner.

"mmmmummrmrm."

"In the city! Wow. So you must be married then?"

"mmmurmurmurm."

"Not anymore? What do you mean?"

"mmmmurmnmurmrnm."

"Oooh she passed away! I'm sorry to hear that."

I quickly write that down.

"How long ago was that?" asked the member. 

"muuurmrmrm."

"Several years ago. Wow."

I wrote it down, and the member and I made eye contact. I gave her a thumbs up, she nodded once, and we started our lesson.

Companionship unity / using the ward members. That's how it's done.

Not much else to report on this week. We had a lesson with our less-active who came to church (the one reading the Book of Mormon) and woke her up.

Oops.

But she still let us in and have a lesson with her! And it was a really good lesson.....even though she was sleepy for it some of the time....

At least I could understand what she was saying.

We also had a super awkward lesson with another woman. She has quite a few health issues that keep her from coming to church.

Seeing as it was Easter Sunday, we decided to invite her to attend anyway since it was such a special Sunday! We came to our lesson all prepped to talk about the sacrament.

But when we get there, we could just TELL she didn't want us there! There was just this whole vibe of annoyance that made me squeamish inside.

So we sit down and chit chat for a bit, then we read a chapter in the Book of Mormon with her about the sacrament.

Then we start addressing church, and ask her to come, especially since it was Easter Sunday.

"NO." she says firmly.

"Okay," says Sister L.

Now she's sort of glaring at us. And suddenly I'm FASCINATED with everything BUT the woman we're teaching. The ceiling fan, the carpet, Sister L's hair, the buckle on my shoes, a bruise on the back of my arm............

The woman basically tells us where the door is, we say a quick closing prayer and leave.

Silence between me and Sister L. We go outside.

"I wonder what Harry Potter character I would be if I were in the movies," I say. Because that's how my mind works.

 

Later we told our district leader, Elder R about it.

"Man. Awkward lessons. Why are missions so....awkward?"
"I don't know," I said, "but I feel like there are way more awkward moments than not."

Well, my friends, it has been a good week!

....aside from the fact that it snowed on Wednesday.

You be letting me down, New York.

But I'll forgive you because it's 60 degrees right now.

I love you all soooooooooooo much!

Remember my birthday is May 3rd.

Hurrah For Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

 

the email of the week

Sunday night, Sister L and I woke up and both said, "I had the weirdest dream."

It turns out, we both had the SAME weird dream. We both dreamed that Elders and Sisters started being put in companionships together. In our dreams, it made complete logical sense to do so!

Then we woke up, and were like, "That would break every law in the book!"

Later, we told Elder R about the dream.

"Man that'd be so weird to be companions with a Sister," he said, "You're walking down the street, and it's all like......'So.....you like.....sports?'"

"And Sisters just spend the whole time walking down the street talking about how cute people's clothes are anyway," said Sister L.

Then we started talking about companionship inventory. Now, companionship inventorty happens once a week. You and your companion basically sit down and talk about what you do well as a companionship, or what you need to improve on as an individual or companionship.

"Yeah, during companionship inventory I'd be all like, 'Look. I get that you think their clothes are cute. I get it. I really do. But you don't need to say it!'"

"Right. And then we'd say, 'Look. I don't care what team won some kind of competition or superbowl years ago that nobody but you remembers. It has nothing to do with how cute that woman's outfit is.'"

Then we decided that those dreams were a sign that we were going to go on a senior couple mission one day.

Anyway.

This week was great! First of all, I have an awesome companion. She is so sweet, so loving, so fun, so happy and so enthusiastic about the work! Second of all, it's FINALLY spring. We have spent a lot of time finding people, and have had some good success!

We have also been having really productive visits with the less active members in the ward, which has been SO great. We visited with a less active member and asked her if she had read the Book of Mormon lately. When she said no, we read the introduction with her, and talked about how much of a blessing the Book of Mormon is. It's not just scriptures, but a story, too. It was meant for our generation to read. These words bring so much guidance, peace and joy into our life. We invited her to read it, and told her we'd call her every evening to remind her to read it.

Instead, she called us.

"Hello, Sisters!" she said in the message she left us, "I just wanted to let you know that I found my old Book of Mormon and have been reading in it."

Turns out, she had been reading the Pearl of Great Price.

Yesterday, she called us and left another message.

"Hello, Sisters," she said again, "I just wanted to let you know that I started the Book of Mormon yesterday and I'm in 1 Nephi chapter 9. I didn't get to read as much as I wanted to today, but I still read."

Basically, this woman is amazing. Before, she wasn't progressing. At all. We'd invite her to church, she would say no. We would commit her to read the Book of Mormon, and she wouldn't. Now, she is making it a sincere priority and it has been wonderful.

Also this week, we visited with another woman who introduced our current ward missionary to the gospel and was present at all of her lessons before her baptism. Since then, this lady has stopped coming. We brought the current ward missionary with us and brough President Uchtdorf's talk, 'Come, Join With us.'

We sat down with her and gave a brief introduction to the talk, and even before we read it, she said, "Ah great. I think this talk is meant for me."

"Yes, I think so, too," I said, "President Uchtdorf says in the first paragraph, 'I'd like to address this message to _______.'"

"Yeah, I think if you skip every other letter or word it says something like that."

We had a nice talk with her, then asked her what's holding her back from church right now.

"Pure laziness, honestly." she said.

"Laziness?!" cried the ward missionary, "Oh honey. If it's just laziness then you ARE coming to church tomorrow. I mean, if it were something else or something doctrinal, then we could discuss it, but I will NOT take laziness as an excuse!"

"I knoooow!"

We talked some more with her, and then committed her to come to church. She agreed.

The next day, we were standing in the foyer of the church, when I turned around, and saw this lady walking down the hallway. It was weird. I wasn't surprised at all to see her. In fact, I felt like this is where she was supposed to be. Some old ward members who knew her before she quit coming greeted her. At the end of church I approached her and asked, "So, how's it feel being back?"

"It feels good to be back."

"We're glad to have you back. Is there a time we can come visit you this week?"

"Oh honey, I'll see you here next Sunday!"

I couldn't help but laugh. I tried to set up an appointment, but she had to say goodbye quickly so she could grab the relief society binder and sign up to get the weekly emails from them.

Basically, it was amazing.

We found three really good potentials that we are hoping to be able to pick up as investigators this next week. Unfortuantly, I don't have time to write about our experiences in meeting with them, but hopefully next week I can tell you the story of our first lesson with them!

I'm remembering what it feels like to see miracles happen around you.

Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Stimpson

travelin'

Oh my dear goodness. I don't even know what to write about for this week, because here's how I would sum it up in a minute or less:

Spring's here!

Tuesday Sister H packed. Then we went to Glenville.

Wednesday we were in Utica.

Thursday we were in Saratoga for six hours then car pooled with the zone leaders and the other sister training leaders to Utica.

Friday we were in a meeting all day in Utica.

We got back to Saratoga on Friday night.

Saturday was Conference!

Sunday was conference!

Now it's today.

The end.

Well okay I guess that's my weekly letter.

Joke.

Guess that's more my outline for this letter.

Yes, my friends, I don't want to speak too soon, but I think that SPRING is HERE! It's like....50 degrees today! We've been getting rain instead of snow, and I even didn't wear leggings one day! I'm back to wearing flat shoes and a light jacket! Sometimes even NO jacket!

Still no green. But I'll take what we get! Wooh!

Tuesday Sister H packed. And we said goodbye to one of our investigators.

I also kept getting texts and calls from the zone leaders and assistants for Sister Training Leader stuff that day. My reaction at first was always, "Why are they calling me?! What have I done wrong?!"

Then they tell me something to do with the Missionary Leadership meeting and I think, "Oh okay. I have no idea what it is you're asking me to do, but I'll wing it!"

That evening, we jammed all the luggage in the car, and traveled to Glenville with Sister J and another Sister H! Because other Sister H has finished her mission and Sister J is training, we stayed the night at their apartment, then traveled to Utica together the next morning.

Other Sister H is like, the second missionary I was actually close to that I've had to say goodbye to. It surprised me how sad I was to say goodbye to her. She was an awesome missionary!

Wednesday was quite the experience! Because we got there early, we got to see trainers get assigned to their trainees. For this, they put all the new missionaries on one side of the chapel, and all the trainers on the other side, and President calls their names and they stand, and sit in the middle of the chapel together. It's a REALLY cool experience, and I got to see Sister J get assigned to her trainee!

And Elder G. He was there, too.

It was a smaller transfer, and I didn't know as many people there, but I DID get to talk to Sister R and Elder F, and we all talked about how much we loved Owego, and how amazing the people were there, and how it stole a chunk of our heart.

Sometimes I still miss it.

A lot of times, I still miss it, actually.

Sister L and I are getting along so well! She is a breath of fresh air that I didn't know I needed! It's weird, though. We skipped the whole awkward get-to-know-you phase and are now learning how to teach together. She has been a sister training leader before so it has been so helpful for her to tell me what it actually is the Assistants are asking me to do! She has just come from Watertown, where it snowed a foot and a half last sunday. So needless to say, she's excited to be in sunny Saratoga!

We traveled with the Zone Leaders and the Sister Training Leaders up to Utica and spent the night there.

First of all, my bunk bed was awful. I chose to sleep on the top bunk. Bad choice. It was SO close to the roof, it had no bars on the side, and no ladder to get onto it. So I had to do this awkward monkey-crawl to get to the top, then I slept super stiff during the night in fear of falling off, but it didn't solve the fact that I still slammed my head/elbows on the ceiling two or three times.

Missionary Leadership Council was a lot of fun! Basically all the zone leaders and sister training leaders sit in a big circle and discuss stuff with the assistant and the mission president.

That's basically my best summary of it.

We talked about stuff.

At one point, I raised my hand and made a comment. Afterwards, President Wirthlin turned to Sister Wirthlin and "whispered," "Sister Stimpson reminds me of........."

Of course, I'm DYING to know who I remind him of! EVERYBODY heard that I remind him of someone, but not of who! Afterwards, I was talking to Elder L.

Me: "Did you hear him say I reminded him of someone?"

Elder L: "You heard that, too?! I thought only I could hear it because I was close!"

Me: "No! Did you hear who?!"

Elder L: "No! Go ask him!"

So I walk up to President Wirthlin.

"So, President....who do I remind you of?"

"Oh. Your mannerisms remind me of an Elder."

"IS IT ELDER T?"

"No."

"Oh. Cause we look alike."

"Oh you and Elder T look JUST alike!"

So then I go back to Elder L.

"You mean you remind him of an Elder but he didn't say which?"

"No! Does that mean I remind him of an Elder as in..... a guy? Or just a specific Elder?"

See, this is what we gossip about as missionaries.

And no, I still don't know who I remind him of! :)

During Breakfast, Sister L and I sat at a table by ourselves to see "who are real friends are."

Nobody sat by us.

But then President Wirthlin sat by me! I told him he was our true friend, then he said I could ask him the scoop  on anything.

"Are we getting iPads soon?"

"No."

"What about push scooters?"

"Those got outlawed 50 years ago."

"Oh."

And then he finished his breakfast two minutes later and walked away, and we were left again in our lonesome.

So then for lunch, Sister L and I decided to sit by someone who needed a friend!

All the seats were taken, except for two on a table FULL of just elders.

So we sat awkwardly next to them. It was great fun.

And great. I ran out of time before I got to talk about general conference.

But I really loved conference! A lot!

Sorry. I'm super tired. Sister L and I are planning to take a nap today for our fun preparation day activity.

Oh boy. So tired.

I love you all so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson!