One year

One year.

 

One YEAR.

 

I can't get over that.

 

People's response to us being out a year is always, "Wow, so you're on your way out, then?"

 

Yeah they keep saying that, but I don't think I actually believe them. I feel like I just GOT here! Now I've been out a year? So, so weird.

 

But I've loved every minute of it :)

 

Well, mostly every minute of it.

 

So, this week was insane! Absolutly insane. With taking over the Elders' area, we have done SO much! We met with both their's, and our investigators.

 

We met with our elderly investigator this week, and we read some of the Book of Mormon with him. In the past, when we read the Book of Mormon, he'd want to stop and discuss EVERY. SINGLE. VERSE. 

This time, he only stopped when we had questions. It kind of threw me off. I read a verse.....then paused, waiting for him to say something. He just kept looking at the book, so I continued! Beautiful day!

We visited him on Tuesday and Friday. On Tuesday, my hair was pulled back. Friday, I came and it was down again. His response?

"I like your hair better when it's down."

".....Thanks. I like your hair no matter what."

"Gee, thank you!"

Later, he kept commenting on how smart my companion was, and asking her questions all about how she got so smart and how she knew so much.

And then......he just stared at me.

I tell myself that he's turning 91 soon, and has lived a good life, so he can say what he wants. And then I made a mental note to not pull my hair back when we go there.

Afterwards, he didn't want us to leave until we went to go see his "rhubarb field."

So we trek out to his very large back yard, and I gaze around the grass and in between the neighboring houses, wondering where this rhubarb field was! All I could see was grass! How far could it be? We had another appointment we had to get to, and I started to worry that if the rhubarb field was too far, we wouldn't be on time.

"Here it is!" he said.

I look down.

It's a single plant.

"That's it?" I say.

"Yeah!"

".........That's cool!"

"Want some lilacs?"

Then he picked us a bunch of lilacs for us to take home.

That made up for the hair/smart comment ;)

We had a wonderful Sunday! We sat in one of the benches, and I kind of looked around. They encourage us to sit with members if investigators don't come, but we had just sat by ourselves because we were in a hurry. I was looking around, seeing if there was a member sitting by themselves that we could go to, when Sister L says, "Is that our teenage investigator coming in the back?"

 

"What? no, that doesn't look.......Oh my gosh it is."

She came to church!!! Her sister is a member and was in town, and they came together! It made my blasted DAY! And her sister's son came (though he had to be taken out quite a few times) so I felt like I was at home with my nephew :)

She then said that we could come by on Monday (today) so hopefully our lesson with her will go well tonight!

 

Well, it appears I'm short on time once again. This week was great, though. Lots of fullfilling and busy lessons, lots of help from the ward, and lots of fun. This next week we're going on two exchanges, and Sister L and I are doing part of the teaching at a zone training meeting. Should be busy, but good!

 

I love you all!

 

Hurrah for Israel

 

Sista' Stimpson

I want to run away to the Adirondacks.

So basically, the first of the week was incredibly hard, overwhelming, and difficult. The Elders gave us all their supplies, area books, and information. We spent about forty-five minutes on the phone with them double-checking information, getting some we didn't have, and frantically writing down everything we need to know for their area.

Tuesday, we went with them to a lesson with one of their investigators. She is the caretaker of a less active man.

She was very sad the whole time that the Elders were leaving.

Then the less active's man ferret climbed up my leg.

It wasn't very encouraging.

They left Wednesday, and Sister L and I were driving to the most northern part of our ward boundaries to visit some people. We toyed with the idea of running away into the Adirondack "mountains." (People call them mountains. Really they're just hills with lots of trees on them. I guess I've been in NY for a while though, seeing as I still think they look like mountains.)

Then we decided it would use up too much mileage in the car and wasn't worth the trouble.

It was actually a really cool experience. At home whenever I faced an overwhelming challenge like this, I'd call my parents or a friend, google it, and then pray about it. But it was REALLY cool to be completely isolated from all resources and just rely on the Lord and my companion. Sister L and I really learned how to deal with new and difficult tasks put in front of us by simply praying first and relying completely on the Lord, and helping each other. I still feel a bit overwhelmed at times, but it's going a LOT better, and I have a better idea of how to handle things by relying on the Lord now :) as opposed to google.

So Thursday, we helped clean the house of a less active member. 

It was a new experience.

I helped clean her floor. There was a lot of black, chunky, unidentifiable gunk that was stuck to her floor.

The next day, she called to thank us. We missed her call, so we called her back. 

She thanked us for our service. And she said she was reading the Book of Mormon!

The problem is she's very confused. She thinks the Book of Mormon is taking place in today's time. I don't know how many times we've told her it starts in 600 B.C, but she called us and was like, "I always KNEW Jerusalem was going to get destroyed. With all the fighting going on there these days? Oh! I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner!"

"Sister R, this takes place 600 years BEFORE CHRIST WAS BORN."

"And those brothers! Oh how CRUEL they are!"

Yeah. One day it'll click.

Things started looking up for us come Saturday. Our investigator (whose dad, brother and sister are members but her mom and step dad aren't) who we hadn't been able to meet with regularly at all texted us, asking if we wanted to come by. We stopped what we were doing, immediately ran to the car, and zipped on over there.

We talked with her for a bit, and she told us about an amazing experience she had with deciding to go to BYU-I. She had put in her deposit to another university, but as soon as she did so, she did NOT feel right about it, at all. She started thinking about BYU-I again, and felt really strongly that this is where she should go. We shared with her a Mormon message on mormonchannel.org called "wrong roads." After showing her, she smiled and said, "Wow. That's crazy! That's exactly the experience I had!"

The rest of the lesson was incredible. OH HAPPY DAY! I was freaking out on the inside, but trying to remain composed on the outside :)

We had a sweet lesson with our elderly investigator! We taught about the Book of Mormon, and basically gave an introduction of it, explaining what it was, and how it was set up.

Basically the golden part of the conversation was this:

Me: "THE BOOK OF MORMON HAS ONLY BEEN TRANSLATED ONCE."

Him: "It has?! Oh well now I'm really excited to read it! That's amazing! Why didn't you tell me this sooner?!"

Sister L: "WE HAVE BEEN TELLING IT TO YOU!....youjustcouldn'thearus."

Him: "What?"

Sister L: "NEVER MIND."

Anyway. I dilly-dallied too long on email and now must dash. I love you all so much!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Stimpson

Transfer 9

Well my friends. I am here to tell you that the Lord answers prayers.

Just not always in the way you expect it.

Or want Him to.

Dear goodness.

Transfer calls were this Saturday! Sister L and I were studying, when President Wirthlin called! We both looked at each other, then I answered the phone.

"Hello, Sister Stimpson. What's new with you?" he asked casually.

"Oh you know. Just reading in Luke. How are you?" I responded.

"Good! So you're just hanging out, then?"

"And reading the scriptures, President!"

"Good..............................well. Let me just pull up my information."

"Wait I thought you were just calling to see how we were!"

"Oh, I was. And to tell you that I'm calling you and Sister L to be Sister Training Leaders again this transfer. You'll be over four sets of sisters."

"Okay!" I said. Last transfer we were over only two sets of sisters. Four should be fun.

"Sounds good?" asked President.

"Yes!"

"All Right. Love you! Have a good day."

"LOVE YOU, PRESIDENT!"

And I hung up. Sister L and I looked at each other, then I said, "I just told President I loved him. That was weird."

"It wasn't too weird."

"It was a little weird."

I am SO excited to be able to work with more sisters this transfer! I have LOVED serving as a Sister Training Leader, and am looking forward to another transfer of it!

But that's not how the Lord answered my prayer.

See, every transfer I've had some sort of idea of what was going to happen, except for my fourth transfer when Sister R and I stayed together again. But I've always had some sort of clue. One night, I was sitting there thinking, "Man. I love surprises. One of these times I just want something super crazy to happen at a transfer. Maybe I'll pray for a surprise to happen."

So I did.

Oops.

We had just gotten out of a teaching appointment with a less-active member, when the zone leaders called us to tell us what's happening with everyone else in the zone.

"So what about the sisters we're over?" we asked.

"They're all staying the same."

"Really? Wow. I expected some of them to change," we said.

But that wasn't the surprise either.

"Okay!" we said,  "How about the elders in our area?"

"The area is closing for elders. You two will now be working in both their area as well as yours." said Elder G.

My heart skipped a beat. Sister L and I looked at each other.

"That's hilarious, Elder G," said Sister L, "What's REALLY happening to the Elders?"

".....I'm not joking. Elder R is going to Cortland, and Elder T is going to Hudson."

"..........Wait.........you're being serious right now?"

"Yes."

"No, no, no. What's REALLY happening to the Elders?"

"The area's closing! You'll be working there as well as your area!"

"WHAT."

"Yes."
"WHY?"

"We've had too many missionaries go home for medical reasons. There's a large shortage of missionaries in the mission. President Wirthlin is trying to keep at least one set of missionaries in each area, so he's had to take out some missionaries where there is already another set, and put them in an area that might close." said Elder G.

Silence.

A long silence.

"You're being serious right now?" I said.

"Yes."

"WELL SHOOT. DANG, OUR AREA JUST GOT HUGE."

This is a mission-wide problem, apparently. We've had at least 11 missionaries go home this last transfer because of medical problems, and more are expected to go home. The Owego Elders' area is now closed and Sister S and Sister A are covering that whole area, too. We have no idea how long we'll be covering the whole area for, but our area is now HUGE.

.....but on the bright side we now have investigators to teach!

It won't be bad.

It will just be an adventure.

Thank goodness Sister L is good at organizing.

Man, not to get totally worldly here, but if I were a journalist, I would SO write an article on this.

Well. Other than this whole surprise, we've had a couple other fun adventures this week!

Our elderly investigator from a few weeks ago came to church! Yes - the dear old, heard-of-hearing man. For Easter, Sister L and I dropped off an Easter present : Finding Faith in Christ. He wanted to watch it with us, so we set up an appointment and came back with a member.

We watched the DVD with him, and the volume was turned up quite loud.

Needless to say, for part of it, I had to sit there with my ear plugged.

The next day, we retaught him the restoration. And it was one of the best lessons I've had with him. And the first thing he said to us when we walked in was, "I'm coming to your church this Sunday!" And....HE DID! Hopefully we will see more progression this time around!

We also visited the woman who we stopped by who had bronchitis. Now, her house has always had a lot of clutter. Like, a lot of clutter.

This time when Sister L and I walked in, we gasped out loud.

It was SO. CLEAN. Everything was organized, swept, scrubbed, and beautiful. She stood proudly in her living room and said how hard she had been working to make it a better and more happy environment. We read part of the Book of Mormon with her. After reading it, she sighed and said, "You know, now that my house is clean, I can feel the spirit so much better. I mean, I guess I could feel it before, but now I can just REALLY feel it as I read! Man, I want this. I really want this. I think God was helping me get motivated to clean so I can feel the spirit better."

It was AMAZING to see the difference in her! She has truly grown even in the few months I have been here!

Anyway. I should be off. But I'll end with one more story:

The perks of street contacting/talking with everyone is that you might talk to a limo driver who tells you you can sit in his limo, and says that if "you and ten other missionaries ever want to take a trip somewhere, just give the company a call and we'll give you a ride in a limo!"

Yes, I'm sure President Wirthlin will approve of that.

 

 

I love you all!

Hurrah For Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

21 What What!

So this week started with district leader interviews. I walk into the classroom where I was going to be interviewed by Elder R.

So with the rules, we have to leave the door cracked when an Elder is interviewing a sister. So I walk in, and the door closes. Both of us go, "NO!" and frantically open it and attempt at making it stay open.

Finally we gave up trying to make it stay open on its own, and shoved a chalkboard eraser in it to make it stay open.

So I turn around and look. There's a circular table set up, with two chairs sitting across from each other. I pick the chair that is right up against the wall. I had to squeeze in, because the circular table was right up against the chair.

Elder R takes a seat across from me and goes, "Well, let's start with a prayer."

He kneels. I kind of stare at him, because between the wall and the table, I have no room to kneel.

Finally, he looks at me, I move out from the table and kneel down......right as he moved back to sitting in the chair because he saw that I wasn't kneeling.

We both look at each other and said, "Oh."

I go to move back to the chair.....right as he goes to move back to kneeling. So we're left doing this weird squatting-in-the-air thing, and finally just sit back in the chairs.

Then, we both say at the exact same time, "Who would you like to say the prayer? Oh. I will."

We look at each other, and bow our heads.

Silence.

A rather uncomfortably long silence.

Then we look at each other, and both say at the exact same time, "I'll say it--oh. You say it."

We both sighed, and Elder R goes, "Okay. YOU say the opening, I'll say the closing."

It was a great start to the week.

After district meeting, we went on exchanges with some nearby sisters! I went to their area with Sister C. It was a lot of fun! We had a few teaching apointments, and then a dinner appointment. As we sit down for dinner, the woman we're having dinner with asks where I'm from, and where I went to school, all that good stuff.

"I did a year at Weber State and at Utah Valley University."

"Oh! My son's fiancé is going to Weber State."

"Nice!"

"Where are you from?"

"The Sandy, Draper area of Utah."

".....My son's fiancé is from Draper."

".....I wonder if I know her."

She says her name.
"SHE'S ENGAGED?! OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH!"

She took that as a yes, and took a picture of Sister C and me to send to her.

It truly is a small, small world.

It was a lot of fun to go on exchanges! I really, really enjoy being a Sister Training Leader!

And what did Sister L and Sister G do in Saratoga?

THEY FOUND A FAMILY THAT WANTS TO START BEING TAUGHT BY US!

See, a few months ago, Sister H and I went tracting. I remembered the street, and that only ONE house answered, and it was a cute family whose daughter looked just like me. After walking away from that door, I remember thinking, "If I had been more diligent....I bet we could've start teaching them."

So, I have wanted to go back, but I felt a little ridiculous doing so. So I told Sister L where the house was, and told her to try it.

What did they do?
As soon as they knock, the family let them right in. The mom said, "Come on in! Sit down, sit down! You got a lesson ready for us?"

The parents and the three youngest little girls ran to the couch and sat down.

"You got a pamphlet or something you want to use?"
(See, while they were retelling this story to me, my jaw dropped, and I couldn't shut it.)

The sisters began teaching them, when the dog started yapping uncontrollably. They couldn't have a lesson -which was actually okay, because they were late to an appointment already- but the parents said that they've been looking and looking for a family-oriented church!

WELL WE'VE GOT THAT!

They said that if they didn't come to church this Sunday, then they'd come next week! (which they hopefully should).

MIRACLE!

This week  we had mission leadership council: a meeting with all the zone leaders and sister training leaders in Utica where we discuss the needs of missionaries and how we can help the mission.

Here are some moments from that:

That morning, President Wirthlin was making pancakes.

I foolishly offered to help.

He gave me some direction on how to flip pancakes.

The first one....I flipped OFF the griddle.

By now all the missionaries are huddled around me, giving me advice, and holding their breath as they watch me flip the pancakes.

The second one......I flipped on top of another pancake.

The third one.......I broke.

President finally took the spatula from me and said, "You're fired."

Later when he left the room, I ran back up to the griddle. I flipped a pancake.

It wasn't ready to be flipped.

Pancake mix went EVERYWHERE.

I threw the spatula and hid before he came back.

He walked in, saw the mess of a pancake and said, "Ah. That's a Sister Stimpson pancake."

"It's got personality!" I shouted from behind an Elder.

In my honor, he made me a giant "S" shaped pancake.

Which broke.

But still.

I was touched!

Later at the meeting....

*President Wirthlin looks at all of us in the room.*

"Well. You certainly have all been fed well."

.....awkward silence....

Me: "Are you calling us fat?!"

Me: "Are Elders and Sisters allowed to have meals on holidays?"

President Wirthlin: "Yes. Well, define holiday."

Me: "Easter, Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving.......Flag day."

Random Missionaries: "April Fool's Day!"

"St. Patrick's day!"

"Pajama day at school!"

My birthday was SO great! I got cards from one of the families in the ward, and Brother A let me look at his collection of autographed pictures of Harry Potter actors.

He let me hold his Alan Rickman picture.

I can die happy now.

I couldn't keep it, but just touching it made my life complete.

Thank you SO much for all the notes, clothes, and presents! I LOVED it and LOVED the Adventures of Snape [featuring her cardboard cutout of Snape, put together by Bethany and Katrina].

Needless to say, he better be at the airport when I go home.

More adventures to tell you about when I Skype y'all.

Hoppy Mother's Day!

LOVE YOU!

Hurrah For Israel,

Sista' Stimpson