the week

So I think there's something about staying in an area for 5 transfers (7 months by the end of it) that does something to you, because I experienced this as soon as I hit the beginning of 5 transfers in Owego.

Everything looks familiar.

Every person, every car, every home.

They aaaaaall look familiar.

See, I thought it was just Owego, because Owego's small. But in comparison, Saratoga is HUGE. And yet, everyone looks familiar, and I SWEAR I've knocked on every home, which so isn't true.

But it makes life interesting. Sometimes I'll stand in front of a home/human and just stare at them and think, "You look so familiar." 

When in reality I haven't seen them before in my life.

On another note....summer is here in Saratoga, which means A TON OF EVENTS ARE GOING ON.

I feel like I'm in New York City. But seriously. People everywhere, horrible traffic that makes me cranky, and a number of events. Plus, people are so classily dressed here, that sometimes I feel like I just blend into the crowd. Usually you don't see two girls in skirts walking around....

until you get to Saratoga.

Then everyone's in classy business suits and fancy dresses/skirts. Then I feel underdressed.

Mom, can you send me my prom dress?
JOKE!

Anyway.

Tangent over.

It's been good having the Elders back! The ward is very excited to see them! Elder T has had plenty of welcome backs!

I've also had this exact same conversation with a few members:

"So, Sister Stimpson, where else have you served?"

"Owego."

"Where's that?"
"By Binghamton."

"Oh. Where else?"

"Here."

"Oh......how long have you been on your mission?"

"Just over a year."

"....Oh."

Yeah, I just like to stay put in areas. What can I say?

Anyway.

So we had a lesson with our investigator. What was it on, you might ask?

The Law of Chastity.

And the Word of Wisdom.

Aka: time to stop living with your girlfriend and stop drinking coffee/smoking/drinking alcohol.

Now this is an awkward thing to address in general, let alone to a middle-aged man. So it comes time to have "the talk." Things are going fine and dandy. He's understanding it all. And then it comes time to address the issue of him living with his girlfriend.

Sister L starts frantically flipping through the Law of Chastity pamphlet, trying to stall addressing the issue. I'm just flat out trying not to bust up laughing, so to prevent that, I CANNOT make eye contact with anyone around me.

Meanwhile, little did I know, but Sister L is trying to make eye contact with me so that I can address the issue, but I'm just so fascinated with my shoes!

"So....yeah....um...." starts Sister L.

"Here it comes," I thought, and I start biting my lip and looking at my hands.

Yes, I have a problem that I can't control my laughter very well.

"You know how you're um, living with your.......um......you know........um........your girlfriend?"

"Yes," he says.

"You....um....you can't um.....do that."

"What if we're just roommates?"

I look up to see ALL of them (him, Sister L, the member) looking at me.
Well crud.

I swallow my laugh and say, "No.....um......that just causes a lot of temptation and it's....um.....just better to avoid that, and to avoid the appearance of evil.....you um.....you know?"

"Oh......so I have to move out?"

"Yeah."

Pause.

"Well I guess that makes sense," he said, "I mean, it's kind of awkward living with her. It's like, do I love her? Do I not? Are we together? Are we not? It's just so confusing! Of COURSE I should move out!"

Sister L and I looked at each other in disbelief.

"Do you know any apartments nearby?" asked the member.

"No."

"Okay, my husband and I can help you look for some."

"That'd be great," he says, "You know, I've been thinking I need to move out. I have a friend who keeps telling me that I should, and now I have a reason why!"

Jaw drop.

"......Yay....!" I said, still a little bit in disbelief.

Then we handed him the Word of Wisdom pamphlet. During our brief introduction to it, He had already opened it, and before we could finish, said, "Oh yeah I'm fine with all of these. Well, except coffee. I've already had five cups today!"

I look at the clock.

It's 11:00.

"Well it's no wonder you talk so fast...." I thought to myself.

He called us a couple days ago to tell us he's stopped drinking coffee since we introduced it to him!! We are so excited!

But has it slowed down his speech?

Nope.

"I'vebeenoffofcoffeeforaboutfivedaysnow!"

"Hey, that's gre---."

"andi'veonlyhadacoupleofcravings!justacoupleofcravings!isdecafokaytodrink?"

"N--."

"yeahididn'thinksobutmyfriendwasaskingbutifiguriedishouldjuststayawayfromitit'saddictiveyouknow!"

"Well I'm glad that--."

"yeahsothingsaregoinggoodihaven'thadcoffeeinfivedaysnowandonlyacoupleofcravings.workingongettingchurchoff. ""Okay, we'll probably move your baptism date to August ---."

"yeahiwasthinkingthatdbegoodcausei'llhaveworkoffbythen."

No. Exaggeration.  

Things are going well here! Our young adult investigator and her friend came to church! Got to talk to my darling Sister S on the phone, as well as Sister C, who is in the zone! She was serving in Saratoga right before I came, and we came out at the same time.

Life's good. Going to Utica this week on July 4th for a conference. Wooh! Gonna party up Independence Day with the President of Wirthlin's.

Well. I love you all!

Hurrah For Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

Missionary work

To any and all who are preparing to/thinking about serving a mission, I have one message for you:

Expect miracles. Seriously. They're EVERYWHERE in the mission field! I love it. Love, love, love it.

I am going to start with Transfer calls, because I seriously can't remember anything that happened before then.

(It's a sad life.

Thank goodness for journals.)

So for leadership positions, President always calls Saturday morning. For anything else, the zone leaders call you for changes later on Saturday.

Saturday morning came, and I felt pretty confident that Sister L and I were staying the same and staying as Sister Training Leaders.

And then....personal study came.

No phone call.

Then.....companionship study came.

....still no phone call.

Sister L and I looked at each other, and suddenly I found myself getting nervous.

Well crud! What on earth was happening this next transfer, then?

The phone rang.

Sister L and I dashed to it.

It was a less-active member that we visited a couple of times... We picked it up.

"Hello, this is the missionaries," said Sister L.

"Hello. This is _________.....from.....the church."

"Hi! How can we -?"

"What time is church at?"

"10:00!"

"Okay I'll be there bye."

And he hung up.

We looked at each other.

"That was the shortest conversation I've had in a while," said Sister L.

We went throughout our day, and still no phone call from President.

Later in the afternoon, we were weekly planning, when the phone rang.

"IT'S THE ZONE LEADERS!"

Suddenly my knees were wobbly, and my heart was pounding SO hard!

"Who would you like to know about?" Elder G asked when we answered.

"US!" I yelled.

"Nope. You have to wait for last."

"UGH. ELDER G I'M GOING TO THROW. UP."

"Well while you throw up, you better start packing. But....we'll get to you two later."

"Fine. What's happening with the Elders? Are they coming back to Saratoga?" I asked.  

"Okay.....are you reading for this? Elder T (who used to be in Saratoga) is coming BACK to Saratoga! He's going to be training."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Geez, Sister Stimpson, don't you guys have neighbors?"

"Yes. Sorry."

"No worries. You wont be their neighbor for long..." he said.

"ELDER G."

"What about the Sisters in our zone?" asked Sister L.

"Sister B will be going up north to be with Sister R (my first companion)."

"THAT'S MY TRAINER!" I yelled.

"Cool! So....who next?" he asked.

"Um.....how about Glens Falls?" we suggested.

"So, Sister C will be going to Owego--."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---"

"Sister Stimpson, hang onto that scream because Sister G will be joined by Sister S (my second companion)."

And, if it were possible, which I didn't think it was, but apparently it was....

I screamed even louder. (Don't worry. These are screams of excitement.)

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Man I feel bad for your neighbors." said Elder G.

Sister L unplugged her ears.

"Anyone else?"

"US! TELL US ABOUT US!" I yelled.

"Okay.....Sister Stimpson.....you're going to pack your bags.......and then unpack them because you two are staying the same."

We looked at each other.

"Well sweet!" I said.

I know. An anticlimactic reaction.

"Wow. How does it feel to spend 5 transfers in both of your first two areas?" asked Sister L.

"Eh. About the same."

"Who are the sister training leaders?" we asked.

"You guys are, and then Sister W and her companion are."

"President didn't call us, though."

"He didn't? Huh. He must've forgotten. But yeah you guys are still Sister Training Leaders."

"Oh. Well....great!"

So basically, in summary:

This is going to be the BEST. TRANSFER. EVER!

Sister L and I are paranoid that something is going to go wrong and that the Elders WON'T actually be coming back to Saratoga.

So what did we do?

We told the Ward Mission Leader.

And one lady they were teaching, because we wanted to ask her if she could feed them.

And no one else.

Later we called Elder T to tell him the information about his dinner appointment on Wednesday, when they get here.

"AWESOME!" he said, "So does everyone know I'm coming back?"

"Um.......nope.......we didn't really tell anyone."

"Well Sunday should be fun."

"Yeah.....we actually didn't tell anyone that Elders are coming back in general."

"..............................Man I'm going to have SO much fun with this!"

We can't wait to see everyone's reaction on Sunday.

Now for Sunday, miracles were EVERYWHERE!

Our elder investigator came to church, our young-adult investigator came to church and brought her friend again, the less-active guy who called us came to church, AND another less active member came to church!

Basically, it was the best Sunday ever.

Except in Relief Society we went off on the law of chastity and the young adult investigator's friend got asked to read a quote on it.

Basically I was praying the whole time that she could still feel the spirit even though we were talking about chastity....

Later on Sunday, another investigator called us to say that he just got a bunch of Sundays off so that he can start coming to church, and he wants to work to get them off completely! Best day ever!

But, because there must be opposition in all things, this week wasn't COMPLETELY perfect.

On exchanges, I went to Albany. The Sister and I went to go try an investigator. We knock on the door, the investigator opens it, and their little Yorkie dog TAKES OFF running! This investigator is this older woman who can only really speak Italian and very little English.

So, we volunteer to chase it down.

After trotting after it for ten minutes shouting, "PEPE! COME HERE, PEPE!" The dog finally walked up to me.

I put the back of my hand down for him to sniff.

He sniffed it.

I put my hand closer to try to pick him up and---

he leapt up and bit my hand.

My reaction?
"YOU LITTLE EVIL THING!"

I have no tolerance for dogs who bite me.

The Sister I was with ran up next to me and tried it. The dog was friendlier to her, so she tried to grab its collar.

And then he did the same thing to her.

She acted a little more civilly, though, and just yelled, "HEY!"

Then the owner came out and tossed me the dog's leash, and suddenly the dog was my best friend.

But I didn't trust it still.

And the worst part is, the bite didn't even leave any scars or battle wounds or anything, so I don't even have anything cool to show off for this story!

Oh well. What can you do.

Well. That's all for me. It has been a marvelous week full of marvelous work and not too much humidity yet!

Well, maybe there's humidity.....but I'm just used to it?
Dunno.

Love you all!!!!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sister Stimpson

Week of weeks

Well, this week was amazing. Earlier this week, we met with a guy to introduce the Book of Mormon to him.

Little did we know, he was already reading it. He read the introduction, and all of the testimonies, and started First Nephi. We sat there wondering what else was left to introduce, but we went over it anyway, and he told us how it made more sense now.

We neglected, however, to set him with a baptismal date, and Sister L and I were kicking ourselves a bit for doing so.

Then Thursday rolled around, and he called.

"So, I've been reading the Book of Mormon. You know, a lot of people don't believe it's true! They all have different opinions on it." he said.

My heart sunk. He was going to drop us. I was SURE of it.

"But I believe it's true," he said, "And I was just wondering.....like I know we talked about baptism before......when can I get baptized? And what do I need to do beforehand?"

My jaw dropped.

I was literally speechless.

Like, no words were coming out of my mouth.

Sister L quickly grabbed the phone and started talking to him about the process and what we need to do.

My jaw continued to be dropped.

We set him with a specific baptismal date.

"That's right after my birthday!" he said, "That's perfect! Wait - is Sister Stimpson still there?" he asked.

"Uh--YEAH! Sorry. I'm here!"

He said he was going to check with his work to get Sundays off so he can start coming to church.

BEST DAY EVER!

We've seen so many wonderful miracles! Our college-bound investigator went for the weekend to visit her family. She went to church there with them, and beforehand, invited her friend to come to church here in Saratoga.

And the friend showed up! She said she knew exactly where the church was cause she drove there the night before so she could be sure she wouldn't get lost.

"I went to church, but I never got anything out of it. Then I overheard [the investigator] telling her family how she gets stuff out of church when she goes, so I figured I might as well try it!"

She liked it! We gave her a Book of Mormon, some other material, and she said she'd be there with the friend next week.

We've set the investigator with a date for baptism.

BEST DAY EVER!

So then later we were having a lesson with a less-active member, when all of the sudden he says, "Which one of you plays the clarinet or flute?"

"Um....I play the flute?" I said.

He runs out of the room, and comes back and hands me a flute.

"I was cleaning out the basement of this building" (he's the janitor of his apartment complex) "and I found this! This is a flute, right? Not a clarinet? I have NO idea where it came from or whose it is, so you can have it!"

"What? Really? OH MY GOODNESS! THANK YOU THANK YOU!"

So I start freaking out, and then his son insisted that I play it. So I open it.

.....it's very.....loved. And old.

So I put it together, excitement filling me that I have FINALLY been reunited with this beautiful, beautiful instrument that I find that I have been missing. I put my mouth to it to play and.......

Nothing.

Not a single sound.

Everyone stares at me.

"Um..."

"TRY HARDER!" insisted the son.

"I.....okay....."

So I try again, to the point where I'm getting light headed, and finally get the most painful, ear-piercing B flat I have EVER heard. I cringe and put it down and said, "Yeah I think it needs to be fixed a little.....but thank you so much!"

"Will you play it at church?"

"Um....."

I look at the keys. The pads are in OBVIOUS need of replacing. Like...I can see the leaks in them.

".....after it gets fixed!"

Basically it wasn't as sweet of a reunion as I imagined. BUT STILL! It was awesome.

But I can play a C on it just fine, because those are the only two pads that don't need replacing!

Anyway. Life's been busy, but life's been good. Transfer calls this Saturday. Everyone seems to be convinced I'm leaving, except myself. I could very easily stay a fifth transfer! It happened in Owego!

But people are already saying goodbye to me and I'm like hey....none of that. So it will be interesting!

Love you all!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

New York NEW YORK!‏

The following conversation took place at Mission Leadership Council this week:

Me: "What's a good way to visit less-active members multiple times in the week without wearing out the members, when they live in the middle of nowhere?"

President Wirthlin: "I don't think there's a silver bullet solution to that."

Me: "PUSH SCOOTERS!"

President Wirthlin: "Not approved."

I've been trying to get those approved for months now. Still no luck.

It's been a really good week! Thursday and Friday we had meetings in Utica (one with all the sister training leaders, and one with us and the zone leaders), and on Wednesday - Thursday we went on another exchange. I am absolutely LOVING being a sister training leader! It has been AMAZING to be able to serve these sisters and help them in so many ways!

President Wirthlin also surprised our district this week! He showed up to one of our meetings and wanted to interview all of us, because he wasn't going to have time during our next zone training meeting to do so. When it was my time to be interviewed, I sat down and he said, "Your email made me smile this week."

"How so?"

"Do you remember what you wrote about the ward?"

This past week, I wrote about how much I love the ward and have learned to love serving in Saratoga.

"Oh! Yeah! I really have grown to absolutely love it here."

"You had me worried for a while. I was going to transfer you last transfer, but the spirit told me not to do so."

"Wait, really?"

"Yes. I was unsure about leaving you here for another transfer, but I'm pleased with the turn around you've shown."

"Well....thanks! I'm glad I stayed!"

Later we were talking and he said in passing, "Never give up. Never---."

"Oh my gosh have you seen Galaxy Quest?"

"No."

"Oh. You half quoted it."

He laughed.

Sometimes I say ridiculous things.

So some missionaries have been lax with some of the music lately, and we were addressing this issue at mission leadership council. I brought up that some missionaries were listening to movie soundtracks, and wondered if that should be allowed. The Assistants said, "Ultimatly it should be bringing your thoughts to Christ."

"Oh straight up. I mean if I listened to that I'd be thinking of Jack Sparrow, not Christ! I'm just wondering if we should make it a set rule?" I said to them.

"You know there's this rendition of 'If you could Hie to Kolob' that reminds me of Pirates of the Caribbean." said one of the assistants, and he proceeded to imitate it while playing the air cello. We all died laughing.

We were able to pick up a new investigator this week! A week ago, we ran into him at WalMart. He said he was from Arizona, and went to a temple open house there. He said, "I'd love to go to your church sometime, but I work on Sundays." we invited him to a ward social, and he showed up, AND brought a friend! He was visited on the exchange when I was in Glens Falls.

They taught him the restoration. He had been reading the Book of Mormon before the lesson. He listened and participated throughout the lesson, and at the end, they asked him to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet. He agreed, and after he prayed, he looked up and said, "Okay so I'll just keep praying to know if it's true, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure he was. Nah, I know he was a prophet. But I'll pray about it anyway!"

......okay!

We're meeting with him this Tuesday and I hope it goes well! It was AMAZING to see how everything worked out to meet him. He mentioned how warm he felt in the church, and how friendly and welcoming everyone was at the church activity. I am SO excited to continue teaching him!

Things really have been going really well here in Saratoga. We are seeing so much progression with the people we're teaching, and the ward has been SO supportive of us, especially with the Elders gone!

Also, I learned that the first potato chip was invented in Saratoga. Who knew!

I love you all! This work is AMAZING and I'm SO glad to be doing it!

Hurrah For Israel,

Sista' Stimpson

emaillll of June

So first things first.

We had a zone conference this week. President and Sister Wirthlin were in and out of it the whole time.

The only thing President Wirthlin said to me was at the very end of the meeting before they had to leave, he shook my hand and said, "Someone from your home town....or ward.....or stake says hello. But I didn't write it down so I don't remember who it was. But they say hello."

Then he walked away as I stood there laughing.

So whoever it was who somehow saw my mission president who knows where....hello back!

I kind of wonder if he mixed me up with one of the other sisters whose names begin with "St..."  

He does that sometimes.

Speaking of zone training meeting, Sister L, Elder G and Elder L and I were all supposed to do specific trainings. We split the zone into four different groups, each had a "station" and the missionaries would rotate through them.

Then we got a call from Elder L the night before.

"Hey....so.....hypothetically speaking but not being hypothetical at all.......what would happen if Elder G had laryngitis and completely lost his voice and has been ordered by Sister Wirthlin to 'shut up'?"

"......you're kidding me."

"Nope."

Then all of us burst out laughing. This WOULD happen!

We ended up just having three stations, then having everyone come together for the last training, which Elder L did the training for. Elder G walked around with a small white board and wrote down anything he wanted to say.

And made various facial expressions.

He mimed out the whole first vision for Elder L. Surprisingly Elder L understood all of it.

My training was on helping our investigators receive revelation through prayer. It was actually a lot of fun! We all discussed ways we could help our investigators and less active members feel more comfortable praying, and how to recognize answers to their prayers.

And then.....in the middle of one of my trainings.....a bug fell from the ceiling right in the center of the circle we were sitting in.

All of us stopped talking and just stared at it.

Until Sister W stepped on it.

We also went on two exchanges this week! I went to Bennington, Vermont!

I forgot how different Saratoga is from the rest of New York. See, most of upstate New York consists of country folk, farms, low-income people, run-down mansions that have been broken into apartments, men walking around without shirts on, and a lot of other interesting people.

Saratoga is its own bubble. Imagine scooping up a rich corner of New York City, and plopping it down in the middle of upstate New York.

That's Saratoga Springs.

But Bennington, Vermont (half of the boundaries are in NY and the other half in VT) reminded me of what upstate New York is really like.

And I sat back and thought, "Ah yes. This is the New York I remember."

 

The other exchange, I stayed in Saratoga and a temple square sister from Taiwan came here! She was so funny as she awed at the really expensive....everything...of Saratoga.

She was actually really helpful, because we have a less active/recent convert member whose family only ever speaks Mandarin. And whenever we've tried to go.....we just stand at the door, and don't get to say anything to anyone because whoever answers just kind of stares at us, because they don't speak English. And then they shut the door.

So this time, I asked a ward member from Taiwan to come with us and Sister Y to this less active member's house.

We knock, and as soon as the old, Asian grandma answers, it's a SLEW of Mandarin.

Sister Y and the member talked with the grandma and the father that were there, and had.....um.....from what I could tell at the time, a really good conversation with them!

I stood in the back awkwardly looking around and feeling like I was on the Sims.

Occasionally, the member or Sister Y would ask me a question.

I would kind of blink at them before registering that they were speaking to me....in English.

Luckily, Sister Y had some Chinese Pamplets explaining the restoration and plan of salvation, and was able to give it to them! And the member said she was willing to stop by another time with us to invite them to an activity.

Anyway, I have really grown to love the Saratoga ward. They are so, so kind and so, so supportive. Remember how I went through Owego withdrawals after I left?

Pretty sure that's going to happen to Saratoga.

So.....the Relief Society chorister hasn't been coming lately. One week they asked for a volunteer to lead the music that day. So I volunteered.

And I've unofficially become the new Relief Society chorister.

The thing is, we're in a huge ward. I'm SURE there's multiple other women who can lead.

The other thing is, it's been a solid year since I've led music, and even longer since I've taken a music class.

Thus........I've completely lost my skill of leading music.

Well not completely, I'm just very....rusty.

I was conducing 2/2 timing wrong yesterday. Who conducts freakin' 2/2 timing wrong?! When I realized, I looked at my companion and started to laugh, then fixed what I was doing.

Then I was off tempo the whole time on a 4/4 timing song because I kept missing the upbeat.

Anyway, where I was going with this was, after my arm was killing me from conducting, I sat down next to my companion and I ask, "Geez, I volunteer one time and suddenly I'm the new chorister. Is this what it's like in South America? or Asia?"

"Probably. It's like, an investigator or less active member comes to church once and suddenly they're the new branch president," she responded.

Unfortunately this is only a snippet of this amazing, amazing week and I wish I had more time to talk about everything! Thank goodness for journals :)

I love you all!

Hurrah for Israel,

Sista' Stimpson