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