weekly of letters

Someday my spring will come.

In the meantime I'll just keep wearing my stupid, puffy, marshmallow for a coat. And grumpily walking across the ice in hopes of not falling.

I've been wearing leggings for like...5 months straight now. It's like wearing pajama's under your skirt. I don't know what I'm going to do when summer comes. My legs haven't seen the light of day in FOREVER. I don't even want to know what they'll look like. 

I think a fight's about to go down in the library. I'll just keep casually typing my letter. 

Okay. So. Last week was an AWESOME week!

.....this week our investigators decided to hate on us.

Now the mission prepares you for the rest of your life. Based on this week, I don't really like what the mission is hinting to me about my future dating life ;)

Our awesome investigator guy dropped us :( like a hot potato.
Meaning he doesn't want to meet with us anymore.

The following quote is from our district leader, Elder R:

"Dropping an investigator, or an investigator dropping you, is like a break up. It's like, 'it's been great and all, but I don't really need you in my life. I'll say hi to you and talk to you when I pass you or see you, but don't call me. Don't come over. It's just better if we go our separate ways. And no, let's not just be friends.' Unless it's a bad drop, or a bad break up, then you just avoid them at all costs and you wave out of obligation when you pass each other, if you wave at all."

That being said, let's go to another investigator.
About a month ago, she was doing AWESOME. Reading, enthusiastic about learning about the church, recognizing the spirit, preparing for baptism, and she even came to a church activity!

And then she disappeared off the face of the earth and we haven't been able to get a hold of her.
Yesterday, we were in her area, so we decided to stop by. We heard the TV on in her apartment, so we knock.
No answer.

A second knock.
No answer.
Usually we'd leave her be, assuming she's asleep or something, but this time I was feeling rather persistant, wanting to know what her deal was, so I knocked.....rather loudly......a third time.

"WHO IS IT?" we hear.

"It's the missionaries."
She opens the door just a crack, and snaps, "I'M BUSY."

"Well can we come back---"

*Door slam followed by multiple lockings on the door.*

"....another....time?"

Sister H and I looked at each other and said, "I'll take that as a no."

Oh well! Every missionary needs a good story like this. 

So then, on Saturday, we called the elderly man we've been visiting to see if he was coming to church on Sunday. First, he said, "I've been throwing away my coffee and switching to herbal tea!"

"THAT'S AWESOME!"

"Yes! Do you know any other replacements I can do?"

"Hmmm.....apple cider?"

"........spiders?"

I had to choke back a laugh as I said, "NO. CIDER. APPLE CIDER!"

"Oooooooh!"

He told us he would be at church on Sunday, so we were slightly disappointed when he didn't come. After church, we called him.

"Isn't it a beautiful day!" he declared when we called.

"YES! BUT WE MISSED YOU AT CHURCH. WHERE WERE YOU?"

"I CAN'T TALK RIGHT NOW."

And he hung up. We both kind of stared at the phone.

"I think he was avoiding the question." I said.

Well.....guess we'll find out tomorrow when we meet with him!

So after all this,  I was feeling kind of bummed and thinking, "Man. I just want to visit someone who likes us!"
So we went to see one of our less actives. The dude's awesome. I just adore him. And his five dogs, two of which like to fight over sitting in our laps. Anyway, we had a REALLY great lesson with him on the restoration of the gospel, using the pamphlets we give to people. At the end, he asked if he could keep the pamplet so that he could review it. Then I said, "Hey.......I'm singing at church next Sunday!"

"You are?!"

"Yeah! Will you come?"

"....well, I WOULD like to hear you sing!"

"You can even be my backup singer if you like!"

"No, no. I'll just listen."

"So will you come to church this Sunday?"

".....Maybe. I would like to hear you sing."

"Good!"
I'll take it.

I also tried bribe a different woman who is dead set on never coming back to church with this same thing.

"I'm singing at church next Sunday."

"No, I'm not going to come."

"Are you sure? I'll even give you permission to make fun of me if I sound bad!"

"HAHAHAHA-no."

"I'll give you a shout out at the beginning."

"HAHAHAHAHA-no."

"You can be my backup singer."

"OH HEAVEN'S NO!"

It was so great :D She said that if I sing loud enough, she might be able to hear me from her house.

Speaking of singing, let's get to zone training meeting. So, first of all, I have this thing called, when I get really nervous, I drop stuff. I just get all butter-fingery. When I first got to zone training meeting, I wasn't nervous at all. I was super pumped!

For the meeting, we broke up into four groups and rotated to different trainings. During the last training, I looked at my watch.

"15 minutes until I face my doom......."
Then a few minutes later my scriptures, Preach My Gospel, and journal all slid off my lap and scattered everywhere on the floor.
I scooped them up and held them close as we finished our training.

I looked at my watch.

"5 minutes until I face my doom......."

Then we went back to our tables. I placed my books under my arm, picked up my chair and started walking back to my table.
And totally dropped the chair.
Great.

Let me tell you. Metal chair on a gymnasium floor? Makes for an incredibly loud noise.

So then I get up there to sing. Thankfully I made eye contact with my MTC companion and we winked back and forth to each other a good number of times before I started. So that calmed me down.
I felt better once I actually started to sing. And I got more excited! I made eye contact with the back wall, and even focused on smiling.
Then President and Sister Wirthlin walked in.....along with Elder C. (He was getting interviewed when my singing started.)

Awesome.

President Wirthlin quickly shuffled in and sat down behind me. Elder C did a weird penguin shuffle in and sat in the back.
Right where I was making eye contact.
Awesome.
Then Sister Wirthlin started to take a picture of me, and I saw Elder C giggling to himself. Which in turn made ME try not to laugh!

Anyway, I did my song, and felt pretty good about it! The meeting ended, and afterwards we lingered around for a while talking to various missionaries, and I took this opportunity to approach my BFF Elder C.

"Of COURSE you had to laugh and in turn make me laugh!" I told him.

"What? I wasn't laughing! All I did was a weird penguin shuffle to distract you."

"And then you started laughing when sister Wirthlin was taking a picture of me. And so I TOTALLY had to focus on not busting up myself!"

"Oh, that. I was laughing cause she couldn't get the lenses to work right."

Amazingly enough, after that we actually had a nice conversation. It was a miracle. I think we're starting to be friends.
From a very far distance.

Then one of the assistants to the president came up and told me I did a good job.

"Thanks! That was like.....the second time I ever sang in public!"

"Really? You sounded great!"

"Thanks!"

Then Elder L, my zone leader came up and told me I did a good job.

"You have to say that. You're my zone leader." I told him.

"No, trust me. I'm the kind of person where if you hadn't done a good job, I would have given you a compliment without actually giving you a compliment. Like 'nice song choice' or '....eh.....thanks for singing!' So, no. You did a good job!"

"Well thanks! And you did a good training!"

I felt good about it. Seriously, though. I'm no Celine Dion. But I'll take it!

I'll be singing this next Sunday in sacrament meeting! I'm still wondering how I ever agreed to this. But I'm excited!

ALSO! Two fast stories before I have to sign off:

1. Interviews wiith President Writhlin! He said, "Nice singing. I enjoyed it."

"Thanks. I can cross that off my bucket list."
He thought that was the funniest statement. And I sat there and thought, 'dude you don't even laugh at my funny jokes, but you laugh at my stupid jokes? I like you!'

2. He told me I could tell the Owego sisters about the letter I got last week. So when called them, Sister S picked up.

"Hi this is Sister S."

"Yez, hallo my name eez Rachelle and I am from Ruzzia, and I want to get baptized."

"OH! That's AMAZING! We can definitly make that happen! Let me just get your information! Um...........okay I have a pen. What was your name?"

"Sister Stimpson."

"........OH MY."
Then she got mad and handed it to her companion, Sister A.

"Sister A, is Sister S mad at me because I pretended to be a Russian who wanted to get baptized?"
I could hear Sister S say in the background, "YES."

"How was my Russian Accent?"

"AWFUL."

So great. She forgave me later and I updated them both on the letter :)


Well. Another week ahead of us! Happy Saint Patrick's Day! LOVE YOU ALL!

Hurrah for Israel!
Sista' Stimpson

Weekly letter

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.

Well. I love you all!!!! Miss you all so much, too!!!
Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

letter of weeklyness

My trainer's trainer warned me that once you reach your nine-month mark, you'll always be tired. I shrugged it off. I had been doing fine. I rarely took naps during my lunch hour, and I'd been sleeping/waking up fine!

And then the closer it got to my nine-month mark, the harder it got.
Then I actually reached my nine-month mark. And I feel like a walking zombie.

I have popped so many vitamin D pills in hopes of being more awake, it's not even funny!
This morning I rolled--literally rolled--out of bed and kind of laid on the floor for a few minutes like a dead fish while making a groaning noise that sounded similar to a cow.

Then I got up and siezed the day.

Ahem. Anyway. I've come up with a new motto on my mission:
There is no time for awkwardness because the whole thing is just awkward.

How true this statement proved to be this past week.

Once upon a time we went to go try a few potentials - meaning a few people who we had knocked on their door and they told us to come back later.
We drive to one of their houses, and park outside. As we turn to leave our car, I see this woman standing in the window of the house we're parked in front of, just staring at us. I kind of stare back at her and said, "Dude.....Sister H. Check out that creepiness."

Sister H looked out my window and said, "Woah."
There she was. Just STARING at us. Then, slowly, the woman (while still staring at us) picks up her house phone, and puts it to her ear.

"........Let's try someone else."

"Agreed."

Later, we parked in front of another guy's house. We tried the person, they were busy, and go back to the car. As we're plugging in points on the GPS, this car pulls up next to us, and the driver rolls down his window.

"You ladies looking for something?"

"We're just leaving."

"Why did you park here?"

"We went and talked to your neighbor very briefly."

"Well you parked in front of my driveway so....."
We turn and look.
We were nowhere near the dude's driveway.

"......sorry........"
And we drove away.

So. Awkward.

Three other awkward moments that just made me smile after it happened:

Me: "Will you come to church this Sunday?"

Less active member: "No, I'm out of gas."

Me: "We can arrange someone to drive you! If we did that, will you come to church this Sunday?"

The less active member STARED me down. She just STARED at me. As we made eye contact, it was silent for a very good 60-75 seconds. In that time I was just thinking, "Don't......blink.......don't........blink.........don't.........blink........."

"No." said the less active member.

Okay blink.

Later that day, we went and visited another woman. Her house is ALWAYS hilarious mad chaos. So, we walk in and she's lying on the couch and says, "Ah girls. I meant to call you and tell you I was sick, but I took a nap instead. Here, sit down."
So we sit down, then her grandson walks in and says, "Grandma! The internet isn't working."

"Okay, well, I'll call the cable guys later."

"Call them now!"

"Ask nicely."

"Can you please call them now?"

"Fine. Bring me the phone, please!"

Then her downstairs neighbor came up for a smoke break and they talked for about ten minutes while her neighbor smoked and her grandson searched for the phone.

So then she found the phone. The neighbor left, and she called the cable guys.
The next forty-five minutes consisted of this:

Woman: "K.C! (the grandson) WHAT LIGHTS ARE LIT UP ON THE BOX?"

KC: "NOT THE INTERENT ONE!"
Woman: "He says not the internet one."

Cable guy: "Okay, sir, I need you to unplug the cord--"

Woman: "UNPLUG IT, K.C."

KC: "DID HE JUST CALL YOU SIR?"

Woman: "UNPLUG THE CORD PLEASE, KC!"

KC: "MY GRANDMA IS NOT A SIR!"
Us: *in between bits of giggling* "..........can we come back on Thursday instead?"

We'll see what Thursday brings.

And last, but not least, we went to someone's house for dinner. They forgot we were coming. So she lets us in, then the entire family bickered with one another and with their pet. Sister H and I sat in silence on the couch. They didn't really know what to do with us. So we continued to sit in silence on the couch. Then they ordered pizza and bickered some more. Then Sister H and I started flipping through the Book of Mormon for fun. Then the pizza came, we ate a slice, shared a spiritual thought, and ran out and went to go visit some happy less actives.

Now for the not-so-awkward moments, more awesome moments!

We had a lesson with our investigator who just walked into church! We're teaching him the plan of salvation. He listened carefully and asked really sincere, deepish questions that we were able to answer and address! Though the whole time (curse my clumsiness of speech) I just felt like I wasn't making ANY sense. I was explaining the importance of Adam and Eve and the whole time I'm thinking, "Oh man. I'm just rambling. Does this even make any sense at all?"
Then I could literally see it click in his eyes as he said, "WOAH! Wait, so Adam and Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden was all part of God's plan? He knew it was going to happen?"

"Yes!" I said, and thought at the same time, "Oh dear goodness - he's understanding me. Thank you, Heavenly Father!"

"I always wondered that! I always thought it made more sense if it was, I just never verbalized it!"

It was AWESOME! He said he was going to come to church!!!
And then he texted us an hour after church ended and said, "I'm so sorry I slept in!"
And now the Dude's going to Florida for two weeks and we wont be able to see him! Lame? Yes. But we'll just keep praying that his interest keeps up. It was awesome!

Also, a few weeks ago we had a nice visit with a woman we tracted into. She made it clear to us she wasn't interested, but she felt bad that we were cold, so she let us in to tell her what our gospel was about. We told her, and she still said she wasn't interested, but she accepted a restoration pamphlet. We went back this week, and she let us in again. She was SO happy to see us and said, "I told everyone in my family about you girls! You just made me so happy and I really admire what you do! Have you had any success?"

We visited with her for a bit, then gave her a Book of Mormon at the end, she literally clasped it to her chest and said, "Thank you for my gift! I will HAVE to read this!"

IT MADE ME SO HAPPY! Just being able to brighten someone's day by bringing the Spirit there made me so happy :)

Ahem. Well, it seems I have run out of time again. I love you guys so much! Sorry I kinda rambled about random awkward stories. They were just so funny!

Love you guys!
Hurrah for Israel!
Sista' Stimpson.

half-way

So....nine months. I feel like that's a huge step in life. I've accomplished half of my mission! I've been in two areas, three companions, and have met some of the most amazing people on earth.

....yet I feel like I've just begun.

I wonder what these next nine months will bring.

That being said, it's amazing the amount of drama that can happen in one day. That day for us was Sunday.

Saturday afternoon, we met with our investigator. We tried teaching her the Plan of Salvation, but she was kind of distracted. Finally we just read 2 Nephi 2 together and talked about the fall of Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ's sacrifice and how freedom to choose is a gift from God.
 

As we left, she told us she wanted to come to church. We called and set up a ride for her, and she said she'd be ready for tomorrow!

Sunday morning comes, and her ride calls us to say she won't answer her phone or her door.

So yes, she didn't come.

Good thing church is every Sunday. Hopefully next week.

Saturday evening we called our 90-year-old investigator  to see if he was still coming to church.

"WILL YOU BE AT CHURCH TOMORROW?"

"Well, I was planning on it, but then my Jehovah's Witness friends came and said they really miss me! I think I'm going there tomorrow!"

Dang it.

"YOU'RE JUST A POPULAR GUY!"

"I try to be."

Speaking of him, here was a golden conversation we had on Tuesday during our lesson:

Us: "AND THAT INCLUDES FAITH!"

Him: "......Satan?"

Us: "FAITH!"

Him:"........Space?"

Us: "F-AI-TH."

Him: ".......Where did I get the S from?"

Love teaching 90-year-old men.

Now before this next story, I guess I should give a little bit of background information. At the beginning of this week, our recent convert went to stay with a relative for the week for Winter Break. (Yes. They have a winter, Christmas AND spring break here. Jealous.) I was talking to her friend and said, "So when is she getting back?"

"....she didn't tell you?" she replied.

That's never a good start to a conversation.

"Tell us what?" I asked.

"She's not coming back. I guess she didn't really like it here, and she went to her relative's just for vacation....and decided to stay."

I felt a little bit of my heart squeeze. I'm not sure what to think at this point. I feel like I should be more upset than I am.....but I'm just calm. Maybe this was supposed to happen? I don't know.
Either way, I'm still worried about her. I hope she's okay. I really do love that girl. She's incredible.

So, that was the drama of the week.
BUT. It wasn't at all a bad week! In fact, we've managed to pick up a new investigator! Hurrah!

See, last Sunday this random guy came to church, and no one knew who he was. So people come up and greet him, and we're like, "Elders. Go sit by the new guy."

"Okay."

After church, New Guy starts to leave and I'm like, "HEY!" and go corner him. Turns out he's a student at a nearby college. I asked him if he'd be willing to learn more from us! So he says yes and we set up a time to meet with him.

That Friday, we met with him and found out a little more about him. Turns out he came for a class assignment, but he's always had an interest in the Mormon religion.

So I asked, "So how were you first introduced to the gospel?"

He smiled uncomfortably and said, "You want the truth?"

"Yes...."

"The South Park episode."
I couldn't help it. I totally burst out laughing and said, "I knew something good would come from South Park!"
So brilliant. Turns out he was raised in a different religion, and was amazed at the differences in church buildings. He said that when the Bishop shook his hand and introduced himself as "Bishop N." he thought, "Oh my gosh....the BISHOP'S here? I'm shaking hands with the BISHOP?"
I laughed. We taught him the first lesson and he was super open about it! Hopefully we'll see some progression with him :)

Also had a couple from Taiwan feed us native Taiwanese food. SO. BLASTED. DELICIOUS. Then the next night a lady took us out for fast food Chinese. Not quite as delicious. 

Well family, I love you all so much! I am so grateful for this opportunity to be a missionary at this time when the Lord is hastening His Work!

Also it was 40-45 degrees here. HEAT WAVE!

Hurrah For Israel,

Sista Stimpson

nine months, what?

So basically SO much happens on a mission, that you can write about as much as you can/want......and you still only get a teaspoon of what happens. So I will do my best to tell y'all the happenings of this week:

We were blessed with a once in a lifetime snow storm called: The Nor'easter. Basically the winds from the east collide with the winds from the North and decide to just dump snow on us.
Our ZTM got canceled because of it. And we were stuck inside. ALL. DAY. LONG. Actually we decided to venture out in it because we were tired of being inside and so we went to try a potential.
Bad idea. We were FROZEN. And soaking wet when we came home! But still. I am SO excited that I got to be in NY for an epic snowfall!

The next day we had an appointment at 10. We leave the apartment at 9:50....and forgot that we'd have to not only scrape off our car, but dig it out, too.

.....half hour later we're on the road on the way to our appointment.

Then we get to the house.......and knee-deep snow was covering the pathway to their front door. So we did some "service" and shoveled our way to the front door.
Then there was ice underneath the door, so we couldn't open the screen door to knock on the front door. So THEN we start chipping at the ice with our shovel and managed to open the door enough to get our arm through, and we knock.

The woman's daughter opens the door. We managed to squeeze ourselves through into the house, our cheeks red between a mixture of cold and exhaustion from shoveling as we say, "Is your mom here?"

"Well, she's actually asleep."
Great!
So we talked with her and our recent convert while we warmed up.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Speaking of Valentine's day, Sister H and I spent some time this week taping hearts with scriptures about love to some ward members' homes. We did so to the Relief Society president, and as we were running back---BOOM Sister H is on the pavement busting up. She fell on black ice and managed to rip her leggings and give herself a nasty cut on her knee.

The next day we were out knocking doors. I turned the corner, and POOF. I slipped right into a giant snow pile and snow poofed around me. It was very graceful.

Later that same day, while Sister H was tending to her knee that was still bleeding/oozing disgust, the Relief Society president called us to thank us and said, "You girls are SO sweet and SO sneaky! You guys knew I was going to be at the Relief Society activity so I wasn't going to be home!"

......actually we had no idea you weren't going to be home.

We hung up and Sister H said, "So basically I ran and fell for no reason?"

"No, no. It made an epic story."

We had a lesson with our investigator. We sit down and ask, "WHY WEREN'T YOU AT CHURCH THIS SUNDAY?"

"Laziness!" he boldly declared.

".....THAT'S NO EXCUSE!"

"I know!"

We tried teaching the plan of salvation, but it really didn't go anywhere. He kept going on random tangents and said we don't talk about Christ enough. I was about ready to cry out of frustration. So then we gave him a plan of salvation pamplet and assigned him a few pages to read.

Sunday rolls around and who comes walking in the door? He does! I shake his hand and he sits down next to us and said, "I read that pamplet you girls left me!"

"YOU DID? WHAT DID YOU THINK OF IT?"

"It was very nice! It was just what I needed!"

Yay! We will be discussing it with him tomorrow, so hopefully it'll go well.

Saturday we decided to go visit a less-active family that neither of us had met. We pull into their driveway and the husband--an older gentleman--comes out of his garage to see who it is. Sister H introduces us as the sister missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His response?

"Ah we have new sisters! Come on in!"

So we walk in and I'm thinking, "Man these less actives are super welcoming!"

I see pictures of their children and wonder if their children are active.
Then I turn around and see pictures of the temple. What?

Then we sit down and they start telling us about all the missions their children have served. And their grandchildren have served. And that they want to serve.

Yeah these people are totally active.
This is the second time this has happened to us. Sister H and I kind of sat there, unsure of what to do or say. Then we shared a spiritual thought with them and left.....and got stuck in the snow in their driveway.

The next day at church they came up and talked to us.
Curse you, big ward.

Saturday was also transfer calls day, and of COURSE we decided to spend that day in the middle of nowhere, where we had no service.
So the zone leaders call us. We had no service. Later we did, so we call them back. No answer. They call us back when we had no service. So then we call them back. No answer.
Finally we gave up and called our sister training leaders and they gave us the juice.

Sister H and I will be staying together another transfer! Which is really good. I still don't know this area or these people well enough. As for the Elders - Elder G will be going to Rome, NY (not Italy) and Elder R is our new district leader and will be training! So that's exciting.

Again. SO much happens on a mission that I wish I had more time to write about. But I am so grateful for this opportunity! I love and miss each of you! Time has flown and I really can't believe I'm at my halfway mark :/ Not sure how I feel about this.

Love you all!

Hurrah for Israel,

Sista' Stimpson.

babababababaaam

So. I am not connecting with this ward. At. All. Or my investigators. Or less active members. Like it's getting to the point where members and less actives have commented on how I just don't seem to be clicking.

I had been trying the whole "fake it till ya make it" game plan. Doesn't seem to be working out too well in this situation. Baaaaaah. Sister H and I finally had a heart-to-heart about it, which consisted of me eating a ton of Hershey kisses and saying, "I'M NOT CONNECTING WITH ANYONE AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING WRONG! EVERYONE MISSES THE PREVIOUS SISTER MISSIONARY!"

"I know. I've noticed it too. I'm getting frustrated with it, too."
"WHAT DO I NEED TO CHANGE?"
"I really have no idea."
"ME NEITHER!"

Then I ate another handful of chocolate.
It was a low moment in my missionary life.

But no need to worry. I know it'll get better, and this has been a very....blessed....opportunity to practice the Christlike attribute of Hope. And Patience. And Charity. And Diligence. But in the meantime I still get a little grumpy and have probably gained a pound due to the amount of Hershey kisses I've been devouring like a mad squirrel.

Have I told you guys about the squirrel that adopted our porch? Yes, so we have a squirrel that would always crawl around our porch. And then we started feeding it Cheetos. And then it went a little crazy and started climbing our screen door and scratching at the entry of the door and running around super fast and super crazy. Then we decided to go more natural and we switched to feeding him almonds and he's calmed down a bit.

And this is why the national parks tell you NOT to feed the animals.

Anyway. Here's how this week went:

Monday - Preparation day

Tuesday - Spent in Saratoga

Wednesday - Drive in awful snow to Albany to pick up the Albany Sisters. Then a day spent in Glenville with Sister R's trainer and Sis. J (my MTC companion).

The Albany sisters don't have a car and had to go to Utica. Our TIWI unit (the thing that yells at us when we drive too fast) in our car is broken and needed to go to Utica to get fixed. Sister R's trainer and Sister J are our Sister Training Leaders. We had an exchange planned for Thursday night to Friday night (when you switch companions for the day).
So the AP's call us and said, "Sisters, the Albany sisters are going to take your car to Utica. In the meantime, you will spend the day in Glenville. You can stll go on your exchange as planned."

Let's put it this way: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were a complete Missionary party.

Wednesday night Sister J and I taught  a member a lesson about missionary work. Then they gave us a lot of ice cream and we danced our way back to the apartment.

Thursday, I went tracting with Sister R's trainer, and Sister H and Sister J went tracting in a street that was kittycorner to us. Sister R's trainer and I talked about funny mission stories as we trudged through the snow. AND! Then, we knock on this door and I start to introduce ourselves to an old woman who answered, when she said, "Would you like to come in?"
"We would LOVE to!"
She let us in and told us how her son dated a Mormon. And then in between talking about Family Home Evening, the church welfare system, politics (well we mostly just listened to her rant about them), we somehow managed to talk about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. AND she told us she'd like us to come back!
Investigator found? Check. It was awesome!

Then we visited / practice taught some members. And they gave us cookies. And brownies.
Then we went home for dinner, and ate cinnamon roll pancakes.

My food choices have not been the best lately.

Thursday night, Sister R's trainer and Sister H drove the Albany sisters back to Albany, then went to Saratoga, and I spent the day with Sister J in Glenville. We tracted a trailer park where we danced on the doorsteps of the houses that didn't answer (we have way too much fun together) and talked to a nice and only slightly-drunk man about the Book of Mormon.

Slightly drunk guy: What is the Book of Mormon anyway? Is it like more of the New Testament?
Me: Well, we study from the Bible and the Book of Mormon. While the Bible takes place in Jeruselum, the Book of Mormon takes place at the same time period but on the American continent as well.

Slightly Drunk guy: OOOOOOH! I get it! Why aren't you out telling more people about this?
Me: ........we're trying to!

Slightly Drunk Guy: Wait......you're not from the Latter-day Saints, are you?

Me: Um.....we are, yes.

Slightly Drunk Guy: OOOOOOH! I had you confused with someone else. How many husbands you guys got?

Me: We um....don't practice plural marriage. And I have none.

Slightly Drunk Guy: OOOOOOOOOH!

Classy.

Saturday we had a girl who is preparing to serve a mission spend the day with us. We visited our investigator and she said, "I've just been feeling so much more peace since I've been seeing you girls. It makes me so happy!"

She came with us to a church activity. We took her on a tour of the church and at the end she teared up and asked us to pray that she'd have strength to change her life and her ways. Later, during the activity, she pulled the Elders aside and said, "I've never felt this much peace at any other church before! And I finally know what it is! It's the Holy Spirit, isn't it?!"

Awesome? Yes. I was SO happy!

So now you're wondering what the activity was. It was Mormon Family Fued. Near the end, the elders and us convinced her to be on a team with us. So she comes up with us....and one of the questions was "What are some things Mormons do after church on Sunday?"

She tried to run away.
I grabbed her and said, "Say take a nap."

She nodded and went back to the table. When it was her turn, she said, "Take a nap!"

Number one answer. What!

The next question was: "What are some things to bring to a ward potluck?"

She looked really confused at us and tried to run away again. Once again, I grabbed her and said, "Say Jell-O."

"JELLO?"

"Trust me. Just say it."
So the host guy comes up to her and says, "Um....so....this may be a hard one...."

"JELLO!" she shouted.
Number two answer. What!

After the activity, she high fived us and pulled us aside and said, "I'm working this Sunday, but I really, really want to work it out so I can come to church next Sunday. Is that okay?"

UM. THAT'S MORE THAN OKAY!

It was so exciting to see her progression, and I hope she continues to progress!! It was also exciting, because this is how our lesson went with our ninety-year-old investigator:

Us: SO. HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING COFFEE?

Him: Of course! Every single morning! The doctors say it's good for you!
Us:  DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT LAST TIME?
Him: Yes.

Us: WHAT WAS IT?

Him: Wisdom.

I groaned on the inside.

Well my friends. I must be off. Transfer calls are this Saturday. I am assuming I'm staying, but with how I've been connecting to this ward, I really don't know. We'll see next week! Sister H has been here three transfers so she's assuming she's leaving. LOVE YA'LL!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson

 

Adirondack Adventures

Aloha! It is a whopping 30 degrees currently in Saratoga! An occasion to wear my lightest coat!

Shows the kind of environment I've been living in :) HEAT WAVE, BABY!

Anyway.

This week was much more positive and eventful than last week.

We had district meeting on Wednesday, which included district interviews with our district leader.

Let me tell you. It is SO relieving to get along with my district leader. I no long dread district meetings or district leader interviews.

I was still feeling kind of down from this previous week when I sat down with Elder G. He asked how I was adjusting and I said, "Eh. I just feel like I'm not getting to know this ward well enough. Like I'm not clicking, or something." 

"I felt the same way when I came in!" 

"You did?!" 

Elder G. came from a small branch right next door to Owego before he came to Saratoga. He told me how it can be hard to go from a small ward/branch where you know everyone, and everyone knows each other, to a large ward in a city where nobody knows you, and it's harder to get to know people. That made me feel better, knowing I'm not the only one who experienced this.

Tuesday we also had dinner at a member family's home, which consisted of me trying on 6-inch, brightly colored high heels which were basically unwalkable, and all of us putting whipped cream on our hands and throwing it into the air and catching it with our mouth....or faces. Mostly mine just liked to stick to my hand and I ended up just eating it off of my hand anyway. But still, it was fun!

So now for our investigators. So we have a ninety-year old investigator. He's basically deaf, so every lesson we have with him WE HAVE TO BASICALLY YELL REALLY LOUD SO THAT HE CAN HEAR US. We tried to teach him the Word of Wisdom for the second time. Basically, we had to stop calling it the Word of Wisdom, because he misses the 'of' and goes off on a tangent about literally, the word "wisdom." He committed to live the Lord's Law of Health......we're just hoping he realized he committed to live it. It's hard to know what's really getting through to him, especially because he likes to get off on tangents during our lessons. This last lesson, he started talking about his black dog, and this is how I brought the subject BACK to the Word of Wisdom: 

"HEY, YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS BLACK? COFFEE! COFFEE IS BLACK! WHICH IS SOMETHING THE LORD HAS ASKED US NOT TO DRINK IN THE WORD OF WIS---.....I MEAN THE LAW OF HEALTH."

We also have another investigator. She met with missionaries years ago, and started meeting with the sisters a few months ago. After disappearing off the face of the earth after a few times meeting with her, she called us two weeks ago and asked to meet with us again. We had a good first lesson with her about church and we met again with her yesterday. We walk in, and she asked if she could watch the Restoration DVD, because she remembered she really liked it before.
So we sit down, and pop it in. The spirit is present, she is way into the movie. Tears are forming in her eyes.
Then the time comes for Joseph Smith to pray to know which of the churches is true. He walks into a grove of trees. Looks around him, begins to kneel....then....

*knock knock knock*

"Oh it's my friend!" 

CURSE YOU, SATAAAAAAAAAN!

She left to go visit with her friend, and we couldn't figure out the remote. So basically she came in at the very LAST ten seconds of Joseph Smith seeing Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

But she still liked the movie! We had a discussion with her about the Book of Mormon. She described how when she was studying before, she REALLY felt peaceful, calm and happy. She really missed that feeling and wanted it back. We told her she could feel it again, and committed her to be baptized. She said it was definitly a possiblity, but she wasn't sure yet. So yay! Hopefully we'll continue to see progress with her, there. It was really cool.

We also traveled up to the one and only: Adirondacks.
I don't know if they're mountains....or forests.....but basically there was a big green spot on the map of my mission in my call letter indicating a national forest, and from the beginning I wanted to go there. FINALLY we were able to travel up there because we had a bunch of leftover miles! We went tracting into the NICEST people! None of them were really intrested, but a lot let us in and asked us what we believe.
Thankfully, I had been studying in Preach my Gospel the 3-5 minute explanation of some of the lessons, so I was able to give a good rundown of the restoration of the gospel.
The 3-5 minute run down of the plan of salvation? Yeah that was pretty lousy on my part.
But still! It was awesome.

And I was incredibly grateful I studied that, because later we met up with a family who used to invsetigate. They weren't interested in learning any more, but they let us in and we chatted with them for a bit, when their daughter (who is our age) said, "So I'm like, confirmed a Catholic and all, but I'm kind of athiest....no, well, agnostic. I mean I believe something's there. I just don't know what. I mean my dog's so cute SOMETHING had to create it! So what is it you guys believe?"
Aha! I'm glad you asked that. Thank goodness for Preach My Gospel. I was able to give a brief run down of the restoration of Jesus Christ's gospel. At the end, she said, "....that makes sense! Like it's super logical. Cool."
We asked if she wanted to continue learning, and she said, "Eh. Too busy for that." 

"Well check out this website. We've gone viral." Then I gave her a mormon.org card. So yay!

We had a lot of other mini miracles/adventures this week, but basically I'm out of time and still need to email President Wirthlin.

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH! Things are looking better, and hopefully they'll continue to go up, and hopefully we'll find more investigators. 

loves!

Hurrah for Israel!

Sista' Stimpson