Hello!

Hello!

I shall start off my letter by letting everyone know that on Friday I lost our cell phone. We were tracting a street and as we got back in the car to go to an appointment, we realized the phone was gone. We searched the car and retraced our steps (literally-- it was snowing pretty good here) for about half an hour, but we couldn't find it anywhere. We decided to stop by our appointment, an awesome family that I hadn't met before. I was pretty stressed about the phone, but they had a pet bird and a cat that I was able to play with a little bit that made me feel better. It's amazing how Heavenly Father can bless us with even the smallest things to show that he loves us. Holding the bird and petting the cat made me feel so much better, for which I was grateful. 

We went back to the street we were tracting, and lo and behold, we found our phone. It was right where I had gotten out of the car, and you could see that I had checked it a dozen times. But the miracle of this week wasn't finding the phone, it was the fact that because we lost it, we found a new investigator. The Lord works in mysterious ways.

Speaking of birds, earlier this week we stopped by a member's store: Birds Exotic. Sister Meeks is slightly afraid of birds, so she held the little tiny cute one while I had a blast playing with all the Macaws, Cockatoos, and more. There was a giant blue Macaw that was the cutest thing ever, and I just wanted to hold it all day. One grumpy old bird tried to bite me though, and I screamed really loud when I tried to pet it. 'Twas quite entertaining.

Another great miracle this week is that we were able to teach Meagan the Plan of Salvation and commit her to baptism. When we asked her if she would be baptized, her response was, "I've been thinking about being baptized for a while." Of course she said yes! Meagan is awesome, she really has a desire to move her life in a better direction and to follow Jesus Christ. She came to church and sat with us yesterday, too.

The members out here are fabulous. They're all so willing to help each other and us missionaries out, and they're all such good examples to me. I love the Moorestown ward! Everyone here has helped to build my faith in one way or another, for which I am incredibly grateful. Sister Minarik even fed us dinner last night and we ate penguin-shaped cake. I was super thrilled.

Of course I've learned a lot this week, but the biggest thing that stuck out to me was the ability to be selfless and have charity. The way we can serve others most effectively is to be charitable. Not just have charity, but to be charitable. My personal goal this week is to forget myself and to genuinely love and serve those around me. I challenge everyone to try and become like Christ and be more charitable.

Love,

Sister Singleton

Week 4 & 5

I've decided not to really talk about week 4, mostly because it feels like forever ago, and plus the East Coast is much more exciting than the MTC.

The first day/night we spent at the mission home. There were a lot of squirrels outside and we got Philly Cheesesteaks for dinner (you were all waiting to hear about that, weren't you?). And yes, they were delicious. Plus there was basically a whole tray of pickles on the side, in which I probably ate more than half of them. Anyway, the first full day out here, they drove us to Philadelphia and dropped us off in pairs and told us to go street contacting. Sister C and I were paired up, and we started walking around Philly. After an hour, we met up at the Church and went back to the mission home. What I learned from the experience was this: I don't know how to street contact. It's not hard for me to approach people, but I just couldn't figure out how to bring up the gospel well. However, it was a great learning experience and we did wander through the University of Pennsylvania campus, which was neat (there was a massive button statue outside of the library, I thought you would be proud of me for NOT panicking).

My trainer/companion is Sister M. We were reading the trainers' bio sheets the day before, and after I read hers I said, "Hmm. I'd like her as a trainer." The more I read the others' sheets, I had a feeling she was going to be my trainer. Turns out that when Sister M was in training, she saw my picture and yelled, "That's my golden!" So yep, she's my companion. I really like her because I want to work, and she wants to make me work. It works out well. 

My first area is Moorestown, New Jersey. When I first opened my mission call I joked, "I hope I don't end up in Jersey, haha." Well, here I am. And it's been pretty great so far, even if the cold is biting. Last night it snowed for the first time, and today I'm wearing seven or eight layers of clothing. Whoo! We've been able to visit a few investigators this past week. My first lesson was with Shawn, who is super awesome. He's already had a few lessons, but he absolutely loves everything he learns about the gospel, and he says he feels like he's already heard it before. Shawn is evidence that the God really does prepare the hearts of His children, and that we as missionaries need to go out and find those people.

The ward here is so dynamic! There are so many different people, and they're always incredibly willing to help us missionaries out. I've had a lot of meals at members houses, which is fabulous, because all the food is super good. Grandma Van Sciver reminds me a lot of Great Grandma Polak/Mom, because she kept telling me to eat more and more food. Plus she's Italian. Afterwards she also told me that I probably ingested about a pound of butter though...

President says that 2013 is the Year of Miracles. And it will be. Miracles happen, and they happen when we do these:

1) Ask for miracles. Pray for them!

2) Expect miracles to happen.

3) Write them down.

4) Be grateful. Show gratitude towards your Heavenly Father and thank him.

So, my challenge to everyone is to make 2013 your year of miracles. I want everyone to start asking and expecting, and I want to hear about them! Please, please make this your year of miracles. 

"Thus God has provided a mean that man, through faith, might work might miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings."(Mosiah 8:18)

I love all of you guys, and thanks so much for your support!

Cordially and lovingly,

Sister Singleton

PS. I think I finally realized why you decorate so much, Mom. EVERYONE on the East Coast decorates for everything. Yes, I understand now.

PPS. I don't think you'll get pictures for the next few months. :( I know, I know! Apparently the library here doesn't let people upload pictures.

Mission Home Address

Sister Sarah Singleton

Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission

721 Paxon Hollow Rd Ste B
Broomall, PA 19008
United States

Or E-mail at:

 sarah.singleton@myldsmail.net

Week 3-- Fire & Flu

Well hello, and a bright and early morning to all of you!

 

Perhaps you are wondering why I am awake at 5:12 a.m. Well, at 4:15 a.m. we woke up to a blaring fire alarm. It took me a few alarm buzzes to realize what was going on. Sister Vande Merwe said apprehensively, "Uh, sisters? What's going on?" I responded, "Fire alarm!" and we all jumped out of bed and grabbed stuff as fast as we could. I was going to head to the evacuation zone, but the gym building is right across the way from our residence, so all the Sisters shuffled in out of the cold. The clock in the gym lied to us and said it was 5:15, so we were all thinking it wasn't so horrible. But it turns out it was 4:15, haha. What a crazy start to a day. Sister Millet says that maybe we should stop singing "The Spirit of God like a fire is burning."

 

The Temple is open! Everyone at the MTC has been dying to go to the temple, and we're so happy it's going to be open today!

 

So, as some of you know, there was a crazy illness last week. At first they thought it was the stomach flu, and it was pretty worrisome because after two nights about 200 people were sick, and like 50 people were in the E.R. It was insane. For the Sunday devotional they wouldn't let us in the devotional hall, so we had to go to our classrooms and watch it on our TVs. Turns out the TV system had never been used before, so almost the whole MTC missed about half of the devotional because we were trying to troubleshoot the problem. The tech guy came to our classroom and was going to have us go out to everyone and relay instructions, but as we were leaving they decided to just go into one of larger broadcasting rooms in the main building. Anyway, back to the mysterious illness, there were people sick everywhere. Lots of people had face masks on, there was no shaking hands (we bumped elbows instead), and there were lots of people throwing up. They even opened the clinic on New Years because so many people were getting sick. No, Mom, I did not get sick. But it turns out that it wasn't the stomach flu, it was basically food poisoning. Turns out my distaste for pecan pie has paid off, because it was a bad batch of nuts.

However, Sister Fengel had been getting worse and worse for almost a week, and her symptoms were definitely not the flu. We were all so worried about her because she just wasn't getting better. After going back to the doctors a few times, it turns out she had an ear infection, pink eye, and most likely Strep throat, plus some other things. As soon as she got medicine, she turned around pretty quickly. The devil must really want our district gone, because since we've gotten into the MTC, Elder Lee got a kidney stone, Sister Fengel got a couple really terrible things, Elder Tarry's heart was close to exploding (that may or may not be an exaggeration), and the rest of us got a cold. I haven't really been able to hear the past few days, but I haven't been so bad.

 

Sounds eventful? The best part is that when we were doing our service assignment and cleaning the main building last week, Sister Vande Merwe was using the archaic dinosaur vacuum and it the cord sponataneously combusted, bursting into flame and burned the carpet. The mark is still there.

 

But despite all that fun stuff and the bitter cold (we heard it's been around -6 F, is that true?), last week was such a great week for learning. Week two was definitely a week full of struggles and doubts, but week three was hope and faith. We had a great lesson by Brother Crandall that he dubbed "The Chocolate Chip Cookie Principle." He put it like this: our Father told us to only accept the perfect chocolate chip cookie. The doctrine of our message is the cookie, and the fundamentals are the chocolate chips. (Fundamentals are ways/tools we can teach our investigators and the ways they can learn for themselves. For example: Revelation through the Book of Mormon. We can help teach by helping them receive revelation in a lesson, but they can also use it for themselves later.) Sometimes we only give a cookie to investigators, sometimes just a plate of chocolate chips. Sometimes we give them a cookie with chocolate chips placed on top (throwing Fundamentals in at the very end with no understanding of why) and sometimes we give chocolate chips with a cookie on top (a lesson focused around prayer, for example, with doctrine thrown in at the end). I realized that we had been teaching our investigators with just chocolate chips.

 

Later that day in our lesson with Peter, I could feel the Spirit teaching. I was inspired to say things I would've never thought of, and at one point, both Sister Millet and I opened to the same scripture. One of the most powerful moments was when I recounted the First Vision; I can't even describe how amazing it felt. Another powerful moment was when Peter agreed to pray, and he did it in German. I could only understand a little bit, but I could feel the Spirit in the room. Later that night, we taught the investigator that we had a hard time with in the beginning. We took a completely different route than what I was expecting, and once again we felt the Spirit directing the lesson. I ended up sharing a personal story I all but forgot about, and Sister Millet shared a powerful scripture in Ether 12:27. Now, I know these investigators are our teachers acting or actually members, but it was incredible to see the Spirit teaching. It's the most incredible feeling in the world, and I'm so glad that God loves all of his children and uses the Spirit to tell them. I'm incredibly grateful for everything Heavenly Father has blessed me with, and I'm honored to be able to wear Jesus Christ's name by mine.

 

Once again, I'm going to say how grateful I am for my district. When a few people were out sick this week, we all felt incomplete. Being with all these Elders and Sisters has made me all the more grateful for God's infinite love and knowledge. He put us all together to learn and grow from each other, and I absolutely love all of them. Last night we were listening to Elder Johnson's take on us and it was hilarious. He created survival scenarios and decided who would live and why. My favorite was the Lord of the Flies situation. Apparently I would climb up a tree and live, but for some reason no one would ever see me again. And he gave no explanation as to why I would die on the Titanic, but I agreed with his verdict. Don't worry, we actually have great spiritual moments, too. 

Oh, by the way, I got my travel plans. My flight leaves SLC at 7:00 am (whoo!) and we have a layover in Detroit. Next week I'll be in Philadelphia! Can you believe it? The first week and a half felt like a month and a half, but after that time has sped up. I've been here for three weeks?! Crazy.

 

Well, we can finally go back to our residence hall, so I'll send you pictures later today, hopefully. Thanks for the letters and packages, and thanks for everyone's support. I love all of you, and I'm so grateful for everyone in my life. I'm honored and humbled to be serving the Lord. We watched the Joseph Smith movie on Sunday, and it just confirmed to me that our Heavenly Father loves us so much that he restored his full gospel to us so that we can return to Him.

 

Bright and early love,

Sister Singleton

Me, Sister Millet, Brother Nuila, and Brother Holmquist. We switched out our teachers last week, and the only one that's stayed is Brother Nuila.

Elder Rigby photobombing me. This is our temple walk on Sunday. It was super, super cold and I'm pretty sure I have an ear infection because of it. 

(left to right) Sister Vande Merwe, me, and Sister Fengel. Once again, it was super cold outside.

Elder Rigby, Elder Tarry, (zone leaders) and I. Elder Rigby makes convincing bird noises and weird sound effects.

Sarah's Address

Sister Sarah Singleton
MTC Mailbox #100
PA-PHIL 0115
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Week 2-- Happy New Year!

So, I totally didn't know it was December 31st until about 9:00 pm last night. The MTC doesn't do anything for the new year, so needless to say it was pretty tame. But this past week definitely wasn't.

This past week was definitely one of highs and lows. Me and Sister Vande Merwe were really struggling on how to feel the Spirit and to teach with the Spirit. We were doing everything we could to invite the Spirit in, but it just wasn't happening. Both of us got the impression yesterday that maybe it was because we didn't have enough faith. I realized that I didn't have a lot of faith in myself and I didn't have a lot of faith that the Spirit would come if needed. So instead of being frustrated about not being able to teach, I've been able to find something to focus on a grow.

Last week was a tough one. The other sisters and myself felt so discouraged at why we just weren't feeling the Spirit. It was so disheartening, because like I said just barely, we were doing everything we could to feel the Spirit. One night we taught a real investigator, and when my companion and I were teaching it was a disaster. We lost control and had no focus, and it was incredibly tough. We walked away from the lesson crying, not sure what had gone so wrong. Sister Vande Merwe and Sister Fengel both had the same problem, and as we were about to leave the class for the night, Elder Lee and Elder Franson came in. Elder Lee bore his testimony and began to talk about the Spirit. It was the first time in a few days I was able to feel it, and it immediately brought a flood of tears to Sister Vande Merwe and I. Elder Lee was an instrument in the Lord's hands and an answer to our frustrations. When the rest of the district came in, our District Leader had us all sit down and talk everything out. We, as a district, realized that we were so focused on others that we had forgotten ourselves. I know what you're thinking: "But Sister Singleton, isn't a mission supposed to be selfless?" Well yes it is! However, we had been starving ourselves spiritually to provide for those who we were teaching. I can't remember who said it, but we must be our first converts. Conversion is a lifelong process, and we must work on bringing ourselves unto Christ before we can help anyone else.

I learned a lot of great things this week, but what it all boils down to is the Spirit. Without the Spirit, everything else we learn is useless. We must always be doing everything in our power to feel the Spirit, which involves diligently studying the scriptures, praying with real intent, keeping the commandments, being humble, charitable, meek, and coming unto Christ with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. When we do this, the Lord will use us where he wills. 

So, last week I got a calling as Ward Music Coordinator. Basically I just pick the hymns and pick on poor souls to conduct the songs. I'm also in charge of the music in our district, so I get to choose which songs we sing. I've told Elder Tarry that if he complains about one of my songs again, I'll make him sing a solo of "As Sisters in Zion." Sister Huni left today! She's been in the MTC since the middle of October, and she's finally headed out to the Marshall Islands. She is the happiest, most wonderful person I've ever met, and I'm so happy she's able to go out and teach! The Elders going to Tonga sang her a variety of goodbye songs (she's from Tonga), and they were just beautiful. 

Sister Fengel got really sick last week. The doctor office here isn't open until tomorrow, so she's had to wait it out for a few days. We thought it was strep at first, but we don't think it is anymore. It was crazy on Sunday because my companion is the new Coordinating Sister, so I was supposed to be in a trio while my companion went to meetings. However, since they had to stay in the room due to her illness, a bunch of confusing exchanges were made so that we could all eat dinner. I had to go to dinner with Elder Lee and Elder Franson, they had to bring me to the room, and then they took Sister Vande Merwe later. It was confusing and bizarre, but Sister Fengel seems to be doing a little better.

In Preach My Gospel it says that the Book of Mormon, along with the Spirit, can be the most powerful tool in conversion. So I ask you this: is it the most powerful tool in your conversion? I challenge you to read and search the Book of Mormon more, and to gain a stronger testimony of it's truthfulness. And please, please go watch Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's "Safety for the Soul." It made me cry.

I love you all, and I thank you for all your letters and packages.

Oh yeah, and some of you asked about the MTC food. Elder Lee put it best: "It feels like I'm trapped in a Chuck-a-Rama. Like, if I was locked inside, this is how I'd feel."

Love,
Sister Singleton

Elder Scott photobombing our picture...

Our New Years celbration

Elder Scott about to drop Elder Turner.

Double tags!