Baptism!

Shawn's baptized!

Let me start from the beginning of yesterday:

Not only did I break the zipper on my dress by accident, but as we were cooking breakfast, the kitchen was filling up with smoke. We found out early that Brother Gale wasn't able to fill up the font in the morning, so we had to be at the church early enough to start the water. 

As we were driving to the church, we realized that Shawn's last name might've been spelled wrong on his programs. So we started a crazy texting frenzy to a bunch of people to change the programs. After we realized it would probably just be easier to go straight to the source, Shawn told us it was spelled right. Phew!

We started filling up the font with hot water, and right before sacrament meeting started we turned on the cold, agreeing to check it every 20 minutes. It had only filled up about 1/4 of the way, so we figured it would be okay. As soon as the sacrament hymn started, Sister Meeks wanted to check the font, but I was like, "Ah, but sacrament's just begun, let's just wait until they're done." As soon as the sacrament was done, we went and opened the font doors. To our horror, it was almost overflowing. Seriously-- it was like half an inch away from flooding. Turns out we didn't really take into account the fact that it was filling up like ten times faster than before. After shouting nonsensical words, I reached over and shut off the faucets. We stood there, not knowing what to do. After an initial panic, we went to the kitchen. We spent about 10 minutes scooping out water with pitchers when we realized it wasn't going to help much. After braving the idea of turning on the septic pump to see if it would help, it slowly began to drain. We waited through the rest of sacrament meeting until it was at a non-floody depth.

So lesson learned: listen to your companion. She's probably right.

As soon as the baptism started, we were calm and excited. Brother Ryan Smith gave a talk on the ordinance and importance of baptism, and as soon as he started talking I could feel the Spirit. Brother Williams followed with a talk on the Holy Ghost, and after that... the baptism! You could tell as Brother Ryan Smith walked into the water it was cold (whoops?), but Shawn was smiling so big and he was just so excited. As soon as he came up out of the water the Spirit washed over everyone. It was so amazing. 

It's been so awesome to watch Shawn's progression. I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for him next, and I know it will be just awesome! 

Well, that was my awesome Sunday. I love you all, and please tell me the miracles in your lives!

Love,

Sister Singleton

Transfer 1 Week 5

Well hello!

This past week was loads of fun. Last P-day (Prep day for those of you who are unfamiliar) we went to the Stake Center with our district and even our Zone Leaders and played a crazy awesome game of capture the flag. We had tables and chairs set up as barriers and what not, and we played for a couple of hours. Needless to say, we were all terribly sore for a couple days. It took a lot of effort to get out of the car every time.  

Saturday we went to a Young Women's Camp fundraiser. The theme was an All Around the World Banquet, in which Grandma Van Sciver, who is my New Jersey Italian grandmother, cooked all the food. There was food from America (Thanksgiving dinner), Poland (kielbasa and sauerkraut), Russia (beef stroganoff), Mexico (taco bar), and Italy (baked chicken tortellini). It was so good! Then at the end they had a dessert auction. I've never seen people get so competitive to buy a dessert. A trifle sold for $100, and a couple cakes sold for $80. We had two of our investigators come and we were able to have a fun time with them, and one of them even managed to buy a dessert! It was a lot of fun, with tons of good food. The best part was I was talking with Grandma Van Sciver and a woman who's being taught by the missionaries in another area (she visited for the night). The woman said: "I'm going to go get some carrot cake."

Me: "Carrot cake's my favorite!"

Grandma Van Sciver: "Everything's your favorite."

Me: "But it's my favorite favorite."

Well, moving on from the food... this week was the first week both Sister Meeks and I were chased by a dog. We were stopping by a really old address we had, and there was a cute white labradoodle on the front porch. Me, in my awesome knowledge of dogs said, "Oh labradoodles are really nice and friendly, let's just knock." I got up to the top step, and the dog just stared at me. I reached for the doorbell and was about two inches away when the dog jumped up, snarled, and started snapping at me. So naturally I screamed and started running. I passed Sister Meeks at one point, and so the dog went after her. It was hilarious. We knocked the door right next to that house and found a young woman who is a Quaker (I've never met a Quaker before, so that was pretty neat!), and we were able to chat with her and invite her to come to church. We're looking forward to meeting with her again, because she had such a genuine charity about her and she wanted to learn more.

Another great moment was when we were heading to the Moorestown library. We stopped and talked to a man outside about the Book of Mormon. His response was surprising when he said, "It makes sense that there's more scripture, because there were other people who kept records too." We asked him if we could come teach him a little more sometime and we were able to set up an appointment. Miracles! Exciting ones, too.

So guess what? This week is supposed to be Shawn's baptism! He is SO AWESOME. He's the one who decided to quit drinking before we even taught him the Word of Wisdom. He is just so prepared to follow Christ, and I am super excited for him. I'll let you know more in next week's email, of course.

On Sunday Sister Meeks and I had a missionary fireside. We strayed from the norm of having a few people talk at the pulpit and decided, with the help of Brother Gale (our ward mission leader), to have individual break-out groups to discuss missionary work more. We had eight missionaries who had small groups of people to talk about what's holding people back from sharing the gospel with others, what fears we have about doing missionary work, what we can do to stop filtering the gospel out of our conversations, etc. It was pretty awesome. The whole purpose of the fireside was to help people "Overtly live the Gospel" and not be afraid to talk about gospel topics. Too often we filter out the gospel in conversation because we're worried what others might think, how another will respond, if we'll offend someone, or something of the sort. But the Lord has told us our purpose, "Wherefore, I the Lord ask you this question-- unto what were ye ordained? To preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter which was sent forth to teach the truth" (D&C 50:13-14). It's our responsibility to share the gospel. The Lord has given us this wonderful knowledge and gift, and we shouldn't be keeping it to ourselves. There is no comfort in our growth zone, and no growth in our comfort zone. Get out of your comfort zone and share the gospel! And even if you say, "But Sister Singleton, when I share the gospel, they don't respond at all." Well the Lord has promised that "no effort is wasted" (Preach My Gospel), and that every time someone learns more about the gospel, they come one step closer to Christ.

Thanks to my family (including Chris) for the awesome Valentine's cards. I was laughing so hard at Mark's, and now I can't fold Becca's up again...

I love you all so very much! Please keep praying and looking for miracles!

Love,

Sister Singleton.

PS- Elder Barker is being transferred this week. I forgot my card reader so I will hopefully show you pictures next week.

Week 4 (in the field)

Well hello!

 

I'm super glad we went into Philly last week and not today, because it's cold and foggy today. Philly was pa-retty sweet. The feel of the city is so different from anywhere else I've ever been, and there's so much more to see! We bought shirts at the coolest T-shirt shop in the world (I do not lie), and when we walked in, one of the workers said, "Evan, the Mormons are here!" Needless to say, a lot of missionaries buy shirts there.

The best moment from this past week was from an investigator who we had taught the Stop Smoking Program the previous week. We were a little worried about her conviction to quite smoking, but I had faith she could do it. We could barely make it through the door when she excitedly told us that she hadn't smoked once. I was so proud of her, I gave her two hugs! She's been smoking for over 40 years, and we're so excited that she's quit!

Another moment was when we were trying to teach an investigator more about faith and prayer. He really likes the Book of Mormon, but he doesn't have a testimony or a witness that it is true. We brought along Sister Neu, who is a seminary teacher, and she ended up basically teaching the whole lesson. I could feel the Spirit as she testified and taught him about the Book of Mormon, and at the end of the lesson, he picked up the Book and said, "How could this not be true?!" Now he needs to receive that witness for himself.

 

We can't rely on others to build our testimonies, we need to know for ourselves. So if there's something that we don't know, we should "ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things." (Moroni 10:4-5)

 

I feel like I should let you know the fun side of things as well:

 

• If we're ever running/hurrying somewhere, we often sing the Indiana Jones "Dun dun dun da, dun da da!" theme song.
• Sister Guymon (who we love!) gave me a cute little blow up penguin beach ball which I creatively named in 'Penguina.'
• We went to an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday party for a member's daughter last week at the church. It was exciting because we got free food and there were teacups everywhere (which I love).

 

I love all of you, and I want to thank you for being such a great support. Keep praying for and telling me about your miracles!

 

Love,

Sister Singleton

 

Yes, This is New Jersey

Bruce Willis ate at Jim's Steaks

Philly Steak!

At Jim's Steaks.

and a cool historic building

A street in Broomall.

Ignore how ridiculous I look...

Elder Barker and Elder Bennett at the Liberty Bell.

Liberty Bell 

an outside of Independence Hall.

Colorful Philly!

Miracles!

This past week was a week of miracles! We went to teach one of our investigators, Shawn, about the Word of Wisdom, which we had only briefly mentioned beforehand. Before we even started the lesson, he said, "Guess what? I've decided to stop drinking!" We barely even said anything in the lesson, he completely taught himself the Word of Wisdom by the Spirit, and he was already committed to living it before we got there. It was incredible!

On Friday, the Zone Leaders visited our area for an evening to help us out. We got so much done that night, it was crazy. We were both so pumped and energized, and we decided to wait off on dinner because we had other stuff to do. We decided to stop by Sister Toussaint's house and shared a message with her. But this is where the miracles started taking off-- as we were talking, Zoran, a friend of Sister Toussaint who lives there, brought us dinner (and ice cream, and fruit). We taked with Zoran, who we've met before, and he wanted to learn more, so we're going back to teach him this week! We were also able to share the message of the Restoration with Sister Toussaint's friend, Marie, and set up an appointment to teach her more. But that's not all, while we were talking, Sister Meeks answered a phone call from a former investigator who was looking for Elder Bezas. She told him that Elder Bezas was in Broomall, but that we could meet with him and answer questions, so we found yet another person to bring the gospel to! It was an incredible night full of miracles.

One of the best things that happened all week was last night. We got a text from our investigator, Meagan, saying that she was reading the Book of Mormon and couldn't put it down. She also told us that she could definitely feel the Spirit while reading, and Sister Meeks and I pretty much squealed with (reverent) delight. 

So many miracles!

As far as everything else goes... today we're going to PHILLY!!! Whoo! And yes, I'm going to eat a cheesesteak. Everyone who writes me asks if I've had a cheesesteak yet (which I have), but today it will be super legit. Also, we're planning on seeing the Liberty Bell. And yes, this means that I won't be writing any letters today, sorry.

But I love all of you so much, and I'm grateful for all your support.

Love,

Sister Singleton

Shout out to Kelsey Barker, whose address I do not have *hint hint*. Also, when I'm at the Liberty Bell, I'll be singing "K-Kelsey B-Barker..."

Back at the MTC, this is Elder Millsap and I. He's going to Sweden.

Our Mission Flag

I am super tired because... yeah.