First Day of Spring! Cats! Spirit Twins!

Helloooooooooooo Spring!

Kinda. It's still chilly over here in PA. But it's all good!

So guess what comes with the first day of Spring?? Free Rita's! Even though it was cold and extremely windy, I was stubborn and wore my springiest outfit and we waited in line to get free Rita's. We couldn't eat it in our cars, however, so we sat outside and ate it as fast as we could. 

Thursday was our Relief Society activity-- "Life Hack Night." All the women got together to learn about fast ways to cook, clean, and organize. In the end we ate a bunch of food, including spanakoptia and tilapia. Be proud that I actually ate those two items! It was fun because I got to meet a lot of the women in the ward that I haven't previously met. For some reason I haven't been able to remember people's names as well as usual, so Sister Suckow quizzed me over and over who everyone was.

We had a couple great lessons this week, including one with Victoria. If you don't remember, last week I told yous guys how there was a woman who showed up at church and wanted to meet with the Sisters, so we set up an appointment. Well, we were able to meet with her twice this week. She has SO MANY GOOD QUESTIONS! When we were teaching her the first half of the Plan of Salvation Sister Suckow felt impressed to show her the video "For God So Loved the World," (lds.org/biblevideos) and it definitely invited the Spirit into the lesson so strong. We were able to bear testimony of the Atonement, and it was an amazing experience. And at church on Sunday she told us how it was a "funny coincidence" that the topics given were things she had been thinking about a lot lately. But she definitely understood that there are no such things as coincidences.

We also saw Rosalie and her daughter this week. Rosalie had surgery last week and when our Relief Society president found out, she jumped right on board to help her out. She organized meals and someone to watch Rosalie's daughter when needed. Rosalie kept telling us how grateful she was and how other churches she had been to were supposed to take care of people like that, but they never did. She was so grateful, and I was very touched by the willingness to help from the women in the ward. How amazing and selfless they are! 

We invited Rosalie's daughter to New Beginnings (an introduction to the Young Women's program (ages 12-18)) on Wednesday, and she was excited to go. Elisia Soto picked her up and when we met them at the church, Rosalie's daughter was bouncing all over the place. Literally! She was so excited to be there. And I was, too! It was an awesome New Beginnings-- they had tables that coordinated with the different values. Each table was set up by two young women, and everything was color-coordinated, including their clothes! The main theme was princesses, and how we're all daughters of a Heavenly King, therefore making us princesses. It was really cool how it was all set up! 

Last but not least, I met my spirit twin yesterday. Well, I've met her before because she teaches Institute, but I actually got to get to know her. You know what I mean? Well, her name is Ruthie, and she's awesome. Sister Suckow kept telling me that I reminded her of Ruthie. So when we were at her house, her cat crawled up into a brown paper bag. I jumped up and picked the cat up in the bag and carried it over to the couch. Ruthie said, "I knew when you picked that bag up you were just like me. I knew I liked you!" Hahaha. Well, I could go into detail about how awesome she is, but would that be a vain thing since she's my spirit twin?

Love yous!

Sister Singleton

No description needed.

Some really not-that-flattering pictures of Sister Jensen and I...

The Sister Trainers decided to have lunch at our place after interviews. It was quite fun!

An unflattering picture of me and a cat. 

The cutest (and friendliest) cat ever! 

Me when I'm bored at night.

In Reading, there's trash everywhere.

Happy St. Patrick's day, everyone! I tried to wear a form of green today, but then I realized my skirt is more bluish than green. Luckily the magnet on the back of my name tag is green. 

On Wednesday we went to the youth's mutual night, which was centered all on missionary work. They had six different stations, which included making Ramen, sewing a button on a shirt, ironing, sorting laundry, the role play station, and one I can't remember. But us and the Elders were in charge of the role play station, in which we helped the youth practice door approaches and also extending a baptismal invitation. It was fun because there were some really great moments from the youth, and it was great to see them learning all about missionary work. And guess what the snack was at the end? Ramen.

So, what else happened this week? Well, it was Zone Training! It was actually a huge help and blessing for me, because the past couple weeks I've been struggling with planning. For those of you who don't know, every night we plan for the next day's activities and every Thursday we plan for the entire upcoming week. Lately I haven't been so thrilled about planning, and so when we showed up to Zone Training, guess what the whole meeting was about? Yep. It was a spiritual rebuke for me. But it helped a lot. One thing that put planning into perspective was when Elder Lozano talked about how much planning went into each of our lives (hence the Plan of Salvation). Imagine if Heavenly Father didn't plan for each of us specifically and individually. I don't want to imagine that! I'm grateful that Heavenly Father took the time to plan who He wants me to become and what I need to do to become that way. And not only did He plan for me, he planned for a billion frillion other people, too. How amazing! It makes planning for one area seem like not such a big task after all.

Each week we have a zone focus, which is something the Zone Leaders want everyone in the zone to reach. Well, our goal was to have each companionship reach 4/8 of their goals. On Friday, things were looking dismal. Pretty much all of our numbers were zero because our investigators cancelled appointments or were out of town. We had no idea how we were going to do it. We got a text from the zone leaders saying that we were the only ones who weren't going to make it. It was almost a crushing blow, because I felt like it wasn't our fault we weren't reaching our goals. But then both Sister Suckow and I were determined to reach the zone focus. On Saturday things still were looking bad, and all we had left was Sunday. 

Well, Sunday had one awesome miracle packed into it. A woman showed up to sacrament meeting and after church, she asked us to teach her. She has been wanting to meet with missionaries for a while, but wasn't sure which set was supposed to teach her (there's a couple different ones). She's dating a member, and he wasn't sure either. Well, we were able to set up an appointment with her, and when we went to give her a mormon.org card, she just said, "Oh, I read through that WHOLE website already!" We were stunned! When we asked if she had a Book of Mormon, she said she would like a copy and a copy of the Bible as well. We rushed out to the car to grab her one, and as we ran outside we both yelled, "MIRACLE!" We're meeting with her this week, and I'm so excited!

As far as everything else goes, I'm doing great! The weather keeps going cold to warm to cold, but it's all good! 

Love you!

Sister Singleton

PS. As far as my subject line goes... it's true. Every time the wind blows, a new piece of trash appears. Haha.

The First Epistle of the Elders (or Sisters) to the Dead Letter Writers

Chapter 1
In the beginning was the mailbox and the mailbox was void of letters.
2 And the missionaries said, "Let the box be filled," and the box was
not filled.
3 And the missionaries beheld the continuing void and were not pleased.
4 And lo, it was the first day of the week and there was no mail
delivered, but this was good.
5 But on the second day was the mail delivered; yet the box remained empty.
6 Yea, even from the second day unto the seventh was the mail delivered.
7 Even so, the box retained it's void.
8 And yea, great mists of darkness spread forth from the void and
enshrouded the missionaries. Yea, and did bring much sadness to their
otherwise cheery days.
9 Even the long hours of fruitless tracting, being attacked by the
fowls of the air and being pursued by the beasts of the field were not
as disheartening as the lack of blessed objects know as letters.
10 Yet they persisted.

Chapter 2
And lo, on the second day of the second week the mists still encircled
the mailbox.
2 And on the third day, from within the depths of the void was a
single postcard.
3 And this postcard put forth a ray of light that pierced the darkness
and overcame the mists.
4 And the missionaries were well pleased and there was much rejoicing.
5 But alas, their exclamations were in vain. For the postcard was for
someone else.
6 But if their was so exceedingly great over someone else's mail, how
great would be their joy at partaking of their own mail?

Chapter 3
But some will say, a letter a letter, we have already written a
letter. We have no need to write any more letters.
2 Know he not that there are more days than one, and more events than
one in a day? Why think ye that these events need not be reported?
3 Yea, and ye need not worry that your letters will go unanswered.
4 But you should say, I will go and write the letter that a missionary
requests. For I know that he giveth no requests except he be prepared
to speedily respond.
5 And we give unto you the parable of the self-addressed envelopes.
6 When the missionary departed into the far off land he gave a certain
number of self-addressed envelopes to his friends.
7 Unto one he gave five, unto another he gave two, and unto the third
he gave one.
8 And while he was gone, he that was given five envelopes wrote five
letters, then in his zeal wrote five letters more.
9 The same with him that had two envelopes; he wrote two letters then
wrote two letters more.
10 But he that was given the one self-addressed envelope became
slothful and careless. And he lost the envelope, even that which he
was given.
11 And when the missionary came home he went unto his friends. And he
that had written ten letters was warmly greeted.
12 The same with him that had written four letters.
13 But he that had written none at all was given nothing more than a
fishy wimp-like handshake.

Chapter 4
And the missionary said unto his friend, lovest thou me?
2 And the friend said, of course I love thee. Then the missionary
said, fill my mailbox.
3 He spoke again to the friend saying, lovest thou me? And the friend
said, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee.
4 Then the missionary said, stuff my mailbox.
5 Therefore you should proceed to do a marvelous work for a
missionary, even a marvelous work and a wonder by writing a letter.

906 Las Vegas Dr

Temple, PA 19560

Reading (Nope, you just said it wrong.)

Welcome to Reading, Pennsylvania! 

For those of you who just said that as "ree-ding," that's wrong. It's "red-ding." You'll never look at the word "Reading" the same again.

So! How to describe Reading, PA. Well, there's a mushroom factory in Reading, and when it's humid, warm, or windy, the smell of mushrooms wafts through the air. There's a Pagoda up on the hill that it's famous for, and I'm convinced that the Walmart has a high theft rate because even the cheapie headphones were in protective cases and they didn't have electronics on display, only cardboard cutouts of tablets and such.

So, that's Reading in a nutshell. It's a little hard to get a feel for the place, considering I've only been here for a couple days. But it's been a fantastic couple of days! And my companion is Sister Suckow, who is HILARIOUS and reminds me a lot of Jenna Fiesta, Kim, Brandi (Sister Meeks) and an awesome less active sister in Whitehall. But yeah, it's been a blast. Sister Suckow tells jokes all the time. Also, there wasn't much food in the apartment besides breakfast food (that's how transfers goes down-- no one wants to buy food that week) so we've eaten a lot of pancakes and eggs.

We also have a pretty sweet set up for housing. We live in an entire house by ourselves. There's a ward member who owns it and rents it out to the missionaries. It's really weird because we have a full-blown house with heated floors. We're so spoiled! Minus the ant infestation around the toilet (random, but true). 

So let me tell you a little bit about our trip down to transfers on Wednesday. We told Sister Spanogle that we had a lot of stuff-- I mean, there were two sisters getting transferred, which means we had lots of stuff. Well, they pulled up that morning and it was Brother and Sister Spanogle in a small car. We looked at all our stuff and at the car and then at each other. There was NO way our stuff was all getting in that car. But Brother Spanogle insisted it would work, so he went to work stuffing. Well, long story short, we all sat in the car and then we played a game of Tetris around ourselves. We kept joking about the miracle of the five loaves and seven fishes and if there was a reverse miracle to make our stuff get smaller. But the crazy thing is... we managed to get everything in! The following pictures will help you understand how great a feat it was.

I was so sad to leave Sister Wilson, Sister Wiehl, and Bethlehem. But the Lord only needed me there for one transfer, and it was a wonderful transfer. I'm so grateful that I had two amazing companions who made me laugh constantly.

So, that's my week so far. I don't know what else to say, because I'm still trying to get a feel for everything. Huzzah!

Love yous!
Sister Singleton

We ate chips before we got transferred.

This is Elder Pintor and I. We're both pretty boss, I guess.

Leaving the Inn

One word: Transfers.

Two words: I'm leaving.

Friday night we got transfer calls and we did a big group call with our district. Everyone knew Sister Wilson was out of Bethlehem because she's been here for four transfers (roughly six months). But when Elder Wirthlin said, "Sister Singleton... is leaving," I didn't believe him. I've only been here for one transfer! Six weeks! That's not long enough! But it was enough for the Lord, so I'm okay with it. I may or may not have been melodramatic about it though, because Kelly is supposed to be baptized soon and I'm going to miss it. 

This week was a roller coaster week. We had a lesson on Wednesday that took a turn for the worse, and it surprised us all. When we left, we sat in the car, devastated that everything had been ruined. But as we prayed, we felt that everything was going to be okay. We got a call from the investigator two days later apologizing and asking us to come back that night. So we did, and it was an amazing lesson. The difference between the two lessons was so stark, but I'm grateful that the Spirit was able to comfort her fears and doubts. 

It reminded me of a talk that President Uchtdorf gave in which he talked about how his mother lost her kids on a train in WWII. She was frantic, but she did not let her fears overcome her. President Uchtdorf says of his mother: "I know with certainty: her faith overcame her fear, and her hope overcame her despair." 

(President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "The Infinite Power of Hope," Oct. 2008 General Conference.)

"Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith."

(President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "Come, Join With Us," Oct. 2013 General Conference.)

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

(Isaiah 41:10)

I could list many scriptures, but the thing I want you to understand is that faith and fear cannot exist at the same time. I've learned from experience that with whatever you're going through, as long as you have faith and turn to the Lord, it will all be okay.

On a different note, this past transfer has been a blast. I'm trying to think of any fun stories from this week, but my mind is drawing a blank. It's because we're having too much fun! 

Well, I love yous.

Love,
Sister Singleton

This is Sister Bittner. She is awesome. She loves comic books, the Avengers, and squirrels. She has a butter dish with a squirrel on top!

Every time I drive by this, I yell "Bear in a scarf!"

The Relitz's took us out to a Japanese lunch, and it was delicious!

Mochi ice cream. It's like a rice dough... filled with ice cream. I liked it a lot!

I Just Want the Cat to Love Me

So, you know how you sit there and try to remember what you did earlier in the week? Or even earlier in the day? Well, yeah... that's me right now.

Earlier in the week we were able to help an investigator family out with some service. Their house caught on fire and they had to move out, so we helped them go through their stuff. The opportunity was humbling, because they really did need help, and I was grateful to know that the Church stepped in immediately and was more than willing to help.

This week we went on exchanges and Sister Shaia came to Bethlehem with Sister Wiehl and I. We had a blast! We watched President Monson's talk, "Obedience Brings Blessings" with Ashley, who was baptized before I got to the area. Then we went out to dinner with Sister Bartholomew, who took us to a buffet that I actually liked (shocker, right?). Then we went to see Kelly, who is awesome! Also, she has a kitten that repeatedly attacks my hands and arms. The cat doesn't like me, apparently, because it will go to everyone else but me. However, I keep trying to pet the darn thing, because I JUST WANT IT TO LOVE ME!

So anyway, Kelly is amazing. When we first mentioned the Word of Wisdom last week, she immediately poured her coffee down the drain. So when we taught her, she was super excited to follow it. When I committed her to live the Word of Wisdom, she just looked at me and said sternly, "What did you ask me?" I was a little thrown off, so I said again, "Will you live the Word of Wisdom?" She then responded, "Well duh!" I got a kick out of it.

Sunday was a fantastic day! Katherine was confirmed, and she was beaming ear-to-ear to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Kelly also came to church with her son, and she LOVED IT. She even called us afterward to tell us that she had a wonderful experience. Then we were able to teach an investigator after church and it was a really powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon and the Spirit. What a powerful book! And what a wonderful book! It provides so much direction, comfort, and spiritual growth.

I want to switch gears a little bit:

"1 And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon these plates a few of the things which I considered to be most precious;  ...
"4 And if there were preaching which was sacred, or revelation which was great, or prophesying, that I should engraven the heads of them upon these plates, and touch upon them as much as it were possible, for Christ’s sake, and for the sake of our people." (Jacob 1:1,4)

One thing we've committed a couple of our investigators to do is to write on one piece of paper what they would tell their family/future posterity. So I want to commit you all to do the same. Jacob didn't have that much room to write his record, so he included things that were the most important. I want you to think about that when you do this.

Love you!
Sister Singleton

                                        The closest thing to a mountain I've seen in over a year.
                                             Psshaw.  They don't have mountains out here.

                                                         Lehighton/ Bethlehem/ Nazareth West 

February 2014

All of us with Sister Shaia

All of us with Sister Earl

I've been feeding the squirrels to try and get pictures of them!