4th of July

'Ello!

 

What a great 4th of July week! I'll have to start from the top of everything it seems.

 

So first of all, there is an Elder in our district whose birthday is July 4 and he's from Australia. We planned on making red, white, and blue swirled cupcakes and a personal cake for him. We didn't want a white cake, so we made a lemon cake, but when dying the batter we realized that yellow + blue = green, hahahaha. And then the cake we made Elder Shore was the most awkward brick shape, but hey... c'est la vie. We ended up sticking fancy red, white, and blue decorative things out of the cupcakes along with Australian and American flags. Elder Shore is also a fellow Doctor Who fan, so I made him a themed birthday card that I secretly just wanted to keep.

 

As for the 4th of July... talk about crazy crazy madness. Bishop Smith had the wonderful idea to have Sister Hall and I play our violins in the parks and have others hand out water and otter pops (known out here as "icies"). So we did! We played at Trexler Park at 7:30 am and had some ward members and the Allentown Spanish and Whitehall South Elders hand out water to people. It was really fun, even if it was already hot that early in the morning. The crowd was mostly older or exercising people, but we talked to a couple people who were curious why we were out there. One guy even wanted to take our pictures because he'd never seen people playing live music in that park before. It was neat!

 

After district meeting, the birthday party, and practicing our song for Zone Training next week, and running around in the heat, we went to Cedar Beach Park to play in the evening. Now talk about a completely different crowd of people from Trexler Park. The Allentown Spanish Elders affectionately said, "These are our people." I can't remember how many thousand people were estimated to be in the park, but there were people barbequing, playing, swimming, and all sorts of things. (Side note: East Coast parks are legit! Like... massive parks that are more than just a field with a playground.) We played for a little bit, but since there was a lot more noise than before, we mainly handed out ice pops and water.

 

Needless to say, it was SUPER FUN. People were really surprised that someone would be handing out free water, but it helped us get exposure and talk to people. But one awesome miracle that came from us playing in the park was a baptism! Story time:

 

We invited the Allentown Elders to come to the park with us and they went around and talked to people. They came across Victor, a young man who used to go to church last year who had wanted to be baptized but wasn't able to at the time.  I'm not entirely sure all of the details, but long story short, they talked to him and set up a baptism. For today. Today. How amazing! Victor is in the Whitehall South Elders' area, so imagine their surprise when Allentown called them and said Whitehall would be having a baptism on Monday! It was the craziest thing-- they had to call President Anderson and get special permission, but we're so excited!

 

Friday we helped out Sister Pendleton with yard work. The Whitehall Elders the Brother and Sister Stofko came and helped out. We were able to get a lot of work done and were also able to help out the neighbor's yard, whose wife is sick and can't keep up with things. I still have a bunch of rashes down my legs from all the plants, but I really love doing yard work for people.

 

As I was pondering about how wonderful of a blessing it is that we have a country in which we can worship our God freely, I thought about how without the United States, the Restored and true church of God wouldn't have been restored to the earth. There's actually a chapter in the Book of Mormon where the prophet Nephi is talking about a vision in which he see Christopher Columbus, the Revolutionary War, and the Book of Mormon. 1 Nephi 13 says:

 

"12 And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land.

13 And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters."

(Christopher Columbus)

 

"16 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles who had gone forth out of captivity did humble themselves before the Lord; and the power of the Lord was with them.

17 And I beheld that their mother Gentiles were gathered together upon the waters, and upon the land also, to battle against them.

18 And I beheld that the power of God was with them, and also that the wrath of God was upon all those that were gathered together against them to battle.

19 And I, Nephi, beheld that the Gentiles that had gone out of captivity were delivered by the power of God out of the hands of all other nations."

(Revolutionary War)

 

How amazing! How wonderful that this land truly is a promised land of freedom, and that because of the ability to worship, God restored his one and true church to the earth!

 

Thanks for all of your love!

Sister Singleton

Okay, I took ZERO pictures of our 4th of July adventures in the park, 

and this is the only one I have of the cake. The awkward cake...

JULY, JULY!

JULY, JULY! MY FAVORITE MONTH!

 

I'm so excited. It's July!

 

So, I forgot to mention that transfers were last week. I failed to mentioned it because nothing changed with Sister Hall and I in Whitehall. Whoo! We're both staying, for which I am super grateful. I somehow managed to avoid ever more craziness going on with all the new sisters right now, like double training.

 

We've been doing a lot of service lately, like helping Sister Pendleton organize/clean up her basement from when she moved in, which was essentially a giant game of Tetris. Along with that, we helped the Elders out to move a family into the ward. We were also all ready to help the Spanish Elders paint a member's house, but it ended up not working out. And we have gobs of stuff lined up this week, which is always exciting!

 

What's even more exciting is that we have two people who are set to be baptized on July 14th! We've been working with the Martinez family for the past transfer (six weeks), and it's been amazing to see their family grow. The kids are 13, 10, and 7 years old, so it's been a new experience teaching younger people. We've come up with some creative ideas, such as making a 10 Commandments tablet out of cardboard and having Sister Hall play her violin as the rest of us sing "Follow the Prophet." We also have fun coloring pages that Elder Flake drew for us to hand out.

The Martinez family is awesome, and I'm definitely excited to see their kids baptized! The whole family is genuine and humble, and it's been a testimony to me to see that the gospel really does bless and affect families for the better!

 

We had a severe tornado warning on Thursday, which was exciting and freaky at the same time. We had Missy pick us up from the Martinez's to drive down to a dinner in Allentown, and the rain, wind, and lightning were crazy! Needless to say, we are safe and I was not picked up in a whirlwind. (3 Nephi 8:16 "And there were some who were carried away in the whirlwind; and whither they went no man knoweth, save they know that they were carried away.").

 

One awesome miracle this week was when we went to a part of our area that we haven't ever worked in and just decided to knock. We drove up a street, trying to decide where to stop when I saw a white vehicle and felt like we needed to stop. The second house we knocked on a guy answered the door and picked up his dog so it didn't run out.

"Is that a corgi?!" I basically shouted at him. (For those of you who don't know, I was roommates with Shelly for two years, who LOVES corgis, and I've seen hundreds of pictures of them, but never one in real life. And boy, are they adorable!)

So we got to talking and we asked what his dog's name was. "Gambit."

Me: "Like the X-Men character?!" And on.

I promise our conversation turned into a gospel topic. He asked why we were out here, so we taught and testified to him about the Book of Mormon. He said that he was jealous that we could say that we knew, because he just always hoped that sort of stuff was true. We flipped open to Moroni 10:3-5, which says:

 

" 3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would 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.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."

 

He was stunned and looked at us and said, "That was incredibly specific to what I was just asking! How did you do that?" We told him that it was the Spirit who led us. It was an amazing miracle! So cool!

 

President and Sister Anderson are officially here! The did a two-day mission tour so that the missionaries would be able to meet them, but they also announced a few changes, which are super exciting. Drum roll, please? Starting at the end of August, almost all missionaries will get tablets! We were all shocked and excited at the news, mainly because it will automatically update all our record-keeping information to the mission president. SO EXCITING!!! And they even announced that there are "more things in the works," which I can't even begin to dream up.

 

What's awesome is that on Sunday we had a third hour lesson about using technology to our advantage and spreading the gospel. The internet is a huge presence in people's lives (unless you're my dad), and it's something that the Lord's given us to utilize. The gospel is advancing in technology, and so should we. But I just feel the missionary work changing, and there's something big happening that is right around the corner, and none of us really know what the Lord's planning right now.

 

Well you guys, enjoy July, because it's the best month of all months.

 

Love you!

Sister Sarah Singleton

                             The Scranton and Lehigh Valley zone with President and Sister Anderson.

Service & Service.

I feel like every weekly email should just say "A lot happened this week. Amen."

 

We did lots of service this week! A couple weeks ago we got a call from a Sister in the Bethlehem ward (said "beth-lim") about a guy, Dale, who had showed up at the church one day looking for help. A while back he went to help his daughter move out of her four-story apartment into another four-story apartment, and was expecting just the two of them to help. But to his surprise, there were members of the deacon's and Elders quorum there ready to help. Turns out his daughter's boss is LDS and sent for help. How amazing! You never know what influence your actions have! So he showed up outside our church because he knew that Mormons help.

 

To put it simply, the project is a huge one. It's a house/store duplex that his family owns up here in PA that needs a lot of work (he lives in Virginia). He's been renovating it for the past two years and has been doing it alone, for the most part. On Friday it was Sister Hall and I, the Elders, Sister Norton, and her son, Spencer who went and helped. We did mostly yard work, from taming patches of overgrown plants to dismantling a wheelbarrow to digging a cement post out of the ground. It was super fun, actually. And now I know how to use a gas-powered weed whacker.

 

On Saturday we had Sister Kramer and Sister Sourwine help out throughout the day, which was wonderful. At one point I was cleaning out this fenced-off patch of yard and I kept hearing a faint buzzing noise. There was a bees nest in there somewhere, but I just figured the worst that could happen was they could sting me, so I kept on raking. Eventually I did find a bees nest and a massive queen bee, but I did not get stung. Yay! Sister Kramer, however, found a chipmunk nest with a few babies in it, but it was freaky because we just saw something furry crawling around.

 

Dale is possibly one of the coolest people I've ever met. He's an older man who used to be a marine salvage diver in the Navy. He had a lot of great questions about the Church, and we were able to discuss with him the Restoration and a little about temples while we were digging out rose bushes. He has such a great attitude about life and a deep respect for people, and I'm pretty sure he would make a great general authority. It was amazing when we left him the Book of Mormon how willing he was to read it.

 

Sunday! Who here went to "The Work of Salvation" broadcast?? *Everyone should be raising their hands* Well, if you didn't, there's a WHOLE section about it on lds.org, that's how serious this work is.

 

Some of those who spoke or had video clips were Elder Nelson, Elder Perry, Elder Packer, Elder Andersen, and President Monson, with Elder Holland conducting. IT WAS AMAZING. The whole point of the broadcast was how it's the members' responsibility to find people and the missionaries' responsibility to teach. Fifty years ago the missionaries had success knocking on doors and talking, but times have changed, and so should our views of missionary work. The members need to always be inviting, searching, and praying for opportunities to find people, as we as missionaries will teach those you find.

 

I highly recommend watching the broadcast, so if you have two hours (oh come on, that's not that long!), please, please, pleasewatch it because I'm not doing it justice explaining it. http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng

 

Also, on Sunday when we sat down in Sacrament meeting I was surprised to see President and Sister Schaefermeyer on the stand (our mission president and his wife). That pretty much never happens in the mission, but it was a super special opportunity. We were even able to go to Relief Society and Gospel Principles with Sister Schaefermeyer. They're both going home this week, so it was amazing to see them one last time before they go.

 

Well as always, I love all of you! Get out there and find opportunities to share the gospel, because the Lord is hastening His work, and right now is the final stretch before He comes again. So get out there and work!

 

Love,

Sister Singleton

                                  This is possibly the WORST, most unflattering district picture ever.

                               

                                                  Me, Sister Hall, and the Schaefermeyers.

                               

                                    President and Sister Schaefermeyer surprised us in church!

Cops & Cats

Well, well, who do we have here?

Oh, it's those that I love. Yay!

A quick story on how our week started off:

Monday was a super rainy day. Sister Hall and I took our violins and went up to an area where a woman had told us to come back. We showed up as she was leaving, so we decided to walk around in the rain with our instruments (in the cases, of course). We didn't talk to too many people, but about an hour later we were about to knock on a door and a police officer drove up. Apparently someone didn't really like our joyful attempts to play music and called the cops on us. Of course the officer was super nice, so we talked to him a little bit and went on our way. Needless to say, that was the first time that's happened on my mission. (But will it be the last??)

Tuesday we had Zone Conference, but this one was special because it was President and Sister Schaefermeyer's last. They're going home next week :( It's been so much fun to have President Schaefermeyer as my mission president, especially since he's just so relaxed, faithful, and full of love. We talked about how whenever someone comes up with objections to the Church, one of the prophets, a point of doctrine, etc. it always, always goes back to the Book of Mormon. It doesn't matter what in the world the objection is, if they read and pray to know the Book of Mormon is true, then it will be answered. This applies to everyone.

Since it's been published, the Book of Mormon has been tried and torn apart by many people, but it's never been disproven. And why is that? Because it's true. I know it's true. It's 100% completely true, and because I know that, I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord's Kingdom on the earth. If anyone doubts those (or other things), then what do you need to do? Read the Book of Mormon. (Is this starting to sink in?)

This talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland is one of the most powerful talks, and it's on the Book of Mormon. Watch it!

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2009/10/safety-for-the-soul?lang=eng

After Zone Conference, we went on some crazy exchanges, in which I ended up in Kutztown for two days. We did service all day on Wednesday, in which we painted, helped a woman with things around the house, and then we did yardwork. At the last house I learned how to use a riding lawn mower. It was terrifying but fun. I've always wanted to ride one of them!

Another story! So we stopped by a potential in Kutztown who had talked to the Elders like two years prior. After Sister Stephenson introduced us, the woman didn't really have a response, and I didn't know what to say. I'm pretty sure there were crickets churping... Then suddenly a giant, fluffy orange cat ran out the door, and of course my immediate response was, "KITTY!" and I reached down to pet it. I started talking about how much I love cats, and then the woman told us about her other cats and how she rescued them all. We ended up talking to her for about 15 minutes, and it was really awesome. I even got to pet her other two adorable cats.

So, moral of the story #1: Just be yourself. Be genuine, and you'll find something to talk about. Moral of the story #2: Cats are the best.

In lieu of Father's Day, I just wanted to bear my testimony on how much our Heavenly Father loves us. He loves me, He loves you, and He knows everything we're going through. If we're going to be open and honest with someone, let it be our Heavenly Father.

Brother Norton gave a talk yesterday on fathers and related it to Superman. Superman had two fathers: his natural father and his earthly father. The things he was given and learned from each father combined was what made him the Superman, and not just a really strong guy. It's the same with us-- we learn things from our Heavenly Father and our earthly fathers and those things combined are what enable us to reach our highest divine potential.

I'm so grateful and blessed to have a wonderful (earthly) father, and I know that it's because of his example that I am who I am. I love you, dad!

I also love you, mom. And everyone else, of course!

Sister Singleton

Race Track

After district meeting, Elder Pond set up a giant racetrack with cars. It was super fun.

This is Sister Libby Jensen! For those of you who don't know, we totally went to high school together and were in orchestra together! Oh my goodness, she's serving in the Philadelphia Pennsylvania mission. What up!

The Sisters at this zone conference. Aren't we so good looking?

A more serious picture of us sisters and zone conference.

President Schaefermeyer and I.

Jake, the ugly dog who lives with us.

Me and Sister Schaefermeyer.

Hey Yous!

Hey Yous!

 

Since quite a bit has happened this week, I'll just get straight to the good stuff.

 

There was a special missionary meeting in Newark, Delaware this week, but we were too far north to drive down. So instead our zone was invited to go to a broadcast of Scranton's Stake Conference, so we did. Elder Bednar spoke, and it was amazing! These are some highlights from his talk:

 

Why do we share the gospel? Why, to other people, do we seem almost annoying about sharing it? Elder Bednar told a story about how his sons were playing outside on their little bikes when one of his sons crashed into the side of a car and got scratched up. His older brother took him inside and brought him to the kitchen sink. Elder and Sister Bednar watched as the older son poured dish soap down his arm and scrubbed. "What could only describe the sound was 'weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.'" After the older brother scrubbed the wound, he got a tube of Neosporin and bandages and put them all down the little brother's arm. Right after, the little brother ran outside and put bandages and Neosporin on his friends.

 

Why did he do that? It's because he knew that the Neosporin and bandaids fixed his "owies." It was instinctive of him to want to share the relief of pain with his friends because it felt so much better. And that's exactly why we share the gospel-- "we all have spiritual 'owies,' and we know that the fullness of the gospel heals those and it makes us feel better. So that's why we try to share it. We may seem a little annoying at times, but we do it because we know it can help everyone."

 

 

"The days for praying for missionaries is over. Stop praying for the missionaries to find people to teach-- you find them! Get the faith to find people!"

(To which all of us missionaries cheered.)

Along with that he said, "Stop praying for the people who weren't at church to come back. Go get them. Go-- right now-- and get them back."

I don't want to try to shove it down your throat, but missionaries hear a lot of members complain that their neighborhood hasn't been worked in. That's not our job-- it's your job. You're the missionaries in your own neighborhood, so go out and find and invite people.

 

 

And last, but not least:

"Agency does not mean the ability to choose. Too often I've heard teenagers say, 'I have agency, I can do what I want.' That's not what it means. Agency is the ability to choose the right. It's not choosing what you want, it's choosing what God wants." He then went on to explain that "before you were baptized, you had individual agency. But when you were baptized you chose to have representative agency. That means that your choices are representative of what Jesus Christ would do. We choose what He wants, not what we want."

 

 

Amazing, right??

 

 

As far as everything else this week goes, it rained for an entire day, which was super new to me since Utah's a dry old desert.

 

Sister Hall and I have been taking violins around and playing duets for people, which has been fun and interesting. We only have hymns as of now, but we're able to play and share a quick message for people. We actually stopped by a house that didn't have time before, and their college-aged daughter was home. We ended up teaching her the Restoration and leaving her a copy of the Book of Mormon. It was a miracle!

 

One of my favorite moments this week was when we hunted down the ice cream man. We heard the ice cream truck playing, and I was determined to talk to whoever was driving it. So we searched for the ice cream truck and tried to wave him down. We eventually found a park he was going to drive by (do we sound creepy yet?) and waited for him. I totally bought a Batman popsicle and shared a quick message about the Book of Mormon. It was really neat!

 

Well, I love you all! Don't forget that you can email me... *cough cough*

 

Love,

Sister Singleton

Me and President Schaefermeyer

Popsicles!

OH MY GOODNESS, HEAT. There was a heat wave from Thursday to Sunday, and I have NEVER BEEN HOTTER IN MY LIFE. I can't even begin to describe how gross I felt. Luckily I get to wear a skirt, whereas Elders have to wear pants.

 

So much happened this week. On Wednesday we went up to Lehighton for Golden Retraining. It was so fun! I realize now that I never mentioned when I went to Golden Retraining as an actual Golden. Whoops. But anyway, it's a meeting for trainers and their goldens by President Schaefermeyer and the Assistants. We get together, learn by the Spirit, get pumped, and watch a really awesome Elder Holland talk. This golden retraining was unusual-- there were more Sisters than Elders. But that's going to be a lot more common now.

 

Right after Golden Retraining, I went on an exchange with Sister Lindsay. Sister Lindsay is a training sister, which is basically the equivalent of an Assistant to the President, but for Sisters. Make sense? Everyone getting this? So we went on exchange, and it was short but fun.  Because we had to be to Zone Training the next morning by 8:30, we met up at a gas station as a halfway point at 7:30 am. We drove to zone training and totally got there WAY early, at 8:10. I have no idea where my calculations went wrong, but it was pretty funny.

 

In Zone Training we learned about how to get the ward members involved in missionary work. Remember that it's our responsibility as members to share the gospel always, not just when we're on a mission. That's part of the promise we made when we were baptized into His church. Something I learned was that whenver someone gets baptized, they are asked how they found the church. Almost every single person who is baptized has a friend introduce them to the Church. Isn't that amazing?! We all know someone who we need to share the gospel with. And if you don't think you know anyone, pray to find a date on which you can have someone taught by the missionaries in your home. I promise that if you do that, the Lord will provide you more opportunities to share the gospel.

 

Saturday the Zone Leaders came into our area for a couple of hours in the morning. While they were out, Sister Hall and I went around with her violin to play for people. IT WAS SO HOT. We were only out for 40 minutes before we almost melted into a puddle of flesh. And surprisingly, most people said no to a song on the violin. But, the last house we tried we saw a girl washing her car and asked to share a song with her. Her mom was nearby and said yes and invited the husband to listen. Sister Hall played a song and I shared a message, and they were so intrigued and wanted to hear more so we set a return appointment. It was a miracle!

 

And last, but not least, Sister Hall and I taught Gospel Principles yesterday. When class started it was just us two and Sister Beers. Eventually the Elders and Sister Katie Burgio came in, but it was fun to teach.

 

In Relief Society we talked about prayer and how we can make it more meaningful. I know we all struggle with prayer at times, and the best suggestion I heard was to picture you and Heavenly Father in a setting that would be familiar to you. For example, if you love camping, picture Him and you talking around a campfire. Or for me, I imagine us talking while developing pictures. Or hiking. But it makes it meaningful and personal, and you'll notice that it will naturally turn into a conversation instead of just a "voice mail" you leave for Him. Because that's what prayer is-- it's a conversation. A great talk is in this month's Ensign, I suggest everyone reads it. (http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/06/improving-your-personal-prayers?lang=eng)

 

I love you all!

Sister Singleton