Conference and Confessions of a Sister Missionary

So, Conference was amazing! I'm sure that every missionary in the world is going to email about General Conference today, but it's all good. Some of my favorite talks were these:

Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who talked about how service teaches us to value what the Lord loves. He told a story about Tori, an elementary-aged girl who was in the tornado in Oklahoma last year. She was in the bathroom with fellow classmates and her mom and prayed that the Lord would protect her. The tornado went right over the school and tore everything apart. She closed her eyes because she was scared, and when the tornado was gone, she opened her eyes and there was a stop sign right in front of her face. Those who were in the bathroom with her all lived, but seven of her classmates did not survive. I started crying when I heard this story, because it was so touching to me that even in the midst of a tornado, God can and will calm and protect. 

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who is, of course, my favorite, talked about gratitude. It seems like this talk is a favorite among most people who watched Conference, which is understandable!  He talked about how "gratitude is a disposition; a way of life." e also said that "being grateful is an act of faith in God." How true! I totally agreed when President Uchtdorf said, "gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes." I love that, because honestly, if we all were able to be truly grateful people, than we would be much more like our Savior.

Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who talked about the 2014 Winter Olympics and how LDS athlete Noelle Pikus-Pace spent years of preparation just for a 4-minute performance in the Olympics. "Consider how your life is like that: You've prepared to come to the earth for a brief moment. It is our 'four minutes.'" Our life is but a brief moment on spectrum of eternity, so we need to perform at our best. Don't wait until later in life to change or repent-- do it now! 

The most amazing part about Conference though was that our investigators, Roselie and her daughter, Octavia, came for ALL FOUR SESSIONS!!! They both absolutely loved it and Octavia asked if it was going to happen every week. She was slightly disappointed when we told her it was every six months, haha. But they felt the Spirit, and Roselie even stayed an extra session (she was supposed to leave after the Sunday morning session to go to New York) because she loved it so much. And it was fun because in between session on Sunday the members traditionally have a lunch between sessions. Elisia made the lunch, and it was delicious Spanish food! Oh, I love Spanish food! Then we had a Book of Mormon reading group for whoever wanted to join in. 

Needless to say, Conference was amazing. I encourage every single person in the whole wide world to watch Conference. If you did already, watch it again!

____________________________

Now for story time:

This morning I had an armful of fresh laundry and I needed a place to put them. I went to move the blanket that was on my bed, and I saw something crawl really fast in the blanket. I yelped and threw the laundry onto Sister Suckow's bed. Well, the bug disappeared somewhere on my bed. Sister Suckow came in, wondering why I was shouting, "STOP IT! GET OFF! GO AWAY!" We geared up-- shoes on hands and feet, ready to squish the sucker. Well, I flipped the blanket off the bed and... nothing. So I started flipping other things off my bed when I saw it.... crawling at super speed down and underneath my bed. 

So we tried to get it out from underneath my bed, but the problem is that there was a pile of hangers underneath. It was a disgusting bug that was quite large and had lots of legs (but it wasn't a centipede or millipede...) and we just couldn't get it. So what do two Sister missionaries do when they can't kill a bug? Call the Elders. Elder Beatty just said, "Are you serious?" When we assured him that we were dead serious, they agreed to come over.

So thus the adventure continued. They took longer than expected to show up, so we texted them. Their response: "We had to stop and get gas."
Our response: "BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!! THERE'S A BUG IN THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

They came over, moved the entire bed and finally found and killed the bug. We thanked them, even though it was ridiculous that we couldn't kill the creepy bug.

That is all.

I love you! Watch Conference!

Love,

Sister Singleton

The Pagoda!

The Pagoda, Exchanges, Promptings, Women's Conference, Four Baptisms, and a Funeral.

Wow, this week was absolutely jam-packed with everything. Let's see if I can get all the highlights in:

On Monday we went on exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders. Guess who I was on exchange with?? Sister Jensen! Sister Jensen as in THE Libby Jensen from good ol' Springville (for those of you who don't know, I went to High School with her). It was a blast! I was able to meet a really quirky family who's going through quite a lot right now. Two of the girls are pregnant and don't really know what to do with their lives right now. As they were talking, I couldn't help but thank Heavenly Father for the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I was able to share briefly with them about the similarities between their family and mine. I have seen the Atonement absolutely, completely change my family, and I know it will continue to change my family for the better. So testifying to them that it will all work out was an amazing opportunity.

Friday we had a Cottage Meeting at the Bruchez's house. A Cottage Meeting is an informal gospel discussion with a lesson that lasts about 15-20 minutes and is then open to comments and discussions. We talked a lot about the characteristics of God and how we would describe what he is like. The whole time I kept thinking one thing: Merciful. Heavenly Father is such a merciful God, and He loves us so much (Read this talk and Matthew 20:1-16).

Saturday we went and helped a member with a birthday party, and it was fun because there was a pony there. We couldn't ride it, but it was still pretty neat. 

Later that day we were stopping by a referral that Sisters Bradshaw and Suckow had gotten when I was in Reading 2nd on exchanges. We walked up to the door the same time as this guy did (one of those awkward moments), and he just said, ".... yes? Can I help you?" We asked if Brenda lived there, but he said no. So we talked to him a little bit about the Church, but he wasn't too interested. So we got back in the car and were about to pretty much mark off the referral as a bad address. Well, I looked out my window and saw a woman walking a dog. I had the prompting to go talk to her, but I kept rationalizing my way to not do it. The more I fought the prompting, the stronger it got. I finally just looked at Sister Suckow and said, "I have to go talk to that woman." So I jumped out of the car, ran across the street and talked to her. Well, I had no idea what to say. So I just asked if she knew a Brenda that lived nearby. She did! And guess what? She lived in the house that wejust stopped by. The woman told us that her nephew just moved in (who was the guy we talked to) and he didn't speak English that well. So he probably just misunderstood when we asked if Brenda lived there.

It was cool though, because not only did we find out the address was actually right and that the referral really did need our help, but the woman walking the dog was incredibly nice and receptive. Lesson learned? Well, in the words of President Monson: Never postpone a prompting! If I had, I don't know what would've happened. I'm just grateful I finally listened. 

We then went to the 2014 General Women's meeting. If you missed that--WATCH IT. It was amazing! We had a get together at 6:30 (the broadcast started at 8:00 pm) where we did a "Speed Friendshipping" activity. It was pretty much like speed dating, but just getting to know all the women and girls in the ward. The Broadcast itself was wonderful. At one point they showed a video of a girl growing up, and it was focused on her hands and the works she did throughout her life. Well, I don't think there was a dry eye in the congregation. You know it's a women's meeting when they have someone walking up and down the aisles handing out tissues... 

On Sunday there were four baptisms in the building. At one time. It was also one ward's Ward Conference. Talk about slightly organized chaos. We were running around like crazy trying to help with whatever we could. The Reading 1st Elders (the Elders in our ward) had a baptism, but we were invited to help out with an 8-year-old baptism of a ward member. And then there were two more. The church building was packed (in different rooms, of course)! It was amazing to see different people entering into a covenant with God to be like Jesus Christ. I love baptisms! But it's not because that's all we as missionaries think about or anything, it's because when we enter into a covenant with God we get SO MANY BLESSINGS. And the more blessings the better. So, baptism = blessings. 

And we were just barely at a funeral this morning. This is going to sound weird, but I love Mormon funerals. Not that I love people passing away, but I just love how we have the knowledge and testimony that there is life after death. It's sad when someone passes, but their spirit is merely in another place serving the Lord until we will all be resurrected and see our Heavenly Father again. 

Last, but not least... we went to the Pagoda last week. Yay!!!

Sound like a busy enough week?

Love,

Sister Singleton

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.