Dec. 2nd Pictures

Random Pics:  Horse friends & Thanksgiving Pie

Exciting News!!!!

 Nov. 24, 2013

MICHELLE IS GETTING BAPTIZED DECEMBER 14TH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So yah,  that's what's happening in my life right now.  I'm super excited for her if you can't tell.

Until next Monday!

-Sister Trop

PJ Party

November 25, 2013

Pic 1:  PJ party at Glennis's!  We showed up in our normal skirts and she showed us her pajamas that she had on and asked, "do you like it!"  "Yup!"  "Can you wear it."  "...Uh...sure..."  She runs away and comes back with matching night shirts, "Good!  Because I got one for everyone!!!"

Pic 2:  This awesome view is right by our apartment.  We walk it sometimes in the morning.

Adventures in Zumba

Adventures in Zumba
Nov. 18, 2013

So, I have a new companion, Sister Sabey.  We've already decided that we're going to be roommates when we both get home from our missions.  We're going to go to University of Utah together and she's going to be a jazz dancer while I'm the bum who gets free tickets to Jazz games.  We got it all worked out.  But really, she's awesome.  Funny story, so Sis Sabey always emails her mom at 10:00, but today we were a little late.  She was freaking out a little bit and thought something had happened to her, so she calls the mission home to make sure all the missionaries are accounted for!  Love it!

So Michelle wants to get baptized.  I don't know if I've said this already.  But Michelle wants to get baptized!!!!  Yay!  I'm so happy for her!  She has to wait a little bit because she lives with a boy (just roommates, pretty much just acquaintances).  Oh well, it will happen.  In the meantime we've asked that she receive a calling so she'll have responsibility, start to get in the swing of things, and feel like she's really a part of the ward (which she is!  Even if she's not technically a member yet.)  So basically she's a big ol' dry Mormon right now.  

Glennis is doing so amazing.  We've been talking a lot about prayer and scripture study lately.  She wants to know exactly what she's getting into before she commits to anything, which I think is smart.  So many times you see people go less active just because they don't have that sure foundation.  Well, Glennis is going to have a marble foundation that is 1000 feet into the ground.  Nothing is going to move this lady when she finds out for herself that this church is true.  It's very exciting to see her receive more and more revelation.  Also, she has nowhere to go for Thanksgiving and neither do we, so we're having Thanksgiving together!!  I couldn't be more excited to spend the holiday with her!!

We ended up having to drop a lot of investigators.  They are wonderful people and I hope that they will eventually find their way to the Gospel, but they started to be just friends and didn't really want to be taught.  But we did find a new investigator who is amazing!  She's a biomedical student at SIUE and she's from Chicago.  She has such a thirst for knowledge!  She came to church yesterday and says she wants to come back next week!

To mix up the exercise routine, Sister Sabey and I have started going to Zumba on Mondays.  We brought Michelle today.  My goodness, we were on one.  There are a lot of older ladies in the class and we had a sub today, so she kind of made everything a lot easier than the other lady does.  We were getting a little bored and feeling like we weren't getting a good enough work out so we might have gotten a little too into it.  I almost peed my pants from laughing!  We shouldn't be aloud to stand next to each other.  It's ok, the instructor that it was awesome how much we were getting into it.  Basically when us three get together it gets a little nuts.  We were leaving stake choir yesterday and talking about how we should let the choir sing while we interpretive dance in front of them.  We then proceeded to dance in the parking lot.  We got a lot of stares.

Here's some pictures from about two weeks ago.  We went to the Arch for P-day!!  It was super fun and it was a perfect fall day for it.  I failed as a musical theater major and did not sing Meet Me In St Louis underneath the Arch.  I completely forgot.  Guess that means I'm just going to have to go back!

Until next Monday!

-Sister Trop

PICS:  Nov. 2013 P-Day.  St. Louis Arch

 The district in the base of the arch

 Heading up in the tiny capsule to the top!

View of the Mississippi from the Arch! 

 View from the other side 

 

 So many pretty views!!

Tommy and Elder D'ewart 

 Eidam photobombing

 View inside the Arch

Ain't that the truth

Random Pictures

November 2013 - Random Pictures

• Random things you find in a missionaries apartment, Michelle looking lovely, and climbing the walls!
• Zoo trip

Transfer Doctrine

Nov. 4, 2013
Transfer Doctrine

We got transfer calls on Saturday.  I am staying in Edwardsville and Sister Felt is off to Paris, Illinois.  It's not as glamorous as it sounds.  It's a tiny little town on the border of Illinois and Indiana.  Her new companion is going to be Sister Fernandez who was in the MTC with me.  My new companion will be Sister Sabey.  What I know about her:  she's from Utah.  She's a cosmetologist, she's really funny, she's the whitest gangster you'll ever meet, and she trained my MTC companion.

Since it's Sister Felt's and I last few days together we decided to camp out in our living room.  We made the sweetest fort ever!!!  And it was quite comfortable and cozy.  We're also going to the Arch today with Michelle.  

Onto exciting news, Michelle is doing so wonderfully!!!!!  I'm just so happy to see her little testimony growing bigger and bigger each day!  It's just awesome.

Next time I'll have pictures of Sister Sabey and a report on just how awesome she is.  Until next Monday!

Pics:  Our sweet fort, complete with Christmas Lights.

 Sis Felt, Sister Van Leishout, and I wondering and worrying about the progress of the stocking.

Me, Ashley, Sister Russell, Sister Pearson, and Rachel 

Me and Glennis!!!

These are pictures from a service activity we did for relief society.  We were making stockings for the Ronald McDonald House in St Louis.  

Off To The Zoo We Go!!

Oct. 28, 2013
Off To The Zoo We Go!!

Going to the Zoo again today!  Michelle's mother is in town, so we are having an outing.  We've been calling her Mama Michelle all weekend and she's pretty great.  She taught me how to make this really awesome chip dip last night.  And then I ate almost a whole bag of chips with that deliciousness.  Say hello to the mission addition.

We had an interesting experience yesterday.  We were tracting and we walked up to a guy and his friend working in his garage.  We get we're mormon missionaries out when the guy says, "Not interested.  Get out!!"  The friend's mouth dropped open.  We just said ok cool and walked away.  His friend yelled sorry after us.  So we finish tracting the street and are heading back to our car when a big truck comes rolling up besides us and stops.  It's the friend!  He drove around trying to find us so he could apologize for his friend!  He felt super bad that we were treated that way and talked about missionaries he's worked with on some service projects with in the past and how he knows we're good people and not trying to push anything on anyone.  We gave him a mormon.org card and asked him to check it out.  He said he would, hopefully he gives us a call.

This is the last week of the transfer and most likely either Sister Felt or I will be moving.  There's no way to know who it's going to be.  I guess we'll find out on Saturday!  Next Monday you'll find out if I stay or if I go.

Until next Monday!

-Sister Trop

P.S.  There will be pictures next Monday, I promise!!

Go CARDS!

Oct. 20, 2013

Go CARDS!

So Cardinals are rocking it.  The other week we had dinner at the Nolen's.  They are huge Cardinals fans.  They found out that I was not and starting joking about how they can call me to be a card's fan and how since there were multiple priesthood holders there they could set me apart then and there.  There might have been a sustaining vote.  I guess only time will tell if I magnify my calling or not.  Sacrilegious?  Maybe.  Funny?  Absolutely.

After dinner with the Nolen's, Brother Nolen took us to this grave that was found by his house.  There are three headstones and they're all from the early 1800s.  Two of them are for children, the other one I think is a joke.  The two children ones look really weathered and old, but the other one looks almost brand new.  And the name is, get this, Frickenstein.  If that's not someone trying to pull my leg, I don't know what is.

Onto the real reason I'm out here.  Finding has been slow, but the investigators we do have are progressing wonderfully.  Glennis is doing so amazing so Sister Felt and I were bracing ourselves for a setback.  There was one.  Glennis doesn't live in a good neighborhood.  Her neighbors are drug dealers and are causing a lot of problems.  They have stolen her tablet and they broke into her house Thursday while she was at a Relief Society activity with us.  When things get like this, she gets really tired and doesn't read like she normally does.  So Sister Felt and I are just going in full force support right now.

An exciting thing has happened!  Michelle told us that she has accepted the Book of Mormon to be true!!!!!!!  She was writing a letter to another missionary and talking about she is afraid to actually pray about it, because of the answer she might receive when BAM!  It hit her!  She came downstairs and handed us the letter.  Sister Felt thought it was a letter dropping us.  Quite the opposite!  It's all just so exciting and I'm so happy for her and I know how much the gospel blesses lives and how she is going to be so much happier and awesome and super and fantastic having it apart of her life!

Until next Monday!

P.S.  Sorry about no post last Monday.  We had zone p day (we carved pumpkins and Elder Toki helped me bring out my inner ninja in volleyball) so we had a limited amount of time on the computer.

It's supposed to snow next week.  That's what I'm told.  Tracting in the snow....hmm....

Who loved conference?!  MEEEEEE!!!!!!!

I could write a whole post about the different talks, but I shan't.  I just talk about a few.  Who didn't love Uchtdorf's talk?  I think it should be a requirement for all investigators to read it.  And Ballard's talk about missionary work?  I know what you're thinking, "well you're a missionary.  Of course you're going to love it."  True, but it was so fresh and new.  And EVERY MEMBER A MISSIONARY!!!  So what now?  Read it, study it, apply it.  Faith is action!!!!

The list goes on, but I'm going to say just go watch conference yourself.

Last week was a slow one so not a lot of exciting new people, just some exciting old people!

First, Glennis has been calling us with daily updates on her reading.  Then on Friday she called us and told us she was halfway through Mosiah and, get this, that she's starting to believe that the Book of Mormon is truly the word of God!  She told us that it's been staring her in the face this whole time.  LOVE IT!!!

Second, Claudia.  Oh Claudia.  So we haven't taught her in about a month and a half and haven't had contact with her in over two weeks.  We were worried.  Now she was out of town for a while and then trying to catch up on clients (she's a massage therapist), so she was busy.  We stopped by her house on Saturday to let her now that conference was going on.  She invited us in right away and told us she had just finished watching the Relief Society broadcast and how much it choked her up and that she was recording conference and she was coming to church next Sunday.................. Yah, that just happened.  We were floored.  And so excited!  Her trip was to Arizona and she stopped and saw her member son for a brief moment and told him that she was meeting with the missionaries and had tons of questions for him.  So even though we weren't in contact with her, she still had the church in her life. 

Until next Monday,

Sister Trop

James, an investigator let me ride in the firetruck.  He is a captain at the Edwardsville firestation.

Fall Is In The Air 9/30/2013

I feel like I begin almost everything with a comment either about the weather or time.  I will try to abstain.  At least until the middle of this post.  Things are progressing in Edwardsville.  I find with every two steps forward, you take one step back.  I have to keep reminding myself that we still have people progressing and we are still helping people.

First up, the Relief Society Broadcast.  If you missed it go to lds.org and watch it!  Right now!  Stop reading this!  It was so amazing and exactly what I needed.  The whole time I was thinking that my friend Michelle (our upstairs neighbor) needs to hear this.  She was supposed to come, but some stuff happened and she couldn't.  But we called her before we went in and tried to help her and told her to read Jeffrey R. Holland's talk Broken Things To Mend.  After the Broadcast we called her to see how she was doing and told her we were buying a pizza and coming over to help her.  She told us that she had something she wanted to tell us, but it needed to be done in person.  We told her to start watching the Broadcast online.  When we got there she told us the most exciting news ever!  She had been trying to really focus on God in her life because with her being so busy with school and work, she's neglected him.  She said that she had been thinking and praying about this decision and when she read Broken Things she knew it.  She wants us to start teaching her!!!!  Sister Felt and I were so excited but had to play it cool.  It was torture!  She got all her concerns out and we tried to help her the best we could.  She came to church yesterday and she liked it.  I hope she comes to know this gospel is true and love it just as much as I do.  And Michelle, I know you stalk missionaries, so if you find this and don't want your name on my blog or to be written about, I'm sorry, just tell me.  I'll change your name or just not write about you!.....LOVE YOU!

We had a lot of lessons this week and they've all been amazing!  We met with Alex and we found out that the house she is living in, which is very nice, she owns.  Let me tell you a little about Alex.  For one, she's 19 and for another, she's 19!!!  What?!  I'm 22 almost 23 and I don't feel like I'm old enough or mature enough to be a homeowner, let alone live by myself.  She's crazy awesome and way mature and smart and independent.

Glennis came to church yesterday and because she's not been doing very well health wise, we asked Bishop Ryan to give her a blessing.  She wanted one so bad, but didn't want to bother anyone with it.  You could see the desire in her eyes though when Bishop came up and asked her if she wanted a blessing.  So we went into his office and he talked a little about the priesthood and how blessed we are to have.  He then gave her a blessing and the two of them talked for about 30 minutes about Christ's sacrifice for us.  It was so wonderful to be able to be there and hear the blessing.  It was so wonderful and Glennis was so grateful.  Seeing someone receive a blessing for the first time and the beginning appreciation they have for the wonderful gift of the priesthood is such a testament to me.  I think because I've been a member all my life and have always had that in my life, I have definitely taken it for granted.

It was a pretty amazing month and I can't believe it's October tomorrow (thought I'd forget, did ya?).

Until next Monday,

Sister Trop

End of First Transfer 9/23

Wait, what?!  It's already the end of my first transfer!  That has got to be the quickest 6 weeks of my life.  And I'm only told it gets faster from here.  Pretty soon, I will have been out here 6 months, then a year, and before you know it I'll be coming home.  It will be kicking and screaming, I'm sure of it.  Gah!  I don't even want to think about it!

The work is hastening!!  You hear that so many times as a missionary and boy is it true.  We are finding more and more people to teach each week.  Glennis is doing wonderful.  She is almost done with 2 Nephi.  She is just chugging along in the Book of Mormon and absolutely loving it.  She especially loved the Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi.  Maybe I can get her to explain those to me.  We're also teaching a couple from Iran.  They know pretty much nothing about Christianity except that Jesus was a good guy.  And I thought teaching the Plan of Salvation to someone with a Christian background was hard!  But they are really great, and truly want to understand.  And let me tell ya, hearing stories about their lives in Iran really makes me grateful I was born here in the States.  We don't have to worry about being thrown in jail for attending a different church one week.  One of their questions for us was what was going to happen if they went to one church one week and another church the following Sunday.  You don't do that where they are from.  They've been living here for 9 months and they've never attended church because they were afraid of what would happen.  We assured them they could go to any church they wanted and that hopefully they would be welcomed in all of them.

No exciting adventures to talk about this week.  Well, I think missionary work itself is an exciting adventure.  But I mean I haven't done anything too exciting on p-day in a while.  Glennis wants to take us on the Old River Road up to Grafton when the leaves start changing.  I love fall!  It's going to be so awesome here!

Another fun story:  we went and visited a member in the ward, Brother and Sister Cookson, to drop off a copy of Preach My Gospel.  We got talking to them about missionary work and Brother Cookson started telling us stories from his mission.  He served on Navajo and Hoppi Indian Reservations.  When they first showed up the Elders of the tribe were astonished with the information they were telling them because that's information that only tribal elders are supposed to have and here are two young boys that have all this wealth of information.  So because of that they were welcomed into the tribe and they told them their personal stories and such.  So the Hoppi Indians, what they tell visitors about their "creation myths" or how they got where they are is that they came up from ant holes or something like that.  Or they say they came from the Grand Canyon, I don't know.  But apparently their real story is more like the story of the Jaredites and coming over water in a boat that is "tight like unto a dish."  How crazy is that?!!!  Bro Cookson also said that some of their ceremonies are similar to endowment ceremonies in the Temple.  Once again, how crazy is that!?!

It has definitely been fun.  Until next Monday!!

-Sister Trop

This is my first district out in the Mission field.  From left to right:  Elders Fisher, Voorhis, Bessendorfer, me, Sis Felt, Elders Pack, Eidam, and Christiansen.

Blog Post Whatever 9/16

We had another baptism this Saturday!  Once again, it was the elders', but I'm still excited about it!  Tommy asked me to speak about the Holy Ghost.  I hope I made sense.  I talked about how our sins go into remission like cancer and the Holy Ghost is like a pill to help us get better and keep the symptoms under control.  It sounded a lot better then, trust me.

We've been working a lot on making sure we encourage the members to do missionary work of their own.  We've been helping them brainstorm ideas of how they can share the gospel with their friends, neighbors, and family.  I hope they get as excited as I am about sharing the gospel.  We've also been continuing seeing less actives.  We found one who actually lives around the corner from where I live.  He's older and lives in an assisted living, or group home.  He was happy to see us and let us share a message with him.  He was originally a convert to a church and we asked him why he joined.  He told us it was because of the testimony of the missionaries and the Book of Mormon.  I then asked him if he still had a copy of the Book of Mormon which he said he did not.  I gave him a copy and the look on his face when he held it was priceless!  I know it's going to be a journey and a struggle to get him to come back to church because it's been seven years, but I'm not giving up on him!  He still remembers a few people in the ward.  We went and talked to those few people on Sunday and they were shocked!  One of them had been trying to track him down for years.  Another one was so overjoyed she almost started crying.  She had though that he had died a few years back.  It's kind of crazy and sad how these people can fall through the cracks.  We made sure that he now has home teachers and we're going back this week to visit him again.  

In other news, our 70 year old investigator dropped a bomb on us the other day.  Apparently she can speak in tongues.  She also has a hard time understanding that even though she think she did, she did not get baptized with the proper priesthood authority.  It looks like we didn't go over the apostasy as well as we should have.  But she came to church on Sunday and is excited to come back!  The ward members were so great and welcoming with her.  The Bishop made sure he came right up and introduced himself to her after Sacrament Meeting.  She couldn't stay for all three hours but plans on staying next week.  Well two weeks from now.  Next week is stake conference, which she wants to come to as well.

I also have a new best friend in my upstairs neighbor.  She first made friends with the elders who lived in my apartment before sisters were whitewashed in.  She's super funny and really smart.  She's my age and a grad student in some sort of complicated branch of market research.  I think it's called syndicated data analysis.  

We play volleyball every Friday together with the elders in my area, a few ward members, and some investigators.  We all suck really bad so it's kind of hysterical to watch.  It's a nice change of pace when Elizabeth Hampl, who's an athlete at SIUE, comes and plays with us.  Suddenly we do a lot better.  I'm pretty sure she'll be an olympic athlete.  She's way talented when it comes to sports and is a nationally ranked shotputtter.  Is that the right term for that?  Don't know, don't care!

And thus ends another exciting report from the sleepy town of Edwardsville.  Until next Monday!

-Sister Trop

P.S.  I'm SUPER excited for fall!  There are so many trees here, it's going to look awesome.  And I'm told I have to go drive the Old River Road in Alton because it's beautiful and bald eagles nest there!!!

Blog Post 9/9

Hello from Illinois!  Boy is it humid!  The past week was not bad at all.  Kind of hot, but not as humid as the previous week.  Today though we've had a few storms so it's like I'm walking through a vat of pudding.

Sister Felt and I have really been working on improving the area.  We've been trying to contact more less actives to help build up the ward.  We've decided bringing them some sort of chocolatey goodness was the way to go.  So far, we don't get in much.  But we did just find out that some less actives have actually requested missionaries!  Woo hoo!  We also do a lot of member visits.  Just trying to build up relationships and trust with the members of the ward.  (P.S. give missionaries referrals!  They love it!!!  Member referrals are always the most effective because they have an automatic fellowshipper in that member.)

We have a new investigator and she has the strongest testimony ever!  I don't remember if I wrote about her, but we found her tracting in a trailor park.  We knocked on her door and she said that she wasn't feeling well.  She was about to shut the door when we told her we were missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She opened her door, came out, sat down on her steps, and asked us if we prayed for people.  We told her that we do and with tears in her eyes, she asked us to pray for her.  She continued to explain that she had had cancer twice and that she noticed a new lump forming and also that she had hurt herself earlier that day trying to move something.  She was having a hard time breathing.  She then went on to bear her testimony to us about how God knows us, loves us, and how we have a purpose on this earth.  About how our purpose here is to align our will with God's.  I have never heard a stronger testimony.  We prayed together and she stood right up and took a deep breath!  She was amazed as were we!  We've gone back multiple times to teach her and each time, I am amazed at how close of a relationship she has with Heavenly Father.  On Sunday the 1st, I invited her to be baptized.  Eek!  My first invitation to be baptized extended!  I was so excited and knew that I was supposed to ask her.  She said, holding the Book of Mormon close to her chest, "As soon as I know."  We go back regularly not only to teach, but also just to read the Book of Mormon with her.  The amount of personal revelation she receives is astonishing.  I'm so excited for her to read more and to learn that this is the true gospel restored to this earth.  She told us the other day that she had been praying recently to know the truth.  She's read so many different versions of the Bible and has been to so many different churches, but none of them have fit.  She truly has been prepared.  It's amazing to see it the Lord's work unfold.

Last Monday was Labor Day and we decided to have a big zone p day!!  We went into St Louis to the City Museum.  For those of you who have not heard about the City Museum, go look up pictures right now!  It's basically a giant jungle gym for people of all ages!  It was built in an old building using only recycled materials.  They have slides made out of old air conditioning duct work, walkways out of rebar, and walls made out of old railroad spikes.  They also have to fighter jets outside that you can climb through.  The slides were probably my favorite part.  There was a ten story slide and one outside that went really fast.  They had an outdoor part that reminded me of the Lost Boy's treehouse in Hook.  I should be getting pictures that other missionaries took at a later date.  I'll make sure they get posted.  It was so much fun, if you are ever in St Louis, go there!!  Then we went and got smoothies and there was a big group of teenagers outside.  One of the sisters I was with started talking to them and telling them about the church.  They weren't really interested, but then they saw my shirt (I was wearing a Doctor Who tshirt) and they thought that was pretty cool.  Then as we came back out the asked us if anyone one of us was into anime.  I told them I used to really be into Full Metal Alchemist.  All of a sudden I was being bombarded by youths.  They were hugging me and then wanted to get a picture with me.  It was the funniest coolest thing.  I then told them by and told them to check out mormon.org.  They were a lot more eager that time to find out about the church. 

So basically, this mission is awesome.  I'm loving it, even on the days when we don't really come into contact with anyone who's interested.  It's all about planting the seed!!

Until next time,

Sister Trop

P.S.  I've been told a few times I do well in East St Louis.  I definitely don't think so and luckily I won't find out because they don't send sisters there.

St. Louis Zoo

Letter Dated August 26, 2013

Another week has come and gone.  My goodness, it's true when they say the days and the weeks are short.  Today for p-day, we (the district) went to the St Louis Zoo!!  It was fun even though it was SUPER hot.  The first week I got here, it was so pleasant!  But this past week has been so humid, muggy, and hot!  I definitely miss the dry heat of Utah.  With dry heat, you can stand in the shade and cool down, but here you're hot everywhere.  There's no escaping humidity.

I've met some cool people.  There's one person we're teaching who calls me Olive because I remind her of Olive Oil from Popeye.  I wonder if it's just because I'm tall.  She likes to make fun of my clothing and hair.  The other day I showed up in a basic dress and she exclaimed that I actually look cute!  She's hysterical.  There's also another lady who's son just got married in the Mesa Temple.  We've taught her once and we're going to teach her again tomorrow.  She's super sweet and I'm really excited for her.  

I'm sure I'll think of more things to write once I walk out of the library, but right now my mind is a blank.  There won't be a blog post from me next week because it's Labor Day and the library will be closed.  But I'll have another long update in two weeks.

-Sister Trop

                                                   Look where I tracted.

                                       New friend Kristin.  At the site of the 1904 Worlds Fair

                                        Elder Bessendorfer being a gorilla at the zoo.

                                           Sister Felt and me.

I made it to St. Louis

Letter Dated August 19, 2013

I made it!!  But just barely.  As I was leaving the MTC, I might have overslept.  We were supposed to be on the bus for the airport at 3:30 am.  Me and my companion didn't wake up until 3:30 am.  I have never moved so fast in my life!  But we made it in time with only a little heckling from the other missionaries (all in good fun, of course).  The plane ride was uneventful.  I wrote letters home and read my scriptures and enjoyed my first Dr Pepper since entering the MTC.  It was delicious.

When we got to St Louis, I was surprised at how cool it was!  Turns out this whole past week has been a bit of an oddity.  It's been pretty cool with little humidity.  They new I was coming and turned down the thermostat for me.  One thing that's bizarre is that when there's a breeze, it's a cool breeze.  That doesn't happen in Utah.  If there's a wind during the summer, it feels like a blow dryer is pointed at you.  And it is so green here!!  I'll try and figure out how to get pictures on the library computer next week to share with you all.

The first day was pretty relaxed.  We went and walked around the temple, which is gorgeous by the way, then went to the mission home and had dinner.  It was so nice to sit on a comfy couch and relax.  Especially knowing that I won't be doing to much of that for the next year and a half.  Then the sisters stayed there and slept downstairs and the elders went to a hotel.  The next day we had transfer meeting where I would meet my new companion.  It was hard to say goodbye to Sis Mortensen.  We had gotten to know each other pretty well in the 13 days we were in the MTC.  Maybe we will be companions again further down the road.

My new companion is Sister Felt.  She's from California and is one of those who were affected by the age change.  She is super optimistic and her catchphrase (or what I've dubbed as her catchphrase) is, "Love it!"  She says it probably 20 times a day.  She makes me sing for her all the time.  Sometimes she even has me sing her to sleep.  I think she is hysterical.

So my area.  I'm in Edwardsville, Illinois.  It's about 30-45 minutes away from St Louis.  We passed by the arch on our way here.  I'm excited to go in there one day.  Edwardsville is considered a college town.  It housed Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) but still has quite a bit of suburb.  We went over to campus housing when all the students were moving in and helped a few people.  Most people were a little hesitant to let to strangers in skirts help them move in.  We're planning on going over there when they have they're club fair.  We'll actually have our own booth and be able to pass out pamphlets and videos and other things.  I'm really excited for that.  It's funny, Edwardsville is considered a small town and SIUE is considered a small school, but compared to St George and Dixie, it's huge!

The people here are great.  They are super friendly but a lot of them aren't to eager to talk to Mormon missionaries.  A lot of people are very content with their lives and see no need to switch churches.  If they only know how much better their lives would be with the gospel!!  Oh well, we found a girl named Epiphany and I'm so excited to go back and teach her.  She's sixteen and doesn't really have any opinions, but thinks she should start getting some.  We also met a couple named LaShante and Jabere.  We keep running into them wherever we go.  It's totally a sign that they are ready to hear about the gospel.  We invited them to church this past sunday, but they already had plans.  We invited them again for this Sunday and we got a phone number so we'll check with them later this week.

I've had dinner with a few ward members last week and so far so good!  I love the members here, they really are fantastic.  The Van Leisouts are both theater people so I had fun talking to them.  And they're really good cooks.  They made an alfredo sauce that was pretty much the best thing ever.  The Nolans remind me of the Watsons, especially Brother Nolan.  He's a carbon copy of Scott Watson.  The Armstrongs used to live in Utah and have two little kids who are WILD!!  They are super fun and I had a blast playing with them.  They had me, my companion, and the two elders in my area line up and took a picture of us to send home to our parents to make sure that we are alive and well.

I am pretty alive, the well part, the verdict is still out.  I ended up getting a lot of bug bites on my legs and they started to blister and ooze.  It's super disgusting and everybody started freaking out that it might be bed bugs.  I checked my mattress and there are no signs of them anywhere.  I'm thinking it's an allergic reaction to the mosquitos out here.  Or it could be a bug called chiggers.  I've never heard of them before but they are tiny and live in grass.  They look like mosquito bites when they bite you so there's no way to differentiate.  But I've got some neosporin and bug spray so I should be good.

That's all I've got for this week.  I'm having a blast being a missionary and I love Edwardsville, Illinois!!

-Sister Trop

                                                               The chiggers like me

 
                                                        Greenies at the St. Louis Temple
                                                         with President and Sister Morgan

                                                             A typical Missouri road

Pictures from the MTC

     
             Sister Diehl and Sister Newman.  Roommates in the MTC but they went to Mississippi

                                                  Devon's companion Sister Mortensen
                             

                                                  Provo Temple with Sis Mortensen

                                                MTC District 66C at the Provo Temple

Sunday Dinner with the Armstrong Family

The Armstrong family text messaged this picture of 4 missionaries they had over for dinner.   All I know at this point is Devon's companion is Sister Felt.  The Armstrongs report that Devon is very sweet and seems to be doing great.  She is in Edwardsville, IL about 30 miles northeast of St. Louis.

Email dated August 7, 2013

IT'S P-DAY!!!  I have been looking forward to this day since Saturday.  My big plans are to email people and to take a nap!!  I expected you'd send the photo album to Missouri.  I got my travel itinerary.  I leave the MTC next Tuesday at 3:30 in the morning.  Gah!  My plane leaves at like 8 or 9.  I'll call you before then at the airport.  So make sure you have your cell phone on you.  I got your letter.  Thanks for the envelopes and stamps.  I went and bought envelopes at the bookstore but only a few stamps cause they're kind of expensive (well, expensive for someone who only gets $8 a week to spend.  And yes, I can just use my own money, but I'm never carrying it around when I go to the bookstore).

 

I love my district.  It's a good thing the elders have sisters or they'd never get anything done, and it's a good thing the sisters have elders or we'd never let loose and laugh.  Sister Mortensen and I have gotten really close to Elders Austin and Van Tassell.  I actually haven't been feeling well and asked for them to give me a blessing last night.  Of course I'm the one who gets sick in the MTC.  Elder Van Tassell reminds me of Britney Speirs.  They are exactly alike. 

 

Elder Dingman is our district leader and is awesome.  If I had a little sister, I would want him to marry her. Elder Payne is his companion.

 

Brenda Speirs sent me cookies!!  Please tell her thank you for me, I don't have her email.  Tell her I shared them with my district and they were very appreciative.  It was funny because on Sunday night we watched a video called The Character of Christ (life changing).  It was Elder Bednar's Christmas Day Devotional at the MTC.  But he was talking about how we are like Cookie Monster.  When he gets a cookie he shoves it in his mouth and demands more, "Me want cookies!"  He went on to say, we need to stop focusing inward and start focusing outward.  When I first got the cookies, I wasn't going to share but then after class I said I'd share my cookies so I wouldn't be Cookie Monster.  It's not as funny writing it now, but it was hilarious then.  I feel like that's how it goes in general, we laugh at the stupidest things because we're being serious so much of the time.

 

Turns out one of my teachers, Sister Gibson, is friends with Kristen Metzger!!  Tell Debbie that for me.  I'll make sure to look for Elder Snow today and Elder Davenport.  My big P-Day plans consist of napping, painting my nails, and sitting outside yelling "Welcome to the MTC!!!!"  at all the new elders and sisters.  That was definitely interesting my first day.  You have an orange sticker on your badge so people know you're new.  I was having stuff yelled at me in so many different languages.  It's definitely entertaining wandering around and hearing snippets of conversations in other languages.  The MTC really is it's own little world. 

 

We had Tuesday Night Devotional.  They broadcast that one on the BYU channel, I highly recommend watching them, you can learn a lot from them.  I realize more and more each day, how little I know, and how much I need to rely on the Holy Ghost to teach and testify to investigators.  I give them the mind knowledge and the spirit gives them the heart knowledge.

 

Because my P-Days in the MTC are on Wednesdays, but on Mondays in the field I won't be able to write you an email for about a week and a half.  I'll write you a letter on the plane though.  You might get another email with pictures later today.  I just forgot to bring my camera and cord to the computer lab.

 

Love,

Devon

 

P.S.  I almost wrote Sister Trop