Week 23: You have to grab life by the neck and strangle it to death.

It feels like this week was the most boring week of my mission.  We have continual struggles to find people.  What our mission has done recently and specifically the Cocoa Zone is try to focus our attention on working with the members.  The members are our most valuable asset in finding people to teach because they already have a relationship with those people.  We've also been focusing a lot on using the Book of Mormon with our teaching.  The great thing about the Book of Mormon is if you have a testimony of it, everything else follows.

2 Nephi 25:23 "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do."

One cool thing is the recent convert in our ward is getting really into family history.  She has a lot of names that she wants to take to the temple and because Elder Pottle was here when she was baptized, we get to go with her!  It will be an awesome experience.

As for stories that are crazy, or anything out of the ordinary, I lack a good quality.  Elder Pottle's year mark was last Tuesday and he burned a shirt which was pretty fun.  The fire grew faster than expected and almost caught up to his hand, so he dropped the shirt.  Hence the mid-air shirt picture.

One day we went to see a member.  Her husband, John, was outside and told us she was on a conference call.  He talked to us for a while about certain trips he has been on.  He's been everywhere from the North Pole to Sudan.  He's an older guy from Britain and has a thick accent.  He gave us lots of advice, but one thing he said that stuck with us was when he said "You have to grab life by the neck and strangle it to death."  It was straight out of a movie with his thick British accent and buttoned down shirt. 

There was one night we were in our apartment getting ready for bed.  I was on the couch and Elder Pottle needed to go to the car to grab something.  I followed him out and stood by the door continuing to play the uke.  A guy on the sidewalk that I didn't see at first, came up to me and said, "Let me show you what you do with that thing."  I nervously handed him the uke and he proceeded to shred on it.  Finger plucking and everything.  It was beautiful and I was surprised he could get that much sound out of a uke.  It felt like my jaw was on the floor.  He handed it back, said "That was  and told me to have a good night and he walked away.  It all happened so fast that I really didn't know what to say. 

As for anything else, the week was pretty mediocre.  It's still hot and humid.  I haven't seen the coast yet or felt the ocean breeze. (There's no such thing)  Enjoy life as it comes.  I've been trying hard to focus on things that only I can control.  When I dwell on things that are out of my control, I'm not as happy as I should be.

Even though times are rough and we go through things that are unfair, God still loves us and is aware of our lives.  We are blessed far more than we realize.  Have a great week! 

Elder Poulsen

I have no words

Floating shirt

Week 23: 2 Nephi 1:15

Elder Pottle and I were feeling really discouraged and bummed out on Saturday.  We've been reporting 0's in every category this transfer and it starts to wear on you.  Numbers don't mean anything and they aren't our focus, but they do help you realize the good you are doing and it's a good morale boost to reach your goals.  It feels good to know you've done something.

We had dinner with the Reagan family on Saturday night and they asked us how our week had been.  I felt like we said it was good and we're positive.  They somehow saw our frustrations on our sleeves and knew we were having a hard time.  Sister Reagan pulled out the Bible and read us a scripture.

"Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." - Jeremiah 16:16

I won't be able to recount the beauty of her discourse.  She told us that back in the day, there was little preparation to fishing.  Fishers threw over their nets and waited.  The Apostles had caught so many fish that they couldn't pull up the net.  She asked us "How much preparation goes into hunting?".  We named off all of the things you need to do before going on a big hunt.  Even after all of the months of preparation and hours of hunting, you can still come back empty handed.

She related us to hunters, looking in every mountain, every hill, and every hole in every rock.  We may find no one.  We may baptize 0 people this transfer, but if we can pray to God in good conscious, telling Him we tried our absolute best, and had a willing heart, we will be successful.

The Lord requires a willing heart.

Elder Poulsen

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