Week 29: I Love to See the Temple

This week was long, not because it was a bad week but because we drove up to Orlando and back four times.

Monday night, we had a lesson with David.  He is a friend of a member.  He is in the Air Force and lives on Patrick Air Force Base in our area.  He's been coming to church the past 3 weeks and is more interested than most people.  He had a lot of questions relating to his Church experience.  We had four members at the lesson; three of whom are return missionaries.  It went really well and we cleared up a lot of things he was confused with.  We are meeting with him this week and we see a lot of promise in him.

Tuesday was our Zone Conference.  We talked a lot about working with the members and the Ward Council to get referrals.  We had little break out sessions in different rooms.  There were a total of four and every single one was the same topic.  We really had the idea of member work drilled into our head.  Zone Conference is always a great time.

Wednesday, we went to Seminary!  It was really fun to be back in a Seminary class but it was def different than my experiences.  I never had early morning Seminary and I never had a teacher who was unpaid.  It was really great.  The lesson was on D&C 18.  This is a really great missionary section.  We actually asked to come for the first time since being here.  It's crazy how that works out.  I want to share a few verses that are really great:  D&C 18:10-16 "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; For, behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him.  And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance.  And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!  Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people.  And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!  And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!"

Thursday I had a doctor's appointment in Orlando, so that was one more trip up there.  Friday, we woke up at 4:30 AM and got ready to go to the temple.  We had our semi-annual temple trip with the Zone.  It was a really great time and I was able to take a family name for an endowment.  We got a ride with a member, he had to leave right after we finished the session so we didn't get a picture with our District, but we made up for it with the help of Sister Doane's cropping skills.

Saturday we taught a man named Mark.  He's a great guy who was referred to us by a Bishop in another ward.  He's paralyzed from the waste down.  His electric wheel chair is pretty legit.  He talked a lot about his life and how he realizes he was narcissistic.  He has repented and made huge changes in his life.  Sadly, he's moving to another ward so we won't be able to teach him for very long, but it was a blessing to receive that referral and meet him.

The work moves forward.  It was a long week but I loved every minute of it.  I also heard that BYU beat #6 Wisconsin and now they're ranked.  Blessings of serving a mission carry farther than just the family.  I'm kidding of course.  My sister, Ashtyn, has been going through Cancer Treatment for the entirety of my mission.  I know that the most I can do for her and my family is to be out here, serving others and serving God.  One of the most important things we can do in this life is set aside our own desires and put others before ourselves.  I have seen the blessings that come from that. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Poulsen

The Original

Post-Crop

Week 29: Matthew 5:14-16

I was reading in the "How Do I Develop Christlike Attributes?" section of Preach My Gospel.  I came across the Humility subsection and was moved to read this scripture: 2 Nephi 9:28-29 "O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish.  But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God."

This is definitely more of a rebuking scripture, but I really love it because it teaches us not to rely on our own knowledge.  It definitely does not discourage knowledge.  If there's one thing I've told every investigator, it's that we need to study and find out for ourselves.  However, it does say that if we don't harken unto God's counsel, our knowledge profits us nothing.  I love learning new things about the gospel and the world.  I know that as we use our own knowledge, allow God to fill in the gaps, and harken unto His counsel, we will have more knowledge and understanding than we ever thought possible.

Elder Poulsen