Week 36: Steezy Ocean Breezy

I tend to get caught up in playing Gatorball and procrastinate writing these weekly emails.  I'll get right into it.

Tuesday we had Zone Conference.  It was easily the best Zone Conference I've had on my mission.  It was full of the Spirit and I had many calls to repentance.  I went away knowing exactly what I needed to improve on.  I could write a lot about what was said, but I felt the Spirit and was extremely excited to do missionary work.  Our Zone performed the musical number.  We sang "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy".  It's a really pretty song and brought the Spirit to a whole new level. We also had interviews with our President after.  I have developed more of a relationship with President Clark as I've met and talked with him.  He is so helpful and caring.  He understands me and I love him a lot.

We taught Daniela a lot this week.  She is so prepared.  Her baptism is scheduled to happen on the 9th and we couldn't be more happy.  She is taking steps to improve her life and come closer to Jesus Christ.  It really is amazing how far she's come since the first lesson only a few weeks ago.  We love her a lot and are so grateful for God's hand in this process.  I find it so crazy that a boy from Utah, a boy from Thailand, and a boy from Ohio who was born in France, (who also have no idea what they are doing) are able to teach a girl from Columbia, in English, and actually have her understand and gain a testimony.  That tells me that God lives.  The Spirit teaches and converts and I am so blessed to take part.

A weird thing about one of my companions:  Elder Changchum puts sugar in his ramen.  It's actually pretty dang good with a boiled egg in it.

The biggest highlight of the week was church.  I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting.  I didn't know if I'd be able to do it again.  It was a great experience for me to bear my simple but pure testimony of our Savior and thank the ward for everything they've done for me.  We then went to Relief Society for third hour.  We were invited by Sister Schaefer who is extremely missionary minded.  We gave each woman a Book of Mormon and helped them mark it and write their testimonies inside.  We want them to share it with family and friends.  We handed out 27 copies of the Book of Mormon!  It was pretty amazing to see the potential they all had to share the gospel.

Other than that, pretty much the same stuff.  I'm loving it out here.  The weather is getting nicer, I'm finally feeling the ocean breeze, and I'm loving the people.  Even though times can be tough and I have thoughts of quitting, I love being a missionary.  I love serving the Lord and doing what He would do if He were here.

I love you all.

Elder Poulsen

A good friend of ours who puts on parties in the 

complex asked us to help stock the cooler with beers.  

Definitely something I didn't expect to do 

on my mission but she did appreciate it!

You have to drink a Mango Loco on Halloween.

Elder Thomas and I did a very 

Florida thing and carved pineapples.

We play RISK when we are bored.

Week 36: Mosiah 28:3

The Assistants gave a great training in Zone Conference on praying for miracles.  Particularly in finding people to teach.  They had 5 steps to finding more people to teach.

Step 1: Pray

  We need to pray and ask for guidance in finding people.  Everything is possible through the lord and we must pray for Him to help us.  I have a huge testimony of the power of prayer.

Step 2: Thought

  We need to throw out everything we know about logic, people, and our area.  When we put our trust in the Lord, He will give us specific thoughts of what to do and where to go.

Step 3: Go

  When we receive this prompting, we need to go.  We need to do what we've been told to do.  Nothing happens until we act.

Step 4: Expect

  We need to expect the Lord to provide miracles.  We won't accomplish anything if we don't have the faith that He will help us.

Step 5: Persist

  Things won't always go our way.  Sometimes the Lord wants to test our faith.  When things don't go as planned, we need to keep going and repeat the steps.

I know this applies to everything, not just missionary work.  I know that the Lord is with us, guiding us in everything we do, and is waiting for us to ask Him for help.

"Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day."  (Alma 37:37)

Elder Poulsen

Email to Mom:

Zone Conference was great.  There were a lot of things about praying about every single thing you do.  A lot of missionaries think that they "get it done" when they go out and knock 50 doors.  It's all about including the Lord.  Asking him for guidance in EVERYTHING.  Not just the normal stuff we pray for.  I realized that I needed to pray more.  I needed to persist more and not murmur or give up. There was a training on how we can politely cut people off when they take a conversation way out to where it's not relevant.  There were lots of things that helped me know what I can work on.

I really loved the APs training.  I knew that was what I was missing in my finding aspect.  I really love what you said about not murmuring.  That is key.  I can't be successful or in tune with the Spirit if I'm constantly complaining about my bad circumstances.  I love that.