Missionary Christmas

Hello there!

Even though I talked to my fam yesterday, I still had a few fun things happen during the week I wanted to chat about! But it was great to talk to y'all, love ya bunches!

Monday evening, we went out with a family and made chocolate covered pretzels and caroled! We went to many different members houses and sang quite nicely I would say! It was a great way to feel the Christmas spirit even though we had a green Christmas.

Our mission conference was amazing! There is so much talent in our mission! Even though 3 different people sand "Mary did you know." It was still awesome! But the best was when president and sister weed sang a cute little Christmas tune with us, it was so awesome! Love them :) The spirit was strong and it was great to be with other missionaries during the season!

Then we had an adventure trying to meet a less active. She lives with her son, and his 7 dogs... 7! 3 of them are HUGE! They were all nice though except for one who bit Sister Merrill and I both. No blood though :) She said she wasn't sure where the church was around here, and was afraid to ask people for rides. We assured her that this ward is so good at picking people up!  So she was at our Christmas service on Sunday, she was so incredibly happy to be there! It was great to see her so happy!

Speaking of that, we had an amazing church service! There were some fantastic musical numbers! But the one that took the cake was Brother A and J singing. J is mentally handicapped, and is a 4 year old in a 35 year old body. So  you can imagine how sweet it was for him to sing to us. The spirit was so strong, not a dry eye in the room. The whole meeting glowed with the spirit! Wow, I just love music :)

Backtracking, a few days earlier our ward mission leader held a party for us missionaries and the ward missionaries! It was so fun, and he is a great cook! We had a lot of good laughs :) He is awesome!

We met the sweetest 99 year old lady too... wow she is awesome :) She is really hard of hearing so we were basically yelling at her, but she's awesome! We are hoping she will get to 100, how cool?!?

Our ward is just awesome, can I just say that? There is a member who is struggling financially, and the ward swooped in! So many people bought food for a Christmas feast and they got presents for all her children. It was great, and the true meaning of Christmas was truly brought forth!

On Christmas eve, we went out with Sister D and snowflaked a ton of people! It was a great time, and after all 3 of us joined the B family for a Christmas feast! What a wonderful way to spend the day!

 And Christmas of course was fabulous! We woke up and opened up our wonderful presents under the tree! Then we had that great church service, and then headed over to the D for some of his famous hot cocoa... it was super good!!! Then we spent the rest of the days at L's(member)! After eating some meatballs and potatoes, we Skyped our families, and then opened more presents! Then we did the traditional after-Christmas Crookston family game night! I convinced everyone to join me in a puzzle and then play Heads Up! We had loads of fun :)

Phew what a great week! We visited some of our great investigators as well! we shared with L (investigator) the plan of salvation. I always love sharing that with people :) And we taught a little boy who is preparing for baptism the Restoration of the Gospel. But the best was just dropping by people and wishing them a Merry Christmas, whether we shared a message or not.

Thought for the week: Well, first, keep sharing the light of Christ! In 3 Nephi 15:12, it talks about always being a disciple of Christ, ALWAYS! So just because #LightTheWorld is done away with, we shouldn't let the light dim! We can all continue to serve! And since New Years is coming up, a scripture I found in 3 Nephi 12:47 says "Old things are done away, and all things have become new." A new year, a new you! If you regret anything, put it behind you and move on because tomorrow is a better day, and you are going to be making new memories! Strive this upcoming New Year to think of something you can improve in your life, or better yet, how you can help others with their lives! See how I full circled that back into sharing the light of Christ always? Yeah. You got this, I believe in you :)

LOVE Y'ALL!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  2017 Here We Come! :)
Love, Sista Poulsen

p.s. Sister Merrill and I did get the unfortunate news that she will be transferred... Franklin will miss her so much. I will miss her so much! These past 12 weeks have been awesome and I will miss her, but she is going to Kempsville and I am so excited for her for that adventure! She is amazing, I know she will be loved where ever she goes! Shout out to you sister, love ya!

Christmas Phone Call

Lisa Says: "It was so wonderful to get to Skype with Sister Poulsen this afternoon. Of course, it was super emotional to see and hear each other.  Sister Poulsen had some technical issues and so she couldn't see us very well and there was a little delay in the sound.  I think that made her a little frustrated but we were taking everything we could get. She looked so happy and just kept telling us how great everyone was was.
Earlier in the week, my contact in Franklin (The wonderful sister that sends me pics of the girls) texted to find out about any breakfast traditions for Christmas that our family might have.  It was so sweet!  We sent out Sticky Buns recipe and Sister Merril sent a recipe for a breakfast casserole.  This wonderful family showed up Christmas morning at the sister's doorstep with these yummy foods.  Sister Poulsen said that it made her cry! Then she started to tear up telling us about it.  Much love to these families that think about our missionaries and try to help them enjoy the day! #blessed
We had a great chat!  We talked about everything from bugs, to bikes, to southern BBQ, and her new found love of salad.  She also talked very proudly of being able to run for 20 minutes now.  YAY! She talked about how much she loves her mission president and his wife and how wonderful the members of her Franklin ward is.   She is very much looking forward to the mission-wide conference that they will be having in January when Elder Cook will get to come and speak to them. She is very excited to hear from him, but almost as excited to see all the other missionaries in her mission - especially Sister Smith.
And we got to have a family photo and a prayer together.  The photo was a silly selfie.  We gotta figure out something better for our next and last phone call at Mother's Day.  #glare
But I do like that we got a pic of both of my guys smiling in the same shot!  #ChristmasMiracle
Before the family prayer (which was super tender and awesome) Sister Poulsen and Sister Merrill sang a pair of duets of some Christmas songs.  They both have beautiful voices - I have really missed singing in this house. Then Sister Poulsen surprised us by beatboxing the second verse (a la Pentatonix) while Sister M finished out the song.  It was super cool.  We cheered loud! By that time our SD card was full so we missed that and the recording was poor on the cell phone - plus the Skype reception was not great.  They promised that they would do it again and get it recorded on Sister P's camera so they would have a good copy of it.
Sister M will be transferred this week and so this a farewell two days for them.  Goodbyes are hard and this phone call was no different.  Before signing off, Sister Poulsen sweetly bore her testimony that she had come to know, for herself, that Christ lives.  She has a very strong testimony of fasting. And loves talking to people about the gospel because it is true.  She said that a way that she has really grown is that she really knows what Charity is now and she has a lot more patience.  She knows that this is were she is supposed to be and this testimony helps her to stay and keeping doing this work even tho it is a very hard thing to do.  We love her so much and are so very proud of this incredible sacrifice that she has been making now for that last 10 months.  We are so grateful for the companions that she has had and for the wonderful mission leaders and ward members that have been so supportive and helpful to our girl.
We love you, Tara Bean! #8monthstogo

Christmas in the South

Ho Ho Ho!

Holy what!? Christmas is in 6 days?... NAH. This came way too fast. Christmas on a mission is super weird... It totes does not feel like Christmas. It was a crazy 70 degrees here yesterday so that didn't help. But no worries Mother  Nature got back on track and it is 30 degrees again. But the lights are beautiful! People here are real old fashion and they do wreaths on every window and candles in every window. I love the south!

[Lisa's Note:  Here is a link to how the window candle tradition started. ]

This week... oh man it was packed with service! First, we helped out down town with a local toy drive. They had enough toys for at least 600 kids, 4 toys each. Do the math... yeah! It was awesome to see people come in and be so excited to get their kids presents! The next service thing we did was to help out one of our friends wrap Christmas presents for her family! With me wrapping and sister Merrill's pro bow tying skills, they looked super good! And then she provided the best dang fried chicken I've ever had. Then we helped L (member) out a ton! Her arm has been giving her a lot of trouble, so we painted her bathroom and some of her walls to prepare for her son's to come up for the holidays! We also helped her wrap presents. We also helped clean up the room her boys are going to sleep in. It was a big junk room, packed to the brim! So we organized it and made it look all good for her!

Then we had the Relief Society Christmas dinner! Yum! One sister made 2 HUGE pots of spaghetti and some delicious sauce to go on top! There was salad to start, and cupcakes to finish! With the spaghetti Sister B made her famous rolls... they were gone in a hurry! It was great to sit down with the ladies in the ward and just chat! Then they watched the forgotten carols, so we had to leave because mission rules... but we helped clean up! It was so fun!

Lately, instead of heart attacking people, we snowflake them! So we have been doing a lot of cutting lately! We got our ward mission leader pretty good! And several other members. We love to do it, especially when we knock and run! As Sister Smith would say, "it's our James Bond moment for the day!"

Man, I hit my 10 month mark Saturday... woah. Double digits baby! It's been quite the adventure! Just 2 more months and I will have been out a year! Crazy.

This week is pretty exciting! We are going caroling tonight with some members! Then tomorrow we have our Christmas conference with the mission, can't wait! Saturday we are having Christmas eve dinner with a members, and then celebrating Christmas with L (member) and her family! Wow! We will be delivering some cute things we made to members this week as well. I can really feel the Christmas spirit now!

President Weed has given us some good guidance on what to do Christmas eve and day. We can't knock door to door, and we can celebrate with members if they invite us. If we have no where to go, we must be in by 5 to have our own celebration. Members have already invited us so no worries there! We are so excited to be with people and be able to joy in the season with others!

Thought for the week: Well since it's Christmas... I will quote President Monson about his thoughts on Christmas. "As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day each year, but as a companion always." It is so important to remember that even though we may take the tree down, the lights turn off, and the cookie trays are empty, that we still have the true meaning of Christmas always with us. We are all filled with the light of Christ. How do we keep it glowing all year do you ask? Well around Christmas time we serve others... so serve others just as much all year as you do during the Christmas season. That is how we keep the true spirit of Christmas with us year round.

I know that Christ was born. He was born in humble beginnings, but by small and simple means, great things are brought to pass. I know that  He lives again, and that as we serve others, His loving spirit can be with us always.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I sure hope y'all have a wonderful holiday season :) Better yet... a blessed holiday season :)
LOVE Y'ALL!!! Peace out
Sista Poulsen

[Lisa's Note about photo below:  Sister Merril's mom sent the girls these full size Reindeer and Frosty onesies to enjoy. And boy did they!  Complete with a video and interpretive dance as Rudolph and Frosty.  Fabulous! ]

Playing Possum and Hurling Love

Hey hey!

Burr it is getting cold around here! It is raining today, which is lame. But we will just have to snuggle up with some hot coco and a blanket, that sounds good to me!

The best thing about the week is that we finally saw our investigator T this week! It has been 4 weeks since we have been able to visit with her! It was a great lesson about her understanding of our missionary purpose and such. And if she is serious about joining the church. She is totally ready, there are just a few things that need to be worked out first, so we are praying for her and we are so excited! We should also hopefully see our other progressing investigator L this week! She is the one that stayed up all night studying the restoration, and could not wait to get a hold of the Book of Mormon! Good things around here!

We had quite the biking adventure... in the rain... on a busy road. We showed up at the members house soaking wet... they were not too happy. We will be sure to ask them to pick us up next time :)

We helped L put up all her outside Christmas decor! How fun :) We drove by the other day and they look great!

Guess what, last night I saw my first real live possum!!!! WOAH They are way bigger than I thought they were. It was dark and we were just driving along when we see something reflecting in the light in the middle of the road. I slow down only to reveal this huge possum trying to be all big and tough. It eventually scampered off. It was basically an ROUS (rodent of un-usual size) But not an un-usual size... a normal size... yeah. Get what I'm saying? I basically felt that I was in the fiery swamp.
We'll say that.

"Princess Bride" scene of ROUSes in fire swamp 

The ward Christmas dinner was a blast, and I ate wayyy too much but hey, it's Christmas! We helped set up for it as well, so it was nice to see that all worked out well and things went smooth. People seemed to really enjoy themselves!

This last Sunday was also the Christmas program in the ward (we did it a bit early). Sister Merrill and I participated in the cute little choir they had. It was so fun! We sang "Guard Him, Joseph" and "Still, Still, Still" They are some of my favorites! It was great, and the spirit was totally there!

Speaking of the spirit being there, the stake also had their Christmas Musical Performance! WOW! It was so wonderful! The choir was big and beautiful, there were some great solos, and they had a bell choir! I was totally being a band nerd and a wanna-be percussionist.  Moral of the story: I LOVE MUSIC!

We also saved a baby kitten! We were walking back from the church when we heard a "meow, meow!" There she was under the cars! She was a tricky bugger and was timid. With a lot of coaxing and kitten food we finally snatched it! Turns out she hitched a ride under our neighbors car and they had been trying to get her for a while! We handed her back and they were gonna take her back to where she belonged. About an hour later we heard a knock on the door, and it was our neighbors telling us that she got out again!! So we were down on the asphalt again! We finally caught her and they drove off. Good luck kitty!

Thought for the week: "HURL love at people" HAHA I saw this quote and I just thought it was great! What a perfect time of the year to truly show great love to people! Because Christ was born, we have a reason to rejoice, and be happy. And with happiness just naturally comes love! So combined with #lighttheworld, go hurl love at someone today!!

Oh!! Did you hear bout the LDS media's news?!?! They are making Book of Mormon videos?!?! Just like the bible videos... I am so excited! Hopefully when I go home they will still need actors cuz I totally want to be a part of that!!!

Book of Mormon to Come to Life in New Church Video Series

LOVE YOU ALL! Hope you have a merry little week, and a happy weekend!!
Sista Poulsen

It's Just Cool and Awesome and Stuff

Helloooooooooooooo!

December is in, and so is the new Christmas initiative for the LDS church!!! Wow I just love Light The World! It is so neat to share the pass along card with people and talk to them about Christ! Sister Merrill and I have been really trying to talk to everyone we see! It's been great, and many miracles have come from it! Wow it's just cool and awesome and stuff to be a missionary :) I hope y'all are participating in #LightTheWorld! I hope you are posting stuff too, if I were there I would be all in! So make some posts and light the world for me!

Light the World - Mormon.org

We helped Sister B. set up some of her Christmas decor this week! We hung wreaths on her 180 ft. hedge that sits in front of her house. It looks pretty good! and then there was a cute little Christmas tree in her window. She's hoping to get some candles too to make it real traditional. I will take pics of the candles, it is a very southern thing. Then we had chili and cheesecake... let's just say it was a jolly day :)

We saw Sister D. [Tara calls her by her first name so we will switch also to L and her husband K.] too and talked to her about the stripling warriors... but that wasn't the best part. Her husband was so sweet and was trying to make us a Christmas CD for the holidays. But the music he was playing wasn't your usual, sweet, Frosty the Snowman songs. It was hard core, rock and roll instrumental Carol of the Bells kind of a jam. Woah. They were awesome. But the best part was when we were reading the scriptures, and the music was totally going along with the story! When the stripling warriors were running from the Lamanite army, the music was intense! When Lehi's army was being defeated, it was all sad. And when the stripling warriors were going back to help and yelling "we do not doubt because our mothers knew!" It was all heroic. God is funny :)

[Lisa says:  My guess is that the Rock version Christmas Music was Trans Siberian Orchestral:

For the Book of Mormon story of the Nephites/Stripling Warriors vs Lamanites read that in the Book of Alma begining here: Alma:53]

We then went on exchanges! I went to Great Bridge, VA with Sister Lundquist! It was a blast! I met a lot of great people, and did some great service! There is a place in town that is called "Parents in Need" that helps those who have children but don't have means to afford clothes and stuff for them. It receives donations of clothes from lots of places, so there is plenty to go around! Someone in need can call ahead and set up an app to come in. When they come in, they can just take clothes, PJ's, shoes, diapers etc to their needs. It is so great! We see so many tired, sad looking people come in, but they left grateful and happy! It is a really neat organization, good people!

[Here is the link for them on Facebook: Parents In Need - Hampton Roads ]

While we were there, the Chesapeake Bridge just happened to come up and let some boats through... yeah... THE Chesapeake bridge... it was sooo cool! No worries I caught it all on camera!
Then we attended a baptism of a sweet little 8 year old in the Great Bridge ward. His grandma gave him this big white quilt to symbolize the Holy Ghost. It was great!

Some things are getting switched up around here though in the mission! Usually, if we teach an investigator without a member present, we call those other lessons and we can count that and report it at the end of the week. But now if we don't have a member present, we can't count it as a lesson and it does not go toward out numbers... woah! I was shocked at first to be honest, because it is hard to get members out, and a lot of things us missionaries do will go unnoticed... But I am also seeing the benefits of it. That when we talk to people, I am not inclined to turn it into a lesson to get a number, but I truly desire to just have a honest to goodness conversation with them and desire to help them come closer to Christ. So it is totally awesome! And plus, member presence is so key in peoples conversion, so this is sooo great and I think a lot of blessings are gonna come of it!

So the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was amazing!! Wow so many good thoughts, and I just love christmas music! We went over to the C Sr.'s house to watch it with them. It was great!

Now... reading descretion is advised on what I am about to tell you. If you have a fear of big gross bugs falling on your head in the night time... stop reading.
It was 5:34am. I roll onto my side thinking "Man, I've got a whole hour left, how wonderful!" I close my eyes and start dozing off when something hits the side of my temple, wings flailing. Surprisingly, i didn't scream. But I flicked that thing off so fast you would have barely saw it! Frazzled, I sit up straight and do a whole face rub down. But it's not good enough for me so I stumble into the bathroom to check things out. All is well. So I walk slowly back into the room, heart racing. I very quietly ask "Sister Merrill, are you awake?" She grumbles "Yessss." I tell her,"Something just fell on my head... it was big and had wings." I start searching all over my bed. There are covers flying everywhere! The phone light is helping me very little. But after a few minutes of searching I couldn't find the Wanna-Be-Batman bug anywhere. So I layed, face up, legs curled, covers at the edge of the bed, till the alarm went off. I go back into the bathroom... when a few moments later I hear "I found the bug!!" I open the door and she says "I stepped on it..." I walked around her bed and there... face up on the floor was a cockroach... EWWW x56. We captured it in a jar... yup it was still alive after it's suicide attempt onto my head and Sister Merrills crushing foot. And it has been in a jar on our table ever since. if anyone has any suggestions on a name for the bug... please send me a letter and contribute to the "Name the Bug" Program. Thank you... your participation is much appreciated.

So yeah... my week was awesome!!!!
Thought for the week: "Christmas isn't just about how He came to this earth, but why." This was from the Christmas devotional, by Elder Christensen. I just loved this line. That this season is to celebrate everything about Christ! If there was no Christmas, there would have been no Easter, and vice versa.

LOVE Y'ALL!!!! Have another light filled week :)
Sista Poulsen

[Lisa's Final Note: Sorry no pictures this week... but they might have been of gross bugs in bottles.  Also, for those that have been as concerned as I have been about these short-legged darlings trying to dismount from boy-style mountain bikes whilst wearing skirts - no longer worry.  Their local ward has been on the case and come through.  They found them some loaner girl style bikes to use for the rest of the transfer. Sister Poulsen also says that the elders might get a new car after this transfer ends on the 26th. Which will mean no more bike riding needed for the sisters.  Whew! I really hope they have video of how the bike riding thing was accomplished because I cannot even imagine how that was safely done.  *mother's heart starts beating again*]

Once in a Lifetime Thanksgiving

Hello there y'all!

This week was fairly good! We did lots of service work on Tuesday, cleaning and setting up for Christmas! Sister Merrill and Sister Smith both hit their 5 month marks, WHOA! They are just growing up too fast ;)

We then went to lunch at Applebees with a less active, man it was delicious! Too bad there isn't one in Utah :( I got this shrimp thing... oh man!  [ Lisa Says: She will be surprised to learn that there are Applebees in Utah - Guess we know where we will go out to dinner when she gets back here! Not sure that the shrimp will be as good tho.]

Thanksgiving! I will send some pics to show you the beautiful home we ate in! The senior couple that just returned from their mission in California had us over, along with their son and his family who are in the ward; The C Family. Super great family! All the adults have gone on missions, so they understand that we needed to leave ASAP. The younger C family have 2 foreign exchange students from China, so they were there too. So all 4 of us were experiencing a Thanksgiving feast in the South for the first time! We had the normal like turkey, potatoes, some delicious sweet potatoes, gravy, and rolls. But there was this delicious butter bean (Lima bean) casserole that was amazing! And we also had some southern salted ham... man I will never go back to regular ham. Brother C, the younger, warned us not to eat it all or he would be mad... he said he had been saving up all week for this meal! Then we had some good old fashion apple and pumpkin pie. But this pie was baked home made with real pumpkin... like carved out of the orange skin real. It was very delicious! With real whipped cream too.... awe man. We were quite stuffed. We heard of some missionaries that ate at 3 different houses that day! They said they did not feel very good after. So I am glad we just had the one meal :)

Oh man! Mom you're gonna love this :) We had a bonfire at Sister D’s! It was crazy fun! I was a little scared at first, because Brother D had put gas all over it and we were gonna just throw a flair into it and watch it explode! But it actually wasn't very exciting... it didn't light immediately. But once it got big it was crazy! It was really hot, so I just stood back and threw pine cones in while everyone singed their eyebrows off and threw other things in. By the end of the evening it was just a cute little fire, so naturally we roasted mallows and made s’mores with pizza on the side, so good :)

Crazy story! So we had just finished visiting Sister H, and we were leaving when her 2 dogs escaped! AHH! So we ran out, trying to call them back. I knelt down and tried to snag one, but she slipped through my fingers. I got a nasty scrape on my ankle to prove it. But we were able to snag her, and just call the other one back. No worries :) And then... we saw a mini lobster on the road. Woah. Pictures on the way. It looks like plastic, but it was moving and everything, it was awesome! The rest of the day was a lot of biking, so we are pretty sore. Tomorrow should be fun!

Now sadly I do have to end this email with news that a recent convert of our ward died yesterday of heart failure. It was very sudden, no one expected it. We were also shocked, because we had just talked to her the night previous, and she was doing just fine. We were very close to her, being that she was a convert of only 7 months and was still receiving the follow up lessons from us. Let's just say we were a little distraught yesterday. But everyone just kept telling us that "You did your job, You found her! And now she is in the presence of God, and can teach others about what you girls taught her." Very sad, but yes we do rejoice in the knowledge that she is with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, her 2 favorite people.

Thought for the week: We shared this scripture with a lot of people yesterday via our scripture of the day text. We though it appropriate. " Now, concerning the state of the soul between the death and the resurrection. Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life." She was truly a wonderful person, and she loved us, the ward, the church and God so much... and she still does! I am truly grateful for the knowledge of this Plan of Happiness, and I know she will be right there waiting to give us a big hug when we return!

Love you all, and have a very blessed week!
Sista Poulsen

The "Mini-lobster" also known as a crawfish/crayfish/crawdad.  

Pretty Colors

Pretty Companions

Fanciest Thanksgiving ever!

Trains and Things

This is the Franklin, VA Train Depot and Historical Site

Not sure if she is zooming in on Rocky Mount or SLC, but I
 bet she was excited to see them both on there.

Here is a video online (soundless) of a train pulling through this little Depot / Historical Site.

Over the Hill and Stuck Inside

Q: Strep?!! Did you get it too? Is Sister Merrill Feeling better?
A:  YUP! I didn't get it... yet. I do feel like I have a cold right now, but that's all for now! I'm praying I won't get sick too, cuz staying in was HORRIBLE. So boring. But we survived. Sister merrill did have an alergic reaction to the antibiotic, she has a pretty nasty rash, so we are going to the doc today (yes bishop) to get that looked at.  She never gets sick, so this is pretty hard for her. But that's that :)

Hey there!
This week was... different. Monday we went to Applebees with Brother and Sister D. It was delicious! We just got some appetizers and this chocolate ice cream made from heaven thing... sooo good. Thanks guys!! :)
Then we helped out downtown! We are pretty good friends with the people that run downtown, so we walked around and passed out flyers to the stores along the road. It was fun, and a good service project! It also gets us out in the community, so that is good! We also helped them decorate their office all Christmas like! But the best part... the train tracks are just behind the building, and the train came rolling by!! Soooo cool. It was crazy loud, and we stood outside next to the railing while it came right by us! It was awesome! I love trains.
We went to a members house for lunch, and she made freeway salad! yeah!! It took me back :) She put nuts in hers, it was interesting. But still good! Not as good as yours though, Cindy :)
I did in fact hit my 9 month mark.... NO WAY! So slow, yet so fast! We celebrated with wearing our t-shirts :) Thanks again for that. So fun!
Now as for the rest of the week... Sister Merrill got sick with strep throat and we were stuck inside from Thursday morning to today.... The only time we got out was to go get the mail. It was crazy. What did we do you may ask? Slept, did puzzles till our eyes dried out, read stuff, slept some more, ate food, and played hangman. Yeah. We ran out of puzzles on Saturday, so when Sister D. brought us dinner she bought some puzzles too! There was one that you could color after you put together :O Yes, we went a little crazy... can you tell? On Sunday though, the elders and Brother T. were real nice and brought us the sacrament. So glad :)
Thought for the week: "Normal is just a setting on the washing machine." I saw this quote and had to share it! God didn't create us to all be the same, we are all different in our own wonderful ways! So go out there and be the best you there is!
Love y'all, hope this week isn't too cold for those of you who are getting snowed on! I hope it snows here, it just won't be the same without it!
Oh almost forgot... HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Here is a scripture to ponder on. Alma 34:38. We are to be grateful in all things at all times. Have a wonderful turkey day y'all!!!  Eat lots of extra for me, and I am sure flat tara would love to attend :)
XOXO
God is good y'all
Sista Poulsen

Q: What are your plans for Thanksgiving Day?
A:  Some members invited us for lunch and another member for dinner... I feel fat already! But we are grateful they have invited us over. I know lots of missionaries who don't get invited at all so #blessed.

They must have also decorated for Christmas

Lisa Says:  The above is a puzzle I sent them last Month.  They liked it so much they taped it together and hung it on the wall.  I was going to send them another for Christmas but maybe they won't want to be doing puzzles for awhile after this week.  :)

Halfway Day!!!

Today is Halfway Day for our fav missionary.
We got this texted to us from Sister D.
(Sister Merrill is covering up because she just learned that she has strep throat and doesn't want any of us to catch it.)

Half Way Package

Bonus from the question email:
Q: Did you get the half-way package?
A:  HAHA YES,  It was so fabulous!  I was gonna wait to open it. But, after staring at it for 10 min, I had to open it! Wow the pumpkin cookies were great, and I had totally been thinking about them a few days before!  And I LOVE THE SHIRTS! And now I love them even more because y'all have them! too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are just awesome!
LOVES
Sista P

Lisa Says: Here is the note with photos that Tara got today. We sent a package that was decorated with camels (Hump Day. Get it?) that she got Saturday with 2 identical shirts and a bunch of treats and party supplies to celebrate her half-way point in her mission.

Dearest Darling Girl!
Hiya! Can you believe that it is your half-way day?!?!  Super!
To celebrate you making it to the half-way-hey-its-all-down-hill-from-here-top-of-the-world-ma Day, we decided that we could all show our support by making a family T-shirt.  Cuz what says “We love you” and “We are so dang proud of the person you are” and “We are sending you all our best wishes for this next half of your mission!” than if we all dressed up in matching shirts?  Solid.  We have been thinking about you all week!   (Well more this week than usual anyway!) and are sending this to you to prove it!
So, remember back when you were a greenie and went with Sister Brakey, to the lighthouses?  You sent us a video and on it you and she kept using the phrase “God is good.”  And then because you are in the south, when you said it again at the Mother’s Day phone call, it had stuck with a y'all on the end.  We have been (Well, at least, I have anyway) been using it at home and (especially when I talk about you!)  Your G-ma C found a shirt that actually said that phrase on Pintrest.  When she showed it to me, an idea was born.  We could make a shirt like that for all of us and we would all wear them and send photos of us wearing them to you for Half-Way Day. It would be so fun!
And thus it came to pass…
The Poulsen’s had a Flat Tara photo shoot and the C family has this T-shirt one.  Can you tell we had some fun?  Well -  some had more fun than others (we won’t name names) .. and some of us are so dang photogenic! (also not named) but all were great sports and now we all can enjoy having the SOFTEST T-shirts than anyone ever wore.  We might not take them off again.
We absolutely think that you are fabulous, we are cheering you on and join you in saying this truth: “God is  Good, Y’all!”
With much love always,
Yer Fam

9 Month Mark!!

Hey y'all!
Soooooo. Transfers happened this week! Sorry I totes forgot to mention that last week. But hey, better late than never! Crazy things happened... Sister Merrill and I are staying! WHAT?!? She totally thought she was leaving. But nope, God's got something in store for us! So we have another 6 weeks in lovely Franklin! So yeah, tis all.

Not too much this week. We did have interviews with President and Sister Weed though! Love those guys :) And instead of doing interviews and zone conferences every 2 transfers, we will be doing them every transfer, so stay tuned for some good stuff! But we are truly being led and guided by great, inspired leaders who are lead and inspired by Christ, who is truly the head of this church. Thank heavens!

I finally met the owners of downtown Franklin! The sister missionaries have helped them out forever with service projects around town and such. They are both so sweet! They are not members, nor are interested, but they love us and our help! And us being able to help them gets us out into the community. So that's awesome! We should be doing some stuff for them this week, so stay tuned! They are having some fun activities coming up too, so fun!

We have just been walking, riding, and biking around talking to people! Whether we share a message or not, we just love to meet these people, and it's neat to try to see all of them as God sees them! When we do that, it makes it less intimidating and scary to talk to them.

The Weeds also attended our District Meeting.  It was kinda scary because we had to do a training so... NO PRESSURE. Nah, it was good.  The spirit took over so it was fine.

HAHA funny biking story, Sister Merrill ran into a trash can... yeah. It even left a bruise. After the tears stopped rolling down my face I decided to ask if she was alright. We are having quite the fun times with our bikes. It is tricky to ride them because they are boy bikes, and they are too tall for us. Good times.

We stayed after church yesterday and sang a bit in the choir - that was lovely! I am trying to sing alto because there was only one other and no one else wanted to - so yeah. I'm trying to stretch my musical talents!

Thought for the week: We got our conference issues of the ensign this week, YEAH!!!! It's basically the best present us missionaries can receive. So I have been reading up on those. I encourage you all to read them, they are amazing! So thankful for our leaders, they give such inspired guidance and counsel. One of my favs was one given in the General Women’s meeting. I can't remember her name, but she talked about "having a bedrock understanding of the doctrine of Christ." So I thought "How do we do that?" And BOOM in the next few paragraphs she explains just how to do it. AWESOME! So go over and read some talks that impacted you. As you study and read them, you will answer questions and find ways to improve, how wonderful!

THANK YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH! I truly feel the love! Can't believe I am hitting my half way this week, crazy soup! I has been a good, bad, wonderful, heartbreaking, fantastic 9 months. Can't wait to see what the next 9 bring me!!! Or better yet, brings to Gods children who are searching for the truth.

XOXO
Sista Poulsen
"God is good y'all!"

To Go and Do... Like Nephi

Well oh well, another week here and gone!
Not too much happened this week. Just going out talking to as many people as possible!
We had exchanges Friday night and Saturday morning though! Miracles! We were gonna bike, but my bike got another flat tire... so we determined the Lord wanted us to stay local so we just started walking. We filled up the 3 hours that we had with talking to people just on the street and sharing our message with several! It was incredible! We got a few new investigators and got a few potentials out of it! It was fabulous!
Then Saturday morning, we went and did a super fun service project! The whole ward was involved! A couple was returning home from their mission soon and so we all went out there and cleaned up their yard for them! WOW their house was beautiful, and huge, and I felt like I was in a movie! I should have taken some pics, but they had this secret garden like thing, and barns and fields and chickens. It was just awesome! Sooo many leaves to rake! It looks super good now! Besides the fact that we riled up a swarm of yellow jackets... other than that is it pretty good! So that was fun :) Then we did service for Sister D, we started her bathroom painting project! Super good to get that started, she's been wanting to do that for a while!
So let’s just say: all the service and an extra hour of sleep made me a pretty tired sister missionary. But going to church and taking the sacrament helped :) It's a bummer for day light savings because now it gets darker earlier, which isn't too good for missionaries. But we will prevail!
It sure is fall time here... I will get a pic of the leaves this week! And we are planning on doing lots of raking for people, so that should be fun! Riding a bike in the cold isn't really my favorite thing. I look like Rudolf afterwards.... and my face is like a block of ice.
Thought for the week: Lately, I have been thinking about Nephi's courage and faith. When Laban refused to give him and his brothers the plates, it seemed hopeless. They were ready to turn back and report to their father that they had failed. But good ol' Nephi trusted in the Lord and knew that when God gives a commandment, He provides a way to accomplish. So he went in. All by himself. "Not knowing before hand what [he] should do..." But, as we see, God took that faith and made it possible for Nephi to recover the plates! I am sure Nephi didn't expect it to happen this way, but it did! God truly works in mysterious ways. He answers in His way and His time. We just gotta trust and believe :)
Lovely. Hope you all have a great week.  Go rake some leaves and eat pumpkin pie for me!
XOXO Sister Poulsen
email: tara.poulsen@myldsmail.net

Bonus Photos in the Mail

So Sister Poulsen sent home her SD card and there were some fun photos that we hadn't seen yet.  Here are some of our favorites:

The pics of the Clydsdales aren't close, probably because she was worried how it might look for a sister missionary to be fangirl touristing next to a beer truck.  (Drinking alcohol is not good for you folks.) But she was thrilled to see these beautiful animals.  Here is what she said about them when I asked her: "OH MY GOSH I almost forgot... I met the Budweiser Clydesdales?!?!?!? They were in the Harris Teeter parking lot and we had to stop and get pics... soo coooool!!!!"