Notes: So P-day next week may be Monday or Tuesday next week. Interviews with Pres. Baker are then, and if ours is scheduled for Monday, our P-day will be moved to Tuesday. So don't freak if you don't hear from me!Yes, we have heard about the missionaries in the Brussels bombing. What an amazing story of missionary power and service! How even after they were kicked off their feet and injured, they went around helping others. So cool :) We keep praying for them, and it looks like they are recovering well!
Family and Friends,
What a cool week! General Conference just made my life basically, I just loved it! It is different to listen to it as a missionary than as a 19 year old sitting on a couch in her PJ's. My whole perspective was just changed, and I was looking for things that would not only help me, but also those we are teaching! The biggest thing I got out of it is best summed up in Elder Gongs talk on remembering the Savior. He said "To be worthy doesn't mean you are perfect." And a re-occurring theme was that God still loves you and "Because He loves you, He will find you." -Elder Uchtdorf. That helped me a ton, to know that I don't have to be perfect now, but as long as I desire and strive for it, that is all God asks and He will help me along the way! What revelation did you receive from Conference?
Sounds like Y'all had a nice relaxing spring break! I was afraid it would be snowy all week, but it looks like it cleared up pretty nicely! It has been rain and shine over here. Getting a taste of humidity here and there. Snow is a foreign concept for us right now, it's weird!
Last P-day we got to visit the Cape Henry Light houses! How cool!! We first went the beach with the L’s (a member family from our ward) and had a lovely picnic. We built sand castles and looked for sea shells with their kiddos, there were some pretty ones! The beach was beautiful, and it was really cool to see the naval and cargo ships sail by as we sat there! Then me and Sis. Brakey walked over to the old Cape Henry! The big brown brick lighthouse one is the one you can go in, and was actually the first government official light house built! We had to walk about 9 flights of stairs to finally get to the top, I was getting pretty bad vertigo! It was hard to make the climb but it was so worth it (feeling a gospel message in there!) But it was a beautiful look out, pics are on the way! The little shop was cute too! It was really neat though, I can't wait to take y'all back!
This week was quite slow, and our numbers showed it. No one let us in, and if they did it was super awkward. But we did a lot of service for others this week, which shows that we still did good and what The Lord needed us to do!
We were trying to set up a church tour and a priesthood blessing with T and R. We asked our Elders to do it, but they spaced and planned a lesson over it. So we asked the Salem Elders to do it. They graciously accepted! Long story short, T and R couldn't make it, so we went to bible study class kinda depressed. We thanked the Elders for being willing to help, but told them it was cancelled. There was a woman in the study class though that voiced her troubles to us. Sister Stump related so well to her and tried to help. But you could see she was still distressed. After class, Sister Myers (Salem sister) asked the woman if she would like a blessing. She accepted, and the Elders were on top of it. We left the room so it could just be a Salem thing. Later we realized that because we had asked the Salem Elders to do the blessing earlier, they were spiritual preparing all day to do it! And even though they didn't give one to our investigator, they were able to help this other woman out! The Lord truly works in mysterious ways. :)
Speaking of T, she dropped us a few days ago. R told us that each year she leaves in April to go spend the summer with her dad... why she didn't care to tell us, we don't know. So that was pretty rough for us. I feel so bad. Like I did something wrong. I must have not explained well enough how important this is, and if she was truly being converted, she would have explained her situation. Sis. Brakey says we did our best, but I just keep beating myself up about it. Never again will I take teaching people about their salvation lightly!
One more cool story: We received a referral from a potential the other day. All he told us was that his friend needed help painting, and that he lives on Level Green Ct. We went there, it was a huge neighborhood! We asked Heavenly Father to help us receive revelation to which house it was. After the prayer we stood there and looked at each house. I was getting nothing. But it was time to decide. So I picked that house that I felt the best about and on the count of 3 we pointed to what house we were thinking. We pointed in the same direction, but at 2 different houses. We knocked on both. The first one we knocked, and a man answered the door. We asked him if he needed any service, and he said "man, I wish y'all had come by earlier when I was painting!"... We then asked "Do you know ___?" (the guy that gave us the street) He said "Yeah..." We found out that this was totally the guy, and that ___ had actually just called him about us!!! Testimony strengthened :)
Thought for the week: Kinda what I said at the beginning. As you simply have a desire to do good and be better, the Lord accepts that and helps you progress. Another great quote was "Opposition gives you the opportunity to choose the right and progress." -Elder Oaks. Take that Satan!
The Lord loves you, and wants you to grow every day! Get on your knees and ask Him to help you, cuz He totally will! We have to be willing to act on what promptings we receive though. But it is promised that as we do that, we will be blessed exceedingly!
Love you all SOOOOO much! Keep being awesome!
Love, your favorite missionary, Sista Poulsen
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| Spotting the "New" Cape Henry Lighthouse from the Old |
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| View from the top of the old Cape Henry Lighthouse |
