Transferred!!

Saying goodbye to the Best. District. Ever.

Hello!

Seems like forever since I've talked to y'all! Long, slow week her in VA! 

So here's the scoop... We did get a call on Saturday... I'M BEING TRANSFERRED!!!!! No one saw that coming! Everyone in our district thought Sis Brakey was leaving... jokes on them! Where I'm going you may be wondering? Rocky Mount, North Carolina!! I had prayed all week that I would not leave because of many different reasons. So when we got the call, I was very scared. When Elder Brown said "And Sister Poulsen, we are going to ask you to pack your bags and you will be transferred to Rocky Mount. Your new companion will be Sister Steinfield" I thought I would be so sad and that it would take me FOREVER to get through the grieving process, but as soon as he said it, I felt an assurance come to me that it's all going to be okay, and this is right. So I guess I skipped all the other steps and went right into acceptance! I feel super blessed for that. Yes, it will be hard to leave, But I'm also excited to go somewhere new, with new missionaries, and new people. I felt like I haven't been myself here, so I'm going to get there and just be me! So that will be great! 

So that was basically my week! It was boring, besides teaching T & R the chastity lesson! It actually went really well! The only problem is that they would get married, but there are legal problems involved with T getting re-married. Not quite sure all the details, but we will work it out! They are still on the road to baptism, we are just gonna have to push it back a ways! Sister Brakey may not even see them get baptized because this is her last transfer! 6 more weeks baby and she will be back in Utah! Crazy soup :) 

Thought for the week:  Well, I'm just going with the flow right now, putting myself in Gods hands. I know that as I trust Him, He will guide me and show me why things happen how they do. I know there are people in Rocky Mount that need me, and I'm so excited to serve them! "I'll go where you want to to go dear Lord, over MOUNTains or plains or seas." So yeah, what an exciting new adventure! From a quote mom sent me that I hang up above my desk "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you!" I'm ready to change, and find who I really am! Hopefully NC can show me the way! 

Love y'all a ton, miss you everyday! 

Have the most blessed week ever!

Love, Sista Poulsen, soon to be a NC girl! 

Teach so as to NOT be Misunderstood

Hello there!

This week had some very interesting parts with it! Starting with my 3 MONTH MARK AND 12 WEEK TRAINING IS OVER!!!  Wahoooo!!! Technically I'm still a greenie, but I'm not super fresh anymore! Quoting shania twain "Man, I feel like a [true missionary]." 

The next crazy thing was Specialized Training! It is like Zone Conference, but not quite. If focuses on some aspect to help us in our work here. This one was on health. Emotional health, self-reliance, and physical health. We did  the personality color test, and discovered how to work with that and others with their certain colors. We talked about being independent and budgeting. And then we learned about the poisonous plants & animals here and how to stay healthy in the summer. Those hats are gonna help a ton!!  [There are new-this-week quidelines that include hats and glasses for all missionaries - yay!] Then here's the strangest part. We played a game in the gym called Umpa Lumpa. It is a combo of basketball, football and Frisbee. Frisbee rules, Basketball court, and a football as the ball. It was crazy!! And the most awkward part of all... we played with the elders. President Baker is SOOOO strict on elder sister relationships, so it was weird to be in gym clothes in front of them, let alone run around and play with them! Thankfully, we played an only sisters match after words, so then I went all out. It was super fun and I felt good and energized! 

Then, we had a movie night at the church! Salem and Kempsville wards got together with friends and investigators and watched Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration. And guess who came... T and R!!! They really enjoyed the movie, met the elders, other members etc... it was great! And afterwards, we had a church tour, so they would feel comfortable on Sunday! They were super stoked to come to church, but T got another nasty migraine and was throwing up all that night. So they cancelled. It was super sad. ugh. They are required to come to church 3 times before they can baptized, and they have only got 3 chances left until their baptism date! Praying for T to be well! We may set up for her to get a priesthood blessing for her migraines. That would be awesome! 

But yeah, the rest of the week was just filled with saying hi to people, contacting potentials, and visiting less actives. We teach a lot of restoration lessons, and then people get "busy" or "sick" and can't meet with us for a little while which is so hard and they don't feel the spirit for such a long time! It's frustrating, as if they are too busy for salvation or something. Haha JK, but really though, it's just crazy. 

It has just rained, and rained, and rained! The members are quite surprised! They say it never rains this much! Crazy... hopefully it will warm up soon, I need that vitamin D! 

Transfer calls are this week!! "I distinctly remember, transfer calls were last transfer." (Name that movie) But really though, this transfer was quick! Maybe cuz it was 6 weeks instead of 7, but still! It also isn't helping that Sister Brakey will go home next transfer! She is thinking she is staying, but we will see! Maybe. We have even guessed that we would trio train a newbie! That would be fun, but crowded in our new, much smaller apartment. You'll hear the scoop next week! 

Thought for the week: "Don't teach so they understand. Teach so they don't misunderstand." We talked to R a few days later about how the word of wisdom is going, and he had talked to his Mormon friend about it. His friend told him he had to have his Mountain Dew with caffeine! And R thought that was against the word of wisdom, which made me mad at myself for not teaching that clearly! So lesson learned - the doctrine must be presented in a straightforward manner, and not misunderstood at all. Cuz if that is the case, their testimony isn't gonna be solid and they will get confused later in life. So even though we are nervous to teach the Law of Chastity with them today, it is just our job to teach it, and their job to accept it. As long as we center it around Christ and our purpose here on this earth, then things will work out all right. 

Well, hope y'all have a blessed week, hope you have some fun in the sun! 

Love, Sista Poulsen

Bonus Content from the Questions Email:

[Talking to Justin about his camping adventures this week:] Wow, that sounds like fun! There are some cool wooded areas here, with rivers infested with eels and big fish. Pretty scary, put super cool! 

[There is a fun video on the VA Mission Facebook page of a Senior Couple being called to help a campanionship with a "Giant Moth" problem.  Theses two sisters were so scared of the regular size but big moth that was swooping them at their desk that they called for reinforcements.  One sisters was literally on the counter and both were laughing hysterically at themselves for being so afraid. Elder Debow caught and killed the moth while Sister Debow filmed it in a mock rescue voiceover.  She titled it: "Missionary life can be so frightening at times..." Senior Couples for the win! I was telling Tara about it and asking if she knew them.  Her response:] The Debows are in our area! And yea, that was Sister Weibee and Sister Seigmiller! They told us all bout that! It sounded hilarious! I'm so glad you go to see it, so funny! Weibee and Seigmiller are the YSA [Young Single Adult] sisters in our area, and we are total pals. Who knew someone could be so afraid of a moth :) 

Peace and blessings, talk to ya next week! 

Moving Day

Hey everyone!
Sounds like a pretty chill week, so was ours! T and R are getting excited about baptism, and we made them this cute little calendar telling them all the lessons they need to have leading up to their baptism! We are having our WofW lesson this week, cross your fingers! Sister Brakey suggested we also give up something we love so we can all work on it together! We are giving up our Sonic treat breaks... pretty hard. :) But that will make it lots more personal and hopefully helpful for them!
MOVING! That was quite the adventure. We had our house all packed away in boxes and ready to go. Brother B. came at 12 on Friday and we got all the boxes over there in one trip! That was so great! Then around 2, Sister S1., S2., and B. came over to get lamps, refrigerator stuff, little shelves etc. But boy oh boy did we get more that that! In sister S1's words "My van is a truck. It is just disguised as a van." So we got our kitchen table, one huge awkward desk, our long bedside table, coffee table, and a shelf in sis Brakey’s closet in her van... and that was just one trip! We went back and got e
verything back out except for our beds, 2 couches, and 2 very heavy shelves. Women power! And it all got in and situated in our new apartment, which is up a flight of stairs and cuts a sharp corner by the way. And it's funny to think that we went into priesthood to ask for help first, when we should have gone to the women!
Now here is a down part of this story. Our poor mattresses. Bro P. came Friday afternoon after our morning  adventure with the ladies. The sky was starting to get dark, the storm was upon us! So we jumped in our car and sped right over to our new apt. which was only 10 minutes away. As soon as we pulled out of our complex, the skies opened up and it was raining cats and dogs! Seriously, hardest rain since I've been here, and just when we had our mattresses exposed! Bro P. called and told us to just keep going. So we did. Our first obstacle was this slow dude on a scooter. Seriously, he was going like 5 MPH. So we get a text from Bro P: "Ram him." Haha! Next, we were stopped at an intersection, the cross traffic was backed up pretty bad. And some knuckle head was stopped right in the intersection. There are signs everywhere that say don't block the intersection. And just our luck, our light goes green, and they are at a standstill. Bro P. is just honking away, and we are trying to be as dignified as possible, but my nice comfy bed was growing mold as we were sitting there, so it was hard. There was finally enough room to get around him. Then, we had to make a right, but traffic was still backed up, so it was a tight squeeze to get into the right lane. We made it in our Toyota corolla, but with Bro P.'s 4 door full bed Ford, there was no way. So he off-roaded it and drove up onto the curb and back down onto the road, it was so great!
We finally made it... after all that crazyness! And of course, as soon as we get there, the rain ceases. God wanted a laugh I guess :) But Bro P. set us up with some hard core carpet fans, and a water extractor. So we worked on that the rest of the day, and set them up to dry for 12 hours. We got some sleeping bags, and had a sleep over in this new house with boxes surrounding us and the smell of new carpet. But in the morning, they seemed nice and dry and we are sleeping on them now! If they start to smell, we will call the mission office and get some help, so don't worry too much about us :)
Now as for Saturday, we had blocked out time to do all this for about 5 hours. It took 40 minutes. The L’s rolled up in their minivan, hauling this huge trailer and we pack the couch, shelves, and bed frames in there. Bro M. took our long couch, and we were ready to roll! Then with the Elders help, they got all that stuff up those stairs and into our apt in a snap! The best part was trying to get that big couch in. They had to lean it over the railing in order to get it into the door, it was way sketch! I could just imagine it falling off and snapping like a twig! But I would have been fine with that, they are super uncomfortable. But the mission would not be so happy, so they were careful :) Sis L. took a pic. We will try to get that from her and send it cuz it's amazing! There were angels holding up that other end, no doubt about it!
All in all, we are all settled in, and will be unpacking like crazy tomorrow! We are just gonna chill today :) It was a very fun adventure though, and we could not have done it without those ward members!
Well, on that very long note, here is the thought for the week: We don't know why things happen like they do. Why did God not withhold the rain for us? We prayed, why wasn't that prayer answered? Maybe we would have been in an accident if we would not have hurried. Maybe the prayer was answered cuz we were able to get fans and our beds are nice and dry now. We don't know, but He knows. And things will just happens His way, and in His time. Because he knows all, and He will help us.
Hope your week isn't quite as hectic as ours, but I hope it is even more miracle and blessed filled than ours! And that's a lot :)
Peace and Blessings, have a blessed day!
Love, Sista Poulsen

Bonus conversations:
Oh, and I almost forgot, we went and saw the sunrise on the beach today with the sisters in our zone! It was so pretty! We had to wake up at 4:45 to get there at 5:30, but it was worth it! I got a few pics, but both our cameras died before I could get a pic with Neptune!! I'm pretty sad about that, but hopefully I'll stay here another transfer and I'll get to go again!
Then we went to Duck Doughnuts, this place that Sis Brakey rages about all the days. I got a maple bacon one.  It was pretty delicious! Not the most amazing thing ever, but pretty tasty. I'd go again!
So yeah, that was our morning adventures :) Love ya!

Answers to my questions:
“Do you get a chance to play the piano?”
Yeah! There is a piano in the church that I play if no one is there, so I try to play often! And if Elder Carr asks me to play in district meeting, we generally set time aside for me to go practice :)
"What do you sing in the shower these days?"
I haven't really sung anything. I mostly talk to myself in the bathroom. And the worst part is when Sister Brakey asks me what I was telling myself today.  She can totes hear me, its way embarrassing  :)

Postcard Love

Hello from a Postcard:
Hey y'all! I saw this adorable postcard and had to send it! Here's a fun story from the exchange on Saturday: we had just taught P& J about the Restoration and P was saying the closing prayer. He said something along the lines of this: "...and I thank these sweet girls for coming and sharing the Word. They are better than butter on toast!" I felt quite honored to be compared to toast. 😊 Love y'all tons! Have a blesssed day!
*heart*
Sista Poulsen

Bring Them to the Light

Note from Lisa: These two sisters are closing an apartment that is outside of their assigned teaching area and moving into a new apartment more in the middle of where they work. This is to happen this coming week.  The move will really help to cut down on their driving time, but it will be a BIG job for them to move all their things plus the kitchen items, beds, desks, couches, etc.  They have asked their ward for help and are having to coordinate it around a father/son outing.  They are quite nervous about the fact that the new place is on the 2nd floor and there is a sharp turn at the top of the stairs. It will be an adventure to hear about next week! Pray for them!

Hey y'all!
Man, it was so fun to see you guys yesterday. That was so great! And I was a little disobedient and went over time... but I am actually less homesick than before, so blessings! It was sad for a minute, but I felt re-charged and ready to go later! And today is going to be such a fun day. We are teaching a lot of our favorite people! And then we are moving this week, and that should be super good too! Our house is just infested with ants and potato bugs. And yesterday, I opened up my "Jesus the Christ" and a moth flew out of it! It was super strange. So it will be nice to get out of here :)

But a cool miracle happened yesterday after our Skype call! Our non-progressing investigator L has been really hard to get in contact with. I've been here 2 transfers and I have only taught him twice, with both those times being in this transfer! But, out of the blue, he texted us (which he never would have done before) and said this: "Happy Mothers Day. Many thanks to your mothers for allowing you to share your faith with others. Blessings!" WOW! So L says "thanks" mom :)

Thought for the week: 2 Nephi 19:2-3
"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light;
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,
upon them hath the light shined.
Though hast multiplied the nation, and increased the joy --
they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,
and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil."

Many of Gods children are walking in darkness, let us bring them to the light! Our mission hymn is "Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy." So, your challenge for this week is to read that hymn and think about us as members being the lower lights bringing souls unto the light house!

 I hope you had a fabulous rest of your Mothers Day! Thanks mom, for being amazing :)

Shout out to the greatest college grad ever!!!!!! Stac, you looked amazing, congrats again! Love ya :)

Here are some pics of us at Sonic on May the 4th Be With You Day and Some funky lights! (Princess Anne road is the road our church is on.)
Have a blessed week y'all,
Love y'all, Sista Poulsen

Mother's Day Skype Call

Lisa writes:
So I knew that the Mother's Day phone call was going to be wonderful and so neat.  I was so excited to hear Tara's voice and get to ask and answer bunches of questions.  Mostly, I just wanted to hear the truth in the tone of her saying that she was happy and enjoying her mission.   I had no idea, however, how very much FUN it would be to have her in the room with all of us.  I didn't want it to end.

Her and her companion were being very obedient to the 40 min guideline in the Missionary Handbook, but because of some technical glitches with her comps connection we got an extra 20 mins!  #tendermercies  We were grateful for that extra time.

A couple from their ward were so gracious to feed these girls a yummy sounding lunch and, most importantly, to lend these 2 sisters their home and computer devices to be able to simultaneously talk with their families.  They even let Tara use their Skype account when she couldn't get into hers.  It was busy that day and we all had to try 2 or 3 times to log into ours also. But it worked.  I am so grateful for the members that are watching out for our girl!

I like this photo because it captures the first moment after we got the video feed up and we could hear each other. "Can you hear me now?" was happening and then her eyes got really big and her hand flew to her mouth and she said, "Justin! Your voice!"  She got teary then because Justin sounded so much different to her in the 2 months since she has left.  All that gravely practice with the Batman voice has deepened it, I guess.  Of course, right after that he went right into full Batman impression and said, "What's wrong with my voice?"  "Does it sound different to you?" Too funny.

She was absolutely beaming and it was so fun to share stories and make each other laugh.  She talked about how wonderful her Mission President and his wife are.  They will be leaving in June and she will be helping to break in the new folks!

She and her companion have so much fun together.  They have been counseled "you need to laugh more, sisters!"  and they are like - okay!?! They absolutely love the people they are teaching and getting to meet and work with.

We talked about business things, like packages and contacts and broken bags.  She had a list of questions for us too, so that was fun.  We told her about Stacie's graduation the day before and how the family was doing.  We were going along on the questions so fast that the time just flew.

We had a few minutes to take the computer on a tour of the house.  She was surprised that we hadn't remodeled her room yet (it has only been 2 months and Justin is still designing plans for his "lounge room") She got to see her fish, Phineous's, new aquarium. (We hope he lives!)

She also wanted to peek in her closet to see if there were any blouses that might be a little cooler to wear.  It is warming up in VA and she has mostly winter things.  She'll need to beg a little shopping time on p-day soon.

We talked about the neat bird's she has seen.  Cardinals are her favorite so far.

One of my favorite moments was when I was telling her something and Justin did this impression of a falling tree right across the camera's view, inexplicably.  He. Just. Fell.  and then didn't get up. it was a head shaking moment. She got the funniest expression on her face and then laughed out loud so big that we all laughed.  She forgot about how randomly crazy her kid brother can be.

She made us try to say the words Norfolk and Portsmouth.  She then laughed at us and taught us the correct VA pronunciation:  Naw-falk and Port-smuth.

She talked about all  the wonderful food that members have been feeding them.  Always too much, but it is so delicious!  No real seafood yet, but her favorite thing so far has been Lamb with Mint Jelly.  She challenged us to find some to try.

We asked her about what the hardest thing about being a missionary is.  She did not hesitate to say that it was knocking on doors.  It scared her.  The scariest moment is actually when someone says, 'Yes' to their offer to share a message about Christ.  She says that she gets immediately nervous about what she will say. Even tho they have practiced and role played so much.  She still has a little freak out.  Then they sit down and her companion asks if they can start with a word of prayer.  During the prayer, Tara said, "I'm praying my own prayer saying - 'help me know what to say! Send the Spirit here to help me.' and I'm still so nervous. Then, as soon as I start the lesson, the words just come and the Spirit is there and afterwards, I'm all - like - That was great!"   *grins*

We talked about the missionaries that we have been talking to and feeding here.  She loved that they gave us a card and asked us to call them if there is any service needed. "That is exactly what we do!" Then she showed us her cards.  They are pass along cards with web addresses to Mormon Messages. She asked us to watch the #Hallelujah video, if we hadn't already.  It. Is. So. Good.

She had made me a handwritten Happy Mother's Day sign and had been so good as to send Stacie packages for Graduation and me for Mother's Day.  (She is way better and packages and letters than I am, sadly!) I opened the present with her watching and loved the VA lighthouse shot glass that she sent for our collection.   Stacie got a VA lighthouse towel that was covered with grad cap confetti (that is now everywhere!)  What an amazing and thoughtful girl our sweet Tara is!

This call really was a treat and I cannot even think about how far away Christmas is.  But, in the meantime, I can't stop smiling about our visit with her.  What a joy!  I am so glad that she really is sooo sooo happy.

We love you Sista Poulsen!!

Joy, the Point of Life

Hello one and all!
Just an average week... in finding 3 new investigators! You're probably sick of me telling you all about these people but I just love em! I'll make it quick :) The first girl is W, she's super rad! She's all like "I need this in my life!" And when we were teaching her, her dog was SUPER distracting. So she put it out, and said "Stop it dog! I'm trying to hear the Word!" Haha I loved it! Black people are great :)
And our other investigator is C! The Elders met him on the blitz, but we finally met with him and had a brief follow up lesson and then jumped right into the Book of Mormon. We asked him if he had prayed to know if the restoration was true. He said "Yes, I prayed" "And?" we asked. "Yeah, it's true." Cool beans!! He is pumped to read the Book or Mormon and we are excited to follow up with him! He's shy, but when he prayed he thanked God for sending us and sharing the light!
The last was R. We dropped of a Book of Mormon that she requested a week ago, but she couldn't meet and talk with us at that time, so we went back this week. We sat down and had a good intro to the Book of Mormon lesson. But here's the best part. We walked in and her house smelled of very exotic food. She explained that she was preparing for an Ethiopian feast. She was cooking ground liver and kidney in a pan. And broiling some goat. Then she had big banana leaves spread our on a tin and was making some traditional bread in it. So cool!! But the down side? She smell stuck to our clothes, our bags, and our car now smells of liver. It is quite nasty. We are having a big laundry day today :)
Anyways, I thought I'd give y'all some laughs this week, cuz what's the point of life with out joy?! So our ward mission leader is just the best human. His name is Brother Bumanlag (Bro B for short). He's Filipino, and has a sweet accent. But man, he's just a crack up! And we aren't even sure if he knows it. Here’s a fun story: So in coordination (our favorite meeting of the week, we totally count down to Thursdays :)) It was Elder Carr's first meeting in Kempsville. Bro B said "I recognize you?" Elder Carr then says "Yeah, I served in Salem" (the other ward in our district). Bro B said "Oh yes that's right, I'm very active..." Hahaha!! He's just the funniest guy, and we just have a blast at coordination!
Babies galore! Everyone is getting ready to pop in our ward, it's pretty crazy! And several military dads have returned home from deployment, so that was cool to meet them! Their wives are so thankful :)
Did some more painting this week as well, I'll send some fun pics along with that :)
I'm becoming more and more confident in talking to people about the gospel. I think I had it too formal and strict in my head, when it is really not. The gospel message is simple. We have a God above who loves us all. Christ is our savior. Follow His teachings and you can have joy in this life and joy in the next. Done. We have taught quite a few restoration lessons this week, and each one is different! Catered differently in each lesson to the person we teach.
Thought for the week: These people are our brothers and sisters, so help them come back home to Father. I read that today in preach my gospel, and it really helped motivate me to go out and just talk to people! So, challenge for the week: Make someone’s day! Smile, wave, say hello, whatever! They are our siblings, and we should love them!
Have a blessed week y'all, stay out of trouble!
Love, Sister Poulsen