A very warm hello from North Carolina!Howdy! Can I just say I have missed the country! We were on the transfer van, and it went from crazy busy city life, to wide open fields with hay bales and lilac galore! It is beautiful! It took about 3 hours to get down to the Greenville chapel, but it was a fun ride with all the other missionaries!
North Carolina is great!!! I'm loving it!
And driving here is so great, there is like no rush hour and you can see nothing but road for just miles! Maybe I'll ask to be certified to drive so I can drive on exchanges! The country is beautiful, There are a few pic I'll send ya that are just so great! It reminds me of Wellsville :)
The lights here are just hanging on wires and it is just so redneck! Such a cute little small town. But boy our area is big! Rocky Mount is the biggest area in the whole mission! So if we run out of the amount of miles we can use each month, we have to bike, which is pretty cool actually! Or get rides from members which is super easy to do here because the members are AMAZING at missionary work! We got 2 new investigators from member referrals, which was really hard to do in Virginia Beach! And we had like 5 investigators at sacrament meeting, which was great! Haven’t had that happen yet so that was fun! Blessings abound! Our district is just tiny! It is us, the Rocky Mount elders and the Roanoke Rapids elders... and that is it! It was a weird district meeting, being the only sisters there! And we are wayyyyy far away from Roanoke, so it is just us and our elders most of the time here. Sister Steindfeldt says we will become good friends with them!
My companion is stellar! She had said that I have helped her so much already, which makes me feel wierd cuz I'm not good with compliments. But she is super cool and I love her!
She is so great! She talks like Miranda Sings which is so great! And she is a total nerd too, so we get along really well! We are gonna do some good things here :)
There is just one little church building, and it is just for our little sweet ward! So cute :)
The south though?!? It is really hard to understand the people here! I don't want to answer the phone cuz I know I would just be super confused! But it is a new culture, and it is pretty cool! Not too much culture shock happened, which I'm glad for! The members here are great! They love missionary work, and love all us missionaries! But boy, do they love to feed us! I have to be super careful about what i eat so I don't get fat!
We taught this mom and her daughter the other day, it was a great lesson! She kept saying how she has been praying for angels to come and speak to her like they did with the prophets in the bible. I was bold and said "I'm gonna be bold and say that we are those messengers, here to share the good news!" She just lit up, and they are so excited to learn more! K and T (we think) are their names, so cool!
We have a lot of investigators here, but they are just stubborn and won't set dates and stuff. So I have been studying really hard to know how to help them, and let them know baptism is just the beginning and the blessings will be amazing! Thought for the week: Now with these tricky investigators, it makes me sad when I teach my heart out, an they still won't accept. But that just makes me realize I am just bringing it to them. And if the spirit is there, He is touching them too. In the end, it is up to them. Which is frustrating, but true. In Alma 26:27 it says "..Bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." I will be working on patience, and waiting for them to soften their hearts to truly accept. And also being patient in learning. I still have tons to learn and do, but I keep praying to bear my afflictions with patience, and the Lord has promised me success! And He will bring you success as well as you patiently persevere!
Love you all to death, and as Brother Holloman would say "The gospel is the jumbo shrimp!"
Keep on keeping on :) Have a very blessed week!
LOVE, Sista Poulsen
