Franklin's Paper Mill

Lisa Says: So, Sister Poulsen was talking about the Paper Mill in Franklin so I decided to do a little research  (You know how I am!) and she wasn't kidding.  That thing is HUGE!

The mill made sheet paper but was shut down in 2008 and 1,000 folks in the town lost their jobs.  the company that owned it was located in Tennessee and after a year decided that it would transform the sheet making factory into one that made "Fluff pulp"  This is the soft paper product that goes into baby diapers, wipes, tampons, and medical bandages. The mill shutdown was a huge blow to the community and the re-opening a year later was a welcome improvement.

" [In 2008], International Paper Co. closed an enormous mill here that for generations had churned out white office paper, putting 1,100 people out of work and dealing a major blow to this tidewater city of 8,500.
During the recession, copy paper demand in North America "stopped overnight" and IP had to shutter the Franklin mill, said John Faraci, IP's chief executive. "We had no choice," he said. "We didn't have any orders."
...The revival came none too soon for the city, whose economy had been dominated by the mill since the 1880s. Today "closed" signs in storefront windows are common. The city has had to freeze hiring and dip into reserves due to an about $1 million loss this year in tax revenue from the mill. The percentage of City of Franklin residents living below the poverty line was 22% from 2006 to 2010, more than double the state rate. Unemployment sits at 10%. When IP sought to hire 220 workers, 3,000 people applied.
...And that peculiar mill smell, which one resident described as "like rotten eggs times three," wafts through area streets. Some hate it, but many residents don't mind.
Beulah Thorpe, 69, who lives right next to the mill, said she hushes people who complain about the plant's odor. "That is money you smell," she said. "It is a blessing to see people working there again."

Biker Girls

Hey y'all!

Man, this week was pretty full or random things, and a lot of laughs. So let's begin.

It started off sad with a funeral for a member of the ward. I had not met her, but Sister Merrill and Sister Everette had visited her so we went. Sister Merrill was actually asked to speak at the grave side, it was a wonderful little talk and testimony about the resurrection, she is a great speaker! She hates it though, so I was praying for her! But it was cool to drive in the procession. Blowing though red lights legally felt pretty cool :)

Then we had an amazing church tour with [our investigator] T! Sister D was present, and bore a powerful testimony at the font about the feeling she felt when she was baptized. The spirit was so strong! And then we went to the chapel, and we just kinda stood there in silence, feeling the spirit there. It was a great experience! Sadly, she did not make it to church. Her mother was ill. But we are shooting for next week, she is so close!

So I have some fun/interesting news. So a few weeks before I got here, the elders got in a car wreck. No one was injured and all was well... except for the car. It was totaled. So they have been on bikes, waiting for it to be repaired and come back. Well, we got a call from the vehicle manager for the mission and he told us we will be sharing the car with the elders now!! Whoah! We are to give them the car about 2 days of the week. So we will be on bikes!! I am actually wayyyy excited! We went down and got our bikes on Saturday, it was a fun trip! Sister A took us in her truck , and we had a great time! Poor Sister Merrill, she is short so they had to get her the smallest bike, and it is still a little too big for her! But we are making it work! So if you see pics of some crazy girls in skirts on bikes in Franklin, VA - that's us!!

Sister Merrill and Smith hit their 4 month marks... WHAT?! Man, seems like just yesterday I got Sister Smith from Portsmouth, and now she is kicking butt in Rocky Mount! And Sister Merrill seems like she has been out for 15 months and is re-training me! These greenies are pro.

We went to Sister D's house and helped her set up some Halloween stuff! It looks real spooky, and she is throwing a party Halloween night, it's gonna be so fun! Her and her husband love this holiday, so they are going all out!

It is sure getting chilly! I am pulling out my hats and gloves for riding, or else I would come home with a red nose and frozen fingers! But that just means it's fall time, which I love!

We had tacos at a members house... SOOOO GOOD. Man I have missed tacos. So yeah, I love food if you didn't know :)

Out sweet V came to church! We had a member pick her up, and we wheeled her up in a wheel chair into the chapel. She loved the music, and she enjoyed the speakers! She is a little hard of hearing, so some were hard to understand, but it was good for her to be there and feel the spirit. My fav part though was everyone coming up to introduce themselves. One mother came up with her triplets and had them all give V a little hand shake. Soooo cute! I think that was her favorite part too!

Thought for the week: It comes from Alma 31:38. These people still had trials and hardships. But yet, they were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. God did help them prosper in that land. He blessed them with a knowledge that they would one day be with their families forever and ever. He blessed them with the chance to be baptized and receive a remission of their sins. And they joyed in that. They were positive  even in their times of trial, because they knew in whom they had trusted. Christ. So I hope you all find joy in Christ this week :)

Oh and one more thing. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!! Eat lots and lots of candy for me... And have a wonderful and safe time!

Love you all to the moon and back! *howl*
Have a blessed and spooky week!
Sista Poulsen

Extra Info from Questions Email:
Q: What is your ward like?
A: It's pretty little. Maybe 35-40 people at sacrament meeting. It's different from the 120 in Rocky Mount for sure!! p.s. Our investigator K IS BEING BAPTIZED THIS WEEK!!! She sent me a letter saying "Next time I write you I'll be a member of the church!" *tears flow down like a waterfall" LOVE IT!

Q: Are you still struggling with having low energy and being tired all the time?
A: I have lots of energy actually! I think it's all this healthy eating and working out!
[Lisa says: YAY!!  *worry cloud lifts a bit*]

Q: Can you tell us more about your companion?
A: Haha yea she's pretty awesome. She is just chill. She is a convert from about 2 years ago. She hates her red hair, and loves food just as much as I do but we are trying hard to not eat too much! She is an amazing singer, but she is super shy about it and thinks she isn't a good singer. So yeah.

Q: Did you get your absentee ballot? Will you vote? [Lisa Says: She was feeling weird about it cuz she didn't feel very informed at all and can tell that people are all heated about it.]
A: I have not gotten it yet, maybe this week.  Yeah still not sure. We are doing a ward fast about it this coming Sunday or next Sunday.. or something. One of these days. That should help me decide. Members are keeping us updated. We aren't really supposed to talk about election stuff. Sooo yeah.

Q: Can you tell us more about Franklin?
A: It's pretty cool! I need to take a pic of downtown. There are a lot of little roads and weird turns and such. But I'm getting it down! I will send a pic of the paper mill, pretty neat! It smells way bad sometimes though. Who knew chopped wood and paper could smell so bad!


Photo info:. We are being fed a ton this week and it's Halloween so chocolate here we come... man we are gonna have to bike a lot to burn it all off!
Here are some pics of stuff
1- Salad. Yes I have finally gotten into salad... I love them!!! I have to have lots of toppings though, but veggies and some chicken suit me just fine!
2- Water tower
3- The paper mill, it's huge! I will try to get a better pic.
4- Our biking adventures

Charity Never Faileth

Hello one and all!

Well, we survived another week! Sister Merrill and I are just in awe about how fast this transfer is going by! Just 4 weeks left, what?!? We have felt like we have been together FOREVER. I think we knew each other in the spirit world. Pretty sweet :)

We had some cool miracles happen with teaching people! The first one is with our investigator T. She has been telling us she will come to church and just hasn't. So Sister D.  just hard core committed her to come and sit by her this next week. And she said yes! We are also having a church tour with her today and so that will be awesome!

We also committed our old sweet blind investigator to come to church this next week as well! We are starting to make a little more headway with her and she may be progressing toward baptism, it's wonderful!

Speaking of church, I was so happy to finally attend church and see all the ward members! Wow, they are all so great! It is a tiny ward compared to Rocky Mount! So it wasn't as scary getting in front of them and introducing myself. Yum. They had Elder Lelenoa and I get up and say a few words. It was good, and now I feel less like a stranger. They are all so kind though, and I'm excited to get to work with all of them!

Every Wednesday we head down to NC to do some work, it was wonderful! Oh how I love my North Carolina! Our border goes down to Murfiesboro. So that's where we went. It is just like I left it :) But anyways, I met a few great less actives! And here is the coolest thing. So one of them doesn't come to church because she doesn't have the gas for it and she feels bad having someone drive all the way down there to pick her up. So she has always declined the offer. But there it another less active that lives near her, not 5 minutes. And that sister is beginning to come back to church! So we are going to introduce them to one another, and have the returning one bring the other one to church! We know it was the spirit that inspired that great idea :)

We did some more painting for a member who is fixing up this beautiful old house. It is gonna look soooo good. She is making her "girl room" right now. Her husbands "man cave" is already done. Holy cow. It is fully decked out with football gear and stuff. And all of it is dallas cowboy. Phew, never seen so much blue and silver in my whole life. But it's still pretty sweet, even if it is the cowboys :)

There are a few sweet old ladies (88 and 93 years old) that live next to us. They asked us to come whack down some tall plants they had. So we graciously did! It was nice to help them out, and the weather was perfect! The only problem was the bugs, ugh. They were eating us like we were chocolate brownies! So we ran home and grabbed our 30% DEET bug spray and that kept them off! The ladies then kindly asked us if we would go get them some lunch. Of course we said yes! More opportunities to serve. So they gave us a $20 and we got them some Hardees. It was hard not to get something for myself, but we are trying to loose weight so we resisted.

We found a new investigator! Her name is S. Super sweet lady, and LOVES Jesus, like so many other people out here! She really enjoyed the message of the restoration and we are excited to bring her a Book of Mormon tomorrow. I love to teach people about this marvelous gospel!

Other than that, our week was just full of laughter, playing dress up, and meeting new faces! V gave us a ton of old clothes that she didn't want, so she gave them to us to take to a shelter. But of course we had to look through them first, so we had a dress up party and kept a few of the promising pieces! So if you see me wearing something a little... old ish. It was probably from her :)

Thought for the week: The topic in church was charity. Each transfer we come up with a vision to promote how we want to work in those 6 weeks. We also picked having charity. Charity doesn't just mean to love though. It means to forgive and to serve. They also talked about how you must love yourself. That can be the hardest task to do. But as we see ourselves as Christ sees us, and as we come to know our divine potential, we come to love ourselves in a non-selfish way and then can reach out and help others discover the same. That is why we should show charity to others. To help them come to understand their great worth as a Child of God.

I pray that the efforts to repair the damages from the hurricane can continue to be of help to those effected. I can imaging the church helping out in their awesome yellow shirts!

Hope y'all have a blessed week!

LOVE YA!

Sista Poulsen

Flat Tara

Lisa says: So we had a wedding in our family.  Sister Poulsen's cousin, Emily was married.  What a wonderful beautiful day!  The bride and groom were so sweet and cute together.  The weather was perfect and the locations were so fantastic.  At the reception, they served nachos which was so fun - As soon as Justin heard about that deliciousness he decided right then and there that Mario could definately join our fam.  Solid.
Congratulataions to this super sweet couple!  As Grandma Kerr would say, "Many happy returns of the day!"

I knew that Tara was sad to miss the event, so I made sure to include her in a tiny way (pun intended) by making a "Flat Stanley" version of her to join in the fun.  The family was so great to take a few pics with Flat Tara.  My favorite was when, Kirt, (Tara's uncle and the Father of the Bride) slipped Flat Tara right into his pocket for the pic.  Thanks guys.

Tara's reaction to some photos of the day:   WOW. I can't take the cuteness, what a wonderful happy day! And man I missed the nacho bar, drat! But Emily just looked so happy, and beautiful, as did everyone else! Especially stac, dang girl! And Alan and Justin are just studs.  And HAHA the little flat me, that was great! Thanks for using that pic, I liked that one :)  I wrote Emily a letter and hope she knows how sad I was to miss the day! But I guess I was there in all my flatness. :)

Hello from (a very wet) Franklin, VA

Sister Merrill and Sister Poulsen

[Lisa's note:  We are very grateful that our darling missionary is safe and that she had a relatively calm experience during this storm.  Other areas she has served in have been much more affected.  Without seeing news or having much contact yet with many people, she is still very unaware of how the rest of her mission has fared.  I showed her pics that I had collected from Rocky Mount and she was shocked by the severity of the floods there.  We are all praying for everyone effected by this storm - the rivers are still rising in some places - and are very grateful for the watch care over all the Lord's servants in these areas.]

Hey hey!
Okey dokey! Lots to write today, lots happened! Here I am in Franklin, Virginia!   My comp is sweet! Her name is Sister Merrill.  She is from lots of places, but her family is currently in Draper, Utah so that is where she says she is from. She grew up in Pennsylvania.   We are basically the same person. But we are still super effective and seeing miracles.  I've only been here for 4 days, but I can tell the Lord is helping me know this area.  Hopefully I can get it down soon!

Well, the biggest news down here is that I experienced my first hurricane! #Matthew It actually wasn't too bad. Just some heavy HEAVY rain and serious flooding... pretty intense! But no trees were damaged from what we saw. So the wind wasn't bad. Everyone's yard looked like a swamp though! It was crazy! We were ordered by President Weed to stay indoors Saturday night from about 6 to Sunday afternoon around 1.  We had no church meetings that day.  Some missionaries stayed longer or shorter but that was our schedule. We watched some movies and just hung out. It was good :) There was just a lot of rain and some serious flooding. We had to actually park at our church and walk to our house because it was so flooded we couldn't drive though! We caught the elders walking back. They are on bikes so they had been inside all day and were just getting out to do something else. We were all dripping wet, it was great! We saw some crazy person try to drive though the huge puddle - the water came up onto their hood and their engine almost died! But they made it through, phew!

So that is the craziest thing that happened this week. But hey I'm loving being back in Virginia! I missed all the tall trees and personalized license plates! Transfer day was crazy! So we helped Sister M weed her flower beds a little more before we went to meet Sister H at our apartment to take us to Greenville. Gonna miss my sweet Rocky Mount :( But it is in good hands! We drove and met the transfer van and I hopped aboard! It was a loooong 3 hour drive, but we had a pretty sweet time. I brought lots of treats so that was good. We FINALLY arrived in Portsmouth about 7:30pm. We got all our stuff off and everyone was meeting their companion but me. I was standing alone in the parking lot, wondering if I was gonna have to stay the night in the church building! A few sisters came with me and we talked to the Assistants. They called a few numbers and said my companion was with the Portsmouth sisters and should be here shortly. Okay! Not soon after they arrived! A cute little red head popped out and greeted me with a hug! We were instantly friends! What a neat girl! She is a convert to the church, and has a spunky attitude, so we get a long just great! I was nervous because I needed to drive back another hour to our house. So I plugged in the good ol' GPS and we were off! We made it home right on time! Sister Merrill just could not stop raving about how much she loved Franklin and how much I would love it!

First day, we saw a sweet recent convert named P. She is sarcastic and blunt but in a loving way! Then we helped a member who is remodeling her house paint some stuff. It is a gorgeous house, I'll have to send pics! Then we saw our other recent convert Sister D. My mom is very acquainted with her already because she sent a pic the first night we were there! They have been chatting ever since :)

[Lisa says: This lady was such a big help in assuring me that the missionaries were being looked after and that no matter what the storm did the whole ward would be watching out for them.  *yay*  Hooray for members all around the world!]

We also have a blind investigator named V, a super sweet lady! She is 88 years old and can barely see. So we go read with her and share uplifting messages. It's interesting in a great way!

Then District meeting Friday... oh boy! I went from a district of 3 companionship's to a district with 6! Man, but it was pretty sweet. I saw Sister Frame [from the MTC group.] That was super duper! And Elder Hyman is in my district again, and he is training! Crazy soup!

Crazy story, the flooding has closed off some of the roads. So we were coming back from some where and we were stopped in a long line of traffic. They had the road closed, but all the cars were just waiting till they opened it again. We sat there for probably 25 minutes before we started moving again. And then... We were almost home, and we were behind a semi truck. We were waiting at this light for 5 minutes before the semi finally moved. So I was in the front of the line and I was waiting for the light to turn green... it wasn't turning green!! So after checking and rechecking, we just ran right through it! Other people were confused and doing it too so I didn't feel too bad. But man, it took us 40 minutes to get home instead of 15... but we made it safe and sound and were greeted by some pumpkin pie at P’s house :)

Thought for the week: "When you are in the service of your fellow beings, you are only in the service of your God..." I truly love being out here serving others. And I'm sure with this storm there will be lots of service opportunities coming our way! We already helped Sister D pick up sticks. But I know that even if our efforts seem wasted, or no one is listening or ready for the gospel, I am still serving God, and He knows that and that is all that matters! So go out and serve someone today so you can feel God smile down on you!

Love you all, can't believe it is fall time already, I'm loving it!
Peace and blessings
Sista Poulsen

View from the apartment

Sister Poulsen's study spot - Missionary Pinterest

sun comes out after the storm

This is the piano pic from last transfer

Hurricane Matthew

Sometimes weather predictions are wrong

Matthew makes land in NC

Rain pounds already soaked areas

Even tho the sun is out the rivers continue to swell

Virginia Beach is swamped

Flooded Cemetary in Rocky Mount Area

Roads closed into Franklin, Va

Many roads around Rocky Mount wash out

People need rescue and  whole towns are evacuated

The river levels break records and are not done yet

Franklin, Virginia

Here are some things I have learned about Sister Poulsen's new area:
It is surprisingly similar to Rocky Mount, NC.  It is a smallish town with a beautiuful downtown district that is next to a railroad depot.  There was a large paper mill that was shut down within the last 10 years.  This caused many local jobs to be lost.    What makes this town different is that it is next to a river, The Blackwater and this river flooded the town in 1999 as an aftermath of a hurricane. There is a 22foot high water mark monument in the downtown area marking the difficult event.  Something else that makes it different to her last area is that it still has a vibrant farm community and is one of the most prosperous agricultural communities in the state of VA.
She will just miss the Franklin Downtown Fall Festival that was held this past week.  But it looks like it showcases the wonderful community feel of this place that will be very welcoming and familiar to Sister Poulsen. This will be another wonderful place for our girl's continued adventure!

Quick facts:
Franklin is an independent city in Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 8,582. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Franklin with Southampton County for statistical purposes.
Zip code:23851
Population:8,638 (2013)
Area code:757
Wikipedia

Main Street:

"Take a leisurely walk down Franklin’s Main Street and you’ll find everything from classic treasures to country charm. Antiques, collectibles, fashions, flowers, furniture, jewelry, music, men's clothing and more line one of the quaintest streets in the area. Be sure to drop by restaurants like Fred’s or Pam’s Tea Room for a rest and scrumptious lunch.
Friendly, personal service in a beautiful little city is what you’ll find in Franklin."
City of Franklin , Virginia Website www.franklinva.com


 History
In 1862, the American Civil War came to Franklin, in what was referred to as the Joint Expedition Against Franklin. As several United States Navy Flag steamships, led by the USS Commodore Perry, tried to pass through Franklin on the Blackwater River, a band of local Confederates opened fire on the ships. As stated by an officer aboard one of the ships, "The fighting was the same—Here and there high banks with dense foliage, a narrow and very crooked stream, with frequent heavy firing of musketry."[6]

In all, the battle yielded five naval casualties killed in action and 16 wounded. As the naval vessels retreated, the Confederates tried to block the narrow Blackwater River by felling large trees across the width. In the end, the Confederate attempts failed as no soldiers were captured and no ships were lost.

Demographics:

The racial makeup of the city was 39.4% White, 56.9% Black or African American, 0.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander, 0.7% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. 1.6% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 3,384 households out of which 30.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.93.

 For every 100 females there were 79.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 73.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,687, and the median income for a family was $40,299.  About 16.8% of families and 19.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.9% of those under age 18 and 10.2% of those age 65 or over.

LDS Church: Franklin Ward meets at 10am on Sundays.
of the Chesapeake Virginia Stake.

Farewell Week in Rocky Mount

Roanoake Rapids Avengers Assemble

Well hey there!

This was quite the service filled week, it was great! We helped a member weed her flower beds. Her kids were so cute in trying to help :) We helped another member clean out her craft room. She was really appreciative, it looked a lot nicer and very clean! Then we helped the bells more with their piano! We finished sanding, put some nice wax base on it, and started the stain! It's gonna look real good :)

We just have the best luck tracting! 1 door we knocked on she let us in! She said she would only give us 10 minutes though, but as soon as we mentioned that we were from Utah, she perked up! She said (in her cute little Spanish accent) "Oh, tell me, what is it like?!?" We talked about the humidity and missing the mountains. She was a little more open to our message after that. We taught the restoration and set up some time to come back and share the Book of Mormon. But we called her before her appointment and she said she didn't think it was for her. We will write her down and missionaries can contact her in the future hopefully!

A miracle occurred... a family that I have been trying to meet with for the past 3 transfers finally opened the door and let us in! Such a sweet family. The father is a member but the mother and 2 daughters are not. They reminded me of the M family [that were just baptised]. The little 10 year old girl told us she prayed and read the Book of Mormon every night. And the mother told us she prays each night too. We talked about the importance of prayer, and committed them to pray as a family. They said that that was a great idea and would do it that night! Hopefully we can contact them again today to see them again!

We ended with the last article of faith in scripture class. Number 13. We talked about values and having a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And we ended with enduring to the end. It was a great discussion! Afterwards we had a great lesson with K about continuing to learn and serve in the church! So basically, enduring to the end which we went over in scripture class! She is just amazing, and you can see her excitement to be baptized grow each time we meet with her! I can't wait for that day when she can enter into that covenant and receive the gift of the holy ghost.

Zone meeting was Wednesday, what a great time! We are having elder Bennett from the 70 visit our mission next week or something like that and so we went over some of his talks. It was cool because we applied each talk to something in preach my gospel, and then applied it to how we could be better! It was really neat, you should try it out!

Oh man, then our district took the most epic picture ever. I will attach it because no words can describe the awesomeness.

Of course, General Conference was amazing! Each talk was so inspired, and I felt the spirit confirm each one! So many good things to help in today's crazy world. I love our leaders and sustain them!

Now for the biggest new of all... transfers... I am being transferred to FRANKLIN VIRGINIA!! I am really excited actually! This area actually covers VA and NC! Best of both worlds :) My new comp is sister Merril, a sister who came out with sister smith so I will be her follow up trainer. Just to check that sister Everette did a good job ;) Jk, I'm sure she will be spot on! I am so sad to leave this ward though, the members here are incredible. But they are gonna need to step up their missionary work by a lot because they are shutting down the elders area for 6 weeks due to a lack in missionaries. So the sisters will take over allll of rocky mount, thats HUGE!! This is gonna be a big pull for the ward to pitch in! Can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for rocky mount!

Thought for the week: That the Lord leads His church. From transfer calls to general conference, I know that God knows each one of us, and we are on our own great path to returning to Him. We have to be tried, tested, moved, molded etc in order for us to become what God intends us to become. If we resist, the harder it will be. God is so aware of you. Prayer was heavily emphasized in conference. I have been trying to work on more sincere prayer. It has really helped, and as i try to have a prayer in my heart, I can feel Him closer!

Now go back and read all those talks, again and again! The words of our prophet and apostles are key in our development, and understanding the Lords will. They are a perfect guide to these latter days!

Love you all to pieces, wish me luck on my new adventures! hopefully they will have post cards there and I can start that up again!
XOXO Blessed
Sista Poulsen