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| Sister Merrill and Sister Poulsen |
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
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| View from the apartment |
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| Sister Poulsen's study spot - Missionary Pinterest |
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| sun comes out after the storm |
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| This is the piano pic from last transfer |
