December is in, and so is the new Christmas initiative for the LDS church!!! Wow I just love Light The World! It is so neat to share the pass along card with people and talk to them about Christ! Sister Merrill and I have been really trying to talk to everyone we see! It's been great, and many miracles have come from it! Wow it's just cool and awesome and stuff to be a missionary :) I hope y'all are participating in #LightTheWorld! I hope you are posting stuff too, if I were there I would be all in! So make some posts and light the world for me!
We helped Sister B. set up some of her Christmas decor this week! We hung wreaths on her 180 ft. hedge that sits in front of her house. It looks pretty good! and then there was a cute little Christmas tree in her window. She's hoping to get some candles too to make it real traditional. I will take pics of the candles, it is a very southern thing. Then we had chili and cheesecake... let's just say it was a jolly day :)
We saw Sister D. [Tara calls her by her first name so we will switch also to L and her husband K.] too and talked to her about the stripling warriors... but that wasn't the best part. Her husband was so sweet and was trying to make us a Christmas CD for the holidays. But the music he was playing wasn't your usual, sweet, Frosty the Snowman songs. It was hard core, rock and roll instrumental Carol of the Bells kind of a jam. Woah. They were awesome. But the best part was when we were reading the scriptures, and the music was totally going along with the story! When the stripling warriors were running from the Lamanite army, the music was intense! When Lehi's army was being defeated, it was all sad. And when the stripling warriors were going back to help and yelling "we do not doubt because our mothers knew!" It was all heroic. God is funny :)
[Lisa says: My guess is that the Rock version Christmas Music was Trans Siberian Orchestral:
For the Book of Mormon story of the Nephites/Stripling Warriors vs Lamanites read that in the Book of Alma begining here: Alma:53]
We then went on exchanges! I went to Great Bridge, VA with Sister Lundquist! It was a blast! I met a lot of great people, and did some great service! There is a place in town that is called "Parents in Need" that helps those who have children but don't have means to afford clothes and stuff for them. It receives donations of clothes from lots of places, so there is plenty to go around! Someone in need can call ahead and set up an app to come in. When they come in, they can just take clothes, PJ's, shoes, diapers etc to their needs. It is so great! We see so many tired, sad looking people come in, but they left grateful and happy! It is a really neat organization, good people!
[Here is the link for them on Facebook: Parents In Need - Hampton Roads ]
While we were there, the Chesapeake Bridge just happened to come up and let some boats through... yeah... THE Chesapeake bridge... it was sooo cool! No worries I caught it all on camera!
Then we attended a baptism of a sweet little 8 year old in the Great Bridge ward. His grandma gave him this big white quilt to symbolize the Holy Ghost. It was great!
Some things are getting switched up around here though in the mission! Usually, if we teach an investigator without a member present, we call those other lessons and we can count that and report it at the end of the week. But now if we don't have a member present, we can't count it as a lesson and it does not go toward out numbers... woah! I was shocked at first to be honest, because it is hard to get members out, and a lot of things us missionaries do will go unnoticed... But I am also seeing the benefits of it. That when we talk to people, I am not inclined to turn it into a lesson to get a number, but I truly desire to just have a honest to goodness conversation with them and desire to help them come closer to Christ. So it is totally awesome! And plus, member presence is so key in peoples conversion, so this is sooo great and I think a lot of blessings are gonna come of it!
So the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was amazing!! Wow so many good thoughts, and I just love christmas music! We went over to the C Sr.'s house to watch it with them. It was great!
Now... reading descretion is advised on what I am about to tell you. If you have a fear of big gross bugs falling on your head in the night time... stop reading.
It was 5:34am. I roll onto my side thinking "Man, I've got a whole hour left, how wonderful!" I close my eyes and start dozing off when something hits the side of my temple, wings flailing. Surprisingly, i didn't scream. But I flicked that thing off so fast you would have barely saw it! Frazzled, I sit up straight and do a whole face rub down. But it's not good enough for me so I stumble into the bathroom to check things out. All is well. So I walk slowly back into the room, heart racing. I very quietly ask "Sister Merrill, are you awake?" She grumbles "Yessss." I tell her,"Something just fell on my head... it was big and had wings." I start searching all over my bed. There are covers flying everywhere! The phone light is helping me very little. But after a few minutes of searching I couldn't find the Wanna-Be-Batman bug anywhere. So I layed, face up, legs curled, covers at the edge of the bed, till the alarm went off. I go back into the bathroom... when a few moments later I hear "I found the bug!!" I open the door and she says "I stepped on it..." I walked around her bed and there... face up on the floor was a cockroach... EWWW x56. We captured it in a jar... yup it was still alive after it's suicide attempt onto my head and Sister Merrills crushing foot. And it has been in a jar on our table ever since. if anyone has any suggestions on a name for the bug... please send me a letter and contribute to the "Name the Bug" Program. Thank you... your participation is much appreciated.
So yeah... my week was awesome!!!!
Thought for the week: "Christmas isn't just about how He came to this earth, but why." This was from the Christmas devotional, by Elder Christensen. I just loved this line. That this season is to celebrate everything about Christ! If there was no Christmas, there would have been no Easter, and vice versa.
LOVE Y'ALL!!!! Have another light filled week :)
Sista Poulsen
[Lisa's Final Note: Sorry no pictures this week... but they might have been of gross bugs in bottles. Also, for those that have been as concerned as I have been about these short-legged darlings trying to dismount from boy-style mountain bikes whilst wearing skirts - no longer worry. Their local ward has been on the case and come through. They found them some loaner girl style bikes to use for the rest of the transfer. Sister Poulsen also says that the elders might get a new car after this transfer ends on the 26th. Which will mean no more bike riding needed for the sisters. Whew! I really hope they have video of how the bike riding thing was accomplished because I cannot even imagine how that was safely done. *mother's heart starts beating again*]
