Cinderella Week

What a perfect last week to end on... God is so good and He provided exactly what I needed for my last week in the mission field. We were super busy going to and from appointments, as well as serving at every opportunity and continuing to meet great people! The Spirit

One exciting thing, we went on exchanges with the Hermanas! I was in their area, so I awkwardly stood there while she taught the restoration is Spanish. It was really neat though because the spirit was just as strong. We all understand the language of the spirit. And I felt 100% about my missionary purpose. We were teaching and testifying of Jesus Christ, and that is what matters.

I call this week "Cinderella week" because so many houses we went into needed some help cleaning up in some way! It was great to serve people at the drop of a hat! God placed us right where we needed to be.

We had S at the bishop's house for dinner! It was a great experience! They had some powerhouse testimonies of the plan of salvation! And it was cool to see bishop in his role as a father of a 3 and 6 year old. Pretty cool how God calls ordinary men (and women) to do extraordinary things.

Had my last District Meeting... and the Weed's came!! They always pick a random one to go to every week, and they chose us! So fun to have them there!

The youth over the weekend read the BofM in 2 days?!?!? Crazy! So on Sunday they all bore their testimonies of the spirit they felt. We popped in Saturday and read a little of Ether with them. The spirit in that building was truly powerful.

Well, I guess this is it. The last one as Sister Poulsen. It has been an absolute honor and privilege to serve my God for these 18 months. I can never repay Him for all the experiences I have had, the INCREDIBLE people I have met, and the great change that has taken place in my heart. I have truly come to begin to understand who God wants me to become. I came on a mission for selfish reasons. To go to another state/country. To possibly speak another language. To increase my testimony. Oh how wrong I was! As I have learned to surrender my will to God's, He had shaped me. I promise that is y'all want to find yourself or build yourself up, the key is to forget about yourself. Loose yourself in the service of others, and that is truly when you come to find yourself.

I know that God is real. That He hears and answers your prayers. I know that He inspired men to write the Book of Mormon. That book has brought me closer to Jesus Christ than any other book. It is true, and as we read it each day, we will be able to withstand the temptations of the devil and the trials that we all face. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet and restored Christ's church to the earth. Thomas S. Monson leads and guides this church today. And I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is so aware of us. He is with us every step of the way as we turn to Him, and exercise "a particle of Faith." He is the one that can and will save us from our sins as we come unto Him. "Come unto Christ, and be perfected in Him."

Thought for the week: In the song "Lord I would follow thee" Verse 4 reads

Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee—
Lord, I would follow thee.

As this song pleads, it is us singing to Christ to ask Him to help us come closer to Him. I desire to draw closer to Him each day. This song teaches us that we can learn to love Christ by loving others. That as you strive to be in others service, your love for The Savior will increase. I have see that so strong on my mission!

Thank you all for your support and love over this long, amazing journey! Each of you is special in God's eyes, and He loves you and blesses you for all you do!
I love Virginia. The trees will be missed :)
Be blessed y'all
See ya in 2
Sista Poulsen

Looking to the Last Week

Another week in the mission field... one more to go *bites nails* WHAT EVEN

Anyway let's not think about that...

Our investigator on date is doing  SOOOO well! She is amazing. She has a hard time remembering things so when we read we read slow, and have to explain things many times. BUT this last week we went over and she had read 3 chapters from the Book of Mormon and remembered ALL OF IT :0 That is HUGE for her!! She was even understanding all the symbolism in the vision of the tree of life! AHHHH I love the Book of Mormon! I testify of it's reality and power, it's amazing. This book will truly bring someone closer to God than any other book.

We had interviews with President and Sister Weed. It was my departing interview, so he gave me a lot of council and advice on life ahead. He asked about my goals and plans. Good thing "My Plan" helped me figure all that out! I love them though. I will miss them terribly.

We picked up a few new investigators as well! One is an unbaptized youth of a less active/ returning family! She is 10, and we are preparing her for baptism! We are so excited to be bringing the light of the gospel into their home! The bishop is working with them really hard too so they are going to come back strong I can feel it! Another girl was a referral from the elders. They were at Cafe Rio and she noticed how nicely they were dressed and made a comment. They jumped on the opportunity and started talking about what we do! She said she has been looking for a church and was more than happy to have us come over!  We taught her and she is amazing! She is super open, and has such a close relationship with God. She is so excited to receive a Book of Mormon. I am so excited to give her one!!

This girl and another one we taught had some simple questions about some pure doctrine. I loved simply explaining, and testifying of those things. Such as what is the Holy Spirit? Who is Joseph Smith? Etc. I am always nervous before I start - I don't want to teach false doctrine! But in the end the Spirit just takes over, puts words in my mouth, and fills the room with the spirit of truth. It is my favorite setting to be in.

One night we had some plans to visit a few people, but we both felt impressed to go to a members home. We showed up, and this member, who is in her late 60's, was mowing her lawn!! So we jumped right out and finished up for her! She was so thankful, and even said "God truly sent you tonight girls" *gives the Spirit a high five*

Saturday morning we went and cleaned up the chapel with the relief society. It was a great de-stresser, as well as it was so wonderful to make this sacred place nice and beautiful. In ward council we talked about how people are mistreating the chapel. They are not seeing it for the sacred thing that it is. It just reminded me truly how sacred and holy that place is. It is the place we partake of the emblems of Christ's body. The table is a symbol of his tomb. We should treat that room as such.

My thought for the week comes from a sign on the wall of a members home. "Someday is not a day of the week." Straight up. With being so into goal setting and keeping lately, I loved this quote. And then I had this thought. This is totally one of God's favorite quotes too. Elder Eyring even said "There is danger in the word someday." God whole purpose in this life is to help up progress. When procrastination steps in, it halts our progression, hence halts our progression to our eternal salvation... WOAH. So how do we progress? In Alma 34, Amulek testifies of the importance of Faith UNTO repentance. Faith in Christ comes first. Then after we truly believe Him to be the Son of God and believe in His redeeming power, that motivates us to want to change, aka repent. So when we do those things, that helps us change to who God wants us to become, and then we begin to progress to our eternal goal. Faith and Repentance is the key for eternal happiness.

It has been an incredible honor to serve as a full time missionary. I still have one week to go. I will do no more and no less that what The Lord expects of me right here, right now. As someone told me lately, where you are right now is exactly where God would have you be.

Love you all so very much! I am excited to see you, but you'll have to give me one more week! "Called to serve Him, Heavenly King of Glory!"
Be blessed
Sista Poulsen

Photos: The L's took us to Norfolk to see the ship yard... largest in the US I believe.... sooo cool!!!,
mowing that lawn,and colonial Williamsburg, another fun sister sunrise.

We Go To the Hospital (Don't Worry)

Aloha!

Another whirlwind week! This Monday the bishop's wife took us to the Virginia Living Museum! It was full of Virginia native wildlife and trees and such. Super cool! You know me and animals :) We took plenty of pictures to capture the magic of the beauty of Virginia!

This week was also full of random acts of service. We walked out of a complex and saw some lady struggling with a big box, walking her dog, and trying to talk on the phone at the same time. Talk about multitasking... so we jumped right in! She was grateful and we sent her on her way with a smile :) Another thing the same night was a member needed some help ASAP and we happened to be super close to her area so we went right over and helped her out a ton! God is just perfect at putting us in the right places at the right time... want more examples? Here they come.

We had planned to visit a less active member. We were in another area and we were deciding whether to stay and do a little more work in that area or go see the less active. They came to my mind strongly so we headed over there. Turns out they were having some issues with their printer! They did not know how to put the ink in, so I showed them how to do it! (thanks mom and dad for teaching me how to do that or I would have been stumped!) Then they were having more issues printing the thing they wanted to print. After a while we finally figured out the problem and got it going for them again! They kept saying "Wow, you sisters don't know how much that helped! God truly sent you today!" Then later that evening, we had to head back to the church to do something that we were going to do earlier in the day but ran out of time. We walked in and there was a husband and wife cleaning the church... alone! They looked at us and asked if we could possibly help... YES! So that was also a miracle. God loves all His children, and helps them whenever they need! It was such a privilege to be in the service of God this week.

We have also visited the hospital a few times this week... don't freak out it was not for us! Our investigator's mom is in the hospital as well as a less active member. Both times we had to wear these very fashionable gowns and gloves. I loved it being all about the medical field stuff. Both people are doing well, so no worries there :)

We have also done a lot with organizing our map and area boundaries this week, phew! We have a map in the apartment that we are putting stickers on with all the names of the people in our area. It's long and tedious, but must be done!

The Spanish missionaries also met with us and re-arranged their borders. Spanish work is SO much different than English. They cover LARGE amounts of area, with not a ton of ward support. But they are on fire teaching and preaching the gospel! I have so much respect for them. They are amazing!

More business stuff: We met with President Hamilton again! He is one of the greatest stake presidents ever let me tell ya! We told him that the ward mission leaders in our zone were struggling to fulfill their calling just because they need a little guidance. It is hindering the missionary work. So President Hamilton was all "Okay. Well, let's just have a meeting with them and train them on their calling!" BOOM done. It is already set up and in motion. I will be long gone by that time but that does not matter. I am just excited that it is happening!!! He rocks!

Then I went on exchanges in Yorktown and met some wonderful wonderful people! I always learn something new and amazing on exchanges! Sister Jones is a powerful teacher and loves everyone and this work! Her enthusiasm really gave me the boost that I needed!

Our recent convert that fell down her stairs and broke her foot is doing so much better! Now that she is back on meds and feeling better she is going to get into a "serious study of the Book of Mormon" she says. Can't wait! The Book of Mormon changes lives!

My thought for the week comes from the wonderful sacrament meeting we had about the peace that the Holy Ghost brings. One of the speakers said something that I just loved. He talked about how the Holy Ghost is our "Moral Compass." Lots of people describe the Holy Ghost as their conscious. And that is totally true! Our spirit and the Holy Spirit talk to each other. They are on the same path, to return to the Father. But when "the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak." Our physical shell is the enemy. That is where the Lord's commission to "put off the natural man" comes in. How??? How do we do such a seemingly impossible thing?? Let me finish the scripture. "...and become a saint THROUGH the atonement of Jesus Christ the Lord, and become as a CHILD..." When we center our life on Jesus Christ and what He would have us do, by becoming like a child, that is when out body and our spirit can become aligned and the Holy Ghost can be our moral compass to help us return to our heavenly home.

This week is looking pretty good! Got interviews with the Mission President and I get to go on exchanges in the Spanish area! I don't speak Spanish so this should be interesting :)

Love you all so very very much and I will talk to ya next week!
PEACE OUT, BE BLESSED
Sista Poulsen

Happy Birthday America!!

I will try to condense the craziness and AWESOMENESS of this week to the short version.

Monday: A member took us shopping! It was such a fun time, have not done that in an while! It was nice to get some cute new clothes :) So mom don't worry about sending me anything else, I am praying it will all fit in my suit case! Then we just had some good powerful lessons after with some of our solid investigators.

Tuesday: 4th of JULY!!! SO fun! In the morning, the ward put together a pancake breakfast! S and M (investigators) came and had a great time! Everyone was all dressed up and the food was delicious! I love our ward :) Then we had a good lesson with M, studied the scriptures, and then got ready for a rocking party at the H's! They invited all the sisters in the stake over to celebrate the day! It was so nice of them to invite us over! We had a DELICIOUS meal (hamburgers, watermelon, chips, cake etc) Just the way America should eat :) Then we played some super fun games with even more candy! I was on a sugar high for sure! It was fun to just be with the sisters and have a good time! then we had a water balloon fight to seal the deal! Perfect. Then the rest of the day we cleaned our apartment and prepared for our training in zone conference. But in the evening we went firework hunting! We found a bit empty parking lot and just chilled on our car waiting to see something. We did see some so we counted it as a success! And to wrap up the night perfectly, we got Fro-yo at 10 at night. #blessed #GodblessAmerica It was a fantastic day

Wednesday: Zone conference! It was wonderful! Our training went well, all thanks to the spirit! We are trying to prepare the mission to receive LOTS of new missionaries! 30 this next transfer, and 26 the next! PHEW that is a lot! So we talked about how to help these new missionaries adjust to their new way of life. President Weed gave his thoughts on obedience. They were wonderful. He talked about Striving to be obedient. Only Christ was perfect and could be exactly obedient. We can only strive to do our best. That is what God asks. Lots of good things :)

Then the BIGGEST miracle happened! A month a go we were teaching this guy who had a lot of potential and wanted to know God! But he disappeared on us! For a month we have not been able to contact him. But Wednesday, we were in the area and decided to try one more time... we were walking up to his complex and THERE HE WAS... Outside! I yelled out to him, he turned and smiled! I was afraid he was going to run away... phew glad because I would have run after him to give him the Book of Mormon we promised to give him! Anyway, he told us he had been in Chicago for the last month... OH NO WONDER. And that he was moving there... LIKE THAT NIGHT... IN 2 HOURS... WOAH. It was such a miracle that we saw him! God set us up for that perfectly, thanks! We gave him the Book of Mormon, and told him to text us his address when he got there... HE TEXTED US! AHHHHH so we immediately sent his info to the missionaries there! It was such a tender mercy, he will be baptized one day!

Thursday: We did some service for a member, she needed a vacuum so we brought ours and vacuumed her living room! Silly me though. I did not know how to empty the darn thing. But when I finally figured it out, I used my big muscles to pull it out. It seemed to not like that so he opened up on me and dumped all the nasty cat hair, dead bugs, cheeto crumbs onto my skirt... thanks. Good thing it was a skirt that I do not like.

Friday: More service! A member has been CRAZY busy keeping watch over her grandchildren, so we miraculously caught her home and just helped her out around the house! Made the beds, vacuumed (no incident this time) and other things she needed. Then she fed us dinner, she is a rockstar!

Saturday: Exchanges with the Poquoson Sisters! We did some service in the morning at the C's, we chopped wood! But not with your ordinary axe... we used a horizontal log splitter! You just used some leverage and arm strength to force the log against the axe head and "pop" it splits nicely for you! The rest of the day was just filled with teaching and testifying, my favorite thing! We taught tithing using goldfish too, that was very fun, and delicious (thanks mom for sending those!)

Sunday: Sister Fahey gave a GREAT talk in sacrament! As I was in the chapel, I just felt so much love for EVERYONE. I love being a missionary :) The other meetings were great too, and both our our wonderful investigators were there and had a great time! Our members just scooped them up, we don't even have to worry! Then we stayed after for choir... just the 6 of us! We were praying for angels :) Then we had a great meal with some members, and then had a super productive meeting with the High priest group leader about helping out the single sister in the ward and helping him out with home and visiting teaching stuff. This ward is finally coming together!

PHEW. Short enough for ya? So yeah, let's just wrap up and say it was a swell week :)

Thought for the week: Something I have been thinking about lately is the fact that our purpose on this earth has 2 parts. One: to prepare to return to God. We prepare by living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But Two: Is to be successful in this life. I read that in Preach my Gospel this morning, twice! That not only does God want us to return to Him again, but He also wants us to be successful and happy here. I have been pondering that since I have been making goals for my future and planning on what I want to do when I return home. I know God will not leave me alone. Nor any of us alone in our decision. As we strive to be obedient (as president weed has confirmed) then God will guide us along the path to not only be with Him, but find SUCCESS and HAPPINESS in this life, something i think we all strive for.

http://www.ldsliving.com/3-Questions-to-Help-You-Transition-after-a-Mission/s/79872

Being a missionary is BLESSED y'all. I love it.
Have a fabulous week, catch you later!
LOVE Sista Poulsen

Love this sisters!

Finally getting and home grilled hamburger! 

Sister Poulsen's Planner collection

What a Wonderful World

Hey there one and all! This week was a bit on the long side, but that is okay because we had adventures everyday! Sister Fahey is good at picking out the good, fun, adventurous things throughout the day so it turns out being awesome!

We started the week off right by going to the Mariners Museum here in NN. And the best part was tickets were on sale... normally $13 a person... each ticket was literally $1!!! WOAH #weareblessed #Godlovesus It was a pretty neat museum! LOTS to read, but it was all about how the navy got started and wars and such. It was very neat and quite worth $1.  http://www.marinersmuseum.org/

Then we had a big meeting with the leadership in the mission on Wednesday! Good things were discussed about the upcoming transfers. This transfer, Aug 1 there will be 28 missionaries leaving the mission, and 30+ coming in. And the transfer after that we will get 25 ish more. That totals in about 50 new missionaries in the next few months... WOAH. That is a lot of new people! So we are preparing all the missionaries this transfer to be prepared to recieve and train all these newbies! It is going to be LEGENDARY!

Our ward, again, is amazing. Our recent convert F fell down the stairs and broke 3 bones in one ankle and fractured the other! There were neighbors there right away to help her. Her sister called us ASAP and we got over there the next day to see her in the hospital. We started spreading the word through our ward mission leader and relief society president. They did their jobs perfectly and priesthood blessings were given and visits were made. F felt SO loved and cannot wait to be able to go to church to fellowship with all the wonderful people who helped her in her time of need! She is recovering well now back and home and sisters are bringing her meals and love. It's so wonderful what a community of Christ can do for people in need :)

We helped out a returning less active then clean her house up a bit! And then she took us to Tuscanos Brazilian grill... that was quite the adventure! Meat was just walked around and dropped on our plate and all this yummy interesting Brazilian food in a HUGE salad bar. It was so cool!

Then more service of moving wood and harvesting seeds from exotic flowers. I have sure learned a lot about gardening here on the mission!

Sunday we attended both fast and testimony meetings. One on base and one in the ward. Both were filled with the spirit of patriotism and love for Jesus Christ! Those two go together pretty well I think :)

Thought for the week: In Alma 60:36, Moroni is writing a letter to the judge over the land. The judge has not been helping the army in their war against the lamanites. Moroni ends his letter by saying this "...I seek not for power, but to pull it down. I seek not for honor of the world, but for the glory of my God, and the freedom and welfare of my country..." I feel so honored and privileged to be in the birthplace of America, as well as to be surrounded by men and women like Moroni. When we talk to the soldiers on base, they are always talking about how glad they are to be serving their country. They fight so others don't have to. They keep the peace so their children can grow up free. Their testimonies of how this country was based upon God and doing the right things are strong. I love being here to celebrate with them. It is truly an honor.

This coming week is CRAZY! The 4th is tomorrow, and the H family (members) have invited all the missionaries in the stake to come over for a cook out, games (missionary appropriate of course) and a water balloon fight! SO EXCITED! There is also a breakfast in the morning at the church for the ward as well. Lots of food tomorrow! Then Wednesday, we have our zone conference, and then lots of set appointments after that! We also have service lined up a few days, and then an exchange at the end of the week! PHEW it's going to be busy but so good! Can't wait!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!! 'MERICA!!
Be blessed
Sista Poulsen

Q:  Yesterday was your last Fast Sunday on the mission.  How was that?
A: We went onto base for my last one and I stood up and talked about goals and how that literally is our whole purpose in life! Our  ultimate goal is to get to the celestial kingdom again! And when we extend commitments and such as missionaries we are helping people make sub-goals to accomplish that plan! It was great :)
Speaking of goals, thanks for the FABULOUS package! It totally made my day! And now we have some sweet stuff to wear tomorrow! YEAH! And all the goals helps were sooo good! Especially Makayla's blog post, that was awesome. THANKS!

You Don't Have to Understand it All....

And the last transfer begins!!

My new companion is such a gem! Her name is Sister Fahey! She is 23 years old, hails from Blanding, Utah, is super sarcastic, loves people, is a great gospel teacher, and just loves to have FUN! Everything you would want in a companion! Oh and bonus, she LOVES Lord of the Rings too :) This is going to be a LEGENDARY transfer. That is my theme for this transfer. MAKE IT LEGENDARY.

So I was with the Poquoson sisters for a bit after sending Sister Nelson off! She will be missed! That was a fun few days! The L's helped us conserve miles a bit and so we got to be with them for a few hours. We called it the party truck, because it was quite the party! They are wonderful :)

We have a pretty new district so we got to meet them on Friday! Sister Jones is training a new sister, and a few of the elders got switched around as well. We did some really fun activities, including playing with play-dough. YUP. Missionary work is fun :)

We had dinner with a less active and his son one night. We had these delicious steak, broccoli, and mushroom kabobs :) But it is so fun to teach these people, and see the light of the Gospel start to fill them again. Ugh I just love being a missionary can't you tell?!?

We got to attend ward council Sunday morning, it was AMAZING. I can't stop bragging about this AMAZING ward that we are a part of!! They just understand what their callings are, and they execute them to the fullest. They understand that we should be focusing on individual families and people, and that is such a relief for us! It takes the burden off of our shoulders. We are so concerned about so many people, so when the ward council steps in and helps out, it is such a wonderful thing!

Something super strange and hilarious also happened! So sacrament meeting had come to a close and just before the closing prayer the high council brother jumps up (literally) and says "Brothers and sisters the bathrooms have been clogged and are not working so there will be no more meetings after this. You are free to go home, thank you." WHAAAA? We totes thought it was a joke at first, but NOPE is it some city rule that if the bathrooms in a building are not working no one can be there. SO church was pretty much cancelled for the rest of the day! HAHA crazy right?? We felt bad because the elders has so many investigators there and we were going to be talking about baptism in the next class! But hey, what do you do :)

Other than that we are just meeting some crazy but wonderful children of God! I am trying to introduce Sister Fahey to people so she can feel confident taking over this amazing area!

Again, if I have not said it enough. I love being a missionary. I love teaching. Serving. Growing. Learning. Something neat I learned from District meeting that I wanted to share for my thought for the week is this:

"You don't have to understand it all to feel it all." 

Sometimes people worry that they want to know EVERYTHING about the church before entering into the waters of baptism. Or people want all their questions answered before trying to come back to church. The list goes on. But, what truly matters is how the church and the gospel of Jesus Christ makes you feel. Do you feel His redeeming love? Do you feel the peace from the Spirit? Do you feel your sins are forgiven as you repent and take the sacrament? Feeling is the key :)

Love you all!!! I love the church!!! I love My Savior!!!
Have a blessed week y'all
Sista Poulsen

Bonus from the Question Email:
Q: How's the weather?
A: Man the heat has been interesting! IT is super nice today, but the humidity that last few days has been killer. It will take me a minute to adjust to the humidity. I don't mind the heat, it's just the feeling of being in a sauna that kills me. :P

Q: What is your last new companion like?
A:She is FAB. Such a funny human, and she just likes to work hard but have TONS of fun all at the same time! It is going to be a good transfer :) She likes to eat junk food and loves lord of the rings :) She's pretty rad.

Note: Tara's cousin is leaving next week for her LDS Mission to London, England.  Kristen will be in the MTC for a few weeks and will fly out on the very day that Tara comes home.  They will most likely pass each other in the air going in opposite directions.
Tara says: Kristen is going to do so good as a missionary. I have a letter for her sitting on my desk right now!  I am going to miss her so much! :( Still praying for a miracle that I can see her at the airport?!?!?) I just love her!

Q: Did you get a homemade/grilled hamburger yet?
A: HAHA almost! Someone said that were going to make us turkey burgers, but ended up last minute not :( SO SAD! Hopefully soon :)

Last Transfer!!

Sister Poulsen and Sister Nelson

Time for another transfer! Sister Nelson is seeing her parents TONIGHT?!?!? They are picking her up, how exciting!!! My new companion will be Sister Fahey, Sister Nelson was comps with her. She sounds great! We are gonna kill it these 6 weeks :)

I hope you all had a lovely Father's Day!

Shout out to my dad for being THE GREATEST DAD EVER. Hands down, LOVE YOU PAP!!! We did something interesting on Sunday, we went on splits so that I could be at Fort Eustis and Sister Nelson could be in our ward with our investigators. So my temporary companion was the senior couple, the Larsens and Sister Nelson went with Sister Corbitt. It was a huge success! Being on base was neat, met a few new guys, heard a beautiful violin solo, and ate some yummy steak! Meanwhile, S, M, and J all made it to church as well!! WOW it was so great to walk in and see them sitting in Relief Society, just soaking in the Spirit! They all had a great experience and they can't wait to come again! So many good things :)

S is just cruising. She told us how before we came she was always depressed and things because she is not in the best living situation right now, but after we started visiting, she says light has really come into her life. She knows this is true it's amazing! What a honor it is to be a part of her conversion. God truly led us to meet her, I know it.

We had a yummy yummy meal at the T family's home as well,- good ol' cornbread and jambalaya . Yes family, I will be making this for you because it's so southern and soooo good. They invited a less active to come as well, and we had a great lesson on the beauty of repentance! Much success that night :)

We also introduced an investigator to the family history center, she really loved it! It is so neat to see people light up with the spirit of Elijah and get so excited! Family History is totally amazing.

We did some service for a less active, as well, Saturday morning. He said that he is just so grateful for us. We make him feel "apart of the church" When he said that Sister Nelson and I said, in unison, "You ARE a part of the church!" He is slowly learning and coming back. It's amazing!

Man, life it just so blessed. Talking to people and testifying of this Gospel is one of the happiest things I have ever done. It is scary to talk to random strangers and the fear of rejection is always there, but after doing it the Spirit just fills me and I know that no matter what, as we testify of the truths that we know, we have done a wonderful thing and God is so grateful for it. So take that as my thought for the week. Testify of the truths that you know, it will fill you with the spirit of God, which is one of God's greatest gifts to us.

This week will be interesting! I won't get my companion till Wednesday so I will be hanging with a few other sisters for a while! But come Thursday, we are going to dive right into the work!

LOVE Y'ALL did you know???? YUP
Be blessed
Sister Poulsen

VA = Virginia with Sisters Poulsen and Nelson

Miracles Will Come

Hello one again!

Another week come and gone, not too much to report on. But an amazing mission tour by Elder LeGrand R. Curtis and his wife! They are wonderful people! It was so neat to be with them for a bit on Friday. To hear their testimonies of the Savior. As a member of the quorum of the 70 he is a special witness of Jesus Christ. So hearing him testify was very powerful. He talked about the difference in hope and faith a lot. As well as his calling and the prophets calling and things like that. He talked about how glorious it is to be in the Lords service! To wake up everyday knowing that you will be strengthening the kingdom of God! Super neat, it was awesome!

We had an incredible church tour with S, and she is now on date for baptism on the 29th of July! She said she felt that Christ was with us as we walked around the church! Sadly her alarm did not go off Sunday morning so she missed church! But she is planning on it next week! I was sad not because we didn't get to report her as a number of investigators at church, I was sad because she was not able to feel of the amazing spirit that was at church. She did not get to remember her Savior as she partook of the sacrament. Church is such an important things in our lives. I have really come to see that.

Our ward is just incredible though! We had a fun activity, a fish fry, Friday night. Our members reached out to our investigators and 5 of them came :O WOAH it was sooo good! Not just the food... haha but the fact that our members are incredible missionaries and our investigators feel so loved and accepted with them! So blessed.

Sunday evening we had a blank schedule, so we exercised faith and prayed and said "Heavenly Father, we will not go in for dinner until we find a new investigator!" BOOM we hit the streets. We were contacting potentials in the GPS but talking to everyone along the way. I even pulled over to offer to help someone with their groceries and we wended up giving them a Book of Mormon! We taught lots of people truths about our church, but none of them technically became new investigators. But we felt God's approval for our hard work for those few hours and He allowed us to go home and make our fajitas (pic included) But it was great to see that as we exercised a bit of faith the miracles that came and the truths we shared! I became happier and happier as we kept talking and contacting! It was a great day in the end!

This week is Sister Nelson's last week in the mission field, so we are going to hit it hard! Can't wait to see the miracles that The Lord has in store for us!

Thought for the week: This comes from out dear Sister Weed. [Mission President's wife] on the mission tour Friday. She said "In the 4th article of faith, it lists the first 4 principles of the Gospel; Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holly Ghost. So where is the 5th principle, Enduring to the End? It is in the 13th article of faith. All the things we read in that article and if we apply them leads us to enduring conversion, which helps us to endure to the end which is to return to live with God and Christ with our families forever." WOAH mind blown! So study the 13th article of faith, but this time with that in mind.

LOVE Y'ALL! Stay amazing, the church is true, and I love to "bring the world His truth!"
Be blessed
Sista Poulsen

Jamestown P-Day

Jamestown Postcard:   Hey There Family! So we took a trip to the historic Jamestown museum! 1/2 of it is inside, the rest is outside.  cool indian village and boat docks to see! But with our luck, the skies opened up and poured! we were drenched and had to go inside cuz of lightning. So we walked around w/our soggy shoes and looked at all the neat relics and information! Pretty neat place! Sadly it was $17 and we didn't get to it all cuz of the rain & time! Sorry for the waste! I'll work extra hard for the this week ha ha j/k.  I'm not sure that's how God works. Pretty cool place I'm in tho! Love it to pieces. LOVE YOU ALL TOO!  I hope trek went well. (Heart) Sista Poulsen

Love God, Love Yourself, and Love Others

WOW! Did this week even happen???

We have had some great things going down! Just full days of teaching and testifying! Our investigators are learning little by little. God is good and the Spirit is working on them pretty hard so that's good :) That is really all that matters.

We had interviews with our mission president and his wife once again. I love them to death! They are just the sweetest and always have such great advice! We are so uplifted by their spirits and it is a joy to be with them.

Another Family Home Evening on base this week as well. They have one at 1 o'clock and one at 6:30 every Wednesday. There are 2 because some of the guys can only attend the earlier or the later ones. Its nice that they do it like that. We read the Living Christ document it was great! Lots of good discussion and spiritualness.

The Living Christ

Oh my!! I cannot stop raving about our members here! They totally understand missionary work! Usually us missionaries have to encourage people to share the gospel, but here - nope! - they already get it and are working right along side us! We had lots of folks who are not members at church and a few were not even investigators! The members just invited them and they came :O SOOO cool. Sunday was super amazing though! Our investigator actually got up and bore his testimony about how he is grateful that us missionaries have shown this to him. Right after that, another brother stood up and spoke right to our investigator and said "Brother, you are doing the right thing being here. I testify..." Then he just bore testimonyof Christ and his gospel and it was soooo spiritual in that room. AND THEN a member came up and invited him and us to dinner tonight to have a lesson in their home!! WOAH. I know right. They are incredible. This work would not progress without them. Seriously.

Great miracles happened on exchanges! I went to Yorktown, which left Sister Nelson here in the News. She was nervous because she has not been here long. But miracles took place! They did some service for members and found 4 new investigators! (something we have been praying for!!) SOOOO amazing!  God is so good to us and truly hears our prayers.

F and B had us over for dinner as well, they are just the best! Recent converts have such a spirit about them! They are both on fire for the gospel and I cannot wait to see them go to the temple and baptize their mother and their niece! What a neat experience that will be for them.

Other than that we are just being diligent and God is blessing us for it! We have been visiting people in our roster that we don't know and the people answer and are so nice and want us to come back to visit them! The past missionaries in this area have truly set it up for success. We are reaping the fruits of their hard work.

Thought for the week: this was given 2 Sundays ago. The 2 great commandments: Thou shalt love The Lord thy God with all they heart... and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self. So at first we would think the order goes

Love:

1. God

2. Others

3. Ourself

FALSE. Let me explain. She said it like this. In the second commandment, it says to love your neighbor as yourself. So if you don't love yourself first, how will you love your neighbor? So the real order is this:

1. God

2. YOURSELF

3. Others

When we love God, we come to understand our divine potential so that helps us love ourselves. When we understand that for ourselves then we can come to help others understand it for themselves too and we begin to see them as God sees them. WOW. Sister Nelson and I were just mind blown! How true this is.

We have another mission tour this week by LeGrand R. Curtis of the 70! WOW so many cool people have been visiting our mission lately it has been so neat! Can't wait to hear what he has to say!

Love you all! I hope you feel the love of the missionary spirit as you testify of Jesus Christ and just shine your powerful example!
Have a blessed week
Sista Poulsen

[bonus content:]
Q; You mentioned needing a quarter for the shopping cart at Aldi's grocery store... what's up with that?
A: HAHA oh yes! you put a quarter in the cart to unlock it and then go around  the store and shop and at the end you lock it back up and t spits the quarter out so you can use it next time its so great! Aldi's is its name, cheap groceries is its game! We get lots of healthy food there for a great price!! Wahooo

Q; Do you need more postcards?
A: Nah. I will probably find a few in Jamestown today... yup you heard right we are going to Jamestown to look around today!!!! Get ready for some cool historic pictures next wee!\k!

Q: How are you doing?
A: Life is pretty good! I have been struggling with thinking about home a lot - like smells and sights and stuff just remind me of things from home. Especially campfire and pine smells. It REALLY makes me want to go camping so bad. So that's been a little hard.

Memorial Day Hello

Good morning one and all!

This week was not too bad! Because God is just so incredibly good to us!! WOW. Just WOW. I love Him, and He loves us.

The week started off with a fun time with a sister missionary that returned to this mission to visit! She was free all day Tuesday so we took her out to a few lessons with us! It was a blast! She is a great teacher and we just killed it! Then we hit up Olive Garden so that was delicious :)

Then Wednesday we had our zone conference! What a neat experience that was! Us and the zone leaders planned it this time instead of the assistants so we were a bit stressed but it all worked out! Lots of good advice on how to help investigators prepare for their baptism interview and how to help recent converts stay active and how to help returning less actives as well. We needed that help because some of our recent converts are struggling. Lots of revalatory things said and learned!

The members here in this are a just stellar! We have had a few lessons with some and we just talk about the people they are trying to share the gospel with! Their testimonies are just too big that they can't hide it! It is so fun and an honor to work with them in this glorious work!

So you know how I said that God is good earlier? Yeah it's true. We had our Thursday planned super well. Lots of good set appointments. Earlier in the day we had made a goal to trust in Gd when things fall through and to be faithful and have fun! SOOO as you can guess God heard our goal, and decided to test us. haha good one! In 20 minutes our whole day fell through. We began to murmur. But then we remembered out goal, and realized that we needed to exercise our faith and have Him lead the way, and He totally did! We were directed to the areas we needed to go and met some great people! All day God lead us and before we knew it it was 9 o'clock and time for bed WHAT?? I was humbled and thanked Him for providing us with the things to do. It can be stressful when you have a blank day. But when you turn to Him, He pulls through, EVERY TIME! This is His work, His vineyard after all, we should involve Him in the work! DUH

We did some more yard work service, which is fun! Seeing all the flowers coming and plants growing! There has been TONS of rain too, along with beautiful lightning storms! So we are sure feeling the humidity!

Sunday was a great day as well! It was ward conference, so the stake president spoke to us. We were also involved in the choir, so side note there, that was a blast! But back to President Hamilton, my thought for the week comes from him: Why do we remember things? What is the point of remembering? Memorial day is a time of remembering. Remembering those who have fought and those who still fight for our country. It is extra special this year to me because we work with so many in the military here. I love and appreciate their service so much, and pray for them often. But back to the question of why we remember, because looking back at things can help us learn, grow, appreciate, and then progress. President used the example of Nephi. Why was Nephi so mighty in faith and could work miracles? Because he remembered Moses. And Nephi said to himself "If God can do it for Moses why can't he do it for me?" When we remember, it turns us to the reason why something happened. For Nephi, it turned him to remember the mercies of God. President Hamilton then quoted the sacrament prayers, and noted how it says "...that they do always remember Him." The power of the sacrament comes into our life when we remember why we are even eating of a little bite of bread and sip of water. If we don't remember, there is not point. But when we look back and remember the reason why we are doing so, that is when we remember our Savior Jesus Christ. He then asked "What are you doing on a regular daily basis to remember Jesus Christ?" That struck me hard. Yes as missionaries we study and pray and teach. But there have been days when I did is because I had to and not because I wanted to. And that made remembering pointless. When you don't remember with your heart, it means nothing. So challenge this week, as we remember our soldiers, remember the one soldier that died for us all.

I love Him. I love y'all. I love Virginia :)
Be blessed, God bless America!
Sista Poulsen


Lisa Said: "We got woken up by the Hyde Park cannon this morning at 6am...
Tara Said:  Awe I miss that good ol' Memorial Day canon :) Lots of people are dressed up in their red white and blue gear today! Other than that there is just crazy traffic here in the city, and Walmart was hoppin' Glad we got there kinda early! We went to another grocery store called Aldi's. WOW it has such good prices on produce and such so we got tons of yummy healthy food there for cheap! I wish Utah had a place like Aldi's!
One more fun story from this morning: We are seeing God's hand in our life! Like today we needed a quarter for our aldi's cart but did not have one so sister nelson was all "God please help us find a quarter" And a second later some lady pulled up and gave us one :O HAHA it was so great!

Lisa Said: We will be having a grilled something get together today...
Tara Said: Grilled something sounds divine. We cut back on the meal calendar because it was taking up prime proselyting time to eat at members houses late at night. The most productive time of the day to find people to teach here in the VCM is from 6-9.  It has helped us to eat healthy and stuff! We are really going all out this week on trying new veggies! It winds up being the same things though... but oh well. When I get home I will be excited to research stuff and have a grill to grill chicken cuz I am obsessed with that right now! We eat salad, assorted veggies, proteins like chicken and eggs and cheese, beans that are good for ya, etc. oh and lovely fruit salads :)

Lisa Says: This weekend we have been browning pounds and pounds of hamburger for trek...
Tara Says:  DON'T REMIND ME OF HAMBURGER. OH MAN I JUST WANT A HOMEMADE BURGER. But I am excited that y'all are getting all geared up and ready to go for trek!

Q: How is the family that you are teaching?
A: AWWWW they are amazing! If we are thinking of the same family... we taught the plan of salvation last night and it was so good! They said we answered lots of questions for them! We brought up baptism and they were all "well I was already baptized, did it not count?" So we kinda told them "sorta yeah" But we did it in a very kind way, and they took it really well! They said they would be baptized if they came to know it's true, and they pretty much know it's true so yeah!!!! We are so blessed to be teaching them!

Q: What is your favorite way to do service?
A: Favorite way to serve is a smile and a wave :) Or just asking someone how their day has been and having a normal human conversations with them.

SD Card in the mail - with MOVIES!

Video:  Cooking with the Sister Missionaries

Video:  Ride along with the Sister Missionaries

No caption - Any guesses?

It is getting hot! 

Current sisters who have served in Franklin, VA