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.
