Well last week was the hardest day of my life, but since the CCM president knows that already they make our days SUPER busy. We got right to work doing orientation and learning spanish. My companions name is Hermana Long, she is from Omaha Nebraska and she is also serving in the Chile, Concepción mision. Hermana Burnham is going to my mission and her companion Hermana Peterson is going to Lima Peru.
They are amazing and we have already had serious spiritual bonding time. I love it here. Of course nothing could be better than being home with you guys. I miss you guys all so much but I know that without this gospel I miss you a lot more. Haha that did not make sense at all.
Wednesday (December 31)
we made it to the CCM safe and sound. Thankfully! The people in Mexico literally have no traffic light or rules so it is like insane! I will be so appreciative for good drivers when I get home. We met the President and His wife and their counselors. It was awesome! There are so many great missionaries here. We went to bed at 10....which was early but worth it!
Thursday (January 1)
It was our first official day so we went to classes and met our district and teacher. Hno Saucy is our teacher and he went on his mission to Spokane Washington so he speaks English. Our district consists of the 4 hermanas and 2 sets of elders and a trio. Elders Benson, Dobosz, Hess, Gurley, Holt, Evelo, and Kingsford. Elder Holt Elder Evelo and Elder Kingsford are all going to Concepcion with Hna Long and Hna Burnham and myself.
Friday (January 2)
We taught our first investigator today. I DO NOT KNOW SPANISH! and my Spendlove Spanish does not help....But Guess what happened!?!?!?!? I went into the lesson and we were preparing to talk about how God is our loving Heavenly Father and he has a plan for us. I was able to understand more than I could speak, so I was getting frustrated with myself. Suddenly I started to bear testimony of Jesus Christ. That he is my savior. I was overcome with the spirit and I started to speak and the words just kept coming. THE GIFT OF TONGUES IS REAL.
Saturday (January 3)
This was by far the hardest day of the MTC. It did not feel like a Saturday and we were preparing to teach Russell again. When it came time for lesson we did not feel prepared and when we spoke the spirit just did not feel there. We were WAY off topic and it was not fluid. And my little perfectionist inside kept screaming at me. I did not think I could do this. I thought maybe if I was all alone (no companion) maybe this would be easy. After the lesson we prayed and asked Heavenly Father to bless us as a companionship, that we would be able to teach better and to help us gain confidence in ourselves and our abilities. I was still just really hard on myself. I prayed that night to have an increase of faith. And I did.
Sunday (January 4)
FAST SUNDAY!!! I never liked fast Sundays until now! I loved it! We had to prepare a testimony for sacrament meeting. I did not have any of my thoughts down or any idea of what to say. We have relief society as a MTC. The mission presidents wife, Hna Pratt gave a beautiful lesson about how we need to teach simply and fit the needs of the investigator. READ 2 NEPHI 31!!! After morning district meeting they asked me to play piano in sacrament meeting. I was literally terrified. I am horrible at piano, especially when I am nervous. But I got to play I believe in Christ (which I have not played before) and everything got better after that. They called me to be Sister Trainer Leader for our Zone! I was shocked!! Then they started to have us bear testimonies. They had us go row by row and guess who they made us start with???? ME! Ahh it was so intimidating! But good because my testimony is the only thing I have right now.
We had devotional and listened to a talk Elder Holland gave at the MTC a while ago. He used that example of Peter being called to be an apostle. You know the one he gave in conference about Peter Do you LOVE me? Yeah I liked that one and so when he said that in the talk I just started crying. All we need to do is love God and Jesus and everything else will come into place. "Whom the Lord calls he qualifies". Yeah that has been my motto! Ahh Sundays are the best, they are so relaxing and spiritual. On a mission everyday feels like Sunday, but Sundays feel 10 times more awesome.
Monday (January 5)
Today was hard too. It was a lot of heavy studying and practicing teaching. We gave our lesson to our investigator about the Restoration. I was prepared with all these little quotes from PMG but my c literally talked the whole time. I was explaining how the book of Mormon is similar to the bible and I used that example from Elder Ballard or Perry about how the Bible is one dot and many lines can go through it. But when you have the book of Mormon and the Bible there can only be one line that goes through both of them. I was midway through when I got cut off and she started explaining something that had nothing to do with what I was saying. And then I was not able to talk the rest of the lesson. I was mad. I prayed for about an hour that night. I just talked with my Heavenly Father like I would to you guys. I needed someone to talk to and I could not have had a better listener than Heavenly Father.
Tuesday (January 6)
BEST DAY OF MY MISSION.
Tuesdays are also devotional days. We were blessed to hear from an area seventy. He is Mexican and so they had a translator. Elder Salinas stood up to talk, looked at the translator and said in English "Sorry I am not going to use this". and threw his talk in the garbage. The Holy Ghost spoke to him and told him there was something else the missionaries needed to hear. (whenever someone does that I get extremely selfish and think they did it just for me) The words he spoke were exactly what I needed to hear. He told us a story about an elder in his mission while he was mission pres. This elder was slow in english and extremely slow at spanish. He would literally pray before he said each phrase. When this guy was almost done with his mission he was made senior companion. He taught a guy who was investigating for 22 years. That investigator saw how hard it was for this elder to teach and how much the spirit was with him and desired that for himself. The spirit has its own language and will teach the investigators when you do not have the words to say anything.
I will have to let you read my journal because there is SO MUCH MORE I need to say.
Wednesday (January 7)
We were preparing to teach Russell about Faith Repentance and Baptism. Right before we went in to teach we prayed. And when we stood up we decided to drop all our lesson plans. We went into our lesson TOTALLY BLIND. That is the scariest thing I have ever done! But at the same time it was such a great thing. We did not use PMG our notes or anything. And I felt the spirit so strong. We started out asking him what he needed. He wanted to know why Christ was in the Book of Mormon. And we read with him some scriptures in 3 Nephi. We then started talking about how Christ wants us to follow him. Then baptism came up. When the lesson finished I challenged him to be baptized IN SPANISH. He said no but that he would think about it. I was so happy to have the lesson go so smoothly. And it was seriously perfect. I was happy all night and all day today!
Thursday (January 8)
Today is P-day!! Each district only gets to go to the temple once while they are here. And our district got to go TODAY! It was so awesome! Even though we were not able to go inside we were able to walk around the visitors center. There is such a spirit here that we can not feel anywhere else.
We went in and watched this movie about eternal families. And obviously I have Pace and Poulson blood in me so I start bawling!! They showed this family hiking in the Snow Canyon in St. George Utah. And I lost it! I miss being in St. George with my family! Then they showed a set of grandparents. They were happy and playing with their grandchildren. The little girl asked her Grandma why she had such wrinkly hands. "Because Grandpa holds them so much!" I started crying!! Then the next scene the grandpa had passed on...Dad I started crying. I am crying right now as I am writing this. I miss Grandpa so much! Everyone around me was just sitting there watching me cry.
I am so grateful for eternal families. I know that as we all stay true to the gospel and keep the covenants we have made in the house of the Lord, we can be with them forever! I know that I will be able to see my grandpa again. I know I can be with my family FOREVER. I love you guys to much and I can not wait to hear from you. I really miss you but I could not think of a better thing to be doing with my life!
I LOVE YOU!! And do not ever ever forget that!
Love,
Hermana Poulson
p.s. I want you guys to memorize this:
Invitar las personas a venir a Cristo al ayudarlas a que reciben el Evangelio resturado mediante fe en Jesucristo y Su Expiacion, el arrepentimiento, el bautismo, la recepcion del don del Espiritu Santo, y el preservarar hasta el fin.
