The POWER of CONVERSION in CAUQUENES

January 25, 2016

Okay so this was our second week in Cauquenes and honestly Heavenly Father has blessed us in SO MANY ways!! I never have been able to learn a sector this fast! We have visited almost every sector (some parts are like an hour walking distance from our house) And I can get us back to our house without a map. I think I have been blessed a lot because I can go somewhere and find my way to a members house or something. Its craaaaaazy!! 

So this week we have a Zone Class about conversion. I have been studying for the past two weeks what it means to be converted. And really its just like everything falls into place. I read about the sons of Mosíah and Alma and Amulek. They are such awesome missionaries. Like it says in Alma 17:3 they Taught with the power and authority of God. I want to do the same. And I have been praying and studying to learn why and how I can do the same. I learned that I need to be my first convert. I need to be truly converted to this church and to my Heavenly Father. They Fasted and Prayed OFTEN, CONTINUOSLY and that is how they KNEW that what they were teaching was true. 

Here in the mission, I am doing that. I know without a doubt that this church is true. And I want everyone to know about it. Here in this sector there are so many Catolicas and Evangelicas and sometimes they can be a little rude (jajaja long story) and If I didn´t know that what I was doing was true I would probably end up crying all the day long ;) But luckily my testimony and my conversion give me the strength to keep going and to find the people that are ready to receive this message.

 Hermana Herrera and I were talking the other day about this. She and I both feel like we are now truly converted. We both come from families that have been members, o sea hemos nacido en la iglesia. (shoot my Spanish is always taking over.)(or were born in the church) pero sabemos que tenemos nuestros propios testimonios. (my mind thinks in spanish...sorry) (But we know that we have our own testimonies.) It's easy for us. We know that the church is true and we have known it since we were babies. Yeah we got baptized when we were both 8, but our conversion has been a gradual, but powerful process. And we are demonstrating it here on the mission. We love the gospel and because of that it's so easy to talk to the people about it. Every person we talk to is a child of God and deserves a chance to listen to this message. (I am so grateful that I have such an amazingly strong companion. She is amazing and we work so well together. I couldn´t do this without her).

This week we also had the worldwide missionary training. MIND BLOWN! Once again we talked about Teaching Repentance and Baptizing Converts. That means that we invite people to ACT. Because if we don´t do it no one else can invite them to change. Elder Anderson of the 12 gave a FABULOUS talk about that. Our missionary purpose (and member purpose) is to "Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." We INVITE and we leave them Compromisos. And if they do the commitments they are showing that they are Repentant, that they have a change of heart. And if the people have this change of heart they will be BAPTIZED!!! AND not just baptized baptized, but will be converted members!! I love it! I know that the prophets are reveladores de la verdad!(Revealing the truth)

Elder Bednar spoke about the Spirit. I feel like his talks are always so POWERFUL! He always talks about the spirit and I feel like its always exactly what I need to hear. He said that we need to let the spirit giude us and that if we are prepared and if we plan with the spirit that we will TEACH by the spirit. Sometimes I fall in a routine and start teaching and suddenly in the lesson I feel the need to just say something, it could be something I studied that week or something from the scriptures or the liahona. And BOOM that is the spirit taking over. I love the scripture that talks about how we are instruments in the Lords hands. And with the help of the spirit we can do that.

Sorry that this email has little or no significance for you. But really its kinda like my mind blows every week. I learn so much! 

Hermanita Poulson

Whitewashed and Sunburnt

January 18, 2016

Haha I think my title was pretty clever!!! Haha so pretty much this was the craziest week of my mission. I don´t know why Heavenly Father trusted in me to do a whitewash but it is pretty fun, and slightly stressful. We took the sector of the Hermana Lideres and so I feel like the members expect us to be amazing or something...and so its just gonna take some time. ¡Oh que Bakan! At least I am with an AMAZING companion who works even harder than I do and is full of LOVE for the people. She is incredible I mean it. Hermana Herrera is from Peru in a part called Tacna. I think that is how you spell it. Anyways it has been quite an adventure.

Cauquenes is GREAT... Its a rama (branch)...and its a lot of old grumpy people. Haha it reminds me of the movie UP and how the grumpy old guy (I can´t remember his name to save the life of me...) doesn't really want anything to do with the little wilderness explorer guy (his name also escapes me)....So we are persistent, like the wilderness explorer and we never give up. The upside is that everyone is from the campo (country) and are super friendly. The first day we were DYING of heat and some nice lady gave us water. The other days we have gotten Igos (figs...ewww) Frutilla (strawberry) Sandìa (watermelon) and ICE CREAM!!! All from random people on the street or people that we enter their homes. How cool is that!!?? I call those my tender mercies of the day! 

There is so much work to do here. And I love it. It's only my first week and the both of us are kinda stressed and overwhelmed but at the end of the day it is always so rewarding to look at all the miracles that are happening here. God really does prepare people to receive the message of the restored gospel. The coolest experience happened Sunday night. We tried to look for a menos activo and couldn't find her house and so we knocked on what we thought was her door and nobody answered. So then we turned around and asked a group of people (humberto y so familia) sitting outside their house if they knew her. They said she lived in another house and so we turned to go find the hermana nicole...but the guy (humberto) asked if we could share something with him. So we sat and talked with him. He shared with missionaries before but they never came back (he wasn't doing his compromisos (commitments)). And he was SUPER receptive!! He acepted fecha and we are going to visit him a lot this next week. We are working with 2 more families to help them get married!! I haven´t ever worked with that before, usually just people with the Word of Wisdom problems!!! But there is Tons of work to do with them. 

Well I am just so excited to finish strong! I can´t believe all the changes that have happened in my life these past couple months. I am learning so much about the person I want to be and the importance of being truly Converted. There is so much power in your conversion. I think I told you about the time that my Zone Leader asked me what conversion meant and if I was really converted. I have been thinking so so so so much about that. And now I finally feel confident. The spirit hit me really strong the other day as I was feeling stressed and lacked the energy to continue....and I just prayed to help me remember why I was here. And now I know. I have been so blessed to have the gospel in my life. I have let the gospel and my time here in the mission change me. This is why I am here. So that others can know about Christ, not only that he died and suffered for us, but that he LIVES. And that he continues to teach us and help us change. That is what true conversion means to me. And I will leave you with the invitation of Elder Bednar (thanks mom for the quote that inspired my email today) 

I invite you to find time today to pause and assess your own personal conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is a difference between having a testimony and being converted. Testimony alone is not and will not be enough to protect us in the latter-day storm of darkness and evil in which we are living. Your testimony is important and necessary but not sufficient to provide the spiritual strength and protection you need in this day.

Remember that your testimony is spiritual knowledge of truth obtained by the power of the Holy Ghost. Continuing conversion is constant devotion to the revealed truth we have received—with a heart that is willing and for righteous reasons. I hope each of you will recognize the consistent, devoted effort needed to be converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Con muchisimo amor y Besitos y brazos (rojos y quemados de mi tiempo en el sol), (With much love and kisses and arms red and burned from my time in the sun),

Hermanita Poulsonita

I'm going to the CAMPO...!!! de nuevo!!!!

January 11, 2016

Well as you can tell it was cambios today!! I am officially out of Hualqui....and it is so hard!!!! I am going to Cauqenes which is a little farming community known for wine...well we will see how it goes. I am crying. I feel like an emotional mess every time that I have cambios. Its crazy how much you can love the people and forget about yourself. I have learned that I really am not here for me. At the beginning of the mission I was really focused on all that I could get out of a mission...silly me. These past couple weeks I have just been giving my all, and that is when I can see the difference.

OH continuacion from last week...I have things that I learned last year.

11: that Chilean food really isn't that good. But I still eat it and it still makes me fat.

12: that really anyone can accept the gospel. I had an investigator in Talcahuano who was smoking marijuana and after I left he got baptized and is ACTIVE. Also that Flaites are really cool and even can have desire to hear the gospel. And also that people change their hearts when they hear the gospel message!!! Thanks Spirit!!

13:  Feeling the Spirit is the most important. If the people can feel the spirit it doesn't matter what is being said, they will want to hear the message and change.

14: Love everyone, even the really hard to love people. And to smile because that is the most important thing that I can do right now.

15: that Chile Concepcion is the best mission in the world. Just ask the 200+ missionaries that are here now! We love it and we love the gospel!

Oh other things that happened last week....well new years day my INVESTIGATOR died. Yeah and not like the missionary word for die...he took his own life. And we went to visit his Mom who is a menos activo...oh my that is about the saddest thing I have ever done in my life. All this week we have gone to visit her. Luckily she has the support of the ward now. 

My investigators...well we are still trying to find them. We taught Brenda...she is AMAZING! we had a lesson getting to know her and her history with the church. She is an old investigator and her family is less active. But she is awesome and we talked about the Atonement of Christ. And all throughout the lesson I just kept feeling that we needed to talk about repentance and so it was perfect the topic of the atonement. She accepted fecha por el 31 de enero but she couldn't come to church yesterday...booooooo.....but oh welll. Hermana Forest will help her come to church and get baptized. 

The other person is Anita she is like 60 and is Evangelica. But she told us she wants to be baptized and to become clean again. WOHOOO!!! We found some really good people. Hermana Forest will have to help her too!

The conversos....oh how I love them!!! I am crying so hard. I don´t want to say goodbye to Cristel or Zaida...this is seriously the hardest part of missionary work. I hate saying bye to the people. It is harder than walking everyday in the sun trying to find people who want to listen, it is harder than the doors shutting in my face...yeah I would do that all day everyday if only I could stay with the people forever! I just pray every day that these people live worthy of their covenants and go to the temple. And then I know that I will see them again  -  in the CELESTIAL KINGDOM!!!! (that is if I make it there...jajajaja)

Hay una cita de un mensaje mormon que hermana forest y yo amamos, dice algo asi: A veces no pensamos que lo que Dios quiere por nosotros es mejor que lo que tenemos nosotros ahora. 

There is a quote from a Mormon Message Sister Forest and I love that says something like : Sometimes we do not think that what God wants for us is better than what we have now .

In english I think it says that what God has in store for us is much greater than what we have right now. 

This is the motto of my cambios....I don´t know why I have to leave Hualqui and open a sector. I don´t know why Heavenly Father trusts in me. But I will keep going. It's always hard to leave home, but if I can trust in Him and what he wants for me, I will always have hope. 

su hijita favorita, (your favorite daughter)

Hermanita Poulson:)

I just realized how old I am ...

January 4, 2016

As you know its officially 2016! WOW that feels a little weird. I have no idea where the time goes. I feel like just yesterday I was a little (tiny and thin) soon to be missionary who set out on a journey that would take her from Mexico to Chile. I had no idea what to expect... but I did what every good person does and I went forward with Faith. And now one year later, I know that I can´t do it alone. And I am still going forward with Faith. 

I just want to say 15 things that I have learned here on the mission that have Changed ME.

1. I have a testimony. I feel like I always have had one but really when I think about it, my testimony was so weak before the mission.

2. I know the importance of DAILY prayers. I prayed before the mission, but my prayers were so different. They were focused on me and they weren't all that specific. But now I really feel like I am talking to someone, and not just anyone, I am talking to my Father in Heaven and He really does listen to me.

3. I know that Christ is my Savior, Redeemer and Friend. I am only beginning to understand what the atonement means for me. Hermana Miner and I had this talk. She is at the beginning of her mission and I am at my year mark. She asked me what I wished I would have known in my training. And I told her, how to use the atonement. We read the talk by Jeffery R. Holland about missionary work and the atonement. I LOVE THAT TALK.
https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/03/missionary-work-and-the-atonement?lang=eng

4. I have learned to laugh a lot more. I feel like I have always been happy but never as happy as the time here on the mission. Some days stink, and so I have learned to laugh... at myself, at something dumb that I said in Spanish that doesn't translate...just silly little things.

5. I have learned that really all you need to do be a good singer is sing loudly. hahaha The people here really don´t have tones...just a bunch of people singing loudly! I finally don´t feel so untalented.

6. I have learned to LOVE people. Not just the members that accompany us, but really everyone. All the members, even the fome (boring) ones, and all the people en las calles (in the streets), even the smoking ones. It's like that talk by one of the new apostals, you need to see everyone through the eyes of our Heavenly Father. 

7. I have broken out of my shyness shell. I don´t know why I was ever shy. I don´t know how I made friends before the mission, because I never really talked. But here I have the confidence to just go and talk to cualquier persona en la calle. Hablo de las cosas del mundo y despues del evangelio y porque estoy aquì tan lejos de mi casa. Siempre las personas me escuchan...por lo menos un segundo.(anyone in the street. I speak about the things of the world and after that I speak about the Gospel and because I am here so far away from home. The people always listen to me.... at least a second.)

8. I have learned that the gift of tongues is real. As you can see in my letter I am writing in Spanish or English, I don´t really know which, and half the time I am sitting here trying to figure out how to say stuff in English. Well, maybe i still have lots of work to do with my Spanish but at least I can talk a little better than a year ago.

9. I have learned that the scriptures have the answers to everything. Seriously I have had several questions and I have found the answers in the Book of Mormon. My companions and I have prayed and searched the scriptures to find answers for investigators and seriously I LOVE reading the Book of Mormon. I hope never to lose that love.

10. I have learned patience. Yeah I don´t wanna remember a couple cambios ago when I was dying and I just prayed to leave the sector or to change companions, but in those 3 months I learned so much about paciencia and to just keep praying and trusting in the LORD and HIS TIMING.

11. I have learned to 

Jacob 7:26-27 And it came to pass that I ,HERMANA POULSON, began to be old... I conclude this EMAIL, declaring that I have written according to the best of my knowledge, by saying that the time passed away with us, and also MY MISSION passes away like as it were unto us a dream... and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieu.

(I will finish next week sorry I don´t have time....)