POR FIN!!!!!

May 25, 2015

I had the best week of my life! I say that every week but I really mean it. This week was so good!!! I am loving my companion, Hermana Gonzalez, we are the same person only I am white and she is Colombian! We are killing it here in Bulnes. We were struggling this week to find new people. (J) our investigator had surgery so we couldn't visit him and his son says we shouldn't be changing peoples religions...so we are going to give it one last shot this week and have a lesson with him.

It was a good week because guess who finally got a hug from her mom?!?! ME!!! Hermana Arrington gave me a hug and I started crying in front of the Assistants and the Elders of my zone and my companion. But clearly they didn't understand how much I needed my mommy!! Hermana Arrington will never replace my mom, but I think a hug from her is exactly what I needed! (Hermana Arrington happened to be in Utah a few weeks ago and met my mom and my mom gave her a hug to give to me)

So this week we had entrevistas con Presidente Arrington. It was so good to talk to him. He asked me how I was doing and I just couldn´t stop smiling! I am so blessed to have this opportunity to serve a mission. I have so many questions about como yo puedo mejorar...there are so many things I could be doing better...My companion and I both feel a little inexperienced, we have the same time here in the mission ...but I can testify that Heavenly Father put us together for a reason. She has helped me grow so much and I am so grateful for her! I have so much more confidence ahora and I can talk to people without freaking out and without worrying about the language. 

President Arrington said something very profound and it really helped me to have the animo and happiness that I should have as a missionary: "ENJOY THE MISSION. You can be the missionary that has fun and the missionary that has the spirit at the same time. 

I told President that its kinda hard for me to relate to the people. My companions and the other hermanas can say "I know how you feel, I was Catolica before the missionaries came in my life...." He told me that I have been preparing for my mission for my entire life. My purpose isn't to relate to them, it is to bring them to repentance and to Jesus Christ. I don´t need to relate to them exactly, I just need to testify and the Holy Ghost will touch their hearts (corazones) and bring them to Christ.

Okay this is the part of my letter that I am most excited about!!!! Remember (M)?!?!?!  HE GOT BAPTIZED!!! His baptism was Saturday and I felt the spirit so strong! You know that scripture in D&C 18:10, 15-16! Yeah that is all I could think about! I can´t imagine the joy of my Heavenly Father right now! Another one of his sheep has finally come back to the fold of God.

I am short on time, but its because I sent fotos and chatted it up(via email) with you guys! 

LOVE YOU LOTS,

Hermana Poulson

 

12 Milagros (not to be confused with 17 milagros)

May 18, 2015

Week of Miracles!! I am loving the mission. Especially this cambio with Hermana Gonzalez! We are killing it here in Bulnes!

Milagro 1: I broke my toe Monday playing soccer with my zone. It really wasn't broken, it just hurt so bad to walk on and my toe changed colors. I prayed it would be ok so that I can do the work here.It looks pretty sic now and I can still play futbol so that's all that matters right?;)

Milagro 2: somehow we were able to do all our contacts Monday, and walk around all of Bulnes to meet our daily goals. 

Milagro 3: (M) ANSWERED HIS PHONE!!!! I guess he had an accident the Sunday before and that is why he did not come to church or answer our 50 bajillon calls. 

Milagro 4: (M) is alive and well and living La Palabra de Sabiduría! I seriously went into a minor depression when he wasn't baptized and when he disappeared off the face of the earth. But we had 2 lecciones con el esta semana entonces ¡Oh Esta, Todo Bien! I realized I wrote that in Spanish...haha that is why you guys have google translate! 

Milagro 5: I guess you could say my Spanish is a miracle. Haha I am learning tons with 3 Latinas. and I am teaching them English!!! Haha the only problem is, I really can´t remember words in English or how to form sentences. 

Milagro 6: this story of the week is really dumb...but also hilarious if you can imagine how I felt in that moment....

So we were on the bus to Santa Clara and we needed to get off in Pueblo Seco. But someone (cough cough...Hermana Poulson...cough cough) couldn't remember the stop. So we ended up on a little dirt road to Santa Clara and we got off and walked a mile or so back to Pueblo Seco. The miracle was it only took us like 10 minutes to walk all the way and we didn't get hit by any camiones. 

Milagro 7. This one goes along with the previous milagro...So I lost the keys to our house, the church, and the fence surrounding our house. We went out to Pueblo Seco (super campo) to visit a convert. And I guess my keys fell out in his house. The problem was that I did not realize that I didn't have the keys until that night after Noche de Hogar. Entonces I didn't have the keys....and we couldn't call Jose that late at night...so I prayed ALL THE NIGHT and we called him in the morning! He was at work so he didn't answer. He found the keys under his couch next to the wall...How they got there I have no idea! But Hey! Pray works:)

Milagro 8: We have 4 investigators right now. Its kinda hard to balance and visit them all. But Woohoo!!! We are finding people!!!

Milagro 9: This was the hardest lesson ever. The son of one of our investigators was in the house and he is DEVOUT CATHOLIC....and he said that we shouldn't be inviting others to baptism when they already have a religion. I just started talking and all this Spanish came flooding out of my mouth. I have no idea what I said or anything. I started to testify of this church that I KNOW it is true. And I started getting really emotional and said "I would not be here half way across the world, in a country where I don´t speak the language and where people reject me everyday if I didn't know that this was true. I wouldn't be here testifying of the truth and of the blessings of this gospel if I didn't want the same blessings for you and your family." ( I don´t know if that sentence makes sense in English. I am trying to translate...hahah) WooHoo... I have never felt the spirit so strong. I hope I wasn't too contentious, I just needed to say something and that is what came out.

Milagro 10: I played futbol again with converts-angel and jenny, less actives- ronald and roberto. I love futbol and I love sharing the gospel through futbol.

Milagro 11: I conquered my fear of heights and dogs!!! The ball went over the fence of the capilla and I needed to scale it in order to get the ball. They squeezed me through a passage and I climbed a wall in order to rescue my beloved soccer ball. Angel tried to get it but there were 2 big dogs. we found a pan and fed the dogs while I jumped off the wall and saved the soccer ball. I then scaled the wall again and squeezed through the hole. Angel and the rest of the missionaries just laughed. I have so many pictures of my adventures and no usb port to share them....:/

Milagro 12: I get to talk to my family every Monday! You guys are the best and quizás the greatest miracle of all! Thank you for your love and support and your prayers! I love love love love love you guys!!! I wish I could show you how much I love you!....I guess you´ll just have to read this and imagine me giving you the biggest hug you have ever had!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Until next week...

Hermana Poulson

Bonus Milagro: We have a Savior who loves us and know exactly what we are going through. He will never leave us comfortless. He is always here. BUSCALO!!! I just wanna remind you of this. DON´T FORGET all he has done for you and all he is still doing for you. I don´t know how people can make it through this life without the esperanza y paz that Christ brings in our lives on a daily basis. I would not be who I am without Him.

I LOVE MY FAMILY

May 11, 2015

Just saying you guys are the best in the world! I was sooo sooo excited to see you yesterday. I started crying so hard. 

Haha did you love my Spanglish??? I literally am thinking in two separate languages and my prayers are in two languages. Its easier to bear my testimony in Spanish...that is what I do everyday. Haha my goal by the end of this cambio is to forget English! I am teaching the English Class, and the 3 Latinas how to speak English. Woohoo!! And I am learning Spanish!!!!

My friend Angel says Hi.  Angel is preparing for a mission and right now we are working with him and doing practices in PMG. I love being a missionary and doing missionary work. I love this little rama and I have 3 Chilean moms right now to take care of me while I am here. (hna  batarce, hna bobadilla, and hna teresa)

I am a little sad because Manuel did not get baptized this week. And I was really looking forward to that. I worked with him all the past cambio, but I KNOW that he will be baptized. I just think about the Celestial Kingdom and how great it will be to see it filled with Chileans. I want so badly to help everyone see how the gospel can bless their lives. I know that baptisms aren't everything, but here in the mission I feel like that is really how you see your efforts paying off. I know that is not how I am supposed to think, but yeah. Every person I get to know down here in Chile and those that I help come to the Fold will be with us in the Celestial kingdom!

Once again, I am soooooo happy to be a missionary! And with this cambio I have the chance to start over again! We both have tons of faith and energy to work hard! And even though times are hard, we look for miracles everyday. Hermana Gonzalez is AMAZING and I am so excited to see how this cambio goes. She came to Chile the same day as me. We both have 2 cambios in the mission and we are literally filled with faith!

We have seen miracles. I can testify of that! The spirit speaks through me! I can hardly speak Spanish, but there are so many times in contacts and in lessons that I have no idea what I am saying, but it makes perfect sense to the people. There are still times when I can´t understand, and people can´t understand me, but I don´t let that influence my attitude. I am so happy. I have so much faith and love for the people here. I am learning to trust in the Lord more that my own self. And for some reason that is really hard to do. I am being truly humbled here in the mission. I know I don´t know everything, but I am called to represent the One who does. And He will never leave me comfortless. He will never leave me in a situation where I don´t know what to say. If I am prepared spiritually and do everything I can, I know He will put in my mouth what to say and what to do in every situation. 

I can´t think of what else I wanted to say to you... I hope you know I love you and I can feel the support from you guys! 

Love, 

Herman Poulson

La vida de la mision...

May 4, 2015

¡Choi no mas! So it was a sad day yesterday as I said goodbye to my companion, Hna Canchan. We took her to the terminal and just kinda said bye as she ran to catch her bus. This is why this email is entitled la vida de la mision...You spend 24 hours with a person for like 3 months then BOOM she is gone and in my case I will probs never see Hna Canchan because she is from Guatemala. Haha the Gringas I can see again. But my Latinas...O esta todo bien...

Anyways here is my results of cambios...dun dun dun....I am staying here in Bulnes (at least for 1 more cambio) and My compañera will be Hermana Gonsalez (she will finish her mission the same day as me!!! Wooohooo another Latina!!!!) But really I am so excited to have a Latina. Wanna hear how dumb my prayers sounded this past week....I was praying that I would receive a Latina companion. And I think Heavenly Father likes to have a sense of Humor with me because He gave me 3 Latinas!!! I am the ONLY GRINGA IN THE CASA!!! Hna Godown is going to a different sector in inner Concepcion. And Hermana Lino is receiving another comp who is Latina. I am soooooo excited!

Another reason why this is the life of the mission is because Saturday morning I received a call from none other than my favorite Hermana Arrington! And guess what she said!! She called and told me she had a hug and a package from the states! and I started bawling! She started crying too! She said I have a very amazing mom and I am making her proud here in the mission. She told me that you guys love me. (good thing I already know that)=) I literally can't wait until Sunday! It is going to be so much fun!

And I will wait until then to tell you all the good stuff, Just know I love you and I hope I am making you proud. I know Heavenly Father has tons in store for me and I am serving this mission for HIM. My purpose is to be the missionary HE needs me to Be. Pray for Man (my investigator) he gets baptized Saturday!

LOVE YOU MORE THAN YOU CAN IMAGINE!!!
Hermana Poulson

la unica gringa en bulnes

April 27, 2015

I have read a lot in Predicad Mi Evangelio this past week about Misionero de Éxito and Confiar en el Espíritu. I have such a strong testimony of this book! It really is made for us to help us be truly converted. 

Here is a little bit about my investigators. Man came to church! And he is really desirous to be baptized! I have been praying so hard for him! He came to all the meetings. Last week he couldn't come to church and he felt shame so he didn't want to call us Monday or Tuesday. We had an impression to call the branch president and have him call Man. And everything is so good now! They are friends and Man doesn´t feel lonely. He wants to keep commitments to please our Heavenly Father, not us! 

We dropped M and J again. They like to listen and they told us they have experiecned many miracles and blessings in the last 2 months that we have been working with them, but they really "don´t have the time or energy to continue on". I would imagine, they have 3 little kids and they are both working temporary jobs. And they are searching for a place to rent and dealing with her divorce and their plans to get married (not). I KNOW IT IS HARD TO HAVE TIME; BUT REALLY IF YOU PUT HEAVENLY FATHER FIRST EVERYTHING ELSE WILL WORK OUT! I don´t know how many times I have testified of that. Not just to them but to everyone else too. 

Other than that nothing is really different. We are finishing up this last cambio. My companion leaves this next sunday after almuerzo and I am really really really sad. She goes back to Guatemala.

This week isn´t anything too special...but I am trying to see the tender mercies of the Lord in my life. I try to write down the times that I see the Hand of the Lord in my life and in the lives of my investigators. 

 

We had a lesson with Manuel! 

We found a menos activo family!

We ate pizza at Mama Mia!

I didn´t roll my ankle hiking!

I got rid of my fleas! (mostly)

We have hot water to shower!

and lastly,

I got emails from people! I LOVE MY MISSION!!!

Love you all,

Hermana Poulson

A Great Week

April 20, 2015

Hey family! I love you guys!

This week was SUPER BAKAN! We had the conference with President on Tuesday, and the Special Conference Saturday with Elder Oaks. I am amazed and I have the strongest testimony that these men are called of God. I said so many prayers in preparation for these conferences and guess what! They all got answered! It was like Heavenly Father was speaking directly to me! I love the power of Prayers and I love Conferences!

Tuesday:

The Conference was super good! We talked about the faith to find. That really all our efforts in finding come down to our faith. It kinda hit me hard, I am not having the success I want and I struggle to find people to progress. Really I need to have more Faith. I think in our lives we don´t realize the power of our faith. We all at times lack faith and try to rely solely on our own efforts. You would think we would realize how much better off we are with Him. That´s why we need faith.

Saturday:

Elder Oaks was just amazing! Even if it was transmitted from Santiago, it was still awesome! I get so happy to hear his voice! The message was really about how important the Holy Ghost is in conversion. I am not the teacher, the Spirit is. I needed that reminder. He also said something really profound at the end that answered so many of my questions and doubts. Read Alma 7:11-12. That has always been one of my favorite scriptures. But to have an apostle apply that scripture specifically to me, it kinda blew my mind. I love the power of the atonement. Elder Oaks said something really funny and I just had to write it down: "Forget about everything at home. You are a FULL TIME MISSIONARY. You can´t expect all the blessings of missionary work if you are only working part time. Forget your friends, your works, your sports and whatever else keeps your from focusing on the work. And forget the girlfriend at home, I can promise you she will find company;)"

If you can´t tell today we went to the Termas de Chillan! It was super sic up in the volcanic mountains. There was cool steams and hot springs and snow of course!!! I was happier than I should have been! It just looked like home! I can´t believe you guys finally got snow! I am so jealous!!

So Saturday was a torrential rainstorm! And we were caught with nothing to protect us! It was sooooo much fun! The rain is different here...but it is so much fun to walk in the flooded streets! (only when you have rain boots though;))

(Clever name not included)

April 13, 2015

We have a conference tomorrow with President Arrington, I have to play a musical number in front of 3 zones...it scares the living daylights outta me!!! I am excited though:) and then a SPECIAL CONFERENCE this Saturday with Elder Dallin H. Oaks, it is a video feed from Santiago, I am stoked!!!! 

This week our investigator M.  FINALLY came to church! I am so excited! Seriously we have been fasting at least once a week that our investigators have a desire to come to church! We only have 3 investigators right now: J and M, they have that huge family! We dropped them a week or two ago and picked them back up. They have problems smoking and aren't living the law of chastity, so they have lots to work on, but we aren't giving up on them. They really are super good! They have a couple kids that sit upstairs whenever we come to teach. But I know they are listening because I see them poke their heads out from above the steps. Its really cute actually! I saw the boy Danilo praying, and their family isn't religious so the only way he could know how is because of us!!! I am praying that they are my story of success, faith and perseverance. 

The members feed me TONS of food. They all make fun of me now because I have gained about 5 kilos and you can TOTALLY SEE IT IN MY STOMACH AND HIPS!!! They say they are trying to roll me back to the States. I taught them the word foodbaby. They like to tease me and ask me how my foodbaby is doing everyday:)

We played soccer again with Ronald and J (investigator) and Angel. They are the jovenes of this rama and we made sopapillas with Hermano Carlitos (branch mission leader). And we have Noches de Hogar with members and converts and investigators. It is so much fun! I wouldn´t want to be doing anything else with my life. I love my mission and I love Bulnes, even if I am not having the success I want.

I have really learned a lot about what success is. I really feel like a strong relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ is what will bring the most success and having faith in THEIR plan. Sometimes I ask in my prayers and just expect that they will give me what I want. "I have faith that you can help me with this or that" But really that isn't faith. Yeah it is but not faith in THEIR plan. I am learning so much out here....I thought I was spiritually strong before! But BOY WAS I WRONG!!! Another key to success really is Having the Holy Ghost with you. I am still working on recognizing when It is the spirit or if I am just crazy;) Just kidding! I know that everything good comes from God (moroni 7)

Okay anyways, Love you all and I am so glad you got my cards!!! I got letters from the primary kids so tell them Thanks! 

Sorry I don´t have time to write the other kids individually, can you tell them I love them?:)

Love,

Hermana Poulson