Proper

Pictures!!!

1. My companion from the MTC, Elder Harris. What a stud. I don't even know where he is anymore though. Somewhere in the mission, I guess.

2. This is Brother Smart, one of my MTC teachers.

3. Clouds between Holland and England

4. Elder Chardon!

5. The sun exists in England! Its actually been really sunny this week. People are saying it hasn't been this sunny in a year though, so I guess I shouldn't expect any more of it.

6. This is Jenny's baptism!!! The two elders on the inside are Elder Retzer and Elder Lyman, the Elders that found her in Cheltenham (remember its pronounced Chelt-num) and started teaching her. The guy with the purple pants is Mark Chesters, a fellowshipper. He has quite the style if you can't tell. This afternoon he is supposed to hook me up with a proper English suit. (notice the proper English usage of the word proper. I really like how people use the word proper here. Its very entertaining. For example, someone asked me if I played tennis "properly." I also enjoy the way they use the word brilliant.they just basically use it for anything that is good. e.g. "I got this tie for super cheap" reply: "brilliant")

     Jenny's baptism was so good. She finished reading The Book of Mormon the night she was baptized, before her confirmation and she is excited to start over and read it again and again. One thing that we need to have as missionaries is a vision of what people can become--for example, we met a 22 year old guy the other day (CJ, the black portugeuse muslim), so as we prepare to teach him, we see him in the future being a faithful member of the church and serving as a missionary. He would be awesome at it too because he is super bold. With that vision, we can help people to see that vision for themselves and to work toward it. One of the great things about Jenny is that she already sees the vision of her future self. Even though she only met the missionaries a month ago, she has completely turned her back on her old life and already sees herself being a lifelong member of the Church and raising children in the Gospel. And she will.

     We didn't get to do a whole lot of teaching this week, but we did a lot of finding people to teach and setting up appointments, so the coming week is going to be full of teaching. When I first got here I was really scared of just going and talking to random people but I'm getting better at it. Every time we follow the spirit in going to an area to find someone to teach, we find a person that is awesome and might become an investigator. Its a bit magical. Or maybe God is watching over us very carefully, and guiding us every step of the way. We'll go with the latter. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get ahold of Phil (our miracle find from last week) at all this week, so hopefully we will be able to this week. I also realized that if we truly have Charity, the pure love of Jesus Christ, and we love everyone we see as well, finding isn't so scary. Its more natural to want to talk to people about Jesus when you love them and desire their salvation. It can also make it very frustrating, though, when people reject you and you know that they really need our message.

     This morning Elder Chardon and I prepared a sweet lesson to teach people at dinner appointments and family home evenings to help them feel the spirit with power and have a desire to share the Gospel. We're going to leave all the people who feed us (we usually get fed a few times a week) with committments to take missionary action, and follow up with them later. Its going to be awesome.

     My favorite scripture of the week is 2 Nephi 20:15. "shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?" It is a reminder to us that we are merely tools in the hands of the Lord as He pushes His work forward.

Have a wonderful week, I love you all. (that includes you).

Elder Seth Poulsen