Small World Moment

So about a month ago I had dinner with a couple in the ward here and upon my mentioning that I was from Fresno area, they asked if I knew Reed Van Wagenen. I said yes, and they informed me that he, Terry Reynolds was taught the Gospel and later confirmed a member of the church by Elder Van Wagenen 30 years ago. Crazy how these connections can happen. Also crazy that I am laboring in the same area as someone who we know did decades ago. Anyway, I thought it would be cool if you could give Reed their email address so they could be in contact again.  

The work here is going so well. Jan, our miracle door knock find, will be interviewed for baptism this week and probably baptised the week after that (if not that one, the week after that). We have another awesome guy we started teaching this week, a friend of a member in the ward. 

One thing I have learned so much on my mission and I keep learning more and more about it even when I already think that I have already learned a lot about it is loving people, really trying to understand them and their point of view, their situation. Being patient with them. Explaining things in a way that they will understand. Seeing not the bad things about them but the good, and helping them to overcome their weaknesses without focusing too much on them. One Elder in my district taught me about how constructive it can be to use "and" statements in helping people. For example, "I think you are great at x, y and z, and you would be even better if you were to a, b, and c." Above all, I know that God is awesome, He loves us and wants us to be able to learn and become better, so we need to be humble and let Him teach us. Its so awesome! 

Love, 

Elder Seth Poulsen

Julie's Baptism

I unexpectedly had a notice on my screen come on that this computer is about to shut off real soon, so I have not time to write anything. The baptism of Julie went well this week, enjoy the pics. I can explain them more later. 

The other pic is us with a mini-missionary who was with us for a few days, the other one is a reunion of our MTC district, almost a year later. 

Elder Poulsen

*Elder Poulsen's answers to these questions:

Boone: Hey Seth. I am sad to have you not here but it makes me happier when I read your letters. So here is my question: Have you ever cried of joy or of sadness?

Elder Poulsen: Boone, I feel the same way. I am sad to not be with you, but I am always so glad to hear from you whether it be a letter, an email, a picture, or anything. I have cried many times in my life, both of joy an sadness. I think both have happened on my mission as well, as we have many sad and many happy things happen. For example, it is sad that there are so many people that don't want to listen to us teach them about the gospel, but then we also have amazing things happen like J, our friend who was able to overcome her addiction to alcohol and on Saturday she was baptized! 

David: Can it be fun at sometimes while being a missionary?

Elder Poulsen: David, being a missionary is fun all the time. Being a missionary is like going out and making great new friends, and then you can baptize them so you can be friends with them in the celestial kingdom forever. Its so awesome!  We definitely had tons of fun with Alex Watkins, who we taught when I was in Wales. We would play sports with him on p-day and stuff. And even on days where no one really wants to listen to you, you still always have your companion to laugh and joke around with. Its awesome! You also get to do fun stuff like ride your bikes down big hills, ride on trains and on double decker buses, and more. Its different depending on where you go on your mission, but that's some of the fun stuff we get to do here. Today after I'm done emailing, we're going to go play football (soccer) and table tennis with some other missionaries. Its going to be a blast!

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Alex's Question

The only person that had a question for me to answer was Alex, so I will go ahead and answer his question, about what the deal is with the people that we have on baptismal dates. 

J: She's getting baptised this week! She was interviewed by one of our Zone leaders on Saturday and so she is ready to go. At the same time I interviewed a lady that the sisters are teaching, and they are both going to be baptised on Saturday! Double baptism in Rugby. It's going to be awesome. Hopefully the Elders in Banbury who are also in our district will be getting some members to drive them and some of their investigators over to see the baptism so that they will be inspired and they will get baptised too!

J: This lady was a total miracle, I told you about that already. She is currently set to be baptised on 1 March but that probably won't happen because she hasn't been able to make it to church yet due to a family situation. But soon that should be resolved and she will come to church and be baptised! She's in Mosiah in The Book of Mormon.

M: Super awesome guy, he's a retired art teacher. He's the one Elder Eldredge and I were painting with a few weeks ago. He is Church of England but said he would be baptised on the 8th of March if he knew it was the right thing to do and if he had a witness that The Book of Mormon is true. 

G: Really sweet Filipino lady. We haven't seen her in almost a week now though, which isn't good. We've had a bit of a hard time getting a hold of her. She is set for baptism on the 8th of March, which will happen given we are able to help her understand everything she needs to by then (and she comes to church). 

Ya that's pretty much it. Other than that we are struggling a bit for more new investigators. We met this awesome Polish guy named Radek the other day. He said he was atheist. But he also admitted that he isn't really happy with his life, so hopefully his heart will be softened to the impressions of the  Holy Spirit. 

That's all for now, everyone have an amazing week and remember that the Lord is always preparing people to receive the message of the restored gospel. 

Love, 

Elder Seth Poulsen

*Mother's note:  I felt awful because Sunday night I had drafted an email with questions from his little brothers and somehow forgot to push send!

Write Questions to Me

I really have no idea what to write this week. I'm coming up completely dry. Maybe you guys can all write questions to me that you would like answered and I can answer them next week. Then I'll actually write more haha. 

The other day I was cycling and half of my bike lock fell off. I guess it broke. That's okay though, it was a cheap one that I found in my last flat. 

The work is going really well now, we now have 4 investigators with baptismal dates. Hopefully they will actually get baptised! Julie is coming back from alcohol rehab this week, so hopefully she will be baptised next weekend. That will be sooooo awesome! 

Just remember always that God is awesome. What is important to us is important to Him, because He loves us so very much. He is so Good. Never fail to appreciate all of the things He blesses us with. 

Love, 

Elder Poulsen