Missionary Work, of Course

We haven't had too many people to teach, but Carly has continued to amaze us. She came to church again yesterday, and brought her daughter with her this time too. She is still working toward being baptised the 8th of November. I had a really awesome conversation with Carly the other night about how as she continues to keep more the commandments she will be able to feel more and more the spirit she has felt as she has read The Book of Mormon and come to church. And once she is baptised she will be able to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and have that with her all the time.

One of the missionaries in our ward here will be flying to Provo this week so that he can go to the MTC and then move on to his assigned mission, which is in Texas. He is an English Elder who was just here temporarily, waiting for his visa to come. We're not sure if they are going to bring in another elder to replace him right away, or if his companion will be but in a threesome for a week with us (three of all together trying to cover the appointments for both proselyting areas--could be crazy!) until transfers next week. We'll see what happens!

This week I began studying patience. It is so awesome. I learned that continually being faithful to the commandments of God and accepting His will and His timing is demonstrating patience. Remember, God is good.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

Converted by the Spirit

Our friend Carly who told us upon first opening her door that she would "tell us all the reasons she would never join our church" has quickly become one of the most incredible and full-of-the-spirit people who I have taught on my mission. She has been converted through reading The Book of Mormon. She just absolutely loves the book. The more she has read it and felt the spirit, the more she has changed. She now has the goal of being baptised on the 8th of November. We really hope we can help her to make it. Yesterday she came to church and absolutely loved it. The ward here is incredible too, we didn't have to do anything once we got her in the doors--there were members coming up and talking her, sitting with her, taking her to the different classes, it was so awesome. Yesterday after church she was trying to describe how she felt, being so full of the spirit. She said so correctly, "I don't even know to describe it. To put words to it would almost be to take away from it." I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost as it is present in my own life, and that I am able, as a missionary, to help other people to experience the great peace that comes from living the Gospel.

I hope that we all continue to do all we can to have the presence of the Holy Ghost in our lives always.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

God is Good

This week we had our interviews with the mission President. That was a good experience. I had the extra opportunity of being able to have an interview to renew my temple recommend. The first two questions asked relate to our belief In God the Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Saviour. These questions touched my heart with such great power, I was nearly brought to tears. I realised that during the last year and a half of serving the Lord full time, my knowledge of and closeness to the Father and the Son seem to have grown so very much. Regardless of how frustrating this work can be, I must always remember how good God really is.

We've been teaching the lady who said she would never join our church--her name is Carly. Its been an experience. She has been reading the Book of Mormon though, and I have great faith in the converting power of The Book of Mormon. So we'll see how this goes. Tomorrow evening we will have a lesson with her in a member's home. It will be awesome.

I hope you all have a really amazing week!

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

General Conference

This week was pretty good. I really enjoyed being able to tell people who I met on the street, "there is a prophet on earth today...and he is speaking this weekend!" Hopefully this week I'll be able to say to people, "there is a prophet on earth today...and last weekend he told us about how we should seek to follow the example of Jesus Christ in everything that we do..." Maybe it will actually work sometime.

We met some cool people this week for sure, and were able to teach a few of them. Again, however, we've been stuck at mostly only one lesson for each person, and then they don't go anywhere (yet--there's always the possibility that they'll remember us in the future, of course).

Here's a cool story for you: a few weeks ago my companion and I knocked on a lady's door and she told us maybe we could come back sometime so that she could tell us all of the reasons that she would never join our church. She gave us times that would be best to stop by based on when her daughter was with her or not. We tried by again the next day, but I guess it wasn't a good time again. So we just went by another day and put a family proclamation leaflet through her door (most doors here have post slots on them where the post man (mail man) puts their post (mail) through in the morning--if you're not sure what I'm talking about, think of Harry Potter) with our phone number on it. A few days ago she sent us a text message thanking us for the leaflet and apologising for her rudeness. We will be meeting with her tomorrow morning, I sure hope it goes well.

Martin is progressing really nicely. He is awesome. We taught the Plan of Salvation to him this week and he asked a lot of thoughtful questions. He also told us that he is beginning to become more conscious now of when he is breaking the Word of Wisdom--pretty much his spiritual sensitivity is coming back after having been dulled by years of being disregarded. So that is pretty amazing, it is definitely a step in the right direction. He has reestablished habits of daily prayer and scripture study. 

I hope that you all have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen