People

People here keep on cancelling appointments, not showing up for appointments, etc. Its pretty annoying. Its ok though, we still love them because they are all children of God. We're not too discouraged about it though, we'll just have to keep at it and we'll find the one. I might get transferred this week--that will be fun! Staying here would be great too, I love Swindon. I'm sure Carly will probably Facebook you sometime tonight or tomorrow to let you know what's going on.

After church this week I took some pictures with people. Here's another good one of me with my companion Elder Farrici (the rr is a rolled r sound and the "ci" at the end is pronounced "tsi") one with Carly's daughter Maddisyn (so that when she's a full-time missionary in 16 years, I can prove that I knew her when she was 3), and with my ward mission leader Brother Smutek (he said his hair is white for the same reason that Moses' hair was white). The idea of leaving here is sad because I love it here and I love so many of the people here, but going somewhere new could be exciting too. I hope that wherever I am, I can continue to serve God's children and help them to receive the gospel. Being a missionary is great. I highly recommend it.

I want to share a simple yet lovely insight that I had while reading the scriptures on Saturday morning. These are the verses I was reading, from John chapter 15:

 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

So first, Jesus says that we should love each other in the same way in which He loves us. Directly afterward, he clarifies that the way in which he has loved us is by giving up his life for us. So basically, we need to give up our lives for one another. In most cases, this probably doesn't mean dying for each other. Its more along the lines of what President Monson said in October 2009 General Conference: "unless we lose ourselves in service to others, there is little purpose to our own lives." I hope that this was insightful, and I hope that you were able to feel the same spirit that I felt when I read these verses.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen