!!!

I guess I'll just give you guys some highlights of the week:

Zone Conference was awesome! We had some really good inspired training from our mission President about how we are at our best when we are doing what God wants us to be doing. He also talked about how we receive more spiritual power as we keep our covenants, including those which we made in the temple.

For Zone Conference, we traveled to Cardiff, which was cool for a few reasons. First, because I LOVE Wales, and I hadn't been back since I was transferred from Llanelli last December. Secondly, because the missionaries currently serving in Llanelli were there too, so I got to talk to them about how the Watkins family is doing. I guess they have been teaching Fran more recently, but she still refuses to give up smoking for now. I'm not too worried, at this point, I am confident that the Spirit will continue to do its work on her. I still remember the first day I met her (over a year ago now!), she told me she didn't even believe in God.

We had a really good lesson with Martin the other day--I think he really is starting to catch the vision of how he can overcome all his challenges and be rebaptised one day. He is going to make a list of all the things that he has overcome so far and all the things he still needs to overcome to get there.

We taught this cool kid named Rujit from Nepal on saturday. He didn't make it to church, but hopefully he will in the future. I really hope we can start to see some more spiritual progression in at least some of the many people we have met here.

Anyway, have an amazing week!

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

Missionary Miracles!

We've actually had tons of new investigators since I have been here. Unfortunately, they just haven't stuck around for more than one or two lessons. I would like to tell you about some really cool miracles that happened this week.

On Monday night we ran into a member of the Church from California who is here for just over a week on a military assignment. Since we ran into him, we were able to tell him about how we are having our services in a school now, and he was able to come! That was quite cool because he may have missed out otherwise.

On Tuesday I was on Exchange with Elder Greaves, one of the Elders who is in North Swindon, on the other side of town from us. We were out in the town centre talking to people and we had stopped briefly to write something down. While we were standing there, a 17 year old kid named Liam came us to us and started talking to us, asking us what we do. So we told him. We ended up walking down to the library and sitting down and having a proper lesson with him too. He lives right by the other Elder's flat, so he's theirs to teach. But he is so awesome. He came to youth night and church and he has a really humble and sincere desire to change his life for the better.

Later that night, we went, as arranged to go to a skate park to meet up with some kids we had met before. (I don't know if I mentioned it last week, but I started spending some time making friends with kids in skate parks because I was sick of just spending hours talking to random people and having none of them want to listen). We met some new friends there too. Anyway, I told one kid that I would play a game of SKATE with him and if I won he would have to listen to us teach them about Jesus for 15 minutes. He agreed.

After our game finished, I grabbed my Book of Mormon out of my bag and took a seat on the edge of a quarter pipe next to the kid. "This is going to be interesting," I thought. Elder Greaves came over with me as well. Thankfully, the kid, Leon, was ready to listen, and he even went so far as to invite some of the other kids over, beckoning to them with, "hey, are you going to come listen to the Jesus talk?"

As we opened with a prayer, there was another group of kids off to the side making noises and swearing, which wasn't a good sign. But somehow or another they soon disappeared, and we had the perfect setting for a spirit-filled lesson. Five or Six kids listened intently as we spoke of prayer and how it helps us. Some of them even asked sincere questions about prayer and about baptism. It was truly amazing.

Unfortunately, we haven't had the chance yet to teach any of these kids more, but we hope that the opportunity will present itself in the future.

I hope you all have an amazing week, and take advantage of the missionary opportunities that present themselves to you.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

Well here's

the miracle of the week for you: On Tuesday we went to visit our friend Martin and we had a brother from the ward named Iain come with us to visit him. When were driving home, Iain told us about how he first met the missionaries through his brother Nigel, who is not active in the church anymore. After we got home we went out just to walk around and talk to people. And we ran into his brother Nigel! It was crazy. We met with him a couple times, and then he came to Church on Sunday! It was great to have him there. We hope to see some progress with him.

This week was our first week having Church in a school because they are starting construction on the chapel to double its floor space. Swindon ward will be meeting in a school for the next year now. It was a little odd, but the spirit was there notwithstanding it all. President Rasmussen told me that when we talk to people on the street we can tell people, "our church is growing so fast that there's not enough room for us anymore and they have to make the building bigger!"

All of the training in our meetings and exchanges for this month will be on The Book of Mormon and how to use it to help people become converted! I'm really excited for this, because I love The Book of Mormon. So much. I am so glad that I get to read it every day.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

Good Old Swindon

I really do like this place. Its nice. Anyway, our friend Martin came to church again this week and loved it. He got to meet with the bishop too, and they got to talk about what he needs to do to be rebaptised someday. Basically we'll teach him mostly like we would any investigator but he will need to work with the bishop when it comes to actually being baptised.

We also picked up a family from Sri Lanka this week, who have been taught by missionaries before. We'll teach them again this week, hopefully it will be good. We are probably going to be contacting a lot of people this week who were investigators in the past, I hope that with some extra member fellow shipping and commitment, they can make it to baptism this time around.

There's not too much else to say. We're here, working, and hopefully things will work out. I did get a lovely email from Kris in Wolverhampton today, saying how grateful he is for all I did to help while there--he also said he made it to church last week! So good to hear. I really hope he continues to progress.

One thing I've been doing recently is walking around a copy of The Book of Mormon in my hand, telling everybody about how great it is and how it can change their life if they read it every day. Its almost worked a few times. If they would just try it, they would know how great it is. Anyway, hopefully it will work this week.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

*Sent by way of Nana: a picture of Seth with his Nana and Papa's friends (the Daleys) that are visiting England

I feel like there was something funny that I wanted to put as my subject line, but now I can't remember

We had some cool things happen this week.

On Saturday I made a few phone calls asking people if they were going to be coming to church--one was an ex member named Martin who wants to come back--he has been meeting with the Elders here for a while, but but he hadn't been to church in 14 years. He said he would come. And then I called a lady named Becky who is a member, but also hadn't been out to church in years. We met her on Wednesday (I think) when we were out near the Town Centre talking to people. She came up to us and said she is moving soon and wants her new house blessed, and she also said she has been thinking about how she wants to come back to church. She also said that she would come.

Then on Sunday morning, they both came to church. It was awesome!

We have also met a few Chinese people to teach, which is pretty crazy because there are not very many Chinese people in Swindon. One has pretty good English, so I should be able to participate pretty well in the coming lessons with her. The other doesn't have very good English, so when we met with her the other day I was basically just sitting there listening to my companion teaching her in Mandarin. There actually is a chinese family in the ward here too though, so we will have some good fellowshipping for them.

Anyway, doing the work of the Lord is AWESOME. I love sharing the gospel with people.

I hope you all have an incredible week.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

What's a Swindon?

Surprise! I got transferred this week. It was bittersweet of course to leave behind Elder Tupou and the awesome people we had been visiting, but it will be good to have another fresh start. I decided not to tell you that it would probably happen because I didn't know for sure yet and I didn't want to make anyone worry for a week about where I was, if I was safe, etc. Just so you know, I am now in Swindon, and I am safe. Everything is great here.

1. This is my new companion, Elder Hsu (pronounced like "shoe," it is also sometimes spelled Xu, but none of those are actually correct, because of course it is actually a chinese character). He is from Taiwan and he is way cool. His English is quite good by now because he is always seeking to learn more and he has been over here since last November.

2. This is Mark Parry, another Less Active member in Wolverhampton

3. This is a sign that says Mullet. It is supposed to say mullet road, but it is broken. I thought it was funny, anyway.

4. This is Melissa and her son Caelan. They are great.

5. This is the view out the window of my new flat in Swindon. It is quite nice here. Affluent, I mean. There is a nice Porsche always parked down the road from us.

6. this is AJ

7. this is Kris (and the one next to him is me)

Swindon seems great so far. There is a huge ward, very supportive, and there are many people here who need the Gospel. I hope I can do my best to bring it to them. My companion, Elder Hsu is excited to work hard with me this transfer, and we have another companionship of elders and some sisters too in the ward with us here. We are going to see some amazing things happen here, I am sure of it.

So far, this week we visited a really good guy named Chris who wants to be baptised and has been taught much by the missionaries, but he is currently on probation. Probably more on him to come, but what it may come down to is just a lot of praying that his probationary period can end sooner rather than later.

Aside from that, we will probably be spending a lot of time on the streets talking to new people, and trying to contact people who the missionaries have taught in the past. It will be good.

I hope you all have a really amazing week.

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen

"How Will That Help Me With My Problems?"

This week we didn't have a single lesson to an investigator all week...until Friday, when we went out in the morning and had three in a row. That was awesome. And then we had another two on Saturday. We had AJ with us at church on Sunday again, and a new investigator named Daniel. Daniel is from Ethiopia and his English isn't amazing, so he had a bit of a hard time understanding what was going on. We got him a Book of Mormon in this crazy looking language called Ahmaric. AJ had a great time. I think that our church services are still very foreign to him, having been raised in Sikh culture, but he is beginning to become more comfortable with it and to recognize the peace that comes from feeling the spirit. At the beginning of Church he didn't seem to be in a very good state of mind, but by the end, he was happy and smiling. After the end of the meetings he started asking me some questions. "If I read the Book of Mormon, how will that help me with my problems?" he asked. I then had the incredible opportunity of being able to share my testimony with him of how studying the Book of Mormon each day can bring the spirit into our lives, help us know what to do, and give us the power to do it. It was great. I hope to be able to have many similar experiences for the rest of my mission and for the rest of my life. Because being able to bear testimony to someone who has a sincere desire to learn is great.

Anyway, I hope you all have a really incredible week!

Love,

Elder Seth Poulsen