That Was Terrifying

This week Elder McFarland and I went on exchange together. Elder McFarland came to the mission at the same time as me, so we had two missionaries together who have only been in the field for 7ish weeks. He likened it to the moment when your parents leave you had home alone with your brothers and you realize that they aren't watching what you're doing anymore. We worked together really well though--it was awesome. It was terrifying though, because we were in Gloucester and I had to be the one that knew where to go and who to go visit and how to get around and not get lost. One investigator we went to go see, I didn't know how to get to his house. And it wasn't on the map because it is in a new area of town. But then we found it somehow.

Also terrifying was telling our Jamaican friend Daryl that he wasn't actually baptized by proper authority. We talked all about how the Church was restored through Joseph Smith and read about the Priesthood being restored and everything and the necessity of it being in a direct line from Jesus Christ by the laying on of hands and I showed him my line of Priesthood Authority. We went around in circles around it enough times and he didn't seem to get it, so I just had to tell him that he wasn't baptized by proper authority. He took it really well, relatively. Although he wanted me to be sure that I have not been deceived ("the thing about being deceived...is that you don't know that your being deceived" he said--he is so hilarious). So I made him a deal that he and I would both go home and pray to know if the true priesthood authority of God is found only in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is when it got really terrifying. We made a deal that if he prayed and came to know this to be true, he would be baptized. If I prayed and didn't feel that it was true, I would go home. Well, I'm still in England. So that tells you I got my answer from the Lord. Daryl is still studying and praying about it. But I am very grateful that he was man enough to take the challenge. And he will be as well.

Love,

Elder Poulsen

"Do I Know You?"

I get to keep Elder Chardon! He's still here--so we'll be together for another 6 weeks. Then he'll probably transfered somewhere else and I'll still be here in Gloucester (also known as the promised land). Also its his birthday next month (he's super old--he's turning 23). But I don't think its really possible to get a birthday present for your companion when you are always within sight and sound of each other. It makes it a bit difficult.

A few days ago we were riding our bikes and Elder Chardon stopped and tried to talk to this guy that was on the sidewalk.

"Do I know you?" the man asked (make sure you read that in an English accent--I still get a kick out of it every time)

"no"

"What are you pestering me for then?" (don't forget the accent).

"we're missionaries..."

"I don't care."

I thought that was pretty hilarious. On sunday we had an awesome stake conference. One of the bishops of another ward in the stake is a pretty good organist, so it was sweet to hear some good organ playing. The main portion of the meeting, however, was a broadcast from Salt Lake (I'm assuming it wasn't live--I don't think General Authorities wake up at 2 in the morning to talk to a video camera). It was really good. The first talk was given by David S. Baxter, a member of the quorum of the seventy originally from Scotland. He talked about how there are so many problems in the world. And we have the solution to them all--The Gospel of Jesus Christ! We need to share it with people. But we cannot lead others to Christ unless we have already found him. We need to have a fire of testimony burning in us that shines through our eyes so everyone can see it.

We got to meet up with a friend of ours named Daryl this week (we haven't gotten to see him in almost a month because he's been really busy). He's jamaican (so are most of the people we teach--for some reason, jamaican people really like Elder Chardon). He's almost 24 and is going to start a university course in september to learn how to do some sort of electronic music making because that is what he wants to do. He's really cool. He has been a strong Christian his whole life and is really enjoying the new knowledge of The Book of Mormon. We just need him to realize that he hasn't actually been baptized by proper authority yet, like he thinks he has. But when we met with him last week it was apparent that we needed to not touch that issue. He was really down in the dumps because he had been caught up in work and hadn't been reading his scriptures and praying very much. So we talked to him about prayer and scripture study and read Enos 1:1-12 with him. It was an awesome experience. The moral of the story is that you should read the scriptures and pray. Every day. It will make you happy.

Love,

      Elder Poulsen

Missionary Vocabulary

Pictures!

1. This is a proper suit. Its quite tight. Also very nice. 100% wool. Its pretty wonderful. To an Englishman, and American suit is equivilant to a parachute. They have really cool blue suits here too. I'm going to have to get one before I go home.

2. This is the purple lining of my suit. I just need more purple ties now to go with it.

3. This is some wall art across the street from the library where I am emailing from. Its actually really impressive. There are a few othere paintings around here done by the same person. They are pretty cool.

Here's some fun missionary vocabulary for you guys:

flogged: This is when you set up an appointment with someone and then they aren't there when you go to see them. It would be funnier if it didn't happen so often.

dodge night: This is the night when you find out if you are going to be transfered or not. Its tonight. And then if you are being transfered, you move on wednesday. Pretty crazy. I'm not really scared that I'm going to be transfered. I've only been here for one transfer and our mission president generally keeps people in areas for a while (I've been in the mission field over a month--crazy!). But I am scared that my companion, Elder Chardon is going to get transfered. I had thought that we got to be together for two transfers for sure so that he would finish training me, but I found out last week that they might actually move him. So I am really scared that they are going to make him a zone leader and leave me here. Regardless of how awesome my new companion is, that will mean that I am going to have to be the one that knows the area--I will have to be the one that knows people and how to get around town. And that is terrifying to me. I don't know if I can do that. But I know that God can do with me whatever he wants (Alma 26:12).

     The other night I was at a youth activity (there was a few nonmembers there, so it was a good opportunity). One of the kids names was Seth. It was really weird, because every time some would say his name I would turn around and wonder what was going on. It also really freaked me out because I haven't heard people say that name for a month and a half now. It was really weird.

     We had a really awesome lesson with Elieth last week. We were able to teach her part of the Plan of Salvation. We talked about how the fall of adam and eve was necessary and all part of God's plan for the happiness of his children (2 Nephi 2:23-25). She thought it was so awesome! It is so cool to be present for those times when people gain new understanding of the wonderful truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the spirit of God. She wants to be baptized, but she has some concerns like quitting smoking, and she understands the gravity of the commitment being made at baptism (which is a good thing). We hope that as we meet with her more and she learns more of the truths of the Gospel, her desire will increase. She wants to quit smoking, she only needs to understand how much God will help her do so if she truly has the desire to. Thankfully, we have an awesome guy in our ward who went through very similar trials before he was baptized (just a year ago). He comes with us to most of our lessons with her. We were also able to speak with him to know what it is that we need to do to be able to help her through this.

     Church was so good yesterday. I felt the spirit so strong and felt so renewed and happy. I hope that this week I can bear strong testimony to people of the importance of church, so that they will come and experience it themselves.

Love,

     Elder Poulsen

A Tattoo of Jesus

      Yesterday I met a guy that had a beautiful tattoo of Jesus on his arm. Being a missionary is fun. I also had this crazy guy try to make me give him a ride on the back of my bike. He was really entertaining for a few minutes, but then he wouldn't let us leave and we had stuff we needed to do. That was frustrating. I don't have much time to email, but the work is very good here in Gloucester. We have two people now with baptismal dates: Phil, if he reads the Book of Mormon and knows that this is the right path to take, and Jesicca, assuming she can stop smoking and drinking in the next three weeks. I believe she can. Have I told you at all about her? She is really awesome. She was telling us all about how she is teaching her young children to pray and to always give thanks to God. She also told us about how she knows she loses her spiritual connection with God if she tells a lie. She also wants to convince her mom, Elieth, to be baptized the same day as her. (We have been teaching Elieth as well, but she has some concerns).

Keep the Faith. The Church is true. Jesus loves you.

Elder Poulsen

How Do You Get a Bicycle Wheel Shaped Like a Banana?

"Family" picture

Pictures!!!

1. This is a pretty typical street on Gloucester. Everything is made of brick. And its pretty old. (There is a new are of town way far south at the bottom of the city, but its still all made of brick). I don't know if you can tell in this picture, but every building has two front doors. That’s because they are all two houses in one, basically. That is also very typical. Most of the neighborhoods are like that--two dwellings per building. There is a wealthier neighborhood I was in yesterday that had all freestanding houses. But mostly they are all duplexes. And they are all much smaller than houses in Clovis. Also, the sidewalks are called pavements and they are made of asphalt and they are really awful and bumpy (so are the roads) and in most places you can park with one set of wheels on the pavement. So you go around town and all the parked cars are slanted. I still think its pretty weird. Also, people park on the side of the road even on the roads that are only wide enough across to fit two cars. This makes driving very interesting, as you might imagine. Its kind of frightening, actually.

2. This is a beautiful chapel. But its not the one that my ward meets in. Its the one in Cheltenham.

3. This is an iTunes card. Hold it up next to an American one and see if you can find all the differences (I only see two).

     I hope you are all confused by my question in the subject line. And the answer is...get it hit by a car! So yes, I managed to get hit by a car already. I thought about not telling you until I got home in a few years. That would have been pretty funny. But I realized that I need to supply you guys with a story like this every once in a while. If I don't, you might forget what a dork I am. And that would be a shame.

     I was biking to Zone Meeting on Tuesday and I was about to cross a street. As I started going across, I realized that the car was also starting to go. So I stopped. But my front wheel was already in the road. So I sat there and watched the car drive through my front wheel while I screamed my head off. The wheel had a very interesting shape to it after that. I wasn't hurt at all though--my body didn't hit at all and I stayed on my bike the whole time. Thankfully, only the wheel was damaged so it was a relatively cheap fix--24 quid for a new rim. I was scared that there was going to be all sorts of trouble with the police as well. The accident was probably partially both our faults. The lady was just afraid she might have hurt me and thankfully wasn't worried that the side mirror of her car was dangling by cables. But we didn't have to fill out a police report or anything, the law just says that we have to exchange information and we can be on our own jolly way. So the lady could try to file a claim against me if she wanted to. But I doubt that will happen.

     Last Monday I was way sick--I had a ton of back pain and stomach pain. It was a somewhat miserable day. But that night Elder Chardon gave me a blessing that I would have a quick and full recovery. And I did. The power of the priesthood and the power of God to work miracles is amazing. 

     We got to see Phil more this week--and we learned that our finding him was even more of a miracle than we thought. He told us about how his whole life he has always had a very strong belief in God. His mother always taught him, "God will provide," and he shared with us some instances in which he really saw God working in his life. A few months before we met him, he said, his faith had started to waver. Now it is again as strong as ever. He didn't come to church on Sunday because he had a family gathering, but he said he won't plan things on Sunday anymore so that he can come to church with us. He already considers us to be great friends to him. Hopefully we will set up a date for him to be baptized next time we meet with him.

     We have another new investigator who is also awesome. He actually stopped Elder Chardon and Elder McFarland (I was on exchange that day in Forest of Dean) in the street and told them that he wanted to make things right with God. We are going to teach him on Tuesday and we hope to have a baptismal date set up for him as well.

     Before I left on my mission, dad told me that it really is a blessing to be able to have the opportunity to serve the Lord full time for two years, not so much a sacrifice. I am finding that to be extremely true. I am grateful to God for every minute that I am able to spend as a missionary--for every moment that I get to wear this nametag and tell people that I am a witness of Jesus Christ. I get to share with them that through living the Gospel of Jesus Christ as it is restored to the earth today in its fullness, they will find great joy and peace in this life and in the world to come.

Jesus Loves You. So do I.

Elder Seth Poulsen

*Mom's note* - exert from personal email “My companion is also super loving. He cares so much for everyone. He has such an awesome positive attitude--he has not said a single negative thing the entire time I have been here with him (even when people shut doors on us). He is really good at just making friends with everyone, which is very important for a missionary, obviously, and I wish that I was better at it. He sees the hand of the Lord in our lives as we go about doing work, and is always wanting to share our miracles and have other people share their miracles with us. Also, he is the only person I have met in my life that out eats me. He eats so much. He's from Holland but he is half Filipino so he is dark and he grew up going to church on the U.S. military base so he sounds American. So no one ever guesses that he is Dutch. Its pretty funny.”

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

Gloucester is Awesome!

 I urge you to resist the temptation to pronounce every letter of that name in your head when you read it. I may never fully understand British pronunciation, but it really is pronounced glos-ster. (The next town over is Cheltenham, pronounced chelt-num. Go figure.) The city is so cool though. All the buildings are really old (including a few cathedrals), and mostly made out of brick. I apologize for no pictures yet--I'm at the library and I forgot my camera back at the flat (its not an apartment here, its a flat). They have a lot more character to them than the western suburbia I am used to. It is really confusing to get around because all the roads are curvy (you should check out a map of the city--its ridiculous), so I'm still pretty lost most of the time. I'll get it eventually, I guess. Remember how I joked that I was going to be biking in the rain every day of my mission? Well I was wrong. On the first day I didn't, because I didn't have a bike yet. The next day I got a bike, raincoat, and rain trousers (basically just trousers made of tent fabric that you put on over your slacks when it is raining) so I'm all ready to go. I also picked up a cool watch for 18 quid. I really just wanted to say quid. Because I can. Unfortunately, pounds don't actually fit in my wallet because they are wider than dollars. So I might get a new wallet. Or I might just go around with them hanging out of the top.

     My trainer is pretty awesome so he had a few appointments lined up for the night that I got here. The first person we visited was Jenny Davies (pronounced Davis because she is from Wales and that's how they do it there apparently). She's is totally amazing. She read the whole book of Mosiah that day. She just has an immense desire to do what is right and to learn a ton because of the great blessings she sees from it in her life. The missionaries in Cheltenham ran into her one day on the street 3 weeks ago (she just moved to Gloucester a week ago) and she is being baptized this Saturday.

     The people here are great. I love their humor. I also love that they all have accents. I just can't stop being entertained by it. Every time that I talk to someone I get a kick out of the fact that they have a British accent. What makes it even more fun, though, is that there are tons of different accents. People speak slightly different depending on where in Britain they are from. Once I've been here a bit longer, I'll hopefully be able to tell where people are from based on their accent. Also, they actually say things like, "what he's going on about" and "he's been going round" just like they do in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

     There is just one ward here in Gloucester (city of about 110,000 population I think) and it is great. We share it with a pair of Sister Missionaries, and they are probably going to give us another set of Elders next transfer (there are another 30 missionaries coming to my mission in a month, and probably an equal amount for the next few transfers after that too. It wouldn't be a surprise at all if I end up training right after being trained). Don't worry, the Church is the same here in England (except that everyone here has a cool accent). The chapel here has a really sweet organ that I am going to go play this afternoon. I'm excited out of my mind because I haven't gotten to practice in three weeks. There are a couple people here that sort of know how to play it, but not really. So there putting me into the rotation right away (I'll be playing opening & sacrament hymns this week) and I'll probably teach them a few things about the organ as well. I'm pretty excited for that. There are a few guys in the ward who play tennis too so I might get to play sometime. Tonight we are having dinner with a family that has their sixth boy on the way--just like us except theirs are a lot closer together in age (their oldest is 8). Elder Chardon and I have been talking together about how we can help families in our wards make mission plans so that they can share the Gospel with their friends. It is going to be way good.

     We had an awesome miracle the other day. We were on our way somewhere and Elder Chardon pointed to one of the houses we were biking by and said, "we need to stop by that house on the way back."

     "Why?" I asked.

     "Because the Spirit said so."

     A couple hours later were headed back the other direction so we stopped by the house. After we knocked, a man opened the door. He looked at us and said, "well, why don't you come in then." His name is Phil. We didn't get to talk to him much because he had to get going somewhere, but we are going back to teach him tomorrow and I'm am super excited for that. There are a few other people we are going to be teaching this week that I am really excited for because they can really use our message. There are also people that totally rejected us that really need our message. Which is sad. Anyway, our miracle got me thinking about miracles in general. People (all people, including members of the Church) seem to think that God doesn't do miracles like he used to anymore, because we don't hear of people being instantly healed from sickness or seas being parted. Well, they're wrong. God works miracles in the ways by doing things that are completely incomprehensible to people, so there is no way that they can be explained away. He has always worked that way. Modern medicine is so advanced that healing from sickness is not much of a miracle anymore. Man can do it, just like the Pharaoh’s magicians were able to make frogs appear and whatever else it was that they did. So in this day of technology being everywhere, one of the ways that God works miracles is by making known unto us by the Holy Ghost things that we could not have known any other way, such as Elder Chardon knowing that we needed to stop at that house. Not even the Internet could have told him that. The only thing that would stop the miracles of God is the unbelief of man (Mormon 9: 18-20). So then, choose to believe, and you will see miracles.