The Fastest General Email EVER!

We had a family home evening at the church where we simulated the tree of life, using chairs, a blackboard, and some white lights! It was fun! We sent them through in groups with blindfolds on. The kids and the bishop were in the first round of people, so they ended up helping us tempt people, which was wonderfully ironic! XD

We had a super lame dance, I sent a picture of it. No one danced! And when we did... Well, I was the worst one out there ;) But hey, let me tell ya, Hispanics do not dance like Utahns, that is for sure. It was kinda cool to watch after.

I knocked a couple doors in a row for the first time on my mission (random doors, that is). And let me tell you, it was HORRIBLE! Gahh oh man I hated it! I was SO scared! Respect to all the missionaries that do that every day. I will stick to going by former and potential investigators, thank you very much ;)

We have been teaching Alfonzo a lot more recently! He came to church and the baptism, and truly wants to change his life. He is on track for baptism on March 11th, which is way exciting! Ernesto was terribly busy this week, but we will teach him next week.

Transfers are here, but I am sticking it out with Elder Harward, so not much to report there.

There is a talk they only play in the MTC called the Character of Christ. It basically says that Christ only ever turned out when most anyone else would have turned into themselves. When he was struggling and in pain, he looked to help others anyways. I have been really pondering that lately. Do I give in to the natural tendency to turn into myself first? Or help those around me? Because the second I start thinking about others, I start feeling better. It is miraculous!

Well, that is about all! I love you all, always strive to be like Enoch: "and he walked with God." Byee!

Elder Poulson

The whole District at the FHE at the church

Tree of Life

Big and Spacious Building

Lamest Dance EVER!

Free Meat from the Store....SCORE!

My Desk (wow...look how organized ;)

"Pocket Stuff" 

 Anyone who really knows Bryan well knows that he carries WAY too much stuff in his pockets.  He's done this since he was a little kid.  I think its getting worse!!

  He may need some therapy or a support group...haha!!

Seriously?  Does someone just love VW Buses or what??

If You Feel Mediocre, Go Take a Revelation Shower

Haha that is probably one of the weirdest and confusing email subject lines ever created ever! I'm proud to have been the author ;)

Anyways, BUENOS DIAS family and friends!!! I'm feeling pretty good today, and I hope you all are too :) If you are by chance feeling kinda like you're going through the motions, I'll talk about that later.

Right then. So this week was... well, mediocre. Hence the title. It just kinda felt like a normal week on the mission. Which, I realize as I am writing this, can often be one of the harder trials we have to face. I might argue that feeling mediocre is the first step to feeling down. Satan does "carefully drag us down" after all.

Anyways, yeah, mediocre week, but we had a couple good experiences! Last night it was super hard to find anybody to teach, because apparently Hispanics do in fact care about the Superbowl... We thought it wouldn't even come up in a conversation all night. But yeah, we were struggling to find people, but had the idea to go check if Ernesto was at Hermano Lopez's home. And he was! It was a bit crazy, because the Lopez's son was playing some super loud music, but he said he really wants to study the Book of Mormon, so that made us way excited!

In case any of you were wondering (and I doubt you were), I am not good at football. We played it last p-day, and I ended up going to the wrong side of the field with the wrong team... Twice... Yup, felt pretty dumb ^-^

Right, I should probably explain the revelation shower thing, huh? So Elder Myers, a new elder in our district, was talking to a guy at service, and he was telling him all of this mind blowing stuff about time and perception and what not. And Elder Myers just stops and thinks for a sec, and then proclaims, "man, I need a shower! A revelation shower!" It was super hilarious!

But my point with that was that God is always willing to give knowledge to they who seek it. So if you are feeling pretty meh, think of a question you have. God works in questions. Joseph Smith never received revelation until he asked God a question about it. The same goes for us, more or less. So think of a question you have, about life or the Gospel or how you can improve or whatever. Then ponder it and read the scriptures. He'll answer you. And suddenly, you won't feel so mediocre! You'll feel awesome!!! :D At least that is how it worked for me.

One thing I learned this week is that sometimes we just have to buckle down, steel our minds, and do it. If you think to yourself "I should probably to <insert thing to do here>, but <insert excuse here", well you should probably just go and do it! Often later becomes never.

Hmm... This email was kinda random huh? Well, I'll keep with the theme, just cuz I love sharing stuff I learned! I was reading a talk, and it talked about asking the Lord "what lack I yet?" I think that is, in a way, the entire purpose of this life. Asking God what we need to change in ourselves, and then changing it. Often we have to be VERY humble to accept that we need to make a change. But God knows better than us, and we best take his advice.

Well last but not least, it is my mom's birthday this week!!! :D So ya'll better wish her happy birthday ;) The main reason I bring it up is because I wouldn't be even close to where I am and who I am without my mom. She is an angel to me. And I didn't quite realized that until I left her for two years. So appreciate your moms! Send them a text or something right now, just tell them they are awesome! Because they are :)

Well, that is all I have for this week! Love you all! Remember to love each other ;) Bye!

Elder Poulson

P.S. My brother is coming home in two days, and he has been a consecrated missionary. Welcome him back for me :)

Quotes I found and liked!

My Companion turned my milk green....it was pretty funny!

When Your Heart Changes, the World Changes

Goooood morning family and friends and such! I assume ya'll are well... Can't really ask you from this email/blog post. Well I am doing good, anyways ^-^

This week was quite the roller coaster. A lot of really uplifting and really difficult stuff happened. Which I am learning is pretty much always the case when we do God's will. After all, we can't know the good without the bad, right?

The beginning of this week was just slow. We didn't make too much progress. On Tuesday, we managed to pull off the biggest derp moment ever. My companion slid the phone across the top of the car and said "the phone is on the car." Any of you who have been around me a lot probably aren't surprised that I said "okay", but later didn't remember saying okay. So basically, we drove away with the phone on the roof. Not sure where it is... We got a new one, but we lost ALL of our contacts. So we spent a lot of time this week tracking down investigators to get their numbers again. It was a seriously annoying situation.

On Wednesday, I went on exchanges with Elder Reyes. He actually has a transfer less than me on the mission, but he is fluent, so he kinda has an advantage ;) He is training right now, in his third transfer. Pretty crazy. Anyways, our entire day we didn't really teach and it was super rough, until the last people of the night. We taught a family of four kids (without their parents). They were kinda rowdy, which is what made the next part so amazing. Elder Reyes went into preaching and testifying mode. I have NEVER seen someone testify like that. If you have ever seen the video with Elder Holland talking about how there are lines in every sport, and that we can't afford to mess up before a mission and not repent, Elder Reyes looked exactly like the missionary at the end of that video, when he is testifying to the investigator. These four kids were riveted on him. One of them started crying. He testified of repentance, and you could tell he understood what he was talking about. He knew from experience the power of the Atonement.

So the next day, after I felt uplifted, we went to the crowning event of this week, a zone conference, where we watched the global broadcast from the "Executive Missionary Council", including Elders Bednar, Christofferson, and Oaks (as the president). I am not quite sure what made the difference, but something about that broadcast put the missionary purpose into my heart. I literally have three pages in my planner stuffed full of random sentences of revelation/quotes that I loved. I have really learned recently that if we are focused on the doctrine of Christ, as in all of our thoughts and energies are dedicated to it, if our greatest and overwhelming desire really is to help people change their lives through repentance and the gospel of Christ, something suddenly changes. It happened to me for two days. I was happy, I was focused, and for the first time ever, I felt consecrated. Like "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" says, "Eventually, we must do more than tell the stories of the Book of Mormon; we must LIVE them." I felt like I was on my way to doing that.

But you will learn, if you haven't yet, that there is always what Elder Holland termed a "Post-Illumination Affliction." Something hard that happens after something spiritually powerful. I went on exchanges again, this time with Elder Delgado, and while we were teaching one of Elder Delgado's investigators (she is a golden investigator), her brother came out and told us to leave in two minutes or "vamos a tener problemas" (we are going to have problems). Basically, leave or I will fight you. It shook me up a bit. I had lost my focus more than I should have two hours earlier, and I feel like if I hadn't, I could have done something more than just leave. I could have said something, or the Spirit could have done something. We were both pretty upset. It made my blood boil.

So I re-read my favorite talk, "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary". And I learned this: when Christ and His Atonement is our motivating and driving force, we will be unstoppable in the missionary work. I think that applies in all phases of life. If Christ is your motivating force to do something, or bringing a knowledge of him to others, you will be able to do it. Rely on Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer. Without him, we are nothing. With him, we can do anything. I mean that.

Something else my mission president told me this week is to "risk more". Let's be honest, it is hard to follow the Spirit. But it is there. It is speaking to us. We just have to learn to recognize it. And the ONLY way to do that is to start acting on what you think is the Spirit. If it is a good thing, it is of the Spirit anyways. But if it is something like "maybe I should turn right here" or something weird like that, well risk it! If it ends up just being you, well then oh well. You are learning. But if it ends up being the Spirit, you will know, because it will lead you to do something wonderful, or it will protect you from danger, or something will happen. Risk more: it is the only way to learn how to follow the spirit.

Our main progressing investigator is Ernesto. He is super awesome! I think I mentioned him last week. Anyways, he came to church right as sacrament meeting ended, but he went to the Gospel Principles class, and seemed to like it. We have high hopes for him! ^-^ We are also teaching David, a man who loves the Gospel of Christ. He is cool. We started teaching Alfonzo again. He has to be taught super basically, because he is a little slower to understand, but we are going to keep working with him!

One last thought I had this week. They call all of us missionaries the "Missionary Force"! That is so cool! I mean sure, it sounds likes Star Wars, and that makes it awesome in and of itself ;) But we are a force, and the thing is, you are the same. The entire church could be termed the "Member Force" or the "Disciples of Christ Force" or something like that. Force means influence. You each are an influence, and together, can make a difference. Remember that.

Well that is about all for this week! I love you all, and hope you are doing great! Find strength in the doctrine of Christ. For all of you that are members, you have the GIFT of the Holy Ghost. He can always be with you, if you allow him to be. Make decisions that allow him to be. Hasta luego!

Elder Poulson 

Weekly Planning Snacks!!

A dope golden car I saw!

PUPPIES!!

Giant Banana!!!

My companion managed to spill a bunch of soda in the car.....which was terribly ironic, since I told him not to get soda (it was his goal to not drink soda this week).  So ha!  Karma!!

Adversity Gets the Ball Rolling

This is Elder Poulson, reporting live from Huntington Beach, where massive rain showers are causing backed up sewers, flooding churches, and ridiculous amounts of joy in the hearts of... Well, pretty much just me. Everyone else here hates the rain :P

But hey, how is it going fam/friends!? This email will be talking about last and this week, cuz last week's didn't really say everything I wanted to say.

I actually recorded the entire zone conference with Elder Holland, so that was cool! It was mostly about missionary work stuff, but suffice it to say that Elder Holland is pretty much the best. I was surprised to realize that a lot of the stuff he said is in other talks I have by him, but his actual presence in the room really amplified his words. And you would be amazed at how sporadically that Apostle can raise his voice. He is like your best friend and terrifying at the same time... It is fantastic!

So last week was also, in a way, a week of opposition. We found in the same day a man who seemed to have good intent at first, but ended up spending half an hour slandering us with the most satanically racist jargon known to man, and a lady who kept telling us how sorry she was that we were trying to waste out our lives when Christ had already saved us (basically, twisted doctrine).

And the experiences like that just kept coming last week.

BUT this week was WAY better! The pace of the work pretty much doubled. We started working with members more (now that we have gotten to know them), we have found some really solid investigators, and last night we taught a guy that a member invited to a dinner with us. His name is Ernesto Flores and he has some perfect questions! So that is really exciting! We also changed the mind of the lady I mentioned above (that said we are wasting ourselves out) to the point where she said she wished her kids were Mormon so they could go on missions. So that was way cool!

As for Jessi and Beatriz... Well they managed to drop off the face of the planet. We are working hard to get ahold of them (I literally called Kevin ten times one day...) but they are very busy with work. But never you worry, we won't give up!

I have literally had a good 5 people tell me I look like Linguini from Ratatouille... So that is that. Laugh as you will ^-^

I have three questions for you this week, or rather, three questions you probably ought to ask yourself:

1. Do I know who I want to become, and are my actions and plans leading me towards becoming that person?

2. Do you sincerely believe that you can influence and change the lives of those around you?

3. Are you willing to give literally everything you have (including your thoughts and time) to accomplish God's will?

I feel like it is important that we are able to answer yes to these three questions. I have been kinda pondering them lately. I'm sure it is a process, and a continual renewal of commitment, to keep being able to say yes, especially to 1 and 3. 

As for 2, you best believe you can influence people, because you all have influenced ME for the better! I know it may not seem like it, but what you do affects others in a multitude of ways. As Ed Huber always said, "Somebody is always watching." And that is true.

Well, I'ma sign out, but ya'll are awesome! Keep the faith, God is always there, and he has a plan for YOU! Bye!

Elder Poulson

Elder Poulson and Elder Harward

Prove of the Rain Showers Bry is LOVING!

Somebody gave them a bunch of candles....not sure why, but thanks!! :)

When ELDER HOLLAND comes to town!!!!! :D :D :D

Hello family and friends! I hope you are all well! I am quite limited on time today, so I will cut to the chase.

ELDER HOLLAND CAME TO OUR MISSION!!! :D I am not quite sure how I forgot to mention that he was coming in last week's email (I most definitely told my mom and dad...). Accompanying him was also Elder Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy. Anyways, I will mostly talk about that experience, because it was so powerful and impactful.

Waiting for him to come in was almost exactly like when the kid on the Polar Express is waiting for Santa to show up. You can feel the anticipation. You're thinking, I've only ever seen this guy on tv... Does he even exist? ;) No, I was strangely nervous though. My comp said I was way to excited.

In case you were wondering, Elder Holland is actually pretty short. I figured that out when I shook his hand. I thought that would be like the coolest experience ever, but it was actually strangely mundane. I just told him my name and he asked where I am from. But he told us later that he didn't really care about our names and where we are from. What he was really doing is "interviewing" us. Basically, looking into our eyes and searching our souls. He said we are pretty much all doing fantastic, which is wonderful!

To put it in one sentence, that man sang fire into my soul. He spoke of a lot of things, from how we are important to him and we have a responsibility for the rest of our lives as (eventually) returned missionaries, to how he is proud of us, and how we need to come to the level of our investigators. But what I really remember is how I felt. He IS an Apostle of God.

Well... Like I said, very low on time. But I love you all! Until next week :)

Elder Poulson

This Week was a Piece of Run-Over Cake

Good Morning Family and Friends! Or good evening... Whenever you happen to read this, I hope it is a good whatever it is! And with that choppy beginning, here is what happened this week:

My new companion is Elder Harward! He is from (where else?) Utah! Riverton, actually, about ten minutes from my house... So that is super weird. But he is so awesome!!! When he got here, we had to spend like a billion years cleaning because Elder Valenzuela couldn't fit about half of his stuff in his suitcases! (Hence the picture of a bunch of garbage) Luckily Elder Harward likes stuff clean, and saved me from the filth I didn't realize I was living in... It is a whole lot easier to study when your apartment is clean.

It was kinda sorta super rough starting out this week, because Elder Valenzuela pretty much had the map and area book in his head, which made planning and driving really easy... But now that he is gone, I had failed to take the time to memorize everything. So we got lost like 6 times, and it has been quite an adventure! But it is gonna pick up this week, we got a list of all the members in our area, and we are going to start working with them. :)

Because it was a rough week, I correspondingly have a whole lot of funny stories where my companion or I totally goofed up. Mainly this one:

-So we ended up at a person's house on Thursday night eating cake and arroz con leche (basically rice in hot milk). Anyways, I guess there is a former investigator and two less active members living in this house, which was great. We made a pretty good impression. After we left, we got to the next house we were going to (at like 8:45), and Elder Harward was super confused because his cake wasn't in the car. And then we panicked, because we realized that he left it on the roof and it probably fell off in the nieghborhood in front of the nice people's house... And chances were, they would see it and think we disgracefully discarded of their generous helpings of cake, and that we are jerks! Also, we threw out our arroz con leche on the grass by where we parked... So they would probably find that too. So we went back at like 9:25 (we need to be home by 9:30), and it is chilling RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEIR HOUSE all smashed. Weren't quite sure what to do with it, so I took it in the car. Because I am an airhead, I held it upside down, and it fell out of the ziploc bag and onto my pants! Meanwhile, Elder Harward's discarding almost empty cup of arroz con leche spilled it's dregs on my seat in pants as well!!! It was just a huge mess... We hope the investigator/less actives didn't see it before we got there.

We taught the Arabians again!!! They saw us as we were walking by and invited us in! We met the dad, who can speak broken English and who lost his arm in an accident here about 18 months ago. It is healed as much as possible now, but he was asking us if we could maybe find him a job. It is pretty sad, we want to help him as best we can. We hope to get a Book of Mormon in Arabic to give them. Also, I got some popcorn that same day from a member, and then some kid wanted it, so I tossed it up the balcony to him! It was super funny for some reason...

You would be AMAZED at the lengths old Hispanic Catholic people go to to get us to stop teaching their children without "seeming rude". We knocked on an investigator's door the other day, and her mom answered. She said that the investigator, Maxima, wasn't there. Well Maxima's son yells, "oh you want Maxima!? I'll go get her!" The lady insists she isn't there, but the kid comes running back saying "she is here!" to which the lady responds with a shout of "MENTIROSO!!!" (Liar!) Meanwhile my companion is in the backround cracking up laughing, and I am standing there trying to decide how to gently tell this lady that she is actually the liar... But we just left, it wasn't worth it. Another lady once told us two of our investigators didn't live there, when we had gone by like 3 times and taught them there. The next time we came, we taught them at the door while the lady sat on the couch in the backround... Super awkward!

So besides all of those stories, we pretty much just searched for formers and investigators all week. A whole lot more knock-knock-knocking than teaching, but we got a bunch of return appointments ^-^ So next week should be better. 

We didn't teach Jessi this week, she was way busy with work, but she did come to the second hour of church! Which is good, but sacrament meeting is more important... We will keep working with her! Beatriz keeps inviting random people over when we teach her so that we can come in, but then we end up talking with them instead. Which is kinda good (except one guy that was drunk), but we hope to teach just her soon, maybe at her door. We need one on two lessons to get her to progress.

Our district is super new now! There are two missionaries in training, Elders Myers and Endemano (who also lives in Riverton). Elder Myers and I have about the same piano skill level, so that is pretty fun! But it is low-key kinda nice to not be the worst guy at Spanish in the district ;) By the way, Elder Harward has only been out as long as me, but his Spanish is FANTASTICO! So that is a blessing ^-^

If you look at one of the pictures that I sent with this email, you will see that I do in fact drink ranch dressing for breakfast. Very nutritious ;) Naw, it is my shakes, I just thought it was funny how much it looks like ranch dressing ^-^

Also, there was a super cool guy that gave us each two ties this week! He was a member, and he spent like his whole life collecting ties, and he let each of us take any two. It was way cool :)

Thought of the day: "Remember it will always be better in the end. So if it's not better, it's not the end yet." Keep on keeping on! ^-^

Well this is like 10 pages long, so I am gonna go ahead and finish it now. I hope you all are doing good and find my emails entertaining, if nothing else! Hasta luego!

Elder Poulson

Elder Poulson & Elder Harward

Picture of all the "filth" left from Elder Valenzuela

"Run-Over Cake" 

Ranch dressing??  haha!  You drink shakes now Bry?

All the tie choices from the Super Cool Tie Guy

Has there ever been a more perfect pair of socks for Bry??? :)

Service and the New Year

HAPPY FLIPPING NEW YEAR!!! :D Sorry, I am like a couple days late... Can't exactly email whenever. Esta bien though! I hope ya'll are doing well!

I had some good experiences this week! But first of all, for all who it may concern, apparently there is an extension on lds.org called create.lds.org. I stumbled upon it this week and it totally blew my mind! I guess people can submit their own music, photos, etc. there and the church will use them as they may need. Also, I guess you can serve a photography mission in your home town, which is something super cool I didn't know! Anyways, ya'll should check that out.

We were driving to a dinner with Kevin and his bro on New Year's Eve, and Kevin saw a homeless lady sitting on a bag in front of a parked bus at a bus stop. He asked us to turn around, so we did. We went and talked to her, and I guess she was waiting for the bus (buses don't run here on new year's eve). She said she had gotten lost after leaving her homeless shelter in Santa Ana and getting caught in the rain. So Kevin, being the Christ-like man he is, got an uber for her. It was super cool! Kevin is so awesome!

We went to the Bautistas for dinner that same day, and surprise, their family was drinking again :( And the hermana drank a cup of wine too! >:( Some of their extended family always brings wine. But hey, we showed up, ate some food, and then asked if we could sing for them. So we went ahead and sang I am a Child of God to a bunch of slightly drunk people! Ha! Take that Satan! Haha it was fun :)

We taught Jessi again this week. We decided she isn't quite ready for baptism, but she was reading the Bible for the first time and got super excited about it! She is reading more of the Book of Mormon this week. She AND Beatriz want to get baptized on the 28th of January, so I am excited for that! Hopefully Elder Valenzuela can come back to see it.

Yeah... Not much else to report this week. Spiritual thought though! And since it is a new year, I'ma go ahead and talk about goals! Cuz I have learned a lot about goals on the mission. If you aren't setting goals you should! And you should tell someone else about them. Without setting goals and accountability, an apostle says something along the lines of "we can reach a ripe old age just to look back and discover that we only reached but a small portion of the potential we had to become." Start small, and be specific. I learned most of the from Preach My Gospel, so take it as you will :)

Alright, that is all for this week! Love ya'll! Don't freeze to death! ;)

Elder Poulson

Elder Poulson with Kevin and his Mom

Forget Snow, I Had a Rainy Christmas! :D

Hey family and friends, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! one day late... I hope it was a good one for you all! Mine was quite strange, but good too... Like I said, it rained on Christmas Eve, like all day, it was great! Surprisingly cold though... It was like 40. Which is cold here.

Highlights of the week:

- I skyped home!!! First skype, it was great! :D See pictures for my festive red spoon.

- We spent ALL day Friday and Saturday with Kevin Sanchez, who is quite certainly a Gentleman and a Scholar! He is already a successful business man at 18, but that is a different story. Anyways, we spent all of lunch and dinner, and some time in between, talking about different stuff we had learned by experience or from books or talks. Mainly, we talked about how to be successful. It really helped me to have a deep conversation like that, they help me figure out life. Anyways, that really helped me to be more effective as a missionary.

- Zone Conference!!! We had a Christmas conference on Wednesday, and literally EVERYONE on the mission that I know was there! (We have split zone conferences, so that was a miracle) It was great to see them all. But the best part was the second half of the zone conference, which was literally a three hour testimony meeting! Yeah I know, sounds kinda boring, but it was SUPER spiritual. The Spirit told me to go up at the beginning, and I told everyone about some advice my mom had given me. She said "Satan is trying to dim your light. Don't let him." That applies to us all, by the way. But if we look to Christ, the brightest and eternal light, we will never lose ours.

- We had a Family Home Evening with the stake president on Monday. We brought a less active mom and her kids. It was way cool, and focused on the Savior's birth.

- As for investigators, Jessi did not come to church :( But she WILL next week!!! But it is okay for this week, cuz Beatriz AND Gloria came to church! And Gloria brought her husband! They are working on preventing their own divorce. The sacrament meeting was way cool, it was ALL music! I played piano twice (once without much of a warning), and some boss professional singer that lives here sang a bunch! It was great!!! :D

That is all for this week. Remember "Life brings to you what it finds in you. What you get depends on what you give." Give it you're all, and God will give you more! Love ya'll! Merry Christmas!

Elder Poulson

Christmas Package from Home

Christmas Package from the Baker Bunch

Fun Times with Kevin Sanchez

BEST PART OF CHRISTMAS~SKYPING WITH ELDER BRY!!

We were all so excited for 5:00 to roll around on Christmas Day so we could SEE Elder Bry and skype with him.  It was the BEST to talk with him and to see his awesome smile!!  He had a santa hat on and made us all laugh to see his festive red spoon behind his ear.   He will forever and always be "King of Spoons".  

He is doing fantastic and his spirits were up.  He was skyping from a members garage and although we had technical difficulties, we finally got it to work and we talked for about 45 minutes.  It went by way too fast and it was SUPER hard to say goodbye, but we are SO incredibly proud of our boy and all he's doing to spread the gospel and serve the Lord!!  

We Love You Bry!! The count down has begun....5 months to Mother's Day!!! 

"King of Spoons"

Savannah's Instagram Post

Focusing is Hard, but Your Focus Matters

HEY YOU GUYYS!!! (If you don't know what that is from, you fail) How are you all? As always, I hope the answer is a resounding "fantastic!" I'm kinda in an interesting/tired mood, so bear with me ^-^

If you ever need to gain weight, just go on a mission. I tried to gain weight for like 18 years, and it didn't work very well, but in 6 months I have gained roughly 20 pounds! XD Tortillas with every meal will do that to you! That and, ya know, working out every morning *casually flexes his arms*

I have realized on my mission how much I love kids!!! I am actually pretty good with them, too :) There was a little girl last night when we were teaching the Bautistas, and I was playing with her with her little hello kitty doll and it's mini house. When she wasn't looking, I put the cat up my sleeve, and she was amazed that is had disappeared! We were about to start the lesson, and her Grandma told her to go look in the other room for the doll. Before she left, the little girl, Lexi, checked under the table, and while she was doing that I nonchalantly chucked the doll into the other room where it made some super loud sounds and interrupted the movie the rest of the family was watching XD But it worked! The girl was amazed to find the doll in the other room, and we had our lesson :D

I was on exchanges with an English elder, Elder Ugbamen, while my companion was at a leadership meeting Thursday. We visited the cutest old German couple, the Owens, who are both members. They pretty much spent the whole time lovingly bashing each other, it was hilarious XD But the lady asked for a blessing for her knee, telling us how when she last asked for a blessing, it completely got rid of her anxiety she had had for 40 years as a result of world war 2. I got to give her the blessing, and it was SUPER spiritual!!! I loved it ^-^ I felt the Spirit buzzing in me for like the next hour! Funny how that works :)

We have been working a lot with Jessi!!! The problem is, satan is working hard on her too... She had family problems last Sunday, and was super sick this Sunday. But she is fighting it! She missed our 9:00 church, but went to the YSA ward at 1 with her son, Kevin (who, by the way, is the stud muffin of the year)! She also hasn't drunk coffee in like 2 weeks! Although funny side note, we actually came to her house this week and caught her about to drink some coffee! She felt all guilty and poured it down the sink. I guess God sent us there at that time haha :) She will likely be baptized on the 31 of December, and I am super excited! We also had another in investigator, Beatriz, come to church out of no where! She is a former and has been taught all the lessons, but I guess she told some of the other missionaries in our ward that she wants to get baptized before January! Not sure if that is true, but we are going to teach her again ASAP.

In case you were wondering, focusing is hard. In my case, I have a terribly hard time focusing on people speaking Spanish all day. But I have been thinking a fair amount about focus. Elder Nielson said in his talk this last General Conference that "our joy has little to do with our circumstances, and everything to do with our joy!" I love that quote! If you focus on the joyful things in your life, you will, of course, have joy! And if you focus on Christ and His power to heal and save you, that source of joy will never fail you, even when all others could. Of course you will have trials and despair and all other kinds of hard stuff, but in that same talk President Nielson said that his friend told him "he had learned to suffer with joy." That sounds kinda crazy, and I am still figuring out how to manage it. But it is possible, through Christ, our Redeemer, who died for our sins so that we don't have to be guilty or sad. Remember that, especially as Christmas rolls around.

So yeah, that is all I've got. Live in your faith, not your fears! Have a fantansmhmastic week!!! (yes, that is Spanish)

Elder Poulson

Grammy K's Package Arrived!!

Did service at the catholic church for a food bank and had a christmas party... Somehow forgot those in my main email! XD