Week 11

UPDATE-
** I GOT MY VISA I'M GOING TO BRAZIL AND I'LL GET THERE CHRISTMAS DAY HOW CRAZY IS THAT?!?!? I'M FREAKING OUT!!!!

 

We got our transfer calls last night, and Elder Richeson and I are staying together in Carson! We're both super pumped to work together again and we have a lot of big plans for this transfer. Well, the Lord has big plans, we're just gonna try and keep from messing them up. Our district leader Elder Phelps is leaving, and we're sad about that, but he'll be awesome where he goes. This week felt kind of slow. We had an awesome lesson with a girl named Rose on Monday, and we could tell that she is one of those people the Lord has prepared to hear the gospel. She's in high school, and with the semester ending and her being so busy, we haven't been able to meet with her again, but we will soon! 

Our baptism with Shaune went awesome! It was a little crazy because that morning, Elder Richeson and I went to the church and found baptismal clothes to fit Shaune and the brother baptizing him, Marco (who needed a 4XL, and we found the only one in the church). So we stashed the baptismal clothes, because there was another baptism that day before ours, and went home. When we came back a couple hours before the baptism, the clothes were gone!!! We looked through the ENTIRE church, but they were nowhere to be found. So when Marco and Shaune arrived, we went to the close with them and they picked out what worked best. Shaune's jumpsuit was a little tight, and Marco had to wear this weird smock thing and squeezed into some pants that did NOT fit him...but it all worked out, and that's what's important! Elder Richeson and I were the witnesses.  It was a great service. The people we asked to give the talks did a great job, and everyone made Shaune feel welcome. The confirmation next day was good too, and Elder Richeson and I got to stand in the circle while Shaune was confirmed. He's been making a lot of friends at church and he started to go to scouts too! He has a lot of potential, it will be great to see him learn and grow spiritually. 

Tonight, I'm going to the Saunders house to do language study! Sister Saunders is Brazilian and Brother Saunders served in Brazil on his mission. I'm going to teach them the Restoration in Portuguese. It will be my first lesson since the MTC, so we'll see how it goes...I'm excited though, they're one of my favorite families here.

We had an interesting experience this week with an older Filipino guy named Arthur. He was a referral from a street contact that some sister missionaries made a few weeks ago and we've been trying to visit him for a while, but he's never been home. He was finally there one night, and we got in and talked to him. He told us that he wants to quit smoking and drinking, so we shared the Word of Wisdom with him, as well as the Restoration and we gave him a blessing to help him overcome his addictions. We're not sure how much he actually understood, because he told us that he doesn't speak much English. So we made an appointment for the next night, left him an English Book of Mormon and promised to bring a Tagalog one the next day. We also brought a Filipino brother from our ward, Brother Garcia with us so we could overcome the language barrier. So we all showed up, and Arthur was there and he let us in, and we all sat down and we gave him the Tagalog Book of Mormon. Then, these two guys come into the house, and we learn that they're friends of Arthur's. One of them told us that Arthur called them because they spoke better English, and he wanted to tell us that he wasn't interested but didn't know how to tell us and he didn't want to hurt our feelings. With that, we were still able to tell them about the Book of Mormon and a little about what we believe. We offered the guy that was doing most of the talking a Book of Mormon because he was saying that he couldn't accept it because he thinks the Bible is all he needs. We talked for about 45 minutes, and I think we left with a good impression. The friend that was doing most of the talking said something funny...Brother Garcia mentioned that he used to be a Catholic, but converted to Mormonism 40ish years ago. I think we left on good terms. As we were leaving, I felt a strong impression to go back and give the one guy a Book of Mormon. I knew that he had already declined our offer for one, but I felt prompted to give him one anyway. So I ran back, and handed it to him and invited him to just read it and see what its like, because I know it's true and it's the word of God, and I'm serving as a missionary for two years because I love it. He actually took it and said he would try it out! We gave them our number too, so hopefully he will read, and know that it's true.

We had another interesting thing happen...my bike was totally falling apart this week. So we keep having to do our best to fix it, or ask other Elders who know how to fix it come over and help us out. We were actually on foot for a few days because it was in such bad shape for a while! It's always an adventure out here. Oh, a sister in my district who is waiting on a visa got hers! She's actually leaving today, and it's pretty cool because she's in my mission! so I'll see her again when I get my visa. 

I'm so excited for this next transfer, we're going to be able to get a lot accomplished!

 

Elder Poulson

P.S.
 President Uchtdorf said..."Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." I've been trying to live that more, and it's probably something everyone can use. It makes a lot more sense to do it that way, don't you think?

Sister Hart, who is in the Fortaleza East mission too, and she got her visa last week!

 

awesome bumper sticker thing we saw

My zone leaders, Elder Satre on the right Elder Chavis on the left, he finished his mission this transfer.