Neato

Hey everyone! Happy late Easter! He is Risen! If you haven't already watch #Hallelujah on follow him.mormon.org, it gets better every time and I've seen it a million times and shared it with lots of people anywhere from on the street to in Neato Burrito (a very neat burrito place) we just whip out the iPads and show a bunch of people the video yaimshayin it's sick. This week was sweet. 

Thursday was a specifically awesome day. We went to an Easter celebration at the West Shore senior center we do service at. We put together an Easter program complete with songs and speaking parts and did it for the seniors and they all loved it and we're very appreciative. Our whole district came and it was way cool. That night we went on splits with the young men's President and one of the priests named Mitchell. I went with Mitchell and our main lesson we had scheduled cancelled right before so I was like great. But thankfully it was a really nice evening and there was lots of people out, so we walked around talking to people while trying
some potential investigators. While walking we found three teenage
boys and started talking to them and shared the #Hallelujah video with them and talked to them about it. They all really liked it and we gave them pass along cards to share it with their families. Then we asked them if we could talk to them more sometime and they were like yeah you want our numbers? And we were like uhhh yeah! Haha so that was cool and a lot of times teenagers are punks (I would know) but they were really nice and genuine. Two of them were twins and the third was their friend. We texted one of the twins the next day to try to set something up but he was busy so hopefully this next week! So that was sweet that we found them. 

Saturday was another particularly awesome day, we helped a guy move and then it was the sisters' investigator Sharon's baptism! It was awesome and M.S. came! With his girlfriend who is getting more interested. It was so perfect that he came because after the baptism Sharon bore her testimony and talked about how she got her answer to know she should be baptized. She said that God basically told her, you know this is what you want, so what are you waiting for! Which was perfect for M to hear because he still wants to be baptized in October and we've been working with him to pray about it so he will want to be baptized sooner because blessings for him! So that was great. He went to church today, but not in our ward, he went to the Millersburg branch with his dad who is a member up there. 

Today was a great Easter service. We sang a sweet song in the ward choir. After church we were in the relief society room with the sisters, Sharon, her daughter Bridget who is a member and has hydrosyphelous (I dunno how to spell that) and a member of the ward, sister Leichty. We were about to leave and all of a sudden Bridget started having a seizure (which happens every once in a while because of her condition but I had never seen it happen) and so me and Elder Ramos gave her a blessing while she was having a seizure it was crazy! The second we finished the blessing she stopped shaking and started to be semi-responsive. It was a crazy,
scary, but cool experience. I'm grateful we were in the right place at
the right time to serve her. Have a great week everyone! Love you all

- Elder Poulsen

After singing at the Senior Center

 Me and my boi M.S. with his Book of Mormon study guide and "Mormonism for Dummies" book  haha

 Helped this homie move!  He was a member's neighbor.

Sharon's baptism!

JDM

Hello everyone! This week was good. On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Camp Hill Elders and I was here in Lewisberry with Elder Ashton. I was a little worried because it was my first time leading out the area and I've only been here a month and a half! It went well though some lessons fell through but I was able to find other people to visit & stuff. It was a good day. This week we realized our investigator D is not keeping ANY commitments and keeps asking us the same questions even though we answer them every time (which is 2-3 times a week) and so we realized that she's not getting her questions answered and not finding time to come to church because she's not reading and praying. So this week we're going to sit down with her and explain that if she wants to continue to meet with us she needs to do the things we are asking her to do otherwise she can't learn and progress. And she keeps saying she wants to learn but she's not doing anything about it! So that's frustrating. 

Linda is still "gon keep on prayin" so we're continuing to work with her. We had a sweet lesson with M this week and he came to church! Him, his girlfriend, one of his kids, and all three of her kids all came to church it was sweet! They left after the second hour. Me and Elder Ramos taught Gospel Principles and didn't get to prepare so that was cool. We also found some new people to teach this week and gave away some Book of Mormons. Since the weather is nicer there is always people around and so we are working on talking to everyone we see and trying to have gospel conversations. 

One really cool experience we had this week was when some of the sisters' investigators wanted blessings for comfort and counsel. They asked me and Elder Ramos to do it, so we borrowed the sisters' car (which was weird for 3 reasons: 1. I hadn't driven in

a month and a half 2. I was driving in Pennsylvania 3. It was an auto Corolla #jdm yaimshayin) and we went and gave this couple blessings! I gave the husband a blessing and Elder Ramos gave the wife a blessing.  They were both extremely appreciative and thankful. The husband said he felt "light" and better than he had felt in months and the wife said she felt very relieved and calm. It was so cool to be able to use the priesthood to serve others and see its effect. I'm thankful to be able serve others as a representative of Jesus Christ.

- Elder Poulsen

1. Elder Ashton between some burnt houses in Lemoyne on exchanges

Mint Condish

What's up everyone! Beautiful weather last week! Sunny and 60s. Raining today though. This week was difficult but another good week. We had some good lessons but a bunch of people cancelled on us and Satan is real! That fool is thwarting everything we do but we're not gonna let him win he's gonna get CHOPPED! 

Monday we didn't take a p-day because we thought we were going to the temple with a member for the first time on Saturday but long story short we ended up not being able to so we didn't take a p-day for no reason but it was whatever so anyways Monday morning we helped a member in Camp Hill do some work on his house with the Camp Hill Elders. Then we went and did a bit of service and teaching at the senior center here in New Cumberland and then planned the rest of the day. On Tuesday we did some more service at the senior center mopping floors and helping them make peanut butter chocolate eggs they sell as a fundraiser, it's a big thing around here. While there we got to have lessons with L and D as well. D is having difficulties with that this is Christ's restored
church on the earth and that it's the one true church. We've talked
about that other churches have some truth, just not all. We were able to have another lesson with L that night and talked to her more about the restoration and praying to know if she should be baptized. She just keeps on saying "I'm jus gon keep on prayin". 

That night we went to visit the less active member that told me "no" very bluntly about reading the Book of Mormon a couple weeks ago, brother D from the Dominican Republic, and ended up teaching his wife instead! He refused to talk to us but she was glad to see us (she's also a member). We asked her if she was happy with her life and she said no and we talked about her life compared to when she was going to church and reading her scriptures and she was like yeah it was way better and so we invited her to read and come to church but she didn't make it which was a bummer but we're going back this week. 

So that was a sweet lesson and then we saw a sweet Porsche 356 speedster in "mint condish" on the way home. Wednesday we had some more sweet lessons with D and L and M brought his girlfriend and his two daughters to Book of Mormon class! It was sweet. M.S. is the MAN! Thursday morning we had a lesson in Wormleysburg which is pretty deep to walk to so we normally get a ride out there but we couldn't find one so we rode bikes! Haha we have some crappy bikes at our apartment and we were like welp, this looks like our only option. It was weird to us which is weird because it's normal for so many missionaries. It was fun though I enjoyed it. It was a fun ride along the Susquehanna. 

That night we had dinner with the less active that I talked about last week, brother K, who told us he needed to go to church, and he made us some corn chicken soup Pennsylvania Dutch style in a giant cast iron cauldron with a paddle to stir it! He farmed the potatoes and corn in it himself. It was sweet. Friday was zone conference in Harrisburg! It was sweet. 

On Saturday morning M.S. picked us up and took us out to breakfast at a place called the Squeaky Rail in Enola. He took us out to a good breakfast and then we taught him a lesson there in the restaurant. He's been showing more commitment and is planning to take next Sunday off to go to church. He said that ever since he was a kid he thought that Sunday should be a family and church day, but that his work schedule doesn't allow it but he wants to work towards keeping the sabbath day holy. He keeps emphasizing to us that he does want to be baptized and become a member of the church, but he is still leaning towards October. We invited him to pray about it, but he said prayer is a weak point for him. So we're going to teach him about prayer and seeking revelation next time. 

Later that day we had a brief lesson with L and helped her throw some computers and a table off of her balcony. That was fun. They were trash I guess. She said throw them down and we shrugged and said okay! So there's some of what we did this week!

A Valuable Lesson on Obedience

Hello everyone! This week had some tough days. On Monday night I started feeling sick and on Tuesday morning I woke up feeling awful, and we had exchanges planned with Camp Hill. Elder Ramos was still recovering a bit from the needle in his foot and I was feeling super sick and he was like we could just rest today if you don't feel good
enough. And I didn't want to rest or ruin the exchanges so I said nope I'm doin this.


So that morning before exchanges we had a lesson with D which turned out super awesome because she doesn't understand that she will be blessed for going to church and me and Elder Ramos both testified of how the gospel has changed our lives because she kept saying "you guys grew up in to this. You have always believed this" and we were like nah even though we were born into this church we are still converts to this gospel. Everyone is as they find their own testimony. So then we went on exchanges. I went to Camp Hill with Elder Hinckley who's great uncle is Gordon B Hinckley I think. We spent all day driving around to inactives and potentials we found in the area book and most of them had moved or didn't answer the door which was a bummer. We had a really good dinner at a members house and
then tried some more people and again, no answers. By the time we got home I felt like dying because I felt so sick. It was a sore throat, but like next level sore throat. Plus horrible headaches and I felt feverish. I've never experienced anywhere near this much pain in my throat.. The next morning I felt even worse. By the time we exchanged
back at district meeting I felt a little better but still not good and Elder Ramos asked me again if I needed to rest and I was like nah. And we went about our day.


We were with the sisters the rest of the day, we went and taught a lesson to one of their investigators who is getting baptized. We talked about families and we all shared pictures of our families and talked about what eternal families mean to us. That night we had a dinner appointment and I was scared because the night before in Camp Hill this family had made us cheeseburgers which were really good but were SO painful to swallow and every bite was a
struggle. So I was like this is going to be really tough because I was feeling even worse than the night before. We walked inside and they were like we're making soup! And I was like thank you Heavenly Father my throat will live to tell the tail.


The next morning on Thursday Brother Fike came over and him and Elder Ramos gave me a blessing. In the blessing he said that I need to be prayerful and obedient about recovering from my sickness, and even though the past couple days and that day I had been feeling like I needed to rest when I prayed, I kept going and again that day I was like we have stuff to do lets go do it. We tried some people and spent a while at the library so Elder Ramos could put all the numbers in for the month online for the zone leaders since he's district leader.


That night we finally had a sit down lesson planned with L and we were just hoping and praying she would be there and answer the door, because sometimes her car is there and her upstairs light is on and we knock and knock and knock and call her phone but she still doesn't answer because she doesn't hear well. It's so frustrating we're like we know you're there! But anyways she answered the door which was the first good point. After she PA rambled
about her job for a good 30 minutes before we even sat down, we finally got to sit down and begin. We talked about the restoration and she knew some stuff already, some correct and some false. She was like
"that man, Joseph Smith. He wrote the Book of da Mormons. And we were like well not really, he translated the Book of Mormon and we talked about how he was God's prophet on the earth in this dispensation and she was like you know, I do believe that Joseph Smith was one of the
Lord's prophets on the earth. And we were like sweet! But she hasn't prayed about the Book of Mormon or anything, but she did say "I been studyin yalls bible" and so we invited her to read the Book of Mormon with the bible because she kept saying "they gotta connect somewhere you know what I mean! They both God's word" and we were like yes! So
anyways we invited her to study the Book of Mormon and before we could even say anything else she was like "I tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna read the book of da Mormons with the bible. I'll study dat word side by side and I will pray to the Lord to see if it really is his word" and we were like saweeet and Elder Ramos was like if God tells
you it's true will you be baptized and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints? And she was like I'm gone pray about dat. So yeah that lesson was awesome, but took 2 and 1/2 hours because she was PA rambling so much.


We got home and I felt like death again because I didn't rest. I also felt like death through the 2 1/2 hour lesson. When we got home I was like delirious and I just passed out right away. The next morning I was thinking about what brother
Fike had said in the blessing he gave me and praying about it, I again felt like I needed to rest. Elder Ramos asked me that morning what do you want to do and I said not rest because we had stuff planned! And he said what does Heavenly Father want you to do? And I said rest and
so I decided to rest. So we rested that day until dinner which was planned at the Fikes for sister Simpson's birthday, and I was feeling quite a bit better by the time we went. We had a silly string fight and sister Fike made tacos with carne asada and me and Elder Ramos chomped down on all the carne asada while the non Californians ate the ground beef because they haven't seen the light yet.


On Saturday I woke up feeling great and I learned a valuable lesson on obedience. Heavenly Father had been telling me all week to rest but I didn't, and when I finally did I was fine after one day. That day we studied and did weekly planning basically all day until dinner. We had a dinner appointment with this family, the K. Sister K and her 14 year old son both go to church, but Brother K hadn't been to church in a few years, and the same with their 26 year old son. So we
went and Brother K made us super good cheeseburgers with
homemade fries! Like he had farmed the potatoes by himself, and had a fry cutter thing like they have at in-n-out, and then fried them and they were super good. After dinner we shared a thought with them on what they can do to be a missionary. We asked them about who they think could benefit from the gospel and what they can do to come
closer to Christ. Brother K had written himself down and Elder Ramos asked him what "Brother K, what can you do to help Brother K come closer to Christ?" And he laughed and was like uhh probably go to church and we invited him to church. Then we had the opportunity to give their inactive son a blessing of healing for an undisclosed addiction. The spirit was so strong and we could really tell that he was touched. On Sunday Brother K came to church! It was so sweet. And Sister K told us that ever since we gave
her son C the blessing he had been opening up to her more and even expressed interest in going to church. So that was awesome.


Last night after dinner we went with the sisters to S's house, their investigator who is getting baptized in a couple weeks, because she had fallen the day before and missed church. She was in a lot of pain and we were able to give her a blessing. After, she had a peaceful smile on her face and said "I feel like a really warm feeling in my heart, is that what im supposed to feel?" And we all were like yes
Sharon that's normal, it's the spirit! And she was super happy so that was sweet. So there's my week!