Monday, May 30, 2016

Hot Rain

Hey everyone! Happy Memorial Day. Pretty good week this week, quite busy! Spent a lot of time trying to contact former and potential investigators as well as less active members and did a lot of biking!  And it was a hot week with some gross rain so that was exciting hahaha.

Last Monday most of our zone got together at a park in Harrisburg to barbecue (but they call a barbecue a "cookout" here in PA for some reason) and play soccer and then it started pouring rain...so we played anyways! It was fun but dirty ahaha.

On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders, I was here in our area with Elder Renteria, who's from Bogata, Columbia! He's an awesome missionary and a really cool guy, and he loves his home country of Columbia! We spent the morning trying to contact some less active members with no luck at the edge of the our area, so lots of biking but no success which was lame but it's ok! Later we were at the West Shore senior center and met a lady named Sharon who we helped take some boxes out to her car. She had just moved here to New Cumberland from York and is looking for a church to go to! She excitedly accepted a Book of Mormon and gave us her contact info to set up a lesson. She also wants to come to church! So that was sweet, we're hopefully seeing her this week. 

Later we were walking and I spotted a pretty sick VW outside of this school and started scopin it out. It was a B6 Passat lowered on some Rotiform wheels (I'll include a pic). The guy soon came out and was flattered at my interest in his VDub. We talked about vdubs for a while and we gave him a Book of Mormon and talked about the role it plays in our lives. He was pretty psyched on it! I told him if he ever needs help working on the whip to let us know! That's a real good service opportunity right there
yahmean!

On Friday we did a lot of finding again and rode through lots of hills and got real tired haha and we found a super sick lookout point from Lemoyne looking over the river and Harrisburg! I'll include a pic of that, way better view than the view in the pic I sent last week. We were able to contact one former investigator named Carol who was glad to see us and said she has been reading the Book of Mormon periodically. She has been looking into different religions, so we really tried to help her see how Christ-centered our message is and how it can help her. While we were teaching her on her porch it started DUMPING rain and so we road like 2 miles home in 80 degrees but dumping rain it was so gross hahaha we got all wet and nasty and after it stopped raining it was ridiculously humid.

Saturday was like 88 degrees and decently humid so it was pretty
gross, thankfully in the morning we were able to have a member of the ward take us out and contacted a former investigator, Jamee who wants to start meeting with the missionaries again! But the rest of the day we were walking and on bikes getting real gross and nobody wanted to talk to us. On the bright side we did find a secret trail that went under the freeway and along the creek, so that was kind of cool.

Funny story! Saturday we were riding home and were riding by a
restaurant and a guy opened the door right when I was riding by and I slammed the door! Hahahah it was so funny and I totally ate it. I was fine but the guy was like totally tripping out cause it scared the crap out of him cause he was on the opposite side of the door and didn't see me coming and he was concerned that I was injured. I felt bad that I scared him, the door was just in a really crappy spot. Poor guy, oh well I apologized for frightening him and off we went.

N is out of town for a few weeks, but Sunday night we were able to
have a lesson with her over Skype! It was super awesome to be able to do that. Having iPads as missionaries really does help the work
progress, as long as we use them wisely.

So yeah this week was a lot of finding again. We are really trying to
find more people to teach and to strengthen relationships with ward
members right now. It's really disappointing because most people don't want to talk to us, like they ignore our knocks on the door when we know they are home, or they walk the other way on the street, things like that. It's frustrating but we are trying

Love you all have a good week!

Monday, May 23, 2016

Eye Gawt Syck

Hey everyone, this was an interesting week. It rained most of the week so it was very wet, and I also got very sick.

Nothing too crazy this week and not much excitement. On Wednesday night I woke up 3 times in the middle of the night throwing up my guts out and then I slept all day Thursday because I felt like there was an army of little people inside me beating up my stomach and making me miserable, so that was fun. The worst part is that I missed zone training which I was really upset about. President Johnson was there and apparently did a great training and afterwords the zone went and played soccer on city island in Harrisburg. It was a huge bummer me and Elder. Cuthbert weren't able to make it.

On Tuesday we were walking down the street and said hi to an elderly lady putting something in the mailbox. She replied "hello elders!" We took a few more steps and then me and Elder Cuthbert stopped, looked at each other, and were like what did she say? Because she wouldn't have called us elders unless she had investigated the church or was a member or something. So we turned around and started talking to her.  Turns out she used to be a member of the church and she invited us to her home but specified she didn't want to talk doctrine. We took her up on her offer and went over there with Brother Harlacher on Friday.

She was happy to see us and is a very nice lady. We talked with her
about her history with the church and why she stopped going, and
Brother Harlacher shared his testimony about how the church has
changed his life. But we didn't talk doctrine! Haha it was awesome
though. She is super into genealogy and Mormon history. She has some books on it, including one made up of her great great grandmother's journals, who was a midwife as the saints were crossing the plains!  Some cool stuff. So we had an awesome visit with her and are going back to help her in her garden in a couple weeks. Her name is Sister Tornblom.

So there's probably the most exciting story of the week! The week was being miserably sick, people cancelling appointments, and meeting a couple less actives. Have a good week everyone!

- Elder Poulsen

Monday, May 16, 2016

Riding a sort of Stolen Bike

Hey everyone! Transfers was this week, me and Elder Cuthbert are
having a good time preachin dat word yahmean! On transfer day I was in
Harrisburg all day with some other missionaries, and instead of us
sitting at the church all day they sent us out to work the Harrisburg
elders area! It was sweet. I was with Elder Camp for the day and the
zone leaders sent us to tract this apartment complex that apparently
had a lot of Hispanics, and Elder Camp speaks Spanish so I was
preparing myself to not have any clue what was going on. So we went
and the first door we knocked was this lady from Africa that didn't
speak English, then we met some Spanish speakers, then some other
people from Africa, then from Asia, and all sorts of places! It was
crazy there was so many different types of people there and the
hallways had like black mold & stuff it was way gross haha. So anyways
we met all these people and had some doorstep lessons and only 2 of
them were Spanish where I just stood there nodding my head while Elder
Camp taught haha. And we set up like 5 appointments for the zone
leaders! It was sweet we handed them the list and were like your
welcome guys haha.

So the first week with Elder Cuthbert was good! We met a lot of
people. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm doing leading out this
area & all that but it was a pretty good week. When people asked me if
I was ready to lead out this area I was just like yeah whatever I'll
figure it out and then it happened and I was like oh shoot I really do
need to figure this out hahahaha tryna figure out what I'm doing! It's
going good though.

The other day we were going to contact a less active who ended up not
living there anymore, but we met his dad Randy! Who quickly pointed
out that the bike I was riding was his...apparently him and his wife
LENT bikes to the missionaries like 2 years ago and never got them
back, and he described the other one and we don't know where it
is...so yeah I offered him his bike back and he said it's fine but we
do plan on returning 2 bikes to him to replace them haha. So that was
funny. Anyways, he said he used to be a member of the church and he
was open to us coming over sometime but wouldn't give us an exact
time, so we'll be stopping by there soon.

So on our way to Randy's house as we were riding our bikes, we rode by
a restaurant where there was a man sitting on the front steps and he
waved to us and said "good evening gentlemen". He was really nice to
us and I felt prompted to turn around and go talk to him, but I didn't
which was lame of me. So the next day we were walking by that
restaurant and he was outside throwing some trash away and I was like
this is it my second chance! So we started talking to him, offered to
help throwing the trash away, and offered him a pass along card. He
then said "I know all about it I was baptized Mormon 10 years ago!"
And we were like oh! Haha so we talked to him about his history with
the church and why he stopped going and he invited us to come to his
restaurant (he owns it) to have a lesson with him next week! So that
was pretty sick and it was awesome that even though I blew it on my
first opportunity to talk to him, I was given a second chance. His
name is Sean by the way

This week we had another lesson with Sister Zoeller, the less active
super awesome war vet. She struggles with thinking that Heavenly
Father is disappointed with her because of all the things she did in
Vietnam and that she is not worthy of Gods love. Brother Harlacher,
who joined the church almost 2 years ago and changed his life
completely for the better, was there with us. He usually doesn't say
much when he comes out with us, only when we ask him questions, but
this time he threw down! As she was expressing her feelings on why she
isn't worthy of Gods love he was like "who's will is stronger, yours
or Gods?" And Elder Cuthbert turned to me and mouthed the words "oh
dang!" Hahaha he said that and it was like boom! It was so perfect and
the lesson got better and better from there. Brother Harlacher had
plans to go camping that night, but felt like he should come with us
instead. After the lesson he took us out for ice cream and told us how
happy he was with his decision with coming out with us instead of
going camping. He knew he had done what Heavenly Father needed him to
do.

The family we found last week unfortunately cancelled this week :( but
they rescheduled to this next week so hopefully that is able to
happen. On Saturday we spent all day trying former and potential
investigators and we met a lot of nice people and some not so nice
people. It was a tiring and long day.

So overall it was a pretty good week! Love you all



Last Pic with Elder Ramos

With Elder Camp in Harrisburg

Helping Brother Stevenson with some mulch in his yard.  Scope my pitchfork though!  Thing is raw

Elder Cuthbert!  Bout to do some killer stuff together here in Lewisberry walk

Monday, May 9, 2016

What's Good Everyone!

What's good everyone! Super good week this week! First of all before I
go into the week, transfers is tomorrow and Elder Ramos is being
transferred to Pittsburgh 4th ward to be a Zone Leader in the
Pittsburgh North Zone, I'm gonna miss him :(. I'm staying here in
Lewisberry Walk and my new companion is going to be Elder Cuthbert,
who I know nothing about so more on that next week! It's exciting but
sad, I've really loved being companions with Elder Ramos.

So most exciting thing of the week is we found a family to teach! The ward has been fasting for more people to accept the gospel and that we will be able to find those who are prepared, and me and Elder Ramos have specifically been praying to find a family to teach, and our prayers were answered! So what happened was, after the referral we got a couple weeks ago ended up not being interested, we decided that we were sent to that neighborhood/apartment complex for a reason. So we decided to tract the complex! So on Wednesday we were on exchanges with the zone leaders and I was with Elder Ibarra here in our area.
After a service appointment cancelled I decided we should go tract
this complex because we hadn't done all of it. So we went over there and like the 4th door we knock on this teenage kid answers and we started talking to him. After a few minutes of talking to him he his mom came downstairs and got really excited and was like "come in! I'm a Mormon!" And we're like whaaaat so we go in and she's like I was baptized in the York ward when I was 19! (she said she's 35 now) And she was like I want you to teach my boys! They need to come closer to God. So we had a lesson with her and her three sons and we're going back on Wednesday! Now we need to find her membership records because they aren't in our ward. Her name is Yoslin and her three boys are Kevin, Kennet, and Calvin. It's super exciting and so awesome to see our hard work and prayers answered. I can't wait to see what is in store for their family.

Other than that we did some more less active work this week, and also made a lot of calls trying to set up appointments with potential and former investigators, but no luck there.

Funny story, on Thursday night a member took us to this place for
dinner called Quaker Stake and Lube, to do this hot wing challenge. We did this super gnarly hot wing challenge and I thought I was going to die it was way sick though! The hot wings were drenched in a hot sauce that's 500,000 scoville units (which is a lot) and we had to eat 6 of them in under 3 minutes and we all did it! It was pretty crazy. The wings are so hot that they serve them with gloves, because if the sauce touches certain parts of your skin it will burn! Also you have to sign a release form saying that you are aware of the danger of incredibly spicy food. It was crazy. Other people at the restaurant were telling us we were insane for doing it, our waiter told us he's never actually seen someone do it! It was sweet and we get a free t-shirt except they ran out of them so they are sending them to us.

So there's some of the awesome week! Tomorrow I will be in Harrisburg all day waiting for my new companion, Elder Cuthbert. Love you all!


On roof to get frisbee last P-day.  Hahaha  Flexxin on that Amish hat yaimshayin

Last district meeting before transfers

The Fike Family

The Liechty family minus Brother Liechty.  The ties Elder Ramos and I are wearing we made out of a skirt.

Quaker Stake and Lupe Hot Wings Challenge Waiver

Monday, May 2, 2016

Locked Out!

Hey everyone! This week was pretty sick. Ups and downs. On Tuesday we had a lesson set up with a media referral that we set up last week and we were really excited about because usually media referrals are crap but they've been double checking them and this one was real! So we set up an appointment but when we went she was at the doctor and we weren't able to set up another apt so that was a bummer. But we're going to go back this next week and see if she's home.

We dropped our investigator D this week, she has not been making
any changes, is not keeping any commitments and has not progressed at all in 3 months. Also, M dropped us this week which was really sad. We tried stopping by his house on Tuesday and we were down the street from his house when he backed out and drove off! And we were just like you have got to be kidding me. It was a huge bummer. So we texted him a couple days later basically straight up asking him where he stands with the LDS church and he said he's removing himself from the LDS situation for now. It was just so sad because the gospel was having such a positive impact on his life. It was frustrating and really disappointing.

So pretty much we have no investigators to teach right now and we've been trying to do lots of finding and have lots of plans for this week. We have, however been doing lots of less active work! We've been able to visit some less actives that we haven't been able to see even since Elder Ramos has been here, so like 6 months.

On Tuesday we went on exchanges with the Camp Hill elders. Elder Wilson (mr. cowboy roper) was in Lewisberry with me and it was a pretty good day. We helped a family move, taught a less active lesson, and contacted a bunch of people around town in New Cumberland, including a couple Muslim guys who we gave a Book of Mormon and they were hyped on it!

So Saturday night we got home and I realized I didn't have the keys
and I was like dang it you've got to be kidding me so we called the
member, Kareem, who just gave us a ride and he came back. We spent an hour looking around his truck, the street, the parking lot and making calls trying to find them with no luck. We also debated climbing up through our window we left open but there was no way to get up there. So at this point it's like 10:30 and we knelt down and said a prayer and we both felt like we needed to go check McDonald's because we had stopped there on our way home so that Kareem could get something, so we had Kareem take us back to McDonald's and we couldn't find them anywhere. We had no idea what to do, and Kareem was talking to one of his friends who had just gotten off work there. Then Elder Ramos jokingly asked Kareem's friend if she knew how to pick a lock and she
was like yeah I can do that no problem, and we were like you wanna pick our lock? Hahaha so she followed us home and she pulled out a credit card and had our door open in 30 seconds and left! And then the keys were on the hook inside because i had forgotten them. So there's a long story short! Hahaha the spirit led us to McDonald's to meet Kareem's friend so that she could break in to our apartment for us. Not your average pray and find the keys story. This was a pray and find person to break in for you story. Prayer works! It was an exhausting night haha. So there's the week!


Helping a family move with Elder Wilson

Squished in Brother Fike's brother's tiny truck, going to a lesson