Hola a todos mis amigos y familia ,
This week was honestly such an amazing week! For sure the best week I have had so far! The days feel like they take forever, but at the same time, the weeks fly by. Time works way differently here at the CCM! First, shout out to my dude Apolo for starting his mission! My dawg's going to kill it! My Spanish has gotten sooooo much, it is honestly so crazy. I seriously love Spanish and am so grateful that i have the opportunity to learn this language!! random thought but my new favorite word is trabajaba! So yeah here comes the weekly recap!
6/7
This was the first day after p day that didn't feel super long. I meet 3 people going to Xalapa! two elders and one Hermana, all Latinos and don't speak English but esta bien!! So here is ciudad de Mexico, it rains almost every day, but some days are worst than others. Today it rained soo much. Like Elder Rowley and I were just studying and then it just started pouring out of nowhere! So everyday here we play volleyball and it is seriously so fun. Since a bunch of new missionaries have showed up, it has become so cut throat because if you make a mistake, to have to go to the back of this huge line and wait to play again! Miss my fam! So one of the CCM presidents sat by me during cena, and he told me that one day I am going to be a mission president, lets hope this happens!
6/8
So today was our second day of promix and my day seriously went from 0 to 100 real quick. So I thought I was going to be with Elder Valasco which was rough last time and i was scared it was going to be rough again but instead i got paired with Elder Hutchings who is the man!! So when he was 14 he was recruited to play soccer in Spain and there he learned Spanish and played professional soccer. His name is Zachary and is also a Michigan man!! So he played soccer till he was16 then he broke his ankle so he just moved back to California! But seriously he taught me so much Spanish. Like if I didn't know something, he would let me know. We gave some awesome lessons! Elder Espanoza was also in our class and he is a professional cook so that is so dope! I hang our with Latinos every day now and they help me so much with my Spanish!
6/9
So sacrament meeting was seriously so amazing. Presidente Olson talked about how important this work truly is and i am so grateful to be a part of it! We had an amazing!! so thankful for my district. Through Christ, we can be perfected, but not perfect as of the world sees it, perfection as God sees it. It is important not to focus on being perfect in things of this world, but to be focused on the perfection that only our Savior can give.
6/10
Today, our district talked all in Spanish which helped so much, it turns out a lot more than I thought! even though it is hard, I need to keep the faith ( 2 Timothy 4 verse 7 and 8) and i know that as i keep my faith and try my hardest, the lord will strengthen me ( 2 Timothy 4 verse 17). We ate soo good today, Comida and Cena were soooo good! I have lost so much weight, i currently weigh 167 which is so crazy, so im just trying to eat as much as possible. Me and Elder Rowley have been giving such grate lessons lately, we gave Joesph a lesson on prayer and it went so amazing. My ability to hear and understand spanish gets better each and every day.
6/11
Last day of promix went amazing and i was paired with Eder Hutchings again!! I could totally see the Lord giving me tender mercies in regards to the language. Sometimes, the words just come. And I think about how hard Spanish use to be for me in high school and how easily it comes now. I know that i am being watched over and helped in all things. so today I had to give a 15-minute lesson on the plan of salvation, the fall of Adam and Eve then the atonement, and i was able to talk for the whole 15 minutes, IN SPANISH!! So Elder Hutchings and I gave an awesome lesson on prayer to Lupita and she wants to be baptized. The language gets better each day because of my savior, his atonement, and el don de languas.
6/12
Lol so today, the song Jessies girl was stuck in my head for some reason. and I lost a life in Latino because of i was singing in English so i just translated it to Spanish and sang the Spanish version of it all day. Me and Elder Rowley shared some messages with some members here in Mexico through skype and it was so awesome. One member served in Xalapa and told me all about it! she said it was seriously so amazing and I can't wait to get out there. It was seriously so awesome!! So also she said how the people there are so nice and how receptive they are to the gospel. Elder Rowley and I taught and amazing a lesson about baptism and how important it is to be baptized by the authority of God and to follow the example of Jesus, not just today but always. Okay but we used a funny word during our lesson, luchar. we had flautas for dinner which was so amazing!
6/13
So today i went to immigration to get my green card and get all of my documentation stuff finished. It was so awesome to get out of the walls of the CCM and see the outside world! I talked to the driver in Spanish for like the whole hour drive there which was seriously so amazing. At immagraton, I seriously talked to everybody that I possibly could. Because i went with some missionaries who were on their third week, they really didn't know Spanish so i had to translate most everything for them! On the way back I talked with Hermano Sanchez for the whole drive home. I feel so grateful that i can speak this language and I seriously love it! Now i am just chillin, writing my email!
Okay so that was my week. Seriously so amazing! I try and be friends with almost everyone here which is so awesome. I am always saying Hola! I love being a missionary! This week i also created a verb, fiestar, which means to party. Lol not really a word but i use it all the time!
Okay for this weeks spiritual moment, I am going to talk about Mosiah 8;18 "Thus God has provided a means that man, through faith, might work mighty miracles; therefore he becometh a great benefit to his fellow beings." God can work mighty miracles through us, but it is important that we have faith that he truly can. I know that right now, I am not the best at Spanish, but I know that as I keep the faith and keep working it will come. Before my mission, I could speak no Spanish so I consider it a miracle that I can speak the amount that I can right now! As I gain a further knowledge of this language, I know that I will become a benefit to my fellow beings! I love this gospel! I know that it is true. I know that through Joesph Smith, Jesus Christ has restored the fulness of his gospel in these latter days! love you all!
Hasta Luego!
Elder Poulsen
This is Russ Reilly. Elder Poulsen great letters!! Made my whole week!