Pura Casaca Hombre Dallin Poulson 2/22/2016

What's up friends and family?

WE HAVE A BAPTISM THIS WEEEEK. If everything goes through we will be baptizing  Monique. She´s super smart and likes the Book of mormon a lot. She  reads it and then tells us exactly what happened. With names and all! Hopefully her mom and little sister come through  within the next month! They're really progressing! 

We met several new people to teach. So we  will see where everything goes with that. One guy´s name is Mohamed! His dad is from pakistan and his mom is from honduras. He only knows spanish though! I´ll keep you updated on that!

We had a great Zone Conference with President Dester on Tuesday. We learned  a lot for about 6 hours! We are trying to change the culture of the mission mostly, because we aren't exactly known as a ´´Preach my Gospel´´ mission. I am excited for the changes we are making though. 

He also taught us about Joseph smith and shared some things I had never heard of before.   He really was an awesome man! Yeah he had flaws, but through the help of The Father and Jesus Christ he did so many amazing things. I am grateful for his obedience and diligence!    There is also a part in the Book of mormon that prophesies of joseph smiths martyrdom, i cant imagine how that felt when he translated that! 

 I have been thinking a lot about sacrifice this week. There's a lot of things you kind of have to drop in life to be a good missionary. I am not really talking about the things you leave at home, but things in the mission. You have to drop a lot of the things that you  want to do. Sacrifice is a daily thing if you truly want to have power when you teach. I am trying to get to the point where i am only focused on the Lords will, it is not an easy transition, i am human. But i have seen some cool blessing that come from true sacrifice. Hope i can get there some day!

Have a happy week yall!

Mathew 16:25 

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life          for my sake shall find it.

Transfers, Glimpse of Spring, Branch Baptism Weston Poulson 2/22/2016

This week was our missions last week of this transfer. On Tuesdays we do district meeting so there are 6 in my district since we are spanish then there are like 10 in the english district that shares the same church as us for meetings and also p-days! it's awesome and sad because my district doesn't change but there entire district does! All good though! This picture was taken on tuesday and yes, it was snowing pretty good the previous two days but we all knew the weather for friday andsaturday, saturday being the better one! And it was AWESOME! I'm pretty suresaturday almost hit 60 at its best. Which in February I guess is not heard of in Wisconsin! hah I'm cool with it though!! 

Me and Elder Neves had to walk 22 blocks to our bus route since we missed our bus! found some train tracks along the way so naturally, we took a picture! but I didn't have to wear my jacket all day on saturday and that was GREAT! People look at me different though.. I think my coat made me under cover for the last little while..

Me and Elder Neves have been wanting to do something in the morning so the other day we decided to see how long it would take us to walk to a park a couple blocks down from our apartment! Well, little did we know this park is almost perfect!! The only thing that could be better is if they put a disc golf course around it! hah but they have a basketball court, two tennis courts, Full length soccer field and a grass baseball field.. SO we called the ZL's and also the Sisters in our district and asked them if they'd be interested in playing sports every morning for our workouts since the weather is being kind enough and they said yes!! haha that sounded like a proposal for a sec.. ANYWAYS! now we play cage soccer in the tennis courts and we think other missionaries (English) In Milwaukee will start coming as well because its in like a perfect central location!

This is us standing out on the pond, its mostly frozen!

This Sunday (Yesterday) we had a baptism for Alex Perez. One of the Zone Leaders Investigators who's 16 years old! He and his brothers records were lost and they needed to be re-baptized so Jonathan (Other brother) did immediately but Alex didn't. After many years he decided he wanted to and so yesterday he was able to be baptized by his "Tio" Walter! It was pretty awesome to see! Now the father is the only one left out and the wife keeps telling us how bad she wants to go to the temple. She keeps telling us "Ill give him one year to decide!" Hah we're not sure what that means, but the zone leaders will start teaching him soon, I'm sure!

This week's "Spiritual Thought" i guess you can call it is on answers through prayer. Answers to our prayers are not always going to be so blatant that they seem to smack you in the face, in fact they rarely ever do! Heavenly father always sends them in a manner that we can receive them and understand that they are answers to our prayers if we humble ourselves to recognize them! Then the fist thing we should do is thank our Heavenly Father immediately after we receive our answer to show our love and gratitude. 

Good week! Love you all! 

~Elder Poulson

CATRACHO Tree Chickens Dallin Poulson 2/15/16

Great week!

This week was the Holy Service Week. As in ´´Holy Cow, that's a TON of service! We literally ended up doing some sort of service project every day for the past 6 days. We hauled a ton of dirt to add to the church garden. We did a little landscaping at a house. Chopped someone's lawn with machetes (accidentally wrecked their tomato plants, sorry mom), Moved a ton of firewood, painted a kindergarten, built a table, and other stuff! Everywhere we went, something needed done! We didn't have very many appointments so we had time to do it. We ended up finding new people to teach too! 

Earlier this week I read a talk called What Lack I Yet from the last general conference. Basically it tells us to ask God of the things that we need to improve on in our lives. Sometimes it is something we never would expect. A few days afterward I was thinking a lot and decided to ask the question. I felt like my answer was that I need to pray more sincerely. Kind of surprised me because I thought I was being pretty sincere in my prayer. But I decided that if I were to ask for advice, I had better take it when I receive it! So I tried to be more sincere in all of my prayers and it really made a difference. 

We had a pretty good moment with our investigators the other day. We have almost taught them the all of the lessons and we are at the point where they really need to pray for their own answers before we move on. We planned on watching a movie with them but it didn't work so we just improvised. We just listened really. The mom has some issues that would need to be resolved before baptism and we just let her talk about it for a while. After we shared a scripture they called me to say the closing prayer. I asked if we could do a special prayer, kneeling together to bless the house and other things. They agreed. I definitely had some help from above during that prayer because I don't think I really messed up with my spanish. I also just said a lot of things that I had never thought of. I asked to help each of them receive their own answers from the spirit and other things. When I said Amen, I looked and they were both crying. Surprised me for sure. My companion told them that they were feeling the spirit testifying of the things they were feeling and that we would leave to let them ponder. It just felt great! 

Sad news came this morning. A family in our branch lost their son last night to a really bad blood problem. Keep the Rojas family in your prayers.

That's my week! 

Hope you all have an awesome week!

Photos!

https://goo.gl/photos/2pKjbSxdwxHYYk1r7

FIESTAS MEXICANAS ARE LIT! Weston Poulson 2/15/2016

This week was one that was fun and tough all at the same time. It got pretty cold here, Around 0 for a few days and so a lot of our investigators canceled but that doesn't stop missionaries from heading out! One thing we did was invite every Latino we could to our branches Valentine's Party on Saturday night! None of our invites came but the other missionaries had some come and it was a lot of fun! But, as missionaries, typically you go early to help set up. So we did! Me and Elder Neves go there before everyone else because they were all a little late so we went exploring for stuff that could help make the party just that much better! Well, we found it and it was within us! We found some sweet sombreros and figured it couldn't hurt! This night was one of the funnest nights of my mission! Our district finally all opened up and let out their true colors and it was awesome!

 Then the other missionaries wanted to see what a baby stall is so me and Elder Neves showed them how its done in the parking lot!

But this week we were able to find a couple named Alejandro and Jasmine. they are about 25 I would say and super awesome! We hit it off well with them right from the get go! And Jasmine seemed to be super interested in what we were teaching the whole time and Alejandro warmed up to us as well! He didn't want us to pray at the end but that's okay, hes too cool to not have that blessing in his life so I have faith that he will soon!

But this week something that I've come to realize fully is the power of the Book of Mormon. I heard in a talk by Henry B Eyring that every time he starts to study in the Book of Mormon he prays to ask god to reveal the truth of it unto him. This is something that id like to invite all of you to do because its amazing how the power of prayer works in that regard. 

Love you all! 

~Elder Poulson

¡Siombe! Dallin Poulson 2/8/2016

Hey everyone!

This week flew by! I can't believe I am already back on the computer! 

Our investigators started coming to church and are getting ready to be baptized the 27th! Super happy about that and I hope it all goes through! They are super awesome and invited us to eat and come to activities with us and everything. We found a couple new families this week so hopefully we can get the ball moving with them. 

We had a pretty successful Noche de Hermanamiento at the church on Thursday. We played a game that  I found on lds.org  that related to the importance of having prophets to guide us. I brought all my ties to blindfold everyone and got them all back! 

Our investigators invited us to dinner afterward too!

This is random, but if you want to find my house on google maps copy and paste this into google maps! Thought that might be cool.

15.060466, -88.757168

Yesterday was fast sunday and it was just awesome. Two investigators came to church and we had a very spiritual testimony meeting. I decided to go up and man, I can't tell you how strong the spirit was that moment. I literally felt like my heart was on fire and was going to beat out of my chest. Later that night we were able to eat dinner with some awesome members. ( one reminds me a ton of my sister heidi!) But we shared a scripture with all 4 of us missionaries. I don't know why but i felt the same spirit I felt earlier that day when it came to my turn to speak. I just remember saying something really positive and knew it had to be said. It was a powerful little message, everyone was really sincere in that moment. We ended up giving to ´´school blessings´´ afterwards to their daughters. 

Those are the moments that make the mission awesome. Yeah waterfalls and parrots are cool, but I never feel quite as happy as I am when I am feeling the spirit and am helping others at the same time. 

Have an awesome week everyone! 

-Dallin

Pics! 

https://goo.gl/photos/HRxPCTZjwDDVig6G9

48 Degrees, A Blizzard And Singing In A Funeral? Weston Poulson 2/8/2016

Well this week was VERY interesting! On Tuesday we attended a funeral for a lady in our ward. Her baby passed away and it was really sad so keep her in your prayers. Her name is Natalie Perez. But Elder Reina (my old comp no ZL) had a great idea to sign us (4 elders 2 sisters) to sing a song in Spanish in front of everyone! Well, with a ten minute run through right before we started you could say that us elders were pretty sure this was going to be as bad as we thought! Well, it was worse.. Its the thought that counts and everything but its safe to say that the sisters did an AMAZING job and the elders didn't hold our ground.. I'm sure the expectations weren't that high anyways, right? 

This is the Perez Family

Us after it was over. STONE COLD;)

This week It was the coldest rain ever! Super windy and all of our appointments fell through on that day so we tracted for about 2 hours! I think it helped us though because we picked up 6 new investigators that night and they are awesome! But yesterday, Sunday, it hit 48 degrees here.. I didn't know what to do with my self! So we took pictures outside in front of our church just sure that spring was on the way and sunny skies from here on out!

Me in front of our Spanish building!

We have a pretty cool building, but look at all of the grass!! haha cool right? Well it's currently a blizzard outside and my hopes of spring have been shattered.. PRESS ON! haha

But something cool happened yesterday.. I ran into my sisters roommate in college! haha coo-coo right? But she was like really cool and upbeat and everything! Her name is Kelly Boston! I think.. Hah! I hear a lot of names so don't hate me if I'm wrong Bristi but she is so awesome!

My hair doesn't actually look like that.. but whatever! haha

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Anyways the Broncos finally win a Superbowl in my lifetime but it happens when I can't see it.. HAH! oh well but love you all and I hope you all have a great week! 

~Elder Poulson

¡Ando Hule! Dallin Poulson 1/25/2016

This week we had transfers! I got my new companion, Elder Alfaro! He´s from Guatemala and is finishing his mission in 5 weeks. In fact I live with 2 other missionaries that are finishing their missions in 5 weeks and 10 weeks. This means I am actually going to have to stay in my first area for 6 months in total! Oi...

Work has been going great! We found some new investigators and we´re getting things rolling. We passed by a house and a little girl called out the window ´´Hermanos!´´ so naturally we turn around to talk to them. We found out their dad had died about a week before and gave them a Plan of Salvation pamphlet. They're such an awesome family. We taught The plan of salvation and last night we thought we would pass by to set another appointment to teach the Restoration. They invited us in and we taught right there. There were actually some inactive members hanging out with them and joined us for the lesson! It was super odd how quickly this family became great friends with us. We were taking selfies and they gave us cake and everything while we were there. 

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IT is really rough having a Latin companion cause i am really realizing how far i am from being fluent in Spanish. I do get a lot of practice though. Its hard, but doable. He´s a super likable guy and keeps getting the members to feed us so I´m with it.

We had a worldwide missionary training this week from the twelve apostles! First time in more than a decade. It was cool, kinda took everything back to the basics and how we should do things. 

Okay so I never thought I would say this, but, IT WAS COLD here these last few days. Okay not Wisconsin cold like Weston, but I was actually pretty cold these last few days. I would guess it was in the 40´s somehow. People said it never happens. Its about to get hot again though. 

I guess this weeks spiritual thought is about Humility.

I have never really thought about this but for some reason it's been on my mind a ton. It's actually a really hard thing to do. Especially for me, I am a proud person. I often feel like I have to do things without help. Its something I want to work on for sure. Over these last few days I have definitely been humbled in a couple things and am becoming more willing to ask for help, from other elders and from my Heavenly Father. 

Have an awesome week everybody!

more pics!

https://goo.gl/photos/9YUqWUdzSksheStx7

BLAZIN CHALLENGE WILD WINGS FAIL Weston Poulson 2/1/2016

This week was a slow fast week! It was a good one though to say the least! on Tuesday, we were right next to a Buffalo Wild Wings and it was our time for dinner so we said why not? and I had heard of all these Elders in the past doing what is called the "Blazing Challenge" My companion completed it last year in March and has a t-shirt so I said "How bad could it be?" I soon found out.. Well the challenge is that you have to eat 12 of their hottest wings in 6 min or you lose! and something my companion didn't tell me is that they bring them right out of the oven and on the table.. AND now they've added GHOST PEPPER to the sauce! I learned this right as they put it in front of me.. well I ate 6 wings in 4 min and my face was vibrating and I was in so much pain I couldn't hold tears in.. SO much pain that my legs were shaking and I was worried for my life and the waiter brought me a total of 4 quarts of milk! I will be back for this challenge, I'll just need to train before hand.. here is a photo of me signing the waiver that I can't sue or if I die it's not their fault! and a photo of me dead. Elder Neves has some funny videos of me during the thing too! 

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DEFEAT!

Later that night I was tired so I naturally rubbed my eyes with my fingers.. BAD IDEA! Hah well lets just say I started screaming for help and Elder Neves was splashing water on my face for a solid minute straight! I've never been so belittled.. 

But we had a hard time this week getting in with investigators but one we are excited about is Margarita. We found her in the area book and it seemed like the missionaries in the past just kind of stopped teaching her so we went back and she sounds pretty promising! Things are going well! 

Love you all! here are some more pictures! PEACE!

Alleyways in the HOOD

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OOOOOOOiiiiiiiiiii - A common greeting in Honduras Dallin Poulson 2/1/2016

I'm just going to jump right in and say that those investigators from last week are totally progressing! Two of the girls committed to a baptismal date! Things are going great with them! We don't have a ton of investigators right now but the ones we have are definitely going in the right direction! 

We did a lot of weird things this week! 

We helped a family in the wedding of their son on Tuesday! That was way fun! We got to do pretty much everything there. Security, DJ, Serve people food, run errands, and even film the thing! Best part? Free food yáll. 

One day we were out contacting and i saw two guys chilling with a  Honda CBR  600!  (Internal girl scream)  I haven't seen a real sport bike in so long.  So naturally I go up and fangirl over the guy's bike. He was totally a hard core gangster/drug dealer or something though. He was tattooed from head to toe, tear drops and everything. But he was super nice to us. Me and him talked bikes for a while and he even let me yank the throttle a couple (dozen) times.  Gosh that sounded good. Anyways, he has like   two houses, two sports cars, and the motorcycle. We didn't ask questions. He said we  come visit him whenever though so maybe some day haha. 

Not even 5 minutes later we meet another guy in the street... Who had a monkey on his arm. I had actually run into this same guy twice before. First time he was chilling shirtless by some parrots, the second time he talked to us while we were with the tiger a couple months back. Now he has a little monkey holding onto his arm. I guess  he likes animals! He let us hold the monkey and take pictures. Super fun little guy. 

We went to TEJUTE waterfalls again with the Sisters in our district. Super beautiful. I had to be the tour guide (dressed like it too) this time because i was the only one that had been. We made it despite my poor memory! 

We ran into a ´´guide´´ of Tejute on his motorcycle. He told us to call him next time cause apparently there is a lot more to it that we totally missed. So we have his number and we´ll be back. 

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I'm  pretty grateful to be out here on my mission right now. I´m growing a lot as a person and it just keeps getting better.  

Have an awesome week everybody!

Dallin

PICTURES 

https://goo.gl/photos/snjyNGJMqF3eRLtu7

Carrying 40 Year old men like babies! 1/25/2016

This week was a very interesting one! Our apartment had been about 55 degrees in the mornings for the last little while and I got pretty fed up with it! hah so i went to St. Vincent de Paul's and bought a blanket for 7 bucks! The only problem was transporting it.. I think i did alright!

HAH! then we went to a lesson with a lady named Alma and she is basically my mom just fully Mexican! haha she always wants to feed us and take care of us! so naturally for her, she wanted to give me a place to sleep cause she thought I was homeless! hah we clarified and all is well!

(this computer is being dumb and I cant find my pictures sorry!)

Later on in the week we just got out of the Martin families house and we were walking down the street. When we hear this old 40 year old man saying "Help! are you church people? Please help!" so we were a little suspicious at first then he said he was harmless so we went and his car landed on his knee earlier so he needed us to help him into his house! Lets just say I've never done this before but I carried him into his house holding him like a baby and that was it! haha 

(Sorry, sadly didn't get a picture of that!)

But all is well here in Milwaukee! I don't have hardly any time to write today because our prep-day got all messed up! and next week might be the same! but I'll do my best! 

I have more pictures but the computers I usually use have a virus so that might be all for this week! Love Y'all!

(Pics i can find!)

Tried SUSHI! No me gusta..

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Finally got a backpack! and yes, im cutting my hair;) AND TODAY WAS LIKE 30!! Felt AMAZING!

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