Howdy!

Hey Everyone!
This week was awesome! New investigators are popping up out of no
where! The past couple weeks have been kind of slow here but now it's
hopping! I love it!

Every missionary's dream is coming true......we're teaching a
family!!! Yay!! They're neighbors with a member of the Ward and
they've been looking for a church to bring their kids to. Hey! We know
a great church! They've had some hard times and we know the gospel
will really bless their lives. We're really excited to teach them!

Since Thanksgiving is coming up, I read a conference talk about
gratitude that I recommend for everyone to read. It's called,
"Grateful in Any Circumstances" by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. You can always
think of something to be grateful for. You may not have the coolest
house or the fanciest car, but think of what you do have. Even if it's
just something simple, the Lord has blessed you. And that doesn't just
mean material things. He may have blessed you with knowledge or
freedom. Every good thing is from the Lord. We just need to take a
step back and think about what we have.

Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission

Pictures!
1: Me and Sister Marks
2 & 3: Zone Conference (in pic 3 the mission president looks so done with us 😂)
4: helping decorate the Boren's Christmas tree
5: lizard came along for the ride!

First week as a Trainer!

Letter from 11/7/2016

Hey Everyone!

Well I'm training a new missionary! It's super fun! Her name is Sister
Marks from Sandpoint, ID. She's a really hard worker and a really
faithful missionary! Way more prepared than I was when I first got out
here! (But then again that wasn't very long ago.)

Azle's still awesome, and since I'm training, my mission president
said I'll be in this area for 3 more months. So I'm going to be in my
first area for 6 months 😳 At least I like it and I love these people!

I was pondering (see, I'm using big words now) and I read this
scripture that lists all the "Christlike Attributes" we're striving to
have. "And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the
glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue,
knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness,
charity, humility, diligence." I've decided, and I realized I was
doing this without even knowing it, every 6 weeks I'm going to focus
on one attribute to improve on. The 2 I've been focusing on recently
are charity and humility and I've really improved with those. These
next 6 weeks I'm going to focus on patience. I know you're all
thinking, "Hailey are you crazy? You're the least patient person I
know." Well, this is the perfect time to work on it. As a missionary
you're a literal representative of Jesus Christ, so this is the time
to become more like Him. Of course we should strive for all of those
things, but if you focus intently on one at a time, the others will
come over time. I'm not saying it's easy, we all know how patient I
am, but it's something I know I've been needing to work on. Time to
actually do it.

I recommend doing this for yourself. It's given me a new perspective
with certain things. It doesn't have to be patience, but one of these
attributes you may be struggling with. It's changing me and I'm glad
I'm trying it.

Hope y'all have a great week! Email me! I love hearing from you! I'm
praying for you everyday! Be safe ☺️

Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission

1. Picture sent to Mom from an awesome member, Sister Lutz! 
World, meet Sister Marks! 

President, you want me to do.....WHAT????

Letter from 10/31/2016

Happy Halloween!

So....transfers are on Wednesday and I knew I was getting a new
companion because Sister Nye is going home. The mission president
called last night and........I'M GOING TO BE A TRAINER!!!!!
AAAAAAHH!!!!! I'm really excited!! I get to train a new missionary! Oh
my gosh!!! Of course I'm feeling a little nervous. I've only been in
one area and I've only been in the mission field for 3 months, but if
the Lord wants me to train and thinks I'm ready to then I'll do it! I
meet her on Wednesday and I can't wait to show her Azle! I'm also
getting a new district leader and a new zone leader. It's going to be
really fun!

Anyway, on to what we did this week! We did a lot of service so that
was fun! A member of the Ward is getting ready to sell their house and
they asked us to help paint some rooms. And we volunteered to help
with an Eagle Scout project!

Other than that it's mostly been knocking on doors. That's fine I like
meeting new people while tracting, but it's not the most effective.
But hey, maybe we started something and they'll remember missionaries
knocking on their door!

Other than that there's not really much to update. I'm so excited to
be a trainer and have new experiences!

Hope you have a great week! I pray for all of you!
Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission

Pictures!
1. Painting the Haughawout's house
2. Sister Lutz tagging along
3. Our district is CRAZY

Texas! (I've run out of creative titles.)

Hey Everyone!

Honestly I can't remember very much from this week. Does that sound terrible?

Lately it's been harder to meet with the people we're teaching because
of schedules, and that happens. This week just wasn't super eventful.
We were kind of upset about it and just kept thinking "What are we
doing wrong? No one wants to listen to us! I'm listening for the
spirit! What are we doing wrong?" Then we listened to a talk Elder
Holland gave to mission presidents a few years ago and he said
missionary work isn't easy because salvation isn't easy! When Christ
was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he asked if there was some other way.
Is there an easier, less painful way? No. No there wasn't. If it
wasn't easy for Jesus Christ the son of God, the only perfect
missionary, the only perfect person to ever walk the earth, then why
would it be easy for us? That put a new perspective on it. Why would I
expect this to be easy? Why would anyone expect this to be easy?
Everyone has the freedom to choose whether or not to listen to you or
choose to accept your message.

In other news, me and Sister Nye were sick all weekend so we stayed in
the apartment which drove us CRAZY! We were sitting there thinking "I
just want to go and teach people but every time I stand up I feel like
I'm going to pass out!" That was a struggle, but now we're feeling a
lot better. And it wasn't all bad. It actually gave us an opportunity
to study a lot of the New Testament together. We've thought about it
for a while but we actually had time to since we were stuck in the
apartment. A lot of people here know the Bible like the back of their
hand so we thought we should catch up a little bit so we can be more
prepared when someone tries to bash us. (Bible bashing's bad. Don't do
it!) We read the first few chapters of Matthew and our mind was BLOWN!
A few of them have Christ's sermon on the mount and when we were done
reading it we were like, "I think I need to rethink my life" 😅 As we
were talking about it we realized that we tell people all the time we
use both the Book of Mormon AND The Bible, but do we really study The
Bible as much as The Book of Mormon? I'll be honest I don't. I feel
bad about it, but now I'm going to change that! The gospel library app
has Institute manuals and that's what we've been studying from. I
highly recommend it!

Well that's how this week has gone! We're determined to make this week better!
I pray for all of you everyday! Love you!

Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission
Weatherford Zone
Azle Area

1&2.  The other missionaries in my area surprised me with a little party at the home of a man that was recently baptized!
2. I got to play with bunnies today!

It's October 17th!

Hello Everyone!

I just want to say that I'm so happy I can email today. October 17th
is super special. It's my favorite day of the year. Why? Because 20
years ago today a crazy girl was born. Who is that crazy girl? Me! My
birthday's on a p-day! Yay!!

Anyway, this week was super awesome! Kim B. Clark of the seventy came
to our mission and talked to us about how to be better missionaries!
It was amazing! That man is truly inspired of God! It was amazing to
spend almost the whole day with someone with that authority in the
church. It felt like I was on a spiritual high the whole day! It was
amazing!

We tracted an apartment complex and met some super nice people we're
going to go back and see! Apartment complexes are the best to tract in
because there's gotta be one person who wants to listen.

This weekend I realized how much I love the people here. This Ward and
these people feel just as much as my family as my ward at home does.
Some people found out it was my birthday and they invited us over and
offered to do things for us or take us places. When people talk about
their mission they always say how much they love the people who live
there, but I always thought, "How could you love all these people? You
weren't there for very long." Now I understand. When you have the
spirit with you, you start to see people the way the Lord sees them.
We're all children of God and He wants us all to return to Him. You
love as the Savior loves and it's amazing. It's hard to describe all
the love and joy the people bring.

I love all of you so much and I pray for you everyday. Remember that.
You're all amazing.
Love ❤️
Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission
Weatherford Zone
Azle Area

Mom's edit: These are pictures I got from the awesome people of Azle that are looking out for Sister Poulton on her birthday!
1. She went and got a haircut from Sis Calaway in her ward and was surprised with 40 red balloons (her fav color!) and a new hand-knit scarf!
2. She was taken out for a Mexican dinner by the Haughwoat family.
3. After dinner they came back and sang happy birthday and ate red velvet cake, her favorite!

 

Building a Relationship with Christ

Hey Everyone!

This week we've been doing a lot of finding. I'm getting a lot better
at talking to people and not being scared of what to say! I'm actually
really enjoying tracting. I thought I wouldn't like it very much but
(right now) I really enjoy it!

We only saw Denise and John once this week but we're kind of letting
them sort out some of their issues. They need to figure out some
things between them first so it can be easier for us to teach them and
have the spirit in their lessons.

I realized something one day during personal study. Until I came on my
mission, I hate to say it, but I never really had a relationship with
Jesus Christ. I have a great relationship with my Heavenly Father, but
I never really tried to have one with Christ. I knew He's my Savior
and I'll forever be grateful for that, but I never really thought of
trying to have a relationship with Him. We were eating dinner with
some members of the ward and the husband told us that when people
around him say Christ's name in vain, he says, "Please don't say that.
He's my friend." Then they look at him all confused and ask "How is
Jesus Christ your friend?" I've been pondering on that for a little while
and I thought to myself that I want to call Christ my friend.

Jesus Christ is my best friend. I want you to think about that too.
How can you have a relationship with Christ? If you already have one
awesome! How can you strengthen it?

I hope you have a great week! I pray for you everyday!

Love,
Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission
Weatherford Zone
Azle Area

1. Exchange with Sister Havea
2. Sisters ☺️
3. Don't ask

Conference Weekend!

Hey Everyone!
Hope y'all enjoyed conference! I know I did! My favorite talks were
probably Pres. Uchtdorf's and Elder Bednar's. It was so weird Elder
Holland didn't speak! I needed him to yell at me!

Anyway, I loved that most of the talks were on the gospel of Jesus
Christ! That's what we're teaching to people! It's so cool to see it
all tie in together. And of course it's all centered around Jesus
Christ. That's the most important part. Everything we do in this
church is centered on Jesus Christ, whether you're a bishop, Sunday
school teacher, missionary, whatever your calling is, your purpose is
centered on Jesus Christ. I LOVE that about our church (and people
here say we're not Christians. 😆)

Update time! We have a new investigator! Her name is Murri and she's a
senior in high school. (Seriously the teenagers here are awesome!) We
were eating dinner at a member's house and Murri is friends with their
daughter Kelly. She stayed for dinner too and was asking a lot of
awesome questions! We had a lesson with her a few days later and she's
awesome! She's really open and willing to learn! Love her.

Sadly, the Hunt's moved this week. But they brought some of their
friends Denise and John to church the week before last and they're
taking the lessons from us now! Their's will be a longer process but
that's okay. They want to learn and that's awesome!

I hope y'all have a great week! Please email me so I know how you're
doing! ☺️  Love ya!

Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission
Weatherford Zone
Azle Area

From Mom - I received these pictures last night from the awesome Lutz family! Thanks for 

looking out for my girl! 

Update from Azle, TX!

Hello Everyone!

This week was full of ups and downs. I mean they all are but this week
was a little strange.

Let's start with with the bad just to get it out of the way.
Unfortunately, Cutter dropped us. (Meaning: He doesn't want to see
 the missionaries anymore.) We were kind of expecting it. He
kept missing appointments the past couple weeks. He said he wants to
build a better relationship with his dad and we understand that. We
actually think it'll be good for him. We know he'll be baptized within
the next year.

On a brighter note CHRIS WAS BAPTIZED!!!! WOOHOO! It went really well
and we were so happy for him. When he bore his testimony he sounded
like he'd been a member of the church for years. The spirit was so
strong! And when he received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday I
was balling like a baby. I'm really glad that baptism happened because
this week was really hard for me mentally and spiritually. Honestly,
everything isn't as happy as I make it sound in my emails. There have
been some days where I want to call my mission president and say, "I'm
packing up my bags and going home!" That week before the baptism I was
having a really hard time. I wasn't sure why I'm here. Appointments
kept falling through, we knock on doors and people don't want to
listen to us, people are mean wherever we go, so there have been some
nights where I fall on my knees asking Heavenly Father, "Why on earth
did you send me here? I don't feel like I'm making a difference." Then
things like this happen, and I'm reminded that it's not all bad our
here. I am making a difference. Chris is being baptized and I helped
him. I'm so happy he's taking this step in his life and following
Jesus Christ.

I hope y'all have a great week! You're all in my prayers!

1 Nephi 3:7 "And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I
will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know
that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he
shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which
he commandeth them."

Love,
Sister Poulton
Texas Fort Worth Mission
Weatherford Zone
Azle Area

1. Chris's baptism. His best friend Conrad baptized him. How awesome is that?!
2. Zone glow-in-the-dark scatter ball

Update from the Lone-Star State!

Totally didn't mean to rhyme when I put that in the subject line.

Anyway, Hey everyone!

This week was a lot better than last week. I finally found my teaching
style. I think it will help me become a better missionary and
influence the people we're teaching.
We set a baptism date with Cutter! We're super excited for him! He'll
be baptized on October 22nd! He's doing a lot better. He had a rough
couple weeks but now he's doing a lot better.
Chris is still doing really well. We only met with him once this week
because he was really sick, but we hope he'll feel better soon. We
know when someone is preparing for baptism the adversary does
everything he can to make sure that person doesn't get baptized. We
will help Chris and Cutter be more confident in themselves and
reassure them that they're making the right choice.
I'm now feeling more comfortable as a missionary. I love this area and
the people in it. I'm not saying I'm perfect. There's no way. There's
still so many things I'm trying to improve, but I'm becoming more
adjusted to the missionary lifestyle.
Transfers are this week but neither me or Sister Nye are going to leaving! Yay!
That's how this week has gone! I can truly see the Lord's hand in
these people's lives, and in my life. I love being a missionary and I
wish sisters could serve for two years! (Haha you think I'm joking but
I'm not.)
Hope y'all have a great week!
Romans 8:39 "Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be
able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."
Sincerely,
Sister Poulton

1. Awesome drawing in someone's scriptures!
2. Last district picture before transfers
3. Selfie!

Why Y'all is where it's at.

Hey Everyone!

Hope y'all are doing well! Hey I discovered that y'all is actually a
really convenient phrase! Why take the time to say "All of you" or
"All you guys" or something when you can just say y'all?!
Anyway, exciting news.....WE SET A BAPTISM DATE WITH CHRIS!!!
AAAHH!!!!! His baptism is September 24th and we're so excited for him!
We went to the Dallas Temple on Thursday! They have certain rules
about which missionaries can go and how often, but we went this week
and I loved it! That temple is really small and it was kind of weird.
But it's super pretty and I loved it. It was good to have that spirit
to help calm us down after being pretty stressed.
Other than that, unfortunately, there isn't anything super exciting.
This week was weird. We had a lot of meetings that threw off our
schedule and we kept having to reschedule appointments. Cutter has
been struggling with some things and we're kind of sad about it. We
went from, "Yeah he's ready to be baptized really soon!" to "Oh maybe
he should wait a few months." It's really sad and we're not quite sure
what exactly he needs.
Oh the Hunts randomly decided they're moving to El Paso in a couple
weeks. They weren't even the ones who told us it was someone in the
ward. So we're going through the lessons with them so they can have a
basic understanding before we sent their information to the
missionaries over there. They still haven't told us WHY they're
moving, but there's only so much we can do. I just hope the
missionaries in El Paso will be able to help them.
A few other things have been happening that we've been kind of
frustrated about, but I don't just want an email to be a list of
complaints so don't worry I'm not going to do that. It's just weird
how one week will be super awesome and everything's great, then the
next week is pretty rough. Missionary life. What can you do? Haha!
Well, that's how this week has gone! Hope y'all have a great day!
Love,
Sister Poulton

1. Me, Sister Nye, and Sister Yanda (the awesome Ward member who came
with us) outside the temple.
2. On our way to a fireside! (Mormon meaning of Fireside: an evening gathering, usually with a guest speaker that has an uplifting message to share. They used to hold them around campfires, hence the name Fireside.)

Week 6's Update

(Sorry this is a week late.)

Another Week in Texas!

Man I love this place! It's so different than Utah! I love it so much here!
Quick tip: if you're ever going to visit Texas, BUG SPRAY! BUG SPRAY!
BUG SPRAY! We had a lesson outside and we forgot to put it on and we
were eaten alive by Texas black ants. (At least we think that's what
it was. There's a lot of weird bugs here.) So that wasn't a highlight
from this week.

Anyway, Cutter's doing really well! He told us he hasn't decided a
baptism date yet because he doesn't want to feel rushed which we
understand. We're just hoping neither of us are transferred before he
gets baptized.

I never mentioned Chris before. He was taking the lessons before I got
here and was going to be baptized, then randomly his mom got mad at
him and they got into this argument about how she doesn't want him to
join the church. So they agreed to make a deal, either he waits six
weeks without seeing the missionaries or going to church to see if
he's sure about this, or he can get baptized now and he's disowned
from the family. He took the first option. But now we can teach him
again and he still has a really strong testimony! I've been really
excited for this! Everyone talks about Chris all the time and I've
just been wanting to meet him! We're teaching him a couple more
lessons to refresh his memory. We're shooting for the 24th as his
baptismal date.

Another crazy thing happened this week! Brother Adney, the less-active
member who passed away, lived with his sister and her family. Whenever
we came over her husband James was like, "I don't want to hear
anything you have to say." And would leave the room. On Wednesday we
were doing service for them and James told us he wants to take the
lessons!!!! AAAHH!!!! After we left we were like "What just
happened?!" We're so excited for them!

This week was really busy and we hope this next week will be even
better! Y'all stay safe and remember, you're all children of God.

Love,
Sister Poulton

1 & 2: Sisters at zone conference
3: me and Sister DeMille on our exchange (forgot to send it last week)

Week 5 - or- My Mom says it feels like I've been gone a lot longer than 5 weeks

Hey Everybody!

A couple days ago I realized I've been out in the mission field as
long as I was in the MTC! It's going by a lot faster now.

Last Tuesday I went on exchanges to Hudson Oaks and it was awesome! I
served with Sister DeMille and she's from Cedar City (woot! woot!
Southern Utah!) I discovered I have some weird Magic tracting powers. (Edit: Tracting is basically when you go door to door and talk to people about the church.)
Every house that I felt good about went really well! We met TONS of
people wanting to learn! The spirit is awesome!

We taught Cutter again and HE WANTS TO BE BAPTIZED!!!! AAAHH!!!!!! We

just told him to think about a baptismal date and we need to teach him

a few more lessons.

We haven't seen as many investigators last week as we would like to,

but this week is going to be a lot better.

On a sad note, I never thought I'd say this, but, I went to a funeral

on my mission. A less-active member we've been working with passed

away in his sleep. It was such a shock! We literally saw him that day!

He was almost done smoking! He was doing so well! I was worried about

his family if they would either want to listen to us more now or never

want to see us again. But they called us yesterday and they set up an

appointment so that's a good sign. We're going to help them remember

that death is not the end. It's the next step we take to living with

Heavenly Father again! And I know he's in a better place now.

I know it's short but that's how this week has gone. Not super

eventful but it was good! Hope y'all have a great week!

Love,

Sister Hailey Poulton

3 Nephi 18:24- "Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto

the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up--that which ye

have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and

ye all have witnessed."

A beautiful Texas sunset. (The camera doesn't do it justice.)

Week 4

Howdy Y'all!
Thought I'd start out with a little Texas greeting!

Okay this place isn't just the "Bible Belt." It's the belt buckle!! SO
many different churches around here! Guess what comes with that? Bible
bashers! I just remind myself to stay calm about it. If it starts to
turn into an argument then you say, "Well I'm glad you love the Bible.
So do we. Have a nice day." The Bible is to be used for learning and
feeling the Spirit. It's not a tool you use to prove why you're right.

On to the people we're teaching! We've been teaching a guy named
Cutter. He's 17 and really wants to join the church! The problem
is.... his dad really doesn't like Mormons. He's told Cutter some
crazy stuff but Cutter knows better than to just listen to some weird
rumors. So we're hoping and praying everything with his dad goes well.

We're teaching a little boy named Jesse. His family's been inactive
for a while but they want to start coming back to church so they want
Jesse to be baptized.

We're also teaching a man named Joe. He wants to be baptized so he can
be sealed to his wife in the temple. He just has a few.... Word of
Wisdom issues. (Mom's edit: This means he's probably having issues
giving up drinking or smoking.) We're trying to help him with that.
We've also been working with a lot of less-active families and recent converts.

Holy cow the rain here is CRAZY!!! I wish I got a video of it because
it's just insane! It flooded a lot of people's yards so we have a lot
of service to do this week!

The ward here is really great! Everyone's super genuine and they want
to help the missionaries as much as they can! It's really comforting
to have a ward like this. It makes our job a little easier.

Well that's how this week has been! Whenever you're feeling down,
remember that Christ is with you and he knows how you're feeling. Stay
safe!

Sincerely,
Sister Hailey Poulton

Pictures!
1. We found a frog!
2. My Zone
3. Trying to Fish

Week 3 - I Made it to Texas!

Hey Everyone!

Well, I made it to Texas! I walked out of the airport and was smacked
in the face with humidity. But I guess that's part of the experience.
My first area is called Azle and my companion's name is Sister Nye
(like the science guy.) Azle is very country. Half the people here
have a Duck Dynasty beard, it's hilarious! It's also really spread out
so we drive A LOT. The people here are so nice! Everyone waves and
says hi to each other down the street. If you don't wave to someone
it's weird. :)

Coming here has been really humbling. We've had quite a few
appointments in trailer homes. A couple days ago we were driving up to
a trailer park and I almost started crying. I can't believe there are
people who have to live in these and raise their family in them. I
know for most of them it's a temporary living situation, but sometimes
at home I'd complain about my house being too small, but then I saw these, and I felt like a spoiled brat. These are some of the nicest
people you'll ever meet, and they're living in a trailer home by the
highway.

We've taught a few people but it's mostly been training this week. But you have to do that so I try not to complain.

So that's how this week's gone! Hope y'all have a great day!

Love,
Sister Hailey Poulton

Pointing to Azle (Pronounced A-zul)

Our Zone (the group of missionaries teaching in an area) after a Zone meeting.

Anyone else notice the use of y'all? :) - Kimberly

Week 2 - Or - I'm heading to Texas soon y'all!

Hello Everyone!

Just had our second week at the MTC and apparently there's this tradition that your second week here you get sick so guess what happened? (eyeroll) Anyway, our Sunday devotional was really great! The speaker was the director of the missionary department of the church and he produced all the commercials the church used to make! (I forgot his name.) It was really entertaining and he had a good message. It was about being the best missionaries we can be and not comparing ourselves to other missionaries. Our Tuesday devotional was Bishop Waddell of the presiding bishopric and it was AMAZING! His biggest thing was that we need to SERVE a mission, not just go on a mission. When you serve a mission you're thinking of the people around you instead of just yourself. Be like Christ and look for the good in people and focus on their needs instead of yours. It was a really great talk.

Our TRC's changed so now we're teaching two girls named Kylee and Yui (you-ee.) Kylee's really cute and she's here in Provo for a promotion she had for her job and wants to learn more about Mormons. Yui is the cutest Japanese girl you'll ever meet! She's always really happy and smiling! She majored in English at her college in Japan and now she's at the ELC here. She really likes the lifestyle of Mormons and wanted to learn about what we believe.

We got two new roommates this week! Sister Unga and Sister Warren. They're super nice and they're both going to serve in Oklahoma. Kinda bummed we'll only see them for a few days.

In other news, WE GOT OUR FLIGHT PLANS!!!! We leave Tuesday at 3:50 in the morning. I'm excited to leave the MTC and go out to the mission field, but I'm also really sad. The spirit's really strong here and it's full of great people! I'm going to miss the people in our district who are going to California. And I probably won't see the elders who are going to Texas very often. It's weird how you can only know someone for a few weeks and feel like you've known them forever.

Well that's all for day! And here's some pictures for ya!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Love,
Sister Hailey Poulton

Week 1 - Or- Adjusting to Missionary Life at the MTC

Hey Everybody!

So I just had my first week in the MTC and to sum it up, I felt like I was thrown in with the dogs. As soon as you leave the curb they give you your name tags and a few other things, drop your luggage off to your room and you're starting class. My companion's name is Sister Walker and she's from Mapleton. My district is the best district ever! We've been getting along so well since the beginning. At first I was pretty nervous because I didn't know anyone but now we're really great friends! Half the district is going to my mission and the other half is going to the California Roseville mission. I'm the only sister going to Texas (represent!) There's only four girls in my room and we're all in the same district. (There's usually six in a room but we're awesome so ;)

Oh my gosh my first weekend here was the longest weekend of my life! The classes were so long and we were still trying to figure out where everything is. Some people say the food here is amazing, but that's a bunch of hippy dippy bologna. Some of the stuff they serve is good but most of it, not so much. But I guess that's part of the MTC experience right ;) My mailbox is 107 and if you sent me some food I'd love you forever haha!

Yesterday all the greenies came and it was so fun to yell "Welcome to the MTC!" It was also good to know that we weren't the greenies anymore haha! Everything's still pretty weird but I'm still getting used to it. They have a set schedule and sometimes that's hard to remember. I still want to get out to the mission field right now, but I can't imagine just going on your mission and not going to the MTC. You learn so much each day! A lot of people told us that if we make it to our first Sunday then you can do it, but I don't like that phrase. Enjoy everyday and make them count.

The past couple weeks we've been doing something called TRC's. I don't remember what it stands for but what it is is we teach people. Some of them are members who are just acting as investigators and others are REAL INVESTIGATORS!! But they don't tell you who is who (obviously.) This week we've taught 2 investigators: Arnold and Samson. Arnold is a cute little old man who has these amazing stories. He says he catches dragons as a hobbie haha! He's so funny! Samson is a big Samoan guy who's been in the army and had friends there who were LDS so he wants to learn more about eternal families. It's a really great learning experience and we have fun doing it.

There's a devotional every Sunday and Tuesday. Sunday was the Nashville Tribute Band and they did a really great job. They sang a lot about their missions and you could see their testimony's as they were singing. Their last song was the best because it was about how they each felt when they served their missions. A lot of it was how much they missed their families but they were also happy to see them when they came back. Let's just say it was a sob-fest.
The devotional on Tuesday was Elder Condie of the Seventy and that was really good. We sang in the choir and you could really feel the spirit there. That's why I love music so much. You can feel the spirit as it's playing and you feel more at peace.

It's amazing how much love is here! I already genuinely love everyone here. I love my district and our investigators. You can tell everyone just loves everyone here! It's amazing!

The spirit is really strong here and I've felt it since the first day. I'm already growing a lot and it's only been a week! I'm so happy I made this decision to serve a mission!
Hope to hear back from you soon!

Love,
Sister Poulton

PS: During companion study a few days ago me and Sister Walker studied Mosiah 4 and now it's one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon! You should read it it's amazing :)

Hailey will check into the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on Wednesday, July 20, 2016. We know she is going to learn and experience many great things while in the MTC. After 3 weeks in Provo,UT she will head to Texas and then the fun will begin!