Tuesday, August 30, 2016

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.)

Monday, August 22, 2016

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

Monday, August 15, 2016

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

Friday, August 5, 2016

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