Sister Poulson ~ Texas Fort Worth Mission: I Saved the Pot

Hey yall! This week has been CRAZY! But so so good!

Monday: So as you know from my last email, a huge storm hit here! Well, at least a huge storm for Texas lol! Anyways and our power went out along with our water! Well our cabin isn't insulated at all and we were freezing, so our Ward Mission Leader’s wife Sister Ishihara came and picked us up! She told me to bring clothes for a couple of days, but I only brought one outfit because I thought that she was probably just being dramatic!

Side note: We ended up staying until Saturday!

Tuesday: We were at the Ishihara’s all day! We did go back to the Cabin so I could grab more stuff, and no joke there was no difference in temperature from inside and outside. We were in there for like 5 mins and I was in pain because I was so cold! We also taught Tony about the Plan of Salvation that day! He told us that he really just wants friends and that he's lonely, so we invited him to go to the church by his house that Sunday.

Wednesday: Sister Ishihara needed something from the store, and so we went with her! Oh my goodness, it was so fun to be with the Ishihara’s! It was kinda like I had a mom again lol! I ended up getting a new journal so that was exciting!

Thursday: We had district council over Zoom. It was a good time and we talked about the importance of Family History. Something exciting that happened that night is that Sister Ishihara was boiling some water because they put out a boiling order. After she boiled it she put a lid on the pan and it got stuck! Well, it was Brother Ishihara’s grandmas pan so he didn't want to throw it away, but we could not get it off. So, they ended up having me smash the lid off with a hammer! We were laughing so hard! That day our power turned back on, but Sister Ishihara refused to let us go home because it was still below freezing at night. I wasn't complaining!

Friday: We talked to Tony again about the Book of Mormon. He was telling us about how much he appreciates us and it was so nice. We hope to meet with him again. That evening we knew it was our last night at the Ishihara’s, so we played a good game of Ticket to Ride. Something I found out through that is Sister Ishihara is super competitive and will yell at you if you mess her up! It was so funny! I think she is more competitive than my mom! I was only slightly scared! Oh. also something funny that happened that day was Sister Capener was in charge of the musical number for MLC and we mixed up the times so she sang accapella in the Chick fil A drive thru!

Saturday: That morning as payback, we offered to help the Ishihara’s clean a wedding venue they clean as a side job. It was gorgeous, and actually a lot of fun to clean. They then took us home which was depressing, but thats okay. I loved spending time at their house. When we got home we had to throw away all the food in our fridge because it had been off for so long!

Sunday: We had a ton of meetings! We had church and Sister Capener performed a musical number with a girl in our ward. Super pretty! Since the church flooded from the storm, everyone was watching it at home, so we were like the only ones in the Chappell! Whack!

Spiritual Thought: I was listening to an audio thing called "Missionary Work and The Atonement" I've shared it on here before. Anyways, one thing that Elder Holland says really hit me. He said….

"How could we possibly bear any lasting or moving testimony of the Atonement if we have never known or felt anything of such an experience."

I know that Jesus Christ knows EVERYTHING we are going through. He knows each of us individually. I've come to understand this a lot more on my mission! I don't think I always realized how individual the Atonement truly is! So if you are questioning if Jesus Christ really knows you, that's okay! We all have doubts but what you need to do is get on your knees and ask Heavenly Father! He will answer!

I love you all so much. Have the best week!

Sister Poulson

The Ishihara’s dog (and my new best friend) Sox