November 4, 2011

Mi querido familia,

Como están? Everything is going great over hear. It'''s been a pretty wild day. In fact, it''s been a pretty wild week. Just to start off, on Sunday the Branch President pulled me into the office and I was chosen to be the District Leader! It''s pretty intense, I pretty much plan and lead my district through each and every day. There''s 10 of us now, our roomate, Elder Davis, hurt his knee and had to stay behind. He was supposed to fly into Honduras last week. But since he had to stay behind, the Branch Presidency decided to assign him to our district until he figures things out. being district leader is some pretty hard work and is kind of frustrating, but I just remember to be like Jesus and things always work out perfectly. We had some really fun times this week, we just got 2 new Elders in our room on Wednesday. Their names are Elder Coffey and Elder Long. They are both from Utah, of course. They''re great guys though and get pretty frustrated with the "Habla su idioma". Elder Ottaway and I are getting a lot better at talking in Spanish all the time and we have a lot of fun with it. We love thinking about random sentences and putting them together in Spanish. I just recieved my own personal Coaching Missionary Study tutor. His name is Hermano Alailima. He''s from Hawaii and is about 6' 6 in. He''s super cool and served his mission in Panama. He had me street contact him outside on a bench and he''s now my own personal investigator. I set up an appointment with him and met at his ""house"" yesterday. It''s hard, because these teachers take investigators they knew on their missions and pretend to be that person. So you have to discern their needs and teach them according to what you feel they need to be taught about the gospel. We had a pretty funny time yesterday. Elder Pristorius and I came up with the idea that we wanted to do a ""flash mob"" on campus. It was probably the funniest thing I have ever done. We did it outside in the plaza for like 3 minutes. I recorded it on my camera. We had 45 people do it with us. It''s hilarious on the camera because you see people walk up and wave in front of our faces and take pictures with us and stuff. The video is so cool, because no one moved even an inch so it looked real. Haha, I wish I could show you guys right now. Today was pretty good.. We woke up extra early and got our laundry done. We woke up at 4:30am and then when we were done with our laundry we went straight to the temple. It was a way good experience. One of our favorite things is eating breakfast in the temple after our session. It''s pretty good food, but it''s nothing like home. But hey, it''s all we have. After that we had some personal study time outside in the shade and that was a good time. Then I took my new suit to get dropped off for dry-cleaning. Then we did some service for the MTC presidency. We were putting together boxes of supplies that will be shipped out to 3rd world countries. Now I am writing you guys. We are anxiously checking our mailbox every hour because our travel plans are coming today!! Like you guys said, I honestly can''t believe that I leave for Mexico in 10 days. In a way I''m so nervous, but I''m so anxious. I know there''s a lot more to learn in Spanish, but I think that I have the basic stuff I need to help me survive when I''m there. I wrote Cammi a letter and sent it out today. There''s some cool stuff inside, I just hope it stays cool by the time it gets there. If it''s not, lo siento. KAAASSSSIIIII GOOOTTT AAA DDEEEERRR!!! I seriously screamed that in the residence hall once I read the DearElder. Man, I''m so excited for her. How was it? Did she have wicked buck fever? It doesn''t sound like it with the way you described her shooting. Haha, that''s my sister. Tell her good job for me and that I miss her. We''ll go hunting when I get back. ;) Anyways, there''s not much else that is new. I stopped gaining weight and am stuck around 167lbs. I''ve been working out as much as I can, but I''m pretty sure I''ll lose 10 or 15 lbs when I get to Mexico. We found our mission on the map on LDS.org. Just go to LDS.org and sign in. Then click on the ""tools"" button and click on maps. Then on one of the lower icons you can choose what you want to view. There''s an option to see the different mission boundaries in Mexico and you can find mine really easy. It''s huge!!! Then you can zoom in with the scroll on the mouse and see truly how much area I have to cover. It''s awesome. I can''t wait to send you guys pictures like Skylar is to his family. Speaking of which, I''ll forward you his next e-mail to me. Anyways, how''s everything at home? Nothing new and exciting happening? Is Aydan a pro at Super Smash Brothers Brawl yet? Did he beat bowser? :) How''s Cam doing. That little girl can speak some awesome Spanish. Tell Kass that I''m soo proud of her and I want a picture? Is volleyball over? how did that go for her? How''s Jester? Is she filling out scholarships like mad? She should be. ;) Does she plan on doing track this year? How are you, Mom? How''s the babysitting going? Have you done anything new to the house? How''s Dad? What has he been doing for fun since it''s getting cold? Hopefully he''s found something. :) How''s Grandpa Poulsen, Grandpa and Grandma Beckwith? Mand, Ry, and Log? Haha, shoot, how''s everybody. Did Enoc get his mission call? Is Jake H. getting super excited? I know he''ll love it. I just ordered some new pictures and they should be here on Monday, then I''ll send them out to you guys. Anwyays, I better head to dinner. I love you guys sooooo much! I can''t wait to talk to you next week! Then I''ll only have 3 days to go! Craziness. I''m praying for you guys like mad. (En Español.) ;) I''ll talk to you guys next week! LOOOVEEE YOUUU!!

Sinceridad,
Elder Poulsen