Friday, March 28, 2014
Pics from Mexico Missionary Training Center (CCM) February 2014
Pics from Mexico Missionary Training Center (CCM)
Email from Monday, March 24, 2014
Email from Monday, March 24, 2014
I'm short on time and will write more next week.
So, this was my first full week in Sacramento. It's really hot.... we sweat just standing in the sun sometimes. But, it's really nice weather!
Sacramento California Temple
Arrival from Mexico City to Sacramento, CA
Mission President and Wife with Becca
President and Sister Lewis
Twinkie Minnionaries waiting Becca's arrival to CA
Leaving Mexico and heading to California!
So, some really cool stories from this week...At the beginning of the week we accidentally met an Arabic family. We knocked on the door expecting a Spanish family but they had moved apparently. Anyways, we told them that we were missionaries and before we could say another word they invited us into their home and brought us water in these beautiful glases on a beautiful tray! We were so surprised! The mom and dad didn't speak much enlgish or understand it very well but their little boy who is 7 knew some english and translated for us. So we taught a quick lesson and were about to leave but the father asked for a healing blessing. He had been hit by a bomb in Syria and his family was refugies from there. So the next day we went back and gave him a blessing. It was in english so I'm not sure how much he understood but, after, the mom was crying and they were all smiling! We haven't seen them since but they are just the sweetest family. It's cool to know that the Spirit speaks all languages.
Love You,
Hermana Poulsen
Thursday, March 20, 2014
This email is from February 6, 2014, after her first week in the CCM (Mexico MTC)
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Rebecca Poulsen <rebecca.poulsen@myldsmail.net>wrote:
Hola mi familia!!!!! Today is my PDay! (Also, these computer keybordes are really weird, they{re in spanish and i want to type fast because i only have an hour to tell you EVERYTHING!) So, im sorry, my grammer is going to be terrible.
Wow. wow. wow. wow. The MTC (or the CCM as they call it in mexico) is incredible. I never have to wear a coat and it{s always so warm! I play sand volleyball with the hermanas and elders during work out time and it feels so good to have sand between my feet! Okay so let me back up a bit and start from last wednesday when i emailed you.
After i emailed you i went to my casa with the other girl i flew in with. we were the only ones there. we werent each others companions but our rooms are across from each other. i unpacked and was feeling really numb. i pretty much cried on every flight because i was scared and was missing you guys but i eventually got it together... a few days later haha. they way things worked out was there was two flight delays, 8 hours each. so my companion was on one of those flights and didn{t get in until 12 am. i was awake until 1 or 2, i could not sleep for the life of me. a few other girls came in at 10 pm but i was all alone in a room by myself with only me and my thoughts untill midnight. it was a rough night for me. i pretty much cried myself to sleep that night, and a couple nights after that too. But i´m doing way better now! and i know i{m in the right place. satan really works hard on the new missionaries. i was convinced that i wanted to go home that first night. mexico was not what i expected. when we were picked up from the airport we took a 30 minute drive through mexico to get to the MTC. wow, i{ve been spoiled my whole life. i saw things that were way worse than what we saw in tahitii or aruba. there is so much poverty here and the houses are so close. the traffic is nuts. im so glad that i didn{t have to drive. wow. thankfully, the mtc is in a fenced off area (its a really high fence with barbwire on top) so no one is going to be getting in! and theres a huge gate at the front where they can choose to let people in or not.
So i live in a casa with a few other girls. my companion (her name is hermana Martinez and she{s going to Ecuador!) and i have our very own room. we lucked out. most girls share with two others but my companion and i only have the two of us in one room so we each get our own sink, lots of cubord space and we dont have to wait to use the shower. anyways, i love my comanion, she{s 21 and shes so amazing. weve roll played with an ínvestigator (theyre really actors) and have taught 4 lessons in spanish... IN SPANISH. were teaching our last one tonight. i{m amazed at how well my spanish is coming along. i keep mixing my french words in there but spanish is way easier to congigate than french. a ton of the words are the same for english to, you just add an o or an a to the end of the word and boom, its spanish. its been a week and i{ve already learned how to teach a few lessons in spanish. its not the best spanish but i can get by. i cant imagine what i{ll learn in 5 more week! wow. i have already been here a week. its incredible.
So, we have a thing called a district that we}re arpart of, basically its the people in our class. its me and hermana martinez and then we have 6 elders. were the only girls and we{re pretty much favorite. the elders are really nice in our district. they{re very.... sweet spirtis haha but really, they{re great. there{s one companion ship named elder pullman and elder smith. elder pullman remindes me a lot of josh and elder smith remindes me a lot of austin. maybe thats just me wanting my brothers around so badly but its nice to have them around to reminde me of my brothers.
Early on satruday i got a really soar throat. i was worried that it would turn into strep and all i had were cough drops. so i asked for a healing blessing from one of the elders going on my mission (elder Grahm, him and i are the only ones serving in sacramento). anyways, the next day i was feeling a lot better and by monday i was back to normal! and now i{m healthy as a horse. one of the elders was super nice and gave me some emergency (i forgot to pack some) and they were all super helpful. My companion and i are such trouble makers, we{ve asked for 3 blessings so far between the both of us. me for my throat and her for her ankle. she got bit by a misquito and shes really allergic so its swelling... like really big. its really gross but we went to the doctor in the MTC and he gave her some cream. it looks a lot better today than what it did before.
things are going super well here. the food is... well... its mexican. i{m getting used to it and i{m grateful for what i have. i am however very excited to get back to the states where i know mail will safely get to me and where the water doesnt taste like metal. also... less bugs. i haven{t have a misquito bite yet but... its only been a week so we{ll see. i havent gotten sun burn yet! which is a huge accomplishment.
Oh one last thing, the CCM is being deticated sunday and elder Oaks is coming to deticate it! The workers here are doing huge renivations on the entire campus. new gardens, trimming the palm trees (yep, i said palm trees. they{re so sool), mowing the grass, washing the building walls.... its crazy. i{m really excited to be here to see that. also, yesterday we had a film crew come in and film us walking around. so, i don{t know what it was for. it might be broadcasted or be up on the lds websight. you might see me! i was wearing the same outfit when i left missoula (its my favorite skirt, had to look good for my 15 seconds of fame) but the dedication might be broadcasted, i{m not sure but, im going to wear a bright pink and black dress! so hopefully if they are filming, you{ll be able to see me.
it was so good to hear from you guys. I want you to know that i know the gospel in true. i mean, for heavens sake, i{m leaving my home and what i love behind for a year and a half to serve the Lord, so it MUST be true. because i really love my dogs, and my bed, and my family and friends and school... i love it a lot and i{m missing it a ton but i know that a year and a half isnt that long and that now is the Lords time and i need to put myself aside and serve Him.
Its been great here at the ccm, it hasnt been easy, but its been worth it. ive already grown so much in the past week. im counting down the days until i leave the ccm so i can actually be in the mission doing work. i found out that i leave on March 11 at like, 2 in the morning beacuse my flight leaves at 630 a.m., i think, and they want us there 3 or more hours early. its nuts. anyways, i learned that my official date to come home is July 29th 2015. so, mark that on your calenders because that{s the day i{m coming home! i{ve learned that praying is super handy in the ccm. its comforted me a lot when im in doubt. there was one time a few days ago when i was taking a shower and i just started crying because i missed my family so much. i was at a really low point. and then i just started laughing because i knew it was the adversary trying to bring me down. i know that the adversary is powerful but the Lord is even more powerful. Hes going to keep me safe and bless me during the time that i am serving Him. Im so grateful for this opportunity to be serving a mission and i{m looking forward to next thrusday when i get to email you again! Take care, i love you so much and i miss you every day.
Love Hermana Poulsen
On Thu, Feb 6, 2014 at 9:31 AM, Rebecca Poulsen <rebecca.poulsen@myldsmail.net>wrote:
Hola mi familia!!!!! Today is my PDay! (Also, these computer keybordes are really weird, they{re in spanish and i want to type fast because i only have an hour to tell you EVERYTHING!) So, im sorry, my grammer is going to be terrible.
Wow. wow. wow. wow. The MTC (or the CCM as they call it in mexico) is incredible. I never have to wear a coat and it{s always so warm! I play sand volleyball with the hermanas and elders during work out time and it feels so good to have sand between my feet! Okay so let me back up a bit and start from last wednesday when i emailed you.
After i emailed you i went to my casa with the other girl i flew in with. we were the only ones there. we werent each others companions but our rooms are across from each other. i unpacked and was feeling really numb. i pretty much cried on every flight because i was scared and was missing you guys but i eventually got it together... a few days later haha. they way things worked out was there was two flight delays, 8 hours each. so my companion was on one of those flights and didn{t get in until 12 am. i was awake until 1 or 2, i could not sleep for the life of me. a few other girls came in at 10 pm but i was all alone in a room by myself with only me and my thoughts untill midnight. it was a rough night for me. i pretty much cried myself to sleep that night, and a couple nights after that too. But i´m doing way better now! and i know i{m in the right place. satan really works hard on the new missionaries. i was convinced that i wanted to go home that first night. mexico was not what i expected. when we were picked up from the airport we took a 30 minute drive through mexico to get to the MTC. wow, i{ve been spoiled my whole life. i saw things that were way worse than what we saw in tahitii or aruba. there is so much poverty here and the houses are so close. the traffic is nuts. im so glad that i didn{t have to drive. wow. thankfully, the mtc is in a fenced off area (its a really high fence with barbwire on top) so no one is going to be getting in! and theres a huge gate at the front where they can choose to let people in or not.
So i live in a casa with a few other girls. my companion (her name is hermana Martinez and she{s going to Ecuador!) and i have our very own room. we lucked out. most girls share with two others but my companion and i only have the two of us in one room so we each get our own sink, lots of cubord space and we dont have to wait to use the shower. anyways, i love my comanion, she{s 21 and shes so amazing. weve roll played with an ínvestigator (theyre really actors) and have taught 4 lessons in spanish... IN SPANISH. were teaching our last one tonight. i{m amazed at how well my spanish is coming along. i keep mixing my french words in there but spanish is way easier to congigate than french. a ton of the words are the same for english to, you just add an o or an a to the end of the word and boom, its spanish. its been a week and i{ve already learned how to teach a few lessons in spanish. its not the best spanish but i can get by. i cant imagine what i{ll learn in 5 more week! wow. i have already been here a week. its incredible.
So, we have a thing called a district that we}re arpart of, basically its the people in our class. its me and hermana martinez and then we have 6 elders. were the only girls and we{re pretty much favorite. the elders are really nice in our district. they{re very.... sweet spirtis haha but really, they{re great. there{s one companion ship named elder pullman and elder smith. elder pullman remindes me a lot of josh and elder smith remindes me a lot of austin. maybe thats just me wanting my brothers around so badly but its nice to have them around to reminde me of my brothers.
Early on satruday i got a really soar throat. i was worried that it would turn into strep and all i had were cough drops. so i asked for a healing blessing from one of the elders going on my mission (elder Grahm, him and i are the only ones serving in sacramento). anyways, the next day i was feeling a lot better and by monday i was back to normal! and now i{m healthy as a horse. one of the elders was super nice and gave me some emergency (i forgot to pack some) and they were all super helpful. My companion and i are such trouble makers, we{ve asked for 3 blessings so far between the both of us. me for my throat and her for her ankle. she got bit by a misquito and shes really allergic so its swelling... like really big. its really gross but we went to the doctor in the MTC and he gave her some cream. it looks a lot better today than what it did before.
things are going super well here. the food is... well... its mexican. i{m getting used to it and i{m grateful for what i have. i am however very excited to get back to the states where i know mail will safely get to me and where the water doesnt taste like metal. also... less bugs. i haven{t have a misquito bite yet but... its only been a week so we{ll see. i havent gotten sun burn yet! which is a huge accomplishment.
Oh one last thing, the CCM is being deticated sunday and elder Oaks is coming to deticate it! The workers here are doing huge renivations on the entire campus. new gardens, trimming the palm trees (yep, i said palm trees. they{re so sool), mowing the grass, washing the building walls.... its crazy. i{m really excited to be here to see that. also, yesterday we had a film crew come in and film us walking around. so, i don{t know what it was for. it might be broadcasted or be up on the lds websight. you might see me! i was wearing the same outfit when i left missoula (its my favorite skirt, had to look good for my 15 seconds of fame) but the dedication might be broadcasted, i{m not sure but, im going to wear a bright pink and black dress! so hopefully if they are filming, you{ll be able to see me.
it was so good to hear from you guys. I want you to know that i know the gospel in true. i mean, for heavens sake, i{m leaving my home and what i love behind for a year and a half to serve the Lord, so it MUST be true. because i really love my dogs, and my bed, and my family and friends and school... i love it a lot and i{m missing it a ton but i know that a year and a half isnt that long and that now is the Lords time and i need to put myself aside and serve Him.
Its been great here at the ccm, it hasnt been easy, but its been worth it. ive already grown so much in the past week. im counting down the days until i leave the ccm so i can actually be in the mission doing work. i found out that i leave on March 11 at like, 2 in the morning beacuse my flight leaves at 630 a.m., i think, and they want us there 3 or more hours early. its nuts. anyways, i learned that my official date to come home is July 29th 2015. so, mark that on your calenders because that{s the day i{m coming home! i{ve learned that praying is super handy in the ccm. its comforted me a lot when im in doubt. there was one time a few days ago when i was taking a shower and i just started crying because i missed my family so much. i was at a really low point. and then i just started laughing because i knew it was the adversary trying to bring me down. i know that the adversary is powerful but the Lord is even more powerful. Hes going to keep me safe and bless me during the time that i am serving Him. Im so grateful for this opportunity to be serving a mission and i{m looking forward to next thrusday when i get to email you again! Take care, i love you so much and i miss you every day.
Love Hermana Poulsen
This email is from January 29th, the day she left Missoula and landed in Mexico City! I'm slow at getting it posted to the blog...
Hi mom and dad! I made it to the Mexico MTC. All my luggage came through and all my flights worked out perfectly. I didn't have to change flights or rush to any gates and I found everything I needed to with ease, all thanks to you guys of course! I met up with another sister missionary from washington at the Houston airport and we've been sticking together this whole time. She's awesome. We have our missionary tags, mine says Hermana Poulsen, It's so cool! anyways, there's a lot to take in and a lot I still have to figure out before bed tonight. We got into the mtc and were sent straight to dinner and now im emailing you. and yes, the mtc is safe. someone from the mtc came to pick us up and we drove through the city... wow... i was not prepared for how large and 3rd world this country is. but no worries, the mtc is fenced off with barbed wire and is actually really clean! Everyone here is so nice and very welcoming. I haven't seen anyone that I know yet, i have a friend here but she might be gone already. everyone is very kind and i'm just trying to take it all in. \i'm super excited to be here. a little overwhelmed, but not in a bad way. theres just so much to take in and so many new things. i'm looking forward to the next few weeks at the mtc. i'll email you guys when my P day comes not sure when that will be though. so, watch your email and i'll get to you as soon as I can.
Hi mom and dad! I made it to the Mexico MTC. All my luggage came through and all my flights worked out perfectly. I didn't have to change flights or rush to any gates and I found everything I needed to with ease, all thanks to you guys of course! I met up with another sister missionary from washington at the Houston airport and we've been sticking together this whole time. She's awesome. We have our missionary tags, mine says Hermana Poulsen, It's so cool! anyways, there's a lot to take in and a lot I still have to figure out before bed tonight. We got into the mtc and were sent straight to dinner and now im emailing you. and yes, the mtc is safe. someone from the mtc came to pick us up and we drove through the city... wow... i was not prepared for how large and 3rd world this country is. but no worries, the mtc is fenced off with barbed wire and is actually really clean! Everyone here is so nice and very welcoming. I haven't seen anyone that I know yet, i have a friend here but she might be gone already. everyone is very kind and i'm just trying to take it all in. \i'm super excited to be here. a little overwhelmed, but not in a bad way. theres just so much to take in and so many new things. i'm looking forward to the next few weeks at the mtc. i'll email you guys when my P day comes not sure when that will be though. so, watch your email and i'll get to you as soon as I can.
Love, Hermana Poulsen
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