July 24, 2011

WHATS UP FAM!!!!!

well another week down, i dont know about you guys but i feel that the time is going by super fast!!!! and as much as i cant wait to see you guys i would like it to slow down a little bit. but i guess i cant change that, it will go how it goes and i just got to make the best of the time.

well this week we had a little hick-up in the work but we dont let those kind of things stop us, we didnt have a baptism last week but we do have some for this week 2, a family and of course they have to get married. but thats okay thats part of the work. no i did not have transfers im still here in the same old area, but thats okay i like it and we have a lot of people we are working with here that i like so im okay with that. theres a lady here that can get a lot of stuff for me like souvenirs so im okay with that, actually there just a few more things that i would like to get before i leave. now im not saying i have to have them but if theres still some money of mine laying around somewhere that would be nice. im just asking.

well i dont know about the flight plans i thought you would know by now too but im sure you could call the office and talk to them. but im sure ill be home the 1st of september. thanks for getting my room all fixed up mom i really appriciate it. happy 24th on the 25th, but i cant believe you are not going to the parade, ill have to come home and fix ya guys up!!! send me some pics of the bathroom.

the pictures i have include are of the new baby of my converts that is 4 days old and then of the scorpion that we found.... ahahaha .

well i have to go im out of time and i dont know what else to talk about hahahaha but i love you all i cant wait to see you all.

with a bunch of love elder paulson

July 18, 2011

WHA`S UP MY PEEPS!!!!!

hahahahaha. okay well i guess your all doing good thanks all you that wrote me!!!! =) im really grateful for you all thanks for being awesome!

well the work is going well, we still have the family with a baptismal date and we found 3 new families this week to teach. in 2 weeks the family andrade should be married and baptized if all goes well with there marriage and then we have another family with a date for the 6th of august the family barrahona, they are all really awesome families that have just had leeps of progress.

well sounds like you are getting things ready for the great homecoming... hahaha!!! this week i have officially started my last change in the mission, this all seems so weird to me that the time has come and gone so fast it still hasnt really registerd yet, it catches me off guard some times, and i think "ill be home in 6 weeks", its kind of really sad but also happy. one day this will just be a dream that happened long ago. but i have learned so much here and i am so grateful for it. Today i learned that, " if you want to be happy in eternity, our life time is to make it happen, if you want to be happy in life, your mission is the time to make it happen." and i truly believe that, the mission has been a starting point in my life.

well since you asked mom about the airport, yes family, you know who would be good to invite and then of friends austin, mathew, chance, shir, andrew,branagan, kenny, jared. you know the bunch and yes Emi, but im telling her in my letter im sending this week. the room sounds good, you should send me a pic next week of the room and the bathroom, i like the beach idea but it cant be like the dinky beach theme stuff, you got to make it like cool beach stuff and colors. but thanks for doing that. its going to be awesome.

dad im exctied to get started right away, im doing a lot of jump rope in the morning. but there's not much i can do.

well love you guys thanks for every thing. te amo mucho

elder paulson

July 11, 2011

hello my dear family

well sounds like things are going normal for you all.... at least thats what i think seeing how i didnt hear from very many of you...(really just mom). but thats okay i guess no news is good news.... at least thats what they say. this has been just another good week in the work of the lord and the life of a missionary. that time is coming to an end very fast but there is still some time and with that i plan on doin some serious work! also i just can wait to see what austin and mathew have planned for my homecoming...... kind of scares me, not going to lie. and the homecomeing food you talked about sounds awesome... theres also some things from here that i would like to make also if thats okay like this drink made from corn called pozol, and some other things, i hope thats okay. so have you started painting yet i dont know how i could get those colors to you but the colors i want that were on that paper you sent me were that last blue one and there was like this crimson red on the other one those 2 colors.

well today was a really diffrent day we had an activity with President Flores and his family, he took our whole zone bowling and then we had lunch at his house, this was the first time he has done anything like that for a whole zone, he did it because of the success we have been having in the zone this last few months. so that was really cool.

well we have 1 family with a bapismal date right now Wilmer and Patty, they have been a crazy case because well of course they werent married like all of Honduras... but any ways Patty's papers for marriage were all messed up and so many things were wrong and they have been waiting for like 2 months to get this all fixed and it has been a long wait, they have been very good about it and patient, and now finally they have got them all fixed and are ready to get married and baptized. so i am very excited for them and hope that they are too, they seem like it. Well that is all I have.

Love you, Elder Paulson

- Show quoted text -

July 4th, 2011

GOOD AFTERNOON MY FAMILY & FRIENDS

How goes it? thank you all for your emails that i have recived (those who sent one). life in Honduras is really a joy. there are always new things happening.... i just dont know what they are!.... hahahaah because i dont read the news paper or watch the news or any of that good stuff im just here in my little happy missionary bubble..... ahahaha the mission is awesome. but i hope life has been well for you all and that the lord continues to bless you all, its crazy to think that we have made it to the final 2 months, as much as i am going to love seeing you all again and how much fun its goin to be with you all again, its going to be very hard saying good bye to the mission. i have learned so much and there is still so much to have be learned, these have been the best 2 years of my life so far!!!! i cant thank my father in heaven for what he has done for me in my time here in the mission.

well i guess you guys would like to know what happend this last week... well we had another baptism!!! it was so sweet!!!! the person who got baptized is named Richard he is the dad of the family that got baptized at the beginning of the month so that makes one more whole family on their way down the road to enternl life! their are such a cool family, when i first knew them i made a personal goal to get them baptized, and im glad i was here to see it done.

well i dont know what else to say.... miller how goes the whole being pregnet thing??? i hope your lovin it, your gonna be an awesome mom and same with kel and how about the farmers market how goes that. and the rest of you. hey dad i really like the jersey you sent we're gonna look sick on the field in those and you mentioned that we might be getting other ones.... well if we do we should get yellow ones with navy blue and navy blue shorts

well i love you all and thanks for your love

con mucho amor...

Elder Paulson

YUM.....mystery meat!!

June 27, 2011

Marraige papers for 2 familys.... 1,500.00 lempiras, Bus ride to distant pueblo to retrieve marraige papers 800.00 lempiras, Cost of gas to other distant pueblo to perform marriage 300.00 lempiras, Seeing 2 families enter the waters of baptism.... Priceless. WOW this has been a crazy crazy week!!!! i mean i have never had so many things to do all at one time, i had like 16,543,345 things to do and only 24 hours a day to finish them all...... ya its been crazy... but like my good old man kenny said you got to look at the miracles, and that is what im doing. i have seen 2 families make sacred covenants with our Heavenly Father and i am happy. it truly was a day of rejoicing, in all we had 6 baptisms this saturday and all were confirmed sunday morning in church( sorry i was not able to get a photo). One of them Carlos Espinal recently had his big toe amputated, but insipite of that he offered us his time so he could go and do visits with us, i thought how awsome is that.

well that has been about my week getting those two families married and baptized and i want to thank you, my wonderful parents, for your help and support, i just couldnt get the ward together to start rasing money. but with your help we got it done. i love you guys so much and thanks for all the support you have given me during my time in the mission.

okay well i guess like i didnt sound like i was happy enough for amelia and kel, (which i truly am) i get to be that crazy awsome uncle. i have so many plans for my future nephew or niece. so dont get me wrong i am stoked and i cant wait... by the way do you know what its going to be.... and have you started to put thought into names or any of that good stuff????? i hope so.... i would like to put in my thought.... if its a boy his name should be Axel (and no thats not a spelling error) and if its a girl Abigail.

well i cant believe that kenny's home.... thats so crazy i didnt even think he was close to getting home, i hope some one gave him a big bear hug on my part and that hes savin a sit for me at the settlers table. and mom a song that i would like is "Onward chrisitan soldiers" or " The day dawn is breaking".

well i am horrible out of time but thank you all that wrote me this week, Mom, Dad,......... well thats about it, and a little note from Kaelen.

well i love you all

Elder Paulson

June 20, 2011

Hello family,

well im really excited to write you guys, i dont know why but i am. i hope your week has gone well.

well were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, we have 2 familys this week that need marraige and baptisam and we still have alot to do before it happens, one of the husbands is from a department (state) about 3 or 4 hours away where he has to go to take out his birth certificate and a whole bunch of other stuff, another one lost his identification and he has to go get that taken out to. so lots of things and little time to do them but i know the lord is on our side and i'm not worried.

so this week we had elder falabela from the seventy come and talk to us, it was really really good he talked about free will, and i have included a picture with him. well he invited us this week to get a blessing from our bishop in the ward we are serving so last night we went and got one, and it was a really cool cool blessing he gave me, really powerful.

so this week the zone leaders had a baptism so we went to help them and while we were waiting for the baptismal font to fill up we went and started playing the piano. well we got distracted and lost track of time, then one of the elders went to go to the bathrom and all of a sudden we hear "HELP" and so we come running out and see that the font had run over and over!!!!!! so we had alot of mopping to do.

well i loveyou all that's about it for this week not much until the end of this week i will let you know how it all goes.

with love elder paulson

June 13, 2011

OKAY OKAY!!!!!

Well sounds like a lot of crazy things are going on back home!!!!!! Sounds like you guys had a good time with the whole Birthday thing for mom!!! and i just want to say happy BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I hope it was an awesome one!!!! I love you tons and am so grateful that you are my mom. For me the birthday was almost just kind of another day except that I saved the presents to open and my zone leader bought a little gift thing so that was nice but other than that it was just a normal day, but not that I was bad or anything I really enjoyed dedicating my birthday to the Lord, it's not like I don't owe it to him anyways for all that he has done for me I don't see the whole mission thing any more as putting my life on hold for 2 years so I can serve the Lord, more it's that I find myself once again in his debt for the things he has done for me in my life here in the mission. So I am more than happy to have my birthday pass as just a normal day while in the work of the Lord.

So this is my first week as trainer again, it's always the hardest because they know nothing and you really have to help them along but it's such an awesome experience to see them grow and become the missionary the Lord has intended them to be and be apart of that growing with them. This new training program that we are doing is reallly awesome and I am learning a lot from it. I'm really gratetful that the Lord has given me this opportunity to be a trainer to finish my mission, we kind of had a hard week in the district but we are working on getting it better and helping the other elders. but all is moving along

This week we have the opportunity to hear Elder Falabela of the seventy come and talk to us missionaries which is really awesome. I love this opportunity to learn from these men of the Lord. I have a lot of things I am hoping he can help me with, I have learned that if I write what I want to change or to better on a piece of paper and then take notes in these meetings I usually find the answer.

So we are working with this new family that is really cool, the family Espinal, they are a really humble family and even more humble with the fact that the husband isn't working right now because he had his big toe amputated about 2 months ago and it still hasn't healed, but they have much faith in the sense that he had a doctors appointment but decided to come to church instead so I really love them and they have had really good progress. So if you can include them in your prayers that would be awesome.

So I really loved everything that was in the package, I have been fighting off hordes of missionaries for those chocolate chip cookies and grandma's cookies that you sent me, just one thing.... the whole green tea candy's ya I'm really grateful for them and the thought but.... ya, but the rest was awesome. Thank you all mom, dad, Amelia and Kel (the dried squid was gone before Sunday it was really good).

Well i just have to tell you all thanks for everything, I love you all so much.

love Elder Paulson

June 6, 2011

HOW YALL DOIN?

hey guys, well i'm really happy this week, not saying that i'm not happy every week it's just that this week was really good!!!!..... we got a lot done and had a lot of success, so for that i'm happy. in your letters it sounds like you are all doing good not much happening in the HOOD but at least you're all well and that's what counts. so there's lots of new things to tell you guys and i'll get right to that.

so first of all the family Gonzalez Amador was finally married!!! after much problems and things that just..... well just made me really angry. but that's all over, we got them married even though we had to wait in a traffic jam 20 miles long for 2 hours when we had to be there at a certain time and then dealing with the people at the place where they got married because there were some papers wrong and the wedding almost didn't happen..... but it did. and then they were baptized on saturday.... well the dad no but the rest of the family si. he hasn't come to church since we have been teaching him but after he saw the baptism he told me that he was coming to church and he did, then after he told me that next week he would be there to so i'm really excited. we are planing on having him baptized the 18th of this month.

okay another thing...... and this one is more kind of a "wow are you serious" type thing. so we got transfers next week, but on saturday i had to go to a meeting and found out that it was a meeting for trainers of new missionaries....... i was like "WHAT, IM TRAINING AGAIN?" and i am.... but not only am i tranning i'm part of a pilot test program that the church is doing for a new type of training program for new missionaries that will start in August, they have had the mission presidentes picking a few of the missionaries that will be training to start using the program so they can see furture problems or stuff like that, and not only is all that happening but i am still going to be a district leader!!!! what... i know i don't know why, i just know it's happening. but it's all good i know the Lord doesn't make mistakes and if he wants me to do all this, i guess it's possible.

well one other thing. this last Thursday we had a leadership training meeting, and at the end Presidente Flores asked if there was some one that wanted him to go work with them that night and i was the first to raise my hand, so from 6:00 in the evning to 9:00 at night we had presidente with us and it was awesome he is such a stud!!! i have learned so much from him in my time here and it has been awesome he taught us some really important things that night and i was really grateful to have him with us.

well i got the package and i'm super stoked for what's inside!!!! thanks a ton for that guys your the best!!!! and also thanks for your love and all that you do for me. i hope all is well that it keeps going well .

with much love

Elder Paulson

May 30, 2011

hello family

okay let me just say how crazy this is.... I have only 3 months left in the mission!!!!! thats so crazy!!! it's going by so fast and i don't know what to do? i'm just trying to live it up as much as i can and i would say you guys should too!!!! it's very few times that you have a son or a brother or a grandson, or etc. in the mission. i'm going to make this last 3 months the best.

so some sad news first...... the baptisms didn't happen... we had problems with marriage papers and all that good stuff but the elder that's in charge of all this in the office said that for sure this week and all will be ready so they will be being married and baptized this weekend. so we are just working to get them ready this week so that all goes well. they are an awesome family and i love them. we have been working really hard to find new people this week so we can start getting them ready for baptism in the month of June but it's been kind of a struggle. but we don't let this kind of stuff get us down.

alright well it sounds like you all had a nice time this week with the family. sounds like all are doing well. and also with Hermana Rodriguez and her family. she is a really nice lady, she washed our clothes for free when i was in that area. and it looks like you made her one of my favorite dishes...... jealous....... but that's okay no worries. i'm glad you guys got to know her and spend some time with her.

so it's been that good old rainy season here in Honduras!!! every day without fail we get a good down poor and it fills the streets and the whole country just shuts down!!!! no one does anything when it raining they just go inside and hide! they stopped working if it's raining they just don't do anything!! but that's okay i love the Hondurans for their crazy ways. they talk with their hands a lot. me and the other elders have been working on figuring out the language and what the hand motions mean. so if when i come home and talk more than normal don't wonder why hahahaha.

well guys that's all i got that's all the new stuff i got this week for you. thanks for everything you do and i love you all for it your the best in the world.

Love elder paulson

sorry no new pics, there just has not been alot of things to take pictures of.

May 23, 2011

HELLO MY PEEPS

well this is another week that has passed by and one with a little more stress and worrying but a good and happy one nonetheless. we have had our up and downs this week but the Lord comes out triumphant always. and i will tell you why.

well to start we have been trying to get 2 families married this week..... let me just tell you this is a huge stress package. we have to get so many papers for them and pick the day and the whole money thing.... speaking of which i still don't know how we are going to pay for them for all this, but it's all worth it!!!! if all goes well they will be married and baptized this weekend, so pray, pray very much for them plz. but they are awesome people and i so hope all goes well, i promised one of them that if the dad gets baptized (because he hasn't gone to church so he can't get baptized even though he his awesome) in a year i would bring them to the states to get sealed in the temple he seemed to be pretty motivated by that.

so the package thing sounds good im really excited and yes i think that would be awesome if you invited them over!!! take and send some pixs with them.

Well this week we went and found ourselves in this crazy area of our area. The best way i could describe it is by combing some jungle in the Bronks of New York..... this was kind of crazy and there's a lot of gang activity there, but we didn't have any problem with them but it's down in the hole and you just have to keep goin down, it kind of reminded me of Lord of the Rings.

Dad i really liked your letter thanks for info on everything, I'm really excited either way and hope that you can get that worked out.

well i love you all and hope all is well

love elder paulson

May 16, 2011

Hello you guys.

well its another week, i thank you all that wrote me, mom, dad, kel. And to those that haven't..... well ya. thanks for the pixs mom and to dad and kel thanks for the info on kesni. these weeks just keep flyin by and i don't know why. i guess when its somthing you really love doing time just goes a little bit faster. we continue in the work of the Lord in the good ol´ Honduras. it hasn't been the most up week but we don't let stuff get us down.

well first of all i'll tell you about the family we are working with..... well they didn't come to church this week they escaped from us, we went by their house in the morning to get them ready and when we talked to them they said they were going to go. so we said we were going to come back because we had a few other people to go get up and ready, well when we came back the mom had left to "run some errands" and the dad was "sick" so we were kind of put off by that. but after church we went and talked to them and had really good lesson with them.

um other things....... i don't know i'm kind of really out of time i had to fill out a report to the president. and that took up alot of time.

when do you guys think that stuff will get here that your sending me?

this week i had a dream that kel was a missionary, and he was my companion, but he wasn't very obedient.... hahahaa it was really funny to think about.

well i have to stop here i don't have time. i'm so so so sorry its so short. tell chance to write me and tell me who he had the fire with in the backyard

well i love you all

elder paulson

May 2, 2011

HOLA MI FAMILIA!!!!!

hey there yall, how has this last week been for you? well i am hoping good? this last week has brought my new experiences and new feelings in the mission. we had changes, i got a new comp, the work goes well and i love being a missionary. its sad that the time has to go by so fast!!!! but it does and there is nothing we can do about it.

alright first of all the changes, well i stayed in my old area La Popular but i have gotten my new comp. his name is Elder Weaver, yes he is a gringo my first gringo compainon in the mission and he's only got a month and a half in the mission. he is from Ceder City Utah, I'm with a Utahan for the first time. he's is an awesome companion, probably the best i have had in the mission and he is definitely a better missionary than me, i am learning so much from him, he has such an awesome desire to help people and bring them the truth! and he speaks pretty good spanish for the amount of time he has. we have worked as hard as i have for a long time in the mission because i dont have any one to pull behind me all day, we help each other. i'll send you guys a pic next week.

alright so some more new stuff, along with the changes, came a new calling, i am now a new district leader, i never thought that this would happen i was really humbled about the calling i never expected it. i'm in charge of the work and spiritual progress of 8 elders including myself and in these last 5 days i have been on my knees a lot more than usual so i'm going to need some extra prayers from ya guys. and also, i dont know if you guys remember my first comp in the mtc Elder Hagler, well he is now my new Zone Leader and i'm loving it we live together and we have a good time.

so this week we found a new family that is super awesome, they are married and they don't drink coffee and they are really receptive to the teachings, that other family will be getting married this week or the next depending on some details in the laws here in Honduras. but the work goes well and keeps getting better.

so i'm really glad you guys got the package, it sounded like you guys liked the stuff that was in it, it was kind of a last minute thing so I didn't get all the things i wanted in it, but i'm going to bring you guys most of the stuff back home with me its just to hard to send stuff.

alright mothers day... the last call of the mission, i hope your all excited. so i think i will be doing the pre-call one or 2 days before. i will be calling the home number because its the only one i remember and then you guys can call me. i'm really excited to talk to you all. just be ready for the call. =)

mom thanks for every thing i hope your okay, don't stress out too much about the "whole me coming home thing" it will come when it comes. it's only a few chances you get to have your son in the mission field. te amo

well i love you all , thanks for being awesome!!! te Quiero

Elder paulson

April 25, 2011

hello family

so how are you guys all doing today? good i hope? so that time has come again....yes that's right changes are here. it's true what they say the time does fly, well i will be staying in my current area and will be receiving a new companion. i dont know who he is though because Presidente Flores has come up with a new thing that he's not going to tell the missionaries where they are going until we get to the change meeting. he has started this so there will be no crap talking about the other missionaries. i think it's a good idea and it makes the changes more exciting.

well this week has also brought some sadness this sunday was the last Sunday of the Garvis´s. It was really sad to say good bye to them they have really been awesome. they have been kind of like my little piece of home here in Honduras, they will be leaving tomorrow, they did a lot of things for me Elder Garvis did this big research for me about the best culinary schools in the world and also agricultural schools because i have been thinking about that also along with culinary arts. I'm thinking of ways to do them together. but they have been really awesome, and they said there were gonig to call you when they got back to the states.

So this week we took a trip with the zone leaders to Ojojona its a small tourist town in our zone that's really awesome, we went with them because they had two baptismal interviews and had to do interchanges so that was fun and now we are going back today as a zone to play some Fútbol (soccer) and buy some cool souviners. so that' s going to be fun.

alright so i have gotten the letters of becca brown and emi and austin and i have sent there reponses so if you could tell them to be looking for them that would be awesome.

well this week we had some really good success, we found an awesome new family to teach they are married(one point for the missionaries), the don't drink coffee(two points for the missionaries) and they have members on both sides of there families and they live right next door to them(3 points for the missionaries) so we are really excited to be working with them and we are still working with the other ones. their marriage date is for the second week of May so we are really working hard to get them to that point so include them in your prayers plz.

sounds like you had a good time in Vegas from the pics you sent me hahahahaha. i am kind of disappointed in my family though for the lack of Easter egg dying!!! =( what will you guys do when i get married and move out?

well i love you guys hope all is well. te amo mucho

elder paulson

April 18, 2011

Family

well how you guys doing? well i hope? it sounds like you guys have been haveing a good time and that life is going well, and that makes me happy for you all.

well this has been kind of rough week, to some of you it apeared that i am having problems with my comp. and in a way yes but we are not fighting we get along quite well in the friends way, its that he dosent want to do anything he just wants to go through the motions and im the one that has to be pulling him through just so we can get our work done.... and to be honest its very tiring physically and spiritualy and frustrating, im know i have to be strong and that i need to be a good example but its also bugs me that he dosent understand why hes here he dosent want to talk and he dosent really try to be better, now dont get me wrong hes a good guy hes funny and sincere but in the whole missionary aspect of things hes slackin a little. but i just wanted to clear that up so no one thought i wasn't getting along with him, its just a little frustrating and stressful, i kind of feel like a babysitter.

alright now for the good stuff!!!!! so in our house we have 2 water tanks that hold our water so we don't run out of water because i only comes every 3 days. any way these tanks are up on the ruff and one of the pipes broke that fill the tank up. so we had to go up and had to pass the water from one tank to the other with a bucket, so these tanks are on a big sturdy concrete slab but what Hondurans use for roofing is this time of martial that i can best drescribe like sheetrock its not that strong well our neighbors house is built right next to ours so while i was filling up the bucket my foot sleep and and right on to the neighbors ruff well my foot and all my leg up to my crotch went through the neighbors roof!!! and the neighbor was in there doing some ironing, well when this happen i just kind of stayed there hoping that it was a dream, but my comp just started laughing and i didn't wake up.... so it was real, the neighbors weren't mad or anything which was nice. but ya that's my story.

I love you all

elder paulson

April 11, 2011

hey guys

so how are you all doing? well i hope good?! this was a really good week for us we were able to put 4 baptismal dates, " families which are really awesome!!! they are awesome families the only thing is like all the other people in Honduras..... they have to get married, but i guess if we want somthing good we have to fight for it! we are planning on baptizing them the end of this month if all goes well with the whole marriage thing.

So this week I had a really cool experience, a testimony builder, this last few days have been pretty hard for us, I have felt like I have been pullling our companionship along, i had been really stressed out and i felt anxious and i couldn't sleep, this was all happening on thursday night, so before i went to bed i knelt down and started talking to my Father in Heaven and at first i didn't feel anything then i just opened up my heart and told him everything that i felt and that was going wrong, and when i did then i felt this huge weight just lifted off my sholders and i felt at peace, and i could really just relax for a little bit and sleep, that really was a testimony builder for me about the power of prayer.

so about a week ago i was talking to the Garvis´s and told them i was going into culinary arts, well this sunday Elder Garvis showed up with this huge stack of papers and said i have something for you. he had done a bunch of research and found the best culinary school in the world, it was awesome im still reading it.

well as for the school thing i want to go for it, i really want to start right away and get things going so you guys do what you have to do. I'm willing to miss the first few days. and yes i did get the package and thank you it was awesome, and as for the paint, the last blue that was on that and i want the wall that the windows on painted that crimson red.

Well i have to go i love you all.

Elder Paulson

April 4, 2011

HELLLLLLLOOOOOO family.

How the heck are you guys???? I hope just DANDY, this was a wonderful week full of conference. It was an awesome conference and I loved all the talks and I hope you all did too. Saturday for me was spent all day in the chapel hanging out with all the other white elders and watching conference in English. It was a blast!!!! I really liked Elder Oaks talk about decisions and priorities, and I liked both of Pres. Uchtdorfs talks..... man the whole thing was awesome and you know what I have completed something that I think no missionary has ever done....I have watched conference in the same chapel for the past 2 years, I have been in the same zone and in the same chapel for every conference, it was awesome!!!! and do you know something else...... next conference I will be home!!!!!! WOOT WOOT!!! but that time will come, no need to rush.

So new things for this week... we got couches in the house, that would be a first for me in the mission. It really is awesome because I have not slept on a couch for almost 2 years and ooohhhh how good it is, also I bought a hammock this week and it's super nice and ooohhh how good it is to sleep in a hammock.

Also this week I went and cooked for some members ,it was so awesome and relaxing. I love cooking, I made poly chicken, that kind I made for my Birthday before I left and I also made mac salad and O'tai it was all so good!!! and they loved it, and we also cooked a huge pork leg that we left to soak in that sauce and then we cooked it in the oven with mangos for about 4 hours and ooooo how good was that!!! I have not eaten so well in so long.

The work continues to go well, we are working really hard with our investigators and they are progressing, we managed to put a baptismal date with one of them for next week I hope it goes through. The zone is kind of struggling right now, but we will get through.

Well I love you all and I hope all is well. Thanks for all the emails.

Love, Elder Paulson

NEW APARTMENT WITH THE ZONE LEADERS!

Looks like pretty serious bars on that door!!


Could this really be a kitchen that 4 Elders take care of, I am impressed!

March 28, 2011

Alrighty then!!!!!

hola my family i hope that this has been a wonderful week for you all, the week for me went by very fast and its all kind of a blur in my memory, but i am ever so stooked for this week and ready to enjoy 10 full hours of confrence goodness, i feel gidy as the time gets closer!!! i hope you all feel the same way.

well i will start out with the more depressing news this week we had to drop this really awesome family that we have been working with, they didnt come to church on sunday and in the afternoon we found them and asked what happend they said they arent going to go ever.... so we were kind of upset about that but thye have there free will and we cant make them do anything they dont want to.

so this week i got a letter from miss becca brown and from the Bradshaw family. mom could tell them both thanks and give them a hug for me they have been the most faithful write to me my whole mission. i have got a letter from them every month.

so this week your going to see chance..... well i need you to give him a big hug for me and i will need pictures next week so dont forget to do that, tell him good job at doin work! and that i love him

life here in la papular is prity good i realy like living with 4 missionarys in the house it not has boring and we always think of funny things to do. thanks for the package you guys are sending i cant wait for it and see what i get, i really do need that suit and dont worry theres a member here that can tailor it if its to big.

also mom i need you to send my address to amada jolly today through email she has a letter to send me but she dosent have my adress.

well i love you all hope all is well and tha you are all happy. te amo mucho

Love

elder paulson

FINALLY A HOT SHOWER!!!!

March 21, 2011 - Hope you are enjoying Elder Paulson's letters!

hello family

alright guys so let me explain, last week we were here writting and right as i was about to send my letter the power went out and i had pritty much used up all my time. so they gave me some time to quickly right a message to you guys, so its not my falt that the last letter was short. im sorry but thats how it was. but i love you guys, im sorry these things happen but they happen and i cant change them.i hope you guys dont think that i write short letters just for the heck of it. i want you guys to know about what is going on.

alright so im in my new area, like i said before its right below my old area la peña, its no the other side of the area port its kind of small so im sure its hard to find on google earth. my new comp is awesome we get along really welll he froms el salvador he has about a year in the mission. the house we live in is prity sweet its got and electric water heater so i can now finaly take hot showers!!! i love it im never takeing a cooled shower again. theres 4 of us that live in the house we live with the zone leaders, its really awesome, i love it were always talkin a its just easer to relaxe. we live in a prity nice group of houses but we also live right next to one of the most dangerus areas in the city, so theres alot of mixed people there. the members here are really awesome they give us food every day!!!! lunch and dinner!!! and we have some really awesome investigators. so i really like my area.

so to answer your questions.

-have not gotten the letter but the zoneleaders are going to the office today pick up mail so ill see if i get it today.

-so about school, i dont know. my relese date im prity sure is the 31st of agust. ill be home the first of september. i would really like to start school when i get home but i dont want to finish early. let me know what you think

-and about the package, the guy left before i could get he package off so it wont be comeing for a little bit but i know some one else that is going to utah the end of april so ill let you know more on that.

so i was wondering if you guys could send me some of my football pictures and wrestling pics that would be awesome!! and i think this is the best news ever..... the Garvises asist my ward so i get to see them every sunday. this sunday i sat with them in sacramente meeting. it is awesome ilove those guys you guys will have to get know them when they get home.

dad- sorry i didnt write last week but i was supper bumd to hear about that the team lost. they need to start taking it all sirusly. hope needs to start getting them in shape. and were you able to find out about that rugby traning thing we talked about? and thenks for sending me the work out book im tyring to do some work outs but i need more ideas

well i thank you all and i love you all hope all is well

love elder paulson

March 14, 2011 - Just like he sends it!!!

alright family....

okay here i am again writing my family another week has gone by and another change over im down to 4 more changes..... the time is getting really short. with the time going by and my mission geting closer to its finish, i think how greatful i am that i have had this apportunity to serve in this awesome work! i have grown and i have had changes in my life, i am still the same person, but with with some modifications. i thank you guys for the support that i have recived from you and your love.

so first of all the changes we got our changes last night, and im leaving the area..... im headed back to my old zone, just in a diffrent area, its called El Popular, its just below my old area La Peña and my new comp is from El Salvador, his name is Elder Perez he has about a year i think? ill be going to my new area this wensday so ill let you know how it is next week. this week we had a baptisam her name is milva. i sent a pic.

well i lvoe you guys im out of time but thanks for all your letters i read them all. i love oyu all a ton.

love elder paulson

Elder Paulson's companion in his pants! He was really, really small!!
Looks kind of like Utah!

March 7, 2011 - Posted as written!!

hello family.

well this has been the fastest week in my whole mission it went by so fast i really dont know what happend!!! but i just keep working and doing what im doing. really theres not much to tell this week, its really just the same stuff that happens all the time we did have 7 investigator in sacrement meeting this sunday and one family, that was really cool!!

we also had a leadership tranning meeting that me and my comp got invited to, pres. flores is just a stud he his so cool and i love how he teaches. he really helps me out alot i am really blessed to have and awesome. this will be the last week before transfers, i dont know if im leaving or staying, but i have 4 1/2 months her in the area its a good chance that i go but theres also the chance that i dont.

i have sent some pics, one of them is of Las Posas and little pueblo that we would good work at and the other is my comp in my pantsl

well thats all i have not much i know but i dont know what more you want to hear ask me things. but i love you all and hope all is well

February 28, 2011 - posted as written by Elder Paulson - enjoy the challenge!! Ha!

HOW IN THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS?????

i just want to start this letter by saying i just love you guys, you guys (my family) are just kick butt!!! i have such a cool family. And i cant wait to see you guys again its going to be awesome, im baggy or anything i just feel like saying this. i now that every week i some to internet there will be a letter from my family there and that just makes me happy!!!

so this has been a good week for the work of the lord. this sunday our ward held a group in an area kind of far away were some members live, its kind of like a branch but its still part of the ward. there was and asistens of 24 people which is awesome! and the final goal of all this is to start a branch. were working there also and have some really positive investigators there. so we hope and pray that the work there continues as it has been.

well to answer to tell you a little about our day to day life in honduras, right now we have a pirty nive appartmente right now, it only has one bedrooom and a living area and a kitchen and is kinda small but for two missionarys who dont realy pass much time in the house its just perfect. we do shower with cold water the only way to get hot hot water is to buy this little electric heater s that you buy here that you have to hard wire to and outlet, but showering with cold water is normal life for me now, the only hard time is when we have to get up eraly to de to a meeting, we wake up every day and 6:30 and we go to bed at 10:30 and im prity used to that by now to.

well dad the rugby news was awesome!!! i cant wait to hear how it goes with the st. gizzy team, im prity sure will win but dont let anything go to the teams head just cause there a first year team!!! they have to play a 110% theres alot on this game, and when are the playoffs? are the before i get home? bund that you could make it to the snow game, they were always a fun team to play! and tell calvin hi for me.

mom i gess you cant paint the room that color, i think it will look good, but maybe you could paint one wall orange like a dark orange. i think that would like cool!!!! and sound like you had fun that the youth confrence. i hope you did i have some good memorys at those.

well i love you all and hope all is well. thaks for being awesome.

love elder paulson

February 21, 2011 - This post was put in as it was written by Elder Paulson! No corrections made!

HEY YOU GUYS!!!!!!!

Alright so how is everybody doing?? i hope well i didnt here from very many of you this week but thank you mom and dad for being the faithful missionary writters you are!!! i love you guys..... and for the rest of you well that depends. Alrigth mom i will answer your question right now. i still kind of need pants and a belt, shirts im good and ties im really good on ties. but im kind of out of money right now till the end of the month. but just let me know what you can do. your the best!

so this past week we had zone confrence.. one of my favorite times in the mission. i love hearing from presidente flores hes a stud!!! the theme of the confrence was repentence, he really likes that subject. but its really importante because if we really use repentence then we will have the best mision we could ever have! also has sad as it is this was the Garvis´s last zonve confrence, you guys will have to go visit them in there mansion in weston idaho, they know both the Burbanks and the Golightlys. they might knowour family. they really are super awesome!

so we have some really cool investigator right now but i want to tell you about one of them his name is Maurisio. Hes from tegucigalpa, hes a civil enginer and about 4 years ago he lost his sight, hes now blind, he told us when it first happend that we wouldnt do anything just sit in his house all day a pout and not do anything! but then one day he told him self, "what are you doing you cant change what has happend to you, but you can change your life"! so he got up and showerd and shaved and went a enrolled him self in a bind school were he learned to read and write in brael, he got his masage theripist lisense and his a carpenter!!! hes awesome!!! we got him a book of mormon in brael hes reading it its huge though its 7 huge binders!!! we is really cool and if we let him he would talk to us all day!

alright one thing, yes i want you guys to keep telling me about the news that heppens back home and all that good stuff i need to hear that stuff. and mom you mentioned that you wanted to paint me room.. well i was thinking that you could paint it Navy Blue!!!! let me know what you think!!!!

well i love you all, thanks for every thing.

TE AMO MUCHO

Elder Paulson

February 14, 2011

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

Well another week has rapidly come and gone and here I am now again writing my family back home in good old UTAH!!! It has been a good week, full of some really cool experiences and learning. Me and my comp continue to get along and to work hard. The area is still a little hard but I'm not letting that get me down, we just work and do are best and hope for the best. I feel happy, I feel good and I love being a missionary.

So we have been working with this one family that is really cool, their name is family Losano we haven't had any problems with them in the aspect of teaching, they accept all that we teach and love the doctrine, they asked us on our 4th visit to their house if they could be baptized and when could they be baptized. That doesn't happen a lot, and it was really cool... but there is just one little minor problem....they not married and the dad is married to someone else, but they have been separated for 30 years. So in this month we will be getting this man divorced from his ex-wife and then getting them married so they can get baptized but I don't think I'll be here to see them baptized!!! These kind of things take forever!

So I bought the camera this week, it is a Kodak, it's really nice. Thanks mom for talking to my friends, I hope they write.

Well that's all I got, kinda short but that's all I really have to tell you guys. I love you all!!!

Love, Elder Paulson

February 7, 2011

Alright Familia how's it going?

So this is a new week and new weeks bring new experiences. We just had changes this last week and I received a new comp! I had to say goodbye to my "son" which was kind of sad, but I like getting new comps, it's always a fun experience. My new comp is from Panama from a little pueblo called Chitré, his name is Elder Solis, he's really cool, kinda of crazy but I like that, he's always smiling!!! and we are always joking around, but we have a really good connection and in this half week we have been together I have had some of the best lessons in my whole mission! He's really small I think the smallest of all my comps I have had. His suit case is about as big as he is. I'm really excited to be working with him.

This has been kind of a slow week for the work not that things are not going good, just that I have been helping my comp get to know the area and the members. But we have had some success, we were able to but a baptismal date this week and we have another one that is super ready. So I'm sure as he gets in the rutin of things we well be lighting fires around here. Recently we have been working in this area called Mateo and we have been having a lot of success, it's about a 45 minute bus ride from our area, it's a little pueblo but it's really nice it's up in the moutains and has all these pine trees and rivers, I love it....I miss the mountains and the snow. But not much more time I guess, it's really crazy how fast time is going by. I have mixed feeling about it, one part I'm happy because I will get to see all you guys again and my friends, but there is no other time in my life that will be like this! Not even if i got called to be a member of the seventy or an apostle. These 2 years will be the only of there kind in my whole life! But I can't make time go backwards so I'm just working as hard as I can and doing the best I can to not have any regrets.

Mom I need you to help me with something, I have sent some letters to a few people and I want to know if they have gotten them, and if they have I need you tell them for me that I am waiting for them to write back.....so here are the people:

1. Beca Brown

2. Meera Worsley

3. Amanda Jolley

4. Fab (katlin Fabrisio)

And i have just sent some more to Austin and Emi and Scott Higbee. I have sent the one for Scott to your house so be looking for that one.

Well I love you guys, I hope all is well, thanks for writing me Amelia, if i makes you feel better you don't look 30. So be happy,your only old if you think your old! Well I love you all. ADIOS

Love, Elder Paulson

January 31, 2011

Hello family,

Well sounds like you guys have been having a good time this weekend with the whole fam damily. It all sounds like it's going good back home! I don't know why Uncle Hal and Aunt Pam are worried about the Gparents..... I'm pretty sure they are going to make it to the second coming!!!! I'm pretty sure grandpa is one of the 3 Nephites. Yes, the knife I lost was the sheath knife.

So we did have our baptism this weekend and it was AWESOME!!! This family is so cool. they have been some of my best converts, they came to church the sunday after their baptism looking like they had been members their whole lives!!! The only thing was when we were confirming the sister, in the middle of the confirmation she raised her arms up, like they do in those holy roller churches!!!! I had to kinda not laugh, but I was so happy to see them get baptized, this Tuesday we are going to teach them about temples and get them preparing for the temple so they can go one year from now when they are getting the temple done here!!!

Alright so this is the week of transfers, we got our new assignments last night. I'm staying in the area and my "Son" is going. I'm getting a missionary from Panama. I don't know who he is, but I ave heard he is really cool. He's got like 10 month I think???? But not sure, but I really am excited to get a new comp, it's always a new experience that I like.

So the work in the area is getting a lot better, it keeps getting better everyday!! We have started working in this little pueblo that's part of our area called Mateo. We have been having some good success in that area! We have found some new families and they are really positive, but we have run into some problems that might make their progression a lot harder, the dad is married to one lady but is living with another and they are not divorced. But we are working on it and will see what we can do!

Mom I like the painting my room idea, but what color are you thinking???? It's got to be a cool color, not like some kind of plain white. But ya I like the idea. So just let me know what color you're thinking.

Well I think that's all I got. I cant think of anything else to say!!! I'm sending that package with that guy this week so he should be getting ahold of you sometime soon. Well I love you all and thanks for everything! and for all your support. TE AMO MUCHO!!!

Love, Elder Paulson

January 24, 2011

Hey fam!!!!

Alright, well I really have to say that this has been an awesome week! We have really put are hands to the plow and just gone to work!! We have had a lot of success and there's a lot more on the horizon!!! We have started to work a lot more in other parts of our area and are finding a lot more success! So the family that we are working with there name is Family Queroz, their baptismal date is for this weekend so I will let you guys know how that goes they are so awesome and so prepared for this gospel, they just keep making me happy!They live in a apartment building and the lady that lives below them, she's always telling them how true our church is and that she needs to start coming to our church AND SHE HASN'T EVEN BEEN BAPTIZED!!! I love this gospel.

Alright so I'm going to be sending a package home soon. But I'm sending it with this member that's from Utah, that has been here with his wife, she is from here, so I'm going to give him your directions and your number so he can get it to you! and I'll get his number and send it to you! So be looking for that.

Well I'm really out of time, I'm actually over sorry it was kinda short. I love you all so much.

te amo mucho

Love, Elder Paulson

January 17, 2011

Hello family

Okay, well I want to thank you mom and dad for your encouraging words, they really did help thank you. Well I'm not going to lie, this week was about the same as last week, numbers wise but I'm looking at it with a new perspective. I'm letting this kinda of stuff get me down. I have always tried to look at the problems of life with a smile, and I don't know why that's going to stop now? Well it's not! This is the work of the lord and he is with us!

I really have been studying a lot about the the law of consecration and what it really means. Well I have learned that its not just the complete surrender of our worldly possessions but also all your heart, all your might, mind, and strength. I have a really powerful talk by Elder Maxwell from one of the 2002 general conferences where he talked about this same subject. He says it a process that is like a path of stepping stones, meant to be taken one at a time and that the surrender of ourselves is also a victory won, being that our minds will then be able to be stretched to his understanding. So I have made it the goal that in this last 7 months of my mission nothing is going to get me down!!!! Nothing!!!! There's too little time for that, and what ever happens I will keep my hand to the plow not looking back. This is probably the only time in my life that I will hold this same calling that I have the same that Elder Ballard holds or and other members of the 12 or the 70 so I have to make it the best.

Okay so the conference with Elder Ballard was amazing!!! He just kind of talked to us, it was really cool, he also talked a lot about faith!!! It was so cool to hear an apostle talk about faith, he shared a story about when he was in Jerusalem and had just visited the Sea of Galilee with the director of the BYU center there, and on their way back they stopped on the side of the road and the director went out and picked some mustard seeds off a tree and brought them back to Elder Ballard, he said they were so tiny, and the tree they came from was huge and he said he asked himself, how much does he really have? It really was just an awesome experience to hear him talk also Elder Jay E. Jensen was there and Elder Clark they all gave really good talks also and there wives.

Well we have one family we are working with right now that's really positive, they accepted a baptismal date for the 29th so we are really happy about that.

Also that's really cool that Andrew is going to be playing rugby, I can't wait to get back and start, thanks dad for those tips I'll start with those and see what I can come up with. Mom send me some pics of Clare's wedding and tell her congrats and give her a hug for me. Well that's all I have. I love you all, thanks for everything. TE AMO MUCHO

Love , Elder Paulson

January 10, 2011

Hello family

Well another week has come and gone, time seems to just disappear sometimes. this really has been a down week for us, I don't know what we are doing wrong or what we need to do more better, we try everyday to be better missionaries. I just hope this new week will bring lots of new investigators and new spirits.

So I'm still working on getting some pants, I called the lady and she said she won't have any material until February because of the big Christmas sales and all the demand they had in December, but there is a store here where I can get a good pair of pants for pretty cheap, like 300.00 limps. Thanks for all your help with that it's just hard here because when things start to fall apart it happens really fast.

So this is the week that we will get to see and listen to Elder Ballard. I just thinks it´s kinda funny how as missionaries we our enthusiasium raises to the level of someone going to a rock concert, to go listen to some old guy talk about the gospel. I love being a missionary!!! I just wonder if we should be excited or worried for what he's going to talk about, in the sense that he might chew us out. But I'm still stoked ether way.

So mom last week you asked about what book I was reading, sorry I didn't respond. Right now I'm reading Jesus the Christ again, and I'm stil learning a bunch, I invite you guys to read that book, it might be hard to understand but you will gane a much greater appreciation for our Savior Jesus Christ. well I would like to give you guys just a little update on what's going on with our investigators. Right now we have 3 families we are teaching, they all 3 are really postive and progressing, but also have a lot of problems, and are really working hard to keep them progressing but we don't have a lot of support from the members, and that's the second most important thing in missionary work, right behind the spirit, I just want to make a side note and invite you guys to help in whatever way you can with the missionaries. Dad I don't know how it is in the stake but maybe you could sign up to go working with them, I don't know but just find ways to help them they need it.

Just one last thing I would really like a copy of your patriartical blessings mom and dad and if it's okay with Miller hers too thanks.

Well I love you guys thanks for everything I love you all!!!

Love your son, Elder Paulson

January 6, 2011

HOLA MI FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!!!

Well we made it through the holiday without a glitch, thankfully! But i guess you can credit that to the fact that we were inside by 8:00 and in bed by 10:30. I know how many times I was in bed by 10:30 when I was home???? Not very many. But we did have a good time, we went and had dinner with some members and all that good stuff so it was good.

So this week was really slowwwwww..... we didn't have a lot of success but we did have some, we have two families we are teaching that are really awesome, they both are progessing and are really obtaining a testimony of the gospel. I don't know if you guys remember me telling you about Francisco, well if you do we are not teaching him anymore, it was really hard for me, but he just told us one day that he is a JW (Jehovah's Witness) and doesn't accept the church. I was really bummed out, I had really built a good relationship with that guy, but we still are teaching his sisters and there families and they look really positive.

I am glad you all had a really good holiday weekend. Mom that cake looked awesome, you really should start doing more of that, you are really good at it, you and Miller. Dad I'm excited to hear about rugby and what's going on so keep me updated. I'm really excited to get going in that when I get back. Tell max congrats on the win and give Addison big hug from me when you see him!!!

So it's a sure fact that my camera got stolen!!!! I don't know what I'm going to do about that. I'm going to try to buy the pants this week. Well that's all I got, I guess really still the same old stuff, but thank you guys for everything and all your love, I feel it all the way here in Honduras. I love you all.

Love, Elder Paulson

December 27, 2010

FELIZ NAVIDAD (2 days ago)

Well first and for most it was excellent to talk with you guys, it's just really weird talking in English. You all sounded great and I loved hearing your voices. Mom thanks for the pics, just one thing..... what have you done to yourself you're so Skinyyyy............I don't know if i can accept that????.... Just kidding, but really that's really the first picture I have seen of you like that, I don't think I will be able to give you any of those big heavy hugs when I get back. i might break you, but you all looked like you were having fun.

So we had our baptism on Christmas it was really cool, really no one from the ward showed up, I don't know why, just the young women's president and the other missionaries but other than that no one. But it still was a really good baptismal service, the girl we baptized has had a really hard year, her mom died a little bit ago. She has really cried a lot since we started teaching her but i think the gospel has brought a lot of peace into her life. We're going to go visit there tonight and talk about the plan of salvation more.

I hope that you guys were able to do the Christmas stocking to Christ this year, I did one this year and I really thought a lot about what it could be, and I decided on a couple of things, like read the whole standard works of the church including Preach my Gospel and Jesus the Christ which I have started and a few other things.

So about the pants, I think they are 400 limperas i dont really know what the conversion is but I'm sure you could find it. But I don't know now what's more important, because I'm pretty sure my camera just got stolen here while I have been here writing to you.

Well I love you guys, thanks for everything. Hope all is well. TE AMO MUCHO!!!!!

Elder Paulson