Trying to find those prepared souls

MOM!!!

So this week was pretty good. We put Kegan on date for baptism for Jan 26th. We had 2 lessons with him one on Wednesday and another on Saturday. He was able to come to sacrament and met the bishop. He had to go to work and wont be able to come to church anymore if he doesn't change his work schedule. That is what we really have work with him on. Because he can't be baptized if he doesn't attend church obviously. Then we were able to meet with Becky and Eleanor. They did not come to church sad to say though.

This week was tons of fun though. On Christmas eve Brother Schmidt took us to the air and space museum. That was so awesome. I took pictures with stuff like the SR-71 Blackbird (my favorite jet), the space shuttle the Discovery, and all sorts of jets and planes from different wars. I even took a picture with a Kamikaze from WW2. Then on Christmas we had breakfast at the Schmidts, lunch with the Richardsons and Kegan, dinner with this awesome couple that just went through the temple, skyped with you, and then back to the Richardsons. They are such an awesome family.  We were able to see some other people as well.

We are just not finding any new investigators. We are supposed to be finding at least 3 a week and we only have found like 5 since i have been here. So we don't have a lot of work going on and after Becky, Kegan and Eleanor are baptized were really going to be up a creek hahaha. Pres is constantly sending out emails that show our key indicators and is letting us know we suck at finding new. So yup fun times. 

Other than that not that much has happened. Were trying to find those prepared souls so i hope to have more to report for next week. 

Love ya Miss ya!

Elder Powell

Merry Christmas Mom!!!

I am calling you tomorrow...get ready!

Elder Powell

This week was really great!

 

Hey MOM!!!!

This week was yet again another great week. Not too many things happened but the things that did were really awesome. The first really cool thing that happened was we had our fun mission Christmas conference. It was up in Oakton so not that bad of a drive. When we got there we watched some missionaries perform talents. So all that means is we herd piano playing and singing. That wasn't the funnest part. Afterwards we went into the chapel and Pres Riggs gave a really good devotional. He started the meeting of by saying that he was going to call on people he felt impressed to call on, for them to come up and share their testimony and thoughts about Jesus Christ. So the meeting went really well and just as Pres Riggs said he wasn't going to call on any one else he sits down and talks with Sister Riggs and then gets up and says that Sister Riggs told him to have me come up. So that was a funny surprise but I am really thankful for the experience. I honestly can't remember much of what I said but I felt really really good and calm and spiritual. So that was a really really great experience that I had. Then after the devotional I was able to see all my friends in the mission. So that was a really fun and great time.

 

Becky and Eleanor started their move on Saturday. Eleanor said that she wanted a smaller place so they found this nice little apartment that is still in the ward. We went over on Saturday night and we just caught up with Becky. She is handling the situation really well and it was a great visit. Its funny because she is so prepared to be baptized that whenever we share a scripture with her from the Book Of Mormon she knows exactly where it is and whats going on during that point in time in the Book Of Mormon. But they are doing really good. We are going to help them move a little bit of furniture on Tuesday and that will pretty much be it. When we came over on Saturday she was drinking a Red Bull energy drink and was asking us if we liked them and we were like Heck YA and she couldn't even finish it lol. Just a funny thing that happened.

 

The other thing that we went to on Saturday was a funeral for this older lady in our ward. She joined the church at the age of 73 and from that point on was able to index over 20,000 names for the church. It was a pretty cool story. Her second marriage was to a member of the church so thats how she was introduced and she was able to be sealed to him just before he past away. But she is the only member in her family so it was a really good funeral because it was at our church and when her hometeacher spoke he spoke a lot about the plan of salvation and it helped them out a lot. The hometeachers were a son and dad almost exactly like Pres B and I were with sister Larson. The son even gave the prayer at the end as well so it reminded me a lot of sister Larson's funeral which in turn made me almost cry, it was very emotional...but its all good.

 

Then we had this really good lesson with the man named Emanuel. Elder Rausch and I tracted into him last transfer and taught him the first lesson. Then we were able to finally teach him L2. Which is the plan of salvation. He really enjoyed it and is very thankful for what we do and says that all young men should serve missions at this point in their lives. But this awesome miracle happened with him. When we were leaving the apartment that day I grabbed a copy of the Family Proclamation to give to him. When we gave it to him he explained how his friend at work who is a member showed this to him on his phone and Emanuel said that he loved it and knew it was straight from god and wanted a copy and we JUST SO happened to bring a copy! It was a pretty cool little miracle. Then we went over to the Richardson one night. They are the awesome family from Cali. They have an 18 year old kid named Keagan who they pretty much adopted who is living with them now. He randomly asked us why there were so many churches off of the Bible. We then were like "a 14 year old boy had that same question" and taught him the restoration. It was a really good lesson because the whole family except a couple were in on the lesson. The rest of the family was watching their cat give birth upstairs. But the lesson went really really well. Sister Richardson is really trying to help him out and she is really excited for him to take this step. Long story short we are going with Josh (their son who is waiting on his mission call) and Keagan to the temple to see the Christmas lights on Wednesday. Then today we were invited to the stake Presidents home with all the other missionaries for a Christmas devotional and lunch. Pres Riggs was there and some other High Priest's. It was really fun and they took some pictures that they will be emailing to you soon! i know youll really like the picure. Its of Press Riggs, Pres and Sister Hilton, and our companionship in front of their Christmas tree. So this week was really great! Transfers are this week so who knows whats going to happen!

 

Love you!!!

Elder Powell

Mission conference with Elder Packer!!

Hey MOM!!

This week was such an improvement from any other week I have had in this area! We were able to meet with most of the people that we are teaching and we were FINALLY able to meet with this one investigator and her daughter are really close to Baptism. The mom is named Becky and she has been taking the lessons for about a year. She would have been Baptized months ago but she is living with a man who she is not married too. So the ward and the missionaries have spent months waiting to see what was going to happen with this situation. When i got to this area the missionaries were meeting with them a lot and doing a lot of service at there place but like as soon as i got here Becky and her daughter Eleanor became sooo busy that we practically havent seen them until this week. Something happened and now Becky and Eleanor are moving out and the best part is they are moving in the ward bounderies. They are moving either this weekend or the next so thats going to be happening with them soon!

 

We were also able to have a lesson with a man named Tim Havrilla who has been investigating the church for a long time. He wanted to read in the book of Revelations hahahha so that what we went over. We were also able to meet with a teenage girl named Jessica. Her mom and her twin Jennifer converted last yeat but Jessica did not. She says that she just doesn't know weather she wants to be baptized or not. But we were able to get her to commit to pray about it and to read from the Book of Mormon. We were able to meet other people as well so it was a good week.

 

Then yesterday we had this awesome mission conference with Elder Packer of the 70 and his wife. They are such awesome people! it was 6 hours long and we all learned a lot. At lunch Sister Riggs pulled me aside and we talked with the Packers about my health. Elder and Sister Packer have a son who has the same disease I do and they said that he had a lot of back pain as well and he was diagnosed with something called Spondolitis or something so they told me to ask the doctors to do this certain test to check for it. So that was fun conversation hahaha. It was pretty amazing that I was led to them and they were inspired about my health and their son has the same disease.  The Packers are just really awesome so it was an awesome day yesterday! Transfers are supposed to be on the 20th but they havent decided weather to make it the 27th (a 7 week transfer) or keep it the same day and have a small meeting. Regardless i hope i get transfered!!.

 

Love YA!!!

 

Elder Powell

Things look really promising!

Hey Mom!

Im Glad to hear you had such a great time on the cruise. Some really good things happened this week but not too many. We had a fun Pday playing some sports at the stake center with some other missionaries. Then on tuesday we had our meetings and I was on an exchange with elder Worthngton from Spanish Fork Utah. He is an awesome kid. That was the most succesful day this week. We were able to have a couple of lessons and then we also had a really good dinner too. On wednesday we had interviews with President, those were way awesome. He such a loving guy. He really takes a lot of time to get to know every missionary personally and you can tell he is really there for you when ever you need him. On Thursday we had one of those hard days where no matter where we went nothing was happening. But in the morning this awesome lady from our ward Sister Richardson took us to a grocery store and bought us a ton of groceries. That was way awesome so we are completely stocked up right now! Friday was a loooooooooooong day. We helped this family move from 2-9. It was fun though. The husband of the family had me packing everything in the truck and i was able to use what i learned from JC penny. Never thought i would but i did hahahaha. We were able to fit everything in nice and tight. It took a long time but it went really well. When it was all over it felt soooo good to go home and sit down. We didnt want to move hahaha. Saturday was a decent day. We had a lesson but were able to contact some people and set up appointments for next week.

Sister Riggs has asked us to go through our area books and contact former investigators and thats what we have been doing. And its been working! We are teaching this 17 year old kid and he is and awesome kid. Were really hopeful his Mom wont be a big factor if he decides to be baptized. Also on Saturday we met with this African American family that is super religious. We talked with the Husband and his 3 sons. They belong to a non denominational church and the husband thinks that the "Mormon" church has a really bad rep and doesn't understand why people don't think were Christians. It was a great lesson. He wants us to come back when his wife is home because he really wants to have a lesson with her there. We are really excited for that! So not too much is going on BUT the things that are look really promising!  

Love YA!

Elder Powell

Just trying to come up with ways to find people...

Hi Mom,

Well this week was about the same. Not that much really happened except we found 2 new investigators. On Thanksgiving day we contacted a former investigator who Elder McAbee taught when he was here last year. Then we also contacted a former investigator that the missionaries met at a 4th of July party. He is a 17 year old kid who does seem pretty interested and has been to the ward before. So that was a good sign we actually have new people to teach. Then on Sunday we stopped by a part member family that recently moved here from Utah. So it was a slow week as far as teaching people goes and then we tried finding new people but got absolutely no where tracting so were just trying to come up with ways to find people.

Thanksgiving was really fun. We went to our WML's house and i seriously ate way to much and then we stopped by a family that just went through the temple for the first time and they gave us even more left overs! Other than that not really that much went on. This is a hard area. But Elder McAbee and I are getting along pretty well. Better than i expected. Sorry i dont have more but ya slow week.
I love you and hope you had a great birthday/thanksgiving.  Have a great cruise next week!!

love you,

Elder Powell

I am thankful for all that I have!!

Mother Dearest,

This week was yet again another week of just trying and not really succeeding but its all good! Our mission president (who rocks) has had the missionaries asking the members a certain question for a while now. the question is "Have you recieved any revelation on how we can help you, your family, friends or neighbors in anyway?" He said that they would of course say no the first time because were catching them off guard but what were doing is stopping by once a week for about 10 minutes and we keep inviting them to seek revelation on what we can do to help anyone. It gets them and their families seeking revelation and its a great way for us to build the trust of members and to be able to have opportunities to serve in different ways. Some missionaries are finding this to be a huge success. Others arent. But we are still doing it!

 

Finally on Monda,y a family we have been working with for a month received it all while we were there. They started off all by saying no but then the mom, dad, and one of the daughters all ended up saying "O wait theres ____" you can go there and see how they are and help them. So it was one of those great moments as a missionary that you see how if you have prepared yourself and seek for an answer to something, you will get that answer. On Tuesday we were able to do some service cutting up trees that had fallen over from the hurricane and we used a certain tool that cuts trees that i will not name ;) But that was fun. On Wednesday we saw some people that were in a hospital that are in our ward. Its for elderly folks and said to say one of the ladies past away but she was converted when she was 71 and everyone said she has one of the coolest conversion stories but was able to do everything she needed in the church while she was alive and she died peacefully so its not that bad of a situation at all. But the ward members do miss her as we all do when someone passes away. Makes me miss sister Larson a little.Thursday i received my infusion and i was pretty tired afterwards and brother Schmidt kept asking if i was ok (hes the one who drove us) and i was like ya ill be fine hahaha. We had tracted into this one man that seemed really interested but unfortunately we were not able to meet with him. He's not answering his door!!! But as we were walking away from his house this Indian family lets off these huge fireworks and we were talking to them and they said that they were celebrating the festival of lights. They had just run out of fireworks as we got there so we didn't ask to celebrate with them because the fun was done hahaha. On friday we finally had a lesson! It was with this 9 year old who was going to be baptized until her dad found out and had her baptized somewhere else. But were starting the lessons again and hopefully he won't mind hahaha. Her parents are divorced and her dad isn't a member so thats why it didnt work out the first time. On saturday we were able to have a really good lesson with these 2 recent converts that arent active. We have been trying for a while to get in and have a lesson and it finally happened. That was really good news. On sunday we had stake conference. Pres  Riggs and Sister Riggs spoke both on receiving revelation and that was kind of the theme so that was a great conference. We had an awesome dinner where we recieved 3 referrals. One we can go work with know and the others are in work. Slowly but surely the work is picking up!!

 

Today we went to DC!!!!!! It was way awesome. This awesome recent convert that Elder McAbee actually baptized last year took us to the Vienna metro and got 4 of us metro cards so we could get into DC easily and picked us up as well. He is way awesome and we were way blessed that he did all that he did for us. We went to the National Museum of American History, The Holocaust Museum, and then went to the Capital building. TONS OF FUN AND WALKING BUT SO MUCH WORTH IT. I love how im serving in this mission where there is all history and national stuff to go and see. The Holocaust Museum definitely made me thankful for all that I have. But just to be able to walk around DC was so much fun. Everything we saw I kept calling it the national version. So we say the National Kinkos and National Starbucks hahahha. Awesome week! We keep trying and trying to find work to do so I cant wait until were super busy!!!!  

Love Elder Powell

Meet Elder McAbee, from Homedale Idaho!

Hey Mom!

This week a good week compared to the rest. On Tuesday we had our meetings and then received transfer calls. Elder Rausch was leaving and Im staying. The other sad news was that our awesome district leader was leaving too. So Wednesday we said goodbye to people but that night we went on splits with the Priests. That was a good night. I went with a kid and his dad and we got in and had a lesson with this man who has been investigating for a LONG time. The lesson went really really well and I was able to learn a lot about him and what he needs. He said that he of course will read and pray and try to make it to church but when the lesson was over and we were discussing it we agreed that he just isn't committed enough to progress right now. Elder  Rausch and the other Priest were able to go and see a kid who cant be baptized because his parents wont let him but they still allow him to be taught. They left him with a commitment to read a speed read Book of Mormon. A speed read Book of Mormon is a normal copy but certain verses are highlighted and at the bottom of each page it will say turn to page what ever so the person reads a lot of really awesome verses but doesnt read the whole thing. So they are able to get the gist of it and understand whats going on if they are struggling with reading the whole entire Book of Mormon. So it was a good night and the Priest said that they really enjoyed themselves. 

Then we had transfers on Thursday. My new companion is Elder Jacob McAbee from Homedale Idaho. He is the Elder that is in the Picture with me in my first week in Culpeper when we dug out that tree. He goes home in the last week of January so I might be his last companion which will mean I will spend a total of 6 months here. We shall see. The funny part is, Elder McAbee served here exactly a year ago. So the ward is very familiar with him. He was the one who baptized a recent convert who is getting ready to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. So its a pretty cool situation. On Friday we finally saw a recent convert family that is in a really weird situation. The mom and one of the daughters was baptized. The mom watches this preaching show and is now really less active and almost anti but thankfully not there yet. The daughter that was baptized is active but her twin was not baptized. So the missionaries and ward have been trying for a long time to work with the twin. But the mom isn't necessarily helping the situation. But we finally got in! They has an uncle visiting and unfortunately we were only able to talk with the active sister and the Uncle. The mom and other sister left. But it was progress and the other funny part is that Elder McAbee was one of the elders that found this family. Friday and Saturday were extremely hard days because absolutely nothing happened. Were trying really hard to find people to teach but tracting is not really working. So were in what feels like Limbo, which is hard. Sunday was pretty slow as well. We were able to meet with some people that Elder McAbee knew before. Sunday night we spoke at fireside about missionary work. We were supposed to talk about preparing for a mission and whats funny is the speakers took all the time so we didn't really have to do anything. O well. So this week was better than some but definitely not the best. 

Love Elder Powell

Trying to keep our spirits high!!

HEY MOM!

 

Yes all the missionaries in the DC South were perfectly fine in the hurricane! Our new awesome amazing apartment was perfect for a time like this. The lights only flickered a couple of times and that was it. On Monday and most of Tuesday we were supposed to stay in so nothing happened then. Elder Rausch and I did a TON of reading hahaha. But we got permission from Pres Riggs to go help someone with there basement but it didn't end up happening so that was almost something to do. Since Wednesday was Halloween we had P-day then instead. So we played sports with everyone at the Centreville stake center and from 6-9 we watched movies. We watched Puss in Boots which was ok. We took a vote on what movies to watch and everyone thought Puss in Boots was going to be funny like the Shrek movies but it wasn't,so it was kinda lame but what ever.

So finally Thursday was a normal day. But from Thursday to Sunday like no one was home. We barley had anything to do. It was a pretty hard week because NOTHING HAPPENED hahaha. But finally on Sunday a lady from the ward brought her Sister to church. She came to Gospel Principles and told the class that she would like to learn more so we have an appointment for this Wednesday. Then we had this awesome departing missionary fireside. A lot of our ward went to it because one of the missionaries going home served in this ward for 9 months. So we met up with a lot of people there. One of our investigators showed up as well. She is 15. Her mom has been taking the lessons since that elder who was here for 9 months was here. Her and her daughter are taking the lessons and its a really hard situation to explain but the daughter will be the first to be baptized if she chooses. So since the daughter was there that was great. She had been to one of these firesides before and after wards she said she really liked this one. So that is probably one of our strongest investigators. We try to service a lot at their house because there is a lot we can do. So we are still in a process of trying to find people to teach. Transfers are this week, so what ever happens, happens, so we shall see what will happen. But we are fore sure ready for a normal week were we can back to WORKING! Sorry there isn't much to report but we are trying to keep our spirits high, but the hurricane has slowed us down a little, but there is still much service to be done!  

 

Love YOU!!!

 

Elder Powell

A hurricane for Halloween

Hi Mom-

This week was pretty interesting.  We had some really good lessons with a lot of people. But the highlights were these: We went to the ward trunk or treat and they said it was a "Chile and Chocolate cook off", I was like OH GREAT! Then before we went there Elder Rausch was joking around and said that we were going to be judges. Well sure enough we got there and yup we were. I just let Elder Rausch do it, it wasn't worth it to me, for obvious reasons. But this lady in the ward made chicken and dumplings just for me so i was able to eat without any worries hahaha, it was awesome! The deal tho was that we took her son who is really autistic trunk or treating. We agreed. Well he dressed up as a missionary so that was pretty fun. He read the first car a scripture and after that I just told him to tell the people to repent and be Baptized, and he totally did. Every single car. One person was like, I have already been baptized. So Randy told them to repent and be baptized for the dead hahaha. It was a very fun night. 

Then the next night we had a really good lesson with a part member family. That went really well. We also went to a ladies house to help her with some yard work, and she asked us to chainsaw some stuff. So sorry but that was before you got that email from President Riggs about no chainsaws, I promise  ;) and it was not Hurricane related. But then the Hurricane hit. A lot of wind and a lot of rain. But we did not lose power. We were really safe and everything is fine with us. But Brother Schmidt told us that it pretty much destroyed Queens and I just got a letter from the Langone's saying that Mr. Langone is in Queens. What bad timing. I hope he is ok. But everything is fine now. There is just a little bit of rain. All is well. As a joke Brother Schmidt got us Frankenberry cereal for Hurricane Sandy because its being called Frankenstorm hahaha. 

I LOVE YOU!

Elder Powell

Things are picking up!!!

Hi Mom,

This week was a pretty good week. Last P-Day we had a BBQ at the Centreville stake center with the whole zone. That was way fun. I brought my LAX stick so Yates and I played catch. We were both in heaven. We both cant find any goals anywhere to go shooting but we finally had a chance to use our sticks. (besides using them in the new appartment with tennis balls annoying our new neighbor hahaha). But that was way fun and we played a lot of diffrent things.

 

Then that night we finally had a 1st lesson and picked up a new investigator!!!!!! Its the african american man named Emanuel. He is pretty dang nice. He wanted us to have the first lesson with just him then the next ones will be with his whole family. He really liked the lesson. He said that he will take it seriously and will pray and he feels this would be really good for his kids. We are so excited. Then on Tuesday was the longest zone conference of my life. It was 7 hours long hahaha. What was cool though was that it was at the Ashburn Stake Center where I fisrt started my mission. So it was really fun to be back in that bulding. We spent a lot of time teaching each other. But it just kept going on and on hahaha.

 

That night we did some more tracting and met some potentials. We have been trying most this week to meet with this family in particular. We tracted into his wife but everytime we come back they are busy but they do actually seem interested. They were one of the only few people that didnt think anything when we said what church we were from. Wednesday went pretty fast. There is this 15 year old that the missionaries have been teaching for a while and said she would like to be baptized on her birthday which is november 25th. So we stopped by her house but barley talked for a little bit outside because she has strep throat that was a very very short visit. Something very funny happened that night, Rausch locked us out hahaha. So we spent the night at the Vint Hill Elders appartment and slept on some.......old missionary abused couches hahaha. The next morning we were helping a family move. That was pretty fun because they didnt rent a big enough truck they thought they had less stuff. So when it started to get full thats when it was funny. Trying to cram all sort of stuff in. But they did it and it worked out. The dad and son took us to lunch and we were all talking about funny mission stories. They were both RM's. The son served in England but not one of the London Missions and the dad served somewhere else. But that was dun.

 

Then later that night we helped out WML with a blessing, that took up a lot of time due to the fact that the lady talked for like 2 hours. But the blessing went well and she had 2 awsome dogs. One was boxer and one was pug. They were funny dogs so i spent a lot of time playing with them. Friday we spent planning and tried some more tracting and had a lot of dropped appointments so that was a long day. I started getting a cold on Wednesday because its the end of the month and we are running low on miles we decided to ride our bikes. Well Elder Rausch's bike had problems one right after the other. So we spent a lot of Saturday fixing all of that and trying to get to diffrent places and it was just a bad day. And on Sunday i was pretty sick so we spent the whole day inside but I am feeling a lot better now. So this week was very up and down but a good week. Im excited for the people we now have to teach so things are picking up!!!

Love Elder Powell

Rolling in Haymarket!!!!!

Hi Mom!

Well this week was better than last hahaha. We picked up some new and taught some really strong lessons. So last moday was allllllllll moving. We didnt get done until 1130 at night. Only one man showed up to help and he was the one with the trailer. But it was perfectley fine. On tuesday we had zone training so we met with the zone and that was awesome. (we are having a BBQ right after we are all done emailing). Then we had a really really good lesson with a man named Tim Havrilla. His wife and step son are members. He has taken the lessons a ton and is just waiting to know 100% wether the church is true or not. He told us is deep concerns so it went really well. On wednesday we did some service. We dont get that oppertunity that much like we did in Culpeper. Im bummed about that. We offer to everyone but most people have hired people already that do all their yardwork. But service was pretty fun. Thursday was way legit. We started off by doing service again and that was fun. We were making a burn pile of all the trees that had fallen over from the wind and burnt it all. Then we changed and went on exchanges. I stayed in our area and was companions with Elder Yates. Rausch went to Warrenton. Man Yates and I had so much fun!!!! He is so awesome. He plays lacrosse for BYU. So we had a lot to talk about.

 

We recieved a media referal that day that we went and contacted. Basically the lady went through a lot, was trying to find a website that would help her and when she was looking up religions mormon.org was the first website. She said it answered all her questions. So she asked for us to show up. Unfortunatley it was a short visit so we left her with a BOM and prayed with her. She is in the hospital right now but we will meet with her as soon as possible. Then we met with this teenager who played lacrosse in high school so that was fun. We all played catch for a little bit. Then we had a crazy dinner. The family has the craziest kids. It was hysterical. Yates doesnt get family dinners that much in his ward so he was so happy the whole time. But Thursday was like the best day of the week. i loved it!

 

Friday was fun we met with this old couple. Their names are Emma and Ray. The missionaries Have been helping them out for along time with diffrent acts of service. They invited us to a cook out for Rays birthday the next day. So we went and thats fun. We didnt get to stay for that long but it was fun to meet their family. Its always fun when you meet the family of people you help and they are just so thankful. It was funny though but we werent the missionaries that did the help, but we were reaping the rewards. On Saturday we burnt some more stuff and visited some diffrent people. Church was good and all on sunday and we were fasting for the mission and saw some diffrent people.

 

This week was definitley better from the last but our teaching pool and people we just serve is not where we would like it to be. So we are trying and trying to meet new people and find new people to teach. But the ward is awesome feeds us a ton so thats just awesome. Well i love the work and am excited to get things rolling in Haymarket!!!!!

Love Elder Powell

Onward and Upward

Hi Mom,
This was one of the hardest weeks so far for me as a missionary and Satan is just trying super hard to get to us. The area we are in is difficult because it is all gated communities and it makes tracting impossible.  The work is slow and we get bored easily, which is not good.  I am trying to stay positive and look for ways to serve.  I have to realize that last week is in the past and this week can be better.  It was great to be able to watch General Conference and hear the messages there.  Talk about uplifting.  I hope you were able to enjoy it in the mountains with your friends.

When I got your news, I felt so bad, I couldnt believe it.  I know what is happening is part of the plan that Heavenly Father has for you.   I have prayed mightily about it and am not worried anymore. Well mom i could not of asked for a stronger woman as a mom. you will definitley be blessed in one way or another sooner or later. I really dont know what else to say but keep the faith. thats all we can do. I love you so much mom keep being my example love ya!

Love
Elder Powell

On to Haymarket!

Hi Mom,

I was transfered to the Haymarket ward in the Centreville stake. Now it is Centerville but they spell it Centreville. Best part. My new comp is like the coolest kid ever!!!!! We were seriously best friends before we even got home fro transfer meetings. His name is elder Jacob Rausch (rowsh) from Kerns Utah. He went to high school with my trainer which is pretty funny. But we literally share like everything in common and are having soooooo much fun. The new ward is really small but most wards out in northern Virginia are. The area is incredibly wealthy. Most of our area is all gated communities. So we are trying to come up with diffrent effective ways to find. So Haymarket has a lot of history in it. In our boundries is the battle of Bull Run. We are in Prince William County and the library we go to is called the Bull Run library. Even the elementry school is called Battlefield elementry. i just think all that is sooo cool hahaha. But i love this area soooooo much!! and my new comp he is sooooo awesome we get a long so well. We were talking with president and he was saying that he really feels food about or companionship and is excited to see what happens. Our district leader is elder Yates. The reason i mention it is because he has a lacrosse scholarship to BYU and we would talk all the time at diffrent meetings and now hes my DL!!!! One of the sisters that was in the MTC with me is in our district so thats going to be fun. She is really nice so meetings are going to be awesome.

 

It was pretty hard saying goodbye to the people in Culpeper. Mrs Kelsey held it together and didnt cry. But i called her on friday to let her know where i went and she is really happy for me. Whats funny is Chris Thug Poet and Sister Craighead both offered to buy me a cheap phone to keep on vibrate to stay in contact with them hahahaha. I do really miss Culpeper but i love my new area and comp is its bittersweet. Just like it will be when i leave any area or when i come home. But it all works out everytime!

 

On saturday we helped out the ward with the day of service that was going on in Northern Virginia. Basically last year the church did a food donation drive because september is hunger awarness month. So the governor of virginia got word because the area seventy wanted to approve it with him. Well he loved it so much that he adopted it as his own and then the govenor of Maryland, West Virginia and the Mayor of DC all made it a state wide thing. So there was A TON of effort being put in by the state and church leaders. Elder Rausch and I stood outside Giant (a grocery store) with other members and would ask them if they wanted to help by buying or donating to the Haymarket food pantry. It went really well but a lot of people blew us off because we were missionaries hahaha. But we exceeded our goal of 250 thanksgiving baskets and had enough food to make almost 400 and had a ton of money and extra stuff donated. So everyone was really happy.

 

The other news is we are getting a diffrent appartment and it is incredibly nice. It is the only one in our area that is available now. Our appartment now has a ton of 2nd hand smoke that comes through the vents and is just a filthy place. So the new place i swear looks like the Boardwalk Hotel out in Florida in downtown disney. it is crazy how nice it is hahaha. But ya we got the news we could get a new place a couple of hours after i unpacked all my stuff lol. But all is well and i love where im at and my new comp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! everthing is awesome. O ya my first sunday in the ward Elder Rausch, our WML and I all spoke on missionary work and the stake president was there hahahaha. But it was all good.

LOVE

Elder Powell

Transfers are this week!!

Hey Mom!

Tuesday after district meetings at the new building in spotsylvania (it looks soo cool) i was on an exchange with Elder Coy Tolle, from Idaho, in Culpeper. That day there was a tornado warning. But it was like a huricane was going on. It was raining really really hard. The wind was blowing extremley fast. We were driving on this little road out in Reva (a little town in the area) and we were stopped behind a truck. There was a tree in the road and city workers were there sawing it in half and moving it out of the way. As soon as they did we started driving. The truck went 3 feet forward and then we herd a loud snap and a huge tree collapsed right in front of the truck. We were like right behind it. So at this point we turned around and booked it out of there. Something hit the roof and made a huge noise and tress were leaning back and forth over the roads. It was pretty scary, but Heavenley Father protects us so we got out of there safely. It was a close one tho. Then on wednesday we helped sister craighead wash the limo and she let us wash our car. We visited with some other people. Then that night we had a really good recent conver lesson with Brother Bridges (who says he knows the Jeffries really well. He grew up in the White Oak ward) and Brother albach and Zharia. She is still being really difficult but brother Bridges is the local school councelor so he handled the situation really really well. On thursday Chris Thug Poet (our gangster investigator) drove us to my infusion. That was fun. He is hysterical. I got my medicine and everything is well! On friday we had the normal fun of weekley plannoing (insert sarcasm) I hate being in the appartment most the day hahaha. Then we did a lot of walking going around trying to find people and talk with diffrent poeple that we have been trying to see for a while. But we had a good lesson with Aaron. We are going to teach him all about temples and marraige next time. He admitted that the whole problem is with him and thats why he wont marry jessica. Then on Saturday we walked a ton again. We are at the end of the month and are close to our limit for our miles so we are trying to drive as least as possible. But there was a ward picnic that we got a ride to by this young couple. They are way awesome and feed us a lot. The picnic was way awesome. There was a ton of food and Elder Tank was running around with the football. But here is a little taste of how things are done in the south. The guy from the ward brought rockets and launch pads and all the kids were setting off rockets. They were chasing them all over the place and the last one came flying down into the woods and you hear a loud bang and the guy that was working it all was like "well  that will be the last one for the day" while people are looking around like what just happened, hysterical. Then we had a fun day at church.  And it ended with an awesome dinner at the 1st councilors house with chicken kabobs! Then we saw some more people. But this week was way fun.

 We unforunatley recieved some really bad news about Walley (sister craigheads husband) he had hip replacement surgery and during physical therapy had a heart attack., He is now at the hospital in UVA down in Charelottesville (about 30 mins away) and will be having a triple bipass surgery tomorrow. So the whole ward is trying to help out there. Sister Craighead came to church last week and was really excited to come again this week so the ward see's this as the perfect time to help out and show their love and support. I hope Walley will be ok. We had an awewsome lesson with Mrs Kelsey and we think she is almost ready to be baptized!! Transfers are this week, so i have no idea if im going to leave or not!

Love ya miss ya!!!!

Love Elder Powell

Yup, thats how its done in Culpeper!

Hey Mom!

 

This week went really fast. We had a ton of dropped appointments. We spent a lot of the week trying to find new investigators. That hasent really gone well lol. We are struggling trying with that. We were supposed to have an appoinment with Melissa and no can find her. We finally met her parents and they told us that she took off to Maryland and may not ever come back to Virginia. But the Palmers and us are constantly calling and texting to see what the situation is. 

The biggest thing that happened was on saturday we went to the Visitors center. That was way awesome. Friday Matt and Jessica actually called to tell us they had to cancel but thankfully they called later that night and said they were able to make it. So we ended up going. They had so much fun. Elder Ravia and I forgot our cameras so the only pictures we have is of them outside the temple. They took it on their phone. They look happy its way awesome. They were telling everyone about it at church. We watched this video on familes and they were crying and Jessica was like "are all these videos going to make me cry?" hahaha. They were shocked when they saw that the Book Of Mormon was in so many languages. They were going around the table and were like "look its in this language and this one and this one" It was pretty funny. Then after the tour of the Visitors Center we walked around the temple. They were taking a ton of pictures. They were excited because when we were there the son set so they were able to get some good pictures of the temple with all the lights on. That was extremley fun. The best part was we drove up there in Matts off road car. The wheels have skulls and bones on it. It was really funny when we rolled up to the Visitors Center and people were like staring because it was this huge loud car coming in and then 2 missionaries hop out hahaha. Yup thats how its done in Culpeper! 

Sunday was also a really good day. The talks were on Agency and one of the speakers was talking about this situation with him and his wife and he sias he had 2 choices to either blow up or try to see it from her side. He chose to see it from her eyes and the whole situation was diffused. It was just a bad case of poor communication that could of been a lot worse. But everyone learned a lot from his talk. Then Elder Ravia and I taught gospel principles. That was fun. The best part was the LA sister Craighead who we have been working with since we first got here came to church! Her husband did not how ever. (hes not a member) All her friends were there and were welcoming her so it was a good day. Were having dinner with her and her husband tonight so its going to be a good follow up with her on church. Well thats it for this week. Mrs Kelsey is doing good and still spoils us with treats and everyone esle is doing good. Just another week in Culpeper!

 

Love ya!

 

HE PUTS THEM IN YOUR PATH!

Hi mom!

This week definitley had more stuff going on than last hahaha. On monday we saw Chris. His uncle got in a huge accident a coulple months ago and is recovering at Chris' place. So while were there i was talking with chris while Ravia was talking with his uncle and it was a good time. We really got to know both of them and it was way awesome. Then on tuesday we had our normal district meetings and we had a lesson with Mrs Kelsey. She had a lot of questions about native americans being in america (the lamanites) and also about polygamy. So that was an interesting lesson hahaha. But as soon as i walked in i was like "mrs kelsey can i have a glass of water?" and she was like "i knew you would ask that so i already have a pitcher of lemonade prepared with cups" She is sooooo awesome we all just love her so much! Wedensday was really fun as well. We got a call from president Riggs saying he would be at our appartmnet at 6. He wanted to come on splits with us so that was way fun. He took the piedmont elders and us to Ihop so that was way legit. Then all our appointments canceled so we visited members with him. There is this question that he wants us to ask a lot of the members in our wards so he drove us around asking diffrent members. Thrusday was fun. Service again at the greenhouse while it was raining so bad! hahaha then later that night we had 2 dinners for like the 4th time in 2 weeks hahaa. The 2nd was with this bf and gf that moved into our appartmnets. They are investigators of piedmonts but we all helped them move in so they had us over for pizza that night. Its funny our ward only feeds us like 3 times a week. but recentley the nights we have dinner afterwards investigators are like have you eaten????? here's dinner if yo want some! as they give us a huge plate. A) i have a islander as a companion so you know he will always eat the food. B) this forces me to because i cant say no and look rude so ya its been really fun with elder ravia hahaha but whos complaining. not me. On Friday we were able to do more service for Mrs Kelsey and she gave me a ibc cream soda and the rest rootbeer and then she gave us all cup holders she got for us at the Outerbaks in North Carolina. She is so awesome!!!! 

Then we stopped by Zharia and told her mutual was at brother pullens on friday so she want and had a lot of fun. We were on our way home from Matt and Jessicas and Brother pullen called and was like "the girls are gone come eat!" So we a couple meatball subs and fruit salad and it was just way legit. Saturday we helped Brother Haught from the piedmont ward and thats always way fun. Hes like 92 and is just hysterical. His son has Crohns disease and he asked if i had it and i was like actually i do hahaha. So he was like "O MY GOSH" and wanted to learn more so i told him my history hahaha. But hes really nice and kind. Later we saw the craigheads. (Wiley and Mary). They are hysterical rednecks so thats always a fun visit.  Sunday was way awesome. So it was stake conference. Well when we were with pres Riggs we visited the palmers who helped us with taking Aarons family shopping. We told pres Riggs and he announced it at Stake Conference because brother palmers little kids Andrew and Brian came with him so he could have a companion and when they herd their names they were like were famous! and all the little kids from primary were like we herd your name! Brother Palmers mom lives in the Stafford ward and was their and wnt up tp president Riggs and was like thats my grandkids. Then sister Riggs mentioned in her talk about my nurse that got baptized and i was like to elder ravia "dude thats my nurse!" Right afterwards we had a lesson with a spanish man that Brother Palmer was going to translate for us. He drove us over there but the man was not home. As we were walking to the car this little girl and her mom walked by us and i just had this feeling to talk to them. So we did. We ended up teaching the first lesson with brother palmer. We are teaching her again at the Palmers tomorrow and the palmers are picking her up for church on sunday. It was crazy how amazing the spirit was in the lesson and everything is just perfect!!!!!!Then we proceeded to have lunch at the craigheads. A steak and a sandwhich lunch and went immediatley to dinner at another families house hahaha. But it was way fun. Then we saw chris again. We talked a lot again and it went really well. Then at 1230 last night he called to talk with me. He says he wants to be a mormon and be baptized but i told him there were some questions he had to asnwer and the serious crime part he admitted to some stuff that i dont know if he'll be able to be baptized. So its a hard situation that i didnt think we'd have to explain to some that they cannot be baptized. But we will contine to work hard. Brother plamer after the lesson was like "this is what happens when you go out and show the lord your willingness to work". And its so true. HE PUTS THEM IN YOUR PATH! Great week!!

 

Love ya!!

Elder Powell

Still loving the south!

Hey Mom!

This week was very tiring. We had a normal fun Pday on monday. Then on tuesday most the day was service. We were helping a couple diffrent people. But it was way fun. Then on Wednesday me and the elder from Norway went on an exchange. We had a lot of diffrent finding opputunities. 

We got 2 new investigators, 5 solid potentials, 1 new on date and we actuall recieved a referal from headquarters. This is the funny story about the referal. It is the mother of a lady who converted 4 years ago and is in our ward. But something happened witht he husband and he got offended or something so that is why she wasnt coming. But now we are teaching her mother so the ward is hoping that really hleps motivate her to come back.

But wednesday was filled with all sorts of fun. On thursday we had a long zone conference out in Fredericksburg. Man President Riggs is so hysterical! But he is making a lot of changes so were trying to adjust. But we love him. Friday we did more work on the greenhouse. Nothing really to report there hahaha. Then we had an appointment with Aaron and that canceled but we were able  to meet with some other people so its all good. Then on sunday Elder Ravia and I confirmed Matt and Jessica. That was way cool. The ward here is starting to really try to help us out. 

Well sorry but their isnt to much to report. Still loving the south!  I love you and hope everyone is good!  Behave!

 

Love Elder Powell

 

3 Baptisms!!!!

Hi Mom,

It was an AWESOME week, Matt, Jessica, and Tiffany were all baptized this weekend!!!!!!! It was crazy. SO much was going on. IT was a very stressful but such an amazing week. Tiffany has always had a fear of water.It took her about 3 minutes to get in the water. Then (her uncle was baptizing her) she and Her Uncle sood in the water for about 10 minutes while her grandma was talking with her and then she felt mor comfortable being baptized forward. So she knelt on her knees and she went forward in the baptismal process. BUT she did it!!! Everyone was so happy for her as were Elder Ravia and I. It was a great day! 

Then on Sunday Tiffany was confirmed by her uncle. Matt and Jessica were at church so they were eligable to be baptized right after church so thats what we did! We were planning on it the whole week so it was depending on if they came to church or not.  During church Jessica didnt want to go to Relief Society by herself but when we went to pick her up her and Matt were like "how did you like your class???" and they both said"I loved it!!' so that was really cool to hear. Then we had the baptism right after church. Elder Ayala and I were asked to perform the baptisms so Elder Ayala came all the way down from fairfax. All the office senior missionaries are in his ward so they couple in charge of the cars (Elder Harris and Sister Harris) drove him and his comp (Elder Yates He plays Lacrosse for BYU so we love talking lacrosse with each other) to the baptism. So it was a awesome event. A ton of the ward stayed for the baptism. Matt and Jessica were so happy and everything worked out so perfectly!!!! 

The rest of this week was pretty fun. We had district meetings at the new Spotsylvania bulding. It is all brick and has huge white columns. It looks like a 1800 buliding its soooo awesome. Then the night of all the interviews was chaos trying to get everything done was stressful but way worth it hahahaha. Then we went to the Craigheads for dinner and they had to get stuff from the store for dinner so Wiley took us in the Limo to the store it was a ton of fun! This week was way awesome!!!

 

Love Elder Powell

Welcome to Culpeper!

Hi Mom!

Great news!!  Im stayng in Culpeper again! My new companion is Elder Ravia. He is from the Island of Fiji. He is about my heigth but way bigger than me. He is really nice and he is way awesome so i am excited for this next transfer. This week was pretty slow but sill a good one. Matt and Jessica have fallen of date again. They had mess up with smoking and didnt come to church this week so they have to be postponed for a little while. But tiffany is still on date. She is going to be baptized this week on saturday. We stopped by Mrs Kelsey's yesterday. She just got back from the beach house out in North Carolina. She was telling us all about it and all the fun she had. Her nickname for Elder Ravia is Tank hahaha. Its definitley fitting.

At the transfer meeting right before the calls president riggs took about 20 minutes talking about change hahaha. Everyone was like "o boy". Then as soon as we got home the ZLs called and told us that our weekley meetings were all changed now.  The way they have it set up now, you only see everyone in your Zone at Zone sports. Everyother week we drive to Spotsylvania and only meet with them and our roomates. Then the other weeks they drive here and meet in culpeper with us. So it saves us a lot of miles. But its is just going to be wierd at first but its for the good.

O ya here is the big story for the week. We got this text from a member on thursday telling us not to use our water at home. He then told us that they were doing construction and broke a water line and that all the water was contaminated. So he took us out to get groceries and bottled water after he got off work. I told elder Ravia this was his welcoming to Culpeper hahaha. So ya other than that it was just a normal week. Wiley Craighead (the man we have been working with) bought a limo so we took some pictures in that and he said that he would drive us to Fredericksburg to pick up other missionaries and bring them back for a cook out so thats gonna be fun.

Tell everyone I said hello and I'm doing great!  I haven't gotten the packages you or President B had sent, but hopefully I will this week.  Sometimes it just takes a while to catch up with us.  Have a great week mom, I  love ya man!

 

Love Elder Powell

My oncology nurse got baptized!!

Hey Mom!

Man this week was way awesome! On monday we had a really fun Pday and drove an hour out to zone sports and had a lot of fun playing basketball and gatorball (a random game that has like random sports included in one). Then on Tuesday we interviews with Pres Riggs. He is so awesome!!!!! He gives really really good advice. So that went really well. Wednesday was pretty average we had a couple lessons but nothing major happened. Then on thursday we taught Matt and Jessica again. That went so well! We taught them most of the commandments and they had no problem with obeying them. They didnt have a couple relapses with the smoking but they are trying really hard to quit by next sunday for their baptism. At the end of the lesson they were like "what do you guys want to eat next time we'll totally feed you" Man we were so excited for that they are so awesome!!!! And they were holding their little son nathan the whole time. He is doing a lot better. He is a premature baby and is only 6 months right now and they are really watching his health really closey. Hes like the cutest little baby i have ever seen. Elder Ayala and I are way jealous of him tho hahaha. A couple of months ago the Redskins Cheerleaders were in town for something and Matt and Jessica got all of them to take individual pictures holding nathan. They have all those pictures in his photo album they were showing us and we were like LUCKY!! hahaha. So then on friday we took "see you later" pictures with Mrs Kelsey. She was really sad because she doesnt want any of us to leave and as we were walking out she was crying hard. SO that was hard at first. But we wont know who is leaving until tomorrow so who knows if ill get to see her soon. She just went out of town for this whole week. So ya that was hard. 

Then on saturday there were 2 baptism. In our ward was an 8 year old Thomas Bridges. Hes a really cool little kid. So we went to that and Matt and Jessica were going to come but they couldnt make it. But Thomas was way excited. We had dinner with them on wednesday and for his birthday someone gave him toy volcano that you put baking soda and vinager in and it errupts. So when we were there he wanted us to set it off so i have a picture of that. THen we taught this former investigator that was about to be baptized but at the baptism backed out because she is afraid of water. But this was 3 years ago. Now she swims, so we put her on date for august 25th. So that was way cool. Then a member drove us all the way out to Mclean to Marshas baptism! (my oncology nurse!!). That was so much fun!!! The chapel their is soooo cool. I had to get special permission from president riggs because it is so far but since i was involved he thought it was cool and let us go.  she was confirmed and i was asked to be in the circle so that was really cool. Then afterwards i got a picture with her and she told me she was thankful for what i did in helping her in this journey to be baptized and that was really cool to hear. So it will be really fun to see her at my next infusion. 

Then on sunday everyone and their mother showed up at church. Matt, Jessica, and Tiffany (all the people on date) so that was way fun. But because it was so packed we were setting up a lot of extra chairs during the sacrament and more people kept coming so that was fun because this ward hasnt had an attendance like that in for ever. Then we had dinner at this really cool families house. Their name is the Palmers. Their kids love the missionaries. At the end of dinner brother palmers was talking about how he had been recenley really sick and said that he was just diagnosed with Colitis and i was like dude i have Crohns! and he was like no way! so we talked for like another about ALLLL our experiences and he was like your like my brother hahahaha. He has Kaiser as well and his GI is a 7 foot tall man who is a Jew and they talk a little about religion he says but his GI calls everyone "Baby" so he says he is really cool. Apparently our bishop has Colitis as well and we were like we should get a Mormon Therapy group going hahaha. But at the end of dinner brother palmer was like im proud of you for serving in your condition. That was pretty strong to hear and i just thanked him and as we walked out him and his boys yelled "missionaries rule!!" hahaha.

One of the coolest things happend. On my 6 month mark exactly, i got this package form uncle steve. As i open it i saw what it was and i dropped the package i stood up and was screaming NO WAY, NO WAY, NO WAY!!!!!  Elder Ayala and our roomates were like what??? and i proceeded to open up and put on a Stanley Cup Final Michael Richards LA Kings Jersey!!!!!! I was sooooo exctied. They were all laughing and i was wearing it like all day in the appartment hahaha. I explained to the elder form Norway what it would be like if his soccer team won the championship and he then understood hahaha. So that was way legit! This week was amazing!

Love ya!

Elder Powell

Don't sneeze while cutting your hair!

Hi Mom!

This week was epic. Nothing reallly bad happened but so the lows were just funny instances. On tuesday was the biggest miracle. On monday we got a call for a referal. On Tuesday (i was on an exchange in the Chancellorsville area) the referal family called and elder Ayala and the other elder went over there. It was amazing what happened. They were taught lesson 1 (the restoration) and loved it and agreed with everything. At the end the Husband (matt) asked what the purpose of life was. So they proceeded to teach lesson 2 (the plan of salvation) and they loved that as well. They are a newly married young couple and his friend who talks with him about the church mentioned the Sealing ordinance and when they talked about it during the first lesson they grabbed each others hands and were looked at each other and said "doesnt that sound amazing honey". Ya it was incredible Elder Ayala said the spirit was so incredibly strong. But anyways they agreed with and said everything made so much sense. So they were Athiest their whole lives they said before that lesson and now they have a huge belief in God. Then we taught them on Friday and they even fed us a LEGIT Italian dinner. But not as good as Mrs Langones hahaha. But it was still way good. Then we taught them lesson 3 (the gospel of jesus christ) and watched "The Lamb of God" with them. Matt said his first prayer he has ever said in whole life and it was such a great prayer and his wife (jessica) was so proud of him. They are so prepared it is rediculous. They told us the day before they met us they decided to quit smoking and havent since. They have a 6 month year old baby named nathan. He was born prematurley and they said that because he already has health restriction they thought it was just best to stop smoking. And they are married. So we put them on date for August 12th after church to be baptized but nathan was sick yesterday and they were not able to come to church so it got pushed back a week but they are so excited and this is just such an awesome situation we are so exctited for them!!!!! 

So other than that just a lot of funny stuff happened. When we wen to help Brother Haught this week at his house we spent 2 hours cutting down a tree and that was fun lol. Then after that we went to lunch at Chick Fil A and just guess what day it was. Yep, it was gay kiss day at chick fil a. So ya,  us 4 sweaty guys walk in and everyone was staring at us and a member was there and she walked up to us and was like are you guys here to kiss? we were like WHAT? she told us the story and we were like O NO!! hahahaha. So thats what you get for not watching the news and it was just a really funny situation. I thought it was really funny but Elder Ayala not so much hahaha. But the food was good lol. 

Also as i was cutting my hair the sizer popped off and i put a big shaved spot in the back of my head so i couldnt help but laugh at that. Luckily my hair grows fast so it isnt as bad as it was earlier in the week hahaha but i took a picture of it cuz i have to admit it is funny. I just tell people "thats what happens when you sneeze and are in the middle of cutting  your hair" hahaha. We helped Mrs Kelsey some more and shes always a blast. She got us all bottled IBC root beer as a special treat after we were done so that was pretty fun. Then We say Wayne Paffinbavger again. He said the freaking funniest thing to Elder Ayala. He asked him if his name was spanish and he said ya and then he asked him if he was a citizen. It was so funny! I started laughing really hard and Elder Ayala was like "ya why?" and Wayne was just like "o well you can never be to sure" hahahaha i was dying after that. But thats what you get when you be teachin them rednecks lol. 

Love ya miss ya!

 

Love Elder Powell

Zharia was baptized!!!

Hi Mom!

This week was so awesome! So at the start we had a normal fun pday. Then we had good district meetings. After the district meetings i went on an exchange with the zone leaders. That was way way fun. They cover the singles branch so their area is our whole zone hahaha. But we went to a lesson right after meetings. It was pretty fun it was this girl and her family that the zone leaders have been trying to set up an appointment but they always fall through. This time they were all there and the lesson went great. So elder White was really happy (the zl that i went on the exchange with). Then we had lunch. Next we went to Mary Washington University to do some street contacting. That was really fun. If you get the chance look up that university its way cool. Old fashion column brick buildings everywhere. While we were talking with the first couple of people and it began to rain. No big deal, so it was fun walking around and talking with people in the rain. We got a lot of potentials so that also made elder white really happy hahaha. After that we went to more lessons at the church and at a girls appartment. We had dinner with the Spotsylvania elders at these definition of rednecks house. It was so much fun!!! They were watching cops and just talking about trucks and tazing people the whole time. It was hysterical! Then as we got up to leave Bert (the dad) was like hold on guys i didnt show you my stage guns yet. So he brings out all these prop guns that appartenly were used on movie sets hahaha. I LOVE THE SOUTH! It was a way fun dinner. They have a really autistic son and the wife has a really autistic brother that lives with them. They both were showing us their rooms and were so excited to see us and it was just a great experience and i had had this like immediate huge ammount of love for them. It was a just a legit dinner.

So tuesday was just a great day.  We did the normal service for Mrs Kelsy and that was way fun. We got our lemonade and cookies again and sat and talked for like 30 minutes. She is so awesome! And she came to church again. Everyone was introducing themselves to her and she knew like everything about where they lived and their neighbors because she has lived her for so long she knows eveyone and eveything about this town hahaha. Major cool thing! The nurse at the oncology clinic that i siad she is reading the book of mormon and has watched conference and everything is on date for baptism for August 11th!!!!! She just walks right up to me when i first got there and was like guess what im being baptized. I and i was like no way!! Man that was soo cool to here and i get to go to the baptism so i sooo happy about that and ill get to talk with her my whole mission when i get my medicine to see how shes doing. I was so happy to hear that. Then we helped a lady from our ward move some stuff to a storage container. 

Best news of all...on saturday Zharia was baptized!!!! The sevice went soooo well and then on Sunday I confirmed her. That was a really really cool experience. Talk about just opening your mouth and he'll put words in your mouth to say. I also spoke in church and we sang with the choir so i like broke a sweat in sacrament  meeting hahaha. So saturday and sunday were so awesome. Unfortunatley Aaron and Jessica cancled this week but its all good theres always next week. That was  the really eventfull stuff that happened this week. It was just another great busy crazy week.  Its crazy, July is already done!!!  Well everything is awesome out here in Culpeper!

 

Love

Elder Powell

 

Gotta love the south!

Hey Mom!

So this week was crazy busy and i loved it!!! The biggest news is Zharia is still on date for this saturday!!!!! Her hearing got pushed back until the 8th of August so she can still be baptized. So her and her grandma came to church with 2 friends. So at church she decided who she wants to give talks and she wants Ayala to baptize and me to confirm. Im a little nervous about that hahaha. Im nervous enough about giving a blessing let alone in front of our whole ward hahaha. O well its not about me its about the fact that she is joining gods kingdom!! So i will have legit baptism pics next week!!!!! (hopefully lol).

Then Aaron and his wife Jessica are seriously contemplating getting married so they can get baptized. We see them again this week on friday in which we already have a member coming with us so at this lesson is when they are going to tell us what they decided. Aaron really reallly wants to get baptized so we pray that they will make the desicion that is best for them. 

Mrs Kelsey is doing awesome. We had a lesson with her and a sister from the ward who is basically our grandma. She feeds us everytime we dont have a meal and loves coming with us to teach Mrs Kelsey. She said that after we left the lesson they sat and talked for another hour and ate brownies and lemonade hahaha. So The fellowshiping in the ward is really picking up and its just way awesome!!! Sister Suche was speaking in church this sunday so she told Mrs Kelsey she needed her there for support and she came!!!! She sat inbetween Elder Ayala and I.

Then the Craigheads fed us huge steaks again. We went over to help them dig up potatoes and they were like are you eating anywhere and we were like no and they were like well your eating here and they fixed us new york strips, fried potatoes and onions and peppers, and a huge pan a baked beans! Every time were over there we joke around and tell them that missionaries aren't supposed to eat that well hahaha. Wiley is not preogressing tho. He loves the church but to put it simply does not believe in Joseph Smith and is really really stubborn so everything is great at the Craigheads until we have the lesson and he just is really stubborn but we love them so well see where that goes.We were all over the place this week but it was way fun. 

A former investigator and one that canceled the appointment we had this week both showed up to church so church was crazy. we were trying to talk to all 6 of them while trying to get the information from Zharia on who she wanted to do what while other people are trying to talk with us. I learned tho that when i'm crazy busy at church i feel like an appreciation for church and my mission. Its wierd, but its the second time i have had a really busy fast sunday and it was just amazing! We had dinner with a family last night that had us celebrate their sons 5th birthday with them and that was way awesome. We had lamb for dinner. It was way good! Elder Ayala was joking and asked how he got the lamb and the dad was like you really want to know and we both looked at each other and were like Heck Ya! So that was an awesome dinner story hahahha. Gotta love the south! I gave the 2 little boys the disney keychains and the son thats about to be a deacon a hat. they loved them! They actually used to live in newport beach so they aknow all about Placentia and love Disneyland and visit all the time. The dumb news of the week is Chris was in the hospital twice this week. Once on like Monday night. We sat in the emergency room all night with him because he called us and said he needed us so we read form the book of mormon and gave him a huge, as you say "come to jesus", and the nurses and doctors did too because he keeps coming in with  pain that is do to his drug and alcohol abuse. then he called us yesterday and he was back in another hospital. So we laid down the law and were like Chris quit being stupid. So that's Chris right now. Other than that it was a crazy fun really fast reallly busy week!!!!!

 

Love ya

Elder Powell