How did you know?

Hey Mom!

Its way fun to hear and see how the family is doing thank you so much for the pictures and stories. Transfers were this past thursday and me and Elder Perry are staying together for this next transfer in Culpeper! This next transfer is only a 5 week transfer and at the end is when the new Mission President comes in. So the transfer following is going to be a 7 week transfer and everyone is praying they get someone they will get along with for the 7 week transfer. We were so excited when we found out we werent going anywhere! 

On Friday we put an Eternal Investigator on date. Her name is Donna Sippert. Her and her Husband are so cool. He is a member and the missionaries have been working with her for almost 2 years. She is the lady that went to all the diffrent crazy churches. I have a correction to make. The snake church was in West Virginia (Go Figure) and the one in Florida was this Crazy Church that has people jump off buildings and if your "true believer" you wont be hurt. The South is ridiculous. 

Then Sunday morning we had an amazing lesson. We tracted into this man named Carlos. He only speaks spanish. We set up a time to stop by with someone who speaks spanish. So sunday morning we stopped by and he wasnt home but his cousin Ramiro was. The lesson went to well and he had seen the Libro De Mormon laying around and read some and says he would love to be baptized!!! The work has been going so incredibly well. 5 on date in our area with like 10 progressing investigators. Also our roomates put someone on date and were all just loving Culpeper so much! 

 A crazy wierd miracle happend on Sunday. So saturday was Priesthood training out in Fredericksburg so Brother Hansen (our ward mission leader) drove us and Bishop Henry all out there. It was a good car ride and we were able to give him all the updates on the area because we were not going to be in ward council tomorrow because we had lessons during it. The meeting went really well and our roomates were able to gives us a ride home because if we would have stayed for the second have (not manditory for missionaries) we wouldnt of gat home until 10 ish. So we were able to get home in time to have dinner at a members home. They are the Jeffries. There way cool and she made these really good burgers. But they live by this less active family and we have been trying to get in touch with. So on the way home we stopped by there house. Cars were there and lights were on. But still no answer. So we left a Mormon.org card and wrote that church was at 1 and we would love to see them there. Then on sunday the wife shows up. We went up and introduced ourselves and the first thing she says is "How did you know?" and we were like "Know what?" She then tells us how on a side of her family that arent members a tragedy had happened. A Man had fallen down the stairs(I cant remember if its a grandpa or father) and a 10 year old found the man. When she got word of this story she didnt know what to do and found our card on her door which JUST SO HAPENED to say "What happens to me after I die?" And she knew what she wanted to do. She is gonna call us and have us come over and explain to that part of the family what happens after we die. Thats what she ment by how did we know? Crazy right???? So ill keep you informed about what happens with that situation. But everything is going so well and were just way excited we get another transfer together to keep up the work out here!

 O Ya how could i forget. The humidity has officially arrived hahha. We did 4 hours of service yesterday. 2 at the Dutchman Henry Shepman's finishing pulling down the plastic of the greenhouse and next week if it isnt windy were gonna put the plastic on, which will be and interesting experience. We have to get up on the gutters of the roof and walk it across. Then we helped Mrs Kelci some more. that was fun. Shes like the coolest old lady ever and hopefully shell be on date for baptism soon! But that day we all came home and we were wiped out! I havent sweat that much in for ever hahha but its just barley the start of a very Humid summer :)

Love

Elder Powell

Man O Man, the Lord has Blessed me!

Hi Mom!!!

Man O Man, the Lord has Blessed me and Elder Perry so much this week! We picked up 3 new investigators, put 2 on date and have a teaching pool of about 11 people. Me and Elder Perry were so busy this week and we loved it so much. Every night we came home and thank Heavenly Father for the people he has put in our path. Elder Perry invited our last investigator who is on date. And afterwards he ws talking to me (because he was so excited about what he was able to do) and shared with me how he was really bitter and never liked inviting people to baptism on the first lesson, but after i had done it a lot , he did it this lesson and loved the feeling afterwards and we continued to say how were both lucky we compliment each other so well in lessons! 

So last Monday was a bummer the 14 year old Zaria is degressing and were trying really hard with her to help see the imortance of baptism now instead of waitng till she's older. Then Tuesday, man Tuesday was EPIC! We taught miss Kelsi with her 3 huge football player grandson (i admit that was a little intimidating because we were gonna invite her to be baptized but then they were there so we just taught her on it) The grandsons really liked what they heard from us and really like us. We spoke specifically on 2 NE: 31 and the example Jesus set for us. Afterwards when we got mad at ourselves for not inviting her, we remembered we were gonna be back on Thursday to help her with her yard and Elder Perry was gonna be on an exchange and I was gonna be with the one of the Zone Leaders, so i said i was inviting her then... no questions asked. Then later that night we had a lesson with a man who speaks only Spanish. Luckily there is a returned missionary of only  a year and he still is fluent in spanish and translated the lesson and we invited Hector to be baptized and he accepted and that was such a great lesson. 

Then on Wednesday. O man!!  So at district meetings on Tuesday the zone agreed to do a 24 hour fast to keep the people we put on date (23 in the last 2 weeks) to stay on date. So we started the fast and had service that day at Henry's who is the old Dutchman where we got our poison ivy. We were tearing all the plastic down off the greenhouse and it was nice and humid and hot! Perfect for a fast right? I cant remember the last time i sweat that much. And to protect ourselves from the Ivy we were all wearing long sleeves. But we survived! We also found a snapping turtle in the greenhouse so we all took pictures with it hahaha. Later that night we met with Wayne Poffinbarger. The definition of a redneck. But it was a great lesson. We taught him at his home (it is in a trailer park that we tracted 2 weeks ago and found a lot of potentials). He had no shirt on was smoking the whole time and burping and it was just way fun. We invited him also to church and baptism and he said he'd pray about baptism. Then the exchange on Thursday with Elder Church. We went to Country Cookin (a buffet) at 7 to break our fast and holy cow i haven't eaten that much in a long time! Elder Perry and I said they needed a wheel barrow to get us out of the there. But we made the exchange and went tracting (found a lot of potential Spanish families) and golden investigator named Linda. We taught her the restoration on her doorstep and left her with a book of mormon, invited her to church and then we plan on meeting with her this week. Shes way nice and doesnt like how churches get real technical on what a verse is saying and is looking for a church so it was perfect. Then we helped Mrs Kelsi with her yard and we invited her to be baptized and she said she would pray about it and told us she loved how we ask her and don't tell her to do stuff. Then we went with our ward mission leader on an exchange to the Paiges. there a part member family and we found out his big "wall" wiht the church. he feels if he were to join it would be like taking his knowledge of Jesus Christ away and having to start over. We told hi that wasnt the case and he came to chruch!! Then on  the drive home (*this is the funniest thing ever) Our ward mission leader ran over a racoon. I was trying so hard not to laugh because the dumb thing hopped right in front of us. Brother Hansen was freaking our because he felt so bad and the thing wasn't dead yet and he didnt know what to do. He asked me and i couldnt even look at him or else i was gonna laugh. So Elder Church was like i think you have to run it over again and he did and the whole time he was like "O my gosh o my gosh". When we got back and into our car i started laughing and Elder Church was laughing and i just thought it was hilarious because poor brother Hansen was panicing so much. Friday was average, then saturday we had that awesome lesson with this lady named Heather and her family. She accepted baptism and her husband probaly will too soon. Then on Sunday it was a great sacrament meeting and all. But this week was amazing and were hoping we don't get transfered this week because we get along so well and the work is picking up!

Love ya,

Elder Powell

20 people on date!!

Hi Mom!
This week was way fun. At district meetings we went over baptismal invites. We are being encouraged to invite everyone and set specific dates. The mission hasn't been doing as well with the inviting so President is getting us encouraged. So we came up with diffrent plans at district meetings and we all just pretty much went out and we were just ready to invite.

Here's the miracle. In 4 days our zone put 20 people on date! The next step is keeping them on date. Elder Perry and I put a 14 year old named Zaria on date. Her grandma is a member but less active, so were trying to work a lot with them. Next me and Elder Perry feel that Chris and Mrs. Kelsi would the most ready and willling to except the invite. So thats gonna go down this week. When we went over to Mrs. Kelsi to help her with her house again she had us lay down Mulch and take out some trees. Mulch is huge over in the east coast. Like everyone uses it for all there landscaping. When we were done she said the funniest thing we were all talkkng about the poison ivy and she showed us where it was at ther house so we stayed away from that. But she was like "I bought you guys this special soap to use but you guys are all  on the medicine and i dont want to mess with that. I dont know what id do without you men so i dont want to risk it." It was so funny. One of theose you have to be there kind of things, She is one of the nicest ladies ever and she makes us like the freshest lemonade every week its way tight! Then we came back and taught her. We read with her Lehis vision of the tree of life and told us she is waiting for a man in a white robe to give her answers as well but she said it jokingly. She really like the story so that went great. And she understood a lot of it.


Then i was on an Exchange with Elder Cluff. Hes from South Jordan Utah and his High School came out to California and played El Dorado in a baseball tournament at Cal State Fullerton and later played a game at El Dorado. (he was on the baseball team) Small world huh? Then we taught another less active part member family. There an older couple and there names are the Craigheads, wally is the non member. Wally has been taking the lessons for like 4 years. They just really like the missionaries, and he said he knows our church is true and likes it when he goes, but doesnt feel organized church is impoortant. We had a "fun" conversation with him about baptism. He didnt want to be "serious" and didnt like it when i started to "serious" hahaha but they made us the best rib eye steak I have ever had so we left stuffed and he was happy because we complimented his cooking. We have making a lot of visits to a lot of less actives and thats going well there all pretty nice. So was pretty much our week. Then there was mothers day. Well mom you know how that was :) It was so great to talk to you.


Everything is awesome out here and i love it!


Love
Elder Powell

A visit from Elder Bednar

Hi Mom!

Man what a week it has been. The poison ivy has effected us all. All 4 of us in the appartment got put on prednisone for the week to stop the ivy from spreading. Were all doing a lot beter now, but to put it simlpy it was casuing a lot of problems this week. The few days that i was able to go out on exchanges with who ever else was able to work, we were able to work for a little bit. Elder Perry and Elder Hubbard were inside for most the week and Elder Eaton was able to go out a couple of times. I had the least ivy compared to everyone else so i was the only one that could go a whole day BUT i had to do like shifts with the diffrent elders as they got better each day. So work wise this week was slow. But we were able to get done what we really needed to so it worked out great.

Now when i say this area has a lot of potential i mean it has a lot of work to get done to get this ward back to what it should be. So heres the whole scandal that went down in this ward about 40 years ago. (uncle steve will love this). The mission president that was here 40 years ago stressed the importance of baptism like you wouldnt believe. It go to the point where if a mom of a family was baptized the missionaries would put down the whole family was. Therefore 70% of the ward is in active due to the fact that they dont even know their members!! The ward cant split into a new stake because of the huge mess of membership records. The man that told us all of this was the old High Priest group leader. So the work that me and Elder Perry have to do is basically tracting down like 150+ members seeing who's actuallly baptized and who is just a reported number. Theres a lot more to that story but that can wait so thats a taste of what drama we are dealing with the aftermath of. 

The coolest thing that happened though was the tri mission conference with Elder Bednar, Elder Snow of the 70 presidency who is now the church historian. A member of the Presiding Bishopbric of the Church, and our area 70. Holy cow! Elder Bednar said we were not allowed to take notes on what he said, but rather take notes on what the spirit was promting us to do. He asked us questions for the first hour and a half, then the second hour and a half we got to ask him questions. The other men also answered the questions  so that was awesome. And becasue i was the least afflicted with the ivy i was the one that made the drive to the DC Temple. So that was interesting. We were up at 430 and out the door at 530 because were the farthest missionaries form the temple. But it was tons of fun and the Beltway freeway has this awesome turn where you come over the top and see the DC temple in the background. Its way cool. So what i felt most impressed to do from all of what those 4 men taught us was to study the Atonement more and to put into perspective how much i really rely on the savior for his help and for what he has not only done for me but for everyone. It was an amazing conference.

Church here is humid and hot! Mom, you would be dying.  The AC is set to not work on Sundays. Go figure- so their trying to figure that out, hahaha. Well now that were all doing better from the ivy were excited to back to work!

I can't wait to talk to you on Mothers Day.  I love you!

Elder Powell