TWO huge miracles!!!

Hey Mom,

 

This week was not the worst but not the best hahaha. The big highlights of the week was our o so fun tracting experiences, elder Cannons hair cutt, a kid named Alex who we tracted into and Kegan. On Tuesday we had a really good yet really long Zone Conference in Ashburn back in my old area. It was a really good conference and what was cool was the things that I had set a goal a week or 2 ago to learn about/ learn to do, the Zone Leaders talked about so we were taught it then practiced it. Pres Riggs had a lot of info for us so it it was a really good meeting. That night we went tracting and it was way funny because it was about 8:45 and I knock on a guys door and he just looks at us as im talking and says "no, thats not even friendly, do you know what time it is? Get out of my house." As we were just standing on his doorstep hahaha. It was pretty funny.

 

Then later in the week were tracting and talked with this teenager named Alex. He said that he was religous but he didn't like going to curch because he saw the corruption and was irritated with the fact that so many people do things at church for self gain. He really like the message of the Restoration because when we were telling him Joesph Smiths experiences and feelings he said "thats how I feel". We set up a return appoinment and really hope to be able to teach him. Its always a really really spiritual experience when you hear people your teaching say "that makes so much sense" or "thats how I feel". Because a) they are listening and b) they are letting the holy ghost confirm in their hearts that what we are saying is true. So that will hopefully be a really cool oppurtunity for us to teach him.

 

One day Elder Cannon needed a haircut so we went to get it cut. Well I kid you not when he walked out I told him he looked like a Nazi (thats not a lie he did) he saw his hair in the mirror and we had to go home and shave it down to a 2 just to even it out. So all the people at church think its for companionship unnity hahahaha but it was a really Really bad hair cut hahaha.

 

2 really cool things happened with Kegan this week. Kegan was debating whether or not to serve a mission. One of the things holding him back as the fact that he has some credit card debt and he is really worried about paying it off. Well he got his tax return this week and it was about 4x as much as last year. Last week we talked with him about tilthing and he wasnt paying as full as he should because there was stuff he said he needed to get. Well we told him it was an act of faith and to pay his full tithing. As soon as he did he got this huge return and was talked with sister Richardson and he is going to pay tithing off of it and then use the rest to pay off his debt. He then said a couple days later that because things were already lining up he wants to serve a mission!!!! 2 huge miracles. Im so excited for him. It was such a testimony builder to hear his experience with tithing. When we saw him that day the first thing he said was that he had been blessed and he went on to tell us what happened. It is soooo crazy to see the change he has made in his life since we began teaching him in December and he was Baptized and now living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Not much more happened this week but we are trying so hard to find people to teach and to serve. The weather is so stupid here. It is currently snowing as it did last monday. What a joke hahaha.

 

Love Elder Powell

 

They were Baptized!! What an Journey it was!!

 

 

Hey mom!

 

Becky and Eleanor did it!!!! They were Baptized!! What an Journey it was. The Baptism was way spiritual. So many people were in attendance. Literally almost half the ward. Then she had her past missionaries there as well. Elder Cannon and I gave the Talks. I spoke on Baptism and he Spoke on the Gift of the Holy Gohst. It was only appropriate that I spoke on baptsim because Becky refers to me as her used car salesman because of how persistent I was in constatly asking her to be Baptized hahaha. You know how I am when I want something. After wards we had a really great time talking in the Cultural hall with some Recent converts and with a lady whos husband is not a memeber.

 

Now that Becky and Eleanor were Baptized we are back down to really no one we are working with. We have been trying and trying to find new people but nothing is really happening. But we got in contact with the other missionaries that go to our building (they arent in our district) and we have some service oppurtunities set up. There is a man in their ward who is helping build houses for a non profit organization and we are going to help him with that. So we FINALLY have some service to do. Its not going to be like good old Culpeper though.

 

Earlier in the week we had a good lesson with a woman named Adrian and her kids. They met us at starbucks because no one was available to come with us to teach her. She is Catholic and really knows her religion. We were talking with them and the kids would ask if we parcticed Lent and Confirmation and stuff like that. But we know she totally felt the Spirit during the lesson. When we were sharing the First Vision and talking about the Restoration she was really quiet and starring at us. She really liked the fact when we told her that all we do as Missionaries when we teach people is INVITE them so read ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon. So she really likes the non preassure part of the lessons. We weren't really able to see anyone else this week. Rod did show up to church again. We stopped by and invited him to the Baptism. He said that he would try and make it but didnt end up being there. He said that his wife didnt come home in time and for being a new investigator we understand how he would be really uncomfortanle if he showed up with out his wife. He is who we will be working with next. He is the closest to Baptism. We hope to have a lesson or 2 with him this week and its all going to be about Jesus Christ. We are going to watch the videos Finding Faith in Christ, The Lamb of God, and A Special Witness of Christ. We hope that with those videos and with the reading that we leave him to do that he will be able to build a nice foundation/ testimony about Jesus Christ.  It was a slow week but also a really good one. This next week should be really good. We have Zone Conference on Tuesday and Zone Training on Wednesday. Im excited to see Pres Riggs.  

 

 

Love Elder Powell

This is who I am now, deal with it!

Hey Mom!

 

This week was not as productive as last week but thats ok. The main reason is beacuse it freaking snowed a ton on Wednesday. That was our biggest day of the week aside from sunday and everything was cancled because of the snow. We went around and tried to help people shovel their dirveways but they all said no. Keep in mind these were all people who were struggling to do it and we could tell needed help. Thats the one thing about out here. No one excepts any service. Unless they ask you they hardly ever accept any help.  We were walking by this one guy who dropped his groceries on the ground right in front of us and we were like "Can we help you pick that up?" and he was like "No no no im good". So Basically we aren't even going to ask anymore we are just going to start serving right off the bat hahaha.

 

Becky and Eleanor are still doing great. They are going through a lot but they are still on date. Funny story. Eleanor is 16 and is dating this Senior who is 17 and after we taught her the Law of Chastity she took the pamphlet (we have pamphlets that we use when we teach for most of the lessons) and gave it to her boyfriend and made him read it. Well he only got to the first page and after reading that he threw it in the back of his car, pretty funny. Well that made her mad so she asked us for another one and took it to her boyfriend and made him read it hahaha. She told him "this is who I am now" and basically told him to deal with it. It was really funny when she told us the story. We finished teaching them yesterday. So they are all ready for their interviews which will be on Tuesday.

 

On Saturday we had a lesson with this man named Emmanuel. Elder Rausch and I found him and began teaching him back in October. Well he has been so busy that we have only had 6 lesson with him. But he has not been keeping his commitments and hasen't been to church yet. The member that was with us at the lesson served his mission in Brazil and was taliking with us about his mission when they had people that weren't progressing and they had to let them know that they weren't going to be coming around until they started keeping their commitments. The lesson went ok but Emmanuel has no problem with being Baptized but is not keeping any commitments so he isn't progressing. Well the member talked us through what they did in his mission so we are going to prayefuly consider what do with Emmanuel. The hard part is we don't have that many people that we are teaching so if we drop him were down to Becky and Eleanor and oh ya they are being baptized in 5 days. Training isn't going nearly as bad as i thought it would go. I always saw training as something that would be a burden hahaha. But Elder Cannon is a great kid so its all good. We just keep tracting and trying to find some new people but are too succesful. Oh ya and transfers were this week. Im staying AGAIN in Haymarket to finish training elder Cannon.....another 6 weeks.  Love you mom...so happy for you!

 

love you

Elder Powell

 

 

"This all makes sense"

Hey mom!

 

This week was soooo legit! The reason is because Becky has been through so much and she is still on date for Baptism. I kid you not she is literally having a Job from the old testemant experince. Every day it is something. But she is staying strong and also Eleanor is helping her. Eleanor is so excited to be baptized. Its really cool to be able to see the changes they have made.

 

We found 2 new investigators as well this week. On was a part member family that just moved into the ward and the Husband is not a member but wants to be Baptized. He doesn't have a solid knowledge though of Jesus Christ. So we are trying to build a good foundation for him and to help him realize who Jesus Christ really is and what he has done for him. His name is Rod. He does boxing and MMA and loves being active. When we had dinner we had a really good conversation. Then we had a lesson with a lady that we tracted into 4 weeks ago. She sat on her door step and we taught he the restoration. She said something that I love to hear investigators say. "This all makes sense". We had a couple of lessons with Becky. Eleanor has been really busy with school and she is doing Young Woman projects with a girl from the ward. But the lessons we had were with the Schmidts and a recent convert who is her neighbor. She absolutly loves the Schmidts. She really does think that they are perfect. The lesson was really good because she wanted to discuss Testimonies and what they are, if you can have more than one, and stuff like that. She says that her favorite day is Fast and Testimony meeting.

 

On Thursday we had a meeting with all the trainers and the Trainees. its called Return and Report. During it we split into 2 seperate rooms and all the Trainers went into one and the Trainees stayed in their room. It was way funny to hear what the Sister said their comps were struggling with, and the Elders didnt really have much to say. That was a pretty fun meeting. Pres Riggs is such an awesome guy! Then on Friday we had a Zone Training with him.  2 Elders from the Missionary department came and talked a lot with him and toured the mission so he had some stuff he wanted to Train us on. One of the things he also talked about is the mission split. Yes the new Chesepeke mission effects us. The new mission is taking 4 of the Richmond missions stakes, and 2 of the North Carolina stakes. So Richmond is taking the Frederiksburg and Woodbridge stake. Meaning Culpeper is gone. There has not been an announcement if they are taking missionaries or not but lets be real. They aren't going to white wash 2 zones. So it is a realy stressful time for Pres Riggs. He has to create areas and fill all the new missionaries coming in and then do something with the mission split. He told us that transfers are really hard to do right now because he doesn't know if the people he puts in certain areas are going to be one of his missionaries anymore or not. I dont think I will go just beacuse all my doctors are in burke and that would be way inconvienient to get all new doctors and stuff out in Richmond. But thats all we know.

 

The quorm of the Twelve just changed the rule on emailing and we can now email friends back home and recent converts from our last area. So that was pretty cool! Transfers are this week so we will see what happens. I think im staying but then again I dont know what the Heavenly Father has in store for me! So yesterday we got a private tour of the Supreme Court!! We thought it was the capitol but it turned out to be the Supreme Court. It was way legit!!!! Some parts we could take pictures and some we couldnt. But the cool part was we were able to be in the office of Justice Thomas and he has this cool custom made coat rack that says "hang your Egos here". The reason we got the tour is beacuse our DL's sister is friends with one of the Clerks for Justice Thomas. So that was way fun. Interesting fact. There is a basketball court above the Supreme Courtroom. We got to take pictures up there. So ya it was way fun.

 

Love Elder Powell