One crazy little Texan!!

Hey mom!

This week was pretty good. We had interviews with President on Tuesday, received a call saying we are starting online proselyting (Facebook, email, mormon.org, and skype) and in December will be receiving Ipads (each missionary will has their own personal one and yes President is worried about that hahaha) and Iphones, and lastly had some awesome lessons and found some new investigators!

Interviews were great. President radiates love. He cares about each missionary individually and you know its genuine. We had to spend the whole day at the Stake Center because we also did some interviews with the rest of the zone while their companions were in with President. But the funny thing is that one of the sisters in our Zone is Sister Eddy. Her Mom is best friends with Aunt Michelle. Small world huh? They use to live in Norco.

We had a conference call with all the leadership of the mission and that is when they told us about online proselyting and it is some huge news. We then had a meeting on Friday when they trained us on it all. Its all purely proselyting so I made a new account and will only be focusing on people out here so do NOT add me!!!!!!!!! The ward is really excited for it and it is going to be a huge tool in the Hastening of the work!

We had an awesome dinner with a member on Sunday. They had one of their friends over and we had a great lesson. The lady moved here when she was 13 from Honduras when she was 13 and knew no English. She had to start off all on her own and right now feels that she needs God in her life and feels that he is directing her right now. She is YSA age though so we will be handing her off. Oh well it was a great experience to have hahaha. We had another great lesson with Victoria. She is on date for November 9th. She has gone through a lot to be able to be Baptized and the whole ward is so excited for her. That is going to be awesome. We tracted into one man a couple of weeks ago who is a football coach for a High School and we had a lesson with him and his wife and he is really interested in learning more about the church, He is especially interested in the Book of Mormon and the fact that it took place over here in the Ancient Americas.

I also went on an exchange with the crazy little Texan and have a picture attached of him. He is so funny.
I don't have much time sorry but I love you!!!!

 Elder Powell

Alexis was baptized!!!

Hey Mom!

Alexis was Baptized!!!! It was awesome. But it was the typical Latin American Baptism (her family is from Guatemala).  What I mean by that is it started 25 minutes late, her whole family was hugging each other and
celebrating the whole time. It was so funny. Everything went really well and she was confirmed yesterday. While we were waiting at church for Sacrament to start, the Grandma came up to us and was wanting us to come over for family home evening tonight but couldn't say it all in english so I said "Family Casa Evening?" as a joke and she started laughing and said that what she was talking about. It's always really cool when you see how one persons decision to change affected their family and that is what we are seeing with Alexis' family! It will be awesome to continue to be able to work with them.

On Wednesday we were on exchanges with the AP's. I wen into their area and worked with Elder Cluff.  He was in my District at the beginning of my mission. It was fun to work with him again. They cover George Mason University which is in my old are Wakefield. We did some street contacting there. We also had to deliver a car to some missionaries so we had to drive separately. That was awesome!

We had a couple of meetings this week and all went well. We were able to meet with this one less active man named Brother Rodriguez. He is really nice. One of the pictures I am sending is with his dog. It was a little yorkie that just laid right next to me and let me rub her belly the whole time. It reminded me of Trixie.

We had a lot of people at church on Sunday. We have a couple of people we are working with and 2 of them are progressing and will definitely be Baptized. One of them however is living with her boyfriend and his family. So we are teaching the law of Chastity tonight and really need to address that concern because that is holding her back from being baptized. She says she is ready and is on date for November 16th and wants it to be closer but obviously there needs to be a change made.

The 18 year old little Texan continues to be immature but it is funny. He pulled a good prank on us this week. He put flower on the Ceiling fan in the dining room and as we were all eating breakfast one morning he turned the fan on and flour went everywhere and got all over us. It was pretty funny not gonna lie but annoying at the same time. So that's what I'm living with hahaha.

Everything is going really well and we are loving the work!

Love

Elder Powell

Ipho for you!

Hey Mom,

This week was really good. But it was raining all week! It was insane and really annoying. We had a lesson
with all of the 3 people that we have on date for Baptism. The first one was a 9 year old girl named Alexis. She is getting Baptized this weekend. She has been taking the lessons for about a month or 2. She has been coming to church with her mom who is a member and has been doing her reading and praying. So that is really good. We then had a lesson with Nicole. Her Boyfriend is a less active member. She has been taking the lessons for like a month. We out her on date for the 16th of November last week but this week she said she wants it moved up hahaha. She has been doing her reading and praying and is really prepared. The problem is though her and her boyfriend go home after sacrament meeting every week. They never stay for all 3 hours! That is one thing we are really trying to focus on with her. We also had a lesson with another girl that is on date for November 9th. Her name is Victoria. She has been taking the lessons for about a year. Her mom is a strong Buddhist and would not giver her permission but told her she had to wait till she was 18. Well then last week she just told she could be baptized when ever she wanted, so she is all good for November 9th.

We had a really long missionary meeting on Thursday that was all about new things that President Riggs wanted to implement. But part of the discussion was Halloween. Every year they do the same thing. We get to watch approved G or PG movies. So this year we are watching Monsters University and Despicable Me 2. That should be fun. We are going to get together as a Zone that night and do a Pot-Luck as well so that is going to be fun. The little Texan roommate we have is a crazy little ball of energy. He loves to pull pranks, cook, and go to thrift stores. We went yesterday and we found 5 of these brand new Varsity Tennis team jackets. They are so funny because on the Back are these random names. They are Dooley, Lu, Peck, Levitt, and Coleman. We thought it was way funny so we bought them (only $3.95) and took pictures so that is one of the ones that I am sending this week. The other picture is a of a shirt that a man gave me. We were trying to get in touch with this new family that moved into the ward and one of their neighbors were outside and we went over to talk with him. He is from Vietnam and I was joking with him and asked if he wanted to make us some Pho which is a noodle/ meat soup they eat all the time in Vietnam. They have a million Pho restaurants here and we love to go get it. Anyways he told us to wait right there and he went into his house and came out with a shirt that says "Ipho" its designed like an Iphone. It was way funny so that is the other picture. Other than that not too much happened this week. We are really trying to find new people to teach because we don't want to start from scratch when the others are baptized. But we should be finding on a weekly basis anyways. Its nice weather this week so that is awesome. Not much else to report on!

Love you!!!!!
Elder Powell

I got transferred!!

Hey Mom (EXCLAMATION POINT)

Conference was great!!! This week was great! But I was transferred. It is very bittersweet. I am in the same
zone as my first area. I am in the Tall Cedars ward. I am serving as a Zone Leader. My companions name is Elder Frazier. He is from St. George Utah. He is really tall. But he is a great guy. We live in a 3 story town house. Its owned by members but they are on military leave so the church is renting it. It is HUGE and so nice. We have 3 roommates. One is from Nagadocious Texas. He is hysterical! He is seriously the cowboy, Missionary, version of Jeff Kay. We all have a lot of fun.

The work is great in the area. We were able to put 2 new people on date. We are working with one Lady who is dating a member and is taking the lessons and we put her on date for November 16th. She is reading a lot and has solid good questions. She comes to church every week. We are also working with a teenage girl who's older brother converted a couple of years ago. Her name is Victoria. Her parents would not let her be Baptized until she was 18 but we were having dinner with her and her family and her mom out of nowhere, earlier that day, gave her the permission. She is on date for November 9th. She is a total missionary and we are teaching her friend Hannah and they are both working towards being Baptized on the same day. We had a great first lesson with this man named Nick yesterday. He is either part of the Navy Seals or works with them but he was introduced through some of the Seals that are Mormons. He told us a lot of Navy Seals are Mormon, and it makes sense. He is really prepared. He is Greek Orthodox and says that he has seen a lot of hypocrisy and wants to know the truth. We are really excited for that. The ward is amazing. They love the missionaries and Pres Riggs said that they are one of the most missionary minded wards in the Mission. There is a lot going on and I'm am super excited to be in this ward and for all the work that we have to do!!!

 Love ya!!!
 Elder Powell