hastening of the work D&c 88:73
Alma 13 24
revelations 11

Hellooo, people of the outside world. It has been another good week here in Boerne. We've had a high of 79 and a low of 43 in the evenings this week. Quite foggy and overcast, but the people are still on fire. :D This week we finally moved into our new apartment :D Well the only thing there is new furniture.... but It is super nice to have a clean apartment. We finish moving all of our stuff today.
Ok and I'm kind of jealous of Kameron's story. That is awesome! I've only heard gun shots so far. Kam, you got me beat. :P Ahh I love general authorities though. :) 

NO big news this week as far as investigators go. Oh wait! We were teaching this lesson in spanish to an investigator, and to be honest I really didn't understand alot of what was being said, but I had this super strong impression to have him pray. It was one of those impressions where your heart starts pounding and then the thought cycles through your head over and over and over. Yeah it was like that. So in my broken spanish I asked him to pray. He kind of looked at me blankly. We knelt down and he knelt down like a five year old would prayer which was super humbling to see because we could tell he had respect for his heavenly father. He said it quietly so we didn't hear it. But when he finished he stood up. Said when are you going to come teach me more and I want to keep being guided by the spirit. 
It was awesome. But this is the best part. When we walked out of the lesson my companion was way more excited than me and I asked him why. Well apparently Oscar, our investigator, was saying that he was super confused and that he was about to drop us and that's when I asked him to pray :D Woo power of the Spirit or what. God is pretty all knowing. 
Anyway this week i just got push myself a little harder. If you think about it, if you push yourself a little harder every day, you're only becoming more perfect. 

This week we did have a really good zone conference. Our mission president talked about the hastening of the work and he told us this story. A few days before the conference when they announced the age change all the general authorities met together. And President Eyring was speaking to all the leaders of the church. He was talking about missionary work and then he read this scripture in D&C section 88:73 "Behold I will hasten my work in its time" then President Eyring looked up and said, "Brethren, it's time." 
It was so cool :) We know what that means now because of the announcement.
Then our president related it to farming and when do we usually hasten the work....?  During Harvest time. Well it's harvest time :)
 There is a scripture in alma 13:34 that talks about angels softening the hearts of men and that is what is happening now. The lord wouldn't call more missionaries if there weren't more people ready. The hearts of the people are soft. 
In revelations 12: 9-11 It talks about the war in heaven. And in verse 11 it says the only thing that it came down to was the blood of the lamb or the atonement and our testimonies of him. When it comes down to it, that's all that really matters in this life. To overcome satan we need to have a firm testimony of our savior and the Atonement. When we have that we can teach with power and purpose which will change touch the hearts of those that are ready.

Yeah so that is all pretty cool. Then I was thinking about the time frame of farming and usually the harvest is the shortest period of time! So if the church has been restored for 200 years..... It's just fun to think about :) 

Life is great and always getting better. I'm excited to get the letter from you! Spain has been on my mind lately. Can't wait to go :) Spanish....... well spanish isn't progressing very fast at all. But another elder that is living with us has been a linguist for four years so he has been my teacher. It is fantastic!

Love you Mom and Dad. Love you Jared, Tanner, Rachel, Rebecca, and Adam. And I guess I like all you other folks who are reading this too.
Vaya Con Dios
and
Hurrah For Israel!

Love, Elder Joshua Powell