Oct. 27, 2014 - WO!

Well familia, It has been a fantastic Last week of the mission :,)

It´s kind of sad, because when I think of this week and the coming weeks I just think of what I need to do to help my investigators and converts continue to progress. haha. I am going to miss it here in the field.

But get this! We passed our goal as a mission to find 888 new investigators this week and we found 897! It was great :) We have been working so closely with all the members and investigators here it is wonderful!

This past week a member family of 5 were waiting here in the city to pick someone up at the tren station and had to wait a few hours. so they passed by this investigator who is 19 and he ended up cooking for all of them! The member family got to know him AND his two sisters. The next day we went by the member family and they had invited the same young man and his sisters for a noche de hogar. What great family member work! He is getting baptized on the 15th. Im gonna miss it by that much. :P

In these past 2 weeks the work has just been like that every day. Lots of new families, lots of member work and lots of baptism dates. I love progress in a branch ;) And I love being able to be here to see it.

I just realized that this probably doesn´t interest a lot of people and I should be talking about home hahaha ;) 

Well it is going to be great to come home and see everyone. I´m super excited for ski season, finding a job, going on dates, watching movies and starting College! But let´s get real, is there anything better than teaching people in Spain about Eternal Salvation.....? Ok, maybe teaching someone about Eternal Salvation WHIIILE skiing down a snow covered mountain ;) but that´s about it! It really is so great.

I have learned so much during the mission that is going to help me stay strong in the Gospel for my entire life. And do you want to know what they are: Reading, Praying, and going to church.:D If you don´t believe me I dare you to do it and see what Happens ;)

There is so much more to it but that is the foundation.

I know my strengths, my goals, my standards and I will stand for them always. This is the work of an Eternal Being. This is the church of Jesus Christ who is the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. There is no doubt in my being! I have testified of this for years and I will continue to do so. I am a missionary,  "And I, [Elder Powell], will not deny the Christ... (Moroni 1:3)

Oct. 20, 2014 - Week 104 .... final week of proselyting!

Hello Family!

Well this is it. 7 Days of crazy hard work left! It´s gonna be a good week!

This past week the Lord has blessed us so much. We were introduced to three friends of members and all three of them are solid! We started using the prayer list for all of our investigators and they are progressing rapidly! I love it :) I don´t think we will have a baptism before I leave... :( but it is great to see so many people coming unto Christ! We also had an activity in the mountains on Saturday and that was amazing!! We hiked, saw the sunrise, hiked to a cave and it was all the young adults in our branch as well as an Investigator! Good Times :D

This week is a week of finding and as a mission we want to find 888 new investigators! Pray for us :)

I don´t really know what to say right now sooo.....

I´ll write my last letter next week.:)

Love Elder Powell

Oct. 13, 2014 - More General Authorities!

Hello hello :)

This week has been great! We have found a few new families and they are awesome! One of them is a dominican Family! We started a family scripture study for 20 minutes a day with them. They are awesome. The mom really wants their family to be eternal. It all starts with prayer, scripture study and church.

 

We also saw a little miracle with the brother of a less active lady we met this week. Ok so first you need to know that our church is in Alcázar. He lives about 45 minutes north in Socuellamos, but is now living for a time 30 minutes east in Villafranca. So we go by Beatrces house in Villafranca and meet Marcos the brother. He told us that just yesterday he had met an older missionary couple in Alcázar and he had seen an anouncement for our english classes as well. Then, While talking we come to find out that three months ago he sold a car to a member family who needed a car to come to church. They live up in Socuellamos. 

So basically this man had contact with the church like 5 times in 3 different pueblos that have thousands of people where there are only 35 members..... He will now be hearing the missionaries three times a week, coming to english classes and coming to church with his sister. Talk about prepared!!

I love the gospel! We sure have a perfect Father in Heaven who is working WITH us :)

Also a seventy came on saturday and Sunday and gave some great talks about member missionary stories! It got me pumped up! But he mentioned three points that will strengthen the work of Salvation. 

FIRST: Family home evening with missionaries and Investigators at least twice a month. He said that in the summers he was having up to 2 family nights with the missionaries a week! It will strengthen yourself,  your family, ward and investigators.

SECOND: Tell your ward missionary your availability during the week to work with the missionaries.

THIRD: Have a MIGHTY prayer once a week for all those in the world who don´t believe and need to find the missionaries.

LAST: (This is more the missionaries part but maybe you can let your missionaries know) Prayer name by name, each day, as family for every investigator that the missionaries are teaching. They should give out a small list every Sunday to evry member.

Talk about Unity right! :)

I LOVE being a missionary! Be the Lord´s hands and feet. Live worthily and just be HAPPY :D

Lots of love. Elder Powell

Oct 6, 2014 - CONFERENCE!!

Wow what a great weekend!! What a great week overall! :) 

I loved conference and we saw some great miracles this week. One of the greatest miracles was on a day of trials! Tuesday we had done everything we could, passed by everyone, hit every plan we had and still had an hour left to the day! (That last hour is the worst when you have no plans left, just so you know ;) So I finally just sat down and called every old investigator in my phone. I called about 50 people and only 1 said we could come by later in the week on Saturday. We didn´t think much of it until we finally visited her. We come to find out that she had been taught all the lessons and was ready to be baptized about a year ago, but wasn´t married to the man she was living with. But this week that man had left her and moved to a different city :D She came to conference, is living the commandments, is coming to church next week and is a super prepared lady. I love this work!! 

We had a lot of investigators and converts come to church which was great. Conference brings a powerful spirit. I like watching it in english way better to hear the emotion in everyones voices but spanish was good too. :) In Cheryl A. Esplins talk the translator started crying when she started talking about how Christ is really the one offering us the sacrament. It was super powerful to hear the translator struggling through her tears. I love the Gospel! :D

I Loved every talk! All of my questions were answered, like always, and many other things were learned. I feel like we are continually being taught little by little higher laws to follow and I love it! I love the continual progression and continual conversion. I don´t have all of my notes with me but one talk that comes to my mind right now was the talk by Jorg Klebingat. Packers talk was great, Hollands talk was great, and many other power houses, but I loved how Elder Jorg stated, "I will speak boldy hoping to edify and not to offend. 1 TAKE responsibility for your own spiritual well being. STOP blaming others or your circumstances. STOP justifyng and STOP making excuses for why you aren´t fully striving to be obedient!" I loved it. It was bold and powerful. I feel like I have mentioned this subject a few times but I LOVE Obedience and I love the feelings of being obedient as we give into the will of God.

 I love the mission and I love the people here. We are Gods children. He is our Father. 

Love, Elder Powell

Sep. 29, 2014 - Hola!

Hello family!

This week has been Great! Thanks for the birthday wishes last week and this week! It was a great day! I was in Malaga so I got to be with a ton of mission buddies!! That was good. It was my last mission Conference and I HAD to bear my final testimony. I say "had" because there is still so much time before I end I didn´t want to give it yet, ha. But it was a bittersweet moment. I cried right when I got to the microphone. It was really good though to be able to bear testimony to other missionaries. It was a powerful experience. :)

We found a great ecuatorian family at the beginning of the week and the father came to church. It was fast and testimony meeting which was great!! The only problem was that the whole branch had gone to the temple the day before so everyone was bearing testimony on some doctrine that isn´t too common. Afterward Joni, the investigator, asked, "So why was everyone talking about being baptized obçver and over again, and what is endowment?" Hahaha we just smiled and said don´t worry, It will come with time. He was ok with that :)

Oh and Thalia finally got back from Suiza. She is a recent convert and super solid. While in Suiza she went to the temple and is going to be such a help back in Alcázar :)

Studies this week were based alot on faith leading to action and action leading to conversion. You can study a ton about conversion, and how people are converted, and what it means to BE converted... but I will leave that studying to you guys. :)

I just have to say that our Heavenly Father is WILLING and READY to bless those that act on Faith. Conversion comes after our acts of Faith. It´s a great little cycle :)

Also, CONFERENCE IS COMING!!! Prepare questions, fast, get ready for a spiritual high and then ACT on the revelation you recieve with FAITH :)

I love you all!

I love the mission!

Love, elder Powell

Sep. 22, 2014 - New Comp :)

Its a new day and a new dawn! :)

How are all of you you doing!? 

We have had an awesome week! We picked up our new comp elder Chacón and he is a champ! He is the youngest missionary in the mish right now. 18 years old and 4 months in the mish :) He´s from Ecuador and still has loads to learn ;) We´re workin on it. :)

Well I don´t think I have ever done that much service in the mission but this week we did a ton.The coolest thing about this week was working in the Vindimia! It is the month of harvest for the grapes. Tomelloso is the largest harvest place for grapes in all of Europe and the second largest in the whole world!! Weird right. Anyway, We went and worked in the vineyards with our convert family and did service with the dad of the famaily who still isn´t a member yet. It was sweet. We worked about three hours by cutting grapes off the vines and throwing it into a huge tractor. While we were there we collected about 4,000 kilos of grapes. By the end of the day they had collected 13,000 kilos!! Yeah it is tiring work and our backs were sore this whole week HA. But it was some good bonding time with the Investigator. Then on saturday we went by in the morning to help them with more service at their house and it was great. He is doing great and came to church with his family again. This is about the fourth time he has been! I really want him to get baptized before I leave :)

Also we worked in this association collecting food for those in need in our town. That was really good too. Like I said lots of service.

We have been working hard though. With three missionaries we are going to start with splits to see all of our investigators and members. 

Right now I am reading in Mosiah and I just reached Alma the younger where he was visited by an angel. Also I just read an article in the 2002 ensign about a man whos heart was softened after twenty years of being married to a member. In both situations prayers were answered to soften the hearts of these two men. Alma was visited by an angel in power and glory thanks to the prayers of his family and people. Talk about an example of Power! But in the same way, a man was converted in the very act of two missionaries bearing sincere testimony and showing loving acts of kindness.

Whether it be an angel or man, it is the same. We both have rights to the spirit that bring power to our words, and the capability to bring conversion. Our Heavenly Father IS perfect and will act in HIS time. But it is good to know that he will ALWAYS act. If anyone knows my missionary scripture I still hold strong to those words in Doctrine and Covenants, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." These words are true and spoken by the mouth of the Lord. Trust him, love him and spek with him.

Life is great! The mission is Great! I love it :)

Love Elder Powell

September 15

Hello family!! :)

It has been another fast week. We got transfer calls and there is going to be a change for my last transfer....... We are receiving a third missionary! It is going to be so great. He has about 4 months on the mish and it is going to be a good way to help me work my hardest. 

This week there hasn´t been too many things worthy to note. We have been working steadily with the husband of Maida. Maida was baptized about 2 months ago. The whole family is baptized and we are going to set a goal for him to be baptized next friday on the 26th. :) He is ready but just needs to take the last step of faith. It´s gonna be sweet!

Oh, there is actually something really cool that happened on Saturday. A family here that have been members for just about 2 years were sealed! They were baptized by my trainer and I was able to be here for their sealing. They are so happy :)

We are working had to find a family that has parents who are married and that believe in god. If we can find that I would be in heaven :) We will.

I started the book of mormon about two weeks ago and I´m trying to finish it by the end of my mish. I love the book of mormon. It gives so much power. It heals. It motivates. It does everything. If you are searching for anything you will find it in The Book of Mormón. Unless you lost a pair of keys, then you may just want to pray. ;) I really do love the book of mormon and it´s ability to protect me and help me overcome temptation. It seemed to be that in most of our lessons this week we taught about the book of mormon and it´s ability to help become perfect in Christ.

I still love the mission! It´s so flippin hard sometimes but I love it! :D haha.

Trust in god and he will trust in you.

Love Elder Powell

P.S We hiked a mountain this morning. I love hiking. :)

September 8 - Miracles in all places

Hello Family!!

Well this week was awesome!!

 

We started the week down in Fuen for an awesome council. We were reminded of the power of the Book of Mormon. It really is so powerful!! I hope that everyone is reading it daily. I am, and it brings power to overcome temptations and to have the constant companionship of the spirit. It´s great. :) "The Book of mormon along with the spirit is the most powerful tool to conversion."

I also went on intercambios in Marbella, Puerto Banus and Estepona. It´s the richest area in the whole mission, puerto banus. It was crazy! It´s on the south west coast right next to malaga. Instead of mini vans and trucks going up and down the streets imagine feraris, lamborginis, bugatis, and porshes driving around :D But there were so many prepared people there! We found two new families while we were there and 2 people accepted baptism for this month. It was a fun Intercambio :)

In our area we are continuing our search for new investigators. We found one boliviano this week and he has accepted baptism for the end of this month. That was a real blessing. It is crazy hard but I love the power of faith. Have you ever had the feeling you just know something is going to happen but you don´t know how? That´s one thing for which I am thankful for on the mish. Learning how to confide completely in God. That was something really challenging for me. I relied more on the "arm of my own flesh" instead of that of the Lords. It´s way easier with the Lord ;) Glad I got that atribute down haha :)

The Lord is challenging me every day and I love it. Let the lord challenge you! It´s part of the plan :) Look at the situations in your life and think what the lord is trying to teach you. Always choose the hard right choice over the easy wrong choice :)

Love you all!! 

Elder Powell

September 1 - Hi Family

So I am in Malaga right now! 

It has been an awesome week. I came down earlier to do an intercambio with my old comp Elder Rojas from Alicante and I loved it. He is my AP now.Anyway, I just love cubans! There are a ton here in Malaga and we invited a whole family of cubans to be baptized. They accepted :) Right at the end of the intercambio I also got to my vist my first converts for the first time in a year and a half! They are doing great! The son went to EFY o FSY. What ever it is called. And they might be moving to the States!!! It is going to be awesome!! Super stoked. We planned for when you guys vist. they are excited.

We have been havin a good time in Alcazar. It is still really hard and it is dificult to find people who will listen right now but we are workin on it :)

Sorry but I don´t have a lot of time today.

Highlights of the week and just random stuff: 

We had 47 people in church! that was amazing. I think a few weeks ago we had 46 but that was just because a 70 was there. It was a normal sunday where we normally have 35 or so but we had almost 50. Definitely progression there :) We will be a ward soon.

We had an awesome volleyball barbecue with tons of ecuatorian converts in the forest!

And I shaved my whole body! I´m hairless :D It is a strange feeling. (NEVER doin that again)

 You are all so awesome! Diligence is key to spiritual progression. I love the mission and It is the greatest work to share the gospel. You should try it ;) ANIMO!! :D

Love Elder Powell

August 25 - Official Uncle!!! :D

Yeah this letter is definitely dedicated to my little nephew Boston! I can´t wait to see you!

This week was a good hard week! I love it! We have changed up our focus and are sticking to our little city which the church is in, instead of travelling to the towns that surround our little city. We have seen lots of success in the outer towns but we are seeing that it is really hard for them to get to church. So we are sticking here in Alcazar. It has been hard because we started the week with nothing! 1 investigator in the whole town and a few futures and antiguos. But it has been good!

Here are a few miracles! :)

In the beginning of the week we were going to an old investigator and they weren´t home. But we saw this lady turn the corner of the building out of sight. We walked after her, turned the corner and called out to her. She gave us her information and we went to her house but they were in the process of moving and weren´t home. So we talked to the neighbor who knew where the new house was. So we went down the street and knocked on the new house. A young man answered the door and it just so happens that he is on a few days of vacation and he is golden!! So from an antiguo, to a future, to talking to a neighbor, to finding the son in another house was quite the miracle :) We taught him twice this week and he is preparing for baptism!!

We also found some gold mines. or southyvilles. They are little neighborhoods or stores that are just full of south americans and they are super humble and prepared people to recieve the gospel! (It isn´t racist, God even says they are a prepared people haha.)

Other than that though, we know it is just going to take a lot of work for a few weeks before the area is built up and we see alot of fruits. So that is the game plan right now. Just work hard and be patient! 

This week I have been studying in Acts in the Bible and it is amazing how the apostles are so diligent! It is rediculous. They go to one town and are accepted by some and then rejected by the rest, go to another town and many accept them and the rest kick them out of the city! They are cast into prisons and Paul is like my hero! He was stoned to death.... but then came back to life and kept preaching!!  That is some strength man haha. It is rediculous. But I love what the lord says about Paul, "for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name’s sake."

What have we been chosen to do? God has called and chosen us to do many things but what have WE chosen? We have chosen to take the name of Christ upon us and Christ will show us "how great things we must [do] for [His] name´s sake." This is the Gospel of christ and is a gospel of Sacrifice. Christ is our perfect example and has shown us quite well how to sacrifice. We are called upon to sacrifice our time, our talents, and strengths to serve and love. We have callings, we have duties and they should be considered sacred. God has called us to do His work. We have chosen this by accepting Christ to be baptized, and by doing so we are accepted as His Chosen people. Chosen to do His will. 

I love being a missionary and I am really excited that I am now an Uncle ;)

I know the importance of this life and our decisions we make are crucial.

Love Elder Powell

August 18 - Sick Week but Miracle Week :)

Hello family!!

I think this is going to be a pretty short email but we had a great week. My companion is a great worker and we are doing awesome together. About half way through the week I got strep and my whole body just got super sore. I think it´s because of the fever... But here are some of the miracles!! 

So we are usually always in the car but we were walking in our little village contacting some references when we contacted this 17 year old spanish kid. He knows english, wants his doubts solved about religion because he feels like the catholic church isn´t true and he is a firefighter like my comp! Coincidence, I think not. We had a ton in common and he is just so normal! There aren´t many normal families here haha. They are either out of work or smokers and drinkers and this kid has a working father, stay at home mom and it is just great! :) So we will see him alot this week. Also this south american kid we contacted in a restaurante two weeks ago saw us in the street and said "hey I am still waiting for you to come by and teach me." God is just sending people our way :)

The biggest miracle was on sunday though. So as missionaries we have goals and standards and stuff, right. We try and have 3 investigators in church every sunday, and we have to find 4 new investigators every week. We also have alot of other goals but these were the two that we were struggling with this week. So sunday morning evreyone was calling us and telling us they couldn´t come to church and we were a little bummed because we had been working so hard all week. Also we had only found 2 news this week. So we get to church and no investigators were there :( One said he was going to come but he didn´t show up.... So as church is starting one comes in. Yes! Then after the sacrament part, I was speaking when one of our investigators that we found on thursday and lives super far away, came in. Yes!! I thought to myself, "Well at least 2 are here." When his son walked in right behind him! It was great! We did everything we could and had invited about 20 people and the Lord did the rest to reach our goal. So that afternoon we had three hours to find two news and we got to our last plan with about thirty minutes left in the day when we found an awesome nigerian family. So we reached all of our goals :) It was a really good feeling to feel that this really isn´t our work but the Lord´s work! We put forth our greatest effort and we saw his hand. It was cool. Anyway, I love being a missionary. This is the Lords work and it is his church. Everything that we are asked or commanded to do, we CAN do. But not by ourselves. We have to, and need to rely on Him. We need to become like Him. It is my greatest desire.

Love Elder Powell

P.S WE HAD 12 BAPTISMS!!!! 

It was actually just a dance activity for the youth :P

New Comp

Hello!! 

Congrats little bro on the Mission Call to Portugal!! That is going to be amazing. And I would definitely jump through a geyser or chase a bison ;)

So my new comp is great!! Elder Gonzalez is from Texas and his family is from Mexico. It is so awesome to have an american comp! I love my native comps but there is something different about an American comp. We are having a blast and teaching in such unity! These are going to be some awesome transfers together!

This week we had a youth activity which was really fun in the park. It was organized to say goodbye to my last comp. 

We have also seen a ton of miracles as far as finding people. Here is a funny one :)

We were in a small town about 20 minutes from our city of Alcázar and Elder Gonzalez was driving. The whole day Elder Gonalez was joking about how he was going to find a family on the street. So We were trying to find some references we had recieved when all of a sudden Elder gonzalez rolls down his window, calls to a lady across the street and rapidly whispers to me, "give me a street, give me a street, give me a street." I tell him some random street and when the lady comes to the window he asks how to get to that street. We then start talking to her and she is golden! She has two kids and wants them to learn good values and learn abougt God. She invited us over next week. Also she volunteers in this shelter so we are also got a hook up with service projects. :) Sweet right!

Our recent convert Carlos also invited over two of his friends and one of them wants to be baptized. She is 17 and we are going to meet her family this week! Lots of work to do this week :)

The rest of the week we were travelling back and forth from all the areas of our missionaries. Wednesday was transfers and we were driving missionaries to their areas. Thursday We had Zone Meeting in Ciudad Real, a baptismal interview in Valdepeñas, and then a specialized training with president the next day in Ciudad real. It´s been crazy.

On Sunday a 70 came to our branch! That was really good. He is from Mexico. He taught agency! It was really sweet. Also President Deere came with his wife and he bore a super powerful testimony about facing challenges. His brother died this past week :( But he is so spiritually strong and is being a strong example of a disciple of Christ. 

I want you to think of  all the challenges in your life. :)  

Now I want you to think if those challenges are an excuse to not live the gospel of Jesus Christ and keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father and God. They aren´t.

We will always be tested and our Father in Heaven always expects and hopes that we will stay true to him. He is awaiting us. He knows us. And he knows how to test us in the most personal ways so that we can grow and become like him. This IS The Church of Jesus Christ! I know it is. I love it :D And I love this work.

Love Elder Powell

August 4 - Transfers!!

Hello Family!! How is everyone!?

Things are going great here in Alcázar! We got the transfer calls and Elder Peroni is going to my old area in granada :) He is pretty excited. My new comp is another missionary from Mexico who lives in Texas now. There are only 3 mexicans in the mission and I will have been comps with two of them. :) I love it! His name is elder Gonzalez. Its weird because he is in my zone right now and now he is going to be comp :D

This week we didn´t have any baptisms :( Satan attacked pretty hard this week. Rosi had a dream that scared her and made her want to wait. She is the one who had the dream before that made her want to be baptized. Satan mimicked it and now she doesn´t :/ But she says that eventually she will. We are going to keep working with her and her little brother. :)

The others had their whole family turn against them and so they couldn´t and didn´t want to have problems with their families. It is so sad. Also a recent convert family, who all went to the temple last week :), have a problem with the father who is the only non member and is creating a ton of problems with not letting them go to church and destroying the family unity.

But through all of this, it just seems to strengthen my testimony greatly! Why else would satan tempt and work so hard if this wasn´t true. If the gospel didn´t bring salvation satan wouldn´t care at all. He would let us be to wander in strange and wrong paths. But since this is the only true gospel of Jesus Christ we will always face challenges and difficulties. Weird how that works. Elder Kameron cited a devotional that talked about how temptations trigger our minds and spirits to turn towards Christ if we prepare our minds to do so. "Thy Confidence Shall Wax Strong In The Presence Of God"

Also, as we face challenges and problems when we strive to keep and follow the commandments we can automatically know we are on the right path. The right path is usually the hard path. But it is greatest path because it leads to eternal happiness!

I sent a picture of Rosi and her little brother and sister with a friend. They are so awesome and so ready for the gospel. We are going to give them a few more weeks and we will see them in white :)

Other than that I was on intercambios from tuesday to friday and we went to Fuen for a conference. It was a crazy week! On the intercambio there was a wine festival though. That was one of the craziest things I have seen. They pretty much drenched everyone in wine in this concert and eveyone was singing and dancing. It reminded me of the old testament haha :P 

Aaaanyway, the mission is the greatest! It is amazing to continually grow and become a better diciple of Christ. Christ lives and this is his Gospel. Continue to study the scriptures and pray every day. Constant spiritual companionship is promised! It´s the best!

Love Elder Powell

The Week

Hello!!! (three exclamations so you can hear me across the ocean :))

This week has been fantastic! There is no way to not realize that this is the work of the Lord. I am so grateful for the time to continue progressing and growing closer to God. Everything points to him. Everything from the people we talk to, the food we eat, the trials we face, the temptations we overcome, the people that change and the miracles we see. Everything we do fills us with love and the spirit. It is awesome!

This week was full of work :)

We had a harvest in Valdepeñas. 10 companionships went out and we contacted for about an hour and a half. We found 75 people ready to recieve us. It is going to be a huge help for the missionaries in Valdepeñas. Afterwards I stayed there to do an intercambio with Elder Hampel. It was awesome. We served a family of colombians and really gained their confidence. After we finished helping them move they invited us over the next day to eat before I left to come back to Alcazar. After we ate The father accepted to be baptized. We set the date for the 23rd and he was like, "the 23rd eh...... ok the 23rd it is." It was super awesome because he is a committed man. It was a great experience :) I love this work.

Here in Alcazar we are working tight with the members and have received over 100 referencias! It´s incredible. My mission president gave me a promise about 5 months ago that I would be able to work calmly and powerfully as a missionary from that point on and it is definitely being fulfilled. We continue to see blessings and miracles. This sunday we have 4 baptisms planned! All four of them need to recieve an answer this week haha...... but we have a ton of faith that God will answer them. He alsways does when they ask :: I´m very confident in that. 

One of the Ladies preparing to be baptized said she would only be baptized if she heard God´s voice telling her to do so. So the spirit told me and my companion to promise her just that. :D It was super powerful. I will let you know about their experiences next week :) 

About the 10 friends we found last week. We have only been able to visit 1 of the families and only the daughter wanted to listen to us. It´s ok though. the other 9 will definitely accept us. 

This week our Converts also went to EFY or FSY. On sunday all the youth bore their testimonies and the Armenian family with Rosi and Estella were there in Church. Estella was rubbing her arms the whole time and telling us every 5 minutes how she had goose bumps and felt incredible. She just needs to get married!!! AHH. 

Right now I am studying in the Bible! Some of the stories in there are crazy! Almost all of them are unbelievable But I love the lessons it teaches and the spirit it brings to my days. The scriptures are true and it is easy to find out if you read them and pray about them :) Simple as that.

I promise you strength and blessing as you dedicate your time to God. There is nothing more important than putting him first. Like it says in Matthew 6:33  "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."

Do you want ALL things added unto you? Then don´t worry about the things of the world. :) God is all powerful. Confide in him!

I love you all. The mission is the greatest!

Love, Elder Powell

July 21, 2014 More Miracles!

Hello family! How is everyone!?

When it is 105 degrees here we try to be in the water as much as we can.............. baptizing ;) haha

Today we went to a national park called Las Tablas de Daimel. It was like this huge grassy marsh land with board walks running through the whole place. It was so cool and fun. But I got sunburned :(

Anyway, we had ANOTHER week of miracles! :) Let me share one of them.
On Saturday we were heading home for media dia when we felt we needed to pass by a reference. We had recieved this reference about 3 months ago but we were never able to pass by. As we knocked the door a head popped out of the second story window. It was a boy named Yadil who said, "Finally! Hold on one second." He came down, opened the door and said come on in. Elder Peroni and I just looked at eachother with that shocked expression as we were excited to see another miracle :) He had met our recent convert Carlos a few days ago and wanted to meet with us because of the change he saw in Carlos. But we didn´t know it was the same person as the reference we had received three months ago. 
He told us he had missed his bus last night to move to Murcia and that he was going to leave that same day. We had come by at the perfect time! So we teach him and his father who accept our message and wants to hear more, and he wants his mother to receive the lessons in Murcia. Then, Yadil says, "Since I´m heading out tonight I am going to invite all of my friends over to get to know you before I leave." To make it short He invited over 10 friends who we got to know, teach and then recieve all of their information to teach them this week. 10 friends means 10 FAMILIES!! It was amazing.
The Lord can do anything!

Also on Saturday Carlos and Maida went to the temple!!! I love just writing it! They both loved it! I think I was more excited for them then they were but it was just great :) There were 27 members who all got on a bus at the church and spent the whole day there. Super cool.

Rosi didn´t come to church, she was sick :( But evrything else is progressing well. This is the Lords work.

Love you all! The Mission truly is the best.

Love, Elder Powell

July 14, 2014 Dreams/Baptism/Confirmation/Priesthood/Temple!!!!

Hello family!! :) This week was great!! I love it here! How are you all doing? :)

Ok so lets start with wednesday! We travelled to malaga with our whole zone in train to malaga for a zone conference. It was super fun to travel with everyone. The theme was 2 times in white so everyone was wearing white ties and white dresses. It was sweet! We learned about envisioning the people we teach and see in white to be baptized but also envisioning them in the temple. I loved it. Also, I slept with the missionaries in my old area! Everytime I have been back to Malaga i never really got to go to my part of the city where I worked. So I finally got to be back in my first area for the first time in a year! It felt great :)

So we get back to our area and we teach Rosi the Armenian girl. Just a little back story: we taught her right before we left for our conference in Malaga and see didn´t want to prepare for baptism anymore and she was a little skeptical. So we invited her to pray and she would receive an answer....

So we get back from the conference and we ask "well... did you pray?" "Yep." She said.

"And.... did you receive an answer" We asked

It was very nerve racking.

And I bet right now you want to know what she said... right :)

She kneeled down the night we left for malaga and prayed first to know if god really existed. she waited but notheing happened. So she went to bed but awoke in the early morning with the urge to pray. She said she felt something really weird. So she prayed again but with more fervency. "God, if you exist give me some kind of sign, a dream would work, just something." She didn´t feel anything... :( So she went back to sleep. And get this. She had a dream!!!! :D It was like a personal vision of the tree of life. But it was super exciting to hear her tell us :) 

She came to church and is now super involved. she accepted the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. She is 17. The funny thing is that she told us she knows that she needs to be baptized, but she doesn´t know in what church haha. but we are workin on it. She is amazing! 

The locutorio is closing as I speak!! Ahh. We also had a baptism it was one of the best services I have been in. His aunt and brother came of Carlos! They both want to hear the missionaries now! We are super excited! Then on sunday i confirmed him and he received the preisthood! He is doing great!! He then got his recommend and is going to the temple with the branch this saturday! Craziness. Miracles! Alcazar is awessome! 

I love the mish!

Elder Powell

Another week come and gone!

Hello Family! How are all of you doing?! :D HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!! It sounds like you had quite the party! I hope the sky caught on fire nice and good! 

Super Awesome week here in Spain. Things are going great in the work of the Lord!

To start off the week we had an awesome counsel in Fuengirola and then we went right into intercambios. I brought this missionary from texas/mexico with me to our area. Super fun :) His name is Elder Gonzalez. He was comps with Elder Sykes right before I went to Granada to be comps with Sykes. There are always miracles on intercambios! We went by this couple and it just so happened that someone was visiting from Mexico. Just a little sidenote: The only time I have ever met someone from mexico was like 8 months ago when I was with a companion from mexico in Alicante. Cool how the Lord works, Right ;) So we taught him and will be visiting them again tomorrow. This companionship lives 4 hours  away from us so it is a bit of a hassle to do intercambios.

Then on friday we had an awesome combined district meeting for the 4th of July. A senior missionary couple cooked hamburgers and potato salad and watermelon for us! It was great. We also sang the national anthem and it was such a great feeling :) Oh man, The United States is great. Then to top off the night We were in our piso when I hear explosions. So I I climb up on the roof and it just so happens it was some sortt of festival day here in Alcazar so I saw an awesome firework show. God sure does know how to bless me :)

Ok lets get on to the good stuff. That Armanian family is doing awesome. We went buy to pick up the 17 year old to go to church and she came down in short shorts and we were like, "um can you wear a dress?" She was like oh no problem! So she came down and her mom came down in Pajamas!! We were like, "what the heck! aren´t you going to come?" "I´m invited?" She asked. "of course! Go put on a dress" So she ran up stairs. In the meantime this other investigator we are teaching walks down the street and asks, "why are you all dressed up?" 

We told her about church and she decided to come too! (She didn´t have to change by this point :P) But the mom came down in a dress and we all went to church. It was great! The Branch loved them! During all of testimony meeting the shivers kept hitting her and she was like what is this feeling. She told her daughter to go up and bear her testimony because they felt so good haha. The mom is already interested in going to the temple and she still wants to be baptized on the 5th of August. :D Later that night we had a family night in their house and they didn´t want us to leave. Sweet miracles. 

Also Carlos came to church and he is solid! On Saturday we visited him and he seemed a little nervous about his baptism as we were showing him all of his clothing. So we started a fast for him. When we got to church he was totally changed and super excited! As church went on we were talking to all the young women and it turns out almost all of them were fasting especifically for him! It was so special to hear all of them talk about helping Carlos! I love it here :) 

We found another family in front of Maida Quesada who was baptized a few weeks ago! They stopped us and invited us over to answer their questions. They are also doing good but aren´t married... :/ That is the worst here.

As far as super spiritual experiences.... Every day is a super experience! :D  I love the mission. I love talking to people. I love how peoples lives are changed! I love seeing the Lord keep his promises to the people we teach and I love the reaction of the people when they realize what we teach is true. It´s the best!

Love Elder Powell

P.S I´m pulling a Jared and I may be getting a little skinnier on the Mish.... No worries though :)

June 30 - Short message. Sorry. :(

This week has been Awesome!! Not even kidding. It was like one of those miracle missionary weeks where it is really hard and satisfying and by the time you get to the end of the week you look back and see a load of success!! It was Great. Sunday was a miracle day. An investigator couple came to church that we had dropped about a month ago because they weren´t married. Yeah so they showed up with desires to get married in a few months and want to be baptized. they have 8 kids!! :D But the kids are all already baptized haha. We also had three other people in church. One of them is going to be baptized in 2 weeks. Then right after church we pulled one of our investigators into a room and we taught her and invited her to be baptized on the 20th. Shes down for it :D Then later in the day we were supposed to teach this girl english class but she had to catch a train so she took us to her friends house to teach her and we met her whole family. They are a family of 5 from Armenia. It was incredible because we sat down, started talking about their beliefs when the mom said, "I have been waiting to be baptized because my children and I have never been baptized in any church but we know it is important." That is music to any missionaries ears. So we invited them to be baptized on the 5th of August!! The Mom was first to Say Yes. :) She looked so happy as she was feeling the spirit and accepting baptism. The Daughter is 17 and also said yes but wants an answer from God first. It´s a good thing that God always answers yes :D

But yeah. It was a good way to top off the week. We then caught a train sunday night and now we are in Malaga :) It is great. I love the mission. The Spirit is so strong all the time! The work is so fun. There is always a ton to do :) Love it.

Oh we also did splits with the AP´s. It was super fun because the AP who came with me is one of my best friends from when we started the mish.

Anyway, stay firm and act on the answers you recieve from our Heavenly Father. 

Love Elder Powell

June 23 - I can't believe it!!!

Hi family! So she did it! Estefanía moved out! She was baptized two days later :D

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It was awesome. We Went to her house and she was a little sad during the lesson when all of sudden she was like, "Wait, I can live with the mom of my boyfriend!" It is kind of a weird thought haha but that´s what she did. she was super happy. The next day she was intervied and then the next day she was baptized. Super fuerte :D

This week was awesome! We taught a super powerful lesson with this 22 year old colombian and he is going to be baptized in a month. My comp is a convert as of 5 years ago and it reminded him exactly of himself when the missionaries asked him to be baptized. So Carlos finished by giving a super powerful prayer and then we did something super weird but super awesome. We asked carlos if we could record what had just happened. So we set up my camera. We watched the last 2 minutes of the restauration and we taught him and invited him to be baptized on the 12th of July. Super awesome. So I now have a lesson recorded for you to watch of someone accepting baptism :)

Right after we had a branch picnic in the park! It was super fun. Water balloon wars, Ping Pong, Soccer and Nature. It was great. Carlos was super strengthened by all the youth too. :) 

Also I don´t know if I told you but the first family that got baptized in Malaga have been sealed in the temple! :D I think I did but my old comp was asking me if they had been so I thought I would make sure you knew too :) It was the greatest feeling when I heard! Also Francheska from Granada went to the temple for the first time and is planning on serving a mission! I knew lots of good things would come after a hard week last week :)

The mission is the greatest! I love you all! See you soon

Elder Powell

Challenges and Growth

June 16th Letter

Hi Family! :)

Estefanía didn´t get baptized :( Yeah that has pretty much been on my mind these past few days so I want to talk about that first. She is so so so prepared and so special but she can´t be baptized :( We went to her house on Saturday to teach her and her boyfriend. It was a really powerful and spiritual lesson about the importance of chastity! :) The only problem was that The spirit was working well with Estefanía but with the boyfriend he wouldn´t listen to the spirit! We asked the question, "What do you need to do to live this improtant principle from our Heavenly Father?" Estefanía answered first, "I need to find a place to live so we can prepare to be an eternal family. I want to be baptized and preapre to go to the temple with him:)" Super powerful! He felt the opposite. He felt like we were trying to seperate them even though it was Estefanía who gave the answer to not live together. It is super tough :( He won´t let her leave.... UGH!!

I saw and see how the Lord is challenging her and strengthening her. He is waiting for her to make the decision through her own strengths. I know she is going to be a leader and her conversion is so important. I think that is how it is with all of us. We are pushed to the point where we WILL break, unless we rely on the lord and follow the revelation we receive. The mission is great :))

Also this week I recieved my International license. :D I am driving stick shift baby! Dreams do come true!

This week really wan´t the best one :( We lost all of our baptismal dates because of marriage problems. NO ONE IS MARRIED! I would definitely call that a problem ha. Also we only had 17 people in church! Last week we had 40! WHERE DO THEY ALL GO? It was very sad as I played the piano, helped with the sacrament, gave a talk and then said the closing prayer. Oh and our President had to leave halfway through the meetings so I was presiding :D I Didn´t think that would ever happen haha. But now I am really excited for this week because we are loaded with a ton of stuff to improve on and help with :)

My mind is all over the place but I am loving every day of the Mish:) 

Prayers are powerful. We have a Heavenly Father who has valuable advice for us. He weill help us with our needs and will help us become worthy children of Him. 

Love elder  Powell 

June 5 - NO TIME

I forgot to post this short little letter from Josh.

Hi mom and dad and brothers and sisters (you count tori) and family and others :)

There is no time to write this week. Sorry!!! 

Since Friday I have been in my area for about a day and a half :( But things are going awesome!! We had a baptism on Sunday! we then had Jedi Counsel, like Alisa likes to say haha. That was on monday and tuesday in Malaga. then I went on exchanges For wednesday and that night I got back in time for another baptism we had in Alcázar. :) Today we then went early to pick up president for interviews in Ciudad real. This is a weird week :/ And tomorrow we have zone conference! :D 

I will write more on monday!! :)

The Mission is the best! It only gets better and better :)

Love Elder Powell