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