Intercambios!

Hi Everyone! I´m staying in Alicante for one more transfer! I am super excited about that:) That means I will get to spend Christmas here! 

Anyway, this week has been great. On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving a little early but it was really fun! We cooked turkey legs, Mashed potatoes, Stuffing, Corn, gravy and to finish it off we had homemade pumpkin pie. One of the hermanas literally cooked a pumpkin in the oven and then used it to make a pie. Delicious!!

Then hursday started our intercambios for the transfers. Oh man. It was great. Thursday night i went to San Vicente (a little pueblo here in Alicante) and we were able to set a baptismal date with one of their investigators. We taught a few good lessons but we had quite the experience at one of our eating appointments.

STORY: So we were finishing the day and I din´t realize we were ging to go to an eating cita! This is after a thanksgiving feast at around two and then we ate a small meal at a members at 4 and now we were headed to eat a huge meal with a member. Now my companion said that if we didn´t eat the food we wouldn´t be invited back. It happened to the other Elders and they haven´t been invited back in months! 

So we get there and there is no man there so we ended up eating in the hallway/entry way of her apartment. That is what makes the story even funnier :D

My companion is feeling awful and we start with a soup. In the soup there are these weird rubbery yellow balls. They were some type of egg yolk but not so tasty. Elder Ellsworth is gagging and I am just laughung at the whole situation when he says, "I cant take it anymore!" He stands up, walks to the window and throws the egg yolks out of the apartment building!! I couldn´t hold in my laughs haha. Don´t worry though,the sister who was feeding us was in the kitchen when he did that. But it hit some metal thing and made a loud noise. "what was that!" She Yelled. "I.... I don´t know..... how strange" He says haha:P

He finally tells her he is sick but I keep eating. She then pulls out this huge plate of noodles and rice and octopus. Oh boy. Yum.

 So I Am sitting there and she leaves again. I look at my companion and just pout, "Please Help me" ..... He whips out his napkin and we both just grab handfuls and stick it in to our coat jackets!! We we were laughing and feeling so horrible but it was just such a funny situation.

So that is my story. I kind of just ran out of time telling that but thats allright. 

I then headed up to Alcoi in the mountains for the second Intercambio. It was a miracle up there. We found three new people to teach. Had a bunch of references given to us and we were teaching at practically every moment! Good times :)

We then headed straight to the church for a church activity that the missionaries planned. We did an "Open doors"activity where we had food and games so people could bring their friends and then we gave a tour to explain what we actually do in our church meetings. Super good activity!

We set a baptismal date with the son of Enriquetta this week so they both will be baptized on the 14th of december. Also the sisters started teaching her brother so that is awesome to see the whole family progress as we are working together as 4 missionaries! We are being blessed so much and we know that it is all coming from Heavenly Father!  “Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I 

will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I 

can do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in 

this land, for which we will praise his name forever.” (Alma 26:12) 

Spiritual thought of the day: I was reading about knowledge in the attributes of christ section in Preach my Gospel and i learned about the Importance of continuing to build upon your knowledge. Yes, I knew that but it just gave me a new drive to continue to keep learning and"build precept upon precept, Line upon Line." I know that as we deepen our understanding of the gospel with the help of revelation and the spirit we will strengthen our foundation of truths to be able to testify powerfully to our friends and family! Gain and strengthen your testionies :)

Oh we also went to a soccer game ;)

The Mission is the greatest!

Love Elder Powell

Un Gran Semana

Hellooooo family!

Well this week was quite interesting. We started the week really slowly with very few lessons but by the end we were teaching people every second! It was amazing. I learned a little lesson about faith and hope haha.

As missionaries there are standards that the mission president sets so that we are working hard. And honestly I didn´t have alot of faith that we were going to hit them. But we hit all of them and more! It was amazing! the only thing we faulted was in finding new people to teach :( But our area is doing great! We have 2 baptismal interviews this week and Nancy and Juan Carlos are getting baptized on Sunday! Super Exciting!!!

And don´t worry, I am still working super hard and have a ton of faith ;)

We did have one powerful lesson that I want to tell you about though. Her name is Enriquetta and it was our third visit with her. We were with two members and we were teaching about prophets. 

While we were teaching her she started to bare testimony that she knew what we were teaching was true and the spirit amplified like 300X. We related prophets to the Gospel; The gospel to Jesus Christ; And then Jesus Christ to Baptism. She accepted to be baptized on the 14 of December! It was such a simple lesson but so powerful! The members were baring testimony, we were baring testimony and the room was like a furnace of heavenly power, (also known as the spirit ;). 

Good stuff!

People are progressing. The mission is the best and Jesus Christ lives. He is our savior and our brother. We lived with him before this life, and we will live with him again as we follow the Gospel. There is no other way. I know that this is The Church of Jesus Christ. He guides it and leads us. Repent and follow Him.

Love Elder Powell  

My companion (Elder Rojas) and me on the castle.

Happy November

Hey Family!

Wow i loved the video! How did you do that?

And Rachel I´m praying for snow here too :P There is an area close by that sometimes snows, and if it snows I am will get to go and see it :D And I am super excited for some packages :)

I kind of have some sad news. That family of six that our campions found from ecuador who were going to be baptized..... well it was all a joke :( They pulled a prank on us. It was very rude! So we won´t be having that baptism. But there was a baptism last weekend so it´s alright!

More awesome Miracles too. That girl Monica who was the sister of Beatrice (Bea) came to church! (She is the one who´s sister shared the experience of praying with her and it touched her soul.) So We called her. She was super close by and came! We showed her around and was telling us how she didn´t really believe in god that much and she thought it would just be fun to come. At the end of the tour though we prayed with her and she started crying and was super touched. Great experience! We plan on teaching her tomorrow :D

We also had this lesson with Janeth and she is having a test for cancer today and at the end of the lesson we offered to give her a blessing and she really wanted one. She wants to be baptized on december 6th :)

Alicante is on a spiritual high right now.

We were kind of disappointed that the couple we taught last saturday and then came the very next day, decided they aren´t very interested. But we are still trying to go by them.

Something that has stood out to me this past week was the power of giving thanks to the lord. Our area has been booming as far as finding and having investigators who are prepared and then continue on to be baptized. I was thinking as to why this has been happening and we have been doing everything the same except for one thing. After every lesson or after finding someone or when someone accepts baptism, we have given thanks to the lord after in prayer. It is very humbling to thank him and tell him that we know it was only through his help that we had done what we did. As we have done this he just keeps giving us more and more people. it is very joyous. Prayer is powerful in all aspects. But remember to give thanks for the things that perhaps you have prayed for, and then gotten. Don´t be the nine lepers!

This week has been a blast! The work is amazing. The growth is fantastic. I love the mission!

Love Elder Powell :)

Here is the video he is referring to.  You might notice his ear wiggling.  Hahahahaha

Hello :)

Well hi family :) 

Rachel is driving!!!??? Oh. My. Gosh! I saw the picture and it is crazy to think that she is driving! 

This week was a little hard actually, ha. I just felt super unorganized and I wasn´t focused on my purpose that well! With the transfers it was hard to get into a good rythm with my new companion. We both have different ethics in working so we had to compromise a ton! We both just weren´t on the same page. We are both great missionaries and love the work but we learned alot about being exactly unified in purpose. 

Also we had two day intercambios with the assistants and traveling was killer! But that was super fun. The AP who came to work with me used to serve here so we worked super well!

Everything is good now and I feel so excited to work this transfer. My faith is fortifed, our purpose is one and we are ready to see miracles! I love alicante so much! 

We found this african family and they have two kids of age 5 years and the other, 8 months and they are the cutest kids ever. I´m being serious! But they are awesome to teach :)

We are also coming up on three baptisms! The 9th of november! One couple is getting their marriage papers tomorrow, getting married this weekend and then being baptized the next week!! :D SOOO COOL

The ward is growing a ton too!! We have been working with a lot of young single adults and we are in the process of rescuing three. 1 of them wants to serve a mission and it is so awesome to see the power of the spirit. 

Ok cool miracle time:)

We had our reunion de correlacion with our leaders and we decided we were going to fast together for a couple of families and the obra misional. In total we were about 25! Started Saturday and finished Sunday. So on Sunday right at the end of our fast who walked into the Church.. the father and son (aren´t members) of a part member family who we were fasting for! They haven´t been to church in.... well, Never. He came to see his other son be ordained as the teachers quorum presdent and the spirit was super strong!! They invited us to come by this coming thursday!! :D Blessings are coming! :)

The Mission is awesome! Things are good :) I love the mission!

Elder Powell

My Companions are the Best!

Hi Family! 3 National Parks!? Are there going to be any cool things left to do by the time I get back? ;D

This week has been great! Lots of learning, lots of change, and a few let downs.

At the beginning of the week we pretty much passed by a lot of people that Elder Merchan wanted to say goodbye to before he left for sevilla. So we had a ton of eating citas! 3 in one day! It was hard to say goodbye to Elder Merchan, but I also feel super good about the change:) My new companion, like I said, is from Mexico!  3 of my 5 companions have been Natives and I love it. He has already taught me so much. He really knows how to LOVE everyone. I don´t know how he does it but he is patient and loving. I think the lord has given me something to work on for now :P

This past friday and saturday we worked with president in our area! That was freaking crazy! I felt a little stressed out but we had a ton of great lessons! He taught everyone so boldly and wasn´t afraid to ask people to repent of their sins. He literally cried repentance to everyone we met. He knew the happiness it would bring and knew how to show people that. He has set a new standard for me. I love the progression that keeps coming every week for me to work on! Oh we also set a fecha with someone... well he set a fecha with someone.

Story: So we were teaching this guy named Antonio and the spririt was super strong and I invited him to be baptized and he started laughing and wiggling his finger at me "no no no" :) Then president said, " I have a better question. Will you pray to know if you should be baptized? And when you receive your answer that you need to be, will you be baptized?" And of course antonio said yes. then my companion told him that we knew he could prepared by the 23rd of noviembre. Once again he laughed and wiggled his finger, "no no no, I wont set a date" ha. What did president say? "I have a better question, will you pray about being baptized on the 23rd? And when you receive your answer that you need to be, will you be baptized on the 23rd?" And he said yes. Pretty sweet stuff.

This weekend we also had stake conference and this setenta named Elder  Herbertson from scotland to speak to us. It was amazing! Super spiritual and super motivating. He taught us a lot about Hope and Faith! He described the literal power of Faith and how hope is tied to faith. I can´t remember everything he said and I don´t have my notes with me but I can bear testimony of the feelings I felt and that faith can work miracles.

How do we gain faith? Yep, all the little things :) Start small, work dilligently, and see the change in your life for the better. If you ever feel like things are bad or there is no hope or you wish you could feel a little happier; Have faith, Have hope! Say your prayers, read the words of christ and watch you life be blessed :)

I know Christ Lives. He is our saviour. There is no other way to happiness.

I love the mission! I love the people! I love the work! 

Elder Powell

1 Nefi 21:15-16

P.S The photos are from this farm cabin place of a member :) 

Hola mis Amigos :D

Hey! This Elder Powell again! :) How is the world doin these days.

 It has been quite the week this week! Lots of people are going to be transferred this wednesday and they are also going to open THREE new areas in our Zone :D Busy Busy! Our zone has 15 companionships now!! It is the biggest Zone in our mission! I´m also going to receive a new companion who is from Mexico. Elder Rojas. We served in the same zone when I first started the mission. He has 9 months in the mission. So young we are :) But I am super Excited. 

We also had a zone conference on saturday that was combined with the Mission president and the Stake president and sus consejeros. They are super inspired and talked to us about the growth we are going to see in these next few months. We are opening areas, building more capillas and sending more missionaries. They had a great vision and we were all filled with such purpose. I love the urgency of it all.

We also set three fechas this week! It was a miracle week. Really! I am super excited for them. One is this boy who had discussions with jehova´s witnesses and decided they weren´t true and we found him right after he dropped them. The other two are a couple! So sweet :)

One huge blessing we saw this week was someone we found yesterday after church. David is his name. We had talked to him about 2 weeks ago and had kind of forgotten about him but we finally set up a time to stop by him. He is 28, believes in god, lives alone, doesn´t smoke, a clean cut guy, lived in Florida for 8 years, and has never belonged to or even been taught by anyone of any religion in his house. 

He accepted everything we taught and he was so open to the ideas. He was very prepared. :) I am super excited to go back.

We have started the Book of mormon as a mission again and this past week I was readng about lehis dream ín the book of mormon. It is when Nephi was having the vision actually of the tree. Anyway this was my experience:

I was reading and trying to apply all the sybolism and everything to our investigators. But I got super frustrated because it was about to explain a part of the dream and its sybolism. like the fruit, or the building, or the iron Rod, but then it started talking about christ! And i was like, What the heck! So I was wondering why it was talking about christ. When you read it, Nephi asks a question and then the spirit says "look" and Nephi sees a part of christ´s life and then the spirit tells nephi what theparts of the dream represent. I learned that every single part of jesus christ´s life can be related to the dream of Lehi! Christ being born and living as a GIFT, like the fruit. Christ heals the people and then it talks about the healing fountain. Christ speaks and teaches the people and then it talks about the iron rod. The people persecute jesus and then it talks about the people in the great and spacious building persecuting those that have partaken of the fruit. Christ is crucified and there are tumultuous quaking and then it talks about the great fall of the building. It was dark for three days and then it talks of the mists of darkness in the dream. Maybe everyone knows that but it was really cool to read through the whole dream and then read of the life of Christ. :) 

So.... Keep reading the scriptures and every part of the book relates to Christ :) 

The Mission is the greatest! I love you guys.

Love Elder Powell

Revelation

Hey family :) 

Imagaine dragons.... Wow. That is just so great for you.... together.... with out me.... wahh

Hahaha just kidding :) That is awesome you guys saw them though.

This week, lets see. 

General conference! I haven´t seen the last session yet but I think the first session was my favorite by far. Soo good!!! i was taught alot by the spirit in the first discourse by Elder Hales. I leaned so much about revelation and I loved it!! Ahh it was the best. :) 

Elder Dube! What an awesome Man! 

And Uchtdorf... That was some pretty powerful stuff.

As far as the work goes we have 4 fechas right now! It is awesome to see them progressing and working towards baptism.

We had mission counsel this week and President Deere also shared with us about revelation and how he receives it. That was really cool.

I think I am going to focus on that in this letter. REVELATION.

There were four things that stuck out to me.

The first is that when we receive revelation and when the spirit speaks it is a voice unica. It is something specific that you WILL be able to recognize as you focus yourself.

Prayer is crucial.Always start with prayer to let your heavenly father what you are focusing on or wanting to receive.

Revelation isn´t Passive.  this point includes alot of stuff. We need to study out our questions, meditate it, write it out, ask the lord, wait, receive (Yes, we will receive), thank the lord, write down the revelation and then act on it.

And lastly, being spiritually autosufficient . I haven´t figured out fully this point yet, but we need to rely on our own knowledge of things that we have learned and received.

I know our Heavenly Father is waiting to teach you. He will teach you so much if you are willing to learn. :)

I love the spirit. I love the Lord. I love the mission. :)

Elder Powell