MTC, Wall-E, padawan, Hawaii bound

7/18/14

HEY THERE FAMILY!!!

it's kind of strange e-mailing you now considering I was with you about 48 hours ago, although it feels like a couple weeks for me already. It was a VERY long day and I was just about dead by the end of it. My brain was more fried than Wall-E's when he gets shocked by AUTO and thrown down the garbage shoot! But nevertheless it was still an awesome day as was yesterday and as today is looking up to be!! :)

so yeah, I mentioned before by my companion is Elder G. He's a pretty awesome guy! Basically all of my district except for one other person are all from Utah and all 18 fresh out of high school! it's so weird it makes me feel super old and I'm not even that much older than any of them! haha! ...well kinda, Elder G is pretty young. He just barely turned 18 like a month before we entered the MTC! Crazy right?! but the Lord is hastening his work and he's a prime example of that! He's also a prime example of how the Lord qualifies those that he calls, I guess we all are in a way. We're all super inadequate in some form of another and those who say they aren't are inadequate when it comes to humility! haha! but despite all of our inadequacies we all still get up in the morning and we all put on our badges and we all still WORK! A LOT! and you know what? the work gets done! :)

Anyway, sorry if this letter is a little odd and rambly as well. I'm still super tired and a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. I don't know if it's supposed to be this way but honestly the MTC has almost been more work than the actual mission field was! (well kind of... in different ways I suppose). We're just constantly bouncing from one meeting to another and wandering around campus and through building and studying A LOT!! I kind of imagine it's like Jedi Training. It's super crazy hard when you're a padawan and just trying to keep up, but by the time you're a Jedi Master like Qui-gon Jin you still work hard but it's so much easier and your mind is cleared and well you're just a BEAST!! ......then again that is Liam Neson and I don't know if anyone can be quite as beast as him. Also I guess Qui-gon is a bad example since he dies at the end of the movie..... but still I'd like to think of this place as a sort of Jedi Academy except instead of the force it's the spirit and instead of blasters and lightsabers we have teaching pamphlets and Book of Mormon's (......although it would be way cool if we had lightsabers as well).

Anyway, yeah enough rambling for today! we've got work to do!!! (except it's p-day so by work I mean a nap... but either way!) haha! So until next week! keep working hard, and don't forget to be awesome!! :)

7/25/14

Family!

Well my two years are up! I'm coming home!! .....right? ...wait.... it's only been ONE WEEK?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?!?!?! Seriously though this has been a LOOONNNNGGGG week!! That being said, if it were to end now I've already learned SO much here at the MTC I can only imagine what it will be like at the actual end of two years in the service of the Lord! And needless to say I am VERY excited for that! :)

Anyway! So general update, that's GREAT to hear about the reunions and such! Be sure to tell the family hi and I love and miss them all and that I'm praying for them! As for us at the MTC everything is going great as well!! We work VERY long hours and it's EXTREMELY exhausting but it's great! The spirit here is so incredible! There's honestly a stronger spirit here than there is force on Degoba! It's great! Oh also be sure to tell Grandpa I'm very disappointed but I won't be here next week to hear him speak. :( Although I think this is a new record, I've gone the whole week so far with out anyone identifying me as Kolipoki's grandson! haha! (although I get the feeling that will change when we actually get to Hawaii) I guess Elder Gerber knows but apparently it's not that big of a deal since he went to school with two of President Eyring's grandchildren who are actually both here at the MTC with us right now. haha! Utah's crazy! ANYWAY sorry I'm digressing... I don't even know what I was talking about. It's been a long week and I'm still a little brain dead especially when it comes to "normal" conversations that aren't about "where I'm from and where I'm going" or teaching about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But I suppose that's a good thing! haha!

Oh right! so I fly out to Hawaii Monday morning!! I am going to Hawaii!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!! I can't wait to meet my trainer and the people and the culture and the weather and food and EVERYTHING!!!!! haha! I'm just super excited! :)

Oh! also we've been teaching what's called a TRC investigator (not sure what TRC stands for but basically it's just like a fake investigator) but anyway, it's been way cool! It's funny cause he's DEFINITELY a member cause he's broken character a few times and he's started teaching us at times about different Gospel principles or pulling out exact stories and scriptures from memory from Ether when we gave him a Book of Mormon the day before and just kinda stuff like that but he's still just an awesome guy! haha! Again it's weird cause it's fake and such but it's a great experience especially for the new missionaries here to get the chance to know what it's like to teach with the spirit and teach someone who's not just another missionary. haha! Anyway, yeah it's cool!

Well hey sorry this letter has been all over the place! hopefully they'll become more cohesive as time goes on but if not you can always just pray for the gift of interpretation of tongues or just find a Urim and Tummim and maybe then you'll be able to make at least a little bit more sense out of everything than my brain can... but yeah, well we've gotta go but I'll talk to you guys next week from HAWAII!! :D Love and miss you all!! keep working hard and Don't forget to be awesome! :)

-Elder Powell

And he's off.....

Matt and I took Luke to the airport early this morning. He's on his way to the Provo MTC and then he'll head off to serve in a yet to be determined area in the Hawaii Honolulu Mission.  He'll be in the MTC about 10 days. Here is how you can contact him.

luke.powell@myldsmail.net

Provo Missionary Training Center

2005 N 900 E

Provo, UT 84604

And the mission address is:

Hawaii Honolulu Mission

15000 S Beretania St. Ste 416

Honolulu, HI 96826

ALOHA!  

Luke with Bishop Moffitt and Pres. Thomas - after getting set apart

Farwell to Yuma

6/30/14

Dear Family,

I also had a great time with the Jim and Christie family this last week! They were so kind as to take Elder Mahlandt and me out to an Asian buffet which was a lot of fun! It was a great time seeing them and hopefully we will be seeing each other again soon! :)

As for when I am leaving I am still waiting on a call from President Toone which actually could be coming any second. Heck it could even come before I finish writing this very sentence! (.....it didn't) but nevertheless no matter what happens when he does call I am excited to make the most out of whatever time I have wherever I have it as long as I still get to be in the service of the Lord! :) After our lunch with Jim and Christie, Jim's parting words where, "don't let this uncertainty slow you down" and I've taken that to heart and I don......................... wait hold everything. Just got a call from President.

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I'M GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha! Sorry, that literally just happened in the middle of my sentence! Anyway, so yeah I'm going up with the other missionaries that are getting transferred on Wednesday and I'll probably stay and enjoy transfer meeting with them and then you guys should be picking me up! :)

Oh man I'm so psyched! Not that I haven't LOVED Yuma but honestly at the end of this transfer I have been feeling like my work has really wrapped up well here and with just these last few days to round things out I think my chapter here will close perfectly! :) And even though I may be in Hawaii I'll just have to remember that "wherever I go, and whatever happens to me on the way, in that enchanted place at the bottom of the state a little missionary and his companion will always be proselyting" :) haha! That one's for you mom! :) Anyway, so yeah I guess I'll see you guys very soon! :)

So really quickly though, one last miracle.  We went over to visit [someone] again and honestly I swear with everything that is wrong there, that home is seriously a temple! We have yet to walk out of a lesson there without having the spirit just overwhelming and half of us crying!! But especially this last time we went by and the daughter had just gone through some REALLY rough things and so she asked us for a blessing and she asked me to offer it and well needless to say I was kind of freaking out because I didn't know what to do. But of course I said yes and well I started super unsure of myself and what to say and so I just took a second after I started the blessing, took a deep breath and said a little prayer in my heart and basically just said "Heavenly Father I have no idea what I'm doing, please take over" and Holy Polaris Batman did he take over!! All of a sudden I just started talking and I had no clue what I was saying until after I said it and I was still kinda scared because in this blessing I was making some pretty intense and bold promises and it wasn't until I was done that I realized just how powerful the words were that came out of my mouth and well anyway it was just incredible!!

Anyway, so I say all this not to be like "oh man look how cool I am!" but in fact quite the opposite! If there was one lesson I learned in these last six weeks it's that I am absolutely worthless!! Of course I don't mean that in a depressing sort of way but honestly when it comes down to the physical, emotion, and spiritual exertion I find myself having to give every single day I just literally cannot do it!!! I mean you guys know me! Not only am I extremely small and weak but I also tend to not be able to focus and say a lot of pretty stupid things! And when we're just chilling around the apartment that is still very true! You could ask Elder Mahlandt or anyone other missionaries that have seen me. I'm about as useful as a sack of rotten potatoes. But looking back I see all the miracles that have happened. The countless miles we've ridden on bikes under the Arizona sun, the dozens and dozens of people we've talked to, the seeds we've planted, and hearts we've touched, the differences we've made in people's lives both spiritually and temporally. I look as all of this and I know WITHOUT A DOUBT that none of that was my power! ABSOLUTELY NONE OF THAT came from skinny little Luke Powell. I owe every ounce of success we have seen out here to the Lord and while I've had some great stories and experiences that I've shared with you guys over the last few weeks I just want to add that on to the end of every one of them and onto the end of every single one to come. "I can do [and have done] all things through Christ which strenghteneth me."

Anyway, enough rambling on, I've got one last awesome p-day to enjoy with my bros down here in Yuma! :D haha! but I will see you all very soon! :)

Until then keep on working hard, helping others whenever possible and of course. Don't forget to be awesome!! :D

-Elder Powell