12/7/15
ALOHA OHANA!!!!
Thank you SO much for
your update and all of your love and support on our behalf! I hope you all know
how much I truly do love you!!! That being said time is a little short again
and so instead of trying to give a long explanation about why I will just jump
right into everything I have to tell you about because there is a TON to talk
about!!! :)
Man, where to even begin!
Well I guess I should clarify at least a couple of those "headlines"
from my last e-mail but unfortunately I do not have sufficient time to review
all of them so I will just pick a few and the rest you can make up whatever
stories you like about them and then come Christmas time on skype you can share
your interpretation of the stories and I will share mine and we'll see how
close they are! :) Just like a big game of Balderdash I guess. haha!
"40-day fast" -
So obviously we have not stopped eating and drinking anything for 40-days but
this form of a "40-day" fast is more in spiritual terms where we (as
a district) each think of personal things that perhaps we can
"sacrifice" to the Lord. Things that we have maybe been holding back
on or not fully committing too and for 40-days we really give it emphasis on trying
to overcome whatever it may be. So yeah I guess you could say it's more along
the lines of "lint" than a "fast" but either way its
purpose is to help up be more consecrated and find miracles and HOLY COW was
this week filled with miracles!! But I will get to that later. :)
"Part-member soon to
be ALL-MEMBER family!" - we went on a referral from our ward mission
leader (who as previously stated is "more 'on-fire' than London on Guy
Fawkes day!") to visit a less-active family that used to be really active
but due to some very sad choices by certain member of the family, just fell
apart. BUT as sad as there story is, they are now piecing things back together
and as a part of that "piecing back together" there is a new member
being added to the family that wants to get baptized like the rest of the
family and so while we have yet to see that non-member addition of the family
at church yet, the rest of the family has started coming back and are doing
really well!! In fact they are doing so well that they signed up for dinner
tonight and we are heading over in about half an hour! (hence the pressure of
time in this situation, haha!)
"Tithing & Fast
Offerings" - the lesson that we shared with our progressing investigator
family. This week we also finished out the lesson entitled
"Commandments" with a quick rundown of The Ten Commandments with
extra emphasis on The Law of Chastity and The Sabbath-day Holy. It went GREAT!
They are still on track and very excited for their baptism date on Dec. 19th!!!
I just hope and pray I don't get transferred on the 16th which is the next
transfer day... but either way, I am just glad I got to see them progress as
much as I have! :)
"Referral Charades
at the Waimea Public Library" -so one reason I was so rushed to e-mail
last week is because literally right in the middle of my already short session
on the library computer I got interrupted by a lady who was very excited to see
us, but sadly, could not express her excitement in the form of words because
she was actually deaf. However, her inability to hear or speak
and my inability to understand ASL did not stop her from getting her message
across. What then followed was a 10-15 minute game of charades as she told me
through actions and some random key words written down on a piece of paper
about a friend of hers here in Kekaha whose husband (or fiancée, I'm still not
too sure) just passed away of lung cancer and she was now alone with two
children. She was very sad for her friend and wanted us to help her and asked
if we could not only pray for her and her family but if we could go visit them.
So then this week we went by to the address she gave us and met her friend and
explained the whole story about the acted out referral and about who we are and
a little bit about the Plan of Salvation and offered our help and long story
short we have a return appointment with them this next week! So yeah! We're
VERY excited about that and we'll let you know how it goes!! :)
So anyway, sorry that is
way more than I wanted to say about last week but they were all just such cool
stories! Anyway some of them definitely do spill into this week’s awesome
stories so yeah, it works out! :) Anyway, as Fozzie Bear would say,
"moving right along", I'll try to cram in as much as I can about the
MANY miracles we saw this week! :)
So first, we had a great
lesson with a part-member family that we were teaching before but had to drop
because they just weren't committed and weren't ready at the time. But then a
few weeks ago they showed up to our Ward Thanksgiving dinner and then at least
a portion of them have been coming to church every week since then! The lesson
went great and we have another one set up for this week so we're going to try
to set their 10 year old daughter with a baptismal date again. Hopefully this
time things pull through for their family!! :)
Thursday was highlighted
by our weekly Book of Mormon/FHE class. It is always a great class and a very
spiritual experience for all in attendance but this last week was extra special
as one of our investigators who has really been struggling recently due to bad
friends and bad past life habits and other things, finally showed up to class
and was INSTANTLY welcomed in and fellowshipped and felt so good about
everything that he wants to keep on coming out!! It was great! :)
Friday we spent most of
the morning helping set up for one of our members "1-year old birthday
lu'au" which if you weren't aware are a HUGE deal out here!!! I mean like
practically wedding reception huge!! If not bigger! I will be sure to send you
some pictures of the decorations we helped build and set up, it's pretty nuts!
haha! But anyway, so after the service we went to a lesson with a girl who was
previously taking the lessons and stopped for a while because she was still
young and had no support from her part-member family at home. In fact her
father wouldn't even let her get baptized no matter what so while she stayed at
least semi-active in YW for a couple of years she basically was lost on our
radar. But now she is older, about to graduate high school actually, and she is
VERY active in YW, in our Thur. night study class whenever possible, and even
at church! So while we still have to get approval from the parents because she
is only 17, she has a MUCH better chance at winning them over because she has
showed her commitment to the gospel! So yeah! She really wants to get baptized
ASAP and we are going to talk with the parents as well and hopefully by the end
of the week she also will have a baptismal date!! :D :D
Saturday we spent a good
portion of the day clearing out the overgrown jungle that was right next to our
house... I forgot to get any "before" pictures but needless to say it
was NUTS! But I did get after pictures and I think from those you should be
able to piece together a little bit just how BIG of a project it was! But to
wrap it all up in a short sentence. We lopped down trees with our many cane
knifes and machetes while our member mowed down the rest with his giant Tractor
and mean mower attachment!! (Pictures will be included at some point.) And then
after that we were running all over to go try and at least make an appearance
at not one but TWO one-year old birthday parties that we were invited too. Both
looked VERY excited although we barely caught the tail end of both because of
our packed schedule that day. But they were fun none-the-less.
Sunday. ok... this was
the BIG day... but because I've already gone overtime and this letter is hands
down the longest I've ever written anyway I'll try to just sum it up SUPER
fast!! Church was GREAT!!!! We had 9 investigators at sacrament and that
doesn't even include all the other non-members/less-actives that came out that
week for a baby-blessing and other reasons! With the rest of our day we somehow
managed to cram in SIX different lessons!! But because of time I will only
highlight two. So first we went to go try and see this less-active family that
we had happened to run into a while back but never really made solid contact
after that. But instead of meeting the member at the door we actually ended up
meeting and talking with his little brother who is just a few years older than
me and is also the ONLY member of his family to never get baptized! So long
story short we talked for a long time and he really opened up to us and
basically told us that "I've had a rough past, things are not going well
now, I have friends who are not good influences and have led me down a path
that has torn my life apart. I need and I want new friends and new life and
help from someone." So of course after listening for quite a while and
almost shedding tears at the account of his story, we testified of the
Atonement of Jesus Christ and we told him about a group of people, down at our
church in Kekaha who are all GREAT people and while they, like all of us, are
not perfect, would be more than happy to take him in, to fellowship with him
and to help him come out of the same life that many of our members came out of
themselves, some not too long ago at all. That is one thing I truly love about
this ward. They are all SO humble and welcoming and loving especially of people
who do come from tough circumstances because as mentioned before many of them
came from very similar circumstances but have let the atonement change them and
help them. This ward truly is a miracle ward full of so many miracle people.
Which leads me into my last short little story.
So after our lesson just
mentioned above, we drove quickly to the chapel for a broadcast of the 1st
Presidency Christmas devotional (which was INCREDIBLE by the way!! The choir’s
rendition of 'Noe! Noe!' especially touched me because it reminded me EXACTLY
of the kind of Christmas music that I'm sure Jan Sanderson would pull out for
our ward choir this time of year! :) haha!). When we got to the chapel though
we were quickly snagged by our Bishop and one of his councilors and they
escorted us to our "reserved seats" in a semi-empty chapel RIGHT next
to a man, obviously not a regular at church, who was invited to the fireside by
one of his good friends who is a ward missionary in our ward. After a little
talking we came to find out that he also recently just came out of a VERY rough
lifestyle and even was still stuck in one in some ways. His story too almost
brought tears to my eyes as we listened intently and likewise bore testimony of
the Plan of Salvation and the Atonement of Christ. He was touched by the whole
night and wants to be a part of our church and while because of his situation
the path to baptism may be long and hard and filled with obstacles, I know that
the Spirit touched him that night and soon enough he will be in a situation
where he can be baptized and beyond!!!
So yeah.... that has been
my past two weeks! Sorry it's so long, I promise I really tried to keep it
simple and short but there was just so much BIG news that it really is no
surprise that it resulted in a rather big e-mail. But I will close now. I hope
you all have just as big and exciting and miracle filled weeks! I know you
don't have to been a full-time missionary to see those miracles each and every
day. Just do what you can to follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ in your own
personal life and the miracles are bound to find their way into your life!!
Have a great week! I love you all! Mahalo nui loa for the new socks (which have
already been put VERY much to use! :) haha!) and mahalo in advance for the
other Christmas package on its way! :)
Aloha au ia oe!!
-Elder Powell
I am SO glad to hear that
everything is going well for all of you and that you had a magnificent week
from the sounds of things! That being said I am also SO sorry that I will have
to be keeping this letter EXTRA short and simple and to the point. So sorry but
I will probably not be using a lot of my usual humor or rhetoric in this
e-mail... likewise there will be no foolish wand waving or silly incantations
in this e-mail either... ok sorry I'm done making jokes, now on to the serious
stuff... maybe. :) haha!
Anyway, after that we went on exchanges with
the ZL's in Lihue on Saturday and while I wasn't there for the actual lesson,
Elder Luke and Elder Birch (on of our ZL's) finally set W with a
baptismal date!!!! I am SOO excited for him!!!!!!! I am also excited for our
other investigator family (T, T and their son) who will be
getting baptized this next Saturday!! While I am very sad that I will not be
here for any of those baptisms I know that they will all make great converts
and be an incredible strength to an already incredibly strong and solid ward
here in Kekaha. 
So I am going to be
heading to the Waipahu Marshallese branch! Only is this mission can you serve
in a mixed ward, a Tongan ward, a Samoan ward, a Haole (military) ward, a
Hawaiian ward (I mean like half of the members are pure blooded Hawaiians from
Ni'ihau) and then go to a Marshallese branch!! What a blessing it is to be
here!!! Anyway, so yeah... this will be interesting because first off... as you
might recall..... I DON'T SPEAK MARSHALLESE!!!! AT ALL!!!!!! I can say hello! That’s
it! Thankfully my companion I'm pretty sure is fluent, but as for me... well
it's looking like I'm gonna have to go sit out by the beach somewhere for three
days and just read the Marshallese and English scriptures back and forth for a
while... try and put Grandpa's method of language learning to the test! haha!
But also besides just not speaking the language, I don't know the culture, the
food, or anything about the people really! I mean don't get me wrong, I am VERY
excited to get to meet them and learn to love all of that stuff... but nevertheless
I am still a little apprehensive going into it as to how quickly I can
adjust... but either way, I'm sure it will be GREAT! I do know that they are
VERY humble people and I am sure that everything will work out GREAT in the
end!! :) We'll make it a ward soon enough! ;) haha! Anyway, it will also be
cool because unlike other areas on the mission, we really don't have any ward boundaries...
we are one of the two Marshallese branches on the island so while we
technically "split the island in half" our branch has been around for
a long time and the other has only existed to literally a few months now so we
already have a bunch of members all over the island!! I'm excited for that! :) 
