Getting Transferred! Being Exiled and The Death Star Approach

8/10/15

My dear ohana!!!

 Thank you so much for everything you do and for all of your prayers on my behalf. I could definitely use them as I frantically try and wrap things up here in this area and prepare myself for my coming area!! oh, sorry did I forget to mention that I am getting transferred!? haha! sorry I wish I had a wittier way of going about that but as mentioned before we are rather frantically trying to cram in WAY too many things over the next two days and it hasn't left me with much time at all to e-mail this week. Anyway, I will tell you though that I will probably be sending home a box of random papers and other stuff to you folks to hold onto for me so that I can stay under my weight limit when I pack my bags to fly over to Kaua'i!!!! That's right! Our mission president called us just this last Saturday and told Elder Baker that he would be staying here and gaining a new ward (so he will now cover Mililani 1st and 2nd ward) and that he will be the new District Leader here AND he told me that I would be flying out Wednesday morning to go to the Kekaha ward on Kaua'i and that I would be the district leader over there too!!! After a year I'm apparently finally trusted enough to have some kind of leadership position! haha! Just kidding, :) honestly it has been kind of nice just sitting in the back ground and doing my own thing with my companion and just not having a lot of attention for it, but that being said, even as a district leader I'm almost definitely not going to be getting much attention over there either! haha!

Remember how when I went to Ka'u on big island it was so large and so country and so far away from everyone else that it basically felt like being exiled to the farthest tip of Hawaii?? Well now I'm going to the other farthest tip on Hawaii possible just on the other end! haha It's not quite as much of an exile seeing that we are only a half hour away from the nearest missionaries as opposed to 2 hours... but it's also a much smaller island. Anyway, from the sounds of it, it really is a great ward full of a lot of very missionary minded old Hawaiian folks so I am excited to be able to be a part of that! Honestly I just feel fortunate to have to opportunity to go over to that island in general! There are only 10 missionaries total on the whole island and only 4 in my district! So district meetings will just be me, my companion and one other companionship. Also, while I'm talking about my companion, I found out my companion will be Elder Chen. He's a super cool guy from (believe it or not) mainland China! So his English isn't very good... at all... but having been companions now with a Filipino and a Samoan I think I'm starting to get pretty good with the whole interpretation of tongues thing! :) I actually spent a little time around Elder Chen back when I was in La'ie zone so it's nice to already have some idea of who he is but still I'm excited to get to know him better and the area better and report on all of that to you folks of course!

Anyway, sorry this e-mail isn't super long and sorry if it's a little jumbled, these have been some crazy last couple of days. But I really do appreciate all that you do and all that you are. I am praying for you each and every day. I love you and will talk to you more soon! stay strong, carry on and don't forget to be awesome!! :)

-Elder Powell

p.s. I totally forgot to tell you about the exciting news that is still happening here in Mililani!! So W is still progressing and still a little frustrated that he can't seem to find his answer but he'll get there, I am sure. Anyway, aside from him coming to church again this week for probably the 5th or 6th week in a row now!! (he's starting to become a regular!) We also had an older less-active couple who we have been working with now for months and months finally pull through on their commitment to come to church and they came and stayed all three hours and probably the greatest words I've heard in a long time, as they began to walk out of the building and they turned and smiled at my companion and said with a smile of their faces "well, we'll see you here next week!:" :) I love being able to see the actual fruits of your labors like that! but either way, whether you see the fruits or not, the labor is ALWAYS worth it! :)

p.p.s. here are some pictures from a district egg drop we did for fun in a district meeting last week with nothing but an egg ten straws and some tape. :) ....needless to say the "death star" approach didn't work.... in fact, nobodies eggs survived.. it was a little messy!
haha!