9/21/15
ALOOHHHAAAA OHANA!!!!!
Thank you so much for
your letters and your e-mails and most of all for your thoughts and prayers on
our behalf! Elder Chen and I have definitely felt them and they were very much
needed this past week. I'm so glad to hear about all of the incredible things
going on back home and all the amazing people who, from the sounds of it, are
still just as amazing as ever!!! I can't wait to join you all again but until
that day, well I've got work to do out here! :) haha!
Anyway, jumping right
into things, I guess if I could put a theme of some sort to this past week it
would probably be "hold on" as in the song from The Secret Garden
because almost every day this week I have been having to remind myself that
"it's the storm not you, that's bound to blow away". Of course there
was the oh so exciting news that we all had to evacuate for the terrifying
tsunami that just devastated our islands this last week..... And in case you
haven't figured out by now, I am being rather sarcastic. Just like so far every
other big "hurricane" or "tsunami" that has threatened to
turn our way, this one petered out and died long before it ever even touched
our shores and in fact I don't even know if this island got so much as a swell
(which I'm sure made the many avid surfers over here a little disappointed.)
But it did manage to take out almost an entire days worth of proselyting as we
all hunkered down in Kalaheo - much to the amusement of many of the members and
other locals who all already knew there was nothing coming. It was a fun day
none the less! :)
Speaking of Kalaheo, that
was one of our second big "storms" that seemed to hit hard the last
week. So Tuesday we went with the Kalaheo missionaries (the other set of Elders
in our district) to take their car in for what should have been just a short
same day inspection and repairs.... only to get news a couple hours later that
it would not be done until the end of the week! And then as the end of the week
rolled around they got the call that it was going to take another couple days
and they could pick it up today (Monday) although we are still waiting to hear
from the car shop. Anyway, because of that they were without a car for
practically the entire week and they also have one of the largest areas on the
island covering more than quadruple our two little towns in Kekaha ward. So
being as we were the closes missionaries (or more likely the most available and
willing ones) we got to spend most of the week trying to balance and bounce
around the two areas with only one car and I had to do almost all of the
driving! So yeah, that was pretty crazy and made for a lot of days with 100+
miles and 4+ hours of just straight travelling. I don't know how truck drivers
do it! it is exhausting!
So finally one of the
last big "storms" from this week actually came from a little insight
I had after a really tough lesson last night. I could go into a lot of detail
and actually started writing a little memo to myself about it that will
probably someday turn into a talk about standing strong against the winds of
the world, but for now I will give you the very quick summery. So this certain less-active member we were
talking with for the first time, after much conversation in all sorts of
directions, basically told me (and I paraphrase really only slightly) "I
am worried about you because you seem to be so cemented into this idea of
Prophets and Apostles being 'directed by God' that you won't be able to see
things change and progress with the times". To which I attempted to
continue responding with my testimony and personal experiences but there was
not much place by that point, if any, for a seed to take root so we left soon
thereafter. But anyway, it was kind of bothering me because he seemed
"legitimately concerned for me" because of the fact that I would not
change my beliefs to fit into many of the social issues that the world has been
altering recently (including everything from Church attendance, to prophets, to
homosexuality, to gender equality.)
It was rather sobering to
watch as the many stories I had heard and read about in the Book of Mormon and
the Bible concerning people who were misled by the cunning words and crafty
lies of the adversary came to fruition in front of me. We both tried to express
our souls to him and explain that God does not change with every fancy and whim
of mankind but he would not take it and we left disheartened and a little upset
that truly this idea of "building upon a rock" as the Savior implored
us to do is seen by the world as out dated and that the beach resort of
secularism is drawing so many into its stream of ever changing doctrine and
ideas.
Anyway, I guess again to
summarize everything from this week. Stay strong, don't let your foundation
slip and don't allow be scared to face the storms that come in life because
they come to all of us. The only thing that we can change is where we build our
house and our testimony. I love you all and will keep on praying for you!!
Thank you again for your support and your love and prayers in our behalf!
Congrats to JD and Kyle and everyone else who is still working so hard! Be sure
to send my love and aloha to both of them as well as to Sis. Fairbanks and her
companion and a very special aloha to Sis. Christensen who I will hopefully be
able to see out here in paradise soon enough!! Mahalo nui loa and aloha au ia
oe!!! :)
-Elder Powell
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