1/11/16
Yokwe bamile!
Believe it or not that is
not a typo... that's how most of the branch here spells/says
"family." ....I'm pretty sure it started out as just a joke about
their Marshallese Accent but it kinda stuck I guess.... haha! Anyway, it's always
fun to see people signed up on our dinner calendar as the "Elanzo
Bamile" (and so forth) :) haha! Well anyway, sounds like you all are
having a great time getting back into the flow of things. I know I am looking
forward to hopefully hitting at least a little more smooth patch in our work
over here as compared to the continuous rapids we've been going through so far
in this area... although I must say, while rapids tend to be a lot more
difficult and uncomfortable to get through, they also tend to move very fast
and present quite the excitement as well as throwing you some thrilling twists
every now and then! :) Sure enough this week was chock-full of its own new
twist and turns and progress in our area!! Let me explain.
First off, it's funny
that you would ask if we have any more last minute surprise baptisms to prepare
for because... well... we do! haha! Last week Elder Livaie was on the phone
with our Ward Mission Leader and after he got off he casually informed me that
"he wants us to come over sometime and teach his niece so she can get
baptized next Sunday" (As if it was just a passing thought that came to
mind right before hanging up the phone). Thankfully, this one shouldn't be
quite as hectic because the niece already took all of the missionary lessons in
the past and so we just need to review them with her and make sure she's ready
for baptism (which I'm pretty sure she is.) Then comes the real trick though...
getting the parents approval... I think that was the main hold up in the past.
But we are hopefully this time! After all, she's already giving talks in
Sacrament meeting. She and her sister gave great talks on missionary work this
Sunday which I especially appreciated because besides being about missionary
work, they were also in English! So that was nice to actually be able to
understand them! haha! And she is very active in all other church endeavors, so
hopefully they will allow it and then in due course hopefully they themselves
will come around and take the missionary lessons too! :) And speaking of
children leading the way for parents to later take the lessons... that is
exactly what is happening with T and L!
So I don't know if you
remember the whole story with the rather hectic baptism we had last week that
turned out to be basically just a "rehearsal baptism" because they
got the names wrong and we didn't find out until after the fact. So this
Sunday, just before church, we re-filled the font and re-baptized the two young
boys we were teaching. (T and L) This time things went quite a bit smoother! We
told them all that the baptism would start at 1:00pm expecting them to all show
up by about 1:30.... which they did... and we had just enough time to do the
baptism, take a few pictures and then head into sacrament meeting just in time
for it to start ten minutes late as always!! :) haha! (I think the stake
presidency knows exactly what it's doing when they gave our Branch the latest
meeting time in the building... haha!) The confirmations went great as well and
the two newest members of the Waipahu Marshallese Branch were welcomed in with
a lot of excitement. What added even more to our excitement this week however
was talking at least a little bit with their families afterwards! L’s father is
less-active and his mother is not a member. But both have asked to sit in on
our "after baptism" lessons with their son which will hopefully also
double as her "before baptism" lessons as well! Likewise T’s parents
(who are both non-members) are hopefully going to start taking lessons soon, as
well as their good friends who live next door that have been coming to church
with T and his mom for the last few weeks! So yeah! Lots of exciting things
happening there!
It's interesting how at
the end of every week with as many bumps and bruises and rough patches we seem
to hit throughout the week, that as I look back over the week for things to
share with you, there seems to be only positive things to share! Or at least
the positives seem to outweigh the negatives by a LOT!! I guess that is the way
life and the mission is. It's hard, this is probably the hardest it has ever
been... But at the same time it is worth it because there are people who are
ready and just waiting for us to come teach them! (In this case they're quite literally
ready and just waiting for us to scramble and try to organize their actual
baptism service! haha)
Thank you for your update
about your spiritually uplifting week! I hope that every Sabbath continues to
provide that for you! I know it sure has helped me more than I could ever
express. I understand now better than ever why the Prophets refer to the
Sabbath as a "delight" and as "a gift" that God has given
us! I know it is starting to be that way for me! Even when all of the services
and classes are in Marshallese, the spirit of the Sabbath is the same either
way! :) I hope you can all feel that spirit especially this week! Thank you
also for telling me about the new stake presidency. While I am very excited for
the new leadership in the Tempe south stake and am sure that they will do a
phenomenal job I am also sad to hear that Pres. Thomas will not be the one to
release me as well... although I guess he already got to release me once, from
my mini-mission, so it's all good! haha! Anyway, be sure to send all of my love
and gratitude to the stake presidency for all that they have done! President
Thomas and his councilors played a big role in my life as they were the ones to
help me and interview me as I got my Melchezidek Priesthood, my first temple
recommend and endowments, my mission call (well kind of... I guess technically
that one was Pres. Monk from BYU-I but Pres. Thomas still helped me a lot!) and
a lot of other very significant events in my life!!
Also, I'll be sure to be
on the lookout at this next transfer meeting for a Sis. Christensen! I realized
I'll probably have to look for her by name tag because all I have to go off of
as far as memories of their family is a lot of pictures of me and Grant from
when we were 5... as well as probably two more brief encounters the rest of our
lives... so I'm not sure I even know what he looks like any more let alone his
Sister... but I guess we'll see! We have one Sister in our zone who will
probably be leaving the area soon so who knows! Maybe she'll get trained down
in Ewa beach! :) haha! If so her trainer is a really solid missionary and a
hard worker! (Although I'm sure she can find that wherever she goes in the
mission!)
Well... now that this
little "closing paragraph" ended up being three times as long as
originally planned, I should probably get going! I love you all and look forward to
hearing more and talking to you more soon!! Ofa lahi atu!!!
Yokwe!
-Elder Powell
p.s. pictures: T and
L at their baptism (the real one... not the rehearsal one! haha!) and them
again with their Grandpa and Uncle who did the actual baptism. :)
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