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! 

Individually and in our own time, Taking off the tie, Pokeball heaven

8/3/15

Aloha Ohana!!

I'm so glad to hear that everything is going well back home and that you are all finding ways to stay busy and also to have what sounds like a LOT of fun! :) as for us here our "fun" is well rather limited to what we do every day but honestly it can be EXTREMELY fun if you just make it! :) sure there are parts of it that get a little mundane and hard to stay motivated about such as tracting and street contacting but we have had a few things this week that I wouldn't hesitate to say were extremely fun!! :)

First, off, W is still progressing REALLY well! It is super fun to see someone who started out (at least from my limited perspective) as introverted and slightly cynical to building a level of trust and friendship where he is happy, interactive and feels welcomed at church! He's been to church probably five or six times now and is really progressing as far as lessons go as well. We're still just trying hard to help him find that answer and witness from the Holy Ghost that he so desperately is searching for. But I'm sure it will come sooner or later! That is just how the Holy Ghost works, individually and in our own time, when we're ready. :) Anyway, whether or not I will be here to see the fruits of that labor I am not sure, transfers are coming up next week and I have been getting the feeling that my time here in Mililani is quickly coming to an end, but I guess we will see! Anyway, I still have a little while either way so I'll just wait and let you know what's happening next week! :)

 However that leads me perfectly into my next fun thing that happened this week. With summer coming to an end we are seeing a lot of moving in and out among the many military families in the ward boundaries and one in specific who will be actually getting out of the military and heading back to the mainland to settle down in Utah (having never even been through there before let alone lived there). So while it is definitely NOT fun to see them go, it was lots of fun to help them (and some of the other members) with all kinds of service including setting up and helping man a garage sale, move washers and dryers, and entirely moving another family in the ward into their old house. All of that, plus another service project for an older less-active couple who have been making an effort recently to get active again, really filled up our week with lots of opportunities for service which really was such a blessing! It always feels good to just be able to take the white shirt and tie off and get your hands dirty and just be able to help out others in all sorts of different ways and actually see the fruits of your labors! :) So yeah, that has been extra fun! :)

Anyway, other fun events of this week are small and simple and not of enough significance to make it into this e-mail because we are short on time but needless to say the Lord provides us all with countless tender mercies each and every day, and if we are just humble enough to recognize them and thank him for them and find ways to share them with others He will continue to pour them out, each and every day, little by little, until our cup truly does run over and we don't have room enough to receive them!

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week! I love you all and am praying for you every day and night! Mahalo nui loa for all you do and Aloha au ia oe!! :)

-Elder Powell :)

This is our impromptu plan of salvation diagram draw and taught in under 10 minutes because we were short on time and late for another appointment! (and I know what you're thinking... yes... the spirit world is supposed to look like a Pokeball :) haha)

Cottage meeting, Keep on digging

7/27/15
Dear Family!

Aloha from the islands of Hawaii! Mahalo nui loa for all of your kind thoughts and your e-mails, they are much appreciated! Sorry if I'm a little brief with my responses but unfortunately as always we seem to be rushed on time when it comes to e-mailing on p-day. But I am so glad to hear that your week has been a blessed one as well! :) We definitely always enjoy feeling the blessings of the Lord that come from doing his work! Of those blessing this past week I guess I would just like to highlight a few of them.

So for starters, kind of working my way backwards, yesterday we had a GREAT cottage meeting! I don't know if I've ever explained to you kind of what those are but basically we just have a little fireside for recent converts and/or recently reactivated members where they just kind of tell their stories and share their testimonies and people can bring friends and family and it's just always a great time, but this month's was especially great because it was almost entire dominated by the Mililani 1st ward!! We actually provided BOTH of the speakers from our pool of recent converts including Codey  and Jeff and that was great but beyond even that we also had our progressing investigator W show up and one of our "progressing" less-actives come too as well as Jeff and Codey's families (who are made up of almost entirely less-actives or non-members) and to top it all I got to lead the music for the meeting which is always fun to do! :) who would have thought it'd be so much fun to just wave your arm around at people and try and get them singing! :) hahaha!

Anyway, a quick word on W. So we've been teaching W for a while now and there were multiple time when we almost dropped him just because, well honestly because we weren't being patient enough. But anyway, just as the Lord does with so many things in life, he made us wait until we were just about at our wits end and almost out of lessons until all of a sudden he sure enough worked a miracle in our lives and in his! For whatever reason W started to really progress just incredibly fast!! He already has finished the ENTIRE Book of Mormon, has come to church 3 weeks in a row now, is praying really hard and seeking an answer to his questions and studies for literally hours every week between lessons from LDS.org and mormon.org!! Anyway, the problem though, is he just doesn't feel like he has gotten his answer yet, he said he just keeps on getting the impressions to "keep on digging, don't give up yet" which is certainly a great answer but it has just been a little disheartening to him as well as us because he wants to know but just can't seems to figure it out yet for himself.. anyway, we'll see what the coming weeks holds in store, I hope and pray I will see it happen but am not too sure with transfers coming up in just a few weeks here again. But regardless I'm sure in the end everything will work out! The Lord definitely knows his children and he loves them and wants the best for them! I know that! 

As well I love you all so much a miss you like crazy! Know that I am praying for you always and trust that the Lord will take care of you until we meet again! Have a fantastic week! Don't forget to be awesome! :)

Aloha nui loa!

-Elder (Luke) Powell

Nice and Normal, Enabling Power, One Year Mark

Since we didn't have any new fun photos of Luke to share this week, here is a photo of Luke's Grandpa Powell when he was a young man. Apparently Luke's propensity to hang out in trees is genetic. 

7/20/15

Aloha ohana!!!

Glad to hear everything is nice and normal (well relatively) back home! :) honestly "normal" is something that I've never been very familiar with although I do wonder sometimes what it would be like! :P haha Anyway, as for our week it was actually a pretty good week. Still a little slow when it comes to teaching lessons and everything…but it was interesting how over and over throughout the week almost all of our messages and studies even seemed to be about the Enabling Power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ!! Truly incredible stuff!!! (I think my favorite talk I read on that was called "In the Strength of the Lord by Elder David A. Bednar at a BYU devotional a couple years back.) Anyway, that has really been helping me a ton (obviously, that's kinda what it's there to do. haha) and it's almost become a theme for us as a companionship hopefully at least for the rest of the transfer!

Other than that though highlights of the week first and foremost included some great lessons ranging from less-actives who have sincerely tried but struggled with overcoming past grudges and mistakes of others for multiple years now to strengthening a young single father of two who has had his own battles with addictions in the past that even lost him his children for a while but he is now doing INCREDIBLY well and getting his life not only more situated physically and financially but also spiritually so as to be able to provide even more so for his kids in all of those aspects!

Of course we also had a big celebration this past week on the 16th for reaching our official one year mark on the mission!! It's crazy to think that exactly 1 year ago last Thursday Elder Baker and I entered the MTC fresh and not too sure what lay ahead and now here we are again together with some faded suits, worn out shoes and a whole lot more experiences under our belts with many more to come as well! it's been super fun being with someone I came out with! Just as it was with Elder Rentmeister and Elder Griffin before! Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again in the future... I'm starting to realize we had a pretty huge group that came out our time with about 18 Elders and 4 Sisters compared to the 1 or 2 new Elders and 3 or 4 Sisters we have been getting the last quite a few transfers :P but anyway, it's been a good year! :)

That being said I know there is a lot more I want to say and a lot more I probably should say, especially some kind of motivational spiritual awesome statement that you could then print off and hang on the wall or quote in your next talk/testimony at church but... well... I don't have anything right now and I don't really have the time to think of any either.. so it suffices me to say that, the Atonement is very real and very powerful and when both its cleansing and enabling effects are put to use even less than ordinary men and woman to do extraordinary things no matter how impossible the odds may seem. (there that was kinda of insightful! haha) Anyway, I love you all, I miss you like crazy and pray for you every day but I know I'll see you soon enough! In fact I should see you approximately this exact time next year! so yeah, hopefully the weather that year is a little cooler and a little more humid than it seems now, otherwise I might just shrivel up when I step off the plane! haha

Well have a fantastic week! Aloha au ia oe!

-Elder Powell

A lot of resting, Jenga with dishes

7/13/15

Ohana!

Aloha!!!!!!! Thanks for the e-mail! I really appreciate it! I'm glad to know that at least Joe is staying busy with all sorts of crazy high adventure trips and such! I mean it sounds like all of you have pretty full schedules for sure but that five day backpacking trip just sounded EXTRA awesome! :) haha! Also speaking of extra awesome, I'm sad I missed the revival of "The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe!!" did they stay true to the original story and set and everything? I'm sure it's going to be up for multiple Tony's in the coming ceremony for best off-Broadway revival! How was "little piggy #2"? I mean I know it's hard to beat the originals but I'm sure they found someone pretty great to fill that role being as it is probably one of THE MOST important ones in the whole show! ;) haha! Anyway, that really does sound fun as does everything you guys have been partaking in over the last few weeks! As for our week here, well it's probably going to be a pretty short e-mail.. for two reasons, one we don't have much time, but two we really don't have a lot to report on.

So this last week after e-mailing all of you we had a nice dinner with some members and then soon after were on our way back towards our pad.... little did we know we wouldn't be leaving it again until Sunday!! Both of us had been feeling crummy for a little while (pretty much just exhaustion) but my companion has type one diabetes and hence forth he also has a really weak immune system ... But he's doing a lot better now!! Anyway, really that is about the only thing to update you on. We just spent our days playing the uke, reading scriptures, watching church videos and of course, a lot of resting. Although I suppose one MAJOR awesome and exciting note to kind of end on is that J got confirmed!! Of course that was just awesome!!! He is really incredibly solid and will be a great asset to the ward that he moved into.

Well sorry again this week was so short but I gotta get going here pretty soon. Thank you again though for all that you do and all that you are! I love you and am praying for you as always!!! Have a great week and of course, don't forget to be awesome!!! :D :D

Ofa lahi atu!

-Elder Powell

p.s. that's so exciting for Joey!!! He's definitely gonna have a well... interesting time over there! haha! Nah, the Marshall Islands are way cool! Obviously we have a TON of Marshellese people over here in Hawaii and they seriously are just the most humble and receptive people ever! I'm sure he'll find lots of success and have lots of great experiences over there! send all of my love and aloha to him and all the family! :)

p.p.s. the only picture I really have to send from this last week is our odd little game of jenga we play whenever we do dishes and have to stack them on the drying rack... hahaha! sorry it's kinda a weird picture to send home, but yeah... that's all I got for this week! haha! love you!

Balut, Baptism, Bellows Air Force base

7/6/15

Aloha ohana!!

 Thank you so much for the e-mails as well as all the extra little boost of strength and encouragement sent throughout the week via you prayers and thoughts on my behalf. They are felt and frankly I think they are the only thing keeping me alive out here half the time! haha! Anyway, that being said I'm glad you all sound like you had an amazing (or at least eventful week!) Glad everything went well with picking up Joe, travelling to Utah and celebrating the many exciting events involved in this last week with so many exciting and awesome people! Be sure to tell all the family I say hi and that I love them and will be back there to celebrate with them soon enough! :)

As for my letter home this week I have decided to send the letter "B" ......that is all. Hope you enjoyed that letter and I will talk to you next week! :)

-Elder Powell

...........just kidding! well kind of... I will write more but overall this week really was one that could probably be best described as a "B" week. "B" for Baptism, Balut, Bellows Air Force base, Beautiful fireworks, and Burning fevers.... I guess some of those were a bit of a stretch... but anyway, let me explain a little more one day at a time.

So first we started the week with trying to wrap everything up before transfers which took place this last Wednesday. Even though Elder Baker and I are staying together and staying in this area, transfer week is still always one filled with a lot of running around saying hi and bye to people, signing journals, trading pictures, and in this specific instance celebrating at a member's house with some fresh Balut!! (see picture) This time it was significantly harder to choke down than the last one I had approximately one year ago in Kane'ohe with my trainer Elder Basag, but I still got it down without too much difficulty so yeah, that was fun! It was especially fun to watch all the other missionaries try it for the first time and watch their disgusted faces as they got past the initial shock only to bite down and feel the crunch of a beak of pull a feather out of their teeth! haha! 

 Anyway, then on Wednesday (the actual day of transfers) we spent most of the day driving back and forth from town. First we drove with some other missionaries so that they wouldn't be alone between dropping his companion off at the airport and picking up his new one. Then we drove back to Mililani so we could do our studies and meet with a few people before driving back to town for my dentist appointment (thankfully all of that is finally taken care of! ....and now my companion has to go in pretty soon.... haha!) But the BEST part of Wednesday by FAR was getting a call from our ward mission leader saying that J wanted to get baptized as soon as possible!!! So of course without any hesitation we set up his interview times got things squared away with the bishop and other members of the ward and set everything up so that he could be baptized yesterday!!!!! It was so awesome!!!!

Anyway, as further proof that the Lord's hand truly was in J's baptism it is fun to note that we had originally set his baptismal date for July 4th and for whatever reason we kept it as that even knowing that things were getting more and more complicated every day and things probably we not going to work themselves out to reach that date. So finally as we were reporting out numbers last Sunday we decided we had better drop his date because things were still up in the air and probably weren't going to settle in one week.... BUT THE DID!! AND HE MADE IT ALMOST EXACTLY ON THE DATE PERVIOUSLY PLANNED (well plus one day but that was just human error on a few things) and yeah it was just super awesome and a super spiritual service and now we're working towards J and her baptismal date and honestly things are looking pretty good for that as well! But we'll keep you updated on all of that!

 :) Anyway, sorry I spent way too much time on all of that and other stuff and now I'm almost out of time so I'll hurry through the rest of this week. Thursday we had service in the morning with a rather interesting less-member of the ward.... how do you help people who genuinely think they are active but don't show up to church, read their scriptures, etc... It's an odd situation that missionaries have apparently been trying to figure out for years now... so yeah. And then Friday we got to go down to Bellows Air Force base to meet up with the rest of our ward who had been camping there all week and had a nice pot-luck dinner and played Frisbee for a little while. There was actually a very good turnout which was great for most of the ward (but not so great for those of us left back in Mililani all week who had to try and work with what little of the ward was left here :P haha).

And finally Saturday was filled with preparations for J's baptism, celebrating the 4th with other missionaries (since the mission president had up stop proselyting early that day for the holiday) and watching fireworks (from a rather significant distance) over Pearl Harbor. Anyway, so yeah a very eventful week that will hopefully be followed up by another eventful week hopefully with a little more missionary related events mixed into the other excitement. :) Well I've gotta run but I love you all and I'm trying to do everything I can to make you proud and to live up to the standard of excellence that all of you have set before me. I am grateful for your example you have set and continue to set and know that I am praying for all of you every day! Have a fantastic week and a fantastic rest of your summer vacation. Aloha au ia oe!! :)

-Elder Powell

p.s. If I ever forget to explain something in an e-mail or if you have specific questions about things just let me know cause most of the time I just get lost in my own train of thought and I'm sure I miss things from week to week... 

Trying to catch up as the Lord hastens his work

6/29/15

Aloha ohana!!!

This week is going to be a pretty short e-mail. I haven't been feeling too well and honestly I don't have tons to report on anyway. This week was pretty much just another week full of cancelled appointments, a lot of knocked doors and some slowly progressing investigators (but progressing none the less!! so that's good!) Anyway, so J and J are doing well. He is moving out tomorrow and will be getting baptized as soon as possible after!!!!! Although I'm not sure if we will get to be a part of his baptism since he's moving out of zone but either way that will be happen soon so that's super exciting!! :D Also J and all of her family she is living with have to move and they will probably be moving out of the ward boundaries so we might not be teaching her anymore either... so basically our two most solid investigators are making some MAJOR progress... their progress just happens to be out of our area of influence. :P

Anyway, the other big news this week (that didn't end up even being that big) is TRANSFERS!!!!!!!! I'm getting transferred toooooo........... wait for IIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTT!!!!!!!!! ............................Mililani 1st ward!!! ...oh wait... just kidding, I'm already here! :) haha! Yeah, sorry that was kind of cheesey but I'm pretty sure none of you are lactose intolerant so yeah... :) anyway, yeah we found out that Elder Baker and I are staying together for at least one more transfer so that should be way fun!! I'm mostly just excited for this coming week cause we get to go to the ward camp potluck!!! Unfortunately we can't camp out with them all week (ward camps over here are a HUGE deal apparently!! I mean seriously, they've been talking about this thing basically since I got here!) but we did get permission to attend the dinner on Friday night and we have TONS of less-active members that are going to be there as well as a couple investigators even!! So yeah that will be really exciting! 

Anyway, the only other news that goes along with that is that we may or may not also be getting transferred from four wheels to two... we have a car right now but might be losing it for a nice set of pedal bikes.... just in time for summer!! Whoohoo!! haha! but in all actuality we will be fine either way. The area is really not that big at all, it's maybe a tiny bit bigger than my first area in Kane'ohe and we did fine there even without bikes, but me may keep our car too, not sure. Anyway, I'll let you all know if anything else exciting happens this week with transfers! :)

Well that ended up being a little longer than I expected anyway! haha! So yeah, that's my weekly update, hope you all feel sufficiently up to date and if not... don't worry cause I still feel like I'm not even up to date with my own life half the time! haha! Days and weeks are starting to blur together now as my official year mark draws nearer and nearer and I still feel like I'm just trying to catch up with the Lord as he hastens his work and asks up to keep pace. Sometimes mortality and the weaknesses that come with it are the biggest stumbling block for all of us on our path back to Heavenly Father...... sorry... I just re-read that and realized it sounded way more depressing than it was supposed to. Nothing is really wrong over here, just fatuige :P hahaha!

To end on a happier note I got to conduct the music at a fireside last night and it was super fun to just be able to conduct music again and just really sing out loud! I feel like we hardly even have time to do that anymore! haha! So yeah, music is fantastic!! :) And on that note (pun intended!) I better get going. But I hope you all have a great week! I love you all so very much and am praying for you always! thank you for everything you do and everything you are! Keep on keeping on, til dis life is all pau and even then dis life is small kine compared to da real kine stuff afta dis life so stay for realz and live aloha every day!! haha! Kia kaha my family and Aloha nui loa!!! :)

-Elder Powell

[Note from Me - Luke's mom]

One of my bosses sent me this. Small world - especially in the church.

Sister Powell,

I had the pleasure of spending the evening with your son in Hawaii.  What a fine young man.  He is serving in Mililani where my parents are serving and they both commented on what a fine Elder he is.  He has very much impressed them.  He conducted the music and a choir for a missionary cottage meeting.  Did a wonderful job.

You can be very proud of your fine son.

Sincerely,

Mike Petramalo

Michael D. Petramalo

Assistant to the Area Director

Seminaries and Institutes of Religion

U.S. Phoenix Valley

One endless paradox, That one act of kindness, Bonus Photos

6/22/15

Aloha Ohana!!!

 

and a very special AAALLLLOOOOOOHHAAAAAAAA to little Mabel Powell!!!!!!! WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!!!!!!  and congratulations Sam and Elise!! She looks beautiful!! :) I'm super excited to have a brand new little niece even though I probably won't be able to see her in person until she's a little over a year old, but all of my love and aloha is extended to her even from the these little islands I call home! :) (also I had to re-read that name probably 8 or 9 times before my brain registered that it was Mabel Helen and not Mary Helen Powell! haha! But either way a beautiful name for a beautiful girl!!)

That's awesome about Adam! I didn't know he got back already! man it's crazy to think that time actually keeps on moving! Honestly sometimes it feels like time is just at a standstill out here, like we're all just stuck in some crazy inception kine limbo where everything changes but nothing does all at the same time and it's just one endless paradox!! ........well that was supposed to sounds a lot more deep and profound than it probably did, but either way I'm sure I could send it in the Doctor Who and they could make some sort of sub-par story line out of it for a filler episode in the middle of season 12.... ANYWAY, yeah back from that tangent.

Honestly this week we don't have a ton to report on missionary work wise, just another one filled with cancelled appointments, portugee (pidgin for very talkative) members, and hot sticky days! BUT I do have some of probably the most exciting news that I've had in quite a while too!! J IS GOING TO GET BAPTIZED IN LESS THAN A MONTH!!!!!! WHOO HOO!! I know it's still a lot up in the air so I'm not too sure about all of that but just the fact that it is definitely happening and probably pretty soon is just so incredibly exciting I don't really have much else to say about it than WHOOHOO!!!!!! :D hahaha! Anyway, we also have been seeing quite a bit of success with MULTIPLE less-active families that we have been working with so that is SUPER exciting! :))

Anyway, sorry I would write more but we're a little pressed for time and I am extremely pressed for energy and attention right now because of a lot of other crazy things that have been going on this week, but anyway, I will definitely keep you up to date on everything that is going on and know that while things are a little slow and difficult at times that just like the Prophets have promised, the field is in fact white and ready to harvest and that there are people out there who need this gospel in their lives, in fact they are all around us! Everywhere we go! I genuinely believe that if we could see exactly how many people we pass each and every day that are prepared at least some way or another for this gospel that we would just be AMAZED and probably couldn't even comprehend it, and yet it's true, they are out there, they are everywhere and they are just waiting for that one act of kindness, or that one invitation or even just that one little smile from someone they know to reassure them that they are cared about and even more importantly that they do have a Heavenly Father who knows them and cares about them because in this day and age especially Satan will do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING to counter that very basic and yet most important of all truths, that Heavenly Father is in fact our father and just like any and all of the great fathers whom we honored this last Sabbath-day, he loves us and he wants what is best for us and HE WILL NOT LEAD US ASTRAY!!!! I know that!!

Anyway, thank you everyone for all that you do. Truly Heavenly Father does know me and knows what I need and that is why he gave me all of you, because I am positive that without your love and support and prayers I would not be the man I am today and I could not do everything I have to do from day to day so thank you again for that! If there is anything I can do for each of you PLEASE let me know and I will go to whatever lengths necessary to do it! I love you all soo much and am praying for you always!! Have an amazing week! Stay strong, carry on, and don't forget to be awesome!!!

Aloha nui loa!!!!

-Elder Powell

p.s. So a quick side note but fun note! This p-day we got to go on base with one of our members who is a pilot for the Army and he showed us all around the hangers and let us climb around the black hawks and ask him all kinds of questions and it was just super cool! So yeah, here are a couple pictures of that! :) haha! A very special thanks to Bro. Thorley who besides being an awesome member and missionary is also just an awesome guy outside of church and let us play around on his 13 million dollar equipment! :)

BONUS PHOTOS

Luke's Grandpa Powell on his mission in Brazil

Luke on his mission in Hawaii - photo is a tribute to his Grandpa Powell

Walk the Walk, We are NOT the teachers

6/15/15

Aloha Ohana!!!!

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!!!!!!! So, this week in Mililani! Well I guess one reason I don't have quite as much to say about this week is because last week was so jam packed with awesome things that we ended up only having a chance to e-mail on Wednesday so it hasn't been that long, but still this week also seemed to be jam packed with quite a few odd things to report on. Most all of the day Friday was spent at the Dentist's office while I got a filling fixed and teeth cleaned (only to find out that apparently the assistant found another cavity on like the back of my back molar even after the actual dentist with the dozen x-rays they took said that I didn't have any.... I guess even with daily brushing and flossing the universe just couldn't fathom a trip to the dentist for me without them finding a new cavity).

After that we spent basically the entire rest of the time we didn't spend in the dentist's office, in traffic on the way back to Mililani. Word to the wise if you are ever visiting out here in the future and want to go to Mililani from Honolulu.... NEVER miss the turn off on the freeway!! You will end up in Pearl City and once you get there, there is no going back!!! We spent almost two hours just trying to get back on the freeway!!! Anyway, so yeah that was a long and kind of frustrating day sitting in traffic with a half numb face for almost 3 hours total.... but eventually we did get back and we had a good dinner and basketball night with pretty much entirely non-members. So that was cool! Actually I'd say it was extra cool because I didn't make a complete fool of myself too many times on the basketball court!! :) haha!

And then the other probably biggest thing this past week was that we had stake conference!! It was SUPER good! They talked a lot in the adult session on making the Sabbath-day more of a spiritual experience both in and out of church and then in the general session on Sunday about not just being a believer in Christ but a disciple of Christ, or in other words, not just talking the talk but walking the walk!! It was SUPER good! Probably the coolest part though was when the Stake President started to bare his testimony and went off on some tangent about literally EXACTLY what our less-active members we were sitting next to needed and honestly us too!! The spirit is just INCREDIBLE!! It truly is!! :) Anyway, but stepping back a bit, a little background on the fact that we were indeed sitting next to a few less-active members in stake conference!

 

So their story starts out a few weeks ago when we were just doing what we normally do and trying to meet and share messages with the less-active members in the ward (because like most places here in Hawaii that is the majority of the work). Anyway, we knocked on the door of this one family and Bro. W just let us right in and started talking to us like we had been coming over there for ages even though apparently missionaries hadn't been by for months!!! So anyway, we went by a couple times and every time it was the same, a LOT of listening and quietly nodding our heads and occasionally tossing in a comment or question here and there and then watching as normally well over an hour sometimes longer flies by without them seeming to take even a breath between sentences! This continued on for a couple visits and then finally just a little while ago we were talking with them (well relatively) and after a rather lengthy story about the latest work troubles Sis. W stopped and said "so what time is church again?" and they committed themselves to be there!

However, unfortunately two weeks went by and they never did make it, but with each missed Sunday we also got a call from Bro. W explaining why he wasn't there and inviting us to keep stopping by. Probably one of the most touching things actually to ever happen on my mission was during Elders Quorum when for the second week he had missed out on church and called to apologize and he told us "please don't give up on us!" And we didn't, we never planned on it but it was still hard. Anyway, long story short, this week we had a great lesson with them. It was funny because Sis. W started the visit with talking all about how she thought "he should go to church" and "he needed it" but that she wasn't ready and wasn't going to be there but that we will "definitely see him there at church on Sunday" but then after a lot of then venting and just letting out anger or malice that in some cases had been building up for YEARS and a lot of sharing our own stories and stories from the scriptures and so forth in a quiet moment when the Spirit was perhaps the strongest, Sis. W just stopped and said, "well, I guess you'll see me at church on Sunday!" haha! It was so incredible!! I LOVE lessons like that where the spirit teaches everyone including us! It is always a good reminder to me that we are NOT the teachers! The Spirit does the real teaching and when everyone is in tune with the Spirit is can flow freely and teach everyone whatever it is they need to hear.

hike to Makapu'u Light house

 Anyway, along with that I just wanted to close by say thank you so much for everything you do and that I am more sorry than I could ever even begin to express for all the different ways I have wronged people, ruined relationships, broken trust, lost friends, abandoned family and every other mistake I have and continue to make. I am definitely VERY far from perfect and when I think of everything I have done in this life I can truly sympathize with Nephi when he said "my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities... Nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted" and in whom I continue to trust and because of him, well because of him I am out my mission in the first place! Anyway, to anyone who may have felt they wronged me in anyway, know that I forgive you and that you don't need to dwell on it! I'm trying by best to not dwell on my mistakes because they are MANY! But just know that I love you all and I am praying for you constantly!!! I wish you all the best this week and look forward to hearing more from you in the coming week!! Mahalo nui loa and Aloha au ia oe!!! :)

-Elder Powell

Bonus photo and note from Luke's mom -

This just in...A photo of Luke with some members of the Moody family who were good friends of ours (the Grobergs) when we lived in Hawaii many years ago. I've been hoping he would get to meet some of the good folks of the Kahala Ward sometime. Thanks Jane for passing it on.

The Reality of Agency and Opposition

6/9/15

Dear family,

This has been quite the week! I have so much to tell you guys about and I want to be able to write a lot more and I may have a chance to later in the week but, as so often is the case as we try and live the law of consecration and sacrifice, the Lord requires of us that which is truly the greatest sacrifice and of the most importance to us. And thus was the case this week. We had our temple trip this morning which took the entire morning and right after that we had to rush to a lesson with some of our investigators which ended up being over 2 1/2 hours and one thing after another led to having literally no time left to e-mail. I am sorry but at least for now that is all I have time to say! BUT things will work out! :) Anyway, just know that I love you all and am praying for you! I am VERY appreciative of all the birthday wishes and gifts even though I am undeserving of them and of such amazing family! Anyway, I've really gotta run! Have a great day!!!!! Aloha nui loa!!

-Elder Powell

 

our zone at the temple 

6/10/15

ALOHA OHANA!!!

So sorry about any confusion with the e-mailing this week. As I mentioned briefly above yesterday was a CRAZY day! So technically yesterday was our p-day but even though it was a "p-day" we had pretty much more teaching appointments that a normal proselyting day! haha So anyway, we talked with the Zone Leaders and they said we could take some time today to catch up on a lot of the "preparing" parts of our "preparation day" including e-mailing home! :) Thus, I am writing again! haha! So anyway, moving right along into this last week for us here in Mililani!

As I mentioned in my last short e-mail it was a bit of a crazy and trying week for us. Overall it was actually a rather average week for Mililani but I suppose in comparison to last week which was just jam packed with miracle after miracle and all sorts of progress, this week was a kind of wakeup call back to the reality of agency and opposition. That there is opposition in ALL things and that, unfortunately, people sometimes do use their agency for not always the best choices. Not necessarily bad choices but just not the best. I guess I'll summarize all the negative things that happened this week real quick into a couple sentences and then move on because there's no reason to dwell on them! They're already in the past!

So basically we had one of our investigators with just incredible potential to get baptized, drop us over text. And then we had two other extremely solid investigators each do a little "research" of their own online and of course found a lot of anti-Mormon material that we are now trying to explain and dispel. (I've found it's extremely difficult to explain to someone a quote pulled out of context from the Doctrine and Covenants or Pearl of Great Price when they don't even have a testimony of the restoration or prophets! That is why everything must be done in order and why understanding comes line upon line!) Anyway, we found out another of our investigators that had tons of potential to get baptized really soon has a smoking problem and picked up two jobs which has her working now not only on Sundays but 7 days a week so we can't even hardly have lessons! Anyway, all of that isn't really a major problem in the long run, it's just going to slow down her progress a lot, but hopefully it won't stop it completely! :) Anyway, we also just had a lot of investigators cancel appointments but I mean that happens every week so that wasn't really anything too crazy.

So yeah, that all just kind of happened all at once which was rough, but again, there is opposition in all things and just like last week was a little slower of a week we're looking forward now to weeks 4,5,&6 of the transfer, all of which have TONS of potential to just be INCREDIBLE weeks!!!! I'm also really hoping to stay at least one more transfer beyond this one so that I can hopefully see some of the many fruits that are just in the process of ripening and will probably be harvested very soon, but regardless I'm sure that this area has a lot of great things in store for whoever is here in the coming months and I'm just glad I got to be a part of it! :)

So yeah, onto a few really cool things that happened this week!!!! As I have also mentioned before we got the chance to go up to La'ie this week and attend a session in the Temple there which was GREAT (especially fitting cause our lesson in Elder's Quorum this last week was on Temples! :) haha!) and definitely I encourage EVERYBODY to do whatever you need to to hold and use a Temple Recommend! It is not some secret society that only certain people can go in to!! EVERYONE HAS THE OPPORTUNITY TO HOLD AND USE A TEMPLE RECOMMEND AND TO PARTAKE IN THE BLESSINGS THAT ARE IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD... EVERYONE!!! However, obviously such a sacred edifice also requires that to enter in you are holding yourself to the highest standard of worthiness! Nevertheless, I repeat that EVERYONE has the opportunity to partake in the blessings there in!! If you may be wondering "how can I do this?" Simple, ASK THE MISSIONARIES!!! THEY CAN HELP YOU!! :) I don't know of a single missionary (or member for that matter) in the world that wouldn’t rejoice in answering someone who sincerely asks "how can I get to the temple?"

the famous Poni'olo (cowboy) burger from Seven Brothers up in La'ie!

Anyway, back from that little tangent there... haha! Other than that this week’s highlights are not much more than any other given week here in Mililani, a lot of knocking doors, talking to strangers and antagonizing dogs. :) Haha! But again there is a lot of exciting things in store for the coming weeks and the coming transfers!! Stay tuned because this is just act one! act 2 starts in just one month!!!!! CRAZY!!!!! :D haha! Anyway, I'm glad to hear over this past year that I have been away that while a lot has changed all of you are still well and safe and that you are continuing to do great things and be such a great support and help to me out here! When I meet and hear a lot of peoples stories I am often just fathomed by how truly blessed we are in the world and how truly blessed I am especially to have such incredible family and friends that surround me every day, out here in Hawaii and back home and across the globe now! Anyway, I truly do love you all and to anyone who feels they are lost or don't have friends and family to rely on, you are always more than welcome here with us!! HAVE A GREAT WEEK! Safe travels Paul and Joe (I am incredibly jealous of the awesome adventure it sounds like you are about to have!), best of luck to everyone, remember you are in my thoughts and prayers always! Mahalo nui loa ohana, aloha au ia oe!!! :)

-Elder Powell