Mission Address

You can write to Luke at the following address:
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Luke A. Powell
Hawaii Honolulu Mission
1500 South Beretania St. Suite #416
Honolulu, Hawaii 96826

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

New area - tiny, white and solid

4/13/15
FAMILY!!!!!

In case you've ever wondered this is what a pineapple plant looks like
Man, congrats Paul on the graduation and everything!!! That’s super awesome!!! Glad to hear that all of you are keeping at least a little bit my weekly commitment to not forget to be awesome! haha! I don't have a ton of time today so I'll just jump on into what's happening over here in Mililani!!

Some dinner the Otokichy family fried up for us when we went over to say bye!
So as you all know the hysteria of transfers as of late is finally coming to a close and I have settled now in Mililani 1st ward where I will be for hopefully a little longer than a month and a half :P haha! Anyway, from what I've seen so far it's a pretty cool area... definitely a LOT different than where I was on the Big Island! 

We're right in the heart of Mililani so the area is tiny, the houses are big and pretty much everyone is at least slightly rich, so again a HUGE change but it's ok I'm adjusting pretty well. I think the weirdest thing is that almost everyone over here is white!!! haha! I just got so used to seeing predominantly Polynesians and now I'm in a ward that is predominantly white and it's throwing me off a bit, I almost feel like I'm back on the mainland! haha! However … I have found at least so far that just like everywhere else over here, Mililani is very full of the spirit of Aloha! :) The ward is very solid (definitely the biggest one I've been in except maybe in Hauula but even then I think this one was a little bigger... although it was ward conference so I think that contributed... anyway, sorry I had a little ADHD moment there, but they really are a solid ward) and it's also very well organized and efficient. I figure it has a lot to do with the dynamic of the community but it's interesting because at least from what I've seen so far it seems to be run almost like a business over here. The ward council especially was very formal and stuck to the agenda and it was just kind of odd because of the stark contrast found in most wards I've been in with their very laid back local mentality. But it's a good odd! :) haha!

Elder Griffin and Elder Powell
 As for Elder Griffin and I, we are doing great! Elder Griffin is a SUPER solid missionary!! We actually came out together so that's the second time I'll have had a companion that's out the same time which is always fun! :) haha! Anyway, he's from Richfield, UT so not quite as small of a town as Elder Sellers out in Hanksville but still pretty small, anyway that being said his small town background doesn't reflect in the slightest our goals for this next transfer or so together!! We’ve actually got some really exciting plans together! 

We've already got a few progressing investigators including one with a baptismal date for May 2nd (I tried to convince them to switch it to May the 4th but no one else found my proposal quite as compelling as I did...) Anyway, so I'll let you guys know how all of that goes! :) But we’ve also just started passing out "family mission plan" to all of the active families here to hopefully start generating referrals, finding new investigators and eventually baptizing nations! :D haha! So yeah, I'll keep you guys up to date of all of that! :) But anyway, for now we've gotta get going to the store and then to our pad to do some MAJOR clean up! haha! So on that fun note, I hope you all have a GREAT week!!! I love you and am praying for you so much every single day!!! Stay strong, carry on, and don't forget to be awesome!!! :D

Aloha nui loa and ofa atu!!!
-Elder Powell

p.s. Thank you again though for all of your prayers and fasting on my behalf, I really do appreciate it and they are very much felt! Aloha au ia 'oe!!!

p.p.s. Sorry I don't really have any pictures since I got here but I do have some of the plane ride over and some of us messing around with some settings on the camera! :) hahaha!




Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Another Transfer, Tree Tunnels and Giant Pancakes

4/6/15
My dear family!!

This last week has been pretty crazy out here! Minus the obvious excitements of Easter and General Conference it has been a rather eventful week in Pahoa! First and foremost with the awesome experiences we got to have with the O. family! The one who I told you about last week with the baptism I stole from Elder Reinhold, haha! Anyway, so following the baptism the day after my emergency transfer we talked with and set an appointment to keep meeting with the family and now the girl's mother, is taking the lessons and wants to get baptized! And aside from just her they just had a TON of other family members move in to their little house (or at least in the near vicinity of it) from Guam and they are almost all members although most are only semi-active so we're gonna keep going over and teaching the kids and teaching the mom and teaching the family and if things keep going as great as they have been over there then really soon they will all be baptized and active and we will have a new GIANT and active Chuukese family in our ward! :D

This is what happens to shoes that haven't been polished in months! 
 Anyway, whatever happens though unfortunately I won't be here to see it. It truly is part of God's eternal plan that there is opposition in all things and so, just as all the excitement of the O. family as well as many other families and people I have already come to know and love in a matter of two weeks here in Pahoa sets in, I found out for sure that I will be getting uprooted yet again and transferred back to Oahu to be in the Mililani stake in the Mililani 1st ward with Elder Griffen (I actually came out with him so that will be cool!) Anyway, It's really not that bad, I mean I am very excited to go to Mililani and know many missionaries who have served there and heard a lot of great things about it so I am happy for that reason! I am just saddened that I will have to leave what has already come to feel like home here in Pahoa and all the amazing people that inhabit it! If any of them happen to be reading this, I love you and really do appreciate the time I got to spend with you even if it was short.

Anyway, it will also be quite the culture shock going from areas like Pahoa and even more so Ka'u to Mililani. After a month or so in quite literally the most spread out, country places in all of Hawaii with many of the people living in some of the most impoverished circumstances imaginable, I will be heading over to one of the busiest, crowded and wealthy communities in the entire mission!! Mililani is supposed to be filled with mainland military families and long time snowbirds or vacationers who almost all have more money than they know what to do with and who almost all will come and go and come and go, which again will be a stark contrast to the many long time locals here in Big island some of them being literal keiki o ka aina (children of the land). So I am sure come next Monday after spending half the week in Hilo and half on Oahu I will have many more exciting stories to tell!

But anyway, one thing is for sure, I have learned from these last three months with their four different areas and companions that no matter where I go or what is happening around me that the Lord is still there! I am so grateful for the knowledge that he lives and that he loves each and every one of his children! It has been a major challenge these last few months but definitely looking back I can see the Lord's hand in all of it and if nothing else was accomplished from it at least he has taught me a major lesson on patience and endurance and faith. Also over these last few weeks especially I have come to appreciate even more the words of the Prophets found both in the Scriptures and through Latter-day Prophets!

I loved all the sessions of conference and have already downloaded many to my flash drive to listen and review in the coming months until we hear from them again! I hope you all had spiritual experiences listening to the inspired messages this conference weekend! I know I am eternally grateful for it!! Just as I am eternally grateful for all of you!! I love you all so much and thank you again for everything you do and everything you are! I am praying for you always and wish you the best in the coming week!! Stay strong and don't forget to be awesome!!! :D

Aloha nui loa!!
-Elder Powell

p.s. CONGRATS ABBI!!!!! And also congrats to Regan!! that is so awesome to hear about both of them and about all the exciting news with all the family!! Be sure to send my love and Aloha to all! :)

p.p.s. I'm not sure if you noticed but I just remembered hearing that Kim B. Clark got called as a 70?! That's so awesome!! I knew the second they released him from BYU-I that he was going to be a GA! He pretty much already was there! haha!

p.p.p.s. Sorry if this weeks is a little all over the place or incoherent. As you might imagine it's been rather tolling on my mind especially to have to keep bouncing around and try and learn new areas and people and companions and so forth. 

p.p.p.p.s. I love how much joy there is here in Hawaii in all the little things, like cool tree tunnel roads and gigantic pancakes!! :) hahaha!




Wednesday, April 1, 2015

ET, Lava flows and green sand

3/30/15
 I figured this week I'd just send you guys a picture of me and my new companion at our baptism we had this last week without any explanation and just let you sit in suspense and wonder "what the heck is going on over there!?!" Enjoy! :) haha



Just kidding!!! Haha! I guess I'll write you guys a full letter with a little more explanation as to what all happened this last week but be warned this was yet another pretty INSANE week!!!! So it started out normal enough, just more "home teaching visits" to the 90% of our ward that is less-active in Ka'u, some service at people's houses, and a LOT of driving around, when right in the middle of this huge service projects mowing down these GIANT weeds that took over a one of our member's yard, I noticed we had a missed call from our zone leaders and from the mission president. So of course we stop what we are doing and call them back only to find out that the next morning I would be emergency transferred to Pahoa (still in our zone, actually in our district too!) because the Elder there needed to go to Oahu and they needed someone who could drive around the Elder staying since he's from Samoa and doesn't have an American License... soo.. long story short, I am now in the Pahoa ward with Elder Young Yen (a 3/4th full blooded Samoan that just happens to have a Chinese last name) and while his companion is in Honolulu and my old companion is now with the Elder that came from Honolulu because he is also Samoan and can't drive here. Anyway, the craziness doesn't stop there!! So I got ET-ed over here on Friday and Saturday the Pahoa Elders had a baptism set up for two little girls (Deserae and Jaylisao Otokichy.... I'm sorry I might have spelled their names wrong but you get the idea.) So technically I got my 2nd and 3rd baptism here on the mission but I also kind of cheated yet again! :P My first baptism (Rainbow) was already active for two years and I just happened to be there for her 18th birthday and my next two I transferred into literally a day before their baptism!! I didn't even teach them ANYTHING!! hahaha!! But either way it was great to get to see them be baptized and I actually got to do the confirmation for one of them yesterday at church so that was extra special! I guess I did participate at least that much so I don't feel too bad taking at least a tiny bit of credit for it! haha! So there's a little bit of explanation behind that picture I sent! :) (the girls that got baptized are the two in the middle with the Lei's on.)
 
So yeah, this too has been an odd week for us in Hawaii! haha! And what makes it even odder is now that I have settled into a new house with a new companion and new ward and had a baptism in the matter of three days... I will almost definitely still be getting transferred back to Oahu next week on the actual transfer day! haha! So you don't have to worry too much about past problems with the hurricane or the lava flow that is going straight through our area, (that's a real thing, I'll send a picture! haha) soon enough I'll be back in a big city, crowed with people from all over the world, sharing the Gospel and hopefully setting in this time for more than a month and a half!! (suddenly six months in one area like I had in Kane'ohe doesn't sound too bad!) So yeah, that's kind of my update out here! hopefully everything is continuing to go well for you folks back in Az!!! I sure miss it out there but I'm learning to love it even more than I already do out here which I thought would be impossible and yet it keeps happening every day! :)

Be sure to send my love and aloha to all the Groberg family living in our house, hopefully there is nothing too rancid or embarrassing left in my room! haha! And also huge congrats to Joe and Dad on tour! I know how hard that "little birds" song is both on the piano and vocally. Eric Whitacre is one crazy guy but he sure does write some incredible stuff! haha Also be sure to tell the guy who did our new pantry thank you for all that he did and mom I will be happy to re-do it when I get back if it hasn't driven you crazy after a year or so! hahaha! Anyway, I guess it's just like having a little bit of country right there in our little city house! hahaha! It would definitely fit in with most of the houses out here on Big Island! Well I gotta go but thank you again so much guys for all that you do. I really do love you so much and pray for you always! Send all of my aloha to everyone back there as well as an apology for all the people who have written or e-mailed me that I haven't gotten back too... I am still just about as scatterbrained as I was back home if not more so finding free time that happens to overlap with and the mental capacity to respond to letter back home is just about non-existent for me! :P haha! but I do appreciate them and will get back to each of you as soon as possible!!! :) Mahalo nui loa!! I love you all! Have a great week! Stay strong, carry on and don't forget to be awesome!!!!

Ofa lahi atu!!
-Elder (Luke) Powell



p.s. the beaches out here come in all sorts of different colors! haha Black sand, green sand, white sand, but they all have one thing in common! ...............we're not allowed to walk on any of them.... :P BUT we are allowed to go close enough to them to take some cool pictures of them! hahaha!! So yeah, that's just one of the many exciting scenic things we did this last week! :)

Also this is what the Lava flow looks like after it's wiped out everything in its path and cooled down a bit (don't worry, none of this stuff is still flowing it's all solid.... but the flow is still going about 200 yards further down the road! haha! Also what a real profession HAM radio operator looks like doing his thing! I'm definitely going to hang out with Bro. Rachiel if the lava burns down all other forms of communication cause this guy knows what he's doing with his HAM! :) haha



Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Luke climbs a coconut tree

3/23/15
Aloha ohana!
Man sounds like things are still just plugging away as normal as can be back in good old Az!! That's cool to hear about Hannah and Ben's missions!! How much longer does Hannah have?? And I don't know if I mentioned but I just watched my last ward send off one of their missionaries to the South Dakota Rapid City mission so I'm curious if he's going to get re-assigned to Nebraska as well. That would be cool! I'll have to ask around! Anyway, apparently we all have a lot of connections to that part of the US! haha! And you should ask the Elders and find out if they know where Elder Mahlandt, Elder Reaves and Elder Francis are or what happened to them!! I think Elder Francis might actually be home?! Man, that's crazy that it's almost been a year since my mini-mission!!
Anyway, as for us out here in good old Ka'u things are just about at normal as always! .....so in other words not normal at all! haha! But hey what better place for me to be than somewhere for not normal people because well... I'm not too normal myself! hahaha! But in all honesty this really has been a great week. Just doing what we always do, a couple lessons with our "investigators" (families that happen to have a non-member in the home) and then our normal 12-15 home teaching visits :P haha! but it is great! For the most part the people here in Ka'u are just like the people around the entire rest of the Hawaii, super warm and friendly and welcoming! We actually have this little swap meet we've been going to with like 9-10 tents set up each week and just kind of getting to know some of the community (it honestly is a good chunk of them there which just goes to show you how small it is! haha) And the best part of that is there is this really nice Mexican Lady (who most recently came from Arizona but was born and raised in Mexico) that makes SUPER good Tacos!! So that is always a highlight of the week! :) hahaha! Also we are seeing at least a little bit of excitement on the ward level. We just got a new Bishopric when I got here and because the church doesn't want Bishop's wives being RS presidents at the same time they just called a new RS presidency too! It's funny cause our whole bishopric are all former bishops and the bishop himself is on his third time as bishop.. when your activity pool is about 30-40 people on a good week I guess your choices are limited :P haha! But they are all great men and I'm sure will do great things! 
The ocean down at south point and all around the island is seriously SO incredibly clear and blue it's just beautiful!!


Anyway, I am sincerely praying that this new ward set up works well because we also found out that after this transfer President will probably be closing down this area or at least merge it with the neighboring area (which would make those poor missionaries area over 120miles long!) But long story short it looks like I will be doing yet another one transfer area which kind of really stinks because you don't have nearly enough time to get to know the ward or the area or anything but it's ok, President is in desperate need of missionaries in other places because with the age-change swell going down we will be dropping from over 200missionaries to only about 170 in the coming months! So that will be crazy!!!
But again no matter what, I am sure that the work will keep on hastening and everything will work out just like it's supposed to! (or at least very close to that! haha) Just keep praying for the amazing saints of Hawaii, I know I will be! Anyway, I hope you all have a great week and remember that I am praying for you constantly and I love you all so much! Mahalo nui loa for all that you do!! Stay strong, carry on and don't forget to be awesome!!! :D :D :D
Ofa atu!
-Elder Powell
p.s. just thought I'd include some pictures of me getting into my Polynesian side climbing a coconut tree (which is MUCH harder than a pine tree on the mainland! :P haha!) and enjoying the view from the south tip of Big Island which also happens to be the furthest south point of Hawaii AND the United States! (Alabama ain't got nuttin' on Ka'u!)

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Blizzard in Hawaii

3/16/15
FAMILY!!!!
 Oh, how I love that word! Even just the word family makes me smile! :) Anyway, I'm very glad to hear that all of the family has been doing great and having lots of fun! I know I'm not there in person but still even just knowing that you are all having fun together makes me smile out here! :) haha! Well hello to all of the family and a GIANT mahalo to each of you for all that you do! :)

 Anyway, sorry for such odd e-mails the past few weeks but, well, honestly there's not really any better way to describe these last few weeks than as just odd! For example! Believe it or not we were the only state this weekend in the entire U.S. that had a full-fledged BLIZZARD WARNING!!!!! A blizzard!! In Hawaii!!! I mean sure it wasn't actually down where people live, it was up on top of Mauna Kea but still it made for some pretty good snow and sledding conditions today for our district p-day activity! :) haha! Anyway, that was a blast!!! (even when you factor in the scraped up arms, frozen toes and incredibly sun burnt face! hahaha)


As for the rest of this week it has also been an odd one when it comes to missionary work. We had another exchange so on basically the most eventful day EVER in Ka'u (one of the slowest areas in the entire mission!) I was up in Keeau and Waikahe for one of their SLOWEST days ever (which is normally one of the fastest areas in the mission!) haha! so apparently the Lord just knows that I am a little slow and kept me away from anything exciting happening in Ka'u like cutting down trees and teaching crazy lessons! but even then we still managed to put up our fair share of craziness all the other days with running back and forth from Hilo (an hour and a half drive) three different times this week! We had our interviews with President that he does with every zone every three months so that is always great to see President and Sister Warner! :) The only sad side to it all is that he will possibly be closing this area soon because it is so slow and we are losing a lot of missionaries as the swell dies down after the age change and everything evens out again. So, unfortunately I don't know that I will be here much longer but no matter what happens I am very glad I got to be here when I did and meet the people that I did! :)

 Anyway, I gotta get going (the work just never stops! haha) but I love you all SO much and pray for you daily!!! Thank you for all of your support and your e-mails! I do enjoy them very much and just apologize that I am not the fastest at responding but I promise I'll get to them as soon as I have a little extra time! But again they are read, appreciated and you are all loved so much!! :) Thank you again, aloha nui loa, and don't forget to be awesome!! Have a great week!!

Ofa atu
-Elder Powell




Wednesday, March 11, 2015

High on the mountain top (literally and figuratively)

3/10/15
Ohana!!
Aloha again from little old Na'alehu! I'm glad to hear that everything is going well back in AZ (and in Price) and just wish I could be even more a part of it (but not as much as I want to be out here serving the Lord so don't worry about that! :) haha) Anyway, that is too bad to hear about Tanya, I will never forget all the times we went out back with her little rusted knifes and tools and dug out weeds for hours! I also remember one time going to bring her this cookie we were told to share in primary and she was not only very puzzled but very determined to pay us for it! haha! But if my childhood memory serves me right we got away with no compensation except for a sincere (yet still puzzled) wrinkly old smile. :) Anyway, I am sorry to hear she passed and yet sure that she will be taken very good care of by loving missionaries, members and even primary children on the other side of the vail. :) As for Grandma she definitely does have all of my love and prayers being sent her way and I will try and piece together something special to send her physically but at the rate things have been getting done around here I may end up giving it to her in person after my mission! :P haha!, 

As for our side of the Ocean we have been spending a lot of time quite literally high on the mountain tops! haha! Our week here in Hawaii started with a trip up to the top of Mauna Kea, the tallest mountain IN THE WORLD!!!! That's right! Take that Everest!!! .......well ok so maybe Everest is a little higher elevation but Mauna Kea is still the tallest!! .....it's just mostly underwater. haha! Anyway, while it isn't the highest elevation in the world, it is definitely the highest here in Hawaii and is in fact so high that if you go at the right time of year it bears an awful lot of resemblance to the ice-planet of Hoth! So yeah, we went sledding in Hawaii! :) haha

Anyway, we also got to go to a spiritual mountain top this morning when we traveled to the Kona Hawaii temple! I've now been to both Temples here in Hawaii and both of them are just amazing! This one however is one of the MANY "cookie cutter" temples if you will, that good old Gordon B. Hinckley pumped out while he was President of the church and is therefore tied with dozens of other temples as the 5th smallest temple in the world! And it is very noticeable! If you want another fun little google earth experience just look up the Kona Hawaii temple from the top and then scroll down a tiny bit and check out the stake center right next to it almost double its size! haha! But never the less it was great to be able to go and do some initiatories for those who can't do it for themselves (we didn't make it to the session but the initiatories were great! :))

Anyway, as for the rest of the actual missionary work that was happening in between all of that, it's still hard to say what exactly is going on down here in Ka'u because... well I don't even know what's going on! haha! The people here are just as unique as ever and I'm still just about as lost among the deserts of lava rock as ever! But it's looking up! I'm slowly getting a handle on the area and the culture and everything and trying what I can to get to know and get along with my comp the members and everyone else here, but no matter what it's still a bit of a culture shock going from a zone with 92% membership to one where we have on a good week 30 people total at church! This week was a special treat because we had a few stake members and one family visiting from the main land that bumped our numbers all the way up to a whopping 40 but all in all it is a good ward and I enjoyed being able to talk as well as my companion and our stake high councilman on Faith! (if you are interested I based most of my talk off of a story Bro. Hank Smith told in one of his devotionals about a man walking a tight rope over Niagara Falls and how being a believer involves not just saying it but doing it and so forth. It's a really good and entertaining talk! I would highly recommend any of his talks!)
Well anyway, I should probably wrap up now, sorry it's so long and probably mostly information you guys don't care about or things you could have just looked up on Wikipedia but, well, that's about all my fried brain could manage to get out today! haha! Sorry! But in all seriousness, I do love you guys all very much and appreciate all that you do and are continuing to do! I hope and pray that you have a great and blessed week and look forward to hopefully being able to talk a little more next week about actual miracles and missionary work and not just random facts about dormant volcano's I happen to be living close to! haha! But until then, have a great week, keep on pressing forward, stay strong, carry on, and as always, don't forget to be awesome! :)
Ofa atu!!

-Elder Powell

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

The forgotten (but still beautiful) wastelands of Hawaii

3/2/15
Ohana!! 
Our tiny group of Elders in Laie zone that tried to stay afloat among all the sisters!
Aloha from Big Island!!! Man, I cannot believe it has only been a week since I last wrote to you! It feels like it has been ages!! Honestly SO much has happened in this last week I don't even know where to begin! Well first off I guess I should say that I am glad to hear everything is going well back home! Be sure to tell Joe to break a leg this week with his performances and if possible to definitely get a copy of the show cause I wanna see it when I get back! :) But anyway, also I'm glad that everyone else is doing great at doing what they are great at! You are all just great people and I am grateful for that every day! :) haha

saying goodbye to our fellow missionaries in the Hauula wards the Borsellas
 the two Elders who are replacing us in Hauula, Elder Hobbes and Elder Melvin 
WELCOME to the thriving metropolis of Na'alehu and Ocean View!!
 So as for my updates, to anyone who thinks about Hawaii and thinks it's all just beaches and sunshine and very rich, or thinks of a tiny little island where you can walk from shore to shore, I say, send them to Ka'u! It is CRAZY down here! Fun fact, we are not only the largest area in the mission but we are the most remote as well! We cover quite literally the entire bottom part of big island! We are approximately an hour and 10mins from the nearest missionaries in either direction and an hour and a half from the nearest city and that from the middle of our area. Just going from one end to the other of our area is over an hour drive in and of itself! Anyway, so not only are we
completely isolated but we're also basically in the middle of nowhere! If you ever want a good laugh look on google maps for Na'alehu, HI... that's where we live! haha! the tiny building behind the church on the main road there. Anyway, so our area includes that town as well as the thriving metropolis of Pahala and the ridiculously spread out houses of Ocean View. The latter of the two being a community literally build on nothing but a dessert of volcanic rock! As for the people here, they are well.... they are their own people! Definitely a lot of fun stories to leave here with! Perhaps my favorite so far being one of our members houses with perhaps the world’s largest collection of bears. She is a great lady and over all the 2,000+ stuffed, porcelain, gummy, toy, and all kine bears are actually just rather impressive, however being there I am reminded just a little too much of our wonderful stay in Independence MO at the Serendipity bed and breakfast. haha! Anyway, it really is a great place though! :) It will just take some MAJOR adjusting to! :P

And while we're on the topic of thriving metropolises, I'm sure you'll be interested to know that my new companion, Elder Sellers, comes straight out of the of Hanksville Utah! haha! Population 215! (Well 214 I guess now that he's out here in Hawaii! haha) Also, he is interested to know if we are related to any of the Alvey's out there. I guess they're parents are Powell's from Price? Anyway, he's a good guy! Been out for a long time, really hard worker and just a tough cookie! In fact he's actually studying and training to apply to West Point and eventually join the green berets after the mission... so as you might imagine it's just another great match up for the skinny little nerd from Tempe! haha! But really though he's a good guy and we get along well! :) Anyway, as for what exactly is happening here with regards to mission work, you'll have to give me a couple more weeks before I can really give you a good update on that! :P haha Mostly all we do out here is... well... drive! Unless we're visiting one of the four people we visit with in Na'alehu it's about 20-30 minutes to either Pahala or Ocean View and then lots of drive time in either of those areas! haha! But it's great! We actually do have two investigators that are potentially going to get baptized very soon! They are kids of a less active lady that wants to get them baptized so we'll see how all of that works out! 

Anyway, I guess that's about all of my update for this week!  I've gotta get going soon, we're gonna do a little shopping while we're up here in Hilo (since we don't normally make this drive almost ever. :P haha) and then I'm not too sure what we're going to do after that but I will be sure to let you all know next week about our many adventures here in the forgotten (but still beautiful) wastelands of Hawaii!! Have an amazing week! I love you all and pray for you constantly! Stay strong, carry on, and don't forget to be awesome!! :D

-Elder Powell

some special effects fun with Elder Hatch! :)