Tuesday, May 12, 2015

May 12, 2015 - Misc. Pictures From the Last Few Months





May 11, 2015 - LISBON!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!! AGAIN!!:) haha love ya mom! Well we spent all day in lisbon today and it was awesome! We went bowling and sightseeing and it was sawweeett! We were there with a total of 12 missionaries and I won! haha yeah dad would be proud. I only got a score of 136 but it was way fun! And we have about 30 minutes to email so basically its going to be short.

This week we made cinnamon rolls and gave them to a bunch of members in our area so that was awesome! We have an awesome branch who just adore the elders haha so its been fun!

We got a sick reference from Setubal and he is a portuguese man with a family who has family members who are members of the church so this week is going to be awesome teaching them!

We got to talk to our families yesterday and that was way fun! Everyone is growing up so much!!

Well thats about it! Sorry it was so short! Love you all!
 
 

May 4, 2015 - Feliz Dia das Mães!!

So here in Portugal, and I think in all of Europe, Mothers day was yesterday so Happy mothers day mom!! I love you!!(: But yeah next week we get to call home so I'm pretty excited about that!

Well it was my first week in this area and it's been so awesome! We are down here by Lisbon in this tiny area with only like 6 streets haha so basically I already know the area. But its a pretty poor area with a lot of africans and just so you know Africans are ELECT! They are so cool and so humble and I can alrady tell this transfer is going to be awesome!! 

I am living in a house with the Zone leaders and it has been a blast haha basically we know all the secrets and inside stories and things about the mission. But its been so fun having 4 elders! One of the ZLs is a 25 year old Albanian who learned english from rap songs. He's so sweet. Apparently he was in the Albanian mafia or something. 

But our branch is awesome. It has about 45 actives and they are so nice! They were so warm and welcoming to me and I bore my testimony yesterday and I can already feel their love for me.

So before I got here there were 2 baptisms but they never came back to church to recieve the Dom do Espirito Santo. So this week we were passing them alot teaching about the importance of church and the spirit and basicaly we drilled in their head they have to come to curch this week! And... they didnt. Haha it was quite strange. But I guess this next we have to give more faca. 

This is a picture of some graffiti that hopefully wont keep you up tonight haha well thats about it. Hopefully next week I'll be talking about all our people marked for baptism! Have a good week! I love you all! Fiquem Bem!
 
 

Apr. 27, 2015 - TRANSFERS!!!!

So I got trasnferred! I'm in an area called Barreiro. Its on the south side of the river across from Lison! So this morning I took a 4 hour train to lisbon then 2 more metros to my area! Its been awesome. My comp seems pretty awesome and he has abobut 7 months left. We're living in a house with the Zone leaders so that should be fun! But yeah its going to be awesome to finally do something new and see new stuff! And plus lisbon is a lot warmer:D Haha but yeah so that as my day today

But this week was awesome! The sisters in our district had a baptism so that was pretty fun! 

On wednesday I had a division with Elder Belo and it was so fun! I went up to Guimaraes and we had a sweet day with some actually pretty serious lessons so that was fun! Oh we ate at the Bishops house and it was amazing. I cant even describe it! Meat and potatoes and this amazing salad and homemade pastels da nata. It was a perfect way to end the transfer. But we had some good lessons. One with this african lady, Arminda, with 2 little kids who says shes just wants to leave her house and how she wants joy in life but her companion is making her stay and she basicaly poured out her life to us. It was pretty heavy. I am so grateful that we had Bishop with us or else we wouldve not known what to say. But it was awesome and she prayed at the end and she started craying and we could tell she was really talking to her Heavenly father. It was awesome. Sometimes I feel like marriage counselors... Hahah becasue basically nobody is married and thats all we teach. So yeah maybe I'll become a marriage counselor!

But yeah I'm going to miss Braga but I'm pretty excited for this new transfer and everything! I learned a lot in my first 12 weeks and I know I'll learn even more! 

But this week my scripture that I shared with a lot of people was mosiah 24:14-15. It has an awesome promise that if we just trust in the lord and put everything on him he will give us the strength to push through it and make them feel lighter! I've had to trust so much in him these first 2 transfers and I hope all oyu have a really strong relationship with him. And if you don't, get one! Because honestly I did'nt before my mission and I wish I did. He is there for you. He loves you and wants you to succeed and be happy! Fiquem Bem!! Ate proxima semana!

Apr. 20, 2015 - I don't have a clever subject this week...

Olá todo mundo!
 
This week was pretty hectic! Last week we went up to Guimarães for P day so that was sweet! Portugal has some pretty awesome old little towns. And this was the oldest town in Portugal. But no really Portugal was born there so that was cool! 

But on saturday we had out Noite da Cinema! We had a fun movie night where we watched the Testaments at the church and we encouraged everyone to bring friends and investigators and things and it was pretty fun! We had about 30 people show up so that was pretty disappointing but oh well it was still fun! The sisters and us were kinda of in charge of it so we had to call every member and menos ativo and every investigator ever and make popcorn and buy food and drinks and set everything up so that was pretty stressful but it all came together! The testaments is actually a pretty powerful movie! 

But on Thursday we had a milagre! We had a pretty firme compromisso that fell and we were pretty discouraged at about 7:30 with nothing to do. So we called a number in our phone that we had been meaning to call for quite a while and she answered! So we asked if she could meet at the church right then and talk. And she said yes! So we taught her and she ended up being childhood friends with our ex bishop and it was crazy! She said she would read the LDM and everything! It really lifted our spirits because we had had a pretty hard day up until then. So yeah don't let anyone go! Even if they were just some random street contact that gave you their phone number! Hahah but it was awesome she's super elect!

Love You all! Keep trusting in the Lord in all things and he will lift your burdens!
Mosiah 24:14-15
 
 

Apr. 13, 2015 -

Olá everyone! We're up in Gumarães right now so I'm probably not going to write a main letter becasue we only have like 40 minutes because we want to go see the sights! But spring break sounds awesome! Jared and Tori are spoiled haha but California sounded way fun! Congrats on the mini golf mom haha

But yeah this week was pretty rough. Basically everyday we would have some pretty solid plans then they would fall. So we only taught like 8 lessons this week. Oh well. So theres not that much to talk about about the work but I got the package! THANK YOU!!! It was awesome! And thanks or the advice and the scripture. This week was a little better. We've actually been eating pretty healthy! but thanks I'll try to buy some of those things today. Tell Everyone hi and I miss them and love them and to give references to the missioanries! haha that's basically all we're going to do this week. Visit members and ask for references. Wish us luck! Sorry this week was lame. Next week will be better! Fiquem bem!

Love Elder Powell
 
 
He got our package!   Yay!!
 

Apr. 6, 2015 - Hospital....

Happy Easter and Conference all my fellow saints!

This week was awesome! The sun has been out and it's getting really hot and actually too hot. The sweat is slowly starting to come... But at least it's not rain right?!

Conference was awesome and we got to watch some sessions live and some recorded in English with some other ward members who speak English. It was pretty strange to hear those people oppose the prophet but oh well. That only reaffirms how much they are truly men of God! But from conference I basically learned that I need to get married tomorrow and start a family on wednsday. Hahaha sorry apostles, I'm kinda stuck here in Portugal. But no really the amount of talks about marriage and families were so awesome! I truly Love my family and I wouldnt trade them for anything!(: And it was so cool when L Tom Perry said that at the Summit in the Vatican the one Muslim representative quoted verbatim form the Proclamation of the Family! That was cool. Mormon pride! 

We had a Zone meeting in Porto this week and we go to the train station and they are having a strike. All the train drivers didn't work this whole week and caused us some problems haha so we had to grab a taxi and a bus and two metros and we got there a half hour late....oops. 

But yeah this week we went to the Hospital! 
One of our really close investigators, Alexendra, had a baby on Friday!! It was so awesome! Pedro Miguel is his name and hes 3 kgs, (like 7. something lbs.) and healthy and everything! She is a single mom so she didn't really have that much support, only from her two brothers, and us! But he is so cute and the mom is healthy and I've really come to love them. It was a miracle though because she smoked all during her pregnancy.... but they're healthy ad normal! At the hospital we talked a lot about the innocence of precious new babies and about how important families are. The spirit was so strong and she even said that when we come we bring a different peace and spirit so she is truly starting recognize the spirit! Hopefully by this time next week she'll be marked for baptism!:D She's elect. 
 
But yeah this week was awesome and Easter and conference being on the same weekend is always awesome! I know that My Redeemer lives and I know he suffered for me and for you. He rose on the 3rd day and I know only through him we can become our best and most perfected selves! 
 
Love you all and have a good week! Até logo! (:
 
 

Mar. 30, 2015 - Porque Ele Vive

Olá de Braga!

So we had a baptism this week!!! I don't know if you remember that grandson of the member in our ward but we taught him this week and he got baptized yesterday!! It was awesome! He's a cool little dude. His family was not happy that he has to wait until next week to receive the holy ghost but since he's older than 8 he was to wait a week. But yeah here's a picture of him!

Saturday we had a triple baptism in our ward too! 2 little 8 year old girls and an 11 year old that the sisters taught. It was quite the crazy Portugal party. The chapel was full and basically every Mormon in Braga was there because they're all daughters of men in the bishopric. So we have the Baptism and it was really nice. Then we have some food after and it was a ton! So everyone eats that then they bring out THE MAIN COURSE! Hahaha they had like 5 huge pans of Feijoada (a bean and meat stew that is to die for) With all this rice. A missionary's dream. THEN they bring out the desserts! All these pastries and cake and fruit and ice cream and it was incredible how a little church kitchen could have this much food! Then a member in our ward is on Portugal's Got Talent in the Finale as a magician and he did this huge magic show that was just incredible. So basically we stayed at the church from 5-9 for this baptism of some girls in our ward. I'm not complaining. :D

We also had a division this past week with the Zone Leaders which was actually really awesome. I learned a ton about how to teach better and how to really get to now the people we're teaching better. And also how important it is to TESTIFY at every chance we get. Sometimes when we would contact people on the street we would just say our little routine but the Zone leader would just immediately start testifying which was really awesome!

Well with Easter this week I guess I'll share a little thought. So I hope all you people out there have seen the Because He Lives video that the church put out this weekend. It's incredible. HE LIVES. He is there for you and and he is there for me. NO matter what we've done in the past he is still there for us. He wants us to succeed and he knows us better than anyone. I've learned on the mission that the Atonement is not just for sins but for hard times too, and I've had a lot of hard times. We can use the Atonement when we need help in anything, when we're sad, when we're stressed, when we just get depressed for no reason. He is there for us. 

"In the strength of the Lord we can do and overcome ALL things as we press forward on our journey of mortality" -- Elder Bednar. 

Happy Easter and happy Conference weekend this weekend. HE LIVES (: