Feb. 29, 2016 - Work Hard Play Hard

Well I just entered my 10th transfer here in the beautiful city of Porto! I got moved to an area called Amial. Its the HQ for the Porto stake. I'm Zone leader now over the largest Zone of the mission which is a little intimidating but I have a really awesome Cabo Verdiano comp, (who is in in his last transfer so he's a little trunky haha) so I'm excited for this new adventure! We have 13 duplas in total in the zone and I'm mostly excited just to get to know more missionários! The biggest perk is getting to live in a 4 elder house which is always a party! But don't worry we're getting work done!

The area is huge and this ward is definitely the biggest ward I've served in so far. We use buses everywhere we go and I'm am going to have to learn a lot of paciência waiting at bus stops haha.

I'm actually still in the same zone as my last area so I get to check up on them still and make sure the girl we were teaching gets baptized! 

I don't really have too much more to say and I forgot my camera so I guess I'll leave my 5 cents for the day. So I'm reading in 2nd Nephi and in chapter 19 Jacob is citing some old school Isaiah and he is talking about the birth of Christ and he says how he will be called "...Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God,The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

And I know its not Christmas but I always loved that title, The Prince Of Peace. And I have come to know exactly how true that title is! He truly can bring so much Peace into our lives, even in the hardest of times IF we turn to him with our whole souls. 

Love  you all! Keep the commandments and read your scriptures!

Feb. 22, 2016 - Opposite George

This week was too cool! We had our mission conference with Elder Kearon! The whole mission got together for this conference. So it was quite the party! He is the 70 President of the Area of Europe. Some background about him and his wife. He was born and raised in England so the whole day I was pleasured with the strongest British accent ever haha it was so cool! His wife was born and raised in San Francisco and had the most marvelous American accent which was quite strange to hear actually... She went on a study abroad to London and saw him giving a talk in church and the rest is history! Haha they got married in Oakland! Shout out to the bay area! 3 things that I would like to share from this conference. 

1. He said that the millennial generation is dubbed as the worrisome generation. And he said well I dont believe that! And he basically told everyone to calm down. Just relax and do what you do and the Lord will help you. I really needed hat because right then I realized that I'm basically like always stressed about something. So I decided I will be more relaxed.

2. He said EUROPE CAN BAPTIZE!! (he got really emotional and heated at the part haha) he said there are stupid people out there who say to preparing elders going to Europe oh you wont baptize in Europe, its too hard. He said what little faith!! Then he asked everyone who had European roots in the church to raise their hand. 95% of the missionaries raised their hand. EXACTLY! Basically the early days of the church was rooted in Europe. So we can dispel this myth that Europe doesn't baptize! He was pretty patriotic being a European.

3.He said That we should change our way of thinking. Get out of the routine. Do things differently. Always try to be getting better or different or something! Right then I thought about George Costanza and who his whole life changed for the better when he decided to do the opposite of what he would normally do. So I thought well lets try it! I'm going to be Opposite Elder Powell haha shout out to Seinfeld!

Inês is still progressing really well and we are excited for her baptism this week! Oh and we saw the miracle of the most catholic lady I have ever met came to church yesterday!!! She loved it and felt the spirit so much and yeah miracles happen every day!

This is a picture of the whole mission!! I am on the top row 5 in from the right. :D

Love,

Feb. 15, 2016 - Rain Rain Go Away

So right not there are 7 counties in Portugal on Red Alert because of the crazy storm thats passing through portugal. And my county is one of them! I have never seen such high winds before! The rain has been causing flooding all over the place. Its been pretty dang cold so hail has been mixed in there too. BUT we keep working!

I'm not sure if I've mentioned Inês but we've been working a lot with her! She's 13 and is the cousin of a really cool member! We found her on the street, found out who she was and invited her to church! And she came! This was 2 weeks ago and now we're preparing for her baptism for the 27th! Shes super humble, super prepared and we're pretty excited! At first we were just teaching her but then Saturday we decided to invite the whole family to hear the lesson too. And they all accepted! Her older brother, mom and cousin! It was super cool! 

2 things that have really helped me this week. First I was listening to a conference talk from Oct 2015 (sorry I dont remember who. I know it was a 70.) anyway he said a quote that was awesome! He said "We don't have to be perfect, but we have to be good and getting better!" It struck my heart. Sometimes we, especially me as a missionary, think we have to be perfect in everything. The language. Teaching. Etc. But that's not what God planned. He knew we would be imperfect. But he expects us to always be getting better. Life isnt a race to the finish line BUT we Always have to be moving in the right direction. Even if it is a slow walk.

Then I found D&C 1:23  That the fulness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers What a promise! God has always used the weak and simple to bring to pass this great work! Really comforting.

Anyway have a great week! And this is a picture of My comp, me, Inês, and our Brazilian YW Prez Claudia! I know its kind of an awkward photo but oh well haha love ya'll!

Feb 8, 2016 -

This week we had a ton of success! 

So last week I mentioned that a cousin of a member showed up in church and it turns out she has a huge desire to be baptized! We taught her again 2 times this week with our YW president and shes so ready! She accepted fev 20 to be baptized so we're working really hard so she's super prepared. Her cousin was the first member to join the church and he faced a lot of opposition from the family and its really likely that she will too. But we have faith that she'll over come it!

I went on a division with the Zone leaders this week and we taught a man that was ex-communicated. And it was one of the most powerful lessons I've ever taught. He was so in tune with the spirit and his desire to return is so big! At the end of the lesson he asked if the church had any For The Strength of Youth pamphlets because he wanted to read and always be thinking about those standards. I then remembered that I had picked up a wallet sized pamphlet a few transfers ago and I still had it! So I said here have this one. You can read it on the bus and stuff. He was a super excited and he said, "Elder Powell I know why you came here today. To give me that pamphlet. Thats why you had to do the division today." Whoa. Could that be? Just for that? And then I was thinking. Yeah! God's plan is perfect! He knows everyone and everything! And he looks out for the 1. So my plea for you is to notice the little miracles in life! Everything has a purpose and we have to be on the lookout for that purpose.

So our Ward mission leader is becoming like our 3rd comp. He's so awesome and is always helping us! In our correlation meeting we were talking about our investigators and all that good stuff and he said to be sure to think. We have to use logic sometimes. The scripture "...With all your might MIND and strength" He said you have to use you mind too. You cant just go 100 mph and think if you are working hard you'll get results. You have to think too. God wants us to be smart and use our knowledge in all aspects of life. So yeah that blew my mind. 

Scripture question of the week. Where did Alma get his Priesthood Authority after fleeing form King Noah? 

Have a great week!! And a very happy Valentines day to all! Or directly translated from Portuguese "Dia dos Namorados" --->"Day of the Boyfriends" Hahah love ya all!

Feb 1, 2016 - I Have Learned For Myself

This week was off the chain!

We had our 2 day mega conference with all the leaders of the mission on Wednesday and Thursday! It was a party! The mission basically reserved an entire hotel for everyone and it was 2 days of basically President teaching us how to be super Leaders! The first day was a lot of straight instruction and training. And a lot of reprimanding by President. Haha he can be pretty intimidating sometimes. It was pretty exhausting. But the 2nd day was a lot more chill. A lot of practicing teaching and some good videos and stuff. Then elder Moreira of the 70 came and gave the most spiritual talk/devotional I have ever heard. It was titled "The Power of Prayer" So simple but so powerful! 

Yesterday we had 3 investigators in church! Our little friend David who is marked for baptism on the 7th brought one of his friends, then the cousin of a member who we found on the street showed up too! It was pretty cool! They were all between 12 and 15 so they all hung out together. We didnt have any of our youth from the ward show up yesterday so the Sunday school teacher and the YW president had classes of just investigators haha it was quite interesting! #europe but we're going to start teaching them this week so the baptisms should be coming pretty steadily from here on out. :D

Elder Moreira said that the most important question of this dispensation was that of Joseph's mother when he asked Joseph after the vision "Are you ok?" and he responded " I am well enough off, I have learned for myself that the Presbyterian church is not true." I have learned for myself. How amazing of a phrase! Just from the power of prayer we can learn for ourselves... Anything! He taught how we can pray to have the spirit with us while we pray so that we can learn for ourselves anything we need to. The needs of our investigators, school, life, work, family anything! So my plea for you is to make prayer more meaningful in your life. Pray with the spirit and truly try to learn for yourself. Love y'all!

Ate próxima semana!

Jan 25, 2016 - Marketing Scheme

Bom dia!

I dont have too much to talk about this week but today was a fun P day! We went to the local soccer stadium of the team here in Póvoa and it was cool! They treated us like VIPs. We get to the stadium and its closed. We ring the doorbell and they say yeah its closed every day and they dont have like running tours. But we say awe man we just wanted to see the stadium and take some pictures. The guy says, wait here and goes to get somebody. Then like the media official of the team comes back and says yeah I can take you on a tour of the stadium and they actually have practice here in a couple minutes if you wanna stay and watch? Sweet! So we went to the VIP lounge and the press room and the museum and the coach's box. Its a really small team in a really small stadium but it was still cool! Then we watched them practice for a little bit. As we were leaving they gave us both free jerseys! And they say "on behalf of the team we want to present you these jerseys and thanks for coming. Our next game is on Wednesday and you're welcomed to come and watch." Haha I thought to myself. Man these guys are trying to get 2 new season ticket holders! They are trying to buy over with free stuff and a free tour! Haha But we got a free jersey out of it!:D

Anyway this week we had a worldwide training from a bunch of apostles and 70 that we watched online. it was really good. They talked a lot about following the spirit and how we're called to preach repentance and baptize converts. They also said that with less active members we should treat them like new investigators and teach them the first vision again to bring back those feelings of how they felt the first time they met with the missionaries which I thought was revolutionary! So we put to this to practice! We visited a less active family and taught them the first vision. They didn't seem like awe stricken but we felt the spirit. And we're going to work with them back to reactivation!

Yesterday Afonso received the Holy Ghost and it was really cool being in the circle. The spirit filled the room and it was a really special experience.

The weather is not helping us this week and this month because there is no one in the street. everyone is locked up inside their houses. So as missionaries what do we do? we Knock on their doors! Haha this week I think we literally knocked on 2000 doors! And we didn't have too much success. But this week we have our Mega Conference with all the leaders of the mission so I'm excited for that! Maybe we'll learn how to find the elects!

I guess the big thing I'm learning right now is Endure to the End. There are weeks or days that are slower or harder than others but God knows what we need in order to progress and learn. And having that Eternal Perspective is always so great during those times. The knowledge that we have that yes this will all be worth it in the end is crucial in the day to day grind.  So don't give up!!

Love,

Jan 18, 2016 - For Ye Receive No Witness Until AFTER the Trial of Your Faith

This week I learned a lot about prayer, faith, fasting and how much worth one soul has in the sight of God. 

Yesterday our dear brother Afonso was baptized! Definitely one of the most powerful experiences of my mission. 2 weeks ago we marked him for baptism for the 24th of January. And he accepted and we were super pumped! Then on Thursday we had a lesson and we said we feel like he is prepared for this Sunday the 17th! And he said yeah lets plan it for this Sunday! So the next day he was his interview with the Zone leaders and he passes and is declared prepared for baptism! Awesome. 

Saturday we meet with him again and he seems excited and anxious which is understandable. We plan the baptismal service with him and have a really spiritual lesson with some videos from lds.org. We go home for lunch and we start a fast. That night on Saturday we get a text from Afonso saying he talked to his brother and has been thinking he doesn't feel ready and wants to cancel the baptism. I nearly break down in tears. We have been fighting for this guys for so long and we kinda go numb. We say a prayer and call our Zone leaders for some help and they send out a mass text for a zone prayer for Afonso. We then text Afonso back and say we want to talk to him tonight if possible. He says he doesn't get off work until 11:30 pm. Dang. We think about it and the spirit is basically yelling at us " If you don't talk to him tonight he wont be baptized! Meet with him at all costs!" So we tell Afonso to meet us at the chapel at 11:30. 

Yes I know we stayed out past curfew. And I don't condone breaking the rules. But we thought this was do or die and we followed the spirit and what we thought was right. So at 11:30 we meet him at the chapel with our ward mission leader and we have a conversation for about and hour or so saying how this decision is between him and God. Take this step of faith and put God to the test if this baptism and this church is right. We all bear really strong testimony and put the rest into God's Hands. He tells us he'll think about it more tonight but he's still planning on coming to church. Me and my comp both have so much faith and this feeling that the baptism will still happen!

We get gome at about 1 in the morning praying and fasting. We get to church early the next day exhausted and desperate. Oh by the way mission president is attending our church today. At about 8:50 Afonso shows up! He looks so happy and has his bag of extra clothes and everything! Miracle! Apparently God worked on him pretty hard the night before! We fill the font and prepare everything. President gets to know him and congratulates him. After the block we have the baptism. Afonso wanted a friend in our ward to baptize him and the service was great. After coming out of the water he looked like he was glowing! I have never been so happy for someone else in my life! 

Prayer works and is so powerful. God hears our prayers and knows each of us personally and knows what our needs are. He will always put challenges in our way but will never give us anything we can't handle! And we wont receive a witness until AFTER the trial of our FAITH!