If you have not yet written him an email, please do so! His email for his entire mission is spowell@missionary.org . As noted in the message below from his Mission President, sending him emails is the best way to uplift and support him.
He's a long way from home and getting emails from everybody is so helpful and I'm sure brightens his day!
The smile on his face means so much!
Below is an excerpt from an email we received from his Mission President this morning:
Dear Family of our Missionaries,
We were so excited to meet our new missionaries as they arrived in Spain! We feel so blessed to have them here safe and sound.
We wanted to let you know that the postal service in Spain recently implemented a new, complicated process involving the delivery of packages mailed or shipped from outside of Spain. These policies make it nearly impossible for our missionaries to receive packages mailed from outside of Spain. Thankfully, these changes are not affecting letters - they are arriving as before.
If you want to see that missionaries receive something special to brighten their day, we suggest that you place money on their personal credit or debit card. They can buy just about anything they could possibly need here in Spain. Another option - you can send them something directly to the address where they are currently living through Amazon.es (Amazon Spain). If you choose that option, be sure to send the item during the first couple weeks of the transfer (your missionary knows what that means) so that they don´t move to another area before the package is delivered. Packages from Amazon.es can be sent to the mission office for your missionary and they will receive them at Zone Conferences.
We would like to ask for your help regarding communication with your missionary. It is good to be uplifted by family and we hope that all of our missionaries are communicating with their family. However, we have noticed that it is not helpful for missionaries when they spend hours trying to “live” at home instead of creating good relationships with their companions and seeing the beautiful places in Spain. The Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ handbook says it’s not intended missionaries talk to their families every week. We think it’s great to talk every week as long as it’s only about an hour. Then they should head out with their companion. It is quite clear in the Missionary Standards that calls are during p-day. P-day hours are 9:00am to 7:00pm Madrid time. Please encourage and support your missionary by keeping calls at appropriate lengths of time.
One of the things that has been lost with weekly calls, especially calls that go on for hours, is the power and comfort of thoughtful emails. We have encouraged our missionaries to do more of that. They will feel tremendous support from family as you find ways that uplift and strengthen them through emails so the phone calls can be appropriately timed. We suggest that your missionary sends you a wonderful email on Monday that he/she has written throughout the week highlighting the many little miracles that may get lost with a phone call. This way you will have a beautiful email to reread over and over.
It is a blessing to serve with such valiant missionaries in the Spain Madrid South Mission. Thank you for your continued support!
President and Hermana Obando