¡Hola a todos! ¡¿Como estáis?!
I'm back again 😂
It's only been like 4 days since my last email, so this probably won't be too long, but it has been the best 4 days ever.
Friday we had our Zone Conference, and it was so amazing, the Spirit was so strong, maybe the strongest I've felt my whole mission. We talked about a lot of things and how we can improve and it gave me a bunch of motivation, and we have definitely improved after that zone conference. We played a real life among us the day before on Thursday for our zone p-day and it was super fun 😂 I got to meet a bunch of people, and also see a bunch of people I knew again, including my mtc comp Élder Adams. It was so great to see him again and talk with him about everything. It was two of the AP's last zone conference, and they bore their testimonies and they were so powerful. They are such great examples. Hermana Obando also shared her testimonio at the end, and she shared a story of how these two missionaries came to a mother holding a 2 year old baby and the mother wanted to learn, but the father refused. Then a few days later they went to their door, and the mother told the father that they were going to come in and teach them, so they came in and taught them the gospel. That 2 year old baby was Hermana Obando. President and Hermana Obando have such powerful testimonies of missionary work. President Obando was a convert, and it is so amazing to hear his stories.
Saturday we had a Quórum de Élderes barbecue, and it was so fun. We got to bring our amigo Felipe and he had a great time. Our bishop is from Kentucky, so he did all the grilling, and all the food was delicious. We gave him a rack of ribs to cook and he did not disappoint 😂 After eating we did gospel karaoke and that was super fun and funny😂
(Karaoke videos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QGLdKGupnd7e96sb7).
After the barbecue, Élder Reidhead had a baptismal interview with someone from Puerto, and it was so powerful to hear her testimony. After that, we had a lesson with Adela, the one we taught at the bar. During our last lesson, she was asking if there are any requirements for baptism, and that was super cool cause that was our first lesson with her. But we told her everything about that, and then on Saturday when we met up with her, the first thing she asked us was how long it takes to be baptized, so we explained how we just need to teach her all of the lessons and how we could do that super fast. Then we taught her the whole plan of salvation, and some other things, and she just loves all of it. We bore our testimonies to her and the Spirit was so strong she was tearing up. We asked her if she would be baptized and she said yes!! She loves the gospel and I am so excited to see her testimony grow.
Sunday was an amazing day as well. We got to church an hour and a half earlier to open up the doors and everything, but they were already opened up, and there was a guy we have never seen before in the chapel. I have never seen someone be even 15 minutes early to our ward, they all come exactly on time or fashionably on time 😂 so seeing that was wild 😂 His name is Patrick and he is a member and he is from Peru and he is so cool, he is such a great guy. We talked with him for a while, and then bishop came up to us and said there were two people out in the foyer that he had never seen before, and that's not the first time that's happened so we went out there expecting it to be our amigos or people visiting. But when we got there, we saw a young couple, and they looked super American and were reading a sign in Spanish super slow, and so I was super confused. Turns out they are from members Canada, one is Ethan and the other is Savannah, and they came here to be English teachers and got here 3 days ago. They are super cool and learning Spanish so it is cool to have even more English speakers in the ward 😂 I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but we have so many people in our ward that speak English. Our bishop is from Kentucky, two people served their mission in English speaking places, on in temple Square and the other in inglaterra, and there is an hermano that studied English in college, one that is an English teacher, and some others that idk how they know English 😂
Sunday night we planned to meet with Johanna, but there isn't a guy in the house so we asked Patrick to come and he was happy to, and he told us that he would love to come with us wherever, whenever. We went over and Johanna was working, but there was another girl there, and she was from Curitiba Brasil, which was super cool. We played uno with Johanna's niños, Logan and Nathan, and it was super fun, they are super funny. We taught them how to pray and the Spirit was really powerful.
What has been on my mind the most these few days is hearing the Lord, and experiencing the joy that comes from that. We can do everything right, pray, read the scriptures, go to church, but if we are just doing those things to mark it off our of checklist, or out of habit, we most likely won't be listening to the Lord and experiencing the joy that comes from doing those wonderful things. We can learn all the dance steps, but they won't be much fun if we don't hear the music. I invite all of you to watch this video (the link is below), and think of how you can experience the joy that comes from the gospel, that comes from God, and our Savior Jesus Christ. We should pray, we should read the scriptures, and we should go to church, follow the Lord's commandments, and do all that we can for Him. But we should look for the joy, and listen for the music. Os quiero mucho, y sé que Dios os bendecirá en todos de vuestros esfuerzos.
Video in English
The Music of the Gospel
Video en español
La música del Evangelio
Hasta luego
- Élder Powell
Mission Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QGLdKGupnd7e96sb7