HOLA A TODOOOOOS!!!
Good morning, or afternoon, or night, wherever you are or whenever you are reading this 🤣
This week has been amazing!! Here are some of the cool pictures of this week 🤣
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You can see the rest in my photos album 🙏
To start off, p-day last week was super fun. We visited a cathedral and it was super super cool! We played soccer in the centro of Cádiz and it was super fun, everybody in the calles wanted to play or kick the ball or show off a trick 🤣 Then we made our way over to the cancha to play an actual fútbol game, as always, and it was amazing.
Tuesday not much happened, BUT, we had a wonderful lesson with Javier and he asked us a bunch of doctrinal stuff, and it is kind of hard because I know how to answer them in english, but not super clearly in Spanish, but I know that the Lord will guide me, and I know that the Lord will answer his questions. We told him that questions are good and that if he asks God then he will receive answers. One of the things he says he struggles with is faith, and we explained to him that he does have faith because he is reading the Book of Mormon and he is meeting with us and going to church, and that everything will come as he keeps being consistent, and I know that that is the same for all of us. God loves effort, and we just have to do our best for Him and try to stay consistent, and we will receive the answers we seek, and we will feel His love and peace and experience His joy in our lives. The Spirit was so strong in that lesson.
Wednesday we had the Zone Leaders from Cádiz come over and teach a lesson with a guy they met in Cádiz but he lives in Jerez, and so we did an exchange and I got to be with the wonderful and amazing Élder Walker again, and it was raining pretty hard and we were by a popeyes, so we went in there and did contacts on the phone while Élder Reidhead and Élder Roberts were teaching the lesson, and when I walked in they were playing jazz and it was a big popeyes and it felt like i was back in the states it was super weird 🤣 Élder Walker got me an ice cream cone and it was delicious. The contacts were good, I was able to get all of the ones we needed to reply to so that was very good. The weather was super nice, AND there was fall leaves, AND we got some delicious pastries on our way home 🤣 after that a bunch more contacts, we were able to get a lot done and clean out our pmg app.
Thursday was amazing. Pretty much a regular day, until we had our lesson with Felipe. During weekly planning we were looking at Javier and felt that he is ready to be baptized, so during our lesson we taught him the gospel of Christ, or the doctrine of Christ, and we set a fecha with him!! We asked him if he would be willing to give up smoking and coffee, and he is so willing, he said he would do it without hesitating. He said he has been to nearly every church searching for answers to his questions, and he said that he feels this is the right church and that all of his questions are able to be answered here.
Friday we got transfer news!! Usually President calls if there is like a leadership thing happening, and the AP's or ZL's call if you are staying or just going to another area, so we had Élder Roberts call us with the AP's as we were making breakfast, and I am going to... stay here in Jerez!!! And Élder Reidhead will stay as well!!! It is going to be amazing to run it back with him, I can't wait to see the progress we continue to make in the next 6 weeks. Our power kept going out during our personal study, so we were trying to fix that, and then we got a call from President. We answered it and he asked how we are doing and if we get along as a companionship and then he told us... we are going to Madrid!.. this week to pick up a new missionary!!! With the new missionaries coming in, he said there was one more that they werent planning on coming, so we will head up to Madrid and go to a training meeting and then pick up our new comp and bring him back! We also have a temple appointment set which I am so excited for!! It is going to be wonderful to be in a trio with our new comp, I am super super excited!
Saturday was very very rainy. It was also a holiday so everything was closed. And they don't get much rain here in the deep south 🤣 so when it rains everybody freaks out 🤣 one of the people in our district said they had someone cancel on them cause they were cold, not that they had a cold, but they were cold 😂 We had 3 lessons planned, and luckily we were able to have one of them, which was amazing! It was with Yeigris who her daughter is a recent convert and she is wanting to get baptized and would love to but she is just trying to get married. We have almost taught her everything, except for a few things, so we taught her about fasting and fast offerings, and it was super good she said that she didn't really understand it so it was super good to teach her, and she understood everything and she is sick right now so we said we would fast for her to be able to get married, and we invited her to do the same once she is feeling better, and she said yes! The rest of the day was rain and people not wanting to do anything, so it wasn't the most eventful but we got some good contacts in on the phone 😂 We also had some guy yell allah akhbar out of a window at us and idk what that was about 😭😂
Sunday was wonderful as always, pretty much a regular sunday! We had a lesson planned but they were sick, so we went around giving cookies to people, but nobody was home 😂 We stopped by the church to get a baptismal suit for some Élders in our zone, and Sandra and Pablo were there, and Sandra needed sheet music for a play that she is doing, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but the songs are super good they are uplifting as well and talk about looking to our Heavenly Father. Anyways, she needed sheet music but she only had the songs, and I am not very good at the piano 😂 but I can play things by ear if I have the song for reference and go piece by piece, and luckily i remember how to write music, so she is having me write those songs for her in sheet music for the play which has been pretty cool.
Anyways, the whole reason I tell this story is that from this experience, and COUNTLESS others, I know that God called me on this mission, to Spain Madrid South, to Jerez, for a purpose. I know that this is where I am meant to be, and I know that this is where the Lord would have me do His work, in this moment of time. I know that He is the author behind all of this. This mission could not be more perfect for me. It pushes me in the ways I need to be pushed, and it is my favorite place ever. There is nowhere I would rather be, and nothing I would rather do, than do the Lord's word. Doing what He would have me do, and where He would have me be. And, it isn't just the perfect place for me, but I connect so deeply with the people here. There are no such things as coincidences. Even things as small as being able to help Sandra with a play, I know that I am here for the people. I connect not only with the members, but also with our amigos. They are so much like me, and I know that God has given me my unique experiences to be able to relate to and help them.
I would urge and encourage all of you to read/listen to/watch general conference. This church is led by Jesus Christ, through prophets and apostles. God has not left us alone, and He never will. He is always one outstretched arm away.
I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Os quiero ❤️
Hasta luego
- Élder Powell