Hola a todooooooos!!!!! Cómo están?! 😁😁😁
I hope that you are all doing amazing!!!
This week has been a fun one 🤣🤣
The abuelitas here in Elda are always commenting on my hair, hence the title 🤣🤣
Monday and Tuesday we had exchanges, and I got to go with the 🐐 Elder Kailiponi. We had dinner (come y bebe en dominos) w/ some JAS in the ward, and it was amazing because the ZL's are in Alicante, my last area, so I know all of the people and so its been wonderful to see them again.
Tuesday was a pretty normal exchange, we went to this place called Calamardo, and it's basically kebab but with seafood, and it was so good. We taught a referral and he wants to get baptized in the future, so that was a wonderful lesson. We had noche de barrio and it was so amazing to see all of the members there again and Juan, a recent convert that Elder Qosja and I helped get baptized. They are all so amazing and I love them so much. It's always so lit to be with Elder Kailiponi 🤣🫶❤️
Wednesday we were able to teach through some video calls, find some people on the street, heart attacked (put a bunch of paper hearts on one's door) the Pinteño family, and got some bread from Pan Caliente (a DELICIOUS Colombian bakery in Elda). We were also able to get me a new shower head which was nice cause the last one was broken so it would spray in every direction 🤣
Thursday we went to the consum by our piso, and they have so many American things, it is the best store ever. They even have leave-in conditioner. 🤣 We were able to make brownies for some of our members and recent converts, and give them to them, and they were very grateful. One of the members that we gave them to, Rodrigo, who is a member of the Elders Quorum Presidency in the ward, told us that there will be a class for people to get the melquisedec priesthood, and there are 6 people that will attend. That is huge because in our group we have about 4 or 5, so it will more than double the amount of melquisedec priesthood holders and further help us to become a branch instead of a group, which will allow us to have our own building and grow in so many ways.
Friday we met with a reference that we got from Taiwan, her name is Tai Ling Chi, and I would like to ask all of you guys to pray for her, she is going through extremely hard times in her life. We spent a lot of time with her helping her set up a residency appointment for her kid because she doesn't speak very much Spanish, and so we had probably missed all the busses to Elche to get to district council, but on our way to the bus station to check, Tai Ling called us and said she was going to Elche in a taxi and asked if we wanted to go with, which was such a miracle. We had district council which was lit as always, had some McDonalds for the first time in a minute, and then went to Novelda, a little pueblo around Elda, to give someone a book of Mormon, which went pretty good.
Saturday was pretty much a regular day. We had all of our citas cancel on us so we did a lot of contacting, and invited every single person in our pmg to church. We also got some more pan caliente that night 🤣
Sunday went wonderful, there was so many people at church. We had 3 friends there but 2 of them left during church, but Francisco stayed and enjoyed it. We had a lesson w/ Francisco about prayer which was amazing, the Spirit is always so strong when we are able to teach him. We headed over to Villena, another pueblo around Elda, to talk to our friend Adrian and his family. We were able to find them and talk to them for a little which was amazing!!
Today we found a dvd player, and a handels messiah dvd, so we've been able to get some fire music around the house 🤣 We are having a Book of Mormon marathon as a mission the next 2 days, where we will read the entire Book of Mormon in 2 days, and so we have been preparing the food and everything today so that we can only read the Book of Mormon the next 2 days, which we are so excited for!!!
I would like to share with you all 2 things today. This first, being the importance and power of the Book of Mormon in our every day lives. This past week I found myself spending less and less time reading the Book of Mormon, until it got to about 5 minutes a day. I was still reading the Old Testament, Preach my Gospel, and many many other very good and important divine resources, but I began to see the change in me and in my perspective on things. As I prayed, and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ helped me realize that I need to spend more time reading the Book of Mormon, every second of my days have changed. As I have put reading the Book of Mormon first, I have felt and seen the power of God in my life, so, I would like to invite each and everyone of you to read the Book of Mormon daily. Consistency is so important. If you are rowing a boat, it would be much harder to go full speed, and then stop, and then full speed and then stop, rather than keeping a constant and steady rowing pattern. The same thing applies to the gospel. You will get much farther and be much closer to God if you do the small, daily things, like praying and reading the Book of Mormon, to get closer to Him. I promise you that as you develop this spiritual momentum, you will be able to plow through any difficulty in your life, because with Christ you can do anything.
The second thing is the importance of family. I have been so blessed to have such an amazing and wonderful family. Through them I have been able to grow up in the gospel and have a life founded upon gospel principles. I will eternally be grateful for them. I love each and everyone of them so much. It is so important to do your best to be close to them, to love them and to forgive them. I know and understand that each circumstance is different, and sometimes it might not be possible to get closer to them for whatever reason. However, families are essential to God's plan. He has given us families, not just for this life, but for the eternities. I would invite you all to do what is necessary to grow closer to your family, and to develop your own family that would be able to live forever together in the eternities with God. I know that families can be together forever. It is part of God's plan. That testimony burns so deeply inside of me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amén.
I love you all, feel free to reach out to me for anything!! 😁❤️
Have a wonderful day and week!!!
¡¡Os quiero!! ❤️
- Élder Powell