Elder Powell: Joyous May

Heyo!

Happy May my lovelies!! I cannot believe the month of May is officially here it is so crazy! It feels like we went back in time this past week with 75 degree weather a couple days and it was freezing! Had to bring out the cozy sweaters once again and endure such cold pain… brrr. Summer months are for sure the best months. But first before I get to the secondary weekly info I just want to express how happy and excited I am that the Utah Jazz played a game 7 in LA!! Salt Lake City was sure rocking it with game 6 festivities and blew it at home but got the win to head to Golden State!! What a great Sunday afternoon game it was for sure, fantastic in every way. And any of you concerned about flying on United Airlines – I continue to dearly express my love for the wonderful airline it is, the entire airline family with the pilots and flight attendants and law enforcement, a completely safe and reliable airline to use. Hehe

Let’s start off with a scary story – Wednesday, talk about a wild day. We were cleaning out one of our closets with a bunch of missionary stuff when a terrifying mouse ran out! It scared the living daylights out of my companion and I and we jumped onto some chairs to protect ourselves haha. The mouse ran under one of our couches in the main room so we built a barricade to separate the one room with the mouse before it had the chance to run to the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom! It was the most horrifying experience of my life and both of us were just screaming haha. We called a member in our ward and had them come to the rescue with their dog that loves to catch and snack on mice. They came and the dog snooped around the room and took him only five minutes to catch it! It was too exciting. The members were just laughing and laughing at us being so terrified and building a huge barricade in our apartment. It was a nightmare! The members bought us like 20 mouse traps to place around out entire apartment to make sure we’ll be safe and sound. Haha not good!

After that exciting note, Thursday evening we headed out to find a 9 year old unbaptized girl Kaitlyn James that lives in the middle of nowhere! She is a referral from the Bishop that could have strong potential. Surprisingly, we found their house and the whole family was out enjoying the cold 75 degree weather and sunset and were able to visit for awhile. The parents are less active but have nothing against the church. Mostly likely they don’t go anymore if with the 25 minute drive to the church. Kaitlyn James lives there so that was icing on the cake. They are people that love love love to talk about themselves and their story so unfortunately we weren’t able to dive into a lot of “church talk” but are more than okay for us returning to visit them. The best part about their place, they have ultimately the most perfect storm shelter in the world! The classic heavy door that’s on an angle that you have to open and walk down a few steps to hide for sweet tornados. I was fascinated by it way too much and everyone was just giggling at me again… as always!!

Saturday morning was too fun. We drove down South to Corsicana for a huge festival they were having with a ton of booths, food, rides, music, everything! The Family History senior missionary couple had a booth for Family History setup and the Corsicana missionaries did their shift as well with us and a couple more missionaries for about three hours throughout the entire day. Lots of fun and way busy! Didn’t think there were that many people and that much excitement in the small town of Corsicana. We had computers setup to help others setup an account for Family Search as well as our iPads with the apps that they can get for free. We handed out a ton of pamphlets and flyers as well which was a blast. Really fun event with 80’s music and guess WHO!? Taylor Swift

Speaking of a great Saturday – there was a massive Tornado a few miles Northeast of Waxahachie so unfortunately and very sadly, we were not effected at all We had a ton of rain and saw very dark green clouds circling way East of us moving Northeast to the city of Canton where the tornado finally dropped. There was ton of damage and injuries and a couple deaths so I’m kinda bummed I missed out on the swirling fun. Except I wouldn’t really want to drive through it again…. that was interesting lesson learned. Got lucky once and that’s all I need, enjoyed the fun while it lasted haha. All the missionaries were just grand all hanging out in storm shelters eating lots of food I heard. Just a normal day in the neighborhood nothing too it.

Yesterday, we had a mission wide event called “Bring your friends to church day.” Out of our three wards, we had about 34 total people come. Pretty good turnout and they all said they really enjoyed it and said it was very different. The Bishopric selected certain speakers, music, and messages to have the most special program for our brothers and sisters. Turned out really well and six of those we may start teaching as of now. Awesome day!

I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m especially grateful for the other countless churches and religions I’ve been able to come in contact with and learn about. As a convert in our ward tells the missionaries “You grow up and live in a bowl. There is so much happening and going around the outside of that bowl that you have no idea about.” This is so true. There are so many incredible people in this world that are trying their best to live a good life, have God in their lives, and looking for direction and truth. As a society we just always look at the negative side of things. There is so much more positive things going on around us that we don’t take the time to realize. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we can do better. We can learn so much, including helping, all these people in such circumstances and situations. There are so many Christians that are so passionate about Jesus Christ and living the best life they can have, we as members take this for granted. We must have that same passion about the Lord Jesus Christ and inviting those people to partake the fruits of the Restored Gospel. They are so close to finding that joy because we are right here. Use your gifts, your talents, your smiles, your happiness with everyone. Everyone deserves to be apart of your gifts. The same goes for the gift of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It’s one gift available for absolutely everyone. Use your gifts and let people see and experience those gifts and talents you have and express. That is Christlike love.

I love you all! Thanks for all your continued love, prayers, and support. Have a wonderful first week of MAY!