Elder Powell: New Technology!
Hey y’all!
Happy Halloween Eve and soon-to-be November! Feels like just yesterday was Halloween. Where has this year gone. We are really diving into the Holidays with Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas Chick-Flicks beginning last weekend! Yay!
Oh, we are so close to Black Friday AGAIN…..
I can’t believe this is week five of the transfer. The work in the Quitman Ward is some of the craziest and most successful work in the mission. There is definitely not enough hours in a day or days in a week to accomplish everything we want to do.
Last Monday started out with a bang. While at the Speakeasy Coffee Cafe, the workers were passing around what I thought were “chocolate beans” but as I started eating one….I asked them if they were actually coffee beans….. which they were. I started freaking out and told them they knew I don’t eat/drink coffee! I’ve never seen someone feel so bad. Thankfully, my mission president was glad I enjoyed it while it lasted while not knowing any different.
Later that afternoon, we helped a less active member demolish her kitchen. Greatest joy. I was cutting out the back panel of the sink cabinet all confident I wasn’t going to cut through the water line….well, ten seconds later, there was water spraying absolutely everywhere flooding the entire kitchen. The member started freaking out and hurried to shut the water off. Thankfully, her house has flooded several times and knew it was bound to happen so she wasn’t too upset. Hahaha. However she did give us a few trash bags to go clean up her yard and kick us out of the house….what a joy.
The greatest moment of my mission…ready?? Okay, so, Thursday, I went up to the beautiful BIG D for Mission Leadership Council (MLC) with the two Zone Leaders and the other District Leader in the Zone. My goodness, it was incredible to see the city again with all the traffic and businesses and classy city people. At MLC, we discussed working with the Ward Council and Stake Presidency such as Stake Presidency Reports, the ‘White Christmas’ initiative, and…….SMARTPHONES. Guess what! Guess what! I got the Samsung Galaxy J!!!! We got into our individual Zones to do the trainings and to receive our phones. I started tearing up a little, super hard to hold back tears seeing such a wonderful thing enter my life. We have 2GB Data/Mo with additional social media apps coming in the beginning of 2018. Having both an iPad and Smartphone with Facebook is just a foreign concept in missionary work. However, these are tools that the Lord has given and trusted us with to hasten His work. It is so beneficial to adapt missionary work in the technology world to culture. I feel so blessed to be a missionary in this area at this time. The work will keep hastening. To celebrate the new Smartphones, we went to CHICK-FIL-A for a late lunch afterward! It felt like a million weeks since I’ve been to Chick-Fil-A. While inside I just felt so “updated” knowing I had a smartphone with everyone else in the store. It was a special feeling. Of course, I got two new investigators being inside that I referred over to the missionaries there. SCORE again!
#FridayNightDateNight was something else. Being the first full day with a smartphone made it even better. We drove down to Gilmer to go on exchanges with the Elders down there and help in the Sister’s area. It was also Elder Frausto’s Birthday, who I went on exchanges with. We had a great time all day eating chicken, rice, tacos, and in the evening….we all met up at Dairy Queen, thankfully there is a Subway across the street, to have a “mini party!” My Subway was definitely the winner of all desserts. A Gilmer Police Officer was in the house and he, along with the workers and two other customers, joined in on singing Happy Birthday to him. It was so exciting.
Saturday we had a big move with a member and non-member family. Their home was the nicest home I’ve been in since being back in my other area in Waxahachie. It felt so nice and relaxing. One of the family members has a crazy background and extremely interested in the church. We were able to go back over that evening to have dinner with the whole family and teach him, Shawn, a lesson. We taught an overview of the Restoration and Plan of Salvation. Luckily being around the church, he is already somewhat familiar with our beliefs. He said we “don’t need to sell anything” that he already is sold on the church and loves it so much. It’s special when you find and meet people like those that are so prepared for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are excited to see what happens with him this week.
Our six baptismal dates are still progressing well. With one on November 25th, and five on December 2nd. This is going to be another ‘White Christmas!’ With the use of new technology such as smartphones and (finally) access to Facebook Stories, hehe, the Book of Mormon, sacrament, repentance, prayer, these are the simple tools we have to bring others unto Christ. I’m grateful to be a missionary in Quitman, Texas and serve the Lord with all my heart, might, mind, and strength. Heavenly Father lives and knows each of the details in our lives. We always have the opportunity and choice to accept Jesus Christ and his Atonement to increase and strengthen our Faith and relationship with Him. Is is a privilege, gift, and blessing.
I love you all! Thanks for the continued love and support. Also, I hope you were able to pre-order the new iPhone X within 10 minutes of getting sold out…I can’t wait until Friday when it officially becomes available!
Bye 
