Elder Powell: The Hastening Work
Hi there!
Happy November! I hope everyone had a great and safe Halloween. Hallmark’s Countdown til Christmas is officially underway with world chick-flick movie premieres. How exciting! The highlight: iPhone X Launch Day last Friday!! Oh my goodness what a beautiful device. It is the best smartphone and electronic to date. Having a smartphone as a missionary is definitely a blessing in getting me ready for such excitement. How I love the Holiday season.
This week was one of the busiest weeks I’ve had in what feels like years. There was no slowing down. We set our seventh Baptismal date with Shawn Moore on Halloween night for December 2nd. Fortunately, Bishop Crabb was able to join us on the lesson and know all the ins&outs of Shawn’s progress in preparing for his Baptism. We also had six of those seven Investigators attend church yesterday with another person that has a possibility of becoming an investigator. Miracles are being experienced each day in the small town of Quitman.
Wednesday was a very exciting day! Wait, I think I say that all the time. Whoops. We had Zone Conference in….TYLER!! I was so happy and excited to finally get back into Tyler which was my first area as a missionary. It was so weird to be back. It felt like I was there only a couple weeks ago. I remembered where everything was including some of the people I taught and members. I got to see my first convert, Madison, a couple reactivations, and couple of members. It was like nothing changed. I even still have a key to the apartment there that I noticed I kept when I was in Irving, so, we snuck into the apartment to see everything again and disorganize a few things. Hehehe. Hopefully they got a little worried of what happened. The best part of all….We went to the Foundry Cafe!! It was even more perfect! They have done some renovations to make it brighter and classier and some of the workers were the same. So good to see them and have their delicious gluten free pastries. Best way to finish off the trip to Tyler.
#FridayNightDateNight was on a whole new level. We went up to Sulphur Springs to assist the Sisters up there with the Gilmer Sisters. Somehow, I managed to find them six new Spanish speaking Investigators, which makes twenty-one Spanish speaking investigators since being transferred from Waxahachie. I hope this isn’t a sign that I’m going to finish the last couple months of my mission speaking Spanish. We got to eat at Panda Express for lunch with all six of us and got to teach a quick lesson to a man there. Six on one is a fun way to teach. We also had dinner at the Stake President’s House and had delicious tacos! To finish the evening, things got real. We got hard core kicked out of an apartment complex by an old lady freaking out at us by yelling and screaming and ran to each apartment door to “warn” everyone that we were there. Luckily we snuck behind a full-size grill so the security guys on those fancy golf carts couldn’t see us and then we made our escape. Hahaha. It was too exciting. After, we went to another apartment complex and caught a few people flighting and yelling at each other and got them all separated and calmed them all down. Apparently, nobody was enjoying their #FridayNightDateNight for some reason so we went to this place called “Starbucks” I don’t know if I’ve said anything about my love for the place, but it was a total different place than those apartment complexes. There were the happiest workers and customers in the store with Thanksgiving decorations and looking all festive. Of course, I got myself a double chocolate chip frapachino. Yummm. And you name it, we taught TWO Word of Wisdom lessons and a Plan of Salvation lesson there to a cute #FridayNightDateNight Couple. What a wonderful evening. After not much success at two apartment complexes, we made up at Starbucks with miracles. What a fun day in Sulphur Springs.
Saturday we helped out on the same move we were doing last week to a family in the ward, including our investigator, Shawn Moore’s parent’s. We loaded up a million rotten boxes with termite damage and mold from an old shed. Okay eww. But to make up for it, Shawn Moore is a commercial truck driver that has his own 18 wheeler so I got to get a ride in it!! It was the best ride I’ve gotten since being in an airplane! It was so exciting. After, we had dinner and correlation meeting with our Ward Mission Leader. Thankfully, we were able to find a couple new Investigators via Facebook. Always great when that happens.
Living the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not always easy. It is supposed to make us stretch to help us reach our potential Heavenly Father has prepared. By living Gospel standards and using the tools He has provided; such as the Holy Bible, Book of Mormon, technology, church, prayer, faith, and more; we can continue on the straight and narrow path. The Atonement of Jesus Christ is accessible each second of our lives to let our Savior change us physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. How grateful I am to be able to “Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts” for two years of my life. I have changed myself as I have changed others.
May the Lord continue to bless each of you on your endeavors. Much love and appreciation to you for your prays and support.
P.S. National Sandwich Day was Friday as well! Subway was loading up on their perfect bread and cookies. I got to test-taste their food in preparation for the big day on Thursday night!
