Lewisburg 12/29/08

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. It was such a treat to get to talk to my family on Christmas. They all seem to be doing well and I loved just hearing their voices again. I had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas at the Rawls and they were very hospitable and we had a great time playing games and running around with the kids. Of course not as fun as running around with my nieces and nephews but it was fun nonetheless. I hope you all were able to remember the Savior this Christmas and throughout the year. I know that it is only through the Savior that we can find true happiness. If our lives arent rooted in Christ then we will find our happiness to be very fleeting. I really like the ward we are in. They are so good to the missionaries and are just cool members. Me and Elder Norton have alot of fun together. This past week we worked hard. We had a baptismal date for one of our investigators but that will be postponed for a few weeks to have him clear up some stuff. His name is B so pray for him. We also had a person just show up to church who we had'nt ever met. He is really excited to meet with us and we have good feelings about him. His name is J. Also there are a couple others we are excited about. I am excited for a new year a chance to have a fresh start and improve in areas I am lacking. I hope you will all come up with resolutions and be determined to follow them. Make sure you make the Lord apart of your life and have him help you. The Atonement of Jesus Christ applies to all aspects of life and can be used to refine any part of ourselves. I am so grateful for it because I am far from perfect and its wonderful when you do feel it working in your life. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful new year. Elder Powell

Hey everybody how are you all doing. It was a good week for us. M was baptized on Saturday and it was just so cool to see the tears flow from her eyes. She had a great expeirence and for that I am happy. So it was kind of crazy we were supposed to have Zone Conference on friday but it ended up getting cancelled due to a storm we had. As a result we had P-Day on that day and had Zone Conference on monday. Zone Conference was in State College. It was way cool to drive through the city and see the campus and the Stadium. Both were huge. The Stadium is actually the 2nd largest in the nation. But Zone Conference was so great. You always just feel a new sense of determination and vision after Z.C. We were informed that are mission force would be cut to 88 missionaries in the coming months down from 132 missionaries couple months ago. So we have 1/3rd of the state of Pennsylvania with 88 missionaries haha wow. They are cutting down missionaries in the Northeast because of the lack of heed they have paid to the restored gospel. Its kind of sad but President Pugh talked about Gidians army and how the Lord kept cutting back the army. They were greatly outnumbered but they were able to win the battle as they had the strength of the Lord. President said not to expect less but to expect more. That we can do better then we've ever done before even with less. But many other great things were shared at Zone Conference that I might talk about. But what I am going to talk about is that I felt the spirit strong. That we need to remember the true meaning of Christmas and help lift the spirits of others. Make someone else's Christmas great. Sister Pugh talked about how we are always wondering what are we getting for Christmas but we should be wondering what can we give the Savior on his day. It won't be gold. or mirhh, or frankincense as the wiseman once offered. But it can be a contrite spirit and a broken heart a submission of our will to what the Savior needs us to be. I love my Savior and I pray I can give him myself. For that's what he wants most. I love you all, I hope your happy and that you can feel the Lords love for you. Thank you for everything. Elder Powell

Hey everybody!!I can't believe that Christmas is almost upon us. Did you get to watch the Christmas Devotional; I really liked it. The thing that really caught me was the prophets remarks. He made the comment of the innkeeper that had no room for the baby Jesus and what a great blessing he deprived himself of. He made the anology as if we were the innkeeper. He said do we have room for Jesus. Our house is full of common day items and common day activities but is there room for Jesus. That made me think. If we could all give Jesus the best room and the greatest attention. How blessed we would be for we would come to know him better and feel of his love in more abundance. Matieralistic things vanish away but Christ's love is always there if we will seek for it. My desire is that we will make room for the Savior and give him our best. I hope we can remember him this holiday season and always and do as he would do and be as he would be. Find those who need a hand of fellowship lift their spirits and have the spirit of giving this Christmas. Well onto the work. Its going pretty well. This week was particularly cold. The cold here just soaks through you. It makes it tough but hey at least I'm not up in Siberia haha. T is doing well. She came to the ward Christmas party which was the most unique one I've been too but I'll talk about that a little later. She also came to church. First time in like 20 yrs for her. Im proud of her because she really struggles with anxiety sometimes and I called her sunday morning and she was having one of her spells. But she said ya know what I'm going to church. She came and expressed how glad she was that she came. I love how shes always asking questions and her excitement bout learning. She is definetly growing but I think she's scared to get pushed. Sooner or later she will get wet. M will be baptized this Saturday. I feel like I haven't had to do much work with her because of a family in our ward. She's friends with the daughter and girlfriend of the son. She's got good fellowship and thats the key. We have had to drop alot of investigators because they just arent commitable. But cool exeriences foor me. Made some progress with the S's one of our less active families. We thought it be good to get them involved with the ward somehow besides church. Brother S has alot of Snakes thats basically all he talks about. So we set up an activity where he came and showed the young men the snakes. It went so good. The kids liked it and it meant so much to Brother S. It gave him something to look forward and to do. Plus him and his wife got good fellowship with some of the leaders there. I'll have to send you a picture of his python around my neck. It was pretty scary because the snake was tensing up on me as if it wanted to it could kill me. Haha but no worries all is well just probably won't put a snake around my neck again. But I'm doing good here. Transfers are coming up on the 21st. I have an inclination that I'm leaving we will see I guess.

Elder Powell

If you want to send a package during the holidays email me at kimri@live.com to get information so that we can make sure he gets them for Christmas.

Hey everybody, I am doing well. Had a good thanksgiving. We had the 28th annual turkey bowl and it was a slippery battle. We ended up tying but it was alot of fun except for the soreness I still feel... haha. We had two dinners so we were fed really well. This week was a good one. I think the highlight of the week was the experience with T. We met with her two times this week and she is growing so much. She takes the pamphlets we gave her everywhere. She has read everything we've given her. She asks so many questions and just is so eager to learn. She gave her first vocal prayer of her life and now she asks if she can offer the prayers. She tells us how she prays by herself and her days have gone much better due to that and the things we've taught her. She just said how much her life has changed and improved since we have met with her. She now knows she will see her mom again something that had devastated her. Its so cool bringing hope into peoples lives. She said she would give up coffee by the new year. She is not ready to be baptized but in due time I feel she will be. I am thankful to the Lord for the blessings he has given me. The people I teach our not of my own making but the Lord's. I pray that you all will be happy and that you will feel your lives with the things that matter most. Have a good week. Elder Powell