Hello All,
This week has been spectacular in Townsville! Elder Kay and I
have been getting lots of work done. Work hasn't been done in this area for a
long time. There hasn't been any baptisms for 2 years and the last thing that
has been done was over a year ago according to the area book. Lots of people
have the conception that they can come up north and since they are so far away
from the mission president they can just be lazy. Which is dumb. But we have
started working hard and have set 2 baptismal dates. One which is this
Saturday. The one for this Saturday
is a philipino lady named Sarah. As we taught her she said she has never felt
happier in her life. She grew up as a Jehovah's Witness and she told us that
they worry about how everything is logically. I don't understand this because I
have learned of many scriptures in the Bible that prove their doctrine wrong.
We tracted into a Jehovah's Witness and all they ever want to do is try and prove
us wrong. So what I do is try to prove them wrong. Which I did really well.
There are so many scriptures in the bible that they just seem to ignore just
because it proves them wrong. Whenever I brought a scripture up, they would
forget what I just said and try another thing that would prove us wrong. They
could never prove any of our doctrine wrong. But we could prove almost
everything they said wrong. It was a big waste of time, but it was just so much
fun proving them wrong over and over again. I was telling them the truth and
telling them in a really nice way that their doctrine is incorrect, and at the
end of being proved wrong many times they just told us to have a nice day and we
left. They just don't make any sense. That what I like about our church. It
makes complete sense. Now going back to Sarah, the Jehovah's witness went to
visit her to try and get her to not get baptized, and she said that our church
made more sense and that she felt in her heart that it was the truth. So, they
left and she is getting baptized on Saturday
which I am way excited for. You can tell that she has a strong testimony and is
ready to become closer to God! It will be Elder Kay's first baptism. I have
been really privileged to get as many baptisms as I have because most
missionaries get less that 5 baptisms their whole mission. So I am glad I have
had the experiences I have had. He has been out for almost a year. He is
excited beyond belief because he has been working for a baptism for 10 months
and now he is going to have one. I am really excited for the baptism. The
branch is really excited and it is going to be a really good one.
As for
our other investigator that we set a baptism date with. His name is Qayyum. He
is a 17 year old boy. He friend is a member in our branch. And he is a really
strong person. We have taught him 3 of the lessons so far, and he is really
strong. The spirit is really strong in the lessons we have taught with him.
When we committed him to baptism the spirit was really strong. Another time the
spirit was strong was when we asked if he prayed to know if the book of Mormon
was true. He then said something that most missionaries would not expect. He
said that there was no need for him to pray to know if the Book of Mormon was
true because he knew it was all true the first time he prayed with the
missionaries. He said it was really calm when that happened and he knew he
needed to join the church because he knew it was true. He is getting baptized
on January 4th because he is going on vacation for Christmas, but he is really
excited to be baptized afterward. I am really excited for that to
happen!
As for everything else that happened. We tracted a lot. We
found a couple potentials. And I am loving it up here. Even thought I am far
away from other missionaries the members here are amazing. I feel right at home
here. On P-Day last week while we were at our branch presidents house playing
some board games with him and his family I just had the feeling of home and it
was a great feeling. President and Sister Ferguson remind me a lot of my Uncle
Delbert and Aunt Roxanne. They treat us like their own children and they are
great people and I am so happy to be here. I love it in Townsville and I am
looking forward to the 6 months I am going to have here. I miss you all and I
hope you have a great week!
Love
Elder Kyler Powelson