October 28, 2013

Hello All,

My week was really good this week. We worked really hard. The Zone Leaders challenged us to see who could get the most proselyting hours and whoever lost has to buy the others Lunch. Unfortunately though we tied with 51 proselyting hours. We accomplished this by going on splits with the members a lot. We taught heaps of lessons and we also tracted and contacted heaps. We definitely saw many miracles, but we don't know how we are going to work out lunch with the zone leaders. We were able to visit and share messages to 14 Less Active families and we hope that we will be able to teach them some more to help them come back to church, and we are also working with a couple of part member families, and we are hoping to set a couple of baptismal dates soon. I will talk about a couple miracles we saw this week.

We started teaching this man named Reza. He is from Iran and barely understands English. It has been pretty hard teaching him, but we used pamphlets and the Book of Mormon in Arabic and Persian. He is starting to understand what we are teaching him. He is looking to join Christianity because in Iran he owned oil and had lots of money, and the Muslim people would take his oil and his money and then throw him in jail. So he found a way to get out of the middle east and come to Australia. We invited him to pray about the things we taught him, and he agreed, so we are hoping that the spirit can touch him and we will be able to help him and his wife progress.

We also taught Chris this week. ( The man I contacted on the bench) and he is really good! He and his partner are both interested and we taught him the plan of salvation and I felt promised to focus on the Atonement and tell him how he can repent and return to live with God and Jesus Christ. So I briefly taught Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. He said that we wanted to be baptized, which made me happy and was a great surprise, but the only problem is we cant set a date with him until he either separates from his partner, or if they get married. But I am really looking forward to teaching them and helping them progress.

Finding wasn't too fruitful this week, but we will keep at it. We are hoping to bring some less actives back to church. We have been working with a less active family that came back to church a couple of months ago, and they helped us find another less active family who also wants to come back to church. 

The work is progressing in Kenmore and it is going really well! I love being a missionary! I miss you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

October 21, 2013

Hello All!

I am doing really well and I learned so many lessons this week! The Kenmore Area was dead before I came to the area, and the Zone Leaders challenged me to get 32 hours proselyting with lessons and finding hours. It is a hard feat, but I knew if I got it then the Lord would bless us and the work would progress. We ended up getting 34 hours proselyting and the miracles followed. We are leading the Brisbane zone for the number of hours proselyting and we lead the mission this week in the number of people contacted. We talked to 506 people this week, and it was more than any other area in the mission. 

Now for one of the big miracles this week. On Saturday we were leaving our flat to go street contacting, and I saw this islander sitting on a bench, so I decided to go sit next to him and talk with him. He was happy to see us. He said he was just praying for someone to talk to because he was going through a lot of trials at that time in his life. He told us all the drama he was going through, and so we shared a message with him about faith and how trials are a test of our faith. We shared Ether 12:6 with him, we gave him a Book of Mormon and set a return appointment for Tuesday. After talking with him for about an hour he said he felt so much better, and is really looking forward to seeing us on Tuesday. His name is Chris and I am really looking forward to teaching him.

We also contacted this guy named Reza from Iran and he didn't speak very well English, but he wants to know more about Jesus Christ and we are going to give him Arabic Pamphlet and Book of Mormon to teach him. It should be a good experience trying to teach him through a different language, but I am looking forward to it!

With our 23 hours of finding we also found 6 potential investigators. The work is going good! I love being a missionary and I hope you all have a great week!]

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

October 14, 2013

Hello All,

After my unexpected transfer it has been pretty good to be put into the Kenmore 1 area. It hasn't seen any success in a while, so it will be a nice challenge. It seems like there is a pattern to when I get transferred from areas. From my other areas I got transferred right after I had some people lined up for baptism. We had 2 people lined up for baptism in Redcliffe and then I get transferred to an area where people need to be found. I guess some are called to plant seeds, some are called the nurture the seeds, and some are called to harvest the seeds. I don't know why they ended the training with Elder Grayson, but I guess the Kenmore district needed me. I will most likely train again on my mission. There have been many challenges so far this week. 

We are teaching this boy named TJ, who really wants to be baptized, but his Dad isn't a member and we have to get his Dad's permission to baptize him, so we are hoping and praying that his Dad's heart will be softened and let him be baptized. It should be good!

We also taught this guy from Iran It name sounds like Farrad (I don't know how to spell it), but he was baptized in Adelaide, but he moved away before he could receive the Holy Ghost, so we will most likely have to re baptize him, but the only problem is he is strongly against being rebaptized, so we will have to solve that concern. I don't know why the missionaries in Adelaide told him it was alright for him to move without receiving the Holy Ghost. We will have to work with what we have though. 

We also tracted heaps and watched General Conference. Which was really great! The goal is to make the Missionaries and the Members in alignment, so that the work can progress because it is time for hastening the work of Salvation. It is the members job to find and the missionaries job to teach, so continue to pray for opportunities to share the gospel with you friends. I miss you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

October 8, 2013

Hello All,

This week was interesting! Everything was going well and then on Sunday I got a call from our Zone Leaders telling me that I was getting transferred. It was unexpected because Elder Grayson was only half way done with his training. I am now in a place called Kenmore which is in the Brisbane Zone, so it is pretty much in the city. My companion is Elder Kumar from Fiji. He seems good. I am looking forward to working in the area, and seeing what I can do because there is a purpose to why I am here. 

It was hard to leave Redcliffe, but I am looking forward to what is going to happen.

That is about it for the news that I have. Hopefully I will have more to talk about next week. I miss you all and I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

September 30, 2013

Hello All,

This week was really good! We focused a lot on the Baptism of Alex! There is a picture attached! It was a great experience to see Alex change and grow so much. Two months ago Alex came into church really depressed and has changed a lot after the two months. He is a super happy person now, and he is pretty much the man! I felt the spirit really strong at his baptism and as I was baptizing him. He felt the spirit and he knows that he is now clean of all his past transgressions, and he feels really good! He is really converted and it is great to see! The whole experience I had with him will be remembered my whole life! It best part of being a missionary is watching someone like Alex change so much because of the gospel! It makes me love being a missionary! All the hard times we have are made up by a baptism of someone as great as Alex!

As for the rest of the week, we tracted. We are hoping to find some good success. We have a new bishop and a new ward mission leader, so things should really start to take off with missionary work! We found this man named Garth and he is really interested and open in learning about the gospel. His beliefs match ours really well, so it should be good once we can meet with him more. 

I love missionary work. I miss you all and I hope you have a great week!
 

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

                  Elder Powelson  Alex  Elder Grayson

 

September 24, 2013

Hello All,
 

This week was really good! Elder Grayson and I have been doing really well! Our investigator Alex is completely ready for baptism this Saturday and there is nothing holding him back anymore. I am really excited for it. In the last two months Alex has gone from have shaggy hair, a full beard, showing up to church in jeans and tee shirt to now having a nice haircut, no beard and wearing a suit that one of our members gave him. He is fully ready to be baptized and I am way excited. I would say that out of all the investigators I have had, he has changed the most so he could be baptized. It has been a great experience to see. It makes me LOVE missionary work!

Another person we found last week is a guy named Garth. He is really good! We tracted into him, and as we have been teaching him he says what he believes and it is always something we believe as well! We have another lesson with him this week and we hope everything will go well!

We have been tracting a lot this week. Not as much success as usual, but it has been really enjoyable! This week was the first time in 15 months of being a missionary where someone physically chased us out of his yard. It was pretty crazy. We gave his daughter a pass a long card and the next thing we knew as we were walking away this guy was yelling and swearing and he ended up throwing the card back at us. It was more funny than anything. I think we ruined his day just because we knocked on his door. We have also met some really nice people. 

I love being a missionary. It is the greatest work ever! I am excited for this weekend as well! It is going to be great! I miss you all and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

September 15, 2013

Hello All,
 

This week was pretty good! Alex is now set for baptism on the 28th of September. I am really excited with helping him make that goal. He is ready, there are just a few things that he needs to get over. He is probably one of the most ready investigators I have had my whole mission. He is really good and it is a great testimony builder.

We were also able to set a baptismal date with our investigator Stuart. He is really good. He wants to change and we set a goal for him to be baptized on Oct 19th. So I am excited for that! He has some Word of Wisdom issues, but we will help him overcome those things. I am excited for it! 

We also had a lot of success tracting this week! We found some really good potentials that I am excited to work with! I will hopefully be able to tell you some good stories about them next week!

With Elder Grayson as my companion, and with his great faith, and having the strong desire to work, we are finding heaps of success and the work in Redcliffe is going to be moving forward! We got a new bishop, who is way missionary minded, so all the efforts we have been using with the ward will happen really well! 

It was a great week! I love being a missionary! and I hope you all have a great week!
 

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

September 8, 2013

Hello All,

This week went really well! Alex has come a long way, we did have to move his date back to the 21st of September, but he has come a long way and just need a little extra time getting over some things. He is one of the best investigators I have had. He has become a completely new person over the last 6 weeks! He has gone from being depressed to being one of the happiest people I know. I am really looking forward to his baptism in a couple of weeks! 

We also had a few miracles this week! Elder Grayson has so much faith and combined with my faith great things are happening! We went tracting and Elder Grayson knocked on the door and the lady asked for a book of Mormon. Elder Grayson's reaction reminded me of The Best Two years movie. He was so shocked he couldn't say anything, so I had to take over because he was super shocked that someone asked for a book of Mormon. It is definitely not a common thing, but it does happen. The Lady turned out to be an in active member who left the church 8 years ago, and want to get back into it. She also has 3 kids who could potentially be baptized. Her name is Nikki and I am really looking forward to working with her and her family!

We also had an experience with a Bogan (Australians version of a Redneck) So they have cut up shorts, cut up shirts and they always have a beer and a cigarette in each hand. We tracted into him and he let us in. So we taught him and he was not very drunk, so he understood everything we were saying. He was super enthusiastic and he said YES! to everything. We have another lesson with him today, so we will see if he has read the Book of Mormon at all. It would be cool to see him change and transform his life. His name is Stuart.

We also did lot of finding this week! It was great! Found some good potentials and we are looking forward to following up this week! I miss you all and I hope you have a great week!
 

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

September 1, 2013

Hello All!
 

This week was really good! After working in the city with Elder Wilson for 2 days I received my Golden (what the ABM calls Greenies..) He is the man! His name is Elder Grayson from Alberta Canada! He is fresh out of the MTC, 18 years old and just got out of High School a few months ago. The few days we have worked together so far have been really good! He has the greatest energy and spirit! He has great faith and things are going to really start happening here in Redcliffe! I can just feel it! We tracted and found way more potential investigators than we usually do! We taught a great lesson to Alex! 

We did have to push back Alex's Baptism to the 14th because there is a small Word of Wisdom issue, but it will be solved by the 14th! I am really excited! Alex's faith has grown a lot and you can tell that he is so much happier than he was when we met him 4 week ago! Missionary work is just so awesome! 

Training a new missionary is awesome, I feel the spirit so strong as I teach him things. I definitely feel inspiration come and I know that it is from God! I love being a missionary and I know that the church is true and that this is where I need to be! I miss you all and I hope you have a great week!
 

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

 

      President Henderson  Elder Powelson  Elder Grayson
                                 Sister Henderson

                         Elder Powelson and Elder Grayson