September 24, 2012

Hello All,

This week was my companions last week on his mission, so he went with one of our zone leaders to all of his old areas instead of me. So I went to the other Zone Leaders area and we worked in his area. So I served in the Brassall Ward for a week. His name is Elder Marshall and he is from Arizona. It was nice serving with another American for a little bit. Tomorrow is the transfer meeting, so that is when I find out who my new companion is going to be, so I will let you all know who he is in the next email home. I'm kinda nervous to see what happens. But I love the area that I serve in, even though it is hard to understand some of the members, but they show love and respect towards me and treat me like a king which is really good. Even the people that have gone to the break off Samoan church take care of me greatly. First the break off church is a break off of our Church. About 5 years ago they took away all of the Samoan speaking wards and made them all English wards. Lots of the Samoan people didn't like it so they started their own break off church where they meet and do everything in the Samoan Language. They don't seem to realize that they have no authority to do the things they do and they are just wasting their time going to those meetings. They think since they hold the priesthood, so they can still have the authority to bless and pass the sacrament and to baptize people. We visit them to try and encourage them to come back to the church with the authority. We went to one of their houses to share a message and have a talk. Right when we knocked on the door they were eating lunch and they all stopped eating their food, set a place for us and had us eat. The respect missionaries so much that the missionaries eat, and then everyone else eats. So mom, don't worry about me, the members take care of me really well, and I love this ward. At this lunch I tried some new food. I had raw fish, and Octopus. They cut and clean the raw fish and then they soak it in coconut cream. So all the bad stuff is cleaned out somehow and it tastes really good. I really enjoyed it. The octopus was also pretty delicious. Ive tried some crazy foods since Ive been here, and it all ends up tasting really good. A family told me that next time we come over they are going to have me try some Dog. Yes, Dog. I'm kinda nervous, but they said it tastes like beef, but better. So I will make sure to let you all know how that experience is.

So I didn't do any work in my actual area this week, but next week there is going to be lots of work getting done. I am hoping to set a couple more baptismal dates. One more of Sandy's kids are getting baptized on the 7th of October. Its good to hear from all of you and see how your week goes. This week is going to be eventful so I will let you all know of the events this next week.I miss you all and I hope you all have a good week!

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

September 17, 2012

Hello all,

This week has been both good and rough. All of our investigators either decided to stop learning from us or decided to go to New Zealand for the School Holiday. All the schools in Queensland have a 2 week break so lots of people have been going on vacations. So this whole week was trying to find people to teach and try to visit some less active members and just finding more people to teach. But we will have some more success coming. Anyways that is pretty much our week until Sunday. Then Sunday was a really good day. We baptized one of our investigators named Khayla Gibson. She has been taught since before I came here. Her boyfriend is a member in our ward. And she has been a really good person to teach. I love being a missionary because it is cool to see how much someone can change just because someone brought the gospel into their life. She was an example of someone who gained a testimony of the gospel and changed her life around after that. She changed to friends she hung out with and totally changed her whole lifestyle. Which is cool to see as a missionary. It was a really good baptism the whole chapel was full of people supporting her. After the baptism, right before the refreshments Max, her boyfriend proposed to her and they are planning on getting married in the Brisbane temple in a year. So it was a pretty cool experience to see. Serving a mission has been a big blessing for me because I will remember all of these experiences for the rest of my life. This week is my companions last week on his mission, so the mission president gave us permission to visit some of his old areas this week. So between some of the lessons we have this week, we are going to be traveling around some of the areas of the mission. So this week will be mainly visiting his other areas and seeing his converts. So it will be a good week. So on the 25th I will receive a new companion. I don't know what to expect, but we will see. I am having a good time on my mission and am having lots of experiences that are changing my life, that I will always remember. I miss you all and I hope you all have a good week. The members in Raceview are amazing and I am really liking being a missionary here. I hope everyone has a good week and maybe I will have a few more stories in the next coming weeks.
 

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

     Elder Powelson Khayla Gibson Max(Khayla's Fiancee) Elder Oto

September 10, 2012

Hello All,

This week was a good week. On Monday right after I finished emailing one of our investigators named Khayla called us. She said that she didn't want to get baptized anytime soon, she just wanted to wait to do it. So when she called she said that she wanted to be baptized on the 16th of this month. This made me and my companion really happy and excited. We thought she was going to become one of those eternal investigators who never gets baptized. She decided that she wanted to change her life around and she realized that baptism was the first step on doing so. Her boyfriend is a member in our ward and now they are planning on getting married in the temple next year. Which is pretty exciting to hear. That was one of the highlights of the week.

On Tuesday, we received a referral from missionaries in another area that one of their members gave them. Her name is Jennifer Lopez. Not even kidding about that. She is an Islander, not sure which Island though. So we went and visited her and she let us in for a lesson. We shared the message of the Restoration with her. The spirit was really strong in this lesson. I felt the impression to talk about baptism after we talked about the Saviors Earthy Ministry and after I shared some things about baptism I did the baptismal invitation, and she said Yes even before I finished the invitation. We tried to go back and see her on Saturday, but she was sick, so she didn't attend church, but we have a lesson with her tomorrow, so I hope all goes well with her and we are able to set a baptismal date with her.

On Wednesday, we went to the temple. It always good to do an Endowment session in the temple. It takes a long time to travel to the temple because we ride the trains and it takes awhile when the train stops at every stop on the way going to the city. It takes about 1.5 hours to get to the city by train where it only takes like 45 minutes to get to the temple if you drive. But it is always good to go to the temple.

Thursday and Friday were finding days, so we just followed up on potential investigators we found and tracked and visited some less active members/

On Saturday I had a trade off with Elder Huch. He serves in a different area and came to my area for the day and my companion went to his area. We got a call from other missionaries in the Zone next to us and they said two of their investigators moved into our area. So we went and visited them, and they are ready for baptism, they just have to get married first. So they are planning on getting married in November. Their names are Pa'i and Ntewa.

On Sunday we went to church, had a lesson with Kahla and visited some of the members and went to a baptism.

That was my week and I hope all of you are having good weeks and I miss you all.
 

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

September 3, 2012

 Hello All,

This week was a really slow week. All of our progressing investigators got baptized, so now we have no progressing investigators. All the other investigators we have, don't have an intention on getting baptized anytime soon. I'm keeping my head up and I have faith that we will be able to find more people soon. I only have 3 more weeks with my trainer and then I take over the area. Our Zone Leaders said there is a high chance that I am going to become a District Leader and/or a trainer. There are 17 new missionaries coming in, so I guess I will see what happens. Since our area has been the most successful area in the mission there is a high chance I will be one of the two. We tracked a lot this week with not much success. We have some potentials but we will see what happens. That is about it for the work. This Sunday was crazy though. We had 7 confirmations and a Baby blessing in our fast and testimony meeting. There was a record amount of people at sacrament meeting with 270 people. I confirmed Sandy and we had members confirm all of her kids. It was another good experience that I will never forget. Sacrament meeting was already supposed to be over when the passing of the sacrament started. So it was the first testimony meeting Ive ever been too where there wasn't any time for testimonies. I'm am grateful to have a convert like Sandy's family. I will never forget them and I will stay in contact with them throughout my whole life. That was basically my week though. We tracked heaps and I cant believe I have already been out on a mission for 3 months. It feels like I just left home last week. I will be done before I know it. I miss you all and I hope you all are having good times. I am having a good time. I am grateful for the success I have had. Its weird to have this much success. Most people are lucky if they can get 10 baptisms on their whole mission here in Brisbane, and I have already had 8. We just have to see what will happen. I miss you all.
 

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson

August 27, 2012

Hello All,

This week has been a really busy week. We had a total of 7 baptisms this weekend breaking the mission record for the number of baptisms in a week by a companionship. We are going to have dinner with the mission president and his wife sometime in the next couple of weeks and our picture is going to be put on display at the mission office. It was a really good experience. I'm glad I have had some of the experiences I have had. I have attached some pictures of the baptisms we had this weekend. The Baptism we had on Saturday was Blake. Both his parents are less active members and he really wanted to get baptized when we tracted into him. So he was really excited to be baptized and his baptism went really well. Then on Sunday we had the baptism of Sandy and 5 of her kids. She has 3 more kids but they are under the age of 8. It was a really good experience. We tracted into Sandy and she said that the night before we knocked on her door she was praying for what she needed to do with her life. The next morning we tracted 3 houses and her house was the 3rd one that we tracted. She said we answered her prayers when two guys knocked on her door with smiling faces. So it was a good experience teacher her and all of her kids up to the point of being baptized. This is going to be a rememberable baptism for me. I baptized 2 of the kids and 2 other members in the ward who fellowshipped them baptized the others. The kids names are Tyrone, Liam, Tahlia, Melanie, and Jackson. So I baptized Tahlia, and Liam. I was really nervous doing this for the first time. I had to baptize Tahlia 4 times because her dress would not go under the water. She had to end up tying the dress in a knot so it wouldn't go to the top of the water. But eventually we got it worked out and she was baptized. The mission president and AP's came to the Baptisms and he said it was the biggest baptism he has had so far in the 2 years he has been mission president. There were 141+ people attending the baptism. Usually only about 20-30 people attend a baptism, but the whole ward wanted to support the great family. The ward said that they never have had a baptism that big. There were heaps of refreshments and the ward has a really good time. I will never forget this baptism or this family. The coolest part of being on a mission is that I will have a connection with this family forever. It was a really good experience. I will never forget it. So my whole week was spent preparing these people for their baptism. And this week we have no investigators with a baptism date, so we are going to try and set at least one more this week. Our teaching pool is once again low so this next week we are going to be doing lots of finding. I miss you all and I hope you all have a good week this week.
 

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

    Elder Powelson  Tyrone  Liam Melanie  Tahlia  Jackson Elder  Oto

                                                          Blake

August 20, 2012

Hello All

I had some more good experiences this week. We taught quite a bit of lessons this week. But the good experience for the week happened this Saturday. I was on a trade-off with the Zone Leaders on Saturday, so it was my first time in my area with someone who didnt know the area. So I had to lead every activity we did and get around. I did really well. I was surprised how well I knew the area. I never needed to get around on my own before. So I was with Elder Marshall who is another American from Arizona. In the morning we went to follow up on a potential who we had taught a lesson to and was really interested. We were planning on setting a Baptismal Date, but when we talked to her, she said she was not interested anymore and told us to go away. So we left. And as we were walking down the street a miracle happened. An older lady came running towards us saying "Stop! I have been praying and I think you two are the answer to my prayers." We were both really surprised and we went to her door step and taught her a 15 minute version on the Restoration. She said she had been praying for years to find a church to accept her, and she saw us walking and thought we were the answer to her prayers. The spirit was really strong as we taught her. She said she went from being in a really bad, negative mood into a very happy mood. She knew that God had answered her prayers. She said she never worked on her garden, but she felt like she needed to today. If she was not outside working on her garden, she would have never seen us walking down the street. It strengthens my testimony that missionaries are led to places and to people who are ready to hear the gospel. There is no way that it is a coincidence that she was working on her garden right at the time we were walking by. The Lord inspired all of us to be in that place at that time. She then went to church on Sunday and she also came to our baptism. She said it was all Amazing. We are going to try and set a baptismal date with her on Tuesday. It is true that God does inspire his servants. That was definitely a testimony builder. Her name is Kathy

So we had the baptism on Yaige Taito yesterday. His uncle baptized him and he is really excited for church and everything. This Saturday we have Blake's Baptism. Both his parents are less active members and he is really excited to be baptized. Then on Sunday we have the baptism of Sandy and 5 of her kids. They are all really excited and I am really excited! Well that is my week. I miss you all and I hope you all have a really good week.

Love,
Elder Kyler Powelson

           Elder Powelson  Yaige's Uncle  Yaige Taito  Elder Oto

August 14, 2012

Hello all,

This week has been pretty good. We have a baptism this Sunday which is really excited and then we have 7 more next week. I am really excited for them to happen. The one on Sunday is a 9 year old boy who is part of a part-member family who was never baptized. Then next week Sandy and all of her kids are getting baptized. It is really cool to see how much they have changed in the month that we have met with them. It is really cool having a miracle convert this early in my mission. If we were lazy missionaries and didn't tract, then we would have never found her and it would not have been as good of an experience. So hard work does pay off on the mission. Anyone who gets mission calls or has exciting news make sure to tell my mom so she can email it to me. We taught quite a bit of lessons this week. We have been doing lots of work to prepare everything for the baptisms we are having soon. The work is going well and Raceview is growing to become one of the better area in the mission. We had no one to teach when we got here, and now there are heaps of people to teach. We hope to keep finding more people and teaching more people so the work can keep getting better and better here. I am excited and I am having some of the most spiritual experience I have ever had in my life so far. We have a few potential investigators that are really interested, so we will see what happens this week. We have already had 2 lessons this week and we have 10 more planned for the rest of the week. That is really high for this mission, so we are definitely keeping busy. That is as far as the work goes.

Now for some good experiences that I have had. Last week I went to a Samoan birthday party. Since we were missionaries we were automatically guests of honor. So we sat at the big table and got served our food. The people kept coming and putting food on my plate. I don't have to worry about going hungry in this area. The members always make sure we have food. There was lots of people singing and dancing. It was all in the Samoan Language so I could not understand a thing, but the food was really good. Samoan food is really good.

So 5 years ago they took away all of the Samoan speaking wards and some people didn't like that because it is hard for them to understand English, so they decided to make a break off church of the LDS church. We call them the break-offs. Well we went and visited them and they started to realized that the spirit isn't in their meetings and that they didn't have the authority from god to do all the things they do, so some of them decided to come back to church even though it is in English. So that was a miracle for us to have people come back.

Well, that is about it for my week and I hope everyone else is doing well. I miss you all and I hope you all have a great week!
 

Love,

Elder Kyler Powelson