Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Annie's Address
If you want to write Annie in Slovenia her address is: Sister Annie Powell Molekova Ulcia 3 1211 Ljubljana- Smartno Slovenia
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Letter from 3/21
Hello everone!
Wow! I cannot believe how fast time goes. I am already a third through my first transfer here in SLovenia! joj!!! I am slowly understanding more and more of the language each day. It is really interesting because I can hear a sentence and know every single word they are saying but still have absolutely no idea what it means! That probably sounds crazy but it is true! It just takes too long for me to work through the words so my the time I have filed through my brain to figure out one word they are five words further in the sentence. also Sentence structure is funky and they have some strange phrases. They always "walk on" places. Like to say we are going to church we say "Hodimo na Cerkev" which means literally we are walking on church. anyway fun little language fact for the day!Ok. I forgot to tell you last week that we had our first non member lesson! There was a woman who came to the church and Predsednik Juhart was there (district President). She asked him about our church and he testified to her and then called us and asked us to teach her. She asked to be called Gospa Mili and seems like a neat lady. We taught her the first lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon. She said she needed some time to read it and then she would call us. We asked if we could get together to teach her more but she just said she didn't want to rush into anything so she would call us when she had read it. We asked if we could call in a couple weeks and she said that would be fine. I'll let you know what happens! we are going to call her this week:) This past week we taught Tadeja who has been investigating the church for a while and has a really strong testimony of the gospel. When we taught her it felt like we were teaching another member lesson. She would get baptized in an instant if she could but she is living with her parents who are Catholic and very against the idea of her joining the church. They are supporting her through school and Tadeja is afraid they will kick her out if she gets baptized. We brainstormed some ideas of how we could familiarize her parents with the church so they would be more open and so the Lord could soften their hearts. She is such a sweet person and I'm praying that her parents will be open to efforts.We have so many amazing members in the Ljubljana ward and I wish I had time to tell stories about all of them but I don't really have time. We go for one a week! Monika is a younger woman who is getting ready to send in he mission papers!!! she has a boyfriend who is also getting ready to go on a mission. She has so much faith her desire to serve a mission is so strong! Our first lesson with her was right after she had gone to the doctors and the doctor wouldn't sign her papers for some reason. She was absolutely devastated and came to us crying. We talked to her about how the Lord knows her desire to serve a mission and that he will provide a way for her to fulfill that desire and that timing is everything, and only the Lord knows what timing is right. She has gotten in figured out since then and will send in her papers within the next couple of weeks! So exciting!Ok. last monday we went to lake Bled with the Taylor's (the cutest couple ever! they are so sweet!) and family guess what?! we have to come back when I get off my mission and go there. I kept on thinking of you and thinking that the little trip there was totally something we would do together! It was beautiful. we walked around the lake and then toured the old castle up on the hill. it was a lot of fun. This past week I also got to go to Croatia! We had a Golden Training meeting and it was fun to meet some of the missionaries in Croatia!Ok I've written way too much already. I love you all!
Love,Sestra Powell
Wow! I cannot believe how fast time goes. I am already a third through my first transfer here in SLovenia! joj!!! I am slowly understanding more and more of the language each day. It is really interesting because I can hear a sentence and know every single word they are saying but still have absolutely no idea what it means! That probably sounds crazy but it is true! It just takes too long for me to work through the words so my the time I have filed through my brain to figure out one word they are five words further in the sentence. also Sentence structure is funky and they have some strange phrases. They always "walk on" places. Like to say we are going to church we say "Hodimo na Cerkev" which means literally we are walking on church. anyway fun little language fact for the day!Ok. I forgot to tell you last week that we had our first non member lesson! There was a woman who came to the church and Predsednik Juhart was there (district President). She asked him about our church and he testified to her and then called us and asked us to teach her. She asked to be called Gospa Mili and seems like a neat lady. We taught her the first lesson and gave her a Book of Mormon. She said she needed some time to read it and then she would call us. We asked if we could get together to teach her more but she just said she didn't want to rush into anything so she would call us when she had read it. We asked if we could call in a couple weeks and she said that would be fine. I'll let you know what happens! we are going to call her this week:) This past week we taught Tadeja who has been investigating the church for a while and has a really strong testimony of the gospel. When we taught her it felt like we were teaching another member lesson. She would get baptized in an instant if she could but she is living with her parents who are Catholic and very against the idea of her joining the church. They are supporting her through school and Tadeja is afraid they will kick her out if she gets baptized. We brainstormed some ideas of how we could familiarize her parents with the church so they would be more open and so the Lord could soften their hearts. She is such a sweet person and I'm praying that her parents will be open to efforts.We have so many amazing members in the Ljubljana ward and I wish I had time to tell stories about all of them but I don't really have time. We go for one a week! Monika is a younger woman who is getting ready to send in he mission papers!!! she has a boyfriend who is also getting ready to go on a mission. She has so much faith her desire to serve a mission is so strong! Our first lesson with her was right after she had gone to the doctors and the doctor wouldn't sign her papers for some reason. She was absolutely devastated and came to us crying. We talked to her about how the Lord knows her desire to serve a mission and that he will provide a way for her to fulfill that desire and that timing is everything, and only the Lord knows what timing is right. She has gotten in figured out since then and will send in her papers within the next couple of weeks! So exciting!Ok. last monday we went to lake Bled with the Taylor's (the cutest couple ever! they are so sweet!) and family guess what?! we have to come back when I get off my mission and go there. I kept on thinking of you and thinking that the little trip there was totally something we would do together! It was beautiful. we walked around the lake and then toured the old castle up on the hill. it was a lot of fun. This past week I also got to go to Croatia! We had a Golden Training meeting and it was fun to meet some of the missionaries in Croatia!Ok I've written way too much already. I love you all!
Love,Sestra Powell
Monday, March 7, 2011
First week in SLOVENIA and pictures!
Annie calling the domophone for one of the bloks the stuffed. (do I know what this means? No but that is what she said she was doing in this picture.) reference paragraph 3 of the letter
Annie's companion Sister Oak
ley
Annie and her comp
leyAnnie and her comp
Hello Everyone!!!
Wow! Where do I even begin! There is so much to say but I honestly don'nt know where to start....ok usually na začetku is a good place . I am in Ljubljana with Sister Oakley!!!! When we arrived we went to the mission home and had interviews and dinner with Pres. Hill and his wife. They are so amazing! I am so excited to get to know them better because they are amazing people. Sister Oakley came down from Maribor and met us at the mission home. She is such a fun person and I am so grateful for her! After that the Assistents took us to our apartment in Šiška (our new area). The apartment used to be the elders so I'm not going to lie I was a little bit nervous....but they cleaned it up really well and left us all kinds of notes about how things worked and how to get places and sisters in the ward and little bios about them and...wow ...I was impressed! So the apartment is pretty nice. The bedroom is a little strange though....it is a closed off balcony with no heating system ...so it is basically outside... so we moved the bed inside to the living room. Ingenuitive ali ne? it is quite a nice little arrangement and a cozy little place! Anyway. So the first full day we tracted to the church (Sister Oakley did most of the talking but I stopped a couple of people!....I hardly understand anything the native speakers say...but I understand most of the missionaries:) and just kind of tried to get to know Šiška because Sister Oakley has been in Maribor her whole 6 months here! Later that night we had a practice because we are going to have a "concert" here in Ljubljana! We are singing in English and I am so excited that music will be a part of my mission so soon! The elders are great and I am so excited to work with them! They have all helped us out so much already.
We had a lesson with one of the members this week. Her name is Jelka and is possibly the sweetest woman ever. She made us lunch and it was amazing! We shared a spiritual thought with her and yes I did contribute! I can use words I know to make an understandable thought! She doesn't understand English and I still only understand a word to about every 10-20 words so most of my time during the visit was spent picking out familiar sounds (in my head it went something like this "OH! I know that word! I have no idea what she was talking about but I know she said garden!"). It was a reallz fun visit:)
We have been doing a lot of handing out flyers because we are going to have an English class! If I have time I will send a couple of pictures of me stuffing bloks! Good stuff! I even started pushing the call button and telling people what we needed to door opened for....yeah I'lll explain later I don't have a lot of time left. Yesterday was my first Sundayand church was great! it is truly amazing how i can feel something so familiar in a place on the other side of the world! Guess what everyone? The Gospel is True! I thought I'd tell you that just in case you didn't already know:) and guess whatelse? Predsenik Majc asked us to bear our testimonies!!! joj! It was a really neat experience though because I just picked a couple of truths I new and made sentences out of them and when I got up I wasn't even really nervous. I know the Lord was helping me. It is amazing the whole time I have been here I have felt that same sustaining power I felt in the MTC. Not much has been easy but I know the Lord has been helping me by giving me strength and energy while I am adjusting. Ok I feel like I am leaving so much out but I have taken too much time already. I love you all so much. Thank you for your prayers and support!
Love, Sestra Powell
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Annie is in SLOVENIA!
Hi everyone!
So, here is a short one from Annie. I'm pretty sure she was sleep deprived and disoriented. I think when she says Sis. Hill (president's wife) let it slip that she would be in Slovenia, she meant Ljubljana (the capitol city and where the mission home is), because, obviously she will be in Slovenia. Maybe she meant Maribor....(the other area where sisters are serving)...I'm not sure. I guess we will find out next week! It was wonderful to talk to her (she was allowed to call home from the SLC airport), and she sounded upbeat and happy.
Thanks for all of your prayers for her. We love you all!
Lisa
Hello family!
I am officially in Slovenia! I am in the mission home and they told me to email you and so i am! The keyboards here are a little bit different so Im kind of struggling! anyway I am here safe and I love all the people I have met so far. They seem amazing! I am not supposed to know this yet but sister Hill let it slip that I will be in Slovenia! She didn't let it slip who my companion would be so Ill let you know as soon as I know! I feel a little motion sick right now but other than that I am happy and doing great! I love you all! It was so good to talk to you yesterday and tell jake Im sorry I couldnt call him...I didn't have his number memorized! I love you!
Love,
Sestra Powell!
So, here is a short one from Annie. I'm pretty sure she was sleep deprived and disoriented. I think when she says Sis. Hill (president's wife) let it slip that she would be in Slovenia, she meant Ljubljana (the capitol city and where the mission home is), because, obviously she will be in Slovenia. Maybe she meant Maribor....(the other area where sisters are serving)...I'm not sure. I guess we will find out next week! It was wonderful to talk to her (she was allowed to call home from the SLC airport), and she sounded upbeat and happy.
Thanks for all of your prayers for her. We love you all!
Lisa
Hello family!
I am officially in Slovenia! I am in the mission home and they told me to email you and so i am! The keyboards here are a little bit different so Im kind of struggling! anyway I am here safe and I love all the people I have met so far. They seem amazing! I am not supposed to know this yet but sister Hill let it slip that I will be in Slovenia! She didn't let it slip who my companion would be so Ill let you know as soon as I know! I feel a little motion sick right now but other than that I am happy and doing great! I love you all! It was so good to talk to you yesterday and tell jake Im sorry I couldnt call him...I didn't have his number memorized! I love you!
Love,
Sestra Powell!
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