Tuesday, August 30, 2011
8/29/11 She has been out 8 months!
Hey everybody!
This week was Urša's baptism and it was amazing!!! I have so much love and respect for that young woman. her humility amazes me. We had 44 people come to her baptism and according to the elders count 25 of them were non members. That is unheard of!...I don't know how accurate that count is but we're trusting the elders on that:) Urša had to be baptized twice because she was sitting in a chair and when the chair got tipped back her legs came up. I thought she didn't go under the second time but the witnesses oked it. That was a little stressful but it all worked out! When sister Oakley went back to help her change she said Urša was just beaming. She invited 5 of her family members and we had a bunch of investigators come as well! I can guarantee that we will be seeing the affects of this baptism years down the road. Urša is already a great missionary and the spirit she brings touches the hearts of all those she comes in contact with. I am so excited for her and grateful for the opportunity I had to teach her. She has and will bless many peoples lives!
Second big piece of news for the week. Transfers.....are you ready for this?.....I am still in Ljubljana......with Sister Staheli!!! I am so excited! I was really strange for me to say goodbye to sister Oakley though. We have been together for 6 months and I have learned so much from her. I have known nothing but ljubljana with her and now I am here without her...it is a little disorienting and I am sure it will be the cause of much growth. I haven't had to do a lot leading and so it will really make me stretch. So many of the members love her so much and we have developed some amazing relationships with the members and our investigators so it will be interesting for me to learn how to work with someone different. I am really excited to experience something new though!
I'd better go. I love you all and thank you for your love, prayers and support!
Love,
Sestra Powell
8/22/11
Hello Everyone!
So this week was a little rough...but went by very fast!! We had a ton of our lessons cancel and most of our investigators are on vacations...but guess what!!! Urša is back! It was so good to see her. She is so sweet and dedicated to being obedient and doing what is right. She did all of the "Homework" We gave her and shared insights with her mom for FHE. She has her interview this week and she is so nervous about it! I feel so bad because that is not what the interview should be like. We've tried explaining that it is ok if we have to push her baptism back but it didn't help that they announced it in sacrament meeting and everyone was congratulating her. I'm not worried though:) We went through the baptismal interview questions and she was pulling out scriptures to back up her testimony or to expain how she knew that God is real and that the book of mormon is the word of God. She is truly an incredible example to me and I have learned so much about humility and love from her. At the same time she has such a fun personality even though she has been placed in difficult circumstances. I love her!
We also had a good lesson with Zdenka and her daughter Sara. I think i wrote about them last week. Zdenka is a faithful woman and her daughter is struggling right now. We haven't ever gotten with Sara before but we asked Zdenka if we could meet at her house. We didn't think we would be able to meet sara because she was at work but we were really late to the lesson and about halfway through sara came home. It was really neat because Sara would ask a question and Zdenka would answer perfectly! Sara asked about if the book of Mormon was another bible. Zdenka answered and basically taught Sara about Joseph Smith and what the book of Mormon is. It was sooo cool!
Guess what!! I gave a ten minute talk in church on Sunday! JOJ. It was a little nerve racking because Pres. Majc asked me the day before so I had to pull ten minutes of material together in about 2 hours...in Slovene! Let's just say I took advantage of quoting a lot of scriptures and talks:) I talked about love and how important it is to realize our relationship with heavenly Father, and when we do our perspective of life changes. Wordly things don't matter anymore:)
So it's kinda crazy because one more transfer is almost over! We find out probably this week where we will be...and we are pretty sure it won't stay the same like it has the past 2 transfers. I am excited but sad at the same time. I love sister Oakley and have learned a lot from her. I guess we'll see! There is a small chance that nothing will change and I would love to work with her in Ljubljana one more transfer!
Well I'd better get going. I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
So this week was a little rough...but went by very fast!! We had a ton of our lessons cancel and most of our investigators are on vacations...but guess what!!! Urša is back! It was so good to see her. She is so sweet and dedicated to being obedient and doing what is right. She did all of the "Homework" We gave her and shared insights with her mom for FHE. She has her interview this week and she is so nervous about it! I feel so bad because that is not what the interview should be like. We've tried explaining that it is ok if we have to push her baptism back but it didn't help that they announced it in sacrament meeting and everyone was congratulating her. I'm not worried though:) We went through the baptismal interview questions and she was pulling out scriptures to back up her testimony or to expain how she knew that God is real and that the book of mormon is the word of God. She is truly an incredible example to me and I have learned so much about humility and love from her. At the same time she has such a fun personality even though she has been placed in difficult circumstances. I love her!
We also had a good lesson with Zdenka and her daughter Sara. I think i wrote about them last week. Zdenka is a faithful woman and her daughter is struggling right now. We haven't ever gotten with Sara before but we asked Zdenka if we could meet at her house. We didn't think we would be able to meet sara because she was at work but we were really late to the lesson and about halfway through sara came home. It was really neat because Sara would ask a question and Zdenka would answer perfectly! Sara asked about if the book of Mormon was another bible. Zdenka answered and basically taught Sara about Joseph Smith and what the book of Mormon is. It was sooo cool!
Guess what!! I gave a ten minute talk in church on Sunday! JOJ. It was a little nerve racking because Pres. Majc asked me the day before so I had to pull ten minutes of material together in about 2 hours...in Slovene! Let's just say I took advantage of quoting a lot of scriptures and talks:) I talked about love and how important it is to realize our relationship with heavenly Father, and when we do our perspective of life changes. Wordly things don't matter anymore:)
So it's kinda crazy because one more transfer is almost over! We find out probably this week where we will be...and we are pretty sure it won't stay the same like it has the past 2 transfers. I am excited but sad at the same time. I love sister Oakley and have learned a lot from her. I guess we'll see! There is a small chance that nothing will change and I would love to work with her in Ljubljana one more transfer!
Well I'd better get going. I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
8/8/11
Hello Everyone!
Thank you for all of the letters and good wishes! This week had been a very good one... and kind of bizarre as well. We have had some strange things happen, but not necessarily bad:) To start off a cross dresser listened in on one of our lessons with a member! (blue eyeshadow pink lipstick and all:)) he was very respectful and we were able to have a good religious discussion. Afterwards sister Oakley and I had a good conversation about trials, how we all have different trials...(and that I am grateful that is not one of mine) and how all of God's children need to understand their relationship with him to overcome their trials.
Anyway, our investigators are doing well. We have heard from Urša several times this week and she is doing great on vacation! She fasted even though she couldn't go to church and is doing everything we have asked her to. She asked us again to let her know what we learned in church this week. She is just too good!
We have a couple of new investigators. Magdalena is one of them. She is a 37 yo women and she is very receptive to basically everything we teach her. She is sweet and read all of first nephi in 5 days and then gave us a chapter by chapter summary at our next lesson! Marjetka is another one and she is so great! She is a very bubbly woman who is always giving and thinking of others. She is a friend of the Vidras and we met her when we were both visiting Ram (the Vidras son who has cerebral palsy). We are excited about both of them!
So I have truly come to better understand the power of the word of God this week. As we have taught some of our less active/inactive members it has been really neat to see them change and start to understand the myseries of God. One in specific is a member named Lucija. She has been going to several different churches at the same time and she is a little confused. As we have been getting with her and teaching her out of PMG we have seen her turn to pure doctrine more and more. Just the other week a catholic priest confronted her about coming to the "Mormon Church" and told her she should stop. She stood up for our religion and said that she would keep on coming. The priest didn't have much else to say and walked away. She connected that with what it says in the Book of Mormon about how people will reject the true church in the last days. We were so proud of her for her courage to stand up for truth and for the connection she made with her experience and the Book of Mormon! I have also made it a goal to more effectively study out of Preach My Gospel and it is amazing how it has affected my desire to share the gospel. The pure basic principles of the Gospel are so important and i am so grateful for the knowledge I have if them and the opportunity to share them with others!
I'd better get going. I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
Thank you for all of the letters and good wishes! This week had been a very good one... and kind of bizarre as well. We have had some strange things happen, but not necessarily bad:) To start off a cross dresser listened in on one of our lessons with a member! (blue eyeshadow pink lipstick and all:)) he was very respectful and we were able to have a good religious discussion. Afterwards sister Oakley and I had a good conversation about trials, how we all have different trials...(and that I am grateful that is not one of mine) and how all of God's children need to understand their relationship with him to overcome their trials.
Anyway, our investigators are doing well. We have heard from Urša several times this week and she is doing great on vacation! She fasted even though she couldn't go to church and is doing everything we have asked her to. She asked us again to let her know what we learned in church this week. She is just too good!
We have a couple of new investigators. Magdalena is one of them. She is a 37 yo women and she is very receptive to basically everything we teach her. She is sweet and read all of first nephi in 5 days and then gave us a chapter by chapter summary at our next lesson! Marjetka is another one and she is so great! She is a very bubbly woman who is always giving and thinking of others. She is a friend of the Vidras and we met her when we were both visiting Ram (the Vidras son who has cerebral palsy). We are excited about both of them!
So I have truly come to better understand the power of the word of God this week. As we have taught some of our less active/inactive members it has been really neat to see them change and start to understand the myseries of God. One in specific is a member named Lucija. She has been going to several different churches at the same time and she is a little confused. As we have been getting with her and teaching her out of PMG we have seen her turn to pure doctrine more and more. Just the other week a catholic priest confronted her about coming to the "Mormon Church" and told her she should stop. She stood up for our religion and said that she would keep on coming. The priest didn't have much else to say and walked away. She connected that with what it says in the Book of Mormon about how people will reject the true church in the last days. We were so proud of her for her courage to stand up for truth and for the connection she made with her experience and the Book of Mormon! I have also made it a goal to more effectively study out of Preach My Gospel and it is amazing how it has affected my desire to share the gospel. The pure basic principles of the Gospel are so important and i am so grateful for the knowledge I have if them and the opportunity to share them with others!
I'd better get going. I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
8/1/11
Hello Everyone!
So there are so many things that I want to write about but once again we had a packed p-day! I'll try to make it fast and give you all the information that i know you are just dying to know.
So as far as investigators go. Ksenija told us this past week that she no longer wanted to get with us and that baptism was no longer a priority because she has everything that she was looking for already (good company etc). It made us really sad and so we gave her number to the elders to see if they could make some progress with her that we couldn't. They called her and she was very excited to start having lessons with them. Another stab to the heart for us. But at least she is keeping in contact with missionaries and hopefully really does still want to be baptized...we'll see where it goes. Elena also said that she wanted to take a break for a little while. Tadeja contacted us finally and said she isn't going to be back in Slovenia until September...so once again her baptismal date is being moved back. Urša is on vacation for 3 weeks! We miss her sooo much already but we gave her some good talks and activities to do each week to keep her spiritually strong. it was so cute she sent us a text message on Sunday asking us to tell everybody hi for her at church and also asked us to text her what we learned! She is just too good! Also this week we got 3 new investigators! one from what was supposed to be English class, one as a member referral, and another from a friend of one of our English class students! It is pretty amazing! I'm sure I'll have more about them this next week.
We also had a companion exchange this week. I was with Sister Hagemeister in Ljubljana. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from her. She really knows the language well even though she has only been here for 1 transfer more than me and it helped me a lot to be with her!
Sister Oakley and I visited 2 inactive members and they both came to church on Sunday! it was so great and we really hope they will keep coming. They are both from Serbia and live in a little community about an hour bus ride from our house. It was such a cute little area and they are both very welcoming. We had a little miracle happen too. We were trying to find Aiša's house and were really struggling. We had never met Aiša before but we had met Dragica and had been trying to call her for a long time with no success. AS we were trying to find Aiša's house Dragica came out and saw us. She helped us find the right place and we found out that we had had the wrong number the whole time! It was so good and we were able to get together with her the next day as well. The Lord is so good to us!
Anyway, today we went to škocjanske jame, these really cool caves with one of our English class students/investigators and her daughter and it was really fun! But i don't have a ton of time...I think I got everything that I wanted to in though!
I love you all and hope life is going well for you!
Love,
Sestra Powell
So there are so many things that I want to write about but once again we had a packed p-day! I'll try to make it fast and give you all the information that i know you are just dying to know.
So as far as investigators go. Ksenija told us this past week that she no longer wanted to get with us and that baptism was no longer a priority because she has everything that she was looking for already (good company etc). It made us really sad and so we gave her number to the elders to see if they could make some progress with her that we couldn't. They called her and she was very excited to start having lessons with them. Another stab to the heart for us. But at least she is keeping in contact with missionaries and hopefully really does still want to be baptized...we'll see where it goes. Elena also said that she wanted to take a break for a little while. Tadeja contacted us finally and said she isn't going to be back in Slovenia until September...so once again her baptismal date is being moved back. Urša is on vacation for 3 weeks! We miss her sooo much already but we gave her some good talks and activities to do each week to keep her spiritually strong. it was so cute she sent us a text message on Sunday asking us to tell everybody hi for her at church and also asked us to text her what we learned! She is just too good! Also this week we got 3 new investigators! one from what was supposed to be English class, one as a member referral, and another from a friend of one of our English class students! It is pretty amazing! I'm sure I'll have more about them this next week.
We also had a companion exchange this week. I was with Sister Hagemeister in Ljubljana. It was a lot of fun and I learned a lot from her. She really knows the language well even though she has only been here for 1 transfer more than me and it helped me a lot to be with her!
Sister Oakley and I visited 2 inactive members and they both came to church on Sunday! it was so great and we really hope they will keep coming. They are both from Serbia and live in a little community about an hour bus ride from our house. It was such a cute little area and they are both very welcoming. We had a little miracle happen too. We were trying to find Aiša's house and were really struggling. We had never met Aiša before but we had met Dragica and had been trying to call her for a long time with no success. AS we were trying to find Aiša's house Dragica came out and saw us. She helped us find the right place and we found out that we had had the wrong number the whole time! It was so good and we were able to get together with her the next day as well. The Lord is so good to us!
Anyway, today we went to škocjanske jame, these really cool caves with one of our English class students/investigators and her daughter and it was really fun! But i don't have a ton of time...I think I got everything that I wanted to in though!
I love you all and hope life is going well for you!
Love,
Sestra Powell
7/25/11
Pozdravljeni Prijatelji moji!
This week has been a little bit of a weird week. We have had so many ups and downs and it has been crazy. We have had some of the weirdest lessons and some of the best lessons. We have some great investigators who are progressing and some who are giving us a really hard time.
Urša is amazing. She is strengthening her testimony one step at a time and is also willing to make sacrifices and test her faith. Because of it she is receiving answers to her prayers and we are seeing miracles with her. She paid tithing and fast offerings for the first time. We had Pres. and Stanka Majc on one of our lessons with her and she handed Pres. Majc her envelope all filled out! She has stopped drinking coffee and does it without complaint or question. She trusts everything we tell her and does it with faith! We read through the baptismal interview questions after church on Sunday and it was amazing because she said that everything during church was amazing. Pres. Majc gave an amazing talk about the atonement and that Christ suffered for all of our sins and it hit her pretty hard. Afterwards we went through all of the baptismal interview questions. She felt guilty for some things that she had done in the past and it was an amazing opportunity for sister Oakley and I to explain that that is why the atonement is so incredible and that is why baptism is so important as well. We all make mistakes and especially if we didn't know something was wrong in the first place. The Atonement covers it all and when we are baptized we become completely clean! She is truly amazing and i love her!
Elena is kind of struggling right now. We invited a member on her lesson and It went really badly and she was very rude to the member and wouldn't really respond to anything we said in slovene and completely shut us out. It was completely opposite of how she normally reacts to anything we teach so we don't really know what to do. We have another lesson with her this week on exchanges so we'll see if she responds differently to another sister missionary.
Things are also a little weird with Ksenija. She came to church and stayed for all 3 hours! but after when we asked her if we could get together this week she said no. We are afraid that she is upset with us for moving her baptismal date back. She loves the company at church and still takes notes but she ignores our phone calls. We are hoping that she still wants to be baptized even if it means her getting together with other missionaries.
we heard from Tadeja in Switzerland She is doing well but won't be back in time to be baptized in August. She is going to wait until September.
This week has been a little rough for me, I have been kind of sick but I'm getting better and it is amazing how the Lord has sustained me through this week. I have truly felt His love and power helping me so that I was still able to do everything that was necessary!
Thank you for all of your love and prayers!
Love,
Sestra Powell
This week has been a little bit of a weird week. We have had so many ups and downs and it has been crazy. We have had some of the weirdest lessons and some of the best lessons. We have some great investigators who are progressing and some who are giving us a really hard time.
Urša is amazing. She is strengthening her testimony one step at a time and is also willing to make sacrifices and test her faith. Because of it she is receiving answers to her prayers and we are seeing miracles with her. She paid tithing and fast offerings for the first time. We had Pres. and Stanka Majc on one of our lessons with her and she handed Pres. Majc her envelope all filled out! She has stopped drinking coffee and does it without complaint or question. She trusts everything we tell her and does it with faith! We read through the baptismal interview questions after church on Sunday and it was amazing because she said that everything during church was amazing. Pres. Majc gave an amazing talk about the atonement and that Christ suffered for all of our sins and it hit her pretty hard. Afterwards we went through all of the baptismal interview questions. She felt guilty for some things that she had done in the past and it was an amazing opportunity for sister Oakley and I to explain that that is why the atonement is so incredible and that is why baptism is so important as well. We all make mistakes and especially if we didn't know something was wrong in the first place. The Atonement covers it all and when we are baptized we become completely clean! She is truly amazing and i love her!
Elena is kind of struggling right now. We invited a member on her lesson and It went really badly and she was very rude to the member and wouldn't really respond to anything we said in slovene and completely shut us out. It was completely opposite of how she normally reacts to anything we teach so we don't really know what to do. We have another lesson with her this week on exchanges so we'll see if she responds differently to another sister missionary.
Things are also a little weird with Ksenija. She came to church and stayed for all 3 hours! but after when we asked her if we could get together this week she said no. We are afraid that she is upset with us for moving her baptismal date back. She loves the company at church and still takes notes but she ignores our phone calls. We are hoping that she still wants to be baptized even if it means her getting together with other missionaries.
we heard from Tadeja in Switzerland She is doing well but won't be back in time to be baptized in August. She is going to wait until September.
This week has been a little rough for me, I have been kind of sick but I'm getting better and it is amazing how the Lord has sustained me through this week. I have truly felt His love and power helping me so that I was still able to do everything that was necessary!
Thank you for all of your love and prayers!
Love,
Sestra Powell
7/18/11
Hey Everybody!
Ali veš kaj? Urša se bo krstila!!!!!! in a veš kaj to pomeni? Urša is going to be baptized!!! THAT's what that means!...well I hope... my Slovene is still on the slow upward slope. Anyway Urša chose a baptismal date for Aug. 27! She truly is an amazing young woman and I am so excited for her. She is so eager to learn and to obey. She has a good beginning to a testimony and has good questions that will help her learn quickly. To show you how obedient she really is I'll tell you about our lesson with her this week. It was a neat lesson and we talked about the commandments. Last Monday we had Family night at the Taylor's and we taught about prophets. Elder Taylor brought up how Pres. Hinckley said only to wear one pair of earrings. During our lesson with Urša she brought it up and we were afraid it was going to be a little problem that she would have to overcome (she has 4 piercings i think) but she basically said of course she wouldn't wear more than one pair anymore she just wondered if it was a sin that she had done it without knowing it was wrong! She truly is golden and we are really looking forward to her baptism!
Elena is doing well. We have spent several hours now (over several lessons) teaching the Plan of Salvation. She just has so many questions! some that we have to divert and others that just keep going and going. She also believes hard core in reincarnation...it's been a little bit of a bump in the road...and we are not sure if she is going to be able to completely let go of it for awhile...but we are making progress! It is so good because she has these light bulbs that go off in her head that just make sense. After we finally got to the end of one lesson she saw some pictures of the temple that were hanging in the room and said " I don't know why...but I just have this feeling that this (meaning the plan of salvation) and those buildings are connected somehow". Pretty amazing huh! She is a tough cookie to crumble but she is another one who is eager to learn!
Ksenija just back from vacation so I'll let you know more next week about her progress. Tadeja is still is Switzerland but we are sending her lessons through the mail. We hope she is getting them... we haven't heard anything from her for awhile but we'll see!
Even though we don't have English class we are still keeping pretty busy with lessons and stuff. Pres. Rowe really wants us to focus on reactivation, part member families, and getting in investigators homes so we can teach their families. It is going well!
We have some great things going on here and we are excited to see more success! overall it has been a great week!
More next week!
Love,
Sestra Powell
Ali veš kaj? Urša se bo krstila!!!!!! in a veš kaj to pomeni? Urša is going to be baptized!!! THAT's what that means!...well I hope... my Slovene is still on the slow upward slope. Anyway Urša chose a baptismal date for Aug. 27! She truly is an amazing young woman and I am so excited for her. She is so eager to learn and to obey. She has a good beginning to a testimony and has good questions that will help her learn quickly. To show you how obedient she really is I'll tell you about our lesson with her this week. It was a neat lesson and we talked about the commandments. Last Monday we had Family night at the Taylor's and we taught about prophets. Elder Taylor brought up how Pres. Hinckley said only to wear one pair of earrings. During our lesson with Urša she brought it up and we were afraid it was going to be a little problem that she would have to overcome (she has 4 piercings i think) but she basically said of course she wouldn't wear more than one pair anymore she just wondered if it was a sin that she had done it without knowing it was wrong! She truly is golden and we are really looking forward to her baptism!
Elena is doing well. We have spent several hours now (over several lessons) teaching the Plan of Salvation. She just has so many questions! some that we have to divert and others that just keep going and going. She also believes hard core in reincarnation...it's been a little bit of a bump in the road...and we are not sure if she is going to be able to completely let go of it for awhile...but we are making progress! It is so good because she has these light bulbs that go off in her head that just make sense. After we finally got to the end of one lesson she saw some pictures of the temple that were hanging in the room and said " I don't know why...but I just have this feeling that this (meaning the plan of salvation) and those buildings are connected somehow". Pretty amazing huh! She is a tough cookie to crumble but she is another one who is eager to learn!
Ksenija just back from vacation so I'll let you know more next week about her progress. Tadeja is still is Switzerland but we are sending her lessons through the mail. We hope she is getting them... we haven't heard anything from her for awhile but we'll see!
Even though we don't have English class we are still keeping pretty busy with lessons and stuff. Pres. Rowe really wants us to focus on reactivation, part member families, and getting in investigators homes so we can teach their families. It is going well!
We have some great things going on here and we are excited to see more success! overall it has been a great week!
More next week!
Love,
Sestra Powell
7/11/11
Greetings from Slovenia!
It is so interesting to think that I am actually in Slovenia.... yeah you are probably all thinking "Really sister powell? You've been there for how long and are just now having that realization?" and the answer is no. I haven't just realized it...but I have been thinking about it a lot lately. and how weird it is that I am meeting people everyday who have always existed but I had no clue about...and still how many people are out there who I don't know, and never will, who are all God's children, and how many of them don't have the gospel? It puts things into perspective a little bit... and helps me realize just how miniscule my existence really is. But God still knows and loves me and helps me everyday, and also all of those other billions of people...whew.
Alright enough of the philosophical stuff...sorry my spelling and grammar is going down the drain so bear with me. This week has been a kind of long one. We had an amazing meeting with Pres. Rowe on tuesday with our whole mission! Pres. Rowe asked me to sing I Need Thee Every Hour for the meeting and I was so happy that I just happened to have a great arrangement of it that I sang in the MTC! Elder Lee from Cedar City played it for me. We only had 15 minutes to put it all together but it went pretty well:) it was also really fun to see my MTC elders and also get to meet other missionaries I haven't ever seen before but have heard good things about:) Pres. and Sister Rowe are absolutely amazing. They are very different from Pres. and Sister Hill, but i am excited to get to know them and learn from them!
Some interesting news this week. We can't do English class anymore...or at least for a little while. there was a newspaper article saying that we were teaching english class illegally and so there has been some stuff going on with that...somebody got upset about our Free english classes because it was taking away money from people who get paid to do it... Or something like that...don't quote me on the details because I'm not sure...It makes sense...but it gets rid of a good successful finding technique for us. But we still have our investigators from last English Class!
Urša and Elena are both doing well and we are getting together with a couple other English class students for lessons. But this week has been a hard one. We had 7 lessons cancel on us and when our standard of excellence is 12 that is saying a lot! We had a lot of contacting time and the weather is hot and humid! And plus the streets are barren on the weekend during the summer because EVERYONE goes to the seaside! ...really it's crazy. we had some good conversations with tourists in center though! We met a woman from Salt lake City! it's fun to pick out the American accents every now and then and talk to them. it has happened a couple of times and it's always great!
Ok. Well I'd better get going.
I love you all!
love,
Sestra Powell
It is so interesting to think that I am actually in Slovenia.... yeah you are probably all thinking "Really sister powell? You've been there for how long and are just now having that realization?" and the answer is no. I haven't just realized it...but I have been thinking about it a lot lately. and how weird it is that I am meeting people everyday who have always existed but I had no clue about...and still how many people are out there who I don't know, and never will, who are all God's children, and how many of them don't have the gospel? It puts things into perspective a little bit... and helps me realize just how miniscule my existence really is. But God still knows and loves me and helps me everyday, and also all of those other billions of people...whew.
Alright enough of the philosophical stuff...sorry my spelling and grammar is going down the drain so bear with me. This week has been a kind of long one. We had an amazing meeting with Pres. Rowe on tuesday with our whole mission! Pres. Rowe asked me to sing I Need Thee Every Hour for the meeting and I was so happy that I just happened to have a great arrangement of it that I sang in the MTC! Elder Lee from Cedar City played it for me. We only had 15 minutes to put it all together but it went pretty well:) it was also really fun to see my MTC elders and also get to meet other missionaries I haven't ever seen before but have heard good things about:) Pres. and Sister Rowe are absolutely amazing. They are very different from Pres. and Sister Hill, but i am excited to get to know them and learn from them!
Some interesting news this week. We can't do English class anymore...or at least for a little while. there was a newspaper article saying that we were teaching english class illegally and so there has been some stuff going on with that...somebody got upset about our Free english classes because it was taking away money from people who get paid to do it... Or something like that...don't quote me on the details because I'm not sure...It makes sense...but it gets rid of a good successful finding technique for us. But we still have our investigators from last English Class!
Urša and Elena are both doing well and we are getting together with a couple other English class students for lessons. But this week has been a hard one. We had 7 lessons cancel on us and when our standard of excellence is 12 that is saying a lot! We had a lot of contacting time and the weather is hot and humid! And plus the streets are barren on the weekend during the summer because EVERYONE goes to the seaside! ...really it's crazy. we had some good conversations with tourists in center though! We met a woman from Salt lake City! it's fun to pick out the American accents every now and then and talk to them. it has happened a couple of times and it's always great!
Ok. Well I'd better get going.
I love you all!
love,
Sestra Powell
7/4/11
Hey everyone!
This week has been a lot better! So Pres. and Sister Hill are now in the States! Our new mission president is Pres. Rowe and they are in Croatia with our Slovene assistants! We get to go down to Croatia tomorrow to meet them and i am really excited!. Pres. Rowe called yesterday and asked if I would sing I need Thee every hour for the meeting! I was really excited:) it will be a neat experience! it is so weird because I am already 1/3 of the way into my mission! it is crazy and I am excited to see where the next year will take me!
Now for updates on the work!
We had a really good lesson with Ksenija and Pres. Majc came along. We talked a lot about testimony and so we are shooting for the 16th September. We are having some other problems with a member who is involved but we are hoping it will all work out!¨
Urša, the young woman in the wheelchair is doing so good! She told us in our last lesson that she received a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true!! She was reading the Uvod...I mean Introduction, and read the quote from Joseph Smith and said she felt the spirit so strongly and started crying! She is such a neat woman and even though she has some other concerns we are excited for her to progress even further.
We had a neat service project at one of our member family's homes. We went with Barbi Majc and helped the Kralj family in there garden and painted a little too. They live in an absolutely beautiful part of Slovenia pretty far ouside of Ljubljana. I felt like I was in fairy land! I have been inside of Ljubljana my whole mission and feel like I have missed out seeing all of what Slovenia holds! it was sooo pretty with huge rich gardens, green trees and fields and little houses and churches on the hillside. I have seen those things from far away but never really been within those picturesque scenes. it was so neat! The Kralj family is so neat. Dragica and Bogdan are the cutest couple and they are such a strong member family. it was a good day!
We also had a fun day yesterday! We got to go to the Taylors (other couple missionaries) for dinner and we invited Emy the little Filipino girl to come. She is the cutest little woman ever! I'll send some pictures if I have time. She taught me a couple of Tagolog phrases...that i have already forgotten. She is really homesick so we felt it would be a good idea to give her some good company for a couple of hours:)
Anyway those are some highlights of my week! I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
This week has been a lot better! So Pres. and Sister Hill are now in the States! Our new mission president is Pres. Rowe and they are in Croatia with our Slovene assistants! We get to go down to Croatia tomorrow to meet them and i am really excited!. Pres. Rowe called yesterday and asked if I would sing I need Thee every hour for the meeting! I was really excited:) it will be a neat experience! it is so weird because I am already 1/3 of the way into my mission! it is crazy and I am excited to see where the next year will take me!
Now for updates on the work!
We had a really good lesson with Ksenija and Pres. Majc came along. We talked a lot about testimony and so we are shooting for the 16th September. We are having some other problems with a member who is involved but we are hoping it will all work out!¨
Urša, the young woman in the wheelchair is doing so good! She told us in our last lesson that she received a confirmation that the Book of Mormon is true!! She was reading the Uvod...I mean Introduction, and read the quote from Joseph Smith and said she felt the spirit so strongly and started crying! She is such a neat woman and even though she has some other concerns we are excited for her to progress even further.
We had a neat service project at one of our member family's homes. We went with Barbi Majc and helped the Kralj family in there garden and painted a little too. They live in an absolutely beautiful part of Slovenia pretty far ouside of Ljubljana. I felt like I was in fairy land! I have been inside of Ljubljana my whole mission and feel like I have missed out seeing all of what Slovenia holds! it was sooo pretty with huge rich gardens, green trees and fields and little houses and churches on the hillside. I have seen those things from far away but never really been within those picturesque scenes. it was so neat! The Kralj family is so neat. Dragica and Bogdan are the cutest couple and they are such a strong member family. it was a good day!
We also had a fun day yesterday! We got to go to the Taylors (other couple missionaries) for dinner and we invited Emy the little Filipino girl to come. She is the cutest little woman ever! I'll send some pictures if I have time. She taught me a couple of Tagolog phrases...that i have already forgotten. She is really homesick so we felt it would be a good idea to give her some good company for a couple of hours:)
Anyway those are some highlights of my week! I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
6/28/11
Hello everyone!
This week has been a little bit of a rough one. but a lot of great things happened as well!
We had some problems come up with Ksenija that will move her baptismal date even further back. but we are praying for help to know how to handle the situation. She got really upset that we tried to move her baptismal date back and now says that if she isn't baptized this week she won't get with us anymore. We see this as proof that she doesn't fully understand the meaning of baptism and doesn't have a firm testimony of the gospel. We will have a lesson with her on Wednesday and will express our love for her and explain as best we can what baptism really means and the promises we make to God when we are baptized and the consequences of not keeping those promises. She is a great lady and we hope that the spirit can help her understand! Oh and guess what! Julie the cat came home after 14 days!! I thought I'd share:)
Last Monday was great! We went to Vintgar and it was such a beautiful hike! you could see rainbows in the mist of the waterfalls and It was soo green and beautiful! One more stop for the family when we all come back;)
I had my first and last interview with Pres. Hill this week and I am amazed at how he spoke about things that were specified directly to my needs. He is truly and inspired man and the spirit was truly teaching me during the interview. I am really going to miss him and sister Hill!
This week has been kind of sad because so many great missionaries are leaving us and we will only have 12 left in Slovenia and 1 senior couple instead of 16 plus 2 senior couples and the mission President and his wife. Wow. But I am also really excited to see what we can accomplish with our small little group! It reminds me of the scripture in 1 Nephi 14:12-14. It talks about how there will only be a few members of the church in the last days, but that we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth and we will have God's power with us. Just like the church in general the missionaries in Slovenia are few but we have the Lord on our side! We have a lot of potential and some great people that we are working with!
Urša came to church and family night this week and loved it! She is such an amazing girl and I am so excited to see how she progresses. We also have a couple of new investigators with promise that I will write more about next week. Elena is on vacation this week so we will see her in about a week. We are starting up English class again soon so we are doing a lot with that as well!
Well I'd better go!
I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
This week has been a little bit of a rough one. but a lot of great things happened as well!
We had some problems come up with Ksenija that will move her baptismal date even further back. but we are praying for help to know how to handle the situation. She got really upset that we tried to move her baptismal date back and now says that if she isn't baptized this week she won't get with us anymore. We see this as proof that she doesn't fully understand the meaning of baptism and doesn't have a firm testimony of the gospel. We will have a lesson with her on Wednesday and will express our love for her and explain as best we can what baptism really means and the promises we make to God when we are baptized and the consequences of not keeping those promises. She is a great lady and we hope that the spirit can help her understand! Oh and guess what! Julie the cat came home after 14 days!! I thought I'd share:)
Last Monday was great! We went to Vintgar and it was such a beautiful hike! you could see rainbows in the mist of the waterfalls and It was soo green and beautiful! One more stop for the family when we all come back;)
I had my first and last interview with Pres. Hill this week and I am amazed at how he spoke about things that were specified directly to my needs. He is truly and inspired man and the spirit was truly teaching me during the interview. I am really going to miss him and sister Hill!
This week has been kind of sad because so many great missionaries are leaving us and we will only have 12 left in Slovenia and 1 senior couple instead of 16 plus 2 senior couples and the mission President and his wife. Wow. But I am also really excited to see what we can accomplish with our small little group! It reminds me of the scripture in 1 Nephi 14:12-14. It talks about how there will only be a few members of the church in the last days, but that we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth and we will have God's power with us. Just like the church in general the missionaries in Slovenia are few but we have the Lord on our side! We have a lot of potential and some great people that we are working with!
Urša came to church and family night this week and loved it! She is such an amazing girl and I am so excited to see how she progresses. We also have a couple of new investigators with promise that I will write more about next week. Elena is on vacation this week so we will see her in about a week. We are starting up English class again soon so we are doing a lot with that as well!
Well I'd better go!
I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
6/20/11
Hello everyone!
Wow what a week! Another crazy one! it seems to get busier as time goes on... So time for bullet points again!
* Investigators! This week 6 of our English class students said that "yes" when we invited them to learn more!!! Woohoo! I'm excited to see how many of them are really serious or if they just really like us;) We have had to move ksenija's bastismal date back...and we are thinking we may have to move it again. We really want to make sure she understands the commitment she will be making when she is baptized!
* Tadeja has a tentative baptismal date for aug. 13! before it was just sometime it August but now it is more real and we are excited!
* We had another baptism this saturday!¨Ljubo was baptized and Elena and Urša came! Urša asked sister Oakley afterwards if she could be baptized if we kept getting together and of course sister oakley said yes! We have been talking to her about baptism and she has had a lot of questions because she is in a wheelchair..but I think we have resolved most of them!
* Olga dropped us...:(
* Hey all of you look on pg. 130 of the Ensign! There are some cute girls from Slovenia and I know them! Maja, Maja, Rebeka, and Sarah! They are great!
* So we had an amazing zone conference and we found out about transfers. Guess what!! I'm going to be in Ljubljana again with Sister Oakley! We are really excited to be able to continue to see the growth that we have been a part of. I'm not going to lie, a change would have been fun but I'm not complaining about staying where I am! The bad part is that the assistants are going to move to croatia and some elders are going home and we don't have anyone to replace them!! We are going to be a lonely but powerful 12 here in Slovenia! We get 2 new sisters in November and then another 2 in January!! We are really excited:)
OK. I think that is going to be good for this week!"
I love you all
Love,
Sestra Powell
Wow what a week! Another crazy one! it seems to get busier as time goes on... So time for bullet points again!
* Investigators! This week 6 of our English class students said that "yes" when we invited them to learn more!!! Woohoo! I'm excited to see how many of them are really serious or if they just really like us;) We have had to move ksenija's bastismal date back...and we are thinking we may have to move it again. We really want to make sure she understands the commitment she will be making when she is baptized!
* Tadeja has a tentative baptismal date for aug. 13! before it was just sometime it August but now it is more real and we are excited!
* We had another baptism this saturday!¨Ljubo was baptized and Elena and Urša came! Urša asked sister Oakley afterwards if she could be baptized if we kept getting together and of course sister oakley said yes! We have been talking to her about baptism and she has had a lot of questions because she is in a wheelchair..but I think we have resolved most of them!
* Olga dropped us...:(
* Hey all of you look on pg. 130 of the Ensign! There are some cute girls from Slovenia and I know them! Maja, Maja, Rebeka, and Sarah! They are great!
* So we had an amazing zone conference and we found out about transfers. Guess what!! I'm going to be in Ljubljana again with Sister Oakley! We are really excited to be able to continue to see the growth that we have been a part of. I'm not going to lie, a change would have been fun but I'm not complaining about staying where I am! The bad part is that the assistants are going to move to croatia and some elders are going home and we don't have anyone to replace them!! We are going to be a lonely but powerful 12 here in Slovenia! We get 2 new sisters in November and then another 2 in January!! We are really excited:)
OK. I think that is going to be good for this week!"
I love you all
Love,
Sestra Powell
Annie's Testimony of the Atonement
So pres. Hill asked us to write our testimony about the atonement and I thought I would share with you what I wrote!
I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the Redeemer of the world. One aspect of the Atonement that has come to mean a lot to me is the enabling power of the Atonement. It is amazing to me that the Savior is the only one who can completely understand what I am going through and He also knows exactly how to succor me. He has sent some amazing people to me in my time of need and has also given me strength and courage to overcome difficulties. Some of my favorite scriptures are Phillipians 4:11-13, 1 Nephi 3:7 and 2 Nephi ch.4. Each of these scriptures touches on the atonement and how we can have strength in the Lord. Because of these scriptures I know that no matter where I am in life or what my circumstances are I can be content because I know that I have trusted in the Lord and he will prepare a way for me to accomplish the things he has commanded me to do. These are some of my foundation scriptures that I have built my testimony on through different phases of my life. 1 nephi 3:7 has been my favorite scripture since I can remember...it might have little bit to do with my love of the primary song...,but that scripture and it's meaning early on in my life is a large part of my testimony of how, because of the atonement of Jesus Christ we can accomplish whatever we are asked to do. My dad shared Phillipians 4:11-13 with me about when I was starting middle school. It has meant a lot to me and truly helped me to understand the Power of the Atonement better. I found 2 nephi Ch. 4 here in Slovenia. I have read it many times but it hit me with great force when I read it at the beginning of my mission and has also given me a better understanding of how, when I trust in the atonement and it's power in every aspect of my soul I can rejoice- I know that the source of power in which I have trusted is stronger than any temptation, any trial, and any sorrow I will experience here on this earth. I love my Savior and am eternally grateful for his love, his power, and his sacrifice for me.
Love,
Sestra Powell
I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and the Redeemer of the world. One aspect of the Atonement that has come to mean a lot to me is the enabling power of the Atonement. It is amazing to me that the Savior is the only one who can completely understand what I am going through and He also knows exactly how to succor me. He has sent some amazing people to me in my time of need and has also given me strength and courage to overcome difficulties. Some of my favorite scriptures are Phillipians 4:11-13, 1 Nephi 3:7 and 2 Nephi ch.4. Each of these scriptures touches on the atonement and how we can have strength in the Lord. Because of these scriptures I know that no matter where I am in life or what my circumstances are I can be content because I know that I have trusted in the Lord and he will prepare a way for me to accomplish the things he has commanded me to do. These are some of my foundation scriptures that I have built my testimony on through different phases of my life. 1 nephi 3:7 has been my favorite scripture since I can remember...it might have little bit to do with my love of the primary song...,but that scripture and it's meaning early on in my life is a large part of my testimony of how, because of the atonement of Jesus Christ we can accomplish whatever we are asked to do. My dad shared Phillipians 4:11-13 with me about when I was starting middle school. It has meant a lot to me and truly helped me to understand the Power of the Atonement better. I found 2 nephi Ch. 4 here in Slovenia. I have read it many times but it hit me with great force when I read it at the beginning of my mission and has also given me a better understanding of how, when I trust in the atonement and it's power in every aspect of my soul I can rejoice- I know that the source of power in which I have trusted is stronger than any temptation, any trial, and any sorrow I will experience here on this earth. I love my Savior and am eternally grateful for his love, his power, and his sacrifice for me.
Love,
Sestra Powell
6/13/11
Hey Everyone!
Wow what a week! This week was another one that feels like one day was a whole week! Guess what! I got to go up to Maribor on an exchange with Sister Hagemeister! It is absolutely beautiful up there! I almost felt like I was on vacation!....ok not really, but walking up the river every day to get to the church space was amazing with swans and ducks and old buildings on a pretty day. And then walking through a park to get to a lesson that we had. It was amazing! Sister Hagemeister is great as well. She is so good at the language already and I learned a lot from her. Some highlights of the exchange:
* Picking Cherries at Rdenko's with the Elders (he is the elder's English class student)
* Lesson with Jelka Fidler (mother of Pres. Fidler who is isn't a member but comes to church, institute, activities etc...but won't join the church...it was a good lesson)
* We had a TON of cherries from Rdenko's so we asked our English class students if they had any recipes for cherry pie etc. and Rosika invited us to her house because she had just made a cherry pie/cake thing and gave us the recipe! Way awseome lady:)
* So the cherries that we picked? yeah almost every single one of them had worms in them...we found that out when we tried to make the cake...I don't even want to think about how many I ate while I was picking them...
* Apricot cake/pie thing! It was way yummy!
It was so great to get back to Ljubljana though. I never thought I would feel like this, but I seriously felt like I was coming home. I didn't realize how much I have grown to love Ljubljana and the members and people here until I had to leave and then come back. It was amazing and something I have wanted to feel for awhile now. Sometimes we can't see growth because it is so gradual but I know I have grown to love these people and this city a lot!
We had a baptism on Saturday in Ljub! Alež is a 17-18 year old kid and he is amazing! I felt the spirit so strongly when he was baptized. and what added to that was the fact that we had 3 investigators come to the baptism and also all three of them came to church the next day as well! We also got a new investigator this week! She is one of our English class students and she is amazing! Her name is Urša and she is in a wheel chair. We think she might have a mild form of Cerebral palsy? or something like that. She is such a sweet girl and we are way excited to start teaching her!
This week ended on a sad note though. We went to visit Lucija who put herself in a psychiatric hospital to overcome her addiction with alcohol? Well when we got there her face was bright red and she was smoking outside, when she saw us she started crying. She had left the hospital to go get some of her things and she broke down. She was completely drunk when we got to the hospital and we think drugs might have been a part of it as well. We were all devastated because she had made it so far!
...ok I ended on a sad note... but I have to go! We are going to Vintgar with the Robinson's today!
Love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
6/6/11
Hello everyone!!
This week has been one of the craziest of my mission so far. So many things happened good and bad that one day would cover what normally happens in a week! I have witnessed miracles this week and it has been amazing, but we have also had some disheartening setbacks. We had an absolutely miraculous lesson with Ksenija this week! We had been trying to get a member on a lesson with her for quite some time and finally Maja kaplan said she could come. Then the day of the lesson Ksenija called us and said that she had a meeting she had to go to so she wasn't going to be able to make it and rescheduled for the next day. At first Maja said she was going to be able to change as well but then had to back out. We called everyone else we could and nobody was able to come. Then the day of the lesson Pres. and sister Hill came to the church and sister Hill helped us out with our English class lessons (she was amazing and the whole lesson turned into a discussion about the gospel!) After Sister Oakley was inspired to ask her to come on the lesson with Ksenija. It was amazing how it all worked out because when the time of the lesson came Ksenija said the opening prayer and immediately started crying. After the prayer she brought up a concern about tithing. We had planned a completely different lesson but it was amazing the way the spirit guided all 3 of us in what we should say. Sister Hill has such an incredible testimony of tithing. Her father died when she was about 14 and left the family in a lot of debt. Her family went without a lot of things like electricity and new clothing for a long time. But through it all her mother always paid tithing. Because of her childhood experiences it was perfect the way she was able to tell the story of her mother's strength and faith paying tithing in such financial difficulty. It was amazing and the spirit was so strong! The downside is that Sister Oakely and I went over the next day to explain a little about fast Sunday offerings and Ksenija said that Brita would probably not be baptized...atleast not on the same day as Ksenija because Brita is so busy with school and Ksenija doesn't want her to sacrifice school to get all the lessons in before the 25th. We can definitely see the wisdom in this...but it is a little disheartening especially when neither of them came to church yesterday. Ksenija said she would come FHE tonight though!
Anyway that was a huge update on Ksenija and Brita but we have been having a lot of other successes as well! Lucija Krajnik put herself in the psyciatric hospital which is a huge step for her in overcoming her alcoholism! We visited her yesterday and she is doing great! It was a little difficult trying to find it though! We had to take the bus clear the the end of its route and when we got there there is a huge field of tall grass with a little dirt path leading to the hospital. It was beautiful and made for a fun adventure!
We also had one of our English class students come to sacrament meeting! Her name is Elena and when we first met her our first impression of her was "epic hippy". But as we talked to her and prayed with her we found out that she believes in Jesus Christ and she loved the way we prayed and how we don't have crosses everywhere. We wrote a testimony of one of the members inside the Book of Mormon we gave her and she said the only thing she didn't like was how it said " I know that this is true" she said that she thinks it should say " I feel that this is true" When she came to church she told Sister Oakley that she felt like something had pulled her there. She absolutely loved church and said she understood how we could know truth through our feelings (it was fast and testimony meeting). We are excited to see where it goes!
This sunday I had another fun thing happen! There was a girl who was a music major at SUU at Church! Weird right? Her name is Bethany and her mom studied with a Slovene girl(Urška) in Utah. Urška just got back and they came to visit! I didn't know her very well before but it was so fun to see a familiar face and talk a little about home!
Ok there is so much more I could write but you'll have to wait until you can read my journal because I've already written way to much!
I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
This week has been one of the craziest of my mission so far. So many things happened good and bad that one day would cover what normally happens in a week! I have witnessed miracles this week and it has been amazing, but we have also had some disheartening setbacks. We had an absolutely miraculous lesson with Ksenija this week! We had been trying to get a member on a lesson with her for quite some time and finally Maja kaplan said she could come. Then the day of the lesson Ksenija called us and said that she had a meeting she had to go to so she wasn't going to be able to make it and rescheduled for the next day. At first Maja said she was going to be able to change as well but then had to back out. We called everyone else we could and nobody was able to come. Then the day of the lesson Pres. and sister Hill came to the church and sister Hill helped us out with our English class lessons (she was amazing and the whole lesson turned into a discussion about the gospel!) After Sister Oakley was inspired to ask her to come on the lesson with Ksenija. It was amazing how it all worked out because when the time of the lesson came Ksenija said the opening prayer and immediately started crying. After the prayer she brought up a concern about tithing. We had planned a completely different lesson but it was amazing the way the spirit guided all 3 of us in what we should say. Sister Hill has such an incredible testimony of tithing. Her father died when she was about 14 and left the family in a lot of debt. Her family went without a lot of things like electricity and new clothing for a long time. But through it all her mother always paid tithing. Because of her childhood experiences it was perfect the way she was able to tell the story of her mother's strength and faith paying tithing in such financial difficulty. It was amazing and the spirit was so strong! The downside is that Sister Oakely and I went over the next day to explain a little about fast Sunday offerings and Ksenija said that Brita would probably not be baptized...atleast not on the same day as Ksenija because Brita is so busy with school and Ksenija doesn't want her to sacrifice school to get all the lessons in before the 25th. We can definitely see the wisdom in this...but it is a little disheartening especially when neither of them came to church yesterday. Ksenija said she would come FHE tonight though!
Anyway that was a huge update on Ksenija and Brita but we have been having a lot of other successes as well! Lucija Krajnik put herself in the psyciatric hospital which is a huge step for her in overcoming her alcoholism! We visited her yesterday and she is doing great! It was a little difficult trying to find it though! We had to take the bus clear the the end of its route and when we got there there is a huge field of tall grass with a little dirt path leading to the hospital. It was beautiful and made for a fun adventure!
We also had one of our English class students come to sacrament meeting! Her name is Elena and when we first met her our first impression of her was "epic hippy". But as we talked to her and prayed with her we found out that she believes in Jesus Christ and she loved the way we prayed and how we don't have crosses everywhere. We wrote a testimony of one of the members inside the Book of Mormon we gave her and she said the only thing she didn't like was how it said " I know that this is true" she said that she thinks it should say " I feel that this is true" When she came to church she told Sister Oakley that she felt like something had pulled her there. She absolutely loved church and said she understood how we could know truth through our feelings (it was fast and testimony meeting). We are excited to see where it goes!
This sunday I had another fun thing happen! There was a girl who was a music major at SUU at Church! Weird right? Her name is Bethany and her mom studied with a Slovene girl(Urška) in Utah. Urška just got back and they came to visit! I didn't know her very well before but it was so fun to see a familiar face and talk a little about home!
Ok there is so much more I could write but you'll have to wait until you can read my journal because I've already written way to much!
I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell
5/30/11
Hello Everyone and Anyone!
This week has been crazy!!! It feels like it just started but during the actual week it felt like it dragged on forever! We started English class and it is exhausting! I have been more tired after a long day of teaching than walking on the streets all day. It has been pretty successful though! We taught about 30 English classes and 25 of them turned into lessons about the Gospel! We teach English for the first half hour and then teach a 15 minute spiritual thought that usually turns into about a half an hour and it is great! Most of our students have been asking questions and are receptive to the gospel. I am really excited to see what comes of this because we can gain their trust so much faster and teach to their needs so much better than in a large group situation. It is pretty great!
Hey guess what!! Brita and Ksenija have a baptismal date!!!!!!! The date is for June 25! They wanted to be baptized on Sister Oakley's birthday:) We thought that was pretty cute. but we told them that we might not be in Ljubljana and they were OK to move it up a couple of days....we are thinking we actually might have to move it back though because the lessons are going pretty slowly because we haven't been able to get with them a ton. Brita has been sick and she lost her cat a couple days ago and has been crying basically all day for 3 days. She was pretty devastated and we think she may have worried herself sick:( She is so sweet...but a little stinker at the same time. haha she kind of reminds me of MaryKate Maybe that is why I love her so much!!! We went and helped her look for her cat a couple of days ago with no success...it fell from a 3 story window so....anyway, we prayed with them and sang some songs to help cheer Brita up. They are planning on coming to Družinski Večer tonight and we are going to teach the end of the Plan of Salvation! We are pretty excited!.
Well I'd better get going! I hope all is well and thank you for all of your prayers and support!
Love,
Sestra Powell
This week has been crazy!!! It feels like it just started but during the actual week it felt like it dragged on forever! We started English class and it is exhausting! I have been more tired after a long day of teaching than walking on the streets all day. It has been pretty successful though! We taught about 30 English classes and 25 of them turned into lessons about the Gospel! We teach English for the first half hour and then teach a 15 minute spiritual thought that usually turns into about a half an hour and it is great! Most of our students have been asking questions and are receptive to the gospel. I am really excited to see what comes of this because we can gain their trust so much faster and teach to their needs so much better than in a large group situation. It is pretty great!
Hey guess what!! Brita and Ksenija have a baptismal date!!!!!!! The date is for June 25! They wanted to be baptized on Sister Oakley's birthday:) We thought that was pretty cute. but we told them that we might not be in Ljubljana and they were OK to move it up a couple of days....we are thinking we actually might have to move it back though because the lessons are going pretty slowly because we haven't been able to get with them a ton. Brita has been sick and she lost her cat a couple days ago and has been crying basically all day for 3 days. She was pretty devastated and we think she may have worried herself sick:( She is so sweet...but a little stinker at the same time. haha she kind of reminds me of MaryKate Maybe that is why I love her so much!!! We went and helped her look for her cat a couple of days ago with no success...it fell from a 3 story window so....anyway, we prayed with them and sang some songs to help cheer Brita up. They are planning on coming to Družinski Večer tonight and we are going to teach the end of the Plan of Salvation! We are pretty excited!.
Well I'd better get going! I hope all is well and thank you for all of your prayers and support!
Love,
Sestra Powell
Letter 5/23/11 (sorry I've been slacking)
Hey Everybody!
It has been another week of ups and downs! Our mission is doing great! We set a goal to get 28 baptisms before the beginning of July when Pres. Hill goes home and we are on our way! We already have had 11 baptisms since January and have 11 baptismal dates as of right now and about 4 of those happened in the past week!...I don't know the exact numbers but we are doing well! There is a baptismal date in Serbia and I heard it is the first one in about a year! Pretty amazing! The Lord is moving the work along in the Slovenia/Croatia mission!
We had our sign up night for English class and had TONS of women show up! 42 in all and about 8 men. 50 people for English class. That's not bad! We are doing personal classes so we had to double some people up or we would have had absolutely no time for food or investigator and member lessons. It's going to be a crazy 4-6 weeks but i am really excited! As it is we still don't have a ton of time for either. We are hoping that those who aren't interested in the gospel will drop themselves so we will be able to focus more on those who show potential. Bomo videli!
Speaking of investigators we actually tried having a lesson with Brita and Ksenija...We had an interesting experience with them this week and it was a little disheartening. We went to have a lesson with them and their father came home. As soon as he opened the door they hid their books of mormon and told us to pretend we were working on English. Sister Oakley and I were confused and didn't quite know what to do. Apparently the dad knows they are going to church but not that they are thinking of joining it. We did have a good discussion about missionary work though once we were introduced and started talking. We are hoping it was a good opportunity to open the door for Ksenija and Brita. They didn't come to church yesterday either so that also makes us a little nervous. We called and we have a lesson on for today so we are praying that it goes well and we can really encourage them to talk to their dad about the church and pray for help.
I had a really neat experience with prayer this week. I have always known the purpose of prayer and that it is our opportunity to talk to our Heavenly Father but this week Heavenly Father has become more real to me and it has been a neat experience to realize on a deeper level that prayer is more than just a formality but an actual conversation we can have with our Father in Heaven. I know that this will help me as I receive more personal revelation and revelation regarding missionary work. This gospel is an amazing thing!
We also had the opportunity to go to a Catholic Youth Activity. We met some young Catholic missionaries and it was neat to see their faith and relationship with God. They all had neat experiences of how they came to know God and their purpose in life. It is so good to see others who have firm faith in God!
I think thats about as much as I have time for this week!
Thank you for all the prayers and support!
Love,
Sestra Powell
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