Tadeja is getting baptized!

Hey errybody!
So...This week is Tadeja's baptism!! It is really looking like she is finally going to make it into the water this time! We are so excited. She had her interview and passed with flying colors. Her boyfriend is coming in on Thursday and the baptism is on Saturday. GOOD STUFF!!!!!!(see all those exclamation marks mom? Now THAT is freaking out..baha!) This Saturday our mission is having a total of 4 baptisms! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!! So cool.
This week has been the week of me being grateful for inspired missionaries! I am so grateful for my companion and our elders here! Sister Staheli and I have had several experiences where I have been at a loss for what to say or do and she (following the Spirit) has come up with the perfect action or answer. I am really trying to follow her example! Also our district leader Elder Shillabeer had a whole district meeting planned but the day of he told us that he was told to change it...and as he told us what topic he had changed it to I felt the spirit so strongly and knew that it had been changed for me. The whole meeting was an answer to my prayers and I was so grateful! The Spirit was so strong and i truly felt the Lord's love for me. He is aware of us and knows our needs and will never forsake us! That is amazing and that is the message i have for the world! So good:)
So we had several interesting strike outs this week. We have been trying to visit a less active member for awhile and there is a random guy living with her. Every time he answers the phone or the door he says she isn't home. We went to visit and again he said she wasn't there...we got in the blok and he said we could even search the apartment. We looked around and there was one door that was locked...it just happened to be her room... we'll see what happens with that. We had a couple of other fruitless efforts as well but I won't waste my time telling about the frustrations. How about an amazing English class student! her name is Nataša and we love her! She says that she isn't interested in the gospel but she feels the spirit every time and says that we just have a good energy. At the beginning she claimed she didn't even believe in God...now she is saying she believes in something and sometimes even prays! It is a slow process but she is coming closer to God without even knowing it and it is so neat! I love the way the Lord works. This week she came and told us some minor problems she is having in life and we asked if we could come to her house and teach her family about having FHE. She said she would think about it! That was a big step for her:)
I am so excited about this week and looking forward to more miracles! Thank you for your prayers and love!
Love,
Sestra Powell




Hi all! Annie's story confused me a bit (why would a missionary take somebody up on an offer to search their apartment for somebody who doesn't want them to be there?) So, I've included an excerpt from Sestra Staheli's letter (Annie's companion). It helps clarify...just in case you want to know! (LP)


Here it is:
One of our members, Lucija, is deaf, and has this guy living with her. And he HATES us. We called her, and finally she answered instead of him, and we set up the next day. We got there, he answered the buzz, and said she wasn't there. I was just like, Georgie, JE doma, VRATA PROSIM. (She IS home, DOOR PLEASE) He buzzed us in, and let us search the house. Only problem, one door was mysteriously locked, and the door, her bedroom... so we knocked, but she is deaf, so probably didn't hear. It is insane.

10-10-11

Dobro Jutro!!!
Actually it is more like dober dan now ...almost 12...anyway. So I am glad that you all got a kick out of sister staheli's story last week:) The elders tried calling him this week and he didn't answer...so his "elect"ness is yet to be determined. I'll keep you updated!
This week has gone pretty well....other than the temperature drop from 24 C to 9 in one day....not fun. Mom soon I'm going to have to get a better winter wardrobe...new boots and a warmer coat...and stuff... so if there are some large purchases from my cards just know that that it is for my sanity and safety. I've already been warned that as a St. Georgian I am going to freeze. Joj. We spent a lot of time handing out English flyers in the rain...and my new umbrella broke because it was so windy! The rain was pretty though:)
Ok so for some of the miracles this week!
Tadeja has a baptismal date!....again:) but this time I really think it is going to go through. Her boyfriend in coming in on october 21 and she is getting baptized on the 22! She is so ready and has been preparing and investigating for a long time. I think almost all of the missionaries here have taught her atleast once:) So it is a whole mission baptism:) That is one thing I love about this mission. There are so few missionaries that when we have baptism everyone has had a part in the investigator's conversion in some way or the other. I'm not sure how it is in other missions but it is really neat! We had another baptism on Saturday. A woman the kranj elder's have been teaching finally got baptized. She was dropped a couple of times but they never gave up on her. She is such a sweet woman! her name is Antonija and she really wants the sisters to go up to Kranj for a visit atleast once:) So fun!

We had a really good lesson with Helena this week!...well it was really good for us. It was a really neat experience for me because I honestly have never prayed so hard for the spirit to be on a lesson as I did on that one. My prayers were definitely answered and the spirit was so strong. We taught about our relationship with christ and how the Book of Mormon testifies of him. We all got down and prayed for her to find out if it was true. Helena said that she didn't really feel anything …I guess that is just evidence of the scripture that says that we can only bring the spirit unto the hearts of the children of men. I really hope we can break down her shell. She truly does want to do the right thing, she is reading from the Book of Mormon every day, but I'm afraid she has put up some walls and she will have to let them down before she will be able to truly feel the spirit and receive answers to her prayers. It was a huge testimony builder for me and I am grateful for the spirit and it's guidance!
Well we are going to go have a picnic with the elders so I'd better get going:)
Rada vas imam!
Sestra Powell

10/4/11

Hey everyone!

So this week has been a rough week. Only one of our investigators was able to even set up! We had about 13 lessons cancel, most of them the day of the lesson and it was just a slow week. What happened to last week!? I guess that just proves the ups and downs of the life of a missionary doesn't it? lets hope this week goes back up!
The one lesson we had with our investigator was really good! Her name is Cvetka and she is the friend of the district president. She is a sweet lady and made us some really good soup that made sister staheli sick afterwards because it had peppers...not so good. anyway. We asked her to be baptized and she...kind of in a round about way said yes!! She said that she wasn't prepared, but she asked a TON of questions about baptism. I'm really excited about her. Pres. Juhart said last week that she will be baptized but she nees some time and a little bit of pushing...I'm getting a little better with the boldness so we'll see how it goes:)
So want to hear some good news? Sister Staheli thinks I'm funny Really, I have never had someone laugh so much at random things that I do, haha it makes me laugh and so it makes for some good times.

So the highlight of the week! GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!! It felt like my Birthday or Christmas or something. I got to watch 3 1/2 sessions and I was so spiritually fed and I can't wait to reread more than half of them! I don't even know what insights to share I had so many....most of them about things I need to improve as a missionary. There are so many and It is a little bit overwhelming because I have so many ways I need to improve. I'm still working on a love for the Slovene people... and how many talks were on Charity? I love the members here sooooo much and also our investigators...but I'm still working on the love for the complete strangers (especially creepy guys who give us there phone number...yeah sorry I left that out last week family It was one of the things I meant to put in but just didn't have time! we have come in contact with several strange...homeless...drunk...men here and sometimes it's funny, sometimes a little nerveracking, in učasih just plain bizarre). The slovene people are very closed people. For example we ask people on the street how God helps them in their lives and they respond " yeah, he helps". thinking that that is a completely adequate answer. They aren't willing to give away much. and then if they do open up most of them are completely content with where they are in life and don't think we have anything different to offer...that is probably a pretty universal mind set though in the world right now. Lukewarm people. JOJ. Well I just got off on a tangent....sorry about that. So general conference. One of my favorite talks was Deiter F. Uchtdorfs...and also Carl B. Cooks. I loved the story he told about president Monson " It is better to look up"! I thought that was really profound and helped me receive a little bit of revelation about how I need to be someone constantly who can help people redirect thier wordly perspectives to the lord. If that makes any sense. I'm no prophet...obviously, but I am a servant of the Lord who is here to help others do just that.

O.K I'd better go. I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell

Annie has been out 9 months!! Halfway!

Hello everyone!
This week was absolutely amazing! We had so many good things happen!
first of all Urša wasn't able to come to Družinski Večer this week...sounds like a bad thing right? Well guess what she did? She had a 2 hour family home evening at home with her mom and sister! Her mom was asking her about God...I can't remember exactly what...but she pulled out Alma 30:44! (I'll let you look it up and be amazed:))! She is such a great missionary!
Also this week I feel like I have gotten more bold and more confident in sharing the gospel. We went contacting one morning and it just felt good! I was able to say things that I would never have dreamed of saying a couple weeks before. I am understanding more and more each day and have found that, although my slovene is ages away from being perfect(or even good;)) I can communicate with people the same way I do in English...maybe just not as smoothly. We also committed a few of our English class students to baptism, with no yeses, but we combined it with a lesson on how we find truth and we really got them to open up and really think about the source of all truth and how we can tap into it. It was really neat for me and I have realized that it is time for me to "Get Out of the Boat" and exercise more faith As pres. Rowe has been emphasizing! Two cheers for an amazing inspired mission president!
We had a first english lesson with one woman who is amazing! We talked basically the whole time about life and which led wonderfully into gospel topics. We ended talking about families and gave her a Family Proclamation to the world. Guess what? She agreed with every word of it!!! In Slovenia? NO WAY!!!!!! I have so much hope for her excepting the gospel and am sooo excited to teach her more. When she read the part about eternal families and that we can live together forever she said Really? now that I didn't know! ...this week we will teach the plan of salvation:)
Also another little miracle of the week. We have a less active member who has recently been coming back to church. She didn't come last week and we found we didn't have her correct number... so we decided to go visit her. We knew which blok she lived in but not the floor and the entry door and all of the hallway doors are locked so...we didn't know what we were going to do once we got there...but we figured we would give it a try. We got there and rang her doorbell (there is a panel of all of the doorbells on the outside of the main door.) and there was no answer. We had something that we wanted to leave her so we still wanted to get in. Luckily some people unlocked the door for us....then we had the hall doors to take into account and which side of the hall did she live on? We went up to her floor and the one door was magically unlocked! We found her door and were about to knock when we heard the keys turning and she came out. perfect timing. We had an amazing lesson about the atonement and got her new number! Yeah all the doors and locks probably don't make much sense...but to put it simply the Lord intervened and we experienced a little miracle!
We also had a branch picnic this week and Magdalena came. We also made contact with a couple of members friends who are now potentials! We are excited about that.
Ok I have a couple of other little things I wanted to share but I have already written too much! Once again this week has been great and the Lord is blessing this mission! I am so grateful for this gospel and for the opportunity I have to share it!
I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell

letter 9/18/11

Pozdravljeni dragi brati in sestre!
haha that is how everyone here opens their talks on Sundays so I thought I'd start my letter like that:) So. This week was a lot faster than last week! I can hardly believe its Monday again already! We had a lot of really good things happen. Emy our little friend from the Philippines is quite the missionary! On Sunday she brought one of her Slovene friends to church and set up a lesson with us! She called during the week and said Katja couldn't come but she would bring one of her friends Margie who is also from the Philippines! The lesson was pretty ok. We spoke in English...and It was really hard!! I never thought I would say that but it was true! I kept on throwing in Slovene words. Kind of a bitter sweet experience because that means I'm learning Slovene but we were also trying to teach the gospel and it was a little rough. The Spirit was there though so that is all that matters:)
Our investigator Helena read from the Book of Mormon every day this week!! We are so excited she seems to be doing well...now we just have to get her to stop going to mass and come to church! (she has paid for a bunch of masses to be held in her mothers honor and won't miss them...every sunday...*sigh*).
And 2 huge pieces of news!!!
KSENIJA WAS BAPTISED!!! I was sooooooo happy. The Elders have been teaching her and from what we heard and what I have seen she has made leaps and bounds from where she was before. She was so happy and I am so glad that she continued to learn. We were going to have a musical number at the baptism...but Pres. Majc thought it would be better for the members to do it... we agreed, although it would have been fun:) The baptism was really neat and I felt the Spirit so strongly. I felt the Lord's love for her and his joy that she was making this big step in her life. It was a neat experience for me.
Second piece of news,
Tadeja is back from Switzerland!! She has been gone all summer and just got back. She came to church and we are going to have a lesson with her on Wednesday. I am so excited for her because now that she is back I'm sure her baptism won't be far away. Good stuff!

We also had a really good training meeting with Pres. Rowe this week. We talked alot about being agents...those who act not those who are acted upon. I took so much from it and Sister Staheli and I had a really good goal setting session afterwards. I have never been more excited about missionary work than when we got done with that companionship inventory and I hope that excitement continues to grow! Anyway it has been a good week and I am excited to see what the next weeks bring! sorry once again a scattered letter. I never feel like I can adequately describe all that is going on so it sounds insincere...it's not, I promiseOk well I'd better get going.
I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell

Letter 9/12/11

Hello everyone!
So this week has been a little slow as far as numbers go...but there are so many good things going on at the same time! It is interesting to see the different ways you can view success as a missionary. We only had 2 member present lessons this week but one of them was the best thing that could have happened for our investigator helena. We invited Radmil ( one of our most incredible members here! He is one of the most receptive people to the spirit it is amazing! He's been a member for less than a year!) on the lesson and had a great lesson about what sister staheli calls the magic 4 Prayer, reading, coming to church, and obedience. Radmil was amazing and our investigator, Helena, committed to read the book of Mormon each day and she ended her prayer in the name of Jesus Christ for the very first time! It seems like something so simple but it gave us hope that through very small steps this sweet woman will eventually accept the gospel and be willing to sacrifice her traditional catholic background for the best!

Guess what?! We can start english class again! we have gone back and forth a couple of timesbetween not being able to and being able to.... but I'm really excited to start it up again:)
We also got the opportunity to go to the Kralj family's home... I think I may have written about it a little while ago. It was a lot of fun. They live in a little village about an hour outside of ljubljana and it is beautiful! We helped them pick plums to make marmalade they made us stuffed peppers and streudel....sp? for lunch. It was so good!

We also had a lesson with Marjetka the Vidras friend. We met her husband for the first time and it was pretty interesting. He is a really fun guy but a skeptic and states his opinion readily. Once again it struck me how much people rely on their own wisdom to explain things they don't understand. I have realized just how much we as a human race don't understand...and there is reason for it. That way we have to rely on faith and realize we don't know much and understand even less. We have to rely on the knowledge that God gives us through scriptures, prophets and personal revelation. I have realized that we can't reason away all of the different views people have about life...because some of them make sense. We have to rely on the witnesses we recieve from the spirit and go forward with faith knowing that God is in control. ... that doesn't sound as clear as it did in my head..joj. Anyway. it's been an overall pretty good week and today we're going to try to find the zoo! Živalski Vrt (animal garden baha!):)
I love you all and thank you for the love prayers and support!
Love,
Sestra Powell

9/5/11

Hello Family and Friends!

This week has been a little bit slow....probably because last week was so exciting in contrast anything would be a little slow:) I am really enjoying working with Sister Staheli! Her teaching style is similar to mine and so we have both found ourselves doing more talking on lessons than we are used to so we are both growing a lot! I personally think we are going to work really well together and am very excited to see what we can accomplish! She is a great missionary:) We did a lot of contacting and tracting the first couple of days this week with absolutely no success and tried tracking down some referals and less actives with even less succes...haha yeah it's possible. We had some good lessons with some members and with Zdenka and Helena! Sister Staheli has brought some great new perspectives and ideas for our investigators and I really hope we can get them progressing faster. We have also been helping a couple women clean their houses. I don't know if I told you about Duša...she is a woman we are helping to quit smoking and as part of that process she wanted to clean out her apartment...which was an excellent idea...but may take several years. She would qualify for clean sweep in an instant and unfortunately Sister Staheli and I can't spend more than a couple hours with her each week so...we'll let you know how that goes:)

One thing this week that has been really neat for me this week is revelation!! Pres. Rowe has really been emphasizing that we need to have more revelation in this work and as I have prayed for more and that I would understand that which was given to me I have been flooded with amazing insights for myself and for our investigators. I am so grateful to the Lord and the fact that he communicates with us. We tracted into a muslim man this week and he was trying to get us to read the Koran and said that when we had read it then he would talk to us. We talked to him for awhile and as I was thinking about it later and compared my experience with him to our investigators and all the people we talk to on the street. it struck me that so many people don't know these things for themselves. They believe it because that is what makes sense to them in their minds. They don't seek it out from God. They don't rely on revelation which is the rock of the gospel as Jesus says in the new testament. We can know the truth of all things by the Holy Ghost and too many people don't know that! Our prophet receives revelation from God and he is the only religous leader who can receive revelation for the world! That is incredible! I am so grateful we have God's word. I am grateful we can find out it's truth for ourselves and I can say that I have! I'm afraid that is kind of scattered...but take it for what it's worth:)

Thank you for all your prayers and support! I love you all!
Love,
Sestra Powell