Transfer, Sr. Companion and District Leader all in one day!

Today was a big day for JD--a bittersweet day but a big one. Justin has a way of working his way into your heart and he does that with the families he meets in Mexico.  He is very sad to be leaving Rio Bravo and the people that he has grown to love.  He is also sad to be leaving his wonderful companion, Elder Pierce. However, after being in the mission 8 months, he has become a Sr. companion and a District Leader and is moving to a new town where he will use the love and compassion that he has to work and serve the people of Valle Hermoso. I'm so proud of this kid.  Please write him and keep him in your prayers.

Justin (representing the Mighty Utes) and his district on P-Day

Hello how is everyone!? I am doing great, today is transfers and I am going to get transferred to a town called Valle Hermoso and be district leader! I am pumped to have this opportunity and sad to be leaving this area... Its bittersweet to tell you the truth. I really dont know how to react but I am hoping that this new area is everything that I think it to be! Today I am packing everything and its a very busy day today. I am also sad to be leaving my buddy Elder Pierce! He has been a great companion, patient with me and very helpful. I learned a lot from him, and we had a lot of success together. 

Birthday Party for Sra. Gutierrez with her family

The members and I are very sad that we are breaking apart, but I know that the other companion will come in and continue the success. Its sooo weird to be leaving already because I feel like I just got here like a little bit ago, like these 3 months just flew right before my eyes!!! I am going to miss a lot of people like crazy from here, I am going to have too many second families here in Mexico if I keep changing at this rate, but the mission continues and its where they want me. I know that we will have a lot of success in this next area. Well I love you all and take care! Be safe and God bless each one of you. 

Elder Justin Powell

Dear Family,

Well How are you all doing!!! ??? Thnks for the help with the card stuff, hopefully that never happens again. But thanks for the emails and all. I will read them. Everything is going well, month and a half and comes the year!!! Can you believe that?? I Cant!!! But my comp is named Elder Manzanares from Cancun! We will probably talk all about the beach! hahah But I love you and I hope everything is going well!!

Love Elder Justin Powell

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September 17, 2012

There was a short note last week that I didn't post--JD was having a really hard time with the news of his friend Jim Hodgson's accident. He is very close to Jim and his family and took the news with difficulty. He and I chatted and he'll certainly be all right, as evidenced in this week's letter, but any letters from home would be great!

Happy Mexican Independence Day!

Well hello to all of you, I am doing pretty good today! Everything is going fine in Rio Bravo and the work continues. This last week was pretty fun because it was the Mexican Independence Day. 
The whole district (stake pretty much) did this huge party at the the stake center and all the missionaries and branches went to the party to eat, to have fun and to see what a Mexican party like. The Youth from each branch did a skit, or a Mexican traditional dance and it was pretty entertaining. All the missionaries took a ton of pictures with the sombrero and flag for memories and I took a lot of pictures and video of the whole thing. So it was pretty fun! Sad news is is that transfers are in one week... And it’s looking like I am leaving again... So I am sad because I love this area and the members are just like family here, and I am most likely leaving because Elder Pierce has two transfers left after this one and it will look like he will be finishing up here. But who knows because maybe I will stay! :) Well what’s new with all of you? I have completed 10 months on the mission and wow I feel like it is just flying by very quickly. Hopefully I have time to learn more because I can’t believe I only have a year and two months left. Well take care everyone; I would still love to hear from you all. I am sorry that I am not good at responding quickly, it’s just we never have time for us. Haha Love you all and miss you all!

Love, Elder Justin Powell

Leia Mais…

September 10, 2012

Hellos to Everyone! How is everyone doing?? I am doing great still in Rio Bravo where it’s calm and the work is rich. We had another baptism yesterday. Her name is Maria Concepción and she is a great person! We met her a little over a month ago and she had a huge smoking problem. So then she kept trying and trying to quit but she about gave up, but then we went and put a plan with her. And then we told her about it, she was not very convinced that it would work, but then she quit because the next day she felt very sick every time she smoked. She threw up every time she went and smoked, so then the day after that she didn’t touch a cigarette at all! Surprising huh?? I was shocked but then she stopped and was baptized by her cousin on his birthday yesterday. It was sooo cool and she was a changed person. And now we are working with her son Noe. We also have other people, this teenager named Santos who is highly interested in the church, he is Christian, but he is super smart and loves to investigate, so we show him a lot of things in the bible for him and that he should pray to know if it’s true. Pretty good guy. And there are other people. A lot of success here in Rio Bravo, a lot of the members are now participating the missionary work because they see the changes in the people that have come to the church. We had interviews from the President last Tuesday; it was a very helpful interview for me. A lot of questions answered and I feel better than ever on the mission. This week is a loaded week and the work continues for us. It is still hot!!!! But hopefully it cools down in a week. We are so lucky because we have an AC in the bedroom, all of the houses in Mexico don’t have central air and sleep with fans. It’s probably like 85-90 degrees in the houses at nights I believe and so we still sleep comfortably to rest from the hottt days! But it will get cooler and so it is a good thing. Elder Pierce and I are still going strong and he is a great comp! Funny guy and obedient. Well I love you all and this is Elder Powell with another weekly mission update here in Mexico. I will keep you up to date! But I would love to hear from all of you who read this!!! Send me an email, a letter, or something because I miss you all!

For Letters and Packages:

PO BOX 71

Los Indios, TX 78567-0071

United States

Email: powell.justin@myldsmail.net

Love you all!

Elder Justin Powell

Leia Mais…

JD's letter from August 20, 2012

I'm not even going to make excuses any more.  I have, again, been horrible at posting Justin's letters. Today, I apologized to him and re-committed to doing a better job.  I feel like I owe this to him as this is his way of communicating with most of you while he is out--a way to write one letter and still let his friends and family know how he is doing...as long as his dad does his part. I need to do a better job and I'm sorry.  Here is JD's letter from August 20, 2012.

Hola Familia y amigos! What are you all up to? Well this week was pretty good; there were a lot of good things that happened. Well beginning with what happened this week, Tuesday was a good day because we had this little wedding party for Alvaro and his wife. Alvaro was baptized last Sunday, and he and his wife were married on the Friday before the last Sunday (almost a week and a half ago). And then we wanted to make a special moment for them, and so we (mostly the members) threw a little party for them. With a lot of help from the members, it was a success. Of course we didn´t participate much with us being missionaries, but we took pictures with them, ate a little bit, some investigators came too, it was good. And then on Friday we had another activity with the youth though. It was directed to the families of the youth because there are a lot of youth here without their families. So we did this open house activity, where we broke the youth up into teams, gave them a topic in the strength of youth pamphlet and then they were stationed in a room and they taught their parents about what they learn in the church. Well the purpose was so that these families that don’t really know about the church and have bad thoughts about it can see that it is actually something good for their kids. And that it creates opportunities for us to teach the families. We had some success, not as much as we wanted, but it created opportunities for us and especially for the youth to help their families out. So that was Friday and it was awesome, and a dear friend of mine, Edgar who is an 18 year old in the branch, got his mission call and is going to Villa Hermosa, Mexico (touching Guatemala). He is sooo excited and we were soo excited for him. He has 2 years as a member and is a strong kid because his family doesn’t really support him, but he is strong. And then Natalie was baptized on Saturday, she was happy. Her husband baptized her and he was changed after that. And something also that happened was that Maria is an investigator and she wasn´t wanting to really change, but her cousin that lives with her, wanted her to come to church. And as well, she didn´t want to stop smoking. And so we would put goals with her, but she didn´t progress. On Thursday, she was saying that she cannot stop smoking, we were crushed and then we left without any reason to return anytime soon because it was disappointing. Well we prayed for her and then the next day we got this impression to go back and visit her. Well we did, and she said that she hadn´t smoked that day and wants to change. She wanted to be baptized the soonest possible so she will be baptized this coming Sunday. I was shocked but grateful that prayers are answered. I learned something that every trial can be resolved, if you let God resolve. Well when a trial comes, pray and fast if you need to and God will send peace if it be a blessing or a feeling. And that was special for us. I had a great week and I am ready for another one. I love you all and I hope you all have a marvelous week. Take care 

Love,

Elder Justin Powell

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