July 3, 2012 - OKC Arrival Letter

Hi everyone! I'm glad I got a chance to call home and simply hear your voices. It meant a lot to me, but now I think I might miss you all even more...Matthew;s voice is so low! He sounds like a teacher already:) Jane is really funny to listen too, and hearing all your voices really brought back fond memories. Thank you for that.
But nonetheless, I am having perhaps the most fulfilling experience of my life out here. I can't really explain it. You hear all the missionary experience stories that people tell; and they sound cool. However, when you experience them for yourself it's an entirely different experience altogether. You literally feel as if the Lord is supervising every word you speak and there's a certain aura of responsibility that you feel when you talk with other people.
I contacted two people by myself today. Basically I just talked with whoever I sat by during my flights to Denver and then to Oklahoma city. I truly believe both of these people were placed in my path for a reason. The first was an older woman of about 50 or so, who was traveling with her daughter and grandson. I had a nice chat with her about families, what it means to me to serve a mission, finding peace through God, prayer and Jesus Christ. She actually had taken the discussions before, in fact, she'd read the whole Book of Mormon.And then I asked her the golden question: "Have you prayed about the Book of Mormon?" She replied no. I then got to testify and share the promise made in Moroni 10:3-5. I've testified of the Book of Mormon many times, but this time was different. I was testifying to a non-member, something I've never done before. The Spirit backed up my testimony, and WOW! it was so cool! And this spiritual experience happened all because I felt prompted to ask "Do you have family in Iowa?"
Then I talked to a younger guy who was actually in the Army shipping out to Korea in a few days. I noticed he had a scripture from Isaiah tattooed on his arm from the 41 chapter verse 10 about "Fear not I am with thee, be not dismayed for I am thy God..." I thought it was such a cool scripture that I felt I had to talk to him about it. So I contacted him. I then shared a cross reference in the Book of Mormon (Helaman 5:12). He was genuinely interested. I later learned that he actually made a few Mormon friends during his time in Boot Camp. These friends even gave him a Book of Mormon. I then invited him to read it, specifically Alma 56 which talks about the Stripling warriors. I thought it might be cool for him to see that he could liken the scriptures to his situation. If you have faith in God, you don't need to fear anything.
Anyways, being a missionary is awesome. I don't know if any of these people will convert because of what I said, but I know that I invited them to come unto Christ. And after both these experiences I felt really good. Almost as if I'd accessed a part of my soul that I didn't know even existed.
I then landed in OKC and was greeted with a hug from our Mission President, President Nolan. Such a nice guy, including his wife. They were very happy to meet us, and we immediately felt like family.
Our travel group then went to the mission home. we had a nice lunch, a few words from the assistants to the President, and then we went proselyting for the first time. Wow, talk about humbling. The Hispanic community is actually very kind. No one slammed doors in our faces or threatened us (yet), but people were really friendly. The people of Oklahoma are very religious, everyone believes in Jesus Christ; they just don't know that he's personally established his church on the Earth through Joseph Smith.
Anyways, things are great. Slowly its starting to dawn on me how hard this mission is going to be. I feel so overwhelmed right, almost as if I'm not capable of such a work. However, I know for a fact as long as I'm obedient and spiritually minded, I will be strengthened by the Lord.
I know for a fact that I'm supposed to on a mission.
Love you all and remain strong!
Con Amor,
Elder Powley
PS Fyi, my p-days are Mondays from this moment on instead of Thursdays.

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