I'm in the Philippines!

October 26, 2018

Sa MTC here is like 10342480 times better than the Provo MTC 

I'm in the Philippines and here is a list of things that they do better here. 

1. Drive. They're so aggressive here and touchy pero okay-lang. They do lahat masama together :) and use turn signals 

2. The people here are SOBRA MAGANDA AT MAGALINEE

3. it's hot here.  

4. they do lahat ng bigay dito mas mabuti 

5. totoo ang simbahan ni jesuchristo. 

6. I went to the bathroom today and didn't use toilet paper. ate with my hands, celebrated Christmas and so on and so forth. 

Its Christmas!

I'll be honest I was disappointed when they had toilet paper in the bathroom 

In the grand terms of this, I have never been happier in my life to be eating food off of banana leaves and really unsanitary fish and dumplings and RICE FOR EVERY MEAL :) 

Never in my life have I been more welcomed to such a beautiful country and sa mga filipino are so kind and welcoming here :)  I love every single person that is here and that is the gospel truth. 

Story time: 

So spending just a few days dito sa Manila MTC, We were given the opportunity and task to go and share a spiritual thought with the people roaming the Manila temple grounds. 5 people to be exact. Soooo my kasama and I decited to go talk to these five people that were just standing there. Turns out after we shared a beautiful mensahe about Sunday and how God wants us all to treat that day special to rest physically and grow spiritually. WELL THESE PEOPLE TURNED OUT TO BE THE OLD MISSION PRESIDENT OF MY MISSION (he was like released 3 months ago) and then also a bishop and stake president mula sa Laoag misyon at asawa niya as well as two other Pogi-tao (one served in Laoag and the other served sa manila mission) and like it was a spiritual shambam. 

10/10 would talk to random Filipino in a parking lot again

susunod na lingo :)

:) 

Best freaking temple sa daigdigp

dito ay umaganda mga tao I had to say kita-kits to :( 

 Mahal kita Lahat :) 

This is a Jeepnie (or however you spell it. Sister Morton correct me plz) 

-Elder I'm in Asia now Powell 

P.S. In such a discerning turn of events, It seems that elephants can fly now. 

P.P.S. I somehow finna just sent a random email saying hello Po to everyone. 

P.P.P.S. I will try to get better pictures that show the beauty of this place pero I'm in Quezon city for another 5 days working on getting ay aking visa extended para sa 2 years. 

P.P.P.P.S. The word for Accountable is mananagot or something like that and it sounds like banana goat. hehehehheee

Plane ride took 15 oof-langin Horas.

Bonus Post - Photos and video

BONUS POST - photos and video

A link to Joe's district singing some tagalog for yall : Just letting you know we are the best district ever.  

https://photos.app.goo.gl/62CppvNLJkY5MBP77

 I'm not looking...

we're celebrating our departure with a lot of donuts

The tree was a pretty color so I hugged it. 

Temple Day this morning

-The church is true 

-elder Pangalawell

P.S. My greatest fear besides denying God is having to eat balut every day of my life. (Joke-lang its actually really good if you don't look at it) 

Last email from the MTC

Editor's Note:
I added several photos to the previous post, so you should go check that one out again. Especially if you like cats.

10/19/18

FINALLY leaving disneyland to go live in the land of the short asians with better food than us! 

This is going to be short with few pictures kasi I only have so much time and I'm trying to get one more trip to the temple before. 

1. I BE LEAVING. 

2. I'm not sick anymore (but I got Elder Fuller in our district sick on accident with what I had many times. Srry po Elder Fuller) 

3. I'M LEAVING (its too cold here) 

4. totoo ang simbahan ni Jesuchristo. 

5. Mahal-kita  

6. and so forth. 

7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQqyXJ6tNZc

8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFq4C--_ayQ

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3kq27YJFpQ

10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMGAI7isOo

I don't have much to share this week in terms of photos and such but I can share with you a fun lil video of me singing in general conference! I showed up like 4 times in the 3 songs. in front of like 6 million people. It was wild. After watching such a beautiful choir, You should also go listen to the talks that were delivered during these conferences. They are all very inspirational and truly words from God himself through his Prophet and Apostles. I know that President Russel M Neilson is a propeta ng Diyos at sa pamamagitan ng mga salita,, we can truly find peace joy, and Guidence in our lives. 

Mahal-Kita 

-Elder Pananagoat Powell 

P.S. hey District 20b. I need your photos we all took. please share them with me. thanks :) 

P.P.S. posite. Oposite (hehehe) 

P.P.P.S. Send dog pics. 

P.P.P.P.S. what did the buffalo say to his 18 year old son who is being dropped of at the MTC to serve a mission? 

P.P.P.P.P.S. BiSon!!!!!!!!!! (BWAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) 

New Address:

Brgy. #50 Buttong, Airport Avenue

Junction Tangid Road, Laoag City
2900 Ilocos Norte
Philippines

I was on TV!!!

Editor's Note:
I am a week late posting. This is last week's email from Joe. There should be another one tomorrow, his last one from the MTC. 



10/12/18
Ayo Maganda Umaga Tao sa Mundo :) 

It's beeeeen a wild one here at the good oli MTC. I'm going to keep things in a solid list style here. 

1.  I was on TV!!! 6 million people saw my goofy smile on TV this past Saturday afternoon as I sang in the misyenero chora ng General Conference. 10/10 experience. Got to shake hands with some general awtoridad and also my Grandpa was like "oh my grandson is in this choir, I'm just going to walk up to the choir loft and give him a hug" and lemme tell you I have never had a more awkward hug in my life. Like BI GTTIMM EEE E AWKWARD because as a missionary I have no idea what family members I'm allowed to hug or not and so on and so forth. Sometimes I forget that my Grandpa was (or still is?) a General Authority and can do things like that. 
2. My sinus infection didn't go away Lel. Got to go to the doctor 3 too many times and cry a lil as I am being force fed too many freaking antibiotics to live normally. 
3. I totes have the best companion ever 
4. And the best districto ever
5. General conference was a big time spiritual festivity and like half of the missionaries got bamboozled here as China was not announced as a new mission. However the amount of missionaries speaking Mandarin serving in Sacramento California is still super suspicious. They did open up some Persian Speaking missions! That's super cool.
6. Temples are very important and special in such a day and age. Don't question it. If you can. Just go. Please. if you do I'll give you a virtual High 5! Thanks in advance 🤘👏
7. Still weird 
8. still ALIVE THANK HEAVENS
9. Send Memes
10. Send pictures of your dog (if you have one) 
11. Happy 2 day late birthday Mom! 27 never looked so good on ya. (plus 29 years) 
12. sorry it's still bullet points. I'm weird like that. 
13. I make too many ur mom jokes here. it's interesting.
14. My artistic and drawing skills have drastically improved like crazy since being here and it's becoming my new P-day hobby/in class while taking notes hobby. ( I may or may not share some drawings I've done so far ) 
15. Pics to come later toady. I get 30 more minutes this afternoon to email and I will share my pics for the week then. We did some pretty wild stuff just you wait. If you want me to respond with my super fast typing skills that I apparently have, Email me bukas mkay? Mkay

Mahal ko Kayo 

your medeocly sized  Nagsasalita Tagolog at Ilocano makapal blanco lokinnn boi 

-Elder Powell 

P.S. I ate a very large plate of rice for a meal one day and it was really really good. 

P.P.S. I wish I was a German Shepherd like Elder Uctdorf. But for the time being, I will be a corgi. 

P.P.P.S. I leave for the Philippines next week (the 22nd) and I am SO PSYCHeDDD 

Wild Week

October 5, 2018

Talk about a wild week! 

to keep things short I will most likely do things in bullet points bc I'm weird like that. 

1.      never in my life would i think that rain would be such a blessing to my health but it has been. The air is actually clean now and it has been making days here sa MTC much better :) plus the clouds have been super low to a point where we are literally in some! 10/10 

2.     I threw my pen to the ground and it stuck up. Super awesome evening. to follow up with that day (Wednesday) I also went to the doctors and they told me I had a super bad sinus infection so that was cool. Got to go off campus to the Urgent Care and then even more off campus to go to the Pharmacy. It was fun leaving the MTC even for a lil bit. 

3.     I'm super proud of myself because I'm actually being an organized and clean person here. SO much that I took a picture of my desk here. 

4.     Still weird but serving the Lord. We are truly a blessed generation and people to be representatives of Jesus Christ and preach of his doctrine of Mahal to ng Tao sa Pilipinas

5.     I had to say goodbye to some amazing friends here as they left for Manila last monday :( I'm heading out to Manila though next week (hopefully. either then or the week after but no one actually knows for sure. they wont say) 

6.     My Friend is dying as well. (he got mono) 

7.     Still weird 

8.     Still weird

9.     Still strong 

10. Still have a testimony of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. 

11. Me and 364 other missionaries get to represent Jesus Christ himself as well as the face of the Missionaries of ang Simbahan ni Jesuchristo ang mga Banal sa mga Huling Araw this saturday at 2pm Mountan Standard time! (Arizona peeps that's at 1 pm for you and everyone else you figure it out) and I'm super excited to be able to sing in front of my favorite organ in the entire world (not to mention the 12th largest organ in the world and 4th largest that is still played) as it accompanies us! TALK ABOUT A LIFE CHANGING EXPERIENCE (thanks Lauren ;) ) 

12. I've had a lot of time to think about my purpose as a missionary and as a member of such an amazing church and it came to my realization (i like to call it a mishpiph (thanks sisters (and yes i just parenthesized inside of a parentheses twice (OOF)))) that our purpose is to share Joy and happiness. to invite the spirit into peoples homes and to truly INVITE them to come unto Christ as an example. Of all the blessings we have here in this world, our greatest one is the Agency to choose what our future is going to be. So as I head to the Philipinas I will be there teaching the lessons of Jesus Christ, being an example of him, and sharing Joy to the people! I'm super excited for it all as anyone should be for such a thing. If any of you run into a missionary that is complaining about their mission, tell them they're doing it wrong. 

13. Big things are coming through in terms of missionary work. To add to it, Of course everyone here is spreading rumors like CRAZY BOIIII worse than HS rumors going around. these rumors include ! China is going to open @ sisters can serve for 2 years # changes to missionary handbook and other such things will be announced (they already announced updates to PMG) & the China mission will be a sisters only mission

these rumors are based on, ! Stake presidents have not been turning in mission applications for the past 3 weeks now @ people have literally been getting their calls saying "you will find out in genconf" # updated PMG usually follows everything else getting updated & also its President Russel M Nelson. what else can you expect.... 

Okay how I wrote so much in 30 minutes HKA? 

either way, I got a conference to sing in. 

-Elder Kolipoki Powellllllll

P.S. Don't get a sinus infection

P.P.S. Alligators want to say "in a while" sometimes as well #equality4Allies&Crocs 

P.P.P.S. If you are attending the Saturday afternoon conf, don't look for me  unless you want to be converted. I'm a missionary elder lookin boi now

P.P.P.P.S. Feel free to email me more! Don't be surprised if i dont respond tho