hiddy ho family! sounds like a fun week! I'm excited you all got to go boating for a little while. I love the Chesapeake but it's true, I can't remember a time that we have been there that I HAVENT been stung by a jelly fish! They should invent a jellyfish equivalent of OFF.
Hadley! GOOD LUCK with tryouts! No mercy.
Josh, i cant believe your colonscopy story. You know that probably freaked Mom out. I can't believe you waited a month! I spent a day in an endoscopy lab and towards the end of the day someone wasn't paying attention as they were pulling out the colonscopy tube and, "FLING," it hit me in the FACE. hahahha probably the grossest thing that has ever happened to me. I'm glad you are feeling better. I can't believe you are training. Good for you! Good luck with the transition! It's always hard having to leave a comp that you love but you do have your dog tags close to your heart. Do you wear them every day? Have a good week!
We had an action packed week here in Versailles! We fixed baptismal dates with J. and J! They are both incredible.
J is so funny. He invited us to his resturant and surprised us with dinner. It was probably the most gourmet meal I have ever eaten. There were all these fancy French people around drinking their 200£ wine and Soeur Gifford and I were just trying to not get crumbs on our skirts! Anyhow, we invited J to the church and taught him about the apostasy and then watched the Restoration DVD with him. We asked him how he felt after and he said, 'I feel good. Yes, my heart feels good.' He is set to be baptized the 4th of September. We looked up the church in India and the closest branch is in Bangalore....10 hours away. He is trying to go to Canada so hopefully he can work out his legality there and be able to be with his family again soon. He shows us pictures of his wife and son all the time. I love it.
Then, we had a similar rdv with J. We started by singing I Feel My Saviors Love and then watched the Restoration DVD. He felt the truth of it as well and knows that it is true. He is reading about Abinadi in the Book of Mormon and also knows the Book of Mormon is true. He is set to go for Sept 11. He is still working on the idea of a LIVING prophet but we know that answer will come soon enough!
Dad that is exciting about Richmond! You will get to spend a lot of time with Grandma Powers. That is so good. Is she doing any better?
Mom, I think the embrassing eccentricites is what this life is all about. Wouldn't it be boring if we didn't? When I tell friends about you they ALWAYS think you're cool. You make life FUN. no doubting that!
I've been studying apostasy a lot recently and found some awesome scriptures. Look them up! It is so clear in the scriptures.
2 Kings 17:13-17
2 Chron 36:15-16
2 Chron 24:19-21
Jeremiah 44:4-6
Proverbs 29:18
4 Neph 1:27
Mormon 1:13-16
Okay- anyhow I love you all. I know you are doing well and that God is taking care of you. Thanks for the updates!
all the love in my heart. soeur powers

strive, seek and never yield

Happy Pioneer Day!

Hey! I'mm going to have to write you a letter this week. We don't have a ton of time to write because we had crazy fun day. We did our grocery shopping this morning and then we went to La Defense to get sister giffords ears peirced! That was a thrill! Remember when I got them pierced for the first time? sShe was so brave. I was such a nerd. Same with those africa shots:) I think I've gained a little bit more courage since then! Then we came to the mission home for a pioneer day bbq! President and Sister Staheli are the best. They made home made ice cream for our birthdays. Felt like a summer night at home. I love you all and am so grateful for your love and prayers. Keep 'em coming and I'll keep sending them your way. J came to church on sunday and we've taught him 2x this week. He is so AWESOME. Way to go Joshy Poo...tell Laura Theuson hi for me! Thanks for the updates and until next week!
Love you,
sr powers

Sounds like you had a party for my birthday! It makes me happy to know that everyone I love loves each other! Thanks for letting Sarah write me...I can hardly believe she's home! So fun to have Carrie there too. I am going to have to be short tonight but we had a fabulous week. We went into Paris for the day and got to take some cool pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower, ate cake at Notre Dame and went on a boat tour! It was pouring in the morning but it cleared up perfectly for the afternoon. A few of the other equips celebrated with us and it we had a fun time. Definitely an unforgettable birthday. I don't feel that much wiser but I think I am noticing more wrinkles:) I need to wear sunscreen.

So the night of the 12th we were going to an appointment and we ran into this Indian man that we had met about 6 weeks ago. He said that he had tried to call us and then tried to find the church but wasn't able to find it. We didn't ever get his number because we basically threw our card at him as he got off the train. So we met him right by our apartment weeks ago and then we were miles away when we ran into him this week! He was like "why didnt you call me back!?!" Since then we have had 2 rdvs with him and given him a book of mormon in his native language Tamil. He is coming to church tomorrow! He is a devout Rman Catholic and right now he is working to take his wife and 4y/o son to Canada. He said there could be 1000 people waiting for a single job in his town in india. He is an incredible man. He works in a hotel/resturant and yesterday he took us and introduced us to his boss and all of the people he works with in the kitchen! He gave us this private tour and let us taste all these pastries. It was so funny! We're excited to teach him! F and F came to church this week! I don't remember if i have told you about them? They are this middle aged french couple from St Cloud. We have been teaching them for a while and it has been an adventure! F came to a baptism at the church today and the Spirit was so strong. We love them so much and are excited for what's to come with them! Sr Gifford's bday is tuesday and i think we are going to pierce her ears. I tried to convince her to let me do it with ice and apples but she refused:)
Mom, THANKS for the package! I love all things included. It's hard to not eat all the Clif bars at once. My christlike attribute for the month is temperance so I'm working on controling that:) Dad, my french spelling is terrible. I know. J'arrive jamais!
I love you
sr powers

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! This is definitely going to be a birthday to remember. Can you believe it has been a year since I left? Time passes too quickly. Mom, I DID receive your package. It got here on Wednesday, incredibly fast! Thank you! I'm excited to open it. The first Pday of the transfer is Paris Pday and we have pdays saturday so we decided to work for most of today (minus emails) and then celebrate my birthday as a mission:) by going to the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides -there's a World War 2 museum there, and Notre Dame. It should be a fun day. I'm excited!
Chels...how was the lake day? Did you get up on the wakeboard? Babygirl G is going to be an extreme sportist. I have a feeling. When are you going to buy a lakehouse? I'll definitely come vist! Have you seen Melissa and Justin yet? I can't imagine her with a peggers belly, let alone TWINS! Tell her hi for me when you see her.
Hads...how was efy??? Did you have cool counselors? Was Tara Wheatley one of them? Did you learn all the dances? I never could get them down. I loved efy and hope you did too!
Dad, ni hao! How is your chinese coming along!
Mom...you got to go to girls camp! I hope I get to be as lucky as you and serve in Young Women's. How was it? What did you make? How are the Inoyues doing? Tell Karen and Lauren hi for me!
We have had a spectacular week! It's hard to write all the cool things that have happened but I'll do my best. We went to see L Monday morning and it was a powerhouse rdv. She loves the Book of Mormon. We kept reading scriptures that responded perfectly to her questions. She is such a good woman. At the end of the rdv she goes, 'I'm planning on you coming an visiting regularly. Is that ok with you?' Sr Gifford and I grinned at each other. She is such a sweet woman with an incredible ability to be patient.
So yesterday our whole day fell through and we were bummed. We were going to teach M and family but that didn't work out. We prayed and picked an area to go to find some new people to teach and pass by some others. As we were leaving we got a text message from J! He was in Germany for a while and since he has been back work has been insane so we hadn't seen him. Anyhow we met him in the park and had an excellent rdv about the sabbath day. It was so good. Then as we were walking to the train, we saw this guy walking up the hill and we stopped to ask him if we could help him(he had some heavy bags). We started talking about the church and showed him the book of mormon. J jumps right in and starts explaining it and how it can help him in his life and how he loves it. It was so awesome! It was like having a member with us, minus the detail of being baptized! He's back on track and we are excited to see him progress again.
C and C left for vacances for a month. Crazy french people vacating for huge chunks of time. If Dad were the president of the country that would definitely be outlawed:) (I havent ungratefully forgotten all the wonderful vacations, Dad) We'll see him again in August.

MIRACLE! Our rdv fell through again this morning so we decided to go find/passby some other people in the area of the following rdv. We went by two old amis but they weren't there so we headed back to the gare. On the way we stopped to talk to this girl. We asked her about her beliefs and she opened up to us right away. She is only 19 and she recently lost someone that she loves. She said that she has had a hard time believing in God since then. We talked a little bit more and ended up teaching her in a park just next door. We started by singing 'Families Can Be Together Forever' and then prayed with her. She started crying right away. She kept saying, 'I feel so lost. I just don't know where to go.' We taught her the Plan of Salvation and how Jesus Christ can succor us because he knows EXACTLY how we are feeling. It was such an incredible experience. How could we ever doubt that Heavenly Father is in control? He knows this girl perfectly and he knows the best way to help her so he set up how we could meet each other. I don't believe things happen by chance. We're going to see her again next weekend. I love her so much already. I know we can help her find the peace she is looking for. I feel blessed to be a part of the process. Boffed rdvs are perfect finding opportunites, shout out to JO!
We're getting a mini missionary! It was supposed to be Rachel but it would cost A TON to have her come and so they are sending her to Liege. Another incredible city! They girl who is coming is from Angers. She will be with us the 18th-23rd. I think she is 21ish. We talked to her on the phone the other day and she seems really cool. I am excited to convince her to go on a mission! We're not sure if she speaks english so it might be a little difficult to be speaking french ALL the time but it will definitely help. Sr Gifford only speaks French outside of the apt so that has already helpd me a ton.
new favorite scripture isaiah 58:2,9,11. love the scriptures!
i love you all! have an excellent week and eat some dairy queen cake for me!
are you going to the outer banks this summer? has the oil spill affected the beaches there?
i love you
sr powers
be strong, never give up & endure to the end

God Bless America...and France

Happy 4th! I hope that tomorrow is an amazing day and that you get to see some killer fireworks! Bastille day is in a couple of weeks so we'll just count those as a celebration of American independence. The elders in our district wanted to do a BBQ so we came to the mission home to grill hamburgers and the french equivalent of hot dogs! We played uno and frisbee and ate lots of cherbourg caramel. Elder Watson was still here so we got to talk with him for a little bit! One on one with a general authority is always cool!
It has been a really funny, long, crazy day. We got up this morning and ran out the door for our morning run. I am usually responsible for the keys and have been diligent in remembering them but for some reason I forgot them today. The door locks automatically and as soon as it did I cringed. Dang. Well we had left the window open so we went outside to try have Sr Gifford stand on my shoulders to get to the ledge of our window but that was a terrible failure:) We just ended up laughing for about 10 mins. After we calmed down a little bit we thought "mmm, ok, well we really do need to get in....we don't have a phone let alone their numbers, we don't have our navigos to get on a train to get to the mission home to get the spare keys and its 6:30 in the morning. Mmm, we'll just then we see this guy walking up the walkway. He looks like he's about 30 and probably about Dan Byers size. So we try to look as helpless and as beautiful as possible(not easy right after you rolled out of bed:) and we asked him if he had a ladder or knew some way we could get up to the window sill. He looks up at the window, sizes it up and then goes, "j'arrive." Sr Gifford and I just look at each other quizically as he walks into the building across from ours. He comes down about 3 mins later with this giant tool box, puts it directly under our window, jumps, grabs the window sill, pulls himself up the balcony fence thing, jumps over the fence into our apartlment and disappears inside. 30 seconds later he has the keys and says 'de rien. bonne journee' hahaha it was so funny and miraculous. We didn't even have to walk more then 15 feet and Heavenly Father sent someone to save us from our silly mistake. It was incredible. He sent spiderman. I love it! even the small things. He is ALWAYS aware of our needs. We made him cookies and took them over. He tried to bizou us but instead we gave him a Book of Mormon:) We hope he'll read it!
So, another really cool miracle! N called us and said that he went to church last week! He loved it and he is anxious to get baptized. He wanted to last week but Elder Birk said that he still had some stuff to learn. I love him so much! C is doing well. We went over yesterday and she is on track for her Book of Mormon reading! We just talked about parts that she liked and we did the same. She is going to the south of France for vacances for the next 3 weeks then to Normandy for the whole month of august so we won't see her for a bit but we are going to keep tabs on her. She said that her grandma has had the missionaries over and that she started taking the lessons too! Good news. There will be the support there that she needs! We are exited for her. She will get there, we're just along for the ride.

Met some REALLY amazing people this week that we have started to work with. There is this 10 year old named C who asks better questions than I have ever asked myself. He reminds me a lot of Josh, really intelligent but also really hilarious. His family was baptized about 3 years ago but have been less active for a while. He is going to get them back. He is reading the Book of Mormon and loving the stories. We also started teaching the fiancee of a recent convert named M. She got baptized last year and they are getting married in September. He grew up in Jersey! Small world yea? They are incredible people and so generous. They made us empanadas and gave us their secret recipe. I was full after 1 but they insisted we eat 3. We also met this really cool lady named L. Miracle finding story but not any time to tell it! We are meeting with her Monday and I'll update you next week.

Also, cool story from the week...Elder Watson from the 70 came and did a little conference with the missionaries in the Paris area. It's cool that President Staheli is friends with all these people! It was amazing. He talked a lot about the importance of personal scripture study. It's not a casual thing we do but something that we have to apply seriously in our lives. He quoted John A. Widstoe and now I can't find the quote online but it was something along the lines of, 'An effort must be put forth to learn the gospel, to comprehend it and to understand it. The gospel must be studied or else no test can be applied to it. That study must be wide. It is a great paradox that men and women will spend years intently studying the sciences or art or economics but when it comes the the scriptures, they expect a similar proficency to come without an equal effort. It is not perfunctory glances and occassional listening to sermons. It must be studied if we are to know the doctrine." I can't remember it all but it was powerful. It is essential to make gospel knowledge a lifelong pursuit. I want to know the scriptures like he does and be able to use them correctly. We went and taught a woman who has let her scripture study become less and less important in life and now her testimony is rocky. There is a direct relationship. When we are diligent in our studies, nobody can shake what we know. But the opposite is also true when we aren't diligent. So...let's be diligent. I love the scriptures so much and am excited to keep learning!

This is really late because we worked this morning, we didnt have time to write until now sorry!
What is a santon? Have i completely missed all french culture in not knowing what that is? darn it!
i love you! sr powers
be strong, never give up and endure to the end:)