Why hello family! It was wonderful to hear from all of you! Thank you for the emails as always I love getting to hear from everyone every week!

Item of business number 1. Chelsey and Kev your house looks so sweet! Like Kate, I cannot wait until I can come down for a weekend and spend it with the kids and you guys! Also I don't think I have scene that color of green grass in over four months. I don't think I realized how brown Utah really is haha. That's definitely got to be tough these past few years, moving different places, getting to know people, and than having to move, but if you look at it one way, your just getting more famous! Good luck with the move!

Item number 2. Did Patriarch Beckstead pass away? Or was he just released? If he passed away, I'll have to get Sister Beckstead's address and write her a letter sending my sympathies. Patriarch Beckstead was pretty much the greatest man ever so that would be way sad if he passed away. But that is wonderful that Brother Banks and Sister Banks were called to that calling. They are so awesome! Tell them I send my love! And tell Patriarch Banks I'm trying to be a creative missionary!

Item Number 3. Mom Dad and Hads you leave for India today! That is sweet! I'm a little bit jealous but no worries I'd rather be here in Utah far away from the really spicy peppers of India, haha. You have got to send me some amazing pictures of the trip! Also Hadley, don't chicken out of riding the elephants!

So things up at Weber State are about as different as you can get from Layton West, but I'm still loving it! Basically what we do all day is contact people in the Institute building and on campus and get people to invite their friends to meet with us and then we teach from about 6-9 almost every night. It's pretty different teaching college kids outside of families, so I'm definitely still getting used to it but it's fun! Also, college kids are a little bit more stubborn and so getting them to keep commitments is definitely a challenge, haha. About 50 percent of the people on campus are members and than 50 percent aren't so this area has so much potential if the members would just help us find people! The ward mission leaders are also college students and so they don't have as much time as they did in Layton West but it's definitely understandable. Elder Kozak and I made a goal to baptize once a week for the transfer and that's looking like a pretty lofty goal at this point but we are praying for miracles to happen and know the Lord will help us find those who are prepared! This area has only had 3 baptisms in the past like 3 months and so Elder Kozak and I have been brainstorming like crazy, ideas that would help us find people! One of those ways is next Monday we are having a barbecue in the middle of campus and will be grilling hot dogs and hamburgers for people who will give us referrals, hahaha. We don't think its bad to bribe people for referrals....we will see how it goes. Also, we moved our studies time from 8-10 am to about 12-2 pm because there are so many more people in the morning on campus. Another thing we are doing is coaching the rugby team Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Elder Kozak played for about 10 years in Canada and most of the people have barely played so I look like a pro, hahah. Less than half the players on the club team are members and so we coach the team during dinner because we don't really have dinner appointments on campus at all. Never in a million years would I have thought I would have been coaching a rugby club on my mission. Anyway, I got to go back to Layton for the four baptisms this past Saturday which was absolutely awesome. I said the opening prayer at one baptism and closing prayer at another and in both I could hardly talk because I felt so much love for these wonderful kids. I'll send pictures from R, D, L, and M's baptisms so you can see them! R, D, and L who are all brothers and sisters made me promise I would come back after my mission and visit them. I feel so much joy in knowing that I actually made a difference, however small it may be, in Layton.

Okay, so I will share a sweet experience I had this week. On Friday night before I went to bed I was reading in Preach My Gospel about how our understanding of the Atonement grows, our desire to serve will increase. So before I went to bed on Friday I knelt down and prayed that I would be able to understand the Atonement more. At 3 am I woke up and my stomach hurt so I went to bathroom and proceeded to throw up about 15 times until 6 in the morning. Around 5:30, I started praying and was like, this was not the answer I was looking for! hahah. But than it just hit me so hard that Christ really has gone through every single thing we can imagine. I felt so, so sick just laying there on the ground and I knew at that moment that I wasn't alone. I knew that The Savior had experienced the exact same pain and it changed my perspective a lot. Instead of complaining about it, I started asking Heavenly Father what he wanted me to learn from this experience and what I was supposed to gain was a greater appreciation for The Atonement. I know that when we turn to The Lord and ask Him what we should learn from trials, with humility, He will help us understand why we go through some things and what we are to learn from them. I love that so much. It gives me so much perspective in my own trials and I know if everyone had this same realization the world would be so much happier and there would be so much less sorrow in the world! I have to go but I love you all so much! Thanks for everything! Love, Elder Powers

P.S.- We do contact girls on campus...but I don't even like girls anymore, I'm a missionary! Also, we are in the mission office almost every day so it's fine to just send the package there mom. I'll get it soon! PPS- Read 1 Nephi 9:37. This is what type of parent I want to be! Maybe 10:37 not sure.