EVERYTHING is BIGGER in TEXAS!

whatsupwhatsup!

FIRST: Please note that my personal day is NOW on MONDAY!  I will reply to all emails on Monday, so write me!  My email address is msnow@myldsmail.net

SECOND - New Mailing address:  
Elder Snow
1231 Huisache Ave # 710
New Braunfels, TX 78130

Alright this weeks adventures!!

I'll start out with my travels from Mexico, back to the states.  Basically, I woke up at 5 am on Wednesday, and arrived at the airport WAAAY early.  This was OK because I was able to make phone calls in the airport.  THAT was fantastic! 

Once on the plane, I kinda just slept for a while, but then Elder Burdge woke me up half way through for food.  From that point on, the lady next to me wouldn't stop talking to me.  But, it was fantastic because she spoke only in Spanish, and we had a great conversation about the restoration.  She's a pretty hardcore catholic, yet she seemed very interested in the Mormons, so I gave her a Book of Mormon and a pass along card.  I answered all the questions I could for her.  I kinda messed up the first vision, though, it was a little embarrassing, but I stuck through it, and it went great. 

I landed in Texas, went through customs, and of course I got "randomly selected" for a bag search (I'm convinced it's because I was so handsome).  After that, I walked out the door and there was my mission president and his family waiting for us!  He gave me a big ABRAZO (Mexican greeting: you shake their hand, hug with your head going right, not left like Americans do it, then you shake their hand again).  Then, I shook his wife's hand and his daughters hand.  They took us back to the mission home, fed us, then we met the assistants of the mission.  They were super cool.

They, then, took us to the Alamo, where they shared the history of the Alamo.  Then they were just like "alright, we're gonna give everyone some Book of Mormons, and you guys are gonna go proselyte for an hour...go!"  I rocked it.  We handed out three Book of Mormons, and I actually placed one in Spanish as well.  This lady was like, "I don't speak English." So, I was like "pshhh esta bien yo hablo Espanol!" Then,  she was just like - ahhh crap he caught me, so I talked to her!  After that we went back to the mission president's house, and he talked to us for a bit, introduced us to the mission, and we ate a REAL authentic Texan BBQ. 

OHHH, man, the food down here is good, not gonna lie. After dinner, we had some Bluebell ice cream. Amber, if you're reading this, you might wanna skip this part.  Bluebell ice cream is the best ice cream I've ever had in my entire life.  It isn't an ice cream parlor like Coldstone or anything...it just comes in tubs of ice cream.  I don't know how they do it, but it's the most amazing thing ever.  It's everywhere too; it's sold in all the stores.   Apparently, it's a local business, so you can't get it anywhere else in the world!  It's so good, though.  I wish you guys could try it! 

After we ate, the assistants took us back to their apartment, and all 9 of the new elders just had a big sleepover with air mattresses.  That was an adventure the next morning, trying to get ready!

Then came the transfer meeting: the assistants told us who our companions were going to be, and which area we were going to.  This is the first and only time in your mission that you KNOW these things before you actually go into the transfer meeting, with all the other missionaries.  I was just sitting there, PRAYING for a super good trainer and area.  You know - one who is  really experienced, IN a Spanish area, WITH a car.  Can you GUESS what I got?  I got a brand new trainer, in an English area, in a carshare area, where I'm biking MOST of the time! hahahahah!  Go figure, right? 

But, actually, I am enjoying my area!  I'm currently living in New Braunfels, Texas. It is actually very largely German influenced, but there are still a lot of people that speak Spanish around here. Elder Wright, my companion, is cool, too.  He is a great guy, and he's super patient (especially when I accidentally fall asleep during my studies for a few minutes).  I'm working hard - really hard.  I'm trying to be as motivated as I can, to turn my ward around and get dates for ALL of the 10 progressing investigators that we have.  More about that, later....

Thanksgiving was the day of transfers! SO, right after I met my companion, we went to four dinners, I think? I'm not even sure.  BUT, I didn't even care!  I ate everything... and seconds of everything. People down here KNOW HOW TO COOK!  I don't know if it's because I've been having crappy food in Mexico for so long, or if it's because they're amazing cooks, but EITHER way - its great!  

We mostly just visited families on Thanksgiving.  We aren't supposed to proselyte on holidays much, I guess.  We shared a little Thanksgiving message from Alma 34.  It was about being in thanksgiving to our God daily, not just on Thanksgiving. A family asked Elder Wright and I to sing for them, so I was like "oh sure!" They happened to be Spanish and English speaking, so I broke out my Spanish hymn book.  You see, I was so used to my last companion being in the STATE choir, I hadn't even thought about whether or not Elder Wright could sing. He also didn't have his glasses, so he couldn't actually see the lyrics in my book.  Therefore, he was just humming along while I sang.  It was pretty embarrassing.  I rocked it...I guess. No, not really.  It was actually pretty terrible. But, whatever.

The night of Thanksgiving, I met the elders that we share an apartment with. Their names are Elder Wright (yep, another one) and Elder Swonson.  Elder Swonson is actually our district leader, and he is so awesome.  He reminds me SO MUCH OF TRENTON, back home.  I love him.  The first night, we were just talking as a group,  and I made a joke.  He laughed and was just like "Elder Snow, I think I love you."  I was like, "Elder Swonson, I think I love you too."  Then he just gave me a goofy smile, and I was like, "Did we just become best friends?!" And, he was like "YEP!" hahahahah, it was great! I hope someone gets that reference.  I'm sure someone will.  But yeah, they're great. We're going to do a Christmas card pretty soon here, so you'll see what everyone looks like in the upcoming weeks.

okay, PAUSE.  BEFORE I continue with my story, I need to confirm that saying "Everything is bigger in Texas." It is the truest of all true statements in the world!  Why do I say that?  Well, in my area, there is a place called "Buc-ee's," which is a gas station.  It not JUST a regular gas station though!  It's the LARGEST GAS STATION IN THE WORLD.  It has 124 gas pumps!  And, you know the "little store" you go into to buy snacks, like a 7/11 sized store?  This one is like a full blown Costco.  They have a butcher, bakery, clothes and pie samples!   IT IS INSANE... OH, and the bathroom is just AS ridiculous AS the gas pumps! The WHOLE ROOM is just spotless and covered in stalls and urinals, and everything is like made out of marble.  It's just, WOW.  So unnecessary.  But, so fantastic! 

Alright continuing...

My first day out actually doing work was so-so.  We biked around, visited people and proselyted, but nothing was really that cool until the evening when we met "H", who is a progressing investigator in this area.  We taught him about tithing and fasting.  I used my object lesson that I stole from Elder Odle (sorry) with using cookies.  You place 10 cookies in front of them and say, "I want to give you all of these cookies.  They are all yours now, but just remember that they came from me."  Something along those lines.  Then you say, "okay, since I gave you all of those cookies, would it be alright if I had just ONE of them?"  Of course they say, sure!  Then you say "thank you - and since you gave me back one cookie, I'm now going to give you X more cookies."  We described how its the same with our Heavenly Father.  He gives us everything we have, and he only asks for 1/10th back.  When we obey this law, he blesses us tenfold.  It was pretty cool.  At the end of the lesson, I was feeling the spirit pretty good, so i just sacked up and invited him to be baptized on February 15th (he has to get married first; that's why its so late).  He accepted my invitation to be baptized.  It was great! Now we have 1 out of 10 investigators with dates.  I'm gonna get another 4 this month, mark my words.  

The next day we visited this guy named "F" who is a recent convert.  All Elder Wright told me was that we were going to teach about prayer and scripture study.  A member, named Brother C. picked us up and took us.  We chatted for a bit, then I looked at Elder Wright, and he was just smiling at me.  I'm like, "ohhh he's throwing me under the bus; he's making me do this by myself!  He's not even going to say anything!"  So, I just started it up and punched Fred in the face with the spirit with my lesson.  I read out of 1 Nephi chapter 1, verse 12, which is super simple but profound.  It plainly and simply explains how we feel the spirit, as we read the Book of Mormon.  Then we talked about prayer and read out of Alma, where it says how we should pray...which is always.  Then I talked about how Heavenly Father wants to bless us with things because he's our literal father in heaven.  I read out of 3 Nephi chapter 14 verses 9-11.  It was fantastic. 

After we left F's apartment, Brother "C" was like "Elder Snow, how long did you say you've been in the field?" I replied, "how long do you think?" To which he replied "oh, I don't know, a year or so?"  And, I said, "CLOSE!...2 days!"  He was just baffled hahahah.   I apparently did a really good job!

Other stuff that's happened....Elder Wright and I went tracting one day, and we got into this old guys house.  His daughter was SUPER angry that her dad let us in.  She was telling us how we'd never change her... blah blah blah.  Then we somehow turned it around, and she got really interested in what we had to say!   We got a return date for next week! We gave her a Book of Mormon ,and she said she would read it.  I feel pretty good about it.

We visited the "C" family on Saturday, as well...they are less active.  They also have a younger man living with them, named "T" who is 18 or 19, and pretty interested in the church.  We were UNABLE to really teach a lesson, BUT we got to talk about the church a little bit.  "T" was saying that he wouldn't read the Book of Mormon until he finished the Bible, and the "C" family wasn't too interested in hearing a lesson either.   BUT, "T" told me "hey if you get a chance, can you write me a good review on anonymousburgerjointwebsite.com (his employer's website)?" I was like ""T", I'd love to write you a survey, but I'll only do it if you start reading the Book of Mormon.  I don't even care if it's just the first chapter.  If you read it, I'll even go into whateverBURGERjoint, myself, and tell them JUST how great you are."  He was like "okay, I'll do it!"  It was awesome. and the "C" family was like "OH, you're Spanish speaking? Then, speak some Spanish to us!" To which, I replied "ehh...i only know Spanish that has to do with the gospel (little white lie), so if I talk in Spanish - I have to teach you guys a lesson."  So they agreed! Now we're going back next week and teaching a lesson to them in Spanish ... ahah. I'm sneaky.

My first Sunday here was a fast Sunday.  My companion bore his testimony first, which obviously meant that I had to, as well.   I went up there and basically just told everyone how ridiculously excited I was to be in their ward, and I told them all that I was there to serve them and help them in any way I could, and that I was ready to work as hard as I possibly could for them.  After that, Brother U (he fed us the night before) went up, bore his testimony, and told the ward how great I was and said they were lucky to have me.  I was just sitting there blushing in the front row.  It was pretty embarrassing haha. 

Alright last story.... last night we visited an inactive couple who hasn't been going to church for years, but they love the missionaries and feed us every time we visit ,apparently.  We were chatting for a bit, they fed us, and then Elder Wright asked if we could share some scriptures with them.  They said "yes" and he looked at me (threw me under the bus again).  But, I was fine with it.  I rocked it, and talked about charity, and how we need to show the pure love of Christ to everyone.  BUT, here's the kicker... Elder Wright made me do it Spanish.  He tried to throw me TWO curveballs, there.  But, guess what Elder Wright? I play baseball!  I sat on that sucker, and I took it to right field.  I rocked it; my Spanish was flawless, (OK - that's a huge lie, but it was pretty good) and yeah...it was great! 

Okay, last thing....my elder's quorum teacher looks like M. Macky.  I'm not going to say who that is, but whoever gets it, will know... ahhaha.

Alright, I love you ALL. PEACE!

Elder Snow