ICE WAS EVERYWHERE!

January 27th, 2014

hey hey! How are you all doing? Sorry about last weeks lame letter; hopefully I can make it up with this week’s! Highlights from this week:

Last Monday, we went up to Texas State University in San Marcos and played disc golf for our pday, and it was sweet!!! 

P-day Fun!

It was a beautiful day, and we had a great time.  We have also gotten into the habit of occasionally going to play disc golf at lunch, since the park is right down the road.  It's been really nice!  Two of the times we went, it was freeeeeeeeeeezing outside, though.  More on that in a minute.

Disc Golf

Tuesday, we went to teach our investigator, “A”, who is 11 years old.  He’s decided that he wants to be baptized. He is from a part member family, and his family loves us.  They attend church every week, and he's' decided he wants to take the discussions.  We were there for a WHILE!  We got there at like 7, and we left at like 8:30.  But it was really good! We taught the restoration, and since he's very new to coming to church, we have to take it very slow to make sure he understands it.  He is young, so he likes to make comparisons and analogies in order to better understand things.

Honestly, it was a wonderful experience; he's such a great kid.  His dad has such a strong testimony of the church - it's insane!  He was helping us teach and was bearing his testimony frequently to “A”, and at one point he was even tearing up.  It was so awesome.   Austin had lots of questions, and just kept asking us to stay longer.  That was probably the second time in my mission that I’ve really just felt so loved by my investigators, and realized how large of an impact we as missionaries can make on people.

After we finished teaching, I bore my testimony, and it's funny because I haven't had the opportunity to bear a real sincere testimony in a while. But, it was powerful.  I felt so good about it.  The cool thing about the spirit is that no matter how many times you say or read or hear something that's true, it'll always testify to you of truth.  It was just a fantastic experience.  I wish I could relate it to you in words, but it's not really describable.  I just feel like I was sent to New Braunfels specifically for this family. I get along so well with them, and I feel like I’m meant for them – It’s just such a great feeling.

Wednesday night, we taught J&E, who are less active recent converts, but they absolutely love missionaries and have us over every week.  Apparently, before I came to this area, they were also teaching E’s mom, who is a non-member.  But, I haven't taught her since I’ve been here.  Every single time I’m there, I invite her to come to the lesson, and she's always said no.  HOWEVER, this week she said yes.  She broke out her Book of Mormon and marking pencils, and my companion and I taught another lesson we created.  Basically what we did is we went through Nephi chapter 17 and 18, picked out some versus and did a little game.  This is the story when Nephi is commanded to make a boat.  We get out two pieces of paper and pretend that elder wright is the Lord (don't get upset, it's just pretend) and we ask one of the people we're teaching to be Nephi. Then, we ask him to build a boat, and then we read a scripture about how the lord directed Nephi to get tools and materials, and we give him paper, and so on.  We eventually, through the scriptures, have fun with it and elder wright teaches them how to make a boat.   That probably sounds lame i know, but it's pretty good.

The principle we teach at the end is about prayer and asking for our Heavenly Father's help.  It's a sweet lesson.  At the end, E’s mom was super into it, marking scriptures and telling us experiences she's had with prayer.   She also committed to coming to church next Sunday!   It was a fantastic lesson because we not only talked about prayer, we talked about the spirit and it's promptings and a lot of stuff...very spiritual, awesome lesson.   

THE BEST PART was that Elder Wright and I weren't even really teaching.  We were just guiding, asking questions and letting them teach themselves.  It was so fantastic.  It was the best lesson we've had yet as a companionship.

So, I’m some of you heard about this, but New Braunfels, and a lot of Texas, got some INSANE weather on Thursday and Friday.  We had like an ice storm or freezing rain or sleet or whatever you want to call it.  AND….as luck would have it, Elder Wright and I were on bikes that day hahahahah.

We went out on Thursday, and I didn't know it would be that cold!   I  had just a sweater on, and after 5 minutes of riding around we had to go back and layer up.  I was in my sweater, big jacket, beanie, etc.  BUT - one of the other elders lost my gloves.  So, I was just like pssshh I don't need gloves. BAD. IDEA.  It was SO cold, about 20 minutes into our riding, and it was raining!  OH, MAN - it was bad!  I was freezing.  It was probably 32-33 degrees at that point, and the wind howling, and it was super moist…. so it was really cold – The coldest I’ve ever been in my life, because of the wind and moisture.  I was *told*, (don’t quote me) that the wind chill and moisture made it feel like it was like 1-4 degrees outside.  It sure felt like it to me! 

ANYWAY - I didn't have gloves, and we rode to teach a lesson, and when we got out it was even colder outside.  So, I bought another pair of gloves.  We rode around in it all day.  After we concluded our last lesson at 8:45pm Thursday night, we had a legit ice rain.  It was in the 20's, but for some stupid reason it wasn't snowing. It was rain, and then little chunks of ice but not hail.  All the rain was freezing as soon as it hit the ground so there was ice everywhere...annnnnnnd we had to ride home!!!  

When we got back to the apartment, we were SOAKED, and our jackets were literally cracking because the water turned into ice on our jackets.   It was actually pretty cool. TERRIBLE.  But, cool.

Yep, That's ICE!

The next day, when we go outside at around 10am, ALLLLLLLL the rain from the night before was ice.  ICE WAS EVERYWHERE. They shut down the CITY. All the stairs were icy, the cars were literally just ice.  There was probably ½” of ice on everyone’s car. I rolled down the window in the car, and there was a huge layer of ice still there where the window was.  I got to punch it and it exploded everywhere haha it was so sweet.  Icicles were hanging from cars and houses and trees. The freeway to San Antonio was straight up closed until 12 o clock.  Texas is not used to this weather.  Still, we went to play disc golf at lunch that day.  The whole grass fields were just ice.  You could start running and then just slide forever on it; it was so sweet.  I had a great time!  But, I was on bike both of those days so that was not good... but whenever we'd knock on people's doors, they would call us crazy for being outside.  Then, they'd feel bad and they'd give us hot chocolate or food or something haha.  Everyone was so nice! We got tons of work done those days believe it or not!

Let’s pause, I have to thank my family for the awesome package they sent me this week. Brooklynn, your bracelets are AWESOME. I gave one to each elder in my apartment, and with the others, I try to match my tie to every day.  I am wearing a red bracelet and red tie right now actually.  And guess which tie it is? The one Dallin picked out for me!  I love the ties you sent me as well, and the socks!  I wore the crazy blue and green socks to church on Sunday.  It was so awesome. And, the cookies were so good Dallin; we ate them all up really quick.  That package made my day. It was cold outside, early in the day, and I wasn't in a very good mood.  But, when I got that, it just made my day.  Thank you so much!

Okay let's continue. We had a lesson with S&A this week.  “A” is a member, but “S” is not. He’s already been taught EVERYTHING; we're just waiting so they can get married, and so “S” can get baptized.  He comes to church every week and loves it.  He's such an awesome guy.  I've met him at church lots of times, but it was the first time I got to meet with him outside of church this week.  “S” and I hit it up.  He was a big time baseball player in college. He was a STUD.  He has a similar body structure to mine, and he played the same positions: pitcher, short and third haha!  How crazy is that?  We talked about baseball forever.  It was so awesome.  He keeps telling me to come over so he can play catch with someone that he wont hurt, and I can't wait.  He was an awesome pitcher at one point, so i wouldn't mind learning a couple things from him!  He’s only like 28, 29 years old, super cool, super funny guy.  You guys would love him. 

Saturday night, we rode over to “D’s” house, a recent convert of 2 years.  He is the most inspiring person I’ve ever met in my life.  He tries SO HARD to be the best he can be.  He works 70 hours a week, every day, and he STILL does whatever he can to make time to come to church at least once a month or so.  He tries so hard.  His wife is inactive, and he brings his two girls to church with him all by himself.  He has so many trials in his life, but he just keeps trucking along, constantly talking about all the blessings in his life and just praises the church with all he's got. Seriously, if I could aspire to be even a little bit like him, I would be twice the person I am now.  That's how inspiring he is.  

Anyway, we stopped by and chatted with him for a bit, then we left at about 8:30, which was plenty of time to get home…… BUT I walk outside and guess what? MY TIRE WAS FLAT!  AGAIN. FOUR WEEKS IN A ROW!  I was upset because Elder Wright made me ride through a field earlier in the day.   I didn't want to because, you see, in Texas there are THORNS EVERYWHERE.  Seriously, Texas is great, but the grass and fields here stink.  The grass is all yellow and scratchy and gross, and there are thorns everywhere.  It’s frustrating.  I can't walk barefoot on the grass here.  I tried, and I ended up needing elder Swonson to carry me to asphalt, so I could pick 40 thorns out of my feet.  Anyways, I had to walk my bike a couple miles home.  It wasn't too far away so it wasn't bad.  We still made it home on time. 

Why do I tell you this, though? Because when I got home, there was a package waiting at the door, and its for me!  I open it up, and it's from my dad, and what is it?  It’s bike tires!  The bike tires with the green slime in them, and the green tape stuff to prevent punctures and flat tires!  How crazy is that? I mean, i wouldn’t have minded that a couple hours earlier, but whatever, it was still a mini miracle because I had just ran out of tires again!  I have gone through 5 tires since I’ve been on the mission. Kills me!! haha. But hopefully these ones do me better now!

Last story:  Elder Swonson's birthday was Thursday.  On Wednesday his mom sent us cake mix and a letter addressed to the "other elders," with instructions to make him a cake for his birthday.  So, the next morning, I woke up early and baked him a sweet cake. Well, I’ve never baked a cake before, so I thought it was sweet. I’ll send you pictures.

That's it for me this week! Thanks for all the letters I got on Christmas from the ward!  I just got those not too long ago.  Thank you ALL for everything you do!  Love you!

Love,

Elder Snow

WHAT was in that TACO?

JANUARY 20, 2014
Hey, how's everyone doing?! ANOTHER week, man it goes quick!

I have to be quick today, on account that it is Martin Luther King day, and the library is closed.  Therefore, I don’t have access to the normal computer.  I’m just quickly emailing from a members house to let you know all is well, but I can’t take up much time!

Just a couple of fun updates from the week.  For some reason, my apartment is now super into playing Disc Golf.  Elder Gray has a disc golf set and there is a course here in New Braunfels, so that's what we do on pdays now! Oddly enough, I’m pretty good at it.  I realized that if I throw the frisbee overarm like a baseball, I can throw it significantly farther and straighter than any of the other guys - haha.  It’s awesome! Super fun.  I bought a disc golf driver last Thursday.  Cool stuff, huh?  I’m such a nerd.

What else happened...oh, a member, brother “A,” took us out to breakfast one morning this week.   It was on Thursday.  I tried some pretty weird tacos.  I didn't know what they were… until afterwards. I thought they were good, but…… I apparently tried a taco that used cow face meat, a taco that was the fried intestines of the cow, and a lingua taco, which is cow tongue haha.  They were all good though! Sweet stuff. 

Thursday, my companion and I did a training in a zone meeting, as well.  It was on obedience.  We did well.

Also, this Sunday, I gave a talk in church about the blessings of the temple.  It went super {super} well.  I was very satisfied with how everything went this week….. except….

I blew ANOTHER bike tire this week, so I was pretty unhappy about that for a few hours on Friday.   I’m pretty sick of blowing bike tires haha…..it’s really digging into my funds.

Well, I’m sorry I don't have much time.  I'll make it better next week.  See ya!

Love,

Elder Snow

Elder Bednar is Awesome!

January 13, 2014

Standing next to a giant mobile BBQ

How is everyone doing?!? It’s been another week! Man, its flying by.  I've already been in New Braunfels for 6 weeks! No way I've been gone for 3 months already, There's just NO way!  I just left home, I swear!

My companion and I have had really, really busy weeks for the last three weeks or so.  Unfortunately, it has inhibited the work a bit.  We've had tons of meetings and stuff we've had to attend, so we haven't had as great of numbers or as much time to visit our families and investigators.  Nevertheless, this week was still FANTASTIC.  I'll tell ya all about it!

On Tuesday, we did a service project for a young dad in our ward.  This guy is awesome, absolutely awesome.  He's so missionary oriented and helps us ALL the time, so when he asked us to help him fix up and clean his house, we were all over it - more than happy to help!  His wife was out of town, so we helped clean things up as a surprise for her.  We spent from about 10-1 cleaning out the house and fixing things and taking out trash and vacuuming and organizing and stuff.  It was great.  He is a super funny and cool guy.  We were blasting LDS music and cleaning the house – lots of fun.  We had it looking great afterwards too, so it was really cool.  He took us out to Logan's Roadhouse afterwards, and we all pigged out.  It was so cool.

Thursday was transfer meeting.  Luckily, my companion and I get another transfer together - neither of us are being transferred.  This is good, because we're killing it in our area.  The OTHER elder wright, though, got transferred.  So, on Thursday, we spent all day moving his stuff and getting our new roommate, Elder Gray.

Elder Gray is very softspoken, and my first impression of him was he was going to be nerdy.  I’ve gotta stop judging people right away; I was totally wrong...well he is softspoken, but man this kid is so sarcastic and hilarious.  He makes me laugh so hard every day.  And, on top of that, he's super chill, and even more talented!  He's like a professional cello player.  Even though he doesn't have a cello with him, he can pick up ANY of our ukes and play any song you ask him to - by ear.  Just give him like two minutes to figure it out, and he'll play you the whole song.  It's insane. He's so good, so talented.  He makes us all look like a joke – the kid is awesome.

So here's the coolest part of the whole week.  Friday, we had the most amazing {AMAZING} opportunity to meet with Elder David A. Bednar.  IT. Was. Awesome. The entire mission drove in to see him, and it was the single greatest thing that I’ve ever been a part of in my entire life!

First, I’d like to tell you all how worried I was about seeing Bednar in person.  He has a pretty big reputation for being very serious and like...rebuking people.  I've heard where Bednar was speaking, and how he would rebuke the ENTIRE congregation for not being reverent enough, or from standing in the middle of the hymn, or something like that.  Plus, he told the entire CHURCH in the last general conference to repent.  So, I'm over here freaking out.  I planned my outfit a week in advance so I look as professional as I possibly can be!  Not looking flashy and not wearing flashy shoes or ties or belts or doing my hair too flashy or anything.  I looked straight up like a businessman!  We got there an hour and a half early, so we could sit in the very front, and we got great seats.

AND, let me tell you...Elder David. A. Bednar is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than what the world thinks he is!  He is HILARIOUS. So funny. He made us laugh the entire time.  And, he's a freaking genius!  He's so smart, and by far the greatest orator I've heard in my life.  He didn't even give us a talk; he got up there and just started asking us questions and had us ask him questions and it was so awesome.  He was demonstrating the perfect {PERFECT} way to ask by faith and act by faith and teach, which is what he was teaching us about.  It wasn’t' even a talk,; it was a conversation.  And, he's just so funny and nice and loving. It was awesome.  

His wife spoke as well, and she was just fantastic. It's crazy to see just how REAL the apostles really are. They seem so serious, but man, he's just a normal guy. He told us some very personal experiences and stories about their grandchildren.  When sister Bednar was talking she started crying.  He got up, stood next to her, put his arm around her, and told her she could do it - and she finished.  It was incredible.  The way he talked was so relaxed; he was talking like any normal guy.  Man, it was such a great experience.  I wish you guys could've seen him. The spirit was so strong,  AHHH.

So quick funny story: On Sunday, there was a youth baptism.  Elder Wright and I were asked to fill the font after church.  About 30 minutes after we started the water, we notice it was barely filling – the drain must not be working!  So I took off my socks and shoes and rolled up my sleeves and pants and got in there.  The water was about to my knees.  I tried to fix the drain, but it was broken.  We got tons of paper towels and plastic bags and stuffed them in there and fixed it.  The whole time, the members (i didn't know this at the time) were watching through the little doors.  I got out all wet and went back into the room where the baptism would be held and put my stuff back on.  All the members were patting me on the back and telling me thanks for doing it haha. Member trust, killed it! 

Last night, we had some pretty sweet experiences, as well.  This Sunday we had like 5 or 6 less active members AT CHURCH, and 3 investigators! How awesome is that?  And they all loved it!  It was great.

We also stopped by to talk to “E,” whom I had met in my first week here.  As we were walking to his apartment, we noticed three hispanics talking in Spanish, as we walked by their apartments.  Little did they know we can understand Spanish.  They were talking about the "mormons" as we were walking by.  So, after we were done chatting with “E”, we grabbed some pamphlets out of the car, a Book of Mormon, and went back to talk to those people.  It was getting late at this point (like 8:50), so we expected it to be real short.  We end up meeting 3 adults that were super super nice! The man had tons and tons of questions for us.  The woman had a lot to say too.  So I answered the man’s questions, while Elder Wright answered the other women’s questions.  The man was very interested  He had all these questions and said he had been searching for the truth for a long time.  I gave him a Book of Mormon and answered all the questions I felt appropriate to answer.  I tried to incorporate what I learned from Bednar about us having our investigators learn for THEMSELVES.  I felt prompted to give him 2 Nephi chapter 31 because he kept asking me about what we are supposed to do here on earth.   So, I gave him the doctrine of Christ!  It was interesting because the pamphlet elder wright ended up giving to him, totally by random, was the gospel of Christ.  How awesome is that? He said he was super interested and would read it.  Then he told us that “E”, the guy we were talking to earlier, was his SON, and he thanked us profusely for being so nice to him!!  We knew something was different about “E.”   His dad explained that “E” is slightly autistic.  It was just a really cool experience.  The dad kept telling me to come over any time we wanted.  He committed to reading the chapter I gave him and said he'd have lots of questions for me the next time we stopped by. IT was great!

The whole time elder wright was talking to the woman….. And, it turns out, this lady was a LESS ACTIVE MEMBER of the church for like decades!   They had a super spiritual and heartfelt conversation.  She had grandchildren who are on missions right now, and she straight up told us she wanted the grandchild that lived with her to be baptized.  Elder wright is very confident we can baptize the grandchild and get her back to church, And, I feel really good about “E” and his dad.   We got like 3 lessons cranked out in 30 minutes.  It was incredible!  Experiences like that make me SO glad that I’m out here on a mission!

Last little tidbit - the “R” family.   We recently asked them if their son would be interested in being baptized, and he told us he wanted to be baptized and take the lessons.  So, I think we're going to be baptizing him next Saturday. sweet!  Then, “H” will be just a couple weeks after that! woohoo!

I hope everything is going well!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Happy New Year!

January 6^th

Good to be back!  I hope everyone had a fantastic new year! Mine was pretty great; I got to go to bed two hours early, which was awesome!  I definitely needed it, I’ll tell you that much!  It was the first time in a while that I haven't stayed up for the New Year, though.  I definitely felt a little lame for going to bed at 8:30, but that's alright.  I hope you all had a good ole’ time and stayed outta trouble and got to enjoy some Martinellis and all got yourself a nice new years kiss!

This week we met with a lot of RCLA's (recent converts and less active members) because nearly all of our investigators got sick and/or were out of town!  It was kind of a bummer actually, but that's okay.  It was nice visiting with the less active members!  We shared a lot of little spiritual messages and had inspirational visits.  The thing that is really awesome about visiting less active members and recent is that they're always surprised when we stop by…..  AND, by "surprised," I don't exactly mean the good connotation!  Often, they're unpleasantly surprised because the missionaries are just dropping by outta nowhere.  But they, being nice, will let us come in and get out of the cold and we'll just have a nice conversation with them and chat with them.  What I’ve definitely learned from elder wright is that all you have do is ask the right questions...you don't actually have to say anything about yourself.  You don't need to talk about yourself. And, when it comes down to it, you aren't the one that matters.  They are.  So, if you just sit there and ask them questions, eventually you'll hit the right question and you'll get 'em going for an hour.  They'll just talk and talk, and that really opens them up to seeing the missionaries because we're great listeners!  Then, at the end, we ask if we can play a little game with them.  We'll do a little spiritual thought/inspirational visit game that is gospel related.  I do the card magic trick or something, and they'll wonder how I did it.  Elder wright will tie it into the gospel, and we have a great time. It’s really is cool.

I've started to realize the importance of home teaching and visiting teaching after I’ve been visiting all of these RCLA's this week.  Can you imagine what it means to someone, active or less active, to know that they have a couple people who love them, respect them, care about them, and will look after them in times of need?  It's awesome!  S, I guess that's my little bit for this week.  That’s what I learned. It’s very important for fellowship, and I’m glad that my home ward set such a good example to me back home.

A couple cool things happened this week:

#1 I had the opportunity to go on an exchange with the OTHER elder wright (not my companion) because elder Swonson was sick.  It was really cool.  My companion has taught me a lot about asking questions and how to get people to talk, so I was really working on not talking about myself (I’ve realized I probably talk about myself way too much, so I’m trying to stop that) and really being interested in the OTHER people and what they have to say.  What better opportunity to do that than on exchanges, where I don't know any of the investigators?!  I’m not going to lie, I was not excited to go on exchanges.  I wanted to stay in.  It was cold outside.  But, my companion made me do it.  I was a little intimidated because me and the OTHER elder wright, didn't get along super well.  I will tell you what - oing on an exchange with him really made me realize that all the faults that I was finding in him were my OWN fault.  He's a great guy and a great missionary.  We had a great exchange and killed it in a couple lessons, absolutely killed it.  We worked very well together, and it was a very cool experience.

So some sad news everyone - my excitement about the investigators we found in McDonalds last week was short lived.  I got very fired up and excited when I found out how excited they were about the gospel. Although I knew it was too good to be true, I really wanted to believe that they WERE that excited about what I had to say.  They texted us this week and told us they were going to continue going to the other church.

I was pretty heartbroken. I felt like I had just had a girl break up with me or something; my heart sank. But, you know what…that's alright. They're agents, and they have their agency to make their own decisions.  I can't change that.  I did my best, and I would have rather "loved and lost than never loved at all." right?

I’ve noticed a lot of missionaries lose that fire and excitement when they find new investigators.  They play it off like it isn't that big of a deal.  Maybe it's just because I’m new and naive, but I want to stay the same way.  I’d rather have my heart broken than to not get attached at all.  How can someone be converted if they don't see YOUR love for the gospel and your love for THEM?  I mean, I understand the other point of view, and I understand why a lot of missionaries get that way, feeling indifferent about being dropped by investigators, but I suppose my goal for this year is to not become that way. I want to keep that fire and keep that excitement and, if need be, have my heart broken another hundred times.  I’d rather be like that than be a robot. 

It’s been pretty cold the last few days.  It’s 26 degrees and windy right now! I'm just glad I’m not on the bike anymore for THIS week.  We had to bike through some ridiculously windy weather on Friday and Saturday, it was exhausting!  I would come home and just pass out in my church clothes - I was SO tired. Fat boy doesn't like to bike up the hills in the wind hahah.  My legs are getting pretty toned though, I'll tell ya that much! 

We got transfer calls yesterday. Both my companion and I are staying in the area, but just about everyone else in my district is getting transferred.   Elder R. Wright is getting transferred, elder Swonson is staying, the Seguin elders are getting doubled out and elder peck is leaving Yorktown. Crazy huh? I’m going to have a whole new district! At least my companion and Swonson are staying though – I like those guys J.

I have a video and pictures from Christmas! I’ve actually improved on the ukulele quite a bit since I made the video, but its just a quick short clip of me playing the uke.

Have a great week! Love you all!

MCDONALDS IS THE PLACE TO BE...

December 30, 2013

 Hello, hello! How was everyone's Christmas? First, THANK YOU!  I got some sweet ties, thanks to the Prigmore family and my own family, an awesome sweater and scarf, thanks to my grandparents, a watch, thanks to my parents, and an awesome tie bar and candy thanks to the Summers family! Thank you all so much; I really appreciated all of your letters and cards; they made my day!

The first half of this week was a little slow.  Monday was my pday (personal day), so we didn't get a ton done that day.  The following day was Christmas eve, so as far as proselyting and teaching, we couldn't get much done that day either.  But, we had the opportunity to go caroling with the "S" family in my ward.  We caroled at various investigators and members homes, singing songs, giving them pumpkin bread, and visiting with them for a bit.  Then we went back to the "S" home, ate dinner (which was great), did a little skit of the Christmas story as told in Luke and Matthew, and then did a little mini christmas devotional.  It was really cool.

Christmas day is our only day off all year. We got to hang out, open presents, and play Settler's of Catan, which is a board game which I'm now addicted to.  Who would have thought that I, of all people, would like board games? pshh...

As far as the days following Christmas, they were freaking awesome! Not gonna lie, it was a little tough getting up the morning after Christmas (after having a day off).   But, it all turned out alright because that night we had the opportunity to go on splits with members from our ward again. I went out with Brother "B" and his son, "D."  Elder wright went out with Brother "K."  I had the opportunity to visit a part member family, and they're a sweet family.  They love having the missionaries over, and the oldest son is super cool.  He comes to church every week and reads his scriptures every day.  He's an awesome example to his dad.  The wife is not a member, so that's who we're trying to work with.  She's super cool, super funny and super smart. I have a pretty good feeling about her.

 After that, we went to see the "C" family again, and I taught "D" how to do the card trick.  When we walked through the door, there was "T" (the 19 year old guy who we're trying to teach).  We chatted for a bit, then he just starts asking us TONS of questions.   I'm thinking, "where did this come from? when did he start getting super interested?" Then, I come to find out that he's been trucking through the Book of Mormon over the past week or two, and he loves it!  He says he's going to keep reading it, and he really likes what he's been reading. We had a cool, spiritual experience there.  I had the opportunity to share my "conversion" story, and my experience with prayer.  He then shared his experience with prayer, and it was very obvious that he had a testimony and was very religious.  I think after that lesson, he's going to start taking formal lessons...it was really an awesome experience. Then, we then did the card trick message for the "C" family, and "D" (he's 13 by the way) beasts it out and does it perfect after I showed him ONCE.  We did a real good message, then we said a prayer and headed out. "T" gave me a hug on the way out and thanked me for coming over.  I feel super good about him!

Friday was...slow.  We were on bikes, it was raining, and for some reason when we're on bikes and it's raining, NOBODY wants to let us inside.  So, I got pretty wet and muddy that day. Oh well! 

But, Saturday was a fairly successful day, though.  We got a referral from Utah texted to us.  There was a girl named "T" who was very interested.  We gave her a call and she asked us to meet her at a McDonalds at 8 o'clock Saturday night, and this McDonald's was like 20 miles away from our house! We get there and wait for a bit, and then get a phone call from her saying she has to cancel. So we're really bummed out.

BUT, then, out of nowhere, this guy named "D" walks in (we had never met him before).  He walks right up to us and starts talking to us. He said he used to date a Mormon girl and he knew a lot about us.  He was asking lots of questions, and after a while he started getting REALLY interested.  We gave him a Book of Mormon, and he said he would read it that night.

THEN, Sunday evening we go BACK to McDonalds (I know, kinda weird because it's Sunday) to meet the girl that had cancelled on Sat ("T").  When we get there, we see she brought her friend "M" with her, too. "M" just came for moral support.

So, we start talking to them, and then 2 minutes later, Elder wright LEAVES, and starts talking to other people, leaving me alone to talk to these two. This is my first contact with them...first time every doing this, and I was like OH MY GOSH - he just left me.  So, I just said a little prayer and was like "I can do this." So, I started killing it.  "M" and "T" seemed SO SO INTERESTED.  It was INSANE. "M" was asking me tons, and I mean, TONS of questions.  And, this is the first time on my mission where I felt like my "mouth was filled" and I "wasn't confounded before man."  It was insane.  I was quoting scriptures, answering their questions, but at the same time I wasn't preaching to them.  We were having a good time.

After a while, "M" just stops and says "All of this seems right, bro. All of this. This just feels right; this is what I've been looking for.  Do you think I can have a Book of Mormon too?  I really want to read it myself!" Seriously they are as golden as it gets, and I did it withOUT my companion!  I was just killing it: I was so happy.  They seemed genuinely interested and they just really really wanted to meet with us again. I'm so stoked about it.

But thats not all! We ended with a prayer, and I walk over to where Elder Wright is sitting, and who is he talking to? "D" from the night before! We found "D" AGAIN, two nights in a row, completely random.  He was telling us all of these "coincidences" he's been having, which he was taking as signs. He was telling us how the night before, after we gave him a Book of Mormon, he read ALL of Moroni, and was trucking through Alma as well.  He loved it!   He straight up told us "guys..I'm not gonna lie..i think I know this book is true.  I think this is what God wants for me, and it scares me."  Pretty much that means he didn't want to give up his old life, but he had a testimony.  So, Elder Wright just asks him to flip to Alma 34:32-33, which was exactly, and I mean EXACTLY what "D" needed.  It talks about not procrastinating the day of your repentance.

"D" reads it, looks up at us, reads it again, and says, "this is speaking to me bro. this is for me. I think I'm gonna cry."  He gets all teary eyed and starts telling us how he wants to get baptized, and all his life he's felt like God has been pushing him in this direction, and he's been fighting it.  He asks us if we can pray, so I offered a prayer for us.  At the conclusion of my prayer, he said a prayer.  He said that he felt like he was "Jonah going to Ninevah," and it was the most sincere prayer I've ever heard. He starts asking us what the first step was.  We said to read and pray and meet with us, which would eventually lead to baptism.  To which he replied, "so, can we meet here every night, then?  I want to get baptized!" It was seriously insane. INSANE.  He even started asking if it would be possible for him to serve a mission some day.  How CRAZY is that? I am so ridiculously excited for this guy. We're continuing to meet with him, but I feel really good about it.

How crazy is that, though? Elder Wright and I walk into McDonalds, not expecting much, and we got 3 new investigators which I'm TELLING you are going to be baptized in the next few weeks. They're so ready! 

Wow, this week has been fantastic!  I hope it's been just as good for all of you!  Have a fantastic new year; I  hope to hear from you all soon!

Love,

Elder Snow