GETTING TRANSFERRED!!

MARCH 31, 2014

Hello! Well, another week gone by;  it's crazy.  Guess what? On Thursday, I'm 1/4 of the way done with the mission, how insane is that? Time is flyiiiiiiiiiiiing by! 

Well, this week has been a great LAST week in New Braunfels (yep, you heard me right: LAST WEEK). I AM GETTING TRANSFERRED! We got calls last night and both Elder Wride AND I are leaving.  So crazy.  We’re getting doubled out.  I would be lying if I told you I wasn't bummed.  Sleeping last night was a little rough.   My mind was racing, trying to think of all the work we're going have to do to get this area prepped for Elder Swonson and his new companion (don't know who it is yet).  It's going to be tough, but I do feel that my work in this area is finished, for the time being.  I've felt like I've accomplished a lot here, and this has been the perfect starting area for me, so I am eternally grateful for the opportunity I have had to serve in the New Braunfels, Memorial Area.  For the rest of this week, up until Thursday, we will be working hard to prep the area, and then working hard packing up all our stuff and heading out!

The major cool thing that happened this week was the baptism for "A." It happened!  It’s been in the making since December, and we finally made it happen.  I couldn't be happier.  The service was beautiful, and so powerful.  The spirit was so strong.  I had the awesome opportunity to baptize Austin, and Elder Wride was able to confirm him a member of the church. Brother Rice, gave the talk on baptism.  It was so, so powerful.  Brother Rice is a big strong guy, super funny, super awesome.  He got up there and just broke down.  He is so proud of the decision Austin made to follow our Savior, and although he had a whole talk prepared, all he could get out was a few words about baptism, how proud he was of Austin, and how much he loved him.  It was so powerful.  Austin's older sister gave the talk on the Holy Ghost, and she absolutely killed it.  She's like 16 and she really really wanted to be a part of the baptism.  She had been prepping for her talk for the whole week leading up to the baptism.  She killed it!  She bore her testimony at the end, and she also broke down a bit.  It was just incredible how the spirit filled the room during the times of silence while she was trying to get out the words she wanted to say to her brother.  It was so powerful, so so powerful.  I had a fantastic time.

As far as the ordinance, it went smooth as can be. I performed the baptism by water, and Elder Wride gave a very, very powerful confirmation blessing afterwards. Words can't describe the feeling that was in the room at that time.  I wish I could just explain it to you, but it doesn't seem quite the same if you weren't there.  I was just a fantastic experience.

After the baptism, we had dinner at the Rice family home.  It was awesome.  There was lots of good food and great times.  We got to spend a little time with them, chat and have some fun.  I got to play in the back yard with the 5-year-old sister (who has a big crush on me), and then at the end I showed the rice family some pictures of me before I was a missionary. They seemed to have fun looking at pre-elder snow pictures.  Brother Rice told us lots of stories about when he was on his mission, and before we knew it, it was time for us to go home. We said our goodbyes and headed home. It was really a great day, by far one of the best on my mission.

Those are the big things that happened this week. I hope everyone is doing great, stay safe, stay good, and have a great week! love you!

Elder Mason Snow