It's Great Having a Tall Companion

MAY 5, 2014

Elder Swonson & me back in New Braunfels

hello hello hello! It's good to be back, it's been a great week this week! Man, the weeks just fly faster and faster; it's unreal.

Lots of stuff happened this week! We went to the “P” house last Monday and Thursday, and they're getting real close to baptism, we think.  We taught them the Mr. Egg gospel of Jesus Christ lesson, and they LOVED it. Elder Montgomery and I killed it that lesson too, It's not often when you walk away from a lesson not worried about SOMETHING you said, but we felt really good about it. We've challenged brother “P” to receive the office of priest so he can baptize his family, so we're hoping he'll live up to it and we can have him baptize his wife and son!

It's insane though, like, the “P” family already seems like an active family. Maybe this is just a missionary thing, or maybe I just didn't start noticing until I got onto my mission, but you can literally “see” the difference between a member and nonmember. It's like...the light in their eyes, I don't know. Also, the way they talk, treat their family and the way their house is.  You can always tell.  But for some reason, the “P” family already act sand seems like an ACTIVE LDS family. It's insane! We're excited to see what they're like after they are!

We taught C,W and S this week as well.  We talked about church, prayer, and reading the scriptures, and we committed “W” to baptism for the 31st of May! We're super excited for her; we can't wait until the baptism!

We also taught “CN” this week. He is legally blind and has epilepsy, and he's like the sweetest guy ever. He's been talking to the internet missionaries for some time now and it's insane how much he already knows about the church. We taught him Saturday, and we've committed him, also, to the 31st of May.  The only issue we forsee is that he lives far from church - so we're going to have to find him a ride.

Also, we saw the “B” family yesterday, and the daughter was there, so we invited her to the lesson with us and she loved it!  She said she had been church hopping for a while, and we invited her to our church and she said she'd come. We also got a return appointment to teach her next Sunday, and we gave her a Book of Mormon and our card and number.  She literally just opened it and started reading right there on the spot.  I've never had someone just start right away; we usually have to keep reminding them to read, but she just started right away! It was awesome. We're super excited to see her next Sunday!

Alright. So, here's the highlight of my week right here...

I got to go back to New Braunfels on Saturday! Saturday was the baptism for “SB”, and I was just going to go to see the baptism.  But, lo and behold, the night before, Elder Swonson texts me and says that “S” wants ME to baptize him!  So, we got a ride up there from the senior couple, and I had the wonderful opportunity to baptize “S.” This is the same guy we found and taught all of the lessons to, whom I have built an awesome relationship with the past few months.  I was so honored to do it!

After the baptism, I had to make sure the Eslicks (the senior missionary couple) and Elder Montgomery saw a little of New Braunfels, so I took them to the best burger joint I've found so far in Texas - Ironhorse Grill. They agreed with me. Best burgers in Texas.

Afterwards I also had the opportunity to go visit the rice family for about 30 minutes, and they were so excited to see us that they invited all four of us in and we had a great conversation for about 30 minutes. My goodness it was great to see all of them, it made my week.  It was tough saying goodbye again, but I'm confident I'll be able to see them again at some point in my mission. They're all still going strong, so that made me super happy. Little Em gave me a huge hug when I left; it was pretty great.

Also, this weekend was stake conference.  It was fantastic; I really learned a lot.  While we were at the last session, all 6 of us in the district were in the back row, EXCEPT Elder Montgomery.  He was talking to somebody a little ways away, and President Larson (stake president) came up to me and put his arm around me, shook my hand and said "which one of you elders would like to give the opening prayer?" Elder Gray pops up immediately and points to Elder Montgomery and said "the super tall one over there! He wants to give it!" Presient Larson turns, looks at him, and looks back at us laughing and says "ohh man you guys are bad. Alright I'll ask him to give the prayer; it's his own fault anyways that he's not over here with you guys." ahhaha oh man it was great.  Elder Montgomery got conned into saying the opening prayer.  When he went up there he was so much taller than the microphone too; it was hilarious.  He had to bend over to talk into it properly hahahah. Oh man, it's great having a tall companion! 

Well that's it for me! I hope you all had a great week! I love you all, stay outta trouble, see ya!

Love,

Elder Snow