SO MANY BLESSINGS...

JUNE 16, 2014

Hey-hey!

So, this week we set some more baptism dates! We set “N”, “P”, and “K” (family) with a date for the 12th of July. We're super excited! “N” is 10 years old, so she would be the only convert baptism, but we're still super super excited! Also, I heard that the “P” family that I taught in 1st ward is getting baptized either the 5th or 12 of July, and also the “Mc” family is getting baptized the 5th of July.  That’s like 10 baptisms in July! How awesome is that?!?!  I’m so excited; so so excited.

Side note: if you all didn't know, the Spurs won. Dad, you were right.. you told me I'd become a spurs fan on my mission. I didn't believe you. I'm definitely a spurs fan - haha. 

We taught a lot of lessons this week! We're super excited. We've been blessed so much in this area, and it's so motivating to keep working hard when you see success like that. Setting dates with investigators and having lessons, there's just nothing better!

We had a lesson with the “Mc” family this week on eternal families. We decided to have a whole lesson on it and talk about that and the temple. It went great. We really got to see what their questions and concerns were. The BEST part about it though was that he and his wife prayed together.  Sister “M” told us they had a great experience and definitely felt the spirit when they did it. She said they felt a lot of peace with their decisions so far, which is great! We’re so happy for them.

I'll have you all know that I’ve re-dedicated myself for the next month to go hard in the paint, fitness wise. I've been lifting 3 days a week and running 2 miles a morning, two a days a week, and biking all day, but now I’m really gonna push it and be super strict with my diet. I've slacked a little bit – I still eat real healthy at the apartment, but I've been cheating too much on dinners and meals with members/investigators. So, I wrote up a diet and workout plan and I’m sticking to it! Hopefully, I see some good results!

That's about it for me this week. Hope you all have a great week!

Love you!

Elder Snow

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TO ALL THE DAD'S OUT THERE

 

LOVE,

ELDER SNOW AND ELDER VEGA

HARD WORK AND MIRACLES

hello everyone! 

So, this week was a little slower and tougher than others, gonna be honest with ya. Everything seemed to fall through and we didn't seem to get many lessons. Elder vega and I spent a lot of time outdoors in the 100 degree heat, knocking doors of potentials and former investigators and not getting in. But, we kept trying. Despite the "lack" of success we seemed to be having, we didn't let it get us down, and we kept working as hard as we could for the Lord, and we were definitely blessed for it! 

This Sunday, it was pouring rain as we got to church. Elder Vega and I got a little worried - usually when it rains people kind of decide they can't come to church that day. We were thinking that some of our investigators may not show up. MAN, were we wrong!  We had 7 investigators at church! Not only that, but two ENTIRE less active families that we hadn't even seen this week made it to church as well! One, a family of 8, and the other family of 5.  We didn't even get by to see them this week, but they came! It was fantastic. One family even said that they were planning on coming regularly again! How great is that?!

Alright here's the top miracle of the week. It's a two part miracle. Saturday night we were meeting with the “M” family, and after a fantastic spiritual lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ, we invited them to be baptized. They all accepted, and we set them for a date for the 5th of July! Although it's not a for sure for sure date, it's not completely set in stone, it's a huge step for them to make, and we're super excited! Then, the next day, at church they're doing ward business, and the 2nd counselor says "Brother and Sister “M” have been called as cub scout masters, all in favor, please manifest it." Elder Vega and I just about lost our minds. WHAT!? Our investigators have been coming so regularly that they received CALLINGS in the church! And, they accepted! How insane is that??!?! Blew us away. They’re not even members yet, but they have callings in the church. SO so fantastic.

Other than that, I spent quite a bit of time on the bike this week and got a little sunburnt. That’s okay though, it was a great week.  We have 5 investigators with a baptismal date and 7 investigators at church (or more) every week! Elder Vega and I even got a call out in president's weekly email, super cool!

Anyways, have a great week! Love you! later! 

ELDER SNOW

I DO NOT LIKE DOGS ANYMORE

JUNE 2, 2014

hello hello! It’s been a great week everybody! Here's the highlights:

Last Monday, we were doing some stop-bys, and some pest control guy was also knocking doors in this neighborhood.  He sees us and comes up to us, and lo and behold, he's a return missionary! Super cool guy, super nice, and turns out that he was a big baseball player in college, and he's actually the nephew of Coach Littlewood, the BYU baseball head coach! He told me he'd put in a good word for me! ahha it was super sweet. It's crazy how many cool people you meet in the mission.

Okay, I'm kinda running low on time, so I'll be quick. This week was pretty dang hot. It's touching close to 100 degrees, and that's getting pretty rough on the bike, not gonna lie! 20+ miles a day in full church clothes and a 10-15 pound bag on a bike in 100 degrees...you can imagine how sweaty I am, knocking on people’s doors.  But, it’s okay, we're having fun working hard! 

This week we met with “J”, the “M” family, and the “S” family. All of these people are ready to be baptized, we just have to set dates with them. We met with “J”, and we committed him to live the law of chastity, and we also taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. He’s so frikken golden, it's legit! He's had NO problems with any of the commandments! He's set for the 14th of Jun, so we're all super super excited to see that happen!

The “M” family: man, they're amazing. They’re all so ready to be baptized. Yesterday, being fast Sunday, I did a special, specific fast for brother “M” to receive his answer that the church was true at church. We’re meeting with them tonight and we're going to talk about faith from alma 32, and later this week we're going to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and we're going to try to set them with a date to be baptized. I feel good about this one guys! I think we'll be able to set them with a date this week! I mean, heck, they've been to church like 10 times! They’re gonna be putting their oldest daughter through seminary next year, they're already pretty much LDS! It’s gonna happen soon, I promise!

Finally, we met with the “S” family. Brother “S” has 3 young granddaughters all of baptismal age that have been taught everything. They're fantastic, and they're all ready to be baptized. We just have to set a date with them and that’s that! They’ll be baptized.

So in the upcoming month or 2, I’m counting about 9 baptisms! super cool!

Alright, I got one more little story for you before I leave. This week we were trying to contact a former investigator, and it was just sooo hot that day.  As we're walking up to this door we're just super tired and exhausted and probably not in the best mood.  As we walk up we see this little Chihuahua looking dog, and it seemed super nice and didn't bark at us or anything, so we're like "oh man, a nice dog that isn't yapping at us? This lady lucked out!" so we knock the door, and there’s like a metal screen door and a regular door, so she opens the first door and has the screen still closed, and this dog just starts losing its freaking mind barking and yapping and jumping on the screen door over and over trying to get in the house. The lady, who's in a wheelchair is apologizing to us and we're like "oh no its okay, want us to let him in for you?" and she was like "well, no, he's not my dog."

So, we're just super confused at this point. This dog is ruining the entire contact. We can't get a word in to this lady.  She's trying to get him to go home and he's not leaving, so she says "one minute, I'll go get him a treat to see if he'll leave" so she wheels around the corner, brings a treat, and tosses it outside and he doesn't even skip a beat with barking and jumping on the screen door. He didn't care for the treat at all. So, Elder Vega is about to reach down and grab him and she's like "nonono watch out he'll bite!" So Elder Vega tried to scoot him with his foot, and this little turd just bit the heck out of Elder Vegas’ shoe! We’re like “holllyyyyy smokes, this thing is mean”! Then, he keeps jumping on the door. The lady pretty much tells us she isn't interested, but she asks us if we'd like a drink because we're sweating like crazy, and I was like "yes, yes we'd love some." As SOON as she wheels around the corner, I may or may not have given that flyer a little love tap with my foot.

After being in 1st ward for 6 weeks with wild dogs, i do noooooot like dogs anymore. The dog gets up and starts coming at me again and I just stared it down and ran at it, and it started booking it away. Then I grabbed its treat because it stopped, and I just pegged it with the dog treat, and he started running again. The lady came back with some cokes and she was like "oh he went away?" I just smiled and was like "oh yeah, he left." and then we rode our bikes to our next appointment haha. 

Well, that was my week! Hope you guys have a good one!

See ya!

 ~ Elder Snow

WORKING HARD & GETTING IN SHAPE

May 26, 2014

Elder Snow with Elder Gray at last transfer meeting

hello hello! Another great week in the life of elder snow! Man, Elder Vega and I have been working hard this week, and because of that we've been able to see a lot of miracles! It's really been great.

So, to start things off, let me just reiterate how tired I am all the time haha. I wake up about 5:40 to work out with Mr. bodybuilder Elder Vega EVERY morning.  Then, we bike all day. One day, we had to bike out to the farthest part in our area..TWICE. We actually did that twice this week, but anyway… As we were riding home the second time, about to approach this huge hill, I just thought to myself "there’s no way. there’s no way I can do this right now, I am SO exhausted.  If I try to ride up this hill right now I'm just gonna die." And, literally as soon as that thought registered, a guy in a truck next to me yells out "hey, do y'all need a ride?" And I, without even knowing this guy or thinking about it was just like "yep, absolutely, we'll take a ride!" And, so he pulled over. Elder Vega catches up to me and is like "what's going on" and I was like "some guy asked us if we needed a ride. I don't know who he is, but I said “yes" and he was just like, uhh okay. So we ride up to the guy and he was like "oh man, its brother Ellis!" We tossed our bikes in the truck, and he gave us a ride and broke open a big bag of sour patch and we pigged out on sour patch on the way back haha. Oh man, it was so great. Miracles for working hard, tender mercies every day, it's great!

So, two people we're teaching right now - the “M” family, a family of 7 (5 of baptismal age), and “J.” We had two lessons with each of them this week, and they were FANTASTIC. They're all so golden! We just found “J” last week, and as we met with him this week we committed him to be baptized on the 14th of june. It's fantastic.

We taught him the word of wisdom and law of chastity, and the plan of salvation, and he has NO problems with the word of wisdom. He's 25! We were like whaaaat? And, he loved the plan of salvation. He said it made so much sense. it was fantastic. The law of chastity he committed to live, he was even the one who asked us to teach him about it so he could know what he was/wasn't doing right. He's so insanely golden, it's so awesome. I love that guy so much. I'm so excited to see him get baptized!

Next is the “M” family. I can't even tell you how solid they are. They have us over twice a week, and they've come to church EVERY WEEK FOR TWO MONTHS. They haven't missed once, and they stay for ALL of church! It's so crazy. They love it. We taught them some commandments, and sister “M” and all her kids are all ready to be baptized...brother “M” isn't quite ready yet, but he's super close. They’re all so close to be baptized, it's crazy. Sister mcnary straight up told us she wants to be baptized...she reads like 5 chapters of the book of mormon every day, it's insane. she's already in Alma! Man, they're so awesome. We had dinner with them this week, too, and it was delicious. Afterwards, brother “M” had some questions for us and we helped resolve some concerns; we just had a great lesson. i'm so stoked to be working with these people!

So elder Vega and I have been working super hard this week, and it definitely paid off. We pulled off the highest numbers in the zone for the week! We even topped the zone leaders! We were super super excited. The zone set a goal for 80 percent of our lessons to be member presents, and the zone wasn't even close, EXCEPT for our area. We got 80 percent the first week! Oh man it's so great. We're working so hard and being blessed for it, and it's just such a great feeling to be an instrument in the Lords hands.

That's about it for me this week! It's been a great week. I’m having an awesome time, working hard, and getting into better shape! Hope you guys are having as good of a time as I am! Have a great week!

Love you!

TRANSFERRED AGAIN!

May 19, 2014

Alright! So, a lot has happened this week here in the life of Mason Snow. First of all, I got transferred again! I know! Say it ain't so; I was only in my last area for 6 weeks.  But, I guess the Lord needed me somewhere else. The last day in 1st ward (my last area), though, I had the opportunity to bear my testimony to “W, C, and S”. They seemed to be really digging it, and at the end they told me they were going to do their best to be baptized as soon as possible so I could come to see them all go through the temple. It was a wonderful experience, I’ll tell you what.  I hope that was the reason I went to that area.  I hope that just bearing my simple testimony was enough to help out those people. 

Now I'm in the Parkwood area! Oh, it's fantastic. It’s actually very nice. We have a beautiful church building, a very strong, active family ward, and the members take really really good care of us. We get fed every night, which is weird because I wasn't really getting fed too often my last area, but that's okay, it was helping me with my goal to lose weight :).

Everything is fantastic about my area, except one thing...it's full bike. ahhhh! I hate the bike. hahah it's okay, though, because it's not too tough to ride the bike here, we have lots of bike trails and just other dirt trails that are really fun to ride, so it makes it quite enjoyable.  Plus, my shedding a few pounds definitely helps me get up some of those hills haha. 

My new companion is Elder Vega. He is legiiiiiiiiit. He's this big ole guy from Chile (well, his parents are; he was actually born in West Valley Utah, but he's fluent in Spanish).  He was a bodybuilder before the mission. He's like really really strong. Working out has gotten significantly more intense in the morning. I went from waking up at about 6:15, 6:30 to work out, to now waking up at 5:45 to work out with him!  He goes hard, too. It's nuts. Between that and the biking and eating healthier…I should be getting ripped!

But, no really we're working very hard; I come home just positively exhausted at night. We work hard and we're already seeing the fruits of our labors - we've already found a couple investigators and we've invited a couple to be baptized!  It's awesome. We're also working with a family of 5 in this area, and it seems like they'll be baptized very soon. It’s possible that we'll have at least 7 people baptized in the next month or two; we're super super excited! 

I haven't had a whole ton happen so far, but I'll tell you real quick about one cool thing that happened. We went to dinner with Sister “B” on Friday night, and she told us that she'd have a nonmember there so we could come for dinner. She was coming back to church and she wanted him to learn more about it. After dinner we taught the restoration, and I felt prompted to ask “J” to be baptized after our short little 10 minute restoration lesson. He looked at Sister B, looked at us, looked back at her, and then looked at us and said "...yes! yes I'll be baptized." it caught me by surprise.  I guess I lacked in faith a little bit but we still went for it and bam, he accepted! He said we could come over twice a week to have lessons, and we're going to set him with a date at our next lesson.  We really didn't know we were going to invite him; it kind of just happened.  We're thinking about setting him for June 14th, so I’ll let you know next week how that goes!

All in all, this has been a fantastic week. Thank you for your prayers and thank you for all of your support!

fyi, my new address is:  6298 Lockhill #803 SA TX 78240.

Love you all!