MARCH 9, 2015

MARCH 9, 2015

things have been going well here in del rio. my companion elder trowbridge and i will be staying together for at least another 6 weeks, so we're pretty stoked about that. we've been doing a lot of the stereotypical mormon missionary things the past couple weeks looking for people to teach...we've been knocking on doors, walking around, talking to everybody, and knocking more doors haha. it's been pretty cool. as long as you got a cool companion, missionary work is easy. it doesn't matter how interested people are or how many people you're teaching...as long as you and your companion are tight, you're gonna have a good time. i've been putting a pretty big focus on my studies lately, especially spanish. it's been a little frustrating..my spanish ability is pretty mediocre. i've been studying and studying, and i fancy myself as a fairly intelligent guy, but my studies haven't availed to a whole ton. but that's probably because i'm putting more faith in myself than the man upstairs...reminds me of this scripture:

Ether 12:27

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves

before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

and also Jacob 4:7

"Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we

 may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things."

so there's my problem, probably haha. i should definitely be humbling myself a little more and realize that with the Lord's help i can learn this language a whole lot faster than i could on my own haha. so yeah, i might be pretty quick to learn stuff usually, but maybe spanish just aint my gig...hopefully it gets better in the upcoming couple weeks though :D

anyways, hope everything is going well with yall! have a great week! love ya!

Elder Snow

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

what's up what's up! pretty sweet week in the life of e. snow. here's what happened:

this week we had an exchange with one of the assistants to the president, elder hatch. it was pretty alright. we saw a lot of success, and we were super busy all day, i just kinda felt a little awkward during the day but that's okay. i'm pretty sure he was coming down to see how elder trowbridge was doing, i think they're going to make him a zone leader pretty soon here. but yeah on our exchange with elder hatch we taught a lesson to this guy named "R", who just showed up randomly to church last sunday. we taught him the restoration, and he's like...super set on being baptized! we're stoked! march 7th is the day. i'm super pumped for him! he's crazy ready, and i haven't been able to see someone baptized in a couple months, so i can't wait haha.

so saturday night we dropped by this guy named "AG", who's this super cool mexican guy who speaks only spanish. we had just gotten finished stuffing ourselves at a dinner appointment, and when we got to his place he was 100 percent banking on the fact that we were coming over to have dinner with him and his family. i ate so much i thought i was gonna be sick. elder trowbridge legit couldn't eat any more, so i had to eat his plate too. it was ridiculous. but we made some huuuuuuuuge strides with his family. elder trowbridge left me out to dry when he stepped aside to talk to "AG"'s son, "S" for like 15 minutes. "S" speaks english to us..."AG" only speaks spanish. so i was by myself with "AG". they were blasting some mariachi music from the truck and i couldn't hear anything he was saying, and everything i did hear i couldn't understand. it was so frustrating. he was getting really frustrated too that i couldn't understand him, but he's super nice and he was really patient with me and he kept repeating his story and his questions he had for me. i think i taught him about the word of wisdom...then he asked me about tattoos i guess. i didn't understand that part at all. i dunno. but hey, elder trowbridge basically got a baptismal acceptance from "S", so that's cool. i was dying over there with "AG", but trowbridge did great, so i guess it worked out. i was sweating bullets though i was so nervous and frustrated haha. whatevs.

so, the reason i told you that is because the next day, sunday (yesterday), i was assigned to give a talk in spanish sacrament meeting. you better believe i was freaking out about it all week, and even more so after my little stunt with "AG", not being able to speak spanish at all. i was told i could speak on whatever i wanted, and i prepared a TON for this talk. i was practicing all week long, and i had ZERO confidence going into the talk. i couldn't read the scriptures i had picked out without stuttering over the words, and the talk i had written out just didn't seem right the day of the talk. but i had done a lot of praying for help, and on sunday i actually did a short fast for some extra help. and, i mean, you guys know me...i usually don't get nervous for this kind of stuff. i'm usually pretty confident. but it was in spanish, and i had 10, 15 minutes to speak. i was so nervous as i walked up to the stand...but it was pretty crazy, i just started...and before i knew it, it was over. i spoke nearly flawless spanish. i was able to get through all the scriptures and all my notes and all the things i had written down with ease. i sounded very well, and i was able to deliver a good, heartfelt message and testimony to the members here in del rio. i spoke for about 10, 12 minutes, and for the first time my entire mission i felt as if i had been blessed with the gift of tongues. i mean, i just read the talk that i had written out off a piece of paper, and i didn't really get off script, so all i was doing was reading..but regardless, i was super stoked. i definitely received some help there..my spanish sounded great during the talk, but for the rest of the day i still sounded like an idiot. the Lord definitely used me as an instrument in his hands to deliver the message that he would have me deliver in that talk. super super cool. 

well, that's about it for me! have a great week! love ya!

Elder Snow

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

it was a sweet week, i'll tell you that. we had a lot of really cool stuff happen this week.

first and foremost, we found a family that wants to be baptized! elder hutchings, right before he left, just casually pointed out the biggest house in our area, this huge white house that had an awesome yard and a creek running through the property, so elder trowbridge and i decided to knock the door. we knocked it, met this kid named "D" who's 18, and he let us in. we taught him the restoration and had a really powerful lesson, then we had a return appointment to teach the plan of salvation and he loved that as well! then we met his mom, and she was super excited to come to church too. we're super excited, they should be getting baptized on the 21st of february!

second, my boy "A" did his first fast this week. it was incredible. we had to help him and come up with a big plan on how we were going to help him do it, seeing as he has some pretty difficult addictions that he's dealing with. so we took away all of his cigarettes and booze the night before, and prayed with him that he'd have the strength to do the fast. then we showed up at his house early the next morning after our work out, at about 6:45 am or so, and started his fast with him. then we met with him again at 2 o clock, and again at 9 to close the fast. he had an incredible experience...he was hit soooooo hard with temptation, just like we told him he would, but he held strong and got his answer that he needs to be baptized! he's super excited to try out fasting again, he thinks it's like magic haha. super cool!

finally, we had the most incredible experience this last saturday. we had the opportunity to listen to Elder Russell M. Nelson of the quorum of the 12 apostles. it was a 3 hour drive up to san antonio, and literally every bad thing that could have gone wrong went wrong, but we just barely made it on time, and since we were actually a little bit late ALL of the seats in the regular congregation were taken, so what they had us do was sit up on the stand with Elder Nelson! I sat RIGHT BEHIND HIM! it was so sweet! when he walked into the room, it was just...power. you could feel it as he entered. we all stood up, almost instinctively, as he walked in. he stood in front of everyone with this big smile on his face, and gestured for everyone to sit down. he then said he wanted to shake all of our hands...so one by one he shook all 254 missionaries hands that were in the congregation. it was incredible. i shook his hand, and i even got to talk to him briefly. i also got to shake the hands of Elder Robbins and Elder Wright of the 70. we heard some brief talks from President and Sister Slaughter, Elder Robbins, and Elder Wright, then Elder Nelson got up and spoke. he was, hands down, the most brilliant man i've ever met in my entire life. he is sharp as a tack. it doesn't matter that he's 90 years old and has been an apostle since the 1980's, and it doesn't matter that he has the stress of the salvation of the entire world on his shoulders, he was still 100 percent sharp as a tack, awake, alert, and brilliant. he was also the most loving man i've ever met. when he shook my hand and smiled at me and said "elder snow, it's nice to meet you" i've legitimately never felt so loved in my life. he was full of love. you knew in an instant that he loved you, and he had never even met me. the entire time he talked about how much he loved the missionaries, and any time anyone made a comment or answered a question he'd say something like "wow, these are some brilliant missionaries you got here president, god bless i love you to death." it was hilarious. and awesome. he was super funny, too. he made some jokes that had me rollin. all in all, the meeting was incredible. he talked about how the Lord makes impossible things possible. the pattern that the Lord has of calling the most unlikely people to do the most extraordinary things. he talked about the reason that the Lord does that; that being that when he calls the unlikely they absolutely rely on the Lord for help instead of their own strength, which, in turn, makes them much stronger than they ever could have been on their own. he talked about how much more powerful you can be if you allow the master to mold you, instead of molding yourself. it was just...incredible. then, at the end, he gave us an apostolic blessing, and then blessed us with his testimony. i have legitimately never felt the spirit so strong in my entire life than when he said "I know that Jesus is the Christ, and that He lives." i've heard that phrase countless times, but when he said it, you absolutely knew it was truth. it was incredible to be in the presence of someone who had so much power and authority, and a man who really is a prophet, seer, and revelator in these last days. so cool, so cool. i wish you all could have been there! haha.

anyways, that's it for me. love you all, have a great week!

love

Elder Snow

JANUARY 26, 2015

JANUARY 26, 2015

whatsupwhatsup!

pretty cool week here in del rio. transfer week. i received my new companion, elder trowbridge, and we're having a grand ole time down here in mexico (not really mexico, but it might as well be). he's pretty sweet,  his favorite bands back home are the same as mine, and we played all the same video games so that's awesome too. he's got pretty dang good spanish too, so that's good cuz mine is still awful haha. 

so highlights of this week! "A" came to church! we're way stoked about it! "A" is this 24 year old black guy, probably the only black guy in del rio, and he is the MAAAN. he's got some word of wisdom issues, and he has a lot of really bad influences in his life, but he's seriously like one of the most charitable, nicest guys i've ever met. we knocked on his door at 8:30 sunday morning and woke him up, and he was uhm...well, pretty hungover haha. but he was like "hey, screw it, i promised you guys i'd come to lets do this thing!" so we helped him clean up and pick out an outfit and we rolled on over to church! he loved it too haha, it was way cool! he made tons of friends, and we actually had a lesson with him a couple hours after church, and he had a great time there. he's really stoked to try out fasting and prayer, so he says he's gonna do that this week. he also taught me how to grill last week, i'm not sure if i told you guys that yet or not, and he wants to have another cookout this week, so we're going to see if we can hook him up with some members this friday night (instead of partying with his other friends) and have a cookout there so we can get some better influences in his life. 

other than that we're still just truckin along, knockin and walkin and teachin and preachin. there are a lot of people who are willing to listen to what we have to say down here, but not many that are really willing to act on our message. i think it has a lot to do with the hispanic floja culture. they're all just so chill and laid back, they're so nice and listen to us...but they never come to church or read or anything haha.

my spanish is getting a little better...i can communicate pretty decent, so that's cool. i've been blessed with a pretty decent accent as well, so that helps. as far as grammar and vocab and understanding...that's a different story, haha.

anyways that's it for me! have a great week, love ya!

Elder Snow 

JANUARY 12, 2015

JANUARY 12, 2015

aight so this is what happened this week. we saw some pretty sweet miracles so i gotta make sure i write it down so i don't forget.

we found 14 new investigators this week. 3 families. it was unreal, i've never had success like that before in my entire mission. 

so recently we switched some areas with the sisters that work in del rio because they're in a car share and we have a full car, and it would make it easier on everyone. so we were going through some potentials and referrals out in the new area (val verde), because we had never really been out there so it was a good place to work. there was a referral from the spanish branch president, president ""M", for this guy named "JO". so we get to the house, and what do i see in this guys yard? 5. freaking. bears. well, they looked like bears, but they were dogs. they were MASSIVE. so we walk up to the gate, hoping they're nice...nope, they started freaking out haha. but we had a feeling that we needed to stay and try to get in, so we sat there and developed a plan for like 15 minutes. the more we watched the ring leader dog, the more we thought he was faking his confidence...so we opened the gate, and elder hutchings started walking to the door (i was holding the gate in case he needed to run out, i was a wuss). hutchings kept walking, and the talk kept walking backward...but duuuuuuuude this thing was snarling and growling, it was so scary. then i had an idea. "hutchings, get outta there man i got an idea!" so he ran out and i closed the gate on the charging dog, and then we headed back to the car. i had JUUUST bought some bacon jerky a few days before, and it was sitting in the car, i had completely forgot about it. so i broke that bad boy out, and we started using the jerky as treats to get the dogs to like us (hutchings, i still stayed back) and to bait them away. we went for it...and we both almost got to the door (at this point i felt bad so i followed hutchings to protect him), and then...we ran outta jerky. yep, this dog wasn't being nice to us anymore after we ran outta jerky. he started freaking out, and he nipped at elder hutchings and we were like "oh crap oh crap oh crap." then, by some miracle, somebody pulled up in front of the house! we ran out and started talking to her, and she ended up being the wife of "JO". she went in and got him, and he came out and chained up the dogs and let us in. we had a suuuuuuuper powerful lesson with them, and they straight up told us we were sent from God and they needed our help coming closer to Jesus Christ. so we got a return appointment, and on our way out "JO" said "oh, and guys...don't ever come in the way you did earlier, that was incredibly dangerous. call me first. those dogs, especially the big one, are super violent. they have been known to bite and hurt people. you guys were super lucky, i don't understand why they didn't hurt you." it was a miracle man, it was so sweet haha. 

next set of people we found was in the same night. we were continuing to knock some potential investigators doors, and we got up to this door and realized we had talked to the people outside just a couple weeks earlier, and they weren't interested...but we decided to knock it anyways, and sure enough, this girl named "V" answered. she let us in and her ENTIRE family was there. all EIGHT of them. we taught them all, and they were super interested. we also set 3 of them with baptismal dates, and they want us coming 2-3 times a week. we taught them a few times after that, too.

finally, we were knocking on a less active's door the following day, and this guy named"J"  answered. we told the man that we were looking for someone who lived there, and he was like "uhh, no...nobody with that name has lived here" and so we were like "oh, our bad. well hey, can we come in real quick and share a message?" and he was like "yeah sure." so he let us in and we taught him, his buddy, and his buddy's sister and her kid. they were DOPE. they were super interested! i was blown away, it worked super well. we got a return appointment with them too, and they kept the appointment. so awesome. funny thing is, as we were walking out, we realized we knocked on the wrong door...the less active who we were looking for actually lived one house to the right. crazy how that worked out, right?

anyways, that's all for me this week! hope y'all have a great week! love ya!

Elder Snow

DECEMBER 22, 2014

DECEMBER 22, 2014

hey! another pretty sweet week in the life of mason, we had a lot of success and a lot of fun. here are a couple of the highlights -

so last week we met this guy named "A". he's this younger black guy, probably like 25 years old. the sisters actually contacted him, but he lives in our area so they gave him to us. anyways we had an appointment at his place with him last week, and we met him and his buddy "D". we walked in and these guys were highhhhhhhhh as a kite. totally high. it was pretty funny. anyways, he's this super nice guy and he's been meeting with Jehova's witnesses and all these other people so he wanted to learn, so we were like, eh, we'll give it a shot, he probably won't go anywhere, but we'll teach him. we taught him the first lesson, and him and his friend "D" had tons of really good questions, they were super funny, we all had a good time, etc. Then we set a return appointment and gave him a reading assignment...we show up for the return appointment, not really expecting him to remember, and he totally remembered and proceeded to tell us that him and his buddy read the chapter we left them, and they had questions about it. we were like uhh...okay haha. so we teach another lesson, and again, they're super high hah. like, he straight told us "hey, gonna be honest with you guys i was just smokin' a joint before you got here, so if you get a contact high or something and get the munchies let me know, i'll hook you up with some snacks" hahahahah we laughed so hard. that was pretty funny. anyways, we taught him, gave him another reading assignment, and we met with him again later that week...and he did his homework and remembered the appointment, again! we're like what? this guy is actually progressing, what the heck? but again, he was high, and so was his buddy...but they had all these super good questions, and"A" is like super smart. he came up with all these doctrinally correct answers to his own questions, then asked us to confirm and we were like, "uhh yeah man, you're right, good job" haha. it was super sweet. he wants to get baptized, so we'll letcha know how it goes :D

next story. so elder hutchings and i were going to this guy named "T"s house..we had met him earlier in the week, he's an older mexican guy, kinda seemed like he had alzheimers but he told us to come back so we did. anyways, we pull up to his house, and what is in his front yard? nope, it's not a guard dog. it's a freaking GOOSE. yep, a goose. he has a guard goose. if you didn't already know, geese are freaking mean..so we walk around this goose and knock the door, and this stupid goose is losing it's mind. it's squawking and yelling and warning his owner that people are here. he's a wuss so he's doing it from a distance though. then, "T" comes rolling in in his truck from behind, and he's like "hey! my goose doesn't like you!" and we're like "uhh...sorry?" and then he proceeds to herd the flippin' goose TOWARDS us. now the goose gets brave, and it starts hissing at us and freaking out even more...but it really seems to not like elder hutchings for some reason. he just had a thing for elder hutchings, so he starts advancing toward elder hutchings...hutchings was just looking at me like "is this seriously real life?" and i'm just laughing my face off, i think it's hilarious. then the goose attacked him! straight up attacked his foot, so dang funny. i busted up laughing, i couldn't hold it in anymore. then "T" grabs his goose by the neck and carried it to the back yard. it was so weird...hahah. then we sat on "T"'s front steps and taught him the restoration. very weird experience haha.

anyways, that's about it for me this week. hope y'all have a great christmas! remember what the reason for the season really is: Jesus Christ. check out this video for a cool christmas message!

christmas.mormon.org

have a good one!

love

Elder Snow

DECEMBER 15, 2014

DECEMBER 15, 2014

hey! another good week in the life of elder snow. i'll keep you posted on what's happened in my life the last 2 months or so.

so i got transferred from my 6 month area of parkwood. it was a bittersweet day, but it was awesome getting to my next area, which was the Marble Falls area! it was super sweet! huge country area, i loved it! we had a truck and everything, it was so much fun. elder lawrence was my companion, he had just gotten out of training and we were super tight. we had a great time together. we baptized 1 person named "SA". she was so golden, so awesome. then, something terrible (at the time) happened...i was getting transferred after only 6 weeks in marble falls. i was devastated. it seriously rocked my world. i loved marble falls, and we had like 2 people with a baptismal date when i left, so i was super super sad. but, all is well! that brings us to where i'm at now - the city of Del Rio. yep, it definitely means "of the river." i'm not sure where they get these names from, haha. i got here a few days ago...it's so awesome here. my companion's name is Elder Hutchings. he's been out like...18 months. he is an absolute STUUUUUD. he was like a fireman and paramedic before his mission, played rugby, super sweet super cool guy. we get along great, we're super tight. his spanish is awesome too. we've been having a ton of success together, and a ton of fun. it's just been great. i'm surprisingly more happy here than i was in marble falls, which i didn't think was possible cuz i loved marble falls haha. so sweet, haha. 

so a cool thing that happened this week...it was like my third day in this area. so be aware, my spanish is still awful. elder hutchings and i had a lesson in spanish with this man named "A"..he was a super nice guy from what i could gather, i was only picking up bits and pieces of what was going on. i was pretty dang confused. i was kinda just sitting there juco'in it (aka, not doing or saying anything cuz i was confused) and elder hutchings was doing most of the work cuz he's a stud. i hate just sitting there though, so i was really working hard trying to listen and understand what he was saying...then outta nowhere, i started to understand. i only understood for a few seconds, just enough to get where the conversation was so i could open my mouth...and i spoke, and i was able to speak some coherent spanish. it wasn't great, it wasn't pretty...but i was able to bear simple testimony of the savior and his atonement. then, it was gone. i was back to not understanding much, back to sitting there trying to think of what to say. for a moment there though the Lord blessed me so that i could speak. just for a moment. it was a pretty cool feeling. i'm by no means obtaining the gift of tongues yet...but i'm hoping with time and effort i'll get there.

i love you all! thanks for everything you do, thanks for all your prayers, and thanks for being great! have a great week, cya in 9 months! laters!

Elder Snow 

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

howdy! ah man i felt super lame saying that. i kinda just went for it, it didn't feel right. i'm not gonna do that anymore. anyways, another good week for us in the marble falls area! not a whole ton to report, we've been doing a ton of driving and a ton of dropping by people. but we're starting to see a lot of success, that's for sure. this area has so much potential to baptize, like sooooo much potential. i'm just trying to take things a little bit differently, because as far as numbers, lessons taught, and baptisms go, the past year or so has been a struggle. so we're changing up a few things, doing a lot more service and a lot less member visits, and we had the highest numbers this area's had in months this last week! so that was exciting. we were able to get 5 investigators to church, which is pretty dang good. we're excited about that one. we have a baptism for the 22nd of november for a lady named "SA". she's soooooooooo golden. she's super cool. she has 3 little girls, one of which is 9 years old, so she's working on getting baptized too...she'll just get baptized a little after her mom. but "SA" is sweet, she texts us every day, telling us the stuff she's studying and reading and listening to...it's so cool. she listens to general conference talks like..all day. she sends us referrals like every day of her friends and family that we should contact. she's so golden haha, it's so sweet. we're way stoked!

me and elder lawrence are having a great time together out here. it's nice..i kinda dig the country. everything is slowed down a bit. there's not really much to stress about, no worries...you just work and go all day, no worries, no stresses. well, missionary work always has it's stresses and stuff, but people aren't as fast paced out in the country. it's just nice, there's definitely a different feel and spirit to it out here. i enjoy it a lot. 

so good news! two of the young men that i worked with a lot in my last ward got their mission calls! "Y" and "H". they're leaving the same day! "H" is going to the berlin germany mission, and "Y" is going to columbia...bogota? something like that. they both called and emailed me and stuff, super cool. lots of the youth from my last ward are emailing me now, actually...its' super super cool. i feel like i was able to make an impact. that's one of the greatest feelings ever, haha.

other good news! sister "GS" from the parkwood area is getting baptized in december! i'm way stoked. i'm working out a way for me to be able to go down to see the baptism.

that's about it for me this week! hope y'all have a great week! latas!

Elder Snow

OCTOBER 27, 2014

OCTOBER 27, 2014

well, i'm getting transferred! I've spent 6 months in this area. it's bittersweet. I need to be transferred. I need a change of scenery, a new companion, and new people to work with. however, I love this area so much. so much. I love the people here. it's hard to imagine, those who have served missions can definitely relate...but serving in any area, especially one that you've been in for 6 months, you develop so deep of a love for the people that your serving. it doesn't make sense. why would you love these people so much? only seeing others through the eyes of Christ would allow you to do that. all of my investigators, all of my converts, all the members...they're all going to be sorely missed. I love them dearly, and leaving will be difficult. however, it's what the Lord has asked of me, and it's definitely what I need.

we didn't have a baptism this Saturday, but that's okay. "GS" still wants to be baptized, and it's just post-poned a couple weeks. hopefully i'll be able to come back and see the baptism, though! and i'll definitely come back to visit.

I've been blessed to see 8 baptisms in the parkwood area, and 4 in the Alamo 2nd ward (since I've been living in this apartment). I don't know why the Lord has allowed me to see so much success, but I definitely feel blessed for Him allowing me to.

i'm gonna try to get as many pictures of the members and investigators and people I've worked with since I've been here in the upcoming couple days, hopefully i'll get a bunch so I can send them next week!

have a great week!

Elder Snow