Elder Zachary Snow

Elder Zachary Snow

Sunday, October 31, 2010

"Speaking" or Trying to Speak Spanish - October 11, 2010

Dear Family,

It was good to get a nice, long email from you guys. The last couple had been lacking. Haha just kidding, but really this one was great.

Mom
Congrats to Mom on the 194. Have you broken 200? That would be sweet if you did. In my bowling class the closest I ever got was 189 I think. It sounds to me like you are still bowling almost every week even though you aren´t in the league. That´s pretty cool.

Good to hear that you are watching all the conferences. I think the Saturday ones were the best. It´s really important to review them multiple times. I think it was President Monson in the closing talk that said he would like everyone to read each talk over again in the Ensign in November before the April conference. Also Elder Costa´s 14 points of following the prophet was great. I can´t remember who it was, but another GA (General Authourity) gave almost exactly the same talk in the next session. He even reviewed the 14 points over again. This just shows me how the Lord really knows what we need to hear and inspires the GAs on what to tell us. Elder Bednar gave an MTC devotional a while ago in which he talked about how he had to rewrite his talk at the last  minute one year because he felt impressed to do so. Then when he gave it, there were like three talks in a row on the importance of the temple, temple marriages, work for the dead, stuff like that. And he had no prior knowledge that the others would talk about that as well. Just shows how the messages really are inspired.


Mason!
I am doing super well in Paraguay. Are you doing well in California? I am ¨"speaking" or trying to speak Spanish. I can speak it ok but I have a really hard time understanding the Paraguayos speak it because they speak so fast. So it is a little hard, but I am learning lots. It´s good to hear that you are doing a good job in school. Is math still your favorite then, or do you like spelling more now? I didn´t know people in Paraguay before I came but I know lots now! And I am very busy all the time. We work very hard and have lots of people that we talk to so there is never enough time in the day to do everything that we would like to do. But that´s a good thing. Keep working hard at soccer, and maybe one day you´ll be able to beat me. Haha...just kidding. I´m sure you already can.

I´m glad that you pray every morning and night. It´s something very important to do. A scripture you would like is Alma 37: 37. I love you lots!
Love, Zach

Melanie!
That´s crazy that you´ve already had your braces for an entire year. I remember I had mine for a little bit under two years, so there is hope for you yet! Are your teeth getting nice and straight?

Paraguay is very cool. It´s very different, but I´m getting used to it. I think the second day I was here it was very hot. But it´s still only spring time here, so it´s not even getting that hot yet. Everyone tells me that from November to February it is very hot, so I´ll let ya know. But I am definitely enjoying it!


Kim!
Good to hear that you´re enjoying Mock Trial and everything. How are the contacts working out? When do you think you will get your liscence? Sounds like Mason needs to listen to Elder Uchtdorf´s talk about pride, you should share that with him. Haha just kidding. You should actually be his sport´s agent when he grows up then you can make lots of money off of him, haha. Hope you´re doing well.

Dad
So, was it pretty hard communicating with everyone to get your revised airfare worked out?  Did they only speak Spanish at the airline counters or did some of them speak English?     There were some
people in the airport that spoke English. It wasn´t the best but we were able to communicate well enough.

Did you get a chance to get to know some of the other elders that were in your group?
I got to know a couple of them, not super well, but they all seem like good guys and I think they had a pretty strong MTC district. One of them is in my district now. His name is Elder Clanton and he´s from Mesa, Arizona. His Spanish isn´t great but he works hard.

Since this is Elder Bonilla’s last transfer, I assume you will need to pay close attention so that you get to know the area for when you receive a new companion.
I actually hadn´t thought about having to learn the area. Since he´s leaving, does that mean that I´m definitely going to stay? I still haven´t found out all the intricacies of the mission, hah. The area isn´t too big and the streets do have names (unlike some other areas) so I think I could manage, but I still am kind of lost all the time so I´ll have to work on that.

Good to hear that BYU finally won. JJ tearing it up was good to hear. Sounds like the running game worked pretty well. Heaps stats weren´t bad either, lots of completions. They´ll figure it out eventually.

But it sounds like you and Dan both need some practice in the golf game haha. But Tierra is a tough course so I won´t give you a hard time.

As far as teaching about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, I think there was a conference talk about the basketball player who was in the NCAA in Europe or something whose team made it to the finals but the game was on Sunday and he had committed himself to never play on Sunday. He made the choice not to, and said for the rest of his life he was grateful for this choice because it made it easier to keep commandments later. I think this was one of Pres Monson´s talks, but I´m really not sure. And I think it was in conference, but I could have heard it somewhere else. The point is, 100 % obedience is easier than 98% or 50%. When we make up our minds to do something, do it all the way. Breaking a small commandment is the same as breaking a big one. If we break one commandment that may seem harmless, it enables us to justify breaking others.

I´m out of time, but I love you all. The week has been tough trying to learn the language, but I´m doing my best to keep a positive attitude.

Love you all lots,
Elder Snow

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