Fishermen or Fishers of Men? - April 23, 2012

Elder Ramos & Elder Snow prepare to go fishing with the Suarez family

Hermana Suarez catches one

One of the cute Suarez children

Is this a first catch for Elder Ramos?

Elder Ramos shows off his catch!

Dear Snow Family,

Thanks for the great email this week. It was exciting to hear what the whole family is up to.  Especially cool to hear about Dad´s capacitation meeting with Elder Scott and Elder Jensen. Wow! It is so incredible to hear the testimonies of the general authorities, especially the apostles. My jaw dropped a little when dad wrote what Elder Scott said about being entitled to special experiences with Jesus Christ. Wow. I will always remember the experience in the MTC when Elder Holland came to speak. When he entered the room, the Spirit was so strong. It was really amazing how everyone could feel it.

A few months ago I was speaking with another missionary while we were on divisions. We were talking about how just having the presence of the Spirit goes such a long way in helping others come unto the Savior. If we are worthy of the Spirit, and have shown through obedience to God that we are worthy of its companionship, others will be able to feel that presence of the Spirit. Many times it isn´t even the words we say (sometimes nothing needs to be said), what is important is that the Spirit is with us.


I remember in the October 2010 General Conference, President Eyring gave a talk on Serving with the Spirit. He talked about an experience when his dad was sick. One of the visits to him in the hospital was by President Spencer W. Kimball. President Eyring was in the room and was excited at the chance to see a real master at helping people passing through tough times. He said that President Kimball said few words, that he just sat their smiling. After leaving, President Eyring´s dad said that this was the visit that most helped him and lifted his spirits. When we go with the presence of the Spirit and perform our duties, we can work miracles for the Lord.

Anywho, we have had a really great week here in Pilar. We are seeing a lot of progress with Zulma and her daughter, Cintia. They went to church last week and really enjoyed it. Cintia is only 8 and was a little shy at first, but ended up loving it. This past week before Sunday she had her little backpack and notebook all prepared by Saturday to be ready to go to church. They both attended again yesterday and are progressing very well.
On Saturday night we visited Zulma with Jorge, the recent convert from last week. It was really neat to have a recent convert get involved and help us with missionary work. He bore testimony and really helped out a lot in the lesson. Afterwards he told us that he really enjoyed the experience and he wants to continue doing visits with us.

This week we also did divisions with one of our district leaders, Elder Mower. Haha, he is so great. Last year when I had just been called to be a zone leader in Asunción, Elder Mower was in my zone and was just arriving in the mission. Now he has a year! Crazy how the time flies. We worked hard and talked a lot about the work and how to help build the kingdom here in Paraguay. On Thursday it rained really hard all day but we persevered and taught 7 lessons that day. The Lord really blessed us.

Things are going really great here. I love the opportunity to be in the mission. I am really grateful for my companion, Elder Ramos. He is always full of so much excitement and love. We have a great companionship and are seeing miracles together. I know that this is the true church. I am so grateful to be a member of it. I know that God and Jesus Christ live.

Love,
Elder Snow

P.S. I am including some pictures as well. Last Monday for Preparation Day we went fishing with the Suárez family. Haha it was really fun. I was a little skeptical because I remembered my last fishing experience in Costa Bonita with Elder Love where we hadn´t caught anything! But the Suárez´s are professionals, so they helped us out. We actually caught 3 fish. (Better said, Nelson, Hermana Suárez, and Elder Ramos caught the fish). Brother Suárez and Elder Snow were just getting frustrated and not catching anything. Haha. We had a good time. We also went to the Servin's house for Eider´s Birthday. He turned 12 on Monday. He will be receiving the Priesthood this week. So exciting! For lunch on Monday, we also went to a member´s house. They fed us a duck soup. It was really good! First time I´ve had duck and I definitely liked it. Way better than mondongo, eww.