Transferred For Last Change - June 25, 2012

Dear Family!

 

Great to hear from you this week. I remember a while back I had made the comment that in every letter Dad writes something about golf and Mom writes something about Scouts. Wow, definitely true this time. Mom had a good page long letter all about scouts. Love it! Haha

Anyway, some news. We had transfers this past week and I ended up being transferred for my last change. I wasn´t really expecting a change and was a little surprised. But I´ve learned in the mission that the Lord always knows best and that it is best to follow His will.

My new area is called Minga Guazú. I am back in Zone 9, Ciudad del Este. I was in this same zone last year when I was in Santa Rita. Minga Guazú is the closest area to Santa Rita actually. We are about an hour and a little more away. Since Santa Rita is still just a group and it pertains to the Minga Guazú branch.

Minga Guazú is a lot like Santa Rita. It has the super red dirt, the empedrado. There are even lots of Brazilians here, but not as many as there are in Santa Rita. Minga Guazú is a branch that is growing a lot. About a year and a half ago the missionaries were removed from Minga. But several months ago they put missionaries here again and the branch is doing well. There are two companionships here in Minga Guazú and we live in the same pension. My new companion´s name is Elder Barrios. He is Paraguayan, kind of interesting having a Paraguayan comp. Elder Barrios is only here temporarily. His was called to a mission in Mexico, but is serving here while waiting for his Visa. He speaks Guaraní, which is really nice when we are teaching people that don´t speak much Spanish. He just finished being trained and is in his third change. He is still pretty green, but has lots of really great desires to have success.

The other two missionaries that live in Minga with us are named Elder Bulkley and Elder Marecos. Elder Bulkley is from Montana. Elder Marecos is also Paraguayan and waiting on his Visa to Mexico. Elder Barrios and Elder Marecos started the mission at the same time and both came to Minga Guazú to be trained. They are here until their Visa goes through and then the plan is to combine the two areas in Minga Guazú into one area like it was before. So I´m not sure how long I will be with Elder Barrios.

I am serving as a senior companion now. It´s kind of wierd not being a zone leader. It´s nice to just worry about my companion and myself.

Dad had asked a little bit about the change in Mission President. President Callan is still here. President Agazzani comes this Friday so we still haven´t had the transition yet. After the new Mission President arrives I think the plan is that he does interviews with all of the missionaries within the first few weeks so that he can get to know all of them. I will let you know a little bit more next week.

Elder Barrios and I are teaching some really great people. When I got here there was one family that was progressing pretty well. We are hoping that they can be baptized within the next couple of weeks. The problem is that they live realllllly far away. Like an hour by bus (Our area is gigantic). They had a baptismal date for this past week but weren´t quite prepared. We want to prepare them a little more for their baptism. Their name is the Lesme Family. They are really great and will be baptized pretty soon.

Apart from the Lesme family, we didn´t have a whole lot of investigators when I got here. We´ve been finding a lot of new investigators and seeing lots of miracles. We have found some really prepared people that are progressing well.

Welp I think that´s about all for this week. Thanks for all of your support. I can feel your love and prayers. I know that this is the true church and that Jesus Christ lives and loves us.

Love you all!

Elder Snow

All Part of the Paraguayan Experience - June 18, 2012

Dear Snow Family,

Happy Father´s day to Dad, Grandpa Snow, Grandpa Vacc, and all you fathers out there!

Thanks for everything that you do as Dads, I appreciate it a lot.

This past week we have been working a lot with our investigators to help them go to church. Right now we have Pedro and Felicia who are progressing really well. After them there are several other newer investigators that we are working with who haven´t attended church or who have gone just once. So we are working hard to get those new investigators to church. It is always incredible how much more progress there is when an investigator attends church as opposed to when they don´t.

On Wednesday of this week we did divisions with the other missionaries here in Pilar. The district leader, Elder Guizada, came to our area and worked with me all day Wednesday. Elder Ramos went over to Pilar 2 to work with Elder Shelley. It was good working with Elder Guizada. We worked really hard all day and found some really good new investigators.

We taught a young man named Carlos. He is about to turn 20. He lives here in Pilar but his family lives in a small town outside of Pilar. He had some really good questions and we could tell that the Lord has prepared him a lot. He wanted to know about the purupose of life. He also wanted to know about life after death because his mom passed a way a few years ago and that was pretty tough on him. This week we taught him about the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation. He really likes reading the Book of Mormon. We gave him 2 Nephi 2 and then Alma 40 to read and he read it all and understood pretty well. He took the invitation to pray to God to know if it is true and said that he feels good, that he feels the desires to learn more and more. I have met several people in the mission who have received answers in that form, a desire to know more and to continue investigating.

I know that the Lord loves us, each and every one. He knows us personally and always is there for us when we need Him.

The weather here lately has been loco ité!!!! One week it´s like 0 degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit) and the next week it´s 30 Celsius (like 85 Fahrenheit). It´s all part of the Paraguayan experience I guess. You just learn to love it.

Dad asked about transfers. The changes are actually this week, on Wednesday the 20th. It is a little different, the change is a week earlier because of the new Mission President. My final change with last 7 weeks instead of 6. Concerning the changes, I think I will probably just finish in Pilar. It would be nice to be here for the baptism of Pedro and Felicia and I don´t think I would get changed for my final change. But you never know. If I have a change it won´t be a problem, I have learned that the changes come from the Lord, so I will just trust in him. But I´ll let ya know next week how it turns out.

 

I am grateful for all of you and for your support! I know that I and you are receiving many blessings for my missionary service. I can feel the support of your prayers. I know that this is the work of the Lord. I am so grateful for the blessings that he gives us for our obedience. The Lord really is so merciful towards us. I hope you all have a great week!

 

Love,

Elder Snow

I Will Leave It For Effect - June 11, 2012

Dear Family,

Thank you so mucho (haha, that was an accidente but I will leave it for effect) for the letter this week. I could really feel the spirit in reading about the family and the great things that you are doing.

This week I have a little bit more time to write so I will try to get a good letter in. The consejo on Monday was really great. We talked a lot about faith and goals. We all left excited and ready to work. After the meeting on Monday, I went with one of our district leaders to do an exchange and his companion went to Pilar with Elder Ramos. To answer mom´s question, when we have consejos like that on Preparation Day, we usually get home at about 11 or 11:30. So we just buy a little bit of food the next day. As for laundry, there is a sister in our ward that washes it, so we never have to worry about washing our own clothes on Mondays.

Anyway, after the meeting, I went with Elder Mower (I have written about him before I think) and we went to San Ignacio. We spent the night there and on Tuesday I participated in the District Meeting of District 2 in our zone. It was really uplifting and we all left really excited to baptize like crazy. After the meeting, Elder Mower and I headed over to Ayolas, his area. Traveling and doing divisions in our zone is crazy because our district leader´s area is like 2 buses (5 hours) away. Elder Mower is really great. This was like the third time I´ve done divisions with him in my mission, I have been his zone leader in 2 different zones. We worked hard and saw lots of miracles with his investigators there.

So I was there Tuesday and Wednesday til about midnight when we caught another bus back to San Ignacio. There I met up with Elder Ramos and we headed back to Pilar Thursday morning. Some good news from the divisions, Pedro and Felisia accepted a secure baptismal date for the 30th of this month. We wanted to put it sooner but they were a little bit stubborn haha. They are really resolved to be baptized on the day and I know that it will be so great. They attended church yesterday even though Felisia was sick and the weather was really bad. It was really great to see their faith in attending church yesterday.

So on Thursday I came back to Pilar and the assistants were there ready to do divisions with us for another two days. They had done divisions with the other two elders in Pilar and wanted to do them with us as well. So on Thursday and Friday I worked with Elder King and Elder Dexter here in Pilar and it was really great as well. We found a lot of really great people and we will work hard with them this week so that they can attend church next week.

Yesterday in church I really enjoyed the sacrament meeting. One of the youth named Alan (he always goes out with us to teach) gave a talk and did a really great job. He talked about the blessings of seminary in his life. He is one of only 2 or 3 youth that attends seminary. Here they do it once a week, on Saturday. I realize the importance of the youth. They are the future of the church. I want so bad for the youth here in Paraguay to be strong and go on missions. I know that that will do wonders and miracles for the work here in this country. I am so grateful for my mission. I am so grateful for the blessing that I am experiencing to come close to my Savior.

I know that this is the true church. I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father. I am really, really grateful for you, my family. You are the best!

Love,
Elder Snow

Through Faith and Diligence - June 4, 2012

Dear Family,

 

Thanks for writing a great letter this week. Sounds like it has been a busy week back home. We have had a busy week as well here. Right now I am in Asunción. We had a leadership counsel this morning so we took a midnight bus to get here at about 6 this morning. The consejo ended not too long ago and we have to grab a bus back in about an hour so I have really little time to write.

This week we have seen lots of miracles. We are continuing to work with Pedro and Felisia. They made it to church again yesterday. They have accepted a baptismal date for this Saturday but they still have some doubts that we need to work out. So we are praying for them a lot so that they can make the decision to be baptized this weekend.

We had set a goal this past week as well to get a new investigator in church on Sunday. We worked hard all week and were able to complete with this goal. An investigator that we have been teaching for about 2 weeks now named Esperanza made it for sacrament meeting. She is a reference from a recent convert named Alan. They are cousins. She really enjoyed church and wants to continue attending. We have invited her to be baptized but she hasn´t accepted a specific date yet so we will continue working with her on that.

The counsel meeting this morning was really great. It was the last one that we will have with Pres. Callan. He goes home at the end of this month. It will probs be the last time that I see him in the mission.

I know that this is the work of the Lord. I know that through faith and diligence that miracles are achieved. I am grateful for this opportunity to work in the Lord´s work. I love you all very much!

Love,

Elder Snow