Woo Hoo...Another Great Week in Paraguay - August 15, 2011

Dear Fam,

Woo hoo it`s been another great week here in Paraguay. I was excited to hear from you all and to get the news on what`s new at home. Sounds like Mason had a great BDay party. That picture you sent of the home made ice cream sandwich definitely gave me some trunky thoughts. Haha just kidding. Mason definitely looks older, maybe it`s the long hair style or something but he looked older than I remembered.

This week has gone by super fast. We`ve been working harder and keeping busy. I hadn`t sent photos in a while so I`m going to try to send a couple here. There is a photo of my companion, Elder Love. He`s the blond one. He`s a stud and we`ve been getting along really well. I`ve been blessed to have great companions in my mission. It`s always easy to work well together with a person that is very focused and has the same goals and desires. I`m also sending pictures I took with Elder Merrill, Elder Phelps, Elder Fernandez, and Elder Durrant.


Current companions Elder Love and Elder Snow



Elder Snow and Elder Merrill
Sons of school friends Dave Snow and Rodney Merrill

Elder Phelps and Elders Snow
Shared apartment in Lambare

 Elder Fernandez and Elder Snow

MTC companions Elder Snow and Elder Durrant

We did divisions with the Assistants this week so that`s how I was with all of them. I went to the assistants` area and I was there with Elder Fernandez. Elder Love and Elder Durrant were in Costa Bonita. It was really great to do divisions with Elder Fernandez and learn a lot. He is a great missionary. He served in Santa Rita right before me so we had lots of good Santa Rita memories to talk about and what not. I was talking with Elder Merrill a little while too because they live in the same apartment. I was telling him the story that you told me, Dad, how you and Elder Merrill`s dad got in a fight on your first day of school or something like that because you were the two shortest kids in the class. He thought it was pretty funny.

Then for the rest of the week we`ve been working hard here in Costa Bonita and finding lots of great new people. We found a couple of really good families this week and we`re excited to see how they progress. The challenge that we`ve been having is getting people to church. We need to find a way to work better with the members so that they have a friend in church and have a great experience there.

Yesterday we had a cool experience. We were visiting an investigator that had talked with the missionaries several months ago. We were walking by his house the other day and he called us over so we started teaching him. His name is Edgar and he remembers a lot about the message that the missionaries here before shared with him. He remembered feeling good when they visited him and when he read the Book of Mormon. So we were teaching him and Elder Love decided to share a scripture with him. He shared Mosiah 2:41, which talks about the blessed and happy state of those who keep the commandments of God. Edgar was reading the scripture, and about half way through he just broke down and started crying. After he gathered himself a little bit, he explained to us that right as he started to read he started to feel the same feelings that he had when the missionaries would share with him before and when he read the Book of Mormon. It`s kind of an interesting situation, he says that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and believes Joseph Smith was a prophet, but he has some doubts about attending church. He has had some bad experiences in the past and is a little hesitant to attend church. So we are going to be working with him and helping him to resolve his doubts. He`s a really great guy though and super in tune with the Spirit.

Another cool experience from yesterday: We were teaching a part member family. The two daughters and one of the sons were baptized several months ago. The mom and the younger son, Alvaro, aren`t members yet. The mom hadn`t given permission for Alvaro to be baptized because she thinks that he is too young still (he is ten years old). So we had been working with them for a while and yesterday we found out some of her doubts and some of the reasons why she wouldn`t let Alvaro be baptized. We resolved her doubts and she accepted that Alvaro can be baptized this 27th. Alvaro was really excited. He is a good kid and has wanted to be baptized for a while now. We just need to work with the mom a little bit more so that the whole family can be members.

Love,
Elder Snow

Just Lots of Hard Work & Praying - August 8, 2011

Dear Family!!

How is everyone doing! Happy Birthday, Mason! Wow I cannot believe that you are 11 years old already. That`s crazy! And when I come home you`ll be hitting 12! Wow! You`re the best!

This week has been really great, we`ve just been working hard and finding lots of new people that are prepared for the Gospel. We have been trying to work more with the members in order to find new investigators that are prepared to receive the message. There are lots of less active members in this ward, so we`ve been trying to work with them and teach the people in their families who aren`t members yet.

This week we found one great investigator who is part of a part member family. The wife, Racquel, is a member. She was baptized about 4 years ago but since then has become really inactive. Her and her boyfriend, Juan, have a daughter. Juan isn`t a member and we had been trying for a while to teach them but we could never find them. So we finally found Juan and were able to teach them. Juan is a great guy and is really prepared to receive the Gospel. We invited him to be baptized and he was really excited about it. He was really receptive. We were talking about how the family can be eternal and Juan and Racquel really liked it. The Spirit was there and it was really cool to see how focused they were and how the Spirit was testifying that it was true. We also asked Juan why he would like to be baptized and he talked about his daughter and how he wants to be a good example for her and wants her to be able to be a member of the church one day as well (the daughter is like 3 years old). So they are an awesome family. The challenge will be helping them attend church. He works in like events, catering parties and stuff like that. So most of his work is on the weekends. But he said he will ask for Sunday free next week to go to church, so hopefully that works out well.

We also started teaching another family this week. They are called the Arguello Gomez Family. They were actually a contact in the street on Saturday night after an appointment fell. When we started talking to them, they said that it was practically a miracle that we were able to find them because they aren`t home at that hour very often and they usually aren`t outside. We talked with them about eternal families as well and they really enjoyed it. They were very receptive and understood very well the importance of our message and our purpose as missionaries. It`s a great family, the two parents and then they have 3 kids who are 18, 17, and 14 years old. All of the kids were paying really close attention and were really interested. They all accepted a baptismal date for the 27th, so now we just need to get them to church. At the end of the lesson, the Dad offered the closing prayer and it was so great. It was really sincere and humble. I really love that about the people here, they are so sincere and humble. I remember hearing Mason`s prayers when he was younger and always being impressed by the sincerity of a child`s prayer. The people here have that kind of sincerity, it`s very great to see.

I`m trying to think of what else happened this week. Just lots of hard work and praying. We`ve set a goal to have 5 baptisms in the month of August and we really want to be able to achieve it. I know that the Lord will bless us if we do our part and have the faith.


Well, to answer a couple of questions (since Dad is apparently bitter that I don`t answer questions anymore, haha just kidding Dad)

Please tell us where you are so we are able to find Puerto Pabla or Costa Bonita on a map.
Puerto Pabla is in the city of Lambare, it's right up next to the Argentine border and next to the river.  Look for the street Carretera de Lopez, that's where the chapel is for Puerto Pabla and we lived like 3 blocks from the chapel basically.
To find Costa Bonita, the city would be considered Villa Elisa.  Look for the street TTE Americo Pico.  That's where the chapel is.  My area is more towards Defensores del Chaco.  That should help out a little bit I think.

You mentioned in your letter that Elder Merrill is living with Elder Durrant, who is the assistant.  Does that mean they are companions?
No, the Assistants live with zone leaders.  So Elder Merrill is a zone leader and Elder Durrant and the other assistanst live with them.  Yes, the assistants have an area.  They didn't before, but Elder Woodruff told me that when he was an assistant a General Authority came to tour the mission and told the assistants that they should have an area, so they split a zone leader area and now they live together.

Also, how many districts and how many missionaries are there in your zone?
So many questions..haha our zone has 3 districts.  There are 11 companionships, 22 missionaries in total.  It's one of the bigger zones in the mission.

So, what new responsibilities do you have as a zone leader?
Ehh, basically help all of the district leaders and all of the companionships in the zone, take and pass the numbers each week, help out with the new missionaries that are just getting here, inform the assistants how everything is going in the zone, do baptismal interviews for the district leaders, stuff like that I guess.

Well I'm about out of time. I love you all so much!  Thanks for being great and writing every week. I sure do appreciate it. I hope you have a great week! Happy Birthday Mason! Please send shoes and contact solution. Kthzbai.

Elder Snow

New Area is... Costa Bonita - August 1, 2011

Dear Family!   Before anything else, Happy Birthday this week to Dad!! The big 5-0. Woo hoo!!! You`re getting closer and closer to golfing your age. But`s it got to be on 18 holes, come on now. Haha, I love you lots, Dad.   Sorry I`m writing a little bit later this week. This morning we had a Leadership Council meeting for all of the zone leaders and the assistants. So we took a bus to the mission office this morning and ended not too long ago, so I am going to try to shoot you all a quick email.   So my new area is..... Costa Bonita! Wooo hooo!! It`s actually just across the street from Puerto Pabla, it`s the bordering area so basically I just crossed the street. It`s a different zone though, it`s zone 4. My companion is Elder Love. It`s kind of funny because I had just replaced Elder Love in Puerto Pabla. He was Elder Geary`s trainer and had left from Puerto Pabla to Costa Bonita just the change before me. So I feel like I already know him pretty well. Elder Love is from Mesa, Arizona. He`s a champ. He is a really hard worker and has a great love for the people. He has been out on the mission for 10 and a half months, so we have almost the same time. Speaking of that, I am going to hit a year this week. Crazyyy. The time really is going by fast. The crazy thing is that each change keeps going faster and faster. I am so glad that I still have a year to be a missionary and serve the Lord. It`s such short time really.   So this morning we had the leadership council to talk about the month that just ended and talk about the month upcoming. It was such an awesome meeting. I can`t explain how strong the spirit was. I know that this Church is true. I`m so grateful to be a member of it and to be able to help others to find the true church on Earth.   My new area is definitely a little bit different than Puerto Pabla. Puerto Pabla is one of the stronger wards that exists in probably the whole country and there are lots of members. In Costa Bonita there are tons of members as well, but many are inactive. There are a few families that are very active here but apart from them there aren`t too many. So we will be working a lot to help inactive members come back and work with the investigators as well.   There are a couple of awesome investigators in my new area. Yesterday at church, the dad of a family that we are teaching attended and really enjoyed it. The Family`s name is the Aquino Family. They are passing through some pretty tough times right now because he lost his job and they have some debt. Elder Love and his old companion had been teaching them for a while, but they hadn`t made it to church yet. So we were really excited that Brother Aquino made it yesterday. They are a family with great faith and I have the faith that they will be baptized.   We are also teaching an man named Hugo Bordón. He is super funny. He has attended church two times before, but didn`t make it yesterday. He already has kind of a testimony that the church is true, but isn`t sure whether it`s the only true church on Earth. So we are working with him to help him grow in his testimony. We have been teaching him a lot about prayer. I am so grateful for prayer. I love knowing that we can communicate with Heavenly Father. Today in the Leadership Meeting the prayers really touched me a lot. There was a moment at the end when President Callan asked a couple of missionaries to share their testimonies. The Spirit was so incredible. We all knelt to close with a prayer and it was just an incredible feeling. I know that God loves us. I`m so grateful for Him. I`m very excited to work hard in this next year so that I can do everything I can to help others also feel how I do.   On a lighter note, I saw Elder Merrill again! Elder Merrill was just called to serve as a zone leader this last change as well, so I saw him at the terminal and then again today at the leadership meeting. He is living with Elder Durrant, who is serving as the Asistant now. Crazy! Haha He`s such a stud. The birthday party for Great Grandma sounded pretty fun. What day exactly is her birthday? The big 99, she`s amazing. I tell people all the time that I have a great grandma that`s 99, they are pretty impressed. So you should tell Grandma Ann that she`s got some fans here in Paraguay.   Welp, I`ve gotta run, but I love you all so much. The church is true, this is the Lord`s work! Love, Elder Snow

Power Walk Like Champ! - July 25, 2011

Dear Family!

Well it`s so great to hear from you again and to hear about all the news from the week. 

 

So you had the annual Pioneer Day Party? I remember going to that last year. It must have been like only a week or two before I took off, huh? Time flies. I remember the water balloon competition where Mason and Chip won and then had like a mid-air celebration hug. Haha, they`re so funny.

 

Sounds like mom has been running a bunch. I would probably die if I ran that much, but I power walk like a champ. Even with the empedrado. To answer your question, empedrado is what they have on pretty much all the roads here. It`s not really like cobblestone. It`s more like a ton of big rocks cemented into dirt. It`s not the smoothest road, so it kills my shoes. I`ll have to send a picture of it some time. Speaking of pictures, I`m sending some pics of my shoes.

 

 

We`ve had a great week here in good `ole Puerto Pabla. We`ve been working hard and trying to find lots of new people to teach. We have found some really great people that I believe will progress. Yesterday, the investigators that really needed to go to church weren`t able to make it. We have had some really great weather this week and so I figured that a nice, sunny morning would help them to go. But I think we need to keep working and help them understand the need to go to church and how it will help them to receive more revelation and progress towards baptism.

 

Another thing that is so important to help investigators go to church is the work with the members. It`s so much easier to make the transition and to feel comfortable going to church if there is a friend. For example, yesterday the people that we have been working with the most didn`t go to church. A couple of investigators that made it are people that we really haven`t worked very much with but their friend invited and took them there. The friends that took them to church are this amazing couple named Jorge and Betty. They aren`t members but practically are. They have been attending church for about 6 years and have super strong testimonies and are so ready for baptism, but are waiting for a divorce so that they can get married and baptized. They are such great missionaries and are always sharing about the gospel with their friends, even though they still aren`t members. They have a son, Hugo, who is a member and he is such a great young man too. Anyway, this family invited and took a couple of Hugo`s friends to church yesterday and they really enjoyed it. We will work with them and I really believe that they will progress.

 

This week I have been studying a lot in the Book of Mormon and searching for how we can find more peace and joy in our lives. It is a question that many investigators and members ask, and the Book of Mormon has so many answers. 

 

I was studying a lot in Mosiah 2 and 4. Something that really stuck out to me is the emphasis on how those that keep the commandments of God are happier. They are blessed spiritually and temporally. In chapter 4 there are a couple of great verses that mention the joy that comes from having a remission of sins and a clear mind and conscious. It is so true that we have and feel so much more joy when we are repented and living the commandments of God. I have seen so many times in my mission the joy that people find from keeping the commandments. I have seen it in my own life. I also love Alma 36, where Alma is telling Helaman the story of his conversion. I love how through the Atonement of Christ we can receive the remission of our sins and find this happiness. I am so grateful for Him and for having done that so that we can be happy.

So this week is also the week of changes. There are actually some surprises. Drum roll..... Elder Geary is going to train!! I`m so pumped for him. He is very prepared and will be such a great trainer. So that means that I`m leaving after just 1 change in Puerto Pabla. I still don`t know where I`m going but I will be serving as a zone leader. President Callan called while I was shaving this morning and was talking to Elder Geary for a while. Then I got out of the bathroom and he talked to me and told me that the Lord has called me to serve as a zone leader. I`m pretty excited. It`s kind of sad that I`ll have to leave Puerto Pabla after just one change, it`s such a great area. I`ll miss Elder Geary too, he`s been a great companion and we`ve grown really close.  But I`m excited to go to a new area and be able to serve the people there. 

Well that`s about all I`ve got for this week. I love you all so much. I hope you have a great week.

Love,

Elder Snow

The Empedrado is a Shoe Killer - July 18, 2011

Dear Fam!

Hey, how`s everyone doing? I`m doing great down here in the jungles (ehh, not really) of Paraguay. We`ve had a great week filled with missionary work and Copa Amèrica. Wow, I don`t even want to imagine how the World Cup was here because the American Cup is pretty crazy. Paraguay has been playing the last couple of weeks. This week they had a couple of games and it just about shut down missionary work yesterday because they were playing Brazil. It`s pretty crazy, everytime something good happens for Paraguay everyone goes crazy and you can hear it in all the country. So they beat Brazil yesterday and were going wild here. So now there will be another game some time this week so that day might be a little bit tougher as well.

But nonetheless we`ve had a nice week! This week we found this sweet family and started teaching them. They are super prepared and really sincere. We found them by asking references from their neighbor and then we contacted them a bit later. The family is a young couple, and they have a 3 year old daughter. His name is Minchu and her name is Rosana. We taught them the first time about lesson 1 and then in the second visit we taught about the Book of Mormon. They are a really united family and really have a good family sense about them. At the end of the second lesson we had, they asked the question about why God permits that there is suffering and why bad things happen to good people. So we left them with 2 Nephi 2. When we went back they had read it all twice and gave like a perfect summary. And they were really happy to find the answer and understood it really well. They didn`t make it to church this week, but we`re excited for next week!

To answer a little bit about the shoes. Mom asked which shoes are toast. Uhh, both pairs. The empedrado is a shoe killer. I actually went to a shoe repair guy last week and he is going to put a new sole on my eccos. I`m going to pick them up soon so we`ll see how that turned out. The Hush Puppies are worn out on bottom too and have a big hole in the sole. 

That`s really funny that the missionary in the ward knows Elder Geary. Elder Geary says he knows him as well. He also says that of course Burley won the games every time, hah! Small world, eh?

Another small world moment from this week. In our district we have a companionship of sisters. This week we went to their area to do a baptismal interview. One of the sisters is from Colombia and she said she was in one of the Bogotà missions. So I told her that I have a cousin that served in Bogotà, but I didn`t remember which mission. So she asked me what his name was, and I told her Elder Adams. And she`s like "Elder Adams, from Arizona, I know him!" Haha so I guess Jake served in her area. She said he would remember the Familia Paipa from his first area. She`s in my mission know and we`re in the same district. Small world.

We are continuing to work with Nelson. He didn`t make it to church yesterday and said it was because of the rain. It`s been a little bit frustrating, but I really believe that he will take the step to be baptized in the near future. He really is so prepared and has a testimony of the church. I know that he will receive so many blessings by taking the step to be baptized and I really hope he can do so soon.

We have also seen a lot of progress this week with Arnaldo. I don`t remember if I`ve mentioned him at all. He is the son of the Mesa family. He is super prepared and a really great person. He is 19 and really likes to read the Book of Mormon. This week we watched the video of the Restoration with him and the Spirit was really strong. He believes the church is true and wants to be baptzed. Now we just need to get him to church too!

I`m very grateful for this work and I`m happy to be here. I love you all so much and I am very grateful for your support. Everytime I see Hermana Callan she tells me that I`m lucky to have a great family that writes me great letters and loves me. It`s true! You are all so great. I love you too!

Love,
Elder Snow

Good Ole Puerto Pabla - July 11, 2011

Dear Fam,

It`s been great to read all about your week and the fun vacation up in Idaho. While I was reading, I definitely had some nice flashbacks of past family vacations to Utah and to Uncle Tom`s farm in Idaho as well. It was funny that Dad mentioned his flashback of us playing cards at Yellowstone. This week Elder Geary and I were talking about Yellowstone a little bit (I don`t remember how we got on that theme) and I had some flashbacks of that Yellowstone trip as well. So, all in all, it was great to hear from you all.

We have had another really great week here in good òle Puerto Pabla. This past week I had the chance to do divisions with the zone leaders who are in Ybatè, my old area. So I headed over there back to where I started the mission. I was in the zone leaders area, so I wasn`t able to go visit at all my old area, but I actually did run into several people that I know. We saw some of the members and most of them remembered me, so that`s a good sign I think. And Eduardo, the young man that was baptized with Elder Bonilla and I went out and taught some lessons with us so that was pretty neat. It was really good to catch up with him, he seems to be doing really well. He was preparing a talk that he was going to give in church yesterday, so that was pretty neat also.

Apart from that, we had interviews with President Callan on Thursday, so that was really great also. The interviews are always a very spiritually uplifting and motivating experience. I left feeling that I had received some good revelation on what I can do better as a missionary. I`ve been working on keeping more focus and always having my missionary purpose in mind.


This week was kind of up and down. Yesterday we were a little disappointed because the investigators that had baptismal dates this week and the week after didn`t make it to church. We went by Nelson`s house and he had a visit from some of his neighbors and didn`t want to leave. It was a little frustrating, but we talked really well with him after church and he is more committed now to go to church next week.

Saturday night we had a really great experience. We had been working hard all day and had had a pretty good day. We were able to teach many lessons in the afternoon. More towards the evening it was getting tougher to find people and a couple of our appointments fell. So we were thinking about who we should visit. Elder Geary suggested Santiago, an investigator that we had taught a couple of weeks ago. We had taught him a couple of times and the lessons went really well, the Spirit had been really strong. But after that we weren`t able to find him for a really long time and had kind of given up. So I was kind of doubting a little bit at Elder Geary`s suggestion, but we went to look for him anyway. We found him at home and we were able to teach him. The lesson turned out so well and he had sooo many great questions about the doctrine and the church and everything. So I felt a little humbled at the experience and learned a lesson because I didn`t feel like he was going to be home. But I`m grateful for a stud companion like Elder Geary and I`m grateful that we followed the impressions of the Spirit that he had.


Well that`s about all I`ve got for this week. I`m trying to think of a funny experience that comes to mind, but there`s nothing of the top of my head. So I`ll just finish with my testimony that I know that this church is true. We have been sharing lately with an inactive family where the mom has doubts on how she can really know that we are in the true church. We shared with her Alma 32 on how faith isn`t a perfect knowledge, but through an experiment on the word we can have a perfect knowledge that the church is true. I`m grateful for a Heavenly Father that has been patient and answered my many questions that the church is true. I know that as many times as we ask with faith, He will answer us. I love Him.
I love you all lots, have a great week!

Love,
Elder Snow

Cuando Hay Amor - July 4, 2011

Dear Family,

Wow it was really great to get a nice, long letter from a bunch of you! I`m glad to hear that everyone is doing well and that no one died on the collapsing ice bridge, that sounds kind of scary. It sounds like it`s starting to heat up a little bit up there. Whew it`s getting really cold down here. I`ve had to use my suit jacket and my big winter jacket together for the last couple of days. I`m like shivering as I type this email right now haha. But no worries, I`m here in Paraguay in the work of the Lord! I really enjoy being with Elder Geary, whenever I start to complain, he always reminds me "Wow we are so blessed to be here, huh?" And it`s true, Elder Geary is a champ.

Speaking of Elder Geary, we had a funny realization the other day. We were walking in the street and we hear kind of some shouts or an argument from a house nearby. He started singing "Cuando hay amor" which is "Love at Home." Haha it reminded me of Mom always singing Love at Home whenever someone fights a little bit. I told Elder Geary that my mom would always sing that and he said his mom did exactly the same.

Just so you know Mom, I really love you lots! I am very grateful for being raised in a gospel centered home. I know that there is always more love in the home when we are following the teachings of Jesus Christ, so I`m grateful that I was blessed with parents to teach me the gospel.

Anyway, it`s been a really great week here. We`ve been working hard to help people to progress towards baptism. On Saturday, we had a bunch of people committed to go to church and the day went great. Yesterday we had a little bit of disappointment because Adolfo and Nelson didn`t make it. Adolfo had a baptismal date for the 9th and Nelson for the 16th so it was important for them to go. We will keep working with them. They are both really great and have the desires to be baptized. We just need to help them understand the importance of their committments and help them know that they are making committments with God, not us, the missionaries.

Some really good news is that the entire Mesa family made it to church yesterday, that was so awesome. Brother Mesa is doing much better and from the last time that we asked him on Saturday, he hasn`t smoked or drinked (drank? drunken? my English is terrible) in almost a week. We are hoping and praying that they can be baptized on the 16th.

It was great to hear from Grandma and Grandpa, thanks for writing! I really appreciated your notes.

You`ll have to tell Jake Adams hey for me. I wrote him in Colombia while I was still in Santa Rita a while ago, but I don`t know if it got to him. I`m sure he`s having a great time adjusting back to normal life, whew that`s gonna be weird.

I love you all very much and always love hearing from you!

I know that this is the work of the Lord. I feel so blessed to be a missionary. I`m very grateful for the Spirit. I was reading a conferene talk this morning by Elder Bednar (I love his talks) about the Spirit of Revelation. I know that what he said about receiving a gradual answer to the truth is true for me. I feel very grateful towards the Lord for having blessed me with constant assurances of the truth. Thanks for being so great. I love you all lots!

Elder Snow

P.S. I threw in a picture of Elder Durrant and I at the leaders conference. I saw Elder Merrill there too. They`re great Elders. Notice my comb over, What!!!!

Elder Snow and Elder Durrant