The Baptism of Jorge - April 15, 2012

Dear Family,

 

We have had a really exciting week here in Pilar. The baptism of Jorge went really well. His progression has been really neat to see. Elder Shaw and I found him really not too long ago. He was baptized I think a month to the day after we first met him. When we first talked with him about baptism, he was willing to be baptized if God answered his prayers, but didn't really want to accept a baptismal date. Through Marcos and Romina's help as well as the desires of Jorge to know the truth, Jorge was able to progress and really know the truth of the Gospel. Last week we went over the questions of the baptismal interview with him and he was able to answer every one fine. He only needed a stronger testimony of the prophet Joseph Smith. By reading and praying, he was able to gain that testimony. A couple of days before his baptism, we were verifying his prayers and asking if he had received his answer. He mentioned that while he doesn't know everything, he felt that he needed to get baptized and that it was what God wanted of him.

Elder Ramos, Jorge and Elder Snow

Romina, Jorge and Marcos

We had the baptism on Saturday afternoon. Marcos (a returned missionary from our branch) is another friend of Jorge and was able to perform the ordinance. Romina gave a talk during the baptismal service and several other members came to the baptism to show their support. Jorge is a really great convert and will be able to do a lot for the church here in Pilar. He has been reading the Book of Mormon like crazy and his faith is growing a lot. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has the power to change lives. I know that the Atonement is real and that our Savior lives.

Things are going really well with Elder Ramos, we get along really well and are both really focused on the work. We will see a lot of miracles together. There really aren´t that many cultural differences, at least while serving as missionaries. The Gospel that we teach together is the same everywhere so we always find lots in common.

Yesterday we were able to bring a couple of new investigators to church as well. Right next to the church (literally like 20 feet away) we are teaching a single mom (Zulma) and her daughter (Cintia). I had taught them one or two times with Elder Shaw and Zulma had seemed really great and we felt that she would progress. After that it was a little difficult to find her and she wasn´t keeping the appointments that we would set so we stopped visiting. Last week Elder Ramos and I decided to pass by again. Yesterday morning we were able to pass by with the Suarez family and that helped to resolve a couple of the doubts that Zulma had about church. So when the afternoon rolled around Zulma and Cintia both made it to church and had a really great time. Cintia was a little nervous at first in the primary but after a while made some friends and all was well. They want to come again next week. We are excited to see some more progress with them.

The other investigators that we had been teaching like Gricelda and her daughters and Yudy and her son didn´t make it to church yesterday. We will have to work a little bit harder with the members to get them to church. The time or two in going to church is always more difficult. But when we can get investigators to church, they feel the Spirit and they know that there is something special there.

Thank you for all of your love and support! Every Monday we get the encomienda with the written mail and it seems as if Elder Snow´s friends have forgotten about him, haha. But I don´t get depressed because I am grateful for a wonderful family that writes me every week and helps me to keep working hard. I love you all very much. I hope that you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Snow

Ahh...So Much Food - April 9, 2012

Dear Family,

 

Before anything else, Happy Birthday this week to Steph!! I hope you have a great one. Love you!!

Wow it has been really great to hear from you all this week!! Haha it was fun to hear that you are keeping the Easter traditions alive. I definitely had a nice hungry feeling when Mom mentioned the Egg McMuffin thing that we would also prepare on Easter Morning. Haha, good times

Well it has been a really crazy week here as well! We have just been working harder than ever and seeing miracles from the Lord´s hand.

This past week was also change week. Elder Shaw and I weren´t really expecting a change, but the Assistants called us on Monday night to tell us that Elder Shaw would be leaving. On Tuesday Elder Shaw said goodbye to a lot of people and on Tuesday night we took off in a bus to Asunción. There I picked up my new companion... drum roll..... Elder Ramos!! He is really great. Elder Ramos is from Lima, Perú. I´m pretty glad, I had gone a while without a Latin companion and my Spanish was getting terrible haah. Elder Ramos has like 14 months in the mission and has been a zone leader for about 3 changes already. I am really excited to be with him, he teaches super well and really relates well to the people. I can tell that this will be a great companionship and that we will see lots of success together. Funny story, Elder Ramos is from the same stake in Perú as Elder Bazán, my companion from last year and they knew each other before the mission. Small world.

So on Wednesday I was on a bus pretty much all day going to Asunción and then heading back to Pilar. Thursday through yesterday, Sunday we worked really hard to make up for the time we lost and the Lord really blessed us so much. The week ended up well. Yesterday we didn´t have as many people in church as we were hoping for, but we still saw progress. Another new investigator made it to church for the first time yesterday. His name is Cesar. It is another reference from a member. He is the boyfriend of Lillian, a recent convert of about 6 months. Cesar and Lillian have been passing a lot of time with the Suarez family and the Suarez´s helped them a lot to make it to church yesterday. Lillian had been going a little less active but now is attending again.

Another great miracle from this week is with Jorge Jara. I had talked a little bit about him last week. He is the reference from the returned missionary named Romina. The members have continued helping a lot to fellowship him. After the conference last week, Romina and a couple other young adults invited him over to watch the Joseph Smith movie and he really liked it. Jorge has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying diligently to know the truth. He says that every time he feels more and more sure of the truth of it and more ready for his baptism. He has a baptismal date for this Saturday, the 14th and we are working really hard with him to help him be really prepared. I love finding sincere people who are looking for the truth. Jorge is a very sincere person that wants to do the Lord´s will. He will be a great leader in the church in the future.

I really enjoyed this past week. This year for the first time I really thought about the Savior a lot during this Easter Season. I am so grateful for the mission, in this time I have learned to really appreciate the sacrifice that He gave for us. I know that He lives and I know that he is our Savior.

Plus there is a lot to enjoy here in Paraguay during Easter. They call it the semana santa. Ahh so much food. The people are all super happy and nice and give us chipa, sopa paraguaya (my favorite) and all sorts of food. All week on the TV stations they play movies of Christ and of other Prophets and everyone spends lots of time with the family. Easter morning (Sunday) isn´t as big here. The biggest days are Thursday and Friday. It´s interesting to notice the difference in the culture.

Well I´m getting a little low on time. I love you all very much! Thanks for all of the support and love I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Snow

Like a Kid Waiting For Christmas - April 2, 2012

Dear Family!!

 

Great to hear from you. We have had an incredible week here in Pilar. General Conference this weekend has been a real treat. I always look forward to it. I found myself feeling on Friday evening like a kid waiting for Christmas, haha. I think that General Conference might be the Christmas for missionaries. Anyway, I got a lot from it and we were able to take many investigators so all in all it was a fantastic weekend.

This past week we have been working really hard, especially with the members to get investigators excited to attend church. The past several weeks we had been struggling to get new people to church. We decided that we needed to do more teaching with members, help the members fellowship and be real friends of our investigators. We also set the goal to teach more lessons to investigators in the homes of members. Studies on missionary work have shown that many more people are baptized when they are taught in a member's home. In the end, the hard work paid off and we were able to get a lot of people in church yesterday.

This week we have seen a lot of progress with the family of Gricelda. A couple of weeks ago I went to do a division with the other missionaries in Pilar. They are teaching a young woman and her boyfriend, who is a member. The young woman has been very receptive and we asked her for referrals. She gave us the referral of her mom, who actually lives in the area of Elder Shaw and I. So we contacted her and have taught her several times in the past week and a half. The key was that we had members in every lesson. Gricelda has become very good friends already with Sister Suarez (The Suarez family help us out so much!). So Gricelda and 3 of her other daughters were able to make it to church Sunday afternoon to see General Conference. What a blessing!

We also saw many miracles in working with Jorge Jara. I don´t know if I have written about Jorge yet. He is 30 years old, single, and works a lot. His work is next door to that of Romina. Romina is a returned missionary from the other branch. She has set a really good example for Jorge and frequently answers his questions. So Romina gave us the referral a couple weeks back and we have been teaching Jorge. It has gone really well. He is reading in the Book of Mormon and developing a testimony of it. Up until this weekend we hadn´t been able to get him in church. But he finally broke though and made it to two sessions this weekend! He really enjoyed it as well and is progressing well.

Another great miracle we have seen is with the Servin Family! You will all remember the Servins. The family that got baptized my first change in Pilar. They are doing so well! They have been in church every single week without fail. We have been working so hard with them to share the gospel with some of their friends. Up until this past week we hadn´t seen a lot of success. We were praying really hard for them, because the Servin Family was doing their part. They were inviting, testifying, doing everything. This past week we were finally able to teach one of their neighbours. He is a young man named Victor. He is only 14 or 15 but is really intelligent and polite. We taught him a couple of times and the Servin Family brought him to conference yesterday!! Another great miracle. The Lord has really blessed us as we have worked hard with the members and been obedient. I realize now that we were working hard before, but weren´t working well enough with the members. I think that the Lord had us struggle a little bit because He wanted us to learn how to work more effectively.

Apart from that, 3 other investigators made it to church this weekend. The thing is that every one came with a member and was able to sit with that member in church.

Now about General Conference! Wow, so great. I love to always pick out and note the themes of General Conferences. This time there were many messages on the family, the importance of having the goal of the temple, and much about rescuing the less active and reaching out to those who need the Gospel. I received many personal answers during this conference. Dad mentioned the talk by Elder Evans. That was one of my favorites, for sure. It was really powerful when he mentioned that as the conference went on, the Spirit had brought someone to our minds, some prompting came of a person who we needed to reach out to. He promised that as we followed those promptings with faith that we would be able to change a person and, effectively, generations.

I also loved Elder Holland´s talk. Many spoke of how it´s never too late, or never is a person too far away to come back. Very touching. I am so grateful to the Lord and to Jesus Christ for His sacrifice. I know that through Him we can be saved and make our way back to Him. I know that the Atonement is real. I know that through it we can experience the greatest joy and peace of our lives. I know that this true.

I love you all very much! Please keep going onward, I know that we are in the truth. Have a great week!

Elder Snow

Where Else Can One Do That? - March 26, 2012

Dear Family!!!

 

Wow!! What an exciting week. Thank you for sending the pics of the baby. Definitely fun to see. London Grace is a cute name, she is a real cutie too! Wednesday here in Pilar was a wild day!! Wednesday it rained harder than any other day in my mission. The streets got super flooded!! Elder Shaw and I had a good time cruising flooded Pilarense streets on our bikes. I love the mission!! Where else can one do that?

This past week we have been working super hard and finding lots of incredible people to teach. Our struggle continues to be getting new people in church, but Elder Shaw and I have a lot of faith that this next week we are going to destroy General Conference with lots of investigators in church.

Right now we are in Asunción. This morning we had a leadership conference. We got here early this morning because President Callan had something special planned to do. At 7 o clock bright and early we went out to the Botanical Garden of Paraguay. President Callan told us some of the history of the church in Paraguay and we went to the site in the Botanical Garden where Ezra Taft Benson offered a dedicatory prayer for the preaching of the gospel in Paragay. The prayer was offered the same morning that the first stake in Paraguay was organized. President Callan read the words of the dedicatory prayer and we all reflected on the mission and the church here in Paraguay. It was a really special moment and helped me to remember the purpose of our missionary work and why I am here. I really love missionary work. I want to develop a stronger love for the people of Paraguay. I think that is something that I am lacking and can do better.

After the Botanical Garden we returned to the mission office and had the consejo. We talked a lot about the vision of the mission, how to earn references from members, how the zones are doing. Our zone has been doing really well for the past few changes and we were really happy that every companionship in our zone baptized this past month. The Lord has been blessing us so much and we are grateful for it.

We are excited for this next week and for the opportunity to listen to the Prophet. It´s amazing how much I have grown to love General Conference. What a blessing it is.

I hope you are all doing really well! I am grateful for your support. I want you all to know that I have a testimony of this church. I know that it is the truth. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that God guides us through a prophet today.

Love,

Elder Snow

How Cool is That! - March 19,2012

Dear Family,

It was really neat to hear this week about the baptisms in the stake! Thanks for sharing a couple of those special experiences. I was thinking about the de Ruyter family a few months ago. That is such a blessing that Sister de Ruyter was baptized. I imagine that Brother de Ruyter was pretty content. He is a really great man, I feel bad for giving him a rough time in my Sophomore year of seminary. I`m glad that Melanie is a much better seminary student than I was. What an example of the miracles of missionary work. I know that this is the Lord`s work and that His hand guides and directs it.

This week we have been working a lot to find more new investigators. We have been struggling a little bit with getting the new investigators in church, however. This week we really want to work better with the members so that the investigators can leap that hurdle and make it to church. We found a great family that we have been teaching. The dad´s name is Ipórito. He is an elderly man, he´s probably around 65 years old. His wife passed away and he lives with one of his daughters, Liz, and some of his grandchildren. Ipórito and Liz received us very well and we taught them about the Restoration. It was amazing how they paid very close attention and showed true interest in the message. The Spirit was very strong during the part of the first vision of Joseph Smith. We introduced the Book of Mormon and left a part for them to read. By the next visit, Ipórito had read and was already developing a testimony of its truthfulness. He used to be very active in the Catholic church but has since doubted that the Catholic church is true for deception that he felt from some of its members and leaders. He is a sincere person looking for the truth. Ipórito and his daughters weren´t able to make it to church, however. We will continue working with them.

Yesterday we had the District Conference here in Pilar. President and Sister Callan came and spoke along with several members from the Pilar District. Most of the meeting´s theme was on the family. It was really neat to hear the members´ testimonies about their families and how important their families are to them. President Callan talked a lot on prophets and the blessing of having a living prophet today. He shared experiences of how he has gained a testimony that there is a living prophet today on earth.

One cool experience from a couple of weeks ago that I had forgotten to mention. Last month when Elder Shaw and I went to Asunción for the leadership council with the zone leaders, when we were waiting in the terminal in Asunción for a bus to come back to Pilar I saw Eduardo Calderón. Eduardo is the convert of Elder Bonilla and I from a while back. I was able to talk to him for a little bit and it was really good to catch up. He is doing very well. The coolest thing though is that just that Saturday he had the opportunity to baptize his older sister. He gave me a picture of the baptism with him and his sister dressed in white. How cool is that! Back when Eduardo got baptized, the rest of his family wasn´t very interested but he was able to help her make it to the waters of baptism. It was a really cool moment that helped me to remember what the mission is all about.

I am grateful for all of you!! Thanks for everything, for all of your support. Have a great week!

Love,
Elder Snow

The Lord is Paying Off Our Efforts Big Time - March 12, 2011

Dear Family!

So great to hear from you this week. It has been a great week. The Lord has been paying our efforts off big time. The past 2 weeks we had struggled a little bit to find new investigators but the Lord is sending many miracles our way to help work among His children here in Pilar.

After the trip to the temple on Tuesday, we did divisions with a district leader from our zone and his companion. Elder Davis came back to Pilar with me and we worked here on Wednesday. We found a couple of great new people and the Lord blessed us greatly. On Wednesday night (for like the third night in a row) we were traveling and then on Thursday I was back with Elder Shaw. After all of the traveling we were a little pooped out but we got out there and worked anyway. The Lord really helped us to continue onward. This past week I have been studying a lot about Christ like attributes and it has helped me to complain less and trust more in the Lord. I have noticed a difference and I know that trying to become more like Christ is such an important goal in our lives.

On Friday we had a pretty cool experience in the morning. We left our pension in the morning and were on our way to where we had planned (it wasn`t a confirmed appointment). On the way we rode past a man that was sitting outside. At first we just cruised by him. Then almost at the same time Elder Shaw and I turned around on the bikes to contact him. It was cool how we both felt the same impression to go back. We sat down to teach him and the lesson went really well. His name is Max and he had shared with missionaries a long time ago in Asunción but has not met with them since. Max was raised Catholic but about 5 years ago at age 50 he converted to an Evangelical Church and really wants to know which church is true. He also noticed how we had kind of passed him then we turned around to go back and talk to him. He said that the Spirit had told us to go back. It`s the truth.

Dad had asked a little bit about Gabriela´s family. She lives alone with her mom. Her mom is also a member that was baptized in another town over 10 years ago. She was inactive when we found them but has attended church every week with Gabriela.

I love this work. I am so grateful for the blessing to be here in the mission. I love you all. have a great week!

Elder Snow

Woo Hoo - March 6, 2012

Dear Family!!!

Sorry this will be another short one. We are here in Asunción again today, this time attending the temple. That is also why you didn`t get an email yesterday, rather today. Woops. Last night we had to travel through the night and we will be getting home in Pilar late tonight. That was interesting to hear about all of the Amazing Race in Paraguay things. To be honest, I haven`t heard of any of those places really, haha. The big fruit market that they went to maybe, is it called Mercado Abasto? I know that one if it is.

Elders Snow & Shaw with Servin Family

Brother & Sister Servin, Elder Snow & Elder Shaw

Anywho, in this letter I am trying to send some long overdue fotos from the Servin baptism as well as some fotos from Gabriela´s baptism this week! Woo hoo. It went really well. She is a great girl and both her and her mom seemed very happy with the baptism.

Gabriela

Gabriela's Baptism

These past few weeks Elder Shaw and I have been working really hard to find new investigators, but haven`t had a whole lot of success. Yesterday we found some really great new investigators that seem like they will progress. It seems to happen like that a lot of times, for weeks we can`t find anyone then all at once we find a lot of great new people. That happened with Elder Curtis in my last area. I think that sometimes the Lord tests us to see how much we are willing to give, how far we can push ourselves. I know that if we do our part, the Lord will fill in the gap.

This past week I finished the Book of Mormon again in Spanish. At the start of the year, I was about half way through and I set a goal to finish the Book of Mormon and read it all the way through again before July. So I just restarted reading this week and am on pace to do it. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I love it.

The temple today was really great. It`s always a real blessing to go to the temple and to feel the special spirit there. It`s amazing the difference that one can feel between being in and outside of the temple. It is the house of the Lord.

Anyway, I`m gonna pass the computer off to Elder Shaw because there aren`t any computers open and we are sharing this one. But I love you all so much!!!

Elder Snow