Ether 12:6...So legit! August 24, 2010

Elder Durrant & Elder Snow

Hey Fam,

I'll answer some q's first:

You mentioned that one of your goals is to contact five people for five minutes each day.  What does that mean?  Do you make phone contacts or what?  

No, we just contact other missionaries around the MTC and give them a little message in Spanish about a topic that we are trying to get more fluent in or that we just recently discovered.

Just one more question, do you get to go to the temple once a week and are you enjoying that opportunity?Yes, we go to the temple every p-day (preparation day). It's always a nice break and I can feel the spirit so strong. The temple is a great place to get revelation. When Spencer W. Kimball received the revelation to give the Priesthood to all worthy males, he was pondering in the temple. I love the spirit there.

This has been a pretty solid week overall. I'll give the day-by-day (Tell me if you like the way I do my letters or not. I have no idea)

On Tuesday, we heard from President Walter Gonzalez of the 1st pres. of the 70 (Presidency of Seventy). He and his wife both gave awesome talks. He emphasized Christ-like teaching and talked about how we need to have the Spirit. She gave a great talk and mentioned her in conversion story how she couldn't understand much of what the missionaries were saying, but she could feel the spirit so strong and the language of the spirit is universal. It helped me realize the importance of teaching with the spirit and making sure that the investigator is able to feel the spirit during the lesson. Then let them know what it is they are feeling!

On Wednesday, E. Durrant and I got 2 new roommates. Up until this point, we had the room to ourselves and that was sweet. So now it's a little crowded, but they are both fluent in Spanish so I ask them questions all the time and they are super helpful. So all in all, I'm grateful for them.

My teacher Sis Smith gave a sweet spiritual thought about trials that we have. Earlier that same day, I had been reading in D and C 121 where Jose Smith is in Liberty Jail and he calls out "O God, where are thou?" Though it may feel like God isn't there sometimes, he is always there to help us out. we need to remember that our trials will only be for a short while, and that it will strengthen us in the long run. Ether 12:6 ! So legit.

On Thursday, I received this really strong witness about the importance of prophets in our lives. I have been continuing my close study of the BOM (Book of Mormon) as suggested by Elder Evans and it has been going awesome. It seems like every time I have a question that I would like answered, I read about it in the BOM the next day. I love that book. Anywho, I had been searching lately for reasons that we need prophets, because that is something that comes up a lot when E. Durrant and I practice lessons on fake investigators. Then I was reading in 1 Ne Chap 15, where Nephi is explaining the vision of the Tree of Life to his brothers and some of his fam. The brothers of Nephi may be able to receive a witness or feel the spirit on their own, but they need the prophet (Nephi) to help them with lots of things. Without Nephi, they would have had no idea what the meaning of Lehi's vision was. This was because Nephi was a prophet and had the keys to receive the extra revelation for his people. Bringing it back to today's terms, we need the prophet always because there are things that we don't understand and we need that extra help and info. Even though we might be able to receive a witness personally, prophets give us counsel of where to go and tell us what things mean.

Friday, E. Durrant and I taught the 1st lesson in the TRC (Teaching Resource Center) again to a volunteer actor. When we go to the TRC on Fri it is kind of a big deal because we are talking to investigators (even though they are fake) for the first time and they each have their specific special "needs" that we need to teach to. And they speak Spanish fast so it's harder. But I think we really nailed it. Our goal to teach the 1st lesson 2 times a day paid off. I think we taught it 15 times in a little more than a week. This was the best one. I am always amazed at how much easier it is to speak Spanish when I'm am talking about the gospel and when the Lord needs me to shine. Now we are moving on to the 2nd lesson, and we are working hard at that now.

On Saturday, we made the big goal to speak only in Spanish. Elder Durrant and I have been doing a pretty good job and I can feel my abilities in Spanish increasing. I've been speaking mostly Spanish for casi 3 days now. So writing this e-mail in English is messing me up, but oh well.

On Sunday, something crazy happened. Our district got moved to another branch, so I have an entirely new Branch Presidency now. The cool thing is one of the counselors in my new presidency was the most recent Mission President in Asuncion South Paraguay, my mission. So I will def have to talk to him about it. He says most of the good elders learn Guarani! So we'll see. He completed his mission presidency about a year ago and he said the current pres is great. 

The new branch is a mix between Americans trying to learn Spanish and international Spansih speakers trying to learn English. It is a little interesting b.c they want to speak Eng. all the time and we want to speak Span. all the time, so we will see how it goes. I am confident that they will be able to help me with my Span. skills.

Sunday night, we heard from Stephen B. Allen. He was great. The thing he said that I liked most was that in order to have the spirit and teach by the spriit, we need to have our ears and minds open, and our mouths shut.

Monday was great. I talked to a woman in Spanish on the phone for 10 min. She was a native speaker and went really fast. But I understood most of it. I sent her a Book of Mormona and bore my testimony like 123890 times.

I am out of time. Love you all so much

Elder Snow

Lofty Goals - August 17, 2010

Hey Fam!

I'll start out by answering some of the questions:

 1.) Have you had any general authorities come to speak yet?  

Yeah we had Elder Evans of the Seventy (can't remember first name) come speak to us last Tuesday night (after I e-mailed you so it's been about a week) and that was absolutely awesome. I could just tell that he was a prophet, seer, and revelator of the Lord. He talked about the importance of using the BOM in teaching the gospel. The big part of his talk was about how the BOM needs to be studied closely and in depth. He went slowly through the first couple of chapters, giving great insights that I have never noticed. And this can be achieved by going slowly and really feasting on the words of Christ. Since then, I have been reading very carefully about a chapter a day from the beginning. I get so much out of it when I really pay attention! I also received the strongest feeling that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and he has to be because of the truthfulness of the BOM. By their fruits ye shall know them!

2.) Does that mean that there are other missionaries going to Paraguay that are in other districts? 

Yeah, so my district is organized by intermediate speaking missionaries. There are 4 going to Argentina, 2 going to Carlsbad, 2 to Fresno, 2 to Salt Lake, and one to Houston. I have run into several other missionaries that are going to Paraguay and reported on the same day as I, but are in the beginner class. So they might be on the same flight down there with me and everything, not sure. But no, they aren't in my branch.

On Wednesday, it was awesome to see Mike. He gave this great lesson on the Plan of Salvation and everyone in my district told me after that they really enjoyed it. I know I did. It was very cool to see a different side of Mike; the side that really loves Christ and loves missionary work. Plus it was nice to see a familiar face. I've also run into Drew Geddes a couple of times and that is always sweet. He is such a neat guy.

I know that the Lord protects his missionaries. When I was reading closely in the BOM on Thursday, I came across a scripture that was talking about how the Lord protected Lehi and his family. I know that when we do the right thing he will protect us.

Let's see... on Friday our District set some pretty lofty goals. This week we are going to teach the 1st discussion in Spanish twice each day, contact 5 people for 5 minutes, read a chapter in the BOM out loud in Spanish, and memorize a scripture each week. So far my companion and I have completed it each day. That means we have taught the full first lesson in Spanish 8 times already! I can see so much improvement in him, myself, and our teaching of the lesson. I know that when we work hard towards our goals, we will be able to reach them and we will be able to improve. The quality of our lessons is getting so much greater and I love it when we get into the restoration part each time. The spirit is always so strong there when we are talking about Joseph Smith and reciting the first vision (which I have perfectly memorized). What's up!

On Saturday we watched this video of a talk Elder Bednar gave on becoming a missionary.  It was so awesome and I was able to gain some very good insights from it. One thing I realized is how important it is to go out and preach the gospel because of what we have been given. God gave us so much and we have been chosen specifically to preach this gospel. I also feel compelled to share it with everyone!

Sunday the Branch Presiden't wife gave this killer talk. One thing stuck with me: Prayer is never stupid. If something is important to us, it is important to our Father in Heaven!

I am also very grateful for my companion. I am grateful that I have a righteous companion because it makes it so much easier for me to do the things that I need to do without worrying about him. Plus he pushes me to do what is right and keep setting higher and higher goals. He is great!

Obedience is starting to become a goal and desire for us rather than a chore. I love having the Spirit as a constant companion becuase I receive so much more help and answers to questions that I have. The work is hard and the commandments a little difficult, but it pays off when we are totally obedient.

Sunday night, we watched Legacy, and it was way funnier than I remember. I laughed at everything. that is probably because I am so humor starved haha. After being so serious all the time, at the first sign of something slightly funny, I crack up. Me enjoying Legacy should be evidence of this. haha

Also on Sundy we had this sweet fireside about music and hymns where the composer of a couple hymns came and explained some of the music and how it dealt with the lyrics of the hymn. We sang Come Thou Fount at the beginning. Love that hymn! And the spirit was so strong during it.

Wells, I got to go.  Until next week

First Letter From MTC! - August 10, 2010

Elder Spencer Call & Elder Snow

Dear Fam!

First of all, Happy Birthday, Mason! I got your letter and it almost made me cry. I miss you lots too buddy and I am sending a letter to you in the mail today, so maybe you'll get that in California when you return!

So I sent you guys a letter on the first night that I was here. We were only allowed to send one letter that first night to tell you we arrived ok but I guess you haven't received that cause you've been out of town. But after that, we are only allowed to write letters on p-days so I guess you will only be hearing from me once a week.

1) Please tell us about your initial impressions of the MTC and about your companion and district. 

From the moment that I walked into the MTC (Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah), I knew that this is where I need to be right now. The spirit here is so strong and I think I've progressed more and felt the Spirit more this week than I have in my entire life. And that's no knock on my life, it is just truly amazing here.

My comp's name is Elder Durrant. He is from Provo, Utah and he just graduated high school. I love him so much already and we have gotten along very well from the beginning. He is such a good example to me and he works hard all the time. We have been setting lots of goals and trying to keep busy constantly. I can already see the blessing of hard work. I'll talk about that a little more later. But yeah, no complaints. The only thing is I won't be prepared for the first time I have a bad companion because my companion is so great now!

The rest of my district is great too. There are 13 guys in the district. I was called to be the district leader and I can already see the blessings from that calling. I have so much love for each missionary in my district and I can tell that they are all going to be great missionaries!

2.) Have you had a chance to run into any of your friends who are at the MTC? 

The very first day when I got here I found a little note in my bag of books from Elder Call. It was great to have that and it helped me feel more at home in the first hours. Serving a mission has caused me to love all the missionaries around here like Elder Call so much more. Then the first day at dinner I ran into both Tyler and Spencer at the same time. They are doing awesome! I saw them both again today while we were doing laundry (we all have the same P-day) (Preparation Day). Tyler leaves for the Peru MTC tomorrow and he is pumped! I'm excited for him. Cameron Labar is in my branch so I see him all the time. He is such a great missionary. The changes I have seen in him are so remarkable and I am so happy and glad for him. He is a great kid. I've also seen Max Hanneman (we totally recognized/remembered each other) he told me I look like dad. haha. And I've seen like 10 other friends/people I knew from BYU so that is also comforting.

3.) How is the food? 

The food is alright. It could definitely be worse. The only thing is it all smells the same. I tried the chicken cordon bleu on Sunday but it came nowhere close to Grandma's. I should just stop eating new chicken c.b. b/c I always walk away disappointed! All in all, it's not bad. Haven't gotten sick yet so that's good I guess

4.) How do you like your instructors? 

My instructors are great and very helpful. Just this Monday we started talking only in Spanish! After five days! The improvement I have seen in such a short time in both myself and my companion is remarkable. I know that Heavenly Father is helping us both.

5.) You’ll have to tell us a little about the first day at the MTC after Dan dropped you off.
So I wrote a lot about that in my letter home so you'll have to read that. Basically we just go straight into class and start working. After dinner we did this cool thing where they hire professional actors to act as investigators and we ask them questions and practice being missionaries. I could feel the spirit so strong right away and I know that this is where I am supposed to be.

I'm sorry to hear about Brother Hawkins. They'll be in my prayers. And it's good to hear that the funeral for Sister Pace went well and that the family is at peace with her passing.

Some of my goals have been complete obedience and trying to constantly be on task.

I've already noticed the blessings of my hard work.  By the second night I was praying and bearing my testimony (not well though) in Spanish and by Friday I had it pretty well down.  Just yesterday my comp and I memorized the entire purpose of missionary work and Joseph Smith's first vision in Spanish and read a chapter in the BOM (Book of Mormon) in Spanish and worked out our plan for the 1st discussion of Preach My Gospel. What's up! But yeah, I can totally see the blessing of hard work and obedience.

My overall theme for the last week has kind of been trying to love everyone. I have been praying for help in loving everyone that I come across. On Friday night, our teacher challenged us to read our fav passages in the BOM then ask God to renew our testimonies/faith. I accepted the challenge and the next day I received guidance and an answer to how I had been praying about loving everyone. We watched this clip with Pres. Eyring where he was talking about loving everyone through the pure love of Christ/Charity. I felt the spirit so strong and received a witness and counsel about when I need to do to improve. It's been going great so far!

How is Steph doing? Tell her I love her.

How is everyone else?

Well I don't have any more time, I hope this letter was sufficient.

Nos vemos,
Elder Snow