Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Crazy with Life!

On Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 3:08 PM,
 Danielle Snow <danielle.snow@myldsmail.net> wrote:

Hi mom, 
Wow yea our house is a revolving door. haha but it keeps life exciting, right? Sounds like it should be an exciting week for you all. Tell everyone hello for me. You will have to let me know how you being home alone for that long goes. . [Brad and McKayla went to Youth Conference] How is it just being a family of 3 now? 
Yes, I got your pix letter. Thanks.  Oh, that is so cool!! [I met Erin Gruwell "Freedom Writers"] I can't wait to read it. [Bought her latest book "Teach with your Heart] That is so cool that you got to meet her. 
Oh good I am glad you got to watch the broadcast [The Work of Salvation], yes it was amazing! Can't wait to see what all these changes bring! It is so exciting to be out here and a part of it all! 

Here is my story for the week.  . 
It was exciting, our investigator Raul, came to the Spanish Branch yesterday and was welcomed by so many. He understood what was going on more and he had a smile on his face that was so big.  And then we got out of the, what we thought was going to be a one hour fireside but ended up being 2 hours, Raul was sitting out in the foyer. He dropped his daughter off and we didn't think he would come back, but he did, and he listened to the whole thing out there, we were so excited to see him, but felt bad that he didn't come in a find us. Any who, one reason we were so excited was that he ended up going to church for 5 hours straight yesterday and he is not even a member! haha so cool! Now we just have to get him baptized! haha 

Thanks for the emails, letters, support, love and everything else. It really helps, as does the bright sunshiny days that we have been having. I don't realize how white I am until I step outside...my legs are reflective. haha my arms have a little bit from sticking them out the window.  

I hope everything goes well for you all! 
mucho amor
Hermana Snow

Annual Mission Report to Parents

Monday, June 24, 2013

Dear Brother and Sister Snow,

We have completed the first year of our service in the Idaho Pocatello Mission and it has been very eventful.  The central and most exciting part of the first year is President Monson's announcement in the October 2012 General Conference that young men could now begin serving missions at age 18, and young women could serve at 19.  Since the beginning of 2013, the number of missionaries serving in our mission has risen from 180 to 220.  By the end of August that number should exceed 250.  It is wonderful to us that although the missionaries are younger, they are as good or better than ever.  We are excited for the future of missionary work in the IPM.

Some areas we have been focusing on, include our Standard of Excellence - each companionship baptizes each month; teaching more lessons to investigators and members; extending firm baptismal commitments and then helping investigators successfully get baptized.  We also emphasize the importance of teaching more investigator lessons in members' homes and teaching more lessons during a tour of our dedicated meeting houses to help investigators feel more comfortable coming to church meetings.

Your missionary is making wonderful progress and is a vital part of the work of proclaiming the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thank you for supporting her by your letters, your love and encouragement.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to help your missionary be more successful

With love and gratitude,

President and Sister Brinkerhoff

Idaho Pocatello Mission
2013010@ldschurch.org
208-233-0130

How's your Week

Monday, June 17, 2013

Hola mommy,
I know it is crazy that this month is half over, and how exciting for you to fly out there for the National PTA Convention. I bet you will have tonz of fun and can't wait to hear all about it. I love the Father's day gift. It looks so comfy. [bought a free standing hammock] Well at least someone is getting some use out of that awesome bike. [Shayla took Dani's bike to Bear Lake] I hope she is doing better up there, I haven't heard anything from her in a couple weeks. Yea I am proud of her too, and this will all be really good for her. That is super cool that she came home for Father's day and got to stay a little while, Oh little Shay is growing up. haha 

Not much has been happening here. Still just teaching, but our investigators aren't progressing very well at the moment. which is super sad b/c they were doing so good. We have had like 3 investigators move, including a family that were so ready to be baptized . .but they moved into one of the Elder's areas, so hopefully they can work with them and get them baptized. So it has been a rough week. The lady I invited to be baptized, who was so excited, started going backwards and we have not had any contact with her in like a few weeks. Our teaching pool has shrunk considerably, but we are still trying to work hard and find referrals. I guess it is good to have successful times and not so successful times, but it is hard either way. Definitely a faith tester and builder. 

Can't wait for your letter, 
te amo!!
Hermana Snow




1.This is a picture of Keygan, the cute little boy who we are teaching. He is a foster child of the Bishop of one of our wards. This couple are saints, they aren't able to have their own kids so they take in foster children with mental or physical disabilities and raise them in the gospel, they have had like over 50 kids through foster care and have adopted like a dozen of them. It is pretty incredible.
 
 

2. A picture that Keygan took of me, Hna Gorriti, Hna Froerer, Sister Wright and one of their boys Brody.

Monday, June 10, 2013

CHANGING LIVES!

Mon., June 10, 2013
 
Hola, mommy,
I thought you would like that letter, we have had just as busy time as you all it sounds. Thanks for your prayers and support, it is much appreciated. I am super excited to re-read and look through my Missionary book, it sounds like it is coming together nicely. I think that might be the reason that i am here too, for Silvia. And turns out if you go to lds.org/asl it is an entire webpage designated for ASL. Coolest thing ever!!! The only problem, they don't have internet at their house to pull it up. And get this, The Book of Mormon is on there in ASL, she has an iphone, but it wouldn't let us download it on there so we are trying to figure out what to do. I think we are going to try and download a couple books at a time and put them on a USB for her computer. . Idk, we will see what happens. but it is a sweet and super useful site! haha

That is what you said last week, that you were driving. but i don't know if you read the envolope with the letter, but the reason behind the question. . we were teaching a less active couple that live in a big yellow house just to the east of the freeway, right after the overpass before you hit that blackfoot exit to go to our house. . well we were leaving that house and i look over and saw a gray Chevy Traverse going super fast, and i swear it had Utah plates but i can't be sure . .strange huh? and i knew you were heading up that day, thus the question of what time did you guys pass Blackfoot?  But glad to hear you all had fun at Dax's baby blessing and that Shay made it up okay.  Oh Ashtyn Fe, what are we going to do with her? She will be so grown up when I get home. Her and Dax . . oh goodness. Can't wait to get the pix letter, you do know it is okay to send a written letter every once in a while, right? haha

I will definitely give Sis. Davis the Thank you. I can't wait for you to meet them too! they said they would still be here when i get home, cuz i told her the same thing, that we come up all the time and when i get home i am bringing you all up to meet them! You guys will love them, they are just awesome and my family and home away from home!

That is so sad to hear about Paula, please tell her that her and toddles will be in my prayers and that i love her!
[Paula Lange's dad passed away this morning]
 
Wow!! Liz would be home already. It is crazy how fast time is going by. I have already been here 6 weeks and out a total of just over 3 months. See i told you this 18 months will FLY by!

Thanks for all you are doing and writing. Have a fantastic week!!
Te Amo!
Hermana Snow
 

 
Top picture is Dani, Silvia, Ofelia, David and there grandkids, Shelby and David
Bottom picture is Elder Bills, Silvia, and Dani
 

 
Top picture is Michael, the country redneck, with his little tyke umbrella. He just got the Aaronic priesthood yesterday, and he is working on getting his temple recommend. He should be one of the friend requests on my FB, I don't know if you are keeping up with it or not, but just so you know.

Bottom picture is Sister Tolman. We were in the MTC together, but in diff zones, she also got called to Buenos Aires south, and was reassigned to Pokey . .but this picture is her freaking out, Why? Pres. just told her that she got her VISA . . haha. we were at zone conference in Pokey and he come up shakes her hand and tells her that her visa came, no hello, just that. haha she was freaking out trying to find us to tell us that she was leaving on Sunday, that was a wed. . haha I love that girl. who knows she might train me when I get there . .
 
 

Friday, June 7, 2013

Only a 9 page Letter!



Mon., May 27, 2013

Hola Family,
Sorry it took me so long to send this…it has been crazy busy since I saw you. But here are something’s that happened since the visit...

Friday, May 17th:
After you left we went & visited people. We had lessons planned, but they fell through, so we just visited with some others. One lady we visited, Star was a referral I think. Each time we have tried to visit before she wasn’t home. Today she was. We got in, visited with her, got to know her & ended up teaching the first lesson. Pretty good visit I’d say. She is very open to our message & had a lot of questions about what we taught.  We visited a few others, tried to contact some and actually ended up visiting a fella David & Sylvia that night, so I was able to talk to her some more. She is an awesome artist & I guess her dad is too. So they are able to share that.
Saturday, May 18th:
Like I wrote in dad’s email, Saturday was a day of service. The morning was hard for me to focus, so it was a good distraction to have service, even though it was dark & slightly depressing outside.  Us Hermana’s & the Elders in our Zone were asked to help out with the Blackfoot Marathon @ the finish line. While the Elders directed traffic. It was actually super fun being there, cheering the participants on as they crossed the finish line and a perk…we got to listen to real music.  Haha Bonus. Which lead to us all kind of dancing in place. I sent dad the picture that we took at the end. The reason we three aren’t wearing the yellow helping nanas vests is because they ran out…we were rather sad. Anyway I don’t think I wrote names when I sent the picture so here they are: from L to R:

Elder Finau, Elder Morales, Elder Klepach (not right spelling sorry) Elder Fisher, Elder Crumpton, Elder Parks, Elder Davies [zone leader] Elder T

As we were leaving the marathon to go to our other service appointment it started raining. Good timing, only our other service was going to be helping out a recent convert Michael with his yard…yea that didn’t happen. When we got to Michael’s it was pouring!! When we pulled up Michael was standing outside with a large Red & White little tyke umbrella…I will send you a picture. It was super funny. Well we chatted until the sports activity that day [where we had a record # of people there…20 including the 6 missionaries who were there. It was so cool!] After the sports it cleared up & we went and helped Michael with his yard we each took turns weed whacking & mowing his 6 – 8” grass & weeds…yes I helped mow his lawn…don’t be too surprised. Then we helped him spread more seed. Well we ended up being late to dinner so we showed up in our sweats, apologized & told them that we had just finished service & didn’t have time to change…they understood.  So it was all good. Overall it was a very good day spent mostly in jeans & sweats…minus the marathon where we had to go in our proselyting clothes as we were representing the church. ..but for us it made it even colder to be standing outside for 2 hours. But it was still fun.

Sunday., May 19th:
We had our 6:30 correlation meeting & went to a couple of ward councils. After we saw a lady we are teaching. She was complaining about a fight her & her friend, another lady we are teaching got into or something & she was complaining about how her apartment was trashed & her things were stolen & it all seemed to get out of hand. Well we went & visited the one who was not at church. She hit rock bottom or so it seemed. She was smoking again & feeling like she was all alone. So Hermana Gorriti told her to go shower get cleaned up and we were taking her to church. And that is exactly what we did. I think it was really good for her, she said she didn’t want to at first because it wasn’t her ward, we told her it didn’t matter. But I felt like the talks were really good for her to hear.  She seemed to be doing better after the meeting. Didn’t seem to be as depressed and she knows that if we call or text her & she doesn’t answer that we will pay her a visit & that she can’t get anything by us. Haha.

Monday, May 20th:
P-Day while we were shopping in Wal-Mart we ran into Hermana Clark’s mom & talked to her for a little bit. She said that Hermana Clark got transferred to the Mesa visitor’s center & is doing great. We had dinner with the Davis’s even though we don’t have dinners with others on Monday’s unless we have a FHE with them, so that’s what we did, as we were leaving they found out that Sister Gorriti's birthday was on the 14th & told us to come back after appointments for ice cream. Well, our appointments fell through so we visited Ofelia, David & Sylvia…again. We saw them Friday, Sunday & Monday. But it was fun. Then back to the Davis house for ice cream…I am going to miss them when we leave…they are so fun to talk to & hang with. You guys will have to come up & meet them. 

Tuesday, May 21st:
We did some service, vacuumed the car & went to visit a recent convert who passed out/fell asleep during our lesson & told us she wasn’t well after the nurses (she is living in an assisted living residence) woke her up. So we let her go rest. We had 4 or 5 teaching appointments & only one cancelled. We were teaching this family about 10 min. outside of town in one of the wards we cover who live on the reservation. We taught them about fasting & fast offerings. Talked to them about what they read & then mentioned that we would talk about tithing another day. But they just kept talking & talking & we love talking to them but we were about 40 min. late to our next appointment…that we were having at the Bishop of that wards house…yea, we felt absolutely terrible that we were so late. We called him & apologized and told him what happened. He said he understood and that we would only be able to have a short lesson seeing how it was almost 9 and we had to be at our apartment at 9:30. Anyway, we were invited by the Bishop to teach a kid that they have as a foster child. He is physically disabled. He can walk & do almost anything and he has to be fed thru a tube but what he lacks physically he definitely makes up for in spirit, excitement & desire to learn as much as he can. This boy is golden. The Bishop has given permission for him to be baptized and his birth mother has given him permission, the only problem is that he is in current custody of the state and we don’t know if they will give permission or not. So they are trying to work out an adoption. By the way this kids name is Keygan. I will get a picture with him next time we teach him, so you can see him. Then we went & met the sister training leaders (the sisters who are over all the sister missionaries in an area) for exchanges. Sister Gorriti went down to Pocatello with Sister Tomsic & her companion Sister Dingle stayed here with me & Sister Froerer.

Wednesday, May 22nd:
Exchange day, Sister Gorriti spent the day in Pocatello with Sister Tomsic going to all her appointments and such. And Sister Dingle did the same with Sister Froerer & I up here. She went to our district meeting with us and all our appointments that day. This poor girl is very allergic to anything dairy & I mean anything with dairy in it. And we thought Shay didn’t have much to eat…[Shayla is lactose intolerant] but it was exciting to have her even though we were nervous to begin with. She is such a fun & cute girl & is going home in like 2 – 3 months. So she has had a lot of experiences. Anyway, the highlight of the day: we were teaching Star the second lesson & it was just what she needed to hear because before we started teaching she was telling us about her parents, how they have passed & how she wants to do their work in the temple one day which lead right into our lesson on the plan of salvation. The lesson went really well, she was receptive & had a lot of good questions. So we were able to get a good discussion going. Near the end of the lesson she gets a knock at the door & it just so happens that it was the Bishop of the ward she is living in, one of the Counselors & the Ward Mission Leader…well it was cool to have them there to bear their testimony’s to her. But side note: that morning Tuesday morning while talking about what we were going to teach her & who was going to invite her to baptism…it was decided that it was my turn. Okay back to the story; now before the Bishop & everyone showed up I was just about to ask her to be baptized…then the doorbell rang. At first I was a little nervous to have them there when I asked her, but once we all got settled back down, with Star now sitting next to me, I asked her to follow the example of Jesus Christ & be baptized & she said YES! We were all excited, we set her a date to work towards (she still has to quit smoking) and I told her that I can see the desire that she has to learn more & to one day get to the temple. Honestly, I think that having the Bishop there really helped the spirit come alive when I asked her.  She wasn’t nervous or very hesitant, but rather had the look of deep sincere thought when she said yes. And the spirit that was there was amazing. So that was definitely a high point & an exciting point for me.

Thursday, May 23rd:
Not much happened or at least nothing really exciting. Visited some referrals taught a couple of lessons & went and visited Ofelia, David & Sylvia again. It’s cool to see what I remember & what comes back to me from school & I am even learning some more signs…although there is a ton of fingerspelling going on. But that’s okay she understands. I almost forgot transfer calls came in this day where Pres. Brinkerhoff calls all the missionaries and leaves messages about all the changes happening this transfer, who’s going home, who is getting new companions & who is getting transferred. Hermana Gorriti was on edge every time someone called. It was actually kinda funny.  But us three are staying here in Blackfoot together. Still no word on the VISA situation so I assume I am here for at least another 6 weeks.

Friday, May 24th:
We had our new missionary follow up meeting with Pres. & Sis. Brinkerhoff and the AP’s in I.F. they talked about the 12 week training program & then we split into 2 groups, all the new missionaries with Sister Brinkerhoff where we talked about the experiences we have had so far. It was cool, I was able to see Elders Peterson & Stowell and all the missionaries that I came up with again. And the Elders & I chatted about what was going on about how Elder Peterson got transferred to a new area. I told them about Hermana Andreasen & we talked about what was happening, or I guess not happening with our VISA’s. We taught a few lessons after coming back from the meeting and another high point, or I guess the high point of the day, in our last lesson of the day we taught the first lesson to a family that lives near us. The dad, Raul is Peruvian & speaks a little English but mostly Spanish & understands the gospel more when taught in Spanish. Hermana Froerer & I were teaching the rest of the family, Anna & her 3 kids Austin, Alyssa & Lotecia. With Hna Gorriti translating what we couldn’t in Spanish. We had only planned to teach part of the lesson & stop before we got to Joseph Smith [side note: in the MTC we only memorized the first vision in Spanish, not English & Hna Gorriti knows this…] well we were getting closer to the part about Joseph Smith & I got a feeling that I was going to give the first vision in Spanish to Raul, keep in mind that I have only really said it in the morning during comp study & not in a lesson yet. But I thought no I can do this, I know this, just then Hna Gorriti nudged me & whispered ‘give the first vision in Spanish’ haha oh the subtle workings of the spirit. So it came time & I gave it only messing up once or twice, but the spirit that flooded into the room was so powerful. When I started reciting it you could definitely feel a change & this family that is usually not very quiet or attentive, was quiet, still & paying attention & I know they could feel it. It came pretty close to the feelings we had in the MTC during class when our teacher would role play with one of us. When she would recite the first vision in Spanish, the spirit was so powerful it gave you chills. So for me to have that same experience here but with me reciting it was pretty sweet. All three of us came out of that lesson on a spiritual high & feeling just…I don’t really know how to describe it…we just felt really good as we drove home. As we talked on the drive back I told Hna Gorriti that I had the feeling that I was going to give the first vision & how after got that feeling she nudged me. She told me that I did good which helps boost my confidence & we all said that we could feel the spirit and a change in the house. So it was a good lesson for all of us.

Saturday, May 25th:
Not a very exciting day. We helped clean the Stake Center. Went to the sports activity where we had total of 18 people there. Not as many as last week, but pretty close.  Then we taught a couple lessons, tried to visit some people & came back to the house to finish our weekly planning & do progress records for our Sunday Correlation Meeting.

Sunday, May 26th:
So far every other day has had a high point since Wednesday, this day was no exception. Started with correlation at 6:30. We went to a couple ward council meetings, then spoke in a ward (they finally got us, last time they asked I was sick & we weren’t able to do it) and all this happened before 10:00 am. Anyway, the high point of the day…so when we were in I.F. for our sisters temple trip we talked to the visitor center front desk & asked them if we could use the theater that Sunday to show Ofelia & David a movie while we, we being myself and an Elder who is serving in I.F. who we found out speaks ASL, gave Silvia a tour of the V.C. They said it would be fine & they would contact Elder Bills, the one who signs. Well it didn’t end up happening that Sunday (and we found out later that week that David was waiting around for us, so excited to go, & Ofelia forgot to tell him that we weren’t going to go because something’s got mixed up, he was really sad) so we rescheduled for this Sunday. We stopped by their house so they could follow us to I.F., Ofelia was all dressed up from attending her Catholic service earlier that day & they had been waiting for us ever since bringing along 2 of her grandchildren, David & Shelby. We get there, introduce them to the missionaries who would be helping Ofelia & David, introduced myself & Silvia to Elder Bills & we got started. 

We started at the Statue of Christ, like the very large one they have in Temple Square where He is showing us the nail wounds in his hands & feet. They played the story in Spanish, then in English so we could understand what to translate for Silvia & I think between Elder Bills & I (with our companions patiently keeping in sight & sound of us) gave Silvia a tour starting with a Kiosk that was full of Books of Mormon in all different languages. Elder Bills & I (well mostly Elder Bills with a little of my help) taught her the first lesson, about Christ & his ministry & Joseph Smith & he recited the first vision, a shortened ASL version but it was still cool. Meanwhile, I am watching him & trying to pick up new signs & gospel vocabulary while Silvia was looking at the books Elder Bills & I got talking & he told me that he hadn’t used sign language in years until his mission & that he had already taught the first lesson in ASL 4 times. I told him my background in signing & he said that we could help each other try & get the important points of the gospel across to Silvia.

Next we showed her pictures of Pres. Monson & the 1st Presidency, pictures of the 12 apostles & I explained who they were & what they did.  They had a Kiosk about the building of the Idaho Falls Temple that explained who was prophet at that time, the dedication & the placing of the Angel Moroni, that we showed & explained to her. They had a case that had the glass that was used for the chandeliers & windows & the stone that was used, and I told her that only the best goes into making temples. She understood all of what we told her so far, which was cool.  Elder Bills told her about Angel Moroni & why he is on top of the temples. Then we moved to a displayed pictures of rooms in the temple. We explained to her about the font, she pointed out the oxen, so we talked about those & explained Baptisms for the dead & what happens with that. When it came to explaining the other rooms, the Garden Room, the Ordinance Room & the Celestial Room, we weren’t really sure how to go about doing that until Elder Bills had an idea, we used them to tell her about the 3 kingdoms of glory. The garden room as the Telestial Kingdom, the ordinance room as the Terrestial Kingdom & the Celestial room as the Celestial Kingdom. She was very open & receptive to all of it. She contributed what she knew (which was quite a bit) & we explained what she didn’t know or understood. It was really really cool. Afterwards we took pictures in front of the Christis (not sure on spelling) & we got one of Elder Bills, Silvia & I in front of it. (I think I will send you another letter with my memory card, like I did before explaining all the pictures) we then took a walk around the outside of the temple & just pointed out different things around the grounds & such & then we got a couple more pictures & all went home. We at least were on a spiritual high as we left. I hope they were too. Talking about it I know they felt good, peaceful & noticed a difference.

Monday, May 27th:
Just another P-day, nothing really exciting happened.  We had dinner with Ofelia, David & Silvia. Ofelia taught us how to make tortillas & salsa.  While we were emailing Hna Gorriti found the Book of Mormon in sign language on LDS.org, so we tried to show her on her phone cuz they don’t have internet, but it wouldn’t bring it up, so we told her we would see if we could download it for her. But we did leave The Testaments Movie with her because it has a ASK subtitle option & with Ofelia & David, we left them the 1st disc of the Book of Mormon cd’s so they could listen to them. Turns out they have listened to quite a bit of 1 Nephi, which is really cool because Ofelia is a hard core Catholic & she told us that she would listen to us, but she’s not going to change religions…we will have to see what happens there. She is super nice & generous & Hna Gorriti says every time we leave their house, that she would be the perfect Mormon mom. Haha of which I totally agree. (p.s. I got your email, but as we were emailing at the Davis’ cuz the F. H. Library was closed I didn’t have a lot of time on the computer to read & respond. I am very sorry)

Tuesday, May 28th:
We helped Michael put them on his truck, [not sure what they put on his truck] we held it in place while he screwed them into place. Taught a couple lessons & did more service helping an elderly lady pulling up weeds in her very small garden square & getting ready to plant new flowers.  We finally were able to teach Robert again. [Large husky redneck with mustache that goes to his chin] We had him read the Joseph Smith pamphlet with his story & testimony & he liked it and understood it. The only question he had was why was he the one that was chosen, we explained that he was chosen to restore the church because he had a deep sincere desire to know which church was true. Then we each bore our testimonies about the Book of Mormon & Joseph Smith & including when we had our “Ah-ha” moments of realization that this Church is true. I told him that I have read & prayed & have known it is true but I shared an experience that happened in the MTC of when it really hit me & hit hard, that the Book of Mormon is a true book & that Joseph Smith was the prophet that brought about the Restoration of this Church. It was a Sunday night after the devotional & my district & I were in our classroom, usually this was the time that we would watch Mormon messages, but we decided to watch the Joseph Smith movie on LDS.org instead. I have seen it before, I know what happens, but there is a part towards the end, I don’t know if it was because I was in the MTC or what, but this part hit me like a ton of bricks. It is when he is just about to leave his friends & family & head for Carthage Jail. He is talking to a group of his neighbors & family & he said “My job is to testify. I know that He lives” Immediately after he said that I was crying, and had that reassuring feeling that there is NO WAY that I can deny that this gospel is true.

When I shared that experience with Robert, I started tearing up, but as I looked him directly in the eyes & shared that with him, I saw a change in his eyes & felt a change in the room. It was cool. No it was so cool! But then he told us that he hasn’t found his “ah-ha” moment yet & he is waiting for it to come. We invited him to be baptized & he said yes, but if & when he gets his “ah-ha” moment. So we are going to keep working on him.

Wednesday, May 29th:
Zone Conference day. We had Zone Conference with the Zones from Shelley south to Pocatello (zones 1-5) & we all met in Pocatello at a Stake Center down there. We had to be there by 8 am so we left here at 7:30 to get there in time. It was really good, it was super long, so starting at 9 to 12:30, then lunch, then from 1:15 to 3:30, then interviews & a sister’s meeting that went until 4:45 pm. But we had Elder Don R. Clark of the Seventy come & speak. So even though it was super long, it didn’t feel like it because he is a really good speaker & did a lot of interactive examples with all us missionaries. And there was about 140 missionaries give or take a few there. Needless to say I took a lot of notes. He talked about ways we can improve & be more bold in teaching & committing & things we can do to become extraordinary missionaries. We made it back in time for dinner (of mashed potatoes, gravy, roast, rolls & green beans, it was really good) and a couple of our appointments, another overall great day.

Thursday, May 30th:
We had weekly planning for most of the day and a couple of our appointments fell thru but to end the mission tour & zone conference they had an investigator fireside with Don R. Clark speaking & the only way we could go was if we brought an investigator, member or recent convert. So we invited as many as we could, but only one said they would & that was fine with us. That one that said yes was Robert & we were super excited because we had the feeling it would be really good for him, so him & his wife came to the fireside with us. Elder Clark spoke on things the missionaries should be doing when teaching investigators & things to do to help recent converts stay in the church. He listed 5 things, 1.) they need to pray 2.) they need to read 3.) they need to attend Sacrament and other meetings 4.) they need a friend. He said if their friends are in the church, they will stay in the church. If their friends are somewhere else, they will be somewhere else and 5.) they need a calling. They need to be involved with the church & those in it. Again, he was really interactive with all of us. Having the recent converts stand up & asking them different questions. Having the investigators who were not yet members stand up & having all the missionaries stand up. It was cool to see all those that the missionaries brought.

Afterwards we gave Robert & Sandra a tour of the visitor’s center. Showing them the Christus & listen to the short audio that goes with it explaining the different kiosks they had and ending it in watching a Mormon message on forgiveness. Robert said that he still had some questions; but that he did get a lot out of the fireside he thought it was good. And that was what we had hoped for. I am really really sorry I haven’t sent you anything in a while, but here ya are. I will respond to your notes in the email from Monday. It sounds like things are going well & busy for all of you & I hope things continue to go well for you. As you have read things are good here. If you could let Cyndi know that her letter is coming, it would be much appreciated.[kind of an ongoing inside joke] Thank you tonz. Love you all. Miss you lots. Te amo! Hermana Snow

 

 

 

Monday, June 3, 2013

how r u


                Hna Snow & Tessa
They took Tessa to the Idaho Falls Temple to have a tour of the visitor center & temple grounds
 
 
 
Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 1:31 PM
 
Hi mom ,
I am sorry I don't mean to pull a Cyndi on you. I promise.
[Dani says a letter is on the way and I've yet to see it. It's been 2 weeks now. She promised her friend Cyndi while on her mission she'd send a letter - I don't think Cyndi ever got one] 
 
Like you, we have had a lot going on, you should get a letter either today or tomorrow explaining everything that has happened in the last two weeks . . yea Shay emailed me and told me about what she is doing, but she left out the part of hating her first day.  I hope things get better for her.
[Shayla started her first day at LaBeau's in Bear Lake last Friday] 
Here are some pictures. I will hopefully get out a letter with my memory card for you again explaining all of them. . .although it will be longer than the other one.
Sounds like things are going well with Snowybarn and all your travels.
It was good to hear from you,
Love you lots!!
Hermana Snow

VISIT ETC.


Hermana Snow and Sis. Davis in front of the Rexburg Temple.
Dani stayed with Sis. Davis while she was sick















Before Claudia's baptism. L to R
Hna Snow, Hna Froerer, Claudia, Leslie, Claudia's mom & dad and Hna Gorriti 
 














Group of Missionary Volunteers for the Sat., May 18th Marathon
Hermana's were sad that they weren't given a "Helping Hands" vest to wear
so they held up the T-Shirts they were given.
 
From: Danielle Snow [mailto:danielle.snow@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 3:21 PM
To: Brad Snow
Subject: Re: Visit, etc.
 
It was really good to see you all too! My companions I don't know, but it was a little hard for me saying goodbye, I cried on and off the rest of the night and Sat. morning until we had to help with a marathon that was going. It was cold and rainy and windy, but the upside we were able to listen to real music. haha. so it was alright. 
 
Saturday we did a lot of service, starting with the marathon in the morning, and as we were leaving it started to pour, so we left just in time. It was fun as we were around the elders in our zone and we were all dancing to the music.  Next we went to a recent converts house to help him with his yard, but as it was pouring we didn't get much done, until after the sports day, which is an activity that goes on every Saturday from 1 to 3 pm at the stake center, we switch off playing volleyball, soccer, and basketball, and we invite those we are teaching or have taught. So RC [recent converts], investigators or just people we visit. This Sat. we had about 20 people there including the 9 missionaries we had there. It was awesome. Afterwards we went and helped with the yard. We mowed, weed wacked and took out a couple trees. Needless to say it looks a ton better considering the grass was about 4-6 inches long. haha it was quite the job, but we were happy to finally get some service.
 
With Sylvia, the deaf  girl, we actually went and visited them that night, Sat. night and Sunday night. So it was cool to see her that often and really get practice in. She came to the sports day with us, which was awesome introducing her to who was there. But it was tricky at the same time, because there is a mini lesson and prayer at the beginning and at the end, so there was a lot of fingerspelling going on. haha but it was still cool having her there.

fyi, Dani's foreign language throughout High School and College was ASL. She's thrilled to be able to use it.