Tuesday, September 2, 2014

"I blinked . .and then it was gone"

Holy Guacamole!!!! This is the last email from this missionary before she embarks on the journey home. . . How weird is that. 
Oh well, this week was super interesting.  Besides the fact that it went super fast. Tues evening, all day Wed and all day Thurs, I was sick in the pension. Let me tell you it was so no fun!!!!!!!! 
Something is going on with my body but ya know I really couldn't
tell you what it is.  But it hit me hard, Wed and Thurs it took all I had just to get out of bed and walk to the kitchen or the bathroom. I am really good at going pale too. :) and just my luck I would get sick right before our temple trip on Sat. but thanks to a LOT of rest and liquids we were able to work on Friday and go to the temple with our investigators on Sat.  And OH WOW what an experience it was.  I didn't realize just how much I love and miss the temple.  It was so cool to be able to see their reactions when we got there, to be able to see a hope in their eyes to one day be able to enter this magnificent house of the Lord.  
 
With Marcelo, oh they are so excited to get married and him getting baptized to be able to enter their together!! We had a lesson with them last night explaining more about what goes on with baptisms and that after a year they can enter the mysterious part of the temple and be sealed as a family for time and all eternity!! Oh what happiness it is to be able to help them with their goals to become a family.
 
Our other investigator, Florencia is just like her mom and is super content.  It was so cool to have her there with her mom and her kids, (her husband, yes she is married-that is the biggest problem that we have here is that not many people are married, works all the time as a taxi driver and we have not been able to talk with him) and they were so stinkin' happy the entire time we were there.  We have an appointment with them tonight to have a FHE and talk more about temples! Oh it is so cool to watch the changes take place! Even now I still get a little giddy. hehe 
 
I STILL can't believe that this will be my last week in Argentina, and that sooner than I will like, I will be back in good ole Utah. It really feels like a dream the way it all flew by, but I am grateful for the friendships that I have made down here, for the chance to help others realize their potential as children of God and also for Facebook to keep in touch with them all. haha
 
I hope you all have a good week, Mom don't get distracted too much. And the next time you hear from me it will be my lovely voice. haha
Love you all, see ya soon (that is SUPER weird to write)
Hna Nieve
 
Pix for Kix

 We got to go with our investigators to the temple!!! Oh it was amazing! 
1. One of our investigators and her family.  
L-R: Gabriela, a recent convert and the mom of Florencia. me, 
Florencia investigator that is progressing beautifully!!
Her 3 daughters: the one next to her is Milagros, in purple Candela and the chiquitita Katalina.  
2. Marcelo and his soon to be wife!!! 
They have two kids that were running around when this was taken

 
and just b/c I am me. . .

Monday, August 25, 2014

Days are weeks and weeks are days. ..

Hola hola hola hola, 
Wow for reals, the days are just flying by now, sometimes when we get home to plan the things we did in the morning feel like they happened the day before. It is super crazy. 
 
This week was just as crazy and fun. Our investigator Florencia is so ready to be baptized!! She has come to church with her 3 girls and they just love it.  Her oldest is in the YW's and is starting to work on Personal Progress. The middle is starting to actually stay in the house while we are there and the youngest is starting to warm up to us more and more. She is talking like crazy and we just love them all so much.  We have a stake temple trip planned for this weekend (and we are praying that we are going to be able to go) we talked to Florencia and she said that she is going with her girls and has worked it out with her mom, a recent convert, to make sure that they will all be able to go.  Oh it is super exciting to be able to see them progress, it is just a little sad that I miss the baptism by 4 days...oh well at least I will be able to see the pix on Facebook. haha. 

We also visited a menos activa who we found out is receiving chats from the Jehovah Witnesses . . yea we were a little surprised ourselves. She told us that what they say makes sense and that the bible has everything.  We shared a scripture out of the Book of Mormon and she asked where it is in the bible. . oh honey, we even went back to the basics that the Book of Mormon AND the bible have the fulness of the gospel, that the BOM is just more from God for us now, and that the BOM is what sets us apart from all of the other churches.  But she still just went off about the bible.  It made me think, and I still don't understand, how one could have a testimony of this book that we have and then drop it all. 
 
I Love reading the Book of Mormon and I really find something new in it every time. I just hope one day all these people, that are walking a different path, will be able to find there way back and that they can have a new appreciation for what we have as members of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, cuz I CERTAINLY do, and it grows stronger everyday.
 
Sorry to make this one a bit shorter, we didn't have a whole lot of time to write. Talk to you next week (hopefully) 
Love you all tonz and bunches!!
Hna Snow
 
PIX FOR KIX

my birthday. 
the avocados here with HUGE seeds 
the member that gave them to us told me to take the seeds home and plant them in Utah.:)
 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

"Days go by, I can feel them flying like a hand out the window. . ."

Monday, August 18, 2014
First off, I have no idea how we are already in week 4 of this transfer. I think someone is speeding up the clock. And, mom I got my itinerary this week along with the plans for our tour of the Capitol and the temple trip...lets just say I almost cried again- like when I got the "please don't cry letter". I printed off your letter and was able to read it earlier...oh my goodness what changes have happened. Please tell everyone Hola and that they will be in my prayers. With all that has been happening and just all the crap in this world, I am kinda scared to return to normal life. Don't get me wrong I am super excited to see Everyone but scared to return to all the crap that we are currently separated from.  At lunch with one of the members the other day, we were helping her make a treat for the activity they had for ´children's day´ and her grand kids had the TB on and were looking for a channel with music.  They found MTV and it had music on but then it changed to one of those reality dating shows, I wasn't watching it but it was in English and b/c it is MTV they have swear words like every other word or so and it honestly hurt to listen to them. The others didn't understand what was going on and I asked them to change it. Well talking with my comp about this as we walked back to the pension that night and after thinking about it that day, I told her that I am nervous to go back and understand all the swear words...here it has been great b/c I don't know those words so when said I don't notice. It has been quite a nice break, let me tell ya.  

Aanywho, on a happier note, we had exchanges this week. I always like exchanges to get a different perspective for a day and if you change areas the chance to work in another area. This one took a bit of the stress away. We still don't have a map and I still don't have any idea what the boundaries of our area are exactly but I started doing what I can to organize even though it is still driving me a bit crazy that I am not able to do what I have been thinking about. Especially since I don't have that much time left and I am not going to leave the Hna V without some kind of organization . . haha (mom I totally get this from you)
 
We've started teaching a reference that we got from another area in our zone, Diana. She is really interested and her boyfriend is a member of the other ward. This week we had our second visit and took a member and wow what a lesson it turned out to be. At first it was a bit rough with her younger siblings running and dancing around, the TV on, her dad had just gotten home, etc.  but as we got talking the Hno asked if her parents wanted to join in the discussion they agreed and we started. Her mom is very catholic and had a straight not so friendly face as we started, but while talking to them about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and explaining a little about how we have the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again. When asking if anyone had questions,  her mom said that she heard that we don't believe in God. It was a little funny but makes you think of the side of non members and what they think or hear about the "Mormons" and all the crazy rumors and after explaining and clearing up a few things the mom seemed a lot more friendly than when we arrived, with the expression ´who are you people and what are you doing in my house?´ And once again the Spirit pulls through for me.  
 
Sat. at the ward activity for children's day, the Bishop asked me if I would give a talk Sun. the next day. I automatically said yes kinda without thinking B/c I am a missionary and that's what we do...haha but I wouldn't have said no anyway. He asked me at 4 on Sat...we had the activity and then went to work for a couple hours until we went back to have language study. Well, lets just say that my language study was me first choosing a topic (Hope), then writing a talk very quickly using True to the Faith, the Scriptures and Preach My Gospel. You know me I am not too much a fan of the whole talk giving, so yea I was nervous. But I guess like what happened with my farewell talk, they said it was a good talk and my comp said that I didn't seem nervous at all. Oh good...now we will see what happens when I have to give a talk in English...it will be interesting to see what happens b/c I can't even say a prayer out loud in English...hehe. 
 
Anywho, hope things continue going good and get better for you all.Say Hello to all for me. Until next time.
Hna Snow

If you could find where this last YEAR went that would be great.

Monday, August 11, 2014
Yea, so this week I realized that I hit a year in Argentina. I am not exactly sure how this happened but it did and I have to accept this fact and carry on.  And that is what I am doing.

This past week we've been finding some menos activos, each with a different story and history as to why they left the church or just stopped going.  It is amazing how many down here have left. Some just because life got in the way, others because they didn't agree with somethings, others cuz things are hard, others who had strong testimonies and one thing happens and they don't want anything to do with it or hear what they need to do b/c "they know what they need to do" . . this far in my mission and I still don't understand. 
With one he told us that he is super busy with work and is backed up for the next couple weeks and that the Lord can wait a little for him to finish all the projects that he is working on. . Um, okay let me know how that works for you. But the only thing we can do is bare our testimonies and pray that the spirit will confirm our words and one day they will realize their actions.  
 
Wednesday we had our zone conference, IT WAS AMAZING as usual, but seriously, they are just so so good and spiritual, it is just great! We talked more about this pilot that we are doing to try and reactivate the menos activos and thru them find new investigators and how we can work more effectively.  Hna Thurgood spoke on our preparedness as missionaries and what we can do to be prepared for any situation, but she specified on the food and water storage and to have enough for 2 or 3 days. . it is as though something is coming.  Its crazy the things that are going on and being completed that have been predicted and talked about for centuries, we really are in the last days and EVERYONE  can tell. But one thing she said really stuck with me, ¨This is not a journey for the weak¨  and oh how true it is, Satan is attacking us from all sides with whatever means that he can, and right now it is more focused on the youth and the family. Yesterday morning (like 8:15) we passed a kid about 13 years old who was drunk and walking the streets . . a little ways down Hna Villa and I talked about how sad it was to see this in the world, chicos out and about doing whatever thing they please with the parents not worrying about what they are doing. Sharing this experience with the members that we had lunch with I told them that after experiences like this it makes you stop and think just how good we really have it, as members of the church of Jesus Christ and to KNOW of our potential and worth as children of God, the blessings, guidance, happiness that we have and can have in this life and the life to come.  
 
There we have handfuls of menos or inactivos, here we have a handful of active members. And a list a mile long of those who need rescuing, who just need that little push or a hug to tell them that they are still loved by a Father who is watching over them in every moment. That even through everything that they have gone thru, He is still there at the door waiting with an outstretched hand to lift us or outstretched arms waiting for us to come back.  I know this is true now more than ever and my testimony is engraven.  But even with that there are those that fall. The General Authorities that have come, namely some of the 70 and Elder Holland, have said that the percentage of RM's that go inactive is bigger now more than ever. It has gone from 1 in 7 to 1 in 5 and now sadly, it is 1 in 3.  We are in the Front lines of a battle that is in full force, that will strain out the weak and make us show what we have. Like Hna Thurgood said "This is not a journey for the weak". 
 
I hope you all remember WHO you are, what your POTENTIAL is, WHO is there waiting for you and WHO is ALWAYS by your side.
Love you all! Have a great week!!
Hna Snow
 
PIX FOR KIX

 this week sí!!!La Plata, 
1. Our awesome district! In our last district meeting before transfers
2 The fabulous crazy zone of la plata! 
This zone was super close and super fun kinda like my first in La Costa
 

 1. My new comp. Hna Villarreal, 19 from Rosario Argentina, convert as of 5 or so years
2. The sky line of the city, from parts of our area you can see La Plata. ha


1. Hna Knowlton decided to translate the area La Plata 2 means the money 2. haha
2. Our last comp pix on the train to transfers dark and early
 

You either laugh or you cry . .and sometimes you do both.

Monday, August 4, 2014
Hola to all of you!!
Holy Guacamole!!! (which side note I gave Hna Knowlton what little we had left of spices that you sent me so she could still make it.) What a week it has been. First, I forgot how much easier it is to work in the country, although I am only about 20 min outside of 
La Plata (and when we go to a couple parts of our area I can see it, the steeples of the Cathedral and all) it is soo different.  The people here are humble and actually willing to listen to you. We don't get rejected by intercom and we can actually talk to people face to face. It is great.  
 
This week the work has been slow due to a couple of reasons, one this area is in complete disarray and 2. we are going off just the directory, making it rather hard to learn the area and who lives where in which part of our area, Why? b/c our map is a drawing that is marked and divided but doesn't make any sense AT ALL. Whats more is that the other comp of Hna Villarreal didn't really explain much to her, poor thing. So I have been a little bit stressed, but don't fret, it will change this week when we get a real map at our zone conference (thanks to the awesome elders in the offices). So I will let you know how it all goes next week.  
 
But remember what you told me a few weeks ago, when you were on the train or subway and ´people watching´ how they are all just like robots going from point A to point B, and living just to live? Well. that is how it is here, only these people live to live and live in fear day to day.  Sometimes it is funny b/c they are always surprised that we work until 8:00 at night, and they are always telling us to be careful and all of that. Which is kinda obvious, Pres. tells us all the time the ways to stay safe...walk down streets with light, avoid the dark and dangerous areas after dark, and all that. But in La Plata and worse here a lot of times they are scared to leave there houses to go to the supermercado for food.  It is really super sad. But that is why we are here, to help them understand and teach them that there is life out there and they can live for a purpose and actually, ya know, ENJOY life here in this world.   
 
After somethings that I have experienced in the last month or so, I really have a stronger testimony of the happiness that we have as children of God and with the plan that we have to continue and grow in this happiness.  Lots of people are looking for it and wanting to be happy NOW but don't know what to do to find it. Well guess what, We have it!! and not only can they have it now but for the rest of their lives and more, too! How great is that? I think it is pretty great.
 
We were fortunate to see a couple of miracles this week.  One with this family that we are working with, the mom is a recent convert and we are working with the dad. They have a date set to get married for the 12 of Sept. and after one lesson with him he asked to get baptized . .yea, He asked Us. So we set a date for the 19th of Sept. when we returned to give another lesson, we were just about to ask him if he wanted to change the date of his baptism to the 12th, when they asked us why it had to be later and if we couldn't move it up closer to the wedding . . . haha so that is exactly what we did. They will be getting married the morning of the 12th and he will be getting baptized that evening.  There really can be happily ever afters. 
 
Another, we visited a recent convert and when asking if she knew anyone more that we could visit, she looked to her granddaughter and was like would your mom be okay? She sent her a message and she said it was fine, so we left with the granddaughter to visit her mom.  And WOW! it is true that God prepares people and then puts them in your path to find.  The first little lesson was great, we introduced the Book of Mormon and laid out what we would be doing.  We went back a couple days later and she told us that her and her husband started reading the Book of Mormon together from the intro and on . . (they use the husband here lightly meaning that it could be living together or married . but they really are married). she has heard things about how we worship Joseph Smith and all, so with that we gave the first lesson, and oh my goodness, I never get tired of giving or hearing the first vision.  EVERY time it just draws a Spirit like nothing else.  This time I was able to give it and as I was I got chills starting from head to my toes, as the Spirit just filled the room. Oh it is so Cool!!!! anyway she very willingly accepted a baptism date for the 12th as well. 
 
Oh, it is just INCREDIBLE what you can do when you have the Spirit and the blessings we get from having it with us all the time. It really is the only way that we can get people to understand and to really feel like they are children of God and that they are just as entitled to all of this as anyone. A couple times in La Plata when we tried to contact old inv they would say oh I am not with your church and shut the door. . haha we would just walk away smiling and whisper to ourselves, ´that is why we are here´ to help them not just live to live or live to be content, but live to be happy, to be really truly happy.  
 
I hope you are all really truly happy, because I am very happy. :D
Thanks for everything, sorry this letter is super long, Enjoy! and ENJOY LIFE!! love you all have a fantastic week!
Hna Snow

No one told me I would be training . . .

Monday, July 28, 2014
Hola Familia!  
As for transfers, yes I got transferred, to a little-ish town called Berisso, that is about 20 min outside of La Plata central. Funny huh? One transfer left and I'm moved, but I guess that has been happening to a lot of missionaries. It is just one more small adventure before I leave . . :( but we aren't going to talk about that. ..anywho, my new comps name is Hna Villarreal, she is from Argentina-Rosario, is 19 years old and has 6 weeks in the mission. Here is where the title comes in. So the Hna that I replaced in 
La Plata was transferred here to Berisso and as we were talking to the other Hnas in La Plata they told us that she was training and since she left this transfer that I would be finishing her training. Well as you can tell that caught my attencion, b/c when our district leader called us about transfers he said nothing of the sort and I didn't get a call from President. So we asked this Hna and sure enough she confirmed it that I would be finishing the Hna Villarreals training. Haha yup EVERYDAY in the mission is an adventure, I am just sorry that that means she has to stay another transfer after this one as I will be leaving.. 

Anywho, this week was super fun, here is a run down of what happened: 
Monday- was the trip to the museum-Incredible! 
Tuesday- I don't remember if I told you guys about Vanessa, she is now a new investigator. The lesson we had with her was amazing, and we were even able to take out a date for baptism, we were honestly surprised and weren't sure what to do next. haha 

Wednesday -we had a fantastic district meeting, where we all bore our testimonies on the Atonement and WOW the spirit was so super strong. Then we had lunch and pix as a zone. To tell you the truth it was almost like another p-day, just shorter, but I will miss La zona La Plata. We became like a family (kinda like La Costa) we had activities and every Tues we would meet as a zone to start the meetings for like announcemnts and stuff, then we would split off. 
Thursday- we had another lesson with Vanessa starting off by asking if she knew what she was getting herself into. She said yes and that she was going to let us come back. Yea it was pretty amazing (although I am a little sad now we just got a good investigator and then I left. .) and we got calls about transfers
Friday- Christmas and planning for the week. Lets just say for our companion inventory we opened presents we thought it was a good way to analyze the relationship. haha with planning, since for some odd reason we knew I would be leaving b/c usually we get calls Sat. night, Hna Knowlton said that I still had to help her plan, which I was planning on doing anyway. haha 
Saturday- not much happened, we just tried to visit the menos activos we had a couple appt fall thru so Sat. and Sun. we just visited members. I had them sigh my journal and we took pix. 
All in all it was a pretty great week to end a great couple of transfers with the Hna Knowlton. We even gave our self a name,  . .are you ready for this?!?.... we are the Hnas Snowlton. haha we thought it was pretty good. 
Anywho, I will let you know how my first week in Berisso goes next week!
Hna Snow

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

How do you eat Calamari with a smile?


‎Monday‎, ‎July‎ ‎21‎, ‎2014 ‎1‎:‎50‎ ‎pm

Hola Family! 
Glad you made it home from your trip. Sounds and looks like you all had a blast! This week was a good one, first off, the title, this was the lunch we had at Inka this week...as she brought it out Hna. Knowlton said that is either onion rings or calamari and I don't think they have onion rings here. . . so yea we ate calamari. What you do is combine every bite with a little bit of everything on your plate and with the promise of french fries, ice cream or alfajores after you just eat and eat and eat until it is gone.  But I can now say that I have eaten something super strange on my mission. ha but never again. Trying to cut that rubbery substance was just too much for me. And you all know how I am not a fan of sea food or anything of the sort. But here you just have to put a smile on, try not to cry and eat what they give you. 

Chance or coincidence don't exist: A couple cool stories from this week, we went searching for old investigators and in-actives.  
Last week we found an old inv and as we got talking she said that she had never before talked to or listened to missionaries and she didn't know how we knew her name and address (which we had on a form in the pension meaning that someone had found and talked to her before. . .right?) well we went by again a few days ago b/c she agreed to let us come back, they were busy but we left them with an explanation and pamphlets of the plan of salvation.  I don't know if it is true or not that they have never talked to the missionaries before but we found them and hopefully something good will come of it. 

Story number 2: looking for in-actives, we found one who is baptized but his family isn't. We went by a few times and never found anyone. A couple weeks ago we finally talked to him and then this past week again and were able to leave him with a thought. But what was cool, the night before when we were planning, I was planning to go for other menos activos and then another direction, but stopped and had the feeling to go by his house.  So we went and found him sitting outside his house very distraught for the situation that he has found himself in. We shared a scripture about how Christ knows all that we are going thru and that he is the one that we can turn to when we need help and guidance.  After we left I turned back and he had gone inside. I don't know how long he had been sitting out there, but I had the thought that it probably wasn't that long. I told Hna K my thoughts during planning the night before and how I was going to plan to go to another house but changed.  If we would have gone for the other route we wouldn't have found him sitting outside. Also I'm thinking if we would have went a few min. later we wouldn't have found him either. Was it chance that we found him? I think not. Oh the spirit is SO cool!!! 

Transfers are coming up again in a week, we have NO idea what will happen, so I will let you know what happens next week. 

Have a fantabulous week! Love you all. 

Hna Snow


we went to the museum of La Plata today . .this is the evolution of man and of missionary
Hna. Knowlton and I with the bones. :)


Tuesday, July 22, 2014

So close we could taste it.

Mon, Jul 14, 2014 at 3:49 am

Hola to all! I hope you all enjoyed Mundial (the World Cup), but as you all know sadly Argentina didn't win. . we came so stinkin close, but what can you do? It has been quite the ride being here while they have been in Mundial. During games the streets of the City of La Plata are completely empty. That we could walk down the middle and not have to worry about getting hit. But once they scored a goal the city would erupt in what they call "the sacred scream or yell" or in Spanish "el grito sagrado" and the city would come to life again.  And it was so cool to have them in the finals, and we were super excited until we got a text from our district leader saying that on Sunday we had to be in the pension before the game started at 4 and stay there the rest of the day. . .yea both of us almost cried, they wouldn't even let us go to a members house. Yea we know it was for our safety as missionaries, but we were not very happy.. .and less when we didn't hear the "Grito Sagrado", and found out that they lost. Sad day. But hey at least we made it to the finals right? 

Anyway, when they played Wednesday aka their independence day, we were supposed to have a ward activity but they ended up canceling it for the game. . haha oh I LOVE this country. Luckily we were able to get a couple lessons in before lunch b/c with the game at five we weren't going to and didn't find anyone. They were all not home or preparing to watch the game in their jerseys and all. Even the older people, we tried contacting an old inv that has like 10 dogs and she opened the door and said that she couldn't have us b/c she was getting ready to watch the game, haha I say again I LOVE  this country!!  

One of our lessons was with an inv of Hna Medina and her old comp. We finally got in to talk to her again, last time she shared with us that she is having a hard time in her life and that she wants to find happiness in this life and not just for eternity. We left her with a scripture talking about eternal happiness and when we came back she had read that and then finished the chapter.  She told us that it helped her and it was what she needed to hear. y sí! that is the power of the Book of Mormon at work! We were supposed to have a lesson with her today but she canceled this morning. We are going to teach her how thru the atonement and Christ she can find the happiness that she is looking for now and that it can last forever.  She loves reading and has found the scriptures we have left helpful. I think if we could just get her to church she could be golden! Only she literally has no time, with it being their winter break (I know right, weird winter break in July) and she will be gone for 2 weeks for work, but I think it will really help her a lot to at least experience it once.  

Saturday it rained and it rained and it rained and I think my rain boots have holes. haha when it rains here it POURS! Last year the city flooded, like not just a little like, 4 to 5 feet of water in the houses flood.  The drainage system here is just great and definitely makes for some really interesting days of work. It really just rains without stopping, to the point that even with our rain jackets, rain boots, and umbrellas, we still ended up back in the pension just soaked to the skin. Luckily I have learned to keep all my books in a plastic bag since La Costa, because our backpacks were soaked through. haha oh the adventures of the mission! They are fantastic. 

Oh and mom, Romario still doesn't have a date. The bishop told us to back off a little, but the funny thing is, Romario refers to himself as a member,.  haha not yet buddy, still missing a tiny detail. 

Well I hope you all enjoy your summer. We are having a blast with the bipolar weather down here. Talk to ya next week. Looks like you three (mom, dad, and McKayla) are having fun on your trip. Dad I bet you were in heaven visiting the birth place of golf. hehe 
love you all!!!

Hna Snow

Pix for Kix




the streets of Argentina when they play in the world cup. this was on wed, the 9th (aka Argentina's independence day) so it was a double whammy for us as missionaries. 



when it rains it pours. We enjoyed the rain 
and I just thought this was a cool pix of the water off Hna Knowltons umbrella. 


the view from my bedroom window, you can see the catedral better without the leaves


7+7=14

Mon, Jul 7, 2014 12:46 pm

Hola to you and you and you and you . . .haha. Well, this week was an interesting one filled with celebrations, the world cup, lots of wind and water, and finding a new investigator. 

Anywho, as for the trivia ? . .did anyone guess how long it has been? . . well the answer is D. Both B &C it has been 3 years since the last convert baptism. . . . . . . .. yea we have some work to do. But we are still praying that Romario will find his answer soon or make the decision and take that leap of faith and get baptized. For now we have just kind of let him be and have the young adults and leaders from the ward work with him.

We contacted a reference from a member from another ward the other day who seemed interested. We sat talking to her for a bit and then she asked a question that every missionary waits for, "Why are there so many churches in the world?" What a great question let us tell you the answer, and we taught her the restoration and about why there are so many churches in the world. It was the first time that we have actually taught one of the first lessons in awhile and it felt fantastic!  Then when we finished that lesson she had another great ?... it was basically what happens after we die, . . um let us leave you this pamphlet to read and we can come back and explain this great plan that our Father in Heaven has for us. Yea it was pretty fantastic!! A great missionary moment I would have to say. 

4th of July:  What happens with 2 American comps on the 4th of July? You party, eat cheeseburgers, and sing I am proud to be an American really quietly so no one hears you. Then you eat ice cream while it is Freezing cold outside but you don't really care b/c it is the 4th of July. haha 

Also with this whole world cup thing it is almost impossible to work, especially now that Argentina is in the semis. YAY!! It was sad to see America go but we were a little scared to be here if they played Argentina b/c if they would have stayed they would be playing them on there independence day July 9th . .and we would be staying in the pension for a week. haha but it has been fun watching and living the prideful craziness of this country as they make there way to finals. We'll just have to see what happens. Oh ps mom what did you think of the idea I had for the Christmas card foto? I think it is pretty clever if I do say so myself. 

Anyway I hope you are all enjoying summer as we are getting close to the dead of winter (still super weird to think about). Have a fantastic week! talk to you later.

Hna Snow

pix for kix


1. this is GENIUS!! a roll within a roll. 
2. Where do all the people go when a game is on?  
Why they go to plaza Moreno to watch it on the big screen . . . 



Happy fourth of July!



our outfits and of course we had to celebrate with ice cream
and they just happen to give us red white and blue spoons. haha it was the best. 



p day adventures!
we found legit doughnuts. . and they were delicious!




Trivia question #3

Mon, Jun 30, 2014 at 8:57 am
This week it is multiple choice 
How long has it been since La Plata had its last investigator baptism?
A. 6 months
B. 1 year 
C. 2 years 
D. Both B and C.
Let me know the answer next week and I will give the winner an alfajor when I get home. 

Well this week was long and tiring and went by way too fast. (the days seem to like to do that the closer I get to going home...) We did a lot of walking and not much teaching. There was one day that we had where it took all we had not to just sit down on the curb and just cry. So we said a prayer to hopefully find someone and to keep our spirits up and we kept going. . all week. The funny thing is, even Presidente knows how hard the work in La Plata is. Great thanks Pres. for the challenge. We will see what we can do, and Hna. Knowlton and I are here for a reason right? y si, we are going to baptize Romario (one day).
 
Aye, aye, aye, he is so ready. He has even told us that he has not found anything wrong or bad with the church. The people sometimes, but that is b/c we are all human, but with the church no. Funny huh? That is b/C the church is perfect and is being lead by Christ. One day, one day he will be baptized, and yes mom, I hope it is before I leave.  

We had interviews with Presidente this week, you all will be happy to know that he said that they won't let me extend... (sad day) but it is a new rule of the Area Presidency, they want the missionaries to go home and "take the next step" in life. . haha aka: get married. hehe so there is that.  He also told me that this would be my last interview in the field as the next one will be my exit interview, such a sad thing to think about. So I have decided not to and just keep working hard until that day comes.

Saturday we had a ward activity having to do with family history. Members signed up to do a booth telling about their ancestors, there was one from Italy, Germany, Spain and Uruguay. And a couple others. They brought old artifacts and had a time to share stories with us. Then there was a demonstration of Peruvian dancing and an Italian folk dance, and of course we finished the night out with some very delicious food that they all made from each place, (yes dad they had sauerkraut but just with hot dogs) it was one of the funnest activities I have been to in a while, and we had a pretty good turn out. 

Lastly, since we both had a crappy Christmas and it is freezing cold here, we have decided to have a Christmas in July. And this time with decorations, we even found a "Christmas tree in a box" in our closet and a string of paper ornaments. Now we just have to try and figure out how to buy a gift to surprise one another with always having to be together 24/7. . hehe we will see how this works.

Anywho, I hope you are all having a great time in the warm weather. We are just trying to figure out how we are going to survive July. Cuz apparently it will get even colder next month. So I may or may not be coming home a snowman . . . 
well, until next time, Chau for now.
Hna Snow 

Q & A

 Q: Did you talk to Pres. Thurgood about extending your mission?

A: yea he said that they aren't allowing it anymore, the first Pres. of the area made a rule, they want missionaries to "take the next step in life" so I will be coming home on my scheduled date. 

Q: Have you eaten Alfajores? Sounds yummy according to Bp. Pace.

A: no mother only everyday for breakfast. . .hah jk. of course and i will be bringing lots home for you guys, don't worry

Q: Anything you’d like mentioned at G. Tolman’s funeral? Todd & Sandra are doing the life sketch…stories, thoughts.

A: not much, I guess that it was good that I got to see her one last time when you guys came up to see me. Something like that. You can add detail of what you remember 

Q: Did you get email I sent with G. Tolman’s Obit? They will be recording it for all of us who missed it. Also, are putting together a video of her life - pix.

A: yep I got it. thanks that is cool

Q: Did you get a baptism date out of Romario yet?

A: nope not yet. 

pix for kix


last week we FINALLY visited the Cathedral!!!!!!!!!!! and yes I was in heaven. 

foto of the cultural activity 
Christmas in July


Monday, June 23, 2014

Would you hit on a nun?!?

This is all I got...to start anyway. Dani thought she was being funny. I didn't find any humor in it. She was also "testing" me by mentioning she's thinking of extending her mission. After several emails exchanged I realize she is half serious with that one. I'll keep you posted. JaNel

Yup.
Hey guys, well this week we walked around a lot. Not much really happened with the World Cup and all. There are not many people in the streets and they get mad if we knock on their doors.  But yea, hopefully this week will be better. I'll let you know next week. Talk to ya later.
Hna Snow



Hola family,
Yea, so the first email was to get on you guys about not realizing how exciting our emails are. Honestly we think we are hilarious. But no one else thinks so or at least you don't say anything.
But now for the real one. . .
This week was harder though with the World cup and the entire country watching. Argentina played Saturday and the city was literally a ghost town. There was NO one in the streets and it was dead silent. They were either in their houses or watching the game in the plaza. We could walk down the middle of the street and not worry about getting hit by cars and yea with the goal at the very last minute . . aye, the entire city ERUPTED when it happened. All screaming goal from their windows and cheering and honking, the city was alive once more.  haha oh soccer.  As we were walking trying to contact people we saw a group of women walking away from the plaza, one of them was a nun. Yup a nun was watching mundial [World], Hna Knowlton leans over and whispers, we are worse than nuns. haha

For the title, we got hit on like 3 or 4 times one day this week, rather entertaining, with their "pick up lines " as hey baby or hey beautiful . . but what was funny was the analysis that Hna Knowlton did, she said, ´they know we are missionaries teaching the gospel´ then she added ´would you hit on a nun?´ haha I died, its true, we do the same thing they do, only we get to wear cuter clothes and we walk around talking to all.  We are doing so much walking my shoes even started getting holes in them.

This past week we had a missionary stay with us that was returning home from a mission in Chile. She had to stay with us b/c she got in super late and wasn't getting released until the next night. But anyway, she had to come home for medical, she did something to her knee and wasn't able to work anymore, with only 5 months left.  When her mom got in she met us at the pension . .yea that was a little hard to watch, one for Hna K who is newer in the mission, me, b/c that will be me sooner than I think. They hugged and cried and talked for over an hour.  But it made me think of how grateful I am that I am better now and able to finish my mission. It really killed me when Pres told me that I might have had to go home if I didn't get better. It is a little the same but different, she was only a few hours away in her mission. I am like half a world away. It definitely makes you thankful for all the little tender mercies that turn into the big blessings later.  I am SUPER grateful that I am able to still be here working for the short amount of time I have left. 
Lastly,we had a lesson last night with our one progressing investigator, Romario. . oh this kid, he is ready. Everyone can see it. He knows it. He knows it is true, we asking him again to be baptized last night, , . good news he said Yes! Bad news we have no idea when. He wouldn't put a date. haha he said yea I'm gonna be baptized. Awesome! Now we just have to figure out when. haha
Well, that is only part of  what went on in this crazy little city of La Plata, hope you are all enjoying the World Cup for us!! McKayla thanks for all the scores and your little comments, they are pretty fantastic.
Until next week!
Love ya all tonz and bunches!
Hna Snow

Monday, June 16, 2014

"hey you expire before these cookies".

Hola to all! Dad I hope you had a good Father´s Day. And the rest of you had a good week.  We surely had a long week with a ton of walking. Yes, it is transfer time, and yes Hna. Knowlton and I are staying together for one more transfer. Which means next transfer I could potentially stay and die here or maybe get moved. But we have six weeks so I´m not going to think about that right now.  

As you all know, the World Cup started. Now this is great for everyone . . .well, everyone except for the missionaries. . .b/c you all know how hard it is to work here in the city. Well now it is even harder, because they really don't want to take the time to listen to us or open the door. ha oh que bueno! [that's nice] We have little schedules of the games to know when they will be (all the prelims are at 1, 4, and 7 here and when there is a game on it is worse than the holidays, there is literally NO one in the street. We could stand in the street and not see one living soul. They are all inside watching the games or sleeping in between them (haha or that is what I think since the games are on during their siesta).  But what can you do. It is cool, all the Arg pride down here everything is decorated in blue and white. And they even set up a huge screen in the plaza with the cathedral so that anyone could watch the matches. haha it reminded me of when I was in Europe with the Lamberts, for the Euro cup, I went with Teri and Tori to watch a game on their big screen in a park. haha 

But yea this week was super hard and exhausting, we are still working with this one investigator, who everyone thinks is a member.  So we are just going to keep working with him and have determined to change something in this area this transfer b/c they have not had a baptism in like more than a year. . . but they haven't had ´Snowlton´ in the area very long, so we are going to hit them like a snowball. haha I am just hoping my shoes and my backpack hold out a little longer.
 
Anywho fun facts that I thought I would add:  
1. I have perfected my guacamole. . .I think we have had it like 4 or 5 times in the last 6 weeks.

2. They have a verb for ´to google´ - googlear

3. My hair has grown a little bit longer. yes . . 

4. Hna Knowlton said that since I have 12 weeks left (one training) my ´American training´ starts today. . .oh dear. 

5. The title. . .we found some delicious cookies and she looked at the expiration date 12 of Nov. and that was the first thing she said. ha thanks comp. Love ya too!

Anywho, hope your life is going well and you are enjoying the weather b/c it is really starting to get super cold down here. bah!

Love ya tonz, chau!

Hna Snow

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

Ups, Downs, and All Arounds.

Hola mis queridos!! [Hello my dear]

Firstly I have a declaration. After 10 months of serving in Argentina, I am officially legal to be here...for the next 3 months until I leave, haha made my day! 

Anyway, this week was just a crazy one. To explain the declaration above, we went to Buenos Aires for my papers on Thursday and stayed the night in Banfield to then go and do them for Hna Knowlton on Friday. It was quite the adventure, and finally I was able to tour the city for a little bit, we drove around looking at the HUGE buildings and then went into a cathedral that was just gorgeous! But didn't look like a cathedral from the outside (I'll send pix next week) it looked more like a Greek temple. But we saw a guy restoring the tile mosaic floor, holy guacamole, they put in EVERY tile, one by one. But it was incredible. With a lady reciting a catholic prayer , that was a little weird, but it was cool at the same time. 

We have this investigator, that is drving us crazy!! Why? b/c he is super ready to dive into the font, but keeps telling us that he wants to finish reading the BOM first or that he hasn't gotten an answer yet, but he has gone to church like 6 times dressed in a suit, tie, white shirt and everything. He goes to institute, and every time someone meets him they are shocked when they find out that he is not a member, which he basically is, the font is waiting, he just has to take this little leap of faith and say yes! He has all the support from the members, but in all honesty we think that he is scared of something still, we just have to find out what it is to help him work it out, trust his Father in Heaven and just jump. 

To end I just want to say how grateful I am to have such a fantastic family. With your support and love and help and all the good times. To have a family in the church is such a blessing and to be experiencing all of this here it has made me beyond grateful for all that I have back home. We had a lesson with some menos activos [less actives]. She is a single mom with 3 kids, 2 teens and a 4 yr old. They are a great family, but they are going thru some really rough times, she feels her kids aren't doing there part, and to see this family go from relatively active to stop going and to see her have her strong faith and testimony too in this moment to when we just happen to be there, throw her hands up and say I don't care anymore, I don't see the point, was heartbreaking. And I may or may not have almost cried a couple times listening to all of this. It was rough to watch and hear how Satan can put one toe in and a bomb could go off. I am, not going to lie, it was kinda super awkward to just be sitting there while she was talking to her kids in a strong voice trying to help them see what was going on. But it opened my eyes and made me think of just how good we have it. Yes it is still hard and Satan attacks us in different ways, but with these 2 chicos,[boys] in this ward there are not many young men for a support system.  Whereas most of our friends are members.  It was hard to see one of the was that Satan attacks the family, I just kept thinking I have it good.  Yes it is hard and yes we still have to fight, but we have friends and support in the church, here the members are few and far between.  We talked to her after this whole thing happened and she just broke down crying, with not knowing what more to do to help her kids, not knowing if she can do this alone anymore.  It was just heartbreaking.  I am so grateful for this gospel, for the blessings that come from it, and for all the support and love that I have from all of you.  I don't know or want to know what this world would be like without all that we have been blessed with from our Father in Heaven!!!!

Thanks for EVERYTHING!!! I hope you all have a fantastic week!
Con mucho cariño. [with much dear]

Hna Snow

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

"Yea!! I got the Holy Spirit, its a good train . . you should get on it"

Hola, so I realized last week after finishing that I forgot to tell you about the doc appt. . . oops sorry. pero, it went well, we talked with him and the counselor Pres Vitali about what all happened and my eating habits and such, he basically told me that everything that happened was thanks to the little friend that I had inside me and to stress. Ha go figure right, I think it was the after results of all the stress and anxiety of Dolores. Great huh? Yea, not really but this was the first line that came to my head (a quote but not from a Disney movie) was "I once had a cousin Izzy who just keeled over one day mid mango, stress, its a killer sir." hehe first one who can name that movie gets to pat themselves on the back b/c there is not much I can do from here. . .sorry. But anyway, he put me on a medication for 3 days taking a pill 2 a day every 12 hours, and that was it. It was like a mini bomb med, to clean out my system, and for now I am still going to keep taking the multivitamin just in case, haha.  So as of now I am eating regular and besides the fact of always being tired from working and walking all day everyday, I have energy which is fabulous after a rather long time of not. 

Okay now to explain a little about the title . . hehe this was such a great day. One morning in comp study, Hna Knowlton shared something very interesting out of the book "member missionary work and finding the elective God" a book that I have seen in Deseret book.  Well she read about something called ¨References from the Lord¨ for finding new people. . so we tried it the other day and the results we're crazy cool! What ya do is first pray for inspiracion and guidance, then you both study the map for a little while.  Then, how we did it was one person called out about 10 streets and the other wrote them,  then from that list separately we both chose 3 to 5. Here is where the ref from the Lord and the spirit come in, from the Separate  lists you compare to see which streets are the same. . this was the cool part. She chose 5, I chose 3, we had 2 in common. Hna Knowlton looked at me and said I took stats that is not possible, ha but everything is possible with the Lord. We were a little giddy after that so with our faith and hope we went searching. . sadly the results were not what we were hoping for, but it was a good faith and testimony builder of the help and guide of the Lord to try and find those that he is preparing. We did find a menos activa at one of the doors we knocked, and another one we passed, both stopped, paused and turned back, I said num 2 stood out to me, lets knock, Hna K said the exact same thing. . . so we rang num 2 a lady opened the door, we introduced ourselves and then she said thanks but no and shut the door with a little force.  Okay have a nice day. We were a little bummed about that one, but hey maybe the Lord was testing us and preparing us for something that is coming. . .guess we will have to wait and see. 
But I know that the Lord is preparing the heart of someone, we just have to be patient and "keep swimming" until we find them. 

I hope you all have a terrific week! Talk to ya lata! 
Hna snow

Q & A

Q: Are you taking any medication for the parasite?
A: Yea, sorry about that I forgot to tell you about the doc apt oops. I took a 2 pills for 3 days med and that was it. It was kinda like a mini bomb that cleaned out my system. I have still been taking Centrum Vitamins and haven't had problems since.

Q: How was the artichoke? Do they have Mayo in ARG?
A: Not Costco but for Arg it was pretty good. And yes and it is better than the states.

Q: Are you regaining some of your lost weight?
A: I think so, I haven't weighed myself in a little bit. I will have to see. 

Q: Do they get snow in ARG? Or just bitter cold?
A: Yea only in the mountains that they share with Chile. Here it will just get bitter cold. 

Q: Do you still like being in LaPlata?
A:  Yea, it is hard, but we have a good branch and s..l..o..w..l..y but surely we are starting to see some progress. 

Q: Do you think you’d like to return to ARG to visit again soon?
A:  ABSOLUTELY
 
Q: What food do you miss most from home?
A:  Hires food. Tortilla chips, chocolate chip cookies, real american BBQ among other things

Q: Are you able to shower each day? 
A:  Yes, finally. 

Q: Do you still sleep in your sleeping bag with the sheet?
A: Yes, and the liner helps a ton with the cold weather! It is a genius idea. 

PIX FOR KIX

We didn't have lunch one day so we had a Mexican Fiesta! 
haha complete with tacos, guacamole y the only chips we could find (they don't believe in tortilla chips)


Here was the tiny artichoke, and ya know it wasn't that bad, it wasn't Costco, but it was pretty good.


Our activity today...Republica de los niños- its like a quarter of the size of every other park. 
A mini Disneyland. Like it makes Lego Land look good. 
But it was entertaining and good to get out and do something.


 Here is a mini of what the main part of the park looks like.


The joys of serving in a big city. . . ha 


Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Hola to all!
This week was a really great week full of adventures. Here is a little of how my week went:

Lunes: P-day was a blast perusing the little shops and buying a ton of food. hehe but unfortunately we received some bad news while working. The investigator that went to church for the first time text us and said thanks for everything but our life is complicated right now and we don't have a lot of time, and we aren't all that much interested in learning more´´. . .um, yea it was a hard blow. We sat down for a little while trying to figure out what to say back when Hna. Knowlton smiled and quoted Ice Age with a mission twist . "There goes our last ´investigator´". Which made us both smile. We stopped by to figure out why and talk face to face. They said with all that they have going on and the fact that they are very Catholic it is not a good time. Okay, it was hard for both of us and the first real rejection for Hna. Knowlton. 

Martes:  We had an amazing Zone conference that focused on how to work with Preach my Gospel and how to use it more effectively in every aspect of missionary work.  With a challenge/study plan starting for 25 weeks starting June 1st to study every chapter in depth...remember how I didn't want a count down...ha well I will only get to about week 14.

Miércoles:  We had exchanges with Hna Tolman staying in La Plata with Hna Knowlton and me going to her area that is right above our area, so it is like the suburbs of La Plata. Here is where the title comes in, this week it rained for about 2 days straight and we just happen to have exchanges. So we walked and walked in the down pour and the fabric on the outside is great because the water just beads up...but in this storm we couldn't figure out why or how the inside was getting so wet. . .well, turns out there are bunch of little tiny holes that we only found when held up to the light...haha but other than that it is a great umbrella. :)

Jueves:  We switched back from intercambios [exchanges], went to our lunch appt. then went to work...what was great was that our plans to have a member accompany us actually worked out. The plan for who we were going to visit, not so much but she gave us a reference and we ended up finding and teaching the referral and having another lesson. 

Viernes: A day of FREEZINGNESS! no joke, it was bitter cold, we didn't have one lesson and just ended up walking around all day trying to find people. we tried contacting and got a couple doors shut on us when we said that we were missionaries for the church of Jesus Cristo. . but we laughed and sang and quoted Disney movies and tried to stay positive while enduring the cold. 

Sábado:  We did have a couple of good lessons with an investigator and menos activos [less actives] and had a little bit of service helping a member get some meds from the farmacia [pharmacy].
 
Domingo:  We rocked it with the spirit! It was a great day! Warmest day of the week I think. And we  found an old investigator, the best part of this was we had heard a lot about him but hadn't found him yet. . .so when the door opened and a man with a great beard and a light blue sweater with a little town and a rainbow stood before us we knew it was going to be good. But turns out he is not that interested. Sad day Hna. Knowlton did ask him quite an inspired ? thou, "do you believe that the true church is on the earth today"? Bam! it definitely made him think. Then we had another amazing lesson with the one prog investigator that we have, I think we will be able to see him get baptized. We just have to work with the spirit and him little by little. 

I hope you enjoy your week! And your weather. haha
Love you all!!

Hna Nieve


 1. Duct tape, who knew...this is what you do when you have a really really cold pension and no heat
...you find a sleeping bag and block the really big window.


2. Yup, it is an artichoke. My food life is complete. Just have to cook it and try it now. 
I will let you know how it is later. 


I don't remember if I sent the map of our area or not so here it is.


Yup, I made an Oreo malt, it wasn't the same b/c the milk here is weird but it was still pretty good


self explanatory!
[Those who know Dani well, knows she LOVES Cheese Cake]