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

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. :)

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

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