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

"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

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

"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