August 29, 2011...Dear Family,
It was another fast week! Time just seems to fly by. We had some really great experiences this last week.
Our investigators are still all doing really well. Verndale was at church for the third time, and Luis was able to make it. Verndale is doing really well. Last week we went to follow up with him on his reading and it was great! He had read something like 26 pages, but said he didn't remember much about them. We continued to talk about his reading and next thing we know he's telling about all the different things that had happened so far in the Book of Mormon. He talked about Nephi having to get the brass plates from Laban, and about them having to go back to get Ishmael and his family. He had remembered far more than I would have ever expected. Luis is a guy we found the last day Elder Fallen and Elder Wise were here. He is a really great guy. He understands everything we teach him really well. The first time we taught him he said he had been praying for guidance and for the truth for sometime. Then we showed up and he's not even sure why he let us in, but he did. We're also teaching a family. They are Karen (mom), Kayla (daughter), Garrett (son), and Colt (son). Karen, Kayla, and Garrett could all be baptized sometime in September as long as we get them to church. Colt isn't old enough yet. They're a great little family. They weren't able to make it to church because their car is in the shop. Karen was trying to get a ride, but wasn't able to. That's about it as far as our investigators go. We've had some limited contact with Bridget, but not much. Also Steffan has essentially disappeared on us. It's really too bad. We also weren't able to find any new investigators. I honestly can't remember the last time that happened. That was the hardest part about last week.
I don't know if I mentioned it, but over the last two weeks I had felt like something was missing. I couldn't quite put my finger on it though. Well, Saturday was a rough day and I was really trying to figure things out. I couldn't come up with anything. I went to pray before going to bed, and it honestly was one of the most sincere prayers I've said in a while. I feel like I put a lot into all my prayers, but that one was especially powerful. I felt like Enos, " I kneeled down before my Maker, and I cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul..." Enos 1:4. I remember just pouring out all I had. Then when I was done I felt so much better. I felt so much peace and I knew that things were going to work out. I knew what had been missing. I had received an answer to my prayers. I slept so well that night! It also helped me have a much better day on Sunday. I really know that I am a child of God, and that He listens to all of our prayers. While they often aren't answered as quickly as mine was this time, they will be answered.
I also had another great experience. On Tuesday we scheduled for a member to go with us to teach Verndale. About 20 minutes before the lesson the member had to cancel. We tried to think of someone else, but we couldn't think of anyone who would be able to go on such short notice. We thought we might just have to go without a member. On the way there we stopped to use the restroom at a gas station. When we were getting back into the car a members name popped in my head. He was on the way to Verndale's so I thought we would drop by. This is where it gets good. We knocked on his door and he answers right away and is dressed in his church clothes. We were a little surprised. Then he said, " I didn't know I was going to meet you here." We didn't know what he was talking about. Turns out he had been scheduled by someone else to go out with us that night and nobody had told us. We were so shocked! It was really incredible! We were totally led by the Spirit to go ask him if he could go out with us. I'm so thankful I followed the prompting to go see him. It made a great difference.
That's all for now. I hope all is going well back home.
Love Always, Elder Zachery Snow
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Pray!
Aug. 22, 2011...Dear Family,
I got my new companion on Wednesday. He is Elder Jacobs from Cedar Hills, UT. He has been out for almost 19 months. He actually came out with Elder Failner. Speaking of which, Elder Failner got transferred to Kingsland, GA and Elder Wise got transferred to Palatka, FL. The last few days I was with Elder Failner and Elder Wise went really well. We found four new investigators, three are in the same family, on Tuesday! It was really great finding and teaching them. Looking back over the time I have been with each of them, three months with Elder Failner and six weeks with Elder Wise, I have learned a lot and seen some great growth in my testimony. I really appreciate all the things each of them taught me.
My time with Elder Jacobs started off well. We've been able to have some great lessons and do some really good things. We're still the zone leaders here in the Lake City Zone. Elder Jacobs was actually an Assistant to the President just before he got here. It's been fun picking his brain. The first few days were definitely different. It's a big change adjusting to a new companion and also having to get used to having only one companion again. When there were three of us we had a lot more opportunities to teach people. However, one of the good things about having one companion is that there is more opportunities for each of us to teach. There are just different challenges associated with each situation. I'm happy to say though that we've been able to continue to have success. Again that's one things I really like about being a zone leader. Whomever I get as a companion is going to be a good missionary.
Verndale is doing well still. He has made quite a bit of progress, and he came to church yesterday. That makes it two weeks in a row! He's been welcomed into the ward really well too. It's strange to think that we've only been teaching him for about two weeks. It feels like it has been much longer. That's probably because we see him for at least a few minutes just about every day. The other investigators we have are coming along too. Unfortunately Bridget is still M.I.A. I continue to pray that she will show up one of these days. Yesterday Elder Jacobs and I had a great faith building experience. Lately we have been praying to be led to the elect and to find them in pretty much every prayer. Well yesterday Elder Jacobs felt like we should go and see a member in the ward. He felt like they might know someone who is elect. We followed the prompting and went to see the member. We were only able to talk to them at the door, but they didn't have much for us. For the backup plan we were going to tract around that member. We were going and about to head down a street, but then I felt a prompting to go down a different street. We followed it and we found a really great investigator named Jason. He is a single father of two, and loves Christ and God. He's been active in his faith for about three years, but is very open and willing to find out if what we share is true. He is even related to a member in our ward! He's going out of town for a few weeks, but he committed to read each day from the Book of Mormon. We're really excited to be able to teach him. If he keeps his commitment to read every day then it's going to be great to see what happens.
Lately I've been thinking/studying more about prayer. I started doing this because over the last week and a half or so it seems like prayer comes up more than it ever has for me. Many of the scriptures I read end up talking about prayer. I figured that was a sign that I need to study prayer and improve my prayers. I've really enjoyed studying it so far. For part of my study I read a talk titled, Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer, and it's by Elder Richard G. Scott. It's a really amazing talk. I will put a link to it at the bottom of this email. Read it!
That's all for now. I hope everything is going really well for all of you!
Love Always, Elder Zachery Snow
https://lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/using-the-supernal-gift-of-prayer?lang=eng
I got my new companion on Wednesday. He is Elder Jacobs from Cedar Hills, UT. He has been out for almost 19 months. He actually came out with Elder Failner. Speaking of which, Elder Failner got transferred to Kingsland, GA and Elder Wise got transferred to Palatka, FL. The last few days I was with Elder Failner and Elder Wise went really well. We found four new investigators, three are in the same family, on Tuesday! It was really great finding and teaching them. Looking back over the time I have been with each of them, three months with Elder Failner and six weeks with Elder Wise, I have learned a lot and seen some great growth in my testimony. I really appreciate all the things each of them taught me.
My time with Elder Jacobs started off well. We've been able to have some great lessons and do some really good things. We're still the zone leaders here in the Lake City Zone. Elder Jacobs was actually an Assistant to the President just before he got here. It's been fun picking his brain. The first few days were definitely different. It's a big change adjusting to a new companion and also having to get used to having only one companion again. When there were three of us we had a lot more opportunities to teach people. However, one of the good things about having one companion is that there is more opportunities for each of us to teach. There are just different challenges associated with each situation. I'm happy to say though that we've been able to continue to have success. Again that's one things I really like about being a zone leader. Whomever I get as a companion is going to be a good missionary.
Verndale is doing well still. He has made quite a bit of progress, and he came to church yesterday. That makes it two weeks in a row! He's been welcomed into the ward really well too. It's strange to think that we've only been teaching him for about two weeks. It feels like it has been much longer. That's probably because we see him for at least a few minutes just about every day. The other investigators we have are coming along too. Unfortunately Bridget is still M.I.A. I continue to pray that she will show up one of these days. Yesterday Elder Jacobs and I had a great faith building experience. Lately we have been praying to be led to the elect and to find them in pretty much every prayer. Well yesterday Elder Jacobs felt like we should go and see a member in the ward. He felt like they might know someone who is elect. We followed the prompting and went to see the member. We were only able to talk to them at the door, but they didn't have much for us. For the backup plan we were going to tract around that member. We were going and about to head down a street, but then I felt a prompting to go down a different street. We followed it and we found a really great investigator named Jason. He is a single father of two, and loves Christ and God. He's been active in his faith for about three years, but is very open and willing to find out if what we share is true. He is even related to a member in our ward! He's going out of town for a few weeks, but he committed to read each day from the Book of Mormon. We're really excited to be able to teach him. If he keeps his commitment to read every day then it's going to be great to see what happens.
Lately I've been thinking/studying more about prayer. I started doing this because over the last week and a half or so it seems like prayer comes up more than it ever has for me. Many of the scriptures I read end up talking about prayer. I figured that was a sign that I need to study prayer and improve my prayers. I've really enjoyed studying it so far. For part of my study I read a talk titled, Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer, and it's by Elder Richard G. Scott. It's a really amazing talk. I will put a link to it at the bottom of this email. Read it!
That's all for now. I hope everything is going really well for all of you!
Love Always, Elder Zachery Snow
https://lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/using-the-supernal-gift-of-prayer?lang=eng
Monday, August 15, 2011
Going Nowhere…
Aug 15, 2011...Dear Family,
The last week was similar to the week before. We had some really great experiences and some things that just didn't work out like we wanted at all.
As far as transfers go I am staying here in Lake City. Elder Failner and Elder Wise are being transferred. Transfer meeting is on Wednesday. That's when I will get my new companion. I'm not at all surprised that I am staying. We pretty much knew what was going to happen with our companionship. Within the zone there are a pretty good amount of missionaries that are being transferred. Almost half of them.
We still haven't gotten our car fixed yet. We're waiting on some things. It will most likely happen this week, and I'll have to be on a bike for a few days. It will be a little strange, but it will also be a humbling experience.
As far as investigators go things with Bridget were going really well. Then last week she just disappeared on us. We've tried stopping by her house, calling, texting, and having a member call and text her. We still haven't heard anything back. It would be nice to know what's going on with her. Shawn still is struggling with coming to church. It makes me sad. On the good side we found two really great new investigators. One is Steffan and the other Vern Dale. They are both really great! Steffan might get baptized in the beginning of September. He was going to be baptized on the 28th, but was really sick. He is going to do a lot of great things once he is baptized. He says some great things. He really wants to serve the Lord and I could see him serving a mission within the next year or so. Vern Dale is also really great. We don't have a baptismal date with him yet, but he was at church yesterday and really enjoyed it. He wasn't going to come earlier in the week, but on Friday we took him on a tour of the church and he loved it! At the end we asked him to offer the prayer and he said a really powerful, heartfelt prayer. I'm excited to continue to teach him.
I think that's about all for now.
Love Always, Zach
The last week was similar to the week before. We had some really great experiences and some things that just didn't work out like we wanted at all.
As far as transfers go I am staying here in Lake City. Elder Failner and Elder Wise are being transferred. Transfer meeting is on Wednesday. That's when I will get my new companion. I'm not at all surprised that I am staying. We pretty much knew what was going to happen with our companionship. Within the zone there are a pretty good amount of missionaries that are being transferred. Almost half of them.
We still haven't gotten our car fixed yet. We're waiting on some things. It will most likely happen this week, and I'll have to be on a bike for a few days. It will be a little strange, but it will also be a humbling experience.
As far as investigators go things with Bridget were going really well. Then last week she just disappeared on us. We've tried stopping by her house, calling, texting, and having a member call and text her. We still haven't heard anything back. It would be nice to know what's going on with her. Shawn still is struggling with coming to church. It makes me sad. On the good side we found two really great new investigators. One is Steffan and the other Vern Dale. They are both really great! Steffan might get baptized in the beginning of September. He was going to be baptized on the 28th, but was really sick. He is going to do a lot of great things once he is baptized. He says some great things. He really wants to serve the Lord and I could see him serving a mission within the next year or so. Vern Dale is also really great. We don't have a baptismal date with him yet, but he was at church yesterday and really enjoyed it. He wasn't going to come earlier in the week, but on Friday we took him on a tour of the church and he loved it! At the end we asked him to offer the prayer and he said a really powerful, heartfelt prayer. I'm excited to continue to teach him.
I think that's about all for now.
Love Always, Zach
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Enduring...
Aug 8, 2011...Dear Family,
This last week was a little rough in some aspects. It was really great in some other areas too! The rough part was that we dropped basically all of our investigators. There was a point last week where we had one legit investigator. Dropping our investigators was not an enjoyable experience. I think I've written about how many people we've been dropping over the last few weeks and it just continues. On the flip side, we have been directed to a lot of new people to teach. Last week we found three new investigators and they all seem like they have a lot of potential...I'm pretty sure I say that every week too.
The most promising investigator we have right now is Bridgett. She is really awesome. I probably wrote about her a few months ago, but we started teaching her again and it has gone really well this time. We actually were going to be baptizing her this Sunday, but she had a family emergency that kept her from coming to church. Tonight we're having an FHE at a members house with her. We're going to try to reset her date for the 21st. We've had some really powerful lessons with her at a member's home. There is a huge difference when we teach investigators in a members house. The Spirit is already there and can be felt very powerfully. I really enjoy it. The members also offer a lot of support. Bridgett has been making a ton of progress, and will be a great member! It also sounds like her dad might be interested sometime in the near future. The other investigators we have are all new.
Shawn is doing...okay I suppose. He has been continuing to read and pray, but missed church again yesterday. He got a new job and it's been keeping him from coming. He works nights, but the problem is that he's tired in the morning and doesn't get up. We're going to teach him about the Sabbath day again.
One interesting thing that happened last week is that we were in a car accident. It was nothing major. We were making a left hand turn and the light went red while we were in the intersection. We went to finish the turn and a lady ran the red light and hit us, but she was able to slow way down. I wasn't driving. We were all okay, but the car is going to need repairs probably sometime this week. When it does get fixed I think we're going to be on bikes for a few days. At least we won't have to walk. That would be really bad in this area!
Transfers are coming up again. They are happening next Wednesday. I don't think I'll be transferred, but it's pretty much a given that Elder Failner and Elder Wise are both going to be transferred. I'll let you all know for sure next Monday when I write.
Yesterday was a good day in church. When it started I was surprisingly in a pretty good mood even though we didn't have any investigators there, Shawn wasn't there, and the week in general had been hard. I was listening to the testimonies and thinking and writing things down in my journal I take to church, and I was thinking about how much I love being out here. To most people it would make no sense. We are out in the hot sun and ridiculous humidity all day, we constantly have people rejecting us or people who won't keep commitments they make. Missionaries go through so much, yet are so upbeat most of the time. I know it's only because this truly is the Lord's work. There is no other reason. Regardless of all that we go through it's the most rewarding thing I could be doing right now. I love all of it. Every time someone says they don't want to talk to us we get one person closer to someone who is ready to receive us. It truly helps me know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. That through this gospel we can return to live with our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and our families. I also studied the principle of enduring to the end this last week. I feel like last week I was tested to see how well I would endure opposition. However, amongst all the opposition there were great miracles and special moments. Those are all that really matter. I honestly don't care what the world throws at me because I know as long as I continue to live the gospel I will be okay and be able to find happiness in this life and after this life.
That's all for now. I'll let you all know what's going on with transfers next week. If you're sending anything you had better do it ASAP, or a better idea would be to send it to the mission office address. It's 8663 Baypine Rd STE 102, Jacksonville, FL 32256. You can send stuff to me at that address anytime. It just might take a little longer for me to get it.
Love Always, Zach
This last week was a little rough in some aspects. It was really great in some other areas too! The rough part was that we dropped basically all of our investigators. There was a point last week where we had one legit investigator. Dropping our investigators was not an enjoyable experience. I think I've written about how many people we've been dropping over the last few weeks and it just continues. On the flip side, we have been directed to a lot of new people to teach. Last week we found three new investigators and they all seem like they have a lot of potential...I'm pretty sure I say that every week too.
The most promising investigator we have right now is Bridgett. She is really awesome. I probably wrote about her a few months ago, but we started teaching her again and it has gone really well this time. We actually were going to be baptizing her this Sunday, but she had a family emergency that kept her from coming to church. Tonight we're having an FHE at a members house with her. We're going to try to reset her date for the 21st. We've had some really powerful lessons with her at a member's home. There is a huge difference when we teach investigators in a members house. The Spirit is already there and can be felt very powerfully. I really enjoy it. The members also offer a lot of support. Bridgett has been making a ton of progress, and will be a great member! It also sounds like her dad might be interested sometime in the near future. The other investigators we have are all new.
Shawn is doing...okay I suppose. He has been continuing to read and pray, but missed church again yesterday. He got a new job and it's been keeping him from coming. He works nights, but the problem is that he's tired in the morning and doesn't get up. We're going to teach him about the Sabbath day again.
One interesting thing that happened last week is that we were in a car accident. It was nothing major. We were making a left hand turn and the light went red while we were in the intersection. We went to finish the turn and a lady ran the red light and hit us, but she was able to slow way down. I wasn't driving. We were all okay, but the car is going to need repairs probably sometime this week. When it does get fixed I think we're going to be on bikes for a few days. At least we won't have to walk. That would be really bad in this area!
Transfers are coming up again. They are happening next Wednesday. I don't think I'll be transferred, but it's pretty much a given that Elder Failner and Elder Wise are both going to be transferred. I'll let you all know for sure next Monday when I write.
Yesterday was a good day in church. When it started I was surprisingly in a pretty good mood even though we didn't have any investigators there, Shawn wasn't there, and the week in general had been hard. I was listening to the testimonies and thinking and writing things down in my journal I take to church, and I was thinking about how much I love being out here. To most people it would make no sense. We are out in the hot sun and ridiculous humidity all day, we constantly have people rejecting us or people who won't keep commitments they make. Missionaries go through so much, yet are so upbeat most of the time. I know it's only because this truly is the Lord's work. There is no other reason. Regardless of all that we go through it's the most rewarding thing I could be doing right now. I love all of it. Every time someone says they don't want to talk to us we get one person closer to someone who is ready to receive us. It truly helps me know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. That through this gospel we can return to live with our Heavenly Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and our families. I also studied the principle of enduring to the end this last week. I feel like last week I was tested to see how well I would endure opposition. However, amongst all the opposition there were great miracles and special moments. Those are all that really matter. I honestly don't care what the world throws at me because I know as long as I continue to live the gospel I will be okay and be able to find happiness in this life and after this life.
That's all for now. I'll let you all know what's going on with transfers next week. If you're sending anything you had better do it ASAP, or a better idea would be to send it to the mission office address. It's 8663 Baypine Rd STE 102, Jacksonville, FL 32256. You can send stuff to me at that address anytime. It just might take a little longer for me to get it.
Love Always, Zach
Monday, August 1, 2011
Busy, busy, busy
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| Back Row: Elder Bass -JAX West Zone. Elder Wadsworth - Gainesville Zone. Elder Kelley and Elder Crosby - Savannah Zone. Elder Aiono and Elder Jacobs - Assistants to the President. Elder Wilkey - JAX South Zone. Elder Johnson - JAX East Zone. Elder Grant - Kingsland Zone. Elder Taft - JAX West Zone. Elder Reid - JAX South Zone Front Row: Elder Graham - Kingsland Zone. Elder Summers - Gainesville Zone. Elder Failner and Elder Snow - Lake City Zone. Elder McArthur - JAX East Zone. President Barry |
Aug. 1, 2011…Dear Family,
Last week was super busy! Elder Failner and I were out of our area a lot. We went on tradeoffs with our district leaders and their companions. It was really great going out with them. I enjoy going out with the missionaries and helping them. It's one of the things I enjoy most about being a leader. Especially being a zone leader because I go with district leaders and they are already good missionaries and I just get to help them become a little bit better. It's really fantastic.
We also were gone most of the day Wednesday because Elder Failner and I had a zone leader council. I had a good time there too. I always learn so much when I go to those.
On Saturday we were back in Jacksonville. Elder Giddens came and spoke to some of the missionaries in the mission. He is in the sixth quorum of the seventy. It was a really powerful experience. He talked about a lot of great things. The thing that really stood out to me is when he talked about desire. He specifically focused on how we should desire the salvation of others. It became clear that as we come closer to Christ and Heavenly Father our desire for others salvation will increase. We come closer to Christ and Heavenly Father by living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Which is faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I had wondered how I could have a greater desire for other's salvation, and this made it clear.
Despite how much time we were gone we had a really good week. Well, we didn't teach as many lessons to investigators as we would have liked to, but the lessons we did teach went really well. We also didn't teach as much because we had to stop seeing quite a few investigators. It's always unfortunate when that kind of thing happens, but maybe in the future they will be ready to accept the gospel. I sure hope so!
That's about all for this week. Sorry it's so short, but I have got a lot to do today. Sorry if anything doesn't make sense!
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