Welcome to the South Week 9

Hey Ya'll!!!
This week has been soooo interesting!!! To start off, we got dumped :( I kinda knew it was coming, V wasn't keeping our appointments. V is/was our  investigator who didn't really have clothing on or teeth. She had her husband answer the door and he told us that she was taking classes now and was going to be busy for 2 months, but to come back. So in two months miss V T best watch out! This week was very slow again... Remember how I was sick last week? Well Sister L got sick and we had to stay in on Tuesday instead of going contacting on the college campus here in Norfolk. Then on Wednesday I got sick again.... It was horrible. I had a fever and the flu and everything that could be going wrong with me went wrong. My stomach hurt so badly I hardly ate anything for about 4 days!! cray.  We went to visit a woman in our ward who blew out her knee playing volleyball. Her family is probably one of my favorite families in the ward. They are sooo funny and always make us feel loved. Their daughter reminds me so much of Summer. She dressed as a missionary for  "dress for success" day and read James 1:5 to her friend at school and told her about Joseph Smith! She's 10! So cool! Anyways, we went to help S K out with cleaning because she's been miserable on the couch for a month. When we were about the leave after giving the prayer, she started crying and thanked us for our example and our hard work. It was so sweet to see how the little things we do, and how just dropping by someone's house to show them you were thinking about them can make the biggest difference in someone's day! We are working with a less active recent convert in our ward who is preggers with her 3rd kid. She is the coolest woman ever. We talked to her about the importance of coming to church, and we bore our testimonies about the sacrament. For some reason, in my entire life as a member of the church it never occured to me that after we take the sacrament, we are not only renewing our covenants, we are CLEAN. It is like we are being baptized again! How this never stuck in my brain, I have no idea, but I was so excited to tell her about the sacrament! She told us she really does have the desire to come back to church! Sadly, she didn't come this week, but we aren't giving up on her!!
Another LA woman we are working with is B W. She's about 80 years old and is the cutest  woman I have ever seen! I have so much love for her! She was baptized 30 + years ago and lives alone in a scary apartment by the beach! Norfolk is crazy, but I love the people here so much!!!
Hey guess whattttt!!!! We have a new investigator!! His name is L! He is baptist and looks like Ludacris. I know I've mentioned him before.  He is the man we found when we went tracting when our car broke down a couple weeks ago! He has a strong belief in God and in prayer.  He knows about Mormons and he had SOO many good questions about the prophet!! I had the impression to bring these little dorky temple pictures with me, so I did and he asked about the temple! I love having those moments where you look back in the day and think "That was the spirit." There are so many moments like that when we are focused on listening to promptings! We need to make sure we are constantly listening for that still small voice! We can't do this alone! Sorry about my little rant there... hahaha anyways, we invited L to read chapters 31-32 of Alma and to pray about the book of Mormon. I feel good about him!!
As far as our other investigators... K hasn't answered any of our calls this week. She cancelled her appointment on Weds. and we haven't been able to reschedule. This week we will find out what's up with her! H hasn't answered our calls either so we are going to drop by tomorrow and get to the bottom of this! D D has been very sick the past couple weeks. She's going to be getting a blessing on Tuesday and we will meet with her this week!
Now, let me tell you about the weirdest day of my mission so far....
On Friday I was still feeling pretty ill. But my brain is crazy as a missionary. Even though I am super sick, I refuse to rest. I just want to work ALL the time and resting means weakness. Don't worry, I rested and I feel much better now, and I learned my lesson. On Friday after we taught L, we had to go down to Virginia Beach for Sister L to go to the chiropractor. When we got there, we saw our zone leaders and the Kempville missionaries in the lobby, praying. We walked in to see a girl on the floor who had just stopped seizing! The missionaries were called over to give someone a blessing and they walked into the lobby to see the woman having a seizure. They gave her a blessing and she stopped instantly! Isn't that amazing?? the power of the priesthood is SO REAL!!! As we were waiting for Elder S and Sister Lto get "Adjusted, not cracked," a woman started talking to us about her family and religion. So one of our zone leaders Elder P mentioned the gospel and from then on we had a discussion with her about our faith. I told her about Joseph Smith and I invited her to be baptized!! Did I tell you guys  I'm obsessed with baptism? IT IS VITAL to salvation, it's fun to say, and it's my purpose as a missionary! So we make sure we invite EVERYONE we talk to, to learn more of Christ, to be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority, to come to church, to read the Book or Mormon, ANY thing that will bring them closer to their Savior through repentance and baptism. If we aren't doing that, then we aren't fulfilling our purpose as missionaries!! Sorry, another rant, but it was awesome to talk with her about why our church has the proper authority and why it's important to be baptized! She told us that she has been looking for truth, and that is wasn't a coincidence that she walked into a chiropractor's office with 8 missionaries sitting around!
ANYWAYS, after this crazy experience, we went to contact a referral from head quarters. We come up to the sketchiest apartment complex I have ever seen. There are people wondering outside, looking like they are all on drugs. But that didn't stop us! We walked to the man's apartment and he let us in. The place had NO furniture. An old TV from the 80's that wasn't even plugged in. We stood by the kitchen talking to him about the church, and he told us that he has had the discussions before. As we were talking he kept peering out the window, we invited him to be baptized and he agreed! Just as we had said this, he stopped us, told us he had to get the mail, and ran out side, leaving us in "his" barren apartment with his keys, phone, everything. We watched through the window as 7 people huddled around the mail man waiting for him to leave. So weird. He came back up and we set a date for 4/20. he told us then that he has a smoking addiction and the last missionaries couldn't get him to stop. So as we talked to him about the word of wisdom and how Heavenly Father can help us over come anything, he seemed to understand that it was possible to overcome this addiction. We invited him to church and kept talking with him about what his feelings were regarding Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He told us he knew it was true.  As my companions were talking with him, I got super nauseous.... so sick to my stomach that I thought I was going to throw up all over G's empty living room. Luckily I didn't, turns out it was the first symptom for fainting. Yep. I fainted during a lesson. Just like when Ammon heard King Lamoni proclaim his testimony of the truth of the gospel, and fainted, I fainted when G told us he knew the church was true. Just kidding... it was one of the freakiest moments of my life! Luckily I was standing against a wall and when I passed out I was already leaning. I didn't fall to the ground or get a concussion, so that's good! I called Sister Perry, the mission presidents wife and she told me I need to rest. The zone leaders gave me a blessing and it was the most powerful blessing I have ever had. He told me that I would be healed if I have faith. I have never heard anyone say in a blessing that they would be healed! It was really cool to have had that experience. After that the zone leaders told us how we were a huge example to our zone and that we hold our zone together.
We later found out from a doctor in our ward that G has mild schizophrenia. We think he is still accountable, but we had to give him to the Elders :(
That was my week! I woke up today feeling so great! I am healthy again! Priesthood power is real.
Thank you for the package this week!! The apartment was very festive for Saint Patricks day!! Love y'all so much!!!
Keep K, D, H, and L in your prayers this week!
Love always,
Sister Snow
PS:  Please send me Jakes MTC address!!! Thank youuuu!!!
On Saturday I was fed a hamburger but instead of a bun it was krispy kremes, and it also had bacon and eggs. Welcome to the south?