Called to serve

family and friends..

IS THIS REAL LIFE?!?!?! 

I can not believe i am actually writing my LAST email home. this is crazy. This week has been the toughest week ever. a part of me is so excited for the next chapter of my life, and another part is completely heart broken my time as a full time missionary is over. The future is bright, and i have learned so many lifelong lessons as i have served the Lord.

This week we were so blessed. It was one of the best weeks number wise we have had in a long time. We taught a lot of lessons, found new investigators, prepared people to come close to be baptized, and we lived our purpose everyday. 

we were blessed to see a family we have been teaching come to church, and they enjoyed it very much! 

I look back on this week with no regrets. I used all the time i was blessed with to work my hardest and to be bold in all situations. There is no greater happiness than that of bearing testimony and teaching people about their savior. 

That is what it is all about. That is why i work by hardest every single day. That is why i keep going, even when we get screamed at or made fun of. That is why i am obedient. Jesus Christ really did come to the earth and preform the atonement for US. The atonement is REAL and it heals us, gives us strength, and changes us. I am not who i was 18 months ago. Thank goodness! I know that because of the savior i can keep progressing. My time as a missionary is not over, it is just beginning!! 

Because of my service as a missionary, i honestly can say that i love myself. 

Because of my service as a missionary, more importantly i love other people. I have learned how to work hard, how to find joy, and how to trust Heavenly Father.

I know this will continue to grow. 

Alma 26:11-16, 35-37 has given me so much comfort today. God IS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! he does have all power... this is HIS work and he will strengthen us to be able to do hard things. 

i love you all. Thank you for the prayers, letters, and love. 

SEE YOU TOMORROW!!! 

xoxoxo

sister snow

Our times are in His hands.

Wow I am in shock right now... I literally feel like I was just at the computer 3 hours ago emailing about my week.. but that was a whole week ago. the closer the end is coming the quicker time is going by!
This week was great. Alot of ups and downs, but hey thats life. We spent a lot of time out of our area this week for exchanges and interviews, but we made the most out of the time we were blessed with.
We worked SO hard this week to involve the members in every single teaching appointment we had. We saw miracles because of it. I am seeing more and more every day how missionary work truly helps both parties involved. The teachers and the teachees. We set an investigator scott for baptism on September 2... hes had a date before but this time i feel it will happen. He is doing great!
We went down to nagshead for exchanges with the hermanas. they have been having some serious struggles and i am definitely learning alot about how important it is to rely on the spirit in every situation, and that every moment can and should be a teaching opportunity. I am learning so much every single day.
We had interviews with president baker this saturday and it was one of the sweetest experiences of my life. It was the last interview with him in the mission field. except my exit interview...it was very emotional. I was fine all week until i walked into president bakers office and he said such a kind prayer to start the interview. its been downhill ever sense. i cry a lot. im such a girl. President baker said that we couldnt talk about the fact that im going home because he would get weepy. he said when missionaries like me leave he thinks to himself, how can the mission go on... but then it does. He said the changes i have made and the work i have done is remarkable. I do not say these things to brag.. frankly i still do not see them as remarkable, but as evidence of what the atonement of Jesus Christ can do in our individual lives. We all can become stronger and learn to love ourselves as the Savior does. We have so much potential, we just need to be obedient to him and let him mold us unto the people he knows we can become. I have a long way to go, but im grateful for the start my mission has provided me.
I am out of time. My goal for this week is to be the boldest i have ever been... hahhah watch out virginia!!!!!
I am having so much fun out here, and finally i am at peace with the changes that are taking place. I know heavenly Father is proud of the work his missionaries are doing, and i know he will be with me everystep of the way this week and forever.
i will not lose sight of him. i will finish strong.
talk to you next week.....
xoxox
Sister Snow

" there is One other than Walmart who saves"

My email title is from a church bilboard. love it. The south is so great with all its little churches everywhere. Everyone here looooooves Jesus. I am loving every second i have left here, every day is filled with so many opportunities to bear my testimony and to have mine strengthened.

This week was one of the toughest ones yet. But on the bright side... i loved everysingle day :) I had an inspired goal in weekly planning last week to focus on having a postive attitude always. i didnt know why at the time, but i do now! We had almost all of our investigators drop us this week. So sad. all the people who were set for baptism now are not, i got a call from a member here telling me that one of my favorite people inthe world passed away. it was brutal. Brothe spencer from nagshead passed away after a long battle with his health.I just wanted to cry and take a break, but we kept working and like i always say.. teaching cures all wounds. I am so grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge we have that families can be together forever. Brother Spencer was sealed to his wife for time and all eternity, and he lived his life in the service of others. I called him Grandpa spencer, and i cant wait to see him again someday. he changed my life.

we worked SOOO hard this week and saw little fruit from it numbers wise, but that is not what a mission is about. it is about doing what the Lord asks of us, forgetting ourselves and getting to work. It is about doing what the savior would do and helping his children come unto christ. We definately fulfilled our purpose this week. We got sooo many rejections, doors slammed in our faces, but i couldnt stop smiling! I am a representative of Jesus christ, how could i NOT smile?

We were blessed to see some investigators at church! How glorious!! it is a choice to be discouraged and unhappy.

I am SO grateful for the privlidge i have to be a missionary. sorry this email is SO short... there really is not much to report on for the week other than we worked our tails off, satan will not get us down, there was a hurricane here on friday- the nagshead sisters got evacuated!- we werent allowed to procelyte on july 4th :( OH! on friday at zone meeting i had to bear my "dying testimony" is what they call it... its the last time i will see most of these people- and i cried like a baby and i testified of the savior and how much he loves us. I have learned so many precious sacred lessons here in virginia and north carolina, and i cherish the moments i have to testify to othersof the things i have learned.

I  know we all can change. I know that Christ is our SAvior and we have unlimited potential. I know he heals, strengthens, and loves us. I know the book of mormon is the word of god and man will get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book!!!

I hope everyone had a fab july 4th. this week is going to have sooo many miracles... one of them being for the first time probably ever i am singing in sacrament meeting  this sunday.

wish me luck!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!! CHOOSE CHRIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xoxox

Sister snow

"you recieve no witness until after the trial of your faith" June 30th 2014

hello again!!

i feel like i was just sitting at the computer yesterday... the weeks are cruising by. it is terrifying. these have been the quickest weeks of  my life. I am hanging on to each hour of the day, hoping they last a little longer but they dont.

This week was pretty brutal. All of the appointments that we had set up cancelled for the week, or rescheduled. Nobody was getting back to us. we worked hard everyday dispite the obvious let downs of cancellations. there werent a lot of people outside, or home. We did have an exchange this week with the smithfield sisters. We felt i needed to go there, and sister dalton and i had ablast working hard until we dropped. we found new investigators, taught lots of people, and felt the spirit leading us where to go, what to say, and what to do. I havent seen so many black people sense norfolk-but i do this really embarrassing thing and talk like them.... its bad. i get made fun of. please dont place me in LA when i am home. it will be a terrifying sight and i might get beat up.

We got a horrifying call from our mentaly/emotionally challenged investigator-lee on tuesday night. actually morning. it was 330 am. the call was sent to voicemail and he left a disturbing voicemail on our phone saying the church is just like any religion and its not good and he will destroy the earth with his powers and he is not a human-a fallen star. It was pretty frightning. we called him to tell him we wont be seeing him anymore and he said he didnt mean anything he said, that it was a nervous breakdown and he loves the church and us. We held strong. hes to dangerous.

so that was the end of Lee, or schitzophrenic, multiple personality, and bi-polar friend. I miss him.

We had zone conference this week and we heard great instructions and trainings from president Baker and the assistants. i cried the whole second half. It was depressing.

Sunday is when our week picked up. We were so tired, and trying not to get down from the weeks events. We continued to stay dilligent and hold fast, and then the miracles happened. Suzanne came to church again! She loved it, and her daughter is interested in meeting with us also!

AFter church we practiced the song we are going to sing in sacrament meeting on the 20 for my last sunday (gross) and then we SPRINTED.we worked SO hard. we found 4 new investigators and met some wonderful people. It was such a miracle. 3 of them are family members of a member here in greatbridge that i had met a long time ago. They let us teach them about thebook of mormon and agreed to let us come back and teach them more. They also asked if they could feed us dinner! so kind. I love the south! people here are the kindest.

the other investigator we met was outside, we were contacting someone and saw him outside. i love talking to strangers.

when we got in last night, sister griffin and i were almost in tears at the miracle God had provided for us,. After a whole week of struggling, being humbled and refined we saw the miracles. ether 12:6

I love you all! I know that only through being obediant and dilligent we are entitled to all the blessings heavenly father has in store for us. There is always alittle more we can be doing to come close to the Savior. Just when we feel like giving up, ask heavenly father to give you strength. the atonement is REAL. i feel its aid everysingle day. Isaiah 40:28-29. 31 have become my new favorite scriptures.

hope you all are having a great week! be safe at lake powell please!

and hope your day was special sum sum!! cant believe you are 11!!!!!!!!!

xoxo

sister Snow

Opposition in all things

Holy moly jolley coley this week was so GREAT!!!
I hope that I can adequately explain the events of this week, the many miracles, and lessons I learned in a short amount of time! This week was one of the best weeks of my mission, but contained some of the hardest moments in these past 17 months.
We had so many amazing things happen... like meeting most of S's family and teaching a lesson to 15 people at once… that was cray. We called in the group after eating dinner: we had S, her kid and husband, her parents (the cutest old people I have ever met), the member family who introduced us (they have about 6 in the fam) and a senior missionary couple who have become our unofficial grandparents. They all listened intently as we bore our testimony of the savior and how we grow closer to him by reading the Book of Mormon. We gave them all copies of the Book of Mormon and we are waiting for  to tell us a time when we all can meet. So exciting!!
We also found a lot of new people to teach, one I will highlight. K. She is so prepared! We set her for baptism on the 26 of July. She is working on quitting smoking, she came to church on Sunday with her child, and she has such a desire to learn about the gospel. Sister A- who the missionaries have been working with forever, introduced us to her. K is so open to learning it is inspirational. We had two lessons with her, and they were so spiritual. Sister A was the perfect member present, she bore powerful testimony and promised her friend that if she would read the book of Mormon, meet with us, and come to church her life would get better and she would be happier. I was crying. typical.
She didn't even let me finish the whole baptismal invitation... she cut me off with a huge, excited YES after I said baptism. It was so great!
We taught the Ss's this week- expecting to drop them. We have been teaching them every other week since December, and we were hitting a wall with them. They won't commit to be baptized. So we had a very frank and bold discussion with them explaining why we extend invitations and where they see this going. They both said that they have been enlightened by the things we have taught them, and they see themselves being baptized in the near-future. I was in shock. We said baptism probably 50 times. no joke. They don't feel ready enough, but we assured them that they are. They are praying about it. They also came to church this weekend!!!
Lee is doing good... we taught him the word of wisdom and he called us an hour later and said he threw away all of his tobacco. He told us at church that he dug it out of the trash though... so we won't give up! Still don't know how accountable he is. We will see.
We had 5 investigators and their families at church yesterday. It was a miracle. The average for the Chesapeake mission is way less than that.
Although we saw so many miracles this week, we had some intense opposition. Got dropped very rudely and hostilely (I don't think that is a word???) by our investigator E. A less active that I have been working with these past 6 transfers decided that she wanted the elders to teach her son who is 9 instead of us because elders taught her daughter long ago and she wants him to see male figures in his life...  anywho it is not worth listing the speed bumps of this week because they don't matter. What matters is that we overcame the opposition. We faced our day with hope and faith and didn't let the disappointments shape our attitude for the work. Saturday was one of the hardest days of my entire mission. That morning I received a blessing from president baker for comfort and council and I received great help from heavenly Father. One thing stood out to me so profoundly- that I would have confidence and remember and use the literal strengthening power of the Savior. I felt so weak that day. E had just blown up at us and said so many unkind things to us, and I wanted to quit. I'll be honest, the thought of going to our apartment and updating our progress record and area book instead of going out and finding seemed so tempting. I said one of the boldest prayers of my life and pleaded for the literal strength through the atonement-that I would be energized and ready to work my hardest. After a week of so many miracles, of course we needed some opposition. God had given us so much, why would I just quit after seeing some miracles? I Love God and want to show Him that. So we worked. I wish I could say we found 3 families who had prayed for help and we knocked on the door, but most people we tried were not home. But we tried. We were diligent. And we felt better. The sorrow from the previous disappointments were washed away with the strength of the Savior, as we both felt at peace and realized we had and were doing our part. We can not control others agency. But we control ourselves. We have the power to make every circumstance great and monumental.
I have grown to love and appreciate 2 Nephi chapter 2 this week. It has easily become one of my favorite chapters in the book of Mormon and describes perfectly this past week.
Great things are happening. We need to have the spiritual eyes and hears to recognize them.
Love you all!! have a wonderful week.
xoxo
sister snow
OH AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUM SUM SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!! 11... you are SO old.  I'm proud of you and the great missionary you are!

 craziest rain storm ever

God is a God of miracles

helloooo!
This week went by too quickly. The new transfer has gotten broken in and we are buckling down and cracking the whip to work our tails off and to see miracles!!
I don't know whether it is because I am at the point in my mission where I have stopped worrying and second-guessing myself, or if it's because I am nearing the end, but there has been so much opposition lately. Satan is working his hardest with our investigators and using everything he can to discourage and distract us. It will not work! It was such a wonderful experience to see how fighting off distractions and being diligent and obedient= immediate miracles.We pushed through the temptation to remain comfortable-it is super hot again. Not oven cooking hot-but humidity... where the heat never escapes you. The weather sinks deep into your skin and you feel like you are stuck in the bathroom after getting out of a hot shower... the air is moist and thick- and we find more people to teach.
We met a couple of great people, sadly only some accepted return appointments but I'm keeping my chin up because I get to share the message of hope with all of Chesapeake Virginia!
We taught our dear friend with severe mental disorders.I really feel like he is accountable! After we talked about the Book of Mormon He got a light in his eyes and said something about how the Book of Mormon is pure and it is the missing piece from so many translations of the bible! He got it! He is still working towards baptism. So far all is going great with him! We set S with a baptismal date for July 12! It was such a wonderful experience! We watched the restoration dvd with her and she has such an open heart. She felt the spirit and related to Joseph Smith. We set her for the date and a strong impression came to mind to ask her whom she knows that will benefit from this message. She lit up and said, "My family.  I want you to teach them!" So we are having a BBQ and lesson with the member family who referred S to us, S's whole family including her parents, and a Sr. missionary couple here from Utah! I am SO excited!!!! Missionary work is my FAVORITE!!!
Following the spirit is key. I finally feel like I am understanding how the spirit speaks to me and becoming quick to obey. I owe all the miracles I have seen on my mission to God, allowing me to know what to do next through the holy Ghost. I am nothing without the spirit. For example… last night we had a member coming out with us on fathers day! Big sacrifice and it was her first time coming with missionaries. Sadly our apt with Laura ( lady we walked up to in our apt complex. She did keep her apt on thursday and is sooo open to this message… She is super catholic and baptism would be a big deal for her to "give up her mass and family tradition.)cancelled because she got called into work-so after much fervent prayer and pondering our minds were still blank as to what to do with the time we had with our member. We just kept moving. Even though we only had 3 hours to come up with a solid plan (our backup plans for the day didn't feel right), we exercised our faith and kept moving. Randomly a sister who had just moved into the ward popped into my mind. I didn't even know her name. We texted the relief society president to ask her what her name and address was  and went on with our plans. We stopped into see the elders quorum president and he mentioned this woman's name and how she had received a blessing and was really struggling and could use a visit. Wow! Then when we left, our phone had a message from the relief society president with the new move ins address and name, saying she really could use a visit. Okay we got the hint. So we visited sister A. I was so sad our apts had fallen through because we had set goals with faith the night before that we would find a new investigator and have a lesson with a member present. As we walked up to sister A's apt, a man was standing outside so I started talking to him and he was super interested in the gospel! We taught him a lesson about Christ, said a prayer and set up a return appointment while the member testified of church. So not only did we get to visit sister andersen who cried and told us she needed us tonight and we lifted her spirits, we found a new investigator and met the goals we had set.
God is a god of miracles when we ACT in faith and desire his will.
This weekend we were privileged to listen to Elder Corbridge of the 70 at stake conference, and elder Olson, an area 70. They were here to call a new stake presidency. A member from the Nagshead ward and Greatbridge ward are the new counselors, and the new stake pres is/or was the current bishop of a ward in the stake. I am excited to have been here to witness this miracle. Revelation is real. I am grateful for the organization of Christ's church that is directed by him through his worthy servants! The stake is going to see a big improvement in missionary work and hastening the work. Cant wait!!
At stake conference, one of the people I taught who got baptized was sustained to receive the Melchezedik Priesthood. What a tender mercy to have been in the same stake as my old area so I can see life changing events like this take place. I was so proud. This gospel does change lives. I see it countless times again and again. Every day.We all have the opportunity to be cleansed. All the struggle of enduring to the end, or getting on the path to eternal life... it is worth it.
The trials of missionary work do not compare in the slightest to the joy that I feel every day as I get to put Christ's name on my chest and carry his gospel forth to all we see.
I love this work. I am so humbled every day to see Gods hands involved in His work. I promise I am giving this my all!!
xoxo
sister snow
ps- CHAN YOU GRADUATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so proud of you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and Brooke Farrow congrats on the mission call! Argentina is the luckiest country on earth to have a powerful dedicated angel like you to serve there!

LAST TRANSFER!! Sister Snowfall incident

Family-

I don't even know what happened this week.

to be honest... it was a very stressful week full of a lot of trials.. but so many lessons to be learned :) Biggest lesson is that worrying is a  way of mentally practicing failure. It is never as bad as we think it is. Christ has already overcome the world!

We were in Nagshead again on Monday and Tuesday, got to see some of my favorite people!! shout out to brother Paul Kelly and Patrick Kelly

We saw SO many miracles and we talked with everyone no matter how awkward the situation... from gardening, to partying on their porch. Oh funny classic sister snowfall moment... we were on bikes and I am horribly uncoordinated at bike riding in a skirt-I tried to turn and crashed into a fence. It broke. Just a little piece... but still. It was pretty hilarious. God works in mysterious ways because I went to apologize to the owner and now she is a potential investigator!

Tuesday night we had 7 sister missionaries spend the night at our apt.. it was a crazy time. We all managed to fit in the living room. pictures to follow. hopefully.

MLC was grand. We learned how to correct people, that is always a humbling experience.

At zone meeting, our zoneleaders and President Baker asked us to share with the zone what happened in our area. The focus was faith to find, teach, and baptize. The zone leaders made a graph of the key indicators from before 

I got there and then had me explain what happened... nothing really changed. The missionaries were faithful every time. But we both knew that this area could explode and it did. I got emotional thinking of all the changes that have taken place here. I am grateful to have been able to witness so many miracles in the past 8 months.

We had a couple finding miracles this week! We had a very stressful week this week- not being in our area for a while, 2 meetings ( MLC and zone meeting) 2 exchanges planned, and transfer calls. God is his great goodness decided to ease our stress and place some very prepared people in our path. On Monday a man walked up to us in the library and asked if we were Mormon. We said yes we are! And he said he loves Mitt Romney and wants to become a Mormon. GO Mitt! hahaha so that was grand. He has a lot of struggles.. we taught him on Saturday and admitted to some mental disorders but we will see what happens! He came to church for a little yesterday and he is set for baptism on June 28. Pray for L please!

We also met  Miss L. We were walking around an apt complex, talking with people and contacting some people we had met before to follow up, and as I was getting into the car I saw a woman walk by and without thinking I shut the car door grabbed my giant purse and ran up to the lady. No idea what I said but I caught her attention and she opened up to us. Her dad used to be a Mormon, and her parents were married by a bishop! and 4 months ago a man at an auto shop gave her a Book of Mormon! Member missionary work... its gotta happen! any who- she's totally solid! She cried as she told us we had purity in our eyes and that God sent us to her to help her. When we set a return apt with her she said the soonest possible please!

Some investigators we have been teaching for a while are still slowly progressing: S and the S's were our focus this week.

We had people come to church on Sunday which was a miracle!! We focused so hard on teaching the doctrine and setting up expectations to keep commitments... and it worked.

I know that the Lord is aware of us. His atonement is what gives us the strength to do hard things. I am ready to see more miracles here in Greatbridge for 6 more weeks as I put my trust in him and am obedient!!!!!!!!

yep you heard it right!! i am staying in greatbridge! sister griffin and i are staying together. how blessed!!

i am so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

love y'all!!!!

xoxoxo

sister snow

Cloud 9

This week was so rewarding. Sister Griff and i are still in shock.

We had two exchanges, one with the smithfield sisters and one with the hermanas in nagshead. we hardly had any time to breathe this week! On wednesday i was here in the area with a new-to-the-mish missionary, sister dalton who is not very new! she was such a powerhouse. we had a lot of fun together, and were blesssed with so many teaching opportunitues. Every hour of the day was booked with a teaching appointment, and non of the fell through! first time my whole mission that that has happened!! miracles happen on exchanges, that is a fact.

We had a lot of spiritual lessons this week where God knew exactly what his children needed to hear, and as we plead with him in prayer, things came to find as to what to share, and we followed the promptings and people were amazed at how much God is aware of them. Multiple times that morning and night as we planned for the lessons we were teaching, things would come to mind and we would look at each other with confused looks on our faces, shrug and study then teach what the impressions were. I will never forget the sweet spirit that is felt as people feel and understand that god really is our loving heavenly father, and that he truely is aware of everything going on in our lives, and that I am only a messanger and tool for the Savior!! He is always there to help us, we need to eliminate the things in our lives that are bringing us farther from him and let him into our lives fully.
Thursday we saw Finnegan get baptized into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. It was one of the most powerful baptisms i had ever attended in my entire life. We came to the church early to fill the font and get everything ready, and as we were doing so i had a really strong feeling that we needed to have a testimony meeting in between the time when finnegan was getting changed. I have never done that before, but i shrugged, told sis griffin, and we went for it.

The baptism was remarkable. Finnegans sister, bree came!!! also toris bro scott, who they are living with in WI came to support even though he is a die hard luthern, along with more of her friends. The talk on baptism was given by an adorable 11 year old boy named Blake, and then finnegan was baptized by the bishop. he got baptized twice because his little foot popped up. he was born a twin, and it was cool that he still does everything in 2s :)

While we was changing sister griffin and i had a mini lesson of the restoration, there were so many non members there! I totally started crying as i said the first vision.. that hasnt happened in a long time, but the spirit was so thick. I felt like i was in the celestial kingdom, seeing all of the many people that i love, feeling the spirit of the restoration and of the covenant that finnegan just made. sister griffin said it looked like i was glowing?? hahah who knows but it was just amazing to feel the spirit so so strong. We opened it up to anyone who wanted to express their feelings of christ and what just took place, and finnegans uncle jumps up and tearfully explains how finns twin brother died and how he knows matthew was here today, and how it was hard as an uncle seeing his nephew get baptized into a nother church but he happy with the decision he made and knows it was a right one. wow.

Finnegan recieved the gift of the holy ghost and afterwards, he leaned into tori and wispered "i am so happy right now."

 

This is what the gospel of Jesus Christ will do for all people who chose to accept it.

 

I know that this gospel is a gospel of change.

I had to privlidge to be an HERMANA for the day in nagshead, and we taught a woman named cecilia. Kyle, one of my recent converts from naghead was accompaning us, and he bore his testimony to cecilia in tears about how this gospel has changed him completlety and how he is the happiest he has ever been in his life, and he promised her that she would feel that joy as she read the book of mormon and prayed with real intent. he quoted scripture!! It was such a sweet experience. he told me friday that hes been praying about going on a mission!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

i am on cloud nine today. it was such a wonderful week. I love being a missionary. It is the most rewarding, yet difficult thing i have ever done. this saturday is transfer calls... my last one. i hope i get to finish strong in great bridge!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!

talk to strangers!!!

xoxo

sister Snow

 

I believe in miracles

HELLO!!!
I have so much to say in so little of time. This week has been one of the best weeks, and quickest weeks of my mission.
I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is amazing how a mission brings you to the lowest of lows and the highest of highs... but even still you feel the peace and strength from the savior. I am forever grateful for the experiences i have daily.
On Tuesday we felt prompted to teach little man F about fasting and then fast with him and his mother about being baptized on May 28. So we had the most hilarious next 5 minutes as we watched this 12 year old kid and his mom run around the kitchen chugging water and making microwave chicken nuggets as Sister Griffin and I are laughing hysterically. We both felt peace as we were fasting. Deep down I  knew it was going to work out but there was still a lot of uneasiness with the whole thing. They are moving this Friday, the 30th, to Wisconsin and we felt so strongly that he needed to be baptized here. I had many spiritual impressions that his dad would give him permission. I literally saw it in my mind. It was remarkable! I kept it quit because I didn't want to manipulate him. The next day we get a text from his mom saying he said he wanted to wait. nnnnnnnooooooooooooooo. We cried. We still had a lesson with them and in the lesson we felt prompted to set up a baptismal interview regardless. I left to go on an exchange in Portsmouth which was exhausting and draining and I will spare the deets., but I got  a call from him mom telling me that little man F changed his mind in the interview!!!! I was SO excited!!!!!!!!! The only thing we had to wait for was his dad's permission... this was the scary part. His dad is not into religion and we never really know what is going to happen with him. So, many prayers went towards little man F and his father's heart this week.  He left to go on a trip with his dad this weekend so we were left to wonder until Sunday night.
In the meantime we had some amazing lessons with S. She is a members neighbor who has been prepared by the Lord to receive His gospel. Family and friends.. .If you don't know your neighbors... GO MEET THEM! people are prepared all around us! we need to open our mouths and find them!
we had planned to teach the restoration to suzanne but as we sat in the home and heard her talking about her life we both turned straight to 1 Nephi 1 and read from there. The spirit was so strong. S was crying as words that were not mind flowed from my mouth. It was one of my favorite lessons so far.
We had a lesson with the S's this week, they are still slowly progressing... We felt prompted to read "Bare up their burdens with ease" with them from Elder Bednar, this April's conference. It was amazing. The spirit was so strong and they asked for a copy of the talk and said it made them want to become better! He was still going off about it when he saw the elders the next day!
On Sunday we still hadn't heard from F... I was starting to get super antsy. It was a great test of patience and hope that is for sure. On the bright side, my former companion Kristen Tarwater was at church!! I cried so much seeing one of my dear friends. It was such a tender mercy. She was holding babies and wearing a huge rock on her finger! LOVE HER!! we got to stay and be with T as she received her patriarchal blessing. It was a spiritual highlight of my mission that is for sure.
Monday morning we received the word that Fs father gave permission for him to be baptized.
it is happening on May 29 at 8:30
When we make goals with faith and we are willing to sacrifice everything and put God's will above our own and WORK our hardest...
miracles will come.
love you all!
hope you had a fabtastic memorial day!!
xoxox
sister snow

Pday fun

Sista T is back for a visit, ok, now just Kristen T

more pday fun

This emblem on this old car looks like the Temple

Glistening in 108 degrees

108!

We taught so many people this week I dont have enough time to go into detail... but this week was such a great week! So many amazing spiritual experiences. Sister griffin is such a blessing. it has never been so easy before to teach with someone before! The spirit really has been working through both of us. we are working hard to "get out of the way" as elder bednar taught us and I have seen so many changes in the teaching appointments we have as we are truely there for THEM and seek and follow revelation from the spirit.

Tuesday we had our first exchange of the transfer. We went with the hermanas in elizabeth city. it was funtastic. I was with a good friend of mine, hermana brugman, who came from ecity to great bridge for some FUNN. We focused our exchange on talking with everyone, something a lot of sisters in this mission are struggling with :( On this day apparently the temp was 108 DEGREES. all the plans that we had set up were droppin, and i kept having the feeling that we needed to go tracting. goodness that didnt sound to pleasing in this weather, but the thought came again and so we went for it! We saw multiple miracles. No time to go into detail but we met many new potential investigators and a new investigator who said how amazing it was that we happened to show up today because she had been struggling with her belief in christ and was looking for more truth. What a tender mercy! i love exchanges so much... God shows us that the things we are weak in really can become strengths as we get over our selfish fears and concerns and get to work. As we talked with everyone we saw miracles. peoples hearts were touched by our message, only one door was slammed in our faces and we had some hilarious stories. One drunk man told us he couldnt focus on what we were saying becuase we were "glistening." eww.

We are still teaching a lot of the same investigators we have been working with, they are slowly making progress.Finn and ED came to church this sunday. it was amazing!!!

On wednesday we FOUND KRYSTAL! shes alive!!!!!!!!!! we showed up at her home after the relief society pres told us she knew she was home. krystal is getting seperated from her home and is moving down to florida, but we were able to come over saturday and help her pack up and talk to her about getting baptized down in florida. Good things are happening.

Wednesday i woke up with the most awful pain in my face and a horrible cold. I kept going all day, we ended up walkin around all day in the blazing sun looking for more people to teach...we had a lot of success as well. Talked with so  many people and set a lot of return appointments. One old man made us cherry red lemonade. bonuss.

thursday morning i woke up feeling like death so the missionary nurse told me to go to the doctor and get drugs. turns out i had a pretty bad sinus infection and fever so that was  bummer. our day was a little slower.

friday and saturday i was still feeling pretty groggy. we kept going to the appts we had and on saturday morning i got a blessing of healing so that i would have the strength to make it through. As the worthy priesthood holder placed his hands on my head i immidiately felt strength and peace. I felt better instantely and made it through the day filled with so many teaching appointments-including teaching fin at the mission home!!! first time teaching with president baker!! we were so nervous. we were praying about what to teach the night before and instantly the atonement came to mind so strongly. sis griffin had the same impression. we were so excited! the lesson went so well. Pbaker asked "would you say baptism is a goal for you." Finn said, "baptism is not a goal because it is obtainable. I would say it is my objective." 

yayyy baptism. We are prayful he will decide to be baptized here and get the courage to ask his father for permission. him and tori move to WI in 2 weeks. PLEASE PRAY FOR FIN!!!!!!!!!!

Family, i know that the holy ghost is the key to conversion. i have seen in countless times this week and i know that we need to be bold and act on those promptings so we dont hinder the work of salvation!

I am so grateful that everyone is SAFE and sound. the members were so kind and kept reassuring me that my family in carlsbad is safe.

love you guys.

chan you looked AWESOME at prom!!!!!!!!!!!!

untill next week!

Chose Christ!

xoxox

sister snow

bath tub steam planning?  Thought steam from tub would help with head cold

Artsy

Miraculous Miracles

Helllllooo!
It was just so amazing seeing Y'ALL yesterday. I am so lucky to have such a fun and beautiful family. I am still amazed that I didn't cry! First time!!!! Emails got super messed up today because the power went out at the library and it was closed so we are now at the church after searching around and begging the elders for a key to the family history center... but I am here. After much opposition.
This week was probably the best week of my entire mission. No joke. Miracle after miracle.
I am short on time so I will be brief… well I will try to be :)
Miracle #1 J who was a former investigator who showed up at church last Sunday called us on Monday night and said she cant stop thinking about the things she learned at church and how she too can " know this is true." She told us about past experience with missionaries and how before her heart wasn't in it, and now it is. She wants to know so badly. She cant meet with us in person until 2 more weeks because she teaches elementary school and doesn't get home until 9 every night- it's testing week. we were so excited as she told us extremely spiritual confirmations she has had about this church. last time she was at church she had thought to herself that this church would be perfect for her children. then she heard a voice saying "if its perfect for your children,why isn't it perfect for you?" she told us how before she shrugged it off and now she is realizing that wasn't just a small thing. Set a follow up phone call  (so weird i know) The next phone call we invited her to be baptized on May 31 - first time doing that over a phone call- and she is praying about it!!!!!!!!!!!! yayyyyy. Almost a commitment!! ahaha
Miracle #2 F (T's son) agreed to take all the lessons before he moves and pray to know its true and decide if he wants to be baptized. this is huge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Miracle #3 After many prayers and many failed attempts to meet a members neighbor that I have been talking with the members about for over 6 months… we finally had a lesson with her! She is a new investigator! Turns out I had already met her and she had been coming to mind for the past week but I just forgot her name-i couldn't explain who she was-but God knew. She is so prepared. We are teaching her tomorrow!!
Miracle # 4 on my birthday we got a phone call from a member whom we had dinner with the night before telling us that she invited her neighbor to meet with us, and she accepted!!! We have an apt this Friday.
Miracle #5 members brought their friends to church!!!!
God is So great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! after working so hard with the members and finding through our own effort for the time I have been here... members are finding people for us to teach. They are bold, converted, and eager to share the gospel and work together with us full time missionaries!!!!
I have never seen this happen before!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sister Griffin and I have been walking around with our jaws dropped all week. It has been the most miraculous week, full of so much fun and so much work. I am so tired all the time, but I wouldn't have it any other way. All sacrifice is so small compared to what the cause is.
On Wednesday night we had a very spiritual lesson with the smiths. We have been teaching them now for over 6 months and they are progressing very slowly. We had planned to teach the 10 commandments but I felt very dark and wrong about it as i was studying. I prayed about it and the Lord directed my thoughts to Alma 32. So this is what we taught them.  Not knowing exactly why, we went into the smiths home ready for whatever God had in store. Bro Smith had a very spiritual experience and had a very specific dream that told him- in answer to his prayer about the Book of Mormon being true- to keep going, you are on the right track. then he read in Alma 5 about praying and fasting many days and he said he got his answer. he knew it was true. We read over Alma 32 and he kept saying WOW. this is amazing and going along with my experience. The spirit was so strong.. so I invited him to be baptized and show his faith in Jesus Christ by acting on this answer.... he said he wasn't ready for that yet. HEARTWRENCHER!!!!
some day. i know this was a huge step for him to be able to know that the Book of Mormon is true though.
I have learned a lot about faith this past week. I know that faith is so much more than a belief. it is a constant trust coupled with fearless action. As we place all of our trust in the Lord and place aside all of our doubt, our negativity, our natural man, God will work miracles in us. I have no doubt about it. I know that we need to be willing to act and make sacrifices in order to see growth. that is one of the biggest lessons i have learned.
Thank you for the birthday lovin'. I felt special :) birthdays are the best as missionaries. It is not about you and you get to feel the pure joy of missionary work all day long.
Thanks again for everything!
Until next week,
xoxox
sister snow
Happy bday hermana calder!!!!!!!!!!!
Have fun at PROM channy wanny!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apostolic Awesomness

Awesome quote from a 12 year old below:


My dearest family and friends...
My mind is going 50000 miles per hour this morning so I am sorry if this email doesn't make any sense at all.
This week was a unique one. Monday was so SAD! Sister Tarwater and I drove to the mission home and said goodbye.. I cried like a baby. It was so hard walking away. I was with a newish missionary, sister Petrie for the rest of the week until sister Griffin arrived. Sis Petrie serves in nagshead currently, and we both just cried the rest of preparation day because our companions were gone. Girls are pathetic....
I was so excited to just get out and work. Teaching cures all things. Once we walked out of the door and saw people outside and fulfilled our purpose to invite people to come unto Christ... the sadness left and was taken over by peace and joy for the gospel of our savior.
Sadly Monday night I awoke many times to sister Petrie puking in the bathroom... I accidentally almost killed her. Oops. I fed her old leftovers and she got food poisoning... Hahhaha. So the next couple of days were rough and I started going stir crazy inside. The missionary nurse banned her from working for a couple days.
Thursday and half of Wednesday we had some great, hard days. This week we hardly had any appointments set so we spent our time walking around looking for people to teach, and following up on people we have already met. We saw some investigators who had been very hard to get in contact with and had lessons with them, received a lot of hope from members as they told us the people they were working with and accepted the commitment to extend invitations to their friends.
We taught Little F and his Mom, recent convert, last night at an FHE with some amazing members. On the car ride home F told us "Before I learned about repentance, I used to cry at night because I thought I would always feel guilty. Now I know I don't have to." Profound 12 year old. He will get baptized soon :) cant wait!
K  is still MIA. We have dropped her and a couple other investigators and are on to find the prepared!  Miracles are happening in great bridge.
Yesterday at church a former investigator whom I met once, who is the sister of a really less active guy came to church. She actually dragged her brother who I baptized to come. We set up a time to see her and she is going to be at church NEXT week too! She had a huge change of heart! This will be one amazing transfer!!!!!!!!!
The highlight of the week was-aside from getting my new amazing hilarious hardworking companion sister griffin-was seeing ELDER BEDNAR of the quorum of the 12 Apostles speak to us.
We drove up to Portsmouth Friday night and spent the night at the office staff missionaries home-the Simmons. they are hilarious. cutest senior couple ever. we woke up super early and left to drive to Richmond. this was a once in a life time opportunity... we got to hear from elder Bednar, bishop Davies don't of the presiding bishopric, and the president of the 70 but I don't remember his name… oops.
The spirit was so strong as we heard from Gods chosen servants. We had a question and answer session, and a sessions where elder Bednar asked us what impressions we had as we read 3 talks he asked us to study in preparation.
Some things that impressed me:
We need to get out of the way and let the spirit lead.
We need to become a missionary. As we become a missionary and are converted to the gospel and always stay a missionary-no matter if you are full time or life long-you will not fall away.
we need to get married-i will explain this one on mothers day day... so funny. they told us if we don't get along with our companions we aren't ready for marriage! hahaa
I heard 2 presidencies and 1 prophet, seer and revelator bare witness of the savior and his gospel. I will never forget the spirit that i felt. I have never felt it so strongly as this. To hear such a powerful testimony was inspiring and heart stirring. He gave us his apostolic promise that as we taught and lived what we taught we would never fall away…
I am so grateful for the privilege I had to see and hear from the Lords servants. I learned so many things and I will never forget the spirit that was felt.
I am amazed every day at the joy that I feel as I am talking to strangers, teaching randoms about Jesus, and giving all of my heart, might, mind and strength to the people here in Virginia. I know this work is necessary and it really is the work of the Lord. If it is not, there would be no way I could do what I do every single day. Some one who is so naturally timid and afraid to talk to strangers could NOT do what I do every single day if this wasn't God's work and glory. I know that missionary work is the most important work we will ever do, and we are always responsible to do this duty, no matter where we are.
Love you all!!!!!!!!! have a miraculous week!
xoxoxo
sister snow
PS-Cant wait to see the fam on mothers day!!!! And thank you grandma and gpa Taylor for the bday balloons! So awesome!  Sis griffin and I had a party!

Mormon 3:22 Goodbye Sister T

Wow.This week was a whirlwind. I feel like I am on a rollercoaster right now!

So the sister we had with us went home on wednesday. It was pretty sad to see her leave her mission, but she will continue to do great things. I learned a lot from her :)

On tuesday we walked tori and her friends dogs, and came inside to see Tori's two children sitting down at the table. We sat down and taught them the restoration with tori bearing testimony along side of us!

Her daughter who is 23 asked a lot of questions. The lesson went so well and we were so excited to have finally met her daughter and teach her! We set up a return appointment :)

Sadly, opposition set in and she cancelled... but we are keeping the faith. Someday all of her family will be members! I know it.

This week was sister Tarwater's last week as a full time missionary, and we saw so many miracles. We found so many new investigators and made a lot of return appointments. Sadly most of the people we had taught and were set with a date for baptism dropped off of the face of the earth, especially K :( God is great, he has blessed us with many more people to teach. There is never an end to an area. God has people who are prepared everywhere we go, and we will continue to find them by talking to everyone and following the spirit!

Tori got her temple recommend this week! And so did Kyle down in nagshead! I am grateful for my mission every single day.

We had a great opportunity to see some doors finally open. Sister Tarwater has been here for 11  months, and I for 6. For the past 8 months we have spent a lot of prayers, thoughts, and door knocking on this specific house. We have both felt so strongly that the people are prepared for the gospel. The husband is a member, but was only active for 2 years when he was a child, so he really doesn't know anything about the church. We have met the wife a couple times, and this time she let us in! the night was a scary one... severe lightening and thunderstorms, and even TORNADOES. we were out working hard, and sherrie felt bad for us so she let us in and let us teach her :) her husband who i had never met came downstairs, they grabbed the book of mormon we left with them and we taught the restoration. he was taking notes!  she said she was intrigued and wanted to learn more! not bad coming from the granddaughter of a southern baptist preacher!

We are super excited.

Sister Ts last day yesterday was an amazing one. We found 2 new investigators who were outside, one has the cutest little 4 year old daughter who sung for us :)

It is super hard saying goodbye to someone who has easily become one of my best friends. Sister Tarwater has taught me so much, and I know God put us together for a reason. I am a better person because of her.

I am sure y'all are wondering about transfers...

Funny story about this one.

A while ago president baker asked us for suggestions on 3 sisters who could be sister training leaders. I have a sheet of the missionaries in our mission, and I was looking through it and this specific sister kept coming to mind. I have never met her but she wouldn't leave my mind. A couple days later I had the strongest feeling she was going to be my companion. I felt really at peace about it. Well, President Baker called on Saturday to tell me my new companion here in great Bridge is Sister Griffin, the same sister I had expected. He called another set of sister training leaders in Norfolk, so now we are just the sister training leaders for 2 zones instead of 4.That leaves so much more time to be in our own area! I am so excited for the miracles that will take place!

I have been very nervous for this coming transfer... being without sister tarwater will be a big change, but God is so good. He has been blessing me with his spirit in more abundance this past week. I am filled with his peace and I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!

Have a wonderful week!

I am grateful every day for this choice I have made to serve God. My testimony and faith grows every single day. I love our Savior with all of my heart and I know there is power in choosing Christ.

I also love talking to strangers. 

xoxox

sister snow

Happy Easter!!

Chelsea is definitely flying home on July 22.  She would love to see  you all there



So this week has been very interesting to say the least. I told y'all last week that we have another sister with us. She has been with us since last Monday. I will spare the details, but President has put her with us so we can show her the joy in missionary work and help to change her mind about going home. I don't think I have ever been so tired before in my life! Did I say that last week??
We had a great week despite the many hurdles that have come our way. We found many new investigators, something we have been struggling with a lot this transfer.
Some things I will highlight :
Met a guy named J while we were contacting a referral. He was standing outside smoking so we went up and started to talk to him. He wasn't too interested at first, but as we spoke with the spirit, it touched his heart and he opened up. He told us how he moved here from New Jersey to get away from the bad scene and to change his life. We taught him about the Book of Mormon and how it will fill his life with peace. He agreed to a return appointment. So we come back the next day... he answers and says today isn't a good day, so naturally we read the scriptures with him on his door step and have a lesson and set up another return apt. At this point I want to say he's flaky and we will move on to someone who wants this in their life and will make time... but we all feel we need to be PERSISTENT and FOLLOW UP (Elder Ballard conference talk reference of course ) so we knock on the door again for our 3rd appointment and J lets us in. We walk in and there are 4 men inside all moving around chairs so they can sit in with us. At first I thought I was going to get jumped. This easily became one of my favorite moments on my mission. We only had about 15 minutes and we said the opening prayer and I grab the Book of Mormon and start explaining it, testifying and the spirit is INCREDIBLE. Us three little white girls sitting in an apartment teaching big guys about Jesus Christ. One was on the floor, others in chairs around us, they kept saying, "Wow that's amazing." And "I want to read this book right now" and as we were setting up a return apt, one guy says how long is the apt. We told him 45 minutes and he said that wasn't enough time. Haha that is not usually a typical reaction! He told us that this opened up his eyes to want to learn more.
I love being a missionary.

We had dinner with Ms.T and had some really amazing experiences with her. She is so wonderful. I cannot even explain to y'all my love for her. She is amazing-going through SO much right now and she just happily moves on and serves others. We taught her about the restoration and we promised her before we taught that names and faces would come to mind of who is ready for her to make an invitation to, and as we followed up after, she said there are too many faces to be able to keep track. So I hand her a sticky note and she starts writing all these names down! One name.. Billy jo she wrote and then erased a couple times, until finally she gasped and said, "I don't know why I keep writing this name down! I don't know a Bil-oh my goodness. He is deceased."
She is so in tune to the spirit and to the other side of the veil. We all knew that night that her family member Billy Jo is waiting to have his temple work done.
It was remarkable.
S who was scheduled for baptism lost his job this week so he was been MIA.
So has K. she decided to leave for Florida this week and not tell us, or answer the phone. So she isn't going to make her date this week....
Please pray for K.

Easter Sunday was honestly just like another Sunday. Holidays like Easter and Christmas do not feel so much as a holiday to me, because everyday I get to carry the Easter spirit with me as I teach others about the hope of the atonement. We did get to play with chickens.. So that was a bonus.
The weeks seem to be rushing by even faster. This is sister Tarwater's last week. We are not talking about that though... I am so devastated. I love that woman. She has changed my life. 6 months with a companion is a long time, and I have been SO lucky to have learned so much from her.
I am learning every single day how powerful the Book of Mormon is and how that is a key component of our conversion. As we study from the scriptures and preach my gospel, we will be able to learn what Heavenly Father wants of us, and we will feel ourselves desire to repent and work harder to become like the savior.
I know that Christ's power gives us the ability to change. We all have weaknesses, some are in our faces more than others, but as we turn to Christ and are yoked with him, our load will be easier to bare.  I want to hear about your studies in preach my gospel!!!
Have a BLESSED week!!
xoxox sister Snow

chicken chasing

He is Stronger

Dearest Family,
Momma, Dad, and Chan... I hope you are having so  much fun in Nicaragualalaiaajwe (Nicaragua). And that you are being SAFE and giving those Nica people book of mormons ;) I met a couple people from there this week when I was an hermana for the day! Catch a wave for me Chan. hahah jk I'm a poser.
This week was one of the most tiring weeks of my mission. and life. We had so many exchanges to go on, and with sisters who are really struggling. Sister Tarwater and I have not been together for more than two days. It's been crazy!
Remember me talking about Tori, and how her 12 year old son doesn't know that she is baptized because of legal stuff and she is wanting to wait to introduce him to the church until they move to Wisconsin?? Well, we had a miracle this week: we are teaching him. He came to church!!
Started off monday night, we had a FHE with the Bishop and Tori was invited. We invited her to invite him. She said no, but then sent us a text 1 min after saying, "Something is nudging me to invite him. We'll be there at 7." THE SPIRIT!!!! She is so good and diligent and following promptings!!!  Her son said the FHE was the best part of his day and he loves mormons. scoreee.
Tuesday was exchange #1. We saw so many people here in Great Bridge and had many miracles, taught a new investigator who is basically LDS and told us to not to get discouraged because of rejections and just know you are planting seeds. Hahaha.  Taught S the Word of Wisdom-it was a toughy. He loves making his beer. The spirit was strong though and he committed to work on it and pray about it.
Exchanged back the next day, had some time to weekly plan, then saw one of my favorite less active members! Had a very uplifting, spiritual lesson with her. I love teaching the gospel SO much. I wish I had time to go into details!!  Then exchanged again and drove down to NAGSHEAD WHAT WHAATTTTT. I was an hermana. We had two exchanges there, and I don't know what is going on... but I taught and understood almost everything that was going on! All I can say is the gift of tongues= REAL. It was a real testimony booster of how amazing the Holy Ghost really is.
Got back to Greatbridge and we were sooo exhausted. I don't think I have ever prayed so hard in my life for energy, positivity, and strength. God is so amazing to have sent his Son down to Earth to suffer for us individually, so that we can have strength when we cannot imagine taking one step further. He is there with us every step of the way. I KNOW this is true, It happened to me this entire week.
Friday was a very tough day. The sisters that we were with are really struggling, and so we had the blessing of lifting them up. It is amazing to me how every exchange I have been on, God provides specific people to be placed in our path, or specific situations that are just what these sisters need to be able to grow in confidence and in their testimonies. The second we got to Great Bridge we went to contact a referral from Ms. T (she's given us like 10!!  So CONVERTED!!!! )with and we brought Ms. T along with us while the woman was cutting T's sons's hair, we started teaching her. The woman said she really connected with the sister's conversion story and agreed to meet with us. It was just what this sister needed. God knows us so perfectly, and he knows his children so perfectly! He really is involved in the smallest fabrics of our lives.
K is getting baptized the 26 now...Keep Miss K in your prayers.
We recieved a call this morning from President Baker... he wants us to take another sister with us and be in a trio for the rest of this transfer. I am humbled by how much Heavenly Father trusts me and apparently knows that I can handle this! I am excited! More people to love :)
I know with all of my heart that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is stronger than all stumbling blocks that are in our way, be it anxiety, negative thoughts, agency of others... Christ has the power to overcome it all. We just need to let him.
LOVE Y'ALLL SO MUCHHHHH!!!!
Have an amazing week!!
xoxox
Sister Snow!!
Guess who is coming here May 3?!?!? ELDER BEDNAR!!!! SO EXCITING!!! It is going to be a combined mission conference with RICHMOND!! I get to see my old mission and friends!!  CANT WAIT!!

Treats for the Sis Exchanges and training leader duties

Rearrange the apartment time

Sunrise testimony mtg and beach run in OBX

How Awesome was Conference?!

I have included the questions that were asked by the reporter:

why are you on a mish
have you felt any danger
what do you believe
what drew you to this church
what do you want the public to know about the church and you as missionaries

chelsea wrote, "I was nervous and then it got better. In the interview it just felt like a normal lesson but we were with the assistans and mission president... oh my old bishop was there and he kept hugging me! So awkward! He told me I'm his long lost daughter and asked me to marry his son in Australia.
hahaha

I answered all of them i think
Begin forwarded message:

This week went by way to quickly! honestly it terrifies me how quickly the time is going by... the days are quickly turning to weeks and the weeks into months.
This week we has two exchanges back to back and an interview with the Virginian Pilot. Our interviewer is a roman catholic man who saw two missionaries riding by on their bikes a couple weeks ago and remembered a couple years back when two elders were shot and one was killed in the area. He was baffeled at how after this, no more reports on missionaries have been mentioned. So he wanted to change this. We had a conference call with salt lake and the representatives gave us tips on how to answer questions and areas to avoid. They told us not to try and convert the reporter... first question in all four of us  missionaries had explained the restoration and bore our testimonies. It was fun :) the interview was a very fun expereince, we had the opportunity to tell the whole coastal side of virginia what we want them to know about us missionaries, how our service has been, and why we came on missions. The article should be in the newspaper and online by the end of this month! hopefully i didnt ruin the name of the church! kidddinggggg

One of the exchanges I was on this week was in Norfolk, my first area! i had the blessing of seeing some less actives we used to work with, all my heart, soul and prayers going towards there behalf a year ago. It is amazing that bond that the gospel of Jesus Christ creates. Once you have learned to love as Christ does, there is no turning back.

This week we found a couple new investigators, and we have been working so hard every single day. Missionary work is such an adventure everyday... We seek for people to teach all day everyday. From knocking doors, to scheduled appointments, lessons at members, and even walking to people chillin in their garage having a litle kick back, and having a 30 minutes discussion on the Book of Mormon! I couldn't be happier!  It is tempting to get discouraged at times, but with the Lord on our side we can not lose.
We had some powerful lessons this week as well. We taught the smiths again, and it was the most amazing lesson yet. The smiths are/were very closed off and were taking the lessons so they can know what their daughter believes. the more we havebeen teaching them, and bringing the spirit into their home, the more they are changing. Slowly but SURELY. A couple lessons ago brother smith was upset because he had been praying for an answer to a personal question and the scriptures he had read were broad. We encouraged him to keep reading and praying, that the answer will come.  well this time bro smith says "remember how i was upset that my prayer wasnt answered? well i found my answer." I learned through reading the book of mormon and from opening his heart to the spirit, that he needs to focus on others more. he experienced a complete change of heart. Before, he told us that when he read the book of mormon he felt like God was telling him "hes good where hes at." but now everytime he reads the book of mormon he sees how much he needs to improve on. this has shown me how powerful the book of mormon is. it really does CHANGE hearts.

HOW AMAZING WAS GENERAL CONFERENCE?!?!?!??!?!! it came at the perfect time. Life is stressful and feels overwhelming at times, but how lucky are we to be regrounded by the words of our leaders who are chosen by God?
I recieved so many answers to my questions, and i know that the real change doesnt take place until we apply it and ACT, are persistant, and follow up.
Hope everyone enjoyed listening to conference, and has a wonderful week.
arise and respond in love and kindness!!!
xoxox
sister snow