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!