A Bug in the System

Mommy!

    So, this week has been pretty hard as a missionary. Let's start
with this. . . Elder Johnson (room mate) walks in Monday night and he
looks ghostly pale. "Guys, I don't feel so good..." Ha. You don't have
to tell me again to take your word for it. He tromps over to the couch
and falls flat on his face. The next morning, he is coughing up a
storm in his bed. Great! Now we have a sick person in our apartment. A
dirty apartment......
    A couple days later, I start to have a small cough. It is just a
small cough, I think to myself. There is no way I am going to be sick.
We come home from the afternoon and there is Elder Farnes (Johnson's
companion) passed out on the couch. We talk to him a bit and try to
wake him up. Groggily he replies and is in and out of consciousness.
It was then that we we remembered that he is Diabetic. Elder Johnson
couldn't check his blood sugar level because he was passed out on his
bed from sickness. We grab his kit and check his blood sugar.... 25
..... Now, I don't know how bad that was, but it was bad enough to
make him half passed out. We grab Capri-Sun, an apple, and some juice,
and give it to him to raise his blood sugar. Thankfully, he is still
alive and he said that 25 was the lowest he has ever reported on the
tester.
    Friday. We woke up, planned for the week, updated the progress
record, ate at MOE's, and biked home. There is this really cool path
that we wanted to take to get back home. It is just off the side of
the road and all you need to do is pop up the curb and carefully
maneuver to the path. Now when I say "pop" up the curb, Elder Jensen
took it literally. His back tire blew up! So here we are, 30 minute
bike ride from home, with a flat tire.... GREAT! So we decided to take
some awesome pictures so we can post some on Facebook. The walk was
really good! We talked to SO many people! There obviously was a reason
why that tire popped. Sure, we didn't find anybody new to teach, but
we still had a great night.
    Saturday...... We all woke up sick... That was probably one of the
most annoying day ever... We did as much work as we could, but in the
end, we weren't in the best condition to go out and give the rest of
the world this putrid disease. We went to all the appointments we
could, then after that, it was back to getting ourselves better.
    Sunday! I am really glad I have you as a mom because I ended up
taking the medicine my mom packed for me and feeling a ton better! We
all went to church and then back to our apartment where I was consider
end the "healthy" guy to take care of the apartment! Huzzah for being
healthy! Let's just say that I got good at helping people with getting
water and medicine.
     Right now I am at McDonalds in Walmart. We decided to spice
things up a bit today because Elder Jensen and Elder Farnes are at the
Temple. So I am hanging out with Elder Johnson this Preparation Day.
All is well and I hope all is well for you too!

I love you, Mom!

~ Elder Zac Snell

P.s. I saw this license plate and took a picture for you.

Attachments area

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The Tri-Mission Tournament

     This past week has been jam packed with meetings! Holy cow! Of
course they are not at all boring, so I guess I will work from meeting
to meeting.

          First meeting we had: District Meeting.
     We have this one every Tuesday, so that makes this meeting less
special than the next because of how often the recurrence of it. This
one was cool because Elder Jensen taught district meetings for the
first time! He did a great job! Afterwords, the set of Elder's who
bought us to the meeting said that they were going to an awesome sushi
place, so we tagged along to celebrate the first district meeting
(last Tuesday was Zone Training)! We knew it would stab a hole in our
budget the second we walked in. It was fancy, for sure. I, being the
money saver I am, only spent $9.00 on a delicious plate of Sesame
Chicken (it was also due to the fact that I tried some of the sushi
and didn't care for it (but you should be proud of me for trying
it!)). Haha! Elder Jensen spent about $20.00, while another Elder
dropped $60 that day for fancy sushi. Ah, good times.

          Second meeting: Zone Conference! (Wednesday)
     This one happens only four times a year, so it is pretty awesome
when we get to see President Riggs. We talked about "owning your area"
and how we can use the members better. Over all, it was awesome! Oh,
also, we practice teach a lot on our mission. A lot of the time, it is
super awkward to practice teach with others. It just is.... I really
don't know how to describe the type of awkward it gets except to just
say it is weird. And just to make it more awkward, we split up Elder's
with Sisters, practice teaching the Law of Chastity. Whoot!! You can
imagine how that was going to turn out. President told us to act like
someone who is living out of marriage with someone and tell them to
repent. "Give them two options, get married or move out." So that was
fun.

          Third meeting: Tri-Mission Conference (Saturday)
     This one happens once in a life time! Elder M. Russell Ballard
came to talk to the Washington D.C. South, D.C. North, and Baltimore
Missions! He talked about showing love for your those we teach and
helping them feel the Spirit. I also saw a really good friend of mine
that is serving in e Baltimore mission, Elder Harrison Sturgeon! So
that was way cool! Elder Ballard wanted to shake hands with everyone
at 13:30, but there was absolutely no time to shake all 700
missionaries hands. Oh, and tell Troy that nobody really likes the
D.C. North missionaries because they are really apostate. Haha! South
is the place to be!!!

          Final Meeting: Stake Conference
     Elder Ballard came to our stake and spoke about marriage. All of
the missionaries there were sorta laughing to themselves because he
was basically telling every young single adult to not wait to get
married because of some sort of circumstance you are in because it is
always easier with a companion. It was then when reality struck. They
expect missionaries to come home, start school, start dating, and in
about a year or so, be married! :O hahaha! Yeah, we'll see, Elder
Ballard. . . We'll see. . . You never know!

     Anyways, that' my week for you. Thanks for the Great support you
give me and the time you spent getting me where I am today. I love
you.

Love ya!
     ~ Elder Snell


     So this guy just barely walked up to us and asked us if we work
for McDonalds. We told him we sew missionaries and he sits down and we
teach him about the Book of Mormon. He Loves It! Too bad he is in the
other Elder's area. Love the mission life! ... Aaaannnd now He is now
telling us his hallucinations of his when he is high off of
marijuana..... So much for that guy. Hahaha! I don't care how bad of a
path you take, there is always room for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in
their life. He is SO getting baptized!

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To Be, Or Not To Be a Missionary!

Mother's Day Skype

  In my mind and with the experience that I have had while serving
The Lord, this is a no brainer! I have seen miracles and so many
tender mercies as a missionary. On multiple occasions, I have turned
to a quote by President Monson, which says something along these
lines, "When you are on The Lord's errand, you are entitled to His
Help." There have been many rough patches on my mission so far and I
have been out for a little less than Eight Months. I have seen how I
have been helped on my way to becoming the servant that Heavenly
Father wants me to become. I have been, and still am being sent
through the Refiners Fire. If somebody came up to me and said, "Hey,
Zac, I have been thinking of serving a mission, but I can't decide if
I should. Would it be worth it?" To that I would reply, "YES!!!!! OF
COURSE!!!!!! It is worth ever single second spent away from home
serving him who created you!" In the long run, isn't that what we are
here doing in the first place? We left the presence of our Heavenly
Father (our home) and came here to learn for our selves and to help
others on their way back home.

     55 I observed that they were also among the noble and great ones
who were chosen in the beginning to be rulers in the Church of God.

     56 Even before they were born, they, with many others, received
their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come
forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the
salvation of the souls of men.
 (Doctrine & Covenants 138:55-56)

     We are those noble and great ones! We have received our first
lessons in Heaven so that we can come her and be prepared to labor in
His Vineyard. We are not just working to be paid in cash or for any
earthly possession, but for the salvation of the souls of men! There
is no greater work than the one that is before us now! Do we need to
have the title Elder or Full Time Missionary to be one who harvests
souls of men? No! We, as brothers and sisters are entitled to that
calling to serve and save those around you.

     Remember that there are no crown wearers above that we're not
cross bearers below.

     I love and miss you all, but for now, I wish to keep my mind on
my calling: A loved Son of God here to save those who have wandered.

 ~ Elder Zac Snell
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Elder Snell and his Apartment

Missionaries after a Hard Days of work!

Life's a Short Joke

 Transfers! Whoot! Gotta love days when you switch things up a
little bit. Actually.... A lot a bit! I am in unfamiliar territory now
and with a new companion. Am I scared at all? Uh.... Yeah, just a taco
bit, but who isn't nervous for a new transfer. Any ways, we will get
into the good stuff.

     So, Fort Belvoir.... I had heard about it because it is always on
the "Keystone" (weekly letter from the assistants). They are on there
because they have tons of baptisms. We work hard here in Fort Belvoir!
I had thought that it was hard for an area in the United States to get
 a baptism per month, but they is exactly what happens here, so
hopefully, I will be able to find some EPIC success!

     Oh yeah. Heh, just a bit if information for you all: Yeah..... So
his last companion was 6'7'.... Every house that I have gone to has
cracked a short joke.... XD I would like to thank Jake for all those
short jokes preparing me for this transfer. Now I won't go home and
cry
myself to sleep because of all the short jokes I have to put up with.
Hahaha! :D my companion's name is Elder Jensen. He is from South
Jordan, Utah. He loves long boarding and snowboarding. He was also the
DECA president for his school.

     So, we were visiting a less active member named Chris Thompson.
We had an excellent lesson and I soon found out he was from Utah! He
asked what my Dad does for work to try and guess where I was from. I
told him he works for a ski and snowboard shop. He starts going off on
how much he loves skiing and eventually guesses where I am from. I
told him that I worked with my Dad at Utah Ski & Golf. "Oh, I have
been there before" he said. I was totally appalled! Not many people
from Virginia know the ski shop. He said that he went there for skis
and customized ski poles for somebody 6'2" when he was 16. I asked him
if he knows Steve Snell. "Oh yeah. I know him. He was wearing a
beanie. A stockier and bulky guy, right?" Hahaha! "That's my Dad!" Way
to go dad! People remember you as the guy with the beanie! Hahah!  I
am actually curious if you remember him. I bet you would if you saw
his face.

     That' sabot all Folks. Please ignore my incorrect grammar/use of
words/lack of caring to change my autocorrect. I love you guys! Stay
Stellar!

~ Elder Zac Snell :)

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