Finish With A BANG!

   Well, another week has come and gone. Holy cow how fast these
weeks go by! I can't believe that I have been out for nine months
already. On Wednesday, Elder Seely, McInerny and I all hit our nine
month mark because we all came out together. Crazy, right? So, this
week hasn't given me the best luck ever. So, let's just start from the
top.

     To kick off this bad-luck-fest, we had an appointment set for
every day. Turned out just another week of back up plans. We were
supposed to meet with each of our investigators, but they all had some
sort of excuse as to why we can't meet today or they just don't have
time because they are really busy.

     Second. On our way to go to the Franconia Elder's house to help
them make a Mormon message dealieo, I crashed again..... This time, I
didn't have the soft padding of trees to brace my fall, but the hard
asphalt! The rest of the bike ride hurt from sweat dripping into my
open wounds. The whole bike ride would have been about a ten mile bike
ride total. There and back, but we were told there was a shortcut and
all we need to do is cut through this apartment complex and then take
a left. Obviously, we missed the turn and ended up taking this epic
sixteen mile bike ride. This wasn't any flat bike ride, it was up and
down HUGE hills! The pest part was the fact that I didn't have a seat
for the entire ride. That was one stellar ride!

     And finally, I was biking home from service and I look on my arm
and I see a scab on my arm that I don't remember getting. I shrug it
off and then go inside. I go to the bathroom to check it out, and look
closer to find out that it has legs... It was a tick! A rather large
one at that. So I yanked that off me and I will be watching carefully
to see if I am infected or something. Oh! Also, I caught a firefly and
wrote on the ground with it! I did that just for my daddy'o because I
promised him that I would do that. It was pretty cool.

     And to every crazy week, you have to close it out with a BANG!
This old, less active guy named Bob Green has a cannon that his dad
made in 1942 out of a railroad cart axle. I will attach a pic of it.
The thing weighs about 30lbs and packs a punch. He was talking about
setting off his cannon if the weather was good and guess what, it was!
The cannon is really loud, so he has to tell all his neighbors when he
is going to set it off. That day, the elementary school across the
street was either having graduation night or a parent teacher student
gathering. Either way, there were little kids running around at the
elementary school. I asked Bob if we need to talk to them and let them
know, but he looks at me weird and says, "we are doin' what now?" He
just went back to work. So here we are, loading this mini cannon with
black powder and newspaper. We are close watching and all of a sudden
Bob pulls out a box of matches and without warning, lit the fuse. We
quickly scoot back and old Bob tries to stand up, but falls over and
starts crawling away from this quick fused mini cannon. He whole scene
was like a movie star crawling away from an explosion. All except for
the fact that Bob is old. We hear his huge BANG and then a little girl
scream. After the scream, you hear bob's redneck neighbor yell "yeah,
baby!" Hahaha! Good old, crazy Bob...

Anyways. It was an excellent week over all. Hope you guys enjoy the
pics! Love ya!

 ~ Elder Zac Snell

Sent from my iPad

Epic Crash and Splash

 So, a lot happened this week. First, might I start off saying that I took my bike seat off my bike to fix it because it was really wobbly, but the worst part about it was I stripped the bolt and screw, so now my bike seat won't go back on.... I told this to Brother Thompson when he asked why I was biking without a seat. He offered to fix it for me because he is a car mechanic and he can basically fix everything. Now, on to the following story.

 

     It was Elder Farnes' birthday a couple weeks ago and he and other missionaries from our zone wanted to go out to eat for his birthday. sadly, there wasn't enough time to do that on his birthday, so they decided to do it for the last week of the transfer. That day came and Elder Farnes convinced us all to ride our bikes 3 miles to get to the closest IHOP... And of course, I did it with out a seat. It wasn't as bad as it sounds, but it was way fun. We showed up all sweaty because of the long, hot, humid bike ride, so people are already giving us weird looks. We get delicious food and then we head back out.... not really sure the food was worth it, but the bike ride back home WAS for sure! We were at a part of a trail that gets really twisty and turny. I forgot to take in to account the fact that the ground was a little wet from the humidity and I was weaving in and out of the turns. well, after a while, I was humbled and I crashed my bike... it slipped out from underneath  me and I went flying into the trees near by. I had to use my fast thinking, so land on my hands and flip my self over to my back really fast not taking into account what was in my bag. I got off, wiped off my pants and got back on my bike to go home. When I got home, I took out my iPad to see a picture I took at IHOP and lo and behold, My iPad was BENT!! it matches my back perfectly! haha! Good stuff! the craziest part was the screen didn't crack or anything, it just bent the iPad. I will have to send you guys a picture of it. it makes me laugh. So this week had started out Dang amazing! I already had something to smile about! That Crash was EPIC!!! hahah! :)

 

     Alright, so the moment that I had been waiting for the entire transfer. Adam's Baptism! It was spectacular! The spirit was so strong and Adam was so happy! He was super prepared to meet the missionaries when he did. I am so proud of him! You might be asking yourself, "Wait... Who baptized him?" Well, my predictable viewers, here is your answer. I DID! Adam asked me to baptize him a little while ago and I just never wrote about it to make it a surprise when I wrote about his baptism. Yup! Little Elder Snell baptized Adam! hahah! Guess how many times we had to re-do it................................. We didn't. First timer! Nailed it! Elder Holtby came back to talk about Baptism, I was able to be the Chorister, and Elder Ogilvie gave a talk on The Holy Ghost. It was WAY cool! I wouldn't  trade that moment for anything!

 

 

     Well, that is my wreak and week for you in a little snippet of time. I Love you guys!

 

Docialiexpeisticfragicalirupus!

 ~ Elder Zac Snell :)

Oh, It's Fun to Find from 6 - 9! (Not a factorial)

Hi, Mom!

     You know, the further along on your mission you get, the harder
it gets to write home. Each week starts to consolidate into one day ,
and each transfer feels like one week. This transfer has gone by
really, really fast! I guess the only thing to say about that is that
time flies when you are having fun! Hands down, the fastest six weeks
of my life. We had a pretty busy week set up for us.

     On Monday, it was just like every other preparation day. Emails,
shopping, then come back home and lay around the apartment for a
while. Oh, actually, it rained last Monday as well, so we went and
played in the rain! Elder Farnes has a soccer ball and he brought that
out and we kicked that around outside in the rain. That was really
fun! Once it hit 1800, we hit the streets and talked to people, went
to appointments, and tracted for an hour.(not in that order).

     On Tuesday, we had district meetings focused all about finding
new investigators and following up on how they have been doing with
keeping commitments. That day we went tracting and had the most
successful time ever! We met a family that had met with missionaries
two years ago, and three really interested people. They all set up
times to meet on Saturday. One at 1200, 1300, 1400, then other
appointments we had set up at 1500, 1600, 1900, and 2000! We
potentially could find 7 new people to teach!

     Now, in the beginning of my letter, remember how I said that we
had a pretty busy week set up for us? Yeah. I will give you some time
to look for it. . . . . . . . . . . . Ok. Times up! No more reading
what you already read! Read forward like a normal person. Now realize
that I said we HAD not DID HAVE a pretty busy week a head. Yeah... All
of our hopes and dreams were crushed on Saturday..... All of the
appointments fell through! None of them were home or were too busy at
the time we came back. They told us that they would not be busy when
we came by! That's the point of setting appointments! To make sure you
will be home and not busy! Goodness.... People these days and there
legitimacy of their promises. So it was many hours of tracting this
week. I thought it was pretty fun.

     We are going to D.C. today! I am really excited because we plan
on doing the Smithsonian stuff today because the monuments are sorta
boring once you have seen them once. I think we might do the museum of
Natural history or American history. Something like that. We will be
leaving as soon as we can, which will be around 10. I will download
your emails and reply to them when I get back around 1600ish.

     I love you! I am excited to read your email to me!
Love ya!

     Keep moving forward!
~ Elder Zac Snell :)

Elder Zac Snell with Elder Jensen and maybe Elder Farnes

DC TIME

Elder Zac Snell, "Grandma" and Elder Jensen

Of course, I have no CLue :)

DC TEMPLE

It's A Great *knock* Life

June 2nd, 2014
I am in Major Trouble!!! I guess I forgot to blog Elder Snell's letter from Last week. So Here it is.


Hey, Mom!

     First, I want to remind you that it is Daddy's birthday.
Hopefully you remembered that! I sure did! Second, I want to send you
a calming voice for when Caden get's his License to wreck havoc on the
road. Obviously, he is not going to cause traffic jams across the USA
because he passed his driving exam with flying colors! Third, I want
to make you aware of how hard your youngest worked to get a 4.0 this
last term of school. She is epic and also a stellar trumpet player.
That is all from your side of the country.

     Now for my half of the continent. Things are going pretty well
over here. Of course, missionary work never goes exactly how you plan
it to. We usually have at least three appointments set up for the
night and slowly, one by one, they all fall through..... Well, at
least it gives us a lot of time to work on our people talking skills
by tracting. You want to know the most awkward tracting situation
ever!? Well it goes like this. . . . .

 *knock*    *knock*    *knock**knock*    *knock*

      *door creaks open*
Me: Hey! How are you today! :)
Lady: Good. You guys can come on in.
*motions us to come in*
Me: Is your Husband home?
Lady: No. Just me and the kids.
Me: You know, we would love to come in, but we need your husband to be
home to come in.... Anyways, we are representatives of Jesus Christ
going around teaching the doctrine and truths he taught when he was on
the earth.
Lady: *big smile* Yeah, I know.
Me: Great! *gears turning in head* would you......like..to..... *sigh
of disappointment*
Member Lady: I'm a member. . .
Me: Yeah, I sorta figured... *face palm*


     So, there you have it. Thankfully, she wasn't a member of the
fort Belvoir ward. That would have been more awkward... She was a
member of the Mt. Vernon ward. Pretty good times, if I do say so
myself!

     We just had someone drop us. His name is George. If you could
pray for him, he is still reading the Book of Mormon and has been
praying for an answer of its truthfulness, but hasn't received an
answer yet. We have an appointment with him in 3 weeks. We are fasting
and praying for a miracle here and any extra help we get is totally
worth it. Thanks!

     I love you! Take care of the family and everyone else there for
me. Oh and tell them that I am still the pinball champion. :P just
sayin'

Love ya!
 ~ Elder Zac Snell

Sent from my iPad