Sent Through the Loop

Hey, guys! This week has been super crazy. This week, we have
been focusing on gratitude and about when we are grateful for things
we have, we tend to be happier. This is what Elder McInerny was
inspired to have our district meetings on. To say the least, we
really, really needed it for this week of any others. I have felt that
The Lord was definitely testing my abilities to keep a positive
attitude. I can probably say that He used all sorts of ways, but in
the time when it was hardest, he always gave something small to smile
about.

     On Wednesday, we received a phone call from the senior couple who
helps us teach one of our investigators. Sister Lyddiard was very
stern in her voice and the conversation between her and Elder McInerny
on the phone was very serious. It was a simple "We need you to come
give a blessing to someone in the hospital, also pray for Chris
Thompson." Chris Thompson is a less active member of the church and
also the husband of an investigator we are teaching, Laura Thompson.
We quickly said a prayer for Chris and then there was a knock at our
door. The Lyddiard's were here, ready to pick us up to go to the
hospital. We get into the car and it wasn't a happy feeling in the car
as it usually is. After about 30 seconds of silence and me wondering
what is going on, Sister Lyddiard turns around in her chair and tells
us that Laura had just passed away. My heart sank....... Laura was in
her upper 30's and had an addiction to smoking, but we never thought
she was even close to the end of her life.... God just works in
different ways that we don't understand sometimes... Laura had a
desire to be baptized, but was just held back by her addiction to
smoking. I know now that she can accept a baptism by proxy in the
temple so she can be with her family forever and receive her salvation
that awaits her. Chris is hanging in there right now and he needs
prayers. We were over helping him as much as we could this last week.
     Laura's funeral was on Monday (7/28/14) and was part of the
reason I didn't email you guys then. It was an amazing funeral service
for a remarkable person. She was a loving mother to all and always
made me and other missionaries welcome in their house. Her smile was
great! So was her sense of humor. Never a dull moment with her. She
has three young kids. Her oldest is six and he has autism. Chris is a
great father and will do great taking care of the kids.

     On a lighter note (probably a C), we moved apartments! This is
the second apartment that I have moved on my mission. Maybe it is a
foreshadow to the fact that I might move a couple times later in my
life.. hahah! Thankfully, it was just down the street a little bit. I
am still at the same complex, just a couple buildings down. This is
another factor of why I didn't email on Monday. We moved and cleaned
for most of the day. It had to be moved out of and spic n' span by the
time the leasing office closed that day. I love the new place and it
is definitely something to smile over. While in the process of moving,
I accidentally broke my trumpet tie clip that my dad bought for me...
That was really sad.... :/ I will just have to find a new one I guess.

     Sunday was really coolieo! President and Sister Riggs came to our
ward and spoke during sacrament meeting! Of course, they talked about
missionary work and being member missionaries along side the full time
missionaries. It takes two hands to play an amazing piece of music on
a piano and they have to be lined up on the right notes to accurately
perform this magnificent piece of music. Just as two hands are needed
to successfully play the piano piece, members and missionaries must
work together to successfully bring people to the gospel!
     After church was over, Sister Sonia Kough made me a flan cake and
brought all the missionaries into the kitchen to sing to me. It was
really nice of her. In the morning, I opened my package that my
parents had sent me and I absolutely love what was in there. A whole
bunch of Drum Corps stuff, some ties, candy, a rock named Fredrick,
bubble wrap, a VHS of MoTab and the Canadian Brass, and one of
Stanford's old socks!!! hahaha! Gotta love it. I also received a
package from the MiaMaids form my ward back home! I am grateful for
all the love and support that I receive from all of you guys back
home!

Sorry that this has been a really long letter, but it has been a
really long week. (164 Hours. i think....) I love you all!!!!


Gratefully,
~ Elder Zac Snell

p.s. Welcome to the ranks, Jake! You are soon to find out why being on
a mission is were you will learn most of your life lessons. Also,
don't drink the Orange juice in the MTC. If you want to find out why,
then drink it, but I would advise you not. Or you could press your
luck. Drink it, I dare you. >:)

What Did We Get Ourselves In To?

JULY 21, 2014     

Hey, guys! Once again, I send home my thoughts on this week. To start it off, I want to propose this question. When I was little I remember my Mom telling me that the crust of my PB&J sandwiches makes my hair grow faster. it was either the hair or nails... I am not positive, but I remember hearing that. Is this true? I am not allowed on Google, so I need your help to answer this one for me. ok. are we good?                                          Good.

 

     Next on the agenda, we have a special surprise that was granted to me. It was Monday morning and We were getting ready to go to the library to email. Suddenly, the phone rings.... dun dun dun!!!!!! I look at the phone and it says Riggs.

      "Oh, it must be the senior couple from the office," I thought to myself. I answered it and was stunned to hear the unmistakable voice of our mission president, President Riggs. He asked how I was doing and of course I told him GREAT, but deep down inside, I was a little uneasy.... President Riggs doesn't just call me... He never calls me. you can probably guess what else was going through my head like, What did I do wrong? Oh, I didn't look both ways before crossing the road and he drove by and saw me not look! AHHH!!! I am so dead!

     "Elder Snell," President Riggs voice became really serious now, "I have some bad news..." My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach then my stomach knotted its self and made sure my heart couldn't spring back up.

     "I'm dead for sure!" I thought to my self.

     "I want you to know that your Grandfather has bone cancer. It sounds pretty serious, so I am going to allow you to Skype your Grandfather so you can talk to him." I, doing my very best to mimic his voice of seriousness replied that I was glad to know about the situation and that I could Skype home. And the rest went as follows. It was great to see my Grandpa again. :) I love him so much. I loved going on walks around the block (with a leash attached to me) and going up to cheese park and flying a plane with him. Those are fond memories that I will cherish. His advice to me was to keep smiling, and do my best to serve my mission. I plan to do just that!

 

     The next coolest thing that happened was what happened on Saturday. As a Zone, we signed up for a 3v3 Street ball tournament. It was at one of the apartment complexes in our ward that was straight ghetto. It was a great turn out and we put up a fight. We had three teams that we submitted. Stripling Warriors (my team), Suit n' Ties, and The Guys That Pray. As soon as we saw who we were playing in the first round, I had to ask myself, what did we just get ourselves into?...... Of course, we were the only white kids to be seen within a mile radius and I only know how to say a few things in twee... even though we played our hearts out, we got SLAMMED! They were doing all sorts of crazy stuff there. note to self, never challenge a guy from the 'hood to a street ball tournament... We used this as a finding activity, which was super successful. The sisters had a lemonade stand going that was superb. We got a B.o.M given out to a guy named "street-to-street", the head honcho of all street-ballers out there. I did a sweet layup on a guy and he got all defensive because his teammates were freeking out that I scored on him. haha! another elder on my team slam dunked on another guy. it was then when they got serious. yeah.... we all lost. some worse than others, but we all walked off with a smile on our faces.

 

     Well, I love you all! Thanks for all the support I have received from each and every one of you! Pictures will be included!

 

~ Elder Zac Snell :)

Proper Prior Planning Positively Prevents Poor Performance

JULY 14, 2014

 So this week.... Ah! Let's start out with a miracle! We went over to a less active's house prepared to talk to him about Elder Eyring's talk called Mountains to Climb, in hopes that it will help him realize that he can overcome challenges that are holding him back from coming to church. We walk into his house and start talking with him for a little and then out of nowhere, he says, "I am making it a point to attend church every Sunday from now on." We were awestruck that he had just said that and proceeded to tell him that he is making The Lord proud of him!

 

        Proper Prior Planning Positively Prevents Poor Performance!

 

     Alrighty. The other Elder's have been teaching this guy named Matt for a bit now, and he was baptized this past Saturday and confirmed a member on Sunday! I was the chorister for that and I also was invited to participate in the confirmation! The other Elders are on fire! they have been working with the same investigators for at least a year now and finally they are entering the straight and narrow path! So, that was probably the coolest thing that happened. oh! JK!!!!

    

     WE ARE GOING TO THE NATIONALS BASEBALL GAME ON AUGUST 2ND!!! This is going to be an excellent summer! I will be sure to take tons of pictures and tell all about it later.

 

     The next best day was 7-11. Not only is it McKay Hadley's Birthday, but it is also the day that 7-11 gave out free Slurpee's! Of course this day was on a weekly Planning day so we had a lot of time to plan, we decided to go to the library to plan. on our way back from the library, there were at least five 7-11's and we stopped at them all! XD Heck yeah for free Slurpee's! You better bet that this proper planning positively prevented poor performance.

 

That's about all! I love you guys! Keep up with the smiley faces!

 

Positively,

 ~ Elder Snell :)

The Star Spangled Baptism

JULY 7, 2014

 Alrighty then. The things that happened this week

 

     This week had Independence day in it! That day was fun! We went to the PERFECT spot to watch fireworks. Arlington Cemetery! We had the perfect view of having the Washington monument just off in the corner and fireworks right beside it. Oh, yeah. also, since we went with one of the other Elder's investigator, they brought TONS of food. It was EPIC!

 

     There was a Baptism on Saturday. That went pretty good. I volunteered to do a musical number, so I had an excuse to play my trumpet and sing to everyone that was there. That was fun. A Pakistani family was baptized and confirmed (the other Elder's Area) and I was asked to be part of the circle for the confirmation on Sunday! It was really cool seeing them change cultures in a way. Different, but cool.

 

     On Sunday, some of the priests were not showing up on time, so one of them comes up to Elder McInerny and me and asks us if we will fill in for the other priests that are coming. We agree and go up and sit there and wait. soon enough, the service starts and we are still up there. fifteen minutes in, one of the Jones boys comes in and takes Elder McInerny's spot. the first priest turns to me and says, "since you two got here last, you have the bread and Jones has the water." I was really excited to be able to bless the sacrament again! so I did! the only thing that went wrong was when I stood up, the bench behind us was a bit closer than I thought and I slammed it against the back wall.... :P oops... Way to go, Elder Snell.......

 

 

Sorry I don't have much else to tell you, but I have pictures that I am going to attach, and a picture is worth 1,000 words.

 

Love you guys!  -=iii=<{

 ~ Elder Zac Snell :)

Mede Jutay Vapis Kado (Urdu for "Give me back my shoes!")

JUNE 30, 2014

I am in so much trouble..... I forgot to post several weeks worth of letters from Elder Snell....Here they are!

   So, I guess I haven't really described my companion as well as I could have. He is Iris, but don't kiss him because he is a missionary. He is 5'11". He is a convert, and by the time he is done with his mission, he will have been a missionary longer than he has been a member. His favorite color is Teal. He has Dark Hair. He likes to wear sunglasses and Hats. He is from Fallbrook, California. He loves sushi. He enjoys messages from home, protein shakes, and surfing. There. That should just about do it. yup. I am satisfied. oh, he is also allergic to Poison oak, Poison ivy, and mosquito bites.

 

     The most epic thing that happened this week is that we got to do tons of service, go to a baptism in Vint Hill, and Play Tennis for our morning workouts. I am getting rather good if I do say so myself. that or everybody else around me is getting worse..... Let's go with the first.

 

     So, service, huh? sounds like a whole bunch of fun that goes on when you are aloud to not wear church clothes. yeah.. tis true, but the work we get done is CRAZY!!! So the first thing of service we did was help Brother Page and his family move. This resulted in us going to his military closet and looking at all the cool stuff that he has. There was tons of crazy awesome stuff he had that I am not allowed to tell you that he has. Let's just put it that way. He had uniforms, some guns (Paintball, of course), and sweet life saving kits. after we were done with that, we went to his living room and cleared that out. We had pizza to reward us for the work we did and then we went strait to Bob Green's house to do some service for him. Elder McInerny ran into a patch of Poison Ivy and Poison Oak, so he his rather itchy on his legs at the moment. poor chap. We went back home and fixed that up. Nothing bad, but just made him itch.

 

     On Wednesday, Grandma called my Mom [on a day that just happened to be her anniversary.(you're Welcome)]. little did my mommy know that I was sitting right next to grandma the whole time. bwahahaha! she demanded that I give her my moms number, so I didn't argue with her in fear of being beat with a cane.

 

     Friday, we went back to the Page house and leaned up the house with them and got it all ready for the next people who are moving into their house. Saturday, we went to the Stuarts house and did yard work (More poison oak) and then went to the baptism In Vint hill!

 

     Sunday, Elder McInerny gave a talk on why converts should set their sights on the temple and the blessings it gives you. He did an excellent job!

 

     Well, that's my week. Hope you all are enjoying the weather over there, because it is hot and humid over here!

 

Love you all!

 ~ Elder Zac Snell