Gaining Momentum In Gainesville

Feb 16, 2015 

Hey, everybody! Let's talk about stuff going down in Gainesville! So get this, I check my emails from President Riggs today and I see that he sent me two, (dos) emails. I was a little confused, because he usually just replies to mine, but it was different this time. The first was a reply to my email last week, and that was good. I then check the bottom which was the second email from him. In it, he said that our area was highly likely to be closed... LAME! There are two sets of missionaries in out ward and the other ones are the sister training leaders, so president wouldn't close theirs. But yeah, I might be transferred to somewhere else. I am pretty disappointed, but you know... Heavenly Father has a major plan for each of us, so I will trust it. :)

     So, Pat, our most solid investigator, keeps bringing up baptism! He is pretty funny. We show up at his apartment and he wants to cook us food and then talk about baptism. His date is for the 20th, but he won't reach that because he has only been to church once. He really wants to quit smoking p, so we will help him with that. Joe is doing his best to quit smoking as well. I am not a fan of this smoking thing... It is so addictive! Really ridiculous if you ask me. Over all, our investigators are progressing well.

     Valentine's Day was probably as good as it gets on a mission. Haha! Brother Andreasen took us out to dinner to chili's. It was super tasty! After dinner,  the weather turned for worst. I would probably classify it as a blizzard. I haven't ever been in a blizzard before, but I would guess that it was just like what we went through. We couldn't see the road! Holy cow, it was crazy! Thankfully, we were in a car with four wheel drive, so we made it home ok. I received a package from my family, and that made me really happy! It had a trumpet shirt in it! I don't have a picture of me wearing it right now, but I will take on for you soon. Thanks family and Trumpets!!!

     Elder Rowley came on an exchange with me on Saturday. His companion and Elder Black went to a baptism while we chilled in my area. Since Elder Rowley goes home on Friday, I am his last exchange. :)It was fun to serve with him again. I also went on an exchange with Elder Miles, he is a zone leader. I learned great ways to ask for referrals when I was with him. Exchanges are way fun.

     Alright! Thanks for reading! Be sure to subscribe before you hit that small red x button in he top right hand corner of your computer screen. I will let you know if I do get transferred. Love you all!

     ~ Elder Zac Snell :)

Feb 18, 2015

Sorry for the late notice, but I have been transferred to the Alexandria 2nd Ward. I am serving with Elder Nielson from Herriman, Utah. More on that on Monday. :) 

Thanks for your patience!

Zac was called as a ZONE leader. He is REALLY excited for this opportunity. 

Look what I found!

This Wind Really Blows:P

Feb 9, 2015  

Hey, everyone! Let's first talk about the weather! You know, weather happens whether you like it or not. So his past week has had some interesting weather. It was cold to begin with, then the next day comes and it is snowing. Next day, warm and sunny, around 50 degrees. Then the next day, SUPER windy. Next day, freezing cold with ice cold wind. Sunday was the nicest by far, 65 degrees! It stayed warm throughout the entire day too! Now, a story about the windy day.

     'Twas a Thursday and we were biking over to have a lesson at Joe's house. He lives in the corner of our area, so it was a long bike ride. As we kicked off this trek, the wind started to blow a small amount. Nothing to serious, but enough to to have it feel like it was pushing us sideways. We eventually turn a corner and follow that road all the way to Joe's with the wind pushing us a little. Our visit at Joe's was really great! He just had back surgery, so he is stuck at home right now, but he is getting pretty bad cabin fever. We were over there for a bit and at the end, he mentioned that he didn't smoke once! He usually has to step outside with us so he can smoke 3 or 4 cigarettes every ten minutes or so. This time he didn't smoke once!!! Huzzah! On our way back from Joe's, the wind had gotten very fast. Mostly up hill, but I usually bank off of a large downhill portion to help my momentum get going, but as we headed down this hill, the wind picked up and literally stopped us on a pretty good decline. Great... Now I have to build my own momentum, not only did I have a huge hill to climb up, but I also had an opposing force. I honestly believe that missionaries didi something to the wind to make it so angry at us because every time we have somewhere to be, there is ALWAYS a head wind... EVERY TIME! Anyways, so we keep trekking up this hill and eventually we get to the top, out of breath, and then turn towards our apartment. The wind didn't show us any mercy, so we had to bike on our sides a little bit to counteract the wind's force. Talk about a fun bike ride! It is times like these where I wish I could go grab my bed sheets and play on the wind.

     I went on two exchanges this week. One with Elder Greenall, and one with Elder Westover, one of the APs. Elder Greenall was fun to be with. I helped him a little with understanding our purpose and how to tell if you are a successful missionary. He liked it. On my exchange with Elder Westover, we had tons of fun doing work! We found this guy for the YSA ward. He is pretty cool. He said that he felt like God sent us to him. Way cool experience.

     So yesterday, Elder Black's bike broke, so we were only left with one other mode of transportation, UNICYCLES!!! We rode them over to a place that reminded me of station park in Farmington. It even had an It's Sugar, just like the one back home. I thought that it was only a Utah company, but I guess not. Elder Black did some sweet tricks there and got some people's attention, so we shared the gospel with them. Way fun way to break the ice. I have been getting better at unicycling too! Nothing too insane, just good fun.

     I believe that is all for this week! Thanks for all he emails that I received! I love reading them! Happy Valentine's Day on the 14th,

~ Elder Zac Snell :P

Sent from my iPad

Well...That Was Alarming

Sent on Feb 2, 2015

To all those who can focus upon this computer screen to read this note:

     Thank you for your time and generosity for reading this! I am so stoked to tell you how this week went for me. To start off, let's start by talking about Monday!! Preparation day and Elder Cline's birthday! We had an excellent birthday dinner. Some members in the Haymarket award took us out to a place called Musashi's. It's exactly like Tepanyaki. I had some delicious salmon and rice! It was super super delicious! Elder Cline had an excellent birthday! So that was on Monday.

     On Tuesday, we had a district leader training meeting! I am always looking forward to receive instruction as to how I can be a better district leader. We talked about how to conduct a baptismal interviews, having good accountability in district meetings, and making sure the district catches the vision that President Riggs has set forth for the mission! That went really well. I am super glad that we had that meeting!

     So some members are huge into CrossFit. I don't know if you've ever heard of it but it's some of the most intense workouts you can do without taking a break. I had the opportunity to go to do that, and goodness, am I sore! After going to the arduous work out, we ate dinner at their house! They made my favorite, French toast! They also made chicken, so of course, I had to make a French toast chicken sandwich! I am now a huge fan of French toast and chicken! You really need to try it. Especially with some syrup on it. As backpack says on door the explorer, "Yum, yum, yum yum, yum! Delecioso!" After that delicious meal, we headed back to the church for our exchange. Here's the sad part… Our exchange canceled on us, so we had to walk in the freezing cold wind back to our apartment! That was a really, really cold walk! Since it was so cold, nobody was out talk to… We did our best with what we had.

     Gainesville had a baptism!!! The sisters had been teaching her for about three years! She finally decided to be baptized. When we found out, she asked me if I would sing at her baptism, so I gladly said yes. Sr. Martindale and I did a lovely duet, singing How Great Thou Art. I will send a recording of it to you probably via email. It sounded good to me… Hahaha! I will let you be the judge of that.

     So last thing… On Tuesday night, I was slightly awakened by the deafening sound of the fire alarm! The clock read 02:15. I just sat there in bed and thought, "Ah, it's just the fire alarm… I will just chill here in bed for a while. So I just lay there half conscious, but quickly jumped out of it when Elders Cline and Greenall come into our apartment and into he room. I gained complete consciousness as soon as the lights were flipped on. Elder Black was passed out! Sleeping through the piercing noise of the fire alarm. We later learned that there was no fire, just a broken sprinkler. I will include more details on a voice recording because it's a long email...

     Thanks for sitting and staring at this computer/iPhone/iPad screen! Hope you enjoy your week as much as I do!!

     ~ Elder Zac Snell :)

Sent from my iPad