One Quarter

   Hey! What's happening? I hope your life has been as epic as mine!
Oh, wait.... You aren't on a mission right now, so obviously your life
right now is not as cool as mine is! Yes, I will take unrighteousness
pride in that. Let me tell you why......

   First off, none of you are calling people to repentance. It is
pretty great! You knock on their door and as soon as they open the
door, "Repent! Repent, ye wicked abominations! For The Lord our God
Hates sin!" (Welcome to the big leagues, Esquire). I can't think of
any thee time in your life where you could do that and get away with
it. "Oh, they are just preachers." They all think. How bout the next
door you knock, call them to repentance and watch how they react.
Obviously, this is an exaduration, but we do call people to repentance
in a less harsh manner. Even at the door.

   Secondly, we don't have to worry about the material things of this
world. We have two years to devote ourselves to God and serving him!
And guess what, I have been doing this for 6 months now! Time just
flies by, doesn't it?

     There have been many lessons learned in these months, such as,
with The Lord, all things are possible, Faith is a source of Power,
and prayer is real! I want to touch on the last one. Well, of course
prayer is real, people do it every day. It is the answering part that
is real! For the longest time, our area had yet to find a new
investigator. Elder Rowley and I had our faith put to the test. We had
been working hard; could have worked harder, but we do our best. We
have been finding our backsides off and we hadn't had any luck. On
Tuesday, I said in my morning prayers that we had faith to find
someone who is prepared and is willing to listen to us. That day, we
had dinner with a member family and hey said that they would invite
their friend to come eat over as well. Sadly, I was on an exchange
with the district leader, but Elder Rowley said that when they went to
dinner, they taught the friend that was invited and he accepted to
receive the missionary discussions! Later that week, we went back to
the lady who I said we were there to bring her unto Christ. She said
she would start investigating! They is Two new investigators this last
week! Prayers are answered, I know it!

     Well, I love and miss you all! Can't wait to hear back from you!
          ~ Elder Zac Snell


I can't believe we are at the 6 month Mark :)

This is what they call a SNOW DAY and cancel School :) We Wish, huh.

Pics sent from Mary Margaret an Amazing Lady in their Ward

HAPPY ELDER with a Milkshake

A New Tool in the Lords Vineyard

 So, I can positivey say that my Mission experience has not been the same as my dads, or grandpas, or any body else that has served before me, for that fact. Things are changing in how the Lord wants us to carry out his work. Since I have been out, I have watched a movie that was in the teators as we were watching it. Since I have been out, Missionaries have been told to not carry around backpacks, but to use side bags. Since I have been out, missionaries now have a choice to make a little change in their wardrobe and wear khakis with their white shirts. Since I have been out, missionaries are now able to use Facebook as an amazing tool to bring back all those who have wandered from the fold of Jesus Christ. Since I have been out, missionaries can use Skype to contact non-member and less-active family members and friends back home. And if that wasn't enough to make your head spin, The Lord has given us one of the most useful tools he could possibly give us at this time.....

 

iPads!!!!!!

 

The Lord has put a ton of trust in his missionaries. It was really funny watching the faces of all the members of the ward look at us in confusion of why we have iPads. No, we didn't break into an Apple store, the mission just gave us them! It was like christmas all over again! Super Surreal! Now we have to go through the long and arduous process of transferring our Area Books into our iPads.

 

Oh, So I was on my iPad at the church house using their wi-fi and I was scrolling down my newsfeed and I saw something odd. It was a picture of my apartment. I didn't post that.... I looked a little closer to who posted it and you could probably guess who posted it. The one, The only, Jaaaaaames Burrrrrtooonnnn! Yeah! That dirty rat went and doorbell ditched my apartment with Brandt. HAHAH! He made my day! If I had been there when he did that, I would have blamed it on the Elders Across the street. I will get you back, James!

 

The work is Hastening! I know it! Go and Read D&C 88:73. The time is now! Welcome to 2014, THE YEAR OF THE HASTENING!

 

~ Elder Zac Snell!

 

Sent from my iPad XD

♫EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!♫

  So today, it is snowing like crazy! Why can't this stuff go back to Utah! It was nice and sunny just last night and now it is a crazy snow storm... yay for Preparation day snow storm... The library is closed right now, but that is OK, because the Glassett family is super nice to let us come in to their house and use their computers to email home! Super coolieo! That is why everything is awesome!

     So, you know how a few weeks ago, I hung up all of Elder Rowleys ties? well, someone got back at us for it..... THE SISTERS!!! They got into our apartment when we weren't home and went straight to the thermostat. They cranked it up to 80 Degrees :) I liked that part. Then they went over to our kitchen and unscrewed all of our cabinet knobs and put them in the ice box of the freezer. After, they went into the bathroom and took all of the lights out. We can't find them to this day, but we will eventually find them. They went to all of the lights in the apartment and unscrewed them so that when we flipped the light switch they wouldn't turn on. they also flipped the breaker switches so that the power in our apartment is totally gone! This was the best day of my life! Somebody pranked us!  The funniest part was Elder Rowley's reaction. He was super upset at the fact that we got punked and almost couldn't focus the rest of that night. ahahha! poor guy. 8D Personally, I thought that they did a fantastic job at getting us, now we are plotting and scheming as to how we can get them back. Elder Rowley doesn't like any of my Ideas, so That takes out a bit of the fun...

     We were able to go to 5 members houses last night and taught them missionary lessons. This is to build a fire underneath the Reston ward members to get them doing missionary work. It is working really, really well and have seen success in their lives by sharing the gospel! One member gave away a Book of Mormon! HUZZAH!

     I know that this is the Lords Work and that Nothing can stop this amazing and spectacular work from progressing forward! I am so glad that I get to be a part of this work! 

     Always remember, EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! There is nothing in this world that can force you to get down. It is your choice to be happy!

Love you all!

ONWARD EXCELSIOR! 

~ Elder Snell :)

Coming Unto Christ

     So Of course, we all need to do such as come unto Christ, but How often are we inviting others to come to Christ. This concept was given to me by my Fabulous Mother! As we progress towards or savior, we inevitably bring someone along with us! We, as Members of this Incredible church are to ALWAYS be inviting people to come unto Christ. Now, I have a story!

 

     So we were leap leaping along. leap, leap, leap. Soon Elder Rowley and I came upon this road called Deer Forest. We paused to feel if this is the spot where we needed to be today. That right here, we will find one of the Lord's Prepared and Elect! We felt positive of such requirements. So onward we continued and played a game of Rock Paper Scissors to see who would do the first knocking. Sadly, I am the Champion at losing in a game of such luck and I ended up knocking the first house. Did someone answer? Nope.... WE knock again. Once for their salvation, twice for their salvation, and thrice because we are bored. Still no answer. We decided then to move on. As we approached the door, I saw someone sitting on the porch swing. I proceed to tell her that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and SMACK! (Not literally) She shoots us down. Just like that. she probably said good bye at least 10 times. Super Rejection. We continue and find the same pattern of Being shut out by the rest of the world. Soon it is my turn and we have knocked many houses, but I told my self, this one is different. I had absolutely no idea what to say, but I knew that if they were supposed to be brought to this Gospel, the spirit would tell me what I should say. What did I do? I knocked some random pattern and the opened the door not 13 seconds after. The first thing I said was of course, "hey, how are you doing?"

     "Hey Guys, What's up?"

     " Well, we have come to invite you to come unto Christ."

     What? where did that come from? I wasn't even thinking and I guess I just said it without knowing what was coming out of my mouth.

     "Well, that's Great," She replied, "Are y'all Mormon?"

HUZZAH FOR THE SPIRIT!!!!! We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon after she had told us about her nanny that was Mormon and they went to the Temple to see them get sealed, but they had to wait in the visitors center. She absolutely loves the temple grounds and the Visitor Center there. We got a return appointment and set up a time to give her a church tour! That was a miracle!

 

     Thanks to my Mom, We were able to connect with this sweet lady! Thanks Mommy!

 

Life is always Good! Remember to Make Lemonade!

 

~ Elder Zac Snell -=iii=<{

ATTACK OF THE SLIGHTLY FROZEN WHITE FLUFFY STUFF!!!

 So, I just looked at my watch and it says: Tue 2-18 14:45. I have been gone for a total of 5 months and 1 hour! WHAT!!!??? I don't know how long it has felt to you guys, but it has just slipped right by! I can remember the first day in the MTC and how long it was. haha! Anyways, now on to the fun stuff like the meat and potatoes!

 

     So Thursday, a HUGE snow storm and it totally PUKED snow! There was snow everywhere! It was like a huge snow man had a fight with some sort of cloud! They were throwing around tiny flakes of snow hoping to overthrow the government and they succeeded! The entire place shut down! They obviously have no idea how to operate in the snow. haha! Being good, law abiding citizen of the United States of America, we helped out the city get back to normal by helping everyone shovel out their cars. We probably cleared out at least 20 cars from their snowy graves. The coolest part of this is that most people in Virginia have super fancy cars and we got to clear them off! They all had super cool license plate numbers too. I thought it was really funny that people would ask us if we were sure that we wanted to help them shovel off their cars. They thought we were a little crazy, but weren't about to say no to some extra help.

 

     If you want, You can check out this file and hear the fun stuff we did on Preparation day. I was a little bored and Elder Rowley has a huge bucket of ties......... yeah. I'm going to have fun.

 

(Zac shared a drop box voice recording, apparently he was messing around with all of Elder Rowley's ties)

 

He was a little upset, so he wouldn't let me take a good picture, but here is the best one I have.

yeah, that is his arm trying to make it so I didn't get a picture.

 

     Keep Being awesome! I am looking forward to this week. We will get one of our investigators to church for the full 3 hours. He hasn't come to church for at least 4 years and he committed to coming for the full dealio!

 

Love you all!

~ Elder Snell

Onward, Excelsior!!!

A Movie At Transfers?

     Am I surprised that Elder Rowley and I are sill companions? Yes. If you listened to the voice recording, you heard Elder Rowley question if the Zone Leaders got it right. HAHAH! but, yes. I am SUPER surprised that we are staying in Reston. Even thought we weren't transferred, we still went to the meeting anyways. The assistants to the President sent out a mission wide text saying that everyone needed to be there. We were totally confused!

     When at the transfers meeting, President Riggs got up and announced that he took his daughters on a date to the movie theater and watched a certain movie. Elder Tuttle was there to answer questions at the end of it. Yes, he saw Saratov Approach. Elder Tuttle then came to the mission office and gave us a copy of the movie to show to the mission! That is the reason why We all had to go to the meeting.

     I absolutely love the movie and loved how real it was! It was funny when Elder Tuttle burned a shirt because that is what we will be doing on the 20th because that is Elder Rowley's year mark! hahah! There were so many things that I took out of that movie. First, There is no such trial that God Can't deliver you out of. Second, Teach People not lessons. Lastly, We are all children of God and we all deserve a second chance. For all of you who haven't seen it, GO SEE IT NOW! It was amazing!

     I know that the Lord is hastening his work on this Earth! The proof is in the pudding. I have heard so many stories of members sharing the Gospel. My amazing mom shared the gospel on her flight to Phili! Way to go Mom! If you have had a recent experience sharing the gospel, let me know! I love hearing about these amazing acts of awesomeness! The Gospel will go forth to all the world! It is a prophesy and it WILL come true! I know it!

 

Sorry for the short letter this week. I will make it up over the next week or so.

 

:{D (that is for Caden)

 

Love you guys!

~ Elder Zac Snell :)

ON THE TREADMILL TILL WE ALL DIE!

   So here is the picture. You are jogging on a treadmill at a slow steady pace of 2.5 and all of a sudden Satan gets on the one next to you. You see that he sets his to 3.0. You give him a glare and push the level raiser twice. Now you are at 3.5. Satan smiles and laughs a bit and presses his twice more. its 3.5 to 4.0. You give him a death glare and raise yours to a jogging speed: 5.0. He smirks and raises to a light run: 6.0. By this time you have given him a look of ultimate disgust and raised yours to 10.0 now at a heavy run. You see him reach down and hold the level raiser down and the treadmill starts beeping up to 12.0. Now you are absolutely infuriated with this challenge and you both hold down the button down till you reach a full on sprint! 15.0 You are sprinting as fast as you can on this treadmill against the adversary!  Now it is up to you to decide. Are you afraid to die on that treadmill? I know that Satan will not quit! Are you willing to die on that treadmill?!

     Now is the time when the Lord is hastening his work! Just because his force for good is strengthening, so is the adversary. This is the time when we raise our level on the treadmill and sprint until we die on that blasted thing! LEVEL 15.0 BABY!!! WAHOO!!!!! Have I committed to run until I die on this treadmill? You bet I have!

     We have had such great progress here in Reston! Sadly, no baptisms yet, but we will most likely have one next transfer! Shandila is progressing and loving the Gospel. We can't wait to teacher her once more. AH! So excited!

     So transfers is this week. I am excited for the news to come of what will be happening, but I will definitely be sad if Elder Rowley and I get split up. We have had great times here in Reston. If there is one thing that Elder Rowley has taught me, it is to be BOLD in ALL we do! He is such a super stud when it comes to inviting people to come to Christ. This one time we were teaching a lesson with Danz (another Investigator) and out of nowhere, he asks, "Will you read the Book of Mormon EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE?" I was thinking, "Holy cow, dude, easy on the invite." In reply to his question, Danz said a simple "Yeah, I will read it every morning before work." HAHA! I thought he was going to be mad or something. So thanks Elder Rowley for giving me courage to do things I am scared of!

     Keep being amazing out there, Guys! I am Absolutely loving being in the Lords service and can't wait to get back to work!

     Till we all die on that Treadmill,

     ~ Elder Snell

            -=ii=<{

Zac's Companion Elder Rowley