It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Oh, won't you be my neighbor! Haha! Just had that old television show pop into my head. Don't know why.... Mr. Rogers wasn't even my favorite show to watch as a little kid. Blue's Clues had it beat by a long shot, just saying. Well, just like on the show Mr. Rogers, nothing really happened this week. I find it getting harder and harder to find something to write about, but I am sure with my creative brain, I can figure out something to write about!

Ok... Creative juices flowing now....... Ah, BINGO! We actually didn't play bingo, but I know what to talk about! This week, we had a lesson with Valentina! It has been ages since we talked to her last. Not this week, but last week, we finally got into contact with her again! We walked about 30 minutes (Elder Ogilvie's speed) to get halfway there just for a member to pull over and give is a ride to her house. We happily hopped into his car and we started moving (much faster now. Haha). He dropped us off at her house and we knocked on Valentina's door, waited a minute or three. She answered! We then quickly proceeded to set up an appointment when we could go over with Brother Hall. Well, that appointment turned out to be the best Wednesday! This very Wednesday just happened to be this past Wednesday! Our lesson with her went great! She didn't remember much from when we met last, and I don't blame her. The last time we met with her was in December. We basically reran through the first lesson and ended up talking about prophets and apostles. She had no idea that there is a living prophet on the earth today! So we invited her to conference on Sunday at the Hall's house. She is no longer on date for baptism, but is still willing to be baptized when she has some of her questions answered. Her main concern is about the nature of evil. I guess why things happen and what not? We promised that if she prayed before Conference and had a question she wanted answered, it would be answered by the end of conference! She really liked Elder Bednar's and President Uchtdorf's talk. I hope she will act on the promptings she receives through the spirit.

Alrighty! Sounds Bueno! I can't wait till next general conference! Till next time!

-=iii=<{

~ Elder Zac Snell
Live Life To The Fullest!

Sent from my iPad

Don't Punch...... Our Car.......

So, I learned today that in order to understand Elder Snell's Title I had to watch Kid History. Caden and Lexie helped me out with the opportunity to watch some of these videos. Wow! I guess I have been missing out. Ha Ha. Anyway. That is the reference to "Don't Punch....Our Car....." and probably many other quotes that I have never understood. . 

Enjoy!!!!!

Of course, we don't have a car for you to punch, but you can try your hardest to do so!

This week we had some great stuff go on! I was on an exchange with Elder Coates and I set a goal for myself to unbind my tongue and talk to everyone! I did just that! The hardest people to talk to is the joggers and runners because they are going pretty fast and we have to block off the entire path for them to stop and talk to us. This one time, there was a lady who went clear around us because she didn't want to talk to us! Hahah! the audacity of some peoples children, right? anyways, there was this jogger guy and I had let the last one pass us, but this time I was going to teach him! He almost got all the way past us, but then I blurted out "Hey, we want to teach you a message about Jesus Christ!" *facepalm* "wrong thing to say," I thought. " actually yeah, I will listen to your message," the beefy buff jogger huffed out, as he was tired from jogging. I started to freak out inside because nobody ever wants to listen to our message! I was talking way to fast form him to listen and he told me to slow down and star over. He was a nice guy! Oh! also, I was bearing testimony of the Book of Mormon and he asked the question that is super rarely asked:

"Can you just give that book to me or do I have to pay for it?"

HAHAH!!!!! Hook Line and Sinker! I thought that was an epic success!

This one time when we were tracting, we walk up to this super nice, expensive house knock the door! It is my turn to speak and I have the Book of Mormon in my hands and Can't wait to give it out! A man opens the door in his bath robes and he asks: "What do you want?" I thought he sounded a little grumyp, but our message is for the grumpy people! "We are representatives of Jesus Christ and....." The man gives us a scowl as soon as I start talking and replys: "No, you're not..." The then slams the door in our face! Isn't that great! He listened to us so well that he picked up the fact that we could have possibly been(actually are) Jesus Christ's servants and representatives! I love people!

Until next time, my lovely civilized people!

~ Elder Zac Snell

Here are some pictures Zac sent. 

Elder Snell and his new companion Elder Ogilvie

The ritual at 6 months burning a tie. 

I asked him which tie he chose and luckily it wasn't any of his but one that had been left behind for months. whew :)

Change; Not the Pocket Kind

So once upon a time, I was sitting at Transfers meeting and we were all having a splendid time, but everything changed when the fire nation attacked. President Riggs got up and announced that the companionships there would be no more! So Elder Rowley is no longer my companion, but in his stead will be Elder Ogilvie! He is from Heber, Utah. He has been on his mission for 21 Months! He is an old guy! ahaha jk. He is 22. I can't really describe his personality. those are really hard to describe, but he is a super cool guy and can't wait to serve with him!

     Oh! I forgot to tell you all! Elder Rowley volunteered me to be the chorister for the transfers meeting, so I got to be the guy who stands at the front of the room and wave his hands around randomly(I actually knew what I was doing :P) so I guess I am the mission Chorister now.

 

     I am sorry that this is a short one, but other than the transfer meeting, this week has been fairly uneventful. I will just have to do something crazy this next week to write about. ah never mind!! I just remembered something that was awesome that happened at transfers meeting as well! So Elder Babb is one of my district buddies in the MTC and he was at a members house and they gave him a cornet, who in turn gave it to me!!! bwahahah!!!! I have a cornet now! I can play it on preparation Days and it is great! Take that Unlucky things, this guy is lucky! :P ok. that was probably the best part of this week. moving on.

 

    I guess I will bear my testimony about Jesus Christ! I know he lives! I have absolutely no doubts. My testimony of him began when I auditioned to be a part of Savior of the World. Through all the rehearsals, songs, and countless hours of preparation, I would have never guessed that my testimony of Him would become as strong as it is now. When you get a chance to, watch the bible videos! they are superbly awesome! I love my savior!

 

 

Keep on the Sunny Side of Life, guys!

~ Elder Zac Snell ^^

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=<{