First... HAPPY 16 BIRTHDAY, LIVY! Welcome to the OLD club. Wish I could celebrate with you. Know that we will be having a fiesta for you in Mexico. Yes, they know how to throw down a fiesta.
So... right after I sent my email last week I got extremely sick and was sent to the doctor. Luckily, we have such wonderful priesthood holders in my district and I was blessed with strength and health and feel like a new person. God is great and blessings are.... well... BLESSINGS. I can't stress enough how important it is to be a worthy priesthood holder. You never know when you are going to need to use the power of God in your life or someone else's.
Tuesday night we had a devotional. Last week's was so wonderful. It was by one of the area 70's in Mexico City.. Elder Reyes. It was wonderful. We learned that we have one gift.. and it is the greatest gift. It is so precious.. and that is the gift of the gospel. Why are we out here on a mission? What is our purpose? I learned so many great things from him and I feel so BLESSED to be in the CCM and learning so many great things from so many wonderful authorities called of God.
Wednesday night we were eating dinner and the rains came down.. and yes, the floods came up. Not joking you. They locked us in the comedor (the dining hall) and they wouldn't let us leave. My poor companion and the other Hermanas in our district were fasting and they locked us in there for an hour and half. The water was almost to my knees. We couldn't do anything else but laugh as we were running in the streets and our clothes were getting soaked. I am so excited to get to Florida. Hurricane season has got nothing on us! ;) We are prepared.
Thursday we got locked in the Comedor again. 2 days in a row. This time no one was fasting.. so there were happier faces. All the new missionaries were freaked out of their minds. They kept asking us if it was a daily ritual. Just reminded me of my first week here... oh times were rough. :)
I got a cute little package in the mail full of uplifting talks and a cute little Spanish proverb painting from Hermana Aims' mom. Hermana Aims is one of our Sisters that left on Monday for Peru. It was the best thing I have ever received... real life mail. I am so excited to get to Florida. I miss seeing handwriting. :) Thank you Hermana Aims' mom! I couldn't believe that someone I have never met could make such a big difference and have a huge impact on my life. God blesses those who are valiant.
I got a cute little package in the mail full of uplifting talks and a cute little Spanish proverb painting from Hermana Aims' mom. Hermana Aims is one of our Sisters that left on Monday for Peru. It was the best thing I have ever received... real life mail. I am so excited to get to Florida. I miss seeing handwriting. :) Thank you Hermana Aims' mom! I couldn't believe that someone I have never met could make such a big difference and have a huge impact on my life. God blesses those who are valiant.
Friday the second counselor in the CCM Presidency came into our classroom and taught us about gaining eternal life and what our divine nature is. I will have to explain it to you when I get home because it was a wonderful lesson and I took good notes so I will never forget it. We were blessed with the BEST enchiladas on Friday, too. The Lord is so good to his servants. ;) Little blessings and miracles all the time. :) MY TEACHERS LOVE ME. Our sweet saint of a teacher, Hermana Garcia, buys us little chocolate candy bars and brings them to class with her and gives them to us everyday.. we are LOVED! :)
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| Reminded Abby of a scene from Nacho Libre |
Saturday I got my first Charley horse, one in each leg. (Flashback to Friday: Hermana Jackson and I were talking about Charley horses. She was telling me how she used to get them all the time. I kindly told her I have never had one and I don't plan on ever getting one, but kinda wished I knew what it felt like... funny joke.) I was just doing my daily ab workout and ... BAM Charley horse #1. I just started to scream.. Luckily, Hermana Jackson was there to help me out.. no joke. 2 minutes later.. I'm doing my push up work out.. and BAM Charley horse #2 in the other leg. Hermana Jackson again helped me out as I was laying on the floor dying. Careful what you wish for. You just might get it all.
Reed was on my mind all day on Saturday. I can't believe he is almost out here... I AM SO EXCITED FOR HIM. He is going to love missionary work. It is seriously the best! Who would have thought that this would have happened when we were so little.. :) Good luck on your farewell talk Reed. Know that I will be there in spirit! :)
Reed was on my mind all day on Saturday. I can't believe he is almost out here... I AM SO EXCITED FOR HIM. He is going to love missionary work. It is seriously the best! Who would have thought that this would have happened when we were so little.. :) Good luck on your farewell talk Reed. Know that I will be there in spirit! :)
Saturday night I was sitting at my desk in the classroom doing personal study in Preach My Gospel. (Please read it as a family for FHE . It is SOOOO important. I love it!) I decided to read in Chapter 6 about Christ-like attributes. I decided to read about Faith, the very first one. As I was reading through it, almost word for word, it talks about things that are SO important to my life. Almost word for word, my patriarchal blessing. Please pull it out and read through it. I just started to cry in class. FAITH is what I have to have in my life. Faith is what I have to work on while I am out here. I lack in faith. So... I have been praying for more faith and I feel soooo much better about being a missionary and love missionary work so much more. It was a HUGE MIRACLE! We also learned about the blessings of fasting and what you can receive from having a faithful fast. Hermana Jackson and I taught a lesson to our practice investigator, Gaby, and it went so well. It was probably our best one yet! We were so in tune with the Spirit and in tune with one another. What a miracle! (I spoke Spanish. Bet you didn't see that one coming, Dad... ;))
Sunday was a great day. It was full of little miracle after little miracle. I believe it was because I had faith and was fasting with a purpose and thinking of what I was fasting for. I didn't bear my testimony in Spanish... but I have a feeling I will be called on to give a talk this Sunday because the topic is ... yes... FAITH. I guess I will just have to keep you all updated. We had a devotional and it was about Predicad Mi Evangelio (Preach My Gospel). It was WONDERFUL. We talked about how every single sentence in the book made the cut.. so there is some importance in reading every sentence and picking out the importance of what it is saying. PLEASE READ IT. Every member is a missionary and so it will only help you in your life. :)
Monday.. What a day! It makes me emotional just thinking about it. It was such a great day. There is an Hermana in my zone that got here last Wednesday and she is going through the exact same things that I went through my first week. She wanted to go home and was doubting her faith and why she was here. I wrote her a note and told her things that I believed that she needed to hear. When I first gave her the note she was really confused. I prayed for her all day long that she would feel of her importance, that she would feel the love that I had for her. Most importantly, that she would feel the love that God has for her. At FHE last night, she was STILL HERE! I just ran up to her and gave her a hug and told her that I loved her and was so proud of her for staying.
I also got a letter from Grandma Snow. A HANDWRITTEN LETTER. I have missed those!!! It was a HUGE MIRACLE. I just started to cry as I was reading it... SO THANK YOU GRANDMA!
But.. the biggest miracle, Hermana Jackson and I had to teach our practice investigator, Ricardo, yesterday. Neither of us were really feeling the Spirit.. We decided to pray, go out there and give it our best and whatever happens happens. We taught and walked back to the classroom. We looked at each other and just felt like it was an average lesson. Nothing special. We had a lesson plan.. but didn't say ANYTHING that we had planned. Our teacher.... also our investigator walked in.. pulled a chair up next to us and sat there looking at us. I thought we were going to get in trouble or a stern talking to for not giving him a good lesson. He looked us in the eyes and said, "Wow, HERMANAS! WOW. I am speechless." I was SHOCKED. He said it was the best lesson that he has ever received and that he felt the power of God was with us. The two of us were SHOCKED. We learned the importance of having the Spirit with us. IT IS SOO IMPORTANT. I can't speak Spanish very well. I am beginning to forget English. But.. the one thing that I will always have and never want to loose is the power of the Spirit. It was a huge MIRACLE and such an important lesson to learn. Yesterday was a WONDERFUL day and I am looking forward to feeling that every day in the mission field.
I also got a letter from Grandma Snow. A HANDWRITTEN LETTER. I have missed those!!! It was a HUGE MIRACLE. I just started to cry as I was reading it... SO THANK YOU GRANDMA!
But.. the biggest miracle, Hermana Jackson and I had to teach our practice investigator, Ricardo, yesterday. Neither of us were really feeling the Spirit.. We decided to pray, go out there and give it our best and whatever happens happens. We taught and walked back to the classroom. We looked at each other and just felt like it was an average lesson. Nothing special. We had a lesson plan.. but didn't say ANYTHING that we had planned. Our teacher.... also our investigator walked in.. pulled a chair up next to us and sat there looking at us. I thought we were going to get in trouble or a stern talking to for not giving him a good lesson. He looked us in the eyes and said, "Wow, HERMANAS! WOW. I am speechless." I was SHOCKED. He said it was the best lesson that he has ever received and that he felt the power of God was with us. The two of us were SHOCKED. We learned the importance of having the Spirit with us. IT IS SOO IMPORTANT. I can't speak Spanish very well. I am beginning to forget English. But.. the one thing that I will always have and never want to loose is the power of the Spirit. It was a huge MIRACLE and such an important lesson to learn. Yesterday was a WONDERFUL day and I am looking forward to feeling that every day in the mission field.
Well.. that is all I have this week. I love you all and look forward to hearing from you! :) Keep the updates coming... and the mail. I LOVE IT! :)
You are wonderful examples to me and miss you all like crazy!
Love you forever.
Hermana Snow
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| District Sisters |
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