first baptism.  it was one of the sisters investigators in their area.




playing games with the other missionaries

12/25/19 pictures

that is me out on the rocks in the sunset


picking fruit





already packed for the apartment move, had to you pot lids as plates




Visiting a sister in the hospital





making hearts with our fingers



at the ocean


hiking trip


new apartment

12/25/19

well I'll keep this one short again, but also sorry for the cheeks email last week hahah it was pretty weak sauce, I was just feeling way tamad.

it was such a good week and way productive!!

we moved houses, and that was kind of stressful, but also our new house is like low key astig haha, and plus now we have bikes so #hollaweareangbalisna

but also #masasiraangpwitko

 

that's in tagalog for a reason so if you have questions hahah, but life is good on the mission. Christmas here is way better than in America, everyone is like crazy freakin nice, we got our trikes paid for like 4 times this week and one time it was like 30 pesos which is mad expensive, but the Christmas spirit is strong here

our two most progressing families are called the Ysit (pronounced e-sit) family, and the Robles family.. they are both so beautiful and amazing... and the Halog family as well, they are family we have been talking to for a while and progress is kind of stalled... but anyways love you all so much and wish you all a Merry Christmas...please try and keep Christ center to your lives..

-Elder Snow

12/16/19

hey dad. I'm gonna be honest...I really don't feel like typing a huge email this week... I sent like a ton of pics in the chat so you can post those... but I love you guys so much and give my best from everyone .

12/9/19

This week was awesome!!! definitely one of the top weeks of the transfer...and the weird thing was that nothing really super eventful happened except just good solid missionary work... but for some reason I just had such a good time!
First, this less active family that we found on accident came to church yesterday which was awesome! they want there son who is about to turn 8 to be baptized, so that's exciting... we also taught this Norwegian guy named Tom!  It was really really weird speaking in English.

Looking forward to the next week and Christmas conference !!  First, we found out its in Baguio so that's very exciting.. I'm looking forward to another week of grinding and finding joy in the blessing that is missionary work..

-elder snow

ps- the nurse thinks I have the flu, so that kinda sucks... but don't tell mom cuz she will freak out...I'm ok I promise 

.

I love you

12/2/19

Well well well!!! much to my surprise me and elder Dacayanan are back at it again for one more transfer!!! I'm excited for the opportunity to keep learning from him and I'm excited to finally finish my training haha! but anyways in terms of this week, it was a really good week!! we are really trying to shift our focus to working with members and through part member families and its been a super cool experience... Also its helping us build our relationship with the ward and get them excited about missionary work! 

Through working with members we already have a whole family of 8 people that are listening the gospel.. they were taught by the missionaries way back in the day and have this ancient Book of Mormon... which is beautiful, they are so amazing and I'm so excited to see where we go with them!! 

and also!! we extended Mark baptismal date!!! we did it yesterday after church, and he said he wants to pray about it first. but I'm confident that he will get an answer, he has such a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and his faith is so strong...and I'm so excited for him!!

so that's about it for this week!! I'm excited for the coming transfer!! we have so very promising people that are right on the horizon...I'm excited to be working with elder Dacayanan again and learning from him still...I just don't want him to be tired of me after 18 weeks together hahaha. 

but yeah man I love this area and I love this work and I'm excited to see whats in store for us this transfer

love elder snow

Pictures 11/25/19

1. & 2. just one gwapo guy ;)

3. FHE with the Gensis family

4. our Bishop is a professional guitarist. he is so good..

11/25/19

Family and Friends,

this week was a great week, but personally a way hard week... I've been leading a large chunk of lessons and teaching some whole ones on my own, which has been a good good good stretch in the language department... but it's been cool to finally realize some of the progress I am making and I have such a sincere testimony of the gift of tongues...but just kind of stressful and hard at the same time. but a really good week to set me up for the next transfer... it's crazy, it really doesn't feel like November really happened, it flew by really...its been such a privilege to work with elder Dacayanan and learn so much from him and the amazing missionary he is.

It's kind of a good  feeling being not a "trainee" anymore, which is exciting but at the same time it's kind of scary and exciting.  I'm exited for the new challenges that are a head...I feel like everyday I am surprised by how loving the people are and how lucky I am to be a missionary...it's such a beautiful work and I love it more and more everyday...

Mark finally came to church!!! it was awesome!! he had a place to go right after so we couldn't follow up, but we took him to an FHE on Saturday and we just read the scriptures with this family, and it was so awesome to see him start to make the relationship with members of the ward. and he told us that he was already off coffee which we haven't even taught him the full w.o.w lesson yet we just mentioned that coffee is bad 1 time and he already is trying to stop... its amazing to see. and if he can start coming to church regularly we are very close to offering him a baptismal date, because he really gets and loves the doctrine and already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon. he just has trouble getting to church.

I'm stoked to see what the future holds of the area next few transfers. we have many good prospective people and I'm excited to see the progress of everyone else...

anyways I'm loving the work, and I'm beginning to love the feeling of having to stretch yourself to make things happen in terms of the language. I love the people. I love my comp, I love his work.

Elder Snow

11/18/19

Well howdy yall...now that i know that my dad goes through and corrects all of my mistakes that i put in these letters i am just going to make sure that i literally dont fix anything just cuz i love him so hahahha...

well anyways this week there is really not much to report on again...

Monday- we had a solid P-Day in Rosario and did a bunch of shopping here because they have a really nice store here called Friendship which is way cheaper than our market in Agoo 

Tuesday- we just walked a ton and taught some lessons, I'm getting better at contributing during lessons which is super cool...and that was one of my focuses this week was teaching, 

Wednesday- was kinda hard to focus to be honest, the next day we had a huge mission conference, and it made it kind of hard to focus, but I taught some lessons on my own which was really hard, but kind of sick!!

Thursday- we had mission tour with our area 70 Elder Wakolo, and that was awesome, he basically just gassed us up the whole time and shared a bunch of cool stories. It was awesome and we learned  ton. 

Friday- was a hard day, because we were so hyped after Elder Wakolo but there was not a soul to be found to share the gospel with, which was kinda bummer.

 and the rest of the days were kind the same!! I just ran out of time and we don't have a card reader again, but I promise I will send pics next week.

 

-Elder Snow

11/11/19

hello my beloveds....not much to report this week!! just pushing myself and loving the people!! we are still just trying to get into new areas and find new people to expand our teaching pool...

one thing about the mission I'm learning is that yes even though I'm in the Philippines, sometimes things are just kid a boring!! but that's OK because its the Lords work and that is truly an amazing thing!!

we had big news from Mark this week! we kind of had to stop visiting him less because he could never come to church, but during a just stop by we did this week he said that he already considers him self to be a member of our church which I thought was amazing!! and also he bore his testimony of the Book of Mormon and how reading it has made a big change in his live and how much happier he is. 

 It's just so frustrating with him because I've seen him come so far and now his big last hurdle is him not coming to church, he promised he would do his best to make it so we are always hopeful. 

Anyways that's about it in terms of the work, just growing the teaching pool and showing love...

 in terms of personal growth just being hopeful!!! really doing my best to be a tired, happy missionary!! I love it, I love everything about it... 

but yeah, loving my comp, loving the people, and really really loving the work

-love

Elder Snow

11/04/19

Family and Friends,

this week was great!!! Not really a down side but a little uneventful and I guess it's gonna be like that sometimes hahaha. We had zone conference this week and it was a blast and it was awesome to get to see everyone!!! and we have a new schedule I am loving the new schedule!! Leaving the house by 10 is truly something small that is actually opening my eyes to so so many new people and new areas that we sometimes over looked when we were sort of in our routine leaving the house at 2. it is super awesome to see.

and I have really been trying to show more faith this week! not just in terms of the language but like in terms of always having hope in my heart when I leave the house. its been a real boost to the enthusiasm department. it makes it so much easier to love when you have that little bit of hope in your heart that who ever you talk to could be prepared!!

in terms of our progressing people...it's just frustrating because we have so many people that are very promising but then they can just never get to church which is very important, and its hard to progress much farther when people aren't coming to church. so if you have any suggestions about how to get people to church it could be useful.

anyways that's about all for this week!!
Elder Snow