Anyway, it's good to hear from you all, and I'm glad to hear that life still continues on outside of the mission field. It's good to know that things are still going well for all y'all, and I hope that life will continue to treat all of you well.
As is customary (not really, it's just what's easiest), I will begin with answering my mother's questions. Firstly, yes, I did have time to check the blog you made, and it looks awesome. You did a great job at creating it Mom, it's really good! Also, it's good to know that every single thing I say is instantly posted to the internet for the world to see. No pressure, right? J Secondly, I've decided that's what's easiest is to wear one pair of shoes until they die, as when I wear shoes here they get SUPER dusty and dirty, and I'd rather have just one pair of disgusting shoes at a time, rather than have to cycle through three separate pairs. I am currently using the Keens, and they seem to be holding up very nicely, and they are quite comfortable to walk in. Good call on buying them! And lastly, the peanut butter M&M's held up perfectly fine, and I am sorry to say that they have already been voraciously consumed. There's nothing like them here in Madagascar, so they were a wonderful treat, and made me very very happy. So, thank you very much for them. :)
Now, onto the past week. Things have been going quite well as far as the work is concerned (well, "quite well" being a relative term). Several of our investigators have been progressing (in particular Aldo and Jean Pierre), and we even had six at church yesterday, which is a record. But, the mission field isn't exactly "the primrose path" paved with baptismal dates and success. There are lots of problems, and lots of trials that we go through. For instance, the problem about getting investigators to church is that 1) they don't want to come and 2) I wouldn't want to come either. The fitom-bavaka (church meetings) here are not anywhere near the quality of the church meetings in America. It's not even the fact that I understand maybe five percent of what is said. It's the fact that everything else that is said is not of much worth anyway. I already mentioned how the Malagasies like to go off on random tangents about very unimportant doctrines, but they also like to use fairly inappropriate examples for seemingly harmless topics. For instance, in Sunday School today (we attend the Gospel Principles Class) two of our investigators were in there with us and we were learning about Sacrifice, so I thought it was a pretty good topic. But then about halfway through the class it was like a switch went off in the rest of the class members' heads and they started giving really weird comments and examples. Not exactly golden lesson material for new investigators present in the lesson. Luckily for us missionaries though, our two investigators were looking at Elder Christiansen's pictures he keeps in his Bible during the comment, so we dodged that bullet. But that's only Sunday morning, and there was still much left in store for us. After biking to our first appointment, Elder Christiansen's bike's pedal fell off, so we went to this guy to get that fixed. And as we were about to leave the bike place (not even a place, just an umbrella on the side of the road with a guy and a toolbox sitting under it), I felt like I was going to pass out and throw up at the same time. The combination of ninety-five degree weather and the fact of it being Fast Sunday (not having anything to eat for awhile) got to me somehow. Consequently we took a bit of a break before heading off to our next lesson time. Then, at that lesson time--which is a less active member--we found out that Simon (that's the father's name) and his family had decided they were going to join a different church because it seemed easier than being a part of our church because being an active member in our church meant having to pay tithing, etc. We tried to reason with him, but he was not going to change his mind. That was more than a little disappointing.
So that was pretty much my day yesterday. Probably one of the roughest days of the mission thus far. But you know what? It's okay. No one ever got anywhere in life without challenges pushing them to work harder than they thought they could. That's something that I've come to realize here in the mission field. The challenges we face in this life often seem to blindside us, and that's because they come at us from behind. If we let them, they will push us around in circles. But, if we do our best and do the things that we know we should, they will push us harder and faster than we originally thought possible. We just have to do our part.
And that last bit reminds me of a last little spiritual thought I'd like to share from my personal gospel studies. As of late, I've been studying more about the Atonement, as that is the central principle to the gospel. For the past few days I've been studying the topic of grace in particular. I've really come to understand that it really is only in and through the grace of God and His son Jesus Christ that we can be saved. It's about this fact that the Apostle Paul was talking about when he says in Ephesians 2:8-9; "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." We can't work our way to heaven. We NEED God and His grace. But, it is only through our faith that we can obtain the grace of God. The Apostle James elaborates on this in Chapter 2 of his general epistle: "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?" No, it can't. Only grace AND faith can save a man (or any of us, for that matter). "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." The way we have that faith, that key to obtaining the grace of God, is our works. It is through the things we do that we show what we truly believe and have faith in. "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only." So, we are then justified--or brought back into a positive standing with the Lord through His grace--by our works and our faith. So, in review: works+faith+grace=sanctification, justification, and perfection through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And THAT is the good news of the gospel.
My challenge to you all this week is to show your faith by the works you perform and do on a daily basis. It's not that hard. Just do those good things that you feel you should be doing. Your faith defines you. Let it show in what you do. That's one reason I've chosen to serve a mission. It's who I am, so this is what I should do.
I hope this week is a great one for all of you. Anyway, mazotoa! See y'all again next week! (Not really, but whatever. It's probably fine. I can still talk to you all, so it's not like I'm dead or something.) I love you all!
Elder Snell
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| This is a picture of a kid with a hilarious t-shirt that I just had to get a picture of. |
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| Elder Christiansen and I at the beach. |
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| This is a picture of me doing a GQ shoot at a place near the beach. FYI, the fact that you can all now see my botched haircut does not give you the permission to heckle me about it. I'm very sensitive. ;) |
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| This is our lunch today, which was lobster and shrimp. It looked pretty masculine, :) so I took a picture. |
