Elder Hyrum Snell~ Called to Serve in Madagascar: 08/18/15- Turn Outward and Lift- ONE YEAR MARK!

Manakory ianareo! Inona no vaovao any aminareo? Aty aminay, tsy dia misy na inona na inona, fa ohatra omaly ihany. As always, I am thankful to all of you for your wonderful emails and diligence in writing me and sending love and support. I couldn't ask for better friends and family, as all of you have endured an entire year! Congratulations! It seems very weird to me that I am now at my year mark, and am halfway finished with the mission. My mind is blown every time I think about it. The past year has at times flown by, and at other times crawled. It changes day to day, but overall it has been a very quick year.

Fun little story for the week is the fact that yesterday morning I found an African flea on one of my left toes. It wasn't even painful or anything though, but we went into the mission office and dug it out, so everything is all good now (nothing to worry about, Mom). But that was just interesting to me because missionaries in Tana don't usually get them, but only those in a beach province. Ah well, I guess I'm just lucky!

But anyway, I guess I"ll start into my mom's questions, araka ny mahazatra (as usual).
First off, as far as church went this week, things were pretty good. We had a fair amount of less actives come, as well as a few investigators, including Tiana, Samuel, and a couple other new ones. The attendance was 104, which is pretty good. All in all, the missionaries aren't required to do much, other than make comments and help explain things in lessons, as well as take attendance and whatnot. Nothing to big out of the ordinary, and nothing like Ambositra, where we did almost everything. It's a feeling of relief when I don't have to take the load of an entire branch, even though we still had help, that is how it sometimes felt like down there in Ambositra. But, now, things are much smoother and easier as far as the ward goes.

Secondly, my mom asked me what my thoughts and feelings are about me hitting me year mark (as of this Thursday). I'll be honest, that the biggest feeling is just that of wonder. How the heck has it already been a year?! I mean, I just got here! But then I think about some of the older experiences, like the MTC, and that seems like a couple lifetimes ago. All in all, time is just really weird here in the mission field. It flies at the same time as it crawls. I just can't believe that I'm halfway. That is honestly the biggest feeling I have, is just that of wonder and awe. But also, it has caused me to reflect on the quality of work that I did during the past year of my mission, and what I want to change and what I don't. Do I want to change the way I do something? And up until now, how has the quality of my work been? Am I proud of what I've done, or do I need to change and work harder? All these questions and more are those flying through my mind as I try to figure out where the time went, as well as what I need to do better. What do I need to do to improve my mission, and use the year mark as a point marking increase and progression, rather than a gradual decline that ends with my mission. The mission, for me, has been and needs to continue to be a time of rapid and exponential growth, which growth will continue on past my mission and throughout my life. I can't start giving up right now, especially since I need to carry this growth throughout the rest of my life as well. That's my goal for the next year: continue to exponentially progress and grow, both personally and in the quality of work that I do. It's time to step it up, not slow down.

Now for the third and final question: my mom asked me about any thoughts and impressions that I've had this week that I would like to share, other than those which are about my hitting the year mark, which consists of the paragraph just above. As far as that goes, there's a story that actually happened last night that I'd like to share. For our bit of proselyting done on P-Day, we usually stop by our less-active member Andry, which is what we did yesterday. And in our lesson, Andry asked us a few questions, firstly about our favorite scripture, which was great and really brought the Spirit. But then he asked me another question that really made me think. He asked me "What is the biggest thing you have learned thus far on the mission?" The question caught me off-guard; I wasn't ready for it. And so I had to think for a few minutes about that, and it really made me ponder "what IS the biggest thing I have learned on my mission?" And then it came to me after a few minutes of pondering, which coming I credit to the Spirit. And my answer was this: "The biggest thing I have learned on my mission is that the way to true happiness is through turning outward. In the times that I have focused on myself and how hard the mission is--like I did at the beginning of my mission--then I am miserable. But however, when I turn outwards and focus on others' needs and others' problems, rather than my own, then that is when I truly am happy." These are the words that the Spirit put into my mouth, and as I said them, I knew they were true. When we are focused on ourselves and our own selfish needs, then we are miserable, sad, depressed, and stressed out of our minds. I know this is true because I will honestly say that that describes me about ten months ago. But now, as I have consciously made efforts to turn outwards toward others, I have found a greater sense of peace and happiness. The work goes better, the mission goes more smoothly, and everything is just better all around. One thing that has really solidified this concept in my mind is the Mormon Message "Lift". (Attached below.) If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It consists of a true story of several men who, each night, lift their neighbor with Multiple Sclerosis into her bed, as she is unable to. They say that when they first began the assignment, it was just a burden, and almost all the men said that they "had better things to do." But as they all consciously make the decision to focus on their neighbor's needs, rather than their own, all of a sudden they are happier and more willing to fulfill the assignment. They are no longer selfishly turned inward, but turning outward in service and in love. And all of them say that because of that, they feel like their souls have been healed, their lives blessed, and their faith strengthened. It is a very inspiring video, but the more I do that in my own life, the more I see how truly inspired it is. And that is because it is true. The more I follow those great men's examples, the happier I am. The more I turn outward, the more the Lord blesses me inside. So let us all turn outward and all do our best to love and focus on others, rather than ourselves. And the Lord, in turn, will bless us all.

Thanks again for everything you all do. Hopefully you have felt a bit of the Spirit from my email, as I tried to put the Spirit into it. I know what I've said is true, and I know that the work I am doing now is God's work, not mine. I love you all so much, and hope you all have a wonderful rest of the summer!

Am-pitiavana,
Elder Snell