First off, I have yet to see a big locust infestation or storm come through here, though I do know that they do happen occasionally. I will for sure update y'all when I have something like that happen though, as that would be a very interesting experience, to say the least.
Second question: I have not yet seen Elder Francom from the good ol' Kays Ward, but I will be seeing him this Thursday at the latest because he is in my zone, and we are having a zone meeting this Thursday. One fun note though is the fact that he is being trained by the one and only: Elder Delbar!! Yep, one of my favorite companions thus far on the mission and one of my best friends here is Elder Francom's trainer. They will have a BLAST and Elder Francom is in for a great training experience, that is for sure. I am very excited to see how they do and the great work they accomplish. Also, don't worry, I will definitely take a picture with Elder Francom when I see him (I'm talking to you, Mom and Sister Francom). :)
As for the third question, our investigators are doing pretty well. Nothing special really, but we are still pushing to get investigators to come to church, as they have been struggling with keeping that commitment. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery (yeah, that's you) would be MUCH appreciated, as I have tried many different things to try and get our investigators to come to church, but they just don't seem to understand its importance, even if we emphasize it every single time we teach them. Our investigators Julie and Hasina (Patrick) are always diligent at coming to church, but as far as our other investigators, they tend to not be too diligent at coming... It's sad, and honestly kind of depressing for us. We try to get them to come, they commit to come, and then they don't. Then when we go back to their house for our time with them, they give some sort of excuse that actually seems legitimate, and then promise to come next week. And it repeats all over again... So, any suggestions from all of you would be nice.
But anyway, moving on to something a little bit happier and less depressing. My mom asked me anything funny that happened this week, and we did have one funny thing happen. We went to this one lesson with a guy named Jocelyn. When we got there, it was obvious that he was pretty drunk, but sometimes people are just like that, so I didn't want to outright ask him if he was drunk and offend him, so I tried to get him to say it himself. Turns out that he had been drinking, as well as chewing a bunch of tobacco. So we talked to him about that for a bit, and then he told us that he had wanted to overcome his addiction to those things for a long time, but he just hadn't been able to up to that point. So that was normal and we told him to just make more of an effort to overcome that as well as depend more upon God to help him become free. But then he asked us to help him, and right in the middle of the conversation he got up, then knelt down on the floor right in front of me, grabbed my hands, and placed my hands on top of his head, asking me to, as he said, "mandroaka ny demonia ao anatiko" (cast out the devil within him). So yeah, we left fairly quickly after that...but an interesting story for sure.
Anyway, last question, which is about the things I have learned on my mission about Christ's role in our lives and the importance of His Atonement. And honestly, the biggest thing I have learned throughout my entire mission about Christ is how the Atonement is not just for our sins, but for our weaknesses, our struggles, and our trials as well. I always thought of the Atonement as the eraser for our sins, the way that we can be forgiven, and that is true, as that is one of its purposes. However, the Atonement covers all of our weaknesses as well as our sins. Christ not only suffered so we could be forgiven, but he suffered so we can receive the help that we need. There's a scripture that I saw in Ephesians how "Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?" That is to say, Christ has descended below us all, Christ has gone below everyone. God emphasizes that in his revelation to Joseph Smith while he was in Liberty Jail, which is also one of my favorite scriptures in the Doctrine and Covenants, which says that "The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" Christ, the Son of Man, the Lamb of God, the Prince of Peace, has already descended below us all, below everyone and has been lower than anyone in history. Sometimes we are allowed to hit rock bottom so that we can find out that Christ IS the rock at the bottom. And then, if we follow Him and accept His teachings, and rely upon Him, He can lift us to greater heights than we could ever have otherwise reached on our own. I know this is true, because there have been times here on the mission where I have hit rock bottom, and have found that Christ is there, waiting for me, and ready to lift me higher.
Anyway, sorry for the short-ish email this week. We are kind of crammed for time. Next week will most likely be more open, so I will for sure take lots of time next week.
Have a great week, rely upon Christ, and let Him raise you up, as the popular Josh Groban song says. I love you all, and hope you all know that!
Thanks for everything!
Am-pitiavana,
Elder Snell
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| Me with our recent convert, Anessey |
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| Anessey |
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| Elder Leo with some cute kids |
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| Hanging on! |
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| (Not sure what this is. Elder Snell didn't send a note about it.) |
