January 10, 2011

Hi Momma! How's everything going? It was so good to hear from you!

I copied and pasted the letter I wrote to my mission president. It tells all about the missionary work we did last week. Here it is:

Dear President Pike;

Experiences that really stand out from this week is a lesson that we had with a family we have been giving service to over the last month or so, the J Family. They are a referral from a family in our ward. We taught Brother and Sister J the first lesson. They are very active in the church they attend, a Christian church. The J's do not believe in modern day revelation, or that they should pay attention to their feelings to know if something is true. Because of these things, they are not ready to accept the Gospel at this time, but they are very grateful to have Sister Casperson and myself continue to serve in their home. They did express that they have a lot of respect for their LDS friends and neighbors, because we believe Jesus Christ is the foundation of this Church, and Jesus Christ is the central figure of their religion as well.

John F is continuing to progress in the Gospel. He was happy to receive a Priesthood line of authority from Brother Merkley, the ward mission leader who ordained him, and he looks forward to passing the sacrament next Sunday.

Victor, another recent convert from May I believe, is progressing in his testimony. It is a delight to teach him truths of the Gospel, and have him share his faith and determination to continue in the Gospel.

I've been blessed to finally meet a new convert, Nancy. She has been busy with the holidays, but she is doing great with her faith. Nancy went with the ward to do baptisms last Friday, and had a great experience doing that.

The L family has been really progressing the last several weeks. They are a less-active family who converted to the church 4-5 years ago. The last two Sundays, mom and all four daughters have attended services. The oldest two daughters, Veronica and Nadia, hadn't attended services in several years. They stayed for all 3 hours of church both weeks, and are impressed with how friendly the ward members are, and feel very welcome.

Our investigator, Marjorie, is really making progress in the Gospel. She has accepted an invitation to go to a single's dinner this upcoming weekend, which is a major step for her. Marjorie prays regularly, personally and in lessons. She has continued to see her life being blessed as Sister Casperson and I are teaching her, and her testimony is growing because of the example of service of other church members. She has not yet come to church or accepted a tour, but last night, she told Sister Casperson and I of a conversation she had with a non-member friend in which she said she was not a member of the church...yet.

Sister Casperson and I have met 2 potential families, the C's and a woman named Kate, and her four sons. Kate's mother moved in with her on Sunday to help her with her children. Carol is her name, and she was baptized into the church 3 years ago, but is not active. We are hoping that Carol will allow us to visit with her, and that we will eventually be able to teach the whole family. Kate is very religious as are her sons in the Christian faith, I believe non-denominational but am not quite sure. Kate has been very kind to us in the several short visits we have had with her, and is supportive of our missionary efforts.

The other family, the C's, have not yet accepted a tour, but have expressed interest in taking one. We will continue to follow up with them to set up a tour. Last week was my first meeting of Laura C, the mother, and her two young sons. We had a very pleasant conversation, and Sister Casperson and I feel there is a lot of potential for this family to receive the Gospel.

On Saturday, we invited our investigator, Ellen, to be baptized. She declined, and still has not read from the Book of Mormon, but she did enjoy the Restoration movie, and accepted an offer to come to a social dinner for single ladies in the stake this upcoming Saturday.

Sister Casperson is a wonderful trainer; she is very patient with me, and always offering support as I am trying to learn how to be an effective missionary.

Sister Casperson and I gave a tour to a man named Chris on Friday. It was an amazing tour; he asked the right questions, and was intrigued by modern day revelation. He expressed excitement to read the Book of Mormon, and accepted the invitation to attend church on Sunday.
Chris did not come to church on Sunday, so we will be following up with him on that. We had 2 members on the tour with Sister Casperson and I, and their testimonies added an amazing Spirit to the tour.

The F family is another less active family who are going through hard times. Brother F is working on coming back to church, and has welcomed Sister Casperson and I into his home any evening to teach him and his teenage daughter, who is not active in the church, and our feeling is to teach her from the beginning, and commit her to come back to church starting this Sunday.

It is very evident to me from the 3 weeks I've been in California/serving in Glendora, that Sister Casperson's love for the ward members and self-less service has opened so many missionary referrals/service referrals from members. Members respect and trust her, and this has been a tremendous blessing in our mission efforts. I appreciate the good example that she is setting for me.

This last week, I had ample opportunity to perform service. Sister Casperson and I utilized our four planned hours of service, and also had an unplanned service opportunity on Saturday for the benefit of our investigator, Marjorie. As well, I spent the better part of three days with Sister Pack and Sister Robinson in the Charter Oak area while Sister Casperson was in training, and participated in 4 planned service hours with them.

My goals for this week to improve are to maintain better eye contact while teaching, and to continue to practice giving the church tour in companionship study so I am sure to say the correct points at the correct time.

We are looking forward to seeing you and Sister Pike on Thursday when you come for the interview.

Have a nice week,

Sister Snow

Hi Mom, it's me again:

There are still more investigators/potential investigators/less active/recent converts we are teaching, but that is all I had time to write. I hope that gives you some idea of our teaching pool though.

Your California trip sounded so nice! I knew Kaitie would be a good mother to the girls, but it's nice to hear you are back and all is well. You'll have to have Riley write to me about her first day of school.

Thank you for the boxes and pictures. It was so great getting those, and a letter from Dad. I will write him back later today.

Speaking of pictures, I'm glad that you got my picture CD. Someday I will be able to explain who is who and all that, but name tags really help :)

Well, Marjorie is my favorite investigator, hands down. She is hilarious; Sister Casperson and I always have to fight to not laugh out loud during lessons or prayers, with her and with Ellen both, they should be comedians. Anyway, last night, we laughed so hard during Marjorie's prayer. She forgave us of course, and laughed too. She's 82, and I wish you could meet her. She prays for you and our family in every prayer, telling God she knows of your sacrifice and thanks for sending us to her. Just thought you would like to know that.

There is a lot of opposition to missionaries in this mission; maybe it is like this everywhere, I don't know. I guess that means that so many good things are going on that evil is strongly protesting.

Anyway, Sister Casperson and I do our best to keep our sense of humor going at all hours of the day. She has me laughing uncontrollably which is a good thing at home or in the car, but we have to be careful to keep it cool while we are out finding people or teaching.

Something I'm sure the girls will delight in (and I will leave the details out so you don't cringe):

Girls, I will never, ever, ever, feel any compassion towards those who are sad about having to clean up after PJ.   Wednesday, I had the privilege of cleaning out a rat infested garage and everything that goes with that for four hours. Four hours! I think there is a special blessing from God for that disgusting experience. I'm just saying, scooping is nothing compared to that. My companion was in training for 3 days last week in Arcadia, so I spent that time with two other sister missionaries in San Dimas/Covina, and this is when we did that service. Sister Casperson laughed so hard, for SO long, when we found out at 6:30 Am Wednesday that that would be my task and not hers. Not the best wake up call.

Anyway, I love you all dearly. Sorry there is no differentiation in what to share on the blog, Mom. I trust you to put whatever you like on there at any time, I'm not worried. If you are going to put my letter to my mission president, please just use either someone's first or last name, not both.

Have a good week!

Love,

Sister Snow