March 28, 2011

Hello from California! I hope everyone is having a fantastic last few days of March!

Things In Pasadena are good. We have managed to do quite a bit of missionary work,  through this last week. Not nearly what we would be doing, but we did still teach 14 lessons last week, 7 investigator lessons, and 7 less-active/recent convert lessons. We also have a new investigator, W, and he is fantastic. He lives at the same retirement home as Andrew and Sharon, and we are excited to be teaching him now, too.

Sister Pack sang in a quartet (sp?) yesterday; they sang, "Lead Kindly Light", and did a wonderful job. There is quite a lot of musical talent in our ward, and I'm excited for it to  be put to use at our Easter Fireside on April 10th, where we will celebrate the life of Christ through music and testimony.

Our investigator, Aaron, will be sharing his testimony on the Savior, and our investigator, Kaitlin, is singing: "I know that My Redeemer lives, with Sister Pack. It's awesome to involve them, and Andrew and Sharon agreed to attend the fireside. The purpose is for people to invite their friends so we can find more people to teach, but it's also to strengthen ward members in their missionary efforts and in their personal testimonies of Jesus Christ.

We met a man, P, that we will be giving a church tour this week. He looks like Gaston; it's pretty hilarious. Anyway, he is super nice, and we are excited to give him a tour. We are also giving a tour on Thursday to a guy named Geronimo that we met last week on the street; I'm really excited for that one. We are praying that they both show up for their scheduled tours, ready to learn more about the Gospel and how it can bless their lives.

One thing Sister Pack and I share a lot is something from Preach My Gospel; I don't have it memorized, but the gist of it is that everyone in life faces challenges, and though our problems vary in type and severity, the answer is the same; through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can be cleansed from our sins and strengthened in our temptation and healed from our pains.

Anyway, I hope everyone has the chance to watch General Conference this weekend. I am so excited to hear from the prophet, President Monson, and the Apostles and other inspired speakers. That's another thing we have been testifying about a lot lately; the opportunity to hear from the Prophet this weekend, and how adhering to his message can bless our spiritual and temporal lives.

We talked to as many people we could on Colorado Street (Downtown Pasadena, where there is a big mall and a lot of restaurants and shops, etc) yesterday afternoon about conference, and invited them to watch it; it was a good experience, testifying of the power and authority President Monson has as our Prophet, even if people weren't interested in the message.

Well, time is running out. Have a good week! :)

Sister Snow

March 21, 2011

Greetings from Pasadena!

I hope everyone is having a fantastic start of the week.

 

Well, today's email will have to be a bit short, but briefly, stake conference was really good this last weekend. We heard a lot of "back to the basic" talks, and then there was a big emphasis on the temple. I loved the messages we heard.

 

Before the Sunday general session, Sister Pack and I attended a special meeting for recent converts from the stake. The Spirit was so strong in this meeting, and it was a humbling experience to hear the testimonies of people so new to the Gospel.

 

There is much to look forward to in the next month; we have General Conference the first week of April, which we are really looking forward to, and then April 29th, Elder L. Tom Perry is coming to speak to the Arcadia mission and I believe several other missions in an area conference. We are so excited to hear from him!

 

Also, sometime this transfer (so in the next five weeks) we will be given permission to do a temple session at the LA Temple. We don't know the exact date yet, but we are all looking forward to this opportunity.

 

We have been the recipients of some serious rain; it poured all day and all night yesterday; there has been people out all day today taking care of the water trying to prevent flooding. I love it when it rains because of how green the mountains become; it is absolutely beautiful.

 

Anyway, our district has changed a little bit. Sister Pack and I still meet in Alhambra for district meeting, but our next district leader is Elder Landes from Ohio, and his companion is Elder Gibbens, from Bountiful, Utah. Then Elder Dunn and Elder Cozzens, our zone leaders, are still in our district.

 

On Wednesday, all the missionaries from our mission are getting together for an  1 1/2 training in preparation for Elder Perry to come speak to us. I'm excited for the chance to see the missionaries from my MTC district!

 

Happy Spring everyone!

 

Sister Snow

 

March 14, 2011

Happy P-Day to me, and happy PI-Day to the rest of the world!

I hope you all eat some pie in honor of 3/14! :)

Well, greetings from Pasadena! Sister Pack and I continue to serve in Pasadena, a wonderful blessing. Neither one of us were ready to be transferred yet; it seems that we just got here!

Our district will change a little bit; our district leader, Elder Valdez, was transferred and his companion, Elder Wood, went back to serving in the Armenian branch, so we will be getting a new district leader, Elder Landes, and he will be training a new missionary. Our zone leaders, Elder Dunn and Elder Cozzens, will continue to be in our district. We meet every Thursday morning in a neighboring city to Pasadena, Alhambra.

I can now consider myself officially "broken". During a missionary's first transfer, they are a "greenie", and then the second transfer, a missionary is "greenie broken".

Today starts my 3rd transfer; 12 weeks in California already. They have been wonderful.

This morning, I took my last Amoxicillin pill, and good news, all signs of strep throat have left me. Sister Pack and I were pretty much out of commission for a week, from Wednesday to Wednesday, with the exception of attending church Sunday and teaching a few lessons last Tuesday. We are both grateful to have been back into our missionary efforts with full energy.

The last few days have been really great. Daylight savings that started yesterday is a huge blessing; now, it is light outside until 7 PM, which gives us a longer amount of time to be out talking to people. The warmer weather is causing more people to be outside as well, another huge blessing.

In personal study this morning, I finished reading the book of 2nd Nephi, and I remembered how much I love 2nd Nephi, chapter 33. Nephi's closing remarks are so powerful, and his testimony of the Gospel really affected me this morning for the positive. Reading his words felt like a motivational speech, and I'm really excited to continue serving this week.

Happy PI Day everyone!

Love,

Sister Snow

February 21, 2011

HAPPY PRESIDENT'S DAY, HAPPY FAMILY DAY (CELEBRATED IN PARTS OF CANADA), HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO SISTER PACK'S PARENTS (30 YEARS!) AND HAPPY 2 MONTH MARK TO SERVING IN CALIFORNIA (NOT INCLUDING THE MTC) FOR ME! SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE TODAY :)

Can you tell I am a bit hyper today? Well I was this morning, but have mellowed out a lot since then, because it took Sister Pack and I an hour and a half to find someplace to email today-- library's are not open on this holiday! Thankfully, there was someone kind enough to open up the family history library at a stake center and let us email here.

Anyway, our transfer is already half over. That is insane to me! It's been 3 weeks, and in three more, we'll see who will stay and who will go... or preferably, we will both stay. We shall see what God has planned.

The work in Pasadena is moving along nicely.

We continue to teach K, and she is progressing in the Gospel, and Brother S, also making Gospel progression. That's been the highlight of serving in Pasadena, is teaching these two individuals. Brother S's wife came to church yesterday; it was really nice to meet her, and we hope to see her again soon.

Another highlight of the week is we were asked to help at a child of record baptism for an adorable little girl, Shirley. She turned 8 on Tuesday, and her baptism was held Saturday. I had the opportunity to speak on baptism, and Sister Pack sang "When I am Baptized". (I like to look for rainbows). She did an amazing job; the accompanist, Sister Tebbs, did a beautiful arrangement, and together, they helped bring in an amazing spirit that only comes with music.

I will send pictures, hopefully next week, of Shirley and her family; they turned out so well. Shirley's brother, Walter baptized her. He is 18, and that is the first baptism he performed, so it was a very special day for the whole family.

My Canadian study is going well. I am learning new Canadian phrases all the time, and it's been fun. Did you know that smarties are rockets, that slug bugs are punch buggies, and it really is important to say "eh" all the time? I've gotten good at saying "tag" and "bag" with the "eh" rather than "a" sound.. if that makes sense.

Yesterday, we had ward conference. It was really nice to hear the Stake President, (President Nelson, small world :) speak, as well as our Bishop, Bishop Tervet, and the Elders Quorum President, President Hendry. The choir did a beautiful job singing as well; it was a great meeting.

The ward members are very supportive in Pasadena Ward. We have been teaching a lot of member lessons, teaching primarily about Mormon.org and having members create profiles. We also continue to give the member tour of the church.

There are Spanish Elders and Spanish Sisters serving on either side of our area, so we do get English referrals from them sometimes, which is a wonderful blessing.

One great referral we had from last week is a media referral from a Gladys Knight concert that was held in Ontario several weeks ago; the packet included a copy of the Book of Mormon, a Restoration DVD, and a CD from Sister Knight from her concert.

Tyrone and Yomi attended the concert; they have 2 adorable little boys, and we delivered them their packet on Saturday and had a great visit with their family. They are excited to read from the Book of Mormon, and are considering our invitation to begin teaching them about the Gospel.

There is so much more I would love to write about, but the time is up for now.

Have a great week everyone!

Love,

Sister Ally Snow

February 7, 2011

Hi Everyone,

Really briefly, Sister Pack and I are holding up in Pasadena. Life has been really crazy this week, but we have followed Sister Hinckley's advice to laugh rather than cry... and boy have we laughed! lol.

I feel really good about being in this area; Sister Pack and I were well received into our new ward yesterday;  we are just trying to be patient with ourselves as we learn this area and meet the ward members together.

Anyway, we are safe and all is well; I will have to write you some more details later on.

Love,
Sister Ally Snow

January 31, 2011

Greetings from Pasadena, California!

 

Today is the second most surreal day on my mission, next to transitioning from the MTC to California. Everything is great though. 

 

My new companion is Sister Pack; she is wonderful; I have known her my whole time in California because she was serving in the area next to Glendora, Charter Oak. Sister Pack is one of the sisters I went on exchanges with for a few days while Sister Casperson was in training in Arcadia, and she is really good friends with Sister Casperson, so we hung out with her and her companion, Sister Robison, on some P-days, including Chinatown. (She is the shorter one with glasses).

 

Anyway, Sister Pack is from Canada; she has been out on her mission about five months, and is a really great missionary. I am looking forward to serving with her!

 

Funny thing; Sister Pack and I are doing what is called "white-washing" or "pink washing" as some say-- meaning we are both brand new to this area, so it will be a fun adventure, learning our way around together and meeting our ward members/the investigators that the Elders who just left were teaching. We just got here and don't know a thing about the area yet, so we'll let you know next week about the wonderful people we meet and hopefully share the Gospel with :)

 

Right now, we are at Pasadena Public Library; it is a beautiful building, built in the 1920's. I will take a picture and send it sometime.

 

Leaving Glendora was a little hard, but I know it is the right thing. I have a good feeling about being in Pasadena; completely at peace, which is nice. I will miss the people Sister Casperson and I were teaching/serving, and our good ward members and area in general; missionaries are well-received in Glendora, and it was a really great start to serving this mission.

 

Anyway, mail is extra slow from the office to our area around transfer time, so if you write and don't hear from me for a while, that's the reason :)

 

Love to all;

 

Sister Ally Snow

January 24, 2011

Greetings from Glendora! 

 

Next email, I may or may not be in Glendora;  we will get transfer calls on Saturday night, letting Sister Casperson and I know who will stay and who will go, or there is always the possibility

that we will both be staying in Glendora. Sister Casperson says her intuition says we will both be staying here, so we'll see :)

 

So much happened this last week. Highlights include chasing a skunk on Tuesday, trying to take a picture of it, and getting chased back by that same skunk on Wednesday... scary!! Thank goodness on Wednesday night, one of our ward missionaries, Brother Buescher was with us, and he valiantly stood in front of us and his wife, willing to take the spray, which thank goodness, did not happen.

 

Other adventures, Thursday and Friday I went back to the Charter Oak area, and went on companion exchanges. I was with Sister Robison, and Sister Pack came here and was with Sister Casperson. In the Charter Oak area, I stopped by the Bogus' house.   Brother Bogus told me he saw Dad just this last week; hi Dad!

 

San Dimas is a city in the Charter Okay area, and it is absolutely beautiful. Friday morning, Sister Robison and I went for exercise at a park in San Dimas with Sister Eisley and her daughter, Rachel. Sister Eisely is the one that took us to Chinatown a few weeks ago; she is so nice, and her daughter, Rachel, got home about 2 weeks ago from her mission in Texas.

 

Other news, California sunsets are absolutely amazing. I always contested that Arizona has the best sunsets, but California may win. They are beautiful, and I love them.

 

On Friday, our mission president and his wife, President and Sister Pike, came out and did interviews with us. It was so nice to see them. I especially enjoyed my visit with Sister Pike while Sister Robison was doing her interview. They are both wonderful people.

 

Nothing brings me greater joy as a missionary than teaching and testifying of the Restoration of the Gospel on the earth. This last week, we were asked by a group of 3 high school seniors to do an interview for them for a class on the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They had a lot of great questions, and we really enjoyed talking with them about their beliefs as well. They attend a private Christian school up north a bit, I can't remember the name of the city.

 

I have probably mentioned the Lopez family before; they are really great. We started exercising with them 3 days a week last week in the morning, and it has been really fun. Brother Lopez is not a member of the Church, but has sat in on several lessons the last week or so, and Sister Lopez is really appreciative of the fact that he is willing to listen to the Gospel message.

 

Last night, Sister Casperson and I were over at the Concidine's home, a family in our ward. Sister Casperson will accompany them on Sunday at church, so they were practicing. Anyway, Brother Concidine is an artist, and right when we were getting ready to leave last night, he asked if we wanted caricatures (sp?) drawn, and we said, sure if it can be done quickly. Well, the pictures are amazing! He drew each in 3 minutes flat, and they really do look like us. Mine is me getting chased by dogs; it is pretty funny, although, thinking now, we should have made it a skunk :)

 

Alas, my time to write is up. Thanks to all for your letters, kind thoughts, and prayers.

 

Love to all!

 

Sister Snow