There's A Snake in My ..... Loop?

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!

This week was super awesome!! How could it not be with General Conference being a part of it? SUPER great Conference! Goodness, were those amazing talks or what? I love when we get to hear from our inspired leaders of the Church. 

I guess since I already brought up the topic, I will just start with my thoughts on General Conference. WOW!!! I got a TON out of General Conference. Paying attention actually pays off  I had a lot of questions I was looking for answers to as I watched Conference this time around. I can honestly say that every single talk had a piece to the answers I was searching for. It is truly incredible to witness how Heavenly Father really does know each of His children individually, and loves us all so much as to help answer our questions through His called leaders of His Church. One question that I had for the Lord had to do with how I can get to know Him better. It seemed to me that pretty much every talk had something to do with how we can better come to know our Savior, Jesus Christ and our Father in Heaven! Wow, the spirit was so strong as all who spoke testified of our Savior. Really neat experience. However, a lot of the "magic" of General Conference happens after the Conference is over. So, I would highly encourage everyone to continue to study the talks given and follow the impressions you all had with full faith that it is what is right for you. One thing I had the impression to do is to further study the New Testament solely to learn about Christ and how I can know Him, not just know of Him. So, I assigned each Christlike Attribute (outlined in Chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel) a different color. As I am reading through the New Testament, I am marking each example of one of Christ's defining characteristics. It truly is eye opening! I have only been doing it for a few days, but I have already grown so much because of it! General Conference was the GREATEST!!!! And yes, we have watched Elder Costa's talk with 4 investigators already. This was probably my favorite General Conference I have seen!

Between sessions of General Conference on Saturday, we had a funeral for an investigator's husband who recently passed away due to cancer. A few of the members of the ward came to support Raquel and her kids, but the congregation was mostly made up of non-members mourning the loss of their dear friend. It was really interesting to be a part of. Being at this funeral made me really grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation. This plan gives me so much hope for the future and has gotten me through some hard times in life. I am beyond grateful to our Savior (and Heavenly Father for sending him) for the amazing sacrifice He made for each of us out of pure love. This knowledge really just puts a special twinkle in your eye :)

I went on an exchange with Elder Corbett (one of my Zone Leaders). He is an amazing missionary! I learned a whole bunch from him. We pretty much just knocked all night in the pouring rain, but it was so fun and really helpful! My conversational skills are improving! Yay! 

I am sure that most of you have already seen it, but the new Easter Initiative from Mormon.org is AMAZING!!! I love the #PRINCEofPEACE video! I feel the spirit SO strong every time I get to share it with people. It has such a special message about finding peace through Jesus Christ. If you haven't seen it yet, GO WATCH IT! Then share it with a friend. It is too good not to watch 

Alright, last thing...I think. Elder McConkie and I haven't really seen much success lately in finding New Investigators. So, we decided we should fast about it so we can be led to find someone who is being prepared by the Lord. We started our fast the night before and set out for the day. We taught a few lessons with the investigators we have been working with for a while, and then we spent a lot of time out on the streets, knocking. We went to a street where we had already knocked about half of it thinking we should probably finish out the rest of it. We got about 8 houses in with no success until we knocked on Lale's door. We talked with her for about an hour on her doorstep (we would've gone in, but her husband wasn't home). Lale is from Turkey and has been in America since 2000. She is SUPER cool and really interested in learning more about Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon.

That is really all I can remember to share with you all this week. I hope you have a wonderful rest of this week!

May the Lord be ever in your favor!

Elder Snell

Picture time! 

1, 2) Zone Leader Exchange: Elder Corbett, Elder McConkie, Elder Snell, Elder Weisler

3) Blaze Pizza with the Zone Leaders

4) Dinner for lunch with Brother Miglino (less-active we are working with)

5) Cute, little cemetery behind Brother Miglino's house. Some of the headstones date back into the 1700s!

6) Found this fancy thing in said cemetery.

7) You know the missionaries are at the church when...

8, 9) Sister Olsen's Brazilian Rainbow Boa

10) We were at the Bishop's house for dinner, and Sister Olsen asked if we could come help her move a dresser. She also showed us her snake and let us hold it. The snake really liked me, and wanted to give me a hug. In the process of said hug, the snake found its way through one of my belt loops, and got very stuck. After 5 minutes of gentle words of persuasive coaxing, the Boa finally decided to release its hold on my pants and return safely into its living unit. 'Twas the most excellent of parties with the Bishop's family and Sister Olsen!