Elder Caden Snell: All That Glitters is Gold and Snow

Hi, Friends! :)

I would like to start off this email by apologizing that I was not
able to write an email last week. We got super busy all of a sudden
and I didn't have time to write one.

Anyway, here are the highlights from the past little bit:

1) Snow! Finally! It snowed a whole 4-6 inches last Saturday! It
really wasn't that much, but it was the most we have seen so far. The
roads got a little rough, so President asked that we not drive for the
day starting at noon. So, we braved the blizzard on foot! It was
pretty fun, actually! We decided to walk to the closest person we were
teaching: a super kind less-active lady who lived about 2 miles away.
Along the way, I made a snow angel in the middle of the highway, and
Elder Flora lost his tablet... pretty exciting stuff. We looked for
his tablet for about 45 minutes, but were never able to find it.
That's really the only notable thing about last week.

2) Traffic! Wow! That was the worst traffic I have ever been in! On
Wednesday, we had to go to the mission office in Queens at 4. Rush
Hour on Long Island starts at 3pm and goes until about 7 or 8pm.
Crazy! We left the mission office at 5. What usually is a 45 minute
drive turned into a 2.5 almost 3 hour drive. I asked my GPS for a
detour to stay off the Long Island Expressway, and it took off one
hour by taking us through Flushing. That is an interesting place! All
road signs, bill boards, etc. are written in Korean and Chinese. Not a
single word in English! It was pretty fun!

3) Zone Training Meeting! I always enjoy Zone Training Meeting! This
one was fun because I was asked to give a workshop to the zone about
Repentance and Everyday Missionary Work. Elder Perry was supposed to
give it, but he got sick and asked me if I could do it. It was a good
experience!

4) GOLD! Pure Golden Investigators! Richard and Renanata are a
self-referral from Mormon.org. So, here is how they were found. Both
of Richard's bosses are Mormon, so he knew a little about the Church
but not too much. One of his bosses is actually in our ward! So,
Richard and his girlfriend, Renanta, moved here from Flordia. On their
way here, they drove past the Washington D.C. temple and Richard felt
that he should stop and check it out. They went into the visitor's
center and they both loved what they were learning, but they still had
a bunch of questions. They requested to meet with missionaries to
learn more. So, yesterday, we went to their house. Turns out that they
live in the same apartment complex and Brother and Sister Rivas! So,
we brought the Rivas's with us to our lesson. It was THE MOST
spiritual lesson I have ever been apart of! They agreed to be baptized
and were more than excited to start reading the Book of Mormon. They
also expressed that they knew we were an answer to their prayers. They
are so amazing!

That's about it for this week! I love you all! The Church is true! I
love this Gospel!

Elder Snell