Holy dump cakes

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Aaron

Here we go!

I got the call this week to train, and went to the training meeting in Xela. That was nice, but once the change calls came on Sunday (where the Zone leaders call the Elders and tell them if they are going to be moved to another area) my companion Elder Medina is leaving for his new area in Xela, while I am training a brand new missionary. The problem was that we had to leave Monday morning at 6:30! We were going to eat crepes, visit some ruins, and play basketball for our P-Day, but instead we drove to Xela, AGAIN! I am going to get my new ”son” in about 2 hours actually. Not only that, but I got called to be the DISTRICT LEADER! Holy dump cakes I am a bit nervous, but excited. We get a cell phone and everything. It is pretty sweet.

Challenges are big this week, but the good thing about these past 2 weeks is that I have become a bit more accustomed to working all by myself, and planning and working hard without having to rely on my trainer to talk or set up appointments. That has been nice. I am just hoping that I don’t lose my desires to work. That is really what makes the day. As long as we do everything that we are asked to do, we will be happy, and find success. This week will be very interesting.

There really is not much else to say. Other than that I really want to see the ruins =( and that you are all missed very much. I hope that this week goes well for all. Have fun! You are loved! Take it easy!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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I’m an orphan

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Aaron

So, yes it is finally week 12 here in Huehuetenango, but I have good and bad news. Bad news first. My trainer Elder Paniagua left early this week, and left Elder Medina and I behind as orphans! We have been on our own since Wednesday. We are supposed to manage this area together until October 23rd, when changes happen. Then, who knows what will happen. However, the good news is that I am Senior companion! And I didn’t even finish my training =). Also, surprisingly, Cuchumatanes is NOT on fire, and we have actually been teaching lots of people, and getting some crucial work done. We still have LOTS to do and worry about, but we are actually making it! Turns out that we know more than the thought, and we could teach with the spirit WITHOUT Paniagua. So that has been nice. One more week, and there is a chance that he or I could leave for good. Until then, we have work to do!

So firstly, a very convenient street has finally been completed next to our house, and the whole city had this HUGE celebration. whats weird is that this street really isn’t that important, or very big, but the city is making a huge deal out of it. Parties, fireworks, and everything. Kind of an interesting note as to what goes on here I suppose.

I passed mile number 400 here in the mission this week. It adds up quick. By next week I will be at 500. Speaking of numbers getting bigger, other numbers are getting smaller. I was told by an Elder here that we are 1/5 of the way done with our missions!! Holy Johnny Bob Jones. It is coming along. Thought you would enjoy that fun fact. I sure do =)

Really this is it. The rain is starting to go away, and we have an activity planned for this week. Really the big stuff comes this week. Until then, I hope everyone is enjoying the rain, and the cool! I love you all. I hope to hear from some of you soon! Have fun, and take care!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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Rompecabeza

Posted on October 8, 2012 by Aaron

Week 10!

Dang… this week was very weird. Firstly, I would like to say that Dear Elder Letters arrive MUCH faster than normal letters. So I suggest sending Dear Elder Letters from now on if you wish to talk to the Snowman. This was the start of the month so we get letters from Xela, and I only got one Dear Elder letter when many of you have said that letters were sent =( so I suggest Dear Elders from now on, please. Deal? Deal. Thank you =) I hope to hear from all of you.

So conference week, eh? Very interesting stuff. Lots on faith, service, and the apostle Peter!! But easily the most fascinating thing was the mission age change. Not sure how I feel about it exactly, I could have had a year and four months if that were the case for me 2 years ago… but that is okay. But a few interesting facts for you. Richard G Scott does his own Spanish translation for his conference talks. He was a mission president in Argentina, I believe, so he has good Spanish! Was not perfect… but still, better than mine. Fact number 2. I’m pretty sure the photos that were used in Dallin H Oaks’s talk were taken in Guatemala =) some of those pictures looked very familiar. Anyway, that’s Conference for ya.

Another random fun fact. The words riddle, and puzzle in Spanish are said like, ”rompecabeza” which translated literally means head-breaker! DAAAAAA lame.

So we had another divisions week. This week, Elder Paniagua wanted to work with a pair in another area, and left just Elder Medina (a newbie like me) and I behind to manage the day. Whether or not that is allowed, I do not know. However, it actually went fairly well. We did not do everything on our agenda because we got rejected a few times, but other than that, we taught lessons, worked with members and everything. It went well! In two weeks I get to do the exact same thing everyday! Gah!!

This P-Day was special. We got to rent the Huehuetenagno national soccer stadium for 3 hours (its huge), and play football. Not futbol…. football. It was wonderful. Holy cow it was great. Large field, decent sized teams and everything. It was good to actually CONTRIBUTE to my team for a change. I was getting a bit sick of soccer, so this was perfect.

Really, the mission is tough, but it is fun. You really have to be in it to appreciate it. 2 more weeks, then I am blessed with another change. Until then I hope to hear from you guys. I love you all. Keep it up this week. I hope it is coolin down in Las Vegas. Enjoy your week. Have fun!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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A Mirror to My Life

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Ethan

The 3 weeks that a foreign exchange student from Spain was living in my house will always be remembered as some of the most interesting 3 weeks of my life. Emotions were flying around like busy bees. I had to use my time very wisely and carefully for homework and spending time with Ivan. Though, I’ve never had so much pizza and soda in such little time before, nor have I partied so hard with Spaniards. I actually had a little fling with a Spaniard girl (and you can probably tell how that turned out). But most interesting of all was watching Ivan inspect and digest an American’s life. Ivan did everything that I did and followed me wherever I went. He’s never seen things that I see every day and get bored with. He marveled at the glorious lights of the strip that can be found nowhere else in the world. He craved the enormously rich, fattening, and sweet American food. He climbed on the slopes of Red Rock and Knob hill. I’m sure Ivan marveled at his incredibly out-of-the-box experience. It has made me realize more about my life, and how grateful I should be for every second that would be so interesting to someone else from the world. It’s made me realize the variety and difference of every single person’s life on this earth. There are 7 billion of ’em! I think the more we know about the lives of others, the more we know about our own. I therefore cannot wait to study Ivan’s life and the Spanish culture.

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Courage pays off

Posted on October 3, 2012 by Cheryl

Well, it has been a very busy three weeks: we have had to be considerably more “fun” than we usually are. Our lazy afternoons doing homework and social networking whilst eating popcorn have been replaced by trips all over Las Vegas to show Ivan the sights. It has been exhausting, and yet wonderful. It helps remind me that we live in a pretty cool place: there were lots of things I wanted to show Ivan that we didn’t have time for.

It has been fun to see what Ivan appreciated and did not appreciate about Las Vegas. In the “This is fantastic” category: The Las Vegas Strip, Red Rock, cactii of any kind, brownies (“they are delicious” he said as he ate five of them for breakfast one day), Lucille’s hamburgers (“the best hamburger I have ever eaten”), and smoothies. In the “get this stuff far away from me” category: peanut butter, gravy, church (“meetings in Spain are much shorter”–I told him meetings EVERYWHERE are much shorter than LDS Sunday meetings), and catching the school bus at 5:45 am. Everything else seemed to fall in between those two extremes. The fact that we always drink such cold water was baffling to him. Here I had been refrigerating water for him to take to school every day, and in reality he just wanted a bottle from the garage: he told me the last day he was here that he would have preferred warm water. Oh well. He was a good sport overall and tried everything with a good attitude, and put up with our ignorance on a regular basis.

Jumping into his experience here in the desert with both feet…

Here is what I have concluded about exchange students after watching Ivan deal with living with us for three weeks: I am not sure there is a more courageous set of kids anywhere in the world. I watched him come, with fairly good English, and still struggle to understand us and try to communicate his needs when he had them. Here he was staying with complete strangers who would tell him things to do, and expect him to completely understand everything. He had schedules to figure out, family traditions to figure out, rules to figure out, all in a language he didn’t usually speak. Would he like this food we were offering him? He had no way of knowing. Would he like this activity we were taking him to? He would only know by trusting us and trying it regardless. I am not sure many of us would sign up for such an assault to our comfort zones–especially at age 15 when life is already hard enough! And yet, Ivan did. And Ethan will. And I am incredibly proud of them both.

I don’t think it was any coincidence that as we drove him to the airport this morning, my music shuffled to Sheryl Crow’s “Leaving Las Vegas.” As busy as this few weeks has been, I think everyone in our family can agree: we had picked up a stranger but were dropping off a great friend. I suspect Ethan’s reunion with Ivan will be wonderful come March of next year. I am grateful these kids are taking such tremendous risks as we around them enjoy the benefits.

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Wells are scary

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Aaron

Hey, week 9 begins! Just 3 more weeks of this awful training program!

This week was a week of service. The whole zone came over to help us out. We spent 2 separate days cleaning out a well of a member, and those things are scary. When you are 40 feet underground with about 2 feet of space all around you, it is pretty spooky. But it took 2 full days to clean, and after that, we all decided to take a picture of our accomplishment. (Too bad the picture didn’t come through…).

This P-Day we had the opportunity to go to a place called ”The Mirador” or the looking sight (or something). It is at the very top of the Cuchumatanes mountains next to our area (which by the way are the highest in Central America). At the very top you can see all of Huehuetenango (unfortunately it was SUPER cloudy, and we were essentially breathing 50% water) but it was still pretty cool anyway. I got a picture with 4 of my favorite Elders (Thomas, Wimmer, and Scholl) at this crummy house that someone built a million years ago at the top. It is kind of like that house in Nelson that people go into just to look and climb around. Apparently it is tradition to take a picture at this house. All of the Huehue Elders have done so. So I’m part of history then! Anyway, that was pretty fun.

Everyone has been telling us that October rains the most. It is true. This week we got DUMPED ON!! Attached is a picture of us 3 Elders soaked to the bone! I’m getting sick of the rain >=-( it is not as much fun as it used to be. Oh well. Can’t complain.

This week we have been focusing on activating 2 people at once. We invite a Less-Active family to invite another family to a night of fun and games, and we teach them a little bit. So we are technically bringing 2 different families to the faith at once. We have high hopes this week for finding some new families. Other than that, Elder Snow is alive and well. 3 more weeks, then who knows what’s gonna happen. I love you all. Have a great October!!!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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“Oodles”

Posted on September 26, 2012 by K

It finally came: I got my Peace Corps invitation (official assignment/placement) via E-MAIL today! “E-mail” is in all caps because I was not expecting to receive my assignment so casually, aka digitally. (BYU does their acceptance letters the same way: I would much rather wait a few days for a nice, crisp, sentimental envelope! Am I the only one who feels this way?) Anyway, I rolled over in bed this morning to begin my usual wake-up routine, starting with the Internet of course. And there it was: “Congratulations! It is with great pleasure that we invite you to begin training in Albania for Peace Corps service. You will be joining thousands of Americans who are building stronger communities around the world. This call to action gives you the opportunity to learn new skills and to find the best in yourself.”

Luckily I had the day off, so my mom and I spent hours researching a country that we knew very little about, other than the fact that the bad guys from Taken were members of the Albanian mob. (Hee hee.) At one point my mom attempted to read aloud the word Shqipëria, which is how Albanians refer to their homeland. After struggling through the first few syllables and trying to decipher the odd marks above the Albanian alphabet, she asked: “Why are there all these little oodles on the letters?” It struck me that, over the next 5 months, we are in for oodles of emotions and information and preparation and questions. And probably more paperwork.

It has been quite a day. Speaking of questions, the most common ones I’ve heard from friends and family are:

1. “Congratulations! …But where’s Albania?”

2. “I thought you were going to Middle East/North Africa?”

3. “Why are you leaving in March instead of January?”

First things first…Albania is a small, beautiful Eastern European country on the Balkan Peninsula. It borders Greece and has a long coastline along the Adriatic Sea across from Italy. They speak Albanian–and is the only country in the world that does so, other than pockets of Albanian immigrants elsewhere in Europe; to put it into perspective, Rosetta Stone doesn’t even offer language courses on it because there are only 3 million speakers. BUT they have the coolest flag I have ever seen!

Albania’s cool, cool flag. There’s a two-headed eagle on it.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching what my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer might be like there. (Check out the Links tab on the right of our homepage to see some blogs by PCVs currently serving or who have returned from service in Albania.) The food and the weather are excellent, the people are very friendly and hospitable, and they definitely have a favorable view of both the US government and American people. However, Albania is impoverished, has very conservative traditions when it comes to gender roles, and has a bad (and not entirely deserved) reputation of being a violent post-Communist state. I have already received annoying comments along the lines of: “Oooh, Albania! Be careful, it’s dangerous there.” (How much you wanna bet that the people who say this are basing their knowledge of foreign policy on a Liam Neeson movie?) To get some idea of how much this irritates me, just look back to my post Doubt. To be clear: I don’t need anyone’s opinion on the level of safety in parts of the world they’ve never been to unless I’m speaking to a State Department official. Kthxbye.

Okay, rant over. Anyway…because of my seasonal asthma, Peace Corps granted me “provisional medical clearance,” meaning that I had to be assigned to a region that could give me access to the healthcare I might need during service. That basically ruled out Middle East/North Africa because much of it is so isolated. My placement officer worked very quickly to find the next available program that could accommodate my respiratory system. So, my region and departure date changed–which actually ends up being the case with 50% of applicants–but I am too excited to be upset! It is so nice to have a specific location to learn about and a solid date to look forward to.

So I’m looking at another 5 months in Las Vegas, which is just enough time to save money working at a job I like, get fit with lots of yoga and hiking, and make a few trips (Disneyland? Eugene?). Be prepared for oodles of posts about my adventure in Albania!

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What a Week!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Aaron

Let the craziness begin! What a week!

First, let me say that our companionship now has 3 members! We are in a trio! We picked up a newbie this change called Elder Medina! He is from Elder Paniagua’s ward! They grew up together. However, Elder Medina talks very fast, and very slurry, so it is very hard to understand the guy. But it is helping me to listen.

So, we had our first baptism!! Most of all, I got to baptize him! His name is Mario. He is the ”Josue” that we found 4-5 weeks ago contacting that one very lucky Sunday. But it was a wonderful baptism. We had a hermana who can play the violin play Come Follow Me, and we had refreshments and a nice crowd come and see and everything! He is such a great guy. We swapped Facebook and email stuff for when I finish so we can keep up. Great experience. (Elder Medina is also very lucky as well. He got to start his mission with a baptism.) But still. It was pretty legit!

So number 3, it was Guatemalan Independence day on the 15th, so we had to return to our house/apartment/cave or whatever you want to call it, at 6pm! There were plenty of explosions. Attached is a picture of a group of torch runners who were very nice and looked at the camera. But these guys were everywhere! It was a very weird and wild day. But happy 191 years or so Guatemala!

Another interesting thing. Our ward will get another building attachment, on the condition that this past Sunday we had an assistance of 160 people or more. The last Sunday we had 128. So we visited a lot of less active people, and decorated the chapel and everything. And this Sunday, we had 197 show up! That was awesome! So it was a very nice Sunday for Cuchumatanes.

So I figured I should be clear. Apparently there was a volcano that erupted in Guatemala just a li’l while ago, but I am very northwest so I didn’t even find out until today. No I am not dead and no one had to be evacuated. Anyway, all is well. Time is starting to move along nicely. It certainly started off slow, but I think it is moving now. One more change then I am free from being a trainee!!! Cool beans.

I hope all is well in the States. Good luck this week with the rain. Have fun in school etc. for everyone else. Take it easy. You are in my prayers and thoughts. Have fun!!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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Deer in the headlights

Posted on September 14, 2012 by Cheryl

Welcome to Ivan, our Exchange Student! He will be with us for three weeks. When we picked him up from the airport, he had been traveling for 25 hours. Not surprisingly, he looked a little tired:

After a bit of a wait for his bags at the airport, we were allowed to take him home and properly torture him.

You know that scene in ET where the kids have ET in Eliot’s room and they really don’t know what to do with him?  They end up giving him a bunch of food and kind of watching him, trying to communicate (you can watch it here sorry about all the commercials).

Well, I have a real attachment to that scene after what we did last night. We had such a hard time communicating–I don’t think poor Ivan understands much of what I say–but we knew he was hungry and tired, so we set him up at the bar and emptied our cupboards and our refrigerator and just let him eat.

First job done: keeping Ivan from starving. Second job: explaining how he needs to pack a lunch for the following day. That took about 30 minutes. I don’t think he understood why he needed to put little bits of food in ziploc bags or why in the world Ethan would offer him a peanut butter sandwich.

I sincerely hope he survives us. We are the aliens to him.

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It is so cool being in Guatemala kids

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Aaron

Daaaaaaa Final week of this change! I have 6 weeks here in Cuchumatanes! This week was interesting.

First off. We had divisions! This means that the District Leader (my companion) switches with another Elder in another area, and we do 24 hours there. I was essentially the senior companion for a day. It wasn’t too bad! I still cannot teach perfectly well, but we managed, and actually did very well. We had work, we taught lots, and actually found a less active that hadn’t been to church for years who told us that he was been worrying about his spiritual life and wondered what he should do about it. The very next day, we knocked on his door and got to talk to him. It was awesome! He was very accepting. After this, things kind of went down hill. The following days, we literally had no work. Every one was rejecting us, and we had probably 3 legit appointments, but everyone else literally didn’t want to hear us, or was not home. It sucked this much up until. Sunday. We were surprised with 2 of our most promising investigators showing up to church. One for the 2nd time which means he can be baptized! There is a good chance that we will have a baptism this week, but NO PROMISES! We’ll see, but were still very excited!!

Not much else to say here. I would love it if someone sent me the Fahrenheit to Celsius formula. Things aren’t in Fahrenheit here and I would love to be able to calculate the difference between the too. Anyway, 1 change down, 15 more to go! Ha, don’t worry. Things will start to go quicker soon, I’m sure. But it really is a blessing to be here in the mission. I love being able to speak another language, being in another culture, and most of all, helping these people come to Christ. it is wonderful. I miss you all and you are loved very much. I hope that all is well. Have a great week!

P.S. totally saw a guy with an Oregon Ducks sweatshirt today. GO DUCKS!!!

-Elder Aaron Jacob Snow

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