Week 15: ThAnKsGiViNg!

Our Thanksgiving Dinner

Kamusta Kamo?!?

Yall I don't know what it is, but I have lived in Eagle Mountain for like 2 months pretty much and I have seen ZERO eagles. Also no one will tell me where the actual Eagle Mountain is either. Still don't know why it's even called Eagle Mountain. 

All jokes aside, this has been another fun week. The work is hard and is not always fun, but Elder Sherrod and I have been having a lot of fun anyway. We sometimes have too much fun and we wonder why we got put together haha. We've been doing a lot of good teaching and Elder Sherrod is really starting to get to know the people here so it's gonna be awesome! 

Anyway, for Thanksgiving we actually had a really fun day. We went to CDC (Combined District Council, not Center for Disease Control hehe) and we did the usual trainings and stuff, then we played games! Just a lot of big group games that we could play socially distanced, and we played a game like Signs but a lot more fun. Someone got eliminated every round and it came down to 2 winners, and me and another sister were the winners out of the whole zone! Then the mission gave us Thanksgiving dinners and we went home. We played some games at our apartment with the other elders in our district, and one of them really likes cooking so he made mashed sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and a PIE for us for our dinner! I also made tailgate sandwiches to go with our dinner and we ended up having waaaaay too much food. We also did another mission wide Zoom devotional and we watched The Other Side of Heaven 2. 

We had some more good lessons with some awesome families. We're teaching a family with 3 boys under 9, and they have like 0 attention span so it's hard to get the message across. We're hoping that they can feel the Spirit at least haha. They're not the only family like that that we're teaching though haha. 

My mom sent me 4 family size boxes of Pumpkin Spice Mini Wheats too!! 

Anyway, we had an awesome week. We got a new member message for Light the World that is super awesome! Light the World this year will be so much more special because people could use the Light of Christ this year so much more! That's why it really is special to be a missionary in 2020. But make this Christmas the best one yet by serving others everyday with Light the World! 

Love yall, appreciate yall. Have an amazing week! 

Palangga ta kamo!

Elder Snyder 

Week 14: This has been a week!

Sunrise while working out.

Kamusta kamo?!?

What a week this has been. It's been weird but it's been good. Not a lot has happened but at the same time, a lot of things have happened haha. 

Transfers were this week and transfer day was pretty cool. We are supposed to get a member to move luggage for the transfer, so I hit up my uncle to move Elder Petersen's stuff! He actually just lives in the next stake over so he just had to drive a bunch of suitcases to American Fork for Elder Petersen. My mission president is really strict about no family visits, which is understandable, but this wasn't a visit and I got to see my uncle! 

Anyway, my new companion is Elder Sherrod! He's from San Diego and he is super dope. We legit are always laughing and messing around and it has been really fun. He was originally assigned to Cambodia and was actually in the Provo MTC when it closed in March. He's super motivated to work on finding people to teach because his last area was really slow. Good thing he's here in Eagle Mountain now. It is kinda weird though because technically he's the senior companion but I'm leading the area. It has been super fun lately though and I love Elder Sherrod. He's really into Kendamas haha. He's like super good at it too. 

As for the work, things are getting a little weird with the holidays coming up. People get really busy thinking about other stuff so it's hard to set stuff up. Some of the people we're teaching we are just trying to get back in contact with. We're hoping they're just becoming busier with the holidays.....

For Thanksgiving we are being provided a Thanksgiving dinner by the mission. Each missionary is getting a dinner with instructions on how to heat it up haha. We're also having combined district council that day and I think we're gonna be playing some games which should be fun. What's funny is my family is coming up here for Thanksgiving and will literally only be like 30 minutes away. It's okay though, I'm definitly not the only missionary here in that situation. 

We also had a Facebook livestream devotional on our mission's Facebook page, The Road to Hope and Peace. It was with Noelle Pikus Pace who is an Olympic skeleton athlete and it was super dope. Very inspiring and very motivating. 

But yeah, the next couple weeks will be interesting. It's important to not get too focused on results or you just get frustrated. It's important to just stay focused on doing your best and putting forth your best efforts because that's all you can really control. Our mission has a lot of big goals for the end of the year, and sometimes that just feels like an added level of stress, but goals are important to help push yourself. But it's also important to not get too bent out of shape if you don't meet your goals. Anyway, this next transfer will be very interesting. 

Anyway, I am so grateful for the prophet Russell M. Nelson. The #givethanks challenge legit was so inspired because social media had become so toxic from like politics and stuff, and now all we see is people being grateful! I think it's awesome, and I love the prophet for that. 

Y'all are the best though. Serving a mission was never meant to be easy, but I am so glad to be doing it. 

Palangga GID ta kamo! Baby hearts!

Elder Snyder 

Me with my Uncle Brian

Sister Chapman and I on our District Zoom call with our Honey Bunches of Oats WITH Almonds

Selfie with Elder Sherrod

Week 13: What a Day! What a Time!

Us at Mission Tour with our matching ties that Elder Darnell made for us. 

Kamusta kamo?!? 

I know, super late on the email so I don't have a lot of time, but this has been a big week!

We started this week with a lot of contacting people and it was actually pretty productive. We are allowed to knock doors in our mission currently, as long as they've had some kind of interaction with missionaries before. We met a lot of people, and even some that might be interested in the future! 

We do a lot of 15-minute member messages here, and the one we've been doing has been about the temple and sharing about it. The purpose of these messages is to challenge members to do missionary work because if we can get members to do missionary work a lot more then we are seriously growing missionary force here in the Utah Orem! It's kinda cool because a lot of members are like "Oh well I don't know any nonmembers" when in reality there are plenty of nonmembers around because people keep moving here from all over. Especially to Eagle Mountain! And sharing about the temple with nonmembers here is even easier because the Saratoga Springs temple is being built about 10 minutes away and literally everyone can see it. Anyway, our goal was to do 30 this week, and that includes follow-up visits from messages we shared last week, and we did 34!!

We also had mission tour this week! That's when a general authority and his wife do trainings with President Treadway and his wife for different zones in the mission every day for like 4 days. We got to hear Elder Craig C. Christensen who is the Utah area president. It was super cool because it was also a kind of question and answer with them too. Unfortunately, my last email was a little misleading, and while I did play piano at our mission tour, I only performed when the mission tour came to our zone. Sorry if it sounded like I was playing at every mission tour haha. I did get to perform for all the missionaries in the Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, and Thanksgiving Point zones, which is around like 60 missionaries, as well as Elder Craig C. Christensen, his wife, and President and Sister Treadway so that was pretty awesome. And Elder Darnell made us matching ties to wear too! Pics included too.....

We also spoke in more sacrament meetings on Sunday, but the main thing that happened on Sunday was transfer calls that night!! Elder Petersen and I weren't expecting one because I'm only halfway through training now, so we thought any call we got would just be making him district leader or something. BUT, we got a call that told us Elder Petersen is getting transferred to American Fork! I will be staying here in the Eagle Mountain East stake, and I'll be getting a new companion, Elder Sharrod. I haven't met him yet actually but he seems dope. We're already friends on Facebook haha. I will miss Elder Petersen very much but he has been in this area for 4.5 months already, and he will do great things in American Fork! 

Anyway, that was kinda my week! It really kinda showed me how quick the mission can feel. I was pretty sure I was gonna be with Elder Petersen for another transfer, so I kind of acted like that during this transfer, but now he's gonna be leaving on Wednesday! Elder Darnell is getting transferred too, and I will miss them both so much. The Lord has great things in store for all of us, if we are willing to put His will before ours and completely humble ourselves before the Lord. Letting God prevail in your life will bring you greater hope, stronger faith, and more joy in your life! Who doesn't want more joy? 

Palangga gid ta kamo kag nahidlaw sa inyo! Baby hearts! 

Elder Snyder 

Also, I have a video from our trip to Quick Quack today while listening to the Star Wars theme, and will send it upon inquiry. Thank you. 

Me at the top of the big hill in our area. We hiked it for the sunrise this morning. If you want to know why the UOM sweatshirts say "Astonish," read Helaman 3:35!

The iconic Tag picture

The elders of our District at the Saratoga Springs Temple site. (matching ties round 2)

Elder Petersen and I

Week 12: We're going on Tour!

Bike riding in the snow!! 

Kamusta kamo??

How is everyone doing?? We have had yet another amazing week here in Eagle Mountain, Utah. The work is good and we are very busy. The weather has been changing pretty fast too. I went from short sleeves to coats and gloves in like 2 days, but it's okay. The only part that isn't fun is riding my bike against the wind. But we have made a lot of good progress this week!

We went on exchanges this week, which is when you trade companions for a little bit. Normally exchanges are for 24 hours, but because if COVID exchanges are now just for an afternoon haha. I went with Elder Darnell, our district leader, to the area next over where he and his companion serve. It was cool to meet new people and see different streets and houses for once haha. It was also the area where my uncle lives, and we knocked on his door but he wasn't home! I guess it wasn't meant to be haha. Elder Darnell is a homie though. 

We had two lessons this week with this nonmember family we're teaching, and it was super awesome. They even watched the Zoom broadcast for church on Sunday too. They legit were so prepared to hear the gospel and they are the nicest people ever. 

We also met a new person we are gonna start teaching a little more too! She lives in a member's basement and this member is SUPER motivated about missionary work so they have helped us out a lot. This girl is super nice though and she is from Mexico so we're getting her a Spanish Book of Mormon. Elder Petersen learned Spanish in the online MTC because he's supposed to go to Peru eventually, so he might even be able to teach her a little in Spanish! 

Anyway, some cool things that happened this week is I got asked to play piano at the mission tour on Friday! Mission tour is when a General Authority tours the mission with the mission president and his wife and they give talks and trainings for the missionaries. They call it mission tour because they speak to different zones over the course of like 4 days. But yeah, Sister Treadway called us up and asked if I'd be down to play a piano solo at mission tour and I of course accepted and I'm pretty hyped!

Elder Petersen and I are also speaking with the stake presidency in the different sacrament meetings in our area over the next couple weeks, so it's like going on tour haha. I thought my talk went pretty well, but what was cool is all the wards have Zoom broadcasts for their meetings for the people who can't come yet because of COVID, so I sent the link to my mom and she got to watch me give my talk. 

Anyway, that's kinda most of the stuff that happened this week. As for pday today we just got Taco Bell for breakfast and then went to Walmart with Elder Darnell and Elder Loosli. Then we went to Quick Quack to get the car washed and we played the Star Wars main theme as we went through which was pretty fun. Then we drove around the Saratoga Springs temple again while listening to the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Needless to say, Elder Darnell has good taste in music. Now we're just chillin at their apartment and we're making matching district ties to wear at mission tour on Friday. 

Anyway, hope all of you have an astonishing week. Things are gonna be amazing for all y'all this week! 

Palangga ta kamo!!

Elder Snyder 

Package from Oma!! She sent me the children's Book of Mormon Stories in Hiligaynon to study with!

Views from a member's deck we helped stain this week. You can see the Saratoga Springs temple and the Y on the mountain too. Awesome view! 

Week 11: May ara mga milagro kon magpati ka!

Views from Eagle Mountain

Kamusta kamo brothers and sisters! 

What a week it's been. It legit flewwww by, it feels like yesterday I wrote an email to all y'all. We have been doing great here in Eagle Mountain and enjoying some wonderful Utah fall weather. It's supposed to really get cold in the next couple days though so we're getting ready. 

This week we had combined district council, which was a meeting of all the missionaries in the Eagle Mountain zone. I think other missions might call that zone conference, but our zone conferences are with multiple zones. I think it's because we have 12 zones in our mission, even though the mission is really only like 40 minutes across by car. Anyway, it was really cool to meet other missionaries here, and the zone leaders and some of the sisters gave really awesome trainings about missionary work. One of our zone leaders, Elder Rotelli, is from Florence, Italy so he has a super dope accent. He speaks like perfect English though so I was very impressed. Everyone was super cool and super nice and it was super awesome. 

We had more bike troubles this week too, but it's actually just my bike. It was a free bike from the mission office, so naturally things like this are foreseeable. The back tire tube had deflated so we got a new one because a member offered to go get us one, and then once we had put the new one in it was working fine until we got to someone's house later that day. We just heard a hissing noise and we thought it was sprinklers at first but it was actually just the wheel suddenly blowing a hole in itself and deflating. Mind you, our spirits were deflated a little too, but we bought some new tubes today that should work better. Hopefully. This bike has eaten up like 3 tubes already so......

Halloween here was actually really fun. We had to be back to our apartment by the normal time at 5, and then we were supposed to stay in the rest of the night. It was kinda like a night off haha. President Treadway had a mission wide devotional over Zoom and he gave a really awesome talk about miracles, and their power and reality. It was really cool and really motivating, and he invited us to start praying and fasting for miracles. We have some pretty big goals for the mission to accomplish by the end of the year, and we are gonna need some miracles to do that is basically what he said. However, miracles aren't as uncommon as we think. God is the same forever. He performed miracles in the scriptures, in the days of the early church, He certainly does today, and He will continue to perform miracles according to our faith! 

Anyway, after the talk President Treadway took off his suit coat and his tie and put on his BYU hat and his UOM sweatshirt, then told us all to get in our comfiest clothes and that we had to be back in 3 minutes! It was so surprising but it was so funny. Elder Petersen and I raced to our room to go change, and I imagined every other missionary in the UOM doing the exact same thing haha. Then we watched the movie 17 Miracles over Zoom! Sister Treadway just shared her screen and streamed the movie off of Amazon Prime or something. It actually worked really well and it was so nice to just relax and watch a movie haha. 

Sunday was good too. We went to 4 sacrament meetings, but none of the people we're teaching came to church. It was sad, but we have faith in miracles! They'll come eventually, but we have to find new ways to go about working with them and inviting them to church. Please pray for the people we are teaching that they will be able to gain a testimony of the Savior and want to come to church soon! 

Also, as for pdays, we don't really do a whole lot of fun stuff haha. We just go to Walmart and go shopping every Monday. Today was fun though. We went to the Saratoga Springs temple site this morning at sunrise and took some pictures. Then Elder Petersen and I got haircuts from a member in our stake who's a hairstylist and she always cuts the missionaries' hair for free. THEN, we went shopping, but we went to Costco and Walmart today. So yeah, pretty exciting....

I hope all of you have an amazing week and you are all able to see miracles in your lives! "May ara mga milagro kon magpati ka!" is Hiligaynon for "There are miracles when you believe!" 

Palangga ta kamo permi!!

Elder Snyder 

 

Elder Petersen and the Moon

At the Saratoga Springs Temple Site

Me watching "17 Miracles"