Week 43: The Most Beautiful Float

So this week was a banger so I'm just gonna get started.

It's been dummy hot so I've decided I'm never gonna turn down water when somebody offers us water.

I fell on my bike last Monday after pday was over. My chain got cinched between the smallest front gear and the bike frame so I tipped to the side and slid to a stop whilst on the bike. It's hard to imagine I know, but that's the best I can do. A lot of that description came from Elder Thomas actually. It happened while trying to hop over speed bumps so we could pass the YSA sister missionaries in their car so it was the perfect time to crash. Myself and my bike were generally unharmed. Overall, it was epic.

I also am now a proud owner of a Maverick Adventure Card. I can now get any size fountain drink for $0.85 and get rewards that go towards other discounts. Pretty epic.

We went on exchanges this week and I brought Elder Jenks to the epic Vineyard stake. Great day of booling out and biking around. We knocked on this one door and the lady just said, "Oh we used to be Mormon but now we're atheist," and before we could ask her why they're atheist (cuz that's what ya do) she started to close the door so we just said "have a nice day" to which she replied "pasta lasagna." Needless to say, we were confused.

Saturday was legendary. The missionaries of the Orem zone got to be in the Orem Summerfest parade! They had us carrying banners for the prize-winning floats, and Elder Thomas and I carried the banner for "Most Beautiful Float" because we're the most beautiful. It was so lit because people cheered more for us than the actual float haha. People would yell "Do a spin!" and then Elder Thomas and I would be like "You guys wanna see a spin?" and then they'd start cheering more and we legit would just run in a circle and they'd go nuts. Literally only in a Utah mission would this ever happen.

My family also happened to be in town for my nephew's baby blessing the following day, so they turned up to the parade and brought my whole extended family too. That was pretty dope to see them on the side as we walked through the parade. There was also a firework show after the parade that we got to watch too. It was kinda one of the most legendary nights ever.

We also had transfer calls last night! Elder Ames, one of our roommates, is now AP so our new roomie is Elder Stubbart, who was also trained by Elder Sherrod and is also skilled in the ways of kendamas. Elder Thomas is sadly being transferred to the Cherry Hill stake in Orem, and I will be training again! This really is my second chance at fatherhood because now I actually know what I'm doing haha. I really will miss Elder Thomas, but I am also excited for this next transfer!

On the real though, I've found there is so much more joy to be found in life than there first appears. If you make the effort to look for the ways you can enjoy life, then you will enjoy life on a whole other level. Some missionaries take themselves very seriously and are really hard on themselves, but really all it takes (for non-missionaries too) is to stop worrying about things you can't control and just being like "haha okay" when things don't go great. When I stopped caring so much about what other people thought and started just being myself all the time, I found myself being a lot happier about myself and my life.

Pasta lasagna!

Elder Snyder