Week 54: This week tho...

District Costco Pizza

What is up everybody

I know winter is still a ways off over here in UT, but things are changing again though. It's still pretty warm out which is nice, but it's getting darker sooner which is not fun. The way it looks at like 9 used to not look like that until like 10. Bruh. And everyone says that last winter wasn't that bad, but it was still terrible. I've been telling Elder Toro, who's never experienced a UT winter, "Don't let anyone downplay winter for you. It sucks." 

We kept on finding people this week though! The Vineyard stake actually has a care center that has its own branch, and we ran into the branch president one day a few weeks ago and he told us they just got a new resident that used to meet with missionaries before he moved here! We went to the care center branch sacrament meeting and we got to meet John, and he's actually very much with it haha. Like he can hold a conversation very well haha. He said we could swing by any afternoon and meet with him though!

We also were just walking around the Vineyard 2nd ward one day and this lady was walking outside to take their trash out, and she said hi to us so we started talking. We found out they moved here a couple months ago and used to go to a Samoan ward, but she said since they live so close to a church building now they'd probably just go to the family ward. We gave her the Bishop's number, and then she said she has 2 daughters that she wants to get baptized, and that she wants for us to start teaching them to help them get ready to be baptized!

The funny thing about that last story is that we were really only knocking in that area because it was just one of the last places we hadn't been to yet, and I honestly didn't really wanna be there. But look what happened! We went somewhere we hadn't gone before, and found someone new to teach!

We didn't get to teach a lot of our investigators this week, but we did get to drop off a Tagalog Book of Mormon for Alfredo and Josefina. A lot of people are kinda readjusting their schedules again because school started this week! But bruh I've been in this area for a so long I was here right as they were getting out of school and they're back in! It's kinda weird seeing kids going to school again. And now a lot of my friends are back in Provo/Orem for school and I'm just right here in Vineyard, living the dream though. 

In terms of food, we still go to Don Joaquin's every Tuesday for Taco Tuesday. It's amazing. I could eat there every week for the rest of my life. There's a Taco Tuesday discount and a missionary discount too, but even without the missionary discount it's still so cheap and sooooooo good. We also got paid for at Maverick every time we went this week. We also were running low on money so we went to Costco for lunch, but we still got paid for so that was epic. 

I also got asked to speak in the Vineyard 2nd ward on Sunday morning, but thankfully their ward doesn't meet until noon so I had plenty of time to prepare it. I decided to speak on various attributes of Christ and how each of those apply to us in becoming like Christ. It was also epic. 

Today for pday we played pickleball, and then we played frisbee golf at the Scera Park in Orem with our district. The funny thing is that I played frisbee golf at that same park before my mission. I love coming full circle on these kinds of things. Unfortunately didn't take pics from any of it though haha. 

I hope all you have an amazing week! Transfer calls are this Sunday so I'll at least have some transfer news next week. 

Ba-bye now

Elder Snyder

Built this on the first try

Epic Meme!!

Week 53: Awesome/Not-so-awesome

The Epic Vineyard District at Zone Conference

 

Hey everyone!

This week was pretty rainy, which is uncommon for here. Fortunately we never really got caught in the rain. There was one night where we legit just got drinks at Maverick and watched the lightning cuz it was pretty awesome. 

Also, Elder Toro failed to mention to me until this week that he's MET Daddy Yankee!! He legit pulled up a picture of him when he was like 10 with Daddy Yankee. Turns out his mom's cousin used to like do sound or something for him and when he came to Florida one time he hooked them up. Blew my mind though. 

Anyway, this week had some really awesome things and some not-so-awesome things. One of the not-so-awesome things was one night this lady was biking around our apartment complex and stopped us and asked if we were missionaries, and then she asked us for a blessing. Before we could give her a blessing though she proceeded to tell us her entire life story for a really long time, and she had had a really really sad life. She had struggled with addiction and substance abuse almost her whole life, and had been in a lot of abusive relationships. She just would not stop talking and she kinda said a lot of the same things, and she eventually told us that she has short-term memory loss. Then I realized that she had no idea she was talking to us for that long. We gave her a blessing and she was very appreciative, and then one of our ward mission leaders helped her out with a ride home. 

One of the awesome things this week was Zone Conference! It was actually really good and I learned a lot of new things. President Evanson talked a lot about living the covenant path, which was cool. It was great to see all the homies again, and hang out with the old homies all day too. We talked a lot about inviting people to be baptized, which was very appropriate because we were planning on inviting Adrian to be baptized that night!

Which leads me to another not-so-awesome thing. We didn't end up getting to meet with Adrian that night, or the following night which we had rescheduled for, so we tried to reschedule again. When we tried to confirm that lesson, Theresa texted us and said that she and Adrian were going to need some time before we were able to meet with them again. She said it wasn't anything church related, but that she and Adrian just needed to work through some things together. It was sad to hear, and not just because Adrian is like our top investigator, but because he and Theresa have become my friends. I could really tell that the adversary has been working on them, now right as there are just barely getting started in choosing the right again, right as their testimonies are just beginning again. If you all could please pray for Adrian and Theresa, that would be so amazing.

Anyway, an awesome thing that happened this week is we found 3 more people to teach! Thank you for all the prayers that we would find more people to teach. I really have learned that prayers get answered. That Filipino family we met consists of the mom, her husband, and her parents. Her husband is actually American and doesn't really participate when we teach them, but this time we were able to meet the grandpa, Alfredo! He and his wife really only speak Tagalog, but we've got that covered with one of our ward mission leaders that always comes. 

We also started teaching a young couple from Saudi Arabia. Their names are Abdul and Bayan. They go to UVU on scholarship and they wanted to come to Utah for school because of the strong religious presence here, which they are accustomed to from living in Saudi Arabia and being Muslim.  They said they've lived in Utah on and off for about 7 years and have always wanted to learn more about the church, but have never known how they could even do that! After we taught them the Restoration, Abdul said, "Thank you very much! This was very informative and answered a lot of my questions." They both had lots more questions too, about doctrine and cultural stuff in the Church, and even expressed interest in coming to church too!  

Another awesome thing was that Sley got baptized last Saturday! She's the girl from Haiti that was going to the family ward with her sister that we were teaching, but then she wanted to go to the YSA ward. She ended up being taught some more and baptized by the Elders we live with, and Elder Toro and I went to the baptism and it was awesome! Elder Toro and I got to teach the Restoration right after the actual baptism too as part of the service, which was really cool too. 

So yeah, a lot of awesome things! I love learning about how Jesus Christ can help people whenever because of His infinite power. President Evanson did a devotional on our mission's Facebook page last night, The Road to Hope and Peace. He told a story about how he had just gotten called as a stake president and was feeling really overwhelmed. He and his wife went on a trip to Israel (which is a DREAM trip of mine) and he said when they visited the Garden of Gethsemane he was still feeling inadequate about his new calling when he had a thought that said, "Focus on what you can do and not what you can't. Because of what I did here, you can do anything." 

I know that as we seek to do what the Savior asks us to do, as hard as it seems at times, we can have true and everlasting happiness.

Stay awesome!

Elder Snyder  

Roxberryyyyyy!

According to this sign, I'm only like 5'10"

On top of a parking garage

Thought I'd shake it up a bit with a picture of a full moon instead of a sunset

The drinking fountain steps are too high!!

Week 52: More Bruh Moments

Ayo wuz good 

This week was a fun week. All kinds of bruh moments, the good kinds and the not as good kinds. 

So David ended up moving just to the next stake over, so we got to introduce him to his new missionaries, who happen to be in our district. We had a great pass-off lesson with all of us together, and we're sad to see David go, but he's got some great new missionaries and a great new ward too. 

We went to somebody's house for a member message, and while we waited for his wife to show up the guy said "Do you guys like cars?" and then took us to his garage and showed us his Tesla and then proceeded to give us a ride in his Tesla. I think the only times I've ever ridden in Teslas has been on my mission. The guy also said he's owned 4 Lamborghinis and a Ferrari, and had just come from test-driving a McLaren that day. He said he really likes his Tesla though haha. His wife actually never showed up so we just rescheduled with them after riding in the Tesla haha. The funniest part was when the guy went back inside to grab his shoes, some of the Elders in our district happened to drive by and just saw Elder Toro and I standing next to a Tesla, so we got to rub it in their faces for a sec.

There were a lot of exchanges this week because whenever the Elders we live with have exchanges, it feels like we have exchanges too. They had exchanges twice this week, and we had exchanges once, and Elder Engstrom came to the epic Vineyard stake and we kicked it all day. We went down to the lake and the water had gone down an insane amount since the last time I was there, so we could walk out even further and I found a bunch of sea shells in the sand! Who woulda thought? Then we went to a ward BBQ that night and some girl brought a Spikeball set and Elder Engstrom and I ended up playing Spikeball with her and the Bishop! it was super fun but Bishop's serve was too OP....

Speaking of Spikeball, my mom sent me my own Spikeball set for my year mark this week! Spikeball is literally soooooo fun and I could play it every day. Now I'll get to play Spikeball for the rest of my mission! Also they jsut opened a new Roxberry right here in my area! Now we have smoothies again! I actually really miss Roxberry from my last area because we used to go alllll the time.

Adrian is doing so good too! We had a really great lesson this week about the Plan of Salvation again and he really liked it. Even though some of it was new to him, he didn't really question it a ton and just thought it was really cool! Then the next day their ward had a bbq, and Theresa came with their 2-year-old but Adrian was still at work. She got to meet so many people though. And then on Sunday, she and Adrian both came to church! Everyone was soooo nice to them too! We were talking to Adrian after sacrament meeting and then the guy whose family we were having dinner with that night came over to just confirm dinner with us and invited Adrian to dinner! Unfortunately Theresa told us their 2-year-old fell asleep right as dinner was starting, but she still came!  

Pday was fun today too. We went to Mr. Mac at the mall and I bought some new pants with the money I got for my birthday. Another great thing about serving in UT is that since there are a lot of places where future missionaries go shopping here, current missionaries have lots of selection too haha. Then the usual: pickleball and Spikeball. 

But yeah, my year mark was this week, and it's so weird to think I have less in front of me than behind me now. But at the same time, it's still a whole year so I'm not really close to being done at all haha. Should be another great year though because I'm probably going to stick around here in UT for the long haul. If I were to get the call today saying I'm going to the Philippines, it would still be another couple months before I would even get there, which wouldn't leave me a lot of time to learn the language and get used to things. Not to mention I'd basically be starting my mission all over and be a greenie again. They technically won't permanently reassign me until I hit 18 months, so people ask me if I would just turn down the call if I ever got it (because they do give you the option). But I don't even think I'm going to get the call because COVID is still so bad in the Philippines. I would also just be leaving a place with like no COVID restrictions, so staying put in the UOM for another year won't be too bad in my opinion. It'll actually probably super litttttt. 

Love yall! #ImAnOG

Elder Snyder

My deepest apologies, as I quite literally took no pictures this week. 

Week 51: Pday Bday!

President Interviews

Hey everyone!

This week was super long, but only because I was very much looking forward to pday....

We brought one of our ward mission leaders, who is Filipino, to our lesson with the Filipinos we started teaching, and they hit it offffffff. Legit as soon as they even saw each other they were acting like they were old friends that had known each other for a long time but it had just been a while. It was so fun as they all rattled off stuff in Tagalog the whole time.

We had another dinner/lesson with Tatiana and another one of our ward mission leaders, and he made some excellenttttt fettucini alfredo, and the homemade alfredo sauce was sooooo good. It went pretty well but we had to leave while everyone was still enjoying dinner. When Brother Galamb came by our place that night to drop off the leftovers, he said they continued to talk about the gospel and stuff for hours! 

Speaking of food, we ate good this week too. We've been having lots of Traeger meals because the people here in Utah love their Traegers, so we had some flat-iron steak and some brisket too which was bomb. We also some amazingggg homemade lasagna and homemade rolls one night, and for dessert one night we literally had a frickin Krispy Kreme donut heated up with ice cream, caramelized bananas, and whip cream on top. We also had Chick-fil-a, which is always worth mentioning. 

We finally got to meet with Erick again! We're become pretty good friends with Erick, and it's so fun to mess with him in our lesson haha. It helps him pay attention too. He's totally ready to be baptized but his family is kinda the hold up actually. Hopefully we can make some better progress with them in the coming week.

Our lesson with Adrian this week was amazinggggg. Theresa unfortunately wasn't there, but neither was their 2-year-old, so there was a little less disruption haha. He's been reading the Book of Mormon! We read another chapter altogether, and then we started teaching the plan of salvation and used a lot of scriptures from the Book of Mormon.  He grew up pretty religious and he very much believes in God and Jesus Christ, so a lot of the plan of salvation was already pretty familiar to him. But whenever we'd teach him something new, he'd say, "I never thought of it that way. That's cool!" He is soooo open to our message it's crazy. I asked him if he thinks the Book of Mormon is true and he said, "Yeah it comes from God." Blew my minddd!! Adrian is soooo great and we legit met him like 3 weeks ago. That was a highlight of my week. As soon as he and Theresa start going to church, he's just gonna fly. 

So yeah we had lessons with like actual investigators like every day this week.

As for pday, today was actually my birthday!! We've had a really fun day so far. One of my favorite families took us golfing this morning! They got us lunch afterward too. Then we played some pickleball, then we went to a different park and played some more pickleball with our district. We played some spikeball too. Then we swung by Deseret Book and picked up some Graham Canyon ice cream for the celebrations today and as well as later this week because my year mark is this Thursday!! We're having dinner later with a Polynesian family too (so you know it'll be good). 

But yeah, this was an epic week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes so far! I promise I'll try to respond to them all!

Love yall

Elder Snyder 

Me with a dog...and a giant zucchini

Me with another big machine

More epic Sunsets

Elder Antillon and I attempting to destroy another Leatherby's ice cream sundae

Jarritos with The Boys

Golfing!!

A smokey sunset

Week 50: One bruh moment after the next

Some kind of machine type thing

Hey everyone!

This was probably the fastest week of my entire mission. It blew my mind that it was already Friday, then Saturday, then it was already pday eve. 

Last Tuesday we got a call while we were biking from of the Elders in our district asking if I could do an emergency baptismal interview haha. They found this girl who had moved to Utah pretty recently to move in with her sister. She basically wasn't allowed by her parents to get baptized until she turned 18, and so as soon she moved out she literally stopped the first set of missionaries she saw and said, "I want to get baptized!" She passed the interview with flying colors because she basically grew up an active member but just could never get baptized. She finally got to become a member of the church last Saturday, which was seriously a miracle. 

The members always come in clutch here. There was a time this week I was patching my front bike tube (in 2 places) and found out I was all out of glue for my patches. Then a lady came out from practicing the organ in the chapel and asked if I needed help with anything, and when I explained my plight, she said "Oh I've got a bunch of that glue at my house. I'll just go run and get it." Then she came back like 5 minutes later and gave me a whole new bottle of the exact glue I needed. She also gave me some rubber tire liners, so I hopefully won't get flats anymore!

We found 2 new people to teach too! And they're Filipino! We were literally just talking to the mom on her doorstep and she legit invited us in, and then we all sat down and we shared a quick message about faith with her and her mom. The grandma actually does not really speak English, so when we go back tomorrow night we're bringing one of our ward mission leaders who is also from the Philippines! It'll be epic.

We had an amazing lesson with Adrian last Friday too. He is so open to the gospel. His wife Theresa is a member, and she said she wanted to read the Family: Proclamation with Adrian, so we read that first and Adrian really liked it. He really likes all of the importance of family stuff that the church is really all about. Then we read the Introduction to the Book of Mormon, and when we invited him to read it, he said "Yeah I really want Theresa and I to read the scriptures together more." And I was like,  "There's no better way to strengthen your family and have the Spirit in your home." Then they invited us to their 2-year-old's birthday party they were holding the next day, so we pulled up and got some street tacos! 

I think what really made this week fly by was that we always had something planned in case we had nothing to do. We just always picked places to knock ahead of time so we would always have some idea of what to do. So every day it felt like we were running out of time! This transfer could very well be my last in this area, so I wanna make it count! 

It rained a ton yesterday and today. We came out of an appointment Sunday night there was some scary clouds in the sky, so we just decided to bike home to avoid getting drenched, and it ended up paying off. There was thunder lightning and everything and it was so cool! Elder Toro, being from Florida, just thought it was aight. 

It's also August now! Next pday is my birthday and then my year mark is only a couple days after that. This last transfer was an absolute massacre in terms of people going home, so a lot of the homies just died. I realized I've gotta start making homies that are younger than me so I can keep some homies around for the rest of my mission, but some of the new guys that have been coming in lately are pretty chill. 

I really really like it here in the UOM. It's so much fun. Literally all day today for pday we played pickleball and spikeball, like my two favorite things ever. I'm having so much fun and making a lot of new friends, and keeping up with the old ones too. I almost have no intentions of leaving this mission anytime soon. I think I like it here too much. And I don't think the Philippines has any intentions of letting me come either, which is fine by me! 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Wouldn't be a weekly letter without a sunset pic

A family we had dinner with had a used rocket launcher so that was cool