Week 67: Ayo Transfers Check

MLC

Hey everyone!

This was a really fast week. Lots of fun we're having. It's been fun seeing everyone gear up or Christmas now too. Suncrest is pretty decked out with Christmas lights now. Our landlords gave us a Christmas tree, and a random member in Highland called us and wanted to give us another Christmas tree! Not sure how she had our number, and we still have no idea who she is, but hey, the only thing better than a free Christmas tree is TWO free Christmas trees. 

Wednesday we had MLC all day but it was still fun. President Evanson gets really excited about certain things and I can totally feel the Spirit in his teaching. He's so awesome. Turns out not everyone loves their mission presidents, so I've really been blessed to have 2 super epic ones. We had Thanksgiving food for lunch, and I made some new friends there too. There's honestly a lot of really cool people in this mission. We were going to meet with William right after MLC, but the guy who's house we always have lessons at ended up being out of town. 

Thanksgiving was super fun. We had combined district council (CDC) in the morning, which was really good. We did a lot of roleplays with the zone to practice contacting. Afterward, Elder Parker and I brought out like 4 bottles of Martinelli's and a 2 liter of Mountain Dew for the zone to enjoy together, and then we played some games with our zone. It reminded me of last year where we couldn't eat with people at all, so all we had was other missionaries to hang out with on Thanksgiving, and I still remember playing games after Thanksgiving CDC a year ago. 

We came home after that and visited some families before we went to Brian and Liz's house for Thanksgiving dinner. We helped them put up their Christmas tree and decorate it too, which was actually really cool because I didn't get to do that last year and didn't think I was gonna do it this year haha. The dinner was amazing, and my favorite part was that we didn't even have turkey! We had ham and it was excellent. Honestly people, if it wasn't Thanksgiving, would you really pick some dry oven-baked turkey over some nice juicy honey-baked ham? Just saying.... Brian wanted me to play their piano again, which was honestly such a treat for me because they have a great piano, and it overlooks the entire Salt Lake Valley.

In terms of teaching, we're actually really close to starting to teach a lot of people. We just finally need to find a time with them. We've somehow met a lot of people that actually sound kinda down to talk with us. We also texted Alli back again, and we're going to keep meeting with her even though she moved! She's still got all her friends up here in Suncrest, and she just moved to the bottom of the mountain in Draper. She said she'd be up here a lot, so we started a group message between us and one of her friends in the ward, and we're gonna teach her again tomorrow night! 

We also FINALLY met David's wife! She's back from China and she's super nice. She and David are honestly so different, but are also perfect for each other. Her name is Danielle. We gave her a Chinese Book of Mormon, and when she first took it she didn't realize it was in Chinese, so she was happily surprised it was in her native language! David keeps saying they're both excited for the Bible studies we'll be doing in Church next year too (Old Testament Come Follow Me), so hopefully they'll start coming more!

As for transfers, I am staying in Suncrest with Elder Parker. We both really wanted to stay. Our zone is getting a lot of new people, but it will actually be really good. I'm really excited for this next transfer. Elder Dieker got made a zone leader in Eagle Mountain, so I'll get to see him more now too. Elder Phelps (my son) is whitewashing and training in Vineyard, so I'm having a 3rd grandson, and Elder Phelps' other two sons are both training, so I'm having 2 great-grandsons! Ugh I'm soooooo old now.  

We really are headed into the most wonderful time of the year, so always be looking for ways that you can serve others and light the world! A great way to do that is to try the Giving Machines, located at the University Mall in Orem! Maybe you'll even wanna try them this Thursday, December 2nd, between 10am and 1pm. If I haven't made it obvious enough, that's when I will be operating them. Obviously you'd be coming to donate to a local charity of course, but the above times might just be a good time to do that. It's up to you.... 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder 

More MLC

COLD!!

Brian's piano

I love Fiz

Inversion check...both valleys

Week 66: When its your comps birthday...

Posterity pic from ZC (both my sons and grandson)

Hey everyone!

This was actually a pretty awesome week. Very eventful and very fun. First things first though: food places. As follows: Don Joaquin's, Fiiz (the best soda place), Cravings (so epic), and In-n-Out (always epic).

The main theme for this week was Zone Conference, which this time was a mission tour with Elder Pearson and Elder Douglas, who are in the Utah Area Presidency. Elder Douglas spoke last GenCon. We all had to prepare a 3-5 minute talk on becoming a more effective missionary, but you had to have it typed out to turn in at Zone Conference! It was like doing homework again, and I actually thought it was kinda fun. I know, crazy. They were also going to call on 4 people at random to come up and give their talks, but everyone still had to turn them in. It was kinda scary even though I didn't even get picked haha. 

Anyway, the actual Zone Conference was......wait for it......EPIC. It was basically just Elder Pearson going off for like 2-3 hours about how we can take our mission to the next level. Lots of cool ideas, and the important thing is that we actually try the new ideas we heard at Zone Conference. They asked me to do literally all the piano though. Like prelude for the pre-ZC meeting, prelude for the actual thing, opening song, the mission song at lunch, prelude again, a musical number, then the closing song. Lots of walking up and down haha. I sang a song that Sister Evanson wanted played at ZC, and I played piano for it too. 

My favorite part of ZCs is honestly just kickin' it with people before, during, and after haha. This was a big ZC too so there were lots of homies to talk to. I got to meet my mission grandson (Elder Phelps' trainee), and see a lot of my old comps. After the ZC, Elder Pearson and Elder Douglas randomly selected some missionaries to interview, and Elder Parker got picked so I got to stay after and hang out even longer haha.

On Thursday we brought Chris (a guy we been teaching for a while), to a baptism in our zone. It was for the YSA Elders, so it was cool for Chris to see an adult's baptism. He thought it was really cool and he was really glad we invited him. There were a lot of things said in the talks that were given that were good for Chris to hear because it was just from other people and other missionaries in a different place. 

Friday we had MLC with Elder Pearson, and it was kinda an intense meeting haha. But after the meeting we got Cravings with 2 of our good friends in the MLC which was awesome. Then we went on exchanges, and I went to the Lehi Thanksgiving stake. It was actually really cool because that stake has the Thanksgiving Point golf course, so with that and being back on a bike, it was bringing back many fond memories of Vineyard. Ahhhhh, Vineyard. I was with Elder Fransen for the day, and he's mad chill, but he's leaving for Ecuador on the 1st so like bruh. 

Sunday was fun because it was Elder Parker's birthday, and we were busy all day. We saw that family we had dinner with the other week where the mom knew my mom on their missions, and turns out not only did they know each other, they were comps! Crazy to think which of my comps' kids I'll be feeding on their mission in like 30 years. I also finessed a birthday surprise for Elder Parker while we were on exchanges the other week. We had dinner with one of our ward mission leaders, the Morrisons, who are super epic. Elder Parker didn't know that they were planning on his birthday dinner until we came in hehe, and Sister Morrison had made a great big meal with a birthday cake too! It's not very often your companion has a birthday while you're together, so it was a fun day. 

Pday today was fun because we got to play pickleball a lot, and turns out the church building where we play pickleball is where one of my friends back from TO goes to church. They moved to Highland while we've both been on our missions, and he actually just gave his farewell talk there yesterday. Then after getting some haircuts and running to the mission office, we went to In-n-Out. While we were eating, my cousin Lucas came in! It was so insane! I hadn't seen him in forever so it was cool to see him again. Utah is a dream mission guys. Pray you get to serve here someday. 

This week I'm excited to celebrate Thanksgiving. I'm so grateful that I get to serve in Utah honestly. I've met so many amazing people, missionaries, and I woundn't want to serve anywhere else. So many of my friends in this mission are leaving for their original assignments, but I've also got friends here who are getting permanently reassigned here too so we're good. I love reading Saints and hearing about the early days of Utah and I think, "That's here!" I can look out the window and see what Brigham Young and the early saints saw when they came here. It's amazing here and it's an amazing blessing to be a missionary here. 

Last bit of news! Unless I get transferred after next week (which is unlikely but still), I will be operating the Light the World giving machines at the University Mall in Orem on December 2nd from 10am to 1pm! Pull up if you want to give! hehe....

Love you all!

Elder Snyder 

Me and my mom's old comp!

Me with my cousin Lukas Rudy

Bridge on the Jordan River

MLC

Our windshield on Sunday!!

Week 65: "Oh, its the Missionaries!"

The District

Hey there everyone

This week was....yep, you guessed it: epic. Lots of the same old same old, but also some different new different new. You know how it is. Food places: Don Joaquin's, The Habit, Taco Bell, Kneader's, Fiiz, and Chick-fil-a. 

Tuesday it was really cold and dark and rainy and we didn't have anything to do except just knock doors for most of the night, so we decided to go to this one neighborhood that happens to have a lot of old people in it. We were planning on just knocking member doors to either set up or just share our member-message with them right then. Legit the first door we knock this old lady comes to the door and her face lights up and she says "Oh it's the missionaries! Come in!" That ended up happening twice that night, and a few more times this week too. After one of the first times though, I jokingly said to Elder Parker, "Yeah that's what it's all about right there." 

Wednesday we went on exchanges with some of the Elders in our zone, and I got to visit my old area in Lehi for a day! I only visited a couple of the old homies, but it was epic. That area is still tough for missionary work, but they're still doing what they can. We also got The Habit before we started exchanges, and Elder Parker nor either of the Elders we were with had EVER been before. And they all liked it too ;)

We found a new person to teach this week too! Her name is Jenna and she's super nice. Her husband is a less-active member, but he wants to start going back. His whole family lives in Highland and they're all active. They met in the military too. She grew up Jewish but she acknowledges that she doesn't practive anymore. She really likes the Church and she said they're planning on raising they're family in the Church too. We got to share the Restoration with them and she was already pretty familiar with a lot of it. Her husband, Tanner, even helped teach it a bit. We invited her to read the Book of Mormon, and she said she's already read most of it. I think her main concern is that she feels like she'd be giving up the faith she grew up with if she joined the Church. We're really excited about Jenna though.

We had some awesome lessons with David and Chris too. We talked about the importance of the Book of Mormon, and how reading it is how we gain a testimony of the entire restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We just asked them some big questions like, "Do you think the Book of Mormon is the word of God?" It's pretty direct, but they were both cool with it, and it's honestly the only way to clearly find out. They both are really liking the Book of Mormon, and are both willing to find out if it's true or not. David's wife also FINALLY comes back from China on Wednesday! She's been gone so long I've never even met her. David said he wants to take a break from meeting for a bit with his wife coming back, which is totally understandable, but we're looking forward to meeting her and hopefully teaching her as well. David said he and his wife are both really looking forward to Old Testament Come Follow Me next year though.

Friday morning we had an EPIC Zoom devotional with Brad Wilcox! He went into detail about the story of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and he had us running around the Book of Mormon finding some seriously mind-blowing stuff. It was super big brain. He basically was saying that the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was so miraculous and so unlikely, that it forces people to have faith. It's not something to cover up or hang our heads about, but something that everyone can come to know and faithfully understand. It was seriously amazing.

Also Suncrest has proved to be the most connections I've ever made with people. Like somehow everyone here knows me, my family, or my home ward. There's so many people from Conejo Valley here too. I met a family that just barely moved from Agoura Hills, and our stake high councilor we work with if from Newbury Park. Additionally, in Suncrest I've met 2 of my dad's cousins, my mom's college roommate, a random guy that went to high school with my mom, my uncle's really good friend, and someone that served her mission with my mom. I'm sure Elder Parker is getting tired of having such a popular companion haha. JOKESSSS

There's a line in our mission song that we sing at every zone conference that says, "The truth will ring bold and clear!" We always talk about being bold, clear, and direct with people, and I've really found it's the only way to get to the bottom of things. People will always make excuses, and you never find out why unless you ask. The gospel of Jesus Christ must go forth loud and proud across the entire world. It's the only way to true, everlasting joy, so it doesn't deserve to be shared in any other way.  

Love you all! Have an EPIC week!

Elder Snyder

Big Christmas Tree

Yes, Its a giant Pirates of the Caribbean thing in their house

Deer

Week 64: Its Beginning to Look a lot like...

Elder Parker and I with the Gail Halvorsen, "The Candy Bomber"

Hey everybody!

Food places: Don Joaquin's (yup), Chick-fil-a (now with peppermint milkshakes), Chipotle (still aight honestly), and Jersey Mike's (Elder Parker's first time!). 

Now that those are out of the way, this was actually a really epic week, even though it was actually pretty uneventful. We finally got to start teaching our investigators again this week haha. We just haven't been able to meet with anyone until this week I guess. Wednesday we met with Burgess and Bruce. Burgess is super chill, and he wants to read the Book of Mormon, but I don't think he really is that interested in joining the Church. He said he enjoys the company though, so we'll just have to see what the future holds for him. Bruce on the other hand has told us multiple times though that he really does not see himself joining the Church for lots of reasons, but he likes meeting with us too. We basically had a drop lessons with Bruce, which is when you kinda let them know they aren't really progressing and you probably aren't going to be coming by anymore, and he totally understood actually. He said he still wants to read the whole Book of Mormon though, and that he would hit us up if he had any questions about his reading.

What's interesting about Bruce is that according to Elder Ropka, before he was meeting with the missionaries he and his wife didn't go to church and he was not reading the scriptures. But now he and his wife actively go to a nondenominational church in Draper (which is pretty popular among the Suncrest nonmembers), and he reads the Bible and the Book of Mormon regularly. It's definitly a step in the right direction. 

We had 2 exchanges this week too. Both times Elder Parker went to a different area and I stayed in Suncrest. It was fun showing other missionaries around, and it gave me time to plan Elder Parker's birthday surprise haha. His birthday is the 21st, so on these exchanges we would stop by all the homie members and plan fun things for his birthday. One of these days we had dinner with a Puerto Rican family that had 12 kids! They actually knew Elder Toro's family too because they used to live in Orlando! 

Saturday was fun because we had a lesson with David in the morning, a comp study with another companionship in the afternoon, and then nothing all evening! We knocked lots of doors, members and nonmembers, trying to see who we could talk to. We talked to plenty of people, but got in ZERO doors all night. Some of you fellow missionaries or returned missionaries may be laughing at this because this probably happened to you a lot more, but it was a long night haha. 

That night we did try to talk to one lady who we've been trying to meet with who lives in the basement of an active lady in the ward, but her landlord (the active lady) said she was busy when we went by. Up the street we saw one of our Elders quorum presidents outside, and we told him we tried stopping by, he goes to his garage and hands us a broken chair leg and said, "Go back and give this directly to her. Tell her it's from me and she'll know what it's for." So we went back about 10 minutes after we were just there, and the landlord answered the door very confusedly, to which led to more confusion when we told her we had a broken chair leg for her tenant in the basement. She called her up though, and when we gave it to her she was very thankful, and then we set up an appointment with her for Tuesday night! As weird as it was, it worked!

On Sunday, the Suncrest stake put on a big fireside for Veteran's Day and it was actually really awesome. Gail Halvorsen, the Candy Bomber, was one of the speakers! His son actually lives in the Suncrest stake, and we had dinner with him the other day, so I'm sure that connection helped in getting him to come. There were other speakers that were really good, and then we watched the section from "Meet the Mormons" about the Candy Bomber, and then he spoke for like 2 minutes and I didn't understand most of it haha. He's like 102 or something. Elder Parker and I got to meet him afterward though! We had 2 of the people we're teaching come too! 

Pday today was epic because it was go go go. We finished our grocery shopping by 7:45 and then played pickleball for two and a half hours. One of the guys in Suncrest that we've been playing with reserved a church building in Highland with THREE indoor courts, and he got it for every Monday at 8 through MARCH! Let's goooooo. Then we went shopping some more, then ran to the mission office, then played volleyball with another district. It was epic.

The last few weeks have shown me that I really do love being a missionary. It's too much fun. What's crazy is I can see the days, weeks, and transfers passing quickly, and it feels like this all is just slipping away! I'm happy to be the Lord's servant and respresentative, and I'm happy to be doing it here in the best place ever!

I love you all!

Elder Snyder 

Sunset

Sunrise

Week 63: Happy Halloween (If you're into that kinda thing)

MLC

Hola everybody 

This was a super busy week. Lots of long days, which sometimes makes for a quick week, but not really this week haha. 

Food places: Don Joaquin's (always a win), Rancherito's (careful what you order here, and don't eat it all at once), Zao (growing on me actually), Fiiz (the best soda place fight me), and Roxberry (they had a frozen solid smoothie for $2!! If you're willing to wait 4 hours for it to melt, it's worth it).

We had MLC this week which was super long but it was good. We talked a lot about helping new missionaries adjust because the last 4 transfers have had incoming groups of like at least 25. Over half of the missionaries in the UOM have been out 4 transfers or less now. It's because all the people older than me are finishing, and all the people my age are going to their OGs actually. We're losing people to OGs left and right now. It used to be this crazy thing that someone was actually going out, but now it's like all my friends are gone. Some of us are sticking around though so don't worry ;) I got to see lots of friends at MLC though, and I'm making new friends there too. 

I also got to meet one of my mom's old college roommates because she lives in Suncrest and dropped off our dinner one night! Turns out she and her husband kinda helped set up my mom and my dad way back in the day, so I guess I have a lot to be grateful for because of her haha. We also had interviews with President Evanson that day which were great. I really really like President Evanson. I've honestly worked way closer with him than I ever did with President Treadway. Apparently he's seen a lot of changes in me, and I totally agree with a lot of his perspectives on missionary work. He's pretty epic. 

Friday we had combined-district-council, or CDC. I gave a training on having good personal and companionship studies for the whole zone. That's one of my favorite things about the mission is having time in your day devoted to studying the sciptures personally and with someone else. The gospel has become the only thing I like to talk about. Sure I still love to talk about things like music, food, or The Office, but it's to the point where I'm like, "If you're not talking about the gospel, what are you talking about?" 

We did a lot of helping missionaries in our zone this week really. I've really enjoyed getting to know the missionaries of the Lehi zone a lot better. It's too the point where I was sad to see a lot of them get transferred out last transfer, but have a bunch of new friends to make come in this transfer!  

We kinda got 2 Halloweens this year because the 31st was a Sunday. Most people here did their trick-or-treating on the 30th, so that night we had to be in our apartment at 6. It was fun though. We had a mission-wide Zoom meeting and President Evanson gave an epic devotional on Joseph Smith and spiritual gifts. I literally started cheering when he said he was gonna talk on Joseph Smith because Joseph Smith is like my favorite person ever. Then we watched a cool movie (over Zoom) called The Witnesses. It was about the 3 witnesses to the Book of Mormon, and it was really really good. It was kinda like Halloween last year actually haha.

On the 31st I gave a talk a talk in the Suncrest 3rd ward and it was kinda scary (get it?). I spoke on the talk, "Lovest Thou Me More Than These?" by M. Russell Ballard from last GenCon. I talked about the more give up to the Lord, the happier we will really be. That night we were booked full with member messages, because I guess everyone was pretty available that night haha. We had to be in our apartment by 8. We didn't watch a movie, but Elder Parker and I made crepes which was fun. 

Pday today was epic. Pickleball and Spikeball. Never gets old, and my district seems to think the same which is even more epic. 

I love you all so much! The mission is so epic and I'm really enjoying myself lately. What's weird is the clock is like low key ticking on my mission, but I can't afford to think that way. It also does NOT feel like I've been doing this for this long. But I love Jesus Christ, I love His gospel, and I love His church, so this is a pretty great full-time job. 

Have an epic week!

Elder Snyder 

Views... as always!

With Elder Parker at Pres Interviews