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