Week 71: Christmas Cards!

Our Christmas Card

Merry Christmas everyone!!

This week was pretty awesome. Tuesday afternoon we were doing weekly planning and had no clue what we were gonna do to fill up this week. With Christmas Eve and Christmas, we knew everyone would either have people in town or be out of town, so we knew it'd be very difficult being able to meet with people. Then Elder Parker had a brilliant idea: make cards for people and drop them off. The rest of Tuesday was spent figuring out how we were even gonna do this, and finally we just went to Walgreens in AF where they had this cool kiosk where you plugged in your phone and uploaded a photo and could design your card right there. Someone also LEFT a 50% off coupon right by the kiosk so our order was half off.We had them printed in our hands Wednesday morning, and then we got to writing notes of the back of them. We planned on giving them to our missionary friends, cool families in our area, and to the people we're teaching too. 

Wednesday we also had Zone Conference and go to handing out lots of the cards there too. This Zone Conference was super lit because we did a talent show after lunch. Every district had 10 minutes to do whatever you wanted, so my district decided to go all out and we did a skit. Our skit was a Christmas spin to the classic story of Nephi getting the brass plates. Nephi and his brothers had to return to "Jeru-ville" to retrieve the Christmas tree of life from the evil Grinch. I played Laman, and Elder Parker played Zoram, but in the Christmas version he was actually the Grinch's dog Max. It was really fun and the audience seemed to like it too. The best part was that Nephi vanquished the Grinch by dunking on him on a Nerf basketball hoop. His line was "It is better that one Grinch must be dunked on than an entire nation dwindle and perish in unbelief." Pretty epic. 

Christmas Eve we legit just dropped of packages and cards for our zone and for people in our area. We had lots of fun doing that. We had so many places to be and people to see, and having a card for them made for a really great reason to be showing up to their house. That night we had dinner with a nice family then watched "It's A Wonderful Life" with the whole mission on Zoom. Christmas Day we opened our Christmas packages, then we had breakfast with a member family. Then we had CDC with our zone which was fun. We basically just hung out and had fun. We did a Secret Santa too, and everyone filled out a little questionaire of your favorite snacks and sodas, so the Elder that had me just got me a case of Major Melon Mtn Dews. Perfect gift. Christmas Day we continued to drop off cards and visit people, then we had dinner with another nice family and then had a Zoom devotional with the whole mission. 

So yeah, basically all we did this week was hand out cards, but it was so fun. This was my last Christmas as a missionary and it's been so fun. I'm so glad that I didn't have to be concerned with finals, registration, work, or shopping. I could help other people be less concerned with those things and share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ; share with them the reason why we celebrate Christmas. The Savior lived a matchless life of service and love, and it began in a far different environment than he had come from. The little baby Jesus meant hope for a broken world, and it is a privilige to welcome him into our lives again year after year. 

Pday today was epic. Pickleball twice, making for a total of like 3 hours. Bostin, one of the new guys we're teaching, came to pickleball today too and he loved it. Bostin and his family are so welcoming to us and it's like we're part of their family. We also got Chick-fil-a today too so that was epic. 

Love you all! 2022 is gonna be the most epic year yet!

Elder Snyder

Curtain call for our skit

With Bostin and Tara and our Christmas crowns (A family tradition of theirs)

Le-hype Zone!

I got out of the car for this pic!

Week 70: Trudging Through a Winter Wonderland!

Lehi Zone at the Temple

Merry Christmas everyone!

This week was a super busy week. Everyday had something new.

It snowed a TON this week. Like full on FEET of snow in the backyard. Everyone was out snowblowing their driveways throughout the week. We heard about lots of plows getting stuck in the snow!

We went on exchanges twice this week. One time I brought Elder Jenkins to Suncrest, and he's from Alaska so he's used to seeing feet of snow. He's a super chill guy though. Then Friday I went to the Pheasant Pointe stake to go with Elder Hughes, and he's from Arizona so we toughed out the cold together. That area is on bikes, but because of the snow we were just walking. As we were walking along a busy street, and a random lady picked us up and dropped us off at a Jimmy John's that was combined with a gas station where we could get dinner. After we ate we were grabbing some snacks at the gas station, and she came BACK and bought our gas station stuff and some Jimmy John's giftcards, then gave us a ride to our next appointment! Utah is the best place in the world to be a missionary. 

On Thursday we went to the temple as a zone, which was really cool. It was still only my third time going, but it keeps getting better. Afterward we went to Original Pancake House as a district. It snowed a ton that night. Elder Parker has been a great coach for driving in the snow. North Carolina gets a little snow, but that's still a lot more snow than I'm used to. We'll just be talking in the car, but whenever I start sliding we'll both just say "Oh?" and then we'll be quiet until I get traction again. It's a little scary, but we're usually some of the only people out on the roads so it's not too bad. 

President and Sister Evanson have been doing this thing where each zone gets to do a little Christmas family home evening basically at their house, so our zone went Friday morning. We sang songs, read the scriptures, and President Evanson shared some really cool things about being a missionary during this time of year. We also had some spudnuts, which is a big Evanson family tradition. They're homemade donuts made with potato. They were pretty good. Maybe it's a Canadian thing, I don't know.   

It's been hard to meet with people we're teaching lately because it's a busy time of year, but we got to see David for the first time in a while because we just pulled up. He and his wife (the one that got back from China) are both starting new jobs. He used to be so responsive and so down to meet and read the scriptures, but now he's kinda fizzling out and it's sad. Hopefully in the new year he'll be excited to start coming again like he said he was a while ago. We invited him to come to his ward's Christmas program (that I played piano in), but he works on Sundays now. David used to be our top guy, but now that he's kinda phased out we've just found new people who are even more epic honestly haha.

We had dinner with Bostin and Tara last night and it was so awesome to just talk with them for a while. They both are so fascinated by the Church. They wanted to talk about the pioneers settling Utah, and what mission life is like, and just how great God is. They're so awesome, and I think Bostin is really looking forward to Elder Parker and I being off our missions and being back at Provo because he just wants to hang out with us. Turns out Bostin also plays pickleball a lot, and he's been looking for a new group to play with! We told him that we play every Monday morning from 8 - 10:30, and he said he'd come next week!  

Pday today was nuts. We played pickleball, then went to Chick-fil-a. Then we went to the mission office and picked up another gazillion packages for our zone. Then we went to Orem to go to the University Mall, but as we drove past Trader Joe's I was talking about how great it is, and Elder Parker said he'd never been, so we made a quick pit stop. As I was buying my orange-peach-mange juice, the cashier asked us where we were from (like people do). I said, "I'm from Southern California so I love this place!" and Elder Parker said, "I'm from North Carolina so I've never been here before." and then she gave us a free tote bag! Then we went to Al's at the mall so Elder Parker could finally buy his very own pickleball paddle. He is now the second comp I've gotten to buy one. Then we naturally had to check out the tie store. Then we hung out with the district, but there were so many holiday shoppers today so it took forever to get anywhere. 

The Christmas holiday is all about celebrating the life of Jesus Christ, which was a life full of service and love, so what better way to celebrate the holiday than to do things that He did in His life? This time of year people are kinda reflecting on how their life has been going, and it can be a really hard time for some of them. Serving others is a great way to celebrate the Savior's birth and life, because that's what his life was all about. 

I love you all!

Elder Snyder  

Lehi Zone at the Evanson's (less goooo!)

Big Snows!!

The OG Pancake House

Views as always

Week 69: This Was a Sick Week!

The Epic District

Ayo party people

This week was the first time I've gotten sick on the mission. Not very fun. We still got out and did a lot of stuff though, which is probably why I'm still kinda sick. The landlords have come in clutch with orange juice and meds though, so I'm getting there. It also snowed this week, and the valley looks really different covered in snow, and it's pretty but also really cold. Mostly cold. There's so much snow in Suncrest too. I got to see a snowblower in action for the first time, and we now get to shovel the staircase to our basement every day! 

Tuesday I woke up with a sore throat, and I thought it was just cuz I was yelling a lot during our volleyball game the day before for pday. Wednesday I started to have a cough and my throat had gotten worse, and we had recording that day for the Portuguese song! I was still able to sing, but barely. The other Elder I sang with, Elder Holmes, knew a member in Eagle Mountain with a recording studio that they were willing to let us use, so we had a pretty legit recording session for the video. Elder Holmes is also like insanely talented, and I'm basically just singing back up for him the whole time haha. 

Thursday we started teaching Tristan! He isn't sure if he wants to get baptized yet, but he is down to meet with us and have us teach him, so we'll basically be helping him make more of an informed decision about baptism. Unlike all of my other areas, we haven't really taught a lot of kids up here in Suncrest, so I'm excited to get to hang out with Tristan more. He's also like ridiculously good at skateboarding. 

Friday was like the longest, coldest day ever. It absolutely dumped snow like all day, and we were filming the music video for the Portuguese song outside for a really long time. The snow looked really cool for the video, but it was not fun to stand in the snow for that long. We filmed at like 6 different locations, like at a park in Highland or a member's house in Alpine, and up in AF canyon, and up in Suncrest too. It was fun to hang out with a lot of my friends for the day, but after we had lunch I got super tired and was kinda over it by then. I was still just really congested and not feeling well. After it was all over we went to the Suncrest 3rd ward Christmas party, but a lot of the members were like "Elder Snyder you don't look good. You should go home and rest." So we did haha.

Sunday was really cool because we started teaching Alli again! Alli was someone Elder Ropka and I taught like once, but she was super interested in the Church. After Elder Ropka left, she ended up getting a divorce and moved out, but just to the bottom of the mountain in Draper. She still hangs out a lot with the neighborhood friends she made up here in Suncrest, and one of them brought Alli to church on Sunday! We ended up going to that friend's house Sunday night to share a Christmas message, and we just got to catch up with Alli. Turns out, almost all of her coworkers at her new job are members, and her boss is a bishop and calls her Sister Jessen haha. She's doing really well and we're really excited to be working with her again. 

Christmas really is an amazing time of year. People are so much more sentimental and open and loving, and it's because of what people like to call the Christmas spirit. But the Christmas spirit is actually the Holy Spirit! People are different when they can feel the Holy Ghost, and they are kinder and more open to helping others. The Savior's life was a life of complete devotion to serving others and loving them, so what better way to celebrate a holiday that is all about His life than by doing the same thing? 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Behind the Scenes of the music video

The Recording Studio

President Interviews

The stairs to our basement apartment

The gazillian boxes we have to deliver to the zone tomorrow

Week 68: The Most Wonderful Time

Giving Machines!

Hello everyone!

I've got lots of stories for yall so lets just get started

Last week after writing my email Elder Parker and I got a call from some Elders in our zone saying that one of them ran into a wall playing football and got a concussion! He was alright, but they needed us to run to the WalMart in Saratoga Springs to pick up his antibiotic prescription. On the way to their apartment to pick up his insurance stuff, they called us again and told us to hurry because now they needed to take him to the hospital! After grabbing the stuff and waiting in the pharmacy line at WalMart, they told us the prescription wouldn't be ready for like 45 minutes. We walked out of WalMart like "What're we gonna do for 45 minutes?" So we went to McDonald's and drove around the Saratoga Springs temple. Pretty epic. The missionary that got a concussion is totally alright though. He was playing basketball and volleyball with us today haha

Tuesday night Elder Parker and I found some AMAZING people to teach. They invited us in right away. Their names are Bostin and Tara, and they moved here about a year ago. They have 3 kids, and they're very devoted Christians. Bostin has already heard a lot about the Church from his friends/coworkers, and he really likes the Church and its members. They love it here in Utah too. Bostin has lots of great unskeptical questions for us about doctrines and beliefs, which is awesome because he actually wants to know. Lots of people up here just ask questions to ask questions (legit Pharisees). We invited them to read 3 Nephi 11 after our first lesson, and we came back on Saturday, they had read it together! Elder Parker, along with the member we brought, were so surprised that Bostin and Tara asked, "Does that not normally happen?" We're really excited to continue working with them.

Wednesday was transfers which was really fun. Another small mission thing is everyone just meets at the mission office for transfers, so you basically just get to see all your friends if you're there. We got 21 missionaries coming in this time, and they're ALL OGs! There hasn't been a group like that come in since before COVID! Things are a-changing for sure...

Thursday morning we got to man the Giving Machines at the University Mall in Orem! Basically all we did was explain to people how they worked and helped them actually use it, which was very frequent because you really just get a lot of old people at the mall at 10am haha. The missionaries I was working them with were awesome too, and some of my family came and saw me too which was super cool! The Giving Machines make donating to charities super fun, and you can pay for some really cool and useful stuff, like 3 chickens for $18, 100 polio vaccines for $22, or even a goat for $86 haha. 

Friday we had like 3 lessons in a row. We had a pretty usual lesson with Chris first. Chris is one of those "eterna-gators" (eternal investigators), but he's reading the Book of Mormon very consistently and wants to keep meeting with us. He's a really nice guy and we'll keep trying. Then we did a tour of a church building with William which was cool because he'd never been in a church building before. Then we sat down and talked about his reading too. William really doesn't have any intentions to join the Church, but he also reads the Book of Mormon consistently and has some really good questions for us too. This last time he was even asking about stuff that confused him in Jacob 5, but moreso in its differences to Paul's metaphors of olive trees found in the New Testament. Pretty big brain stuff. 

Then we had a lesson with Jenna and Tanner. Jenna is not a member but she really likes the Church. She could totally become a member one day with very little difficulty honestly. We brought some of their neighbors too (Utah missions = their neighbors are members), and it was awesome because the neighbors also have really young kids like Jenna and Tanner do, so as we taught they related everything to how that helps in their parenting, which Jenna and Tanner loved. That's the kinda of stuff you can't relate to at all as a missionary haha

Saturday morning we had MLC, but the fun part was just kicking it with all my friends the whole time. I've got so many old homies there now. Elder Dieker just got put in, but he's actually leaving for Chile next month! It's sad but it's also pretty exciting that he'll be leaving for his OG at like 17 months on our missions. He really won't be gone for that long, so it'll be alright. 

Also somehow the Portuguese Sisters here in the UOM found out that I sing, so now they want me and another Elder to sing "Silent Night" in Portuguese for a video on the Portuguese Facebook page for the mission. I've been practicing a lot because I have to have it memorized, and I have no idea what I'm saying haha. 

Anyways, I hope ya'll are having an amazing Christmas season thus far. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Jesus is such an important person that we're still celebrating the day he came to earth 2021 years later! Find ways that you can serve others this Christmas season, because there really are so many in need. This time of year can be really hard for some people, so look around you and see who you can lift up this year!

Love you all!

Elder Snyder 

Oma drove down to see me.

A sweet visit from Elly and Josh

Totally Nutz

That darn inversion!

Saw Cooper Stout and Jersey Mike's.

My curly-haired posterity at transfers (left to right: grandson, son, me, grandson, great-grandson)

A wild turkey

Some deer in my backyard