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