Week 76: YSA is too Lit!

The Roomies

Hey everyone!

This week was another whirlwind.

Monday night we had a lesson with RJ. He's been taught by missionaries on and off for a while but he's come a long way. He doesn't really believe in God but he's willing to do the things that would help him to find out. He's willing to try, which is pretty awesome. He's read parts of the Book of Mormon, prays like every day, and has been to church before too. He's a very eccentric guy, and runs track for UVU so he's really busy, but he's a really cool guy to teach.

Tuesday was Elder Burris' and our roommates first times at Don Joaquin's, and their minds were blown. The al pastor was ON that day and I was so grateful. Right after dinner we planned on hitting up a guy we're teaching named Mike who we hadn't seen in a while. We'd tried his door a few times before to no avail. Before we went to his house though we got gas at Maverick. We're always supposed to get a receipt when we get gas, but the receipt from the pump ripped so we had to go inside, and Mike was there!! It was crazy. We also had a great lesson with Toby that night. Toby has seen a lot in his life, and he's had several near-death experiences where he thinks he should've died. He sees it as God keeping him on earth for something. He's really beginning to understand the things we're teaching him, and he is really making progress. 

Wednesday we had MLC. Always good to see old friends and catch up. That night we found someone new to teach too! It was like the last door of the night and he invited us in right away. His name is Caleb and he goes to U of U actually, but he transferred from Texas to a school in Utah to live closer to his girlfriend, who's an active member and goes to BYU and is a convert to the church! We got to meet her then too, and she said that Caleb has been around their family and the Church for a while but has never gotten to actually meet with missionaries. We shared a quick message about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and he was totally down to have us back. We're really excited about Caleb!

Thursday we had interviews with President Evanson which was super cool. President Evanson is like my friend now, not just my mission president. It was so cool to have some one-on-one time with him. We had a great lesson that night with a lady we're teaching named Rianna. She's been taught before and she lives with her boyfriend who's a member, but she's said in the past she wants to join the Church. She and her boyfriend are both Navajo and grew up on the reservation in Arizona. We were teaching the plan of salvation, but after we'd been there a while already we said we probably needed to go and Rianna said, "Oh it was getting good though!" 

Friday we went on exchanges with the Elders that cover the UVU YSA 3rd stake. I took Elder Barney to my area. It was a really fun day and they're both great missionaries. We almost had a lesson with with guy we're teaching named Ale (ah-lay), and he's told the missionaries that he wants to get baptized, but he is just super hard to get ahold of. He's been more responsive lately though so we're hoping to move things along with him more. 

Saturday we had CDC with our whole zone which was really fun. I really like my zone, and our zone is actually all Elders! No sisters hehe. I basically gave a talk on how missions are designed to challenge us in ways that we haven't been before so that we can be made into something we weren't before. As we are pushed to our limits, we are brought to Christ more than ever, which makes us better suited to invite others to Christ; to come with us! The Lord is making us into something far greater than we can imagine, and all we have to do is let Him! Our meeting actually ended on time which was a first of my entire mission, but later that day Elder Burris and I realized we completely forgot to do a few things from MLC, so that's why it ended on time haha. We also had a great lesson with Kyle that night where we read the Book of Mormon. He's really down to keep learning and trying things out. 

Sunday was awesome. Mike, Toby, and Kyle all came to church, and Kyle stayed for both hours! Kyle is a totally outgoing guy and moved to Utah by himself for work, so it's good for him to just make more friends. Ale almost came too, and we even showed up to his house when his sacrament meeting had started and he wasn't there. He's planning on coming next week though and he said he's really excited.

At CDC we asked one of the Elders to bear his testimony at the end because he's going to his OG in Chile soon, and he said something really cool. He was talking about how some people think that obedience to commandments doesn't let us have freedom, which he followed with, "Jesus Christ is the champion of freedom." The Savior has the power to free us from addiction, sin, guilt, sorrow, and all forms of unhappiness. When we do the things he's been telling us to do, we can experience true freedom. 

It's a weird thing seeing the sisters that I came in with go home, but I love my mission so much. I love Utah. I'm so grateful for what all this has taught me and how I have been changed. I have much more learning and changing to endure, so I'm honestly grateful that I have another 6 months.

Love you all!

Elder Snyder 

Vineyard at mid-afternoon

Elder Burris and I

The Boys after their first Donny's

Week 75: The Blur

Blake's Baptism

Hey everyone!

This week was so insane. Every day of the week we were just running out of time because there was so much to do. I've never really had a chance to catch my breath. 

Tuesday we didn't go to Don Joaquin's. Some of my buddies here in the mission were telling me to try this other place in Orem called Holy Taco that they said was better than Don Joaquin's. Having heard such a blasphemous claim, I had to personally investigate it. While it did have good al pastor and a better environment, it was super expensive and still not as good. In the evening we had a lesson with two guys we're teaching named Cole and Nick. They're basically bashers, but they're nice guys and very devoted to Christ. This was my first time meeting them, but Elder Burris thought they could use the big guns, so President Evanson came too. It was a good lesson but we probably won't be going back soon haha. We also had a lesson with Blake that night about the temple and we showed him that video where Elder Bednar and Elder Rasband do a tour of the Rome temple, and he'd already seen it!

Wednesday we had district council with our own district, then met some other missionaries at the church building my older brother happened to have his wedding reception in haha. I have a new responsibility for one of the mission's Facebook pages, Utah Orem Member Missionaries, and I'm supposed to make these like aesthetic quotes with pictures every Monday. Nothing too hard, but they were showing me how to do it. Then in the evening we had all of our member appointments cancel, so we contacted all night and found 3 new people! One of them was a lady that the YSA Elders were teaching a few months ago that had stopped progressing, but she's down to meet again and has a new roommate now! Then in the same apartment building we met a guy named Kyle. He's a single guy that just moved here from Wisconsin and said he'd never heard of a Mormon before he moved here. He said we were some of the nicest doorstep religious people he'd met so we set up a time to come back on Saturday!  

Thursday we had district council with another district then headed to AF to practice a song. Our mission's main Facebook page, The Road to Hope and Peace, is doing a new music series where people just perform songs for them to post. One of the sisters in my mission who has an amazing voice asked me to accompany her for the song she was singing, so we practiced for a bit that afternoon. Then Elder Burris had to take care of some Uruguay stuff that day because he's leaving on the 10th. 

Friday we had exchanges in the evening with the APs. I went with Elder Johnson again and he's such a homie. I went on exchanges with him up in Suncrest too, but we were friends before he was AP so it's just fun to be comps with him for a bit. He had a great time in a YSA area too. We had Blake's baptism interview that night too, and it legit was the quickest interview ever because Blake is so ready. 

Saturday we had filming for the song thing we had practiced on Thursday. It was at somebody's house in Lehi. Then we ran back to Vineyard and had dinner with some members. Then we had a lesson with Kyle and it was seriously one of the best Restoration lessons I ever taught. Elder Burris is really good at teaching. Kyle believes in God and is totally down to learn more and read the Book of Mormon. I can really tell he felt something in that lesson. The YSA ward would be so good for him because he doesn't know anyone here in Utah and he's a totally outgoing guy and could use some friends at least. Then we had a lesson with Toby over Messenger. He hadn't read 3 Nephi 11 so we read it together, and then he said he liked the parts about baptism and said he wants to get baptized! We decided to set a tentative date with him then, because he's still got a ways to go. Toby lives in a rehab center and is in a time of his life where wants a fresh start on everything, and he can totally see how baptism can make that happen. 

Sunday we went to church all morning (45th, 13th, 10th, and 6th wards), then had to run to Blake's baptism! It went really well and lots of people from the ward came too. One of his friends he played baseball with at BYU gave a talk on baptism, and he said he and Blake became friends at BYU because they both weren't members, but that after he got baptized in back in 2018, Blake said to him, "Oh well I must be next." Blake could tell that getting baptized and joining the Church was part of his path for a long time, so it was such a cool baptism to be a part of. While we were knocking doors later that night, we got invited into a random apartment and Alan Tarbet was there (for the non-TO homies, he's from the home stake)! These things keep happening in YSA....

Pday was lit. We played Spikeball in the morning, then ran errands, then played lazer tag at Nickel City with our district and another district. Then we got food with our district.

What I learned this week is that the Restoration lesson doesn't have to be linear and move in a set sequence; it's a circle and anyone of the points can be a beginning, middle, or end. It really is just a powerful story of how God loves His children; always has, and always will. It's a story that shows we can get answers to our prayers, and that we as children of God are never forgotten. 

Needless to say, I'm exhausted! Have a great week!

Elder Snyder

Lazer Tag

The District

Sunset #1

A posted-up bird

Sunset #2

Provo Temple

Week 74: Delivered to the Promised Land

Traditional Beginning of Transfers MLC "Bekfist"

Hey Everyone!

This last week has been, in a word, epic. 

Leaving Suncrest was like really low key sad, almost to the point where it wasn't sad at all hehe. I will really miss the views (and the apartment hehe), and some of the people we were teaching have become my absolute homies. I'm totally gonna hang out with Bostin and Tara after the mission and play some pickleball for sure. That's what's great about the Utah Orem mission, is visiting the homies after the mission has been part of the plan since day 1. 

I do live in Vineyard again. I do live in the same apartment again. I cover a different part of Vineyard than I did before, but the Elders who cover my old stake live in our apartment, so it's fun to talk about the epic Vineyard stake again. They know a lot of the same people, but they actually whitewashed in, so there's a couple things they still don't know about hehe. I LOVE living in Vineyard again, and it's so great getting to be in Orem so much. Shortly after I got transferred out of Vineyard into Sucnrest, I realized that I'd grown to love Orem so much because it was like home! Lots of cars, lots of people, and State St Orem looks like every street in the Valley haha. I love it. 

This week has been so packed though. YSA is legendary. I never thought I'd serve in Draper Suncrest, and I never thought I'd serve in UVU YSA. It's super epic though. We cover the UVU YSA 1st stake, which is like north Vineyard and north Orem, so it's a little further from campus so the YSAs we have in our wards are a little older. Most of them are already graduated and either doing grad school or just working. It's super cool because they're like actual adults instead of the kind of YSA I was at BYU hehe. Everybody is super cool and so down to help us out. There are plenty of kids that go to BYU too, which is weird because I'll be going there in the fall. It's been soooooo much fun.

I've also already met a gajillion people that either know me or my family, and having a cousin and a sister at BYU currently makes that happen a lot. On my first day I met my cousin's new boss and my sister's friends, and I've met people with old comps from Thousand Oaks that I know, or even seen people from my home ward at church. There's probably some kind of connection every day, and they really don't phase me anymore honestly. It just happens when you serve in the Utah Orem mission in UVU YSA and you're already as popular as me (jokessssssss). 

My companion is Elder Burris and he's awesome. He's already been here for 2 transfers so he's got a great handle on the area. He's much younger than me in the mission, but he's still well-experienced in the mission. He came in with Elder Phelps (my first trainee), so I'm now comps with someone my son's age. Bruh. He came on his mission out of high school so he said hanging out with college kids took some getting used to for him haha. He's from Washington state and is the youngest of 6. I'm actually only going to be comps with him for about a month because he goes to his original assignment in Uruguay on February 10th.  

We're teaching a guy named Blake who is actually getting baptized on Sunday! He said he graduated from BYU on a baseball scholarship, and learned LOTS about the Church during that time. Then he started doing graduate classes at UVU, and started going to church every Sunday with a girl he was dating, but after they broke up he found that he was really missing going to church! He started reading the Book of Mormon and going to church again after that, and learning lots of things from his friends still, but thought one day that he probably should just meet with the missionaries already. So he actually referred himself to the missionaries! Blake is awesome because he really is doing this for himself and no other friends or something. He's epic. 

This week has honestly been just so crazy and I'm having so much fun being a missionary. President Evanson always says he gets missionaries asking him how they can have fun as a missionary, and he always tells them that missionary work itself is fun. I really thought it was fun this week for sure. I don't know why people don't like getting transferred; new places, new faces, and new challenges are so fun! 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Lambo on State

Knocking be like....

Back at Mavrikkkkkk!

Chick-fil-A sauce for 4

Week 73: I Got Rekt

Hey everyone

So I wrote out a really great email with exciting funny stories from throughout the week, laden with my usual subtle wit and charm, and put some good work into it. As I was completing the last step of adding the pictures, something happened and I don't know what, but it deleted the entire thing. I was livid. You're all receiving a 2nd draft that will probably not be as good as what it was before it was ruthlessly ripped from my hands. 

With that, let's begin.

Tuesday I started feeling really sick. Wednesday we got tested and quarantined. Thursday morning Elder Parker's results come back negative but we still quarantine all day. Thursday night I'm feeling back to normal and the mission nurse tells me we can get back out even though I don't have results yet. Friday we have an epic day of missionary work, then in the evening my results come back positive! Saturday morning we called Sister Evanson and she said that the quarantine is 5 days from showing first symptoms, so I'd actually be out that day. I only felt sick for like 2 days, and my results took so dang long that by the time they came in my quarantine was up. 

Wednesday we had a little field trip to Orem. Our car was getting new tires, so we dropped it off at the PepBoys on State St and they told us it'd be ready in about 2 hours. 2 free hours in downtown Orem: endless possibilites!! We walked to a Thai food place and had lunch, walked through a cute little neighborhood to an old-style church building, then walked back to PepBoys. It sounds kinda lame on here but it was fun. Trust me. 

Friday we found a new person to teach! His name is Ryan. He and his wife moved to Suncrest from Carlsbad CA, but before that lived in Alaska. His wife Rebecca is actually a member but has never really been active. She has 2 sisters that are active members though. They said in CA and in Alaska they used to have missionaries over all the time. Ryan very much believes in and loves God and Jesus Christ. Rebecca loves spiritual things and feeling the Holy Ghost, so she said we could come by anytime and share messages with them. We're having dinner with them tonight too!

The entire-mission meeting with Elder Christofferson inevitably got moved to Zoom. We connected a phone to a TV in a Relief Society room and to the speakers in the room, so the setup was epic. It was mostly just him and the other general authorities there answering planned questions from the missionaries. It was still a really great meeting. He talked a lot about how our missions can bless our families and our future families. He also said that no effort is wasted in the Lord's cause, which I though was really comforting. 

Sunday we were going to have lessons with Alli, and Bostin and Tara. We were really worried about having to miss these because of COVID, but we thankfully were out by Sunday. Alli is actually doing amazing now. She said she's been going to church and reading the Book of Mormon with her new boyfriend who is an active member! Her boyfriend also just moved here to Suncrest which is crazy but also super cool. We even saw her and her boyfriend at church on Sunday which was epic. Alli ended up testing positive for COVID later that day so we had to cancel though, and Bostin and Tara cancelled too. Tragic.

Sunday night was transfer calls and it was whack. They called us and told us that Elder Parker and I would both be leaving Suncrest, staying comps and ZLs of Lehi, and whitewashing 2 stakes in the Thanksgiving area. A set of Elder we were whitewashing out would be whitewashing Suncrest. We both thought all of this was a terrible idea (for lots of reasons that are too difficult to explain hehe). Elder Parker even texted President Evanson to call us about it. When he did, he said that they were already pretty unsure about this decision, and that after talking to the assistants some more and after hearing our reaction to it, they decided to change it! Elder Parker is still doing the same thing just with a new comp. I'm going to UVU YSA instead! I'm going to live in the same apartment I lived in in Vineyard, and my new area covers lots of Orem and Vineyard! I'm super pumped. 

I'm grateful for my time in Suncrest though. I've really changed a lot here and it's been awesome. I've made some really great friends here. I love being a missionary and learning so much about the gospel and about myself, meeting such amazing people, and being in such a wonderful place. 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Pics:

no time for captions....

Week 72: I Haven't written an email since last year!

My Epic District

Happy New Year everyone!

This was a weird week, but also a fun week. Snow storms, holidays, and SUPER cold days and nights. 

We had MLC this week, which was actually super epic. I have so many friends that are in it now, so it's awesome to get to see and hang out with them some more. President Evanson took some time to just teach us all the plan of salvation, but as he went people began asking questions, and then the questions became more and more complicated. I definitely contributed to that, but it was so fun to just talk over literally every part of it in great detail. I definitely had my mind blown a few times and it was epic. 

It's been so snowy lately. There's like 3 foot high piles made by the snow plows on every street. Monday night after I wrote my email there was a huge traffic jam coming up through Suncrest because the I-15 was shut down due to some power lines falling over. Then it started snowing, and people were sliding off the road! We could see the whole thing from our apartment, and we heard some horror stories from some of the members who got caught in it. Thursday night we had a full on squall and we just tried visiting members' homes to get out of the blizzard. One of the familes had their grandkids in town, and one of the kids got a kendama for Christmas, so naturally I had to show him a couple whirlwinds. I also left some water bottles in the car overnight and they froze solid. The night of the 1st it legit got to NINE degrees outside. Bruh.

New Years Eve and New Years Day we had to be in early. On the 31st we just had a devotional with the whole mission, then we went to bed. Staying up till midnight isn't fun on the mission. On the 1st we watched "The Fighting Preacher" as a mission, which is actually a super epic movie. We watched it with our whole district, and most of them hadn't seen it before. I'd only seen it once. New Years Day we also had combined district council which was fun. I spoke about how the mission isn't just about who you will help, but who you will become too. When you think about how the Lord is making you into something better and something that He needs you to be, your trials and challenges become much more manageable. 

This next week will be exciting. We are have an entire-mission meeting in Orem because Elder Christofferson will be coming to visit our mission! I think this whole week will just be in preparation for that. An entire-mission meeting will also be super lit because literally everyone will be there. This Sunday is also transfer calls, and things could go either way for me. I'm about to finish my 3rd transfer in Suncrest, and my 2nd with Elder Parker, and historically I get moved around a lot. I like getting moved around though. Elder Parker does not get moved around a lot. He's never done less than 4 transfers in an area and I've never done more than 3. But as much as I like Suncrest and Elder Parker, it might be time. We'll see though. It's very possible we both stay. 

2022 is going to be an epic year. Lots of exciting things coming up. 2022 is the year I will finish my mission. Not that that means I'm trunky, but it's really weird to think about how much has gone by. I'll be at 17 months this month too. The Sisters I came in with are going home in a few weeks. My friends from BYU are starting to finish their missions. I can feel it all slipping away sometimes. There's still much to be done though, and I've still got lots left in me. I love the UOM so much and I want to make a difference in my last 7 months here. 

This is the Lord's church. He is the King of all things, and also your loving friend. Living His gospel leads to happiness, regardless of if you think any of it is true. There is no better way to be guided and strengthened in your life than by making and keeping covenants with Him. It's all real, and I'm so grateful I've been blessed to be a part of it. 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder 

Met the Candy Bomber again!

Forever Donny's!

OG Squad at MLC (We all came in together)

Views as always