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