Week 93: Summer in Vineyard... Round 2!

At the temple with Amadeus (center) and crew

Hey everyone!

A cool thing that happened this week is we actually had teaching appointments (that actually went through!) every day this week. 

On Wednesday we taught a guy named Ryan. His girlfriend, Channing, lives in one of our wards, and as we were texting people in that ward to try to meet with, she scheduled an appointment with us and invited her boyfriend to come to. That was a little while ago, but this week we finally got to meet with them again! Ryan has lived in Utah for like 6 years, and he's met with missionaries before actually, but a few years before he was dating Channing. He said he doesn't really remember much from what the missionaries taught him a while ago, so we just started from the beginning. After we gave him a Book of Mormon he said, "I actually don't need this cuz people keep giving me them so I have like 6 now!" He goes to church with Channing like every week, so hopefully we can keep meeting with him. 

Thursday we met with Nanaka again. She's been reading the Book of Mormon, and she had lots of questions for us. Some of them were things she'd read that she was a little uneasy about, but thankfully we were able to ease all of her concerns through our friend Dallin who translates for us. She's been having quite the culture-shock moving from Japan to Utah while barely speaking English, but she's got some great friends that have been helping her. She reaches out to Dallin a lot too about questions in the scriptures because he actually speaks Japanese. It's really cool to teach her because we really are starting from nothing in terms of spiritual knowledge. I've never taught anyone like her in my entire mission. We taught her about faith and read from Alma 32. We talked about how faith comes over time and by diligently seeking after spiritual things. She loved the lesson and it really helped her put her journey in perspective for her. 

Friday we met with the Amodo family. Their son, Jayden, is preparing to get baptized soon. The whole family wants Jayden to get baptized, including Jayden, they just have a really hard time coming to church. What they could use is some more exposure to the Spirit and its blessings so that they'll want to seek after those things even more. We could really use some prayers for them. Meeting with them is super fun because they make really yummy dinners every time we go, and they're such a fun family to be around. 

Saturday we got to teach Zarian and his family. We usually go one exchanges with some other Elders in our zone because one of them was really tight with Zarian and his family and was actually teaching them when he covered their area for the family stake. After he got transferred out though they ghosted the missionaries, so this one Elder really is the key to them being taught at all. I actually went with this one Elder's companion on the exchange so Elder Barney went and taught them but it went really well. 

On Sunday, Ryan, Nanaka, and Zarian and his family all came to church! Zarian and his family saw a couple old friends from their ward back in Laie at the Samoan ward which was really cool to see. Sunday afternoons and evenings are pretty busy because we just go to ward Come Follow Me groups and ward prayers, and with 11 YSA wards there's a lot. 

We also went to the temple with Amadeus this week! He got baptized back in March, and the senior couple for our zone that specializes in recent converts have been preparing him to be able to go to the temple. They also brought another recent convert they've been working with, Ann, and she brought all of her friends too, so we went with all of these super sweet old ladies. Amadeus got to baptize someone for his grandpa and his grandma, who now have so many blessings available to them in the next life because Amadeus joined the Church! 

At this point in my mission it's really easy to think about coming home, especially when people ask me about what I'm doing when I get home probably 3 times a day. What I love about the mission though is you have way less decisions to make, especially regarding how you spend your time. In some ways I'm not really looking forward to having that kind of independence haha, because it's really cool having my time almost completely directed to others. That being said it can be really frustrating having to be so dependent on others, but it really gives you a taste of how our Heavenly Father feels having to do a lot of His work through us. 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

MLC

Week 92: Guess Who's Back?!?

Our first lesson with Nanaka

Hey everyone!

I'm so glad this was only the first week of the transfer because there are so many good things happening right now!

Last week out of the blue we got a text from a girl we'd met a couple times saying her nonmember cousin just moved in with her and wants to learn about the Church! So last pday after I sent my email we went to an FHE activity at the park, then we met with them! The nonmember cousin's name is Nanaka. She is from Japan and speaks very little English, but it still worked because we brought a translator! Elder Barney's last area was the Orem YSA 3rd stake (ours is the 1st), so it's not very far from us. One of the ward mission leaders he had in that area served his mission in Japan and has kept up his Japanese really well, so he did all the translating for us!

We actually met with Nanaka twice this week, and it's been great. She is super down to learn about the gospel, read the Book of Mormon (we got her one in Japanese!), and come to church and activities. She even came to church yesterday! Although she understands very little English, she's super outgoing. Sometimes they go to the Japanese family ward in Provo, but their services are kinda like the Poly wards where it's mostly in English. They also said it's mostly old people, so coming to the YSA ward they live in is a great way to make new friends. Our first lesson she had lots of great questions about just stuff she's been hearing from going to church, but it's been some pretty basic stuff that I haven't really had to teach very much before, like what is baptism, what is sin, and what are commandments. It's been super cool teaching her, and hearing her thoughts on certain things through our translator. She is so open-minded and she's like a sponge for the gospel because it's stuff she's never heard before in her life!

Wednesday we went to transfers to give rides and stuff, and everyone kept asking Elder Barney and I where we were going and who our new comps were. They were all very surprised to learn we were both staying. By the end of this transfer, Elder Barney and I will have been comps for 3.5 transfers, which is totally fine with me. Wednesday evening we went to a language class the Samoan ward does for people wanting to learn Samoan, or for all the people from Samoa to get together and talk about their native language. It was so fun, and the guy that teaches it is actually a Samoan language professor at BYU, and he was so funny. He had Elder Barney and I go up to the whiteboard and write sentences in Samoan and I really only learned how to say "The missionary goes to church" which is "Ua omai faifea'u tala'i i le lotu." 

Now, in regards to the subject line, I'm sure you're all wondering who it is that must be guessed that is in fact back. Well.......it's TOBY!! I taught him when I first came in to this area back in January, and around the time I got Elder Barney he stormed out on his roommates and dipped out to West Jordan. It was pretty sad when that happened because he was on date for baptism when he moved. He was actually gonna get baptized around the same time Amadeus did. BUT, he recently hit me up on Facebook Messenger saying he was gonna move back to Orem either for a job or to find a new job. When he finally did move back he sent me his new address, but he didn't just move back to Orem. He moved back into our area, AND into one of our favorite wards!! He actually moved into Amadeus' ward, which we've been going to every week since Amadeus' baptism, so we know tons of people in that ward. We haven't been able to meet with him again just yet, but it'll probably be this week!

On Saturday we did a brief exchange. Last week I went on exchanges with a missionary named Elder Davenport, and he was telling me that in his old area in Orem he was teaching a Polynesian family with a son, Zarian, who wasn't a member. Well that family lives in the boundaries for the Polynesian wards, and so we exchanged again so we could go teach them! We brought Brother Perez, who is the ward mission leader for the Samoan ward, and he just talked up his ward the whole time. Zarian and his family moved here from Hawaii when COVID first hit, and they really miss Hawaii, so Brother Perez was telling them all the great things about his ward that will remind them of home. He also made a point of pointing out that the family ward they live in meets at 9am and the Samoan ward meets at 11am haha. They seemed really excited to come, and they said they would this week!

There's also more people that we're gonna start teaching soon that have been found purely through members. In our area, YSA and Polynesian, knocking doors just does not work. The cool thing about being a missionary is that people see you and know exactly who you are. They don't even have to talk to us to know what we're gonna say. As long as people see us, they know what we do. If it's a member of the Church that sees us, they know what they're supposed to do too. The more time we spend with members, the more they're reminded to do missionary work, and the more connections we make. Eventually, we make the right connections and get really good referrals from it. So we spend as much time with the members as we can! And then while we're at it, we get to eat some real yummy food, and maybe play some pickleball. 

People ask me all the time if I'm trunky, but I always say, "How can I be trunky if I'm having this much fun?" Summer has barely even started too!

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Elder Barney's bloody nose

Lunch like all the week

Transfers: My son, Elder Phelps is going to Peru

My Trainer, Elder Petersen is finishing.

Week 91: His name is NOT Dee!

Dee's Baptism

Hey everyone!

Lots of big things this week!

Last pday after I sent my email, our homie Dee got baptized! There legit were sooooo many people. The Samoan ward pulled UP! By the time Dee actually got baptized it was standing room only. When Dee's girlfriend's brother was baptizing him, he of course said Dee's full name, which is when we found out his name isn't actually Dee. It's Demetrius Lamar Barnes. Mine and Elder Barney's jaws dropped because that was like the coolest name we'd ever heard. 

On Tuesday we had a member visit with a girl with the last name Eyring, so we of course inquired about if she potentially had a connection to the 2nd counselor in the 1st Presidency. He's her grandpa! I told her that I'd met another guy who was a grandchild of his earlier in my mission, and that his name was Henry C. Eyring (as some of you may remember), to which she replied, "That's my brother!!"

Wednesday morning we had to go to the mission home to film some videos. The social media page I help create content for, Utah Orem Member Missionaries, is doing a new video series similar to that of the #HearHim videos the 1st Presidency and Quorum of the 12 have done, but with all the missionaries that work on the page. I've got a lot of friends that work on the page too so it was fun to hang out at the mission home for a bit. I told a story from a camping trip I went on before the mission, and if you want to hear it you'll have to go follow the page and wait for my video to be posted! Just search "Utah Orem Member Missionaries" on Facebook or Instagram and give it a follow, even if you're not in the UOM! It's designed to give people ideas on how to do missionary work over social media, and provide uplifting content to share on social media.

As for food this week, we went to this place called Lomito's one day. It's a South American restaurant, and they have some excellent Chilean sandwiches. The bread is really what makes it, and it's soooo good. Go if you wanna try something new! We also went to TruReligion, which is a popular breakfast place in Orem at Midtown 360, which is a big apartment complex that lots of people call "the great and spacious building." I remember going there with my Grandpa Snyder before the mission. We also hit Culver's which is growing on me, and Leatherby's too. 

As for Polynesian food this week, we meet with the Amodo family every week for dinner and a lesson for their son Jayden who is preparing for baptism. The dad made this really yummy Tongan dish, which was corned beef, onions, spinach, and coconut milk, baked for like 4 hours and served with rice. It was really good. Also a family in the Samoan ward had us for dinner on Saturday, and they had this absolutely legit BBQ with tons of people for their son's 9th birthday. Typical Poly BBQ foods are teriyaki chicken, mac salad, chop sui (clear noodles w/ veggies and more chicken), rice, and if they're Tongan then a chicken curry. They also had oysters on Saturday too! Sunday we dinner with a family in the Tongan ward: pork ribs, rice, chop sui, mac salad, egg rolls, and mango otai (a yummy drink with coconut in it). 

We went on 2 exchanges this week as well. I got to go back on a bike for a gorgeous spring day and it was so much fun. That area is also in a part of Orem that's completely flat too haha. On another exchange I was with an Elder that now covers another YSA stake, but used to cover a family stake in Orem. He told me about a Polynesian family he was teaching when he was in that area, so we called the Elders that cover that stake now and said that they'd never been able to meet with them. That stake is in my area for the Polynesian wards, so we decided to drop by, and they were outside and they totally remembered the Elder I was with! And now we're teaching them but in the Polynesian ward! Still have to figure out if they're Samoan or Tongan though haha....

Sunday Elder Barney and I gave talks in the Samoan ward, did some member visits, and we got to watch the devotional with President and Sister Nelson! It was really good, and it was a nice break from the day haha. Then we came home and awaited transfer calls.........and.........I'm STAYING!! With Elder Barney!! This is the first time I've ever done more than 3 transfers in an area, and I'm so glad it's this one. YSA was fun, but YSA and Poly has been an absolute blast, for missionary work and for having fun too. I've also been comps with Elder Barney since February and it's been such a blessing, and we're both so pumped to stay in this area and stay comps. And unless President decides to transfer me for my last transfer in 6 weeks, I could finish here too which would be soooooo epic. 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Biking

Summer Sunsets

Tongan Dinner

Week 90: Tongan Time!

Tongan Ward BBQ

Hey everyone! 

This was a great week! We had lots to do and lots of fun!

On Wednesday we had a great lesson with Conner. He's the guy that lives in Provo but his coworker who lives in in our area in Vineyard invited him to meet with us. We went over the plan of salvation. Conner isn't super set on any one way of believing, and he told us he basically chooses what he believes in if it sounds good to him or not. He believes in reincarnation, but really only because that sounded cool. We were trying to explain to him why he should pray about the things we were teaching him, but he wasn't really buying it. His idea of prayer is just talking to the universe, and he doesn't think he needs the universe to tell him what's right and wrong. His attitude in meeting with us is mostly just to learn about the Church, but we kinda had a breakthrough after the lesson. 

After the lesson we all went to Culver's. Conner's friend that we've been teaching him with, Logan, does a really good job of relating the gospel to Conner, and he really clutched up over dinner. Conner was expressing some of his frustration about dating here in Utah. He was saying he wanted to date "a Mormon girl," but he thinks that all "the Mormon girls" don't wanna go out with him because he's not a member. Then Logan told him, "Ya know, if you tell girls that you're meeting with the missionaries, they'll really wanna hang out with you." Conner looked at us and said, "Really??" From then on he was hooked. He was like, "I'm coming to church, I'm coming to activities..." Vineyard really is a better fit for him than Provo because it's an older YSA crowd out here. More Conner's age. Logan was saying to Conner, "Those returned-missionary girls are gonna wanna come with you when you meet with the missionaries, and they'll wanna go to church with you too! Imagine her sitting on the pew in her Sunday best, waiting for you to sit with her in church." Conner said, "That sounds like heaven!" 

Thursday was Zone Conference which was great. We talked about how amazing the Book of Mormon is and why it's always important to teach from it. Sister Evanson shared a really cool story about how her dad was inactive her entire life growing up, and that all of her nagging him never changed him, but that when she invited him to read the Book of Mormon when she was and adult he finally came around. President Evanson gave an awesome training about working with members, which is something I live and breath by now. Lots of missionaries feel like they're not getting anything done when they work through members, when in reality, they can get so much more done. It is slower, but it's so much more effective. I also played a piano duet with Elder Meredith, one of the APs. My trainer, Elder Petersen, gave his departing testimony because he goes home in like a week. I only have 2 zone conferences left anyway so that'll be me soon enough. 

Friday we had a lesson with Jayden and his family in the Samoan ward. Jayden really likes reading, and we brought him a kids Book of Mormon (the one with all the pictures), and we read the first story together to teach him about Joseph Smith, the First Vision, the gold plates, and the Book of Mormon. They're such an awesome family, and we have a lot of fun with them whenever we go. Jayden could totally get baptized very soon, but his family just doesn't really go to church ever. It'll be a slow process with them, but they'll get there. I know it. After that we went to the Samoan ward's Mother's Day party, and everyone there was saying "Elders make a plate!" before they even said hi. That ward is really excited for Dee's baptism, and they are all so willing to help out with it! 

Saturday we went to the Tongan ward Mother's Day party because we knew lots of nonmembers had been invited. That was where we learned about what Tongan Time is. All the posts and announcements said it started at 2 pm, so we got there at like 2:15 and there was like no one there; just a couple people setting up. We weren't sure if we'd missed something, or if they were going to start just a little late, so we started talking to one of the guys there for a while. Then he told us about Tongan Time. He said they wanted to the bbq to start at 4, but that if they announced it for 4, it wouldn't start till 6 because that's just how Tongan Time works. So, to start the bbq at 4 while accounting for Tongan Time, they announced it for 2pm. There was still a great turnout, got to meet some great people, and the food was AMAZING.

That was pretty much the highlights of the week. I'll tell you guys next week all about how Dee's baptism goes because it's happening tonight! We're excited and we think there's going to be lots of people. 

The Book of Mormon is true! It forces us to have faith! It is how we are able to feel God's love, learn about and come to Jesus Christ, and withstand temptation in our world! Read it! Read it!

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

Big Chicken

more from the Tongan Ward BBQ

La Iglesia

My ice cream at Leatherby's

My epic Zone at Zone Conference

Week 89: His Name is Dee

MLC

Hey everyone! 

Very busy week, so I think I'll just get started!

Wednesday was a long day because we had MLC all day which is always exhausting. It's always good to see old friends there too. I've got some friends in the mission that I only see at MLC stuff now. After that though we went to Texas Roadhouse for Elder Cecil's birthday. He's one of the Elders we live with, and someone gave them 2 $25 gift cards so we didn't have to pay which was epic. 

Thursday was actually pretty epic. We were doing a companionship study with some Elders in our zone when we got a phone call from some sister missionaries in Cedar City, UT. They said they were teaching a guy that moved into our area that is ready to get baptized! Then they said he lives in Provo and we were like, "Oh, well, you've got the wrong missionaries." TURNS OUT, while he did move to Provo, pretty much his only connection up in this part of Utah is his girlfriend, Kinsley, who attends our Samoan ward with her parents! So he goes to church with them and wants to get baptized into that ward! After we'd figured all that out we had a pass off lessons with the sister missionaries that were teaching him in Cedar City on Zoom. 

We got to meet with him in person on Saturday. His name is Dee, and he grew up in Maryland and went to SUU to play basketball. He said he'd been going to church since like last summer, and then has been meeting with the missionaries since January. He's excited to get baptized too, so when we met with him we just went over the baptismal interview questions to just go over all th stuff he's been taught by the Sisters. The only thing they hadn't taught him oddly enough was the law of chastity. Agreeing to live that was not an issue for him though, but afterward we taught it to him he did say, "How come they never taught me that? I feel like that's pretty important!" He's actually been to the Samoan ward a few times before with Kinsley when he's like visited up here I guess, so lots of people in the ward already know him which is great. He's getting baptized next Monday after pday, and we're excited! 

We also went on exchanges this week, and I brought Elder Cluff to my area. I asked him if he had any pioneer ancestors, because I've read about several Cluffs in Saints 1 and 2. He said he did actually, and that his first ancestor to join the Church way back when over in England was disowned by his family when he did. His family spelled their last name Clough, but still pronounced like Cluff, so when his family disowned him he changed his last name to Cluff. So he said if you meet anyone with the last name Cluff, he's related to them at least distantly, and they probably have at least have ties to the Church because that spelling of that last name was invented by a member of the Church. 

Friday we briefly went to a service project at the Polynesian wards' building just doing some work on the grounds of the church building. I was shoveling mulch into a truck bed and all the old Tongan guys kept clowning me about how I was shoveling. That's how you know they like you though haha. We also started teaching a family in the Samoan ward. They have a son, Jayden, that hasn't gotten baptized yet, but the whole family is pretty inactive so we're trying to help them with that as well. The whole family, including Jayden, want him to get baptized, so it's really just a matter of keeping commitments for them. They're a super chill family and they really liked having us over on Friday. 

Saturday we had CDC which was good, and President and Sister Evanson came as well. I shared some thoughts with my zone on using the Book of Mormon to teach, as well as working through members much more. The Book of Mormon is so legit, and it is so amazing that we even have it. When they say "the Book of Mormon was written for our time," they don't just mean that it contains the fulness of the gospel and restores truth and stuff. The Book of Mormon has the power to invite the Spirit into our lives and connect us with our Heavenly Father; 2 things we so desperately need to spiritually survive nowadays. I shared some similar thoughts when I bore my testimony in one of our YSA wards on Sunday. If you want to feel Heavenly Father's love for you, read the Book the Mormon. If you want any kind of qualm of complaint about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints resolved, read the Book of Mormon. 

Sunday was a long day because we had 3 sacrament meetings, then Polynesian stake conference in American Fork at the Alpine Tabernacle. It was a super cool meeting because it was actually mostly musical numbers. Everyone there sang really loud for the opening and closing hymns too. The Polynesian wards are so fun. No wonder Dee wants to join that ward! 

Love you all!

Elder Snyder

The Alpine Tabernacle in American Fork

Texas Roadhouse

At a service project with the Bishop of the Tongan ward

Me with a cool old church building

I love my UOM

My cousin, Josh, came to one of my wards!