Week 97: TrAnSfErReD fOr mY LaSt 6 wEeKs?!?

Group photo with Elder Bednar...Can you find me?

Hey Everyone,

This was actually a really awesome week. Lots of great stuff.

We did a member visit with a YSA dude who is actually an adjunct professor at BYU, teaching a class on the Pearl of Great Price. After we shared a message with him, he asked if we wanted to see some old books he had, which E. Barney and I heartily agreed to. He had an 1870's Pearl of Great Price that he bought from Moon's Rare Books in Provo (an old book collector's store, owner is Reid Moon), and another 19th century Doctrine and Covenants which was really cool. He had several others, and E. Barney and I felt like it was Christmas morning. He hadn't even gotten out the coolest book yet though. *Church nerd moment alert* Then he got out a printed copy of a drafted manuscript of the Pearl of Great Price by Bruce. R. McConkie that was never canonized by the First Presidency. Some of E. McConkie's inclusions in his abridgement of the Pearl of Great Price was every passage of Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, the entire Wentworth letter, and the Articles of Faith with TWO additional verses added by E. McConkie! Since this abridgement was never canonized though, it was never published.

You might be wondering: How did he get this book? Well, he got it from helping a friend clean out her late father's old book collection. He said he just grabbed a bunch of books from the collection without really looking at them and offered his friend $500 for the box. She agreed because she didn't know how much they were worth and wasn't planning on keeping them anyway. But you might also be wondering: How does this book exist? Well, he said that somehow someone had to have bootlegged the unpublished manuscript, and then had it compiled into this book. The inside of the book said there were only 20 copies ever made, and that his was #9! He said he took it to Church history authenticators, who confirmed it was real. Then he said he took it to Moon's Rare Books and that Moon didn't have one of these and offered to buy it off him on the spot! Then he took it to rare book appraisers and discovered that the book was worth around $3,000!!

I also saw Maddy Stout at the Orem Chick-fil-a this week (except her last name isn't Stout anymore but I don't know what it is). She's from the home ward. I actually ran into her younger brother Cooper earlier in my mission back when I was in Draper haha. She also asked if I'd gotten a perm haha.

We had another great lesson with Nanaka this week. We finished teaching the plan of salvation and she loved it. She loves reading the scriptures and and praying and going to church. She's really fitting into Utah quite well haha. We love getting to teach her because it's her first time ever hearing anything like it before.

Friday morning we had a basically had a mini-ZC. A couple zones got together so we could have a brief devotional about Joseph Smith to commemorate the anniversary of his death, which is actually today. My mission president knows a lot about Joseph Smith. His wife said he owns almost every book ever written about him, good and bad. She said he taught an Institute class about him before too. President Evanson taught us a lot of cool things about Joseph Smith. I honestly love Joseph Smith, but what really helped me develop that connection to him was reading Saints 1. I've read all the Saints books now, but #1 is still the best because it's such an awesome story of good v. evil, and you just are rooting for the underdog Joseph Smith the entire time. You'll love reading it. I promise.

Sunday we had an awesome lesson with Ryan. We don't get to meet with him very much because he and his girlfriend, Channing, travel a lot. They've been dating for a while, and Channing served a mission in Chile, so Ryan has been able to learn a lot about the Church. He's already lived in Utah for like 6 years and has met with missionaries before. He said he stopped meeting with them because they really wanted him to get baptized, but he didn't then and doesn't now feel ready to join the Church yet. We told him it's great that he understands the commitment, then we asked him if he believes the Book of Mormon is true. He said he didn't know yet, but that he's trying to find out. I asked if he's ever read and prayed about it, and he said, "Well Channing and I read it like every day, and I pray about it like every night, and I go to church every Sunday too." E. Barney and I were floored. We were like, "Well, you're doing everything you need to be doing, so just hold on and that answer will come!" I asked him, "What would it mean for you to know that the Book of Mormon is true?" He said, "That'd be life-changing!"

Sunday was a very long day. We had a 7:30am meeting with the stake and ward missionary leaders, then 3 sacrament meetingsm, then a munch and mingle, then the lesson with Ryan, then 2 ward prayers, and a ward Come Follow Me. All of that followed by transfer calls! Right as we pulled in back at our apartment, President Evanson called and gave us the news. I am in fact being transferred for my last 6 weeks. I'm going to American Fork! I'm covering 3 stakes out there, and it's my old comp E. Dieker's area. I'm excited actually. I'm pumped to just go hard in an area I know I won't get sick of cuz it's only 6 weeks haha. I knew going into these transfer calls that whatever happened, good or bad, it would only be for 6 weeks. My new comp is a young buck named E. Petersen. Appropriately so because my first comp was named E. Petersen, and now my final comp will share the same name.

American Fork is actually the land of my forefathers. I have some pioneer ancestors that got their endowments in the Nauvoo temple and then yeeted across the plains that were Chipmans, and my grandma Snyder's maiden name is Chipman. The Chipmans were among the first settlers of American Fork, and a lot of them are buried in the American Fork cemetery. I guess I was destined to serve there haha. I'm also being released as a zone leader, but it feels more like I'm retiring haha. I'll still be a district leader, but I'm looking forward to having a little less responsibility haha. My homie E. Albritton, whom I was a zone leader for the entire time I was a zone leader, is now my zone leader!

Being a zone leader, and in YSA, and in Poly, has taught me so much. The only area I've ever done more than 3 transfers in was this one, and that 4th transfer made a big difference. The members knew me by name, and I knew them too. I always felt like an honored guest in the Poly wards, and that I was always among friends with them and in YSA. The amazing thing about my mission is that I don't really have to say goodbye. People will always ask me, "Ya gonna come back to visit?" and I'll say, "Ya can't come BACK to visit if ya don't leave!"

Love you all!

Elder Snyder