Hola!!
Thank you Mom and Dad for sending those letters and the cookies. I shared the cookies with my district and everyone said they love my family now! haha! Time here at the CCM seems to be going by so fast. Yes, the days are long, but the weeks are short. Oh, and I saw Courtney Z. here. That was fun to see someone from home.
There wasn't anything really new that happened this week. However, one thing that was different was that we got to watch Elder Packer's funeral. It was pretty cool and it was nice also to take a break from our everyday schedule. I also had to speak in sacrament meeting, all in Spanish, of course, so that was fun. But I really think that my Spanish is improving so much each day. In our lessons, I can understand most of what our investigator is talking about, and I can say a very simple answer to our investigator in Spanish. I can also say all of my prayers completely in Spanish and after only 3 weeks in the CCM! That is just incredible to me.
We also had a really great devotional. It was given by a member of the Quorum of the Seventy, who is from Mexico (not sure of his name, but we all called him the "Mexican Elder Holland"). He was speaking to us in English, using very simple language because English is not his primary language. And because there were so many Latiños in the room, there was someone translating his talk. So one moment, he would say a sentence, then he would pause and let the translator speak in Spanish. And it would just go back and forth the whole talk. So I was trying to translate what he was saying from English to Spanish before the translator could. Sometimes the translator couldn't think of the word right away, so the speaker would say it in Spanish before him, and vice versa. The main reason we called him the "Mexican Elder Holland" was because he spoke with so much emotion and passion, that even though his words were so simple, you could still feel the power of his message. It was about how we need to be truly converted to this Gospel if we want to be able to teach it on our missions.
So last week, you asked about the desks in the classroom...So our classroom is composed of our district, which means, 4 elders, and 2 hermanas. And the desks in the classroom are shaped like trapezoids. So everyday, we come up with a new formation for the desks. Sometimes it is the tessellation in the picture I sent, or it is just different islands, or like this week, it was "mega desk"…where we just combined every desk to make a huge table.
A funny story that happened about 2 weeks ago that I forgot to share was when one companionship was teaching an investigator about the prophet and the Elder meant to say, "Yo sé el profeta..." which means "I know the prophet..." But instead he said, "Yo soy el profeta" which means "I am the prophet." Then immediately after, he asked the investigator if she would follow the prophet. It was so funny!!!
Well that's all for this week. I love hearing from all of you. I love my mission so much and I love all of you so much as well. I heard a really great quote from another Elder which is, "You leave behind the things you love for 2 years, so that you can serve the God you love more." I love this Gospel so much and I am so happy that I will soon have the opportunity to share it with others.
I love you all so much and I am so grateful that I have been blessed with such an amazing family.
Hope you have a fun time in Utah. I am especially jealous of the white water rafting trip that you are going to do. And yes make sure Elly and Parker end up in a kayak together. haha! And please make sure to say hola to all the "tousins" (Cousins) for me.
Love,
Elder Snyder
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| What missionaries at the CCM do for fun. haha!! |
