Week 40: Felices Pascuas (Happy Easter)

Hola

This week was very different. Here in Mexico almost everyone is catholic and Semana Santa (Holy Week) is one of the only weeks when everyone goes to church. But still so many people don't know a lot about what they are celebrating. We had so many people tell us that Jesus died on thursday and was resurrected on saturday. Also there were people in the streets dragging a cross behind them and a bunch of other strange stuff. And on Friday and Saturday there was no one in the streets because everyone went to the beach.  But we had a lot of lessons this week and 2 of our investigators went to church, so that was great. Luz is someone that Elder Tellez and I were teaching, and she always told us how she wanted to come to church, but she never came, so we kind of stopped visiting her. But this week Elder Lopez and I prepared a lesson just for her about the Sabbath and we were so happy when we saw her walk through the doors on Sunday with one of the ward families. 

Gustavo also came to church. Gustavo is so awesome. He told us that he wants to change his life and he accepted our invatation to be baptized. The only problem is that he is pretty much impossible to find in his house during the week. We will go looking for him in his house like 3 times a week and will never find him. But on Sunday, we go by his grandma´s house and there he is. So it is pretty hard to teach him during the week. But we are happy because it is his second time coming to church and he is trying. 

Oh something funny that happened this week was that one day we had to return to our house for something. And when we turned the corner, we could see that 3 people were knocking on our gate. As we got closer, we realized that it was the Jehovahs witnesses. So we got to have a little fun. We walked up to our house and opened the gate like we owned the place (because it was our apartment). It was super funny to see their faces all super confused, they then asked us, "Excuse me do you live here." And my companion replied, "Yes, Are you looking for someone?" Then all super confused they looked at the man who seemed like he had the most experience, who then asked if he could give us a pamphlet. And we were very respectful and accepted and then he began to explain what it said. And he started with a question. "Who do you believe controls the world? God, Human beings, Or some unknown force?" (The Jehovahs Witnesses always ask questions in this form and the answer is always none of the options that they give you….pretty deceiving.) My companion then answered, "God." And the Man then asked us, "How could God be in charge of the world if he lets so many wars, terrorist attacks, and children die. Then I answered that God allows all of that to happen because he gives us our agency. It was kind of funny after because he was like, "um yeah that is true, but we know that satan controls the world." Then he explained a little more and said that if we wanted to learn more we could go online. But it was a funny experience. I am so grateful for the knowledge that we have about the Savior. And how we have hope that through Christ we can overcome our weaknesses and be cleansed of our sins. 

I know that my Savior lives. I know that He suffered and died for our sins and that he was resurrected. And because he was resurrected we will all be resurrected. I love being a missionary and I am so happy that I get to serve here in Mexico.

I love you all

Elder Snyder

p.s. Elder Lopez and I made a type of cake that they make here in Mexico. We made 4 of them and gave them to the members in our ward. It sounds kind of weird because it is made out of crackers, but it is so good. 

Week 39: Getting ready for Semana Santa (Holy Week)

Hola cómo están todos!

Well it is starting to get a little hotter here in los Mochis and its making me kind of scared for summer to return. :( Also, I finally went to see an optometrist here and it turns out I need glasses. It is going to be a little weird now that I have to wear glasses, but in the afternoon I honestly cannot recognize people in the street until they get alot closer. It is mostly just annoying. I know that other people get headaches when they cant see that well so I am grateful that that is not a problem. 

As you all know the church has made a new video for the Pascua (Easter). So all this week we have been sharing this video with all the members and have been giving them cards that they are supposed to give to their friends, so that they can see the video also. I hope that everyone back home can do the same and share this great video. 

This week we had a few more lessons, but we are still having trouble teaching our investigators more than once during the week. It is just that everyone here is so busy. They are all trying to finish with their work so that they can enjoy semana santa (holy week). These next two weeks is when everyone starts to leave for vacation. So we are going to have to work extra hard to find more people to teach. 

Our Investigator Ramiro has been working so much. He works from 8 to 8. And most of the time he gets home really late. Sometimes we go by his house at 9 at night and he is still not back. He still wants to get baptized. He likes all the youth that are in the church and he is going on a campout with them this week. But he didnt go to church last week because he had to work. We are just waiting till he can attend church enough times so that he can be baptized. But his mom has started to listen to us. She has started to come out and talk to us some more, so that is great, but we still need to teach her and invite her to be baptized. 

One of our investigators, Gustavo, went to church yesterday. His aunt that lives in North Carolina, who is member of the church, brought him. So we were so happy to have someone there with us. He stayed for all three hours and it was kind of a miracle that he came because we were not able to find him at home this whole week. 

We are also super sad because one of our investigators is going to change their house. And it is sad because it is a couple that has a little daughter and the man (Geovan) is member but he went inactive right after he was baptized about 8 years ago. Geovan went to church with us one time, but has been working alot and his wife, who is not a member, said that she will support her husband in everything including going to church and getting baptized. They are great people, but they are going to move, so it is a little sad for us that we won't get to teach them anymore. 

Oh this week we also had intercambios. I stayed in Libertad with Elder Garcia, our district leader, who is also in Libertad. It was nice for Elder Garcia to get  to know a little better our ward. 

Well that is about all that happened this week. I'll let you all know how our semana santa goes. There are going to be less people, but that only means that we will have to work a little bit harder. 

I love you all.  Hope that everyone has a great spring break.

Les amo

Elder Snyder