Week 73: Transfers: Adiós 4 Milpas, Hola Alameda!

 

Hola!

 

It is great to hear from you. Wow I cant believe that our house has begun extreme home makeover. haha. I was also surprised that Trump won. I honestly know very little about their political stand points, but everyone here in Mexico is complaining about Donald Trump. They dont want him to be president. But I guess it happened, so it doesn't really matter. 

Well getting back to mission stuff, I have been transferred to alameda. It is a branch that is in the city of Guasave. It is south of los mochis. I am super excited. I have a lot of friends that have been in this area and they all say that it is really awesome. Our area is half of the city and the rest is all the pueblos that are on the outside of the city. I can't wait to get started. We also have bikes, so that is always fun. There are a few things that I have to fix on my new bike, but it should not be too much of a problem. Oh, I almost forgot to mention, but I am the new district leader here!! My district is small, it has one companionship of sisters and the zone leaders, but I am super excited for the opportunity that I have.

  

My new companion´s name is Elder Chavez. He is from mexico city and he has about 9 months in the mission. He has one brother and one sister and his Dad is not a member of the church. He also went to the church highschool that was in mexico city that is now the ccm. I have heard that he is super cool, so I am excited to have him as my companion. My old companion Elder Salazar is going to train in 4 mil pas.

So last week we got to hear from Elder Pieper. It was not what I thought it was going to be. When it was Elder Piepers turn to speak, he got down from the pulpit and then asked us what we wanted to talk about. So basically it was a Q&A type of meeting. We could ask whatever we wanted and Elder Pieper would respond. The thing that I like the most was when Elder Pieper talked about the sacrament. He explained what it really means to participate in the sacrament each week. He said that every time we take the sacrament we reaffirm the covenants that we have made. And these covenants that we have made are found in D&C 20:37. He said that everytime we take the sacrament we are committing to do these things. He also said that the sacrament renews all the covenants that we have made like baptism, being ordained to the priesthood, covenants in the temple, and the sealing ordinance. All of these things we renew when we partake of the sacrament. That is why it is so important that we partake of the sacrament every week. We need to renew our covenants and we need the promise to have the holy ghost with us. Someone asked what we should do to feel the influence of the holy ghost more in our lives and he said that we just need to do a better job of keeping our covenants. He said that the promise is already there that we can always have his spirit to be with us if we keep our covenants. I learned a lot of really cool things, but I heard that the conference that he had with the missionaries in Obregon was a little better because the missionaries were asking more of the right questions. 

Oh I also got my package just in time for transfers. So I got to open it, then pack it all up again last night. But thank you so much. I loved all the things that you sent. I was able to give out quite a few HLJ (CTR) rings before I left. I also love the BOM coloring books. I hope to make good use out of them here. 

Thank you so much for everything. Love hearing about your lives. Love you all so much

con amor

Elder Snyder

Week 72: Missionary work at the Coca-Cola Factory

A Tour at the Coca-Cola Factory

Hey

We had a pretty great week. We have had some pretty great lessons with our investigators. Elder Salazar and I could both feel the spirit in our lessons and we know that the people we were teaching could feel it too. Also it was día de los muertos this week and everyone went to the cemetery to visit the graves of their ancestors, so there were not too many people home.

We also went to a new pueblo that we have never visited this week. It is called Zapotillo. There is a member family that lives there that recently started attending in our branch and they offered to give us lunch on friday. So we got a ride with one of the members to go there because it is kind of far away. But we got to know their family a lot better. They took us out to eat which was really nice and then in the afternoon they took us to meet all of their nieghbors. So we met a bunch of new people. Then at night they bought us hot dogs and gave us a ride all the way back to our house. 

Then that same night President Myers wanted to interview us because the last time he came he didnt have time to interview us. So we were waiting in the casa de oración for him to arrive. Then after waiting for quite a while, we called him and it turned out that he got lost trying to find our little branch. So I explained to him where he needed to go and then he finally arrived. Then President Myers interviewed us and we both could tell that he was super tired. But it was really nice to talk with him. He is such a great president. I love him and his wife so much.

We also got some big news. Paul B. Pieper is going to speak to our mission. We have a conference this thursday, so I think I will get to use my new suit much sooner than I thought. Everyone is also super excited to hear him speak, and to see all the other missionaries together again is always super fun. 

Well today was one of the most fun Pdays of my mission. So there is a coca-cola factory here in los mochis and we have always wondered if the factory gave tours. So one day we saw one of the workers delivering soda to a store and we asked him if they gave tours. He said yes and gave us the phone number of the person that was in charge of all that. So we called about a month ago and we got scheduled to come visit today. So we got a tour of the entire facility and we actually learned a lot. I think it is the most educational thing that I have done in my mission. haha! They explained the entire processes of how they filter the water, clean the bottles, how they fill them, and then cap them. Then we got to see all the machines and engineers behind it all. We learned that fanta and other sodas have more sugar than coke and that coke is 90% water. And we asked why everyone says that coca-cola is better in Mexico than USA, and they told us that the recipe is the same in the whole world the only difference is the water that gets used. They said that the water sometimes does not get treated as well as it does in other areas and that is the largest factor in the taste. haha!

It was really funny because at the beginning of the tour when the woman introduced herself to us she told us that normally they only get visits from schools and that this was the first time that they had a "congregation" visit. hahaha we all got a really good laugh about that. Then after the tour they opened a fridge with a bunch of different beverages and said that we could choose whatever we wanted. So naturally everyone chose coca-cola. Then we went back to the presentation room and the woman in charge of the tour started to ask about our church. It was really funny because she said "I also thought that your church was the one that did not drink soda? But when I saw everyone grab a coca-cola I got really confused." It was pretty funny. We all started to laugh and then we got to explain what we believe and what we do. Who would have thought that our tour would have turned into a missionary opportunity. We ended up giving her a book of mormon and she said that she really wanted to read it because she always wanted to know what happened with the people that were here in america. 

I hope that I get my package this conference but if not I will get it really soon because we have transfers next week. I love you all so much. I hope that you all have an amazing week. 

te quiero mucho

Elder Snyder