Week 42: Reunions and A Real Mexican Mariachi band

Hola

Well this week was pretty great. I got to see Elder Lowry again. He had special transfers with the Zone leaders in another zone. Because the rumor is that his old companion is going to become an assistant but we wont know til next week. (Transfers are next week.) But it was super cool to see him again. 

Also last week I didnt have time to write everything but the family that we live above, their daughter returned home from her mission in Columbia. So her parents had a big party, made dinner for everyone, and even called a mariachi band to come and play. 

As for our investigators... We have new investigators in the church each week, but we can't seem to get our old ones to return. It is really frustrating not to have people progressing towards baptism. 

Also we had interviews with the Mission President this week. And he asked us all the normal questions like how we are, how is our area, what can we improve. Then at the end, I asked the president if he could share how he receives revelation for the transfers. And he told me that he starts by listening to all of the zone leaders and the assistants that tell him about the missionaries. Then he begins to fast. Then during his fast, he starts to figure out where all the missionaries are needed. And he says that sometimes he feels that he needs to give leadership positions to Elders so that they can develop more talents with their new responsibility. Then when he finishes he continues to pray until he receives a confirmation that everything is right and he feels calm. I don't think I described it to well, but the process was pretty cool. 

We also had a zone meeting on friday and we got to practice with one of the sister missionaries who is new in the mission. She arrived about 6 weeks ago and she reminds all of us of how we first were when we arrived in the mission field. She hardly knows any spanish, but everyone is helping her and encouraging her because we all know how hard it is entering into the field with a new language. 

And to finish off...Today we had a zone activity. We all met at the church. We then had to clean the entire church, because we can only have a zone activity if the zone has alot of baptisms and/or if we give service. So the service that we always give is cleaning the church. But afterwards, we all got to play volleyball, then we all ate carne asada. I am really sad because I did not bring my camera, but I have pictures of the mariachi band that came last week. 

Thanks for writing me and keeping me updated with all the things that are happening in your lives. 

Love you all so much

Elder Snyder 

Week 41: Conferencia! Lots of Teaching, and April Fools

Hola!

I hope everyone had a great conference weekend because everyone here did. It was so great to get to listen to all of our church leaders and that we can recieve revelation through them. Thanks for all the pictures that you sent. I really enjoy seeing everyone. I did not realize that matthew was so tall. When I first saw the picture I thought it was Josh. haha! 

Well this week was one of our best weeks of teaching lessons. We were able to teach alot of our investigators and many members were able to come with us to teach them. The sad thing was that we had to drop a few of our investigators because they were not progressing. We had to drop one guy that we were teaching and it was really sad because he was about to finish 1 Nephi in the book of mormon, but he would not come to church with us because he would go to mass every Sunday and he was not willing to go to our church. Then we asked him that if he recieved an answer from God would he be willing to come and see. And he still said no. 

But this week many of the missionaries played April fools jokes that are all pretty funny. So I would like to tell a few. First, so one of the district leaders called one of the companionships in his district. He then told the missionary he was talking with to change the name that was saved in their phone for the DL to President Munive. So the hermana changed the name of the district leader to the name of our mission president. Then 10 minutes later The DL called back and the other sister thought it was the president calling. Then the district leader's companion (who has a very good President Munive impression) began to speak with the hermana. He then told her that she would be having a special transfer and that her companion would be going to obregon the next day. Then still using his president munive impression, he told the sister that there was someone else he wanted her to talk to before he hung up. He then passed the phone to his companion, and his companion then said April Fools and then hung up. :)

The other April fools joke happened in the other zone. One of the Zone leaders was going to pull a prank on one of his district leaders. He then told the district leader that one of the sisters in his district had a really bad experience and she wanted to end her mission and go home and that she does not want to talk to anyone. The district leader was then all surprised and said that he would call the ZL back in 10 minutes. He then called the Zone leader back and told him that he just finished talking with our mission president and that the president was going to go to the sister's house and talk to her. He said that the president was in a nearby city and was going to hurry to Los Mochis to talk to her. The zone leader then started to freak out because he was like, "oh great! now I have to call the President and explain all of this to him." But then the district leader said April fools. haha! The district leader countered his prank. The hermana that was supposed to be the person who was going to go home early from her mission called the district leader 10 minutes before the zone leader and asked, "Did the zone leaders do the prank yet?" haha! So the district leader was ready and had prepared a prank for the zone leaders.

And General Conference was the highlight of my week. All of the American missionaries went into a room to watch conference in English, and there turned out to be 12 of us in all. I really liked the priesthood session, Elder Uchtdorf was super funny. It was also funny because my companion and I arrived late because we were bringing an investigator with us. So I walked into the english room where conference was on the television screen, sat down, got out my note pad, got ready to take notes then I realized that it was in Spanish. Then the same thing happened with a zone leader that arrived late. He sat down, got out his notes, he even started to write down notes, then he also realized, "wait, its in spanish." We ended up watching the whole priesthood session in spanish because we could not figure out how to change it back to english. 

Then sunday morning when the conference started we still could not get it back to english. So the members and the workers were trying to get it back into english and they thought they had fixed it…And we were all waiting for the opening prayer and then when the prayer started, it was in french!! Ahhh! We all started laughing because now we really could not understand anything. Then they switched it back to spanish and we heard all of Pres. Monson's talk in spanish, then after he finished speaking they got it back to english. So I got to hear the prophet speak in spanish this conference! 

But I absolutely loved everything that was said. I especially liked what was said in the sunday morning of conference. Everyone gave such great talks. It was funny towards the very end of the sunday sessions, everyone in the english room started to chant very quietly, "Holland, Holland, holland" then the choir began to sing, and everyone was like there is just enough time left for Elder Holland to speak. And we all started cheering when they announced that he was going to speak. He gave such a great talk. The way he started we all thought he was going to planch us. (planch is what all the missionaries say when someone gets roasted, or chewed out.) But no, he ended the conference so perfectly. I really love the way that he speaks and that he is so direct with everyone. 

I am so happy to know that we have living prophets today. That we are part of the same church that Christ established so many years ago. And that this is the only church that has the priesthood authority to preform saving ordinances.

Well that was my week.

Love you all so much

Elder Snyder

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

Week 38: Pirate Missionaries

Treasure Hunt Missionary Activity! Haha!

¡Bueno! Familia
So it seems like everyone was super busy this week. I am so happy that our cousins got to come visit. It looks like everyone had such a great time.

So this week was super fun with our ward mission activity. Our ward mission leader and his wife are so awesome. They made planning this activity easy because they basically did everything for us. We just had to invite everyone. When we got to the church to help set up for the activity Cecy (our ward mission leader´s wife) had brought costumes for all of the missionaries. So we all dressed up as pirates. I look half pirate half Slash, haha! But the activity was super fun. We had about 60 members from the ward go and they brought 10 of their friends to the activity so they did a good job of inviting people to come. And everything went according to our plan. I told everyone how it was going to work in my last letter. But one of the games that I really enjoyed was that at one station all the girls had to tie a tie on one of the guys on their team and if they didnt know how, (and pretty much all of them did not know how) the guys had to explain to them how to do it. It was pretty funny. Then when they won all their pieces of the map they could start searching for the mini treasure chests that we had hidden in the church. Each chest had a key and one of these keys would open the lock to the big treasure chest that we had in the cultural hall. And it was super funny when they opened the big treasure chest to only find Books of Mormon. Everyone's faces were filled with disappointment, haha! But what did they really expect?  It is a ward mission activity. haha!

And after that we passed out the Books of Mormon to everyone that attended and they all had to think of the person that they were going to give the book to in that moment. Then they had to write their testimony in the book and this week they have to give the book to the person they wrote down. And we have a list of everyone that went so now we just have to keep following up with everyone.

But then on Sunday, it was super disappointing because none of our investigatores went to church. It is so frustrating when all week we teach them and prepare them and in the end they dont go to church. Jesus Cota didnt go because one of his sons arrived from the united states and he wanted to spend the whole day with his family. And Ramiro, we passed by his house about an hour before church and he told us he was going to go. We even had a friend pass by to go pick him up. But he didnt end up coming. We later learned that night that during the day, he had a big fight with his mom. :( Hopefully we can help Ramiro, and teach his Mom about the gospel and how it can help them. 

And today we went to parque Sinaloa. I went once with Elder Lowry, but it was in Agosto (August) and I was dying of how hot it was. So this time it was alot more enjoyable. But there is not really much more to do here on Pdays. We sometimes spend the day in downtown just looking at all the shops but other than that, we just eat with other missionaries on Pday.

Well, I love you all so much. Thank you so much for your letters of advice. They really help me. Thanks for all your prayers and all that you do. I hope that everyone has seen the new video the church has put out for Easter.  It is pretty awesome!

les amo

Elder Snyder

At the Parque Sinaloa

Week 37: Another week in Mochis

Elder Lopez and I with Hermana Brown and some friends from Macapule

Hola

So this week we did a lot more walking than we would have liked. We contacted alot of people, but pretty much all of them did not want anything to do with us. But we were able to teach some lessons to our current investigators. Ramiro is awesome. He went to church this sunday and the ward was talking about their semi annual temple trip that they have and Ramiro asked if he could go too. Also we introduced him to the Word of Wisdom this last week. And he told us, " I have a cup of coffee every morning...well i guess not anymore." He accepts everything. Its awesome!

We are also teaching one man whose name is Jesus Cota. He is a really great person.  He always likes to make jokes and he almost always accepts us into his home. We are teaching him, but he still does not want to accept baptism. He doesnt want to make a commitment with us. But he always listens and he has attended church a couple of times, but right now he is waiting for his answer. We are praying that he can recieve it and recognize it. 

This Saturday we are going to have a ward mission activity. It is going to be super fun we are all really excited. It is going to be a treasure hunt. We are going to divide everyone into teams and then in teams they are all going to play 5 minute to win it type games. And at each of these little games they can win a piece of the map that shows where the treasure is hidden. We are going to hide 5 treasures for each of the teams and in each of the treasures there will be some chocolate gold coins and a key. And once everyone has found a treasure, we will all return to the cultural hall where we have a big treasure chest with a lock on it. And of all these 5 keys only one will open the chest. Then when the team with the right key opens the chest they will find that it is full of books of mormon. And after that we are going to teach everyone about how the book of mormon is like a hidden treasure in our day. That God loves us so much that he continues to speak to all of his children just has he did in ancient times. And just as he spoke to people in the bible, he also spoke to the people in the book of mormon. And that the purpose of the Bible and the Book of Mormon is for everyone to learn about Christ. And that with both of these books we can come to know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. But with the book of mormon, we can als come to know that the Lord has restored his church once again on the Earth by the Means of living Prophets. 

Today Elder Lopez and I did a lot of cleaning. We cleaned the whole house, and got rid of all the ice that was in our refrigerator. Then we when to Carls Jr with Elder Ried and Elder Cuevas. And as we were leaving we saw Hermana Brown and a few of our friends from Macapule. It was so nice to see them after a long time. 

Well, I still dont have your package but maybe tomorrow because we have our zone meeting tomorrow so their is still hope for this month. 

Well I love you all thanks for all your letters, support and prayers. 

Les Amo

Elder Snyder

Lunch at Carl's Jr

Week 36: Transfers! Staying in the Cuidad Los Mochis Mission

With Elder Tellez and Flor and her mom and the other Elders in our ward

Buenas tardes mi amada familia!

Well this week we had cambios and what do you think happened!? Well Elder Tellez and I both guessed that we were going to stay the same, but it turns out that Elder Tellez has been transferred. So I am going to stay here in Libertad. We were both a little sad because Elder Tellez and I got along really well. Elder Tellez has been one of the best companions that I have had in the mission. Elder Tellez was a little sad because he said, "man I feel like the ball of the mission, I just keep getting kicked around and sent to all the different corners of the mission." So today, we had the crazy day of going to the bus station, saying goodbye to everyone that was leaving, and hi to everyone that was arriving.

My new companion is Elder Lopez. He is from Aguas Calientes. And he is going to finish his mission pretty soon. He only has 3 cambios left. I will try to send pictures tomorrow. 

This week Elder Tellez and I finally were able to teach a family that we found our first week together.  They have been working so much this entire transfer, so we have not been able to teach them. They all accepted a baptismal date, but they have not yet gone to church with us. And this Sunday, they told us that they were going to go, but when we went by to pick them up none of them were ready to go. It was super sad. We were going to have 5 people that were going to come to church, but none of them came. Super sad! That Satan and that darn agency.

But I am happy that I didnt get transferred. I get to continue to serve my mission in the Cuidad Los Mochis Mission. haha! But Everyone in the mission says that Los mochis is one of the best places that you can get sent, because the weather is nicer and the city is alot cleaner. Also I dont really want to leave because now I know the city very well. I will feel very lost if I go somewhere else, but I am sure that someday I will have to leave.

I am glad you all liked the video of Bonnie. That dang dog always has so much energy in the morning. Well this letter is a little short but I am sure that I will have alot more to talk about with my adventures with Elder Lopez.

Cuídense mucho

Les amo

Elder Snyder