Week 78: Feliz Navidad!

Hola 

Well this week was pretty great. We had a pretty average week with a baptism at the end of it. Everyone is getting excited for christmas and lucky for us no one is leaving to go visit family (unlike last year when we felt like we were in a ghost town.) 

This week we were able to find more new investigators but other than that that is pretty much it. 

We had our baptism on sunday morning because the family lives really far away and they dont even have enough money to pay for buses each week, but they come as often as they can. The boy who got baptized is named Rubén. He got baptized 4 years ago but the president never sent his record to the church HQ and we found the old record, but it didnt have any signatures or dates so the mission just told us to baptize him again. So we got to have another early christmas baptism gift. 

Today for our last free Pday we went to the suspension bridge that is in our area but this time we brought the zone leaders because they wanted to come see it. So we were all on the bridge and sometimes I forget that we are all still 20 year boys, so when we all got to the middle of the bridge everyone started to shake the bridge back and forth. It was pretty scary... it moves so much when we are on it but it is totally safe to cross (dont worry mom ;) ). So yeah we messed around on the bridge for a little bit then crossed our bikes over to the other side. Then when we were waiting on the other side, some guy on his bike came out of nowhere and crossed the bridge while riding his bike. So then all of us were like "oh so it is possible to cross while riding." Then a team of bikers came and they all went to go cross the bridge. And they all crossed the bridge super fast while riding their bikes. But while one of them was crossing the bridge one of the wooden planks fell off and into the water. So of course, all of us were like "okay on our way back we are all going to cross riding our bikes." 

After we went to a members house to go eat breakfast and then we returned to the bridge and this time everyone crossed the bridge while riding their bikes. I will send you a video so that you all believe me. But it was pretty fun. It was the biggest adrenaline rush that i have ever gotten my entire mission. haha

Well I love you all so much and I am so excited to see you all this christmas. I think that I will be calling around 4 on sunday. And we will be calling from the church computer, so I hope that the internet connection does not fail. It has not been working too well the past few weeks. 

Feliz Navidad... see you soon. 

Con Amor

Elder Snyder

Ruben's baptism

The suspension bridge

Week 77: Let's give it up for Los Elderes!!

Hola 

Pues we had a very fun week. We got to go to a baseball game and we had a baptism! On friday we all left Guasave and traveled to Mochis. We all met together in the church building in mochis... all the missionaries in Sinaloa. It was like a big reunion. Pretty much all my friends in the mission are in Sinaloa, so it was pretty much a party. At the baseball game we were pretty much the loudest fans there. We got put on the big screen a bunch of times too. We were right in front of the camera. And our presence was announced like 3 times throughout the game. The announcer would say, "Lets give it up for Los Elderes!" and when he would say that they would put us on the big screen and everyone would start going crazy. It truly was such a fun night. Then we had to spend the night with the different Elders in Los mochis and travel back the next day. 

Saturday was a pretty stressful day because when you have a baptism planned the opposition almost always gives you everything it has. So on tuesday we found out that there was no water in the church and that the only person in the church that had the key to the baptismal font had lost the key. So we spent the whole week trying to find the guy that has the key (another challenge: he does not have a cell phone and is almost never home). So on thursday the zone leaders told us that the guy had lost the key, but that there was a member in their ward that knows how to open locked doors. So we asked this guy if he could come to the church Saturday morning when we got back from the baseball game to open the door. So we got the door open after the guy battled with the door knob for a half hour. Then when we opened the door, we realized that the font was still full of water, and it smelled a little bad. So we had to drain the font, clean it, then deal with the problem that the church still didnt have any water. Luckily the bishop of the other ward was able to help us solve the water problem. So we were able to get the font filled and then we finally got to go home. 

Then we came back at 5 and the only people that were there with us was the girl's family. The person who got baptized is called Nohemy and she has been attending church for a long time but what happened was that she got baptized by a suspended member when she was 7 years old. So she had to get baptized again the proper way. And she asked me to baptize her :) But it was really frustrating because the branch president told us that he was going to come but when we called him he said that he was at a party and wouldn't be coming. So it was really sad nobody from the branch came to support. I got really sad I almost cried. I was so frustrated with the members. But it turned out to be a good experience and the zone leaders were able to come and helped us out by being the witnesses because no one else came. But Nohemy was happy and the next day she was able to be confirmed without a problem. 

Now this sunday we are going to have another christmas gift baptism. Another kid is 12 years old and has been in the branch for 4 years. But because of bad record keeping his baptism never made it into the system. I called Salt Lake with his data and they dont have him recorded as being baptized, so we will be having another baptism this Sunday. 

But I am so excited for our christmas call. I think that we will be calling from the church building because there isnt anyone in the branch that has a computer. And the president said that we can call for 45 minutes. Also our sacrament meeting gets out 1130 but I am pretty sure that I can call in the afternoon. I am going to check with the missionaries in the other ward because i think that they were also planning on calling from the church building. 

Well that is pretty much it. I love you all so much

Les amo

Elder Snyder

P.S. i forgot my camera again :( So I will send you pictures from elder Chavez´s camera and i will try to send the pictures from my camera tomorrow in the church building

At the baseball game!

Staying with the Elders in Los Mochis