Week 8 - Enrique's Baptism

Hola,

So we had our first baptism with Enrique on Saturday. Enrique was the man who kind of stutters and I can hardly understand anything of what he says. But his baptism went very well. And like 5 minutes before, Elder Lowry asked if I could give a short talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost. So I was able to talk for about a minute or two on what the gift of the Holy Ghost is, and I thought it went decently well. The next day, we confirmed him a member of the church and all went well. We just hope he continues to go to church because he is moving this week, and right after sacrament meeting, he had to go work, so hopefully everything works out for him.

I also learned why we don't drink the water. No, I did not drink it and find out. It was when we were filling the font with water and what looked like little green leaves were coming out of the faucet. I then asked Elder Lowry what that was, and he told me that it was mold from within the pipes. Pretty nasty, huh. All the mold leaves just end up all over the bottom of the font. And the on going joke here is that those are the persons sins that got washed away.

Our ward is small. I'm not sure how many members there are, but there are usually like 47 people in attendence. The members are very good to us. We get comida everyday except Pday. And what they feed us varies, and it is hard to describe because I don't know what anything is called. But the past few meals we have had gorditas.

And Dad…your former mission companion, Adam Lowry...is Elder Lowry's Dad!!! His Dad confirmed it because he wrote Elder Lowry back saying he had a companion in Montreal named Paul Snyder from Thousand Oaks and he was very musically talented. What are the chances?!!

I'm glad you shared your experiences about your struggles with the language because trying to understanding everyone is so hard and tiring. But this week I have improved so much. About 50 percent of the time, I know exactly what people are saying, and then the other half, I just try to make an educated guess, and it works out pretty well. I usually have at least one part in the lesson that I get to share besides just bearing my testimony. But I am alot more confident in talking with people now, however, I still don't like to lead conversations. I can pretty much say anything I want, but it is with the limited words that I know, so it is a very simplified idea of what I am trying to say.

So on viernes (Friday), we had ínter cambios (exchanges) with the zone leaders because Enrique needed to be interviewed for baptism. So, I went with Elder Adams to his area in Del Valle, and Elder Sican stayed here with Elder Lowry. Now the zone leaders have a house that they live in. The bottom floor is bigger than our entire apartment and they have a whole second floor too. So from there, we started our day, and we taught a lesson with a recent convert, and then for like the rest of the day, we could not find anyone. All of our appointments fell through. Now their area is a pueblo, so it is very poor. We had to walk very far to get to this one part of their area and the houses are literaly like shacks. There is a concrete floor, but the concrete wasn´t set right. So it is like someone just poured concrete on the floor and then it hardened over all the little bumps and things so the floor is not flat. Also it just looks like wood is built around the concrete and then there are just a bunch of metal sheets that make up the walls. Also, all the houses here, even the nicer ones have no insulation, so it is literally like the people are living in an oven. But after we had no luck and sweating more than I have sweat here so far, we saw a family sitting on their porch, and we decided to talk to them. They then gave us their chairs and told us to sit as they went in to get more chairs. We were then able to teach them part of the first lesson on why there are so many churches and how they can discover which one is true through prayer. They are a really great family, and I wish that I could continue teaching them. 

Then we had an appointment with this man that the zone leaders met the other day. They weren´t even planning on contacting him, but the man asked them if they were thirsty and if he could bring them some water. So we had a lesson with him, and he is just great. He has two little kids and when we asked him what he really wants in this life, he said, he wants to be an example for his kids and be a great husband to his wife. Perfect missionary answer. He also has a strong testimony of prayer, because it was through prayer that he was able to stop drinking. And to bring it all together, he accepted our invation to be baptized. Again I am really sad that I don't get to keep teaching him, but I am thankful for the experience.

We then returned home after acquiring some dogs. One of the members in that area owns a hot dog stand, so alot of the time he gives the missionaries free dogs. The hot dogs in Mexico are AMAZING!!! They are always wrapped in bacon and are just topped with so much magic it is pretty much indescribable.

When we got home, I just started sweating so much because the house was an oven. We finished planning for the day and in just that half hour, my shirt was drenched! It was nasty! I then thought how the heck am I goining to sleep in this heat and being so sweaty. But then when I opened the door to the bedroom, I was pleased to find that the room was freezing cold! There was an AC in the tiny room! 

Well, that's all. It's sad that Scott and Dawna are moving. I know everyone is going to miss them. And sounds like things are busy with all the before school activities. I love hearing everything that is going on and thanks for all the pictures you send. They always make me smile. :) 

Love,

Elder Snyder

A Mexican cat

A Mexican dog

The sisters decorated my daily planner.

Our kitchen

Week 7 - The city of Mochis...Let the sweating begin!

¡Hola!

¡Feliz cumpleaños para mi favorito hermanos! (Happy Birthday to my favorite brothers!)

Thank you for sharing everything that has happened this week. I love hearing all the stories that are happening back home. That sounds so awesome that Parker and Matthew got to ride in a McLaren for their birthdays. And the pictures too... it is nice to see everyone still looks as I remember them. 

Girls camp looks super fun. I am kind of jealous, it sounds like everyone had a great experience even though there were bison roaming around. haha!

So I apologize because I was not very clear as to where I am in my mission. But to be fair, I didn`t really have any idea either. So with that, I am in the state of Sinaloa, in the city of Mochis, and our area is central Mochis or Macapule B. As for the name of the city, I don't know why it is called Mochis, my companion and I joke that it is the city of backpacks (mochilas). 

So our mission is very hot! Big surprise, I know. After being outside for about five minutes, I am soaked in sweat. A lot of people here carry around rags just to wipe the sweat off, so I plan on investing in one of those. The worst is when you are in someone's house and they think the fan is pointed at you, but its actually not. Then you just wish you had a rag to keep the sweat out of your eyes and from dripping down your face. It sounds pretty gross, and it is, but it is normal here. When you shake someone's hand you don't have to worry about your hands being sweaty, everyone just expects it. (And you know me, it is quiet a relief because my hands are always sweaty.) :) Oh, and because we sweat so much, we get to drink this really great drink called Suero. It is basically this drink that has different flavors such as apple, fruit punch, or coconut. The only catch is that it taste like someone has poured a bunch of salt in it. So basically it is like drinking a slightly less salty ocean. So it brings back memories of swallowing salt water. But the reason is because we sweat so much, we lose a lot of salt, and if you lose too much, you get dehydrated even if you are drinking a lot of water. So in order to get back those salts, we drink Suero.

As for my first week... it was hard. I am glad you shared your times of difficulty on your mission, so that I can know that it is not easy for everyone. 

So, my very first lesson. We went to one of our progressing investigators houses, Enrique. Enrique will hopefully be getting baptized this Saturday if everything goes as it should. So we sit down to teach Enrique. Now I left the CCM with a decent amount of confidence because I could understand about 70 percent of what someone was saying to me. Now I can honestly tell you that I understood absolutely nothing of what he said. I did not recogize a word. Even when he said the prayer! There are specific words that we always use in a prayer, and I heard none of them. This is mainly because Enrique speaks kind of quietly. He does not open his mouth at all and he stutters at pretty much every word. I think what makes it really hard is the stuttering, which at times makes it difficult to understand what someone is saying in English, but in Spanish it is pretty much impossible for me at the moment. So my companion takes the lead in all of our lessons. And the only way that I know what is going on is because I can understand my companion. 

Now most of all the other lessons go in a pretty similar manner. Except I pick up a few words here and there, but not enough to actively participate in the lessons. I get to share my testimony and I can give a little insight but that has been pretty much all I have been able to do. I rely a lot on Elder Lowry to carry the lesson. And I am extremely grateful for his patience. 

So missionaries are supposed to eat one large meal with the members. Now in the U.S. that is dinner, but here in Mexico it is Comida, which starts at 2:30. But Comida is one of my favorite parts so far... the food is always sooo good! So we eat breakfast, then we have to wait until comida at 2:30 to eat, and then because we don't eat dinner with the members, we work until we get home at 9:30. Then we do our daily planning and with the time left, we have to scrape up some dinner and get ready for bed at 10:30.

Oh, and another thing that I was not expecting was that I have had to help give two priesthood blessings. So I was the one who annointed the oil. But the problem with that was that it had to be in Spanish, go figure. But not that that was bad... what was really hard was that the people here have very long names and I pretty much have no idea what they are saying. So the first blessing my companion repeated the name to me as I was giving the blessing. Then the other time, we were giving one to a hermana and she was nice enough to write her whole name down for me. So that was fun. :)

So to get around, we mainly walk everywhere...so we sweat a lot!! We are always sweaty when we go into someone's house and it is very nice when we get invited inside because they usually try to make sure the fan is pointed towards us. But to get to our church we take a camión or bus. The buses are always fun because each one looks different but they all drive the same. The bus drivers stop for anyone on the road (because you have to pay 7 pesos each time you get on) so the bus stops when you least expect it, and you can tell the bus driver to stop pretty much anywhere. Also there are no traffic laws in Mexico. So people are crossing anywhere in the road that they want, and a red light only means stop if you want to.

I love you all so much and thanks for all you prayers and everything you have done for me. This experience in Mexico is really testing my faith, but I know that with the help of the Lord, He will make weak things become strong and help us after the trial of faith. 

Les amo

Elder Snyder

The city of Mochis

The Washer...

and Dryer

Dinner

Week 6 - Welcome to Obregon!

¡Hola!

So this week has been pretty crazy. First off, we saw the best devotional ever right before we left the CCM on Sunday. It was given by Elder Bednar in the Provo MTC last Christmas. Honestly, it was probably the greatest thing I have ever watched. If I could only recommend one thing for you to watch, it would be this. It was just incredible... please watch it! It talks about what it means and takes to become truely converted and have a Christlike Character. We also watched a mormon message that was the best mormon message I have ever seen. It is called missionary work and the Atonement and it has Elder Eyring and Elder Holland. It is very powerful.

But enough of me telling you what you should watch. Let me tell you about the longest day of my life! 

So, it all starts (Monday, Aug. 3) at 1:20 a.m. when we all woke up to get ready to go to the reception area. So we get to reception at 2:00 so that they can make sure our bags are under weight and get us all ready to leave by 2:30 for the airport. We then get to the airport and it takes us about an hour and a half to get our bags checked. When we finally get to the terminal it is about 5:00 a.m. and our plane leaves at 6:05. We all then proceeded to go find a payphone to call our families. Unfortunately, it was pretty much impossible to call because you had to tell an operator what number to dial, except you could not hear the operator at all. So eventually we all gave up. 

Then we all boarded our plane and began our journey to Cuidad Obregòn on about 2 hours of sleep. So our plane left at about 6:10, but there is a 2 hour time change going to Obregòn. So when we landed it was about 6:20, however the flight took about 2 hours. So we get to add 2 more hours to our day!! 

When we landed, we got to meet our mission president, who was there to greet all of us at the airport. This airport was tiny! It was the smallest airport I have ever been too. Yes, it is even smaller than the Idaho Falls airport. There was only one termal and we were the only passenger plane there.

We then go outside to get into the van that is going to transport us to the mission home. But then we are greeted with quite a surprise. It is about 6:30 in the morning and we are all in suits and it is already about 90 degrees and it is humid. But honestly, what did I expect! 

Then we got to the mission home where we had to endure through another orientation. From about 7:30 to 2 where they tell us everything we can and cannot do. This basically means don`t be stupid. For example, don`t talk to the drug lords or big guys with guns (yes that was really one of them). But don`t think I just blew the whole thing off. I learned a lot about our mission rules. Like our whole mission, we are not allowed to have any soda. And that is because it will dehydrate us. But it was very hard to stay awake and attentive because we only had 2 hours of sleep and we were sitting down watching a power point in a dimly lit room. 

Then the time came when we finally got to meet our companion and trainer. It was very exciting. My trainer`s name is Elder Lowry. He is from Utah. He has been out for almost a year and his Spanish is amazing. He sounds like a Latiño and is fluent. He is also the District Leader in our area. So I am very happy that I will be able to learn more Spanish by listening and hearing him speak, and if I am really confused, I can still ask him to explain in English. 

I then asked Elder Lowry where our area was and he told me that it is about 3 hours from the mission home. The name of our area is Macapule. So just when I thought I was done traveling we started out again. So we shared a taxi with another companionship to the bus station, where we would take a travel bus to our area. At the bus station we were able to contact a few people before we were able to get on the bus. There were about 4 companionships with us on the bus to where we were going. We got there at what I believed to be 9:30, however I learned that Sinaloa has daylight savings time so it was actually 10:30. Then we took a taxi with another companionship to our apartment (their area was too far away to take a taxi too, so they were going to spend the night at our apartment.) 

We then get to the apartment, which is just incredibly tiny. There is a tiny room right in front of the door where we study, a corner where the kitchen is, and our small bedroom. At that point, I was so confused as to why this other companionship is staying with us. We then walked to a 7-eleven type of store to buy dinner because everywhere else was closed. Then we all started getting ready to sleep. We pushed the 2 beds together so that more of us could sleep on it. So there were 3 of us sleeping on the 2 put-together beds, and Elder Lowry slept on a blanket on the ground. Then we went to sleep at what I thought was 11, but it was actually 12 because of the daylight savings. 

And so concludes the longest day ever!!! 

The next morning, we walked with the other companionship to show them where the bus stop was. Now the bus that picked them up did not look like a bus. It was just this big sketchy van looking thing with marker written on the window. But they got on the bus with confidence and that was the last we saw of them. Elder Lowry later told me that the "buses" sometimes have holes in the floor so that will be interesting to see.  

I am so excited to serve my mission here. I love how crazy everything is here, and I can`t wait for my Spanish to improve so that I can share the gospel with confidence. I love my mission and I can`t wait to give it everything I`ve got.

Love, 

Elder Snyder

With my trainer, Elder Lowry

Some pictures of my apartment

Week 5 - Last P-day at the CCM and "The Plague!"

My district and I enjoying those cinnamon rolls! Thanks again, Mom!

Hola!

Well this week has had a lot of excitement. First of all let me tell you about "The Plague" that has infected the CCM. On Sunday morning one of the hermanas in our zone was sick with something. Then later that afternoon, one of the hermanas in our district wasn´t feeling so well so she went back to her room. Then after the movie we got to watch, (It was Meet the Mormons, and it was cool because it was in English with Spanish subtitles and I was able to understand pretty much all of the subtitles.) But after the movie, the CCM presidency announced that there was something going around and everyone should make sure to wash their hands and be very careful. That is where it all started.

The next day, Monday, the plague began to spread. It showed no mercy. We watched all day people getting picked up by the clinic golf cart. Everyone who was on it looked like they wanted to die. One kid had his head just pressed up against the seat in front of him. And I am not kidding, we saw that golf cart everywhere... it was at everyone´s house! Then, towards the end of the day, the hermana in our district finally started feeling better, so she was able to come to class. But the plague would not stop there. Next, it took Elder Reid from our district. And he had to go home towards the end of the day. 

Then once we finally headed home, the plague had infected our roommate, elder East. So that night all the missionaries who had not yet been infected by the plague hung out in the living room. We seriously felt like we were the people that were in "I am Legend," just biding our time to see who the plague would take next. People started placing bets on who would be next.

The next day came and me and Elder Tice remained uninfected, but our roommate was still sick, and so was elder Reid. So at class it was just my companionship and the hermanas. One of the hermanas, we are convinced is immune because she has been on splits with all the other hermanas that were sick, yet she still remains uninfected. 

Tuesday seemed to be the last major day of the plague. We talked with doctors, and they told us that there were about 100 missionaries that were reported sick. It is just crazy. Me and Elder Tice seem to be some of the few survivors of the plague.

But other than that the week has been pretty average. We have continued to teach our investigators. We have had to teach the fun lessons, like the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity, where I have very limited use of vocab in those areas.

The Utah trip sounded like a lot of fun. I laughed at the image dad gave me of Katie hiking. Mom, I hope you have a fun time at girls camp and the mosquitoes don´t wake you up at night. Literally, every night I have been woken up by this mosquito that I swear was sent by Satan. It always flies in my ear and wakes me up. Then it just taunts me by flying in my ear every few minutes after that. I even put the sheet on my head and it still tries to fly in my ear. I can hear it through the sheet! Also if I sleep with any part of my body uncovered, I wake up covered in mosquito bites. I left my hand out the other night and I woke up with 8 bites on my left hand! It is crazy.

But I am so excited to get to my mission. Someone checked the weather for Cuidad Obregón the other day and said that it was 112 degrees!! I'm excited to go to a place where the hottest day in the CCM (Mexico City) is the coolest night in my mission! haha! I heard that the Senora desert is the third hottest place in the world!! But really, I am so happy to get the opportunity to go and teach the people. I feel that I have learned all the spanish I could learn in the CCM and I just need to practice speaking. I am very grateful for all the time I have had in the CCM and all the teachers that I have had. Next time I email I will be in Obregón!!

Love you so much,

Elder Snyder

Week 4 at the CCM - The Mexico City Temple (Wednesday, July 22)

¡Hola!

First...Thank you for the cinnamon rolls!!  Me and my district are going to enjoy them tonight! Everyone always gets so jealous when you send me stuff.  My companion, Elder Tice, emailed his Dad last week and asked if he would please send him a package through the Mexico missionary site, and he was so happy when he received a package yesterday.

Today we got to visit the temple in Mexico City. Unfortunately, the temple has been closed for several months, but they are going to be having a reopening once I leave. So sadly, I do not get to go inside the temple in Mexico City. And there is no temple in Cuidad Obregón. The closest temple is the Hermosillo temple which is in the mission above mine. So, if I want to go to the temple while I am on my mission, I am going to have to convert a family and then hopefully in a year, I will be lucky enough to be invited to join them in the temple when their family gets sealed. But anyways, the temple looks really pretty and hopefully someday I will be able to go through it.

So, yesterday they opened the brand new comedor (dining room), and it is so nice!! I´ll take a picture of it next week. It is just so much nicer than the other one we used to eat at. The church spared no expense. Also our building where our classroom is, is under renovation for the next few weeks, so our classroom was moved to the farthest corner of the CCM. Literally our house, our classroom, and the comedor are all on complete opposite ends from each other. If you were to look from above, those three places form a triangle in the CCM. So yesterday, we had a devotional and had to walk from our classroom to the Auditorium on the opposite side of the CCM in the rain! And by the time I got to the Auditorium, it looked as if I had just got out of the shower. My hair was completely wet! 

This week I had a very special experience with personal revelation. I was studying why bad things happen to good people. And that day one of the Hermanas received a letter that had caused her to cry. Then later that night we were practicing teaching, and I was teaching this same Hermana. The lesson started out as normal, but I could just see in her eyes that something was bothering her. Then she asked me that very same question in Spanish, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" The spirit immediately told me what was bothering her... she had just lost a dear friend. I was then able to share the words in the Book of Mormon, in Alma 14, about when the wicked people take those who believe in the words of the prophet Alma and Amulek and throw them into a fire. 

 8 And they brought their wives and children together, and whosoever believed or had been taught to believe in the word of God they caused that they should be cast into the fire; and they also brought forth their records which contained the holy scriptures, and cast them into the fire also, that they might be burned and destroyed by fire.

 9 And it came to pass that they took Alma and Amulek, and carried them forth to the place of martyrdom, that they might witness the destruction of those who were consumed by fire.

 10 And when Amulek saw the pains of the women and children who were consuming in the fire, he also was pained; and he said unto Alma: How can we witness this awful scene? Therefore let us stretch forth our hands, and exercise the power of God which is in us, and save them from the flames.

 11 But Alma said unto him: The Spirit constraineth me that I must not stretch forth mine hand; for behold the Lord receiveth them up unto himself, in glory; and he doth suffer that they may do this thing, or that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just; and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them, yea, and cry mightily against them at the last day.

Then after the lesson was over, she asked if I could tell her where that scripture was and she then told me that she had lost a close friend two days ago. Now I don´t know exactly why bad things happen to good people, but verse 13 of Alma 14 perfectly explains it,"Be it according to the will of the Lord." 

To this point I had never been able to discern what was personal revelation and what was my own thoughts. But now I know that it doesn't really matter as long as I act. I thought that I was studying this topic, so that I could teach it to another investigator, when really the Lord had been preparing me to be able to comfort this Hermana. Had I not been inspired to research that topic, I never would have been able to share it. The Lord does not just tell us what we need to say, but he inspires us with what at times seems to be our own thoughts, so that we can first study what we need to, and then the Lord can use this knowledge that we have gained to help others. 

  

I love it here in the CCM!  Not only am I learning little by little to speak Spanish, but I am having experiences that help to strengthen my testimony. Love you all and I miss you so much. Have a great time in Utah and tell all the family up there I love them.

Con mucho amor

Elder Snyder

P.S. There are a total of 28 missionaries (including me) heading to Cuidad Obregón on Aug. 3...18 Americans and 10 Latinos. Only 2 more weeks! 

The Mexico City Temple is one of 5 (I believe) where the Angel Moroni is holding the Golden Plates in his hand.

My District

It was our roommate´s Bday last week so me and Elder Tice got him a tie that we personalized. We then put it in a box and wrapped it. But since we didn´t have wrapping paper we had to use toilet paper instead. We thought that he may actually like to unwrap something on his BDay. I think we did a pretty good job. haha!

Week 3 at the CCM

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

What missionaries at the CCM do for fun. haha!! 

Week 2 at the CCM - Mexico City

Hey Everyone,
Sorry about not emailing yesterday. They had to switch our P-Day because we went to immigration today to get our visas to stay in the country. But next week I will be back to emailing on Wednesday again. It was pretty fun to escape from the CCM. From both the inside and the outside it looks like a very nice prison. There is a large wall with a chain link fence on top with barbed wire on top of that, that surrounds the entire place. And the only way in, is through a large gate that is operated by guards that only let one car in at a time.

Thank you so much, Mom and Dad, for that package and the letter you sent to me. It literally came the very next day you sent it. If you can please use that letter service again. It is really nice to read your letters when it is not my P-Day, haha. Also, thank you for the pictures you sent of everyone. It is really nice to see everyones' smiling faces.

So the fourth of July was really fun here. All the chefs made a special "American" dinner. They made us hamburgers and fries, and they served us apple pie with ice cream for lunch. Later at night everyone in our house sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of their lungs. It was a lot of fun to be reminded of what a wonderful country the USA is. It was fast Sunday the next day and the way they do it in the CCM is that you don´t get dinner on Saturday and you have to fast until lunch on Sunday. 

So we finished teaching our first investigator and now she is our teacher. Her name is Hermana Sanchez and she only speaks to us in Spanish. So, sometimes she tells us what we need to do, and we have no idea what she is saying until she repeats herself slower. But I really like Hermana Sanchez. She is really kind and loving towards all of us.

We get quite a bit of time for personal study but it never seems like enough. We have personal study in the morning and then class. Then we have lunch, gym, more personal study, language, dinner then more class and language with a progressing investigator every other morning and night.

It is so nice to hear that Jacob is home and that you were all able to see him. And Josh told me before I left that their family had decided they were going to move this summer. Glad you all had fun helping them fix up their house. haha. So, the service we did at the CCM was actually really fun this week. Our task was to replace all the big water bottle jugs that they use so that we don't have to drink the tap water. So we loaded the back of this truck with about 60 of the huge jugs and then we had to drive around the CCM and replace the empty ones with full ones. Then when we got back we had to take all the empty bottles and stack them in a warehouse they have here. It was pretty fun at the end, because we had this assembly line that consisted of us just throwing empty water bottles from one person to the next. 

So the other district in our zone left, and I am really going to miss those Elders. They were just so funny. And now with the other district gone, they made our District Leader and his DLC the new zone leaders and they made me the new District Leader of our district. So now I have all the fun responsibilities of a DL :). And since I am the new district leader, the Hermanas in our District asked if I could give them a blessing of comfort and strength. And that was truly an amazing experience. Never before had I felt the spirit so strongly guide my words as to what I should say. It truly was amazing afterwards because both of the hermanas had tears in their eyes after each of their blessings. I felt so blessed to be able to use my priesthood authority to help others.

My Spanish here is starting to go amazingly well. I can understand almost everything that my teachers say to me. In our lessons, I am able to talk without using our written script, and I can say my prayers almost completely in Spanish. But when I try and talk to the other Latiños about something, I can never understand them because it is usually about something that is not in my Gospel vocabulary and they speak super fast. So that always reminds me that I need to keep working.

So last P-Day something very unfortunate happened to me. Me and my companion were going to do laundry and we had bought a little bottle of detergent from the tienda to use to wash our clothes. So when I went to the squeeze the bottle to put the detergent in the washer, my bottle exploded and some of the detergent went straight into my eye. I can easily say that that was one of the most painful things that has ever happened to me. I then had my companion get me some water so that I could wipe my eye enough so that I could open it again. I then went to the infirmary to wash the detergent out over the sink. And that helped a little but my eye was still stinging so much. Then they put some eye drops in my eye that were supposed to take away the pain. But instead, for the first 5 seconds they were in, they made my eyes hurt even worse. Then after that my eye felt better for about 10 minutes before it started to hurt again. By the end of the day, I was so happy to go to bed. My eye ended up being soar for the next 3 days and it hurt if I closed my eyes to quickly. But happily all that is over and I hope to never experience that again. Don't worry about me, Mom. I´m fine now. I just hope that you all get a good laugh.

I am running out of time but it was so nice to see all your emails and the pictures that you sent. I love you so much and I hope that all of you are doing well.

Love,

Elder Snyder

Zach's District 

New Latino friends

Ouch!

Some pictures of Mexico City