Week 4: Hacky Sack For Life

Merrill Hall Reunion

Aaaaaaaaand we're back! Another week done here at the CCM and it's still a blast and we're still hacky sacking 24/7. Right after I sent my email last week we went to the Mexico City temple and it was so amazing. Mexico City is quite a busy and crowded city and it was so cool to be in this sanctuary of peace and beauty right in the center of it all.

Spanish is coming along! On Monday, there was a solid 3 hours where Spanish just clicked for me and I could say whatever I wanted. Twas lit. The next day, I found myself speaking in the normal beginner Spanish I have... BUT now I know it's possible to speak Spanish, so the grind continues. In all honesty though, I love learning Spanish. It has been so fun to me because of the challenge it is. Seeing little progress every day keeps me motivated and I can't wait to someday be able to express how much I love the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Honduras.

This week, Elder Evanson and I got called to be Zone Leaders. This means we are in charge of making sure all of the missionaries in our zone (about 60 right now) are doing what they need to be doing and caring for their wellbeing. We have had the best Zone Leaders ever so we have some big shoes to fill, but I am so excited to take on this challenge and just serve the missionaries in our zone as much as I physically can.

We taught our first "Helping Others" lesson this week! This is a lesson we do with a member from Mexico City (who doesn't speak any English) who role plays as a nonmember. However, this week's topic was a little different. We were teaching youth from Mexico City about missions and why missionary work is so important. We taught a 13 year old girl named Ashley and although mine and Elder Evanson's Spanish was definitely sub-par, we could feel the Spirit so strongly. And although we could not really understand what Ashley was saying when we asked her questions, the one thing I know I understood was when she said she wanted to serve a mission so she could help people be happy. Hearing this filled me with so much joy that I can't even describe and I immediately knew that she would do just that in just a few years.

This week, we talked a lot about faith at the CCM. We talked about how our faith needs to be in Jesus Christ. In our devotional with the CCM President, he said something that really hit me. He told us to think "Jesus Christ was in the garden and felt all the pains, sorrows, and sins of the world for ____" and fill in your name there. I invite everyone reading this to do that and to sit quietly and think about that indescribable thought. We need to have faith in Jesus Christ because He is all the difference. He is peace. He is love. He is eternal joy. We need to CHOOSE to believe in Jesus every day and by doing so he will pour out blessings to us for our faith.

Choosing to believe in Jesus and to serve a mission has been the best decision of my life. In the past 3 weeks, I have felt more joy and felt the presence of the Savior in my life stronger than ever and I know that He lives. I know I am where I am supposed to be right now. It's crazy to think I will be in Honduras in less than 3 weeks but I am so excited. so excited.

Love you all so much!

Elder Snyder