Week 8: Elder Snicker

Copan - The bag of water is how we drink our water.

First full week done out here in Copan and man I go to bed so tired every night but I just feel so dang happy and fulfilled. 

So last email I had a pretty big typo and Copan is the one area in my mission that ISN'T 90+ degrees every day lol. Don't get me wrong, it's still hot every day and my belt melts onto my shirt a little bit, but there's usually a breeze and it cools off at night. 

We did a lot of service this week and I absolutely love it. The people here have so little, so having so many opportunities to just get my hands dirty and do what I can to make their life just a little bit easier is awesome. 

I can understand a little bit more each day but wow my speaking ability is a roller coaster. Some days I feel way more confident and can say a lot more and other days I'm questioning if I even went to the CCM and learned anything. But hey, it's gonna take a long time and it's all about celebrating the small successes and letting the shortcomings fuel you to work just a little bit harder. 

This week, we met a 16 year old boy named Christopher who showed genuine curiosity for what we taught. As my companion did all the talking and I stood there smiling, I felt prompted to give him the copy of the Book of Mormon that I carry everywhere. I gave it to him and testified of its power and how it has changed my life. I could feel the Spirit so strong and that was my first "woah, I'm a missionary" experience. Somehow he understood what I said and hopefully he will read it and we can continue to teach him. The Spirit is real and gives us the strength to complete the promptings we receive when we show the faith to take that first step. 

Quick Highlights:

• Took my first bucket shower and a couple more. Twas lit. 

• Two nights in a row we were going to be late to our house and then a little mototaxi (3-wheeled vehicle that might be the coolest thing there ever was) pulls up and gives us a free ride back to the house. 

• Celebrated Evanson's birthday and ended with a big cake fight with the family we were with. 

• One of the guys we were teaching heard I played guitar so he grabbed his guitar for me but while I did some tuning to the guitar (it needed it oh my) one of the strings snapped. I felt so bad but the guy was chill about it. 

• Might've found THE golden investigator this week. This guy lived with members for 6 years and loves everything about the church and he never got baptized only because he didn't want to serve a mission but now he has a wife and a kid so what's stopping him now, right? Hopefully things go well with him. 

• Played some fútbol with the youth in the branch. I suck at it but it was lit. 

• Got a little girl a cake for her birthday and a little mariachi-type band came and played.

• My new nickname with one of the families here is Elder Snicker because none of them can say Snyder but I love it.

This week, I started to feel the weight of the thought that I will be here in Honduras for 2 years and it really put a damper on my usually positive outlook. A mission is really hard. It's really difficult to get up every day and work your hardest with no end in sight. However, the Lord appreciates and celebrates every single effort. Every step we take, every prayer we say, every person we try to talk to– He rejoices and he is proud. All Christ asks is we put forth our best effort. This doesn't mean having the most success or being perfect. It does mean not giving up. It means having faith. When we have more faith, the good outweighs the bad. It's easier to have a positive attitude and it's easier to see what we have been blessed with. Life becomes easier when we have more faith because we can know that we are not walking alone. We can know that Christ is with us and giving us strength. We can find motivation to keep going. Ether 12 is one of my favorite chapters in the Book of Mormon and it is all about this. If anyone is feeling like me, read it real quick. God loves you all and has a plan and a reason for all things. Miracles happen when we have faith. 

Love you all so much!

(Also, emails are very appreciated)

Élder Snyder

Drenched

Marquitos the GOAT

Elder Evanson's Birthday

Copan

Post-service snack

Me and one of the 6,000,000 million dogs in Copan

More Copan

Cake-fight

Week 7: I Drink More Coke Than Water

Me with President and Sister McClellan

Hola todos!!

Made it to Honduras last Thursday and it is actually incredible here. But first I'm gonna do a quick wrap up of the CCM. 

CCM was amazing. I spiritually grew more in those 6 weeks than I did in my whole life before. So many amazing people that I will miss a lot and so much knowledge from very wise people every day. Definitely gonna miss devotionals but so glad I got to finish with a live streamed devo from the Provo MTC with Elder Bednar.

Ok time for the stuff people actually want to read. 

We woke up at 2am on Thursday to catch our flight to San Pedro and we didn't have a gate until 10 minutes before our flight which was super awesome but hey I'm here so we're chill. It was so hot when we got off the plane. Like so hot. But supposedly it was pretty average for San Pedro so that's lit. 

We hopped on a bus to the mission office where they had tons of Little Caesars for us. I love pizza so this was a nice token to help ease the slight bit of culture shock occurring from the drive through the city. We chilled there for like 6 hours and then walked to and slept at the APs house.

The next day we got our training from President McClellan (he is one of the most loving and spiritual person I know I am so lucky to have him as my mission president for the next 2 years) and our trainers! My trainer is Elder Perry and he is so awesome. He is such a hard worker who is doing a really good job of teaching me how to be a strong missionary and also enjoy the work. 

My first area is Copan Ruinas!! Soooo lucky hahaha. So this area is the one area of my mission that is 90+ degrees every day and is probably the most beautiful place in the mission as well. We are minutes away from ancient temple ruins and the town is both cobblestone streets and dirt jungle roads. There is always a beautiful view and occasionally you see a rainbow macaw flying overhead. I love it (except for being eaten alive by mosquitos yesterday but its chill). The people here are incredible too. Everyone is so friendly and so hospitable to us even though many of them have so little. Also we have a pensionista which means we have a lady who cooks all of our meals for us which is clutchhhh because I can't cook at allllll. Like the title says, Coke is served with everything... and Im not complaining. Also huge W... Elder Evanson is also being trained in Copan!! So I still get to see him every day and it is so awesome. 

The work is amazing though. It's pretty hard to say the things I want to say in lessons but I have been able to contribute a little to every lesson so far.  I can also understand a solid 50% of what's being said and I'll take those numbers for being in the field for 2 days. We walk everywhere and it is really tiring but extremely fulfilling work. In the last two days we taught 23 little lessons we call "charlas" with friends who show interest in the church, new people, and some members here and there. We share a scripture, talk about it and the principle of the gospel it applies to, say a prayer or two, and leave them with an invitation. I love being able to testify of my Savior and help these people feel the Spirit and the love God has for them every day. 

Faith has been on my mind these past couple of days. Faith is believing, but it is also acting. Here in Copan, there is a woman named Carmencita. She is about 4 feet tall and 100% blind. Every Sunday we walk her to church up and down rocky and muddy (and slippery) hills, across a wooden bridge with holes in it, and along a busy highway. She has so many reasons to not make it to church, yet she faithfully makes that trek every Sunday because of her faith. The Lord blesses us for our faith and gives us strength for our efforts. I see this every day as I walk. The Lord is with each and every one of you and if we do all we can to turn to Him, he will lift us up. He will bless us immensely and we can be a source for a lot of good for a lot of people. Pray for the strength to act in faith for the good of others and He will give it to you. 

Love you all so much!!

(And please pray Copan's running water will work soon🙏)

Élder Snyder

Last Night at the CCM

At the Airport

Copan Street

Amigo Gabriel

Our washing machine

The Copan Crew

Here we go...

Beautiful Copan

Week 6: Last Email From the CCM

Birthday!!

¡Buenas tardes!

Such an amazing week this week! Started off with a haircut... don't worry Mom I did not get a buzz cut. However, I did not trust the barber shop here so one Elder faded me up (and did a fuego job) and he has now inspired me to learn how to cut my own hair. Figured the mission is a good time to learn🤷‍♂️

We also had Fast Sunday this week at the CCM and it was so so great. The testimony meeting in church was sooo powerful. There is nothing quite like a bunch of missionaries bearing their testimonies of a whole array of gospel principles they believe in and love. 

Had the privilege to celebrate my birthday this week in the CCM! It was actually such a good birthday and I felt so much love from so many people. My morning teacher ran outside the CCM walls to get me a Coke, received so many birthday wishes and notes, my afternoon teacher and one of the supervisors got me a cake that was actually super delicious, and the CCM president gave me a card. We also did an extra long gym time (because we ate lunch super quick), so that was another awesome present to play ultimate frisbee and volleyball for a couple hours. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes. You all really made it a happy day for me.

Also had the opportunity to sing "Peace in Christ" at the welcome devotional for all new missionaries this week and it was actually so fun. Many of you know I love to sing but I don't necessarily love performing, especially for over 200 people. However, after some convincing from Elder Favila, we ended up at auditions haha. It was great practice for exercising my talents and hopefully I can have a few more opportunities in these next two years to do so. If you want to see the performance I'm pretty sure it's on my Facebook profile. 

We did another Helping Others lesson this week with two teenagers and it went really really well. My Spanish has improved a ton and it is really special to feel the Spirit guide me in my words and help me remember words and grammar I have only studied a little bit. I have been struggling recently with being able to understand what people are saying and I have seen miracles this week with this. I know the Lord hears our prayers and appreciates our efforts and if we humble ourselves and prioritize him, he will bless us so much. 

This week it hit me that I am leaving for Honduras in a few days and at first that thought was TERRIFYING to me haha. However, now I am STOKED. I cannot wait to start doing what I've been practicing for so long. My Spanish will be soooo insufficient but that doesn't matter (well kinda). I can't wait to bear my testimony in the Spanish I do know and help others experience the peace and joy we can experience in this life because of Christ. I also cannot wait to get my hands dirty every day serving the people in Honduras. Even if they don't want to listen to me I still want to serve them. That's what Christ would do. 

Christ. I have focused so much on Him this week and how we can all become more like Him. Turn out. Turn out and serve. Turn out and love. Turn out and comfort. When we turn away from ourselves and turn to others, lives change. Those we serve and our own. It's hard sometimes, but to grow our faith, we have to do things that require more faith. This applies to everything: patience, service, prayer, humility, forgiveness, everything. 

All things are possible through Christ. 

Love you all so so much and praying for you all!

Elder Snyder

Last Temple Trip

It rained...A LOT!! (This is not me, btw)

Got the new Preach My Gospel!!!!

Service Project

Heaven

Newest flag added at the CCM

Distrito

Week 5: I'm Alive Because of Pizza Night

Awesome Picture Here at the CCM of Moses

Hola todos!!!

Another week down and low-key I can't remember which day is which anymore because we do the same thing every day but it's still so much fun here. However, I do know when it is Tuesday. Tuesday is pizza night. We love pizza night. Anyways, I have to shout out my whole district. They are actually the best and are great examples of diligence, obedience, and fun at the same time. 

Went to the temple again this week and it is just the best. The Mexico City Temple is sooooo beautiful. The Spirit at the CCM is strong but wow the temple is just another level of peace and just pure joy.

Officially started zone leader stuff this week which is a fun bit of added work but it is really special to try and focus more on serving the people around me rather than get absolutely cracked at Spanish (which is not happening but it's chill). However, this sadly means we had to say goodbye to Elder Nelson and Amosa, our previous zone leaders, who were actually the best examples to me ever and some of my closest friends here at the CCM. They're both going to be incredible missionaries and taught me so much. 

We took the Spanish grammar evaluation test this week and I got the highest score in my district which was lit but there's still a lot of room for improvement. Shoutout Elder Freeman (and Kobe), "job's not finished." 

We play a ton of volleyball here which is so fun because who knows how much I'll get to play in Honduras but Elder Evanson messed up his calf so prayers up for him so he can start participating in exercise time again. He is literally the best at every sport though so maybe this is leveling the playing field?? Kidding kidding. 

Hit one month as a missionary this last week and it's actually crazy it's already been that long. What's even crazier is that Honduras is only a couple weeks away. I got my flight plans to Honduras this week and it got me so excited but also was a huge reality check for me haha. 

We did another Helping Others teaching lesson this week but it was extra fun because we found out we were doing it approximately 10 seconds before we had to go teach the lesson but when I was like "what should we teach?" to Elder Evanson he was just like "follow the Spirit!" and I was like "bet." It ended up going really well and we taught about the Book of Mormon for about 15-20 minutes! The Spirit and Gift of Tongues are really real for real. 

This week I have been focusing a lot on the Book of Mormon and wow it is the most incredible, true, spiritual, and life-changing book there is. No matter how many times you have read it or if you've never read it before, you will always learn something about Christ and feel the peace and joy of the Spirit when you read with real, humble intent. Over the past few weeks, the Book of Mormon has been the most powerful tool in my conversion and it can be that for you too! Read the Book of Mormon today! Pray about it and apply it to you! You will be blessed and you will grow so much closer to Christ!! 

To all my fellow missionaries out there, keep going! So many people are praying for you and love you. There are lives waiting to be changed by your message. 

Love you all so much!!

Elder Snyder

Adios Elder Nelson and Elder Amosa

Views of the CCM