Week 17: Miracles, Faith, and a Whole lotta Pancakes

Marcos..."The Goat"

Welcome.

So this week was awesome. It was awesome because there were some pretty trash days but also tons of miracles. The trash days are awesome because they just motivate me to study better and work harder the next day. And miracles are pretty cool too I guess. So let's get into it shall we?

So Tuesday and Wednesday were just average days but Thursday we saw God's hand in the work. About 2-3 weeks ago, we found a 22 year old guy who is very educated (sadly that's pretty rare here) and we had a really good lesson about the Book of Mormon. Since then, it has been really hard to meet with him again because of his job and also he got pretty sick but on Thursday, we were finally able to meet with him again! And he texted us asking where we were when we were running a little late. That NEVER happens. We talked for a little bit and then he was basically like "so what are you going to teach me?" but in Spanish so we were like shoot this guy is ready. We jumped into the Restoration and he had a lot of questions and then opened up to us about how he's been searching for religion again in his life but he felt like all other churches were not correct. (Sounds a little familiar right?) And he said he felt something different about our church and us missionaries. God has been preparing this man but he still has a long way to go so please please please keep Angel in your prayers so that he can continue to have a desire to learn!

Right after that, we visited a recently reactivated member's little tin home and while we were there, a woman showed up with a child who was just screaming and appeared to be hyperventilating. This boy had cerebral-palsy and was the nephew of this member. They asked us to give him a blessing and as soon as we began, the boy stopped screaming and calmed down for the first time since arriving. He continued to remain calm after the blessing. This experience was a testimony to me of the reality of the power of God on earth through the priesthood and also God's love for his children. 

Next miracle– so there is one family the missionaries have been teaching for like 6 months and the 11 year-old daughter is a member. In this entire time, the mom has never said a prayer with us and has always directed it to someone else when we invite her to. Elder Perry and I had a lesson with her where we simply explained prayer, bore our testimonies, and shared special experiences we have had with prayer. When we invited her to pray after that, with basically no hesitation she agreed. She proceeded to offer a beautiful, heartfelt prayer. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone. 

Last story for the email because I don't want these to be too long. The 2nd Couselor in the branch went inactive about 6 months ago but we still visit him every once in a while and recently we have dropped some really powerful lessons in that home. Yesterday, he pulled up to church and gave the opening prayer for 2nd hour and participated in class. He then asked all of 4 of us missionaries to come to his house on Wednesday to try help his wife trust the church again. Huge and completely unexpected miracle that has opened up a great opportunity for this family. Please keep Jesus and his family in your prayers too!

Quick hits:

-- The other elders baptized two teenagers who are siblings on Saturday! It is so special to see the church growing here in Copan.

-- Our pensionista started making pancakes and eggs for us for dinner every night and my stomach has never been happier.

-- On that note, had my best week health-wise this past week. 

-- I just love the people here so much. 

Clearly, miracles have been on my mind this week. There's a scripture in (you guessed it) Ether 12 that has stood out to me a lot this week. Verse 12 says, "For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith." Faith is the most critical thing in missionary work and also in life because we NEED God's help in this life if we ever want to feel lasting peace and happiness. Because of this, I have really tried coming to a full understanding of the concept of faith and how to have more of it. As I thought about it, I found myself struggling to comprehend it and come to a conclusion on how I can increase my faith. Then I realized that it's not that complicated. It's actually really simple. Faith is our thoughts and actions. If we want to increase our faith, try harder to do what Jesus Christ would do. Try harder to live a life consecrated to loving God, doing ALL that he commands, and serving others. If this is our goal and desire, blessings and miracles will shower us more than we know. I challenge everyone to find one way they can try to increase their faith this week! God notices every effort, no matter the result!

Love you all! Read the Book of Mormon!

Élder Snyder

The Fruits of our Labors

Recently Returned Missionary in the Branch

Parading to the Baptism with Members and Amigos

Dinner of Champions

Week 16: Coke = Forgiveness

Two very Important Things to Remember

This week we worked like dogs. Still a lot of work to do but we're definitely seeing progress. Our teaching pool now is completely different from when I first got here and it's pretty cool to see the development from the start with a lot of these people. Sadly, we have to drop some of our most progressing amigos because their mom refuses to let them get baptized. But Elder Perry and I did all we could to help them feel the Spirit and learn the Gospel. Experiences like this are sad but it is a part of the work because all of us have our agency and we can only control what we do and how we react to the agency of others. 

Okay time to switch up the flow. We had multizone conference this week and it was soooo lit. We met up with the whole zone (10 elders… best zone ever) in La Entrada on P-day and ate pizza, went to the promised land aka MEGAPACA, played basketball, and then went and taught some really fun lessons. The next day, we woke up at 3:30 to catch the bus to San Pedro Sula and at multizona, President McClellan talked all about my favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon– Ether 12– and it was so good. He challenged us to find our weaknesses in any aspect of life, missionary work, etc. and start improving on them right away a little bit every day. I challenge you all to try the same! I've already seen huge improvement in my work as a missionary and I know the Lord blesses us for our efforts. 

Made the mistake of playing fútbol this week with the teams of gringos vs. latinos. To many of your surprise, us gringos were dominating and the other team started playing pretty dirty and we had to stop the game to tell them to chill out. Everything was all good and the last of all hard feelings were lost when we pulled up to the house (most of the latino team lives in the same house) with an ice cold 3 liter coke. Coke solves almost every problem here. 

One of our friends came to church this week and it was so awesome. One of the members helped her read the hymn book (Elder Perry and I were both up on the stand all meeting) and it was really cool to see her enjoying the meeting. Please pray for Lillian!

Other quick highlights:

• Went to Guatemala today because why not.

• Had some funnyyyy interactions with drunk men. Messing with them is so fun. 

• Taught a 97 year old woman and we had to basically scream for her to hear and I could not help but just die laughing. It was so funny. She then blessed us as we left. 

• Found some more promising people to teach that I am really excited to start teaching. 

• The weather was super nice this week. It felt like I was back at home with temperatures in the mid 70s and cloudy. 

• My stomach health improved a lot this week and for those wondering, my companion has never gotten sick. Bro is a vacuum for food with a stomach of steel. Huge blessing though because he can pick up my slack haha

This week, I experienced a large change in my teaching as a missionary. I was able to feel the Spirit so much stronger than before and just say and testify of the things I wanted to say with my heart. I like to attest this blessing to love rather than my own satisfaction. In the mission, numbers are very important. I often have found myself focused more on the numbers for my own satisfaction rather than focusing on the souls of the people I am teaching and the reasons I have a testimony of the things I am teaching. The moment I realized I needed to focus on the Spirit, everything changed. I started testifying with passion because of my experiences that helped me gain a testimony. My testimony has been able to grow more because of this and the Spirit has been stronger in my life. When we humble ourselves before God, who has given us everything, he blesses us in ways we didn't know we needed. When we choose to love others for others, the Spirit fills us with incomparable joy. 

Love you all so much! Read the Book of Mormon too. You can find all hope, answers, and guidance in that book. 

Élder Snyder

Francis' Birthday Party

La Entrada Zoneeeeee

More of Francis' Birthday

Leading Carmencita (blind since birth) to church

Border Hopping

Week 15: Birds!

 

¿Cómo estamos?

Pretty good week filled with a ton of work and some really spirit-filled lessons. But started with Pday with the Zone Leaders (ZLs) and it was so much fun. One of them is from Costa Rica and the other is from Utah and it was really good to practice my casual conversational spanish and also just make some more friends in the mission. We went to the Bird Park and got all up close and personal with the Guacamayas (the birds from the movie "Rio"). Twas lit. 

So the daughter of the most absolutely goated member in the branch here came home from her mission this week and we ended up throwing a big surprise party for her with some other families in the branch and it was so awesome. It was so amazing to be a part of all of the emotions of the family seeing her for the first time in so long and also just to help make something so joyful happen for a family that has so little. I was a little scared it would make me baggy for home (want to go home) but it did the opposite. I'm so excited to continue this work and to one day return home after giving it my all. It's also super nice for us missionaries to have another member in the branch who is a legit member haha

Saw my first chameleon which was pretty freakin cool. 

We're on our way to San Pedro for Multizone conference right now which will be fun. Might be more excited for lunch at Pizza Hut though… jokes multizona is super lit. 

So now it's time for the moment you've all been expecting… got sick again this week🥳🫠 Woke up Saturday morning just throwing up for 5 hours straight and just felt like absolute garbage and could barely get out of bed all day. Thanks to technology my companion was able to still teach some lessons over the phone and I was able to watch a lot of church videos and start making some progress in the "Saints" books which are actually so good.

One video I watched really stuck out to me and I was able to have a huge realization/humbling experience. So far, my mission hasn't been the most comfortable for me. I get sick like this almost every week, we lose running water or power pretty regularly, it's very very hot, and so on. While I was hunched over the toilet instead of out in the street talking with people I found myself asking God, "Why is this happening so often, keeping me from working, when I'm only trying to do the work you have called me to do?" At that moment, I felt pretty justified. The situation seemed pretty unfair. Later that afternoon, this video helped me realize that life is unfair. But the most unfair life ever lived was that of our Savior, Jesus Christ. He was perfect, yet suffered every single pain, sadness, illness, and everything you and I and everyone else has felt and will feel in this mortal life. And it is only because of this extremely unfair sacrifice imperfect people like us can experience true joy through the Atonement and Gospel of Jesus Christ. It's only because of His sacrifice I am able to be on a mission today and help others experience the joy of the Gospel that I know to be true. Life is so hard but we need to remember there is someone who is right by our side who knows what it feels like to have something pretty unfair happen to them. In fact, he knows exactly what you feel like. So turn to Him. Run to Him. We can find perfect empathy, healing, and strength in Him. 

I love you all so much and your time in reading these emails is very appreciated! Also please pray for the Garcia family if you can!

Élder Snyder

Spot Elder Snyder

Welcome Home Party

Carmencita and the Gang

More Birds

Week 14: Checking Off the Bucket List

Buenos días everybody

This week absolutely flew by and it's crazy that it's already p day, but hey I'm not complaining…

So this week I spent about half of my available missionary funds (we give a majority of the funds to our pensionista (our cook lady)) on cereal and for those who know me well, you know how happy this makes me. For most missionaries, the alarm in the morning is the most dreaded part of the day but now I joyfully get up because I know there is a bowl of cereal waiting for me.

Ok I know none of you care about that at all but for real that's one of my biggest highs for the week. 

I led the area for the first time on divisions and it was kinda hard because the sky decided to torrential downpour on us so a lot of doors were closed. However, we kept working despite having to walk through absolute rivers in the street and testing the limits of the word "drenched" and it ended up being a really good day. Keep working. I wanted to wait out the storm but we didn't and kept working and God noticed our efforts. It's in situations like that where God is most proud and grateful for you and your efforts. 

We fasted this week and it went much better than last time! (I almost died from my parasite last time.) I learned a lot about sacrifice and how God will always bless us, just maybe not how we are hoping. None of our most progressing amigos came to church, but we saw absolute miracles in our finding hours and other lessons that day. Now our teaching pool has expanded and there is really strong potential with a lot of these people. When things get tough, remember Christ and then keep going. He knows exactly what you're going through because he felt it already. 

So Clementino is the name of the old man who serenaded us the other week. We visited him again because his sister is a member and he has studied the Book of Mormon and knows it really well and believes everything we say. However, to sum it up, he basically thinks he's a prophet or perhaps even God so sometimes lessons get interesting. This week he let me play his guitar and as I played a Lumineers song he said he knew the song and started singing another evangelical hymn. We were just dying and started dancing along. This guy is crazy but like he could literally get baptized right now if he came to church. But for now we will enjoy the incredible entertainment of visiting him. 

Crossed something off my bucket list and saw a car accident right in front of me. This car comes absolutely zooming down the highway we're walking along with the other elders (we just had a dinner appointment with some members) and he goes completely on the wrong side of the road while taking this pretty sharp turn and collides with a bus coming the other way. It was nuts but I think everyone was ok. But God is in the details. We always talk with the other elders on that corner before we part ways for the night after coming home from that part of our area. If we had left that member's house 45 seconds earlier, we would have been standing right there and possibly could've been struck by that car. God protected us and hopefully all of the people in that accident. 

Quick highlights so this email isn't ridiculously long, giving you enough time to go read a general conference talk:

• Forgot to mention last email, I got bit by a dog in the street but it was super chill because he didn't go 100% but man I was so confused when I felt its mouth give a good little chomp on my ankle before he realized who he was messing with and started crazily barking at me. Bro was asleep as we walked by but don't worry my head is on a swivel for all future sneak attacks. 

• Got faded up and it's just awesome. Costed $2. I haven't had short hair until the mission but dang I'm liking it. 

• Hit 3 months as a missionary but counting is dumb. 

• Heard a bunch of Taylor Swift and Harry Styles in a restaurant which was quite pleasant. 

• I eat a lot of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches but it's chill because I lost a lot of weight and I need to gain it back. 

• An evangelical lady gave us 100 Honduranian dollars (a lot of money for the people here) as a "thank you" for sharing the word of God and we were absolutely shook. 

I finished the Book of Mormon this week and wow. If you want to improve your relationship with God or grow your testimony, read this book. I know it is true and it will change your life. You can learn exactly what you need to do to improve your life.

I love my mission and if you are on the fence about serving, please just go. I have learned so much and my life has honestly changed forever. 

Love you all so much!! Email me!

Élder Snyder

Frosted Flakes (If you know you know)

Fútbol in the rain

River

Just a picture

A lot of small chickens

Week 13: A Lot of Pizza!

 

Weekly Fútbol

Another week down and it was the best week ever because of General Conference!! If you didn't get a chance to watch it, please please please watch it or listen to it. I promise it is for everyone because the Gospel of Jesus Christ is for everyone! General Conference is one of the fastest ways to receive revelation from God to guide your life. 

Ok I had to start with that because for real conference is incredible. Before the mission, I approached the weekend saying "sweet I don't have to get dressed for church and my mom is gonna make a fire breakfast." Oh how naïve I was. As a missionary, conference is literally Christmas. We were lucky enough to get to watch all of it live (when wifi cooperated) and wow I will be looking forward to these special weekends for the rest of my life, but not for the same reasons. I have such a strong testimony now of prophets and their genuine love for God and his followers. Don't be like me and take conference for granted! It is truly a time when we can take a break from the world and listen to God give us perfect guidance through his prophet and apostles to navigate the craziness of the world. 

Alright, missionary stuff. So we work really hard every day and don't see much success… but this week… MIRACLES! So last week we found the sweetest little family who was so welcoming and the 12 year old son, Brayan, said he wanted to come to church! We continue to teach them and they say how much they love our message and then they drop the bomb on us that they are moving in 5 days to San Pedro (5 hours away). Me and Elder Perry are destroyed. Well we keep teaching them and then moving day rolls around… and they didn't leave!!! Somehow they gathered up enough money to pay rent and are staying at least another month! Brayan came to church to watch general conference and he stayed at the church for SIX HOURS with us. Voluntarily. He made friends and really enjoyed it all. Please pray for Brayan! He is so prepared and such a sweet kid and has so much power to do good. 

So last P day we traveled to a bigger city in our zone and we got Pizza Hut. My stomach has kinda been going through it here and oftentimes I don't have an appetite for the food in Copan. But let me tell you, seeing one of my favorite foods steaming and angelically glowing before my eyes was quite possibly the most exciting moment of my mission. Sadly, my eyes were larger than my stomach and although I felt quite sick for the rest of the night… so unbelievably worth it. 

Other quick things that happened:

• Couldn't understand a lick of Spanish this week but in our lessons I felt the Spirit stronger than any other lessons and was able to say all of the things I felt I should say. Foreign languages are hard, but all children of God can understand the language of the Spirit. 

• The Book of Mormon is true. Please read it. That's all. 

• Had some of the deepest sleeps of my life. Elder Perry and I often say "nos vemos en 5" as we get into our beds. This means "see you in 5" and dang this week it was more like nos vemos en 2. 

• Found my first Honduran home-gym in the backyard of one of Elder Perry's recent converts and he invited us to workout with him every day. Hoping the kid's uncle (an inactive member) let's us use it.

• Really starting to love the mission and friends I am making here. It's truly such a special opportunity to be here in this mission. 

• Oh also, didn't get transfered. President basically told me that I'm gonna be in Copan until the January transfer so that's lit because I love it here (and we have hot showers unlike most of the mission) but also daunting because this area is hardddd but hey it's teaching me to work really hard.

That's about it for this week! What has been in the back of my mind this week is the question "How can I be more Christ-like?" I challenge you all to ask yourself this question and then just try to be a little bit more like Christ each day. I promise you will be happier:)

Love you all!! Nos vemos!

Élder Snyder

Aftermath!

Cocos with the Branch President

"Hablar con todos"

Some children I'm considering adopting

Family Home Evening

Home Gym