Sorry for no email last week! Copán lost all cell service after 11am so there was no way to send stuff but here is what I wrote from last week. Another email for what happened this week will be coming soon if we don't lose service again.
This week was so good. So good. Just too many tender mercies and demonstrations of God's love to count. Perspective is everything!
So this week basically every person we were teaching that was progressing either sent us a breakup text (they don't want to take lessons anymore) or ran away from us after we had made eye contact and said hello. So that was awesome. So we contacted like crazy and found 13 new people to start teaching and also saw many other blessings in the work here.
One of which, we found Rebeca!! Her half-sister who is a member figured out where she is living now and helped us find the house and we proceeded to have such a powerful lesson about the importance and blessings of having faith in Jesus Christ. She still has the desire to come unto Christ but with little support in the house she is living in, it will be harder for her. It truly was a miracle to find her and a miracle of the decisions she has made in our time away from her. God answers prayers when we don't give up.
There is a youth convert in the ward named Franklin and he has had possibly one of the hardest lives I have heard of. This week he gave his first talk in church and he shared his conversion story, the importance of the gospel, and his desire to serve a mission. The sincerity of his talk touched everyone in the room and helped motivate a lot of the members present to seek the gospel stronger. Something I will never forget.
Other quick things:
---Had dinner with a part member family and it was hands down the best food I have eaten in 6 months. We also gave a couple of blessings to sick members of the family and the Spirit was so strong.
---Got an ingrown toenail but performed a painful operation on it and now I'm pain free and basically qualified to be a surgeon.
---Met a family that lived in Simi Valley (a city 10 minutes away from my house) for 7 years so that was lit.
---I made baleadas (fire Honduran food) for the first time.
---Really felt the love the members here have for the missionaries and it just made all of the hard days worth it.
Recently in the branch, we have seen a lot of people choose not to come to church due to drama and rumors being spread. This honestly breaks my heart and caused me to think about the importance of kindness and faith. Jesus taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves. If everyone did this, imagine how different the world would be. Give people reasons to say “thank you” more often and serve with all the love in your heart. Faith in Jesus Christ is also one of the most important things. If our faith is firmly planted in Him and His gospel, we cannot fail. No drama or un fair treatment can get in the way of our hope and joy because Christ did it all. He felt it all. He heals us today just as he healed the sick, afflicted, and downtrodden 2000 years ago. With faith in Him, we have perspective that spans further than what tomorrow holds and the hope of salvation that lasts the eternities.
Every day I feel so lucky and honored to bear His name as a missionary. My faith is in Him and His gospel is joy.
With so much love,
Élder Snyder
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