Week 38: Full Circle Conversion

Julissa

Such an incredible, miracle-filled week. The Lord works to bless his people and the Spirit works to convert them.

Julissa got baptized!! This is such a special story. Her identical twin sister joined the church about 6 years ago and this was when Julissa was introduced to the church. Since then, she has listened to the missionaries but never really knew if she believed the message. The missionaries would stop teaching her and then restart a few months later, and then stop teaching her again and restart again. Over and over. Eventually, there was nothing left to do. All they could do was pray. Eventually, she received the confirmation she needed. She called the missionaries and said she knew baptism is what she needed to do and that she knew the Church of Jesus Christ was true. Yesterday, she started her new life as she entered the waters of baptism. A better life. With more love, power, comfort, and guidance that is only possible to feel through the gospel of Christ. Julissa is the first baptism I have been a part of in my time as a missionary and it has been incredible to see her conversion alongside my own. A conversion to Christ.

Shoutout Elder Lewis (once again) for being my inspiration. The triple double was achieved this week. We had double digits in 3 stat lines (key indicators of the progression of our friends) with new people, lessons with members present, and friends in church. We were also able to set up 9 baptismal dates this week. The Lord is blessing this work here in Jardines so much and it is just incredible to be a part of it. Now it's just time to go Russell Westbrook mode and average a triple double😤

Another awesome story. Miriam was taking lessons from the missionaries for a little bit but eventually ended up blocking the number of the missionaries. This past week we were waiting at the church for one of our friends to show up for a lesson and we thought to do some calls. We saw her contact and thought “might as well try.” It rang. She picked up. We visited her the next day. She is preparing to be baptized for the 13th of April. We don't know why, but she unblocked us and had a complete change of heart and increase of courage. I know our Heavenly Father participates in this work more than us missionaries and blesses his children.

Our lesson with our mission president went super well and the Spirit was so special. Our friend Shayla believes in the Book of Mormon and the church but is just so scared of her extremely Catholic family and what they will do if she is baptized. Please keep her in your prayers!

Our friend Mario is progressing at the speed of light and is so eager to learn, participate, and be baptized in a few weeks! He has recently gone through some really tough times in his life and the gospel truly is what fills the gaps and improves every aspect of life.

Other highlights:

-Shoutout Elder Cano for completing a year of his mission.

-Had a ward activity for Easter and it was sooo fun and we had sooo many friends show up. Also hiding easter eggs might be my favorite activity. So much better than looking for them. There were also bunnies at the activity so that was lit.

-A recent convert who is an ex-pastor, army veteran, and my favorite old man alive received the priesthood and blessed the Sacrament yesterday!

-The construction manager of the temple is in the ward here and invited us and some of the people we are teaching over for one of the biggest gourmet hotdog dinners I have ever eaten. EASILY, the fullest I have ever been in my life.

I studies a byu speech called “Wrestling with Comparisons” this week and wow. It changed my life forever. The ending of the speech states, “Let’s all find a mirror. Let’s look at ourselves. Let’s see as we are seen. Let’s repeat, ‘My contest is not with anyone else; my contest is with myself. The race is against sin, not against each other.’ Then we must pray with all the energy of heart to be filled with the pure love of Christ, of Him who is “the author and finisher of our faith.” We must refuse to let lies “interrupt [our] rejoicings” over the truths that are deeper and more convincing than the falsehoods of comparisons. And then we must walk out the door, forget ourselves, and start concentrating on others.” This is how we experience happiness. This is how we help others do the same. This is what Christ would do.

I love you all and miss you all!

Élder Snyder

Camaro...potential album cover.

Baptism

Hot Dog Dinner with Brother Richardson and friends

Bunny

Lesson with President McClellan

Views

Members treat us well

Week 37: My Life got flip-turned upside-down!

So transfers happened this last week and my mission president threw me a little curve ball… After only one transfer in Campana and 8 months in my mission, I got transferred to Jardines, as a Zone Leader, of the biggest zone in the mission, the zone of the assistants to president, and President McClellan is in my ward. So yeah, unexpected changes happened! 

I am not going to lie, I have been super stressed but it's getting more and more chill by the day. My companion is Elder Cano from Guatemala! He is an absolute beast and he and I knew each other and were super good friends back in my first zone. He is also a pretty new zone leader so we feel like little kids trying to run the show out here. He has already helped me so much to become a better missionary and is truly showing me an example of an incredible missionary.

I feel like I am back in the United States but just in Spanish. I am in an outer sector of the main and massive city of San Pedro Sula and there are massive apartment buildings and malls, gated neighborhoods, McDonalds, Little Caesars, Denny's, Walmart, you name it. Also, the new temple is in my area which is super lucky. We are teaching doctors and lawyers and using Über to travel everywhere. Literally everything about what I “thought” about my mission changed.

Although it has only been a few days, we have seen soooo many miracles and I am loving the special opportunity to celebrate every little success of the 22 missionaries in this zone as well as help them with whatever questions or struggles they have. 

I was asked to give a talk in church yesterday and they told me to speak for about 5 minutes but then they announced me as the closing speaker and there was still about 20 minutes left of Sacrament Meeting. With my notecard of a few lines of notes, a few scripture references, and a whole lot of help from the Spirit, I was able to speak about 15 minutes about how as people of faith we can help bear each other's burdens and overcome the adversity we will face as members of the church. 

The ward here is incredible. It is mainly older people which causes the church meetings to be super reverent and the Spirit is soooo strong. Everyone is so missionary minded and so willing to help us.

Miracle List:

---A woman named Julissa who has listened to the missionaries for 6 years finally received an answer to her prayers and has chosen to be baptized! Her schedule is crazy but it should be happening this next Sunday if all goes well!

---A 14 year old boy named Francis approached us during a lesson with a recent convert and asked us when he could be baptized like his friend who we were teaching at that moment. We told him “slow down, slow down” and began to teach them all about baptism and ask his mom for permission. He understands and remembers everything we have taught and came to church yesterday!

---At church yesterday, a woman brought her attorney friend Mario for the first time. During the 2nd hour, we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in front of the baptismal font and at the end he accepted the invitation to be baptized! This lesson was one of my favorite lessons ever. Mario was analyzing everything we taught along with the feelings of the Spirit he had and we literally watched it all click in his head. Such an incredible and beautiful experience.

The area of Jardines is a pretty famous area in this mission. As I walked into my apartment for the first time and began to unpack a little, I saw my study desk and a bunch of names of past missionaries written on it. Not just random missionaries, but the most well-known names of some of the most powerful and looked-up-to missionaries that this mission has ever seen. I immediately felt so inadequate for the new position I am in and fear just cascaded into my mind. But then I remembered that there have been others who have been through similar experiences. The scriptures helped me calm my fears. 

Doctrine & Covenants 84:88 “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.”

2 Nephi 32:9 “But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.”

I bear witness that these scriptural truths are real. I have seen countless miracles and received confidence and strength in these past few days to serve in this situation. The Lord consecrates us and does not let our God-given imperfections keep others from feeling the Spirit.

Love you all so much!

Élder Snyder

P.S. We have a lesson with a friend in the house of our mission president this Wednesday, so the pressure is on. Prayers would be appreciated.

Week 36: Bricks

Whats cookin everyone.

Don't have a ton of time today because I slept a ton but here we go.

This week was SUPER tiring. Every day, Elder Best and I just collapsed on our beds when we got home. It's like 100⁰ every day at the least, but my mission president once said "missionaries who sweat for Jesus are blessed by Jesus." And we are really seeing that profound insight come to life out here in Campana. 

This week we found sooo many families while randomly contacting in between lessons. We found one family in particular that might be one of the wealthiest families in Honduras which is super lit. They all know english and are officially in love with us and make us super good food every time we go. They have like 6 puppy pugs that just kiss you endlessly and are the cutest things ever. And most importantly, they are really receptive to the message of the Restored Gospel. They are "catholic" but don't go consistantly and they already have good friends who are very active members of the ward here. There is a ton of potential with these people and I am super excited to keep teaching them for more than one reason haha.

Jasmin is still deciding if baptism is right for her and we are seeing slow but steady progress. She understands that it will benefit her life but she still feels a little uneasy from her doubts and uncertainties but she is really learning how powerful prayer is in our conversion which is just incredible to see.

Teaching people how to pray in an intimate way with their Father in Heaven may be one of the most fulfilling things of being a missionary.

Other stuff:

--- A member bought us pizza.

--- We received 4 free rides home from empty buses and other people after the buses stop for the night.

--- The ward went to the temple in Tegucigalpa and I have never wanted to go to the temple so badly.

--- We moved 500 cement blocks for a member and it felt so nice to just get our hands dirty for the first time in a while.

--- Ate Wendy's today. More evidence of God's reality.

Transfers are in a couple days so I'm excited to see what president does with the two areas we have right now.

Go listen to the BYU speech "Flashes of Light" by Steven J Lund. This speech fully changed my perspective of so many things but especially of the process of conversion. One quote I loved says, "The Lord sometimes withholds blessings from us to eventually deliver undeniably discernable miracles." Just follow the impressions of the Spirit and miracles will happen. We may not know why, how, or when, but God knows. Trust Him. Try your best. Doubt your doubts. He will perfect you.

With much love,

Élder Snyder

Week 35: Its Gettin Hot in Here

This week was lit. 

Started off with a mission-wide conference with Elder Giuffra from the Seventy and it was soooo good. I received so many answers, guidance, and motivation to continue improving my abilities and efforts as a missionary. Elder Guiffra spent a majority of his time breaking down our mission call letters and wow I never realized how much guidance is packed into those few paragraphs. If you're a missionary, I recommend studying your call letter in depth if you haven't in a while. Also at the conference, Elder Jarvis, Porter, Blauer, and I sang an arrangement of "Come Thou Fount" with my boy Elder Evanson absolutely shredding on the piano. Our first run through of the song together ended up being the actual performance but it turned out pretty good given the circumstances! I'll try to attach a link to it but we'll see if it works. Also the power of the Spirit was crazy when the whole mission sang "How Firm a Foundation" (my favorite hymn).

Apart from that a pretty tough week not gonna lie but that's just life so we're still out here balling and putting our best foot forward. And that's why the week remains lit.

A few things happened with Arlette and her mom does not want to give permission yet so we'll see what happens down the line in these next few weeks.

Jasmin is continuing to progress and we had some reallyyyyy good lessons with her this week focused on her understanding of the Gospel and what is she willing to do to follow the Lord. The members here have also been a HUGE help with her and I am just so amazed and inspired by their efforts to be missionaries with us.

We have a friend named Leonel and he is just so humble and just wants to follow Christ. He was so excited to come to church last week but when he was riding his bike to work the day before, he was hit by a motorcycle and suffered some major injuries, especially on his head. Prayers for him are very appreciated and will work miracles to help him recover and continue to experience the hope of the Gospel!

This week, the help of the Spirit in our lessons was very apparent and I just know with all of my heart that God is real and He will always create a way for his disciples to help others learn of Him. We become sanctified as we testify of Him. I love this gospel and I love seeing how my mission and the people are changing me every day.

It's also super super hot here.

Love you all, thanks for reading.

Élder Snyder

Honduras

Pops

The Whole Mission

Sitting in the SHADE in front of someone's house

Pre-Musical number: Elder Blauer's face shows the true emotions