Week 90: Mochoooo

Let the final chapter begin!

Said some last goodbyes in Campana and it was very fun but wow I ate way too much food. One of these foods was river sail soup… I highly don't recommend slurping 30 snails out of their shells while the person who made the soup watches your every move to see if you liked it. Another family got a cake for me with my name spelled wrong but that just made it an even sweeter gesture. Campana will forever be missed 🫶

On Wednesday, I got to go to the offices, say bye to Elder Cano, catch up with some absolute dawgs from the mission, chat it up with President and Sister McClellan for like 2 hours, and go to the temple. It was so great to be there with so many good friends of mine who will also be training these last 2 transfers of our missions.

And yep, I'm whitewashing and training again! My new companion is Elder Rosales from Guatemala and we are in a town up in the mountains called Mochito! The weather here is incredible. I feel like I'm back in Southern California in the summer. This ward is actually super strong and there is another set of Elders here. That companionship is also whitewashing and training AND one of them is the one and only ELDER EVANSON! 5 transfers together at the beginning of our mission wasn't enough so now we will be finishing out the last 2 in the same ward and same house. The Lord answers prayers. The only downside to all of this is that the 4 of us elders share 1 washboard to wash our clothes by hand hahaha. There is A LOT of work to do here and I am so excited to get to it with these guys.

We have been trying to work with the members a lot to find new people to teach and we are starting to see some success with that but there's still so much to do.

Most of my life, I have always believed in the importance/power of prayer, but I've always struggled to really pray with real intent. I just want to testify of the power of saying personal prayers out loud. Find a spot where you can pray out loud, do it, and you will feel the difference and will see the answers to these prayers manifest themselves much more frequently in your life.

I am very excited and very hopeful to just give everything I can to the Lord for this last chapter of my mission and hopefully watch Him help others and me come unto Him with an honest heart.

With so much love,

Élder Snyder

Week 89: Opening and Closing Doors

This week was a rollercoaster and I learned a lot (and laughed wayyyy too much with Elder Prior).

Jefferson got baptized! It was such a sweet baptismal service and I made waffles for everyone and it was just awesome. We found Jefferson by visiting some inactive members and it has been so special to see these people come back to church and start their progress towards the temple!

Sadly, María did not get baptized and we are not sure if she will be able to. She is pretty dependent on her kids and grandkids to have food on her table and when she invited them to her baptism, they blew up in anger toward her and the Church because they are all “Catholic”. They threatened to basically protest the church and disrupt church meetings as well as forcefully move María from her house so that we could not visit her anymore. It was so sad as she explained all of this to us in tears because she wants to be baptized so badly but also loves her family and does not want problems with them. I truly came to understand that the work of the Lord is to unite families for eternity, whether it be done in this life or the next. He has His special timing in every circumstance and I know María will make it back to her eternal home.

Other stuff:

--- We made cheeseburgers with our pensionista to teach her how the natives make them.

--- Started saying goodbye to a lot of really special families 

--- We had a fun bonfire activity with the youth and it reminded me of the bonfires my friends and I would do back at the beach. But I don't recommend bonfires in 90⁰ weather. It's a little warm.

We had such a special lesson yesterday with this one young guy who we found in the street a few weeks ago. He has come to church twice and it wasn't until yesterday we were able to meet with him. He moved to the United States when he was 12 and now he is 27 and we only talk with him in English, it's quite lit. He is visiting here for 3 months to help out his grandma who lives out here alone. We asked him why he thinks he feels this desire to come to church and he simply stated “I'm just trying to find the way.” We taught the whole Restoration in English (which was super odd but so awesome) and he was just hitting us with such thoughtful questions. He is super excited to read the Book of Mormon and “find the way”. Some Elders in Virginia are gonna get an absolutely GOLDEN reference in a couple of months.

It really touches my heart to see young people who seem to be living good lives have these soul-searching questions. People really are seeking truth and the Lord prepares a divine design for everyone one of us. When one door closes, many more open if we are trying our best to follow God's will.

Alma 26:21-22 are some of my favorite verses explaining how we can come to know the Will of God and find peace… and I truly testify that it works. 

This week I'll be leaving Campana to go to my last area which is absolutely wild but I'm very very excited.

With so much love,

Élder Snyder

Week 88: Wilderness Explorer Caw Caw Rawr!

One more week down and one more to go in Campana before transfers!

We are just seeing so many miracles and just having such awesome experiences.

One of the highlights of this week was being able to go to the temple with our recent convert Joshua! We helped him with his FamilySearch account and helped him to get the name of his grandpa. The ward bus left at 4am so Elder Prior and I found ourselves walking on the side of the highway at 3:30am in the pitch black and all of the sudden this old guy riding his bike appeared out of nowhere and yelled “hombres galileos!” as he passed by. Super weird and I have no idea what he meant by that but honestly such a vibe. I hope he got to where he was going at 3:30am. Once in the temple, I had the blessing to be the one to confirm the Holy Ghost for and in behalf of his grandpa. The Spirit that was present during that moment was something I never want to forget. It truly strengthened my testimony of temple work and the power of the laying on of hands.

Jefferson and María are still have baptismal dates for this Sunday and we are so excited for them! Please keep Jefferson in your prayers because out of nowhere he has started having doubts about whether or not he is ready. We have faith that everything will be okay but prayers would be much appreciated.

We got robbed. We were walking to the church one night and as we were in this pretty dark and isolated spot, a motorcycle stopped right next to us. The man on the bike had a duffel bag on his lap. He reached inside and pulled out a bag of bread. He told us to buy it for 100 lempiras (this bread normally costs 50) and I wasn't trying to see what else he may pull out of the bag so we happily bought the super overpriced bread. Sorry for the clickbait but we honestly got robbed in that transaction.

We met a woman this week who had been taught by her church that because she wasn't perfectly obedient to their list of extreme commandments she was not a daughter of God, simply a “creation” of His. My companion and I immediately felt such compassion for her and we told her that that teaching was simply false and that God truly loved her no matter what and that she was, is, and will always be a daughter of God. The next day she posted on her story how good she felt when she heard us say “God loves you”. I really have no idea if she will progress but that moment was a testimony building moment for me on a subject that I have always kind of blown over.

We are teaching this one single mother and her 19 and 21 year-old sons and they are just awesome. They used to be suuuuper active members in a different church but had a falling out in that place. They have come to church a couple of times and this week we had one of the most spiritual lessons ever with them about the Restoration of the Gospel. In the end, they all said they would be baptized into the church if they received their answer about the Book of Mormon. I know that they already know that it is true. With them, it has been a more slow yet steady process of teaching them but they are now super close. 

Just went wilderness exploring in the jungles of the northern coast of Honduras in search of a waterfall. We did not find the waterfall but we found something equally, if not more, interesting. A calm and completely untouched part of the river and a lot of rocks. All men understand me. All of us elders were basically at Disneyland for at least an hour throwing rocks and pushing boulders off the cliffs into the water as the sisters sat and laughed at us. It was awesome. We then went to the pier and just being on top of the ocean again made me so happy. Can't wait to be able to get in the water in a few months.

This week, we had a really cool experience with some members that we visited. We talked to them about sharing the Gospel and they then expressed the difficulties and rejection that they have faced from very close family and friends when they have tried to share the Gospel. We felt the impression to make them a very specific promise and afterwords, the mother of the family asked us why we visited them. She then went on to explain how the Lord has never left them alone. In their doubts, their trials, etc. the missionaries or someone from the ward always shows up or reaches out and helps with exactly what they didn't know they needed. The Lord works in mysterious ways and he truly is in the details of the details. He answers prayers and he keeps his promises.

With so much love,

Élder Snyder

 

Week 87: Testimonies and Histories

I hope everyone is doing well! I know I am doing well up here in Campanas!

This week, the other elders had 2 baptisms, a mother and her teenaged daughter, and I had the privilege to do their baptismal interviews. These two were found by my dear friend Elder Abarca many months ago and they had finally decided to take this step of faith. Their baptismal interviews were some of the most spiritual experiences of my mission as I got to watch these people share their testimonies with me and as I got to share my testimony with them. Yesterday, everything went well in their baptism and the ward showed out to support them.

Speaking of sharing testimonies, this week, we found a young man named Alex. He works for a cruise ship company so he knows fluent English and is familiar with many different cultures and peoples of this world. He has so many questions about the church and the Book of Mormon and it is just a pleasure to teach him. A couple of days ago, Elder Prior began to testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon, and although his Spanish is already fantastic, he had to stop and think for a little. In this pause, Alex told him he could share his testimony in English if he desired. Elder Prior finished in Spanish but I felt such a strong desire to share my testimony in my native language. I did and it was very special for me. There was something so different and so much more meaningful to me to testify of my favorite part of this Gospel in my native language. Take advantage to testify in whatever language you can- whether it be in English, Spanish, music, art, technology, or service- testify. It will change you as it has changed me.

María (mama coco) is still progressing incredibly fast and it is just so fun to teach her. The other day we asked her how it's going with coffee and she was like “I have a crazy bad headache but it's chill I've been worse.” A few days later she said she no longer has any pain and feels no need for coffee. She is constantly cracking jokes during the lessons based on the principles we are teaching and, to me, that shows better than anything that she is understanding the Restored Gospel. I truly love the elderly. I love hearing their histories and their past times. I love seeing them continue to learn and to have such an eternal perspective on life. She told us how her children were telling her that it is ridiculous that at her age she is making all these changes and taking the risk to go to church (she is very fragile) but she told them, “No. I want to save my soul before I part from this life. I know that this church is the only way to do that. There is no other place where I feel such love and sincerity. I am getting baptized!” Thank you for your prayers for María!

Other things:

— Today is our pensionista's birthday so we just filled her apartment with balloons and bought her some Nutella (a delicacy here) so that was fun. We'll see how she reacts though haha

— Our recent convert Joshua received the Priesthood and will be going to the temple this Saturday with his grandpa’s name!! 

— Had the multizona and performed a musical number with Elder Evanson once again. It was awesome to catch up again with some great friends.

This week in my studies, I have truly come to learn about the importance of daily feasting on the words of Christ. I love the Book of Mormon and everything it teaches about Christ's nature as well as Satan's nature. Reading the Book of Mormon is one of the most efficient ways I think we can develop the ability to discern between what is righteous and what is subtly evil. I love the Gospel and this church because of all of the scriptures and knowledge available. It brings me peace.

With so much love,

Élder Snyder

Week 86: Just One Soul!

Hey everyone! You're gonna get a shorter email this week because I honestly can't remember much of what happened. 😅

This week in terms of our friends what a grind and we continue to see the hand of the Lord, but my favorite miracle occurred on Sunday. Sitting close to the door of the chapel, I saw someone I was not expecting to walk through the door… Gadiel! Gadiel is one of my converts from Jardines from almost a year ago who is just so special to me and such a good friend of mine. He has some family that live in Campanas so he decided to surprise me and visit me at church here.

He proceeded to make his way to the front to share his testimony and conversion story with the congregation. As I watched him tell his story and testify the words “I know that this church is the true church and that God and Jesus Christ live and love me”, my heart was completely filled. As we studied in Doctrine and Covenants this week, our joy truly will be full if we help just one soul come unto Christ. I testify of that truth. As I watched this dear friend share his testimony I almost cried because of how much I know he has changed and how much effort I have put into these months. To see fruits of labors manifest themselves in that way is priceless.

Other things:

---I ate a fried fish but with the bones and spines and eyes and everything. It was super weird but not bad. But lowkey scary that if you just leave it in oil for a whole hour the bones are safe to eat.

---We upgraded the broom in our house into a Nimbus 2000

---We watched this suuuuuper sleepy 2 year old kid absolutely fight demons on the bus and it may have been one of the funniest moments of my life.

One verse that stood out to me this week in my reading was Mosiah 27:31. Every single person we know now will know what we know now. That Christ is the Redeemer and that the only way to enter into his presence is through the saving ordinances performed by proper priesthood authority. It was a good reminder and motivation to talk to everyone I can for my last 3 weeks here in Campanas before going to my last area.

I love this service in all of the good and the bad. There's always a perfect compensation for our efforts that will come when we least expect it.

With so much love,

Élder Snyder