happy monday!

hello everyone!! I hope y'all are having a great monday! i know that I am. 

this week was a great one. my sweet investigator from Ukraine was interviewed for baptism and is getting baptized this friday! we are so excited and she is too, so i'll send some pictures of that next week!

This week we were able to teach some really good lessons. The father and son we're teaching are progressing so well, and the son said that he took his Book of Mormon to school to talk to others about it. Haha. He's so awesome. 

My lovely companions and I continue to have a great time together, and my companions are like magnets for every stray cat in San Antonio. Haha. it's ridiculous. but we're doing great and biking like champs! 

This week we had zone conference which is always so good. The big topics we discussed were setting and achieving goals and helping others as much as we can. The thing that I gained the most from was when we discussed that success is determined by attitude. We can't get so caught up on the little things and in our own pride that we fail to help others or be happy. It's just not worth it.

Another thing I've been thinking about is how blessed I am. When I first started my mission, I had the thought process that this was something I really wanted to do, that I wanted to help others, and that it was the least I could do to repay Heavenly Father for the endless blessings I have been given, the gospel being the greatest. But I was talking to someone or reading something (can't remember!) that really made me realize something that is absolutely true. There is no way that by serving in the TSAM  I'm fulfilling a payment to Heavenly Father. Yes, I'm doing his work, but I cannot repay him for what i have because i have never felt more blessed than I do now. If anything, I feel like I owe more. It's the greatest thing, and it's the whole point. I thought I would be giving back, but instead I'm gaining even more. It just makes me even more grateful. Each day I'm given new people to talk to, more lessons to teach, and I get to see other people's lives change. I'm the one that continues to be blessed through all of this. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ truly did everything for us, and they will always  bless us if we do what we're asked. 

This past week I also read Joseph Smith History, and I challenge y'all to read it again and to really think about the Joseph Smith story and what happened. It's incredible. 

Sorry if this was scattered and short. I love you all and hope everything is going great for everyone. Have a great week!

-Sister Snyder 

Hi y'all! - October 6, 2014

Hi y'all! I hope everyone had a great week and a super conference weekend! 

This week was really fun and rewarding and we had a great time watching conference.

Hermana Ormsby did the pepper challenge and it was so funny! She basically glared at me the whole time, and Sister Stidham and I just sat there laughing. Haha. I love my companions so much. We probably laugh way more than we should, but hey, porque no?

This week we went on exchanges and I headed out to Leon Springs in Hill Country, where you can see George Strait's house on the hill. Good times there! The people were so nice and we taught some amazing lessons. 

Here in Castle Hills we taught some really good lessons too. One of our new investigators is so prepared it's incredible, and he loves learning about the gospel. He wants to be baptized and loved learning about the Plan of Salvation. Things in our area are going really well, and we continue to see the blessings of talking to EVERYONE. It really is the best way to do things! 

Conference was AMAZING. If you didn't get to watch all of it, please do! None of our investigators were able to make it to any sessions, so we watched it at the church, with members, and then the Slaughters invited us over for breakfast and conference, so we watched it at the mission home! haha. We had a great time over there. 

i would love to hear what y'all loved about conference and what you learned. here's what I learned:

Christ truly is our Savior and Redeemer and He was completely selfless. His example is perfect, and we really, really need to follow it! yes, we are blessed with our agency, but we need to use it correctly. And it's the small things that make the big difference. Elder Scott talked about the basic things we need to create habits out of, and prayer and daily scripture study make the biggest difference. Be open in your prayers to Heavenly Father, and remember through whom you pray: Jesus Christ. 

The talk that hit me the most was Elder Jorg Klebingat. He was so straight up, and it was so meaningful! He said that "selective obedience brings selective blessings". Please read his talk again, it was amazing!

And conference ended perfectly with President Monson saying that we need to be thankful followers of Christ and examples of righteousness.

We're so blessed to have the gospel, and living it is a blessing too.  I'm blessed to be able to dedicate all of my time for a short 18 months to help others come to this knowledge, and I love it! 

i hope everyone has a fantastic week and again i encourage you to go see meet the mormons this week! 

love y'all!!

-Sister Snyder

Amazing Week (again) - September 29, 2014

Hi y'all! This past week was super bien! I'll spare you the details of every day, but I'll tell you the best things that happened and what I learned this past week. 

so this last friday we had zone conference at the stake center. we received trainings from president slaughter, the aps, and the sister training leader leaders. it was AMAZING. president talked about baptism. Then one of the ap's gave a training on what we really desire to do/accomplish as missionaries and as members of the church. we talked about how if you don't think you're doing any good in this world, you need to change you attitude. and that goes for everyone. for real. so change it if necessary, and start doing good things!

the other huge theme of the meeting was Developing Christlike Attributes, which is a whole chapter in Preach My Gospel that i highly, highly suggest y'all read and apply. in the chapter, it says " You need to be a Christlike missionary, not just do missionary things." And it's so true, for missionaries and members alike. As members of the church of Jesus Christ, we need to be constantly working to become like him. We need to change our nature, not just our behaviors. Turn out like Christ, instead of turning in to ourselves. And one of the best ways to develop Christlike attributes is to study them in the scriptures. Read about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, take note of their natures and their characteristics, and be like them. President Slaughter brought up one time that we already know our Savior. We're not strangers to each other, we're acquainted, but it's up to us to become better acquainted and build a strong relationship with Him. So a lot of amazing messages were shared and it brings it all back to the central part of everything we do and believe: Jesus Christ. He really did live and die for us, and our way back to our Heavenly Father is through Him.

Guess what else we got to do at zone conference besides eating delicious barbecue for lunch? We got to watch Meet the Mormons! I'm sure many of y'all have heard about it, it comes out to select theaters on october 10th, and i'm telling you to go see it that day. For real it was SO GOOD. It's about the lives of I think 6 members of the church and their stories and it was amazing. You just have to see it for yourself. Tell others about it. Take nonmembers or less active members with you, share info about it on facebook, do whatever, but make sure you see it! i wish i could  watch it again! 

So zone conference rocked. haha.

women's conference on saturday night was super bien also! we watched comfortably from the reclining chairs in a members home since none of our investigators could come. it was so good, and everyone should watch it, not just women! it was all about the temple and how much heavenly father loves us.

last thing i'll tell y'all about is last night. after church and break the fast, we headed out to a part of area that is just apartment complexes. we spend a lot of time here, and we decided to do some knocking. we were knocking, and this guy answered the door, let us in immediately, and let us teach him and his friend the restoration. they loved it, and we're going back saturday. it's the best when people let you in while knocking! then we continued knocking a different building, and this girl, probably 12 years old, said she only spoke spanish, but good thing we have hermana ormsby, eh?! so this little girl recognized our name tags, and let us in, and she started talking with hermana ormsby. she said she had cousins who were LDS, and her family had been 3 years ago. she was SO excited we were there, so we gave her el libro de mormon and the elders' number (because they're really good at spanish!). so that was awesome. then we met a man in the parking lot who was taking out his trash (because we're creepy like that and talk to everyone haha) and he only spoke spanish too. 3 cheers for hermana ormsby! we gave him el libro de mormon, and referred him to the elders. so it was a stellar night that just proved again how important it is to actually open your mouth and talk to people. Yeah, it can be scary and intimidating, but it's incredibly rewarding. 

So this past week was full of some really amazing things. i really wish i could express to y'all just how blessed i feel and how grateful i am to be able to meet these people here. i'm also so grateful for joseph smith, and our living prophet, and that we get to hear from him this next week! wooo!

i hope y'all have a great week! i'll send pictures next week! love y'all!

-Sister Snyder

p.s. hermana ormsby gets to do the ghost chili challenge tomorrow night. hahahaha.