Hello!

Hi y'all!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I sure did! I got to skype my family on Christmas and it was so much fun! I hope y'all had a happy Christmas as well! :)

Our ward was so kind to us on Christmas and we had big meals and we got to visit lots of people and it was so much fun! On Christmas morning during companion study, Sister Farmer and I decided to sing all of the Christmas hymns, all verses. Haha. We got through like 5 songs, and then we just couldn't handle it. Our throats hurt and it was so funny. Good times.

The rest of the week has been so great also, and now when I drive places I actually know where I'm going! Woohoo.

On Tuesday we made a ton of sugar cookies at our ward mission leaders home. I was on a roll with those things! Haha and we frosted them all cute(well Sister Farmer did, I made the snowmen look very scary) and we took them to different people. It was so fun.We also got to help someone decorate their Christmas tree, which was the greatest thing ever for me. You know how I love Christmas. 

We saw huge blessings yesterday at church as a lot of our less active members came and stayed the entire time! It was amazing. 

I encourage y'all to start to read the Book of Mormon again, and if you want to be a part of the TSAM(which trust me, you want to!) read Chapter 2 in Preach My Gospel to find ways to have a more effective scripture study. That's what our mission is doing this week. The Book of Mormon is absolutely the word of God, and it contains the fulness of the gospel of our Savior. Read it again and again!

I love y'all and hope y'all have a wonderful week! Happy New Year! 

Love, Sister Snyder

The pictures I'm attaching are of one of the roads in my area and  an amazing Texas sunset we had! :)

Merry Christmas!!

Hello sweet friends and family!! Merry Christmas!! I hope y'all are having a great week and that you have a great holiday!

This past week was so much fun! My new area is amazing and I'm loving my companion and the ward! 

We had our Christmas conference this past Wednesday, and President Slaughter told us a story about a Christmas when his kids were younger. He didn't want to buy them anything because they had too many toys, so he just rewrapped what they had, and the kids were thrilled about their new presents. Haha. He used this to tell us that we need to dust off the old gifts within ourselves that we have hid away, rewrap them, and open them and use them. We all have different gifts that we don't use enough an we need to. It was a great message!

Sorry time is so short, but I hope yall have a great week!! Thank you for the sweet letters and notes and everything, it means so much! I'll include some pictures from the past few weeks!

I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, our Savior and Redeemer. He atoned for each and every one of us, He loves us, and He really is the gift, and the best gift we could ever be given.

I love y'all!!

-Sister Snyder

Hi Y'all!

This past week has been good and crazy and I'm in my new area now with a new companion! I am in the Garden Ridge area, which is is still in San Antonio, but I realize now how in the city Castle Hills was. Haha.  Garden Ridge has a small town feel, even though it's not terribly small. It's mostly neighborhoods, with like 3 apartment complexes, which blew me away because Castle Hills was like 1/2 apartment complexes. So wow that's different. Haha. But it's a really cool area and we're in a car share here, so we get to bike around and it's really pretty. 

My new companion is Sister Farmer from Layton, Utah. She is super awesome and has been in the area as long as I've been a missionary haha. She hits her year mark this week. Crazy. She knows the area and people well which is awesome. 

The ward here is pretty small. Apparently a really big ward split into 3 smaller ones, so that's why. I counted 15 people in Relief Society yesterday including us and the teacher. But it's really cool because in such a small ward everyone knows each other really well and they're so willing to help out. They give us rides places, and one member has made sure that we have meals clear until January. Haha. But I'm adjusting well and loving it here! And it feels really good to bike again!

Leaving Castle Hills was pretty sad because of how much I love the people there! The hardest thing was saying goodbye to our recent converts! Ripped my heart out. Mike who was just baptized was sad to see us go and thanked us over and over for what we had done for him. It's incredibly humbling and invaluable to hear people thank you for bringing them the gift of the gospel and it makes every hard thing so worth it. Que bendiciones. (forgive my gringo spelling)

Anyway, I love this new area and I'm happy to be here! On Wednesday we have our mission Christmas conference which I'm stoked for. It'll be awesome. And I'll send pictures next week when I find my camera cord! One last thing to leave y'all with, a quote President Slaughter included in his weekly email:

 President Spencer W. Kimball taught, “Though we make an effort to follow the pattern of gift giving, sometimes our program becomes an exchange–gift given for gift expected. Never did the Savior give in expectation. I know of no case in his life in which there was an exchange. He was always the giver, seldom the recipient. Never did he give shoes, hose, or a vehicle; never did he give perfume, a shirt, or a fur wrap. His gifts were of such a nature that the recipient could hardly exchange or return the value. His gifts were rare ones: eyes to the blind, ears to the deaf, and legs to the lame; cleanliness to the unclean, wholeness to the infirm, and breath to the lifeless. His gifts were opportunity to the down–trodden, freedom to the oppressed, light in the darkness, forgiveness to the repentant, hope to the despairing. His friends gave him shelter, food, and love. He gave them of himself, his love, his service, his life. The wise men brought him gold and frankincense. He gave them and all their fellow mortals resurrection, salvation, and eternal life. We should strive to give as he gave. To give of oneself is a holy gift."

Merry Christmas and have a good week! 

Love, Sister Snyder

The greatest week

Hello friends and family!! This past week ROCKED. It was such a busy, good, good week! 

Last night we got transfer calls, which is insane. I cannot believe it's already been another 6 weeks. Time goes waaaaay to fast. We were feeling pretty positive that Hermana Ormsby would go to the border, and that Sister Ali and I would stay and I would finish her training. But...the opposite happened. Sister Ali and I are both leaving the area and Hermana Ormsby is staying. I'M SO SAD. I really, really love Castle Hills A and the people here. We were all really surprised. But hey, it'll be fun to head to a new area and meet new people again and start teaching other people! So don't send anything to my old address anymore!

On Tuesday we got to drive up to Austin again for a doctor's appointment, and we went to get our oil changed before because it needed to be done. It ended up taking 3 hours, and we were stuck in that little waiting room with nothing but soap operas on the TV. Worst 3 hours ever. Hahaha. Eventually we got out and luckily we made it to Austin on time! But that 6:00 traffic out of Austin is killer. But hey it made for some good laughs and stuff. 

Two magnificent things happened this week, everyone. And I am thrilled about it.

First, our ukrainian recent convert went to the temple. And we were lucky enough to be able to go with her and Sister Hassell in our ward and watch it all. It was a night for family names only, and Angel didn't have any prepared yet, but Sister Hassell works at the temple and arranged for her to do temple names. So it was just her and a group of like 6 Young Men from Austin. So the temple president was able to talk to them and she went first and was baptized and confirmed and she loved it. After she was dressed we stayed longer because she wanted to watch the others and she felt so calm and peaceful. It was amazing. So grateful that I was able to be here for that and that she was able to go so soon after her own baptism.

Saturday morning Elder Corbridge of the Seventy was in the San Antonio area so we were able to go to a quick meeting with him and it was awesome to hear from him. He taught us better ways to teach and talked about becoming better missionaries. It was really great.

Then Saturday afternoon, Mike got baptized! Hooray! I've been teaching him since the day I got here, so it was so awesome to actually see this happen. He is so humble and has such a sincere heart. We were so excited! It was a great service, really simple and peaceful and his confirmation yesterday was really nice too. So we had a great week/weekend! We feel very blessed with the success we've seen this transfer. 

Also another miracle: There is this man named Disco that we met outside of a complex last transfer, and we talked to him and he was one of a kind and awesome. We failed to get his contact information, so we've spent this transfer knocking out a ton of buildings in his complex trying to find him. That's how we found that woman who was having a tough day and invited us back. So we were at her apartment the other day knocking for an appointment, when her husband calls to us as he's coming up the stairs. and guess who was right behind him???? DISCO. they are way good friends and he sat in on the lesson, and we were able to go teach him again the other night. Wowie wow! We found him! So that was awesome.

I have seriously been so blessed this past transfer and have seen so many amazing things happen. And it hasn't just been the baptisms or the investigators. It's been working with the less active families who just needed a push and a reminder of what was important. Seeing people start to come to church, thanking us in their testimonies, and being excited when we come over is the best thing. All they needed was to be reminded of how much they are loved. This work is so vital in every single aspect, among members and nonmembers. It has been such a privilege to be able to be a part of this ward for the past 4 months. I'm sad to go, but grateful for what I've been able to do. And I'm excited to see what happens next! I'll let y'all know where I end up!

Please keep sharing He Is the Gift with others and praying for missionary opportunites! They will come. I love y'all so much and hope you have a fantastic week!!

Love, Sister Snyder

The pictures are of us at the temple after baptisms, and at the baptism on Saturday! :)

Merrrrry Christmas!

Hello y'all!! Just a quick email to say hello! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, I know I did! We had so much good food and it was a lot of fun!

Have y'all heard of He Is the Gift? On christmas.mormon.org there is an amazing, short video about how Christ is the gift of Christmas. Please watch it and share it with everyone! I think it's a great reminder in our crazy world about how blessed we are to have been given the ultimate gift from our Heavenly Father. He gave us His Son, and we are able to do EVERYTHING because of Him. Take the time to read about Christ, to think about Him, and to share this very special gift with others. It really is so great!!

I had an awesome week and I'm so very excited for this upcoming week! We get to go to the temple with our recent convert, and we have a baptism on Saturday! We are very blessed and I'm so grateful to be a part of these people's lives. It's really the best thing to be a part of. 

Sorry this is short, but I love y'all so much and appreciate your love and support! Have a great week, and take time to check out He Is the Gift!

Love, Sister Snyder

p.s. here's a picture of my district, the San Pedro District :)