everything is awesome

Hello Everyone! I have had such a great week and it flew by so fast! We had zone conference, transfer calls, and some good appointments and a true miracle (too late for a Christmas miracle? Never!) at church yesterday!

 

As far as transfers go, I am staying here in Garden Ridge and Sister Farmer will be leaving :( We were kind of expecting it though because she's been here for 6 months now. But still it's so sad but I'm excited to be staying in this area! I love it here!

 

On Thursday(Happy birthday mom!) we had zone conference in Bulverde out in the Hill Country which is always fun because it's nice and rural and because Zone Conferences are the best! Our big focus was on finding by faith, planning better, and working better with members. President Slaughter told us that they would be shoving our brains full of as much information as possible, which they did. Haha. We always leave wondering how in the world we can apply all of it, but we're able to and we learn the absolute best things. We talked about the vision we have for ourselves and our areas, and about what the true desires of our hearts are, and how that's what our goals should be based off of. I seriously love my mission and everything we talked about was so perfect and answered all questions I have had on my mind lately. Sister Slaughter wasn't there, but when we all got up to stretch President had us do 3 calf raises for her because that's the stretch she always tells us to do. Hahaha. So great.

 

This week we have been incredibly blessed to meet with a lot of people, including a lot of part member families and potential investigators. We have a lot of return appointments set for this week and we're so excited! We're going on splits tomorrow night to be able to see everyone so that will be fun! We were also able to meet a few times with a recent convert and he will be going to the temple next month! He is so strong in the gospel and loves God and gives his everything to serve. We went out to his house and guess what?! He lives on a ranch and has like 10 horses and it's the best. Haha. Texas.

 

I'm just loving life and enjoying Texas, the people, and the work. It truly does not get any better than this. The gospel of Jesus Christ is it. It is the only way to be truly happy and how lucky are we to get to know it and to get to share it with others? The work of salvation is the work of the whole church, and the Lord is preparing people for everyone to teach, it's a promise. 

 

I love all y'all and hope you have a blessed week! 

 

Love, 

 

Sister Snyder

 

Here is a picture of my sweet companion and I right now, emailing :)

 

Happy Monday!

Good afternoon all y'all! This week was super fun and funny and good and cold, so basically an awesome week! This is email will probably be kind of long, so I apologize!

I went on exchanges with my Sister Training Leader Sister Johnson on Tuesday, and we had an incredible day. We spent like 2 hours in one apartment complex talking to people and passing out copies of the Book of Mormon and helping people. It was so much fun. And we met this group of men from Puerto Rico who were on their porch listening to their music and all that, and only one spoke English well. He was pretty interested and we taught a quick Restoration lesson because he had to go to work. And when it came time to talk about the First Vision, I really felt that I needed to share it in Spanish so that the other two would gain something out of what we were saying. So I did and they loved it! I even got a high five for good pronunciation. Haha. The Lord gives us ways to share the gospel with everyone, and I'm grateful to have been able to do that. It was an awesome exchange and we were so blessed as we preached by the way. 

The next morning was Zone Meeting! Hooray! I gave a study share about the Atonement, and then the Zone Leaders talked about the goals President Slaughter has set for the mission for 2015, which are 1) be fully consecrated 2) bury our weapons of rebellion, and 3) develop pure hearts. So that was really fun and I have an amazing zone. I learned a lot and feel super motivated to make this next year as successful as possible.

So it's been pretty chilly here lately, down in the 30s. We've been wearing our thermals and coats and hats and gloves and we use blankets during study to stay warm. It's been pretty fun, but I have to admit, I do miss the summer. And I'm sure in the summer I'll be saying how much I miss winter. But apparently it's supposed to get warm again soon. Yee.

Sorry this email is long this week, it was just a good week! Our sweet recent convert Sister Milam(i'll send a picture of her) is amazing and she is a true Texas woman and says the best things. She lives one hallway over from us, so the other night we stopped by. She swung open the door and yelled "Butter my butt and call me a biscuit!! The sisters are here!!" Hahaha. I love her so much. 

The work here is going well and we've been teaching more and more! We've been working a lot with less active/part member families, and it is scary at first because we don't know what to expect, but things are going so well and we've gained a lot of trust from them. Our recent converts are doing amazing and I just love this ward so much! I serve with the sweetest people around. For real. Sister Farmer is doing so great and I just love her so much! She is so funny and so sincere and I'm beyond blessed to have her as my companion. Transfer calls are this Sunday, which is scary!

One last thing to share--something from my personal study this morning. I was reading Alma 5, and a part in verse 7  really stuck out to me. It's talking about changed hearts, about being in darkness, then "nevertheless, their souls were illuminated by the light of the everlasting word..." I really love that. The gospel of Jesus Christ is truly as good as it gets. Never doubt that or take it for granted. It absolutely can illuminate our souls, even when it doesn't feel like it, and it is all possible through the Atonement of our Savior who loved us and loved Heavenly Father enough to willingly and lovingly offer Himself for us. It's incredible to realize how loved and blessed we are.

I love all of you and hope that you have a great week!

Love, 

Sister Snyder