Week 5: Sickness, Rain, and a Birthday

Hello everyone! This past week was really bizarre and funny, but really good and rewarding as well! Sister Stidham and I laugh at everything and we just have the greatest time. Thank you for all of the sweet birthday wishes and packages! I'm so happy to know all of you and I hope that y'all are doing well!

Monday was quite the experience. Haha. We went downtown to the Mercado with the other sisters and the Parsons, and were having a great time. We ate street tacos, and my sweet companion bought an horchata. On the way home, my sweet companion got soooo sick with the worst food poisoning you could imagine from the horchata. For real. Like everything you would think, plus hives and passing out. All in the men's bathroom at a random panda express. Hahahaha. we got her home and she rested for the night, and then she was good! So it was a fun/sad day! haha.

Tuesday we met with a lot of members, active and less active and it was really fun! We took it pretty easy because we didn't want Sister Stidham to get sick again.

Wednesday we had district meeting! I gave a training on diligence and beginning with the end in mind. Perfect for me right? It went really well and we had a great discussion and I sure learned a whole lot! Later that day we taught 3 more lessons that went really well! Seriously we have such great investigators and their faith is amazing. We set a baptismal date for the woman from Ukraine! wooo. She wanted it to be on 10/10, so october 10th it is. Haha. That night we didn't have a dinner, and it was starting to get stormy. we were going to stop at this bagel shop, but it was closed, so we bought lunchables and gatorade from a walgreens, took cover from the rain in a donut shop, then finished eating outside after the rain was done. It was too great. We love it when it rains here! Any cover from the sun is awesome.

Thursday was my birthday! yee. We had cake and ice cream at the Parsons, and Sister Parsons made the most amazing cake ever. She like shaves the chocolate by hand and curls it and stuff. Haha so that was awesome. Then we did some knocking and visiting, it rained (!), and we went to dinner with Brother Green, which was so much fun. Then we saw a cat climb a tree and almost get stuck. when it finally got down, I rolled down the car window and clapped at it, and it turned back, stared right at me, then ran off. oh man, I DIED laughing.  We ended the night with a really good lesson about the commandments! it was awesome.

Friday and Saturday we visited people, taught a lesson, and Sister Smith was with us. We went to the mission office for some stuff, so that was fun. Also we found another cockroach in our closet! ahhh.

Yesterday was such a good Sunday! We had our meetings before church, then church, which was SO good. A farewell and a homecoming for two girls, and they did such an amazing job! We had dinner at the house of one of them after, and it was so fun! I know I say it a lot, but seriously, the members are too amazing here! Then last night we ended up teaching a lesson to this amazing family! we're going back tonight, and it should be good! The husband already knows a ton about the church, and went to institute while he was at training for the national guard. so it's really cool and i can't wait to go back. today we're having a zone bbq, so that will be way sick.

every month my ward emphasizes one part of missionary work to share with others, and this month, it's to teach someone how to do family history, so y'all should do that too! and just take time to help others, even when it may not be most convenient for you. it will make you really happy, i swear! haha. 

thank you for your prayers and support! have a fantastic week!

-Sister Snyder

y'all 4 lyfe

we love texas

Week 4: Exchanges, Cockroaches, and a Stray Cat

Hello everyone!

The biggest congratulations to my best friend Courtney Bateman who is going to SWEDEN on her mission!

This week was really hot and really fun!

On Tuesday, before we both got in the shower, we found a cockroach in our room. GROSS. so big and moving quick! we caught it in a container, then threw it off of our balcony, so hopefully the people on the first floor enjoy that. haha. but so gross. we visited some LAs, then taught our investigator from Ukraine. She wouldn't let us teach until we drank the water and ate the Butterfingers that she gave us. Haha she's the best. Our lesson went really well, I've never seen someone so willing to pay tithing. That day we also knocked this LA house where no one ever answers, but every time we knock, this dog just howls and barks like nothing I've ever heard. This time when we knocked, someone inside screamed at the top of their lungs, "COOKIE!!" over and over trying to get the dog, whose name is apparently Cookie, to stop barking. We stood there on the doorstep and laughed and laughed. Ah man, good times. Also we see like 5 dead birds a day here. I think the heat just gets to them.

Wednesday was awesome, we had exchanges. I went to Balcones Heights with Sister Simonsen, a Sister Training Leader who heads home in 2 weeks. I learned so much from here, and we talked to literally every person we saw. It was awesome.

Thursday we exchanged back, and Sister Simonsen and I ended up having matching shirts, so we wore them and it was hysterical. I'll try to send pics next week. So after we exchanged back, we headed out for the day, and we really tried hard to talk to every single person we saw. It was so beyond hot and we were just sweating and feeling miserable and knocking and knocking. Then someone let us in and listened to us, and it just made everything so much better. Seriously changes everything and makes any amount of biking or sweating so worth it! Later that night we had another lesson with the father and son we're teaching, but only the father was there, and the lesson went soooo well. He committed to baptism, and really understood what we were teaching. And yesterday, he came to church!! yay!! so hopefully things continue to go well with them.

Friday we had some really good experiences, and some really funny ones. We came across the scroungiest stray cat you could possibly imagine. He looked wasted and was so dehydrated, it was sad. So being the good sisters we are, we went to our car, filled a container with water, then brought it back to the cat. We set it down, the cat looked at it, then ran away so fast. #rudecat haha it was so darn funny. the other funny thing was when i was backing the car out, this guy was taking out his trash. I asked him if I could give him a card. He was like" wait, hang on i think i sense something. Yeah i do. Religion. I sense religion. Starts with an M....hmm... Mormon!" and he waved his hands around while he said it. so funny. so i said "yep, that's us." and he took the card and went on his way, but i just sat there laughing because it was the funniest thing ever.

Saturday we had another great lesson with the father and son, things are really going well there, so we're so happy about that.

Church yesterday was awesome. The very best.

Another thing: I've been able to use my spanish missionary intro like 5 times this week, so that's fun.

So it was a great week, and I'm sure this week will be too! Today we're emailing from the Parsons, then they're taking us to the Mercado, where we can buy our TSAM rings and fanny packs! haha. I'll send pictures next week!

Thank y'all for the continued love and support! Keep praying for missionary opportunities, and don't be afraid to talk to everyone!

love y'all!

-Sister Snyder