the greatest week ever, again

heyoo!

 

we have had another wonderful week here in Garden Ridge! The work is going well and Sister Reece and I are having so much fun! 

 

Last Monday we went downton to El Mercado with Sister Milam, and as we pulled in we saw the elders from our district, so we sneakily followed them, then had Sister Milam go up to them and act like she wasn't a member and was interested. Hahaha. We watched them talk then walked up to them. It was really funny. Poor elders thought they had a good teaching opportunity. 

 

Anyway, we met some really cool people this week! I was on exchanges with Hermana Vorwaller, and she is the greatest at talking to everyone, and we taught some really cool lessons because of that. The people in Texas already have such great faith in Jesus Christ, and I love being able to share with them the message of the Restoration and the fact that Christ's same gospel and authority are on the earth again and that we have living prophets. Since exchanges Sister Reece and I have been working hard at talking to literally everyone. Sometime we don't make it to who we originally wanted to see because there are too many people to talk to! Haha it's so awesome. We have lots of good return appointments for this week and we're stoked about that. 

 

On Friday we had Zone Meeting and it was so good! We also had interviews with president! So fun! He is seriously the greatest and it was good to talk with him and ask him some questions. I shared my testimony with him in Spanish. Haha that was fun. 

 

It was just a really good week and I feel like I learned SO much. Every week just gets better and better and the work I'm blessed to do is amazing. The Lord loves us all so much, and I'm grateful to help others realize that. 

 

Two things from my studies this week that I want to share with y'all.

 

First, something that Hermana Vorwaller and I studied. In Luke 8:25, when Christ calms the storm, he asks his disciples, "Where is your faith?" At first, this almost seems insulting and doubtful. But when you really look at it, it's the exact opposite. Christ knows they have that faith, so he wants to know where it is. I love this so much. Christ will never doubt us and our potential, he knows it's in us, so we need to do our part.

 

The next thing I loved was from the Ensign. I have been studying charity lately, and I thought that what President Eyring said was so perfect. He said, 

 

"The Lord taught us that when we are truly converted to His gospel, our hearts will be turned from selfish concerns and turned toward service to lift others as they move upward to eternal life. To obtain that conversion, we pray and work in faith to become the new creature made possible by the Atonement of Jesus Christ." 

 

Charity and love for others comes through service, and the desire to serve and help others comes from our own conversion, which is a continuous thing.  And it's all possible through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which is nothing but pure love in its most perfect form. 

 

I love y'all!

 

Love, Sister Snyder

 

 

Hermana Vorwaller and me from exchanges

the greatest week ever

every week is the greatest week ever when you're sharing the good word. just saying.

hi everyone! i hope y'all are doing well!

This last week was seriously sooo good. We met some amazing people and did some sick biking and knocking. it was the best. and I have the best companion around. We've been working on our Spanish and in interviews with President this week we hope to convince him to change us to Spanish speakers. Haha. 

Something funny from this week. We were eating tostadas at a family's house on Tuesday, and I'm holding mine up ready to take a bite. Then their dog came in and yelped SO loud, and for some reason it scared me so bad that I jumped and my tostada flew through the air and landed on their floor. Hahaha. Sister Reece just stared at me and started laughing. Haha it was too great.

We had so much fun knocking and biking around this past week, and we have some good return appointments planned for this week and we can't wait! We met this really sweet lady named Karen who immediately let us in when we knocked, it was like she was expecting us. the only scary thing were the 4 pitbulls jumping on us. haha. but we started teaching her, and she has the very best insights and has such strong faith. She even came to church yesterday! We were so happy! She does have some concerns, but we're so excited to keep meeting with her. 

 

There are seriously the greatest people here! We have been so blessed to find new people to teach, and I can't wait to find more this week!  We were also able to see all of our recent converts, and I just adore all of them! They have the strongest testimonies and are so dedicated to their faith. Seriously it's amazing to see and it strengthens my own testimony of the gospel. They all thank us over and over and it's so humbling because we've done nothing. It's all our Savior and them choosing to accept the gospel. I love it.  

This week we studied and taught the Plan of Salvation more than anything, and it was so good to focus on that. It really is the most perfect plan, and it could not be accomplished without our Savior. He and Heavenly Father truly love us more than we can comprehend. We lived in their presence before we came here, and we were given our agency and allowed to choose what we want to do. We're not forced to follow the Savior or repent, we're given the choice to. The choice is always ours, but nothing will ever bring us more happiness and joy than embracing Jesus Christ as our Redeemer. That I know without a doubt. I would invite all of you to watch or listen to Elder Holland's conference talk from October 2012 called The First Great Commandment.The gospel of Jesus Christ is true, and it is eternal. 

I love y'all so much and hope you have a wonderful week! 

Love, Sister Snyder

This picture is out at Brother Betancourt's ranch with one of his horses. Dreamy for me!

the greatest week ever

heyoo everyone! Happy February! This week was just way too good and fun. I didn't have time to email last week, sorry, but I'm still in Garden Ridge and my new companion's name is Sister Reece and she is the greatest and funniest person around. She has an incredibly strong testimony and is a great teacher. We have waaay too much fun together and I love her! I'll send some pictures of us.

 

So I just need to tell y'all the great things that have happened so bear with me if this email gets crazy long!

 

Last Monday we were at a member family's house for FHE, and for some reason we were talking about food and I said how badly I wanted pizza because it's been a while, like 2 months. So the sweet father disappears and comes back with 2 hot pizzas for us. I seriously don't deserve these people, everything they do for us is SO kind and loving! This ward is incredible, and mom and dad, hope you don't mind, but I tell everyone that when I get home they should come visit Utah and stay with us! Haha. 

 

We did some awesome biking this week! In the middle of the week the weather started to get hot, like in the 90s, and I thought, oh no, not yet! But jokes! It got a bit chilly again. So we were biking down this road and the sidewalk ends, so we have to bike through like grass and rocks under these trees, and we were just making our way along when all of a sudden I saw this huge hole in front of me, so I braked really fast. It seriously looked like a trap someone had made and halfway covered with branches. Hahaha we laughed at the thought of me falling into it. Oh man good times. 

 

So the work here is progressing and we've been able to meet with more part member families, which is awesome! We've also been visiting former investigators and have a had a few lessons with one guy, so we're excited about that! Being a missionary is the greatest thing ever. I love getting to meet so many people and share the gospel with them. We did some good knocking last week and have return appointments set for this week. The Lord is definitely blessing us and helping us find those prepared people.

 

So the greatest thing ever happened on Saturday, and it's called Elder Russell M. Nelson visited our mission! Hooray! We had a mission meeting with him from 3:30 to 5:30, and Elder Foster and Elder Wright of the second and sixth quorums of the Seventy spoke also. It was so awesome. Elder Nelson is the sweetest thing around, and he took the time to shake each of our hands. That's 256 missionaries. Haha. The main thing he emphasized to us was that through the Lord, unlikely things are possible, as long as we do our very best. We read from Exodus 3:11-14, and talked about how part of it means "I am becoming what I will become", which I absolutely love. 

 

He also talked a lot about family history and how there are people's ancestors on the other side of the veil praying for us as missionaries and members to succeed in teaching so that their work can finally be done through those we teach. Very cool thought, and absolutely true. He told us how thankful he was for our mothers and fathers and brother and sisters. And he told us that nothing will ever be of greater importance than serving the Lord full time, which I cannot testify of enough. We learned so much from Elder Nelson, and he carries an amazing spirit with him. He truly is an apostle of the Lord, and it was such a blessing for him to address us. Such a good day! :)

 

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

 

Love, 

 

Sister Snyder

Me and Sister Reece!!! :)