Weeks 6 and 7: I'm in Peña Blanca - Miracles and Struggles

Hola Familia!

I'm in Viña! My sector is called Peña Blanca and is inland about 45 minutes from Viña. We left the CCM last Tuesday and when we got to the mission home we met the mission president and his wife and kids. We had our interviews and kind of just waited around and played games until all the interviews were done. That night we met the other missionaries from Mexico. There was one more sister who came from Mexico. We stayed in this random little hotel that night on a little street in Viña. haha it was funny. The next day we took pictures at a really pretty overlook and at the famous Flower Clock. Viña del Mar is seriously such a beautiful city! Next, we had training that whole day at the mission home and then that night we met our trainers. My trainer is Hermana Wurdel. She is from Brazil and doesn´t speak or understand any English. I wish I could say that I love her and she's awesome, but I am so frustrated that I can't communicate with her. I do feel pretty lonely a lot of the time. 

I really do love the members in Peña Blanca. I can't understand much, but they are so kind and say that I speak Spanish really well. This Sunday, my first miracle happened! A friend of one of the members came to church and after sacrament meeting, we taught her the first lesson and I could tell she was really feeling the spirit. We asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said yes! We set a date for October 14!. It was crazy my first week in the mission and I have an investigator with a baptismal date. We are also teaching an old couple that we contacted in the street and we taught them the first lesson. They are super receptive. And we are teaching a 15 year old boy named Cristobol who is awesome too! He actually kind of reminds me of Matthew. He's like a Chilean Matthew haha. 

Today was fun we had a zone activity. We played kickball and ate Churipan (its like a little mini hot dog) My zone is AWESOME! One of my really good friends Hermana Sanchez from the CCM is in my zone. I love my zone leaders too. Today was good because I talked to an elder in the zone who had a hard first companion too who only spoke Spanish. He was able to relate and tell me that it gets better which I really hope he is right cuz this is really really hard. 

Keep me in your prayers. I know that God hears and answers prayers.

I love you all so much,

Hermana Snyder

With Hermana Klein,  friend from the CCM

Me and my trainer, Sister Wurdel

At Church

Zone Activity

Week 5: One more week at the CCM!

Our Dining room was all decorated for Chile's Independence day

Hola!!

I have 5 days left here and I'm so excited to be out in the field. The CCM has started to kind of feel like a prison and I can't wait to go to Vina. I'm a little nervous of course but mostly excited!! Im gonna miss everyone so much though. I've made some of the best friends of my life here and I'm so sad I have to leave them. 

FUTBOL: yes mom, we still play soccer everyday, but I don't know if I can say I'm getting better. Last week on Pday we had another CCM soccer tournament. The teams were by district and In the last 10 seconds of our game I scored a goal and it went right between the goalie´s legs! Probably one of the proudest moments of my life. I also have so many bruises. I really need some shin guards!!

Another funny story, a few nights ago the fire alarm started going off in the hospedaje (the building we live in) it was like 10:15 pm so everyone was in their pajamas and we didn´t know what to do so we were all kinda just standing around and trying to find the mission president and his wife to know what to do. No one knew if it was real and finally the CCM president's wife came out and turned it off and said it was a false alarm. The next day one of the Elders confessed that he was taking a really hot shower and opened up his door to let all the steam out and thats what made the alarm go off haha. It was sooooo funny. 

We watched this devotional by Elder Bednar called Character of Christ and it was AMAZING. Every other missionary probably knows what I'm talking about. But it was about turning outward like Christ instead of inward and it really hit me how much I need to work on my Christlike attributes. I have a long way to go before I have the Character of Christ but we all learn line upon line. 

I've adjusted to the food and I love it now. I think I just love meal times because its the only breaks we have. haha! I do have a Spanish set of scriptures and Im doing great health wise! Its stressful and hard here but I can´t wait to be a missionary out in the field!! 

I love you all! Good luck with everything! volleyball and band. And Matthew looks so good with glasses! Hermana Segovia said Aw your brother is sooo cute when I showed her the picture. haha! 

Con Mucho Amor

Hermana Snyder

Week 4: A Day in Santiago

HOLA TODOS!

I attached a video so hopefully you can open it!!

This week was PACKED. Last p day after I emailed we went contacting out on the streets. We walked so far and were able to give out some pamphlets and see some cool stuff in the city. Honestly I have no idea what people are saying when we talk to them but they seemed interested in the church haha! The next day we went contacting for one of our MTC classes and we gave out a Book of Mormon! Its so cool to have the experience to leave the MTC and go actually meet and talk with people even though its super scary and I usually have no idea whats going on. 

Last friday we went proselyting!! They bused all the missionaries from my group to the Santiago west mission and we were paired up with a missionary in the field. My companion was Hermana Ribodino. She was from Argentina and spoke no English so it was a great opportunity to work on my Spanish. I sent a picture of us. She's the one with the purple scarf. She was such an awesome missionary she was so good at starting up a normal conversation with anyone. We walked around a neighborhood with tiny little houses and gates around every house. What you do in Chile is stand outside the gate and yell ¡Halo! and wait for people to come out. Most people didn't come out but a few did and I had an awesome experience with this man named Guido. We said Halo outside his gate and after a few minutes he came out. Hermana Ribodino started talking with him and I picked up that he didn´t really believe in Christ and that he's from Vina! As she was talking I felt the strongest feeling that I needed to give him a book of Mormon. Seriously, it was such a strong prompting and then my companion turned to me and motioned for me to speak. I bore my testimony in the little Spanish I knew and asked him if he knew about the book of Mormon. He said no, so I pulled it out and showed him. When he saw it, his expression totally changed and he was so interested in it. He was flipping through the book and my companion and I ended up teaching him the whole first lesson right outside his house by the gate! It was so cool and I taught him how to pray right there on the street. I gave the simple prayer I knew but the spirit was so strong and it was the coolest experience. My companion was a little sad he didnt actually live in Santiago West so Ill just have to find him in Vina! 

Also there are so many dogs its ridiculous!! At times we couldn't hear what people were saying on the street because every dog in every house was barking its head off haha!

Yesterday I kind of freaked out when I realized how much Spanish I don´t know. haha! it was super random but we were learning a lot of grammar and I didn´t understand any of it and I was just getting so frustrated. Its also so so hard to sit in class for so long and stay focused. I fell asleep yesterday for like 25 minutes and when I woke up the Elders had written on the board, Points for Sleeping in class, Hermana Snyder: 1. haha it was funny but I also felt kinda bad. 

The new group arrived at the MTC! We have two new Latinas in our room who are so awesome. One of them, Hermana Valenzuela is from Chile and she going to Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center on her mission! The other is Hermana Sanchez whose from Colombia and she is going to Vina! They are so so cute and also speak amazing english. Hermana Segovia and I went contacting with them today and we were able to get a name and number of a man and give him a book of Mormon. Hermana Valenzuela also bought all of us Super8 chocolate which is EVERYWHERE here in chile. Last night they were trying to imitate Americans and how they speak and it was the funniest thing of my life. My stomach hurt from laughing when they tried singing britney spears in their best american accent. 

Anyways I love life in the CCM! Sometimes sitting in class for 12 hours a day gets pretty long but thank goodness for PDay haha. Im so thankful for my experiences here and I seriously feel the spirit so strong! Spanish is super hard and its a little scary that I leave the CCM in two weeks but I know if I rely on the Lord everything will work out! 

 I miss you guys and love you so so much. Good luck with school and life and everything. I pray for you guys all the time!

Con amor

Hermana Snyder

With Hermana Valenzuela and Hermana Sanchez - our new roommates