Week 12: ALEJANDRO SE BAUTIZÓ

Alejandro and his family

Hola Familia!! 

This week was so awesome! Alejandro was baptized! I really didn't think it was going to happen this week but he gained the courage to be baptized! Last Tuesday he told us he wasn't ready but he would call us if he decided to be baptized on Saturday (his baptismal date we set a month ago.) We knew from the first lesson, he was ready for this date. On Tuesday, we tried so hard to tell him all the blessings that come from baptism and how ready he is. He still was just really scared to take that step. But on Wednesday, we called him and kept trying to encourage him and still, he said he wasn't sure. Twenty minutes after we called him, we were in a lesson with a recent convert and he called us! Hermana Wurdel answered the phone and Alejandro said "What time on Saturday?" We were so so so happy and we both got a little teary because we knew Heavenly Father had finally given Alejandro the courage he needed! We cried and bore our testimonies to him over the phone and he told us how grateful he was for us. Awwww. He had his interview and the district leader said it was the best interview he has ever had. Alejandro is literally a modern, Chilean, Joseph Smith haha. He has been searching. He was baptized on Saturday and his family came! Hermana Wurdel and I sang "I Need Thee Every Hour" in Portugues, English, and Spanish. It was really special! He is seriously so amazing and has such a strong testimony! It inspires me. The next day he came to the broadcast of the Temple dedication!

It was soo cool to be able to watch a Temple Dedication! It was broadcasted in the stake center. It was for the Concepcion temple and I really felt the Spirit listening to the prophet speak the dedicatory prayer. (Alejandro was a little thrown off by the Hosanna white handkerchief thing and honestly so was I. haha. It was the first dedication for both of us and for most of the people there) But anyways it was so so cool. I know the church is true and that the temple is the house of God.  

Also, transfers are happening this Wednesday but I am staying here in Villa Alemana with Hermana Wurdel! I'm so happy because I literally never want to leave my sector Pena Blanca. The members are the best and we have so many people to teach! Also, Hermana Wurdel and I have gotten to be really good friends. We still have really different personalities, but I think our personalities balance each other out perfectly haha. 

My Spanish is getting a lot better! Last night we were teaching a family and I understood about 95% of what they were saying! Gift of Tongues is real! 

I absolutely love the mission! Seeing a baptism of someone who has been prepared by Heavenly Father definitely showed me why I am here! I am here to help bring others to Christ and even though this is the hardest work ever, it is so worth it!

Con mucho amor

Hermana Snyder

With Hermana Duran and Alejandro

A crazy hill that we had to hike...this picture doesn't do it justice. It was so so steep!!!

Dinner at Hermana Duran's home...she is an angel to us!

In front of our house where we live

Week 11: Favorite Pday Ever: A day at the Beach

Hola Familia!!

I miss you guys a ton!! Remember how I told you we were going to have a conference with the whole mission with a member of the 70? It was canceled which kind of stinks but we get to watch a broadcast of the dedication of the Concepcion temple this Sunday which should be super super awesome! I'm really excited! 

Also today FUIMOS A LA PLAYA!!

We had an activity with just the hermanas in my zone and the mission presidents wife! By far my favorite p day ever!! we went to the beach in Viña and it was a beautiful day!! perfect weather and the water was beautiful but freezing ( we didn't go in just felt it with our toes) We had a picnic and made sandwiches and asked Hermana Romeu all sorts of questions about her life and how we can be better missionaries!! She is sooo sooo amazing and I love her so so much! We had so much fun. I love all the sisters in my zone and I'm going to miss the ones that are leaving next cambio! 

With our investigators, Alejandro didn't come to church this Sunday and I felt like I had been stabbed in the heart! He is so faithful and never missed church before. I thought something must have happened and when he finally answered his phone and said he was sleeping, I literally cried. I felt so awful like he was losing his testimony. Hermana Wurdel told me something really awesome though. She said in the mission we feel a tiny part of what Heavenly Father feels for his children when we disobey. That really made me gain perspective. I want Alejandro to find the truth and when he didn't come to church, I felt so discouraged. Later that night we had a lesson with him and he felt so bad. My companion told him I cried for him and he felt awful. Haha I was happy he felt awful for missing church. HE is so complicated. He has a testimony! He told us he knows the book of Mormon is true. He is just scared to commit to baptism. He is nervous and a little stressed, so I asked if we could all kneel and pray together and I asked him to pray if this church is true. He said the sweetest and most sincere prayer. He said I know this church is true God please help me to not feel doubt and to know this is the right path.  he felt really good after we prayed. Pray for him that he will be able to commit to baptism because I know it will really help him!! 

Also I ate my first completo! (Chilean hot dog) We had an FHE with Cristobal and his family and the zone leaders! Cristobal made all of us completos and we were able to teach him and his mom! We didn't bring up the topic of baptism though. It just didn't feel right at that moment. But the completos were delicious! Its basically just a hot dog with onions, guacamole, mayonnaise, and tomatoes ( I ate mine without tomatoes haha) 

I am learning so much being a missionary! But most of all that I need to put my trust in God. I have been beating myself up a lot this week thinking what if we did this differently maybe things would be different. I am working on having faith that in doing the Lord's work I will have help. I am far from perfect, but if I put my faith in God he will make up the difference! 

I love and miss you all so much! Pray for Alejandro, Kevin, also Bemjamin y Pedro ( our other investigators with a baptismal date) The work is so hard and pretty discouraging at times so I need your prayers!!

Con mucho amor

Hermana Snyder

With Sister Romeu, our Mission Mom

Week 10: Lots of Ups and Downs this week...Wait! That's every week! haha!

Hola!!

This week soooo much happened. I don't even know where to begin. First of all thank you sooooo much, Mom, for the package. I got it on one of our rough days so the timing was perfect!  This week was so busy. We found so many new people and taught like 4 lessons every day! We have a lot of new people to teach that I'm really excited about!! 

Our investigator Cristobal is really really awesome! he came to church on sunday and wants to be baptized! Ok the bad news is his mom was driving by and pulled over and waved for us to stop and talk to her. She said Cristobal loves learning from the missionaries but she doesn't want him to get baptized because their whole family is Catholic. She said if he wants to go to church and learn from you thats totally fine because we never go to church anyways:/ what the heck. They are all really Catholic but never go to church. I don't understand! She said we can keep visiting and was worried we were going to stop coming if she told us he can't get baptized. We were really really sad because Cristobal is soo awesome and we just really love him and his whole family (especially his little brother. He is hilarious) we went home and cried together (that was the day I got the package)  WE are going to keep teaching him and we have been praying that his mom's heart will be softened! So please pray for Cristobal and his mom! 

Ok next investigator. About two weeks ago we met a man who is a less active and wanted us to come teach his 16 year old son! We were finally able to contact them again and we taught his son and set a baptismal date for his son Kevin! We brought him to church (haha we had to call him a million times and wait outside his house for like 30 minutes but he made it) I'm not sure how he felt at church because I still can't really understand people and he left really fast. But we are going to visit him again this week and invite him to church and mutual. So please pray for Kevin and his father that they will have a desire to come to church!

The best part ever of this week was our lesson with Alejandro last night. He is so awesome. The whole time we`ve been teaching him he just feels like he isn't receiving an answer that this church is true like we`ve been promising him. He has lots of doubts and questions that we have tried to answer to the best of our ability and he felt skeptical about his baptismal date. Last night we showed him a video of the first vision because we feel like he relates a lot to Joseph Smith. After the video he basically just poured out his feelings and said before we met with him he looked into a lot of other churches but felt nothing. He was looking for the truth. He said when he comes to the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he said he feels "calor en mi alma" warmth in my soul! He said he knows this is true and that he knows the book of Mormon is true! We just about cried with joy! He has so much faith! His testimony strengthened my testimony for sure!  I bore my testimony to him and told him I pray for him every day and night that he will receive an answer and about the blessings of baptism. He said he is ready for his baptismal date on the 27th and that his mom supports him! WE were so so so happy! Alejandro is the best but pray for him too! 

Also we had zone conference this week! It was really awesome we had it with 1 other zone and I was able to see some friends from the MTC! 

Ok to answer your questions... Peña Blanca is a suburb and most of the people are pretty well off financially. There are poor parts but for the most part its really nice! WE live in a house thats kind of like a townhome with two homes in one. We meet in the chapel for church and the chapel is really close! These past two weeks have been harder to get people to church because of conference and then we had stake conference in Villa Alemana which is a little farther. We had to ask help from the elders to get our investigators to church because the ward mission leader won't help us :/ But Cristobal, Kevin and Alejandro all came so it worked out! The food is good we have chicken and rice pretty much every single day. Cristobal made us crepes the other day with manjar which is like dulce de leche and is SOOOO good!! Im addicted to manjar haha. I feel fine physically. I sleep really well every night. 

Also last pday for our zone activity we watched the movie Coco. It was all in Spanish and I only understood about 50 percent but I still cried. It is so cute and so touching! Go watch it! 

Anyways I love you all so much I know with all my heart this gospel is true!! I'm so happy to be out here serving the Lord and whenever I feel sad and no one wants to listen and baptismal dates fall through I just think that no matter what Heavenly Father is still with me. As long as I'm trying my best, he is proud of me!! Please pray for my investigators. They need your prayers way more than I do!! 

Con mucho amor

Hermana Snyder

p.s. Here are pictures of my zone! I love my zone and my zone leaders Elder Robinson and Elder Villanueva! They are the best! Elder Villanueva is from Mexico and probably one of the funniest people I've ever met! Also he lived in Arcadia for three years while his dad was mission president there. We found out that we went to the same mormon prom at the science center haha!!

My Zone

Week 9: General Conference - The Best!

Hola!!

First of all conference is the best! I know with all my heart that Russell M. Nelson is a prophet and is called of God. I just feel love and happiness whenever I even see a picture of him. I got to listen in English which was amazing! All the gringos had a room in the stake center and we bought food and had a little party watching conference. haha! It was really fun. I love the missionaries in my zone they are the best. 

Also our investigator Alejandro came to conference and said it answered all his questions!! He came to the Sunday morning session and in between the sessions called us and asked if he could come to the second session!! We said OF COURSE! He came back and is just so awesome he wants to learn and has a baptism date! We also have dates for two other investigators! Cristobal and his uncle Oscar. They didn't come to conference but we had an FHE with them after and brought a Brazilian cake that Hna Wurdel made! It was super fun and I think they are progressing! 

Hermana Wurdel and I are getting closer. She really is a great missionary...very hardworking and obedient and good at talking to people. She is super duper positive and happy all the time which is awesome!! I still get frustrated with not being able to communicate, but we are figuring out how to deal with it. 

Also this week I had a pretty life changing experience. We got a reference from other elders about a family they were teaching that just moved into our sector. We went to visit them and the little girl came out to the gate after we said Halo! We noticed that she was blind and started talking to her. Then the son came out and we realized he is blind too. They said their mom was cleaning the house so we offered to help and they let us in. We discovered that the mom is blind too and the house was filthy. some of the rooms didn't have a floor and there was just trash and filth everywhere. The bathroom was nasty and the kitchen was awful. We started to help her clean and it was really hard for me to see a family in this situation. We talked to the family a little bit about the gospel and the mom said she believes in God but doesn't want to ¨be Mormon¨ or get baptized. We just talked to her and told her to call if she ever needs help. We left the house and I just sat on the curb and cried for like 20 minutes. It broke my heart to see a family that is all blind and is living in a situation like that. I realized that I honestly have nothing to complain about. Ever. I have been so blessed with my family, education, knowledge, home, this gospel. Seriously everything. I don't know why I have been blessed so much while others live such different lives.  I don't know what I can do to help this family but i want to do something whether they want to hear the gospel or not. 

Nevertheless I know God loves all his children. I know this church is true and I have never been more sure of anything in my whole life. The book of Mormon is so true and I feel the love of God so strong when I read it. I know with all my heart that Christ is my Savior.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!! My heart is with you, but more than that, it is with the people in Chile and with my Heavenly Father!

Love Hermana Snyder

p.s. One of the pictures is us with Cristobal. He sells socks and we bought some and took a picture with us all wearing our socks. haha!

General Conference Party!!

Week 8: I Felt Your Prayers!

Hola Familia!!

This week was better than last! I still have really hard days, but I'm doing better! Thank you so much for all your prayers. This week whenever I felt sad or discouraged, I thought of all you and how you are all praying for me and I am so so so grateful! I love you guys so so much!

This week our investigator with a baptismal date fell through. She had some problems in her life and she was living with a member and that member basically didn't want to deal with her problems so she doesn't live in our sector anymore. But we had two people come to church yesterday!! They are the cutest little old couple but they both came to church and loved it and we're teaching them tomorrow. We also have two other new people we're teaching who are awesome! One of them is named Alejandro and he is so receptive. He basically said he is looking for the truth and doesn't know where to find it. We said he is just like Joseph Smith and we bore our testimonies to him. I'm not sure exactly how he feels because I still can't understand that much, but I hope he continues with the lessons and comes to church ( or general conference this week).

Mom, I don't know if you got a picture the other day, but the sister that always sends you pictures is Hermana Duran. So this week Hermana Duran's house sort of caught on fire. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but her whole kitchen was completely black and she called us in tears to come help. Of course we did because she is like the best. Hermana Wurdel and I and the other elders in the next sector scrubbed her whole kitchen clean of ash. Nothing was destroyed just covered in a thick layer of ash. But it was kind of fun. We listened to efy music and sang all the words, and I think her kitchen has never been cleaner.

We also had intercambios and I was with Hermana Crook! I'm not gonna lie it was sooooo nice to be with a gringa and we basically talked in English the whole time! She's also a dancer, so we had a lot to talk about... it was so fun! 

Ok some stuff about Chile, We have almuerzo (lunch) everyday with members and its sooooooo much food. We never eat dinner and I hardly eat breakfast cuz we get so much food at lunch haha! Also there are dogs EVERYWHERE!!! Peña Blanca has its fair share of hills, but nothing compared to Viña del Mar. I love the people here though...for the most part. haha! They almost never keep their appointments, so most of the time we teach lessons if they just happen to be home and let us in. But we teach lessons everyday. We have the cutest family we are teaching! The mom always cancels appointments with us, but whenever we pass by they let us in haha. The kids are so cute and they love us. I gave them a Book of Mormon and testified of its truthfulness and I think the dad in the family was interested. 

Anyways I love you all so much and want to thank everyone for the prayers and love! I really felt it so much this week! 

Intercambios with Hermana Crook.

Super delicious empañadas and the brown stuff in the bowl is brigadera, a yummy carmel stuff from Brazil that Hermana Wurdel made.

Cleaning the ash from Hermana Duran's kitchen