Another week done and the first week of the new transfer. It was hard at first getting a new companion. My old companion and I got along so well and we worked so well together. But its ok because my new companion is cool and we'll do some good missionary work. It was very hard to lead the area at first, Its so big. I'm still trying to get good at all the aspects of missionary work and trying to apply everything to planning to make a productive plan to help the people. It was hard but we made it through and had some good days. Planning is better now that my companion has met some more people so we can use two minds to make a good plan and use his experience. The first day I was leading I accidently made us get off the jeep early so we had to walk a long way. Rookie mistake haha I wont make it again. I was feeling stressed but I had good scripture study and prayer and started feeling better. The Lord is there to comfort and it wont be easy. ON Friday my throat was hurting in the morning but I thought it would pass. But later in the day I completly lost my voice and couldnt even talk. haha elder Almasin had to give the whole lesson because I couldnt even speak english, let alone Tagalog. I had a cool experience that night too. We were about to go home but then I thought we should visit the Hernandez family. They're a family we found last week. It was like 8:30ish and so I was like nah we will just go another time but then I was chastised in my mind because I thought, " its not my work, Its His work." so we walked to them and had an amazing lesson about the Book of Mormon. It wasnt like anything miraculous happened but I felt so much more satisified. It taught me that I need to give my all to the work and listen to the Spirit always. On Saturday Rochelle passed her baptismal interview. When we got the church she was so excited to show me where the baptismal font was. It was awesome to see the desire in her to be baptized. I love this ward so much. Also mom coming in clutch giving me cough drops right before I left. They were a lifesaver. We had spaghetti at a members house. Its so delicious here. the spaghetti here is sweeter and so good. I almost like it more than spaghetti at home. Sunday was the best day this week by far. We had a baptism! Our first baptism. I was so thankful and so happy. His name is Jomar. It was an awesome experience for me to baptize him. I felt the spirit so strong and refreshed. Jomar has such a strong testimony and he thanked me and it made me feel so good. Sometimes its hard to work and work and just keep working and hear nothing but it was so nice to have him say thank you and helped me realize we are really making a difference. Tagalog is hard. I'm trying my best and feel like I'm doing better and then it kicks me in the butt again. Its an up an down process. One of the hardest things I've ever done. The filipino accent is so funny too. Obedience is real. The blessings that come from obedience are so awesome. This morning we had to fix a lightswitch. We took it apart and turns out it wasnt working because there was a swarm of ants blocking the switch. We fixed it though. I'm ready for a good week. I encourage everyone to read Alma 32. Love and miss you. Elder Snyder
So last Monday we taught a new investigator named Carlos Calvo, who is a member referral. member referrals are awesome and help so much. I encourage everyone to help the missionaries as much as possible. It was a good lesson. Our number of progressing investigators is growing. I'm so thankful to the Lord for helping us. I had to get some pants sewed and the member didn't want to have us pay but when we shook hands we gave her some money. It was funny. Like a sneaky deal and she was like ano ba iyan? It was funny. Tuesday we taught Leonard. He told us of his cool experience with prayer about the Book of Mormon. He said he had been praying for a couple weeks but really only prayed the right way when he was with us. He said when he was at home he prayed like the Catholics do. This particular night he tried it the right way with true intent and he got chills and felt so happy and good. It was so cool to hear him tell us about it. He is really becoming converted and getting so ready for his baptism. Wednesday we had such great weather that felt so nice. The sun was out, there was a slight breeze and it wasn't too hot. We had a good full day of teaching progressing investigators and new people. There's so many people here. Our area is huge. Then as we were returning there was this British guy that's living here that wanted to talk to us and we had talked before so we were like why not. He was cool. But as we got in he started trying to bible bash. I wanted to so bad but I didn't. It wouldn't have done any good. We listened and just tried to get to know him. As we left we found out that he was a famous boxer. His name is Paul Huggins. He's cool but doesn't believe all the right things. He has the coolest accent though. Thursday we had zone interviews, which went well. President Koster is so awesome. Hes always so happy and helping and teaching us. We taught some good people later that day. We are teaching a family named bato bato which translates to rock rock. haha its funny. I'm loving my area and am loving the work more and more even though its hard work. We had a huge tender mercy on Friday, we found a family of 8. Its a classic filipino family. the whole family is living in one little place. We've found families like this but their not always all interested. This was awesome because they were all interested. So awesome. The Lord blesses us greatly, if we are patient. I had exchanges with elder forsberg on Saturday,he was with me in the MTC. It was cool to go out with him. Two white guys preaching the gospel in Tagalog. It was fun. I taught the restoration that day better than I ever have in Tagalog. The gift of tongues is real. Members are still taking pictures with me and stuff. Its kinda funny. Its still weird to have people recognizing me everywhere. Our investigator, Gomar passed his baptismal interview. We had a lot of investigators at church which was awesome. I will be the one baptizing Gomar. I'm so excited. Its awesome. I'm so happy he's decided to be baptized. He's so humble and changed. I had exchanges with elder baldemore again. we taught some good lessons. this one lesson was so funny. we taught at a members house with an old tatay and nanay member. we turned to the tatay to ask him to share an experience and he just started reading randomly out of the Book of Mormon. I almost lost it. I kept a straight face though. It was so funny and then later in the lesson he just got up and went to the corner and peed. Filipino houses are small so the CR is just in the corner sometimes. It was so funny but I seemed to be the only one so I kept it in. Just another cultural thing I guess. It was a good week. This morning we got the transfer assignments. I will be staying but I will get a new companion. I'm nervous to lead the area because its so big and I'm still kinda new but I'll be alright. The Lord knows I can do it. It will be a good experience. I love you all. Keep working hard and trust in the Lord always. He knows whats best. He has a plan that's perfect. Being a missionary and always teaching the lessons reminds me of how important simple truths are. If you are having a hard time I encourage you to study the plan of salvation and think about how the plan is perfect and how much our Heavenly Father loves us. That's it. Until next week. Elder Snyder
On Tuesday we had a service project. It was nice. We got the whole district involved. It was really fun. This lady was moving about a quarter mile away and so we helped her carry everything from one little apartment to another on the third floor. I've never had to move someone without a truck. It was harder but nice because we had everyone there. always feels great to serve. I also had exchanges with elder Baldemore on Tuesday. I have a lot of exchanges because Elder Enari is district leader. Its okay. Kinda hard cause I like staying in my area. Its always so nice when I get to come back to my area. I usually leave my area but this time Elder Baldemore came to my area for exchanges. I had to lead the area. Luckily we found everything in the maze of houses here. It was good. We taught some good lessons. On Wednesday Elder Enari and I contacted a referral from headquarters. She wanted a book of mormon but said shes recovering from an injury right now so we will visit her again when shes all better. We got a referral from a sister in our ward and we visited them on Wednesday as well. It was awesome because it was a family. We found a new family which is so awesome. The problem with a lot of Filipinos is getting a return appointment when they're available. They're not always reliable on the return appointment even if they really do have a desire to hear the gospel. My umbrella broke already so I bought one for 100 piso. That's about 2 dollars here. most everything is so cheap but because of that we aren't living like kings. Still need to budget because they adjust our support accordingly. On Thursday I had exchanges with elder Pagador. The Philippines city is fun because its a maze and there's so many side streets that lead to compounds full of people. We walked along a wall of a canal that was like 10 feet up. It wasn't us being dumb. It was the actual way/sidewalk that people used. It was made for people to walk along. So funny. The city organization is so random so it can be hard to know where you're going and very easy to get lost. That night Elder George made doughnuts. He made them from scratch. They were so good! I ate so many. He's from the cook islands. His doughnuts are legendary. On Friday we worked hard and taught some lessons and were able to give a blessing. Its always a very cool experience. The priesthood really is the power of God and we need to always be worthy to use it to bless others. Friday was also the day the TV episode came out. I was so nervous. There was a preview released on YouTube that a member showed me. It looked good. I still haven't even seen the final product but I hear about it from everyone. Its crazy. So on Saturday people would recognize me and do double takes. They would even stop to take pictures, haha that was a new experience. I guess it was good. It made me feel better because I didn't want to make a fool out of myself. Everyone was calling me an artist. haha the Flipinos are so funny. I love them so much. I was also on exchanges with elder Espana. I went on a lot of exchanges this week because the filming messed up the schedule. It was a good day. We found a family in elder Espana's area. They're so cool. It will be good. I'm excited for them even though they're not in my area. One thing about the Filipinos is that they love their music. They just blast it all the time. They blast it in jeeps and in their houses and its so funny when they do videoke. They turn it up all the way and don't care who hears them even when they're bad at singing haha. On Sunday I saw my first glimpse of a cock fight. We just walked by one and I saw this guy throw his dead,bleeding rooster in the water off of the path. He was angry and the roosters blood was everywhere. Its intense. Church was crazy because almost every member wanted to talk to me about the interview. So many people taking pictures of me. haha even bishops of other wards. I hope it really inspires our ward to help us out. They've been helping a lot even before that so now we will get a ton of referrals and work with them a lot. We taught great lessons too. We taught Roberto who is progressing and reading the book of mormon. We're going to give him a baptismal date next visit. We also taught the Batobato family who is so awesome, so receptive and kind. They accepted a baptismal date. I'm so grateful we found them. Our area had to be built from almost nothing. we were patient and worked hard and I can see the Lord blessing us with people he has prepared and helping us. Our area is awesome. We taught Jomar who was actually a former investigator, he had been taught everything but didn't have a testimony. We began teaching him again on exchanges with elder Baldemor, we reviewed the restoration and I invited him to read and pray about the book of mormon and then on our visit yesterday he says he knows its all true and we were able to move his baptismal date from December to November. It will be in about 2 weeks. We can feel the power of his testimony and how the gospel changes lives. It made me so happy. I'm so happy for him and thankful.
Its weird how everyone knows me. But we're going to use it for finding. Its a great missionary tool. I'm glad I had the opportunity. The Lord really knows what we need and what we can handle. In the interview my Tagalog wasn't amazing but after I've felt way more comfortable making mistakes in Tagalog and speaking to people. It really helped me progress as a missionary. I'm so thankful. In the video we didn't really go to the poor parts but when we do see the super poor people I feel so humble. It really makes me appreciate everything I have and makes me want to help them and share the gospel so it can bless their lives. Its awesome here. I'm almost done with my first transfer. I love you all. Keep working hard and remember that Jesus is the Christ and He is always there to strengthen us and help us.
So last p day we were getting haircuts and president called us. Elder Enari answered and was talking to him. Thats when President told us that we were going to be on TV and he had prayed and choose us. I didn't really believe Elder Enari. I didn't believe him until he mentioned it in a prayer before we went out to work that night. Then I knew it was for real and I was so confused. All we knew was that we were going to be on tv and to report to the mission home the next day. So Tuesday I was out of my comfort zone. We were at public affairs and they were briefing us and teaching us a little about media and stuff. It was me, Elder Enari and two sisters. We were all foreigner companionships. After they briefed us we met the crew and got to eat a good lunch. We're in the city now. There was a restaurant and I ordered a pulled pork grilled cheese. It was so good! Then we went back to the MTC. I just can't seem to get out of there completly haha. They had us simulate sending email and doing laundry and stuff. They wanted to see what missionary life was like for the foreigners learning Tagalog. So we would simulate everything. Eveything was so staged. We thought they were going to follow us proselyting on wednesday but they threw us a curveball and changed it to Tuesday night. That was stressful.We were able to make an appointment with a recent convert and they were ok with the cameras being there. So we went back to our area. We did a quick language study for the cameras. Its so hard to focus with the lights in your face and the camera zooming in on you. Its also so weird.The last thing I expected on my mission. After that we went out to the appointment and as we walked there we tried talking to people on the streets but they are so distracted by the lights and cameras that they don't talk much. So we got to the appointment and taught about the temple and it was actually a pretty good lesson. Presidnet was with us and his Tagalog is awesome and hes so good at speaking. It was cool to spend the whole day with President. He is so awesome. On Wednesday we reported to the mission home again in the morning. Lots of traveling this week. We got breakfast there. It was so good.That made two days in a row with breakfast at the mission home. We then went to the area office again. So today I was so nervous because the night before they said I was the focus and I would be the only one interviewed. A bit scary, actually a lot. I was nervous and stressed but wanted to do my best. I tried my best. So after we waited for the host to show up (apparently hes pretty famous here. people stop him to take pictures with him) we went and started the interview. They even put a mic on me and everything, so professional. It was supposed to be casual so we walked around and showed him a dorm and simulated a language class at the MTC. They always want me to say something cause I have the mic. Theres just always cameras everywhere and its hard and made me nervous, then the sit down interview. I was told to be casual and be myself and so I did my best in Tagalog even though it was so hard. My mind was all over the place at the beginning. Everyone was watching. They had a bunch of cameras and president koster was there along with public affairs and the president of the MTC. It was insane and they're all watching and say be yourself. Pretty hard haha. They interviewed about missionary life and my life before and generalities. I did my best. The guy was pretty cool. We then went to the same restaurant for lunch and I got another good sandwich. We ate good which was nice. Then I got to meet the whole area presidency! they are all so cool and it was a great experience to meet them. It was a stressful day when my companion and I got home so we enjoyed some oreos together haha. Thursday was the last day of filming They arrived at 9 am. they filmed all day. they had us pretend to get up and get ready and cook and wash dishes. Everything was so staged. Kinda funny and weird to do. They filmed us doing a personal study. I made sure to study the restoration in PMG so hopefully its on camera. Like always theres cameras in my face. they then filmed us tracting. It was alright because it was in the day and there was no crazy bright lights from the cameras. they put a mic on me and only me. That made me nervous. So i had to lead the speaking and everything. It was hard but I tried my best. Elder Enari has been awesome and helped a ton. They had me buy a street food I hadn't had yet so I just went for it. Luckily it tasted good. I had this drink that I don't know the name of and quail eggs. It was good. Everything is ok to eat. There was nothing bad in them. Then they wanted to simulate what my life was before the misson. Everything I did and will do is approved by the president. So we got a couple more white missionaries and we played some 21. I won which was a relief haha. It was way fun. They also gave us iphones and pretended to use them and they had me login into my facebook and scroll through. (president approved it) i haven't checked facebook for like 8 months and I had messages but I didn't check them. They even had me do a fake call to mom. Pretty funny. The craziest thing is that I got to drive. President approved it so it was ok. I had my American license so it was still legal. We went out and I drove. Such a cool opportunity, not many missionaries do that here. the roads are crazy but we went on some easier ones. It was so cool but still weird cause lots of people just do what they want. It was a good experience even if it was hard. I'm grateful for it. Friday was back to normal. We met an American but he wasnt interested and we taught some good lessons. I feel more confident after being with the cameras. I feel better talking to people which is a blessing. There was this kid on Saturday that had really bad burns on his legs. He had saved his siblings from a gas fire. We gave him a blessing. It was such a cool experience. Reminds me to always be worthy to exericise my priesthood. I'm glad we can help people. Sunday was good except we taught a really hard lesson where this guy was bashing on Joseph Smith. Really tested my patience but we did ok. Important to always listen to the spirit to see what people need. So all in all it was a really weird and interesting week with awesome opportunities and stories. Another great week of missionary work even if it was hard because I don't love the spotlight. Always press forward and trust in the Lord. He has a plan for all of us.
