WEEK 27 : FLOODS EVERYWHERE

  On Tuesday we had some good lessons and found some good investigators that have potential.  We taught an interesting lesson.  We were walking and and there was an abandoned jeepney on the side of a not very busy road and all of a sudden an investigator got out and so we asked to visit with him and he said sure and then got back into the jeep, so we followed him in and taught inside the jeep. It was kinda funny. 

   On Wednesday morning we taught a guy that was half buddhist and half catholic. It was interesting and he said some interesting things. Later that day we went on splits. I went with our ward mission leader. He's awesome, he's always working with us and really helps the work progress. There was this one investigator we showed up to, he came to the door and told us he doesn't want us to come back and he's content with where he's at and stuff like that. I testified and did my best to not let him shut the door on missionaries but he really didn't want to listen. sometimes it happens, it was sad.  We taught this great lesson to a new but very progressing investigator, her name is Marie Fe. She will be baptized. I'm sure of it.  It was so cool to see how much she liked the Plan of Salvation and how much sense it made to her.  

     Thursday we taught some pretty hardheaded investigators. Its difficult but we just try to rely on the Spirit.  We were walking down a street then this random lady came up to us and said "are you latter day saints", first off it surprised us because she called us LDS, usually people just call us Mormons here and then it was surprising what she needed help with.  She said I knew if I asked you that you would help and what she needed help with was picking mangos from a huge tree.  She provided us with a huge stick and so I being the tallest around had the job of knocking them off and catching them in a basket at the end of the stick. It was fun and a cool experience.  This lady has been an investigator for 2 years but doesn't live in our area and the missionaries are currently teaching her.  

   Friday was six months in the mission, it is going fast.  We found a really good investigator, as we talked to a random person he said he knew some Mormons so we went to the address and there was a girl and her dad wants to be baptized and join the church. The Lord will provide.  So we are now teaching them. 

    On Saturday it rained so hard, every single part of me was wet because I was devoting my umbrella to the protection of my bag which had my scriptures.  There were floods everywhere , we had to just walk through them.  It was at least 4 inches deep everywhere.  My feet were freezing.  During this one lesson this guy said he died when he was 7 and then came back alive when he was 14.  He shared the experience randomly in the middle of the lesson.  Later he said he wanted to move to outer space and he'll use a spaceship. This guy was dead serious, he seriously wants to move to outer space and then in his prayer he said thanks that we could talk about Noah.  We had mentioned Noah's name earlier to give him an example of a prophet and then he just said "iyan lang" which basically means "that's all" and we all still had our eyes closed and then I looked up and he's just chilling and staring at me.  Man it was funny.  He's such a funny guy.  We also got rejected pretty hard, got yelled at and a door slammed in our face. 

    On Sunday we went on splits again. This time I was with another member and we taught this less active and it was deep.  I felt the spirit and did my best to help him.  It's crazy how I'm only 19 but the Lord trusts us to help his children and somehow we have success. He is with us and helping us always.  mahal ko kayong lahat at patuloy na manampalataya kay jesucristo.  

Elder Snyder

The Floods Came

WEEK 26 : NEW AREA - NEW COMPANION

    Hello all. I'm doing good. I got a new area and a new companion. This area was only recently opened so we've got some work to do but we have some great investigators. They are really progressing. I'm excited to see this area grow like I did my last area. I know the Lord has a purpose for me here and people to help. I'm excited to find them. Missionary work is hard sometimes, but rewarding. When I feel down I immediately chastise myself and remind myself that its not my work and the Savior needs us to keep pushing on and then I feel better and ready to knock on the next house, (haha) but here we don't knock. you just stand outside and yell "tao po". which literally translates to "people".  It's just what you do here. 
    I'm always thinking of the talk from President Uchtdorf and saying in my head "fourth floor, last door". It helps and I think of my purpose and it helps me feel happy and excited about missionary work.  

    My new apartment is alright, there's a ton of geckos and some cockroaches and the occasional mouse but its alright. They don't bite and cockroaches are so satisfying to kill. 

   On Thursday I felt like Tagalog was coming a lot more, it feels good as I'm understanding and can communicate but I'm going to keep working hard to become fluent.  We got this new investigator named Marie Fe and she has some real potential. 

    On Friday we talked to this guy that said he was from the church of Batman which was a funny joke. Hes actually catholic and he listens well and has decent interest so hopefully it goes somewhere.  I'm still trying to learn where everyone is and who everyone is but we have some good investigators.  I was a little sad because we had baptisms this Saturday in my last area but its O.K.  

    This jeep driver was driving and then just pulled over on the main road and peed real fast and then just got back in and kept driving. No one seemed to care. It was funny.               Saturday I felt this great happiness and excitement for missionary work. It was so cool and refreshing.  On Sunday I met the ward, which is awesome. They are really active in missionary work.  I have no clue why, but they asked us to teach the young men so we did and it was a great lesson and my Tagalog rocked, it was great. Tender mercy.   We taught marie fe again and she got an answer about Joseph Smith and the book of Mormon which was awesome.  She's going to be baptized.  Earlier today we balled at the church which was way fun. Got some new haircuts. pogi na kami. also there was a fire. the smoke pillar was huge. the firetrucks were flying down these tiny streets and it was cool to see all the people work together to help the trucks. everyone was stopping traffic and clearing a path on the small street and pointing and telling the truck where to go because I bet its easy to get lost.  love you all and trust in the Lord. He loves you all.  Mahal kayo ng Diyos at meron siyang plano para sa atin lahat. 

Elder Snyder

My New Companion

WEEK 25: LEGENDARY WEEK -THE LORD WILL PROVIDE

 Hello everyone. I hope you're all doing ok. This week was legendary, so amazing. The Lord always provides. first though, last Monday our challengers for basketball didn't come so we just played some ball with some members. It was really fun but very very hot.
   On Tuesday the legendary week started.  The finding miracles began.  We found 12 new investigators and 9 of them belong to one family, it was a huge tender mercy.  The week before we had struggled to find and now we had already found 12 by Tuesday,  it was an answer to our prayers.  but that wasn't the end of the finding miracles. The Lord provided.  i'll get there later. 
   On Wednesday I had exchanges with another missionary which is pretty new and American.  People were nervous to talk to us but opened up after we spoke Tagalog.  haha one tatay yelled at us though. we were nice to him and he just yelled at us. I have no idea what happened.  I saw the biggest rat ever, I thought it was a cat. I wasn't in my area but in my area my companion found 7 new investigators, it was insane. We now had 19 new people to teach. The Lord will provide.
    On Thursday I was waiting on a corner for my companion to switch back from exchanges and some Jehovahs witnesses started attacking our religion and bible bashing. I just testified and smiled.  It was intense.  We also taught this tatay later in the day who is awesome. He smokes, drinks and drinks coffee but when we taught him the word of wisdom he said he'll stop immediately,  it was so cool. Before we even committed him he said he would live it, it was so cool.  We also returned and taught the family of 9. They're awesome and have really good questions.
   On Friday we had a great day, we taught 7 times in the afternoon, it was crazy.  We were so tired that day.  
   On Saturday we were going to an investigator's house and the Jehovah's witnesses were outside her house.  The Jehovah's witnesses are just everywhere this week. Our investigator was explaining to them that shes listening to the Mormons and right as she said Mormons we came into view. (she told us this later) it was cool.  We were polite and just said we'd come back later and we walked around the block and then came back when the witnesses had left.

   On Sunday we counted up the numbers and finished the legendary week with a grand total of 31 new investigators. The Lord answered our prayers in a big way and provided, it was amazing. It's cool too because our area is now going to become 4 missionaries instead of 2.  We found out that a kid of an investigator that we had given a blessing to had completely healed.  The day before she was super super sick and the next day she was perfectly fine. It was amazing and a great experience. The priesthood of God is real and is truly the power of God here on Earth.
    Monday we had zone training which was good and taught a good amount.  The Lord provided again and we found 2 more investigators, it was so humbling. There's no way we could do anything without him.  Never doubt the Lord. We may have weaknesses that cause us to doubt but if we put our trust in him then we can do all things. I've learned not to let personal weaknesses interfere with faith.  

salamat. mahal kita

I am transferring from taguig to the heart of quezon city.  It's going to be intense and good, I'm excited. I'll miss this area because its really taking off but I know the Lord needs me somewhere else now.  miss you all. Walang imposible kasama ang Panginoon.

Elder Snyder

WEEK 24: BAPTISMS IN OUR NEW CHAPEL!

  

Last Monday we taught some lessons and had a great day.  On Tuesday I got some birthday packages and a package from the young women in my home ward, shout out to cascade 7th for being the best. thank you so much. Also shout out to my mom for sending delicious treats. 

    Tuesday we were so busy and taught a lot. it was so great. we had great lessons and teaching is awesome.  It makes the time go by so fast.  also we found out that president would be going to each apartment to do interviews. there's 200 missionaries here, that's a lot of apartments. and some of us are on a different island. 

    Wednesday we were teaching and this lady was saying the closing prayer and then she just went silent. I honestly thought she fell asleep, a few minutes later she ended with an amen. haha I have no idea what happened. maybe she just switched to a personal prayer.  We taught a tatay who has some really hard trials right now and so we shared Alma 38: 3-5 and when we had him replace his name in verse 5 he started crying and the spirit was so strong.  It was such a good experience, hard to describe. I really felt a true love more for that tatay, he's a good guy.  He's a funny tatay too. He has to get a headlamp to read the book of mormon so its bright enough haha.  

   Good news! our chapel is finally open and we went to church there and baptized  pero darating ako diyan. (i'll get there)

   Thursday we had zone conference which was so awesome. There was a missionary broadcast and I learned so much, it was a great experience. We also got new changes to our schedule and key indicators so that's pretty cool.  My mission president and his wife are great people, I'm so thankful for them.  On the way home from zone conference we were in serious traffic on a cramped jeep and it was a million degrees, we had to travel kind of far to the conference.  It was horrible but we eventually arrived home and had time to teach one lesson.

    On Friday I was thinking about the temple and how grateful I am to have a temple in my mission so we can go there and help people progress in going to the temple. we teach for the temple. The temple is amazing and should be the focus of everyone.  We also taught a guy that day that just went off on us, he all of a sudden got so mad. I understood his Tagalog but I still don't understand why he was mad and neither does my companion but we stayed calm and finished .  I  think we were able to handle it pretty well by the spirit and we surprisingly were able to get a return appointment. We'll see how it goes. 

   On Saturday we had two more baptisms!!!!!!!!! They were the first baptisms at the new chapel. The chapel is so nice and amazing.  The baptism went so much smoother this time.  I was able to baptize our investigator named Christine and we had a ward member baptize Roberto. Roberto was an OYM I had on my fourth day in the field and now I am so happy to have seen him enter the waters of baptism. It was so amazing.  He has grown so much over the past 4 months. It has taught me a lot about perseverance  and never to give up on anybody. 

    Sunday we had our first sacrament at the new chapel. During sacrament meeting a parade went by, it was a "fiesta". People painted themselves and were dancing and drunk and carrying their shrines around. It was pretty loud and crazy.  The confirmations were very spiritual, they were smiling as they received the gift of the holy ghost. I'm so happy for them.  Now we just need to get them to the temple.  

   I had an awkward experience happened last night on the jeep. I got on and sat down and looked across from me and there's this lady breast feeding with no cover.  It was very awkward and surprising. haha . Philippines is different than America because no one else acted like it was out of the ordinary.  

    We have a basketball challenge later. If we win then we get to teach them.  I'll go read some war chapters in the book of Mormon to get pumped for the mighty battle that will commence later. love you all. 

Elder Snyder

Our new church building

Hey look, a member brought us Balut