Today's update

It was a great day for our family today because Jake called us from both airports!  From his last email, we knew he would be calling around noon or so. Steve was the only one home for the first phone call, because I had to work and the kids were at school. Jake's voice sounded so deep that his dad didn't even recognize him at first!  He was calling from the Salt Lake City airport. Then, he called again from the Portland airport and the rest of us got to talk to him. He sounded so great and he's soooo excited to get to Japan! He said a lot to us in Japanese and it's so great to hear how much he's learned already! He's laughing about how much weight he gained in the MTC and he's very ready to get his new bike in Japan and get to biking and walking.  He's also so ready to teach the gospel.  He said there is a one hour train ride from the airport to the mission home and they've been challenged to give a Book of Mormon to someone on the train.

We're certainly praying for his safe trip to Japan and easy transition into his new place there.  We can't wait to hear from him on his next regular p-day, next Monday!  

Last email from the MTC!

Hello everyone! Last email from the MTC!! Wahoooo! I'm so ready to go! I can't wait to leave! We got our Flight plans and we leave Monday at 6am! Our plane leaves at 11:15. It's a 13 hour flight. We stop in Portland for 2 hours. It's super exciting! I'm able to call home at the airport! It will be at about 10ish my time! I guess the kids won't be home but maybe I can try to call in Portland too which will be after school I think. Thanks for the package mom!! That duffel will be great, thanks. And thanks for everything else! Email me more pics, I like seeing what's up with you all! Tell grandma I got her package and the applesauce was great. Everyone loves the snicker doodles she sent too. I'll be sending her a letter today. 

So not much new has happened the past week. Just getting ready to leave! We did get to hear from another Apostle on Tuesday! M. Russell Ballard! That was so awesome, and 2 weeks in a row! Sorry Kels, I think you might be outta luck when you get here 'cause they usually don't send them that often. But who knows, you might get lucky!. And Mom, I forgot to tell you this but a few weeks ago Jenny Oaks Baker spoke at one of our devotionals and she played her violin so that was sweet. That CD you sent me reminded me of that. On Sunday we also got to watch the Ogden temple rededication, which was pretty awesome!

So that's about it.. Next email will be next Monday from Japan!! Wahooooooooo! I can't wait! I miss you and love you all!

Love Elder Snyder

Only 10 more days!

Well, this was a pretty good week! It went super fast! Only 10 more days till I'm headed to Japan! We're all so anxious and excited. The MTC is nice but we are definitely ready to go! Nothing really different happened this past week. We sent one group of Japanese Elders to Japan last week! We got super close to them and one of them became one of my best friends here. His name is Elder Takayama, he didn't speak much english but what he did say was hilarious. He's a great golfer and after his mission he wants to go to BYU and become a pro golfer! He told me lots of great stories and really helped me with my Japanese! Before he left, he gave me his favorite tie and a cool Japanese head scratcher! So that was awesome! We just got a new Japanese group yesterday that we'll be leaving with, so that's exciting! 

Something super awesome happened this week! We have devotionals every Sunday and Tuesday. This Tuesday Richard G. Scott came and spoke to us! It was super awesome. He talked to us about prayer and how we can notice our prayers being answered. It was great. It was broadcast to all the MTCs across the world! So that was super awesome! Our 1st counselor is awesome. He's Brother Daniels, the one that has lived in Japan and been a Mission President. He's also a professor at BYU. He's so awesome. He pretty much has every scripture memorized and he did a Book of Mormon deep dive with us the other day. It was super awesome. He taught us so many things about the scriptures and our purpose. 

So that's it! Nothing else too exciting! I hope everything is going well at home! I love and miss you all! Mom, thanks for sending me that package! 

Love, Elder Snyder

So, we have really uncomfortable, desks in a room so we took some nice ones (with permission) from another building, but then they made us take them back... this pic is of us acting like thugs before we took them in:

My shoe already completely worn out:

Me with my Japanese friends:

My favorite Japanese guy ever, Elder Takayama:

Me in our residence with my chicken hat:

Messing around on a random wheelchair:

Jake hasn't sent any pictures lately with his emails, but there are lots of good pictures in earlier posts.

Goin' great!

Hello everyone from the MTC!

How's it going? The MTC is going pretty well! It's the same as usual! Study study study! I'm pretty happy with how my Japanese is coming! We have different "investigators" that we teach every day. I'm to the point where I can teach without any notes, so that's pretty awesome! I have to take a dictionary in and look up a word every once in a while but then I write it down and make sure I learn it! Last night we had a Skype lesson with an actual Japanese member in Japan!! That was so awesome! Japanese people are so kind!! I was surprised by how much I could actually understand! So that was great! The best way to learn a language is to speak it!!  I also get a lot of time to study the BoM and learn the gospel! That's pretty awesome too!  We only have 2.5 more weeks! That's crazy! Only 2 more emails and then I'm in Japan! Wahoooo!! 

Being zone leader is pretty cool.. I get to be with the Branch Presidency a lot! I'm convinced we have the coolest Branch Presidency in the MTC.. Our BP is President Johnson, 1st Counselor Brother Daniels and 2nd Brother Marks. They're super cool! Johnson and Daniels both served their missions in Japan. Brother Daniels has lived in Japan for 20 years! He was one of the first American owners of some big company over there! And he was neighbors with and best friends with my mission president when they lived there!! He tells us tons of cool and funny stories about him!! My district is still doing well. There are one or two of them that I am sooo ready to get away from but I've made some really good friends too! So that's about all I got for the MTC! 

Mom all that stuff would be great. There are some things I'm not too sure about... So I don't have a big enough carry on bag for all that stuff the email said!? I'm not sure what to do... I may have to buy one here at the MTC. I have to be able to fit a lot of stuff in there and all I have is that small little shoulder bag that I can only fit a few things in.. What do ya think? Also, 100 bucks cash I do not have. what should I do about that? I can use my debit card at the airport but I gotta buy that other stuff... I don't think I need anything else.. Oh but those shoes I got with you, the ones with the laces are already worn out! They have holes in the bottoms.. I've just been wearing those at the MTC cause I didn't wanna wear out the slip on ones I got so hopefully those ones will last me a while!

So that's about it! Please keep me updated on everything! Football games, sports, everything! Thanks for everything! I love and miss you all!!

Love, Elder Snyder

P.S. I'm Zone Leader!

Hello from the MTC! I really have nothing to talk about... Haha. This week was the exact same as all the others! So I'm super excited that I only have 3.5 weeks left here! I am so ready to be in Japan. The MTC is getting old... It's nice but it's hard for me sometimes because I hate being cooped up in a room for 11 or 12 hours every day! But it's still great. The spirit is so strong here and I'm learning a lot of Japanese! So that's good! I can kinda have a little bit of a conversation about the gospel. I can't say anything about real life things though... We don't learn that in the MTC so I'll have to wait till I get out there! So that's about it... I love and miss you all!! The church is true!

Oh and good luck in your game today Gid!

Ai shitte imasu!

Love, Snyder Choro

Oh I forgot one thing. I was called as Zone Leader! That should be pretty interesting. We have to keep track of everyone in our branch and make sure they're doing okay! We have one of the biggest branches in the MTC too with about 60 people. So that'll keep me a little more busy! Okay that's it!

Love Elder Snyder

Arigato gozaimasu! Ai Shitte Imasu! Ja ne!

Thank you!! I love you! See ya later!

Ai, Snyder Choro