Awesomeness!

Dear all,

Another week in the books! Today was Temple p-day which was great. I feel like I say this every 6 weeks but I'm so grateful to be serving here not only because Tokyo is the best mission in the world, but also because we get to go to the Temple so frequently! So this week is already week 5 of the transfer. Elder Broberg and I are still together and it's going great. He's an awesome missionary so we're having a lot of fun working together.

This past week was awesome! We had 3 new guys pop up that we are able to meet frequently! One of them is a guy named Takayuki. I met him on exchanges with an Elder and we got to talk to him a lot. He is 24, loves basketball and we were able to become friends pretty quickly. We have an elders quorum basketball activity every Saturday that he came to and it was great. We met with him last night and became best friends. He lost his mom a few years ago and we were able to share with him about eternal families. We also had a guy names Jorge self refer himself and show up to church on Sunday. He seems to have a ton of interest so we're excited! Yu is also doing great as well as Hirotsugu! Things are going great in our area and the Lord is blessing us a ton. 

I'm so grateful for this mission experience. I'm learning so much and making eternal friends. I'm grateful for the gospel and for the change that it makes in people's lives. I hope that we all are strengthening our testimonies everyday and looking for opportunities to help others. Love you all! Have a great week!

Picture: this is an one of my favorite Elders I was with in the MTC, Elder Takayama. He just got home from his mission and found out I was serving in his Ward!! Awesome!!

Elder Snyder and Elder Broberg

スナイダー長老とブローバーグ長老

Building Faith

Hey everyone! It's been another good week in Tokyo. The weather is nice and the Japanese food... Still delicious as ever. My companion Elder Broberg and I are doing great and we love working together. We had zone conference last week which was great. Love hearing from President and Sister Nagano and their guidance for the mission. We've been seeing a lot of great things in our area. We met a new guy who is a referral from Southern Japan who seems to have a lot of interest. His name is Hirotsugu and has lots of desire to change his life. Also, Yu is able to meet with us often and is progressing so well. He is my favorite! He comes to church and just loves it. 

Lately as a mission we've been focusing a lot on building faith and how it's through our faith that miracles are wrought. I know that our faith is so important in fulfilling the Lord's work. Not only in missionary work but as well as in our personal lives are miracles wrought by our faith. I know that we can build our faith through diligent prayer and study, as well as obedience and our righteous desires. I love the gospel and the work of Salvation. It's true. Love you and talk to you next week!
Elder Snyder and Elder Broberg

スナイダー長老とブローバーグ長老

Transfer 12!

皆さんこんにちは ! Last week was transfer week! Another one gone, which now makes me transfer 12... Getting old.  But Elder Broberg and I will be staying together for at least one more here in Senzokuike and Tokyo 2nd Ward. Things are going well as of late.. We're finding some good new investigators who are showing a lot of interest. One of them is Takuya, who is a really cool Japanese college student. He's doing great and really has a lot of interest in learning about Christ and the gospel. We still have our Chinese friends Michael and Yu who are doing well along with another new investigator from California! The work is hastening in this area! It's been well over a year and a half since either Ward in this area saw a baptism, but I can see it coming soon! The Ward mission leader here is an Australian man named Brother Curtis. He is an amazing man. He is helping us so much and helping this Ward so much. I haven't met many people who have as strong of a testimony of this gospel and desire to hasten the work of salvation as he does. But it's just awesome to see and be apart of the Lord hastening His work. 

Lately I've been thinking about Christlike attributes and the path that we're all on to attain those perfect attributes. We're all far from perfect, but one scripture that I love is Moroni 10:32, one that I'm sure you all know. " Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."

 This mission experience has been one of ups, downs and in-betweens. I've been able to notice all of my many imperfections but I know it's a journey. Our Savior is the best! He sacrificed so that we can become perfect. Pretty sweet, huh? This is His work! We're on his errand. I love you and hope you have a great week!

The Purifying Power of Gethsemane

Hello everyone! Not a lot of time this week, but I just want to share something that I saw this past week that I really loved. This is from a talk from 1985 by Bruce R. McConkie entitled "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane".  I would suggest that all of you watch this talk (because it's really powerful) or at least read it. It's a great testimony builder of the Atonement of our Savior. For now I just want to share a little part that hit me:

"I am one of His witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in His hands and in His feet and shall wet His feet with my tears.

But I shall not know any better then than I know now that He is God’s Almighty Son, that He is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through His atoning blood and in no other way."

I love this powerful testimony of one of the Lord's Apostles. I hope that all of us will be able to gain this strong of a testimony of the Savior and His atonement. I know that Christ is our Savior and that through Him we will become perfect. I love you all and will talk to you next week!

Elder Snyder and Elder Broberg

スナイダー長老とブローバーグ長老