Greetings from Japan!

We were so excited to hear from Jake in Japan!  We were on pins and needles waiting for his email Sunday night.  He's about 13 hours ahead of us, so he was emailing us Monday, but it was Sunday for us.  We got an initial email at around 10pm that just said, "Hello family", and that was it!  I waited and waited and stayed up, but nothing else.  So, I finally went to bed and in the morning there was an email that had come at about 4am.  So, then we found out about the typhoon and the trouble they had emailing.  So glad to hear that he was doing well.  Here's his email:

Hello family!! How are you all doing?! Japan is crazy and kinda hard to get used to! Haha. My Japanese is not good at all.. I can barely understand anything. Haha.. pretty sad! There is a typhoon in Japan right now... It's been raining and the wind has been blowing like crazy. Our mission mom sent out a mass text saying that they're expecting power outages and to start cooking a lot of rice ASAP! So we made a couple batches of rice.. This morning it calmed down a bit so we ran to the 7/11 down the road and loaded our emails cause they have wifi. It got bad again but it has stopped now. We got caught in it last night on our bikes and got completely soaked. My rain pants completely ripped so now I only have a rain jacket. :( But anyway, Japan is a super cool place! Way different than America. We haven't eaten at any members' homes or restaurants so we just eat in the apartment. I don't really have an appetite so I usually just eat a bowl of cereal a few times a day. I've already lost 10 pounds.. Haha. We actually had fast Sunday yesterday and then next Saturday and Sunday we'll watch General Conference! And we get to watch it in English, thankfully! It was pretty scary bearing my testimony in front of all those Japanese people.. Haha. So I've been copying some parts of my journal on my iPad every night and I'm gonna send that out! So that will have more details. And I'm sorry I can't send pics from the end of the MTC and the plane 'cause I don't have a cord to get pics from my camera to my iPad! I love and miss you all so much!!

Love Elder Snyder

These are the journal entries we received later in the day:

Monday was the big day we finally left the MTC! Sometimes we didn't ever think the day would come but it happened. So we had to be at the travel office at 6 AM and then we took a bus to the train station in Provo. Then we took the train to the airport. We got our bags all checked in and then went to our terminal. We were walking past a McDonald's and some random guy insisted that he buy us some food, so that was pretty cool. Then we took a plane to Portland and then to Japan! It was such a long flight and I only slept for a little over an hour... But then we made it to Japan and it was awesome! And because Japan is 13 hours ahead of the US, it turned into Tuesday! So we went through customs and then got to meet president Budge! He's such a cool guy. We took about a 2 hour train ride back to the mission home, ate dinner and then they let us go right to bed at about 9:30. Pretty cool day.

Wednesday was pretty crazy! Lots of training stuff. We did some crazy workout with President Budge and then ate Sister Budge's awesome breakfast! We had a bunch of training stuff with the Budges and then had lunch. After lunch we all went with an older missionary and did some proselyting. That was interesting! A lot of people ignored us but we were able to give away some flyers and we had a nice long talk with a guy that said he might want to come to church which was awesome! After that we had an etiquette talk with Sister Budge and then got our iPads! So that was cool and then got dinner and had a testimony meeting with some recent converts. After that was "eikaiwa" which is English class for anyone in the city that wants to come. There were a lot of people there and it was fun!

Thursday we got to meet our trainers and go to our new areas! My trainer's name is  Elder Sanshin. He seems pretty cool so far.. A lot different than me, but cool. He's 24 years old and already graduated from college. There are also 2 other elders in my apartment. Well, my area is a small city called Narita. It's not a huge city and it turns into a lot of hills, trees and farmland... So the best of both, I guess. We took a 2 hour train ride from the mission home to Narita and on the way we were talking to people and giving out eikaiwa flyers. When we got back, we went right to the bank and got out yen so I could buy my bike. We went to our apartment for a little bit and then went on about an hour long walk to the bike shop. then we came back to the apartment, ate dinner and called some of our investigators to see how they were doing and so I could introduce myself! So it was a cool first day in Narita!

Friday morning was my first day in the normal missionary life routine. We woke up, did some exercise, then did our studies. After that we took an hour long train ride to Chiba to a zone conference! That was pretty fun! So then we came back, ate lunch and then went and did some dendo! (Proselyting) We found a guy named Hoshi who seemed pretty interested and we set up another lesson with him! After all that we had a ping pong night and Family Home Evening at the church! That was pretty fun, and then we came back and did our nightly planning and went to bed!

Saturday was a good day! We woke up, exercised and then did our studying. We took the 15 minute bike ride to the church and taught eikaiwa (English class). That was pretty fun. We had about 10 people show up. We taught the advanced class, that had 2 Japanese people. One of them is named Kazu, who is one of our investigators. Kazu is really good at English and I'm really looking forward to my first lesson with him. Then we came back and had weekly panning which takes a few hours. After that, we went on a very hilly 30 minute bike ride to visit a recent convert named Sarath. He is from Sri Lanka and speaks a mix of Japanese, English and Sri Lanken. He's a cool, interesting man. Then we went back home and did our daily planning. That's it!

My first Sunday in Japan! It was fast Sunday today since Japan is so far ahead and Conference will be next week. I got to bear my testimony which was a bit intimidating in front of a bunch of Japanese people! But my companion told me I said everything right so I was pretty happy about that. Haha. So there's a typhoon going through Japan right now and it's pretty hard rain. A lot of the members usually ride their bike to church so a lot of them weren't there today. There were about 40 or so there today but there's usually 60-70. The rain gradually got worse throughout the day so when we went out we just got soaked. But it was fun! Cool first Sunday!

Japan is an awesome place! It was a fun first week! We have a bunch of great investigators with potential to get baptized! Exciting times here in Japan! Love and miss you all!

Love, Elder Snyder

My trainer companion and our clothes hanging up to dry after we got soaked:

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