Hey everyone, another week in the books! The weather here in Tokyo is
finally starting to cool down a bit! It's now in the 50s in the
morning and 60s throughout the day. Prime proselyting weather! The
final week of the transfer has begun. Crazy! Still feels like I just
went and picked up Elder Nitta. But the work is great and I love
working with Elder Nitta. We have a lot of fun working and it's
awesome to experience miracles together. Tomorrow Elder Bednar is
coming to our mission for a conference. I'm pretty excited! It's
always awesome having general authorities come and train us,
especially an apostle of the Lord. (Even better when it's one you
(kinda) have a connection with!) I'm sure it will be a great
opportunity to learn from on high and receive lots of guidance.
So last week our investigator Hirotsugu Iwagi went into the hospital
to have surgery on his hand again. I'm not sure if I've explained his
situation before but he was in a bad work accident about 9 months ago.
So anyway he's going to be in the hospital for about 2 weeks. We went
and visited him the other day and it was pretty cool. I really don't
like hospitals but it was great to be there to talk about the gospel
of Jesus Christ. He's doing well and we're praying for a quick
recovery for him. Please pray if you would like! We also went on
exchanges this past week. I went with another first transfer Elder who
is our district leader Elder Calhoun's companion. It was great. I love
working with young missionaries! So our investigator Yu is still in
Beijing right now. He'll be back at the beginning of November, so
right now the finding game is on! We really want to find new people to
teach who are prepared to hear the restored gospel.
We also have been getting a lot of meal appointments with members here
and have had the opportunity to share messages with them and help them
with their own personal missionary work, because after all it is the
members who need to find investigators! We met with a great older
couple from the second Ward who is really on fire right now with
sharing the gospel. I learned a great lesson from him as he is a great
example of sharing the gospel with all of those around him. He is so
reliant upon the fact that he knows that God will guide him and help
him to find people who are prepared to hear the gospel.
Today, I'd like to share a paragraph from Preach My Gospel. "God loves
you and all His children. He is anxious to support you in your
practical and specific challenges. You have been promised inspiration
to know what to do and have been given the power to do it (see D&C
43:15–16). He will help you as you try to recognize and understand the
Spirit through diligent scripture study. He will guide you to people
who will receive the message of the Restoration. He will give you
power to deliver the message and to testify of Christ and His gospel.
He will shower His blessings upon you through the gift of the Holy
Ghost. He asks that you remain worthy of this gift and that you ask,
seek, and knock (see D&C 4:7; Matthew 7:7–8)." I hope you all are
willing and building up your courage to seek opportunities through the
spirit to open your mouths about the restored gospel to those around
you. It all starts with an example and an eye to see and find
opportunities to share your beliefs with others. Let's all try to be
better missionaries! I know God will help and strengthen us. Love you
all, talk to you next week!
Elder Snyder and Elder Nitta
スナイダー長老と新田長老
Monday, October 17, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
Tokyo Temple
Hey everyone! Today was temple p-day. It was great as always. General
Conference was awesome! I really love conference more and more each
time I watch it. There's so much that we can learn and apply from the
amazing leaders of the church. Always such a great testimony builder.
I hope you all start rereading the talks asap! Sorry, I don't have a
tone of time today to write a group email, but things are great! I
love Japan and missionary work! It's the best. Have a great week, I'll
write more next week. Love you!
time I watch it. There's so much that we can learn and apply from the
amazing leaders of the church. Always such a great testimony builder.
I hope you all start rereading the talks asap! Sorry, I don't have a
tone of time today to write a group email, but things are great! I
love Japan and missionary work! It's the best. Have a great week, I'll
write more next week. Love you!
Monday, October 3, 2016
Love and prayers from Tokyo
Hey everyone, it's been a good week. The weather is starting to get
cooler, which means fall is right around the corner. The work here is
still going well. We're also getting a lot of meals with members which
is the best! Love eating with the members and we usually take an
investigator along which is great as well. I haven't mentioned
anything about my Japanese lately, but it's getting decent. But, just
when I think it's good, I'll talk to someone or watch a church video
with tough Japanese and I'll realize how far I still have to go to get
this dang language down! Still working on it...
The work is good. Our investigator Hirotsugu is doing well right now.
He came to church in a full suit yesterday which was awesome! He is
progressing so well. Also doing some finding as well which is always
fun.
Okay well, that's about all for this week. I hope you're doing well!
Much love and prayers from Tokyo. I'm super excited to watch
conference next week, but I hope you were all able to feel a desire to
improve from it. The leaders of the church are amazing! Have a great
week!
cooler, which means fall is right around the corner. The work here is
still going well. We're also getting a lot of meals with members which
is the best! Love eating with the members and we usually take an
investigator along which is great as well. I haven't mentioned
anything about my Japanese lately, but it's getting decent. But, just
when I think it's good, I'll talk to someone or watch a church video
with tough Japanese and I'll realize how far I still have to go to get
this dang language down! Still working on it...
The work is good. Our investigator Hirotsugu is doing well right now.
He came to church in a full suit yesterday which was awesome! He is
progressing so well. Also doing some finding as well which is always
fun.
Okay well, that's about all for this week. I hope you're doing well!
Much love and prayers from Tokyo. I'm super excited to watch
conference next week, but I hope you were all able to feel a desire to
improve from it. The leaders of the church are amazing! Have a great
week!
Monday, September 26, 2016
Good but tough week
Dear all, it's been a good, but tough week. We weren't able to meet
with 3 of our top investigators last week which was tough, but
hopefully things will be better this week. Things could be worse!
Elder Nitta is doing super well and has already gotten into the groove
of missionary work. It's fun working with him.
So, our investigator Yu, who was supposed to be baptized in a few
weeks, just told us that he's leaving tomorrow to Beijing for a month
for an internship that he just got. That was a pretty sad hit since we
have become such great friends and he's gotten so strong over the past
few months. It's really hard since there are no missionaries in China
but we're going to try and keep in touch via Skype. Let's pray that he
stays strong! But, right now Hirotsugu is doing great. We got I'm in
the homes of members twice last week for meal and lesson appointments.
Those are great opportunities for him to strengthen his relationship
with the members and hear their testimonies. Right now he's
progressing really well, but is also having some worries, which I
think is normal. But, we love him so much and working with him hard!
Lately I've been reading from President Hinkley's teachings of the
Presidents book in my free time and I've been learning a lot about
gaining and strengthening testimonies. One part in particular is about
gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. When Gordon B. Hinckley was
a young man, he established a pattern for scripture study. President
Hinkley said, “As a missionary, I read each evening before going to
bed a few chapters of the Book of Mormon,” he said, “and there came
into my heart a conviction which has never left: that this is the word
of God, restored to the earth by the power of the Almighty, translated
by the gift and power of God to the convincing of the Jew and the
Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.” The Book of Mormon has such a
simple promise, that will be fulfilled to all who truly have the
desire to know. I know the Book of Mormon is true! Continue to
strengthen your testimony and help others do so as well! Love you all!
Have a great week!
Elder Snyder and Elder Nitta
スナイダー長老と新田長老
with 3 of our top investigators last week which was tough, but
hopefully things will be better this week. Things could be worse!
Elder Nitta is doing super well and has already gotten into the groove
of missionary work. It's fun working with him.
So, our investigator Yu, who was supposed to be baptized in a few
weeks, just told us that he's leaving tomorrow to Beijing for a month
for an internship that he just got. That was a pretty sad hit since we
have become such great friends and he's gotten so strong over the past
few months. It's really hard since there are no missionaries in China
but we're going to try and keep in touch via Skype. Let's pray that he
stays strong! But, right now Hirotsugu is doing great. We got I'm in
the homes of members twice last week for meal and lesson appointments.
Those are great opportunities for him to strengthen his relationship
with the members and hear their testimonies. Right now he's
progressing really well, but is also having some worries, which I
think is normal. But, we love him so much and working with him hard!
Lately I've been reading from President Hinkley's teachings of the
Presidents book in my free time and I've been learning a lot about
gaining and strengthening testimonies. One part in particular is about
gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon. When Gordon B. Hinckley was
a young man, he established a pattern for scripture study. President
Hinkley said, “As a missionary, I read each evening before going to
bed a few chapters of the Book of Mormon,” he said, “and there came
into my heart a conviction which has never left: that this is the word
of God, restored to the earth by the power of the Almighty, translated
by the gift and power of God to the convincing of the Jew and the
Gentile that Jesus is the Christ.” The Book of Mormon has such a
simple promise, that will be fulfilled to all who truly have the
desire to know. I know the Book of Mormon is true! Continue to
strengthen your testimony and help others do so as well! Love you all!
Have a great week!
Elder Snyder and Elder Nitta
スナイダー長老と新田長老
Hirotsugu, me and Elder Nitta, my new comp.
Elder Nitta and me with the Naganos!
Best ramen ever!
Monday, September 12, 2016
This work is awesome!
Well today was transfer call day! Sad news is... Elder Broberg is
transferring. It was a great 2 transfers with him. It was fun to just
work super hard and our area improved so much. We have actually hit
the standards of excellence in lessons the past two weeks for the
first time on my mission. So, I will miss working with him, but I'm
staying here in Senzokuike/Tokyo 2nd so that's awesome!! I'm gonna be
a trainer again too! So actually the Tokyo west zone leader area is
moving to Shibuya, which is pretty much the center of Tokyo. There is
an 8 man apartment there and so they want to move the zone leaders
back into that apartment. It was fun being a zone leader for a while
but I am so ready to just work. Always in my area and with the faith
of a new missionary, I'm super excited.
As for our area right now, it's doing great. Yu: Our Chinese buddy.
He's still a genius, still the best. Progressing so well and should be
baptized within the next month! Hirotsugu: (Japanese) He has really
picked up recently. We have been teaching him regularly and he's
learning a lot. He's quite focused on learning everything and knowing
the answer to all of his questions, but we're working on helping him
feel the spirit to confirm the truthfulness of the gospel. Thamindu:
He's our Sri Lankan friend who loves the gospel already. He hasn't
been learning for very long but tells us he feels great when he reads
and prays. Doing great! Jorge: He's from Canada and he came walking
into the church a few weeks ago. He's seeking for the truth and so
it's really fun to teach him. He's really busy so we can only meet him
once or twice a week, but he's doing well. Takayuki: He is our awesome
Japanese friend who loves us and loves basketball. We've become great
friends but we want him to open his heart more to the gospel. We found
out that his mother passed away 3 years ago and so he has showed
interest in the Plan of Salvation. He's awesome, so I really want to
get him progressing!
So right now we have a good balance of finding and teaching time. The
weeks are flying by. Our wards are doing great as well. It's pretty
fun to be working between 2 wards. It's also interesting to notice the
difference between the Japanese ward and the English (mainly American)
ward. We had a delicious meal with an American family last night and
it felt like we were in America. We also had a meal with a Japanese
member family today with Hirotsugu and it was awesome. Things are
great!
This work is awesome! It's easy to say that when things are going so
well, but through the good and the bad, there's always something to be
learned. I'm grateful for all of the learning experiences that I've
had so far and I'm pumped to give everything for these last 4
transfers. I love you all, the church is true!
Elder Snyder and Elder Broberg
スナイダー長老とブローバーグ長老
transferring. It was a great 2 transfers with him. It was fun to just
work super hard and our area improved so much. We have actually hit
the standards of excellence in lessons the past two weeks for the
first time on my mission. So, I will miss working with him, but I'm
staying here in Senzokuike/Tokyo 2nd so that's awesome!! I'm gonna be
a trainer again too! So actually the Tokyo west zone leader area is
moving to Shibuya, which is pretty much the center of Tokyo. There is
an 8 man apartment there and so they want to move the zone leaders
back into that apartment. It was fun being a zone leader for a while
but I am so ready to just work. Always in my area and with the faith
of a new missionary, I'm super excited.
As for our area right now, it's doing great. Yu: Our Chinese buddy.
He's still a genius, still the best. Progressing so well and should be
baptized within the next month! Hirotsugu: (Japanese) He has really
picked up recently. We have been teaching him regularly and he's
learning a lot. He's quite focused on learning everything and knowing
the answer to all of his questions, but we're working on helping him
feel the spirit to confirm the truthfulness of the gospel. Thamindu:
He's our Sri Lankan friend who loves the gospel already. He hasn't
been learning for very long but tells us he feels great when he reads
and prays. Doing great! Jorge: He's from Canada and he came walking
into the church a few weeks ago. He's seeking for the truth and so
it's really fun to teach him. He's really busy so we can only meet him
once or twice a week, but he's doing well. Takayuki: He is our awesome
Japanese friend who loves us and loves basketball. We've become great
friends but we want him to open his heart more to the gospel. We found
out that his mother passed away 3 years ago and so he has showed
interest in the Plan of Salvation. He's awesome, so I really want to
get him progressing!
So right now we have a good balance of finding and teaching time. The
weeks are flying by. Our wards are doing great as well. It's pretty
fun to be working between 2 wards. It's also interesting to notice the
difference between the Japanese ward and the English (mainly American)
ward. We had a delicious meal with an American family last night and
it felt like we were in America. We also had a meal with a Japanese
member family today with Hirotsugu and it was awesome. Things are
great!
This work is awesome! It's easy to say that when things are going so
well, but through the good and the bad, there's always something to be
learned. I'm grateful for all of the learning experiences that I've
had so far and I'm pumped to give everything for these last 4
transfers. I love you all, the church is true!
Elder Snyder and Elder Broberg
スナイダー長老とブローバーグ長老
Monday, September 5, 2016
A God of Miracles
Hey everyone!!! Last week was awesome! One of the better weeks I've
had. First off, I love working with Elder Broberg. Sorry, we've both
been really bad at taking pictures the past 2 transfers but I'll try
and take some more to send! But, it's great and we are seeing so many
cool miracles. Our area is really doing well right now, probably the
strongest any of my areas thus far on my mission. We have so many
great people to teach right now and it's fun! I've been talking a lot
about Yu lately, and he is still doing so well. He's one of the
smartest people I know, and has been so prepared to hear the gospel.
We're also working a lot with a guy named Hirotsugu. He has been
worked on by God for a while now too. He's the son of a member and
wants to change his life. The Lord is definitely in this work. No
doubt in my mind. There are also a few others that I don't have time
to talk about right now.. But I'll update you sometime!
Moroni 17:23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I
will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and
forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according
to their faith.
It's true. Our personal faith will bring forth miracles in our life.
God loves us as much as he loves those you read about in the
scriptures. Seek Him out!! Love you all, 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
had. First off, I love working with Elder Broberg. Sorry, we've both
been really bad at taking pictures the past 2 transfers but I'll try
and take some more to send! But, it's great and we are seeing so many
cool miracles. Our area is really doing well right now, probably the
strongest any of my areas thus far on my mission. We have so many
great people to teach right now and it's fun! I've been talking a lot
about Yu lately, and he is still doing so well. He's one of the
smartest people I know, and has been so prepared to hear the gospel.
We're also working a lot with a guy named Hirotsugu. He has been
worked on by God for a while now too. He's the son of a member and
wants to change his life. The Lord is definitely in this work. No
doubt in my mind. There are also a few others that I don't have time
to talk about right now.. But I'll update you sometime!
Moroni 17:23 For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I
will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and
forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according
to their faith.
It's true. Our personal faith will bring forth miracles in our life.
God loves us as much as he loves those you read about in the
scriptures. Seek Him out!! Love you all, 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
Beautiful Tokyo!
Monday, August 29, 2016
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
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