Excerpt from letter sent on 9/5/2011

Well, it looks like that elder Snedaker here is going to be leaving his greenie area. We had transfer calls last Saturday, and it sounds like that im going to be leaving Vista 3rd ward. I have absolutely no idea where i will be sent to, i just know that im going and elder Barlow is staying here as district leader, and that he will not be training. So ya, im not too happy about leaving this area. It won’t be fun. I really am going to miss a bunch of people out here, especially the ward, and more especially the young men. They are dang cool, and this area has just become home for me. And now im leaving home again. But i have come to the conclusion that god has sent me to the vista 3rd ward for a reason, and somewhere along the line, that purpose has been finished. So off i will go, and i am actually excited to meet my new comp. and my new ward. It will be sweet! And now i feel ready to move on, start over, and become way better than i am now. Because i know that i can become something greater.

This week has been pretty good. Elder Barlow has pretty much broken his ankle, last Tuesday at district activity. We were playing Basket-ball, and he jumped up for a block, realized that it was a bad idea, and landed on someone else’s foot wrong and sprained his ankle super bad. It made some nasty popping noise. So that was fun! I had to pull out my super awesome boyscout skills, so that was cool. I really didn’t do anything but get a bucket of ice and water, but hey, i was prepared! And on top of all of this, we have had to help a less-active lady move all week! We have spent a crap load of time over there. It took so long because she has sooo much crap! She is big into restoring things, well i guess so, she has a bunch of old broken furniture and thousands of old picture frames that she will never get around to doing anything with them because she works ALL the time. And she pretty much has a clothing store inside of here little trailer house thing. She has sooo many clothes, it’s ridiculous! My wife will not be allowed to have more than one set of clothes. So, ya that was my fun experience.

Let joseph know that I’m sorry that i missed his baptism. But, tell him that that is what I’m trying to do out here. I’m trying to find other people that need to be baptized just like he was. I love you guys!

Excerpt from letter sent on 8/30/2011

Thanks mom for praying for those guys. We could use all the help that we can get, because i am a terrible teacher as it is. We just taught a lesson with them yesterday, which was pretty good. I was not pleased with how i did, but whatever. It's just that I'm not totally sure why or how to help them have more of a desire to go to church. That's the goal right now, if we could just get them to church, it would change everything. So, we will do our best and not let them fall.

Life here has been pretty good, I've now been out for 2 transfers at the end of this week. That's such a long/short time! It seems like a long time being here, but then its been so short because i feel that i haven't learned as much as i need to. But that's just how i am, i just want to know everything right now. i don't like having to go through the hard learning process, but it has to happen. And i know that the lord is there to help me, and he will if i do all that i can and stop complaining.

Even so, this area is picking itself up finally! We have started working with members a bunch more, and will continue to do that. We have come to realize that this missionary work is not ours, it is the wards. They are the ones that hold the keys and responsibility to find the people that are ready for the gospel. the Bishop and other leaders, hold the keys to finding people, we don't. So it has been our effort to work through those keys that they hold. That's why we haven't been teaching as much as we have needed to. So now its really cool to see how things are flowing together. And its right when im probably going to leave this area! O well, I wont be too bitter. haha, just kidding. I think that it is awesome that things are starting to work!

Love ya guys!!!

Elder Snedaker

**Some spelling has been changed to protect the spelling challenged missionary!

Excerpt from letter sent on 8/2/2011

Man, im glad to be out here! Its way more exciting to have doors slammed in my face! No really every time that happens, or when people just run away from us and go hide, i think that it is rather funny! O no, the mormons are coming.

Well life is pretty chill right now in the vista area. I've started back up on the exchanges again because its a new transfer. I've been out with one of the other missionaries in our ward, elder la follett. and ive just gotten back from being with one of the zone leaders, elder davis, who is an awsome guy and i have learned a lot from him. I think that recently we have learned, me and elder barlow, that with this whole work that is going on, we have to be ourselves. there is no special trick or wording that you can say that will make people listen to you, its just yourself! Be bold and be yourself, it doesnt matter what people think of you, it doesnt matter what you say, it matters that you have the spirit, you are yourself and are totally open with people, and that you are having fun. And then just going out and doing it! And then the lord takes care of everything else. by just being yourself and manning up the lord puts words into your mouth. That is one major thing that i have realized this week. Now im trying to do just that, and we will see if it works!

A Few Mission Pictures

Ty with Tyson, who he worked with at Krupp

Ty in Vista, CA with his trainer Elder Barlow
and his previous "greenie".

Ty's district

A drawing of their district

Ty with his district.

Ty and his companion Elder Brooks

Latest Letter

Things have been going good over here in vista. The weather is still warm/hot some times. It has still never rained here. My comp and i are getting along great. The ward is really cool. i especially like the young men, they are way cool and will come out with us anytime. We are getting to know the families of the ward which is really cool. Yesterday we kinda got into a bash with some Islamic guy in our complex. he was the only one talking, and we were pretty much just listening. He is a cool guy, he is just very passionate about his religion. it was pretty funny because he would get so passionate that he would have to stand up and walk around the room with his arms all over the place while he was talking.

.After 4 weeks i finally was able to teach an investigator! I don't know if i told you guys at all, but all our investigators pretty much dropped us or had to be taught by other missionaries. i have been working with a lot of recent and less-active converts. But the majority of the time has been spent trying to find new people to teach. Its been pretty tough trying to find people. I've learned that a mission is a lot of work. And it takes everything out of you. most of the nights i am just dead and don't wake up at all till 6:30 the next morning. But we have changed some things recently, and we are just pumping it out right now by doing all that we can to find new people to teach. We have even stopped having lunch just to get in another hour in the day. And after all of this, it finally looks like things might be picking back up. We found 2 new investigators yesterday, and i feel that they are pretty solid. So we will see how things work. The Lord works in crazy ways, and i don't totally understand why we could not find anyone else to teach, but i know that there is a reason for it. I've just got to go and pump things out and trust that the lord will send us to those that are prepared to here this message, or send them to us. I've learned a lot from this, and i will keep on learning a bunch.

Sorry gotta go, Love ya!

Elder Snedaker

He's in California

Ty is officially in California! He has actually been there for almost a couple of weeks, but I'm a little slow in posting. Here is an excerpt from his recent letter:

"Hello! Well post-MTC life is pretty good, im just starting to adjust to missionary life, which is great! I am in the Vista area right now and the weather is sweet! It is seriously never cold, and yet never too hot. Its around 70's, there are no clouds, it is way more humid here than in rexburg which is different. I feel like im sticky all of the time, but its not bad at all. I can just about see the beach from my area if we go up on some of the hills. Anyway, life is good! And yes, i do have a pretty studly helmet! Thank you very much. It's really not that bad, i can stand wearing it. I have a sweeter bike, its called the dew and its a road bike which is nice. My p-days are on Tuesdays."

If you would like to write Ty here is the address of the Mission Home, I'm sure he would be glad to hear from you.

California Carlsbad Mission
451 West Bobier Drive
Vista, California 92083-1906

MTC Letter from Ty on 6/1/2011

Hey! hows it going everyone?? Things here in the mission are going great and i am having tons of fun! My first comp is Elder Brooks, and we share the wood room, which is a pretty sweet room. And all the other rooms have 4 people in them, while we just have the 2 of us, so that's cool. My district is way cool, there are 10 of us and every day it seems like they are funnier and funnier! We all get along pretty well and i am learning a bunch from them. It is kinda weird that every minute is planed and set up for you, but by this time i am getting used to it. I have had some humbling experiences, and some really cool ones. I've started the TRC as it is called, that's were we go in and teach a investigator or and actor, we don't know about which one it is though. What is really cool is when everything just lines up. when the investigators are asking questions and we have exactly the right answer for them. And the spirit just takes over and things just flow together. I love that feeling!

Here's the list of answers to the questions that Mom sent me. Yes the food is actually really good. And yes im getting a decent amount of sleep. i really like my comp, he doesn't know a whole bunch about the gospel but he has a great testimony. and ya, my time is up and i gotta go, See ya!!

Elder Snedaker

**Please note: I did correct the spelling in his email. Ty is not the best speller.

MTC Day

Today was the BIG day, Elder Snedaker entered the MTC this afternoon. We drove Ty (Mom, Dad, Diane & Corbin) down to Salt Lake City on Tuesday afternoon in hopes of doing a session at the Salt Lake Temple Tuesday evening. Plans changed and instead it was decided to go to the temple on Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday night. So we stopped for a delicious steak dinner at Maddox's in Brigham City instead. Then we spent the night at Uncle Hal & Aunt Debbie's in West Jordan. After the temple session this morning we made our way down to Provo and had lunch at In & Out and then made the drive to the MTC. They have changed the process at the MTC and now it's a drive thru where you drop off your missionary at the curb of the MTC and another missionary meets you at the car and helps your missionary with their luggage. This is also the time to say your final quick goodbyes and snap a few last photos (even though it's discouraged). Here are some pictures from our trip.

The car ride to Salt Lake.

The last meal before check-in.

We are almost at the MTC.

Unloading

Saying goodbyes.

Ty's Mission

Ty has been called to serve in the Carlsbad, CA mission.
We will be using this blog to share pictures and updates for the next 2 years on Ty's mission.