Snyder's September Newsletter

August 2008

Dear Family and Friends,
Lately I have been hearing the question, “So, what does a typical week look like in a missionary (Snyder) home?” The pivotal word in the question is “typical”. There are innumerable unexpected variables each and every week. But I will try and give you a typical week.
We will start with Monday, which in many pastoral families is a day of “rest”. We try to get to the beach every Monday for at least 3 hours. Our goal has been to exercise for 1 hour swimming without touching bottom for the entire hour. It was always the family joke that Dave had to swim on the ocean side to protect me (Becci) from shark attacks! This was a joke because in 28 years we had never seen a shark or heard of an attack. We have missed our swim now for several weeks because there have been 4 shark attacks at different beaches in the area in the past couple of months, 3 of them fatal. Finally, we bravely went to the beach and did a very high speed 30 minute swim!
Normally, Dave and I will split a fish fillet meal and then head to Zihuatanejo to do our weekly shopping. While I shop Dave often does odd jobs around town, taking the church's copy machines for repair, getting copies, vehicle repairs, picking up parts, etc. After shopping we head home and put the groceries away. This involves the washing of all fruits and vegetables with soap and water and then soaking them for 30 minutes in a purifying solution to kill all parasites and bacteria.
On the first Monday of the month Dave is in charge of the regional pastors' meeting. Right now they are busy planning for a March for Jesus in Petatlan in November. Bethany is usually in this meeting with her Dad, along with pastors from approximately 8-9 different churches.
Normal bedtime at the Snyder home is around 11 pm. Tuesday starts with Dave rising around 6 am or earlier, and I around 7. We have our prayer and devotional time, breakfast (typically cereal, sometimes Mexican food), and Dave and Bet are off to the office by 9:00. Lunch is between 1:00 and 2:30--often Dave will pick up a kilo (2.2 lbs) of tortillas on his way home as this meal is almost always Mexican. Dave and Bet then return to the office. Several home groups meet on Tuesday nights (there is a total of 18 home groups), so after office hours Dave goes directly to visit one of the home groups and I am responsible to give oversight to a home group as well. On Friday nights I have oversight of another one of the women's home groups.
Daily routines for me include the usual cleaning of the house, laundry and food preparation, all of which seem to be more time consuming due to complications of heat (normally above 90 degrees), constant blowing dust, rodents to be caught and exterminated (!), and the frequent ringing of the doorbell.
There are a myriad of sounds that assault the ears on a daily basis: donkeys braying, roosters crowing, unexpected rat-a-tat of gunfire, and a variety of vendors with their strident sales pitches, such as the miracle medicine that cures bed wetting when applied to the stomach or cancer when taken internally(!), the LP gas truck with it's loud haranguing (careful who you buy from, this company is known for cheating, so Dave must haul several tanks – 100 lbs. each full – to the church where a truck will stop from the honest company), the newspaper car hawking the grizzly details of the local war between drug cartels, etc. In the midst of all these noises, please, oh, please do not miss the tinkle, tinkle of the garbage dump truck as it barrels down the street on its “never-the-same-day-or-hour-schedule!”. If one leaves the garbage outside of the gate so as not to miss the truck one will pick up one's garbage scattered across the street by the scrounging street mongrels. If one misses the barely audible tinkle one will try again next week...but by then the garbage will be crawling away!
Wednesday night is our teaching track following a time of united worship. A variety of classes meet simultaneously: youth, children, baptism class (13 weeks), maturing in Christ (13 weeks) ,training class for home group leaders(13 weeks), a membership class (5 weeks), teacher training (13 weeks), classes on the Gifts of the Spirit, Freedom in Christ, and on the Ministry Gifts. When individuals have finished these courses they are invited to join the intercessory prayer group. Also included in the teaching track are four yearly retreats: Spiritual Formation (24 hour retreat at the church), Deliverance & Spiritual Warfare (two-day retreat at our home), Intense Leadership course for home group leaders (two-day course at our house), and an Evangelism retreat (one-day at the church). The requirements to attend these retreats are that the person is a baptized believer and active in a home group
Mixed in amongst all the daily chores come planned as well as unexpected opportunities to touch lives for the Kingdom of God...at the ocean, the grocery store, with neighbors in the street, at the plaza, through outreaches, working with the home groups, etc.
Two Thursday nights of the month we are at music practice led by Bethany. Once a month on Thursday eve all the home group leaders, leaders in training and leaders of children's groups meet for teaching and prayer. We often begin the meeting with praise reports of what is happening in the groups.
Friday is our day of fasting and prayer. We also have once-a-month all night prayer meetings (well, actually we try to finish before 12:00). Friday evenings from 5:00-9:00 and all day Saturday the Bible Institute is in session. Dave teaches 4 classes, I teach 1 class and Bethany teaches 1 on leading worship. The subjects that we teach vary each semester.
Saturday begins bright and early with prayer at the church, from 6:30 until 8 am we seek God together. While the Institute is in session the rest of the day a variety of activities often happen concurrently, such as youth events, work days, weddings etc.
Sunday evening is our Explosion of Praise and Preaching of the Word usually from 6 to 8:30. As a family we are at the church often from 4:00 until 10 pm. God has graciously visited us during these services and we have been so blessed to see God move in the hearts of the people.
I will have to save the news on outreaches into other towns and into the mountains, counseling sessions, as well as the originating of materials for the home groups,Retreats and even the Institute.
There has been an escalation of violence in Petatlan and the surrounding area related to drug cartels, including ambushes, decapitations, threats, etc. Law enforcement officials have lost their lives in the line of duty. Fear is rampant. Please pray that the believers will take advantage of these vulnerable times to witness to people of God's grace and protection. Thank you so very much for your prayers and support.

Yours in Christ, Dave and Becci Snyder

Some photos of a recent baptism at the river. There were four people who were baptized.













A photo of the speakers at the annual convention the end of July.