The Snyders in the France-Paris Mission

Phil and I are called to work with Welfare and Self-Reliance in the France Paris and Netherlands Belgium missions. Most of the time we help people in wards and stakes set up self-reliance groups. The topics of different groups include mental health, personal finances, getting a better job, and creating and growing a business. Before this mission, I helped my stake in Salem, Utah for three years by setting up groups. The Church has a great curriculum for each of these subjects, and most people learn practical new skills as they collaborate with others. We also help teach English. But this weekend we got to participate in the “welfare” part of our missionary call. “Welfare” is another word for humanitarian work. We drove to Brussels, Belgium to help the young adults do a service project for the homeless in the city. The project was planned entirely by a few young adults in Brussels, and I wrote the proposal that helped get funding. Phil and I drove to Brussels on Friday and helped all d...

  We meet with energetic, believing, hard-working, and fun-loving missionaries in Zone Conferences every 6 weeks. And we take missionaries to lunch. We meet many members of the Church throughout France. We get to visit lots of different paroisses (wards) because of our Welfare and Self-Reliance calling. (We have only attended the same ward twice since arriving 4 months ago). We are blessed by being missionaries (17 million people are praying for us)!  This means our happiness and ability to get along with each other is enhanced, we overcome illnesses quickly, we can concentrate a lot of our day on learning French and interacting with the scriptures, and we are living with minimal stuff that carries minimal responsibility (Delys has 30 pieces of clothing for all seasons and occasions. Phil has too many white shirts, but he did just buy six new Asterix books).  We can sleep as long as we need to. We exercise and eat healthy food. Our life is simplified and focused. As a bon...