Hey Everyone!

My name is John Snider and I'm really excited to go to Uganda with all of you!  I'm 22, graduated from Calvin College last year and am currently working at a biomedical research institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan (Michigan! - Great Lakes, good times!).  Next fall I'll be headed to medical school at the University of Michigan, but for now I'm just enjoying my year off school, working, and thrilled about the adventure we have ahead of us in Uganda.  I love sports, especially soccer (I've been a coach and player for several years), hiking/camping, and traveling - pretty much anything active.  Unlike the rest of you apparently I have almost no musical talent whatsoever haha (although I did play the baritone in middle school!).  I really like working with kids; I've been really blessed to be a small group leader for some junior high guys and more recently for a group on kindergarteners at my church - they have so much energy and joy - it's contagious.  Some other random "likes": football; tubing; Fall; mountains; waterfalls and animals.  I've had the opportunity to serve at an orphanage in Mexico and on a medical mission trip to Ecuador and was really blessed by both trips - the people I encountered on both trips were really welcoming and it was a joy to serve on those trips.  Last January I had the chance to go to Costa Rica and Panama for a month with 20 other students from Calvin.  It was an amazing time for me to grow spiritually and have a blast doing some awesome activities like white-water rafting, surfing, SCUBA diving and wakeboarding.  Every morning and night there we came together and worshipped and prayed for each other, were vulnerable and open in sharing, and the community there was amazing - I'm hoping we'll have a similar thing as a team in Uganda - I'm already praying for you guys that God will bring us together as a team and we'll really support and encourage one another in faith.  I feel that God has been teaching me lately about following him wholeheartedly and listening to the Holy Spirit's leading.  I'm really looking forward to God doing something big in my heart on this trip and am excited for what we will encounter in Uganda.  The chance to serve at an orphanage and maybe do some HIV/AIDS work sounds amazing to me and I'm also excited to partner with the local church there and worship the same God with brothers and sisters so far away.  I want to keep becoming more like Christ to the point that when people look at me they will sense that something is different and God will be praised.  It's been fun for me to read the posts of everyone else on the team and I can't wait to meet you all in person!

-john