Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Elder Saunooke's Email 2/29/16

So... I finally had divisiones! I had so much fun. I literally had my eyes opened and realized that the mission can be fun too. I was in Oxzkutzcab with Elder Gomez and we first had our lunch appointment with a less active named Gustavo. He is a taxi driver and pulled up blasting drake and had an American bandanna hanging down from his jeans. I think he is currently cheating on his wife, and making some other disagreeable choices but it was nice to ride in a car again. 
With Elder Gomez I taught for the first time, a lesson about the temple. I dont think I have ever seen someone teach the way he does, he is incredible. He served three transfers in Guatemala before this mission and has 20 months here. He has a photographic memory practically and so has almost the entire book of mormon memorized. He is hilarious and literally every member loved him. I think I learned more from this temple lesson than the members did. 
We taught this huge guy name Julio Caesar that speaks english! He worked in Cali a bit and so he speaks a fair amount actually. We had to explain the godhead no less than 40 times because we would ask who is God and he would say something like The Holy Ghost or Jehovah. HAHAH it was actually funny after a bit;) Elder Gomez asked me something I had honestly never considered before... He asked me what I do to increase my spirituality every week. I had no answer. He told me he fasts once a week, memorizes 2 scriptures a day, and always asks for forgiveness hahaha. I loved working with him because he knows like everything, but is hilarious and likes to have fun too. We ordered pizza and it was glorious. 
The next day I literally fed a monkey crackers... thats right my mission is sometimes straight jungle. We had a change in plans that night and our huge meeting conference thing that was supposed to be in two weeks got changed to the next day. We had to finish our divisiones and travel in our air conditioned gift from heaven the charter bus se llama Mayab. We arrived in Merida and stayed just outside in a place called Chuburnal which was the nicest house I have seen in the mission. It had stairs, and air conditioning!!! We were with Elder Aponte who is in his last cambio, and is from the DR. He can actually speak english quite well and helped me get to their house with directions in English.
The next day we had our conference for like 6 hours. I learned so much! I finally understand why we dont drink coke. The missionaries before us taught that it is against la palabra de sabiduria and so many people associate it with something bad. So like the apostle Paul taught in Cor 8, if something that members do weakens the faith of converts... dont do it. President Garcia taught that english is the language of the restoration and also about eternal marriage and families. He is so freaking powerful in his teachings... just wow. We ate pizza afterward from Lil Caesars and then went to the offices for supplies. I rode next to the APs in the bus and I love them but I honestly dont see me being like them. They told me that the spirit tells them for how long and what to clean in their house, and that they dont use alarms because the spirit wakes them up... I would defs sleep without an alarm. They also advised me to study in English to really learn the gospel and that is what they did to learn more.
The next day we went to Tzucacab for a funeral services for one of our less actives. I said the prayers surrounded by a few sparse members and the rest of his catholic family... it was like a dedicatory thing but not so much... Also that night our branch presidents dad passed away. he was hunting in the mountain with his grandson and they were in different parts and his grandson mistook him for an animal... and shot him. Talk about horrible. We visited the family the next day and he was absolutely tortured soul sobbing.... it was heartbreaking. I gave him a blessing and told him that it wasnt his fault and that his grandfather was now in a state of paradise. This week was a week of pure learning for me in every meaning of the word. Love you all!
Elder Jordan Saunookes

No comments:

Post a Comment