Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 8/29/16 ~ Transfers!

Ok so this week has been pretty wonderful honestly. One of the greatest blessings that I have seen that has really struck me, has been watching the power of the words of an Apostle. In my area we have a less active sister that is literally always blaming everyone, and especially her husband. I have visited her several times and she always has had an incredible spirit of contention that makes it difficult to teach. I arrived for the first time in her home more than a month and a half ago and she told me how the previous missionaries that were here, planched her for always blaming her husband, and basically she used what they said as an excuse to feel offended and not participate in sacrament meeting. I felt prompted the previous week to use the talk ¨And nothing shall offend them¨ and literally quote the words of Elder David A Bednar.  “Let me make sure I understand what has happened to you. Because someone at church offended you, you have not been blessed by the ordinance of the sacrament. You have withdrawn yourself from the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. Because someone at church offended you, you have cut yourself off from priesthood ordinances and the holy temple. You have discontinued your opportunity to serve others and to learn and grow. And you are leaving barriers that will impede the spiritual progress of your children, your children’s children, and the generations that will follow.” 

 “Dear friend, we are here today to counsel you that the time to stop being offended is now. Not only do we need you, but you need the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Please come back—now.” I used this more specifically to her circumstances and with scriptures to make it more loving, but it would not be a style that i would say was me before the mission. I have learned so much and she has been in church the last two weeks, and her husband has been as well.

We have found a really cool new investigator this week named Carlos. He is 21 years old and happens to be the boyfriend of one of the young women in our ward. We spoke with him yesterday and he told us that the book of mormon has become his refuge and that in the two days he had between our visits with him, he read 10 pages. I think i was in shock. 

We had a stake conference this week that was literally amazing. My companion and also one of our zone leaders went to get their patriarchal blessings and we basically had a huge field trip to get to the patriarchs house. They didnt have their recommends and so he started to just go off about how they need to have them, and its no different than the temple, and how could they be in the mission and not have received their blessings before. I began to explain that they didnt realize it was something required for the blessing and he kept going.... he also told his wife to let him speak because he is the patriarch and has the authority.... I almost planched a patriarch. I almost dropped Doctrine and Covenants 121 no power or influence priesthood section but i didnt.... and how wonderful i didnt. He ended up being a very cool guy after we fixed the recommend situation and I think he suffers from some illnesses from his age, and it ended up being a very spiritual experience for our companions. 

We did however arrive 30 minutes late to our stake conference and wouldnt you know... we had an area 70 and our mission president there... it was still such a powerful conference and this Elder Walter Travino spoke to finish. First off picture James Spader from the blacklist and thats about how he is. He spoke with such power and about the importance of women and called up about 7 women that formed a question panel. It was very fun and when he speaks you basically get chills because there is such a power in his words. OH and fun fact he served in my mission 35 years ago.

The next day my favorite message was from my last mission presidents little brother who is the temple president here. He shared seriously like a 3 minute message and finished by saying, ¨if you want to have eternal life, go to the temple. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.¨

Anyway  love you all tons and hope life is great.:)

ps it is super hot still and there are attacks from the mosquitos from (....) ;)

Elder Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke - 8/22/16 - "Somos Pech"

Ok well I will start off by explaining the title... in Yucatan, there are lots of mayan last names and Pech is very common... it means garrapata or in english.. tick. We have an Elder Torres that is our Executive secretary that calls everyone by their last name followed by Pech and so that habbit has now stuck.... everyone is elder or sister so and so pech.

This week has been very good, very interesting, and super long to be honest. I am pretty sure this was a week of 14 days. We started off this week being in a trio and it was me, Elder Robles, and Elder Lexiur. We had our zone interviews and from there it was decided that we would no longer be a trio because Elder Robles would be going home for medical reasons... 

It was a long process to get everything ready, and without going into major details lets just say that at the end of it all... i got like maybe 4 hours of sleep in that whole transition. 

I have loved being with Elder Lexiur. We get along super well and he likes to work and also likes to have fun. On Saturday we did an activity with the youth of the stake and we did a mini mission conference and then we went out with the youth to find people to teach. I went out with a kid who is 19 years old and already has his mission papers in, and another kid who is 14. We were in an area i have never visited but it was super fun, because we got to experience what the mission life is with these kids. We contacted 5 different people, and had 3 lessons all in a little over an hour... it was a very cool experience. And very tiring... I have been super tired all this week and through it all, i have very much enjoyed it. 

On Friday we ate a ton... it started because I called a sister that lives close to us and asked her if we could eat breakfast with her because we were hungry but for whatever reason, we ate at just about every appointment that day. 

Sunday was the day I gave a talk about seminary and the importance of attending.. I cant believe that I already have more than a year since I graduated from seminary... wow that is crazy. 

One of the humbling experiences that i had this week was helping a less active sister find a place to stay and something to eat because her drug addict brothers were being violent and forced her out of the house. It made me really appreciate the blessings that i have been given. Maybe I dont have all the things that id like to have right now, but i have a home, and i have food, and im not worried for my life.... not everyone can say that. i think the mission could be described as dedicating your time and efforts so that others can be happy. Thats really what it is:)

Love you guys a ton,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Bridge Jumping with Friends

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 8/15/16 ~ Mi papa se fue;(

Ok so this week has been a sad week not gonna lie... my best friend in the mission who is also my mission dad (Elder Nolasco)... messed up his knee and had to go home. It was a sad day when that happened and to be honest I think for the first time in the mission I didnt talk a lot... I think that surprised a lot of people to see me quiet haha:)

This has been a hard week as far as numbers too...my companion has had several appointments to go see a psicologo in an area that is far away and loaded with money so we lost lots of time this week. 

The one benefit i feel like i have really received from the visits he had is that i got to meet a Stake President who is one of the doctors there and talk with him outside while my comp was in his session... he was telling me all the stuff he was going to say in the stake conference the next day and being a psicologo ( never could spell that word in english so im doing it in spanish) he basically thinks like Sherlock Holmes and the way that he applies doctrine correlates to the way the mind works... One he looks like Bishop Clark if Bishop Clark was from Veracruz, and two he gave me goosebumps honestly... it was super cool and we talked for a good long while about the responsibilities of church leaders, and how agency works with addictions. Very cool experience.

The challenges we are facing right now in our area are new investigators, lessons with member present, and investigators in the sacrament service. We have been working with Naomi and Bianca as our missionaries of the ward and they are so awesome!! They literally glow when they teach, and im like man we should just let you guys do it all because you do it better hahaha:D when we have our practices with the ward missionaries i think of them as Dumbledore´s Army hahha and it makes me laugh. 

We have some baptismal dates but the people havent been to church so it will be a little challenging to move forward with them... Today i am going to receive a new companion who will be with us in a trio. Its actually one of the Elders from my district because his area closed, so this will be interesting.

I love you all so much, and hope you have a great week!:)

Love 

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 8/8/16 ~ Bash Onda 9 months

Ok so wow this has been an interesting week. This has been a week of trial but it has been a good week. Elder Nolasco messed up his knee and we had to go get an MRI.. i told him exactly what it was before the doctors and so that made me feel cool.

This week we have been working a lot with our ward missionaries. It was so cool because I invited Bianca to join us and she came with us to visit her aunt. Her aunt wasnt home, and so she was like ok lets go contact! She was so excited but so nervous that she was laughing trying to say buenas tardes but we ended up finding a new family to teach and she actually had seen them before. It was such a cool missionary experience and I love working with our ward missionaries.

Paco somehow got me a grape soda... yeah had zero idea that we have that here in Mexico. It was so good.

Ummm... we had entrevistas today with presidente because my comp needs some help, and so we will see what happens with our situation here. 

I love my ward here, and i am excited to see the progress i can have and i know that before i know it i will be at my year mark, because the time is really flying:) 

Love,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 8/1/16 ~ Bash Onda?

Hey family and friends another week here in Mexico. This week has seemed like kind of a long week but it has been very good:) One of the coolest experiences of the week was visiting the friends of Sister Carmen who went to Pachuca and are investigators. The husband said that every time we come or that we are around he feels an incredible peace and he wants to keep feeling it. He said that 12 years ago he would frequently dream of being a member of this church. He said he wants to be a member so he can continually feel that way.

We have done lots of divisiones this week because well... my comp is a lil hard and my new zone leader wanted to learn the area and Elder Nolasco esta lastimado... He has a busted knee and so they stayed in the house for a good while haha. We have been working with our ward missionaries and one of them is the sister in law of Bianca and her name is Naomi. She has such a strong testimony and if it is possible to be a sister missionary and an assistant to president it will be her.

Today we went with Hermana Yazumi (who is the coolest return missionary ever that is in our ward and speaks just about fluent english), our zone leaders and two sisters in the zone Cervantes and Keeler to Los Trompos and it was so good. It is definitely my fav restaurant here. Then Nolasco and I went and bought Gucci belts so we will be looking very good while we share the Gospel hhahahhaha!

I just wanna send a big birthday Shoutout to Cole and Lindsey!! Two of my favorite people ever and i miss you guys a ton!! I hope you have an awesome birthday and have the best year ever!

Love,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 7/25/16 ~ Lots of Pics!

Well this marks the end of another transfer. This was a great week and a sad week. My favorite member Sister Carmen went to Pachuca and I seriously was so sad about that.. She loves me and we always had such a good time. Her son is 16 and her daughter is 12 and her son is in another part of Mexico but she says im basically him. And her daughter says im very like her brother and then they started quoting Sinbad... thats right they dropped the "things to do, stuff to steal" quote and I felt like I was home hahah.

Also this Change Elder Butterfield went home and I can honestly say he is one of my best mission friends.. I have the feeling we will be good friends after the mission. On sunday to celebrate his last day, Yazumi threw a huge party for him and he played pin the tail on the bride hahah which made me laugh so hard. 

We had lots of fun and worked hard too. We had 46 lessons this week and not a whole lot of sleep. We helped Carmen moved and that also felt like home because I should know better than to think that I can get out of the moving experience;)

We went to go visit a less active this week and the whole family was there because it was her husbands birthday, and so her dad was there too. He was like whats up mormons and had a cross on his neck and a giant tat and earrings and was kinda giving us a hard time, but after talking with him we found out that not only is he a member, but was the ward mission leader, and has been sealed in the temple. It is sad to see because he is a very likeable guy, and it is sad to see people literally rob themselves of the blessings they deserve. He went inactive for the offenses of church members and i have loved studying the talk Y no hay para ellos tropiezo this week to help me learn how to teach members that have fallen away. I encourage you all to read it. Its like a huge planch but its wonderful. And i have no idea what it is called in english.

I have Elder Nolasco again as my Zone leader and it is so cool to literally have made such a good friend for life here. My new companion right now is Elder Robles and he is a good guy but is very challenging. He has some mental challenges and is 26 so we will see how this change goes, but if all goes well we should have a baptism or two:)

Love you all,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Funny Pic From Temecula!

Just moved to Temecula, CA and found this lil gem in the convenience store! ;)

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 7/18/16 ~ Puro pasear hacemos

Ok pues esta semana tuvimos nuestra reunión de los ocho principios del Evangelio! I love when we have those because all of the missionaries are together. We had Elder Paulino and Elder Montes stay in our house and it was super fun. Elder Paulino is this crazy guy from the Dominican Republic who used to be a rapper and its hilarious to be around him because he is so full of energy.

I learned a lot in the practices and i love the chance to teach with other missionaries and learn from them.

The second day of the meeting we ended up staying in the house of Elder Butterfield and Nolasco just for  fun and there were six of us because Elder Harris and Elder Fuller came up from Peto. I ended up staying up til 2am wth Elder Harris talking and he is such a cool guy! I love the way he teaches the gospel because its kinda of got this Sherlock Holmes disect the situation approach and so ive been trying to study the scriptures like he does. He stopped reading the scriptures in spanish two months ago because  he goes home this week haha. But he studies and focuses on how he can literally apply blessing and cursings of the commandments and its been a cool approach to try.

Ummm this week was pretty low key and there isnt much to report. Elder Nolasco turned 20 on the 16th but we will probably do something to celebrate today. I have not been very good about writing in my journal but its because i dont really have the energy to do it... its kinda like hey my hammock looks comfortable... sleep.

This is the last week of transfers which means the "end" of Elder Butterfield and I can honestly say I will be sad to see that happen. The mission may seem really long at times but I think that at the end it will be like the blink of an eye.

I love you all and send me pics!!

Love,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 7/11/16 ~ FINALLY!!! Pictures!!

Ok so this week was awesome!! On thursday night we started our divisiones and I went with good ol Elder Butterfield! Man i Sure love that kid... even if every time we get together that whole yeah im falling asleep at 10:30 never happens:P We had a great time and it was really hectic because we had two interviews to do. He interviewed Bianca and then we ate pizza with Carmin and she made 7 pizzas!!! I was so stuffed! We went from there and I did an interview for the sisters in Esperanza and we saw Trevor again with another HEFY group. We also met a guy who served in Peru like 20 something years ago and i swear he is Brother Rankin´s long lost twin hahaha:) 

We had the baptism on Saturday and it was such an amazing experience. Bianca is such a cool person and so in touch with the spirit and i know she will be a great member and example to all around her:) 

Today we went to the Mayan ruins of Dzibilchaltun and it was so cool!! We went with our Stake Patriarch and the guy is a mountain goat i swear.. he was climbing better than my comp and he is 65!!

Well i love you all and hope you have a wonderful week!!:)

Elder Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 7/4/16 ~ JOSSSSEEEEE CAN YOU SEEEEEE!??

Hey everyone and Happy Fourth of July!!! Oh and also happy 8 months in the mission to me thank you thank you;) Well the big thing that i want to write about this week would be the really cool experience that we had yesterday. As i said previously Bianca wanted to wait until august to get baptized but this week being fast sunday she wanted to really put fasting to the test and see what would happen. She and her husband were both nervous about their ability to do it, but they both did it this week and she got the answer she should get baptized this week!! so we should have a baptism this week!! That was such a powerful testimony building experience.

Other highlights of this week would be getting root beer for the first time in 8 months thanks to hermano Paco and drinking about 8 cans in one night with Nolasco and going to Los Trompos today to celebrate Independence Day.

A nonhighlight would be going to get a filling at the dentist today and hey guess what? I hate the dentist in Mexico even more than in the States! She is cool though and a member and sings Come Thou Fount as she drills into your teeth!

Ok well this keyboard barely works and its super Africa or better said Mexico hot,

so love you all!!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 6/27/16

Well life is just great here in good ol Kansas City. The days are really flying here. Presidente Garcia y su esposa ya chu pit tulakka. They are almost on their way out... it will be sad to see them go but I am excited to See Presidente Ruiz again:)

Ok well im gonna start off by talking about the funnest thing that I have seen in the mission so far. We had a talent show night with the ward and the HEFY group on Wednesday and it was so so fun! It was kinda hilarious because the american girls came out and sang that whole let me kiss you song and Elder Butterfield and I were sitting right in front and we were like man this is so awkward hahaha! And so white and UtahXD  Then one of our members gave the finale and was full on mariachi dressed and brought down the house. Every one ended up dancing at the end and it was so hard not to join! We were just sitting there tapping our feet haha. One of the cougars of our Area latched on to Trevor the Rm of the HEFY group that speaks spanish and started dancing with him and asked Hna Carmen to film it. I love Carmen so much. She was making me laugh so hard because the cougar asked her to film her dance with Trevor and the whole time she is filming she is saying how she was the cougar of Elder Harris, now of Trevor, and then me... I said no me diga, and the funny part is that when we went to eat with her on Friday the video was on Facebook and if you really pay attention you can hear us talking... oops... nimodo.

We found two super cool youth investigators that are brother and sister this week age 17 and 19 named Carlos and Nancy. They didnt wanna listen to us at first but then we could get them to let us leave they loved it so much. They asked us to come back the next day, and Sunday Nancy went with us to church and stayed the full three hours! She is super cool but the funny thing is, she has no idea of missionary rules or anything so in church she was trying to whisper a question to me and like put her head on my shoulder. Not as like a flirty thing but it was still funny how you realize how mission rules are for those who have no church background :P Her brother Carlos is very smart and loves to read the book of mormon and I really think they both have the chance to be baptized. 

Bianca should be baptized to but she wants to be baptized with her niece who turns 8 in august... but she is so ready! She also came the whole three hours.

Friday night the bishop baptized his father in law who for 20 plus years has rejected missionaries but finally accepted the gospel. It was cool because he didnt want to have people at his baptism but the whole HEFY group showed up, and then he ended up thinking he was the coolest guy on the planet and taking pics with all the white girls haha:)

Sunday night there was a fireside testimony meeting and i was frying my brain going back and forth translating english and spanish, especially when they would cry.. but it was a great experience and i am so grateful for the talents that God gives each and every one of us. I encourage you all to go find yours:) 

I am gonna go have a FHE with Carmen tonight and im really hoping she made pancakes but we will see:)

Love you all tons and hey the Next pday is the 4th!!:)

Love Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 6/20/16 "Falling in Love..."

Ok so this area rocks!!!! I love this place so much!!!!The first night we got here Elder Butterfield and Elder Nolasco helped us clean the house a bit, and we found some huge pants from another elder that had served here and Elder Butterfield and I both fit in this pair and then leaned as far as we could to try and rip them and it seriously took all of our effort! On Tuesday morning we got lost trying to get to the stake center but yeah my district is awesome and we are almost always with our zone leaders:) We taught a lesson to a lady named Bianca and she is so amazing.She is 21 and married to a less active and they have the cutest lil four year old daughter ever. She wants to get baptized and reads, prays, and goes to church every week. Until her i dont think i have ever had a testimony that the people are prepared to accept the gospel. It was so easy.

I did two baptismal interviews this week for two kids and once again it feels very interesting to have the mantle to be able to do that. We taught a lady named Carmen who is an active member and she is seriously the most wonderful person ever. She sewed my backpack with hammock stitching and walked with us to english class. She is practically a mom to the missionaries and it is so sad she moves next month:( 

Yes we do have an HEFY group here and it was very cool to be able to have the opportunity to translate the Stake presidents talk at the youth fireside...The one word i didnt know was basket... whoops. This group has a rm named Trevor and he served spanish speaking in Arizona and he is so cool! He is studying at BYU and wants to be an orthopedic surgeon... hahah what a coincidence;) 

We played soccer today and did some service with the HEFY group at a kindergarten here and that was also a very neat experience.

Cool things this week- got asked if im from argentina, told i have 22 months in the mission, ate with Hermano paco who swears in english, and heard the phrase shut the front door from one of the members who speaks a lot of englishXD

Happy Father´s Day Dad!!

Love you all

Father's Day Email from a New Friend! 6/19/16

"We have been able to spend another week here. Your son and the other missionaries here have become good friends to all of us here! The HEFY kids all love hanging out with the missionaries! Last Monday they came and helped us with our school building project and also played soccer with our teens. Tomorrow they will be doing the same. We also got to be part of a baptism they had the other night of a man that his family has tried for over 20 years to get baptized. It was really amazing! The picture above is of the elders riding up to church tonight in the three wheel "moto-taxi". 

From Heather, visiting Merida with HEFY and sent these pics... Tender mercies!

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 6/13/16 "Counting down til the hug...." ;)

Hey mom!!! Man less than 500 days until i can freaking hug you again!! Well we got back in Peto on tuesday and we had a great week! We set a baptismal date with Roberto and we had our branch movie night on Saturday! So it turns out... I had transfers! My companion ended up being fine and his inflammation miraculously went away but we both got transfered to different place today! I am now serving as district leader in Kanasin. There are no street signs here and its huge but my zone leaders are my dad Elder Nolasco and then his comp Elder Butterfield. My comp is Elder Flores and I think this might be a.... testimony trying transfer to be honest... But we do have a ward so i will be in a ward for the first time in the mission! And there is supposedly ac in the ward... Its crazy that i honestly do miss Peto and I wonder if thats how its always gonna happen.. you get there and you are overwhelmed and then you leave loving it.  Well I hope that I can receive lots of spiritual strength this transfer and that I can grow because of it. I love you all tons and have a great week!

Elder Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Ay lo veo (7Months) 6/6/16

Ok so I have been in the offices this week and wow does air conditioning feel wonderful. The secretaries are hilarious and I got the chance to do divisiones a few times with Elder Evans and it was pretty fun to be able to experience lessons with another teaching style. I did get to make a Costco run with Hermana Garcia and him and wow that was so awesome!!! I fell in love with Costco otra vez. Apparently the America Cup was this week because Elder Torres our Executive secretary from Colombia and Elder Evans from Utah were having a good ol time making up the scores and outcomes of the games and I was laughing very hard the whole time. But yeah... America lost. I did the reimbursables for the whole mission this week so that was a nice keep ya occupied task but the good thing is I now know everyone´s name in the mission and got to see everyone´s birthday.

My companion has now healed to the point where we can go and work again so we are headed back to Peto tomorrow! I had to go today and enjoy my last supper and so I went and got KFC and Burger King... and stained my tie I just bought today:( 

The title btw is a reference to a phrase that everyone says in Yucatan that really doesnt make sense but its fun to say;) I have had lots of time to listen to church talks this week and its been really nice to be in a nice populated modern area. We went to church and for the first time in 7 months I got to be in a ward!! I was in air conditioning and we just sat and enjoyed the service and had normal classes and everyone decided on their own account who they were going to go visit and teach it was enought to make me want to cry;)

Love you all!!!:)

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ "Not your average mission week" 5/30/16

Weellll this week is not your average mission week... My companion got sick and so we ended up going to Mérida on tuesday night. We got a ride to Star Médica with President García and the three asistentes and that was an awesome experience. We saw a family on the side of the road who´s car had broken down and so we got out to push the car to safety and then we went to get gas for them... That´s what I am talking about!! The cliché mission experiences!! That night President waited for us outside the hospital and then we found out that we would be staying the night at least. I told him we hadnt eaten and so yes I got to go with him at midnight to Boston and eat mozarella cheesesticks and burgers. It felt so weird at first because he went to the bathroom and left me at the table and I was sitting there like ummm.... welll.... but it was to be the first of many solo experiences with the sick companion hospital life. We talked about everything from my family history and the Cherokee tribe, to if I like American girls or Spanish girls more.... good times hahahah:)

I put the AC at 60 degrees the first night and it was lovely. Im also so bad.... I told the nurses to pull the plug and he´s flatlining when they came to check my comp.... good thing he knows I almost always joke:)

I got to see my mission daddy!! Elder Nolasco and Elder Butterfield came to the hospital and yes it was wonderful to have company! I love them both so much and it was so fun to see them. Elder Butterfield only has one transfer left and so its always way fun to be with someone with so much experience. He is a great guy and a true role model for a white guy speaking spanish honestly. And man do I miss my mission dad!

This week I have read like 80 pages in the BOM and i found that if you change in Ether 2 the barges to be families and the stones to be the parents, the chapter takes on a whole new meaning. i have loved reading Ether this week and I did happen to read that whole book in 1 day hahaha.

Today I have been with Elder Parrot and Elder Deppe, and I went to the mall... yes there is a mall here. Like a 5 star wonderful mall and I went and got a DQ blizzard, KFC, and went and bought a Vans shirt... Why not... Altabrisas is a whole different world in Mérida.

Love you all and sorry my brain isnt working if this reads weird...

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ "Not your average mission week" 5/30/16

Weellll this week is not your average mission week... My companion got sick and so we ended up going to Mérida on tuesday night. We got a ride to Star Médica with President García and the three asistentes and that was an awesome experience. We saw a family on the side of the road who´s car had broken down and so we got out to push the car to safety and then we went to get gas for them... That´s what I am talking about!! The cliché mission experiences!! That night President waited for us outside the hospital and then we found out that we would be staying the night at least. I told him we hadnt eaten and so yes I got to go with him at midnight to Boston and eat mozarella cheesesticks and burgers. It felt so weird at first because he went to the bathroom and left me at the table and I was sitting there like ummm.... welll.... but it was to be the first of many solo experiences with the sick companion hospital life. We talked about everything from my family history and the Cherokee tribe, to if I like American girls or Spanish girls more.... good times hahahah:)

I put the AC at 60 degrees the first night and it was lovely. Im also so bad.... I told the nurses to pull the plug and he´s flatlining when they came to check my comp.... good thing he knows I almost always joke:)

I got to see my mission daddy!! Elder Nolasco and Elder Butterfield came to the hospital and yes it was wonderful to have company! I love them both so much and it was so fun to see them. Elder Butterfield only has one transfer left and so its always way fun to be with someone with so much experience. He is a great guy and a true role model for a white guy speaking spanish honestly. And man do I miss my mission dad!

This week I have read like 80 pages in the BOM and i found that if you change in Ether 2 the barges to be families and the stones to be the parents, the chapter takes on a whole new meaning. i have loved reading Ether this week and I did happen to read that whole book in 1 day hahaha.

Today I have been with Elder Parrot and Elder Deppe, and I went to the mall... yes there is a mall here. Like a 5 star wonderful mall and I went and got a DQ blizzard, KFC, and went and bought a Vans shirt... Why not... Altabrisas is a whole different world in Mérida.

Love you all and sorry my brain isnt working if this reads weird...

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ "Why Don't You Move Us Someplace Cooler.... like Africa??!" 5/23/16

Hi mommy!!

Ok well I dont have my journal with me to help me report all the adventures of the week because my comp has an infection and we have been at three different doctors offices today:P I have to say my comp has changed a ton, and we actually always get along now without any problems:) That is definitely a great mission victory I would say. Wellllllll thursday night the zone leaders came up and stayed the night with us. Poor white guys got lost and didnt get to our house until it was pretty late, but yes I surprised them with a pizza and soda because sometimes i decide to be nice. We had divisiones Friday en Tzucacab and I got to go with Elder Bahr. Man do I love that guy!!! Talk about someone who is literally always smiling because he has the spirit. He and our other zone leader Elder Plowman taught us a wonderful lesson between the spirit of the law and the word of the law and I think that has really helped my comp and I to get along much better. Another thing that has really helped me is focusing on seeing everyone through the eyes of our Heavenly Father. That puts everything in a much better perspective. 

Saturday we had our movie night and I definitely put on The Prince of Egypt in Spanish. The members loved it! The week before we watched the other side of heaven and they still go around talking about the experiences they saw. Lets just say the people here are for sure visual learners.

Last night we had a lesson with a family of practically all women and they live right next door to la casa de oracion. They have the most beautiful house I have seen since I have been here and i honestly felt like I was back in the states.... We have been teaching them on and off for a while but I think there is a good chance that there will be some baptisms in the family:) As you may have heard I told President Garcia that I would like to stay here in Peto because the alternative was to close the area and I dont want that to happen. The missioneries are all they have here. We will see how it goes and hopefully we can have some more progress here. Roberto has a baptismal date but he couldnt make it to church yesterday and his brother Jesus always invites him to drink so we will see how it goes... but yeah love you all and have a great week!!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 5/18/16

Hey Mom!!! Wow 6 and a half months!! Well this week we had the blessing of going to the temple! The temple is about 4 hours from our area and to not wake up at 1:30 we decided to do divisiones with the elderes of Ticul Centro.  We had our district/zone meetiing the next day and I lead some of the practices and I have to say I was pretty proud of myself. I based it off of an experience that I had earlier in the week when someone for one of the first times in the mission... made me mad haha. I usually love this guy and he is hilarious but he was super drunk and he was saying all kinds of crazy stuff. In an effort to bring the spirit in, when his 3 year old daughter walked up, I asked him you love your daughter right? I was going to make a comparison... he told me something that threw me off a bit... he said no he doesnt love anyone and he does everything with his own hands. When the little girl turned and hid her face I was straight up madddddd... No lo diga otra vez o vamos a golpear varon... ok not to that point but it taught me that its important to always love the people no matter what. So in the practices I had the investigators say something to the missioneries to make them mad... it was hilarious to walk around and hear everything from im already baptized, as a woman I have priesthood authority, and you have to say the real name of God in a prayer which is Jehova. It was really a fun time actually and great to hear how others reacted.

In our divisiones we taught this 18 year girl named Monica that has a baptismal date and is seriously the best investigator I Have evver seen. She went to church by herself, read her whole plan of salvation pamphlet, and asked us if she could go to EFY... I thought those didnt exist hahaa. Sadly not my area but it was still great. 

The next day we went to the temple and it was such a neat experience. I always try to feel like I have Papa next to me in the temple, and even though he wasnt physically there, the person who did sit next to me is my grandfather in the mission Elder McDonald. He was just made AP and he is a really powerful missionary. i have only seen him one other time and so the fact that this happened was an interesting perspective on prayer. President Garcia gave every missionary a blessing yesterday and it was so awesome. He is such an amazing man.

I love you all and miss ya tons!

Elder Jordan Saunooke