Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 3/21/16 Email & Pics

Tuesday we had our district meeting in Ticul and after we stayed with Elder Gomez y Elder Quinto en su area because I had to interview one of their investigators for baptism. This investigator happens to be Julio who I taught about two weeks ago la trinidad about 50 times in english, spanish, and mayan, but poor guy just doesnt get it....but he does have a broken heart and contrite spirit so he is ready:) he also doesnt understand completely what a prophet is... he told me im a prophet... thanks;) Elder Bahr who was our AP got changed and is now my zone leader!! De hecho vamos a tener divisiones esta noche con èl y estoy bien animado :))) He is always so happy and I just love to be around him! He reminds me of Warren actually:) The bad thing about this change is that Elder Gutierrez who was my ZL is now the AP and he didnt have a chance to put the song im trying to be like jesus on my usb... i had divisiones with elder Quinto and it was so fun!! i really love my district. I drove a tricy taxi because one of the members in Oxz has one and his name is Jose Tigre and so of course there are tiger prints all over his taxi. i bought an ipod for 59 pesos aka like 4 bucks and so i will defs be putting some really good hymns on there. 

We woke up at 4 that morning to go to Mèrida for an 8 principles meeting and it was amazing. i learned so much. I got to teach with one of the APs Elder Mariscal who is fluent in English too because he grew up for like 4 years in Colorado and he taught me so much. He really teaches with power and without fear. I would love to master the language so I can teach like that. We stayed that night in Altabrisas aka the nicest place in the mission and there were 6 other elders with us. i was with Elder Moreno in one room that on the door has the picture of Christ knocking at the door and Elder Ocampo kept knocking and quoting the I stand at the door and knock quote hahaha;) 

We had one practice where I was in the demonstration in front of everyone and its crazy to be put on the spot like that hahaahh.... but I think it went well. It was about sabbath day observance and I wanted to be so difficult because thats how it is here in my area but I was nice;) Everyone works in la milpa here and so usually they cant come to our casa de oracion... But i really do love my members. Roberto had a baptism date pero se cayo esta semana because he drinks... we are gonna help him if it is the last thing I do. He always goes to church with us even ift its in his weed shirt....

We had a practice where elder Lambert and I taught a sister from Brasil Hna Silva who speaks fluent english and had a practice in english!! She learned from video games hahah... who knew. She pretended to have a problem going to church and then working after and said she had a 6 month contract that she had to work after church but the whole thing was a big joke because she was pretending to be a sister missionaryXDD How hilarious was that!?

La Hna Garcìa bought me an air mattress and yes that is so much better for my back... We had transfers but everything is the same except for one hna in my district that went to Campeche.

Love you all!

Elder jordan Saunooke

Our Giant Among Men! Elder Jordan Saunooke - March Pics

The title of this picture was "no she isnt touching me and yes it looks worse than it is;) We had to laugh!

Random Snipits Worth Mentioning ~ Elder Jordan Saunooke

YEah my back is killing so I have a regular backpack now and I really am the Count of Monte Cristo because I bought a blanket and sleep on the tiled floor... but Hna Garcìa bought me an air mattress:)) and also Alma 40-42 is probably the most perfect thing ever written


 i have loved studying moses and alma 40-42 this week.. they are powerful.

I miss the days of no shirt... its so stinking hot haha.. 


Who is ready to watch my fair lady in tminus 20 months?;) 


i am so buying a bike and you cant say anything to change my mind;))) crotch rocket baby;) everyone has them!!! 

I decided this week that Elder Gomez is sherlock holmes.... he remembered the name of a person and their house that he visited one day 17 months ago to go visit... and he realized that a guy smoked because he shook his hand and saw his fingertips... yeah crazy.

whos debbie?;)) 

ps temecula sounds like a pueblo in my area or soemthing hahahh;)

Elder Jordan Saunooke's Email 3/14/16 - Last week of Transfers!

In the morning on wednesday we went to teach a less active who was baptized about three years ago and is like 21 or 22. He was waiting for his mom to get back so that he could go and buy something to smoke week hahaha. My comp didnt understand what he meant by una chaba and neither did I but i used context clues lets just say;) He actually showed us the marijuana he is growing in front of his house in a styrophoam container hahah. When we told him that marijuana is bad for the body and mind he responded, "No es excelente!" and I cant lie I definitely laughed. He told us he feels like life is more tranquilo and chido con la mota, but I showed him the scripture found in 2 Nefi 2:27which shows us how true liberty lies in keeping the commandments. He seemed to understand better that way. He brought his really old waterstained book of mormon out and an old tithing slip fell on the floor. I asked him if he knew what it was and he replied,"No y la verdad no me interesa" hahahaha i once again laughed. 

We taught an Hermana named Valente and he is awesome!!! He is probably mid to late 20s and lives with his wife and 3 kids. He understands Mayan perfectly but is also of our generation so he speaks spanish. He said the closing prayer in straight maya.

Friday in Tzucacab I found out that hma Adela has 2 hijos in the field! i never knew that before but she was bragging about them and said "son guapisimos!" hahahha she said that probably every mom is like that. We also happened to meet a straight Gringo from Cali. He is down here on vacation for his bday cuz he is Irish and his bday is the 17th of this month. It was cool to see that life is still normal for where i come from even if my life is completely different and it was honestly way hard to have a conversation and I forgot how to ask someone their name....He was driving with his friend who lives in Tzucacab but used to work with him in california so he speaks both languages, but it was really a cool opportunity. This whole week has been pretty great actually. My comp has improved a lot and we can get along now. We have transfers the next week so we will see what happens, but quien sabe? 

Saturday we got drenched. Im talking like flume ride drenched. We had to come back to the house and change clothes, we were so soaked. We went to eat at the hermana Yupit`s house and she has 2 hijas in the mission and she always worries about them. She was talking about how she misses them, and i showed them the photo I have of you and I mom in the back of my libro de Mormòn. I told her I was sure they prayed for her everyday because that is what I do. Her husband is one of my fav people because he always sleeps through everything even though he is a councilor and when you ask him a question he responds with this high look on his face, "bashkawa?" which is like what? HAHAH it is hilarious

We woke up at 5:30 am on sunday because its what we always do to go to Tzucacab for members but no one is ever there so it just makes me more tired. We had an RM who served in Perù in la casa de oracion and he lives in another pueblo named Texax. It was really cool to have someone like that with us. Roberto was in sacrament meeting again and he has a fecha for this saturday... idk if he is completely ready though. We ate with the Canul family and they have a son in the mission even if they arent members. We have to switch houses because presidente cab told us that his bro is sometimes in our property area and drinks and is problematic sometimes but Hno Clemente has a really awesome house that we went to go see and it is in el centro! Lots less walking. Being the son of my parents I absolutely loved looking at houses hahah;) 

We taught Roberto and like 5 mins into the lesson someone rode past selling corn and he went up and bought corn. He bought corn for us too even though we told him it was the sabbath day. He speaks a lil english and was like "dont worry about it, its ok" and then said "no pasa nada" his favorite phrase hahah I love him. He told us that God knows he needs to eat and that his sabbath day ends with the sun hahhah I remember Bro Mauià saying that once;) I asked to take a pic in front of his american flag and he was like " ok so remember how I used to have porn posters....well..." Yes I know Roberto and thats part of the reason I asked. 

We are going to wake up at 3:30 tomorrow like always on tuesday, and head for ticul. This weeek we are gonna be in merida casi toda la semana because we have our 8 principios meeting and I am stoked. I love you all and cant wait to talk to you on Mother`s Day!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Saunooke's Pictures from February - March 2016

Always Smiling! (At least on the outside! ;) )

Elder Saunooke's Email 3/7/16 ~ Used to Like Rollercoasters!

Ok so this week was a rollercoaster week full of ups and downs. I know that lots of it has to do with differences between my companion and I. Our relationship is improving but we are so very different hahaha... I like to joke and have fun and well.... yeah... 

We had like three days of practically pure walking, we are talking probably 16 miles in two of these days. Wednesday marked a year exactly since Papa died and I have been studying Alma 40-42 a lot. Interestingly enough, the year mark day, we went with an Hermano in our branch se llama Hermano Clemente. He is 77 and walks with a shuffle haha:) We walked everywhere that day and every appointment fell through, and i felt so bad that he was walking all this way with us. I took him into a store and told him whatever he wanted i would buy him. He chose a yogurt drink and I honestly loved being with him. While my comp was walking ahead i stayed behind and just asked him stories about his life. i couldnt help but remember countless times with Papa talking about life on the Reservation, football, and life in general. I missed him very much that day, and it wasnt until later that night that I realized what day it was.

Friday we taught a family of gold in the morning. They have an 11 year old boy that is a straight stud named Alex. We taught them how to pray and he was so excited and trying so hard to make sure he did it right. We also taught a sister who has lots of health problems... She sat in her hammock the whole time and talked about how her faith would one day allow her to walk again. She actually started to pee in the hammock right down on the floor and I realized how blessed my life is. Even though I have a bad attitude more than I should, and definitely dont want to walk 10 miles a day, how blessed I am that I can. 

We had an experience later that day with an hermano that we attempted to teach in our other area Tzucacab. he was laying in a chair in front of his house, and told us he would rather sleep. I asked him if we could sing for him, and he kind of blew up on me and told me that in the bible it clearly states that we shouldnt praise God in the streets... some people test me hahaha, but I have mastered the Michael Westen fake smile;) 

We also had our first real experience with someone that genuinely hates us. We have an investigator who always works in a hardware store on Sunday and so we thought we would go and visit her boss. We went to see him, and he welcomed us with open arms and was straight awesome. His daughter was there too and is probably about 23 or so and we sang Families can Be Together Forever. His wife was sleeping but when she heard us, she stormed out of her bedroom to tell her family how we only want to change her religion and went upstairs and slammed the door. And so went that lesson....

Sunday we had probably 20 people mas o menos en la casa de oraciòn. It was not a lot, and we teach the youth. It is so weird to be a youth teacher because sometimes i honestly feel like I am still a youth hahah but it goes to show how fast life is.

Love you all tons,

Elder Saunooke

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