Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Fun Missionary Pics! ~ 10/18/16

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ The World's Hottest October! ~ 10/10/16

Hey Family!!

This week was a really fast one. One of the blessings that we were able to see this week came as a result of fasting. We were finally able to find and talk again with our investigator Pepe after a month of not seeing him. He has been passing through some hard challenges lately but we went to see him at his house and he couldnt attend us at the moment, but then he called us like 15 mins later and said we could meet at the chapel. We went over the plan of salvation and he is almost intimidating to teach because he is so smart. I told him that we had been fasting for him, and he perked right up and talked up how amazing it is that the bible taught us to fast, long before we knew its health benefits. He told us that his record for fasting is a week.... ummm wow. He said and I quote, ¨Day three you are scratching at the walls, but day 4 you have a perfect clarity of mind and you no longer have hunger.¨ That was a very impressive statement, especially after he explained the science of it all. Very intelligent guy and really wants to learn and progress. 

We have a family of kids that we are teaching... and it keeps growing. We went to visit this group of kids that we are teaching and this time another 10 year old was there and loves it. He is super smart and speaks at the speed of light. He was explaining something about minecraft and my comp jokingly said he didnt understand because we dont know Mayan ¨mission joke¨, and he was like thats fine ill say the word in English. He then proceeded to translate the word ghost and I bust up laughing.. I like smart kids. We put a baptismal date with his cousin for this Saturday so we should have a baptism this week.

This week we also had a very funny lesson with a former Jehova´s witness because when we explained that Jehova is Jesus Christ she started saying oh my gosh thats right, I never had understood that part. 

All is going well here. This is the last week of transfers so we will see if the next pday im in my same area. I have loved being in my area and I am proud to be part Kanasinero;) It is still ridiculously hot all the time, but we happened to find a barber shop with air conditioning today and that was my first hair cut with air conditioning since I left home! I definitely prefer short hair in this climate. 

Love you all!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Conference Week AND 11 MONTHS!! ~ 10/3/16

This has truly been a great week! My companion and I have been working hard to be more diligent in talking with everyone and we have seen a difference. It really requires you to step out of your comfort zone but it has tangible benefits. 

One of the coolest experiences we had this week was teaching Ernesto, who is the nextdoor neighboor of Bianca. He is 22 years old, and loves the Book of Mormon. After only one visit, he read all of First Nephi, and he was telling us how he didnt understand how Laman and Lemuel were so stubborn! He was like, how are you complaining you guys have seen an angel, why dont you listen to your dad and your brother. It was by far one of my favorite mission experiences.

This week we got to eat Burger King with Yazumi, and the next day chinese food with Nahomi and her family. That was a really good stroke of conference weekend luck!

We watched conference in english and in air conditioning and believe it or not... I was really cold. I think we had the air at like 73 and that felt really good but I definitely felt cold. We had four investigators in the church and they want to get baptized so we are seeing the results of our hard work here. It is weird to think that we only have two more weeks in this transfer, so we will see if I am here to see the baptisms happen:)

I loved the repitition of conference. I know that many of the thoughts that were shared were similar because that is what the church needs at this time. I invite you guys to study the talks again and pay attention to the promptings you receive. 

I miss you guys a ton, and I know that things are hard right now as a family. I know that the Lord will bless us as we faithfully strive to trust in him. I pray for you guys every day and I think the world of you.

Love,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Pre-Conference Week ~ 9/26/16

This week we had a multizone conference and it was a good but different experience. We now have the rule of not eating sugary cereal, or saying the word like in my mission... ok:P The magic number to be able to baptize every week is 18 new investigators every week, and we should be contacting at least 10 people a day. That means we have lots of work before us but I know that having high goals helps us to progress and to be able to accomplish what we want to in the mission field.

This week was difficult in lots of ways and really good in lots of ways. As much as us missionaries look forward to hearing from our families, and talking with them, I can honestly say seeing your dad`s phone number on the screen unexpectedly is not something one looks forward to. Its kinda one of those phone call at 3 in the morning feelings. It was a very scary thing to hear that your baby sister has cancer. It is not something I would wish on anyone.  In spite of that I have felt peace this week, and I really feel like everything will ok. This was a very neat fasting experience because to be honest I generally dont like fasting in the mission, because its always so hot and we walk a lot and its very hard to run on empty, but this time I was happy to do it, and didnt even notice:) I cant wait to see some of this fasting power in action;) C`mon Ansley kick its butt!

Sunday we got to church a little later than we usually show up, but we happened to get there right as one of the ward missionaries Naomi showed up with not only our investigator of 12 years, but also his two younger cousins. It was such a cool feeling to see a family of kids come to church. They were nervous but had such a good time that they asked us to come visit the house in the afternoon. We ate lunch with Paco and somehow he aquired chex mix and i ate almost the entire bowl it was so good to eat those again.

 We went and visited the kids after and they were all fighting for who could get baptized first. It is a family of some members and some non members that we have been working with since i got to Kanasin. When it was time to go they didnt want me to love, and were asking at first for two more minutes, then till they died, then till the earth ended. It ended up being a tug of war between them and my companion and I was the rope. We had to trick them and then run to get away hahah so that we could make it to the appointment we had afterwards. The appointment we had afterwards was a wonderful family that just recently moved from another ward and are new here. They are originally from Mexico (here that means like distrito federal) and are really a cool group. And they have air conditioning in their house which was like a first for me...:D

I hope everyone is doing well, and preparing for the conference this weekend. I know for sure that I have some questions that I want answers to and so I will be applying the advice of our savior Jesus Christ that is found in 3 Nephi verses 2 and 3. The prophet and apostles are most definitely doing all they can to prepare to receive revelation to give us this week, but the hearer of the word has the same duty as the one who preaches it, to prepare spiritually to be able to receive it. I love you all and although I am very far away from you, my heart is with you guys:)

All my love,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Y Como Estan Asi? ~ 9/19/16

Hi everyone!! Well this week has been pretty low key and we have had our fair share of sicknesses but it wasnt me this time! My comp got sick and had to go get a shot in the butt at the doctors offices, and on the way there it poured so hard and we got drenched. My pants changed into jeans because they were so wet. When it rains here you can basically see Noah and his ark because it floods.

We did a super cool service project with Bianca´s family making some sort of papermache  movie set. Her brothers in law work with styrofoam to build projects and are contracted everywhere to build stuff, so we went over to help them. They are the other two chel that are with me and Elder Christiansen in the pictures I sent. 

We had a ward talent show night this week, and it was so fun to see all the young kids dressed in traditional mayan clothing and trying their hardest to go and dance. We went with a taxi driver that contacted us, and told us he wanted to change his life. He told us the stuff that have happened to him and man some people have it hard. His family kicked him out, and burned his clothes and he has an addiction to alcohol. He went with us all afternoon to our appointments and stuff as our personal taxi driver just because he wanted to be with us and truly change. He bought us some juice even though he hadnt eaten in like 2 or 3 days. We really dont realize how blessed we are sometimes.

On Friday we had our zone conference and we wore our fake mustaches and yes i bought the biggest sombrero i could find. It was fun except the new rules we have... which include but are not limited to, not eating sugar cereal, and not using the word como unless it is actually needed. That was an interesting zone conference. We had a baptismal interview afterwards, and on Saturday the other elders (our zone leaders) had the baptism for the wife of a member that is no longer living in our area but is one of the coolest guys ever. His name is Amir and he is a stud. His wife is very sweet and has really spiritually progressed since I first met her.

I really do love sundays here, and partially its because I am in air conditioning for three hours, but I also love being in church honestly:)

I hope you guys all have a great week and I love you!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Independence Day Week ~ 9/12/16

Ok well so the last time we spoke, I was suffering from what I was sure was dengue... it wasnt but it still was a terrible first few days of the week. 

The highlight of my week was definitely yesterday at church, when two of my favorite less active members showed up. I have visited them since I got here, and have tried so hard, so imagine my joy when we passed by their house in the morning and they were actually dressed in white shirt and tie, and dress, and ready to go to church. They sat next to me in gospel principles and the brother Mitchell was like, hey guess what... we have already finished this whole book.. twice. He is hilarious hahahaha.

As we were going to Paco`s house yesterday he starts singing the song Rock of ages, which in spanish is Roca de Eternidad, but he started singing... Ropa de Maternidad.... i love that guy.

There is not really a lot to report on this week, but yesterday we helped some ward members that are in highschool with some homework, and I am so glad to not be in school hahaha and definitely forgot everything.

I really love being here, and time is sure flying by. I really hope to be able to accomplish what our Heavenly Father wants me to do. I have felt a little frustrated that I do not speak fluently yet with almost a year in the mission, but I do understand a lot.... and its a blessing to be able to learn more every day. If you wonder what kind of music we hear besides hymns, it would be the song Ay vamos which is always playing everywhere...hope you guys have a great week!

With love,

El Chel de Kanasin,

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Hot & Cold ~ 10 months! 9/5/2016

Ok so you may be wondering why this title reminds you of a very familiar song by Katy Perry... its because thats how my body has felt the last two days. Super infernal heat, followed by a cold that rests in your bones.... with an eye pain, headache, knee pain, stomach pain, back pain, and just about pain in general. Im not exactly sure if its a regular cold, dengue, or if it has to do with a service project we did this week. We have a less active member that has an addiction to huffing glue.  We put an appointment to clean his house and we got there but he only likes to do stuff if we are with one of the members of our ward (Yazumi the one who made us pancakes). So we tricked him and told him she was coming and faked a phone call... poor guy but it is for his own good. So anyway I ended up huffing his house fumes for like an hour while we took out like 150 bottles of glue that were hidden everywhere..... and ever since then ive been sick:/

On a good note, I just read my results and I dont have dengue... it sure feels like it though. 

So cool stories of the week... we had transfers today and i will once again be staying in Kanasin:) I am very happy about that because we have a new investigator named Pepe that is one of the coolest guys I have ever met. It would not surprise me if he became a stake president one day. He contacted us while driving his car... in english. That is right he speaks fluent english. He even says phrases like yada yada yada and game changer.... so for the first time in my mission life I am teaching someone in my native tongue. He walked past our church and was curious and did an online questionaire to have the missionaries come to his house but it never came. And what is even crazier is that when he found us he was supposed to have been in salt lake city working. Wow miracles for the win. He also has a 3 year daughter named Sophie that he takes care of like the best father you have ever seen. She speaks fluent english as well because he has never spoken to her in spanish.... ever. The type of professor that popped the knuckles on one of his hands every day of his life, and the other hand never popped just to prove it doesnt cause arthritis... he is that type of guy.

We also saw something very strange this week... someone left a dead rooster, and pidgeon in a bag painted red as some sort of witchcraft thing in front of the chapel.... that was strange.

Anyway I love you all!

Elder Saunooke

THIS KID HATES SPIDERS! I'm so glad he didn't burn his house down trying to kill it! ;)