Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 11/21/16 ~ Baptism in Alligator Water!!

Y su compañero Elder??

Well this week was very tiring and full of travels but it was a good week:) We had to travel to campeche yet again for a zone conference and when we came back we came back with Elder Martinez who is my zone leader to do divisiones. We went to Libertad the next day and as we were traveling there we got a phone call from the assistents telling us that Elder Colin had special changes and so we headed back to Escarcega and packed his things up. We left at 5 the next morning on a bus bound for Merida and its like a 6 hour drive.

The good thing about being in Merida is that I got to buy Dairy Queen and it was so good. The Dzul Ek family or in other words Bianca´s family sent a package to the offices with socks, and a belt, and letters for my birthday which was really cool to see. 

My companion is Elder Quinto now officially and we are just one companionship managing four areas. Every person we see asks us, "and your companion elder?" ummm... he is right here next to me. No but like who is your companion? once again... right here next to me.... no but who is going to be your companion so you arent alone... oh my goodness what do you guys understand by the word companion hahahhahahhhaXD Seriously we must have heard that question around 100 times this week no joke and its really really funny. 

We baptized Elizabeth this week, and we went to a lake lagoon place to do it, and almost the entire branch of libertad pooled into the van we rented and we all went together. That was definitely alligator water but I told her that nothing would happen and that there was nothing in the water, but hahahaha it reminded me a lot of Florida. We were going to try to rent a restaurant that has like a coast part of the lagoon but when we went to ask I went with one of my Zone leaders Elder Hanke and I think they got excited to see two gringos because the told us 3000 pesos a la hora, and im thinking thats a no fly zone. We said thanks but no thanks. We found a cool little spot, and it was definitely one of my favorite mission experiences. I went to test the water first and it was deeper than it looked so i got the excuse to take a short swim hahahah:)) it was awesome:))

And yes I am 20. Honestly I think I could say I had a Jehovahs witness birthday because I didnt do anything lol. We had 3 sacrament services because we are helping out all the branches here,and Elder Lambert send me a happy birthday text, and Elder Lopez called me to say happy birthday, oh and a gay guy and a crazy girl from the ward here invited me to eat cheeseburgers last night but hahhaha that is about the extent of what we did:) It was kind of cool though because we got to help confirm Elizabeth as a member of the church yesterday and hear her testimony and gratitude for the Gospel in her life. 

Oh and we also took advantage of the black friday or good weekend here and bought some new shoes and ties to have our companionship Domingazo;)

Love you all, and have a great week!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ 11/14/16 AND MORE PICS!

A veces se gana... a veces se pierde... y a veces tienes una semana loca:)

Hey everyone!!!!!

So this week was a crazy week! We had an 8 principios meeting in Campeche and we were there for 2 days. It is always super fun to have stuff as a multizone because you get to see so many people and learn so much! I was able to teach the principle of revelation through prayer and it was a great learning experience for me. 

On Friday night we found out that my companion had special changes and was going to go to Progreso, so on Saturday we had to get up at 3:30in the morning to make it to the bus on time. We traveled to campeche once again and now im in a trio with Elder Colin and Elder Quinto! They are awesome and I am still loving life here in Escarcega. We are managing three area and so its a little challenging, and also tomorrow we are headed down to a zone meeting in campeche again so its been really travel heavy.

We had a stake conference on Sunday but it was something that was broadcasted all over mexico and it was interesting to hear Elder Russell M Nelson speak in spanish... it was funny and cool at the same time. Us missionaries in the ward and our ward mission leader sang special musical numbers in between. 

So yes Everyone here does hate Donald Trump, and all that, but its kinda funny. The best was when i heard someone say, ¨lets go¨quiere decir vete a tu pais hahhaha it was great:))

I hope you guys are all doing well and I love you tons!:))

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ TONS OF PICS!! ~ 11/14/16

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ ONE YEAR, BABY! ~ 11/7/16

Hey everyone! It has officially been one year since I left home. One more time and then its gone.... that is such a weird thought honestly. My district leader bought me pizza on the day i finished one year, and my comp wrote all of the companions i have had on an old white dress shirt I had and we burned it. It was fun.

Ok so unfortunately the flu shot is required in missionary work. On Wednesday we had to go to Campeche to get the flu shot but thankfully this time i didnt get sick afterwards like the last time. It also gave me a chance to buy a gorgeous tie that will be perfect for our 8 principios meeting this week. I have the job of teaching receiving revelation through prayer and I really do love these meetings because we can learn so much. 

This week was super tiring because we traveled almost every single day. It was also a week of bad luck which might have something to do with the fact that i broke the mirror but it might also be coincidence. On Saturday we went to our pueblito of Libertad and when we tried to come home at night there was no transport so we stayed the night there in an extra house of one of the members there. It was good but we got eaten by mosquitos and we had to get up at 5 in the morning to come back to Escarcega and get ready for church at 8:30 and then go back to Libertad at 3. It was a tiring week with not nearly as many fruits as we had hoped to see but we did what we could and at the end the bad luck was funny.... even when the keys were left inside and we couldnt catch a bus back home to save our lives...:)

Ok and my favorite experiences of the week happened with our investigator that speaks english that is like a gangster that is 20... he honestly reminds me a ton of my friend Richard from Orlando. He told me everytime he prays he starts joking around with God because he likes to talk to him like he would talk to his dad here on earth, and then he told me that God is kinda like your Dad mixed with the weed man because its like... I hope he comes through because ive been asking for a lot hahahhahaha He about killed me when he said that, and then proceeded to tell me that sometimes he joked with God so much and then God joked with him too. He had asked us about the gay 15 year member of the branch named Caliche the week before and then when we went to teach him again this is what he tells us... I have been praying to find a girl, you know, the one and so I decided to try to do all i can to find her. So i heard about the family home evening in the church and so i told God, ok the first girl that talks to me there... its her. So i sit there the whole hour of family home evening, and nobody talks to me. They finish with the prayer and still not one girl had talked to me. I started praying and asking God what happened when I hear this feminine voice in my ear.... Hey, Fernando. And he starts to say, yes baby i love you, you are beautiful, and he turns and sees the gay kid Caliche. He then was like ok God I see how it is... you have a sense of humour too. HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAH awesome missionary experienceXD

Sorry if that was hard to understand... 

Love you all!

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ HAPPY HALLOWEEN! ~ 10/31/16

Hi family!!!! This has really been a great week. I am really starting to love what we do. We worked really hard this week but not in a way that like kills you, but in a way that helps you to teach and preach and work as missionaries do. We actually hit over our goal of 50 lessons this week and it payed off. We had 6 investigators in the church and it is really wonderful to see how people progress. 

In our little pueblo we work in of Libertad we have a recently returned missionary who is helping us out a ton and we are really seeing the benefits of working with members. In particular we have a 20 year old guy named Fernando that is from Cancun that we teach that is the funniest guy I have met in the mission. He speaks fluent english and sometimes he accidentally says words in english. He lived in the US for almost his whole life and so he speaks english really well but he lived in Chicago so its like a ghetto english hahah. He told us that he loved being in church and he has never been excited and waiting all week to go there. He said he felt this warm feeling all over and it was like a buzz but better and he hadnt felt that way since he stopped doing drugs and he couldnt wait to feel that way again. He has a lot of funny questions but they come from a sincere desire to learn and he accepts them and loves to improve. The question of the week was our stand on gays. He asked us because he was surprised that we allow one of the youth who is definitely gay, be there in the service. He was like you guys are the greatest church ever you accept everyone. And as fate would have it.... that beforementioned youth spoke on Sunday haha:)

We have an 8 principles meeting in Campeche next week and so I have to present one of the principles which is Revelation through Prayer. Elder Piper is coming the first week of December and so that is another cool meeting that we will be having.

I cant believe that I am coming up this week on my year mark. I have felt this huge desire to study and learn all i can lately and its like unquenchable so i invite everyone to really read their scriptures and get to know them. Its amazing how much they can teach us.

And what has been on mind to share with you family this week are two quotes... first.. come what may and love it. The second... let us oft speak kind words to each other. Food for thought:) 

Love you more than you guys can imagine!!!!:))))) 

Ansley love you tons and I am waiting for you to learn how to email so i can talk with my lil baby genius of a sister;)

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ Parangaricutimicuaro ~ 10/24/16

Yeah try to say that one ten times fast. Well family one week down in the new area. We had to go back to Merida on Wednesday and come back on Thursday for Immigration stuff and so I have traveled about 28 hours this week in a bus. That is super tiring even though you dont do anything. The good news is that i could learn that word in the title from my comp and I am trying to practice the whole phrase cuz it is a super hard tongue twister haha.

I really love being here. We go to Libertad on Wednesday and Saturday and there is just this tiny little house of prayer that looks about 2000 years old there, but it was full! There is a missionary who just finished his mission who is from Libertad and he seems like an awesome guy. Everytime he talks to me he speaks in english and its cool to see him practicing. 

On Sunday I got to give a talk two different times... because we attend two different sacrament meetings. We have the first one at 8:30 in the Morelos ward and then we go to Libertad and have sacrament meeting there. We had 4 investigators in sacrament meeting and its really wonderful to see the work here.

Oh and today I had one of my best pday activities.. we went and played pool! I officially feel mexican... I played pool in Campeche, México.

I love you all, and hope everything is going great.

Elder Jordan Saunooke

Elder Jordan Saunooke ~ TARZAN?? ~ 10/18/16

Hey everyone!!! Sorry for not writing yesterday. I got my transfer call at 10 on sunday night and spent the next two hours packing. The following morning i got up at 5 to get ready and head out early to arrive at the offices because Hermano Cordova brings the missionaries that have transfers there for free. It is way nicer standing in the back of truck with your luggage than trying to figure out how to fit everything in a terrible bus. 

My new area is the farthest area that exists in the mission. I feel like Tarzan... far from civilization. But its actually really awesome!!! Its modern and its basically like a different world. I am in Escarcega, Campeche. I am so far away from my last area that I am actually closer to Guatamala. My companion is Elder Lopez and he is from Durango. He has 22 months in the mission and we actually have a ton in common. He is an awesome guy and I already know I am going to love this change. We have air conditioning in our house and we used it last night and I froze... I am not used to ac. I seriously feel like this might be my favorite area. I saw the beach yesterday from the bus window and its gorgeous and peaceful. This area has bikes too. We have a pueblo named Libertad that we also visit and so we have two different branches that we will be helping. I have also heard that people here own monkeys and sell them as pets.

On Saturday we baptized a young kid named Carlos and his family that hadnt been to church in years came to the service.  I have really seen many blessings from the mission. When I left my area of Kanasin I had the cell phone overloaded with messages from everyone telling me good luck and they will miss me. Bianca is planning on getting sealed with her husband next summer, and I am so excited to be a part of that. 

I dont know much else to write about this area. I am so sad to know the things that are going on with Ansley. I think about and pray for her every single day. Her name has been in temples all around the spanish speaking hemisphere, from Merida, to Ciudad Juarez, to Guatamala. Keep praying hard, and expect miracles. Love you all tons.

Elder Jordan Saunooke