I've Come So Much Farther Than I Thought I Would...God is Good.....

Monday July 24, 2017                                            Lake Charles, Louisiana





"So this is pretty much it. I am starting my last week of my mission. We still have a lot to do!!

On Monday we spent most of it at the hospital cause one of the elders in our district had to have surgery. We spent most of the day with his companion and us.

Tuesday we drove to Orange to switch out cars and the guy came late so it took a bit of time.

We taught this guy who is a manager for Ihop and every time we teach him, he gives us free breakfast ideas. Amazing!

It has also been pouring down rain all week. Flooding everywhere.

We ate at this Cajun place called, "Steamboat Bills' and was so good. I ordered the Shrimp Etouffee and it was amazing.

Another cool thing is that we're teaching this lady who is really cool. but we knocked on like 4 houses on this street and we met the lady's mom that we are teaching. That is pretty cool.

It wasn't the most exciting week but it went by so fast and I am pretty sure this week will go by even faster. See y'all soon!
Love,
Elder Saunders

Flooding in Lake Charles, LA July 2017

Patriotic Gator Lake Charles, LA July 2017

Elder Post's surgery. Elder Armstrong, Elder Saunders and Elder Ludlow. July 2017

Mom finally got her tag picture... July 2017

The Power of Prayer.....

Monday July 17 2017                                           Lake Charles, Louisiana

" We went on an exchange with Elder Post in Jennings. It was super good. Their area is super country. We had a lot of good moments: I held a baby alligator, taught a bunch of people and took a picture of a cool church.

We have this member who is a cross fit trainer so all this week she has been sending us workouts that we can use at the gym. We are sore but are getting back in shape from the all the amazing cooking in Texas and Louisiana. 

We met this guy named Beau and he is pretty cool. He is like 17 and pretty interested. 

The person we had on date for the 29th just got extended 3 more weeks, so we won't be able to baptize him before we both go home. But we did get a couple more people on date for baptism. 

On Sunday for church we had two investigators come and also this less active come that we have been teaching and it was her first time at church in 15 years, so that was cool. 

Miracles are happening here all because of the Power of Prayer...
Love,
Elder Saunders

Me and the Baby Alligator Jennings, LA July 2017

Me and Elder Post in Jennings, LA at this cool church July 2017

My district in Louisiana July 2017

Miracles and the Baton Rouge, Louisiana Temple....

Monday, July 10 2017                                                     St Charles, Louisiana

" This week was kinda slow with everyone gone for the 4th of July but here is what happened.

On the 4th we had an early ward breakfast and it was fantastic. After we played a little football, baseball and volleyball. We went home and changed into our suits and drove down to Orange for a meeting. It was for the whole zone and we got to meet our new mission president, President Hewlett. It's funny cause he reminds me a lot of our last president but a bit younger.

We had a cool miracle. We have this investigator named Su. She is from South Korea and she speaks not much English, so it is really hard to teach her and no one in the ward speaks Korean. We were informed by our Bishop that a family just moved into our ward from South Korea, so we went and visited them. We found out that the mom is a returned missionary! Answer to our prayers. We told her about Su and she is excited to meet her.

We had another member who gave us a referral and so we went and taught her and she came to church and is pretty solid. 

On Wednesday we volunteered at Sulphur High School for this fund raiser. We were plating dinners for like 3500 people. 

Thursday we went to the Baton Rouge Temple!!!! It was amazing. We got to cross the Mississippi River. We did baptisms for the dead with some recent converts and then went to Olive Garden. We made a quick stop and visited LSU stadium. That place is huge. It holds 100,000 people, its huge.

Love,
Elder Saunders

Elders Ludlow and Saunders at Baton Rouge Temple July 2017

Mississippi River July 2017

Elders Ludlow and Saunders -Tiger Stadium July 2017

Arriving at Tiger Stadium July 2017

Tiger Stadium

Saying Goodbye is Hard...Change of Mission Presidents....

Mon July 3, 2017                                                      Lake Charles, LA

" This week we had a zone conference. It was a goodbye to President and Sister Drake. It was sad and I learned so much from him. I am still so impressed that he golfs with Elder Bednar. He is a good man.

We took this member, Pierre, to see one of our investigators. When we came inside the investigators house, he looked at Pierre and shouted, 'Pierre, Pierre!! Is that you?" He gave him a big hug and we were all confused. It turns out that they were good friends in high school. Like, twenty five years ago. It was so cool.

This member gave us a referral from this girls friend who came to Youth Conference with her. She's so solid before we even taught her. She read 5 chapters outta the Book of Mormon and had a signed permission from her parents saying we could teach her. She even came to church on Sunday and she asked us if she could bear her testimony. We told her yes and she literally sprinted up to the pulpit and bore a super good testimony.

We ate at this place called, Darrells and apparently it's super good. It lives up to its name. I got a poboy which is like a sandwich but not but is. it was amazing. We also ate dinner at a members house and they taught us how to make gumbo. It was good!

We have 6 more people on date for baptism, so that is cool. One of our most progressive investigators is going off shore for work for three weeks and he's planning on being baptized when he gets back, which is our last week! So that's cool. 

Love, 
Elder Saunders

Elder Saunders & Ludlow at his birthday Celebration Jul 2017

Yum, Choc cake and Blue
Bell icecream cone.

Saying good bye to President and Sister Drake July 207