Today While The Sun Shines, Work With A Will

Monday, May 23, 2016                                                Kingwood, TX 

" Today started out as challenging. My companion and I didn't get along and so it made for a long day. I led out today and we ended up teaching two lessons and we got 1 new investigator. After the last lesson we were biking to dinner at a members home. After dinner we played with these stick things and the member said he could order some if we paid him back, so I'm thinking about it. I'll take a video when I get good enough!

So a member in our ward has a son whose girlfriend came back from college. Three years ago, the missionaries taught her everything but she wasn't sure about it so she said, no. Well flash forward to now and she has read the whole Book of Mormon, twice, read all of the Doctrine & Covenants. She is thinking about being baptized! We recapped everything and she knew everything. She asked us questions like, "Why didn't the blacks have the Priesthood and polygamy and other things. So we explained those things to her and she understood. We committed her to be baptized in a week! She agreed even though she seemed to still be a bit unsure.

We went and helped a member's friend (who is a non-member) do a garage sale/move, today. We went over and helped move stuff and we see this huge anti Mormon book in her bookshelf, so I stealthy grabbed the book and put it in a bag with a bunch of other garbage and threw it away. We helped her out for awhile and then she was done so we rode home.

Elder Moos hopped in the shower and I am sitting in my street clothes watching church videos on my i pad. I am still in my street clothes and I get a knock on the door. So I answer and it's a package for me so I sign and take the package and remember that I didn't have my tag on. I felt so weird knowing that I just answered the door and that person just thought I was an average person. I then put the package down and there was a knock at the door again. I answer the door and see a guy and a girl about mid 50's and I didn't know who they were. The guy looked at me surprised and said, "Hi, Elder. (and immediately I thought, crap, this looks bad. I am in street clothes and it is 2:00 in the afternoon and they know I'm a missionary). So I stand up straight and say hello. They tell me they are there for apartment inspections! I'm like okay. Our apartment is quite a mess at that point. What's funny is that me and Elder Moos knew it and talked about it today and agreed to clean it tomorrow. So now I am here in my messy apartment, in street clothes, and my companion is in the shower! Of course they inspect what they can see cause they don't want to go into the bedroom in case my companion comes out of the bathroom. They chastise me, and just me, cause I am the only one there. They tell me to clean the apartment. I did what I do best and started to talk to them and made friends and at the end they changed our rating from a 3 to an 8, with the exception that we actually clean it tomorrow. So I get that mess figured out and we head out. It's as humid as heck and I am soaked. We bike around these mansions and people don't really like us, but we contacted all day and got nothing.

On Friday, Elder Snow came and spoke to us. He was President of the Seventy, and now he got called to be the church's historian. What is funny is that I met him in Port Arthur a couple of transfers ago when he spoke in their Sacrament meeting. But....I didn't know who he was. I shook his hand and spoke to him and I thought he was just a member of the stake presidency, haha.

We ended our week with another rough day. At the end we taught a kid and we battled with a guy who told me that my faith was false and as the bible says,"I'm putting a millstone around my neck and I'm drowning myself in an ocean of (outer darkness) for the things that I believe. I didn't go down without a fight. My rule is I never argue unless a person attacks what I know to be true. Eventually we had to go home and I made amends with him and we biked home in the dark. 

Love,
Elder Saunders

Picture of one of the fountains in Kingwood. Someone put bubbles in it. May 2016

Mansion in Kingwood, TX May 2016

Every things big in TX-even some of the homes.... May 2016

turtle invasion! May 2016 in Kingwood TX

Tons of turtles.....

and more turtles!...

**note from Mom and Dad-I asked him to send more pictures when we got the bubble picture.... Well, he sent pictures... first a big squirrel. next a huge black bird, and then many turtles, Ha ha. Son, we just wanted more pictures of you...

God Is Good, God Is Good. We've Come So Much Farther Than We Thought We Could....

Monday, May 16, 2016                                                       Kingwood, TX

" I went on exchanges today with Elder Gary this time. We had a solid day! We taught our investigator Ashley, who gave us two referrals when we went over. She is going to invite them over next time when we teach her. So yeah, we were blown away! We talked about the Book of Mormon and she had some questions so she opened up her Book of Mormon. It was all highlighted and so we answered her questions and then she said, " Why don't more people talk about the Book of Mormon? Why are so many churches against something that makes sense?"

Elder Gary answered, "Well, when Christ was on the earth, was his church the majority or the minority?" Ashley answered minority and Elder Gary continued, " Exactly, Ashley. Christs church has always been the minority because it has always been attacked. So if it was brought back to earth, don't you think it would still be in the minority?" Ashley's like, "Yeah it would!". We answered a few more questions and invited her to be baptized and we left.

On our bike ride home, Elder Gary told me something that really opened my eyes. He told me that it is crazy that people are so confused about what God is. Everyone says that God is everywhere, but yet he is nowhere. That he has a body, but yet he doesn't. That he is three, yet he is one. He helps us and loves us, yet he is a jealous and angry God. Elder Gary continued that if you think about it Satan can't destroy God, but he has the power to destroy what people think God is. He made it so people don't know God. Satan made it so God seems like some far away being that no one could ever relate to, and by doing that he confused so many people. Many of them stopped believing he was there and the rest made many churches into what they think God is and actually fight with each other. That is why it is so important what we do. One of the things we share is, what God really is and who he is-we testify of Christ. 

After that we ate lunch and then went to the edge of our area and taught two lessons. When we finished up the second one, we were standing on the street corner that had a really sharp turn, planning where to go next. As we were standing there, we hear his honk. We look up and see this motorcycle and the guy waves at us, so we wave back. Then the guy takes off and rounds that turn super fast and then too fast. He lost control of his bike and tries to stabilize it. He ends up going up the curb on someone's lawn and towards this big rock in someone's yard. He bails and jumps off the bike and the bike crashes into the rock. We ran over and asked the guy if he was okay. The guy gets up and said a few choice words. He picks up his bike and the side of it is destroyed, like there is that plastic shell outer covering stuff all over the rock. He gets back on it and it actually starts up and he slowly drives down the road. 

We taught another kid after that and had dinner with this guy who owns a oil company. He is usually in the Middle East for like 200 days outta the year. He told us that he had a villa in Libya but when they had a civil war there, his villa was bombed and he had to fly everyone who worked for him out of Libya. Then we taught our boy, Uzziel again and that kid is always funny. Yeah, that was our day.

So today we helped our recent converts, the Snows, first clean out the garage. Then we washed it out and cleaned the floor of the garage. We then paint the floor of the garage. It was super fun and then they fed us lunch and dinner. We forgot to change in our street clothes, ha ha (See picture below). 

Today it rained and rained and rained, so yeah. I was going through our area book and we called this lady named Lini. She ended up just speaking Chinese. I tried to talk to her for about 3 minutes. I tried to explain who we were in English. Like I told her we have white shirts and ties, but she didn't understand me. I started to talk Spanish and she was confused, so I tried French. She was still confused so she gave the phone to her grandson. I hear them talking in Chinese and then yelling in Chinese and then finally the kid comes back to the phone and told us sorry they already have a church. For those of you wondering how I knew some French, a couple of days ago I got on google translate and expanded my vocabulary! 

This is the garage floor (behind us) that we painted with that special paint stuff. We forgot to bring service clothes so we modified. My mom asked what I was holding thinking it was steak seasoning, ha ha. It is the fleck stuff that you sprinkle over the paint. May 2016 in Kingwood, TX.

We ended the day going to dinner with this member who picked us up in a Cadillac CTSV. It is a Cadillac with a corvette engine in it. Honestly, it was the funnest car I have ever been in. I asked him what's the highest it can go and he said 200! He said that it can beat most Lamborghinis! 
Love,
Elder Saunders

Life As A Missionary Is A Rich Experience

Monday, May 9, 2016                                                             Kingwood, TX

"Today after P day, a member picked us up in this brand new 2016 Cadillac, I mean man I felt like a million bucks riding in it. So nice! After dinner we went back to the church to give a church tour. We got President Drake to go with us. So we give our investigator, Ashley, a church tour. She's super solid and even President Drake thinks she is super solid. We finish and we get in Presidents van. He's like, "Elder Saunders, when I led in with talking about Christ being baptized, I thought you were going to invite her to be baptized." Honestly it never hit me to invite her, mainly cause she's still living with her boyfriend and some other reasons. I can't tell President Drake that or else he would say something like, Where's your faith? So I looked at President and I said, " Ya know, President, that would would've been a great opportunity . I messed up with that." He didn't say anything after that comment, so I count that as a win and I really need to work on that. So we get home and we have 4 missionaries in our apartment, two of which are Elder Strong and Elder Lawrence. They are there for MLC -Missionary Leader Conference- for leaders. So I am talking with them and they ask how our lesson with President went and I made a joke saying well at least I accomplished one thing....making the President disappointed in me and they laugh as I tell the story.. They know I have learned a great lesson.

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders today. I went with Elder Knebel (aka my dad-that is what you call your trainer) . Honestly, it was a really solid exchange. It was kinda an awakening for me cause I realized that I was kinda a punk my first transfer. He is a super guy. We had a great day and it was good for me to kinda realize. We biked through this swamp and got eaten alive. We contacted everyone. 

We contacted this Jehovah's Witness that only spoke Spanish and I am sure a little bit of English. I said some things to her in Spanish and she went on talking super fast for like 10 minutes. We understood absolutely nothing. She stopped, turned toward me, and asked a question. I didn't know what she asked me but I responded in broken Spanish, " We love Christ, and we are servants of Christ." (thank you Spanish Elders in Port Arthur). She again went off for 10 min talking in Spanish and waving her JW pamphlet. I'm like no, 'El Libro de Mormon, which is the Book of Mormon and she got mad! Here we were on this busy road being yelled at in Spanish by what is now a mad Spanish lady. Mid sentence I cut her off by telling her in Spanish that I do not speak Spanish. She was so confused because I had been speaking in Spanish, not good Spanish but Spanish. She kept asking questions in Spanish so we finally told her we had to go. 

Next we contacted some more... you guessed it- Jehovah Witnesses. They spoke English. I started out nice but after a while I got tired of them constantly telling us that our faith is wrong. I asked them how I could find out if their faith was true. They started stating false doctrine that a man wrote and I am like, "Well, anyone can can say anything but I would like God to tell me." Is there anything written by a prophet or apostle? They said no and I could tell this was going no where, so we left.

Our recent convert, the Snows, took us to Salt Grass today. Salt Grass is this super expensive steak house. I got the Rib Eye and it was amazing. It was so full of flavor and I felt bad because it cost a pretty penny. That was a major highlight for two missionaries. We also found out why our investigator, Ashley, didn't show up for the Relief Society dinner yesterday. I guess her boyfriend and her got in a huge fight and when she went to leave to go to the dinner he 'laid his hands on her' and she called the cops. This isn't the first time he's done that. It's been a challenge cause we are trying to help her, but we can't get involved and she keeps asking us what to do. So we're gonna have to involve the bishop and try to solve this mess.

Today we really didn't have anything planned and so we're biking around trying to talk to people outside and there is absolutely no one around. We keep biking around forever and then I see this house with a bunch of pretty decorations and stuff like that. I see a guy come out and then turned around and started to go back in his garage. In my mind I'm like, no imma gonna talk to you. So I zoom down his driveway and right to his garage door (which is open). It's then that I realize that he is having a party and I kinda just crashed it. I'm sitting there and there is about 15 people people-all in swimsuits- and drinking beer-staring at me. So I'm like, "Howdy, y'all! We're your missionaries!" I just start talking to them and they are celebrating Cinco de Mayo (which is weird because they are all white). He offered us some ice beer and we said no. After that the house owner comes and I tell him why we are here and what we share and we got a return appointment with him. 

After that we biked to a recent converts house and she was talking to us about other faiths. She's like, 'Elders, we have gotta go to the 2nd's baptist church before you leave. " She proceeds to tell us that the church is gigantic and it has concerts and laser tag, karate lessons, paintball and a whole bunch of stuff. So us and the recent converts are going to go to it. Man it's fixin to be so fun, ha ha.

We were going to these formers and I found one that seemed really promising but she lives a ways away. So we bike for an hour straight and we come to the richest neighborhood in Kingwood (which is saying something). We find her house and her house is one of the biggest on the street. Like it has to easily be a multi million dollar house. It is right on the river. So we go up to this huge house and it just so happens to be full of cars, so they are probably having a party. We knock on this giant door and this 18 year old girl answers which surprised me, cause I wasn't expecting her. I asked for Michelle (her mom). She goes to get her and she leaves the door open. We look inside and see a huge water slide made outta stone by their huge pool. The house was so fancy and everyone inside who weren't in the pool were wearing super nice clothing. It made us feel under dressed. Her mom comes and she's super nice and says we can come back and sets up a time and day to meet. It was so surprising cause usually rich people aren't that nice to us. She was nice so that was super cool.

Today is Mothers Day and I got to call home and all that good stuff. We had a feast, like man they cooked a lot of steak and chicken. I had a loaded baked potato, and they also had a ton of craw fish-so we ate that, and shrimp. Man it was so good. I got so full! After that we just visited some member's homes. 

Love,
Elder Saunders

This is where we bike and not have to go next to the Busy road- Greenbelt in Kingwood, TX  May 2016

So peaceful taking this trail. It gets really dark at night so our bike lights come in handy. It is not lit up at night.....Kingwood, TX Greenbelt May 2016

Homies, Heat and Pitbulls?

Monday, May 2, 2016                                                              Kingwood, TX 

"  So I had an exchange with Elder Andrew(my homie from the MTC) today. It was so much fun. We talked forever last night and it started to rain super bad throughout the whole night. It took our power out. So we wake up and we are doing studies and we both had reclining chairs and we fell asleep!. We woke up and went to work and put on our service clothes and went to a members house to take out a small tree. 

We were biking and Elder Andrew takes this "shortcut" through this swamp. It was not even a greenbelt. Like we were going off road. Since it rained, everything is wet and flooded. We get to a point where the water is so deep our bikes can't go through it. We tried our best and the mud is super bad, ha ha. We finally get through it and we're all muddy and wet(by water and sweat).  When we got out this giant pit bull chases us and is freakin fast!! He almost gets me, but I swerved and almost hit him which made him stop and then I took off. We saw some people and biked back through the mud and ate at a members home. We had roast and potatoes, which marks the second time on my mission that I have had potatoes. 

We head back and the other Elders were late so we played ping pong until they came back(only 2 minutes worth). 

We rode our bikes way the heck down in the heat and saw some less actives and other potentials. We started our hour of power. We are biking trying to find a street and we see a person gardening, so we talk to her and ask her if she knows anyone who needs help. She didn't want to talk to us and so we tried Apartments and no one was interested but all of them said that they were sure that there was someone in there who needs us.

So we were biking around and we see this mom taking her kids outta her car. We go up and talk to her. She turns around and you could tell that she had been crying. We asked her if everything was okay. She said yeah but her kid told us that her mom and dad got in a fight and...I'm not going into detail but stuff went down and he tore the lock off of the door. We asked her if we could pray for her and she said yes. So I prayed for her and after the prayer she was crying so we taught her the restoration. She loved it and had really good comments and questions. We talked to her for awhile and she said we could come back and teach her more. I look down and we are late for dinner and a cop pulls up, perfect timing. We leave and we have 10 minutes to get to dinner and it is a 25 minute bike ride. We hurry and bike quick as we can and make it there just as the member was about to leave. We went to our recent converts house and then he asked us some deep doctrine and that was pretty good.

So we start off our day by going to this members home that was flooded. We were in street clothes and the bishop picked us up and immediately it starts to rain. We arrive at the house and it is raining like crazy. We start taking all the furniture and all the other stuff that was ruined in the flood. Right when we started to work it down poured-like super bad! We worked anyway and carried stuff back and forth out in the rain for about an hour and a half. We finally finish and we are soaked head to toe and covered in a pretty good layer of mud. Right when we finish the rain stopped and it's blue skies. We head home and shower and eat lunch. 

We went to Starbucks to teach a lesson to this kid who is a "atheist" but he is really agnostic. We teach him and he actually has a sister who is LDS and getting married in the Temple. So that was pretty cool. 

Then we went to dinner. I had the best brisket I have ever had. This member is well known throughout the ward for his BBQ! 

After that we met with this less active family. We were talking to the mom and she told us how her testimony is not very strong anymore. She has been going to other churches. Her twelve year old son(who isn't baptized) speaks up and bears his testimony about how he was hearing his mom talk about which is the true church and he he thought about Joseph Smith. He said it wasn't by coincidence that God put him in a place where there were so many religions. God put him there so he could learn of all of them and still make a choice. He used an analogy that I've never heard of. He said that God doesn't just sprinkle people on earth like you would put sprinkles on an ice cream cone. God knows where to put you and guides you through life. I mean this is coming from a twelve year old kid whose mom has been less active for a while. Like this kid is a stud. His mom later told us that last week she took her kids to a Baptist church and when her kid was in his children's class, they started to teach the kids about what the Mormon religion believes. The kid stands up and says to the pastor that he is wrong, and that they don't believe that and then proceeds to talk to everyone and what the Mormons actually believe. We asked him about it and he said, "I roasted that Pastor!" At the end of our discussion, the mom told us that she asked her kids what church they want to go to and they both told her The Mormon Church. She said that was probably God telling her to come back.

So we were biking back from this appointment and on the way we see Ashley (the person who we met a couple of days ago in the apartment complex) whose boyfriend is something else. We see her walking back home carrying one of her kids so we stop and talk to her. While we are talking to her, her boyfriend pulls up on the side of the busy road and parks his car and tells her to get in. She told him no and he sits in the middle of this busy road trying to create trouble, so she is embarrassed and gets in and is freaking out. We aren't allowed to give her advice so we told her to keep walking and we start walking and her boyfriend puts it in drive and slowly follows us.

 We see this guy walking and he has piercings and tattoos, and he stops cause he sees the car and he asks us if there is anything wrong so Ashley tells him the story. The tattooed guy ends up talking to Ashley's boyfriend, twice. Meanwhile we are talking to Ashley and inviting her to a baptism that one of the other wards is having. Finally after talking for a while, her boyfriend promised that he wouldn't raise his voice and Ashley goes with him and they drive home.

Then we went to dinner and go back to the baptism and Ashley isn't arriving so we text her. She texted back and said she had to install brake pads to her car and install all new tires. So we are guessing that her controlling boyfriend wouldn't give her a ride so she had to fix her car to be able to go. She texted us and asked when the baptism was over cause she was covered in grease and wanted to take a shower. At this point the baptism was about 5 minutes to being over, so we told her that it was over. She texted back 'dang, well can I still see ya cause I have some questions to ask. So we set up a time to see her tomorrow and she texted back-' Okay, I can't wait. I'll read some of that Book of Mormon Bible you gave me and write down the questions." Ha ha

We got to go to the Houston Temple again. My new Zone in Kingwood, TX May 2016

Okay, this is a reenactment of the pit bull from my view.  Not the real pit bull,  but in my parents eyes,  this is what they imagined when I told the story of him chasing me.... Wow! Kingwood, TX May 2016

Love,
Elder Saunders

A Mighty Change...Onward Ever Onward....

Monday, Apr. 25, 2016                                             Port Arthur, TX 2016  
                                                                                              Kingwood, TX 2016

" Today we got a phone call from Sister Tegtmeier and she told us that Brother Tegtmeier was very ill and under quarantine. She wanted to let us know so we wouldn't go by and see him. We felt impressed to go by anyways and asked a nurse if there was any chance we could go in. So she gave us a gown, breathing mask, and gloves. We entered in and Sister Tegtmeier was surprised to see us. We told her we were here to give Brother Tegtmeier a blessing! So I gave the blessing and man there are some blessings that are hard to give and others where the words just flow from your mouth, faster than you can think. This blessing just flowed. It was kinda weird cause I've never given a blessing in gloves and talking with a breathing mask. It was a super cool experience especially cause it is the last time I'm going to see them.

We were told today that transfers have been changed to tomorrow not Saturday! The day goes by pretty quick. At the end of the day we are going through the part member list and we started visiting them. We were on the name Konjoyan. We go to their house and they don't answer. We knock on the neighbors door and he answers and we ask him if his neighbors moved and he said yes. We ask him if he knows where they moved to and he answered YES. He proceeds to give us southerner directions. Like- Well, go down the street and make a right. Follow the street for five minutes and turn at the giant tree that is bigger than the rest. Then you will see Nederland High School. There is a street across from that-turn off that street and you will see these huge houses and one of them has a giant lion in front. Then make a right and his house is a big house and he likes sport cars. We try to follow his directions and eventually find the big lion. We get to the street and it is a pretty big street and all the houses are mansions. We start knocking down the street and are having no success. Elder Strong was like, "Man! Why can't they just have a giant 'K" on their door?" So we go to the next house and there is a giant K on their door. We look at each other with a surprised look and eagerly knock on the door. A guy answers and looks at us with a surprised look and says, "Come in Elders." So we went in and he tells us he has company over or else he would show us around. He said, " Well, my wife was a member and we talked about it and well...Let's just say, I'm so glad you stopped by." He asked for our card with our number on it and he asked for our names-like our first names, too. (I am surprised I remembered it!). He said he would call us next week. 

It is late so we were going home and we were in the parking lot and a person waves us down and says she came from California. She was taught by missionaries there and she wanted to know if there was any way she could finish being taught by them? We asked her where she lived and she said Orangefield. It so happens that was my last area, so I give her their phone number cause I still had it memorized. She thanked us so much. 

There was a person we helped move a couple of days ago. We taught her and she said she would like to learn more so I told her we have friends in Montana where she is moving to. I told her they could stop by and teach her. She said thank you but I live in Nye, Montana and there is no way any missionaries can be in that area. We we called the missionaries there and told them to give her a call and tell her it was her friends in Port Arthur. At about 10:00 p.m. we get a call from the Montana missionaries and they told us that they called her and she was BLOWN AWAY that we actually have friends that can cover that area. She told them she would be happy to have them come by and teach her and show the missionaries around her small town. So that was our day and I finished up the night packing and kinda wishing I was staying cause things are starting to pick up and honestly I feel like I shouldn't be leaving, but it is what it is! 

So I packed my bags and we're headed to transfers. The rain started in again and it rained pretty good for a while. We arrive at transfers and I get put with Elder Moos in Kingwood 3. I'm pumped even though Kingwood is a biking area. It has green belts, which are sidewalks that go though these forests and keep you away from traffic. The ward I am in is amazing, like one of the best wards in the mission. I'm in one of the richest wards in the mission, ha ha. The area I am in is full of mansions-you gotta have money to live here. Since it rained super hard, half of my area is flooded, so we have a lot of service ahead of us!

It took me a little bit to figure this out, but our apartment smells really weird. I was trying to think of what it smelled like and then it hit me today. Our apartments literally smells like weed. So I turned to my companion and I'm like, "Elder, does it smell like weed?" He said , "Yeah it has always been like that." Honestly, it's super weird because it is the richest area. 

After that we went and taught some people and then we visited some members and one of their recently baptized converts. Man, people in Kingwood are solid. The members are the best I've ever seen and even the investigators are solid. 

So we are knocking on doors and we knock on this one door and this lady comes out and tells us that she hates religion and she is not that happy of a camper! We talk to her and she told us she was a Catholic but some stuff happened, like really bad stuff and she goes off. She then told us that her husband passed away a week ago. We talked to her for about forty-five minutes and she was almost in tears. She said she couldn't come to church this week  but she would come to church next week. She had some pretty crazy ideas about Mormons, but she kept saying that maybe this was a sign that she should join y'all! So yeah, so far I love Kingwood except for the fact that I left my bike light in mid county and it gets dark, like pitch black on those green belts cause there are no lights, just trees! The sidewalks aren't straight, they're wavy, so it has been a challenge. 

I had a baptism in my last area, so I got a member to drive us there so I could attend. It's weird that it's only been three days since I left, but it seems like forever ago! My old district said that they want me back! So we did the baptism and I remembered to get my bike light. We drove back and ate dinner. 

We had church today, and our congregation is big like there was 260 people and we also have 60 young women and about 12 young men. Like this is a good ward. After church we ate lunch and it started to drizzle rain, so we grabbed coats and rode out thinking that it would stop, but nope it started to pour. We were riding our bikes for about 25 minutes in the pouring rain till finally we were sick of it and were soaked from head to toe. We stop at a members house and they invite us in and the husband gives us clothes to change in to. He threw our wet clothes in the dryer. We visit them and then ride to our dinner and eat there and right when we were about to leave, it starts to pour again so we stay at a members house and they let their kids ask us missionary questions and then we rode home when the rain cleared up again. 
Love, 
Elder Saunders

Flooded area in Kingwood on my way to transfers. The big circle is a home up on stilts and the water is half way up. The smaller circle is a mailbox and it is 3/4 of the way under water.  April 2016

Baptism in my old area that I was able to go to. Elder Strong, Justin-9 years, Elder Saunders. Port Arthur, TX 2016

 

                                                                                             

Transfers, Flooding and Delayed Transfer

Monday, Apr 18, 2016                                                   Port Arthur, TX

" We went on exchanges today. We taught some people and had some time left over so we went into the area book and found this one former that lived close by in this pretty big apt complex. So we pull up and I hear, "Elders! Elders! " I turned around and see Ram(my homie who is about nine years old and he's from India, so he has that cool accent). I walked up to Ram and said, "What's up my homie?" and I gave him knuckles. We talk and he asked what we were doing here. I told him we were trying to find Apt #35 but we couldn't find it. Ram said, "I can find it." He runs back to his friend group and tells them to find Apt 35. These ten kids are running around the Apt complex trying to find 35 and they are asking everyone outside and then Ram asks these two girls and they go into the office and ask the person there. Haha, it was so funny.We ended up finding the apartment, but no one was home. We had some time to spare so we showed Ram and his friends a video and talked more about Jesus. Then we met a member at an Italian place and I had the best Lasagna that I have ever tasted. 

Today our friend, Derick(The Pentecostal preacher) drove us around all day, cause we were kinda short on miles. He drove us and sat in on lessons with us. He didn't teach with us. The only words he used was to introduce himself or to fellowship the other person. Pretty awesome. 

Last week when I was on exchanges, Elder Strong stopped by Justin's house (Justin is our investigator). Elder Strong told me how he went to see Justin. They knocked and Justin answered and they said he looked half asleep so Elder Strong is like, " Sorry, did I wake you?" Justin didn't answer so Elder Strong asks him another question and then Justin looks backward at his mom. He then looks at Elder Strong and then back to his mom again and back to Elder Strong again. Then he hands Elder Strong his Book of Mormon and closes the door. So Elder Strong is thinking that Justin just got anti'd by his parents. Fast forward to today and we stopped by Justin's house and he is outside so we talk to him. We found out Justin's story on what happened that one day. He said he worked the night shift and he was super tired and sleeping when Elder Strong knocked on the door. He was still half asleep so he didn't talk. When Elder Strong was asking him if he was tired, he said he looked at the chair he was sleeping in and then back to Elder Strong, then the chair and back to Elder Strong. He then handed Elder Strong the Book of Mormon and closed the door, and went to put on a shirt. When he came outside, he looked around and there were no missionaries. He was like, Shoot man, maybe they thought I was mad at them. So he went back inside. So we taught him some more and gave him back his Book of Mormon. After that we did our 'Hour of Power' and met this sweet Baptist couple who actually invited us back and said they would check out our church!!

We had weekly planning today, so we planned some and then went to this pretty ghetto apartment complex to teach one of our investigators. When we went there he wasn't home, but he had three chairs outside his house....So we resumed weekly planning right there. It was actually a lot more enjoyable just planning outside not trapped inside!

I went on exchanges with Elder Tukuafu and then we got a call to do more service in Deweyville. We helped gut more people's houses, one of which we hit a water line and had to get water out again. After that we went to 'Chucks' again and got some more 'Redneck Nachos'. We came back to Port Arthur and me and Elder Tukuafu biked down to the ghetto and did some service to one of their less active members. We put up Sheetrock and took out some wood and made a huge bonfire. So huge that it almost lit the trees on fire, so we ran and grabbed some water to put it out. We biked back and then we got transfer calls and I found out that I am leaving my area. I was pretty mad! I really wanted to stay here in Port Arthur, even if it was for 6 months, but I get no choice, so I got over it. Plus it is kinda cool but now I've been to 5 outta 6 transfers.

Today was Sunday and it was a sad day cause I'm leaving, but we had church so ya. We ate at an investigators house and he asked me if we could have girlfriends. I told him yes but not on a mission. He was like, dang! I do this bowling league thing every Tuesday and there are some young pretty girls that go there and I thought you looked like some cool guys so I could set you up with some. We said thank you but we can't do that. Then I went home and packed. 

So it's transfer day and I got all my stuff packed and then the rain came and they postponed transfers. It is flooding bad down here so I took pics and videos.

Love,

Elder Saunders

Elder Tukuafu and me at our district planning meeting. April 2016 Port Arthur, TX

Bro. Matney and his son, me and my boy, Robert. Port Arthur, TX Apr 2016

My district in Port Arthur- Back row, Sis Madsen, Sister Rawle, Elder Ludlow, Elder Strong, Elder Bigler, Elder Goettsche. On the front row-Elder Tukuafu, Elder Saunders, Elder Rosenlund, Elder Hepworth Apr 2016

Sisters Madsen and Rawle, Elders Ludlow, Strong, Rosenlund ... In front, Elders Tukuafu and Saunders, Bigler, Hepworth and Goettsche. 

Flooding outside of our apartment in Port Arthur, TX. We quit driving after our car nearly sunk as you see the first car heading into deep water.  April 2016

Our beloved Houston Temple surrounded by water. The water came up to the gate and did not come farther even though the houses surrounding were half  way under. April 2016

We Taught as We Walked and Walked and Walked and Walked.....

Monday, April 11, 2016                                                         Port Arthur, TX

" Okay, So I had an exchange with a Spanish Elder. We went to our investigator, Justin's house, to teach him. When he answered the door he told us he had to go to work. Now, Justin walks to work, so we're like, " Hey, well can we walk and teach?" So we end up walking and teaching and his work is 2.2 miles away. We teach him about baptism and the word of wisdom. We finish just as we come up to the building. After that we have to walk 2.2 miles back to get to our car in the heat! That kinda sucked but hey at least we taught him. 

Then we taught Joann again. She had a question about 1 Nephi  chapter 4, when Nephi kills Laban. Honestly I was thrilled when she said she didn't understand why Nephi killed Laban because if she didn't have a question, it would probably be because she didn't actually read it. So we taught her and she understood! The coolest part is after we taught her, she's like, "Can I have a blessing?" She explained how eight years ago she had some health problems so the missionaries gave her a blessing. So....I gave her a blessing. Man, when I was giving her the blessing, I have never had words come to me that easy. I've given tons of blessings, but for some reason with Joann, I couldn't spit the words out fast enough before another line came to my head. It was a pretty long blessing.

So after I was done with one exchange, I had another one planned with the Elders in Bridge City. I took my stuff from the previous exchange and we drove there. When I got there I realized that one of their bikes was broken, so that means that we would be walking around all day. So we walked, and knocked and walked and knocked and then knocked some more. We literally had a horrible day! We had no set appointments and no one wanted to hear us out. However, there was a tender mercy. We were walking back to our house and we were about 5 miles away. We are tired and it's hot and honestly I am not the most happy camper at this point. So we were walking and this truck is coming down the road. He pulls over and rolls down his window. So we walk up and the guy said, " Man, do y'all need water? Y'all look like you've been working hard." I told him ha ha. We sure have been. He asked us, "Where y'all going to?" My companion tells him the street and the guy was surprised we were going down there. I said yeah that's what I thought when he told me we were going there. The guy laughed and then he said, "Okay, my house is around the corner and I'll get y'all some waters." Then he took off and we were standing at the street corner watching him leave and he drives and drives and drives and it's a really long road. He turns off and he's gone for like 10 minutes. Then he comes back and gives us two ice cold waters. I asked him how far away his house was and he tells me four miles. I was kinda taken back and he told us, "Hey it was worth it. Y'all work super hard and do a heck of a job. Y'all really make a difference in this world and I appreciate you." Honestly, he had the most sincere voice I have ever heard on my mission. I looked up at him and I was like, " Hey, man, God Bless. You have no idea how much you have helped." He then drove off but that changed how I viewed that day. It like pumped me up. So we finished the day and my companion has a watch that tracks the distance we walked... We walked 14.4 miles that day. Which I don't know what Brazil gets in a day, but I'd say that's pretty good. 

Today we saw some people and then went to the church because Elder Strong had to give a baptismal interview to two of the investigators that the Spanish Elders taught. The interviews went longer than expected and we had a lesson set up, so we took a member with us. Since the baptismal interview was taking longer, I took Elder Tukuafu(a Polynesian Spanish elder) with us. Man just going out and teaching with him made me want to be his companion. It would be a bomb transfer. He is so positive! We had a dinner scheduled but the Spanish Elders had a little league game scheduled and they invited us to go, too. We picked up Chinese food and watched the game. It was a cool game even though it was just little kids, but they were really good!!

I must say that today was one of the best days of my mission. Elder Strong is fixin to leave( that is not why it is one of my best days) and he got hurt a while back and he's been feeling not so good. He got permission from President Drake to leave the area and go to President Harris' house in Vidor. Now, President Harris is the most scriptural sound guy I have ever known. Every now and then he invites the Vidor missionaries over and he feeds them  and lets them ask him any doctrine question and he answers them all. It just so happened that it fell on the day we went! So we went into his house. We sat down at this giant table filled with doughnuts, fruits, cereals, etc. He came in and there was us and six other missionaries and his daughter. He asks us if we have any questions... So I asked him about the resurrection and the first and second Resurrection. I asked him where resurrected bodies go and someone else asked about judgment. President Harris thinks for a minute and answers all the questions so simply and easy so that anyone can understand them. Missionaries asked him question after question about super deep gospel doctrine stuff and about what it says in Revelations in the Bible. He answers all of them and proves them by quoting prophets and apostles and books written by them. After we were outta questions, he starts to tell us about Joseph Smith. Let me tell you he had thirteen points about Joseph Smith he wanted to cover. He spent an hour and a half on one of those points telling story after story about Joseph talking to angels and doing some amazing things. The amazing thing is all of those stories  I have never heard before. He still had 12 points left. He asked if we had any more questions and he answered some more questions. Then he closed the meeting. Man, I wish I could have taken notes, cause there was so much information that I learned in those three hours. 

So then everyone but us left and President Harris(who is also Dr. Harris) went and checked Elder Strong and evaluated him and his problem. It was cool cause he told us a lot more things, not gospel related but medical and how to work out, how to stretch, overall just how to stay healthy. So that was cool.

Our ride showed up and we drove to Liberty, Texas, which is about an hour and 20 minutes East of Vidor. Elder Strong got permission from President Drake to meet his sister's birth mom who is not a member. So we met in Liberty at this burger place called Jax. It was super good. I've heard it's the best burger place in the mission. I wouldn't be surprised if that was true. I had the Diablo burger that had deep fried jalapenos, spicy mayo, bacon, hot sauce, and a giant patty. Their fries were also the bomb, too. So Elder Strong meets his sister's  birth mom and they were talking so I tried to stay outta it and let them just talk to each other.
Love, 
Elder Saunders 

Missionaries On the Porch at Chucks in Evadale, Texas. Evadale has a Paper Mill that makes the town smell like a Septic Tank according to the locals, ha ha.  Hence the Sign above our heads: "We're the best smelling thing in Evadale."

Eating my amazing potato skin Nachos. I love this Hole in the Wall restaurant called, 'Chucks' in Evadale, Texas. April 2016

Helping with the cleanup in Deweyville, TX after the flood. Apr 2016

Sign at Chucks in Evadale, Texas-Apr 2016

Chucks in Evadale, TX It is actually quite famous for being in the middle of nowhere!! Apr 2016