Another Week Down....

Monday, Nov 9, 2015

" Man it is a struggle to type this everyday, to capture the real catchy way they speak down here, like I read over and over and still some of them get through. I do want to have everyone at least have faith that I can come back somewhat not a redneck. So here we go, please buckle your seat belt cause this is going to be a gentle ride because nothing happened this week.

So on P-day we went to the park and played tag with the district. We did exchanges to Vidor again(cause Elder Hunter had this leadership training thing which is an 8 hour long meeting) I am not in a leadership position so I did exchanges with Elder Boyack. (I came out with him from the MTC.) I guess I'm a good luck charm. Right when I got to Vidor, we went to go teach a person that they have been teaching forever, and when I got there it took 20 min. and we committed him to baptism. Also, I had Blue Bell ice cream for the first time and really is super good.

So I am apparently like a pet whisperer or something like that. We met with some members in Vidor and they have wolves as pets. I didn't know that so I was like, 'wow, these are sweet dogs.' I started to pet them from beyond the gate and the owner like flipped and said that usually a random person can't just go up and pet them cause they are wolves! We saw some less actives and as we were talking to her, this really fat cat comes up to me . I start to pet it and the owner freaks out and says that the cat is super shy and hates people. She said I was the first guy in 5 years that she has let pet her. Then we got a ride from this old guy to go to our dinner appointments and he almost killed us. He said he can't see at night so he told me to keep a prayer in my heart. Honestly, that prayer probably saved our lives. So we got to our dinner appointment which was at an elementary school. It was fun because a bunch of high school kids were there and we talked to all the people. One of the girls is a member in the church so she introduced us to her crew. After that we visited another member and talked. We went back to Orange and then went on exchanges again but this time with Elder Hobbs.

The mission president made a rule that you have to do 10 hours of service each week, which is a ton. We now work everyday at either a soup kitchen or a food bank. Today we went to the food bank-OCS. It was a good day to go. We were helping them and then at the end a person brought in a turkey and stuffing and vegetables and cranberry sauce. We had a pre thanksgiving workout. We then went finding and I yes I tried. Today was a pretty average day of battling with the Bible lovers. We knocked on this persons door and she answered. She was kinda hesitant but we talked with her and she warmed up. She told us that her nephew is Mormon and one of her co-workers goes to our church and we are good friends with him and she wants to come to church. We set an appointment on Tuesday and we got a member to come with us tomorrow so hopefully this works out. 

We knocked on some more houses with no success. We were heading back and we saw these people so we rode up and talked to this mom and her daughter. They said that they were visiting family down here. They were in the garage and the mom said they were atheists that really hate God. The funny thing is that she tried to offend us and told jokes about Jehovah's Witnesses. We laughed and she was confused so we told her we were LDS. She asked us if we wanted a beer, as a joke of course, (over here in the south you have to be able to answer people by saying something they don't expect so they don't trap you and makes them think more) So she asked us if we wanted a beer and I was like, "No, I gotta be thinking clearly if I'm going to share a message with you." Her daughter was smiling cause she didn't expect that. So her mom was taken back, but then said, 'Okay then, I'm going to go and drink beer." I said, 'Cool, what kind of beer is it?" She was so fed up that she just ignored us and sat down. Her daughter started to talk to us and said it was Bud Light. I was so happy when she said that because if any of you watch sports, Bud Light has the best commercials. So I was like, 'Sweet, their commercials are so funny." Finally her mom gets really fed up with us and said in a super mean voice (which was average to us because we get that every day) " What in the ***** are you still doing here. I just laughed and said, "Well, if we could sit down with you for 10 minutes, we would love to tell you." We decided to leave and said thank you. I didn't think much of it but later on I hoped that her mom would change, but instead if the mom would have not been there, her daughter might have listened to us. I was sad because it is almost like I could feel that she needed God but she was raised hating God. I don't know where they are from cause they were visiting family. I just hope we planted a seed.  After that we ate dinner and the member who fed us was born in Layton, UT-in the same hospital! So we talked about Layton cause no one knows what Layton is. I usually tell people I am from Salt Lake City because most people know have heard of that city. We went home and Elder Hobbs went back to Vidor and then finally I got Elder Hunter back. Elder Hunter and Elder Lawrence bought a slack line so we do that for exercise and sometimes P-day and it is so fun. We can't do tricks yet bu we are getting okay with it and that is the first step. It is seriously a good workout believe it or not.

The next day we went back to OCS cause we thought since we do 10 hours a week, that is where we were needed most. We get there and surprise everyone. The good thing is that while we were there 3 trucks came to drop off food. One of the trucks was carrying 45 bags. Each one of the bags weighing 50+ pounds of oranges. So if  you do the math thats....fifty...carry the two...add the five...and its 2, 250 lbs of oranges. Some of the other trucks came with cranberry sauce and some other things for thanksgiving packages. When we left, the person in charge thanked us cause usually older people work there and it would have been a huge task for them to carry all those heavy items in and sort them. Instead 4 missionaries showed up and did all the work and had fun while doing it. She was amazed and said that God had to have told us to come.  We then went to lunch and I had a 1 pound burger and fries and some other missionaries had the same thing. When we were done the waiter came out and was amazed that all of us ate everything. She said that she has never seen anyone actually finish one. So add that to the books. We then taught a lesson and after that Elder Lawrence got super sick so we went on splits and I am now staying with him while he sleeps like a baby. The other two are teaching people.

"We taught Casey(who was baptized in the last post and her son) and she was talking about how happy she is and how ever since she got baptized she has wanted others to know about the gospel. We then talked to a potential elder and he loves the church and especially the missionaries. He made us dinner. The problem is that he didn't believe the Bible and the Book of Mormon are true, it was just man's writings. We were still able to get him to invite us back and we made sure to leave an open Book of Mormon on his table. He said he would feed us again. We went home and went to bed and when we woke up, it was pouring rain. We went to the elders and made hot chocolate and pancakes. We then went to the church because we have a potential elders list that we had to divide up between the areas. So we did that and came back to our apartment and with the other elders made a pasta for lunch. It was actually very good and we added chicken to make it chicken Alfredo. We put on some of the 'punch your daddy' sauce and it was perfect. We had a bunch of people cancel and at the end of the day did some solid night lining.

Here is how to be Texan: The word is 'yonder'. Ex: The shop is over yonder. Sorry, its a pretty boring word, and there is no story behind it. Hey, sometimes life is disappointing and this is one of those times.

Anyway, love y'all and I will try to help out in any way possible. Also, about the whole LGBT policy, if you watch the video by D Todd Christofferson it says that it's the same rule as if the kids grew up in a polygamist family. Why they ruled it 18 years is because the church doesn't want the kids to have to leave the family to be baptized. At age 18 they are considered adults so they are able to make their own decisions without the parents permission. This way they can get baptized if they disagree with the parents actions but still be part of the family. Now this doesn't mean you have to hate the parents. You can love people but dislike the choices that they make. What this means is that you can have the best of both, you can love your family and be part of the church. Also, this doesn't mean that the kids are automatically going to hell-they can participate in church, young mens/young womens, scouts, and they can receive blessings. They can do it all. Being baptized is one of the most sacred covenants that you can make. There is nothing wrong with being baptized later than some. If you aren't able to be baptized, but still follow God and say prayers, read scriptures, you can receive the light of Christ. God loves all of us and will help all of us. If you ever start to think that the church is no longer true, then think about this: Is it the church policy that has changed or your mindset that has changed? God policies don't change so if you are going to turn your back on the church and say it has gone downhill, maybe you should stop asking the people on Facebook their opinion and you should ask God what his is. If there is one thing I learned from being out here is that too many times(and I was apart of this, too) people share how they feel through social media. Then they forget to express it to the one that will actually help you-Heavenly Father. I can't tell you how many times during school when life was rough and I was tweeting about it instead of praying for my trials to be lifted. Yet somehow I was convinced that his was supposed to make me feel better. Satan uses many things to try and prove us wrong . One of the easiest things he uses is pride. Pride is if a person asks to help you and you say no. How many times has the Lord asked to help you and you say, 'No, I got this." Then you screwed it up more and asked God why he put us through these hard trials. This might be a surprise to some but God doesn't give us trials all the time. Sometimes we use our agency and create situations that cause us to be stuck. How about instead of cursing God, we look at him the way that he is, the only one that will truly help out. How about instead of questioning whether God made the right choice, we be as Mosiah says,"as a child, submissive , meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." Sometimes we may feel confused and question what is right, but the power of the Holy Ghost will tell you the truth of all things-not may tell you, or lead you to come up with your own conclusion- he WILL tell you. I pray that you will pray and know this truth for yourself. I gave you pretty much a bunch of topics and hope one of them will help you someone today, if not then maybe I will read it over and it will be a good note for me.

Love y'all. If you have any questions or if I said false doctrine, please know I am a teenage boy on a mission, and am not a prophet of God. I am just a man with too much emailing time."  Love ya,
Elder Saunders

Park in Orange, Texas

Eating lunch with my district-Orange, TX

Elder Hunter and the district in the background

P-Day at the Park

Rain, rain and more rain in beautiful Orange, TX

Same old, same old.....

Mon, Nov 2, 2015 Orange, TX

" It is hard writing emails because you spend so much time, but you have to because then people will email you back and it is so much fun to read emails. So just to say, if you want a longer email, email me during the week, cause then I can't read it ahead of time and write it out during lunch or something. So anyway, sit down because class is about to start and imma  finna hit y'all with some truth. 

So today was basically a p-day and we shopped and emailed then we taught a lesson to a guy who tried to get us to change our faith and tell us why we were wrong, but we answered all our questions and he was impressed so much that he wants to come to church this Sunday.

This week is super stressful and it has been so hard because our district is like a reality TV show and there is so many things that have happened to all of us. We were knocking on doors and the door opened automatically. We took a look inside and there is this guy on his death bed and he looks at us and says no, then presses a button and we just stare at him while the door slowly closes. How weird is that? We got a door closed on us by a guy in his death bed. First time that has happened.

So we had a baptism and it was stressful because we didn't set every thing up until 10:05, the night before it happened. It all worked out and a ton of people showed up. I gave an amazing talk.  Brother Evans(Ward Mission Leader) baptized her, Casey,  and it was way cool. Her son, Khalil was baptized, too. She lost her husband 7 years ago in a car accident. She shared with us how glad she is that we met her and how we have changed her life for eternity. It really makes you think cause we found her trying to contact someone else. They were not home so we were tracting their street. We saw Casey sitting outside, so we went and talked to her. It makes you think what if we never talked to her? How much would her life have changed if both of us just passed her by. Its almost crazy to think about how talking to everyone is so important because even if you get rejected 9 out of 10 times, you will get that one person whose life will change because of that. It made me realize that we change lives. How cool is that? 

We got hit hard by rain and I mean hard! We were told to not go out and we had to because of the baptism. I drove home and the water was like a foot deep and we somehow got home and everyone's apartment was flooded except ours. I was walking to go to the other Elders apartment-also not flooded-and the water was mid calf-like the parking lot.... We hung out with the other elders until things dried up. We had a ward Halloween party and then went to the other elders for crepes. It was good. 

On Sunday Casey and Khalil were confirmed. Brother Dunn confirmed Casey and Brother Evans confirmed Khalil. It was super good. We then went to Gospel Principles and after class  I saw a person that looked familiar. I didn't think much of it but in elders quorum it hit me-she was an investigator we met once and could never get a hold of. So after church we found her and she was crying. She basically said that life was hard and she wasn't doing so good so she came to church to get a priesthood blessing, so we gave her one and we are going to try and see her this week. 

We went to a members home to visit and they invited us in and her husband is a big hunter and fisherman. There were bear pelts, deer heads and antlers, alligator heads and skins, and bobcat pelts. So we sit down and he grabs this pan and asks us if we want some crocodile and fries. So we had crocodile which I really can't explain the flavor-if any of you have had shark, it tastes a lot like that. For those of you who haven't had that either, it kinda tastes like chicken and fish. The member said to come back because they have a pool table and a ping pong table and other things. She told us that 'in Starks no one will rat you out, we keep our mouths shut", ha ha. It's pretty much like what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, but in a completely different way. They also gave us some Mayha jelly (almost positive I didn't spell it right) *** mom's note-I googled it and it is mayhaw jelly****  It was super good. I guess it's a fruit that grows in the swamp, so they just collect the berry like things and squeeze the juice out of them. Also, it is still raining pretty hard for 3 days, non-stop. 

So I forgot to do it last week, but now it is time for how to be Texan. Rule 8: When giving directions, be specific but not specific at all. Example: "So to get to the park you go down this road for 3 miles, then you will see two dirt piles. Go quarter and then you will see a blue fence. Turn right at the next turn, then go 4 miles and you will see a bunch of cars and that is where we are at." Like no kidding, those are actual directions a guy gave us to go to a BBQ.
Peace out homies,
Love Elder Sainders( they still can't get my name right)

Lots and lots of rain outside our apartment-8 inches and still coming!

Elder Knebel( he was able to come), Casey and her family, Elder Saunders

Casey and her son, Khalil's baptism

Elder Hunter, Khalil, Casey and another child, Elder Saunders

Elder Saunders and his new companion, Elder Hunter-picture taken by a sweet man in Orange Ward that drove them up in bad weather to Kingwood and stayed and then brought them back-thank you Brother Knipp :)

Hurricanes and Transfers!

Tuesday, Oct 27, 2015  Orange, TX

" Okay so hopefully y'all liked the new format. I can write a little each day and not try and do it all at once on P-day. Sorry about being a day late, it was transfer day. I'm going to say Hurricane Patricia was just as it sounded-a lot of drama and not much action. It rained quite a bit but it wasn't bad at all. We only got 7 inches. I guess that is pretty average here. 

So we were tracking in the hood part of town, I mean there are these beat down trailer homes everywhere. Suddenly, there is this huge statue so we follow it. We come to this mansion. I mean it is this huge house with a big lake with a fountain in the lake. They have two new Cadillacs, a new corvette, a huge barn, and massive amounts of land. The strange thing is that it is in the middle of the hood. So I suspect that it is the drug dealers house and that they control the hood-I may be wrong but hey, I might be right on the money. Our suspicions were looking true when we saw them ride by on a golf cart and proceed to go to each house and honk 4 times and then someone would come out of the house and then they would talk and he would go on to the next house. 

Then we met with an investigator and he was like and I quote, " Man you two look good. Y'all should go to Lamar(its a college). Man y'all would convert all the girls if y'all went there." This guy was way funny and he made our day.
We did have a bomb lesson with an investigator that made her cry, you'd be surprised how quick a girl will cry when you mention her weight, just kidding, we didn't do that . It was a good lesson taught by the spirit. 

Today we spent 7 hours planning, but then we had an hour of power and we found this cool guy whose brother is Mormon and he is interested and he looked up a bunch of stuff and he pretty much knew the restoration. He just didn't know how it affected him until we taught him. Then he took our Book of Mormon and promised to read. He said that he has read our Book of Mormon before with his Bible and he knows that it is true and also that Joseph Smith was a prophet. He is just not sure about our church yet. After that we rode around with a member. We then went on exchanges with Elder Roberts to Vidor(which is actually in the top 5 of the most redneck cities in the USA). It is Elder Roberts last week so no pressure, but I gotta finish strong.

So my exchange is with Elder Roberts today. Elder Roberts is such a fun guy. We saw a lot of people. One of them was kinda crazy and he saw and talked to Devils but he was pretty cool. Another guy we talked to was a MMA champion who survived colon cancer and he was excited to take a Book of Mormon. We had a member take us out to lunch at this small diner called the Red Wagon. I ordered a chicken fried steak, and it was soooo good. It came with potatoes and a huge salad. We also went to a members house for dinner and had roast. In Vidor, they feed you well! The missionaries there get fed everyday. It was way cool! I guess we are supposed to get a huge hurricane that is a grade 5. I will keep you updated. It was a good last exchange for Elder Roberts. At the end is a picture of him and his district because they wanted a pic and I'm in it so why not share it, ha ha.

I woke up and found out I had the stomach flu. I couldn't keep anything down during personal study and companion study. I took some medicine to calm my stomach, then the other elders came over and gave me some more medicine. The sisters stopped by and gave me even more medicine and Elder Lawrence came to stay with me while my companion and his companion went to the store to get me a Sprite. Then we went out because the work never ceases. We taught and tried to find people while it was raining and I still felt pretty sick. We came back and I slept for 3 and 1/2 hours. We then went to teach our investigator. We came back and as I am writing this, I feel horrible cause I'm a mess and am super tired. The sister came by and dropped off a supply package. Now Elder Knebel was saying that he probably wasn't getting transferred because it was 10:00 and I said now you will get a phone call. I kid you not, right after I said that-he got a call and...He is leaving to be a Zone leader. So I will get a new trainer on Mon. It is sad y'all know because even though we both are stubborn, he trained me well. I told him I would see him again when he is a assistant to the Mission President.

So I got a new trainer and his name is Elder Hunter. He is so sick. He is super outgoing and funny and really athletic. He already has plans for P-days to make them fun. Elder Knebel went to Pine Trails to be a zone leader, so pretty much all of today was driving. 

I keep forgetting to add this in but Nephi explains the south perfectly in 2 Nephi chapter 29, verses 3, 6-11. I will give you a brief summary. He looked into the future and for sure saw the south, cause honestly I have heard people say these exact words. It is so cool because I put my voice in for Nephi's and I have said these same things to the people I am talking with. Read this and you will get a taste of the south and also read the whole chapter if possible: 
Chapter 3: "And because my words shall hiss forth-may of the Gentiles shall say: A Bible! A Bible! We have got a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible."

Chapter 7 -'Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above and in the earth beneath; I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all nations of the earth."

Chapter 8- "Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also."

Chapter 10- "Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused  more to be written"

Everything is big in Texas-so much land !

I mean straight fire....It's cool because later on in the chapter he talks about how there are actually more than two books, there are books from all the tribes of Israel.

The roads wind around and around in Orange, TX 

Love, Elder Saunders

Beautiful Orange, TX country Roads

Elder Saunders, Elder Knebel, Elder Lawrence, Elder Wood, Sister Madson, Sister Tavoien

Sneaking in on another Zone's picture: front row: Elders: Saunders, Roberts, Hanson, Mitchell, Boyack, Moos 2nd row: Sisters-Castaneda, Sessions, Ryan, Sanderson.

Elder Saunders and Elder Roberts giving the peace out sign(he is going home)

At our beautifully decorated apartment: Elder Knebel, Elder Saunders, Elder Strong, Elder Roberts

Roller Coaster of Emotions

Orange, TX Oct 19, 2015

" Hey, so this is the first time I'm going to write every night and record all the important things that have happened on my ipad. The next couple weeks could be rough unti I get the format right. The scripture I chose to ponderize is Jacob 7:5. It basically says after all I've been through, he had no power to shake me from my faith." Good stuff. Now to the meat of my email.

So my p-day consisted of spending a lot more than I should have on food and I also thought about how it is a ripoff in these apartments because they make you pay for the washing machines and dryers. It is $1.25 for one or $2.50 for 2 and times that by the number of washing and drying is 6.25 per week-and that is not counting the soap you have to put in. Man that is messed up! Today we have zone P-day. Our whole zone met up and we played volleyball for awhile. Then after that the Evans had a family night where we could invite our investigators over to play games and sing songs. We also hear a short lesson and eat. It was way good! We built a Huge fire cause in Texas if you build a small fire, they will throw you in it to make it bigger! We cooked hot dogs and I ate 7 of them. A lot of people came and the Evans are having that every other Monday, so that should be way fun.

So if you haven't figured it out already, each paragraph is a new day . Today was hard cause my companion prayed for trials. This is now the 3rd time he's done that and all three days have been hard. We met a Wiccan. Basically they are witches. It wasn't my turn to contact, but long story short, I think she put a spell on my companion. I am writing this email and laughing because I am so dang funny while sitting in my comfy half broken chair sipping warm apple cider.

I like to start out each day with'so deal with it" We went to Orange County Services and helped people and got fat because they have all these cakes there and they are so tasty! I am eating like 5 pieces of cake and un loosing my belt. On a more spiritual note, we were trying to see this person, but she lived in a gated apartment. So, like any missionary would do, we climbed the fence. Just kidding! We waited till someone typed in the right code and drove right behind them and tried to visit a guy but he wasn't home. We were walking and saw a lady sitting in a chair on the top floor. So we taught her outside because her husband wasn't home and it was honestly 94 degrees outside and 98% humidity. As I was explaining the rest, sweat poured down on my face and by the end of the lesson she started to cry and tell us how our message makes so much sense. She thanked us and said that as we taught, she felt a feeling that she has never felt before and committed to baptism and her daughter did too. After we taught her, we were riding and the manager of the building came out and asked how we got in. We told her we went to see our new investigator (the person we just met) and she grunted and drove off. We contacted one more couple and taught them a lesson and the same thing happened and they committed to baptism. So Alma 26:12 : 'Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can do all things; yea behold many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever." 

So here in Texas is this claw truck that goes around and grabs peoples garbage. It is honestly the coolest thing cause it is like a life size claw game. We kept making toy story references like, 'the claw' and that was the highlight of the day.

So for some exciting things we saw: A six toed cat and some interesting people...lets leave it at that. The other elders got their 7th blown tire (biking area) in 1 month. A record. We visited Rochelle(person sitting in her chair a few paragraphs up). At first I was scared becuse she hadn't answered any of our texts, so I thought it was going to be like the average-I am not interested anymore. But when we came to her door she was happy. She said she told her husband what we taught her and he was excited cause she was excited. She said he had a lot of questions. She said she didn't text back because they were talking about the perfect day for us to come over and teach their whole family! Orange is super religious and I was wondering why it seems like every other person is a Preacher or a Deacon because we met another one today. I then remembered that there are 83 churches in Orange, so that pretty much means every other person you meet will be involved in a church position. Yay, it is so great :( 

We had interviews with the mission president, Elder Drake. He is one of the funniest guys I know. After that we taught a lesson and then went to a BBQ that one of the members hosted for us to invite our investigators. We had a lot show up and let me tell you Texas BBQ is waaaay good. We had another lesson after that and another member took us out to eat again and we had way good pumpkin pecan pancakes. I have probably gained another 10 lbs from today, or in other words I am biking a lot tomorrow.

We had scrimp n kern with Brother Daily and listened to old time country on the way down. Man nothing beats old time country. It's so chill and puts you in a good mood. Good ole Hank Williams. If you don't know who he is, look him up. He also gave us a big bottle of figs. We went to dinner at a members home and it was one of the best dinners I've had. Not because it was a super good meal, but because it was an emotional roller coaster. So we were eating and this family is super funny. We were joking around when suddenly Sister Bergeron stops and is staring at the wall right next to us. We look and on the wall is this huge, huge, huge cockroach! I mean this bug is massive. He is staring us down so Brother Bergeron gets up to kill it and when he gets close, the cockroach takes off and flys (apparently they can fly in Texas, who knew?) Anyway, he takes off and hits Elder Knebel right in the face. Then he flies at me and I freak out and drop to the floor as he flys right over me. Honestly, I was scared for my life. I thought it was the end. I ran to an open part of the house. While all of this is going on, Elder Knebel is screaming like a girl cause he just got slapped by a roach. I am in the corner of the house half crying and laughing. I don't know where the member family went. After all that chaos. we shared a message with them and they expressed some problems, so we gave them each a blessing. So that was the night I expressed all the emotions one can experience. 

For this weeks lesson on how to be a Texan: The new word is 'arrange' or as we yuppies call it 'Orange". My personal favorite, 'Man, theys got you in Arrange? Man, you's all over da place, man. I mean what da chances of Arrange? That's crazy yo." That was a quote. I'm not trying to make fun of people down here, they do enough of it by themselves. They are such sweet people. 
Love your homie,
Elder Saunders          glasses sent by Elder Saunders Dad for Halloween... Where is Elder Knebels glasses picture?

Who made this yummy toasted cheese? Elder Saunders or Elder Knebel?

a bit of rural Orange, Texas

Don't Know What to Call This One

***Please read the previous Sept 28 post and Oct 5 post and this one- Mom got behind.... sorry!***

Oct 12, 2015

" So after this my emails should be a lot easier to read because I now have an ipad so I can just write in it day to day instead of trying to remember things all week and it becoming a jumbled mess. First of all I would like to start with how prayer works. So...the ward has stopped signing up for feeding the missionaries and we have been forced to eat the food which we have. It isn't bad but we were running low so I don't know about Elder Knebel, but I didn't want to starve so I prayed and said, "God, it would be good if we got more people to feed us." We passed around the lunch calendar on Sunday and... we got one more person that signed up but I didn't think much of it. Then we were tracting and were talked to this old guy and he said his son passed away 3 days ago. We were talking to him and he said, " Y'all know I'm having a BBQ in a couple of weeks in my sons honor. You seem like cool guys so why don't y'all stop by and get some to eat. I cook super good burgers from my secret recipe." He said his kids want to know the recipe but he wouldn't tell them(then he proceeded to tell us the secret recipe) After that we were talking to a person and she stops us mid sentence and asks if we like Boudin ( note from mom: googled boudin and it is rice, onions, pepper and meat stuffed into a sausage casing-cajun)  She then grabs a full bag of it and gives it to us. Then we were talking to a guy washing his sports car and he told us to come by later this week and he would take us out to dinner. Finally, we were teaching an investigator and she brought out some chips and salsa and told us that the next time we come over she will cook us something. So the moral of the story is, God answers prayers, even the dumb ones. Another example of this is the other elders were praying for a couch because they don't have one and 3 weeks later a guy asked them if they wanted two couches!

Our investigators are good. One of them, with a baptism date, told us that he just recently had a beer. We were like you said you hate beer. He was like, yeah, but it tastes good with wings. We retaught him and he said he would stop everything cause he really wants to be baptized. Quick side note-I really have trouble with the Young Single Adult Elders. We have had 3 people with a date that we turned over to them because they were younger than 30. I know that it's not about the numbers but we honestly do the work and they just get free baptisms. Its like doing a whole test and somebody writes their name on it....Back on topic-We have two others on date and both are really solid and want to be baptized.

The other day I had another exchange with Elder Lawrence. He is such a chill guy. His area bikes so my rear was way sore and my calves felt like rotisserie chickens. It was super hot because it always super hot down here. 

Next day we had a training meeting down in Houston which sucks and it sucked even more cause we had to drive there and the miles counted so now we are down 200 miles until the next month, so now we have to bike to places we would drive so we don't go over.

We fed a homeless guy at the end of the day. Elder Knebel was prompted to go to this house but no one was home. We were going back home when we saw this kid walking down the street alone at 8:45. Elder Knebel was like "You're going to to give him a Book of Mormon" and I was like, No, it's late and he's probably on drugs." So we went back and forth. Elder Knebel was driving so he pulled by him and rolled my window down and I talked to him. I actually had talked to him before and he said it is so cool because he spent the night in jail and was praying and he wants to go to church now. I gave him a Book of Mormon and he committed to church.

Now for how to be Texan: Say, "It'll be a minute" for everything like driving to Washington , It'll be a minute." Buying a house, "it'll be a minute" or I'm going to be rich, but it'll be a minute. This concludes how to be Texan for this week.

Now for my cool non spiritual experiences. I met a polygamy family who wants to go to church. Some people in my apartment broke into the apartment storage sheds. They broke the locks off of seven  of them and they tried to break ours and couldn't break the lock and moved on. WE know this because our door is jacked up and our lock is too. It was still locked. My mom sent me some more pants but she up'd the size on my pants two waist sizes so now I'm self conscious. ( Note from mom: 2 pairs of pants were perfect and the third slightly bigger-sorry son ) 

Bye y'all,
Elder Saunders                my apartment in Orange, Texas 

                                          notice the awesome Christmas lights in our Apt.

                                          P-day in Orange, Texas Oct, 2015

Good Ole Texas, One Month In...

Oct 5, 2015

" So just to make myself clear, I can actually speak really hick if I want to. The problem is that I don't know how to spell a lot of the words down here and I think I sound really stupid, so I'll just stick to modern English. Some things that I forgot to mention is that before coming down here, I thought that Popeyes was going to be on every corner, but to my surprise it's on every other corner. Subway is on every corner? I guess it is really big in the south. We went shopping again. That is probably the saddest part on a mission is when you come to the conclusion that shopping is what you look forward to each week. Kidding? Not kidding...Elder Knebel and I found these two air mattresses so now my bed is 3 layers big and is actually quite big! The problem is that the second layer keeps moving so my bed ends up lopsided during the night, but it is so comfy!  

Now I will start with my journal entries. They are edited down because I write a lot and it is late at night when I write in my journal. Late at night is 10:30 on a mission. Last Monday we biked everywhere because we only had 30 miles for 3 days, which is very little. We found out on Tuesday that we did the math wrong and we actually had 130 miles! We were contacting this potential investigator in these apartments and we forgot our bike locks and the person lived on top. We carried our bikes all the way up the stairs while praying that they would answer the door because it is not easy carrying your bikes when you are way tired. The Lord has a sense of humor. We knocked and knocked and they weren't home. We were tired and my companion started to go down the stairs and I had the impression to knock on the other door. I thought maybe it was because I put in all the energy and I might as well knock, so I my companion and I knocked on the door. Within three seconds a guy answers. I am then prompted to share with him how we are how we are missionaries and have a message to share to you about Christ. I testified that having faith in him can help you with trials and bring your family closer. He invited us in and told us how his family is going through some bad trials. His mom works 24/7 just to keep the apartment. We taught him a short lesson and encouraged him to read the Book of Mormon intro. He agreed and told us to come back later so we could meet his mom. He said his mom needs this message the most. After a couple of hours we came back and met his mom. She was really nice but really stressed out. We shared a message of hope and she said she would read the Book of Mormon. We asked her son Hairy( note from mom: I am pretty sure he meant to spell Harry :)    if he read the introduction. He said yes and more. He pulls out the Book of Mormon and he is in 1 Nephi 22. He is such a cool kid and he watched general conference with us. He is progressing nicely.

We also have this investigator named Will who is a way cool guy and has a baptism date. He has been 'chewing' since he was in the 6th grade and we were teaching him the Word of Wisdom. He went inside, grabs his chew, and came back out and poured it into a half full Gatorade bottle, thus completely ruining the chew. We asked him if we could give him a blessing. He said yes. After the blessing he takes the chew in his mouth that he had and throws it out and said, "It just didn't taste good anymore" He is such a cool guy and has been clean for about two weeks now. We have others but I am short on time.

General Conference was so good, but it went by so quick. After General Conference we went to the Evens house and hung out till Priesthood session. It is so fun there. In Texas, people have a lot of land and small houses. He has a ton of land with a zipline and a lake. We are going to hit golf balls into it. They have a bonfire pit and horses and pretty much anything else redneck. I have had beans so much! For anyone who knows me, I hate beans but I eat what I am given and hope to like beans in the future.

Now for the teaching of how to be Texan: Lesson 1: Say 'like I said" after everything. Example: I was talking to this guy in the apartments and he was explaining to me how Islam and Mormon is pretty much the same faith and he said "like I said" after every phrase. He said both believe in prayer-like I said. Both just have different views-Like I said. They are the same thing man, like I said. Now you may think I am exaggerating this but I am telling the truth. I actually under exaggerated this. I got a headache typing that word so much. This ends the lesson for the week of how to be Texan.

The steaks here really are as big as a plate if any of y'all were wondering. I just wanna close on how it is weird because there are so many Spanish speakers her but for some reason I am able to understand them. It has happened at least four times when we meet a person who speaks no English and understands few English words. When we meet them they talk in full Spanish and I can understand them almost perfectly. However I can't talk back to them. Somehow I can understand Spanish and we are able to help them out. I thought about this yesterday and I figured out that the spirit is helping me. I took Spanish in school for two years but lets be honest, that doesn't mean anything. I can understand Spanish even when they talk fast and I am able to teach the gospel to them. In a store if a person is speaking Spanish, I can't understand them. It is only when I when we are tracting. The other thing is that our district agreed on is that we will mever live in a trailer home. We don't care if we have to work two jobs, there is no way any of us will live like that.

Now as a farewell, I will tell you one last thing. Eat healthy! For the last month I haven't eaten healthy at all and not only am I bigger, but now I actually want carrots and broccoli and cauliflower. How weird is that?

Amen brothers and sisters. The church is true.
Your brotha from the South,
Elder Saundaas
                                            bonfire w/my district @Bro Evens in Orange ,TX

                                            Greenie monkey my parents sent to Orange, TX

Rain....that's about it

Monday, Sept 28, 2015

"For some reason, I don't know what to write about so this one might be kinda short. It has rained for like 4 days and hasn't stopped so everything is like flooded, so that is fun. We met a lot of investigators. I've noticed in Orange that there is two categories of people, the poor and the rich. When you go to a rich neighborhood, you get big cool houses that have everything you could imagine. The people, however are so cocky that they will rarely talk to you, much less let you teach them. The poor neighborhoods are small houses and. Almost everyone of them will let you teach them or at least be super nice to you. I've learned many things so far. The less you have, the more humble you are to receive things. If you are rich, you are doing fine, so why would you want to change your life? The poor neighborhoods are great. They are so humble and are such great people. Even though you are not of their faith, they will help you in anyway possible. One lady has many kids and her husband died recently. She is so positive and is trying so hard to take care of her kids and also to take care of her neighbors. There are many others that we are trying to teach that I could go on and on about.

We have had a lot of service opportunities which is good because I can wear my street clothes...
down side is we are two weeks into the mission and I have already lost my mag tag. I'm down to one tag. One guy we helped move in had four eighteen wheelers full of stuff. He had a huge house and we filled his whole house, his four car garage, two huge storage sheds, and half of his backyard. He had no idea where to put stuff. We had another guy that we helped clean his house and he was a hoarder, so we kept having to hide the stuff he brought out because he would take it out and then change his mind and want it back in. We took his table and chairs and started to carry it off to chuck it in the dumpster, but I saw him come out and so I told the elders and we so smoothly walked past the dumpster and put it under a tree and we told him and we told him the table needed to be in the shade so it wouldn't get too hot. We then convinced him that someone else needed the table so we called a member and they picked it up. The member kept it to give to someone else so everything worked out.

I had an exchange a couple of weeks ago with Elder Strong in Vidor. It was great. He is a cool dude and he sounds like and acts like one of my friends back home. We started the day by doing spoken pedal and we found a guy who was super smart and did not like the Catholic church. We tried to teach him but everything we would say he would relate to quantum mechanics and how the earth's time laps over itself and people get transported into the future. Really weird stuff. Honestly it blew my mind. He said how he hates tithing and how he went to prison. Somehow we taught a lesson and he accepted a Book of Mormon. We also saw a guy with a confederate flag t-shirt with a helmet on, sitting on a dirt bike holding a fishing pole. Elder Strong also taught me many scriptures I can use to talk to some of the Baptist priests. After that we went to dinner at the Young Women's Conference which was really awkward. It was like four Elders and one hundred sisters! They just kept staring at us and asking why we were there so we just got our food and ate behind the curtain where they couldn't see us. First time in my life, I have ever felt so uninvited. The Relief Society person came through the door and laughed and told us to go sit with everyone else.

Yesterday we went to Bro. D's house for crim pen kern (corn and shrimp) which was really good. He has the coolest collections of magazines and toy cars and clocks and stories. After that we biked in the pouring rain that soaked everything, including my waterproof coat. We get soaked everyday-it's either rain or sweat....pick your poison. It is still raining and all the streets are flooded and the water is deep and I can barely see-it is raining so hard. We get our miles back in 3 days, then we have a car again until the miles run out. We are trying to get black people and young people to join our ward because Orange is old and white. I really love it here. The members are great. Just today, a member took us to run errands cause we ran out of miles. If you call a member, they will always say yes no matter what you asked them. Love, Elder Saunders