Hey Family!
How is everyone doing? Elder Swan and I had a great week with some amazing things starting to happen. The bad part of the week was that Dora and Darius weren't able to get baptized due to some complications and now they are going out of town for two weeks and so we will have to baptize them in January. We were bummed out and the baptism didn't even need to be delayed but some things were said and it was too late when we found out it wasn't true. It's a sob story, really, but I'm over it because of the great week we had.
We finally got this family to come to church that we have been working on and they just happen to love it! They called us after church, crying, and basically bore testimony to us and said they are coming back every Sunday! It was the Christmas program and so it was a really amazing sacrament. The music was crazy amazing, it's like I was at the met, really.
We also had two part member families there who have solid baptismal dates. They just baptized a really amazing Haitian family a few months ago and now we are working with some of the uncles. Nesly, the most solid one, said to his brother, Uncle Toto, last night, "Hey! You need to get baptized. In fact, I'm getting baptized in a few weeks. Why wait? You should be baptized with me!" It was great. Lol
We taught this cool guy who does a lot of voice for companies like Nickelodeon and ABC. He had read the whole Book of Mormon and had some crazy questions for us like the New Jerusalem. He has a crazy work schedule and can't come to church right now but maybe next year.
Elder Swan and I have been doing really well together. We both like to take charge and since I'm trying to learn the ropes here, I've had to humble myself and learn from him. Which is good of course, it just feels weird to be out of the Bronx and not know everything about everything. He is a really good missionary and has only 6 weeks less than me. He has been ZL for quite some time and so he knows a lot. I'm sure I can teach him a thing or two still, but for now I'm just learning a lot! I'm really trying to learn how to lead and get people to follow me. There is a lot of room for me to grow so I will keep stretching!
So I will be here for at least the next 7 weeks which is just fine by me. We are having a giant Christmas party on the 25 in which the whole mission is getting together and have a devotional. It should be a fun Christmas and hopefully we can have some more miracles happening. Christmas is really the best time of the year, especially to be a missionary. I don't think we will do anything crazy. I am looking forward to talking with you all this Christmas, is there a time I can't call? It will probably be in the evening some time. I haven't received any packages as of yet but I know for sure the bigger one you sent first is in the mission office I just forgot to get it last week. We also had the ward Christmas party last week but not very many non- members came. Dora and Darius came and had a good time.
Well family I love you all and hope you have a great week! Enjoy this time of year and don't busy your self too much. I am praying for all of you and thank you for your prayers
Elder Sorensen
First day
Saturday, December 19, 2009
members are great...
Dear Elder Sorensen's family,
We are members of the Inwood 1st Ward and had your son and his companion over for dinner this evening. Both Elder Sorensen and Elder Swan are doing great and they shared an excellent gospel message with our family!
My oldest son is serving a mission in Nevada and I've enjoyed getting
photos from families from dinner appointments so I thought I'd send this for your family. For the attached photo both Elders claimed severe hat hair and kept their hats on (but not for dinner!). I asked Elder Sorensen if he had a message for his family and he said to just send his love. They didn't have any special requests for Christmas and they do have plans for Christmas day with the Cunningham famiy. They seem to be a good companionship, were in good spirits, and are excited to share the gospel and encouraged our family to do the same!
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas,
Michelle, Kent, Elizabeth, and Ruby Larsen
We are members of the Inwood 1st Ward and had your son and his companion over for dinner this evening. Both Elder Sorensen and Elder Swan are doing great and they shared an excellent gospel message with our family!
My oldest son is serving a mission in Nevada and I've enjoyed getting
photos from families from dinner appointments so I thought I'd send this for your family. For the attached photo both Elders claimed severe hat hair and kept their hats on (but not for dinner!). I asked Elder Sorensen if he had a message for his family and he said to just send his love. They didn't have any special requests for Christmas and they do have plans for Christmas day with the Cunningham famiy. They seem to be a good companionship, were in good spirits, and are excited to share the gospel and encouraged our family to do the same!
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas,
Michelle, Kent, Elizabeth, and Ruby Larsen
Friday, December 11, 2009
12.09.09
Family,
Hey everyone how it going? We had a great week with a lot of success! Miracles just keep pouring in and we are doing just great. Transfers are early this time around due to missionaries going home early for Christmas, so next Wednesday we start a new cycle. Hopefully I can get to know more people in my zone this cycle; I'm not really close to anyone here.
We had some great things happen to us this past week. A few weeks ago we heard that his guy just walked in off the street and the next week he brought his kids and sat in at primary. We finally met him and got his address, he said he wanted to join; he has no idea what he's
getting into!
We had dinner with another investigator who was given to us by a member. She said that she knows that it's true and we feel like family to her. She also has two sons, one who has a full scholarship to Yale and the other has cancer. They have a date for January but haven't come to church yet. I feel that they are very solid.
D*ra and D*rius passed there baptismal interview last night which was great. D*rius has the worse case of ADD I've ever seen but they love church and are excited to get baptized this Saturday! Things are going really great for them, but hopefully everything stays great.
We had our first snow on Monday, but it didn't stick and today it has been raining all day. The weather has treated us very nicely this winter, I'm also glad I'm not upstate because they have a colder winter with more snow. Being in Manhattan has been really cool and here are all sorts of little perks of being down here. We ate a really nice breakfast at a hotel this morning, stake and eggs for free, I was down at 15th street yesterday to do some translating for the church and all of the members are super nice and going to hook us up!
Anyway sorry this letter is short as usual. I can't ever think of things to say, you should include all of you questions in your e-mail so I can know what to write. I will try to do better at answering questions. When I'm given more direction in writing, I have more to say. I love you all and hope you have a great week! I will send back those pictures as soon as possible.
Elder Sorensen
Please send Griff's address; he never wrote me back!
Hey everyone how it going? We had a great week with a lot of success! Miracles just keep pouring in and we are doing just great. Transfers are early this time around due to missionaries going home early for Christmas, so next Wednesday we start a new cycle. Hopefully I can get to know more people in my zone this cycle; I'm not really close to anyone here.
We had some great things happen to us this past week. A few weeks ago we heard that his guy just walked in off the street and the next week he brought his kids and sat in at primary. We finally met him and got his address, he said he wanted to join; he has no idea what he's
getting into!
We had dinner with another investigator who was given to us by a member. She said that she knows that it's true and we feel like family to her. She also has two sons, one who has a full scholarship to Yale and the other has cancer. They have a date for January but haven't come to church yet. I feel that they are very solid.
D*ra and D*rius passed there baptismal interview last night which was great. D*rius has the worse case of ADD I've ever seen but they love church and are excited to get baptized this Saturday! Things are going really great for them, but hopefully everything stays great.
We had our first snow on Monday, but it didn't stick and today it has been raining all day. The weather has treated us very nicely this winter, I'm also glad I'm not upstate because they have a colder winter with more snow. Being in Manhattan has been really cool and here are all sorts of little perks of being down here. We ate a really nice breakfast at a hotel this morning, stake and eggs for free, I was down at 15th street yesterday to do some translating for the church and all of the members are super nice and going to hook us up!
Anyway sorry this letter is short as usual. I can't ever think of things to say, you should include all of you questions in your e-mail so I can know what to write. I will try to do better at answering questions. When I'm given more direction in writing, I have more to say. I love you all and hope you have a great week! I will send back those pictures as soon as possible.
Elder Sorensen
Please send Griff's address; he never wrote me back!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Sorry this is so late getting to you. It's been a crazy day here. One last request for your favorite scripture. I'm sending Christmas packages to Daniel and Griffin on Monday. K.
Hey family,
Well it was a good thanksgiving and a fun week. We got to go see the big Macy's day parade which was really cool. The weather has actually been really nice here, it's really weird but it hasn't got very cold yet. For Thanksgiving we ate with our ward mission leader and his family which was fun. We also ate with another family that night, I can't eat as much as I used to!
Nothing too exciting has been going on, just a lot of working. We met with the stake president last week to talk about all of the wards which was pretty cool. The stake president here is amazing; he came and spoke to the mission once a while ago. He is very missionary minded and does a lot to help us.
I went on a split with one of the elders in the zone yesterday in my area and we ended up finding 5 news and taught 7 lessons! It was a really good example day for that elder and a big booster for me. It was especially good because I still don't know the area very well but we got around ok. We cover a large area but luckily have full metro. Our zone goes down to 110th so we cover a good chunk of Manhattan. I've spent some time in Harlem and I'm pretty glad I'm not there, it's kind of crazy down there.
We had interviews with president on Monday which was also great. Elder Swan and I got to spend a good chunk of time with him talking about the zone. As always he did a great job of boosting my self esteem in telling me how "great" I am. I still don't believe him. I am really grateful for his leadership and help with everything.
We are still teaching D*ra and her son D*rius who should be baptized on the 12th. They are a sweet family and going to make great members. The Church is going to be able to help them out a lot and they have already started seeing the effects. We are also teaching this really cool family who was referred to us by a member. They haven't come to church yet, but they've been going through a move and a lot of other things but the lessons we have had with them have been really great.
We also found this really cool guy named R*ben through street contacting. It was a great testimony to me of street contacting because my last street contact of the night ended up being our first new the next day. He didn't look like the typical guy you would think would accept but now that we are teaching him he is really cool.
Our zone is doing a great job finding people but we are really lacking on people with a date. Our zone only has 5 people with a baptismal date and elder Swan and I have three of them. The fourth was also found by us, so at least we are setting the example but we are going to try and fix that.
Well I hope everyone has a great week and wish me luck as I continue to work hard. December is the one of the best times of the mission because of the holidays and so I am looking forward to having a good time. Thanks for everything and I wish you all the best!
Elder Sorensen
PS: happy birthday Nick!
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
11.18.09
Family!
Hey everything is going good here in Manhattan. I'm loving life in this sweet English ward working my tail off. The ward here is truly amazing from what I have seen and really missionary minded. I see a lot of success coming from this ward and I hope I can learn my way around quickly to contribute more in planning and finding. I know that the Lord is confident in what I can do and who I can become so I have to step it up and work a lot harder.
Teaching in English is definitely a lot different; not only with the people but with how I describe things. Teaching in Spanish has really taught me how to teach simply and clearly because of a limited vocabulary. Now that I'm teaching in English I have a little more freedom in what I can say but I find it much more complex. The people also can be very different. Because I'm in New York there is a wide variety of people and in the Spanish culture mostly everyone is very humble and poor. In English you have a much larger scale of people. Most white people here are Jewish. There are also lots of African Americans too. I'm having a lot of fun learning new things and I am sure I will grow a lot from this area.
Our teaching pool is actually pretty big as of now. Elder Swan and I found 7 news together and hopefully we will be able to put them in the water this December. We also have two who are progressing towards baptism named Angie and Dora. Angie has felt strong confirmations about the church but is hesitant because of her mother who is Jehovah Witness. Dora has also felt really good about church but we still need to teach her a lot. She also has a son that could get baptized with her.
So the area I cover is from 155th to the top of the island which consists of Washington Heights and Inwood. Washington Heights have the nickname of Dominican heights because it consists of mostly Dominicans. Inwood is a little nicer and there are a lot more Jews. I don't really know a lot about my area yet because I just got here. The George Washington Bridge is in my area which is cool but I don't really know much about my area yet.
Elder Swan and I taught our first zone training this last Monday, which I felt went well. We had a big combined zone conference and president along with the assistants and others trained us. It was a really good conference and I really learned a ton. I really enjoy preparing to give trainings because of the amount I really learn myself. When I would prepare trainings for District meeting I learn so much about receiving revelation and teaching others. Now I am learning much more as a zone leader and I hope to gain a lot from this experience in which I could bless the lives of others.
Congrats again Mandee of making all state choir. You truly must have grown a lot to be able to get that far. Just make sure you are putting your grades first because that's what's going to matter to get into school. I want both of you girls to also remember the importance of personal scripture study. What we learn at school has little importance compared to what we learn from the scriptures. Sorry for so much advice, I know I'm being the annoying know-it-all brothers. I just wish I would have spent more time with things that really mattered instead of focusing on less important things.
That was a sweet elk hunting story dad! You'll have to send me some pictures and let me know how the Utah hunt goes. I swear I'm the bad luck charm in the family when it comes to hunting. Lol Man I wish I could have been there. All we are doing when I get back is hunting and fishing!
Well family I hope the rest of you are all doing great and loving life. I'm sorry I can't write more I wish I had more time. I am doing really well and loving life like usual. Thanks for everything and keep working hard. I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to ya all next week!
Elder Sorensen
PS. You can send letters here to the apartment but it's best to send packages to the mission home and I will get them on Sunday. I'm having Elder Wilkins send a package home with picts for me from the Bronx so you should get it when ever he sends it.
My address is:
20 Laurel Hill Terr. #1A
New York, New York 10033
Please send any packages to the mission home
700 White Plains Rd. suite 315
Scarsdale NY, 10583
Hey everything is going good here in Manhattan. I'm loving life in this sweet English ward working my tail off. The ward here is truly amazing from what I have seen and really missionary minded. I see a lot of success coming from this ward and I hope I can learn my way around quickly to contribute more in planning and finding. I know that the Lord is confident in what I can do and who I can become so I have to step it up and work a lot harder.
Teaching in English is definitely a lot different; not only with the people but with how I describe things. Teaching in Spanish has really taught me how to teach simply and clearly because of a limited vocabulary. Now that I'm teaching in English I have a little more freedom in what I can say but I find it much more complex. The people also can be very different. Because I'm in New York there is a wide variety of people and in the Spanish culture mostly everyone is very humble and poor. In English you have a much larger scale of people. Most white people here are Jewish. There are also lots of African Americans too. I'm having a lot of fun learning new things and I am sure I will grow a lot from this area.
Our teaching pool is actually pretty big as of now. Elder Swan and I found 7 news together and hopefully we will be able to put them in the water this December. We also have two who are progressing towards baptism named Angie and Dora. Angie has felt strong confirmations about the church but is hesitant because of her mother who is Jehovah Witness. Dora has also felt really good about church but we still need to teach her a lot. She also has a son that could get baptized with her.
So the area I cover is from 155th to the top of the island which consists of Washington Heights and Inwood. Washington Heights have the nickname of Dominican heights because it consists of mostly Dominicans. Inwood is a little nicer and there are a lot more Jews. I don't really know a lot about my area yet because I just got here. The George Washington Bridge is in my area which is cool but I don't really know much about my area yet.
Elder Swan and I taught our first zone training this last Monday, which I felt went well. We had a big combined zone conference and president along with the assistants and others trained us. It was a really good conference and I really learned a ton. I really enjoy preparing to give trainings because of the amount I really learn myself. When I would prepare trainings for District meeting I learn so much about receiving revelation and teaching others. Now I am learning much more as a zone leader and I hope to gain a lot from this experience in which I could bless the lives of others.
Congrats again Mandee of making all state choir. You truly must have grown a lot to be able to get that far. Just make sure you are putting your grades first because that's what's going to matter to get into school. I want both of you girls to also remember the importance of personal scripture study. What we learn at school has little importance compared to what we learn from the scriptures. Sorry for so much advice, I know I'm being the annoying know-it-all brothers. I just wish I would have spent more time with things that really mattered instead of focusing on less important things.
That was a sweet elk hunting story dad! You'll have to send me some pictures and let me know how the Utah hunt goes. I swear I'm the bad luck charm in the family when it comes to hunting. Lol Man I wish I could have been there. All we are doing when I get back is hunting and fishing!
Well family I hope the rest of you are all doing great and loving life. I'm sorry I can't write more I wish I had more time. I am doing really well and loving life like usual. Thanks for everything and keep working hard. I hope you all have a great week and I will talk to ya all next week!
Elder Sorensen
PS. You can send letters here to the apartment but it's best to send packages to the mission home and I will get them on Sunday. I'm having Elder Wilkins send a package home with picts for me from the Bronx so you should get it when ever he sends it.
My address is:
20 Laurel Hill Terr. #1A
New York, New York 10033
Please send any packages to the mission home
700 White Plains Rd. suite 315
Scarsdale NY, 10583
Friday, November 13, 2009
11.13.09
Family,
Sorry I didn't get to write yesterday, the libraries were closed due to the holiday. So yesterday was the big day in the mission. I don't have much time so I will summarize it all and tell you how I feel about it all when I know better myself.
1) I'm still in the city. I cover from 155th to the top of the island. Manhattan!
2) My new companion is Elder Swan; grew up in texas, moved to utah
3) They put me in the English program
4) My companion and I are basically white washing. (where they take out both missionaries of an area and put in two new ones) Elder Swan was here for one cycle a few cycles back.
5) President called me to be a zone leader So as you can imagine, I'm feeling a little like Enoch and Moses when they were first called to be prophets, a little overwhelmed. I feel like a greenie again; all confidence gone! Last night we taught this different kind of different guy and ate some BBQ ribs from the south, which is not the usual beans and rice.
Elder Wilkins and I had a great last week together, a ton of success. The general trend of the mission is to do a lot worse the week before transfers due to lack of focus so Elder Wilkins and I did our best to step it up. I knew it was probably my last chance to make a difference in the ward so I did all that I could to do so. We had three at church
found 9 new people and taught 7 withs.(I have no idea what a with is!) Tons of success!
Well sorry but that’s all I have time to say I will write more next week. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Congrats Mandee on the all state choir! That is so amazing, I knew you could do it. Love you all!
Elder Sorensen
P.s Danie*a Ga*cia, she cried her eyes out when i left.
Sorry I didn't get to write yesterday, the libraries were closed due to the holiday. So yesterday was the big day in the mission. I don't have much time so I will summarize it all and tell you how I feel about it all when I know better myself.
1) I'm still in the city. I cover from 155th to the top of the island. Manhattan!
2) My new companion is Elder Swan; grew up in texas, moved to utah
3) They put me in the English program
4) My companion and I are basically white washing. (where they take out both missionaries of an area and put in two new ones) Elder Swan was here for one cycle a few cycles back.
5) President called me to be a zone leader So as you can imagine, I'm feeling a little like Enoch and Moses when they were first called to be prophets, a little overwhelmed. I feel like a greenie again; all confidence gone! Last night we taught this different kind of different guy and ate some BBQ ribs from the south, which is not the usual beans and rice.
Elder Wilkins and I had a great last week together, a ton of success. The general trend of the mission is to do a lot worse the week before transfers due to lack of focus so Elder Wilkins and I did our best to step it up. I knew it was probably my last chance to make a difference in the ward so I did all that I could to do so. We had three at church
found 9 new people and taught 7 withs.(I have no idea what a with is!) Tons of success!
Well sorry but that’s all I have time to say I will write more next week. I love you all and hope you have a great week. Congrats Mandee on the all state choir! That is so amazing, I knew you could do it. Love you all!
Elder Sorensen
P.s Danie*a Ga*cia, she cried her eyes out when i left.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
veteran's day 09
This year for one of Daniel's Christmas gift I'd like to send him a scripture tree. It would have a little message he could open each day of December. Please send me your favorite scripture reference and why it is special to you. I'll type them up and put them in a little jar for him to open. Thanks for you help.
Krista
AND
No message from Daniel today. I'm sure it is because the library was closed for Veteran's Day. Hopefully he will be able to email us tomorrow to tell us where he has moved to. I'll keep you posted.
If you haven't yet emailed me your favorite scripture for his Christmas package, please do as soon as you can.
Thank you.
Krista
Krista
AND
No message from Daniel today. I'm sure it is because the library was closed for Veteran's Day. Hopefully he will be able to email us tomorrow to tell us where he has moved to. I'll keep you posted.
If you haven't yet emailed me your favorite scripture for his Christmas package, please do as soon as you can.
Thank you.
Krista
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
11.03.09 part b
Daniel's letter from the mission president.
Dear Sisters and Elders,
Mission update: During the month of October, there were 42 baptisms in the mission (however, 3 were confirmed on November 1) A great number! Baptism commitments for November are at 28 with 11 set for December. As of today, there are three districts in the mission without any baptism commitments for either month. This is very short of our goal of 42 for the month of November and 47 for December. I am praying that through obedience, inspiration from the Spirit, and hard work, the Lord will guide you to those who need to hear your message. In order to achieve our goal of 42 for this month, we will need some miracles. As I have visited with a few of you, I know that in order to achieve our future goals, we must be diligent in our contacting. Also, we need to be more bold in our baptism invitations to those we know want to be baptized.
When I looked at the mission’s key indicators contained in your letters last week; for some reason we had a very tough week for lessons taught, new investigators, and progressing investigators. I am praying for all of you to be successful which will lead to happiness. Please fill out your key indicator report below. Some of you are not sending the information to me.
Thank you for your fasting and prayers for Elder Wang. His condition is very serious. At this point we know that he has experienced some kind of psychotic episode which has left him confused and not able to think or communicate clearly. He has been admitted to the New York Presbyterian Hospital in White Plains and is receiving excellent treatment. This is a very delicate and sensitive matter. Please continue to pray for him and his family at this time. I will let you know through your Zone Leaders of his progress.
Dear Sisters and Elders,
Mission update: During the month of October, there were 42 baptisms in the mission (however, 3 were confirmed on November 1) A great number! Baptism commitments for November are at 28 with 11 set for December. As of today, there are three districts in the mission without any baptism commitments for either month. This is very short of our goal of 42 for the month of November and 47 for December. I am praying that through obedience, inspiration from the Spirit, and hard work, the Lord will guide you to those who need to hear your message. In order to achieve our goal of 42 for this month, we will need some miracles. As I have visited with a few of you, I know that in order to achieve our future goals, we must be diligent in our contacting. Also, we need to be more bold in our baptism invitations to those we know want to be baptized.
When I looked at the mission’s key indicators contained in your letters last week; for some reason we had a very tough week for lessons taught, new investigators, and progressing investigators. I am praying for all of you to be successful which will lead to happiness. Please fill out your key indicator report below. Some of you are not sending the information to me.
Thank you for your fasting and prayers for Elder Wang. His condition is very serious. At this point we know that he has experienced some kind of psychotic episode which has left him confused and not able to think or communicate clearly. He has been admitted to the New York Presbyterian Hospital in White Plains and is receiving excellent treatment. This is a very delicate and sensitive matter. Please continue to pray for him and his family at this time. I will let you know through your Zone Leaders of his progress.
11.03.09
Hey Family! How's life?
Everything here has been great and we all had a great week. Time is flying faster than ever and I am pushing myself to make this the best week I've had in this area. This is probably my last chance, so I'm doing all that I can to make a difference here in the Bronx.
Last Sunday a guy named Dan*lo was baptized by some elders in my district. The thing that was so cool about it for me was that he was found by my recent convert, Dan*ela. She gave a powerful talk at the baptism how all the members are slacking and they need to work harder to bring people into the fold. She is going to be a powerful influence here and I can't wait to hear how things go. She has a very interesting personality that I will never forget. Probably one of the most energetic older people I've ever met.
I got to go on a split with one of the zone leaders back into part of my old area. I got to visit Dan*ela and Fan*y which was really awesome. They are both doing so good and growing a ton. Fa*ny is having a little trouble with her husband, but she is holding strong. Her two kids, who are about 4 and 5, said the opening and closing prayers which just brought in the strongest spirit.
We had been teaching this really cool guy named Pedr* who is progressing a lot. He has been to church two weeks in a row now and also came to the end of a baptism. I don't think I will be able to see it, but I'm sure by the end of the month he will be baptized. My district is on fire right now. We had one baptism last week and four more this weekend. As a district we have a higher goal for baptisms this month than some of the zones in the mission.
District meeting was really good this past week, but not as good as last week. We talked a lot about personal conversion through the gospel and how to apply it with those we teach. The mission is focusing on hitting the goals of 10 contacts every day, 20 total lessons and 5 total news for the week. Every one seems to be fired up and we are all seeing success!
We are starting to see a lot of fruit from working with the members so much. We have received a lot of member referrals and a lot more of the people we are teaching right now are from those referrals. Member referrals are a 100 times better than door knocks so we are pretty excited. I'm really glad for the chance I had to be companions with Elder Wilkins, he has taught me a lot and we have had a lot of success together. He is going to be one of the best in the mission for sure. (And not just because I was his trainer. lol)
Well we are heading off to the Natural History Museum so I will catch you all later. I hope you all have a great week and don't go on any dates with any boys. I love you all and hope your doing well. Thank you for your support and the Halloween packages. Please thank the Farvers for their huge packages as well! (Don't worry mom I will send a thank you letter, you've trained me well!) Have a great week!
Love Elder Sorensen
PS. clothes and shoes are holding up fine. I had one pair resoled and they need it again but its cheap. I may want a few more white shirts and some garments. The suits are pretty haggard but I've got two other ones that are still new I can wear when these are done.
Everything here has been great and we all had a great week. Time is flying faster than ever and I am pushing myself to make this the best week I've had in this area. This is probably my last chance, so I'm doing all that I can to make a difference here in the Bronx.
Last Sunday a guy named Dan*lo was baptized by some elders in my district. The thing that was so cool about it for me was that he was found by my recent convert, Dan*ela. She gave a powerful talk at the baptism how all the members are slacking and they need to work harder to bring people into the fold. She is going to be a powerful influence here and I can't wait to hear how things go. She has a very interesting personality that I will never forget. Probably one of the most energetic older people I've ever met.
I got to go on a split with one of the zone leaders back into part of my old area. I got to visit Dan*ela and Fan*y which was really awesome. They are both doing so good and growing a ton. Fa*ny is having a little trouble with her husband, but she is holding strong. Her two kids, who are about 4 and 5, said the opening and closing prayers which just brought in the strongest spirit.
We had been teaching this really cool guy named Pedr* who is progressing a lot. He has been to church two weeks in a row now and also came to the end of a baptism. I don't think I will be able to see it, but I'm sure by the end of the month he will be baptized. My district is on fire right now. We had one baptism last week and four more this weekend. As a district we have a higher goal for baptisms this month than some of the zones in the mission.
District meeting was really good this past week, but not as good as last week. We talked a lot about personal conversion through the gospel and how to apply it with those we teach. The mission is focusing on hitting the goals of 10 contacts every day, 20 total lessons and 5 total news for the week. Every one seems to be fired up and we are all seeing success!
We are starting to see a lot of fruit from working with the members so much. We have received a lot of member referrals and a lot more of the people we are teaching right now are from those referrals. Member referrals are a 100 times better than door knocks so we are pretty excited. I'm really glad for the chance I had to be companions with Elder Wilkins, he has taught me a lot and we have had a lot of success together. He is going to be one of the best in the mission for sure. (And not just because I was his trainer. lol)
Well we are heading off to the Natural History Museum so I will catch you all later. I hope you all have a great week and don't go on any dates with any boys. I love you all and hope your doing well. Thank you for your support and the Halloween packages. Please thank the Farvers for their huge packages as well! (Don't worry mom I will send a thank you letter, you've trained me well!) Have a great week!
Love Elder Sorensen
PS. clothes and shoes are holding up fine. I had one pair resoled and they need it again but its cheap. I may want a few more white shirts and some garments. The suits are pretty haggard but I've got two other ones that are still new I can wear when these are done.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
10.28.09
Family,
Hey everyone, what's up? Elder Wilkins and I had a good week with some success all around. We are all still fired up from Elder Pace and the hard work will soon pay off. I don't have any crazy stories this week but overall we had fun and worked hard.
District meeting was probably the highlight of my week as far as things go. I did a training on the doctrine of the plan of salvation. I think studying for trainings is the best part of being a district leader. The whole week I prayed and studied and prayed some more on what my district need to hear. I know that I received a ton of revelation for exactly what my district needed. It was one of those few times when without a doubt the Holy Ghost was putting words into my mouth. I learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation and how it really applies to us as missionaries. I feel a lot more motivated to do better and set an example. One scripture that has been going through my head none stop after my training is 3 Nephi 12:14-16. I know I need to be a better example to my district and set the tone for how we work.
I have been going on a lot of splits lately and I've learned a lot from them. All of these missionaries have been asking me for advice like I'm their father or something. I don't know what to tell people who are having problems! All I want to tell them is to suck it up and work harder. But don't worry I try to take it very seriously and give them my very best advice. It's a lot of responsibility this district leader thing. All well, I guess I'll have to take my own advice and suck it up and work harder.
We found this really cool guy last week named Pedr*. His sister in law is an active member and he just got here from Mexico. He investigated the church a while ago and now he's back into it. He was one of the last people I thought would come to church and after only a half an hour of sleep for the whole night of work he shows up! We gave him a date for next month and so hopefully he will hit the goal.
So I don't really know where I will be going in exactly two weeks but I doubt I will stay in the city. I really want to be in the city for Christmas but I doubt it will happen. Christmas is one of the best times on the mission and all I really know is the Bronx. In the city it's a lot easier to go caroling, singing on the subway, street meetings with free hot chocolate and Christmas presents of wrapped DVDs. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun somewhere in the middle of nowhere too.
Well family that's all of the time I have today. I hope you all have a great week. I'm super excited to hear about all-state tryouts and to see pictures of my nonbraceface sister. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Sorensen
PS Dad, I have no idea what I'm going to do with school and I'm trying not to think about it too much. I'm leaving all options open and when it comes time to make a decision I'll pray about it. I hear ya though on the Idaho part. I've been thinking a lot about the thanksgiving hunt. Are you excited? I'm jealous!
PPS hear is my letter from president and to president for those who want to hear more from me:
Dear Elders and Sisters,
What a wonderful mission tour we had with Elder Pace. Sister Smith and I learned a great deal and we are looking forward to implementing some of the ideas with you in the future. Congratulations on a great month of baptisms during October! If everything goes as planned, we will have a total of 44 baptisms during October – The second highest month during the past year.
Hard working, obedient missionaries + engaged and committed members, sprinkled with a good dose of heavenly miracles = great success.
If we continue this rate, the declining projected trend in baptisms per missionary per year which Elder Pace pointed out will surely not happen. Keep up the good work. Our mission goal for baptisms in November is 42. Zone leaders will let you know how this will break down by district. I know you can do it. Great blessings will come as you do your best.
As promised, here is the quote from Elder Scott which we discussed during our recent meetings:
Learning Truths from the Scriptures
o Read, ponder and pray about the meaning of specific verses.
o Be instructed through inspiration as you search the scriptures.
o Analyze and unite the core content of related scriptures so as to prepare a statement of principle that embodies the truths distributed throughout several passages.
As I have begun to follow this process, I am preparing an interesting list of individual statements of purpose with accompanying scriptural references. It is truly amazing what truths and insight I have gleaned from individual verses and also related scriptures which I have found. It is as though I am preparing my own personal compendium which reflects what I truly believe.
SISTER SMITH SAYS:
Few missionaries have received flu shots. Sister Schouten in the mission office is researching where free or low cost flu shots are available in your areas. It appears that the best resource is to check with your local fire department as to whether they can administer the shot. If you are not able to find a location, please call sister Schouten and she will hopefully be able to advise you of the location nearest you.
Determining if you have a temperature is very important when you feel sick. Since many apartments do not have thermometers, we will make them available for each apartment. These will be distributed at zone conference.
Sister Smith will have a special surprise (probably more jelly beans) for those obedient missionaries who have received a flu shot prior to our combined zone conferences which will be held November 16 and 17.
Remember to take the time to step back and take a good look at your mission experience. Ask: “Where am I and where do I want to be?†In his letter to me last week, Elder Marr quoted a statement by Elder Neil Andersen. "I know I am not what I need to become" The thought made me ponder as to Sister Smith’s and my mission experience – where do we want to be?
We love you all very much. (muy muy mucho)
President and Sister Smith
President,
Elder Wilkins and I had a great week with a lot of success. We have been working hard and being obedient and expecting miracles to happen. I know if we continue to do all that we can the Lord will make up for the rest. We personally could work on our 10 contacts. We have definitely improved a lot but we can do better. I am excited to see where this area will be going in a few weeks.
In the district we have been focusing a lot on member work. Next Sunday Elder Fox and Martindale will be baptizing a member referral from one of my recent converts which is a huge blessing. We are also doing trainings with the members every other Sunday during the third hour. Last week really showed a lot of results when we asked the members for names that we could start to pray for. We ended up getting over a hundred names from our members! Not all of them live in our areas but if our goal as a district is at least 4 per month, than out of that 100 we should be fine.
Thank you for all of the good advice in the e-mail. Our district is really fired up and working hard!
Elder Sorensen
Hey everyone, what's up? Elder Wilkins and I had a good week with some success all around. We are all still fired up from Elder Pace and the hard work will soon pay off. I don't have any crazy stories this week but overall we had fun and worked hard.
District meeting was probably the highlight of my week as far as things go. I did a training on the doctrine of the plan of salvation. I think studying for trainings is the best part of being a district leader. The whole week I prayed and studied and prayed some more on what my district need to hear. I know that I received a ton of revelation for exactly what my district needed. It was one of those few times when without a doubt the Holy Ghost was putting words into my mouth. I learned a lot about the Plan of Salvation and how it really applies to us as missionaries. I feel a lot more motivated to do better and set an example. One scripture that has been going through my head none stop after my training is 3 Nephi 12:14-16. I know I need to be a better example to my district and set the tone for how we work.
I have been going on a lot of splits lately and I've learned a lot from them. All of these missionaries have been asking me for advice like I'm their father or something. I don't know what to tell people who are having problems! All I want to tell them is to suck it up and work harder. But don't worry I try to take it very seriously and give them my very best advice. It's a lot of responsibility this district leader thing. All well, I guess I'll have to take my own advice and suck it up and work harder.
We found this really cool guy last week named Pedr*. His sister in law is an active member and he just got here from Mexico. He investigated the church a while ago and now he's back into it. He was one of the last people I thought would come to church and after only a half an hour of sleep for the whole night of work he shows up! We gave him a date for next month and so hopefully he will hit the goal.
So I don't really know where I will be going in exactly two weeks but I doubt I will stay in the city. I really want to be in the city for Christmas but I doubt it will happen. Christmas is one of the best times on the mission and all I really know is the Bronx. In the city it's a lot easier to go caroling, singing on the subway, street meetings with free hot chocolate and Christmas presents of wrapped DVDs. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun somewhere in the middle of nowhere too.
Well family that's all of the time I have today. I hope you all have a great week. I'm super excited to hear about all-state tryouts and to see pictures of my nonbraceface sister. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Sorensen
PS Dad, I have no idea what I'm going to do with school and I'm trying not to think about it too much. I'm leaving all options open and when it comes time to make a decision I'll pray about it. I hear ya though on the Idaho part. I've been thinking a lot about the thanksgiving hunt. Are you excited? I'm jealous!
PPS hear is my letter from president and to president for those who want to hear more from me:
Dear Elders and Sisters,
What a wonderful mission tour we had with Elder Pace. Sister Smith and I learned a great deal and we are looking forward to implementing some of the ideas with you in the future. Congratulations on a great month of baptisms during October! If everything goes as planned, we will have a total of 44 baptisms during October – The second highest month during the past year.
Hard working, obedient missionaries + engaged and committed members, sprinkled with a good dose of heavenly miracles = great success.
If we continue this rate, the declining projected trend in baptisms per missionary per year which Elder Pace pointed out will surely not happen. Keep up the good work. Our mission goal for baptisms in November is 42. Zone leaders will let you know how this will break down by district. I know you can do it. Great blessings will come as you do your best.
As promised, here is the quote from Elder Scott which we discussed during our recent meetings:
Learning Truths from the Scriptures
o Read, ponder and pray about the meaning of specific verses.
o Be instructed through inspiration as you search the scriptures.
o Analyze and unite the core content of related scriptures so as to prepare a statement of principle that embodies the truths distributed throughout several passages.
As I have begun to follow this process, I am preparing an interesting list of individual statements of purpose with accompanying scriptural references. It is truly amazing what truths and insight I have gleaned from individual verses and also related scriptures which I have found. It is as though I am preparing my own personal compendium which reflects what I truly believe.
SISTER SMITH SAYS:
Few missionaries have received flu shots. Sister Schouten in the mission office is researching where free or low cost flu shots are available in your areas. It appears that the best resource is to check with your local fire department as to whether they can administer the shot. If you are not able to find a location, please call sister Schouten and she will hopefully be able to advise you of the location nearest you.
Determining if you have a temperature is very important when you feel sick. Since many apartments do not have thermometers, we will make them available for each apartment. These will be distributed at zone conference.
Sister Smith will have a special surprise (probably more jelly beans) for those obedient missionaries who have received a flu shot prior to our combined zone conferences which will be held November 16 and 17.
Remember to take the time to step back and take a good look at your mission experience. Ask: “Where am I and where do I want to be?†In his letter to me last week, Elder Marr quoted a statement by Elder Neil Andersen. "I know I am not what I need to become" The thought made me ponder as to Sister Smith’s and my mission experience – where do we want to be?
We love you all very much. (muy muy mucho)
President and Sister Smith
President,
Elder Wilkins and I had a great week with a lot of success. We have been working hard and being obedient and expecting miracles to happen. I know if we continue to do all that we can the Lord will make up for the rest. We personally could work on our 10 contacts. We have definitely improved a lot but we can do better. I am excited to see where this area will be going in a few weeks.
In the district we have been focusing a lot on member work. Next Sunday Elder Fox and Martindale will be baptizing a member referral from one of my recent converts which is a huge blessing. We are also doing trainings with the members every other Sunday during the third hour. Last week really showed a lot of results when we asked the members for names that we could start to pray for. We ended up getting over a hundred names from our members! Not all of them live in our areas but if our goal as a district is at least 4 per month, than out of that 100 we should be fine.
Thank you for all of the good advice in the e-mail. Our district is really fired up and working hard!
Elder Sorensen
Thursday, October 22, 2009
10.21.09
Family,
Hey what up? We had a good week this past week and while we are still struggling with numbers, every thing is looking alright. The whole mission is in a down cycle right now but we are doing our part to bring it back up. This week was actually more exciting as far as things go. On Friday the ward had a big nations party where they had typical food and dance from each country. It is always the biggest party of the year and we had a ton of people there. It was really cool and we had a lot of fun even though we couldn't stay for the whole time. We made up a dance to an efy song and it actually turned out pretty good! We had a lot of fun doing it and the ward really enjoyed it. I'll send pics and a video of it.
The highlight of the week was probably yesterday when Elder Pace of the 70 visited the mission. We had a mission conference with all of the missionaries from the city all morning and then he gave a fireside to the members last night. President Smith asked me and my companion to role play in front of everyone, including the Elder Pace, teaching the restoration which was a little intimidating. I guess next time I won't sit on the front row! Every one said we did a great job and it was something I've done a million times so I guess no big deal.
Elder Pace really taught us a lot and told us that our mission is on a downward spiral and we need to get back to work. It was an amazing training and I think it really fired up the missionaries. I personally learned a lot about spiritual confidence and being bolder with my investigators. He also taught us to be more excited to be a missionary. We are trying to teach the world the greatest message since the life of Jesus Christ. We should be trying to tell everyone. We had our most solid investigator there named Glor*a, and she said she really liked it. She seems to be progressing really well and starting to feel the truth. We going to find out more tonight.
Monday was also a really good day for most of my district. It seemed like district meeting really fired us up and we all had a great day. I let one of the newer missionaries train us a little about street contacting and it went really well. He had been struggling with it before but now he fired us all up to do a better job speaking with everyone. It is such a noticeable difference when you strongly feel the spirit all day vs. just during lessons and every once and a while. Our focus of the week is talking with everyone not just because we are told to street contact, but out of love for the people. I have really felt a difference in the past few days about how I feel for these people. We found 10 news as a district that which was really good! We found this family who had a pet squirrel, weird Bronx people!
I really want to push my district to be better and do more. I've found it's a really hard balance of pushing them so they improve and showing them that you love them so they will listen to you. I think mostly everyone respects me in the district but I really want to push them to excellence. We all have been struggling a little bit in our own ways and we need to find a way to improve. I think we all just need to get more fired up about the work and if members aren't doing everything for us we will just have to get it done ourselves.
So over all it was a really good week. I have been beating myself up a lot because of lack of results with our investigators, but after a few personal studies and Elder Pace teachings I feel a lot more confident. This week should be a break of the downward spiral Elder Wilkins and I have been having, so hopefully all will go well. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
PS no big requests. you know me, i don't know what i like. cheetos sound good. maybe popcorn, yea i like popcorn. no more of those weird power bars, the fruity ones. It was an adventure to try them but the results weren't so good. oh maybe some thin black cloth gloves that i can wear, that would be good. maybe a good hamburger or steak? I haven't had one of those for a long time. if only, there is no such thing here. ok thanks
Hey what up? We had a good week this past week and while we are still struggling with numbers, every thing is looking alright. The whole mission is in a down cycle right now but we are doing our part to bring it back up. This week was actually more exciting as far as things go. On Friday the ward had a big nations party where they had typical food and dance from each country. It is always the biggest party of the year and we had a ton of people there. It was really cool and we had a lot of fun even though we couldn't stay for the whole time. We made up a dance to an efy song and it actually turned out pretty good! We had a lot of fun doing it and the ward really enjoyed it. I'll send pics and a video of it.
The highlight of the week was probably yesterday when Elder Pace of the 70 visited the mission. We had a mission conference with all of the missionaries from the city all morning and then he gave a fireside to the members last night. President Smith asked me and my companion to role play in front of everyone, including the Elder Pace, teaching the restoration which was a little intimidating. I guess next time I won't sit on the front row! Every one said we did a great job and it was something I've done a million times so I guess no big deal.
Elder Pace really taught us a lot and told us that our mission is on a downward spiral and we need to get back to work. It was an amazing training and I think it really fired up the missionaries. I personally learned a lot about spiritual confidence and being bolder with my investigators. He also taught us to be more excited to be a missionary. We are trying to teach the world the greatest message since the life of Jesus Christ. We should be trying to tell everyone. We had our most solid investigator there named Glor*a, and she said she really liked it. She seems to be progressing really well and starting to feel the truth. We going to find out more tonight.
Monday was also a really good day for most of my district. It seemed like district meeting really fired us up and we all had a great day. I let one of the newer missionaries train us a little about street contacting and it went really well. He had been struggling with it before but now he fired us all up to do a better job speaking with everyone. It is such a noticeable difference when you strongly feel the spirit all day vs. just during lessons and every once and a while. Our focus of the week is talking with everyone not just because we are told to street contact, but out of love for the people. I have really felt a difference in the past few days about how I feel for these people. We found 10 news as a district that which was really good! We found this family who had a pet squirrel, weird Bronx people!
I really want to push my district to be better and do more. I've found it's a really hard balance of pushing them so they improve and showing them that you love them so they will listen to you. I think mostly everyone respects me in the district but I really want to push them to excellence. We all have been struggling a little bit in our own ways and we need to find a way to improve. I think we all just need to get more fired up about the work and if members aren't doing everything for us we will just have to get it done ourselves.
So over all it was a really good week. I have been beating myself up a lot because of lack of results with our investigators, but after a few personal studies and Elder Pace teachings I feel a lot more confident. This week should be a break of the downward spiral Elder Wilkins and I have been having, so hopefully all will go well. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
PS no big requests. you know me, i don't know what i like. cheetos sound good. maybe popcorn, yea i like popcorn. no more of those weird power bars, the fruity ones. It was an adventure to try them but the results weren't so good. oh maybe some thin black cloth gloves that i can wear, that would be good. maybe a good hamburger or steak? I haven't had one of those for a long time. if only, there is no such thing here. ok thanks
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
10.14.09
Family!
Hey everyone how's life? It's pretty crazy you all got snow this last week. It's
getting pretty cold here too. Elder Wilkins and I had a pretty good week, we are still
struggling on getting our investigators to progress but we have faith and we are putting
our trust in the Lord. I don't doubt the Lord has many things planned for us as long as
we stay worthy to receive them. We have been working on talking with everyone and have
seen a lot of fruit from it. For example we found this guy named Rich*rd who really has a
strong desire to turn his life around and sees that the gospel is the only way to do it.
Last night we taught him for the 2nd time and he committed himself to all of the things
we wanted to commit him to do. It was sweet!
So you wanted me to tell you more about my companion so here it goes. He is from Orem
Utah, lives right by the Provo Canyon. He has two older siblings, one who lives in Texas
with her husband, and the other is living there with his parents. He went to BYU before
the mission and wants to study to be a civil engineer. He has learned a ton in the past
three cycles and hopefully by the end of this cycle he will know everything I wished I
would have known at his age. His Spanish is good, his teaching is good, no complaints, he
just amazes me everyday. He will make a great missionary.
The old apartment of where the missionaries use to live got shut down because the
contract expired and it was costing the church a lot of extra money. They may not stay in
our pad for much longer but it saves a lot of money. In the church worldwide there is a
lack of eighteen-year olds, and for that reason there will be a lot less missionaries
here in New York. Normally we get a new group of missionaries every 6 weeks, but it looks
like we won't be getting any till February.
So the first district meeting I put together was all about training our members to do
missionary work. That has been the focus on mine for the past few months and we have put
together some really good ideas to help the ward. We have been teaching them a lot from
PMG which has worked great. The 2nd district meeting we had was about expecting miracles
and being a successful missionary. It has been a lot of fun being able to study for
missionaries and receiving revelation to help them
I am having a really good time in this area and I have grown to love it here a lot. It
feels like my mission is going by too fast and I just wish time would slow down so I can
get more done. I know I will grow a lot in a different area and I know the Lord will put
me were he needs me the most. Right now I'm trying not to think about leaving in a few
weeks so I can stay focused on these people here and now. I want to do just a little more
for the people here in the Bronx before I leave.
Well family, I love you all and hope you're all having a great week. I am still doing really
well here and loving life. There is no other place I would rather be. Good luck to you
all in this upcoming week, I hope it goes great. I love you all!
Elder Sorensen
PS. Happy late birthday G. Deanne!
Hey everyone how's life? It's pretty crazy you all got snow this last week. It's
getting pretty cold here too. Elder Wilkins and I had a pretty good week, we are still
struggling on getting our investigators to progress but we have faith and we are putting
our trust in the Lord. I don't doubt the Lord has many things planned for us as long as
we stay worthy to receive them. We have been working on talking with everyone and have
seen a lot of fruit from it. For example we found this guy named Rich*rd who really has a
strong desire to turn his life around and sees that the gospel is the only way to do it.
Last night we taught him for the 2nd time and he committed himself to all of the things
we wanted to commit him to do. It was sweet!
So you wanted me to tell you more about my companion so here it goes. He is from Orem
Utah, lives right by the Provo Canyon. He has two older siblings, one who lives in Texas
with her husband, and the other is living there with his parents. He went to BYU before
the mission and wants to study to be a civil engineer. He has learned a ton in the past
three cycles and hopefully by the end of this cycle he will know everything I wished I
would have known at his age. His Spanish is good, his teaching is good, no complaints, he
just amazes me everyday. He will make a great missionary.
The old apartment of where the missionaries use to live got shut down because the
contract expired and it was costing the church a lot of extra money. They may not stay in
our pad for much longer but it saves a lot of money. In the church worldwide there is a
lack of eighteen-year olds, and for that reason there will be a lot less missionaries
here in New York. Normally we get a new group of missionaries every 6 weeks, but it looks
like we won't be getting any till February.
So the first district meeting I put together was all about training our members to do
missionary work. That has been the focus on mine for the past few months and we have put
together some really good ideas to help the ward. We have been teaching them a lot from
PMG which has worked great. The 2nd district meeting we had was about expecting miracles
and being a successful missionary. It has been a lot of fun being able to study for
missionaries and receiving revelation to help them
I am having a really good time in this area and I have grown to love it here a lot. It
feels like my mission is going by too fast and I just wish time would slow down so I can
get more done. I know I will grow a lot in a different area and I know the Lord will put
me were he needs me the most. Right now I'm trying not to think about leaving in a few
weeks so I can stay focused on these people here and now. I want to do just a little more
for the people here in the Bronx before I leave.
Well family, I love you all and hope you're all having a great week. I am still doing really
well here and loving life. There is no other place I would rather be. Good luck to you
all in this upcoming week, I hope it goes great. I love you all!
Elder Sorensen
PS. Happy late birthday G. Deanne!
Thursday, October 8, 2009
10.8.09
Family,
Hey everyone, how it all going? I hear that Nick and Deb got there first house. That's awesome! I also hear Mandee and Savanna are becoming the next American idol. Just to let you know, the Lord tells us everywhere in the bible not to worship idols even if there American. Sorry, tough luck! Elder Wilkins and I had an okay week but conference was awesome! It is a lot different as a missionary and I definitely appreciate it more now. So many good things were said! I just wish everyone would apply them. That's the hard thing.
So we now have two more people living in our apartment because they shut another one down. It's really crowded but the elders are a lot of fun, so it's all good. I give a district training meeting every Monday and the first one went really well. There is going to be a lot of good things going for this district and our ward. There are a total of four companionships in my district including the zone leaders. We all live together, except one companionship which just lives next door, so it's all good. We are really close to each other because most of us were together last cycle. We should have a lot of success this cycle which is good because president, in my last interview, told me that this will be my last cycle here.
This week has started out really great, we have found two great families and we already have them lined up with members. The last interviews we had with President Smith got us all fired up and motivated to work harder. We don't have anyone really for this month, but president told us if we do all that we can we can find someone. He also told me I was one of the best missionaries in the mission, but I think he was just trying to butter me up for when he sends me upstate to the middle of nowhere.
Nothing really exciting has happened this past week that I can think of. I've been doing my best to work as hard as I can and to set a good example. Life as a missionary doesn't change up too much, well it hasn't for me. We do see miracles every day which is awesome and I think I should be more grateful for all that we receive. Conference was definitely the highlight of the week even if none of my investigators could come.
We have really been pushing to improve the ward here and it has been a lot of fun as we have changed up how we've worked. All of our members we teach using Preach My Gospel (PMG) which is such a big help. I have to carry around my PMG now, but it's worth it to help my members learn there roll in missionary work. Dad, I hope you know chapter 13 better than anyone because it's all about you, and chapter 9. Members are the key to success, now we just have to help them understand that.
So it's great to hear that you all are doing so well. It will be fun to talk to you all again and see the differences of time. I love serving a mission and I am so glad that I made the choice very young to become a missionary. I never imagined what can come from being a missionary and all of the blessing that are in store for us as we keep the commandments of the Lord. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Hey everyone, how it all going? I hear that Nick and Deb got there first house. That's awesome! I also hear Mandee and Savanna are becoming the next American idol. Just to let you know, the Lord tells us everywhere in the bible not to worship idols even if there American. Sorry, tough luck! Elder Wilkins and I had an okay week but conference was awesome! It is a lot different as a missionary and I definitely appreciate it more now. So many good things were said! I just wish everyone would apply them. That's the hard thing.
So we now have two more people living in our apartment because they shut another one down. It's really crowded but the elders are a lot of fun, so it's all good. I give a district training meeting every Monday and the first one went really well. There is going to be a lot of good things going for this district and our ward. There are a total of four companionships in my district including the zone leaders. We all live together, except one companionship which just lives next door, so it's all good. We are really close to each other because most of us were together last cycle. We should have a lot of success this cycle which is good because president, in my last interview, told me that this will be my last cycle here.
This week has started out really great, we have found two great families and we already have them lined up with members. The last interviews we had with President Smith got us all fired up and motivated to work harder. We don't have anyone really for this month, but president told us if we do all that we can we can find someone. He also told me I was one of the best missionaries in the mission, but I think he was just trying to butter me up for when he sends me upstate to the middle of nowhere.
Nothing really exciting has happened this past week that I can think of. I've been doing my best to work as hard as I can and to set a good example. Life as a missionary doesn't change up too much, well it hasn't for me. We do see miracles every day which is awesome and I think I should be more grateful for all that we receive. Conference was definitely the highlight of the week even if none of my investigators could come.
We have really been pushing to improve the ward here and it has been a lot of fun as we have changed up how we've worked. All of our members we teach using Preach My Gospel (PMG) which is such a big help. I have to carry around my PMG now, but it's worth it to help my members learn there roll in missionary work. Dad, I hope you know chapter 13 better than anyone because it's all about you, and chapter 9. Members are the key to success, now we just have to help them understand that.
So it's great to hear that you all are doing so well. It will be fun to talk to you all again and see the differences of time. I love serving a mission and I am so glad that I made the choice very young to become a missionary. I never imagined what can come from being a missionary and all of the blessing that are in store for us as we keep the commandments of the Lord. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
9.30.09
Family!
So it looks like I haven't done everything here that the Lord wants me to do because I'll still be here for another month and a half. That will be a total 7 cycles which is10 and a half months here in this area which is a long time but it should be a lot of fun. I've never really heard of someone staying that long but that's how the first presidency wants it to be so I guess that's how it's going to be for a lot of missionaries. I will also still be with Elder Wilkins for another cycle which is great. He is a good missionary and we have had a lot of success together.
President also called me to be the new district leader here in this ward which will be yet another challenge. Most of the elders stayed the same for last cycle so I know them fairly well. It is a really good group and we should have a lot of success together. I'm going to have to learn real quick how to do everything and be a leader. I am excited for the chance to grow and learn more.
Elder Wilkins and I had a good week but we still have a lot of improving to do. This area has so much potential and I don't think we are using it to its full potential. We could have a lot more success if we start working smarter. Little by little we are learning how to be better and I know we are going to have a lot of success together this next cycle. We have set up a lot of things with the members and so hopefully we will see some fruit.
We had a really cool lesson the other day with Ralph, our recent convert, which really shows the power of the Holy Ghost. We were going over the plan of salvation again explaining everything in a little more detail. Usually he doesn't talk a whole lot, he will answer questions but in very few words. Friday, he was talking up a storm and really opening up to us and showing his understanding. It was great and we could really feel the spirit.
Well it sounds like you are all doing amazing and really working hard. I hope everything works out for you guys. The Lord really blesses us when we are obedient to His word. I wish I had more time to talk to you all but you know how it is. All I can say is that I'm doing amazing and I love the work. Life can't get any better than this for a 20 year old. I love you all and I will talk to you next week!
Elder Sorensen
PS: have you heard anything from Griff?
So it looks like I haven't done everything here that the Lord wants me to do because I'll still be here for another month and a half. That will be a total 7 cycles which is10 and a half months here in this area which is a long time but it should be a lot of fun. I've never really heard of someone staying that long but that's how the first presidency wants it to be so I guess that's how it's going to be for a lot of missionaries. I will also still be with Elder Wilkins for another cycle which is great. He is a good missionary and we have had a lot of success together.
President also called me to be the new district leader here in this ward which will be yet another challenge. Most of the elders stayed the same for last cycle so I know them fairly well. It is a really good group and we should have a lot of success together. I'm going to have to learn real quick how to do everything and be a leader. I am excited for the chance to grow and learn more.
Elder Wilkins and I had a good week but we still have a lot of improving to do. This area has so much potential and I don't think we are using it to its full potential. We could have a lot more success if we start working smarter. Little by little we are learning how to be better and I know we are going to have a lot of success together this next cycle. We have set up a lot of things with the members and so hopefully we will see some fruit.
We had a really cool lesson the other day with Ralph, our recent convert, which really shows the power of the Holy Ghost. We were going over the plan of salvation again explaining everything in a little more detail. Usually he doesn't talk a whole lot, he will answer questions but in very few words. Friday, he was talking up a storm and really opening up to us and showing his understanding. It was great and we could really feel the spirit.
Well it sounds like you are all doing amazing and really working hard. I hope everything works out for you guys. The Lord really blesses us when we are obedient to His word. I wish I had more time to talk to you all but you know how it is. All I can say is that I'm doing amazing and I love the work. Life can't get any better than this for a 20 year old. I love you all and I will talk to you next week!
Elder Sorensen
PS: have you heard anything from Griff?
Sunday, September 27, 2009
9.26.09
Family!
Hey everyone- how's life? Everything has been going well here and nothing too exciting happened this week. Well at least we didn't get mugged. We had conference cleaning, so we are a little crunched for time this week. We have been working really hard to change how we have been working. We are trying to focus on using our members better. The right way to do this work is through the members and the ward. We are having to train our members on how to teach with us and teaching the importance of working as a team. I wish all members would read PMG (Preach My Gospel) and see what we need of them.
We have been struggling a little as far as numbers this past week but I think it's because we have to train our members for a while before we can see more results. We did have one investigator come to church that we have been waiting to come. I was excited to see her there and she said she loved it.
This might be my last full week here in the Bronx and so I am trying to train Elder Wilkins as much as I can before I leave. He has really come a long way and I hope I made him a little better missionary. I hope he becomes a better missionary than I am and the way he is moving he might pass me up in a few cycles. I have had a lot of fun working with him and I really learned a lot myself. My Spanish, teaching skills finding, everything has really improved from working with him.
So it's great to hear that everyone is doing so well. I'm excited that Nick and Deb will be getting their first house. I also can't wait to hear from Griff. I understand the lack of time problem, so I'm sure it will be a while. Sorry this letter is really short; I will try to do better next week. The library is down so I am using an internet cafe. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Hey everyone- how's life? Everything has been going well here and nothing too exciting happened this week. Well at least we didn't get mugged. We had conference cleaning, so we are a little crunched for time this week. We have been working really hard to change how we have been working. We are trying to focus on using our members better. The right way to do this work is through the members and the ward. We are having to train our members on how to teach with us and teaching the importance of working as a team. I wish all members would read PMG (Preach My Gospel) and see what we need of them.
We have been struggling a little as far as numbers this past week but I think it's because we have to train our members for a while before we can see more results. We did have one investigator come to church that we have been waiting to come. I was excited to see her there and she said she loved it.
This might be my last full week here in the Bronx and so I am trying to train Elder Wilkins as much as I can before I leave. He has really come a long way and I hope I made him a little better missionary. I hope he becomes a better missionary than I am and the way he is moving he might pass me up in a few cycles. I have had a lot of fun working with him and I really learned a lot myself. My Spanish, teaching skills finding, everything has really improved from working with him.
So it's great to hear that everyone is doing so well. I'm excited that Nick and Deb will be getting their first house. I also can't wait to hear from Griff. I understand the lack of time problem, so I'm sure it will be a while. Sorry this letter is really short; I will try to do better next week. The library is down so I am using an internet cafe. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
09.16.09
Hey family!
So I guess you all have heard about my little incident last Monday. I tried to keep it from mom but unfortunately that didn't work. Mom, please don't worry. We had a little bit of a rough week last week all starting off on Monday, but we picked ourselves back up this week and had a great start. On Tuesday I went on a split with my DL (district leader) and he got sick so we went home early, then on Thursday my companion got sick and he has asthma so we ended up having to go to the doctor in Manhattan and the whole week went down the tubes. I did get in a ton of study time and I finished (the book) Jesus the Christ which was great.
We did have an amazing end of the week with the baptism and confirmation of Ral*h. My companion had to baptism him four times because Ral*h was having a bit of a hard time, but it's ok because now he is squeaky clean! We are trying to get him better involved with the ward because he is a little shy so we are doing everything we can for that. President Darger, one of our mission president's councilors, came to the service and after learning about what happened on Monday he slipped a twenty in my pocket. That same day we ran into a family from Utah who were all excited and giddy to see real missionaries in action, gave us each 20 bucks for lunch. 60 bucks in one day isn't too bad. We always try to say no many times but I've offended a few people so I don't put up too much of a fight if people want to give me money.
So now that rumors are flying around with everyone about the little incident on Monday I might as well tell you the whole story. Warning though, no one overreact and call President Smith and demand I come home. Ok? So on Monday around three o'clock Elder Wilkins and I where traveling to meet up with a referral that we had received from other missionaries. As we traveled to a far away place to where we usually wouldn't go to because of the lack of Spanish people, I told elder Wilkins that this was probably our most dangerous area. The people were all just looking at us all funny, probably because they have never seen white people, and no one looked happy.
Some kid asked me as we were walking if we had change for a twenty to which I replied no. I had the thought to not even look and just keep walking. So we kept walking and later I noticed a group of teenagers walking behind us for a while. They kept saying sir, sir so my companion turned around to ask them if they were talking to us. They surround us and acted all tough asking why we were there and everything in there Bronx slang; I didn't understand half of it. Then they said something to the translation of so you guys can get out your weapons or whatever you have but we want your money. At first I thought they were joking because it was in the middle of the day, people were out washing there cars and on the streets and we were just in some neighborhood. So when I found out that they were serious I asked them if they really wanted to rob men of God with His Son's name on our chest, fine you can have our money. We pulled out the whole 18 dollars we had and gave them the cash. One of them checked my comp's pocket but all that he got were flash cards. They told us we can call the cops or whatever we wanted and took off running.
So I called the cops who pulled together a team and took us around the area in their car arresting people along the way for whatever reason they could. It was kind of weird sitting in the back of a cop car but it's a good story. They cops told us not to go back into that area because that happens all of the time. Pres Smith said the same thing. But now the area is open again so we should be fine. We were pretty mad at the time, not because of the money, just lack of respect. but now it seems pretty funny and a great story to tell.
the following is pres's remarks about the incident in a weekly letter to the mission:
Hello Sisters and Elders,
Sister Smith arrived safely back in New York this past week. All went well in Idaho. On her return trip, she laid over a day and visited Elder Evans. He is doing well but the treatment is very difficult. He is courageous but is growing weary of having to stay close to home and focus on the treatment. Sister Smith gave him a copy of all of your letters. He was elated. I am sure he will spend hours perusing them and pondering of you and your success in the mission.
Local mission news includes the robbery of Elder Sorensen and Elder Wilkins. Three young men approached them and asked if they had any money. Elders Sorensen and Wilkins agreed to give them the money if they would accept a baptism date in September. (just kidding) However, Elder Sorensen did think that with a little work and refinement, he could develop the event into a new and effective way of contacting. Because Elder Wilkins is somewhat new to the work, the subsequent interview with police was viewed as the completion of successful lacing of the three robbers. I suggested that at this time they probably should not add the three young men to their new investigator list.
Seriously, please be very careful. The Lord watched over these good Elders. In addition they did their part in being smart and responsible. I know that one of the reasons the Elders were spared from danger was their cheerful attitude and their immediate wiliness to give up worldly things. If confronted, please do not argue or become defensive. Just become a good natured victim. It could save you from serious bodily harm. The police have asked the missionaries to avoid the area for a while. This is prudent and I have instructed them to follow the direction of the police.
Scripture to ponder:
34 O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.
35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.
(Book of Mormon | Alma 31:34 - 35)
We love you and yearn for your success, good health and happiness.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Smith
So we found four news yesterday which was really great. We found this mom and her son who were really cool and hopefully go some where. We are trying to change our focus a little more with how PMG (Preach My Gospel) teaches us to do missionary work. I am really going to push to help the members learn their responability, and their covenants towards missionary work. My whole mission I have tried over and over to help the members understand but they never get it. Now that I have a long time in this area and that I know the members very well I am going to learn how to better work with them to get this work moving. I have to learn how to teach them to help me.
So anyways I hope everyone is doing really well and loving life. Please don't worry about me and my safety, worry about my investigators. I am proud of all the hard work that you are accomplishing and the example you are for me. I love you all and hope you have great week!
Elder Sorensen
P.S. As for the vacation next summer, I say come to new york, it would be a lot of fun, there is a ton to do.
I know what areas are good and what areas are bad. If we only go out during the day it would be fine. It doesn't really matter to me if you all want to pick me up here or whatever. I know I've said it's not very safe here but for the most parts during the day in a group we would be fine.
Elder Sorensen
So I guess you all have heard about my little incident last Monday. I tried to keep it from mom but unfortunately that didn't work. Mom, please don't worry. We had a little bit of a rough week last week all starting off on Monday, but we picked ourselves back up this week and had a great start. On Tuesday I went on a split with my DL (district leader) and he got sick so we went home early, then on Thursday my companion got sick and he has asthma so we ended up having to go to the doctor in Manhattan and the whole week went down the tubes. I did get in a ton of study time and I finished (the book) Jesus the Christ which was great.
We did have an amazing end of the week with the baptism and confirmation of Ral*h. My companion had to baptism him four times because Ral*h was having a bit of a hard time, but it's ok because now he is squeaky clean! We are trying to get him better involved with the ward because he is a little shy so we are doing everything we can for that. President Darger, one of our mission president's councilors, came to the service and after learning about what happened on Monday he slipped a twenty in my pocket. That same day we ran into a family from Utah who were all excited and giddy to see real missionaries in action, gave us each 20 bucks for lunch. 60 bucks in one day isn't too bad. We always try to say no many times but I've offended a few people so I don't put up too much of a fight if people want to give me money.
So now that rumors are flying around with everyone about the little incident on Monday I might as well tell you the whole story. Warning though, no one overreact and call President Smith and demand I come home. Ok? So on Monday around three o'clock Elder Wilkins and I where traveling to meet up with a referral that we had received from other missionaries. As we traveled to a far away place to where we usually wouldn't go to because of the lack of Spanish people, I told elder Wilkins that this was probably our most dangerous area. The people were all just looking at us all funny, probably because they have never seen white people, and no one looked happy.
Some kid asked me as we were walking if we had change for a twenty to which I replied no. I had the thought to not even look and just keep walking. So we kept walking and later I noticed a group of teenagers walking behind us for a while. They kept saying sir, sir so my companion turned around to ask them if they were talking to us. They surround us and acted all tough asking why we were there and everything in there Bronx slang; I didn't understand half of it. Then they said something to the translation of so you guys can get out your weapons or whatever you have but we want your money. At first I thought they were joking because it was in the middle of the day, people were out washing there cars and on the streets and we were just in some neighborhood. So when I found out that they were serious I asked them if they really wanted to rob men of God with His Son's name on our chest, fine you can have our money. We pulled out the whole 18 dollars we had and gave them the cash. One of them checked my comp's pocket but all that he got were flash cards. They told us we can call the cops or whatever we wanted and took off running.
So I called the cops who pulled together a team and took us around the area in their car arresting people along the way for whatever reason they could. It was kind of weird sitting in the back of a cop car but it's a good story. They cops told us not to go back into that area because that happens all of the time. Pres Smith said the same thing. But now the area is open again so we should be fine. We were pretty mad at the time, not because of the money, just lack of respect. but now it seems pretty funny and a great story to tell.
the following is pres's remarks about the incident in a weekly letter to the mission:
Hello Sisters and Elders,
Sister Smith arrived safely back in New York this past week. All went well in Idaho. On her return trip, she laid over a day and visited Elder Evans. He is doing well but the treatment is very difficult. He is courageous but is growing weary of having to stay close to home and focus on the treatment. Sister Smith gave him a copy of all of your letters. He was elated. I am sure he will spend hours perusing them and pondering of you and your success in the mission.
Local mission news includes the robbery of Elder Sorensen and Elder Wilkins. Three young men approached them and asked if they had any money. Elders Sorensen and Wilkins agreed to give them the money if they would accept a baptism date in September. (just kidding) However, Elder Sorensen did think that with a little work and refinement, he could develop the event into a new and effective way of contacting. Because Elder Wilkins is somewhat new to the work, the subsequent interview with police was viewed as the completion of successful lacing of the three robbers. I suggested that at this time they probably should not add the three young men to their new investigator list.
Seriously, please be very careful. The Lord watched over these good Elders. In addition they did their part in being smart and responsible. I know that one of the reasons the Elders were spared from danger was their cheerful attitude and their immediate wiliness to give up worldly things. If confronted, please do not argue or become defensive. Just become a good natured victim. It could save you from serious bodily harm. The police have asked the missionaries to avoid the area for a while. This is prudent and I have instructed them to follow the direction of the police.
Scripture to ponder:
34 O Lord, wilt thou grant unto us that we may have success in bringing them again unto thee in Christ.
35 Behold, O Lord, their souls are precious, and many of them are our brethren; therefore, give unto us, O Lord, power and wisdom that we may bring these, our brethren, again unto thee.
(Book of Mormon | Alma 31:34 - 35)
We love you and yearn for your success, good health and happiness.
Sincerely,
President and Sister Smith
So we found four news yesterday which was really great. We found this mom and her son who were really cool and hopefully go some where. We are trying to change our focus a little more with how PMG (Preach My Gospel) teaches us to do missionary work. I am really going to push to help the members learn their responability, and their covenants towards missionary work. My whole mission I have tried over and over to help the members understand but they never get it. Now that I have a long time in this area and that I know the members very well I am going to learn how to better work with them to get this work moving. I have to learn how to teach them to help me.
So anyways I hope everyone is doing really well and loving life. Please don't worry about me and my safety, worry about my investigators. I am proud of all the hard work that you are accomplishing and the example you are for me. I love you all and hope you have great week!
Elder Sorensen
P.S. As for the vacation next summer, I say come to new york, it would be a lot of fun, there is a ton to do.
I know what areas are good and what areas are bad. If we only go out during the day it would be fine. It doesn't really matter to me if you all want to pick me up here or whatever. I know I've said it's not very safe here but for the most parts during the day in a group we would be fine.
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
09.09.09
Family,
Wow, it sounds like you are all doing amazing! Congrats Mandee and Savanna on all of the choir stuff that is really cool! It is great to hear good news from you all and that you are doing so well. I also had a good week. It wasn't nearly as good as the few weeks in the past but we still saw a lot of success. Satan is throwing everything he has got at us right now. But when is he not? We still had success and loving life as a missionary.
We had the baptismal interview for Ra*iel, he passed no problem and so we are going to have a baptismal service this Saturday! He is a little socially awkward so we are going to have to really focus on getting the ward to fellowship him. The service should be great and I'm letting Elder Wilkins do the baptism which should be really great for him. I am so grateful for all of the success we have had in this area and how the Lord awards us with so many baptisms. I am a little worried about next month but I won't lose hope and let Satan win.
A lot of our investigators we have found have dropped out of our teaching pool so we are working really hard to find the elect. We have been finding plenty of people, that isn't the hard part of the Bronx, we are just trying to find those who are ready to receive His message. I also need to work a lot more on my teaching skills, I feel like they have been dropping off a little. What we don't constantly improve we will definitely lose.
Probably the miracle of the week happened on Tuesday. The mission standard of excellence for 1 week is 5 new investigators and 5 with member lessons. On Tuesday in about an hour and a half we hit both of those goals. We brought He*tor, a member who comes out with us a lot, tracting and we found this building that was full of Ecuadorians. It was really weird because everyone we talked to was from the same city in Ecuador and it was a huge building. But anyways we ended up teaching 5 of them with He*tor and getting 5 news. It was sweet!
Everything else has been going really well and I have nothing to complain about. I'm healthy, staying full (even though another one on my recent converts cooked me a ton of food because I looked too skinny. lol), my clothes are holding up, I feel the spirit everyday and I'm happy. What else could I ask for?
I hope everyone else is doing as well as I am. I read about Griff's experience in the temple and I was so happy that you all had such a good time. The Lord is certainly blessing us in these hard times and we have a lot to be grateful for. Thank you all for your support and prayers. It is great to have my own little fan group when everyone else here in the Bronx does the opposite. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Be grateful for everything and always be true to what we teach.
Elder Sorensen
PS: Happy Birthday OLD MAN!!! Haha I love you grandpa Brad!
Wow, it sounds like you are all doing amazing! Congrats Mandee and Savanna on all of the choir stuff that is really cool! It is great to hear good news from you all and that you are doing so well. I also had a good week. It wasn't nearly as good as the few weeks in the past but we still saw a lot of success. Satan is throwing everything he has got at us right now. But when is he not? We still had success and loving life as a missionary.
We had the baptismal interview for Ra*iel, he passed no problem and so we are going to have a baptismal service this Saturday! He is a little socially awkward so we are going to have to really focus on getting the ward to fellowship him. The service should be great and I'm letting Elder Wilkins do the baptism which should be really great for him. I am so grateful for all of the success we have had in this area and how the Lord awards us with so many baptisms. I am a little worried about next month but I won't lose hope and let Satan win.
A lot of our investigators we have found have dropped out of our teaching pool so we are working really hard to find the elect. We have been finding plenty of people, that isn't the hard part of the Bronx, we are just trying to find those who are ready to receive His message. I also need to work a lot more on my teaching skills, I feel like they have been dropping off a little. What we don't constantly improve we will definitely lose.
Probably the miracle of the week happened on Tuesday. The mission standard of excellence for 1 week is 5 new investigators and 5 with member lessons. On Tuesday in about an hour and a half we hit both of those goals. We brought He*tor, a member who comes out with us a lot, tracting and we found this building that was full of Ecuadorians. It was really weird because everyone we talked to was from the same city in Ecuador and it was a huge building. But anyways we ended up teaching 5 of them with He*tor and getting 5 news. It was sweet!
Everything else has been going really well and I have nothing to complain about. I'm healthy, staying full (even though another one on my recent converts cooked me a ton of food because I looked too skinny. lol), my clothes are holding up, I feel the spirit everyday and I'm happy. What else could I ask for?
I hope everyone else is doing as well as I am. I read about Griff's experience in the temple and I was so happy that you all had such a good time. The Lord is certainly blessing us in these hard times and we have a lot to be grateful for. Thank you all for your support and prayers. It is great to have my own little fan group when everyone else here in the Bronx does the opposite. I love you all and hope you have a great week! Be grateful for everything and always be true to what we teach.
Elder Sorensen
PS: Happy Birthday OLD MAN!!! Haha I love you grandpa Brad!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
9.2.09
Family,
Hey everyone! How is it going? Elder Wilkins and I had a great week and really had a lot of fun. We had a total of 18 with member lessons which blew any of my past numbers out of the water. We also had 3 at church so it was a really great week. I am so thankful for all that Heavenly Father has given me and the blessing he still has in store.
Ra*iel is still doing really well and he should be ready for the 12th to be baptized we are just trying to strengthen his testimony more and make sure he understands everything. We see him four times a week so it shouldn't be too hard to help him out. Elder Wilkins and I are really excited to get him in the water.
Two weeks ago we found a guy named Ricar*o and we were able to get him and his wife to church. This last week we got two of his kids to go to mutual and then come to church. Their mom and dad couldn't come but it was great to get them there. They are pretty bronxafied but the church should help a lot. The youth program here is huge. There are so many young men here it is really crazy. I hope they all can do their part in helping this boys get baptized.
Every cycle we have an interview with the mission president and this last interview went really well. President tried to tell me that I was an amazing missionary and I was doing a good enough job. He told me a lot of things that boosted my self esteem, but I won't be satisfied with that. I know I need to work harder.
It is great to hear about griff going to the temple. I am really excited for him
Sorry but I've run out of time on the computer again. Sometimes they give me more time. I love you all and hope you all have a great week.
Hey everyone! How is it going? Elder Wilkins and I had a great week and really had a lot of fun. We had a total of 18 with member lessons which blew any of my past numbers out of the water. We also had 3 at church so it was a really great week. I am so thankful for all that Heavenly Father has given me and the blessing he still has in store.
Ra*iel is still doing really well and he should be ready for the 12th to be baptized we are just trying to strengthen his testimony more and make sure he understands everything. We see him four times a week so it shouldn't be too hard to help him out. Elder Wilkins and I are really excited to get him in the water.
Two weeks ago we found a guy named Ricar*o and we were able to get him and his wife to church. This last week we got two of his kids to go to mutual and then come to church. Their mom and dad couldn't come but it was great to get them there. They are pretty bronxafied but the church should help a lot. The youth program here is huge. There are so many young men here it is really crazy. I hope they all can do their part in helping this boys get baptized.
Every cycle we have an interview with the mission president and this last interview went really well. President tried to tell me that I was an amazing missionary and I was doing a good enough job. He told me a lot of things that boosted my self esteem, but I won't be satisfied with that. I know I need to work harder.
It is great to hear about griff going to the temple. I am really excited for him
Sorry but I've run out of time on the computer again. Sometimes they give me more time. I love you all and hope you all have a great week.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
8.27.09
Family,
Hey we had an even better week than before and we are getting numbers like I've never seen! I know that the numbers don't count for anything without the people but I still feel really proud of how we did. My zone leader told me that we were leading the zone with our numbers. Our investigators are doing really well too. We have a solid baptism coming up for the 12th of September and we are still trying to get someone else ready for the end of the month.
To tell you more about my companion; his name is Elder Wilkins for Orem Utah. He is doing really amazing for a new missionary and I am impressed every day. Give him a few more cycles and his Spanish will be better than mine. It is great to teach him all of the things I wished I had known at the beginning of my mission so that he can become a better missionary than I am. We have been having a lot of fun together and I am glad to stay with him another cycle.
Our baptismal date for the 12th is named Ra*iel. He is a little strange but has been accepting every thing we teach him and we haven't had any problems. He is getting excited for the baptism which is great.
I'm sorry I've run out of time, I will fill you all in next week about how I'm doing. I am working as hard as I can, staying as focused as I can and loving every minute of it. Thank you for all of your support and love and don't worry about sending money. I pulled out 100 at the mtc for travel and still haven't spent it all, plus I have been really lucky finding money, so I will be fine. I can always pull more money out. One thing though is if you could send me another one of those vacuum bags in my next package. I don't need it soon just some day
Elder Sorensen
Hey we had an even better week than before and we are getting numbers like I've never seen! I know that the numbers don't count for anything without the people but I still feel really proud of how we did. My zone leader told me that we were leading the zone with our numbers. Our investigators are doing really well too. We have a solid baptism coming up for the 12th of September and we are still trying to get someone else ready for the end of the month.
To tell you more about my companion; his name is Elder Wilkins for Orem Utah. He is doing really amazing for a new missionary and I am impressed every day. Give him a few more cycles and his Spanish will be better than mine. It is great to teach him all of the things I wished I had known at the beginning of my mission so that he can become a better missionary than I am. We have been having a lot of fun together and I am glad to stay with him another cycle.
Our baptismal date for the 12th is named Ra*iel. He is a little strange but has been accepting every thing we teach him and we haven't had any problems. He is getting excited for the baptism which is great.
I'm sorry I've run out of time, I will fill you all in next week about how I'm doing. I am working as hard as I can, staying as focused as I can and loving every minute of it. Thank you for all of your support and love and don't worry about sending money. I pulled out 100 at the mtc for travel and still haven't spent it all, plus I have been really lucky finding money, so I will be fine. I can always pull more money out. One thing though is if you could send me another one of those vacuum bags in my next package. I don't need it soon just some day
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
8.19.09
Family!
Hey it sounds like you all are doing so great and really staying busy with life! It is great to hear all of the news from you all and that you are doing so well. So there were a lot of really big changes in the mission today and from our zone every companionship got changed except elder Wilkins and me. A lot of younger missionaries got put into leadership which will be good in the long run because it will help them be better missionaries. I talked to one of the APs and he told me that they were going to move me because I've been here so long but because we are doing so well in this area they decided to keep me here. So it looks like I will be here for a total of nine months which is a long time in one area but I know it will be great. Who knows I could be here for the rest of my mission! Lol
So Elder Wilkins and I had our first baptism together last week! We baptized Ma*ia a little early because she wanted certain people to be there. It went really well and a ton of people showed up to her baptism. The ward did a really great job fellowshipping her and she has made a lot of good friends here which is awesome. I was so excited that I was able to baptize with Elder Wilkins in his first cycle. I remember I didn't baptize until my third cycle which was a little rough so it's good start for elder Wilkins. I wanted him to do the actual baptism but Ma*ia wanted the bishop to do it which is even better. He didn't care too much but he was really excited that we were able to baptize.
We also have a few more people lined up for September and this one guy named Raf*el is really solid. He is a little weird but he understands everything we teach him perfectly and wants to be baptized. He also doesn't work so we see him almost every day. A few of our other investigators are dropping off like they always do we are really going to have to push to find some new people. We didn't do the greatest job finding new people this week so we have to step it up to find them this week.
Last Sunday Pa*la, my recent convert from Yonkers, came and visited me at church which was really cool for me. It was great to talk with her and to hear that she is doing so well. She said that I looked like I had lost a lot of weight which I hope isn't true because I've never had anything to lose. She also gave me a few bucks to go eat and gain that weight back. lol It was one of those moments in my life that I really felt blessed. All in one chapel were three people I baptized, one that was going to get baptized that night and then an investigator who is going to be baptized next month! I felt really blessed and more determined to work harder.
I am really jealous that you all get to go back to Oregon to see Griff go through the temple. I am really proud of how far he has come and from being on a mission and learning what kind of person it takes to be a good missionary; I know he will be great. It takes a lot of people skills and the ability to click with everyone. He will also learn a ton which will be great for him.
I am still praying for Uncle Jeff and hoping that our family will be able to turn to the Savior in these hard times. Heavenly Father has a purpose for everything in this life and hopefully we can learn from those hard times. We can take the trials in this life only in two ways; positively or negatively. We can be angry, sad, want to quit; or we can learn and grow from those experiences. That is the original plan of our Father in Heaven, that's why we are here today. And we knew that before this life and we agreed to live through these hard times, because we saw then what many can't see now. Our goal, eternal life.
I sure love you all and hope you are taking advantage of every moment we have. This life was given to us, it is not our own. Therefore, don't waste a single moment of the Lord's time by doing something he would not approve of. I am excited to hear from you all again next week and I hope you take care in the meantime. Have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Hey it sounds like you all are doing so great and really staying busy with life! It is great to hear all of the news from you all and that you are doing so well. So there were a lot of really big changes in the mission today and from our zone every companionship got changed except elder Wilkins and me. A lot of younger missionaries got put into leadership which will be good in the long run because it will help them be better missionaries. I talked to one of the APs and he told me that they were going to move me because I've been here so long but because we are doing so well in this area they decided to keep me here. So it looks like I will be here for a total of nine months which is a long time in one area but I know it will be great. Who knows I could be here for the rest of my mission! Lol
So Elder Wilkins and I had our first baptism together last week! We baptized Ma*ia a little early because she wanted certain people to be there. It went really well and a ton of people showed up to her baptism. The ward did a really great job fellowshipping her and she has made a lot of good friends here which is awesome. I was so excited that I was able to baptize with Elder Wilkins in his first cycle. I remember I didn't baptize until my third cycle which was a little rough so it's good start for elder Wilkins. I wanted him to do the actual baptism but Ma*ia wanted the bishop to do it which is even better. He didn't care too much but he was really excited that we were able to baptize.
We also have a few more people lined up for September and this one guy named Raf*el is really solid. He is a little weird but he understands everything we teach him perfectly and wants to be baptized. He also doesn't work so we see him almost every day. A few of our other investigators are dropping off like they always do we are really going to have to push to find some new people. We didn't do the greatest job finding new people this week so we have to step it up to find them this week.
Last Sunday Pa*la, my recent convert from Yonkers, came and visited me at church which was really cool for me. It was great to talk with her and to hear that she is doing so well. She said that I looked like I had lost a lot of weight which I hope isn't true because I've never had anything to lose. She also gave me a few bucks to go eat and gain that weight back. lol It was one of those moments in my life that I really felt blessed. All in one chapel were three people I baptized, one that was going to get baptized that night and then an investigator who is going to be baptized next month! I felt really blessed and more determined to work harder.
I am really jealous that you all get to go back to Oregon to see Griff go through the temple. I am really proud of how far he has come and from being on a mission and learning what kind of person it takes to be a good missionary; I know he will be great. It takes a lot of people skills and the ability to click with everyone. He will also learn a ton which will be great for him.
I am still praying for Uncle Jeff and hoping that our family will be able to turn to the Savior in these hard times. Heavenly Father has a purpose for everything in this life and hopefully we can learn from those hard times. We can take the trials in this life only in two ways; positively or negatively. We can be angry, sad, want to quit; or we can learn and grow from those experiences. That is the original plan of our Father in Heaven, that's why we are here today. And we knew that before this life and we agreed to live through these hard times, because we saw then what many can't see now. Our goal, eternal life.
I sure love you all and hope you are taking advantage of every moment we have. This life was given to us, it is not our own. Therefore, don't waste a single moment of the Lord's time by doing something he would not approve of. I am excited to hear from you all again next week and I hope you take care in the meantime. Have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
7.12.09
Family!
Hey everyone how's it all going? Elder Wilkins and I did really great this week and counting the numbers we did even better than last week. We got 11 with members, eight new investigators, 3 at church and 4 with a baptismal date. The best I have ever done in my mission. As far as miracles we defiantly had our share each day.
Ma**a, the miracle of last week, will be baptized this next Sunday which will be really sweet! I am really grateful that I will be able to baptize with my greenie his first cycle. I never baptized with my trainer and it took three cycles to get one in at all. I am also really grateful to see that the Lord has made me an effective instrument in His hands to where I could baptize without a companion who knows more than me. Heavenly Father has really blessed me a lot and I have a ton to be grateful.
We also had mission conference yesterday and every time we hear from President Smith I feel the confirmation that he really is called of God to lead this mission. He is making a lot of changes in the mission which is a good thing but it will just be a little different. I am really excited to see more of his influence in our mission and the great things he will do.
Elder Wilkins is doing really great and he amazes me every day. He is learning really fast and has been a great help in our companionship. He got hit on by this over weight fourteen year old the other day which was pretty funny, but other than that he is having a great time. "Is that your natural eye color? Its beautiful." lol I have learned a lot from him and I hope we get to serve together for another cycle. I have been here in the Bronx for 5 cycles which is long time but the church now wants to keep the missionaries in their areas for longer which means I could stay. I hope I stay; I have really come to love this area and all of the people in it. I know how to work hard here and see results so I hope I get to stay for at least another cycle.
We met a lot of people right now but most of them seem kind of sketchy. One is a drug addict who is trying to drop over the counter drugs that replaced heroine, along with alcohol and cigarettes. Another doesn't remember anything about his parents or where he is from. We even had one guy tell us that back in Honduras; he was part of this huge gang and had killed 14-15 people. (Don't worry we dropped him quick!) I guess we should be grateful to be teaching people. A lot of our investigators are showing a lot of good progress and are really coming around. We had a great lesson with one named Ro*a yesterday and got her excited for baptism.
It is great to hear that you all are doing so great and staying so busy. It really sounds like you all have your plate full of things to do which is great. Keep pushing to do your best in all that you do and fulfill the measure of your creation. I know from experience that the Lord will help us do whatever is good as long as we stay faithful and rely on Him. I hope you all have a great week and do all you can to make it the best week. I will let you know if I will be staying here in the Bronx next week of if I have moved. Thank you for all of the prayers and thought of support. I can see them in action every day. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Hey everyone how's it all going? Elder Wilkins and I did really great this week and counting the numbers we did even better than last week. We got 11 with members, eight new investigators, 3 at church and 4 with a baptismal date. The best I have ever done in my mission. As far as miracles we defiantly had our share each day.
Ma**a, the miracle of last week, will be baptized this next Sunday which will be really sweet! I am really grateful that I will be able to baptize with my greenie his first cycle. I never baptized with my trainer and it took three cycles to get one in at all. I am also really grateful to see that the Lord has made me an effective instrument in His hands to where I could baptize without a companion who knows more than me. Heavenly Father has really blessed me a lot and I have a ton to be grateful.
We also had mission conference yesterday and every time we hear from President Smith I feel the confirmation that he really is called of God to lead this mission. He is making a lot of changes in the mission which is a good thing but it will just be a little different. I am really excited to see more of his influence in our mission and the great things he will do.
Elder Wilkins is doing really great and he amazes me every day. He is learning really fast and has been a great help in our companionship. He got hit on by this over weight fourteen year old the other day which was pretty funny, but other than that he is having a great time. "Is that your natural eye color? Its beautiful." lol I have learned a lot from him and I hope we get to serve together for another cycle. I have been here in the Bronx for 5 cycles which is long time but the church now wants to keep the missionaries in their areas for longer which means I could stay. I hope I stay; I have really come to love this area and all of the people in it. I know how to work hard here and see results so I hope I get to stay for at least another cycle.
We met a lot of people right now but most of them seem kind of sketchy. One is a drug addict who is trying to drop over the counter drugs that replaced heroine, along with alcohol and cigarettes. Another doesn't remember anything about his parents or where he is from. We even had one guy tell us that back in Honduras; he was part of this huge gang and had killed 14-15 people. (Don't worry we dropped him quick!) I guess we should be grateful to be teaching people. A lot of our investigators are showing a lot of good progress and are really coming around. We had a great lesson with one named Ro*a yesterday and got her excited for baptism.
It is great to hear that you all are doing so great and staying so busy. It really sounds like you all have your plate full of things to do which is great. Keep pushing to do your best in all that you do and fulfill the measure of your creation. I know from experience that the Lord will help us do whatever is good as long as we stay faithful and rely on Him. I hope you all have a great week and do all you can to make it the best week. I will let you know if I will be staying here in the Bronx next week of if I have moved. Thank you for all of the prayers and thought of support. I can see them in action every day. I love you all and I hope you all have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
7.2.09?
Family,
Hey every one how is it all going? I had an amazing week with a ton of miracles. I know that I say that every week, but really this week was amazing. It was probable the best week I have had, as far as numbers go, in my whole mission. We hit all of the standards of excellence and had ten with member lessons! We also had three at church who all have a baptismal date!
I will start of with some of the biggest miracles we had this past week. The first was that as we were serving our bishop cleaning up his basement, another member working with us told us that he had a new investigator for us, his mom who just came from Mexico. So after working we went over and found out that she was baptized March of last year but never confirmed. So she has to get baptized again, which will be really easy because she already has learned it once. So we gave her a date for the 22 of this month and she could even be baptized before that! That was really cool and it will be my greenies first baptism.
The second miracle of the week actually happened a few weeks ago, but because I wasn't ready to receive it, it had to rehappen this week. A few weeks ago I got a call from this lady who visited the church in Utah and really wanted to go here. It was exciting at the time but after telling me where she lived, I thought she lived in a different area. I told her the direction of the other chapel and I didn't hear back from her until last Sunday. She said that our chapel was a lot closer and she wanted to come here. So I gave here directions on how to get here and she actually came! I got her address to give to the other missionaries and let her leave after sacrament. After thinking for a second I realized that she does live in our area and I had just let her leave without really talking to her. Luckily we were able to go over to her house that night and we give her a baptismal date. She seems pretty cool and again I am really happy for the miracle.
We found a lot of really cool people this past week and our area is on fire. The beginning of this week has looked really great too. This week we have already almost hit the standard of new investigators and with member lessons. Hopefully we will be able to double it again this week. I am really feeling confident in my teaching skills and with my Spanish. I know I have a lot to learn and a long ways to go but it feels good to at least think I know what I'm doing. The Lord will probably humble me again, so I better stop telling you all, how good I think I am.
It is great to hear that you all are doing so well. I wish I could be around to see everything but I also know that I wouldn't trade this for anything. I am doing really well and staying focused on the work, so much so that I guess I talk in my sleep about missionary work. Thank you all for your support and don't feel bad about not sending me mail. I am really bad at writing you all and I know that you are all really busy. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Hey every one how is it all going? I had an amazing week with a ton of miracles. I know that I say that every week, but really this week was amazing. It was probable the best week I have had, as far as numbers go, in my whole mission. We hit all of the standards of excellence and had ten with member lessons! We also had three at church who all have a baptismal date!
I will start of with some of the biggest miracles we had this past week. The first was that as we were serving our bishop cleaning up his basement, another member working with us told us that he had a new investigator for us, his mom who just came from Mexico. So after working we went over and found out that she was baptized March of last year but never confirmed. So she has to get baptized again, which will be really easy because she already has learned it once. So we gave her a date for the 22 of this month and she could even be baptized before that! That was really cool and it will be my greenies first baptism.
The second miracle of the week actually happened a few weeks ago, but because I wasn't ready to receive it, it had to rehappen this week. A few weeks ago I got a call from this lady who visited the church in Utah and really wanted to go here. It was exciting at the time but after telling me where she lived, I thought she lived in a different area. I told her the direction of the other chapel and I didn't hear back from her until last Sunday. She said that our chapel was a lot closer and she wanted to come here. So I gave here directions on how to get here and she actually came! I got her address to give to the other missionaries and let her leave after sacrament. After thinking for a second I realized that she does live in our area and I had just let her leave without really talking to her. Luckily we were able to go over to her house that night and we give her a baptismal date. She seems pretty cool and again I am really happy for the miracle.
We found a lot of really cool people this past week and our area is on fire. The beginning of this week has looked really great too. This week we have already almost hit the standard of new investigators and with member lessons. Hopefully we will be able to double it again this week. I am really feeling confident in my teaching skills and with my Spanish. I know I have a lot to learn and a long ways to go but it feels good to at least think I know what I'm doing. The Lord will probably humble me again, so I better stop telling you all, how good I think I am.
It is great to hear that you all are doing so well. I wish I could be around to see everything but I also know that I wouldn't trade this for anything. I am doing really well and staying focused on the work, so much so that I guess I talk in my sleep about missionary work. Thank you all for your support and don't feel bad about not sending me mail. I am really bad at writing you all and I know that you are all really busy. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Thursday, July 30, 2009
7.30.09
Family!
Hey everyone! How is it all going? Elder Wilkins and I had a great week together and we have really been working hard and have been seeing miracles. I have had a lot of fun training and working in this new area and I'm really growing to love this area. Maybe because I've been here for over 6 months, but it still is getting better and better. I really love this mission life and I can't really think of my life without every half an hour planned with backups! lol
Elder Wilkins and I have been doing great as far as numbers. We found eight new investigators last week which was really great. I am really trying to focus on expecting miracles with Elder Wilkins and last Sunday we had great miracle of finding a total of 6 news 4 of which were a really cool family. We found the first two looking up old potentials and tracting around them. Then after tracting for a while more we only had two hours to find three more. So I contacted this lady on the street who ended up having a ton of family who were members and who let us in to teach her and her four girls! It was really great to get what we had focused on and to watch the Lord take care of us after we had given it our all.
I am still focusing on getting people to church and I have no doubt that the Lord will help me this week. I know the weakest part of our area is being able to get people to church so I am doing all that I can to make getting people to church the strongest part of our area. We are really focusing on becoming master teachers in every appointment. I know we can hit standard this week in all of our key indicators.
I am really becoming comfortable with my teaching skill and speaking Spanish. I know I have a ton to learn still but I have really realized how much the Lord has blessed me. I still need to rely on Him and work as hard as I can to be able to have miracles be given. Where more is given, more is required so I guess the Lord is expecting more from me. I am willing to give it my all and continually push to improve.
So it sounds like you are all doing really well. I didn't get a letter from dad, but I'm sure he just sent it late. I hope you are all having a great summer.
Nick-I do know Elder and Sister Morris, they were a senior couple here in New York. How did you meet them? How is your new job coming?
Mandee-I want a detailed report on your date by the end of the week.
Greg-great job with the dance performance. You better hurry up with the whole getting married thing or I might just beat you too it! lol Don't take offense. I'm only kidding
Savanna-congrats on the whole young women's gold medal thing! I'm sure it was a lot of hard work and you really learned a lot from it, if not at least you can say you won a gold medal as a young woman. Your going to be like that shoung wee lady or what ever her name was for winning a lot of gold medals in ice skating.
Anyway family I love you all and I hope you're all doing great. Sorry for my lack of writing, I just have no time. I hope your week is all great and you all do something good this week!
Elder Sorensen
Saturday, July 25, 2009
pics...
I've been out of town for the last three posts and couldn't get the pics up while I was gone...here are a few to make up for it!
-deb
Family,
Hey every one it sounds like you are all doing really good and I'm excited to hear all
of your news. Congrats to Nick and dad for their new jobs I know that will be great. I
have been really impressed on how much all of you have grown and all that you have done
in such a short time.
I didn't do anything really for my year mark and kind of forgot about it until you all
sent the package. It was a great surprise and my roommates and I loved it thanks a lot! I
guess in a way today I celebrated it by going to another Yankees game. Elizabeth got us a
bunch more tickets so we all went and it was a blast. Time has really flown by fast and
now that I'm a year out, it makes me feel like I am running out of time to do all that
the Lord wants me to do. I have to work a lot harder, and now that I have some
experience, I have to start working a lot smarter.
I had a great week and I'm really enjoying training. Elder Wilkins is really learning
fast and I know he is going to be a lot better missionary than I am. I am also kind of
proud of myself in a very humble way of course. In a new area and training I have been
able to keep the same kind of numbers that I had with Elder Smith last cycle. That has
shown me that the Lord has really blessed me with a lot of miracles and taught me a lot.
I of course have a ton to learn and am no where close to being the kind of missionary I
want to be. I am just grateful that the Lord has blessed us with so many miracles in the
past few weeks. They are nothing big but finding a new or talking to some one cool is
always a big miracle to me.
We had one person come to church last week named Marianna, but she isn't the most
solid. I need to study better and increase my teaching skills. We are finding the news
and teaching with the members now the rest is up to our ability to bring in the spirit to
bear testimony of the simple doctrines of the Kingdom. We are having zone conference
tomorrow which will be great because I always learn so much and end up having a great day
after.
The Lord has blessed us with so many miracles and we have found a ton of new people. We
are always in the right place at the right time because we make plans, let the Lord know
what our plan is and then He puts people into our path. Last week we were just looking
for this person who moved and when we found out he didn't live there, I about turned to
leave but then I just remembered to asked if they wanted to hear our message. She
accepted our invitation and became a new. Yesterday we went to go teach this person who I
didn't think would go anywhere but then his girlfriend was there too and the lesson
went really well. Those are just examples of miracles I see every day and what I have to
be grateful for.
Well I have to get running but again I am really proud of you all and am thankful for all
that you have done for me. I hope you all have a great week and keep working hard.
Congrats again Nick on the sweet new job and thanks for writing me a letter. I love you
all and I will keep praying for you. Have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
-deb
Family,
Hey every one it sounds like you are all doing really good and I'm excited to hear all
of your news. Congrats to Nick and dad for their new jobs I know that will be great. I
have been really impressed on how much all of you have grown and all that you have done
in such a short time.
I didn't do anything really for my year mark and kind of forgot about it until you all
sent the package. It was a great surprise and my roommates and I loved it thanks a lot! I
guess in a way today I celebrated it by going to another Yankees game. Elizabeth got us a
bunch more tickets so we all went and it was a blast. Time has really flown by fast and
now that I'm a year out, it makes me feel like I am running out of time to do all that
the Lord wants me to do. I have to work a lot harder, and now that I have some
experience, I have to start working a lot smarter.
I had a great week and I'm really enjoying training. Elder Wilkins is really learning
fast and I know he is going to be a lot better missionary than I am. I am also kind of
proud of myself in a very humble way of course. In a new area and training I have been
able to keep the same kind of numbers that I had with Elder Smith last cycle. That has
shown me that the Lord has really blessed me with a lot of miracles and taught me a lot.
I of course have a ton to learn and am no where close to being the kind of missionary I
want to be. I am just grateful that the Lord has blessed us with so many miracles in the
past few weeks. They are nothing big but finding a new or talking to some one cool is
always a big miracle to me.
We had one person come to church last week named Marianna, but she isn't the most
solid. I need to study better and increase my teaching skills. We are finding the news
and teaching with the members now the rest is up to our ability to bring in the spirit to
bear testimony of the simple doctrines of the Kingdom. We are having zone conference
tomorrow which will be great because I always learn so much and end up having a great day
after.
The Lord has blessed us with so many miracles and we have found a ton of new people. We
are always in the right place at the right time because we make plans, let the Lord know
what our plan is and then He puts people into our path. Last week we were just looking
for this person who moved and when we found out he didn't live there, I about turned to
leave but then I just remembered to asked if they wanted to hear our message. She
accepted our invitation and became a new. Yesterday we went to go teach this person who I
didn't think would go anywhere but then his girlfriend was there too and the lesson
went really well. Those are just examples of miracles I see every day and what I have to
be grateful for.
Well I have to get running but again I am really proud of you all and am thankful for all
that you have done for me. I hope you all have a great week and keep working hard.
Congrats again Nick on the sweet new job and thanks for writing me a letter. I love you
all and I will keep praying for you. Have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
7.15.09
Family!
Hey life is still doing great here in the Bronx and I'm loving every moment of it. We had mission conference last week and I was really impressed by the new mission president. He definitely has a different personality, but I know it will be really good for the mission. He seems really excited and from what I've heard he has a lot of great ideas for the upcoming trainings. We will be having a zone conference at the end of the week so we will be able to hear more from him then.
I am training Elder Wilkins this cycle and he has been doing really great. His Spanish is a lot better than when I first got into the field and he really has a drive to learn. From the other greenies I've seen I feel like I got the best pick so it should be great. I am doing the best I can to be patient as he learns all of the little rules we have and as help develops his Spanish and teaching skills. I think I will end up learning a lot more from training than he will learn from me. I have to teach all of the lessons by myself, plan, find everything is kind of on me for a little while. It is a little stressful but I'm excited to learn and we have had a couple of great days already this week and we are excited to keep moving forward.
The new area is coming a long slowly but surely. We have been working really hard to find new people in the new area but it is a lot of tough work. We have to spend a ton of time finding and so we are trying to think of more creative ways than knocking doors. Elder Wilkins brought a great idea from the mtc to use side walk chalk to write messages about plan of salvation, questions of the soul, ect. That was a lot of fun but we haven't seen too much success from it. We are trying to work with what members we have a surprisingly we have been getting a few referrals from them.
It's great to hear that you got to go visit Griff and everyone in Idaho; I hope they are all doing great. I wish I had more time to write everyone but there just isn't any time. The Lord is really providing for each us in each moment of our lives. He sees the big picture and knows all of the small things that need to be done for each and every one of our salvation. I am really excited to be able to be a small part of just a few people's salvation. I am doing all that I can to be an effective tool in the Lord's hand and I am really giving Him everything I've got. Thank you for your support and I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Sorensen
Hey life is still doing great here in the Bronx and I'm loving every moment of it. We had mission conference last week and I was really impressed by the new mission president. He definitely has a different personality, but I know it will be really good for the mission. He seems really excited and from what I've heard he has a lot of great ideas for the upcoming trainings. We will be having a zone conference at the end of the week so we will be able to hear more from him then.
I am training Elder Wilkins this cycle and he has been doing really great. His Spanish is a lot better than when I first got into the field and he really has a drive to learn. From the other greenies I've seen I feel like I got the best pick so it should be great. I am doing the best I can to be patient as he learns all of the little rules we have and as help develops his Spanish and teaching skills. I think I will end up learning a lot more from training than he will learn from me. I have to teach all of the lessons by myself, plan, find everything is kind of on me for a little while. It is a little stressful but I'm excited to learn and we have had a couple of great days already this week and we are excited to keep moving forward.
The new area is coming a long slowly but surely. We have been working really hard to find new people in the new area but it is a lot of tough work. We have to spend a ton of time finding and so we are trying to think of more creative ways than knocking doors. Elder Wilkins brought a great idea from the mtc to use side walk chalk to write messages about plan of salvation, questions of the soul, ect. That was a lot of fun but we haven't seen too much success from it. We are trying to work with what members we have a surprisingly we have been getting a few referrals from them.
It's great to hear that you got to go visit Griff and everyone in Idaho; I hope they are all doing great. I wish I had more time to write everyone but there just isn't any time. The Lord is really providing for each us in each moment of our lives. He sees the big picture and knows all of the small things that need to be done for each and every one of our salvation. I am really excited to be able to be a small part of just a few people's salvation. I am doing all that I can to be an effective tool in the Lord's hand and I am really giving Him everything I've got. Thank you for your support and I hope you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Sorensen
Saturday, July 11, 2009
7.9.09
Family!
So I just gave birth today to my first son on the mission. His name is Elder Wilkins from Orem Utah. For some reason they trusted me to be a trainer and I guess we will see how it goes. Now not only am I opening a new area but I also have to train! I guess it will mostly me on me for a while. I am definitely a little nervous. New missionaries don't know anything and they expect me of all people to teach him everything. Elder Smith went home today along with a ton of other missionaries so it was sad to see them go.
So last week was a little bit of struggle but we worked hard and it paid of in the end. The area we are opening is actual part of my old area but because it was so far away and there was plenty to do here close Spanish missionaries haven't been there for a long time. So what they did was give part of my area to the ZL and gave me full metro so we can go out there whenever we want. We still have a part of our old focus area with a lot of members but in our new focus area there isn't very many members and no old investigators, referrals or any other useful information. So we have been trying come up with as many ideas to find new people but we just have been knocking a lot of doors and talking to people in the street.
All last week was really hard because we couldn't really find anyone out in our new area. We worked really hard but just didn't see any success. Only one old investigator came to church but we found out she is moving and the other investigator we had, Miguel who came to church, moved to our old area so now he's out. We gave the ZL three new investigators with a solid date from our old area and they all came to church. So every one we were working with is not longer in our area.
At the beginning of the week we found two people who were ok not too cool but other than that nothing. So we had a goal to find six investigators and by Sunday we only had two. We worked really hard but a lot of our appointments cancelled. But because we worked really hard the Lord blessed us with a few miracles. One of the appointments we set that cancelled, showed up so we were able to teach them. Miracle one, two new investigators. Miracle two, after tracking we found a couple equaling six new to hit our goal.
The biggest Sunday miracle was two new investigators that a member brought to church. It was from the ZL, they had been working to get that member to bring them to church so now they have a date and we are seeing them Friday. It is the sister and daughter of a really cool member so it should be a really good referral. So we ended up getting eight new investigators which was sweet!
Well I've got to run but I love you all. Sorry I can't write more I've run out of time. I didn't do much for the 4th, we had to be in the house by 6:00 and we just played a game of risk. Don't worry about sending a new suit, I have four and it's just the lining that's messed up. I plan on just using it until I can't and move on to my other suits. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
So I just gave birth today to my first son on the mission. His name is Elder Wilkins from Orem Utah. For some reason they trusted me to be a trainer and I guess we will see how it goes. Now not only am I opening a new area but I also have to train! I guess it will mostly me on me for a while. I am definitely a little nervous. New missionaries don't know anything and they expect me of all people to teach him everything. Elder Smith went home today along with a ton of other missionaries so it was sad to see them go.
So last week was a little bit of struggle but we worked hard and it paid of in the end. The area we are opening is actual part of my old area but because it was so far away and there was plenty to do here close Spanish missionaries haven't been there for a long time. So what they did was give part of my area to the ZL and gave me full metro so we can go out there whenever we want. We still have a part of our old focus area with a lot of members but in our new focus area there isn't very many members and no old investigators, referrals or any other useful information. So we have been trying come up with as many ideas to find new people but we just have been knocking a lot of doors and talking to people in the street.
All last week was really hard because we couldn't really find anyone out in our new area. We worked really hard but just didn't see any success. Only one old investigator came to church but we found out she is moving and the other investigator we had, Miguel who came to church, moved to our old area so now he's out. We gave the ZL three new investigators with a solid date from our old area and they all came to church. So every one we were working with is not longer in our area.
At the beginning of the week we found two people who were ok not too cool but other than that nothing. So we had a goal to find six investigators and by Sunday we only had two. We worked really hard but a lot of our appointments cancelled. But because we worked really hard the Lord blessed us with a few miracles. One of the appointments we set that cancelled, showed up so we were able to teach them. Miracle one, two new investigators. Miracle two, after tracking we found a couple equaling six new to hit our goal.
The biggest Sunday miracle was two new investigators that a member brought to church. It was from the ZL, they had been working to get that member to bring them to church so now they have a date and we are seeing them Friday. It is the sister and daughter of a really cool member so it should be a really good referral. So we ended up getting eight new investigators which was sweet!
Well I've got to run but I love you all. Sorry I can't write more I've run out of time. I didn't do much for the 4th, we had to be in the house by 6:00 and we just played a game of risk. Don't worry about sending a new suit, I have four and it's just the lining that's messed up. I plan on just using it until I can't and move on to my other suits. I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Friday, July 3, 2009
7.01.09
Family,
Hey we had a great week and Dan**la's baptism went great. It was kind of a hard week because Mig**l, our strongest investigator kind of dropped off. He was having problems at home and so he decided to move out. It was really sad for us and we tried to help him but I guess the problem was just too much. I think he will be moving out of our area but I'm not too sure.
So we had a big change already and it looks like I've got a big challenge coming up next cycle. It should be a lot of fun but it will be a lot of hard work. I'm basically opening a new area in the mission that hasn't been touched by Spanish missionaries for a while. To explain my old area was really big and because lack of funds for metro, we never went to one big part of the area. We just worked in one part of the area like all of the missionaries before us and did well. Well they have given that part of the mission to the ZL (zone leaders) and given us full metro so we have to focus on that part of the area. It is really far a way and there aren't any members out there but we basically have to jump start the new area. It should be a lot of fun, but like I said, a lot of work.
Right now because of the area changes we don't really have any investigators or people to work with. We are really working hard to start over and find some people to teach. The new mission president also came in today and so that will be a big change. The large group of missionaries is going home next week so I will be getting a new companion. I hope he likes to find in an area I don't know.
I don't have too many people to tell you about because there not in my area any more but I will tell you a little about the baptism. Last Saturday Dan**la was baptized which was really great for me to see. I don't really feel like I did anything to help her be baptized. We didn't find her, a member did, she accepted everything we taught her, and from the beginning she was way excited to be baptized. While I don't think I taught her much I learned a lot of patience from her. She was always busy and so we were really struggling teaching her before the baptism. She was just always helping other people and didn't have time to help herself. At first I felt uncomfortable baptizing her because we had only actually taught herf like five times. But with a lot of pray and talking to my companion we both felt like we couldn't deny her of the blessing of baptism any longer so after teaching a very short version of everything, we baptized her.
Dan**la is an older Dominican lady who, elder smith and I think is crazy. Lol. She picked Elder smith to baptize her because he looks like Joseph Smith from the movie. She also gave us this ginseng extract which she described, would make us very hyper like her. It was funny working with her and I hope the ZLs take care of her as a recent convert. I am also worried about Fanny and her family because they aren't in my area so I can't keep teaching them. I hope the ZLs will have enough time to help them in this new crazy world of Mormonism.
Well I've got to run and go get my hair cut by the old makeup artist of the Cosbys. I love you all and hope you have fun playing with fire. Don't get into too much trouble. Thank you for your support and letters. I also got that picture and cd from mandee. She is growing up too fast and has too much of my good looks for her own good. The cd was blank so if you could try again that would be great. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Hey we had a great week and Dan**la's baptism went great. It was kind of a hard week because Mig**l, our strongest investigator kind of dropped off. He was having problems at home and so he decided to move out. It was really sad for us and we tried to help him but I guess the problem was just too much. I think he will be moving out of our area but I'm not too sure.
So we had a big change already and it looks like I've got a big challenge coming up next cycle. It should be a lot of fun but it will be a lot of hard work. I'm basically opening a new area in the mission that hasn't been touched by Spanish missionaries for a while. To explain my old area was really big and because lack of funds for metro, we never went to one big part of the area. We just worked in one part of the area like all of the missionaries before us and did well. Well they have given that part of the mission to the ZL (zone leaders) and given us full metro so we have to focus on that part of the area. It is really far a way and there aren't any members out there but we basically have to jump start the new area. It should be a lot of fun, but like I said, a lot of work.
Right now because of the area changes we don't really have any investigators or people to work with. We are really working hard to start over and find some people to teach. The new mission president also came in today and so that will be a big change. The large group of missionaries is going home next week so I will be getting a new companion. I hope he likes to find in an area I don't know.
I don't have too many people to tell you about because there not in my area any more but I will tell you a little about the baptism. Last Saturday Dan**la was baptized which was really great for me to see. I don't really feel like I did anything to help her be baptized. We didn't find her, a member did, she accepted everything we taught her, and from the beginning she was way excited to be baptized. While I don't think I taught her much I learned a lot of patience from her. She was always busy and so we were really struggling teaching her before the baptism. She was just always helping other people and didn't have time to help herself. At first I felt uncomfortable baptizing her because we had only actually taught herf like five times. But with a lot of pray and talking to my companion we both felt like we couldn't deny her of the blessing of baptism any longer so after teaching a very short version of everything, we baptized her.
Dan**la is an older Dominican lady who, elder smith and I think is crazy. Lol. She picked Elder smith to baptize her because he looks like Joseph Smith from the movie. She also gave us this ginseng extract which she described, would make us very hyper like her. It was funny working with her and I hope the ZLs take care of her as a recent convert. I am also worried about Fanny and her family because they aren't in my area so I can't keep teaching them. I hope the ZLs will have enough time to help them in this new crazy world of Mormonism.
Well I've got to run and go get my hair cut by the old makeup artist of the Cosbys. I love you all and hope you have fun playing with fire. Don't get into too much trouble. Thank you for your support and letters. I also got that picture and cd from mandee. She is growing up too fast and has too much of my good looks for her own good. The cd was blank so if you could try again that would be great. I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
6.23.09
Family!
Hey every one how's life? It was so cool to get hear about Griff's mission call! I am really excited for him. I haven't met too many people from Uruguay but I know they have a really cool accent and drink this tea called Mate. I think it tastes like alfalfa but whatever. And the fact that he is going to the Argentina MTC is sweet. Oh man he is going to have a lot of fun.
I had a really good week as usual with ten with member lessons. That is the most I've ever gotten and it is double standard of excellence. Still struggling getting people to church, but we are really focusing on it and learning a lot about how to teach people.
This past cycle has really past by fast and I can't keep track of time anymore. My companion goes home in a few weeks via car which is actually a funny story.His family wants to take a month long road trip home looking at every church history site, temple and grave yard they can find. The problem is they can't find a twelve passenger van for all of them to come so they are looking at buying a very cheap one that will probably break down on the way. My companion is kind of stressing out about it and I think it is really funny. Well at least he's not looking forward to being done! (Don't get any ideas mom! lol)
We have another baptism this Saturday with Dan**la and some of the other missionary's investigator. Teaching Dan**la may have looked easy because she came to church every Sunday, fed us lots of food and accepted whatever we taught her but it was a huge challenge. She doesn't work because she has a foot problem but because she has such a big heart she is always helping people and never had time to sit down with us. It was a huge challenge being patient enough to adapt to her up in the air schedule and I really had to humble myself to make sure she was ready to be baptized. I had to make sure we weren't going to baptize a less active and so we had to really question her and ourselves. There is the temptation of just wanting another baptism verse really converting someone. But we worked everything out and Elder Smith and I feel very comfortable baptizing her this Saturday and we are very excited.
We also made some really big steps with Mig**l. This whole time he hasn't accepted a baptismal date but last Saturday we went over the Plan with his wife and he accepted a date for the 25 of next month. He said he should know by then if he needs to be baptized and so Elder Smith and I are really praying that he will receive that answer which we know he will by then. He has come to church twice and is really learning a lot.
I also have seen a lot of wonderful things happen with Fa**i and her family. I sat by them at church last Sunday and it made me so happy to see their oldest daughter Ga**lea who is about five, sing the hymns, fold her arms and say amen to every prayer, and go to primary. We are still working with little Sa*d is about three but also have made some
really big steps with him. We think he had a bad experience in primary or just doesn't like being away from mom and dad but he really doesn't like going to primary. Last week I took him away from mom and dad and went to primary with him. I stayed for five minutes and then left and came back at the end of class. He seemed to have a fun time and it was a huge step for him.
Well I am doing super good and still loving the missionary life. I have developed a love for learning that I never thought would come and I hope it doesn't go away. I am really trying to improve my Spanish and my teaching skills. I am working hard and loving every moment of it. Thank you all for your support and everything you have given me. I hope you all have a great week and remember to keep the people of the Bronx in your prayers they sure need it! I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Love
Elder Sorensen
PS. Happy late Father's Day Dad! Card is in the mail. Got to go bye!
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