Family,
Hey family I had a pretty good week with many miracles. We had a lot of success in different areas and we were shown areas where we could improve. I am learning so much as I continue to push to be more Christlike and a better missionary. I have learned so much about the gospel and life in general and I am grateful that Heavenly Father has given me this opportunity to serve Him. And while I am serving him, I receive more blessing than I can imagine.
We got one of our investigators to finally come to church that we have taught for a while now. Her husband was not able to come but hopefully they will both come next week. Her name is Mari. Fan hasn't come to church for a while and we are a little worried but she says she has just been busy.
We are also teaching a crazy weird/cool investigator named Ja. She speaks super fast and to add on to that we always bring hermano So who also speaks crazy fast. She has never really read the Bible and never talked to us before but she keeps quoting things from the BOM (Book of Mormon) and the bible. She also asks a lot of really deep doctrine like about the glorifying of the world and celestial marriage. She likes to learn so hopefully she will end up going somewhere.
The miracle of the week happened last night I went on a split with Elder Simmons and we kind of had a rough day all day. We were walking trying to figure out what to do because all of our appointments fell through. We walked past this couple and we said hi and I almost walked past them. The mission has been really stressing talking to everyone so I kind of turned around and started talking to them. I found out the husband had a really good friend back in his country who was a bishop of our church. He had always wanted to know more about us but just never really had the chance. They were right by their apartment so after we talked a little on the street they invited us in to their home. They have two teenagers and are a really cool family. They have a lot of good values and seemed really interested in hearing more about the church. We taught them a really short restoration and they told us they wanted to come to church and check it out. He told us that he knows all about the Catholic Church and Christian churches but he has always really wanted to know more about our church. He was also really impressed by the way we conducted ourselves in our speech and manners. They are one of the coolest families I have found yet on the mission and I really think they are going to go somewhere.
So as you can see I have been blessed and have been given so much. I know that I am making a difference in others lives and that I am doing the will of the Father. I am so grateful to be His servant and have a chance to do His work. Thank you for all of your support and strength that you have given me. I will fill you in with how things are going next week but for now I love you all and I will talk to you next week!
Elder Sorensen
PS happy anniversary Mom and Dad!!! Wow your old! Lol I am just kidding!
First day
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
3.18.09
Hey family,
I had a good week full of miracles with a little more outcome of our hard work. I've been thinking about all of the miracles and blessings I've received and I decided to change things up and tell you the miracle of each day last week:
A week of miracles
Wednesday: 20 Years ago I was born. lol that's a miracle right?
Thursday: We got a referral for a less active member and started teaching this Family.
Friday: We had an appointment with our main investigator named F. We taught the word of wisdom and they brought up a lot of doubts, just about every doubt I've ever heard. But we taught a really good lesson and taught them the doctrine behind it. We helped them realize that their real question was whether Joseph Smith was really a prophet. They understood very well and committed to living the word of wisdom and all is good with them.
Saturday: from a blitz for the English elders we received 6 referrals and a family of five new investigators! Wow is all I have to say about Saturday.
Sunday: an active member that we have been teaching a lot brought a friend to church who asked us to come over.
Monday: We received three media referrals within 24 hours and one of which became a new investigator! The lesson didn't go very well because she loved to talk about this book she wrote that was "inspired by God" but she wants to hear more and she sounded really excited to read the Book of Mormon.
Tuesday: I have survived living in New York without getting shot, stabbed or mugged for over 6 months! I have realized that everyday is full of miracles and unless I learn to recognize them I will be really ungrateful and might not receive as many. The Lord has done so much for me and I am really grateful for the blessing I have in my life. I have learned so much from being a full time servant of the Lord and I know that I will continue to grow if I push forward.
Our investigators are doing alright, none of them look ready for baptism yet but we are going to keep helping them grow a testimony and then realize it. F might be ready by the end of the month if we keep her in our prayers and expect the miracles. J is coming to church and slowly coming along which is great.
I am doing really well and I can't complain about anything. I have had a lot of trials but I can only see how they have helped me grow. I did get the pie and all of your packages, thank you so much for them. I didn't do much for the birthday; we did go to Applebees which was good.
Tell the girls good job on the play and I am sad I had to miss it. I'm sure it would have been really fun to see. Say hi to everyone for me and keep working hard on everything. I love you guys and I will talk to ya next week!
Elder Sorensen
I had a good week full of miracles with a little more outcome of our hard work. I've been thinking about all of the miracles and blessings I've received and I decided to change things up and tell you the miracle of each day last week:
A week of miracles
Wednesday: 20 Years ago I was born. lol that's a miracle right?
Thursday: We got a referral for a less active member and started teaching this Family.
Friday: We had an appointment with our main investigator named F. We taught the word of wisdom and they brought up a lot of doubts, just about every doubt I've ever heard. But we taught a really good lesson and taught them the doctrine behind it. We helped them realize that their real question was whether Joseph Smith was really a prophet. They understood very well and committed to living the word of wisdom and all is good with them.
Saturday: from a blitz for the English elders we received 6 referrals and a family of five new investigators! Wow is all I have to say about Saturday.
Sunday: an active member that we have been teaching a lot brought a friend to church who asked us to come over.
Monday: We received three media referrals within 24 hours and one of which became a new investigator! The lesson didn't go very well because she loved to talk about this book she wrote that was "inspired by God" but she wants to hear more and she sounded really excited to read the Book of Mormon.
Tuesday: I have survived living in New York without getting shot, stabbed or mugged for over 6 months! I have realized that everyday is full of miracles and unless I learn to recognize them I will be really ungrateful and might not receive as many. The Lord has done so much for me and I am really grateful for the blessing I have in my life. I have learned so much from being a full time servant of the Lord and I know that I will continue to grow if I push forward.
Our investigators are doing alright, none of them look ready for baptism yet but we are going to keep helping them grow a testimony and then realize it. F might be ready by the end of the month if we keep her in our prayers and expect the miracles. J is coming to church and slowly coming along which is great.
I am doing really well and I can't complain about anything. I have had a lot of trials but I can only see how they have helped me grow. I did get the pie and all of your packages, thank you so much for them. I didn't do much for the birthday; we did go to Applebees which was good.
Tell the girls good job on the play and I am sad I had to miss it. I'm sure it would have been really fun to see. Say hi to everyone for me and keep working hard on everything. I love you guys and I will talk to ya next week!
Elder Sorensen
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
3.11.09
Hey family,
So we had a pretty good week with lots of hard work and a few little miracles. I felt like last week was one of the weeks where we worked the hardest. We did our best to contact and call all of the time to get more people in our teaching pool. We didn't see a lot of results from our efforts but I know Heavenly Father is preparing some people for us. It is hard not seeing the results but I know that through our efforts we will find more people to teach and receive more miracles.
Some of our investigators are progressing well and moving along towards baptism. F doesn't think she will be ready for the 22nd but we will do everything we can to help her feel ready and then when she is ready we will be here. The family loves church and they really love the plan of salvation so that will help them keep progressing. J is also progressing, he came to church again last week but only stayed for the first hour. He doesn't really understand the need to be baptized again but in time he will learn of the truthfulness of the book of Mormon and the need for a restoration. The family T isn't really going anywhere so we might have to crack down on them a little more.
We have been working really hard to improve our missionary skills lately and trying to work more productively. There are skills that I will need to refine my whole mission but I feel like last cycle was really good for me and helped me become a better missionary. There are a lot of little things I didn't really think you would need to be good at, like being very organized, remembering people's faces and what happened when you talked to a million different people. It is very important to stay organized and do the little things that make the difference.
So one of the recent converts named Eliza, in this area is like our mission mom. She feeds us a lot and sometimes gives us groceries. She called me today and sang me happy birthday which was cool. She is making us a big dinner tomorrow which should be good. She is one of the most solid recent converts I've ever seen. She bore testimony last week at church which was really powerful.
Don't worry about my feet they are getting a lot better. I soak them every night and I take Advil when they hurt the most. The swelling is just on top but with time it will go away. Don't worry about metro or anything. I will be just fine.
I was actually thinking you could put some of that money in my account in a year long cd. I haven't used hardly any personal money on the mission and it would be better to earn some money off of it that to just sit there. Just an idea.
I did get the packages sent from you guys. Thank you very much. The foosballs have been a huge hit at the apartment and that's been a lot of fun.
Well I've run out of time here at the library so I've got to run. Thank you so much for the birthday packages and all that you do for me. Tell grandma I also got her package and loved it.
Also tell her not to spend anymore money on me; I've been spoiled long enough. Tell Greg and the girls good luck with their performances and tell Nick and Deb to keep up the great work. I will talk to you guys next week.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
So we had a pretty good week with lots of hard work and a few little miracles. I felt like last week was one of the weeks where we worked the hardest. We did our best to contact and call all of the time to get more people in our teaching pool. We didn't see a lot of results from our efforts but I know Heavenly Father is preparing some people for us. It is hard not seeing the results but I know that through our efforts we will find more people to teach and receive more miracles.
Some of our investigators are progressing well and moving along towards baptism. F doesn't think she will be ready for the 22nd but we will do everything we can to help her feel ready and then when she is ready we will be here. The family loves church and they really love the plan of salvation so that will help them keep progressing. J is also progressing, he came to church again last week but only stayed for the first hour. He doesn't really understand the need to be baptized again but in time he will learn of the truthfulness of the book of Mormon and the need for a restoration. The family T isn't really going anywhere so we might have to crack down on them a little more.
We have been working really hard to improve our missionary skills lately and trying to work more productively. There are skills that I will need to refine my whole mission but I feel like last cycle was really good for me and helped me become a better missionary. There are a lot of little things I didn't really think you would need to be good at, like being very organized, remembering people's faces and what happened when you talked to a million different people. It is very important to stay organized and do the little things that make the difference.
So one of the recent converts named Eliza, in this area is like our mission mom. She feeds us a lot and sometimes gives us groceries. She called me today and sang me happy birthday which was cool. She is making us a big dinner tomorrow which should be good. She is one of the most solid recent converts I've ever seen. She bore testimony last week at church which was really powerful.
Don't worry about my feet they are getting a lot better. I soak them every night and I take Advil when they hurt the most. The swelling is just on top but with time it will go away. Don't worry about metro or anything. I will be just fine.
I was actually thinking you could put some of that money in my account in a year long cd. I haven't used hardly any personal money on the mission and it would be better to earn some money off of it that to just sit there. Just an idea.
I did get the packages sent from you guys. Thank you very much. The foosballs have been a huge hit at the apartment and that's been a lot of fun.
Well I've run out of time here at the library so I've got to run. Thank you so much for the birthday packages and all that you do for me. Tell grandma I also got her package and loved it.
Also tell her not to spend anymore money on me; I've been spoiled long enough. Tell Greg and the girls good luck with their performances and tell Nick and Deb to keep up the great work. I will talk to you guys next week.
I love you all and hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
Thursday, March 5, 2009
March 4, 2008
Hey family,
How's life going? It was a little bit of a slow week and not much has happened in the past week. We didn't do very well as far as numbers but we worked hard and are doing the best we can. We had a huge cold front this week with a bunch of snow on Monday. It has been a little cold and kind of nasty but it will get warmer soon.
So I didn't want to worry you with this but I've been having some feet problems. They are almost better now but they got pretty bad. I guess I just walked too much because they were all swollen and there we times I could barely stand. Don't worry because I'm doing much better now. They almost had to transfer me back up state but I told them I was ok and I would tough it out. I should be able to walk normal soon but I'm doing all right so don't worry about a thing.
We have some investigators progressing but we are going to have to push to get someone baptized in March. F G should be getting baptized this month and we are doing everything we can to help her. We have some other investigators that could get baptized next month so we are working to help them progress. We just need to get more people coming to church and that will help us out a lot. President Searle made us a promise that we would get two new baptismal dates this week so we are pushing to fulfill that promise. I am really trying to be diligent and contact everyone and be guided by the Spirit.
We had transfers this week and there are a lot of big changes coming soon. Elder Christiansen and I are staying together which makes it his fifth cycle here. It should be fun and I'm sure we will see a lot of miracles together.
Every once in a while we have what's called a Zion companionship, which travels the mission visiting all the areas and helps out companionships. This cycle it is two sisters which is weird because they can only help the other sisters and there isn't that many sister missionaries. It will be interesting to see how much they end up helping the mission. Also around my year mark a group of twenty missionaries will be leaving which are all the leaders I know. That is a huge group leaving and at that time we will be getting a new mission president. All the leadership will change and it's going to be very different.
So I made it a goal to read the standard works during my mission and I'm doing pretty well. I just finished the Book of Mormon and by my birthday I will be done with the Old Testament. I should be finished with the standard works but the end of May and then I will move on to Jesus the Christ. I've set a lot of goals for myself and I'm doing all I can to fulfill them. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm working hard enough and there are always ways to improve, so I am pushing to be better and better as I serve.
So it sounds like everyone is doing really well back home. I think you guys are crazy for all the projects you've been doing. I am excited for you and the production of the play. Will nick and deb get to see it?
Well I love you all and I'm praying for your wellbeing. Keep up all of the hard work with school and missionary work. Thank you for all of your support and prayers! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
PS. Happy Birthday Savanna!
PPS. Grandma,I finally got your letters; there was a hold up at the office. Thank you for writing. I did like those granola bars but don't worry about sending me anything. As a missionary I don't really need anything and I get feed a lot but the members. I'm really proud of you and all that you are doing. Keep up the good work and I will keep up my prayers for you. Have a great week!
How's life going? It was a little bit of a slow week and not much has happened in the past week. We didn't do very well as far as numbers but we worked hard and are doing the best we can. We had a huge cold front this week with a bunch of snow on Monday. It has been a little cold and kind of nasty but it will get warmer soon.
So I didn't want to worry you with this but I've been having some feet problems. They are almost better now but they got pretty bad. I guess I just walked too much because they were all swollen and there we times I could barely stand. Don't worry because I'm doing much better now. They almost had to transfer me back up state but I told them I was ok and I would tough it out. I should be able to walk normal soon but I'm doing all right so don't worry about a thing.
We have some investigators progressing but we are going to have to push to get someone baptized in March. F G should be getting baptized this month and we are doing everything we can to help her. We have some other investigators that could get baptized next month so we are working to help them progress. We just need to get more people coming to church and that will help us out a lot. President Searle made us a promise that we would get two new baptismal dates this week so we are pushing to fulfill that promise. I am really trying to be diligent and contact everyone and be guided by the Spirit.
We had transfers this week and there are a lot of big changes coming soon. Elder Christiansen and I are staying together which makes it his fifth cycle here. It should be fun and I'm sure we will see a lot of miracles together.
Every once in a while we have what's called a Zion companionship, which travels the mission visiting all the areas and helps out companionships. This cycle it is two sisters which is weird because they can only help the other sisters and there isn't that many sister missionaries. It will be interesting to see how much they end up helping the mission. Also around my year mark a group of twenty missionaries will be leaving which are all the leaders I know. That is a huge group leaving and at that time we will be getting a new mission president. All the leadership will change and it's going to be very different.
So I made it a goal to read the standard works during my mission and I'm doing pretty well. I just finished the Book of Mormon and by my birthday I will be done with the Old Testament. I should be finished with the standard works but the end of May and then I will move on to Jesus the Christ. I've set a lot of goals for myself and I'm doing all I can to fulfill them. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm working hard enough and there are always ways to improve, so I am pushing to be better and better as I serve.
So it sounds like everyone is doing really well back home. I think you guys are crazy for all the projects you've been doing. I am excited for you and the production of the play. Will nick and deb get to see it?
Well I love you all and I'm praying for your wellbeing. Keep up all of the hard work with school and missionary work. Thank you for all of your support and prayers! I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Elder Sorensen
PS. Happy Birthday Savanna!
PPS. Grandma,I finally got your letters; there was a hold up at the office. Thank you for writing. I did like those granola bars but don't worry about sending me anything. As a missionary I don't really need anything and I get feed a lot but the members. I'm really proud of you and all that you are doing. Keep up the good work and I will keep up my prayers for you. Have a great week!
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