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

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

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!

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