Personal Growth - It Happens

August 26 – September 23

We’ve been sick for a few days now, all the prayers are welcomed. I've been really bored just sitting around the flat. I really really hate it. There's nothing worse than just sitting around all day. It also felt really wrong not being at church on Sunday. I'm going to be a lot happier when we can get back out of the flat again. Yeah, President Retallick gave me a blessing on Sunday, they also brought us some food and tissues, they are pretty awesome at taking care of us :)

We taught Fred on Thursday and had quite an interesting lesson with him. It was really annoying because he just basically kept refusing to feel the spirit. We're trying to decide whether or not to keep teaching him. He basically just see's our visits as philosophical discussions. We'll probably teach him a few more times and see how it goes. It's always difficult to know when to drop someone, especially because we don't have a whole lot else going on.

Things with my companion are good!

Rumors about me... It's just that I'm nasty in general. That I'm prideful and judgmental and rude and all this. Like I said it's just because the only things people hear about me come from past companions and since I haven't gotten along with them and quite frankly sometimes ended in big fights, they typically don't have anything nice to say about me. I can say though that it has taught me a lot of lessons in the effects spreading rumors and gossiping can have. Not to mention a lot of self-realizations and a lot of things I need to work on. I just wish that my companions would have told me all of these things instead of telling everyone else apart from me.

Yeah, I really loving singing and playing and all that jazz. It's really fun, but I get really critical of myself with it. I really want to take voice lessons when I get back.

We're feeling back to 100% now! ready to go out and work. Things are good with my companion, he is quite patient so that helps haha. YES I got the shoes and the Cheetos...... please don't ever spend 20 dollars on a bag of Cheetos again... ever. Thank you so much for the packages! you really don't need to buy me things to tell me you love me though. I know you guys do :)

I'm enjoying my time here, but I really am looking forward to a change in scenery. I don't have any more pictures right now, but I should have some soon enough. We're having a district Pday today and we're going BOWLING!!! YESSS! I love bowling. That's awesome that you are trying to be healthier. That's one of the big things that I've learned since being here. When you eat healthy and live healthy you have more energy and you're so much happier and confident. This week should be a good one. We've got a lot of stuff scheduled so we should be happy and back on our feet again starting tomorrow! There's not really much to say about last week, we were sick from Saturday 2 weeks ago until Friday last week. We made it out of the flat for a couple things that we needed from the store from time to time, but that was about it. We had a couple of members bring us food, which was really nice. This is definitely a ward that I'm going to want to come back and visit. Last week made me realize just how important studies really are. There were a couple of days when I just slept and sat around the whole day and completely forgot to study. I was feeling completely terrible and didn't have the heart to pick up anything to read, but when I finally did I noticed a HUGE difference in how I was feeling as well as my mindset. I really have grown to love my personal studies. I hope I can continue to study like this at home, but I'm afraid that life will get busy again and it'll move to the background of my priorities. I really don't want that to happen.

Well anyways I'm off to go bowling with the district!

Love you guys!!!!

Elder Sorensen

Interesting Adventures

August 4 – 11

I don't have a whole lot of time today so I'm going to make it short and sweet!

This past week was an alright one. A. is still at a Christian camp, so we didn't get to meet with her. We met with N. again and had a pretty good lesson, I think he's more of a long term conversion, but I do see him someday joining the church. You never know though, God is a miraculous person. On Monday last week we went to Cheltenham so that Elder Moore could buy a suit before he goes home and today we're going to go and pick it up from being tailored.(I may get a couple of things while I'm there :) on Tuesday we got new couches for our flat so now we have three couches!! It's pretty legit. We enjoy having space to stretch out now. On Wednesday we went on exchange and taught N, we were supposed to have a bunch of other lessons, but they didn't work out. The exchange ended up lasting until Friday, which I still don't really know why. We had district meeting on Thursday, ate Ben and Jerry's on a hillside overlooking Evesham and we had some MSF left over at the end of the month so we had a really posh meal at a Cantonese restaurant!! I had an amazing coconut curry. Friday and Saturday were pretty boring and yesterday we had a munch and mingle with the ward! It was pretty cool. I love anything with free food. Today as I said we're going to Cheltenham to do some shopping, so I may end up getting a little something ;) Elder Moore is getting presents for his family before he goes home. This week is going to be rough for him, so I've spent a lot of time planning out things that will keep us busy this week. Hopefully we can finish out this week (and his mission) with zero regrets! That's the goal anyway. I'm feeling good today! I got a letter from Shannon which had some of what Elder McClellan had said to her... haha The area he's in right now sounds like pretty much my whole mission. It's just a different way of doing missionary work. You have to figure out what works for each area and learn to adapt. I've learned that if nothing else, If you can leave your area better than you left it (a better organized area book, a big list of potentials to go by, members strengthened, ward relationship strengthened) you can really feel like you've made a difference.

I'm not training, but president says he's giving me a companion that will work with me this transfer. I'll find out the info on transfers tonight. I'll send you an email tomorrow to tell you. This last week was pretty hard. Just watching Elder Moore pack and get stuff for his family before he goes home. Watching him prepare to go home is making me think of when I'll be doing it and what it will feel like. And then it makes me realize just how much time I have left. It's having a negative effect on my desire, but I'm sure I'll get pumped again when I get a new companion. I know now that I don't want to be a missionary who dies slowly, I want to work hard to the bitter end and give it all I've got. I got a letter from dad this week! that was nice :)

This week, like I said, was a lot of watching Elder Moore pack and get stuff for his family. We did go out when we could to do some finding and try to get some people for me and the next missionary to teach. It's also been nice and sunny this whole week, which means sweaty and gross haha we had a pretty cool adventure going out to try and stop by a guy whose address was '' Old shed in the woods at the end of peewit road''. We didn't find it, but we had a pretty cool adventure which involved strange bones and a horse we named Joseph! I'll put the videos on Dropbox. We've spent pretty much the whole day today just chilling at a member’s house. Not a whole lot else to say! I'll talk to you tomorrow!

LOVE YOU TONS!

Elder Sorensen

Transfers and Changes

July 7-28, 2014

Hard missions like this tend to separate the men from the boys. You either stick it out and work hard, or you give up and die. My companions have been exactly what I needed to grow and to become what I am today, there is no doubt that God knows what he's doing with my companions. I have always learned and grew in exactly the way I needed. It has been hard, but it's equally down to me as it is to my companions. I've learned to understand that I'm half of the problem and every situation can be solved by me acting more Christ like.

We had a new investigator this week!! She's a super cool 19 year old university student! We taught her the restoration and are hopefully coming back this week to talk to her about the plan of salvation! We actually found her on the bus on our way to a service project in non-proselyting clothes! haha we have been doing loads and loads of service lately. I've been having a rough time because of how completely exhausted I've been lately. I'm hopefully going into the doctors soon to get a blood test to check my iron levels. I just feel completely shattered constantly, hopefully I can figure it out. Honestly though, I'm really enjoying my mission right now, one thing I've noticed about when I am helping Elder Moore is that I really do love him. I'm starting to see all of the good things about him instead of focusing on anything negative, and it's honestly the best feeling I've ever felt. It's a really cool step on my way to conversion to the gospel. If I can feel this way about everyone, I would be filled with love continually! I really love this feeling I have, it makes me happy.

I'm actually really scared about coming back to the real world. I love the focus I have here and the time I get to spend on heavenly father. I'm scared about what's going to happen when I go back to all of the worldly temptations. I don't want to waste my time like I used to before the mission.

I'm super jealous of panda!! all he is going to do is wake up, eat, teach, eat, teach, eat, plan, sleep, repeat. That's the exact same way I feel about my mission (talking about the joy of service), it just feels so good to help other people! It's even better when you see someone’s life truly change for the better. It's incredible. This week has been difficult for me. We just found out that Elder Moore's visa is ending early, so he'll have to go home in 2 weeks instead of 8 weeks. So now I'm with him while he does all of his shopping to go home with and getting stuff for his family and preparing to go home and it's making me super trunky!! haha It's really making me think about when I'm going to be in his position and at times making me a little depressed that I still have to wait 8 and a half more months. In a way it seems like such a short amount of time, but at the same time it feels like ages. I really don't want to have to think about it, but it's really hard not to. I'm really hoping and praying that I get the training call next Monday, I really need someone fresh to give me some motivation and push me.

We went on two exchanges last week! That was pretty cool. It's funny, Elder Moore is probably my favourite companion and people keeping asking us to go on exchange! haha I'm still feeling really really tired, I think the heat here isn't helping. The weather here is horrible. either it's hot and gross or cold and miserable haha.

We got a new investigator this week, his name is N. He's a cool enough guy hopefully it will go somewhere. Our other investigator is going to a Christian camp for two weeks, so Elder Moore probably won't see her again.

I think that's about it! I got your guys' packages! Thank you so much! Haha I don't think I have any questions... Thats about it!

Love you!!

Elder Sorensen

June 16, 2014

No, I'm actually really enjoying my mission right now. It seems like every day I realize how much I really have to work on and how much improving I really need to do, but I've got a lot of time left for that. I still can't believe that I've nearly been out for 14 months now.

Thank you guys so much for everything I got for my birthday. You really made it a special day for me! This week was really uneventful; it was pretty stressful because of the lack of missionary work we were able to do. Our two main investigators have been dropped. One decided he wasn't interested and the other one moved away, so that really sucked. We did a lot of service this week and it's also been really hot this week, so I got REALLY sun burned haha I've got a really funny tan line now. It didn't peel, so it's starting to turn into a tan haha. We've started visiting the Chilean family in our ward and are hoping to make a connection with the Spanish speaking community as Elder Olivos is fluent in it. Hopefully that works out! Other than that it's all been moving in to the new flat!

I think that's about it! I love you guys so much!! Have a great week!!

Elder Sorensen

June 23, 2014

I still can't believe all of this is happening, the new baby, everyone from home getting married... life is just happening without me. Coming home is going to feel like I fell asleep and woke up 2 years later.

This week has been alright, our finding has been nearly completely ineffective so this coming week we are going to shake things up and see what we can get out of it. We've got such an amazing branch and I really want to see it grow and let the members experience some of the fruits of their labors. As of today we are 100% moved in to the new flat, everything is set up, all of the furniture is assembled and we no longer have to spend any extra time in the flat!!! I'm honestly struggling to think of things to tell you haha this week was really boring, just a lot of finding really. We've been doing a lot of service for members. One of the families we've been helping out a lot is the D. family. Their father was just in a really bad bike accident while on holiday in Spain. He's been in hospital for about 6 weeks now, so it would really help if you could pray for him. I'm really sorry that this letter is so short this week, but there's really not a lot to talk about. Did dad get his father’s day letter? I wrote one for grandpa as well. Today is district Pday! We’re playing games and stuff in the chapel and just hanging out. I'll try to take more pictures and videos. I honestly think that's about it!! 14 months out in a week! How crazy is that?

Love you guys so much!!

Elder Sorensen

June 30, 2014

Well, next harvest I'll be there to help! How is grandpa doing? I want to write him another letter. How is grandma doing? I'll keep Cindi in my prayers, how is she doing? how are the boys? Anything new in their lives? I suppose I should just email them myself.

I will take plenty of pictures and videos for you today :) they'll probably go up later though! I'm getting my glasses ordered tomorrow!!! is it weird to be excited for that? It's just so new and different haha I'm excited to see in high definition!! do you think I'm going to look totally different with glasses on? People aren't going to recognize me when I come home haha last week was pretty eventful; the whole week was basically a trial of faith. Finding day after finding day with a few service opportunities mixed in, but then right at the end of the week, we went finding out in a place called Badsey before a dinner appointment and made 4 or 5 appointments for the next week! That's not all that happened.... but the story of this week is one for another time and place. It's really too much for me to write down on paper, so just remind me when I'm back home to tell you the story of week number whatever I'm on. :) Spiritual thought for this week!!!!!

I am really loving my studies and lately I've been focusing on the gospel according to mark. JST mark 4:25 "for he that receiveth, to him shall be given; but he that continueth not to receive, from him shall be taken even that which he hath" It's fairly simple, when we receive things that heavenly father gives us, whether it be callings, challenges, gifts, blessing or otherwise, with a willing heart and an open mind, he can give us more blessings. When we continually choose not to receive the things he gives us, our blessings are going to be taken away. I like to relate this to mission life. Heavenly Father has given us a little white book of revelation on how to be the most effective missionaries we can be. If we don't follow that revelation that he has already given us, how can we expect to receive more revelation? We have to first receive what he has already given by being obedient if we want to receive specific revelation on how to best work in the areas where we are.

I love you guys so much!!!

Love you!

Elder Sorensen

Another Year Older!

June 9, 2014

It’s so weird that life is going on without me back home! Can you believe that I'll be home in 10 months!! This will be my last birthday on my mission. And Christmas will be my last Skype! That’s super crazy. It was a really crap week this week. We didn't have any time to do missionary work. The whole week was spent cleaning and packing for our move.

President said that our flat had to be in pristine condition when we moved out so that the church could keep the deposit from when they got the flat. So the whole week was spent manicuring and scrubbing the flat down, repairing damages and trying to salvage what was left of it. Then to top it all off I was sick on Saturday and Sunday (Don't worry, I still made it to church and taught priesthood). I got the trousers, but I'm going to have to have them tailored haha they don't fit properly at all. Rob (a member in the branch) says that he knows a lady that will do it for cheap, so hopefully that will work out, I'll let you know! If you could, make people write me some letters! Hopefully we are making the move into the new flat today, but we're not sure. I'll let you know. At latest we'll be there on Wednesday.

That's about all I have to talk about! Love you guys!!

Elder Sorensen

June 16, 2014

I'm actually really enjoying my mission right now. It seems like every day I realize how much I really have to work on and how much improving I really need to do, but I've got a lot of time left for that. I still can't believe that I've nearly been out for 14 months now.

I've got a letter for dad for father’s day that I'm sending today. I'll write one to grandpa as well. That's so awesome about your studies!! Do you find yourself being more knowledgeable in church? I love my studies.

Thank you guys so much for everything I got for my birthday. You really made it a special day for me!

This week was really uneventful; it was pretty stressful because of the lack of missionary work we were able to do. Our two main investigators have been dropped. One decided he wasn't interested and the other one moved away, so that really sucked. We did a lot of service this week and it's also been really hot this week, so I got REALLY sun burned haha I've got a really funny tan line now. It didn't peel, so it's starting to turn into a tan haha we've started visiting the Chilean family in our ward and are hoping to make a connection with the Spanish speaking community as Elder Olivos is fluent in it. Hopefully that works out! Other than that it's all been moving in to the new flat!

I think that's about it! I love you guys so much!! Have a great week!!

Elder Sorensen

Great Companion!

May 20, 2014

Hey sorry, we didn't have time to email yesterday, I don't have a whole lot more time today either haha I can tell you that Elder Gull has been transferred to Nuneaton and I'm getting Elder Olivos. I'm so excited because I know Elder Olivos and he is such an awesome and humble guy. He’s from Peru, but he grew up in London. I'm stoked. He’s only been out for 5 transfers so I'll be senior companion finally haha

I now weigh 195 pounds! It’s really weird this is the first time I've been under 200 in a looong time. I was thinking... I would like to have voice lessons when I get back. I don't know how much it costs though. I think BYU has them where you can take them as a course. It would be cool to do some in the summer that I'm back though. I really am trying to find time to write everyone, but it is difficult. I’m sure you'll be there for Cindi, I really don't have time to write her right now, but I'll try to next week.

This last week went really well. We had an experience while GQing in the park actually. We were talking to everyone and we stopped a guy in a blue jacket who seemed to be having some issues walking normally. After talking to him a bit we realized that he had some speech issues as well, but he seemed receptive enough and we made a return appointment with him. We really didn’t expect much to come of it, but when we met with him we found out that he has dementia and Parkinson’s and his wife is quite interested in the church! So that was pretty cool. We also had someone move into our area who was about to get baptized in Hereford so we should be able to baptize home within a couple of weeks!

I don’t have any more time, but I love you guys!!

Elder Sorensen

May 26, 2014

I'm with Elder Olivos now and he is completely awesome. We just clicked as soon as we met each other. I'm having an awesome time with him. I'll send you some videos and stuff tomorrow. The library is closed today because of bank holiday and we won't be able to do it today, but I'll get it done tomorrow.

Psalm 46:10 "be still and know that I am god"

If you are doing all you can to follow Heavenly Father’s guidance, repenting quickly and trying to follow the commandments to the best of your ability, then there should be no reason for you to stress about anything. God loves you more than you could ever imagine and if you are willing to follow his counsel you cannot fail. God is perfect and all-knowing, he can do anything. He is completely aware of your situation and the stress that you are going through. All you need to do is to remember him and remember that the only thing you can really control is your own actions. God is in control of everything else. When you have those moments of stress or anxiety I want you to say a silent prayer in your head and remember that you are doing your best to follow Him and that he will take care of everything else. Jesus Christ suffered for all of our pains and afflictions, even the one you are going through right now. Because of that, God can lift that burden from your shoulders as long as you put your trust in him and ask him to help you. I am really loving my mission right now! But I really can't wait to get the heck out of the flat that we're in right now. We just started teaching this totally awesome guy called T. He does some close up crazy magic, I'll try to video some next time we teach him.

Love you guys so Much!!!

Elder Sorensen

June 2, 2014

This week was pretty awesome! Elder Olivos and I get on really well! I'm really loving my mission right now. It makes it so much easier to go finding when you're doing with someone that you actually like. We've got a few really solid investigators right now and we'll hopefully have one of them on a date the next time we see him. So pray for T. that he will be ready to set a baptismal date next time we go see him. We've had some craziness as well because we are moving over to the new flat on the 6th of June. We’ve got to sort out the old flat, figure out which of the furniture in there is ours and tell the office what we need for the new flat, sort out the meter readings and loads of other annoying stuff. Not to mention the fact that we're going on exchanges tomorrow! haha I want everyone to know that right now, I am the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. I love my mission with all of my heart and the joy I receive for serving Heavenly Father is so much more than I could ever have asked for. I know that god lives and this is his church. We cannot fail unless we fail to act. I love you guys with all my heart!

Elder Sorensen

Missionary Life

April 28, 2014

Yeah I'm in the same stake; I'm actually even in the same district, so I'll be able to go there on exchange. Again I'm sorry I had to use so much lately, we're just having to travel so much and reimbursements are taking ages! Just wait til you get to 3rd at 4th Nephi. Hands down best books in the book (The Book of Mormon). No temple trips and probably not. President tried to get permission for one during Christmas time but the first presidency said no. Harry potter stuff over here is way expensive just like everything else here. And I'm nowhere near the castle, but I'm right next to Gloucester chapel which is where they filmed all of the shots for the great hall! Okay, yeah I'm writing grandma and grandpa today so hopefully I can finish and send that soon.

This week was pretty cool, Monday was a bank holiday so the library was closed and we had to go to a member’s house to email. That took up most of our Pday. Nothing super exciting happened until Thursday. We used to have a set of sisters in this ward, but when I moved in they were demolished leaving there area unworked, so we took that over. Their area is a little village called Tewkesbury and so Thursday we went out there and worked the check out of their area book. We got 2 new investigators out of it! That was pretty awesome. And the on the weekend we had stake conference and that's where I saw the Nolan’s. Anyways. Keep reading your scriptures and saying prayers together every night!! I love you guys!! Also, I kind of want to get a guitar for my birthday... think about it?

Love you!

Elder Sorensen

May 5, 2014

I know what you mean about reading the scriptures! It is so crazy the difference that it really makes in your life! Don’t worry about me finding a wife mom haha I've got at least another year to think about that. Sorry about the short letters! There’s just not a whole lot to talk about anymore! I'm still on a mission, still just being a missionary! I haven't bought the suit yet, I'll probably get it either next week or the week after... Don't worry about the guitar haha umm I kind of already found one... don't get mad. It was just a good deal so... happy birthday to me? I know it's pretty crazy that I've been out for a year already. I go home in pretty much 11 months that is weirding me out right now. looks like I've got a few letters that I need to write... story of my life! haha I'm so bad about writing people I feel so bad that I still haven't written grandma and grandpa. Elder Gull is really cool. He's a good guy. Evesham is awesome I really like the branch and the area is nice. I'm feeling pretty good, I haven't got any new pictures this week because I forgot my camera cord, but I should have some next week. I haven't written most people lately, but it's because I haven't got loads of time and it takes ages to write people, I'll try to write them, Andy doesn't email me back so I've stopped emailing him. tell them all hello and I miss them loads!!

This week has been pretty good; we've had a lot of appointments and a lot of people flogging as well, so not a lot of actual lessons. We did have a chance to go and teach a couple of people out in Tewksbury, P and J. P went well and he was supposed to be coming to church yesterday, but didn't end up making it. and we actually got to teach J a bit in an old Baptist chapel from the 1500's or1700's or some crap like that. it was way old. She's awesome and genuinely interested. other than that it's been a lot of finding and having fun with elder gull. I'll try to take more pictures and videos for you guys. I've been doing a diet and workout program for a while now and I'm actually starting to get into pretty good shape! 12 months to sexy starts now! haha I need to be ready to find a wife when I get back haha I am really enjoying my mission right now. I hope I get to stay in this area for a while. I love you guys! hope you have an awesome week! so we'll be on at around 6pm my time so 10am your time for skyping! I'll check tomorrow to see if that’s okay with you, if not let me know. If it is, still let me know!

Love you!

Elder Sorensen