Email from June 23rd

Dear Friends and Family!

HOLY CRUD!!!! My week here has flown by!!  I am amazed and how fast hours and hours a day of class time can seem!!  It feels like I was emailing you all yesterday!  This week has been so good!  I feel way more prepared to go into the field!  Which happens tomorrow.  At what time?  Oh yeah, I have to be at the MTC travel office at 4:30 in the morning... GROSS!  9/10 do not want!  I think I mentioned Christian in my last email..  Anyway, We had our last lesson with him on Friday!  We had way better lessons after the one on Monday..  We were really connecting with him on a personal level, and he told us that he really liked us!  Elder Summit and I took the approach that all we really needed to do for him was get him to pray that Heavenly Father loved him, because if that were true then all the teachings of the church were true!  And he already knew everything about our church, so it was simple!  In theory... He had studied the Gospel all academically.  Not Individually.  He didn't want to learn it to receive it, just learn it to learn it.  We were so excited at the end of our second lesson with him!  He said to us, "I know that if I pray I will get an answer, I just don't think I'm at that point yet."  So we totally focused our last lesson on helping him understand the importance of the Gospel for him in his life.  We didn't get him to pray, but he did end our last visit with a quote from Pilate, "You almost convinced me to be a Christian"  So we were close!!  Haha, it was awesome!

This weekend is the new mission presidents seminar so the administrative building is basically on lockdown because of the number of apostles that have been here... In fact, yesterday, all 15 of them were here!!! In the flesh!  I didn't see them...  But President Nally told us so.  Elder M. Russel Ballard spoke to us on Tuesday!  It was awesome!  He told the story about Joseph F. Smith when he said True blue through and through dyed in the wool!  It was the coolest thing!  Having an apostle come speak to us!  Janice Kapp Perry spoke to us yesterday!  Also, her husband walked up and kissed her in the middle of her talk!!  WHAT?!?!  It was so funny! 

What's going on in Orem?!  I haven't heard from all my friends! :(  Send me things!  Even short emails will suffice, because I'll get my Ipad this week, and then I'll be able to read them when I get them!  I won't be allowed to respond for a week, but I'll get them. I miss you all! 

I can't wait to get out there!  I'll let you all know how it is next week!  Wish me luck! 

Love,
Elder Sorensen