Everything is Awesome

This week was really quite the trip!!  And by that I mean awesome! On Tuesday we went to go see a less active, but he forgot about our appointment. We were kinda frustrated cause we haven't met with
him in a while, but as we were walking back to the metro a guy ran in front of us and did a front flip!! Well, we started talking to him, and ended up running into his friend as well. They were on they're way to go do parkour and break dance.  Elder Tracy did break dancing at home and they were break dancing together for about an hour.  At the end we were able to give them cards and give them missionaries phone numbers in their area and everything. That was awesome!  Thursday we had our temple trip!  We got to do all of the ordinances at the temple in one day.  It was awesome!  It was such a great day!!!  Then we had our interviews on Saturday.  Those went well.  We also got our new iPads!  We don't have Facebook for the time being because of that, but we'll get it back soon.  And we can take Panoramic pictures now.  Be expecting lots of those from me!! Sunday was awesome! We walked to church because we missed our bus, but it was okay.  All our meetings were remarkable! I felt bad for Elder Tracy though.  He does the voice interpreting for the members who aren't deaf and don't know sign super well, and it wears him out... I wish I knew sign well enough to
help him.  I'm getting better though!  Then right after church, Elder Tracy was interpreting for one of our returning members patriarchal blessing.  While he did that, I took care of our branch correlation
meeting with Brother Payne.  So that was good we took care of two birds with one stone. We also went to Gallaudet for FHE with the W- Family and some of the other people that go to Gallaudet.  It was awesome.  We made cookies and watched some I'm a Mormon videos.  I feel like my sign language receptiveness is definitely improving; at least, until someone starts talking to me--then I freeze up.  My vocabulary is improving too.  On our new iPads we have some language learning apps, and one of them is pretty much just a whole bunch of flash cards on anything you could guess, so I've been learning vocabulary there.  I have some exciting news though!!  I saw A- on Sunday! (Bennie’s investigator from his first area that was baptized.)  He's doing really well, and he had a really awesome envelope with him!  He got his patriarchal blessing!!!  I'm so happy to see him doing well and he seems happy and being here is just the best!!!  I hope you all have a great week! Here's a nice picture of me and Elder Tracy after we found an ice cream truck outside our apartment complex!!

Riding on the Metro

Interesting turn of events this week-- they took our car.  They want to see if we can run our area on bikes, metro, and bus. Which basically cuts us off from just about half our members... So, not much happened this week. 

We went out to Virginia before they took the car and helped teach a mutual with one of our recent converts where they were learning ASL.  It was fun.  Then Wednesday we got 6 lessons, which was awesome!  Gallaudet cafeteria is so much fun!  Plus we can metro there, which helps a lot. 

Then Sunday we went up to a different ward to interpret church for some deaf members.  It was cool.  We stayed for all three hours, and Elder Tracy was getting pretty tired, so I told him if you need me to I can interpret priesthood.  We only had one deaf male there, and when he saw me sign that to Tracy he shoved me up to the interpreting chair...  Holy cow.  It was terrifying.  Plus not only Carlos was watching me, but most of the class would look over from time to time and watch me...  It was terrifying to be on display with such a limited vocabulary...  But, I made it work okay.  I asked Elder Tracy to help me a couple times, and for a few words, but Tracy said I did a good job so that is awesome!  Elder Parker and Elder Buonocore slept over at our house Sunday night and Elder Parker used to be in the ASL program, and he told me I was super brave cause he didn't try to interpret till he had been out for like seven months.  So I feel okay.  

Then Sunday night we had Why I Believe at the temple visitors center and Orrin Hatch spoke.  It was so cool!!!  In case you don't know, this is a fireside type meeting we bring investigators and members and stuff to and it helps them build confidence and stuff.  It's super fun.  I finally got to sit in the ASL section and it was so fun!!  I love it in the ASL program!  So, in a month me or Elder Tracy are probably getting transferred out, so I'll be really sad if they kick me out cause I don't want to leave the branch.  I hope they just let us both stay and put Elder Parker with us. 

Then today, p-day, was pretty fun too.  We played hockey for a super long time. Afterwards six of us decided to go to Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was great.  I'm having so much fun!!!  I'll keep you updated on my adventures on the bus and metro, cause it's a whole different world out there. 

I love you!!!  

Elder Sorensen 

We Have An ASL Missionary!

My big news is I’M IN THE ASL PROGRAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I wanted to surprise you guys super hard, but I've actually been talking to president Cooke about this since transfer one, and I guess it finally felt right! I love it so so so much!!!!!!!!   I can't even describe it accurately. It's the best thing ever.  It's also back in the Silver Spring Zone!!  We even go to my old church building so it honestly feels like home!!  And I got to see lots of my friends from the Glenndale Ward on Sunday because they meet right after us!   And we got to play hockey for p-day today!!!!!  It's the best!!!!    

So, the pictures you got are of Elder Tracy, my new companion and me!  He's super awesome!!  We have so much in common, especially our looks.  Everyone keeps telling us we could be twins.  Especially on Sunday when we wore matching ties.  That tie was a gift from Elder Tracy, because he bought that tie, then got the same one as a gift from his brother.  It's our ASL posterity gift because when you get moved into a different program they call it “adopting you.”  Which is nice, because my father abandoned me for Brazil!!  Haha, sorry, funny mission jokes.  Speaking of Rummler, he's a district leader in Brazil now!!  Woot! 

Anyway, this whole adjustment has just been flawless.  I was kinda bummed I was leaving White Plains at first, because I was just getting accustomed to it, but as soon as I heard rumors that I was going into the ASL program and then actually did go, it's been so awesome!!  I don't even know where to start!!! So, Wednesday after we got me all unpacked and stuff, we went to Gallaudet campus to visit one of our less actives in the cafeteria there, and half the time I just had to sit back and pinch myself to make sure it was really happening!!  It was so much fun!  And the great thing about hanging out in the cafeteria is that as soon as one member knows we're there they start telling other members and before you know it it's like half the deaf branch is there!  We got three lessons just in that two hour visit!  Then, Thursday and Friday we were snowed in, so not much happened Thursday, but Friday we were allowed to use mass transit, so we metro-ed to Gallaudet thinking we'd still be having Institute, but they cancelled it cause of the weather. We were metro-ing home, and our metro stop is just one after the stop that's right behind my old apartment. We decided to go stop by and see how Elders Herring Levi and Parker were doing, and ended up going to the mall across the street with Elder Parker and his new companion until about 5 o’clock.

One of the great things about the ASL program is the video phone.  We have it in our apartment, it's just a camera hooked up to a TV with the VP (video phone) server hooked up to it, and we can call most of our members on there cause most of them have one so we still got lessons, even on the snow days!!!  We did get our twenty lessons this week!!  On Saturday we had our branch correlation meeting, and we have sister missionaries in the branch too, so that was a new experience.  I haven't seen sister missionaries in forever because I've been in Suitland for a transfer!  Then we went and taught another cool member, and after that we had the opportunity to give a blessing to a sick member. 

Giving the blessing was kinda nerve racking because I did the anointing and what you do, is put your hands on the persons head, then walk in front of them, and sign the prayer, and then to finish you go behind them and put your heads on their head again.  I didn't have it memorized in ASL yet, so Elder Tracy stood behind her, and I just copied what he did, but it was still super cool!!!  I also got to bless the sacrament in sign language.  Same deal, but it's super fun! 

I'm so excited and scatterbrained right now!  Sorry!  Let's see...  What else happened.  Oh, yeah, we had dinner with an awesome family Sunday night!!  They're so nice, and funny.  They are mostly hearing, except one of their daughters is deaf.  They're all super awesome.  And we got to play ping pong there!  I went undefeated which was cool because I haven't played in over 6 weeks! 

Our area is actually the whole mission.  And the whole Baltimore mission.  And the whole DC South mission.  And the whole Richmond mission...  So, we go super far.  If Logan is ever by the border of Maryland, we cover right up to Pennsylvania.  It's essentially all of DC, Maryland, and Virginia is our area.  It's massive, but it's awesome! 

So, crazy story, Elder Tracy and I met before our missions.  A couple times actually.  He played lacrosse for Brighton.  So we met at a few games, but there's a crazier story of how I actually like, met him and high fived and talked to him.  It was when the lacrosse team went down to St. George my sophomore year.  On the way home we stopped at Snow Canyon for some fun hiking and stuff.  Well, we found this cave that went like, fifty feet down, then once you got down, it went probably 250 300 yards straight.  So, we were at the back of this cave, and it's pitch black and we come up to the back wall and there are some people there.  We start a casual conversation and everything, and it ends up their from the Brighton lacrosse team.  I met Elder Tracy in a cave, 250 yards away from the crevice we went down into.  Crazy stuff! 

Anyway, I have my new address:

1812 Greenwitch Woods Dr. #24

Silver Spring, MD 20903

But, I wouldn't send packages here, because they just put them on our doorstep, and it's an unlocked apartment complex and we're on pretty much the main floor, so they could be stolen really easily.  And I'm in Prince George's county again, so I would expect they'd usually be stolen.  Also, if you get the chance can you include my go pro and the charger cord and micro sd adapter in an upcoming package?  It'll be cool for hockey and stuff.  I love you guys!!!!  I hope all is well back home!!!   

Elder Sorensen 

Week 38

WARNING!  DO NOT SEND ANYMORE MAIL TO MY WALDORF ADDRESS, I AM BEING TRANSFERRED!!!!!  I never ever thought I would 1 and done an area. But, here I am, packing my bags again.  Good thing I left a good portion of it still packed up.  So, the rest of the week before where I'm going rumors:

      Tuesday we had our meeting with Elder Schweitzer and Elder Gonzalez. We learned about how to use our iPads, and the churches plan for implementing them into the missions.  It was pretty cool, and it sounds like they're gonna be a really good teaching tool.  Plus this time we'll actually receive training on how to use them effectively instead of putting them in our hands and telling us to go wild. Wednesday was our temple trip!  I got to take one of the family names with me!  Those cards have super history on them.  Hawaii, Mt. Timp, and now DC!  Super fun!  Then, Wednesday night it snowed forever, so we were inside on Thursday until 1.  But the cool part is Elder Summit was on exchange with Elder Thornton, so I got to hang out with my MTC companion!!!  It was really fun!  We have this super awesome less active lady we meet with.  Her name is Sister B--, and she's awesome! She's like a grandma to us!  We went to her house that night, and shared Alma 32 with her. She's been meeting with the missionaries for almost 2 years now.  I don't think I ever mentioned this, but White Plains was Elder Greding's, my good friend out here, first area. He and his companion were the ones that started meeting with her.  So it's been fun to talk to Elder Greding about all the people down here a bit. Then, Friday, we picked up a former investigator who may be interested again!  So exciting!!  And that night we met a family, and they're interested in learning more!!!  So cool!!  Finally starting to see signs of life in the area, and progress in our work!  Then Saturday we went up the DC stake center for a Chinese New Year party for Elder Wang and the other Chinese missionaries.  He seemed to have fun, but I had no idea what was going on.  The food was pretty good though.  I'm glad no one told me what's actually in it.  Then we got the transfers call out that night and found out I'd be leaving... 

      Sunday we got to go to church, but only barely.  Then we were kept inside the rest of the day.  So, the speculation on where I may be headed is,,fmdkdjajfnfnfnfhfhdnekapzodnr p... fm fmdkdjaj something's happening with the wifi!  Kfjdkendjdirnjd if.  It won't let me say I think I'm going to .....dkdodnenjsksmrmf.  Fidooskwmdmrkeoldof... Fjdjsssasdrfvgmho...  I love...hmfmdkwjansm.  You.d.dkdjms s have a. Good week amandine .djdjajsmdm fmdkdjaj

Elder Sorensen