Time is Fickle

So Tuesday was the dentist. The appointment which I have known I need to schedule but finally got it put together.  I'm gonna need a root canal...  So yeah. That's a bummer.  But that took basically all day Tuesday, which amounted to about 6 hours on busses and metro and it was super hot that day, so I felt like I was gonna die by the end of it.  But we had dinner with a member- Papa Johns Pizza, so #worth.  

Wednesday wasn't that exciting either, we had lunch with a member and six other missionaries and then pretty much did busy work the rest of the day. This week was Stake Conference, so Elder Tracy was really busy gathering numbers all week.  Plus we did lots of service in the super hot sun and we were super tired everyday. By Sunday we were falling asleep during appointments at members houses...  Summer is kicking our trash.  

Thursday I gave my first workshop in our Zone District meeting, and everyone said I did a good job; that felt nice.  Thursday was also my year mark...  it's super weird that it just came and went and I feel no different..  That's how all major landmarks in life seem to go...  It feels like we just graduated from high school a couple weeks ago, and feels like a lifetime ago all at the same time and it makes me cranky. Time is fickle. 

Anyway, Friday we went out to an awesome sushi dinner with one of our members.  It's the best sushi I've had on my mission so far, and it was exquisite.  Friday was also super sentimental because it was my mom’s birthday!!  She's so great, and I miss her so so much.

Saturday was interesting because in the middle of a service project we got called and asked to help interpret the leadership training session of Stake Conference. We dropped everything and found a way there, but when we showed up no one from the branch was even there to interpret for, we were a little confused why they said they needed us. Later that evening we had the adult session of Stake Conference which was good.  Really focused on families as usual.  Then we got to go home! Yeah!!!!  Sleep!!  

Sunday Stake Conference continued.  Elder Dunnigan was the presiding seventy and he had some really good messages and thoughts.  Then after that we went to a member’s for early dinner.  It was super fun.  We also played Ticket to Ride with them, which reminded me of going to the cabin with my family, and my Grandpa.  It was a fun appointment. 

We visited a less active with T- later Sunday. Before we went to interpret Night of Music and Inspiration he decided to take us to his house for some food.  We had Mini Wheats, but we put ice cream and milk on them and it was basically the amazing.  After the Night of Music and Inspiration, the zone leaders came over and we played Dungeons and Dragons for our peeve (p-day eve?) activity.  It was super fun, and we crushed it.  Anyway, it was a great week.

I found this article in the Ensign about Alex whom I helped teach and baptize in August. It makes it so worth it to hear of how he is staying strong!

"Sasha “Alex” Mokrohuz moved from Ukraine to the United States three years ago. He entered the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors’ Center out of curiosity and was given a tour by one of the senior missionaries. Invited to return, he came back one week later. Sister missionaries began teaching him. “He would meet with us at the visitors’ center,” explains Sister Paige Kohler. “He told us that he felt ‘warm’ whenever he talked with us there. He believed in Jesus Christ and was intrigued by the Holy Ghost, so we encouraged him to read and pray about the Book of Mormon.” A few days later they received a Facebook message from Alex: “I got my answer. I want to be baptized.” When the local missionaries proposed a baptismal date, he requested that the date be moved up. As a new Latter-day Saint, Alex continues to attend church every week. He just received the Aaronic Priesthood and is contemplating a full-time mission."

That is my Proud Missionary Moment.

Elder Sorensen

Hardest Working Week

I love you guys!!  This week was amazing.  Probably one of the hardest working weeks on my mission!  Elder Tracy and I picked right back up where we left off.  We get along so well!  We have tons of good inside jokes and experiences and it's just super great to have a good friend as my companion. 

Okay, so on Tuesday we went on exchanges with the zone leaders.  Elder Parker and Elder Tracy were together in the ASL area, and Elder Tanner and I took the College Park area.  Quick note on Elder Tanner, went to the same high school as Carley (Bennie's cousin), and he knows her.  So that's cool.  And I know his cousin Cole Craft.  Anyway, it is a small world.  So, I finally started at the gym again that morning.  It feels so good.  We go with the zone leaders and the French elders.  Then we did our studies and everything, and after that we decided to go to lunch. 

We couldn't pick what to eat, so I decided hey, both our companions hate sushi, but we love it, so let's have that! We went to a place in downtown Silver Spring, and it was awesome.  After that we went to the church to meet with one of their investigators.  It was both our first times with him and he was just asking question after question, and Elder Tanner and I both non-bashingly answered all his questions pretty confidently. #experiencedmissionarypoints. 

Later that day we found a sweet referral for the Spanish elders.  We were trying to find some of the new move ins and we happened to get into a locked apartment complex and got to the door of the person we were supposed to find and a Spanish man answered the door.  The man was really mad at first but I talked him down a bit with my Spanish and explained what we were about and he said him and his family had been looking for our church and they want to get baptized!!!  It was so cool!!!  The Lord will definitely put the elect in your path if you're doing what you should! 

We also got a dinner set up with some of my favorite Glendale members!  It was so much fun to see them and they missed church on Sunday so it was a good surprise for them to see me again!  It was a solid day!  

Wednesday we found out Elder Tracy had lost his wallet while he was on exchange with Elder Parker. So he didn't have a metro card, which meant that we were stuck.  We biked around a bit, but we can't really do much without access to a bigger portion of our area...  We ended up getting a ride out to Ashburn with the traveling trainers and taught D-.  It was a really good lesson about prayer and scripture reading.  I did a lot of the voice interpreting and I felt really good about it.  

Thursday we were still stranded but we borrowed Elder Parker’s metro card and went to Virginia to check on a referral with a really awesome family in the deaf branch.  They also made us dinner.  The biggest plate of baked potatoes I've ever seen and they were delicious!!  Their referral wasn't home, but it was the right house because they have a deaf doorbell. (Doorbell that makes the lights flash).  

Friday was awesome. I learned a good lesson.  I had tried to help Elder Tracy with his wallet, but I had never prayed for him about it- selfish I know...  But Friday I prayed about it that morning because I wanted to continue working our areas.  Later that day after Sister Mays’ house I got the feeling I should call one of the stores Elder Parker and Elder Tracy were contacting on Monday to ask them.  I called the store and they asked the name that would be in the wallet, so I told them and they said, okay and that's a Maryland ID?  And I said, “no that'd be a Utah ID.”  They had it!!!!  We dropped everything and metroed right there!!  It took 5 hours round trip..  But it was totally worth it.  I am so glad I prayed about it and it was so awesome and I love it.  Blessings from The Lord!! 

So, Saturday was crazy. We went to the gym at 5:30 after that played basketball then went to our correlation meeting and also went to a dinner appointment in Glendale. It was a super hot long day, and when we came home I got changed, wrote in my journal and then passed out right on the floor...  

Sunday morning was interesting...  I woke up on the floor...  At 9...  And our ride was coming at 9:30..  So yeah- I was really tired! But I hurried and got ready and made it to church for a busy Sunday.  It was interesting.  Our schedule that day went as such:

 9:30-10:30 Set up gym for break the fast.
10:30-11 Glendale Mission Correlation
11-12 ASL Sacrament
12-1 Teaching ASL Sunday school
1-2 Glendale sacrament
2-3 ASL Break the Fast
3-4 Glendale Priesthood
4-5:30 Glendale Break the Fast...

Eight hours at the church made for another long day of working hard.  But so fun!  There was a family visiting the deaf branch and they had a son named H- and he would take mine and Tracy's glasses and then our iPads and take selfies with them.  Keep in mind he's like 4.  So I'll send some of those home.  During the Break the Fast we got a pudding dessert and it had strawberries and chocolate on top. Right as mine was set down he yelled CHOCOLATE!!! And stole my chocolate right from the top of my pudding.  It was so funny. 

It was a super solid week.  But I'm really freaking out today because a year from this very minute I'll be in the airport waiting to head on home...  It's freaking me out how fast this has gone.. I love you guys so much!!!!  Have a good week!!!

Elder Sorensen

Glenn Dale Revisites

So, Monday and Tuesday were good days, we carried on like normal days and then Wednesday--Transfers....  Wow. So I was right, Elder Tracy and I are companions again!!!!!!   It's so much fun!  I'm really happy; even without a car.  We're doing much better with our missionary work than the last time we were companions. 

Part of it could be what they did with our area.  So, because we are losing a lot of Elders mission-wide, they gave language areas a secondary area. The general standard with the secondary area is that they like the ward to be in the same church building....  And guess which ward is in our church building????   It rhymes with Pennvale.  THATS RIGHT!!! WE ARE A COMBINED ASL GLENN DALE AREA NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It's the craziest thing ever....  I don't even know how best to describe all my feelings from that day....  Oh my gosh- it is so wonderful to be back in my first area!

For the most part we've only done ASL work, but we did do some Glenn Dale missionary work since being assigned.  It's just getting reintegrated with the ward and stuff.  It was pretty fun at church on Sunday though!  Saturday morning I went on exchanges with Elder Sekeme.  He speaks very little English, but both our comps are district leaders and had a meeting.  I wanted to help him improve some of his English so I took him out street contacting for an hour and half, and he did awesome!!!  It was so fun.  He's so humble and awesome!   

Speaking of humility, I had one of the most humbling experiences of my life last night. We were walking out to the car to grab our mileage log. Since the car was right down the street I didn't grab my shoes, and right as we get to the main sidewalk a man stops us and is like, “No shoes?”  And we replied, “No we’re just going down the street.”  Now, this guy is pretty old, and has on some pretty nice black dress shoes.  Well, as we were about to walk away, he turned back and asked, “Here, do you want these?” Oh my gosh......  I just... I wanted to cry!  He was so humble and kind and giving--I was just awestruck that someone would offer us service when we are the ones here to serve. We of course replied that we were okay and went our separate ways, but oh my gosh; I still feel humbled thinking about it.  And take into account that we were in our pajamas at this point, so we just looked like two young white kids, and just... Wow...  I dunno..  Really makes you think. 

Today was fun.  Like I said, we slept in a bit and then went to chick fil a.  After we left it was pouring rain, so we got drenched in our way home.  It was great! I'm looking forward to a great new week!!!