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