Week 71: The Smell of French Fries

Holy freaking crud! This was the best week I've had in this area yet! The best parts are at the end of the week, so be patient.  Tuesday was pretty good.  A standard Tuesday of all meetings and metro rides.  During our district meeting portion Elder Bell was going up to do his area report and tossed me his iPad.  Mistake.  He got it back with 391 extra pictures on it.  Haha, troll troll troll.  Elder Parker came with Elder Tanner and Elder Thornton to our FHE so I got to talk with him for a while!  It was awesome!  

Wednesday was kinda boring.  Nobody wanted to talk to us outside...  So nothing really to report there. Then we had dinner.  It was super good.  I had a lot of time to think and ponder about..  Just, the way I am, and why I've been having a kinda rough time lately, and how I can make it better.  Lots of prayer and study and introspection and I have found out a lot about myself and what gives me a feeling of worth and self efficacy.  So, I figured out where I was, and where I wanted to be, and now I'm working on getting there.  I took some big steps toward that this week.  I really like taking care of people.  It's something I'm good at and when I can help someone else I know I'm doing well in fulfilling my purpose and feel happy.  

 

That night we had three lessons. That's the most I've had in a single day in this area!!  One was with C-, a recent convert.  It was cool to hear his testimony because he recently did baptisms for the dead!  Another was with a less active we hadn't seen for a while, N-.  She was super excited to see us and talked about everything that has happened in her life for 40 minutes!  We had to leave really quickly after that, but we got a good spiritual thought in before we left! Then we went to see R-.  We wanted to meet with her two times this week to see if that helped her get to church on Sunday.  We talked with her about it, and she said to us, I know that my legs hurting is the devil tempting me not to go to church, so this week, I will be there!  Holy crud!  Her testimony is just amazing..  Every time we see her I feel so uplifted! 

We metroed home and I was really hungry.  I was gonna just run into the 7/11 next to our house, but as we were walking the Five Guys across the street smelled so good....  So, I decided to go there instead.  I ordered my food, got a drink, turned around and there were two deaf guys signing at the table behind me!!  I went up and started signing with them for like 10 minutes!  One of them is from Utah and was raised Mormon but went less active.  So, I invited them both to go to the deaf branch and gave them the address of the church and the time and everything, but it was just such a cool experience to use my ASL again, and just being led by the spirit in the form of smelling french fries!! 

Oh, funny story, earlier that day when we were waiting for a bus, a man came up to Elder Hamblin and just started talking and said something like, "See, you wouldn't make it in the desert of New Mexico.  You've got all that bulky weight, and your skin would get too sunburned.  You see what I'm saying??"  Then he just walked away... Oh DC.  Gotta love it.  

Friday was super awesome as well. First of all, it was 500th day on my mission, so that's pretty darn cool.  We had a lesson with a returning member at 12:30, and were able to have a really good lesson and read from the Book of Mormon with her.  It was so cool.  Then Elder Hamblin  and I both realized we hadn't eaten lunch and were starving.  There was a McDonald's on the way to our next stop, so we grabbed a bite to eat there.  Well, we both had to use the restroom too, so we both went in and this guy in line started talking to us, and said he was looking to increase his faith, but it's so hard and why are there so many churches and everything that missionaries love to hear!  We ended up teaching him about half The Restoration in Mcdonalds bathroom!!  We got his contact info, and he actually lives in our area!!  So freaking psyched to teach this guy!!  Ceasar invited us over for dinner, so we finished our night out there, and just were so stoked on life.  

Saturday Elder Hamblin felt really sick, so we stayed in for a good part of the day, but we had a lesson with R- that we had invited a member to that we weren't gonna miss!  R- is almost blind, so she has trouble reading the Book of Mormon, we took our assistant ward mission leader and read it with her.  It was so good, and she promised to be at church the next day again, and so we left there on another high.  Especially because we biked into the garage right before it started pouring rain!!  

Sunday... Oh. My. Gosh.  Okay, so, we get to church and we call R- seeing if she's gonna make it.  She's really hard to understand on the phone but Elder Hamblin thought he heard her say she wasn't gonna make it.  We went out by the bus stop just in case to help her in.  Well, we hear sacrament meeting starting and just felt so defeated...  As were walking down the hall, I look up and THERE'S R- WALKING FROM THE OTHER SIDE TOWARD US!!!  I almost jumped for joy I was so happy!!  She stayed for sacrament meeting, and loved it.  President Cooke was speaking in our ward!  The Spanish ward who meets in our building had a baptism and so we had R- sit in on that after sacrament, and she loved it.  She said even though it was in Spanish she could still feel the spirit so strongly!!  Then we introduced her to President Cooke, and he was really impressed with her, and her testimony!  Oh my-lanta it was amazing!!  Ceasar invites all the Elders over for a lunch after church, so we went to that. 

None of the other missionaries could give us a ride, so I was bummed to have to take the bus at first, but I was talking to a member who was visiting from Dallas at the bus stop. Turns out he grew up in Orem and went to Timpanogos!!  He graduated in 2000, but still.  THS represent!  Then, on the bus I was talking with one of the intern couples in the ward, Ben Nelson and his wife, and he asked me, wait, you went to Timpanogos right?  Did you know Jon, Jason, and Jeremy Rees?  I think my jaw dropped when he asked that. So, Brother Nelson was the Rees cousins neighbor in Idaho.  Their cousins were a lot older than them though, so the Rees boys would just go hang out with Ben!  We talked about that for the whole bus ride!  He also knows Cole Gardner!  So many cool stories this week! 

Anyway, today was zone activity.  We played dodgeball, and had a Halloween relay race, and just had lots and lots of fun.  I got to sign with the two ASL sisters in our zone for a while as well.  It's been a really great week!!  I hope you all are safe this week and I love you so much!!!!!

Week 70: Twilight Woods

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE AND NICK!!!!!!!!!   I love you both so much!  I hope you had amazing 14th and 9th birthdays!  So, I think I mentioned Monday last week was a super fun party day and we had 11 of us sleeping over and hanging out and it was awesome.  Anyway, Tuesday was the same as always, we had zone district meeting, and then we had FHE that night.  Metroing in between.  Elder Demill and I talked a lot about choir after FHE and it was awesome. 

Wednesday Elder Hamblin and Elder Zollinger realized they were like... 100% out of food...  So we ran up to Costco to get them some groceries.  I saw Michelle Ferguson, I guess Michelle Lioi, the one who married Mike.  It was cool!  Then Elder Thornton and Elder Tanner came over to go on exchange with Zollinger and Palmer.  Thornton also cut my hair while he was here so it didn't look like, as he puts it, there's a cat on my head.  Then we had our ward dinner.  The family was out of town so they had the Amharic Elders pick up some pizza for us.  It was delicious!  

Thursday was a kinda sad day...  William was leaving for Utah, but he stopped by here in the morning and we got breakfast.  It was really nice to just get to sit and talk with him for a while before he left.  After studies and all that we went to see a recent convert J-- who Elder Rummler had worked with when he was in this area.  It was really fun! When we got there the sister missionaries were with her, and were just leaving.  So J-- got a double dose of missionaries that day, but she came to church and Why I Believe on Sunday so I guess it worked out for her!!  Ceasar had us over for dinner, and then asked me to help more with his technical troubles...  Haha, he thinks I'm some sort of tech guru now.  

Friday was fun because Elder Palmer had Elder McDonald over for exchanges.  He's a really funny new Elder from Alpine.  Ceasar invited us all for breakfast, omelettes and pancakes. Yum.  Then when we got home the ASL Elders called and stopped by to talk for a bit.  It was really fun to see Tracy and French again. Then that night we had an appreciation dinner from the 5K we helped with in September.  The best part, it was in a pub!!!  Haha, just kidding, the best part was I got to see Elder Paul.  It was kinda funny to see so many missionaries in an Irish pub contacting people and trying to share the gospel.  It made my day.  I got your package that day, mom, thank you!!!  Then we came home and talked with Palmer and McDonald.  Then we were all hungry so I grilled up some brats and we ate those, then went to bed.  It was a really good day!!  

Saturday I felt kinda sick, and Elder Hamblin felt really sick, so we stayed in most of the day, but we had a lesson with R-- and we weren't gonna miss that!  We had a really good lesson about church and the baptismal interview questions.  She said she was going to be at church the next day, and we were super stoked!  Then as we were waiting for the bus to take us home we heard a lot of party music so I danced on the side of the street a little.  It was fun.  Actually contacted a few people because of that.  We took the bus to the metro stop and were waiting for our train, and up the escalator comes our zone leaders!  It was so crazy we ran into them!  Haha, we rode a few stops to our house with them, but they had to ride the red line all the way up..  That's a long trip.  

Sunday was really busy and good.  Church was fun, we helped Elder Tanner and Elder Thornton during Sunday school with programs for Why I Believe.  Ceasar invited us all for dinner of course.  It got really smoky when we were there... So we all smelled like fried meats.  We got to the visitors center early with Elder Thornton and Elder Tanner to help with programs and such again.  Then I was really self conscious about smelling like fried chicken, so I asked Sister Amparo if they had an perfume in visitors center...  They did.  So, instead of smelling like fried chicken, I smelled like twilight woods. Haha...  Lots of funny experiences this week.  Why I Believe was good. I sat in the back, and not in the ASL section which was super duper strange for me..  But I got to see lots of friends and have a good spiritual experience with them.  The speaker talked a lot about the temple, and I'm super pumped about the temple right now because I haven't been in like... Three months which is the longest time for me since I got my temple recommend, so I am super looking forward to going in a few weeks.  I love the temple.  Okay, I love you all and hope everything back home is great!!

Elder Sorensen

Week 69: The Princess of Nigeria

This week was pretty rad.  On Tuesday we had our zone district meeting which was pretty fun.  We were actually on time this week.  They did this thing where they changed the times of the meeting so the time was supposed to be 1, but for our zone they put it at 12:30 so all the visitor center sisters can make their shifts, but we didn't know that... But we've got it down now.  Anyway, it was super fun.  I love our new district leader Elder Mayta.  I was around him when he started his mission, and he's super cool, so it's fun to serve around him again.  After that we went to Caesar’s for Elder Rowley’s birthday.  It was super fun, and then we all carpooled up to family home evening. It was a pretty good night!  

Wednesday we went on exchanges with traveling trainers, Elder Thornton and Elder Tanner.  Both of which have been past roommates and zone leaders, so it's fun to get to hang out with them again!  We tried a few referrals with no luck, so we went to the ward dinner.  

Thursday Caesar had us over to help him with some stuff around the house.  He has a broken foot right now so we help him every once in a while.  We were helping him make preparations for my birthday lunch the next day.  Then after that we came home and then walked up to Gallaudet to meet up with Elder Tracy and Elder French.  I got permission to sleep over with them for my birthday!! It was so much fun!  We stayed up till I was actually 20 just hanging out and eating Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was a pretty nice way to spend my birthday.  

They dropped me off back home Friday morning and we got ready, then headed up to Caesars for lunch!  He had all the Elders in the district over for our party, so we had to take it in shifts cause his apartment is kinda small.  Then we came home, and I got my present from the front desk.  It was awesome!  Both those ties are so sick!!! And the records are sweet!  And I can't wait to have pumpkin spice pancakes!!!  Then William came over.  He made me a cake!!  It was so nice!  It was good to spend time with him because he moves to Utah on Thursday...  It's really sad for me right now, but I'll like it better when I'm home in 8 months.  Oh yeah, that happened this week.  I have 8 months left!!

Saturday was fun.  We had exchanged with the APs!! I went with Elder Ord.  We taught a lesson to our investigator R-. We found out she is The Princess of Nigeria!  No joke!  She showed us pictures and everything!!  Her brother is King of Nigeria right now.. Holy cow.  She is awesome; we just need to get her to church!  Funny story, while we were there R- got a phone call and she was like, missionaries?  Here are the missionaries.  She handed me the phone and I said, " Hello this Elder Sorensen."  And Sister Griffin, a sister in our ward, is like, "Oh..we just got this person as a referral... Awkward.  Well, see you tomorrow."  So we gave her a hard time trying to poach our area.  It was funny.  Other than that Elder Ord and I did some contacting.

Sunday was good.  Church was pretty good. Our lesson in priesthood was on leadership and qualities of a good leader.  Then Caesar had a few of us over for dinner: the two companionships on bike, and the Amharic Elders.  We didn't want to Metro, so we all piled into the Amharic car.  Caesar’s was fun.  He roped me into trying to help him figure out his new computer.  Then we went and did some contacting.  We were metroing home and we rode the green line up to a red line transfer point called Fort Totten.  I was blessed to celebrate my birthday with The Amharic Elders, the East Elders, and the Spanish Elders.  We had a good time with some board games, hanging out, sharing funny mission stories, and pizza and ice cream.  It was a good party and I felt loved by so many!  Thank you to all who have written and sent me birthday letters and wishes.  Well, I miss you all like crazy, and I love you to death!!

Elder Sorensen

Elder Sorensen Turns 20!

Friday is Bennie's 20th Birthday-- we lamented jokingly that we never spent one day together with him during his 19th year.   However- we are so proud of all the work he has done in the DC area during that year.  

He would love any emails or letters to wish him a happy day:

Elder Bennie Sorensen

100 Florida Avenue

Apartment #1223

Washington, DC 20002

bsorensen@myldsmail.net

Week 68: Nineteen No More

This week was pretty darn exciting.  Tuesday was fun because we had Zone District meeting and FHE.  We had a really cool recent convert come down for FHE and we were really happy to see him there!

Wednesday was Transfer Meeting.  It was pretty darn fun!!  I got to see lots of my good friends and catch up with Elder Tracy and Elder French and Elder Parker.  Elder Parker went back to ASL! I'm so jealous.  We all reminisced about our transfers together.  It was great.  Then we went to Costco for lunch.  I saw Sister Ellsworth.  We both needed Costco cards, so we got those.  I can finally get all my food!!  Yay!!  Then we had dinner with Caesar that night.  He's really awesome and so nice. 

Caesar needed us to do some service for him on Thursday, so we ended up being there for a while.  Then we went to A-'s and taught him.  We showed up at the same time as his home teacher, it was a really cool experience.  On the bus ride home there was a man drinking rum straight from the bottle, then he tried to walk off the bus and face planted.  It was kinda funny to watch.  #citylyfe.

Friday was pretty chill.  We had some appointments but they all cancelled.  We had Elder Palmer with us because Elder Zollinger was at leadership meeting.  Caesar wanted to meet Elder Palmer, so we took him over there for dinner.  

Saturday was so fun!  I freaking love General Conference.  We watched the first two sessions in our apartment on the iPad; then we watched priesthood at the church.  I think my favorite talk was Neill P. Marriott’s, the southern lady from Saturday.  It was really uplifting and exactly what I needed to hear. I love hearing from the General Authorities of the Church.  I can't believe it's already the third General Conference of my mission....so weird.  

Sunday we watched the first session at home again, and then the second at the church.  Whenever we were at the church Elder Rollins was kind enough to lend me his iPad and put conference in ASL, so I got to watch it in ASL.  It was so awesome.  Brother and Sister Kendrick, members from the branch did some of the interpreting so that
was really cool to see. 

The weather has changed.  It was fun to see the September/October contrast. September was super sunny and nice, then as soon as October 1st hit the next four days were overcast, rainy, and bleak.  Fall is finally here!

I can't believe it's already been 16 months out here...  We had lots of people over today for a kinda thrown together birthday party for me.  I turn 20 on Friday!!!!  So weird!!! It's sad that I never got to see my family and friends as a 19 year old at all, but this is the year I'll get to see everyone again!!!  I love you guys!! Have a great week!

Elder Sorensen

Week 67: Heavenly Father Works Through People

Wow, what a crazy week.  So, Tuesday we had zone district meeting.  They recently changed the time of it so we can have studies in the morning, and then go to the meeting.  Then we came home for lunch and had to leave pretty quickly after that for FHE with the ward.  It was pretty fun.  We got to ride one of the new metro trains there!!!  The normal ones are really old and carpeted and musty, but the new ones are all silver and have nice seats and good announcing services so you actually know where you are and everything.  It was great. 

Wednesday we had an emergency drill right in the time where we were gonna have our lessons... so we had to reschedule all of them really quickly and get going to the church so we could tell everyone we're safe.  We ended up not finishing the drill for like, two hours.  Then we went to Caesar's for dinner.  It was really yummy.  

Thursday we had a couple of lessons which was nice.  We taught A-- a lot about forgiveness because that's what he was asking us about.  I think he really felt the Spirit and hopefully can have that help him.  He didn't make it to church this week though which is too bad..  Then we went to Caesar's to help him move some stuff around in his house.  Elder Paul and Elder Porter (they were on exchange) came by to drop off some flyers for us to hand out and Caesar feed all of us.  It was really fun.  

Friday was cool.  We were out all day trying to contact referrals, but didn't end up getting in contact with any of them.  Walked by a few drug deals.  Got heckled by a big group of people.  It was fun! We went to help Caesar finish up moving some stuff, and then went to a lesson with C--, a recent convert.  It was a really good day.  We taught C-- about the temple because he's getting ready to go in October. He's going to be doing baptisms for the dead, and I couldn't be more excited for him.  

Saturday and Sunday were pretty rough for me... I was dealing with a lot personal feelings and questions.  I didn't quite know what to do and where to go from where I was.  I was really starting to question when the last time I had felt God's love for me was.  Sunday I just kept a desperate prayer in my heart all day that I could see and know of God's love me.  I had so many experiences that day that showed so clearly how much Heavenly Father really loves and cares for me.  William came to my ward that day to come see me.  Elder Rollins noticed I was struggling a bit and pulled me out of gospel principles to talk to me about what was going on.  Elder Tracy called and asked to come over.  Elder Parker called as well.  Caesar noticed and called to talk to me too.  Tracy came by and we talked and he gave me a blessing.  I know that Heavenly Father works through people for me, and I know all those people called and talked to me to help me understand God's love for me.  

I'm so grateful for all the friends I have and for their following the Spirit to talk to me and help me through this.  I am also really grateful to know of God's love for me, and I know that all of us can feel that as well.  It's an amazing thing to know and feel.  I love all you guys!  I'll be staying in my area with Elder Hamblin next transfer in case anyone was wondering.  Have a good week!!

Elder Sorensen

Week 66: Awesome Experiences

This week was interesting.  I got pretty sick, so we saw a lot of inside, but when we got out we had awesome experiences!!  Monday was when I started feeling not so great, but we had a lesson set up for that night, so I decided to go regardless, and I'm so freaking happy I did.  We met with one of our investigators that Elder Hamblin picked up last transfer.  He had been out of town, but had been reading the Book of Mormon very diligently!  He was in Mosiah!  We taught him the first lesson and he was asking super awesome questions, like, does God still care about us, and who is the prophet today?  It was so cool. Halfway through the lesson I got the prompting to talk about baptism. I told him at the end of our lesson I'm gonna ask him to be baptized, so I want him to think about that, and why I would ask.  Well, it came around to that point in the lesson and I asked if he would be baptized, and he said, when I know it's true I see no reason not to be baptized.  So his baptismal date is set for October 25th!!  I'm super excited!! 

Tuesday was the worst day of being sick, so I didn't do a thing but sleep and rest... Bleh...  

Wednesday we ended up getting out to our ward dinner, which was good!  French dip sandwiches with a really nice member of the ward. 

Thursday we had a dinner with our ward mission leader where we brainstormed tons of ideas to help missionary work in our ward and help the ward build member relations with the missionaries because it's tough with so many of us.  We're really excited to see how this helps our work progress.  

Friday I had a bit of a relapse so I opted to take some painkillers and sleep it off, ended up sleeping till around 5 or so.  Then I got a call from Sister Mays.  She's doing well, living at my new house even before I do.  Jealous.  

Saturday we had interviews.  I didn't really know what to expect from that, but President told me he's really proud of me and the way I've handled this transfer.  He said I'm tough, and he has a lot more respect for me after this transfer.  So, that's cool I guess. Then that night we met with R--.  We taught her the word of wisdom. When we told her about coffee she said, "Oh I drink coffee every once in a while."  I asked her if she would give up coffee for the Lord and she told me, yes.  Then she had me take her coffee from on top of the refrigerator and throw it away right then and there.  It was so awesome to see her faith and dedication to what were teaching her.  It was so cool.  

Then Sunday we had church which was good, and after that we went to  Ceasars.  Then we went up to the visitors center for Why I Believe!  I got to meet all the new ASL trainees and see Elder Tracy and French and Gaudette and Sister Brimhall and Sister Ellsworth.  It was so fun.  I got to sit by William and Mark cross in the ASL section.  During the opening prayer the new sister, Sister Kucharek was getting ready to interpret when the person started speaking Spanish, and she had no idea. So I started interpreting it for Mark. It was pretty crazy, but everyone was really impressed with me afterwards.  It was cool.  

Then today we're hanging out with Elder Paul, Elder Fisher, Elder Reedy, and Elder Harrison.  About to go up and have a grill party!  Love you! Have a good week!!!

Elder Sorensen