Oh my lanta this week was so long... In a bad way at the beginning, but in a good way at the end. So, I already told you about Monday and things kinda fell apart between Redmond and I. It made for a kinda awkward last day. We spent most of it with him packing up all his stuff. We got to go to The Hales’ for lunch which was awesome! I love The Hales! Oh yeah, Elder Summit and I got up and I went and taught seminary that morning. The kids said I did a pretty good job! So that's exciting. Anyway, after the Hales we went to the Beals for Elder Redmond’s last dinner. It was really fun!
Then Wednesday we got up and packed up the car and drove up to the DC Stake Center for transfers. It was a really tough one for me because Elder Tracy left... I hope you guys see him soon!! I got Elder Williams as my new companion!! He's awesome! He's been out for about 4 and half months and served in Laurel before here. He's from Mesa, Arizona and is 11 years younger than the next oldest sibling in his family. And he loves singing just like me. We had a pretty good first day lined up for him! We had an appointment with A- which was super stellar! As we left Elder Williams said, "I've never had so much fun in an appointment with an investigator!" Haha, it was a really fun lesson! Then we went to The Gs and visited with them. Brother G asked us for a blessing which was good. We were happy to oblige. Then we got Chick-fil-a for dinner and a run to Walmart to get Williams some groceries for moving.
Thursday morning we went to seminary again for fun! It was great! We came home and took a quick nap, then had zone district meeting at 9. It was really good. We got some new people in our district. Elder Gipson who is one of my good friends is in our district and it's super fun to be with him!! Then afterwards we went all the way down to the bottom of our area for a lesson with a less active member. Then we went out to the far side of our area for dinner. It was really nice, and we
had a well prepared spiritual thought. We also we ran over to the church for basketball that evening. We were so far away that we were a half hour late, and had to change at the church. But it was really fun regardless.
On Friday we had a few lessons cancel which wasn't nice, but we managed to stay busy throughout the day regardless. We had a really good lesson with one of our returning members. We shared Ether 12 and just bore our testimonies and told him how we feel, and how to grow closer to Christ, and then he would bear his testimony on how he knew that was true and applications he's seen in his life and we just kept building on each other's testimonies and the spirit was so strong in that lesson. Definitely top 10 spiritual experiences on my mission worthy. It was all I could do to keep from crying like I do. Next we went to Brother C’s for dinner and a lesson. I really like Brother C. After that we came home and weekly planned and I taught Williams most of what I know about the area.
Saturday was so awesome. Oh. My. Gosh. So, generally I write a page in journal, but I wrote three pages for Saturday!! So, that's how good it was. We went to basketball in the morning and the only other people that showed up were Brother Cheney and two of his sons. One is 22 and on break from BYU, Chris. The other is 9, Michael. We played Cheneys vs. missionaries. They creamed us. They have like... Family telepathy or something I swear! It was so much fun! Then as we were leaving they asked if we had any days we weren't getting fed. I don't like imposing on people, or being pushy, but I said, "I know it's kinda last minute, but we don't have one tonight." Well, it worked out and they invited us over right in the perfect spot between a few of our appointments. After basketball we came home and put together Elder William’s bike, and tossed the bike rack on our car. We went down to J- house and went on a bike ride with him. It was going well and we were almost to the end and then Williams took a spill... I felt so bad!!! He was okay, only bleeding a tiny bit where the pedal clipped his ankle, but he didn't want to ride back. So, we dropped the bikes off outside the laundry mat so A- could keep an eye on them. Don't worry they were locked up too. Then Elder Summit came and took us to our car, and we drove it back and picked up the three bikes. We grabbed some Chick-fil-a, and then went to our house to get all changed and stuff. We went to brother C’s again for his daughter’s birthday party. It was fun, and he really appreciated us being there. We also invited all his family members there to Festival of Lights. After that we headed off to the Cheneys!! I met the Cheneys dog a few weeks ago because a member was babysitting it, and I love their dog, so it was good to see Jimmer again. It was also fun to see Kate Lynn who was in the singles ward over the summer while I was there. Cool catch up times. Brother Cheney made us all Thai food because he served in Thailand! It was so delicious! We shared a spiritual thought on the "Why we need a savior" video on Christmas.mormon.org. It's an amazing video. If we haven't seen it yet, watch it because it's so great. I used your three levels of Christmas principle Dad! I totally agree with that by the way. I am really starting to understand the gift that we have been given and how we can become better people because of it, and how it applies to everything and just yeah. I agree. I love you Dad! After that I got to play ping pong! I played against Chris. It was really really fun! He's pretty good. He won both games 19-21 and 21-23, so we were pretty evenly matched! After that Chris came with us to teach A-! We talked about 2nd Nephi 31 and the Holy Ghost and enduring the the end. It was a really good lesson. She invited Chris to join in the confirmation the next day too! She's so awesome! And she got us Christmas presents!!!! A- is so great!! I don't know if I mentioned this yet, but her dad’s name was Bennie too. So that's pretty neat. Then we headed home for the night! But we had a plan. We wanted to have a good night with Elder Summit and Talbot, so we got them to think we were gonna come help them with moving stuff out of the old apartment and they went over there. While they were over there we moved all the furniture and flipped the breakers and had a zombie apocalypse training!!! Haha, Elder Talbot had no idea what was going on, but Summit was pretty clued in, and figured it out right away. We got shot really fast, but it was super fun. Elder Summit was smiling for like, a half hour! He normally expressionless, so I know he had a good time. He said the bike lights we used as strobe lights were the best part.
Then Sunday was good. We had church. I participated really well in ward council, and I feel like I'm getting to know the ward, and am being a good help and input for them. I love this ward, so it's a really good feeling to know I'm contributing to its growth and strength. Sacrament meeting was good A- got confirmed! She asked me to do the actual confirmation part, so I did that. We had good classes on the second coming, and living Christ centered lives. We had dinner at the Michela’s house. Sister Michela is the Relief Society president so afterward we had a good talk about the ward and people that she thinks it would be good for us to check on, and now I've got a great list of stuff to do in the next few weeks! We're not gonna have a spare minute, and that's just how I like it!
I just love everything right now. I'm so happy. I've really been starting to understand how much of a blessing a mission is. Before I always just thought okay this is my mission I need to set these goals, and do these things and everything will be great. But it's not really like that. A mission is such a blessing because you get to see people change, and grow and help them in your own little ways. But the blessing part comes in when you understand that this work will get done regardless. Heavenly Father will provide the opportunities for people to learn and grow even if you're not there, so the fact that you get to be a part of it, and see the Holy Ghost work in people's lives is so special. It has really changed my perspective on what I'm doing out here, and how I go about it. I just have such great love for the people I'm working with, and I am really happy I get to be a part of their lives. I can't even express how much gratitude I have for these people and how much they do for me even without knowing it! Okay, my email is starting to glitch a bit so I'm guessing that means this is way too long. I'll wrap up with I love you and I'm excited to talk to you on Friday!!!!
Elder Sorensen
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