Week 4 GOOD, BETTER, BEST

Hey everyone!

Well week 4 is over and we are now starting week 5 of our MTC stay! Only 2 more weeks and I will be off to Ecuador! I can´t wait!!! Yes I will miss it here a little bit, but Ecuador should be a lot better. The food is no longer appealing at all, because we have had it for so long now. The days we have American food are the good days! Other than my district, the only other thing I will miss here is how hard it rains. On Saturday it was absolutely pouring harder than I have every seen it, so some of us went out and played in the rain for a little bit, and got drenched. 

We got Hermano Vargas as our new teacher and Hermano Tinoco who helps Hermano Vargas- since this is the first time he is teaching a district. He is definitely a very cool guy! It is amazing how much love he has shown to us in the first week that he taught us. You can totally tell how much love he has for us in every lesson that he teaches us. He gave us this lesson on Friday and had us write down what our lives would be like without the gospel, and it was crazy to think how different my life would be without it. After we did that he showed us a video that was very cool. It just showed the life of a couple of kids from being born until they were saying goodbye, and getting ready for their missions. I think everyone was in tears after it was over, and then he had us all bear our testimonies. It was absolutely the most spiritual experience that I have had since I have been here. Our night teacher Hermano Polo is our favorite though. He is very funny and makes us laugh about every five seconds. He has only showed up on time to class once because he always has crazy excuses that happen to be true. Mexico City must be a crazy place! The most recent one was when he was turning into the MTC and a motorcycle hit him and popped his tire. We did not believe him so we went to see his car and sure enough his tire was flat. So a couple of us helped him change his tire and then we went back to studying. We also got to see Hermano Martinez again. It was hard to say goodbye to him the first time, now this time it was even harder. He was with us for a couple hours and we had some good talks. 

Ya I have heard about the Ice Bucket Challenge, my night teacher Hermano Polo was challenged so he went and did it with one of his friends and that was another reason he was late to class. He challenged the whole Provo MTC to it after.

My Spanish is coming along! By the end of these next two weeks I hope that I will be able to teach the people of Ecuador. From what our teachers have said, they speak the fastest Spanish there is down there, so that should be a good adjustment! Our lessons with investigators are getting easier. Now we don´t really have to study the words that we will say we just have to have an outline and we go with their needs. It is crazy how much Spanish I have learned in one month. After today is over we will be on page 500 in El Libro de Mormon. We should have it finished by next Wednesday the 3rd of September. I think that has helped me learn Spanish the most, and also to pronounce the words the easiest.

Yesterday we played one of the districts in our branch in Volleyball. They were supposedly undefeated until we played them. They were not that great and we beat them pretty good. Our district is pretty good at volleyball, so that is what we play the most. Today is Christmas in August for our district, so we drew names out for everyone and bought them some presents in the store.  Tonight we will be acting out the birth of Jesus and give our presents to the people we drew. It should be fun and get us ready for the next 2 weeks. Our time here is flying by but it also seems like we have been here forever! 

That is about all for this week I hope you guys all have a good week and can´t wait to hear from you guys next week!

Elder Sorensen

I asked Khristian what was GOOD, BETTER & BEST about last week.  

 A good thing this week was the rainstorm this Saturday.

 A better thing this week was seeing Hermano Martinez again.

The best thing was watching the movie that Hermano Vargas showed us.

When you all write to him this week, tell him what was GOOD,BETTER, BEST about your week! :)

The Amazing Saturday Rain Storm

Week 3 Field Trip!

 

8/19/14

 

Hey guys!

         

       How is everything going? I am doing great! This last week has surely been a great one! We are now halfway done here and I think everyone is anxious just to get going!  My Spanish is coming along very well and I feel that by the end of the MTC I will be able to give the lessons in Spanish, but I am pretty sure that anything other than that will be a struggle. Although, this last week went by pretty fast there were some sad goodbyes that happened. First Hermano Martínez our morning teacher that is honestly one of the greatest person I have ever met had to leave. It was very hard for the District to say goodbye to him, and there were a lot of tears that were shed for him. Also this week was our Spanish Elders room mates last week also and they left Monday morning. They had become some of my best friends.  Our district was very popular among the Spanish Elders because we were constantly talking to them. They also loved Elder Kwak, and every time they would see him you would hear: KWAK KWAK KWAK. He is pretty famous with the Spanish Elders now I would say. We had a party to say goodbye to Elder Gomez and Elder Servin on Saturday night and on Monday morning we said our sad goodbyes.

       Elder Kwak and I have increasingly got better at teaching. It is crazy how much more Spanish I have learned in 3 weeks than all the years in High School. I think in the first week we learned more. They just throw you into the language and force you to learn it. Yesterday we got to teach our new teacher Hermano Vargas who´s name as our investigator is Alejandro. After our lesson he came up to us and told us that if we would have talked just a little longer on prayer we would have given the perfect first lesson in Spanish. So it is nice to hear stuff like that and know that all the hard work is paying off!

        Today we got to go to the Temple just to visit the visitors center for a couple of hours. It was very nice to get outside of these walls and see Mexico City. The city is crazy!!!! I have never seen so many people and buildings all in one place. I do not think that I could ever drive on their roads though, they are so narrow and busy that it would be very crazy. There are houses and buildings that go in every direction,  and lining the streets are people trying to sell anything they can. The visitors center was very cool too. It is too bad we didn´t get to go to the temple because their temple is pretty amazing. We also got to see some Cathedrals as we drove to the temple and they were pretty cool too. Nowhere close to as cool as what the temple was though.

         Well there has not been much else that has gone on this week. We have started to get into a routine and every day feels the same now. Lets hope these next 3 weeks go by a little faster than the last 3 because I am getting a little restless here in the MTC\CCM.  Now I just have to get Spanish down and I am ready to GO!!! Have a great week everybody and good luck in all that you do!

 

Love, Elder Sorensen

 

I asked Khristian some questions this week

  1-How many days has it rained?   Every day but 3 When it rains is pours, it just doesn't sprinkle.

  2-What 3 words describe the last 3 weeks? 1-Spanish 2-Como se Dice (how do you say?) 3. Study

  3-What is a regular day like?  Breakfast at 7:45, then Gym after that. After Gym we have class until 12:45 then we eat lunch.  After lunch we study until 3:30 then we have our night class until dinner at 6:15aft that we study until 9:30.

 

Mexico City Temple

 



Beautiful!



Saying good bye to his favorite instructor.



District

Khristian's favorite treat



Field Trip!



Yummy???

Good Bye Party

 

                      






Week 2

Hey guys!!!

    My second week here is just about over! This week has flew on by and it is crazy that it is already Tuesday again! I am doing great and learning a ton of spanish. Nobody in my district has gotten sick, so that has been really great! With the new districts that got here I think every single one of them got sick. On Saturday there were 60 missionaries who all got a 24 hour flu and then there was even more on Sunday who got sick. 

 

    We finished teaching Ivan our first investigator this week and we got better and better as  time went on. It is crazy how fast you can learn spanish when you absolutely have to learn it so you can talk to them. We got Ivan to commit to being baptized on September 13th which he said is his birthday. It is crazy how well they can act like a real investigator when you are teaching them. They can remember what you taught them each week and you can really feel the spirit as we teach. Elder Kwak and I did not know that it was our last time teaching him so we did not get to say our goodbyes.  I am sure we will see him around here since he teaches here. With the end of Ivan we got two more investigators to teach. They are our two teachers Hermano Martinez and Hermano Polo. They are both very funny and I am glad that we have them to teach us. Their names as investigators are Valentin and Jorge. We have only taught Valentin so far and he was very tough on us. He was not willing to do much and would not even pray at the end. These two investigators will definitly be a bigger challenge than Ivan was.

       Last tuesday night we also got 2 more roomates to fill our apartment. They are 2 Elders that are both from Mexico. We have had a ton of fun with them and they have taught us a lot about Mexico and also some Spanish Tongue Twisters. They also taught us that if we ever get robbed to just keep three dollars in your wallet because that will be plenty of money for them in Ecuador. They also taught us about the cops in Mexico and if you get caught by them you can give them money as a bribe and you will not get caught. It is a pretty crazy place down here! There are houses that surround us from all sides and you can hear sirens non stop, but somehow you can still feel the spirit so strongly in the midst of all the commotion. 

 

     Last night, the new Elders bought us some chips that they thought would be way to hot for us. They were Habanero Lays but they were not really that bad. We ate them all, while they were guzzling water thinking that they were way too hot. They told us that we are now more Mexican then they are. They will only be here one more week since they are only here for 2 weeks and we will be sad to see them go.

 

       The food is progressively getting worse. At first we did not think it was too bad but now it is getting bad, and we still have 4 more weeks! The saving grace for breakfast and dinner is a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich. If it was not for them I am pretty sure that I would have lost some weight already! We did get some cheeseburgers yesterday for lunch and it was very nice to have some American food again. We get Pizza for dinner tonight so Tuesdays are pretty much the best day of the week by far!

This week some new missionaries came and guess who one of them was? It was Jaylen who played on the Wildcats with us. It has been nice to talk some baseball with him since I have not seen him for so long. This next week I will try to get a picture with all 3 of us who are here that played for the Wildcats.   

      Well that is about it for this week. I miss all of you guys so much! Have a great week and I will talk to you guys next week!! 

 

                                       Love, Elder Sorensen

**Hey Friends and Family, anyone recognize their tie?

Another rainy day.

New roomies

Future super model???

Khristian and Jaylen played baseball together on the Wildcats.  They haven't seen each other since they were like 14

Treats from the new Elders

Week 1

Well my first week is just about done! The first days seemed like they went on forever but days are starting to fly now! They throw us right into Spanish! The first day we met our teacher and it is only Spanish from him. It was pretty tough to understand at first but I'm starting to get ahold of it. We also got to teach our first investigator on the 2nd day. He really is just going to be a night teacher. It was very frustrating to know what to tell him but not be able to speak to him. I can understand just about all he is saying but talking Spanish has been tough. Luckily Elder Kwak can speak Spanish he just does not understand. He works really hard to learn the language and we have been setting a ton of goals to learn the language. If we can teach the first lesson after 3 days here, I can not imagine what will happen once we are here for 6 weeks.  I think we work pretty well as a team. Our second lesson went awesome and we taught with the spirit. He even said that he would be baptized. It went very well.

Elder Williams* the one that you met is the one that loves the Red Sox. It has been killing us not to know what went on for the trade deadline so it is nice to finally find out!  (Karter is keeping him updated) Me and him are very good friends. Our whole district is pretty cool but me and Elder Williams get along very well. We have 8 Elders and 2 Hermanas in our District. Oh and I am the District Leader! I was surprised on the second day when our Branch President told us that I was the District Leader. So I am in charge of getting everyone in our district to learn Spanish. It is a hard task but I think that I can get it done!

The Food here is not the best but I can handle it. It is hard for any food to taste good after I've had your food! They do give us alot of candy for lunch though so that is the highlight for our days. We also had Pizza the second night and I now know why people look forward to it. It is so nice to have food from America! I did not think that when we came down here the food would all be Mexican food also! 

Well that is about all for this week. If you want to know more just ask me and I will let you know next week! Can you send this to everyone to let them know how I am doing? Thanks Miss you a ton! These 2 years will go by fast and I'll be home before you know it!!!

  -Elder Sorensen

*After we dropped Khristian off in the airport, we met a missionary and his family as they were walking in. It was Elder Williams.  They were a super nice family!***

Elders in the rain.

Khristian's District-
 They are all going to the same mission.
(There were 16 of them that arrived in Mexico at the same time-all going to the Ecuador, Guayaquil South Mission)

Khristian's Companion



Fellow Red Sox fan! 

6 hour rain storm on day 1

Breakfast?