Monday, April 27, 2015

Week 39 Nine Months!



Hey!

Well it has been a pretty good week here in Cuenca! We Visited a whole lot of less active members to help get the attendance up a little bit in the ward. It worked pretty well and for the most part everyone that we visited was there at church. We had about 100 people in the church in total which was about 10 more than normal. Miriam was at the Church again. She loves the church. Her daughter Rafaela was at the primary activity too on Friday and all the members are helping her a lot to feel welcome. Xavier was not able to go to church because he got done working at 6 in the morning on Sunday and was very tired. He should be getting the Priesthood this next week. So that should be a good day! 

With investigators that we have they did not make it to church this week so that was a little bit saddening, but they will get there. They are starting to gain a testimony and should find some time to make it to the church. The members are helping us find some people too, so it should be a good week for us.  

The weather still remains pretty ugly. We have the same rainy weather every day, but really that is the only downside of my area. It is a beautiful place in the middle of the mountains. The sun when it is out if very strong, but it will go from super hot to raining hard in like 5 minutes. It is pretty crazy.  

Overall it was a pretty good week! I hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Sorensen

Mac & Cheese -good but not great....

Week 38

Hey!

It has been a pretty good week this week! We had some pretty good times teaching our investigators. Miriam and Xavier are doing really good. They were both in the church on Sunday. It was nice to see them both there and they looked like they were really happy. Miriam had not had a job for all the time we were teaching her and she was really worried what she was going to do, but recently she received a job too and is a lot less stressed.

We do not have a bunch of other investigators right now, so we will be looking for some more this week. It is a little bit harder to find people to teach here in Cuenca because all of the people don't want to talk with us. But we should have some members that will give us references and we will work with those. It has been a good week in all I don't have a lot to write about, this week. I hope that everyone has had an awesome week and will have an awesome week this week! 

Love,  Elder Sorensen


One of the amazing murals painted on a building in the city
District

Another amazing mural

Monday, April 13, 2015

Week 37

Well it has been an awesome week here in Tomebamba!

The week has been a pretty crazy one, but it definitley started out on the right note! We found out that on Monday Xavier found a new job so he can go to church every Sunday now!!! It is pretty cool because we promised him that if he went to church on Sunday that he would find a new job the following week. He had permission to go he told us on Sunday but really he did not. He went to go to work on Monday and they told him that they no longer needed him. He was a little sad but, as he was walking he ran into an ex boss of his. He talked to him and offered Xavier a new job and said that there was no problem if he wants to go to church on Sunday. It was pretty cool to see the Lord acting on our promise and acting so quickly. 

We also taught Miriam a lot as well. She is doing very well. She really likes the church and is sharing it with everyone. The members have been soo good to help her out and make her feel comfortable in the church. 

We had a rough time finding people to teach this week, so we are working hard to find new people who want to listen. Some of the days were pretty long walking around just hoping we would run into somebody who would listen to us. We found some people and hopefully they will come to church this week. 

We also had some pretty good pizza this week. We bought a pizza that had 45 pieces in it. It was pretty good and all 6 of us finished the pizza! It was a struggle but we ate it all. 
Well that was my week. It was a good one but, a lot of work aswell! I hope everyone has the best week! Take care!

Love,

Elder Sorensen



Monday, April 6, 2015

Week 36



Well how was conference for everyone?  I had a very, very good week! It finished very well with two baptisms yesterday!!!

So Miriam and Xavier were both baptized yesterday, it was an awesome day!

 Xavier had to attend church on Sunday to be baptized. In the morning he did not show up and we were really worried. We received permission to go out of our sector and talk to him at his work.  He told us there was no way that he would be able to make it to the afternoon session of conference. We asked him if there was anyway he could go. He asked for permission from his manager but she said no. He said maybe he could call his boss that was away on vacation. So he did and his boss said yes!!! It was a miracle! For the last 6 weeks his boss had said there was no way he could miss any Sunday, but this week she said yes! He was super excited and we sprinted to conference so that we would not miss any of it. He was able to attend and he was baptized.

Miriam's baptism was a little bit easier and less stressful. She was able to watch conference on Saturday and Sunday and she was excited for her baptism. The two baptisms were very awesome!

The other 2 investigators were not in conference so it looks like they are not really too interested. We did run into a family of three at conference who were not members and live in our area so we will now be able to teach them.  The mom accepted a date to be baptized and the dad will soon accept one as well!  It looks like these two will be our next baptisms on the 25th of April

 Overall this was one of the best weeks of my mission. It was such a great way to spend an Easter Sunday at conference in the morning and afternoon and then finish the day with 2 baptisms.
I hope everyone has an awesome week!

Love, Elder Sorensen



Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Week 35! 8 Months!

Hey! I hope all of you guys had a fantastic week!  We had a awesome one!
We have been working very hard this week to teach everyone who wants to be taught. We did not have a lot of time to find new investigators because we have been teaching a lot.  We had some really good lessons. We also will be preparing for 2 baptisms this week, so we are very excited for them!  Xavier and Mirium should be getting baptized.  It should be a good week for them because we are working hard to get them ready. Also, they will be baptized on Easter Sunday so it should make it a very special day! We also have 2 other people who are getting ready for their baptisms. We have been teaching Guillermo . He has been to church 1 time and needs to go 2 more times.  We are also teaching Ernest- he sells fries. He has had a rough time, but has decided to change his life and wants to be baptized. We had a ton of family night evenings as well. We had  some good times with the the members in the ward. Over all it has been a very good week and we are looking forward to General Conference and the baptisms.

  Oh and also here it is la semana santa and during this week. The people here wont be eating meat so it looks like I will be eating fish all week haha hopefully it is all shrimp!  I hope that everyone has a very good week!  I can't wait to here from you guys the next week.

Love, Elder Sorensen


Book of Mormon translated into Quichwa- the language that the natives speak


A verse from the Quichwa Book of Mormon


Painted Mural


These pigeons will literally jump into your lap


River by his house