Week 78

Well it has been a great week here in Loja. Elder Kwak had transfers on Wednesday, so I am now with Elder Larrea from Lima Peru. He has 21 months on the mission,  So he now is entering his last 3 months of the mission. We had a great week talking to a lot of people. We were not able to find a lot of people to teach,  but really soon we will be finding more to teach. We just have to be patient. The people in Loja are a little bit tougher, because they are all super catholic here, but its ok! We will just have to convert some catholics. The zone is going up and we are getting better and better every week. Really everything is going good here in Loja. Elder Larrea is really cool, and a really good companion. We are going to have a bunch of success here. Well I hope that everyone has a great week! Oh and today for P day we ate some pretty good pizza! haha And here is a picture of Loja in the night time.

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 77

Well it has been a very fast week. This week was a little better for the zone. We were able to have more people to go to church and we had a baptism. Richard was not able to be baptized because we was sick. His throat swelled up a lot and he couldnt breath well so he spent the weekend in the hospital. He was a little bummed, but he is excited for his baptism this week. We were able to find a couple of other people to teach aswell. We found an older guy Carlos that recently has lost everything.  He really feels bad and he is willing to do everything to follow Christ right now. We also found an older lady Pilar.  She is a really nice lady, and really likes our lessons. She told us yesterday that we explain things a lot better than the leaders in the Catholic Church.  I thought that was pretty funny. The city of Loja I believe was built for super short people. Our bathroom door is very small and I have to duck to go in every day, but in the morning I always seems to forget and slam my head on the door haha. I think I have done it like 30 times in these two weeks haha. Everything else is going really well. It has been pretty hot here, but I think it is about to change because it has rained that last 2 days. I am pretty excited to work here in Loja and change the peoples lives here. I hope that everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 76

Well I have been transfered to Loja. It is the farthest zone away from Guayaquil. On Tuesday I had a 10 hour bus ride to get here haha. It was a VERY long day. My new companion is actually the first companion I had in the mission. Elder Kwak!!!! haha We are back together. I am now a zone leader, so on Tuesday we had the Mission leader meeting with President. That was pretty cool. The spirit was super strong and we learned some pretty cool things. My new area is really cool because it is in the mountains again! I have escaped the heat! In Guayaquil and the coast right now it is super hot so I am happy to have left the coast. I am now that leader of 12 missionaries here in Loja. This city is a lot like Cuenca were I was before, but just smaller. There are a lot of people from the US here aswell. Our neighbor is actually from Utah haha. He is a member, but does not go to church very often. I don't have much more to say. Our key broke inside our door this week so for 2 hours we worked to get the part of the key out of the door. That was a lot of fun haha. I hope that everyone has a great week! 

Love, Elder Sorensen 

 

     

       

Week 73

Well  this week has been a really good one!  We have 4 people progressing and 5 at church. It was really good because I got transferred back to Cuenca in the cold again!!! haha. It is nice because in Arenillas it was super hot and even fans blew out hot air, so it is nice to be in the cold. My Companion is  Elder Paim. He is from Brazil. we Have some pretty cool investigators right now. We have 2 baptisms for this 26th (this Saturday) It should make for a really good day. The baptisms are Luis and Agñesca. They are pretty excited for Saturday and are really cool people. I am in the ward Alamos and the members seem to be really cool and really like the missionaries.  We have 2 other people that will be getting baptized the 2nd of January. Mariah and her husband Angel. They are pretty excited aswell for the baptisms. It is nice to be back! There is not much more to say but I hope that everyone has a great Christmas!!! 

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 75

Well I am getting transferred again haha. I recently got the call that I have to be in Guayaquil in 5 hours, so I only have a little bit of time to write. This week was a great one. We were able to baptize Maria. It was a very cool. She was super excited, and after she shared her testimony with us after the baptism and it was cool to hear how firm her testimony was. This next week there will be 2 more baptisms here in  Alamos, but I have changes so I won't get  to see them... :(  I was only here for 3 weeks. I dont know what else to say I will write everyone next week, because there is not any time. I hope everyone has a great week!  

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 74

Well another week has gone by, but it was a great week! It was fun to talk with the family, even though the hour zoomed by. My companion and I have beeen having a great time in Cuenca. We were able to have a baptism the 26th of December, so that was a great way to celebrate Christmas. It was a great one because we worked hard just to have the baptism happen. It seemed like everything went wrong as we were setting up for the baptism. First, the font was super dirty so we had to clean it, then we had no gas, so the water was super cold. We had to run with the heavy gas tank 5 blocks and buy a new one and then return with the full one (which was heavier). haha Then, the water heater wouldn't work. Once it started to work the water did not want to come out and with 1 hour until the baptism, the font was only a tenth of the way full. We decided to say a prayer that everything would go well and that it would fill up by the time of the baptism. We then left the church to go and get the clothes for the baptism, and when we got back the font was filled. After that I thought WOW that was a lot of work and nothing more could go wrong... I was wrong haha. The clothes did not end up fitting her so we ran back to the house for more clothes, and then the bishop still had not gotten there. We started the baptism without him and he got there just in time to confirm her. It was a TON of work  but a great baptism that we could see a lot of miracles happen. On Sunday we were able to have Mariah and Angel go to church, and they will be getting baptized on Saturday if everything goes well.  I am  excited to be here  in Cuenca and the work is going great. I hope that everyone has a great new years day!

Love, Elder Sorensen