Week 72

Well this week went by super fast! It was a really good one too. We had the Christmas Choir devocional this week with our mission. (President Torres puts together a choir and they travel singing in all the districts and stakes.) Wednesday they came to Santa Rosa. It was cool because the only members from our branch that showed up were Jessica and her family. We ended up having 4 recent converts and 3 investigators there. It was super cool. They loved it and felt the spirit there. Other than that, we had a regular week. We had a branch activity cleaning the church on Saturday. That was pretty cool. We had a lot of members there and they helped alot. It was nice to have a clean church for Sunday. Everyone loved our christmas ties at church on Sunday. They liked them without knowing that they could play christmas songs haha. When they found out that they played songs they were stunned haha. I think I will be making a singing tie company here, they all wanted them haha.

 In Elders Quorm we learned about stakes, but our crazy teacher started to talk about Vampires and that you have to kill Vampires with stakes, haha. It was pretty ridiculous. Then after he said that we should be filled with the spirit, so that when vampires come to suck our blood that they can only suck the spirit out of us. I learned a bunch. Definitley the best Elders Quoroum class. haha. 

That was my week. I Hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 70

Hey! 

Well it was a great week!!! I thought for about the entire week that it was going to be a tough one and I was worried that on Sunday we would not have anybody at church, but in the end we had a baptism! Everything went really well and it was a blessing to see that Alexandra got baptized. We had been teaching her for 3 months. She was not very happy during this week for her baptism and we could not find her at all. On thursday we only had 2 minutes to talk to her and then we taught her Saturday night. Those were the only times we talked to her this week, and she was baptized. We had a great lesson with her Saturday night and she told us that she wanted to be baptized Sunday after church. We found a new spot under the bridge to do the baptisms, and the river current was strong there, and I almost fell down while I was in the river baptizing, but in the end she was baptized and I did not fall. I also ate Crab for the first time in my life this week. It was not that great.... and it was a bunch of work to eat it haha, but I think  would try it again. Oh and today we went to a zoo, so that was cool. We saw some pretty cool animals there. The monkeys were the coolest. Well that is all for this week! I hope everyone has an amazing week!

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 71

Well it has been another great week! It was very short and very, very hot, but it all went well. On Tuesday I got a call that we had to go to Guayaquil because we were going to the temple, so that was awesome. We actually went into the temple Wednesday to do a session. It was cool to be back in the temple and to feel the spirit. The only down side was sleeping in the hotel by the temple. The AC in our room was broken, and so it was like a sauna in there. haha. I woke up in the morning soaking wet from sweat haha. Not the best experience. Our branch went to the temple Saturday aswell. Jessica, Teresa, and Patricia went to the temple. They all liked it a lot and did some baptisms. It was cool because a family was sealed there too. The Burgos family. They are a really cool family and were really excited to be sealed. It was nice to see what the end result of our work is. It got me excited to keep working. Sunday was awesome because it was testimony meeting. Just about all my converts shared their tesimonies and it was great to hear how strong their testimonies are. I learned a lesson about fasting as well haha. I kept thinking how hungry I was the entire time and thinking about after the fast. Well after the fast we ate 3 dinners... I was stuffed after and did not want to know anything about food haha. Our investigators are doing really good. Looks like we can have a couple of baptisms this week. I hope everyone has a great week! 

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 69

Well this week went by super fast. We had a pretty good time and found some new people. One person we found was really cool. His name is Erwich and he speaks english. The only problem is that he works in the middle of the Amazon Jungle and only comes to his house every once and a while. We taught him and it was a great lesson and he was really interested, but it is just a bummer that he is not in his house enough to teach him. We also found some other people, but they were not able to make it to church. We are having a great time here and our converts are starting to gain really strong testimonies. It was cool yesterday when we gave the Principles of the Gospel class, because we had our converts share their testimonies with our investigators. It was really really cool, and the spirit was super strong in the room. Everyone really enjoyed that class. Alexandra did not get baptized this week. She wants to be certain before she gets baptized. It was hard because we all thought she would get baptized, but it is alright. This week maybe! :) There is not much more to talk about. Everything is going good. I hope that everyone has a great week! 

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 68

Well it has been a good week. I ate alot of things that I had not eaten until this point on the mission but there was a lot of good things that we ate. I ate some lobster, some octopus, and some squid. They were all good. I thought that I would not like the octopus, but it was pretty good. Oh and we ate clams aswell. We also have 3 people progressing in the church. Alexandra went for her third time and if she goes one more time this Sunday, she can be baptized. We are going to talk to her tonight to see if she wants to be baptized after the church this Sunday! So we could have a baptism here this week!!! We also had another lady that came to church. Her name is Fabiola. She has a restaurant and is passing through a lot of problems right now. She went to church and she liked it a bunch, and promised us that she would be back this next week. She is preparing to be baptized the 28th, so in about two weeks. Everything is going well for us right now. We had a bit of a slump, but we are getting back into the groove and starting to find people again. This week was crazy because there was a bunch of parties.  Monday thru Thursday we could not find anybody, but Friday and Saturday were great days. Ecuador is now in first place in South America in Soccer, so that is exciting news for them. They play Venezuela  tommorrow. I am excited for this week, because is should be a really good one. The pictures are of a dinner I ate. It is fries, pop corn, plantanes ( i think that is how you spell it.)  and rice. haha It was a weird combination. There was a rodeo here this week and a member bought a cowboy hat there, and so I tried it on haha. And Jessica gave us shirts from when she was running for counselor. They are super small. haha That is all for this week. It was a great week!!!! 

Love, Elder Sorensen

Week 67

Well it was a pretty good week! I will probably always remember it because I had a great birthday!  I ate 4 cakes and 5 dinners for it.... Not all for the same day but yesterday I did eat 2 cakes and 3 dinners. I think we were all about to explode after we were done. I also recieved some pretty cool stuff.  Our Branch President gave me a pretty cool Ecuador Jersey for the upcoming World Cup that will be in Russia in 2018. I also got a soccer scarf from Barcelona and a new tie from our Ward Mission Leader. We had a bunch of fun, and my convert Jessica bought me two cakes haha. We started the parties last monday when she bought me a cake, just to make sure that I would have a party because we didnt know if I would have transfers. Then on Saturday in our zone meeting, my zone leaders bought me a cake, and then on Sunday Jessica bought me another one and then the Robles family bought me one. It was pretty awesome, but I dont think I could eat any more cake!!! In all it was a great day!!!! We are teaching 4 people getting them ready for their baptisms. We had 3 people progressing this week and they are all getting excited for their baptisms. My companion and I are having a great time and working well. The time continues to fly by. I hope that everyone has a great week! I know that we will have a great week!
Thanks for all the Birthday Wishes!

Love, Elder Sorensen

                              Cake 1

        The traditional "cake smash"!

                     Cakes 3 & 4

                    Cake 5

Week 66 9 months left!

Well it has been a pretty busy week here in Arenillas, but it really did go by fast. Well I wrote early last week because we decided to go Iguana hunting.  It is pretty intense. Well we went off and actually caught one. It was pretty crazy. They are super strong and it was hard to keep it in your hands. We wanted to eat it but it was too small so we just let it go... :( That was the excting news of the week. 

We had district conference this week and that was pretty good. We were able to bring one investigator named Kevin. He was super excited to go he liked the church a lot. There was not much more going on this week. All of my converts are doing super good here and are all really converted to the gospel. I am excited to work here everyday, and see all of the blessings that they are all recieving. That is all for this week I hope everyone has a great week!

Love Elder Sorensen

 (one of the pictures is of a bread bag. It is from a bread they sell for only this week every year. It is called Guagua bread which means kid bread. It is in the shape of a kid. It is not that great... haha) 

 ***I found this on Google-this is what the "Bread Babies" look like.  It's part of the All Souls Day celebration- to remember loved ones who have passed on. ***