June 18 2012

Hola Familia
Sounds like you are all doing very well.
Well it has been a busy week opening another area. This one is huge. I am out in the mountains this time. We even got to go hiking today. It felt so weird to leave in Civilian clothes. Looking at the pictures you can see what kind of tan line that i have. It's been a good P-day.

I finally got to make the cake that you sent me. I gave it to the Stake Presidents wife and she made it in a frying pan. It was really smart and it turned out awesome. Thank you so much for sending it to me. The stake president is a electrical scientist.



I gave my glasses to Elder Lee, he went home last Friday so he should be getting in contact with you guys. He is a good trustworthy elder that lives in Utah and his sister is getting married in the IF temple this or next month.

My new companion is from Peru. He is so humble. He has to be the most positive, humble guy I know. He changed missions about 2 weeks ago so the president wants me to get him caught up on how we work out here. It has been cool to learn some new examples of how to teach basic doctrine. He is so cool.

My new area is really really big. Its right in the middle of the mountains. Our house is in the middle of Huixquilucan its called, el central de Huixquilucan, if you want to Google it. It is so beautiful too. It is an actual rain forest, and is so green. There are natural springs here that you can drink out of and not get sick, How cool is that? ha ha.

I cant believe that in 4 days I will hit a year. Man how fast the time flies. It feels like I just got out here. From what I hear the time goes so much faster once you hit the half way point. It is hard to believe, but that's what I have heard. My shoes are holding up great and my shirts are fine and my pants are holding up great as well.

love you forever
Elder Sorensen

June 11, 2012




Well its been a good change with my kid. We ended it well and left some people with a baptismal fecha for next week. I've been sent to Huisquilucan, its out in the middle of no where. It is just a bunch of little towns scattered around. The area is huge. It will be fun to get to learn how to work in a new environment. My companion is Elder Lecca from Peru. He is new to the mission, but he has been out 18 months. The President wants me to teach him how we do things in this mission, so that next change he can be a District Leader. Elder Parkinson also happens to be in my district this change. It will be awesome to get to work with them. I am really exited to work this change.



Jessica, Patricia, Rosalia and Maria Fernanda got baptized this week, it was a really cool baptism. All four of them are really cool and committed to the gospel. Jessica found us by chance in a van (public transportation) and told us that when she loves the Book of Mormon and everything about the church. When she was 16 she wanted to get baptized. Her dad, of course, didn't give her permission to do it. Now she is 19. Her birthday was yesterday and her mom gave permission to her sister Patricia so they could both be baptized. It was awesome!! They were really exited to finally get to do it. They have tons of friends already in the church.


Rosalia was another miracle. She was a Jehovah Witness before. It is interesting how they do things, but with out the spirit as a source of power. They just get people by addicting them to studying the bible and by fear. They are not use to a nice God. So after God humbled her heart a ton to the point where she left them and looked for something else. When she found us she just feasted on the spirit and went a lot faster in the gosple than we could imagine. I have talked with her about so much deep doctrine. It is crazy. She felt the spirit and that helped her really get to know our Heavenly Father. All we had to do was let her feel the spirit and the Spirit did everything else.


thanks for everything.
Love you forever
Elder Sorensen

June 4, 2012
ELDER PARKINSON IS BACK IN THE FIELD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and just super pumped to hear that my old friend from the M.T.C made it back to Mexico. Elder Parkinson went home not being worthy 7 months ago, it devastated me and my friends many others I am sure. But now he is back. I cant believe that he made it back out. Everyone, including the President, didn't think that he would be able to make it back out. After SEVEN MONTHS he made it back!!! What a man!! He has the strongest testimony of anyone I've meet. He called me today on his way to the office from the airport about an hour ago. What a stud. I want to know where he's going to be.

This is with out doubt been a really great week. We haven't had any baptisms but this Sunday is going to be great. We have a bunch of work to do. We have a ton of people to visit so we are going to be running around like we are crazy this week.

I got my package!!!! Thank you so much! I am trying to decide how i want to make the cake (i don't have an oven) I was thinking about making them like pancakes, what do you think? Or should i just ask a convert to make it? I will let you know.

Sounds like everything is going good at home. Thanks for all your letters
Love you Forever
Elder Sorensen

 May 28, 2012

It is good to hear that everyone is good at home. Thanks for wishing me a happy birthday. We have had a crazy week this week.

We have been blessed in abundance to have Marta, Felix, Giovanni, Christian and Josefina get baptized this week. They are all so cool. Marta and her family have already singed up on the Food Roll so we get to go eat with them every Friday. We found them the Saturday before we called you on Skype. We have had a great time teaching them. They are so cool. They loved everything we have showed them. The mom is a power house, and is devouring the Book of Mormon. She has read all the introductions and testimonies and is well into 1 Nephi. We had a really cool lesson on the Plan of Salvation. They loved it. The dad works all day but has a lunch break from 3 to 5 so we visit them at 3:30 so everyone is there. It just goes to show how committed they are and how much they want this.

Josefina was a Jehovah Witness that was ex-communicated from that church for getting married to someone who wasn't a member of that church. Shes been looking for a new church and couldn't find it until we knocked on her door. She felt the spirit, loved it and just took off at 100 mph. It was awesome. She has studied a ton and knows the bible and now is just devouring the Book of Mormon. She told us that she had made the decision to get Baptized before we could ask here. ha ha it was awesome. She showed up at the church at 7 am to be baptized. It was sweet how much will she had.

I cant really seem to think that a pizza delivery guy got going fast enough to actually take out the Jeep. Its been a good reliable friend. Oh well i was looking forward to finally buying a Wrangler :) OIIIIIIIO be sure to send me some pictures of how bad it looks.

Well i love you guys a ton. Thanks for all that you have done for me.
Love you Forever
Elder Sorensen

May 21, 2012

Hola Familia

It was great to get to read all your letters. Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I can't believe in 2 days I will be 20. I can't believe in a month I will be half was through my mission, its gone so fast.

Today we got to go to the Tutankhamen or king tut museum with my companion. It was cool. If you know your history (religious) you can see all the connections with the gospel. They believed in a white feathered snake that descended from the heavens and it just turns out that one of the symbols for Jesus Christ is a snake, funny how that the devil used that image. There is tones of connections like that here.
               
We have found some really cool people this week. We found an ex Jehovah witness who got excommunicated for getting married again. Something normally fine, but has absolutely loved all the stuff we have shared with her. We also have found a family of 4 that is just way sweet. The mom has read the first part to the Book of Mormon, the cover page, the testimonies, and the introduction. We shared Alma 32 with them and showed them how they had already gained a testimony. We also last night found a young women that wanted to get baptized about 2 years ago and couldn't get permission from her dad, but now almost is 19. She has friends that are either on a mission or going on a mission. We have been supper blessed this week. Thank you for your prayers.

Sounds like everything is going well at home.
Thanks for all your letters family and friends! Things are going great.

Love you all forever
Elder Sorensen

Hola Familia
It was great to get to see you guys, I loved all the little stories you all told me. And it was great to see how everything is going. Tell Jake that if he wants to fix up a sports car he should start with the Jeep. I want to go mudding when I get home. ha ha

My new area is great! We are finally starting to get it moving. My companion is starting to hit the "this is hard phase of Mexico" I think. It is hard and I have to admit I've seen some really hard weeks. But its only to make us better more convicted missionaries. Its not the best 2 years of my life. Its the best 2 years for my life.

I love you all a ton and I miss you a ton. You kind of made me home sick, at least for a moment or two.
Elder Sorensen

Heating water for a shower.

May 7, 2012

Hola Familia

O.k. first off, I get to call you guys this Sunday at about 3:00 to 5:00 pm 5/13/2012).
If their will be any problem please send me an Email ASAP, and I'll see you 

soon :D
It has been a crazy this week. I have been just about lost this whole week. I have had no idea where I've been. I don't even have a map that I can carry around. But its been good and we brought one person to church last week and he is really exited to get baptized this next Sunday.

My new comp is Elder Burt. He is a cool kid from Bakers Field California. He is older than I am too. His Spanish isn't that bad either. He was in Texas for 5 weeks before he came here. He told me that they didn't really teach him that much there, but hes still a cool kid.

Being a trainer is so cool. It makes me feel that I don't know anything sometimes. We have a 2 hour companion study everyday where I get to teach all that he'll need to know. Its kind of intimidating, but so far they have turned out o.k. Teaching investigators is interesting too, Elder Burt is still learning Spanish so i get to teach a lot. I let Elder Burt teach as much as I can, and he does a good job. I still just can't believe that my first English speaking companion I get is brand new, and I get to teach him Spanish. I thought i was going to train a Latino. At least is sounded the most probable.

I can't believe that I'm about to hit the year mark. I think I might try to get an extension. We will have to see what the President says.

Sounds like everything is going great at home. Keep up the good work.
I'll see you Sunday.
Elder Sorensen

¡Hola Famili

I am glad to here that everything is good back home.

I am going to be a Dad! Or in other words I am going to be a trainer. When you train someone your are that Missionary's mission Dad and his your kid. I don't know who my new comp is going to be but will get to find out tomorrow. I am also opening an area called Molinito 1B. From what I have heard I am going to baptize a lot here. It is a poor area and there is always a lot of baptisms here. I will let you know how the area is. I have no idea how it is - except that I am going to have to take a shower out of a bucket.

Hey just a FYI I pulled out some money this week. I needed a little extra, and i bought some gifts for some converts I am leaving behind. I bought a Spanish triple, a little future missionary name tag, Jesus the Christ in Spanish and a few DVDs. Thank you for keeping a little bit of money there for me. I shouldn't need to pull any more out for a wile. Thanks a million X 10 again for that - it really helps.




We had 2 Baptisms this week. Amalia Sanchez and Dolores Bautista. Amalia was a old investigator we found a while ago and she told us she wanted to be baptized, so we worked with her and everything came through. The other is Dolores. She is way cool! About 4 - 3 weeks ago I got a call in my District meeting from the USA and a Member gave me a reference. Delores was that reference. Shes way cool! She is the one where i have a picture of us in the water. It turns out that her brother passed away and she had been asking all the questions like where is my brother... so we taught lesson 2, she was so ready to hear it. She accepted every word that we said. We had many spiritual lessons with her but we could never ask her to accept a baptismal date. For some reason we could never get to the question. But this last Tuesday we went over and she told us that she told her family that she was going to get baptized. It was awesome. She also made friends with Luz Maria at conference. She is a convert who is awesome. They were super happy to be there. It was a great day.

Real quick our mission had 425 baptisms and 433 confirmations this month :) We have about 90 companionships in the mission. What a miracle! The president is pushing us to 500 - that's the goal.



It was some what hard to leave the area, I have lots of friends here. David and Elizabeth made me a birthday cake. it was awesome and gave me a Angry Birds pillow (i gave them the triple). They are great people.

Thanks for all the support.

Love you forever.
Elder Sorensen

hola familia mia

I have had a good week. I can't believe that i have bee 10 months in the mission. It is crazy!

We had a couple of baptisms this week. We had baptisms on Friday and on Sunday.  Brandon Brad and Alondra got baptized this last Friday and Laura and Felicitas got baptized Sunday.  It was a good week. Brad and his family have been coming to church for about a week and finally committed to getting baptized a week ago. It was cool! Once Brandon was set on getting baptized he wanted his family to follow him, so he went and started to talk to everyone in his family to get them to get baptized. He is a quarter back for a some what famous Mexican football team. So hes given up a lot to make this decision to get baptized.

Laura and Felicitas are real cool, they were Catholic but they went inactive. So they came to our church and I have to say that I have learned a lot teaching them. They understood and accepted everything. They accepted a fecha but as the day got closer they were less and less firm in their decisions. Sunday came and they changed their minds. It was sad but we keep after them. My comp and the District Leader went on interchanges and  re-committed them to get baptized and they did. It was really cool.

We had interviews with the President Sunday too. It was a really good interview. I have been blessed with a descent amount of success in this area. The President told me that it isn't usually seen in the area that I am in, so he checked me on my humility. He told me what i need to do to take it up and notch and put power and humility in my teaching and being. I am  kind of anxious to know what I'm going to do in the next change.

I loved the Ester package! It was a great surprise when i got it! I had forgotten about how awesome jelly beans are. :) Thanks a ton!

Make sure that you wish dad and Abby happy birthday for me!! The pictures look great.

Love you forever
Elder Sorensen

April 16, 2012
Hola Familia!!

It is great to get to here from you guys again. It has been a good week here in Mexico. The work is moving on here in Roma. We have had 35 lessons this week and 140 contacts. We have just been working hard, and we have found a lot of cool people.

David got ordained to the priesthood last Sunday. They are going to present him in front of the stake this next Sunday to give him the Melchizedek priesthood. I am really excited for that. I am sending a picture of them and me. They are the ones that i took to get married. It is great to see them keep going. They are still planning on visiting me/us when i come home. They are one of the coolest families that I've had the opportunity to get to teach.



Luz Maria got confirmed Sunday too. It was cool she showed up all by her self and is doing everything. She told us that when we first found her she didn't think that we were that great, because we talked about things different than the Jehovah Witness, but she then said how great full that she was that we keep after her (we dropped her for 2 weeks) but then went to invite her to conference. From there she just lit on fire. Ha ha, it was sweet.

My friend Elder Lee found out today that his brother (working in the MTC) got to teach David Archaleta. ha ha that would be a really cool opportunity.

We got to play soccer today and i got fried. Ha ha ha. I forgot sunscreen. I still don't get how I can work all day in the sun and I don't get burned, but i play soccer for an hour and i get fried to a crisp.    

This week we have just had a full week of lessons. We did at long last commit a family to get baptized. It was sweet we had the weirdest interchanges too. The district leader came and changed with my comp to do an interview Sunday during church. Then Elder Lee and I went and taught 2 teenagers. They were awesome lessons the spirit was so strong in each one of them. We talked to Brad about a few commandments and answered all of his questions. At the end his only question was "how can we get my brother to get baptized with me?" I told him to just tell his brother and to ask him to do it to. So we pulled his brother out of class and they went and talked. 5 minuets later they came and told me that they were going to do it but they wanted to talk to their mom. She was somewhat star struck and really happy. The ward is now really exited for it too. The family has so many problems with everything. But you can tell that things are getting better. They are another amazing family too.

I have no idea how the people manage to have good strong families here. The families in the church are close to the only families that are secure. I've gotten to see how the gospel has helped many families. Its great! Its a huge testimony builder.


Love you forever
Elder Sorensen

April 10 2012

Hola familia

It is good to here that everything is going well and that you guys had a good break. Everyone sure is starting to grow up. It is crazy. It is also good to see that grandpa still has a little bit of hair left. ha-ha.

The work is moving forward here in Mexico. Everyone has been out on vacations this week. It is Semana Santa, so everyone who's a catholic had left on vacations. They don't have any money, but they some how still left on vacations! Who knows how they do it, but they did. So the streets have been extremely empty here in Mexico. It's so weird, its the largest city in the world, but its been empty for the last few days. The only people that didn't leave are either Jehovah witnesses or Catholics, most of which just want to bible bash. It is really kind of annoying, but we have been able to find some really cool people.

We had one baptism this week her name is Luz Maria. We have been teaching her on and off for about 2 months now. She know that this church is true, but for some reason still wanted to make sure that the Jehovah witnesses weren't true. With Elder Lopez we dropped her, but when we were looking new investigators to bring to the general conference we went to check on her. She came and had an awesome experience. It gave her the courage to say no to the Jehovah witnesses and yes to us :) it was sweet. She is the most humble person you will meet and has a desire to learn about the Gospel. I just can't explain how humble she is. She also has 3 iguanas! They are sweet! They are about 4 feet long and then there is a small one. She keeps them in these tiny cages but routinely lets them walk around her house at different times. She let me take a picture with them so I'm sending you a picture. The iguanas are really tame too. They don't bite, and love being petted. She also had about 16 little birds and about 8 turtles. Her house is tiny! It has 2 floors about the size of our living room. The down stairs is where they the animals live. Ha-ha it is crazy. I have decided when I get home I'm going to buy an iguana.

I read a talk about giving thanks by President Monson. It is a great talk. It talks about how powerful it is to give thanks. For example when Christ shared  the bread, he first gave thanks for what they had and then they were blessed with more. So that's been one of my goals - to give more thanks. So remember in your prayers to give thanks for what you've received and then the Lord can bless you with more. A great place to exercise that would be with grandpa. I am positive you pray for him every time you pray, i know i do, so be sure to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for the strengths that Grandpa has received, he looks great in all the pictures.

Love you forever

Elder Sorensen

April 2, 2912
Hola familia

Its good to get to hear from you again, and to hear that everyone is fine. Sounds like you had a great vacation. Everyone here is on vacation for 2 weeks. Its Semana Santa here in Mexico or "Holy Week". From what I have heard they have demonstrations of every stage of Christs ministry. So I will have to let you know how it goes.

Its still shaking here in Mexico, about 10 min ago we felt another one. Nothing has fallen.

Conference was awesome! I only got to watch the sunday session, and i missed President Uchdorfs talk. :/ But I loved it none the less. We wached it in english, with about 6 american Elders. We laughed a bit at a few talks. For example when Elder D Todd Christoferson said real plainly that if you don't get baptized you will be damned. We were in unbelief but laughing at the same time. When he said that long word followed by translate that! We just lost it, we laughed our heads off. It was awesome.

We ended up having a descent number of investigators come to conference. It was great. The Prophet and Apostles really talked alot about lesson 2 this time. They talked really strong about baptizm it was awesome. We also had a Sister who has been studying with the Jehovas Wittnesses, she let us in to explain to her about how she could find out who had the true church..... and i think she got her anwser. :) but i do have to ask what the new temples they anounced?

Love you guys a Ton

Elder Sorensen