The forty-seventh week...

Birthday
I had a good birthday. We had some cake and 5 baptisms in our district! Red Cherry Bakery made me the cake. lol. I was going to buy it but my companion did...he is a great companion. He kinda reminds me of KC. He shows love by buying me things. Sister Nichols, the office couple and Elder Mehan all called me on my birthday!! It was cool. Elder Mehan was staying in hyderabad at the time, it brought back some memories. Swathi, the first girl I baptized in Gajuwaka, told EVERYONE at church that it was my birthday. She dragged them to me and made sure every member shook my hand and wished me a happy birthday. It was sweet. One of our auto drivers Naidu brought me 3 apples and a rose for my birthday. He even took us to Church for free.

Illness
The sickness is there...and it's having a blast dancing around in my stomach. The meds don't make anything go away...they are supposed to make the pain less - which I think they are doing. I am very skinny - I am walking on sticks. (his legs are skinny - get it?)

Is chicken the meat you would have gotten all the little bones lodged in your throat? Everyone is having a hard time figuring that one out.

It probably was chicken. At the time I hadn't had beef in a while, and I hadn' had fish in a while... or mutton...so probably chicken.

The Work in India
We still have no one set...but we are doing really well at challenging people. We are going to a few homes to set people tomorrow and Friday. The week was good - nothing too exciting.
We are going to this new place called Steel Plant. It is far away and it is a jungle. We are meeting lots of new people and working on getting them to church. The Branch President lives out there, and he is helping us out a lot.

I was thinking the other day, when you leave Visak where do you think you will go?

I predict the last year of my missoin will be spent in Bangalore and Chennai. Those are the 2 biggest cities left for me. Ii need to stay somewhere I can get my meds I need - and if neccessary treatment. Coimbatoire doesn't offer those things. Bangalore has less restrictions now..I don't know what they are, but they had the most baptisms last month.

You wanna know something cool about the church here in India? Out of all the requests for new buildings this year, in the asia area only 5 were approved - 4 were in our mission!! Sri Lanka, Visak (we are getting a chapel!!!!!) Chennai, and Bangalore. That's sweet! All of them are going to be stake center size. It is way cool. This Sunday, before we watch Conference, President Nichols is going to announce the organization of 3 new districts in our misssion - Visak, Chennai, and Coimbatiore - adding to the Hyderabad and Bangalore districts. The members all over India are pioneers. It's difficult, and sometimes all we can do is watch, but I love being a part of it.

I was sitting in Sacrament meeting this week, looking at all of our members, and I thought, "The 2 year service that we do is nothing compared to what these people have to sacrifice." They leave family, friends, jobs, education, eveything (sometimes) because they know of the Restored Gospel. It feels really great to be a part of these people's lives and help strengthen them and help them progress towards the Celestial kingdom. I have been reading a lot about MY PURPOSE in Preach My Gospel this week, and I like a quote by Elder Oaks - "We don't baptize or proclaim the gospel to increase church numbers or build bigger buldings. We do it so that others can have the promised eternal life which we know is possible."

The forty-sixth week...

Zone Conference
Interviews were the bomb. I talked to President about a few things. I felt so good. I was so pleased with our interview. He is very pleased with me. He said, "I have interviewed many of your leaders and everyone who has served with you and gone on exchanges speaks higher of you than almost any other missionary."

Monsoons!!!
Since email me last week, it has NOT stopped raining. I think only 3 hours I have seen the sun this week. I have been soaked. I am working hard to keep my shoes dry. They are doing their job!

Teaching
No one is even set for baptism. We are having a hard time progressing people. We have lots of investigators, but not much progressing. We are gonna set some people this week.

Birthday - October 4th
My companion bought me new fitted shirts. The difference in the shirts I had and the ones I have now...is amazing - night and day. I have no big birthday plans. Maybe we will eat some beef curry. I haven't thought about what we may do. We have been busy. I am excited to see my packages!! I will buy new pants with my birthday money...but my suit is way too big. I am constantly told I need to get a new one...but I don't wanna spend $60 on a suit. (just $60?!!?!)

Letter standings (Mom's really in the lead though because she emails at 1am every week!)
1. Kiki- 25
2. Larky- 16
3.Dad-15 (was tied for #2 until the upset this week, lol.)
4. Smayla- 12
5 Gavin-11
6. Mom- 10
7. Burke- 5
8. SKittles-4
9. Chance- 3

If you want to join the running for most letters - write Elder Sorensen a letter!

Elder Reid Logan Sorensen
India Bangalore Mission
Anjali Plaza, 2nd Floor
493 C.M.H Road, Indirangar
Bangalore 560 038
INDIA

The forty-fifth week...

The forty-fourth week...

The forty-third week...

Logan got a new companion this week - Elder Cunningham. He's also from Texas and played football too!

The forty-second week...

Hi Everyone!

I want to start by saying “Thanks!” I am very thankful for your prayers and support of my family. My health is continuing to improve – as much as it can! I’m still working hard through it all! Our mission baptized 72 people this month! I enjoyed hearing all about the progress of the work at zone conference in Hyderabad . President Nichols said that we haven’t even peaked. The picture from this week is one of my favorites – 9 people dressed in white! I got to baptize the little girl Pryanka – she’s the one waving.

I really admire people here for being pioneers. It would be impossible for me to leave my comfortable church and go to one that only uses my second language. Often, people have to travel for 3 hours to go to church. It’s amazing! People literally have to leave all their family and friends to join the church. It’s a great strength to my testimony, but it makes me wonder why people won’t travel an extra 2 minutes to church. No problem - being a pioneer is hard. We have had people kicked out of their homes when their parents find out that they are baptized, and then the branch really helps and supports them. I will miss it when I come home.

I have a way strong testimony that missionaries will be more effective when they receive referrals. I challenge you to open your mouth more to people and give the missionaries referrals. Do you accept? If you do I promise tons of blessings. One week last month, we found 23 investigators and 17 were referrals. It’s the fast and effective way to do missionary work. Try and share a message with...someone... there are so many people all around. Look for people, keep praying, and talk to everyone! People may have had a recent death in the family, or a recent birth - these are all excellent opportunities to share the Plan of Salvation. Maybe you will be talking to someone and you may feel prompted to ask them if they know where they came from, where they are going, and why they are here. Just some ideas. It takes time to get used to and it takes a lot of FAITH!!! My best advice is keep praying for opportunities to share and courage to act when they come (that’s what Elder Bednar said) and most important - don’t let fear sneak in.

Elder Sorensen

The forty-first week...