Letter from the Pres.

So all the buzz today in the news is McCain's V.P. choice. Good choice, by the way. Howard says they got his vote, "Cuz she's hot!". But our news is about a President of another sort. President Nichols, Logan's mission president sent a letter and some information on shipping packages.

President Nichols said he & his wife already love Logan. Having served in the church I can completely understand how that is true. The Lord does bless us with love for those we serve. Some things I found interesting about his mission are, there are 40-50 baptisms a month, Logan can expect to teach 15-20 lessons a week, all his transfers will be by plane, he really needs a flashlight because they loose power frequently, he will not have a dryer for clothes, and the gospel is on the cusp of big growth. His area will include Sri Lanka and he will have no problem keeping busy with work to do.

Oh and they have a problem with RATS!!This is not something a mother should read over 6 times in the information on sending packages.I can't even let my kids have a gerbil because of the tail. There's something about the scurrying combined with a tail. Thus, we have a guinea pig, Gi Gi (Gavin's Guinea). So I have decided to be in denial. There are no rats in India. Everyone should help with my said denial. That way Logan will be allowed to leave for India. Wink. Wink.

He can have 6 packages a year that weigh no more 5 pounds delivered to the mission office. He can have others delivered to his apartment once we have that address. There is a huge problem with theft, insects and those unmentionable rodents.

Logan got his last shot yesterday. Howard gave it to him. The needle was quite large. The Mission Travel Department said we were fortunate to find the Japanese Encephalytis vaccine. Many missionaries are entering the mission without it. Go Kaycee!! That long drive everyday paid off!!

The other big news is the visa application(3 copies with 2 photos each), 3 copies of his passport, the actual passport, and 3 copies of an ecclesiastical resume are in the mail!! Yeah!! That stress is behind us. The resume was an eye opening walk down memory lane. It included his scouts, church & community service. It's neat to realize all the opportunites our kids have in the church.

So rember there are NO rats in India!! Now we'll move onto the 20 passport photos he needs to take with him(new from today) and the shopping. That should be a joy.

I'm taking the younger boys to a homeschool camp next week down near Austin so I probably won't post. We should come back with lots of interesting stories to tell. Me with the boys for 5 days in the great outdoors. Doesn't that sound like a hysterical tale in the making?Hope there are no rats there either.

Happy Birthday Kaycee

Kaycee turned 26 on Sunday. We had lots of friends and family over for cake and ice cream. It was fun to have a house full. Can't believe I've been a Mom that long. No more birthdays for you!!!

Kaycee, Kati Leigh Nell Burger a.k.a. Pure Meadow Moon a.k.a The Stalker (we LOVE her)to see the movie "Emma Smith:My Story" last night.It was showing one night only at the Angelika. The movie was excellent. I highly recommend it. We will definitely purchase it and have a girls night. The proof it was excellent is no one made a sound or moved at the end. You had to sit and let it soak in. Definitely a two thumbs up and 5 stars!!

We had a Not Back to School Party today with our homeschool group. It was great. The kids had lots of fun with their friends. We swam and floated the lazy river while their public school friends went to school.The boys only had basic school to get done.

We added 4 new families to our group. It's growing by leaps and bounds. Pure evidence of the Lord's hand.This is such a blessing in the lives of homeschoolers. To me it is further proof that Heavenly Father knows us and loves is individually.

Still trying to get the visa forms in the mail. We are going to start our unit study on India. I've been accumulating a cook book, travel guide and some projects to do. I figure the more we know about India the more we can appreciate where Logan will be serving the Lord the next 2 years. The reaction from everyone is still the same,"WOW!!! I didn't know we had missionaries in Inida." People not of our faith don't quite understand why he would go there for 2 years and give up this time to spend getting a degree.I'm glad he has a testimony of what he will be doing.

Bye for now got to work on that visa.

Passport is here

So his passport arrived yesterday. Yahoo!! He looks quite grown up, like a missionary.I was way stressed it wouldn't make it in time.We need it to apply for his visa. Logan also wrote his acceptance letter and got lots of shots yesterday. He was tough though and didn't cry. We've got 2 items on his shopping list checked off and about 6 on the BIG list.It's all coming along.
This amid preparing for home school. We've begun a clean sweep of the school room. This is quite frightening as I have boxes down both halls that have to be sorted. Today I have some friends coming over to plan out our school schedules. Can one person fit more in a day than I already do? I'm not sure it's possible. I'll let you know if I succeed or not.
We secured a location for our homeschool group (NorthStar) to hold a bi-monthly co-op. It's terrifically close to our home. I'll be teaching Ancient Egypt that will wind up with a field trip to the King Tut exhibit in December. I can remember seeing a Tut exhibit in New Orleans when I was about 10.I'm excited the boys will have the same opportunity but certain like everything else it will be boring to them. I've decided museums are like vegetables and piano practice, good for you. So they will just have to hold their nose and swallow if they want dessert!!
Posee spent the night. This means I woke up to sweet baby sounds. It's a great way to start the day. Emilee's kids are early risers like mine use to be. Now they've gone Olympic crazy with Howard and no one is in bed before midnight!!
So life goes on as we prepare our missionary. It's seeming more real now. I look at pictures of the boys and think. "it won't be too long before we're doing this again." That's what happens when you have a lot of boys.

Oh, the places he'll go!!

So Kaycee and I stayed up REALLY late one night looking on google maps at the cities previous missionaries had served in India. We've been doing research to answer some questions we've been receiving.

There is actually a mission in Delhi, India. It covers Delhi, Nepal, Bangladesh,Bhutan and Pakistan(only locals can serve here).

Logan received his Visa requirements from the Mission Travel Dept. It tells him all he has to do. This is a whole new world to us. The only time we left the country was to see Niagra Falls. That was crazy!! We almost weren't readmitted because the officials didn't believe all the kids were ours.Anyway the cities he is toserve in are listed on his application. They are Bangalore, Delhi(he can still be assigned here), Hyderabad, Madras(Chennai), and Goa.

So we have google mapped all of these cities. We've looked into the branches there. It's cool because they meet in Industrial Parks and office buildings. There are 25 branches in a country of over 1 billion people. The country is a district not a stake, yet.

Only 2.3 % of the population if Christian. Howard told Logan he expects that number to be at least 5%. No pressure there!!

This week Logan applied for his passport, arranged for immunizations(there's lots), scheduled his priesthod interview and opened a bank account with a debit card. He was really excited his card has the American Flag on it. He had his fingers crossed it would.

I've always heard missionary Moms say there's lots to do. Well now I know!! We try to work on the list everyday. We have to pace ourselves.

So last night we went out to the lake. The Weather was beautiful. The Ardis' came. Yep, they made it to Texas. Bryan & Heather came with their kids and Faren came because he's been helping them move. Faren has to be the absolute best person I have ever seen pack a truck. If you ever need to move call Faren!!

All of their kids jumped in the lake with their clothes on. They are such great kids. They try all kinds of new things.Bryce found a frog again. He also found one on our rafting trip at the family reunion. Maybe he has a future as the new host of Man vs. Wild. Who knows maybe Logan will eat frogs in India. ...

POLL Where will Logan go? The Winner is!!! (Mom's thoughts on the mission call part 2)

So his mission call came Monday. We had to wait for him and Howard to get home so he could open it.

We had over 130 guesses! No one was an exact winner, but my home school friend Rachael Cooper was the closest with a guess of Chaing Mai, Thailand. Interestingly, she was the first to guess. Yeah Rach!!

He is going...drum roll please.... to Bangalore, India!! We are all totally in shock still!! Everyone we tell, including our local church leaders say they didn't even know we had missionaries in India. At one point the government there only issued 22 visas to let our missionaries in the country.

At this time, my friends sons are serving in California, Michigan, Oregon, Washington, Missouri and Kentucky.It really seemed as though the strong possibility was he would stay in the states. He kept saying he was going to Kansas or Canada.The Lord obviously has a different plan for him.

He will have an amazing experience. He hasn't come out of the clouds quite yet.That can't last for long there is lots to get done.We applied for his passport yesterday and started trying to find a Health Unit that has all the shots he needs.

He will report to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on October 22nd. He will prepare to serve in English speaking but it does say he can be reassigned as need by his mission president. That means he may learn a local dialect at some point.

Kaycee was instantly excited with the diseases there and started talking about the worms they can get under their skin. Mom isn't too keen on those types of details.

This experience has strengthened my testimony that we have a Heavenly Father that loves & knows us individually. While I NEVER would have guessed India, I have always pictured Logan on a dusty road with local children kicking a ball. Kids love him and their parents love Logan because kids are always a good judge of character.

I know it will be a hard thing for him to leave us but I also know he loves the gospel and he will love the people of India.

Thanks for all of your guesses we felt all the love and support of every guess. We are so grateful for our family,friends and for the wonderful blessing of having a son that will serve the Lord while serving the people of India.

Logan will love receiving word from home after he enters the MTC on 10/22 you can write him at :

Elder Reid Logan Sorensen
India Bangalore Mission
Provo Missionary Training Center
2005 N 900 E
Provo, Utah 87604

He will be there for approximately 3 weeks. Then you can send mail to:

Elder Reid Logan Sorensen
India Bagalore Mission
Anjali Plaza, 2nd Floor
493 CMH Road, Indiranagar
Bangalore-560 038
India

Thank you again for all your guesses. It was lots of fun to accumulate them. There is a picture of the map on the blog. Take a look.

Love,
Cheree

Called to Serve - India Bangalore

Check on the crazy events of the Mission Call Opening -

NO ONE WAS EVEN CLOSE!!!

So Logan opened his call tonight. You could have knocked me over with a feather. We were all in COMPLETE shock!! His best friend Brian was here with us. His face reflected my reaction as did Howard's and Kaycee's. Our mouths hit the floor. We were speechless.

Logan reports on October 22nd to the MTC(missionary training center) in Provo,Utah. He will be serving the Lord for the next two years in Bangalor, India.

In case you think we are kidding, we are not. No one believed him as he called to tell them. He is known for being a big jokester. Brian (his friend)and I both knew he wasn't joking because while he could have joked by pulling India out of the air he never would have known to say Bangalor.As he called people they all wanted to varify he wasn't joking so they asked to speak to me.

It is exactly on the opposite side of the earth. I've never even known anyone to serve a mission in India. Kaycee knew someone in school though.

I've always pictured Logan on some dusty road with little kids all around him. I guessed Ghana, Africa. I guess he'll have lots of dusty roads and children in India.

So now we know. The overwhelming support we had in the poll shows all the people that love and support Logan. I am sure he will need that same love and support throughout the next two years. It really warmed our heart that he came home everyday and checked the map(Kaycee I am sure will post a final picture).Thank you so much for that!!

We'll keep you posted .....

It's HERE!!!!!

Logan's call is sitting in the mailbox right now! It's waiting for him to come home from work at approximately 9:30 pm, he will be opening it. So what does that mean for you? You still have time to put your guess in as to where Logan will go. Enter a comment or visit the poll

Not yet...

So no mission call yet. We thought it would come Friday because that's been the case for everyone else in the ward here to get their call, but alas it was not so. Maybe today?

Thanks Kaycee

Thanks Kaycee. This will be a great way to update everyone on Logan's mission and the other crazy goings on of the Sorensen Krewe. Heavens knows there is NEVER a dull moment around here.

In addition to anxiously awaiting the arrival of Logan's call, we also are moving my sister Emilee and her 4 kids into a house near us. Also, Heather & Bryan will get here Friday with their brood. Exciting thing is they will only be about 7 miles from us. Yahoo!!

The real sparks will fly when Miss Thing Savannah (age 4) meets Miss Thing Adee (age 5). They both crack me up!! It'll be a hoot to see them together. I am so excited!!

Our map is really starting to fill up with everyones guesses. Logan checks it daily. It's been alot of fun to hear from our family & friends. We've had the opportunity to discuss his plans to serve with many friends ot of our faith. That has been really neat.

I can hardly believe he is old enough to go. Seems like we just started collecting state quarters yesterday. Howard reminded me today that when we started collecting state quarters we figured they would finish all the states the year Logan would leave on his mission. That seems so abstract and off in the distant future. Now it's here. I'm so excited for him. He will make an AWESOME missionary!!

Logan's Going on a Mission

In case anyone wasn't aware - Logan's going on a mission. His mission papers were sent to Salt Lake on July 20th and as of August 1st, the system said they're in the mail. What does that mean? His call will come this week! Celebrate!!!!

If you would still like to participate in the poll, please do so! Howard says that Logan will be called to a place that no one guesses, so make sure you get a guess in and prove him wrong! :) Here's the link for the poll