September 27, 2010 Update

Dear Everyone,

This week was a bit tough because we were still under restrictions because of Ganesh Festival. We were unable to do any finding, which has caused our teaching pool to become rather small. That's what happens when you cannot find for 2 consecutive weeks. However, we did manage to go over a Map to Baptism with Jay Kumar and his family. We set a date for October 16th, but they were unable to stay for all 3 hours at Church, so we will have to set them again. We think they want to be baptized on the 17th, and that’s why they left. If it is the 17th then I am fine with that; it will be my last Sunday. What a way to go out!

Saturday was Giri Babu's baptism with his wife Lalitha. Giri was baptized twice. Lalitha, the one who I baptized, basically threw herself in. She lifted her legs up and just went down like it was no big deal. Then, the following day, Giri was not properly confirmed, so they had to call him back up in front of everyone, and do the confirmation properly. If it was anyone other than Giri I think they would have been frustrated and would have left the Church. lol. Lalitha's was done correctly. I did not do either of the confirmations because I have been sick with the flu for the last week. After Church we went to our Branch President and asked him to sign in the spot that says he saw the confirmation. Well, he signed in the spot that was for the person doing the interview...on Giri's record! So now he needs another record! lol. How much more can he take?

The Deville's are excited for Josh's baptism. Sister Deville was devastated when she learned that her 2 daughters would not be able to attend because of visa problems. Josh is doing well and he is pumped for his interview. I told him that it was more to test his heart and not his knowledge and then he was perfectly comfortable with it. Brother Deville is becoming more and more active as the weeks go on. He is so helpful when we teach, and I can see the fire coming back into his eyes.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your support. I hope you all have a great week. Hugs and kisses from India!

Elder Sorensen

September 6, 2010 Update

Namaste,

Something happened that was of the most importance to me this week, but may seem a little less important in America. This was the first time in 14 months that I had pizza!!! Yah! And I went big and got a pork pepperoni pizza. I was happier than that fat kid in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory! I was only gonna eat half and save the rest for later, but I couldn’t control myself. It was so yummy.

Another good thing was more of a mental boost. We got permission to set Giri and Lalitha for baptism! Well, that’s only half the battle. The other half was challenging them. lol. Challenge? Giri was the most accepting person of baptism ever. We challenged him and his wife for September 25th and both accepted! Giri was bursting with joy, and for all the right reasons. I was also very excited. It has been a while since we have had someone set for baptism and this was a family that Elder Gervais and I worked with since the beginning. It’s always good to have someone set for baptism, and this family was a good boost when they accepted.

After Giri's appointment we went to teach the Deville family. Last time we tried to set Josh for baptism, but he said he didn’t know enough. Well, the next morning I studied about baptism and wrote down every question I have ever heard about baptism, added scriptures to support the answers, gave a brief explanation, and showed it to Josh. When I did he said, "Ok, this is all I need to know." We challenged him for October 16th, but his dad will be in Melbourne Australia. So we somehow ended up on October 3rd -good thing we don’t have conference that week! lol. Josh was really excited, but I don’t think anyone was more excited than his mother. She has been feeling really bad for being inactive and not teaching her kids gospel standards. But she is in the process of making it all better. I love their family so much.

This week I was studying about the Atonement and all that it does for us. Then my companion turned on the iPod and a song called "All About You" from one of the EFYs...I think...and the song talks all about how sometimes we think we are great and awesome. But for everything that is awesome or goodt about us there is something that Jesus did which was more important. The song goes on to say, “It’s not about me its all about You." As I pondered about all the things that the Savior did for us I thought, "Should it really be all that hard to do what He asks?" I thought about my personal life, and why I would make mistakes. Then I thought about the Savior and how much love He has for each of us. If He didn’t love everyone, then He would have gotten angry or been disobedient, and that would have ruined our Heavenly Father's plan. There would be no salvation; there would be no Atonement. There would be no eternal life. Everything that the Savior did was not for Himself, but was for us. I stand all amazed that Jesus was able to do it. I don’t know how He had such love. It has given me an added desire to serve Him until the end and to focus everything I do on Him.

This upcoming week will prove to be difficult. It seems like SATAN doesn’t want anyone to work here in Bangalore. There is a 10-day festival, Ganesh Festival, that will shut down the city. People usually go pretty all out for this festival. So Friday night, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday we will be stuck inside cleaning our flat. lol. We don’t know how long it will last, but at least I will be able to catch up on some sleep.

Thank you all for your support. Have a great week.

Hugs and kisses from Bangalore!
Elder Sorensen