December 30, 2009 Update

Dear Everyone,

This was an interesting week. I learned many things about myself, and I realized how much I have learned. It started by an interesting experience I had with an auntie. In prayers here, people like to mumble their own prayers and shout, especially the Pentecostal women. This one lady said her kids couldn’t come to church. So we talked for a while and they said they would come. My companion said the closing prayer, and immediately she began to mutter words and say things “in tongues.” I remembered a quote that went something like, “If you are on the Lord’s service, you are entitle to His Divine assistance.” So when I thought this, I wanted the auntie to shut up. I said in my mind, “God, silence this auntie.” And before I could even say Amen, she was quiet. It's nothing too special, or exciting, but I thought it was cool. It was something that I will be able to remember, and it will help me to rely on the Lord more.

I realized that you can’t know what our mission is really like. I have this culture of India book, and it describes the culture. I read it in the morning, and when we were going to our first appointment we turned a corner and realized that we were sharing our small lane with 7 HUGE buffaloes. One of them even charged us. That’s when I realized that a book cannot tell you how to avoid that, or what to do in the scenario.

I realized how much I have left behind. A lady was telling us that she was afraid to leave her church for a few reasons: she doesn’t know English, she was raised in that church, and her friends are there. I bore testimony and told her about how I left my home country, my language, my friends AND my family. She realized that our Church is correct, but she is afraid. I don’t know what else we can do. I love her family to death, but she fears the world more than the Savior.

We had a bit more luck with a new Roman Catholic family we are working with. They have met with us 3 times and we decided they needed to be set…mostly because we haven’t had anyone set for about 3 weeks. They accepted the date easily. Yesterday, before we came to meet them, the mother called and told us not to baptize them, but to come and do prayer. We went with a sister from the branch who was R.C. She was a huge asset; she helped so much. The father didn’t know his wife called, he said, “I still want to be baptized. Why are you talking about authority? I understand and I still want to be baptized on the 24th.” The wife said, “Absolutely no way.”, but her 2 sons are still excited. She is also afraid of what others will think about her if she leaves her church. Even though she was crying when she said that. We are pretty sure she knows the Church is true. I love you guys. Thank you so much for the letters and the support. I will see you all next Christmas.

Love,
Elder Sorensen

January 13, 2010 Update

Wanacum~
Well, I made it safe and sound in Chennai. It is a really hot place, but I love it. As I got off the plane I noticed some differences about Tamil Nadu and my beloved Andhra Pradesh. Tamil Nadu smells funny to me. Now that I have been here a few days it’s normal, but still it was weird. The language is shorter, choppier, words that I cannot understand. I am doing a little bit better; I am taking notes and asking people what things mean. The problem is that Tamil seems more “blah blah” to me. It’s kind of hard to describe.

I have found that Chennai is the real Indian experience. When I first got off the plane, it was raining and it continued the full day. My companion was sick so we didn’t go out my whole first day. We have crappy water pressure in our flat, so that means we have to shower with a bucket. I enjoy it. I feel more Indian. The only time I take a bus is when I go to the train station. All of our travel is done by trains. We have a monstrous area, and we can travel 45 minutes by train and still not leave our area. I love the trains. The last thing that makes Chennai Indian is the heat. It hasn’t been under 95 a day that I have been here. It's so hot, and it's so sticky, but I love Chennai. I am so excited to be here. Hopefully I will continue to see success as we get the people who we have set baptized, and the people we are finding progress towards baptism.

Other than that nothing great has happened. I am sorry this is short, but I have less time. I love y'all. Thanks for the letters and the love. I hope all is well.


Love,
Elder Sorensen

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-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 fortieth week...

The thirty-ninth week

Sorry folks! It's been a long time since we've posted anything. Life has been a little crazy round here! I figured since I couldn't sleep this morning that I would post some pictures from the past month. When I have some more time this week, I will post the emails and updates that accompany the pics.

The thirty-eighth week...

The thirty-seventh week...

The thirty-sixth week...

The branch had a missionary leave this week. He is going to be serving in the India Bangalore Mission. That is the majority of the pictures from the this week.

All the native elders we have are from the India Bangalore mission. They just can't serve in their home city.

Illness and Special Fast
We all told Logan about the special fast we were planning to participate in. As y'all know he has been sick.

I heard about the fast. It's really cool. I was very excited.

His thoughts on the illness:
If you know what movie this is from I will be very impressed -

"Hang in there, Tommy."
"Oh, I'm hangin'. I'm hanging"

Power Rangers - the end scene when Adam, not Tommy sorry, is biting the big Ivan Ooze on the tail and being flung around like a rag doll. I am always random - but I do love me some Power Rangers.

We have been a bit side tracked because of the sickness, and finding has been rough, but we have some investigators. The biggest thing is that we have 5 people preparing for baptism on August 2nd.

Swathi is having some family problems, but she is rock solid - and she loves church. Her testimony is coming along strong. Another 3 - David, Rahul, and Dilip - need to give up their tea. Vinesh is ready - he is really faithful and wants to change.

The thirty-fourth week....

The thirty-fifth week....

The thirty-third week...

The thirty-second week...

I had a great week. We had lots of success. We have 0 baptisms...but no problem - we are working hard and will be rewarded. Just like Aunt Amee said...I leave my mark. I missed sending out my letters a couple of weeks - but i havent gotten anything in a while. Hopefully some will come today! The best thing this week was our power going out last night at 8 pm! Then it came on when I was saying my night prayers! I was very happy. hen it went off again at 9ish - but no problem. My favorite thing about Gajuwaka is the size and the heat - both are HIGH!!! We found 16 new investigators this week. I was way excited. 3 of them are about 300 lbs - which will be interesting if they are baptized. lol. We met some really good christians the other day. They all have bible names, and they all love our message. Better part-they have a calander of Hilary Duff in their home. It does make it hard to teach, but I will be fine. The funniest thing this week was this exchange we had last night. We got bunked a few times. We took the member to this crazy family and found out that they are strong investigators. The daughter is flirty, but they are calling themselves and their children Sorensen and Sakamaki! lol. Their names are Sunitha, Sujatha, David, Rahul, and Dilip. They will be set with a date next week. The Magi family is getting baptized on the 5th! I am going to see them today. We are also going to buy beef! I am learning how to make curry. I am pretty good.

Other investigators
Vijay - he is a stud, but has college on Sundays. Joshua is having some rough times with his Pastor. David Wesley is reading the Book of Mormon and we plan to set him soon. Another family is Indira, Keyshore, Rutnam, Kiran, and Sonia- they have read, not prayed, and not received an answer. We want to set them but they are still confused about our message and about their church. That's about all that are progressing.

Companion
How are you and your companion getting along? Is he a hard worker?

We are doing well together. We enjoy our time together. We are talking a lot more. We never had pillow talk, but now we do. He is a hard worker. He is pretty tolerant wth me. Usually I don't like to talk too much, but he doesn't like to talk at all - so it's kinda hard. He is open to me now. I think it's all good.

Illness
Logan mentioned a medical procedure last week in an email to dad, but didn't explain or elaborate. Needless to say, Mom and Dad were concerned and bothered! He finally cleared a few things up this week.

They found a few ulcers. They don't know what caused it. I don't think it's the spice - it's been a constant in India. I am taking a few meds right now. The anesthesia doctor was a female and I accidentally made her think I wanted to make out. lol. She even held my hand! lol. I am still kinda losing weight - slowly now! My weight is about 195. I feel bad most all the time - but no worries. I have clean water all around me - in my flat, inside shops, in some homes. I am fine. Don't worry. The area is a desert, very rural, food is the same, and water is a little cleaner - it's less polluted here.

The thirty-first week...

I am a transfer pro. I shifted on Thursday - the new flat is brand new but it's crap. It's my least favorite. My new companion is Elder Sakamaki. He is from America but he is full Japanese. He likes cars, has no girlfriend, he got to the misson at the same time as my last comp, and he likes to teach the whole lesson. I like my new companion. He doesn't like my music, but no problem I will slowly desensitize him. I listened to "Everything" this morning. I got 0 letters this week. (I guess that's his way of saying he'd like to get more mail)

Naturally I am feeling better. I am doing a better job at not drinking unfiltered water. I am taking a TON of pills...only 3...but no problem. My new area reminds me of Htown. It's big and has no boundaries. . It's about 45 minutes travel time and it's not too slumsy. Everyone speaks English. We have a lot of rich people in our area... I mean it's huge! We had an appointment last night at 6 pm. The thermometer inside the house said 102! That's stupid! I am in a desert area now - it's very dusty and very sunny. We don't have the big city pollution to protect us from the sun, so I have been sweating challa! We are about 1 hour out from the Bay of Bengal. It's really funny - we have MOUNTAINS in our area. It's pretty bad. A lot of people live on the mountains - making it a nice sweaty hike to get there. I have hit the pillow hard every night in Gajuwaka! The branch is small. The girls here are way flirty and touchy...enough said.

What do you do about the flirty touchy girls?

I flirty touchy them back. lol.

(notice how Mom just ignores this...)

How many in the branch?

This week was amazing...we had to actually get more chairs and we had people standing - but still only about 50 people! lol. We are building a new sacrament hall upstairs. I don't really touch the girls back. I just giggle and smile. (Thanks for clarifying!)

I just found out that the Magi family, the 4 who were set when I left my last area, are reset for a different date. I was worried about handing them over. I didn't really have faith in the ZL to be able to handle them. Oh well.

Funny Story from this week

We were walking down the road the other day and this kid was chanting some telugu, then all of the sudden he starts singing, "My humps my humps my humps my humps. my lovely lady lumps check it out." I was laughing so hard I almost tinkled my pants!