April 7, 2010 Update

Interesting story before I begin with the awesome spiritual experiences that we had. I was on an exchange with an elder in my district; his name is Elder Mehan. He was my follow-up trainer and luckily he is finishing his mission here with us. We were teaching someone about prophets and he kept throwing out names. I think he listed the most obscure Old Testament prophets he could. Well, his name is Joel, so I piped up, trying to be funny, and said, “Yeah, like Joel, he was also a prophet, he has one of the shortest books.” Then, under his voice he said, “It’s the best one. And,” he laughed to me, ”there’s also a prophet named ‘Reid.’” Afterwards we laughed about it and I asked, “Where is there a prophet named ‘Reid’?” he asked, “Don’t you read the Apocrypha? That’s where it is.” When I come home I will look for my name in the Apocrypha. It sounds cool.

This was a week unlike any other. We were really blessed by the Lord. It's not that He hasn’t blessed us any other weeks, but I felt more like I was aligned with His will and not my own will. In the beginning of the week, missionary work always seems to be a little slow, and this week was even slower. We faced lots of cancelled appointments, and we found a lot of people who had really hard hearts and didn’t want to hear about the gospel. So by the time that Thursday led around we were pretty worried. We only have one new investigator and 4 member-present lessons. These are VERY low numbers, especially for someone who is suppose to be an example. Well, after I murmured I decided that it was all part of His plan. Friday we found 7 new investigators. Saturday we found 3 new investigators. Sunday we found another family of 3! Heavenly Father blessed us for our hard work and perseverance. This week, we have been blessed for doing the small things, like talking with everyone, always finding and stuff like that. We have 13 new investigators already with 4 more families lined up for the weekend. I love how Heavenly Father tests you, and then gives the blessing. Often times as a missionary I think, “I am serving a mission. I should be rewarded for that.” I don’t realize that I am receiving blessings already (like my health…), and I need to do MORE to receive MORE.

More amazing than that is Donald and his progression. We visited him and his family on Sunday night. It was then that we challenged Donald to be baptized on May 2, 2010! He said, in his raspy voice, “Surely, brother, I will be baptized. Then, my family will see that change and they too will be baptized.” He is awesome. He is still smoking about 15 a day, but we have gone over some plans with him, and he is committed to quitting. “I don’t know when I will be able to quit, but I know it will be before May 2.” he said. I believe he will be able to quit. He choked up a little bit when he was telling his wife about his priesthood blessing. He is doing awesome; tonight we plan on setting the rest of his family. We committed his wife to go out on Saturday night, stare into space, think about all that God has done for her and then get on her knees and pray and ask Him if this Church and baptism are true. She would like to be baptized, but she wants to know if it’s true first. She has been in Ooty this week, so that’s why we told her to pray outside and look at the stars. Both of those are 2 things that she cannot do in Chennai. We have high hopes for their family.

I love you all. thanks for your support. Keep working hard to forward the work along. "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing." I love you!

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-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 nineteenth week...

The eighteenth week...

To Pops:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Eat cake with your hands and have NANA shove some in your mouth then rub it in your face...thats how they do it here!!

I LOVE YOU!
nenu premistu nanu!

NAMASTE~
Well, I found out that I am finally leaving Hyderabad. It was a sad night. It turns out that I was a casualty of the “incident” last weekend. They are removing 2 elders from Hyderabad for safety. Oh well. I am going to Visakhapatnam, the Miami of India. Everyone says it is really beautiful and an amazingly hot place. They also have a beach! But it’s poopy, like all water in India. I really look forward to meeting new friends and making new memories in another wonderful place of the world I would never otherwise have seen. With sweet “hellos” come sorrowful “good byes”. We have been visiting families this week, saying good byes, getting addresses and that whole gig. Abraham family was the hardest to let go. Abraham said he will come to Visac so I can baptize him -funny guy. They took about 8 pages in my journal, all of which were funny and sad. On Sunday night, our regular night at their home, Susheela made us mutton, as you white people call it-goat. Usually Indians only cook the meat. This time was different. I got to eat liver, kidneys, and lungs. They were actually kinda good. I wouldn’t throw them away if I was given that dish again. The kicker was this big clump of yellow stuff on my plate. (Just so everyone is on the same page I never asked what it was, and I never ask what weird looking food is, my companion ALWAYS asks). The yellow was actually intestines. Yummy! I couldn’t eat it all, but then again I did have about 7 feet of goat, you know what, on my plate. I was eating it REALLY slowly. When I ran out of rice I said, “Finished.” Susheela approved and lemme leave. Thank goodness. The next night, my last with them, was a different story. She made awesome Papu, or Dahl, and her daughter made the most amazing chicken curry - besides my mom anyways. When we left they all followed me out…it was sad. Susheela waved good bye and cried as she did so. It’s weird, I met these people 3 months back and now one is my Indian mother and it’s weird to think I am leaving. But the Lord needs me in Visac. I also said goodbye to Undru Suresh, my first convert. He was ok with it. His good bye was, “All the best, safe journeys.” I think he will be in Visac soon so I will see him then.

Last night I got outta the bed to go wash my hands and I turned on the light and I saw a spider the size of my hand. I squealed like a little girl. My companion got the mop so I could kill it from a distance. Sucka. We also caught a nice size gecko and threw it out the door. Why am I telling u about these random animals? On Elder T’s last night in the other flat they caught a bat! They locked the door and left the brand new elder in the room. They got a really cool video. They knocked it down with a towel and grabbed it. It was way cool, I LOVE India! Well the weight is still going down, I am at 203 lbs, yes! Well, that’s about all I can remember. Thanks for everything, from everyone. I love you all. Keep the faith.

Hugs and kisses from Hyderabad.
Elder Sorensen


Another week on lockdown, but not stir crazy yet!

We have been out at the church doing career workshops, and all that. We have been really busy. The time i was in the flat i spent studying, reading letters, and going through former investigators to see who we could use to help the church to progress.

Food
Well it finally happened...I had something you wouldn't even touch. It has to do with goats and eating every single thing in it...I had intestines, liver, lungs, and kidneys...YUMMY!!! Susheela, my new Indian mommy, made it for us - the inards tasted different. I didn't know what it was, and I still haven't asked what anything was if I didn't know what it was, just to stay safe. But Mehan asked....AH!!! It was really stringy and rubbery. I couldn't eat all the intestines so Abraham finished them. The lungs, liver and kidneys were ok. She made up for it when I said good-bye on Monday night. She made awesome papu - dahl. Mamatha made me chicken curry. Wonderful.

Some members of Abraham's family call me Baby Elephant - and Susheela called me a balloon. They still think I am large though - . this week they did tell me I am starting to look skinny. I have lost another 2 pounds.

Transfer
I have been transfered to Visakhapatnam!!!! Cisac is still in Andrah Pradesh. It's on the east coast - kinda north of H-town. I will only be on the flight for about an hour. I know Visac has really pretty women, beaches, greenery, and missionary work. lol. They have Mako Sharks - those are the 3rd most dangerous. I will actually be flying the most prestigious airline in India. It's called Kingfisher....all of their airline attendants are models, and they treat everyone really nice. My new companion will be Elder Castono. He is from the O.C. Elder Mehan will be made the Zone Leader. I was a casualty of what happened last week. They are taking a companionship out of Hyderabad First.

Elder Toleafoa had his final transfer this week - HOME!

I was sad but we didn't shed tears. We hugged for a while and I didn't look back. I felt it was best. He wrote in my journal. So did Abraham's family and Elder Mehan - all full of tears. I called them the night I got the call...and Susheela said "Why is you going Visac? Come home...stay." I talked to her for a while...I thought she was crying on the phone. The next day at church they all told me that they couldn't go to sleep till 2am because they missed me so much already. Susheela did cry - and she cried when I left for good. She told me, "Papu, eat slowly. Stay long time. EAT!!"

Interesting Fact:
Did you know that Hyderabad is the Pearl City? I didn't know it - but it has the most, natural, and largest selection of pearls anywhere.

The seventeenth week...

NAMASTE~~
Well this week was a lot of fun. We found a way sweet family in Police Colony this week. We found them totally by accident. I was on an exchange and the guards were giving me problems because they didn’t believe me. So I finally got in, due to my friends and my sneaky skills. We were walking to find some new baptism sets and this guy on his bike stops and says “I hear you are looking for Boscar. I’m Boscar.” I didn’t really wanna see Boscar. He is the father of an investigator who hates the missionaries. He was a different Boscar though - lucky for us. He brought us to his home and fed us tons of biscuits - cookies in Indian terms - and gave us a lot of soda. We taught him again this Sunday using my Calvin and Hobbes diagram my sister sent me. Thank Kiki! His wife is way sweet and his family loves us. We don’t plan on setting them for baptism for a while. We need to see how they do with reading the Book Of Mormon.

This week we did have a baptism. Susheela, Madhura, and Mounika Meti (the Abraham family) were all baptized this week. I baptized Susheela and Elder Mehan got the other 2. It was wonderful. I love that family so much. Afterwards we went to their house to celebrate Mounika’s birthday. It was krunk. Krunk is the new word that I am trying to institute in India. It hasn’t really been working. Some little kids say it, but that’s about it. I am working on Susheela. She says it every now and then but doesn’t know the real context to use it.

This week has been pretty eventful. A couple of elders got beaten up by some anti-Christian group. No one was thrown in jail and no one was badly injured. It was more a political thing. Elections are coming up, and the RSS is looking for ways to make Christians look bad. The charges were dropped and everything is ok. Not being able to find will kill the zone. Our zone, Hyderabad, is the most successful in the mission. So we will see how this affects the mission. We were also told that we will have to shift (move) for safety reasons - but the work is still moving on. We had 4 baptisms this week in our district and about 10-15 in the zone. Thank you for all of your prayers…and letters.

I love y’all.
Elder Sorensen



Elder Sorensen had an interesting week to say the least.... a few items of note:

• 4 people were baptized on Sunday - including Rajini and Madhura, Mounika, Susheela Meti(3 members of the Abraham family)! Elder Sorensen was able to perform the baptism of the Mom - Susheela. Elder Mehan baptized Madhura and Mounika. Elder Toleafoa, Logan's first companion and trainer, was able to baptize Rajini.

It's good that T did Rajini. It's his last Sunday in the mission. He will be home by next thursday.

• He finally received his Valentine's package the first week of March (just in time for St. Patty's Day!)

I am way happy I got it!! My favorite thing was the tuna. I ate some yesterday. lol. It was yummy. The doritos are hard not to eat all at once. lol. I have gone through all my chips in the flat thinking about them - but nothing compares. Everything was there. I was really happy I opened the Crystal Light thing before I went to church. I thought it was actually Crystal Light - nice packing skills. (The Crystal Light containers were filled with individual packets of mayo and relish to make tuna!)Drink packets were there yes. They were nice. lol Thank you. I have worn all but 2 of the ties, but I have only been able to wear them for short times because of the new rules. Oh well. I like them. (Thanks Pops and Nana!)

• The majority of the week was spent in lockdown in the flat due to violence in the area.

Well about the heat - it's only March and it's 109. How un-fun! We actually are on lock down because of some anti-Christian people beating up Elders about 5 minutes from my area. Hopefully my mom doesnt read this. They beat one and the other got away - so no worries. We were actually supposed to be with them that day but changed our minds. Now we are wearing color shirts, not wearing ties, not wearing tags, and we are not finding - so it sounds like a normal mission right? lol. It's been all fun. The last 4 days I have been stuck inside.

They are allowed to choose if they want to wear white or colored shirts - The color makes us seem more like students and not Christian. I like the color...I feel safer especially since we are staying away from certain areas for a while.

Mom asked about the one Elder who "got away" and if he would get in trouble for leaving his companion since they are supposed to stay together.

When you are getting attacked like that it's better for one to stay and get beat while the other gets help. You never leave your companion but he won't be going home early for this one. Even though he ran to the closest members home...which happens to be all older women. Everything is changed for us. We cannot find for 2 weeks - and it's 2 weeks at minimum. President is still thinking about extending it. All I keep thinking is "No unhallowed hand can stop the work." It helps to know that.

The sixteenth week...

I had my first baptism (in the mission) this week!!!! (he baptized Gavin and Hanna when he was a Priest). I didn't really see it coming.

Logan and his companion found Suresh their second week together.

He actually found us. He is the best we have ever taught at keeping commitments - and he is way cool.

Suresh asked Logan to perform the ordinance.

The font was cold - and he was way happy and so was I.

In other news...

I am also baptizing Rajini this week. I kept him a secret also. I am also baptizing some of the Abraham Family.

The fourteenth week...

HOLLER!

Well it’s been another exciting week on Mosque lane - nothing too exciting. We have 8 baptisms lined up for the first 3 weeks of March. We set Dinesh and Rajesh last night, I got to do the honours. They were my first successful set, so I feel really god about them. We had to push back the Abraham family. He couldn’t give up tea, or make it to church, but the daughters and mother are still coming and have a date for the 8th. The last 2 days have been spent building our finding pool. Last week we had an all time low of 6 new investigators for the week. So we are busting our hump, check it out, to get some solid people baptized. We walked for about 8 hours in the last 2 days with no avail. We are finding more and more anti-Christ’s, but less people who want to know about Jesus. It’s kinda frustrating when people yell at you to go to hell. But I am sure everyone gets that on their mission. No worries.

We also set Simon, Yohan’s brother, for baptism on March 8th. We dropped him a few weeks back thinking he was just a punk, but it turns out he really had no time. He likes us and he has said that he knows the Book of Mormon is true. Abel (our actor friend from last week) was off at some “rich people meeting with Parliament” this week so we didn’t get to see him - but we are planning for him tomorrow. He said he will get us something really nice to eat. I trust his judgment.

On Sunday I was told that I should marry a Tamilian woman. We had mother Stella feed us this week and it was da bomb. The next day she said “Marry a Tamilian woman.” Lol. So we also made plans to go back this week. My companion is hurrying me. I love you all. Thanks for all the supoort. Sorry this update is short.

I look forward to hearing from y’all.
Elder Sorensen

The thirteenth week

Holla Party People!

Well as Elder Mehan and I always say, “Another one bites the dust!” This week is gone and more wonderful experiences were there. Elder Mehan had it rough the beginning of this week. He got some really bad motions and our Monday and Tuesday mornings were both shot till about noon. But we still have 5 new, solid, investigators already. One brother we met last week lives in Jubilee Hills. It’s a part of our area that we just started to develop. It’s the Beverly Hills of Hyderabad. We actually got lost and saw HUGE houses. So we went that way. People gave us weird looks but hey, we are Americans in India. I pointed out his start, indicating that he’s Christian and has a higher likelihood of talking to us instead of killing us, and we went up to his door. His servant ran and got permission to let us in. When we went in, his entourage was playing UNO on the downstairs table. He had 2 other floors and another house backside. We went to the 3rd floor in house number one to teach him. When we went upstairs he was chillin’ with his public relations guy. We taught him the first lesson. He pretty much has the Bible memorized. He accepted the Book of Mormon, but when we went back he was sick and didn’t read. I was bummed. He gave us another ride though. He has a huge SUV with leather seats and A/C. It’s the small things in life that I miss about the good ole U.S. of A.

We have been walking a lot this week. The first morning Dwight got sick he was leaning back in his chair, and when he came down he landed on his camera. Not good. So we have been trying to save his money for a camera. It has been going good so far. The more we walk the more we find. The other night some Muslim guy started bombarding me with questions about my perception of Jesus. I bore testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that he came down to be the Savior of the world. This guy, the first Muslim I have ever really talked to, listened then started quoting the Bible and how things in the Bible say there is no Christ and that I am going to hell because Jesus was a Muslim. Lol. All I really wanted was a Qu-ran. So when he didn’t have one I bore testimony again and left. I learned some interesting things from him though. Their view of Allah is very different from our view of God; I thought they were the same. They say Allah has no children…so we are all randomly here but will somehow live with him again.

Anyways Michael Jackson is still weird - other than that nothing too exciting. Abraham and Cucila will probably be baptized in mid-March - neither can seem to give up tea fully, but the daughters and their one son will still be taking on February 22, 2009; which is very good. Well all is well in India. It’s time to go. I hope everyone is having a good Valentine’s week. They love it here in India. Thanks for all the support to me and my family.

Much appreciated,
Elder Sorensen

The twelfth week

Dear Adoring Fans,

Another good week in Hyderabad - nothing too exciting. This week I became really grateful that we have the FULNESS of the gospel. When I go out, I always see - on Hindu cars - this symbol “L” except it looks exactly like the one we have. It's not really an L, but they all have it so it's kinda weird. And it’s weird when Muslims see our garment line and they ask what it is…and they say, “Oh yeah? We wear garments too.” Interesting, huh?

We taught a family this week that had a poster on their wall. Nothing out of the ordinary for India, except it took the whole wall. It was a picture of Jesus on the cross. He was wiping away the tears of the other thief. The thief was bound by a serpent that took up the whole poster, and it came out of an apple tree near to the thief. As Jesus’ blood dripped the serpent was cut and the thief was relieved. Interesting, huh? The title was “The love will free you.” Some reverend saw a revelation and he turned it into that poster. That family is amazing. They sang an amazing Teligu song after we sang "Families Can Be Together Forever." They really helped to invite the Spirit. This family has 5 daughters. The father, after our lesson, said “I have 5 daughters, and I have always prayed for a son. Today God sent me 2. Thank you so much.” The great thing about this is the mother is the head of the house - something you will never see in India. She’s the pastoress of their church - so she pretty much wears the pants and brings home the mutton - but she loves us too and invited us back. It’ll take them a long time to accept the gospel though. Some people you can just tell. No one else is really wonderful, or life changing, but we will get there.

The excitement to Abraham’s family being baptized is almost too much. Their whole family is so excited. One of their children, the only boy, said, “I like your new haircut. You look like a hero (Indian for actor). You’re my favourite hero. You look like James Bond.” You wanna know who was smiling really big after that? Lol, Me! They fed us copious amounts of food - as Elder Dansie likes to put it. Like they always do - they love to talk and learn. So it was a wonderful week.

Nothing too exciting has happened. I got hit by another guy on a bike - but this time he fell off. So I helped him up and told him to be more careful. Someone laughed and said something about a big American. So I can only assume they were making fun of their friend for running into the wrong American. Lol.

Well…thanks for all the support. I love y’all. Keep up the good work. Support the missionaries.

Elder Sorensen

The eleventh week...

Return to Excellence

Holla all my people. Hello to all my friends in the ward serving in God's Army. I'd like to extend a special welcome to the newest member Elder B. Wilson. OK, on to the amazing stuff. This was the week to end all weeks. It was amazing.

This week I truly fell in love with missionary work. The family in the pic below is the Abraham family.

They have 8 members. We set 6 of them for baptism February 22, 2009. Awesome! We have been teaching them this whole transfer, 6 weeks. Their English is less, and they have been begging us for baptism. We decided that it would be a good idea to give them a date and it was amazing!

We went to their house for Republic Day - that's why a grown man is feeding me cake. It's a weird Indian tradition - but I love it. The cake was amazing too. The family asked that Dwight and I would do the baptisms. So of course I accepted.

Saturday we found an atheist. He was amazing. His father was there. And Peter, that father, is a body guard for the CMs of India. He is personally over Rajasekhar Reddy, the CM for Andhra Pradesh, the state which I am currently in. Suren, the son, wasn't believing in God. He said that something was telling his soul if it was right or wrong, but he didn't know what it was. He hadn't come to church before, and he had never prayed. After we taught the Restoration, we asked Suren to pray. He gave an awesome prayer. Then on Sunday he came to church for all 3 hours and stayed for a baptism. It was wonderful. Since Saturday he has shown us 4 or 5 wonderful families. Sunday we have a baptism for Suresh which we think we may push back so we can give him more time. He's ready; we just don't want to push it.

The kg count is down; 96KG (210 lbs). That's how big I was starting my freshman year. But it's all good. I love this weight. We also have a few other families we are working with. Malar family-they just moved here from Tamil Nadu and stay next to a recent convert. The mother and grandmother are the "only ones liking Jesus" in the family. The son is only 7 and the father is always ledu - not there - and the grandfather is also atheist. The missionary work is fun here in India. Thank you for all your encouragement and support. Like Jensen always says "More letters are much appreciated." I love y'all!

Elder Sorensen

The tenth week...

Elder Sorensen's time in India has reached double digit weeks! Yay!



Nothing too new is happening. Missionary work is normal. I loved seeing the pics of other missionaries and how they have mountains and blue skies behind them. The theme seemed to be sticking your hands up in the air so I will do that next time.

We had a pretty good week - 14 new investigators. That’s pretty good even for here. My number average has been 9 a week - so 14 is good. We are teaching all of them this week. A few are already set and some are a little slower due to English - but all have given us nice referrals. Suresh is set for Feb. 1, 2009. He’s way awesome. We set him on meeting one. Another set for the 8th is Krishna Reddy. He’s had a rough life. His girlfriend of 14 years left him one day and married some Hindu. He loves Jesus and the Atonement.

Another Family is Vinay by4. His son saw us on the street and I asked, "Brother, anyone liking Jesus?" and he said "I do. My family also." So we taught them. We went back yesterday and Vinay brought us to some new potentials. He took us in his car. It was nice to be in a car. The little things in life. lol. But while in his car we both noticed a funny smell, matches, and a skull pipe...usually for becoming acquainted with Mary Jane. So we will teach Word of Wisdom next. Hopefully "It wasn’t his." like they all say. lol.

The week was good. I am safe and so is Dwight. Thanks to everyone for their love and support. Just like you Jensen, letters are much appreciated - even though it’s a little more expensive. Thanks for all the prayers also.

I love all y’all.
Elder Sorensen

The Ninth Week....

What Doesn’t Kill You Only Makes You Stronger

Well due to illness I was down for abut 2 full days...Monday and yesterday were a bit shaky also. But today is a full 80%!! But after all is said and done I know not to eat roadside breakfast. lol. Too bad. This week the Jay Raj family was given the Holy Ghost. And coming this week will be the baptism of Yohan. He’s so amazing. He’s been coming for about 5 months and frequently comes on exchanges. We can’t find this week due to Pongal a celebration where everyone is off school, except those at Christian schools since Pongal is a Hindu holiday. Stores are still open because not everyone is Hindu. Only 95% of India is. The good thing about so many religions is so many holidays. And on those holidays all stores are open. Here the Christians and the Muslims are working the email place. Lucky for us.

One thing I thought about this week...so many churches and temples are there in Utah. One on every street, right? Just like here. Doesn’t matter how poor or how rich - there is a mosque or Hindu temple everywhere. From my balcony I can see 4 mosques. Three are on my street within 1 kilometer from me. I finally saw camels!! But they were only in passing and it wasn’t p-day so I didn’t have my camera. I was so disappointed. I am losing weight like nothing else...I am eating a little more because fatigue is starting to catch up with me...unlike it did when I could sleep for 4 hours at night and go to school and sleep there. I eat a full lunch now and a bigger breakfast. I am down to 96KGs. which is roughly 211 lbs. I haven’t been this small since before my junior year. I feel skinnier now that I know my weight. lol.

We taught a way awesome family yesterday, Sri Kanth, his wife Victoria, his dad Prakash, his mother SHANTI- like jungle book, and his aunt Mathavi. all are way receptive. Sri Kanth has some doubts about the Book of Mormon which we helped clear. We left 3 with the family. Next meeting we are planning to set them for baptism about 4 weeks later. I love y'all. Thanks for all the support and the letters.

Elder Sorensen

running "lol" count = 424

The eighth week...

Animals...and Teaching
(See pictures above)

I got some new friends - Petey and Shrek - the birds are a must. because I love chicks! We are teaching Omprakash (right) and Vinay (left) is a [new member]. Both are eating American sweets - that we gave them.

We have a lot of people lined up for baptism...but none this week. T and the greenie set all the people he and I found. And the 2 brothers (Alexander and Sheelan) I found right before the transfer are waiting for a date.

The Jay Raj family - Jay Raj, Mary, Shankeethrana (their daughter) and Abhinay (their son) - was baptized on Sunday. Pydimala and Elder Tyler baptized them - but we were their teachers at the time. Elder Tyler flew in from Bangalore to baptize Jay Raj. Rajini came to the baptism - and to our branch. Rajini was excited as I was to see him. He didn't mention anything about baptism. Then, yesterday, T told me that they set him!!!!!! for the 25th of this month!!! I am so excited. I kinda want to baptize him...but we will see.

Being in India
I love India. The food keeps getting better and better. We had some way good biryani - and a member made us some way good chicken curry.

We can only leave our area for emailing. We need permission to leave our area - especially here just because it could really hurt the Church. It's not scary, but today is some big Muslim holiday. Don’t worry. I am not afraid. There's a Muslim, Hindu and Christian celebration every week - all on separate days. Some we can't even leave the flat and some we can find. Usually we can't tho. We just need to be kept safe. If we leave our area, and we dont know it well enough, we could run into an area that has been closed down due to force from the BJP - which is dying down. I don't know what BJP stands for. They are losing support because people are becoming more educated.

Have you seen or heard about the celebration where they throw colored chalk on people and then squirt you with water?? It's like the who or something.

I haven't heard about that celebration. This week is one where they cut themselves for hours. Weird.

New Year's
We taught aunties about fitness this week. They were all doing pushups and curls and lifts in their saris. We had a way lame fireside. It was lame because it was our "New Year's Bash." The 2nd Branch was doing games and stuff. I am missing 2nd branch...too bad.

Companion
Logan decided to call his companion Elder Mehan Elder "Dwight" because he reminds him of Dwight from The Office. I don't know how much he is actually like him, but the name stuck.

Is Dwight really tall? B wants to know if Dwight's head bobbles?

It kinda bobbles. He's 6'4. So yeah - way tall. My comp's dad is from Punjob. so he's 1/2 native - but no accent is there. Dwight is from Ohio. He hates my pajamas. lol. He heard they lost. He has this recipe for buckeye candy...looks good.

Walking and Weight Loss
We are walking so much more. We have a lot of hilly areas - so autos won't go there. We walk about 10 miles a day. Tell Kerrie to lose weight she must eat 2 meals a day and walk 10-15 miles.

Letters & Packages
On Wednesday (New Year's Eve) when I got home there was a letter from KC and Burke and a letter from the Sanders - it was a Christmas card. How about that? And then on Thursday I got a Christmas card from Elder Tenney - how about that? - and the letters form the Sorensen Krewe 3 (Chris & Tanya's fam). It was opened. I got the letters - the envelope was stapled shut tho. I look forward to letters.

This is an answer for Aunt Tanya - Mom asked if he got your package. Here's the response:

You’re going to love this. I got their letter. Tell them I am in the process of writing them back. I have pics of white people. lol. No package...I'm worried.

I don't think you'll "love" that he didn't get the package, but just remember that everything takes much longer to get there. We have determined it takes approximately 1 month for letters. Packages run the risk of being stolen or eaten, so just be aware. If you need some tips on sending packages, please let us know.

Scriptures to Read
Read Alma 26:9 - I forgot what it's about, but I wrote how it reminds me of some Muslims here and I need to "Ammon" them. lol. and Alma 27:17 - like when I come home or like Friday Night Lights when Coach Gaines gives his halftime speech.

"Ammon them" - is that serve them or cut off their arms?

I was thinking cut off their arms. I could serve them tho. lol.

Funny Story of the Week
How can I not resist posting this email thread? This is not all of it - I just put in some of my favorite lines. Enjoy....

(see Seventh Week pictures)

Kaycee and I need you to clarify - which is the shower and which is the toilet in your bathroom? Is the bucket your shower or toilet?

(Really she had to ask...I already explained "squat toilets" to her, but she just wouldn't take my word for it....)

The hole in the ground is the toilet, where rats come out. lol. Joking only!! The shower head is to the left. You can't see it tho.

(Rats? Really? You had to joke about the "unmentionable rodents with Mom? Where's the Mom filter? Definitely not filtering all to well...)

So what is the bucket for? Not funny about the rats!!!

The bucket is for cleaning you bum. The poop will sink to the bottom.

Sink to the bottom of what?

The junk sinks to the bottom of the bucket. I used the squatter twice this week - but i didn’t use the hand - so I still have my virtue.

So you poop in the bucket? Is the hole like a porta potty?

(maybe he does have a Mom filter...oh wait nope...he turned it off....)

YOU POOP IN THE HOLE IN THE GROUND! I was hoping I didn't have to say this...You wipe your butt with your hand. Then you wipe your hand off in the bucket. That's what sinks to the bottom. I've never done that. You know how I say "I kept my virtue?" - meaning I didn’t use my hand. We have tp and we use it daily.

(and here goes Random Man - trying to change the subject and restart the Mom filter)

I wanna start an auto game like we had on trips.
Buffalo - 5 points
Peeing person - 5 points
Coconut stand - however much they charge
White person - 500 points

running "lol" count = 396

The seventh week....

running "lol" count = 353