August 4, 2010 Update

This is what Pavani SMS’d (txt'd) us on the morning after we had an amazing lesson with her family about temples and how are families can be together forever. Afterwards we all got on our knees and prayed to know if it’s true. Here it is:

"Hey Elders, I will be forever grateful to you for your example and for yesterday's experience. As I was pondering I had a deeper sense of gratitude for our Father in Heaven, temple, and for eternal life. Thank you! Thank you so much for everything. I am fortunate to have you both meet in this life. I wish my son grows up to be a grate missionary like you both, and my husband."

Now do you see why I love her so much?

Wanacum,

Cool starting story this week. Last night we met with one of our members from Ivory Coast, Africa. He said that he had some referrals for us. I have never taught black people, so I was way excited. The lesson was ok, nothing special. But in the end we asked Apo to pray. He asked if he could do it in French, and we both said ok. It was interesting to think about. I have heard people pray in Hindi, Sanskrit, Arabic, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kanada, Talangana, Bengali, English, and now French. Not many missions can say that.

A few weeks ago President Funk and the assistants came to our branch for church, and they came to a class that I was teaching. I put everyone into groups and had them teach about the lesson. P. Funk was on the back row and I put him, and his assistants, with 3 other members and I called it the power row. When I noticed what I did everyone laughed. I realized that no one in this group spoke English. It was so funny when they tried to teach. The assistants were good sports about it. Another funny thing, we had an investigator who was so stuck on the Trinity, usually people just leave it, but he was trying to convince us. He gave the example, after he had been proven wrong about 15 times, and after much thought, his brain somehow managed to say, "God and Jesus are like and egg, but only an egg that has been scrambled." Sounds like someone ran outta truth and began to make up crazy nonsense. I wanted to say, "You're talking gibberish."

This Saturday is Ashwini's baptism, and she is so excited for it. We have been seeing her and her family almost every day. We have even been doing family home evenings with them on Sunday nights, b/c they keep bringing investigators for us to teach. Her son, Rishi, is 5 years old and said the opening prayer. He said something profound, and will stick with me while I am raising my kids, "Bless the Elders. Help me to go on mission. Bless my family. Help me to go to temple." Pavani and Suresh are doing a great job. Suresh is in the Branch Presidency, and said, at the last PEC meeting, "I speak for the branch when I say that we haven’t had Elders as good as these since I have been a member. We have never felt more love from the Elders, as a branch. Thank you for your service." Then, on Sunday, he called his wife up to the stand and bore his testimony with her about missionary work. She recited the 10 commandments to him, after we had our movie night this week (we watched The Prince of Egypt) and he was amazed. "Where did you learn that?" Her response, "The elders." She recited them on the stand and did the hand motions that we taught her. I love their family so much. They have been a great help as we have taught Ashwini.

Another wonderful family that we are working with is Suriyha Kantharaj and his family. His wife Rozy has cancer, and when she saw us walking down the road she chased us down. We met them once in passing. They came to church for a baby blessing, but we didn’t remember them until we saw Suriyha...he has a skin pigment problem. We have been teaching them for one week and they are doing awesome. Suriyha read 3 Nephi 11 and when we asked how he felt about it he said, "I know you are gonna ask about baptism. I will be baptized, just let me know that this is the right church." He is Catholic and his family convertered to Pentecostal. He has 2 sons, and both are intelligent. One son came to church this Sunday with Suriyha. When I asked where was everyone else he said, "Rozy is really sick from chemo, and my younger son took her to the hospital. We remembered our promise to come to church." Wow. He told the branch president that he wouldn’t miss a Sunday, and that all four of his family members will come next week. We are meeting them tonight and we will be setting them for September 4th.

I love you all. Thank you so much for your support and love. I hope everyone is doing well. Stay true to the faith. Hugs and kisses.

Elder Sorensen

July 28, 2010 Update

Namaskaram,

Last Monday and Tuesday were very uneventful, and I feared that the rest of our week would turn out to be less than what we thought, but after Wednesday the whole week was amazing. On Wednesday night we visited with Ashwini and taught her about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She was very in tune with the Spirit and is very excited about her baptism next week. We then visited her on Friday and taught about Baptism and Confirmation, meaning the promises that happen when we are baptized and confirmed, and it was a phenomenal lesson. We taught about how we are cleaned from our sins and how that is the only way to live with our families after this life. Kavitha lost her father a year back and is really interested that she can see him again. But Kavitha hasn’t prayed to know what she should do to see her father again, or if it is true. Right before we went home that night we stopped by and told them that we wanted to share another small message. All we did was have Pavani bear AMAZING testimony about temples; she and her husband are sealed. After that we all got on our knees and asked Heavenly Father is it was possible to live without families after we die. One by one we all said a prayer, and the Spirit continued to grow. It was a great testimony strengthener for me, and I am forever grateful for the experience we had that night. Kavitha said that she did feel like it was possible, and that she wants it.

On Saturday we all went out to the Pioneer Day activity and Ashwini made me chipathis and jam b/c she knew that the tiffin, or breakfast, provided would have milk in it. She is way too nice. On Monday we taught them about the Restoration, and how everything we do in life needs to have power and authority. Pavani was doing the translation and asked, "How do you say 'power and authority' in Telugu?" Now, she is from Hyderabad, so this was a huge compliment for me. I said, as I pumped my left fist, "SHAKTI" and as I pumped my right fist, "ADIKADUM.", they got a real kick out of it and I was happy that I could speak some Telugu still. At the end we asked Kavitha to be baptized. She said that she wants to stay Hindu, but her family members said they will fix that. Hopefully she will overcome whatever fear and join the fold of God. Her uncle served a mission and he promised us that he will get to the bottom of it.

Another great lesson this week was when we taught Dean and Beth. I dunno if I have told y'all about them, but they are a young married couple who just moved into our area. Dean is a comic book artist, and he is one of 4 people in a country of 1.2 billion people who can do what he does. When we shared about the Restoration last week they were so excited to come to church and learn more about what a prophet, "not some man who says he understands the scriptures" has to say. We brought Pavani over yesterday and she did amazing. She asked them if they needed to have someone show them the church. They said they would be there and would like to sit with her. Dean and Beth both said that they believe the Book of Mormon is true, and are excited to know more about it. Beth even said, "The BofM is better than the Bible b/c it helps us apply things to our lives." I have never had a Catholic tell me that. lol. Dean said, "It never made sense to me that the Bible stopped; it shouldn’t have. The religion didn’t, so why should scripture?" They are wonderful. Dean has some legal issues that he needs to get straightened out and then everything will be well for their baptism.

I love you guys. I am excited to be a missionary. Never have I enjoyed my life so much, than I have in these last 2 years. It has been a great blessing to serve in the Lord's vineyard. I know the Church is true, and that the Book of Mormon was translated by Joseph Smith. I am grateful for my Heavenly Father and His love for me. I love the Savior. Hugs and kisses!

Love,
Elder Sorensen

October 4, 2010 Update

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!!!



Namaste,

Well, I am probably the only person who HASN’T seen conference yet, but that is ok because I can learn patience. The only thing I can think about is the Deville family. For being an inactive Bishop, Brad has some of the deepest and most wonderful things to say. The other night while we were at the dinner table Brad went to get the ice cream and I said, "YES! There's always room for ice cream!" and then he made a sweet analogy about a jar, big rocks, little rocks, and sand. You can fill the whole jar with sand, but then that’s all you have. You can fill most of the jar with small rocks, and some sand, but the best thing to do is fill it with big rocks, then smaller ones, and then sand. The analogy he made was the big rocks are the important things in your life; family, Church, etc. The small rocks are friends, sports, etc. "And the sand", he said, "Is stuff that you can really do without, like Americans." Josh really liked the analogy.

The other day we found out that Aaron and his buddies bought a car, without telling their parents. This has been a big topic of discussion amongst the Ex-Pats. After Josh's baptism the family had to change because all the other parents were getting together to decide the fate of this car. Well, Marian comes out in a nice outfit and Brad comes out in shorts and a "Highway to Hell" T-shirt. All we could do was laugh. He said, "Well, it seemed like a good idea this morning."

While I was speaking to Marian at the baptism she was just in AWE! She couldn’t help but smile. She mentioned that it has been different than any of her other kids' baptisms. I have been pushing her to stop drinking and prepare to get a temple recommend, that way she can take her boys to the temple at Christmas time. Aaron looked like a Stripling Warrior while he got in the water and baptized Josh. The experience was unlike any I have had on my mission. I cannot describe how happy I was. I hugged them both when they got out, even though my suit got wet.

I love y'all. Thank you for your support an encouragement. Hugs and kisses from India!

Elder Sorensen

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

July 21, 2010 Update

Namaste,
This has been an eventful week! Last Thursday we found this Anglo-Indian couple named Dean and Beth. They immediately invited us in and were eager to learn more about the gospel, and what we thought about India. They thought we were pulling their leg when we told them we love India. They kind of wanna be American. They invited us back for the next day, and asked, "Are you affiliated with the Mormons?" I looked them in the eye and said, "We are the Mormons." They thought that was pretty cool. We pulled out a Book of Mormon and told them we would use scriptures from it and they got excited to see what it was about. When we finished the lesson they were in awe. They thought it was so wonderful that we have a living prophet today; they think it’s important that we don’t teach from our own knowledge, but God's. They were unable to come to church because Dean has some legal issues he wants to get sorted out first.

This has been a fun last 2 days with zone conference and interviews. President Funk just took a bunch of time to get to know us. I brought him all my photos and he got really excited. He asked me about what I am gonna do with my last 3 months and I basically told him all my goals and how I related them to football or to some sport. But the best part about zone conference is when all the other elders, from the rest of the mission, get to come and stay with you. Elder Chigurupati has been staying with us! He is awesome, and Chennai is doing really well. He gave me the phone last night, and said, "Talk." I was so happy to hear Donald and Pethal, 2 of the people who I worked so hard with to get baptized. Pethal said that they talk about me every day and in their prayers they always tell Heavenly Father thank you for sending us Chigurupati brother and Sorensen brother. Pethal is about to get a calling as YW teacher. Donald, like only he can do, said, "Brother, I am angry with you. Why didn’t you come to my baptism? I asked for you to baptized me. But instead I had to have Elder McKinley do it." I laughed at him, and he did too. Elder McKinley is one of the senior missionaries who helped us out a TON with getting him baptized.

Then, this morning, Leslie and Cheryl call!!!!! Oh how happy I have been! Leslie is doing wonderful. He hasn’t been hanging out with his old friends, and last night he did, and denied their request to drink with them. He still doesn’t have a job, but today and tomorrow he has interviews. Please pray for him! Even if you get this months later. Please pray for him. They were all so happy to be talking with me. Leslie is a teacher in Gospel Principles and in the YM. Cheryl is the YW first counselor. They are doing wonderful and are a great addition to the branch.

Time is less, and I gotta run. I love all of you. Thank you for your letters. I know that this is God's true Church. I know that the BofM is true. If you don’t believe it go read Jacob 5, or 2 Nephi 31. I love being a missionary. I know this is what He wants for all worthy young men. Hugs and kisses till next week.

Elder Sorensen

July 14, 2010 Update

Wanaste,
That is a mix on WANACUM (Tamil), and NAMASTE (Hindi). The biggest news of the week is the change in momentum. Last night we met with a sister name Ashwini. Ashwini went out of station in June, and she challenged herself to read the entire Book of Mormon while she was gone. Sadly, she only got to Moroni, but promised to read it today! Ashwini is a Hindu and her father is also Hindu. She talked to him about getting baptized while she was in her native place. He agreed to do whatever she wanted so that she could be baptized. We met with the 2 of them last night and set a date for Ashwini to be baptized. She will be baptized on August 7th!! It was such an uplifting moment. I have been wondering why nothing seemed to be working. We had people to teach, but it seemed like Satan was working harder than ever to keep them from progressing. It has been really difficult in Bangalore, and I have been really discouraged. Now, however, the ball is rolling. "Give me an inch and I’ll take an eel." Now that the wind is back in my sail Bangalore will never be the same. It just takes one set to give you that boost you need.

On Monday night we met with Daniel and Amita; this was not a good meeting. Daniel was searching the Church on the internet, and you guessed it, he found a bunch of anti-Mormon literature. It was nothing new to me; I have heard all the points before. He just had a really hard time with the fact that God told Abraham to lie, but he feels that it was necessary, so he may be ok. He was really concerned about other stuff pertaining to the nature of God, like D&C 130:21-22. He still wants to meet, but I don’t know how much farther it will be able to go. He is into some deep waters.

In more uplifting news, Giri Babu came to Church again!! He is still very excited. This week we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, and committed him to keep it. He promised that he would never drink tea again. He has such a strong testimony already. We committed him to practice English every day for one hour. We did this by telling him to read his BofM in Telugu, while a member, Mary (they work together), read in English. I have seen this to be the most effective way for someone to learn English. On Friday we are going to set Giri with a baptismal date, probably the end of August, that way he can learn English! I love Giri. He is a great example of what it means to become truly converted.

Thank you so much for all of your support. I love getting letters and emails from all of you. Remember "Every member a missionary". I love all of you. Remember, this is Jesus Christ's Church, and we are his disciples.

Love,
Elder Sorensen