December 19, 2016

Hey Everyone! This week was a pretty good one!

On Wednesday It was our P day, so we went over to Salem because Elder Hess is getting transferred! We spent most of the day at a members house! This member was a pretty funny guy! He is 40 years old, and acts 19, so we had a ton of fun! When we got back to Sullivan we went over to a members house for dinner, and after dinner we played Canasta! That was pretty fun, and I will just say this my team SMOKED the other team! It was awesome! 

On Thursday It was a slow day! we stopped by a ton of people, but we had no luck Thursday! About the only good part about Thursday was that it was officially my 17 month mark! That is crazy that I am at 17 months! Time sure does go by so quick! 

On Friday we had a service where a company from St. Louis delivers food to that food pantry and then we have like a drive threw food pantry where people can get food! Well It was pretty cold, so we had all of it inside, and people just took a cart and took the food out to their cars and then brought the cart back! There was one part of it that was outside, and I ended up doing that part! I handed out dairy products as people were walking out! It was actually pretty fun! I got to wish almost everyone a merry Christmas! Well that night it got pretty cold, and there was a mist in the air, so there was ice everywhere! It made it kind of fun to drive lol! We played basketball with the youth for a while! We played inside the church, and in Sullivan there is not a big basketball gym! It is only as big as the free throw line, and then there is the big curtain that leads into the chapel! We always open those curtains to give us a little more room, and then put chalk boards in the way so that the ball wont go into the Chapel! One of the youth brought one of their non-member friends! We have played with him a bunch of times! He is there almost every time we play! His name is Derick! Well we played a pretty good joke on him! So the ball bounced under one of the chalk boards and into the chapel, so Derick ran and got it, but all of us started to "freak out" telling him that he cant be in there! It was so funny because he was so scared! We later told him that we were just kidding and that he could go into the Chapel, but he was so scared it was priceless! We also had the Ward Christmas party!  It was pretty fun! It wasnt anything to crazy! We just had dinner, and Santa came and visited! It was pretty fun! We played with the kids almost the whole time! 

On Saturday it was still way cold, and misty, so most of the roads were icy, but we made the trek out to St. Clair (15 miles away) because we had an appointment! It was with this lady who is about 75 years old! Her name is Joanne! She is super sweet! We taught her the Restoration! It went really good, and she committed to read the Book of Mormon every night! We went to dinner with a member and he took us to Applebees, and there was a couple that walked in that were on a date! They were all dressed up all nice! He was wearing a suit, and she was wearing a dress! Well about half way through he split his drink all over his suit, and it was funny, but I felt so bad for the pour guy! At about 8 president sent out a text telling us to park our cars because it was getting way icy! We actually didnt get the text until 9 so we drove for an hour before, but then it was time to go to the apartment any way! Well just as we walked into the apartment it started to snow! It didnt snow very much! maybe only half an inch, but it was awesome! 

On Sunday we wernt allowed to drive our car, and President Loveland told us that try and get rides from members to appointments, but dont go out walking, biking, or tracting! We got a ride to Church, and it was only a small Sacrament meeting, but the speakers did a way good job! Then after that we had to spend the day in the apartment because we didnt have appointments! It was a LONG day! We made it through and all is well now! we are able to use our car again!

Well that is about it for my week! I love and miss you all so much! Merry Christmas

Love Elder Sorensen 

December 14, 2016

Hey everyone! This week was a pretty good week! 

On Monday we went to Rolla, and we went to Wendys for lunch! We went and hung out with the Salem Elders and the Rolla Sisters! It was a pretty good day! We honestly didn't do to much! We just hung out, played basketball, and had a bunch of laughs! We ended up having Wendys for dinner as well, so that was kind of funny! After that the sisters asked us to come over to the YSAs FHE, so we went over there, and I am just going to be honest here! The ysa members there really made me not want to go to a ysa when I get home! They were all MAJOR GOOBERS! It was kind of funny, but defiantly something I wouldn't want to do every week lol! 

Tuesday was a very humbling day! So every month we have a certain number of miles we are allowed to drive in our car! Well last month we went quite a bit over our limit, so Tuesday Morning we got a call from President Loveland! He chastised me a little extensively, and in the end told me to park our car for the week! He also told us to not go over again, or he will take the car! So we walked most of the day Tuesday! We did service at the food pantry, and it was interesting they had us do something that we usually dont do we had to work in the freezer, so not only were we out walking in the cold, but we were working in the Freezer, so I think the Lord was really trying to teach me a lesson! We had to bike about 5 miles out to dinner in the cold as well, so it was really an interesting day!

On Wednesday we went out tracting! Again we were on foot, and again it was a pretty cold day! We were all bundled up though, so it wasn't to bad! We knocked into a super less active members house, so that was cool, but he didn't want to talk! We also tracted into this Weirdo! He let us in, but it was so weird he wouldn't turn on any lights besides this little tiny lamp, and he just keep saying like weird and creepy things! Needless to say we didn't stay very long! On the walk back to the apartment for the night we noticed that there was little flurrys flying around, so I got really excited, but not snow yet :(!

On Thursday we got a media referral which means someone got onto Mormon.org, and requested either a Book or Mormon or a Bible! Well this address said it was about a 30 minute drive for us! Now us not having a car asked a member to take us out there! We got out where we thought it was, and tried calling them because we couldn't find it! Well to make a long crazy story short They live in Texas, and their address is very similar to one here in Missouri, and I guess they didn't put a zip code, so it came to the one here! It was pretty funny to talk to that guy though because he was clearly black, and he was super funny! Also with this walking it made me really appreciate our car because a drive that takes under 10 minutes took us about an hour to walk, and that was hard! We had dinner at a members house, and they had Fried Chicken for us! It was pretty good, but they had it on a really nice serving platter! I asked them if it was a home made receipt and it turns out they got the chicken from a fast food place, and they tried to hide that they did, and it was super funny! 

On Friday we went out with a member to Owensville to go out, and try and contact all the less actives that live out there! On the way out there the member wanted us to try and teach his landlady, and he said we could come over, so we went to her house! She didn't answer her door, so the member was like lets just walk in! We are just sitting on some random persons couch waiting for something, well them some dude walks out of the bathroom, and at the angle of the hallway and stuff he could only see Elder Durrant and Me, so he was reaching in his pocket for something, and walking towards us! He saw the member, and recognized him! He was reaching for a gun that he thought he had, so he let the member know how dumb that was, and then told us that the lady we were looking for wanted us to come visit her at work! It was kind of crazy! Out in Owensville we didn't have a ton of success, but it was still pretty good! We had a ward party for dinner! We celebrated all the December birthdays in the ward, so yes Mine included! We ate at a Chinese buffet, and that is always a good time! After we played basketball with the youth, and it was a lot of fun! 

On Saturday we went out and cut wood! We did that all day! We did 3 trailer loads, and two truck loads full of wood, and then we delivered it to members who needed it! It was kind of crazy when we were cutting it this guy with a chainsaw was cutting this tree, and it fell wrong, and almost hit our Elders Quorum president! He was wearing a beanie, and it got so close that a branch hit his beanie and pulled it off, but he said that not one branch touched him, so that was really crazy! I dont know if any of you remember me talking about an Elder Bettinson when I was in Tahlequah, but he was in my District! One of his areas was Sullivan! He is home now, but he came and visited Sullivan on Saturday, so I was able to have dinner with him and his family, and that was kind of cool! At dinner there was this little kid there, and he didnt want to eat his dinner, but you know parents were making him eat! Well he was saying his tummy hurt, and all of a sudden he just puked everywhere! So hopefully there was a lesson learned there lol! 

On Sunday we went to Church! It was pretty normal week! I dont know if I told you guys this, but Elder Robert C Gay of the Seventy visited our mission on the 12th! So on Sunday we drove down to Springfield to spend the night because the conference started at 7 in the morning in Bentonville! So we got a ride to Rolla, and then got in the car with Salem,and drove down to Springfield! We spent the night with Elders Green, Roberts, Hess, Coley, Durrant and myself! Elders Wilcox and Roy were supposed to be there two, but there was a really bad car wreck, and they got stuck in the traffic after it, and was parcked on the Highway for 4 hours, so they got in at like 2 am! We had a ton of fun! I know why they dont let us do that very much! We stayed up way to late lol

On Monday we woke up at 4, so I got like 3 hours of sleep lol! We got on a bus, and rode to Bentonville! Elder Gay was really cool! He told us a lot of cool things! One thing he said really stood out to me! He said "The Spirit is ALWAYS talking! It is just a matter of if we are listing" The rest of what he said was really good as well! One of the best parts of the conference is that I got to see so many of Missionaries that I have really missed! Including Elder Naef and Elder Wilde who go home in 2 days! It was so much fun! President then made a crazy announcement! They are taking 3 of our zones, in the Tulsa are (including Tahlequah) and moving it into the Oklahoma City Mission! We keep all the missionaries, but loose the areas! Now this kind of jacks up our transfers, but ill explain that in a minute! After the Conference we got back on the bus and drove back to Springfield! When we got there it was 8pm, and because we had a two and a half hour drive home we decided to just spend the night in Springfield! 

Tuesday was a really boring day, but at night we got our transfer calls, and Elder Durrant and I are both staying, but we herd a rumor that it is only going to be a 3 week transfer, and then we will have another one! It is a 3 weeker, so we can line up our transfers with the Oklahoma City mission for the zone swap things! 

Well that is about it for me! This is my last week as a teenager, so that is kind of a crazy thought, but I Love and miss you all so much

Love Elder Sorensen​

December 5, 2016

Hey Everyone!

This week was a really good week! 

On Monday we went down to Rolla and we were mostly just penny boarded around and messed

 around! We really didnt have anything to crazy happen, but I didnt crash this time, so that is

 always really good! It was just Elder Durrant, Elder Hess, Elder Coley and myself! We had a 

single sister take us out to eat for dinner when we got back to Sullivan! She usually takes us

 out every Monday, and she usually brings another older sister with her! Well this time was 

diffrent! She brought a guy! That is not usually a problem, but they were on a date! We were 

3rd wheeling so hard! It was honestly one of the most awkward moments of my life! They 

are both around 65, and so their flirting was really weird with each other! We ate at a Chinese 

buffet, and I had about 2 and a half more plates than I wanted to have because I would rather 

go get more food than sit at the table with them! It was kind of funny though! 

On Tuesday we had a really good day! We gave 3 blessings that day! One of them was to a

 members apartment manager! She isnt a member, and she was going into Surgery! It was

 really good! She was crying during it! In most cases if someone cries its bad, but for a missionary

 tears are almost always good!  The next lady was a members neighbor, also a non member, 

and she is also going into surgery! She is an older lady who is a chain smoker! She said we

 can come back and teach her after she gets recovered, so I am pretty excited about that!

 She said that after her blessing she felt different, and it was better, so that was really cool!

 The last blessings was one of our investigators! This lady is really cool! She got in a really

 bad car wreck about 6 months ago! She was going 80 in her car, and wasnt wearing her seat

 belt, so she was ejected out of the car, and she is pretty physically handicapped right now,

 but she is super cool! Her blessing was pretty good! She didnt really say much after that,

 and it was the last thing we did over there, but I think it went pretty good! I dont know if you 

remember last week, but I talked about having Chili and not minding it well I repent of that

 because this week I had it a ton! I had it on Tuesday, Thursday, had it offered twice on Friday, 

and once on Saturday, So I am publicly making it known that I am sorry for saying anything 

about chili! 

On Wednesday We had District meeting, and it was pretty good! I asked Elder Hess to instruct 

about Humility! Well he started off really cool he said " I am going to ask a few rhetorical

 questions that you all probably ask yourself" Then he had a long pause then he said "How

 in the world can I be like Elder Hess? How does he do it?" Well when he started you could 

feel the spirit, and as soon as he said that it left, and then he brought it back, and used it as

 an example of how when we have pride there is not as much room for the spirit! It was a 

really cool lesson! We have this member that drives us to and from District Meeting every

 week, and he is a super weird guy, and an awful driver! Usually it isnt to bad, but I am here

 to say today that yall are lucky that you are getting an email from me this week! I am not 

exaggerating at all when I say this, but we almost got into 4 serious accidents! Most of the

 time we almost drifted into Semis! The one time we were literally one foot away from dying!

  It scared the crap out of me! Luckily we mad it though! We got a text from someone that 

they needed help from the bishop, so we told them to come to the church to visit with him!

 Well they came, and we talked to them before they went and talked to Bishop! Well Elder 

Durrant and I worked really hard, and taught them, and set up an appointment, and they

 gave us there address, and sure enough, They live outside our mission, so we cant even

 teach them! It kinda was rough because we had to work at it a little bit to get them to let us 

come over, and then we cant even do it, so we sent there info to the missionaries over where

 they live! 

On Thursday we helped a less active hang up some Christmas Lights! Well it was funny they 

wanted to hang some lights outside in the cold from some wood beams with tacks! It was a

 litte rough, and we broke a ton of tacks, but eventually we got everything up, and honestly it

 looked pretty good! The rest of the day we went and tried to contact a bunch of Potential

 investigators, but did not have a ton of success! At dinner we watched a few Mormon 

Messages with some members, and it is crazy how strong the Spirit is during those videos!

 I really enjoy them! 

On Friday we went out to Owensville, and visited Sister Burlison! We brought a member with

 us who is really good at Family History! Her computer was in the basement, but she couldnt 

go down the stairs, so what we had to do is put her in the car, drive her around the house, 

and let her in the basement door! Let me tell you it was quite the process! a little walk that

 took us 5 seconds look us about 5 minutes! I am not ready to get old lol! The member

 helped her get unstuck on her Family History, and then even sent some names to the temple

 so that was really productive! The rest of the day we were tracting, and we taught a few lessons,

 but no one said we could come back, so that was kind of rough! 

On Saturday we had stake conference! It was in St. Robert, so we had an hour drive for the 

adult session! Things are really weird here in Missouri! During peoples talks they always

 interact with the audience! Well in stake conference it was to the extreme! They were having

 people come up and answer questions, and calling out stuff, and all sorts of interesting things!

 I also realized that one year ago from Saturday the 3rd! I was transferred to Cassville, so its

 really weird that it has been a full year since then! 

On Sunday it was the other session of Stake conference! It was pretty good! In the morning they

 let us know that we would be singing in the choir! We had to be there early! They gave us one

 practice, and then we went into the conference! Our choir actually did really good considering

 it was a bunch of people that have never really sang, and we only had one practice! I dont 

remember to much of what was said in the talks! I know it was about temples, and there was

some really good ones! Sunday night we were in a lesson, and it was with a mom and her

 boyfriend who are around 45 and a son who is around 22! The son whips out a can of chew,

and puts in a huge dip! His mom says "really? that stuff stinks! It smells awful" Then about 

30 seconds later she lights up a cigarette, and it was funny because she was complaining

 about the smell of chew, and the lights up a nasty cigarette! People are really crazy! 

Well that was my week! Next week is transfer week, so I wont be emailing until Wednesday! 

I hope you all have a great week! 

Love Elder Sorensen 

November 28, 2016

Hey Everyone! This week Was another good week! 

On Monday we went down to St. Robert to go play Basketball on the Military post! It was pretty
 fun! There were 7 of us there! It was Elder Durrant, Myself, Elder Hess, Elder Coley, Elder
WIlcox, Elder Roy, and a youth from St. Robert! It was pretty good! We played for a few hours!
Afterwords I went on exchanges with the zone leaders! I went to St. Robert with Elder Wilcox!
I am not going to lie I was a little nervous to go with him! He used to be an Assistant to the
President, so it was a little nerve racking to go with him, but we had a good time, and I really
like him! We went to a dinner with a part member family, and they made us Chili! I am not the
best at eating hot food, and this chili had some spice to it! The Husband made the chili, and
the wife took a bit and yelled at him for making it to hot, and he said that its not even hot! He
looked at us like we were supposed to be on his side! Neither one of us said anything for a minute,
so I just piped up and said "Ya its not bad" That was a big mistake! He went and got this powder
stuff and put it in my chili and im pretty sure it  burned a hole in my stomach! It was so HOT!!!!!!!
I honestly dont know how I managed to eat the whole bowl! My tongue was numb the rest of
the day! Then we moved part of a 3 piece couch from the apartment to a less active members
 house! The house was like 30 minutes away, so we couldnt get it all in one trip so Monday
 night we took the first part! It was so Heavy!  The zone leaders have a truck so we just put
it in there, but it didnt quite fit! We had about 6 inches hanging over the edge! We got the only
tie down we had! It was a tie down with only one clip on the one side, and we jimmy riged the
 tie down and we headed off! We made it there and got the couch in safely! We got hung up
on the door for a little, but we got it in! It was about 9, so we had to head on back!

On Tuesday I spent the whole day in St. Robert with Elder Wilcox! We started off by doing
service at a food pantry that they always do service at! (It seems like a pretty common thing
that all missionaries do on Tuesday) It was honestly some of the worst service I have done
 this time! All we did was take canned food, and move it from carts (and there was like 50
of them) to shelves and  stack them and organize them! it was bad, but to make it worse I
 stood up to fast one time, and hit my forhead on the corner of a shelf, and started to bleed!
 It was funny though, and after a little it stopped, but my head is fine! So we went around,
and saw a bunch of people, and taught some really good lessons, but I dont remember the
peoples names that we taught because it was just a one time thing! At about 8 we decided
 we could take the 2nd part of the couch to that ladies house! This piece was the biggest
piece! It stuck out of the truck like 2 feet! We still only had the one crappy tie down, so this
 time it was not in there so secure! We still had to drive the 30 minutes, and some of it was
on the freeway! To top it all off it was raining pretty hard! There were some times were the
 couch looked like it was going to fall out! We made it there safe and sound though! The
couch was soaking wet, but at that point I was just happy it made it there! This time her kids
 were awake thought, and she has this one kid named Jake! He is about 3 years old, and He
 is a missionary legend! His nickname is "Naked Jake" He is always naked! Well when i first
got there he had his clothes on, and about 5 minutes into it he ran into the other room, and
 ran out butt naked! It was really funny because we kept trying to get him to go in the other
 room, and he would, but then he would run back in still butt naked! It was kind of funny though! 

On Wednesday before we went to district meeting to exchange back there was a member
 of St Robert who had a turkey bowl game that day, and wanted us to come watch him! It
was way funny he was so pumped up! He was the starting corner! (This was a military game,
so it was pretty official) Anyways he had a sweet one handed interception! After the game we
drove up to Rolla to have our District meeting! It went pretty good! After the meeting we
exchanged back, and it was good to be back in Sullivan! It was a pretty normal day, but at
about 8 Jacob (The youth we always play basketball with) was texting us some mad trash
talk, so we went and beat them in basketball like normal! It was pretty fun though! 

On Thursday it was Thanksgiving! We had Dinner with family at 2! Well they told us two!
We got there, and they wernt close to being done with the food, so we just played with the
kids! They had about 10 kids there, and they were all younger then 10, so it was fun, but
kind of loud! The food was really good though! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love
 to just eat! After we had a Turkey Bowl with our district in Rolla! The sisters in Rolla were
talking up this turkey bowl saying it was going to be the best! They said it was going to be
on a nice field (it was in a members back yard) they said a lot of YSA members were going
to be there (there was 1) They said that there would be a ton of members (There was 3 and
 they all lived at the house) Now despite all that It was still a ton of fun! We played for a few
 hours and it was a ton of fun! 

On Friday we went out to Owensville We visited with Sister Burlison! She was way funny today!
 to be honest I dont remember any funny stories that she told us, but it was such a funny time
 to be over there! We had to go to Rolla to get something from the Salem Elders so we ended
 up eating lunch with them, and a member! It was a pretty good time! When we got back to
 Sullivan we had a referral! We went in, and the house was NASTY!! It is not the worse house
 I have been in, but it was bad enough that Elder Durrant and I both had to go back to the
apartment and change, so we could get the smell off of our clothes! It was way nasty!  They
had a bunch of dogs, and they smoked, and it was just bad! 

On Saturday It was a pretty slow the day but it was funny one of our investigators talked to
 their preacher about us, and googled Mormons, so they got into a bunch of Anti! Well they
 started asking about it, and every single question they had we just shut it right now, and gave
 them the truth! It was really good! it was the best times i have had with Anti! We had dinner
 with this one family, and they fed us chili! For all yall who knew me before my mission you
would be surprised I actually dont mind chili anymore, and i used to hate spaghetti, but now
i dont think its that bad! Its weird to see that those two things that i used to not like at all now
 I dont think they are bad! 

On Sunday it was Johns Confirmation! It went pretty good! Elder Durrant Did it! It was kind of
 funny John wore a Marlboro jacket! It was just kind of funny that that is what he wore to when
 he got confirmed! We did our fast sunday this week because our stake conference is next week!
A guy who was visiting got up, and he was from tonga, so he bore his testimony in tongan! His
name was said something like hocky, but i think it was spelled something like Hichi or something!
 He was cool though! After church we went to visit this guy, and all of his family was asleep,
so he asked if we could do a lesson outside! It was COLD!!!! It was about 45 degrees with a
 20 mile an hour winds! It was a great lesson! It was cool as soon as we started with the lesson
 I dont ever remember being cold! The Spirit was pretty strong there! I really like the lesson
we had! At night we went to a member who moved in! He is like a 70 year old guy! He is
CRAZY!! All he wants to talk about is how is wife died and his and her whole mission now
is for him to find anther wife to marry so he can bring them to the Celestial Kingdom! It was
 a crazy talk! Well that was my week! I love and miss yall

Love Elder Sorensen 

P.S. Only 27 days until Christmas 

November 21, 2016

Hey Everyone!

This week was a pretty good week! 

On Monday we went down to Rolla like we do most Mondays, and we were Penny boarding through the college campus that is there! They have a perfect down hill all the way through it! Well on our first run down the hill (we usually do a bunch) There was a bunch of people, and I think there was a few outside classing going on! I was feeling pretty confident in myself, so at this one part where you kind of slow down for a second I was going to give myself a few extra pushes in, so I could get going fast, well as I went to push I ran over a acorn, and my board stopped! I however, did not stop! I ended up with a few good scraps! A bunch of people saw me wreck though, and they thought it was pretty  funny! All and all it was still a good time! After we got done there we went to another spot where there is a pretty good hill, but the only problem is at the bottom of the hill there is about a block, and then a busy road were if we go down we have a stop sign! The hill is big enough that it is worth it to go down, so what we would do is have 3 of us ride down, and the other one would wait at the bottom and give us the thumbs up or down as to if we can go through the road with all the traffic! It was a pretty fun time! We did that for a few hours! 

On Tuesday we were in this ghetto apartment complex! We were looking for James! He is the guy who basically got us in the gang! We haven't saw him in a while, so we went to where he lives to see if we could run into him! He didn't answer his door! While we were at his door some little kid in the other apartment building just started screaming to his parents "Mom, Dad Its Elder Lenard!! Hes back! Mom Dad Elder Lenard is back! He changed his hair, and the other guy looks different, but hes back!" Well went to go talk to them after, and he realized we western Elder Lenard, and then they didn't really want to talk to us, but that was really funny! We ran into this guy who was their neighbor, and he let us in to talk with him! While we were talking with him he told us that James had died! It was crazy! He kept telling us more info about it, and it seemed to line up with the James we knew! We didn't get a for sure that it was him though! (There is more to the story, but it will come later) So at this point we didn't know if James was dead or alive, so that was weird! We started to teach this guy, and  he was super open he was answering all our questions, and then he stopped and said "Wait is the the religion that Worships Joseph Smith?" Elder Durrant said " No We don't Worship him! He was a prophet just like Prophets in the Bible, but we don't Worship him" Instantly the guy stopped answering questions, and stopped talking to us about really anything! It was just crazy to me that some people get so stiff necked that they wont even talk to us after they know who we are! Tuesday was also my 16 month mark! That means I have been out for 2/3 of my mission now! That is so crazy how fast time is flying by out here!

On Wednesday we went out tracting in this trailer park! There is usually a ton of crazy people that live in trailer parks! This time however there was some pretty good potentials! We talked to this lady Named Britney! She has 3 kids, and is really interested in reading the Book of Mormon! When we asked her if she would read it and pray about it she said that she defiantly will do that, so that is a really good sign! The other potential we had in there was a family of 3 people and they all have had interaction with the church! They said they will read the Book of Mormon, but where unsure about coming to church, so we will see what happens there! At 7 pm we were asked to do an activity with the youth! They did live action Clue, so we were some of the Characters that gave them clues, and they were detectives, so it was kind of fun to do that with them! 

On Thursday we had a combine district meeting in St. Robert! Our whole zone came together and have a meeting! Elder Shaw (the other district leader) and I set up the meeting! It went pretty good, but during the meeting President Loveland came and had Interviews with us! I was almost last, and didn't go to after our meeting was over, so we were out throwing a football, and someone came and told me that it was my turn! I hurry and ran in there, and had the meeting! It went pretty good! Nothing to exciting happend during it, but about half way through he just stopped and said Oh ya don't you have a baptism interview I need to do? He just pulled Elder Durrant, and John in with me, and we had our interview! John passed, and it was really good! After my interview President Loveland game me a hug and said "Oh you are sweaty" (That is because I was out playing football) Then he said "I must have not got it cold enough in here" I didn't really say anything I just let him think what he wants to lol! We went on exchanges with Salem, and I went to Salem with Elder Hess! We got back to Salem pretty late because we didn't leave St. Robert until 7ish, and it was about an hour drive, so we didn't get to do a whole lot that night 

On Friday Elder Hess and I did a lot of service with a member there! The funnest part was we went to a care center and did a little bowling game with all of the ladies! They were way funny! After like 3 or 4 rounds I asked the one lady if she was ready to go again, and she said in all seriousness "I haven't gone yet, but I would love to go" It was funny, but sad at the same time! We just went around the rest of the day helping members with a bunch of different kinds of stuff! After Dinner we Exchanged back, and I went back to Sullivan! 

On Saturday it got COLD!!!! It went from 80 degrees a few days before to 40 degrees! It seemed like it was the dead of winter because it was such a huge change! Missouri Weather is weird! For dinner we went over to a members house, and the wife says she was sick all day, so she didn't cook food! She ordered food! When we got there she asked if we were in a hurry because she had to go get the food! We said no thinking it was ready she just had to go pick it up! Well she didn't order it until she got there, so about an hour later she came back to the house! It was kind of funny! After dinner we went and played basketball with the youth in our ward! We played outside, and it was FREEZING! It was like 28 degrees and i was out there in a short sleeved shirt and tie! It was fun though!

ON Sunday We had a dang good day! In Ward Council before church it was kind of weird! They invite us to every meeting, and during this one they had a 20 minute discussion about our dinner calendar like we wern't even there! They didn't ask for our opinions or anything, so that was kind of weird! After Church we had John's baptism! It went great! It was really good to have a baptism again! It was way cool to see all the support that John is getting from the ward as well! While he was getting changed after the baptism during the little intermission we played a video for everone to watch! After they got back, and changed we started the program back up, and a Kid who has Autism came runnin in and just yelled "I got your video pulled up" He thought we wanted him to show the video, so he was trying to get it on his grandpas laptop! It was really funny! He is a good kid he is just really loud! 

It is also my comps birthday today, so we had a little party last night! Thats what these other pictures are from! 

Well that was really my week! It was a pretty good one! I miss and love you all! I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving! 

Love Elder Sorensen

aww shoot I forgot to finish my story about James! He actaully is alive! The guy who died is named Jamie and James just is in Prison, so thats good, but bad! 

November 14, 2016

Hey everyone!
This week was a good week! As you know I emailed last week on Wednesday, so this one might be a little shorter, but I will see what I can do! on Wednesday we went to Rolla, and we were with The Salem Elders and the Rolla sisters! We were going to go do stuff, but ultimately we ended up in a parking lot for 3 hours ridding penny boards, and tossing a football around! It was pretty fun though! At dinner we ate with a guy who is very interesting! I think he might have some form of autism, but nothing is confirmed! He is like 35 and he lives with his mom because he has to take care of her! He is the king of boosting! Boosting is when you add to the truth to make yourself sound cool! He says all sorts of stuff such as He is fluent in German (he is not he only knows how to say hello)! We try to be nice to him, so we go along with his stories! Sometimes they get way crazy, and we just cant help but bust up laughing! Wednesday we were trying to get him to do the Saltine Challenge! That is where you have to eat 6 saltine crackers in 1 minute! He said he hated them, so he wont do it! We moved on to the Cinnamon challenge! That is where you have to eat a spoon full of Cinnamon! He claimed he eats a mouth full of cinnamon every morning! We called him out on it, so he tried it, and it was so funny he like coughed and was puffing out clouds of cinnamon, and we about lost it! It was so funny!
On Thursday we taught John a lesson! He is a homeless guy who lives in his van! We had a lesson at a members house! That lesson went really well, and as of right now John is going to be baptized on Sunday! I am really excited for that! It is always good to have a baptism, and i haven't had one in a while, so i really hope this one works out! We went to a less actives house right at sundown, and the kids wanted to play basketball really bad, so we were out there in the pitch black trying to shoot hoops with them! After a few lucky shots, and a bunch of close calls we decided we better quite playing, but it was way fun! After that Elder Durrant left some stuff in Salem's jeep when we were together Wednesday, so we had to go to Rolla to meet in the middle so Elder Durrant could get it back, and we went to dinner with the Salem Elders, and that was pretty fun!
On Friday we went out to Owensville like we do every other friday! We visited with this older couple, and the lady talked for about an hour about how she used to raise Chihuahuas , and she showed us pictures of all of them, and remembered all of their names it was crazy because there was at least 100 dogs! That night we went and played basketball with some youth! We played this game called Tips! Well Elder Durrant and I worked them! We never lost! we played for like an hour and a half, and never lost!
Saturday a Recent convert set up an apointment to cut our hair! We had to run up there because it was free, so those are always nice! Fun Fact i have never paid for a hair cut on my mission! After the lady cut my hair she asked me when are next transfers and i told her December, and she said perfect this is what we are going to do! She then laid out my "hair plan" So i guess thats good when your hair stylist has a plan right lol? For dinner that night this lady was making us chicken strips that she says everyone LOVES them, so we went in there, and there was a ton of anticipation, and they were about the most average chicken strips in the world lol, but she acted like the were the best thing known to man kind! After dinner those youth we creamed in basketball were callin for a rematch so we played with them, and again dominated, but we did loose the 2nd game, but won every other one, so in the end everyone walked a way happy!
Sunday we found a few potential investigators, so I am really excited about them! They are younger kids, but really loved what we talked about the Book of Mormon!
Well That was my week! I love and miss you guys
Love Elder Sorensen

November 9, 2016

Hey Everyone!

This week has been a pretty good week! Last Monday was Halloween and we went to St. Robert and played basketball! It was a pretty good time! We played for a few hours, and then we went with Salem and we spent the day with them! We had a really good time! It was a fun day! Tuesday was an interesting day! We were out and we ran into a member! This is that older guy who works at Dominos that I talked about last week! He said something really funny this time! He was talking about how he can usually guess what race someone is by their orders and he made a pretty harsh statement about black people, and me and Elder Durrant started busting up laughing, and this is what he said "What guys? Thats not Racist! It is not racist if its true" We about died laughing! It was really funny because he was so serious! Wednesday was pretty good We had a zone training meeting in St. Robert! It was pretty good to go and see all those Missionaries! The thing that we are going over in all our meetings this month is The Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is pretty cool to go over it! It is one of those things that makes you realize how important the basics really are! One thing that I have been trying to focus on latley is not worrying about deep doctrine or anything like that, but rather I am trying to study the basic stuff, and see how I can apply that better to me right now! It has been pretty good! Its crazy how much that stuff makes you so much more happy! I have been really enjoying studying that! On Thursday our Zone Leaders called us and asked us to come down to St. Robert to do a baptism interview! When we got there it was a 80 year old lady who is from the Philippines! The interview was crazy! So this lady was hard core Catholic! I dont know if im allowed to share stuff from those interviews, but they were SOOOOO funny, so i am going to! I have 3 really funny things she said! First I asked her what she understood about the Law of Tithing she said "Tithing is the  all the energy that you give to show the Lord you are grateful" I didnt fully understand her because of her accent, so i said "you give 10% right?" and she said "Oh ya thats what I ment! It is 10% of your money you give to the church" The second funny part was I asked her "What do you understand about the Word of Wisdom? " She answered  "It is the Wisdom in the Word of God" I said something like "Right we see how God gives us Directions like what not to put in our body right?" and She said "Oh ya right right, and then listed all of the things that are against the Word of Wisdom! The last funny thing that happend is she said the closing prayer!  I said the opening prayer, and so she agreed to say the closing prayer! It was SOOOOO FUNNY she said a Catholic memorized prayer, and part of that prayer she blessed "The Holy Catholic Church" I about died laughing after i walked out because in her interview for baptism she blessed the Catholic church! It was so funny! Friday was a pretty normal day! We taught a really good lesson with John! He is a guy who is investigating the church! He is a little interesting! I am not sure how much he is comprehending, but he seems to like it! We set a baptism date with him! We set it for November 19th! I hope he can make it!  Saturday we took John to a baptism in Rolla, and it was interesting! The guy who preformed the baptism messed up on both of the people baptisms like 3 times! John seemed to like the baptims, so i guess thats what matters! Sunday was pretty good! It was fast and testimony meeting! It was funny there was a few people hinting at the election over the pulpit, so that was kind of funny! Monday We had district meeting, and it was ok! Everyone was talking about transfers, so there wasnt a ton of discussion going on! After the meeting we went to Wendys to eat lunch, and we were throughing a football in the parking lot after we ate, and we got kicked out of the parking lot, so that was kind of funny! Yesterday was a long day It was the day we got transfer calls! I am in the spot where I could be transfered, so i was trying to figure out if we were staying! Well we got our calls at 9 pm and I am staying in Sullivan with Elder Durrant for another transfer! I am pretty excited! This transfer goes until December 15th! I am pretty excited! Well that was my week! I love and miss you guys

Elder Sorensen 

October 31, 2016

Hey Everyone

This week was a pretty good week! On Monday we went down to St. Robert to go play basketball!

It was a lot of fun! We played for a few hours, and we won most of our games, so that made it even 

more fun! We came back to Sullivan at about 6, and we had dinner with a part member family! 

It was pretty sweet we were able to give the one girl a blessing, and Im not 100% sure if she is 

a member! He mom is, but im just not sure about her! I know that the girls husband is not a 

member, so it was a way good experience for him to be there during the blessing! Monday was 

a pretty good day all around! On Tuesday We did our normal service that we always do! It was 

a pretty normal day there, and there was nothing to exciting that happened, but after we went 

with a member who is a 74 year old guy who still delivers pizzas! He took us to see a guy that 

he normally delivers pizza to! He was telling us how he is good friends with this guy, and how 

we need to meet him, so we can teach him! When we walked into this guys house we realized

 how they are not really good friends, because the first thing the guys says is "Its the old guy

who delivers pizza!" After about a 10 minute conversation the guys says "Whats your name

 again?" To make a long, kind of awkward story short we did not get to end up teaching that 

guy! It was a way funny time though! For dinner that night we went over to a less actives house!

 They are not the cleanest people! They definitely could be worse, but they could be way better 

as well! We talked to them for a minute and then the Mom says "Okay are you ready for dinner?

 I made Chili" My heart sank because at this point I can only imagine what is going to come in

 this pot of Chili! She puts it on the table, and It looked sooooo NASTY!!! Of Course she lets 

the missionaries get their food first! Well me and Elder Durrant had a minor stair down and 

ultimately because I am Senior Companion I had to get mine first! I tried to take small scoops

 that looked big, so That I didnt look rude! It ended up being eatable, but i wasnt going in for 

2nds! It was pretty funny though! On Wednesday we had our district meeting! It was pretty 

good! We kind of had a slow day the rest of the day, but it was good! There is just nothing 

else that was significant! On Thursday The Elders from Salem, Elder Hess and Elder Walker 

come up to spen the night before the temple trip! We had a pretty good day! There wasnt 

anything amazing that day! On Friday morning we were told we had to be in Rolla at 7:50 am! 

It is about 40 minutes away! We all got ready, and was on our way we were planning on being 

there a little early! at 7:30! It was aobut 6:55 and our zone leaders call asking where we are at! 

Turns out it was 7:15! At 7 President Loveland calls and lets us know they are 15 minutes 

early, and we were still about 30 minutes away! They ended up telling us to stop where we were 

at and they picked us up becaue we were actually on the way to St. Louis, so it was kind of a 

crazy morning! The bus ride was fun though! The temple was way cool! I just did one Session, 

but I had a lot of cool Ah ha moments! Then in the Celestial room I was praying about a 

question i had, and i kept asking, and not really getting an answer, so I just decided what i 

thought, and I prayed about my decision, and after I got this overwhelming felling that it was 

right! It was kind of cool to make a decision and have Heavenly Father's approval! The Temple

 is such an amazing place! When we got back to Sullivan that night our Ward had a trunk or 

treat, so we went to that and it was kind of fun! Saturday we got a media referral for a less 

active out is Gerold! Which is about 30 minutes away! We went out to see him, and the road 

we drove on is seriously one of the kind of roads that roller coasters are designed after! It 

was a fun drive though! On Sunday Church was pretty normal until 3rd hour where a comment

 was made that really stood out to me it was "Complete freedom with out appropriate restraint 

makes us slaves to our own appetites!" I love that! We dont have "restrictions", but all the 

commandments are here for us to make us better, and to give us the Freedom not to take it 

away! Then we had to go to Rolla for 2 baptism interviews after church! It was a pretty good day!

Well that was my week! I Love and miss yall so much

Love Elder Sorensen 

October 24, 2016

​Hey yall

This week was another good week! Last Monday evening we got some really good news!​ We 

get to go to the temple this Friday! I get to go to the St. Louis Temple! I am so excited! We 

drove down to Fort Lenard Wood and played basketball! It was a pretty good time! After I gave 

two baptism interviews to two little kids for the zone leaders! It was pretty good! Both kids passed! 

They were funny they were 9 and 11! We went on an Exchange after and Elder Walker came up 

to Sullivan with me! He is kind of a weird kid, but he was fun! We talked about Cassville alot! 

He served there after I did! It was kind of a slow day, but there were some good lessons that 

we tought! One of them was this new investigator named Kathy! We still have a ways to go 

with her, but She is starting to  understand the Book of Mormon a little bit better! It was awesome! 

Wednesday we exchanged back! It was good to Get Elder Durrant back! We were out tracting 

and we ran into these little girls who drew a picture of us saying "The Coolest Guys Ever" So

 let that be known that i am one of the coolest guys ever lol! They were funny! On Thursday 

we saw some guys out playing basketball on that court, and so we stopped and visited with 

them! We started to play a little with them, and we might have accidentally joined a gang lol! 

We beat them in the game, but we were joking with them the whole time, and then the one 

guy said something like "Me and my Boys got your back! If yall ever need anything, or someone 

is bothering you here is my number give me a call" We said alright, and it was pretty funny! 

Friday we went out to Owenville, and visited some of the shut-in members that live out there! 

It was pretty fun! after that was a little slow as well! We went out and knocked a bunch of doors, 

but nothing to good came from it! Saturday we Had a bunch of active member lessons! We are 

sharing Elder Oaks talk from conference about member missionary work, and setting up a 

program to make it easy for everyone to do missionary work! We had 4 or 5 lessons with them 

and it was pretty good! Yesterday we went to church, and Church was pretty good! It was 

nothing to crazy! It was just a typical Sullivan Sunday! We had a few Lessons untill 8 at 8 

we stopped by the out door basketball courts because we saw someone that we knew there! 

We started shooting around and talking to them! We had a little 3 on 3 half court game going 

on, and it was pretty good! We won, and after a whole bunch of people came over and asked 

iif they could play! We ended up play a full court 5 on 5 game! I dont want to brag or anything, 

but Elder Durrant and I ran the game! We were lighting it up! We were in shirts and ties, and 

we were balling with everybody! It was a blast! Every time we shot some of the guys would 

yell "MORMON BOYS!!" It was so much fun! Well that was my Week! I hope yall have an 

amazing week! I love and miss you all so much

Elder Sorensen