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 

October 17, 2016

Hey Yall 

This week was a pretty good week! On Monday we were in Rolla with Salem again, and we had 

a way good time! We messed around at the church for a while, and we ended up playing Power 

aid pong, and it was so funny! Then we went out and Penny boarded this way cool hill! It was a 

blast! Tuesday we did service at that food pantry like every week, but it was SUPER slow this 

week! Usually over a 2 hour span we get anywhere from 50 to 80 people come through there, 

but this week there was only about 15 or 20 people come through, so it was slow and long! 

The one guy who works there vented to me for about 35 minutes about how is wife just left him, 

and left him with a bunch of debt! I was going to try and help him out with the Gospel, but literally

i was standing there for 30 minutes, and wasn't able to get a word in! Thank goodness some 

people walked in! Otherwise i would have been standing there listing to him for who knows how 

long! After service we did a ton of tracting! We tracted from 2 to 6, and it felt like forever! We met 

a few people who were somewhat interested, but nothing worth writing home about! On Wednesday 

we had a combined District meeting in St Robert! It was pretty good! We also had Interviews 

with President Loveland! My interview with him was pretty good! He gave me a ton of pointers 

on how to be a better planner! It was good stuff! I am kinda bummed out That Sister Loveland 

wasn't there, because I always like my interviews with her a lot! We went on Exchanges with 

Salem afterwards, and I went to Salem with Elder Hess! He is a way cool guy! I had a ton of 

fun when I was with him! That night the 1st counselor in their branch presidency came over to 

visit with him about a less active member who needed a ton of help, and he needed to fill Elder 

Hess in! Well after he got all the info to him he just started visiting with us! Well he got a little 

carried away, and he didn't leave until midnight, so Wednesday night was a really short sleeping 

session for me lol! Thursday we did a bunch of work in Salem! We visited a ton of people though! 

There was this NASTY house that we went in! These people where like 500 lbs each, They had at 

least 5 small dogs in this tiny house, There was old food everywhere, and the was only about 4

 places to stand with out standing on some pile of junk!  Basically what it was was a luxury suite 

for cockroaches and all sorts of other bugs! IT was the longest 30 minutes of my life! We sure 

made it out alive though! We exchanged back later that night! Friday was pretty good! We had 

some more tracting! We didnt go as long as Tuesday, but we did go for a while! We were driving 

by the High school at like 8:30 and saw there was a football game going on! We stopped and 

caught the tail end of Sullivans last home game, so that was kind of fun! Saturday was a pretty

 good day! We went and helped someone move from a town that is at the far end of our area to 

Sullivan! A member picked us up and took us to breakfast at 8 and then we helped them move! 

It SUCKED! If any of yall are going to be moving anytime soon, PLEASE be ready to move when 

people come to help! These people were having us pack stuff, and basically throwing random stuff 

in boxes and putting them on a tailor! We were the helping untill 2! When we finally got done we 

had lunch with a diffrent member,so it was a good morning as far as food goes! Saturday was also 

my 15 month mark!!!! It is so weird to think that I only have 9 more to go! Sunday was pretty good! 

It was cool there was a missionary Farewell and Homecoming in our ward, so that was kind of fun 

to see! The one leaving is going to California, and the one that came home was in Japan! After 

church some member who is going around installing touchscreen things at sonic! He came out with

 us, and he was pretty fun! This morning he bought us a ton of groceries, so he is a sweet guy! Well 

I sure love all yall so much! I Hope yall have a good week 

Elder Sorensen 

October 10, 2016

Hey yall

This week has been a way good week! On Monday we went to Rolla, and met up with the Salem Missionaries, Elders Hess and Walker! They are way cool! We played basketball, and then after we went and rode penny boards! They are like longboards, but just barley long enough to put both feet on! IT was way fun! We are going to go again today! Tuesday was kind of a weird day! We did service at that food pantry that we do every week, and there was this girl that was helping there today who was way weird, and she kept  asking us weird questions! She was a girl who was doing hard core dugs like 6 months ago, and is trying to quit! So she is still messed up! It was funny to hear her try and keep conversations going! It made the time fly by a lot faster though! After we helped out there we had to go change into our shirts and ties, because we had an appointment! Well they didnt answer their door, and then a less active member called and asked us to help her move! We changed back into our service clothes, and then helped her move! We then changed back into shirt and ties after that to go to dinner! Then a member asked us to help him go and get some furniture, and move it to his house! Which means we had to change again! It was a crazy day! I am glad that it doesn't happen like that every day! Wednesday we did not have a lot planned, so we went and did a bunch of tracting! I actually really enjoyed it! We got a few potential investigators that I am really excited for! On Thursday we had a zone training meeting! It was a pretty good meeting! I really like our zone! There are a lot of way cool missionaries! Every single companionship was changed this time, so it is kind of like being in a new zone! I really like everyone that is in our zone! Friday and Saturday we had a lot of tracting agian, and its been such a blessing to have that! It is so cool to see the blessings from going out and knocking on doors! Saturday night we had a BBQ with some members, and the invited some people from out of town, and there was this really funny guy who i sat and talked with the whole time! I dont remember his name, but I had such a good time with him! Every night except Sunday we go to the out door basketball courts, and play pick up games with people from 8 to 9 because we have been struggling to get appointments at that time, and we cant really tract, so we go and play them, and try to teach them! it has been a ton of fun! Sunday It was Elder Durrant's First Day at church, so he got to meet everyone! It was a pretty good Sacrament meeting! During 2nd hour a teacher didnt show up, so a guy asked us to come help him teach! We taught Sunday School for 14 to 18 year olds! It was way funny he is an Awful teacher! He gave some weird stories, and some weird examples, but it was super entertaining! The rest of the night was pretty normal night! ANd That was my week!

I love and miss yall so much

Elder Sorensen

The first one is of a guy named Victor! He is a weird guy, but way funny

The Second one is of one of the only people in Missouri that is a democrate she is a member

The third one is me and Elder Durrant

October 3, 2016

Hey everyone

This week has been pretty good! The rest of Wednesday was kind of crazy! We played ball for a 

while, and then we drove back to Sullivan! Elder Wilde said goodbye to a bunch of people, and it 

was kind of awkward because everyone was saying goodbye, and i was just kind of sitting there

like ill see you tomorrow! Elder Wilde didnt start packing until 9:45 that night! That made for a long 

night! I think he got done around 2 am, but i fell asleep somewhere around 11:30! Then on Thursday 

we went to transfer point! It was kind of cool to see some missionaries! I got to say goodbye to a 

few that are going home as well! It was way fun! Then I got my new companion, Elder Durrant! 

He is way cool! He is from the Portland Area, so I still have not had a companion from Utah! 

Elder Durrant is really good at football, and basketball! I really have enjoyed him so far! Friday we 

had a less active member call us, and ask to help us move one couch, well it turned into one couch, 

and one love seat, and one full trailer of other stuff, and eating 2 pizzas, so it was kind of a good 

deal i guess! Saturday was The first two sessions of conference! It was amazing! I love hearing

 the Prophet and Apostles speak! Most of the whole day was spent watching conference and 

eating! We went to the first session, and after it was over we went home, and ate lunch! Then 

we tried by some less actives, but didnt have any luck! So we went back, and watched the 

Second session! It was awesome as well, then we went and ate dinner! While we were eating 

we got a text saying the that the priesthood was doing a dinner before the priesthood session, 

so we went there, and had a second dinner! Then we watched the priesthood session! I really 

loved it! I loved all of conference! Sunday we watched to other sessions of conference, and after 

them we went out and tracted a ton! It was actually pretty fun! Elder Durrant makes it so much

 fun! We tracted for a good 2 hours or so, and we got a few new potential investigators! Well I

 love and miss yall so much

Elder Sorensen