Week of Dec 29, 2013

Here's the low down on this week. It went by super fast, and I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone. Crazy. It was good to call home though, made me a little trunky, but it buffed out. So here's the wonderful adventures of Elder Hindes and I this last week-

On Monday Elder hindes lost his apartment key, and we were locked out for about two hours till we found it. We searched everywhere, but we finally found it about 8:30 at night under some snow in the church parking lot. It was crazy that we were able to find it. On Tuesday, Christmas eve, we mainly went and caroled to people all day, and did any other appointments we had. It was great, it's surprising how much more open people were to us caroling then to tracing..... I wonder why? haha. But we got a lot of potential investigators out of it so that was nice. 

As for Christmas, it was crazy! We were busy all day long. We went to a ton of member's houses because they all invited us out, and we had about 3 dinners, 2 breakfasts, and just visited with 6 families total. It was nice though. As For Thursday, it was boxing day, so we thought we would go to downtown PA because we figured there was going to be lots of people. Turns out, it was a ghost town down there which was weird. But we walked around anyways because there was a few people, and then we ran into this crazy native guy that was drunk off Listerine. He talked to us about his knowledge of the bible for a bit, then drew in our planners, taught us a little cree, and sang a song to us! it was crazy. But it made for a good story haha. 

Seeing how it is the end of the month, everyone wants to move. So seeing how we're the elders in the ward, we got roped into moving 4 different people in 2 days. By the end of it all, Elder Hindes and I were dead, and I'm sure we know every way to fit a couch through a door that it shouldn't fit through. 

To talk about investigators this week, We ran into this guy named Binnie while doing some service at a food bank. We taught him on Saturday and Sunday. He's a great guy but believes too much in science, and doesn't have a religious backround, but our lesson went great! We taught him the restoration, and gave him a book of mormon, and told him to read and pray about it. So hopefully he will and then meet with us again. Also yesterday we went tracting out on a native reserve about a half hour out of town in -40* weather and it made for some weird stories because everyone owns a dog, or answers the door drunk, smokes, is rude, or will accept everything you say. I love natives to death. 

This week was cold. Monday was -49, but then Tuesday and Wednesday were weird because they warmed up to -8 and it snowed. It's weird when It has to warm up to snow! haha. But then on Friday, it dove back down to -40 again, and this morning was back to -49. On sunday we almost had to cancel church! we only had sacrament meeting. There was hardly anyone there, I got to play the piano in Sacrament meeting because no one else could. We only had 29 people there. And all the missionaries spoke it was pretty crazy. 

The picture I'm sending is the sun at noon day. It never gets higher than that

Well, that's my week in a nutshell. Love you guys

Elder Sorenson

Week of December 22, 2013

Man, Time just flies. Can't believe Christmas is already here. Seems like just yesterday I was boarding the plane to come here, talking to my mom, and she said "talk to you at Christmas" and I thought, man that's forever and a year away. But now, I'm almost 4 months out, and time just goes out the window. It's almost like I'll wake up tomorrow, and my mission'll be half way gone. 

So this last week we had Zone conference. I love zone conference. It's great. It was on Tuesday, so on Monday we had some Elders drive down from what's called the video zone and spend the night. It's called the video zone because they're in the northern part of the mission, and they're so far spread out from everyone, that they can only have district meetings, and zone training meetings, and usually zone conferences by SKYPE. but this zone conference was Christmas, and a lot of people got transferred into the video zone, so President Thomas wanted them all to drive in. 

The elders that were spending the night with us were from Thompson and Flin-Flon. One of which was my first companion, Elder Hatch. We were waiting for them at the church, and were surprised when we were expecting two cars, and they only pulled up in one truck, and all 5 of them piled out. Turns out that when you have black ice in -40* weather. Things tend to go bad, and missionaries wreck cars. So that's what happened. They wrecked their car into the back of the truck. It was hilarious. but I'm sure it ruined presidents day. 

The next morning we loaded up their truck, our truck, and the sisters in their car, and drove two hours to Saskatoon to zone conference. It was a pretty laid-back Zone Conference. We just hung out and ate lunch, then we had a little bit of training, then the senior couples that I served with in Winnipeg came and told us old Christmas stories. I love them to death. After that President Thomas got up and shared Christmas stories about his life. They were kind of how Dieter F. Uchtdorf would do it. With airplanes. I'll put that at the end of my email. 

On Wednesday we traveled back to P.A. and I mainly got to know the area and most the people we teach and work with. On thursday we did service at a food bank and actually started talking to a lot of people who are interested in learning. We set up a lot of appointments and we're excited to meet with them. Same thing happened on Saturday when we did some service at a place that builds houses for the poor. On Sunday we got to go caroling with a family in our ward in about -35*. it was fun, and I got to play bongos, but even with gloves, my fingers were freezing cold. Now some of the most interesting stories come from Friday. On Friday I went on a short Exchange with the other elders to teach one of them how to street contact because he never had to do it in his last area because it just barely opened and they were teaching 30 lessons a week. Crazy. But on the other end of the exchange, my companion and his companion got a knife pulled on them! it was crazy! They stopped by a guy we tried a few nights ago but wasn't home, but he answered this time, pulled a knife, and asked if they were jehovah's witnesses. But the thing was he was filming it the whole time and laughing about it so they weren't really scared, just thrown off guard. It was crazy. Later that day we went to a Native reserve that we have a member and an investigator at and asked for service because we want to find people to teach out there. But after that we went out to a member's house that lives 30 min out of town in this town called birch hills. It's beautiful. it only has about 1,000 people, and has a huge Christmas tree right in the middle of it. We have a couple people we want to teach out there. We just want this whole are to explode, and it might. President Thomas says every time he comes to P.A. he feels good about it. And i felt that when I drove in. I don't know what it is. 

The only problem with all of these places is we don't have enough "K's." or distance that we can drive on our truck. It's terrible! There's this place about 2 hours north of here called La Ronge that Elder Hindes and I want to go to but we just don't have the K's. it bugs. The thing about the Price Albert ward, is the geographics of it have to be one of the largest in the world. it covers most of northern Saskatchewan, If you look it up on maps.lds.org, you'll see what i'm talking about. Now it's been cold up here. I mean really cold. I hope to develop a frost layer by the time I'm done here. So this week has been the COLDEST week I have ever seen. I know I say that every week, but It keeps getting colder! this winter is apparently colder than last winter. For example, I thought -40 was cold. That was until we woke up this morning, and it was -49*c out side. that's -54*f. we decided because it was so cold we went out and threw a pot of boiling water. I thought it was neat in 5*f. I was wrong. I know it was the winter solstice this week, and I realized that I'm so far north, that the sun nover reaches mid sky. It basically always looks like it's setting. It makes for beautiful light, but it never gets warm. That's my week really in a nutshell. I'm excited for Christmas. we're spending Christmas Eve with an older family with no kids, and Christmas we're spending with about 5 different families. So we'll have plenty to do. I'm really looking forward to it, but once it's gone people will finally not have an excuse not to meet with us, so that will be great. Here's my Christmas message from President Thomas, to me, to you guys: 

President Thomas used to fly float planes out of a waterfront in Ketchikan, Alaska. It was at one point the 5th busiest airport in the world! That was because they had to deliver freight, cargo, groceries, people, and mail to all of the southern islands of Alaska. One Christmas, the weather turned super bad about 10 days before Christmas. Bad enough that they were not able to fly in it. The storm just got worse and worse and the mail just started to build and build, as did the panic. People started phoning in to the water front seeing if their mail was going to get delivered, but they couldn't get up into the clouds to do it. As Christmas eve came around there seemed to be no hope. That was until about late afternoon when the storm cleared. People started phoning again to see if their Christmas presents would be delivered, but it was too late in the day. If any one was going to go make a delivery, they wouldn't have enough time to get back before it was dark. President Thomas, being the man he is said to just leave him one plane in the water the next morning, and he would make a delivery or two. He woke up the next morning, headed down to the dock before sunrise. When he got there, to his surprise, he saw that every airplane was in the water, and there was mail being loaded on the dock, and pilots running everywhere doing as much as they can, and by the end of the day, all the packages had been delivered, and the hanger that was once filled with freight, was empty. 

I'm so happy that this Christmas I could spend away from home, serving my Lord. The best part is, I'm not even feeling that homesick. I love how in the bible it talks about how when you lose yourself in service, you'll find yourself. I've really come to find that in myself. I'm finding myself, who I am who I want to be every day. I've really just focused this Christmas on the spirit of giving, and not receiving. Christ, he was the perfect example of that. He gave us everything. He gave us his life, and the atonement which is everything. I love him so much for that. I love what Dieter F. Uchtdorf says: "Christmas and some of the cherished traditions of the season remind us that we, like the Wise Men of old, should seek the Christ and lay before Him the most precious gifts: a broken heart, and a contrite spirit."

Love you guys. Have a very Merry Christmas.

Elder Jake Sorenson

Week of Dec 15, 2013

Wow, What a week it's been. I's been pretty crazy, but It's been a lot better than the last few weeks have been. I was a going through a little roller coaster there for a bit, but Thanks everyone for supporting me, and I really have felt the love and the prayers. So here's how my week went in a nutshell:

Monday and tuesday were pretty crazy, just trying to get everything together, and getting ready to leave. Just had to say goodbye to everyone I needed to mainly. I couldn't believe I was actually leaving Winnipeg. I was also excited because I've heard nothing but good things about Prince Albert, just wasn't excited for the 13 hour drive it is to get there. Wednesday rolled around, and I went to my last district meeting in St. James, and out to Olive Garden after wards. We taught a former investigator that night named Larry, he's an amazing guy, and we have no idea why he's not a member yet. We were teaching him about the book of mormon, and he believes it's true, he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet, and he knows basically what he needs to do in life. And he looks like santa clause! Ha. But we couldn't find any concerns of his, and we're so used to teaching troubled people that the lesson didn't go so well. But I'm super excited to see if he goes somewhere. 

Thursday was also pretty crazy. We were supposed to leave on thursday, but due to weather conditions, we got held up in Winnipeg till Friday morning, so we had to take Elder Martin's new trainee, and I had to take a new missionary as well, and we went on exchanges for the day in our area and just broke them in a little. It was fun, but I wish I could have left because we didn't find anybody. But soon enough Friday morning came, and we had the 13 hour drive ahead...

Friday's drive actually went by super fast I have no idea why. At first I was in a 15 passenger van, for 6 hours to Regina, Saskatchewan. I slept most of the way, and talked music with an other elder in the back the rest of the way. It was super good. After we got in Regina, we loaded up our bags in a truck, and I got in with my MTC comp, and two new missionaries, and I actually got to drive the truck up to Saskatoon, which was an other 5 hours, but it was really fun, and went by fast as well. I got to see the only hill in the whole mission! haha. After we got in Saskatoon, it was dark, and we can't travel at night anymore so we spent the night in Saskatoon with the Zone leaders, where I met my new companion, Elder Hindes. Saturday morning, Elder Hindes and I drove up to Prince Albert which took 2 hours completing the 13 hour drive. I still can't believe how far away I am from everything. P.A.'s a little town out in the middle of no where. It's very pretty here, surrounded by trees so there's not too much wind like Winnipeg, but it still is cold. Although today was only -5. So it's warmed up. 

So P.A. just barely opened up sister missionaries. We haven't had sisters in P.A. for 20 years, and it's the furthest north sisters can go so far. On sunday they got a huge welcome to the ward, and they've seen miracles already. Like less actives walking up to them and asking if they could come to church. I'm super excited for this transfer. Also on sunday we drove out to nipawin. it's about a half hour out of town, and had dinner with a member. It was an incredible drive, I couldn't believe some of the scenery out here. It's weird to think because I expected it to be just flat and snow. But it's actually just breathtaking. It's nice. 

Little bit about Elder Hindes. He's from Santaquin, Utah. He's a funny guy and we get along great. He's served in P.A. and Saskatoon his whole mission. So all he knows is these outlying areas, and all I know is the city. Two opposite ends. I'll send a picture of us holding German and Russian WWII guns that we were messing around with last night at a less active's house. They were pretty neat.

I'm excited to serve in P.A. I just feel great here and I don't want to leave. We haven't done much yet. We have a couple valid excuses. One is because we've been in a tri-pan because the other Elder's companion doesn't come in from Flin-Flon till zone conference. Two, we've been figuring out situations with the sisters. Three, because of transfers we've been out of town like crazy. Four, we're heading to zone conference tomorrow which is two hours away in Saskatoon. So we have a lot to do once everything settles. I'm pumped. 

I love all you guys

Elder Jake Sorenson

Week of Dec. 8, 2013

Wow. What a week. Where to start. Well let's say that this week went a whole lot better than last week! let's start at the beginning as always.

 

So on Monday I was not looking forward to the week, and I was actually depressed as much of you could tell. It was aweful. I really just lost sight of my purpose here but luckly my comp just sat me down and we just talked for a while. It just hard when you have to deal with all the emotional stress of coming on a mission, especially here, where we have NO ONE to teach. I just sometimes think why I waist my breath on people who aren't going to listen.

 

Something I'm going to hold dear is what my mission pres told me. And that's if I go my whole mission and convert no one but myself. That's a highly successful mission. I really think that's the reason I got called to this mission. Because from everything I've seen, that's why I'm here, and I'm loving it. So needless to say, after I got some sence knocked into me, things started to go better.

 

Tuesday and Wednesday we got 6'' of snow. Now that's not that bad, but the wind blows it all around, and the wind is what kills you. it may be only -30*c outside, but with the wind, that adds up to -40*C/F. and that's cold. More on that later. So apperaently when snow falls, everyone here, just like home in Utah doesn't know how to drive in it. Even though people live here, and it's complete ice on the road. I'm from Utah and I'm driving just fine. it's pathetic haha.

 

Anyways, on Thursday I went on exchanges with Elder Blackburn in my district. He's from vernal, and he's halarious. We did a lot of work, and found a couple of new investigators that used to investigate from years ago. One of them is named bear, and he has no idea how he got that name =P. This week went by fast, and before I knew it, it was Friday. And slowly, it started becoming the coldest days I had ever seen. On friday we drove out of the city, and loaded up a bunch of stuff to help a member set up a nativity at a place in Winnipeg called the forks. It's called the forks because it's where the two rivers in Winnipeg fork together. It's also where the middle of the city is, and it's where all the big, skyscrapers are. It's also called downtown. There's this intersection there that's famous for being the coldest intersection in North american cities of it's size because the two streets act as wind tunnels. And I actually got to drive through it. I felt special haha. Although, downtown Winnipeg is THE most confusing road system I have ever seen. You can't turn left almost anywhere, and you can't turn left or right or both some places, and most of the roads are one way, and they all curve like spagetti, and it's heavy traffic. Just crazy! 

 

Anyways, we set up the nativity in -30 and we got our transfer calls in the meantime. I was not putting a lot of thought into this transfer call because my mission pres. basically said he would just keep everyone where they were at, unless he needed to move them, or felt inspired to. Also I was sure I was not going to move because I told him I wanted to stay for Christmas. I didn't tell him why, but it's because I want to see my friend Brent come up. But anyways, the call came, and it turns out I'm not staying. I'm leaving and I'm actually going to one of the furthest points away from Winnipeg you can get. I'm heading 12 hours away from here, to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. I'm excited, but bummed I don't get to stay for Christmas, but that's okay.

 

Yesterday we went and saw Joe for the first time in two weeks. It's sad because he's too busy to meet with us and he knows he won't make his baptismal date. So we had to drop it. But I got to see him at least one last time before I leave. I'm excited to get a fresh new start in p.a. I'll see how it goes.

 

So a little more on the cold. I have now seen -40, and what it does to your face. I'll send a picture. It's super cold outside, and the first breath just hurts and you start coughing. I have to wear so many layers it's not even funny! The worst part is, we have to plug our truck in every night because if we didn't, it's so cold that the engine wouldn't turn over in the morning. That's the sad part. Anyways, so I can't wait to get back to Utah where it's nice and warm and listen to someone say that it's cold. haha what a joke =P 

 

From the land that many are cold, but few are frozen,

Elder Sorenson

Week of Dec. 1, 2013

Well. I just have to say that this last week was..... depressing. Haha. Seems like everything is just going down hill, and my area is slow. It seems like I've been reporting 0's my whole mission. I never let it get to me until now. I've been trying to do a lot of accounting for my work, and for my mission, and when I look back on the work that I've done, I've done a great effort, but no one out here, at least in my area, wants to listen. Or change. It gets frustrating. I know that I'm in this mission for a reason, and I think that reason is so I can learn patience, and humility. I thought I knew those traits. Turns out I don't.

 

Here's the stories I have this week- On Tuesday, we met a guy named Phillip that investigated in Brandon for a year, and was supposed to be baptized, but moved to Winnipeg the week before it happened. Also he has a bad smoking, drinking, and coffee problem. But he's a super great guy. We Taught him twice, and then he moved back to Brandon, so we handed him back to the Elders up there. 

 

 We got our car inspected on Wednesday, to see if there was actually any damage that we would have to pay for after Elder Martin hit somebody last week, and it turns out we have to have the whole bumper replaced, and it's going to cost $1,902 to do that. ridiculous I know. Also On Wednesday we exchanged with our zone leaders. I love my ZL's. I went with Elder Simister Who's from St. George. He actually used to play on the Dixie State basketball team. He's really funny, and we get along great. So being the District leader's comp. Has it's perks. We mainly just street contacted in the snow all day, and it was really fun.

 

So it sounds like a pretty great week so far yeah? Well, here's where it starts to go bad. So Thursday morning we woke up, and Elder Martin tells me that the floor is wet, and that my closet is flooded. The first thing that my mind went to is that the toilet flooded. And sometimes, I hate it when I'm right. So we spent the whole morning cleaning it up and it was just awful, But the day got better as we did some service, and had Thanksgiving dinner with the young women in our ward. So it wasn't all bad. But the reason the week was depressing, was every appointment we had on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday all canceled. It was just the worst. Some of our investigators dropped us, and some are just becoming Lazy, or too busy for their own salvation.

 

Now Joe, He's a great guy, he's our baptismal date, but we didn't get to meet at all this week, and he didn't come to church. It made us mad at first, but then we were just sad. Yesterday threw me into a state of mind where I questioned why I was here, why I believe what I do, why it's so hard. We have the truth. Why don't people just flock to the font? The thing is, I know the answer to all of these questions. And I know why I'm here, and I know why it's hard. It just breaks my heart every time when we tell someone that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation, and that they get to be with their families forever because of him, and they flat out turn it away.

 

 I guess this is just another week up here. But I'll try and make the best of it as I always do. We get our transfer calls this week, and I have the feeling Elder Martin is leaving and I'm staying to train. I hope I stay. I have two reasons. 1) we get to spend Christmas with a great family in our ward, and 2) Christmas Eve, we get to spend Christmas with the stake president, and all the missionaries in the city. Now, some of you might now Brent Robison. He's my friend that lives in Provo. His dad just happens to be the stake president of the Manitoba stake. He's actually in the ward I'm serving in. And Brent's coming up for Christmas, so I'll get to see him. It's going to be super weird. Anyways, keep writing me guys.

Love you all

Elder Sorenson

Week of Nov 24, 2013

Super busy week this week. But somehow it didn't show up in our numbers. But that's completely fine, that happens sometimes. We always had something to do, and people to visit, but we didn't really teach all that much, mainly because everyone is super busy, because now it's super cold outside and appearently no one was prepared for it.

 

Basically we worked a lot with our ward mission leader this week and also our bishop. Ever since I got in St. James, our bishop has never liked us. At least not the District leader and his comp. That just happends to be my companionship. I guess that was because he didn't like my last companion, but Elder Martin and I found a less-active member who was on the lost and unknown list, and we thought he was an investigator, but we talked to bishop about him, and bishop was so happy that we found him, he actually started to like us now. Super funny.

 

We've been doing a lot of service this week, but Wednesdays are now our busiest days. We have our district meetings, then our ward coordination meetings, we meet with Joe, dinner with our ward mission leader, and then we go to mutual. Super busy, but they make the week go by so fast. So this Wednesday was good, but Elder Martin actually hit somebody with the truck, didn't cause any damage to our truck, but a pretty major dent in their door, so now, I'm driving. Pretty great when the roads are all ice.

 

This week, on Friday, we traveled out to Starbuck again. Just as a refresher, Starbuck is 45 min. West outside of Winnipeg, and most of it is dirt roads. This time, it was ice dirt roads. I'll send some pictures, It was a pretty great trip, And luckly the boy from Utah was driving. Also, we tried this new finding idea with a movie night. We played Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, and we invited everyone in our ward including their friends, our investigators, and less-actives. Basically everyone, and it ended up in a huge turn out! It was so good. We had Joe, our investigator there, and he loved it. We packed the gym with a lot of people.

 

So to follow-up on Joe, He's doing really well. He reads from the BOM every day, and prays every day. He's starting to quit smoking and his whole countinance has changed. It's amazing to see what the atonement does for people! I'm really happy for him, and excited. The only thing is, his family isn't supporting him to much, and don't believe he can make his baptismal date. I believe he can. He just has to start coming to church more often, because he's really only came twice.

 

Well, I always report on the weather so here it goes. So basically It's really flat here, so it's really windy sometimes, so when it gets below 0, there's a lot of windchill. This last week when we went out to Starbuck it was -20*C. That's around -1*F. But we had a -30*C windchill and that's -22*F. In other words, it's some of the coldest weather i've ever seen. It's super fun when you go outside and your nosehairs start sticking together.

 

I'll try and stay warm! I've gotten good and bad news from everyone this week, but I'm staying strong. Love you guys.

Elder sorenson

Week of Nov. 17, 2013

Well, it's been an other week up here in the great white north. And now I can actually call it the great white north, because there's snow on the ground. So this last week was just an other slow one. We mainly tried to stay busy, and ended up doing the forbidden-TRACKING. But it was good. We actually have a "tracting ban" where our president basically said that we offend people by tracting, and we only do it as a last resort. Well, this week, we had to turn to our last resort.

 

Mainly, we couldn't get a hold of anyone except for a few less-actives, so we taught them. But the whole week was slow, but before I knew it, It was over. We did teach a group of 4 investigators on tuesday who are all very interested, except for one, who just wants to bash. But it was a good lesson regaurdless. The whole week wasn't all bad though. Yesterday was probably one of the best days. Church was just fantastic, We had a meeting with our bishop that actually went somewhere, (Just a little backround, Our bishop has no desire to do missionary work, and our ward doesn't really like us too much), after church we had a pot luck meal that was really good, and then we got in contact with a less-active family and learned how to index as well. 

 

The best part about yesterday was when we finally got in contact with Joe, and went and taught him. He's been struggling for a while with somethings in is life, and  he's been trying to get away from friends, and drugs, and things like that, but it's been super hard for him. But finally, he just made the choice to move out, and start a new life. He now lives 5 streets away from us! He's been humble for some time, and somewhat taking in the gospel, our lessons always go really well, but he never keeps commitments like comming to church, but he always reads. So Elder Martin and I didn't really know what to teach him, because he'd been taught everything, so we prayed, and it came clear as day. We needed to teach him about the atonement again. Specifically faith, repentence, BAPTISM, the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. And set a baptism date for him. He'd been invited to be baptised, but never really accepted it.

 

So we went and taught him with the member we always bring. And the lesson went better than we could have hoped. Joe just ate it up, and seemed so humble. The spirit was so stong, and finally I invited him to be bapised, and he finally accepted, and accepted a date. So hopefully, he'll be baptised by the 21st of Dec. I might not be here by then, I might get transfered, but it's for Joe.

 

I'm looking forward to this next week. It's going to be cold, We finally got snow, although on thursday I was walking around in short sleeves, but now it's an average of -9*c outside. With -16*c Windchill. That's for now, winter's just staring at me, and i'm excited haha. We have meal appointments every day this week, we might even eat Balut! (look it up) also, we're making an other trip out to Starbuck. dirt roads in the snow. Alright. I'm happy to be here, and time's flying.

 

Love you guys,

Elder Jake Sorenson

Nov. 12, 2013

Hmm, Where to start with this last week? Guess we'll start with the good stuff.

 

Monday was a good day, just a basic p-day and we got to hang out with a lot of the other missionaries. We had a dinner appointment with a guy in our ward named Fred Kelbert. He's crazy! haha, it was his birthday, and we just went over and ate dinner, and afterwards we went to teach him just a basic lesson, and he wanted to role-play as a teenage investigator. He's 65 by the way. It was really funny. He said things like "we played xbox in 3D!" it was just... Halarious.

 

I guess the rest of the week was mainly a normal week. We taught Joe, who's not really progressing at this point, and Jason, who we actually had a really good lesson with. We taught him about the importance of the BOM and invited him to church, so hopfully he'll show up! He said he didn't promice this sunday, but next. He's really smart, and quick on his feet. We also learned how to index through this less-active family called the proudloves. They're amazing. They fed us dinner, and are really funny. We hope to start working with them, and bring them back to church.

 

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all dead. They were just some of the worst days I've had. We had some appointments, but they all fell through, so we went street contacting, and no one wanted to listen to us. All of our finding efforts just were not working, no one even seemed to be home, or answering their phone. Some people even got offencive with us. And on top of everything, it was a mix of rain and snow. It was really miserable. I just tryed to pray for strength but nothing seemed to be working, so we just went through the days, and then crashed.

 

I guess all of our efforts weren't wasted. By sunday night, people were actually starting to get back to us, and we got a lot of appointments set up, and one guy actually responded to the mormon.org cards we gave out, and now we're going to teach him this week! So i'm looking forward to this next week. I'm hoping it'll be a good one, or atleast better than last week. But the weather is starting to get really cold. The other morning I woke up and it was a frosty -25*C outside! that's -4*F! so all of you guys back home who think it's cold. Think again.

 

Well, I love all you guys. I'll try and find some more funny stories for next week okay?

Elder Jake Sorenson.

Week of Nov. 3, 2013

Alright, this last week has been crazy, just kind of up and down really. Mainly just the air of transfers was stressful, we were busy just packing, and having Elder Hatch say goodbye to everyone. We taught a lot this last week, and nearly hit our mission standard. I was so happy. Basically, my week was very normal, just busy durring the first half, teaching people and actually getting referalls from members, finally! And then came Wednesday.

Wednesday morning we picked up the Elders who were in Thompson (the area Elder Hatch transfered to) and spent the day with them. We packed up elder Hatch, and dropped him off at the Grayhound station that night. I was then with Elder Schofeild for the night, and we went and taught my investigator, Jason and actually got somewhere. It was a really nice lesson. And we had really nice studies on Thursday morning.

Basically on Thursday we didn't have much to do untill transfer meeting, and I got my new companion, so we went and got what's called poutein. It's basically fries, mixed with gravy and cheese. It's really good, but sounds not so much. After poutein, we went to transfer meeting, I gave a sister in my district a blessing, and I met my new compainion, Elder Martin. He's a Small town, red-neck from Idaho. He's laid-back and we get along great. Although, we don't have a lot in common, but I get along with just about everyone.

It was nice that it was Halloween, and we had to be done teaching by 5, so we just did some stop by's, and then went to Ed's and had a fire for the rest of the night. So when Elder Hatch was here, he was here for a transfer before me and knew the area really well, and knew everyone it seemed. And so all of the sudden he's gone, and I wake up Friday morning, the stress hit. I'm suddenly left to take care of this area, as the junior comp. as the trainee, who doesn't know the area, or the people at all, and Elder Martin's looking at me wondering where to go, or who everyone is. I didn't know what to do, and started stressing out. I just turned to what I already knew, and just worked through it and it got a little better.

By Sunday, It started to get a little better. Church was normal, and the weather wasn't dismal and brown as it had been the last couple of days. After church and all of our studies, we walked to our appointments/stop bys which were on the edge of our area, which the walking calmed me down a lot. And lets just say today's a much needed p-day. But I'm relaxed now, and ready to go to work.

One thing that is bugging me, but I hear I should be greatful, is this slow decend into winter here. The weather is really bi-polar. Today it's been really nice, and I don't even need a jacket. And it hasn't even snowed yet. Winter's still not even here, and everyone said we should have had snow by Halloween. But I should be greatful, I mean, this is Winterpeg.

Well, if I sounded dipressed in this letter, I'm not. I'm really happy and exctied for the upcomming weeks here in Winnipeg. Elder Martin's great, and i'm exctied to finish my training with him. Anyways, I love you guys!

Elder Sorenson

Week of Oct 27, 2013

My dear friends and family,

 

I just want to start off and say that I hope you all have felt the charity I have for all of you. I use that in an interesting way. Because It's not just my love that I have for you, but Christ's love. His pure love, and he has it for all of us, freely. It's truly amazing.

 

Well let's get started with some crazy stories of the great white north shall we? Well this week has been an other long one, we built a lot of member relations, and didn't teach a whole lot of investigators. We did teach Joe, who's been stuggling with smoking and drugs, but he's really turned his life around, and i'm super proud of where he's at, but he's not keeping commitments too well, like reading assignments, and coming to church, which is really sad.

 

Now the best two parts of this week, were thursday, and friday. On thursday, we got to do some of our regular service of raking some leaves for a former investigator named Ken, he had a TON of leaves, it took 11 leaf bags (in Canada you can't use plastic garbage bags. It's illigal, so you use Leaf bags). I'll send some pictures, because The pile was huge. Anyways, after we raked his leaves, we headed out to Starbuck, which is a little town 45 minutes outside of Winnipeg, where we teach a less-active member. I finally got a taste of how flat it actually is out here in Manitoba. It's crazy, but it's beautiful! We spent a couple hours at his beautiful house doing some service, he fed us lunch, and we had a good discusion, but he's a little crazy.

 

On friday we got our transfer calls. Now in the Canada Winnipeg Mission, Transfer calls are not a small thing. I don't know how they are in other missions (Matt and Jake help me out here). But in the CWM, it takes hours of plainning and things, and transfer calls every 6 weeks are like Christmas, because of the size of my mission, you could basically get transfered to a whole new province, you could be 12 hours away, you could go state side, you could even open a new area! You never know! But basically, in maybe a state side mission, you get your call, you pack up, you transfer, and you're in your new area in hour or two right? not in my mission. Things get a little intence.

 

So here's calls. I'm staying here in winnipeg to finish up my training and welcome my new companion, Elder Martin. (the best part is, his name tag is on Pg. 123 of PMG) while my companion is going to Thompson, Manitoba. That's 10 hours North of Winnipeg! But the thing is he is going to load up onto a grayhound bus on Wednesday night, drive 12 hours to Flin-Flon, SK and meet his new comp. there, load up a car, and drive an other 4 1/2 hours to Thompson. That's how big my mission is. Crazy, no? So I'm in a tri-pan that night, I'm excited and this week is going to be busy!

 

Well, it's getting progressivly colder. They keep saying there'll be snow by halloween, but that's on Thursday so we'll see! No snow quite yet. I hear there's snow back in Utah, is that true? Well, I love you guys, you're really great. I'm just about to tear it up hear in Canada, because Elder Hatch and I preped this area, and Elder Martin and I will just baptise everyone. I'm really looking forward to the comming months.

 

Elder Sorenson

Week of Oct 20, 2013

Man, this week has been a long one. Basically most of all of our appointments canceled, we weren't able to contact anybody, and we were "lunched" a bunch of times. Oh boy! haha where to start.

 

Well It was looking to be a good week, and I was excited. It started out and actually on Wednesday we were so busy, we had to exchange with some other elders to cover all of our appointments! It was crazy! but all of those appointments canceled either on the spot or a few minutes before. I was so sad. Also on Wednesday I gave my first priesthood blessing! I was so nervous, but really following the spirit, I pushed through it.

 

Other exciting news: On Thursday I got to basically be a Zone Leader for a day, and go on exchanges with them, which was actually really fun. I hear that leadership should not be sought after, seeing how my comp. Is the district leader, but I don't know. The rest of the week we basically did service and ground work. Which our numbers didn't show. Elder Hatch and I solved our differences, my headaches weren't bad this week, and we've built up missionaries, and we've taught missionaries, and built member relationships, and things like that. But it just hurts when we can't go out and have a solid week of teaching.

 

Well I can finally say it's starting to get cold up here. I finally bought my coat and stuff and I woke up to -3* this morning. which isn't that bad, but we'll see what happens when it starts to get to -40*.

 

This Sunday was stake conference, and it was one of the best I have ever attended. The talks were really inspired and all on missionary work. I wonder why. haha. But because we haven't taught much, I have a chance to share my testimony.

 

I know that the atonement of Christ is real. It's what we're all about. I know that through it, and through the grace of Christ we are healed. I know that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God. without a doubt in my mind. I've seen it change my life as well as those I teach. I know that my calling is real, and I am here in the CWM for a reason, set apart by the laying on of hands to teach with his power, the spirit is amazing. I can feel it with me 24/7, and I don't ever want to leave it when I go home. Missionary work is amazing. I love it, I am so excited that I get to do this for 22 1/2 more months. There is no place I'd rather be right now than here, serving his children.

 

I love you guys, Thank you so much for all you do!

Elder Jake sorenson 

Week of Oct 7, 2013

Hey Guys! This week has been simply amazing. And I'll share a couple of reasons why.

 

So the 3 months before I left on my mission were probably some of the best months of my life. I had all these wonderful things, and life for me could have taken off into all these different areas, and I could be doing something completely different right now, but i'm not. I'm out sharing the gospel, and it's just fantastic.

 

Elder Hatch and I have had struggles finding people to teach ever since I got out here. He and I get along great, and we teach with power, and unity, just not to a lot of people. And tracting is not effective up here, because everyone says no, and no one is ever home. But Elder Hatch and I just kept up doing our part, and we kept being diligent, and obedient, and then the miracles happened.

 

Wednesday was probably one of the best days of my mission up to this point. We had a good district meeting, By the way, Elder Hatch is the district leader. So i'm assistant to the district leader, or so I call myself. And we went out for sushi afterwards, which was really good. After sushi, We went and taught our investigator Joe. Joe is a great guy, he's really humbled at this point in his life and needs the gospel. He's recovering from a drug addiction, and he's hit rock bottom, but he's starting to progress in life, and you can just see the want for change in his eyes. The lesson we taught was really great, and the spirit was powerful. He wants to be baptized, but he says he doesn't fully believe yet. So we invited him to read the BOM everyday, and to pray, and to come to conference, which he did!

 

Wednesday night, we were visiting a part-member family to set up an appointment. We didn't really know why we were setting up an appointment with them, just knew that we were there. when we walked out we ran into Jason. He ran up to us and asked if we were Mormons, and asked if we could come to his house and if we could answer some of his questions about what we believed in. We agreed and taught him the next night. Apparently stories like that in this mission are unheard of. but we were in the right place, at the right time. And the Lord prepares his people.

 

On Thursday I went on exchanges with an other Elder in my district named Elder Scott from Vancouver. He's great. We got to teach a guy named Herman, who's coming over an alcohol addiction, and was 9 months sober, but over the weekend, he got drunk. We felt so much love for the guy, and when we were teaching him, the spirit was so strong you could really feel God telling him how much he loved him, and how much he wanted him to change. It was so good. Really testifies to me that this is his work, and there's no place that I'd rather be than here, preaching his gospel. I haven't been that homesick, and that's because I'm here. doing what I need to be doing. That brings me to my next topic.

 

General conference. I got a lot of questions on how I was able to watch general conference, and I was able to by going to a local stake center. Oh, general conference was so good. My favorite, well one of my many favorite talks was given by Dallin H. Oaks in Sunday morning. Especially when he said: "While other religions will change their practices, and even their doctrines. Ours are determined by God, and are deemed unchangeable." Gave me the chills.

 

Well I'm doing great up in the great white north. It hasn't snowed.... yet. We got a little rain last week, and it was a little windy this past week as well. But other than that, it's actually been really beautiful weather. I love it here in Winnipeg. I live in the St. James area, and it's a beautiful area of Winnipeg. Nothing's been really bad so far, except for our bishop in our ward. I really don't like him. He's not motivated to do missionary work. We'll change that. Anyways, this email's really long. Love you guys! keep writing me! I've only gotten one letter and it took two weeks to get here, but that's okay i guess... haha

 

Elder Sorenson.