Week of April 20, 2014

This last week was simply amazing and all out crazy busy! Well, here it is: It all basically started when Elder Hindes got sent to Brandon Manitoba. He had been here in PA for the last 6 months, and so when they found out he was leaving, they all wanted us over for dinner. So basically everyone that we loved, or that loved us we went over and saw and got pictures. It was great. I'm going to be here for at the least 6 months so we'll see who all loves me ;) 

One of the craziest days was definitely Thursday, we had 3 supper appointments set up and an elders quorum meeting that night. One of the Supper appointments was out of town so we had little time to run between appointments, and then Elder Hindes had to pack. It was just all-around nuts. I ate so much food that I swear I went into labor with a food baby. I weighed myself at the beginning and end of the week. I gained 5 pounds. It was so gross! But hey, at least the members love us we found out.  

But then came Friday. On Friday the whole mission got pulled into Regina for a mission conference with D. Todd Christofferson. This was the first time that the entire Canada Winnipeg Mission had all been in one spot. It was historic. The drive down to Regina took 4 hours and We left Prince Albert at 9 and we left right as it started snowing hard. I was so mad because the snow from the last snow storm was just starting to melt. But luckily we beet the storm and got 2 hours to Saskatoon where it was just raining. We met up with some other missionaries and caravaned 2 more hours to Regina. When we got to Regina we had a conference with just the mission and our mission president basically in preparation for the next day. It was so great to see all my old district companions and all my old mission buddies. It was a lot of fun. One of my old companions, Elder Martin, who got sent home because he blew out his knee surprised me because he came back and was at the conference. 

The next morning was amazing. We got to all meet Elder Christofferson, shake his hand, tell him our name and where we are from. After that we had a meeting where our mission presidents wife spoke to us, followed by President Thomas, then we had Elder Spackman, our area 70 speak to us. And then Elder Schwarez from the Presidency of the 70 spoke to us, and then they were all followed by Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the council of the 12. The meeting was so spiritual I can't even put it into words. But believe it or not Elder Christofferson is a very funny guy. But he spoke on some great topics and it seemed as though the whole time he was talking right to me. Some of the things that I got out of it was that our testimonies are strengthened when we have the spirit testify. And we can gain the spirit and be humble as we build our relationship with our heavenly father. This was coming from a man who knows heavenly father better than I do. We were all overcome with emotion when he closed with his personal testimony of the saviour. Elder Christofferson told us to remember that he was there. And that he wanted us to remember that he said that the saviour lives and is at the head of our church today. He said "this is coming from someone who knows." I know his words were true. 

So that was basically one of the peaks of my mission. And after the meeting we had our transfer meeting. So now I have my new comp. His name's Elder Schollars. He's from Eagle, Idaho and was just serving in Winnipeg so We've served around eachother. He's been out a little over a year so I'm excited for this next transfer. Nothing more exciting has happened really other than the 4 hour boring car ride back up to PA, and sunday was great. I had triple duty, I played the piano in Sacrament meeting, then taught sunday school, then played in Primary, so It was fun! Just running around really. Sunday=Game day as a missionary. 

That's me this last week.

Love you all, thank you for your prayers and support

Elder Jake H Sorenson  

Week of April 13, 2014

Alrighty. What to yack about this week? Well, transfers is upon us. And unlike the last three transfers, Some change is finally happening. I'm getting a new comp from winnipeg that served in the same zone as me. His name's Elder Scholars. He's from Idaho and is a really good missionary. I'm excited. But Elder Hindes is leaving me after 4 1/2 months and is going to Brandon, Manitoba so I'll be stuck here in Prince Albert for at least an other transfer so going on 6 months here! 

This last week was good, but we didn't teach a whole lot. We did a lot of walking around a met a whole bunch of people. The snow started to melt at the beginning of the week so people started to walk around, so that was nice. We met this one guy named Ernie who lives on the 11th floor of an apartment downtown and it over looks the river. He apparently has an incredible view so I'll have to check it out! We also started to teach Eric's mom out on a reserve where she lives. She's great, very interested in the church. We knocked on her door and she let us right in! It was solid. 

This last weekend we went an hour east of town to Melfort for a zone conference/service project. The zone conference was great! It was held in their branch building out there and could barely hold all 52 missionaries in two zones. My mission pres talked about "What can I change from sitting in this meeting today?" It changed my perspective on a lot of things. It was the spiritual reboost I needed. That night we had a fireside that he also spoke at and he shared some of his float plane stories from Ketchican, Alaska. I like to think he's a little like Pres. Uchtdorf because he relates the gospel to airplanes and how good he is at flying them. 

The next morning we did a service project. We canvased for the melfort food bank which was a lot of fun. We got to wear those ugly yellow vests. But it was good. the one downside was, It snowed this weekend. A lot. It dumped 6" on us. We were not happy, the snow was just about gone! But now it's back haha, welcome to spring time in Saskatchewan. 

Sunday was great. I got to speak in church, along with Elder hindes and jordan who are leaving. I always like speaking in church. Never thought I'd say that till now haha. But after church we visited some less-actives that sadly didn't come to church, but that elder hindes wanted to say bye to so that was fun. This next week is booked with meal appointments. It almost seems like if you have a companion that has been here for 6 months, then finally leaves, the ward will suddenly love you. Maybe that'll happen when I leave because I have the potential for being here for 7 1/2 months. 

That's essentially my week. This next Friday we travel down to Regina, then on Saturday we have the mission conference with Elder Christofferson, then I get my new comp. We're going to be way busy. I'm way excited! Wahoo! 

Well, I love you all and thanks for all your prayers and support.

This is Elder Sorenson

Signing off

Week of April 6, 2014

Jambo! So this last week was pretty good. We didn't teach a whole lot, but I'm excited for the weeks to come here. It'll be great. Couple of interesting things that happened though. Just a couple of things that are note-worthy- On tuesday we were walking to an appointment, and a guy came up to us because he was looking for peace. He was a native american who had served in the canadian military and had some ptsd problems. We taught him about the atonement and how Jesus Christ can help him through anything. We set up an appointment with him to meet the next day. Native people have pretty great names, this guys name was Jay Rabbitskin. After we talked with him, we went to our appointment which was teaching a family we found doing service. They didn't speak much english, but they spoke Swahili, and we soon found out they were devout muslims. It was great getting to tango with them haha. The way to teach them is to share about our religion, then have them share a little about theirs. I don't know how much we got across, but I learned a little swahili in the process :)

Wednesday we taught the Birds. It's always interesting teaching two parents, and then 6 little girls under the age of 11. Always have to use our creativity with that one. But we taught them about following the prophet and it seemed to go well. Sadly they weren't able to make it to conference, but it was understandable when their dad has to work till 6 am. Friday I taught my favorite less-active up here. Kim daniels. She's great. She's sitting on the fence of coming back to church, just wish the ward would help out. She works at the jail as a programs counselor so we can always go over there and have our venting sessions. Good times.

Saturday, We had a ping-pong tournament/BBQ at the church in between conference sessions. It was great! I did all the grilling, Sister Daniels let us borrow it. It was great. And Sunday was also conference. Shocker. But then we gave a member in the bishopric who had a bad concussion a blessing which was stressful for me, then went over to the best member family-The Yawneys. Bro. Yawney taught me a little guitar and we ate some indian food. It was so good. They're solid. 

So conference was great. I can't share all that I got out of it, but I obviously loved Elder Holland's talk. Because if there is one thing that I have found on my mission, it is that people know Jesus as a "comfortable God" but he's not. so he smashed it! it was great. I also Liked Elder Anderson's talk on the Church's standards. our recent convert is struggling with some of the church's standpoints on gay marriage so hopefully that helped him out. I loved Pres. Uchtdorf's talk in Priesthood on remedy's for things that hinder our priesthood power. All great things. I could go on and on. Mainly I got out of conference that we should -Follow the prophet, -Communicate, -Serve, -Stand up for what we believe in, -Be courageous, and -daily prayer and scripture study builds our foundation of Christ. 

I'm excited for these next couple of weeks. We get to go an hour out of town to Melfort for a service project/zone conference so that'll be fun. But the week after that is a huge one. We have transfers and on top of that we have my first mission conference and we just found out that D. Todd Christofferson is coming to that. And that's in Regina, Saskatchewan. So they're pulling the whole mission into that. All 150 missionaries, across 3 provinces and 1 state to one city. It'll be nuts. Well, that's this week. The snow is still here. It's finally up into the positives though. Today is +4! yay haha. So hopefully this snow'll be gone by the end of this week. 

Love you guys, and thanks for all your support.

-Elder Sorenson

Signing off

Week of March 31, 2014

Welcome to spring time in Saskatchewan my dear friends. Where the temperature is -30 and there is still 3' of snow on the ground. (if you can't tell I like spelling Saskatchewan, and I hate winter) I have Spring FEVER! yay! haha. So this last week was pretty good. We didn't teach a whole lot, but we set up a lot of stuff for the coming weeks so we'll see what happens. 

So Monday was a great day. I finally fulfilled my dreams in eating balut. For those of you that don't know what it is, it's a fertilized duck egg that's mostly developed and then boiled. It's a Filipino dish, so we had it at a Filipino member's house, and I was one of the brave souls that ate two birds. It was pretty good. Tasted like a salty boiled egg but with bones and feathers if that gets the image in your mind. I'll send pictures of it :)

I find that being the only 6 missionaries that are 2 hours from the next set of missionaries, we tend to play practical jokes on eachother. So I changed my number in the sister's phone to our mission president's number and messed with them that way. Let's just say it was good times of them freaking out a little bit. Just wanted to add that in there for no reason.

In other news I went on an exchange with Elder Hanson from our district and we went to a reserve north of town, and also taught a less active member that wanted to watch Johnny Lingo with us on VHS. it was the best! There was still snow everywhere, but it somewhat melted, so dirt roads+puddles=dirty truck/ a lot of fun.

Also we met with our Elder's Quorum president this last week. He's a year and a half convert, and is the best! we organized the setting up of a branch up in northern Saskatchewan, and a ping-pong tournament in between conference sessions, and also a fireside. He gets work done. I like him a lot. 

So church was interesting this week. The Bishopric here has 4 members, a bishop and 3 counselors, and they just happened to be all gone this last week. So it was the first time I saw a high priest group leadership in charge of the meeting. Very interesting. But still good. 

Well, I'm excited for this next week, It's conference weekend, and we get to figure out which of the apostles is coming to our mission, and hopefully this snow will melt, because It's getting old. 

Well, thank you guys for your love and support.

Love, Elder Jake Sorenson

Signing off

Week of March 23, 2014

Alright. That's what this week was. It was alright. I figure that Canada has these 4 seasons- Almost winter, Winter, Still winter, and Construction. But really, when it goes from last week, where everything melts, and there's water on the road, then to this week, going to -30. The roads turn into solid ice. Wha-hoo! That's a good time. But we actually had some fun this week so let's talk.

On tuesday our zone leaders came up for an exchange which is always a treat. We went with an Elder named Elder Schofield. I knew him a little bit because I spent the night with him once when he transferred into Winnipeg and I was there. But we got to know him a little better. I made him some mexican burritos that night which was surprising because it's really hard to find refried beans in Canada. We taught a new investigator named Marcell on Tuesday as well. He's a great guy, we were going to teach him the restoration, but the conversation just kind of lead to the plan of salvation. Crazy how the spirit leads you to those things sometimes.

Friday was interesting, we were invited to a roundance. It's basically a native dance where they beat drums and sing in Cree and people dance around them in a circle. It was a lot of fun. We got to participate and we felt a little out of place there seeing how we were the only white dudes there. Needless to say we were in white shirts and ties. Good times. 

So on Saturday we finally found that we were out of things to try doing to find new people. So we went TrAcTiNg. We don't do that a lot in this mission, because it doesn't work in the CWM. It might in other places in the world, but not here, we use it as a last resort. We went for a bit and really didn't find much, but this one guy basically said- "yeah i'm not interested, but come into my house and check out my home theater system and listen to dub-step for the next half hour!" it was pretty crazy. For those of you that know me, I know sound systems, and I know that it was crazy. That is all.

That brings me to Sunday. Church was great. We had Warner come to church. Warner's our investigator that we're getting to stop smoking. During church the bishopric all spoke and they gave amazing talks on repentance. It was so spiritual and I was glad Warner was there, but I was so sad/appalled because Warner said that he didn't want to meet with us anymore after the meeting. But my mood got brightened up by teaching class and playing the piano in primary. Good times. I love Sundays because we sometimes go out of town to dinner appointments because most of the ward lives out of town, so we pack all 6 missionaries in our truck and head out. It's fantastic, and Sundays are just relaxing. 

Those are my stories for the week. I'm finding it hard to stay motivated sometimes, mainly just because doing the same schedule day in and day out with the same people in the same town for over 3 1/2 months gets old. haha I still have a long way to go though! Take it easy guys!

Thanks everyone for your prayers and support.

This is Elder Sorenson 

signing off.

Week of March 16, 2014

Good week this week in the great white north... It's still white.... I want something else... Green... Please.... The snow's been here for the vast majority of my mission. But it's melting ever so slowly. Funny thing I realized this last week. we've had the snow for a while, and I thought the snow would be there one minute, and gone the next. But I neglected the gray area in between, and I never took into account the melt. And when it's flat, there's no runoff like back where we have mountains, so where does the water go? EVERYWHERE! I've never seen my shoes so nasty in my life haha. but it's good, and fun to go driving in the truck just to see how dirty we can get it and what kind of puddles we can splash. 

This week was good but slow. We taught the bird's which was nice. We took a primary teacher over there that knew them because she's their neighbor, it went really well, and was probably the best lesson we've ever taught them. Good times. 

The highlight of my week was that I got to travel down to the temple in Regina with the ward here. It was a 4 hour drive that we took on Friday night and we did a session then, and did baptisms in the morning, then drove back up. It was a blast. Eric came with us and he had a lot of fun. I'll send a picture of me and him there. I got to spend the night with the missionaries down there, and see a missionary I used to know from Winnipeg there so we caught up. An other great thing was the car ride was with President Fowler. He's in our Mission presidency, but he's in the Prince Albert ward, so I got to know him really well and talk to him for a bit. It was fantastic. The thing is the Regina temple is tiny, not like the ones back home. I'll send some pictures. IT was beautiful.

In other news Sunday was great. We had a senior couple come and speak to us that came home from Russia. They served in the Siberia side of Russia and had some good stories. They told us how Prince Albert had a worse winter than they did. Made me feel special =P. But they also taught about getting over your spiritual "normalna" which is a Russian word for "as Usual" or getting over just going through life and especially the church and just going through the motions. He asked, What can you do more? which I never really asked and then applied until I came out on my mission. My mission's taught my a whole lot, and I love it. Don't want to trade it for anything.

It was +2 today, so I'm wearing short sleeves!!

Love you guys, thanks for all your prayers and support.

Elder Sorenson

March 10, 2014

Prince Albert Saskatchewan Canada. Easy to draw, hard to spell. Also, where we don't have Daylight savings! haha but really it was a good week up here. I'm having the time of my life! and what it sounds like you guys are too. Not a whole lot happened up here this last week, but it did warm up a little bit and the snow on the road melted but it's still here. The funniest part is that I say it warmed up but it's still 30*f. we just get excited and put shorts on when it gets to 0*c. that's just because we've seen -40 for sooooo long! haha but I hear that the cold is behind us finally! but now the 3' of snow's all going to melt and the roads are going to flood! yay! 

So we taught this guy named joey and his common-law wife named jamie. They're very humble but you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! haha they have tattoos everywhere but they love the gospel and want to come to church so bad. We taught them about the restoration and they loved it, we left them with a book of mormon and just bore solid testimony and it was great. Other than them, we taught the birds which is always a hand full. It was crazy! teaching those 6 little girls is just.... crazy. We always have to think and be on our toes, because with a large native family, the'll steal things and cry, and just go nuts if you don't know what to do. Usually it has to involve coloring or an object lesson. So we taught them the word of wisdom. It went well. 

We also taught Eric this last week. Oh man, that guy is just a power house. I love teaching that guy! He found out that I like blink 182 so he had it playing in the back when we came over. I got mad at him and said it had to go, but he said it was his house :) but he tuned it off. But we had a very spiritual lesson with him about charity and home teaching. we did a practice home teaching because he just got called and we were helping him out, and he's a great teacher. It was great! We actually took him to a lesson the next day and he was just fantastic. I don't know what else to say about that guy other than the gospel changes people so much. I mean we met him 2 months ago and since he's been baptised, he's grown so much.

One of my favorite parts of the week is Sunday. I get to teach the gospel principles class at church that all the investigators come to and it's a lot of fun. I just get so into teaching. One thing i've found since coming on my mission is that I hated teaching at first and before my mission, but now I love it. And the Lord helps you out. And gives you the words to say. I love it when I start bearing my testimony, and the words come, and the spirit fills the room. I'm going to miss that when I go home. 

Yeah, that's basically my week. I'm going crazy up here. We just got a sister up here from Germany. And I just figured out that Brady Merrill from P.G. just came into my mission, so I'll have to find out where he's at. 

Thanks everyone for reading my boring email and for your prayers and support!

Love you,

Elder Jake Sorenson