Week of June 8, 2014

The time's a flyin'. But it's oh so good. So currently, like I said I'm out in a little punk town called Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. We can almost double the population just driving into town. For those of you that have asked me questions about the area, let me clear them up. So our ward boundaries are pretty big. Not quite as big as they were in Prince Albert. But basically my companion and I work not only in Gull Lake, but we also work in Swift current where the branch is. It's rough getting there sometimes, and having contact with the missionaries there because it's half an hour away. Also, we work in the little towns that surround Gull lake. And the nearest town is an other half an hour away from Gull Lake. Our main purpose in Gull Lake is to reach out to the less-actives that live so far out of town that it's hard for the branch to reach out to them. So needless to say, Elder Blackburn and I do a lot of travelling. I love it. We get to see the beautiful country side that makes up the rolling hills of Saskatchewan, close to the Alberta Boarder.

So to get to what we did this week, we were actually quite busy. I love being busy. Elder Blackburn and I both hit our 9 month mark on Wednesday! Time's a flyin'. But also now that we're on Facebook, it seems to be working out quite well! I was able to teach someone I met up in Prince Albert over Facebook, and we taught her the restoration. It was great! She asked a lot of good questions. Hopefully she'll go somewhere.

One thing that the town really likes doing, is putting us to work! We stopped by our town office, and had a great chat with our mayor, and his secretaries. We were finally able to have a gospel related conversation with them. It was great! And they also asked us to do some landscaping for some trees around town. So we did that all Friday, and some on Saturday as well.

One thing about Gull Lake is everyone plays either baseball or softball. We got asked to play softball with a bunch of 30 year olds on friday nights. It was a blast! Hopefully I'll get better at playing because I'm not very good, and then with softball, we can start teaching all of them and increase the YSA in the branch. 

This leads me to Sunday. Which is also my complaint. Driving into Swift current for church is great, but I feel that the members don't really care for us because we're tossed out in Gull Lake. Makes it hard to make friendships. I got to play the piano in sacrament meeting which was good, but then I taught elders quorum and they all treated it like a joke. Made me a little frustrated, but what could I do? Just trying not to be discouraged or anything. This last week I was between missing home, or really missing Prince Albert. I was missing Prince Albert more than Home. there's still a piece of my heart there! haha, but that's my little venting session to you all. 

Looking optimistic about the coming weeks! Thank you for all that you do.

-Elder Sorenson

P.S. this is how small Gull Lake is

Week of June 1, 2014

Crazy week. It all basically started off when everyone wanted to see me to say goodbye. It's nice that they wanted to see me, but where were you two weeks ago?! but anyways, it was nice. Monday and tuesday I basically spent trying to see everyone to say goodbye, and teach them a final lesson before I left. I also had to find time to pack. And It turns out that spending 6 months in PA, I collected a lot of junk. So that was fun.

On Monday we drove up north a bit and Visited a less active. It was raining all day, but the drive was beautiful! I loved it. Once it was warm there, everything turned green. super green. And it was pretty. Tuesday was the busiest day. We had non stop appointments with people and everyone wanted to feed me. No wonder I've gained weight haha. But Luckily we made it through the day and I took tons of pictures, and Actually got packed. On wedensday morning we packed up, and I went and visited someone on the res real quick for breakfast and then we were gone, and I cried leaving Prince Albert. It was no bueno. 

The drive Wednesday was amazing. Comprising Wednesday and Thursday, I got to see all the big cities in Saskatchewan, which most missionaries don't get to do in a single transfer. I was able to drive through Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, and Swift Current. It was fun. We spent the night in Regina where we got to attend the temple. It was truly unique because we did a session with all missionaries. Lots of fun, and then I got my new comp, and the next day we drove to Gull Lake. 

Gull Lake is great. It's TINY! it's a town of about 900 people. We have church in Swift Current which is half an hour away, and we do tons of service. Gull lake was opened 6 months ago for Missionaries, and they haven't taught a whole lot, but Everyone loves us and knows who we are. I hope that we can turn it around because I feel like this is my transfer to prove myself to President Thomas. My Companion's Name Is elder Blackburn. He's great. He's from Vernal, and him and I know eachother well. We Served in the same district for 3 months in Winnipeg, So we just hit it right off the bat.

One last note-worthy thing. This last sunday we had stake conference. All of Canada did. The reason being was because Henry B. Eyring was broadcasting from salt lake to all of Canada. It was fantastic. He spoke with Elder Holland, and Elder Perkins from the 70, and Also Sister Burton of the RS. They spoke a lot on the Atonement, as did our stake president. They spoke on the need of cleaning the inner selves, and being able to utilize the atonement.

That's me this week! Really excited for this next transfer! Love you guys and thanks for your prayers and support!

Elder Jake Sorenson

Week of May 25, 2014

Wow, what a week. I don't even know where to begin. But I guess I'll just start here:

It's Finally spring time! and it is HOT in Saskatchewan. I would have never guessed that. It's been about +35 this last week which is in the 90's. Just crazy. But everything is finally turning green, and it's just beautiful up here in Prince albert. Anyways, it's time to dig down to a couple of stories from this last week.

Monday night our Zone leaders came up from Saskatoon, we had Elder Schofield and this next transfer is actually his last, so It was most likely the last time that I'll see him. It was pretty sad. So we had a lot of fun. 

Also, as many of you now know, on Tuesday, we got the Facebook as a mission. We can use it for proselyting purposes only. So basically gospel conversations, questions, posts, lessons, friend shipping, Things of that nature. I've been trying to add a bunch of people around PA and the mission, so don't feel bad if I haven't added you back home. My facebook name is Elder Jake Sorenson. Feel free to add me. 

Alrighty, So yes, we did have a baptism this last week. My comp, the district leader, actually interviewed two people for baptism this last week. It was great. He interviewed the one who got baptised on saturday, and the one who is this next week who's been investigating a while. We're all excited for her. But the one who just got dunked, her name is Diva Jobb. I actually found her, and taught her a little bit, but then I handed her over to the sisters. That was 6 months ago. They finally set a baptismal date, and I got the opportunity of baptizing her this last Saturday. It was truly amazing. Her whole family is coming back into activity and they were so proud of her. 

Sunday we got a new bishopric. The existing Bishopric was struggling. They were basically all less active. The bishop worked in the states, so he was never there. We brought the situation up to the stake level to make some changes, and they happened yesterday. We got a whole new bishopric of power houses, but we all knew who it was going to be, and it was going to happen. 

One last thing. I'm finally leaving Prince Albert. I'm so sad. I don't want to leave this place! After spending 1/4 of my mission here, and getting to know basically everything about this area, it's practically home. But the Lord needs me elsewhere. I'm being transferred to the smallest area in the mission. It's a tiny little town called Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. It's an hour away from the closest missionaries, and it'll be just me and my comp. And the closest church house is also an hour away. I'm excited, but really scared at the same time. I feel like I'm leaving home again. 

That's me this week. I love all you guys, thank you for all your prayers and support!

-Elder Jake Sorenson

Week of May 18, 2014

This week was pretty great. We've been really blessed to be as busy as we have been. It's spring time in the north, and when that happens, everyone wants to travel. And that's mainly because everyone is closed off in their houses during the 7 months of winter, and now that it's finally +20*c outside, people are starting to get out of their homes, and travel. I hear it's pretty nice when within an hour drive you have about 10 lakes. That's northern Saskatchewan for you.

Last week I told you guys about the roofing project we were doing. We started it on Saturday for a member that lived outside of PA in a small town called Birch hills. IT was nice out there. They had a big house, and we had a crew of about 9 people who knew a little about roofing, but we were no experts. It was mainly all of our knowledge coming together. We thought it would only take 1 1/2 days, but it ended up taking double that. It started on Saturday morning at 8, and we ended Tuesday night at 8 30. It was long and hard, but it was fun. And we got to bond with some members over it. 

On Thursday our mission President texted us and told us he was going to be driving into town that afternoon and wanted to interview all of us and teach with a companionship. It was kind of a random occurrence, and kind of out of the blue, and I'm glad we have good missionaries in our district and we were being diligent, otherwise we would have freaked out a little bit :) But the interviews went really well, at least mine did. I love my mission president. He's really laid back, and one of the most spiritual/humble men I have ever met.

Friday we took a little road rip to visit a referral that lived 45 min out of town in an other small town called Shellbrook. It was pretty fun, she was in the hospital and needed a blessing. We soon found out that she was a member, and that she needed her records transferred over to PA. She lives about an hour north of town, so hopefully more news on her later. 

Nothing else really note-worthy happened this last week. I played the piano in primary and Sacrament meeting again, and i'm running out of songs to play so there's that. But that's me this week. Love you guys! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

-Elder Jake Sorenson

Week of May 11, 2014

This week's been crazy! And that's great! I always love a busy week. Basically, here's a couple stories, because that's what everyone loves. (sorry for everyone that I talked to on mother's day, this is a repeat)

On Tuesday we headed 2 hours down to Saskatoon for a Zone training meeting, and it was pretty great. I love Saskatoon, it's a pretty city. But when we were heading to lunch, our truck started squeaking and we didn't know what it was, so we called our vehicle guy in Winnipeg. He said it was probably the bearing in the tire ceasing up and we would have to replace it. Mind you, we're two hours from Prince Albert and have no idea how to get around. But we went to lunch anyways, and our tire almost came off, so it made for a good time. Basically what ended up happening was we switched cars with some elders down there so they could get it fixed, and we could get back to PA. I felt so bad for them. But they got my truck.

Anyways, for lunch that day, we all ate 1 LBS burgers, and then we died. It was no bueno.  

We had a pretty good exchange this last week with the other elders on Thursday. I went with an elder in my district who's been here a while but not as long as me. His name's elder Hanson, and this was our 3rd exchange. It was pretty great. One thing that was interesting is on Wednesday we had two appointments, and they both rescheduled to Thursday for the exchange. That was weird. But the exchange showed me that my street contacting skills are still pretty sharp.

Couple more things: This last weekend we had a huge ward service project out in a small town called Birch Hills, it's about half an hour south east of town. but what we did was we re-shingled a members house out there. It was a lot of fun. But their house is big, and has a lot of peaks, so we're not even done, and it's taken two days of work already! wahoo!

So This last sunday was mother's day! Yay! Happy mother's day to all you mother's out there. Every day should be mother's day so we would remember to show our appreciation. I know with my Mom, I wouldn't be here without her. Obviously, I wouldn't be born. But besides that, she's nurtured me, and raised me right, so that I'm here, serving the Lord. Thanks for everything Mom! Love you!

Thanks for everything that you guys do.

Love, Elder Jake Sorenson

Week of May 4, 2014

Tanzi! (I just felt like being like all of my friends in foreign missions that use their mission languages. So I used mine.) This is cree (native) for hello.

This last week was pretty good. I'm really happy that it's finally May, although it did snow pretty hard on Tuesday, but that's all gone now. It was a relatively slow week, but most of our efforts payed off. We walked around a lot, and most of our appointments fell through but did get rescheduled to next week. It didn't help a whole lot that a sister in our district was sick, then got my comp sick, then he got my sick. And I refuse to take a sick day because we need the blessings of hard work! haha. 

Tuesday was pretty good. We met with someone I contacted named Joell. We taught her the restoration and she ate it alive. She's catholic but said that she'd be willing to learn more next week so we'll see how she turns out. We also met with the Birds this last week. It wasn't as crazy as normal. We took our recent convert Eric with us and we taught them about eternal families. And did everything we could to get them to church, but one thing lead to another and they didn't make it:( the only thing holding them back from their whole family from being baptized is coming to church. so It breaks my heart when they don't come because they want to be baptized so bad. 

Couple of things that I've noticed about Prince Albert in my 5 months here is that people are more open here then in other spots in the mission. It's a small town so people will talk to you and wave and what not. It's great. We've been able to find investigators at least every week I've been here. It's been pretty great. All we need to do is put our selves out there and let the hand of the Lord bless us. Also funny note. I've been here long enough that i'll call home on Christmas and Mother's day using the same member's computer, phone, everything. It's been too long haha.

At the end of the week, on Sunday I had triple duty in church again. I love doing it because I feel busy. I call it triple duty because I play the piano in Sacrament meeting, then I teach sunday school, then I play the piano in Primary as well. It's a lot of fun. 

So that's my week. Or at least everything that was note worthy. Well, Love you guys, and thank you for all your prayers and support!

-Elder Sorenson

Week of April 27,2014

Hey everyone. This last week was pretty good. The weather was not so much, but we did a lot of work, and my new comp and I just hammered right into missionary work. We saw a couple of miracles and stayed busy. I think the biggest thing is I've felt like I've been in PA for forever and I've seen the area grow, and now die a little bit. So I've been waiting for a change for a while. But for now, I'm going to work as hard as I can to get this area back up to where it was.

As for this last week we did a lot of walking. We tried to street contact as many people as we could. And the weather didn't really cooperate with that. We got snow last weekend and I thought that was the last big dump of the season. Boy was I wrong. Tuesday was very nice. It got up to +15c and the snow all melted (finally) but the next day it rained, and as of this morning, we now have 4' of wet snow on the ground. We can't win! haha. 

Interesting thing happened on Tuesday though. We were walking to contact a potential and we heard a guy playing and singing his guitar. Elder Schollars saw a drumset through the window and told me to go knock on the door and see if he was willing to jam and listen to our message. I have been itching to play since I came out so I didn't hesitate. The guys name was Jovani, and he let us right in, we jammed for a bit, and it turns out he's an inactive member of the church! He moved from Alberta and just never had contact again. I don't know if he'll come back to church, but at least we made his day, as well as mine. 

The rest of the week was mainly spent teaching/contacting former investigators, setting up appointments, visiting my favorite less-actives who sadly won't come to church. But we got to see Sister Daniel's husband's (who's not a member but loves missionaries) man cave. He has a huge starwars collection and is nuts about it. He has a room full of collectables that blows my mind. He even has a starwars edition X-box. It was simply amazing. and meeting with the Birds as well. The Birds didn't make it to church yesterday and I don't know why. Their whole family can be baptized if they started coming to church. So if any of you guys could pray for them it'd be grand. 

Well that's my week in a nutshell. I wish the weather would clear up a bit. I love the snow. Just not when it's almost may. haha, but the rain this last week was nice. My comp's from Washington State, and it reminded him of home. It's just been so wet, so there's been no one out. So that my dear friends is spring time in Saskatchewan- April 28th, and 4' of wet snow on the ground. Wahoo. 

Love you all, thank you so much for your prayers and support.

-Elder Jake H Sorenson