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

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