Kia Ora Whanau!
Well right now its a cold, wet, rainy, and really windy today. Transfers went well without too much stuff being forgotten. The zone leaders back in Hamilton still have my rain jumper that they're going to get back to me hopefully soon. My new companion is Elder Ales. He's from Sacramento and he's pretty cool. We're both willing to work hard, but we both have fun doing it too. Eventually I'll get a picture of us doing something.
If you couldn't guess I have been transferred, any guesses on where in NZ Elder Sorensen? I'll give you a couple hints, I'm still in the Southern Kingdom, and the population is about 16,000. So look at google earth and some of the cities and send your guesses to Mum. I'm still trying to decide what the reward could be, but this will be fun anyways.
The flat gets pretty cold during the winter time. So Mum, and whoever helped her put together the packages, you must have been inspired to send me the scarf, gloves, and long-johns. I've already used them all. Oh yeah, the hat too. I got them at transfers and used them the first night, and I stayed warm enough.
This area already is doing pretty well. We have one baptism coming up in may, and a few more that are about to be set for baptism. The people seem pretty nice as well. Much better than Dinsedale. I don't know why the people there were so much harder, but I've loved the area's ever since.
Monday was a double public holiday, Easter and ANZAC day, so everywhere was closed for the day. The only places allowed to be open are food places, and tourist places. So thats why I didn't email yesterday. So we decided to go shopping. We get all our groceries and get to the check-out and try to pay with our cards. Elder Ales used his first, and it didn't work, tried it again and the same thing. So I tried mine and it didn't work either. Luckily Elder Ales had enough cash on him to pay for it. But I found out that we only got paid like $40. So we're going to have to call and find out what's going on. When I got to the flat the previouse Elder, Elder Naicker, ate everything! all we had was 4 or 5 eggs, a few packets of noodles, and 2 meat pies. No joke. So our shopping day was a big one.
District meeting was really good today. We had training on the Atonement. I love learning and having more trainings on it. I've always had the most success when I turn everything back to Christ and His Atonement. Its amazing the effect that message can have on people.
Well I'm really looking forward to this transfer with Elder Ales and this area. I'll say the answer next week. So tune in next time to find out: Where in NZ is Elder Sorensen?
P.S. For mother's day if the card doesn't work/as a last resort our flat # is 886 1470. I'm not sure about the country/city code or how that all works, but I should be fine calling from here.
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
Save the date: 9-9-9:00
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 18, 2011
April 18, 2011
Kia Ora from Kiwi Land!
Things are going alright here. I should say that except for our investigators not progressing much everything is fine. Its really frustrating when everything is set up to start moving forward for basically everybody, and then nothing happens. Polly was going to come to church, finally, but then her baby woke up with a fever so she stayed home. Wayne came for sacrament meeting, which was good, but then he disappeared afterwards. Brad came, and to my surprise he's progressing more than I thought he would. Saturday we had a lesson with Wayne and he said that after Sunday he would be out of dope, and he wouldn't buy any more of it. So we went by after church and tried to give him some encouragement. We did the best we could but he said that he's getting stressed more and more, no doubt from their restless and rebellious 4 yr old son. He's not a good kid most of the time. Sometimes he runs through the church, when he's frustrated with his parents, growling and yelling the 'f' word so everybody can here it. We're doing the best we can to show them how the gospel can help, but Wayne isn't progressing much. Its even harder because Daniella, his wife, is a member coming back and has already given up drinking and dope for 2 weeks now. But we're going to keep working with him.
Transfers are this week, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be transferred out. Which is actually frustrating because I really want to see Wayne, Polly, and Brad get baptized. They are all so close. Everything else is going fine. The rain is getting more frequent, which is fine unless I'm on the bike, I'm healthy, happy, and still working hard. Every day that goes by, and every conversation with those of other faiths that wont accept the fullness of the gospel strengthens my testimony that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. We have too many pieces that no other church has. And there are so many witnesses that I see every day. I'm so glad to hear everybody back home is still active in the church. Every time I hear of part of a missionaries family is less-active, it makes me so greatful to have the family I have. Mum and Dad, thanks for raising the family the way you did, I really appreciate what you've done for me and our family.
I'll keep you updated on when (if), and where I get transferred to. I appreciate all your prayers, letters, and emails, and everything that you do to help support me as a missionary!
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
Things are going alright here. I should say that except for our investigators not progressing much everything is fine. Its really frustrating when everything is set up to start moving forward for basically everybody, and then nothing happens. Polly was going to come to church, finally, but then her baby woke up with a fever so she stayed home. Wayne came for sacrament meeting, which was good, but then he disappeared afterwards. Brad came, and to my surprise he's progressing more than I thought he would. Saturday we had a lesson with Wayne and he said that after Sunday he would be out of dope, and he wouldn't buy any more of it. So we went by after church and tried to give him some encouragement. We did the best we could but he said that he's getting stressed more and more, no doubt from their restless and rebellious 4 yr old son. He's not a good kid most of the time. Sometimes he runs through the church, when he's frustrated with his parents, growling and yelling the 'f' word so everybody can here it. We're doing the best we can to show them how the gospel can help, but Wayne isn't progressing much. Its even harder because Daniella, his wife, is a member coming back and has already given up drinking and dope for 2 weeks now. But we're going to keep working with him.
Transfers are this week, and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be transferred out. Which is actually frustrating because I really want to see Wayne, Polly, and Brad get baptized. They are all so close. Everything else is going fine. The rain is getting more frequent, which is fine unless I'm on the bike, I'm healthy, happy, and still working hard. Every day that goes by, and every conversation with those of other faiths that wont accept the fullness of the gospel strengthens my testimony that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. We have too many pieces that no other church has. And there are so many witnesses that I see every day. I'm so glad to hear everybody back home is still active in the church. Every time I hear of part of a missionaries family is less-active, it makes me so greatful to have the family I have. Mum and Dad, thanks for raising the family the way you did, I really appreciate what you've done for me and our family.
I'll keep you updated on when (if), and where I get transferred to. I appreciate all your prayers, letters, and emails, and everything that you do to help support me as a missionary!
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
Monday, April 11, 2011
April 11, 2011
Kia Ora!
This week gone has been really good. First off I finally got to see conference. Wasn't it amazing? I think it was probably my favorite conference of all time. I loved most of the talks, and the rest were good. I don't know which talk was my favourite. We got to watch it here in Te Kuiti rather than having to drive to Hamilton (1 1/2hrs away) to see it. The only problem was a skip that would happen a couple of times every 5 min, so I missed a few words here and there, but it was livable. As you probably know, missionary work is hard work, and I'm happy to say I only fell asleep twice, and luckily not for long haha.
Thursday was a bit of a stressful day. We had a trade off with the zone leaders, except we all stayed here. Normally I'd love that, but we don't have too much work here. And the zone leaders made it feel like that was our fault. They didn't say it flat out, but I sure felt it. So we tracted most of the day, and still not much potential. So we're looking to go to Otorohanga more often to sus out how that area is. But one fun thing happened on trade off's. I got certified to drive the cars! I'm used to being on the left side, but driving on the right side of the road is super weird. Now I just need to get my license. They say that its about $100 or something like that to get a Kiwi license, but the church will reimburse if I send the receipt into the office. I'm going to talk to somebody and ask exactly how much so I can let you know.
Not too much progress with our investigators. Wayne was home sick with is boy, and Polly was down to Taupo catering for some event. But Brad came almost out of nowhere and loved conference. He said that it felt like some of the speakers were speaking directly to him.
Love you all, and until next week
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
This week gone has been really good. First off I finally got to see conference. Wasn't it amazing? I think it was probably my favorite conference of all time. I loved most of the talks, and the rest were good. I don't know which talk was my favourite. We got to watch it here in Te Kuiti rather than having to drive to Hamilton (1 1/2hrs away) to see it. The only problem was a skip that would happen a couple of times every 5 min, so I missed a few words here and there, but it was livable. As you probably know, missionary work is hard work, and I'm happy to say I only fell asleep twice, and luckily not for long haha.
Thursday was a bit of a stressful day. We had a trade off with the zone leaders, except we all stayed here. Normally I'd love that, but we don't have too much work here. And the zone leaders made it feel like that was our fault. They didn't say it flat out, but I sure felt it. So we tracted most of the day, and still not much potential. So we're looking to go to Otorohanga more often to sus out how that area is. But one fun thing happened on trade off's. I got certified to drive the cars! I'm used to being on the left side, but driving on the right side of the road is super weird. Now I just need to get my license. They say that its about $100 or something like that to get a Kiwi license, but the church will reimburse if I send the receipt into the office. I'm going to talk to somebody and ask exactly how much so I can let you know.
Not too much progress with our investigators. Wayne was home sick with is boy, and Polly was down to Taupo catering for some event. But Brad came almost out of nowhere and loved conference. He said that it felt like some of the speakers were speaking directly to him.
Love you all, and until next week
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
Monday, April 4, 2011
April 4, 2011
Kia Ora!!
Its been a quiet week in Kiwi-land. Not too much going on. Well, except for the Great New Zealand Muster here in Te Kuiti. In compare to back home, it was about the size of the county fair in Logan, maybe a little smaller. They had one youth ride, and two kiddie rides. Then down the main street they had the road blocked off and stands all up and down the road. Mostly food and souveniers. It started at about 10 in the morning and ended at 2pm. They had people guess how many sheep were going to run down the main street, and two people got it right and they had to split the money. But they ran the sheep down the road at 1pm. It was pretty anti-climatic, they had everybody keep still and be quiet while the sheep ran so that they wouldn't startle and trample people like last year. They "barrier" that separated us and the sheep was basically like an elongated rubbish bag. It was fun though. I'm just gutted that I forgot my camera back at the flat. So sorry, but if you want to see pictures you're going to have to go online and look for the Muster in Te Kuiti.
Other than that not much has happened. Just a trade off with the elder's in Te Awamutu. Since they're in a threesome two of them came down here. Its really weird to work in 3. Did Jake ever do that? And because its April, we have to wear our suit coats after 5pm, so that kind of annoying, because it doesn't cool off until probably 7. And daylight savings was Saturday night. So we're a bit late on that down here. With general conferene we are delayed a week. So I haven't seen it yet. They record it and send it on DVD's. And whats cool is that we're getting a copy to the Te Kuiti Branch, so we don't have to travel to Hamilton.
Not much else coming this week. Thanks for all your support and prayers in my behalf. I need all the help I can get.
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
Its been a quiet week in Kiwi-land. Not too much going on. Well, except for the Great New Zealand Muster here in Te Kuiti. In compare to back home, it was about the size of the county fair in Logan, maybe a little smaller. They had one youth ride, and two kiddie rides. Then down the main street they had the road blocked off and stands all up and down the road. Mostly food and souveniers. It started at about 10 in the morning and ended at 2pm. They had people guess how many sheep were going to run down the main street, and two people got it right and they had to split the money. But they ran the sheep down the road at 1pm. It was pretty anti-climatic, they had everybody keep still and be quiet while the sheep ran so that they wouldn't startle and trample people like last year. They "barrier" that separated us and the sheep was basically like an elongated rubbish bag. It was fun though. I'm just gutted that I forgot my camera back at the flat. So sorry, but if you want to see pictures you're going to have to go online and look for the Muster in Te Kuiti.
Other than that not much has happened. Just a trade off with the elder's in Te Awamutu. Since they're in a threesome two of them came down here. Its really weird to work in 3. Did Jake ever do that? And because its April, we have to wear our suit coats after 5pm, so that kind of annoying, because it doesn't cool off until probably 7. And daylight savings was Saturday night. So we're a bit late on that down here. With general conferene we are delayed a week. So I haven't seen it yet. They record it and send it on DVD's. And whats cool is that we're getting a copy to the Te Kuiti Branch, so we don't have to travel to Hamilton.
Not much else coming this week. Thanks for all your support and prayers in my behalf. I need all the help I can get.
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen
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