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

March 28, 2011

Kia Ora!

This past week was good, although not too much has happened. We still don't have enough k's to go work anywhere except for Otorohanga on Wednesdays after district meeting in Hamilton. District meetings are always good because they're at the Temple Visitors' Centre (kiwi spelling). So I get to see the temple every week. I just wish I could go inside again. Its just that they close the temple on Mondays except for a select few. So hopefully I'm still here for one of those Mondays (I think its once a quarter). Our new District Leader, Elder Kimball, is a crack up, we're always laughing and having a good time through district meetings. My first two transfers here they were pretty boring. So things are going good here.

Its been raining for the past couple of days. Off and on, off, then on again, and sometimes we get super light rain, like a mist. Its really cool, wish you guys could experience it. Super glad we've had the car for the past couple of days. I still need to get some parts for my bike before I can start riding it again, so we can work in our other areas. Its just hard with limited k's, and there's no bike shop around Te Kuiti. So no updates on costs yet.

Yesterday Te Aroha got confirmed in Sacrament meeting. It was really neat, but not without some stress. Last Sunday was stake conference, so we didn't confirm her last week, so we thought we'd just stay in contact throughout the week. We went by every day, and couldn't contact her. Then about mid-week we hear that she's been staying at a friends house. So from a missionaries perspective we think that there's been problems and we start to worry. We finally saw her at a youth activity on Saturday at the chapel. Found out, no problems, just having good fun. So that was a big relief, and it all worked out. Just goes to show that when you do all you can do God will take care of the work.

Sadly Polly didn't come to church, and don't know where she was. So her baptism will have to wait till the 23rd so she can come to church 3 times. But with God's help and her desire, she'll come and want to be baptized.

I'm happy, healthy and working hard. Love you all, and mother's day is coming up in a couple of months, that means a call home! Looking forward to it. What day is it on?
One more question for Mum or Dad. How big is Fruitland Acres ward? (active average)

Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen

March 21, 2011

Kia Ora!

This week was a pretty good week. We had Te Aroha's baptism on Saturday (she'll be confirmed on sun. the 27th). Then Sunday we had Stake Conference up in Hamilton. I got to personally meet Elder Nielson or Nelson, of the 70. Pretty neat. During conference they talked all about life changing moments, and changing/being more converted inside. Then we had a surprise Zone specialized training with President Porter after stake conf. It was really amazing. Talked about how faith is a principle of action and power. When we do our part (the action), God will bless us (power) with divine intervention that we ourselves have no control over. Then we read over some bits in the Bible Dictionary in Grace. It talkes about recieving strength and God's help "after all we can do."

I got my bike back as well. It is missing the front brake system, and front gear shifter system. And they took my helmet too. So I'll need to buy those some time. We just don't have a bike shop here, so I can't tell you the prices that it would cost. Not much else happening this week or to look forward to. We have 2 people set for baptism in April. Polly on the 16th, and Wayne on the 23rd. So we'll be working with them mostly.

Love you all, and don't do anything that I wouldn't do if I were home. Enjoy the snow while you still have it.

Arohanui!

Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen

March 14, 2011

Kia Ora Whanau!

Its been a quiet week here in Te Kuiti, Kiwi-land. The results of transfers are in. I stayed, Elder Luckhardt moved to Tauranga. My new companion is Elder Cannon from St. George. He's been on the mission only one transfer longer than me. He's Senior and the driver, but so far I've been doing everything but the driving. He's a lot like me, quiet unless he needs to talk. So in order to keep the lessons moving with the investigators I've had to start leading the lessons. I didn't know how stressful it was to be senior companion (unofficially).

But things are moving along here. Te Aroha is going to be baptized this Saturday, but because of Stake Conference, she'll be confirmed the following week. She's super excited and ready for baptism. She's also got some friends that are looking into it a bit. Hopefully we'll be able to start teaching them soon. Other than that there's not work here. I've knocked on literally every door. So we're hoping to go to Otorohanga as much as possible. We just have to plan out how many K's we're going to use for District Meeting and other trips.

We're heading into Fall here. The temperature drops to about 50*s at night. And so the rivers are making some pretty mean fog. I took some pictures on the way to Te Awamutu for transfers. They're pretty good. And last week for P-day we climed to the top of Brooke Park. And so I had to take the Kevin picture. Got a pretty good picture of all of Te Kuiti. Not much else is going on here. Well, the tsunami hit Auckland at about 40 cm high. Basically nothing. But I heard Cali got hit by it, and Hawaii, and of course Japan. Pretty scary stuff, especially right after the Christchurch earthquake. They say that Christchurch is having about 5 aftershocks every day. Some getting up to 4.0 on the scale. But no need to worry about me, I'm safe and in-land in basically the middle of NZ.

Random fact. When New Zealander's say the alphabet, they don't say 'z'. They say 'zed'.
Love you all, and I'll stay in touch. Thanks for the love and prayers.
Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen

 

 

March 7, 2011

Kia Ora Whanau!

This last week has been pretty enjoyable. The rain has been back to cool everything off. I guess winter is on its way. In fact, this morning was 50*F and 65% humidity. Really cold with the humidity and when you're used to pretty good heat. Everybody says its about time for the winter rain. On Saturday one of our investigators finally got married. It was nice and small. Filled up the small chapel, and the reception was pretty good too. Not too fancy, but it served its purpose, and they're happy. His name is Wayne, and she's a member, Daniella. All went pretty smooth, and now we're working on Wayne getting baptized. Going to be a very slow process, especially since he is on weed, said about 3 sessions a day. Wow. I don't know how people can afford to smoke, drink, drugs, and still provide the necessities for their family. We are truly blessed following the word of wisdom, and the rest of the gospel.

This Thursday is transfers, and our predictions is that Elder Luckhardt, and Elder Mayer (my DL) will both be shifted. And Elder Luckhardt thinks that this will be my 6 month area. He says most missionaries have a 6 month area in the country. I've learned heaps, but it was difficult learning. Learning from experience is hard a lot of the time. But everything is all goods. No major fights or disagreements with any companions...yet? Hopefully I'm pretty easy to get a long with. I'll let you know what results come from transfers next Monday. We don't have any major plans for this week other than transfers, and no baptisms till the 19th. But Tiaroha is pretty excited about it. She's gone through true conversion, and is ready and looking forward to baptism.

Oh yeah, we had Zone Conference last week. It was pretty good. Elder Callister, President of the Pacific area, and member of the 70, came and spoke. The whole conference was on the atonement. What it means to us, what it can mean to an investigator, and how to teach it simply and powerfully. Really spirit filled. And my companion and I won the tim tam award for cleanest car.

 Right end

I've picked up a few things in Maori. If you want to say hi, its Kia Ora (kyora). How are you is Kete pehe a kue (kay-tay pay-hey ah kwey). I'm good is Kete Pae (kay-tay Pie). Family is Whanau (fah no). Work is Mahi (mah hee). I'm trying to pick up some Samoan too. Its pretty fun to learn lots of little phrases in different languages. It really helps people open up when you talk to them in their native language.

Love you all, and I really appreciate your prayers in mine, and other missionaries behalves. Appreciate all you do for me.

Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen

Feb 28, 2011

Kia Ora!!

This week has been a pretty good week. Its been really nice being able to be in the car and not ride the bikes around. Yesterday I talked to the police officer again about my bike, and he brought a picture line up of kids that might be involved. I identified the kid who we confronted on the bike last week, and the police officer has identified a few kids that are probably involved. The kid he caught on the bike, when he brought it into the station, he said had been ''dealt with''. So they still have the bike in the station and I think they might have the kid who stole it replace the parts that were taken off of it. That would be really nice, but I'll keep you updated as things come up.

The work here is doing really good. We have three people set for baptism next month. Tiaroha is the most keen, and she's set for the 12th of March. She's really good, but she beats herself up for past mistakes. So we're working to show her that she can be forgiven and that she can let them go. The other 2 are going to take a lot more work. Michelle is 17 and her partner is 24, and they live together. They're pretty interested as well so we're working on getting them a testimony enough to make the changes necesarry to be baptized.

And the best part of all of this is, I'm finally feeling comfortable doing the work. Its taken me 6 months (tomorrow!!!), but I feel alright doing all aspects of the work. I'm happy, healthy, and loving this country. Zone conference is coming up on this thursday, but I don't think there'll be any changes so that I can't email. Hopefully today we're gong to go to Witomo/Aranui/and Ruakuri caves for free with a couple investigators that work there. It'll be a lot of fun.

My testimony just keeps on getting stronger as I learn to trust God more and more. I know that we do have to restored truth, and I'm so grateful for it. I love you all, and thank you all for your support!!

Arohanui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen

Feb 21,2011

Kia Ora!


This week has been a bit cooler. Very nice cloud cover to cool things off. And the work continues as well. This week was pretty stressful for a few reasons. We were planning on having one trade-off this week with our District leader on Tuesday. That's all fine, but then the Zone leaders called us Wednesday morning and said they were going to do a surprise trade off. And then it took another trade off on Thursday to get everybody back into their own areas. Wednesday and Thursday I led the area here in Te Kuiti. Which was pretty stressful having your Zl's and Dl breathing down your neck and watching everything you do. It wouldn't have been so bad if it wasn't a surprise. I did get a lot out of it though. I learned what it would be like to be a senior companion for a couple of days. Gained a lot of expirience.

Then something else happened. Saturday night we got back and found out our bikes were stolen. We were in a real hurry to get back on time, and forgot to lock them. Completely my fault. Then Sunday after church we were driving to an appointment and saw a kid riding my bike. We pulled him over and started talking to him. He (15) had already taken off the gear shifter for the front gears, the lights and reflectors and my name sticker. I still knew it was mine because of a scratch mark that matched up exactly with the bike rack we had. And plus, when you ride a bike basically every day for almost 6 months, you know when its your bike. We got all the information out of him we could, but nothing we could hold as legit information. As we were talking with him, one of his mate's (friends) rode up and started being pretty mouthy with us. And started telling us gang threats like "get off my street" and "quit messing with my mates" and things like that. Then a car with a bunch of guys came up as we were leaving. And I recognized one of the guys who had a short temper. He had a moku all over his face. So we left without much, but we got the serial # from the bike there, and we're going to compare it to the # they have registered to me in Auckland.

When we got back to the flat straight after we called in the report to the police station. He got some detail off of us and came by and talked with us about it all. This morning we got a message on our phone from the officer saying that they had pulled some kids in for questioning and had one of our bikes in for evidence. So I'll get my bike back within the next couple of days. Sadly though, I need to by new parts for it. I'll let you know when I get it back. God definitely answers prayers. No luck with my companion's bike, but he says its okay because he goes home in 2 transfers.

I'll keep you updated with everything, and I'll definitely lock my bike up everytime from here on out. I love you all, and you're always in my prayers! Don't be afraid to send pictures to me.  I promise it doesn't make me home sick.  I actually love seeing pictures, and I haven't seen a pic of Andi since she was born, so don't be afraid to send pictures.  Tell Michelle and Jared good luck moving in when they do.  Make sure you get Jake to work moving furniture and stuff.  And tell him to work double hard for me.  You're just changing everything in the house.  I won't be able to recognize the house when I get home.
Love you so much Mum!!!  Thanks for everything!!

I almost forgot.  Last week I got to see the Rugby World Cup in person here in Te Kuiti!  Its pretty small, but way cool that I got to see it in person!

Aroha nui!
Sincerely,
Elder Sorensen