Bueno!
I think this may have been the fastest week of my whole entire life. I swear I was just writing! The scary thing is, every week feels like the fastest week of my life. Where is the time going? Why is it almost February?? AHH!!
This week was so great! We saw so many miracles, especially with finding really prepared people. It's crazy because this week was full of unexpected miracles. We hit a lot of our goals, but definitely not in the way we were planning. Lots of things fell through, but the Lord put some amazing people in our path to help us keep going and not get discouraged.
We also had zone conference this week, which is always a party. It was so good to see people again, especially Sister Whitney. In this mission (and I think in a lot of missions) your trainer is referred to as your mom (or dad if you're an elder) and you're their daughter (or son). There is definitely a mother/daughter bond that is real in this mission, so I always love seeing her and telling her about all the cool stuff that's happening in Kenner. Also, it's been fun to see President so much this month. I feel like I've gotten a lot closer to him this transfer, which is good because we hardly ever saw him before since we're in the farthest zone from the mission home. He is amazing and is doing great things with this mission.
Anyways, zone conference was awesome! We watched a worldwide mission broadcast to all the missionaries in the world and it was amazing. A bunch of apostles and other general authorities spoke and obviously they just nailed it. They talked a lot about how the purpose of missionary work is to "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts." I love that so much! We're not here to just baptize people, but to truly bring them to Gethsemane and help them be cleansed by the Atonement. Then we help them truly and deeply convert to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that their baptism is truly a beginning of the path of discipleship, and not just the end, or the beginning of their decline. I also never really understood the weight of what it means to "cry repentance" to the people. Repentance is an amazing gift. Heavenly Father literally hands us the opportunity to start all over. And so many people don't know they can do that, or they do, but they don't know how. I used to think that crying repentance was daunting and scary because I thought it was just like teaching the word of wisdom and saying “sorry, no more alcohol for you”. But it's so much more than that. It's like taking people by the hand and bringing them into the open arms of our Savior and letting them be warm and clean and pure again. Being a missionary is the coolest! :)
I think this may have been the fastest week of my whole entire life. I swear I was just writing! The scary thing is, every week feels like the fastest week of my life. Where is the time going? Why is it almost February?? AHH!!
This week was so great! We saw so many miracles, especially with finding really prepared people. It's crazy because this week was full of unexpected miracles. We hit a lot of our goals, but definitely not in the way we were planning. Lots of things fell through, but the Lord put some amazing people in our path to help us keep going and not get discouraged.
We also had zone conference this week, which is always a party. It was so good to see people again, especially Sister Whitney. In this mission (and I think in a lot of missions) your trainer is referred to as your mom (or dad if you're an elder) and you're their daughter (or son). There is definitely a mother/daughter bond that is real in this mission, so I always love seeing her and telling her about all the cool stuff that's happening in Kenner. Also, it's been fun to see President so much this month. I feel like I've gotten a lot closer to him this transfer, which is good because we hardly ever saw him before since we're in the farthest zone from the mission home. He is amazing and is doing great things with this mission.
Anyways, zone conference was awesome! We watched a worldwide mission broadcast to all the missionaries in the world and it was amazing. A bunch of apostles and other general authorities spoke and obviously they just nailed it. They talked a lot about how the purpose of missionary work is to "Teach Repentance and Baptize Converts." I love that so much! We're not here to just baptize people, but to truly bring them to Gethsemane and help them be cleansed by the Atonement. Then we help them truly and deeply convert to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, so that their baptism is truly a beginning of the path of discipleship, and not just the end, or the beginning of their decline. I also never really understood the weight of what it means to "cry repentance" to the people. Repentance is an amazing gift. Heavenly Father literally hands us the opportunity to start all over. And so many people don't know they can do that, or they do, but they don't know how. I used to think that crying repentance was daunting and scary because I thought it was just like teaching the word of wisdom and saying “sorry, no more alcohol for you”. But it's so much more than that. It's like taking people by the hand and bringing them into the open arms of our Savior and letting them be warm and clean and pure again. Being a missionary is the coolest! :)
After zone conference we went on exchanges again. The people in this area keep giving me a bad time because I'm already on my third companion in this area, and now I'm bringing new people every week because we're on exchanges all the time. They keep joking around with me that no one can stand me for very long apparently. They don't actually mean it of course, but it's just been funny. I went with Sister Frederickson and she's the funniest person I have ever met. We had some good times together. She's also an amazing missionary and she taught me a lot, especially in the area of contacting people. I'm still working on not being awkward when we're contacting in the park or just around the area, and she's literally perfect at it. It was fun to work with her and learn from her. I guess this is a tender mercy of being a STL because I get to learn so much from so many different sisters every week.
Okay I'm going to tell you all a crazy story about why I know the Lord prepares people. Are you ready? Okay, here it is. So do you remember how I talked about Lynn, the woman with the crazy life we've been trying to see since I got here? I saw her with Sister Johnson last transfer and she said, "I'm finally ready to change my life!" This story is about her. So we go see her on Wednesday, and usually when we go knock on her door, she's not there, or she is but she doesn't let us in. Literally, I've been in this area for over 6 months and not once have I seen the inside of her apartment. Anyways, I wasn't super hopeful, but God had other plans. We knocked on the door, and she says, "Hi sisters! Do you want to come in?" DUH! At this point I'm freaking out because I had always dreamed she would say that, but I never actually considered what I would do if it actually happened. Alright, I'm just going to give a list of quotes of things she said during the lesson. I just wish I had a recording of it so you all could watch it and be amazed, but instead, I'll list just some of the things she said during this lesson that made my jaw drop. "I was literally just thinking about y'all" "I've always wondered if there is one church that has all the pieces together" (that was before we even taught anything) "This morning I almost gave into temptation, but I just felt so strongly that I shouldn't. And then you knocked on my door. I think God knew." "The way I feel right now and the way you told that story leaves no doubt in my mind that Joseph Smith was telling the truth and that this experience is true." "The past long time I've been depressed at home and I never turn on the lights, and I always have the tv on, even at night. But the last two nights, I felt like I should turn off the tv and just leave some time for thinking and pondering. I also opened the windows and turned on the lights for the first time. This might sound crazy... but I think it's because God knew y'all were coming, so He made me get in the habit of pondering at night so I could pray to know if all this is true, and He was helping me physically and spiritually bring light into my life" "Sisters... I think this is a beginning. I can feel it. This is the start of something I've been looking for, for a long time." "I'm so excited to come to church with y'all and really start to get involved and meet people!" "I know God hasn't abandoned me, because y'all haven't abandoned me. And I know y'all are sent by God."!!!!
If you're not super pumped right now, go read that story again because I'M SO PUMPED! I've been knocking on this lady's door since it was blistering hot in the middle of July, and I don't even care that it's taken this long, because Heavenly Father has been preparing her perfectly. Everything from when we miraculously found her when I was with Sister Johnson, to this last week when the Lord was prepping her. Missionary work is SO COOL! Sorry if I'm being overly obnoxious. I'm just happy. This is the happiness y'all could feel too if you would do some missionary work! Our district leader said something funny the other day-- He said that people not sharing the Gospel is like someone going to an amazing restaurant with the most delicious food in the world, and then walking out and saying, "MMM that was amazing! I'm never going to tell anyone about it!" ..... No one does that! We naturally want to share something we found that makes us happy. So go out and share the Gospel with someone. It's so easy! Go read D&C 15:6 if you don't believe me. And if you still don't believe me, go read D&C 16:6.
There's lots more cool stuff that happened this week, but those are all the things that stuck out the most. I love you all so much!
Con amor,
Hermana Sorensen
If you're not super pumped right now, go read that story again because I'M SO PUMPED! I've been knocking on this lady's door since it was blistering hot in the middle of July, and I don't even care that it's taken this long, because Heavenly Father has been preparing her perfectly. Everything from when we miraculously found her when I was with Sister Johnson, to this last week when the Lord was prepping her. Missionary work is SO COOL! Sorry if I'm being overly obnoxious. I'm just happy. This is the happiness y'all could feel too if you would do some missionary work! Our district leader said something funny the other day-- He said that people not sharing the Gospel is like someone going to an amazing restaurant with the most delicious food in the world, and then walking out and saying, "MMM that was amazing! I'm never going to tell anyone about it!" ..... No one does that! We naturally want to share something we found that makes us happy. So go out and share the Gospel with someone. It's so easy! Go read D&C 15:6 if you don't believe me. And if you still don't believe me, go read D&C 16:6.
There's lots more cool stuff that happened this week, but those are all the things that stuck out the most. I love you all so much!
Con amor,
Hermana Sorensen