That Was Unexpected

Dear Friends and Family,

Well after one week of being Senior Companion I am ready to switch back, but Sister Nielson won't let me. So Elder Sorensen enjoy the freedom of being able to work really hard to meet goals without feeling that when you don't meet those goals it is your fault. I probably shouldn't be feeling that way--well at least hopefully it isn't my fault--but I do. I know that the goals we've set for OYMs,finding, and lessons are attainable, but for some reason or another we did not make them last week. So to make myself feel better, I will blame it instead on the fact that it was the first week of the transfer and we had to help Sister Mauga (pronounced Mao-ng-ah [the ng is like at the end of sing, there us no "uh" sound after the g]) get to know everyone, move in, etc.

Last Monday was weird. First we packed up Sister Howard and sent her off. Then we spent the day teaching, doing errands, and me realizing that it is harder to drive around here in the dark than I anticipated. Tuesday we had our regular morning routine until all the Sisters arrived to swap companions and then we gave Sister Mauga some time to move in before we headed to an appointment where the person was not there. So instead we went tracting and found a new investigator, waited for the APs to deliver our 3rd desk, and sundry other visits before our evening appointments. And our week generally continued in that pattern: introducing Sister Mauga to ward members and investigators. I am bound and determined to do everything possible today and throughout the week to get as many OYMs as possible and to find new investigators. Though we were able to find some more people in the Buttes Vista ward last week which was good.

But I guess things are going pretty well. The 16 year-old we're teaching has set another Baptismal date which hopefully we should make this time. Sister Mauga is really funny. Her English is very good (though I admit that extra hour of language study everyday is giving me cabin fever); she is quick to laugh and smile, and she wanders around singing random church music--all in English. We're going to have a very musical apartment.

Love,
Sister L. Sorensen

PS We've had no hot water for 3 days. That is no fun. But our hot water heater breaking did give us the incentive to clean out a closet full of junk from the last 10 years of missionaries living in that apartment. So there is a positive side to everything!

The Mission World Goes Round and Round

Dear Family and Friends,

Another Zone Conference has come and gone. It was weird to have one of my companions giving her parting testimony, but the rest of it was really quite great. We talked a lot about helping our investigators make commitments, and while I still struggle with the fact that the Zone Leaders and APs seem to be able to do it all so easily with the people they are teaching--it just never seems to work out that way with ours--I think I learned a lot that will help me be better in the future. Unlike Elder Sorensen, nobody I've taught has been baptized yet. Though I did hear at Sister's Conference that the two sisters we were teaching in Round Mountain (back in my Palo Cedro days) are getting baptized in August. Many days I feel that my role is simply to help people progress and that it falls to other sisters to bring about the baptisms. That said, however, two of the people we are teaching do look rather like they are heading towards baptismal dates in August which is quite exciting. It is also nice that there is one per ward; though that means we are baptizing half of our active teaching pool in Buttes Vista which is bitter sweet.

Mission life seems very cyclical. You have a very good week and then you have one of those not so good weeks. This past week was on the slow side. We were unable to reach our goal of finding 4 new people (though on the bright side, we did start teaching one of our other investigator's sisters and that look rather promising). We had a lot of appointments set up followed by a lot of cancellations. 7 people were supposed to come to church and we only had 1. And then we discovered that only 2 people had signed up on the Buttes Vista dinner calendar for the entire month. But there were some good things as well. We sang a musical number in Sutter Buttes (they were doing a missionary theme for the 5 Sunday and they had already had two of us talk) with one of our investigators and his newly re-activated friend. It was kind of boring in that it was just a hymn, Hark All Ye Nations, but we needed something that we could learn fairly quickly and would require minimum practicing on Sister Howard's part (as she was our pianist). But we received a lot of compliments (Sister Nielson has a very nice soprano, plus I think people were just impressed we got the other two to sing with us, though truth be told our investigator volunteered himself and his friend). One old man asked me after the meeting if I had ever considered develping my talents, and seemed surprisingly disappointed when I told him that no, I hadn't. I am after all content to restricting myself to singing in church.

I hope everyone else is doing well at the family reunion, baby blessing, and other festivities. Enjoy your summer.

Love,
Sister L. Sorensen

PS. Yes, Mom we are doing fine on miles (we have nearly 300 left). And no, I forgot to bring my camera cords so no pictures. Sorry!

Editor's Note: This is a letter from the end of July that I never got posted. If it sounds a little out of order, it is not your imagination!

Getting to know GusGus

Dear Family and Friends,

I know you're all waiting to know what happened with transfers today. Just imagine what fun and excitement you have awaiting transfer news from both Elder Sorensen and I for the next 7-8 transfers! It turns out that the Japanese sister was delayed in the MTC for another 6 weeks--I would rather presume that means she would appreciate more time to work on her English. So there had to be another threesome of Sisters in the mission. And yes, Sutter Buttes and Buttes Vista wards were the lucky winners once again. I really don't know why this is, it seems like they would share the experience around, but I guess Sister Nielson and I are just getting good at this (it will be her third, almost consequtively, and my second back to back). Sister Muaga, the sister from Samoa, will be joining us fresh from Palo Cedro tomorrow morning. And it turns out we are the companion swapping spot because another set of sisters is coming up to drop off the new Palo Cedro missionary. So it should be a fun little meeting tomorrow morning. I rather suspected that Sister Nielson and I would be staying together, but there is a definite surprise ending. For some reason or other I was made Senior Companion and now have driving duties. We can't quite decide if it is because I have a slightly cleaner driving record than Sister Nielson, if it is just because I know the area better than her, or what. But I am trying to be very conscientious of her feelings in the matter and she is being a very good sport about it as well.

This last week was quite good. We had a rough Monday proselyting--your body just kind of gets used to having its rest day at a specific time and does not like it when you change things up. But we had some good lessons on Tuesday and then were able to go down to the temple on Wednesday. It was quite nice to go down to Sacramento, the temple is very pretty and it was an enjoyable and quite full session. It was a little nerveracking because we were supposed to be meeting Sister Rowlands and Sister Gurr there and they did not show up until the very last minute possible (despite the fact that they live/work in the area closest to the temple). But there was a mix up afterwards and we didn't end up getting to see them and take pictures with them which was sad because I did not get to say good bye to Sister Rowlands. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we tried to focus on finding more people to teach in the Buttes Vista ward to little avail. Though we did start teaching two new people in the Sutter Buttes ward. The work in that ward is going great, we had two investigators at church, and all our lessons with members present were there this week. But we would love to balance out the effort. As a mission we have started offering chapel tours (see the article on Member Missionary work in the August Ensign) and we have gotten very good at setting the building up, and even doing them. But nobody has actually shown up for a tour yet! We keep inviting the ward members out so they can see what they are and get excited to invite friends to them, and there should for sure be people there this weekend. Hopefully. We really hate wasting our proselyting time by sitting at the church even though we did get some good Area Book updates made.

Anyway that is pretty much how my week went. Here are a few pictures. I was very sad to see Sister Howard leave this morning, it is nice to work with someone when the work both goes well and is fun. We have really been able to help get a lot going in Sutter Buttes ward which is exciting. And I am also sad to know--if not see--Sister Rowlands leave as well. But the work will go on.

Love,
Sister L. Sorensen

PS I'm sure we will have lots of fun teaching Sister Muaga how to ride a bike . . . in a skirt. And, in case you were wondering GusGus is our Mazda 3.

Sister Howard's last week . . .

Dear Friends and Family,

I don't know that I have too much to report. We kept busy last week with lessons, finding, and car repair. Having our car in the shop (pointlessly as it turned out) gave us the opportunity to ride bikes Thursday and rather surprise the older couple who we do yard work for by showing up on our bikes. I think I am finally becoming proficient in lawn mowing; though I still make Sister Howard do the front yard because I figure that one should look nicer and I am well aware of my physical inability to do just about anything in straight lines.

We did have excellent lessons last week, but we lost our one baptism date and were unable to set baptism dates with the other two investigators we thought might be a possibility. But the work continues. Sister Howard is trying so hard to stay focused on the work and to continue being the best missionary possible while still having to figure out essential details of her imminent departure. I have to say that I will miss her a lot. She has been an excellent companion/leader/teacher, plus we both think each other's jokes are funny--always a plus. I don't really have any idea what will happen at transfers next week. The new sister from Japan is not coming out for another six weeks so that means a sister's area has to be turned over to the Elders and another threesome. So who knows, we may get a third sister back in Yuba City, but I doubt that. Anyway its possible that I move, but I don't think I will. Next Monday we will be travelling though, so I don't know if/when email may be.

Have a great week!

Love,
Sister L. Sorensen

Pizza in the morning, Pizza in the evening, Pizza at suppertime. . .

Dear Family and Friends,

It was a great week. We started teaching 4 new people, 4 of the people we are teaching came to church, we set a baptism date, and we had 7 progressing investigators. Even nicer and more rare, last tuesday we had no time to tract because we were going from one teaching appointment to another the whole day (well aside from Zone Meeting where we actually did work on Tracting skills). So that was quite nice. We generally have been able to do quite a few lessons each week with members present (the ideal lesson) which is really nice. For the most part, the Yuba Stake/Zone is leading the mission and it is always nice to be a part of that. We were disappointed though that two of our investigators who were supposed to come to church did not show. But things are really going great in the Sutter Buttes ward, if only we could catch Butte Vista up!

Other news of interest? In the past 2 weeks we have been fed pizza 6 times. Sister Howard was very distressed. Apparently her last week or so in Orangevale she also had a pizza rush; including a notable day where she had pizza for two meals, and another day when members/investigators fed her KFC, McDonalds, and pizza. Other than that we haven't really had anything that interesting served to us in Yuba City. Thus far on my mission I have had venison, elk, I had my first artichoke the other week too. Not that artichoke in and of itself is that weird, but I had no idea how I was supposed to eat it and I suppose my pride crept up a little bit because I did not want to ask. So instead I watched my one companion as she ate it very intently which didn't work because it confused her. I'm not entirely sure I ever really got the hang of it, but apparently the artichokes could have used another few minutes boiling, so perhaps it is not my fault. Other than that I don't think there is anything too weird happening out here.

Just a warning, next week we are going down to the Sacramento Temple so you might get very short emails on Monday. Then the week following that Sister Howard is leaving, so we have to go down to Orangevale and I don't know if/when we may be emailing then either. So that is your two week warning of/on transfers. I think I will be staying at least one more transfer with Sister Neilson here in Yuba City which I am rather looking forward too.

Love,
Sister L. Sorensen

Pictures: One of Sister Rowlands, Howard, and I at Sister Conference; Sister Fultz, Sister Nielson, Sister Howard, myself, and Sister Gore at Zone Conference; Sister Howard pondering the path of her feet.