Dear Family and Friends,
Well in terms of proselyting our last few weeks have been slow, and sadly they will continue to be so. Sister Rollins was sick all last week and her rather nasty cough simply became nastier so we went in to the doctor again today for a new diagnosis: laryngitis and possibly a kidney infection as well. We also got to go and get some fun chest x-rays. So it looks like we will round the transfer out with another week inside. I have not been completely kept in, however, I have been able to arrange for exchanges to go and cover lessons. Sadly, however, only one of our investigators is really doing well right now and seems to actually want to meet with us--that always makes you feel good. But she is doing well and I am thankful for that.
The Lord also sent me a few other "tender mercies" last week (that reference is in 1 Nephi, one of the early chapters). Tuesday, after we went to the doctor, I called to try to cancel our dinner appointment, but the lady wouldn't let me because she had a surprise for me. This is a less active, part member family who I struck up a good relationship with because it turns out she is the aunt of one of my college roommates who was serving a mission at the same time (though she has since returned home). And the surprise, as I rather guessed it would be, was that she had invited Jamie, my old roommate, over for dinner because she had returned home from her mission just the Friday before. I admit it was very fun, but also a little strange to see her again. It was very handy, however, because when she found out my companion was sick she offered to come out and do some missionary work with me and so on Friday she came back down and we went out tracting and to a few lessons. Ah it was good to go tracting again; that was probably the thing I was the most scared of when I came out on my mission, but now it is honestly one of my favorite things to do. I also got out and had some great lessons with several other ladies from the ward, and Mary has been very good about coming home if at all possible to "babysit"-- I know that sounds mean, but Sister Rollins herself uses the term--my companion so that I can go out.
We also got a call Tuesday that we needed to bring our car down to the Roseville Stake Center on Wednesday--they transfered it to another area to balance out the miles put on it--and that we would get a new one. So I am now driving another brand new car--I am being very, very careful--but this time it is a Malibu so I have to figure out another set of car controls. We decided to name this new one Sophronia after Joseph Smith's sister since our last new car was Don Carlos. I like the way it drives, but it is much bigger than I am used to and hence it's turning radius is not what I sometimes would wish and the night vision on it is weird especially with our winter rains. But oh well, what am I going to do about that?
I was also able to find a sister in the ward who was staying home on Sunday with sick kids and was able to get the Relief Society President to come pick me up and take me to our early meeting on Sunday morning and actually go to church this week. I was particularly anxious to do so because a couple of our investigators were supposed to be there, though in the end none of them came and that was quite sad. I also admit it seemed very strange to be sitting there in the pew by myself (particularly since our investigator and her kids didn't show up). And then, on top of all this, we were all stunned by an announcement from the Stake that next Sunday they are realigning all of the wards in Lincoln and creating a 5th ward. Okay, yes, our ward was HUGE and it really does need to be split, but I was surprised by how very much attached I have become to this giant ward. I love all of the leaders and so, so many of the members. This does, however, alter my predictions for transfers and I believe that I probably will end up staying another transfer here in Lincoln as I think they will keep us over the Lincoln 2nd ward and probably they will have us cover the Lincoln 5th ward too. All of these changes on top of the fact that Sister Rollins has pretty much been out of commission for half the transfer most likely indicates that I will stay.
Then after reeling from this news, we likewise were surprised by the death of President Hinckley. I'll admit, my first few thoughts went something like the following: "Hmmm, that is unexpected. . . Well I guess now this means he'll be with his wife again and that will make him happy. . . . Wow, what a fantastic week this would be to tract. His death is sure to be in the news with Mitt Romney still running. Too bad I'm stuck inside again." This may be an indication that I've become missionary minded, or it may simply prove that I'm not very sensitive, as my companion has lovingly told me several times in the past week (don't get me wrong, I've been very nice to her and I have been serving her very well).
Well I hope this week finds you happy and healthy. While the news of President Hinckley's death is of course sad, please think of how I will not be tracting and take the opportunity to have some great gospel conversations with your friends, neighbors, and co-workers!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Day Six
Dear Family and Friends,
How has your week been? Well I hope it has been more productive than mine! I shouldn't complain. We had some very, very good lessons last week with great member participation. But, there is always a catch. Sister Rollins woke up Thursday feeling like she had recently "been hit by a semi in the face." While I'm not sure of the grammar there, that is a direct quote. So we stayed in "for the morning" to see if she'd be feeling better by the evening so we could go to our teaching appointment. By 4:00 it was very clear she was not going to be feeling better, so we had to call and cancel dinner and while I was in the middle of trying to make arrangements to go on exchanges so we could get to our lesson our investigator called to reschedule. Well that was good luck I thought, surely Sister Rollins will be feeling better by Saturday night. Friday night she was still out of sorts so I made some last minute calls and headed out for our appointments. Saturday we were inside all day again, but luckily Mary was able to stay home again with Sister Rollins and I went to our lesson. It was a good lesson too. We had to call and cancel our talks on Sunday because the nurse ordered us to stay home. And honestly by the end of the 4th day stuck inside I was feeling very, very unproductive. On top of all that, this week we found out that we had to hand over two of our progressing investigators who wanted to get baptized to our District Leader and his companion (the Spanish Elders) because, and this still just kind of irritates me, Sister Rollins is too pretty. Okay, so there are actually some legitimate concerns--with details I can't elaborate on--but it still just kind of kills me to have to just hand them over when I've been teaching them from the very beginning.
So what did we do Monday? Ah yes, we stayed home. I finished reading the New Testament from Hebrews-Revelation, wrote a few letters, took care of my companion, and then read 100 pages of Jesus the Christ. Well yesterday Sister Rollins actually felt a lot better, so we decided to try to go to District Meeting today after all she's been in the house for 5 straight days. In less than an hour she was feeling 10 times worse and we had to come home. At this point I made a Doctor's appointment for her myself because it was just getting too ridiculous. The verdict? She has some sort of virus and will most likely be sick for ANOTHER WEEK! So we'll see how much studying I get done, I can probably finish Jesus the Christ at this point. I really, really hope I can call around to our investigators and get some appointments set up. And exchanges.
As for the questions about transfers. This is week 5 for us, so Two weeks from today I might transfer. I don't know. But this puts me at 4 and a half months in Lincoln and I have previously transferred areas at this point. So we'll see if tradition holds or not. There are two new Sisters coming into the mission and 1 leaving, which means a threesome and we all know that out of the last 3 threesomes I've been in two of them. So that is a possibility, but they can't have one here because we have no space in our room.
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
How has your week been? Well I hope it has been more productive than mine! I shouldn't complain. We had some very, very good lessons last week with great member participation. But, there is always a catch. Sister Rollins woke up Thursday feeling like she had recently "been hit by a semi in the face." While I'm not sure of the grammar there, that is a direct quote. So we stayed in "for the morning" to see if she'd be feeling better by the evening so we could go to our teaching appointment. By 4:00 it was very clear she was not going to be feeling better, so we had to call and cancel dinner and while I was in the middle of trying to make arrangements to go on exchanges so we could get to our lesson our investigator called to reschedule. Well that was good luck I thought, surely Sister Rollins will be feeling better by Saturday night. Friday night she was still out of sorts so I made some last minute calls and headed out for our appointments. Saturday we were inside all day again, but luckily Mary was able to stay home again with Sister Rollins and I went to our lesson. It was a good lesson too. We had to call and cancel our talks on Sunday because the nurse ordered us to stay home. And honestly by the end of the 4th day stuck inside I was feeling very, very unproductive. On top of all that, this week we found out that we had to hand over two of our progressing investigators who wanted to get baptized to our District Leader and his companion (the Spanish Elders) because, and this still just kind of irritates me, Sister Rollins is too pretty. Okay, so there are actually some legitimate concerns--with details I can't elaborate on--but it still just kind of kills me to have to just hand them over when I've been teaching them from the very beginning.
So what did we do Monday? Ah yes, we stayed home. I finished reading the New Testament from Hebrews-Revelation, wrote a few letters, took care of my companion, and then read 100 pages of Jesus the Christ. Well yesterday Sister Rollins actually felt a lot better, so we decided to try to go to District Meeting today after all she's been in the house for 5 straight days. In less than an hour she was feeling 10 times worse and we had to come home. At this point I made a Doctor's appointment for her myself because it was just getting too ridiculous. The verdict? She has some sort of virus and will most likely be sick for ANOTHER WEEK! So we'll see how much studying I get done, I can probably finish Jesus the Christ at this point. I really, really hope I can call around to our investigators and get some appointments set up. And exchanges.
As for the questions about transfers. This is week 5 for us, so Two weeks from today I might transfer. I don't know. But this puts me at 4 and a half months in Lincoln and I have previously transferred areas at this point. So we'll see if tradition holds or not. There are two new Sisters coming into the mission and 1 leaving, which means a threesome and we all know that out of the last 3 threesomes I've been in two of them. So that is a possibility, but they can't have one here because we have no space in our room.
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Warming Up!
Dear Family and Friends,
Well Sister Rollins thinks it is absolutley freezing here (it has typically been in the 40s or 50s) but last week we only had to tract in the rain once! That made her at least a little happier, I try to be understanding but I honestly so much prefer it to the summer--nice farmer's tan aside--that I am not entirely sympathetic. But things last week were interesting. I was super sad because we had another 0 finding week and our OYMs were very, very low but we honestly almost always walk the long way just so that we can get OYMs that I can't hold myself too accountable for people not being out last week. But we did have some good lessons complete with some really great member participation. And, most excitingly, we actually took 4 families on chapel tours--and one family was a non-member family we just started teaching. She's a single mom who we met tracting and she and her boys came to church on Sunday and managed sitting through sacrament meeting very well despite her worries about bringing her "wild" boys (she was very comforted to note that the primary of 160 plus nearly 80 nursery kids made their presence heard). So it pays to have a loud ward! And our standing room only--we had 590 people at Sacrament last week--dipped down to 400 people or so which meant everyone had seats even if some of them were sitting on the stand. Oh well, I think it kind of makes Sacrament Meeting more interactive to have people sit up on the stand.
Last week we also had Zone Conference. It has been a very, very long time since our last one and it was so helpful. Sister Rollins and I came away with so many great ideas on how to help our investigators progress. Now, I am sad to say that we are really, really struggling to get someone ready to be baptized this month; but we will persevere and I am sure that the Lord will provide a way (1 Nephi 3:7). It just doesn't seem like it is going to be our fun Australian investigator as he is heavily involved in his training for being a global fighter or something or other--the airforce terminology loses me. But, I very much feel that he will be baptized, maybe next month . . . . Another very important event incident to Zone Conference is that Sister Rollins and I won 1st place in car inspections. The sad thing is I feel that our car was probably least deserving of it this week than at any other car inspection as we simply did not have enough time to give it the detailing I usually invest. But we won a nice bag of trail mix which Sister Rollins has very nearly finished (and we won it on Friday).
Anyway we continue to work hard and we hope to have great things happen this week!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Well Sister Rollins thinks it is absolutley freezing here (it has typically been in the 40s or 50s) but last week we only had to tract in the rain once! That made her at least a little happier, I try to be understanding but I honestly so much prefer it to the summer--nice farmer's tan aside--that I am not entirely sympathetic. But things last week were interesting. I was super sad because we had another 0 finding week and our OYMs were very, very low but we honestly almost always walk the long way just so that we can get OYMs that I can't hold myself too accountable for people not being out last week. But we did have some good lessons complete with some really great member participation. And, most excitingly, we actually took 4 families on chapel tours--and one family was a non-member family we just started teaching. She's a single mom who we met tracting and she and her boys came to church on Sunday and managed sitting through sacrament meeting very well despite her worries about bringing her "wild" boys (she was very comforted to note that the primary of 160 plus nearly 80 nursery kids made their presence heard). So it pays to have a loud ward! And our standing room only--we had 590 people at Sacrament last week--dipped down to 400 people or so which meant everyone had seats even if some of them were sitting on the stand. Oh well, I think it kind of makes Sacrament Meeting more interactive to have people sit up on the stand.
Last week we also had Zone Conference. It has been a very, very long time since our last one and it was so helpful. Sister Rollins and I came away with so many great ideas on how to help our investigators progress. Now, I am sad to say that we are really, really struggling to get someone ready to be baptized this month; but we will persevere and I am sure that the Lord will provide a way (1 Nephi 3:7). It just doesn't seem like it is going to be our fun Australian investigator as he is heavily involved in his training for being a global fighter or something or other--the airforce terminology loses me. But, I very much feel that he will be baptized, maybe next month . . . . Another very important event incident to Zone Conference is that Sister Rollins and I won 1st place in car inspections. The sad thing is I feel that our car was probably least deserving of it this week than at any other car inspection as we simply did not have enough time to give it the detailing I usually invest. But we won a nice bag of trail mix which Sister Rollins has very nearly finished (and we won it on Friday).
Anyway we continue to work hard and we hope to have great things happen this week!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
One Year Older and Wiser Too!
Dear Family and Friends,
This has been an interesting week. It was sadly less productive, but we had inclement weather conditions, power outages, and sicknesses which led to several cancelled appointments on top of just not being a great week to find because of the holidays. But it was fairly entertaining.
First, I don't recall if I mentioned, but Sister Rollins has several health conditions which rather limit what and when she can eat: she is lactose intolerant, she is allergic to white flour, she is hypoglycemic, and she cannot eat marinara sauce (the last one is a puzzle to all). It tends to make the members fairly anxious about what they can/should feed us, especially as she is still new to the area so it is a surprise each time we confirm with our dinner appointments. On top of all that, Sister Rollins own food preferences basically categorize her as an herbivore as she does not really care for meat. So on Tuesday we were eating with an older lady in our ward who is a fairly particular person in any case and she had been planning to feed us spaghetti and so when she got our message confirming dinner she got a little fidgetty, but told us on the phone that it was okay and she would just make Sister Rollins a nice little steak . . . . To make a long story, short (too late) Sister Rollins ended up cutting her meat into little pieces and slipping them into her salad bowl and I had to try and eat them out of her salad bowl without any of the old ladies at the table catching on, and the rest of her steak she slipped inconspicuously into her napkin and took it out in her bag to be placed in our next appointment's neighbor's trash can. This is going to be a complicated transfer in terms of dinner arrangements.
I also hit my year mark this past week. That is a very strange thought. But I've rededicated myself to working as hard as possible in the next six months and make my time count. It was fun though because our dinner appointment was tipped off by Sister Rollins and made me a cake for the occassion.
Lastly we had nasty rain and wind storms with the wind getting up to 60 miles an hour. Luckily we were in our weekly planning for most of the wind on Friday, but we got caught out in the rain several times tracting. I actually enjoyed it, but Sister Rollins is freezing her toes off--as she tells me frequently each time we are out tracting. But, we found an investigator out of if because they felt sorry for us being out in the rain. There is no bad weather for missionary work!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
This has been an interesting week. It was sadly less productive, but we had inclement weather conditions, power outages, and sicknesses which led to several cancelled appointments on top of just not being a great week to find because of the holidays. But it was fairly entertaining.
First, I don't recall if I mentioned, but Sister Rollins has several health conditions which rather limit what and when she can eat: she is lactose intolerant, she is allergic to white flour, she is hypoglycemic, and she cannot eat marinara sauce (the last one is a puzzle to all). It tends to make the members fairly anxious about what they can/should feed us, especially as she is still new to the area so it is a surprise each time we confirm with our dinner appointments. On top of all that, Sister Rollins own food preferences basically categorize her as an herbivore as she does not really care for meat. So on Tuesday we were eating with an older lady in our ward who is a fairly particular person in any case and she had been planning to feed us spaghetti and so when she got our message confirming dinner she got a little fidgetty, but told us on the phone that it was okay and she would just make Sister Rollins a nice little steak . . . . To make a long story, short (too late) Sister Rollins ended up cutting her meat into little pieces and slipping them into her salad bowl and I had to try and eat them out of her salad bowl without any of the old ladies at the table catching on, and the rest of her steak she slipped inconspicuously into her napkin and took it out in her bag to be placed in our next appointment's neighbor's trash can. This is going to be a complicated transfer in terms of dinner arrangements.
I also hit my year mark this past week. That is a very strange thought. But I've rededicated myself to working as hard as possible in the next six months and make my time count. It was fun though because our dinner appointment was tipped off by Sister Rollins and made me a cake for the occassion.
Lastly we had nasty rain and wind storms with the wind getting up to 60 miles an hour. Luckily we were in our weekly planning for most of the wind on Friday, but we got caught out in the rain several times tracting. I actually enjoyed it, but Sister Rollins is freezing her toes off--as she tells me frequently each time we are out tracting. But, we found an investigator out of if because they felt sorry for us being out in the rain. There is no bad weather for missionary work!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
. . .and a Happy New Year!
Dear Family and Friends,
I hope you all had lovely holidays and a great time was had by all. I have to say that we enjoyed ourselves pretty well. Our week was a little different but pretty good.
On Monday it was kind of a weird day for missionary work. We were asked to proselyte all afternoon and evening by appointment only--and I have to tell you it was hard to set up enough appointments. I understand that it is a busy day, but I would have thought more ward members would be willing to have us over for 45 minutes or so. But we did have some good visits in the end. We were able to spend time with two of our favorite families on Tuesday--as well as make our phone calls home which found all well. I also introduced Sister Kawasaki to "The Worth of Souls" video out of the church library and she got to see all of those movies, including Johnny Lingo, for the first time. I don't know what she thought of Johnny Lingo, but she quite liked "The Gift." Wednesday we got our transfer calls and I very much surprised Sister Kawasaki when I told her she was getting transfered. I tried to warn her that it was the most logical outcome, but she handled it pretty well. Thursday I got my new companion and we had a really great lesson with one of our newer investigators. He is the husband in a part member family and he really does think he wants to be baptized, but he wants to make sure that he is doing it for himself and not just for his family. Friday our lesson appointment cancelled at the door because he was not feeling well, but because he cancelled we happened to walk back up the street to our car and were able to stop and OYM a guy and ended up picking his son up as an investigator the next day. Apparently the son has taken some of the lessons in the past, so that seems pretty promising as well. It was a nice reminder that there is always a bright side to every cancelled appointment. We also met a man this weekend while we were tracting who told us as soon as he opened the door that Mormons are going to save the world, and then welcomed us to come back next weekend and talk with him a little more. So while we did have a slow lesson week--as many people were out of town--there are still good things going on in Lincoln.
Next week's adventures: How will we manage our appointments on Saturday without a car--especially when we need to get to the church for Chapel Tours and the church is several miles out of our area? I guess you'll find out in the next installment. I hope you all enjoy the first part of 2008 and is it really possible that I've hit my year mark? That is a truly scary thought.
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
I hope you all had lovely holidays and a great time was had by all. I have to say that we enjoyed ourselves pretty well. Our week was a little different but pretty good.
On Monday it was kind of a weird day for missionary work. We were asked to proselyte all afternoon and evening by appointment only--and I have to tell you it was hard to set up enough appointments. I understand that it is a busy day, but I would have thought more ward members would be willing to have us over for 45 minutes or so. But we did have some good visits in the end. We were able to spend time with two of our favorite families on Tuesday--as well as make our phone calls home which found all well. I also introduced Sister Kawasaki to "The Worth of Souls" video out of the church library and she got to see all of those movies, including Johnny Lingo, for the first time. I don't know what she thought of Johnny Lingo, but she quite liked "The Gift." Wednesday we got our transfer calls and I very much surprised Sister Kawasaki when I told her she was getting transfered. I tried to warn her that it was the most logical outcome, but she handled it pretty well. Thursday I got my new companion and we had a really great lesson with one of our newer investigators. He is the husband in a part member family and he really does think he wants to be baptized, but he wants to make sure that he is doing it for himself and not just for his family. Friday our lesson appointment cancelled at the door because he was not feeling well, but because he cancelled we happened to walk back up the street to our car and were able to stop and OYM a guy and ended up picking his son up as an investigator the next day. Apparently the son has taken some of the lessons in the past, so that seems pretty promising as well. It was a nice reminder that there is always a bright side to every cancelled appointment. We also met a man this weekend while we were tracting who told us as soon as he opened the door that Mormons are going to save the world, and then welcomed us to come back next weekend and talk with him a little more. So while we did have a slow lesson week--as many people were out of town--there are still good things going on in Lincoln.
Next week's adventures: How will we manage our appointments on Saturday without a car--especially when we need to get to the church for Chapel Tours and the church is several miles out of our area? I guess you'll find out in the next installment. I hope you all enjoy the first part of 2008 and is it really possible that I've hit my year mark? That is a truly scary thought.
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
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