Dear Family and Friends,
Sister Methot, Sister Curtis, and I are having a blast together--rest assrued we are also working as hard as we can given the necessary travelling arrangements. But one of our favorite jokes this transfer, and yes this is slightly irreverant, is explaining away the silly, unexpected, dysfunctional, or random things I have done because I have mono brain. Well last week I was actually feeling very much like I had a little more than mono on the brain.
Okay, there is a factor of paranoia here, but Sister Perry sent me several articles on the symptoms of mononucleosis and I couldn't help but notice that indeed I had been experiencing many of the less common symptoms. But I was determined that I could and would push through whatever it was and I would NOT tell any of the mission nurses. But by Friday, which was Zone Conference and typically one of my favorite days of the transfer, I was really fighting hard. I will freely admit it is the most physically tired I'd ever felt as well as a combination of mental wear down (but perhaps I can blame some of this on trying to figure out how to balance two areas' finding, ward, and investigator needs). My left eye has been twitching in the most annoying way for 10 weeks now and I was particularly perturbed by that on Friday, after all that seemed something that I should be able to control. So after lunch at Zone Conference I went to ask Sister Perry about what she knew about eye twitches. She didn't really know much, but promised to look it up for me before I see her at the end of this week. What was less comforting, however, is that by the end of the conversation she turned to me and told me I did not look at all well and that I was "ordered" to take naps. Oh, that always makes you feel good!
But, before anyone gets too worried, here is the rest of the story. By Saturday night I was really feeling very, very tired and completely worn out and awful so kind Sister Methot called and asked the Zone Leaders to come and give me a blessing. I'll admit I kind of follow the philosophy of "I should get better on my own," but it was really a wonderful blessing. I'd had an absoltely killer headache which was making me extremely nauseous when the blessing started and it was completely gone by the time we finished. And as of today I'm still tired, but I am feeling so, so much better. It was a nice little faith promoting experience to feel such comfort from what Heavenly Father had to say to me.
So it is onward and upward. It looks like the three of us will be doing the balancing act of the two wards for the rest of the transfer. I'm actually all right with that because I love both of my companions and I didn't want to lose either one of them. I hope you are all doing well!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
To All Those Folks in Rio Linda!
Dear Family and Friends,
I guess Rush Limbaugh used to give shout outs to Rio Linda, I don't really know not having been a big Rush fan, but that's where I've been spending plenty of my time the past couple of weeks. So I'm still in a threesome and we are still travelling back and forth between our two areas. In one way this means that we are always very busy, but in another it means we sometimes spend an awful lot of time just driving back and forth in the car! Actually until today we were juggling between two cars switching off each day so we didn't put too many miles on either one, but today they took one back because some Elder broke his wrist this weekend and can't ride his bike in his cast. I admit this is somewhat a relief since I didn't want to have to clean two cars for car inspections this Friday; but it also means we won't have the satisfaction of at least trying to get both 1st and 2nd place in the car inspections.
Last weekend was a little stressful. We were checking on less actives, investigators, and potential investigators on Thursday and set up a lesson appointment with one potential investigator Sister Kawasaki and I met tracting way back on December 23rd for Friday at 1:00 in Lincoln. The problem being that we had an appointment on that same Friday at 4:00 and another at 5:00 in Elverta, and then another set of Lincoln appointments at 7:00 and 8:00 at night. Now from my Palo Cedro days it kills me to have to drive back and forth like that, but what am I going to do, turn down an appointment with an investigator? Surely not. I tried to get an exchange to just take me up to Lincoln, but that didn't work out. So in the end we drove up to Lincoln for Friday Morning Planning and the appointment (which he wasn't there for by the way), then back down to Elverta/Antelope where our 4:00 appointment also cancelled (after we'd spent an hour during planning making phonecalls to get a member to go with us), then as we were a little late heading in to our 5:00 appointment our 7:00 appointment called to reschedule. We still had to drive up to see the McKinney's however, and their appointment went very well. So 2/4 wasn't so bad.
Well then by Friday night we had to make arrangements to get rides because we forgot Saturday was our "no car" day. But rides to and from Lincoln as well as to a member's home where we were to teach our Lincoln lesson actually came surprisingly easy. But we still had to wake up at 5:30 to clean our apartment for an unexpected Saturday apartment check (usually they are on Mondays). I can tell you I was very glad when that day was finally over!
Okay, so this is kind of a "down" letter, but please just know that Sister Curtis, Sister Methot, and I are working hard. Even if I suspect that occassionally Sister Methot and I scare Sister Curtis--when you get two Easterners together, you had better watch out as to what will happen! I hope you are all enjoying this year's Skunk Mating Season--it is pungently underway in our neck of the woods!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
P.S. Notable facts about Rio Linda: one of its famous landmarks is a gas station with an extremely large cow on top, and it has a very large random arch at one of the central four-way stops. Yep, that's pretty much it!
I guess Rush Limbaugh used to give shout outs to Rio Linda, I don't really know not having been a big Rush fan, but that's where I've been spending plenty of my time the past couple of weeks. So I'm still in a threesome and we are still travelling back and forth between our two areas. In one way this means that we are always very busy, but in another it means we sometimes spend an awful lot of time just driving back and forth in the car! Actually until today we were juggling between two cars switching off each day so we didn't put too many miles on either one, but today they took one back because some Elder broke his wrist this weekend and can't ride his bike in his cast. I admit this is somewhat a relief since I didn't want to have to clean two cars for car inspections this Friday; but it also means we won't have the satisfaction of at least trying to get both 1st and 2nd place in the car inspections.
Last weekend was a little stressful. We were checking on less actives, investigators, and potential investigators on Thursday and set up a lesson appointment with one potential investigator Sister Kawasaki and I met tracting way back on December 23rd for Friday at 1:00 in Lincoln. The problem being that we had an appointment on that same Friday at 4:00 and another at 5:00 in Elverta, and then another set of Lincoln appointments at 7:00 and 8:00 at night. Now from my Palo Cedro days it kills me to have to drive back and forth like that, but what am I going to do, turn down an appointment with an investigator? Surely not. I tried to get an exchange to just take me up to Lincoln, but that didn't work out. So in the end we drove up to Lincoln for Friday Morning Planning and the appointment (which he wasn't there for by the way), then back down to Elverta/Antelope where our 4:00 appointment also cancelled (after we'd spent an hour during planning making phonecalls to get a member to go with us), then as we were a little late heading in to our 5:00 appointment our 7:00 appointment called to reschedule. We still had to drive up to see the McKinney's however, and their appointment went very well. So 2/4 wasn't so bad.
Well then by Friday night we had to make arrangements to get rides because we forgot Saturday was our "no car" day. But rides to and from Lincoln as well as to a member's home where we were to teach our Lincoln lesson actually came surprisingly easy. But we still had to wake up at 5:30 to clean our apartment for an unexpected Saturday apartment check (usually they are on Mondays). I can tell you I was very glad when that day was finally over!
Okay, so this is kind of a "down" letter, but please just know that Sister Curtis, Sister Methot, and I are working hard. Even if I suspect that occassionally Sister Methot and I scare Sister Curtis--when you get two Easterners together, you had better watch out as to what will happen! I hope you are all enjoying this year's Skunk Mating Season--it is pungently underway in our neck of the woods!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
P.S. Notable facts about Rio Linda: one of its famous landmarks is a gas station with an extremely large cow on top, and it has a very large random arch at one of the central four-way stops. Yep, that's pretty much it!
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Countdown
Dear Family and Friends,
No, no, there is no need to worry. I am not getting trunky ("missionary" for mentally already have bags packed and are just thinking about home). No my friends this countdown is the countdown to see if Sister Sorensen gets Mononucleosis. So let's back up and see how this happened. And don't be disappointed, there was no kissing involved.
Last Tuesday, my last day with Sister Rollins, we headed back into Rocklin to go to the doctor for what we thought was an ordinary visit telling her she was getting better. But she came out with the doorprize of a positive diagnosis for Mono (nobody knows how she got it), lucky girl. She was told that she would need to spend a minimum of 2 weeks inside and that she couldn't go ANYWHERE. Well, I thought to myself, Sister Methot--her new companion--won't like that. Then we packed all of her massive amount of luggage into Sister Evans car and headed up to Yuba City where we were meeting Sister Methot and I was picking up my new companion. Her name, by the way, is Sister Curtis and she is from Pleasant Grove, UT.
Tuesday morning I got a call from Sister Craner the "head mission nurse." I guess Sister Perry got super nervous about Sister Rollins having Mono since it is very contagious and we were in very close contact for so long , so she asked Sister Craner to look into it. Well basically I have 4-6 weeks to see whether or not I will come down with it. Personally, I'm not worrying too much about it because there really isn't anything I can do! Either I got it and I'll come down with it sometime this transfer, or I didn't and I'll finish out my mission no problem. But it does make for fun jokes for at least the next 5 weeks. But, the story continues. President Perry called Salt Lake to talk about Sister Rollins's diagnosis and it turns out that it is church policy to send missionaries with Mono home IMMEDIATELY. So Sister Rollins flew home Thursday morning and I inherited a third companion and a second ward . . . in a second stake. So the three of us are currently serving in the Dry Creek ward in Antelope Stake as well as the Lincoln 2nd ward in Rocklin. The perks? The APs gave us unlimited miles since we have to drive back and forth between the two areas (it's a 40 minute commute). Plus I don't have to worry about the fact that I've almost entirely tracted out the Lincoln 2nd ward because now I have Antelope to tract too! Oh, and I get an awesome third companion. Sister Methot is very on top of things. This does mean, however, that we are living out of Antelope currently because our room at Mary's wasn't big enough. Plus, I think we might be moving out of Mary's house soon. So send all mail through the mission office. I repeat, SEND ALL MAIL THROUGH THE MISSION OFFICE.
I hope you all have a great week! Here's hoping I don't have mono and end my mission early!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
PS For those of you who are concerned about Sister Rollins, she does have an open call and can return to the mission when she gets better. I, however, will not have time to finish out my mission if I have to go home as my deferment from BYU ends in Fall 2008.
No, no, there is no need to worry. I am not getting trunky ("missionary" for mentally already have bags packed and are just thinking about home). No my friends this countdown is the countdown to see if Sister Sorensen gets Mononucleosis. So let's back up and see how this happened. And don't be disappointed, there was no kissing involved.
Last Tuesday, my last day with Sister Rollins, we headed back into Rocklin to go to the doctor for what we thought was an ordinary visit telling her she was getting better. But she came out with the doorprize of a positive diagnosis for Mono (nobody knows how she got it), lucky girl. She was told that she would need to spend a minimum of 2 weeks inside and that she couldn't go ANYWHERE. Well, I thought to myself, Sister Methot--her new companion--won't like that. Then we packed all of her massive amount of luggage into Sister Evans car and headed up to Yuba City where we were meeting Sister Methot and I was picking up my new companion. Her name, by the way, is Sister Curtis and she is from Pleasant Grove, UT.
Tuesday morning I got a call from Sister Craner the "head mission nurse." I guess Sister Perry got super nervous about Sister Rollins having Mono since it is very contagious and we were in very close contact for so long , so she asked Sister Craner to look into it. Well basically I have 4-6 weeks to see whether or not I will come down with it. Personally, I'm not worrying too much about it because there really isn't anything I can do! Either I got it and I'll come down with it sometime this transfer, or I didn't and I'll finish out my mission no problem. But it does make for fun jokes for at least the next 5 weeks. But, the story continues. President Perry called Salt Lake to talk about Sister Rollins's diagnosis and it turns out that it is church policy to send missionaries with Mono home IMMEDIATELY. So Sister Rollins flew home Thursday morning and I inherited a third companion and a second ward . . . in a second stake. So the three of us are currently serving in the Dry Creek ward in Antelope Stake as well as the Lincoln 2nd ward in Rocklin. The perks? The APs gave us unlimited miles since we have to drive back and forth between the two areas (it's a 40 minute commute). Plus I don't have to worry about the fact that I've almost entirely tracted out the Lincoln 2nd ward because now I have Antelope to tract too! Oh, and I get an awesome third companion. Sister Methot is very on top of things. This does mean, however, that we are living out of Antelope currently because our room at Mary's wasn't big enough. Plus, I think we might be moving out of Mary's house soon. So send all mail through the mission office. I repeat, SEND ALL MAIL THROUGH THE MISSION OFFICE.
I hope you all have a great week! Here's hoping I don't have mono and end my mission early!
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
PS For those of you who are concerned about Sister Rollins, she does have an open call and can return to the mission when she gets better. I, however, will not have time to finish out my mission if I have to go home as my deferment from BYU ends in Fall 2008.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Ch-ch-ch-changing
Dear Family and Friends,
Well, we have had a desperately less effective week. Though, actually, we had several really good lessons with less actives and one of them completely shocked us by coming to church! Sister Rollins has done a lot better on the antibiotics, though late last night I had a really good glimpse of exactly how giddy they could make her (their side effects were extreme nausea and giddiness, so at least you're happily uncomfortable)! But she kind of had a back-slide Thursday and we were in a bit more than we would have liked for the weekend. I did spend last Wednesday in Auburn though. I had forgotten that we were supposed to go on exchanges with the Auburn sisters this week. I had a really great time with Sister Fultz, the sister from Pennsylvania. We did some great tracting and three people stopped to talk to us about President Hinckley's passing.
Saturday was pretty busy, we had to drive down to Rocklin to the Stake Center to watch the broadcast of the funeral, then back up to Lincoln where we live to meet our ride to Orangevale (one of the people Sister Rollins taught was getting baptized and so we went to the baptism), then we were dropped back off at home for an hour before driving back down to Rocklin to the Park building (where we have church) to go to the "final" ward activity as a giant ward. It was good, but it was a little too taxing for Sister Rollins. Sunday was busy too, we had church--our early morning meeting was cancelled, but nobody told us that, then a dinner appoitnment, a lesson, and the ward boundary change meeting. Well the lesson ended up being cancelled, so we had to spend an extra hour and a half in Rocklin (trying to conserve miles). The boundary changes were pretty unexpected. We actually still do live in the 2nd ward, I thought there was no way of that happening. But we lost all of Sun City--so almost all our wonderful old people--and half of Lincoln Crossing. So we actually can't travel from one end of our ward to another without leaving and then re-entering ward boundaries. What I also realized late last night is that by about the beginning of March, maybe even sooner, I'll have tracted EVERY STREET in the Lincoln 2nd ward as it now is. I'm going to have to get creative or start over again.
That said I'll fill you all in on the exciting world of transfers. As predicted I am staying in the Lincoln 2nd ward (though actually they only decided which ward I would be covering about 10 minutes ago), but Sister Rollins will not. I feel bad because half of her time here she has been sick; that can't be remembered as a very fun area. I am going to be training again, so I don't know who my companion is until tomorrow. I hope you all can stand the anticipation. But I do get to hope back up to Yuba City for an hour or so, so I might look up some investigators/members.
I hope you all have a great week. You all have a wonderful reason to have gospel conversations with friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers this week with a new prophet and a new First Presidency so I hope you take that chance. Incidentally, I was happy to hear Elder Uchtdorf (I'm not entirely sure I spelled that correctly) had been called into the First Presidency.
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
Well, we have had a desperately less effective week. Though, actually, we had several really good lessons with less actives and one of them completely shocked us by coming to church! Sister Rollins has done a lot better on the antibiotics, though late last night I had a really good glimpse of exactly how giddy they could make her (their side effects were extreme nausea and giddiness, so at least you're happily uncomfortable)! But she kind of had a back-slide Thursday and we were in a bit more than we would have liked for the weekend. I did spend last Wednesday in Auburn though. I had forgotten that we were supposed to go on exchanges with the Auburn sisters this week. I had a really great time with Sister Fultz, the sister from Pennsylvania. We did some great tracting and three people stopped to talk to us about President Hinckley's passing.
Saturday was pretty busy, we had to drive down to Rocklin to the Stake Center to watch the broadcast of the funeral, then back up to Lincoln where we live to meet our ride to Orangevale (one of the people Sister Rollins taught was getting baptized and so we went to the baptism), then we were dropped back off at home for an hour before driving back down to Rocklin to the Park building (where we have church) to go to the "final" ward activity as a giant ward. It was good, but it was a little too taxing for Sister Rollins. Sunday was busy too, we had church--our early morning meeting was cancelled, but nobody told us that, then a dinner appoitnment, a lesson, and the ward boundary change meeting. Well the lesson ended up being cancelled, so we had to spend an extra hour and a half in Rocklin (trying to conserve miles). The boundary changes were pretty unexpected. We actually still do live in the 2nd ward, I thought there was no way of that happening. But we lost all of Sun City--so almost all our wonderful old people--and half of Lincoln Crossing. So we actually can't travel from one end of our ward to another without leaving and then re-entering ward boundaries. What I also realized late last night is that by about the beginning of March, maybe even sooner, I'll have tracted EVERY STREET in the Lincoln 2nd ward as it now is. I'm going to have to get creative or start over again.
That said I'll fill you all in on the exciting world of transfers. As predicted I am staying in the Lincoln 2nd ward (though actually they only decided which ward I would be covering about 10 minutes ago), but Sister Rollins will not. I feel bad because half of her time here she has been sick; that can't be remembered as a very fun area. I am going to be training again, so I don't know who my companion is until tomorrow. I hope you all can stand the anticipation. But I do get to hope back up to Yuba City for an hour or so, so I might look up some investigators/members.
I hope you all have a great week. You all have a wonderful reason to have gospel conversations with friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers this week with a new prophet and a new First Presidency so I hope you take that chance. Incidentally, I was happy to hear Elder Uchtdorf (I'm not entirely sure I spelled that correctly) had been called into the First Presidency.
Love,
Sister L. Sorensen
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